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Best True Crime YouTube Channels

You surely know about the most popular true crime documentaries and podcasts—but did you know there are also many true crime YouTube channels?

By Nicola P. YoungPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
Top Story - July 2018
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Photo by Metrónomo

Popular interest in true crime has risen exponentially over the last few years. Between intriguing documentaries like Making a Murderer, and incredible investigative podcasts like Serial, it's no surprise that the genre is one of today's most talked about topics.

A result of this popularity is that there are ever more ways to absorb engaging true crime content: documentaries and podcasts, like those I just mentioned, books of course, TV shows, and yes—there are even true crime YouTube channels.

Cayleigh Elise not only provides quality true crime content, she also provides it regularly. The YouTuber posts a video once a week, with a range of generally spooky content, including unsolved mysteries, creepy encounters, and more. Some of the cases she discusses are still unsolved, others are—at least putatively—solved, but all are frightening, gruesome, and intriguing.

Each video generally runs about 15-20 minutes, though it's not uncommon for some to run a little bit longer. Another reason that Elise's channel is one of best true crime YouTube channels to follow is that she provides a little bit of variety in her posts, occasionally making unique videos, like the ones in which she reads creepy encounters sent in by subscribers.

Rob Dyke is one of the first—and certainly most famous—individuals to bring true crime to YouTube. But this isn't exclusively a true crime YouTube channel—rather, it's split into two major categories: comedy, which mainly includes his series Why Would You Put That On The Internet (it's just about what you would expect), and the much darker Seriously Strange.

The Seriously Strange content includes disturbing tales of gruesome deaths, urban legends, serial killers, unsolved mysteries and more. From Ed Gein to haunted houses, disturbing missing persons cases to terrifying ghost encounters, Rob Dyke's channel will have you second-guessing everything you thought you knew—and probably sleeping with the lights on.

Tiffany Wild TRUE CRIME is a one of the purest true crime YouTube channels. Here, Tiffany Wild—a former beauty YouTuber—discusses unsolved or dubiously solved crimes, questioning the circumstances surrounding suspicious deaths or disappearances. And she's not just here to provide morbid entertainment: Tiffany Wild's channel is designed to bring attention to these cases, to prompt discussion and offer theories and evidence. And it's not a crazy thing to want to do—as we saw with the investigation into a disappearance in the podcast Up and Vanished, media attention can open new leads and possibilities in seemingly cold cases.

Crime Watch Daily is a source of endless, well-researched news on crimes of all kinds. Journalist and host Chris Hansen delivers short expositions of shocking murders, disappearances, and other crimes—solved or unsolved —taken from the television news show of the same name. Although the show was unfortunately canceled just last month, you can find years of shocking content on their true crime YouTube channel, including investigations and interviews with victims, friends, family, even the perpetrators themselves. You'll also find much direct evidence regarding the crimes, including CCTV footage of many shocking acts or inexplicable occurrences. Crime Watch Daily is not just an exposition of true crime: it takes you right into the heart of the communities and people involved, investigating these crimes right before your eyes.

Criminally Listed is a well-researched, engaging source of information and entertainment for anyone with an interest in true crime. And it's not just quality content—it's also regular content. He posts about twice a week, with videos that range from just a few minutes to as long as an hour. He talks about cases of kidnappings, murders, disappearances, serial killers, and more. Each video features anywhere from one to ten cases, usually similar in some significant way—such as female serial killers, child murderers (I mean, children who are murderers, not murderers of children), or revenge-based murders. Most videos include around three different cases, all very well-researched and presented in an unbiased, factual manner.

Kendall Rae covers everything from conspiracy theories to ancient myths to unsolved murders. With almost 900,000 subscribers, Rae runs one of the most popular true crime YouTube channels out there, and has a lot of fun doing it. She provides a pretty wide range of interesting, (potentially) true crime content, so you're sure to never get bored. This channel is an especially good option if you're a fan of missing persons cases, as those are some of her most common topics. She's also a careful researcher, and provides well-explained, fully researched details to help you draw your own conclusions about the unsolved mysteries and theories she discusses.

Brought to you by the Buzzfeed Blue YouTube channel, Buzzfeed Unsolved has run three seasons (and is preparing for a fourth) of the most spooky, mysterious, and bizarre happenings in the world. Each episode runs around twenty minutes, and covers everything from unsolved murders to spooky hauntings and exorcisms. With 67 episodes already under their belt, the Buzzfeed Unsolved team has developed an easy groove, balancing the unbiased facts with an accessible, fun, personable manner of telling the tales. And they're not afraid to shy away from the most controversial of conspiracy theories, including the assassination of JFK and the alleged UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico.

Vintage Files is a Canadian true crime YouTube channel thatoffers a range of listicles with information about cold cases and other unexplained occurrences. On this channel, you'll find many less-talked about cases of strange disappearances and murders of the past, in easily-digestible 10 to 20 minute segments, each containing a list of 2 to 10 strange cases of great interest to any true crime enthusiast, with some common theme. You'll find inexplicable vanishings, strange clues, and even CCTV sightings of missing persons, in some of the most intriguing true crime cases you've never heard of.

Although there's lots to love across the board, my favorite part of the true crime YouTube channel Unsolved Mysteries is the section entitled "Strange Unsolved Mysteries From America." The section is structured so that each video is about half an hour, and focuses solely on unsolved cases from a particular state. This creates a documentary-style exposition of crime in a particular geographic area, lending the mystery an extra bit of cohesion and interest for anyone living in one of those areas. Although at the moment, they only have videos for nine of the fifty states, I'm still hoping they'll be adding to this section. But if not, there is still plenty of intriguing, strange, at times baffling unsolved content from around the world.

LordanARTS is one of the best true crime YouTube channels for the detail-oriented. The host is careful to present unbiased, un-sensationalized facts about unsolved murders, disappearances, and other mysteries, allowing you to draw your own conclusions with an in-depth, well-researched, detailed picture of the case. He also has a section for solved cases, if you're ever in need of a little satisfaction to balance the eerie and unexplained world of unsolved true crime. With hundreds (maybe even thousands?) of videos to date, LordanARTS is one channel that will keep you intrigued, educated, and entertained for quite a while.

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About the Creator

Nicola P. Young

Lover of Books, Saxophone, Blogs, and Dogs. Not necessarily in that order. Book blogger at heartofinkandpaper.com.

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