There’s something strange about the cabinet in front of me. It’s not the altar inside, or the strange doll staring back at me, there’s just something about the space I’m in, and I can’t tear my eyes away. I don’t know how much time has passed, but I suddenly realize that I’ve lost my group. I’m alone in the almost complete darkness in an empty room. Suddenly, a door on the other side of the room creaks open, but there’s no one there on the other side. I jump and rush out of the room from the other side. Once back in the dimly lit main corridor I start to catch my breath, but I can’t shake the feeling that something still has its eyes on me. With one last glance over my shoulder, I rush to get back to the safety of my friends. late night ghost tour zak bagans

Late Night Ghost Tour

Late Night Ghost Tour is an exclusive, 90-minute, after-hours tour of Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum. The museum, frequently touted as the most haunted destination in America, is offering unprecedented access to their space for paranormal enthusiasts to try their hand at their very own ghostly encounter. A destination in itself for the Las Vegas community, the museum has long held tours of its strange and well-curated rooms. Now, fans and newcomers alike can explore on their own with rented paranormal equipment after the museum has closed its doors for the evening. Over the course of 45 minutes in the front of the museum, plus 45 minutes in the back of the museum, groups can wander at their leisure, including the most notorious rooms: the basement and the Dybbuk box room. A departure from “theater” and a step into the real, Late Night Ghost Tour is chilling in how real it does feel; whether you believe in ghosts or not, the stories surrounding the objects in the museum are enough to unsettle even the boldest heart.

It is recommended that interested parties do the museum’s RIP all-access tour before undertaking the late-night experience, as this tour will explain the history of the space.

Chilling and explorative, the Late Night Ghost Tour is utterly unique among all experiences I’ve done. This isn’t theater, and there is no acting or narrative, this is a self-paced exploration that is primarily about what happens in your own mind, what ghost-hunting tools show you, and how the space feels. Prepare to be unsettled; there’s a reason the space is so notorious.

Tone

Atmosphere is everything for Zak Bagans’ Late Night Ghost Tour. The museum’s collection of strange objects, claustrophobic spaces, and frightening lore inspires dread, delight, morbid fascination, disgust, and feelings of unease that will stay with you long after you leave. There were numerous rooms that I entered in which I felt goosebumps on my neck and legs for no apparent reason. Whether it was something in the room, or just my mind, I don’t know for sure. However, I did experience the strange sense that something was following me, ominous messages amidst the static of my ghost box, and melancholy introspection as I contemplated the sad and strange stories I encountered. This is one of the few experiences that changed the way I view the world, opening me up to curiosity about the unexplainable, strange, and frightening. While paranormal enthusiasts will find the experience exciting and engaging, it’s certainly a somber affair. Deeply unsettling by design, Late Night Ghost Tour allows you to explore a space that is a shrine to all things mysterious, frightening, and sinister.

Late Night Ghost Tour is a capstone experience for those who seek to be immersed in the strange and ominous. The set is the museum’s immense collection of haunted objects, often overwhelming or arranged to create thematic scenes and contemplative moments. Each room is an homage to a central object, person, or theme, and each will affect participants differently. In our group, one participant could hardly bear to look into a mirror in an empty and well-appointed room, another became transfixed in conversation with a paranormally active doll, and I found myself trapped and paralyzed in front of a satanic altar. It’s a bit like American Horror Story; a series of spaces and arcs that feel very frightening and realistically human.

Facilitators

In line with the idea that this is a self-guided tour and not a show, there are no actors. There are, however, facilitators who serve as guides and counselors throughout the experience. They are on hand to answer questions and shed light on the lore in ways that will send shivers down your spine. Overall, they can be comforting presences, always keeping an eye out for any strange presence or intense participant reactions. Educated and thought-provoking, they open the museum’s world to you in a reverent and intimate way.

Part of what makes Zak Bagans’ Late Night Ghost Tour so great is that the facilitators strike a perfect balance between leaving you on your own for adventurous exploration and quiet, fearful moments and making themselves present to keep order and safety. Our guide also made sure to orient us on our paranormal equipment, which benefited our experience immensely. The guides are invested in making the experience memorable for everyone. They stand guard outside the most notorious spaces while giving participants the privacy to face their fears. These guides clearly love the museum, its lore, and all things haunted. When a member of our group became unsettled by the space, our guide was right on hand to talk us through what we might be experiencing.

The Museum

For us, the front half of the museum focused much more on mood and atmosphere, showcasing collections of dolls, puppets, oddities, serial killer paraphernalia, creepy paintings and mirrors, and Jack Kevorkian’s death van. This front half offered a bit more mystery, and a lot more odds and ends to be inspected. This section also offered the basement, which was intensely creepy, dark, and disturbing. The feeling of being down there was overpowering and the long, catacomb-like hallway in the basement gave me goosebumps every time I traversed it. Additionally, our group enjoyed the serial killer paraphernalia from John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Charles Manson. While we found this room less sinister than the others, it was fascinating to serial killer fanatics simply from a historical perspective. Our favorite was the doll room in the front; but we’ll get to that below.

Conversely, the back half of the museum focused more on large set pieces, leaning more into storytelling and less on collections. Some of these rooms lost their appeal without the guide explaining their significance, but they still felt creepy, disturbing, and off-putting. This ranged from the mysterious disappearance of Natalie Wood to the events that inspired The Conjuring. The Dennis Hof death bed, with its haunting blood stains and frighteningly informative newspaper clippings and infographics, fascinated me more than I felt completely comfortable with. This area is also home to a large set dedicated to clowns, the circus, and more. Those who’ve done the regular tour will know the scares associated with this room. The big set piece here is the Dybbuk Box room, which was not as frightening as the basement for us, but it was still impressive to be alone, in the dark, in this notorious room.

Lighting and Sound

Late Night Ghost Tour is self-guided, and the only light in the darkness is your flashlight. This adds to the unsettling mood, as your light lands on strange objects or your own reflection, startling you with how deeply odd, dark, and eclectic the museum’s rooms are. It is an excellent choice on the part of the staff to allow this type of all-access experience to take place in near-total darkness.

In addition, participants are given ghost boxes and EMF meters. While most of our experience made light use of these tools, they were an interesting ambient addition to the experience. While the normal museum is filled with the spoken word of the guides, the Late Night Ghost Tour is silent. You may hear the whispers of other groups, but with the small audience size, it was rare to run into another group. Instead, you hear the constant reverse scanning of your ghost box. For those unacquainted, this is basically having your radio scanning across different FM bands, searching for voices from the other side. On occasion, you’ll hear voices – but it’s never clear if it’s just picking up a phone call, a radio station, or something truly on the other side. There were moments when a couple of us seemed to hear strange and ominous chanting from the ghost box: “die! die! die!” It’s a clever mechanic, and one that creates just enough distortion to disturb and off-put any guest in the museum.

The EMF meter went off the charts near a particular doll, which led to a strange conversation with her that will stick with our group for a long time to come. This technology was, overall, a fun addition to the experience and a unique chance for some of us to use this equipment for the first time.

Did We See a Ghost?

So, I’m sure the question everyone is asking when reading this is something along the lines of: “Will I actually experience the paranormal?” or “Did you see a ghost?” Well, as I mentioned at the top of this article, this is not theater, and while the museum is suspected of using binaural audio to cause a sense of unease in some rooms, our group was able to speak to and interact with something in one specific location. Our EV meter only lit up at two locations during our tour: One was at an electrical box (a great positive control) and the other was at a doll. This doll was in a back room of the museum, and she would light up when we asked her questions. She seemed to have a strong affinity for one member of our group and was very talkative to him; but we were unable to hear anything solid on the ghost box. We returned multiple times through our exploration of the front half of the museum, and she was always eager to engage with us.

Upon the exploration of the back half of the museum, we spoke to our guide and asked her what items were the most active. She mentioned a few, and then said there was a doll in the front that is regularly active. We asked her to describe the doll, and of course, it was the same one – a doll named Cynthia that Bagans has hosted a tea party in the basement for, along with a psychic named Bloody Mary. With some prior evidence and our first hand-experience, I can say this changed how I view ghosts and my outlook.

Final Thoughts

Zak Bagans’ Late Night Ghost Tour is one of the most truly frightening things I have ever done. While most publicly available experiences are theatrical and staged, this is the real deal, with the museum’s curators and guides opening up their space for your exploration and potentially chilling encounters. This boundary-pushing experience will hit something deep inside you and chill you to your core. With plenty of real-life horror and lore, this tour is even more enjoyable for those participants lucky enough to have previously toured the museum, but still very accessible to newcomers. Be warned – you will be in the dark, possibly alone, and surrounded by supposedly haunted objects. Late Night Ghost Tour is not for the faint of heart; but for the open-minded paranormal enthusiast, it’s a dream come true.

Find out more information on the Late Night Ghost Tour’s website, Twitter and Facebook page. Be sure to bookmark our Event Guide to keep up to date on immersive and horror events throughout the year.

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