Haunted Mansion Mist:
The team (Ben, Austin, and Chi-Lan) investigates claims of a strange mist in the basement of McPike Mansion in Alton, Illinois. A group had captured the mist as it moved throughout the basement around them. The first test attempted was creating a simple dust cloud using powdered earth and a shop vac. At first it seemed to match the video exactly, swirling around and moving just the same. However the mist in the video seemed to have more of a concentrated pattern and move in a more natural way whereas the test cloud swirled, didn't move around the same, and remained hovering in the air.
The next experiment tested the theory that it was a swarm of insects. The team devised a smaller room made of plexiglass walls and released hundreds (thousands?) of gnats and flies. In the video, people were surrounding the mist so Austin "took one for the team" and walked among the insects to see if a similar pattern could be made. However, the insects simply clung to him and were clearly a nuisance, unlike what was seen in the video.
Next, the team tests if the mist was an actual mist of water vapor (humidity) by using air conditioning and humidifier. They could not formulate a controlled pattern like what was seen in the video, even when Ben walked through the mist.
With unsuccessful experiments, the team then decides to conduct an overnight investigation to see if the mansion is in fact haunted. There had been claims of activity throughout the house so the team splits up to cover all four levels. As Ben is sweeping with a Mel meter, he discovers the temperature has risen from a steady expected temperature to over a thousand degrees, something he has never encountered. As Austin is sweeping rooms on the top floor, he hears a faint whisper but can't make it out and it is not revealed in the Situation Room of whether the voice was picked up by a recorder or camera (so I assume it was not). Chi-Lan also finds a strange visual on the camera in the basement although it looks pretty obvious to me that an insect's antennae creeped up in front of the camera. In the Situation Room, an EVP is played back from Ben's knocking test. He asks if who ever is present can repeat his knocking sequence of three knocks and the recorder picks up three distinct knocks as an answer.
Overall, the experiments cannot debunk the video's claim of a mist present and the investigation reveals a potential for the mansion to be haunted.
I usually have some beefs with the editing of the show but this one in particular drove me a little crazy! While the team is investigating, an obnoxious "haunting" music is playing and is really distracting! When Ben does his knocking test, the music even includes knocking noises, as if we are supposed to get excited that someone answered even though he doesn't react...ugh. And when Austin asksChi-Lan over the radio if she sees anything on the camera in the room that he heard the whisper, we suddenly see the "mysterious figure" (aka insect antennae) in the camera and she exclaims "Did you see that?!" (and cuts to commercial of course) to make us think she is reacting to something in the video of that particular room Austin asks about...again, ugh. Oh, TV magic.
Starlight Intruder:
The other team (Bill, Jael, and Larry) travel to Fremont, CA to investigate a UFO sighting. Since the shape of the object was triangular, the team was able to test some fairly simple theories. First, they place LED lights on the bottom of a large kite. At first, the experiment seems to mimic the video exactly with the shape of lights, lack of sound, and smoothness of flight. But quickly the wind takes over and the kite is not stable and does not fly like the object in the video. Next, the team tries the same concept but with an RC airplane. Again, very similar but it is definitely loud enough to hear and the wings hide the lights when shifting in the air. Lastly, they attach lights to a hang glider and have a professional take the air. This, all of the elements line up and Jael is able to capture the same image on camera. In fact, night gliding is typical in this area and gliders use the same technique of attaching lights to their kites to be visible at night. The team decides that a hang glider is the most likely culprit, not an alien visitor.
No comments:
Post a Comment