Paranormal

Ghost Adventures gets renewed

Published April 9, 2010 | By RottenOne

And Ghost Stories set to premiere in April

The Travel Channel has renew Ghost Adventures for another 26 episodes and they’ll be bringing a new show to light, "Ghost Stories" which will be hosted by Jay Thomas which is inspired by real-life stories.

Formed from the merger of Michael Yudin’s MY Entertainment and Cary Glotzer’s Tupelo-Honey Prods. in early 2009, the shingle has drawn renewals of "Ghost Adventures" (26 episodes for the Travel Channel) and "Pros vs. Joes" (eight episodes for Spike).

MY-Tupelo’s scripted debut will be "Ghost Stories," which Travel picked up for 16 episodes and premieres in April. Jay Thomas will host the program, inspired by real-life stories.

MY-Tupelo scores orders

Interview with Josh Gates of Destination Truth

Published April 7, 2010 | By RottenOne

Here’s a very interesting article about Josh Gates and Destination Truth. He answers a lot of questions about the show, the places he’s been and why he does what he does. Plus he gives a little detail on why people keep disappearing off the show.

One thing that really strikes me is his passion. You can tell from the show and from this interview that he has a passion for travel and wants to immerse himself in other cultures. And since every culture has their own myths and legends which guide and shape them as a people, it’s really fascinating how Josh can bring that all together in an exciting and intriguing way. It’s funny, he sees the show as more of a travel show with a paranormal edge. I feel the same way.

Of course, they didn’t go into his luck with vehicles which still intrigues the hell out of me.

Check out the interview, it’s a great read!

Destination Truth – Jersey Devil/The Yeren S03E12

Published April 4, 2010 | By RottenOne

Was it just me or did anyone else think the helicopter Josh ordered up was going to have to make an emergency landing in the middle of the night in the middle of the forest?

The Jersey Devil

Josh and head team head to Pennsylvania to track down the mysterious Jersey Devil. Plenty of people claim to have seen it and their descriptions make it out to be a winged beast with glowing red eyes.

I have to admit I was a little taken aback by the fact that the forest the Devil apparently lives in is over a million acres in size. It’s a bit surprising anyone has seen anything in a strip of land that big.

But after doing some "antiquing" at the local Jersey Devil souvenir shop the team heads out with Kris Williams of the Ghost Hunters to survey the land to see what kind of terrain the Devil lives in. And what should they find out in the woods? You guessed it, a bunch of guys dressed in what looks like Civil War reenactment garb, hanging out by the campfire, singing songs of the Jersey Devil. Undaunted, Josh joins in with the merry band, fires off a few shots from a rifle and hands out bottles of wine. The Destination Truth team knows how to party. And they know the right supplies to bring on a camping expedition.

Obviously no investigation that night, but in the morning the team heads out by motorcycle and kayak to scout for additional locations of where the Devil may be lurking. They find a decent spot and set up base camp.

The thing I find funny is that while on the investigation Kris Williams seems completely clueless as to what’s going on. She has no idea what Josh is doing, or why, and seem rather bewildered. Basically, she’s just along for the ride. At least she didn’t go hunting for a couch.

But it’s not the time for any old investigation, Josh wants to survey the forest from the air via the use of a helicopter he’s arranged. Considering his usual luck with vehicles, this sounds like a great idea. Josh and Kris go speeding through the forest to get to the helipad and low and behold almost crash headlong into a deer. Josh just barely escapes what would have been a massive accident. I saw the whole show flash right before my very eyes!

Undaunted, Josh takes to the air to survey the forest, while Ryder shimmies up an old abandoned fire tower. Again, how could this possibly be a bad idea? At the top of the tower, Ryder sends up the Bat Signal to guide Josh to their location. Oddly, as Josh is making a sweep there is something moving around in the trees. Josh captures it on the thermal, marks the coordinates in the GPS and then tries to track it down by foot.

Meanwhile, back at base camp, something is captured on the night vision camera flying along the treetops. The team spreads out to see what they can find. They don’t see it again, and don’t get any thermal hits.

The night vision images don’t yield much, the flying object isn’t discernable and they really can’t make out the size or shape. They do some more tracking but aren’t able to capture anything solid. They do find some random bones which Josh takes back with him just in case.

The bones he finds are from a deer, which could be what people are mistaking the Devil for. And even the evidence they managed to bring back from the Jersey Devil museum doesn’t yield any results. A fun night in the woods, but no real explanation of what’s happening.

Could the Jersey Devil just be a deer that people narrowly miss on a dark and lonely road? Are the screams and howls just the coyotes off in the distance? Is the flying creature just a large, or perhaps not so large bird hunting for prey at night?

Without any hard evidence, I guess the mystery continues.

The Yeren

A Chinese cousin to Bigfoot lurks in the cold mountains and an official search has been sanctioned by the government. Josh and team mount up and lend a hand to find evidence of the beast. And for this trek they bring back Jael to help with the investigation. As Josh says she’s a better researcher than she is a baggage handler and chaos ensues at baggage claim.

Next up is a trip to the doctor for Gabe and a little acupuncture. Stick him like a voodoo doll and light him up! Nothing like some electricity to soothe the back.

With Gabe on the mend Josh visits with a witness who claims to know exactly where the Yeren lives. He even claims to have hair samples from the beast.

Armed with what they feel is the home of the Yeren they head up the river and entertain themselves with their own makeshift KunFu movies.

Of course the best line of the whole show comes when Mike says, "No one’s better at almost finding monsters than us!" That totally took me by surprise. But just when you thought it couldn’t go off the rails any more, Evan speaks Goat Chinese. No wait, I take that back, it gets worse when Josh starts playing with a slingshot and shoots Bobby in the head on the side of the mountain. Damn, the air must be thin up there!

No wait, it really does get worse as Josh finds a fireworks stand in the middle of the night and buys the biggest container of fireworks I’ve ever seen! It’s the size of a small fridge! Without wasting a second he heads out into the middle of the street and lights it on fire! Run like Hell!! And that’s why I watch this show!

The next morning Josh sobers up and hikes up the mountain to the Stone Forest, the hotspot for the sightings. They make base camp and head out on a sweep. In short order Josh and Jael find a cave and as you might expect, Josh doesn’t hesitate to go down the creepy dark tunnel.

Rex, Bobby and team find trampled trees and then something crosses the perimeter alarm. The team scrambles to the location, racing over the rickety bridge and chasing down a thermal hit along the ridge.

Hot on the trail, Josh tracks down a great big pile of … scat. So much so that Mike is afraid of it.

But things start getting slick and Josh nearly falls in the river. With that, the investigation comes to an end and Josh heads back with the evidence collected.

The thermal hit is too blurry to be of use and the fecal evidence is degraded. Unfortunately they don’t come away with much. They might have been chasing something down in the forest but who knows what it was. They never really got close enough to say what it was if anything.

At least for now, the Yeren will still remain elusive.

But as Mike says, they’re the best at almost catching monsters.

Has Ghost Hunters Jumped the Shark?

Published March 31, 2010 | By RottenOne

I was reading this article the other day talking about whether the Ghost Hunters have jumped the shark. If you recall the original Happy Days episode where Fonzi literally jumps the shark it was because they wanted to add something breathtaking and exciting to the show. It was so over the top as to grab people’s attention and get them talking. It was a springboard if you will, and Happy Days went on for several more seasons.

Laura makes a good point that jumping the shark is to break up the status quo, to shock the audience and do something wild and different. And if Ghost Hunters have indeed jumped the shark what wild stunt did they do it with? What have they done to shake up the entire foundation of their show? By that definition they haven’t done anything. The first step toward shaking things up would be to get off the couch. I’m not sure when this couch sitting started, but it’s gotten out of hand.

To shake things up perhaps they could stop saying they will leave if something paranormal happens. I thought the whole purpose was to document and thereby perhaps explain the paranormal. If you keep saying you will walk out if apparitions appear what exactly as you accomplishing again? "Oh yeah, the place is riddled with spirits, but when they showed up we took off. That’s why we’re the Ghost Hunters."

I’ve also seen several comments stating people want the old Ghost Hunters back. Which old Ghost Hunters do you actually mean? The Ghost Hunters from Season One, or the beat Brian Hornois era, with surly Jason who basically used everyone as a whipping boy and brow beat them as he saw fit? Watching people fight over the proper way to roll up a cable is great fun.

Or the Ghost Hunters from Season Two, the Pick on Donna era, where Donna took the brunt of the blows and Steve did his darndest to try and find a spot within the group. It’s always a thrill to watch a group try and make one of their look like an incompetent ass. Let’s tune in for that!

Or would the Old Ghost Hunters be the team from Season Three where they seemed to really get into the swing of things, with Steve constantly showing his air of superiority and constantly picking on Tango?

And let’s not forget the whole Brian is on the show, Brian is kicked off the show melodrama we had to deal with. As well as the ever rotating crew of people who came in. Remember the drama at Eastern State with Brian and Brian? Do we really have to put up with Kristyn who is basically just as ill tempered as Jason. Remember her in the 2008 Halloween Special? And all the other random one hit wonders which have made their way onto the show.

Or how about Season Four where Ghost Hunters went Hollywood and started spinning of new franchises and declaring every location paranormal regardless of what happened there?

Going by the definition of Jump The Shark, I agree with Laura that Ghost Hunters hasn’t done anything spectacular or memorable in years. I was entertained by the show because I looked at it as an offbeat travel show. They go to odd and creepy locations all over the country searching for spooks and specters. Who wouldn’t want a job like that? The show was exciting because they were excited, they were enthusiastic about what they were doing. I thought the best part was their debunking of noises, creaks and groans. They could sit and explain how the pipes were causing the banging, the house shook because of traffic outside, shadows appeared because of the way headlights could cast a reflection. That was really interesting and entertaining to watch. Plus, the whole ambiance was neat; sitting in the dark waiting for a spirit who might be lurking somewhere.

But all too quickly the arrogance level went through the roof and the show wasn’t fun anymore. They’re boring and tuning in has become drudgery. They’re ready to give up too quickly and the investigations seem short. Do they even investigate from dusk to dawn like they used to?

So which Old Ghost Hunters would I prefer? That’s a hard question considering what we have to choose from.

ArtRojasDesign

The paranormal. The strange. The unusual. The bizarre. The unexplained. The mysterious. The truth.

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Ghost Adventures gets renewed

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Interview with Josh Gates of Destination Truth

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Destination Truth – Jersey Devil/The Yeren S03E12

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Has Ghost Hunters Jumped the Shark?

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