'GHOST HUNTERS Season 3' on Sci-Fi. (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

I really hope that i've got the right season this time.

TAPS came right out of the gate with a bang in the season premiere that found Jason, Grant and the team investigating The Bird Cage Theater in legendary Tombstone Arizona.

Much was witnessed and heard in this genuinely creepy and undeniably facinating building but I really wish that Jason and Grant had caught video evidence of the 'Lady in White', that would have been cool. I don't doubt the valididy of what TAPS finds most of the time and i'm sure that it's just a case of the video not being clear enough, but i'll be dammned if I saw that power cord come off of that bell.

I replayed that shot over and over and I saw nothing i'm sorry to say. I tell you, this show is nothing if not creepy, even when they don't find anything, this show really puts you there with those guys, it's so real that you could practically smell the must and feel the deep history of that theater eminating from the screen!

Next week, onto none other than the O.K. Corral!

 

[Scott-S]

I agree. It was a great start to the season.

I still wish they would move the fixed cameras around when they find an area that is active. Like the shadows in front of the windows. It kept happening, yet they never once got it on film.

 

[Christopher Cheadle]

I managed to finally see the cord coming off the bell last night. Granted, it was a bit difficult with the resolution of that camera, but if you watch the left side of the bell, you can see it come off. In effect, it lifted almost straight up, almost like it was solid and not loose like a cable should be, and then dropped hard. From the reactions of Brian, Steve and the camera-dude, it really seemed to scare them.

I too thought this was an awesome start to the season and next week appears to continue the creepiness.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Yes, you could see the cable fall off the bell. Very interesting.

I kept thinking back to Ray in Ghostbusters being excited about seeing a "free floating, full torso, vaporous apparition" in the library . It's wild that Jay and Grant seem to have witnessed such a thing.

Having seen many of these episodes and having an understanding of Jay's and Grant's (and TAPS') motivations and professionalism, what they claim to have seen is very, very interesting. However, if you just came to the show and didn't have a feel for what these guys are all about, I'd imagine that you'd be saying the old "yeah, right" or cry "bullshit". Which, of course, is why they themselves say that personal experiences don't count as good evidence because no one else can judge for themselves.

I keep coming back to some fundamental questions about how the whole TAPS organization and SCI-FI channel "Ghost Hunters" show work together.

My questions are:

Dose TAPS charge anything to the people for whom they perform investigations? I believe they do not, but I'd like that clarified for certain.

Do Jay and Grant (or TAPS) get paid anything for doing this show?
Does the Sci-Fi channel help TAPS buy any of the equipment they use?
What, exactly, is the business relationship between TAPS and Sci-Fi?
Are the cameramen TAPS members, or are they provided by Sci-Fi?
Do any members of TAPS have any input into the editing of the shows?

My take is that Jay and Grant (and TAPS in general) would be doing these investigations whether or not it was part of a "show". Sci-Fi collects all the video documentation of their investigations, edits it into "show form", and promotes and airs the show.

So, I could see TAPS doing this without any financial compensation because they would be doing it anyway, and the benefit they get from having this show is simply that they get to present their investigations to a significantly larger group of people than they ever would if there was no show. They simply get a means to share their excitement and findings. Their benefit is getting their findings out to others, and Sci-Fi's benefit is the add revenue from the shows.

Anyone know if that is their relationship?

That would be the situation in which there is the smallest possibility that they are not genuine.

Obviously, if Jay and Grant (or TAPS) gets paid for doing the show, then then someone could at least argue that there is motivation to fake things and make "a good show". Getting paid would not mean that this is certain, but it opens up the question.

So, my hope is that they are not paid, but that they are part of the "show" because it helps them share their investigations with the world.

But I think that Sci-Fi should at least provide them with more/better equipment for their investigations. While some could equate this as a form of being paid, I think it is much more in line with simply helping them do a more thorough investigation.

Anyone know if TAPS gets funding for any of their equipment from Sci-Fi or any other sources? Or do these folks just save up and buy this expensive stuff with their own money?

The impression I've had is that they buy the equipment themselves, because they've commented on how expensive lots of the stuff is on many occasions and they should certainly have more of certain types of equipment if it was provided by a source with much deeper pockets.

In my opinion, these folks can never have too many cameras. The entire basis of their investigations (aside from debunking the 80% or so of stuff that turns out to be explainable) hinges on being able to capture video or audio evidence of something paranormal.

I think EVERY investigator on the team should have head mounted cameras. That way, there would never be a situation where someone can say they saw something but the camera wasn't pointed where they were looking. Of course, they can still see things in the corner of their eye and peripheral vision that wouldn't be in the camera's line of sight, but the vast majority of things they'd ever be looking at would also have a camera on them.

Something like this seems essential to this kind of investigation, so I can only imagine that they don't have this because of lack of funds for these cameras.

Also, EVERY team should ALWAYS have the thermal imaging camera. Seems like lots of interesting things get seen with this. But only one group (out of typically three) has one in an investigation, and it doesn't seem like it is used in every investigation either.

Again, the only reason I could see for TAPS not having 3 or 4 of these is that they don't have the money for them.

So, I assume that they have to buy all the equipment themselves. And while they have some great stuff that lots of other paranormal investigation teams would kill for, they still don't have all that they should have to do the best investigations possible. So, again, I assume they don't get any real financial benefit from the show. It's just that I'd like all this stuff clarified beyond any doubt, so I can focus more on what the investigations find rather than the motivations of the investigator (who seem to be genuine).

 

[Christopher Cheadle]

Sean, I'll try to answer what I can.

Pilgrim Entertainment is actually the company that produces and edits the show. Jay and Grant, from what I understand, are paid by Pilgrim and Pilgrim, in turn, are paid by Sci-Fi who airs and promotes each episode as they are given.

They take their cameras on WAY more investigations than what is presented during the season. The episodes are the best of what was captured.

As far as the equipment is concerned, they did do a big upgrade after the first season. In fact, S2's premiere actually had J and G "tricking" out their new van. I believe a lot of this stuff was purchased by the money from the show being successful. So, to answer your question, a lot of new equipment was purchased from show money, but I believe they still sink quite a bit of their own cash into the group.

I honestly believe TAPS is genuine in their investigations and they are not out there to prove something in every episode. If you watch both of the first two seasons, you'll find a lot of episodes where they get nothing or are able to debunk what they do see/hear.

All of the above I have gleaned from short conversations with a former "cast" member and what I have taken from the boards at the official TAPS webpage. It may not all be entirely accurate since it si from memory, but it is close.

 

[Justin Bauer]

CRAP! I missed the premier. I need to set the DVR this week.

 

[Bobby T]

TAPS does not charge any money for investigations, nor does any good paranormal investigating team. I am a member of the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society. Our founder and president, Keith Age, is good friends with Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, and Ron Milione. I have met and talked with Ron a few times and look forward to someday meeting the rest of the TAPS team. I say this only to qualify that I do know that they will not accept money for doing an investigation.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Wow, a lot of activity in this thread since i've been away.

One of the things that i've always appreciated about TAPS is that they investigate free of charge. This is a show that I believe skeptics should check out because they will see that these men are the real deal, they have no axe to grind when they show up and they aren't there to prove paranormal activity but rather to debunk it, this is the key difference between them and other investigators out there.

They come, they look and they evaluate, if they find something they believe to be paranormal they will report it, if not, they will explain what was causing whatever the disturbance was and if they find absolutely nothing at all, they'll report that as well.

Very cool that your involved in this field, Bobby, keep us posted of anything noteworthy that you may encounter won't you?

 

[Bobby T]

will do, as long as it is not confidential information. can't say names or locations unless it is public.

 

[Bobby T]

will do, as long as it is not confidential information. can't say names or locations unless it is public.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Just a heads up fellas, this Tuesday night starting at 11:05 there will be a special LIVE episode of the show which from what I understand will go all night long until 5am Wednesday, which tells me that it'll be an unedited investigation!

Heat up those DVR's and Tivo's for the Ghost Hunters endurance test is soon to begin!

 

[Justin Bauer]

Just saw the commercial...looks like I will be glued to the TV with some beer on Tuesday night!

Anyone see the horrible show on VH1 tonight with celebs ghost hunting in an old mental institution? It was basically the old MTV show, FEAR and a complete set up.

They had an EMF detector and claimed that any jump in the needle was paranormal activity, which set the celebs off in rants of fear every second...

A show like this compared to Ghost Hunters is a complete joke...it is an obvious set up and I can just see the producers off in the background banging away creating the sounds. Their EVPs were also a riot...obvious set ups. The only thing similar is the music at some points.

EDIT

LMAO!! There is a new celeb fear on VH1 next week...just check the show out for laugh...

 

[Sean Bryan]

Yeah, I saw a commercial for that and it looked like crap. Embarrassing crap that basically hurts the credibility of quality investigations like TAPS when all these types of shows get lumped together.

Same thing with that new Sci-Fi show "Sci-Fi Investigates". I saw a commercial for that and one of the investigators is freaking "Boston Rob" from Survivor and The Amazing Race. Haven't seen it but it is probably junk.

Looking forward to checking out the live Ghost Hunters tomorrow night. No question it will be cool to just see them do an entire investigation. But then we don't get a real analysis, which should typically take hours and hours itself. So I wonder what they are going to do with that.

They are going back to "The Shining" hotel (The Stanley), right? Or am I confusing that?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sean, I saw one episode of that Sci-Fi Investigates and yes, it was indeed crap. They were hunting for Bigfoot in the one I saw and that one guy, the skeptic of the group was just aggravating the hell out of me, not because he was a skeptic but because he was just a grating jerk lol.

That blonde girl is cute, though.

Yep, TAPS is going back to The Stanley Hotel, they experienced a couple of things last season (the glass shattering, the door opening and the table jump) so the place does show promise, I assume that we'll get an analysis at a later date? I hope so, although since we'll be seeing what they're seeing in real time an analysis might not be necessary, except to show the owners which we might get to see.

Either way this is going to be fun.

I agree about that celebrity show, it's hype shows like that that give an organization like TAPS a bad name, these guys take this seriously and now we have this new show where every creak and noise is a ghost and people start freaking out. :rolleyes

Pass.

 

[Sean Bryan]

Just became concerned about the quality/professionalism of the live TAPS investigation tonight. I saw a promotion for it today and they said "ECW extremist CM Punk" will be "along for the ride".

What the hell?!

I'm hoping this ?wrestler? won't actually be in the Stanley investigating alongside the other TAPS members and will just be outside hosting or something. That would still suck because, let's face it, someone like that being thrown in as a obvious network promotional thing doesn't help the investigation's credibility. If this guy is actually in the Hotel along with TAPS (which I have a bad feeling is the way it will go), that just completely sucks the professionalism right out of this. Even if Jay and Grant didn't want it and it was forced on them by Sci Fi (which is the way I hope it went down behind the scenes), it will hurt the credibility of the investigation and make it easier for outsiders to lump this in with the other crap "paranormal investigations with celebrities" discussed above.

I also don't like the sound of the promotion's statement "...and control the hunt with the panic button at SciFi.com/Ghosthunters".

So from this my enthusiasm about seeing a genuine entire TAPS investigation live has decreased significantly. Since a real TAPS investigation wouldn't have a wrestler along to promote wrestling on the Sci Fi Channel, and the investigation wouldn't be influenced in any way by people on the internet.

Hopefully, these factors won't take away as much as I'm concerned they will and it will still be an interesting and believable, non-biased investigation that isn't bastardized into some dog and pony show.

 

[Sean Bryan]

If you want to see the promotion I'm talking about, you can see it at the above mentioned scifi.com/ghosthunters website

 

[Justin Bauer]

Sean, I had no idea about the wrestler, but I did see a promo and the "panic button".

Hopefully it is not what we think and these are just some out of investigation gimics to keep the audience around for the entire show because it is tough to keep an audience for 6 hours...especially if nothing it going on.

 

[Justin Bauer]

So far this has been a yawn fest...The ECW wrestler has not been the huge distraction that I thought, but you can tell Jay is NOT happy with his distractions at some points.

 

[Justin Bauer]

LOL...I love the viewers calling the hotel rooms and cranking them...

 

[Dave Mack]

A wrestler? oy. I'm SOOOO over that crap on TV. Every freaking channel..
So, b4 I bother watching this on the Tivo, (and what is it, like 6 hrs. long?!?!) did anything happen?

thanks