Ancient Ram Inn
(Part 1: Rants and Praises)
Hello wonderful people!
I've been anxiously waiting for a perfect time to review this episode as well as a good time to review this show, Ghost Adventures, for a long time now. Finally that time has arrived after watching Dead Files and hating that show's guts, it's time to talk about one of the amazing episodes of Ghost Adventures.
The Ancient Ram Inn is the eighth episode (which happens to be the season finale) in the second season of Ghost Adventures. Zak, Nick, and Aaron travel all the way to Wotton-under-Edge, a market town in Gloucestershire England to investigate the thousand year old building known as the Ancient Ram Inn claimed to be the most haunted home in Great Britain.
Why is this house given such a dark title? An incubus and succubus reside there and the owner claims that “the evil in this building it's a power that's almost equal to god himself.” The incubus and succubus wake you up in the middle of the night (sometimes depending on what gender you are, the incubus attacks women and the Succubus attacks men) wanting sex from you. In this case it seems to be both, and then changes to just the incubus, and then later on it's both of them again (possible spoiler alert.) I say that because in the beginning he states that both of those things are to be residing in the house and in the investigation Zak keeps mentioning the incubus and Mr. Humphries refers to it as an Incubus haunting. Innocent mistake, or an actual fact we may never know. The house was supposedly built on a pagan burial ground where there are still skeletons still being unearthed, possessions have occurred in the house as well as exorcisms and there is apparent 'evidence' of human sacrifices (which shall be ranted about in depth about later on.)
Who could live in such a terrible house? A rather fragile looking elderly man named John Humphries. You almost feel bad that he's being tortured by whatever is haunting the house. He looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly and yet here this demonic female (and/or male) entity is demanding sex with him as well as anything residual haunts from the land being so rich in history. Then you re-watch the episode and you wonder how sane he is and/or how much the negativity has affected him because that house has to be so emotionally and mentally draining even more so for an elderly man like him.
*I have to point out that Wikipedia mentions the two televised paranormal investigations have taken place, Ghost Adventures (obviously) and the pathetic excuse for a paranormal show Most Haunted. A non-televised ghost hunting group called The Ghost club went there in 2003 and their creditability claim is that they are the oldest paranormal research organization. That claim goes right out the window because they “didn't register anything paranormal” because they have to be blind or have the crappiest investigation techniques to not get anything but three guys with their own cameras went to the same place got amazing activity. Mr. Humphries even states so himself, "It’s very, very rare for anyone not to have trouble in here this is not just a ghost in here it's called a host. There are so many ghostly entities in here that they are impossible to count..." that is the answer he gives Zak when he asked if there is anything he should know before they go into the house.*
Now for the episode itself, this one is in my top episodes of Ghost Adventures right below are the Bobby Mackey's Music World (including the times they went back) and the Moon River Brewery episode. I think Bobby Mackey's is at the top spot; the documentary is on its own level because it is not an episode, and it’s a documentary. You can't compare a movie to a miniseries so why should I compare their documentary to their show. It's that good and it made me into an even bigger fan than I already was which would be fanboy-ish considering it was just the eight episode of the second season and when I started watching the show had already had like five seasons out so I had a lot of catching up to do. The Poveglia Island episode was good too however it has it's moment that I will address later, but this episode is a really great episode, I loved how the interviews were conducted, I love how they don't have an ADHD style of editing (Dead Files) as they try to build suspense the whole case itself is suspenseful enough on its own and it doesn't need any fancy production or anything to make it altered, fake, or doubtful.
I do think that John and Zak were a little confused on their mythology of incubus and succubi or I am the one who is confused, Zak says "...A residing incubus and succubus..." meaning that they both in the house but why would they both be there when there's only one guy living there? Unless the Incubus is bisexual I guess it would make some sense as to why it is in the house but it offers no explanation as to why the succubus would be there. Then to top it all off Ghost Adventures crew just forgets about the both of them later on in the episode.
*Little side note, although incubus is said to attack females the websites says it could be bisexual too however, it is stated at some point that both of them are in the house but as the episode continues they forget the succubus completely and refer to it as an incubus.*
Going into detail about everything that happens in the episode would take forever, as learned with Dead Files. So I shall be covering the highlights and anything else I want to talk about. I shall start with the walk through and history portion of the episode.
I shall start with pointing out the best reaction face ever to hearing about an Incubus/Succubus that I have ever seen.
(Mr. Humphries discussing the haunting)
(Zak reacting to what the incubus does)
Zak's face is priceless and Mr. Humphries doesn't even laugh at his reaction almost as if this has happened before (and it probably has.)
Now for the serious part and this might ruin my credibility, but I have very little firsthand knowledge about Paganism, however I have been told by some people that they think it means something negative. If you take the time to do a Google search for the definition of Pagan (typing in Paganism gives you the same results) none of the definitions specifically state it's of devil worship or of anything negative as well as human and child sacrifice being ruled out after stone age. The location the sacrifices may have occurred, were not located on the ancient ram inn (Germanic, Norse/Scandinavia, and even some events in Chinese history were some of the geographical names mentioned in Wikipedia page) meaning they would have had to walk all the way to the location of where the Ancient Ram Inn currently stands and do their sacrifices there. With that in mind it is safe to say that over the years human sacrifice has been done but it lost its popularity as civilization happened and despite it being a horrible thing to do it's their religion and what they believe would please their gods and/or goddesses so who am I to say they were wrong for doing so since it isn't practiced anymore) This might sound like I'm trying to prove them completely wrong and discount all the artifacts on display in the Ancient Ram Inn, but unless they truly have solid proof that sacrifice related to the Pagan religion happened at that particular spot to back up their claims then this portion of the episode will continue to feel like they have no idea what they are talking about and are unintentionally making Paganism look bad.
Understand that they only have a thirty minute time slot so they can't squeeze in every bit of history that they come across and expect to fit the investigation in as well so some parts have to be cut out. This does not excuse the fact that there are times when they should really consider how they're presenting their history portion of the episode because it comes across as really stereotypical or like everyone around them has never read a book in their life. That's way before the building was even there however the land was still there so if that is part of the haunting that goes on it is the land itself because of the building being there. Now to address the possible devil worshiping items found in the fireplace of the Bishop's room, those artifacts are from satanic worshipers that want to harm people. Last time I checked that isn't a part of Paganism and you can lose your powers if you're going around summoning demons and harming people with your powers because a fun little group of people called druids come and take it away from you because they are that powerful. You don't mess with druids they mean business... Overall the history portion was sort of sketchy but they only had a certain amount of time to put everything in but it could have portrayed Paganism in a not so negative light. It's not fair to any Pagans watching the show or to anyone who doesn't know much about the religion who end up scared away from it because they are the kind of person who believes everything they see on TV. The emphasis put on those things to make it sound dark is not needed, like the historian said the whole area is soaked in blood but barely anything else other than the sacrifices and pagan burial ground were elaborated on. It’s just Pagans and child sacrifices, if there was a group that called themselves pagan and did that sort of thing after it was looked down upon by the world then they should state the group of that did so and not just say Pagan like everyone did it. It is also completely possible that a group of Pagans did something bad on that land but that's not part of their practices. People aren't always good rule abiding citizens no matter what religion you are a part of because that's just how life is but they should have had something to balance out the negative tone they set towards Paganism.
I feel really horrible saying this about Mr. Humphries, but a sudden wave of shock came over me while re-watching this episode. I honestly thought he was a little crazy or just making some of this up but I don't doubt his claims and nor do I doubt the other people who have lived in the house but he looks horrible. I don't expect them to do a full medical check on the guy because that is none of their business nor is it anyone else but the family of Mr. Humphries, but he seems off. It is possible that he looks so frail from living in that house for so long it could be draining the life out of him. I know I just discussed the incubus and succubus, but he couldn't get the names right and he's lived in that house for years. It is possible that there could be both creatures living there but the likelihood they are both in there at the same time attacking the poor man is stupid on their part. Wouldn't they be annoyed with each other after a while if the incubus is bisexual, which it seems to be or else they would remember to call it a succubus and wouldn't the residing succubus be pissed that the incubus was constantly being recognized as the attacker when it actually wasn't? Now the historian says (I think) that the incubus and succubus are the same entity but it has the ability to change genders. What I really think about how they came to be was a rise of infidelity and someone decided to make up a lie about their mistress when they got caught. They could be real but any validity they might have had is LONG gone except with Humphries because he has no excuse to be cheating on anyone since his wife left him so he's not in a relationship. This would be a case where an incubus and/or succubus would be a legit entity or entities... although they don't have the opposite gender living in that house so that ruins any possibility that someone didn't just make this up so they could get away with whatever sexual 'crime' they committed.
Caroline Wallis:
Mr. Humphries Daughter
She grew up in that house but apparently never knew about the ghosts until they opened the house up as a bed and breakfast. The guests would leave through the windows because they were so scared by what happened in their rooms. First off jumping out a window on the second story could lead to a broken leg and then you've got to lay there unless you want to hobble down the street and explain to someone why you have a broken leg. I love how she just insist her mother doesn't like talking about it, maybe she's changed her opinion since she last had to talk about when she lived with John Humphries. Let her speak for herself and don't assume things she’s not there to defend; I say this because I kind of wanted to see her interviewed for the show and hear her accounts.
*Lay Lines, I don't exactly understand what they are but they seem to be a series of lines near important places and sometimes they meet and stuff happens. I believe in some places they exist because the Earth has magnetic energy and it has to travel in some direction right? It can't just be all over the place and sporadic I think that would mess something up.*
Walk Through:
The Witches Room
The first witness states that he took six pictures and one of them has a face in it. The little blob of something is visible but only as a blob. There's no clear cut face in that blob at all so how he saw a face could have been matrixing but that is not a face. The witness also went into the house with two friends and his female friend got three scratch marks which is supposedly demonic in nature because it has something to do with the trinity. Well I question this by asking what if someone has a body part covered in scratches they obtained from an entity. That seems kind of evil too. For some reason that’s all they care to mention on the Witch’s room during the walk through.
Walk Through:
The Bishop's Room
Remember those strange horseshoe-looking objects that were found in the chimney. In all honesty I think that really big iron horseshoe is exactly what it looks like a horseshoe but that little one is a mystery to me, I don't know how small miniature ponies feet are but the even bigger question to be asked about those things, why were they chimney of the fireplace? It is a complete mystery that nobody bothers to address as well as the bishop's room. Nobody explains who this bishop is and why there are satanic worshiping artifacts in his room. While in the bishop's room something happens with their audio it gets all snowy sounding. Now they might be newcomers to the paranormal research field in this season but they're not stupid they have pretty good equipment for filming hell Nick has a degree in film and Aaron's their tech manager so if something goes wrong that's normal they would know how to fix it or at least identify it. This snowy sound is obviously not something that happens on a daily basis and if it was they would know that a new camera might be needed in the near future. Once that happens Mr. Humphries is bothered by something which he claims never happened in all forty years of living in this house... but if you rewind a little bit he says that he's used to it because it happens all the time. See why I think he's a little off? Either this happens all the time, it happens occasionally/rarely, or it doesn't happen at all, it can't be both it happens all the time and then five seconds later it doesn't happen at all. That's a little fishy but I do not deny something happened, it's evident something went on.
End of Walk through
Beginning of the Ritual with Lady Snake
I don't know what to think of Lady Snake because I don't know anything about witches other than as a person she comes off as shady to me. They have stopped the walk through and are doing something to help bring out the dark energy here but it's evident they don't need help because something attacked Mr. Humphries before. They've invited Lady Snake in to do some form of ritual to do something with the negative energy. This is the part that bugged me:
Zak - Because of a lot of the dark hauntings here we decided it would be a good idea to find a witch and this witch is now going to do a ritual for us which I don't know is such a good idea.
Lady Snake - Well I hope you know what you're letting yourself in for because it's going to be very dark and I'm going to open up a circle for you and you're going to do it yourselves because I won't do that side of it.
Zak - So a witch won't do what we're requesting?
Lady Snake - No not really…
You're going to let people who have never done this before do something that you are trained to do? That's really sketchy if you don't feel like you're the proper person for this ritual then go direct them to the person who can do it because they're opening something under your direction. Just do it and get it over with don't start it then let them finish it. It's hard to pinpoint my exact complaint but she just rubs me the wrong way. She also instructs them on how to do the ritual... just do it yourself lady and I don't know where you said that I present these humans to you dark horrible entities as gifts what you did say was I call upon (elemental name here) to watch over our magical rite tonight. I don't know how that translates to them being gifts. You never said that unless they cut that part of it out due to time restraints, but nothing aired on the episode specifically stating that you said you'd offer them gifts and that gift would be Zak, Nick, and Aaron.
*Another thing to pick on her for, she forgot the water element and I didn't know you could call upon elemental gnomes and I love how no one notices she says 'pacifically states' instead of 'Specifically states.' She also determines that Zak's not himself after knowing him for what a few hours maybe? How do you know he's not himself? Zak normally acts like that you want to see not himself, go look at the Poveglia Island episode when he gets possessed.*
When Zak decides to lie down on the dirty floor because the imitation witch says to, why doesn't anyone question why he thinks Aaron looks weird? Is it just from that angle? Did Zak see Aaron's face change? And let it be noted that while he's lying there, a growl comes from the fireplace (that is behind the alter) and the voiceover from Zak asked if it could be the succubus. This is the ONLY time in the investigation that he mentions the succubus, the rest of the time it's an incubus. The impression that is left after she says "If I know what I think it is..." she just willingly summoned a succubus... she just pulled up a demon... I know that's what they were looking for but you're not supposed to do that.
-Look at her when she mentions the temperature dropping pause it at 5:40, Zak is magically standing up, press play and you'll see Zak is laying down again and then he's standing up again, editing fail?-
Another thing to pick on the witch for is that she only thinks of herself when she goes to her alter for protection. Does she want them to get hurt? It's almost as if she doesn't even care about her job that she was contacted to do. She just brought down the quality of the show and fortunately she isn't seen again in any other episode but they don't return to the Inn for later seasons. It must be noted that they have some very hilarious moments during their investigations and that is one of the attractions of the show. They know when to be serious and they know when to get back on track after goofing off. I also feel bad that Mr. Humphries thought he was being locked in but I did laugh at how he called them idiots for being so energetic about this lock-down.
Part two containing the Lockdown portion of the episode/Best Evidence (as well as two more ghost adventures reviews should be up soon)
Happy Haunting
~Pugsly~
