Follow TV Tropes

Following

Series / Ghost Adventures

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghost-adventures-300x300.jpg

"My name is Zak Bagans, lead investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew. 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 investigators, Nick Groff and Aaron Goodwin. The three of us will travel to some of the most highly active paranormal locations where we will spend an entire night locked down from dusk until dawn. Raw. Extreme. These are our Ghost Adventures.
Zak Bagans, Ghost Adventures opening pre-season 9.

"There are things in this world that we will never fully understand. We want answers. We have worked years to build our credibility, our reputation. Working alongside the most renowned professionals in the field. Catching groundbreaking proof of the paranormal. This is our evidence, our Ghost Adventures."
Zak Bagans, Ghost Adventures current opening

As the show's name implies, Ghost Adventures is a show about three ghost hunters (Zak, Nick, and Aaron note ) and the events that transpire from their attempts to prove that ghosts are real. Like most paranormal shows, this group actively seeks out places that are reputedly haunted, and spend the night in the area from sundown to sun-up. Unlike most paranormal shows, they really delve into the history of the locations with numerous interviews with a wide variety of witnesses, past employees, and area neighbors. This can take up a quarter to half of the aired episode itself. They inspect both audio and video footage they have captured offscreen and often air results (especially EVPs) during the scenes where they are captured. If they capture video or photographic evidence, they sometimes take them to specialists who examine them and give their thoughts.

Unlike most paranormal shows, they do not have a huge film crew with them. Often it is just them three on location, sometimes with a guest or someone of religious affiliation if they are entering a dangerous place. Each have their own camera as well. Often times their method of choice in getting results is through provocation, basically insulting and daring any entities to appear, make noises, or even physically attack them. They often split up and individually inspect areas alone while recording EVPs as well. This is more general questions than provocation, usually. The former works disturbingly well.

A related show produced by Zak, featuring former GAC member Dakota Laden, titled Destination Fear, premiered in October 2019, to positive reception.


This series provides examples of:

  • Abandoned Hospital: Well, duh - abandoned hospitals and asylums are known to be terrifying in broad daylight, let alone the dead of night. What paranormal investigator wouldn't check these places out?
    • To list them off: The Essex County Hospital Center (called only The Abandoned Psychiatric Hospital in the episode it was featured in for legal reasons) in New Jersey, The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, Pennhurst in Pennsylvania, Poveglia in Italy, Linda Vista Hospital in California, Rolling Hills Asylum in New York, Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky, Yorktown Hospital in Texas, Tooele Hospital in Utah, Ashmore Estates in Illinois, Letchworth Village in New York, and Tuolumne General Hospital in Sonora, California
  • The Ace: Zak would be this, with his Hot-Blooded nature and Mr. Fanservice qualities, if it weren't a conscious effort to get a rise out of ghosts. He's also nearly always the first to be affected, or the worst out of the three (Poveglia Island, The Ancient Ram Inn), which averts the "never suffers consequences" part.
  • Ascended Extra: Billy Tolley ,Jay Wasley, and Dakota Laden
  • Aside Glance: Aaron gives some rather amusing looks to the camera when Zak says that they're going to be offering him up to whatever evil spirits they're investigating. Notable are the occasions (there have been at least two) where he's been sent alone into an abandoned prison shower.
  • A Storm Is Coming: Several times, their investigation takes place after a flash of severe weather, or as they pointed out, unusual things happening with clouds. The huge storm at Vulture Mine, the random rainstorm in Sacramento (which came after they had talked about Sacramento's history having lots of floods), the tornadoes at the Hale's Bar Marina, which blew away the dock they were standing on just a few minutes beforehand, the "ominous cloud eyes" at the Idaho prison and the contrails forming an X over Poveglia. Two days before they were to investigate Letchworth Village, Hurricane Irene struck New York and trapped them in Manhattan Island. It even happened when investigating the Perron Family farm in Rhode Island
  • "Awkward Silence" Entrance: Discussed at the beginning of the Birdcage Theatre lockdown. Soon after they enter, one of the paranormal investigators remarks "There's a feeling in here, like there's, like, fifty people in here just staring at us."
  • Battle Strip: The ghosts of the nuns at Yorktown Hospital are said to hate men with tattoos. So during the investigation, Zak takes off his shirt and shows his. The nuns' reaction upon seeing his tattoo? They reportedly say, "It's sick."
  • Bizarrchitecture: The Winchester Mystery House
  • The Black Death: The guys investigate Poveglia Island in Season 3. The island has an extremely fearsome reputation, mainly because it was used to quarantine plague victims during various epidemics and was therefore the site of thousands of deaths.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • In Sacramento Tunnels, the only reason the gang is off to a salt water taffy store is to 'make sure their nutrition levels are high' and getting 'food from the major food groups'
    • They also do this when they impersonate historical people like Civil War soldiers.
  • Butt-Monkey: Aaron is usually the one who shows the most fear of the angry spirits. So, naturally, he tends to be the one to get put in the places where the more violent events have occurred to be used as a trigger object.
    • And his birthday is April Fool's Day.
      • In the Stanley Hotel, Zak and Nick forced him to wear a wig to see if a ghost would come into his room and kiss him, thinking he was a woman.
    • Nick can be this sometimes. Especially with the Washoe Club ghosts. On a revisit to the Washoe Club, nearly every EVP involving Zak and Aaron was about being intimidated by them, while there was about fifteen EVP's about how much they hated Nick.
    "Hate Nick."
    "Nick... Go home."
    • Zak becomes talk show fodder especially after the "incubus incident" at the Ancient Ram Inn.
  • Canada, Eh?: In Season 4, the crew travels to Ontario to investigate Old Fort Erie (a historic military installation). When they approach someone for an interview and he politely invites them into his home, Zak exclaims, "I love Canadian hospitality!"
  • Catchphrase: "This is why we do this." or "This is what we hunt for."
    • "This... Is powerful stuff."
    • "Dude, did you hear that!?"
    • "OH MY GOD!!!" (Includes Ohmygodohmygodohmygod and OH! MY!! GOD!!! versions)
  • Cat Scare:
    • A literal cat startles the team at the Moon River Brewery.
    • After Zak hauls ass out of the freaky clown-doll hotel, he steps into the car—and there's a clown-doll in the driver's seat. He promptly screams and falls out of the car.
    • During the Yorktown Hospital episode, Zak is startled by a donkey.
    • Zak is startled by a cat during the Ghost Train of Ely episode (which is Lampshaded after Aaron is startled by his own shadow). In a slightly unconventional example, he also sees something move during lockdown, only for the heat cameras to show the cat again.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The anointing oil given to the crew in the Bobby Mackey's Music World episode is used after Zak is possessed on Poveglia Island.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Zak. Reading his Twitter feed makes it even more apparent.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Ties with Sound-Effect Bleep when ghostly activity kicks up.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • During the Season 2 investigation of Pennhurst State School, Zak meets a girl who shows him that she has the Pennhurst Administration Building tattooed on her back. Zak reminds Nick that during their visit to Sloss Furnace in Season 1, they met a girl who had a tattoo of Sloss Furnace in the exact same place on her back.
    • During the Season 10 investigation of Nopeming Sanitorium (a former TB hospital), a historian says that the building was designed to provide the patients with plenty of fresh air and sunlight as this was once thought to be beneficial in treating TB. Zak comments that the Waverly Hills hospital was designed the same way, which he knows because the GAC investigated it in Season 4.
  • Creepy Basement: The most paranormally active sites are also largely some of the darkest and creepiest places, particularly when the basement in question has been used as some kind of Torture Cellar in the past. A lot of them are called "the bad room."
  • Creepy Child: Almost every time you hear a child at the site, they never turn out to be normal. Most notably, in the Penhurst State School episode where all signs point to the little girl being malevolent, with only the other spirit(s) to keep her in check.
    • They've also said that many times, demonic entities will mimic young children.
  • Creepy Doll: Zak was given one to disassemble in the Magnolia Lane plantation. It wasn't malevolent in purpose, being intended to help free the tormented slaves' spirits, but it still looked like something from The Blair Witch Project.
    • Zak once confessed that the three things that scared him the most were heights, snakes, and creepy dolls.
    • Creepy dolls were also noted at the Riddle House, Linda Vista Hospital, and the home/museum of another paranormal investigator they were interviewing. Either dolls have an odd knack for popping up at haunted locations, or the crew likes making a note of them when they edit the episodes.
    • The return to the Goldfield Hotel had the trio came across a Clown Hotel, where two of the walls of the front office were literally covered with clown dolls. Needless to say, Zak did not stay in there very long.
    • Taken to extremes with the Island of Dolls episode in Season 10, with reports of dolls closing and opening their eyes on their own.
    • An episode revealed in Season 11 involves an investigation of the aforementioned Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada
  • Darker and Edgier: Zak mentioned that the 2019-2020 season would be the darkest season yet. He wasn't kidding. For instance, more episodes have been dealing with possession, with one showing an on-screen exorcism performed. The comedic moments from previous seasons are pretty much absent too.
  • Demonic Possession: Happens to each of the guys separately. Most notable scenes include:
    • Preston Castle: Near the end of the lockdown, Zak states that he doesn't feel good and walks away. When Nick and Aaron find him, Zack is sitting in a chair with a creepy smile on his face. Supposedly, he's possessed by a spirit that wants to protect the three from the demonic forces.
    • Poveglia Island: Zak got possessed by a demon and started cursing, hitting himself and made threats to kill his friends. They had to stop the investigation and used anointing oil to exorcise the demon.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: An Aftershocks about the Yorktown Hospital reveals that after the GAC investigated, some of the people around town were upset with the owner of the hospital for supposedly exploiting the ghosts, and in an act of revenge, one of them poisoned and killed his pet donkey, Spirit.
  • Do Not Attempt: This message popped up when they were at the Vulture Mine, with good reason since the place is MILES from proper civilization, not all of the structures are entirely stable, and then there's two deadly locals - rattlers and scorpions. All this on top of them initially attempting to reach their lockdown in the middle of a thunderstorm and flash flood warnings and ignoring road hazard signs until the cops approached them, requiring them to turn back (though by that point, they'd realized there was no way they would reach the lockdown).
    • The warning also pops up both times Zak attempts to face his fear of snakes by picking up a snake. The exact wording of the warning seems to be lampshading the stupidity.
    • There were also Do Not Attempt warnings found in the other episodes found in Arizona. The episode in Tombstone, AZ had Zak going down a deep abandoned mine, and a message appears saying that they shouldn't try entering a deserted mine, while the episode in Jerome, AZ had Zak specifically telling us to not try what he did, which was record what a supposed suicide victim probably went through. That portion almost ended his life!!
    • This shows up again in the episode at the Pioneer Saloon when Nick and Billy go down an old 300-foot ladder in an abandoned mine. The two of them both say things like "This is a bad idea," and Zak's voiceover also warns the audience, very seriously, that this is a bad idea, along with citing an expert abandoned mine explorer who said he would never go down that particular ladder.
    • Zak gives one of these in the Hales Bar Marina episode right before he jumps a water-filled ditch that has downed power lines lying dangerously close to it. It gets Played for Laughs after Zak's attempt results in him landing on his ass (but fortunately safely away from the water and power lines) in front of the news crew he was going to talk to.
    • Zak also implicitly gives one in talking about the danger of traveling to the Cerro Gordo Ghost Town in the middle of the Inyo mountains, due to the road being a dirt/gravel trail hugging the cliff in most spots on the road.
  • Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Inverted only if the ghosts/spirits are those that have been known to harm innocent people during life or mess around with those that aren't paranormal investigators. In a couple cases they specifically say they're not targeting any spirits who just happen to be there who don't harm others before they start their provocations. See above on Berserk Button.
  • Do You Want to Haggle?: In the Star of India episode, the guys go looking for an old nautical compass. They find one at a maritime antique store, which the owner wants $250. After a bit of back and forth, the sale is made at $220.
  • Double Entendre - The investigation of Rocky Point Manor led to a whole slew of these. The brother of the manor's owner even told Zak, "Enough with the double entendres, dude!".
  • Early-Bird Cameo: The Goldfield High School appears in the openings of Season's 1-8, before finally being featured in Season 11
  • Mr. Fanservice: Zak, who has a tendency to rush into things, an indecently muscled body and constantly messy dark hair. In the "Birdcage Theater" episode, Zak felt something touch him around the hip area while they were talking about the town's history of prostitution. Despite having Nick and Aaron with him, and a female employee claiming she got kissed on the cheek once, nobody else got felt up.
  • Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: The crew have a hard time understanding one of the people working on a historic trolley in the "Fort Chaffee" episode. The subtitles mainly consist of ?????? and "____________".
  • Firing in the Air a Lot: Zak brings a prop gun with him to get the Birdcage Theatre ghosts' attention. One of the first things he does in lockdown is point and fire the prop gun at the ceiling, into the "birdcage" balconies, and hither and yon around the room.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: The London Bridge episode is this, due to the nature of the location (a publicly accessible bridge complete with automobile traffic). Reports of shadow people jumping off the bridge, Jack The Ripper's spirit supposedly lurking inside the bridge's framework, a creature that appears in the waters of Lake Havasu causing accidents and drownings, make for an interesting approach to the investigation that involves binoculars, an underwater drone, and Aaron traversing the inner chambers of the bridge.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble:
    • Starting with the Bell Witch Cave Episode of Season 10
      • Choleric: Zak
      • Melancholic: Jay
      • Phlegmatic: Billy
      • Sanguine: Aaron
    • Before Nick's Departure from the series
      • Choleric: Zak, and occasionally Nick
      • Melancholic: Jay and Billy
      • Phegmatic: Nick
      • Sanguine: Aaron
  • Ghostly Chill: The paranormal investigators make it a point to point it out whenever they're feeling cold or getting goosebumps, especially whenever the locations they're locked down are either during the summer or it's usually warm/hot. Sometimes they bring thermometers with them.
  • Ghost Town: The guys really love to investigate abandoned mining towns. A few examples are Goldfield and Virginia City (Nevada), Vulture City (Arizona), Bannack (Montana), Golden (Oregon), and Cerro Gordo (California)
  • Haunted House: Well, duh.
  • Hearing Voices: Several times even without them enhancing the audio.
  • Hell Gate: The trio have investigated a couple of places that are accredited as portals to Hell, or just overall demonic.
  • Hellhole Prison: "Hell Hole Prison" is actually the title of a Season 12 episode (it's a nickname for Yuma Territorial Prison), but this trope applies to pretty much every prison they investigate. These institutions usually have a history of inhumane conditions, guards and inmates being murdered, and riots.
  • Heroic BSoD: Before the Market Street Cinema lockdown, Zak goes to talk to an employee of the former theater-turned-dance-club who also claims to be psychic and in touch (perhaps too close) with one of the spirits (A former janitor of the old theater named "James"). Needless to say, after a visit with said employee to the original theater basement (where "James" resided in life and supposedly still resides in death), Zak was so wigged out he left the theater and needed a break. This is the same guy who on many occasions challenged ghosts and even demonic possessions on prior investigations. He snaps out of it, though.
  • Hidden Depths: They credit Aaron as the "equipment tech" during the opening, but give credit where it's due: Aaron is just as good at detecting spiritual energy as Zak or Nick.
    • Perhaps this is why he is promoted to a fellow investigator from Season 7 on.
  • Historical Re-Creation: They do this in order to get the feeling for many locations, and as a result, some of the bloodless carnage filmed for the recreation becomes Narmtastic.
  • Hurricane of Puns: The crew gets caught in one during the Salem Witch Trials episode
    Zak: (Annoyed) enough of the witch jokes now
    Aaron: which joke
    (Zak stops as Aaron laughs)
  • Info Dump: Twice, first at Old Town Sacramento, and later at the Peabody Whitehead Mansion, which even has a book dedicated to the history of the mansion.
  • The Klutz: Aaron. In the Hill House Manor episode Zak mentions he has a Side Bet at every lockdown about how long it will take for him to trip over something. In this case he tripped over the exact same piece of debris twice an hour apart.
  • Large Ham: Zak speaks like he's the narrator in one of H.P. Lovecraft stories.
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!: On occasion when they have to cover multiple spots.
  • Light Is Not Good: The Enchanted Forest theme park in Oregon. Despite its light colors, it's quite creepy.
  • Loveable Rogue: Zak does stupid stuff on a regular basis, but whenever he crosses the line from "reckless" to "asshole", he always owns up to it and apologizes.
  • Mark of the Beast: Has this trope somewhat. After the incident on Poveglia Island where Zak was possessed, he felt an evil part of him want to go back inside the building, where the normal part of him wanted to leave. He was inspired by this event to get a large tattoo on his back of a sort of angel, half being a good angel, and half looking demonic.
    • Played a little more straight when the bishop outright said it after Zak showed him video of the three scratches Zak got on his back at Bobby Mackey's, and the bishop said that he'd be performing an exorcism right there.
    • Several times, the temperature has been manipulated to read 66.6 degrees.
  • Mexican Standoff: Zak, Nick and Aaron shot each other at the Eastern State Penitentiary...using cameras.
  • Mood Whiplash: In the Hollywood American Legion Post, the guys are conducting an EVP and voice box session with a ghost believed to be one of the soldiers present there. The entity responds to questions unusually coherently and acknowledges some of the things the guys did earlier (such as Aaron waving at the soldiers' photo earlier) and the whole thing seems very cordial. Then Zak asks if there are any negative entities present in the building. The response is three rapid messages reading "OUTSIDE" "DEMON" and "HIDE". Before they have a chance to ask more, a blood curdling snarl is heard and the guys just run. Zak spends the rest of the episode very distraught at the idea that an evil entity is prowling a place that (he believes) should be the domain of decent people.
  • Mundane Solution: How do you get proof that ghosts actually exist? You're going to need a psychic and do lots of elaborate seances that may or may not be self-fulfilling prophecies, right? Or you could just provoke them into doing something and bring an EMP monitor for physical evidence.
  • Must Have Caffeine: Even ghosts, apparently! At Fort Chaffee they catch an EVP saying "Coffee, caffe" and the guard with them explains that the Cuban prisoners kept there were coffee fiends when he worked there.
  • No Indoor Voice: Zak is much louder than most paranormal investigators.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: Zak stated this while filming at the Old Stage Coach Road near Salinas (A side investigation before Los Coches Adobe the next night), due investigating the story of apparitions on a road where local gangs dump bodies, and also kill out there. To be fair, one should not go anywhere near gang territory at night.
    • Made even worse in the investigation of the road when a passing by car flashes their lights from high to low, which is a common sign in gang territory cars in the area to leave before you get killed
    • Exaggerated at the Los Coches Adobe after the Old Stage Road investigation, where Zak nonchalantly states that people are inducted into gangs in the area by locking them in the very location that they are investigating.
    • Taken even further with the Cerro Gordo Ghost Town, no towns for 10 miles, 5000 feet up in the mountains, and the only decent road there is dirt and gravel hugging the cliffside at multiple points.
  • Now You Tell Me: At Eastern State Penitentiary, Zak crawls under a metal bar to enter a particularly creepy room. Because it's pitch dark, he tries to straighten up too soon, slams into the bar, and hurts his back. Then Nick tells him he should have gone over the bar instead of under it.
    Zak: Oh, now you're saying it, now I should have, thanks Nick!
  • Oh, Crap!: "Manifests" in the form of "O-faces" made by Zak and Aaron.
  • Orphanage of Fear: The trio investigated the Soldiers National Museum at Gettysburg, previously an orphanage during the American Civil War and run by a sadistically cruel matron.
  • Paranormal Investigation: Duh.
  • Parental Incest: Though they beep out a word during the Lizzie Borden house episode, it's pretty clear that they're asking the ghost of her father if he sexually abused her. And the answer seems to be yes.
  • Pedophile Priest: The haunted rectory was home to one, and worse the abuse happened inside the rectory itself.
  • Pirate Parrot: For the Screaming Room episode about the Star of India, Zak puts on a pirate costume, complete with a toy parrot sitting on his shoulder. Aaron then complains that he wants a parrot too.
  • Prison Rape: Some of the Moundsville State Penitentiary inmates grabbed another inmate in the prison's shower and gang-raped him to death. Poor Aaron is sent into the shower alone to be bait for the ghostly rapists. Not wanting to purposefully provoke the perpetrators, Aaron tries to get activity from the victim instead by offering his sympathies.
  • Scary Black Man: Market Street Cinema was supposedly home to two of them and they're extra scary as ghosts too, one of them (James) outright intimidating the usually boisterous, Hot-Blooded Zak into a very troubled state.
  • Screamer Trailer: Used just before going to commercial. And if they don't include a shot of a floating white nightgown, usually there's an image of a Creepy Doll with one blank eye socket.
    • Or a man (It might be Zak) holding his open mouth up to a bright light bulb.
    • Or the CREEPY sliced up disembodied hand.
  • Shirtless Scene: During the Yorktown Hospital investigation Zak takes off his shirt to show his tattoos because they've been told the ghostly nuns respond negatively to the presence of men, people with tattoos, and men with tattoos in their former living quarters. They catch an EVP of a female voice saying "It's sick."
  • Shout-Out: A few, including The Soup (which has poked fun at them), Scooby-Doo, Doom, and the Silent Hill movie.
  • Sweet Tooth: Aaron and Zak show they have quite a sweet tooth in the Sacramento Tunnel episode. The reason they're there is to get 'nutritional value' for the lockdown, and we see them pile their baskets with sweets. Zak's total rounded to around $36 (although this might also be because he was also getting candy for Nick)
  • Rule of Three: Besides the fact that there are three guys on the crew, that number has been somewhat important. While investigating a correctional institute for troubled boys, Aaron received three large scratches on his leg, which scarred. Zak has even said that it was demonic, and the event is referred to a few times later on.
    • Zak's back having three scratches at Bobby Mackey's and the scratches staying for three days.
    • Tooele Hospital is said to live off this trope.
  • Special Guest: Several special guests have appeared in interviews or investigations.
    • Mark and Debby Constantino appeared as recurring guests when they want to provoke evil spirits until their deaths during filming for Season 11
    • Dave Schrader (Darkness Radio) has appeared in the Rolling Hills Asylum episode, Palmer House Hotel, and Demons in Seattle episode
    • Chris Fleming appeared in the Live special at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum and cameos in the St. James Hotel episode
    • Rick McCallum, Kane Hodder, and R.A. Mihailoff appeared in the Pico House episode
    • Loretta Lynn appeared in the episode surrounding her plantation house in Tennessee
    • Brendan Schaub appeared in the Peabody Whitehead Mansion episode
    • Chad Lindberg appeared in the Return to Linda Vista Hospital episode
    • Vince Neil, Jamie Gold, and Bruce Westcott appeared in the Riviera Hotel episode
    • The ABC News Nightline Crew appeared in the Sailors Snug Harbor episode
    • Brit Morgan and Mimi Page appeared in the Glen Tavern Inn Episode
    • Darren Evans appeared in the Zozo Demon episode
    • Post Malone appeared in The Slaughter House episode
    • TikTok personality Loren Gray in the Joshua Tree Inn episode
    • Not to mention the countless guests in other investigations, including, but not limited to: contest winners, fans, workers of the premises of locations, people from the public, and people related to the location
  • Tempting Fate: Oh, Zak. He went so far as to lead a black magic ritual in the Ancient Ram Inn when the person they consulted refused to participate. That night he had a dream where a witch scratched up his face, and he woke up with scratches on his neck.
    • It's stated by paranormal experts that what happens when Zak goes around ordering ghosts to prove their existence is only the tip of a large, violent iceberg of results. Meaning that things could get much, much worse than scratches and creepy voices.
    • He (and the entire crew) also participated in a voodoo ritual in the Magnolia Lane Plantation.
    • When Zak laid on the floor with a axe hanging directly over his face at the Villisca Axe Murder House, taunting the spirit that murdered the family to drop it on him.
    • Zak standing on a chair near a third-floor railing in the Excalibur Nightclub, challenging any spirits to push him over like they had allegedly done to other patrons of the nightclub.
    • In the "Ireland's Celtic Demons" Halloween special, the guys visit a house where there is a painting of a demonic black cat known as the Killakee Cat. Legend says that turning the painting upside down can invoke the demon. Later, Jay is investigating the house by himself and one of the first things he does is turn the painting upside down.
  • The Thing That Would Not Leave: Zozo and Mama appear to be recurring in some episodes, being the investigative focus of the Season 10 episode, "Zozo Demon", coming through an Ouija Board session with Darren Evans in the Season 14 episode, "Samaritan Cult House", and being mentioned by a woman who did an Ouija board session in the basement of the Hotel Leger in the eponymous Season 16 episode. Zak's reaction to the latter really sells it, mainly because of Rule of Three and what has happened on prior investigations when Zozo or Mama get involved.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Aaron went from being Zak and Nick's easily-frightened equipment tech to an investigator in his own right. That's not to say that he doesn't still get freaked or make Memetastic expressions (or get the Butt-Monkey treatment), but if you compare early episodes with later ones, you can see that he's got way more confidence now than he did at the beginning of the show.
  • Where's My Gun?: Implied as a probable reason why a ghost tugged on Aaron's flashlight in response to Zak firing his prop gun all around the Birdcage Theatre. Zak speculates in the voiceover "Was this some old cowboy trying to grab Aaron's flashlight, thinking it was a gun, to shoot me?" A holstered flashlight is easy to mistake for a holstered gun, especially when you aren't familiar with flashlights and you don't have time to take a closer look while some maniac stranger is shooting up the building. If you don't have a gun and need to grab one, you might as well pick the gun off the pal of the Trigger-Happy stranger before the pal starts joining in the shooting — one less gun for the enemies.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
    • Zak has stated that he does not like snakes, clowns, heights, sharks, cockroaches and creepy dolls. This doesn't stop him from climbing up to high places or picking up a wild snake.
    • Aaron occasionally mentions that he's afraid of spiders.

Top