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Uncanny (BBC Programme / Podcast)

Paul_Exeter said:
Got to say that as a cracking update episode!

The flashing beacon update to the Waterford poltergeist case was one of the best witness accounts yet and then the Horningtops revelations to cap it all off, great stuff!

Can forgive Danny for holding back on those photos now :)
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Have we finally got official confirmation they were just photos of her daughter? I may not be able to listen to the episode for several days but I want to know!

P.S. Was there any talk about the next podcast series?
 
Cloudbusting said:
Have we finally got official confirmation they were just photos of her daughter? I may not be able to listen to the episode for several days but I want to know!

P.S. Was there any talk about the next podcast series?
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Yes

I haven’t finished just yet. Just listening to the Uncle Jack update and how cr*p must your floor/ceiling be if you can see footsteps? There’s generally different layers.
 
Was watching the tv series again last night to watch Cate again (Ms Howard). All I could take from it is how comfortable she was on camera. Then onto the second episode and the 'Bearpark Poltergeist':

"Case 2: The Bearpark Poltergeist​

UncannySeries 1
Episode 2 of 3
Ian believes his house was haunted by an entity which would shake drawers, ring bells and even flush the toilet. But could there be a scientific explanation for all this?"

A great case but what struck me this time was that the manifestation of the little boy in ragged clothing (who may or may not have been a child miner) was friendly towards the terrier dog and Alex the nephew who used to play with him (imaginary friend under the stairs), ambivalent towards the mother when she him on many occasions late at night and yet terrified the bejeezus out of our main witness Ian with poltergeist pranks and the levitation etc. No-one seems to pick up on this ambiguity and so were the little miner boy ghost sand the poltergeist one and the same thing...?

Also, have to say on these second complete viewings I found myself focusing less on Danny (hair, clothes and theatrics) and more on the actual witness stories themselves. Third one tonight...
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Was watching the tv series again last night to watch Cate again (Ms Howard). All I could take from it is how comfortable she was on camera. Then onto the second episode and the 'Bearpark Poltergeist':

"Case 2: The Bearpark Poltergeist​

UncannySeries 1
Episode 2 of 3
Ian believes his house was haunted by an entity which would shake drawers, ring bells and even flush the toilet. But could there be a scientific explanation for all this?"

A great case but what struck me this time was that the manifestation of the little boy in ragged clothing (who may or may not have been a child miner) was friendly towards the terrier dog and Alex the nephew who used to play with him (imaginary friend under the stairs), ambivalent towards the mother when she him on many occasions late at night and yet terrified the bejeezus out of our main witness Ian with poltergeist pranks and the levitation etc. No-one seems to pick up on this ambiguity and so were the little miner boy ghost sand the poltergeist one and the same thing...?

Also, have to say on these second complete viewings I found myself focusing less on Danny (hair, clothes and theatrics) and more on the actual witness stories themselves. Third one tonight...
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Want to you think about Cate and the Ms Howard thing as when I first saw it I loved the story but Cate I was like half and half on her....my heart said no but then thats my pessimistic side.
 
I listened to the season 3 update and enjoyed it. I think that it was important for Danny to address people’s comments about the episodes, especially the picture. IMO, it helps with the credibility of the show. I don’t think I remember ever having a show that allows for the audience to engage like this.
 
brownmane said:
I listened to the season 3 update and enjoyed it. I think that it was important for Danny to address people’s comments about the episodes, especially the picture. IMO, it helps with the credibility of the show. I don’t think I remember ever having a show that allows for the audience to engage like this.
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Yes. It was nice to get closure on that spooky picture!
 
Min Bannister said:
Let's have a bit of faith! I would be interested to hear what common or garden US ghosts would be like without any demons or screaming. Do they get hooded monks for example? White or Grey ladies?
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I think it's a matter of perspective.
Most of the 'hauntings' I've heard of date from the settlers. I think the native beliefs have long been suppressed, to favour the 17th Century onwards. Any 'grey ladies' tend to be from that period, the monks associated with the south and the Catholic diaspora/missions.
Of course, I'm not American and can only go by media reports. But it always seems to involve either demons, native burial grounds, the War of Independence and the Civil War.
Buzzfeed Unsolved's Shane and Ryan did some excellent shows ... er ... investigations and spun off to do their own channel The Watcher.
 
It isn't just the US, they're looking at other countries too.

In the mid 1990s, when the www was new, one of the fledgling websites was "Obi wan's ghost stories." I don't know who he/she was and a lot of stories had been culled from the alt.folklore.ghost-stories newsgroup (that shows my age), but the striking thing was that a large fraction of stories from the US (where I think obi-wan was based) were very demonic and sinister compared to UK tales, which were a little dull by comparison.
 
I do hope that they get stories from many different countries, though the podcast and show may not have quite the international audience as it is still relatively new and a UK base.
 
SimonBurchell said:
DIL?
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Sorry, daughter in law!

ETA: Forgot to say - I heard the latest one and was gutted by the mention of US stories, got to admit. Its whole charm for me was that it was so... British. There's plenty of podcasts about the paranormal from US content creators already. I think the show lost it a way a bit with the self-indulgent Daisy Whatsername episode and now this...
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
Sorry, daughter in law!

ETA: Forgot to say - I heard the latest one and was gutted by the mention of US stories, got to admit. Its whole charm for me was that it was so... British. There's plenty of podcasts about the paranormal from US content creators already. I think the show lost it a way a bit with the self-indulgent Daisy Whatsername episode and now this...
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This is my fear, too. First there was the creep of celebrities into what had been a show about ordinary folk experiencing the paranormal and now it risks getting dragged into the US obsession with demons being responsible for ghosts, UFOs etc. The show has barely scratched the iceberg of British witnesses of the paranormal. Ah well, time will tell.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
This is my fear, too. First there was the creep of celebrities into what had been a show about ordinary folk experiencing the paranormal and now it risks getting dragged into the US obsession with demons being responsible for ghosts, UFOs etc. The show has barely scratched the iceberg of British witnesses of the paranormal. Ah well, time will tell.
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It's a bit like when British singers and bands try to break America. It can mean more money, some fame, I dunno, groupies...

But Britishness doesn't always translate and it can be a gamble. Queen blew it by releasing the I Want To Break Free video that featured the band merrily capering in traditional British drag. Went down very badly Stateside. :chuckle:
 
brownmane said:
I do hope that they get stories from many different countries, though the podcast and show may not have quite the international audience as it is still relatively new and a UK base.
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This is probably why they are casting their nets wider. The problem with the show becoming such a hit in the UK is that the more famous it gets, the more hoaxers and publicity stuntists will want to get in on the act. Going abroad will be far more likely to attract people who are not trying to achieve anything other than getting their story out. That is my guess anyway.
 
I read a really great chapter, once, in a book written by the controversial scholar Camille Paglia. In the chapter, she detailed a class at her university, lectures which seemed exciting and original to me (though perhaps familiar to academics): cross-cultural lectures, hosted by Paglia and an Asian colleague, comparing and contrasting Western and Eastern experiences of art and literature. I thought this both fantastic and progressive, and I learned a great deal. So perhaps Uncanny's proposed widening of scope - regarding other nations' experiences of the extraordinary - might turn out to be an education and an entertainment?
 
Min Bannister said:
This is probably why they are casting their nets wider. The problem with the show becoming such a hit in the UK is that the more famous it gets, the more hoaxers and publicity stuntists will want to get in on the act. Going abroad will be far more likely to attract people who are not trying to achieve anything other than getting their story out. That is my guess anyway.
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If the show producers continue to do their research, hopefully this will not happen.

I do think that Danny's response to the audience response to the picture and other questions and suppositions brought by the audience shows that any story is not sacrosanct. Though it will also be a fine balance between allowing a story to be scrutinized and people being hesitant to come forward with their stories if they feel they won't be believed.
 
Min Bannister said:
likely to attract people who are not trying to achieve anything other than getting their story out
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As an American, I feel confident in saying people in the US who will do anything to be on TV far outnumber the people in the US who want to share their ghostly story.

Personally, the mean, cynical old lady who lives in my head is mumbling something about needing a bigger pond, the UK pond is too small. To put it another way, a small story is much bigger in the UK than it is in the US, where it easily gets buried and more eyes on a story makes it more likely to be debunked (see also: forteana.org) whereas the same small story in the US would barely be a blip on the radar.
 
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