Sam and Colby are an American YouTuber duo, consisting of Sam Golbach (born November 27, 1996) and Colby Brock (born January 2, 1997). They are best known for their paranormal investigations.[1][2]
The pair first met in middle school band class, however the two didn’t become friends until shortly after they both joined the Blue Valley High School marching band. During summer band camp they bonded over having a crush on the same drum major, however, due to their shyness, the two began to boost each other’s confidence.[3] In one of their earlier videos: How We Met[4], Sam and Colby explain they were “shy” and awkward band kids who wanted to step out of their comfort zone. While their content first started out as performing public pranks, there was a deeper meaning behind it. As the duo continued to make content their confidence grew and they wanted to help and inspire other people become for confident within themselves as well.
After initially gaining prominence on Vine as teenagers in the mid-2010s with comedic videos,[5][1] they started uploading videos onto YouTube after the former became defunct.[1]
Their first YouTube video: Intro Video,[6] first released on November 13, 2014 and the pair has grown their channel ever since. Their earlier content on YouTube was random as they expressed they would be doing “everything” and asked for commenters suggestions. They made vlogs that filmed their everyday lives and followed media trends. Originally, the duo was original a quartet, inside a place that they named "trap house". A large mansion like home where Sam, Colby, Jake Webber and Corey Scherer would do crazy things like Pranks, skits, or for Sam's personal channel, haunted horror challenges like the Ouija Board. The videos would gain them notoriety very quickly, landing them to have a fanbase that would make edits of them. After a now deleted video entitled "we finally kissed", in which Sam and Colby finally gave in to a joke of them being Gay, they showed a half second clip of them kissing, before it abruptly cuts "haha, gotcha bitch" style.[7] After this, they'd be officially named "Solby".
Urban exploring (2015-2018)
In April of 2015, Sam and Colby would upload a video entitled "Our First Haunted Experience", a school project about them going to an abandoned, haunted and rotted house in the middle of nowhere after failing to get to a friend's party due to their car breaking down. The video ended with Sam getting possessed by the house's Demon and Colby seemingly getting so too after failing to escape. The video would unexpectedly for them, start a new chain of their career.[8] Because a year later, they would start making videos of Urban Exploring between Kansas, New Jersey and even eastern places like Mexico. These videos would feature the two and the guests follow the same premise of their school project, but with the intent of exploring actual dangerous, abandoned and sometimes possibly haunted places. This, would be the right move for them as no one had been doing this type of content before them, leading them to be even more famous. Some of the most famous places visited during this era were the Devil's Tunnel in New Jersey, Satan's Castle and Queen Mary. However, in 2018, while visiting an abandoned school in Florida, they would be caught by police and arrested at Gunpoint, landing them for the first time ever on the news. Their mugshot would become viral everywhere on Social Media, their two roommates even being uploaded by a random user screaming and swearing, throwing pillows at the wall in panic and distress while Jake was live on Twitch. Thankfully for them, their experience in Jail lasted two single days. Yet, Sam would state it as: "the most traumatic experience of my life", even stating that when a convict saw his and Colby's face, he said: "you're going to fit here real well". Both would also state: "We were at gunpoint, on the ground, being shouted at by everyone. Told not to move. Imagine it. We're just two teenagers from Kansas, going about their lives doing something they love and then all the sudden, they're about to be arrested."[9][10][11] This would prompt them to fully abbandon the theme all together. Despite that, four sporadic videos during their 25X25 era would be uploaded while in Panama, and one final haunted video in Paramount.
The haunted Era (2018-2021)
In need of change, the theme of haunted urban was replaced with something safer. In 2018, pre retelling of their arrest, Sam and Colby decided to change their content into a haunted investigation channel. Inspired both by their childhood show Ghost Adventures, Sam and Colby would go on to investigate haunted Hotels, Castles and many other things that have a haunted tale to find out if they are as haunted as people say or not. This point however, would also be met with it's fair share of issues. While the content was in places of public residence, other videos would be set in Mountains, Forests and even a Cave entitled "Ritual Tunnel". Their final episode of their first attempt at Haunting entitled "Sam and Colby 2.0." Would lead them to say both on Instagram and YouTube that: "we have to rethink things through", leading them to go in standby after ending up getting in trouble with some people for recording and trying to do a Ritual in the already stated "Ritual Tunnel".[12] However, the next year, would be back with a six part miniseries that fans would later title: "Shadow Man era", as the miniseries of six movies would be about the long and enduring tale of Corey's spirit from a failed Ouija session called the Shadow Man to follow him everywhere he went. In 2020, when Covid 19 hit the world, Sam and Colby started a new series where they would bring celebrity guests to haunted places and in two special episodes, investigate history places to Treasure Hunt in, those being Cerro Gordo and Custer's Last Stand. This era would however give them a decline and mixed reception. Fans stating that the videos were boring, uninteresting and out of touch with the quality. Leading them to rethink things through once again and in 2021, start a new series titled "25X25".[13]
The quest for meaning (2021)
25X25, so titled by them, was a 25 episode series where Sam and Colby would complete 25 of their biggest goals before turning 25, as of them previously and in the future, with Sam specifically giving life lessons to the viewers and himself since he was young. Stating things like: "Life is too much of a wonder to not live it." The original episodes contained them going to places like Alaska, try Scuba Diving and see what it meant to live on an Island. But once again, reception was mixed, leading them to get back to haunting videos, but this time, with the full scope of guests in every episode. The quality of the videos grew and they would also start to use more professional equipment like an EMF Detector, a Rem Pod and the Spirit Box. The final episode of 25X25 was at Chernobyl, the duo's biggest dream of their lives.[14]
A new era (2022-Present)
Once 25X25 had ended, it had been decided that the duo would become a Ghost Hunting show host and turn their jobs into Ghost Hunters. Their channel now focuses on investigating all kinds of haunted places from all over the world. With every Halloween, a special event entitled: "Hell Week". As of the incoming of their new season, they have been considered as some of the best paranormal hunters in recent times. Having collaborated with people Like the Project Fear crew, Zak Bagans and visited places like the Conjuring House, Gettysburg and even got property of Farrar School in 2024 for their fourth Hell Week special.[15]
Method of investigating
Sam and Colby about to communicate with the infamous Peggy the Doll at Zak Bagans Haunted Museum.
Unlike most investigators, Sam and Colby have been praised for bringing in some originality to the format of Ghost Hunting. Every video, they open the episode with an introduction of what their location and objective is. Then, they introduce the guests that are gonna be in the episode. After a short walktrough of the location with the owner of the place, they start to interview the owner and try to connect the pieces of the tale that the place contains, to see if they can solve it's mystery or find some meaning to the spirit's causes. With the use of their tools and means of communication, they investigate each room with attentive care and means of communicating with the spirit. If necessary, the duo bring on a medium or a witch to do some more serious and dangerous means of communication. In some episodes, the duo takes a test on their own selves to see if they can see or feel things that not many can feel. An example is in White Hill Mansion, where the duo got a Hypnotist to get them in a trance and see if they could see what the spirit could see.
In other episodes however, when the tale of the place is a literal mystery, the duo does their all to solve the mystery of that location. In fact, Sam and Colby have managed to solve three long lasting and deemed unsolvable mysteries in the paranormal community or simply Murder cases that couldn't be solved. Their first one at the Villisca Axe Murder House, in which they found the name of the killer. The second one at the new Conjuring House, in which they found out that the Smurl Family had been lying of the spirits for the entire time and that Ed and Lorraine were told to not say anything to the public to keep the lie alive. And the most recent one at the S.K. Pierce Mansion, in which they found out the killer of the girls that had inhabited the place in it's era of prostitution, gambling and illegal activity and the mystery of an unnamed girl that had her Pelvis bone found in the basement.[16][17][18]
Famous Guests
This is a list of famous guests that have appeared on their show.
An annual Halloween special that follows the duo going to the most haunted places full of demons and dark history only on Halloween.[19]
Attachment
A singular 8 Part miniseries in which the duo along with a few other guests head to various places that contain meanings of an attachment inside Sam from the Sallie House.[20]
Empath
Part 2 of Attachment in which Sam and Colby head to places that have empathic energy. [21]
International Trilogy
One off 3 Part miniseries in the UK's most haunted locations.
Personal life
Sam had a relationship with Katrina Stuart in 2017, before breaking up with her sometime in 2021. Since summer of 2025, he has been in a relationship with Sofie Dossi.[22] While Colby has been in a long relationship with Malia Gee. Daughter of Football Player Matt Gee[23]
Controversies
Conjuring House
In 2023, Sam and Colby stayed one week at the Conjuring House, a famous home that originated the Conjuring franchise. During the series, fans speculated of Cody and Satori's method of contacting with spirits that as they stated are: "from your past". At one point in the video, the name Libby came up, soon by Sam to be revealed as "Libby Golbach", his dead Grandma.[24] This lead after the entire four part miniseries was over, to severe backlash from the duo and Cody and Satori. Calling them fake, and outright disgusting. While for the duo, backlash of them being Manipulative and all in for the money started to spur. For long times, nor Sam nor Colby had stated anything about the incident. But, it's alleged on various Reddit Posts that Colby stated on a Livestream that the entire thing was fake, leading fans to start believing they were blackmailed to not show proof that the ritual was fake.
Inappropriate behaviour
Sam and Colby have been criticized for making their videos unserious. With many containing lots of shouting, innapropriate and out of place guests and too much offensive swearing. One of the most caught examples of this is at the Driskill Hotel, when Colby said to a female little girl ghost: "Oh, she likes my balls".
Accusations of Manipulation
The duo's recent episodes have been considered as an outright disrespect to the fans, the paranormal community and offensive to the spirits, while also being outright fake. Lot of times, fans have said that the tools they use have been debunked multiple times, specifically the small flaslights used in their videos to communicate with a spirit by Yes or No questions and that their constant merch promo on their official site lead them to believe that they now make videos for the money, no longer caring about the quality. Fans have also criticized their membership App XPLR, calling it a useless app with very little content with a too high price.
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