US ghost hunters on the trail of infamous Scots ghoul

An American ghost hunting duo have crossed the pond in the hopes of capturing an infamous Scottish ghoul.

Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej are some of the most popular faces on YouTube, racking up millions of views with their videos exploring the supernatural.

The pair returned to spirit hunting with Ghost Files which has seen them visit some of America’s most haunted locations like Alcatraz and The Winchester House, and have now brought their expertise to Scotland.

Following their sold-out show at Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre, they are set to explore the Blair Street Underground Vaults in Edinburgh for the third season of their show.

“The UK is rife with ghosts just because of the amount of history that’s available here, we just landed in Scotland, and someone said ‘oh you should go to this pub its 300 years old’, so for me this feels like a place you have to go in terms of ghost investigation”, Ryan told STV News.

Ryan is confident they will get good evidence during their hunt, suggesting that they had captured some even before the show – something his partner Shane would disagree with.

Shane, a self-described sceptic, said he tried to champion Ryan’s journey in ghost hunting but has yet to be convinced they even exist.

“I try not to rain on too many people’s parade when it comes to us getting evidence, I think it’s fun when stuff happens,” he said.

Having done their research, the pair have a long list of ghosts they are hoping to interact with during their investigation.

“I believe there’s a cobbler there, and that’s just really funny,” Ryan said.

“We encounter ghosts that have tragic stories, and there is tragic history at the underground but to have one little fanciful storybook like character is nice.”

Shane added: “It’s also a nice change of pace, we go to a lot of houses, too many prisons but we haven’t done an underground.”

As for supernatural experiences they have had so far, Shane said he almost passed away after eating a pizza crunch – a Scottish dish of deep-friend pizza – suggesting that his heart “skipped about seven beats”.

Fans of the show flocked to Scotland from all over the world to spend the evening with the “Ghoul Boys”.

One fan came from Germany especially for the show, telling STV News she never thought she’d get to see the them live.

Describing themselves as a “Boogara”, one fan said they had also been to the Edinburgh vaults previously adding “there was definitely a lot going on there”.

Watcher Entertainment recently landed in hot water after Shane, Ryan and Steven announced they would no longer post their content to YouTube and would be launching their own streaming service instead.

However, the company was quick to react and adapt plans based on the backlash from fans.

“We obviously realise we messed up and we made pretty much immediate changes to fix that and do what we thought was the best for not only Watcher, but everyone who is supported us so far,” Ryan said.

“I feel really good about having a home that we’ve built on the Watcher streamer but also having our old home over on YouTube.

“Being able to take bigger swings and risks with our content over on the streaming service because there are certain shows that aren’t suited for YouTube.”

Shane added: “It took us a little bit to get there but in the wake of it all we’re thankful for the perspective on it all and we find it in a place we’re pretty excited about.

“We’re happy we can still have our content be accessible to everybody.”

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