Hi. My name is Shannon, and I’m a Ghost Adventures addict.
Yep, that’s right. I’m a Zak, Nick and Aaron junkie. I’m up for a good EVP session any day.
Confessions aside, what is probably super odd about this is that I live in Melbourne, Australia, and there’s only one other person here I know who watches this show. I don’t have pay TV (cable to those in the US), so I’ve watched every episode on YouTube and wait impatiently for the next weekly installment. I’m totally hooked!
This show is pure entertainment. For the most part it’s sinister and scarey, other times it’s heart wrenching and emotional, but the best episodes can have me cackling so hard I nearly pee a little. I probably shouldn’t be laughing, but I’m sure you’ve witnessed someone face planting or taking a dive, and the expression on their dial as they fall makes you laugh until you’re practically hyperventilating. That’s what often happens to me when these guys encounter spirits.
Ghost Adventures is, put very simply, a show about three guys who investigate alleged haunted properties. Toting their cameras and a plethora of spirit-spotting/spirit-capturing technological equipment (spirit-box, Mel meter, digital recorders, night vision cameras, EMF detectors etc), they venture all over the States visiting abandoned houses, psychiatric hospitals, jails, etc and go on overseas adventures to explore renowned supernatural sites.
I believe it’s the dynamics within the Ghost Adventures team that makes it so entertaining. Let me introduce you: Zak Bagans, the buff and fabulously passionate leader. He’s definitely the fans’ favorite with just over 500,000 Twitter followers. Perhaps it’s because he attacks each investigation with such gusto, often using ‘provocation’ to bring out the spirits enabling them to capture ‘disembodied voices’ or ‘full body apparitions’ on their specially designed equipment. The goal is to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that the spirit realm really does exist. Oh, and his biceps seem to grow with the popularity of the show.
Then there’s Nick Groff.He’s the sweet, married, camera lugging dude whom the spirits seem to gravitate toward. They either ‘attach’ themselves to him and appear to change his persona; reveal themselves around him like in the original documentary, or show themselves in front of his face like they’re saying ‘boo’. The Linda Vista Hospital episode has the best evidence of this when a lady’s apparition appears before him. His reaction not only left me a believer, but also left me on the floor crying in hysterics.
Speaking of hysterics, let me tell you about Aaron Goodwin; absolute classic (and my personal favorite). Originally their onsite ‘tech’ guy, he initially became famous for being the ‘scaredy-cat’ of the group and, therefore, was often used as bait to attract spirits. Apparently, spirits can sniff out fear. Who knew? But when Aaron comes into contact with something, he pulls the funniest faces, jumps ten feet in the air and bolts to tell the other “dudes” what he has experienced. Hilarious!
Aaron abandoned the original team for a short while after filming their documentary in 2004, but after confronting his fears and embracing the spirit realm he is now one of the main investigators. He is so in tune now that he often picks up on voices before the others do.
They have slowly introduced Billy Tolley as their head of tech along with Jay Wasley on audio. These two are so laid back I often expect to find them at the helm having a nana-nap when the camera pans to them. A grounding force for the show, when they react it’s a definite signal that the team is about to get some action.
Each episode is part one; history lesson of the premises and surrounding areas, and part two; when they are “locked down, from dusk until dawn”. They are literally locked in these buildings during this time to find, confront and visually, or auditorily capture spirits.
Like a big kid, once in a while I enjoy a good thrill of the paranormal kind, but where once those needs were placated with movies such as Amityville Horror, The Exorcist or Poltergeist, no movie since has done it for me. They just don’t make scarey movies like they used to.(I turned to books; Stephen King’s, The Shining scared the pants off me.)
I have watched other ghostly shows like Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted and even a couple of episodes of Paranormal State, but usually balked at the goings on for being dull or just plain ridiculous. Ghost Adventures holds my attention for various reasons; the production, compared to these other shows, is great, as Zak’s obvious passion for film making shines through; they are happy to ‘debunk’ many occurrences, sometimes not enough in my opinion, and they inject humor into their shows. The Valentine’s special is a testament to that.
I must admit, I’m a bit of a fence sitter. I do believe there is something of an afterlife, but I don’t believe it all. When watching this show, I’m more than ready to explain away a distant noise or a dark shape, but there are definitely instances I simply cannot explain.
My all time favorite episode is at the Peabody-Whitehead Mansion, Denver. When you have four tough guys, including Brendan Schaub, an Ultimate Fighting Champion (who seems so unstereotypically sweet), all reacting the same way at the same time in complete darkness when a spirit speaks through the ‘spirit box’. I can’t help but believe they actually made contact. When they ask the spirit to name someone there and it replies “Brendan” in a high pitched, girly voice, it cracks me up every single time.
Even though these voices could somehow be programmed to come through the devices, it’s their unrehearsed reactions that make it so thrilling and believable. The local authorities in Denver were so intrigued by what the team uncovered in that investigation that they planned to use the evidence to investigate the apparent rape/murder further.
There’s also the episode at the Vallisca Ax Murder house and the slamming door. The content of this episode really creeped me out, and I was horrified that anyone would think it appropriate to use a house as a museum where such tragedy had occurred. (Only in America!) There are plenty of voices captured in this episode, but it is the door slamming toward the end that got me. I was initially sceptic and thought the door could have been closed by pulling it with some undetectable string, but there was just something about the footsteps before and the way it slammed that sent chills down my spine. Still does.
There are even creepier episodes than that, including those filmed at Bobby Mackey’s Nightclub in Wilder, Kentucky. I have only just watched the first one; they are a little too freaky for me. Any of the ‘demon’ or more macabre investigations I’m not keen on at all.
What has convinced me that these guys are more genuine than not is their initial documentary. They had their footage scrutinized by specialists who concluded what they captured was the real deal. They also did a live show that was pretty impressive. Even though there were times I wished that Zak would shut the hell up, I couldn’t knock him for his enthusiasm. There was no way they could have rigged the EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) or the footage. And the consistency of their reactions; they are in complete darkness, but they continue to react to the same noises, voices, banging etc at the same time.
Ghost Adventures has a huge fan base in the States, but I’m not sure if this popularity extends farther than there. I just know they need to get their butts here toot sweet to capture some Aussie ghost happenings. I’d go on a lock-down with them any day. *fist pump.
P.S. since writing this blog many Australian fans of the show have popped up and I have been able to get others hooked. That’s a blogging Big Step for you Aaron Goodwin.
