We have visited Zak Bagans Haunted Museum a couple of times. Here is our experience and review.

What is Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum?

Well, first things first, who is Zak Bagans? If you have been living under a ghost-free rock for the last decade or so, Zak Bagans is the lead paranormal investigator on the popular American television show Ghost Adventures. On each episode of the show, Bagans and a few other paranormal investigators travel to a location deemed to be “haunted.” They stay at this location–locked inside–all night to try to document evidence of the paranormal with their cameras, spirit boxes, etc.

Accordingly to Zak, he was a sceptic until his own paranormal encounter at 10 years old. After that, he dedicated his life to proving the reality of what he witnessed. A few years ago, he purchased an old mansion with a gruesome history. He added the thousands of items he had collected that had spooky origins and paranormal backstories and opened this house to the public as a museum. You can visit Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum in Zak’s hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The giant Vegas mansion, where the museum is now located, was built in 1938. It was originally owned by prominent businessman Cyril S. This house was long rumoured to be haunted by hostile spirits and late family members of Cyril S. Even worse, many locals claim that there were evil rituals performed there in the 1970s. Today, Zak Bagans utilizes over 30 rooms of the 11,000-square foot “home” to showcase different haunted objects, dolls, and even human remains. While these objects might not seem like solid evidence of the paranormal on paper, wait until you come face-to-face with them.

The Museum Experience…

First, you will wait in an outdoor line while you read and sign your waiver. Yes, you have to sign a waiver. On this waiver, you are agreeing that Zak Bagans and the museum employees are not responsible for any injuries, illness, possessions, or your death that could be caused by the entities in the museum. If that’s not an iconic yet completely frightening way to start your tour, then I don’t know what is. If it makes you feel better, though, many believe the music playing outside sounds similar to Disneyland‘s Haunted Mansion.

Once inside, your tour guide shows up, makes you raise your right hand and vow to follow the rules, and it’s not just the usual: “no food, drink, smoking, flash photography, etc.” They make you promise to respect the spirits, demons, and entities for your own safety and the safety of others. Yup.

Lighter Rooms

First, let’s talk about what we will call the “lighter” rooms, where not all of the items are haunted or spooky. For example, there is a room that pays homage to deceased celebrities by displaying some of their most famous outfits or possessions. There used to be a graphic photograph of Chris Farley after his death, but it was recently removed.

Some of the rooms are less about showcasing scary objects and more about oddities and performances. There is a circus room where a man drills into his nose and puts weighted hooks into his bottom eyelids. Beware in this room though, there may be a clown or two lurking around the corner waiting to scare you!

Darker Rooms

In the “darker” rooms, there are a few things that are unnerving for the wrong reasons. There are some rooms that could be perceived as exploiting or glorifying violence and even rape and, one of the rooms displays previous belongings of serial killers. Inside that room are actual human remains; the ashes of Charles Manson, to be exact. Though, it's not the only room with human remains. “The Funeral” room has two, real skeletons lying in one coffin. The worst is the room that you absolutely have to enter alone, where inside is the decapitated head of a man.

After Thoughts

Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum is a rollercoaster ride without the rollercoaster. In our experiences, we have sometimes felt intense emotions or physical reactions while other times we have felt basically nothing. However, the times that we had powerful experiences were the nights that were less busy. So if that is what you want, visit on a non-holiday weeknight. Even if nothing insane happens during your tour, you’ll likely still feel a lot of emotions. If you claim to leave as a “sceptic,” you might be lying to yourself.