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PART II: Paranormal investigator John Zaffis talks about his most horrific case ever

Courtesy of Syfy

Haunted Collector, Syfy’s hit reality series, follows the often scary adventures of paranormal expert John Zaffis and his motley crew of investigators, including two of his children. He’s a man well-known in the circles of ghosts, hauntings, possessions and the downright bizarre, and now he’s become a TV personality on a mission: To find questionable artifacts in people’s homes and calm the nerves of the absolutely terrified.

The nephew of famed paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, Zaffis has been interested in the supernatural almost his entire life. In a revealing interview with Hollywood Soapbox, he talks about the upcoming season of Haunted Collector, plus some of his more memorable cases on the road.

Here’s Part II of our discussion (read Part I here). Questions and answers have been slightly edited.

Do you take artifacts you pick up on the road back to your museum?

Yes, there are items from the cases that are removed. … Usually when you deal with a haunting, most people do not want to keep anything in there that’s going to be keeping the activity going. They would just like the item removed. So therefore it is removed. There have been a couple of cases from the TV show where the items were returned to the people.

They’re brought back to the museum. It’s a barn that’s on my property, and all of the things that I do put in there, there are bindings, there are prayers and special things that are done over them by a lot of different spiritual people before I put them in there — hopefully to actually contain that energy that’s with them.

Is that museum open to the public?

It’s a private museum. I do not have it opened up to the public. It’s in a residential area. But every once in a while, I do work with little groups and do bring them in for little tours and things like that. I work with a lot of colleges and universities up here in the New England area, where I let the kids come in that have paranormal groups on campuses and teach them and train them on how to do different things.

Maybe somewhere down the road the museum we will be open to the public. There is a big demand for people wanting to see items. Maybe somewhere down the road I will end up relocating it.

Do you travel far to find cases?

There’s not really any restriction … the United States, Canada, England, Scotland.

John Zaffis and his team of paranormal investigators from Syfy’s ‘Haunted Collector’ — Photo courtesy of Michelle McLoughlin / Syfy

Would you be open to another season?

It’s a lot of work. There’s a lot that goes into a TV show, and you’re on the road for months and months. It’s just something that I would really have to take a step back and look at and see what the future even holds as far as anything goes, whether our ratings are good or they’re average or whatever. We all have our priorities in life.

Is there one investigation in your career that is the most memorable?

Absolutely. That would the haunting in Connecticut. That was 24 years ago, and again it was one of the most horrific, intense investigations. It affected all the clergy, all the researchers, the family members. There wasn’t anybody that didn’t walk away from the haunting of Connecticut that wasn’t personally affected.

What was your inclusion in the investigation?

I was involved in that for 9-and-a-half weeks. I was brought in by Ed and Lorraine Warren to investigate that. And the conclusion basically was the experiences that happened in there. Again, maybe take that step back and realize, when people have these personal experiences and other people witness them or experience them, that’s solidifying to an individual that they’re not crazy, that these things are occurring and happening. Once that’s verified, you look at things differently. Like I said, that probably was one of my most horrific in the category of that type of haunting. It will probably always stay with me the rest of my life.

What can viewers expect in this next season?

The investigations, the majority of them are brand-new locations for going on TV, intermingling with businesses and residential areas and trying to solve some of the things we uncover, the things we find out. And some of the solutions trying to help them to move forward, I think people will find it very intriguing, because one of the key factors that I strive very high for, as far as the TV show, people get information from it and they can get an understanding of some of these things that you just don’t see in the other shows.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

  • Haunted Collector airs on the Syfy network on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Click here for more information.

John Soltes

John Soltes is an award-winning journalist. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Earth Island Journal, The Hollywood Reporter, New Jersey Monthly and at Time.com, among other publications. E-mail him at john@hollywoodsoapbox.com

6 thoughts on “PART II: Paranormal investigator John Zaffis talks about his most horrific case ever

  • I am very interested in paranormal investigating and activity, and i love to watch your show and see how you handle different situations.Your dedication to helping those with paranormal problems is refreshing and educational…thanks for caring about those who come to you for help..I for one will keep watching every episode and learning about your investigations.Keep the investigations coming!!!!!

    Reply
  • I recently discovered this show, “Haunted Collector” and was immediately hooked! I think its awesome what John does in trying to help people come to a peace with the paranormal activity going on around them. Every time I watch though I always think about how much junk people have in their homes and how a lot of people collect antiques or get things passed down from family members to one another, I would think that EVERY house would be haunted then if spirits held an attachment on to items, ya know?

    I’ve personally never experienced anything supernatural but I am a strong believer in ghosts. My husband thinks I’m crazy, he only believes in what he can experience himself. I’m a very spiritual person and would love to know that my father and sister are happy in Heaven. They both died in a car accident when I was just a little girl. My mother and I only survived. I like to think they are close by me always. But to get that validation would be priceless…

    Reply
  • I enjoy the show and have been watching since the beginning. I have had some paranormal experiences and have a strong belief. I look forward to seeing more.

    Reply
  • Arthur Milford

    How do you know before you do an investigation that it is an oject causing the problems and not a spirit? We haven’t seen you do any spirit investigations first so how do you know it really is an object causing the issue. It doesn’t make sense.

    Reply
    • I am not sure you really watch the show and if you do if you comprehend what is going on. They absolutely do an investigation before they remove any object. They may try to determine what object is causing the problems before the investigation but they do not remove anything until they are sure there is paranormal activity occuring and that it can be linked to a particular item if possible. The activity may or may not be related to an object but I think John’s policy is better safe than sorry. Also, if an object is removed and the activity continues the clients can always get the object back.

      Reply
  • On a recent episode of Haunted Collector a esoteric piece was found in the woods and identified as Native American Indian in origin. Imagine my suprise to see an almost identical piece show up on a reality show on A&E by the name of Cajun Justice. The origin of it was identified as Haitian by an expert in such things. The program is filmed in Terrebonne Parish, in the most southern part of Louisiana. I´ve seen these things before in shows and news reports about Haiti. I´d also like to comment on the knife identified as a Native American Indian scalping knife. It would really be nice if people were not taken at their word at saying something is Native American Indian, but rather that proper research be done to prove it. I´m sure you can locate photos of such pieces that are portrayed in your program. A knife can be used for all sorts of things. As far as I´ve ever heard, none were ever made knives to be used just for scalping. Lastly, I´d like to know why your friend the shaman calls himself a shaman. Is he of Native American Indian ancestry and if so is he an enrolled member of a federally recognised tribe? If so, what tribe is that and where is it located? As a native american indian myself I would like to know.

    Reply

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