The 15 Best Ghost Adventures Episodes, Ranked

“Ghost Adventures” and its crew of paranormal investigators have become cult favorites over the years, with the show earning legions of fans for its mixture of ghost hunting and travel/history elements. Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley visit an array of supposedly haunted places across the United States and beyond as they try to confirm whether or not the reports of paranormal activity are genuine. Sometimes the spirits the cast encounter are friendly and easy to communicate with. Sometimes they’re violent and cause chaos.

Is “Ghost Adventures” actually scripted? Whether it’s fabricated or not, the show still provides compelling stories about tragic people and dark places. The haunting aspect is an added bonus, whether you’re a believer or not. The show has been going since 2008, so figuring out where you should start and what the best outings are can be quite challenging, but we’ve narrowed down the best 15 episodes ever. This ranking was established through a combination of author opinion and fan chatter on Reddit and other places where those who love the show hang out.

The Pennhurst State School and Hospital episode of “Ghost Adventures” is notorious with fans for how intensely it impacted the team and the high amount of paranormal activity they encountered. The combination of thrills and the sobering story of the real-life tragedies visited upon those who lived and suffered at Pennhurst make this episode unforgettable.

Pennhurst, which opened in 1908, had an infamous reputation for treating students with developmental disabilities in inhumane ways. A 1968 television exposé about the atrocities failed to stop the abuse. In 1974, prominent civil rights attorney David Ferleger led a class action lawsuit on behalf of former and current residents, with the judge ruling that the practices were “hazardous to the residents, both physically and psychologically.” The hospital was slowly decommissioned, eventually closing in 1987. The building has since been repurposed as a yearly haunted house attraction to the dismay of some. 

When they arrived at Pennhurst, the “Ghost Adventures” guys were greeted by mysterious voices, the sensation of being touched by invisible hands, and spirits that were not afraid to hurt visitors. Nick Groff is soon physically scratched by one spirit, and Zak Bagans gets hit in the face with a coat rack. They hear footsteps and experience intense paranormal activity when locked overnight in the faculty. The episode is chilling not only because of what the spirits say or do, but because you know what they’ve been through.

The two-hour Halloween special “Route 666” takes the “Ghost Adventures” crew on a Texas road trip to visit the state’s most haunted locales. The episode makes three primary stops: The DeSoto Hotel, the too-scary-to-revisit Goatman’s Bridge, and Concordia Cemetery. The latter in particular had become well-known for its hauntings, with mysterious figures showing up amidst the headstones. However, it’s the DeSoto, with multiple reports of hauntings behind it, that draws an interesting early response from Zak Bagans — he becomes rooted to a single spot in the basement and doesn’t want to leave during the initial investigation.

All three locations ultimately produce phenomena aplenty, from loud noises and sudden apparitions to voices coming from the spirit box. Violence is also done upon Ashley Troub and Zak, with the latter claiming he’s being smothered by an unseen force. Fans were left horrified by this road trip from beyond, and Bagans’ team were happy to leave with their lives. Adding to the creepiness is the fact that the DeSoto burned down a few years later, with the cause “undetermined after investigation” according to the El Paso Fire Marshal’s Office (via the El Paso Times).

“Ghost Adventures” sometimes takes viewers beyond the boundaries of the United States, and one of the show’s most memorable trips abroad saw the team enter the vaults of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital city. The vaults, which date back to the 1700s, were once used as simple storage rooms, but over time they evolved into dens of vice. There are several well-known spirits in the vaults, including a little boy named Jack who likes to take women by the hand, apparently yearning for a mother figure, and an imposing man known as The Watcher. He’s also been called Mr. Boots, due to the knee-length leather boots he’s seen wearing.

Zak Bagans takes it upon himself to visit The White Room, the most paranormally active place in the vaults and the room where Mr. Boots is often seen. The sound of loud scratching on a nearby wall and a blast of cold air spook him enough to leave and look for his crewmates, who are busy exploring other areas of the vaults. When the team sets up a teddy bear for Jack to play with in an empty room, that’s when the real fun starts. “Edinburgh Vaults” is a great episode, not only because of the thrills and chills, but because of the history behind this fascinating place.

The “Ghost Adventures” Season 10 Halloween special takes the team to Ireland, where they visit several spots linked to demonic activity. They also delve into the origins of Halloween itself in this spooky episode, which remains beloved among viewers over a decade after it aired. Paranormal fans who are also travel lovers will definitely enjoy this episode: Several fascinating locations are visited during the two-hour special, which gives viewers an alternate look at the Emerald Isle.

The team split up to explore Rathcroghan Cave, Massy Woods, Leap Castle, Steward’s House, and the Hellfire Club site on Montpelier Hill, a hunting lodge that was built over an ancient grave and began experiencing supernatural activity as a result, or so the legends go. The lodge is known to Dubliners as the Hellfire Club because members of the infamous group began using it after the man who built it (wealthy local William Conolly) passed away, allegedly to worship the devil.

The special ends with the group getting back together to explore Loftus Hall, a creepy old mansion house on the Hook peninsula. They experience a torrent of activity, including unexplained noises and moving objects. In a terrifying moment, Zak Bagans begins yelling uncontrollably, later revealing that he had disturbing visions. At one stage, the SLS camera reveals a spirit right above Aaron, who ends up vomiting. It’s an eventful end to a tremendous special.

Letting paying customers stay overnight in a location where people have been murdered is big business for some homeowners. The Lizzie Borden House, which is the sight of two infamous and gruesome murders, has been open as a bed and breakfast for years. The house of Dorothea Puente might not be as well-known as those of other serial killers “Ghost Adventures” has examined, but her former Sacramento, California home is now a tourist attraction, complete with a mannequin of the unassuming little old lady with a shocking secret life.

Puente killed several tenants while running a boarding house at this address during the 1980s, continuing to cash their social security checks and even writing letters to their families after murdering them and burying the bodies in her yard. Zak Bagans had an especially bad time when the “Ghost Adventures” team visited the Puente house, apparently feeling the effects of the poison that the serial killer (who died in prison in 2011) used on her victims. His intense lethargy, along with the fact that Billy Tolley (a crewmember who is often behind the paranormal successes of “Ghost Adventures”) channels a spirit who suggests smothering Zak is a great idea, makes this one chilling episode.

The “Ghost Adventures” team has visited a lot of hotels, but the Crescent Hotel outing holds a certain infamy among fans of the show, because just before the series headed to the premises, an archaeological dig uncovered bottles of unidentified chemical mixtures and “medical specimens,” per Travel Eureka Springs. Before it became a hotel, it was a sham cancer treatment facility that saw a lot of death. It was already rumored to be the most haunted hotel in America, and these macabre finds — which were showcased in the “Ghost Adventures” episode on the hotel — only added more fuel to the fire.

During the episode, the “Ghost Adventures” team visit the part of the building that used to be the morgue and pick up a figure on a the thermal camera. 

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 found out. The most notorious is named Michael, and he quickly begins making life horrible for the crew. Yet Zak Bagans finds peace here — his own father had passed away from cancer and communing with the spirits here helped him come to grips with that fact. The episode is touching as well as unnerving, largely due to the hotel setting. If you like “The Shining,” then this will probably be your absolute favorite “Ghost Adventures” episode.

The Harvey House – better known as the Castaneda Hotel — is situated in New Mexico and also has a reputation for being incredibly haunted. The “Ghost Adventures” guys were the first paranormal investigators to check out the now-abandoned hotel, and they experienced several creepy things during their visits. In the episode, voices can be heard, with people speaking in a variety of languages. They also hear an unforgettable and piercing scream. Orbs of light appear in footage, and it seems like a white mist hovers over the proceedings. 

Zak Bagans looks for certain things when picking a location for “Ghost Adventures,” and he clearly has a thing for hotels. The show spends a lot of time sorting through the hotel’s history in this Season 11 entry, so we learn a lot about how and why so many ghosts are on the premises (it’s a gristly and sad affair). Through the spirit box (which, for the uninitiated, is a device that scans multiple audio channels and makes it easier for spirits to be heard), they hear the words “Mi nina” or “Mi vida,” as well as the question “How would you like another?” There’s a lot of mystery, activity, and atmosphere in this memorable episode.

It’s rare that an episode of “Ghost Adventures” threatens to make the audience burst into tears, but the group’s visit to the former site of the Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital did just that. The building was originally a college dormitory, but it was converted into a hospital to help combat the spread of tuberculosis in the 1940s. It was later remodeled as a hotel and given the name Gooding University Inn, but its reputation as a haunted place never left.

In the episode, a parade of flashing lights and other auditory and visual interruptions set the crew on edge. Zak Bagans and his team are subsequently haunted by the ghost of an old man and they also encounter the playful ghosts of children, some of whom may have a personal connection to the current owner, Svetlana Brown. She has a tragic backstory that really makes this episode live long in the memory.

An ancient Florida fort with a long history of war behind it, Castillo de San Marcos has seen a lot of death in its time, which makes it the perfect place for paranormal activity. The “Ghost Adventures” crew tackled this one during Season 2, and since then fans have elevated the episode to mythic proportions, and for good reason — not only is it rich in history, it’s among the creepiest episodes.

Investigating the fort’s treasure room and a galley where prisoners were manacled to the wall, cold blasts of air and foul smells greet the crew. Unexplained moaning gives them a major fright. The most intense moment occurs when Zak Bagans brings a handful of sand that came from a field nearby where the massacre of over 200 shipwrecked French Protestants by Spanish Catholics took place following their refusal to convert. It’s a must-see for history buffs who love the paranormal.

The Cecil Hotel’s reputation as a haunted place where mysterious disappearances and murders take place inspired the Hotel Cortez in “American Horror Story: Hotel.” Zak Bagans and the gang finally got around to visiting The Cecil (which is one of the coolest “Ghost Adventures” locations you can visit as a tourist) during Season 21. Much of the episode is dedicated to the baffling death of Canadian college student Elisa Lam, who was found in the hotel’s water tower after being caught on hotel surveillance footage behaving bizarrely in their elevators in 2013.

During the outing, the readings the team takes with their equipment hint at paranormal activity in the hotel. Elevators open without warning and spirits pop up all over the place on night vision cameras and other forms of spiritual viewing. The team also claims that they feel compelled to do violence against each other, especially while in a room formerly inhabited by noted serial killer Richard Ramirez. Chilling stuff, and an unforgettable episode.

The last hotel episode on this list (we promise), the El Rancho is a Route 66 landmark notorious for its hauntings. It was once a brothel and a saloon back in the Old West days. Because of that, the place is home to some pretty rowdy spirits, including a rather aggressive male ghost who likes to push people who linger at the El Rancho for too long. The team is forced to contend with this fellow, who makes their lives anything but easy as they try to get readings.

It turns out this spirit has been hurting the hotel’s owner and does not show any compunction about hurting Bagans and the boys, either. And he’s not the only one: They capture voices with the spirit box that threaten them, as well. The chilling investigation ends with everyone intact and in one piece, but the whole team is freaked out by the experience, and understandably so.

The first episode of “Ghost Adventures” took the team to Bobby Mackey’s Music World, a Kentucky club that’s been nicknamed Hell’s Gate thanks to its tragic, complicated history. There are rumors that demons and other spirits infest the place thanks to previous instances of satanic worship. Also, it used to be a slaughterhouse, so add that into the mix and you’ve got a real paranormal cocktail.

Patrons of the club report being hurled about in the restrooms, experiencing violent changes in temperature, and ghost sightings. Zak Bagans and the gang do not fare much better. Mysterious figures haunt them, and Zak is marked with three claw marks — the sign of the beast. The “Ghost Adventures” team would end up returning to Bobby Mackey’s Music World on a few occasions, but no further visitations have ever topped this one.

The “Ghost Adventures” team got to visit Poveglia Island in Italy during Season 3, a place with a long, dark past. The island suffered mightily during the bubonic plague due to its status as a port for all of Venice and it became home to an asylum before it was closed in the 1960s. Repeated attempts to revive it and create a new hot spot have failed. 

Zak Bagans and his comrades are confronted by menacing messages, pleas for help in Italian, and the ghost of a doctor with a bad reputation who wants them to leave immediately. Spirits threaten their lives, objects come crashing down, and Zak, Aaron and Nick all have differing encounters with a variety of apparitions. The result is so menacing that it makes you feel like you’re the one being threatened by the forces of evil yourself, making it a seminal episode.

Oklahoma’s Stone Lion Inn was a funeral home before it was an inn, so it made sense for the “Ghost Adventures” team to pay the place a visit. It turns out to be laden with ghosts, including a man in a top hat who loves to haunt the parlor. The basement is also filled with displaced spirits, and there’s a door upstairs that keeps opening and closing all by itself. After setting up the thermal camera, the team picks up an imprint on a pillow, notching the tension up a level.

The Season 14 premiere is classic “Ghost Adventures.” The setting is suitably scary, and the team have a memorable encounter with what they believe to be the spirit of Elmer McCurdy, an outlaw who robbed a train near Okesa, Oklahoma and died in a gunfight with police. McCurdy’s tale is a gruesome one — nobody claimed his body, so the undertaker embalmed it and charged people to see it. The corpse was discovered in a funhouse 65 years later when someone realized it was more than a convincing mummy prop.

Is there anything creepier than an island filled with dolls? This Season 10 episode sees the team visit the titular Mexican island, where locals mark the memory of a little girl who drowned mysteriously by leaving behind dolls. The place has such bad mojo that it literally causes cats to fight one another. When some of these cats run across Zak Bagans’ path, freaking him out, the creepy laughter of children (or perhaps dolls?) can be heard.

The team camps out on the island and that’s when things get really interesting. Zak feels a hand run up his back, and other strange doll-related happenings suggest that something supernatural is indeed going on. It’s so much fun to see the team camping out together, and the story of the little girl who drowned and supposedly communicates through the dolls is a compelling one, making this the best episode of “Ghost Adventures.”

Here’s where you can stream every season of “Ghost Adventures.”