During the Comic Con Panel, Ghost Adventures crew Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley revealed an upcoming spinoff entitled Ghost Adventures: Serial Killer Spirits that will air this October. The four-part miniseries will feature famous serial killers in the US, such HH Holmes. However, according to the crew, since the murder house in Chicago, on which the book The Devil in the White City is based, is no longer in existence, they found a home in Juliette, Illinois that Holmes had rented. He had murdered a boy there, and thus the team chose to investigate that location, instead. Other locations are to include John Wayne Gacy’s prison cell, the Anson Call House, and the Squirrel Cage Jail. The miniseries will premiere Saturday October 6th on the Travel Channel.
Additionally, the team will visit what has become known as the Conjuring house, or the real house that inspired the film. The team was excited that they were the first to explore that location in a long time, possibly due to the openness of the new buyers to allowing paranormal investigations. “It’s scary but it’s also so iconic,” Wasley stated in the conference, “ it’s kind of an honor.”
“This could be a life-changing moment,” Goodwin added. Tolley stated that one of their interviews will be from one of the daughters that was featured in the Conjuring film, telling her true story of what had happened. This episode will air on Halloween night in a two-hour special Thursday, October 31st at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The team, minus Zak Bagans, answered questions during a press conference following the Comic Con panel.
When asked if another movie was in the works, Aaron responded with “pretty much every episode is a movie,” adding that because they are constantly filming, there currently isn’t any time in their schedules to do another movie like Demon House.
When questioned about the longevity of the show, the team answered chemistry is key, with all four of the members having different personalities. Concerning how each of the members became a part of the Ghost Adventures team, Goodwin answered that he was doing a lot of independent work, just trying to make a living, when somehow he ran into Bagans and the rest was history: “It all happened by accident, none of us really knew each other. I just helped them out and all of a sudden was part… I had no experience.” Tolley and Wasley had similar stories. Tolley was a DJ in Vegas with no real interest in the paranormal until he met up with Zach. Wasley talked about his journey from the “sound guy” to a full-fledged member of the team. Wasley described his skepticism at first: “So many other shows, you know, they twist it and they do all kinds of crazy stuff, but just as a crew guy at the time, I was just like ‘wow,’ I was impressed, this is legitimately what happened, how it went down.” The team attributed their success to the reality of their show and how everything that is presented is exactly what had happened, with no alterations, unlike other paranormal investigation shows that have been accused of staging evidence. Wasley explained that the four of them answer to no one but themselves: “There’s no team behind that’s like ‘do this or do that,’ we literally – it’s literally our adventure, our investigations, doing this so it’s raw, it’s real.” Tolley added that they never have a set plan when going to do an investigation besides 3-5 interviews that have been set up. “There’s no script, it’s just… it’s an adventure.”
For fans wondering how the team stays safe during an investigation, the answer is… they don’t. When asked how the team protects themselves from potentially harmful spirits, Goodwin responded, “I do not, I walk out, I kind of say if you want to follow me home, follow me home. I’ve done that pretty much since season 3. I tried protection once and it got worse for me so I was like you know what, if I’m going to keep doing this, just go with it. Be part of the experiment.” He added that his body was his favorite gear and the best way for him to experience paranormal activity. This led to his insinuation that his house was the most haunted location he has been to, which at first seemed like a joke but it became increasingly clear that his house was, in fact, extremely haunted (which begs the question of whether or not an investigation will ever be held at the Goodwin residence). Regarding protection from the physical locations themselves, which are often decrepit, Goodwin stated “there is none, you just go in and hope to God… you know how many times we’ve walked in and go ‘dude, we could fall through the floor. We might die here.’”
Photo Credit: Rachel Beede
For skeptics of the show, the team attested to how they are able to accumulate so much evidence for nearly every episode. “It’s got to the point now where we just walk in and the spirits know and it starts talking,” Goodwin stated. “We pull stuff out and it’s instant now. If you see now during interviews and stuff, we’re getting all this evidence, it’s just unreal.” Wasley added that, “we’ve had locations that tell us ‘as soon as we start contacting you guys… then activity started happening.’” Tolley explained that this was probably due to the fact that the team has “been doing this so long every other week that you get attuned to it.” Goodwin tagged on to this, warning that “you open up that door, and it can change everything… they may not leave you alone after that.” The team added that if they don’t experience any paranormal activity, they present that as well, so that their audience is fully disclosed with nothing hidden. According to the team, if nothing happens, nothing happens and they present it as is.
When asked about upcoming locations, the crew attested to a recent location in Pasadena, which they had filmed the week prior to Comic Con. “It’s something I never should’ve done… did it, never will do it again.” The team hinted at what fans can expect from this episode. Billy stated that “Just when we think we’d seen it all, something new happens.” They explained that the owner of the house they investigated was able to summon spirits, and the team admitted to doing a seance with him using a ouija board, which is something Billy normally does not do.
Concerning locations they want to visit but haven’t got the rights to, the team stated “The White House” and Disneyland, specifically the Haunted Mansion, which is notorious for real paranormal encounters.
Reruns of Ghost Adventures are currently available on the Travel Channel.