Dakota Laden is one of the youngest paranormal investigators who rose to fame after creating parody videos based on the TV series, Ghost Adventures. Dakota was cast in the series after he won the Ghost Adventures Mashup contest in 2011 as an 18-year-old. Since then, Dakota has been working on haunted locations in one form or another. For the longest time, Dakota was known for his work on Ghost Adventures, but in April 2019, Dakota left the series and started working on a new series, Destination Fear. In this article, we will take a closer look at the wiki-bio of Dakota Laden. 

Early Life:

Dakota Laden was born on the 18th of November, 1995, in Minnesota. Born and raised in Minnesota, Dakota grew up alongside his four siblings Mykenna, Chelsea, Tavian & Isabella Laden. The second-eldest of the lot, Chelsea Laden stars alongside Dakota in his paranormal adventures. Little is known about his other three siblings. Of his parents, his father, Rob Laden, is known to have appeared in some of Dakota’s adventures but his mother Polly Laden likes to keep herself away.

Talking about his early life, Dakota revealed that he and his sister grew up in a haunted house. Revealing about his early interests in the paranormal, Dakota said,

“My sister Chelsea and I grew up in a haunted house. It wasn’t an extreme case, but it was definitely haunted and our parents were actually more concerned about it than the kids were. Our parents ended up getting the house blessed, and activity stopped, but it sparked an interest in the paranormal and we formed a hobby around it as urban explorers of haunted locations.”

Dakota’s fascination with filmmaking began when he was just 7 years old when he bought a home video camera from his older sister Chelsea. He started making comedy shorts and posting them on YouTube, where he gained a loyal fan base. He also developed an interest in scary stories and abandoned places, and would often plan trips with his friends to investigate haunted locations.

Youtube and Ghost Adventure:

Equipped with his newfound love for all things paranormal, Dakota began exploring haunted locations alongside his sister Chelsea and Tanner. Dakota was also interested in making short films and established a YouTube channel under the shortfilmzz123 in 2008.

One of his favorite shows was Ghost Adventures, hosted by Zak Bagans. He admired Bagans’ style and courage, and decided to make a spoof of the show on his YouTube channel. Little did he know that this would change his life forever. His spoof caught the attention of Bagans himself, who invited him to join the Ghost Adventures crew as a guest in 2011. Dakota was thrilled to meet his idol and learn from him.

Dakota continued to work with Bagans as a camera operator and producer for Ghost Adventures, honing his skills and gaining more experience in the paranormal field. He also made his own paranormal documentary, Trail to Terror, with his sister Chelsea and his best friend Tanner Wiseman in 2015. The film was a spin-off of Destination Fear, a web series that Dakota had created earlier. His adventure with them lasted for a short while before Dakota announced his leave in 2019. He revealed the message on Twitter that read,

“It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.”