When Travel Channel unveiled their full lineup for Ghostober 2019, they announced an all-new series called “The Holzer Files.” The show follows a dedicated paranormal team as they investigate locations from the case files of America’s first ghost hunter, Dr. Hans Holzer, which were recently re-opened thanks to Holzer’s daughter. Now Travel Channel has unveiled some of the locations the team will visit as part of the series.
In the series premiere, the team heads to historic Rye, New York, where over the span of 20 years, Hans Holzer made three visits to investigate the rampant paranormal activity at the Peck House. Residents have witnessed objects moving on their own, water manifesting on the ceiling without cause and the spirit of a young girl who tragically died in the home. Now, for the first time since Holzer’s last visit in 1985, paranormal investigator Dave Schrader, psychic medium Cindy Kaza and equipment technician Shane Pittman – armed with insight from researcher Gabe Roth and Alexandra Holzer – revisit the case, interviewing locals, historians and frightened witnesses in an attempt to capture evidence and find out if the restless spirits haunting the Peck House have actually moved on.
In the second episode, the team will visit the Morris-Jumel Masnion. Perched atop one of Manhattan’s highest points, the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest home in New York City and served as a headquarters for George Washington during the Revolutionary War. When Hans Holzer investigated it in 1964, terrified employees encountered apparitions of the home’s past occupants roaming the property and heard whispering in the empty halls. Though Holzer and psychic medium Ethel Meyers were able to communicate with Stephen Jumel and help his restless spirit move on, Jumel’s wife, Eliza, refused to leave and has remained a haunting presence in the home to this day. In recent years, a darker entity has emerged that has concerned employees reaching out for help. The team has reopened Holzer’s files for the first time since his visit over 50 years ago and will investigate the property to determine if this dark presence is indeed Eliza Jumel, or if something more menacing now resides in the historic home.
In the shows third episode the team will visit the Whaley House, a historic San Diego, CA home that was first investigated by Holzer in 1961. The home has since gained notoriety as the most haunted house in America. Visitors to the Whaley House began reporting frightening encounters with the site’s past occupants – ghostly apparitions walking the halls, disembodied voices and a dark presence lurking in the home. Holzer investigated these assertions with psychic medium Sybil Leek, recording contact with both the Whaley family and a 19th-century thief reportedly hanged on the site of the home before it was built. Yet Holzer always felt there was more to reveal – a darker, more powerful entity. Now, the team will conduct an all-new investigation in an attempt to capture more undeniable evidence of Holzer’s original findings.
Additional locations and cases featured this season include the USS Constellation (Baltimore), the Barnstable House (Cape Cod, Massachusetts) the Lambert Castle (Paterson, New Jersey), Ocean Born Mary (New Hampshire/Rhode Island), the Howard-Dickinson House (Henderson, Texas) and more.
In each of the series’ 10 hour-long episodes, the team will cull through thousands of Holzer’s recently discovered documents, letters, photographs and chilling audio and visual recordings dating back to the 1950s. Using his findings, team members track down recent developments from each haunting and head back to the location to reinvestigate with a fresh perspective, harnessing their own research, skills and expertise.
“The Holzer Files” premieres Thursday, October 3 at 10 PM ET/PT on Travel Channel.
