‘Ghost Nation’ Stars Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango ‘Dig Deep’ for All-New Paranormal Investigations (Exclusive)

After taking a short break this past spring, Ghost Nation is back with all-new cases for the remainder of Season 2, leading with an investigation that finds team members Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango studying unexplained events plaguing a tattoo parlor in New Jersey. In the new episode set to premiere Saturday, Oct. 17 at 9 p.m. ET, the three explore claims of a tattoo shop brimming with disturbing apparitions, disembodied voices and even physical encounters that threaten the business.

In an exclusive with Gonsalves and Tango for our series PopCulture @ Home, the paranormal investigators reveal the next few cases for their sophomore season of the beloved Travel Channel series are bound to excite fans due to the events being a “little bit different but in a great way.”

“We’ve been able to still do our research and really dig deep into things, but we’ve done it in a bit of a different way,” Gonsalves told PopCulture.com, highlighting how the team and crew are taking COVID-19 safety measures and protocols very seriously. “We can’t go into historical societies much. We can’t go into and meet up with the historians and that sort of thing because it’s dangerous. We’re not going to put anybody in jeopardy. We get tested all the time. It’s very strict but you just never know. We’re not taking any chances.”

The UPRO member goes on to share how the three have been doing a lot of “face-to-face conferences” to really dig into cases and cover all the ground necessary for their investigations. “We’ve had drop-offs where historians had gone and everything we’ve requested and come in and delivered it to us, that sort of thing,” he said. “So we’re still able to do the research and when it’s been possible, we have been able to go to a few of these places. There was one historical society that said, ‘We’ll just open it for you and you can go do what you want. We won’t be there,’ so we were able to do it.”

The Massachusetts native adds that such caution has really benefited the team in focusing on procedures, techniques and the equipment used to help implement more investigatory strategies thanks to the time it’s allocated. “We’ve been really able to help some people and capture some amazing evidence all while being in this uneasy time, this quarantine,” he said of the advantage. “We actually just finished a shooting just a few days ago.”

He shares that the team has been taking extraordinary measures on each case to ensure the safety of their crew and those they help by getting tested before each case, staying indoors and not mingling with others.

With the team taking on the unique strategy to embed themselves with local investigators for every case too, Tango reveals when it comes to approaching inquiries, a lot of it relies on fellow investigators who need help.

“We’ll get those cases and we really do a lot more research than we ever have before,” he said before praising Travel Channel for the opportunity of available resources. “Through that research, we are able to find out a lot more about these places and actually find the real information that we would now give to our client or homeowner. Because a lot of times they’ll say, ‘Oh, we heard that this person died here, was murdered or whatever.’ Then we’ll go in and say, ‘Actually no, that didn’t happen,’ or it’s the opposite where we’ll find something pretty traumatic that happened, find names, use these names during the investigation and a lot of times, I’ll be honest, it works. These names, if you can get the right name, use the right questions, you do the right research, you’ll get some activity and it is very helpful for us, really diving really deep into research.”

While tackling the research is a big component behind their cases, Gonsalves also praises working with the local teams, whom he says have been “really valuable” thanks to all the “real-time information” they receive upon investigation that fastens the investigator soundly into the case itself.

“They’re able to really put you in that scenario, which helps you investigate, helps you disprove things and it helps you have experience,” he said. “But also, what is there — that personality is already familiar with the local investigators. They’ve been there sometimes for months, even up to a year, and they get some interactions.”

Gonsalves goes on to share that it’s “been great” with their addition. “They watched the monitors for us when we’re in there investigating. We investigate with them. We’ve learned some stuff from the local teams. It’s not like we come in and take it over and say, ‘All right, now you’re on your own. Get out of here. Go home.’ We investigate with them. They’re welcome there the whole time. It’s really valuable to utilize their knowledge as well. It’s been actually awesome — and like Tango said, that’s how we’re getting most of these cases, is through those local teams that really have a crisis situation. They don’t know where to turn to get these answers and they come to us.”

For a sneak peek of Ghost Nation‘s all-new episode airing Saturday, tune in below. Hawes, Gonsalves, Tango and fellow investigator Shari DeBenedetti review paranormal events plaguing the Zone13 Tattoo and Body Piercing shop in New Jersey. With strange happenings and fresh evidence, the team must determine if the shop is actually haunted by one of the property’s former owners — a woman named Bertha.

Ghost Nation airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on Travel Channel. For more with Steve, Tango, Ghost Nation and all things paranormal, keep it locked to PopCulture.com!