I’m watching a Most Haunted episode from August. The team is down in a deserted tube station (subway for us Yanks) when Yvette spots a bullet. This is retrieved from the floor and confirmed to be a spent bullet. The team looks at it, pronounces it mysterious and begins surmising about the ghost that may be connected to it.
No wonder these poor Brits are so frightened when ghosts make unexplained noises. They don’t have enough real world things to be scared of. After all, if you’re in New York and suddenly spot a bullet in a subway station, it’s not the dead you worry about. It’s becoming one of the dead that worries you.
Now back to do some work on that next novel. The one with ghost hunters in it.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
The incident involving the bathtub of Napoleon is comes from an TV show on psychics that I haven’t been about to track down. But it was a little episode that emphasized the importance of paying attention to what is around someone in a psychic investigation.
That night I was watching a TV show focused more on psychics than hauntings and ghosts. As part of the show, psychics were taken to locations they were unfamiliar with and filmed giving their psychic impressions of the place. Of course, usually these were places with long histories and perhaps a ghost or two.
But during the scene I remember most, a female psychic is taken into a hotel room in a very fancy hotel and asked what her impressions are. She focused on a strange metal container and said that she felt it belonged to a short man who took it into battle. The expert accompanying the team informed them that the item was a portable bathtub used by Napoleon on his campaigns.
Now even though Napoleon was not actually a short man, the psychic seemed to possess something beyond common knowledge. After all, one doesn’t expect to bump into the bathtub of Napoleon, even in the fanciest American hotel.
The scene continued for a few more minutes before ending with the traditional suspenseful music and a camera shot of the location. I don’t know if the cameraman or the editor had the sense of humor, but the closing shot was of the door to the hotel room. On it was an impressive bronze plaque that said “Napoleon Suite.”
Now, I am not psychic. But even I could walk into a room called the Napoleon Suite and deduce that some sort of antique in it may have belonged to Le Petit Corporal. Of course, if I had a bunch of cameras following me around, I’d probably use every clue at my disposal, psychic or not.
Note: Napoleon was about 5 foot 6 which would have been slightly above average for the time.
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. 2 comments
I am a rare creature. A skeptical, non-psychic, neo-Pagan. So, I don’t see dead people, but I’m fascinated by those who do. I’m willing to believe. Perhaps even eager to believe. But too skeptical not to notice when something just isn’t right.
Today’s FAIL comes from “Most Haunted” a British show I love watching but would never recommend for advice on how to conduct a real ghost hunt. (Honestly, the team is usually so noisy, the ghosts would give up and go somewhere with less screaming.) But I love writing with episodes running the the background. Today, I’m watching an old episode set in Italy. The host back in the studio has just introduced a short segment on the history of the location that we the audience will see.
“Remember, Yvette and the team can’t see this video,” he tells us. “So they have no access to the information in it and what they may encounter.”
So, we the audience are being led to believe that there’s some level of control over the conditions and knowlege of the team.
Then the video segment comes on. Narrated by — Yvette.
Yes, Yvette, has no access to the information she’s reading from the script. Afterward, Carl “flashy-thinged” her and she forgot.
Controlled conditions – FAIL
Posted 1 year, 8 months ago. Add a comment
The GhostDivas came all the way from Oklahoma to speak at the Ybor City Paranormal Conference. I love these controversial ladies and their examples of ghost hunters behaving badly. As a fiction writer, I sometimes need my characters to act badly or even just do things the wrong way. The GhostDivas gave me evil ideas that will probably work their way into a future book. But, I don’t think I could ever get away in fiction with this classic bit of “ghost hunters behaving badly” from well know British TV show.
Most Haunted: Mary loves Dick segment
Posted 1 year, 12 months ago. Add a comment