People often ask me what it’s like filming Weird World Adventures, and I always struggle to find the right words. How do you describe spending the night alone in Dracula’s castle, searching for voodoo portals to hell in New Orleans, or tracking down forgotten mythological sites that don’t make it into regular travel guides? The truth is, creating this show has been the perfect fusion of my professional training in anthropology and my lifelong obsession with the strange, unusual, and culturally significant places that most tourists never see.
The Genesis of a Different Kind of Travel Show
When we launched Season 1 on Amazon Prime with six episodes exploring America’s most bizarre locations, I had no idea how deeply it would resonate with viewers. The concept was simple: instead of the typical travel show focused on popular attractions, luxury hotels, and restaurant recommendations, we would take viewers directly to the places that reveal a destination’s true cultural DNA—the weird, the mysterious, and the misunderstood corners that locals whisper about.
“I’ve watched travel shows my entire life, and they all started to look the same,” I explained during a recent podcast interview. “But as an anthropologist, I know that you don’t understand a culture by visiting its tourist traps—you understand it through its folklore, its unexplained phenomena, and the stories people tell when they think outsiders aren’t listening.”
Season 1 proved there was an audience hungry for this deeper exploration. We weren’t just visiting weird places—we were applying an anthropological lens to understand why these places matter and what they reveal about our relationship with the unknown.
Season 2: Going Global with the Weird and Wonderful
Season 2, set to release this fall with ten full episodes, represents a massive expansion of our weird world. We’ve crossed oceans and continents to document the strangest and most significant sites of global folklore and mythology. From spending a night documenting unexplained phenomena at Bran Castle in Transylvania (yes, the actual inspiration for Dracula’s castle) to tracking down the mythical Seven Gates of Guinee in the hidden corners of New Orleans, this season pushes deeper into the territory where science meets belief.
“The thing about filming at Bran Castle overnight is that you go in as a skeptic and come out with questions,” I noted after that particularly intense shoot. “The locals have documented phenomena in specific rooms and corridors for centuries. When your audio equipment starts malfunctioning in exactly those locations—not elsewhere in the castle—you have to start asking why. Is it random electromagnetic interference? Structural peculiarities? Or something our scientific frameworks haven’t fully accounted for?”
That blend of skeptical inquiry and openness to cultural interpretation defines our approach. In New Orleans, our search for the Seven Gates of Guinee—the mythical portals to the voodoo afterlife—became an exercise in participatory anthropology. Working with local practitioners and historians, we documented how these beliefs have shaped the city’s geography and culture while respecting the traditions we were investigating.
Walking Through Living Mythology
Perhaps my favorite shoot for Season 2 was our journey down Germany’s Fairy Tale Route. Following the footsteps of the Brothers Grimm from their birthplace in Hanau through the forests and villages that inspired their most famous tales, we documented how mythology doesn’t just emerge from landscape—it transforms how people relate to their environment.
“The forests around Kassel look exactly like you’d expect the setting for ‘Hansel and Gretel’ to look,” I explained to our camera operator as we hiked through mist-shrouded trees. “But the relationship runs deeper than inspiration. These tales served as cultural maps, helping generations navigate both physical dangers and social boundaries. When you understand that ‘don’t go into the woods alone’ had practical survival value in medieval Germany, the persistence of these stories makes anthropological sense.”
Why the Weird Matters
What makes Weird World Adventures different from paranormal investigation shows or typical travel programs is our focus on cultural context. We’re not just asking, “Is this place haunted?” or “Does this cryptid exist?” We’re exploring how beliefs about the unexplained shape cultural identity and practice. The weird isn’t separate from culture—it’s often central to how communities understand themselves.
This approach has resonated surprisingly well with academic audiences. Several universities now use our episodes in folklore and anthropology courses, which is perhaps the professional validation I’m most proud of. By treating the weird with scholarly respect rather than sensationalism, we’ve created a resource that bridges entertainment and education.
The Future of Weird
With Season 2’s ten episodes dropping this fall, we’re already planning Season 3’s expeditions. “The world is so much weirder than most people realize,” I often say at the close of our episodes. “And that weirdness isn’t just entertaining—it’s essential to understanding who we are as humans, how we make sense of our environments, and how we process the unexplained.”
Whether you’re a dedicated weird enthusiast or just someone curious about the stories that don’t make it into conventional travel guides, Weird World Adventures invites you to see familiar destinations through a different lens. Because often, it’s the strangest aspects of a place that reveal its true cultural heart.
Weird World Adventures Season 1 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, with Season 2 releasing Fall 2025. You can also find behind-the-scenes content and extended interviews on our website at MaloriesAdventures.com.