Zak Bagans and his Ghost Adventures compatriots have long made a habit of breaking every horror-movie rule imaginable in their investigations: They lock themselves in the dark, kick around cemeteries long after closing time and romp in creepy basements like it’s their job. (OK, it is their job.) This season, they’re inviting contact from beyond this mortal coil even more explicitly and, well, taunting the spirits. As Zak might put it, this time it’s personal. 

In this weekend's season premiere, the crew heads to Guthrie, Okla., to investigate the Stone Lion Inn, a stately old mansion converted into a bed and breakfast (it’s got a wedding suite, if you’re interested in beginning married life in an especially heart-stopping way). The Stone Lion’s owner, Becky Luker, hosts weekend murder-mystery nights for her guests...and may or may not perform unholy rituals in the local cemetery, depending on whom you ask.

(Becky’s pretty low-key for someone who’s known far and wide for potentially celebrating the forces of darkness, but as ghost story aficionados would say, it’s always the quiet ones, now isn’t it?) 

Becky’s ghostly BFF at the inn is alleged to be Elmer McCurdy, an outlaw killed by pursuers in 1910 and subsequently paraded around carnivals and sideshows as a mummy, which definitely wouldn’t anger someone whose spirit is still associated with his earthly remains. How close are Becky and Elmer? She’s written a murder mystery about him. Oh, and she’s going to be buried beside him when she herself dies. Zak and the investigators decide to explore this by parking themselves on top of Elmer’s grave and creating a “man-made electromagnetic portal” to ask him questions.

Zak reasons that potential contact with any spirits that might be rattling around the house (where three members of a single family died before the space became a local undertaker’s mortuary—ask Becky to show you the original embalming table, which is just sitting in the hallway!) will be more intimate if they explore on their own. He, Aaron and Billy experience the mansion alone and floor by floor, which is exactly how we would want to encounter, say, a little girl allegedly poisoned by the maid. (Naturally, Michelle Smith, the Stone Lion’s housekeeper, has extensive experience with its incorporeal residents—and the team stages a reunion by handing her an EVP recorder and leaving her alone, as well.)

Is Becky Luker a mistress of the dark or what? How does the team calm Michelle down after what she hears in the attic? Do the Ghost Adventures guys shower off in a decontamination chamber full of holy water each week after doing their best to get a rise out of the undead? These are questions only the production crew and the episodes themselves can answer. (We apologize ahead of time if you start hearing things after the premiere, but we did warn you.)

Per the usual, Zak will be live-tweeting along with the episode to chat with viewers about whether or not Becky’s dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight. Set your calendars for the season premiere of Ghost Adventures this Saturday, March 25, at 9|8c.