Ghost Hunters

Considering the other two reviews of this episode, I must first comment that it is hard to believe everything you see on TV. Keeping that in mind, I have always had a great deal of respect for the TAPS people. Namely, because unlike the Most Haunted team, TAPS sets out to discount any paranormal activity.

I thought the experience with the K-2 meter was very interesting. And, the "spirit" did respond with one "no" answer, contrary to one of the reviewer's claims. Also, this same reviewer never made mention of the EDPs or the temperature drop that was documented very well. Seems to me if you're going to use the show's evidence to back up your conspiracy theory about why they're really there in the first place (so that the home owner/producer can promote an upcoming film), completely omitting the team's other findings is a bit self-serving. All in all, I thought TAPS did a good job with this episode. Keep up the great work guys!

Excellent episode! I thought the evidence process was very professional. The EVP's were chilling. The team thought the the one was saying "take", personally, I thought it was saying "tate". I thought the responses to the questions on the blinking meter were fascinating. T.A.P.S. once again proved their credibility by taking the time to replace the batteries to insure that was not what was causing the meter to blink. I was especially impressed by the temperature drop in the room at request. I thought the evidence at the Henson studios was also excellent, especially the thermal hit of the woman three feet in the air. All in all, I thought this episode had a great deal of compelling evidence!

This episode was really cool. I don't know why people didn't like it. The evps that Taps caught were awesome, yet sad. There was totally someone or something crying. My mom almost cryed when they listened to the second evp. I liked that Chris dude's gadget. It was cool how it answered both yes and no qeustions, not just yes or not just no. I loved the homeowners reaction to the evps. Taps (Ghost Hunters) rox!! I've seen every episode, and want to see more. Grant, Dave, Steve, and Donna are awesome! The rest of the group is awesome too!

I found this episode rather exciting to watch. However, the credibility of this one is definitely questionable. Using the K2 device as a way of communicating with spirits seems a little hard to believe. Also, for some reason they don't seem that stunned by this communication, which leads me to think that this part is faked.



The EVP's are the most interesting part of the episode. These are definitely their creepiest and most chilling EVP's. They aren't easy to distinguish at first, especially the second of the two, but they are clearly distressed. However even these still could have been easily faked, seeing as the owner of the house had not heard those voices before. They both still send chills down my spine, regardless of whether they are faked or not.



Although these two bits of paranormal findings/fakings are interesting, there was surpisingly little found in this episode. There were some other tiny bits of activity, such as the shades swaying slightly, or that rather boring bang from the kitchen, but these are hardly breath-taking. If they did not fake this episode, they should have done a lot more with this investigation.



I'd say it's an episode worth watching.

Even though I haven't seen every episode since the first season, because face it, not ever episode is worth watching. I specifically wanted to see this one than if for no reason other than all of the allegations of fakery. First was the new house that's reportedly haunted by the victims that were murdered by the Manson clan in a nearby house that no longer exist. The scenes with the K-2 meter were spooky, but then when you realize that Grant and Jason weren't familiar with the device, they only took it on faith that it was doing what the guy said it does without checking it out first. The thing could have easily been faked by a wireless control. One the other hand, the look on the homeowner's face when he heard the EVP was priceless. The guy goes from cocky to ice cold. To me the first one sounds like she's saying "take me home!" That would make sense as she's trapped in a new house and wants to go back home.



The second case at the Henson studio didn't have a lot going on except the thermal. All of the fraud claims flying around here are spotty at best. HogggWild999 claims that they didn't check for a source of a thermal refection. First, you can tell from looking at it that it isn't either for them. Also, you can tell when they looked back there that all that was behind there was a wood wall. Even though they didn't point that out, it obviously could not have produced any reflection. Then kbuickel claims to have a smoking gun, but he then makes the mistake of making vague references rather than just plainly stating the EXACT evidence. Sorry, but just saying "Its as plain as day, and right in your face" comes out as hearsay and proves nothing.



I've looked over both shots and one inconsistency that I could spot was the time stamps between the "ghost" image and Jason's image. At the beginning of the scene, the time was marked 7:40 pm and the time stamp on the thermal was "11/10/06 12:47:49". At the beginning of the scene when they try to debunk the image, the time was marked 1:20 am and the time stamp was about "11/10/06 10:15:52 p" (the "p" denoting pm). The reported time lapse would have been 5 hours and 40 minutes. The problem is that the time stamp on Jason's image would have been over 21 hours later that day. The date also doesn't quite check out either, as the investigation was to have started on a Wednesday evening and would have continued till Thursday morning. Since I don't know when the show was actually shot and if the camera uses the US or European date standard, so the date on the time stamp would have been either Friday November 10th or Wednesday October 11th. Either way, the times on the camera are inconsistent with the times reported during the show, but it's hard to say if the clock was tampered with and/or those shots just weren't taken when the show reported.



Is this proof of fakery? Not quite. They obviously lied about the evidence, and that alone makes it questionable.

First, I'd like to say that I agree 100% with what Entil2001 has to say in their review. The only descrepancy is that once the K2 did give a No response. This whole business with the K2 was a joke. It was SO easy for the device to me manipulated either by the person holding it, or by someone on the sidelines that it made it completely uncredible. The first segment has to do with the investigation of a home built within 200 feet of where the home that the Manson murders had taken place. That original murder home no longer exists, but it is believed that the murder victims still haunt the area, and have taken up residence in this newly built home. The TAPS team aparently drove all the way across country to do this investigation. I guess this was again to appease Steve. A note to TAPS, if Steve doesn't want to fly to far away locations, leave him at home and fly there yourself, your better off without him. The home owner, a flakey sort of guy who you cannot quite figure out if he is gay or not, gives the TAPS team the run down on all sorts of activity thats alleged to have been going on since construction of the home. The tale of the one worker who allegedly took off for 6 months after being scared by a ghost before returning, was a bit far fetched, and made me believe that this guys was full-O-bull for the most part. After setting up and being joined by another well known investigator Dave Oman the investigating begins. We see Steve and Tango investigating down in the guest bedroom where most of the activity is alleged to be happening. Steve puts on his annoying, I'm a professional investigator and Ghost Hunter act, and claims to see the verticle blinds move and claim there is no way for any breeze to have caused it after doing absolutely NO searching what so ever. No Steve, the whole place is ventilated with forced air, and the blinds cover a window where drafts could be prevelent, and thermal air movement could easily happen. Go back to sleep. We next see Grant, Jason, and Dave Oman in the living room area, and Dave is getting antsy and agressive for something concrete to happen. Right on que there is a bang from the kitchen area. They all jump up and go to investigate. They checked the ice maker which was a logical possibility, but find no fresh ice in the tray. After looking for a minute they declare the noise strange but unexplainable. Fair enough. We are then taken to a scene in the master bedroom where Jason, Grant are being instructed on the use of a newfangled invention made and perfected by one Dave Oman for detecting and communicating with ghosts via EMF pulses. As entil2001 said, this could be easily achieved with a regular EMF meter, and we could be spared the flashing lights sharade. Several questions are asked while Grant and Jason each are holding the K2 meter from outer space, and right on que they get an answer each and every time without fail. Nice of those ghosts to be so prompt and cooperative. Later they switch to show Steve and Donna in the living room trying to get EVP readings. Nothing is aparently experienced during their investigation. We then switch back to the master bedroom where Dave Tango is now using the K2. The ghosts are still cooperating and giving prompt answers each and every time much to Tango's suprise. Its finally and mercifully time to pack up for the night and go off to their Holiday Inn Express and review their evidence. Nothing substantial showed up outside of a few EVP's that Donna and Steve caught during their time in the living room. Both sound like a female saying something then shreaking, but its unclear whats being said. The evidence is presented, and Jason and Grant tell the owner of the strange noise they experienced while sitting in the living room and how they tried to debunk it by checking the ice maker. The ower was quick to point out that the ice maker does not work. Nice rich guy, million dollar home, busted ice maker. Ok. They play the EVP clips, and the home owner is just beside himself with amazement. He claims to have never ever heard those voices before in his life. So there you have it folks. Next we move on to the Jim Henson Studios, aka the Chaplin Studios. The team meets up with the manager there who gives them the tour dejour, and relays all of the storys of experiences they have been having. The team sets up and Steve is just giddy with joy because he is allowed access to restricted areas in a famous TV studio. The segment starts out with Jason and Grant with the FLIR camera going to investigate back stage. Within minutes they capture what looks like a human figure near some equipment. They rewind the tape and look again, sure enough it looks like the figure of a woman standing near the back of the equipment area that quickly moves behind the equipment. Two things struck me here. First, they kept playing the emphasis that it was the image of a woman, its a woman they kept saying. Second, for those of you who have watched a lot of the Ghost Hunters episodes, whats one of the things they ALWAYS do when they get a thermal hit? They immediately stop and check to make sure it was not a reflection. They did not do that this time, and I find that odd. Its almost like they were saying, we're going to emphasize that this is a woman, and then that will cover us for not debunking it as a reflection of Jason whos a man. Anyway, the investigation then moves to Tango and Donna who swears she heard Tango whisper tango, tango to himself. He denies he did so, and they move on only to hear other voices which cause them to pause. We then switch back to Jason and Grant who are busy trying to get a fix on the size and location of the aparition they caught. They claim it was either very tall or floating 3 feet off the floor as Jason had to move a stairs assembly over to the area and get on the upper step to match the height in a shot of him vs the shot of the aparition. They then show Steve and Tango investigating the puppet making room, and as usual, Steve starts with his acting routine again claiming to hear stuff, and amazingly, nothing ever shows up on tape to back him up... ever. After a little more investigating they call it a night and pack up the equipment. The evidence as they call it is reviewed. In the end, Jason and Grant have little to show the manager. They debunk the sounds in the puppet room as hydraulic leakdown. There is a faint EVP of voices that Tango and Donna claim to have heard. Jason and Grant explain what they saw and some of the personal experiences and what was debunked and why. They play the one EVP and then move on to their FLIR footage. The FLIR footage is the highlight and they present that as pretty good evidence that something is going on at the studio. They back this claim up with information the investigators obtained that there have been numerous sightings of a woman in the back stage area. Why didn't the manager of many years of employ there not know of or ever hear of the woman sightings?



As they are leaving, Grant recieves a video e-mail from Brian. Brian was not with the team on their trip to California. In the beginning Jason made a comment that Brian would not be able to take the trip due to personal issues he needed to address. Most viewers were probably thinking, oh no, here we go again. But the video showed Brian and his new baby girl thus explaining his abscence and gaining an approval for absence from Jason and Grant. And so the summer season ends. This was a rather poor group of episodes for this show. Maybe it was just the summer season, and they didn't want to waste any substantial material on the "off season" season. This made for less entertaining episodes. As other reviewers mentioned, they got into the Most Haunted type of show, and this is a big move in the wrong direction. I am still calling for better investigations and other reviewers have said the same thing, they must be short on real good staff because they investigations have gone downhill a bit since the second season. We need more thorough investigations, much more immediate follow through, and a ton more debugging from ALL angles as the experieces happen. Debunk the obvious! I'm not happy that Donna will be leaving. Brian will probably return, but I am anxious to find out what Donna's story is and if there is a possibility she might return in later episodes. Hopefully the next season will show much of the improvements the show needs as well.

Well I must say that TAPS has done really good till this episode! I have caught bloopers in previous episodes but not enought to stop me from watching. So why is this one any different? Started out really good...Manson Murders had me at the edge of my seat. I really thought maybe TAPS finally got some really good stuff. Until we headed off to the Henson Studio. I have now lost all faith in the show and with TAPS! Jason and Grant really messed up on this one. Do these guys even know what they talking about. I know the show is edited and I know they need to cram hours of footage and interviews in one hour. But with a mess up like this, they have proven to me and a lot of others they are total phonies! Not good for reality tv.



When Jason and Grant step into the stage and get a good thermal reading, they messed up by trying to debunk it. Should have just left it alone and called it a ghost. I think the whole situation was staged from the beginning. Anyone out there that has recorded this episode and still has it needs to pay very close attention to the thermal scanner from when the enter the room to when they are trying to debunk their find. I will let you all catch them and debunk the Ghost Hunters yourself. Its as plain as day, and right in your face. If you can't catch it. Look at the scanners when they are at the end with the "Reveal".

Pay close attention when the two seperate shots are side to side, explaining what they doing. And remember what Grant said? Before they cut into the shot of them pulling the stairs over to debunk the ghost woman. Now pay attention to the thermal screens.



TAPS...blew it in my book!

And so the short “summer season” ends in Hollywood with two high-profile locations. No doubt, to some, this will seem rather appropriate. Ironically, this episode also seems to encapsulate most (if not all) of the concerns and criticisms that were raised coming into and during the summer season.



It’s interesting to note that Brian’s final appearance focuses on his recent fatherhood. If the final batch of episodes for the third season (currently filming) fails to address Brian’s absence, then it’s a bit disingenuous. On the other hand, it’s possible that they decided to hold off on any discussion of Brian’s departure until the next batch of episodes, so that Donna’s departure could be covered at the same time. Since events aren’t aired chronologically, it’s hard to know how it will shake out.



Manson Murder House



This investigation is going to be the center of controversy for a number of reasons. The location itself is owned by David Oman, a Hollywood producer promoting a movie called “House at the End of the Drive”. The website for the film obviously connects the activity at his home to the premise of the film. Taken in context with the owner’s reactions, this seems like another case of using TAPS for promotional purposes.



The true controversy, however, will be the inclusion of Chris Fleming on the investigation. Fleming has quite a following from his series “Dead Famous”, and many find him appealing. Many serious investigators question his credibility. The episode itself doesn’t focus on Fleming’s main claim to fame: he is supposedly a sensitive/medium who has been “possessed” at locations on his own show. He is also the supposed inventor of the K-2 Meter, which is touted as “calibrated for spirit activity”, which is hard concept to reconcile.



Research on the K-2 meter is difficult, given the lack of technical specifications available online. However, as described, it is essentially an EMF meter with lights instead of a quantifying display. Speaking purely in scientific terms, this would be a qualitative instrument, simply telling the operator if a field exists and the relative strength. Any EMF meter could serve the same function, with the difference being an actual value for the strength of the field. The K-2 meter produces very little data to study after the fact, and cannot be precise enough for true scientific work.



The point is that nothing in the design makes it unique in terms of “detecting ghosts”. Since it is an EMF detector, all it does is detect EMF. The rest is conjecture and assuming the result. Recognition of this technical fact renders the “unique function” of the K-2 meter invalid. Fleming’s use of the device has nothing to do with the K-2 itself, other than the ease of seeing a spike on the meter itself. It’s his interpretation of what happens and when.



Fleming claims that the lights allow an investigator to ask questions and get a simple, straightforward “yes/no” response. Once again, if that were true, it would be possible with any EMF meter. But setting that aside, it flies in the face of just about every other investigation conducted by TAPS and veers into “Most Haunted” territory. What’s the difference between asking a “spirit” to knock twice on a wall or ceiling and asking it to set off an EMF meter? In principle, both actions amount to the same thing; one simply looks more “scientific”.



Simply looking at the footage from the episode, two possibilities spring to mind. The first possibility is entirely practical. There is a button on the front panel of the device where the thumb rests. What does this button do? Perhaps the footage gives us the answer. Every time the “spirit” answered with a “yes”, Fleming interpreted the device as spiking twice. However, that’s not quite what happened. Instead, it spiked once, and then gave a much smaller secondary spike. Rather than changing the batteries, it would have been useful to test what happens when the device was simply turned on. A number of instruments spike when energized.



To be fair, reputable parapsychologists have worked with Fleming and give him some benefit of the doubt. Their interpretation is that the K-2 meter is not being activated by “spirits”, but rather, by Fleming himself. Parapsychological theories often cite psychokinesis as a possible explanation for much paranormal activity. Fleming may believe so strongly that he is communicating with a spirit that he is subconsciously setting off the device himself. (This would also be one paranormal explanation for the supposed cold spot.)



The point is that Fleming’s reputation and questionable “science” do not mesh well with the known TAPS philosophy. In fact, one might have expected them to question how the device was unique and how it worked. Assuming as usual that the TAPS team was operating in full sincerity, Fleming’s presence brings up the possibility that there was a degree of manipulation. If the device spikes when energized, and the button on the front panel does exactly that, then how easy would it be to trick someone into using it to get “positive” results? (Note that, on-screen, the “spirit” never answered “no”, only “yes”.)



Add to that a homeowner with plenty of reason and ability to manufacture evidence of a haunting to promote his own film, and too many questions surround the events to give them any degree of credence. In fact, I was left wondering if the owner created the EVPs himself, because they didn’t sound like typical EVPs. Whatever the case, I was deeply disappointed.



Henson Studio



It was hard to concentrate on the second investigation because of the negative aspects of the first segment. However, it seemed to be less sensational and more down-to-earth. I’m not sure that I would have interpreted the thermal images the same way. In general, it could be interpreted as a female form, but only after it’s pointed out by someone else. It was nice, however, for the various sounds to be debunked. The hydraulic sound is fairly recognizable, for example.



For me, this episode demonstrates some of the gaps in the current team. A lot of the technically savvy members have left or were not wanted by the studio for the “TV team”, and that makes it easier for TAPS to miss some of the scientific details. I don’t think it’s simply a matter of editing; when faced with unusual technical questions, they don’t seem to have the right people there to bring up alternative solutions. Jason and Grant may have a great deal of collective experience in the field, but they have more of the layman’s perspective. I think a solid scientist would have identified several issues with the Manson investigation. Then again, perhaps that’s why the studio assembled the team as they did.