October 7, 2009

GH: USS Salem

This moment from the very, very beginning of the episode struck me as humorous:

Kris: They've also seen the apparition of a former employee who died there ten years ago.

Jay: SOUNDS GOOD!

Jay & Grant started off the investigation telling the camera they heard footsteps, voices, saw things moving, and in Grant's case felt "spiderwebs" and of course none of it was caught on tape. Joe Chin and Amy kept hearing a creaking/squeaking noise like a door moving (their host believed it sounded more like a chair moving) — this was captured on audio but no source was found. On a ship like this it's of course normal to have some such sounds, so ascribing it to paranormal sources would be premature.

Steve & Tango heard a "crazy noise" coming from "the ceiling", which I assume is nautical speak for "the deck above us", but couldn't determine the origin of that sound either. Dave, and then later their host, noted the fact that the sound seemed to stop when Steve called out to whoever might be making it. It was also interesting that TAPS' host, who works on the ship, said that sound was unfamiliar to him and wasn't a sound normally made by the ship or otherwise heard onboard.

Elsewhere, Jay & Grant were having trouble coming to grips with their own sounds, which they initially believed were footsteps on the gangplank, but then they determined actual footsteps on the gangplank sounded nothing like the sounds they'd been hearing, at which point they sort of avoided reaching the conclusion that odd sounds happen on large metal ships and just moved on to a new location.

During the evidence review, Steve caught a piece of footage where one of the cameras seemed to move on its own and after discussion with Dave they apparently decided the most likely explanation was someone might have stepped on one of the cords and inadvertently pulled on the camera, causing it to spin. In the immortal words of a cartoon rooster, "I say, I say, WHAT?!" Forget for a moment that this sort of evidence has come up a number of times before and each time they have proudly displayed it as proof ghosts exist, with precisely the same amount of evidence (a number approaching zero) they've now reached the conclusion that not only must someone have been in the vicinity of the camera, but they also must have stepped on the cord and not realized it, and this caused the camera to spin rather than move/fall in any other (more expected) way.

As a complete bonus, just around the time this happens the camera picks up some white dots, almost like a cluster of "orbs" that seemed a bit odd and possibly noteworthy even to an old skeptic like me, but this went completely unmentioned by Steve or Tango. I just thought of a great new piece of equipment TAPS absolutely MUST get hold of for use in their investigations. It was invented by a fictional character from the movie Office Space.

"You see, it would be this mat that you would put on the floor… and would have different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO."

Pilgrim really seemed to like that theme too, because the next thing we see is Jay & Grant telling their host about their extensive K-II meter results — something we did not see during the investigation proper. Grant explains that the meter was going nuts pretty much the entire time, and that means there are strong EM fields throughout the ship (correct) which in turn means that people are going to get nauseous and paranoid (huh?). Apparently we're now past the "some people believe" portion of our program and we've jumped straight to outright declarations that EM fields cause nausea and paranoia.  As discussed in one of our podcast episodes, it was a stretch when they were offering it as a possible explanation for some people's experiences. Now that they're outright telling people EM fields are responsible for these effects they've gone well past too-far from any reasonable scientific standard.

Filed under Ghost Hunters, Posts by

Permalink Print Comment

Comments on GH: USS Salem »

October 8, 2009

phillyk48 @ 11:36 am

I almost fell asleep watching this episode….boring. My mind kept wandering. And when J&G went to the area where people had said a person by the name of "John" gave them a tour, why didnt they ask him to give them a tour? DUHHHHH. And all I kept thinking was "hearing noises on a ship"…give me a break. We've been through this before. It's getting so so old watching them NOT caring anymore.

blinddog50 @ 12:54 pm

a_cer,
POST DELETED: OFF TOPIC.
South Park parody is in the Forum.

The Doctor @ 1:01 pm

Notice that when Steve gives his camera setups, they no longer give us a 4x or 6x shot of the screen, and they are no longer called Camera #1, Camera #2 etc. My guess is that production complained that it makes it harder for them to slice and dice.

Now if we can only get Jay to stop with the " get DVR's to all the cameras" – you would think someone would explain to him by this time that if he is seeing the shots, they are ALLREADY connected to the DVR.

Nice that Grant waits for someone to come up the gangplank, thereby proving that there are people moving around the ship during their investigation.

Techmangler Steve sees during the analysis that it appears someone had kicked one of the cameras or stepped on its cord – I wonder why no one noticed this DURING the investigation when they might have been able to check into it.

Sully @ 1:42 pm

Yeah, chasing shadows and sounds again. Big vehicle floating on the water, filled with machinery — no explanation at all for those creaks and groans. What a lark.

On the other hand, Kris looked cute in this episode. About the only thing worth watching GH for, anymore. Wonder how long before she leaves in an attempt to expand her television career? Maybe she could host a paranormal talk show.

Oh, and did you notice all the Joe Chin plugs? Maybe he's been complaining that everyone on the forums says he's boring.

Angelayo1970 @ 1:54 pm

I was really bothered by the very nonchalant camera-moving-by-itself explanation. They've had this happen before on I believe two other investigations. The first one I can understand why they believed it could be unexplainable because it was in the turret of a house with the camera trained on the only entrance and exit to the turret. The second was in the hallway of I'm thinking some sort of asylum (can't really remember…the mind is the first thing that goes!) and they seemed to be pretty blown away by that piece of evidence. However, this time, it's like "oh, someone just walked by it and got their foot tangled, causing it to move". Okay…how do you know this? It just seems like what is deemed "possibly paranormal" is so subjective. It seems to be based on their mood at the time of the analysis. Or, more likely, what the production staff tells them to "find" at the analysis!

October 11, 2009

bill kelly @ 1:18 am

what i find the most intersting is that with everyone getting fed up with this show why would they have "ghost hunters academy" coming up soon? especially with steve and tango who do nothing anymore but try and provide comic relief.

POST EDITED: Inappropriate Comment.

Learjet @ 5:07 am

Just an observation, sounds like some dirty power to supply that ship. It's possible to hear AC hum coming through Pilgrims' camera gear.

In the reveal Grant mentions the K2 meter was pegged and I'm not surprised. Then of course he is obliged to go on and mention all the symptoms people supposedly get from exposure to high EMF. Spread the myth at every opportunity.




^ Please Support our Sponsor

Leave a Comment

Subscribe without commenting

Copyright 2010 SkepticalViewer.com - The Ghost Hunters Fansite for Skeptics