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Ghost Adventures Host Zak Bagans Buys Bizarre Underground Las Vegas House—and Plans a Museum

By jili tutorial · October 6, 2026

Ghost Adventures Host Zak Bagans Buys Bizarre Underground Las Vegas House—and Plans a Museum

Las Vegas has no shortage of strange properties. But even by that city’s standards, one address stands out: a Cold War-era fallout shelter buried nearly three stories below an unassuming suburban house. Now, Zak Bagans—host of Ghost Adventures and a longtime collector of the macabre—has bought the place. He paid $4.5 million for the sprawling 16,000-square-foot compound, and he plans to turn it into a museum.

This is not just another celebrity real-estate story. It’s a tale of Cold War anxiety, atomic-age architecture, cryonics, and a few unsolved mysteries that Bagans says are still waiting to surface.

A Suburban Facade Hiding a Cold War Secret

At first glance, 3790 Spencer St., near Flamingo Road, looks like an ordinary Las Vegas home. The backyard, however, is oddly vacant. The stone features scattered around the property are not garden decorations—they are disguised above-ground vents for the bunker below.

Known as the Underground House, the property was designed as a blast-resistant hideaway. It was buried nearly three stories deep, making it invisible from the street. For decades, it has fascinated fans of Cold War history, underground architecture, and eccentric design.

Bagans’s purchase marks a turning point. He says the museum will open the subterranean hideout to the public permanently for the first time in its nearly 50-year history. Previously, the property was occasionally available for tours and special events, but it never operated as a full-time public attraction.

Who Is Zak Bagans?

Bagans is best known as the host of Ghost Adventures, the long-running reality series in which he and his team investigate supernatural phenomena. He has also built a career as a collector of true-crime and macabre artifacts.

This new museum will be his second. His Haunted Museum in downtown Las Vegas has become a popular destination for fans of the strange and disturbing. Among its most famous exhibits are:

Given that track record, Bagans is unlikely to offer a typical history museum experience. The Underground House is already rich with stories, and Bagans believes some of those stories are darker than the public has been told.

Conceived in the 1970s by a Cold War “Nucleophobe”

The Underground House was the brainchild of Girard “Jerry” B. Henderson, an executive at the cosmetics company Avon. Henderson was reportedly a “nucleophobe”—someone deeply fearful of nuclear war.

During the Cold War, many wealthy Americans built private fallout shelters. Henderson took the idea much further. In the 1970s, he spent an estimated $10 million—roughly $68 million in today’s money—to build a luxurious underground home that would feel as much like a resort as a survival shelter.

He hired architect Jay Swayze, a designer known for atomic-age architecture. Swayze had previously created the “Underground World Home,” which debuted at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. That project was meant to show that underground living did not have to feel dark or claustrophobic. The Underground House put that philosophy into practice.

Inside the 16,000-Square-Foot Hideaway

The Underground House was designed to make visitors forget they were below the earth. Instead of bare concrete walls, Henderson’s retreat featured:

The effect was intended to simulate the natural rhythm of life above ground. It was a survival shelter for people who did not want to feel like they were surviving.

The compound also includes more conventional luxury amenities:

It was not just a bunker. It was a statement about how comfortable life could be underground, even during a nuclear crisis.

A $4.5 Million Bargain After an $18 Million Asking Price

After Henderson’s death, the property went through a series of owners. Over the years, its condition and value fluctuated. Most recently, it was owned by the Stasis Foundation, a biochemical organization best known for its work with cryogenic preservation.

Cryonics is the practice of freezing bodies after death in the hope that future medical science might be able to revive them. The foundation’s involvement added yet another layer of strangeness to an already unusual property.

The Stasis Foundation originally listed the Underground House for as much as $18 million. Bagans ultimately paid $4.5 million—a significant discount. The gap between the asking price and the sale price suggests that finding a buyer for an underground Cold War bunker is not always easy, even in Las Vegas.

A Strange Ownership History

Jerry Henderson died of a heart attack on Nov. 16, 1983. He was 78 years old. Henderson is the only person known to have died at the property, but his widow continued to live there for some time after his death.

Following her death, the house changed hands several times. Each owner brought a new chapter to the property, but none managed to turn it into a permanent public attraction. The Stasis Foundation eventually became the owner, and it was from them that Bagans acquired the property.

Bagans has hinted that the ownership history is not as simple as it appears. He told TMZ that he was “shocked by how many different mysteries are tied to this house.” He declined to go into detail, saying, “things I don’t wanna reveal just yet.”

What Mysteries Is Bagans Talking About?

Bagans has been careful with his words. He has said he did not buy the Underground House intending to treat it as a haunted property. But the more he learned about it, the more he felt drawn into its secrets.

“I did not go into this trying to buy it as a haunted property, but there’s some very heavy-duty mysteries associated with the place and the previous owners,” Bagans said.

He has not said who he believes might be haunting the house, or what those “heavy-duty mysteries” might be. Henderson is the only known death in the home, but Bagans suggests the full story has not been told.

It is also possible that the mysteries involve the Stasis Foundation or the property’s later use. The combination of a Cold War shelter, a wealthy owner with nuclear fears, and a cryonics organization creates plenty of room for speculation.

A Pop-Culture Landmark

The Underground House is not entirely unknown to the public. It has appeared in several high-profile projects over the years.

YouTube star MrBeast filmed a segment there and called it “one of the most expensive and bizarre bunkers on the planet.” That description fits perfectly. The house also served as the set for Las Vegas rock band Imagine Dragons’ 2021 music video “Monday.” These appearances helped introduce the Underground House to a new generation of fans who appreciate the strange and unusual.

What’s Next for the Underground House?

Bagans says he intends to preserve the house and its history. He also wants to dig deeper into the mysteries that he has already discovered but not yet made public.

In addition to opening the space as a museum, Bagans plans to produce an original documentary about the property. The documentary would likely cover the house’s Cold War origins, Henderson’s life, the cryonics connection, and the unexplained mysteries that Bagans has hinted at.

Visitors to the new museum may get to see the original 1970s décor, the underground rooms, and perhaps some of Bagans’s own collections. It is also possible that the museum will include exhibits about nuclear history, survivalism, and the psychology of living underground.

Why This Museum Matters

The Underground House is more than just a curiosity. It is a time capsule of a particular moment in American history, when the threat of nuclear war shaped how people thought about homes, security, and survival.

Henderson was not simply a rich man with unusual tastes. He represented a broader cultural anxiety that swept through the Cold War era. By building a luxury bunker that felt like a resort, he tried to control the uncontrollable. His home is a physical monument to that effort.

Bagans’s decision to open it to the public ensures that this story will not be lost. It also guarantees that the Underground House will continue to attract curiosity, speculation, and perhaps a few ghost hunters of its own.

Final Thoughts

Zak Bagans has built a career out of exploring the unexplained. With the Underground House, he has found the perfect project: a bizarre, historically significant property with a hidden past and no shortage of unanswered questions.

The $4.5 million purchase might have been a bargain by Las Vegas real-estate standards. But if Bagans is right about the mysteries tied to the house, the true value of the Underground House may have little to do with square footage.

For now, the public will have to wait for more details about the museum’s opening, the planned documentary, and the secrets Bagans says he has not yet revealed. One thing is certain: Las Vegas is about to get a new attraction unlike anything else on the Strip.