Skip to main content

Scary Videos and Foolish People

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

There are several channels on YouTube that offer scary videos, many of which are allegedly of paranormal occurrences. I get both entertainment and educational value from these. I wonder if they are compelling, faked, or people are receiving pranks. One from Nuke's Top 5 illustrates the foolishness of going into "abandoned" places.


Ghost seekers and urban explorers visit unsafe, allegedly abandoned areas. I have reasons to leave those alone that have nothing to do with spirits.
Original photo of Eastern State Penitentiary from the Library of Congress, art effect from FotoSketcher
(Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents by parties named above)
First of all, places are often called abandoned when they are in ruins and there is no sign of activity, but they are seldom truly abandoned. Sometimes Eastern State Penitentiary is said to be abandoned, but it has always belonged to someone. In fact, it is a historical landmark and has tours. Interestingly, they have a "haunted house" time, but the penitentiary has been visited by various ghost seekers because it has a reputation of being actually haunted. "You took a picture of three people. Who's that fourth one that looks so pale?"

By the way, one quibble I have with ghost seeker groups is that they conduct their investigations in the dark. Apparently apparitions as well as evil people love darkness (John 3:19-20 comes to mind), but some occurrences happen during the day. Ever investigate then? So, they go at night and use minimal lighting or night vision. In the same way, some of the "urban explorer" (urbex. also spelled trespassers) videos are done at night. Are they concerned about being caught by the rightful owners? EDIT: If you really must go into the dark woods alone at night to investigate the sounds near your house, bring one or more friends. Monsters? I'm more concerned that you might encounter an animal with sharp pointed teeth.

When I watched Ghost Hunters a few years ago, I thought several times that they were being stupid. Walking through the woods at night, the grounds around dilapidated buildings, and so on. Hope y'all don't crash through something or off a ledge! Likewise, people going into buildings are risking injury from falling through rotted floorboards or having debris fall on them. Crashing sound up ahead. "Yaaaa! Ghosts are throwing things!" More likely, vibrations making things settle. If something comes at you horizontally, you'll have my attention.

My workplace is a part of a complex that has buildings that seem abandoned, and one thing that stopped me from using a walkway connecting to another building is what I might find there. Not spirits, but maybe folks who have been drinking spirits and making their homes in such places. I lost a lot of time trying to find a video that's made the rounds. It has two guys in a house or something and they hear sounds. They go up the stairs and something comes out of a room shrieking at them. Its method of locomotion was like someone who had lost the use of his legs and was using his arms. Evil spirit? More likely, a deformed and insane unfortunate person who wanted to be left to his lonesome.

Nuke's Top 5 has some good introductory material, sound effects, and filler before getting into actual footage. The narrator has a good voice, too. (I'd like to talk with him and get some behind-the-scenes production insight.) The paranormal videos are famous on that channel for Nuke saying, "Did you see it?" Then enhancement to show you what got people get all a-twitter. This following video has some things that are not billed as supernatural, and it supports my decision to leave alone structurally unsound places that I don't have any right to visit. ADDENDUM: I finally found that video clip I was looking for, you can see it here at the 8-minute mark.


Comments