February 14, 2008
GHI: Orava Castle
Robb and the rest of the Ghost Hunters International crew were honored with permission to be the first paranormal investigators to have access to Orava Castle, a national monument in Slovakia. This investigation follows on the heels of another eastern-european castle, Citadel Rasnov in Romania.
Andy was back in action and the team seemed to gel better than they did in the last investigation. Notably, Shannon was paired with Brian and Donna paired with Barry, which also suggests that this did take place after the events we saw in Romania. A lot happened in terms of "personal experiences" in this episode, but obviously that's not what we're after. One of them I feel is worth mentioning: Robb & Andy heard what they believed to be a specific doorknob jiggling. The door itself seemed to be a fairly heavy door, but it did lead outside (wind?). The knob was described as difficult to turn, however.
If wind could be ruled out — although I'm not sure it really can — what Robb & Andy found on the other side of the door is particularly interesting because it essentially rules out the possibility of hoaxing. There was a small path and stairway with the castle wall on the left and a sheer dropoff to the right; at the top of the stairway there was a single room with no other apparent entrance, and presumably nowhere to hide (since Robb & Andy were specifically looking to see if maybe it was a real person who had turned the knob).
The team did manage to get a few of EVPs that were more impressive than normal, but it was still a lackluster showing here as well. Two of the EVPs seemed to be in regional languages, but the clearest one (and it really does sound very distinctly like a male voice, and it's not just a blip) was interpreted as being a name by one of the castle's caretaker. The problem I have with this is that it's tricky enough trying to match up real words to the audio, but if you throw names into the mix it becomes even easier to start interpreting every audio anomaly as a voice speaking.
The other "native" EVP was unfortunately extremely short and a lot more bliplike, while the final EVP was in English — and while it was somewhat clear, it was also very faint which increases the possibility (in my opinion, at least) that maybe our brains are just interpreting some random background noise, like the sleeve of someone's nylon jacket brushing up against something.
Orava Castle's host was the polar opposite of the gentleman who showed the team around Citadel Rasnov. Where the latter was respectful but skeptical, Orava Castle's caretaker was eager for the team to find evidence and excited by what they showed him during the reveal. Personally, I thought the evidence from this investigation was superior but still weak when compared to some of the more convincing evidence TAPS has collected (which, as discussed elsewhere, isn't entirely convincing in itself).
I guess we'll just have to be satisfied that this investigation didn't continue the downhill slide we've been seeing for the past several investigations, and hope for better in the future.
Filed under Ghost Hunters International, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GHI: Orava Castle »
Todd @ 5:37 pm
The "name" EVP was impressive. I couldn't really crank up the television to hear it, but it was more identifiable as an audible voice. And the voice print wasn't distorted that much. We are also assuming that the entire crew (video/sound/production) is entirely English speaking. It is possible to allow for a European crew to handle video and audio (may also be cheaper).
As far as the door, I had the same thought regarding the wind. I have to concede the fact that those are heavy doors. We are talking about a hundreds of year old castle designed to keep out unwanted guests. Exterior doors are going to be built more fortified. A simple gust of wind will not budge them. And from all appearances, there were no strong winds that night. While I am still skeptical (there is no evidence of paranormal), there is still a lot of room for questioning , "how?"
Robbin @ 10:02 pm
I was pleasantly surprised by this episode as it was a lot better than the prior GHI's. I like the team up of Donna and Barry and Shannon with Brian. The show just came together better with these match ups. Perhaps Andy being back with Robb helped to keep things real.
This spot was just beautiful and huge. I liked the debunk of the rail reflection. I thought the door handle was probably not the wind but something unexplained. The hardware was just too impressive to be the wind, but you never know.
The EVP's were ok, short and barely audible. But they were in another language, sans one. I have to tell you I think they were stretching it with the name, and the ynet I could barely make out and am not convinced it wasn't distortion.
What I enjoyed the most about this episode was the use of the split screen with the infrared(sp) on one side and the production footage on the other. They must have taken their lead from those of you who asked why didn't they do that.
Speaking of the split screen did anyone else notice when Andy and Robb were checking the infrared play back the infrared screen showed shutting down in 2 seconds and then it went away and continued to play. They showed this shot more than once. Was the battery power gone and they needed to switch over? Does anyone know why that would happen?
I am disappointed that they did not catch any of the shadows on film since the room seemed to be filled with them. Donna was telling Brian that there was a white mist around him while she was snapping pictures of him. But nothing came through on film. Which leads me to ask:
1. If she saw this mist with the naked eye and they were filming Brian while she was seeing it, why didn't we see it?
2. If she saw the mist show up on her digital camera after taking a picture of Brian how come it didn't show up on any of the photo's?
Hmmmmmmmmm……
Stephen @ 4:25 am
Pretty good episode. I also liked how they debunked the thermal footage. The "Shutting down in two seconds" screen probably means that Robb hit the power button by mistake, then released it (if he'd kept it held down, the camera would have shut down). Just a guess, but I think he was fumbling for the laser at the time.
I found Donna's first EVP pretty underwhelming– it sounded like her voice and an intake of breath. The "Nyet" EVP was particularly unimpressive– it sounded like a thud, not a voice. The "name" EVP is very indistinct. Does that sound like Barry's voice to anyone else? One of the hardest things to eliminate is someone muttering to himself, sometimes without even intending to.
Lukas @ 7:20 pm
I come from slovakia. I have grew up 12 miles from the Orava Castle. I have visited this place numerous times. I have never heard of any ghost hunting stories. Just thought I would share this with you.