Ghost Hunters International - S02E14 - The Spirit of Robin Hood

Ok, lets address a few things first. If this IS a new season why isn't it Season 3?
Secondly, why are GHI hunting for a person who never existed? Even a tiny bit of research shows Robin Hood is generally acknowledged as a myth.

Coming from the Galleries Of Justice, Nottingham, England. Our team this week are:- Robb Demarest (Team Leader), Barry Fitzgerald (Tech Manager), Brandy Green (Case Manager), Paul Bradford (Tech Specialist), Ashley Godwin & Scott Tepperman (Investigators).

Scott Tepperman is their newest member, no clue how he got this gig but I assume he will be replacing Dustin Pari. We also meet Karl Pfeiffer & Susan Slaughter who got here by winning last seasons Ghost Hunters Academy - they are listed as "Investigator In Training", isn't that what GHA was for? I assume this bull is so they dont have to list Susan & Karl in the opening credits & it also allows GHI to get rid of them whenever they want with as little fuss as possible.

Scuttlebutt says Karl wont be joining GHI full time despite being the GHA series 1 winner, in fact it says this show will be his 1 and only appearance as he is currently working on some sort of kids summer camp. I guess that remains to be seen when future episodes air.

For those wondering about the absence of Joe Chinn & Dustin Pari, Dustin & Joe had been moved onto the main TAPS team to replace Steve & Tango during the filming of GHA. It is also pretty widely acknowledged that Dustin won't be returning to GHI as he said he wanted to be with his family more.

Please note Robb proves he hasn't watched GHA at all when he makes his 1st error by saying Susan & Karl have the stamp of approval from both Jay & Grant. Jason made no appearances on GHA Season 1 when Karl & Susan were cadets so this statement is a mere assumption. To back up my 2nd complaint Brandy uses the word "story" when talking about Robin Hood during the briefing in the van & even the client actually says "If Robin Hood truly did exist" & "If he did exist" so even he thinks the story isnt real.

Hotspot Walkthrough:- The locations shown to the team are the Court Room Hallway, the Main Courtroom, the Modern Cell Block, the Dark Cells & Robin Hood's Cave.

Robb then proves Karl & Susan aren't going to be full time members of GHI by not including them in a statement where he refers to "The GHI Team & the people coming from GHA".

Robb & Scott in the Modern Cell Block - They get an EMF spike.

Barry & Brandy in the Reception Area - This place was mentioned before the Hotspot Walkthrough even started, Brandy did an EVP where she was getting LOTS of audible noises (and NOT tagging them, I later debunked these as Barrys full spectrum camera taking pictures) but then got what sounded like a breath which made her ask Barry if that was him & it wasn't.

Scott & Paul in the Main Courtroom - During an EVP Paul asks for a sign & theres an audible noise coming from 1 of the balconies, he asks for another noise & gets one but Scott is visibly moving & could have easily caused it. The trouble here is every time we hear a noise Scott is always off camera so its probably him doing it. Scott did explore the balcony but found nothing.

Barry & Susan in the Main Courtroom - Barry explains Transconfiguration to Susan who volunteers to sit in the chair (where Paul was sitting earlier & nothing happened to him), after hearing a bang Barry gets scared by a dummy.

Karl & Robb in Robin Hood's Cave - Which for some reason Robb calls a tunnel as does the graphic (twice, in fact), Robb says he hears "ticks" which Karl describes as "rocks being tossed" which was one of the claims for that area. Robb is talking when you hear movement (which could have easily been Karl or the cameraman filming Rob), Karl debunks the "ticks" as water dripping further off into the tunnels. It comes to something when the rookie makes the boss look bad by debunking something pretty simple like water dripping.

Ashley & Paul in the Dark Cells - Paul uses provoking in his EVP to try an ellicit a response, they both claim to hear a womans voice (all I hear at best is a breath) as Paul is fumbling about for something in his jacket pocket (which I think is far more likely as the source of the noise). For some reason they both run outside but Paul then screws himself & his stupid action by saying the voice was "most likely in the room", so explain exactly why you were running AWAY from it? Inside a cell Ashley feels what she describes as "someone hitting the wall" which Paul is easily able to replicate by hitting the wall on the other side with his hand. Without a camera on the other side of that wall you have to dismiss that as a personal experience.

Robb & Ashley in the Night Cell - This place wasn't mentioned during the Hotspot Walkthrough at all, I even went back to check. Robb uses a light meter (in UV mode) to detect the changes in light levels inside the cell, it certainly detects something and goes off like crazy. In ordinary mode it does nothing. Because its new equipment being used in a new way its hard to draw any real conclusions from that.

Paul & Scott in the Oubliette - This place was mentioned during the walkthrough, claims were of sounds of groaning coming from there. The entrance didn't look very big so it was quite surprising for 2 such big stocky guys to climb down into it. Scott claims to hear a womans voice (I heard nothing).

The Analysis & The Reveal - During analysis the whole team bar Robb appear to be present although there was an extra laptop & seat not being used. Paul finds an EVP & Barry finds something on his camera. During the reveal Robb compounds what now appears to be a standard & extremely regular common TAPS family mistake by presenting personal experiences as actual evidence, whats even worse is he is actually presenting it to the client as actual evidence which is disgraceful, unacceptable and completely wrong.

The "Yes" EVP from the Modern Cells is suspect at best, its barely audible. Its also pretty obvious the client had been pre-briefed about the "Get Out" EVP because until your told it says that its impossible to hear anything other than it possibly saying "Yes". The exact same thing seems apparent about the "Your right" EVP as well, its clearly inaudible yet the client knows exactly what its saying. The other thing that makes me say the client had been prompted about the EVP's is his constant emphasis that all the EVP's definately have an "English accent" almost as though he had been told by a crew member to make sure none of the GHI crew were suspected of faking them.

The "tapping" audio is interesting but not very useful, Barrys "Mist" in only 1 frame of pictures & can be discounted as an anaomaly as it only appeared on 1 picture of a long sequence.

If you compare this investigation to the skills taught in the first 7 episodes of GHA most if not all of this crew would get sent home. Going by the 5 qualities of a potential Ghost Hunter being Professionalism, Scepticism, Honesty, Composure & Respect as well as the various rules & tution that Steve & Tango established on GHA we can critique the GHI team by the apparent TAPS tution methods.

Not taking notes on the walkthrough, showing no composure or professionalism by running AWAY from a noise (something that ended Brian Harnois' TAPS career yet Paul & Ashley both did it tonight), despite the noises of Barrys camera neither Barry or Brandy were tagging those sounds, Scott breaks a cardinal rule by going off on his own to investigate the courtroom balcony (but Paul also has to take some blame for that by encouraging him to do it). Constantly presenting personal experiences as evidence is also a major no-no (but Jason has been encouraging it in the most recent series of GHA so he's a complete hypocrite as well) but Robb was presenting them here as though they had tape of them all.

Its nice to finally be able to document the total inconsistancies of what GHA cadets are taught compared to the so-called professionals investigating out in the field who appear to be equally as clueless when held up to the same standards.