| “ | With that be safe and I'll see you in the next one...LATA!! | ” |
―Ben Miller's Outro | ||
Benjamin Matthew Miller (birthday: May 27) is an American YouTuber who creates videos around topics such as the paranormal, aliens, cryptids, and conspiracy. He is known for having a nice personality even with the most cynical of comments.
Personal life[]
Ben lives in the state of Pennsylvania with his wife Helena and their 3 children (2 girls and a boy). The exact town is unknown but a few posts on his Facebook have indicated that he lives in Punxsutawney. In one video he mentioned that he is 6'1" tall, has blue eyes, and has long dirty blond hair. He has two dogs as pets in which both are of the Shih Tzu breed and are named Chewy and Gidget. Chewy is Ben's dog and is one of the faces he uses frequently on his channel. At one time his family had a West Highland Terrier named Leroy Jethro Gibbs Miller but on August 31, 2016 that he had passed away due to lymphoma.[1]
Ben has an older brother named George but it has been mentioned that he is a skeptic (although he sometimes gives Ben video ideas). Ben's father's name is George as well and it has been frequently noted that he has reported seeing multiple UFOs in his life. His mother's name is Elaine and not much is known about her other than she has made stuffed animals for him that resemble Yetis. Ben has given away a few of these toys to his fans in the past. On various occasions, Ben has mentioned that he works as a Journeyman Pipefitter with Local Union 354.
He rarely shows his face in his content but on one live stream, he treated his viewers to a face reveal where he showed an image of himself wearing a hockey mask and then showed another with it removed where he was wearing a Sub-Zero (from Mortal Kombat) half mask. Not long after that he finally removed that mask and showed his real face. The whole time he began telling a story of how as a kid he always wondered what Cobra Commander and Destro (from GI Joes toys) looked like but when given the opportunity to find out they had another mask underneath. He had mentioned that on occasion he already had posted images of his face on Facebook as well as his wife frequently did the same on hers.
History[]
Ben has mentioned that he originally made his YouTube page to listen to music videos on a playlist. He also stated that he had no intention of creating regular content at first and only utilized YouTube to post a video of a strange being he caught on a trail camera set up in the hallway of his house. The video showing this was uploaded on August 31 2014, and he didn't post anything else for almost 4 months afterward.[2] On December 9 2014 he started posting regular content related to video games. It wasn't until December 18 that he officially branded his content Ice Wolf Videos.[3] In a live stream, Ben mentioned that he started to create content due to being out of work for an extended time and need something to keep his mind occupied.
When first starting, his videos consisted of a text-based system but after many of his viewers asked for him to change if he started strictly narrating his content on June 6, 2015. Previous videos did have narration but all text-based ones were abandoned after the previous date.
Originally his content was a mixed bag of topics as he was unsure what type of content he wanted to create. On March 22 2015 he officially changed his channel from the previous content and became strictly focused on his current genre of paranormal topics. The reason behind this choice is because he has mentioned having quite a few paranormal experiences in his life starting with his interaction with his long-deceased grandfather when he was only 8 years old. It has been stated that he has lived in houses that were haunted and recently he told his fans about a girl in white that frequents his current house and likes to watch him while he is working on his computer.
The name Ice Wolf Videos comes from a mix of two nicknames he has had growing up. As a child, many of his friends called him Wolf for unknown reasons and Ben has even stated that it got to the point that some of his adult friends never knew his real name. While studying at Penn State University he worked for a grocery store in the frozen foods section. His co-workers would give him the nickname Ice Man due to him staying in the storage freezers for prolonged periods.
Collaborations and friends[]
During his time on YouTube, he has worked with a handful of other content creators many of which he has mentioned have become his friends. The first was with a channel called Wolves and Sheeple on September 23 2016 in which the creator, named Winston, conducted an interview with Ben which ranged from all topics involving conspiracy. During the interview, Winston claimed to keep hearing helicopters flying over his house and at one point heard a knock at his door even though it was late at night. All of this startled him and he mentioned being worried about,"traveling down the rabbit hole" in talking to Ben.
The second collab was on December 6 2016 with a creator named Drew from his channel called Mad Cat Mysteries [1]. Within this the two worked on a series of videos together, taking turns narrating segments, involving the dangers of being a UFO researcher.[4][5] Drew also narrated a few of videos on Ben's channel as well during his "UFO Week". It has been made quite clear that Drew and Ben frequently talk and are friends.
One of his most recent collabs has been with Mike Ricksecker, a paranormal investigator and author, from the channel Haunted Road Media [2]. On November 14 2017 Mike, Ben, and a medium friend of Mikes named Vanessa uploaded a live video of a program entitled "Edge of the Rabbit Hole" in which they interviewed him on his experiences and thoughts on cryptids.[6] Not long after this Mike appeared on one of Ben's videos, on March 12, 2018, titled "Interview With Haunted Road Media" where Ben asked Mike questions about being a ghost hunter.[7] Since that time Ben has been seen commenting on their Facebook posts and being involved in their live events in the chat section. It has been mentioned that he considers the team at Haunted Road Media his friends.
Controversy[]
In one of his first videos entitled Top 10 Out of Place Artifacts, he made many errors with the information that he was providing which caused a lot of angry comments to be left by viewers.[8] At first, he admitted his mistake and quickly stated it was one of his earliest videos but it didn't seem to help. Not long after this he quit replying to comments on that video since he made multiple revisions to the video itself to correct the issues. Finally, on October 8, 2017, he uploaded a companion video in which he redid the original version and corrected all misinformation and added the true stories behind all the images.[9] However, this video has gained very little views even though he provided a link to it in his original video description.
After many of his fans requested it, on July 24, 2017, Ben posted a video in which he proceeded to debunk video evidence from a content creator by the name of Fantastic Daily (FD for short).[10] This channel frequently posted videos allegedly showing paranormal attacks on the narrator and his family. At one point he even mentioned that one of his children had died during all of it. In the comment section, people claiming the content was a hoax were berated by Fantastic Daily as well as his fans. When Ben uploaded his video many of his fans loved it but quite a few brought their anger towards him due to them believing the evidence was real. Even Ben's close friend Drew from Mad Cat Mysteries began supporting Fantastic Daily. Not long after Ben's video FD finally admitted it was all fake, his child didn't die, and even attacked his fans claiming they should have known it wasn't real. Mad Cat Mysteries authenticity took the hardest blow and he posted a video in which he mentioned that Ben had been privately messaging him advising to stay away from FD's content.[11]
Series[]
- Cryptid Spotlight (Season 1 & 2)
- Breaking Cryptid News
- Breaking Paranormal News
- Real vs Reel
- Personal Paranormal
- Wolf's Den
- Reddit: No Sleep Theatre (may not continue as it is new)
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hN8meHOSo8
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0bXtb5MKHQ
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87WEnkG1Di4
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzAb6bIYsNY
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0N9IjvlHtg
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAn_ednLdts
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0ChbRYONIk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsjJPSKbY8Y
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwYwZqtPylM
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLzQM2uYAc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmnQP4chdaM