Haunted History – Katrina Cannibal – S01E08
This is the bizarre tale of one couple that manages to ride out the perfect storm of the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans only to be victims of a murder suicide as soon as the water subsides.
The case focuses on Zach Bowen, a rather mild mannered young man who meets Addie Hall and the two ride out the hurricane together. They hunker down in the French Quarter, which has a slightly higher elevation than the rest of the city and through luck no harm comes to them. For a short time they have the run of the city. Everyone else, including the police have evacuated out of the city. So quite literally they are a young couple with complete run of the city. From the pictures they’ve found and the testimonials, it would have been a pretty spectacular atmosphere.
But then things take a turn for the worst and Zach is found dead from a suicide jump. In his pocket he’s left his military ID tags and a note. The explains that he couldn’t live with what he’d done. Turns out, he murdered Annie at least a week earlier. But it’s not just that he murdered her, he took things to a very dark level. It’s possible he was still sleeping in the same bed with the corpse of Annie and may have even had sexual relations with her after she was dead. It was also clear that he cut up her body where some of the pieces were found in the fridge, some cooked in the oven and her head in a pot on the stove. This comes from the detective that investigated the house. This isn’t rumor. This is from the man who was on the scene first. It looks like Zach may have actually been eating her. At the very least he’d gone off the deep end with trying to get rid of her body.
While this is an extremely unfortunate set of events, it can easily be explained as far too much indulgence while no one was looking. They had the city to themselves. They were obviously partying, so it wouldn’t be a stretch at all to throw in some drugs to explain his behavior. They had the run of the city, who knows what they broke in to while no one was looking. But after a fight, Zach strangled Annie and then took his own life several days later.
But it’s not a wild and overindulgent mix of drugs and alcohol that caused Zach to act out, many people he was in a state of demonic possession.
New Orleans is a very spiritual city with deep ties to both Christianity and Voodoo. Many people there have a very personal and intimate relationship with the sprit world. Several people, such as Alyne Pustanio, believe that since there was no one to watch over and tend to the spirits, that they began to attach with and feed off of those who were left in the city. She feels a demonic force got inside of Zach and caused him to commit this terrible crime without even realizing it. Then, he may have been forced to take his own life. She firmly believes he was under the control of demonic forces.
Now that is certainly a different take on events. It wouldn’t be the unsanitary conditions of the water or food, nor would it be the intake of alcohol and quite possibly drugs, nor would it be the feeling of complete freedom and lawless because only a handful of people were in town, that caused Zach to act out. It was his close proximity to the spirit world that made him a victim of dark forces.
There is no doubt Zach turned wickedly evil and acted in a way completely outside his character. From the writings he left on the wall and the vicious way he treated Annie’s body he was dealing with some sort of "demons". He was out of control, but does that mean he was under the control of something else? Did his time in the military and memories of the war, for which he purposefully worked to get him thrown out, finally catch up with him and he became entrenched in some sort of survivors guilt? If he was so on the brink in his personal life, why would he work so hard to survive his hurricane only to kill himself once he knew they would all be safe?
It is indeed a puzzle and clearly something set Zach off. Was it really the spirit world of New Orleans? Did something dark seek him out since there was no Voodoo priest to keep the spirits under control? Or did he simply drink to excess? Did he experiment with drugs that never should have been combined?
It’s a grim story of a young couple that stared down the barrel of devastation and for a short time, came out on the other ride unscathed.
Haunted History Katrina Cannibal on Amazon Instant Video
Other Articles of Interest:
- Paranormal Lockdown – Rampart St. Murder House – S02E10
- Haunted History – The Manson Murders – S01E01
- Paranormal State – Night Terrors – S04E10
- America’s Most Haunted Town
- Ghost Adventures – Route 666 – S13E06 – Part 2
- Paranormal State – The Lurking Man – S05E09
- Paranormal State – Do Bad Things – S05E10
- The Zozo Phenomenon by Darren Evans – Review
- Ghost Lab – Episode 3 – Chicago/New Orleans
- Haunted Histories Volume 3
Ghost Adventures – Missouri State Prison – S08E04
Ok seriously, the theatrics have got to stop they’re annoying the shit out of me!!!
For this investigation the guys visit the Missouri State Prison which was dubbed the Bloodiest 47 Acres in History. Prison shouldn’t be a cake walk, but that seems pretty desperate. The prison was extremely violent with plenty of inmate violence as well as sending 40 prisoners to the gas chamber. It’s also reported that an epidemic of some sort broke out at the prison and the hundreds who died where simply buried in a mass grave. That gravesite now has a parking lot over it. The prison was also known for it’s "Dungeon" level where prisoners where actually tortured. They were beaten, whipped, "water cured", chained up and left in total darkness. This does sound like a pretty damn brutal place.
While they capture the usual evidence of bumps, bangs and crappy EVPs, it’s the conversation they have with the Ovilus. Billy and Jay get a slew of very usual words like talking to the prisoners. For example, they get, Reverend, Information and Jesus. Then comes Change and Bible. This is followed by Demon. When Zak and Nick come back after their investigation it continues with Will, Twist, Men, Apart and See, Nick. I’m not really a fan of that box, but wow, that is a ton of words and some really usual ones too. The See, Nick is really odd since that happens right after Nick actually walks into the room.
Zak claims to feel all sorts of pains and sadness while down in the lower part of the prison and there is the sound of footsteps and banging all through the place. Hard to say what’s going on with those, but it is a prison, it’s creepy, it’s dark, so who knows.
The EVPs were quite weak and faint. Unlike the first episode where they seemed really clear, I couldn’t make out a single word from any of them. I don’t really agree with the "I ain’t breathin" that Zak hears as his chest is hurting, nor do I agree with the "Sorry" in the gas chamber. They just come across too garbled for me.
The final piece of evidence is something flying across the screen. It looks like some sort of spinning or twisting orb. It is odd, but I don’t know if it’s really "orb" evidence.
For this episode, the Ovilus is the most interesting. That is just a ton of words. Perhaps they’re completely random, but if not, it comes across as a very odd message. It could be taken as someone looking for redemption. They might be in trapped in Purgatory with the demons. It certainly paints a grim picture.
This prison sounds like a pretty heinous place and perhaps things went a little overboard during it’s day. I don’t know if there are trapped souls or not, but if there are, that is a pretty awful place to end up.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Adventures – Alcatraz – S08E08
- Ghost Adventures – Wyoming Frontier Prison – S07E18
- Ghost Stalkers – Holmesburg Prison – S01E04
- Ghost Asylum – Missouri State Penitentiary – S03E04
- Ghost Adventures – Lechtworth Village – S05E06
- Ghost Adventures – Nevada State Prison – S12E10
- Ghost Adventures – Central Prison Unit in Sugarland Texas – S07E01
- Ghost Adventures – Washoe Club and Chollar Mine
- Ghost Adventures – Loretta Lynn’s Plantation – S05E06
- Paranormal Lockdown – Shrewsbury Prison – S02E02
Ghost Mine – Return to Darkness – S02E01
So the crew is back together as Patrick and Kristen investigate the Crescent Mine to try and uncover further paranormal activity. When we left last time, the mine shaft had collapsed and brought things to a halt. When they get back, it’s pretty obvious someone has been there. Several feet of the mine have been dug out and there is plenty of evidence of pick marks and someone working. This of course makes me wonder if this person is responsible for some of the goings on from last season. Word is out about the mine that’s for sure. This sort of makes me think of the old Scooby-Doo episodes of the haunted miner that is scaring everyone away so he can keep the gold to himself. Is someone playing on this paranormal angle to try and drive everyone away?
As far as evidence goes, Patrick and Kristen capture what they believe is an EVP saying "Yes" when asked if it’s bothered by the miners being there. They also capture what could be a shadow figure on their IR camera. It’s hard to say if that’s a shadow or just an odd way the trees form. Plus, we only get the single picture, we don’t see any baseline photos or photos taken of the same spot the next night. That’s kind of a bummer.
While out at night they also do some EVP work while using an old pickaxe as a trigger object. They get some movement on the K2 meters when they ask if the miners being there is bothersome. They also get some hits when asked if the entity is a miner. The motion detector goes off as their talking as though it’s picked up someone. But all this activity happens each time they ask if the entity is bothered by the miners being there. They don’t get any response when ask if the spirit is "Joe".
The K2 hits they get a extremely brief and very faint. I’m not sure we should fully commit to those being answers to questions or signs of a presence. The meters could be picking up on all sorts of things. The motion detector going off is unusual, but who knows what it picked up. They are in the wood, it could have been an animal or large bug going right in front of the sensor. It doesn’t happen again, so it might just be a fluke or coincidence.
The big cliffhanger for the episode is from the full spectrum camera that Kristen and Patrick set up to do a full 360 degree picture of the new tunnel they dug into. We don’t quite see what’s in the photos, but when Patrick and Kristen head into the tunnel with a black light, it looks like there is something odd on the walls. Something is either reacting to or reflecting the black light. Have they uncovered some sort of secret writing or symbol? Or is there something in the rock that just looks really cool under black light?
We’ll have to wait until next time.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Mine – The Lost Chamber – S02E02
- Ghost Mine – Shadows in the Drift – S02E11
- Ghost Mine – Secret Passage – S01E05
- Ghost Mine – Mystery Train – S02E06
- Ghost Mine – Phantom Wind – S01E04
- Ghost Mine – S01E01
- Ghost Mine – Wandering Spirit – S02E04
- Ghost Mine – Town Wide Terror – S02E09
- Ghost Mine – Vengeful Spirit – S01E03
- Ghost Mine – The Final Barrier – S02E12 Season Finale
Ghost Mine Season 2 Special – Back on the Mountain
A new season of Ghost Mine has begun and they started things off with a special episode. We get a chance to look back over some of the events that already happened and get a glimpse of what’s to come.
I found this show pretty interesting last time around, but I have my suspicions about some of the things going on. I’m not totally on board with this Masonic "connection". Again, not everything related to the Masons is a conspiracy or should be considered some sort of dark magic. There is no doubt they had power and influence, especially in mining towns like this one, but let’s not get all crazy and turn them into a scapegoat.
Anyway, I like the format of this show and how it’s a single investigation that goes on for multiple days. They don’t just pop into the mine, wander around in the dark talking to themselves and then bolt out of there. They’re actually checking the place out and investigating multiple places. And there are still a ton of questions left over from last season, for example, what the hell was that loud bang that happened when they were in the cook shack? It was like something exploded or slammed into the side of it, but yet there was no damage and no one was around. Additionally, what happened to the opening of the mine? Was that just a regular collapse or did someone deliberately do that? There was a fair bit of suspicion being placed on the mine owner, as though he did it so he could keep the gold for himself. And what about that helpful stranger that said the mine owner was holding back a lot of information? Did we ever get to the bottom of that?
Besides a recap of the previous season we get a bit of a hint for what they’re up to this time around. Patrick has made an industrial version of RIPA, which is actually pretty cool. Apparently, the show got a bigger budget for season 2. We also see that "Duck", the explosives expert who walked out of the mine after he was spooked by the Tommy Knockers has made a return. It appears the lure of gold is stronger than his aversion of the spirit world. It is interesting to note how these guys don’t believe in spirits, yet they’re quite a superstitious lot. But now the band is back together so we’ll have to see what happens for here.
Will the mine turn out to have some sort of energy associate with it or is there a rational explanation for everything that’s happened? To be honest, there have been some "unusual" things, but I don’t feel they’ve hit on anything truly paranormal. Again, this is a mine, the air can be odd, sounds can travel, animals can lurk, water makes odd sounds, the wind can enter from other places, there will be odd echoes and plenty of other things that can make you feel something is going on, but they’re still naturally occurring events. Either way, it’s still a fun ride and I’m looking forward to what they discover.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Mine – S01E01
- Ghost Mine – S01E06 – Gold Fever – The Finale
- Ghost Mine – Season Finale – Final Thoughts
- Ghost Mine – Wandering Spirit – S02E04
- Ghost Mine – Secret Passage – S01E05
- Ghost Mine – The Final Barrier – S02E12 Season Finale
- Ghost Mine – Supercharging the Supernatural – S02E08
- Ghost Mine – Ghosts of the Geiser Grand – S02E05
- Ghost Mine – Passageway to the Unknown – S02E10
- Ghost Mine – Massacre at Hell’s Canyon – S02E07
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