Haunted Highway: Lake Murray Beast/The Donner Party

Haunted Highway is a paranormal investigation show that airs on Syfy and stars Jack Osborne, Dana Workman, Jael de Pardo, and Devin Marble.  When I found out that they filmed an episode in South Carolina, my home state, of course I had to watch the December 2013 episode “Lake Murray Beast; The Donner Party.”

The episode begins with Jael and Devin traveling to South Carolina to try to catch a glimpse of the Lake Murray Monster.  Jael says that there have been reports of Lake Murray Monster sightings every year since the 1930s and that “every report has some kind of act of aggression.”  They go to Dooley’s Sport Shop and talk to owner Charles Dooley, who says that many customers have come in and said they’ve seen something strange and snake-like in the water.  He suggests that they talk to Sharon Kincaid, who has written a book about the Lake Murray Monster; she says that in the most recent sighting, the monster was reported as having “scales the size of an individual’s hand.”  Sharon points out a few areas where the creature has been spotted, so Jael and Devin get in a boat and head to Dreher Island.  They see a huge shadow in the water, but it disappears before they can find out what it is.  Night falls, and Jael and Devin build a campfire; they hear a splash in the lake, so Devin takes the boat out in search of what made the noise.  It is too dark to see anything, and while Devin is using the thermal imager something slams into the boat.  They decide to go diving to see if they can spot anything underwater; after Devin’s regulator malfunctions, he returns to the boat and sends Jael an RC submarine, which shows a snake-like creature before it stops working.  Jael sees something in the water and goes after it, but she soon runs out of oxygen and has to return to the surface.  The next day, they contact Captain Rich Harris, who is an expert on the types of things that live in the lake, and he tells them that the creature on the RC submarine is a sturgeon, which can get up to 300 pounds.  My in-laws have a house on Lake Murray, and I definitely won’t be going in the water there (but to be fair, I don’t go in the water anywhere…except the shower).

Jack and Dana go to Truckee, California to investigate claims of spirits of members of the Donner Party.  The Donner Party was made up of eighty-seven people who were traveling to California in 1846 when they got stuck in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a snowstorm and had to resort to cannibalism to survive; it is believed that the spirits of those who died there still linger, and there have been reports of shadow figures and strange lights.  Jack and Dana go to the Old Truckee Jail Museum to meet with Chelsea Walterscheid, who tells them them that The Donner Party ran into trouble because they took a shortcut.  She also says that a medium revealed that there are twelve spirits at the Murphy cabin site, and Tamsen Donner, who thought the shortcut was a bad idea, is one of them…and she’s angry.  Jack and Dana meet with Chelsea’s friend Jen (and her adorable dog Harlan), who says that one night she saw a “shadow figure kind of peek around the corner of one of the snow banks” and that sometimes on the trail Harlan lurches at things she cannot see.  Jack asks Jen if they can borrow Harlan, and she agrees (I would never let any of my pets investigate angry spirits…just sayin’.), so Jack and Dana take Harlan to Murphy’s Rock.  Jack attaches a camera and light to Harlan’s back, and Harlan starts barking at something and leads Jack into the woods.  Jack sees a shadow figure on the thermal camera, and it quickly disappears.  Dana joins Jack, and they set up an EVP, using beef jerky to draw the spirits out since most of them died of starvation.  Dana asks if there are any spirits there and if they’re angry, then feels something on her neck; Jack checks it out and finds a huge scratch.  She asks the spirits if it’s easier for them to communicate through her, then starts having terrible stomach pains and nausea.  A few of the cameras go out, and Jack has lost sight of Dana, so he sends a heat-seeking RC copter to find her; the copter catches sight of her and also shows a figure a few feet away from her.  Harlan starts barking and growling, and Jack and Dana notice two lights glowing near Murphy’s Rock.  These guys are brave…after I got a ghostly scratch on my neck, I would’ve gotten the hell out of there!

I've only watched two episodes of Haunted Highway, but I really like it; this episode was a little scarier than the first episode I watched, and the fact that part of it took place somewhere I've been before made me more interested in the episode.

My rating: 8.5/10

http://www.syfy.com/hauntedhighway

Haunted Highway: Manchac Swamp; Moonville Tunnel

Did you guys know that Jack Osborne has a paranormal investigation show?  Well, he does, and it's called Haunted Highway.  It airs on Syfy, and I started out with an episode called "Manchac Swamp; Moonville Tunnel."  The show stars four investigators-Jack Osborne, Dana Workman, Jael de Pardo, and Devin Marble-and this episode starts out with Jack and Dana heading to Louisiana to investigate Manchac Swamp.

On the road to Louisiana, Dana says that Manchac Swamp is "said to be one of the top ten creepiest places on Earth."  In 1915, a woman named Julia Brown (who sang a song saying that when she died, everyone else would follow) died, and during her funeral, a hurricane hit and killed everyone in attendance.  People have reported seeing a Lady in White and hearing singing near the swamp, and Wayne Norwood of the Louisiana Treasure Museum tells Jack and Dana that he saw the Lady in White while camping there.  Local guide Cap'n Tom Billiott meets Jack and Dana at the swamp and suggests that they take a boat to an old shack where the Lady in White has been seen.  When they get there, Jack and Dana set up some video cameras, then split up to explore the area.  They hear the motion detector go off, so they head back to review the video, where they see a mist rising from the water.  Jack wonders if it could be methane gas, but Dana says that would not have set off the motion detector.  They find the area where the hurricane victims were dumped and hear singing there.  Dana lights candles and tries to communicate with Julia Brown, asking if she knew the hurricane was coming before it hit...and all of the candles go out.

Next Jael and Devin visit Zaleski Forest in Ohio to investigate reports of apparitions and strange sounds in the Moonville Tunnel.  Patrick Quackenbush of the Vinton County Historical and Genealogical Society tells Jael and Devin that there have been at least twenty-six deaths associated with the tunnel and that he captured an apparition on video.  He also says that people often smell lavender near the tunnel (the scent a woman was wearing when she was hit by a train there) and that some believe the ghost of town bully Baldy Keaton throws rocks off the top of the tunnel.  When Jael and Devin arrive at the tunnel, they set up video cameras and decide to use train whistles to try to trigger paranormal activity.  When Jael and Devon split up, Devin sees a light go out; he asks if Baldy Keaton is there, and a rock falls off of the tunnel.  He begins climbing the steps to the top of the tunnel, but the wind comes around the corner and holds him back.  Back in the tunnel, they notice a sweet smell, and when Jael asks "Are you the one causing the sweet smell through this tunnel?," the lights suddenly go out.  They review the audio and video, and when they listen to the EVP from when Devin mentioned Baldy, they hear the word "murder."  They also see shadows in the tunnel.

I enjoyed Haunted Highway and really want to watch more episodes.  There's one episode that takes place in South Carolina, so I'm definitely going to watch that one!

My rating: 8/10

http://www.syfy.com/hauntedhighway

Celebrity Ghost Stories: 10 Most Terrifying Places, Part 2

Here is the rest of the Celebrity Ghost Stories: 10 Most Terrifying Places countdown...if you missed the first half, check out yesterday's post. : )

#5. Chelsea Hotel (New York City)

Heading to his room,
Michael Imperioli
Heard someone crying.
Looking down the hall,
He saw a woman sobbing.
She was dressed in black.
Michael asked if she
Was okay, then heard a pop.
A light had gone out
Behind him; he turned
Back to the woman, but she
Was no longer there.
Her name was Mary.
She lived there in 1912.
After she found out
Her husband had died
On the Titanic, she hung
Herself in her room.

#4. The Osborne Estate (Buckinghamshire, England)

Jack Osborne, watching
TV with his dad Ozzy,
Saw a shadowy
Figure walking down
The hall; the figure vanished.
Jack's clairvoyant friend
Came over and said
That she felt some spiritual
Activity there.
As they headed for
The third floor, she stopped and said,
"There's a man up there"
Who doesn't want to
Hurt them, just isn't ready
To leave.  It turns out
The house was once a
Recovery hospital
For wounded soldiers.

#3. A cabin in the woods (Ishpeming, Michigan)

Lewis Black was quite
Disturbed when he kept hearing
Crying babies in
A cabin where he
Was staying in the dark woods.
It sounded like a
Dozen babies, like
It was coming through the walls.
Lewis was later
Told that a vet had
Owned the cabin and performed
Abortions inside.

#2. Leech Lake (Northern Minnesota)

Samantha Harris
Was in a tent in the woods
With fellow campers.
Heard motorcycle
Noises, saw a light circling
The tent.  In the morning,
They found tire tracks
Around the tent, but none of
The other campers
Saw or heard a thing.
They talked to some counselors
And learned that in the
Seventies, a few
College students went there on
Motorcycles, and
They were murdered there.
Were they warning the girls that
Evil was still there?

#1. An abandoned house (Westport, Connecticut)

Linda Blair found a
Rundown house in the middle
Of the woods with her
Sister and a friend.
Once inside, they heard creepy
Noises and thought that
They should leave; two girls
Got out, and the door shut right
Behind them.  Linda
Pulled with all her might,
But the door refused to budge.
Linda heard footsteps,
Turned and saw a man,
A woman, and a little
Girl dragging a doll.
As they closed in on
Linda, the door flew open,
And her sister pulled
Her out.  She later
Heard that a family was
Killed there long ago.

http://www.biography.com/tv/celebrity-ghost-stories