"The world is inherently a strange place,” Aleksandar Petakov said, his voice lowered to blend in with the quiet hum of the Peterborough Town Library on a snowy December afternoon.

The 31-year-old knows what he’s talking about. Inspired by his lifelong appreciation for the strangeness of the world, he’s spent the last eight years investigating eerie ruins, cryptid sightings, UFOs and more as a leading documentarian of the weirdness in the wild.

The genre tends to attract sensationalists, cynics, even conspiracy theorists. Petakov is none of those. He approaches his work with an open mind and a thoughtful curiosity about the world, the wilderness and people. In his eyes, adventure is for everyone, from the doubting Thomas to the true believer.

A unique journey

Asked if he grew up in the small Hillsborough County town he now calls home, Petakov chuckles. Then, in his low, smooth voice, he describes his family’s journey to New Hampshire.

In the early ’90s, Petakov’s parents left the former Yugoslavia, a country in southeast Europe that dissolved in the early years of that decade. The breakup was one of Europe’s deadliest armed conflicts since World War II.

When the Petakovs moved to South Africa, where Aleksandar was born in 1993, they hoped they were leaving conflict behind.

But that wasn’t to be. In South Africa, intensifying political violence was the backdrop to negotiations aimed at ending apartheid, a system of racial segregation and social hierarchy. By 1995, the Petakovs were on the move again, this time landing in New York City.

“It was a big shock,” Petakov said of his memories of the city. “I remember that feeling of being boxed in.”

When the family moved up to Nashua in 1999, he rejoiced at the return to a place with trees, open space, and more possibilities for adventure — things he continues to seek today.

Despite his early life being shaped by flight from violence, for Petakov getting outside isn’t about escape. He views the world’s inherent strangeness with awe, curiosity and wonder — not with fear.

That’s the perspective he wants to pass on to others. Through his work with Small Town Monsters, an Ohio-based film production company exploring lost and bizarre history around the United States, and his personal YouTube channel, he inspires viewers to “get out there.”

While many of the places he visits are difficult to access, remote, and in some cases even well-kept secrets, he had a few must-sees in New Hampshire he was willing to share.

Because of social media, Petakov said some of the world’s best-kept secret locations have become over-exposed. He doesn’t want his work to result in throngs of people destroying the places he explores. Instead, he hopes people will take inspiration to go out and “find their own adventures.”

Finding a niche

At Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., Petakov studied history, political science and communications, planning to work in geopolitics, perhaps for the United Nations.

Today, it’s hard to picture Petakov, who wears only a light sweatshirt on one of the coldest days of the year and sports an outdoorsman’s beard, in a suit at the U.N. But at the time, that was the dream.

After graduating in 2015, Petakov went to work in the advertising industry in Boston, a gig he knew wasn’t what he wanted to do forever. On the side, he started shooting videos. The magic began to happen when he combined his video skills with his lifelong interest in the “mysteries of the world.”

Petakov said in some ways documentary filmmaking is more accessible than ever before.

“You can really do it yourself,” he said. “Anyone can get a GoPro and film a great documentary.”

With so much advanced technology available to everyone, Petakov being able to tell a good story has become more important than having the best gear.

He posted his first YouTube video in July 2016. It got about 9,000 views. His “Bigfoot: Beyond the Trail” documentary film series, one of his most popular works with Small Town Monsters, now has more than 18 million views.

Small Town Monsters videos focus on small-town folklore, told through the words and experiences of residents and other witnesses.

His personal channel, Aleks Petakov Adventures, has about 9,000 subscribers.

Petakov first worked with Small Town Monsters founder Seth Breedlove on a series on Lake Champlain’s “Champ” — a folkloric lake monster. Breedlove, a former journalist, said he appreciated Petakov’s desire to approach the stuff of legends objectively.

Petakov said he wanted to take an approach that pushed back against sensationalizing or making fun, instead taking things like bigfoot sightings seriously as mysteries.

Breedlove described Petakov as energetic and passionate with a good sense of humor and a willingness to “get out there”

“He has no fear, that I’ve seen,” Breedlove said, “which is good when you’re spending a lot of time in the woods in creepy places.”

Petakov tries to approach every investigation as simply and realistically as possible, he said. Whether he’s filming in remote Alaskan wilderness or at an abandoned radar base in Vermont, his goal is to show the viewer what’s there — not to persuade them of any particular truth.

Petakov’s subject matter is unique, but his documentaries look much like ones about more traditional topics, with interviews with adventurers, locals and experts interspersed with shots of stunning landscapes and art depicting the legends associated with the land.

To believe or not to believe?

Petakov has investigated famous cryptids like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster as well as local legends like Lake Champlain’s Champ, Arizona’s Mogollon Monster and the Bridgewater Triangle’s Pukwudgies, troll-like creatures some believe haunt the forests of Bristol County, Mass. He’s also lead discussions and done presentations on Sasquatch evidence in New Hampshire.

He remains skeptical, but in some cases “I do think there’s something out there,” he said.

The people he interacts with on his adventures reflect his goal of balance, as does the way he interacts with them. Petakov said he’s spoken to many people who claim to have seen mysterious creatures like bigfoot. Some of his videos are first-person exploration. Others are conversations with cryptozoologists, amateur bigfoot hunters and more.

“I’ve met witnesses. People who in my eyes are very credible … It’s not our place to say that it did or didn’t happen.”

Petakov also relies on his relationships with scientists and experts, some of whom appear in his videos and some of whom prefer to keep their involvement on the down-low, offering genetic testing or other investigative services for evidence he finds in the field.

“I’ve gotten really lucky to meet a variety of people from different backgrounds,” he said. He’s worked with former members of the secret service, ex-military, backpackers, authors and researchers, to name a few.

But his investigations, which sometimes lead him to experiences he can’t fully explain — like an unseen creature in Alaska throwing rocks at him, don’t bring firm conclusions. He remains open to the mystery of it all, and hopes his viewers do, too.

“There’s a lot of mysteries out there … You don’t have to believe in any of it to get out there and enjoy it.”

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.