RottenWorks

Madison Seminary

For the first part of this episode John heads out to Madison, Ohio to investigate the Madison Seminary. The location has gone through many hands and played many roles. It started as a school, then turned into a home for elderly widows, then a home for the mentally ill. It closed under dubious circumstances and of course the first thing we think of when a mental hospital closes down during the 1950-60 timeframe is abuse and mistreatment of patients. However, this particular facility closed due to lack of funds. They went bankrupt and were forced to shut down. No abuse.

Karyn claims she has been hit in the hand, that people see an apparition carrying a tray and that doors open and close. People have been poked and had their hair pulled. Generally speaking these are the same experiences that a lot of people have.

For the first night of the investigation Brian, Chris and Jason hear a squeaking sound and perhaps the sound of a chair moving across the floor. Brain goes to check it out and discovers the chair that looks like a holdover from the institution days isn’t up against the wall like it normally is.

They also discover a piece of wadded up cloth attached to a line in what looks like a dumb waiter.

Aimee and Jason discuss the area with local historians and get the story of Elizabeth Stiles, a spy for the Union Army. Her husband was killed by the Confederate soldiers so she sought to help the Union. She would gather information by dressing as a nurse and working in hospitals. With this is mind the team is now looking for items to make a connection.

For the second night they catch a shadow moving across the area where the mental chair is still sitting. But the big catch of the night is a piece of fabric that actually pulls itself back up into the slits of the ceiling boards as Brian and John are walking by. Brian spies this piece of fabric, a piece John has singled out, goes to touch it and it pulls itself away from them. It quite literally moves on it’s own. The very piece John wanted Brian to get. And only that piece. And there are other poking down.

Brian pulls back some boards to reveal a bundle of clothes that turn out to be a bonnet with a very large pocket that could be used for hiding items and a blouse that appears to have bullet holes in it.

Job done and John immediately links these items to Elizabeth Stiles. Keep in mind there is not a single shred of evidence that says these belong to Elizabeth, but that doesn’t matter. And of course we should ignore John pointing to the exact piece of fabric that happens to jump away and move right as Brian goes to touch it. What are the odds of that happening???

John finds the relatives of Elizabeth Stiles and turns over the items that may or may not be hers to them and the activity suddenly stops.

Bouvier Residence

For the second part, John investigate the Bouvier residence where Elizabeth and her family are experiencing odd behavior such as banging on the walls and doors and the sound of a children running up and down the hallway.

For the first night the TV turns on without warning while John and Jess find one of the medallions on the wall. Again, their ability to find things is uncanny!

Aimee and Jason find the death record of a small boy who drowned near the Bouvier house so this is who they believe is haunting the place. He had nothing to do with the actual property and he certainly didn’t die there, but it’s close enough for this kind of work so they go with it.

They also discover that the "medallions" are something a child more than likely would have made. You take cloth or burlap, press it into clay and make a little disc. You then hide them and then all the kids go searching. This is the sort of thing kids did long before the Xbox and Internet took over our lives. Did the drowned boy make the disc? It’s possible, but more likely it would have been made by one of the kids that actually lived there…

For the second night, Brian actually has a pretty cool piece of technology, "thermal paper". If something giving off a heat signature walks across the paper you see the image. It’s a good thing they have it because later that night it appears there is something walking, perhaps dragging itself across that very paper. They look like small little circles with the heat sliding to make the next spot.

They also set up a feedback loop with the television. We’ve seen Zak from Ghost Adventures do this same sort of thing. I’m not sure why they have this theory, but it’s believed the spirit world can manipulate the pixels to show themselves. I don’t know why they can’t do when the TV is on normally, but this is how things are done.

As Brian goes through the frames he believes he sees the face of boy. Indeed, there is something there which looks like the mouth, nose and cheeks of a face. As you might expect, the link is made and this is the little boy who drowned hundreds of yards away from the house showing himself for reasons unknown. I assume they feel he made of the discs and played in this area and that his energy is tied to the place even though he never lived there and would have played in a much larger area that covered dozens of homes.

John takes the little discs away and the problems all disappear. The little boy who can’t stop playing his game and searching for discs is finally able to rest.

Once again, I absolutely question the leaps in logic that John and his team make. I can only assume there is more solid evidence that’s omitted due to time.

While the face in the static of the TV is interesting I sort of toss that aside due to matrixing. Is there really some technical difference with this loopback idea versus just the regular TV itself?

The only thing really intriguing are those hot spots on the thermal paper. That was pretty interesting. Unfortunately none of this is solid evidence and it’s pretty damn clear they are working the evidence to make it fit an interesting story.

And that piece of fabric moving into the roof slats just stinks to high heaven of trickery!

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Collector – The Sanitarium & Firehouse Phantom – S01E04
• Haunted Collector – Firestarter and Haunted Museum – S02E10
• Haunted Collector – Bare Bones and Octagon Haunting – S02E08
• Haunted Collector – Haunted Bayou/Library Ghost – S01E01
• Haunted Collector – Casino Phantom and California Nightmare – S02E07
• Ghost Hunters International – Port Arthur Penitentiary – S02E10
• Haunted Collector – Cigar Bar and Childs Play – S03E02
• Haunted Collector – Shadow Boxer and Ghost Storm – S03E08
• Haunted Collector – Island of Fear and Tropical Terror – S01E04
• Haunted Collector – Ghost Tavern and Terror House – S02E09