February 20, 2009
GHI: Castillo De La Coracera
GHI's host at Castillo De La Coracera likes the word "apparently" quite a bit, apparently. See what I did there? I fully appreciate his attempts to qualify all of the historical tales he related to the team as "apparently" true, as opposed to definite historical fact but oh my, did it start to get annoying. Still, I'm not going to fault the host because if GHI got the real low-down on what stories were and were not confirmed at every location we'd have more science and less fanciful speculation on the show, which is probably a good thing.
Apparently, (oh yeah, I went there) the years of this Spanish castle's military significance, which included all of the obligatory hangings, torture and prisoners kept in squalid conditions (apparently), was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to interesting facts about the place. The property had at least two private owners in the 20th century, the first of whom is said to have buried his two brothers in a wall — and left their entombment sites unmarked. Another owner who purchased the place in the 80's was supposedly very into the occult, reported seeing ghosts frequently, believed he shared his residence with Satan (and thought that was just uber cool) and then later shot himself. Apparently.
Before getting into the investigation itself there are a couple of things worth mentioning. Barry has a new, new toy: An "EMF Listener". Apparently looking at a visual representation that relays whether or not there is any electromagnetic activity, and if so how much, is not enough for the team. They want their electromagnetic activity converted into an audio representation — one can only assume because it's just way easier to trick yourself into hearing things that aren't there when listening to variants of white noise, but maybe I'm just being cynical. Oh, also Angela is engaged. Yay! I mean, boo! I mean… I guess that's probably everyone's cue to stop sending her stalker mail.
The investigation got off to a compelling start as Barry, Dustin & Robb all heard a "guttural" sound from the general vicinity of the living room. This was while they were doing an EVP session attempting to contact the former owner, whom no one had ever reported seeing or hearing any trace of since his death. Still, that didn't stop the GHI team from attempting to prove he haunts the premises, and whatever noise they heard seemed to support this hypothesis in their minds to the point where Robb was boldly challenging the alleged spirit to "walk right up" to the team and "show that you are a man", which in turn predictably led to the team listening intently, hearing a knocking sound all of them claimed they didn't make, and attributing it as a potentially supernatural occurrence.
Another bone I'd like to pick is the leap from "interest in the occult" to "Satan Worshipper". Maybe there was a part of the tour we didn't get to see, but from what we did see I got the impression the guy might have wanted to study, interact with, or perhaps prove to himself the existence of Satan, or demons or whatever — but historically the Catholic Church labeled anything that wasn't Catholic as "Satanic", certain Protestant and Muslim teachings have furthered this grand tradition and put their own spins on it — just a couple of years ago there was a Pentacostal Minister who chased a woman out of his Church and accused her of being possessed by the devil because she was wearing jeans; in Church, if you can believe that. The Fallen Angel clearly has a personal hand in such mischievery (Not).
Seriously though, I just think folks should just be a little less cavalier about characterizing other people's relationships with Satan. To be fair, in this case GHI's host did tell them the previous owner believed the devil lived in the castle (apparently) and thought that was a good thing, but even accepting that at face value doesn't automatically inference the guy worshipped Satan. A small point to pick at, but I think it's important to keep religious beliefs and predispositions separate from a supposedly scientific investigation. For those who disagree, there's always Paranormal State.
…I mean, at one point Robb called the guy a "Devil Worshipping Sadist". C'mon, now we're throwing sadism into the mix straight out of thin air? Clearly Robb was letting his socio-religious background interfere with his ability to investigate rationally.
During the evidence review they were able to debunk some reports of footsteps by recongizing the sounds were really caused by water dropping from drain pipes onto the stone slabs (it had been raining for much of the investigation). Two other pieces of recoring equipment caught what sounded like screams, one of which was the "360 degree microphone", which actually has four directional microphones and when the data is put through a computer program it's possible to determine which direction it came from. Using this tool they determined that the sounds, although seeming to come from all around (due to the acoustic effects of the stone structure) were actually amplified echoes from the city and neigboring villages — in this case, likely the whinnying of a horse.
All in all, the team issued a verdict of "not haunted", which definitely wasn't what their host had been hoping to hear, but he took it well and frankly as mundane as investigations such as this one can be, there really were a number of moments where GHI could have gone the other way (by not examining some evidence as deeply as they did) and come out with a completely different conclusion, so I give them kudos for an investigation well done here.
One final note: Out of a team comprised primarily of Americans, most of whom probably took Spanish in high school, the only time we saw any investigator speak Spanish was once, towards the end of the investigation when Dustin asked, "Quien esta aqui?" — Who is here? C'mon guys, you can do much better than that.
Filed under Ghost Hunters International, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GHI: Castillo De La Coracera »
Liz M @ 11:24 pm
Wow, you can tell by the silence on the board that we are all speechless about GHI's ability to debunk everything! I was encouraged by Dustin's use of one phrase of spanish and the lack of an upside-down visor (I still wonder why they need hats at night, though). Of all the places where they might actually know the language, why not try some more spanish? (yo quiero taco bell?)
And was is just me or did both caretakers sound like they had english accents? I was confused by this and if someone could clear it up I'd greatly appreciate it. Maybe I don't know what a real spanish accent is.
All in all, I was impressed by the ability to find answers for everything. But Robb needs to sit up straight in his chair. He looked like he didn't want to be there and that couldn't have made the client feel good (especially since his castle wasn't haunted).
Hal @ 5:02 pm
Good point, Liz. I also wondered why the hosts at both locations sounded British.
As regarding GHI and hats: I've also noticed how large the visors are on the ball caps they wear. They could be large enough to support a HEAD CAM! What dya think, Pilgrim?!
Nosfer @ 7:01 pm
EMF Listener? Haven't we already (since the first part of the first season) been treated to clicks and screeches. Like when Shannon and Donna were having that "conversation" with the Bailiff? What I'd like to see is an _EVP_ Listener so they can judge realtime whether or not they are getting responses. Shouldn't be too hard to put together, all they really need is to split the audio cable and have Barry listen through headphones, they'd be getting real-time EVPs every five seconds!
Wes @ 7:22 pm
Well, this might sound nit-picky from someone who audibly groans every time GHI proclaims a place haunted (the neighbors are complaining), but how do they justify saying a place is assuredly, most definitely, NOT haunted, based on a few hours of investigating, when they can claim, most definitely, a place IS haunted based on one or two questionable EVPS and someone seeing a shadow?? Logically, they are apparently claiming, therefore, that if a place is haunted, they will ALWAYS be able to prove it with just one investigation?!?!!
I know – I'm the stupid one for expecting logic from GHI. (And I do give them credit for debunking — I WAS half expecting Barry to capture a full-spectrum shot of Satan himself, wearing an upside down visor and shaking an EMF detector).
Nosfer @ 7:47 pm
One can never (with 100% certainty) say that a place is not haunted. Absence of Evidence does not mean Absence of Entity.
The correct declaration should be: "Based upon our limited investigation using unscientific methods, we find no evidence of a haunting" And then they could add the "Ghosts do not perform on cue" "We were here only 8 hours, you live here all the time" caveats that Jason and Grant were so fond of back in the old days when they didn't find anything and wanted to lessen the disappointment of the proprietor who was hoping for a massive upswing in business based upon a declaration of "Haunted"
"Logically, they are apparently claiming, therefore, that if a place is haunted, they will ALWAYS be able to prove it with just one investigation?!?!!"
But. But. But just look at their track record. They almost always are able to find something in a brief investigation so, logically, if they are unable to, then there is nothing there.
The Doctor @ 10:15 pm
OK Barry's got his new toy of the week – cool – the EMF Listener !
But, did anyone catch what he says when he introduces it ?
"We've never before had the opportunity to listen to THEM (?!) now with this device we have the opportunity where we can listen to those different ???????? and what they sound like …"
What does he call "them" here ? … phases? freezes?
I can't make out what he calls "them"
Anyone got better ears ?
Learjet @ 2:34 am
I wonder if Barry meant to say "frequencies" and stumbled? It sounds more like "freeze" to me too, but that don't make sense. Subtitles needed for Barry. And possibly a mind reader.
Looks like there's a few extra black boxes in the kit, possibly preamps, and a larger coil which looks similar to stormwise type construction.
This isn't the same as an EMF meter with geiger counter like sound. It's a direct translation of RF to audio.
bullerspoke @ 4:46 pm
Paul Naschy! The old spanish cult and exploitation director in the flesh. That was a nice surprise.
Dienvae @ 3:43 pm
I am "apparently" LMAO, Logisti!
Bobarino @ 6:33 pm
Well, I speak spanish, and can say that there is apparently ::cough:: a difference between Spanish you hear in the US and that in Spain. Similar to how we both speak English in the US and England, but there is a big difference in accent.
I agree with earlier posts: They really can't ever say a place is definately haunted or not haunted. The only exception would be if they did capture that elusive "definitive proof". But, obviously, that has not happened yet…ever.
On another note, I am a religious person (which along with my scientific background, ghost really do not fit in with my faith – but that is another story), but I do not label things as harshly as an "orthodox" practitioner might. Not to get too deep, but the truth is religion and ghost hunting to me seen to go hand in hand. It is people trying to find answers. What happens after death? What is to come, and meaning of life and all that good stuff.
Now here I agree that they jumped on the Satan bandwagon quickly, but it is just people trying to understand extreem events in ways they understand. They should not have put that "Satanic, Sadist" label on them especially in a "scientific" investigation, but I think your review was a bit more scathing than I would have been. But, for good or bad, religion does seem to push people's buttons…
Bob "Soy Suave"
Audible Click @ 6:44 pm
As to why the caretakers had english accents,Spain has many ex-pats from the UK so maybe this is one possible explanation.
The Doctor @ 6:30 pm
My impression was that he was hoping to get some form of static that he could pull evp's out of.
I suspect when all we hear is 50 or 60~ , the emf listener will go back into the basement lab for rework.