September 14, 2008
GH: Pettibone Tavern
The intrepid investigators from TAPS are still not wearing helmet cams (I keep having to re-watch Aliens to get my fill of helmet-cam footage) but the folks at Pilgrim may actually be listening on some level because this "second-halfer" investigation started with about 25 minutes left in the episode instead of the normal 15-20. That doesn't mean they found something, but it does prove that finding nothing doesn't have to feel rushed and pointless to make decent television.
The Pettibone Tavern had recently had a fire, and what they don't tell you about building fires is that if you are really successful at keeping the fire damage to a minimum, you're probably going to have a lot of water damage instead. Hey, it's far better than the alternative, but in this case it did mean they had to shut down the Tavern in order to fix everything back up. For our favorite Ghost Hunters, that just might be a good thing because it means they don't have to conduct their investigation while someone is having their wedding reception in the next room (something like this actually did happen to TAPS in an earlier investigation).
Just about the first thing we see as the investigation gets underway was Jay saying he thought the place was creepy, as he and Grant headed into the basement. Shortly thereafter they noticed there was a strong EMF coming from wiring and pipes running along the basement ceiling, and it was leaking some electromagnetic radiation into one of the main areas of the building. This, of course, lends itself to the theory that electromagnetic fields can cause people to feel uncomfortable (like they're being watched, etc) and while Stephen and I have discussed how scientists who have achieved this in experiments were using EMF in a far more sophisticated way than simply "stand near an unshielded electrical box" it's a theory that stands on at least a little bit of solid ground scientifically and that's always a good thing.
There was also the case of the ventilation shaft to examine. I'm not entirely sure why the owner might consider a funny smell (in this case, manure) coming out of a ventilation shaft potentially paranormal, but hey — that's what the client reported so the Ghost Hunters are going to investigate. I was thinking maybe they were going to find some rat dung but when they took the cover off it turned out there was no ventilation shaft; just a hole in the wall that led directly to the basement. Crazy old buildings!
Also, the owners had a painting which they claimed showed Abigail Pettibone as a child. The legend was that Abigail had an arranged marriage to a man she didn't love, who later caught her in bed with someone else and killed both of them (with an Axe!) — after which, family members cut Abigail's face out of the painting and later the painting was stuck into one of the walls of the house and plastered over. The team's research turned up a different story: no Abigail Pettibone's living in the period specified met the criteria (specifically, the "being murdered by husband" criteria).
To add to the letdown they discovered that the little girl in the painting wasn't cut out and repaired, it was just a scratch on the front of the canvas (but the back was entirely intact). Also, the little girl in the painting was actually a little boy. Oops. Turns out they were able to come up with a reasonable match for the mother in the painting (they had a photo of a known woman which looked remarkably similar) and the woman was not a Pettibone, lived nearly a century later than the legend, and her youngest child was a male. Dressing boys in a gown (when very young) was actually the norm at the time, but the fact that the child in the painting had a book in his lap was a strong cultural indicator towards a male child rather than a little girl.
In the end, as we might have suspected of any good second-halfer worth its salt, the team turned up absolutely no evidence to back up the reports of people being touched on the shoulder before going into the women's bathroom (supposedly the alleged Abigail's former bedroom) or seeing a woman who isn't there in that bathroom mirror. There wasn't even a single EVP. What I liked most though was that Jay was apparently creeped out coming into this place, so it didn't feel like they came in determined not to find anything (as some second-halfers have in the past). It felt like they came in honestly expecting to find something, but happened to find nothing instead. Not an exciting investigation for certain, but interesting at times and pretty decent overall.
Filed under Ghost Hunters, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GH: Pettibone Tavern »
bullerspoke @ 11:32 am
My apartment is actually under renovation, pipe work and new electricity and such. I live on the first floor, just above the basement. To be able to draw new electricity they have drillled a hole, the size of two, three inches in the floor directly down to the basement. And let me tell it's not a pretty smell that travels up through there at times, somekind of mixture between tobacco, old wood, and whatnot. And well, shit. Rank indeed, and not to far from maneure. It's not overwhelming (thankfully) but it travels around my apartment and will make itself known even when I watch tv in an adjoining room. So a big, darn hole in the floor to the basement will surely smell and make smell travel quite a bit in the house.
But if you don't expect it and understand where it comes from one might believe it to be a phantom smell. it's all about interpreting and not thinking critically. If you expect ghosts, you find ghosts…
As for EMFs, it should be noted that the experiment of inducing "ghosts" with the EMF helmet, is not designed specifically to study the effect man-made EMF has on the brain, but what happens when the brain is subjected to certain EMFs. The researcher, lost his name for now, actually thinks it might be so that the fields make people more sensitive visavi "ghosts". Of course, as a scientist one should be open to all possibilities, so he has no blame to carry. But, in fact, his research is not especially good data on the effect of man-made EMFs in residential or commercial enviroments and how they effect perception.
Logisti @ 9:55 am
Regarding the EMF causing the "creepy" feeling, don't get me wrong — I fully agree it's a long stretch to take a look at that research and suddenly propose your home electrical system is making you paranoid, however it is less of a stretch (and frankly, more testable — although I've yet to see them test it) than many of the other "theories" TAPS proposes and so it warms my heart just to see them engaging in something with some sort of actual research behind it that can (at some point, I'm sure) actually be tested in a lab.
As for the smell, you mentioned that someone might think it's paranormal if they didn't know where it was coming from, but the woman was literally standing right in front of the vent, facing it and saying the smell was coming from there. That was what got me rolling my eyes.
bullerspoke @ 2:49 am
Well, I'm not trying to defend anyone, although she didn't seem to realise her vent hid a hole to the basement, it was a poor claim. Anyone with a critical mind, would of course realise what the culprit might be to any sensation smellwise. But as I said, you see, or smell, what you want to see, or smell.
Her claim shows how poor many claims of paranormal activity is, often it is misinterpreted natural phenomena or just haisty, prejudiced conclusion. Her first thought was not, why does the area around the vent smell like crap, better check that out (dead rats, outside sources, whatnot) but: strange smell=strange phenomena, meaning paranormal.
That's why debunking is so important, to make people think critically and try to figure it out, before jumping to the paranormal. It might b paranormal, it is one possibility, but it's just as likely "normal" and only investigating, scrutiny can answer that. People must learn to do that themselves, so that we can weed out all the false claims and get down to the substantial ones.
The horrid example in this episode, might prove good as an example of a poor claim. Not that the actual experience of smell was false, but the lack of critical thinking or analysis made for a bad conclusion. And a false claim.
NewbieGhost13 @ 9:08 pm
@bullerspoke If you are still wondering about the name of the EMF Field researcher I think his name is Dr. Michael Persinger of the Consciousness Research Lab at Laurentian University in Ontario Canada. you can thank my book collection for having this info: Spook by Mary Roach. (I don't know if I agree with her totally but that's for another discussion…)
I also believe that out of all the possibilities EMF fields causing paranoid feelings and hallucinations are far more likely and grounded with at least some science to back it up. Besides, I can personally attest to being strangely sensitive to electric fields and even infrasound (My stupid humming broken fan nearly drove me crazy until I fixed it. You wouldn't believe the things I experienced from that broken fan).
kathy @ 5:31 pm
I'm so disappointed there really is no basis to the romantic legend of "Abigail Pettibone" and the 'haunting' or rather occupation by spirits of the tavern. I do hope that 'Abigail' enjoyed the attention and interest by my grandchildern and me, too.
'
beekieou @ 10:20 am
While Abigail may not haunt the tavern, some other spirit from its past may still be the one who touches people, etc, considering the age of the building. Spirits aren't on the payroll,and just because TAPS didn't find anything, doesn't mean the tavern doesn't have activity – its hard to document paranormal activity.
Being an owner of a haunted place, sometimes investigators find evidence, and sometimes they don't. The people who have to live with spirits know very well that they exist, because of personal experiences.