Your life’s calling isn’t always something that you set out looking for. Sometimes it stares you right in the face and sends you down an all-encompassing journey whether you like it or not. Paranormal investigator Zak Bagans of the long-running hit Travel Channel show “Ghost Adventures” never thought that he would be visited by a being from the celestial plane before setting out to document his journeys over 10 years ago. But, sometimes your future is laid out right before you in the simplest ways. Even if it terrifies you.
Tonight, Bagans and his long-time “Ghost Adventures” friends Aaron Goodwin, Jay Wasley and Billy Tolley will be debuting their brand new behind-the-scenes show “Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room.” Each episode of the new series will take a look at different episodes of the show, with the hosts of the show giving viewers the dirt on some of the most inexplicable and horrifying experiences they’ve had while filming their encounters with restless spirits over the past decade. I caught up with Bagans over email to talk about the new series.
With “Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room” you are lifting the curtain behind some of the most intense moments of the show. Is there a moment that sticks out that scared you deeply that may have not had as big an effect on camera? What do the viewers need to know that may not have understood while watching the show?
Zak Bagans: In a recent investigation titled “Nightmare in Antelope” where we were helping a woman who was suffering from a demonic attachment/possession, there was a moment when things took a turn for the worse out of nowhere during her interview. Her eyes rolled back into her head, she began to talk aggressively uttering inexplicable words then appeared to stop breathing and was screaming that she “couldn’t breathe.” In this moment, her husband began to scream for us to help and I was in shock. I was very quiet and became frozen in fear for that moment. I’ve done enough of these demonic investigations to know that something was doing this to her and I felt panic like I haven’t felt in a long time.
You have been doing this show for years and have been able to experience some encounters from the beyond in some of the world’s most haunted locations. Have these experiences brought you closer to your colleagues on the show?
Zak Bagans: Oh absolutely. What Aaron, Billy and Jay go through together has created a bond of brothers similar to that of going into battle together. We have been there for each other in these moments, we have tried to attack each other, and it’s something only we know the true feelings of when we go through these spiritual warfare moments that will forever keep us close, no matter how much we drive each other crazy.
Have you noticed patterns through your experiences or is every new haunted location different?
Zak Bagans: Every location and investigation is different. It’s not only being somewhere new but it’s dealing with different spirits/entities … like meeting new people. We have, however, encountered the same spirits on different locations that have actually traveled and remembered us from previous locations. This occurred with who we believe was the spirit of Clark Gable who remembered us from our “Pioneer Saloon” investigation in Nevada and then answered a question about that investigation in another location in Oregon where he frequented … it was amazing.
Has there ever been a moment when you’ve thrown your hands up and said ‘This is too much’ and left a site? Has there been a similar situation that made you reconsider hunting ghosts, in general?
Zak Bagans: Yes, in my “Demon House” documentary/investigation when I locked myself up inside the house and saw a demon figure shoot out of the bathroom. I heard it growl before this. I then got an extreme headache after looking at it and the next day I woke up and had double-vision. I still suffer from permanent double-vision to this day and wear prism glasses.
Is there a location, somewhere in the world, you would like to check out that is still on your ghost hunting ‘bucket list’?
Zak Bagans: Yes. The Bhangarh Fort in India.
