An eye on the paranormal world in today’s popular culture.  Articles refer to news about paranormal groups, TV shows and appearances by the leading ghost hunters in the field.
April 9th, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“Haunted Air Force Base”

TAPS investigates an allegedly haunted military base in Dayton, Ohio.


The Ghost Hunters head to Dayton Ohio to see if buildings on Wright-Patterson AFB are haunted.

Case : Wright-Patterson AFB Arnold House and Building 70

Client Credibility

Greeting the Ghost Hunters and representing the USAF and Wright-Patterson AFB are Col Colleen M. Ryan and Rachel Castle. Rachel is a public affairs assistant and shows the team around. Rachel details the stories of paranormal claims. She works in building 70 and tells us about the voices heard, footsteps and other noises.

She tells us of a personal experience where she saw an apparition of a woman. This apparition looked like she was from an earlier era based upon her dress and hair style. Pretty creepy.

They go to the Arnold House and Rachel gives us the history of the home. People hear children playing and footsteps all the way up the stairs. Other personal experiences of people seeing shadow people and objects being moved.

Five out of five.

Investigation

The investigation starts at the Arnold House.

Jason and Grant start with the thermal but really just concentrate on noises. Taps and knocks kind of rule the investigation for the most part. Which is kind of unusual for the team. It’s more of a Most Haunted tactic.

Grant asks the spirits to close the bathroom door. Unfortunately we don’t really see the door move. We do see that it is open and then see is nearly shut but don’t really see it move.

Kristyn and Kris try to get EVPs but don’t do much other than that this episode.

Jason and Grant test the spirit to turn a flashlight on and off. It was pretty amazing to see the flashlight turn on as it sat on the floor. Grant was taking EMF readings at the time and they did seem to increase. A pretty interesting sequence.

Tango and Steve take some EMF in another room and it does seem to fluctuate while they had it on a table. Another interesting sequence.

They move to Building 70 the next night.

Jason and Grant think some black mass is blocking the view of a light. It was an interesting sequence but it’s something that is not on camera at all. They hear some more taps.

Kristyn hears a “growling” sound and asks if it’s Kris’ stomach. It’s good to see Kris’ stomach featured once again this season. That makes three out of five episodes it’s been a player. :)

Four out of five.

Evidence

Some personal experiences and tapping and knocking noises rule this episode. Jason and Grant did have their flashlight experiment and the door that closed.

They did find a recording of the taps that Jason and Grant had heard with their ears in Building 70.

No EVPs this episode.

Three out of five.

Conclusion

This episode was entertaining. It was different since they had unusual events with the flashlight and bathroom door moving.

As they mentioned a couple of times in the show, it was cool that they had the opportunity to investigate on a working Air Force base. And the Air Force was represented well by Col Ryan and Rachel Castle.

It was great to get the tour of the Air Force cargo plane. Jason should have said “This plane is huge.”

Three out of five.

Previous “Ghostly Bounty Hunter”

Next “Ghostly Conversation”

April 3rd, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“Ghostly Bounty Hunter”

TAPS investigates an estate in Ohio that was known as a haven for runaway slaves during the Civil War; the team tries to help a Massachusetts family that is plagued by shadowy figures in their home.


The Ghost Hunters head to Ohio to hunt for a hunter.

Case: Medeiros’ House

Client Credibility

The family was Amy and Tony. They report shadows coming down the stairway. Noises in kitchen. Feeling of someone watching. A night camera that monitors their child has shown the young girl to seem to be interacting with someone. Their teenager tells us of an incident where he saw a six foot tall person on the second floor.

Very credible family.

Five out of five.

Investigation

It’s really cold the night of the investigation. They need to bundle up!

Tango's Warm Hat

They have to setup outside and the coldness makes their work more difficult.

Jason and Grant feel they hear someone walking up the front steps yet no one is there. Jason goes in the crawl space and thinks he sees a shadow.

They have some personal experiences but thats about it.

Three out of five.

Evidence

Nothing other than footsteps and noises they heard with their ears. So it’s just some personal experiences on this case.

One out of five.

Case: Prospect Place Mansion

Client Credibility

We are shown the property by George Adams the great-great-grandson of the original owner. The basement might have spirits from slaves who were passing through the underground railroad. They tell us of the young girl who died and couldn’t be buried since it was winter.

They tell us of a hanging in the barn in the back of a bounty hunter.

Five out of five.

Investigation

It’s really cold in Ohio. They go to the top floor and try to get the child to move the ball.

Tango and Steve try to do EMF readings talking about the girl who died by falling over the balcony. They also try to do some EVP work.

Jason and Grant use the thermal going toward the barn area and think they catch something on the camera. It’s a black blob in one of the window areas. Like it was watching them. It’s real cold out and black represents the coldest temperature. So it must be very cold. It can’t be an animal as it would be warmer since it was below zero temperature.

Probably just a glitch on the camera.

Jason and Grant send Tango and Kris to the third floor because they know that bats are up there. Thats just mean. Yuck yuck yuck. Now if they sent Steve that would have been funny. :)

Three out of five.

Evidence

Again just personal experiences on this case. The thermal camera was interesting but probably just a glitch.

Two out of five.

Conclusion

One of the weaker episodes. Just not much going on at all. Both locations were very cold and must have made investigating pretty difficult. So just because of that fact you have to give them credit for their work.

Three out of five.

Previous “The Fear Cage”

Next “Haunted Air Force Base”

March 27th, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“The Fear Cage”

TAPS investigates a bed and breakfast in Gettysburg, Pa. that served as quarters for Confederate officers and their staff during the Civil War.


The Ghost Hunters finally get to Gettysburg. Will the Cashtown Inn deliver the goods?

Case: The Cashtown Inn

Client Credibility

The couple that owns the Cashtown Inn seemed very credible. The husband is a man by the name of Jack Paladino and describes himself as a skeptic. Many claims of the paranormal have occurred at the Inn for all the years they have owned the property, however Mr. Paladino tells us he always just shook off these claims. He wants the Ghost Hunters to find some hard evidence and then he would change his tune.

Five out of five.

Investigation

They have a TV mysteriously turn off and on several times. After the third time Tango noticed it always happened when he was using the walkie-talkie. Do you think he thought of it because we were yelling at the TV “it’s the walkie-talkie!” OK, just kidding on the yelling at the TV part but we did notice it on the second TV power-on event.

Jason and Grant head to the third floor to the Robert E. Lee room. They hear footsteps pretty loudly. Jason then says he feels a cold spot next to him on the couch. Unfortunately the camera Grant has is not a thermal camera. It was probably just a mini DV camera. The thermal could have confirmed Jason’s observation.

Tango and Kris go to the basement. Kris gets nauseous and luckily makes it to the bathroom before upchucking. Perhaps the gurgling stomach from the Clapp library returns? OK, thats not why. We could see tons of electrical wire dangling from the ceiling of the basement and high EMF readings were confirmed by Jason and Grant.

Kris wants to go back to the basement and they try to get EVPs. She feels sick again.

Jason tells us the basement is a “fear cage”. Because of the high EMF it can cause people to have all sorts of adverse effects. Hence the title of the episode.

Since the team is staying at the Inn they are able to setup cameras in their room while they are sleeping. Very similar to their experiences they have had at the Stanley in Colorado, they can setup these cameras in their rooms.

Four out of five.

Evidence

The first piece of evidence was the footsteps in the third floor. It’s hard to imagine for the sound to be created by having someone walking on the second or first floor.

An EVP from the basement with Tango and Kris didn’t really sound convincing to us. It sounded just like a “tick”, nothing like a “yes” to Tango’s question.

Probably the most interesting evidence from the series ever was the 5×7 photograph being rotated on the table in Grant’s room. Just incredible footage. This was from setting up the camera before they went to sleep. Grant said it was just two minutes after he turned on the camera. It was a lucky and great catch.

Five out of five.

Conclusion

The series hit’s a home run here. Just a terrific show with some awesome evidence. This puts season four back on track as the best season yet.

Just a small note. It’s nice when they have one investigation per episode. Then there is time to show them interact. They included a scene with Steve and Tango when they were analyzing the evidence. The scene was entertaining as Steve was giving Tango a hard time with his funny colored head phones.

Apparently at least, Steve wasn’t afraid of them. :)

Five out of five.

Previous “Words From Beyond”

Next “Ghostly Bounty Hunter”

March 25th, 2008 by djb

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.

Paranormal State episode report card.

“The Sensitive”

Black mists that may have demonic influence haunt a girl; Chip Coffey joins the team on the case and makes a psychic connection.


Paranormal State deals with a demon. Is this the comeback of the demon who shall remain nameless?

This is the last episode for the Paranormal State first season. Will it be a winner?

Client Credibility

The client is a teenager named Liana who lives with her family in Allentown, Pennsylvania. We are told that she does have some personal problems. She has felt tired and sick. And Liana tells us she has had difficulty emotionally and physically. Her “paranormal thing” did appear at the same time these problems did so she wonders if it is connected.

Liana has seen dark mists in her room.

Ryan appears to think that she might have a “possession” problem. He explains there are different kinds of possession. A spirit or a negative demonic could be the culprit.

Liana seems very credible. She might be confused and have problems other than the paranormal but she tells us basically she doesn’t know what is going on herself.

Five ghosts out of five

Investigation

They find high EMF ratings in the crawl space behind Liana’s bed. At about the location where she would lay her head down to sleep. They are not clear if this is normal bad wiring EMF or if they believe it’s somehow paranormal. Seems like to us it’s something electrical and we wonder if they really tried hard to debunk.

Ryan put some blessed medallions underneath her bed. Claiming that if there was possession going on she would not be comfortable in that bed. We hear later that she slept well.

Next they do “dead time”. They try to get some EVPs. They decide to go to the craft room where Liana feels uneasy to try to get EVPs. Katrina hears a weird noise. They investigate another room down the hall.

Katrina doesn’t like the room. Katrina doesn’t like the door. And Herbie doesn’t like to make toys.

Ryan opens the door and finds a sign that has the word ‘Hell’ on it in several places. Next we are treated to a commercial. As the show commences Ryan says “someone has failed to finish the word ‘hello’.” Then that’s it. Nothing more.

Someone doesn’t like the letter ‘o’.

Totally makes sense that someone would write ‘Hello’ but leave the ‘o’ off and do them last all at once…but never get back to finish it!

Next Chip Coffey is up after Ryan concludes that he was wrong about possession. So it’s official, that demon not to be named from the beginning of the series didn’t make a return visit to this final episode.

Chip ends up saying Liana is a medium. She seems to be discovering this herself. They did feel individually that a young African-American girl appears in the home. Liana tagged her name starting with the letter ‘A’. Chipper thought her name was Amanda.

Four ghosts out of five

Evidence

They thought that they caught one EVP. A humming spirit showed up during a second dead time. Apparently this spirit didn’t know the words. But several of the people heard it with their own ears during dead time. So it was kind of unique for this show, to actually get an EVP.

They did debunk a light in Liana’s room turning up at one point. Her bed appeared to be ruffled. Nothing on video showed her bed changing so that seemed to be debunked also.

Two ghosts out of five

Conclusion

Actually we thought this episode was one of their better ones. They did appear to catch one EVP, even though they didn’t let us hear it on the show. It did look like Ryan and the team helped their client which is very good.

So thats it for this series for now. We haven’t heard if the show is going to return for a second season. Shows created by cable networks are much more tight-lipped about these things. We have not read any press releases touting rating successes that would give us an idea that it will be back.

Let’s hope so. This show does have potential and a second season could be better.

Four ghosts out of five

March 20th, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“Words From Beyond”

The night custodian at Clapp Library in Belchertown, Mass., witnesses odd activity; strange activity takes place in a house for a family’s four generations.


The Ghost Hunters investigation a library and a home. So what are these words from beyond?

Case: Clapp Library in Belchertown

Client Credibility

The client was Jacques Benoit who is the night custodian. He told us of a few incidents. Seeing an apparition and books moving by themselves on the shelves. He said things happen quite often.

He seemed very credible.

Five out of five.

Investigation

Jason was sick and missed most of the investigation. Actually he didn’t miss much since nothing really happened. Kris felt like her hand was touched while Tango was feeling a cold spot.

At one point while Kris and Tango were in the basement, an electronic children’s book made a sound which at first did sound pretty creepy. But most likely just a low battery which sometimes causes those kind of toys to do something like that.

The team did their usual good work, there just wasn’t much going on. Interestingly they did show Kris doing some research on the building which isn’t something they have shown in the past. Probably just something to throw in since nothing was showing up on video or audio.

Four out of five.

Evidence

Zippo on the evidence this time!

Zero out of five.


Case: Attleboro House

Client Credibility

This house was owned by the same family for four generations and is now a duplex. Which is unusual in itself but doesn’t mean anything paranormal is going on. As Grant points out is it real or just stories passed down from father to son.

The client showing Jason and Grant around is Scott Boulet who is the home owner. The creepiest thing in this episode was that his voice was the same as Brian Harnois! If you closed your eyes and just listened you’d swear it was Brian acting as a client.

Was Brian pulling a Shannon Sylvia????

Creepy.

The Scott-Brian guy tells us of an apparition sitting in a chair in one room. Another story is a man in the corner of the daughters room. As the father ran to the room he had trouble opening the door.

Then we are told of a shadow in the other side of the house.

Five out of five.

Investigation

Jason and Grant do their usual thermal pass. Just don’t find anything with the thermal nor the EMF.

They do try to debunk the shadow that the family has been seeing. They drive the Yukon by and see if the headlights cause any unusual shadow action. Steve says the shadows are obvious and wouldn’t be confused with what the homeowners are seeing.

Grant and Jason heard a noise in the kitchen and did a nice job of debunking it. A floor board was loose causing the refrigerator to move which made something on the refridgerator to make noise.

While trying to get an EVP some bell that is near the entertainment center started to make noise. They setup a camera pointing at it to see if they get anything on video.

They ended the investigation with Tango and Kris. Tango made Kris laugh because apparently Kris’ stomach made noise. We didn’t hear it on TV but maybe they got something on the audio.

Tango made us laugh too. It was a nice scene.

Four out of five.

Evidence

Only odd thing was the bell noise but nothing showed up on video. No EVPs either. Not even the Kris stomach noise showed up on the audio.

Zero

Conclusion

It’s unusual they they put two dud investigations in the same episode. But if you don’t find anything then thats the way it goes. It was creepy to listen to the client Scott-Brian guy but other than that not much going on here.

So how did they come up with the title “Words From Beyond”??? Maybe should have been “Stomach Gurgle from Beyond” :)

Two out of five.

Previous “Two To Tango”

Next “The Fear Cage”

March 18th, 2008 by djb

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.

Paranormal State episode report card.

“The Knickerbocker”

The PRS investigates a report of strange noises and phantom children at the Knickerbocker Hotel in Linesville, Pa.


Paranormal State goes to Linesville PA to investigate The Knickerbocker Hotel. Truth or debunked?

Client Credibility

The client was a woman by the name of Peg Knickerbocker. She was very emotional as she told Ryan and the team of seeing a dark shadowy figure. She told us that she has had seances in the building and is concerned she attracted something evil. She continued on to say that many people in her family had issues recently including dropping dead. Which is sort of a serious issue.

She was concerned and upset that she brought this bad luck onto them by dabbling in the supernatural.

Later on when she “told the evil one to leave”, the building lost power for a few seconds. She was convinced that the evil spirit left and the power outage was the sign.

Sorry to say but to us she seemed a bit fruit loops. We understand that people can get upset and what is shown on TV is just a small part of a person conversing with Ryan but she definitely didn’t come off with the best image.

One ghost out of five

Investigation

Ryan and the team listened to the claims of the client and actually tried to debunk them. It was good to see the team do this in this episode. We assume that PRS does try to debunk the claims but in this series they have not shown them doing so too much. So thats a good job.

Usually this team excels at investigating the historical aspect of a haunting but we didn’t get that this time. There could be three reasons why:

  • They didn’t have time to show us in the episode
  • Nothing turned up when they looked
  • They thought the lady was wacko and didn’t bother

Four ghosts out of five

Evidence

The show was not clear on if they captured any EVPs at “dead time”. It appeared that the team was hearing voices or noises a lot but we really don’t know if they captured anything.

They showed Ryan listening to something and muttering “maybe play it backwards” or something like that. So we assume they did not find anything.

Zero ghosts out of five

Conclusion

It was an entertaining show and we were happy to see the team try to debunk some claims for a change. And they showed (to us anyway) that they really didn’t believe the client’s claims of the paranormal.

Three ghosts out of five

March 13th, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“Two to Tango”

The team investigates the Burlington County Prison. The jail is now a museum.


The Ghost Hunters head to Tango’s home town on the suggestion of Tango’s Father. So it’s two to tango…

Case: Burlington County Prison Museum

Client Credibility

The case was brought to TAPS by Dave Tango’s Father. He is a ex-cop and amateur ghost hunter. We are told that Mr Tango was just “creeped out” by the Burlington County Jail. So it’s unusual that they investigate a place because of just feelings of an investigator. Hopefully when they get there they will learn more claims of hauntings.

They are shown the prison by Marisa Bozarth who is a museum attendant. She had some experiences and she wants TAPS to find evidence so she can have something to back up her story. She told us of a shadow person that crossed her path. She felt as it went by her that it’s head turned and looked at her. She shows them another room where voices have been heard.

Then they go to the dungeon which was a solitary confinement cell. A prisoner who was executed at the jail is supposed to haunt the cell. People have smelled cigarette smoke even though no one is allowed to smoke in the jail.

Next they go to the basement and she tells a story of her and another worker experiencing another shadow with a nasty smell.

Five out of five.

Investigation

Jason and Grant smell cigarette smoke. They don’t seem to be able to debunk it.

Kris and Tango try to get EVP in the “women’s wing”. They do an experiment where Kris whispers in one cell and Tango can hear it several walls away.

Steve and Tango get an odd EMF reading by the gallows. And Steve thought he saw a shadow. Nothing on camera though. Tango feels he smells blood and gets the chills.

Jason and Grant see a light and are able to debunk that it is a reflection, probably from a car driving by outside.

The team has a lot of personal experiences. They seemed to put more weight on these personal experiences than they have in the past. To the point that Kris and Tango are asked to go to the third floor to see if they feel anything. It’s weird because just the suggestion of it kind of ruins the experiment. And they don’t usually put much weight on these kind of things. Weird.

Four out of five.

Evidence

They find one piece of interesting evidence. It’s on the thermal camera. Something appeared to move across the camera. What we have always questioned is when they thought they have caught something on the thermal, it’s had a heat signature. And it’s been warmer. When we usually hear that spirits create cold spots, we have wondered why the thermal would then show them with a heat signature that was warmer. This particular thermal movement doesn’t appear at a different temperature. We usually see this temperature difference via color, it being a yellow or white. So it’s possible this is different than anything else they have ever gotten.

We wonder if they turned off the “color” on that camera. Can the camera be setup to display a particular color range? Could it just be set to a gray scale? It did look just black and white to us. That is a question I would like to ask Jason and Grant.

Two out of five.

Case: McArthur’s House

Client Credibility

We meet the person who looks to be doing Donna’s old job of briefing Jason and Grant on the next investigation. Her name is Heather Drolet. She is an investigator and does accompany them on this case.

The case is about a four year old daughter who is having trouble sleeping in her room. Claiming spirits are bothering her.

The mother of the child is Teresa and she tells us some of their experiences. The grandmother tells of hearing a voice and having creepy feelings. Teresa tells us that the child has been checked out by her doctor and she seems OK.

Five out of five.

Investigation

They debunk a plumbing problem. A faucet seems to turn on by itself. It’s old and they sell her a new one. Just kidding.

They debunk a door that can be easily moved with a good gust of wind. One of the claims was the door slamming shut. There are two large windows in the room which they determine could easily cause the door to slam.

They find high EMF readings in the basement due to electrical wiring. Probably the cause of creepy feelings by the adults in the home.

Five out of five.

Evidence

No evidence was captured. But thats because the home is not haunted. The debunking they did seemed to solve the clients problem.

Zero

Conclusion

Not a lot going on in this episode. The team did their usual good investigation but not much turned up. The team did have some personal experiences which is fine but they did seem to weigh them much more then they have in the past.

We have questions on the thermal evidence they captured. And questions on the camera itself on how it works.

Not one of their stronger episodes.

Three out of five.

Previous “Fort Mifflin”

Next “Words From Beyond”

March 11th, 2008 by djb

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.

Paranormal State episode report card.

“Freshman Fear”

Ryan investigates the claim of a student who says she has seen a ghost in her dorm room.


Paranormal State wonders if a student dorm room is haunted by a former student.

Client Credibility

Well it was inevitable. Ryan and the Penn State team were due to investigate a haunting on campus. For a couple of reasons it’s a natural fit. They are a college paranormal group for one thing. Plus there have been so many movies made involving college students on campus being chased by ghoulish creatures that it must be a common theme. We would think every college campus on the planet has their share of ghost stories.

The client is a student by the name of Lauren. Her story is she has seen an apparition of a girl a couple of times in her dorm room. The twist to her story that she has been playing a game that involved telling ghost stories. It was called “A hundred tales of horror.” The idea is to light a candle, tell a ghost story them blow out the candle. It is supposed to attract spirits.

She seemed sincere but it sure looked like to us that it was a high probability that she just spooked herself with this game.

Two ghosts out of five

Investigation

The team excels at researching a haunting. We have seen this episode after episode. This episode follows that track.

One thing that puzzles us is that they do not do “dead time” in the dorm room itself. Ryan says it’s because the room is too small and too noisy. We think it’s more likely that the room is too small to film the dead time. At three AM even a college dorm would be on the quiet side. Sure not totally quiet but it seems quiet enough. But having the room to have an investigator or two plus the cameramen wouldn’t work.

So they decide to play the game themselves. It seems to be an odd choice. It makes for an entertaining show but it doesn’t seem like something to do to help this student. So they regroup and decide maybe it’s better to concentrate on Lauren’s case. Ryan calls in a local psychic by the name of Shaurie. She gives them some things to check out but a trip to the police station does not reveal any kind of story to match to the haunting. The chances were not good in the first place as the details were very loose.

So the team returns to the idea that maybe Lauren was just scared by the game and urban legends that are known on campus. They do a “dead time” on one of the more popular ghost stories on campus. Again the possibility that this spirit being the ghost haunting Lauren are slim and none. It’s all just kind of silly.

Two ghosts out of five

Evidence

No evidence. No EVP. No video. The only thing even to remotely mention is batteries draining on their electronic equipment.

Zero ghosts out of five

Conclusion

At least Ryan and the team do conclude that there probably isn’t anything here. But this episode goes into the category of why air it. It wasn’t very entertaining. It didn’t shed light on anything new in the paranormal world. It seems it’s in the category that we paid for 20 episodes, so we are going to air 20 episodes.

Did we really need to be told that young college students can scare themselves with overactive imaginations? Umm…we knew that!

One ghost out of five

March 6th, 2008 by djb

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 episode report card.

“Fort Mifflin”

The team investigates Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia; TAPS conducts the first investigation into a newly discovered underground holding cell.


It’s great to have the Ghost Hunters series back for season four. The first episode of the season lead off with a bang.

Case: Fort Mifflin

Client Credibility

Since this episode is about an historic site rather than a haunting a person or family is experiencing, the credibility of the client is not as critical. The person who does show Jason, Grant and Steve around is a man by the name of Wayne Irby who is the caretaker of the fort.

He brings them to the dungeon area. He tells us a story of a Revolutionary soldier being seen standing by a fireplace. He then brings them to the officers quarters. He tells the story of the “screaming lady” Elizabeth Pratt. She committed suicide after the death of her daughter.

The executive director of the fort Lee Patrick Anderson tells a story of giving a tour of the building to some young school children. Their faces turned ashen as many of them saw an apparition of Elizabeth. It was a really creepy story to say the least.

Next they are shown the Casemate 11 which has recently been discovered. We are told of the story of William Howe who was hung for murder and desertion.

Five out of five.

Investigation

The team is a little light for this episode. Just five people including Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Dave Tango, Steve Gonsalves and Kris Williams.

Jason and Grant try to capture EVPs in the officers quarters to try to get something from Elizabeth. Jason believes he hears “Mommy” at one point. They hope they get something on the equipment.

Next Steve and Tango go to the Blacksmith shop. They try to get EVPs. Steve jumps because of his fear of spiders.

Grant and Jason go to Casemate 5. They have the thermal camera and notice a warm spot on one of the cots. Grant and Jason head to Casemate 11. The Casemates are underground and are narrow. Jason thinks he sees something scurry. He did not like being in a tight space underground. It’s odd because we have never heard that from him before. So they get Kris to try to go down in Casemate 11. She doesn’t last too long but did try.

Jason and Grant head back to Casemate 11. Grant sees a face which naturally startles him. He drops his flashlight and unfortunately nothing is caught on camera as it’s pointed at Grant, not at the window. A really nice personal experience.

It seems that they wanted to highlight that the investigators do have fears while searching these places. It was interesting because they haven’t done that in the past. Tango also couldn’t last in the Casemate 11. Looks like Brian might be wishing he stayed on this series!!

Four out of five.

Evidence

Some nice evidence collected. Some very clear EVPs. The “Mommy” EVP did happen as Jason heard. Actually it was said twice and it was very clear. Another EVP was “the boss wants it deeper”. A little less clear but it sounded like that to us.

The next EVP was “can I get some water sir?” Not real clear but they realize that about at that time a cameraman was taking a swig of water from a bottle.

The thermal revealed the most interesting evidence. And it tied in one of Wayne Irby’s stories. The story was that an apparition has been seen standing by a fireplace. They caught a heat signature that looked like a human figure. Very amazing.

The last thermal evidence showed something that looked like footsteps walking away from the wall and then back before disappearing.

Five out of five.

Conclusion

Wow, a terrific start to season four! The thermal of the soldier by the fireplace is right up there with anything they have gotten on that camera. We are wondering about the thermal footsteps though. We wish they showed us trying to debunk it. Some real terrific EVPs collected.

They showed that even these veteran investigators can get scared and startled going into these creepy places. If I were to go into some of those places I would probably be the one saying “Mommy”. :)

Looks like season four is going to be hot.

Five out of five.

Next Episode “Two to Tango”

March 4th, 2008 by djb

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.

Paranormal State episode report card.

“Mothman”

Ryan and his team travel to Point Pleasant, West Virginia to investigate the mysterious Mothman.


The Mothman is a legend right up there with the Yeti, Lochness Monster and Champ from Lake Champlain. It’s interesting that Paranormal State decided to investigate.

Client Credibility

This episode again strayed away from the normal formula. So we suppose the “client” in this episode would be the town of Point Pleasant itself. Or one could say the legend of Mothman was the client. Either way since this investigation is different as it is an investigation of a legend and not a haunting that a person or family is experiencing.

Ryan and the team were able to interview two of the original witnesses to the Mothman. The original event was witnessed by two couples driving in a car. Both women were interviewed. Their names are Linda Scarberry and Faye Dewitt. Linda Scarberry claims to have seen the Mothman hundreds of times. Faye Dewitt just told us of the original story bits of the Mothman following them in their car and she looked outside the car window and saw the red eyes.

Three ghosts out of five

Investigation

The team talked to Jeff Wamsley who owns the Mothman Museum. His father had taken pictures and eight millimeter film footage of the famous Silver Bridge collapse. They showed some images with white streaks. Most likely of course just a normal film anomaly.

Chip Coffey appeared on this episode. The team relied on Chip more so than any other episode in this series. Since the search was on for the Mothman legend, we can understand that more scientific methods may not have much value on a case involving a legend.

During “Dead Time” they go over to the site of the bridge collapse. Chip describes feelings of the people in the accident. Chip relays feelings on how they died, on how it was quick. Then Chip days “If I die I hope it’s that way.” Got news for you Chipper, it’s “when” not “if”. :-)

But then again if he didn’t misspeak, then when quoting him in the future we will have to say “In the immortal words of Chip Coffey…”

Apparently some birds fly away which startles the team. Chip and Ryan claim to see some red light.

Artistic Red light view

We think it’s most likely this was put in the video during post production. Add a little drama to the show.

Chip talked about a Native American feel to the location. Ryan decides they should research this aspect of the Mothman story to maybe see if they can look at it in a new light. The team does excel in the research aspect of these investigations so it’s probably a good idea.

So they talk to more town people about the Chief Cornstalk incident. This Native American was apparently killed by settlers. While Cornstalk was dying he placed a 200 year curse on the town. Some town folk say the town has been cursed, not much economic activity and there is no denying that the town has had hard times. Of course this must be because of the curse.

For World War II, a local TNT factory was built and used in the war effort. It’s explained that it might have been built on Indian burial ground. This could very well be the case. They tie in the Mothman because it was seen near this old factory.

The next night they decide to go to the TNT factory area where the Mothman was first seen. They get out the night vision cameras. They talk about some geese being in the area which was odd since it was winter. We hear a odd sound and something blocks out the night vision camera going from left to right in front of the camera’s view.

Darkness Crossing

Again it’s probably a post production effect. There is not an identifiable figure blocking the view, just a passing darkness. The image above shows this darkness as it nears the completion of it’s pass through the camera’s view.

Three ghosts out of five

Evidence

Not really any evidence collected.

Zero ghosts out of five

Conclusion

Overall we liked this episode. It was entertaining. Since it was an investigation of a legend we knew it really wasn’t going to go anywhere in the gathering of paranormal evidence when we read the show description.

But that’s OK since this episode wasn’t about helping anyone with a haunting. It was an interesting look into one of those legends that have intrigued people over the years. But legends are that, just legends and something that is near impossible to disprove or prove.

If every episode was like this one, we would not watch this series. But to do one of these in a season of 20 half hours is acceptable.

Three ghosts out of five