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GHOST ADVENTURES: CECIL HOTEL

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Overview

GHOST ADVENTURES: CECIL HOTEL

Stationed along downtown Los Angeles’ Main Street stands an infamous hotel with a checkered past beset by multiple suicides, murders, devil worshipping and serial killers. Perhaps it is most known for the recent mysterious death of a young girl named Elisa Lam, whose body was found in the hotel’s water tower without any explanation as to what may have happened. Her peculiar demise remains unsolved, and bizarre elevator surveillance video of Lam has fueled an abundance of theories, including that of supernatural forces.

Now, for the first time ever, the Cecil Hotel is allowing cameras inside for an investigation of ghostly proportions in the two-hour special, GHOST ADVENTURES: CECIL HOTEL. The special will be available exclusively to discovery+ subscribers and is one of the featured marquee programs launching with the new platform.

Bios

Zak Bagans

Zak Bagans is the host, lead investigator and an executive producer of Travel Channel’s popular long-running series, “Ghost Adventures.” With his paranormal investigation team, including Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley, Bagans travels to locations rumored to be haunted in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural.

After graduating from film school in Michigan, Bagans moved to Nevada to pursue a career in documentary filmmaking. There, he met fellow “Ghost Adventures” investigator Aaron Goodwin. Their first paranormal investigations as a team took place all over Nevada, and the footage led to an award-winning, nationally televised documentary, Ghost Adventures, which aired in 2009. The concept was picked up by Travel Channel and commissioned as a series. The team has filmed over 200 episodes, and counting, in the most haunted locations.

In 2004, Bagans founded the world’s largest paranormal organization, The Ghost Adventures Crew, which consists of over 10,000 members. He has also served as host and executive producer of “Ghost Adventures: Aftershocks,” “Ghost Adventures: Screaming Room,” “Netherworld” and “Deadly Possessions,” as well as an executive producer on various other projects including “Destination Fear,” “Paranormal Paparazzi” and “Paranormal Challenge.”

Along with his television credits, Bagans has directed, produced and starred in the documentary Demon House, where he investigates one of the most well-documented case of demonic possession in America. The film had a theatrical release and hit #1 on iTunes’ documentary and horror charts. He has also served as an executive producer on the feature film, Sympathy, Said the Shark.

In 2017 Bagans opened The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, an award-winning attraction. The Museum contains thousands of haunted artifacts inside a 14,000-square-foot historic mansion with more than 30 themed rooms and exhibits. It has been touted as “a truly amazing attraction” by Las Vegas Weekly and has received multiple accolades, including the Las Vegas Mayor’s Urban Design Award, Las Vegas Review-Journal’s “Best Museum” winner three years in a row and it was voted as the #1 Best Haunted Destination in America by USA Today. The museum attracts more than 7,000 visitors per month.

In 2012, Bagans joined efforts with Lords of Acid’s Praga Khan on an 11-track album titled NecroFusion (reached #1 on iTunes) that incorporates audio captured from Bagans’ own paranormal investigations. Additionally, he’s penned two books with Kelly Crigger: I am Haunted: Living Life Through the Dead (Victory Belt, 2015) and Dark World: Into the Shadows with the Lead Investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew (Victory Belt, 2011), which debuted on the New York Times Best Seller list at #18.

Bagans currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Aaron Goodwin

Aaron Goodwin is a paranormal investigator and cameraman on Travel Channel’s popular long-running series, “Ghost Adventures.” Alongside paranormal investigator Zak Bagans and AV tech/investigators, Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley, Goodwin travels to locations rumored to be haunted in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural.

Goodwin first fell in love with film in high school. To gauge if his technique was correct, Goodwin would sneak into classes and film seminars at the local university. He moved from Oregon to Nevada when he turned 21, where he taught himself how to edit and operate a camera. He continued to work in production, gaining experience as a cameraman on numerous television and film projects.

While in Nevada, he met fellow “Ghost Adventures” investigator Zak Bagans. Their first paranormal investigations as a team took place all over Nevada, and the footage they captured led to an award-winning, nationally televised documentary, Ghost Adventures, which aired in 2009. Goodwin’s personal paranormal experience from this documentary forever changed him. Shortly thereafter, the Ghost Adventures concept was picked up by Travel Channel and commissioned as a series. The team has filmed over 200 episodes, and counting, in the most haunted locations.

Goodwin currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada and is always armed with a camera.

Jay Wasley

Jay Wasley is an AV tech and paranormal investigator on Travel Channel’s popular long-running series, “Ghost Adventures.” Alongside lead paranormal investigators Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin and fellow AV tech/investigator, Billy Tolley, Wasley travels to locations rumored to be haunted in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural.

Jay Wasley started his filmmaking career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a director of photography and audio engineer. Since 2002, he has worked on dozens of feature films, documentaries and television shows including Amy, Zak Bagans’ The Demon House, The Quiet Ones, BET’s “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” Lifetime’s “Big Women: Big Love,” MTV’s “Punk’D,” TLC’s “Wreck Chasers,” VH1’s “The Jenny McCarthy Show” and more. He’s worked on commercials for corporations from Wendy’s to AOL, and on music videos for such artists as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Lisa Loeb, Margot Price and Dan Auerbach.

Wasley joined Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures” in season four as the paranormal investigation team’s sound mixer and has since evolved into one of the show’s audio/visual technicians, investigators and cinematographers. He has also worked as a camera operator on Travel Channel’s “Paranormal Challenge,” “Netherworld” and “Game On, America.”

Wasley has spoken about independent filmmaking at various conferences and given lectures on the same topic to local New Jersey schools, where he also hails from. He plays guitar, bass, drums, percussion and piano. He’s recorded and toured with bands including The Wooden Owls, Bodhi Groove, Colors of Sound and Total Breakdown. He is also the founder and owner of Simple Equations Media, a video production company and recording studio in Las Vegas.

Wasley currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Billy Tolley

Billy Tolley is an AV tech and paranormal investigator on Travel Channel’s popular long-running series, “Ghost Adventures.” Alongside lead paranormal investigators Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin and fellow AV tech/investigator, Jay Wasley, Tolley travels to locations rumored to be haunted in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural.

Tolley started his career as a professional club DJ working as “DJ Inferno.” Having a solid understanding of computers, he developed a strong background in audio editing and production software. He was first intrigued by the paranormal after learning about electronic voice phenomena (EVP). With several years of experience in music and of sound in general, his curiosity led him to investigate and capture EVPs for himself.

Tolley’s fascination with the paranormal field grew stronger, and in 2006, he founded a paranormal group with some friends – the Las Vegas Paranormal Investigations of Mysterious Phenomena Squad (LV PIMPS). He shared details of his audio captures with paranormal investigator and “Ghost Adventures” host Zak Bagans, who then invited Tolley to review some audio evidence for the show. Soon after, Tolley joined the “Ghost Adventures” team as an EVP analyst and audio/video technician. He also serves as a paranormal investigator, on the series and handles a multitude of tasks from gear preparation to evidence review, both behind and in front of the camera.

Tolley currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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