Ghost Hunters International “Larnach Castle” Report Card
We here at Spectral Review are not paranormal investigators, demonologists, or drama critics. We don’t even play any of those on TV! But we do watch most paranormal shows and can tell the good ones from the bad.
Ghost Hunters International episode report card.
“Larnach Castle”
The gang heads to New Zealand to investigate the Larnach Castle.
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Ghost Hunters International visits just one location in this episode. It is the first episode of a six week run. The first week no Shannon Sylvia but it doesn’t mean she won’t be here in a few weeks. Dustin Pari is in her spot. |
The Fitzgerald quote of the episode:
“Now would be a good opportunity to employ the Singapore theory.”
– Barry Fitzgerald
Case: Larnach Castle
Client Credibility
There is something funny to us when someone speaking English still has English sub-titles displayed on the screen. 
Her accent wasn’t that bad! She was the castle director and her name was Deborah Price. She is a skeptic but tells us of being pushed while walking down some steps. She ended up with some “boo-boos” since the steps were stone. Ouch.
She tells us of smells of cigar smoke and wine in the library.
And the ballroom has a lot of reports of an apparition.
Investigation
Robb and Andy futz with the Flir thermal camera. They get some shades of color change and don’t realize it’s just themselves radiating body heat. Maybe there should be a user course for using this equipment for Ghost Hunters investigators because Jason and Grant could use some training too.
Donna and Dustin work the ballroom. At first look, the way Dustin was wearing his visor, he looked like the Karate Kid to us.
They hear some dishes rattling so they leave a camera pointing at the dishes and leave the room.
Andy debunks the smell of the cigar and wine in the library. So he took a hair dryer and heated up the furniture and believe they can reproduce the smells. It’s either a good debunking or the ghost just happens to blow dry his hair in that room too.
Donna and Barry play 1800s music in the ballroom. This is employing the Singapore theory, recreating a situation to trigger some paranormal activity. Then try 1940s music to see if they get different results. Looks like the same results…nothing!
Barry brings his new camera that can see visible, IR and Ultraviolet light. They get something interesting.
Evidence
Andy proudly tells Deborah Price about his debunking the smells. Then went on and basically said she fell because she was clumsy. She took it OK but it seemed a bit mean to us.
No EVPs this episode. Just the rattling of the dishes. Then the camera they left seemed to capture some glasses later on. We didn’t see the dishes move later on. Damn ghost rattled the wrong stuff!
Barry captured an interesting picture with his new camera. Some sort of face, looked a bit like those Star Wars bad soldiers. And right next to the face it looked like a HUGE hamburger.
Did it really look much different than this photo?
Conclusion
Overall an entertaining episode. We always liked Dustin and think he will be good to have on the show. They captured an interesting photo but it isn’t too impressive to us. Hopefully the next five episodes continue to entertain and they get some nice evidence.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Hey Donna my grandma called and wants her shirt back! BRING BACK SHANNON!!!!!
July 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I’m getting tired of how TAPS is so quick to “debunk” the hauntings. Andy really gets off when he thinks he’s debunked something…To me, it’s not debunking, it’s just offering an alternative explanation for the original experience. They treat the “debunking” as “case solved”. It gets a little annoying how Andy is treated like a debunking guru.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Well.. we are talking about the GHI show correct?
Jack then you should know that GHI has nothing to do with “Taps” . GHI is a spin off and is in no way , shape, or form connected to “Taps”. They are a not the same paranormal group
One of the reason I became a fan of the ” Ghost Hunters” series is for the simple fact they don’t run around screaming ” its Haunted “.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
As a paranormal investigator, I agree that approaching a “haunting” with an eye toward finding a logical explanation should be the first perspective employed. HOWEVER, when an investiagting group is so dead set to “debunk” that they can’t see the forest for the trees, then they actually disrespect the client. At Larnach, the owner said she felt…get it???…FELT the hand push her. And another employee also felt the push and fell down. Does this need to be debunked?? NO!! The woman was pushed! She is not stupid, I am sure she knows the difference between a rickety step and a hand on her back. Andy, Robb, Brian (not himagain!) and GHI….go to school for parapsychology or at least take some investigation lessons. You guys give REAL investigators a BAAAAAAD rep!
July 11th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Muscle twitch equals ghost push?
Check.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I think they should all put on the eyeliner and call it a day.
July 11th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I think people should give these GHI people a little more credit. After all, it is a TV SHOW, and they will put what they want on TV…there’s SO MUCH that goes on at those investigations (and in a lot of cases they actually investigate for 2 days and wear the same clothes) that they don’t put on TV and then people feel that they’re qualified to judge the entire investigation based on what they see on TV? And you think you can jugde the investigators? You don’t even know these people. They’re portrayed as characters on the show…not as their real selves.
Until you’ve actually been on REAL investigations and had to try and think about how to debunk things or deal with people who…may have freaked themselves out causing their story to get exaggerated, you have no place saying that the investigators aren’t doing a good job. You don’t see the whole story. I don’t think they even get to see the show before it’s aired (At least that’s the case with the TAPS guys).
It’s this type of “cattyness” that is ruining the paranormal field. People just arguing about things and insulting eachother.
TAPS is not the end-all-be-all of paranormal investigating. Other people are good, too, they just do things differently. Everything in this field is theory, so there’s no right way or wrong way. Just opinions.
Give it a rest.
I actually enjoyed the show, and was really curious about Barry’s neat camera and this Singapore Theory.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I would just like to make an additional comment about the IR / UV image of the “ghost” image of a man captured by the GHI team at Larnach Castle. This figure bears a remarkable similarity in feature to another image that was caught looking through a window, by a camera from the outside looking in. If you want to check it out and make an informed judgment for yourself. Go to Google images and search Ghost Image Larnach Castle. It is about the third row down. Interesting similarity in feature and expression.