Soca Warriors Online Discussion Forum
General => Entertainment & Culture Discussion => Topic started by: Michael-j on February 19, 2011, 07:30:34 AM
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Syfy's 'Ghost Hunters' crew filming episode in Trinidad
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Syfy_s__Ghost_Hunters__crew_filming_episode_in_Trinidad-116516233.html (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Syfy_s__Ghost_Hunters__crew_filming_episode_in_Trinidad-116516233.html)
By Sateesh Maharaj
Story Created: Feb 18, 2011 at 11:48 PM ECT
Story Updated: Feb 18, 2011 at 11:48 PM ECT
Members of the popular paranormal series Ghost Hunters have been in Trinidad investigating cases reported to them for an upcoming episode.
The 20-member crew, who are staying at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad hotel in Port of Spain, landed in Trinidad on February 10 and have been doing intense field study and recordings in various parts of the country. They leave on February 26.
One of the sites investigated during their stay was the Lopinot historical complex. A crew member said the other sites would not be immediately revealed to prevent people from "contaminating" these areas while under investigation.
Carla Foderingham, CEO of the Trinidad and Tobago Film Company (TTFC), said the company was contacted by Ghost Hunters International asking for information on possible sites where paranormal activity could be evidenced in Trinidad.
"We got to work. We then linked with their local person, Fernando Rodas, and were able to bring them in touch with two communities and facilitated with an agency the access to the particular space which we really aren't at liberty now to tell you."
Foderingham said the TTFC ensured that the crew's equipment entered Trinidad and Tobago without any challenges in that there was a waiver involved.
"There was a lot of equipment coming through and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in sync with the Ministry of Finance were able to move it through Cabinet with a waiver of the duties and taxes for this equipment which came in as a freight arrangement."
She added that local personnel were hired during the crew's stay.
Foderingham said that the Ghost Hunters presence in Trinidad was a great boost not just for tourism, but this country's local film industry in the international arena.
"It's promoting Trinidad and Tobago and gives [us] that greater profile as a film making territory. Not only that, the film industry globally is really word of mouth. It is interesting that all these individuals, without being prompted, have said really positive things about Trinidad and they are now saying that they are interested in coming back to do a feature film in Trinidad because of the rebate which is an incentive for filming in Trinidad and Tobago. We'd be more than pleased to really facilitate that."
A spin-off of the Syfy channel's Ghost Hunters series, Ghost Hunters International features a squad of paranormal investigators who use their principles of scientific techniques to explore some of the most legendary haunted spots around the world. Each week the team travels to the far corners of the globe, searching for answers to bizarre supernatural mysteries.
For its first round of investigations, the international crew took on some of Europe's most haunted locales, including Chillingham Castle in England and the forgotten underground city of Mary King's Close in Scotland.
The new episodes will take the team to countries such as Peru, Singapore, Sweden, the Philippines, Jamaica and many others.
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Like they come to investigate all the douen, soucouyant and buck ppl say we have.
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im into this kind of stuff, but these guys dont really catch anything on camera. ghost adventures on the travel channel is the real deal.
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Ah wonder if dey went down Moruga...... :thinking: :thinking:
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STEUPS!!!!
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Nice tuh hear..I is ah real fan of dat show ah hope dey find something intresting..
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Season Premiere this Wed 13th, Syfy Channel, 9pm EST - "Rising from the Grave" Trinidad
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Lopinot fertile for the paranormal
Trinidad Guardian (http://guardian.co.tt/entertainment/2011/07/10/lopinot-fertile-paranormal)
Published: Sun, 2011-07-10 20:29
Michelle Loubon
There’s something strange in the neighbourhood. Who you gonna call? Ghost Hunters! GHI (Ghost Hunters’ International and SYFY Channel)—the team comprising Barry Fitzgerald and Kris Williams—recently documented paranormal activity in the Lopinot Valley.Their local counterparts Paranormal Investigation Team Trinidad (Pitt) lead investigator Fernando Rodas and President of the Lopinot Community Council Dona Mora aided their investigations around the Legend of Comte De Lopinot. On Wednesday, Rodas and Mora said that Lopinot was catapulted onto the international stage via a documentary which would air on July 13 at 9 pm, and on Chacachacare on July 20. Lopinot hung on a pedestal as one of the best places they ever investigated. Priding himself on being a ghost hunter, Rodas said: “Imagine little old Lopinot will be on the world stage. That is great marketing for T&T. That is great for Lopinot. “In the whole history of the show, they said they got more evidence there than anywhere else in the world about paranormal activity.”
Sworn to secrecy
Both Rodas and Mora agreed Lopinot was fertile territory for paranormal activity—which means anything that is inexplicable. For example, noises in the attic, doors shutting and closing by themselves. The activity must be labelled bizarre, out-of-this-world and strange. Reflecting on the mountain of interest in Lopinot, Rodas said he had made an intervention when media reports surfaced about children being attacked by spirits at Moruga. Moruga also laid claim to being the hometown of the late Papa Neeza. Rodas said: “GHI heard about it. SCYFY read the story and contacted me. (December 2010). I am not discounting what the witness said. They are convinced there were spirits and obeah. If it was paranormal, it did not show itself to me. I would be happy to come down and help.” Rodas added: “They wanted to know about my organisation. I came up with two other locations...Lopinot and Chacachacare, simply because there was nothing going on in Moruga. Chacachacare is one of the places with the most paranormal experiences in Trinidad.” When the documentary premieres, Rodas will be featured in Chachachacare along with members of his paranormal group. Putting her fingers on her lips, Mora said: “I am sworn to secrecy. We had to sign documents. All I can say is they got stuff they have never known or recorded before.
“The bonanza was a lot of paranormal evidence they have never seen before.”
(http://www2.guardian.co.tt/beta/userfiles/image/pitt.png)
CAPTION: Paranormal investigator Fernando Rodas and Donna Mora, president of the Lopinot Village Council gush about Compte de Lopinot legend being on the SCYFY channel. Photos: Dilip Singh
Captivated by Lopinot
Lopinot residents are immensely proud of the picturesque village which serves as the venue for May Cross celebrations. Thus it was not surprising that the show’s producers were smitten by this pristine neck of the woods. Rodas said: “The producers came down and wanted to see beautiful Lopinot. They found it was a beautiful location. They thought they would do the show there.” Without hesitating, they called the network and brought down their state-of-the-art equipment for filmmaking. Roaming the Lopinot landscape, they captured both daytime/nightime shots of the caves and cemetery. Wallowing in Lopinot hospitality, tour guide Martin Gomez and resident Mikey Plaza furnished them with a treasure trove of information. As legends unfold, particularly via oral traditions, the storyline extrapolates. Mora painted as accurate a picture as she could about the strange incidents in the Lopinot Valley. She said: “About 100 slaves had died under Compte de Lopinot. Some of them died cruel deaths and their souls are not at rest. A lot of the villagers experience strange activities. They complain they feel a heavy presence. Ghost hunters investigated it. Carib artifacts were found around the cemetery. It suggests there might have been a little village on the cemetery plot.”
Paranoia replaces paranorma
Rodas has had his fair share of wild goose chases and speculation. “People would call and say they hear noises in the attic. They are wondering if it's ghosts. I would go to those people’s homes to try to find out things. When someone doesn’t see anything, especially in a superstitious place like T&T they say ‘there is a ghost or spirit in the house’. It’s just your imagination at work.” Rodas got a call from a woman in Gasparillo—only to discover “creatures of the night.” I said: “Lady, you’re crazy. There are no ghosts in the house. “It’s just a nest of bats in the ceiling.” All was not smooth sailing. While the ocean lapped against the shore, he had “personal experiences in an old abandoned house in Mayaro. Recounting the night, Rodas said: “First night nothing...second night nothing... third night...I was touched by something.”
(http://www2.guardian.co.tt/beta/userfiles/image/lop%202.png)
Compte de Lopinot Historical Complex beckons domestic and international tourists. Photos: Dilip Singh
About Fernando Rodas
He was born in New Jersey, USA, but emigrated to T&T ten years ago. He is married to a Trini girl, Candice and has two children Arianna, 10, and Mason, six. He is employed as a project manager for an oil company. He lives at St Joseph Village, San Fernando. Quizzed on his foray into paranormal activity, he said: “I have been doing ghost hunting for a little over two years. I felt it when I was growing up. I lived in a house that had paranormal activity... always sensing and feeling things.” As he matured, he developed a keener interest in the unknown. He added: “I just decided to buy equipment that deals with electro-magnetic fields (EMF) metre...That’s what ghosts use to manifest themselves. I got digital voice recorders and full spectrum cameras. I bought a lot of nighttime equipment to capture the strange phenomena.” His hobby takes him down creaking steps. Admitting his friends think he’s crazy to get all excited about ghost hunting, he said: “They get frightened. They won’t be caught dead...walking alone. They say, 'Fernando, you’re crazy.' I like to walk around and look for spooky things. It gives me a thrill. It’s fun.” Rodas boasts that his bewitching hour “is around three in the morning.” He opined: “ I am more afraid of the living than the dead.”
Lopinot Tours
• Interested people can contact Fernando Rodas at 785-5433 or at Facebook PITT
• The Lopinot documentary airs on SCYFY on July 13 at 9 pm
• Chacachacare—July 20.
The Compte de Lopinot Complex is now fully operational. Curator Martin Gomez is available to conduct tours.
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The other day I saw Etienne Charles performed with a local youth steelband, Cafe, at U of Maryland. They perform a skit called "Folklore". They used all the members to play bit roles. The li' kids were the douens. One played papa bois, another played Dame Loraine. It was very entertaining. Etienne cool.
About Lopinot having parnormal. Well Lopinot has had a sordid past. It was a slave plantation and who knows what used to happen there. So it just might be the spirits of our grandparents who want hollywood to stay to f--k away for their resting place.
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My brother spent a few nights there when his school participated in the royal bank star class project and he said their tour guide (lopinot resident) use to tell some real good "horror" stories about stuff that happened in Lopinot. After the stories men couldnt sleep but they did not experience anyhting during the stay. The man claimed he could see spirits because he was born with a "veil of skin" over his eyes, allyuh ever hear about that?
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My brother spent a few nights there when his school participated in the royal bank star class project and he said their tour guide (lopinot resident) use to tell some real good "horror" stories about stuff that happened in Lopinot. After the stories men couldnt sleep but they did not experience anyhting during the stay. The man claimed he could see spirits because he was born with a "veil of skin" over his eyes, allyuh ever hear about that?
called veil over yuh eyes..lol dem people supposed to be able to see spirits...lol
I feel de only spirits dem does see is de spirit of Trinidad...aka Vat 19
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ah waiting for tomorrow to watch the episode , hopefully it doesn't disappoint
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It on now. Men tryin to call out a soucouyant in de bush.
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LMAOOOOOOOO at this show.
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I hear dey jes find Calder Hart in Lopinot.
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look like the GHI team found some spirits in 'Lopeeno'
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It on now. Men tryin to call out a soucouyant in de bush.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Why they don't go Moruga composite and call out dem demons that possess the little children
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I didn't know they had 'sequoias' in Trinidad, too.
(http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/trees/images/ca_giant_sequoia.jpg)
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http://www.youtube.com/v/Rq6gjzq9QmQ
http://www.youtube.com/v/aPgN3FwA9fo
http://www.youtube.com/v/6CdMT-b3-vQ
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proof and evidence meh left nut.i eh see anything to come to the conclusion lopinot haunted and it have ah SEQUOIA
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SEQUOIA!!! Maybe they wanted to say Slk Cotton!!!
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Susan and Kris dress up in some skinny jeans and tank top tuh go ghost hunting... dem eh fraid ah ghost come and try and tief ah wine? Something grab Susan leg and they keep focusing de camera on that. Too bad it di'n grab she bamsee instead ;D
De chinee fella and de next one down by de river is some kicks... dem men stand up dey vibesin' de soucouyant like normal scenes... "Aye, whey yuh is? Why yuh like tuh drink people blood? Yuh need tuh feed on dey energy or what?" :rotfl:
De shadow by de river and de light from de cashew tree convincing doh.
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When dat cat see de light, it was real pace :) Too bad they didn't find de phantom or ah lazabless
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Suck me, Sequoia
By B.C. Pires (bcraw.com)
ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT, Ghost Hunters International - the Syfy primetime show in which people traipse around the world investigating supposedly haunted houses - featured Trinidad's own Lopinot Great House. The show is unmitigated rubbish and Wednesday's episode didn't even look good, shot as it was largely in black-and-white "night vision". The cast spent most of the 44 minutes of airtime wandering around bumping into things in the dark, looking very much like lost extras searching for the set of The Blair Witch Project.
For almost all of the show, nothing at all happened, until the last nanoseconds immediately before each advertisement break, when one of the presenters excitedly pretended that something had touched her leg or that her stomach rumbling because she refused her roti lunch was a vicious growl. Ghost Hunters International strives mightily to be bloodthirsty but ends up being only content-famished.
The ghost hunters listened to obviously made-up tales of Count Lopinot mounting his horse and galloping to "the hanging tree" - a cashew tree, where the colour of the fruit is itself drawn into the melodrama: could cashews be blood-red because of the blood of the slaves hanged in this very tree? Creepy, unless you remember that people don't bleed when hanged, or that cashews from trees where people were not hanged are also red. (A far more accurate comparison might have been the bulging fat seeds: could it be that they took their shape from the popped out eyes of the hanged slaves?)
The show's stupidity was most plainly revealed when they went looking for a soucouyant. The ghost hunters, so unfamiliar with a West Indian accent that they put up "English" sub-titles on the TV screen whenever the caretaker spoke, could not grasp the French pronunciation of "soo-coo-yah". So they wandered around trying to make contact with the lady who takes of her skin and turns into a flying ball of fire by chanting, "Come to me, Sequoia!", pronouncing it like the Californian tree. I half-expected one of them to say, "Come to me, Conifer!" The young chick in the tight jeans might have been better off looking for the non-scientific giant redwood; especially in Arouca.
It's no wonder the Independent Investigations Group gave the show's parent, Ghost Hunters, the TTTV Award - the Truly Terrible Television Award - for its shameless presentation of pseudoscience and superstition as faux documentary. In Wednesday's decidedly non-climactic final segment, "The Reveal" - more accurately a cover-up - everyone present conspired to pretend a splotch of discolouration on a frame might be a soucouyant. Or sequoia.
But had the ghost hunters really been interested in finding houses haunted by malevolent spirits, I could have taken them on a tour that would have filled a 13-episode season.
To begin with the right, disturbingly evil atmosphere, I'd have taken the crew first to the collapsing President's House, which can be seen by anyone walking along the northern edge of the Queen's Park Savannah, and has been witnessed without protest over the last decade by Everyman. There, the ghost hunters could find startling and incontrovertible evidence of the death of all civic responsibility in Trinidad & Tobago. "Look", I'd tell them, "at how we value our heritage and tell me if that ain't a real firetrucking horror." I'd end that episode with a to-camera standup: "On a full moon night," I'd say, softly, meaningfully, "they say you can see the ghost of former First Lady Hassanali, weeping in the tangled overgrowth, all that remains of the self-sustaining kitchen garden that once supplied baigan choka to official cocks-tail parties".
I'd walk the ghost hunters along the path connecting the old President's house ruin to the Palace of the Peacock, the Prime Minister's residence. "This building," I would tell the ghost hunters, "is haunted by a ghost that makes whoever lives in it care more about what things look like than what they really are. You could have people being murdered in broad daylight in the main streets or shopping centres. The person living in this house will care only about finding high-paying jobs for friends. It doesn't matter how good their heart is when they move in. Within weeks, the spirit of the house possesses them. And they are damned! But perhaps not so damned as the people they represent". Cymbal clash. Shrieking violins.
Then I'd walk them back through the President's House grounds (if the house hadn't collapsed completely in the interim) and through the Savannah, which they would see immediately is possessed by the spirit of Mammon, so much so that a good part of its sacred green space has been paved and given over to peasant or subsistence level commerce, and some devil has erected ugly streetlights that light up all night to give Port of Spain's residents the omen that its central park will soon be one big, stink parking lot.
Though the temptation would be great to take them out to the old haunted church at Aripo and show them the actual site where hubris vanquished reality and Afro-Saxon intellectual and self-determination aspirations were sacrificed at the altar of superstition and greed, I'd choose not to. Similarly, to preserve the last visitor euro or two keeping Tobago from going right under, I would not take the ghost hunters to the Greens' house in Bacolet.
No, I'd finish my tour at the most frightening haunted house of all: the blood-Red House of Representatives. "This entire building," I would tell GHI, "is inhabited by zombies. They wear suits-and-ties in a hot country and drag their disgusting, half-dead, rotting bodies, going through the motions of representation while actually savagely pursuing self-interest. The only way you can save them is by cutting off their heads. You can't shoot them in the brain, because they don't have any."
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How Pires pee in de people cornflakes so?
dotish people have the right to enjoy shows geared to them too.
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The young chick in the tight jeans might have been better off looking for the non-scientific giant redwood; especially in Arouca.
This has to be a quote of the year....
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It on now. Men tryin to call out a soucouyant in de bush.
:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Why they don't go Moruga composite and call out dem demons that possess the little children
that woulda be some serious scenes
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Watching this again I realise this was some real funny shyte!! Ah mean de girl call out to de ghost in French!! Well yes, reach!!
:rotfl: :rotfl:
Anybody remember the fella in Arouca who did cuss up the Fox News crew?? Imagine if the ghost did respond like he??!! Well I woulda dead for days!!!....
:rotfl: :rotfl:
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I am a fan of the show for all three seasons ,so I actually cant wait to check it out .
Bt w way thanks tallman for the vids ,I had been waiting to catch it on OLN but no luck .
PS bakes Kris is sweet .
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Martin Gomez Cave or what not ,stepss hes lying.And that lady in cahoots with him .
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did you hear what the Irish guys said ,he said soucouyants are blood sucking DEMONS ,and he did not know they still exist !!! :o.
Ancient old demons hiding out . :whistling:
And they finding activity ,they would try and help settle it .The blonde say they renovating Lopinot house and the old evil bastard pissed.
part one finished ...part 2 next .
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macomereman ghost...gyal actually tellin u to grab anything else!...steups..
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I killin my self laughin at how alyuh dissin d people show......dotish americans get entertainment value an' we get WTF kicks value...everybody win ;D
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I am a fan of the show for all three seasons
Boy I never watch de show before Wednesday night and after what I see I would never watch again.....I find you kinda brave to make this statement yes......dais some good shyte!!
Ah co-worker tell mih he is a Syfy channel fan and after watching that show, he cyar watch Syfy ever again....
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I am a fan of the show for all three seasons
Boy I never watch de show before Wednesday night and after what I see I would never watch again.....I find you kinda brave to make this statement yes......dais some good shyte!!
Ah co-worker tell mih he is a Syfy channel fan and after watching that show, he cyar watch Syfy ever again....
oh gorm at least watch d episode nex week...dey on Chacahacare next
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I am a fan of the show for all three seasons
Boy I never watch de show before Wednesday night and after what I see I would never watch again.....I find you kinda brave to make this statement yes......dais some good shyte!!
Ah co-worker tell mih he is a Syfy channel fan and after watching that show, he cyar watch Syfy ever again....
oh gorm at least watch d episode nex week...dey on Chacahacare next
Yuh lie??!! :o :o It have more comedy to come??!! Oh laaaaawwwddd ah cyar wait!!! :rotfl: :rotfl:
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More a fan of ghost hunter than Gh International . But they try to help ppl eg if you feel your home or work has strange happenings ,and ppl think your coocoo ,they come in and try to capture it on tape ,audio ,termal cams ,and tell you if they found anything . They really brave oui ,one of they best was in Ireland looking for fairies that one was wild . These trinis espially the lady coning them ,she job is lopinot tourism .but the bit I seen they piocking stuff up .So the rumours are true .
These guys try to be scientific .its new ground there covering in there research.
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More a fan of ghost hunter than Gh International . But they try to help ppl eg if you feel your home or work has strange happenings ,and ppl think your coocoo ,they come in and try to capture it on tape ,audio ,termal cams ,and tell you if they found anything . They really brave oui ,one of they best was in Ireland looking for fairies that one was wild . These trinis espially the lady coning them ,she job is lopinot tourism .but the bit I seen they piocking stuff up .So the rumours are true .
These guys try to be scientific .its new ground there covering in there research.
Never watched the show but what science do they use pray tell?
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More a fan of ghost hunter than Gh International . But they try to help ppl eg if you feel your home or work has strange happenings ,and ppl think your coocoo ,they come in and try to capture it on tape ,audio ,termal cams ,and tell you if they found anything . They really brave oui ,one of they best was in Ireland looking for fairies that one was wild . These trinis espially the lady coning them ,she job is lopinot tourism .but the bit I seen they piocking stuff up .So the rumours are true .
These guys try to be scientific .its new ground there covering in there research.
Never watched the show but what science do they use pray tell?
well the next morning they go and review all the recordings ,looking for any anomalies ,its an experiment there running . Going into the most hunted places and walking around in the dark looking for proof of paranormal activity .
You ppl cant wrap your minds around the concept can you .Ghunters start it outbig time ,just looking for solid evidence ,surprised how shy ghost are .
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macomereman ghost...gyal actually tellin u to grab anything else!...steups..
Ent when I hear she say dat, ah say wha, like family listen tuh Machel Jumbie song
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they in chacachacare now...
http://www.youtube.com/v/HZP8XE585K8
http://www.youtube.com/v/GCgNPb2vm4Y
http://www.youtube.com/v/yrsbvgIaBT8