Adventurous/Urban Exploration Youtube channels, videos, etc
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:54 pm
I've been meaning to make this thread for awhile now, figured it's worth a shot. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who kind of uses Youtube as the new cable/TV, sometime last year I started stumbling upon new channels that were popping up with people or groups that record urban exploration videos. People traversing abandoned or locked up areas. This was something my friends and I liked doing back when I was a kid, so it kind of hit a home run with me and I got super hooked... it legit feels like bucket list material for something I'd love to get into. The quality of some of these channels is extremely top tier and with some videos, it can seriously be pretty immersive and even nerve racking, genuinely more tense than actual "horror" movies out there. With the first person perspective it feels like you're going through these places yourself, it's really cool.
The run time for most of these videos is usually in the 10-25 minute range, so it's easy to digest, but there's been days where I get so into it I can even have binge watch them.
My absolute favorite guy is This is Dan Bell. His are arguably of the highest quality and keeps it very professional. He has a few "series" he runs, one being Dead Malls that are either vacant or about to go under. He's covered a lot of motels as well. He always knows the history of the location and briefly covers that. In some of his videos, especially the older ones he does sometimes add soundscapes, but I'd say it's done tastefully. He also puts up cutting floor videos covering some of his videos which are cool to check out to get more details on the location or their experience when filming.
This is Dan Bell: https://www.youtube.com/MovieDan / https://www.youtube.com/c/danbellfilmit
Recommendation:
Scary, Abandoned Ohio Bowling Alley - power still on, shorter 10 minute video if you want to get a feel for it.
Some other favorites:
TRAPPED AND TERRIFIED : SCARY Nighttime Encounter in ABANDONED 1920’s Apartment Building - I think this is his most viewed video, where he accidentally stumbles upon a drug stash and then the gang returns while he's trapped nearby, all on camera. He more than likely almost died filming this. Some people rag on him for this and doing these solo haha, lately he's been going with his friend Will all the time now who helps him out, and it's safer.
Terrifying, Abandoned Historic Hotel w/ Crazy, Scary Incident (Dead Motel Series) - Hotel, I love the hotels... creepy.
Nightmare Fuel : Abandoned Baltimore Meat Factory at Night - really enjoyed this series
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The Proper People: https://www.youtube.com/c/theproperpeople
A younger crew of kids putting out lots of cool content. Do prepare for some goofy dubstep-esque music at times, but I just can't deny that their video skills and editing is top notch. Lots of great stuff on their channel and my second favorite to keep up with. They tend to do more industrialized places compared to Dan. They also have some drones so they sometimes capture sky footage.
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Others:
https://www.youtube.com/c/exploringwithjosh - He is probably one of the most successful guys doing this, at least from what I've seen video views wise... but he's really obnoxious haha. So maybe approach these more as a vlog. But I still get a kick out of watching some of his stuff, and he throws in tracks from Silent Hill sometimes and references tons of videosgames, so I can't deny he's probably cool in person. Worth taking a peak, but expect a different flavor than Dan Bell.
Josh DID explore Chernobyl, so I do give him props for that. Here is the playlist for those videos.
https://www.youtube.com/c/backyardexploration - this guy is supposedly in Missouri, and I'm KS, so it's pretty cool to hit so close to home. Do you want something low key, with very little fancy edits and less editing/music? This is the channel then. He doesn't have as much personality or seem as successful as the others, but I appreciate there being different options. Recommendation: UE - Exploring Abandoned Hospital, Power Still On, alarm tripped!! If you search "abandoned hospital" you'll see several of these guys checked this place out, some of the first ones I checked out.
https://www.youtube.com/c/theunknowncameraman - This is the channel I first stumbled upon for this stuff. They keep themselves anonymous and their content is user submitted videos. Some decent content, but they don't update much.
https://www.youtube.com/c/parkerproduction
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSuLZd ... bI4Hvl5CPA
etc
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I know this is really link heavy, but I figured I'd get the ball rolling and hopefully someone here cares. Is anyone else into this? Are there exploration youtube channels that are more nature/outdoors inspired? I'd be interested in the Travel Channel, brought to you by normal people! Hah, so I wonder if it exists.
The funny thing is how these guys have built a collective community, it's not uncommon to see their videos crossover and them interacting with one another which is pretty cool. Then it gets weird, when you start watching a ton of these it's like you start to befriend these people as you get to know them, haha. Dan and Will are really cool.
"Modern ruins" as some of them say. It's just utterly fascinating stuff to me. Especially the ones like hospitals, or places that look like they closed shop the very next day after a normal day, with items and everything still intact. It's just insanely eerie and weird. Then it gets strange to consider how utterly wasteful we as humans are, with all this "stuff" and clutter we've built that is just sitting there rotting away.
