GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL - Larnach Castle

SciFi Channel -- Original Air Date: 7/9/08

GHI starts it's new season by going to New Zealand to investigate Larnach, a huge castle-like manor with a tragic history.  The team, Rob, Andy, Donna, Barry, Brian, and now Dustin, too, set up the usual panoply of Ghost Hunters equipment and get to work.  (Missing is the woman, whose name slips my mind, who always seemed uneasy last season.) Immediately, the team starts hearing voices, seeing shadows, and feeling cold spots.  Heating a table (to mimic sunlight), they discover the wood smells sweet and the fabric like smoke -- debunking some reported "ghostly" smells.  They then try to provoke paranormal activity by playing music -- which reports suggest may have a connection to the haunting.  Since Barry is in charge of that, they seem to get whispery results.  (Barry is good with noises and shadows.)  Brian and Dustin debunk a "push" down the steps, by discovering one step has a lip that could trip the unwary.  After that, Brian (as usual) starts to see shadowy figures.  The ballroom seems to have rattling dishes and strange EMF spikes.  Andy finds sub-floor wiring that explains the EMF.  One of the team's many cameras seems to pick up a figure in the ballroom.  A light in the basement turns itself on -- but they discover that to be a motion detector.

Reviewing the evidence, the team has audio of plates mysteriously rattling and other glassware tinkling, with no obvious cause.  Their new visible/IR/UV camera was set up in the ballroom, and a still photo of the set up seems to show a mysterious face.  (Though it looks pretty hazy and unconvincing to me.)  As the team tries to reveal the evidence, the castle's fire alarm goes off.  It has gone off mysteriously before -- coincidental with important dates for the house.  Because of their personal experiences and the evidence, the team declares Larnach Castle haunted.

At the start of it's second season, this show continues to amuse.  Though it does have several team members who are prone to hearing things and seeing shadows, it also has some of TAPS best debunkers in Andy, Dustin, and Rob.