Ever wonder what goes into a lockdown on “Ghost Adventures” or even what happens after the guys have been scaring up spirits all night? Well, here’s your chance to find out as we have an exclusive excerpt from Zak Bagans’ book I Am Haunted (review) right here for ya!
This is only a small teaser of what’s in store for you guys when the book comes out on February 10th. Check it out!
Lockdown Hangover
It’s way worse than
a regular one.
Just about everyone has experienced a hangover. You go out, you have fun, you drink too much, and the next day you wake up in pain and make a list of the people you need to apologize to. The day after a lockdown is no different… except for the lack of booze.
I’ve evolved as an investigator, and as time goes by I release more and more of myself to the spirits I come in contact with. I let them use my body however they need to, opening the door to the spirit world wider and wider. This has resulted in deeper and deeper connections, but it comes at a price. The more I allow spirits in, the more sensitive I become to them and the more damage they can do, even long after a lockdown is over. Early on, when I had only a few investigations under my belt, I learned how important it is to trust what your body is telling you. Some of us are like tuning forks or lightning rods for the paranormal, but like anyone who abuses his body in any way, I start feeling the consequences of that abuse over time.
I’m very much in tune with myself. I can recognize a skipped heartbeat, a wheeze in the lungs, a sudden attack of goosebumps, or a powerful wave of sorrow, and I know what they all mean during a paranormal environment. I don’t do this once in a while as a hobby in my free time; I do it all the time for a living. I’m frequently on an emotional, empathetic level with spirits, and I’m sure they know that I’m in tune with their world. It’s almost like a part of me has already passed over, and the spirits can sense that and reach out to me as a result. I truly believe that I’m connected to the afterlife in some small way, but it’s taken its toll on me. After a lockdown I’m always in pain, and some lockdowns are worse than others.
Our investigation of the Sorrel Weed House in Savannah, Georgia, gave me a three-alarm hangover. It was very similar to a real one—headache, nausea, dizziness, throbbing, memory loss—but weirder. I can usually gauge how bad my hangover is going to be by the interactions I have with spirits during a lockdown, but this one threw me for a loop. It was an incredible connection, sure, but the lasting impression it left on me was disproportionately huge.
At the house, I came into contact with a powerful spirit in the slave quarters that I’ll never forget. This spirit wasn’t just strong; it reached inside me and let me feel its emotions, connecting us like a cross-dimensional umbilical cord. Moments like this are always strange and unpredictable, but I’ve long since thrown caution to the wind, so I opened myself up and allowed it in. What did I get for that? I was paralyzed. I stood motionless and frozen in time, unaware of my surroundings for several moments. You lose all sense of time and space when a spirit takes a hold of you like that. You don’t recognize the people around you. You don’t know what time it is. Nothing is familiar, and your head swims until you fall into a trancelike state.
It’s this moment, when the spirit is drawing your energy from you and you are feeling the spirit’s emotions, that really drains your body. There’s a scene in Bram Stoker’s Dracula where Keanu Reeves’ character is being held hostage by female vampires. They continuously suck his blood, but they leave a tiny bit so he’s barely alive. That’s exactly what a lockdown hangover feels like. That’s how deep I get into these experiences. These hangovers are the worst because it can take days to get my body working properly again.
I love these intimate interactions and ethereal moments with spirits, but the next day kicks me in the gut. It took me five days to get over that investigation in Savannah. I was nauseated, dizzy, and just plain off. And it shook me up not only because it took me so long to get over it, but also because I was so irritated with everyone afterward. We all go our separate ways the day after a lockdown, and I usually ride to the airport with Billy and Aaron. This is when we’re most on edge with each other because the residue of an evil spirit takes time to wear off. When we have an emotional moment during a spirit interaction, channeling, or possession, we end up carrying the residue of that spirit, and it takes a little while to get ourselves back to normal.
We know this now and have learned to stay quiet until we’re home because no one wants to say something he’ll regret. We even keep the joking to a minimum. We can turn on a dime, and we usually try to talk as little as possible so we don’t. On the way home from Savannah, though, Billy and I got into it because my connection with the spirit stuck with me and changed me for a while. But in the end, it was worth it to me. I’m convinced that the longer and stronger the hangover, the deeper the connection was with the spirit.
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.