Ghost Adventures
Encyclopedia
Ghost Adventures is a weekly American paranormal
television series that premiered on October 17, 2008 on the Travel Channel
. Currently produced by MY-Tupelo Entertainment (a merger of MY Entertainment and Tupelo-Honey Productions), the program follows and stars ghost hunters
Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin, as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted. Hosted and narrated by Bagans, the show initially airs new episodes on Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on the Travel Channel. Nick Groff of the Ghost Adventures crew confired there will be a sixth season that will premier in 2012.
Self-described as "raw" and "extreme", the program originally began as an independent
documentary
television film, which was filmed by the crew in 2004 and produced by 4Reel Productions in 2006. The Sci-Fi Channel
first presented 4Reel's Ghost Adventures on July 25, 2007. The documentary centers on the trio's investigation of alleged paranormal
activity in and around Virginia City, Nevada
, which the crew returned to on the fourth season of the series, and in Goldfield, Nevada in which the crew returned to in order to finish their lockdown at the Goldfield Hotel
.
activity. Each episode begins with the trio touring the investigation site with its owners or caretakers. These introductions typically include Bagan's voice-over
s of the "dark" histories of the places and interviews with people who claim to have witnessed paranormal phenomena at the location. The crew places Xs with black or gray tape at the sites of alleged activity and later returns to set static night-vision cameras on these "hotspots."
After completing the walkthrough, the three men plan their strategy and then are "locked down" into the location by themselves ("to prevent any kind of audio contamination
") for an overnight ("from dusk until dawn") investigation. During the "lockdown", they use a variety of equipment, including digital thermometers, EMF meter
s, handheld digital
video camera
s, digital audio recorders
,the Ovilus
and infrared
night-vision cameras in an effort to document evidence to support paranormal events. On some investigations, the members follow provocative techniques, such as using "trigger objects" and aggressive language, in an attempt to increase their chances of capturing such phenomena. At the end of some episodes, the investigators analyze their audio, photos
, and video footage (often with the assistance of "paranormal experts") and present any unexplained phenomena that were captured.
Throughout the series, the crew claims to have captured and experienced various anomalous phenomena, some of which occurred almost simultaneously: equipment malfunctions, like battery drainage; EMF spikes
, or fluctuations in electromagnetic field
s; sudden changes in temperature (increase, decrease, or both); unexplained noises; electronic voice phenomena (EVPs); apparitions
, shadow people
, mists, and orbs
; physical contact and harm; moving objects
; spirit possessions; and other phenomena, like responses in an Ovilus
and drainage of an EM Pump.
So far, the investigators believe to have experienced and filmed three apparent possessions. Bagans believes that he was possessed twice: first at the Preston School of Industry
and second at Poveglia
. Groff, who admitted that he had never believed in possessions, now claims that he was possessed once at the Moon River Brewing Company
.
and editor of the show, working as a wedding DJ before. Born in Washington, D.C.
, he currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada
.
As a former skeptic himself, Bagans says that his passion for investigating the paranormal resulted from a face-to-face encounter with the spirit of a suicidal woman in his apartment building in Trenton, Michigan
, in 2002. Afterward, his life-changing experience caused him to actively pursue capturing video evidence of the afterlife. In the introduction of each episode, Bagans states:
"My name is Zak Bagans. I never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one. So I set out on a quest to capture what I once saw onto video. With no big camera crews following us around, I am joined only by my fellow investigator Nick Groff and our equipment tech Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to some of the most highly active paranormal locations, where we will spend an entire night, being locked down from dusk until dawn. Raw; extreme; these are our Ghost Adventures."
Bagans is known and criticized for his aggressive and confrontational methods used during investigations; however, he maintains that he respects the afterlife and only provokes evil entities in order to elicit responses. In a June 2009 interview with Paranormal Underground magazine, he stated, "I don't want the public perceiving us as the taunting, provocative ghost hunters. We do that only to the bad spirits who we know are attacking the living." Bagans also mentions this concept in various interviews and episodes throughout the series.
In season 3, Bagans summarized his greatest fears while climbing an aged staircase inside a shot tower at the Remington Arms factory: "Heights, snakes,and creepy-looking dolls... those are on Zak's top three I-don't-like list." Zak encountered situations involving these fears in the episodes at Sloss Furnaces
, Idaho State Penitentiary, and the Riddle House
, respectively.
Zak Bagans is currently hosting a spin-off show titled Paranormal Challenge on Travel Channel in addition to Ghost Adventures. He also narrated a 2011 Travel Channel special called Ultimate Travel: Legends of the Parks, about paranormal activities in America's National Parks.
It was announced by the legendary post-industrial/techno
band Lords of Acid
that Zak Bagans would be in the studio with Chris Vrenna to record vocals for the song called "Paranormal Energy" on their upcoming album.
Bagans wrote a book with Kelly Crigger titled Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew (Victory Belt, 2011). On September 23, 2011, debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list at number 18.
, but grew up in New England
; today, he and his wife reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their baby daughter Annabelle.
Groff's fascination with and curiosity about the paranormal began in childhood, during which he experienced phenomena that he could not explain. When he was 8, he saw a figure on an old cul-de-sac
on Lancaster Road in Salem, New Hampshire. After graduating from Pelham High School, Groff studied film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
, where he met his good friend Aaron Goodwin. Following college, Groff became a ghost hunter. After Groff met and befriended Bagans during Groff's wedding in Las Vegas, the two partnered with mutual interests to investigate the paranormal.
One of Groff's most life-changing experiences was being apparently possessed by an entity at the Moon River Brewing Company
in Savannah, Georgia
. A similarly startling experience was an alleged face-to-face encounter with a female spirit at the Linda Vista Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California.
, camera operator
, co-host and a co-investigator on the series. In need of a cameraman for their documentary, Groff introduced him to Bagans to assist them with primary filming and B-roll
taping. Originally from Portland, Oregon
, he currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Before joining Bagans and Groff, Goodwin had worked as a camera operator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
(UFC) and several behind-the-scenes film premieres in Las Vegas. Before his experiences at Virginia City, Nevada
, he "never really thought twice about ghosts." Goodwin looks perpetually terrified
on the show and now considers himself "a 100 percent – no, a 1,000 percent – believer." Often left alone on "hotspots" within the locations under investigation, Goodwin is often used as "bait" to attract supposed ghostly spirits.
At Preston Castle, the crew claimed that marks which appeared on Goodwin's left leg were similar to those that appeared on Bagan's back during the first Bobby Mackey nightclub investigation.
In a follow-up episode ("Return to Bobby Mackey's" in season 4), Bagans asked Goodwin if he believes that their first investigation of the nightclub in the first season affected his personal life. Goodwin answered that he was "80 percent" sure that the effects of the investigation ended his marriage. He said that he and his ex-wife had nightmare
s that were related to Bobby Mackey's Music World
and spoke of how these nightmares affected their relationship. Aaron also had indicated that his former wife would report to him that she was being attacked by something evil, while Aaron was on the road. According to that series of statements, Aaron indicated that while his ex-wife and he remain best friends, they did end their marriage in an effort to remove her from being affected.
At the Winchester Mystery House
, an experiment was set up to communicate with demonic entities at Bobby Mackey's Music World
and Washoe Club through very low frequencies, using coil antennae, as well as satellite communication. Due to his nausea and fatigue, along with overall feelings of dread, it was evident Aaron was the prime target of these demonic attacks, and was simultaneously mentioned in multiple EVPs at Bobby Mackey's 2400 miles away during their investigation.
Mark and Debby Constantino are EVP
analysts that have been occasionally brought into lockdowns for brief periods to collect "EVP evidence."
Dave Schrader
Dave Schrader (born November 11, 1970) appeared on the Rolling Hills Asylum
episode. He is also a chief judge on Paranormal Challenge
.
The Real Hollywood Ghost Hunters
Los Angeles-based paranormal investigators headed up by horror film actors Kane Hodder
, R.A. Mihailoff, and Rick McCallum. They co-investigated with the GAC in the Pico House
Hotel episode.
Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
(NYIIFVF). Released on DVD on August 18, 2009, seasons 1 and 2 and the original documentary are currently available at Amazon.com
.
Occasionally conducting public investigations with fans and paranormal enthusiasts, the trio has appeared on Maury
, Fox 19 News, NBC
's Today, and TV Guide Network's Hollywood 411. In 2009, the series won three International Paranormal Acknowledgement (IPA) Awards. In 2010, the program also won two Spooktalkular Parawards.
special Ghost Adventures Live at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, controversy arose when Robert Bess, inventor of the so-called Parabot Containment Chamber (claiming to attract and empower spirits using energy, giving them form), claims to have had an EMF meter
knocked violently out of his hand. However, upon investigation of the video, it was found he instead threw it. On the November 6, 2009 follow-up Ghost Adventures Live: Post Mortem, hosts Zak Bagans and Nick Groff admitted to the controversy after they reviewed the video themselves, saying they couldn't find any paranormal explanation for the incident in question.
Paranormal television
Paranormal television is a genre of popular reality television programming. Its scope comprises purportedly factual investigations of paranormal phenomena, rather than fictional representations found in such shows as The Ghosts of Motley Hall and Ghostbusters, or cartoon/children's series such as...
television series that premiered on October 17, 2008 on the Travel Channel
Travel Channel
The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...
. Currently produced by MY-Tupelo Entertainment (a merger of MY Entertainment and Tupelo-Honey Productions), the program follows and stars ghost hunters
Ghost hunting
Ghost Hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts.Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence claimed to be supportive of paranormal activity...
Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin, as they investigate locations that are reported to be haunted. Hosted and narrated by Bagans, the show initially airs new episodes on Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on the Travel Channel. Nick Groff of the Ghost Adventures crew confired there will be a sixth season that will premier in 2012.
Self-described as "raw" and "extreme", the program originally began as an independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
television film, which was filmed by the crew in 2004 and produced by 4Reel Productions in 2006. The Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
first presented 4Reel's Ghost Adventures on July 25, 2007. The documentary centers on the trio's investigation of alleged paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
activity in and around Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...
, which the crew returned to on the fourth season of the series, and in Goldfield, Nevada in which the crew returned to in order to finish their lockdown at the Goldfield Hotel
Goldfield Hotel
The Goldfield Hotel is a historic four-story building located at the southeast corner of Crook Avenue and Columbia Street in Goldfield, Esmeralda County, Nevada. Designed in the Classical Revival style of architecture by Reno architects Morrill J. Curtis and George E...
.
Summary
Bagans, Groff, and Goodwin investigate reportedly haunted locations, hoping to collect visual or auditory evidence of paranormalParanormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
activity. Each episode begins with the trio touring the investigation site with its owners or caretakers. These introductions typically include Bagan's voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
s of the "dark" histories of the places and interviews with people who claim to have witnessed paranormal phenomena at the location. The crew places Xs with black or gray tape at the sites of alleged activity and later returns to set static night-vision cameras on these "hotspots."
After completing the walkthrough, the three men plan their strategy and then are "locked down" into the location by themselves ("to prevent any kind of audio contamination
Contamination
Contamination is the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent in material, physical body, natural environment, at a workplace, etc.-Specifics:"Contamination" also has more specific meanings in science:...
") for an overnight ("from dusk until dawn") investigation. During the "lockdown", they use a variety of equipment, including digital thermometers, EMF meter
EMF Meter
An EMF meter is a scientific instrument for measuring electromagnetic fields . Most meters measure the electromagnetic radiation flux density or the change in an electromagnetic field over time , essentially the same as a radio antenna, but with quite different detection...
s, handheld digital
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
video camera
Video camera
A video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
s, digital audio recorders
Dictation machine
A dictation machine is a sound recording device most commonly used to record speech for later playback or to be typed into print. It includes digital voice recorders and tape recorders....
,the Ovilus
Ovilus
The Ovilus, or Puck, is an electronic speech-synthesis device which utters words depending on electromagnetic waves in the air, by using an EMF Meter. The device was created by Bill Chappell, a retired electronics engineer interested in the paranormal who creates devices for the field.-Overview:The...
and infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
night-vision cameras in an effort to document evidence to support paranormal events. On some investigations, the members follow provocative techniques, such as using "trigger objects" and aggressive language, in an attempt to increase their chances of capturing such phenomena. At the end of some episodes, the investigators analyze their audio, photos
Spirit photography
Spirit photography is a type of photography whose primary attempt is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual entities, especially in ghost hunting. It was first used by William H. Mumler in the 1860s. Mumler discovered the technique by accident, after he discovered a second person in a...
, and video footage (often with the assistance of "paranormal experts") and present any unexplained phenomena that were captured.
Throughout the series, the crew claims to have captured and experienced various anomalous phenomena, some of which occurred almost simultaneously: equipment malfunctions, like battery drainage; EMF spikes
Voltage spike
In electrical engineering, spikes are fast, short duration electrical transients in voltage , current , or transferred energy in an electrical circuit....
, or fluctuations in electromagnetic field
Electromagnetic field
An electromagnetic field is a physical field produced by moving electrically charged objects. It affects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the field. The electromagnetic field extends indefinitely throughout space and describes the electromagnetic interaction...
s; sudden changes in temperature (increase, decrease, or both); unexplained noises; electronic voice phenomena (EVPs); apparitions
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
, shadow people
Shadow people
Shadow people are supernatural shadow-like humanoid figures that, according to believers, are seen mostly in peripheral vision and move quickly...
, mists, and orbs
Will-o'-the-wisp
A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...
; physical contact and harm; moving objects
Poltergeist
A poltergeist is a paranormal phenomenon which consists of events alluding to the manifestation of an imperceptible entity. Such manifestation typically includes inanimate objects moving or being thrown about, sentient noises and, on some occasions, physical attacks on those witnessing the...
; spirit possessions; and other phenomena, like responses in an Ovilus
Ovilus
The Ovilus, or Puck, is an electronic speech-synthesis device which utters words depending on electromagnetic waves in the air, by using an EMF Meter. The device was created by Bill Chappell, a retired electronics engineer interested in the paranormal who creates devices for the field.-Overview:The...
and drainage of an EM Pump.
So far, the investigators believe to have experienced and filmed three apparent possessions. Bagans believes that he was possessed twice: first at the Preston School of Industry
Preston School of Industry
The Preston School of Industry, also known as Preston Castle, is one of the oldest and best-known reform schools in the United States. It is located in Ione, California, in Amador County....
and second at Poveglia
Poveglia
Poveglia is a small island located between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. A small canal divides the island into two parts. It is off-limits to visitors.-History:...
. Groff, who admitted that he had never believed in possessions, now claims that he was possessed once at the Moon River Brewing Company
Moon River Brewing Company
The Moon River Brewing Company is a brew pub - restaurant, bar and brewing facility. It is the only brewery in Savannah, Georgia.-Brewery:Moon River Brewing Company opened to the public in 1999 on the site of the former Oglethorpe Brewing Co. Gene Beeco and John Pinkerton are the current owners...
.
Zak Bagans
Zachary Alexander (Zak) Bagans (born April 5, 1977) is an executive producerExecutive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
and editor of the show, working as a wedding DJ before. Born in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, he currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
.
As a former skeptic himself, Bagans says that his passion for investigating the paranormal resulted from a face-to-face encounter with the spirit of a suicidal woman in his apartment building in Trenton, Michigan
Trenton, Michigan
Trenton is a small city in Wayne County in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 18,853...
, in 2002. Afterward, his life-changing experience caused him to actively pursue capturing video evidence of the afterlife. In the introduction of each episode, Bagans states:
"My name is Zak Bagans. I never believed in ghosts until I came face to face with one. So I set out on a quest to capture what I once saw onto video. With no big camera crews following us around, I am joined only by my fellow investigator Nick Groff and our equipment tech Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to some of the most highly active paranormal locations, where we will spend an entire night, being locked down from dusk until dawn. Raw; extreme; these are our Ghost Adventures."
Bagans is known and criticized for his aggressive and confrontational methods used during investigations; however, he maintains that he respects the afterlife and only provokes evil entities in order to elicit responses. In a June 2009 interview with Paranormal Underground magazine, he stated, "I don't want the public perceiving us as the taunting, provocative ghost hunters. We do that only to the bad spirits who we know are attacking the living." Bagans also mentions this concept in various interviews and episodes throughout the series.
In season 3, Bagans summarized his greatest fears while climbing an aged staircase inside a shot tower at the Remington Arms factory: "Heights, snakes,and creepy-looking dolls... those are on Zak's top three I-don't-like list." Zak encountered situations involving these fears in the episodes at Sloss Furnaces
Sloss Furnaces
Sloss Furnaces is a National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. It operated as a pig iron-producing blast furnace from 1882 to 1971. After closing it became one of the first industrial sites in the U.S. to be preserved for public use...
, Idaho State Penitentiary, and the Riddle House
Riddle House
The Riddle House is an old Victorian house that is located in Palm Beach County, Florida and was built in West Palm Beach in 1905, but was dismantled and moved to Yesteryear Village, a historical park within the South Florida Fairgrounds in Royal Palm Beach...
, respectively.
Zak Bagans is currently hosting a spin-off show titled Paranormal Challenge on Travel Channel in addition to Ghost Adventures. He also narrated a 2011 Travel Channel special called Ultimate Travel: Legends of the Parks, about paranormal activities in America's National Parks.
It was announced by the legendary post-industrial/techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
band Lords of Acid
Lords of Acid
Lords of Acid is a Belgian-American post-industrial/techno band, led by musician Praga Khan. They debuted with the controversial new beat single "I Sit on Acid" in 1988...
that Zak Bagans would be in the studio with Chris Vrenna to record vocals for the song called "Paranormal Energy" on their upcoming album.
Bagans wrote a book with Kelly Crigger titled Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew (Victory Belt, 2011). On September 23, 2011, debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list at number 18.
Nick Groff
Nicholas "Nick" Groff (born April 19, 1980) is a co-investigator, co-host, and cameraman on the series. He is also an executive producer and editor of the show. Groff is also the co-founder of the GAC. He was born in San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
, but grew up in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
; today, he and his wife reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their baby daughter Annabelle.
Groff's fascination with and curiosity about the paranormal began in childhood, during which he experienced phenomena that he could not explain. When he was 8, he saw a figure on an old cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
on Lancaster Road in Salem, New Hampshire. After graduating from Pelham High School, Groff studied film at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Nevada-Las Vegas is a public, coeducational university located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada, USA. The campus is located approximately east of the Las Vegas Strip. The institution includes a Shadow Lane Campus, located just east of the University Medical Center of...
, where he met his good friend Aaron Goodwin. Following college, Groff became a ghost hunter. After Groff met and befriended Bagans during Groff's wedding in Las Vegas, the two partnered with mutual interests to investigate the paranormal.
One of Groff's most life-changing experiences was being apparently possessed by an entity at the Moon River Brewing Company
Moon River Brewing Company
The Moon River Brewing Company is a brew pub - restaurant, bar and brewing facility. It is the only brewery in Savannah, Georgia.-Brewery:Moon River Brewing Company opened to the public in 1999 on the site of the former Oglethorpe Brewing Co. Gene Beeco and John Pinkerton are the current owners...
in Savannah, Georgia
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
. A similarly startling experience was an alleged face-to-face encounter with a female spirit at the Linda Vista Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California.
Aaron Goodwin
Aaron Goodwin (born April 1, 1976) is an equipment technicianTechnician
A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skills and techniques, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Experienced technicians in a specific tool domain typically have intermediate understanding of theory and expert...
, camera operator
Camera operator
A camera operator or cameraman is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the leading cameraman is usually called a cinematographer, while a cameraman in a video production may be known as a television camera operator, video camera operator, or videographer, depending on...
, co-host and a co-investigator on the series. In need of a cameraman for their documentary, Groff introduced him to Bagans to assist them with primary filming and B-roll
B-roll
B-roll, B roll, or Broll is the supplemental or alternate footage intercut with the main shot in an interview or documentary.- History :The term B-roll originates from the method of 16 mm film production from an original camera negative...
taping. Originally from Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, he currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Before joining Bagans and Groff, Goodwin had worked as a camera operator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...
(UFC) and several behind-the-scenes film premieres in Las Vegas. Before his experiences at Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City, Nevada
Virginia City is a census-designated place that is the county seat of Storey County, Nevada. It is part of the Reno–Sparks Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 855 at the 2010 Census.- History :...
, he "never really thought twice about ghosts." Goodwin looks perpetually terrified
Fear of ghosts
The fear of ghosts in many human cultures is based on beliefs that some ghosts may be malignant towards people and dangerous ....
on the show and now considers himself "a 100 percent – no, a 1,000 percent – believer." Often left alone on "hotspots" within the locations under investigation, Goodwin is often used as "bait" to attract supposed ghostly spirits.
At Preston Castle, the crew claimed that marks which appeared on Goodwin's left leg were similar to those that appeared on Bagan's back during the first Bobby Mackey nightclub investigation.
In a follow-up episode ("Return to Bobby Mackey's" in season 4), Bagans asked Goodwin if he believes that their first investigation of the nightclub in the first season affected his personal life. Goodwin answered that he was "80 percent" sure that the effects of the investigation ended his marriage. He said that he and his ex-wife had nightmare
Nightmare
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
s that were related to Bobby Mackey's Music World
Bobby Mackey's Music World
Bobby Mackey's Music World is a nightclub and honky tonk that is currently owned by country singer Bobby Mackey and located on 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky...
and spoke of how these nightmares affected their relationship. Aaron also had indicated that his former wife would report to him that she was being attacked by something evil, while Aaron was on the road. According to that series of statements, Aaron indicated that while his ex-wife and he remain best friends, they did end their marriage in an effort to remove her from being affected.
At the Winchester Mystery House
Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known mansion in California. It once was the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester. It was continuously under construction for 38 years and is reported to be haunted. It now serves as a tourist attraction...
, an experiment was set up to communicate with demonic entities at Bobby Mackey's Music World
Bobby Mackey's Music World
Bobby Mackey's Music World is a nightclub and honky tonk that is currently owned by country singer Bobby Mackey and located on 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky...
and Washoe Club through very low frequencies, using coil antennae, as well as satellite communication. Due to his nausea and fatigue, along with overall feelings of dread, it was evident Aaron was the prime target of these demonic attacks, and was simultaneously mentioned in multiple EVPs at Bobby Mackey's 2400 miles away during their investigation.
Billy Tolley
Billy Tolley (born January 18, 1973) analyzes the GAC's evidence on site in most investigations. He usually appears if the investigations include guests, or for the viewer to see what all three of the GAC are experiencing at the same time when the three are separated.Guests
Mark and Debby ConstantinoMark and Debby Constantino are EVP
Electronic voice phenomenon
Electronic voice phenomena are electronically generated noises that resemble speech, but are not the result of intentional voice recordings or renderings. Common sources of EVP include static, stray radio transmissions, and background noise...
analysts that have been occasionally brought into lockdowns for brief periods to collect "EVP evidence."
Dave Schrader
Dave Schrader (born November 11, 1970) appeared on the Rolling Hills Asylum
Rolling Hills Asylum
The Rolling Hills Asylum is a research center for the paranormal in East Bethany, New York. It has a differing points in time been a mall, and a museum...
episode. He is also a chief judge on Paranormal Challenge
Paranormal Challenge
Paranormal Challenge is an American paranormal competitive reality spinoff television series that premiered on June 17, 2011 on the Travel Channel...
.
The Real Hollywood Ghost Hunters
Los Angeles-based paranormal investigators headed up by horror film actors Kane Hodder
Kane Hodder
Kane Warren Hodder is an American actor and stuntman. Standing , he is best known for his portrayal of Jason Voorhees in four films from the Friday the 13th film series . He is also known for his role as Victor Crowley in Hatchet. -Career:Hodder is the only actor to portray Jason Voorhees more...
, R.A. Mihailoff, and Rick McCallum. They co-investigated with the GAC in the Pico House
Pico House
The Pico House is a historic building in Los Angeles, California, dating from its days as a small town in Southern California. Located on 430 North Main Street, it sits across the old Los Angeles Plaza from Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument...
Hotel episode.
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... and Blu-ray release date |
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| Season premiere Season premiere In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:... |
Season finale Season finale A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program... |
Region 1 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 2 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 4 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
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| 1 | 8 | ||||||
| 2 | 8 | ||||||
| 3 | 10 | ||||||
| 4 | 27 | TBA | |||||
| 5 | 34 | TBA | TBA | ||||
Reception
The 2004 documentary film Ghost Adventures received several awards, including the 20062006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival is a film screening event in various American cities. It was founded in 1993, and its website claims it has been recognized by the film and entertainment industry as one of the leading film events on the independent festival circuit...
(NYIIFVF). Released on DVD on August 18, 2009, seasons 1 and 2 and the original documentary are currently available at Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Occasionally conducting public investigations with fans and paranormal enthusiasts, the trio has appeared on Maury
Maury (TV series)
Maury is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Maury Povich.When the series first aired in 1991, the show was called The Maury Povich Show and was produced by MoPo Productions in association with Paramount Domestic Television...
, Fox 19 News, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Today, and TV Guide Network's Hollywood 411. In 2009, the series won three International Paranormal Acknowledgement (IPA) Awards. In 2010, the program also won two Spooktalkular Parawards.
Controversy
In the October 30, 2009 HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
special Ghost Adventures Live at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, controversy arose when Robert Bess, inventor of the so-called Parabot Containment Chamber (claiming to attract and empower spirits using energy, giving them form), claims to have had an EMF meter
EMF Meter
An EMF meter is a scientific instrument for measuring electromagnetic fields . Most meters measure the electromagnetic radiation flux density or the change in an electromagnetic field over time , essentially the same as a radio antenna, but with quite different detection...
knocked violently out of his hand. However, upon investigation of the video, it was found he instead threw it. On the November 6, 2009 follow-up Ghost Adventures Live: Post Mortem, hosts Zak Bagans and Nick Groff admitted to the controversy after they reviewed the video themselves, saying they couldn't find any paranormal explanation for the incident in question.
International broadcasts
| Country/Region | Channel | Premiere date | Timeslot |
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| Canal 9 Canal 9 (Denmark) CANAL9 is a Danish television channel owned by the TV4 Group and C More Entertainment.The channel is designed for men and was launched as a low-pay sister channel to Canal+ and share sports rights with Canal+ Sport, and is based on sports, mostly football including broadcasts from the Danish... |
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| MTV3 Fakta MTV3 Fakta MTV3 Fakta is a Finnish documentary channel owned and operated by MTV3. It started broadcasting in November 2006.- External links :*... |
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| Syfy Syfy Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a... |
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 Hong KongHong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour... |
AXN AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... |
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| AXN AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... and Animax Animax is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios... |
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 Malaysia |
ntv7 Ntv7 Natseven TV Sdn Bhd or better known as ntv7 is a terrestrial television channel in Malaysia. It was launched nationwide on 7 April 1998 and was the country's third private free-to-air TV station after TV3 and Astro. Its mission is to promote a happier and more enlightened Malaysia... until Season 3 and currently airs on AXN AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... |
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| AXN AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... and Animax Animax is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios... |
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| AXN AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... |
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| AXN Sci Fi AXN Sci Fi AXN Sci-Fi is a European movie channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It is available in Italy, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria on Sky Italia, Boom TV, Bulsatcom, Cyfra Plus, Cyfrowy Polsat, Digi TV, Dolce, iNES, Max TV and N... |
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| TV4 Fakta TV4 Fakta TV4 Fakta is a Swedish documentary channel owned by TV4 Group. It started broadcasting in 2005.Much of the programming is taken from the A&E Television Networks. Since December 2005, the remainder of the schedule is filled with the English language Euronews... |
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| TV4 Fakta TV4 Fakta TV4 Fakta is a Swedish documentary channel owned by TV4 Group. It started broadcasting in 2005.Much of the programming is taken from the A&E Television Networks. Since December 2005, the remainder of the schedule is filled with the English language Euronews... |
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| AXN Beyond AXN Beyond AXN Beyond is a cable and satellite TV channel, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment in the Asia-Pacific. Launched on January 1, 2008, the channel is a spin-off of the popular TV channel AXN Asia, It is available in throughout the 18 countries around the Asia-Pacific region and features programmes... and True x-Zyte |
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| Sky Living | |||
See also
- Apparitional experienceApparitional experienceIn psychology and parapsychology, an apparitional experience is an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience.It is characterized by the apparent perception of either a living being or an inanimate object without there being any material stimulus for such a perception...
- Darśana
- Ethereal beingEthereal beingEthereal beings, according to some belief systems and occult theories, are mystic entities that usually are not made of ordinary matter. Despite the fact that they are believed to be essentially incorporeal, they do interact in physical shapes with the material universe and travel between the...
- Ghost huntingGhost huntingGhost Hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts.Typically, a ghost hunting team will attempt to collect evidence claimed to be supportive of paranormal activity...
- Haunted locations in the United States
- Haunted locations in the world
- Paranormal televisionParanormal televisionParanormal television is a genre of popular reality television programming. Its scope comprises purportedly factual investigations of paranormal phenomena, rather than fictional representations found in such shows as The Ghosts of Motley Hall and Ghostbusters, or cartoon/children's series such as...
- PoltergeistPoltergeistA poltergeist is a paranormal phenomenon which consists of events alluding to the manifestation of an imperceptible entity. Such manifestation typically includes inanimate objects moving or being thrown about, sentient noises and, on some occasions, physical attacks on those witnessing the...
- Will-o'-the-wispWill-o'-the-wispA will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus , also called a "will-o'-wisp", "jack-o'-lantern" , "hinkypunk", "corpse candle", "ghost-light", "spook-light", "fairy light", "friar's lantern", "hobby lantern", "ghost orb", or simply "wisp", is a ghostly light or lights sometimes seen at night or twilight over...
External links
of Ghost Adventures of Ghost Adventures Live of the Ghost Adventures Crew (GAC)- The Paranormal Society (officially authorized online content provider)