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The investigation continues as we make our way to Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River and the real Graveyard of the Pacific. Zak is here to investigate the North Head Lighthouse that overlooks Deadman’s Hollow, a colorfully named area of the shore, where some unfortunate sailors were caught after their ship sank. People still claim to see the crew of the vessel.

The lighthouse is of interest because of the death of the first light keepers, Alexander and Mary, who were affected by a dark force. Mary “fell to her death” and mystery surrounds whether that was suicide, murder or accident.

While talking to Barbara, we clearly hear from Mary herself that she stopped taking her medication and wants to get better. She has done wrong in the past, but wants to make amends.

Psychic Wendy says she feels negative energy and that Mary and Alex didn’t get along. She also claims there is something in the forest, something very old, and ties that to a Native American influence. When in doubt, make it about the Native Americans.

At the end of the interview, Wendy claims Alex is in the house. When Aaron checks it out, he gets “you’ll see”, “someone coming” and “need to know” on the recorder. Zak believes these foretell of dangerous events that will unfold.

Zak speaks with Jeff at the Maritime Museum, who shows just a smattering of the ships that have been lost in the area. He also makes reference to the Native Americans and spirits that haunt the area.

As they gather their thoughts, Jay explains there used to be 16000 Chinook Indians in the area, but disease and other behavior have displaced them all.

While they’ve brought up some interesting stories, and there is always a good ghost story be had when a lighthouse is involved, Zak glosses over and ignores key pieces of information.

Mary admits she stopped taking her medicine. What that might be, we never heard. It could be related to a mental disorder or a terminal disease. But, Mary makes the conscious decision to stop taking it. Ignoring free will, this is dark energy at work.

They also make mention of Mary, “trying to do better.” Again, this could mean anything. Given the time period and belief system, she may been punishing herself for saying the wrong thing to a neighbor. She may have been punishing herself for being neglectful of duties around the house. She may have even been berating herself for not having children.

Fact is, these items are taken completely out of content and do not suggest a dark and sinister force at work unless you impose that. Maybe something did go wrong, or perhaps Mary did take her life as an act of desperation regarding an illness she could never defeat. Or perhaps on a terrible night when the wind and rain lashed against the lighthouse she suffered a horrible accident. It doesn’t sound like there was some sort of dark demonic force or ancient tribal retribution at work though.

But that doesn’t stop Zak from saying that Alexander is channeling through him, which causes Zak to throw a meter across the room as they review EVP evidence. Zak then storms out of the room, claiming he is filled with anger and agitation.

Ironically, they claim, “this isn’t like you at all,” when we have clearly seen Zak do this dozens of times. He has a fit, claims something has taken over him, gets mad, threatens the crew and storms out. This is exactly like Zak.

As the investigation starts, we once again see Billy lose his freaking mind because there is equipment failure. As a supposed audio engineer and as someone who has been in this situation more than once, you would think he would be both technically and emotionally capable of handling such glitches.

While chaos ensues and Billy complains, Zak is off in the corner channeling Alexander again. He claims to see Mary and tells her, “Don’t cry, and don’t tell me to calm down. Do you understand, Mary?” “You’re not gonna tell me that.” “Get up.”

Zak then turns on Jay yet again, this time for asking questions about Mary. They are getting too close to the “truth” and the Alexander spirit is trying to silence them.

They then go into the bedroom and capture a stick figure on the SLS camera. Billy gets a blip on the Tri-Field meter when Zak claims the stick figure jumps into Billy. Oddly, Billy is completely unaffected and doesn’t resort to threatening people or throwing things around.

Zak then claims he sees a dark, shadowy figure right as a door starts to swing closed. Or rather just swings as it doesn’t actually close because there probably wasn’t enough of a breeze to finish the job.

Not content with just a stick figure, Zak claims there is a “creature” with a tentacle arm reaching out for Jay. Clearly another desperate attempt to weave in some Cthulhu.

Finishing at the caretaker’s house, they head to the North Head Lighthouse itself to see if they can unravel the mystery of Mary’s murder, which isn’t a murder at all.

Jay brings out an old Zenith radio, which is actually pretty darn neat looking, and spins through the channels as Aaron asks questions. At one point, they tune into a beeping which Zak claims is a residual distress call.

The big “reveal” of the night comes at the end, as Aaron and Jay sit at the top of the light and ask how Mary was killed. They get a faint and staticy, “accident.”

While a lighthouse above “Deadman’s Hollow” on “Cape Disappointment” gives every impression of being haunted and creepy, we clearly have far more legend than evidence or common sense.

It makes for a lonely and engaging ghost story, but there is nothing to suggest anything sinister about this light house, or some vengeful connection to Native America culture, dark energy, or murder by throwing someone off a cliff.

All we have is poor Mary admitting she would like to do better in her life and making a decision to stop taking her medicine. Again, that medicine could have been Heroine, Morphine or some other opiate making her dependent on it. We have a huge amount of conjecture, rumor, speculation and good old fashioned wishful thinking going on here. Zak merely wants Alexander to be guilty of murder and tossing his wife over a cliff.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – Wolf Creek Inn – S15E13
• Ghost Adventures – Reseda House of Evil – S13E04
• Paranormal Lockdown – White Hill Mansion – S02E08
• Ghost Adventures – Mackay Mansion – S13E02
• Ghost Adventures – Point Sur California – S07E03
• Ghost Adventures – Museum of the Mountain West – S15E10
• Ghost Adventures – Black Dahlia House – S12E01
• Ghost Adventures – Sin City Exorcism – S15E15
• Ghost Adventures – Texas Horror Hotel – S10E11
• Ghost Adventures – Winchester Mystery House – S12E11

The paranormal investigations continue along the Graveyard of the Pacific, with Fort Stevens and the Commander’s House as the next location. At the Commander’s House, employees claim there is an older woman ready to push people down the stairs and materializes to float above the floor. At Fort Stevens, a mysterious death may have it’s root in something sinister.

Within the house, Zak speaks with Barbara, who has felt a presence. She also claims that while on a narrow and twisting part of the staircase, she felt as though something was trying to push her down the stairs.

Bob adds to the mystery by saying that while working in the basement he felt a tingle and saw a vaporous apparition floating in the space.

While looking over the top floor, Zak and team believe they get “Zak” on the digital recorder and the word “One”. To prove their is an entity, they show off their watches, (which can also get a pulse from a banana) to prove their hearts are racing. Further, they show off Jay who has a red mark as though he has been “slapped.” If you look at the other side of Jay’s face, you will see the same sort of mark which looks to be indicative of windburn, not bitchslapping by an unseen force.

They next head to Fort Steven, and meet with Jeff, where they hear of a murder where a soldier was beaten to death. Zak makes the connection the soldier was killed by a spirit because the military wouldn’t a let murder go unsolved. I believe Zak has a slight misunderstanding of the rules of conduct for 1868.

To add to the spirit angle and the presence of dark energy, they meet with Jennifer who claims she saw an angry male spirit just a few minutes before. She now claims it’s down in the tunnels with Billy and Aaron, who without knowing what Jennifer said, claim they see a man. Alas, said man isn’t captured as evidence.

They split the investigation into two parts. Zak and Aaron will investigate the Commander’s House, while Billy will venture into the tunnels of Fort Stevens.

As we have seen in previous investigations, Zak sees light orbs, which foretell of the dark energy. Zak then heads to the small cubby where he got a voice previously and claims to hear the voice of a little girl. On the Ovilus, the words, “Choose, Near, Please” appear, which Zak takes to mean he needs to pick a stuffed animal. They also claim to get an EVP of “Nanna.”

But things are a little chaotic as Aaron is having both a panic attack and a coughing fit. It appears that while on the stairs, something touched Aaron on the back, and he felt as though it was trying to push him down the stairs. Standing on shaky stairs in the dark might cause that kind of reaction.

After the hysterics are over, they notice a couple of the lights in the room a flickering very faintly. Some might call that bad wiring or perhaps a dimmer switch malfunctioning, but to Zak, this is a manifestation of spirit energy.

Meanwhile, back in the tunnels, Billy is losing his mind. Although nothing has happened, no man has appeared, no spirits have jumped out to try and bludgeon him to death, Billy is terrified. The sounds of noises echoing off the walls has put him on edge. It is an old tunnel with the sound of the water nearby and the rush of the wind. But, Billy’s mind is playing tricks on him and he can barely set up his equipment because he’s freaking out. Even though he does, no evidence from the Fort is captured.

In the main house, Zak decides he will take up the entity on it’s offer and will choose a doll. When he asks what will happen when he does, he gets the word, “Shove.” Not only does this conveniently coincide with Aaron saying he felt pushed, Zak sees more orbs in the room.

Zak then asks what the entity doesn’t like and gets a response of “Everything.” This is followed by more light flickering and what Zak says is a little girl asking “which room” when he asks what’s inside the room.

Although they don’t capture any tangible evidence, Zak claims there is an entity as ancient and deadly as the sea itself.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – Reseda House of Evil – S13E04
• Ghost Adventures – Mackay Mansion – S13E02
• Ghost Adventures – Kennedy Mine – S16E03
• Ghost Adventures – Wolf Creek Inn – S15E13
• Ghost Adventures – Eureka Mining Town – S15E14
• Ghost Adventures – Astoria Underground – S16E10
• Ghost Adventures – Asylum 49 – S14E11
• Ghost Adventures – Winchester Mystery House – S12E11
• Ghost Adventures – Heritage Junction – S09E06
• Ghost Adventures – Pythian Castle – S15E11

Continuing their tour of the Graveyard of the Pacific, our next stop is the Norblad Hostel, where there are claims of demonic attacks. The Hostel used to cater to an unsavory crowd where violence was common. It’s now been turned into a more upscale establishment, but since it connects to the, “Underground”, it’s loaded to the gills with evil.

We hear from Aaron, an ordained minister and tattoo enthusiast, who claims he was attacked by a demonic force. Aaron knows it was a demonic entity because of the nauseating smell. That sort of smell in an unkempt basement full of trash and water damage means a demon lives there. Additionally, he felt pain in his back, like a hand around his spine. Further, the demon caused nightmares and made him wake up in the middle of the night.

Not only did the demon ruin his sleep, it caused Aaron financial trouble, caused his mother to get pneumonia, and flooded his home. Interesting mindset here. Living next to a river and getting flood damage is caused by demonic forces. Like Zozo or the Brownsville Rd demon, when things go wrong, blame something demonic. “Oh nay nay! I’m the victim here! A demonic force is responsible for these events, not my ridiculously poor planning and life choices.”

We then have an encounter with wandering street vagabond, Robin, who appears out of nowhere to say there have been murders in the Underground. How does she know? Because it’s a port town. Duh!

She then talks about Satanic worship, because that’s the sort of thing that happens in tunnels. Duh!

Then, before dropping the microphone and making her big exit, she claims she knows things which would get her killed if she talked about them.

Casting mental health aside, they are desperate to make another connection to Lovecraft. Grasping, they bring up a story where a woman exposes a secret society. She then goes mad from the knowledge and the fact she is being hunted. Well, at least got the “madness” part right.

Even the owner of the Norblad feels the place is haunted because one night, he got a chill on his back.

But, the person who really knows what’s going on is June. She is a Demon Seer, which gives her the ability to see, talk with, understand, and even remove demons. The demon removal portion of her business card is a little lacking since she claims one is still lurking in the corner of the basement.

To prove she has the “sight”, she takes Zak down to the basement, to the corner, where a dark portal somehow manifested and the demon stepped through. Although demons speak in Aramaic, if Zak holds her hand, he will feel and understand this one.

June explains that Zak was meant to come there, meant to understand demons do exist and they are real. They can and will try to hurt you. One cue, Zak gets a jolt and pulls his hand away from June.

Good thing June is a translator for the demonic, as Zak asks questions and June translates the answers. She explains it wants to inflict pain and suffering. And cause financial ruin, because demons are all about the Benjamins.

When finished, June declares she needs to take away the “sight” she gave Zak. No one should be able to see what she sees unless they have what she has. And again on cue, Zak says he feels ill and unsafe. This leads to Zak jumping a car and driving away. Zak certainly runs away from his problems a lot.

But he thinks better of it, returns and has June take away her powers. This involves June placing her hands over Zak’s and standing in silence, for 10 seconds. Her powers are so mystical they defy words.

The investigation starts off with the usual act of cowardice from Zak as he sends Aaron into the basement alone. With Aaron down there, the Ovilus at HQ gives off the words, “Unholy, Sacra Res, Slain.” This basically means the Ovilus spews out words at random from any location whenever it’s on.

Aaron places the microphone near the corner where the demon has been told to stand and gets the sound of a female voice. This is followed by Aaron acting all manner of confused and disoriented. A few minutes later though, he’s perfectly fine and operating the camera as usual.

While investigating, Zak finds a set of stairs that he says are drawing him in. As he gets there, he claims a rock is thrown. This is soon followed by another. Ignore any idea of debris falling from the sheer amount of crap down there.

At the same time, we have a whole series of camera malfunctions. This causes everyone to lose their minds, especially Billy who stomps his feet and acts like a child who’s taken a dump in his pants. He loses his temper at the devices shutting off. Instead of going, “Wow, these devices are turning off because of an unseen force.” It’s “These device are turning off, I’m being mocked so I have to blame someone and kick their ass for it!”

Putting his rage aside, Billy remembers that he needs to feel sick and prove this demonic entity exists by claiming he has back pain. To give further credence, the SLS camera flashes a stick figure on the screen. This is good enough for Zak to say the entity is walking down the stairs to confront them. Although he never actually shows up.

The episode wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have Zak lashing out at his crew, then blaming the whole thing on the evil entity. It should come as no surprise this coincides with the Talking EVP showing the malevolent words of “Disembodied, Unholy.”

These personal experiences are enough to convince Zak that evil lurks in the “Underground”, even though he admits to never capturing any evidence of said entity.

Now that the episode is over, June can work her magic and get on with the demon removal part of her schtick and save the town. She hasn’t done anything up to this point just to build dramatic tension.

Lovecraft never meant to create a canonical Mythos but rather intended his imaginary pantheon to merely serve as a background element.
At times, Lovecraft even had to remind his readers that his Mythos creations were entirely fictional.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – Witches in Magna – S14E09
• Ghost Adventures – Pythian Castle – S15E11
• Ghost Adventures – The Domes of Casa Grande – S12E09
• Ghost Adventures – Palace Saloon – S13E03
• Ghost Adventures – Golden Ghost Town – S15E01
• Ghost Adventures – Wolf Creek Inn – S15E13
• Ghost Adventures – The Exorcist House – S08E07
• Ghost Adventures – Eureka Mining Town – S15E14
• Ghost Adventures – Hauntings of Vicksburg – Demons and Dolls – Part 2
• Ghost Adventures – Nevada State Prison – S12E10

I’m a little behind on the uptake, but Zak and team are back with investigations along the Graveyard of the Pacific. This will include several locations along the Columbia River in Oregon. The first stop is the Astoria Underground, which is a series of maze-like tunnels that were build to replace the wooden stilt-like structures that kept the town above the rising water levels. In 1922, the town caught fire causing massive damage because of the wood supports. Now the tunnels are a dumping ground for debris and detritus.

Right from the start, Zak refers to the tunnels as, “That’s where the secrets are kept,” and “Dark and oppressive forces that linger in the underground.” To prove his point, he speaks with Ross, an investigator who claims he captured something on camera. He chased a dark mass into the underground and his proof of it’s presence is the sound of knocking.

Zak then relates the story of Bunko Kelly, a man who kidnapped people and sold them into slavery, also known as the act of “Shanghaiing.” This fuels the dark energy of the past.

To get a glimpse of that dark energy, they meet with Diana, who shows them into the tunnels from an access point in her shop. She is quick to say, “I know someone died here. It’s what I feel.” While some would have a few choice words for her zoned out behavior, Zak says the tunnels are affecting her.

We then have a series of bizarre and rather nonsensical connections between Astoria, HP Lovecraft and Diabolus Rex of the Church of Satan.

Zak tries to contact Grant Cogswell, who filmed “Cthulhu” in the area a decade earlier. When the connection won’t establish itself, Zak chalks it up to a paranormal influence. The story is a little hard to follow as Grant claims there was a curse over making the film which ultimately bankrupted him, ruined his career and forced him to live in Mexico for a decade. The subpar rating had nothing to do with the situation.

It also put him in contact with Diablous Rex, who liked the idea of the story and Lovecraft and wanted to invest in the film. These connections feed the dark energy. If that sort of random connection were valid, wherever Stephen King sits, is the most haunted place in the universe. It’s hard to understand what point Zak was making here.

Zak then claims he and his crew are working under a similar curse when Dakota and Bacon get stuck in an elevator at the hotel.

With all that behind them, it’s time to start the investigation from two points. Zak and Jay enter the tunnels from the Liberty Theater, where Ross claims he saw a dark figure. Aaron and Billy enter from the butcher shop where zoned out Diana claims murders took place because she can feel it.

At the beginning, Zak hears bangs and says something rushed at him. Luckily there are two dust particles to support his claim.

In a long, echoing chamber, Aaron and Billy hear talking. As Aaron is on edge, a bug zips passed his head and he nearly soils his pants. This is followed by a bang. A bang in a corridor filled with crap of every description. Even Billy thinks it’s a piece of wood that fell over.

As Zak explores further, he finds a set of stairs. Like in so many other episodes, he becomes confused and disoriented, saying there is a force surrounding him. He grabs the Ovilus device and gets the words, “Mad, Ashes, Up” which refers to the fire and the city burning to ashes up above them.

On the other size, Aaron again feels something against him, which he thinks is a rat. Once more, they are thrilled to find dust particles circling about to coincide with the event. Ironically, Jay and Aaron admit, “It’s not that there’s something paranormal, it’s the feeling you get from being there.”

Zak brings out his digital recorder and somehow hears the words, “fight me” as a response. He then claims to capture a bloodcurdling scream, which sounds so very much like a crow. When asks, “What did that scream mean?” He gets a response of “Release, Known, Empath.”  Since Zak now claims he’s an empath, the spirit is looking to him for release. Or it was a crow.

In adding yet another half-baked experiment to their bag of tricks, Billy pulls out his phone and Bluetooth speaker. He’s going to use Aaron’s phone to call his phone and play it over the speaker. With all this exciting wireless and EMF activity, it’s a conduit for spirit energy and they can contact the spirit world.

It clearly works as they pick up what they claim is a girl’s voice and someone saying, “We can talk back.”

Because of this staggering evidence and the fact Jay fell in a hole while wandering around in the dark, Zak is convinced they have documented enough evidence to validate the dark shadow figure.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – Commanders House – S16E12
• Ghost Adventures – Kennedy Mine – S16E03
• Ghost Adventures – Eureka Mining Town – S15E14
• Ghost Adventures – Witches in Magna – S14E09
• Ghost Adventures – Nevada State Prison – S12E10
• Ghost Adventures – Lewis Flats School – S16E08
• Ghost Adventures – Hotel Leger – S16E05
• Ghost Adventures – Idaho State Reform School – S17E01
• Ghost Adventures – Mackay Mansion – S13E02
• Ghost Adventures – Reseda House of Evil – S13E04