Belgravia Episode 3

                                             
More fall out from Lady Brockenhurst (Harriet Walter) displaying Charles (Jack Bardoe) in public from the party as everyone is bringing it up.  Including Oliver (Richard Goulding) who is really at a miss as to why James (Philip Glenister) is taking so much interest in him too, instead of his own son.  If only he knew he is his nephew he wouldn't feel that way and Anne (Tamsin Greig) really wanted to tell him when he complained about wanting to be a part of the Cubbitt project and not wanting to do it at the same time.  Well it appears Oliver found out James had been accepted by the gent's club but Anne didn't know.  So how did Oliver find out already, unless he was just told that he was lunching there if he visited James at work. 

Lady Brockenhurst goes ahead with her investment, which James regrets as he should've invested in Charles's venture fully so she wouldn't be involved.  Even admitting to Anne that he wanted to tell Charles who he is and that this news should come from him, his grandfather.  Anne stressing they gave him up for this reason and they can't do that now.  Better they should as it will be out soon and then they will be treated with even more contempt and Sophia will indeed be called "a slut" as they keep stressing every ep!  However it appears that John (Adam James) is well on his way to finding out who Charles is as he's intent on bribing the servants into garnering info from them about the Trenchard family secrets and as Anne stated they have many.  With James even giving something away when Ellis (Saskia Reeves) was 'hiding' by the bed.  Oh really Anne you should've sent her out sooner!  Betrayal and deceit for a penny!  Huh Downton servants would never have done this, except Thomas and O'Brien of course.  Ahh a bygone era of TV!

Susan (Alive Eve) finally has her trist with John - the bore, really what did she see in him.  Me thinks it's the jingle jangle of pennies too when he inherits.  That'll be a cold day in hell since Charles will get it all!!  A fitting comeuppance for that side of the family.  As his father, the Reverend (James Fleet) can't stop gambling and racking up debts, they've nothing left to sell and the house is mortgaged to the hilt.  As the Earl (Tom Wilkinson) rightly refuses to pay brother dear now't!  That's why they need to find out more about Charles and why Lady Brockenhurst is investing her coffers.  Since Susan has taken the plunge, how long is it since she becomes pregnant with John's baby after telling Anne she's tried everything and can't have children.  She was a gold digger if ever there was one! Clawing her way up into society probably seeing Oliver as someone she could manipulate and an easy mark.

Charles and Maria (Ella Purnell) take a stroll through the park as they head to different places but in  the same directions, much to the chagrin of her mother's maid acting as chaperone.  All goes well until Charles finds out she's engaged to John bore.  His face as though his heart had been cut out when she told him this but still insisted she would visit his office with Lady Brockenhurst.
Thought this episode dragged a little as all they really did was plenty of exposition on how unreliable the servants are with Speer (Bronagh Gallagher) being easily bought, as was Turton (Paul Ritter).  With Speer having notions of blackmailing Susan later with everything she knows.  Wonder if Ellis will follow suit, remains to be seen since she's disgruntled in her position and doesn't want to be in    service, but was on the ball when she said how women are "stitched up" in how little they can do in the world.

Julian Fellowes has plans for a series 2 in the works.

Ghost Adventures 21.5 "Goodwin Home Invasion"

                                          
This one was personal for the guys at they went back to Aaron's old house he sold to his father. Was gonna say his old haunt but didn't.  (Well I just did.)  As he is being haunted by two spirits at least, based on what visitors to the house have seen.  This included his friend, Rocky, who saw a girl on the cabinet in the kitchen without eyes or  mouth.  And she also touched his leg under the table.  As well as a woman in dark with long dark hair seen by Don's neighbour and some of Aaron's friends.  (Must've been the AG Appreciation Society or something cos those dudes were all bearded too!  Ha.) 

Aaron thinks he brought something back from an investigation and the same thought crossed my mind as he doesn't like to cleanse and just get through it how he can.  I would have liked some background on the house even if it was recently built.  How recent and were there any other owners, what the land was before etc.  Just general routine questions.  Aaron lived here during 2016 which he and Zak say was a dark time he was going through.  He was into many things but not the occult or anything dark.  Maybe it was from something he collected since he liked to bring objects back from the investigations.  They think maybe the witch from Rose Hall in Jamaica. That was in 2011 though.

On the SLS he captures a figure and it looked like it was dancing and then vanishes off the counter.  Zak's face when he says he was feeling sick before the figure appeared.  The Trifield meter moves but is not from the dishwasher or coffeemaker.  Bible phrases also makes the needle move.  They set up cameras when Don was sleeping and it looks like glowing eyes cos it seems like it has a body or something behind it too, especially as Billy said the SLS figure looked like it was on its fours at one point, like an animal.  Though the girl didn't have any eyes, could it have been the woman.  The EVP sounds more a male than a girl when it replies that is doesn't have any eyes.  "Nah."

Did they see anything in the Polaroids, didn't say so guess not.  But he later refers to them as spectrum photos, so?? where he catches another anomaly.  Aaron is drawn upstairs and to a room where he says he used to be afraid to go in.  Voice says "It's me...the figure."  Then an anomaly comes out of the box when the voice comes through again.  "I don't need ya;" is what I hear??  When Aaron says 'behind your back' to Billy, the voice says "Aaron Goodwin" kinda echoy, at the point where the writing on the screen says 'unexplained female voice.'  At 25 mins why does it look to me as though something dark is by the doors downstairs, are they doors or alcoves, when they show the picture in three parts.  Then they show the dark figure on the screen in the kitchen. 

Don returns and is emotional as well as feeling rage.  He thought he should come back and he never cries.  Zak loses energy in the downstairs bedroom.  A voice says "in here" on the recorder.  Then Aaron captures what they say is, "I don't believe you;" to me sounds "I don't belong here."  Since he says if it talks to them then they won't throw it out.  Jay and Billy cleanse the house.  Which Aaron said was okay now on Twitter, but will return if anything else happens.

Ghost Adventures 21.4 "Nightmare in Antelope"

                                           
Another episode focusing on an exorcism and how Leila and her family have been menaced and attacked by a dark entity, possibly demonic.  How she has been attacked in her home, as well as her daughters, Mary and  Mariah having bruises on arms and seeing a black mass in the corner of the room.  Calling on Zak to help.  His "utter" sounded like "udder".  He feels the darkness even before entering Leila's house.  This has followed her here from her old house and this means it was either possibly attached to her or some object.  He refers to "old hag syndrome" when something pushes down on your body.  She doesn't put much into the paranormal.  Eliseo, her husband had witnessed her hair being pulled and something pushing her.  She doesn't remember going into rage, as Zak feels the same later on in the investigation, even wanting to strangle Aaron at one point.  Her eyes have also turned black.  During the interview, the room turns cold and she has to leave.

Zak places a crucifix on the chair and has readings on the geophone, it turns warmer and a voice on the recorder: "nothing will help you."  The Polaroid photo reveals a demonic face with horns, which I saw immediately, especially since from far away it also resembled an upside down face.  Aaron catches "it's so cold" and "hate Bagans" on the spirit box.  Could also be "hate begins"??  Did anything happen to Jay or was it just them three who were affected.  Even Bishop Bryan says the photo looks like a demonic entity.  Leaving cameras behind, they find something goes into the foot of Eliseo and makes him shake.  As well as lots of banging sounds.  Then something in front of the bed, as it appears to fall in front of it from top to bottom under the sheets, which the Bishop says could be bilocation.  His foot movement explains the Bishop, happens when a person has a "demonic infestation but not yet exhibiting demonic oppression."  Leila has also kept objects from her ex's after he shot himself in front of her.

Leila is exorcised and Zak retrieves the box she has in her closet leading to the onslaught of a coughing fit. Inside are some form of ashes but they aren't her ex's.  They are burned in a religious fire and this is the closure that she needed.  He also takes a reading on the geophone and gets spiking outside.  As the box is opened, voices come through "it's found" and "discovered."  I hear "guess you can" when Billy asks if it's trying to make him sick.  Zak thinks she could have gotten a dark attachment when she witnessed her ex take his life.  Why would he even do that in front of her, was he possessed or affected in some way, especially having those ashes.

Belgravia Episode 2

                                         
Onslaught of lots of new characters this ep all lumped in together, some with prospects of extra marital affairs such as Susan (Alice Eve) and John (Adam James) what was the attraction there anyway.  Obviously Charles (Jack Bardoe) and Mariah (Ella Purnell)would hit it off and they come across as more suited to each other.  But with a pyriah of a mother in Lady Templemore (Tara Fitzgerald) looks like she'll pull for their marriage, don't know why since John won't be getting any inheritance by the time this show is done by the looks of things. 

Anne (Tamsin Greig) must regret telling Lady Brockenhiurst (Harriet Walter) about their grandson, it really wasn't the reaction Anne was expecting and she would not keep their secret, she's not that type of woman, she's an aristo and Anne confronting her about revealing the secret in public so her son will be vindicated and not seen as the cad he was, scheming at that and Sophia was the "slut" as Lady Brockenhrst says with relish.  Lots of secrets revealed here too as Anne learns how her husband, James (Philip Glenister) has been in touch with Charles and couldn't stay away from him, using business as a pretext to see him.  But why hide it, at least they could've spent time with him together.  Though he was right in Anne not telling Lady Brockenhurst a she didn't deserve to know with her reaction.  It is she who should be pitted with a son like Bellasis and not Sophia who would be shunned by society, eventually, but ya know, she was a woman and everything so...so men are never wrong and neither are their stuck up society mothers.

Lady Brockenhurst taking on the Duchess of Bedford's tea drinking ideas in her own home too.  As the Trenchard's are invited to the lavish dinner party after Lady Brockenhurst seeks out Charles under the pretext of wanting to invest in his business.  Yeah she knows plenty about cotton.  We get to meet Bellasis's father too, Earl Peregrine Brockenhurst (Tom Wilkinson) and his side of the family.  With his brother, Rev Stephen Bellasis (James Fleet) Reverand as he was the youngest and that was something to do.  As well as his overbearing nephew, John, who is the heir.  Hoping he'll be put in his place once they find out about Charles, who seems to be a decent bloke.  Also raised by a clergyman who was given a baby to raise with his wife as their own as they were a childless couple.  Although Charles does know about him being adopted.

More gossip downstairs too as Ellis (Saskia Reeves) thinks she could've been a housemaid by now and had staff under her, but really she seems to be wanting to stay in her position for gossip if nothing else, didn't come across as being out of loyalty.  As well as Brockenhurst's butler, Jenkins (Martin Bishop) knowing everything about the family.  Thus he would know what a cad Bellasis was too.  As Anne brings up another relative of the Brockenhurst family who did exactly the same thing and deceived a woman by pretending to marry her.  Again it's all hush hush and swept under the carpet less their name should be dragged through the mud.

Poor Anne seems to be forever needing to forgive her husband and no sooner does she do so she discovers another indiscretion or secret he's been harbouring and going behind her back.  She should have done as the doctor said and taken in Charles as their own, even if Sophia didn't want it that way.  As she bitterly regrets this now.  He was family and surely they could have made up some story about distant relatives.  Of course that's not how the story goes or there wouldn't be any drama.  Ella Purnell was last seen in Wildlike with Bruce Greenwood, by me at least.

Ghost Adventures 21.3 "Union Brewery of Death"

                                           
From the outset why did this ep feel so familiar, almost a case of deja vu, demons/negativity aside.  Union Brewery, Virginia City was a bar/brothel and was reported to be haunted by something dark, as well as possibly having a portal of some sort.  This I thought was pertinent especially when Aaron felt attacked in the basement and the stick figures on the SLS as they seemed to vanish so quickly.  The same when Jay was in the basement later and caught that emanating light anomaly in the corner.  It was either hiding out maybe to escape the infrasound or heading towards a portal.  Zak interviewing Dawn who spoke of her late husband, Nick and how she found him in the upstairs apartment.  She felt he was obsessed with the building.  Perhaps it wasn't the building per se, but the entity haunting it.  Zak again asking leading questions, such as husband being two different people.

He spoke with her friends, Jackie and Dan.  Jackie spoke of being touched on her thigh and how she found herself kissing another woman on her neck.  Reportedly, a woman was raped in this building in the day and a woman and her two children died in a fire there.  Which Christina, the medium has encountered on previous occasions and told her they couldn't cross over as they were being held there by a dark man. Christina saying there is something non-human here via a portal.  Aaron felt too ill and didn't want to call it quits on the investigation.  He was left upstairs on his own, whilst the three of them went to the basement.  Though Zak didn't go in there alone, but Jay did when he and Billy investigated the apartment upstairs.

Split screen again to show what was happening to Christina and what Dawn was saying to show the similarities. The voice was more of a growl than actually speaking.  Christina faints after she comes out from the basement.  Dan says the building affected Dawn's husband.  Also a medium saying she saw a woman getting attacked on a table.  The entity kills all men and possesses women.  The stick figure looked as though it was pounding Aaron on his head.  The first voice Billy and Aaron hear sounds like she's saying "Dawn" not "go."  Orbs/anomalies are caught in the basement and one appears to go through Billy. 

They catch another anomaly by the bedroom door and Jay uses infrasound to aggravate the entity in an attempt to make the spirit leave.  Zak uses the APF Processor by Gary Galka, sure he's used that before, with the SB7.  The female voice at 32.02 sounds like she says "help."  33.14 sounds like "goodbye."  As well as capturing some sort of an entity on a Polaroid photo.

Belgravia Series 1 Episode 1

                                               
Another series from the pen of Julian Fellowes and yes it is rather Downton Abbey wouldn't you say, even the music has a distinct air of Downton to it.  Whereas the opening titles are more Sanditon.  As with Vanity Fair, this begins with the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Duke of Wellington's impending victory at Waterloo.  Focusing on the Trenchard family, with the father, James (Philip Glenister) being the one responsible for acquiring supplies for the army: a Jack of all trades and known as 'Magician'.  A victualler.  He wants to attend the ball given by the Duchess of Richmond (Diana Kent) and his daughter, Sophia (Emily Reid) has acquired three invites for each of them from the Edward Lord Bellasis (Jeremy Neumark Jones) also the nephew of the Duchess.  A cad in disguise, only Sophia's too smitten to see through the veneer.  Not heeding the warnings of her mother, Anne (Tamsin Greig) who is loathed to attend the ball.  And no she doesn't think she married below her status with her husband as she tells Sophia.  (Pronounced So-phi-ya.)

Anne thinks the ball will be a disaster anyway and she doesn't need to be against it.  The Duchess of Richmond is also loathe to have them here, after all they're just 'commoners' trying to muscle in on this society do, irrespective of there being a war on.  Felt more like a last farewell for the military who were anyone with a title.  As it was also attended by the Prince of Orange.  Sophia still besotted with Edward can't bear it when they leave immediately for the battlefield with the advancement of Napoleon and Waterloo.

Victory is sealed and Bellasis is lost which leaves Sophia heartbroken but also hiding a secret.  The drama moves on 26 years to Belgravia, London and we learn that Sophia is dead, she died shortly after the battle.  At this point and her conversation with the Duchess's sister, Belasis' mother, Lady Brockenhurst (Harriet Walter) you get the impression either Sophia isn't dead or she's been kept in hiding re a baby.  So as to avoid embarrassment, as Anne said as much in the beginning.  It was all about reputation.  Anne attends a tea thrown by the Duchess of Bedford and it is her idea to do so, since they can sit with anyone they want to and leave when they want to.  Here she encounters the Duchess again as she catches her plate from falling, reminiscing on old times and speaking of Sophia.  She's overheard by Lady Brockenhurst (sounds like Brocklehurst from Jane Eyre) who later speaks with Anne privately.  Flashing back to the soldiers coming to balls at the house and Sophia dancing with Bellasis.  It is a strained meeting as there isn't much to tell about him and Sophia. 

At dinner with Anne, Oliver, their son (Richard Goulding) and his wife, Susan (Alice Eve) who Anne dislikes immensely and the feeling is mutual.  The conversation is strained and they don't want Oliver to go beyond the status he is accustomed to or to rise above it.  Having a full blown disagreement in front of the servants and so of course, you get the servants gossiping downstairs, as in Downton with varying views on the family, even after Turton (Paul Ritter) has said they shouldn't speak so as they pay their wages.  Yet joins in with them.  How very droll, not.

Anne wants to tell Lady Brockenhurst about her grandson, but Trenchard disagrees as he doesn't want his daughter to be seen as a "harlot."  Another flashback to Sophia marrying Bellasis and having been given permission by her father, who wanted better things for her and honestly the status wouldn't hurt him either in business.  Sophia tells her she's pregnant and how she was duped into marrying him.  Thus explaining the look of horror on her face at the ball when she spots the parson, one of the military men.  She'd also hate being known as a "street walker."  Thus they go away and under an assumed name up north, she gives birth to a son and dies from complications of bleeding out.

Eventual comparisons will be made to Downton, obviously since it's that similar, but trying to maintain a modicum of difference.  Exposition on Thomas Cubbitt, architect was funny in the sense that he was well known, but did we really need the long clunky detail of how Trenchard fit into their line of work.  As well as Oliver, tad snooty, brought up that way, but then being made to live it down as he will be given a meagre little house to live in, even if as one of the servants stated, Susan brought money to the family.  Which doesn't help Anne any as she was so enamoured with Sophia, as she tells the duchess how they shouldn't have favourites and the implication being Sophia was hers.

Ghost Adventures 21.2 "Franklin Castle"

                                                        
Franklin Castle, Cleveland, Ohio. This place had a fascination for me as I'm sure it did for many others and not just cos of the stories behind it, but the feel and look of the place.  However this episode has shed a very different light on it, or rather darkness.  Firstly here we go again with the negativity attached to a place.  Whether it is cursed or not is all hearsay really, after all who can account for people and their perceptions, or stories that get passed down, as well as other factors or superstitions.  There is only so much we can see/experience through what is obtained through research or attained through spirits and such responses.  As for the curse and whether it was on the Tiedemann family, how it was placed, or whether it was on the building itself or the land is all assumption.  The Castle is said to have been built over another house which was razed.

Zak interviewed firsthand author and resident historian Bill Krecji outside of the building on the grounds, whilst Billy and Aaron investigated inside in most of the main rooms as the place is massive.  Zak referring to "unbiased evidence"  they would gather cos spirits never lie.  Bill told him about the family and what he was able to find out to write and once again I stress no book on a person or place is definitive and will always be subjective in content in many respects.  He talked of how he didn't believe that Tiedemann was 'evil' and that he actually murdered one of his illegitimate daughters.  That the medium who lived there claimed he was and also to have gotten responses from him.  As she is deceased there isn't any way of knowing what she encountered or didn't.  Also was she a true bona fide medium, there certainly are charlatans out there as we are all aware.  He refers to bones being inside the wall, that doesn't mean he, Hannes Tiedemann actually put them there, he wasn't the one doing the construction.  Perhaps that was the onset of the curse and that could have been how the family was cursed.  Suppositions carry no weight without concrete proof.

Zak having doubts about what Bill told him as this place was affecting him since he lives there in the Winter months.  Sure a place can affect someone but those things are just again assumptions since there is no evidence either way on what the family was like or Tiedemann himself.  And you know what, reputation dies with the person cos if he was around today they would have definitely sued for defamation, he does have descendants.  Six of his children passed here. His first wife, Louisa, also passed in the house.  Bill saying the curse began by the medium in the 1980's when she lived here.

He also interviewed Helen who lived there with her husband and moved out when her son was born. They recorded voices in the closet of a woman being slapped by a man and screaming and heard babies crying and she said she was pushed down the stairs several times.  However Zak says her being pushed was not a warning as she put it; probably something more sinister.  Helen would see an older woman in black (See below.)
Which Zak showed when he felt he was being dragged down with a rope on the stairs too and Billy stopped him from maybe falling almost.  Ha.  I wrote about Zak and stairs six years ago, how close did that come now.  Anyway when he said rope around him I thought of Most Haunted and the ep in 30 East Drive, Pontefract where one of them was pushed down the stairs tied with a rope!  As for the handprint that appeared on the IR camera which was debunked as being one of theirs, was it so difficult to remember if any of them had touched the wall and surely there must have been some sort of footage on any of their cameras.

Zak's interviewing this ep was very leading, as if he was trying to put words in their mouths and get them to answer what he wanted to hear.  Such as Hannes being a murderer and placing the bones here in the house.  Referring to the 39 year old man, Carl Tiedemann committing suicide.  His death being referred to as, "peculiar nervous tension" is a general term and can refer to almost anything.  Again implying that he was cursed and 'died suspiciously.'  Carl was August's son.  August was a surviving child of Tiedemann.   Zak does refer to the arsonist who set fire to the building in 1999 but not in any detail.
He interviews Zac who lived there in Summer 2018.  He dreamed of an old lady questioning him about someone who was murdered in the house.  Again leading question as to whether he thought she she was "in tune with the house."  Why ask it that way.

Aaron and Billy's investigation of the castle turned up knocking sounds which they attributed to stomping, not to banging or doors closing.  Maybe someone was tap dancing which is what it sounds like.  Aaron feels cold upstairs but hot in the second floor parlour.  Zak saying he likes playing evidence in the room where it was received isn't something he's done much of as he says he likes doing it quite a lot.  He feels the energy is strong on the third floor.  Where they feel hot and Aaron gets goosebumps.  Aaron mentions the nightmares he had where a psychic woman was telling him about the house.  Why does Zak refer to it as a "dream that occurs to selective people" after speaking to just one person.  As well as later getting an EVP  "die."

Billy used the Direct Link asking "who are you?" and gets the response "six" perhaps in reference to six children.  On the Geophone "large -  general - spirits"   Zak asks the spirit to do something for him and he gets a tap.  Aaron recalls saying "STFU" which he says was in his head and was told to say it.  The EVP they remark says "kill you."

They hear a banging sound on the stairs which Zak alludes to in the commentary, but in the ep he just continues upstairs without listening or giving a second thought to what Aaron was saying...Of course Tiedemann would be upset if he was being maligned without being able to defend himself!  On the Polterpod they get "Richard" coming through twice.  A woman saying "help Richard".  But the help  sounds like something else.  There are 17 spirits here.  The spirit doesn't say "anybody" it says "entity or Emily."  Then again could this be an allusion to Emily??
 "Lester" comes through or is it "Ester"?? There's a light anomaly that is seen at the bottom left on around 28.04 seconds which goes into the wall when Aaron reacts to something.  See blue marking in second pic.

 The spirit says "behind you" not "run" which explains why Aaron turned back re anomaly.  Cos man there are two words heard not one syllable.  There appears to be a voice at 29.17.  Got a figure on the SLS was it being hanged, it seems to double over and flop down (but not in the correct room.  Also one in the closet.  Is that the closet that was burned in the fire that was located in Louise Tiedemann's room.  The spirit box says "it's cursed."

That shadow figure outside of the window when Billy was in the basement I saw ages ago passing by and looks to raise a hand and point forwards towards the left in front of herself. In the below marked yellow she faces and looks inside the window, before moving on and appears to be wearing a flowing dress, marked red in second pic.  (Sorry not good quality.)

It looks like a woman with her hair up in her bun and to me it was possibly Mrs Tiedemann as their have been reports of her wandering the house and I have mo idea why this wasn't alluded to in the show.  Also I thought of Mrs Danvers from Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.  Remember when they used to place a camera outside of the building when they were filming before they entered, well they don't do that anymore.  So why didn't he place one there if Zak saw three figures outside of the window.  I felt that this figure could have been residual but 'it' appeared to be looking right at Billy, or if residual then would've been peering from outside the window, then again the gap outside between the window makes you think of whether it was residual.

The house was purchased in 1968 by the Romano family and they coincidentally also had six children.  It has been stated that there were human bones found in the closet of the house in 1975 and was actually a scam, planted there by the owner Sam Muscatello, to garner publicity for the house.
On Paranormal Lockdown John Tenney mentions the story of the illegitimate daughter and how his feelings were being affected;  seeing a figure.  Dee and John Romano featured on this and recall seeing a little girl in a white dress and playing with her.
https://mila255.blogspot.com/2016/03/paranormal-lockdown-13-franklin-castle.html

Also this post from Facebook by Erratic Thinking is very informative and interesting and makes reference to an Emielie, as I said I hear 'Emily'.  The psychic is also mentioned as Eleanora Bernstein who came up with the story of Hannes being a monster.
https://www.facebook.com/ErraticThinking/posts/165022706971724:0