Spooks keeping a low profile

By FRANCES GRANT

Jeepers, creepers, can't believe my peepers. That's the reaction you'd hope to have to a show called Ghosts.

But the disappointment with most "documentaries" about the supernatural is that the "evidence" seldom lives up to the hype.

Tonight's debut episode of the local series investigating haunted houses and ghostly phenomena certainly lays on thick the low lighting, flickery images and terribly jumpy jumpcuts.

Part of the job description for presenters Sonia Gray and Hugh Sundae is to spend a night alone - in separate locations - in the haunted house under investigation.

The duo have been issued with the full spook-spotting kit, including infrared cameras and some kind of electromagnetic fluttering detection apparatus, as recommended by professional ghost-busters in the US. But the gear doesn't help when there's nothing happening.

The investigation of the supposedly ghost-infested Mount Desert - a rather grand old home in Wanganui - starts off promisingly with tales of midnight footsteps and the owner of the house being awakened by three taps to the head.

A former policeman adds authority to the tale with an account of his own experiences in the haunted house one dark night, and a previous owner has a classic tale of phantom horse's hooves on the driveway.

Gray and Sundae dutifully lap up the details and pursue their own lines of research holed up in their motel unit.

But for all the juicy rumours of hangings in cellars and illicit liaisons, their own night in the mansion brings no results.

Oh, well. In lieu of any actual ghost-spotting, the pair bring psychic medium Kelly to bear on the case. Kelly, as Haley Joel Osment would say, can "see dead people".

As soon as the medium arrives she spots a young girl in Victorian clothing playing with a doll's house in the nursery.

To reveal any more might spoil the frisson, but let's just say that what follows involves the compost heap and the possibility of disinterring bodies.

Too bad then that after further research, Kelly's bloodthirsty yarn doesn't seem to stack up. But full marks for entertainment.

Despite the strong feeling that the evidence the pair seek will ever elude them, Ghosts is splendidly hokey and creates a fine atmosphere, rife with chilly miasmas and the rattling of bones. Bring on the ectoplasm.

* Ghosts, TV3, 7.30 pm