November 5, 2008
GH: McKeehan House
[UPDATED] — A video clip of the door closing has been added at the end this posting.
This investigation immediately caught my interest because it was different. Most of the recent investigations seem to be large, commercial or historic locations, and the investigations that were at private homes usually centered around a child. In this case TAPS visited a home where the investigation centered around a plethora of reported activity that has the homeowner so rattled she's afraid to stay in the house alone at night.
Now, right off the bat I should say that I have a theory — one that needs testing, but I think a fair one: I believe it may be possible that this woman simply raised her kids in this home but since they've grown up and moved out she's noticed how different and alone the house feels.
This doesn't explain all of the experiences she's described, but sleep paralysis (and more specifically, dreaming while believing one's self to be awake) could explain some, since a number of reports occurred in her bed during the night. Others, like reaching in the dark for a lamp cord dangling from an attic light and touching a hand instead could conceivably be mistaken identity — perhaps she misjudged where the lampcord was in the dark and brushed something she wasn't expecting, and due to her already frightened state (from being along in the house and in a dark attic) believed it felt like a hand.
Certainly I'm just speculating, but I think the explanations are certainly plausible and they don't require the homeowner, a woman named Linda, to be anything but a perfectly normal mom who isn't used to being in a big, empty house alone. I'll shelve my speculations for the moment though so we can discuss the actual investigation.
Steve & Tango were given the night off, which I thought was very cool — not because I think that means Jay is a nice boss and not because I don't enjoy watching Steve & Tango slowly lose the serious credibility they once had as sharp-minded and eagle-eyed investigators, but because there's been too much cutting back and forth in short air-time investigations (this is a 2nd-halfer) and two teams seems to feel about right. The second team of Ghost Hunters for this investigation turns out to be Joe Chin & Kris Williams. I'll say I think that was the right call, whoever made it, and we're moving on…
Between the side of the house and the kitchen there was a small room with a door leading to each of those places. Linda said people had come in, only to discover they were trapped in that room, neither door would open and apparently no one in the rest of the house could hear them yelling for help. Eventually, trying one of the doors again would finally yield success though.
Jay & Grant decided to begin the night by testing this and discovered that the door to the outside seemed to be okay, and Grant could hear Jay through the door while he stood in the kitchen, but neither Jay nor Grant could get the kitchen door opened for some time once Grant closed it. Verdict: replace the doorknob. I'd have to agree, maybe there's more to it but a stuck door in a small room can equal panic for a lot of folks, and replacing the doorknob seems like a good, tangible thing to try.
Shortly afterwards J&G began to hear sounds that seemed to be coming from the attic. I must say, this is a rare occasion where I'll come on board fully and say that the texture of the sound, the muted quality, sounded to me like it really was coming through the ceiling from the floor above. Rarely do we get sounds from TAPS that are clear enough to determine that, but I think these probably were. Jay tapped on the ceiling in the hopes of eliciting some sort of response and he did receive what seemed to be a knock in reply (the original sounds were not clear knocks), but when Grant suggested the alleged spirit show itself a bit more openly things got a little suspect.
Specifically, a door slammed. The good news is that Grant was in plain sight of the camera when the door slammed and he was nowhere near it. The bad news: the door was inches away from the camera operator and it looked to me like he pulled it shut himself. I'm sure he will say it slammed on him and he didn't lay a hand on it, and maybe that's true but the door was close enough that he could have reached down and grabbed the handle with mininal effort and without even really looking — it was right there — and what seemed almost damning was that the camera operator backed out of the room as the door was slamming.
Keep in mind the camera is on his right shoulder so he can't really see much of what's going on to his right, yet the door didn't slam into his shoulder or into the camera, no it didn't hit him at all because he backed out of the door as it slammed shut. Like, exactly the way you would if you were the one slamming it, and not at all the way you would expect if you were standing in a doorway when it slammed completely unexpectedly.
So, yeah… I'm going to cry fraud and this time it's clearly a member of Pilgrim's crew who is suspect. I always said I won't "go there" with the conspiracy theorists unless there's really compelling evidence, well now we have really compelling evidence (a pile of it) for Grant, plus one pretty compelling piece of evidence that a Pilgrim camera operator is trying to pull a fast one on the audience. Ghost Hunters' lone gunman theory just sprung a leak.
…and more potential problems, we see that Joe & Kris are investigating in the attic. You know, the attic, where Jay & Grant were hearing noises coming from. To be fair, perhaps they weren't in there wen Jay & Grant were hearing the noises. Then again, maybe they were. As Joe is walking through the attic a box actually falls down, nearly on top of him. In trying to debunk it they realized the floorboards were very loose and Joe was actually able to reproduce the box falling simply by replacing it and stepping hard on some of the nearby floorboards.
In fact, Jay & Grant downstairs noticed that the entire house was apparently a little off-kilter. Jay had a small ball which he placed on the floor and various tables to demonstrate that it would roll in one direction or another, sometimes building speed surprisingly quickly due to the steepness of the incline. Grant correctly noted that this can cause a "funhouse effect" where someone can feel dizzy or disoriented simply because everything looks straight when it's actually on an angle.
In keeping with the night's theme of following good investigating with utter garbage, we hear "duhn–duhn-duhn" –almost like the sound of a ball dropping onto a wood surface — and Grant asks Jay if that were him and he acts as though he didn't hear anything and has no idea what Grant is talking about. Maybe that's true, but we just saw you playing with that ball Mr. Hawes. Your credibility is wearing wafer thin.
Speaking of credibility, the next scene was priceless. Jay & Grant lounged around on couches asking spirits to make themselves known when someone seems to throw a coat-hanger at Jay. Grant replaces it on the rack and moments later what seems to be the same hanger is thrown again, this time it's caught clearly on camera as it comes in for a landing. Now, it's obvious that Jay isn't doing it, but what's less obvious is whether or not Grant or the camera operator might be.
Considering they were both in proximity to the coat-hangers and neither one was on-camera when it occurred, I'm simply going to go ahead and call this one "emabarrassingly inconclusive". Inconclusive because I can't prove it was Grant or the camera guy (or a ghost) and embarrassing because Grant went through the trouble or replacing it on the rack so he "knew exactly where it was" and no one decided to aim a camera at the rack, and thanks to Steve & Tango being absent there were no DVR cameras set up in any of the rooms to capture anything like this.
In short, Grant basically predicted the hanger might be thrown again, but no one made any effort to prove it came off the rack unassisted by human hands, and we have not one but two people suspected of hoaxing standing right near the rack where the hangers are. Kudos on your credibility nosedive, TAPS. You don't do anything small, do you?
BONUS: Grant laments that he doesn't know what they'll tell Linda because they weren't able to debunk anything. Yeah, that's right — despite the fact that they debunked a bunch of stuff (and pretty well, too), apparently they didn't. Obviously, these are not the droids we're looking for.
UPDATE:
Filed under Ghost Hunters, Posts by Logisti
 |
| ^ Please Support our Sponsor |
Comments on GH: McKeehan House »
dread1 @ 11:51 pm
I wasnt even going to watch this episode thinking it was mainly a reveal (wife wonted to) so we did, granted she missed most of the live show.
Now the thing is, the tone of the show is just so different now. I mean, 2 flying coat hangers back-to-back would have been nothing short of amazing to e-1 even last season. Now Jay sees this event and its like, oh, flying coat hangers, whata you know. Door slamming at 60 miles per hour, a bit odd,thats all. These events are just presented so matter-of-factly now its as if they are drugged before each episode.
I dont care how long you have been in the ghost business, you would have to be stunned if you believed the stuff you are showing.
I do think this is a mandate from pilgrim, probaly they figure more comp. is on air, so they will just make sure their show has the most (paranormal stuff) week-to-week. The lead in each week just seems to be so Grant and Jay can get to the staged stuff as fast as possible, and frankly Jayson is terrible at faking these events (expression-reaction wise). Grant tries to seem impressed at least but its still bad acting. This kinda show now requires some pros, imo, since this is the route they decided to take.
I think Jayson is at heart a honest guy, who struggles with all this staged stuff, but money does odd things to people.
Grant @ 12:42 am
That's awful if they're telling this woman her house is haunted. How many people have they done this to?
Unless the owners of the houses are in on it as well. I guess you can never know.
kingofseattle @ 12:59 am
Logisti –
Damn your quick.
"So, yeah… I'm going to cry fraud and this time it's clearly a member of Pilgrim's crew who is suspect."
I'd agree though i swear i saw Grant put his right arm into his pocket right before the door slammed shut…
but that maybe is because i now have a knee-jerk reaction when he's in the room.
Phoenixmagi @ 1:13 am
this show has lost so much credability with me tonight. first did anyone notice during the recap of the halloween show they edited it to appear more suspenful and left out the second tug when recaping the tugs. they showed it briefly on the findings but not the whole clip? I wonder if there is something there they don't want us to see I will have to rewatch that part of the halloween show on my dvr.
also I never realized how much is staged. for example after the reveal jay's voice is clearley dubbed badly on a shot of the client of the fort saying they are gonna go outside and reveal the results of the haunted house search. then when they are outside jay and grant are wearing not only different clothes but the same clothes they wore on halloween which means this was shot on halloween too so pilgrim lied when it said it was filmed on sunday on the screen.
also the contestants were wearing the same clothes as on halloween too. plus when the new investigation began jay and grant begin by saying how nice delaware was but we know they didn't film this episode after the halloween show for they showed a preview of it during the halloween show!! I mean come on! how stupid do you think your audience is?
I believe the camera man faked boths pieces of evidence tonight under orders to start taking away the heat off grant to make us beieve grant doesn't fake evidence when he clearley does. I'm so close to never watching this show again. and the fort 'you are not supposed to be here' sounded so fake on the reveal I'm surprised the client didn't laugh.
Phoenixmagi @ 1:23 am
also jay and grant were sitting in such away they had to have seen the camera man throw the hanger. so shame on jay for selling out. also when the door slams not only does the camera man back out but after it closes its only then he pans down to show the handle.
hammer1 @ 5:52 am
I like how they spin to the homeowner clothes hangers being thrown across the room and doors slamming VIOLENTLY into people as nothing to be concerned with. The thing is, they aren't anything to be concerned with and that's because they were STAGED !
MissBlue @ 5:53 am
Hi, everyone. I've been lurking for a few weeks now. I love this website!
Regarding the item that fell off the shelf to warn the homeowner of impending corn-on-the-cob doom, why didn't Jay and Grant respond by telling her that her house is crooked?
I watched the door slam multiple times. I find the footage problematic because we can't see the doorknob until after the door closes completely. Also, as Logisti correctly pointed out, the cameraman appears to back up while the door is slamming. Watch as the camerman steps out of the doorway. Why is the camera so close to the door as he's backing up? Not until the door fully closes does the camera step back far enough to reveal the entire door, maybe because he let go of the doorknob. I don't know, I just find the incident suspicious.
The hanger was compelling at first. Again, the house is crooked, so it's entirely possible that the first sound Jay and Grant heard was a knick-knack falling off a shelf, which they could have falsely attributed to the hanger on the floor. How can we know if the hanger was there all along? Also, I'd like everyone to watch which direction the second hanger takes off from. It looks like from the right side of the screen, where Grant is sitting. Maybe I'm mistaken–after all, I haven't been given a floorplan of the house–but I think the closet is more to the left in the room. Does anyone know?
Brandon @ 6:09 am
Hammer, you're totally right. If the evidence isn't faked, then the spirits in that house must be pretty pissed off. Throwing hangers, slamming doors, knocking on the floor of the attic, the house is crooked, balls rolling across tables, and a door that traps you inside. Good thing they got out alive, leaving the homeowner to fend for herself at night.
CrowTRobot @ 7:19 am
Excellent job on the room with the two doors. The debunking reminded me of the old GH.
That house was crazy off-kilter. Assuming the ball demonstration was true, it picked up an amazing amount of speed for such small surfaces.
The bathroom door: The oddest thing to me was the camera man's reaction – there was none. You're in the dark, holding a camera, and suddenly a door slams shut trapping you in a room; and you don't even jerk? And why was he backing into that room to begin with?
The coat hanger: I'm sorry, but MH came to mind on that one. GH, for the love of all that is Holy, please don't….
The attic: Very interesting. Too bad J&G didn't bother to go up and check it out, but I guess they had to hurry up to get to that coat hanger. So K&J go up there (assuming they weren't already up there and causing the noises J&G heard).
This acutally could be interesting, until……….
Kris sees wasps (although I think they were actually dirt-daubers(sp) which don't sting). So Kris decides to forget it and leave. I know that's suppose to be cute, just like Steve's phobias were cute………at first. But despite all the noises in the attic, apparently no real investigation took place. However, I have to commend Joe on debunking the box that fell. Grant would have declared a ghost threw it at him.
Logisti, great call on the empty-nest possibility. I completely missed that one. Although, one of her daughters did say she experienced some crazy stuff when she was a kid and even slept with the covers pulled over her face.
Jef @ 8:28 am
Logisti, another excellent breakdown.
As has been mentioned already it was amazing how there was no real reaction to the cameraman getting shut into the bathroom. That would scare the crap out of most people. And even if the guy wasn't alarmed, if it's going to be used as evidence we should have the benefit of hearing his account of the incident.
When the coat hangers started flying, my first thought was that it really is too bad Steve wasn't there to set up his stationary cameras. Who could know if the angles or placements would have given us a partial or full view of either the hangers or the "violent" slamming door but since they weren't used at all we'll obviously never know, and the evidence we did get was unconvincing and flat.
A hanger flies across the room, they don't try to debunk it, they don't check to see if the hanger has a high EMF coming off it (it might if it was in the hand of a ghost, right? *cough*), they don't do anything. They don't even adjust the camera angle in case it happens again. These guys are the worst ghost hunters ever.
Worst ghost hunters ever, I say.
I didn't watch the live broadcast cause I was feeling like I was done with this show. Now I just might be. I'm ready for my intervention. Someone is probably going to physically keep me from watching the show. Sad but true.
Lar @ 8:31 am
One word best describes J&G. Cocky. I know most everyone in this forum feels J is not a sell out, but if he were real estate he'd have a huge SOLD sign posted.
He is just as much to blame for Grant's stunts as the G-man himself. He knowingly permits it.
Some feel J takes a " Don't tell me what you're doing, 'cause I don't wanna' know," approach. But when the G-Unit fakes it, J then knows the evidence is as fabricated as the material on G's collar.
Cocky is a coat hanger being twice tossed at you while you sit there chuckling, DOING NOTHING,claiming it's paranormal.
One last note about the LIVE show. How many were employed on the island day & night, days before, during & well after the show? If one, just one person had a paranormal experience TAPS would've used that story to better solidfy their findings. They came, they faked it (cause they needed to), they left.
Harry @ 8:51 am
I don't know if "cocky" is the right word. Maybe "buffoon" is, because that's why Jay and Grant have each become.
The flying coathanger of death last night was a clear sign this series is entering its death spasms. It was a cheesy, half-assed stunt that could convince only the most hopelessly credulous and deluded. Even worse, it shows GH/TAPS/Pilgrim is running out of ideas and can't even summon the willpower and imagination to create a more convincing hoax.
Alas, poor Jay and grant; we knew them well.
Todd @ 9:14 am
RE: cameraman closing the door
Curious about the logistics of how that would be done. If we assume that the camera is on the right shoulder ("Keep in mind the camera is on his right shoulder so he can't really see much of what's going on to his right,…"), then which hand is used to close the door?
The right hand is most likely going to be used to steady the camera and make any visual quality adjustments. The door was open half to 3/4 of the way. That means the left arm has to reach across the body to the partially opened door and pull it with force requiring at least a little torquing of the torso either to reach it or to pull it.
Watching the video closely the camera is holding steady on Grant. The camera man is not in motion and then the edge of the door comes into view. This is not a SteadCam mounted camera, but a shoulder mounted cam. It is going to show movement.There is no discernible movement until the door closes.
My question is, how does the camera man make it happen without any visual cue to movement on his part?
MauveHarlet @ 9:22 am
I find it completely hard to believe anything that occured on that episode last night… The door shutting, the hanger expelling themselves from the closet. I just find it funny that IMMEDIATELY after the disaster of GHL, they decide to go "old school!?!?!" No camera's are in hand by any of the investigarots with these incidents go down. Who is to say that it's not anyone in the room throwing these things or slamming doors. Totally convenient for the crew if you ask me…. What about the poor home owner!!??
Side not: Also noticed some strange body langauge from J during both reveals. Just a sense of just doom, sadness, distress all in one. He's very different. Watch older episodes, compared to know. Guilty conscience perhaps??
Oubliette @ 9:43 am
It looked like Joe was the best debunker on this episode. I think the guy has a lot of potential but he is being kept back by the dynamic duo.
Very creaky old floorboards in that attic. The kind that really respond to rebound and humidity. Absolutely nothing paranormal there.
Can not J & G set up some cameras on their own? True professionals would have at least set up two or so by themselves. Don't they know how? Oh I forgot, Steve is the great tech expert, apparently knowing more then J & G.
I agree with Logisti's assessment about the woman not used to being alone in a quiet and unevenly built house. BTW, I think the reveal was severely edited due to time constraints. We won't know all that they told her.
The coat hangar was a Most Haunted moment. Someone just tossed it towards them. Ditto the door.
Remember how excited they used to get over stuff like this, real or not? The enthusiasm is loooong gone. I truly believe that, in the beginning, TAPS was honestly trying to do as best an investigation as they were capable of, but now it seems nothing excites them.
Whatever my feelings about Ghost Adventures, at least the guys get all excited about almost anything that happens. Maybe even a little too much, but what a contrast to the "best" group on TV.
Methinks the competition now being provided by other shows has forced them to give us the BS we are now seeing. But at least they could react a bit more believably.
I predict this show will lose about 50% of its former viewers. Now we are left with demon fanatics, a "real exorcist" (can SciFi stoop any lower?) and dramatic recreations of stories that have been blown way out of proportion. It's sad, really.
Brenny @ 9:50 am
I also noticed Grant and his, now famous, right hand! I have no idea how this could be hoaxed by him, but just before the door closed, he passed the camera from his right hand to his left hand, then started messing around in his pocket for something…then the door slams! I guess I will doubt everything he does. Also, what is up with Kris making cracks about the house being full of gross bugs and "wall boogers"! WTF was that! Why did Pilgrim allow that to air….what must the homeowner feel? I almost HAVE to watch…sort of like stopping to check out a fatal accident….you just have to look! I will now enjoy watching GH self-destruct while I tune in to Ghost Adventures Zack and his bi-cepts!
Oubliette @ 11:00 am
I hoped NJBill from the TAPS board doesn't mnd my sharing this here. I keep trying to send him a PM but the TAPS service conveniently goes down each time I hit the "send" button. But I'm assuming since he posted it in public, that he wouldn't mind my putting it here.
Hope the link works. It's about the infamous hangar and a possible means of how it happened:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v338/Foulkelore/Ghosts/FlyingHanger.gif
Logisti @ 12:24 pm
Yeah, Grant's right hand might be famous but I don't see how he could have made the door slam that hard from all the way over where he was standing.
I want to drill this home though: The camera operator *backed out* of the door as it was slamming shut. He shouldn't have been able to *see* it closing (because the camera was on his right shoulder blocking his view) much less react so quickly.
In every other scenario I can think of — ghost, person or gust of wind — that door should have slammed right into the camera operator, his shoulder or the camera. Instead he neatly backed out in concert with the door as it shut, as if he was being pushed by the door (and if he was, then we'd expect him to lose his footing, not make a smooth withdrawal) or he was pulling the door.
To the question of steadying the camera, I was thinking of exactly that, however the door handle was quite literally inches away from him as he stood there. If you are sitting in a chair with arms, pantomime as if you are holding a camera with your right hand and on your right shoulder, then reach across with your left hand to touch the right arm of your chair. That's how close the door handle was (we see it in Grant's footage) and it would be very easy to do.
MissBlue raised a terrific question: "Regarding the item that fell off the shelf to warn the homeowner of impending corn-on-the-cob doom, why didn't Jay and Grant respond by telling her that her house is crooked?"
I don't see any way a reasonable person could watch this episode and reconcile the clear proof that the house is crooked with the fact that they left the homeowner thinking she has a helpful ghost in the house who prevented her from burning some corn. That's just absolute rubbish, they proved out a *very* solid explanation and they shelved it in favor of telling the client a paranormal one. That is just absolutely shameful.
But what are we to expect, given we may have just proven at least one hoax — and you guys know I'm normally reticent to say we've proven something beyond a shadow of doubt but in this case I think we might have: I challenge anyone, believers and devil's advocates alike, to come up with a plausible explanation for the camera operator backing out of the room exactly as the door was slamming shut on him. Were he not involved, shouldn't the door have hit him and stopped/bounced off? Or if there was continuous force behind it, shouldn't it have knocked him off balance? That withdrawal from the room just seemed a little too smooth to me.
Brad @ 12:46 pm
When they heard the "You are not supposed to be here" it sounded like it came through a walkie talkie or something. Are ghosts supposed to be able to talk through sound equipment? That would almost make sense.
PatAttack @ 12:48 pm
Has anyone thought that the Great J himself could have been on the other side of that door? If I'm not mistaking, I thought I heard G-Man talking to J as if he were in the room. Please correct if I'm wrong. This board rocks, guys.