Ghost Hunters International Recap Episode 1.9: Devil Dog

Posted by Ron Martin on 07.17.2008

This week on Ghost Hunters International -- Brian sees a shadow. The team looks for the bane of Barry's existence: the black dog. The team investigates in New Zealand, which is not part of Australia. Brian sees another shadow. One member of the team is taken out and sent back home.

Here we go again. My only wish for this week's episode is that I don't piss off an entire country full of people like last week. At least I learned something, right? If I do manage to tick off more people, these guys might be hunting me pretty soon on…



TONIGHT ON GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL…

Different continent, same types of places – the team investigates a theater in New Zealand where many, many beautiful people live who are nothing like the people from that island continent – whatever it's called. That's not important. The important thing is we are in the great country of New Zealand and Brian is acting all Indiana Jonesy again with the ghosts. Some might every dare to call him unorthodox. After that it's too England to look for black dogs. Shows what they know – the guy down the street from me has a black dog and I didn't have to travel half way around the world to find it – Ha!



The team is in Wellington, New Zealand where some of the best non-Australian people of the world live. Such a rich history and culture – ah, to be in New Zealand. Oh yeah, the theater is haunted, some dude died there and Donna knows all about it because either she a) researched it or b) was handed a piece of paper by the producers.

Case #1: The Opera House, Wellington, New Zealand

The Investigation
I once explored an Opera House in a place very much like New Zealand. It was in Final Fantasy III, but valid nonetheless. There was a great shot of Pat and the guys on the stage during the tour. The guy, Mr. Litte, hung himself in the theater. Shortly afterwards, three accidents happened in the same opera box. Andy is very excited to go into the opera box because he is weird. He may just climb the wall into the box. I should note that Pat, himself, looks like a ghost that has been brought back to life.

Robb is sporting the backwards hat today! Nice! We get a brief ghost hunters setting up segment before the segment that shall not be commented on continuing to…

LIGHTS OUT!

They're calling the box seats where all the accidents happened "The Accident Box." Ha! Ha!. The team is all sporting black Ghost Hunters International logo shirts that look yellow under the camera lights. These are the most yellow ghost hunters ever!

Quick shot of the moon because I think Andy may be a werewolf.

Dustin, Andy and Brian are on the catwalk. They are as high as they can be. Take that as you will. Dustin talks about how long of a fall it would be. Brian talks about how much weight the catwalk can handle. Robb pops in to talk about what an EVP is. Dustin asks a normal question. Andy asks a normal question. Brian decides that being patient with the ghost is not the right motivation and just starts insulting it right away. Andy compares it to a root canal without nova cane. I don't know if that means his skills are good or bad. I like this loner, badass ghost hunter thing Brian does, but I only like it when he is alone. They should never pair Brian up with anyone, just let him do his thing.

Brian thinks he caught something in a digital picture, but then again, Brian always sees something. Digital imaging is a key component of ghost hunting that a lot of people have abandoned because they don't see the regular Ghost Hunters guys do it. I'm glad these guys use it as a tool. I have a lot more success with digital photos than I do with EVPs. There's supposedly a black mass surrounding Dustin in one of the photos. Some sort of noise is heard, but all we get to hear at home is "spooky music." Dustin is in cammo. That's a good idea. That way you can sneak up on the ghost without them seeing you.

Robb, Barry and Donna are in the balcony where people have seen ghosts running across. Barry immediately turns to his "full spectrum camera." Guess I would as well if I invented it. Donna gives us a narrative about the opera house. She sees something a couple of rows in front of her. She's taking photos. I'm betting the ghost doesn't think she's part of the team because she isn't sporting the GHI shirts. She and Dustin are the undercover team members.

Brian, Barry and Dustin split up to do an EVP session covering the entire opera house. Somehow Brian calms himself. It must be hard for him. He gets three unexplained knocks for his calmness. Barry says he hears voices. Does he know Dustin and Brian are trying to do EVPs? He checks out the stairs and gives us our "out shot."

Commercials.

As Barry went down the stairs, the lights came on. They had been up and down the stairs all night so it wasn't some sort of motion sensor.

Robb decides they all need sleepy because Dustin yawned. Dustin ruins everything! The good news is that Dustin has ditched the upside down visor for this investigation. Pat thinks the guys look pleased. I, on the other hand, decide to pass on what would be a questionable joke at best to take you to the…

The Analysis
They show a flag flying which is similar to, but definitely not the same as an Australian flag. Only an idiot would think that was the Australian flag. Bleh. Damnit Dustin! Not only do you have the visor back, but it doesn't even match! Barry sees the black mass photo that Brian got. Pilgrim Films actually does a decent job of showing the normal footage against Brian's footage. Yeah, that surprised me as well. They dismiss it as it could be just about anything. Solid ghost hunting. Dustin's got an EVP from the catwalk but before we can hear it we have to go to…

The Findings
Not the big question is will we get to hear it here or will we get shunted off for a commercial. My money is on the commercial. Looking at these guys together, you know what they need – they need a guy with a moustache. Just a moustache. Like a 70s porn stache. We get to hear the EVP. Guess I would have lost money.

Brian (I think): Is that you that just made that noise?
Woman's Voice: No

The cool thing is that they captured it on two different audio sources.

They turn to Donna for research to see if Mr. Litte died in the theater…and he did. He killed himself with a shotgun.

The Reveal
They don't have a whole lot here. Just that one word EVP. They play it right away. They play for Pat both versions. Robb goes all out to prove that it was something paranormal that made the voice. A four point version as a matter of fact. Robb says he can't call the place haunted, but there is probably paranormal activity going on. Kind of a weird call, but you can't really argue against it.

Status: Maybe Haunted.

Cartalk. They love them some Pat.

Woodchester Mansion, Gloucestershire, England

For some reason, though we are in England now, there is Japanese music playing…wait it just sounds Japanese and then switched on me. Damnit! I just could have waited a couple of more seconds and I wouldn't look like an idiot. Oh well, I'm too lazy to go back and delete. Donna left in the middle of the night because she hates England and doesn't want to go there. She said they don't put enough ice in the sodas.

Donna has chromes disease. It's acting up and she doesn't know when she will be able to get back. Chromes disease makes your Massachusetts accent more prominent. And you get drunk a lot faster. Seriously, I know it sucks and I am sure I speak for everyone when we all wish Donna a quick recovery and return. You really do get drunk quicker though. Donna, hit me up! We'll do Salem.

Dustin is now the de facto Case Manager. Dustin talks about the black dog and Barry growls as if the black dog has been his arch nemesis since he was born.

The Investigation
Chris is their guide and he says he used to be a skeptic and is now a believer. The mansion is unfinished because the builders just walked off the site and left all the tools there. They never came back for them. This place looks completely empty. There are PAGAN symbols and dog statues worked into the chapel…which is odd…because it's a chapel. Isn't it the freemasons that carve these kinds of faces into things? Little girls run up and down stairs, lights cross corridors and black clouds hang around in the cellar. The black dog like to hang out in the cellar as well. This is a huge place and their down a team member…can we say challenge?

LIGHTS OUT!

Dustin, Robb and Andy are thermal sweeping up and down the stairs where Robb tells Dustin that a little boy has been seen running up and down said stairs. Robb, Robb, Robb…it's a little girl, my friend. Chris said so. The power of DVR rewind confirms this. Thus, the score is Me 1, Robb 0. Ha!

They are thermal imaging in the chapel. Nothing much. Something happens off camera because Dustin pulls out "Abbott and Costello" referring to Robb and Andy. Always wanting to include everyone, Robb says they are the Three Stooges. See? Everyone included now. Except Barry. And Brian. And Donna. And Me. And You.

Barry and Brian are in the kitchen. Brian is so freaked out that he has to be bleeped. Brian does regular EVP work without going ballistic on the ghost while Barry uses his "full spectrum camera." We are almost to the commercial break – what do you think happens next? If you said Brian sees a shadow – you answered right! Has there been an investigation in history where Brian hasn't seen something.

Robb is in the basement all by his lonesome. Does this now make him the Unknown Comic? He brought a lot of equipment. He's trying to chat up the black dog. The EMF meter goes off at opportune times. Robb says it seems like it was answering the questions with the EMF meter but it wasn't consistent enough to be for sure.

Brian and Barry are in the chapel. Barry looks scared for his life. Is he going to burn in flames upon walking on sacred ground? Is Barry half-demon? He faces off with the face on the roof of the chapel. Barry is always dueling with something. Brian rubs his eyes and it makes more noise than a cat that was run over by a car. This time they both see something on top of the scaffolding in the unfinished chapel. Brian wants to know why they built the chapel when it has nothing to do with God. That would have been a good promo line for the episode.

Andy and Dustin are on the third floor. They have separated because Andy thinks he may be turning into the Beast. Is it a full moon? He snaps photos and gets lot o' orbs. Robb gives a very good explanation of the difference between ghost orbs and dust orbs. That was actually a very good, useful tip for beginning ghost hunters. Andy sees a blue light over Dustin. Dustin tells Andy to shut up because he hears a woman. We know it isn't Donna. Dustin picks up on this. Ah, this is a spooky freaking mansion.

Robb brings Barry down to the cellar with him to see if he can experience the same things Robb did. Robb wants to see the ghost's power. Me too! Barry wants to duel with the black dog. I think Barry was a gunfighter in the old west in a previous life. There are bangs in answer to Barry's questions. No black dog though.

Dustin and Andy are in the servants quarters doing EVP. Andy takes his jacket off because he's getting hot. That's a sign of the Beast. Dustin asks is the ghost liked their boss. Of course they didn't – nobody like their boss.

The Analysis
Dustin gets out of analysis duty to do research because of Donna being gone. Barry finds an EVP from when Robb was in the basement by himself, but I can't make it out. For your OMG moment of the week – there is video evidence that actually backs up something Brian saw. A floating blue light followed by Brian saying "Did you see that?"

On the next Ghost Hunters International, the team investigated the most haunted house in all of Great Britain and gets bleeped a lot.

The Reveal
What? No Findings? Another moment of good production? Is there a new intern at Pilgrim Films or something? They tell Chris about the EMF spikes and then play the EVP for him. They are saying it's a growl in answer to questions Robb asked. I don't hear it, but then again, I'm not right next to it. Robb tells the entity to find its way into the room and then there's a whistle. Hey, that wasn't in the analysis! You tricky, tricky bastards. Dustin's research brings up the fact that the tools being left and the work being undone was a combination of un-supernatural events. Next up are the pictures with the floating blue light. Robb says normally he would dismiss it, but Brian on the video sees the blue light go up. At the same time, Andy and Dustin was on the third floor – and that's when Andy saw the blue light on the third floor. That's a lot of people seeing the same thing.

Status: Haunted.

Cartalk. The boys all had a good time.

Overall: Two solid efforts in a row. What was best about this week's episode was that the evidence in each case was backed up by something else. This team is really gelling together and each person is playing a role. Robb is way more comfortable in front of the camera now than he was in the first batch of episodes. Dustin is a good fit. Now, if we could just get Donna back. Every ghost hunting team needs a token female. Sometimes that's just who the spirits want to talk to.