Thornhill expats Adam Rodness and Stuart Stone’s little Philip Experiment has manifested into something bigger.
The co-founders of 5’7 Films produced the social experiment Don’t F**k with Ghosts two years ago, bringing in an unsuspecting cast for a series of investigations in Canada’s infamous cold spot: Winnipeg, Manitoba.
“We take real people who are unknowingly the star of a movie and put them through the wringer, thinking that they’re part of this legit documentary,” Rodness said during a Zoom conversation. Little did they know, he and Stone had created a winding backstory, leading the unsuspecting mediums and ghost investigators into paranormal chaos.
“We love the word hybrid because that’s what it is,” Rodness added, correcting any notions that their film is a mockumentary. “When they come to interact with us, they think that they’re interacting with real people, not characters.”
One of those guests was former “Girls Next Door” star Bridget Marquardt. The duo has been friends with her for 18 years, and they knew she’d come prepared with her SLS camera. She even caught a figure on the bed of the famous Room 202 at the Fort Garry Hotel.
“You know, when you invite people to Winnipeg, you don’t expect them to be excited about it, but she was,” Stone admitted. They investigated three other locations on top of the provincial capital’s famous hotel — the Hamilton House included — and got so much activity that it proved the premise for Don’t F**k with Ghosts wrong.
“We had so much fun and we got so much activity that Stu was blown away by the activity that we got,” Marquardt said during an October Zoom call. “He was like, ‘We have to do a ghost hunting show with you. Like why hasn’t this been done?’”
She had tried once before, but unnamed powers that be told her that “female-led paranormal shows do not sell and that I’m too Scooby-Doo.”
“But if you know Stu and Adam, they’re like ‘But Scooby-Doo is great!’” she recalled with a laugh.
So the evidence gathered during Don’t F**k with Ghosts parlayed itself nicely into another project, “The Great American Ghost Hunt,” with Marquardt in the lead for 10 episodes.
Bridget Marquardt investigates Howie Mandel’s studio with Stu Stone, Adam Rodness and David Nussbaum in Episode 1 of “The Great American Ghost Hunt”
Stone admitted that this time, there is no hidden agenda. It’s simply Rodness and him joining Marquardt on investigations, which stray outside the usual ghost-hunting show locales with special guests and a full resolution.
Those guest stars include Canadian expat Howie Mandel, actors Jason Mewes and Marla Sokoloff and adult film star Cherie DeVille.
“Cherie had actually just moved into a new film studio, we’ll call it,” Stone recalled. “And she was convinced that it was haunted, so we brought Bridget there and sure enough we experienced something.”
That something was a painting with an attachment. Marquardt’s sleuthing and tech, like the ovilus, led them to uncover the source as a housewarming gift from the estate sale business a few doors down.
“I was able to pinpoint the exact object and we were able to go back and find out its origin through the equipment,” she recalled. “Even the person’s name who owned this object prior.”
That name was Noble, and it was provided by the ovilus. When Marquardt spoke to the chap who ran the estate sale warehouse, he confirmed that was the family name behind the estate and the previous owner of the painting.
The painting was reunited with the estate’s collection and the original owner’s name was confirmed to be Noble.
“We didn’t ask for it to leave,” Marquardt said. “We returned the painting to where it needs to go, but we didn’t ask for it to leave.”
DeVille is set to appear on the Ghost Bunny podcast in the future to talk about the experience and whether the Noble entity is still ghosting her studio.
“I love the equipment and everything, but I never know how much faith to put in it,” Marquardt admitted. “When these words come up or when they’re pointing a certain direction or even if they’re answering yes or no questions, I always still keep some skepticism.”
“The Great American Ghost Hunt” had its YouTube premiere on October 21 with Howie Mandel’s studio featured. Don’t F**k with Ghosts was released in the United States on September 1.
Photos courtesy of Adam Rodness