Exclusive Excerpt: Zak Bagans’ I Am Haunted
Steve Barton
|
My lockdown hangovers make me wonder what these interactions might be doing to me. Spirit interaction is like a drug that you develop a dependency on. Addicts return to their “precious” no matter how severe the effects, and in some ways I guess I’m no different. The rush is not without its consequences. I’ve developed a lot of health issues from the locations I’ve investigated. In addition to respiratory troubles, I believe I’ve developed other, deeper problems from opening myself up to spirits. These lockdown hangovers seem to take more and more of a beating on me. They get harder and harder and take longer and longer to get over. This is my career and my passion, but at what point do I say, “It’s not worth it anymore”? Professional athletes all go through this, and though I was never destined to play in the NFL, I have something in common with those men who lead a life that physically destroys them. I have to be realistic and figure out when it’s time to step away and do something else. And that makes me sad.
The lockdown hangover cure is more than just carrying a crystal in your pocket, saying a prayer, or burning some sage. Those types of cures can help a little, but they’re more mental than anything—placebos, really. The only real way to flush out a lockdown hangover is to get home and work it out. I like to go to Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas and let nature cleanse me. It’s a spiritual place that was once home to the Paiute Indians, and I feel that being there rids me of any negative crap I bring home. I don’t really do anything out there; I just stare off into the distance and ask Mother Nature to help me out. It keeps me from going insane sometimes. That and my dog, Gracie.
Gracie has always been there for me, and I’m lucky to have her. I occasionally do work for the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA), and one day I went to a shelter and one of the workers said to me, “I think you need to meet somebody.” Suddenly this dog ran toward me from about 40 feet away and gave me the biggest hug ever, like we were old friends and she was glad to see me after a long separation. I immediately felt this energy and power, like she was there for a reason. She’s a pure soul, and I really believe that Gracie was sent to me by a higher power to help get me through tough times. Between her, the canyons, and Mother Nature, the lockdown hangovers don’t stand a chance.
They still suck, but I always
find a way to beat them.
About I Am Haunted, Living Life Through the Dead:
Some people just can’t sit still. “Ghost Adventures” leader Zak Bagans has the top-rated show on the Travel Channel, a hit album, a bestselling book; and now the most widely known paranormal investigator in the world has another book on the way. I Am Haunted, Living Life Through the Dead will hit bookshelves February, 2015.
“The paranormal is my passion,” Bagans says. “When you’re young, life is just fun; but as you mature, you see all the amazing things it has to offer. After all these years on the road, I’ve gotten into a deeper train of thought and overall sense of life in general through my experiences with the living and dead. Life is beautiful. Life is horrific. Everything has its balance in the universe, and as I grow older, this balance is clearer, and I want to share it with everyone.”
After seven years of creeping and crawling into the spaces most people fear, Bagans amassed not only a treasure trove of intriguing tales, but a newfound clarity on life and a glimpse of death that most look away from. In I Am Haunted Bagans reveals the things you don’t see when the cameras stop rolling, but also the experiences that shaped him as a person and the events that changed his outlook on life and what happens to us afterward. He even goes into great detail about his purchase of the controversial “Demon House” in Indiana where an unprecedented possession took place that mystifies skeptics to this day.
“I had more stuff to get off my chest than I thought I did so once the dam broke, I flooded the pages with stories of my life,” Bagans says. “But I also learned a few things about myself as I wrote this book. I knew I was constantly haunted by the dead but didn’t realize I was also haunted by the living. I have a sincere distaste for modern society that tugs at my soul just as much as the spirits that are attached to me pull it in every direction.”
I Am Haunted will be available in paperback and eBook on February 10, 2015, from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and bookstores nationwide.
Pre-order your copy below.
Categorized:News
