The Rise Of Girlie Ghost Hunting

Words: Hatti Rex

Whilst some people think it’s fun to smash pumpkins or wrap toilet roll round trees, others look for spirits. Teenagers have been tampering with Ouija boards and calling for Bloody Mary in the mirror at sleepovers for generations but paranormal explorations in mainstream media were never really aired until the early 2000s. The first version, BBC’s Ghostwatch that aired in 1992, was a “live” Halloween hoax that shook and thrilled the nation. Hosted by Michael Parkinson, presenters Sarah Green and Craig Charles fumbled about looking for Pipes the poltergeist in an ordinary London home.

Since then, the UK has had an infatuation with paranormal entertainment. Nowadays we have Uncanny, but Most Haunted, by far the longest running, impressively aired for 28 seasons and was, at least for me, the Most Goated show. US equivalent Ghost Adventures boasts an even heftier 30 seasons, with a new one freshly unearthed.  ___STEADY_PAYWALL___

On the internet, in the age of social media and next-day delivery electronics, it feels as though increasingly more creators - especially women - are communicating with the departed. Though curiosity in the supernatural is generally always a topic of human interest, according to Google Trends global searches for ghost hunting are up 20% from last year. Though admittedly it could be my own algorithm, the YouTube ‘ghost hunting’ tab is presently, interestingly, thankfully, full of curious ladies rather than the usual loud showman Zak Bagans or Derek Acorah stereotype. It makes sense as the majority of participants in regional investigator groups lean female. 

In June, merely four months ago, three alt college friends from the North West of England with a shared interest in the paranormal began appearing on TikTok under the group moniker Ghouls Drool, via clipped highlights from their longer YouTube episodes. Back then, Arwen, Joey and Anna’s accounts were brand new, but they now have a combined audience of almost 100k across their socials with almost 2 million views on their “Our petition to be your new favourite paranormal investigators” trailer. That’s fast growth for a new account.

“The world is uncertain in a very stressful way and many are looking for comfort in spirituality, in all different ways.”

But the group aren’t entirely new to hauntings. Joey explains how her mum and grandma hosted ghost tours all around the UK whilst Anna had already grown up surrounded by ghost stories, believing too that her own home is haunted. Arwen was skeptical at first but eventually came around. Using a combination of EMF readers, spirit boxes, catballs and rem pods, the girls and their cameraman let their curiosity lead them to infamously haunted locations including Gawthorpe Hall and Towneley Park to try in an attempt to prove the existence of these entities. 

Though they admittedly all get frightened whilst recording, interactions feel more sad when faced with troubled spirits. “In our haunted forest video, the spirits were talking about how they couldn’t continue on anymore which breaks our hearts,” they recall. “We hope communicating with them gives them a sense of comfort.” They also talk about how suddenly having to socialise with a growing audience has made them feel braver in real life. 

“Where we are based, there is a huge history of witchcraft,” the girls reveal their most haunted visit was to the unsettling Pendle Hill, home to the most famous witch trials where women believed to be witches were murdered. “Spiritual women have been silenced for centuries. Now, social media has given women the power to express themselves on a platform with so many supporters. As feminists we are extremely grateful for that.” The Ghouls are also acutely aware of how male dominated the paranormal content space is. “It definitely became popular because of Sam and Colby,” they consider. “So being women in a male dominated field definitely gives people more curiosity to watch, especially other women.”

For bonafide clairvoyant turned YouTuber Kelsi Davies, a former Sam and Colby collaborator with a new six-episode Halloween special Wanna Go Ghost Hunting dropping soon on Tubi, her own audience of over 3 million leans around 80% female. “If a man shows up to my meet and greet, I'm actually kind of surprised,” she laughs, recalling how grateful she was for the amount of fans coming to see her at Pennhurst Paracon with her nonstop queues. “I think we're all like open portals in a way,” she considers how women are so drawn to ghosts, herself viewing spirit communication as comforting as it reduces her fear of death. “I think that we're just more open to it because we experience it more.” It’s all about intuition, a sense of knowing and collective consciousness, that women seem particularly attuned to. 

But Kelsi also believes that every single person is capable of tapping in. “Lave your mind open, go in with curiosity and not fear because a lot of it is down your mentality going in,” after all, if you’re getting too riled up and end up running out of your location then you’re not going to really discover anything. “Sometimes I like to light a candle and just kind of gaze into it, express gratitude, and then I'll start getting messages and thoughts that aren't mine so maybe try to practice with that.” 

Despite what horror films imply, there are actually no rules towards contacting the spirits and Kelsi assures that you won’t be penalised if you don’t say goodbye on a Ouija board. Though the spirit presence may consider you socially awkward. “I think it's all our intention, do whatever makes you feel safe and comfortable – don’t be like ‘oh my god, I broke a rule. I'm gonna die!’” She assures. “If you know how to handle it in the real world, then you definitely are fine in the paranormal world.”

In her series The Haunted Doll, where every episode she’s joined by a man from Grindr, comedian Roz Hernandez confidently faces the paranormal from a place of entertainment. Despite this, ‘no paranormal activity is faked’, the intro promises. “Ghost hunting content creators that fake ghosts do so because they are boring people that nobody would want to watch if nothing scary happened,” she says. “I will be so real with you, I like ghost hunting but I don’t love it. It is super boring, I imagine it’s like fishing: you just wait and wait until something happens but when it does, it is very fun!”

She tells me that her first paranormal dabblings began in 2018 when looking for a topic for a show. “I bought some toys that people say prove that ghosts are real,” she tells me on her weekly podcast Ghosted!’s humble beginnings. “At first I was intimidated because I wasn’t an ‘expert’ but then I realised that nobody knows anything about the unknown.” On the show of over 350 episodes and counting, Roz has unpacked countless hours of documented cases. She adds that the girlies are often more likely to be open minded to the paranormal,

So why does it feel like this content niche is becoming rapidly more popular? “The world is uncertain in a very stressful way and many are looking for comfort in spirituality, in all different ways,” Roz considers how viewers are able to explore the afterlife safely from behind the screen. Plus, with her special guests in mind, sometimes it’s hot to see a man scared. “I think the same is true with people seeking comedy for release, and queer content in response to the rise of queer and trans hatred. Well, I’m here! Come consume me!”