BBC's Uncanny podcast

[paruses]

Just finished the Elizabeth Dacre one. Enjoyed it apart from the guy experiencing it sounded too much like Simon Cowell and it took me most of the episode to place the voice. I just had the "well, look" pattern going round and round my head and couldn't latch onto it. If it turns out Simon Cowell died while I was listening to it I am 100% writing in to be on an episode.

The thing I like and find quite interesting about this is rather than as episodes go on and believing more and more, and thinking well they can't all be mistaken; I go the opposite way and see more and more rational and reasonable explanations.

In the latest one it's interesting that the couple were separated during his experiences. Presumably quite a stressful time. The fact that he explicitly says he doesn't really want to talk about it and that's fine with the interviewer is quite maddening.

The presenter seems to be getting more and more credulous as the series goes on and seems happy to be so.

Really hope there's another series.

[Thomas]

The presenter seems to be getting more and more credulous as the series goes on and seems happy to be so.

His pathological need to track down genuine ghostliness did produce this very entertaining exposure of fake mediums:¹

^{1. tautology}

[paruses]

Thanks for that. I happened to see that completely by chance when it was broadcast and I was channel hopping. Been trying to find it since. I didn't realise that was the Uncanny guy. He's a classic example of someone whose voice does not go with their appearance - I keep expecting him to sound like Keanu from Saxondale.

[Alberon]

Skipped a few and listened to the 14th episode about the catholic woman. This one seems to actually have two witnesses (as opposed to one witness claiming there were others).

A lot of it seemed to me to be more due to a strict catholic upbringing than paranormal events. Also it is another case where the building really needs to be investigated, if it still exists.

[Thomas]

Really enjoying the pod, but at times I do feel there's a sort of salacious insensitivity around some of the more recent cases. Yer man Danny putting on a dramatic voice to speculate that the poltergeist might be the spirit of a teenage student shot at the height of the Troubles.

I don't know. I love ghost stories in the abstract, but spuriously linking listeners' accounts of vague spookiness to genuine recent tragedies makes me roll my eyes, especially when it's feasible that youngish relatives of the victims are still knocking about. Would you link a slamming door in Manchester to the Arena bombing? It's like when supernatural heads go on about poor Elisa Lam, as if she was simply a character in creepypasta to be creepily speculated about.¹

Or perhaps everything is up for grabs in the bona fide world of paranormal investigation. That creaking floorboard was Madeleine McCann.

_{[1] That episode of The ParaPod captures this perfectly (and, incidentally, very amusingly).}

[Icehaven]

Also it is another case where the building really needs to be investigated, if it still exists.

This is what I found the most frustrating about the whole series, with the exception of the NI student digs* I think most or all of the other buildings still exist but they either couldn't or just didn't visit any of them. Maybe they will in the second series.





*I dunno why they focussed 3 whole episodes on that case either, it was far from the most interesting one and they even expressly said in the final episode that it could all well have just been student pranks. All this about discovering historic tragedies that happened nearby is daft too, you could probably find something bad that's happened for virtually every square foot of most towns and cities if you looked hard enough.

[Cuellar]

Yeah the update to the first case follows the pattern set up by the update to the bothy case

Spoiler alert

"I was totally alone in the building. Everyone else would go home at weekends, you know. Oh apart from that one other guy that used to stay over the weekend, that English guy who was a real practical joker, but that's probably irrelevant"

[close]

[holyzombiejesus]

New 'summer special' episode out at 6pm today. New case!

[Icehaven]

Yep I saw the trailer episode for that on Sounds a few days ago and expected to get a notification when it was released as I've subscribed to it for ages, but nope. I get notifications for new episodes of other podcasts I've never heard of and have no interest in, but not ones I actually subscribe to, bloody Sounds. Anyway looking forward to giving it a listen later.

[holdover]

I'm trying to remember where I've read new story before. It might have been on Reddit or somewhere where folk were sharing ghost stories. Possibly that's where it came to the attention of the podcast folk.

The "experts" really bring nothing to the podcast do they?

[Operty1]

I'm trying to remember to, i have heard this one before. Strangely it's like i've heard this episode before. Once it had started i was convinced that i must have pressed on the wrong episode to play. It could have been a post from Reddit but perhaps read out verbatim for the podcast? all the story beats were so familiar, the old fisherman, the radio, the owner asking if they had seen the ghost yet. Perhaps i just read too many ghost stories. 

[Ron Maels Moustache]

I'm trying to remember where I've read new story before. It might have been on Reddit or somewhere where folk were sharing ghost stories. Possibly that's where it came to the attention of the podcast folk.

The "experts" really bring nothing to the podcast do they?

That's the part of the format of these shows I find the most frustrating - the experts bit is always exactly the same, the believer says there's enough evidence to suggest it might be something and the sceptic comes up with a pat explanation, then Robbins moves onto the next part of the story and there's no room for any actual discussion about what happened.

On something like Astonishing Legends, the hosts tend to waffle far too much but they do at least take the time to drill down into a story and discuss all the possible explanations. Whereas in Uncanny the episodes are so compressed they barely even come close to scratching the surface most of the time.

[holdover]

The second part of this had me laughing this morning.
The horror of abysmal housekeeping.

[Icehaven]

The brother not wanting to be on the podcast was a bit of a giveaway. Doesn't want to draw any more attention to that time he jumped out of bed in the middle of the night for some reason and made his brother and dad spend the next few decades thinking a ghost did it.

[Icehaven]

Live special from Hay-On-Wye up now, it's great fun (the Jason Manford bit is bobbins though.)

[Keebleman]

That poor token sceptic!  He was in the position of a doctor having to give a diagnosis based on little more than, "My mum has had a pain in her ankle for three weeks now but it stops when she whistles," or a detective being told about a crime then having to solve it in two minutes flat.

The Manford story was the best one, I thought.  I've heard of the William Terriss haunting several times before.  He should be categorised alongside Dan Leno as Great Victorian Theatre Stars Who Are Now Ghosts.  Why don't any stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood come back as ghosts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Terriss

[Icehaven]

The Manford story was the best one, I thought.  I've heard of the William Terriss haunting several times before.

I suspect Manford had too.

I liked the fireman's story, it makes a change for someone to see a ghost somewhere mundane and unspooky and when they haven't just woken up. I always lose interest when I hear "It was the middle of the night and I was in bed..." It's a bit of a coincidence that so many ghosts choose this exact situation, when their witness is half asleep and highly suggestible, to make their presence felt.

[Ron Maels Moustache]

That poor token sceptic!  He was in the position of a doctor having to give a diagnosis based on little more than, "My mum has had a pain in her ankle for three weeks now but it stops when she whistles," or a detective being told about a crime then having to solve it in two minutes flat.

The Manford story was the best one, I thought.  I've heard of the William Terriss haunting several times before.  He should be categorised alongside Dan Leno as Great Victorian Theatre Stars Who Are Now Ghosts.  Why don't any stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood come back as ghosts?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Terriss

Not exactly "old Hollywood", but talk of theatrical ghosts reminded how fascinated I've always been by the story of Les Dawson seeing Sid James' ghost at the Sunderland Empire.

There's a good thread about it on the Forteana forums, although it's a bit inconclusive.

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/what-exactly-did-les-dawson-see-re-sid-james-ghost.66469/

I think it may be partly urban legend which has grown over the years, and the detail about it being a visitation by Sidney himself maybe be a detail that was embroidered in retrospect, especially the part about Dawson getting stabbing chest pains.

As far as anyone knows Les was terrified enough by something he saw that made him never want to go back, but would never speak about it, which makes most of the descriptions of what happened highly questionable.

[Keebleman]

New episode uploaded in the last couple of days. It's a sort of crossover, as it consists of an interview with one of the creators of the sitcom Ghosts. He tells his own spooky experiences, one of which is spectacular though quite easily explained as sleep paralysis, whereas the other is more modest but much harder to find an easy solution to.

[badaids]

I'm really enjoying this podcast. I'm a hard-core skeptic and they stories are hokey as fuck, yet its hugely entertaining and managed to creep me out and scare the shit out ofmore than any film I've ever seen.

However it's fucking annoying that they feel the need to add sounds effects every single thing being talked about, the cunts.

The UFO ones and the angel ones were bollocos, but the haunted bothy and the hanging house legitimatelyade my skin crawl and I'm scared to turn the lights out and WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT NOISE?!

[Icehaven]

However it's fucking annoying that they feel the need to add sounds effects every single thing being talked about, the cunts.

On the current one when the music suddenly started up when Rickard was talking about his scary experiences I thought my phone was on the blink and it was an advert in the background.

[Replies From View]

Always thought there should be a series called Les Dawson's Up Shit Creek with the centring arranged on the poster so that it pointlessly seems to be promoting Dawson's Creek.

I don't mind what the content could have been; telling ghost stories is fine if that fits. 

[Icehaven]

Anyone been listening to The Witch Farm? Seems to be what he's done this year instead of more Uncannys. It's alright (and our boy Reece Shearsmith makes a brief appearance in one episode) but it's a bit dragged out. A lot of the voice acting in the dramatised bits is hammy as hell too.

I also thought it was a bit off that despite the fact the people who live in the house now have said they don't want to be involved at all, Robbins and someone else (can't remember who now, might have been the main woman Liz) still went "as close as we can get to the property" which sounded like they were right by the back garden, which given how secluded it is is a bit intrusive. It's not as if he could claim they were just passing.

[chabrol]

Started well and with some nice atmosphere, but has gotten steadily more ridiculous and the last couple of episodes have put a lot of what came before pretty conclusively in a whole new light re: the whole thing possibly being a shared delusion generated out of a nervous breakdown on the part of the husband and spurred on by parties with and without vested interests (the equally damaged Shearsmith character with the wife killed by ley lines, the Baptists desperately trying to come across as big-bad-exorcist hardmen, the local historian whose presentation in the drama makes them come across as a bit of an excitable gossip-monger), a conclusion which looks like it only be more solidified by the 'revelation' in the final episode which the trailer made obvious. All starting to feel a bit sticky and a bit unpleasant, really, without due scepticism being given to those elements which seem to be doing more harm than good (particularly the baptist priest).

Frustrating that after all that about the husband in the last episode, the only evidence which has Danny swinging back round to 'it is all true!' (whether just for the purposes of keeping the podcast actually going in the face of what seemed to be a pretty horrible dead-end or not) is the woman saying that she heard running footsteps on a few occasions, which is hardly the most conclusive evidence and the actual woman who lived in the house at that time reported nothing happening ever. The implications that the rather horrible murder that occurred on the site could have been demonically driven was tenuous and a bit dodgy too- how much documentation do we have for the motives of murder between Victorian farm labourers in most cases anyway and where did the repeated declaration that they were good friends previously come from? Anyone who's familiar with the legions of folk broadside ballads concerning real murderers and criminals will know that this sort of incident was not particularly uncommon in rural areas.

[iamcoop]

My thoughts from the Shit Podcasts thread a few days ago:

I quite enjoyed the Uncanny podcast (which was discussed on here at the time) but Danny Robbins new one The Witch Farm is fucking awful.

For me it's a combination of the actual story being completely ludicrous, ridiculously hammy acting which isn't convincing at all, oddly unlikeable central characters (I mean, forcing your tearful, frightened son to go to boarding school because some headcase spiritualist has told you it's him that's haunted not the house..) and Danny's hyperbolic responses to all the revelations which has just become tiresome.

It's based on the Heol Fanog case that gained publicity in the 90s, and it's a right load of fucking bobbins.

To be totally honest I've disliked this from the word go.

I've still kept up with it (so I can't hate it that much clearly) but if anything now it seems grotesquely intrusive.

It's clearly a man having a massive breakdown and his family having to handle the collateral damage of it.

I don't particularly find Bill or Liz that likeable, and the acting is atrocious (particularly the guy that plays Bill).

As I mentioned, I enjoyed Uncanny for what it was, and I'm looking forward to the next series (it's been renewed I believe) but I think this has jumped the shark massively and Danny's reactions to everything have just increasingly pissed me off.

There's an Uncanny Facebook page I'm on which is heavily populated by Danny fan girls and even they all seem to think this has become massively shit as well.

Edit: Very good post from @chabrol above as well. Agree with everything said.

[Alberon]

I'd love to see Uncanny done properly, that is with a stronger sceptical side and having a proper investigation of a haunting site.

Ultimately this is just too credulous for me.

[Keebleman]

I listened to about ten minutes of episode 1.  Tbh, the format put me off from the start - either have a dramatisation or a factual investigation, but not both - and when I heard Welsh characters whinging to English newcomers about "all you've taken from us" I knew my cliche tolerance was going to be under severe strain.  I did a quick Google of the case and when I saw the word 'succubus' I knew I wasn't going to miss much by stopping at that point.

Also, I'm from south Wales, and quite regularly go walking in the Beacons, and I had never heard of the case at all.

[chabrol]

Yeah, listened to the last episode now and the extended epilogue about Bill drinking himself to death in the following years just confirmed the whole podcast as, at best an unfortunate idea, at worst an exploitative continuation of the same happily encouraged delusions that drove a vulnerable man deeper into a breakdown. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, there was a duty of care in telling any aspect of this story that was discarded entirely. Even worse was following this tragic section with "WE'LL BE BACK IN FEBRUARY TO FANBOY ABOUT THIS HAUNTING TOGETHER IN-PERSON WITH LIZ PRESENT,  JOIN US"

Also agree with all that the performance of the actor playing Bill was stunningly bad.

[iamcoop]

Liz is actually a member of the Uncanny/Witchfarm Facebook group and has been happily interacting with people and posting pictures of his artwork, which seems all the more strange really.

Nothing like monetising the breakdown and subsequent death of your partner!

[chabrol]

Liz is actually a member of the Uncanny/Witchfarm Facebook group and has been happily interacting with people and posting pictures of his artwork, which seems all the more strange really.

Nothing like monetising the breakdown and subsequent death of your partner!

Oof, yeah, I find that a bit surprising, to be honest. No idea how I'd react to the trauma of the death of a spouse, but all of this sits incredibly uneasily with me, and if I was Danny I'd have been backing away from this whole story and not rehashing it further with live events. Boiling the events down to grist for the 'team skeptic' and 'team believer' arguments seems not just blase, but even a little bit inhumane.

As someone who used to really enjoy 'true' ghost stories and the like, this whole podcast has really put it in stark terms for me how little joy or entertainment I get out of anything in this genre now. It seems that parallel to a greater understanding of mental health/psychology and their influence in the experiencing of 'paranormal' events, there's been an equal drive towards credulity for things like demonology, Christian fundamentalist forms of Manicheanism, black witchcraft etc that is even more diametrically opposed to, and sometimes outright attacking, consideration and care of people and their mental health. It's of course pop culturally-driven (Paranormal Activity definitely had a huge influence on all this, rehashing a lot of The Exorcist's after-effects), and things like this podcast do not help at all. It's all a long way from grey ladies on the stairs and even the way the Enfield Poltergeist was discussed (I'm sure now we'd have a podcast about that claiming Anton LaVey used to live in the house and raised Eligos through a human sacrifice).