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Zak Bagans

American paranormal investigator

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

Biography book guest weather world guest hosts names

Jacob joined Weather World in the Fall of as a forecast verifier of Day Trends and as a behind-the-scenes timekeeper. He became a host in the Fall of and a forecaster in the Spring of , with his debut later that Fall. He enjoys not only forecasting and communicating the weather, but also explaining the mechanisms driving it.

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

Main article: Ghost Adventures

In , 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 A successor series premiered in on the Travel Channel and has aired for 19 seasons as of Ghost hunting shows in general, and Ghost Adventures in particular, have been accused of fakery.[2][3][4]

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 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.[5]

Museum

On April 2, , 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 It consists of 33 rooms with various artifacts on display. Visitors are given guided tours of the rooms.

Biography book guest weather world guest hosts Jacob joined Weather World in the Fall of as a forecast verifier of Day Trends and as a behind-the-scenes timekeeper. He became a host in the Fall of and a forecaster in the Spring of , with his debut later that Fall. He enjoys not only forecasting and communicating the weather, but also explaining the mechanisms driving it.

Some of the items on display include Bela Lugosi's mirror, the Dybbuk box, Peggy the Doll, and Jack Kevorkian's "Death Van".[6] 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.[7][8] All visitors must sign waivers before entering indemnifying the museum against “spiritual or paranormal interactions”.

On 27 May , an exhibit featuring a rocking chair from The Devil in Connecticut alleged demon possession case was shut down briefly due to a visitor fainting. The exhibit reopened on 7 June.[9]

In , the museum received Las Vegas Mayor's award for historic preservation and adaptive reuse.[10]

In , the transaxle salvaged from the American actor James Dean's Porsche Spyder was added to the museum's collection.[11]

The Haunted Museum

In May , 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.[12]

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, , the book debuted on The New York Times Best Seller list at No. [13]

In December, , 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.".[14] Troy Taylor has stated that Bagans and he worked together on researching material for the book.

But Taylor also says that Bagans did not have permission to use his original material in the book and that he had received "a substantial payment" from Bagans in a settlement.[15] Writing for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, paranormal investigator Kenny Biddle observes that throughout much of the book Bagans displays a strong bias against skeptics and scientists and also accuses Bagans of plagiarizing others such as Joe Nickell[16] The Skeptical Inquirer and the Society for Psychical Research noted similarities between several passages in the book and those by other writers.[16][17][18]

Personal life

Bagans lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He previously lived in Summerlin, Nevada.[19][20]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
Ghost AdventuresHimself Documentary
Demon HouseHimself Documentary[21]

Discography

Year Album details Chart positions
NecroFusion[22]
  • Released:
  • Format: CD

References

  1. ^Swartz, Tracy (July 24, ).

    "'Ghost Adventures' films at Old Joliet Prison for John Wayne Gacy episode". . Retrieved July 29,

  2. ^Rotondaro, Vinnie. "Why real-life ghost hunters hate "Ghost Hunters"". . Salon. Retrieved February 9,
  3. ^Mason, Aiden (September 6, ).

  4. Bbc world book club podcast
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  8. "Is Zak Bagans Just a Big Ol' Fraud?". . TVOvermind. Retrieved February 21,

  9. ^Craven, Scott. "Why those TV ghost-hunting shows are transparently fake". . Arizona Central. Retrieved February 21,
  10. ^Radford, Benjamin (June 27, ). "Visiting the Zak Bagans (Non) Haunted 'Museum'".

    Weather world forecast Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, – September 4, ) was an American weather presenter, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC broadcast network.

    . Center for Inquiry. Retrieved November 23,

  11. ^Biddle, Kenny (December 19, ). "The Not-So-Haunted Museum of Zak Bagans". . Retrieved March 19,
  12. ^Biddle, Kenny (January 10, ). "A Closer Look At The Bela Lugosi 'Haunted' Mirror". .

    The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved August 9,

  13. ^Biddle, Kenny (February 11, ). "The Provenance Of Captain Smith's 'Haunted' Mirror". . The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved August 9,
  14. ^Biddle, Kenny. "Devil's Chair blamed For Exhibit Shutdown". . The Skeptical Inquirer.

    Biography book guest weather world guest hosts list 10 Best Books of The staff of The New York Times Book Review has chosen the year’s top fiction and nonfiction. For even more great reads, take a spin through all Notable Books of

    Retrieved August 11,

  15. ^"Las Vegas mayor presents urban design awards". KTNV Las Vegas. February 8,
  16. ^"James Dean's Infamous 'Little Bastard' Porsche Transaxle Sells for $,". TheDrive.

  17. Weather world map
  18. Biography book guest weather world guest hosts cast
  19. Weather worldwide
  20. June

  21. ^"'Ghost Adventures' Zak Bagans & Eli Roth Team On 'The Haunted Museum' Horror Anthology Series For Discovery+". Deadline. May 18,
  22. ^Schuessler, Jennifer. "Print & E-Books". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 4, Retrieved March 3,
  23. ^""Ghost-Hunting For Dummies" by Paranormal Investigator Zak Bagans to Publish December 5th".

    Wiley.

    Weather world map: Hurricane Expert, Co-Host Weather Unfiltered. Felicia Combs. On-Camera Meteorologist. Jacqui Jeras. On-Camera Meteorologist, Co-Host Storm Center. Jen Carfagno.

    Wiley. Retrieved February 9,

  24. ^Biddle, Kenneth. "The 'Ghost Writer' Mystery: New Developments In The Zak Bagans Scandal". . The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved February 9,
  25. ^ abBiddle, Kenneth (January 29, ). "Ghost Hunting For Dummies By Zak Bagans—And Many Others".

    . The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved February 9,

  26. ^Parsons, Steven. "Ghost Hunting for Dummies, by Zak Bagans - ". . Society for Psychical Research. Retrieved March 18,
  27. ^Biddle, Kenneth. "The 'Ghost Writer' Mystery: New Developments In The Zak Bagans Scandal". .

    The Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved February 9,

  28. ^"'Ghost Adventures' host is selling his $M Las Vegas house — PHOTOS". Las Vegas Review-Journal. October 2, Retrieved July 29,
  29. ^"'Ghost Adventures' star Zak Bagans buys house connected to Manson murders". FOX5 Las Vegas.

    Retrieved July 29,

  30. ^"Demon House Review – One of the Single Most Compelling Documentaries of Pure Evil You'll See". Dread Central. March 12,
  31. ^"Zak Bagan's NecroFusion". Travel Channel. Retrieved July 26,

External links