Chasing Legends: An Interview with Aleksandar Petakov of Small Town Monsters

Aleksandar Petakov—best known for his work with the Small Town Monsters crew—to explore the art and adventure of cryptid documentary filmmaking. Born in 1993 in South Africa and raised in the U.S., Aleksandar earned a BA in Communications (with minors in History & Political Science) from Quinnipiac University in 2015 and has since made the wilderness his classroom and the unknown his subject. Together, we journey through:

• Bigfoot: Beyond the Trail, Aleksandar’s flagship documentary series on Sasquatch investigations (over 40 episodes and 20 million+ views on the Small Town Monsters YouTube channel)
• His painstaking research into New Hampshire sightings—more than 50 documented cases that fuel his upcoming Granite State Bigfoot film and database project
• The genesis of his Strange Places series (2024), from haunted mines to Cold War radar installations, and what drives him to chase the world’s most enigmatic locations

• How to transform field investigations into compelling narratives
• The ethics of documenting eyewitness testimony in cryptozoology
• Why New England remains a hotbed for high-strangeness phenomena

• Aleksandar’s website: https://petakovmedia.com/
• Small Town Monsters YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallTownMonsters
• Bigfoot: Beyond the Trail playlist: youtube.com/playlist/BeyondTheTrail