by Kimmie Chameleon:
Ghost Adventures Recap:
“The Galka Family”
Original Air Date (Travel Channel):
Friday April 20, 2012
Season 6 Episode 6
Location
This week, Zak, Nick and Aaron conduct a deeply personal and tragic investigation. I don’t think it is possible to watch this episode without getting emotionally choked up. They visit the home of Gary Galka who designs a lot of equipment that the Ghost Adventures crew uses on their ghost hunts. Gary and his wife Cindy have been mourning the loss of their oldest daughter, Melissa since she tragically died at the age of 17 when she crashed into a tree on her way home one night.
History
On September 25, 2004 a beloved daughter, sister, and friend, Melissa Galka crashed into a tree on her way home from a party. Four days later her family had to make the agonizing decision to remove her from life support. But the Galka family continued to sense Melissa’s presence with them. Gary says that even as soon as the first day that they returned home from the hospital they received after-death communication. The T.V. was changing channels by itself, the radio would come on suddenly, and the doorbell would ring on its own. Gary even saw an undulating ball of energy floating in front of him in the living room. Every year on Melissa’s birthday on February 14th they would continue to bake her heart shaped chocolate cake and celebrate. It seemed that on every joyous occasion they felt that Melissa was right there with them.
Mike, Melissa’s sister’s husband, says that once during Christmas time he exited the bathroom by Melissa’s bedroom and saw her staring out her window. The image of her changed him from a skeptic to a believer. Even recently Cindy tells the crew that she was driving past the cemetery where Melissa is buried and the music from her car radio stopped. She says that she knew it was Melissa wanting to change the station and play her own song…just then “Days Go By” by Keith Urban came on. This is a song that had a connection with Melissa. Granby Memorial High School where Melissa attended established a memorial garden in her honor. There is even a bench that has one of her favorite quotes from the “Days Gone By” song engraved in it: “We think about tomorrow, then it slips away. We talk about forever but we’ve only got today.”
The Mel Meter 8704
The crew takes a field trip over to Gary’s design and development company called D.A.S. Distribution. This is where Gary and his team come up with some of the most innovative ghost hunting equipment products. The Mel Meter 8704 name is actually inspired by Melissa. “Mel” stands for Mel…the short form of Melissa. The first two digits, “87”, is the year Mel was born…1987. The “04” stands for 2004 when Mel transitioned to spirit. Gary tells us that a huge chunk of the profits D.A.S. receives gets donated to grief support groups.
Lockdown
This deeply personal lockdown consists of Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley in the garage which is the nerve center of the investigation. Zak, Nick, and Aaron will be joining Gary and Cindy in the house for some chocolate cake as they celebrate what would have been Melissa’s 25th birthday. A thermal camera has been set up in the kitchen along with a night vision camera. Melissa’s bedroom has a night vision camera set up. Zak asks Gary if they may call Melissa’s cell phone so that they can listen to the sound of her voice. As Cindy dials the number they experience a couple of malfunctions in their equipment. They lose the video signal in Mel’s room and Zak gets a frequency burst in his audio. They all then decide to use the landline in the house. As they listen to Melissa’s voicemail greeting Nick’s camera battery completely drains and the audio is dead. They all speculate that Mel must be charging herself up with this energy so she can communicate with them.
Gary begins to conduct an E.V.P. session and asks:
Gary: “Are you happy Zak’s here?”
E.V.P.: “Yeah…he’s my friend.”
Zak: “Are you saying hello to me Melissa?”
E.V.P.: (they hear a faint whistling)
Gary to Cindy: “No…No. I can’t really eat the whole thing.”
E.V.P.: “They’re gone.”
Gary believes that the earlier whistling that they heard might have been from other spirits and Melissa may have directed the message of “They’re gone” as referring to the other sprits interfering.
Gary now listens more closely to the voice recorder and hears, “Check the…”. They are unable to make out the last word and decide that it is time to get out the SB7 device and investigate Melissa’s bedroom.
Zak: “I talked to your sister Heather.”
SB7 device: “Okay.”
Zak: “Can you please just say hello?”
SB7 device (in a male voice): “What up?”
At this point they lose the signal for the night vision camera set up in Mel’s bedroom. Billy walks over to tell them and the SB7 device says, “Who’s that?”
Zak: “Melissa, are you still here with us?”
SB7 device: “Yeah.”
Zak: “Can you tell me how many of you are here with us?”
SB7 device: “8…12…10.”
They then hear the SB7 device say, “Friends”. They believe that other spirits are present with Melissa. Nick now smells perfume and coolness near him. He feels that a spirit is right next to him. Then the SB7 device begins to speak again.
SB7 device: “Hi dad.”
Gary: “Is that you calling dad?”
SB7 device: “Miss you all.”
Quotable Quotes:
Gary to GAC: “When you lose a child, you feel like dying.”
Zak to viewers: “This is going to change the way you think about death.”
Gary to GAC: “But if you can somehow find that inner strength through a simple sign that your child’s okay, you’ve got something to look forward to at the end of your path.”
[divider]
[box_light]Love Ghost Adventures? Come join the discussion in our Ghost Adventures Group on DarkMediaCity, a free social network for those who like it Dark. Whether it be literature or film, music or art, horror or sci-fi, paranormal romance or paranormal investigation, we’ve got something for you. www.DarkMediaCity.com[/box_light]
[signoff]
[Promotional photographs courtesy of The Travel Channel]
Leave a Reply