October 30, 2008
GH: USS Hornet
The USS Hornet is a WWII Aircraft Carrier, and as such it both has a rich history (including many lost lives both on board and caused by those on board) and was much anticipated simply because it's an enormous piece of hardware and stuff like that fascinates geeks like us. Or me, at least. Normally, with a site this enormous I would try to put it in perspective by saying it's the "size of a small aircraft carrier" but since it is a small aircraft carrier I'll try to be more specific: 872 feet long, 147 feet wide and served as home to 2,600 sailors.
Originally named the USS Kearsarge, she was renamed USS Hornet (CV-12) during construction in honor of another aircraft carrier bearing that name (CV-8) that was destroyed following the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons (WWII, Oct 1942). This new ship not only survived battles in WWII, but in July 1969 her crew had the honor of of retrieving Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and a few odd-looking rocks from a historic splashdown into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
As one might imagine, investigating such a huge and historic location is a big job and this time TAPS seemed to understand and acknowledge that fact. Joe Chin & Kristyn Gartland were both brought along, along with Amy Bruni who is a friend of Jason & Grants and lives in California (where the Hornet is docked) — and Eureka star Colin Ferguson came along too! Apparently he's friends with the guys, and from Jay's concern that Colin didn't trip and fall down a flight of stairs it appears the guys are fans of his show as well.
I was immediately struck by something humorous as the team was getting underway — Colin went along with Jay & Grant for the first few hours and they were explaining their equipment and techniques to him. I wonder sometimes if someone at Pilgrim is laughing right along with us here on this website because one of the first things we see is Grant showing Colin how to use the FLIR and pointing out to him something that looks like people in the distance but explains that it is really just their thermal reflection bouncing back off a pane of glass. Eat that, Ghost Hunters from the Oak Alley Plantation investigation.
Conversely, Jay looks at his 160 pixel resolution screen and sees a series of distortions go past a doorway, but singles one of the distortions out as an "anomaly". I was literally shaking my head as he rewound the tape and we clearly see an evenly spaced series of parallel distortions that can no doubt be attributed to the limited capabilities of the camera, but Jay actually singles one of them out because it had a vaguely human shape as the camera moved and the distortion shifted. Call it matrixing or a faux-Rorschach test or what have you, but while I can understand scrutinizing an amorphous blotch and thinking it looked human, picking a blotch out of a series of blotches (which are clearly not paranormal) is the sort of activity one does when one is looking for any excuse to label something paranormal. It's certainly not something one does when one goes into an investigation expecting to disprove or debunk.
Not too much later they're in another part of the ship and Jay says that he saw a "shadow" down a hallway. Grant notices there is a chain that goes across the hallway and that it's swaying as if something just passed by. Yes, it was swaying exactly as it would if someone had just passed by. Or if, for instance, it were on a ship floating in a harbor.
Down in the kitchen they heard "footsteps" that weren't recorded and everyone noted that it got "colder" in one spot, although yet again no one brought along any thermometers. Maybe they sold all their thermometers on eBay to pay for their new addiction to K-II meters. They brought two of those along just for their one team of three people. These were used for a neat trick: put the two K-II meters a few feet apart and do their normal question & answer session. Guess what? Not only did they continue their newfound success in Q&A with K-II but both meters lit up in synchronized answer to their questions! It was really amazing, because I didn't think they were going to just hand us the evidence that their K-II theories are false and perhaps fraudulent.
You see, they've built this entire K-II technique around the idea that a "spirit" can wave its "hand" in front of a K-II meter. So how are both meters lighting up at the same time? Is the "spirit" standing in between them and simultaneously wave both "hands" at the same time? Or is someone in the cast or crew emitting an EM pulse that lights up any nearby EMF detectors? There is of course the possibility that maybe they're wrong about the "waving hands" but maybe it's still really a "spirit" — maybe "spirits" can emit generalized EM pulses. Yeah, maybe but when I weigh all the probabilities, especially throwing in the facts that this sudden surge in successes began only recently, and only when Jason & Grant do it, I think one of these explanations is much more likely than the other.
I also noticed they placed something directly in between the K-II meters after they set them down but before they began getting results. Was that one of their digital recorders? Did anyone get the model, is there any way to manipulate the device remotely? That would be my first (but not only) suspect, as it seemed odd they would put it right where they did, and suddenly begin getting results subsequently.
Elsewhere on the ship, TAPS continued their campaign to marginalize women by teaming Kris up with Amy. The "girls" team hear some sounds they couldn't explain. In their continued campaign to marginalize Joe & Kristyn they teamed those two together also and gave them even less airtime. Now, to be fair it's Pilgrim that cuts the episodes together — not TAPS, and they seem to have developed these set teams (Jay & Grant, Steve & Tango, Kris & No one) so the end-result is the natural outcome of their existing "system" for investigation, but c'mon guys — break it up! We need to spread the wealth around in these episodes a little bit, except instead of wealth, whatever the opposite of boredom is.
When Steve finally got some face-time with the camera he announced that they had decided to "change up the teams". As I just noted however, this did not mean he was now investigating with Joe or Kris, it meant he was still investigating with Tango exactly like he always does, but now Colin was also with them. They also heard some sounds they couldn't explain.
One of my favorite moments from this investigation was when Jay & Grant happened upon the Auxilliary Control room and they saw a shadow run out the door, then heard footsteps running down the metal gangway outside. They recorded the running footsteps on audio too. What's so great about this is that the natural conclusion is someone else is on this giant ship with them, and they might just be up to no good. The TAPS conclusion is that the place is haunted by ghosts who don't want to be disturbed.
There seemed to be a slow-motion chase scene where Jay saw something on the FLIR and then walked really hesitantly towards it so it had enough time to just dart out of sight again as he turned the next corner. At the end of this chase he got a low battery warning and decided that must be paranormal too. Because when you repeatedly use a portable electronic device on every single investigation it's unreasonable to assume that one of those times you'll eventually run out of juice for completely normal reasons, especially if you keep the darn thing on for the entire night instead of just the first few hours like you usually do.
Jay, Grant and Colin were back at their control center watching the IR cameras when Colin noticed a flash of light in one area. I thought this was very interesting and worth discussing in detail. First off, Joe & Kristyn were in the area and using flashlights — so immediately this seems like it's not even worth looking into but if we look at the footage there seem to be three distinct parts: first Colin seems to notice a bright flash, then we see what are very clearly flashlights, and finally there seems to be a small pinpoint of light moving slowly up and down above a table.
Now, I just said the second piece of footage looks like flashlights so I'll go ahead and immediately dismiss that as probably just Joe & kristyn. The third piece of footage, the pinpoint of light, seems to coincide with the metal leg of a chair turned upside-down on top of a table. For that reason I'm going to say it's probably still just Joe & Kristyn, in this case the chair leg was probably at just the right angle to catch a reflection of their flashlights as they pointed them elsewhere (before entering the room).
What I thought was noteworthy was the intial bright flash in the first piece of footage. They didn't seem to go back to this but I found it interesting because Kristyn had reported seeing a flash of light come from that direction about the same time Colin saw it, so this was likely not their flashlights. On top of that, it was also much brighter. What it looked like to me was a single strobe — like the sort of thing you might see on an industrial fire alarm system. If this was the case, then I'd expect to see an identical bright flash every couple of minutes on the tape. I'd hope they'd pick that up during evidence review — and maybe they did because I don't think we saw this footage during the reveal.
Speaking of the evidence review, upon seeing some of the FLIR anomalies Jason caught, Steve knowing told us that "science tells us" if spirits exist then they will "look like that", meaning a free-floating amorphous blob. This leads me to a number of questions: How exactly does "science tell us" this? How does Steve know what the shape on the recording even looks like when we only part of it for a split second when Jay has a bad angle on the nearby hallway where the anomaly appears? And perhaps the most important question: If "science tells us" that ghosts will appear as blobs on a FLIR, then does that mean you agree all the people-shaped heat signatures you guys have been picking up are actual, living, breathing, people?
Which brings me to the Reveal — where the client and the audience both discover that on top of a number of "blobs" caught for a split second on the FLIR as Jay came around a corner or entered a room, he also caught one piece of footage where we can clearly see we're looking at thermal footage of a person. So, "science tells us" blobs aren't all the rage after all? Or does "science tell us" it could go either way depending on what we want the result to be? I'm going to settle on "science tells us" Jay was following an actual person, who was quite alive, through the ship. "Science tells us" those footsteps we heard running away was a real-life hoaxster, and "science tells us" that either J&G are utterly gullible and blind to even the possibility of a hoax being played on them, or they know what's going on and are willing to play along, or they're complicit.
At a minimum, this highlights for me what a joke the investigation at the Moss Beach Distillery was. Did they decided to artificially boost their credibility by going somewhere they were guaranteed to find "hoaxes"? Then they could coast through the rest of the season turning a blind eye. Come to think of it, that laughing in the MBD bathroom was the first time we heard a "tinny" voice, wasn't it? I wonder if that wasn't the genesis of an idea for someone currently on the cast and crew.
Filed under Ghost Hunters, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GH: USS Hornet »
Brad @ 3:14 pm
"Science tells me" I'm going back to watching Mythbusters on Wednesday nights.
windwhisperer @ 3:24 pm
Great review! They were so full of shadows and footsteps I couldn't take it.
I think Colin asked the best question though. "Do you know that sometimes people can see you." Ingenious.
That statement from Steve about "science tells us..spirits will look like that". He lost me on that one. Does he always have to appear 'smart' in front of someone? Fine, but make sense when you do it.
All in all my favorite part was that guy Keith at the reveal when he said the EVP said "tell me of a risk". I firmly believe no other ears heard that.
Even Jason and Grant had a look as if this guy is really out in left field.
One thing about their K2. Were we ever told earlier that it's used by electricians? I don't recall ever hearing that. And what would electricians use it for? Can somebody tell me because I sure don't know.
The biggest question…isn't their K2 just like a Ouija Board? The thing they're really against?
Oh well. Their live wingding better be a whole lot more interesting.
windwhisperer @ 3:38 pm
I forgot about the chain swaying. I literally laughed out loud at this. Where in the world did Grant get the idea that it was magnatized by an entity? Or did I hear this wrong?
Look out guys. There's a new ghost hunting group in town and they don't have to use stupid sound effects or a camera crew.
lar @ 3:41 pm
Let's slice n' dice.
They allege yet another incredible response on the K-2, but we're not treated to the full response. They tell the ship's curator during the reveal, that the spirit(s) know of him & his efforts. Did I miss that? Or was that moment not featured during the investigation as I thought, but instead thrown in as a "given." I was watching on & off, but I don't recall seeing it or J&G showing that moment to the curator.
EVERY FLIR image is captured in a hallway or narrow passageway walking away from J&G & for some odd reason the "spirit," always turns RIGHT. Think about the last few episodes where FLIR images were presented (except for last weeks where it was on a wall). Unless I'm mistaken each turns right into a room or behind a wall.
Tonight's FLIR was bad. Some fat guy walks through the hallway and they claim it's a legitimate FLIR. Yeah, Fat Large Individual Running.
robfrmpgh @ 3:51 pm
I'm so glad they didn't show the first FLIR hit they focused on during the reveal… I could see plain as day that it was an blotch on the the FLIR screen they were stressing over.
Also the FLIR image during the reveal caught my eye… You know, the one where Jay say's "and here's the real kicker that's a leg"…
Well to me the FLIR image looks exactly like Jason. If you look closely it appears that the image has it's head down. Which is exactly how Jason is usually standing while using the FLIR. He usually has his head down looking at it. Also it seems to disappear behind a corner just as Jay does…
Here in Pittsburgh we have a WWII submarine docked that we tour all the time. I've been on this submarine at least 10 times and I can tell you from experience that there is plexi-glass over the door of every room and cabin on the ship. So i'ts safe to assume that on an aircraft carrier (which obviously has more rooms and cabins than our submarine) there has to be a ton of plexi-glass throughout the ship to cause a reflection…
I'm sure that FLIR image was a reflection of Jay. Not sure about the 2nd one though…
The k2 meter is used by electricions to find wires behind a wall, without having to rip a whole wall down.
bullerspoke @ 3:55 pm
The digital recorder placed between the K2:s and later shown during the review is an Olympus WS-210S (but white), a digital recorder that records in WMA. It has no alarm function (sorry!) but has one interesting feature:
Voice Filter enhances the human voice by cutting low and high frequency noises during playback.
(see: http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1322&fl=2)
That about totally shots down the reliability of any EVP's in my mind. The sound IS being enhanced, not by Pilgrim, but by the friggin' recorder!
One other thing during the first K2 session Grant kept his hand in his right front pocket of his trousers ALL the time, and above that wandered around in the kitchen away from the cameras aswell and Jay and Colin whilst the "ghost" readily answered all questions put to it (both K2:s blinking simultaneously). During this time you can hear him ask how the "ghost" answered. When he returned from his wanderings he STILL had his hand in his right pocket. This is in my mind a clear candidate for The Grant List. I'd say hoax, but without the evidence, it's only a hypothesis.
Logisti @ 4:31 pm
windwhisperer, just about any EMF detector is intended to be used by electricians to determine if a wire is live or not, find wires behind walls, look for poorly shielded wiring, etc. I left out that EVP because it was so anti-climatic. That may actually be the first time a client heard something and J&G looked like even they weren't quite sure.
robfrmpgh, I noticed it looked like Jay as well (that's a leg? What's Jay talking about? I saw an entire body) but I hadn't considered a reflection. It's definitely worth considering. I thought he was aiming a camera down a hallway, and it looks from the footage like the camera is being aimed down a hallway, but the first time we actually see that clip is during the reveal so we really can't be sure when it was captured or what Jason was doing with the camera at the time.
bullerspoke, I noticed Grant had his hand in his pocket as well, but I'm not sure that's been consistent with other similarly successful K-II sessions.
windwhisperer @ 4:37 pm
Thanks for the explanation as to why electricians use those devices. Didn't know that.
I've also noticed that Grant has his hand in his pocket in previous episodes where they use that K2. Hmmm…
Oubliette @ 5:00 pm
This whole episode screams FAKE. Or else extremely poor investigating.
I believe Grant was up to something with the hand in the pocket because my first impression was that he was deliberately placing himself in a position where he was blocked from camera view by another person. Only it didn't work all the time, as we were able to see the "hand in the pocket". Also his turning away I found absolutely amazing. No explanation for it at all. Not even "I thought I heard something". Just what is going on???
Logisti, I understand that before he didn't hide his hand like that, but there was that episode with the watch that he kept looking at for some strange reason. Perhaps he found another method to use, or had the watch in his pocket this time around?
Only the most die-hard fan would swallow this episode lock, stock and barrel. Surely the suspicions are growing…
P.S. Logisti-I voted to keep the focus on GH at least for a while because they have a bunch of episodes set up for 2009, and I think this board is on a roll as far as documenting their deterioration, apathy and possibly hoaxing activities. The Hornet is a great case in point.
However, I still am very interested in the other shows discussed here (and maybe more to come) so for the time being, I think the format is fine. And apparently, more GH viewers are finding their way here via GH web searches and/or being tossed out of the TAPS message board for daring to question anything.
bullerspoke @ 5:18 pm
Logisti: He had this time, that's all I am saying. Agreed, it is circumstantial and I might have concluded to hastily, but his behaviour raised suspicion. Maybe he just found it comfortable to have his hand down there, I don't know, but Grant behaving odd and K2:s is not a good mix. And it's not only the hand in the pocket, it's the stroll. If I was to be conspiratory I would guess he tried to keep any presumable "device" hidden from Colin and that's why he did what he did, but then again it was dark, so why bother.
All I know, we had a good frontal shot of Grant, with his hand in his pocket, during the K2 session when he suddenly walks away from the shot and the K2:s And then returning to the K2:s and the shot with his hand still in his pocket. Maybe nothing, but it bugs me.
blinddog50 @ 5:20 pm
Hate to appear redundant but.
Turn down volume on radio.
Press PTT button.
Walaaa, K2 lights up.
Have been a Ham radio operator for a while and we use EMF meters to measure polarization fields for antennas.
Even a low power, maybe 4 watts, radio like they use(I don't know how they manage to get them to work surrounded by that much metal)Would set off the K2.
windwhisperer @ 5:53 pm
Bullerspoke. I feel the same way about the hand in the pocket. Bugs me too. But it may be nothing at all like you said.
Harry @ 6:27 pm
Hey blinddog50, so you are also a ham! I'm W5HLH.
I think you nailed it about the K2. It would be really easy to trigger one with the HTs they use—-especially if they're GMRS units operating at UHF—–and that's assuming they're "unmodified." It would be a really, really easy thing to add a receiver inside one that could be triggered by something like the keyless entry systems used on modern cars. You and I could probably do it in a single afternoon. Maybe we should offer our "production services" to Pilgrim!
GH's use of the K2 defies logic. If it is as dependable a "ghost detector" as it seems, why doesn't every member of the GH team have one with them at all times?? And why wouldn't the crew immediately whip out their voice recorders and FLIR cameras the instant the K2 lights start to flicker? It defies common sense that they get such results with the K2—-ghosts apparently answering questions through the K2's LEDs—-and yet the K2 is such a small part of each investigation. Based on the "results" they get, shouldn't the K2 be their prime investigative tool??
Let me make a fearless prediction: during tomorrow night's live investigation, expect to see a lot of flickering K2 meters!
Raphael @ 9:12 pm
Was there intentional humor in the statement "and here's the KICKER its a human LEG" I couldnt be sure
Did I imagine this one at one point that Kris pick up a K2 Meter and say to Amy "We are going to take some K2 readings now" but the next scene we see them doing something else?
Maybe the world just ran out of legitimate ghosts with all the recent ghost hunting shows (could they be a paranormal endangered species now? – that would be the KICKER) so the boys have to fake a few things until more people die
jerry @ 12:40 am
One question though: Recently we have seen lots of FLIR images of what appear to be people walking away, and many people here assume them to be just normal humans. Yet I have seen FLIR images of people, and when wearing clothes, their clothes will always give off less heat than the actual exposed skin. But in the FLIR footage from TAPS, the "people" are fully heated. So this either means we have a naked trickster walking around, or we may have the real deal.
wwayneross @ 1:58 am
I'd have to give TAPS the benefit of the doubt in this investigation. It appears what TAPS experienced was pretty much in line with what has been reported on board and confirmed by their host. I doubt there was a hoaxster on board or someone running around in the dark. I've been on the Hornet, the doorways (more like hatches) are raised, the steel beams overhead are low in most of the corridors, and quite a few steel structures, pipes, gauges, sticking out all over the place. You have to pay close attention to your surroundings and where you're walking when lit, so I doubt many people could navigate through those decks and run up the catwalks in the dark. It's possible, but unlikely, IMO.
Wes @ 7:55 am
Jerry-
The FLIR can register fully-clothed humans, if they are close enough, as totally white – as in this case and in several other examples where TAPS has admitted that the figure is a human.
Todd @ 8:02 am
The small point of light that moved in an upward direction looked remarkably similar to a spider ascending a webline. And we have already seen that insects reflect IR light in a brilliant way with the many reports of orbs in earlier seasons.
On the thermal image that looked like Jay, there is a problem with that. From the image it appeared that the "figure" was shot at a semi-profile angle. If it were Jay's reflection there would be more of a straight on outline.
Logisti @ 10:01 am
re: Push-to-talk buttons and K-II meters, that definitely sounds like a workable theory, absolutely worth testing if anyone happens to have a K-II, but if that is the case then I'd have to argue for Grant's innocence because his hand was in his pocket. If he had a handheld radio in there, I'd expect to see a bulge, but perhaps more importantly he'd be able to casually push the button through his jeans without even putting his hand in pocket (so why bother looking suspicious?)
Still, I don't have all the episodes from this season still recorded so I can't go back and check, but I do recall people saying during some of these K-II sessions that they could see both of Grant's hands while the meter was lighting up. I'm curious if one of those hands might have been resting casually on his thigh (right over the pocket).
There is also the possibility that it's their camera guy or sound guy, and not Grant at all — but it really strikes me about how these sessions suddenly became successful overnight, and only for Jay & Grant. Forget about that looking suspicious to *us*, if they weren't involved and valued their integrity I'd expect *them* to get suspicious, but as they spoke to Colin it seems clear they take this as matter-of-factly as turning a faucet and seeing water come out.
After the experiment at Slater Mill I was completely sold that they were getting real answers, but I was complete un-sold on the idea those answers were coming from ghosts. If Jay & Grant are completely innocent then I can't believe it never occurred to them to be suspicious, and that may be — at least to my mind — the clearest evidence that they are not completely innocent: that they're both fully on-board with these K-II sessions (that don't get any results for other team members).
Don't get me wrong, if Jay found out the camera guy was keying his PTT radio I wouldn't expect them to reveal that on the air — I mean, I think they should but realistically, seeing how they dealt with questionable stuff in the past I'd expect them to just change the show to exclude it and move on. The fact that they're still going strong with these sessions must mean either they have an unexplainable trust that nothing untoward is going on, or else they know there is.
Paul Anthony @ 11:01 am
Jason’s explanation for the low battery warning. Quote (The theory is out there) that ghosts or spirits utilize the energy from batteries. I have to agree, the theory is out there, way out there, like all of the theories used on the show. The theory that a spirit can wave its hand in front of the K2 and communicate has become a regular technique as what might be expected and what actually occurs. I can either suspect J&G are deliberately creating a hoax or they are indulging in wishful, hopeful, and emotional thinking, believing that what they believe is true because they wish it, hope it, or feel it to be true.
Why not ask a spirit to move the K2, or levitate it. We know there is a theory out there that a spirit can pick up a duffle bag full of sound equipment.
I find the K2 Laughable or hilarious because of obvious absurdity or incongruity. The decision to use it on an investigation causes me to slink down in my recliner and mumble words that make no more sense then using a K2 meter to contact ghosts. I find the idea of grown men talking to a device and believing they have contacted and indeed communicating with a spirit based on a theory to be an insult to any person who prides themselves as being a critical thinker.