Ghost Adventures – Amargosa Opera House – S04E11

Zak and the team head out to Death Valley to investigate the Amargosa Opera House, an old borax mining town that has all but disappeared off the map. It was started in 1923, but now boasts 3 full time residents which isn’t surprising since it’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s an isolated spot so the town had to be self sufficient.

Like most towns of the period it was pretty rough and dangerous. There were plenty of fights and murders and working conditions were pretty bad. Not only was the borax toxic, but the heat would hit 130 and simply make life miserable. Not an easy way to make a living by any stretch.

As they’re doing the walkthrough the employees are very proud of “Spooky Hollow” which is the non-renovated section of the hotel. They claim murders and hangings took place in there. They also say they see shadows, apparitions, that people get touched and there is even a spirit they call Boss Man who was hung but still lurks around the place. They go so far as to say the more bravado you show the more likely you are to get groped. Good thing they brought Zak along!

In the hotel they claim to have multiple rooms with paranormal activity. There are claims of orbs, voices, children crying, and even that the spirits try to channel through the guests. Clearly, the owners and employees think there is a lot going on.

Before things get started, Zak takes a moment to point out that they’ve taped off the location and turned off all the power to the building so as to eliminate as much noise contamination as possible. I find this interesting. I guess I’m not the only one who’s been complaining about that.

As things get started, Zak is trying to bring out the spirit of the Boss Man, by using some provoking. At the same time Aaron is talking about making some repairs to the place and if the spirits want them to leave. Right at this time there is the sound of a rock falling and Aaron soils his pants! I mean he is literally jumping around trying to decide which way to run. Damn Aaron, calm down! It’s the wrecked part of the building, that sound could have been anything. Even still, with all the investigations he’s been on you would expect at some point he would stop acting like Scooby-Doo.

They continue their investigation by going into the supposedly haunted rooms. While there, they claim to get multiple EVPs. They also claim to get nauseous and that their energy is being drained. At one point Zak says he can’t move and feels frozen. Shortly after, he is sitting on the bed coughing up a storm and goes so far as to say it’s not his voice that’s actually coughing. That’s just an odd statement to make no matter how you look at it.

While sitting in the rooms they keep pressing for EVPs and claim to get all sorts of responses. Quite frankly none of the responses seem to make any sense in regards to what they’re asking. But they can get excited over them if they want to.

The big evidence of the episode is the image of a person Zak catches in the thermal imager. Everyone is beyond excited over this evidence, even the guys they take it to for analysis. Everyone claims that since Zak made the same motions and swept the imager over the same area and didn’t catch the figure again, it must be paranormal. To me, that just means whoever made the original reflection moved and didn’t get caught again. I don’t really think this was a big deal. It could be a neat thing, but how can you say that was anything more than just a heat reflection?

The guys, and the owners, firmly believe this place to be haunted by all sorts of things. But again, I’m not thinking they really captured that much. The figure in the thermal imager is about the best they came back with and that is hardly proof of anything. Maybe they did capture something, must they just took a picture of themselves. Maybe there is something to the activity, but when you take a step back this seems like a way to drum up some business for an out of the way hotel that has way too many vacancies.

I wouldn’t mind paying the place a visit, but I wouldn’t expect anything too dramatic to happen.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – The Stanley Hotel – S04E05
• Ghost Adventures – Old Town San Diego – S05E03
• Ghost Adventures – Valentine’s Day Special – LongFellow’s Wayside Inn – S04E18
• Ghost Adventures – Maysville Slave House – S04E25
• Ghost Adventures – Mizpah Hotel – S05E02
• Ghost Adventures – Hotel Leger – S16E05
• Ghost Adventures – Crazy Town – S07E13
• Ghost Adventures Hales Bar Marina & Dam – S04E24
• Ghost Adventures – Winchester Mystery House – S12E11
• Ghost Adventures – Sacramento Tunnels – S04E23