Ghost Hunters Investigations: Ghost Hunters International Recap: Skeleton in the Closet

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Ghost Hunters International Recap: Skeleton in the Closet

FIRST INVESTIGATION:
BOHEMIA, CZECH REPUBLIC
CESKY KRUMLOV
The team starts their first investigation in the Czech Republic. They are there to investigate the reported paranormal activity of an 800 year old gothic compound. This particular investigation falls on Brandy’s 25th birthday. Some of the reports of activity are of a suicidal actress who may still be repeating her final performance, a Baroness that still makes an appearance whenever there is a party, and full body apparitions. Hana McGee is their guide, and tells them that Cesky Krumlov is one of the largest complexes in Europe and contains 5 courtyards, and 43 buildings with some of the buildings built as early as the 13th century. The Castle Theatre is the oldest still functioning theatre in Europe and where a beautiful actress fell in love with another actor. When he did not love her back, she pulled out a dagger and stabbed herself at the end of the play, and died on the stage. While on the stage some cleaning people have reported hearing a female voice. The Depository is where a skeleton of a woman dressed in clothes of the 9th century lay in a closet. There is lots of mystery surrounding the bones, such as it could possibly be the saint Reparata because the skeleton was presented to the castle by the Pope himself. They will be doing further studies to find out more on the bones. Next place she took them was Summer House Bellarie. It was built in 1690 and was the place that hosted many beautiful parties. During one of the parties, a Baroness complained of a headache, so someone recommended her to drink strawberry wine. After drinking the wine she fell to the ground and died. They say that every time there is a party in the summer house, she makes an appearance. The Castle tower courtyard dates back to 13th century and has had lots of paranormal reporting. One day a witness was walking across the courtyard near the entrance of the old tower and heard some footsteps behind her. She felt some force stopping her from looking around. When the footsteps got close it felt like someone was breathing down her back. When it finally released her, she could turn around and saw a dark shape that suddenly disappeared. The castle tower dungeon is where all prisoners were thrown down in a hole, which would break their legs, then the hole was covered, and they died. At the end of the 16th century, one of the alchemists was practicing in the dungeon and he died of unexplained reasons. His ghost has been seen in the dungeon and walking up the stairs. At the top of the tower you can see the entire city, and where Hana tells them of a white lady who has been seen all over the castle. They are very excited to get started on this enormous place.
INVESTIGATION: Robb and Ashley begin the investigation in the theatre. Robb is asking for the woman actress to come forward and the actor for whom she killed herself for. Robb heard a woman's voice, and Ashley heard shuffling behind her while in the balcony. After asking more questions, they had no more activity. We now see Joe and Brandy in the depository with the bones and asking many questions, but got no response. Joe and Robb are now in the castle tower, where Joe hears a voice right away. Then Robb also hears a woman's voice along with more noises in another room. They followed the disembodied voices, and then things got quiet. Dustin and Brandy are in the wine cellar where apparitions have been seen. They are using the thermal camera, asking questions such as “show yourself to us”, and on the thermal they caught what looked like a person. But the excitement quickly died down when the figure turned out to be the lights overhead. They now head inside the tower where Robb and Joe heard voices earlier, and they immediately heard a voice. Barry asked Dustin and Brandy to come back to the Summer House because they keep hearing so many voices and needed their help. It really was a surprise for Brandy's birthday, which ended the investigation. RESULTS: Robb and Dustin in the dungeon left the recorder running and it sounded like someone turned it off. They got 4 minutes of recording time, and then the batteries went dead. Right before that, they caught an unexplained sound, and then it turned off. In the Summer House while setting up for Brandy's party they caught a quick flash of light on video they couldn’t explain. Dustin and Brandy in the tower caught a female voice, but it was hard to pick it out what she was saying. Robb concluded that there was not enough evidence to say it is haunted.

SECOND INVESTIGATION:
RATHLIN ISLAND, N. IRELAND
MANOR HOUSE
To get to the Manor House on Rathlin Island, they had to drive the vehicles onto a water taxi and go 6 miles out to the island. Ksenia is the caretaker and their guide. In 1716 the original manor house was built and was used for the landlords of the island. At that time the English government would have taken the land away from the Irish, so they dispersed it amongst the people where the Gauge family had the house built. There are many stories for generations of hauntings and exorcisms in the house. She takes them to the Dining Room first, which used to be the daycare for the house. A woman saw a gray shadow outside the glass door, and thought someone was there. When she looked again, there was nobody at the door. In Bedroom 1 a guest that was staying there came down stairs and told Ksenia that she had seen a dark figure of a woman and then it quickly disappeared. In Bedroom 6 is where an exorcism took place. Through the years there have been claims of things flying off the shelves, moving around the room, doors slamming, so much so that the Gauge family had an exorcism done one the house. The priest went through the house trying to get rid of the spirits and when he got to that room, he pushed the evil spirits out the window. The poltergeist activity stopped until 30 or 40 years ago, when people started hearing children or seeing a man in that room. While in the main floor, a man heard noises in the upstairs. He went upstairs to investigate to see if any windows were open and the wind was causing the noises. While in that room, he heard footsteps like someone was walking across the room. The whole island has a deep and dark history and was the sight of the first Viking reign in the 700's. In the 15 & 1600's there were massacres and hundreds of people died.

INVESTIGATION: Dustin and Barry start out in room 6 with the full spectrum camera, mini DVD, and other types of equipment. Barry kept seeing something on the other side of the room, so he put coins on the floor to entice the spirits. Barry then sees something move across the room and also hears the coins move. Dustin opened the bathroom and smelt a musty smell which quickly went away. Dustin is now with Robb in the dining room hallway investigating, and back to Bedroom 1 with Barry. Dustin was very busy that night. Barry hears a woman's voice talking from a distance, and Dustin heard it the second time. Doing an EVP session was Ashley and Robb in room 1. Ashley heard a very soft woman's voice, and then used the audio amplify headset to magnify any voices or noises. She did hear what sounded like a breath. Robb was having trouble focusing on Ashley and it looked like a mist was in front of the camera. RESULTS: They debunked the Mini DVD and noted that the mist was the auto focus on the camera malfunctioning. The woman's voice Ashley heard on the headset ended up being a bird, and they didn't catch the sound of the coins moving. Robb concluded that they had no evidence of the place being haunted.

Two great places, and interesting personal experiences, but there was no hard core evidence of these places being haunted. Until next week…..
--Julie--

Click on Julie's home at Above the Norm