The FBI under the Freedom of Information Act released some of its files on the late Edward Kennedy, the long serving member of the Senate, considered the most effective senator ever. He is a historic figure. He was a leading voice for American liberalism, and as such was never popular with the right-wing. One right-wing newsletter this morning, after scanning over the files, focused on what they could find that gave a voyeur's glimpse of Mr. Kennedy's private life, and the morning right-wing electronic acid sheet concluded that the great man was a man-whore, a man who slept around, who drank too much and who enjoyed the company of two many women.

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Imagine you're taking a lovely stroll along the beach one day, when you encounter a running shoe lying on the sand.  Inside: a decomposed human foot.  Hard to believe, but seven such feet have been found on the beaches of the Pacific Northwest to date.  


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Once again, the show (I assume) invents a character.  Because ghosts aren't exciting or scary enough; we need an actual bad guy that we can focus on.  The show's intro says that "Mad Ray Golina prowled underground tunnels and stalked staff members.  When he committed suicide to avoid a lobotomy, they thought the violence would end.  It didn't."  Awesome!


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Now that Ghost Hunters has gone on its mid-season break, I was casting around for some more entertainment.  Having never watched Paranormal State, I picked an episode at random and sat down to see what it had to offer.

 

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This episode marks the end of the first half of the sixth season.  Ghost Hunters is going on that mid-season break that seems to take foreeeeeeeever, which makes me sad every year.  Chrissy's comment reminded me that I hadn't reviewed this episode yet (slacker!) partly because it took a while to digest.


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Every paranormal show worth its snuff eventually whips out the EVP sessions.  What is EVP?  Is EVP a real thing?  Well… it depends!

The term stands for "Electronic Voice Phenomena," and describes sounds - usually voices - which can be heard on electronic recording media, but which were not heard at the time.


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Joe Piscopo is unimpressed

I have to say, Celebrity Haunted House Paranormal Project (watch it on Hulu) makes a great summer night popcorn show.  I guess there were only six episodes that aired back in 2006, which is kind of a shame.  

This episode featured Olympic ski racer Picabo Street, Baywatch star and supermodel Michael Bergin, actress Mariel Hemingway, actor Joe Piscopo, and Real World: Chicago start Tonya Cooley.  Of these, Picabo Street turned out to be the hard-core believer, while Joe Piscopo was the laid back skeptic.  In fact, Piscopo seemed actively bored at several points during the show.


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I love orbs.  They glow, they fly, they are completely mysterious - what's not to like?

Admittedly there is ONE thing not to like about orbs, and that is their tendency to be mimicked by floating bits of dust or flying insects.  One reason I really like "Ghost Hunters" out of all the paranormal investigations out there is that Jason and Grant almost always rule out "evidence" of orbs for this reason.


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I learned something new from this episode.  I learned how to pronounce the word "cupola," which is a word I've only ever seen in print.  I always assumed it was pronounced just like it looks - "cup" like a cup, and "ola" like "Crayola."  Turns out it's pronounced "coop-ola" instead, with a long U.  Ya learn something every day!

The word "cupola" came up a lot in this episode, because one of the reported haunting was from a former employee, Fred, who hanged himself in the cupola.  Gruesomely, he hung himself at the start of a long holiday weekend, and his body was not found for many days.  At which point, things were apparently pretty bad.


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Rachel (Ghost) HunterIt's obvious that Celebrity Paranormal Project is faked.  The question that intrigues me is, HOW fake?  I wonder.  This episode featured a lot of things which would be simple to fake, things which would be difficult to fake but which were nevertheless obviously fake, and a few things which I assumed were 100% fake but turned out to be completely true.

This episode takes place in the "Warson Asylum for the Criminally Insane" which is actually the Norwich State Hospital in Connecticut.  On deck we have Tony Little ("America's Personal Trainer"), Baywatch star Traci Bingham, Ethan Zohn (winner of "Survivor: Africa"), Rachel Hunter (supermodel), and Godfrey (a comedian).


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