It is shown that most properties of (bounded) completely hyperexpansive operators remain valid for unbounded $2$-hyperexpansive operators. Powers of closed $2$-hyperexpansive operators are proved to be closed and $2$-hyperexpansive. Various parts of spectra of such operators are calculated. $2$-hyperexpansive weighted shifts are investigated. Examples of unbounded closed $2$-hyperexpansive ($2$-isometric) operators with invariant dense domains are established.
AMS 2000 Mathematics subject classification: Primary 47A05; 47B37. Secondary 47B20; 47B10
