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Revision as of 17:58, 26 September 2011

Ghost Adventures
GenreParanormal
Documentary
Created byZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Written byZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Directed byZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Presented byZak Bagans
Nick Groff
StarringZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Aaron Goodwin
Narrated byZak Bagans
Country of originTemplate:TVUS Template:TVUK
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes53 plus 7 specials (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Production locationsUnited States
United Kingdom (2 episodes)
Italy (1 episode)
Canada (1 episode)
Australia (1 upcoming episode)
CinematographyZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Aaron Goodwin
EditorsZak Bagans
Nick Groff
Camera setupMultiple
Running time45 minutes
Production companies4Reel Productions (documentary film)
MY Entertainment (season 1)
MY-Tupelo Entertainment (after season 1)
Original release
NetworkTravel Channel
ReleaseOctober 17, 2008 (2008-10-17) –
present

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),[1] 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. The tagline of the series is: "Can you handle the lockdown?"

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,[2] and in Goldfield, Nevada in which the crew returned to in order to finish their lockdown at the Goldfield Hotel. On June, 25th 2011 Zak Bagans announced via Twitter that a new contract was signed for 26 new episodes to be added to the remaining episodes left on the current contract, equalling a total of 34 episodes to be made for season 5.

Summary

Bagans, Groff, and Goodwin investigate reportedly haunted locations, hoping to collect visual or auditory evidence of paranormal activity. Each episode begins with the trio touring the investigation site with its owners or caretakers. These introductions typically include Bagan's voice-overs of the "dark" histories of the places and interviews with people who claim to have witnessed paranormal phenomena at the location. The crew places X's 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"[3]) for an overnight ("from dusk until dawn") investigation. During the "lockdown", they use a variety of equipment, including digital thermometers, EMF meters, handheld digital video cameras, 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 fields; sudden changes in temperature (increase, decrease, or both); unexplained noises; electronic voice phenomena (EVPs); apparitions,[4][5] 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.

Cast and crew

File:Ga trio.jpg
Aaron Goodwin, Zak Bagans, and Nick Groff (left to right) at Death Valley from the introduction of the series.

The permanent[6] members of the cast and crew are Zak Bagans, Nick Groff, and Aaron Goodwin. All three of them studied film[3] and say that something evil followed them home after investigating Bobby Mackey's Music World.[7]

Zak Bagans

Zachary Alexander (Zak) Bagans (born April 5, 1977) is 6'1" tall(184cm). Working as a wedding DJ before , he is also an executive producer and editor of the show. As of September 2010, GAC's membership consists of over 730 paranormal organizations.[8] Born in Washington, D.C.,[9][10] 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. [10][11] Afterward, his life-changing experience caused him to actively pursue capturing video evidence of the afterlife.[12] 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.

Using a self-described religious, scientific, and emotional approach,[3] 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."[13] 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."[14] Zak encountered situations involving these fears in the episodes at Sloss Furnaces, Idaho State Penitentiary, and the Riddle House, respectively.

In a 2010 special, Bagans said his "scariest moments" (at his top three creepiest places he listed in a 2009 interview) include feeling a "burning" sensation on his back while being scratched by a demonic entity in the basement at Bobby Mackey's Music World,[15][16] being partially possessed by a spirit at the Preston School of Industry,[16][17] and being overwhelmed by "some dark energy" while on Poveglia Island.[3][7][11][16][18]

Zak Bagans is currently hosting a spin-off show titled Paranormal Challenge on Travel Channel in addition to Ghost Adventures. He also narrated a Travel Channel 2011 special called Ultimate Travel: Legends of the Parks, about paranormal activities in America's National Parks.[19]

It was announced by the legendary techno/industrial 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.[20]

On September 23, 2011 Zak's book, Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew (Victory Belt, 2011), written with Kelly Crigger, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 18.[21]

Nick Groff

Nicholas "Nick" Michael Groff (born April 19, 1980) is 6'1"(184cm/1.84m/.184km), and 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, California; today, he and his wife reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their baby daughter Annabelle.

Groff's family moved to Nashua, New Hampshire when he was 1. He spent the early years of his childhood in Nashua before his family moved to Salem, New Hampshire, and then later to Pelham.[10]

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.[7][10]

One of Groff's most life-changing experiences was being apparently possessed by an entity at the Moon River Brewing Company in Savannah, Georgia.[22] 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.[10][23]

Aaron Goodwin

Aaron Hilton Goodwin (born April 1, 1976) is an equipment technician, 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.[3] Before his experiences at Virginia City, Nevada,[7] 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."[10] Often left alone on "hotspots" within the locations under investigation, Goodwin is often used as "bait" to attract supposed ghostly spirits.[11][24]

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.[7] He said that he and his ex-wife had nightmares 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.

Billy Tolley

Billy Tolley (born January 18, 1973) is an analyzer who 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 Constantino

Mark and Debby Constantino are EVP analysts that have been occasionally brought in to 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.

Series overview

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD and Blu-ray release date
Season premiere Season finale Region 1 Region 2
1 8 October 17, 2008 (2008-10-17) December 5, 2008 (2008-12-05) August 18, 2009 (2009-08-18) —
2 8 June 5, 2009 (2009-06-05) July 24, 2009 (2009-07-24) September 14, 2010 (2010-09-14) —
3 10 November 6, 2009 (2009-11-06) January 8, 2010 (2010-01-08) August 30, 2011 (2011-08-30) —
4 27 Sept. 17, 2010 June 10, 2011 (2011-06-10) TBA —
5 34 Sept. 23, 2011 TBA TBA —

Episodes

Main article: List of Ghost Adventures episodes

Reception

The 2004 documentary film Ghost Adventures received several awards, including the 2006 Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF).[25] Released on DVD on August 18, 2009, seasons 1 and 2 and the original documentary are currently available at Amazon.com.[26]

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.[27] In 2009, the series won three International Paranormal Acknowledgement (IPA) Awards.[28] In 2010, the program also won two Spooktalkular Parawards.[29]

Controversy

In the October 30, 2009 Halloween 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.

Spin-offs

  • Zak Bagans announced via Twitter that he will host a new television series called Paranormal Challenge that will premiere on the Travel Channel on June 17, 2011.[30] Reportedly, the show features paranormal investigative teams competing against each other. The first episode is reportedly filmed in Philadelphia.[31]
  • The "chief judge" for the series is Dave Schrader, host for The Darkness on the Edge of Town paranormal radio program, contributor for TAPS Paramagazine, and coauthor of The Other Side: A Teen's Guide to Ghost Hunting and the Paranormal.[32]

International Broadcasts

Country/Region Channel Premiere date Timeslot
 Australia W Channel
 Denmark Canal 9
 Finland MTV3 Fakta
 France Syfy
Hong Kong Hong Kong AXN
 India AXN and Animax
Malaysia Malaysia ntv7 until Season 3 and currently airs on AXN
 Pakistan AXN and Animax
 Philippines AXN
 Romania AXN Sci Fi
 Sweden TV4 Fakta
 Norway TV4 Fakta
 Thailand AXN Beyond and True x-Zyte
 United Kingdom Sky Living

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Weisman, Jon (March 24, 2010). "MY-Tupelo scores orders". Variety. Reed Business Information.
  2. ^ "Old Washoe Club & Chollar Mine". Ghost Adventures. Season 3. Episode 6. December 4, 2009 (2009-12-04). Travel Channel. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e Olsen, Eric (January 8, 2010 (2010-01-08)). "Interview with Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans". Blogcritics Video. Eric Olsen. Retrieved 9 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Woodmansee, Karen (February 3, 2010 (2010-02-03)). "Washoe Club May Close in the Spring". Virginia City News. Virginia City, Nevada. Retrieved 5 February 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Silver Spirits at the Old Washoe Club". Los Angeles, California: Los Angeles Paranormal Association. December 29, 2009.
  6. ^ White, Bryan (June 13, 2008). "Interview with Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans!". Cinema Suicide Entertainment.
  7. ^ a b c d e Lawrence, Christopher (October 10, 2010). "Life on the Couch: Paranormal encounters spook 'Ghost Adventures' trio". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Stephens Media.
  8. ^ "Official Ghost Adventures Crew Members". Ghost Adventures. Ghost Adventures Crew. September 2010. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  9. ^ Mannen, Scott (June 2009). "Fear No Evil". Paranormal Underground. Ghost Knight Media. p. 19. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b c d e f Meighan, Patrick (October 17, 2010). "Former Nashuan has successful TV series hunting ghosts". Nashua Telegraph. Nashua, New Hampshire: Telegraph Publishing Company. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
  11. ^ a b c Moye, David (July 26, 2010). "Haunted Hotel Spooks 'Ghost Adventures' Stars". AOL News. AOL.
  12. ^ Bell, Josh (October 16, 2008 (2008-10-16)). "Woke me the F up". Las Vegas Weekly. Henderson, Nevada: Greenspun Media Group. Retrieved 12 February 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Mannen, Scott (June 2009). "Fear No Evil". Paranormal Underground. Ghost Knight Media. p. 17. Retrieved 10 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Remington Arms Factory". Ghost Adventures. Season 3. Episode 5. November 27, 2009 (2009-11-27). Travel Channel. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "Zak gets scratched in Kentucky". Travel Channel. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  16. ^ a b c Tillery, Melinda (October 15, 2009 (2009-10-15)). "The Uninvited". American Way. American Airlines, Inc. p. 5. Retrieved 9 February 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Heath, Kate (October 30, 2009 (2009-10-30)). "Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans Gets Locked Up In Lunatic Asylum". myMag: Articles. myYearbook. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "Poveglia Island". Ghost Adventures. Season 3. Episode 3. November 13, 2009 (2009-11-13). Travel Channel. Just then, an overwhelming feeling of extreme anger and hatred came over me. I can't explain it, but it's hard to ignore the chain of events that led up to this moment: first, Nick asking the spirits to use our energy,...then Aaron feeling suddenly drained, and this extremely high EMF spike caused by this strange ball of light. This was so disturbing for me to personally watch that we are only showing part of what I believe is a demonic possession. I do recall, as I looked back at Nick, everything I saw was like a red filter over my eyes. Then I lost all memory of what happened after that point. {{cite episode}}: Check date values in: |airdate= (help); External link in |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ http://www.travelchannel.com/Interests/American_National_Parks/Photos/ultimate-travel-legends-of-the-park
  20. ^ http://affairsmagazine.com/wordpress2/2011/08/16/zak-bagans-demon-hunter-author-vocalist/
  21. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2011-10-02/hardcover-nonfiction/list.html
  22. ^ "Ghostly encounters from Moon River". Travel Channel. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  23. ^ "Ghostly presence at Linda Vista Hospital". Travel Channel. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  24. ^ Harris, Franklin (January 28, 2010). "Be a paranormal investigator". TimesDaily and the Decatur Daily. Alabama: Tennessee Valley Printing Co. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  25. ^ "Los Angeles 2006 Awards: Grand Jury Prize". New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. September 2006.
  26. ^ "Ghost Adventures: Season One (2009)". Amazon.com. 2009.
  27. ^ "Ghost Adventures Crew: GAC in the Media". Ghost Adventures Crew.
  28. ^ "Winners for the IPAA Awards 2009". International Paranormal Acknowledgment Awards 2009. December 28, 2009.
  29. ^ "Parawards". Spooktalkular. March 5, 2010.
  30. ^ http://twitter.com/Zak_Bagans/status/50286156495069184
  31. ^ http://twitter.com/Zak_Bagans/status/50370156177797121
  32. ^ http://twitter.com/Zak_Bagans/status/66707155243376640

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Ghost Adventures.
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