There’s a particular kind of ghost hunting channel that perhaps irritates me more than the over-the-top scream-and-run crowd. Not the Sam & Colbys of the world – but the ones that wander through derelict houses and half-collapsed factories with no reported activity, no folklore, and no witness accounts or claims of poltergeist activity – nothing to suggest the place is haunted beyond the fact it looks creepy.
This aesthetic-first approach has replaced the need for an actual story. The atmosphere, not the evidence, is the selling point. The videos themselves might be low-key in their content, but titles and thumbnails still scream clickbait- “WE HAD TO LEAVE!” or “Real Paranormal Investigation!”
When nothing happens (as you’d expect in a place with no claims to begin with), the team either over-interpret every sound or proudly declare themselves “real investigators” because they didn’t fake anything. It’s like expecting to be applauded at the end of a trip to the supermarket because they managed to resist the urge to shoplift.
Inexplicably, these channels are often lauded by so-called debunker creators as “legitimate investigators,” as though a lack of screaming and “Dude – Bro” exchanges equates to investigative rigour. In truth, both sides are still trapped in the same feedback loop of mistaking style for substance. A “haunting” can’t be confirmed or debunked where no haunting was ever claimed.
And then there’s the legally grey area that nobody wants to talk about – creeping into “abandoned” buildings without permission. Many aren’t truly abandoned at all, just derelict or awaiting development. Urbexers pretending to be ghost hunters- it’s often a polite way of saying trespassing.
If this is the pinnacle of “legitimate” paranormal content on YouTube, we should be asking ourselves how the bar has slipped so low.