What happens when the paranormal and horror merge? We’re going to find out in The Haunted Museum, one of the new series premiering on discovery+ during Ghostober IV.
The trailer for the groundbreaking new horror series collaboration between paranormal mega star Zak Bagans and master of horror director Eli Roth recently dropped. As trailers are supposed to do, it whets our appetite but also gives us a taste of what we can expect from The Haunted Museum series.
It also clues us in on something a lot of us have been speculating about: which of Zak’s prized Haunted Museum artifacts inspired episodes for the series?
The trailer doesn’t show us all of them. Only a few. I was able to identify most of them —all except for one.
Let’s check out what The Haunted Museum series is going to be about, have a look at its trailer, and then we’ll have a go at identifying all of the objects in it.
About The Haunted Museum
The creepy collection of haunted artifacts housed inside Zak Bagans’ Haunted Museum are getting the spotlight in The Haunted Museum, a new horror film anthology series produced in collaboration with filmmaker Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever). The series presents frightening and hellish tales inspired by the spooky relics on display in Zak Bagans’ Las Vegas museum.
Bagans, a devoted collector of the macabre, is opening his museum vaults and sharing the secrets and stories behind a curated selection of his most prized haunted items through scripted shorts produced by Roth and his accredited team. Bagans weighs in with featured commentary on each of the nine episodes.
The Haunted Museum Trailer
Watch the trailer and see if you can identify all of the objects.
Artifacts in The Haunted Museum Trailer
It’s been a few years since I took a jaunt to Zak Bagan’s Haunted Museum. If we’d been allowed to take pictures, I’d have them to help jog my memory about all we saw, but they didn’t, so I don’t recall everything. The biggies to be sure, such as the Dybbuk Box, Peggy the Doll, and the Demon House stairs, along with some of the stuff in Zak’s true crime collection.
I also recall a dollhouse replica of the Westerfeld House. I never saw the episode about the house (the actual house, not the replica), but it stood out to me for a few reasons. The dollhouse was beautiful. The real house is located in San Francisco. (One of my favorite cities so I always perk up whenever anything having to do with it is mentioned.) But mostly because it shared the same corner as a replica Laughing Sal.
I first met Sal at the Musée Mechanique. She has a haunted twin in Maryland who may be the largest haunted doll in the world, but the one in San Fran is freaky enough on her own, haunted or not. The replica in Zak’s museum, however, takes freaky to whole new heights. Whoever made it enhanced her already creepy AF face even more. I could barely stand to pass by it. (I’m convinced one day that doll will come to life and start eating people.)
Anyway, you can spot some of these items in The Haunted Museum trailer, including the Dybbuk Box and Peggy the Doll, and perhaps the replica dollhouse.
In fact, the trailer opens with a boy looking into a dollhouse. Is it the Westerfield House replica? I’m not sure. If you know, check in and let me know in the comments!
I’m pretty sure the chair shown is the Devil’s Rocking Chair, which was an artifact once belonging to Ed and Lorraine Warren. It had played a part in the exorcism case that inspired The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do it. (The boy was sitting in the chair for part of the exorcism.)
But there’s also a creepy-looking statue of a woman with what appears to be a baby demon crawling up her body. I have no idea what that is. It wasn’t on display when we visited the museum. What is that? What’s its story?
I’m sure I’ll find out when the series premieres, but if you know what it is, please shout!
And, of course, demons
Another thing we know from The Haunted Museum trailer is that, yes, there will be demons. A figurine of one seems to live in the dollhouse —and also out of it if I’m inferring correctly from the trailer.
But that is likely not the only demonic entity we’ll see. And is there more than one story involving a haunted closet? The trailer also featured a couple of creepy closet scenes.
We’ll soon find out exactly which haunted objects and how many of the nine episodes will include demons. The Haunted Museum begins streaming on discovery+ on Saturday, October 2 with a two-episode binge. Seven more episodes will drop on Saturdays after that.
For More Info
Visit discoveryplus.com.
Check-In
What did you think about The Haunted Museum trailer? Could you identify any of the objects that might be featured just from the clips of the scripted shorts?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
The trailer is awesome. Goosebumps! I could identify a couple of the items (the Dybbuk box, the deceptively cute doll), but even if I didn’t recognize anything, it’d still be an exciting trailer.