Zak Bagans developed a profound interest in the paranormal when he was just 10 years old, scouring nearby garage sales with his mom in search of odd and spooky collectibles.
His fascination with the unusual evolved into a life-long pursuit for answers about the afterlife, not merely through the study of earth-bound energy, but also through years of science-based research using a multitude of specially engineered equipment to measure fluctuations in the environment… more specifically, to communicate with the dead.
Now a pioneer in the paranormal field, Bagans is giving everyone a chance to experience the spine-chilling vibe of the spirit world at the newZak Bagans’ The Haunted Museumlocated in downtown Las Vegas.
The 11,000-square foot property built in 1938 was originally owned byprominent businessman Cyril S. Through the years, hostile spirits — family members who passed away there and whose energy remains — have been rumored to roam the halls terrorizing past occupants. Some long-time Las Vegans even claim dark rituals took place in the home’s basem*nt during the 1970s.
Paranormal enthusiasts visitingZak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum venture down creepy winding hallways and secret passages into more than 30 rooms that rival scenes from Hollywood horror films, setting the stage for frightening facts about each paranormal piece, such as the Dybbuk Box known as the world’s most haunted object. This vintage wine cabinet inspired the movie The Possession and is said to house a malicious spirit. Shortly following its arrival, mysterious protruding holes began to appear in the walls around the artifact as if something was trying to break out from within the exhibit. A Las Vegas marketing executive and Bagans both witnessed a black-cloaked figure pass through the exhibit’s closed door during a private tour. This has also been seen by multiple guests and staff at the museum.
Among the hundreds of terrifying possessions, museum-goers can even peek inside the VW death van in which Dr. Jack Kevorkian ended the suffering of terminally ill patients as well as get a close-up look at the “Propofol chair” from Michael Jackson’s death room.
Perhaps most unsettling is the original staircase from the Indiana “Demon House,” notorious for its powerful paranormal activity before being demolished in 2014. The wooden banister and creaky steps from the house now stand in a dimly-lit corner, resting on a blanket of dirt from the location. Following its installation, a group of construction workers walked off the job and refused to come back.
You can learn all about the haunted collection filmed in its entirety at the museum inGhost Adventures– “Artifacts”onTravel Channel.
Steven Crain is an author known for The Haunting of Hill House, an autobiographical novel about his childhood experience while residing in the haunted mansion with parents Hugh and Olivia, and younger siblings Shirley, Theo, Nell and Luke.
There are actually four Haunted Mansion stretching portraits, all designed by Imagineering legend Marc Davis; only two are up for auction at this time. The first is from Disneyland in Anaheim, and features a stately 19th Century gentleman reading what appears to be an important document.
The Wengert Home was constructed in 1938 in the then popular Tudor style for Cyril and Lottie Wengert. Cyril Wengert was one of a handful of prominent businessmen in Las Vegas who built many of the large commercial institutions that still endure today in Las Vegas.
Hill House doesn't allow the horror to be right in our face. It follows us, much like the ghost haunting the characters, until the fear of the unknown becomes too much to bear. Stillness, solitude, and inescapable dread are the unholy trinity that makes The Haunting of Hill House so scary.
But consider the Haunted Mansion Stretch Room in the Magic Kingdom, which actually has two stretching rooms. And all the stars must align or the whole illusion falls apart.
The Changing Portraits are six specific haunted paintings that hang in the Haunted Mansion, with different locations depending on where they are. Each one starts as one image, but transform into another, more sinister or macabre image before reverting to its original state.
In the Disneyland original, as well as Phantom Manor, the Stretching Room is actually a cleverly disguised elevator designed to take guests down so they can pass through a corridor that takes them to a separate show building.
McKamey deducts $500 from the prize for every failed challenge or the use of profanity. During the tour, employees of the Manor may physically assault patrons, waterboard them, force them to eat and drink unknown substances, have them bound and gagged, and engage in other forms of physical and psychological torture.
Those are the exact two questions viewers of Haunters were asking themselves after watching the documentary. While the film provides a more detailed story of McKamey Manor, the fifteen-minute Dark Tourist segment offers a more personal touch as Farrier decides to experience the horrific house of horrors for himself.
McKamey Manor is the brainchild of Russ McKamey, a former Navy seaman turned wedding singer turned haunted house enthusiast. He started his haunted house in San Diego before pulling up stakes and moving his operation to Tennessee. There, he offers guests an all-immersive “extreme” haunted house experience.
Born in 1889, Cyril Wengert arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1907 as a teenager. Alongside his father, Frank, he worked as an ice wagon driver. In 1921, Wengert married Lottie Ward of Iowa and the couple had five children: Jimmie, Marilyn, Ward, Robert, and Shirley.
"It's a torture chamber under disguise," the creator wrote. "They do screenings to find the weakest, most easily manipulated people." While McKamey Manor visitors are allowed to quit once they hit their breaking point, the petition says that wasn't always the case.
According to Fox 2, the price to tour the manor is a bag of dog food, because Russ McKamey has five pups, but McKamey says he'll give you $20,000 if you complete the experience. If you don't complete it, you have to face a camera and say "you don't have to do this."
McKamey, who said he served in the Navy for 23 years and moonlights as a wedding singer, started the manor 30 years ago as a cross between his theatrical background and his love for haunted houses. In all that time, he said, no one has completed the manor experience.
McKamey Manor, based in Summertown, Tennessee, was featured in Kiwi star David Farrier's Netflix series, Dark Tourist and bills itself as "an audience participation event in which (YOU) will live your own Horror Movie."
Starting in the 1800s, Marie Tussaud's wax museum in London featured a “Chamber of Horrors” with decapitated figures from the French Revolution. In 1915, a British amusem*nt ride manufacturer created an early haunted house, complete with dim lights, shaking floors and demonic screams.
Halloween themed haunted houses began appearing around the same time as "trick or treat", during the Great Depression, as a way to distract young people whose Halloween pranks had escalated to vandalism and harassment of passersby.
6. The Disneyland Haunted Mansion was largely inspired by the Shipley-Lydecker House in Baltimore, Maryland, pictured in Decorative Art of Victoria's Era, a book found in the Walt Disney Imagineering Information Research Center in Glendale, California. 7.
Introduction: My name is Mrs. Angelic Larkin, I am a cute, charming, funny, determined, inexpensive, joyous, cheerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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