Ghost Hunters S06E19 The Chopping Block reviewed

Bissman Building - Mansfield, Ohio

I guess 3 vans is now going to be the Ghost Hunters standard convey, Van 1 is Jason & Grant, Van 2 is Kris & Amy, Van 3 AKA the tech truck is Steve & Tango. The standard travel pattern seems to be that Jason, Amy & Steve always drive without fail, I dont think I have EVER seen Grant, Tango or Kris driving to the best of my memory. The team are met by Britt & KJ at the location and yet again for the 3rd investigation in a row Steve wasn't introduced to the client nor was he allowed to shake hands.

Is there something medically wrong with Steve or has he fallen so incredibly badly out of favour that he's getting this kind of treatment in front of clients? Although I note Steve did get to shake hands at the end of the hotspot walkthrough. Very odd. And again I can confirm Jason has stopped making his "get digital recorders to cameras" statement so it seems my reviews HAVE made a difference thank you very much Brandy Green!

Britt & KJ in the Basement - The moon must be blue (again), J&G aren't first into the location so it seems another of my constant moans is being addressed again. Dont get used to seeing Britt on tv, he made a rather foolish & bigotted sounding statement on a radio show which got him fired from TAPS so he won't be doing GHI although it sounds like he was already filming. Distinct lack of stuff happening but KJ thought someone tugged his shirt, it didnt really help that the Pilgrim camera guy was panning around AND defocussed his lens at that exact moment.

Jason & Grant on the 3rd Floor - I did hear the distant sound that made Grant ask "What was that?" (but the stupid incidental music ALMOST drowned it out so its well past time to quit with that annoying stuff. It doesnt heighten or build suspense, it merely annoys & drowns out possible evidence. It also makes claims of faking easier to perpetrate) but I certainly didnt hear any "male voice" it just sounded like someone or something moving WAY off in the distance. Almost like it was outside in fact. I certainly didnt hear the "male voice" Jason reacted to (again, due to the incidental soundtrack being too loud). I have to discount the next sound they reacted to as it started exactly as Jason started walking & stopped when he stopped. Again these 2 split up (are they not getting on with each other any more as this is happening more often now?) so anything captured alone has to be discounted to due cross contamination.

So Grants footsteps are thrown out (as Jason was moving at the same time), Britt & KJ claim they can also hear footsteps one floor down.

Steve & Tango in the Basement - Shadows by the window are debunked as KJ causing cross contamination from outside the building so the claims of shadows in that area can be dismissed as there is a sidewalk right outside the windows.

Amy & Kris in the 1st Floor Offices - Amy thinks she heard a door move which cant be confirmed due to her being off camera at the time & the incidental music would have drowned out any such quiet sound (so score yet another point for helmetcams & another point for the removal of incidental music).

Jason & Grant in the Garage - Pilgrim were doing a bad job cutting film by making it look like J&G are either right next to Kriss & Amy as their investigating or so close as to be hot on their heels & looking like they need to be close by as backup. Jason makes an extremely vague report "something just banged into something", at least TRY to sound like you care any more. Grant thinks someone is on the balcony (note at that point he never says if he hears or sees anything, he's just extremely vague as well) & Jason hears something "scurry" but I heard nothing. Grant does later state he's hearing sounds from the balcony (were you too lazy to say that right off or hadn't you decided what claims you were going to invent at that point?). Jason thinks he sees something standing off camera (no shock there) which is then gone.

Its amazing how in less than 3 minutes these 2 have had more experiences than the entire team up to this point in the investigation. We get you are the guys who founded TAPS but trust me you've seen & heard NOTHING, dont feel you have to be inventing stuff every 30 seconds to make the show look interesting. Google "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", you might understand why you are getting such bad ratings this season.

Coming back from the break Grant thinks he sees something peeking out of a doorway directly in front of him, please note it happens as he is sitting down so he is almost certainly seeing his own reflection. Very annoying when Grant states "both of us saw figure standing there", Jason said no such thing (or least not on camera anyway) so dont be speaking for him or putting words into his own mouth. Its flippant statements like that that make us mistrust you all the more Grant Wilson. If Jason saw something I want to hear HIM say it.

Steve & Tango on the 4th Floor - I'm not exactly sure why Steve is taking an EMF base reading so late into the investigation, isnt that a very basic thing he should be doing during the hotspot walkthru? Have I just caught TAPS out in yet another basic rookie procedure? It seems the EMF spike is around the area of the elevator. You have to wonder how many of the other teams EVP's these 2 were contaminating with their stupid loud tapping. I assume the noise Tango reacted was the loud exhale (I'm guessing one of the Pilgrim guys got too near the condenser mic).

Britt & KJ on the 3rd Floor - I'm not sure what they reacted to, I could hear what sounded like dragging several times but Britt says "water dripping", I have noted Britt yet again doesnt seem to like carrying a camera as this week all he appears to have are a flashlight, the walkie talkie and an EMF meter. Was he that self assured in his getting the GHI lead job he no longer felt he needed to carry any kind of useful recording equipment? KJ reports movement (moments after he himself had just stopped walking so it was probably the floor settling), nothing is caught on the thermal (if Britt had been carrying a night vision camera as corroboration it might have helped their cause greatly as KJ was getting ZILCH on the thermal). KJ states they were seeing movement but nothing was showing on the night vision cameras so a case of matrixing or wishful thinking more likely.

Yet again Britt became the Brian Harnois Experience, chasing after something (or nothing) with nothing more than a walkie talkie, exactly what did he think he was going to record with that? Its not like this is an isolated incident either so I think I count myself lucky he has been fired, his ineptitude is beyond epic status now. Britt makes various statements which can all be discounted & ignored as personal experiences due to having nothing on tape of film. Rule #1, if its not on tape or film it DID NOT HAPPEN! He then compounds his massive howler by then stating "I wanna get something documented on tape", how do you intend to do that if you never carry a camera or recorder Britt? Does he know how much of an idiot & rank amateur he sounds like at that point? GHA cadets were sent home for MUCH less than this and yet here is a guy who was picked to be leader of GHI making GIGANTIC rookie howlers.

Personally I think Britt was WAY overdue his firing and it should have been from a cannon into the sun.

Amy & Kris in the Basement - They both report whispering which cant be confirm because (shock of shocks) the stupid incidental sound effects. AGAIN. How many more times are we going to have to tell Pilgrim about this before they pay 1 iota of attention? Same thing reported again cant be confirmed for the same reason. This is just getting dull now. Note:- The "whispering" was said to be coming from the windows near the street level. Outside contamination no doubt, throw it out. In fact when they are asking to "knock real loud for us" you even seeing people walking past another window on the street so anything they are hearing is almost certainly from outside. A sump pump frightens them, much hilarity ensues - NOT.

The Analysis - Steve plays footage of footsteps - my main issue he doesnt state which floor it is or who else is in the building at that point so its got to be thrown out, footage of an orb - again we're not told where it is other than "Camera 2" (please note that during the camera review Steve doesnt refer to ANY of the cameras by their numbers) but its thrown out as dust, audio of a noise below Kris & Amy (again we're left to guess their location when it was recorded).

The Reveal - Frankly as far as I am concerned theres nothing to reveal, lets see what the "experts" think shall we? A brief discussion about shadows, Grant cites his personal experience in the Garage (where he mistakes his own reflection for something paranormal), shadows from the Basement are debunked, audio caught by Kris & Amy from the 2nd Floor (which wasnt shown on camera) which sounds like a heavy door slamming in my opinion, extremely rubbish audio of Grants footsteps that I still say were Jason or his camera crew in the other room, audio of a voice caught by J&G in the garage - its great that the waveform where they claim the audio happens is a complete flatline so its seems like yet again the client was prebriefed as to what he was supposed to be hearing. Audio of footsteps near a static camera on the 1st Floor, with people in both the Basement AND 2nd Floor its something you have to throw out as possible cross contamination.

Not a great show this week, but its been worse than this which means (you hope) it can only improve.

On a side note it appears we now have to sign into Blogger separately so if you want to use it you have to sign into Google then Blogger and it appears you have to sign into Blogger EVERY time which is as annoying as hell. I wonder when they changed this as you used to be able to log into Google which allowed Blogger access as well.

Whats with the double logins required?