Zak Bagans Buys Las Vegas Underground Doomsday Mansion for $4.55M

"Ghost Adventures" star Zak Bagans has paid $4.55 million for the Las Vegas Underground House, a Cold War-era bunker mansion buried 26 feet below a residential lot near the Strip, according to the New York Post, which cited reporting from Neon and KTNV.

Bagans, 48, told the outlets he intends to preserve the property and eventually open it to the public as a museum. The purchase ends a long, strange chapter for one of Las Vegas's most unusual private addresses, hidden beneath an otherwise ordinary house at 3970 Spencer St. near Flamingo Road.

Who Built the Bunker and Why

The subterranean estate was completed in 1978 for Girard "Jerry" Henderson, an Avon executive, philanthropist and founder of the Dawson School, and his wife, Mary, according to UNLV Special Collections, cited by the Post. Henderson had a long-standing interest in safety, privacy and underground living, the archive says. He worked with Texas builder Jay Swayze, described in the UNLV record as an "atomic-age evangelist" who believed people might eventually need to live below the earth's surface.

The result was not a stripped-down fallout shelter. It was built as what the Post calls "a full-blown luxury fantasy for nuclear survival," designed so wealthy occupants could ride out a catastrophe with cocktails, climate control and 1970s Las Vegas style intact.

What Is Inside the Underground House

The underground portion spans 14,620 square feet, according to the property's Zillow listing cited by the Post. It includes an indoor swimming pool, a putting green, a theater, a dance floor, a bar, saunas and hot tubs. Hand-painted murals and sculpted fake trees line the space, paired with a programmable artificial sky engineered to mimic the rhythm of day and night without any natural light reaching the rooms below.

The full property, spanning more than an acre, includes five bedrooms and six bathrooms spread across the above-ground home, the underground residence and a casita, the listing shows.

By the Numbers

• $4.55 million — sale price paid by Zak Bagans, per Neon and KTNV reporting cited by the New York Post
• 26 feet — depth of the underground mansion below the surface property
• 14,620 square feet — size of the subterranean estate, according to the Zillow listing
• 1978 — year the bunker mansion was completed for Girard and Mary Henderson
• 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms — total across the above-ground home, underground residence and casita

Who Owned the Property Before the Sale

The Post's reporting traces the mansion's origin to Henderson, who built his fortune through business interests including Avon. The report does not detail the chain of ownership between Henderson's era and the recent sale, and the Post does not name the seller in its account. What is established in the sourcing is the original owner, the builder and the buyer who closed the deal this month.

What Bagans Plans to Do With It

Bagans, known for investigating haunted and abandoned locations on "Ghost Adventures," told Neon and KTNV he wants to preserve the house rather than renovate it into a conventional residence. His stated plan, as relayed by the Post, is to open the underground mansion to the public as a museum, giving visitors access to a property that has spent decades as a private curiosity rather than a tourist stop.

No timeline for a public opening appears in the sourcing reviewed. Bagans has not released architectural plans, staffing details or ticketing information tied to the museum concept, based on what the Post reported.

What Happens Next

The sale closes one chapter of the Underground House's history and opens another built around public access rather than private secrecy. The property's Cold War pedigree, luxury fittings and unusual construction have made it a recurring subject of real estate curiosity in Las Vegas for years, and Bagans's stated museum plan would mark its first sustained period as something the public can walk through rather than read about.

Whether the artificial sky, indoor pool and sculpted trees described in listing materials survive a conversion into a museum, and on what schedule, remains to be detailed. For now, the confirmed facts are the price, the buyer and the intent he has stated publicly: keep the house as it is, and let people see it.

The original report, including additional photos of the property, is available via the New York Post.