Ghost Hunters Recap 5.19: Rocky Mountain Hauntings

Posted by Ron Martin on 10.29.2009

This week on Ghost Hunters, TAPS travels halfway across the country to check on bleeding walls and plumbing. Not necessarily in that order.

Not a lot here in the intro this week. I'll be looking to get enough to just get past the ad.

For some clarification, there will be a Ghost Hunters episode marathon on Halloween night hosted by Josh Gates. Apparently, Jason and Grant have recorded a few segments to intro and air. Also, Tango, Steve and the Ghost Academy group will be "ghost hunting" at the Essex County Hospital with live feeds on the internet and in between episodes. I put ghost hunting in quotes because I doubt there will be an actual investigation, more like a staged five minute segment here and there. Regardless, you can watch live feed of the place and push panic buttons and whatnot on the website.

As for me, I got better things to do on Halloween and so does my DVR. I now worry about GHI since they weren't even apparently thought of when it came to the Halloween show and seem to have been knocked down a rung for Stango's devil child show.

I might DVR the Ghost Adventures six hour hunt. I have seen half a dozen episodes of these guys. The only problem I have with them is that they are way over the top cheesy and dramatic. If I do, I'll probably comment, but there won't be a full on review like Halloweens past.

With that I give you tonight's episode of…



On this episode of Ghost Hunters
TAPS goes to Rocky Mountain country to look at bleeding walls and look for ghost babies. The girls get creeped out in the attic and the announcer makes a really bad pun using the word "peak."

Ah! Before the new episode began I got the tail end of the episode before it and I go to tell you that I've gotten so use to Evil Jason, to see him without a goatee is just weird!

TAPS Headquarters
Kris has "sexy Kris" look today and we forgo the whole fake Day Job bit. They are going to investigate one of the runners up for the "Great American Ghost Hunt" contest kind of completely nullifying the entire point of winning it in the first place. I did, however, say last year that they should just investigate all three places. Someone's listening to me.

Grant recaps pretty much nothing.

Car talk on the way where we get a little town history. I will let you pay all of my bills if Jason and Grant actually drove out to Colorado. I ain't buying it! Kris, who previously had straight hair, no glasses and big boobs now has wavy hair, glasses and is flat chested….hmmm. Okay, I don't know about the chest thing, but everything else is legit.

Case #1: Briarhurst Manor, Manitou Springs, Colorado

The Investigation
The woman makes it a point to say hi to Steve. What exactly happened behind the scenes at the Halloween episode last year? Tammila is our ghost host this week. I think she is an employee here. She says a vase flew off and crashed, which is weird because it's sitting right there and like, not broke up. Oh, it was repaired. I see. Some dude named Eric got called out by a ghost and oh, by the way, the wall bleeds sometimes. The wallpaper is from 1890 so there's no telling what they used as adhesive. I just debunked the entire episode. There's a ghost that plays music while people eat. At least she's not a rude ghost. Other employees have seen dark shadows which mean there is 100% chance that our team of experts will also see dark shadows. Jason is wearing orange after labor day – how crude! Wait, does that matter? Things are misplaced all the time in the office and the boss blames it on a ghost. I need to remember that for work. When it rains, children can be heard to run around up in the attic. Some employees will not appear on camera because they believe it will just stir the spirits up. Those employees have been fired.

They are trying to work in 38 references to the Great American Ghost Hunt in this episode. If I was that chick on 1000 Islands, New York and this place was investigated before mine (I don't know what order these were recorded in), I'd be pissed!

Steve does what Steve does best – talk about things I don't care about. He is at least a team player with his TAPS shirt on. Jason and Grant are the only two that are cool enough to get to wear solid colors.

LIGHTS OUT!

Alpha Team is in the Palmer Room, whatever that is. Looks like some sort of tavernesque room. We are like ten seconds in and they haven't heard anything yet – this may be a record. Oh! There we go. Jason hears kids upstairs in the attic. Is it raining? Amazingly, though there is a DVR on this room, there will be nothing caught to substantiate Jason's claims. There's a loose board so Grant steps on it while Jason goes down and listens. Jason claims it's the same sound and that something was upstairs walking on the boards. That's good enough for…

COMMERCIALS.

Clown Team investigates the foyer. Steve goes into the whole spiel of what is haunted and what is not. We already know this, but the miscommunication amongst TAPS means that Tango has not. They do an EMF sweep. For the 12,578 time we hear what an EVP is. This is the kind of superior knowledge Stango has that they are going to teach the lucky students of Ghost Academy. They decide to go ahead with an EVP session. Tango plays the "you did it once, you can do it again" card, but the ghost throws the trump card and he gets nothing. Steve now has more ink than skin. He is going to have to rent someone else to get more tattoos. Steve feels a cold spot that quickly moves by him when the ghost sees all his tattoos. Isn't there a train of thought that tattoos cover up insecurities? Eh, it probably gets him laid. Turns out the cold spot was a draft from a door being left open.

Alpha Team is back in the Palmer room because they own! It's what Alpha People do. Jason sees a light hitting the far wall. Jason's voiceover verifies this while he has his back turned to the camera. I know you are going to be so totally surprise but Alpha Team hears footsteps. NOBODY HEARS FOOTSTEPS LIKE THE GHOST HUNTERS! #1 Paranormal Team of all time, baby!! We get a weird ghost of Grant with the thermal to remind us of all the DVR and thermal footage we won't be getting from the attic. They just happen to luck into the K-II going crazy without even trying to use it! That's why they are the Alpha Team, folks. They want the girls to come up – supposedly to communicate with little girls, but we all know what happens when Alphas get around the females of the tribe…right? Right?

Kris tells us they got called up even though we just heard that. They were called up to "investigate" which apparently is translated as sitting in a chair near Jason and Grant with bottles of water. They hear the infamous footsteps.

Footsteps 2, TAPS 0.

COMMERCIALS.

I kind of like all the repeating after commercials because now I can FF through the commercials and the first three minutes of the episode when it comes back from commercial and not miss a thing. The girls are creeped out because there is nothing in the attic. Kris gives junior high play level acting lines to go to other side of the attic (not saying that she was faking, just saying that her speech was stilted and weird sounding). The girls go around a railing to "find" a door that is obviously visible from the time you enter the room. We all know that Amy and Kris are experts at finding little doors in attics. The spookiest of music opens the door in the "crazy room" as Amy calls it. The results of Chick Team's investigation are that there are no other investigators near them. Their words, not mine. They act like they are playing hide and seek from the boys, which is actually a pretty good technique. Slap my ass and color me surprised, they are doing a fine EVP session. Kris wants her hair pulled because that's how she likes it. They get nothing so Kris gives TAPS company line #43 and they head out.

Clown Team is in the dining room investigating the girl playing while they eat. I guess maybe she wasn't playing music, just frolicking? Steve says if she's there, the camera will see her. Here's the problem Steve, THE CAMERA NEVER CATCHES ANYTHING! That's also the problem with TAPS Company Line #43, by the way. Also, all of TAPS love saying the girl's name. They get $5 every time they do. They are trying to get the little girl to come to the window and the tempo of the music is rising….getting suspenseful….so Steve can drop his flashlight. Tango gives TAPS Company Line #43.

Alpha Team is in the drawing room with the bleeding wall. Grant says there is stuff on the wall that kind of looks like grease. They go upstairs to plumb in a bathroom above the wall and hear a girl's voice.

COMMERCIALS. Dude, run!

We're back and Alpha Team has found a red cleaning agent in the bathroom. They are surmising that if some of this was poured in the drain, it would probably seep out the poorly put together plumbing in the upstairs bathroom. As Jason says "it's pretty self explanatory." Weird thing – I would actually pay these guys to come in and look at my plumbing but would not have them come in and ghost hunt for free. This plumbing is directly above where they saw the blood on the wall.

Clown Team is outside because Steve wants to prove to his detractors that he is not afraid of the outside. An apple is following them down the path – literally. There is a crabapple tree behind them. After some deliberation, they decide maybe the apple fell from the tree. I would like to see what got cut in order for these two minutes to stay in.

Jason says they are going to investigate in the room where the lady's hair got pulled….and they are back in the Palmer Room. They are either doing an EVP session or are waiting for a server. If they are waiting for a server, this place has terrible service. They decide that the ghost must be residual. While this happens, they keep hearing a female's voice. Grant openly mocks the female ghost. They check on the girls to see if they are anywhere near. Chick Team is outside on the other side of the property. Grant says several times it could not be him. Almost enough times to make it sound suspicious.

Chick Team is investigating outside and debating whether a skeleton can wear clothes or not.

Best line of the season so far…

AMY: If you're a skeleton walking around out here, we have a hard time believing in you. You have to prove your existence.

What if the skeleton is saying the same thing about her? Amy wants to know if she's buried. Um…not if she's walking around, kid. They talk about the red haired girl who dances around outside.

KRIS: There's a red haired girl seen here. She lived a full life, but is seen as a child right here.

AMY: Makes sense.

Kris asks the ghost if her parents were home and Amy wants some noise. There are some crackling sounds in the woods. Is it an animal?

COMMERCIALS.

A motion light comes on so we get the "fun-loving ghost hunter" music because both of them jumped.

Alpha Team is in the Palmer Room still hearing voices. They've heard voices to the point where they actually get up and walk down the hallway. They are hearing things moving in the office. After checking the computers, they decide nothing explains the voices, give TAPS Company Line #43 and take off.

Clown Team is in the conservatory near the once broken vase. This may not end well. They decide the table the vase is on is not very sturdy…so they start banging on it. Teachers of college students, folks. They sit at separate table thinking they will get served quicker….er do better with an EVP session. They keep yelling at the ghost to move the vase. No action in this room whatsoever. Something wacky is going on because Steve has a mop and is trying to get Tango to open a door. While Tango is on one side of the door opening it, Steve slams a nasty used mop against it squirting Tango on the other side. Tango is so gullible…and is convinced it's vinegar. If you get taken by Steve, you deserve what you get. Steve is pissed that Tango's one tattoo is cooler than all his tattoos.

WRAP UP.

They name drop Great American Ghost Hunt once again and Jason name drops his family.

Tammila is very excited that she won even though she came in second.

The Analysis
On the plus side, we didn't get the crappy "we're going to look at footage" confessional from Steve. Tango actually hears footsteps from upstairs while Jason and Grant does. So…why don't we check out the DVR of what was going on in the attic at that time? They'd rather listen an EVP that Jason and Grant got. Steve mentions Tango found that on a production tape. If they have been analyzing the production tapes before, maybe they should have mentioned this?

The Reveal
I am telling you I have these shirts that Jason has. Four for $20 at Old Navy. Grant actually explains some ways people could be seeing shadows and confusing them for other things and explains to her to watch out for that. They explain the whole red liquid/bloody wall deal. Now they get into the voices. The voice is pretty audible. Now it's the footsteps and how no one was in the attic. Grant prefaces the last EVP by saying maybe she can recognize it and it may not be paranormal. They surmise it to be a male whistling or humming. I don't hear it at all, to be honest. Lastly, the audio of the footsteps. Tammila drops the whole rainy day bit again. Jason says that he thought he could debunk most of it, but couldn't. Tammila notes that they are not scared (despite the fact that several employees would not appear on camera).

Jason says that Tammila seemed very surprised (even though she didn't). They drop Great American Ghost Hunt once again along with last year's keyword "residual."

Fistbump. I know this happen because I caught it before it went off the air. It was good one with a big ol' smack.

Fin.

Overall:
Actually, this was a pretty good episode. I am glad that they've had two weeks in a row with just one investigation. Nothing is rushed, we get several different storylines and more than enough to fill up 40 minutes. There was some good debunking and while the evidence was shaky, there was a little. A solid effort and no vases were harmed.

As an aside, thank goodness they got rid of The Findings and a couple of the repetitive confessionals. They're making some steps forward and I appreciate that. Two minor gripes. 1) Someone has obviously coached everyone on the team to say that they had cameras rolling and it will catch all. Well, the camera conveniently never catches anything, so maybe we should rethink that strategy. 2) If they've been using production material in their analysis, they should tell us that. That is one of the big complaints about the show. Other than that, perfectly acceptable episode.

Until next week, Happy Halloween everyone!