Dive into the eerie unknown with YouTube’s ghost-hunting shows. RACHAEL ELIZABETH unveils her top four spine-chilling UK paranormal channels for a hauntingly thrilling 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 sunshine has faded to reveal the gloomy shade of autumn. October is the season for all things spooky – ghost hunts, decorations and scary videos. If, like me, you are hoping to watch some seriously creepy things this Halloween, there are a plethora of ghost-hunting shows that are sure to scratch that itch.
The YouTube channels below are in no particular order, but as someone who has an obscene amount of ghost-hunting shows under her belt, I have become adept at spotting the best and scariest.
What started as a love of watching people explore abandoned buildings, my curiosity has now led me to paranormal investigation, and I would like to share some of my favourites with you all.
So, lock your doors, turn out the lights and have your crucifix at hand, as we take a look at four of the best UK ghost-hunting channels…
Ghost Theory
Ghost Theory is hosted by Elliot and Joe, and their channel takes you with them into many creepy abandoned buildings as they search for proof of the afterlife. What makes this channel so enjoyable to watch is the light-hearted back and forth, and how they have cutaway scenes during the episode, allowing you to see them trying to rationalise their findings.
Most notable episode: Raw & Uncut: Terrifying Paranormal Investigation That Will Make You Believe
This episode starts strong, and only gets stronger as it progresses. The abandoned house they are venturing to is deep within the woods, and even as they are approaching the house, they begin hearing strange noises. Once inside the building, they move through a few rooms until, they hear a clear sound resembling footsteps, presumably of someone (or something) fleeing the building.
It’s easy to think it could simply be a person, although the rooms are filled with so much toppled furniture and debris, it would be almost impossible for someone to have been moving without being seen or making a noise. Elliot decides to leave his bag and take the K2 (EMF reader) which is already starting to flash.
The investigators then proceed to investigate a dilapidated barn, in order to seek out the person or entity in question – once again, the barn is filled with debris and would be impossible to manoeuvre around without making a noise. In the distance, they begin to hear what sounds like TV static – panicked, and rightly so, they head back towards the house to collect Elliot’s bag, but when they arrive, they find his bag wide open and with the spirit box switched on.
Dark Arts TV
A great aspect of Dark Arts TV is the locations – they always find the creepiest, most terrifying places that are truly spine-chilling by themselves. This channel is also great due to the many different guest YouTubers that are featured, giving us even more insight into other ghost-hunting channels.
Most notable episode: Inside Abandoned House Used For Human Traffic Paranormal Documentary
This episode starts with the weirdest energy. Even as you sit and watch at home, you too are likely to pick up on the uncanny vibes – and this is only the start. As the episode progresses, the team find what can only be described as a disturbing piece of artwork. It has what looks like a mask breaking out from the pages of a book, with the writing on the pages found within containing some distressing words.
In this episode, the team conduct a spirit box session via the Estes method. The Estes method requires you to listen to a spirit box independently and with your ears blocked by headphones, while another person will ask questions that, in theory, only a present spirit or entity can hear. Karl and Andy proceed to go first and within seconds the responses being called out go beyond anything they could have imagined. Words like “abuse”, “help me”, and “murder” appear throughout the entire session; towards the end of the video, the team find photocopies within an old set of drawers, and although the images are blurred, you can imagine just how twisted they are. At the end of this episode, due to how creeped out they are, they inform the police of their findings.
Grizzly Gaz
Grizzly Gaz does not rely on fancy ghost-hunting equipment, 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 each trip. The camping aspect of these videos and the stripped-back equipment give strong Blair Witch vibes.
The most notable episode: Scary Camp! What Did I Capture on Camera?
This particular episode is quite short in length, but many creepy and unexplained phenomena happen. The back story to this particular video is based on a local legend of a ‘Lady in White’ who haunts the woods, so naturally, this is where Gaz sets up his tent. During the night you can distinctly hear a wailing/crying surrounding his tent – the creepy thing about this is you can tell the noises are not animal-related – it sounds like a woman sobbing, and every so often the sobbing becomes louder and then fades away. All this happens within 20 feet of Grizzly Gaz’s tent and camera, but no one or nothing can be seen. Eventually, the wails morph into a chilling whistle, and at this point, he decides to get Fendy and his gear and head back to his car!
Adam Mark Explores
Adam Mark Explores is a great channel, as it contains general urban exploration alongside paranormal investigations. Adam’s videos have beautifully spooky opening credits, that make you feel as though you are watching a high-budget documentary. Another wonderful aspect is how the beginnings of his paranormal explorations always start with an exploration through each room of the building, allowing you to see it as it is during the day, as well as at night.
Most notable episode: Haunted Abandoned House in The Middle of The Woods
This episode shows Adam and Matt conducting a paranormal investigation in an abandoned house, deep within the woods. In the opening credits, you are informed by Adam that the house was built on a 5000-year-old ancient burial ground (already we are off to a brilliant start!). At quite a long video of 51:49, it starts off not too frightening, but highly engrossing – until the investigators draw their attention to the attic. In one particular room, they hear bangs, thuds and knocks coming from the attic room above, and get a clear ‘Necrophonic’ reading asking them to take pictures.
Adam proceeds to take photos with a Polaroid camera, and when they look at the developing images, the room below the attic appears to have some form of hand on a frosted window pane – not a human hand, but a genuinely horrifying, almost X-ray looking hand pressed against the glass. Throughout the episode, the investigators are also constantly experiencing activity from the REM Pod (a type of electromagnetic field and temperature detector) along with the ‘Necrophonic’ device, and many knocks and bangs that can be heard seemingly on cue to 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 but a small ghostly drip in the pool of the paranormal – every channel has a myriad of brilliant yet horrifying videos packed with chills, laughs and unexplained phenomena, that would make even the most brave of us toy with the idea of sleeping with the light on.
What do you think of these ghost-hunting shows? Tell us your favourites in the comments section below!
RACHAEL ELIZBABETH is a lover and writer of history, the paranormal and true crime. When she isn’t writing, she loves to read ghost stories, to tag along on paranormal investigations and to wander derelict graveyards.
