TV-Reviewed

Surprisingly, TAPS’s Star Island investigation had more of a scientific-debunking-session feel to it–because, along the way, that seems to have faded slightly from the show. However, that’s the part I liked about GH to begin with. I mean, yes, you can only get so scientific when it comes to the paranormal, but I think it does lead more creedance to the field when you approach it in such a manner. Anyhow.

Star Island was a sizable locale to investigate. Luckily, the hot spots had been narrowed down to four buildings in particular: Cottage E, Vaughn Cottage, the Doctor’s Cottage, and the Oceanic Hotel. Each of these buildings seemed to have its own unique story, too, including its own possible resident spirit (or spirits).

The stories, of course, were your typical tales of tragedy. You had the doctor and his wife who were in ailing health and whom “had made a suicide pact with each other” to end each other’s suffering–too bad for her he died and she didn’t. Naturally, his spirit seems to be haunting the cottage. Then, there was the little boy from Cottage E who annoyed his momma so much she just sent him outside to play–too bad for her he died on the nearby rocks. Yep, lots of juicy tales of tragedy to go around, which meant plenty of possibilities for TAPS to catch something…paranormal.

Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of Ghost Hunters

First up, as usual, were Jason and Grant whom had decided to see if they could make contact with Oscar, the first owner of the Oceanic Hotel. They were quick to debunk the mirror on the landing where it was said the image of Oscar would sometimes appear. Well, I guess it’s actually more accurate to say they couldn’t find a darn thing, such as tarnishing or scratches, that might cause people to think they had seen something that wasn’t there. Then, Grant mentioned the lady in white apparition that’s sometimes seen in the same area. I had to laugh when he said, “It’s always the lady in white.” Man, if that’s not an ironic truth. Because, there always seems to be a “lady in white” haunting some place somewhere.

The guys didn’t have any luck proving or disproving anything with either the mirror or the lady in white. In fact, they don’t have much more luck in the hotel. The thermal hit they got from one of the rooms on the floor where the doors supposedly liked to open and close on their own was a reflection of them–in fact, I  had called it before even they had reached that same conclusion. However, just before the oops-not-an-abnormal-thermal-hit Jay had made a comment about some child’s doodling on a nearby door that would end up yielding an interesting EVP. He had said, “Why is that the creepiest baby I’ve ever seen?” Well, he got a response back, “It’s not that creepy.” Now, here’s the thing, the tone of the voice sounded childlike. And it was caught right at that moment.

OK, onto the debunking. In Cottage E, where the boy whom had died on the rocks had once lived, there were claims of people being pushed down the stairs. Well, the gals thought that maybe people were becoming disoriented due to their balance being thrown off. They employed a level and, sure enough, they found that every step leaned in a different direction. Forward, backward, left, right. It could create a “fun house effect”, I think, if you weren’t ready for it. Then, there was Steve’s discovery in the Oceanic’s attic. After having dealt with mice in my walls and ceiling, I can say that they do tend to make a lot of racket. Furniture being moved? You betcha. They can make you think things like that. Lastly, Cottage E’s door was caught opening and closing by itself when nobody was around. Well, the wind did it was Jason’s conclusion, which I’ll go with. The door supposedly didn’t latch all that well and it was windy. Voila. Oh, and let’s not forget that optical illusion of the attic door opening by itself in Vaughn Cottage. And, what about those loose floorboards in the Doctor’s Cottage?

My point is that TAPS went for more logical, earthly explanations first in many of these cases. That’s what Ghost Hunters is all about. But, let’s not forget the truly unexplainable things that did happen during the Star Island investigation. Vaughn Cottage had Jay and Grant scratching their heads. There were the footsteps that the two of them heard. Each thought they were coming from the opposite floor. I’m just glad the television crew’s equipment had caught the sounds. Now, the thing was, if we are to believe Jay and Grant each had their own cameraman, it would be apparent that the footsteps did seem to come from upstairs when you were downstairs and downstairs when you were upstairs. That’s how it was cut in the episode. But, who can say for sure? One thing that did sort of irk me was Jay’s claims of hearing noises coming from the vault on the landing, which was in between the two floors. I couldn’t hear anything. How do we know what was going on? Of course, when the vault was opened there was nothing there. The footsteps, though, sounded genuine enough–but, again, who knows.

Then, it was Cottage E’s turn to wow and surprise us. Kris Williams and Kris Gartland were trying to make contact with the boy when they supposedly heard a distant scream. This isn’t the exciting bit, though, as we never heard the “scream.” No. It was when they went to rewind the voice recorder and it suddenly died. Then, Kris Williams camcorder shuts itself off. Both devices supposedly had full charges. It was slightly impressive, yes, but paranormal? Who knows. Amy did yield one possible explanation. The cold could have effected those batteries. Lithium-ion batteries, I know, can have problems with extreme cold or hot temperatures.

In the end, the Star Island case didn’t yield a ton of evidence, but TAPS was able to find an unexplained EVP and do some top notch debunking. I wish I could say the same for the second investigation in this episode.

Kimball Castle, while an impressive sight, ended up yielding squat. Try as they might, TAPS just couldn’t come up with any real evidence. The thermal hit in the entry area, while at first exciting, was discovered during the findings to be nothing more than a common field rodent. I could tell instantly that that’s what it had to be. Oh well. Grant tried to debunk the door in the caretaker’s cottage, and was mildly successful–that is if the property owners’ claims were true that the door had opened all the way on its own; the vacuum effect had only opened the door slightly. Nice try, though.

All in all, barring the second case, this was a fairly good episode. I just wish they would have utilized the entire forty-five minutes for the Star Island investigation. Also, I’d like to comment on the comic relief of Steve and Tango. Leave it to them to point out the ridiculous sign they found during the Kimball Castle investigation. I got a laugh with the, “I hope they don’t mean ghost hunting…” Anyway. Good episode.

Rating: 7.5