Ghost Hunters Academy

Or, as I almost called this post, 'Someone Peed in Steve's Cheerios This Morning'.

Ghost Hunters Academy (aka what I have to watch in place of Destination Truth while it's on hiatus) premiered last night and I'm kind of torn about what I think of the show. While I thought it was kind of fun to watch newbies learn the ghosthunting ropes, something about it didn't sit right with me.

Remember this fun lovin' dude who liked to play jokes on Tango and sit around in Miami and try to come up with words in Spanish to call the ghosts?Well, forget it, because he's now been replaced by this sour faced guy:
Yep. Get used to that face. You're gonna see it a lot.

We start out with the new recruits at the TAPS Headquarters:
Yippee, G & J are here!
Boo, not for long though.......They tell the recruits good luck and to learn from Steve and Tango....and work really hard, because if they mess up, they'll be gone. Rule # 1: Only Grant and I do the plumbing on this show, and NOBODY gets to be sexier than me.

After a brief intro, we're on our way and the recruits learn we're going to Fort Mifflin, PA. Dave and Tango are going to take the group on a tour before the ghost hunt, but one of our new friends, Heathyr, decides she's going to skip the tour. She says she's a medium and prefers not to have too much information so it doesn't 'influence' her findings.yeah, I think I'll hang back and miss out on the WHOLE EXPLANATION OF WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO....yeah, I think that's a GREAT move for me at this point...
You so done just effed up................

Later, Dave is giving the recruits a run down of what they're going to do next and doesn't think they're listening. When he asks them to repeat the instructions, Susan bravely tries to recite it back while the rest of her friends just sit there with their mouths shut. And what does she get for being the only person to answer Dave's question?
You get to be my tape BEE-YATCH.

He's all ticked because he said she tried to B.S. her way out of it and didn't really know the answer. Which, fine, that's what she did.......but because she was the only one who even ATTEMPTED to answer his question, she gets punished by having to tape down all the wires? Ohhhhhhhhhkay, Mr. Twisted Logic.

So everyone breaks into teams and Chris and Carl head out to the casemate. They sit and do an EVP session and it seems like they're doing an okay job..... but nope, Dave and Tango decide that it's stupid for them to sit next to each other, and it would make more sense for them to sit across from each other. Of course, this is information of the utmost importance, so they head out to tell Ben and Carl so they can do it right. Chris (soon to be the group's resident KissAss) tells S & T that's it's genius tips like this that make them the Awesome Dudes that they are, which gets a HUGE reaction from Steve:ahahahaha...You have just figured out the way to my HEART is by kissing my ASS!

Next are Susan and Ben doing an EVP session and investigating the magazine. They wander around and then decide they're done and head off to change some tape. The next thing we see, they're sitting outside some building chatting. You know this ain't gonna go down good with S & T, and of course they head over to ask them what the hell they're doing:
They really don't have a good answer, and Susan can't even think of the name of the place they just investigate. This is pretty silly - if they really just stopped to hang out and chat, it's probably the one time that they deserve Steve to go off on them.

The second night, Heathyr and Chris are investigating when they suddenly smell cigarette smoke. They check back with base to make sure nobody is smoking (they aren't), and S&T head out to check out their finding. They admit to smelling it too, and then Steve says the smell is more like an old fashioned hand rolled cigarette than something modern out of a pack....Chris (he's the KissAss, remember?) is quick to agree, that Oh yeah, Steve is totally right, it sure DOES smell EXACTLY like a rolled cigarette!

When Steve admits that he just made it up -
So that he could demonstrate how easy it is to influence people through the power of suggestion.
Nice.
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

Later, it's discovered that Karl and Ben accidentally left a digital recorder in one of the rooms. They try to pass it off as being on purpose, but of course D & T bust them. Then Uncle Dave comes down with the big lecture on 'trusting each other', and being at 'face value 100% of the time'.
Ooookay. Hold that thought, please.

Next we have Susan and Heathyr in one of the rooms where the spirits of a little girl and woman have been seen. Susan starts to claim that she doesn't feel good and is starting to feel overwhelming sadness. Heathyr says that in her experience, spirits sometimes pass on emotions that they feel as a way of communicating. But Susan can't handle it, and has to leave so that she isn't 'paralyzed with agonizing sadness'.
Which as we all know, is very DANGEROUS INDEED.I think my hand is permanently attached to my face due to agonizing sadness!

Now Susan admits that she's actually an empath, or a medium, or something, and that she didn't want to tell anyone so that she would be taken seriously:And running out of an investigation, leaving your team member alone, and crying in the TAPS motorhome will go a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnng way towards you being taken seriously.

Then, oh yeah, they analyze shit. They find some things that S & T debunk and some EVPs that S & T congratulate them on. Amazingly enough, Steve is pretty decent and gives them tips on how to tell an EVP from what are probably just other sounds in the room.
Tango is nice enough to interpret that this face 'means it's good'! Thanks, Tango!

They do get one creepy EVP that sounds like Ben's first and last name....brrrrrrrr!

Then it's time for a one on one shakedown, er "performance review" with Susan.
D & T confront her for leaving Heathyr and not being honest about being an empath or sensitive whatever the hell she's calling herself.

Steve AGAIN brings out the whole 'being honest and truthful 100% and up front and at face value at ALL TIMES'. But they all agree to start with a clean slate and blah blah blah it's all good.........

Until Steve wraps up the episode saying that right now he doesn't see anyone that has potential to join the team. I'm just guessing, maybe it's because they're not 100% honest and up front.....you know, all that truthfulness and being up front.....just like Steve demonstates by LYING about the cigarette smoke smelling like 'hand rolled' so that he could make the recruits look like idiots.

Mr. Twisted Logic, indeedy.



Sigh. Is it March yet?
-Mother Firefly

Ghost Lab -Are you Watching It?

I have to admit that when I first heard about this show, I thought - dang, ANOTHER ghost show? But I checked out the first episode and I've been hooked ever since.

Brad and Barry Klinge and their team do the usual ghosthunting stuff that we've come to expect, like collecting EVPs, trying to provoke activity, and using all the usual equipment.

But what they also do is explore the bigger theories behind why paranormal activity is happening in the first place. This week, for example, they examined the idea that moving water increases the likelihood of increased paranormal activity. They also talked to an engineer about how water conducts electricity - and learned that pure water is a poor conductor - it's actually the impurities in the water that increase conductivity.

They went to Nottoway Plantation in Louisiana, a place noted for its paranormal activity and also for being situated on the Mississippi River. (One of the brothers also saw an apparition in the house while on a group tour). The group did an analysis of the water in the Mississippi as compared to bottled water. The results - bottled water barely registered a blip for conductivity, while the Mississippi River water was off the charts. They also noticed that the only part of the house visible from the water was the third story - where an appartition has been seen several times from a window on that floor. So they decided to measure the levels of EMF from the water to the house - and were amazed to find that they could chart a direct line of EMF from the river - to the third story window. They also used this theory at another destination later in the show, the Metro rock club in Chicago - and found running water associated with that place as well.

Watch the video 'Evidence of Energy' on the list here.

In past shows, they've explored whether or not heightened levels of fear increase the likelihood of paranormal activity, or if places with a history of violent past affect the mood and temperament of the people who spend time there.

I don't think it's a better show than Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures (my two favorites), it's just a different focus and different equipment. If it were the same as the others, I might feel like it was overkill - after all, how many ghost shows can a girl watch a week?

You can also watch the first full episode here.

I also have to mention the last episode of Destination Truth and the hunt for the Yeti - how cool was the hair they found? That episode should be showing up on the website here soon. I guess we're done for the year and won't see new episodes till next March.

Plus I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of Mr. Yummy Pants, er, um, Josh Gates.

Sigh......March 2010 seems so far away......

Ghost Cat????

I think it's fair to say that as long as I've lived in this house with Papa Cash (almost 7 years) that I've never experienced any paranormal activity associated with it. Which is fine, I don't need to live with ghosts and I already lived in a house that had ALL kinds of spooky (thus the name of this blog and what ALL the bloggers linked to it have in common - whether by actual house or street).

But this house has been quiet since I've been here - except for a few occasional odd experiences which always seemed to come in pairs. Meaning I'd have an experience, and then Papa Cash would (or vice versa) and we wouldn't know of the other's experience until one of us mentioned it - and they always had occured within a day or two of the other.

Interestingly, all the experiences seemed attributed to something an animal might do -or more specifically, what a cat might do. And they all took place when we just had one cat - nothing has happened since we got Cat #2 and #3. For instance, I'd be in the living room and repeatedly think I saw Ash walk in the room - or walk out - only to find he was curled up sleeping behind me on the back of the couch. Then Papa Cash would tell me that he thought Ash came in the room and jumped up on the bed - when nothing was there.

Once when my friends from Michigan visited (one is clairvoyant) she remarked that a cat had just walked in the room - a short haired grey cat. I've had two cats that have passed on, but neither was grey, and both had long hair. Then I remembered P. C. telling me about a cat he had many years ago - a cat that taught itself to pee in the toliet (!) and also that he had to find a new home for the cat when he got busted by the landlord. (He also found out later that the cat continued to use the toliet in his new home and also cried till someone came and flushed the toliet. He was kind of relieved that the cat had a new home because he wasn't crazy about having to go flush the toliet for a cat). But according to him, the cat was very attached to him - would sleep on him at night and followed him everywhere and watched everything he did - thus the teaching itself to use the toliet- Mr. Kitty followed him in THERE too.

So I asked P.C. what that cat looked like - and Holy Shit, that cat was short haired - and grey. Now - I had heard the story about the cat many times but I'd never asked what the cat looked like. And my friend who saw ghost kitty did NOT know the story at all. And P.C. had the kitty before he was married or had a son, so it was at least over 20 years ago. Chances were good that kitty had went to heaven by now. So I felt like the ghostly cat visits were explained.

I had forgotten about these experiences - after all, they weren't really scary, just interesting. And after my friend saw him, and we put all that together, it pretty much stopped. Maybe kitty was just content to know we recognized him? Although in the weeks before my other kitties came to live with us, I did have quite a few instances of thinking I was seeing a cat out of the corner of my eye -when none were there.

Last weekend I was working at my desk - which is in the living room and faces a wall. Out of my peripheral vision I can see into my kitchen - off of which is P.C.'s office. His door was open and one of my cats loves to hang out in there on his desk. Repeatedly I thought I kept seeing Ash (my black cat) walk between the kitchen and the office. Repeatedly I looked and he wasn't there.

That didn't really phase me till yesterday - when I was sitting on the couch - Ash and Nissa sleeping on either side of me, Puff sleeping in the bedroom with P.C. - when I distinctly heard a cat use the scratching mats on the floor in the corner of the living room. It's a very distinct sound. I was awake, not drowsy, not dozing, and all three cats were accounted for - and none of them even close to the pad. It wasn't even a matter of- did I just hear that? I heard it, I recognized it, and it persisted for about five to ten seconds. There wasn't anything else in the room - and the noise was clearly in the room with me - that I could attribute it to.

Since P.C. was sleeping, I wasn't able to tell him and it slipped my mind until he went to go to bed today. He had no cats in the bedroom with him and the door was closed. He wasn't in bed five minutes until he came out and said, Okay....something just jumped up on the bed and walked a circle around me - like Puff does a lot of the time.
Of course then I shared my story - also realizing that this is how it used to happen before - in pairs, and both of us having seperate experiences without knowledge of the other's.

I tend to think that this visitor is probably his old friend again - since he's been seen here, and since it apparently likes to get in bed with him. I'm tempted to break out the EMF meter and try to get a measurement if it happens again. Or maybe a picture.

An interesting side note - I shared this story with a couple of friends at art class tonight and one of them also mentioned that she thought she was being visited (just recently, coincidentally enough) by one of her deceased animal friends as well. She attributed it to the time of year - the veils being thinner and all that.

What about the rest of you? Anyone else ever have a pet or animal visitation?

Destination Truth

Has everyone been watching this? The Chernobyl episode was really good, but the Island of Dolls was extremely creepy, dolls shouldn't do that, ever.

End of the world

In all my times of driving back and forth to saginaw, I have never seen this. Once on the way up and once on the way back I saw cars pulled over on the side of the road with people outside throwing up. We will see what the world holds when we get up.

He's Right There!

First off a note about my house, it has skylighting throughout and one of those is located in the kids bathroom. This last saturday I had sent Hailie into the bathroom to go potty before bed. She called me in and I found her standing in the middle of the bathroom looking up at the ceiling. She said "look at that daddy, right there". So I looked expecting to see a bug or leaf, something on or near the skylighting, I saw nothing. I looked back to her and asked what it was. She pointed to the skylighting and said "right there daddy, dont you see him, he is looking at us. he is right there". So now I am afraid to look back at the celiing, instead i look at her again and say "come on silly. is it a zombie!!!" (knowing my daughter loves zombies and likes to play a game in the car where everyone is zombies and we have to shoot them). Thinking she would look at me and laugh, give me a great big hug and run out. Instead she looked at me, didnt laugh, didnt smile and with a straight face, pointed back up and said, "he's right there, in the corner, with bunny ears"

My Orb

I thought I'd post something of a more personal nature......it's not going to bring any major paranormal revelations but the way that it happened was pretty cool.

I like to hang out with my friends and talk to dead people. Well, our spirit guides, usually. We talk to them and record it and take lots of pictures. During this particular session earlier in the summer, we were talking to my SG and I was taking pictures. I had taken at least a half dozen - all in the same spot- with nothing showing up. Then I resorted to begging and saying Please, please, give me something - anything on my camera. Right after I said that, I took another picture and got this:
Cute, ain't he?

Think what you will - I know it wouldn't impress Jay or Grant - but given the fact that I took a half dozen pictures before and after this showed up- and THIS is what I got RIGHT after I asked him to give me some kind of evidence that he was there- it means a lot to me.

I also have this picture from last summer. My friend and I were having a session and her husband was there. He had never joined in and we were discussing past lives - and also the fact that he's always felt that he had a life in which he died by fire in some way. I took a lot of pictures that night and I didn't discover this till I got home.

And a close up.....
I can't say what is but nothing even close to that - or anything else unusual even turned up that night.

If my fellow bloggers have any weird or unusual pictures of their own, post em!

Don't Know Much about History

But I do know that the Underground Railroad did not actually have train tracks....as our good friend and ghosthunter Steve did NOT on an older episode of GH. This episode revolves around another part of history, the Civil War.
Can I ride the train when we get there, Grant? Can I? Can I?

We don't have time to do any plumbing this episode, people. We're gonna get right into it. They're off to a place where spirits have been seen, including a little girl. It's the Thornbury Farm in Pennsylvania. It was built in 1709 and the Battle of Brandywine was fought on the property, apparently the largest land battle of the American Revolution. Surgeries were done in the house and an armless man has been seen in the house. Of course we also have footsteps that are heard and a young girl died there. She's buried outside even. One woman claims to have heard her moaning and it freaked her out so bad she left the house. There's another house on the property that used to hold soldiers and they think a prankster ghost hangs out there who moves tools and slams doors and funny things like that.

I don't think Jay and Grant find that amusing.

J & G start out in the main room and hang out and talk to spirits.
Do I see the you-know-what glowing?

Just about as soon as they start, the moaning starts. Yeah, the kind of moaning that would be MY cue to get the Eff out, but not my fellas. Nope, they're all on it and asking for it to happen again - which brings on footsteps from up above and more moaning. Up above them happens to be the little girl's room. They wonder if what they heard wasn't moaning but a child crying.

It must be J & G's night because they are getting all the love from the spirits. They go into the spring house with prankster ghost and the flashlight clipped onto Jay turns on by itself. Not only that, but once he takes it off and asks the ghost to do it again, it happens not only a second time on demand, but a third.

The guys say that it's a push button flashlight and also that in all the years of investigating, this light has never come on by itself. It's also hard to turn on at times and each time it's turned on, the guys touch it and it's ice cold. FUN!

Even the owner is impressed.

Added to the fun is that an EVP that sounds like a chuckle turns up while this is going on.


The second case is in Alexandra, Virginia at the Lee-Fendall House and G. Washington apparently visited there a few times. Jay can't make it on the case due to 'Family Obligations'. What about MY needs, Jay??

The house was used as a hospital during the Civil War and is now a museum. People heard a 1930's phone ring when there wasn't one. I don't know how they knew it was from the 30s but they did. People have felt a presence, heard people on the stairs, and a woman and a child have been seen on the servant stairs (which are tiny and freaking spooky!)

Grant takes Steve up to one of the room to some EVP and K2 work. They hear some creaking from a cabinet next to them when they start asking questions, and get some blips on the K2, but...................Nothing.

Tango and Kris also have a false alarm - thinking that a door opens on its own but then Amy and Britt fess up to using the door. Dangit!

Grant and Steve try to stir up some spirits in another part of the house but NOTHING.

Amy and Britt find that the EMF readings are pretty high throughout the house - which faithful GH watchers and Spooky House readers will immediately recognize as a.....................FEAR CAGE! They go in the cellar and find all kinds of exposed wiring.

Without Jason around to go snowmobiling or whatever, Grant decides to take a nap while helping to analyze the evidence......or lack thereof as it happens...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

In the end....
Lady, you have the Most. Boring. House. Ever.
But you know what, this is part of why I love my fellas so much.......sometimes nothing happens. At least we had fun at the first investigation. Here's hoping next week kicks butt!

DANG

So Papa Cash and I finally made it into this century and got a DVR. Yes, until about a month ago, I was either recording my favorite shows on my VCR or watching them online. Except American Idol. That one I had to tape because you can't watch it online. Because they are STINGES. Anyway....

At first I was just enjoying being able to watch my favorites and not have to remember to set the timer.....then it turned into adding shows I always wanted to see but would often forget about......then it very quickly spiraled into madness. I went from watching everything a day or two after I recorded it and kept the number of recorded hours of TV less than 3.

As of today, I'm up to 50 HOURS OF RECORDED TV.

And about 95% of those shows all revolve around the paranormal.

Partly to blame is the recent holiday weekend. Apparently Labor Day is the time that cable channels show every old episode of every show they have about unexplained phenomena. Who knew?

So a large part of those 50 hours are due to the marathons of Ghosthunters and Destination Truth. But I've also got about a half dozen other shows on there as well - all different that deal with the paranormal in some way or other. Let's take a tour of what's out there, shall we?

SyFy Channel
(Why'd they change the name from SciFi to SyFy anyway? DUMB.)

Ghost Hunters
My favorite fellas, Jason and Grant. I think it's become fairly obvious how I feel about these guys. Their influence on me is obvious when I watch other shows. I'm always wondering, where's the thermal imager, where's the tape recorder, the thermometer, the K2 meter? Not many shows hold themselves to the same kind of scientific standards that these guys do. And as far as I can see, they're the only show that tries to debunk things before they will accept them as evidence. And they NEVER freak out. It might have been the first ghosthunting show and it's still the best. New episodes are on Wednesdays. (You can also watch whole episodes on the SyFy or Hulu websites)
TAPS website

*Also, since I wrote this, I started wading through the 18(!) episodes of GH that the DVR had racked up in the last couple of weeks. Somewhere in there (probably the Labor Day marathon) SyFy showed what had to be one of the very first (if not the first) episode of GH. Interesting to see how the focus of the show has changed - mostly for the better, in my opinion. This show gave more backstory as to how Grant and Jay met, started TAPS, and showed them interacting more with the wives and kids - that was kind of cool to revisit what got Jay and Grant into this in the first place. (Jay also convinced Grant to leave his computer job to go into plumbing as well!)
What the show no longer features - and is MUCH better for it - is the 'drama' going on between TAPS members and their families. Examples include : Brian schedules TAPS to investigate places that are quite far away which require taking time off from work and away from their families; Brian doesn't label tapes; Brian is just generally annoying and Jay and Grant discuss how to get him to get serious and do a better job. Yeah, it mostly all involved Brian. It was almost like he served to be the creation of tension on the show. The show is SO much better now - now only has the equipment improved, but everyone on the show is a pro and it makes the show that more credible to feature a team that takes everything seriously and to keep the focus where it should be - on the Ghosthunting.
BTW- remember when TAPS was located in a trailer? Thanks, SyFy, for moving them into proper offices that they deserve.

Contest! Enter for a chance to join Jay and Grant at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado!
Chilly Tales
Also on this website is the book called Chilling Tales from the Porcelain Seat.....Jay and Grant provide commentary on real life stories about....plumbing. Published by Roto Rooter. I could not make this up, people.

Destination Truth
I'm fairly new to this show - I watched a couple episodes last year but homework interferred most of the time. They played every episode ever last Saturday and now they're all sitting on my DVR. I know that James recommends this show highly - and they seem to be pretty thorough investigators. Plus that Josh dude is kinda hot. I notice a trend of the SyFy channel to use sexy ghosthunters. Rock on! New episodes follow Ghost hunters and you can also watch on the Syfy website. Also - we have Ghost Hunters crossover! This week Jay and Grant helped analyze evidence and next week, Tango and Steve join Josh. Good times!
*See James's better review in the posts below*

Ghost Hunters International
I think how this works is that GHI is on when GH is on hiatus and vice versa. I have to admit, I've never watched GHI. I think a large part of that was due to Brian being on the show. If you've been a fan of GH long enough, then you know EXACTLY what I mean. Brian was an annoying f**kwad. He was more of a distraction than anything. I was ticked when Jay and Grant let him come back and we lost fifteen minutes of ghosthunting to watch Brian apologize for being such an ass to his GH comrades. I was all , Hello, this is Ghost Hunters, not Days of Our Freaking Lives. Then he left again to do GHI. I said Yay and never watched. I guess he's not on here anymore so I suppose I need to check this out when GH goes back on hiatus. *Full episodes available in the same places.

Lifetime Network:
Even Lifetime is into the act. The shows I am completely hooked are the two featuring Lisa Williams. I'm not sure why there are two shows - one is a half hour and the other is an hour. The Lifetime website is crappy and confusing - but there are a lot of clips that you can check out. Lisa is a clairvoyant medium and unless Lifetime has completely manufactured this show (which they have a disclaimer that they have not in any way) I totally believe Lisa is the real deal. Plus she's just completely charming and British to top it off. I recommend watching the clips and if you like what you see, set your Tivo - I end up with 2 hour long shows per week and 2 half hour ones. I don't even know when they record - they just show up.....whooooooo
Lisa Williams
Lisa Williams personal website

We TV
John Edward Cross Country
Poor John - I have been watching him for years - before I came to Milwaukee he was my Sunday night ritual. My mom's Malamute Nikita and I would watch him and share popsicles. I don't know what station John started out on but I think he was syndicated for a while....I think he got fed up with constantly defending himself that he wasn't a scam artist and left TV for a while. Then he came back to We television and this show. I'm not sure if they're still making new ones but my DVR picks him up once a week. Here's the TV website. It's kind of crap also.
John Edward
and
John Edward personal website

Travel Channel
Ghost Adventures
Another show that I am fairly new to. And tended to forget to tape until the DVR. If you like your ghost hunters to tease, yell at, and stir the undead up, this is the show for you. Although they do use the same kinds of equipment as GH, and tend to be taping things in different ways in multiple rooms. Oh yeah and these dudes get locked in for the night too. A spooky one for sure. Check it out on Friday nights.

Biography Channel
I know what you're thinking - the Biography channel? Apparently there are just so many people you can do biographies on before you turn to the paranormal. The Bio Channel has not one, not two, but FOUR freakin' shows about the paranormal.
Here's the website:
Paranormal Zone (lots of clips and some full shows here)
I just discovered this calvalcade of the paranormal a couple of weekends ago. I'm no expert on any of these shows but I did get a taste of all of them. Here's a rundown.

Ghostly Encounters: I think this might be my favorite of the bunch. It's a half hour show featuring a person or family who has a story or two about their experiences with ghosts, situations, or other things that can't be explained. I've seen two episodes, which are really just interviews with the people that are intercut with 'dramatic reenactments'. The things I liked about the show is that the people they interviewed didn't seem like cooks, nobody was overly dramatic, and their stories were interesting. It's like hearing someone's personal ghost story with added pictures and sounds. The one downside? The ANNOYING host. He doesn't even interact with the people telling stories. He just wanders around and gives narration. He doesn't even add anything to the story. I learned this quick and started to FF him. Yay DVR! This one I'd definitely watch again and probably set the DVR for.

Psychic Investigators: I also saw two episodes of this and I think they both took place in England. I'm not sure if this is originally a British show or not. It's kind of like a true crime show - they give you the whole background of the story - and then talk about how the psychics got involved and what happened from there. It's a fairly interesting show if not a little long - one hour per story so it takes a while for it all to unfold. I wouldn't program it into the DVR but I'd probably watch it again if I stumbled across it.

Haunted History
This one I skipped. I kind of feel like I've seen my fair share of these kinds of things - you have a famous location and then the stories around it. I'd rather see the actual investigations. But based on the other shows, if you like this kind of thing, it might be decent.

Psychic Kids.
Ooh Boy. Where to begin with this one......I watched an episode last weekend and realized that I'd actually seen it once before...and been completely irritated. I think it could be a neat concept and it MIGHT have some potential....but there are so many things that irritate me about this show that I don't know if I could watch it on a regular basis. The show involves two or three kids who claim they are experiencing psychic or paranormal things and want some help. We get their backstories and they get to talk to another medium and also a therapist. Their parents also get to as well. The therapist I found to be likable, the medium.....well.....he's sympathetic enough but he's a little melodramatic for my taste. On both shows, the kids and the medium investigate some house with a history of paranormal history. I don't recall seeing any kind of equipment or anything else that might help them to pick up temperature changes or any kind of evidence. It's all based on experiences, and the kids tend to get freaked out and the psychic tends to amp up the drama. I will say that on some level he does try to get them to deal with their fears - but he also lends a certain amount of hysterics to the production that I think are totally unnecessary and probably just serve to give this kind of thing a bad name overall.

If I happened across it, I might watch it, but I'd probably bitch the entire time. And some of the people (parents) are just dumb as hell. Some are sympathetic and really want to help and understand their kids experiences, but one mother on last week's show was just a flaming idiot, talking about her daughter talking to demons and dumb crap like that. I have very little patience for things like that. I like to see this kind of thing taken with a lot more seriousness and science in the mix. Watch this with a huge grain of salt.

It appears all these shows are on Saturdays.....check the website or Tivo and I'm sure you will find them.

and something bizarre on their website is the 'dead soulmate search' . Give a shot. My dead soulmate is Rudolph Valentino. Boom, BABY!

A&E
Paranormal State
This is a half hour show that is similar to GH except with much less charisma. It features the Paranormal Research Society of Penn State. So basically it's a bunch of college kids. The lead 'paranormal researcher expert' looks like he's about 16 and he tends to speak in an overly dramatic tone. I've seen one episode where they investigated a home where the owners felt freaked out in the basement. The daughter also sees a man in the backyard. They interviewed the family and then took a medium through the house. This was interesting in that the medium (who seemed on the up and up - not a mistress of theatrics like our friend in the previous show- and also not a college student) picked up in the basement a feeling of people being hidden till they could be moved and even suggested that it might be part of the Underground Railroad. She also picked up on a situation in the back yard shed a feeling of being a prisoner of another kind. The team found out through research that the house was part of the UR and that a woman had been murdered by her husband there. The medium also picked up on other details of the case as well. The woman who was murdered had actually left her husband and was hiding from him until he found her and killed her. The medium pointed out the similarities in the stories, which was interesting. So unless that was a complete fraud, I thought that was pretty cool.

Then they present all the info to the people who live in the house. Then they have 'deadtime' when they try to contact their spirits. The goal is to get the spirits to move on. Not much interesting here - the first part of the show was the most interesting.
The show is only a half hour, so they speed through things pretty quickly. And there are SO many commercials, I swear the actual show can't be longer than fifteen minutes.

They also have their own website.

Also on the website is an iPhone app for an EMF meter? If anyone has an Iphone, you'll have to download this and let me know how it works.

I may add this to my DVR but I don't know if the main guy would eventually wear on me. And also it might be the last thing I'd watch - I like the other shows more.

Well, that's all the shows I'm aware of. I'm sure there are more out there - and more to come. Eventually we'll get a show on the Food Network where Emeril cooks in a haunted house or we'll get mediums to psychically channel the recipes of famous dead people. Know of any more? Blog 'em, baby!

And if you've watched all of these shows and you're still NOT scared? Then you might want to check THIS out:
Scariest. Show. Ever.
Seriously, have you seen this mess?

Boo,
Mother Firefly

Destination Truth

Destination Truth

September 9th at 10/9c

I have always like this show, this starts the third season and I suggest getting your tivo ready. They have had some really good ghost stuff, check out the Mt Fiji one, where people commit suicide and they find a recent death. Jason and Grant from GH are going to join them this year on a couple paranormal ones, so should be good. Josh Gates, the host does the GH Live shows on Halloween.


"Led by intrepid world-adventurer Josh Gates, each episode of Destination Truth takes viewers on a trek across the globe as Josh investigates stories of the unexplained. Accompanied by his small crew, Josh dives into the local cultures and searches for clues to the existence of strange creatures and paranormal phenomena."

Back in the Saddle Again

Our TAPS boys are back with an all new episode this week….and it’s a doozy!

And not just because the new episode starts with …………..

PLUMBING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woman, I am trying to get my plumb on here!!!!

Kris has a case lined up in Massachusetts – it’s a residence and these people are all kinds of freaked out. On to the La Doucheur residence…..

Grant notices right away that the family is in the middle of renovations….and as we all know, HOME IMPROVEMENT = GHOSTS ARE PISSED

In fact, Mama LaD says lately activity has increased and gotten more physical. She claims to be sitting on the couch one day when it was hit hard enough to move. They have also heard loud bangs in the basement and her son claims to have seen a black shadow man that ran at him. Daddy LaD also says he’s heard growls by his bed and there’s been all kinds of crazy activity in the bedroom closet (which has a crawlspace).

Jay and Grant ask if they can get all up in the crawlspace and check that out as well..

You two can get up in my space anytime

Kris and Amy get down in the basement and have started doing EVPs for all of ten seconds when they hear a voice loud enough to be picked up by the GH film crew as well. They stop the tape and wait, whoa, one of the freakiest EVPs ever comes out…. PLEASE HELP ME

HOLD THE EFF UP!!!!

Amy thinks that maybe the entity was trying to reach out and make contact and possibly inadvertently scared the son. Can I just say right now that if someone on the other side ever needs my help, a good way to NOT get it would be TO CHARGE MY ASS IN A DARK CREEPY BASEMENT.

J and G head down to the basement and immediately identify that the loud banging sounds are due to the forced hot air system in the basement. Debunked!

They get out the nifty K-2 meter (I want one!) and start talking to the spirit. They have a fairly long interview with the spirit, which I won’t spoil for you here – you really need to check out this episode if you haven’t already. But here’s a little preview:

Am I the sexiest TAPS member? Light up once for yes

Just kidding….the questions are actually of the more serious variety and we find out that the spirit in the basement is kinda scared of this other ‘thing’ in the house. It also says that it comes in through the crawlspace……so J & G immediately decide to go on up (where as I would be getting out the bricks and mortar and SEALING THAT MOTHA UP)

J & G get into the crawlspace and immediately think they hear a growl. Of course, like all good ghosthunters, they immediately start taunting the mean spirit to get it to react. All of a sudden Grant’s camera goes dead and Jay’s left calf gets cold….then hot……and then bam

YEEEEEOUCH!!!

But J & G take the whole incident with a ‘Is that all you got, Beeyotch?” and decide what is in the house is just a mean old spirit that wants to scare people, not an inhuman entity.

You mean I got a demon wanna be up in this motha?

In the second investigation, TAPS also visits the Brentsville Historic Center in Virginia. Some dude meets J & G and tells them all the stories about the place, like faces in the window, a male voice that says mean things, and mists.

We also learn a new ghosthunting term, the ‘funhouse effect’ which causes disorientation due to crooked walls and/or floors. J & G hear some knocks above them and ask the spirit to knock again if it doesn’t want them there – and then they hear more noise above them.

New Ghosthunting tool – just lift up your Grant and rotate him to look around in high spaces.

This investigation wasn’t as crazy as the first one – but they find a couple things, so it’s worth checking out.

I’d also like to recommend an episode from last season that’s still available on Hulu.com. It’s called Titanic Terror – I didn’t review this episode but it was the best from the first half of the season by far. Watch it soon – only about 5 episodes are available at a time – so it’ll probably be available for another week or so.

Mother Firefly

Haunting In Connecticut

I didn't care if I saw this movie but somehow it ended up on my netflix list anyway. I didn't care if I rented it but somehow it ended up in my home. Go figure.

I decided to include it here because I'm not going to write a review of it (like I would on my other blog) because to me, the movie was really not worth writing a review. It's not a remake, it's not a sequel, it's a story about a haunting that has a somewhat original story, but I kind of felt like, so what. Although the dead people/ghosties with no eyes are somewhat freaky. AND I am a fan of Virginia Madsen and Elias Koteas. I guess there are worst ways to spend an evening (I'm Not There or The Boring Life Of Benjamin Button, for example) but it was just okay for me.

What I did enjoy (and recommend) are the extras. I had the same experience with that dumbass movie a few years ago with Michael Keaton seeing and hearing ghosts in the TV. Movie- dumb. Extras - kickass. I bought a digital recorder for my EVP work because of those extras.

Here's a rundown.

Two Dead Boys: The Making of the movie: Your normal behind the scenes stuff. Not one of the extras I loved, so skip it unless you really want to know how they got all those words on the fake corpses.

The Fear is Real: Investigating the Haunting:
One thing I didn't know before is that this movie is based on a true story. So right away I wanted to google the real skinny on the family. but I didn't have to, since a very long and pretty thorough documentary on the family is included. The basics of the film are true to the family's story. The oldest son had cancer, they needed to move closer temporarily to his hospital, they rented a house, it turned out to be an old funeral home, and lots of bad shit happened. The 'bad shit' part is where the moviemakers take a lot of artistic license. Although, after listening to the family, whether I believe them or not, I think their actual story would have made a much scarier movie.

I'll save the details so you can hear the story for yourself. Do I believe it? I don't know, but I think they certainly believe it. (However, I did think 'FEAR CAGE' once or twice and then silently fist bumped myself during the interviews)
And I think it's totally possible for certain people to escalate a situation beyond what everyone else would normally encounter. By that I mean, I think some people are just able to draw negative energy to them. I have known people like this and I'm very glad I don't know them any longer. (And keep an eye out for the part where something falls off the wall...not gonna say any more than that but I did have the shiverty- jibberters after that)

Anyway, I'm surprised people across Lake Michigan didn't hear me groan when they got to the part of the story when Ed and Lorraine Warren got involved.

I could probably start another blog about how much and why I hate Ed and Lorraine, but I also found out during this documentary that Ed is no longer of this mortal coil as of the last three years, and I think Lorraine is probably too old to be of much annoyance anymore.

Ed and Lo always described and advertised themselves as professional 'demonologists' and were the caretakers of a museum filled with possessed and/or evil items they had collected. Oooookay. My favorite being (and visible in this documentary!) a Raggedy Ann doll in a glass case with a 'DO NOT OPEN' warning on it. I saw this show, people. It used to be on every week in the 80s and it was called Friday the 13th:The Series. And it was FICTION.

If you want to believe that Raggedy Ann has a case of the boogada boogada and is going to make you sick, or make you fall down the stairs, or make your BF break up with you, then fine. Because you know what, if you believe it hard enough, it probably will. But I'll bet you fifty bucks that I could break that sucker open, take it out, give her a big hug and sleep with her for a week, and I'd still be alive, healthy, with zero broken bones AND still have a BF at the end of the week.

Back to Ed and Lo-Lo.

They just.....bug me. If you google them online, I'm sure you can find equal stories either singing their praises or debunking them as scam artists. All I can say is they have never sat well with me. They always felt .... like hysterics.

In this story, however, we have the actual people involved working with them calling them cooks and accusing them of profiting from cases like this. You'll see when you watch the documentary.

So I thank the paranormal gods for real paranormal investigators like our good buddies J & G, and other people out there who certaintly want to find evidence but at the same time try to debunk any event they can.

Oh yeah, and once Ed said that within his lifetime there would be 'undeniable proof from the heavens' that demons existed. Looks like that prediction worked out well for you, Ed.

Anatomy of a Haunting
More info from paranormal investigators and some discussion of the actual 'Entity' case. Which I believe Ed and Lo-Lo-bo-blow-fee-fi-mo-mo got their pudgy fingers involved in as well. Because well OF COURSE they would. But the documentary just focuses on what this particular investigator found during the case. I have my own thoughts on the Entity case but some other day. This is an interesting docu as well.


Memento Mori
The History of Post Mortem Photography

A few years ago I accidentally (I swear) wandered into a display on photography of the deceased. It was in a small museum that I didn't plan on going to, and up till that point in my life I had no idea that people used to do this. I found it fascinating and creepy all at once. This is a short docu but a nice explanation and history from someone who has studied the phenomenon. (and lots of examples)

So rent this, watch the movie or don't, but definitely check out the extras. Share your thoughts on cases like this one (publicity stunts?) and what you think of Ed and Lo-Lo-Banarama Ding Dong.

Mucho Love
Mother Firefly

Ghosthunters go Bowling

It’s the fifth episode of GH….and we’re going bowling!! But not until after………THE PLUMBING IS DONE!!!! For the second time this season, we’re treated to J & G on the job. Does Jesus love me or what, folks???

This time, G carries the emergency TAPS phone…..

Just a faulty gas valve…

Kris tells them about Belcourt Castle in Rhode Island.

J is all Hells to the Yeah, I can make it home for dinner!

Turns out TAPS has investigated this place before….about ten years ago.

I would pay good money for J to come in my house and listen to my paranormal stories with that look on his face.

Charles the Caretaker says that new things have happened since the boys have been there and they’d like them to check it out again. Chuck says he and one of the owners saw a ball of light in the dining room and distortions in the mirrors.

Uh…just as Chuck proclaimed that a HUGE flash of light followed by thunder that shook the house happened…..SPOOKY

Chuck also says that there’s a statue of a monk and there’s been a man in robes seen in the house….and some dude tells us about seeing the image on a TV monitor but then it disappeared. We also have a haunted suit of armor that supposedly turns its head and chairs that give off electricity. We also have a dude who saw the ghost of one of the owners at his funeral. Apparently when TAPS investigated ten years ago, this owner was still alive, so the boys are hoping to get in touch with him.

G thinks the big challenge is knowing what entities are in the house…are they the ones that have been there for years or are they the former owner?

J & G set out and hear footsteps right away….as they follow them they start getting action on the K2 meter and then J captures this on the thermal…

It appears to be a footprint that moves away from them as they move towards it…then it disappears.

much more impressive on TV..

Our favorite comedians Dave and Tango investigate…when Tango announces that he was told he was related to Alexander the great! Which has what to do with anything, I don’t know. They also check out the monk statue.

CREEPY WITH A CAPITAL CREEP.

Then they hear a loud noise above them – Tango goes upstairs and Kris and Amy are up there bumping into chairs. Dangit!

Back to J & G…who keep hearing footsteps, this time in the former owner’s bedroom. J tries to make contact with the K2 meter. J starts talking about the owner and what a great guy he was. The meter lights up and J asks it to do it again, which it does. He asks it to light up the meter if it wants him to leave, and it goes nuts.

Here I am backing away slowly.....

Dave and Tango decide to have fun shining the laser pointer on the chandelier. Dave starts doing some weak beat and Tango finds he can’t help himself.

The first and hopefully the last time we ever see popping and locking on GH.

In the reveal, they show Chuck the thermal and an EVP that may have someone saying ‘yes’ to the question ‘do any of these things belong to you?”

J&G declare the place ‘haunted’ just like they did ten years ago.

Now it’s time for bowling!

They’re told than an employee quit the bowling alley because he felt someone breathing on his neck. Someone else reports breathing noises in a storeroom. Another employee says that a ball was returned through the machines when they were turned off. In the back where the pins are, employees talk about hearing children’s voices and other odd sounds that don’t belong back there. This all comes directly from people that work there, they all sound like the place freaks them out.


J & G decide that the best way to catch ghosts in this place is to play pool. so they set up the K2 meter and rack em up.G points out that they get some activity but it's not much and it's pretty random.

Now this is what I call ghost huntin'!

Then when that doesn't work, what's the next logical step? That's right, go bowling.

Take the skinheads bowling, take them bowling!

They bowl and get the same results- random flashes on the K2 meter. They also notice that when they shut off the lanes, balls still continue to come through the device. They debunk this as faulty equipment.

And our good friends Dave and Tango end up debunking the 'being watched' feelings at the counter when they discover crazy EMF readings and what do you know....

an electrical panel! Can you spell FEAR CAGE, boys and girls?

J & G decide to check out the closet where noises and 'sighs' are reported. My boys are in this room about all of two seconds when they figure out that ........

TADA! FAULTY PLUMBING! in the form of a leaky flapper. Which is making the 'sighing' sound.


Just lemme fix this shizzle right up....Hee hee! they thought the toliet was a ghost!!!

So this brings us to the reveal. Which is really not much of a reveal at all. Except to say that there's explanations for just about everything and they found zip to suggest that anything paranormal is going on.

Basically, you got a bunch of sissies working for you.

Not much else to do at this point but......
That's right! FIST BUMP! And we're out....

EVP'S - One.
Creepy Monks- One
Thermal Footprints that move- One
Footsteps: Tons
Debunked bowling ball machines;One
Fear Cage! - One
Toliets that Sigh Like Dead People: One
and.....most importantly
Plumbing done: TWICE!
Join in me doing celebratory plumbing cartwheels as we get ready for the next episode of GH!