FACT OR FAKED: Bay Area Hysteria; Jersey Shore

SyFy - Original Air Date: 4/23/12

The videos not chosen for investigation this week are: "Dark Hooded Figure" looks to be merely a person in a cloak.  "High School Haunt" claims to have an apparition manifesting, but there isn't enough info to be sure the photos are not just double-exposure fakes.  Additionally, "High School Spirit" proves to be the proverbial bug on the lens.

The Bodega Bay UFO causing the "Bay Area Hysteria" is a mysterious, noiseless light hovering over the water. The team tries a rescue helicopter with a spotlight, but it's too high and too noisy.  They then try a movie light balloon, which is close, but still too high.  Finally, they hit on the idea of a fishing (crab) boat with very bright lights.  That and the foggy conditions of the original prove a match, and an investigation well done.

The second team goes to a the Paramount Theater on the "Jersey Shore Haunting" to investigate a mysterious cold "apparition" seen on a FLIR camera.  They try a CO2 fire extinguisher spray, but don't get a similar shape.  Then they try a person in a "cold blanket," which is closer, but not quite.  Lanisha then suggests that it could merely be a problem with the equipment (which we know was malfunctioning, as it didn't record the image; we have only picture of that monitor image).  Bingo!  The focal length on the original camera was not suited to the length of the hallway, which creates a human-appearing artifact in the center of the frame.  In reality, it was just a cold door at the far end of the hall.  Ghost mystery solved!

But then, of course, we have to do a traditional ghost hunt.  Of course the team hears strange noises, as in all such shows, and something mysterious breaks up their laser grid.  But is that proof of anything?  Only that it seems these goofy hunts seem necessary to keep the show's "believer" audience.  After two good investigations and solutions, it's sad to hear the team declare the theater "haunted."