Ghost Asylum

So I watched the first episode of "Ghost Asylum", which I'm calling Duck Dynasty meets Ghost Adventures = Ghost Busters?

You gotta be kidding me... I started out not very happy about this, but I gotta say I liked the solar panel ghost attractor idea... and gathering up old hospital trigger objects, that's called doing your due diligence... this might not be so bad after all...

We'll see, this is just the first episode, and if it does well it could get a higher budget and start to utilize more creativity they have up their sleeves.

Only time will tell. Being the show is on Destination America, a channel dedicated to the paranormal, my guess is they will be able to throw a budget at the show and see how far it can go, the way they do with many of their other shows.

Capturing ghosts, trapping them in a faraday cage, releasing the capacitors in a peaceful place so they can cross over? Intriguing... I don't think a paranormal investigation show has ever done that before...

I was pumped when I saw the ads for this one. Finally thought we might have a decent filler for between seasons of the gold-standard Ghost Adventures. I gave it four episodes and wanted it to work, but it just got worse and worse.

It follows the same idiotic formula of most of the other ghost shows (especially Ghost Hunters - so much so that I wonder maybe they have the same producers, I don't know). Each one opens with them on the drive to their next investigation, on walkie-talkies between vehicles (why? why not just use speaker on the cell?) telling each other about where they're going and some of the history or interesting facts - as if they all would not already know all that stuff before leaving.

Then they chat with some of the people at the place they're investigating, pick up some names of some of the people that used to live/work there. Then they investigate.

The investigations are generally pathetic. Most times it's all 5 of them, plus however many camera and sound men behind them, all in the same room, shuffling around, making noise, etc. Every time something happens they jump to conclusions and attach the event to whatever name they picked up in their interviews (e.g. John used to work there - one of them felt touched after asking John a question - therefor it was 'definitely' John that was trying to communicate with them). Every happening has to be followed by a cutaway of one of the guys, scripted but pretending to be a spontaneous interview, talking as if they are still onsite and it just occurred, pointlessly describing the event that we just watched happen not 15 seconds earlier. They don't use equipment properly or consistently, they fail to do even the most basic debunking most of the time (e.g. a cigarette burns hotter as if being puffed by a ghost, or birthday candle smoke drifts as if blown by one - in both instances while the items are surrounded by nearly all of them facing the items and talking. No test to make sure it wasn't the breath from one of them talking or movement or something, just a declaration of how 'amazing' that evidence was.)

Near the end of the investigation they start with the show's gimmick - building a 'trap' to catch a ghost in. They pretend like they come up with the idea for the trap on the spot and then go to the nearest Home Depot for the stuff to put it together. The trap ideas are ridiculous. The whole concept is just plain stupid.

At the end of the show they meet in their little office that looks more like a backyard shed and review the evidence. 95% of it is crap or personal experience that can't be corroborated. If they have an evp, most of the time they just tell you what they think is said and then play it real quick and then move on to the next piece of evidence, rarely cleaning it up or playing it slowly so we can hear clearly. I can't think of a single decent piece of video evidence (partly because they hardly use any cameras, or don't use them strategically - nearly all video is taken by the camera crew following them around) - the ones I can remember are from the FLIR camera and as usual, they appear to misinterpret or jump to conclusion.

There is only one single aspect of this entire show that I like - that their investigations span multiple nights. I wish GA would go multi-night. Aside from just being able to gather a higher quantity of evidence, I think it would lend more credibility to what is gathered if they continued to get the same evidence over multiple nights.

Anyway, they might be nice guys in real life, but in this show they come off as dunces and dooshbags. A massive disappointment and wasted opportunity.

OK, I get it, it's a stretch they may ever catch a ghost, but hey, at least they're being creative and other then just recording evps, they're coming up with inventions to remove bad or evil spirits. I also find their faith refreshing and they're amusing too. They rib each other and seem to be humble southern boys. Their evidence is just as good and compelling as the other shows out there but they have added these other couple elements to their investigations that add depth and make them all the more endearing. Imo, at least I'm not being subject to the same boring investigations that have been on way too long and egos that have chased not ghosts away, but other members of their team!!

This is one of the funniest shows I've seen in years. I tape the episodes and show them to people because they don't believe me when I tell them about them. My favorite is the limestone water pump ghost trap where the "wraith chasers" put a canning jar with a piece of limestone in a net in a fish tank full of water and "trap" the ghost in the jar by running electricity through the water. Of course the guys have to lure the ghost to the ground floor as they don't want to have to lug the fish tank up the stairs especially since the chasers/numbnuts filled the tank before they thought about carrying it up. They then urge the ghost to jump into the tank telling him/her/it that "it's just like a jacuzzi" Also funny is the leader in a muscle shirt checking out his guns (arms) when they discuss releasing the ghost back at their headquarters/garage in Tennessee. You gotta watch it.

I enjoy watching the crew and love their accents and even if Chasey can be a little hard to follow he's adorable. I also love how Brannon tries to make a new "ghost trap" each week. It's ingenious and hilarious. XD

Admittedly it does follow similar traditions to other ghost shows, but hey... what else can you do that hasn't already been done? You take photo's, do EVP's etc.

All round good effort. They don't try to scam you with fake and over dramatised scenes like some other popular shows. Maybe some people like the over the top ham acting of other shows but I for one love the down to earth, no nonsense approach of this honest crew. Good job guys!