ArtRojasDesign

For this episode, we head out to Arizona to the Jerome Grand Hotel, which is actually very exciting for me since a very good friend of mine lives in Arizona and we’ve been to this hotel. Ironically, we had no idea it was haunted. Too bad we missed out on that opportunity. I’m hopeful I can get back there sometime next year so we can have a look around for ourselves. For now, we have the SAGAPS team and the Living Proof of the Paranormal investigating this old mining town to see what they can come up with.

I have to admit a touch of disappointment that Chris Fleming is once again a judge for the challenge. I just can’t get behind his methods or interpretation. However, for this episode he seemed much more controlled and analytical about the results.

So how did the teams do? They both seem pretty calm and confident as they make their way around the site. There isn’t the usual swearing, yelling and confusion that so many other teams have displayed. In fact, compared to the chaos other teams cause these two seem positively sedate. Both teams walk into a room and listen and get a feel for it. They don’t just go in and ask a string of questions without waiting for a reply then storm out when nothing happens.

When it comes to the evidence however, I don’t think either team captured anything solid and in fact we see one of the blunders where a member of the team captures their own voice and mistakenly thinks it’s an EVP. It’s not a horrible mistake and we’ve seen it happen a couple of times. But, it does go to show that you have to be extremely careful with EVP sessions since any noise, whisper, rustle or footstep could be misinterpreted and considered evidence. The other audio evidence the teams present are unfortunately pretty weak as well. It’s really hard to make anything out of those noises. I’m not the only one, the judges aren’t on board with them either. As far as the visual evidence, I agree with the judges and believe the photo evidence to be nothing more than matrixing. I don’t see the head in the doorway and the face in the FLIR just isn’t good enough.

There were a lot of scraping noises, some rumbles and other bumps going on, but there is nothing to say those were paranormal. It could been the building settling, the wind (as they say there was a breeze), people walking around or something more earthly. They were certainly worth more investigation,but for now they don’t lend themselves to evidence of the paranormal. Since it’s a hotel, this would have been a prime opportunity to stay the night in the haunted rooms and collect evidence all night long. Two suicides took place in room 32 so spending the night in there could yield all sorts of interesting results.

These were some fun teams to watch and presented themselves in a calm and collected manner. I liked the Solo Cam where we see Jim from SAGAPS take the bull by the horns and step into the elevator shaft to look for Claude Harvey. He’s not skittish, he’s not jumping around at every sound he hears and doesn’t seem nervous at all. I think that’s impressive as hell. It’s kind of dangerous, but full marks for committing himself to the challenge.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Paranormal Challenge – Eastern State Penitentiary – S01E02
• Paranormal Challenge – Ohio State Reformatory – S01E04
• Paranormal Challenge – Waverly Hills Sanatorium – S01E06
• Paranormal Challenge Ohio State Reformatory S01E03
• Paranormal Challenge – La Purisma – S01E09
• Ghost Adventures – The Stanley Hotel – S04E05
• Haunted Towns – Bisbee Arizona – S01E05
• Paranormal Challenge – Western Virginia Penitentiary – S01E05
• Paranormal Challenge – Linda Vista Hospital – S01E10
• Paranormal Challenge – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E07

For this episode we head off to California to investigate the USS Hornet, a Navy ship that found itself in the middle of dozens of conflicts, caused the death of many enemies while at the same time driving its own crew to the breaking point. The crew faced death and destruction on a daily basis and for some it was too much to bear. Some say members of the crew never left and their energy can be felt in multiple parts of the ship. So how did the teams do in their handling of the ship and collecting evidence? In many ways, this was a very interesting episode with some solid investigation and understanding of the equipment and location. On the other hand, we see some of the classic problems we’ve seen before.

First off, I’m just going to come right out and say that Dante from the Soul Seekers is an asshole. I don’t know why he feels that going on a ship and acting like he’s the biggest, baddest man around is going to get him anywhere. His constant yelling was distasteful and annoying. Perhaps a little respect is in order? Why do all these people feel you have to be combative in every situation? Dante is yelling and saying he needs to see their power while in the very next breath he’s saying “Thank you sir” and “Can you do this for me please, sir?” You can’t go running around acting like a thug one second and then wash it away by saying “sir”. What the hell kind of process is that? It makes you look like a damn fool.

What about the evidence? There is sure to be a lot of talk about the flashlight going on and off by itself. Well, this is a trick we’ve seen for years and it’s no more spectacular now than it was three years ago when Jason and Grant of the Ghost Hunters started doing it. Sure, it looks like the flashlight is responding to commands, but if it’s the old ploy of unscrewing the bulb then it really isn’t that exciting. The results look great, but you can manipulate them by bumping it or stomping around. It is a pretty cool piece of evidence, however I’ve seen this done before and I just don’t put any faith in it. It’s a little too “delicate” for my liking.

The other big piece is the Morse code that blasts out of the Mel Meter. The interesting part is that the Mel Meter isn’t known for making those kinds of sounds let alone in that pattern. It’s very exciting that you can clearly hear what sounds like Morse code coming out. It would be hard to say it’s anything else. Do we really have a coded message from beyond? I don’t know, but I’d love to see them go back down there and keep working on that experiment.

As far as the gals from SRIP, I’m glad they had enough common sense to not show more evidence of dust floating around. We’ve seen all that before, we don’t need anymore. Unfortunately, the teams are still committing the error of capturing themselves on audio as an EVP. They swear up and down it’s not them saying anything, but when you match up the audio with the video footage you can see them talking or more to the point whispering and they get all excited that they captured evidence. This proves something I have believed and said many times, EVPs are interesting, but they are so very subjective that for the most part they should just be discounted.

I really wasn’t all that thrilled with this episode. I think the Soul Seekers team acted like a bunch of juvenile thugs let loose on a ship. Their style of dress, talk and attitude all suggest “gangsta” rather than “investigator”. I think there is a lot more potential in this show and I wish they would live up to it.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – USS Hornet – S04E08
• Paranormal Challenge – Rolling Hills Asylum – S01E01
• Ghost Asylum – USS Edson – S03E01
• Ghost Adventures – Nevada State Prison – S12E10
• Ghost Encounters: The Queen Mary
• Paranormal Challenge – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E07
• The Exorcist Files – Infestation – S01E01
• Paranormal Challenge – Jerome Grand Hotel – S01E12
• Expedition Unknown – Captain Morgan’s Lost Gold – S01E07
• Paranormal Challenge – Eastern State Penitentiary – S01E02

This was an absolutely horrible episode showcasing two teams that in my opinion have no investigation skills whatsoever. They acted like a bunch of kids running around in the dark, making a ton of noise, running from room to room without any sort of plan of how to capture evidence. They were juvenile, they were scared, they were annoying. This was nowhere near as bad as the previous episode, but I was so close to switching this episode off and saying forget it. Neither of these teams has any credibility with me.

Verify Paranormal acted like a bunch of drunken college kids running around a supposed haunted dorm. There was no method to how they investigated, they never stopped sit and listen to their environment, they didn’t do any EVPs (at least that they showed) and by the end of the show they were acting like a bunch of 8 year olds. What the hell is with walking around with pantyhose on your shoulder?

Also, what in the hell is wrong with their team member Scott who freaks out for no reason and starts running down the hall screaming for things to leave him alone? What the hell kind of investigator is he? This is on par with the Brian Harnois, "Dude, Run" fiasco of years gone by. If you’re that damns scared of the dark, don’t go hunting for ghosts.

I also have a serious issue with David sticking his hands in the human remains in the crematorium. Those are human remains, show some @#$%ing respect!!!

Paranormal EXP didn’t bring much more to the table. They seemed confused by the equipment and didn’t spend any time taking EVPs or trying to understand the environment. There was constant talking amongst themselves and at no point did it even seem like they were doing an investigation. It was more like they were wandering through an old building to get to somewhere else. They may have been a little more mature than Verify Paranormal, which isn’t saying much, but they didn’t convince me they knew what the hell they were seasoned pros at this sort of thing.

At the halfway point, I was ready to give up. I completely disagree with Dave and think these two teams are dreadful. They’re scared of everything and act like everything is a complete joke. It was a chore to watch the second half.

I thought the evidence they presented was crap. They had a couple of odd clanging noises and a reflection. I guess I should be happy, at least they didn’t show any orbs or capture themselves talking into the recorders.

This episode sucked. It was amateur hour on every level. The only redeeming part was Dr. Michael Shermer who gave both teams a false story about the hospital’s past. I thought that was a great experiment. It seemed like Verify Paranormal feel into it a little bit though. I’d love to see some more of that.

It’s disappointing this show is so hit or miss. Once again, I thought things were getting better and then we run into the pure sewage that was the last episode and then the waste of time that this episode turned out to be.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Paranormal Challenge – Western Virginia Penitentiary – S01E05
• Paranormal Challenge – USS Hornet – S01E11
• Paranormal Challenge – Old South Pittsburgh Hospital – S01E08
• Paranormal Challenge – Rolling Hills Asylum – S01E01
• Paranormal Challenge – Ohio State Reformatory – S01E04
• Paranormal Challenge – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E07
• Paranormal Challenge – Waverly Hills Sanatorium – S01E06
• Ghost Adventures – Linda Vista Hospital
• Paranormal Challenge – Eastern State Penitentiary – S01E02
• Paranormal Challenge – La Purisma – S01E09

I’ve been quite lax in getting around to watching this episode and after only 20 minutes it was obvious I didn’t miss anything. I should have known by the abysmal names they chose of Paranormal Hot Squad and Ghost Bros that this episode would be on downward spiral. And seriously, who the hell invited Freddie Mercury to the investigation?

The guys start of by saying they plan to kill the women. What in the hell is that all about? The Indians were the victims here, what are they thinking? The ladies are no better by the constant antagonizing, screaming and taunting. What spirits are going to come out for this band of assholes? Why do they think going around being idiots and disrespecting everything will lead to results? It obvious everyone wants to talk to a loud, obnoxious, foul-mouthed bitch.

After 20 minutes of the investigation I was done. I hate these two teams and both of them are embarrassing. They should be ashamed of the way they acted and I can’t understand why Paranormal Challenge even aired this piece of crap. The whole thing comes across as the start of a low rent horror flick. It’s sad and pathetic. Regardless of whether or not this place is haunted they need to show some respect for the dead. They also need to show some respect for a place of worship. None of this is suitable behavior for a church.

Just when things were started to get better they bring this band of morons into the mix.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Paranormal Challenge – Linda Vista Hospital – S01E10
• Paranormal Challenge Ohio State Reformatory S01E03
• Paranormal Challenge – Rolling Hills Asylum – S01E01
• Paranormal Challenge – USS Hornet – S01E11
• Paranormal Challenge – Jerome Grand Hotel – S01E12
• Paranormal Challenge – Western Virginia Penitentiary – S01E05
• Paranormal Challenge – Ohio State Reformatory – S01E04
• Paranormal Challenge – Eastern State Penitentiary – S01E02
• Paranormal Challenge – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E07
• Paranormal State – Supernatural Seduction -S05E05