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9:31 am
March 21, 2011
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Nosfer
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Yup, looks like Adam's position might be in jeopardy. In this episode Jason brings in his dog as the newest member of the TAPS crew (thus the "unleashed" in the title, my they're getting clever). The dog joins them because, you know, it's been proven that dogs can sense the paranormal. While I know that animals can sometimes have reactions to things we can't see, it doesn't necessarily mean that because we can't see it means that it's paranormal. It could just be another dog across the street that it can sense.
Anyway, the team heads to South Dakota (getting a little too close for comfort) and investigates the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City. It turns out I've stayed at the Holiday Inn at the Rushmore Plaza in Rapid City and this place is maybe about 5 blocks from that. If I had only known!
Among the hauntings supposedly occurring here is the requisite Lady in White who floats around the 8th floor looking for the people who killed her. Room 812 is the key here. Additionally a distraught bride hurled herself out one of the windows on her wedding night so you know she has to be be there haunting the building (or at least the sidewalk below) Sounds like a good case for a residual type haunt…getting to watch her jump over and over. Even ol' Alex Johnson himself has been seen wandering his namesake establishment.
What I like about the description is that Jason's dog is described as a trained ghost-hunting dog. Now, where do you put the commas? Is it trained in ghost-hunting (how do you go about doing that?) or is it a trained dog that just happens to hunt ghosts? I made this joke a few years ago here but I'll do a variant and say that it looks like they may have upgraded their K2 to a K9.
All in all, the hotel does look like a neat place: http://www.alexjohnson.com/
Drinking Opportunities:
- Any incident in which the dog does anything that is typical dog activity but which is interpreted as "Maddie's onto something!"
- Anytime you get the urge to make a joke about the ghost of Timmy in the well.
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1:07 pm
March 21, 2011
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blinddog
| | Special Agent Zombie Elimination Agency | |
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Inside word is that Alex's brother Howard did it.
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Double tap to the head. Don't become Undead.
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1:51 pm
March 21, 2011
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Nosfer
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The Hotel site itself is pretty low-key on the hauntings, but room 812 seems to have it's own page:
http://www.alexjohnson.com/pac…..nting.html
According to this, the two figures (the bride and the Lady in White) appear to be the same person, er, ghost.
Some additional "info" http://www.haunted-places-to-g…..hotel.html
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4:15 pm
March 21, 2011
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HollyDolly
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 Is it just me, or do they seem to be getting desperate now, bringing in a dog on investigations?Not that I have any problems, i love animals,cats being my favourite. But I wonder why they are trying this? Is the viewership falling off fast and furious now?
There was or is a paranormal investigation group that has always used a dog, but I can't remember their name right now. I have seen my cats on occasion looking at something i can't see, but they don't hiss or arch their backs. Could be another cat outside maybe, maybe not.If it's anything paranormal, would have to be one of my late parents,who also loved animals. Or a bug or something which I can't see.
It does look like a very interesting place, but at the price of gas, too far for me to drive.
Guess I'll just have to settle for going downtown and hanging out in the Menger Hotel bar.
Maybe i can always buy a round for my buddies Teddy Roosevelt ,Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett there.
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7:52 pm
March 21, 2011
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Axel Olrik
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I remember Jay saying something about wishing he could bring his "German Shepherds" to an investigation in one of the episodes. But in that case it was to discover if what they were chasing was actually human…and it seemed like a surprisingly reasonable approach. Using a tracking dog makes sense if you want to hunt down someone on the premises who is counterfeiting paranormal activity.
A Spectre-Seeking Hound…not so much.
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8:05 pm
March 21, 2011
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Learjet
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Ruh roh, their emulation of the Scooby-Doo team is now complete.
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8:18 pm
March 21, 2011
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Nosfer
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Sorry to post this Learjet, but it was buried in an old thread and needed to see the light of day again:
Post #5 here: http://www.skepticalviewer.com…..-in-a-dog/
 
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2:43 am
March 22, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Nosfer said:
Yup, looks like Adam's position might be in jeopardy. In this episode Jason brings in his dog as the newest member of the TAPS crew (thus the "unleashed" in the title, my they're getting clever). The dog joins them because, you know, it's been proven that dogs can sense the paranormal. While I know that animals can sometimes have reactions to things we can't see, it doesn't necessarily mean that because we can't see it means that it's paranormal. It could just be another dog across the street that it can sense.
What I like about the description is that Jason's dog is described as a trained ghost-hunting dog. Now, where do you put the commas? Is it trained in ghost-hunting (how do you go about doing that?) or is it a trained dog that just happens to hunt ghosts? I made this joke a few years ago here but I'll do a variant and say that it looks like they may have upgraded their K2 to a K9.
It's been shown that electronic keys/car alarm remotes and cell phones can set off a K2 at a pretty good distance.
Now…dogs. My dog is capable of 15 "tricks" with both word and hand signals. Could I train her to bark on que at a wall? Sure. Could I teach her to do so by someone off camera blowing a dog whistle? Give me a few weeks and sure. Could I teach her to bark at a particular scent and drop a bit of that scent during the walk-through or the set-up? Again, not much of a problem.
Those kinds of things are pretty easy to do. Nosfer can make flashlights talk and my dog hunts ghosts. Great. We're the new Jason and Grant. (Dibs on Grant…I should always be playing the evil one…)
But beyond all that…I'm really interested in hearing the "theories" behind it. Like the braid of hair being all evil until it was proved to be rope…I can't wait for these. Do you think they'll actually go with "scent?" If so…I would love that because up to now, their ghosts have magical properties (abilities without a hint of science to support the claims)…but a scent isn't magical, it's chemical. Now…you're in MY world..and you better start 'splainin' yourself…
This episode is going to be a good one…I can just feel it. Something tells me it's going to rival the "cold spot" near the huge chunk of ice. Epic…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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9:16 am
March 22, 2011
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Skooter
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I heard babies or little kids can also see things that us adults cannot. I wonder if a little kid or baby is next as a ghost hunting tool. Maybe they can have a trained ghost-hunting baby.
As far as the dog goes, I really wonder if this has anything to do with Paranormal Activity 2. I have not seen the film but I know in the previews they show a dog going nuts a couple times. I would really like to know if this was filmed close to its release. I think PA2 was released in October 2010 timeframe so it's certainly not out of the realm of posibilities.
Hopefully they release some kind of instruction manual or book on how to train your dog to ghost hunt. I think Ceasar would even be impressed.
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In 3……2……1……!!!!
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9:28 am
March 22, 2011
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Nosfer
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GH had been talking about bringing on a dog for almost two years now. Well, they haven't been talking about it for two years but they mentioned it about that long ago.
I was somewhat tongue-in-cheek about Adam (though I do suspect his days are numbered) However, Maddie now has a picture as a team member and the number of investigators is six…the person absent is none other than Adam. They show Jason, Grant, Steve, Tango, Amy, and Maddie. Hmmmmm
I think it's a sign that they are really needing to stir things up for some excitement. Thus the new graphics, the attempt at shoulder-mounted cameras, etc.
The addition of Maddie may be similar to the addition of Cousin Oliver and Neighbor Ricky to the Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family respectively. Both were attempts at adding some "cuteness" and were done in each series' last season. Last season because the "cuteness" failed to boost the ratings enough to save the shows.
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9:45 am
March 22, 2011
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Skooter
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I can't wait to hear the following (as you generally summed up in the drinking oppurtunities)
"Look she smells something"
"She is acting strange, somethings in here"
"Her ears perked up, she can definiatly hear something we can't"
"She caught a sent of something, lets follow her"
Also, you can basically cancel out any EVP they catch right away now that there is an actual animal with them. Not that you couldn't do that before however.
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In 3……2……1……!!!!
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6:31 pm
March 22, 2011
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Nosfer
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I wonder if Jason also taught Maddie "tagging" which, as they explain but do not generally follow, is so vital when you have potential audio contamination.
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7:49 pm
March 22, 2011
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blinddog
| | Special Agent Zombie Elimination Agency | |
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Can't wait to see Maddie's little doggie piles on FLIR.
Adam's new job involves a number of plastic doggie poop bags.
''Step wveeery carefully''.
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Double tap to the head. Don't become Undead.
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8:53 pm
March 22, 2011
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Learjet
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| Lead Investigator | posts 1122 |
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I wonder… have they trained Scooby to ignore the ever present cameraman like the rest of the team? Nothing some clever editing can't handle anyway I suppose even if the dog stairs at the Pilgrim crew half the time.
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1:54 am
March 24, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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So…the dog was trained for 8 weeks to detect "high" EMF? Um…
Ok, let's get the obvious out of the way first. Ghosts (spirits, astrals, whatever one wishes to call them) have not been scientifically proven. According to these television shows, ghosts have been linked to electromagnetic fields. This association has never been scientifically proven.
Back to the dog…training a dog to detect high EMF. First…I'm very uncertain of how to do that. I couldn't guarantee that the dog wasn't reacting to either the sound or smell of the machinery producing the EMF. A dog can be trained to do 8 kabillion things…training them to detect EMF is a new one on me. Until now…there was never a point. An EMF meter kind of makes it unnecessary.
So, I tried to look it up. I found a bunch of nonsense. Here's a couple of my favorites. The first…some protection for your dog:
http://www.toolsforwellness.co…..88335.html
Is there anything that it can't do?
The next one looked promising at first…but, um…keep reading…:
http://www.thedogplace.org/Dog…..ndrews.asp
I liked how she snuck in the "highly trained dowsers" plug. But really, the "ley lines" reference in the first paragraph is bold foreshadowing of the craziness to come…anyway…
Oh…and please allow me to do the pre-emptive strike on dogs and earthquakes…
This isn't a myth or an old wives' tale. Scientists have been looking at this for a while. I've seen it first hand in California. My uncle's dog began to act weird, pacing and such. Then she began barking. Within a half hour, a small earthquake hit. I didn't have any scientific equipment with me to measure anything. Just a weird experience.
Afterwards, I was intrigued by it. Best guess by scientists is that the dogs (and some other animals) are detecting some high-frequency noise associated with the quake. I would accept this over a dog detecting any sort of EMF produced by a quake because we would have instruments that could detect that. The high-frequency noise…maybe not so much. In any event, here's a very short summary of this sort of thing:
The oddly long URL
So…back to the show…can dogs be trained to detect an EMF? I'm very uncertain of it. Does it matter? Um…I don't really see how it does since no link between EMF and ghosts have even been proven.
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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8:49 am
March 24, 2011
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blinddog
| | Special Agent Zombie Elimination Agency | |
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Post edited 8:50 am – March 24, 2011 by blinddog
Why would you spend 8 weeks to train a dog to do something that you could buy an instrustment off the shelf to do the same thing?
It would be like owning a hotel without a pool and making your guests use the pool at another hotel down the road…….oh wait.
New scenario: Mrs. Hawes sent Maddie to keep Jason warm at night instead of…..wink, wink.
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Double tap to the head. Don't become Undead.
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8:52 am
March 24, 2011
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Eric
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A couple of things I have noticed:
–The build up of Maddie…and she's on for the first segment only. Where'd she go from there?
–The Bumblebee Tablet is back, long since forgotten and last (and til now) only used at Alcatraz…nothing from there? The higher frequency means ghosts? So…it's an audio recorder on an iPad wannabe? Someone clue me in on what the big deal is with the stylus and the tablet itself…
–Rapid City in and of itself is a regular town, but being there last summer (during the week of June that 3 massive thunderstorms rolled by, and just after the Southern MN tornados), I can tell you that there'd be WAY more ghosts at Sturgis…or Keystone…or perhaps even Deadwood.
–What's the name of the "club" that's on the same side of the street as Alex Johnson and is a couple doors from a sports bar? I swear I talked to a couple gals that were working there later in the evening. Nice girls :)
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8:59 am
March 24, 2011
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Nosfer
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Post edited 9:01 am – March 24, 2011 by Nosfer
Post edited 9:02 am – March 24, 2011 by Nosfer
I'd say that the whole night (or at least the time we saw her) Maddie acted simply like a dog in unfamiliar territory. I still say her presence is for ratings only.
I did notice her walking near the wall at one point…does that call to mind a certain somewhat recent GHI episode involving an opera house?
Funny also how the two plumbers easily debunked the growling as pipes, but apparently had never heard of pipes knocking before.
"–What's the name of the "club" that's on the same side of the street as Alex Johnson and is a couple doors from a sports bar? I swear I talked to a couple gals that were working there
later in the evening. Nice girls :)"
And this is relevant to what?
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9:54 am
March 24, 2011
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Eric
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Post edited 10:03 am – March 24, 2011 by Eric
Just wanting some SD residents to chime in about the surrounding business area.
C'mon, man… :)
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