Ghostfacers



Ghostfacers is the 13th episode of Season 3. It premiered on April 24th, 2008.

Summary
Sam and Dean take a break from their usual gig to star in a gritty reality show called "Ghostfacers" which chronicles the pursuit of the paranormal. Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spengler have created a radically different and sometimes violent show full of profanity that takes them to the Morton Mansion, an abandoned estate which becomes one of the most haunted places in America one night each year.

However, as their team begins to get picked off in grisly manners not fit for television, they realize they are in over their heads.

Synopsis
Sam and Dean work a case at the same place where the boys from Hell Hound's Lair, Ed Zeddmore and Harry Spangler, are shooting the pilot for their reality show Ghostfacers. Every leap year, beginning at midnight, a ghost who used to be a janitor at a local hospital kills people and keeps their corpses at the Morton House for company. Their spirits remain trapped in the house as well as any living person in the house at midnight. Sam and Dean become trapped in the house with the Ghostfacers crew and must figure out how to kill the ghost as it hunts them one by one.

Harry Spengler and Ed Zeddmore of 1.17 Hell House fame are dressed up, sitting in front of a fireplace in chairs a la Masterpiece Theatre, touting their new pilot as the bold new future of "reality TV." Cue the Ghostfacers intro, showing Ed, Harry, Spruce, Maggie, Corbett, Sam and Dean through shaky camera work in what looks like a haunted house setting.

Phase I: Homework. Ed and Harry pull up in their vintage AMC Gremlin doing the fake slo-mo. They reveal they can start ghost hunting at six o’clock thanks to the flexibility of their jobs at the Kinkos, and they hold their strategy meeting with the team a la Ghost Hunters in Ed’s parents' garage. Corbett is the Intern/Cook and very gay, Maggie is Ed’s adopted sister, and Spruce is 15/16 Jewish and 1/16 Cherokee, thus making him a “Shamanologist.” They review a legend in which every four years on February 29th, Morton House becomes the most haunted place in America.

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Phase II: Infiltration. The Ghostfacers break into the Morton House, hearing the roar of the Impala and Grand Funk's "We're An American Band" in the background. They see Sam and Dean roll by, scoping out the place. The Ghostfacers set up "Command Center One: Eagle's Nest" in the main room and start rolling the cameras, which never stop the entire episode, no matter what horrors happen, much to the ire of Sam and Dean.

Phase III: Face Time. The Ghostfacers search the house with their instruments, taking readings and run into Sam and Dean, who are impersonating cops. Ed recognizes them from their earlier encounter in Texas. Sam and Dean try to get them out of the house by showing them the missing persons reports, but Team 2 records a ghost reliving his horrible death. Sam and Dean figure out they're dealing with a death echo, which isn't the real threat. Corbett then disappears and they don’t make it out before midnight, trapping them in the house for the evening.

They search the house for Corbett and try to figure out why the death echoes are there, considering that the victims in the death echos didn't die there. They find the office of the home's owner, Freeman Daggett, who was a janitor at the hospital before he died in 1964. He was a survivalist, and took corpses from the morgue to "play" with. They go into another room where Maggie wandered off, and after another EMF surge, Sam disappears.

After some fake reality show drama involving Maggie and Harry in a compromising position, we see Corbett and Sam tied to chairs at a table with a birthday cake and "It’s My Party" playing in the background. A big creepy guy kills Corbett with a spike through the neck, and then slaps a party hat on Sam.

Dean figures out that a survivalist usually keeps a bomb shelter and heads for the basement, but the basement door locks behind him, separating him and Spruce from the others. The others meanwhile put themselves in a salt circle and see the ghost of Corbett reliving his death. Dean finds the bomb shelter just before Sam gets his own spike through the neck. Sam reveals Daggett was the "Norman Bates"-type of lonely and killed himself after stealing the bodies, and each February 29th, he takes people for his "party". Ed talks to Corbett to get him out of his death echo and manages to get through just in time for Corbett to take on Daggett, who is tossing around Sam, Dean, and Spruce in the basement.

Everyone (minus Corbett) leaves alive the next morning, taking Ed and Harry back to the fireplace to lament over the loss of their friend in a completely exploitative way, even showing the typical reality confessional moment. They show their pilot to Sam and Dean, who warn them that revealing such ghostly secrets usually lands them in straight jackets or gets them a punch in the face or both. Sam and Dean go, but leave a bag behind; Ed pulls out a large electromagnet, which proceeds to erase all the hard drives, including the Ghostfacers pilot. Sam and Dean peel off in the Impala, confessing they didn’t think the show was half bad.

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Ghost
 * Freeman Daggett

Notes

 * Ed and Harry introduce this as being the Ghostfacers pilot reality show. Then you see an opening credit scene introducing Ed, Harry and the rest of the Ghostfacers cast and then Sam and Dean are shown at the end. Its not till near the end of the episode that you see actual show credits. However normally credits start with the stars and guest stars, this episode did it backwards. The producers and crew are shown first then the stars and guest stars a few minutes after that.
 * Their previous encounter with Ed and Harry when they were hellhounds.com was in S1 Ep17 Hell House

Featured Music
"Ghostfacers!" Theme Song

"We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad

"It's My Party" by Lesley Gore

"Focus" by Hocus Pocus

Quotes
Dean: "Hey, Ed, listen to me. There's some salt in my duffel. Make a circle and get inside."

Ed: "Inside your duffel bag?"

Dean: "In the salt, you idiot!"

SPRUCE: (behind camera): "Hey, can I ask you something?"

DEAN: "What?"

SPRUCE: "Earlier, you and Sam -- he said you had two months left?"

DEAN: "Yeah, it's complicated. A while ago, Sam... No. No. No. I'm not gonna whine about my b--- problems to some b--- reality show. I'm gonna do my f-- job."

SPRUCE: "Is it cancer?"

DEAN: "Shut up!"

Harry: "I..I..I know how we can get through to him."

Ed: "How?"

Harry: "Ed, he had feelings for you."

Ed: "Huh?"

Harry: "He wanted you."

Ed: "Wanted me to what?"

Harry: "You know..."

Ed: "No, what?"

Harry: *dirty grunt noise* "And you know what you gotta do... You can do it Ed... You've always been the brave one,  yes you can. You make us brave. Maggie, right?"

Maggie: "Yah, no you do, you totally do."

Harry: "Ed, you gotta be gay for that poor dead intern. You gotta send him into the light!"