Peter's Blog (From Denver)

[Peter Oberth]

Ok, so I will try this again. I posted this late last night and I woke up to it being erased.

A few days ago, Sci Fi Channel called me asking me to come out to Denver for a GHOST HUNTERS event. This event would actually take place almost 2 hours West of Denver, in a small Rocky Mountain town called ESTES PARK at an infamous hotel called STANLEY HOTEL. This is the hotel made famous as the inspiration for Stephen King's THE SHINING and, later, the location for filming the movie (also, filming for DUMB AND DUMBER took place here, but that's another, more boring, story).

So, initially, I turned them down as I was a little busy right now with personal things and work as well. They called me back a day later, asking me again, this time being a "little more persuasive." So, after first calling around to a number of people to go in my stead, I reluctantly agreed. And, here is a timeline of that first day. I will also be blogging through the day today as there are a number of events, culminating with the exclusive midnight tour of the hotel with the GHOST HUNTERS team, including normal "off-limit" places like the attic, boiler room and basement.

8:00PM ET - Depart Atlanta enroute to Denver International Airport (I don't know if that's what it's actually called but it's not really important for the progression of the story)

9:00PM - Doze off for 2 seconds during the comedy THE HAPPENING from M. Night Shyamalan. That Mark Wahlberg sure can pretend to act badly. "I'm talking to a plant....I'm sill talking to a plant." Gold.

8:50PM MT (10:50PM ET) - Arrive in Denver, and make my way through the airport to the bus to AVIS car rental.

9:15PM MT - Greet the AVIS representative, charming fellow but he tells me that the STANLEY HOTEL is a nearly 2 hour drive from Denver, something everyone failed to tell me during the "convincing" process.

10:00PM MT - See an elk. Never saw an elk before.

10:01PM MT - Lose cell phone service while talking to my wife, just entering the Rocky Mountains.

11:03PM MT - Arrive at the confusing hotel, cell phone service snaps back in. After searchin for which building I need to go to, I walk up to check-in.
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4514/frontvg8.jpg
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4590/entrancesignyy1.jpg


11:15PM MT - Get the keys to room 418, woman hands me a Sci Fi bag with some crap stuffed in it.

11:16PM MT - Get in cool old elevator up to the top guest floor (only attic above me). Walk down rickety hallways with creeky floors. Near my room is a steep staircase leading up to the attic. Next to that is an unmarked door with lights shiny through under. The rooms seems kind of noisey, possibly washing machines?

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4405/elevatormg5.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/1762/hallwaytoroomrx2.jpg

11:19PM MT - Get into room, call wife, go through sci fi bag, eat Pringles out of it.

11:45PM MT - Decide to take a small tour of the hotel myself and snap some pictures. I walk back over to the steep attic stairs and look up them, nothing but darknes. I look down to grab my camera and I paranoidly see something at the top of the stairs move, it was white in color but seemed pretty clear. As clear as something can in your periph. I snap a picture, nothing. Go back to the room to go to bed.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9523/atticmk0.jpg

THROUGH THE NIGHT - My toilet flushes twice in the night (that I know of), and the faucet runs for a second and then turns off. Old house still settling? Who knows, but I will be back later today with some routine updates after each event that takes place. Good day everyone!

Picture Above My Bed:
http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/8499/picturelp5.jpg

Rocky Mountains from the front of the hotel:
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8931/viewmp5.jpg

View from my room (This is where, disappointingly, the maze was built for the movie):
http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/530/viewfromroombf8.jpg

[filmfanatic]

It sounds exciting. Thanks for sharing Peter.

[Peter Oberth]

np, hopefully I'll have some good stuff for you throughout the day so keep checking back!

[SenioRose]

Friendly Ghosts...no problem
It's the unfriendly ones to be aware of :eek:
Peter...as in Solid Rock...you can handle it
Keep Us Posted

[majiesto]

Sounds awesome. I was in Denver yesterday too, could have passed you in the airport :D

[Peter Oberth]

10:51AM MT - In the MANOR HOUSE. They just announced a show with the working title of RELIC QUEST, which will debut in 2009. We are getting a taste of it right now before our SCARE TACTICS junket. We just finished up the SANCTUARY Q&A with Stargate Atlantis' AMANDA TAPPING. More to come...

[Peter Oberth]

10:55AM MT - Josh Gates from DESTINATION TRUTH takes the stage for questions. I will definietely be posting pictures and video later (I have some vids uploading to YOUTUBE now.

Watched the promotional reel for SCI FI's new 08/09 slate, which they are gearing more and more toward reality programming interspersed with scripted televition.

[lisi28]

sweet...

[garcia5]

That sucks. No word on Doctor Who? I know that the show is going on hiatus untill 2010 but that there will be minisodes aired on the BBC. Seeing as how Sci-Fi has been the outlet, aside from late night PBS when it turns into BBC1, for the series I was wondering if they would continure covering the minisodes.

I hate reality shows, especially sci-fi ones, most of them are Ghost Hunter type shows. I can only imagine we'll be getting The Pet Psychic and other like shows. Crud.

Well Peter sorry you have to be so far from home but when you least expect it a silver lining will cross your path. Have fun and make the best of it. Just don't get any demonic attachments following you home. :D

[Peter Oberth]

11:29AM MT - Ok, on to the SCARE TACTICS junket. I will have video of JOSH GATES soon.

[Peter Oberth]

That sucks. No word on Doctor Who? I know that the show is going on hiatus untill 2010 but that there will be minisodes aired on the BBC. Seeing as how Sci-Fi has been the outlet, aside from late night PBS when it turns into BBC1, for the series I was wondering if they would continure covering the minisodes.

I hate reality shows, especially sci-fi ones, most of them are Ghost Hunter type shows. I can only imagine we'll be getting The Pet Psychic and other like shows. Crud.

Well Peter sorry you have to be so far from home but when you least expect it a silver lining will cross your path. Have fun and make the best of it. Just don't get any demonic attachments following you home. :D

I will ask about it. If anyone hsa any other questions, feel free to post and I will try to get them answered!

[Peter Oberth]

nope, nothing on DOCTOR WHO this weekend. As for BSG, there won't be anything afterall but we should have some video coming to you in the coming weeks.

[Peter Oberth]

12:01PM MT - alright, next up is GHOST HUNTERS. Sorry, not very many updates here as I can't get pictures or video up until after 3:00 MT. SCARE TACTICS has a pretty funny season coming up and this coming week will have a "cloning" experiment that sounds pretty funny. It will be on at 10PM ET on Tuesday on Sci Fi.

I got some good questions on tape this time around and the talent has been pretty funny so far. My back hurts like hell but oh well. on to the next!

[Peter Oberth]

so, in the middle of the Ghost Hunters video, they hosts (sitting in front of a fire place) mentioned that it was getting stuffy in here. The tech guy radios in asking if the windows can be opened. As he was radio-ing in, the window falls open, collapsing the blinds. They are NOT automated, very interesting :)

[filmfanatic]

What about Eureka? This week they said it was the mid-season finale. When is it coming back?

[garcia5]

Yes Eureka is such an awesome show. Colin Ferguson has the kind of wit and comedic timing you find mostly in British actors which takes him totally out of context on the show but makes everything he does ten times funnier.

Met and talked with the guys from Ghost Hunters at the Atlanta Dragon Con and their disposition was less then friendly. I even complimented their show which is so much better, maybe not more or less entertaining then the Most Haunted show (total crap), for the fact that their show sometimes is absolutly anticlimatic choosing not to go for the theatrics of making crap up and deciding that a place just isn't haunted. Oh well. Got hooked on the first and half of the second season but lost interest.

[filmfanatic]

I never paid attention before to how close his name is to Craig Ferguson.

[Peter Oberth]

The guys from GHOST HUNTERS were actually really nice to me and everyone around. They took time to take pictures with people, answered everyone's questions and even went into how they have been best friends for nearly 20 years and signed a contract with eachother saying that if either of them becomes too "Hollywood", the other one would walk away, essentially, causing the show to crumble.

Also, an interesting fact. The guys were both plumbers before the show started and, when the show isn't filming, they still both work for Roto-Rooter!

I am actually in the middle of uploading some videos right now so I will post them once I have them, including a short video of me taking part in Sci Fi's new game show THE CHASE, another presentation of a game show that they literally JUST picked up today that looks pretty cool. More updates soon!!

[Peter Oberth]

First off, YES, I say SCARE TACTICS, it is actually THE CHASE, get over it, there were creepy martial arts dudes in Men in Black suits and glasses chasing me

Anywaym Sci Fi was showcasing their upcoming game show THE CHASE and I volunteered to be a castmember. The object is to hide or run and keep away from the "hunters" trying to tag you.

In the actual show, contestant have a THIRTY block area to run around in and it's in the middle of cities like Los Angeles. And, as the producer told me, they don't have the budget to shut down 30 blocks in Los Angeles so they are mixed in with regular people.

So, I got a backpack (which was just for show and so the hunters could tell I was a contestant). They also give each contestant an iPhone to keep in touch with other contestants and the home base. There is the opportunity to find 2 "tools" in the field that will help protect you. One is a deflector. When you show it to an impending hunter, he stops, turns around and walks away. The second tool is a pair of glasses. When you put them on, you have 2 minutes where the hunters can't "see you."

You get a one minute head start and then the texting starts, fist giving you a riddle leading you to the deflector. Me and another contestant (who runs JurassicPunk.com, a movie trailer site) happened to run right to the area where the deflector was, so we grabbed them and ran. He ended up getting chased off by a hunter while I hid behind a car. Another hunter came up the other way, so I hid under the car until he left. When they were out of site, I ran into the courtyard and found a tree growing in a sort of ditch that was about 2 feet deep. Here is a short video of me hiding:

swWnU4fTTfg

The hunter walked two feet from me and missed me as I was ducking down. Another contestant came up and I called him over. This was now the second person I "teamed" up with and we got another riddle text leading to where the glasses are (there are only 4 deflectors and 3 glasses, with 10 competitors). We figured it out and ran to the glasses. Just as we came on them another contestant grabbed the first pair. I ran down and grabbed the other two, giving one to the other contestant I was with. I then teamed up with the competitor that first grabbed the glasses and we ran and hid behind some plants as a few of the hunters came near, we signalled eachother as to where they were and how much time we had left (ours was 20 minutes, the show is 60). The final text came in saying where the finish was and I fumbled with my map for a second. He took off running so I ust dropped the map and ran after him. I almost caught him as he crossed the finish line but it just wasn't meant to be.

On the show, you can win up to $50,000. In our mini version, he won a massage. It was surprisingly a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the premiere of the show. It premieres NOVEMBER 11 on Sci Fi, natch.

[Peter Oberth]

oops sorry, vid working now

[Peter Oberth]

Amanda Tapping, star of STARGATE ATLANTIS talks about her upcoming show SANCTUARY on Sci Fi Channel. All filmed in that great "bootleg" style. More video of Amanda and other Sci Fi Channel stuff will be posted as I upload...

YIS6wlU7Ofg

eJ6QOx2_1rg

jBxKNmhtGRo


“Sanctuary” follows the adventures of the beautiful, enigmatic and always surprising Dr. Helen Magnus, her new recruit, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Will Zimmerman and her fearless daughter Ashley.. Together they track down, study and protect the strange and often terrifying creatures that secretly populate our world and live among us.

Although dismissed as monstrous figments of our imaginations and the stuff of our childhood nightmares, Magnus recognizes that the world is full of nature’s mistakes and triumphs and has the spectacular proof that they are indeed real.

Will, an insightful psychiatric profiler with a knack for finding the strange and curious, reluctantly joins the team to aid in the study of beings he can hardly believe himself.. Together, Magnus, Will, Ashley and quirky tech-whiz Henry, use their unique combination of instinct, medicine and cutting edge technology to find the creatures that lurk in the corners of our civilization and protect us from those too dangerous to be roaming free.

[Peter Oberth]

so, another announcement from SCI FI CHANNEL of a new show that they JUST picked up today. It is another game show titled ESTATE OF PANIC and is hosted by Steven Valentine. Here is the synopsis from Sci Fi:

As production commences this week on the new SCI FI Channel reality competition series Estate of Panic from Endemol USA, it was announced today that actor Steve Valentine (Crossing Jordan) has been tapped to host television’s most physically and psychologically challenging competition show yet. Estate of Panic consists of six 1-hour episodes and will premiere Wednesday, November 12 at 10PM ET/PT.

Steve Valentine is best known for playing Dr. Nigel Townsend for six years on NBC’s Crossing Jordan. He has also appeared as a guest star on numerous primetime shows including Just Shoot Me, Chuck, Will & Grace, Dharma and Greg, Boston Legal, JAG and Charmed. Always a performer, Steve has DJ’d in Europe, traveled the world performing stand-up and headlined in Las Vegas.

Estate of Panic is the newest reality thrill ride from the production company behind Fear Factor. In each episode, large quantities of cash are hidden in a massive estate and seven strangers are invited to find the money. But all is not what it seems, and the contestants will be challenged throughout the mansion to overcome the terrors that await them. After each of the three challenges, two people are eliminated and their winnings are added into the prize pot. The last person standing then faces a final challenge in the Vault Room, where their final winnings will be determined. Estate Of Panic is executive produced by Endemol USA. David Goldberg is the President of Endemol USA. The Executive producer is Richard Hall.


And, the Vice President of Programming at Sci Fi, Mark Stern, was nice enough to fly in from Argentina where they just wrapped the first episode last night and give us a powerpoint presentation outlining the new show. It looks cool (and dangerous for those involved). Here is (another) bootleg type video I filmed at the junket. This is part 1 of 2:

l5uYpCnHg0g

[Peter Oberth]

here is PART 2 of the ESTATE OF PANIC presentation...

LzqYvmNcv0I

[Peter Oberth]

here is a clip of JOSH GATES, host of DESTINATION TRUTH answering a question about his beliefs and whether or no he thinks any of the infamous "creatures" that he investigates actually exist...

yC16CFdrTDE

[Peter Oberth]

GHOST HUNTERS' Jason Hewes and Grant Wilson talk about their favorite haunted areas of the STANLEY HOTEL in Estes Park, Colorado and how they just purchased a haunted hotel in New England:

Sm2sqeN5oSA

[filmfanatic]

For someone who didn't even want to go, you seem to be having a lot of fun.

[crazy mama]

wow that does seem like a lot of fun and a little fright too. Thanks for sharing!!

[shereekachu]

This is just too cool eter! I'm very jealous! Love love LOCE the Ghost Hunters!

[lisi28]

I'm so looking forward to Sanctuary... woot!

[Peter Oberth]

here are a few more pictures:

my room:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/1.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/2.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/4.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/19.jpg

creepy picture of hotel (and Stanley Steamer) founder F.O. Stanley in my room:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/3.jpg

Hallway leading to my room:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/6.jpg

elevator:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/7.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/9.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/11.jpg

elevator key:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/13.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/18.jpg

Steep stairs leading to attic near my room:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/8.jpg

Staircase:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/10.jpg

Check-In Desk:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/12.jpg

Outside hotel at arrival:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/14.jpg

[Peter Oberth]

Hotel Lobby:
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/15.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/16.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/17.jpg

"Infamous" Room 217
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/27.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/28.jpg

Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis)
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/20.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/21.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/22.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/23.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/24.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/25.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/26.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/29.jpg
http://www.shakefire.com/scifi/31.jpg

[Peter Oberth]

here is an EXCLUSIVE ghost "encounter" we had with the GHOST HUNTER team of Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson:

The footage in the first 2 minutes gets cutoff at the bottom where the light is but I am working on fixing that now. I wanted to get you this footage as soon as possible...

yR1UWmpr_jA

Again, Sci Fi Channel hosted a press event on September 27, 2008 at the STANLEY HOTEL in Estes Park, Colorado. This is the site of the live GHOST HUNTERS special on Halloween in 2006 as well as numerous other episodes. Jason & Grant took us on an exclusive "hunt" in the infamous Room 401. The footage is very dark and grainy but watch the single light on the screen. Using the K2 electro-magnetic device, Jason & Grant attempted to contact a ghost and ask "yes or no" questions. The following is what took place...

[shereekachu]

Peter - how were you feeling (was it creepy scary) through this? Did you experience anything other than the lights in the video? That had to be creepy to see the lights respond. Any kind of shinanigans going on with the Hunters? Did you ever get the feeling that maybe somethings were being manipulated byt them?

Edit:
and thanks for deciding to go afterall. Its cool that you get to share this with us!

[lisi28]

here is an EXCLUSIVE ghost "encounter" we had with the GHOST HUNTER team of Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson:

The footage in the first 2 minutes gets cutoff at the bottom where the light is but I am working on fixing that now. I wanted to get you this footage as soon as possible...

QSDifVj6yiU

Again, Sci Fi Channel hosted a press event on September 27, 2008 at the STANLEY HOTEL in Estes Park, Colorado. This is the site of the live GHOST HUNTERS special on Halloween in 2006 as well as numerous other episodes. Jason & Grant took us on an exclusive "hunt" in the infamous Room 401. The footage is very dark and grainy but watch the single light on the screen. Using the K2 electro-magnetic device, Jason & Grant attempted to contact a ghost and ask "yes or no" questions. The following is what took place...

Niiiiiiccce.... way to get in there peter!

[Peter Oberth]

yeah, I was the only one that filmed. I think everyone figured they couldn't but I filmed and no one stopped me so I think they were cool with it.

Honestly, I'm a skeptic with this kind of stuff, but I am a skeptic who wants to believe so I was looking for anything funny going on. Here is what happened:

Jason and Grant were standing outside of the room when our group arrive and they invited us in. A colleague of mine went in the room first, followed by Jason, Grant and the rest of us. Just as he entered the room, a glass fell. I saw the glass and it was on a tray on a table, complete level surface, not stacked.

Earlier in the day, they told us that a Sci Fi Channel employee entered the closet and felt pushing on her back and another member of the press stated the same thing happened to her. I volunteered to enter the closet to see if anything happened, but nothing did. I left the closet and joined back with the group.

Jason went a sat back on the bed, leaning back on his side with his hands in full view. Grant stood near the table with the glass and K2, leaning against a wall, hands out and not touching the table except during the one part in the video where he knocks on it. As a skeptic, I was thinking that maybe they were using a remote control of some sort to control the device but they both had their hands out the entire time. The room was small and, since i was in the small closet, I know no one was in there. The K2 did not respond randomly or to voice as we asked it contradicting questions and it didn't fail.

Unless there was someone under the bed (they would have had to have been small since there was barely enough room for my shoes under them), I could not find a way that this device was being altered...

[Peter Oberth]

I have been to many "haunted" places before and this one is the first one to give me any kind of "weird" feeling, like something was there that I couldn't see. Again, I am a skeptic so this could have just been because of the content of the weekened itself.

As for "creeped out", no I did not feel that. I felt that, if there was something there, it wasn't trying to or capable of hurting me. The only time I did is when I was entering my room for the last time to pack, I felt like someone was watching me and I looked up and down the hall and saw nothing. For some reason, it didn't feel right so I entered the room immediately.

[lisi28]

oooh.... it reminds me of a song...

iLKKe2o9WnM&hl=en&fs=1

[Peter Oberth]

ok, so, no proof of anything hear and even the experience was probably just due to the fact that the hotel is old or that fact that it was cold outside and warm inside.

I was sitting on the bed, talking to my wife when I heard a "pop" and I looked up and saw that the window was broken. I went for the door and opened it and a staff member was standing right outside my door and told me that he heard the popping noise (he was standing on the floor because the lights were out for a GHOST HUNTERS tour). He came in almost immediately after (about 20 seconds after the pop) and found the glass scattered INSIDE about 2 feet. The screen, which was permanently installed, was not damaged.

I know the video shows nothing but a broken window and no proof of any paranormal or "ghost" activity but I thought it was weird at least. I filmed the first few seconds after the staff cleaned up the glass and the second (darker) part a little later that night. Sorry for the bad quality.

PFR3346BSLw

[filmfanatic]

Chase started last night. Your description of it was a lot better than the actual show. There were too many contestants running around and we didn't get to find out much about any of them so who cares who won. It sounds like it was more fun being a participant than a viewer.

[Peter Oberth]

Chase started last night. Your description of it was a lot better than the actual show. There were too many contestants running around and we didn't get to find out much about any of them so who cares who won. It sounds like it was more fun being a participant than a viewer.

I think I'd probably agree with that assessment. I didn't see the show before the sent the screener about a week before it aired.