This is a new weekly series I’m thinking of trying out on my blog. Each week, I’ll post about some new show I’m watching or watched recently. My goal is see if there’s anyone else out there that has seen it and what they thought. Or, maybe spread the word and give you a new show to check out (or avoid). 😉

I’m starting off with Hellier. I have Amazon Prime and it came up as a suggested show. But don’t worry if you don’t have an Amazon membership. It can be found on YouTube or Planet Weird’s website. Whichever way you choose, it’s definitely an interesting documentary!

I suppose I should start by saying that I’m big fan of paranormal shows. I grew up on TAPS and Unsolved Mysteries. I readily watch Ghost Brothers and Ghost Nation and Ghost Hunters. Dead Files is another one I enjoy catching even if I don’t religiously record it. If it’s got something strange going on, I’m all for it. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, they’re fun shows to watch. My husband thinks I’m odd because I actively went between Hallmark and ghost shows while I was recovering last year. What can I say? I’m a complicated woman. Haha!

Anyway, back to Hellier. I knew nothing about this show. We don’t get Planet Weird as part of our cable package. So I went into it completely blind. Honestly, I was expecting something similar to the above mentioned shows. However, it’s structured more like a documentary. Interviews with the searchers take center stage and footage of the actual investigation is interspersed here and there to emphasize what they’re explaining. I didn’t think I’d love that but I did. I really enjoyed seeing their reactions and confusion over what they found and experienced. I also felt invested because they’re based in Cincinnati, OH which is where I’ve spent half my life. From the jump, it feels like they’re being pulled along some cosmic path with no known ending. Unlike, say Ghost Nation, each episode doesn’t wrap up nicely. This is their lives and it’s still on-going.

Hellier, the show’s namesake and ground zero if you will, is a town in Eastern Kentucky. The only town I’ve been to in that part of the state is Paintsville but my husband is from Northern Kentucky so again, I personally felt pulled to support their endeavor since it’s practically in my backyard.

There are 2 seasons out currently and in Season 1, the lead investigator Greg Newkirk sets up the show with a little back story. Like me, he’s had a fondness for the paranormal from the beginning and ran a small group of ghost hunters when he was a kid. One day, he receives this odd email to his old website from a man in Hellier complaining of what they later learned were known as the Kentucky Goblins. Information was sporadic in the beginning until one day it completely ceased. When Greg and his wife, Dana, and a couple of their friends, Connor and Karl, decided to head down there, townsfolk proved to be wildly unhelpful as well. No one knew the person that emailed them and said nothing like what was described ever happened there. At this point, they decided to head home and do some research on their own. They discovered that stories of similar occurrences go back decades and can be traced all along the middle appalachians.

I don’t want to give too much away because every little piece leads further and further down this rabbit hole. But I will name drop a few things that come up… Mothman and extraterrestrials and elementals. It was fascinating to see them follow this thread of clues that seemingly lead to dead ends but turned up easter eggs anyway. I even learned of the term, synchronicity, which I’ve experienced myself. At the end of Season 2, they’re no more closer to full answers so you’re left rooting for them to discover more.

But before you discard this as all an elaborate hoax to gain your money, consider this…

These investigators have some pretty impressive pedigrees. Greg Newkirk co-founded the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal & Occult. He’s also shared his knowledge on Mysteries at the Museum and Finding Bigfoot. Dana Newkirk formed the first ever all-female paranormal investigation team and co-founded the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal & Occult with her husband, Greg, where she acts as head curator. She can be seen on popular shows like Kindred Spirits and Paranormal Lockdown. Karl Pfeiffer was one of the original winners of Ghost Hunters Academy and went on to star in Ghost Hunters International. Later he worked as the Resident Paranormal Investigator at the Stanley Hotel where he directed the web series, Spirits of the Stanley. It was through these projects that Karl met and worked with Connor Randall. Together, Connor and Karl pioneered a technique they call The Estes Method.

Furthermore, this whole project was 100% self-funded. Everything from the travel, the equipment used, production of the show, etc. came out of their pockets. I admire that!

So I challenge you to give it a go if you haven’t seen this show. Just one episode with an open mind. If you’re not hooked or weirded out by the end, I’d be impressed. But if you have seen it, let me know what you think! I’d be excited to share notes. 🙂

What I'm Watching Amazon Prime Appalachia Documentary Hellier High Strangeness Planet Weird Synchronicity