RottenWorks

Haunted Mining Town:

Without a doubt that has got to be the scariest cemetery on the face of the earth! Out in the middle of nowhere with open graves and exposed skeletons? That’ll test your mettle.

Josh and team head to Chile to investigate a mine that is reportedly haunted with the souls of it’s former workers. As you might expect with any mining venture, the conditions were very poor and some say it bordered on slavery. People lived and died within the mines and even children were put to work in the less than ideal conditions. The mine is now abandoned but people report apparitions, shadows, voices and even children playing in the abandoned school. People even report capturing ghostly pictures while out there.

As you may expect, Josh starts his monster seeking with a trip to the market. As you might also expect it has some interesting food; plenty of raw fish and other items which aren’t quite dead yet. Undaunted, Josh dives right in.

I’m also getting the sense that no matter where Josh goes, a parade or festival isn’t far behind. It’s not long before Team Truth is dancing in the streets and Josh is playing the cymbals. I think he has parade floats on speed dial.

But that’s only the beginning of the fun. To "get a lay of the land" or that’s the claim anyway, Josh goes parasailing with guest star Allison Scagliotti, which he has dubbed "Scags". After scaring the crap out of her they jump into ATVs and race over hill and dale to the coordinates they marked on the GPS. So far, this is looking like some out of control vacation instead of a hunt for the paranormal.

Have no fear, Josh makes his way to the site and the creepy factor goes through the roof! The team sets up base camp then Josh and Scags head out to explore the abandoned town. Within minutes they find old photos, a hand made shoe from a small child and some bones. They press on and find the town cemetery that has long been deserted and that now sports open graves and exposed skeletons. It’s shockingly creepy! The bodies and the bones are clearly visible and Josh feels this is ground zero for paranormal activity. Ya think?! So, without adieu he starts solo EVP sessions in the middle of the night. EGAD!

You can tell everyone is completely scared out of their minds and Scags and Ryder claim to hear noises and voices. Ryder hears sounds coming from a spot they later discover is the head of an open grave. That’s just not right!

Before the teams has coronaries they set up the night vision cameras and then head over to the sister city with the abandoned school where children are reported to be heard.

Gabe and Rex start things off with an EVP session in what they think is a grave. With the entrance closed, Rex swears he hears banging above him and wants Gabe to let him out. Meanwhile Josh, Mike and Scags hang out in the old school where Mike claims to see strange lights moving all around. While all this is going on Josh sees a figure moving in the hallway which he captures on the thermal imager. Low and behold it does look like a figure walking in the doorway. Just a little unnerving.

There is also some audio evidence of someone saying "No" to a question and the words "I am" in response to, "is anyone still there."

Josh also gets a ton of photographic evidence of a mist that covers dozens on photos. But he dismisses them as just an anomaly. I thought was pretty interesting. Most people think a blur in the camera is a sure sign of the paranormal. I guess his photography background makes him more suspicious of such things.

Paranormal activity or not this place is creepy! An abandoned town, lost pictures, bones scattered around, the scariest cemetery ever, and something odd in the hallway will certainly make the mind wander. Is it haunted? Does it matter?

Taniwha

In New Zealand there supposedly lives a large sea creature that lurks in the water. It attacks and scares the fisherman and has grown to be the stuff of legend by the Maori. And you know if these guys are scared of something it must be damn dangerous!

Josh first has to be accepted by the Maori tribe so he participates in the acceptance ritual and sits down to have a large tattoo chipped into his face. Say what you will, but Josh really respects the rituals and beliefs of other cultures.

While talking to about the game plan for the night something is caught moving on the IR camera and the team plunges into the water after it. The vegetation is thick and Josh claims he sees things moving in the water.

They lose track of it but move to the bigger boats they’ve hired to cast a bigger net. Josh gets hits on the thermal imager and sees things moving in the water. They can’t quite get close enough to it to tell what it is for sure. But before they can make chase a swarm of bugs descends on the team. For a team that deals with monsters they’re pretty unnerved by these flying bugs and chaos ensues. The best Josh can do is gun the engine and make for open water. Ryder claims she is going to soak the boat in gasoline and light it on fire as soon as they hit shore. I think they lost their cool for a minute there.

Back on shore and not consumed by bugs Rex and Evan throw caution to the wind and go wandering around in the caves at night. Of course, Rex feels something brush past his leg in the dark. You fully expect that at any second Rex is going to be pulled underwater and Evan is going to have to call CP3O to get R2D2 to turn off the trash compactor… Oh wait, wrong story.

Before things get out of hand they sober up and head back to shore.

Anyway, the team gets some evidence but in the end they feel what they’re chasing is a very large, but very real eel. Perhaps the one the Maori see is an extremely large one, but in the end, an eel seems the most plausible answer. Not quite an aquatic dinosaur though.

And just think, even though there was a boat involved Josh didn’t run out of gas and get stranded in the middle of lake. His luck must be changing!

Seriously, that cemetery is creepy!!!

Great Wall of China

For the first part of the episode Josh heads off to China to investigate sprits that seem to haunt the Great Wall and have been attributed to several recent deaths. Countless lives have been lost building and defending the Great Wall, and many locals feel it is the spirit of these lost soldiers and workers who haunt the ruins. The Chinese people and the government take their ghosts very seriously and have closed down parts of the Wall to visitors. Josh and his team are the first investigative group to be allowed to make an overnight investigation of the site.

Since Josh is in China, the chances of getting a broken down car are pretty slim so he decides to risk his life another way and indulges in the local cuisine. Finding a local food market, he takes in the local color and finds plenty of food "on a stick". Taking to heart the old adage of "when in Rome", Josh chomps down on a big black scorpion that’s still moving. At least it looks like a scorpion, who knows what the devil it was. But make no mistake, it was moving! And it was on a stick!

With a belly full of bugs they called it a night and returned to the hotel. In the morning, they pressed on, and made the drive to the section of the Great Wall were several people have been killed recently. You can only go so far by 4×4, so Josh uses motorcycles to make it the rest of the way. And not just any bikes, but bikes with sidecars. And Josh in WWII vintage goggles and speaking in a crazy accent should solidify the idea that he does indeed march to a different drummer. Let’s also not forget Evan showing off his KungFu moves. And Josh giving tours of the city…

You only have to look at the narrow walkway and icy conditions to realize that just being on the Great Wall in this spot is treacherous.

And repelling down it? Well that’s another matter entirely as we see from Ryder and her minor plunge. It’s only a short slip, but I’m sure it got her heart racing. Remember kids, safety first! Josh may be crazy, but he does seem to know how to tie a knot.

The team finally sets up base camp and heads out into the night to see what they can pick up. There is lots of wind, lots of noises from animals and a couple of thermal hits which are probably nothing more than animals scurrying in the scrub. But as Josh sits doing an EVP session he thinks someone is touching and pushing the buttons on his backpack. It’s even thought that one of the buttons has been shut off.

They hear plenty of noises and feel like something is out there, but with the sun coming up, it’s time to head out and see what the evidence says.

Strangely, Josh meets up with Jason and Grant again for them to go over what he’s found. It does seem like Josh has an EVP of someone saying, "Let me be normal". What this is in reference to is anyone’s guess. Is this an injured soldier talking about his wounds? Or is it one of the crew trying to sneak in a call for help?

It’s hard to say the voices and previous activity are the work of spirits, but no doubt many of the Chinese believe in it.

Israeli Mermaid

Normally you write stories about the mermaid, not offer up $1 million for it’s capture. But that’s what the Israeli government is doing and Josh was quick to take a stab at the bounty. Local citizens have been reporting a slew of recent sightings and many people believe something mysterious is lurking in the waters.

But before the investigation begins, Josh, being the good ambassador that he is, pitches in to help erect a new mermaid statue. With massive drill in hand he does his best to help perpetuate the legend of the mermaid.

First Josh and team head out into the open water with the help of Kayaks. Apparently they forgot to read the manual where it states that when it comes to large open waves versus Kayaks, open waves usually win. After multiple false starts and being dumped out into the water, the team triumphs and heads out to the caves where the mermaid has been sighted. The waters are no calmer and after making a quick investigation the team decides to head out before they’re crushed upon the rocks.

Next, it’s off to another inlet where the mermaid has been seen for some underwater investigation. The water is so murky and dirty they basically can’t see anything. Of course, these are the exact conditions you would expect right before the mermaid makes and appearance. And then Josh sees something. Something big and black in the water. As always it could be anything, but Josh swears something went right past him.

Josh also sends out his team to scout in different locations. Team members take up residence in a lighthouse, along the shore and in another boat to see if anything happens. They do get some odd "figure" that shows up on the thermal imager and send Josh after it. As you might expect, it disappears before he can get to it. Dolphin? Lost swimmer? A log churning in the water? Hard to say, but there’s a blob on the screen.

Did Josh come away with the money? Sadly no. He doesn’t really capture any real evidence to support the claim of the mermaid, but the check is still sitting there, waiting for someone to claim it. He did however come across some nice underwater Roman ruins which are certainly worth investigating.

Even though Josh didn’t come away with much, this episode was hysterical! It has a little bit of everything; action, adventure, mystery, suspense and of course, some nasty, still crawling food. This one ranks right up there as one of my favorites.