The funniest part of this episode is when the psychic claims that there are old spirits near the lighthouse and Zak goes, "Old, do you mean... ~ancient~??" Zak knows synonyms, but I also love that something being "ancient" has the rhetorical impact of being evil for ghost hunters.
The most frustrating parts of the episode are when they fetishize Native American culture without any Native Americans to talk about their culture and history and whether or not this dang forest is haunted and/or evil. Now, this is a pretty common problem in the paranormal industry in which some place is old so it must have something to do with Native Americans like some weird boogeyman scapegoat. Jay also does research into the Chinook tribe and how they have disappeared.
Fun fact: They have not. The Chinook Nation was recognized by the federal government for a whole 18 months after over a century of trying to get the rights of other recognized Native American nations and tribes, but then the Bush 2.0 administration said, "nah man, let's screw over the Native Americans some more because we have a history of doing that and we might as well follow precedent."
So amidst the ghosts and suicides and angry spirits found in every other episode of Ghost Adventures, they just participate in some straight up racism against Indigenous Peoples that is such a problem with ghost "hunters" and other colonizers since the dawn of the United States but particularly from the notable Westward expansion of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
I did like one thing about the episode. I found all of the recreations and creepy scenes particularly inspired. The color grading was all over the place, but creepy people standing on beaches and climbing up giant rock cliffs and stuff was pretty entertaining for the split seconds they were shown. 1/10 stars, though, because even some goofy b-footage can't save the blatant racism.
The most frustrating parts of the episode are when they fetishize Native American culture without any Native Americans to talk about their culture and history and whether or not this dang forest is haunted and/or evil. Now, this is a pretty common problem in the paranormal industry in which some place is old so it must have something to do with Native Americans like some weird boogeyman scapegoat. Jay also does research into the Chinook tribe and how they have disappeared.
Fun fact: They have not. The Chinook Nation was recognized by the federal government for a whole 18 months after over a century of trying to get the rights of other recognized Native American nations and tribes, but then the Bush 2.0 administration said, "nah man, let's screw over the Native Americans some more because we have a history of doing that and we might as well follow precedent."
So amidst the ghosts and suicides and angry spirits found in every other episode of Ghost Adventures, they just participate in some straight up racism against Indigenous Peoples that is such a problem with ghost "hunters" and other colonizers since the dawn of the United States but particularly from the notable Westward expansion of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
I did like one thing about the episode. I found all of the recreations and creepy scenes particularly inspired. The color grading was all over the place, but creepy people standing on beaches and climbing up giant rock cliffs and stuff was pretty entertaining for the split seconds they were shown. 1/10 stars, though, because even some goofy b-footage can't save the blatant racism.
