Bright Light

me. Blahblatsky and the Talking Mongoose recarp the sixth episode of the second season of the pitifully scripted reality show “Ghost Hunters.”

Disclaimer: All of the transcribed conversation belongs to Pilgrim Film and Television, Inc., who recycle it into new shoes for the third world.

Narrator: “In this episode of Ghost Hunters, Andy encourages Jason and Grant to investigate a haunted lighthouse but will it meet their expectations? Then, TAPS travels to New York to investigate a 19^th-century house. Does the spirit of the original owner haunt the house? Will the rift in TAPS threaten the investigation? Will Jason be forced to split up the team? And Brian comes to a TAPS-changing experience.”

Well, Andy is looking even more crazed than usual, and lighthouses are always kind of fun, and at last, all the ominous Brian business must be coming to a head, so this episode has to be more entertaining than the last one.

MB: I can’t even remember the last episode anymore. My brain has blessedly blocked it out.
TM: It was that traumatic.
MB: I guess.

Still, the frenzied drumming and whirling of the intro music of incessant drums has become as distressful as the whine of a dentist’s drill.

Credits: Carl and Andy are the guest-starring TAPS crew (except Carl never shows up).

TAPS HEADQUARTERS

WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND

Andy has burst into Jason and Grant’s office, and is settling himself, puppylike, at their virtual feet.

Andy: “Hey guys! Got a minute? Okay. Are you familiar with Ledge Lighthouse?” He moves his head as if he has a weird crick in it, but it is probably an interrogatory gesture.

Jason: “Yeah, we passed it heading out to Race Rock.”

Andy: “Exactly. I think the first time I kind of became aware of it was when I was watching one of those kind of ghost clip shows. And these two Japanese investigators ended up getting cornered in one of the lighthouse rooms. All of their equipment was like flying all over the place. They couldn’t make it to the door. By the end of like this maybe 20-second clip they’re crying in the corner.”

MB: That wasn’t on Sightings. I would have remembered that.

TM: Me, too. Humph. Crying in the corner? I already don’t believe it.

Grant: “Can you see it now? I mean, I haven’t seen it.”
Andy: “I haven’t seen it since.”

Jason: “Because of that, Ledge got a reputation of being one of the top ten most haunted lighthouses out there.”

Grant: “Yeah, I was gonna say it’s on that list – the top ten list – right, or top twenty or something like that.”

MB: What, there are enough haunted lighthouses that they can have a top ten haunted list?

TM: Where have you been living? Under a rock? We’re in the internet age. There’s a list for everything. Here’s one without Ledge Lighthouse, and here’s one with Ledge Lighthouse. There are more if you’re interested.

MB: Uh, no. Two is plenty.

Jason: “Have you already spoken to – who owns that lighthouse?”

Andy: “That’s under the control of a group called Project Oceanology. I did contact them. They would be interested in having us come.” He’s feeling pretty pleased with himself, if not outright smug.

Grant: “Now do they want it investigated or do you want to investigate and they’re saying okay?

MB: Ha. Since when do they make that kind of distinction?

TM: Since the city of Altoona tried to sue them for libel.

Andy: “They think it might be kind of cool, you know, for us to go in there and see what we can find.”

Jason: “Yeah! Set it up.”

Andy: “All right, great! That’s what I wanted to hear. Thank you. Awesome.”

Jason: “All right.”

Andy: “Let me get on this.”

Jason: “All right. See you later.”

Andy confides his coup to us in an interview outside: “This isn’t usually how it happens where a TAPS member has something that they’d like to go and investigate. In my case it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do for a real long time and uh – and Jason and Grant said yes. I – I – I can’t believe it.”

MB: Is this foreshadowing?

TM: I think so. Also, so not true.

MB: Yeah, that stupid church place.

TM: Eastern State Penitentiary.

MB: Criminy – the whole first season.

Jason interviews: “Andy pitched us the case for Ledge Lighthouse and – uh – he was extremely enthusiastic when he brought the case up to us. Uh – it really sounds like an interesting place and I’m thinking it might be a good case. We’re gonna give him a shot with this one.”

TM: Ooh. Andy is going down. We should be packing his knives for him. EMF detectors. Whatever.

There’s a strange woman in the basement tech center, rummaging in the equipment. “This is gonna be fun,” she says.

Grant interviews: “Renee’s been with TAPS quite a while. Uh – she’s been busy planning her own wedding so she’s just recently found some time so she’s going to be able to come on this case with us, and we’re excited about that.”

TM: She’s been planning her wedding? For the last year??? We’ve never seen this broad!

MB: Weddings are complicated.

TM: The Siege of Leningrad required less planning. What’s there to plan?

MB: Seating arrangements. Flowers. Candy buffet.

TM: Candy buffet? Oh. Okay, then.

Grant is wearing a new version of the TAPS t-shirt. It’s t.v. red.

MB: Surprise, surprise.

Renee Laverdiere, Field Researcher, interviews: “Ever since I was a young child, people in my family and myself have experienced paranormal activity so what I’m trying to get out of all this is some satisfaction that what I’ve actually felt and what my family has felt is paranormal, and to be able to prove that and be able to show that to other people that there is something else out there.”

TM: Everybody and his uncle needs validation. It’s kind of sad.

MB: And you don’t?

TM: I didn’t say that. But don’t you think it’s sad that everyone in TAPS answers this question the same way? Why can’t someone just say – heck, I’m here for the thrills. I want to run screaming through the night being chased by dead pirates and murdered brides.

MB: Well, that’s you.

La-di-dah – Renee gets to ride in the back seat of the boss vehicle.

MB: Has that ever happened before?

TM: There’s something fishy about this.

Jason: “I’m happy you brought that power system for us tonight. Thanks.”

Renee: “No problem. I mean I’m expecting the power to be pretty bad, from what I hear, so…”

Grant: “Renee works for a company that deals with battery back-up systems for computers and other things and the light house has some shaky power issues. If we got all our equipment set up and is recording, we lose power for even just a few seconds, everything’s gonna shut down.”

TM: Ah. There you go. Hence the semi-royal seating in the power vehicle. Product placement.

MB: Except we can’t see the product.

TM: Bet you they get a line in the end, though.

Jason: “Eh, well, they’re callin’ for a good storm tonight, so …”

Grant: “So, well if the storm gets really bad, you know, might not be able to pick us up for a little while so …”

Jason: “We’ll be stuck there without food, but I got my fishing pole in the back of the truck so …”

Grant: “We’ll rely on you.”

Jason: “Yeah, if I can catch something, we can eat.”

Grant: “Great.”

TM: They’re going to end up eating bait if they’re stuck out there.

MB: He had mackerel at Race Rock.

TM: Mackerel isn’t bad.

NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT 3:30 PM

At the dock waiting for them is a Project Oceanology guy and boat. “Hi, I’m Thaxter.”

TM: Good God! It’s the Professor and the S.S. Minnow.

The TAPS crap is unloaded from the vehicles and loaded back into the boat. Thaxter Tewksbury, Project Oceanology interviews: “In the recent history of the lighthouse, there were cases where lighthouse keepers would experience things they couldn’t explain. They would be on the first floor of the light and they would hear things happening on the second floor that they couldn’t associate with anything except if anyone else was in the light house. So – uh – we’re pleased that TAPS has come down to do an investigation in to the situation so we’ll be happy to find out – uh – what TAPS finds out.”

MB: I love and adore that name. That is too wonderful a name. Thaxter Tewksbury. It has such a ring to it. Nobody could have made that up.

TM: I was wrong. It’s Thaxter Tewksbury III and the S.S. Minnow.

Grant is wearing a red shirt and a red jacket today.

More boat loading. Everyone is helping.

TM: That’s odd. Why is Jason helping?

MB: Because Brian’s not there to push around?

The Enviro-III is a very large and spiffy turquoise and white double-decker kind of cabin cruiser, so the trip out isn’t going to be nearly as exciting as the one to Race Rock in the motor boats.

Jason: “The story has is the ghost that haunts the lighthouse is Ernie, the lighthouse keeper. Supposedly he had thrown himself off the top of the lighthouse in 1936 to his death after his wife had left him for the Block Island ferry captain. Apparently there’s been a bunch of other paranormal crews out here. Uh – some have snuck out and some have some out with permission but – uh – none of ‘em have been able to do an investigation on the scientific scale with the equipment that we have.”

THE INVESTIGATION

LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE

Saturday 5:35 PM

Jerry Olsen, Vice-President, Ledge Lighthouse Foundation: “Oh. Welcome. Welcome to Ledge Light. Let me show you around. As you can see, this is the stairway going down to the basement. Okay, this here is the fresh water system – two 1500-gallon tanks, and I had an encounter with a woman ghost two years ago at the farthest tank in, and I was the only person on this lighthouse at the time. The walls are eight foot thick, so there was no outside noise, and uh – the woman cleared her throat right behind me. Okay, let’s – uh – go upstairs.”

MB: See – that throat-clearing is so strange I completely believe it.

TM: Why would a ghost need to clear its throat?

MB: It doesn’t. That’s not the point. People don’t make up ghosts clearing their throats. It’s nice detail.

Grant: “Nice staircase.”

Jerry: “This is one room that had paranormal activity.”

Grant: “You know what type of activity?”

Jerry: “I just – uh saw some activity of orbs going through the air. And it wasn’t just one. It was two or three.”

MB: He saw orbs. With his own eyes? Cool.

TM: Dust. Bugs. Lightning bugs. Lightning.

MB: Hush.

They are up in the rooms within the mansard roof, on the third floor of the lighthouse.

Jerry: “And this is the last. A couple that was out here – uh – manning the lighthouse would probably have this for children. But it’s another good room.”

Andy: “Well, this is the room. This is – yeah, the Japanese footage that we saw – this is the room.”

Grant: “Have you heard of that?”

Jerry: “Yeah!”

Grant: “Yeah?”

Jerry: “Yeah.”

TM: Because they just told him about it. Nobody has heard about that except Andy Andrews.

Andy: “This – in fact it’s that corner over there – that’s where they got stuck. They were huddling – you know – almost crying – that – that- that corner right there.”

Andy has his cap on backwards and is looking rather wild. Not confidence-inspiring. He seems beside himself with joy.

Grant: “And this is the doorway they’ couldn’t get out.”

Andy: “And that’s the doorway they couldn’t get out. Stuff was being thrown this way (gestures). They referred to it as Ernie’s room.”

TM: I hope those Japanese “investigators” got to see this episode. If there ever were any Japanese investigators. If Andy didn’t dream all of this.

MB: Oh, ye of little faith.

TM: Do you believe it?

MB: Nope. Not unless they had Marianne Foyster with them.

Jason: “All right, so let’s go up the…”

Andy: “All right, great.”

Jerry: “Yep, above – the lamp room.”

Grant: “Ha ha. Cool!”

They climb a metal spiral stair up to the circular glassed-in lamp room.

Jason: “And this is the area up here where Ernie – uh – went out and dove off the lighthouse.”

TM: Hunh, on the internet they say he sliced his own throat and fell off. That’s much more colorful.

MB: Yeah, and totally untrue? His wife running off with the Block Island Ferry captain – it’s ridiculous – the whole thing.

TM: I don’t care. If we’re going to hear silly stories, I want to hear the most gruesome ridiculous ones. Throat-clearing is just not my cup of tea.

MB: Philistine.

TM: Puritan.

Andy sticks his head through the floor opening. “You – you know what, guys? I’m anxious to get set up in Ernie’s room down there. I wanna get the cameras and the equipment going.” The always energetic Andy is irrepressible tonight.

Jason: “All right. You know the other two rooms that they said they had paranormal activity in so make sure you’re gettin’ those rooms covered.”

Andy: “Absolutely. I – I’ll cover this whole place. So I’m goin’ to help Steve. All right?”

Grant: “Good idea.”

TM: Do you think Andy is on something tonight?

MB: Of course not. It’s just high spirits. As it were.

Jerry: “This is the light – lamp room. The catwalk out here that Ernie went out – uh – one of the ghosts – and dove off.”

Jason, either admiring the view or “Ernie’s” sense of drama: “Oh, yeah!”

Jerry: “Back in – uh – ’36.”

Jason appreciates the tour, announces the place is incredible, but has to go push flunkies around now.

Jerry interviews: “Well, what I’ve noticed in TAPS coming out here, they are out here with real professional equipment, and professional people that know what they are doing. So that when they come out with their findings, that is something we definitely can believe in.”

TM: Probably just as well they didn’t bring pagan/wiccan Heather and her dowsing rods along.

MB: I resent that slur upon dowsing rods. I also resent that slur upon professional people.

Andy: “Hey, guys – this place is awesome.”

Steve: “Is it?”

TM: I call more foreshadowing. No one ever questions the validity of “awesome” usage.

MB: No. It’s just Steve being pillish.

Andy: “I went upstairs, I saw Ernie’s room. I know where the cameras need to go, and – uh – I think now we can start running some cable.”

Steve, to Jason and Grant: “We – uh – startin’ to run wires, set up all the cameras.”

Andy is beside himself, a veritable bundle of energy, or nerves. An orb.

Andy: “Just too cool. Too cool. I – I’m psyched. This is great.”

MB: Okay. Now they’re overdoing it. You’re right. It’s those fiendish editors.

Steve, Andy and Renee busily set up and plug in.

Jason buzzes in on the worker bees: “What’s goin’ on?”

MB: What does he do during all the time he does nothing perceptible, waiting on his worker bees? The producers can’t all just stand around and jaw.

TM: Why not? That’s what guys do. Supervisor guys, I mean.

MB: It’s scandalous. This is the way the Russian Revolution started, you know.

TM: They’re tired. They’ve been plumbing all day. The worker bees have been doing nothing but polishing camera lenses and planning candy buffets.

Steve: “Last cameras Andy’s about to plug in. We’re done. High-8’s are set up.”

Jason: “All right. Cool.”

Renee: “All right, I got all the power connected. This (a monitor and a keyboard) is on the battery and surge side; so is this (a CPU). The monitor’s (the 4-screen main monitor) on the surge only.”

Jason: “All right.”

Renee: “The power supply’s a battery back-up. We lose power, the battery inside that back-up will take over and hold all the equipment on battery power for about 20 to 30 minutes so they don’t lose any of this information that we’re gathering.”

Amazingly, Renee can talk in full sentences while taping down extension cords at the same time.

TM: It used to be you took that kind of activity for granted.

MB; I admit, Ghost Hunters has given me a new appreciation for coherent English.

It’s April 28, 2005.

TM: It’s almost Walpurgis Night.

MB: It is almost Walpurgis Night. Nobody observes Walpurgis Night anymore.

TM: Killing the witches didn’t help.

Night falls on the lighthouse.

Jason: “Eh, well. We’re up and goin’, right?”

Suddenly the lights go out, but they weren’t “killed.” There are cries of dismay. “What happened?” “We lost power?”

Grant: “Thank goodness for Renee.”

Jason: “You already saved us, Renee.”

MB: That is sort of an amazing coincidence. Renee brings a back-up system, and poof!

TM: I think somebody on purpose accidentally overloaded a circuit.

Jason interviews: “We just got done setting up the equipment. We just had everything ready to roll, started recording, and the power shut down.” He chuckles. “Which – uh – thank god we had Renee, and she had the back-up system, and was able to keep us going until we found the fuse that had popped. So we’re good pretty much to go lights out.”

Steve: “Yeah, we’re very good to go.”

Grant: “Let’s do it.”

Jason: “Then let’s do it.”

Grant: “Let’s not waste any more time.”

The lights get switched off, so that the ghosts will know it’s time to come out.

Andy and Steve are hanging out somewhere with their thermometers and EMF meters. Jason and Grant disappear. So does Renee.

Andy: “1.2, 1.0. We know it’s not our I.R.”

THE GALLERY ROOM 10:40 PM

Andy: “And we know it’s not your camera (holding meter up to Steve) and we know it’s not that camera (holding meter up to us). Ernie, is that you? 1.2.”

Steve: “Feel that? It’s like – right here.”

Andy: “Breeze?”

The digital thermometer Andy holds is showing 59 degrees.

Steve does his cold spot walk – arms out.

Steve: “Feelin’ that cold right here. I got static charge right on the back of my neck.”

LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE 10:40 PM

Andy: “You’re dropping. You just went from a 68. We’re at a 54. 57. Is it – is it dissipating? “Cause you’re climbing now.”

Steve: “I’m not feeling it right now.”

THE GALLERY ROOM 5 HOURS INTO INVESTIGATION

Andy: “Yeah, as soon as that happened, you started climbing back up into the 60’s temperature-wise.”

Steve: “Really?”

Andy: “Yep.”

Steve: “Ain’t that somethin’ else?”

Andy interviews: “Steve and I were in what I like to call the Gallery Room and while we were in there, Steve was the first to pick up on a cold spot – uh – but what was great is using the digital thermometer I was able to document the heat changes – uh – around Steve’s body.”

Steve: “’Cause it really feels like somethin’s just swirlin’ around here.”

Andy: “All right, hold on. Keep…”

Steve: “You feel it all in your neck.”

Andy: Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’ because I – this is great.”

Steve interviews: “It is exciting when you experience a cold spot, tryin’ to figure out what it is that could be causing that cold spot. Uh – is it something paranormal? Is it just – uh – this spirit sucking the energy out of a certain spot giving you a cold sensation? Uh – these are things we’re not sure of and it’s why we’re doing this research so when you actually find something it does become pretty exciting.”

MB: I’m not sure I’d call walking around with your arms out feeling a cold spot “research.”

TM: Give him a break. At least he’s not watching television. Which we are, you’ll notice.

Steve in scene: “C’mon, Ernie. Give it to me good.”

MB: Oh, please.

TM: Okay, ew. Losing me there.

Andy: “55. All right, you just spiked at 64 again. That’s a nice little piece of documented paranormal activity right there.”

TM: Andy’s looking rather wild-eyed now.

MB: And sounding a little delusional, poor guy.

Steve, with arms outstretched: “I love it. I love it.”

The music swells up.

TM: That was exciting.

MB: It was?

TM: The power of positive thinking. You should try it sometime.

MB: Pft. I think you had to be there.

Meanwhile, Jason and Grant have bestirred themselves to stake out Ernie’s room, where they recline on deck chairs.

Jason: “This so-called Ernie, if he does really exist, isn’t malicious by any intent.”

ERNIE’S ROOM 5 HOURS INTO INVESTIGATION

Grant: “I just got a 2. 1.2. It’s bouncin’ around – 1.2. Well, I don’t know. I mean if these Japanese kids really experienced that, that’s pretty freaky.”

Jason: “But that’s the thing. Those Japanese kids were tortured but since there’s been hundreds and hundreds of people to this lighthouse and there’s never been any reports of anything even near…”

Grant: “Right.”

Jason: “What those Japanese students, so it just makes me sit there and wonder if that was actually true.”

Grant: “A hoax?”

Jason: “Yeah, or if it was just played up.”

Jason interviews: “Me and Grant were sitting up in what Andy calls Ernie’s room. Pretty much we wanted to try to witness what those Japanese students supposedly caught on film. Uh – more and more I’m thinking that might have been a little of a hoax, but we’ll have to see what happens.”

As the night wears on, Andy is getting desperate.

Andy: “Ernie, if you’re here, I’m listening. I’m waiting, I’m paying attention. Let me know that you’re here. Somehow.”

ERNIE’S ROOM 2:40 AM

Andy interviews, sad: “You know, it’s times like this that – kind of real bummer. Here I am at Ledge Lighthouse, something that definitely influenced me in my decision to get involved in this particular field of study, and when you get here and – and - you know – there’s really not much goin’ on, it’s – it’s a bummer. It really is. I think – I think I – uh – I was a little too excited on this particular case.”

He’s sitting on a deck chair, and his dejection is evident in his cap, which now faces stolidly forward instead of backward.

Andy continues: “We still have to go through all of our evidence that we’ve recorded but – uh – I was hoping to have a good personal experience. I wanted Ernie to try to scare me.”

MB: Aw. That’s so sad.

TM: That’s pathetic. He’s looking for the Canterville ghost.

Grant and Jason are standing outside, having apparently given up.

Grant: “I mean, if there was something here, it – yeah, a good thing Brian isn’t here. You’d have nowhere to run. You’d run right into the water.”

Mean! Grant laughs at his own put-down of the absent one. Jason smiles faintly. “Right.”

Grant: “You heard anything from that kid, anyway?”

Jason: “I don’t think he’s coming back. I really don’t.”

Grant: “You think he’s lost to the wind now, huh?”

Jason: “I just think he’s lost. I just think no matter what happens, he just – he can’t seem to get his act straightened out.”

Grant: “But I feel like we should go find out where he is and talk to him.”

MB: You’d think he was homeless and wandering the streets of Providence.

TM: He might be lost in Providence. Even I’ve gotten lost in Providence.

MB: You’ve gotten lost in Sears.

TM: Brian got lost in Altoona.

MB: Oh, right.

TM: Plus, he’s probably avoiding them.

MB: I would.

Jason: “Yeah, it would probably be best.”

Grant: “I think we – we deserve and he deserves a yes or no.”
Jason: “Well, you know what?”

Grant: “Let’s do it, man.”

Jason: “We’ll do it.”

Grant: “We’ll find him.”

TM: I think we need an upswell of music here. Preferably something from Last of the Mohicans.

Jason: “We’ll set it up.”

Back on the boat, in the dark. Steve, Andy and Renee are slumped along one side of the cabin.

MB: What did Renee do all night?

TM: We didn’t see much of that lighthouse. For all we know, there were sumptuous private rooms with Jacuzzis and cable for producers and corporate sponsors.

Jason faces Grant over the back of a seat and declares, characteristically: “I think we covered every basis to try to get paranormal activity out of there, and if we didn’t get it, then I don’t believe it’s there.”

MB: The classic Jason Hawes overstatement. Arrogant ignoramus.

TM: Can you really be an arrogant ignoramus?

MB: If you’re Jason Hawes.

TM: Jason is an oxy moron.

MB: Ha. Or haw. He is.

Andy in the background makes some resigned head bob of agreement. He’s beaten.

The lighthouse light sweeps around, impassive. “Ernie” doesn’t care what Jason does or doesn’t think.

THE ANALYSIS

LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE

Monday 3:15 PM

It’s not June in downtown Warwick anymore. The editors found a clip with the tree sans leaves that they needed last episode.

TM: The editors aren’t real sticklers for accuracy, are they? Of course, who knows what month we’re supposed to think it is now.

MB: I’ve also lost track of what day it isn’t that it’s supposed to be.

TM: Oh! That’s my job, isn’t it? Uh, two days after Saturday, which was actually a Thursday, and it’s the end of April.

Andy: “Steve, you gotta take a look at this.”

Steve: “Ooh.”

Andy: “Look at that. That looks like a figure.”

Steve: “It’s creepy-looking.”

And that is the end of the analysis. Thank you, editors. Cancel that previous carp.

TM: Wow. That means they got nothing.

MB: And therefore, according to Jason, one of the top ten haunted lighthouses isn’t haunted at all.

THE FINDINGS

LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE

Tuesday 5:45 PM

It’s Jason’s day to wear the red shirt. He comes into the conference room at headquarters.

Jason: “What’s up, Steve? What’s up, Andy?”

“What’s up?” has become an official English greeting. It’s going in all the phrase books. It’s the American “ciao.”

Andy: “Hey, guys.”

Steve: “We’ve reviewed everything from the light house. We have a few pieces for you, so we’ll start with the DVR here.”

MB: Look at that!. Now on the DVR it’s April 29, 2005 , 21:39 – so did they spend two nights at the lighthouse?

TM: Must have done. No wonder Jason was so crabby and Andy was so despondent.

The DVR shows Andy walking in a room with his EMF detector, being filmed by a camera guy who walks backward in front of him. A bunch of orb-like lights float around in our camera view.

Grant: “Ahhh. Yep. Nothin’.”

Jason: “Go back.”

Grant: “Oh. Look how the camera guy moves.”

Andy: “Meaning that it’s reacting to the camera guy.”

Grant: “Meaning that it’s caused by the camera guy, yeah. See, that’s – that’s a reflection of the light, or a light itself.”

Jason: “Now, I don’t – what – that round light on the – right there?”

Steve: “Well, it goes halfway down the wall and then takes off.”

Andy: “It passes behind me.”

Grant: “Yeah, but we can’t see it there because you’re completely blocking it.”

Steve: “But would it show up like a small bead way up there?”

Grant: “There’s so much going on in there. You’ve got you with the light, you’ve got the light coming from the camera that we’re watching right now, you’ve got Andy with the light, you’ve got the reflective surface of the EMF detector, you got the camera guy with a light.”

Andy: “I know I’m carrying the lantern here.”

TM: Is that like Diogenes or the Maco Light?

Jason: ‘We can argue this fact all day for nothing but a light, so.”

Grant: “Well, that’s all I’m getting at. I don’t think it’s anything but a light.”

Steve: “So we all think it’s a light.”

Jason: “Yeah, yeah – it’s some kind of light.”

Grant: “You know, if there wasn’t someone in that room when we saw that light (he makes a monkey face), then I’d scratch my head.”

Steve: “If this orb isn’t real, then what about the cold spot?”

We see a clip of Steve doing his cold-spot detection pose.

Jason interviews: “I know Andy and Steve got pretty excited over that cold spot, but they need to remember that it’s just a cold spot. We’re on a lighthouse. So unless we have some other evidence to support that, it really doesn’t mean much. We’re pretty much just going to have to throw it out.”

Steve, in scene: “Right. I don’t even know why I showed you that. Well, I have one more piece for you. Uh – we’re going to switch to high-8 now. All right. Andy was reviewing this – this high-8 tape and – uh – saw a figure in a window, and it’s an illuminated figure, a human shape.”

The sound guy adds creepy fog horn noise. We see, distantly, through a doorway and a window in another room, somebody.

Steve: “You can hear footsteps.”

Jason: “You can hear footsteps.”

Andy: “Yeah. Let’s see if we can pause it right on it.”

Jason: “All right, nobody ends up going by besides that? Honestly, to me that almost looks like you, Andy.”

Steve: “Sounds like Andy with those boots. The clip-clop.”

Andy nods grimly.

Jason: “All right. Well. The lighthouse is beautiful. It was a great place. I wasn’t impressed by anything going on there.”

Jason interviews: “I think the lighthouse was more lore than fact, and I really think that Andy needs to do more research on a place, especially when he’s over-excited about – uh – before bringing it to us.”

TM: That’s low!

MB: That’s low and nutty.

TM: It’s leguminous. But there it is. The tribe has spoken. Put out that lantern, Andy.

MB: Creep. I mean Jason, not you.

Grant: “Some odd things happened that night but I think they might have been just coincidental.”

Jason: “All right, guys.”

Grant: “Thank you, gentlemen.”

Andy interviews: “If J. feels that I didn’t do enough research or he’s a little upset with me because it might be in his view a little bit of a waste of time (shrugs), my answer to that is you have to be able to go in there and learn from your experiences [shot of Andy repeating what Brian did when he left, getting jacket from hook in back hall, only Andy puts the jacket on before going out the back door] of debunking. And that’s what it was. I think we went in there, we learned a lot that particular case, and I don’t think it was – uh – for nothing.”

MB: That’s right! Except that I don’t think they learned anything.

TM: Do they ever?

THE REVEAL

LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE

Thursday 7:10 PM

PROJECT OCEANOLOGY HEADQUARTERS

NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT

It’s Grant’s turn, and he’s sporting a red jacket.

MB: Back at headquarters they have a red shirt schedule somewhere on a wall. Jason, Grant, Jason, Grant.

TM: Those new red t-shirts were probably a mistake, then.

Jason and Grant sit dockside at picnic table with Thaxter Tewksbury and Jerry Olsen.

Grant: “While we were there we did have a situation where – uh – some of our guys were feeling cold spots, but those are very hard to justify, especially in a building that is out there in the middle of the ocean. Now we had a lot of video and audio to go over, and our guys did that. They came up with a couple things that they weren’t sure about, which we were able to kind of dismiss as light reflections and things like that, so, when you look at it, you have a few clues. If you’re like us, we say it’s not enough, but if you’re like other paranormal investigators out there, it’s more than enough. So, you gotta take it – an honest approach to it. And our honest approach is that some things happened that were odd but it’s not enough for us to say yes, or – sometimes you catch ‘em, sometimes you don’t, you know, I mean.”

Thaxter and Jerry nod politely.

TM: Words have failed them. Grant’s powers of reasoning have rendered them speechless.

Jason does his song and dance of gratitude.

Grant: “We can’t thank you enough.”

Thaxter Tewksbury’s last words: “Well, TAPS didn’t find enough to verify it from their point of view. I know people who’ve had experiences that they couldn’t explain, and I can’t discount those personal experiences from them. Uh – I believe they’re sincere, and it makes me think that there’s something going on.”

MB: That has to be the nicest politest raspberry I’ve ever heard.

TM: Thaxter is a gent.

MB: Mr. Tewksbury to you.

TM: All hail Mr. Tewksbury.

MB: Hip hip hoorah.

Ledge Light revolves calmly. TAPS schmaps.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Tags: Andy Andrews, Brian Harnois, COnnecticut, fishing, ghost hunters, ghosts, Grant Wilson, Jason Hawes, Ledge Lighthouse, New London, paranormal, TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society