Almost 15 years after introducing audiences to the supernatural world of paranormal field investigations, Ghost Hunters star Grant Wilson is back with a brand new team who are preparing to dive deep into the unexplained with the highly anticipated reboot of his beloved series, premiering this Wednesday on A&E.
While Ghost Hunters aims to normalize paranormal experiences in an effort to create a safe space for those struggling with unexplained phenomena, Wilson and his team, led by co-lead investigators, Daryl Marston and Kristen Luman tell PopCulture.com that though they’ve been on their fair share of explorations this season, there’s just one thing that makes it all creepy at the end of the day — and it’s not what audiences might assume.
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“Well, to me, none of it’s really creepy because living people are creepy,” Wilson laughed with PopCulture.com while in New York City. “The paranormal usually means entities are reaching out and people usually, they’re nicest when they need help. But some locations are creepy.”
Wilson goes on to add that one of the creepiest locations the Ghost Hunters crew visited this upcoming season was at the Madison Seminary, a historical landmark in Madison, Ohio that has a reputation for paranormal activity that dates back to eerie tales from the 1800s.
“We went into it — and it’s seen better days, but part of it was an asylum, so all that can get in your head,” Wilson said. “But we’re trying not to think that way, but with graffiti everywhere and strange symbols…”
“Yeah, the strange symbols,” Luman interjected. “And again, there’s a human attribution to it and that’s what actually is somewhat scary when humans get involved and try to take control of perhaps a paranormal. I never experienced an investigation where symbols were along the wall and we had to decipher if they were demonic or what they were there for.”
Luman adds it’s that kind of element which can make things “get a bit frightening.”
“Humans are a lot more scarier than paranormals,” Marston told PopCulture.com.
“But you do get situations — we get pushed and or you know, what people may think is an attack,” Wilson added. “But honestly, a lot of the actions we take as living people is taken out of context [and] can be seen as aggressive, when it’s really not.”
With the show greenlighted for 20 episodes this season, the cast goes on to share that of all the investigations they’ve been on so far, the location that has stood out the most over the course of their time together was Madison Seminary.
“It was kind of an awesome experience to come together as a team and all do our homework, and try to find out what those symbols actually meant and represented,” Luman said. “Were they calling for spirits? Were they locking spirits in the building? So when you’re starting to deal with things such as where humans are possibly trying to take control of the supernatural world, that can be a bit frightening and you don’t want to mess with that.”
She reiterates how fun and “awesome” it is for the team to come together on every investigation, especially with each member’s diverse set of skills and gifts to solve a mystery.
“Every investigation done so far, has been very exciting,” Marston added. “The most excitement that we get out of it is the image we capture. None of it’s scary, none of it’s terrifying. It’s the evidence we capture in the moment with one investigation, like we just did an investigation a week or two ago where we caught some really cool evidence and it’s mind-blowing. But not scary to us.”
Ghost Hunters airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on A&E.
Photo credit: Justin Bettman / A&E
