Old "haunted houses" like this one were used for parlor tricks in the dark and hiding stolen goods, according to the FBI.
The producers of the TV show Ghost Hunters were arrested Thursday and charged with multiple counts of bank robbery, burglary, forgery and counterfeiting after being caught by a plucky group of teenagers and their dog.
FBI director Robert Mueller said the alleged crimes were committed over many years and across several states.
The show features two plumbers, Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, who travel across the U.S. visiting alleged haunted houses and other claims of paranormal activities.
“The producers were only using this show as a cover story to hide their illicit schemes,” Mueller said. “While the two lead characters were chasing ghost stories, their van was being used to transport counterfeit bills, jewelry and other stolen goods.”
Mueller said Hawes and Wilson were believed to be unwitting dupes in the alleged scheme. He noted the pair uses scientific equipment in absurd and unproven ways, such as claiming a Geiger counter can find ghosts or that temperature differences in a room prove the existence of paranormal activity.
“In my office in the summer it’s usually warm by the window and colder by the door where the vent is, does that mean I’m being haunted?” Mueller said with a laugh. “Their approach to research is like using a stethoscope to fix your computer. They spend a few hours waving equipment around in the dark, pull a few parlor tricks and claim they’ve seen a ghost.”
Mueller said the producers would conjure up stories involving haunted houses that they would then use to store illicit goods around the country. Ghost stories were spread among the local populace to keep interlopers away and to provide a cover story for a visit by the show. In some cases, they relied on the curator of a little-known museum who was trying to get some free publicity.
He pointed to an infamous 2005 episode as an example of how this was done. The show featured an old plantation in Louisiana with a video segment of a lamp gliding across the table in a “slave shack,” yet viewers could see the lamp’s cord being pulled by someone offscreen. The shack itself was a new building that had never held slaves.
“Fortunately for Hawes and Wilson, I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to take their show seriously. They claim a flashlight rolling on a warped surface, such as an old bench, means there’s a ghost. On my planet it means there’s gravity,” Mueller said. “It’s unintentionally the funniest show on TV.”
Mueller said the alleged crimes were uncovered when the teenagers got their van stuck on a small country road and looked for help at a nearby mansion. An old caretaker informed the group that the house had been vacant for years and was supposed to be haunted.
“Luckily one of the teenagers and his dog have voracious appetites, for even though the house had been abandoned for years they went snooping around in the kitchen looking for something to eat,” Mueller said. “What they found instead was a ghost costume. The rest of the group investigated the source of some spooky noises and found an old phonograph near an open window.”
After learning the Ghost Hunters would be there the following day, the teens split into two groups. Some of them kept an eye on the Ghost Hunters crew while the others snooped around the crew’s vans and equipment.
One group saw the show’s producers enter a secret room under the house where large bags of money and trunks full of jewels were kept. The other teens discovered the crew’s van contained dry ice, a projector, giant fan, spotlights and a noise machine.
Rather than alert the authorities, the teens set up an elaborate scheme where one of them, posing as a ghost, would lure the producers into a barn where they would step onto a catapult, get tossed into a hay baler and slide on some grease into a pit. The plan nearly went awry as one of the teens and his dog were unaware of the trap because they were busy raiding the crew’s catering van, while one of the girls lost her glasses.
“These three wound up triggering the catapult themselves but somehow it all worked out. In the confusion everyone, including the producers, wound up in the hay baler together,” Mueller said. “Fortunately the old caretaker turned out to be innocent after all and he rescued them after contacting the local sheriff.”
Mueller said the FBI conducted raids on other Ghost Hunters sites and found millions of dollars in gold, jewels, counterfeiting equipment, real and counterfeit money.
“While I don’t condone teenagers trying to solve crimes on their own, these kids certainly did us a favor,” Mueller said. “Not only did we catch these criminals, we might finally get that ridiculous show off the air.”
The producers, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, pleaded innocent to all charges in an arraignment Thursday before Federal Judge Harry Stone. While neither would speak to the press their lawyer, Ben Matlock, said his clients would’ve gotten away with their crimes “if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.”
Marcus Manfred is an enigma. A simple and complex man who was raised by wolves in the lower upper part of the eastern west. He is more than you think and less than you know. He is the solution to every question you have ever asked, as long as the answer is three. 
I remember this one, it’s a script from the Scooby -Doo show. SS