If you’ve been watching HGTV‘s spooky new show “A Very Haunted Renovation,” you know six brave renovators and designers have not only been transforming but sleeping at Bihl Manor, known as one of the most haunted houses in America.
But they’re not the only ones who hunkered down in the creepy home for 31 days, scrambling to complete their renovations, with the finale set to air on October 20. “Scream” star Anna Camp hosts the show, HGTV designer Michel Smith Boyd mentors the contestants, and there’s a whole unseen crew working behind the scenes who wound up with some seriously creepy stories of developments that viewers will never see onscreen.
HGTV’s Sarah Douglas Says There Were Days on ‘A Very Haunted Renovation’ When She ‘Did Not Want to Walk Through That Door’
Showrunner Sarah Douglas told HGTV.com that she had instant “chills” when she arrived at Bihl Manor to film, explaining, “It just felt a little … off. Especially in the basement, where we made the poor designers do their interviews. I really didn’t like being down there. It creeped me out. There was just this constant feeling of being a little on edge.”
Every day of filming wasn’t terrifying, she said, but “some days definitely felt eerier than others.”
“There were days when we’d walk into the house, get to work and it would feel almost like a normal house on a normal day,” she said, before admitting, “Then there were other days when I genuinely did not want to walk through the door. I could just feel an energy there.”
Douglas continued, “We were also spending incredibly long days in the house — sometimes 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. — so even going home after filming there all day to an empty apartment could feel a little unsettling. And yes, I absolutely saged myself and my apartment every day and night after filming!”
Sarah Douglass Had to Shut Down Filming After One Very Unhappy ‘Energy’ Started Wreaking Havoc
Douglass obviously survived filming, as did everyone else working in the haunted house. She told HGTV.com that the “creepiest thing” she experienced aired on the show, “much to my chagrin!”
“We were filming a scene with a Radiating Electro-Magneticity Pod (a piece of equipment used to detect unseen energy or movement) with the designers in the room directly above our control room,” she told the site. “The REM-Pod started going off, which was creepy enough on its own, and then the lights in the control room started flashing. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster … It was not OK!”
“Everyone was genuinely freaked out and pretty rattled,” she said, “so much so that we actually shut the scene down. Whatever was happening, it did not feel like happy energy. I also got to the house really early a lot of mornings, before most of the crew arrived and while the designers were still sleeping or upstairs in their bedrooms. On two separate occasions, I could have sworn I heard someone call for me … but nobody was there.”
Many of the people working on the show had wild experiences like that. When contestant SK, one of the series’ finalists, posted a photo of the cast happily grinning together before filming started, she wrote, “This is the first (and last) time our smiles were so big 😂😂😂 Bihl Manor really took a toll on each and every one of us.”
The season one finale of “A Very Haunted Renovation” airs on HGTV on October 20 at 8 p.m. Eastern time, and will be available to stream via HBO Max the following day. The winner will take home $50,000 and plenty of ghost stories to tell!
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HGTV Producer Admits She ‘Saged’ Herself & Her Apartment Every Day After Filming Show