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Delve into the spooky unknown with YouTube’s ghost hunting shows. RACHAEL ELIZABETH reveals her top four chilling British paranormal channels for a terrifyingly suspenseful Halloween watch
Scary ghost hunting shows to watch this Halloween
Halloween is fast approaching; the nights are drawing in, the leaves are falling from the trees and the glorious summer sun has faded to reveal the gloomy shadow of autumn. October is the season for all things spooky: ghost hunts, decorations and scary videos. If you, like me, are hoping to see some seriously scary things this Halloween, then there are a plethora of ghost hunting shows that are sure to leave you scratching your head.
The YouTube channels below are in no particular order, but as someone who has an obscene amount of ghost hunting shows to his name, I’ve become adept at spotting the best and scariest.
What started as a love of watching people explore abandoned buildings has now led my curiosity to paranormal research, and I’d like to share some of my favorites with you.
So lock your doors, turn off the lights and keep your crucifix handy as we take a look at four of the UK’s best ghost hunting channels…
Ghost theory
Ghost theory is hosted by Elliot and Joe, and their channel takes you to many creepy abandoned buildings as they search for evidence of the afterlife. What makes this channel so fun to watch is the light-hearted back and forth, and how they have cutscenes during the episode that allow you to see how they try to rationalize their findings.
Most Notable Episode: Raw and uncut: terrifying paranormal investigation that makes you believe
This episode starts off strong and only gets stronger as it progresses. The abandoned house they venture to is deep in the woods, and even as they approach the house, they begin to hear strange noises. Once inside the building, they walk through a few rooms until they hear a distinct sound similar to footsteps, presumably from someone (or something) fleeing the building.
It’s easy to think it could just be a person, even though the rooms are filled with so much fallen furniture and debris that it’s almost impossible anyone could have moved without being seen or making a sound. Elliot decides to leave his bag behind and take the K2 (EMF reader) which already starts flashing.
The investigators then proceed to investigate a dilapidated barn in order to track down the person or entity in question. Once again the shed is filled with rubble and it would be impossible to maneuver around without making noise. In the distance they start to hear what sounds like static on the TV. Panicking, and rightly so, they go back to the house to retrieve Elliot’s bag, but when they arrive they find his bag wide open and with the ghost box enabled.
Dark Arts TV
A great aspect of it Dark Arts TV are the locations – they always find the creepiest, most terrifying places that are truly chilling in themselves. This channel is also great because of the many different guest YouTubers featured, giving us even more insight into other ghost hunting channels.
Most Notable Episode: Inside an abandoned house used for human traffic, paranormal documentary
This episode starts off with the weirdest energy. Even if you’re watching at home, you’ll probably notice the creepy atmosphere too – and this is just the beginning. As the episode progresses, the team discovers what can only be described as a disturbing work of art. It resembles a mask emerging from the pages of a book, with the writing on the pages within containing some disturbing words.
In this episode, the team conducts a spirit box session through the Estes method. The Estes Method requires you to listen to a spirit box independently, with your ears blocked by headphones, while another person will ask questions that, in theory, only a spirit or entity present can hear. Karl and Andy go first and within seconds the reactions evoked are beyond anything they could have imagined. Words like “abuse,” “help me,” and “murder” appear throughout the session; Towards the end of the video, the team finds photocopies in an old dresser, and although the images are blurry, you can imagine how distorted they are. At the end of this episode, because of how scary they are, they inform the police of their findings.
Grizzly Gas
Grizzly Gas doesn’t rely on fancy ghost hunting gear, just a camera, a go-pro and a voice recorder. One of the best aspects of this channel is his beautiful (and incredibly well-behaved) French Bulldog, Fendy, who accompanies him on every trip. The camping aspect of these videos and the stripped-down gear give off strong Blair Witch vibes.
The most notable episode: Terrifying camp! What did I capture on camera?
This particular episode is quite short in length, but there are a lot of creepy and unexplained phenomena happening. The backstory of this particular video is based on a local legend of a ‘Lady in White’ who haunts the woods, so of course this is where Gaz pitches his tent. During the night you can clearly hear a wailing/howling around his tent – the creepy thing about this is that you can tell the sounds are not animal related – it sounds like a woman’s sobbing, and every now and then the sobbing gets louder and disappears than. away. All this happens within twenty feet of Grizzly Gaz’s tent and camera, but there is no one or nothing in sight. Eventually the wail turns into a chilling whistle, and that’s when he decides to grab Fendy and his stuff and head back to his car!
Adam Mark investigates
Adam Mark investigates is a great channel because it features general urban explorations in addition to paranormal investigations. Adam’s videos have beautifully creepy opening titles that make you feel like you’re watching an expensive documentary. Another wonderful aspect is that the beginning of his paranormal explorations always begins with an exploration through each room of the building, so that you can see it as it is both day and night.
Most Notable Episode: Spooky abandoned house in the middle of the forest
In this episode we see Adam and Matt conducting a paranormal investigation in an abandoned house deep in the woods. In the opening credits you are informed by Adam that the house is built on a 5,000 year old ancient cemetery (we’re already off to a brilliant start!). At a fairly long video of 51:49, things start out not too scary, but very fascinating – until the investigators turn their attention to the attic. In one room they hear bangs, pops and bumps from the attic room above, and they get a clear ‘Necrophone‘ reading asking them to take photos.
Adam continues taking pictures with a Polaroid camera, and as they watch the developing images, the room under the attic appears to have a hand on a frosted window pane – not a human hand, but a truly gruesome, almost X-ray watching hand pressed against the glass. Throughout the episode, the investigators also experience constant activity from the REM Pod (a type of electromagnetic field and temperature detector) along with the ‘Necrophonic’ device, and many bumps and pops apparently heard as a result of their questions.
Each of these ghost hunting shows delivers something new, exciting, and in some cases downright terrifying. The episodes mentioned in this list are just a small spooky drop in the pool of the paranormal – each channel has a host of brilliant yet gruesome videos packed with chills, laughs and unexplained phenomena, leaving even the bravest of us with the idea of sleeping with the light on.
What do you think of these ghost hunting shows? Tell us your favorites in the comments below!
RACHAEL ELIZBABETH is a lover and writer of history, the paranormal and true crime. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading ghost stories, participating in paranormal investigations, and wandering abandoned cemeteries..
