Zak Bagans

Ghost Adventures – Golden Ghost Town – S15E01

goldenghosttownTo kick off the new season, Zak and the team head to Wolf Creek, Oregon to investigate an abandoned mining town in Golden. It was owned by Reverend William Ruble, who put up multiple churches instead of the usual saloons, to instill a debilitating fear of the devil.

Right as Aaron sees the church, he makes the usual complaints of stomach pains and throwing up. They speak with Archbishop James Cloud who claims he was previously attacked by an entity and again within the last few minutes, punched in the stomach. He throws out the cliched rumor of occult practices at the abandoned church. In the church, they claim to hear footsteps and that evil is enveloping them.

Zak then asks about the “sanctuary” of witches in the area and their occult rituals. Zak is very particular to use “occult” and “ritual” in as negative a context as he can. He and James both agree the witches are conjuring demons with James going so far as to say their end goal is to bring about the ruination of souls. Clearly he has no prejudice towards the group.

For the next interview, they talk with Amanda who claims she was possessed by an evil spirit. She too claims stomach pains, that she suffered and internal battle and lost time. This leads in to Katherine, James’ wife, who also suffers from stomach pain and wants to throw up. To add to the drama, Katherine claims she has the shakes and can’t stand up. This is caused by an entity speaking through her to say it doesn’t like Zak being there. This is followed up by Nicole, who has a small break down and says this is exactly like the last time – meaning a possession is coming on.

Zak joins Amanda and Katherine in the church, and there’s not points for guessing that Zak begins to act like he’s possessed. He channels Jack Nicholson from the Shining and says the church feels great, but the ladies should leave.

For Day 2, Zak goes to visit the Oregon Vortex, a location where 15 ley lines supposedly intersect. They meet with Elena who takes them on a fun house tour to show them how the vortex energy pushes against them as they lean in a crooked house and how a straw broom can stand on its own. These are both exceedingly cheap tricks seen at amusement parks and haunted attractions all over the country. Any straw broom can be made to stand like that. Simply look up “gravity hill optical illusion” to reveal the nonsense Elena is spewing.

As they start the investigation, they claim to see a figure on thermal. It certainly could be a figure as it’s a real town and they can’t just shut it down. But, it becomes mysterious as Billy and Aaron go searching and can’t find anything.

While they’re out, they head into the general store, where multiple bats are flying around. This is also where Aaron goes into another typical fit saying he’s got shooting pain and his muscles are cramping up. Zak says this is the work of conjured spirits as there are stick figure totems attached by strings to the ceiling.

Zak brings in the SLS camera and as expected, it captures a stick figure, then craps out, making it the most unreliable piece of equipment ever. Again, Jay claims something is walking around, so Zak calls out William Ruble. This causes Zak and Billy to say something is coming toward them.

And in typical fashion, Zak, who is scared witless to do any of his own work, locks Aaron in the church. While Aaron captures nothing, Zak claims a black mass moves over the pews. Or it’s an artifact of the camera shooting in the dark.

With Aaron locked away, Zak and Billy have the crap scared out of them by a mysterious figure moving in the woods giving off light. It’s actually a deer and it’s eyes glow from the camera, like red eye.

Back in nerve center, they get static over their walkie talkies, which they claim is breathing. At the same time, the camera in the general store begins to zoom in and out, most likely caused by the bats flying around.

Also, the school house camera begins to do the same thing as a dust particle or “ball of energy” comes up from the floor. Going outside they see lights in the sky they can’t explain. Considering they couldn’t identify a deer, lights are utterly baffling. To add to the nefarious deeds of the night, they find one of the “Blair Witch” stick figures.

It’s safe to say this episode is riddled with over acting, prejudice, gullibility and whole heap of bullshit.

ZOMG! Vortex in aisle 12!!

standingbroom

Snopes

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Ghost Adventures – Asylum 49 – S14E11

ga-asylum49Zak heads back to Salt Late City, Utah to investigate a larger portion of Asylum 49 (aka Tooele Hospital), a haunted hospital and ghost tour location they visited in 2011. At the time, the nursing home portion was still in operation and they couldn’t film inside. That facility has been closed and was purchased by the owner’s of Asylum 49 to expand their haunted attraction. Is anyone else seeing a business/monetary angle to this investigation?

The hospital is supposed to have a dark figure that sneaks into patients rooms and expedites their death. There is also supposed to be a little girl, and when she appears, death follows. Further, the shadow shows up at 3am and patients die in threes – the plot to dozens of Hollywood movies and legends.

Zak talks with Marie, the nurse from 2011, and finds out she’s been fired for telling the truth. In reality, she was most likely let go because she said the patients were in danger by some dark entity. She basically opened up the parent company to a massive lawsuit.

Dakota, a former nurse, says he responded to a death call at 3am. This is the Devil’s Hour and can’t be a coincidence, according to Zak. Further, Dakota received three scratches on his arm and saw dark figures on the security cameras. These same security cameras were taped up by the staff because they didn’t want to see the dark entity on them. At least that’s the running story.

Kimm, the owner, takes them to a room where a patient died and on the bed in the outline of a body in powder. Not long after, Mike the audio engineer, says he felt something brush his ear and saw a shadow figure disappear. This is followed by what they claim is a little girl, the harbinger of death. Too bad no one else saw or heard these.

To start the investigation, Billy spends the night in the room where Kimm showed them the body. During the night he hears the much expected bangs and cracks, but gets the big surprise of a door closing. When he checks the room, the window appears to be open, but he won’t enter. Had someone been in the room helping the door to close, they would have remained hidden.

The next day on the same floor, we see some ridiculous garden gnome in the hallway, that clearly wasn’t there before. This will come into play a few minutes later when Aaron goes to check a camera, hears a struggle then panics. In his panic, he bolts into a room, says he sees a figure and stumbles down the hall. Turns out he was at the same door that shut while Billy was sleeping. Good thing the gnome was there so Aaron knew exactly which rooms to have his fit in front of.

Aaron continues on and thinks he hears a girl’s voice. He begins to panic again, and when Zak comes down the hall to try and help, he looks like a shadow figure which causes Aaron to crap his pants and hurt his back.

Billy brings out the new Spirit Sweep Device, which is something he worked on with Bill Chappell. Like the other cobbled together devices they use, this detects changes in the environment. As they go to place the device, Zak hears the voice of an old man. This is followed by two streaks of light.

As Billy repeatedly fiddles with a device he says he has no control of, they get the phrases, “please help me”, “thank you for that”, “I’m back home”.

Zak then brings out the SLS camera and the thermal imager. He once again proves how simple objects look quite sinister in the dark. What he thinks is an entity is merely Aaron’s reflection. While he “debunks” the situation, it proves the misinterpretation of data.

Finally, they head back to nerve center because Billy has a strange EVP. Zak asks, “do you want to talk to us?”, which is followed by a wheeze or death rattle. Zak says this is the old man he heard. However, play this segment a few times and you will see Zak breath in at the exact moment the wheeze starts. Notice the movement of his neck, lips, and throat. I’m quite certain Zak made that noise himself.

In short, this is an episode dedicated to raising the mystique and scare factor of the Asylum 49 Haunted House. Their evidence can be easily duplicated through earthly means. Billy doesn’t go into the room where the door slammed, which is suspicious. There is a marker so Aaron can pick the same room. The voices come through while Billy is touching all the knobs of his new device. And it appears Zak is making ghostly noises to help enhance his EVPs. Other than scaring themselves, they don’t capture anything.

Two letters come to mind. One is a B. The other is S.

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Ghost Adventures – The Viper Room – S14E10

ga-the-viper-roomThe next Ghost Adventures investigation takes us to the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California into The Viper Room, where River Phoenix died of a drug overdose on Halloween. It is also said to have connections to mobsters such as Bugsy Siegel. Additionally, one of the owners, Anthony Fox, went missing one day and only his truck was found in the desert.

As Zak talks with Maci, manager of the Viper Room, he draws the conclusion that Anthony was dealt with in a mob fashion. Maci says she was told a body is buried in the crawlspace of the club. Maci also says she has received phone calls where it’s nothing but a voice saying, “hi, it’s me.” Zak believes this to be an ethereal spirit trying to reach out.

He then meets with Rita who says she has a spirit that makes contact with her through her phone. She is receiving text messages from the beyond. Zak ties these to the calls Maci has received. While talking to Rita, she says something is around her and Zak records her hands as being cold. Again, cold hands are indicative of poor circulation, not the paranormal.

Tommy Black, the manager, says that several people who stand at a certain place at the bar tend to fall over. He then shows video of a couple people toppling over. Zak suggests this is due to paranormal energy and not due to inebriation, sloped floor, or some other physical attribute to the floor.

While they didn’t get any voices while talking to Rita, when they investigate “The Hole”, they receive some voices and let Rita listen in. While they sound like nothing more than static or even a void in the recording, Rita claims it’s River Phoenix saying, “I’m confused.” This is a clear case of wishful thinking and playing it up for the camera.

For the investigation, they hear several bangs along the bar and believe it’s the door to the secret room. Billy claims he sees a hand behind the door beckoning them to come in. Aaron suits up and heads into the crawlspace where there is a tangle of wires and duct work.

There is so much activity at the location that they can spend time documenting how many times Aaron complains about being in the crawlspace.

Back upstairs, Billy sets up an ITC experiment, which Zak says generates a face out of the swirling mass. When nothing further happens, he plays guitar on stage and invites River to play along. They turn on the Paranormal Puck and ask some questions.

“Who is here with us” – “Spirits”
“What are your names spirits” – “Anthony”

They believe they contact Anthony Fox, but the communication ends when they try to ask who killed him and where his body is. But as that conversation ends, they get what they feel is a guitar note from the stage and that River Phoenix has joined them.

I don’t think there is too much to say on this one. The foolishness of saying they hear River Phoenix in the burp of static speaks for itself.

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Ghost Adventures – Witches in Magna – S14E09

image The next investigation takes Zak and team to Magna, Utah to investigate a family who claims they have a curse placed on them by a bad witch. Sebastian says, "from what we believe", that after ending the witches employment at their restaurant she put a dark spell on him. Since then, he’s been the victim of mood swings and fits of rage where he wanted to break things. Because the experience left him confused, Zak says this is possession.

Sebastian turned to a psychic who sold them spirit balls she makes. They supposedly can capture spirits. Once home, Sebastian had a bad reacting which caused uncontrollable sweating and he moved in an awkward way.

Additionally, 6 year old Sebastian Jr, says he sees the dark figure of a girl on a repeated basis and has even been touched by her. Their daughter felt hands around her throat.

Zak meets with Kelli, who sold the spirit balls and is "battling" against the evil witch. She says a demon has been summoned against Sebastian and there is a curse over her as well. The evil witch used her hair and a tarantula to weave the curse. She’s not suffering any ill effects though.

Oddly, there is a witchcraft shop just down the street from the pizzeria. CJ says the evil witch, whose name is never mentioned, and has since disappeared, used to work at the shop but was dismissed after finding out she dabbled in the darker side of witchcraft. CJ says she has been into the basement of pizzeria and something strong and evil is down there.

Local Historian, Robert Goble, was told that Magna was the most haunted town in Utah. Zak notes the coal plant that’s in operation and if this could be feeding the paranormal energy.

As Aaron digs around in the basement, he finds a blood stained mattress and hand prints on the wall. For sure, the mattress should have been thrown away, but the hand prints look like someone’s attempt to be silly and scary.

Billy says he sees the camera head move. When they check the footage, there is no movement. Instead of Billy being mistaken, Zak claims Billy saw red eyes of the demon.

They hear multiple bangs down there, and get a response to their questions.
"Whose blood is that? – Behind you"
"What’s behind me? – I’ll show you"
"Can you show us? – Be patient"
"Who brought the bad spirit here?" Zak gets a light anomaly in response. Right after, there is a massive bang that sends them scattering in all directions, yelling and screaming for help.  The vibration can be felt through the entire building. Zak believes the entity is acting out against them.

After gathering their thoughts, Zak takes a spirit ball down to the basement, and for some insane reason, tells Billy to lie down on the fetid mattress. At least Billy has the sense to decline.

We also see how easy it is to misinterpret what they see on the cameras as they believe something is morphing and coming into existence on the thermal. It’s Zak’s reflection off a shiny surface.

Next, Zak brings out the Talking EVP, which shows a distance measurement jump from 38 to 170. Instead of this being a malfunctioning device, Billy says something is in front of the camera interfering with the reading.

Zak asks what they should do in the basement. They get a response of "dig". When asked what he will find, he gets "ahead". He treats it as two words.

When Zak asks what was done to the daughter, he gets "scratch" which is quite a bit different than choking, but Zak will let that slide as well. Intelligent enough to answer, but not intelligent enough to get it right.

Then Zak gets the answer I’m sure he’s been waiting for. When asked who scratched the daughter, he gets "Master." Who is the master? Satan.

For the last part, Zak brings out the SLS camera and for a second, picks up an incredibly small stick figure. The second time it returns to stay a little longer. That is until Billy comes around the corner wherein it disappears, reappears, then jumps into his body. According to Zak.

Because of all the activity, Zak performs a cleansing ritual, telling the spirit it needs to leave. But this does no good as he checks back in and the family is still having experiences.

Sebastian’s mood swings sound like the start of mental health issues. And the awkward movements might be related to something more serious. Instead of messing around with demonic possessions, he should probably see a doctor.

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