September 21, 2008
GH: Stiteler House
When I think of Groton, Connecticut I think of one thing: Submarines. The first nuclear powered submarine, the USS Nautilus (named for Captain Nemo's fictional submarine of amazing awesomeness in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) is on display along with an array spanning the breadth of modern submarine history. If you live within driving distance you might want to check it out, along with nearby (relatively) Mystic, its historic seaport and other (more touristy) attractions.
There is a U.S. Naval Base in Groton as well and the clients of this investigation were a military family with the husband stationed there. Unfortunately, it looked like they were in for short shrift though because this investigation started with 20 minutes left in the episode, and not only do those episodes often feel rushed but at least one client who's investigation aired in 20 mins did report that the "rushed" feeling was entirely accurate to what they experienced first hand. But this being a new investigation, let's withhold judgment and see how it goes.
Unquestionably, this investigation seemed to shape up differently right out of the starting gate. After being in his playroom for 15-20 minutes the family's young son had (apparently on a number of occasions) reported seeing a young boy with black hair and dark eyes that "wouldn't go away". Battery operated toys in the playroom repeatedly turned on at night, and specifically around the same time of night: 3am (Dead Time?), including one toy – a large rocking horse — that the owner said didn't even have batteries in it at the time.
As if this wasn't enough, the television in the room also had a habit of going on and off by itself, changing channels and even adjusting the volume apparently of its own volition. Late one night the husband actually saw a dark haired boy standing outside of his son's room and he said the boy stared at him and he's never felt so afraid in his life. On this particular incident I think one possibility in particular must be mentioned: if he had heard about his son's encounter it would have been natural for him to have a nightmare about it, and we've already discussed sleep paralysis at length so we know what seems like a late night encounter (or alien abduction) can easily be a dream where you're not quite awake but your mind is tricked into thinking that you are. Of course this might not be what happened at all, but it's worth exploring.
Given all of this, Jay & Grant began their first EVP session of the night with an absolutely untraditional demand for any spirits to "GET OUT". Understandably, the family was frightened and Jay & Grant have certainly always taken an interest in helping families who don't feel safe in their own homes because of what's believed to be paranormal activity, especially when there are children involved. In the name of science I sometimes wonder if they are too concerned with solving the family's problems, but I'll get to that in a moment.
Steve & Dave apparently began the investigation by taking EMF readings in the living room and determining that their findings might explain alleged paranormal experiences. I thought this was a bit odd though, because I recall the owner saying a lot of stuff about the playroom but I don't remember anything about the living room being an issue, although I may have missed it or it might have been edited out of the episode.
Jay & Grant began to debunk the playroom hardcore though. They suggested since the houses were so close together maybe the neighbor had the same television and when he used his remote it caused their TV to appear to be doing things on its own. That seems a bit of a stretch though since TV remotes use IR and that usually requires something approaching a direct line of sight, which I didn't see. They also suggested some other electronic reason and gave an example about their walkie talkies turning a television on and off. That sounds absolutely far fetched except I think I actually remember seeing that in an episode. Every time Tango radioed back to the team the television either went on or off and he eventually realized it was when he keyed the walkie. Strange, but apparently possible.
For the toys they best they could come up with is they are very "sensitive" and maybe she thought she had turned them off, but they were really still on. Certainly possible, but not the most convincing explanation either as far as I'm concerned. In the end: no evidence. Big surprise! It turns out that maybe this family was just taking a series of explainable, non-threatening events and linking them together with the common thread of believing their house was being frequented by a potentially malevolent entity.
Don't get me wrong, that may very well be exactly the case — and frankly it's probably exactly what the family needed to hear — but what concerns me is whether Jay & Grant are putting what they think is best for the family ahead of actually doing the job they were brought in by that family to do. I can see the argument from the other side, but to my mind they were supposed to be doing an impartial investigation and accurately portraying the evidence they collect. In this and a few other cases where families had similar concerns it seemed to me that they went into the investigation determined to find nothing — just as in some other investigations they seem almost as if they've decided ahead of time they think the place is haunted even before they finish the initial walkthrough. I just wish they would be consistent in their methodology so we could at least make fair comparisons from one GH investigation to another, if nothing else.
Filed under Ghost Hunters, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GH: Stiteler House »
Logisti @ 10:05 pm
I'm going to be out of town until Saturday so the write-up for this week's episode will be a few days late but fear not, it will not be long delayed!
Stephen @ 12:29 am
This was the standard Ghost Hunters home visit. I hope that that the family got some help from them.
I hadn't really considered the fact that TAPS appears to be diagnosing EM sensitivity left and right. I'm working on an article about EM sensitivity and will post it in the forums when I'm done.
bullerspoke @ 2:49 pm
Good initiative, Stephen. Just as bad as crying ghost at every bump in the night, just as bad is to attribute everything to EMFs. Especially since, from what I gather, there is no real scientifically proven causality between random man-made EMFs and claims of paranormal experiences. A correlation perhaps, but no causality. EMF can produce hallucinatory experiences under certain circumstances, that much is sure, but that EMFs in general would do that is something else.
I tried to research EMFs myself, but found only books with weird figures put together in incomprehensible formulas and the explanations, well, to me was pure greek. For once, I was completely at a loss. One must realise one's limitations, I guess…
Harry @ 3:53 pm
For those interested in some objective scientific information on the possible effects of electromagnetic fields:
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/embs/comar/Hypersensitivity.htm
http://www.aehf.com/articles/em_sensitive.html
To me, it seems clear some people are hypersensitive to EMFs, but the phenomenon is not common and reactions vary widely. That's why I find EMFs to be a less than satisfactory explanation in this case since the entire family is affected instead of just certain members of the family.
Stephen @ 11:16 pm
Thanks, Harry and Bullerspoke! I think between the two of you you've just summarized my article-to-be, but I'll keep working on it anyway.
thesleeper @ 12:56 am
Did anybody notice when ghosthunters was in NEW YORK, they were unloading the equipment, and somebody walked by and swiped a case from them? and they chased the guy! if you look closely it's Brian, but Brian wasnt supposed to be there cause they were having problems with him as usual helps the ratings, look at the footage!! it was setup to deceive the viewers!!!!they were to calm about it because it was staged. if they fake something like that. who knows what else is faked? thats to bad,i maybe wrong but it looks just like him
manda @ 4:43 am
Sleeper, do you have a link where I can watch the clip you are talking about? I'm not sure which episode you are referring to.
pageian @ 12:03 pm
That episode was when they investigated the old brownstone museum in NYC, with the lady who kinda looked like a man that took them on the tour and scolded Jason for touching stuff. I don't know if it was Brian or not, more likely a production cameraman or something, but it definitely looked setup.
hammer1 @ 8:12 pm
I thought it looked like Brian swiping the equipment the first time I saw that also. They way that played out was weird. Like it was kind of a joke, but no one let the viewers in on it, so we we were left to think it was legit. Just strange.
ElleAMental @ 1:47 pm
That business about dismissing the TV, because somebody close by had a remote. Well, my sister's TV 25 years ago kept going on/off by itself. Turns out the neighbor's garage door opener was doing it. I got the TV from her and it never did it again. Then about 15 years ago the TV in my basement would turn itself on (only on, never off) when I left the room. It was in a concrete basement. The lights turned themselves on as well (again, never off). Jason and Grant would dismiss all this, and I did at first too. So I started making EXTRA sure the TV was truly off (it required pushing a large button that stuck out) and so were the lights. Other, weirder things eventually happened and I wonder if J & G didn't just leave that family with a really nasty spook that likes to play with electricity? My MP3 player turns itself on now, probably the neighbor has one and that's why it's turning on in the middle of the night, right? Bad call on the electric toys. Betcha that family is still having the same problems.
Oubliette @ 2:50 pm
I have never had any doubt that it was Brian. His shape and size, the way he walked–to me it was unmistakable, and a complete little drama put on for the audiences' enjoyment.
Love the way he gently put down the case and then took off. Any robber would have just flung it aside in an effort to take off quickly so as not to be caught. And ol' Steve not being able to catch him…hmmmm. It also appeared that nobody seemed very put out by that incident.
That same lady was on another show on the Travel Channel last week about Haunted Travel Destinations. She truly believes the place to be haunted and frankly, despite some debunking by TAPS, I get the impression there is more going on there then meets the eye.
Sorry this is off this topic but I just had to comment on that bit of chicanery on Pilgrim's part. It was totally unnecessary until they wanted to keep up the hype that NYC is such a "dangerous" place.
thesleeperz @ 3:19 pm
Manda, i dont have a link 4 the episode, but Pageian is correct. it is the old brownstone museum in NYC. i maybe wrong but it sure looks like Brian to me??
thesleeperz @ 3:34 pm
the episode is on youtube, if you use the search engine on the youtube site its called (Ghosthunters thief)
Robbin @ 7:20 pm
It is too odd to me that TAPS seems to dismiss these home investigations, when there are kids involved.
Could it have been the next door neighbors remote, sure, but did they go next door and see if they could use the remote the turn off the TV, NO. Could the toys just be sensitive, sure, but how many of us with nieces and nephews have ever had that happen to them? They looked like standard issue kid toys to me. My niece and nephew have a boat load of these toys and they have never gone off by themselves ever, not once.
Now I am not saying that something was not going on here either, I am saying I would like to have seen more evidence collecting or debunking done. It was like they phoned it in.
Emily Stiteler @ 5:18 pm
Wow, people are actually talking about my house, lol. Well, my former house, because we have since moved. But as the homeowner and client, I thought I might throw my two cents in.
1) The TV thing, about the neighbor's having the same remote or whatever. Busted. We went to both of our neighbors and tried that theory out, and it didnt work. We tried from every angle in the house, from each room, it never worked.
2) The toys. While I could see a possible faulty wiring issue in one toy, to have every toy in the room have the same issue would be a little too much. And, to only have the toys going off between 2:30 and 3:30 am, never any other times, well how do they explain that? The horse really didnt have batteries, and the others were turned off, not on "Standby" as they suggested. Believe me, we had thought of that before they ever came. They said possibly vibrations from a nearby highway could have rattled the toys. But we tested that theory by stomping around the room and banging the walls, even going as far as to kick some toys, and nothing made a sound.
3) If you buy the DVD, they left out a big piece of evidence. When they first start their investigation, they walk by my son's bedroom, which is a hotspot in that house. As they walk by, they mention a heat signature on the bed. They said "Oh, somebody must have been sitting there." And they go on their way. Two things wrong with that.. first off, nobody was sitting there. We were there up until the point at which they started investigating, and nobody was in the house after they had it set up. And secondly, the heat signature was in the middle of the bed. If someone was sitting there, you would be able to see their where their legs were as well, as seen on other GH episodes. There was none of this. Just a large round hotspot.
4) The door opening and closing on its own, they suggested maybe we had windows or the backdoor open and the wind blew it. Those doors are heavy, they are made of metal, not wood, so the wind could not have blown it. And we never left windows or the backdoor open, as we have small children.
5) For the person who said maybe my husband had heard about what my son saw then had a nightmare about it, that was not the case. My son told me about the little boy he saw while he was in the hospital. He gave me a detailed description of him. I went home and told me husband, at which point he became pale and said "I wasnt going to say anything, but I saw the same thing one night in the hallway." So my husband saw this before my son ever mentioned it.
6) The TAPS crew normally does a background investigation on the house and the land, which they didnt do with us. If they had, they would have found that our house sat on what used to be a large cemetary. It flooded years and years ago, and they had to move it about a mile away (Starr Burial Ground). Then they built houses over the land. There is always the possibility that they didnt get every body. I just wish they would have considered that, or at least looked into it, as we did mention it to them.
We werent very satisfied with the investigation, and things did continue to happen after TAPS left. We tried contacting them again, they had given us their personal contact information and told us they would like to do another investigation off camera with all of us in the house overnight, because as Grant said, he thought that there was really something there but it was probably attracted to our family. He also said he was not able to say that on camera because they had no hard evidence and they were not allowed to say a place was haunted otherwise. Gotta love TV, right? Well, we never heard back from them. We tried on several occasions to get ahold of them to no avail. We finally contacted a priest and had the house blessed, and some very strange things happened that day, but things quietened down dramatically. Every now and then we would have small things happen, but nothing like what it used to be.
Anyway, thats the full story!
Nosfer @ 5:30 pm
"He also said he was not able to say that on camera because they had no hard evidence and they were not allowed to say a place was haunted otherwise."
Sadly "no hard evidence" hasn't stopped them from saying that in other locations.
alicat @ 5:37 pm
"The TAPS crew normally does a background investigation on the house and the land, which they didnt do with us."
Not sure exactly who told you that or why but GH/TAPS have stated repeatedly that they do not do any background investigation on a location or the property and their ineptness is certainly proof of that on every episode I've seen. I wouldn't put too much stock into what you were told.
Angelayo1970 @ 8:01 pm
Emily, greetings from one military wife to another!
I'm really sorry you had a bad experience with TAPS, but it's certainly not news to anyone here as we've heard that before. I'm curious as to one thing though; how long did the actual investigation last? And were you allowed to remain in the house during the investigation or were you made to leave? Also, and if this is too personal a question please don't feel you have to answer, but are the things you experienced the reason for your not living in the home any longer, or was it because of a change of duty station? (Lord knows I've been through plenty of those! LOL) Thank you!
Emily Stiteler @ 8:11 pm
The investigation started around 10pm or so, and it was done fairly quickly I thought, by around 2am. Granted, our house was pretty small. But I felt like they were very bored there. We werent allowed to be there once they started, they put us up in a hotel. Our neighbors watched most of the night though.
Oh, and we no longer live there because my husband retired from the Navy
alicat @ 8:27 pm
Thanks for posting again Emily. Congratulations on your husband's retirement and please thank him for his service.
If I might ask, how much pre and post production conversation did you and your husband have with TAPS/GH? Can you share with us any information on the paperwork you had to sign such as releases, etc.
I agree with you about their attitude based on what we saw. And, even with your home being smaller, it does seems like an abbreviated amount of time was spent. Hopefully they paid for a nice place for the night. Did you have to push them at all to put you up in a hotel?
Again, thanks for posting. I'm sorry you were disappointed but I'm glad you have confirmed some facts we have been discussing about similar experiences.