'Ghost Adventures' recap: Alcatraz

San Francisco Bay, California was the location for this episode of Ghost Adventures: Alcatraz. As Zak Bagans, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin took the ferry ride to the island, Zak told the audience of the mystery and legends surrounding this rocky spot in the cold water of the bay. A flock of birds circled the top of the island as if looking for something dead to eat.

Since Alcatraz prison is now a park open to tourists, they had to wait until it was closed to the public and have park rangers following their every move. The lights out time for prisoners in the prison used to be 9:30, so that was the time Zak chose for the lock down. He interviewed Jeff Dwyer, PhD, concerning the disturbing occurrence that he witnessed. Jeff said he saw two red eyes and felt a descending heaviness, like a net that came down upon him. While he was talking, Zak suddenly felt as if the wall behind him was going backward. Zak explained that so many emotions must remain in the place due to all the tragic deaths that happened there. Three prison guards were murdered by inmates. Zak then read the history of these deaths from a wall posting in the prison of when each was killed and how.

He then spoke with two women, Sharon and Ann Leong, who had an experience in cell block D. They saw dark and heavy seeming shadows and felt dizzy. Zak was astonished to hear this since it was only one cell away from where he was when it happened to him! He explained to the audience how electrical charges affect our brains and then tested cells 12 & 13 for any anomalies; Cell 12 registered nothing, but 13 did. Park rangers were asked if anything electrical was behind either cell. When it was checked out, it turned out that there used to be but the “juice” was no longer turned on. This seemed to debunk that their equipment had been picking up normal electricity. Zak interviewed a woman named Anna, who had an experience in the prison. She had been investigating in the morgue and captured an EVP and the voice said…”there is power in the dark”. Zak said it felt weird there as if time had no meaning, no sense of time there at all.

Zak compared this place as the spiritual hot spot equivalent of the mystery hot spot of the Bermuda Triangle. They spoke with Jeff again and he told them about the history of the island. The Indians referred to this place as “Evil Island” and would not visit it. Then the Spanish came and didn’t build there either. It wasn’t until the American’s came that something had been built there. Jeff speculated that it could be something demonic and not just residual. Zak said that maybe that is why three men would brave death in the cold waters of the bay just to escape. He also drew our attention to the golden gate bridge not far away and the fact that 1,200 souls jumped to their deaths from that bridge. As if what happened in the prison wasn’t enough to cause haunting, so much death surrounds the place. Zak said that their fans got what they wanted, so many had requested that they investigate Alcatraz.

So, this night Zak, Nick and Aaron were joined in the investigation by their tech team, Billy and Jay. The lights in the main part of the prison must always remain on, so Zak left Billy and Jay there with cameras and the other three headed out to investigate in darkness. They went to cell block D and used the spirit box for 20 minutes but got nothing. Zak was in cell 13 when they all heard a loud bang in the next cell, number 14. Aaron had his Ovulous on and it said, “Fire”….”threshold”. These were words the guys had used during their initial walk-through. So, it seemed that something was really there and not just residual haunting. They started to walk away and suddenly Nick felt intense energy and his recorder captured a voice, “come back”. They asked a lot of questions, but heard nothing else. They went to the infirmary where Al Capone had spent some time, as he had syphilis. But they didn’t get any responses. They started to head back and at the end of the hall captured this EVP,”get naked”. It was a man’s voice and none of the guys welcomed that particular suggestion.
Walking by a door, Zak thought he saw two red eyes through the meal slit. He stuck his spirit box in there and got these EVPs, “he’s here”….”doctor”. Zak thought that maybe this was former inmates thinking he was a doctor. Then he captures this: “dear God”…”a screaming sound”. At this point Aaron felt a touch and thought someone was behind him and turned but no one was there. On the camera an anomaly was seen as a ball of light flying around and touched Aaron.

The guys went back to Billy and Jay and had them go to cell block D without telling them where the “hottest spot” had been. They were drawn to cells 13 & 14 and got some very weird evidence. Billy felt drained and you could see a mist go around him. They both said they could see things moving in the air that the rest of us couldn’t see. Jay became nauseated and said he saw red dots (eyes) in the corner.

The following day Zak said they reviewed seven rolls of film that Jay had taken and only two photos show something – in cell 13 a light stream string of anomalies. These were the things that Billy and Jay said they could see with their naked eyes that the rest of us couldn’t at the time. Zak questioned if these were the things that made people sick or even killed them? In the end, they “captured enough audio and visual evidence to add to the mystery that is, as solid as this rock” according to Zak.