Really Adds 'Ghost Nation' To Its #Freakend Lineup

Jason Hawes, Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango join Really channel's paranormal schedule in their new ghost hunting series, 'Ghost Nation'. The show premiered in the US over Halloween, but now British fans of the paranormal can follow the trio's paranormal adventures.

Here in the UK, Really has become the go to channel for US paranormal television shows. Towards the end of 2019 the network announced it was expanding its paranormal offering to two nights of ghostly shows under the new label #Freakend, bringing a spooky end to the week on Thursday as well as Friday.

For the last eight weeks British viewers have been able to watch episodes of Jack Osbourne and Katrina Weidman's 'Portals To Hell', but now the series has come to an end it's made way for the return of three stars from the long-running paranormal show, 'Ghost Hunters'.

Jason, Steve and Dave were among the main cast members of the hit television series 'Ghost Hunters', and are now investigating under the umbrella United Paranormal Research Organization (UPRO), a new wider network of paranormal investigation teams. Their investigations form the basis of the new ten-part series, 'Ghost Nation'.

The show premiered on Really early in 2020, and was generally well received by British viewers. The show presents a rational, level-headed and mostly scientific look at the world of paranormal investigation.

In 'Ghost Nation' the team respond to calls from paranormal investigators nationwide from within the UPRO network and join them on investigations to lend their help and expertise. Each hour long episode deals with a haunting in a real residential property and is presented as a "multi-stage investigation".

The drama begins with eye witness accounts of the haunting and the backstory of the case. Just like the rest of the series, the re-enactments are well shot and cinematic, and feature engaging special effects to help viewers imagine the paranormal activity.

The first episode begins at the Fanboy Expo in Tennessee, where the team announced their formation. They met Jessica Clevinger at the event, a fan and amateur paranormal investigator who told them about a case she was investigating just 45 minutes away in a small town called White Pine outside Knoxville.

The team agreed to go along and help with the case, which revolved around an old farmhouse where the owners have seen four full-bodied apparitions. The property is the home of single mum Brittany Totherow. Soon after moving in to the house, she started experiencing unexplained phenomena and even claims to have seen a female apparition.

Her partner, Cory, later moved into the house with his own children, and before long he also began to witness the strange goings on, including unexplained footsteps. He even captured video of an apparition standing behind Brittany. Now, their children are starting to have strange encounters.

The team did successfully debunk some of the reported phenomenon, including claims that batteries mysteriously drain. They did this by placing a fully charged battery in the location for 48 hours and recorded its voltage before and after - it remained the same.

The premise of the show being called in to help local amateur paranormal teams with their investigation was a nice touch, and it was good to see those amateur researchers getting involved in the investigation. Especially as the locations they were investigating are allegedly genuine recent hauntings, rather than hyped up famous haunted locations.

Later in the series the team will help a couple who recently gained notoriety when their nanny-cam footage captured a ghostly shadow figure walking by their baby’s cot, a local team that captured possible shadow people moving throughout a notorious paranormal hotspot, and an investigator who is actually scratched by an unseen phantom.

You can catch 'Ghost Nation' each Thursday at 9pm on Really, before 'Help! My House Is Haunted', which follows investigators Barri Ghai, Chris Fleming and Jayne Harris, as they tackle 12 haunted houses in the UK.

The #Freakend continues on Friday nights with brand new episodes of the long-running US ghost hunting show, 'Ghost Adventures' fronted by Zak Bagans. The new season features the GAC's investigation of Lutes - a former casino with a shady past, Melrose Hotel - a historic building plagued by dark spirits, and St. Ignatius Hospital where visitors have heard strange growls and been attacked by unseen hands.

Later on Fridays, Really are showing 'Haunted Hospitals'. The 13-part show is new to the channel, but was first shown last year on Quest Red, so may be familiar to some viewers. 'Haunted Hospitals' features real life supernatural stories from medical staff and patients, who recount their chilling encounters with paranormal activity inside hospitals, nursing homes, morgues and medical institutions.