August 6, 2009
GHI: Palazzo Ducale
This palace once held an imprisoned Paganini. For that alone I would consider this one of the more historically important sites GHI has investigated (as opposed to the many random castles owned by random people). The history of the place is so interesting and sordid that for a significant portion of its history the Doges who ruled the local area from this palace were far more likely to be poisoned or otherwise assassinated than they were to retire (or die) in due time and in peace.
We also get to see Brandy in action doing an EVP session in Italian. And not just "what is your name?" either, she went so far as to ask any nearby spirits to make a noise — in Italian! Good stuff. Even better, she immediately got a very clear response in the form of a loud bang! Funny thing though, Robb quickly deduced that the sound was coming from the lights. As he explained it, these type of lights (halogen, I believe) tend to make loud noises as they cool down after being on for a long time. Had he not realized that, we'd be left with an interesting piece of evidence that some would call proof of the paranormal. As it stands, instead we're left with an interesting piece of evidence that some would call proof of the paranormal, that we can now point to and remind ourselves (and everyone else) how often-times even something that seems impressive (like asking in Italian for spirits to make a noise, and then hearing one right away) has a very mundane explanation.
Another interesting occurrence was a sound Barry & Joe reported hearing in the prison cell area. Joe said it sounded like a baby crying, Barry described the sound as "wailing" and "unusual screams". It seems to me that Barry begs the question: What sort of screams would be considered "usual" ? Joking aside, these sounds were captured on audio quite clearly. To me, it sounded precisely as Joe said: like a baby crying. Again though, the excitement doesn't last long. During the reveal Robb suggests the sound is made by local birds. Now, I'm not sure how he came to this conclusion, but it seems possible and if so then it is a great catch — terrific debunking. What concerns me is that most birds are active during the day, not at night, and Robb's past history of jumping to conclusions has me worried he might be jumping to a "scientific" conclusion without actually doing the science (research/verification), which would make such a conclusion every bit as flimsy as saying, "It's a ghost."
Ashley and Dustin also asked for the spirits to reveal themselves by making a noise, and they also got an apparent response. In this case, the tracked the sound down to an ice machine. I have to say, ice machines in particular seem to be very common culprits for such things. They make almost no noise, but then when they drop the cubes it can be rather loud and some people might tear their hair out trying to figure out what could possibly cause such a clatter in the other room and then when they run in they find nothing has been moved and no one is there. I've even heard of cases where someone was convinced there was an intruder in their home and called the police, only to discover to their embarrassment the sound they heard coming from their kitchen was just the ice maker.
Aside from the aforementioned events of interest (which were — as aforementioned — all debunked), there was only one piece of evidence we see the team reviewing. It's a possible EVP but Barry slows down the recording and it becomes instantly clear the regularity of the sound means it's just a tone of some kind — perhaps an electronics blip, or maybe some environmental noise — but definitely not a voice saying something because there was no irregularity one might ascribe consonents or vowels to. I really liked this and hope to see more EVPs evaluated in this way.
Overall, this was a fairly interesting "found nothing" episode because of the detailed debunking that was done. If GHI can harness the good qualities of this investigation and build on them then they might come to a "not haunted" verdict on 90% of their investigations and still have a television program more interesting to watch than some of their standard fare.
Filed under Ghost Hunters International, Posts by Logisti
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Comments on GHI: Palazzo Ducale »
Oubliette @ 11:57 am
Logisti, you deserve a combat medal for just attempting to tackle this last episode.
In the promo for next week, the narrator says "Do the orphans…want the new hunter to come out and play?" Don't tell me there is going to be still another personnel change! "The Revolving Ghost Hunters" would be a more apt title.
Revenant @ 1:46 pm
Oubliette- No, I think it's just a reference about Ashley having, yet again, another personal experience. Something touches her, she feels a breeze, she sees a shadow…yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm hoping it's something more, but I'm not holding my breath…
alicat @ 2:07 pm
I got the impression they were talking about Ashley as well. Quite frankly, their production values are quite poor. At times it's just a promo to shock or draw you into tuning into the show and other times it just plain sloppy. We've all seen how they cut the show so it's no surprise when they use the same in their promotions.
Nosfer @ 4:51 pm
There have been so many promos in the past that have led you to believe one thing and find out it's totally another. This is endemic to the whole franchise (GH _and_ GHI, though probably moreso with GH just because of number of shows). One of the worst was when Jason's kid broke his arm playing (TOTALLY nothing to do with anything GH related) and the promo showed ambulances and the hospital and the voice over was saying something about "when one of the team gets hurt" or something like that. Talk about USING a kid's misfortune for promotional means!
alicat @ 5:26 pm
Absolutely correct Nosfer. I believe that was when they were in Salem in 2007, possibly the last episode of Season 3. And who were getting producer credits then? Yep. Jason & Grant. Who had allowed the filming of him going into the hospital and the "reunion" of the cast at his house? Jason. Need I say more? Sure, why not. Minor detail, but on the Crossing Over episode they didn't even spell Grant's wife's first name correct. How embarassing. And then for the return of the next half of GHI this year, they couldn't even get the start date correct on their own commercial. As I said, very sloppy production values.
Oubliette @ 8:47 am
OT but again about Jason's kid and his broken arm–what a phony setup that was! If you remember, Lisa D. showed up in her scrubs. A while back on another message board she told a poster that she received a phone call while at work (she's a vet tech) and was told to rush over to Jason's house ASAP to shoot a scene about the boy's injury. That's why she still has the stethoscope around her neck. In her hurry she had forgotten to take it off.
Like so much having to do with Jason and Grant's production skills, this scene screamed FAKE. Par for the course with this whole franchise.
HollyDolly @ 10:57 am
Alicat, I didn't know that Grant was married twice? What happend to the first one?
I guess the bit with Jay's son was to show viewers that even though they are ghost hunters, they still have a life outside of the paranormal,yada,yada.
Yeah I remember seeing Lisa, and the crew had ballons and stuff for Jay's son.
For kid got exploited didn't he.
alicat @ 12:36 pm
HollyDolly,
Please read the post again. I never said his first wife. I said his wife's first name.
Bobarino @ 4:13 pm
OK,
Lets get a pool going. Everyone chip in $5 and try to guess what Personal Experience Ashley is going to have. Whoever is closest wins!
My bet is on "Something touched my leg"
alicat @ 4:21 pm
Bobarino,
Here's my $5 but you took my experience.
I'll go with "there's something here".
Oubliette @ 5:16 pm
My 5 bucks on "I feel cold on my left side…uh, make that my right side."
Nosfer @ 5:52 pm
Lays a fiver on the table: "I just felt a breath of air" followed by "Dustin, STOP IT!!!!"
Learjet @ 1:13 am
I'll throw in another $5 that says Dustin's hair will hit the ceiling by next season. Kind of reminds me of a cross between Beaker and Madge Simpson. Cartoon characters don't seem so exaggerated now after all Lol.
TP @ 7:20 am
I got the impression that they wanted to make sure they found nothing paranormal. Almost like they weren't paid off by the owner!
Oubliette @ 10:20 am
Looks like my bet didn't have a chance. Ashley wasn't even in this last show. Oh well, that's the kind of luck I have.
alicat @ 10:32 am
Oubliette,
I think we all won because Ashley wasn't there. I got the distinct impression she's not coming back by Robb's choice of words but that may just be wishful thinking on my part. However, if that was truly the case, GHI would be a memory. I just glanced at their board this a.m. and read a few comments. People are bored with it and not happy on many levels. The best comment was for Syfy to stop reality programming and get back to the actual science fiction realm. I'm wondering how GH is going to dig them out of this hole. I'm sure the PR spin will be GHI had a record viewing audience. My take is they had an audience for the first minute and then everyone fell asleep. All I can say is boring, embarrassing and a major waste of time.
Oubliette @ 1:05 pm
Na, na I was right about there being a new investigator in this week's episode. Did anyone else notice that Barry was none too thrilled for some reason? The way he just stared listlessly when filmed in the van and was very subdued in the first investigation seemed to indicate he was not happy about something.
Ashley probably just took off, like others before her. Maybe couldn't take it anymore. There have been rumors that they've had to endure a lot of things due to poor pre-trip planning by whomever is supposed to set up those things.
One of the complaints were that accommodations in a lot of places were, well, less than accommodating. In the first season, it was claimed that Donna and Shannon did not feel safe in Romania from, shall we say, some local gents with less than gentlemanly intentions. Also that all of them were concerned about luggage they had to leave behind in hotels while they went out to film.
In addition, whoever did the currency conversions did not do their homework. They were often left with not enough money to cover immediate expenses. Also, at times finding the exact spot where they were supposed to film proved difficult, not being given more detailed instructions.
Now, all this was said regarding their first season. It might have changed, but it could also explain why some of them just decided to leave. Also, and its only a theory, it may be why they just seem to go through the motions and want to get it over with. If this is the case, it's a wonder that they were able to accomplish what they did.
This show had pretty good potential starting out. Andy, Donna and yes, even Brian (at times) helped things along. They were familiar to audiences and IMO Andy was the best debunker on either show, period. Like his personality or not, he was both creative and persistent in attempting to find reasons for possible phenomena.
It is so apparent to me when an episode from this season is followed by a re-run from way back. The energy is simply no longer there. And then there is Dustin with his stupid hat…
Good idea about SyFy pitching the reality shows but they have been the current fad on TV for several years now. I still wish that Destination Truth would move away from that channel. I hate that Josh is affiliated with Jason and Grant and has to go along (whether he wants to or not) with the promos associated with their show. He deserves better.
OK, have a question–was that Kris Williams wearing the idiotic headgear in the coming attraction for the new GH season? Could be just me, but it did not look or sound like her. Or am I going batty?
Revenant @ 1:28 pm
Alicat- "I think we all won because Ashley wasn't there. I got the distinct impression she's not coming back by Robb's choice of words but that may just be wishful thinking on my part."
First off, everyone lost so I get the money. I purposely rigged the outcome. Actually, I was absolutely wrong about the "new ghost hunter wanting to come out and play." I thought it would be Ashley, but it turned out to be a new guy. I didn't get the impression that she isn't coming back. Her departure may have just been of a personal nature (like someone being ill). Although with GHI's track record, it's now a definite possibility.
Oubliette- "Ashley probably just took off, like others before her. Maybe couldn't take it anymore."
As I just stated, definitely possible. Yet, would it be such a tragic loss? Besides being "eye candy" for those that find her attractive (which I'm personally on the fence about), she really brought very little to the table outside of personal experiences.
Oh, and yes, I "think" that was Kris wearing the headgear on the GH promo. Then again, I was wrong on the last GHI promo so…
alicat @ 2:51 pm
Revenant – I knew you didn't place a bet for some reason. Rigged the outcome of the bet? I would have paid you $50 and a case of beer to have rigged the outcome of the episodes!
Oubliette – Interesting that the opening sequence calls Paul a "new addition to the team" who Robb claims is from "a TAPS family member team which he has co-founded and led" and from what Robb also said, he's been friends with Barry for a long time and was brought in to assist Barry. Barry didn't seem to happy to see him. Is his "tech manager" position in jeopardy? Then again, he didn't seem to happy the entire hour. This new guy was involved not only on the tech side but was there at the introductions and forward. As far as Ashley, we don't know when this was shot but she's still in college so maybe she had finals and really needed to study since she missed so much time on GHI! LOL!
And again, what's with this wearing sunglasses when it's raining and at night. Here they are driving, windows fogging up and Joe and Dustin are wearing sunglasses? Trust me Joe, you're not even close to being cool and Dustin, get off the very tall ego pedestal where you have placed yourself.
I have to agree with Revenant on the GH promo. At first I didn't think it was Kris because the voice didn't really match and the face was somewhat obscure. However, in the final shot, it did look like it was her.
StanTheMan @ 4:00 pm
A few days ago KW left a message on Twitter (I still look at that crazy thing for sport related info) about a helmet so I do think its her.