Episode Recap: Judgement Day

Case #1 - Elizabeth, New Jersey - Union County Courthouse

In this episode, the team gets a little help from Bruce Tango, Dave Tango's father, who is a retired New Jersey police officer and the reason why Dave decided to become an investigator. The crew sets out to hunt in the Union County Courthouse, which is rumored to be haunted by spirits from the American Revolution.

Dave, Steve and Bruce kick off the investigation in the courthouse's Rotunda, where the apparition of a woman was said to have been seen. While there, Dave's dad hears footsteps and Steve uses the EMF detector and gets an inexplicably high reading. Meanwhile, Jason and Grant review the County Records Room, where witnesses say the doors open and close by themselves. Our experts, however, are quickly able to debunk these claims. They find that when the window is opened in the room, the wind flow is strong enough to make the doors rattle, which might give someone the illusion that the doors have opened and closed by themselves. For now, we'll call this the "window of opportunity" theory.

On the fifth floor, Kris and Amy investigate the courtroom, where people say they've seen the spirit of Hannah Caldwell, who was the first woman to die in the American Revolution. According to legend, Hannah roams the room late at night and walks over to the portrait of her radical husband Reverend James Caldwell. Hanna's actually buried right outside of the courthouse, so these claims seem to be valid enough...until Amy and Kris arrive on the scene. Although Kris thinks she sees a shadow near the door go towards the painting, Amy misses this occurrence because she's looking in another direction. And later on, during the final analysis, it seems that their DVR camera did not pick up any paranormal footage.

As they review all of the evidence back at Central Command the team finds that one of the recorders in the Records Room did film what looks like a female apparition. Things get more interesting when the apparition appears to walk directly through the wall. Could it be Hannah Caldwell's legendary ghost? Perhaps. But one fact remains certain- there is paranormal activity within the Union County Courthouse.

 Case # 2 - Hopkinton, New Hampshire - Macneil House

The team next heads to the Macneil family house, which was originally built in 1865. The current tenants Renee and Leigh Macneil have a one year old daughter and have been experiencing some strange occurrences since they moved in. For her sake, they want answers, so TAPS arrives on the scene to help out.

Jason and Grant decide to begin their investigation in the upstairs guest room, where Renee's mother said she was awakened by her bed shaking. Familiar with New Hampshire, the two hunters believe that the tremors the mother felt were probably the result of small earthquakes, which occur often without notice. And further analysis completed after the investigation proved Jason and Grant's theory to be correct.

Dave and Steve analyze the baby's room, where Renee claims the rug moves across the floor on its own. The two hunters were able to find that this actually occurs from natural disruption. They reenact typical movements that Renee might make while changing the baby and notice that she would have to pivot on the rug when moving away from the changing table, causing the rug to shift. The probability of there being paranormal activity in the baby's room is slim ,  great news for baby Macneil, indeed.

Then, Kris and Amy investigate the TV room where the couch reportedly moved on its own. However the Ghost Hunters are quickly able to debunk this. They place a flashlight on the ground and it rolls away by itself. This leads both Kris and Amy to realize that the culprit to the moving furniture is not paranormal phenomena, but rather uneven floorboards. They are also able to solve the mystery of the radio that allegedly turns itself on at 3AM every day. It seems that there is a tricky alarm that's been set that the owners didn't know about. With a purchase of a new clock radio, their problems will be solved.

Having debunked most of the claims during the investigation, TAPS concludes that the Macneil house is not haunted.