Ghost Hunters International – Port Arthur Penitentiary – S02E10

GHI continues with more investigations in Australia with a stop at the Port Arthur Penitentiary, a prison for British and Irish inmates. (As an aside you have to laugh at Barry and Paul’s reaction when they hear about the British and Irish ties) Apparently the paranormal activity here extends back to the 1870s. People see apparitions, have been touched, hear footsteps and have encounters on a regular basis.

When Robb, Ashley and Brandy are in the room of Reverend George they hear distinct footsteps above them. Of course there is nothing up there. Good thing it’s a calm night, no wait, it’s windy so that noise could be just about anything.

Paul is doing an investigation and the door keeps opening on him. We know it’s windy so there really isn’t much to that occurrence.

In the cell of John Gould, Brandy asks for John to come and make his presence known. She then feels something touch her and the word "Okay" later shows up on the recorder. Quick grab the thermometer! Oh wait, you left it in your other ghost hunting pants.

Again in the surgeon’s quarters, Barry hears a very loud bang. Again, it’s just the wind, but it does prove that people can hear and feel things that are nothing more than the wind. And when you already have it in your mind that a place is haunted you can really begin to believe anything.

In the same place, Barry is lying on the slab where the doctor perhaps did some unorthodox dissections. Joe says he is recording wild temperature fluctuations, but again, we don’t see the meter to confirm that. Additionally, as Barry is getting ready to leave he feels someone touch him across the shoulder blades.

Another piece of evidence is in the Commandants room where the bed curtains move suddenly. They only move once, but this could easily be a draft caused by someone opening a door in another part of the prison. A slight fabric flutter is nothing to get too excited about.

The big piece of evidence is the figure Barry caught on camera. While doing a 30 second exposure Barry captures a rather clear looking figure standing next to the building. I do agree that under normal circumstances a moving object won’t show up on an exposure that long. If anything the camera would record a blur in that area or something that might look like a haze. I’m not saying they did, but it wouldn’t be hard to artificially create a photo like this. However, it is pretty cool.

The final two pieces are the "Get Out" that is supposedly spoken as they’re talking to the inmates and the words "Payback" as Robb is talking in the surgeons quarters.

A lot of the evidence is pretty easy to debunk. We clearly know it’s windy so things moving, rattling and even the sound of footsteps could easily be attributed to that. Brandy feeling light headed when talking to John Gould can be the power of suggestion since he was convicted of doing some bad things to children. That can easily play on the mind. The temperature fluctuations weren’t actually shown to us and I always discount the EVPs now days. Those just don’t sound like anything and are too easy to recreate artificially. And shouldn’t these EVPs have accents?

The picture Barry took is really the only impressive thing they got. Personally I feel it would be very easy to recreate a picture like that, but if we go out on a limb and believe in it, it’s pretty interesting.

Robb of course says the place is haunted so I’m sure that’ll help tourism.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Hunters International – Quarantine Station
• Ghost Hunters International – San Lucas Island – S02E12
• GHI – Tasmania/Malaysia – Tasmanian Death Sentence
• Haunted Collector – Spirits of Gettysburg and Headless Horseman – S03E06
• Ghost Adventures – Upper Fruitland Curse – S14E08
• Ghost Adventures – Poveglia Island
• Ghost Stalkers – Holmesburg Prison – S01E04
• Ghost Adventures – Old Fort Erie – S04E12
• Ghost Stalkers – Springfield State Hospital – S01E02
• Ghost Hunters International – Duran Sanatorium/Rose Hall – S02E13