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A season of being Stranded

image Despite how most of the people act on this show, I think it’s one hell of a ride. I love the idea of a group of people being allowed to investigate a location over multiple days in whatever manner they see fit. They can go wherever and do whatever strikes them at the time. I think this is way investigations should be done, over multiple days so people can get a sense of the place and what kind of noises, bumps, temperature changes and odd feelings are normal.

What I don’t like is how so many of these people who want to have paranormal experiences come unglued as soon as it starts happening. Why did you volunteer to be on a show about the paranormal if you’re going to act that way? It’s annoying and it’s silly. Have a spine for heaven’s sake. Show some damn courage. It was just a bump, it’s more than likely just an animal, but you’ll never know because you’re too damn busy running the other way.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the hell out of this show and truly hope Josh and Syfy put together another season for us. I think this is a great idea and these are great locations. I only hope they get some people who aren’t scared of their own shadows and who are willing to actually investigate.

But well done Josh, it’s been a great, albeit short season, and I really hope we don’t have to wait too long before more episodes come out. And quite frankly, I think you need to send another team to Yorktown Memorial Hospital, there is some cool stuff happening in there!

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Stranded – Yorktown Memorial Hospital – S01E06 – Season Finale

image For this episode, Katye, Heather and Dillon go to Yorktown Memorial Hospital to investigate the spirit of a nun who still inhabits the chapel, apparitions, and claims that people are being touched by a doctor who sexually harassed the staff. There is also the spirit of Tommy who died of a heroine overdose on the ramp leading into the emergency room. His "friends" dropped him off, or rather tossed him aside. Unfortunately, the bell to call for help was broken and he died before he could get anyone’s attention. All totaled 2,000 people died at the hospital.

After the trio is dropped off and reads the history of the place they get settled for the night. As with other investigations they hear loud bangs right before calling it a night. Unfortunately they don’t hit the ground running and check out the source of the noises.

For the first part of the real investigation the head to the Chapel where the spirit of Sister Maria is said to be. Odd for a Sister to linger in a hospital after her passing, but the group tries to communicate with her and specifically asks if anyone knows about Lauren, Katye’s sister who passed away from cancer a year ago. At that moment Heather says she hears voices and this is followed by a loud bang. This causes the group to scatter like a scene from a cartoon and in seconds they’re all headed in different directions. Yet again, people go to a location claiming they want to make contact and even speak to a loved one, but when something happens and they quite possibly get a sign of communication, they lose their minds and run like a bunch of damn fools! As expected, Katye is saying she doesn’t want to be there. It’s basically the start of day two and wants to go home. Why the hell did she even come in the first place?

Miracle of miracles, they screw up enough courage to track down the noise and think it might be coming from the basement. When they get down there they find what appears to be a metal cage or cell, a body bag and some shackles on the wall. What the hell is that all about? What is that doing in the basement of a hospital?

Again, Heather claims she hears voices and there is another loud bang. Not surprisingly they take off.

During the light of the next day they go back to the basement and find the room of the old caretaker who apparently took off one day and never came back. Her clothes are still in the closet. They don’t actually find much and head over to the emergency room where Tommy is said to have passed away. Dillon takes a bell he found in the basement and hooks it up so Tommy can ask for help. He wants to give Tommy some peace. For a guy that’s a skeptic, that’s a pretty compassionate gesture.

Next up is the Operating Room where the doctor was said to harass the staff. The surgical tools are still dirty from the last operation and for some reason there is a large jar full of teeth. Was he another one of those doctors performing experiments on unwilling patients?

As Dillon lies down on the surgical table they hear a loud bang and Heather feels something touching her. They search for a cause and end up on the ramp where Tommy passed away. To try and calm themselves they speak to Tommy and show him how to use the bell. Dillon says to ring it and they’ll come for him. While taking pictures they ask for Tommy to show himself so they can see him.

When they get back to the main hospital they have two amazing photos. One shows what appears to be a face right where the new bell has been installed. The other appear to be a face balancing on the end of Dillon’s hand. I usually disregard photos because of lens flare, dust, poor lighting, matrixing and people shaking it, but holy hell, these two photos are unreal. They’re both in the same style, with the same colors for the head and look to be two distinct faces and heads. Quite honestly I’m stunned.

But Heather has a different take on the matter and thinks they’ve conjured up something evil. It should come as no surprise that yet again, she and Katye are coming unglued and want to leave. Katye won’t even look at the pictures, won’t discuss Tommy and keeps saying she wants to leave. If I got pictures like that, I would be running back to that spot so fast there would be nothing left of me but a vapor trail. I’d be snapping pictures like a fool to see what I could capture. Yet another wonderful opportunity wasted!!

There are still parts they need to investigate so they make a trip to the nursery. The room is littered with old, rather creepy looking dolls. While looking around there is the distinct ring of the bell that Dillon installed for Tommy. Sadly, he’s the only one that wants to go investigate. Heather and Katye are ready to curl up in a ball and cry. Seriously, that sounded just like the bell Dillon put in. It wasn’t a bang and it wasn’t just a simple sound, it sounded like the full ring.Again, that is amazing! Too bad the others are lagging so far behind. Finally, they get to the ramp, but Heather and Katye won’t take pictures and don’t even want to acknowledge what happened. They keep saying "Goodbye Tommy" and want to run away. Dillon is the only one who’s interesting in trying to capture some evidence of Tommy.

For their final night, they try and confront their fears and head back to the basement. This lasts all of 30 seconds because as soon as they hear and bang it’s a free for all. Heather runs so fast and in such a panic she actually hurts herself. She tears her jeans, hurts her arms, falls down the stairs and quite literally falls on her ass. What the hell is wrong with these people? They’re actually getting tangible evidence and all they can do is run away.

And that’s it for them. No more investigating, no more looking around, no more trying to gather evidence. They just want to cower in the corner and run away in the morning. As Heather admits, she just about took off the night before. Yeah, okay, where the hell are you going to go?

Despite the idiotic behavior of Heather and Katye, this episode was awesome! Those two pictures have me baffled and I would love to see the originals. I have no idea if they’re evidence or just glitches, but they are certainly worth looking at some more. And what about that bell? How the hell did that happen? That sounded like the real deal to me. It didn’t "sort of, maybe, kinda" sound like the bell Dillon put on, it sounds exactly like it. Exactly the way Dillon turned it when showing Tommy. They truly had some interesting things going on. I really wish the other two would have been able to keep it together and actually investigate the place.

I’ve never heard of this place before but I’m seriously intrigued.

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Josh Gates offers up a couple of interesting points about Burn Brae Mansion

 A Letter From Josh Gates

If you recall from this episode, Shannon has a few bad moments and becomes increasingly distressed and frightened as the investigation progresses. We find her in tears more than once and she soon gets to the point where she can’t continue.

Josh put out a letter explaining his views about the episode and in essence says we shouldn’t just someone in that situation since we are sitting comfortably at home and don’t have the benefit of using all our senses, we can’t feel what it’s like to be there and we don’t have the investigative equipment.

That is a fair assessment and a good point. We don’t know what it’s like to be in that situation at that time and to experience what they feel.

However…

My frustration over Shannon and people like her is their reaction to something they asked for. They auditioned to be on a show about investigating the paranormal. They knew they would be isolated in a location for several days. They claim they want to experience the paranormal and to find something. Yet, when they get what they ask for they fall to pieces. If you go looking for the paranormal and find it you should be excited. Sure, you may be scared, but screaming that you want to leave just doesn’t fit. These aren’t seasoned investigators, but they know what they’re getting into. If you’re going to run screaming from the paranormal why are you out there looking for it?

The frustration comes from being handed such a wonderful opportunity and it’s treated so poorly.

As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

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Haunted Collector – Island of Fear and Tropical Terror – S01E04

Casa Blanca Museum

For this episode John heads out to Puerto Rico to investigate the home of fame explorer and conqueror, Ponce de Leon. They arrive at the Casa Blanca Museum where there are reports of doors closing on their own, figures roaming the grounds outside and a spinning wheel that moves on it’s own.

Right off the bat they debunk the spinning wheel, which is good to see. It’s actually not as hard to move as people believe and while walking around the room and stomping they get it to rotate.

They also discover what appears to be some sort of underground cellar. It could be for wine or personal items or as John points out, it could have been some sort of dungeon used by Ponce de Leon. Chris and Jason go to investigate perhaps with a little more haste than Chris would like since he actually falls off the ladder and crashes to the floor. He a little shaken, but otherwise unharmed. It looks like things are off to a bad start, but they don’t actually find anything of interest in this little cellar.

Things are a bit more exciting for Jess and Brian as they investigate the upstairs of the house. They’re caught off guard with the sound of multiple loud bangs that sound like the doors are shutting them in. It’s not one or two either, but a series that keeps them spinning trying to find out where then noise is coming from. As Brian says, they’re on a peninsula with island breezes, so is there merely the wind causing the doors to close?

John, Aimee and Chris investigate the grounds where the guards keep seeing shadow figures. What they discover is a large rock with carvings on it. Interesting they got an EVP of the word, “La Piedra” or “the stone” earlier. They come to find out this stone is from the native people of Puerto Rico and would have been created during a ritual where the native people would drink a special concoction to communicate with their ancestors and then carve what they see. Problem is, these are the same Puerto Rico natives that Ponce de Leon II was trying to remove from the area. He and his son set out to conquer the Carib people. It didn’t go as planned, Ponce de Leon’s son was captured, killed and quite possibly eaten in a ritual sacrifice. So now we have a native stone from the very people Ponce de Leon tried to eradicate sitting right next to his house. This does not bode well.

John obviously can’t remove the stone he decides to make an offering of fruit, tobacco and liquor to try and appease the spirits of both sides. It might have worked since the activity in the house has stopped, but the guards still claim to see shadow figures.

Mendez Residence

For the second investigation John investigate the Mendez home where there are reports of shadow figures, the apparition of a little boy, voices and scratching at the window.

This investigation takes on a bit of a darker tone as Grissell reveals that her grandmother was part of the Santeria faith and didn’t believe Grissell was her father’s daughter so she had no qualms in putting a hex on her and Grissell’s mother. The hex involved putting dead chickens around the house as well as seashells. Both of these are associated with the darker side of Santeria. Santeria is akin to Voodoo, or at least the perception of Voodoo.

As they investigate the house they get an EVP of the name “Miguel” which is Grissell’s father. He passed away three years ago. They also gets spikes on the meter when they get near the seashells Chayenne has in her bedroom, the same shells Grissell associates with Santeria.

They also learn about the coconuts on the property. Coconuts are used in Santeria to represent the human skull. Mark, Grissell’s husband has had dreams of the coconuts where a figure tells him to remove them. As they investigate the property they discover a small cave with coconuts, seashells and what appear to be teeth. Is this the site of Santeria rituals? It’s certainly a common practice in the area, both for good and bad.

John brings in a Santero who breaks open one of the coconuts to find hair and a chicken tongue. It’s his believe Santeria is being used here for evil purposes. He collects the coconuts and removes them. He also deals with the cave by removing those objects and cleansing it.

So what’s going on here? Are these people caught in the middle of some ancient feud where Santeria was used against families? Was this done by Grissell’s grandmother because she believed Grissell’s mother sinned against her son? It certainly seems like someone used, or is trying to use Santeria against this family.

While I don’t know either of these cases truly have a paranormal element to them they were interesting. Ponce de Leon is an iconic figure in history and maybe there is some bad blood between him and the people he tried to oppress. But is it really manifesting itself? As Brian said, a lot of this could simply be the wind. For the Mendez family it seems they’re caught in the crossfire of Santeria. Perhaps it’s directed at them, perhaps not. We don’t hear anymore about the voices or the apparition of the little boy. John didn’t really seem to capture any evidence of the supernatural so is this guilty feelings over the loss of the grandfather and the unusual behavior of the grandmother?

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