Post edited 2:49 pm – October 24, 2011 by Nosfer

In a season wrought with new (and unnecessary) investigators (both two- and four-legged) it is only fitting that we finish out the pre-Halloween run (there will be four more in November) with an episode featuring Meredith Vieira.

Yeah, you read that right; and no, I'm not making that up.

Grant's goldfish, Iggy, was also scheduled to join them…but wasn't able to take time off from school.

Sad to say, but I'm looking at the episodes with Heather Drolet and her dowsing rods as "the good ol' days." Meredith Vieira. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours…Jason and Grant will return the favor by taking part in a very special "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" (I suppose that's appropriate) which will air on Halloween.  Who woulda thought?!  I guess "Weakest Link" was all booked?

Having said that, I can't take this episode very seriously. In fact the last one I took seriously aired in '84 and had guest stars Murray, Aykroyd…oh, wait.   I'll just say that the intrepid hunters tackle the Veteran's Memorial Hall Playhouse on Staten Island this week. Presumably to look for some sort of paranormal activity. Will be interesting to see what the claims are here as I haven't found any yet other than a Halloween Ghost Tour, and THAT can't have anything to do with why they investigated, can it? 

Well, there IS an unconfirmed "legend" about a woman who chained her illegitimate (or disabled depending upon which version you read) son in the basement.  The child escaped (so must have been down there for quite a while) and went after his mother, killing her with scissors.  He was eventually found and hung.  So either this was a child-hanging, or the kid had been locked down there a LONG time.  I guess that's why this is still more just a "legend" than anything else.

Alright.  We have a twist on the SFT in this episode.  After years of us yelling about how meaningless a light going on and off is and how it would be better to have one designated Yes and one as No, they finally DO IT!

BUT.

I even made the prediction while watching this that they would find a way to weasel out of doing anything with it while giving the illusion that they were doing something "scientific"  And sure enough… 

…After establishing which flashlight was Yes and which was No, Adam deflects from the SFT by hearing something.  And Amy takes the cue and pretty much ends the SFT by going on a chase-down hunt instead of using the flashlights to communicate (a pity, too, since the ghost was quite willing to communicate and very cooperative for the first blink)

It was also interesting when Amy, at the end of this little scene, asked one final Yes/No question (apparently forgetting that she had set up the flashlights for just such a question) that NEITHER of the lights came on.

So now they can claim that they use a more meaningful method of communication, and the masses will forget that short of establishing the implements of Yes and No, no further attempts at communication were done.