Ghost Hunters Season 6 – “Haunted Hotel”
I’ve really lost a lot of respect for “Ghost Hunters” and TAPS these past few seasons, for a variety of reasons. The focus has gone from residential cases to famous locations and businesses. Their evidence has gone from intriguing to lame and questionable. Evidence that would have been thrown out (sometimes angrily) by Jason in the first season is now being presented to clients as “proof” of a haunting. They spend a lot of time goofing off. They use unscientific techniques like the “magic flashlight.” SyFy makes them have celebrity guests, from pro wrestlers, Meatloaf, and actors from other bad SyFy series. Jason seems apathetic and impatient on almost every case he goes on. Maybe he knows they’ve sold out.
Realizing that I’d become jaded, I was determined to watch last night’s season premier with an open mind. I didn’t want to go in angry before the show even started. So what did I think?
The show started off, as it tends to these days, with Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson pretending to still be working for Roto Rooter. This used to anger me, but I’ve come to terms with this. It’s part of the illusion of the show, two working guys who ghost hunt at night. Even though we all know neither one will ever have to work again, from residuals, speaking engagements, the hotel they own, book deals, merchandising rights, etc. But I guess being a working class hero sells better. Anyways, their case for tonight is, unsurprisingly, a hotel, the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, NY. Not a residential case. As Grant often says, “We’re here to help!” But I guess the second part, “…you bring in more business!” usually ends up on the cutting room floor. Sorry, not being too good with keeping the jaded feelings away, am I?
They take the typical tour, only with Britt this time, as Steve and Tango are probably off filming “Ghost Hunters Academy.” Also with them is the mysterious and impressionable K.J., who is apparently a friend of Jason’s. It makes me pine for the days when people actually had to apply for membership in TAPS and prove themselves. But I guess that’s out now. They have a separate TV show for that now.
Jason and Grant start the investigation, and actually try to do some debunking, so props to them for that. They hear some mysterious sounds and run off looking for the source, but don’t find anything.
Kris and Amy are the second team to investigate, and immediately start going for the “magic flashlights,” which is just a flashlight with the cover loosened just enough so as to make it very easy for the flashlight to turn on and off. This is not even close to scientific, as if you do that, even the slightest vibration, paranormal or otherwise, will give the intended results. But Kris and Amy make it even less scientific by not even specifying which light they’d like the entities to turn on. By just saying “turn on one of the lights,” they are leaving it open, and no matter which light turns on, they can now claim they are “communicating” with a spirit. I call shenanigans.
Britt and K.J. are up next, and see all sorts of shadows down dark hallways, and hear more noises. At one point they see a shadow as they enter a room, and never once consider that maybe it was their own shadows, from light coming in through the hallway and the opening door. Bad investigating, guys. “When in doubt, throw it out.” Remember?
They end the night, and Kris and Amy actually sleep in one of the supposedly haunted rooms, with a camera going. I’m a guy…two girls sleeping together in a room with a camera going…you can make your own jokes here. But I digress…
The evidence review didn’t catch much. There was one decent EVP, but I feel like the team got what it said all wrong. They all said it sounded like it was saying “Amy,” but I heard more of a “Help me” or something similar. It was not an “A” sound that you would hear with “Amy.” Plus, Britt & K.J. are the ones who caught it, so it doesn’t quite fit in the scheme of the EVP session.
Overall, I think I’m done with “Ghost Hunters.” I truly tried to give it a chance (despite my now jaded review!), and tried to give credit where credit was due, but I didn’t see much worth giving credit to. K.J. is way too impressionable, and he seems to be like the new Brian Harnois. The flashlight experiments could be interesting, if not entirely scientific, if they actually applied more standards to the experiments. (Our friends over at Para-Blog of the Paranormal Research Association of Boston discuss this and why it’s unscientific). I feel like the noises on the roof and in the attic should have been thrown out, because it could possibly have been animals. And with the one EVP they did catch, they told the client what it was before asking the client what they heard. Once that’s done, the client really can’t hear anything else.
I think we all appreciate what TAPS and “Ghost Hunters” has done for the field. Lost of groups have popped up, using more scientific techniques than had been used before. But to me, the show is now so mired in being entertaining, getting ratings, and cross-promoting other SyFy shows that I can’t take it seriously anymore. It’s become like all other reality shows, in that very little of it actually represents reality.
