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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 8, 2008 11:36:54 GMT -11
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Post by xXSpookyXx on Jun 8, 2008 12:40:29 GMT -11
Very good blog Michael. I find Jason's refusal to earn some of the responsibilty as well as the excuses he gave to be more of a cop-out.
I have to wonder why TAPS has a "historical researcher" on their team? With that title, I would be under the impression that this member in particular is responsible for pouring over the history, events, etc. In doing so, I would have expected her to stumble across not only the fact that props were there but the year they were put there as well. What is the "historical researcher" more or less one of those job descriptions where some one welds a certain title when in reality that job doesn't exist? If I were the one doing this investigation, I would be pretty unhappy with my historical researcher for failing to let me know about this.
As for his "contamination" claim, I find it at best, laughable, at worst, ridiculous. I could not count how many times I've seen Grant and Jason engaged in idle chit chat enroute to a location going and on and and on about the alledged sightings as well as sharing interesting history. So obviously they do NOT go to these places ill-informed like Jason now wants to pretend they do. More over, there are pleny of places that they have gone to where the history, murders or hauntings were such common knowledge that they are nationally known. I never see Jason or Grant turn these places down, labeling them to be too well known to do a contaminate free investigation there.
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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 8, 2008 13:04:29 GMT -11
Yeah, obviously we're on the same page on this contamination issue. It simply makes no sense to me.
Now there is one thing I may need to revise in my blog or offer subsequent clarification on. Jason reminded me in an email earlier that he never said (in his blog entry) that the Distillery folks intended to trick TAPS. Hmmm. That's certainly what the episode suggests and it's what a majority of the fans have said as well.
Michael
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Post by xXSpookyXx on Jun 8, 2008 13:10:55 GMT -11
Well if they intended to trick them, they sure did a very bad job of it. From what I hear the special effects were actually pretty obvious and easy enough for a grade schooler to figure out. I think it is in poor taste of him to try to cast them in this light.
How about just admitting that their "historical researcher" wasn't doing the job she is suppose to be doing, and using this case as a positive reinforcement on how research is vital? Many new or soon to be ghost hunters could have learned from this mistake and they would have held face and possibly earned more respect for their honesty in the process.
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Post by krystalmoore1986 on Jun 8, 2008 17:25:21 GMT -11
As for his "contamination" claim, I find it at best, laughable, at worst, ridiculous. I could not count how many times I've seen Grant and Jason engaged in idle chit chat enroute to a location going and on and and on about the alledged sightings as well as sharing interesting history. So obviously they do NOT go to these places ill-informed like Jason now wants to pretend they do. No crap! If they dont want to know which rooms are haunted, etc. why do they ask when they go there which reoom things happen and what happens?
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Post by xXSpookyXx on Jun 8, 2008 18:26:59 GMT -11
No crap! If they dont want to know which rooms are haunted, etc. why do they ask when they go there which reoom things happen and what happens? I know! In every single episode, you see them entering the case knowing all the particulars, even them going as far as further equiring more about the hauntings. So there has never been one time that they can been seen entering a location with a totally unadulterated mind about it. It's almost amazing then that Jason would glean to sell his "contamination" argument as an excuse for the research that their historial researcher fell short on.
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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 8, 2008 19:33:19 GMT -11
No crap! If they dont want to know which rooms are haunted, etc. why do they ask when they go there which reoom things happen and what happens? I know! In every single episode, you see them entering the case knowing all the particulars, even them going as far as further equiring more about the hauntings. So there has never been one time that they can been seen entering a location with a totally unadulterated mind about it. It's almost amazing then that Jason would glean to sell his "contamination" argument as an excuse for the research that their historial researcher fell short on. Yes, this part of his argument struck me as his weakest move, well, next to accusing Auerbach of being motivated simply to sell books. Michael
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Post by chrissy on Jun 9, 2008 10:59:36 GMT -11
Ya, I was not a fan for last weeks show. Also I reallyh personally wanted to punch the bar owner or whatever he was when he said the lights move over the bar and then in the reveal he was like ohh ya ad we rig the light .. well then why even mention it. I will someone would get them on the line and find out what the real deal was. See if the bar owner/worker was dumb enough to try and trick TAPS or if they just wantedto get their place on TV with some free publicity (that tends to be my fav assumption at this point) or if TAPS orchestrated this from the get go. Has anyone spoken to the bar people to see what the deal was ?
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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 9, 2008 13:01:08 GMT -11
Well if they intended to trick them, they sure did a very bad job of it. From what I hear the special effects were actually pretty obvious and easy enough for a grade schooler to figure out. I think it is in poor taste of him to try to cast them in this light. How about just admitting that their "historical researcher" wasn't doing the job she is suppose to be doing, and using this case as a positive reinforcement on how research is vital? Many new or soon to be ghost hunters could have learned from this mistake and they would have held face and possibly earned more respect for their honesty in the process. Your first point is spot on. There's no way to take seriously the idea that the Distillery was trying to fool TAPS, unless we suppose that Jason and Grant are four-year olds....ahhh, wait, that's not a good argument, is it? Seriously though, these special effects are obvious gimmicks, not some complicated hoax. People are losing their sense of reality. As to research, here's a quote I wish I had had when I wrote my blog: "Before we arrive, T.A.P.S. researches every place we investigate," (Hawes and Wilson, Ghost Hunting, p. 100). Michael
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sandstone
Artemis
Be gneiss, and don't take your friends for granite!
Posts: 405
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Post by sandstone on Jun 9, 2008 15:39:31 GMT -11
It took me 3 whole minutes to find references to the installed SFX on the internet. I googled MBD, found thier home page, clicked on the link about the ghost, and from there there was a link to previous investigations which mention the SFX. (I've noticed those sites are all down now due to bandwidth overload.)
If I were just going to eat in that restaurant I would have checked it out on the internet. (I check out stuff like that all the time.) So why wouldn't an investigator do at least that much?
TAPS is either not very good at investigating hauntings, or J&G are being dishonest about what really went on. I suppose one possibility doesn't really preclude the other, so it could be a bit of both that occurred.
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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 9, 2008 18:40:40 GMT -11
It took me 3 whole minutes to find references to the installed SFX on the internet. I googled MBD, found thier home page, clicked on the link about the ghost, and from there there was a link to previous investigations which mention the SFX. (I've noticed those sites are all down now due to bandwidth overload.) TAPS is either not very good at investigating hauntings, or J&G are being dishonest about what really went on. I suppose one possibility doesn't really preclude the other, so it could be a bit of both that occurred. Prior to this fiasco, there were no links that mentioned the effects on the MBD site, even though the effects were visible in the restaurant's on line video. The main sources were Auerbach's materials, lots of restaurant reviews going back to 2005, and some other writeups, a handful of television shows, and the testimony of other investigators. And this was known by many of those local california groups who are taps family members. Perhaps they knew the place was rigged. Maybe they informed production of this. Michael Michael
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sandstone
Artemis
Be gneiss, and don't take your friends for granite!
Posts: 405
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Post by sandstone on Jun 10, 2008 3:01:40 GMT -11
It took me 3 whole minutes to find references to the installed SFX on the internet. I googled MBD, found thier home page, clicked on the link about the ghost, and from there there was a link to previous investigations which mention the SFX. (I've noticed those sites are all down now due to bandwidth overload.) TAPS is either not very good at investigating hauntings, or J&G are being dishonest about what really went on. I suppose one possibility doesn't really preclude the other, so it could be a bit of both that occurred. Prior to this fiasco, there were no links that mentioned the effects on the MBD site, even though the effects were visible in the restaurant's on line video. The main sources were Auerbach's materials, lots of restaurant reviews going back to 2005, and some other writeups, a handful of television shows, and the testimony of other investigators. And this was known by many of those local california groups who are taps family members. Perhaps they knew the place was rigged. Maybe they informed production of this. Michael Michael I found this link on the restaurant's site last Wednesday: www.mindreader.com/distillery/index.htmWas the link just added that day?
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Post by drmichaelrhodes on Jun 10, 2008 4:16:22 GMT -11
Was the link just added that day? Sandstone, Actually this page has been online for a few years. This is one of Auerbach's discussions of the Distillery. I actually posted a link to this a week before the episode aired. I know....I know...there's some dude out there who will want me to prove that the page wasn't put up or modified in anticipation of the episode. All I can say is....I have better things to do with my time.....like post more messages on these boards.... Michael
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