Zak Bagans
Bagans in 2018
Born
Zachary Alexander Bagans

(1977-04-05) April 5, 1977
Washington, D.C., U.S.
OccupationParanormal investigator
Years active2004–present

Zachary Alexander Bagans (/ˈbeɪɡənz/ BAY-gənz; born April 5, 1977) is an American paranormal investigator, actor, television personality, museum operator, and author. He is the principal host of the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures.

Early life

Bagans was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He graduated from Glenbard West High School.[1]

Career

Ghost Adventures

In 2004, Bagans teamed up with Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin to produce a documentary-style film called Ghost Adventures. The film aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2007. A successor series premiered in 2008 on the Travel Channel and has aired for 19 seasons as of 2019. Ghost hunting shows in general, and Ghost Adventures in particular, have been accused of fakery.[2][3]

From 2014 to 2016, Bagans helmed a spin-off series titled Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks, which focused on changes to people's lives after prior Ghost Adventures investigations.

One of Bagans' more notable claims from the show is his alleged communication with deceased actor David Strickland of NBC's Suddenly Susan. Strickland committed suicide at the Oasis Motel in Las Vegas in 1999. Bagans claims to have recorded Strickland's voice nearly a decade following his death, and included this recording in a track on the album NecroFusion. No known scientific analysis has been attempted on the raw recording, including any comparison of the voice heard on the Electronic Voice Phenomena recording to that of the famous actor.[4]

Museum

On April 2, 2016, Deadly Possessions premiered on the Travel Channel; the show featured Bagans finding items for a prospective "haunted museum" in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum opened to the public in October 2017. It consists of 33 rooms with various artifacts on display. Visitors are given guided tours of the rooms. Some of the items on display include Bela Lugosi's mirror, the Dybbuk box, Peggy the Doll, and Jack Kevorkian's "Death Van".[5] Some of the claims attached to the artifacts have been criticised. Both the Lugosi mirror and Captain Smith mirror kept in the museum have been claimed to have dubious provenance.[6][7]

In 2018, the museum received Las Vegas Mayor's award for historic preservation and adaptive reuse.[8]

In 2021, the transaxle salvaged from the American actor James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder was added to the museum's collection.[9]

The Haunted Museum

In May 2021, Discovery+ Channel announced its plans to broadcast The Haunted Museum, an upcoming horror anthology show for which Zak Bagans will be the host and an executive producer. The series will be filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada and Toronto, Canada by the Cream Productions with Eli Roth as a filmmaker and Matt Booi, Kate Harrison Karman and David Brady as executive producers.[10]

The museum also contains a large painting of P.T. Barnum, whom Bagans is said to idolize.[4]

Books

Bagans co-wrote a book with author Kelly Crigger titled Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew. On September 23, 2011, the book debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. 18.[11]

In December, 2019, Bagans published the book Ghost-Hunting For Dummies. The book 'outlining the history of ghost-hunting, including true accounts and stories from Bagans’ famous cases and investigations, and explains how anyone can get started in investigating the supernatural."[12] Writing for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, paranormal investigator Kenneth Biddle observes that throughout much of the book Bagans displays a strong bias against skeptics and scientists.[13] The Skeptical Inquirer and the Society for Psychical Research noted similarities between several passages in the book and those by other writers.[13][14]

Personal life

Bagans lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. He previously lived in Summerlin, Nevada.[15][16]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 Ghost Adventures Himself Documentary
2018 Demon House Himself Documentary[17]
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2008–present Ghost Adventures Himself, also creator and executive producer 213 episodes and 47 specials
2011 Paranormal Challenge Himself, also creator and executive producer 12 episodes
2012 Paranormal Paparazzi Executive producer 8 episodes
2012 Nightline Himself Guest
2014–2016 Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks Himself, also creator and executive producer 25 episodes
2015 The Late Late Show with James Corden Himself Guest
2015 Today Himself Guest
2016 Deadly Possessions Himself, also creator and executive producer 6 episodes
2021 Haunted Museum Series Himself, also creator and executive producer N/A
2021–2022 Halloween Wars Himself Host

References

  1. ↑ Swartz, Tracy (July 24, 2019). "'Ghost Adventures' films at Old Joliet Prison for John Wayne Gacy episode". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  2. ↑ Mason, Aiden (September 6, 2017). "Is Zak Bagans Just a Big Ol' Fraud?". tvovermind.com. TVOvermind. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  3. ↑ Craven, Scott. "Why those TV ghost-hunting shows are transparently fake". azcentral.com. Arizona Central. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Radford, Benjamin (June 27, 2022). "Visiting the Zak Bagans (Non) Haunted 'Museum'". centerforinquiry.org. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  5. ↑ Biddle, Kenny (December 19, 2018). "The Not-So-Haunted Museum of Zak Bagans". www.csicop.org. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  6. ↑ Biddle, Kenny (January 10, 2019). "A Closer Look At The Bela Lugosi 'Haunted' Mirror". skepticalinquirer.org. The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  7. ↑ Biddle, Kenny (February 11, 2019). "The Provenance Of Captain Smith's 'Haunted' Mirror". skepticalinquirer.org. The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Las Vegas mayor presents urban design awards". KTNV Las Vegas. February 8, 2018.
  9. ↑ "James Dean's Infamous 'Little Bastard' Porsche Transaxle Sells for $382,000". TheDrive. June 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans & Eli Roth Team On 'The Haunted Museum' Horror Anthology Series For Discovery+". Deadline. May 18, 2021.
  11. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer. "Print & E-Books". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  12. ↑ ""Ghost-Hunting For Dummies" by Paranormal Investigator Zak Bagans to Publish December 5th". Wiley. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Biddle, Kenneth (January 29, 2020). "Ghost Hunting For Dummies By Zak Bagans—And Many Others". skepticalinquirer.org. The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  14. ↑ Parsons, Steven. "Ghost Hunting for Dummies, by Zak Bagans - spr.ac.uk". spr.ac.uk. Society for Psychical Research. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  15. ↑ "'Ghost Adventures' host is selling his $2.5M Las Vegas house — PHOTOS". Las Vegas Review-Journal. October 2, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  16. ↑ "'Ghost Adventures' star Zak Bagans buys house connected to Manson murders". FOX5 Las Vegas. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Demon House Review – One of the Single Most Compelling Documentaries of Pure Evil You'll See". Dread Central. March 12, 2018.
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