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L A S V E G A S W E E K LY
10.28.21
Las Vegan Zak Bagans fires up new horror anthology series The Haunted Museum
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BY C. MOON REED
ometimes, a creepy museum of cursed artifacts is not merely a creepy museum of cursed artifacts. Sometimes it’s a real-life table of contents for terrifying, true stories. At least, that’s the case for the new horror anthology on Discovery+, The Haunted Museum, which debuted earlier this month, just in time for Spooky Season. The nine-part scripted series is the brainchild of filmmaker Eli Roth and Las Vegas’ favorite paranormal investigator—and Ghost Adventures star—Zak Bagans. “We just wanted to make this as scary as possible, to have viewers feel what the real people [who] were affected by these items went through,” Bagans says. Each episode fleshes out the sinister backstory behind one of the many eerie items on display at Bagans’ popular Downtown tourist attraction of the same name, the Haunted Museum (600 E. Charleston Boulevard, 702-444-0744). Of course when it came to filming, safety came first: “We had all of my real-life items made into exact replicas that they used [on set],” Bagans says. “I didn’t want to curse all the actors.” The first episode, “Dollhouse of the Damned,” is inspired by the Westerfeld Dollhouse, itself a model of an infamous San Francisco landmark. According to Bagans, a psychic says the dollhouse contains a demonic portal. In the show, a grieving widower gives his teenage daughter the dollhouse. In addition to the awkwardness of an age-inappropriate gift, the father ends up being possessed by the toy. What happens next … well, you’ll just have to watch to find out. In the universe of The Haunted Museum (both the show and the place), dolls, statuettes, mirrors and even rocking chairs have the power to alter the lives of mere mortals. It’s enough to steer fearful viewers away from estate sales and antique shops. Then again, brave fans have the option to see all the source material in real life at the show’s namesake museum. And if you want more Halloween-time streaming, Bagans has you covered. As the featured star in the new season of the Food Network’s Halloween Wars (also streaming Sundays on Discovery+), Bagans creates the chilling challenges for teams of cake and sugar artists. He also has a two-hour special in which he and his Ghost Adventures team explore the supernatural elements of Nevada’s own Goldfield Hotel. That show, titled Ghost Adventures: Goldfield Hotel, is also available on Discovery+.
A scene from The Haunted Museum; (below) Zak Bagans (Courtesy Discovery+)
DELVING INTO DARKNESS
Zak Bagans talks seances, ghosts and … Cheetos? BY C. MOON REED
What do you think about the Halloween season? It’s my favorite holiday of the entire year. We can embrace all things scary and just love to be scared. There’s no other holiday like it. How do you personally celebrate Halloween? I always like checking out some of the haunted houses in town. I do like going down to the Museum with some select people and doing some seances. I love conducting seances; it’s one of my favorite things. Then I have the house I bought right next door to the Museum, which is called the Black House, and I do some of that stuff in there as well. Possibly some summoning of spirits for Halloween, but all private.
