Happy Halloween

The day is here.
Happy Halloween!

Che Radio says, "mmmm, pumpkins."

ZaK Bagans's New Pussy

So in my last post I was saying that Zak is a big softy, a big bully, and an ego maniac. Here is a perfect example of this mixture from his latest Twitter feed:

"I named my new cat Scruff Bagans cuz hes a stray (scruff) and has black spikey hair. I go outside calling " bagannnnnsss."

Awwwww, this is why I heart you, Zak. Just don't spray-tan your little kitty, please.

A Kinder, Gentler GAC

Has anyone noticed how much Zak Bagans has toned down his act when confronting the other side?  Instead of a spray-tanned bit bull, he's now an orange pussy cat. The guys, who were hilarious to begin with, seem to have clearly caught on to the fact that they are entertainers.  I think they may take their show on the road as some sort of ghost busting, comedy team.

This past episode of Ghost Adventures that took place in Newcastle, PA at Hill View Manor (a former retirement home where hundreds of people died), was a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It starts with Zak sporting a pair of shades, petting a darling, sandy-colored puppy in a field outside the building.

Zak and the cute owner of the place, named Candy (she had eyebrows that would make Divine jealous), flirted it up as she gave him a tour of the place. She said she had her butt pinched by a ghost and kind of liked it. Meanwhile, Aaron tripped over a pipe repeatedly, much to the mockery of Zak. Zak's expression as Aaron trips a second time was one of pure douche-baggery.

Candy O, those eyebrows!

When they got down to the basement, Zak exclaimed that it made him want to curl up with a sleeping bag and "listen to some Kenny G."  Really? Not Nine Inch Nails or Ministry, Zak?

We also got to see Zak play piano on an out-of-tune piano. And they had fun with a shot of a wheel chair flying down a staircase repeatedly, which channeled The Changeling.

My favorite line of the episode? When they got to a place in the building where an angry lunch lady worked, Aaron backed it up and said, "Now I'm sitting on the mashed potatoes."

Another funny Aaronism occurred when he asked if the spirit of Jim liked the food in the cafeteria: "Did you guys ever have anything that blew your mind that you loved so much? Did you like the spaghetti and meatballs she made? I heard it's pretty gooood."

When they get to the roof where two suicides took place, Zak claimed they weren't up there to "get a sun tan." No tan needed, Zak. I promise.

Around the building sits a big golf course, built over human remains. This can mean only one thing: The Ghost Adventures Invitational golf game!  All the guys sported polo shirts. Zak wore an orange one that matched his face. They raced around in golf carts and hit balls all over the place, even making fun of themselves when Zak debunked that Nick hit a ball 450 yards by using their high-definition cameras.

Nick's mysterious 450-yard-hit

My favorite part of the whole golf diversion was the droopy caddy who stood off to the side and held the scores like he'd rather be sucking on a tail pipe.  Zak won the game. Big surprise there. Later, Aaron said, "Just to let you know, I lost on purpose just so Zak looked good on film. That's what I do." This is why we love you, Aaron.

During their lock down, there were a lot of whispery EVPs I didn't really get. The guys used their spirit box, which didn't reveal anything I thought that impressive, despite the fact that Nick and Zak were losing it over stringing some sentences together that was supposed to mean something about something. Whatever. Yawn.
The one EVP that really creeped me out was the one I can't remember, of course. It was clear as day and very human-sounding.

There was footage of an orb in a hallway that looked credible. We also got lots of shots of Zak's meaty forearms with goosebumps and hair standing on end.

When Zak believed he communicated with a guy named Jim, he addressed him in a much different way than the old, pit bull Zak would have. Instead of saying, "Hey Jim, you motherfucker, come out and git us!" he said:

"Sir, I think you talked to me and emotionally that kind of hit me a little bit. . . I want to say thank you for communicating with us. I guess it's just the interaction."

Awwww Zak, you big pussy.

Later, he and Nick get a ghost speaking to them in their spirit box that Zak called "a smart ass." Payback is a bitch, isn't it, Zak?
*smooch*

Cemetery Photos

On our ghost tour, we were alerted to an amazing cemetery, called Woodward Hill, that we visited the next day. Here are a few shots that I took:

 James Buchanan's grave site

Nice Orbs

I went to Lancaster County with my sister and best friend last week. Over the weekend, we took a ghost tour that gave an interesting history of the area, filled with lots of gory tidbits.

While taking the tour, we caught some orbs floating around the areas we stopped at.  The most prominent one?  The orb hovering right over our tour guide's crotch!

small orb hovers in the upper right-hand corner of this building

some orbs in front of the theater we stopped at

orb in front of a brick building

orbs in an alley way

 orb above my head and right over my camera case (in my hand) while we were striking our spooky pose

orb hovering to the left of cat and in-between her and Lynn

 more hovering orbs

 orbs abound!

This is a close-up of an orb shot in front of a window. Even though I know it was probably a reflection, the light anomaly in the right window freaks me out because it looks like a small, evil face. 

Drum Roll please. . .

 the crotch orb!

ATTN JIM:  If you're reading this, please send me your amazing orb shot at Eastern State Penn!

Go Into the Light, No! Don't Go Into the Light!

My latest PopMatters column on one of my all-time-favorite Halloween movies is up now.

They're Heeeere. . . 

Some GS Shit, Right There: Paranormal Activity 2

I saw Paranormal Activity 2 in Philadelphia last week on opening night. What a movie! What a crowd!  My sister, friend, and I lined up and were nearly knocked over by a pushy crowd, anxious to get a seat. We found three together without any problem. All that running for nothing. Well not for nothing - the movie rocked!

I had no idea what to expect since I didn't watch any trailers or read any reviews beforehand. Without giving too much away, the movie revolves around Katie's (remember her? *shudder*) sister's family, who enjoys toying around with their video camera. After their house is broken into and ransacked, they set up security cameras in all corners of the house, which lead to some interesting and very creepy footage.

Like Oren Peli's last film, the pacing is slow and builds to a hand-wringing, eye-hiding tension. I think I screamed at the end, but I'm still not sure. I do remember feeling like I had the wind knocked out of me.

The audience commentary during all of this was priceless. Phrases like:

"Oh no, she didn't!"
"Get the baby and get out!"
"That's some GS shit, right there."

and

"I WANT MY MONEY BACK!"

accompanied the nail-biting, spooky good time.

By the way, does anyone know what "GS shit" means?

GAC Updates Soon and Movie Randomness

With family in and out, travel, and lots of stuff going on, I've neglected this blog and my DVR (Doesn't this always mark the beginning of the busiest time of year - aka holiday season?). This means a very important thing: NO GHOST ADVENTURES updates!

Hopefully I will have some soon. I will also have lots of other updates, including a ghost tour my girls and I  took in Lancaster Country, PA, fantastic orb photos, and a review of Paranormal Activity 2.

Until then, I would like to be a little random and put up a list of my top ten favorite scary movies (in no particular order). These are the first that come to mind, so I'm probably missing some!

1 - Poltergeist
2 - The Amityville Horror
3 - Session 9
4 - The Blair Witch Project
5 - Halloween
6 - The Exorcist
7 - The Tenant
8 - The Changeling
9 - Frankenstein
10  - The Possession of Joe Delaney

What are yours?  Leave me some comments!

Photo of the Week - Dark Figure on CT Trolley Tracks

My friend sent me this story about a mysterious figure in black that appeared on the Connecticut Trolley Museum tracks. A guy was out taking photos at dusk and later discovered this figure in the picture (along with a couple others). It was later learned that a cemetery has been relocated near the rail line. . .

Only the Shadow Knows

I'm visiting my mother, and today as she frequently does, she came out with a random quote. As she was wiping down the kitchen table, she quipped: "What evil lurks in the heart of men? Only the shadow knows."

This took me down memory lane to when she talked about "The Shadow" as I grew up. The Shadow was a drama about a vigilante who fought bad guys and also posessed psychic powers. It originated from a pulp magazine and later became a 1930s radio drama series, narrated by Orson Wells.

The Shadow became huge and eventually was featured in comic books, TV series, and movies.

Despite all the former hype, "The Shadow" will always be a murky, dark figure that scared the crap out of my mom and "knows the evil that lurks in the heart of men."

Not Scary, Just Sweet

This weekend, I went to the Pumpkin Festival.in Las Cruces, NM with my son and mother. The best things about the place were the horses; corn maze; and when my mother bought stuff to build a scarecrow, took everything out to her car, and said, "Ah, screw it."

Here are a few shots I took while we were there.

UFO Sunsets

I've been spending time in New Mexico lately, visiting my mother. One of the last times here, my husband and I saw a "thing" in the sky over the mountains behind her house after the sun set. It was a dark disc-shaped object that didn't move. There were no blinking lights, just a dark silhouette against the orange and pinks of the sky.

When we took this, the thing wouldn't show up in the photo. Too far away or too dark.

We saw it two nights in a row, after investigating the place in the day finding that there were no towers of any type or anything else that could explain it in the area.  The thing disappeared after those two nights and we didn't see it again.

Until tonight. There it was, as we took a walk around the neighborhood - that same thing under a sickle moon and Venus! It could be anything, but whatever it is has become an intriguing part of the sky here at sunset.

The Shivers

Some of my favorite books as a child were the stories of Frog and Toad. I now read them to my son. Here is an excerpt from "Days with Frog and Toad" that captures the essence of why I love getting the "shivers."

The Shivers (by Arnold Lobel)


The night was cold and dark.
"Listen to the wind howling in the trees," said Frog.
"What a fine time for a ghost story."
Toad moved deeper into his chair.
"Toad," asked Frog, "don't you like to be scared? Don't you like to feel the shivers?"
"I am not too sure," said Toad. 
Frog made a fresh pot of tea. He sat down and began a story. . . 


Frog then tells Toad the story of the "Old Dark Frog".
The story ends:
Frog and Toad sat close by the fire. They were scared. The teacups shook in their hands. They were having the shivers. It was a good, warm feeling.

Happy Booday, Thom Yorke!

Today was Thom Yorke's birthday. Thom has stated that he is a believer in ghosts.

OK Computer was recorded  in Jane Seymour's 15th century mansion that Thom claimed was haunted. About the recording in the house, Thom told Spin in 1998: "When we actually stopped playing music there was just pure silence. Open the wind - nothing. A completely unnatural silence. Note even birds singing.: The band stated that something in the house began interfering with their recording, rewinding and turning on and off tape machines. 

It is known that a "mysterious lady in blue" scared one of the gardeners off the property, and that reportedly there is also a ghost dog who barks and brushes up against people in the house. Perfect setting for the lovely, haunting feel of OK.

Thom has also stated that he once lived in a house with "creaking stairs, slippy stairs, attic stairs. . . "
He also claimed that "Morning Bell" was inspired by living in a haunted house.

"a bump on the head
howling down the chimney
release me. . . release me. . ."

There are also a host of other Radiohead songs that inspire the shivers.  One of my favorites of these is "The Gloaming":

"Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour. . ."

Also, the dark, atmospheric sound and lyrics of "Climbing up the Walls" are deliciously spooky:

"I am the key to the lock in your house
that keeps your toys in the basement
and if you get too far inside
you'll only see my reflection. . ."

Boo to you, Mr. Yorke!

Yard Splits in Half Without Explanation

A family in Birch Creek, MI experienced their property divide in two without explanation. A huge divide runs 200 yards through the Selewsky family's yard.

The event is believed to have happened on Monday morning, around 9:00 after the family heard a loud boom. The ground rose five feet and uprooted trees in the process. Some of the cracks in the earth were two feet wide by five feet deep. . 

"The house shook, the chairs shook," Doug Salewsky said told WWLP.. 

Salewsky nor police now why the yard was split in half as there were no reports of earthquakes. Geologists are being brought in to investigate.

Photo of the Week - Creepy Hands on a Hard Body

On the Coast to Coast website, a spooky photo caught my attention. Paula Dodge submitted a photo of two strange hand prints that manifested on her car while she visited a cemetery in Jacksonville, OR. As she looked for the headstone of a friend who had passed away, her sister sat in the car, unaware that anything was amiss.

When Paula gave up after not finding the grave site of her friend, she went back to the car to find a set of dusty hand prints :

"Thinking it could have been dust sticking to some previous stickiness already on the door I swiped a finger through it and the dust came right up - you can see where I swiped it in the picture in the left hand print.

As you can see, if a person had made the impression they would have had to been laying across the top of the car, or backed into it with hands behind their back. We've speculated that the gesture the hands are in is the heart sign... or the one I like best is the AA triangle symbol. The woman whose grave I was visiting was a recovering alcoholic."

GAC Returns to The Portal 'a Hell

The guys from Ghost Adventures returned to the infamous Bobby Mackey's in Wilder, KY on Friday's episode. This is the place that was responsible for Zak's infamous yell: "If this is the portal 'a hell, then why don't you come up out of there and get us!"

Zak, Nick, and Aaron all believe that whatever entities reside in Mackey's followed them home after the first filming there and eventually destroyed Aaron's marriage. 

In 2009, the guys arranged a Ghost Adventure fan trip to Bobby Mackey's where they also included a Bishop.  My husband's friend has a friend who attended and also attested that something from the place followed him home as well (he was actually on Friday's episode). 

So why not return a third time to a place so evil it threatened their lives and those close to them?  I mean, come on, it's a freakin' party, right?   

No doubt in my mind that something dark lurks inside the honky tonk club. There was footage of the caretaker's original exorcism from years back that was creepy. Despite the spooky bits, I did think the EVPs and the repetition of the guys' names were a bit much, especially when the disembodied spirit voice called Zak out on his fear of heights. 

Speaking of which, Zak was working it big time. He looked at the camera like he wanted to screw it and kill it at the same time, all while spray-tanned a toasty burnt orange that would make any disembodied spirit cringe.

Things That Go Bump in the Night in Your Head

A friend of mine who suffers from night terrors sent me this link.  Night terrors, which I have had as well and now my three-year-old son occasionally suffers from, are often misdiagnosed as bad dreams.  Here is a more concise definition (from the webpage): 

Sudden awakening from sleep, persistent fear or terror that occurs at night, screaming, sweating, confusion, rapid heart rate, inability to explain what happened, usually no recall of "bad dreams" or nightmares, may have a vague sense of frightening images. Many people see spiders, snakes, animals or people in the room, are unable to fully awake, difficult to comfort, with no memory of the event on awakening the next day.

Learn more about night terrors here.