'Ghost Nation' to feature Boyers paranormal investigator
Boyers native Brett McGinnis is bringing his penchant for the paranormal back to TV on Saturday in a hunt for ghosts at the historic Hotel Conneaut on the shores of Conneaut Lake in Crawford County.
A 2007 graduate of Moniteau High School, McGinnis is reuniting with former fellow cast members of “Ghost Hunters Academy” — which aired on the Syfy Channel — in their new reality TV show, “Ghost Nation,” now on the Travel Channel.
The “Do Not Disturb” episode filmed in August at the hotel will air at 9 p.m.
“I've been investigating the paranormal at the hotel since 2016,” said McGinnis, who lives near Pittsburgh.
A video producer by day, McGinnis works as the corporate videographer for GNC at the company's headquarters in Pittsburgh.
By night, so to speak, he owns a ghost-hunting event production company, “Ghosts N'at Paranormal Adventures,” which takes people on ghost hunts and tours. The company recently opened a second location in Baltimore.
McGinnis can't reveal details of Saturday's show, but he said he has conducted several paranormal investigations and tours at the hotel over the years to try to prove or refute the tale of the ghost bride and other stories from its 119-year history.The tale begins in 1943 when a fire destroyed a portion of the hotel.A woman named Elizabeth and her fiancé were at the hotel for their wedding when the fire erupted. Elizabeth died in the fire, but her fiancé escaped with no injuries, McGinnis said, recounting the urban legend.“Elizabeth roams the hallways at night searching for her ghost fiancé,” McGinnis said.He said he never found evidence of Elizabeth, but said the voice of someone uttering her name was picked up on an electronic voice phenomenon recorder during investigations and tours.“We've experienced a wide variety of experiences when investigating the hotel,” McGinnis said. “People have experienced paranormal activity and can't stay the night. When it comes to ghosts, there's a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. Nobody knows why places are haunted or what a ghost exactly is.”In Saturday's episode, McGinnis joins Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango and Jason Hawes to delve further into paranormal events at the hotel.All four were cast members for a season of “Ghost Hunters Academy” in 2010 on the channel, then called the Sci-Fi Channel.In their new show on the Travel Channel, Gonsalves, Tango and Hawes get together with local ghost hunters to explore paranormal phenomena in localities around the country. McGinnis will be local ghost hunter on Saturday's program.“I'm that guy,” he said.He said he had to have a COVID-19 test before he could take part in the filming.McGinnis said some of the owners of places he has taken guests to for ghost hunts have been grateful because they had few other paying visitors last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
