About Ghostly Activities
Meet Jacob Rice
I’m Jacob Rice, a paranormal documentarian and ghost hunter, based in the Pacific Northwest.
Since 2009, I’ve investigated haunted locations across North America, preserved stories that would otherwise disappear, and documented what actually happens when you spend a long night in a place where something doesn’t want to leave. That work lives across three formats: long-form blog investigations, audio documentaries, and video. Together they make up Ghostly Activities, which has welcomed more than 3 million visitors and generated over 1 million podcast downloads.
I’m not chasing jump scares or made-for-TV drama. I’m here to find out what really happened and why it might still be happening.
How It Started
It began in Chicago in 2007. A ghost appeared in the elevator of my apartment building. It was my grandfather, checking in on me, and I didn’t recognize him. I freaked out and shooed him away.
I’ve regretted it ever since.
That moment changed everything. I realized hauntings aren’t just strange phenomena. They’re unfinished stories. From that night on, I’ve treated every encounter like a mystery waiting to be solved, and every ghost like someone with something to say.
Two years later, in 2009, Ghostly Activities was born.
The Paranormal Multimedia Documentation
Documentary is a form, not a format. The same commitment to research, evidence, and honest documentation runs through everything I make, whether it’s a blog post, a podcast episode, or a video.
On the blog, the documentation shows up as long-form investigations built on archival research, field reporting, and oral history. Posts like these combine newspaper records, death certificates, eyewitness accounts, and on-location evidence into something closer to a web documentary than a typical blog post. The blog also includes instructional content, ghost hunting methodology, opinion pieces, and personal experience writing because Ghostly Activities has always been more than one thing.
In audio, the Ghostly Activities Podcast is where I do my most sustained reporting and essays. Audio is my preferred format. A good story told well doesn’t need video to land. The podcast has been recognized among the best in its field.
In video, I’ve produced 20 ghost hunting documentaries available on YouTube, covering haunted locations across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
How I Investigate
Most ghost hunting content starts with the gadgets. I start with the archives.
Before I set foot in a location, I’ve already been through newspaper records, death certificates, property histories, and eyewitness accounts. I want to know who lived there, who died there, and what they left unresolved. That research becomes the spine of the investigation and eventually the spine of the documentary.
On location, I’m looking for five forms of evidence:
- Auditory — EVPs and direct voice phenomena
- Visual — shadows, apparitions, movement on video
- Environmental — temperature drops, EMF shifts, static charges
- Engagement — devices responding intelligently to questions
- Personal — sensations or emotions tied to specific places or people
But evidence only means something in context. A voice on a recorder is interesting. A voice on a recorder that matches the name of a child who died in that room in 1920 is a story worth telling.
“A good haunting is like a good mystery. You collect clues, test theories, and listen to the witness, even if they’ve been dead for a century.”
Keeping It Real
Respect comes first. I learn names, study the time period, and speak as if the spirits are still part of the conversation. No provocation. No shouting. Just questions, patience, and the understanding that if you can’t relate to a ghost as a person, you probably won’t get very far with them.
I also say plainly when an investigation turns up nothing. A null result is still a result. Not every location delivers, and pretending otherwise doesn’t serve anyone, living or dead.
The Podcast
Ghostly Activities isn’t just a passion project. It’s recognized among the best in its field.
Ghostly Activities is a Top 20 ghost hunting podcast
Feedspot.com, Top 20 Ghost Hunting Podcasts, March 2026
Millionpodcasts.com, Top 70 Ghost Hunting Podcasts, March 2026
Ghostly Activities is also a recognized ghost story podcast
Feedspot.com, Top 100 Ghost Story Podcasts, March 2026
Millionpodcasts.com, Top 100 Ghost Story Podcasts, March 2026
What You’ll Find Here
If you’ve landed here looking for something spooky and shallow, you might find the wrong place. If you’re here because you want to know what’s really going on, who these people were, what happened to them, and why some places don’t let go, you’re in exactly the right place.
Across the blog, podcast, and YouTube channel you’ll find long-form investigations, oral histories, historical deep dives, ghost hunting methodology, and 20 documentary films. Three books are also available if you want to go deeper.