Some love him, some hate him, but Zak Bagans of Ghost Adventures fame doesn’t play when delving into the paranormal.
Bagans made headlines when he bought the notorious “Demon House” in Gary, Indiana, then destroyed it after filming his Demon House documentary.
In addition to salvaging a few artifacts and dirt from the cursed basement, Bagans was back on the Travel Channel this week with Demon House: The Lost Footage, airing more of his paranormal investigation with previously unreleased outtakes.
The so-called “lost footage” may have some of the most disturbing Demon House footage yet. Suffice it to say, spoilers ahead.
The Demon House: Fact or fiction?
If you haven’t seen the original, feature-length Demon House documentary, Bagans investigated his allegedly haunted home with the assistance of a local police chief, a priest, and psychic as well as the most recent family who had lived in the house, the Ammons.
They reported violent behaviors they say were provoked by the demons there, as well as one child becoming possessed and walking backward up a wall.
However, during the filming of Demon House, the Ammons family stopped cooperating with the investigation, leading to speculation they were looking for a movie deal and that the family’s story might be fake.
However, Bagans did find another family who had lived in the house to interview but one of the girls seemed particularly affected by returning to the house and attempted suicide a short time after filming.
Bagans claims that after being sealed up in the house alone, he suffered permanent eye damage and that was the final straw. He decided to have the Demon House destroyed.
Gary police Capt. Charles Austin told the Indy Star he thought the Demon House allegations were fake at first and a ploy for money, but after visiting the house and interviewing those involved, he has become a true believer.
A Demon House crew member breakdown and the man in the brown velvet suit
During the filming of the original Demon House documentary, a crew member named Adam had a total meltdown at the hotel, claiming he had seen a demon in the elevator.
Not only was he fired a few days later because of his instability, but Bagans’ claims Adam has never been the same. So for Demon House: The Lost Footage, Adam was brought back to take a lie detector test by a man in a brown velvet suit — a guy who looked like he might have stumbled off of a David Lynch set to add some weird retro vibes.
The Man in the Brown Velvet suit declared Adam told the truth about all his questions, including vomiting blood, having visions of killing Bagans, visions of Bagans killing himself, and seeing The Devil, quite literally.
“As I’m walking to the elevator, I have the thought in my head: ‘If you’re real, stop me from getting on this elevator’ and I pressed the button. And the elevator opened two inches and stopped, and I saw the Devil.”
Digging up the Demon House basement
Bagans and his crew, including renowned psychic Chris Fleming, had planned to dig up some “ritualistic” objects buried underneath the basement stairs and bless them in the hope of closing the portal to whatever evil was coming through.
The first time the items were dug up by police, the blinds upstairs began dripping a strange, oily fluid. When the crew went upstairs in Demon House: The Lost Footage to check the blinds, they found them dripping again.
When everyone came upstairs, Zak felt compelled to slip away back to the basement on his own and re-bury everything.
Bagans explained he felt he had acted on something else’s will rather than his own, so he dug everything up again, except they could not find the woman’s fingernail. Other items recovered included women’s underwear, a child’s sock, and a weird, heavy oblong object.
Bagans had mentioned many times in Demon House that he felt the burial of them was ritualistic, but I got a whole different vibe on them.
Considering that an earlier EVP session had gotten a response confirming a murder had occurred there, the objects started making my stomach queasy, especially when Zak asked if someone was buried there and a woman’s voice responded, “I am.”
Could those be trophies from a murder? The woman’s underwear, with the sock possibly used to gag her, and the heavy object to beat her? The EVPs in Demon House: The Lost Footage seem to support that theory.
What do you think? Was there something inhuman lurking in the Demon House? Decide for yourself, but remember that it isn’t just the unseen that can be evil, but those who walk among us as humans.
One other question — why wasn’t the material in Demon House: The Lost Footage released with the original, feature-length film?
Do you think the Demon House and Demon House: The Lost Footage are real? Do you think Bagans uncovered objects from a ritual or a murder?
Ghost Adventures airs Saturdays at 9/8c on the Travel Channel.