I'll admit it: GHI got me twice with this investigation. First, when Barry and Susan ran off into the forest in pursuit of mysterious screams, I started hitting wildlife sites, trying to match the sound to a known animal sound. Then I gritted my teeth and realized that this was just the sort of thing they loved to throw out during analysis. They did.

Next, when Robb was showing off a mysterious face they'd caught on camera, I wasted about twenty minutes trying to get a screen grab of it into an image editing program so that I could try to match it against the back wall. Then Robb did the very debunk I was aiming for once I unpaused the video. So I write this with a mixture of frustration and agreement.

This investigation brings the GHI team to Halden, Norway, and to Fredriksten Fortress, located near the Norwegian-Swedish border. According to Wikipedia, Fredriksten was built around 1655 as a bulwark against ravening hordes of invading Swedes, and was still of military significance until 1905. During that time it was the site of repeated struggles between the two countries. Charles XII, King of Sweden, died of a bullet wound while inspecting the trenches of the invading Swedish army. Apparently a piece of the lining of his hat is still kept at the fortress, and tours discuss theories of "where the bullet that killed him might have come from." (VisitNorway.com) I wonder if there are grassy knolls on the top of the hill?

GHI begins by attempting to channel Ghost Adventures, and failing. On the cliff where the murderous ghost of the White Lady has been known to push people to their death, Robb steps over the railing, stands vaguely near the edge of a sheer drop, and yells at the spectre to push him off. I never thought I'd say this, but this incident made me respect Zak Bagans a bit. When Zak pulls stunts like this, something in my head makes me think, "You know, this guy might just be crazy and/or stupid enough to hurt himself." Robb just seems to be too deliberate to sell the whole scream-at-murderous-spirits thing entertainingly. "You know, I identify with the lieutenant [who killed you]" is about as vitriolic as he gets. At the end, he calmly steps back, saying, "And I lived to ghost hunt another day."

Then, Paul and Brandy in the outer wall (aka the "Envelloppen") are looking for the ghost of a mysterious limping man. They bring out a new piece of gear: a "laser burst", which is a laser run through a diffraction grating that splits it into a thousand points of light. I would think that this would mostly be useful in case of impromptu Pink Floyd concerts, but Paul seems to think that somehow one might detect ghosts with it. Well, more power to him, but I thought that the whole point of invisibility was that light passed through you. The "L" in laser stands for LIGHT, Paul.

Soon afterward, a screeching sound in the nearby woods sends Barry and Susan running out into the woods. They try to locate the source with the FLIR, but are unable to do so, which should come as no surprise. At one point, Barry tells Susan to stay behind and bravely strides ahead, facing danger alone– except for his trusty camera crew, of course. Shortly thereafter, the screams "disappear", to use Barry's word, and Barry wisely says that they'll have to listen to the recordings during analysis. During analysis, of course, Barry confidently identifies these sounds as fox vixen mating calls. Now he's undoubtedly right– check here for some different fox calls– somehow I find it hard to believe that he can be so panicked out in the field and yet so certain while listening to a recording later.

Next, Paul and Brandy investigate reports of a shadow that climbs stairs inside. Paul holds his EMF meter about an inch from an EXIT sign and gets very excited when he gets a reading of 30. Paul– it's called the inverse square law. Move the meter down about a foot, over by where anyone would be standing, and you'll find that that 30 goes away quite nicely. They then discover that beneath the staircase is (BUM BUM BUM) a refrigerator, which sends a terror-inducing field of 2 milligauss onto the stairs. Guys, you have got to be kidding me. Even if there were solid evidence of household EMF causing hallucinations (which there isn't), 2 milligauss is pretty close to normal background.

At the end, Rob and Barry reveal to their guide, Magne Rannestad, that they found no evidence of anything paranormal, thus robbing me of any ammunition for this review. Their biggest item, a mysterious, supposedly facelike oval that appears on Robb's camera when it is glitching out, they debunk themselves as a distorted image of the wall it was pointing at. Their guide even gets into the spirit of things, saying that he'll be more skeptical of ghostly photographs in the future.

So, well done, GHI. Other than random misuse of EMF meters, you've behaved yourselves well for this investigation.

Join the discussion on this investigation in the forums.