Ghost Asylum

The only saving grace about this show is the Tennessee accents of the Ghost Asylum team. But, you get over that and then try to get into the ghost hunting they do, but you come up short.

The ghost trap stuff they do is an adolescent fantasy. In fact, the whole show has an adolescent flavor to it. I've watched many episodes, well maybe five, and really tried to get excited about it. But, I couldn't. I found the team leader's showing off his buff physique to be offensive, pathetic. He can can hardly walk normally, he's so stiff. Sure, he's probably a super guy, but man, that bodybuilder stuff is ridiculous. Well, I guess better than being obese like the rest of the crew.

There are some interesting things they find, but their efforts to communicate with the spirits they encounter are less than mediocre. I also find it incredibly sad and upsetting that they would go into a place, especially after praying to God, and then try to trap a spirit. I do not think it has ever been clearly stated what they intend to do with a spirit if they do capture one, but the thought of trying to force a spirit into an object or other such material prison seems, to be quite frank, cruel to the spirit! I know these boys probably come from a strong hunting culture, being from the South myself, but this is not a game. The dead shouldn't be trapped and drug back home for your amusement. That is not only asking for trouble but it is incredibly disrespectful to those who have probably not died decent deaths.

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!!

Each week, these backwoods bumblers build some wacky device designed to "capture" a ghost.

Their accents so thick it's almost impossible to understand them without subtitles, they exposit some ridiculous theory about how you can catch a ghost with bubble gum and paper clips (or some such) and proceed to mount an "investigation" at some purportedly haunted location (e.g., hospital / asylum).

Sometimes, they claim to have "caught something" and spend the last 15 minutes of the show trying to communicate with whatever it is they "caught" - in one recent episode, they thought the ghost might have been captured in a quartz stone and spent several minutes literally talking to a rock!

I would have given this one star, but the fact it's so ludicrous has a bit of entertainment value in and of itself - it's *almost* worth watching just for the eye-rolling exercise.

When I first saw the promos over the summer, I guess I held out hope that the show would be half history / half exploring or a narrative deftly weaving the two. Instead, we get a retread of all the other ghost/monster hunter shows, where the participants all act like they hear or see something- apparently ignorant that bad acting is not convincing.

dude, that door just closed by itself !

I love abandoned asylums, prisons and ghost stories (even though I don't believe in ghosts) Watch Session 9, do your own research on the web- and take your own tours if you are interested in this sort of thing.