After a marathon of episodes today to refresh yourself with the previous season, be sure to tune in to watch the new episode tonight which heralds the start of their third season. Barry is back and takes the team (wonder who all will be on it this time, Barry and Kris…as well as Susan and Paul, at least) to a cocoa plantation in Trinidad known as La Reconnaissance.

The team is here to investigate claims that a former slave master can be seen rising from the grave. This "slave master" is probably the Comte Charles Joseph de Loppinot de la Fresilliere, best known for needing both sides of his business card to put his name and address, and for inciting discussions over whether his name has one or two "P's" in it. In 1806 he established the plantation and he had died by 1819.

It does appear that he caused some discontent among some of the slaves. There is a Hanging Tree (a cashew) where he hung rebellious ones. Now, what exactly constituted a slave being rebellious is anyone's guess. The tree long since died, but a new one has been planted on it's spot and retains the name.

Another legend tells of his ghost visiting the Count Lopinot House on stormy nights riding a white horse, and pictures have supposedly been taken of this although showing only a shadow. This is probably the Rising from the Grave that is referred to in the title.

Expect the typical investigation featuring people being touched and seeing shadows and hearing things. The only redeeming quality might be an investigation of the caves in the valley, said to be the location where escaped slaves hid. Interestingly, during the slave revolt, the Comte's slaves hid him and thus allowed him to escape, so I wonder how cruel he really was.

The caves there would be limestone, so be prepared to hear some theories on how limestone does such and such when it comes to ghosts.   Trinidad is also surrounded by salt water which has a high SC so, there's that, too. 

That cave was definitely limestone, very surprised that they didn't seize the opportunity to tell us about some theories.  They conveniently neglected to say anything about the fact that the cashew tree currently standing is one that replaced the one used as a "Hanging Tree".  Even though it is still called that, it was not the tree used to hang the slaves.

Will need to look at the shadow some more.  The "light" in the tree, very distant but not sure why it couldn't be something climbing the tree.  The equipment malfunctions, well, we've no proof that they actually DID malfunction.  The FLIR was obviously working well enough that it was displaying the image.  Full spectrum?  Who knows.  But, if it was a malfunction, there are any number of reasons why it wouldn't work that have nothing to do with ghosts so in the absence of evidence to that effect I'd say it was just something to chalk up to as an "okay then".

The growl?  Well, there were dogs in the area as well as a lot of other creatures (notice the toad right behind Kris?)  The audio trace where the growl was looked like it had been enhanced, at least as far as volume (notice the pinch at the beginning followed by a broader trace where the growl is?)  That tells me they could barely hear it and had to "bring it up" digitally.

Touches, shadows ("out of the corner of my eye"), and sounds (especially "out of the corner of my ear"!) that we don't feel, see, or hear…not tangible evidence and they are only as good as the credibility of the investigators which, unfortunately, is quite lacking lo these many seasons.

The only real positive was that they went a full hour for the investigation.  Or, rather, about 35 minutes after commercials and the Steel Drum detour

And once audio files become manipulated like that, artifacts can get introduced, too.  Most of them are (we've seen them talk about washing or enhancing or running it through the EVPifizer) which always makes me suspicious.  Play around enough with a file and pretty soon things will start appearing.

As for the signature going up the tree, I just took another look at it and it doesn't appear to be going up the tree at all.  I would also point out that the Port of Spain airport is a mere 6 or so miles away….notice that the light starts right at the ridgeline in the background?  I don't see it illuminating the leaves in the tree that Barry claims.

Post edited 1:06 pm – July 14, 2011 by Nosfer
Post edited 1:11 pm – July 14, 2011 by Nosfer

From what I measure, it's runway is a little over 10,000 feet in length.  At an elevation of about 50 feet this would be adequate for many commercial aircraft.  747 and 767 even, depending upon load.

Edited:  Official specs put it at 10,500 feet.  A short blurb about capabilities includes (bolding mine): The airport is also large enough to accommodate most international widebody airliners including the Boeing 747, the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A340, medium sized aircraft including the Boeing 737 and Airbus A310 as well as small aircraft such as the DeHavilland Dash 8 and other such turboprop aircraft.

Hmmm, I thought what Paul said was:

Shhhhh, be vewy, vewy quiet, I'm hunting ghosts, huuuhuhuhuhu!

This episode had everything   Six helpless hunters, five unfelt touches, four silent sounds, three corner-of-the-eye sightings, two very excited clients, and a cat running from a cashew tree.

(In the Second Episode of the Third Season, My Ghost Hunters gave to meeee…)

Except for the steel drums   No, I did not notice the toned-down music, but that's something I might not necessarily "notice" as easily as when it's there.  If they have done that, then I agree, nice to see.  Hopefully they are finally listening to the complaints and it's absence continues.

I recall Jason saying that he would do something about that a few years ago for GH, but it never happened. 

Won't shoot you, Learjet!  If they do something positive, it needs to be brought up, as well.  Nice also to see that the drivers were not using the walkie while driving.