My ride-along with the Ghost Hunters

The Investigation: Night Two

On the second night of the investigation, I showed up much later than the first night, since all of the setup and drive-up shots were finished and didn’t need to be done again. I was told that the team wrapped up the first night’s investigation at 3 AM. I can only imagine how cold it must’ve been by then.

Producer Jim Dugan encouraged me to head into the fort to take some long exposure shots. It was a completely clear night, with a lot of visible stars and a crescent moon. One of the camera guys let me borrow a tripod, so I thought “what the hell?” and I headed through a dark passageway into the fort.

There wasn’t a soul in the fort with me (at least as far as one within a living body that is) and it was dark and eerily quiet. I could see one of the infrared cameras setup and pointing toward where I was setting up for some shots, but I paid no real attention to it. As I setup my first shot, I heard what sounded like the gate to the sentry room open or close. A few things went through my head at that moment:

1) That was not just the gate I heard. It was something else.
2) If it was the gate, it’s the GH guys busting my balls.
3) If it’s not someone trying to mess with me, I’m just going to keep on thinking that.
4) The infrared camera is pointed directly in my direction, and it’s recording. Make no reaction to that noise other than checking it out or you will be forever mocked.

After changing into new underwear, I checked the sentry room. The gate was wide open and I couldn’t see anyone inside. I looked around the corner and saw nothing there either. And now I had to go back into the fort to get my camera and be totally calm and cool about it.

So, I did that. And just in case anyone watching thought I was trying to run screaming from there, I walked right over to the opening of the sentry room, setup my camera and took a few shots before walking calmly out of the fort. Then I found a quiet corner away from everyone, curled up in a fetal position and sobbed silently.

Keith McDuffee/CliqueClack

Before all of those goings-on, the first thing I had to ask the team was what they witnessed the night before, if anything. I promised I wouldn’t reveal any of that in this post, but I will say they at least had some interesting stuff happen with the girls inside the lighthouse. They were going to try it again on the 2nd night and with different people, and I stuck around almost the entire night to find out.

As I said, I wasn’t able to tag along with the actual investigation, but Jim Dugan set me up with his radio that monitored the teams and what they were saying into their mics. I was able to listen in on each of the teams for quite a while, which included every single thing these guys said to each other, along with any radio chatter they had with one another. For a fan of the show, this was definitely a lot of fun. Dugan seemed embarrassed that Steve and Tango would go on and on about nothing for seemingly hours, and even apologized to me for it at one point. I said, “Are you kidding? This is great!” I only wished I was in there joining in. They should seriously consider doing a DVD extra at some point that covers an entire night of this stuff.

Keith McDuffee/CliqueClack

One other location of the investigation was the lighthouse keeper’s house, which was more of an office building now and where we all hunkered down for dinner breaks both nights. On the second night, the girls started off in the lighthouse with Jason and Grant on house duty, Steve and Tango in the fort. Grant came on the walkie at one point and asked the girls if they had just been laughing; apparently they’d heard something that sounded like a woman laughing inside the house. Kris came back and said they had been, so he asked them to do it again. This time Jason and Grant heard nothing, so there was some mystery there that I’m not sure will make TV. I did mention to the guys that I’d heard geese flying overhead a few times both nights, and it’s possible they heard that. So, if they use that as a possible explanation during the show, you know where it came from: me, baby!

At one point, Jason and Grant thought they’d have some fun at the girls’ expense. Earlier, Kris and Amy asked someone to close the door to the lighthouse behind them so it wouldn’t rattle in the wind. Now they were asking someone to come let them out, so Jason and Grant decided they’d mess with them a bit and tell them the gate was locked and they had no key. To top it off, someone in the lighthouse had to go to the bathroom … badly. I’ll leave the rest of that story to the show, but I will get into the “fun” part of the show in general later.

The second night wrapped a bit earlier than the night before, at about 1 AM. I stayed for almost the entire second night, only leaving early because there wasn’t really anything to see or hear anymore. Steve and Tango were cooped up in the lighthouse for one last investigation, but Jim Dugan had to take his radios for the night and I wasn’t able to listen in. The last thing I heard, though, was that the guys experienced something just as they were walking into the lighthouse. I’ll just have to wait with everyone else to see what they found.

Clacked by Keith McDuffee
on Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:00 EST5EDT