Ghost Adventures

Ghost Adventures – Brookdale Lodge – S07E09

image For this investigation we head out to Northern California to visit the Brookdale Lodge, a place I’ve never heard of before, but was clearly known to the celebrities and presidents that have frequented there. It sits in a lovely area amongst the trees and rivers and even has a creek running through the middle of the lodge. However, from the way the staff and others tell the tale, the lodge is showing it’s darker side.

First, we have Sarah Logan who apparently drowned in 1918 when she fell, hit her head on the rocks. This same creek now runs through the center of the lodge.

There is also another drowning, of a young girl at the age of 13. In 1972 she was swimming on the glass bottomed pool and sadly drowned, quite possibly while guests looked on.

When it comes to physical manifestations, two members of the housekeeping staff have some rather forceful stories to tell. Denise was pushed so hard that her nose was broken and bruises appeared on her back. A young boy named Keenan was cleaning the stairs when his nose was slammed into those same stairs and he walked away with a massive bloody nose.

Jeff Dweyer, who lead the GAC on their Winchester House tour, saw the apparition Sarah Logan when he visited the lodge nearly 30 years ago.

From the descriptions it sounds like there is a lot more going on than just the spirit of Sarah Logan. If the claims are to be believed, there is a dark and violent presence within the building.

As the investigation gets underway, the team hears a few loud bangs, what they think is the whistle of a little girl, the feeling of cobwebs all over the face and hands and they experience the RemPod going off. They don’t get anything near the violent outbursts that the housekeeping staff have experienced, but they do get something interesting on the thermal imager. As they scan the room, there appears to be a fourth figure with them. Behind Nick, the torso of a person appears. Is this simply an odd reflection or is this the image of one of the girls who died in the lodge? Is it Sarah who died in the creek or the girl who drowned in the pool?

An interesting twist is bringing in Grace, Zak’s dog. As many people claim, dogs may be better able to see into the spirit world than we can. Was Gracie reacting to something up on the ledge by the bathroom? The same bathroom where Denise the housekeeper got locked in the bathroom? Or is Grace simply playing around and is just messing with something on the wall?

While the evidence doesn’t quite match up with the violence reported, this does sound like an interesting place. A beautiful place that is sadly looking like it will be abandoned. The question is, why is the spirit acting up now? If Sarah has been around all this time, why starting getting rough at this late stage? Wouldn’t one of the many celebrities said something? Or has something more sinister taken hold there? Is this some new force that’s acting up?

Is the business closing down because of the spirit activity or will the activity bring about a business revival?

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Ghost Adventures – Dead Men Walking – S07E08

This isn’t a lockdown, but a recap show featuring the strange and usual prisons Zak, Nick and Aaron have visited over the years. They recall their adventures at the Moundsville Penitentiary, Old Idaho Penitentiary, Preston Castle, Eastern State Penitentiary, Ohio State Reformatory and the Central Prison Unit.

The go over some of the their previous evidence and give some of their impressions about the places they been. It’s an interesting look back and out of all of those, I think Moundsville and Eastern State are the most unusual. It seems they both had the best of intentions when they were made, but it all went to hell by the time they were done. Ironically, their idea of prison reform and rehabilitation usually drove inmates out of their minds.

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Ghost Adventures – Cripple Creek – S07E07

image For this investigation, the guys head out to another state I’m quite familiar with, Colorado, specifically, Cripple Creek. I spent 10 years out in the Rockies and remember Cripple Creek quite well. As you might expect in Colorado, this is an old mining town and we all know what that means, gambling, gold and murder. The investigation starts off with two locations, the Colorado Grand Casino and the old County Jail.

As with so many mining towns, the Grand Casino has an apparition of woman who is said to be seen walking around the ballroom. She makes her presence known repeatedly and may in fact be sharing a room with the living. There is even a claim that she was captured on film and her ghostly form can be seen in mirror.

Within the old jail there are reports of an inmate with hepatitis who spit at the guards to try and infect them. There are also claims of an inmate who was a child molester that attacked two investigators during the night. Strange voices and noises are also heard.

But as the investigation gets started, both of these sites are pushed to the side as Jeff Belanger brings in another location the guys need to check out. They meet up with Dan who says that all of his tenants end up leaving and become hostile after living in his rented house for 6 months to a year. They start off pleasant, but turn "evil" and then run away from the house. Dan really doesn’t have any history of the place, but gives a story of a young boy dying on Christmas Eve and talks about battles with and between the Indians.

They look around the house and decide to give it their attention. Before you know it, they’ve launched a full investigation. Oddly, they’re tearing up some concrete down in the basement because of some old items Dan has found down there. When they come back with their full barrage of equipment, things seem to heat up. They start off the with PX device and get the word, "Madison", the name of Dan’s daughter. Madison also claims she saw some figure touching her dad. The PX then has boughts of interference, but manages to come up with the words, "spirits" when asked who is in the house, the words, "under" and "ground" when asked where it was, and "ghosts" when asked what’s in the basement. There is also the phrase, "drain the well", which causes Dan to relay a quick story about losing hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. The PX device also gives, "Hell" in response to what is holding the entity there and "earth-line". In conjunction with all these voices, multiple flying anomalies are seen behind Dan.

Back at the Colorado Grand Casino, Bill Tolley is working with Bill Chappell on a 3D camera to record paranormal activity. It’s the same technology used to film athletes for games and record human movement for "blue screens". They blanket the wall and then if something breaks the plane it will show up as a stick figure. Sounds like a cool idea.

As they begin, they hear banging, several knocks and a woman’s voice. Are these just coming up from the casino below? They’re trying to find Maggie, the apparition that many claim to see. While they don’t get any of the traditional evidence, they do get something showing up on their imager. A small stick figure is seen walking around and may even be waving to Bill. When Bill stands in the same spot, his figure is much larger than what they just recorded. As Billy Tolley comments, is it the figure of a child? It certainly appears far too small to be Maggie.

The investigation does continue at the county jail, but Zak admits he wasn’t able to capture any evidence during his time there. He forewarns that he’s not discounting that it may be haunted, just that he didn’t capture anything.

I had to say, this was indeed a strange episode. They start off talking about two locations they plan to visit, then spend almost all of their time at a completely different place. And what about Dan Piotrowski’s house? They don’t capture much evidence, but the PX device was very talkative. Is there something to his renters leaving? Does he have an unusual presence in his house? Is there something buried in the basement to account for the activity? Or is he just a bad landlord and people keep leaving because they don’t want to deal with him? He seems like a decent guy, but I don’t think there is enough to support his claims that the house is full of a bad or dark energy. Maybe there are other problems. It would have been interesting to interview some people who used to live there and get their side of the story.

They need to do more research on the place and see what kinds of events have taken place in the past. Dan also need to provide more information about this water issue and perhaps they need to excavate that area in the basement properly. Guys from a TV shows bashing at concrete with rudimentary tools isn’t the right way to handle the job. There might be more to the story, but they need to find out what the story actually is first.

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As for the Grand Casino, I don’t think there is much to these stories either. It’s an active casino, so it strikes me it will make tons of noise all the time. Bang, voices, cries, sobs and all of that would be a regular occurence. Voices will travel through the duct work. Trucks roll by all the time, even Bill makes mention of one. Are people just hearing the wrong thing? Are the sights and sound of the casino getting to them?

However, they do get something on their piece of equipment. Is it picking up a shadow? Does it just need some fine tuning? Or was there really a small child from the other side stopping by to say hello and give a wave?

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Ghost Adventures – Sedamsville Rectory – S07E06

image Zak and the team head out to Ohio after being called in to investigate a rectory in Sedamsville. Interestingly, there was another TV episode about this very place and this very couple just a short time ago. John Zaffis visited the same location for this Haunted Collector episode. Some of the stories are the same, but it appears things may have gotten worse since his visit. When John was at the site it was all but confirmed that there was illegal dog fighting going on in the rectory. Violence and bloodshed certainly took place when the rectory was abandoned. However, there was a secondary story of priest who was murdered. No such evidence was ever found to confirm that. But when Zak gives a narrative of the rectory, there is a story of a priest who was indecent. Supposedly a priest wrote a confession at the time of his death. Is this just another part of the legend and trying to involve a priest in less than savory acts? Just because a church has been left alone doesn’t mean there are dark events involving a priest. But anyway, the couple have asked for more help and this time Zak is bringing in some help.

Before they even investigate they bring in Father Ashcraft to exorcise the rectory. Based on the scratches done to both Tim and Terrie’s father, it is believed something is in the rectory to cause harm. As the cleansing takes place, Tim turns into a different guy. He becomes agitated, angry and even hostile towards Father Ashcraft. He goes so far as to tell him to get the hell out of the rectory and to leave him alone. He looks to be on the verge of lashing out. Is this cleansing pushing an evil entity out of the house and it’s looking for something to latch onto? Is Tim becoming the victim of spiritual oppression? Terrie looks scared as hell and almost jumps out of the way every time he comes around the corner. It’s not looking too good.

Father Ashcraft works to bring things back under control, but it’s hard to say if he’s successful. Tim still seems very much out of sorts. He’s even advised to stay away from the rectory.

The next night the guys actually enter the building for the real investigation. They have cameras in the usual spots and real time digital recorders running. They want to capture all the audio evidence they can. They each take turns trying to provoke whatever evil energy is in there, but strangely nothing makes itself known. No voices or noises are captured the entire night. Even with the spirit box, no voices are heard. If there is something evil in this it’s not making itself known.

But then, right before things come to an end, they get a couple of bangs outside one of the rooms on the top floor. Billy feels the room is charged with electricity so Zak comes to investigate. They both feel an extreme cold spot, but there is very little supporting evidence. Does this room still have a dark energy? Was a manifestation trying to take place?

When all is said and done, there isn’t much evidence to support any new activity. Has this entity gone quiet so it won’t get pushed out of the house? Is there even an entity at all? Are the scratches from something clawing at the flesh or did they get there from regular construction related means? When John Zaffis visited the site, he didn’t capture much physical evidence either, but he did bring a dog that was extremely agitated by the basement. It barked ferociously and wouldn’t go down the stairs.

Is there really something lurking in the shadows of this building that only shows itself to the owners when everyone else is gone? Is it playing tricks and keeping itself hidden? Does evil exist in this old rectory or do the unfounded stories of abusive or murdered priests play tricks and let the mind wander? Not to be rude, but are the owners simply attention seekers? Since this is the second team to come out to the place, do they ulterior motives? Or, is there a dark presence that likes to toy with people? The evidence doesn’t offer much, but what about Tim’s physical reactions?

Interestingly, the rectory is now available for weekend paranormal investigations.

It should also be noted that Zak and team went to pay their respects to Carl Lawson, the former caretaker of Bobby Mackey’s who passed away recently. He was supposedly the victim of demonic possession during his time at the club. If indeed he was, perhaps now he will find peace.

Ghost Adventures at the Sedamsville Rectory

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