January 31, 2009
GHI: Fortress of Varberg
This investigation turned out to be disappointing, as many second-halfers are. There were a few bright points though. First, the low points: during the walkthrough GHI's host told them she never went into a particular part of the fortress because it made her uncomfortable; Robb immediately latched onto this for some reason and got it in his head that this was ground zero for where they should start looking for and expect to find activity.
Predictably, Joe & Robb are investigating when they hear a noise. Later, Brandy & Angela are also investigating when they hear a noise. Towards the end of the evening Barry & Dustin also hear a noise. Jack Bauer eat your heart out, GHI has more twists and turns than any season of "24".
I was however delighted to see Brandy & Angela traced the sounds they head back to an unlatched door that was moving due to pressure differentials from the wind outside. Barry & Dustin seemed to agree the sound they heard might have been the spectral sounds of a cannon which was long-ago moved down that passageway — but suddenly during the reveal Dustin has something truly revealing to tell: he determined it was actually a car driving by overhead.
…so, good debunking. Better than many investigations.
The part I found really unbelievable came near the end of the night though — Robb said that despite living in Florida, he'd never experienced anything like the strong winds and extreme weather they had that night at the Fortress. For those who didn't see the investigation, the wind was so strong that it blew Robb's hat off his head. Yeah… you heard me right. The wind was strong enough to catch the rim of a baseball cap and lift it up off someone's head. Imagine if it had been so strong, it was difficult to hold onto an umbrella — or if one day the wind was so incredibly strong, it could actually push an entire boat… that would be strong wind indeed!
So, as far as the entertainment value of this investigation goes: borderline nothing. As far as the quality of the investigation: pretty good actually, I'd say. Most mind-blowing moment: Robb, a Florida resident who claims to have experienced hurricanes, kept talking up the wind and weather and saying he'd never experienced anything so strong — despite the fact that it was absolutely, without a doubt, undeniably nothing near as strong as even the weakest hurricane. Long term, what does it matter? Credibility hit. It's one more reason to take everything Robb says with a grain of salt, or as Stephen might suggest, a whole pile of salt.
Filed under Ghost Hunters International, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GHI: Fortress of Varberg »
CrowTRobot @ 10:55 am
Logisti,
You deserve a raise for having to recap some of these episodes.
The weather: I'm with you on Robb's proclamation of the weather. I just sat here trying to make sense of what he was trying to convey….don't know. Now I've never lived in Florida, so I guess the next time I see newsreels of mobile homes being blown to new zip codes, I'll have to pay more attention to the causes. But let's just play along with Robb on this one for a moment: If the weather really was that bad, then wouldn't any evidence be contaminated? Every sound could easily be explained away by the strong (howling?) winds. Or baseball caps being slammed against the building.
The debunking of the sounds: Good job with that. It would certainly have been just as easy to let it stand as 'evidence'. However, it makes me wonder if it ever embarrasses them: "Wow! That's the sound of a cannon being rolled down the hallway from hundreds of years ago!" ……… "Oh. It was a passing car."
And to me, the whole cap episode, particularly it being recovered by the staff, just seemed a bit….a HUGE bit….staged.
Nosfer @ 10:58 am
What gets me is how they sometimes are so very thorough in their debunking, coming up with things that would make a crime-scene detective jealous, and other times they pass off the most ridiculous crap that any passer-by could see was incorrect. I guess it all depends upon the script for a particular episode.
bullerspoke @ 9:20 am
I have actually visited Varberg Fortress numerous times (it's only about 43 miles from where I live now) and even have known people who have worked there during the summers. I have never, and I mean NEVER heard anyone ever mentioning anything ghostly about that place. It has never been in any real battles (Sweden's bloodiest battle on homeground ever was fought in Lund in the 17th century btw, as curious notes goes) and has mostly been used as a home and a prison, as stated in the episode. No gallows, white ladies, roaming soldiers, nothing. It's a rather well-preserved but dull fortress which lays by the ocean. The surroundings have their charm, but that's not really due to the fortress. One interesting fact about the fortress is that it was built by the danes in 13th century, who had supremacy in that region (Halland) until 1645. Maybe they should have brought that investigator from Denmark they met at Tre Kroner Fort?
It was a strange choice for an investigation, and as the episode showed a bad one. They weren't even flogging a dead horse, cause there was no carcass to flogg.