25 Of The Best Documentaries About The Paranormal On Netflix

Summary

• There are a wide range of documentaries about the paranormal on Netflix, covering everything from demonic possession through to haunted houses.
• Some of the best paranormal Netflix documentaries try their best to be rooted in scientific accuracy, whereas others lean more towards creating as much entertainment value as possible.
• Some Netflix documentaries on the unexplained are anthology based, covering a wide variety of incidents, whereas others focus on one specific event.

Skeptics widely regard the paranormal as unreal, fanciful, or simply fake — but the best paranormal documentaries on Netflix might convince non-believers otherwise. The streamer offers titles that force viewers to question what may lie beyond what people understand. The great thing about the paranormal genre is that it contains a variety of intriguing topics, as “paranormal” means anything beyond the scope of scientific understanding. This includes ghosts and demons to Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster. Netflix has a documentary on nearly all of it.

For the best paranormal documentaries currently available on Netflix, there is truly something for everyone. Some focus on spooky stories, while others take a more realistic look into paranormal concepts. Some documentaries chronicle what life could be like on alien planets, while others delve into experiences with ghosts and demons. Each of these documentaries leaves belief or unbelief up to the viewer. Whether audiences want to get scared or learn more about supernatural forces, Netflix has titles worth a watch.

25 Files Of The Unexplained (2024)

Eight Episodes Exploring The Unknown

Files of the Unexplained hit Netflix in 2024, and the new supernatural docuseries ended up as one of the most-watched shows on the streaming service. The first season had eight episodes and focused on everything from hauntings and disappearances to paranormal phenomena and mysterious encounters. Each episode is between 30 minutes and 48. Vox produces the series, and each installment takes on a different subject.

The series includes looks at a supposed alien abduction in Mississippi, the government reportedly investigating over 650 UFOs, a series of mysterious drownings on an old plantation, and much more. Each episode takes in witness testimony and expert analysis. The reviews are not as good as other paranormal documentaries on Netflix, but the positive reviews indicate that it works to get people interested in specific unexplained incidents, so they can do further research outside of the show.

24 Encounters (2023)

Four Stories Of Possible Alien Encounters

Encounters is a 2023 UFO series that hit Netflix, telling the story of four alleged sightings that took place. Alas, it is just mostly a series that has people telling their stories, with drawings, artist’s renditions, and some CG footage that demonstrates what the people believe that they saw. What this means is that there is no “proof” that any of these people saw the UFOs. However, the fun is listening to their stories and imagining that what they saw might be true.

Among the stories are people saying they don’t think it was aliens, but they think it was angels. Another says that they are an alien who came to Earth to satisfy their curiosity. Yet another simply says what they saw is true, whether viewers believe them or not. This series won’t sway any nonbelievers, but people who love to hear about possible alien encounters will find a lot to love in this new series.

23 The Devil On Trial (2023)

A Murderer Claims He Was Demonically Possessed

Released in 2023, The Devil on Trial is a very different paranormal documentary on Netflix. This is a true-crime horror documentary about a man on trial for murder who uses the defense that he was under a “demonic possession” when he committed the crime. However, presiding Judge Robert Callahan rejected the argument as a possibility. This documentary follows that case and the defense based on supernatural aspects.

This is a single documentary checking in at 81 minutes, so there is no fluff, and it gets straight to the point. The accused is Arne Cheyenne Johnson, and the documentary uses reenactments, home videos, and firsthand accounts to tell the story of his 1981 case. This case was the only one in history that tried to use “demonic possession” as a defense. On a side note, this ended up being the basis for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

22 Ancient Aliens (2023)

The Original Alien Conspiracy Theory Series

Ancient Aliens is the beloved groundbreaking documentary series that approaches pseudoscientific and pseudohistoric topics about the possibility of aliens on Earth. This includes popular topics such as the ideas of Atlantis and other lost civilizations, the concepts of extraterrestrial contact, and the idea of UFOs. The series also approaches many conspiracy theories that exist in the world of aliens.

Only Season 6 and Season 7 of
Ancient Aliens
are on Netflix.

There are 20 seasons and 256 episodes of Ancient Aliens, but only two of the seasons are available to stream on Netflix. As expected, many historians and scientists have criticized the series for its pseudoscience, but the entire fun of the series is to suppose there were alien encounters on Earth that remain mysteries to this very day. The format is fast and entertaining, with the “experts” giving their thoughts and the show not really questioning anything, but just presenting its facts about any certain subject.

21 Remastered: Devil At The Crossroads (2019)

The Robert Johnson Story

ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads is the world-famous story of Robert Johnson, the blues singer in the Jim Crow South who supposedly met the devil at the crossroads and sold his soul. This story has been around for a long time, as he was a recording artist who hit it big in 1936 and 1937, one of the first-ever “rock stars.” This doc looks at the singer’s life and the legends surrounding his rise to success.

This documentary is about Robert Johnson’s life and musical career. He recorded only 29 songs before his death. However, it also details the myth of the crossroad’s deal with the devil, which helps make it a fun look into the possible paranormal aspects of the man’s life and musical endeavors. It also touches on the symbolism involved in giving someone living his social status such great success in that period of racial tensions.

20 Ghost Hunters (2004- )

A Team Of Paranormal Investigators Visit Famous Haunted Locations

Ghost Hunters is arguably the most popular and successful of the ghost-hunting documentary series on TV. The show premiered in 2004, following Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson of The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS). They began exploring famous haunted locations across the United States before finally branching out and hitting haunted spots in Ireland, The United Kingdom, and Canada. The show even spun off with an international version in 2008. When it comes to Netflix, there are limited episodes to enjoy.

Only Season 8 and Season 9 of
Ghost Hunters
are on Netflix

There are only two seasons of Ghost Hunters on Netflix, with the streaming giant offering seasons eight and nine, for a total of 52 episodes. This means Netflix subscribers can watch a few of the scariest Ghost Hunters episodes, including the 10th episode of season 8, which focuses on a haunted military ship called the USS Yorktown.

This means Netflix subscribers can watch a few of the scariest Ghost Hunters episodes, including the 10th episode of season 8.

19 Alien Worlds (2020)

A Hypothetical Look At Alien Life

Alien Worlds is an incredible and visually striking limited series, and it’s one of the best paranormal documentaries on Netflix. It merges scientific ideas with fictitious creations to imagine what aliens of the universe could realistically look and act like. The show is driven by a calming narration that guides audiences through beautifully imaginative worlds. It is a more than ideal watch for fantasy enjoyers, and perhaps the perfect amalgamation of science-fiction and science-non-fiction.

The weekend after Alien Worlds‘ release, it made it into the Netflix Top Ten for the UK and the series uses its Earth-bound science to create extraordinary worlds. The four-episode series starts with “Atlas,” a planet larger than Earth with higher gravity and a thicker atmosphere. They also discuss exoplanets and their place in the universe. They next explore “Janus,” a planet that orbits a red dwarf star and becomes tidally locked. The third episode is “Eden,” an ideal star system. Finally, “Terra” contains an advanced alien civilization terraforming other planets.

An Unexpected Love Story Within The Search For First Contact

This quick 16-minute short film is a must-watch for documentary lovers. John Was Trying to Contact Aliens is an intimate dive into one man’s extreme interest in wanting to make a connection with something otherworldly. The film tells a touching story through vintage and psychedelic footage. Although it does ultimately veer away from its paranormal aspect, this film will bring audiences back down to earth in a thought-provoking way and includes a heartwarming LGBTQ+ storyline.

Matthew Killip directs this short documentary which features John Shepherd in the lead. His goal is to try to make contact with aliens through the use of broadcasting music into space using state-of-the-art equipment. Not only did he take on this labor of love, but he did it for over 30 years. The movie premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival before Netflix picked it up. It is easily one of the best paranormal documentaries and also one of the best UFO documentaries on Netflix.

17 The UnXplained With William Shatner (2019)

A Look At The World’s Most Notorious Unanswered Questions

The UnXplained with William Shatner is now six seasons strong and worth seeking out. With the incomparable Star Trek star narrating, The UnXplained follows several different paranormal cases per episode and is the perfect program for those looking to explore the full breadth of the supernatural.

Only Season 3 and Season 4 of
The UnXplained
are on Netflix.

The series reportedly brought more tourism to the Lake Shawnee Amusement Park (via Bluefield Daily Telegraph) after the episode focusing on it, and two new seasons premiered in 2023, adding up to 83 episodes so far. While this is a great series to watch on Netflix, it is actually a HISTORY Channel series, so keeping up with new episodes means watching that cable network while catching up on the older seasons can be done on Netflix.

16 Surviving Death (2021)

An Examination Of Death And What Comes After

Based on the book of the same name by Leslie Kean, Surviving Death is a wonderfully existential documentary series with a high production value. Though it is more informative rather than scary, the show grounds supernatural experiences that are usually exaggerated for dramatic effect back in reality. Each episode covers spiritual and emotional experiences that people all over the world have had with death and explores topics like reincarnation and near-death experiences.

This specific series has also been criticized for exploiting the plight of grieving and vulnerable people, but others praise it for its balanced treatment of a difficult topic of discussion.

It merges inexplicable phenomena with what the human species can scientifically and rationally comprehend. There were only six episodes in its sole season, all directed by Ricki Stern, who is best known for the true-crime documentary The Trials of Darryl Hunt and the 2020 documentary Surviving Jeffrey Epstein. This specific series has also been criticized for exploiting the plight of grieving and vulnerable people, but others praise it for its balanced treatment of a difficult topic of discussion.

15 Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel (2021)

An Investigation To A Seemingly Impossible Disappearance

This limited series takes a deep dive into a true crime case that took place at the Cecil Hotel, the real-life inspiration for the terrifying setting of American Horror Story: Hotel and supposedly one of the most haunted places in America. Crime Scene: The Vanishing At The Cecil Hotel looks at the frightening disappearance of Elisa Lam and the apparent supernatural elements of the story.

The series checked in at four episodes, making it a quick watch for anyone who wants to learn more about the supernatural that might surround this hotel.

The documentary is told mostly through interviews that dive into many strange happenings revolving around the hotel that will surely leave viewers on the edge of their seats. The series checked in at four episodes, making it a quick watch for anyone who wants to learn more about the supernatural that might surround this hotel, although the mysteries of what really happened to Lam are not quite as cut and dried as the documentary paints them out to be. It also paints the hotel in a poor light, considering the tragedy.

14 Ancient Apocalypse (2022)

A Controversial Look At Civilizations Of The Past And Their Secrets

Ancient Apocalypse is hosted by British writer Graham Hancock. This paranormal documentary on Netflix combines history and the unknown. Audiences should take what’s presented on Ancient Apocalypse with a grain of salt, as it uses pseudo-archaeological theory and several controversial hypotheses to entertain the idea that there’s a cover-up happening when it comes to history, and it involves the fact that there were civilizations in the past as advanced – or more so – than the one today.

There are eight episodes, starting with a great flood and ending with the cataclysmic event and the rebirth of society.

The series proposes that there was once an ancient intelligent civilization during the Ice Age that was wiped out in a cataclysmic event. Its few survivors were responsible for bringing farming, architecture, and astronomy to the new world. Ancient Apocalypse is not all that different from Ancient Aliens in terms of its credibility, but it remains entertaining. There are eight episodes, starting with a great flood and ending with the cataclysmic event and the rebirth of society.

ancient-apocalypse-on-netflix

13 MH370 The Plane That Disappeared (2023)

An Unexplained Disappearance That Baffled The World

One of the most mystifying true stories of recent memory is that of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. The event inspired the hit Netflix series Manifest, and it’s also the subject of one of the best paranormal documentaries on Netflix. The three-episode docuseries recounts the bizarre story of Flight 370, a plane containing 227 passengers and 12 crew members that disappeared 38 minutes after take-off and has never been found.

However, what this documentary does differently is that each episode focuses on a particular theory about what could’ve happened to the plane. It premiered on the ninth anniversary of the incident, March 8, 2023. While the basis of this series is conspiracy theories about what happened to the missing plane, it remains an entertaining watch on the streaming service and offers up several ideas on what could have happened, even if none of the theories were ever proven true – or even considered by authorities.

12 Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified (2021)

The Extensive Documentary Exploring Various UFO Reports And Investigations

The six-part docuseries Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified uses a mixture of interviews with former government employees and experts in the field as well as dramatic reenactments and historical news stories to detail the US government’s most salacious alien cover-ups. Famous documents like Project Blue Book are covered in exhaustive detail, while other installments focus on alleged alien autopsies and the possibility of the government using advanced alien technology in weaponry.

Top Secret UFO Projects: Declassified suggests that extraterrestrials have been on planet Earth for quite a long time, and the government doesn’t want anyone to know about it. For any fan who believes aliens are not only real but that UFOs have been visiting Earth for many years while the government hides this fact, this is an entertaining and often fascinating watch. The one downfall is that the series relies mostly on stock footage and basic CGI reenactments to tell its story.

11 28 Days Haunted (2022)

A Competition Series About Paranormal Investigators

28 Days Haunted is possibly one of the most unique shows about the supernatural on Netflix. The series follows three different teams of paranormal researchers and investigators as they spend 28 days in some of the most haunted locations in the U.S. to test an experiment laid out by famed couple Ed and Lorraine Warren. The teams are each made up of three people; a skeptic, a psychic, and a tech aficionado.

These teams are then sent to different kinds of locations. They go to one that’s well-documented as haunted, one with no history of a haunting, and one that has a storied history but little investigation. Unlike shows like Ghost Hunters, this is a show that attempts to prove a theory that it only takes 28 days to break through the veil and prove that a location is haunted. The three locations are in Colorado, North Carolina, and Connecticut, and the entire setup is so over-the-top that it should win over any ghost-hunting fan.

10 The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch (2020)

A Docuseries About The Sight Of Various Paranormal Events

A 500-acre ranch in the heart of Utah is host to some of the strangest UFO and paranormal activity that’s ever been seen, and now it’s the subject of one of the best paranormal documentaries on Netflix. The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch follows a small team of scientists as they investigate the strange goings-on at Skinwalker Ranch such as the inexplicable cow mutilations, ionizing radiation, and sightings of both UFOs and dire wolves.

Only Season 3 of
Skinwalker Ranch
is on Netflix

The team uses some interesting technology on the show, such as ground-penetrating radar and advanced drone technology. There’s no denying that Skinwalker Ranch is a strange place, featuring phenomena like highly conductive soil and an underground cavern system. It ended up as a huge success, with the fifth season dropping onto Netflix in April 2024. The show also spawned a spin-off series called Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, which premiered in 2023. Both shows have new seasons also planned for 2025.

9 The Secrets of Saqqara Tomb (2020)

An Exploration Of Ancient Egyptian Beliefs Of The Afterlife

One of the most significant finds in half a century was the tomb of Wahtye, and it’s the subject of The Secrets of Saqqara Tomb. Discovered by Egyptologist Mohammad Yousef, the tomb hasn’t been touched in over 4,400 years and the documentary chronicles the archaeologists exploring its many passageways, tombs, and treasures. The excavation of the tomb and the exploration of the surrounding areas provide an epic watch for fans of Egyptian history and culture, especially with all the interesting discoveries along the way.

On top of the discoveries, the documentary details the life and death of the man and his family and the discovery of countless mummified ancient Egyptians

Wahtye was a high priest during the Fifth Dynasty, and buried with him were his family and various possessions, including statues and a mummified lion cub. The documentary also goes into Ancient Egyptians’ beliefs surrounding death and the afterlife, making for a creepy yet informative dive into history. On top of the discoveries, the documentary details the life and death of the man and his family and the discovery of countless mummified ancient Egyptians — and their animals, including the famed lion cub discovery.

8 My Encounter With Evil (2022)

A Look At Real-Life Exorcism Cases

My Encounter with Evil covers three tales of demonic possession and exorcism. The four-episode docuseries chronicles the experiences of Mexican women Florencia, Coni, and Jessica and their separate battles with the paranormal. The series uses a blend of personal interviews, real video footage of exorcisms, and reenactments based on their subjects’ recollections to chronicle these chilling tales. The resulting documentary series is sure to keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

Geared toward horror movie fans and those who love their demonic stories with plenty of over-the-top moments.

There are plenty of jump-scares in My Encounter with Evil, and the exorcism footage certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. This isn’t one of the more serious supernatural documentaries on Netflix, though. It is more geared toward horror movie fans and those who love their demonic stories with plenty of over-the-top moments. The series proves to be scary, but this is more of a series that uses demonic possessions to thrill the viewers rather than to teach them something about the phenomenon.

7 Haunted: Latin America (2021)

Various Supernatural Experiences From South Of The Border

One of the best paranormal documentaries, Haunted has proven to be so successful that it got a Latin American spinoff that rivals its predecessor. Like Haunted, the Latin American rendition tells five separate stories of people who have had close and personal encounters with ghosts and spirits using a mixture of interviews and terrifying reenactments. Each person gets their own episode, and they check it at between 27 and 47 minutes each to tell their stories.

While it is very similar to the original
Haunted
series, it also adds in reenactments, which might remind viewers of the classic
Unsolved Mysteries
.

Haunted: Latin America explores a single mother moving into a demon-infested home with her children, a cursed doll that grows inexplicably attached to its owner, a police officer who is haunted by a long-dead woman, a man being haunted by his dead neighbor, and a young boy dealing with a formidable evil force. While it is very similar to the original Haunted series, it also adds in reenactments, which might remind viewers of the classic Unsolved Mysteries. Its not as scary as others, but it still tells fascinating stories.

6 House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths (2021)

Netflix Investigates The Mysterious Death Of An Entire Family

Sometimes a true crime case is so bizarre that it causes many to question if there’s supernatural involvement. This was the case with the Burari deaths and House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths. On July 1, 2018, in India, all 11 members of the Chundawat family were found dead in their home. Ten of them were hanged while the eldest member of the family, the grandmother, was strangled. Police ruled their deaths as a mass suicide due to group psychosis.

However, House Of Secrets: The Burari Deaths looks into that explanation and sees if there is something deeper to the story. The show attempts to leave no stone un-turned and presents every possible theory behind the strange and tragic case. The documentary speaks to members of the Buran Police as well as a journalist, a reporter from The Hindu, and a clinical hypnotherapist and seeks to discover what caused the deaths of this entire family.