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Haunted Towns – Bisbee Arizona – S01E05

silver-king-hotel For this episode, the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, head to a town I have visited, Bisbee, Arizona, where copper was king, prostitution was plentiful and the conditions were downright dangerous. We have the usual stories of terrible working conditions, prejudice and violence against “foreigners”, death from accidents, poverty and men turning on each other to make a living.

We start by talking to Danielle, owner of the Silver King Hotel, who relates two pretty meager ghost tales. The first involves a Chinese laundress who wanders into room 1 and shakes her fist. The other involves a friend she hired, who quit on the first day and left his tools behind. A couple of months later, those tools are found in the boiler room, a different floor than where he was working. I don’t really feel either of these qualifiy as a story of paranormal activity, but Chris is trying to make this out to be poltergeist activity.

The evidence, or lack thereof, pretty much agrees with that. While on the 3rd floor, Chris and Porter get goosebumps and Porter believes he sees a shadow. Meanwhile Brannon and Doogie are using the flaky flashlight trick as evidence of the paranormal.

As they bring the night to close, they all gather in the same room and work on an EVP session. When they ask if someone is in the room, they get the word, “No”. This is recorded on one recorder but not the other, and that makes it special, so says Doogie.

For Day 2, they head to the Queen mine with it’s 2000 miles of tunnels and 372 deaths. Men died in elevator accidents, from cave-ins and the floor giving out. There is also the claim of a headless miner.

Chris and Doogie try to find the headless miner, but as you might expect, don’t capture anything. Brannon and Porter go to the elevator shaft and ring the bell at midnight. This makes their partially screwed in flashlight go off. This coincides with Porter saying he feels something around his wrist.

At the end of the investigation, Porter believes Bisbee lives up to it’s haunted reputation because he got goosebumps, believes he saw a shadow, had something touch his arm and his flashlight went off.

And that is the evidence they collected after two days in one of the most haunted towns in America.

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Haunted Towns – Vicksburg – S01E04

mcraven-houseFor this episode of Haunted Towns, we pay another visit to Vicksburg and the McRaven house. Again, it’s noted to be the most haunted town in America with people hearing phantom gunshots, period music out of nowhere, disembodied footsteps and full bodied apparitions.

At the MacRaven house they meet with Kendra who gives a little more detail about John Bobb, one of the previous owners. He supposedly found soldiers digging up his flowers. This prompted him to throw a brick at them, which lead to multiple threats. John Bobb sought protection from General Slocum, who said he would take care of the matter. This went nowhere and John Bobb was trapped by soldiers who shot him in the abdomen and face. Or so the story goes.

We also have another interview with Jai, who says she saw Mr. Bobb in his changing room and saw his apparition clear enough to make eye contact. She also says there is the strong odor of perfume and cigar smoke in the rooms, clearly the presence of Mr and Mrs Cobb. Or it could be the odor trapped in a porous material like wood that comes out from time to time. Take your pick.

The investigation begins with Chris and Brandon on the first floor while Doogie and Porter taking the  second floor bedroom. Nothing happens on the first floor, but Porter believes he captures the outline of a figure on his thermal camera. This blob could easily be a reflection and they spend quite a bit of time making sure you see the outline of it, so you can get adjusted to the matrixing. Next is a blip on the meter up to 4.8, which is still negligible, but it’s better than a “high” reading of 1 that we’ve seen before.

They also have the half unscrewed flashlight trick, which goes off as they talk about different subjects. But since it won’t commit to an answer and obey their commands, the entity isn’t willing to share it’s identity. When they capture “evidence” it’s the entity. When they don’t, it’s the entity being difficult. It’s an entity either way.

On the second day, they head to the Cobb House, where the stories very much start with, “According to local legend.” And that’s something to keep in mind as the team starts to piece together their evidence to fit this alleged story.

It’s said John Cobb was a gambler, got himself into debt, committed suicide and that he “likely” died in the house.

After Cobb was gone, nuns took over the house, but were afflicted with yellow fever. Morgan Gates says he’s sure five nuns died from the outbreak. Again, as they get on with their investigation, they say, “a nun may have died in this room.” Then again, maybe nothing of the kind took place.

On the first floor, Doogie and Porter believe they capture a gunshot when talking about John Cobb. They believe they get two gunshots when talking about John Bobb. When Doogie and Porter sit down in the side room, they hear what they think is music. They believe they trace it to the piano. There is some sort of noise like wind through a small opening, but nothing that sounds like music.

Up on the second floor, Chris and Brandon get the words, Liberty, Porch, Demand and Soldier. All of these get conveniently woven into the story of John Bobb smoking a cigar on his porch, demanding the soldiers stop their activities and him ultimately losing his liberty.

For the last part they head to Stout’s Bayou where John Bobb was shot. Doogie claims his meter jumps to over 100 and shows multiple spikes over 70. And while we never actually see any of these readings, it leads them to a tree where they believe John Bobb died. From there, the spikes lead them back to the main house. This creates the story that John Bobb is stuck in a loop, repeating his last day by having a cigar on the porch, heading to the Cobb house, then being shot at the tree and making it back to the house.

There are a lot of events that, “allegedly”, took place in and around the area. And the evidence they capture is molded to fit these “local legend” stories.

Ghost Adventures – Hauntings of Vicksburg – Demons and Dolls – Part 2

ghost-adventures-vicksburg-dollsThe next stop of the Vicksburg tour brings together more dubious tales and stories. Zak talks with Karen, owner of a salon that’s been around long enough for the building to have been hit with cannon fire and with Mike, owner of antique doll toy store, where a doll sent from a concentration camp calls home.

We start things off with Karen and her husband Derrick, who live above their salon. It used to be a furniture store frequented by plantation owners. Karen then decides to weave in her own unfounded tales by saying, she has no idea what went on there. There could have been torture or even murder. Then again, there could have been nothing of the sort.

Derrick describes a nightmare where he couldn’t move and felt like he was being taken over by an entity, possibly trying to kill him. His son, while aloof and distant, says he is scared and some times feels something might be behind him. Karen is quick to latch onto the idea that these dark entities have given her son and attitude that stinks.

They meet up with another set of investigators who take them down to the basement where they heard a little girl’s voice. This is supposed to be an area where slaves were kept. It would be nice if they provided some proof.

Breaking away, they head over to meet Mike, owner the antique doll shop, where Zak clearly shows his phobia of dolls. But there is one in particular, a doll sent from a family during the Nazi occupation, that holds his interest.

The investigation is broken into two parts. Zak decides to head into the doll shop alone, with Billy and Aaron in the salon.

During the night, Zak claims he records the doll letting out a hiss. He also falls down in a total panic as a doll falls off the shelf. To Zak, this is clear evidence of the paranormal even though other dolls are precariously balancing on the shelves.

Zak further states he has scientific evidence of it being touched by an entity as he gets a “high” EMF reading of 1.0 around the doll. I don’t believe a 1.0 reading of anything should be considered significant. When he picks up the doll, the area is cold as ice, although there is no temperature reading. Then again if there was, it most likely would have read 66.6.

Billy and Aaron are in the basement of the salon where they get the words, Trap, Hi, Africa, Beat, and Climb, which they associate with slavery. Again, no evidence to suggest any of that to be true, but they will run with that idea.

At the end of the investigation, Zak decides to show Karen some footage that says could be disturbing. Zak says something stabbed him in the back and he felt complete and total terror. This causes him to stumble around, knocking things over, crashing into Billy, then cowering in the corner behind him. However, Zak states there was nothing demonic about it and Karen shouldn’t be afraid.

Karen gives him a look like he’s an idiot, and rightfully so.

So, another episode where the tales really aren’t worth a mention. Having a paralyzing nightmare is not evidence of the paranormal. Neither is a board falling over in a basement or a doll falling off a shelf.

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Ghost Adventures – Hauntings of Vicksburg – McRaven Mansion – Part 1

ghost-adventures-vicksburgThis may or may not be the next episode in the series, but it’s a trip to Vicksburg to investigate one of America’s most haunted cities, which is a claim being made far too frequently these days. Zak and team were invited by the Mayor to see what sort of answers they could find in regards to the hauntings of the city.

They start off with the McRaven Mansion which has been standing since 1797. Dr Steven Reed owns the home after purchasing it from Leyland French, who was supposedly driven out by attacking forces. It’s claimed that Leyland performed “rituals” and opened doors to the unknown he couldn’t close. However, none of this can be confirmed, so it firmly goes into the “we were told” category.

Steven says he doesn’t live in the house because it’s haunted. That is the extent of his comment without any real explanation. Yet he’s concerned about the tour guides who claim to have experiences. Lisa claims something pushed her, while Kari says something touched her on the inner thigh and she was attacked in a nightmare. Jai says something happens every day such as someone whispering to her or the feeling of uneasiness.

Not to be rude, but those are some seriously weak claims. Having a nightmare is not a sign of paranormal activity.

The investigation gets underway with Kari and Jai participating to face down their fears. Zak brings out the PILFER device which emits positive ions to create a charged environment. Sounds like they creating an environment to have experiences where none exist.

And sure enough, the get a stick figure on the SLS while Kari says her left side is cold. Not to be outdone, Zak claims the entity they captured went straight through him and up the stairs. This contact left him feeling agitated with everyone. And because the energy is so high, the batteries to their equipment keep dying. Or they bought crap batteries, take your pick.

In the upper rooms where Andrew Glass died, Jai feels something grab her waist and claim to hear Jai Jai on the spirit box. This is combined with a lady screaming on the box and it leaves Jai feeling sick and disoriented. Walking around on uneven floors in the dark would cause the same effect. It all feels like a bunch of cosplay nonsense.

These ill feelings are followed by a light anomaly, or bug, and the sound of furniture moving around. They head to the room of John Bob to discover things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be. A lamp is on the floor, a table is in the wrong place and there are some cast off rocks on the floor. Of course, none of this was captured and only Jai is familiar with the layout of the room.

They bring out the Paranormal Pick 2 and get the word, “French”, which they naturally assume is the spirit of Leyland French. I bet they felt silly when they found out Leyland is still alive. This is marked up to trickery by the evil spirits.

To be honest, this was a pretty silly episode, with yet another story of “rituals”. For activity that happens every day, their evidence is weak-their batteries died and they spoke to someone who isn’t dead through a spirit box.

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