Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: And welcome back to Coast to Coast George, Norie with you.
Speaker 2: Steve Gonsalz Back with us has been a public speaker
Speaker 2: and educator about paranormal phenomena for more than two decades.
Speaker 2: He helped pave the way for a worldwide paranormal explosion
Speaker 2: as a main cast member of the hit television series
Speaker 2: that you may remember, ghost Hunters, as well as Ghost
Speaker 2: Hunters Live, Ghost Hunters Academy, and Ghost Nation. Steve has
Speaker 2: started his work in paranormal studies at a very young
Speaker 2: age and has investigated more than fifteen hundred reportedly haunted locations.
Speaker 2: Along with his multiple appearances on a variety of television, radio,
Speaker 2: and paranormal series, he is the executive produced and co
Speaker 2: directed the hit documentary films The House in Between One
Speaker 2: and Two. In his book We're Talking about Tonight is
Speaker 2: called The Life with Ghosts. Steve, welcome back.
Speaker 3: How have you been, Hey, George? I've been really good.
Speaker 3: Thank you for asking. I hope you've been well.
Speaker 2: Yes, sir, fifteen hundred hundred locations was at school? Were
Speaker 2: any of them scary?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Some of course, can be quite i'd say startling.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 3: You definitely get you know, your blood pumping. But there
Speaker 3: have been a few that, you know, you really look
Speaker 3: at your fellow investigator and you kind of say, God,
Speaker 3: I'm glad I'm not in here alone.
Speaker 4: I'd be quite scary.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how did you get interested in the supernatural?
Speaker 3: For me, it was really an interest early back. I
Speaker 3: remember a movie called The Entity that really kind of
Speaker 3: threw me for a loop and.
Speaker 4: Scared me quite honestly.
Speaker 3: I was terrified and started crying towards the end of
Speaker 3: it a bit. My mom was like, with you watching
Speaker 3: and you know, certainly shut the TV off or whatever.
Speaker 3: And I remember right before that seeing it's say based
Speaker 3: on true events, and that really kicked off my love
Speaker 3: for it. But I've been going ever since, really, and
Speaker 3: I was maybe eight or nine years old then maybe
Speaker 3: even a bit younger.
Speaker 2: Tell us about the metamorphosis of the new book, A
Speaker 2: Life with Ghosts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we you know, I spent quite some time just
Speaker 3: thinking of all the different places we've been and experiences
Speaker 3: that were poignant to me, and really stories that I
Speaker 3: connected to in terms of the people behind them and
Speaker 3: the people even behind the ghosts that we were chasing after.
Speaker 3: And that really was my turning point, saying, I want
Speaker 3: to start writing all of this down and getting it
Speaker 3: out to people.
Speaker 2: And you've got about a dozen locations that you pick.
Speaker 2: Was I got the horne in on them?
Speaker 3: It was Actually it took quite some time really just thinking,
Speaker 3: because I didn't want to put together, you know, a
Speaker 3: list of here are my favorite haunted spots in the country,
Speaker 3: or here are the haunted places in the country you
Speaker 3: need to check out. There are plenty of those types
Speaker 3: of books out there, and those are great, but I
Speaker 3: wanted each story in there to be poignant to me
Speaker 3: and things that meant a lot to me, and even
Speaker 3: things that I thought people might not realize when it
Speaker 3: comes to haunting. So it really did have to fit
Speaker 3: some criteria.
Speaker 4: You know, my favorite.
Speaker 3: Haunted place may not even be the most active place
Speaker 3: I've been. It can be a lot of other things,
Speaker 3: like the history, the aesthetic of the building. I don't
Speaker 3: mean aesthetic like you know fashion. I mean if you
Speaker 3: find beauty in the decay and you really want to
Speaker 3: absorb the building and the house in and figure out
Speaker 3: what it was like, that sort of thing. And it
Speaker 3: was hard but we did, the co writer and I
Speaker 3: Mike Galwezy, we did narrow it down to a dozen
Speaker 3: or so places, and every story in there really means
Speaker 3: a lot to me, and I think to the reader
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 4: I hope we'll see.
Speaker 2: Well, you did a great job with it, Steve, you
Speaker 2: really have. And it's fascinating to read. It's almost like
Speaker 2: one of those pull the covers over your head.
Speaker 3: There are a few stories in there that are very
Speaker 3: scary that they really can be, especially for someone who
Speaker 3: is not an investigator, you know, if you're not used
Speaker 3: to these types of experiences or the fact that people
Speaker 3: can really have these intense experiences. There are stories in
Speaker 3: there that are a little more on the horror side.
Speaker 3: And even when you dig into the history now I
Speaker 3: mean horror like.
Speaker 4: A horror movie.
Speaker 3: I just mean the horror that can be other people's
Speaker 3: death and trauma and sadness in what happens in life, and.
Speaker 4: It really can't.
Speaker 3: But the experiences in there, there are some that are
Speaker 3: really scary. There was one I talk about a place
Speaker 3: in there where it was the scary, you know, the
Speaker 3: most scared I'd ever been on a case. For me, Luckily,
Speaker 3: the paranormal doesn't really scare me all that much. I
Speaker 3: get very startled, but it quickly translates to excitement. But
Speaker 3: this time I did find myself really clutching onto somebody
Speaker 3: else and making my way.
Speaker 4: Through this place.
Speaker 2: A pioneer in the area of poltergeist research, doctor William
Speaker 2: g Rohl You mentioned him prominently in the book.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was quite an honor for me to even
Speaker 3: spend time with him. And when I met him, I
Speaker 3: didn't even know that I was going to have that opportunity.
Speaker 3: I went to the Ryan Research Center. I had to
Speaker 3: do a talk on paranormal phenomena, and they had gotten
Speaker 3: in touch with me just prior to me getting there,
Speaker 3: and they said, hey, do you know who doctor William
Speaker 3: g Rohl Is. I said, well, gosh do I. Of course,
Speaker 3: he's a bit of a hero of mine. And then
Speaker 3: she said, well, he'd like to come to your talk,
Speaker 3: and he just wants to make sure it's okay. And
Speaker 3: I did two days in a row. He came to
Speaker 3: both and sat through the whole thing, and then at
Speaker 3: the end of that we went and spent a few
Speaker 3: days together in this haunted mansion in North Carolina there
Speaker 3: and it was I play amazing that we did a
Speaker 3: lot of study on energy.
Speaker 4: He taught me a lot about, of.
Speaker 3: Course EMF and how it really works truly, and how
Speaker 3: to discern through different types of energies within a building
Speaker 3: and a structure, and it was quite fascinating. It was
Speaker 3: really awesome.
Speaker 2: How did your investigating ghost lead to television shows and
Speaker 2: the documentaries? How did that happen?
Speaker 3: I was in the paranormal field researching. Of course I'm investigating,
Speaker 3: and I had joined forces with Jason Hawes, and then
Speaker 3: quickly thereafter we had there was a team, and that
Speaker 3: team was called Rhode Island Paranormal, but that became TAPS
Speaker 3: and we started to get through different cases of ours
Speaker 3: that got some notoriety. We started to have production companies
Speaker 3: getting in touch with it with us and saying, hey,
Speaker 3: this should be a TV show. We didn't realize people
Speaker 3: necessarily did this like this like you guys do, and
Speaker 3: we were hesitant for a little bit, but you know,
Speaker 3: Jay and Grant, myself and the other task members decided
Speaker 3: it would probably be a good idea and we went
Speaker 3: with it, and then you know that we still do
Speaker 3: that show to this day. So here we are almost
Speaker 3: twenty years later, the documentary was something I saw that
Speaker 3: that place needed to be investigated at a higher level that.
Speaker 4: It was being.
Speaker 3: And the story there, it was so fascinating to me,
Speaker 3: and such a lovely team of people over there, the
Speaker 3: investigators and Alice, the main person behind the story, and
Speaker 3: just different things that I never thought even new existed,
Speaker 3: like a ten year controlled study on a one paranormal event,
Speaker 3: or not one but one location. I thought that was
Speaker 3: quite fascinating the fact that they thought that the house.
Speaker 4: In some way was learning how to communicate.
Speaker 3: Back and not necessarily that the house had an intelligence,
Speaker 3: but what was ever occupying the house with them using
Speaker 3: the house as a conduit, you know, learned a bit
Speaker 3: to how to communicate through time. A lot of really
Speaker 3: fascinating things in there.
Speaker 4: And then the book.
Speaker 3: It really a lot of people were saying, hey, you should,
Speaker 3: you know, write a book. We'd love to read about
Speaker 3: what you've been up to in the panel world and
Speaker 3: your thoughts behind things and your personal beliefs, and and
Speaker 3: then I thought it was, you know, a good time
Speaker 3: to really let people who love the shows and what
Speaker 3: we do to be there in a bit more of
Speaker 3: a first person perspective, like, oh, I'm investigating with him.
Speaker 3: I'm here looking through his eyes and getting his thoughts
Speaker 3: at what's going on in his head in the moment
Speaker 3: while things are happening. And that's really you know, from
Speaker 3: from A to Z there and a quick but that's
Speaker 3: how it all sort of came about.
Speaker 2: Of all the places you've been, Steve, and you've got
Speaker 2: a handful in the book, is there one that stands.
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good question. I think there are a
Speaker 3: few that stand out, and there are different reasons.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Waverley Hills, for me, is always the most amazing place,
Speaker 3: and that's in Louisville, Kentucky Tuberculosis Hospital and every time
Speaker 3: I go there there is some sort of activity and
Speaker 3: that's very rare in this field that every time you
Speaker 3: go to a place there is activity, and to me
Speaker 3: that is quite amazing. And only the staff there fosters
Speaker 3: the haunting, and not in a way of but you know,
Speaker 3: they really are respectful to the spirits that might still
Speaker 3: be there and they want other people to respect them
Speaker 3: as well, and I think that's quite important. But then
Speaker 3: you know, there are cases where you're looking more towards
Speaker 3: the client and the sensitivity and the humility that comes
Speaker 3: along with that, and the beautiful relationships that you you know,
Speaker 3: developed with some of the people that you are able
Speaker 3: to help. And so some places have different meetings, but
Speaker 3: I'd say, all in all, Waverly Hills just you know,
Speaker 3: I get teary eyed every time I come up to
Speaker 3: that building and you see it sprawling out and it's
Speaker 3: so big and gorgeous, and you just can't help but
Speaker 3: wonder what happened inside those walls throughout its history, and
Speaker 3: it's just such a magical place.
Speaker 2: It is truly indeed, what causes a place, in your opinion,
Speaker 2: Steve to be haunted, I.
Speaker 3: Think personally, and I think a lot of other investigators
Speaker 3: will probably hold this this thought as well, that there
Speaker 3: probably isn't just one singular sort of spark or but
Speaker 3: I do think there are a lot.
Speaker 4: Of different things. There can be that unfinished.
Speaker 3: Business that it seems to be a common thread and
Speaker 3: pattern where you just and it doesn't mean unfinished business
Speaker 3: like you know I need, but it can be just
Speaker 3: unfinished business in a relationship, unfinished business at a property.
Speaker 3: And it's also I think a very strong emotional attachment
Speaker 3: to a place or an object, and it doesn't have
Speaker 3: to be a terrible emotion. It can be a beautiful emotion.
Speaker 3: It can be, but it has to be a strong one.
Speaker 3: It seems that it is, you know, a place that
Speaker 3: somebody really really loved. That may be where you find
Speaker 3: a haunting, a place where a tragedy happened, and maybe
Speaker 3: that gentleman or that lady is still there or whatever reason,
Speaker 3: or maybe they've decided to return. The mechanics I think
Speaker 3: are still unknown, which is one of the things that
Speaker 3: make this field so fascinating. But I think there are
Speaker 3: a few differ things that can work as a catalyst,
Speaker 3: and I think devotion as well, your devotion to people
Speaker 3: and to a place. There is a story in the
Speaker 3: book a place Alexandria Zoo in Louisiana where it's most
Speaker 3: certainly a haunting of a place where there's a gentleman
Speaker 3: who is so devoted.
Speaker 4: To his work and what he did.
Speaker 3: And this is in the zo little logical field, and
Speaker 3: he loved these animals, and he didn't want to leave
Speaker 3: this zoo. And there's you know, in my opinion, everyone
Speaker 3: else that's been there, there's quite a good deal of
Speaker 3: evidence to show that he never did leave that zoo.
Speaker 3: So that's a haunting not necessarily of tragedy, but of
Speaker 3: devotion and love.
Speaker 4: And that's really off too.
Speaker 2: When you did the television show and you still do.
Speaker 2: Of course, are you under any pressure to make this
Speaker 2: haunting pop up or anything like that?
Speaker 3: No, No, I think that, you know, there's always a
Speaker 3: general sense and excitement when things are happening, you know,
Speaker 3: even among us as investigators. If you know, Jay and
Speaker 3: Sherry or Tango or me would come out and just
Speaker 3: had a really amazing experience in there. It just is
Speaker 3: a much different vibe and feel of domestigation.
Speaker 4: And I think the production company.
Speaker 3: And the networks and everybody likes that, you know, it does.
Speaker 3: But to be honest, some of our highest rated shows
Speaker 3: where some of the ones where we figured most of
Speaker 3: the stuff out, it seems that the audience just really
Speaker 3: loves going on that ride and loves that experience, and
Speaker 3: so we never really got any pressure to you know,
Speaker 3: make things more scary or more exciting, or to have
Speaker 3: anything happen that wouldn't otherwise. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
Speaker 3: Of course, you know, everybody would want every single show
Speaker 3: to have a ghost and all this crazy activity happening.
Speaker 3: But the fact of the matter is is that it's just
Speaker 3: isn't that way. You just really never know. But being
Speaker 3: in the television world and having a great production company
Speaker 3: and network behind it, you do have the opportunity to
Speaker 3: tilt the odds in your favorite bit. You can really
Speaker 3: pick cases with a higher frequency activity, cases where the
Speaker 3: chances of going and having an experience happen while you're
Speaker 3: there for that short week or two are heightened, so
Speaker 3: you're in a better position. But no, never really any
Speaker 3: pressure that I can remember saying, Hey, come on, guys, like,
Speaker 3: can't you pull.
Speaker 4: A ghost out of here? I think the.
Speaker 3: Mystery, the scare, the fright, what if of it is
Speaker 3: really just as important as what we experience or captured.
Speaker 2: You knew the rock singer meat Loaf, who passed away
Speaker 2: a year and a half ago.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, meet Love a great guy, Michael and meet
Speaker 3: as he told his friends to call him, and we
Speaker 3: were very fortunate to have that honor bestowed upon us
Speaker 3: that we were able to call him. Meet He and
Speaker 3: Jason on our show there became very very close, and
Speaker 3: we investigated with him many times over the years. I
Speaker 3: know you know his daughter quite well. She's a dreamboat
Speaker 3: of a person. And it. Yeah, his enthusiasm for the
Speaker 3: paranormal and the investigation and his love for us and
Speaker 3: what we did was so amazing.
Speaker 4: He really was a great person.
Speaker 3: But he had this way of investigating that I had
Speaker 3: never really a scene before that I quite admired, where
Speaker 3: he just would lay himself out there as an open
Speaker 3: book and tell him and when I say that, I
Speaker 3: mean whatever spirits might be around that'll talk to him
Speaker 3: all about his upbringing, his childhood, his aspirations, and just
Speaker 3: his thought was, if I can get them to be
Speaker 3: so comfortable around me that I'm like an old friend,
Speaker 3: maybe they'll open up and come around and be more
Speaker 3: willing to talk. And I think it worked for me.
Speaker 3: He definitely got some evidence where maybe some of us
Speaker 3: who weren't doing that technique would have, but he was,
Speaker 3: you know, the first time we ever investigated with him,
Speaker 3: he was so excited to go. He just grabbed equipment,
Speaker 3: didn't know what he grabbed, turned around, ran into the
Speaker 3: house and just tripped up the stairs, busted up his knee.
Speaker 3: The camera goes flying into fifteen pieces. But he was
Speaker 3: so excited he just took off and we were able
Speaker 3: to investigate with him again for a recent episode of
Speaker 3: Ghost Hunters just a few months before or he passed,
Speaker 3: And it was awesome to be with him and you know,
Speaker 3: through our lunch break, and for us, our lunch break
Speaker 3: is at you know, nine pm, but just to sit
Speaker 3: there for an hour and listen to his stories and
Speaker 3: let him, you know, tell you about music and you know,
Speaker 3: paranorm experiences he had and how he tried to start
Speaker 3: a ghost huming club when he was in college but
Speaker 3: it didn't work out so well.
Speaker 4: And yeah, he was quite a special dude.
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