February 27, 2009
GHI: Capucins Quarries
When GHI visited Capucins Quarries one of the questions Dustin asked of their host Christopher (who, like all the other folks GHI has recently visited in non-English speaking countries, was British) was what kind of stone the quarries were comprised of. I was immediately suspicious that this would lead to some sort of "theory" about how "some people believe" certain types or rocks record events or enable folding of the space-time continuum but actually it led to a fairly interesting debunk: Rumors about quarry workers seeing a mysterious greenish mist that was a harbinger of death, might actually be true — and in fact might actually be non-supernatural: Chlorine gas, released from the limestone.
Now, I'm not a geologist so I don't know whether this is a realistic possibility or just something farfetched that makes for a good storyline (I'm thinking possibly a new episode of House, MD) but Dustin kind of "went the other way" with this one and I must admit I was a little impressed. Their host wasn't, as he seemed to clearly be pulling for the "haunted" verdict; uinfortunately nothing really happened during the investigation. Robb tried to soften the blow a bit by pointing out that they'd only investigated a small portion of the 300+ km of tunnels under the city, and maybe other sections might be haunted.
Of the things that did occur, the GHI team quickly debunked all of them. Angela and Joe were hearing noises Joe described as someone tip-toeing or sneaking around, but these were determined to be bits of rock falling from the ceiling (did I mention this place used to be prone to cave-ins? GET OUT JOE!) and When Robb felt a Breeze against his arm that Barry didn't feel, and they both heard what seemed to be a woman's scream, it didn't take long for them to realize they were just a few feet away from a tunnel that went straight up 20m to a manhole in a busy Paris street.
One black mark for the GHI team on this investigation: their treatment of an EVP recorded by their host. The recording exhibited Christopher's voice, which some other sound overlapping which seemed like it could be another voice, equally loud. Dustin & Barry seemed to be of the opinion that this secondary sound was a "glitch" in the recorder, which not only caused it to record on fast-forward, but also I guess twice over the same section of tape — or something. I found this particularly confusing since Christopher said the recorder was digital – and therefore I don't see how it could record over the same section twice (without completely erasing the original recording). Also, they said the second sound seemed to be like it had been recorded on fast forward, but they didn't seem able to make anything out once they slowed it down, other than pointing out where Christopher was talking in a reeeaaally slooooow voooice.
Frankly, saying someone else's EVP recording — which quite frankly seemed much more intriguing and worth further investigation to me than the EVP's GHI themselves touted on the investigation immediately prior to this one — is just a "glitch" with the recording device is a total cop-out, especially for GHI. If that was an acceptible explanation to offer, especially without any actual evidence to prove the "glitch", then we could say that about any EVP recording that's ever been made. Oh? You have another voice on your recorder? Must be a glitch.
I'll give them pretty high marks for this investigation, ignoring their opinion of the EVP, but considering that EVP was part of the investigation and their analysis was at once shallow and hypocritical, overall I was once again disappointed.
Filed under Ghost Hunters International, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GHI: Capucins Quarries »
Hal @ 6:32 pm
B-O-R-I-N-G !
blinddog50 @ 8:35 pm
Needs to be put in a 'time slip' and forgotten.
CrowTRobot @ 9:08 pm
This show's losing it.
The Doctor @ 11:31 pm
It appears the rule is that Ghost Hunters must do their best to debunk and/or ridicule any evidence presented by any outsider.
Even if this means coming up with nonsensical explanations, like a bump on the card will speed up digital recorders.
I did find it amusing that they tossed the FLIR back in the truck as useless, then … " did you feel that cold breeze " ?
Nosfer @ 2:35 pm
Mon Dieu! C'etait terrible.
Chuck Neumann @ 12:49 pm
The British must own or manage a lot of sites in France and Spain. Not a bad show, though I agree they were hard on the hosts' EVP which was much more interesting that their EVP's from the earlier investigation.
Liz M @ 11:10 am
I was really disappointed in the way they treated their hosts' EVP. Granted, I couldn't hear much either, but it was more interesting than most of the EVPs they've caught this season. And if one EVP is a computer glitch, why aren't the others? To me it sounds like they shot themselves in the foot. If you want people to believe your evidence, you have to support evidence from others that is just as sketchy as yours.
I found their tour of Paris amusing. Show a picture of a landmark and a voiceover of someone oohhing. I know nothing of the layout of Paris – could they actually have passed all those landmarks on the way to the location or was it just a slideshow to say "hey, we're in Paris!"
Nosfer @ 11:51 am
Liz…good point about recorder glitches! I've never been impressed with EVPs myself and this is just one more thing that makes me look even harder and them before considering them too seriously.
CrowTRobot @ 6:22 pm
Logistic, I forgot about the insultingly quick dismissal of their host's evp.
It's amazing how blind the pot can be to its own darkness.
D @ 6:25 pm
Episodes like this remind me of the old Mike Meyers SNL skit of the Scottish store: "If it aint TAPS, its CRAP!" Over and over again it seems like GH and GHI reject the wisdom of their fanbase or owners of the places in question. The fanbase comes up with interesting hypotheses to try, and its completely ignored. More than once something has been suggested on the TAPS boards, and its ignored. More than once an owner has questioned something only to be attacked in the "professional opinion" of the team. There are years of accumulated wisdom if they would just listen. Instead they seem to ignore, trample through, and move on. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's consistent with their policy on external evidence evaluation and their banning skeptics from their forum.
I don't want to rant on this, but it's a protocol thing for me.
Terri @ 11:05 pm
Just want to point out one little thing. I don't find it at all unusual that many of the people they meet in the various locations in Europe are British. It may just be that many from Britian travel extensively throughout Europe, for work and pleasure. If a site is going to have a lot of English speaking tourists visiting it would make sense to hire people who can communicate with them clearly, and yes the British travel through out Europe. Remember some European countries are smaller than many US states and most Canadian provences. Not only that but if someone from a non-English speaking country wants to learn English as a second language would it not make sense to hire someone from Britian to teach, rather than say someone from the States or Canada, therefore they will speak English with a British accent.
julie @ 9:36 pm
ok, i just want to know if someone can explain Barry's "special" camera. I can't remember what it's called. The one that sees light that we can't. I'm just wondering, how it can record what we can't see and then change it so we can see it. obviously, i know absolutely nothing about cameras, or how the whole spectrum of light works. I just remember on one episode Barry said that he had modified a camera so it can pick up ultra violet light. So, why doesn't he patent it and sell it? The whole thing just bugs me. And, Barry really does seem to hear and see a lot that no one else does, not even the cameras.
The Doctor @ 12:18 am
"I know nothing of the layout of Paris – could they actually have passed all those landmarks on the way to the location or was it just a slideshow to say "hey, we're in Paris!"
Well, yes and no
All of it is within a few miles, so a little tour detour is not out of the question.
That said, they could have done it without passing the Effiel tower while on the avenue de New York in BOTH directions, so I suspect they didn't really know where they were going ( not surprising in Paris )