Ghost Hunters Academy shuffle off to Buffalo with a Drama Queen

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Ghost Hunters Academy shuffle off to Buffalo with a Drama Queen
December 3, 2009
By Laura Merwin
MassLive.com

This week’s episode of Ghost Hunters Academy finds the recruits and their fearless leaders at Buffalo Central Terminal in Buffalo, New York. As they drive their RV off to Buffalo, Steve and Tango reveal that they are going to investigate the terminal and when they ask the recruits if they have any questions they are met with an unsecured load of silence. The lack of enthusiasm of the group is attributed to ‘shock at the loss of Heathyr.’ Actually, I think it was more a case of ‘fear that they would be the next Heathyr!’ As I've said, I don’t agree with this ‘throw them off the RV’ setup they have going here and that little bit of non-excitement proves my point perfectly. They are supposed to be making good team members out of the recruits and instead they are just terrifying any personality out of each and every one of them. Oh. Wait. Maybe that is the Ghost Hunters way.

With generous use of flashbacks via video clips of the Ghost Hunters original visit to the train station, Steve explains the ins and outs of the supposed activity, including, but not limited to, a phantom bubbler (that’s a water fountain for those of you who don’t live in New England), voices, footsteps and the report of a spirit woman waiting for a soldier to get off a train. The tour was punctuated by copious scene-stealing questions by Susan, and no, I don’t mean that in a bad way, I was really glad to see at least one of the recruits step up and show a little involvement. Two points for Susan.

Oddly, Steve and Tango again leave the setup to the recruits and even stranger is the fact that they actually manage to do it. Ben believes this is because “he helped a lot of people tonight and that tells him that he is doing more than just sitting at command central.“ I think all the recruits should pitch in and buy this guy some confidence for Christmas; it would be a nice gesture anyway.

And now we come to the Drama Queen portion of the episode that gave this episode its title. In reviewing the camera setups Karl informs Steve and Tango that they also have a mini DV camera set up and Jane quickly interrupts to say that she had suggested they do a mini DV but that Karl had shot down the idea. Steve instantly calls Jane out for throwing Karl under the bus and says that he’d sooner die than ever do something like that to Tango. Then in voice-over Steve states that Jane might be a ‘Drama Queen.’ Wait a gosh-darn minute here. Karl takes credit for Jane’s idea, she stands up for herself and SHE’S a Drama Queen? What? Did I misinterpret that scene? I know I saw a lot of “I hate that Jane” tweets on Twitter on last night about the whole incident so apparently at least some people bought into Steve’s take on the event but frankly, I still don’t get it. Yeah, ok, so she kept after poor little quiet Karl when she should have let it drop but she was mad, who wouldn’t be. He totally stole her thunder and then she gets called on it. I thought they were looking for strong investigators here, not someone that will just roll-over and take it! Apparently, I was mistaken. Apparently you’re supposed to just shut it and take one for the team. Geez. I’m thinking a big SIX points for Jane and six demerits for Karl for being a weasel, but unfortunately, I think Steve and Tango will be grading the two a bit differently.

Another interesting segment of the show included Steve and Tango once again faking stuff (OH MY, did I just say the F word?) to try and test the recruits. This time it was Jane and Karl that were on the receiving end of the fakery. Steve and Tango took a giant spot light and flashed it on the window of the room the duo were investigating in from outside. Jane and Karl passed the test by not believing that what they were seeing was paranormal. You know, I’m not sure I like this method of testing. The whole idea of the guys faking anything, even for learning purposes, just sits wrong with me. Anyone else out there feeling the same way?

Although, I question the methods, I do agree with the premise of the whole deal. You certainly don’t want an investigator that jumps at every little flicker of light and deems it paranormal. A perfect example of this is something I saw on that ‘other’ paranormal show “Ghost Adventures.” I even dug out the clip for you. Here, watch while Zak Bagans takes the appearance of what looks to me like a bug, adds in a strange ‘whooshing’ sound, and comes up this brilliant equation:

Bug + Wind = “It as if a spirit of a prisoner is stabbing out of their cell with a shank and trying to cut someone.”

Honestly, I’ve never laughed that hard at a television show before, and by the way Zak, according to the ‘Parental Controls’ commercials, the proper noun is shiv, not shank, shank is a verb, as in, ‘to shank someone.’ So, sorry, I’m going to have to block you. So there you have it, that indeed, not jumping to paranormal conclusions is a very important lesson to be learned by any paranormal investigator. Maybe the Ghost Adventures crew should be watching this show.

As an investigation, the recruits came up with no evidence what-so-ever so we ended up with another stellar lesson on the night, sometimes there just isn’t anything to find. All and all, the episode was ‘fine,’ I’d give it a C-. However, for that bit of favoritism from Steve where he takes Karl-the-weasel’s side over Jane-don’t-hate-me-cause-I’m-like-Donna, I’m giving Steve an F, for total FAIL.