Ghost Hunters 2.7: "07 Sep 2005"

Case #1: Child Haunting
Case #2: Sutcliffe House

After half a season of episodes devoted to silly personal drama and precious few interesting cases, we finally have an episode with a clear study in contrasts. I’ve said before that the previous episodes seemed to be structured to present the case for Jason and Grant’s professional manner. Basically, if the audience needed convincing as far as their methods and integrity were concerned, the non-active cases were meant to provide that.

Leaving aside the fact that there will always be detractors (of varying competence and sanity), I found that this episode was more impressive for coming after so many episodes of “negative space”. It’s the contrast that makes it work. On a show like “Most Haunted”, where every speck of dust is an “orb” and every noise is spirit communication, it’s easy to dismiss something that might be genuine. Because so little has happened over the past several weeks, when small moments of oddness shine through, it’s far more substantial.

First case:

This is the set-up, in my book. A case where Jason and Grant demonstrate without a doubt that they don’t look for paranormals explanations for normal behavioral and environmental issues. I was very happy to see them point out the environmental issues in the basement, for instance. The commentary on the effects of before-bed gaming was also admirable. As a relatively low-key gamer myself, I know that I can’t use my PS2 or PC for gaming right before bed, because I’ll be too energized to rest. It has to be even worse for children!

Did I think that Jason and Grant went a little off topic with the EM hypersensitivity? A little bit. After all, there were far more obvious explanations. But again, I think they were trying to split hairs and give the homeowners something more vague than chemical fumes to hang their hats on. By making it something a little more intangible, it covered more than a few isolated effects, making the observation a bit more psychologically helpful.

Second case:

After the episode with the lighthouse, I would have thought that a location like this would be of little interest to Jason and Grant. Chasing after locations with a “history” seems to go badly for them lately. And Jason is far more restrained in his comments about the Warrens than I would have expected. For all that, they had quite a few moments of possible activity in the house, which is more than they’ve had for a long time.

The major item is the door, which still doesn’t quite do it for me. However, it was satisfying to watch Jason go from skeptical but intrigued to clearly baffled. This is one of those situations were the editing probably doesn’t do the case justice, because you have to know that Jason tested that door in every which way. Of course, I also try to keep in mind that a lot of what happened last season was on par with this, so I shouldn’t have been expecting much more.

Dustin’s experience and the vibrating furniture are the kinds of things that I think would be dismissed quickly on “Most Haunted”, but the relative lack of such occurrences on this series makes it easier to believe. Usually, personal experiences aren’t enough on their own, but the door adds something to the mix that Jason and Grant cannot ignore.

Hopefully this won’t be the most active moment of the season. I would hate to think that a longer second season would be less impressive than the shorter first season was.

Chill Factor: 7/10