Which is Scarier: The Haunted Museum or A Ghost Ruined My Life?

Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life premiered exclusively on discovery+ for Ghostober 2021, a.k.a. Ghostober IV. However, in a recent paranormal programming announcement, Discovery Inc. revealed the series will premiere on Travel Channel starting Friday, January 21.

Eli Roth was also involved in another series that premiered during Ghostober IV: The Haunted Museum. He teamed up with Zak Bagans to create a scripted horror anthology featuring some of the spookiest artifacts from Zak’s museum in Las Vegas. However, there’s no word yet on whether that one’s headed to Travel Channel at some point or when. (I’m keeping my eyes peeled.)

I’ve watched episodes from both, and I know which one I think is scarier (I’ll get to that below), but I also keep wondering: which one is scarier? Do viewers prefer one more than the other?

Like with most TV shows, movies, or books, whether or not you like something or find it scary is pretty subjective. We all have different thresholds we judge content by.

However, being the humans that we are, we also can’t help but rate things. Let’s first check out some of those. Maybe it will hold some clues about which one people found scarier.

A Ghost Ruined My Life and The Haunted Museum Ratings

Overall, both series scored pretty favorably with viewers.

According to IMDB, The Haunted Museum slightly edged out A Ghost Ruined My Life with 6.5 out of 10 stars compared to 6.4 stars, respectively.

But among Google Users, 87% liked A Ghost Ruined My Life compared to 84% who liked The Haunted Museum. Still, that’s pretty consistent.

Neither had enough consensus on Rotten Tomatoes to trigger any scores.

Basically, both were solid offerings that most people enjoyed. But which is scarier?

The likeability stats don’t really tell us that, but IMDB does tell us which episodes people liked most. Maybe that’ll help us out.

A Ghost Ruined My Life and The Haunted Museum Top-Rated Episodes

There were four The Haunted Museum episodes with ratings above 7 out of 10 stars. From lowest to highest, they are:

1. Ep. 3: “Chair of the Beast” – 7.1
2. Ep. 6: “Tribal Statue Terror” – 7.4
3. Ep. 2: “Monster in the Machine” – 7.7
4. Ep. 9: “Curse of the Dybbuk Box” – 7.9

Surprisingly, so far only one of A Ghost Ruined My Life‘s episodes has a rating. The very first one, “Portal to Hell,” with a rating of 7.3.

So what does all of this mean?

The Verdict

Using stats alone, I’d have to say viewers found The Haunted Museum slightly scarier than A Ghost Ruined My Life. Only because every Haunted Museum episode had a rating.

However, overall they both rank very similarly with one another, so it could also be argued it’s pretty much a tie.

Personally, even though I felt the title for A Ghost Ruined My Life was misleading and it should’ve been named something else, I found the reenactments terrifying. Maybe it was because it was interspersed with commentary from the actual people who had experienced and endured the events being portrayed? I don’t know, but it seemed scariest to me.

But there were also some scary scenes in The Haunted Museum too. It was fun because it reminded me a bit of Night Gallery…just a modern-day version on steroids.

Check-In

Your turn! A Ghost Ruined My Life or The Haunted Museum? Did you find one scarier than the other?

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.