Sam Golbach and Colby Brock have had a weirder time on YouTube than most, ditching the tried and tested challenge video format to delve into the paranormal.
As you do.
Three years ago, the duo, who boast a following of more than four million, decided they were done with their sit-down videos, and began exploring haunted locations, documenting their journey.
‘It’s always been an interest for us when we were kids, we would explore haunted houses just for fun off-camera,’ Sam explained to Metro.co.uk at VidCon London.
‘But, on YouTube, it kind of just happened naturally. We really wanted to do things that we were genuinely interested in after doing the whole challenge thing on YouTube, the stupid sit-down videos, we ended up just exploring abandoned places and we love the haunted aspect of it.’
And it’s certainly got them into some creepy situations, with Colby recalling their experience on the infamous haunted ship the Queen Mary.
‘We ended up talking to something – I don’t know if you want to call it, a demon or spirit – but we definitely heard knocks and we were communicating with something for like 30 minutes.’
However, they’re not afraid to admit that things can get ‘way too overwhelming’, with Sam revealing there have been times when ‘we were like, “We stay [and] we’re going to get traumatised.”‘
We’d rather us than them.
And, of course, there was that one time the pair of them got arrested for trespassing while filming a video.
‘It was a sad time in my life,’ Colby laughed. ‘We were exploring, we’d go to these abandoned places and stuff, and a lot of the time you’re trespassing when you do that.
‘And so, we hopped a fence into this school, and apparently it was under construction so it was government property, and the neighbours saw us doing that and called the cops.’
Luckily, they were released the next morning after paying bail, with the pair of them clarifying to fans that they were okay.
However, they now describe the ordeal as a ‘blessing in disguise’.
Sam pointed out: ‘It forced us to change the way we do content and that really elevated our channel. Instead of doing something we weren’t really comfortable with, we were forced to make a change.’
Now the pair, who are currently releasing their creepy series Shadow Man, discuss their trips and videos with the likes of expert historians and mediums, ensuring that the videos are as informative as possible and not just doing ‘creepy demonic rituals and then leaving.’
However, it’s definitely not easy work.
‘There was a point where it was 50 hours of editing an entire series that we did and then just going to the place that’s like a weekend,’ Colby explained.
Sam added: ‘Now we have to coordinate with professionals and experts trying to help us do these things. It takes us about a month to plan a paranormal trip. And then the editing process after takes about a month as well because we really don’t want these to just be one-off stupid sit down YouTube videos. We really want them to be seen as TV [and have an] informative movie quality.’
The pair have had quite the journey since they began making videos years ago on Vine, and they’re quick to admit that they’ve definitely had their disagreements along the way.
However, making videos they genuinely have a passion for has worked wonders, and they staying true to their roots of why they began making videos.
‘The big gist of it is we started social media because we were shy,’ Colby recalled. ‘We were very shy kids. We learned how to be confident. So we wanted to spread that message to as many people as possible.’
Meanwhile, Sam and Colby are attending VidCon London, with Colby explaining: ‘We’ve never had a meet-and-greet in London. So it’s just cool to meet everybody [and] to see the fans here finally!’
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