TV-Reviewed

Leaving New England well behind, TAPS headed this time down to Florida to investigate two historic St. Petersburg locales (or, should that be “haunts?”). And right from Mike Rowe’s episode overview, I expected good things; but, you never know with the hype. However, the hype was definitely warranted. TAPS, I’ll admit, had some rather interesting experiences to share.

Though, I’ll say one thing, it sure seems TAPS has been on a roll as of late; or, maybe, the producers decided to amp things up by showing the most compelling investigations whenever they can, because in the past there were quite a few cases that yielded either very little or squat; and in the last little bit they’ve had only two that weren’t really worth commenting on. However, in St. Petersburg, like at Slater Mill and Buffalo Central Terminal, the team was twice lucky: The spirits, so to speak, were out right on cue.

First up was the Three Sisters Inn, which is a pair of historic mansions built on land that had once played host to a bloody battle in the Seminole War, where some wild paranormal claims (everything from moving objects to full-body apparitions to shadow figures to footsteps) had been reported. In fact, one of the interviewed innkeepers had mentioned two significant personal experiences: Once she’d come face to face with the full-body apparition of a man who had actually thrown a chair at her; also, she had been supposedly tripped down a flight of stairs only to be stopped in mid-fall and then pulled back up to the top step. I have to say both of those claims sounded pretty, well, “out there”. Though, some of the other claims were equally as remarkable.

The Purple and Pink mansions of the Inn each had their own claims, of course. There’s supposedly in one of them a spirit of an older lady who is very particular about how things are placed in the rooms. Some guests have actually said books reorganize themselves. That sounds fairly incredible–more like poltergeist activity than anything else. In fact, that was in the Purple house, I believe, and it was in there that Jason and Grant received a more sinister feel than in the Pink house. Also, footsteps and the majority of shadows figures and apparitions had been reported in the Purple house. However, the activity during the investigation was more significant in the Pink house.

The night began with Jay and Grant in the Purple house’s so-called Paris Room. It was in this room that guests and staff had reported hearing voices, seeing apparitions along with inanimate objects suddenly moving on their own. What brought the guys to the room so quickly was that, while on the first floor, they thought they had heard footsteps coming from the vicinity when nobody else was in the house but them. So, they decided to head on up and do an EVP session.

Utilizing, again, the K2 meter they tried coaxing any present spirits to interact with it, and they did get some successful results–sort of. Jay wanted the spirit to light up the K2’s LEDs on the count of three, but every time he said a number, the lights lit up; the strange thing was, though, that every time he would reach three, the lights remained dormant, no matter what he tried to do. That was definitely strange, I’ll admit. Still, I’m a skeptic with the K2 meter; its results vary and can be weighed upon much, much too heavily. In fact, they never caught any voices in the room. OK. OK. They did supposedly get some feedback to their knocks’ rhythm, which was picked up on a recorder.

And the K2 meter fun didn’t end there, either. Oh no, it continued in another more unique use. While downstairs in the Purple house Jason saw a black shadow dart from one doorway across the hallway in front of him to the room opposite. Again, Grant had the K2 meter handy, so they went in. Jay thought he saw the shadow settle down into the chair nearest the door (from what I recall) and, sure enough, when Grant placed the meter there it spiked. The strange part, though, was that he could trace the outline of, say, a person sitting in the chair. Anytime he’d move the meter way up or way to the side the lights would go dormant. What the hell? I don’t even see a way that that could have been faked. Still, I want to err on the side of caution with this.

Next up in the Three Sisters Inn investigation was the Pink house. In here things got a little abbreviated, as time was running short. Even still, Jay and Grant caught some activity in here, too. Heading up the stairs, hoping a ghostie might trip him up, Jason had a startling experience where he said he saw a black shadow about knee-height (or the height of a child) dart past him. Of course, we have to take his word for it. Same thing with the moved flip-flop, which was found in a closed-up room on the first floor (supposedly twenty-five minutes later).

All in all, the Three Sisters Inn was a good investigation, I think. There wasn’t really any debunking, however, which seems to be the norm as of late. Now, on saying that, there was some during the investigation at the Vinoy–a 1920s Mediterranean Revival styled hotel in downtown St. Petersburg where guests (such as professional baseball players) have reported paranormal activity on the 5th floor. Also, staff have reported hearing the clicking of shoes in the ballroom, though the floor is now carpeted.

Steve and Tango debunked the ballroom rather easily; it seems that there are air vents above the chandeliers that seem to emanate various sounds. My guess is people have probably been hearing sounds from other rooms, because sounds are known to travel through air ducts rather easily. What clued them in, it seems, was a noise that sounded like crinkling plastic–Was a maid replacing a trash bag somewhere? Could have been, I suppose. All right, onto the most compelling bit.

Before TAPS even got started, when Jason decided to do some final tweaks to the surveillance system, he noticed that the closet door in his room was completely open. Going back in the video, they saw where the door had opened on its own and the ironing board had fallen out. Of course, the question was had the ironing board opened the door, or did the door open on its own and the board then fall out? Well, Jason and Grant tried to answer this, but found that the ironing board on its own could not open the door; it’d have to be slammed against the door quite forcibly to open it; in fact, I was worried they might break a few slats if they continued with their tests. That was sort of startling. Yet, as we saw, it would get even better from there.

While asleep Jason was woken to what I think has to be one of the creepiest voices ever caught by TAPS. Loud enough for the camera’s mic to pick up, a voice said (from what it sounded like), “Just leave here.” The same voice was picked up twenty minutes later or so, but it was too distorted and muffled to be intelligible. I tell you, I have to give Jason credit, because there is no way I’d have stayed in that room after having heard that one single voice. I’d have been halfway back to Warwick before everybody else had had a chance ask where I was going. Of course, the skeptic in me says, “It was just a recording, or something.” I trust that TAPS doesn’t play such tricks, though. So, I would say that that voice was, indeed, paranormal. Anyhow.

Just from this review, I think you can probably tell I was fairly excited with this episode. “Ghosts of the Sunshine State” was well worth the watch, and I’ll definitely be tuning in for sure next week to see what else TAPS might catch!

Rating: 9.0