Ghost Hunters 2.9: "21 Sep 2005"

Case #1: TAPS Trainee
Case #2: Rolling Hills Asylum

This is another episode where not a lot happens. Oddly, this is also an episode where the team fools around a lot more than usual, even Jason and Grant. I imagine this will feed the naysayers with all kinds of grist for the mill, but at this rate, certain critics are unwilling to give them any benefit of the doubt.

I don’t enjoy the episodes with excessive personal drama, and similarly, I felt that the antics in this episode grew tiresome rather quickly. I will say this for “Most Haunted”…while most of what they do is complete fakery, they spend the entire hour immersing the audience in that experience. I understand that this series is meant to be about the people just as much as it’s about the cases, but sometimes the balance isn’t there.

I like Dave as a new member of the team (home state, represent!), and as usual, my love for Paula grows with every new appearance. As much as it annoyed me by the end, it was good to see Jason and Grant let loose a little. Jason often looks like he’s one night away from a coronary, and his less acerbic side is hardly ever in evidence.

Case #1:

The big things here were the “moving snare drum” and the “womanly cough”. I dismiss the cough just as easily as Jason and Grant dismissed the “EVP”…it could have been the homeowner in some other part of the house. That’s the danger of not vacating the premises for the night, even when you want to draw out typical behavior by keeping the residents in play.

The snare drum is a little harder to dismiss, because I don’t think that Grant would lie about it. Here’s an example of something the naysayers will harp on: it didn’t happen on camera. Inevitably Grant will be accused of faking it, and the team will be accused of not properly debunking it.

Case #2:

There was way too much fooling around in this case, and it got on my nerves. Two things happened here as well: the issue with “Dustin’s ear”, and the “Basement Door of Evil”. Dustin’s ear is not all that compelling because it’s not something you can quantify. Plus, I still don’t have a sense of Dustin and his integrity. I want to believe him, but it’s not enough to overcome my skepticism.

When it comes to the Basement Door of Evil, though, I’m really torn. They show the door moving, but Jason is out of sight. I really don’t see Jason and Grant as people who would fake something like that, but when I can instantly predict how the naysayers will cry fraud, it doesn’t sit well. Had it happened when Jason and Grant weren’t standing out of view, I would have been more inclined to accept it.

More than ever, this episode highlights the fact that if one takes this series as a documentation of TAPS and the kind of people working the operation, then one big component is accepting their integrity as presented. I’ve not had reason to doubt them before (can’t say the same for SFC crew), and I’m not changing my mind now. But I don’t want to see them present anything in a way that undermines their credibility, and I think that the second case did not serve them well.

Chill Factor: 5/10