Ghost Hunters International – Quarantine Station
GHI continues their adventures down under and checks out the Quarantine Station in Sydney Australia. In the early 1800s it was an entry point for Australia but those who were deemed too sick to continue on were held there and treated with some pretty harsh medicine. It was common for cases of plague, typhus, cholera, smallpox and Spanish influenza to run rampant, and many people died during their time there.
Robb and Joe start off the investigation in the shower block where "guests" would treated to a hot shower of caustic chemicals that would supposedly remove bacteria, lice and several layers of skin. I have to say the tough acting Joe is just laughable. I have no idea why he took this combative approach but he just isn’t pulling it off.
And what is the big paranormal activity in this place? A rattling door handle. That they hear once. And Joe claims he hears "Hey". Yeah, that "hey" doesn’t come through well on the recorder if you ask me.
Barry and Dustin are in the hospital area with the 360-mic where Barry says he hears voices in the headphones. Barry keeps saying they need to come closer, so while he might be hearing something it’s not showing up.
Next up are Brandy and Ashley in the basement where Brandy feels a chill in her hands and up her side. Ashley feels Brandy’s hands to confirm one is colder than the other. Too bad no one actually had a temperature gauge at this point.
The big moments of the show come with Paul in the morgue. There’s always much anticipation when someone lays down on a morgue slab and asks for a sign. Paul claims to hear footsteps and shuffling while he’s down there. And then gets all excited when he feels a massive temperature drop. Too bad none of this evidence is actually captured.
Finally, the team claims to have captured some really interesting photographic evidence. I don’t see a damn thing in this photograph they show of the outside where there is supposed to be an outline of the little boy. And the thing that really irks me is that they show the photo, add their outline, then right at the instant they take the outline away they cut away to a shot of the client so you can’t compare the outline with the actual photo. I call foul! They did the same thing the other episode where they "say" the meter is moving rather than showing it. They keep cutting away rather than showing what is going on.
Even with this rather limited (or none for that matter) evidence they claim the place is haunted. I just don’t get it. Where is the proof? A door rattling is not evidence. Cold fingers are not evidence. Are you really going to call these completely common place occurrences evidence of the paranormal? While Paul had quite the time in the morgue without anything to support what he felt it’s nothing more than his mind playing tricks on him. The personal experiences are neat, but they don’t mean anything without proof and once again there isn’t any.
Not impressive at all.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Hunters International – Port Arthur Penitentiary – S02E10
- Ghost Hunters International – Duran Sanatorium/Rose Hall – S02E13
- Ghost Hunters International – San Lucas Island – S02E12
- Paranormal State – Shadow Caster – S04E09
- Ghost Hunters International – Argentina/Australia S02E08
- A Haunting in Connecticut
- Ghost Adventures – The Copper Queen Hotel and The Oliver House – S06E03
- Ghost Lab – Worst show on TV
- Haunted Collector – Ghost Tavern and Terror House – S02E09
- Ghost Adventures – Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum – S04E22
Ghost Adventures Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – The Cutdown
Paranormal is a general term that describes unusual experiences that lack a scientific explanation, or phenomena alleged to be outside of science’s current ability to explain or measure.
I watched the Ghost Adventures recap episode of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and I am convinced now more than ever that both Chris Fleming and Robert Bess are complete charlatans. It’s pretty obvious they are using parlor tricks and the power of suggestion to make people think there is paranormal activity going on around them.
First of all the Spirit Box that Chris Fleming uses is a complete sham. As I mentioned previously this thing is nothing more than a receiver tuning into a radio station. (It could just as easily be used to tune into a radio station as someone sitting outside the building talking into a microphone and it picks up every tenth word). Additionally, his reactions are completely over the top for what’s going on and come across as highly practiced. You would think someone who’s been doing this for years wouldn’t be so easily amazed. He’s been working on his truly stunned look where his jaw is gaped open in disbelief. Further, through his constant talking he is planting the seed that the place is overwhelmingly paranormal and that it’s filled with spirit energy. He’s doing his best to plant that thought in your head so you’ll believe it.
His recordings sound like a completely garbled mess, but yet he is able to instantly recognize what’s being said. He doesn’t need to go back and hear it again or even take an educated guess. He knows!
And let’s not forget this is the guy who brought us the highly questionable, easily manipulated, but now de-facto ghost hunting tool, the K2. While at the home of the Manson family murders he talks non-stop while showing off the device and again his reactions seem well rehearsed so you don’t question the validity of what he’s doing.
He’s in full form on this ghost hunt, but when you take a step back from the excitement he’s trying to generate and think for a moment, his methods and conclusions can easily be explained by everyday things. It’s a radio!
As for ol’ Gun Slingin’ Robert Bess, I think we’ve seen the last of him. Again, his Parabot was nothing more than a huge parlor trick. Think about it, what did it do? I made a ton of noise, had flashing lights, produced a ton of electrical charge so not only would you be scared to death to get near it, but it also charged the hell out of the atmosphere. Your skin would tingle, your hair would stand on end, shadows would be all over the place and the siren would make you think all sorts of things were happening.
But why should we believe for a second that this rig actually does anything? Besides make a bunch of distracting noise that is. It’s obviously got some mechanical problems (clearly the ghosts don’t want to be caught by it so they sabotaged it), the siren is probably run from a remote (Bob certainly has his hand on his hip an awful lot) or it just goes every few seconds for dramatic effect.
Between these two incredibly faulty devices you can easily be sucked into thinking there’s paranormal activity, and that’s exactly what they’re hoping. If you spend even 10 seconds thinking about what they’re doing and what the real effect is, you’ll see they’re both completely full of crap and their devices are total gimmicks. There was absolutely nothing paranormal about what these two were doing.
Other Articles of Interest:
- Some sort of crazy paranormal showdown
- Ghost Adventures Live Halloween Special
- Ghost Encounters: The Queen Mary
- Ghost Lab – Episode 4 – Chicago/Texas
- Zozo, Darren Evans, Robert Murch and Darkness Radio – A Zozo Hoax?
- Ghost Hunters Buffalo Central Terminal
- Ghost Hunters – Waverly Hills Sanatorium
- Ghost Adventures – Hill View Manor S04E06
- Ghost Adventures wants to investigate Idol Mansion
- The Ghost Hunters are NOT scientists
Paranormal State – Shadow Caster – S04E09
To put it bluntly this was an episode that went no where. Things start off interestingly enough when Ryan gets bitten or pinched by something as he’s talking to the client. Perhaps the spirits are as tired of his talking as the rest of us are. There is the photographic evidence of a shadow in the doorway. We top it off with John Oliver the overly dramatic Psychic and Medium who feels the house is just seething with dark energy. Talk about just over exaggerating everything.
But as the team investigates they don’t find a single shred of evidence to support any of the claims the homeowner is making. No shadows, no bumps, no entities, no voices. The only thing they do find is when Kristina hears a voice while in the basement. Turns out it’s just the camera crew talking too close to an air vent. Personally I think most of the voices people hear on these shows could be attributed to noises coming in from the outside.
As with the formula of the show, the client, her family and the PRS team gather together in the living room to speak loudly and tell the spirit to shuffle on down the road.
Not all the episodes have to be teaming with paranormal activity, and for once it was actually refreshing to see Ryan and crew debunk something. However, this was a pretty uneventful episode since nothing happened, plus there was really no cause for any activity since there weren’t the usual stories of deaths, burial grounds, use of ouija boards, Satanic symbols or mental illness that Ryan seems to uncover.
And as for that photo? I have to shrug. When you get some dark outline in a photo and you can clearly see the flash going off, I feel underwhelmed. Plus, faking of photos is so common place these days, it’s hard to get excited over something like that.
I kind of feel like Dr. Malcolm from Jurassic Park where he asks, "Now eventually you might have dinosaurs on your, on your dinosaur tour, right?"
Other Articles of Interest:
- Paranormal State – Darkness Falls – S04E08
- Paranormal State – Bedroom Eyes – S05E13
- Paranormal State – Paranormal Detour – S05E07
- Paranormal State S04E02 – Invitation to Evil
- Ghost Adventures – Salem Witch House – S04E19
- Ghost Hunters International – Duran Sanatorium/Rose Hall – S02E13
- Paranormal State – Spirits of the Slave Dungeon – S05E03
- Paranormal State – Ghost on the Tracks – S05E04
- Ghost Adventures – Poveglia Island
- Paranormal State – S04E01 – Suicide Possession
Paranormal State – Darkness Falls – S04E08
Could this episode be any more overly dramatic? Could Ryan be any more of an aloof asshole?
Ryan and crew visit the West Virginia State Penitentiary for reasons that aren’t really all that clear. Ryan lays it down thick about how he needed to come back; how he needed to finish what he started. We have no idea what that means since he prefers to be moody and dark. He acts in such a foreboding way as though all their lives are in danger.
It’s the Western State Penitentiary which is believed to be one of the most haunted places in America. There are endless stories of murder, violence and wrongdoings. And Ryan in his dour tone wants his team to face their fears at this place. Again, we have no idea why they need to face their fears and why this is place for such a showdown, but Ryan makes a really big deal that it needs to happen and that he has secrets about the place they need to understand.
On day one the team takes up position and sits in different locations – alone. Not surprisingly they hear noises, bumps and creaks. What abandoned building doesn’t make those sounds at night?
The next night it happens again but this time we add the element that there is an Indian burial mound near the prison. This should fuel the spirit energy.
All the while Ryan is taunting the team that he has a secret about the place that the public doesn’t know about, but he won’t share it because he doesn’t think his team is taking the events seriously. Too much giggling, not enough moodiness.
Of course, no one (including us) has any idea what the hell is going on or why Ryan is being a putz to everyone, but yet everyone needs to take his fears seriously.
Finally, after being pale and tragic Ryan reveals that while he was investigating the Wardens Tower the activity got so intense that he had to leave there. Translation: he got freaked out, soiled himself and ran away. Now he needs to redeem himself in front of his team.
And what’s the big secret of the tower? A pentagram. All this melodrama has been because there is an upside down pentagram on one of the windows in the tower. Clearly, this is the gateway to hell. Really? All of this over a stupid symbol?
Now the conspiracy theory begins that the staff would have been practicing Satanism in the prison and who knows what other dark rituals. This is the Satanic prison, that’s why weird things happen here.
What do we get when all is said and done? Ryan goes back into the tower so he can conquer his fears. With camera strapped to his back and audio recorders at the ready he trudges up the tower stairs, stands in the middle of the room and like a kid talking to monsters in his closet or under his bed, declares he isn’t afraid.
Feeling better about himself for his spectacular display of bravado Ryan calls it a night and asks the team what the penitentiary means to them. WTF? Are you serious? That’s it? Ryan loses his nerve in a tower and there is an hour long episode about him facing his fears?
Call this what it is, how Ryan got his nerve back.
Ryan, you can freak out, it’s ok. Prison can be a scary place at night. But do we really need an episode like this?
Other Articles of Interest:
- Ghost Adventures – Dead Men Walking – S07E08
- Paranormal State, seeing the demonic in a box of Cracker Jacks
- Stranded – West Virginia State Penitentiary – S01E03
- What’s with all the secrecy?
- Ghost Adventures – Missouri State Prison – S08E04
- Paranormal Challenge – Eastern State Penitentiary – S01E02
- Paranormal State – Season 1
- Paranormal State – Paranormal Detour – S05E07
- Paranormal State – The Jersey Devil – Season Finale
- What a difference a year makes … It’s time to say goodbye
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