Exclusive: Paranormal Lockdown Host Nick Groff Takes AITH on a Ghost Hunt!

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

This Friday the 13th, we here at Arrow in the Head wanted to offer up something special, something a little different and possibly a little spooky. A couple of months back, me and Daniel Martinez (one of our awesome cameramen) rented a car and took a road trip to Virginia City, Nevada. While there, we spent some quality time with television host, paranormal expert, and all around amazing guy Nick Groff who has a new series coming to Destination America in 2016 called Paranormal Lockdown. During our visit, we were lucky enough to get a little taste of what he does on a regular basis, and it was one of the most enthralling experiences I’ve ever had.

With Paranormal Lockdown, Nick and co-host Katrina Weidman are taking the paranormal to unique and exciting new places. With so many shows of this ilk, the two will be on 72 hour lockdown in some of the most haunted locations ever recorded. We spoke about the upcoming series, and about the less than comfortable environment that the two are going to be taking on.

We are living at the location. We are living there for 72 hours straight literally. At one location I had my boots on for 72 hours because I was scared to take my shoes off. I didn’t know when I would have to get up to run at one point… We are eating there, we are sleeping there, we are living there. That’s the biggest thing that people don’t understand yet.

Being there for over 24 hours eventually your body kind of gives up. You have to lay down and close your eyes for a little bit. Your body is meant to get at least two to three hours of sleep so you can keep functioning. There are points where we get to that, 26 to 28 hours in, where I put my cot or my sleeping bag in the most haunted spots I can put it. So I put the cot there, by myself, and put a camera up with a tripod and lay down in that spot, and I just wait to see what happens.

Nick went on to talk about what he hopes to accomplish with this new series, and whether the viewer needs to believe in the paranormal.

You don’t even have to be a believer. You don’t have to be a skeptic. You don’t have to be anything. Just have an open mind. My concept is, I’ve been doing this for so long so I’m not going to the locations to prove ghosts exist. I’m not on this big rampage to shove it in your face and [say] you have to believe. I don’t care about that because I believe. 

My goal is to go to locations that we’ve researched that are highly or extremely haunted from the research, from factual death and things like that, not so much played on eyewitness accounts. My goal is to go to these locations and discover something new that we haven’t discovered yet. We call things unknown because we don’t understand them. What happens if we discover something of the unknown that we can say, hey, this is possibly what this is.

What is thrilling about Paranormal Lockdown is the idea that you can see just how intense Nick and Katrina’s experience will be. I’m not sure I’d want to spend 72 straight hours in any one place period, haunted or not. Yet after years of investigation, doing what others would be too terrified to do is nothing new for the host.

Years back, Nick spent some time in a little place called The Washoe Club in Virginia City, Nevada. At the time, he was able to capture a ghostly apparition on camera. And since then, many paranormal investigators unrelated to Nick have had very creepy experiences with EVP’s specifically calling out for the host. And when he returned to what is known as the “Old Virginny Town” for The Nick Groff Tour – an event that he hosts designed for fans all over the world to get an up close and personal experience with the paranormal – we ventured in ahead of the crowds into The Washoe Club to see what we would find.

On a personal level, there was a whole lot of emotion going through me during that time. One of the most intense reactions I had was this incredible feeling of sadness and death at one area of the Washoe Club. At the time I had no idea what had happened in that particular area of the building, but it gave me chills when I discovered that years before they stored bodies just below where I was standing. This happened during the winter time when they couldn’t dig the graves. I was so completely taken with the experience and the emotional impact it had. Strangely, I have a very strong desire to return. And of course, the owners of the building were kind enough to let us wander without any restrictions. There were a plethora of personal experiences had by both Nick and I.

During our time at the club, we spoke to Nick about the paranormal and about the tour. It was an eye-opening journey for Daniel and I. While my cameraman was certainly skeptical going in, hearing the EVP’s we caught during our visit caused him a bit of a sleepless night. If you are looking for a cool place to visit, I highly recommend taking a trip to Virginia City, Nevada. It seems as though nearly every building has reports of ghostly disturbances. This is not surprising as it feels like you are stepping back into another time once you arrive. Even with the many tourists, walking the streets of Virginia City feels like you’ve just walked out of a time machine without any need for the DeLorean.

So we at AITH would like to give a massive thanks to Nick Groff for letting us join him for some paranormal fun. As well, we’d like to give a shout out to the people of Virginia City for making us feel welcome. And be sure to look out for Paranormal Lockdown on Destination America when it premieres in 2016.  We’ll be sure to keep you updated on the new series. So sit back and check out this video interview with Nick Groff and our very own paranormal experience at The Washoe Club. You can follow Nick on Twitter, Facebook and WhoSay to learn all about his experiences and the upcoming series.