Dustin's hat is back!

Thanks Logisti for pointing that out. It drives me crazy as well.

Bobarino, before you say anything, yes I did miss posting that fact in my ever growing post on the "Gate to Hell" forum thread. Sorry for the omission.

are you all doing this here or in the forum? what's up with that?

Well anywho…quoting Nosfer in the forum:

I thought the sounds were coming from Joe, himself. Czech food not agreeing with him or something like that. I definitely did not get a female voice out of it.

Same here, no voice at all. I think one of the camera men had gas and didn't want to own up. Funny thing is, this little "disturbance" was never mentioned in the reveal. I kept waiting to see what they found on tape, but it never came. I noticed the whole show was badly edited. But I still thought it was more interesting than last week's episode.

Hey Alicat, you forgot to mention Dustin's h….

…ah forget it.

Gotcha Bobarino! I also just posted a link in the forum thread about there being secured parking under the castle no one ever mentioned on camera at least.

One thing I have noticed on the many travels GHI has made to Eastern Europe.
Why do most people from these countries look ill?

Cheryl H @ 5:43 pm
"are you all doing this here or in the forum? what's up with that?"

Some of us get anxious and want to do some pre-search on the next locations before here is "here" yet, hence the forum postings.

Can't figure out exactly where they will be in Austria for S02E04, but then it's Italy (05) before the mid-season finale in Chile (06)

blinddog50 @ 8:34 pm
"One thing I have noticed on the many travels GHI has made to Eastern Europe. Why do most people from these countries look ill?"

Perhaps you're just getting used to the "super-sized" Americans ? http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL0778048620070807

Sorry everyone, busy week/weekend, just got a chance to watch the episode earlier today, should have the review posted sometime tomorrow!

If this is the same full spectrum still camera that Barry has been using throughout their investigations, then it can be set to automatically take pics every few seconds (or whatever) because he has done it in other investigations. (The one I'm thinking of is when he got up in the middle of the night, and got scared and had to go wake Rob to check out the castle? with him. Where was that??) Anyway, I'm guessing he either forgot to reset the camera for a single shot, or purposely set it that way to claim paranormal activity.

Good point Leslie. I believe it was the same camera. He also seems to be very careful with his camera equipment and is known for his photography off the show. He did, in fact, wake up in the middle of the night and woke Rob up to check out a noise or something. He then talked about the camera being set to take pictures and that he left it on and went to sleep. Being a "professional" photographer with a published photography book, he would absolutely know the capabilities of his equipment and, since he used this feature before, feigning ignorance of such a simple thing, would be impossible. Good job!

Good review. Tell me, Logisti, (and I mentioned this in an earlier thread) doesn't it seem that either the GHI team is too scared of the paranormal to really 'investigate'; or, they know there's nothing really there so they just leave it to the viewers imagination? I mean, how many times do they come across potential activity and instead of checking it out, they simply decide to leave?

It's getting a bit ridiculous. And Ashley is useless. Also, good point about Dustin's 'in' with Ashley. If that had been me, my wife would have had me on the phone, on her way to the airport…….with a pair of scissors.

Logisti- "Personally, I think any serious investigation of this location must include ripping up the floor in the room where they claim this bottomless "gateway to hell" pit is and seeing if any such pit even exists — and should a pit exist it should be investigated thoroughly; starting with lowering down a dvr camera."

Well, yes, that's one way. Another way would be to use a GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) to first determine whether or not there actually is a hole before you start tearing into the floor. Here's a website that shows what a GPR can really do:

http://www.geomodel.com/

So, Houska Castle eh? aka The Gateway to Hell mwaah ha ha ha haaa (thunder, lightning). Ooooo scary. Hmm, well the gateway of Hell seems a bit tamer than I'd imagined… No Iron gate, no three-headed dog, no lake of fire… this place is nothing at all like the 80's metal bands sang about.
This episode was another classic example of a big build up with no payoff. Well, other than the GHI members getting fat checks for their "investigations" this season. The thing that made me want to drop kick my TV set: When the full spectrum camera malfunctions and Barry decides to leave it alone in the room, because it must be some sort of spirt activity. Which it obviously was of course because in the EVP captured during that event, we clearly hear a demon challenging the camera to a fight. Give me a break.

Logisti – "…and also reported that one of Barry's battery powered lights was flickering as if it were a candle, but we never see this effect on the light …"

They turn off all the lights so that humans can see shadows better (think that is their excuse) then they turn on a VISIBLE camera light so the camera can see better, yet we never get to see THAT cameras tape so we can see the flickering.

As far as the GPR, I would have felt better if they had just brought it along, since Brandy's research should have alerted them to the supposed pit. Bring along a real "guest" expert to run it, and you gain a lot of credibility points.

BTW – Did anyone think to examine "Satan's throne" to see what type of construction it was ? ( arc-welded ? )

When Dustin, "I'm the big man on campus, so stay close to me Ashley," tosses the rock then gets a reply it is textbook A&E Most Haunted. Paranormal? NO. It could've been anything, anyone.
How is it between the two shows, with 42 katrillion hours of video footage (remember each investigation is usually filmed over 8 hours), there's NEVER any clear VISUAL evidence? I'm not referring to any of Grant's antics aka Grantics.
If there were a drinking game for each friggin' time we hear any one of these phrases, "COLD SPOT," " Personal experience," or the greatest paranormal line of all time " I see a SHADOW," they wouldn't need visual evidence. Vewers would be so intoxicated they'd see "spirits," at the bar!

Logisti- "Houska Castle seems genuinely interesting, at least as a structure. According to GHI's host the castle is a series of nested cubes and has none of the standard architectural castle defenses despite apparently dating back to a time when castle warfare was well developed and even somewhat commonplace. This architecture might even be the jumping off point for all of the other anecdotes: if it's not designed to keep people out then maybe it's designed to keep something in."

Ok, this has been bothering me ever since I saw the show. I've been looking around and I believe that I have a counter-point as to what we are lead to believe by the show and some various websites.

What Logisti describes is coming directly from the GHI show. In the thread bearing the same name in the forums, Blinddog listed a link that bolsters this story. Odd design, no exterior military protection, no resources (like water), no strategic value (either military or access to trade routes). Are these things true and do they necessarily lead to the conclusion that the castle was designed to keep something in?

Finding real information on Houska Castle is very hard, but not impossible. The Doctor, in that same thread on the forum, listed the actual Houska website (translated from Czech). It tells a somewhat different story from what we've heard.

The site of the castle began as a 9th century wooden structure. Decades later, it was rebuilt into a stone castle. Between 1270-1280, it was turned into a gothic castle. The few centuries following, the ownership of the castle changed many hands. It is possible that other modifications or construction was done. In the 16th century, the structure was once again changed into a more Renaissance chateau style. As one can begin to see, maybe the design or the intention of the structure was not to "keep something in." Perhaps it may have a structure that some felt a need to "add on to" throughout time without a particular plan in mind.

Also on that website, it stated that Ottokar II decided to establish an impregnable castle there "which will protect the surrounding estate from hostile incursions." This is a far cry from what we are being told. So it is possible that the castle once did have exterior military protection at one point in time. I could maybe stop here, since it does make a strong case. Yet…I'm not buying this at 100% either.

Lets look back at the other criteria; no resources and no strategic value. So, why build a castle there? Keep in mind, when this new castle was essentially constucted over the older one, Ottokar II was not only building other castles in very strategic locations, but he was also at war. Could it be possible that the structure was built there precisely because it had no resources and no strategic value? It makes a much less likely target. It would make no sense for an invading force to lay seige to it. And…history proves me right. The castle was not attacked in his time. In fact, I cannot find any evidence that the castle was ever attacked. There are many castles in the surrounding area and many of those were. In fact, a couple are in ruins, in large part, to battles.

The only true reference to any sort of warfare is the story about the Nazis taking it over during WWII. Ok, but I'm pretty sure castles didn't play a really big role in WWII…

When we hear the word "castle" we automatically assume that it was built for defense. Although mostly true, some were also built for prestige and used more as a royal abode. This could quite possibly be the case for Houska Castle. A castle already existed there, why not turn it into a royal court? Why would Ottokar II then say it was going to be an "impregnable castle?" Well, he is King after all. Appearances and perception do play a role in a King's life. A King doesn't summer in a little cottage…

So was Houska Castle really built to keep the "Gate of Hell" closed? I have to admit, it's a great story. Is it true? I'm leaning towards no.

I forgot to throw this in…

As I said before, the original castle was built around a 9th century wooden struture. Odds are, this was the original chapel. It was not uncommon for that time period to convert churches and chapels from wood to stone.

Is the reason for building a chapel and then a castle in that location because of the hole or the "Gate of Hell?" Maybe. But, keep in mind, we do not have any evidence that a hole even exists there. It is merely legend.

Logisti- "Some graffiti seen on the walls are said to be some of the oldest paintings in Europe and depict demons in the castle."

From the same website (translated from Czech) by The Doctor, it does touch upon this as well. Kind of. Instead of being demons in the castle or anything about the castle itself, it stated that the wall paintings represented Biblical scenes. The chapel itself was probably dedicated to the Archangel Michael.

So…instead of a bottomless pit that is the Gate to Hell and paintings depicting the demons entering the castle…we have zero actual evidence that a hole even exists and paintings representing the Bible.

I don't know about you guys, but these stories from Houska Castle sound less and less credible…

After learning these facts thanks to Rev and the Doc, and based on who the host telling the stories is including his history, I think it's easy to see the stories about the "Gates of Hell" are just that, stories.

Still a very cool place.