Haunted Collector – Haunted Mansion and Ghost Mill – S02E01

Haunted Mansion

The previous season of Haunted Collector had a lot of promise, but so many of the ideas and conclusions didn’t gel with me. There were massive leaps in logic and a habit of making the evidence fit with a pre-determined outcome. Overall it was still interesting and some of their debunking procedures were right on the mark. I’m willing to give the second season a look, but after just the first episode, I see some things haven’t changed.

We start off by visiting a home a Warsaw Kentucky, where the owner has claims of doors opening, shadows and vases being knocked off display cases. There hasn’t been any contact or other physical encounters, but the owner senses something and wants John to look into it. Ok, fair enough, she has quite a few Native American artifacts so there is validity to her concerns.

Brian and Chris start off with some excellent investigation into the shadow and how that would be caused by the lights off in the distance. John and Jesslyn do some great work in the bedroom by showing the display cabin to be unbalanced and simply walking around can cause things to shake. People forget just how easy it is to make furniture and display cases shake. Sure, they weigh a ton if you straight lift them, but once in place, they’re not always as sturdy as they appear.

Still looking for root cause, John has an EVP session with Charlet. She seems to be the focus of the energy and intent. They get what sounds like “oh my god” and in the tone of child’s voice. There is also a lot of activity on their new “rem pod”. They had previously brought out a bone, which looked to be human and got a massive temperature change. However, the change was coming from under the table. Not to mention there was a fireplace a mere four feet away from them. Yes, the temperature drop was noticeable, but are we sure it wasn’t a draft from the fireplace? The house sits right next to the water and is over 200 years old. No draft in a place like that? No cold air blowing off the water?

There is conjecture that the bone may have come from a child, perhaps a victim of the riverboat accident that took place right in front of the house. Two steamers collided and dozens of lives were lost. Are we sure this is a child’s bone? It’s not like they took it to a lab and did any sort of real testing. They did have someone come out and look at it, but that’s hardly the same thing. Next, that’s a big leap to say it’s from a drowning victim. That’s based on one sound heard from one EVP. The conclusion is made before any additional investigation is done. In fact, John and the team hardly investigated the place. One random sound you think is a child’s voice and the place is haunted? Easy now, let’s not jump the gun or anything…

And supposedly when the bone is buried out in the backyard again, all the problems go away. Ok, two of the main issues were debunked with no evidence to support any of the claims and then a bone is buried in the yard supposedly bringing peace and rest to a lost girl. It wasn’t shown there were any paranormal claims in the first place and now there is no activity? Again, they’re forging links that I don’t think go together.

Ghost Mill

John and the team head out to Huron, Ohio to investigate an old Mill that’s set for demolition. There are claims of the little manholes being opened, objects moving, cries from the tunnels and banging. Ok, first of all, it’s an old building that’s coming apart, of course there will be bangs and noises. Second, it’s near the water and the damn thing is constructed like a wind tunnel, things getting blown open seems perfectly normal. The wind whistling through the air vents would sound like screaming (we’ve seen and hear this sort of thing dozens of times). So overall, all of this sounds pretty normal to me. But John heads out to see what he can find.

They do try to make things pretty dramatic with the blood on the hard hat. That’s transmission fluid. It’s viscous and red and would be in tons of the old machinery. Again, making something out of nothing for dramatic effect.

It doesn’t surprise me at all that there would be deaths associated with the Mill. Working conditions would be poor and owners care more about profits than lives. Accidents would happen and considering the size of the place, it would be easy for people to fall or get injured by the machinery. However, I highly doubt the story of the person being walled up in the silo. That story has come up so many times. Every time you investigate a mill you hear that story. It’s just as cliche as a worked being walled up in a house during construction. Could something like that during the time? Absolutely, but I really think those stories need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Finally, we have John bust up some rocks and find a lunchbox. Very typical for the area and doesn’t really prove anything. The scalping knife is extremely interesting as a relic and I agree, it’s probably killed some people, but I’m sure it was scooped up in the dirt used for the concrete or was churned up when the site was being planned. I don’t think it has anything to do with the Mill itself and is simply there. Not every place has to be haunted by the spirit of Native Americans you know. When we step back for a minute, they didn’t find any evidence, they didn’t capture anything visual or audio, they had no experiences and just happen to find some relics in the debris. Again, some interesting stretches to make it all fit.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – The Copper Queen Hotel and The Oliver House – S06E03
• Haunted Collector – Firestarter and Haunted Museum – S02E10
• Haunted Collector – Bare Bones and Octagon Haunting – S02E08
• Haunted Collector – Stirring the Dead and Ghost Writer – S02E06
• Haunted Collector – The Sanitarium & Firehouse Phantom – S01E04
• Haunted Collector – Hulbert House and King House – S02E02
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Seminary and Ghost Games – S03E11
• Ghost Adventures – Winchester Mystery House – S12E11
• Ghost Hunters International – Port Arthur Penitentiary – S02E10
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Bayou/Library Ghost – S01E01