Bucket list item achieved: Zak Bagans' Haunted Museum

For all the paranormal junkies out there, Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year.

I got an early Halloween present in May when my husband, Josh, and I toured Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.

This was immediately placed at the top of my bucket list when it opened in 2016. I have been a fan of "Ghost Adventures" since the show began in 2008; I've seen every episode, spinoff and special project lead investigator and filmmaker Bagans and his team have made through the years. I love the lengths and depths to which the GAC members go to tell the stories of the people who once lived, worked and died at the locations they visit, as well as the tales of supernatural goings-on as allegedly witnessed by the living.

The Haunted Museum is housed in the beautiful 1938 Wengert Mansion in the old part of Vegas, just minutes away from the dizzying sights and sounds of the Fremont Street Experience. The mansion itself is of architectural and historical interest, even without the paranormal artifacts that have come to be housed within its walls.

Starstruck and overcome with a surreal understanding that I was actually at this place I had researched and dreamed of visiting, we embarked on a more than three-hour tour in the dimly lit mansion. It was heavy with incense smoke, every room and hallway filled with haunted dolls, paintings, mirrors, clothing, crime scene evidence and even some actual body parts and bones on display in glass cases and jars, much like one would find on the shelves in a mad scientist's lab or showcased during a traveling freakshow from 100 years ago.

Visitors are required to sign waivers before entering, and it's understandable why. Some people are sensitive to the odd energies that permeate the building, whether it's picking up on ghostly whisperings or having physical reactions to specific items or areas. My stomach lurched as we walked into first room of items that belonged to Jack Kevorkian, who was known as "Dr. Death" for his work with voluntary euthanasia. That first room contained some of his strange and grotesque artwork. I felt off balance, as though I was walking on an uneven floor. A woman next to me felt the same way and had to sit down. We were then shown footage from a previous tour where two women were affected in that same room, one of whom collapsed to the floor. That was creepy.

The museum is a nightmare come true for supernatural horror film fans. The Dybbuk Box, the cursed item on which the 2012 movie "The Possession" is based, is in a room all on its own, encased in glass. The Devil's Rocking Chair, the artifact at the center of "The Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It," is kept behind a special wall that is only opened for brief periods of time. These are just a couple of the hundreds, if not thousands, of spooky items that comprise this macabre collection.

I was especially impressed by the exhibit recreating Bobby Mackey's Music World, the Kentucky nightclub and honky tonk that was a favorite haunt of paranormal investigators due to a dark history and countless ghost stories. It was recently demolished, but not before the museum was able to procure pieces of the club, including original flooring and furniture.

When the tour had concluded, I felt like I was walking out of a rock concert. My head buzzed. I was speechless (for once, as my husband would say). Guests are not allowed to take photos on the tour or record anything, so I kept closing my eyes to try to remember as much as I could.

The tour was on the first day of our trip. Part of signing that waiver is acknowledging that an unseen guest may follow you home from the museum. As we stayed at the Flamingo, the oldest hotel on the Vegas Strip, we did have some weird stuff happen in our room. We'd come back to find the closet door open when we knew it was closed, or vice versa. The motion light inside also turned on a couple of times when we were nowhere near it. The flamingo-shaped lamp on the nightstand also turned on and off a few times, but who knows, maybe it was faulty wiring or a loose bulb.

The Haunted Museum is a phantom feast for the fearless, but not for the faint of heart. It's a Halloween treat I'd enjoy any day of the year.

    Creepy creatures lurk at the Haunted Museum in Vegas, and that's just a few on the outside.
  

    Don't be fooled by the palm trees and blue skies — Zak Bagans' The Haunted Museum is a dark treasure trove of scary stories and artifacts.
  

    Paranormal reporter Devin Weeks fangirls out at the Haunted Museum in Las Vegas in May.