Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara are my favorite ghost hunters. The two became known for their adventures into haunted places in the Buzzfeed series Buzzfeed Unsolved, where they did true crime stories as well as supernatural ones. When the series ended, it felt like I was saying goodbye to my friends, and while the two went on to do Watcher Entertainment, there was still a hole where my ghost hunters once were.
With a collection of amazing series on their YouTube Channel, Watcher Entertainment has also released the first episode of their new show Ghost Files, which has Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara back in action with new toys, new haunts (or, well, revisiting an old haunt for this premiere episode), and more, and it feels like coming home again.
Buzzfeed Unsolved: Supernatural forced Bergara into situations that made him absolutely terrified by everything around him while Madej would say things like “Hey demons, it’s ya boy” and taunt the “ghosts” around them. It has spawned a love for the two that has taken their new company into the next phase of ghost hunting (giving us plenty of Bergara and Madej content to keep our hearts full and happy). But the wait for their ghost adventures to return is over, and while the first episode is nearly an hour long, it is worth the watch to see all their new gadgets and have the two back to their typical antics.
Why Ghost Files works
The reason this show is going to be successful is the same reason the Buzzfeed Unsolved series worked: Madej and Bergara. The two have a back-and-forth and a style with each other that flows so seamlessly that watching the two feels like hanging out with old friends. In the pilot, they headed back to Waverly Hills Sanatorium.
This time around, they had a lot more evidence to their search for answers. And while we still didn’t get any real evidence of ghosts, we did get to see even Shane Madej admitting to some weird things happening around him—like when Bergara and Madej started humming “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and then heard someone hum back at them. They also did think a noise was coming from down the hall, only to find out that their sound operator, Ben, farted in the other room without admitting to it until someone called him out.
What’s great about this new show is that we also get Ghost Files Debrief every Wednesday, which takes questions from fans and talks about things that happened during the episode or deleted moments that weren’t in the main cut of the episode.
The Ghoul Boys are back
There’s an odd comfort to Madej and Bergara going into incredibly haunted places and just willingly putting themselves out there in the dark. When I think about it for too long, I know I’d never be able to do it because I would think something was behind me the entire time and scream and cry (which wouldn’t be great content). But these two go out there, have fun, and bring us fun gadgets to explore as they talk to whatever ghosts are lurking behind every corner.
New episodes drop weekly, and it feels good to be back with the Ghoul Boys.
(featured image: Watcher Entertainment)
