To be honest, I'm not entirely sure I'm going to watch the show again. Out of curiosity to see other investigation groups I may, but I was not impressed. Some of you may certainly disagree and that's fine and I may change my mind if I ever get the chance to meet Zak in person, but, I'm sorry, he annoys me. Everything is so dramatic and fast-paced, which is not in the spirit of paranormal investigations. I know, I know, its a show so it has to be exciting but its just not my thing. Ghost Adventures, at least the few episodes I've seen, is produced in this same manner and its hard for me to watch.
The show starts with introductions of the teams: an all-male group, Resident Undead, and an all-female group, Paranormal Xpeditions. At first I thought this was a cool idea, a battle of the sexes, but then it turned into this sexist race by the guys! At one point the leader of the guys even asked an "entity" if he/she liked his group more than the woman! So not called for. I understand its a competition, but not a competition to win the hearts of the poor souls who haunt the location, only to conduct the best investigation. Sad thing is (sorry if I spoil it for anyone) that they won.
The investigations:
I actually felt bad for the groups. They only had two hours to conduct investigations before switching locations within the Asylum. And then another two hours to investigate again. Not to say that I am some professional ghost hunter or anything but that doesn't seem like enough time to conduct a quality investigation. I had a hard time with the short hour we had at each location at the Stanley! The women seemed to enjoy the process by sitting, taking it all in, and visiting various areas. They freaked out a few times and didn't try to figure out what was happening, but overall they did a good job. The men were impressive in their teamwork, splitting up within seconds and taking on solo investigations to benefit the team. They also did a good job at reacting to noises, although every little noise they heard they attributed to paranormal activity. They even called out the entity by name before knowing it was actually that spirit.
Don't get me started on the dowsing rods. Zac and crew called them out on that so I won't go there. But the guys just seemed rushed, having to beat the competition, rather than taking in what they were experiencing. And the whole Dan getting pushed thing...sorry, but that was faked. He bent his knees and fell forward as if he were pushed. If he were pushed from the back like he said he was, the top of his body would have fell forward first but that wasn't the case. Just saying.
The evidence:
The women presented two visual evidence, which were nothing but dust orbs. If you've read my earlier post on orbs, you know why I won't even dive into this. However, the audio evidence was crazy! To actually hear the anguish left behind in that room gave me goose bumps! The men presented very weak audio evidence; they were really stretching those recordings as EVPs. I'm not even sure that a professional investigation group would have presented that to a client. But, you have to play the game right? They did present an impressive piece of visual evidence: a thermal picture of what looks like the outline of a person.
The results:
You may not be surprised to hear that I hoped the women would have won. They seemed to keep the most professionalism and present the best evidence. For me, its hard to use visuals as great pieces of evidence since its easy to debunk whereas audio is harder to rule out, especially when no one reacts to such a stunning noise! And I don't think its fair to use evidence as a reason to choose one group over another. We all know that you can't control paranormal experiences (unless its faked of course) so the challenge should be more about how the teams handle themselves and the attempt to find evidence, not the evidence itself.
Lastly, I can only assume that the first episode shown was not the first recording. Otherwise Zak saying "this was the hardest decision we've had to make on the show" just sounds silly! I hope this wasn't the best recording they had (shown first to get a lot of viewers for future episodes) otherwise this is not going to last very long.
Ancient Aliens: The Evidence (episode 1)
If you haven't seen the show (was on History Channel, now available on Netflix), you really should watch it! If you're sensitive in your religious beliefs, you may want to avoid this one as it questions some biblical writings. But if you're ready to question and wonder, this is for you! Not that the subject is new but it does dive into some interesting theories and new twists. The show currently has two seasons - no word, that I can find, if they will extend it - and I am definitely looking forward to seeing more of this! The first episode talks about some of the "evidence" out there that suggests we have had alien visitors in ancient times dating long before Christ. This episode covers a lot of material, I will write about what I found most interesting.
The show starts with the finding of a carved "bird" in the Egyptian burial ground, Saqqara, which is over 4,000 years old. Lying beside the wooden carving was a papyrus with the inscription, "I want to fly." The curious thing about this bird is that it is not shaped like a typical bird as the wings are perfectly horizontal, and thicker in the middle, and the tail is perpendicular like the rudder of a plane. Basically, this "bird" is incredibly aerodynamic and built to fly like a flying machine, not a bird. Scientists recreated a large-scale model and put it to the test. Wouldn't you know, it flew perfect. Could this be a model of an ancient flying machine? And long before aerodynamics, let alone the idea of flight, were ever documented?
The show starts with the finding of a carved "bird" in the Egyptian burial ground, Saqqara, which is over 4,000 years old. Lying beside the wooden carving was a papyrus with the inscription, "I want to fly." The curious thing about this bird is that it is not shaped like a typical bird as the wings are perfectly horizontal, and thicker in the middle, and the tail is perpendicular like the rudder of a plane. Basically, this "bird" is incredibly aerodynamic and built to fly like a flying machine, not a bird. Scientists recreated a large-scale model and put it to the test. Wouldn't you know, it flew perfect. Could this be a model of an ancient flying machine? And long before aerodynamics, let alone the idea of flight, were ever documented?
Also uncovered was the legendary Vinama, a flying machine described in detail within Indian Sanskrit text from 6000 B.C. These anti-gravity chariots were supposed to have transported deities all over the world. Sanskrit also describes metal flying machines that visited, which they then actually modeled their own machines based on these visitations. With the incredible details left behind, it is hard to question the possibility that this actually happened. In fact, I bet that these societies were more welcoming of alien visitors than we are today without the tainting of science and political power, making it possible for actual, multiple, interaction and learning opportunities! Because they believed in multiple deities with mystical powers (rather than one human God) it seems, in my opinion, more likely that these ancient people would see alien visitors as one of their own and not a scary, threatening life form.
It was also interesting to hear about the biblical Manna, an edible substance given to the Israelites as they traveled with Moses. Jewish writings describe an actual machine with chloric algae which could have kept them fed for the 40-year desert travels. This same substance is used by NASA today for manned space travel! The machine supposedly produced enough for six days, was cleaned on the seventh day (the start of the Sabbath), and produced more. The descriptions about this machine are so complex and detailed, it seems possible that other-worldly help was provided.
Another big question proposed many times is: how did the Egyptians build the pyramids? I have often wondered this myself. Even today's engineers can't seem to understand how they were built exactly. How were the individuals blocks formed and where did the rock come from? How did they move such heavy blocks across the desert? And how in the world did they get those heavy stones as high as they did? And how has it remained in tact all of these years? One scientist featured on the show suggested that the Egyptians actually devised a large saw to cut the stone using a man-powered wheel system. Seems plausible, but not necessarily alien influence. Another theory was that the large pyramid was created for nuclear power energy. Honestly, I really didn't understand how that all worked but, although unconventional, interesting. Unfortunately this theory didn't include the smaller surrounding pyramids, what purpose did those serve? I'm still waiting to hear a better theory behind these pyramids!
Being only the first episode in this series, I am definitely intrigued and looking forward to watching more!
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Readers: I would love to hear your thoughts and insights on these topics! The main purpose of this blog was not only for me to write down my thoughts but to also stir up some conversation!
Being only the first episode in this series, I am definitely intrigued and looking forward to watching more!
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Readers: I would love to hear your thoughts and insights on these topics! The main purpose of this blog was not only for me to write down my thoughts but to also stir up some conversation!
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