TV-Reviewed

TAPS was on Steve’s turf this time round, hence “hometown” being used in the title. Theodore’s, the first investigation, was of the most significance to Steve. An old bar and pool hall that he and his band (yes, band) had played at many times, and where he knew the manager and staff well. The whole site is more of a museum on all the upper floors than anything else, while the bottom floor contains the bar and restaurant. There’s no doubt the building itself is rife with local history, I’m sure.

The claims of activity in the place were mainly related to odd sounds, with the uppermost floor (the fifth floor) having the least activity (with just the sounds) to the second floor having voices being heard and possible “shadow figure” apparitions being seen by both employees and visitors–particularly the figure of a young boy has been seen. So, Jason and Grant, of course, went right to the second floor first. Now, right from the get go, I was sort of skeptical: Because, after all, there were so many objects on that floor that it’d probably be easy to SEE something in the dark. Shadows could be cast by a lot of different things. Granted, I’m not sure a pool table or cue-stick rack would be mistaken as a person-shaped entity.

Grant was the first to spot something. He thought he saw something (a figure) of some sort run from left to right in the distance. Then, he claimed to have seen a figure (of child height) peek up momentarily from behind one of the billiard tables. Next, the two of them agreed that the room had just gotten colder. I don’t doubt what they think they saw or what they felt, but I’m skeptical. Because there are just too many things in that room, and it’s so large. We all know that what we might see from our peripheral vision might not necessarily be what we think it is. However, next Jay claims to see a “shadow man” and then he and Grant supposedly hear footsteps. But, sadly, nothing was caught on camera.

Where did the mystery skeleton come from. Just who is he?

Later, Steve and Tango head to the fourth floor where there’s a skeleton of what once was a flesh-and-blood person; apparently, this skeleton was one that came from a medical college, and nobody knows how it came to be at Theodore’s. All that the guys come away with is an odd experience involving a small black mass that has two white spots (possibly orbs?) that disappears and they can’t find again, and that wasn’t caught on camera, either. Steve even admitted that it might have been a bat, and that’s my stance on it too. It was a bat; old buildings often become roosts for bats, as we all know; and the upper floors haven’t had full-time Human activity in quite a while.

Another personal experience was that of investigators Kris Williams and Kris Gartland. They claimed to have felt sudden ”breezes” that passed right by them. Not sure what to make of this, but there could have been some sort of momentary draft. Perhaps, a door was opened by somebody somewhere that had sent up a quick stream of air? It’s hard to say, though. Just taking a stab. In the end, the only semi-compelling bits of evidence were the EVP and the thermal hit. The swaying of the scoring beads on the second floor did nothing for me.

The EVP of the man saying “Welcome to Theodore’s”, though, that was definitely interesting. But, it was caught in the basement? I know spirits can go anywhere they want, according to common beliefs, but why would, presumably, the spirit of some past barkeep be in the basement? That was definitely strange. But, even stranger was the tone of the voice; it sounded like, as Jay put it, something from the gatekeeper of Hell. Anyway. The thermal hit was also intriguing. It even caused the guys the want to give the second floor another look over before presenting their final evidence to the client. What did they look for? As we saw they were looking for any reflective surfaces, because, as we’ve seen before, the FLIR cameras do tend to pick up on reflected heat from mirrors and what not. Jay and Grant found nothing, though.

Next up was the Victorian mansion, the LeBlanc house where a family has had to put up with doors opening and closing, raucous behavior by child-like spirits. Here TAPS caught an EVP when everything was said and done and another possible thermal hit of an entity. The EVP, though, was the most interesting thing because the homeowner had reported being hit by the crawlspace door to the attic opening and hitting him with enough force to bruise his leg. That EVP was caught while Steve and Tango were monkeying with the door, trying to figure out what could have caused it to open, well, that was scarily on cue, wasn’t it?

And, also, the basement was definitely an interesting find by Jay and Grant. Who would have noticed the charred wood on the ceiling but them? I thought that did correlate well with some of the experiences. Later, we of course learned that there had once been a fire in the basement, but it was unknown if anybody had died in it or not.

The best part about the LeBlanc investigation, though, was when Jay and Grant found all the Halloween decorations. Again, Tango was the target. I laughed pretty good when Jay jumped out at him wearing the mask and holding that fake knife. Because, it scared Tango enough for him to run off. Good one guys. I’m surprised it wasn’t Steve, though, that got him. But, Steve did have fun with him at Theodore’s, as we saw.

Overall, there wasn’t much in “Hometown Haunts” that screamed paranormal, except for maybe the two EVPs. However, it was cool to get some more information on Steve. Learning that he’s actually in a blues-rock band was interesting. I never thought he’d be a drummer, though.

Rating: 6.5