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With the death of Leonard Nimoy last week, I was suddenly rushed back to my childhood. No…I wasn’t a big Star Trek fan, but one of my favorite shows was In Search of… (which was hosted and narrated by Nimoy). In Search of… was a documentary exploring strange and supernatural events. It aired from 1977 to 1982, but I caught it on A&E a few years later. Oddly enough, it was on this program that I discovered the Amityville story. It blew me away, and I had to rush to my parents and tell them about it. I was quite surprised that they already knew about it, and even elated there was a series of movies based upon the haunting. This episode (as well as an old Unsolved Mysteries episode where a family is haunted after the kids get a new bed) is what got me really interested in horror today.
But, television changes. There are shows like Finding Bigfoot that make his existence feel less mysterious and more silly. There are those random Animal Planet shows that tell me creatures like the snakehead fish will crawl 3 days on land to eat my baby. Of course, any horror fan in his/her 30s remembers the documentary on the Blair Witch, and I have to say….that may be the last time I felt the “magic” of programs like this.
Last week I was introduced to some of the people behind the Panic Attack Videos Youtube channel. According to their bio, “We love making scary videos and telling stories about strange and weird news, which include: Ouija Games, Paranormal, entertainment films, pranks and exploring creepy places.” With over 32 million views in 4 years, the channel is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
Taking a page from In Search of… and Unsolved Mysteries, Panic Attack Videos features episodes reminiscent of those shows called Wicked Tales. Hosted by Trevor Eitel, he calmly goes over the unusual stories with a voice that is both reassuring and questioning. In Are They Still Alive?, multiple children died in a fire years ago but some evidence may point to a kidnapping and cover up instead. In this series, they also deal with such rumors surrounding Disneyland, the CIA, and much, much more.
Horror isn’t always serious, and Panic Attack has quite a few reaction videos to screamers as well. But they also have some very funny parody videos as well…like this Scream parody.
Evil Spirits are Among Us is the first film I found that really enamored me. While schizophrenia is an awful disease, this short 4 minute film brings a slightly supernatural tone to the sickness while going someplace that is completely horrifying.
Girl Attacked by Demon Playing Hide and Seek is kinda spoiled by its title, but the scare is still fun. In fact, there are quite a few “found footage” type videos on the channel using similar tactics. If you are a big fan of these types of films, you can get lost for hours on these videos.
Check out and subscribe to Panic Attack Videos on Youtube, and follow them on facebook and twitter for more horror, fun, and chilling stories.
