Season 1, Episode 1: Burning Rubber/Hyperjump

I have to say, it was quite fun to go back and watch the first episode! I remembered why I starting watching the show in the first place. Its also neat to see the differences between the first episode and more recent episodes, beyond the obvious loss of Larry and gain of Devin. My recent opportunity to meet Ben and Bill also adds a whole new element!

The first difference I noticed was the amount of time the team spent in the Situation Room. Its probably just a few minutes difference but it seemed as though they spent more time reviewing and talking about the potential cases than in future episodes, which I have to say was a good choice. More time spent on the investigations is worth it. Which brings me to the next difference I observed. Because there is more time focused on the investigations, the teams are now able to explain the different tests. In this first episode, they quickly moved from one test to the next without really saying why they thought that test might prove a theory. Don't get me wrong, I still loved the format from the beginning but its just interesting to see the evolution of the show.

Burning Rubber:
A nighttime police chase was documented on the police car's camera and caught a supposed paranormal experience. The car, swerving out of control, made a sudden u-turn and then out of sight. When the police car caught up to the car, it discovered that it had suddenly ended up on the other side of a chain link fence. Without any other explanation, the car seemed to have gone through the fence, hence achieving a "ghost car" title.

The team (Ben, Jael, and Austin) first tests the u-turn since many observers of the video thought that the car turned and sped off at an unusual speed. Using a stunt driver in the "ghost car" replica, Austin rode shot-gun with a police officer in a police car to re-create the video. They fairly simply and successfully recreated the video and proved that the car did not actually take off at super-human speed but was just fast enough to out-run the police car.

The team then tested the theory that the car was able to jump a ditch and over the fence.  They designed a man-made pile of dirt in front of a fence in the middle of a field.  The stunt driver drove at a speed reasonable to what the "ghost car" would have been driving and did actually jump the fence.  However, the car actually took out the fence by hitting the top of it and the driver said the "ghost car" driver would have most definitely been hurt from trying to jump the fence.  There was also no ditch visible in the video, making it very unlikely that this theory does not pan out.

Lastly, the team tested the theory that the car was under to go under the fence.  It is unknown if the fence had sturdy fence ties to keep the chain attached to the posts, making this theory possible.  They removed the fence ties and the stunt driver drove right through the fence.  However, the fence also came apart, knocking the top of the fence completely off.  Being the clever investigators they are, Ben and Jael then used fence ties to hopefully keep the fence in tact but let it lift enough to allow a car to drive through it.  When the stunt driver drove through the fence this time, not only did the fence stay in tact but the fence quickly returned to its original state.  When reviewed in the eyes of the police car (Austin is still taping from the police car), it looks as though the car actually drove through the fence as if it never lifted.

This case is really why I wanted to keep watching the show. I thought it was so cool that they found a "paranormal" experience and actually proved that it wasn't paranormal at all. Finally, actual proof using deductive reasoning! I also loved that they didn't just give up when the car driving through the fence didn't work the first time, they kept trying to prove their theory correct.

Hyperjump:
This case is in regards to the Phoenix Lights, a well-known phenomenon reported around the Phoenix area.  The video in review caught red lights in the sky, jumping around in strange patterns.  At first, it looks as though it could just be an aircraft of some sort but the way that lights jumped around the sky was definitely very strange.

The team (Bill, Larry, and Chi-Lan) first tested the idea that the video could have been faked by using laser lights through a pane of glass.  While they were successful in recreating the lights, it was hard to control the speed and pattern of the lights as shown in the video.  Next, the team tried using lights attached to balloons and controlling the lights turning on and off using remote dimmers.  Again, they couldn't quite get the same effect with this test.  Lastly, the team set up a night time investigation to witness any strange light phenomenon themselves.  Strangely enough, they actually caught some weird stuff going on in the sky.  In the video they caught, you can see a light moving across the sky.  At first, this looks like a satellite travelling, until the team points out that the light moves the opposite way, up and down, and disappears and reappears randomly.  It doesn't appear to be any kind of aircraft because of the strange movement and fast speed.

This case also caught my attention and made me keep watching.  I hadn't watched any other shows investigating not only paranormal activity but UFO activity as well.  I'm sure that skeptics would argue that since the Air Force is so close, these strange lights are only aircraft tests that the government cannot reveal.  To me, that is strange enough to investigate!  Who's to say they aren't testing alien aircraft they've recovered? Or technology discovered by alien influence?  Regardless of what it is, it is worth the time and effort of curious investigators and I hope the FoF team keeps doing these!

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Thank you for reading my first post in this blog!  I hope the FoF team (yes, that includes Larry!) will follow and provide comments.  If I missed anything important or misreported any information, please let me know as it is not intentional.