Ghost Hunters Live Halloween Special Recap 10.31.07 (Part 1)
Posted by Ron Martin on 11.01.2007
TAPS does a live six-hour investigation of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium on Halloween night. So scary it makes Jason wish he had on man diapers. I'm not making it up, he actually said that.
The moment of truth has arrived. The spooks have come out, the pumpkins have been carved and little kids everywhere are begging for candy. It's Halloween night and there's a new tradition in town. It's called the Ghost Hunters Live Halloween special. This is supposedly the third one, but really it's only the second on in this format. Six hours of Ghost Hunters goodness.
Deleted Scenes from Last Week
There were two deleted scenes from last week. One was Donna rehashing a longer version of her House of Seven Gables story to Lisa. I am sure this was cut mostly because neither Donna nor Lisa are involved with TAPS any longer. The second was another rehash of Grant setting up the Hawthorne Hotel investigation to the ghost hunters and talking about Jason's kid getting hurt, thus starting the chain reaction that would end with the rise of evil Jason.
Since we have six hours of ghostly goodness to cover, I think we'll keep the prologue a little short this week. We'll just touch on the basics.
The Competition
Apparently all three "ghost hunter" finalists get to participate in the live event tonight from the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. It's kind of a test. One of them will get named the new member of TAPS next week on Ghost Hunters. The three finalists are Patrick, Mark and Deanna. If you want to find out more information on them try their page at the Ghost Hunters subsite on Sci-Fi. I am sure that the three of them being with the team has nothing to do with that fact that TAPS lost half their staff this summer and needs more people to investigate.
The Players
Other than the aforementioned contest finalists, several Ghost Hunter regulars will be on tap (no pun intended) as well as a special guest.
Jason The evil leader of the TAPS clan. Once, a nice regular plumber man, the events that began in Salem, MA led him to grow a goatee and thus, become the epitome of evil.
Grant The ying to Jason's yang. Grant is the laid back leader of TAPS and the one that all the ghost hunters go to when they need time off.
Steve Afraid of spiders, bugs, heights, open spaces, closed spaces, clowns, the moon, the sun, raisins, his own shadow, small yip dogs and commitment. Loves ghosts, though.
Tango Has been on dozens of ghost hunts and is still looking for the ultimate paranormal experience. Ghost hunter most likely to have his own theme music sometime in the future.
Kris She's a dummy but has great hair.
Dustin The rock ghost hunter of the group although he is in like 1 of every 6 episodes. Can get philosophical even though he looks like a lost frat boy.
Special crossover guest Josh Gates, Destination Truth. I've only ever seen one episode of this, but it seems to me like they just kind of investigate legends and then take off without proving anything. He's perfect for TAPS!
The Location
Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, KY. This place is very haunted. Here's a clip from the last time the TAPS crew was here.
For more info on Waverly Hills, hit up the Waverly Hills page on Sci-Fi.
Interactive
This show is interactive with the fans as on Sci-Fi.com they have a page you can fill out with questions for the team that they may or may not answer. In addition to this there is a panic button you can push on the internet to inform TAPS of things you saw they may have missed while watching the live show. They used this quite a bit last year.
The show has also been pimping the fact that you can text individual members of TAPS with personal questions that they may or may not answer on this show. That's about four weeks worth of questions. Remember me and my girlfriend sent a text to Grant asking how old he was when he lived in Italy. We'll have to see if he answers, the punk!
The Show
Last year, the Ghost Hunters Live Halloween Special ran from 11-5 AM and was the highest rated show on TV for a couple of those early morning hours. Sci-Fi got cocky and moved the special up to 9 PM to 3 AM. Maybe this was due to the different time zone, who knows? Let's see of Ghost Hunters can repeat its feat from last Halloween. It's time to take our magical six-hour journey. I hope you have a lot of time on your hands or an eight hour shift at work to kill because this is one mamma jamma.
Let's get it on with the
The show opens with Josh Gates, he says he's the host. Does this mean he is not ghost hunting? It probably means he'll stick around of a little bit, take off without proving anything and then say he hunted a legend. Josh sends us to a video package telling about the Sanatorium.
Background
The Sanatorium was opened up in 1910 as a center for those who had tuberculosis. 63,000 people died there and most were taking down the dead tunnel (body shoot). Two nurses committed suicide. One hanged herself in room 502, which may be important later. Apparitions of children without eyes joins the regular haunted stuff we've come to know and love - -voices, shadow people, doors slamming and the like.
Cue up TAPS last investigation here. To see the results just scroll back up in this column and hit play on the video. Other stuff happened too, but that's the biggie. Wow, they mentioned Brian.
Oooh, they have a voiceover guy doing the introductions. I'm going to pull a Will Helm on you and give you the entire lineup.
Jason Lead Investigator
Grant Lead Investigator
Steve Tech Manager
Dave (Tango) Investigator
Kris Investigator-In-Training
Dustin Tech Specialist
Heather Investigator
Kristyn Field Researcher
Elijah Burke ECW Superstar
Wow, the internet folk are going to be pissed about Burke. He's another wrestling crossover like CM Punk from last year. They were pissed about Punk and Elijah is not near as cool. TAPS is reaching deep for this one. Heather and Kristyn haven't been on the show since Season 1 I think. This is major proof that the TAPS family is running thin. I guess the contest finalists are not ghost hunting tonight. Sorry I misled, but I thought they were. I thought that was the point of contest to ghost hunt with TAPS on Halloween.
We're back live with Josh Gates interviewing the TAPS team. Elijah Burke used to be a cop so he's not scared. Tricky Sci-Fi throws up a disclaimer that this show is live on the east coast only. Take that three-fourths of the nation! The evidence will be revealed in a new episode next week. In two weeks there will be a roundtable discussion answering your questions! Bait and switch me two weeks in a row, Ghost Hunters! I'm beginning to think Elijah Burke feels right at home with all the bait and switching going around. They don't mention the contest at all. Ah, no swearing for the ghost hunting. He calls out Steve on this. They head inside five minutes in so we technically are not getting six hours of ghost hunting. You bastards!
Josh goes over the interactive features which are what I said above plus a live video stream on the website; live chat that TAPS members will jump into every once in awhile and also the TAPS team will upload photos for the net as the show goes on.
Okay, the finalists will be on the show, they will just pop in one at a time and basically this will be used as a test for Jason and Grant to decide (read: who will look better on TV). You can vote, but it won't matter.
Recap of the video above again while the TAPS team gets in position and I'm sure they have to get pretty for the camera too. Except Kris. She's already pretty enough.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky
Halloween Night. LIVE
Hour 1
Josh says we're going to start with Jason and Grant on the second floor trying to recapture the magic of the ghostly thermal boy. So, of course we immediately go to footage of Steve and Brian from last year on the fifth floor. Me thinks someone in the production truck is getting fired. In the middle of the clip, someone spots the mistake they fade into Jason and Grant live. Is Kris running the production or something?
Elijah is with Jason and Grant. For those haters out there, Elijah (like CM Punk last year) is going to act as the new guy that TAPS can talk to and explain stuff for new viewers without going to pre-taped segments. Immediately there is a plug for ECW on Sci-Fi. There is a ball a small kid might play with conveniently sitting in the middle of the second floor. Jason bowls with it hoping the ghost the kid, Timmy will play with it. Grant tries to get Timmy to kick the ball. Elijah says he saw the ball move before earlier in the day.
Nice, there's a scroller that pops up telling you what area of the sanatorium the camera is going to switch to every ten minute. Grant is going to mark where the ball is sitting and he's got some crazy Ghostbusters like contraption on his back that my lady swears he explained earlier, but I don't remember him explaining cuz I was typing for you peoples.
We're three minutes in and Elijah is freaking out. He saw an image in a doorway. This is going to be a long night. Jason and Grant tell him that they've heard paranormal images in the room before. Elijah is already getting scared. Grant tries to convince the ghosts that they are nice guys. The ghosts aren't buying it. They know Jason is evil.
Before the first commercial, Josh plugs ECW for the second time. Of course there was a commercial for ECW.
Despite Josh telling us before the commercial that we were coming back with Steve and Tango, we come back with Evil Jason, Grant and Elijah. They're still talking about Elijah image that he saw. I bet the cross around his neck comes into play before the show is over. Grant thinks he saw something flash by the screen, but they don't know. Grant tells the ghosts to try harder. Happy Halloweens are sent by Jason, Grant and Elijah.
Josh tells us we're going to Steve and Tango, who are finally in position on the fifth floor. He gives a little info on tuberculosis. If you need to know, check this out.. He mentions what happened last time on the fifth floor. Now they throw back to last years investigation with Steve and Brian that they have already shown once tonight. We get the whole clip this time because they threw Kris out of the production truck. Ooh, they have a map showing where Steve and Tango are at on the fifth floor.
They don't have a wrestler with them so let's see how many ECW plugs there are. Hey, they don't have officially licensed TAPS gear on. Better hope Evil Jason doesn't see that or some heads will be rolling. The scary music being played in the background is pretty annoying. I'm setting the over/under on Steve being scared by spiders tonight at 1.5. Steve reminisces where he found the shadow. Steve tells Tango to get his own paranormal experience and to stay off of his. I think Steve is a little grumpy because he hasn't banged Kris yet. Steve sends Halloween greetings to the ghosts but not you, because he hates you.
Josh informs us we are switching to Dustin and Kris in the body chute. Dustin must have drawn the short straw to get stuck with Kris. Of course as we fade in, Kris is not ghost hunting but yapping about herself. Just a normal day for Kris.
Kris hair flips 1. Kris ghost hunting 0.
Josh is in the interactive area when we come back from commercial and they brag about the Red Sox. They tell the audience they are going to upload digital photos. You can also check TAPS live DVR setup online.
Back to Kris and Dustin. Dustin is trying to do EVP. Kris is there.
Kris hair flips 2 Kris ghost hunting 0.
We may have heard something, but who knows, it could have been part of the scary music playing. They are chasing sounds up and down the chute that they hear. We can only hear scary music. Kris sees a light at the end of the hall and they chase it. Flash again but the two are out of breath from climbing all the stairs.
As they chase a live 3-d models take us back to Jason and Grant where the ball has moved 20 feet from the spot that was marked, conveniently off camera. The ball is shaking back and forth on its own. Grant makes sure we know there is no breeze in the hallway by stating it several times. They mark the ball again and put a camera right on it. Elijah is freaked. Grant says to keep in mind that cheap balls like that are naturally off balance. Instead of watching the ball move, they decide to head out. Elijah decides this is like the movie Ghost.
ECW commercial/mention #4.
We come back to Josh who says that someone hit the panic button. Lee sent in a panic that when they looked at the ball with the thermal imaging camera it looked as if there were handprints on the ball. Grant and Jason dismiss it as someone held the ball before hand.
Back to Steve and Tango on the fifth floor. They're hearing weird sounds but they're in an open space above the sanatorium, so it could be anything. Steve gets pissed that something tripped him. The first hour is almost up and I notice there are no signs of Heather and Kristyn. Why? Because they don't count.
Hour 2
Steve and Tango are still on the roof/fifth floor. Apparently a lot of TB people died up on the roof. Steve explains the difference between a sanatorium and a sanitarium. Steve freaks out about a drop ten feet from where they are standing and precedes to run away from it. Steve is on tonight. He is cracking me up. Now he's scared there might be bats.
They work on EVP work in the stairwell on the roof. Steve explains to the ghost that if they talk into the microphone on the digital recorder, they'll be able to hear them. Steve whispers to Tango that they should have brought Halloween candy; candy corn in particular. I think Steve might be high and have the munchies.
Josh pimps the second season of Destination Truth and the Ghost Hunter spin-off, Ghost Hunters International. I like how they're using Josh. Much better than I thought it would be.
Back to Dustin and Kris at the body chute. Dustin is walking. Kris is pimping for the camera. They've heard footsteps and seen lights. Last time TAPS was here, people saw unexplainable lights in the body chute.
They hear bats and are not near as scared as Steve would be. Or Elijah. Kris talks about how she does nor feel bad for overeating today. So she did have a cookie with her tuna sandwich for lunch! I thought she looked a little pudgy. Leave it to Kris to talk about how she's burning calories instead of you know, actually ghost hunting.
I really like the live spooky shots of the building they show coming back from commercial. It's creepy.
Precisely 1 hour 18 minutes in and Heather and Kristyn get their first screen time. They're on the fourth floor. They don't get as much screen time because they have thick New England accents. That's my theory. That and they don't talk to the ghosts like everyone else. These two aren't as TV aware as everyone else. Which makes sense, because they haven't been on TV since the first season (maybe early second season?).
Josh quickly sends us back to the second floor with Evil Jason, Grant and Elijah admitting nothing is happening with Heather and Kristyn. Elijah sees something like every three minutes. He's the new Brian. Evil Jason takes Elijah and sends Grant down to other end of the hall. I think Jason is going to do evil things to Elijah because that's what he does.
As Evil Jason and Elijah are walking the sounds of change dropping on the floor saves Elijah's life. Jason interrogates Grant, but he heard nothing so they continue. A disembodied voice is controlling the thermal cam and sees something small cross the screen twice. It takes me a moment to realize the disembodied voice is actually Grant. Now they are seeing lights at the end of the hall as well. Elijah is notably scared.
Back from commercial, TAPS is in a meeting comparing evidence. Tango and Steve are going to the body chute and they get the scaredy Elijah. Josh gives us a recap of the night so far. In his recap, he makes no mention of Heather or Kristyn.
Dustin and Kris are sent to the ultra-active second floor. It should be noted that Kris now has her hair pulled back, so no more hair flips. That makes me a sad panda. Kris comments on the beauty of the building because it's really either talk about the building or ghost hunt. I want somebody to hit the panic button and tell TAPS about the giant eyeballs painted on the wall behind them. Dustin is asking the ghosts questions and dummy Kris is actually answering them.
Josh is now outside the body chute. Steve from Detroit saw white orbs running from the investigators. We're waiting on Tango and Steve to check this out. Cue the video of last time Tango was in the body chute from the episode last year. Man, is this going to scare Elijah. Josh tells them about what was seen and sends them in ..TO THEIR DEATH! The body chute has to be crawling with spiders. Watch out, Steve!
Elijah is here so we get ECW promo #5. Steve explains Elijah how to do EVP work. Steve is the master of the EVP. I have been informed by my lady friend that I have to write that Tango's flashlight looks like one of the ghost from Super Mario Brothers when reflected on the wall. I didn't want to write that, but for my own good, I did. They're seeing lights at the end of the hall like Dustin and Kris before them.
**BONUS**
We get a sneak preview of Stephen King's The Mist. It's a good novella. You should read it. I think the movie will be good.
We're back with Jason and Grant on the fifth floor/roof where they're admiring the graffiti. Evil Jason sees a shadow it's just the cameraman. They're hanging out near 502 where the nurse hung herself. They hear sounds like someone scuffling feet down the hallway. Jason takes the moment to bask in his evilness. Grant asks if there is a nurse up here and if there is, is she upset. No, she just hung herself because she was bored. Grant asks if the ghost is pregnant. Yeah, I don't know why either. I think the nurse who hung herself was pregnant and that's why she hung herself. Hey, I'm not a kid person either. I can empathize. Hey, on the live TAPS DVR on the internet you can see the cameramen following the ghost hunters around.
Jason runs into something and says "I'm going to kill myself in here". What an evil choice of words, mocking the ghosts. Grant tries to get the ghosts to talk into the red light like Steve did earlier. Grant tries to convince the ghosts that there is nothing wrong with being pregnant and single. Jason is evil so he asks what if it is a dude.
Hour 3
We switch to the body chute with Steve, Tango and Elijah. They're smelling. Steve explains phantom smells to Elijah. Elijah is already more knowledgeable than Kris. Elijah makes Steve crap himself by telling him there was a bat behind him. Steve and Tango immediately try to hit the ground as Elijah laughs at the white boys. There's a crash at the far end of the tunnel. Elijah is doing an EVP session. He really is already better than Kris.
Back from commercial, Jason and Grant are in the interactive headquarters to answer questions. They don't cleanse themselves after a ghost hunt as they don't feel it's necessary. They only answered one freaking question.
Cut to Dustin and Kris on the second floor. Kris tries to talk Dustin into playing a game of pass the ball around with her. Dustin doesn't bite. Kris proceeds to get scared by a chair. Not to be outdone by Elijah, Kris tries to do some EVP. I may be bias on this, but Elijah was better.. Kris sees a light that raced across the hallway from left to right similar to what Grant was seeing. Dustin gives in to the rolling the ball game. They both sit on the floor and bounce the ball back and forth. We found ghost hunting Kris can do! Kind of. She's a little off the mark.
This immediately makes the cameras switch to Grant and Evil Jason on the fifth floor.. Jason needs to learn not to shine the flashlight directly into the camera. Grant theorizes there may be high EMF readings in 502 and 503 that are creeping people out. There is graffiti on the wall that says CRAZY. Not very creative. Jason opens up the fuse box trying to find something to be evil with, but there's not been juice running through there for awhile. He tries to get Grant to put his tongue to it to make sure. I think he's just trying to off Grant to take over sole leadership of TAPS. They want to set up ITC equipment.
**BONUS**
We get a sneak peek of Season 4 of Ghost Hunters. They're going inside an 18th century fortress that no one has been in, in over 130 years; a death row prison; and into the nightmares of a four-year-old girl. Jason hears a mummy. Tango gets a haircut. Grant craps his pants. Yes, unfortunately, Kris is still around. Fret not, I'm on the sitch and I will have recaps for you guys when the new episodes appear.
Dustin and Kris are still on the second floor. Is it telling that in the previews for Season 4 the only part of Kris we saw was her butt. The ball is shaking back and forth. Dustin believes in positive reinforcement and tries to talk the ghost into pushing the ball over the stick. The ball stops moving soon after. Dustin insults the ghost by telling it it's no fun. Like Jason and Grant before them, Dustin and Kris decide to walk away from the ball and maybe it will shake some more.
The show is switched to Heather and Kristyn and they literally are sitting on the ground saying "Come on." The most exciting thing about this segment is when the cameraman walked in front of the light causing a shadow to come over the girls. The girls revert to the old "we came a long way so show us" strategy. I know why they are showing these two. It gives them an ample opportunity to pop up things people have seen on the live feed. Someone saw mist on the second floor. Someone heard a voice on the second floor. Someone saw a face in the body chute. Okay, we've been with this shot for about ten minutes and we've seen nothing but these two girls sitting. Heather and Kristyn are no Lisa and Donna. If Jason wasn't so evil, maybe we would still have Lisa and Donna. Bastard.
We're back the at the command center where everyone is going to be reshuffled and reassigned. Elijah is being sent with Dustin and Kris. Oh, look, Heather and Kristyn are there so they at some point must have actually, you know, stood up. Nobody got much of anything in that go round. I guess no one was "reshuffled" so Josh lied to us. Josh lies to us a second time by telling us the investigation is going into its second hour when it is actually going into its fourth. I think Kris is rubbing off on Josh.
Dustin, Kris and Elijah are on the third floor, which is supposedly the most active floor though nothing has happened there yet. My lady friend immediately empathizes with Dustin because of the two rookies he has to carry on his back. Elijah is leading the EVP session. Steve and Tango are getting some hot ghost action so we're going to cut away to them just as hour three comes to a close and I leave you with this cliffhanger.
Yes, that's right bait and switch, baby! Whooo! I am like a member of TAPS. Due to the six hour massiveness of the show, I gots to split this recap into two different articles. Come right back here later today or tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to LIVE Ghost Hunters Halloween six-hour ghost hunt.
