Paranormal State: The Tillie Pierce House

The last Paranormal State I watched, far more interesting than the GH self-plug of their own "Ghost" Hotel or Inn, was of the Gettysburg, PA Tillie Pierce House. This house saw action in the Battle of Gettysburg as a "field hospital" kind of a M.A.S.H unit in the most basic of ways considering it was almost 100 years before the Korean War, amputations without anesthetic was common, Doctors trying to amputate limbs in seconds to minutes to keep up with the battle wounds and just to make it as quick on the patient as possible. We've seen pictures of the battlefield and all the bodies, although we cannot take all the pictures at face value, there was a photographer who did move bodies to make the sight even more gruesome, not sure if this was Gettysburg or Bull Run, but it did happen.

But the fact does remain, this was a horrific battle, and if anything could leave lingering paranormal activity, this could. But it also makes me ask the question, why don't we hear more about other major battlefields around the world? You would think Okinawa, where the forced suicides of many of it's own civilians by the retreating Japanese Army, which itself had lost over 100,000 soldiers to the Allies (plus the 42,000-142,000 civilians killed by Japanese who forced them to fight, killed for speaking a different dialect or suicide) to the over 12,500+ Allied deaths, would be a prime spot for paranormal investigation. However, the people of Okinawa have different thoughts about the paranormal and messing around with the paranormal, as we saw in a similiar Japanese reluctance to even talk about it in a Destination: Truth episode about the suicides under Mt. Fuji. We have to respect those wishes.

But back to the Tillie Pierce House, this investigation starts out with research on the Tillie Pierce House as well as Tillie Pierce, who was just 15 it turns out when the battle occurred, this is a big burden for such a young lady, she saw things someone her age shouldn't have had to see, but sadly, this happens. Our neighborly psychic Chip Coffey shows up but doesn't seem to have all the usual information that he has when he comes to some places, maybe too many to remember in Gettysburg. Obviously a female being involved is a good guess as it's the Tillie Pierce House and her picture is visible inside the house, the fact that a lot of people died there was a pretty obvious observation as well, but there were no names and such as he usually has. However, I do respect the tone he took in respecting these passes souls.

There were about 3 incidents that happened that may have been paranormal, all do have some possible explanations though. 1. The moaning heard, no mention of the wind is made, although the furnace is checked, sounded strangely like when you blow air over a soda bottle, maybe same effect over a vent pipe? Still pretty creepy, not an EVP as you could hear this as it happened. 2. The door moves behind the big bearded guy, one of the cameramen I believe, but he's a big dude like myself and may have inadvertly bumped it causing it to hit the wall, with guys like us, don't take much of a bump to get it moving and not notice it, he was close enough, but who knows. I don't really like to say someone is pulling something off unless I know THEY know they are pulling something off...like Grant and the moving lamp at Myrtle Plantation. And 3. The mysterious moving soap bottle, the only person who could have possibly done this was again the camera guy. If he did it, he's pretty quick with the hands, it was also done when Ryan yelled "Stop" or "Don't Move!" He then said he thought he possibly saw a shadow person. Now a "shadow person" why is it different than an apparition? Does it appear only on solid surfaces? Or is it just a dark shape in the figure of a person, which would still be an apparition, wouldn't it? Sometimes, all these terms can be confusing, but doesn't mean that after the first couple of episodes we do not need "EVP" and "EMF" explained in detail by the people in the show to fill dead space...a simple caption would do. But apparently, shadow people are different than apparitions or ghosts, wha??? See what I mean!

All in all, an interesting episode, as I've said before, I think these guys are the most sincere of the bunch. But as I say that, The Paranormal Research Society of Penn St. is splitting from Ryan and his group, as of course, they have graduated, done Master's thesis' and whatnot and are going to form their new group, still somewhat tied to PRS, but PRS will be a Penn State project still and the new group can go out like the GH and GA groups if the original members so decide. Ryan will of course still be a part of this new group which will be called PRS, LLC. With the Penn St. group being a branch of this new National group. They have already named a new director of the Penn St Group, which will be given some office space at the National PRS Group Office. The new director of the Penn St. group wasn't named on the PRS website at this time. (Source: PRS Website).


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Sorry late on this, been very busy, then ill...ugh.

Okay, on the new GhostHunters last week, the second part of the episode was as I thought, a whole bunch of nothing, but you can't expect to see paranormal activity at every place you go investigate. That's another thing that bothers me, a GhostHunters episode with all debunking (what happened to debunking? Still strong on GHI.) As well as I brought up before, I wonder how many people are calling them with kids "in danger or scared" usually the number one criteria of their investigations, those seem to have disappeared as well. The second part of the episode was indeed candlepin bowling, old machines making noise and the "EMF" hyper-sensitivity the explanation, oh yeah, and a breathing toilet! I guess I can count some debunking here.
Now, concerning Belcourt Castle, there was some unexplained activity according to their instruments...first being the heat source on/under the floor. Note that the FLIR device was set at 60 degrees white hot, 45 degrees black cold. Not much of a spectrum...15 degrees, their assertation that an animal (ie mouse) couldn't have been between the floorboards..kind of looked like a mouse moving around to me, and when it went under the door jamb to the next room, it disappeared, moving further away from the FLIR and also having the door as an extra shield to it's temperature. Most likely a mouse had it's nest there, was nice and warm, then Jason comes clumping along and of course it takes off, leaving a colder trail. With that close of a spectrum setting, it seems to me a couple of degrees meaning the difference between Red and Yellow, it's not far fetched to speculate a mouse. Just as it is to speculate a footprint.
Not much else happened except of course the eternal walking sounds. But as we cannot see where everyone is with a timestamp (not doctored of course), including crew, we cannot consider this evidence. Now, what happened to never investigating alone? Guys got chewed out for this, yet Jason shoos Grant out of the room to talk to the spirit alone. Now Grant is out of sight when the K2 meter goes off to "tell" Jason to get the heck out. Now wouldn't staying in there be provocation? One of their tactics? But I think Jason knew this guy, and felt their was a man to spirit connection there.
As for the rest of the show, I mentioned above, and at Belcourt, nothing really of consequence happened, except for a swinging chandelier, which was explained by the ladies upstairs (now I always thought that teams went in alone...hmn) but at least they fessed up to causing the ruckus.

One of the reruns was the good old first Eastern State Penitentiary episode, it was indeed funny to see the "Dude, Run!" again, and of course, to see these guys buy into the idea that what they saw was a spirit manifesting and Brian making a mockery of really showing how fast someone could move on that railing. You obviously see a leg, shoe and arm under that veil, I say veil, not black blanket. A veil would have the same effect (and you see this same thing in a later rerun where the guy is desperately hoping nothing supernatural is there, but yet a veiled person, you see the separation of the legs as he walks out a few steps and back), and why do these ghosts always go halfway out, then back? Is this in the Ghost Union book, as well as duck walking behind pool tables in your veil making sure NOT to go past the end, which would of course show the silliness of a duck-walking ghost. If these are residual haunts, what would they care? If they are intelligent, what would they care? This ghost pattern on GhostHunters has me baffled, that's more of a mystery than the ghosts. If they are going to show themselves, why not the full monty?

Naturally, Jason and Grant are pressured to come up with something on each episode. But ghost hunting doesn't work like that, many times you come up empty handed before actually having something significant happen. Yet these guys come up with something in every episode. That's got to be a record. But yet again, we have to remember it's the Science-Fiction channel. At least A&E, now doing Paranormal State, has the disclaimer at the beginning of the show. So I guess this means, hey watch this show with the same belief as "Dead Like Me" and "Battlestar Galactica".

Anyway, the boys investigate a museum/aquarium holding some of the relics of the Titanic, now I'm one of those guys that believe the tomb shouldn't have been messed with, but with the chance of the almighty dollsr supposedly in a safe..I'm glad it turned out like Al Capone's vault. This should have been declared off-limits and a mounument. Oh well. Even with public outrage, it was done anyway, yes, it's one thing to find it and film it...but to dig around in it...that was too much. It's just plain desecrating a grave site. If there is supernatural activity at this place, I could see why they were disturbed.

I will try to comment on one of the last Paranormal State's I saw, later, as well as Ghost Hunters, sooner this time I hope! Ah, I also just got a cheaper HDTV just a 720p but it's nice so far and I hope I can glean more details out of these shows. I missed the last Most Haunted because of that...figuring out all those dang wires. But then, what was I really missing, just more rock throwing. Although that mist was intriguing the week before last.

Paranormal Television shows

Shows I find the most sincere: Concerning Ghosts

1. Paranormal State
2. Ghost Adventures
3. Ghost Hunters International
4. Ghost Hunters
5. Most Haunted
6. A Haunting

Okay, all statements made by me are just my opinion and you know what they say about those!
I find "Paranormal State" the most sincere, despite the use of a medium, I've noticed in later shows that Chip Coffey doesn't appear as much, I will go into my opinion about Mediums in another post, but the use of mediums in these paranormal ghost shows, I really think is a big mistake, especially when they come into a place and know data to a T, worst of these is the medium in Most Haunted. But back to the Paranormal State team, the do seem to go to cases (with the exception of the Mothman episode, but I guess they are entitled to a little fun). where it really is the home owner, not some famous "haunted place" that all the paranormal teams around the country know about. They go in, try to find the reason for the haunting, do local research on the home, and seem to care about the family in distress. You very seldom see emf detectors, FLIR devices (did see one intended to look for animals "Lady in White"), marbles or other strange gadgets. Since this is just the start of the blog, I need to keep full opinions to a minimum and spread them out, so others can comment.

Ghost Adventures, I like the idea of being locked in for 24 hours with a minimum of people around, no mediums except for one show in Florida, I believe. They have static cameras around the house, have caught interesting, controversial video, still being debated at this date! The infamous "Flying Brick". Their evp's aren't crystal clear like other shows, despite using a special microphone, try some strange experiments (Idaho State prison, the wierd television feed back trick, kind of like putting a microphone close to a speaker and getting the feedback, but using video with a camera recording a television screen to which it's connected. Strange, but I guess an honest attempt at a supposed way to record faces or ghosts, I doube we will see it again in season 2, which I've been told 20 episodes have been filmed. But I DO believe the "hand" shadow was just that, the investigator's shadow of his hand. An honest mistake? Who knows.

Ghost Hunters, what can I say, they've brough the ghost hunting television show phenomanon to the forefront of the paranormal shows. Bringing more ghost hunting shows to compete and ride the coat tails. They seemed very sincere at first "caring about the scared kids and individual homes", then came the tourist sites.....about every "haunted" location around the US competing to get on the show. And even sprouting a spin-off I forgot to mention "Ghost Hunters International" which I will now edit into the list, and yes, I do believe the International team more sincere than the US team, despite THEIR scaredy-cat medium/psychic Gavin Cromwell, who's more likely to run than poor Brian Harnois, the scapegoat/comic relief of Ghost Hunters in past seasons. But I kind of think of Ghost Hunters without Brian is like Gilliigan's Island without Gilligan. Awww, not really THAT bad. But once Ghost Hunters went to the big tourists sites and forgot about the average joe, which I think is really more interesting, it started going downhill.
Then the controversy, after the tourist sites, they were pressured to have something happen every episode is my theory, causing Grant to crack...and become very suspect in many people's eyes. From the alledged collar pull in the Halloween special 2008 to the Myrtle Plantation slave house Lamp Crawl. One viewer even brought up a very good point in a chair moving incident on a Coast Guard managed light house, Jay bringing his fishing equipment....I wonder what he was fishing for? Did he have a license? I didn't see any bait...sure there are lures, but I guess I would need a fisherman from that area and time frame to know if fishing was even an option at that time and what type of fish. The viewer pointed out it sure was a good way to bring fishing line to an investigation and like they say, hide things in plain sight. Anyway, you kind of get the picture. I like the show, watch it all the time, but after the Manson Episode FLIR video tampering (Seen by a VERY sharp-eyed viewer, and proven with Ghost Hunter's own video from the show, one version seen during the alledged incident and the change seen in the presentation to the client). As well as their "Open" forum. Where sincere questions asked in polite manners questioning different things, offering different explanations to happenings on the show, mysteriously disappear, make them very suspect these days, again, my opinion.

Most Haunted, a British paranormal show, which has suffered the same criticisms by the UK audience as much or more than the Ghost Hunters show has suffered here. These guys, well Gals and Guys as they are led by Yvette Fielding, the host of the show, a medium ( ), a Paranormal "Expert" who does seem to be pretty fair in reporting how video or sounds could be explained or that without video being seen from beginning to end, it cannot be considered evidence, this is Ciaran O'Keefe. I consider this program to be the least sincere television show on the paranormal. Although Ciaran O'Keefe does give objective reports at the end, the profound accuracy by their "medium" who has an uncanny ability to name people associated with the site they are at, of course people have to remember these psychics have to be told at one point where to go or meet to get to the site. Even if they are given a city, they still have the opportunity to use a laptop and satellite internet connection to look up the most likely haunted site in that area and then research historical happenings or ghost stories of the site(s). This is the problem, they cannot be blindfolded taken blindfolded all the way to the site which may be hundreds of miles away. It could be possible to take an American psychic, tell him to land at the Kansas City airport, THEN blindfold them, take them to St. Joseph, Missouri, walk he/she into the house, THEN take the blindfold off, making sure it's a site that's not famous and then see what they can pull out of the air.... I don't know if the amazing Kreskin (sp?) is still alive, but he had a lot of money put up for a psychic to prove their abilities, it has never been claimed. A little off the subject, but anyway... Also, these people can go into sites where other shows have been, like that Tuberculosis Sanitoriums (not sanitariums for the insane, the term of the time), that had the "Body Chute" which was explained on another program to actually be used more for pushing supplies (food, medicine, etc) up to care for the patients from a train station right below it, more than pushing all the bodies out. People I hear still disagree on the amount of people who actually died there...but it really could have been significant. But when other teams were there, there was no "poltergeist" activity, I swear, these people could go into the bathroom of a McDonald's and have a rock thrown at them. ;) You also could make a drinking game out of this show, drink whenever Yvette says "Astral Beings", an object is thrown at them, they say they hear something, and loop it, but still you hear nothing OR you hear the generic "whoooo" which of course sounds like one of the ladies off camera, then drink when Yvette says "Thank You, Sweetie" I could go on and on...but I won't

Hopefully, this will get more of an audience, I will post links to some of these shows sites and forums and you can decide for yourself on some things.

Goodnight for now, what is that noise in your closet? :))