During our coverage of NYCC, I got to meet with the Ghost Brothers, and here are some pictures and the interview.
Do you believe in ghosts? When you’re watching The Ghost Brothers: Lights Out it really doesn’t matter; you’re bound to be entertained no matter what. If you happen to be new to this ghost-hunting group you’re not alone. I had not heard of them or their show before I was invited to speak with them at NYCC. But by the time I left NYC that weekend, I was truly hooked by their chemistry and good-natured charm – left wondering why they’re not household names, especially during a time of year known for spooky fun.
Making their television debut in 2016, they are the first and currently only all-African-American ghost-hunting team. Atlanta-based, the team all come from a religious background and speak openly about their belief in God. Members Dalen Spratt, Juwan Mass, and Marcus Harvey met in college and have been best friends ever since. The kind of friends who crash on each other’s mom’s couches and occasionally leave one another as bait for a succubus or other possibly malevolent spirits. It’s this deep, years-long friendship that truly separates the Ghost Brothers from other paranormal investigators. Once you start watching you want to spend more time with them. They’re charismatic and entertaining, and while they have respect for the dead and what they do, they don’t take themselves too seriously.
While the first season of Lights Out is entertaining and compelling, the second really solidifies its paranormal magic. Dalen was positioned as the lead of the group in season one but gets to share those reigns with both Juwan and Marcus this time around. They take turns choosing their locations and going in solo for the first baseline reading. This round-robin of sorts really keeps the pairings and situations interesting. The first episode, for example, filmed at Ohio State Reformatory, gives Juwan and Marcus the opportunity to send Dalen in completely alone for their first reading. It has that fun payback amongst buddies vibe, which again, brings such an entertaining element to the show. They are always making you laugh, releasing any tension you might feel as they creep around in the dark. And trust me, there is definitely tension to be felt. The scares and creepiness are ratcheted way up this season. The Perron Family house of The Conjuring fame and the legendary Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum are just two of the locations visited in season 2.
Aside from their camaraderie, The Ghost Brothers are also set apart by their empathy and sensitivity to the dead and the locations they’re investigating. Early on in their television careers, they visited Magnolia Plantation in Dairy, Louisiana. The whole episode is evidence of how different and needed their perspective and voices are within the realm of paranormal television. Watching these three African American men investigate a location responsible for so much Black pain and suffering raises so many necessary questions – should white paranormal teams even be investigating these places? Can they do so with any of the reverence and empathy needed? Why has it taken so long to give a Black team a voice within the televised paranormal community? Why are we always hearing from the same type of people about the beyond and the paranormal when we know so little about it all? While the Ghost Brothers themselves are not so on the nose with their observations and investigations, you can’t help but be spurred to think by it all.
Funny, thoughtful, respectful, and real, Dalen, Juwan, and Marcus are the real deal. Whether you believe in ghosts or the paranormal, The Ghost Brothers’ Lights Out makes for great spooky season viewing. Season 2 premiered with 3 episodes on Friday, October 7 coinciding with the group’s first appearance at New York Comic Con and Discovery+’s Ghostober. New episodes arrive every Friday on Discovery+.
