Nick Crowley
(born 27th July, 1998 in Buffalo, New York) is an American content creator based on YouTube. Crowley mainly focuses his content on horror, especially those based on real-life events and whose roots are related to media and the internet in some way.
Crowley initially began his YouTube career as an explorer of spooky urban myths and backgrounds and ghost hunting. As his channel grew popular, his content underwent a shift where he placed more emphasis on a documentary-style format and put more focus on true crimes, disappearances, and unsolved mysteries.
Crowley's most famous videos were a documentary trilogy of him analyzing and debunking a collection of YouTubers whose content revolved around "rescuing animals", where Crowley discovered that the theme of said channels was all a lie and that the content creators were actually staged; animals were captured and deliberately placed in dangerous situations for them to film scenarios where they would act as "heroes" to save them. Despite the third video being age-restricted, it has since resurfaced and remains Crowley's most viewed video on YouTube.
Throughout his career, Crowley has collaborated with and has received support from other horror-themed YouTubers, such as Nexpo, SomeOrdinaryGamers, and Blameitonjorge. He and Nexpo also have a joint YouTube channel aptly named "Nick and Ryan", which focuses on a more explorative and adventurous tone with the two exploring haunted locations.
Nick Crowley's content and videos provide the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents:
- "YouTube's Most Disturbed Family Channel" focuses on the Harts, which were led by Jennifer and Sarah, a married couple who adopted six children, all of whom came from either Latino or African backgrounds. Despite their outward image of being a family that preached love and unity above all else, Jennifer and Sarah actually showed no love to their children, gave out unfair punishments, and the kids' situation being described as being prison-like, with Nick making multiple references about their abusive and reports to Child Protective Services. Sadly, Jennifer and Sarah opted to kill themselves and their children over ever confessing their actions to the police and the CPS. Prior to the channel's creation, they had adopted a teenage daughter, whom they abandoned without any notice before making plans for a YouTube career.
- The final story of the 'Killers on TV' segment of "The Darkest Moments in TV History 2" concerns Ariel Robinson, winner of the 20th season of Worst Cooks in America. Following her victory, she mentioned being a "mama bear" in regards to her foster daughter. It's then revealed that said daughter passed away a few months later, with the cause determined to be Ariel beating her.
- Ax-Crazy: The second segment of "YouTube's Darkest Videos 2" collection focuses on a man named Christopher Sumbs who continuously knocks on the door of a neighborhood house, repeatedly asking questions that he concludes with "Are you sure?". When the owner's husband returns and inquires what he was doing, Christopher openly reveals that he intended to rape and kill the woman. Crowley describes Christopher's attempts at waiting and his body language as "aggressive and erratic" despite seeming to remain calm.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: This is the true nature of the "animal rescue" channels that Crowley covered in his "YouTube's Fake Animal Rescue Channels". It turns out that the "rescues" are entirely faked and insincere; the animals are captured and placed in dangerous situations so that creators can record themselves "saving" them, all in the name of generating views and profit. Even worse, Crowley has presented evidence that the channels have ties to animal trafficking, especially in Vietnam, where animal cruelty is a common practice.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The video centered on the Hart Family, where Crowley makes no pretenses about describing Jennifer and Sarah as being this; they presented themselves as loving parents who advocated for unity and family to the point where they adopted six children to further this image when in reality, they severely mistreated the kids, never offered them autonomy, and generally saw them as objects for their own career. They also refused to take accountability for their actions, so much so that they opted to commit suicide and take the kids with them rather than ever confessing to the authorities about their actions when they were pressed hard enough.
- Buried Alive:
- Crowley briefly covers the case of a Filipina toddler in 2014 who was supposed to be buried after being declared dead... only for the girl to show signs of breathing before the burial took place. Sadly, she died for real after being placed in hospital and being rendered in a coma.
- A segment of "The Darkest Moments in TV History 2" discusses this, under escape artists attempting to break out of buried coffins, and what happens when that goes wrong. In one case, that of Bill Shirk, he survives; in the other, that of the Amazing Joe, he doesn't.
- Darker and Edgier: While his content has always revolved around horror, Crowley would sometimes crack jokes and find himself in humorous situations back in his earlier videos. From 2021 onwards, the tone of his videos has taken a more serious, darker turn, with humor being completely absent and Crowley placing more emphasis on covering topics that range from nightmarish to heartbreaking.
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Harsher in Hindsight: Discussed Trope, as Nick presents examples of content becoming dark only after later circumstance:- In "The Darkest Moments in TV History", Nick shows a clip from Christina's Court, where the plaintiff makes a crack about the bailiff "not looking happy" about his marriage. Nick then shows a news report about that bailiff, Renard Spivey, being arrested for the murder of said wife.
- A segment of "The Darkest Moments in TV History 2" is dedicated to this, as occasionally killers and criminals can appear on TV in wholly unrelated manners, such as Rodney Acala, a Serial Killer who appeared on The Dating Game.
- In "YouTube's Darkest Videos 6", a segment begins by mentioning a lake in Cyprus dubbed "Red Lake" due to its' water, then shows two videos about it, one of drone footage and one of a vlogger going down near the shore. Nick then reveals that flooding uncovered a Serial Killer's dumping ground in the lake and adjacent area, and states that one of the killer's body-dumping methods was to stuff his victims into suitcases. He then replays the videos from before, showing that the suitcases are visible, and in the case of the vlogger, mere feet away.
- Hope Spot: This is how Crowley describes the full story of the Filipina toddler case in 2014.Nick Crowley: What started on its own as one of the darkest videos on the site has now become even more twisted as the true ending has been revealed; a miracle that turned out to be nothing more than a mirage, leading to even more heartbreak as the family was now forced to grieve and come to terms with this girl's passing twice.
- Narcissist: Crowley covers two controversial YouTubers where he talks about how they exhibited traits of narcissistic personality disorder.
- The first is TheIndigoMystic, real name Jessica Worsham, whose videos would turn from talking about mysticism to her ranting about her husband wanting to take custody of their daughters, her refusing to pay her bills to her landlord regarding her place of residence, and how she feels entitled to her girls and her house.
- The second is Trent Paschal, a man who made a video addressing his daughter immediately before he murdered his wife, Savannah after she returned from work, allegedly because she was having an affair. Crowley cites Trent's actions as very narcissistic after pointing out how he took advantage of his parent's money loan in his effort to escape prison and authorities and did nothing to make up for his crimes despite his alleged love for his daughter.
- Offing the Offspring: He has covered cases of both succeeded and attempted filicide in his videos, with the most notable case being that of the Hart Family.
- Paranormal Investigation: Some of Crowley's older videos fall into this, with him exploring buildings and places that are said to have been haunted. Over time, this has been phased out in favor of documentary-style content focusing on dark and macabre matter with no levity and humor. Crowley does continue to make videos of this kind, albeit under a secondary joint channel he shares with Nexpo.
- Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: A good deal of the mysteries he covers in his videos involve this trope. One of the more notorious examples revolves around the Hart Family, an interracial family group consisting of two lesbian mothers and their several adopted children of mixed racial ancestry. In the video's climax, Crowley covers how an investigation was carried out to find the family after mysteriously disappearing at one point and would ultimately be found too late, the mothers intentionally driving their vehicle off a cliff and into rocky shores, killing them and their kids on impact.
- Stalker with a Crush: "TikTok's Most Dangerous Predator" is centered on Dan Cilley, a former YouTuber-turned-TikToker who makes no pretenses about stalking young girls, preferably those aged 14 and voicing his intent to get intimate with them, always asking these questions without the girls' consent. Despite displaying a neutral vocal tone during his documentation, it's clear that Crowley expresses disgust and revulsion over Dan's actions based on his videos on both social platforms.
- Static Screw: A non-game example; chapters in most of Crowley's videos open with archive and video footage seemingly playing normally for a few seconds before the screen glitches to pink and red and static starts blurting in-between shots before the focus of the chapter is revealed.
