Monday, November 23, 2009

Ghost Hunters Premiere and Contests!

So by now everyone knows that Ghost Hunters visited The Mark Twain House back in September. Everyone's been asking us when the show would air and now we know! The Mark Twain House episode of Ghost Hunters will air on December 2nd! To celebrate we are holding a premiere party in collaboration with the Connecticut Science Center that night! The evening will start with the Smoking Gun Research Agency (a local ghost hunting group) talking about the equipment they use and the sciences behind what they do. THEN at 9pm the show will air! Check out the preview! And to win tickets to this event, read on!

We're holding a YouTube contest for Twain's birthday, which is November 30th. We want YOU to upload a video of you, your brother, your kids, whoever... singing happy birthday to Mark Twain! Upload it to YouTube with the tag MarkTwainHouse and then head over to our YouTube page and post the link in our comments section! Upload it by end of day on November 30th, we will judge and pick a winner on December 1st and you'll be on your way to the premiere on the 2nd! GOOD LUCK!

The relationship with Ghost Hunters began a while back when the show called us to inquire about filming on site. At the time staff was short and we weren't able to pursue having them come on site. Then this past August Ghost Hunters inquired again and we took them up on their offer! Our marketing coordinator worked with the producers to agree upon two nights where our staff and their staff could be on site. For two consecutive nights in September the TAPS crew came to the house and did their investigation. We weren't allowed to tell anyone that TAPS was coming or which nights they would be here; we were afraid that Ghost Hunters fans would swarm the house! The first night is the official investigation. No staff is allowed inside or around the house while the investigation is happening so we don't impact the outcome. The TAPS crew stayed from about 5pm-5am filming. They came back the next night to film interviews with staff and other footage inside and around the house. About a month later they came back to the house and filmed the reveal. When you watch the show you'll see the reveal is filmed inside the front hall of the house, with our very own Rebecca Floyd, Manager of Interpretive Services! Rebecca is the only staff member at the Mark Twain House who actually knows if and what Ghost Hunters found. She has been sworn to secrecy and try as we might, she hasn't said a word about it. So just like you, we are all waiting for the December 2nd airing to see what's going on inside our house! We hope to see you all at the CT Science Center to watch the premiere with us!

*Caitlin