The show consists of four or five celebrity participants who are taken to an allegedly haunted location during the night and left until sunrise with the task of identifying paranormal activity.

To begin, two of the celebrities go on an exploration of a certain area of the location while the rest of the team remains at the surveillance station.

The two that have entered must complete tasks to "stir up the paranormal" during an allotted time using the equipment provided.

The purpose of the explorations is to find the "heart of the haunting" — the greatest concentration of paranormal energy within the location.

From there, the person who made the strongest connection with the paranormal acts as the conduit to the other world in an attempt to get the spirit to enter their own body.