For the third time, SciFi presented for everyone's Halloween enjoyment, a live seven hour edition of Ghost Hunters. Unlike their regular episodes, we get to see the investigation in real time. Viewers were given the opportunity to help by monitoring a special feed available only on the channel's website, scifi.com and hit the “Panic” button to send a message to the team. As they do every Halloween show, the members of TAPS had guests with them to help investigate. This year, Robb Demarest and Dustin Pari from Ghost Hunters International were there to help. Along with them there was Steve Valentine, formerly from Crossing Jordan who will be hosted the new Estate of Panic on SciFi starting this month, Amanda Tapping from Sanctuary, and, in what seems to be a tradition, a professional wrestler from Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) came as well. This year, that honor went to Mike Mizanin, known professionally as The Miz.

The location for this year's live investigation was Fort Delaware, located on Pea Patch Island in Delaware. While originally built to protect the ports of Wilmington and Philadelphia, during the Civil War, the fort was one of the major POW camps for captured Confederate soldiers and is acknowledged as one of the most haunted sites in the world. For more on the fort, their website can be reached by clicking this link.

While this was the first time investigating a possible haunting by most of the guests, for Robb and Dustin, it was just another day in the field. As I said above, they are members of Ghost Hunters International, a spin-off of Ghost Hunters and, according to Amy Bruni (Amy is part of the Ghost Hunters team but instead of investigating this time, her assignment was to answer questions from the viewers over the Internet) in response to a fan's question online during the live show, not a part of Ghost Hunters although people from both shows turn up on the other one. In Robb Demarest's case, ghost hunting came about because of the interest in the subject his Mother had. In an interview with me, Robb stated, "She would read about a variety of subjects in the realm of paranormal and I would borrow the books when she was done.  I always liked the fact that this was a field that was constantly changing and expanding.  I did my first "official" investigation in Dudleytown, CT when I was 16.  I have been greatly impressed by the works of John Keel and hope to make the pilgrimage to Point Pleasant (home of the Mothman sightings) some day.  At the same time, my passion continues to be fueled by the fact that I have been given the opportunity to travel the world to the world's must supposedly haunted locations.  It can be both incredibly disappointing and occasionally awe-inspiring."

Host Josh Gates of Destination Truth hosted the show as he did last year. After the usual historical information and tour of the fort, the lights went out and the hunt was on. Then for the next seven hours members of TAPS along with their guests started investigating the old fort, switching locations with other teams so that more than one viewpoint can be obtained. I can't say enough about the three celebrities on the show. They were very good and most of them really threw themselves into the hunt. The only bad point was in the case of the Miz. He seemed more interested in bragging how he and his partner were going to beat up their opposition the next Monday night (for the record, they lost) instead of hunting. Now, out of fairness this viewpoint is based strictly on the footage of the live show (which I have in it's entirety) and there is a chance he did better off camera. I will say he was a breath of fresh air compared to last year's wrestling guest, Elijah Burke, who toward the end got scared and ran off on live television.

Every year, folks tune in hoping for something that can't be explained away and this year, they seem to have hit some gold. Early in the investigation, Grant and Jason were startled by a voice that seemed to come from nowhere which said, “You are not supposed to be here.” It was clearly heard by the TV audience and was very sinister sounding in the opinion of this writer. Later on, Grant and Jason are in another part of the fort and are taunting any ghosts to make their presence known. Grant knocked the “Shave and a Haircut” on the wall and moments later, two knocks answering it are heard.

However, the most startling incident in the seven hours took place toward the end. Grant, Jason, and Steve Valentine were in the lower parts of the fort investigating when Grant stops and says someone is pulling his coat. It happens a couple of more times and you can see the collar of the coat going downward with no means visible. It was also captured by the thermal camera they were carrying which showed the coast not only going down, but a spot on the collar reflected a color change reflecting a loss of temperature.

Whether you believe in paranormal hauntings or not, the show is a great way each year to spend Halloween night either by yourself, or with a group. The only thing I have to really complain about is that this year, it started at 7pm eastern which makes watching the first couple of hours tough, as you get interrupted by small lifeforms who seek candy to gobble up. Thank goodness for DVR which insured I didn't miss a moment of this annual offering of the SciFi Channel.

This Wednesday, Ghost Hunters will present an special episode where the team answers question from Josh Gates submitted by viewers. Be sure to check it out.

Music City, Here We Come!

Jill and I will be appearing at the Nashville Public Library this Saturday the 15^th at 2pm central time for their program, “Star Trek: A Catalyst for Change. The program will feature a videotaped appearance by Rod Roddenberry, and a round table discussion which we will moderate. I hope everyone in the Nashville area will come to the presentation and contribute to the discussion.

Ain't That Weird!

In Pryor, Oklahoma, a 70 pound pit bull was waiting inside his owner's car while it was being washed. The dog suddenly jumped up on the dash, accidentally putting the car into reverse. The car pulled out onto a highway and went in a circle, winding up in an automatic car wash lane. While the owner of the car was cited for not being able to provide proof of insurance, he was allowed to take the dog home after it was verified that it was registered with the city.

I guess the dog had his license on him.

Think about it.

Photos:  Wikipedia.org, SciFi.com