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Uncanny (BBC Programme / Podcast)

blessmycottonsocks said:
Here it is (from the Wiki page):

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Thank you! :)

When I heard about the lads sleeping under it I imagined a non-functioning, ornamental reconstructed structure.
Instead it looks functional, wonder how often it's closed?

You'd certainly hear the Devil's hooves trip-trapping over that. :nods:
 
AmStramGram said:
Of all places, the drawbridge of Langeais is quite an unexpected place to witness a paranormal event. It's located in the middle of the town. The area is densely populated, with plenty of houses sitting all around the castle. It's not an isolated and gloomy fortress in the middle of nowhere. Neither does it have a reputation for being haunted.

The castle was the site of king Charles VIII's mariage, a happy event. If my memory is correct, king Charles died after slipping over some fecal matter while hurrying towards a competition of jeu de paume, thereafter striking a lintel with his head. But this accident happened in Amboise, not in Langeais ... So unless the king's ghost wanted to remember his mariage ceremony, bringing back with him the stench of his fatal accident in Amboise, I can't find any significant cause for the haunting of this drawbridge.

Could some locals, irritated by seeing two foreign youth camping in the middle of the town, have decided to play a memorable prank on them ? That would have been tempting.
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I googled the location myself as when I heard "drawbridge" I had images of English castles surrounded by moats and glorious countryside. However, I recall some decent ghostly manifestations and activity reported from Dover Castle which is also surrounded on more than one side by housing and the port. Also, the Battersea poltergeist took place in an urban area so maybe being in a densely populated area doesn't preclude the paranormal?
 
escargot said:
That's the direction he wants to go in, giving live performances with guests. The gimmicky screaming put the kibosh on that for me. :chuckle:
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Likewise the episodes with celebrities. I know I have posted about the Moody Blues and their UFO experience, however I do not personally consider the paranormal experience of someone who has been on tv to be more convincing than, say, retired teacher Mrs Smith of Dunroamin', Purley. One of the strengths of Uncanny is that we hear from people like you and I, especially when you so often see celebrities in the headlines for all the wrong reasons

However, I will cut Danny some slack as he is working for the BBC and producers who no doubt put him under pressure to feature celebrities and live discussions (judging by the BBC schedule)
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Quite creepy.
Slightly further south than the region of France I know well.
I'm determined to visit Langeais now next time we're over there.
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If you ever visit the area, I recommend you to seize this opportunity to tour around the following nearby cultural attractions, which are nice :

- The medieval town of Chinon, south of Langeais, and the painted crypt of the church of Tavant (a village in the neighbourhood) : https://www.touraineloirevalley.com/patrimoine-culturel/fresques-de-tavant-tavant/
(The frescoes of Tavant date from the early Middle Ages, and to me some depict some somewhat "heretical" scenes [although this is only my interpretation]).
- The Fontevraud Abbey, where Alienor and Richard the Lionheart were buried. A decade ago, it was still possible to stay overnight in the Abbey : the perfect place to listen to medieval music in a very quiet environment.
- The lovely Chateau du Rivau, a small private castle with delightful gardens : https://www.chateaudurivau.com/fr/
 
Paul_Exeter said:
I googled the location myself as when I heard "drawbridge" I had images of English castles surrounded by moats and glorious countryside. However, I recall some decent ghostly manifestations and activity reported from Dover Castle which is also surrounded on more than one side by housing and the port. Also, the Battersea poltergeist took place in an urban area so maybe being in a densely populated area doesn't preclude the paranormal?
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The issue here is that until this Uncanny episode, there were absolutely no mentions of a paranormal phenomenon in this specific place in the historical records, newspapers or on the web. Even in "rationalist" France, a good ghost story is never shunned when it comes to promote a touristic destination. But I was unable to locate any source claiming weird phenomena had been witnessed there, which I find unlikely given the presence of crowds of potential witnesses all over the place.

I must admit I did not check for UFO reports in the area, though. I'll do that if I can.

EDIT : Just in case, checked on the French GEIPAN website for UFO reports in the area around 40 years ago. Did not find anything significant apart for a ball of light appearing over the Western horizon over Fontevraud in march 25th, 1980 (21h50), later dismissed as a misperception of Venus. Source : https://www.cnes-geipan.fr/

So for me, until someone exhumes some new historical material, Langeais still looks like a "no-weirdness zone", which doesn't mean that a haunting / devil apparition is impossible. I simply find it even more unexpected.

@SimonBurchell : sorry for my disgression on the local touristic hotspots.
 
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Here's a Google street view photo showing the drawbridge raised and the space beneath.
When spooked by the sound of the hoofs and the horrible smell, I guess the guys fled around the fence to the left of the photo and were surprised to see nothing present on the steps.


draw.png
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Here's a Google street view photo showing the drawbridge raised and the space beneath.
When spooked by the sound of the hoofs and the horrible smell, I guess the guys fled around the fence to the left of the photo and were surprised to see nothing present on the steps.


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Thanks.

I can't imagine a feral or escaped goat wandering up those stairs unless it were for food or shelter. What does seem a little odd is that the drawbridge was down during the night, unless the mechanism was faulty at that time. There don't seem any noticeable drains or drainage ditches.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Thanks.

I can't imagine a feral or escaped goat wandering up those stairs unless it were for food or shelter. What does seem a little odd is that the drawbridge was down during the night, unless the mechanism was faulty at that time. There don't seem any noticeable drains or drainage ditches.
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Lots of French castles leave their drawbridge open most of the time, perhaps because the internal mechanisms do not operate anymore. Nowadays, it certainly does work at Langeais : several websites insist on the fact that they open and close the drawbridge everyday (and that they closed it for two months during the covid epidemic). I haven't managed to find out wether this practice is due to a recent restauration of the door mechanism, or if it has always been the common practice to open and close the bridge. In any case, this might not have been the case in the 1980s. At that time, the drawbridge might have been left open 100% of the time, like so many other drawbridges in France (at Vincennes or Angers, for instance).

On old pictures of the castle, we can see that there was a much higher fence around the entrance of the castle, perhaps the same fence the two Irish travellers talk about having trespassed at the beginning of their account.

Several views of the old castle fence in the links below :

* Old picture from the beginning of the 20th century : https://p.cartorum.fr/recto/maxi/000/734/276-langeais-indre-et-loire-langeais-entree-chateau.jpg

* Another old picture with another view of the fence : https://p.cartorum.fr/recto/maxi/000/240/538-langeais-langeais-entree-chateau.jpg

* The last one seems to be from the early 1950s : https://www.cparama.com/forum/cartes2013a/1365966806-carte-postale-Langeais.jpg

I haven't found any pictures specifically dating from the 1980s, so it is hard to guess exatly when the fence was dismantled.

Edit : if the old fence was still in place in 1980, it would perhaps have made sense to leave the drawbridge open so as to avoid passers-by climbing the stairs only to fall down on the other side of the closed fence. In France, mayors are usually deemed accountable for silly accidents like these ...
 
AmStramGram said:
Finally found something "Fortean" within 10 km/6 miles of Langeais : the "Beast(s) of Benais" :

In 1693 - 1694, more than seventy people were murdered by "wolves" in the villages of Benais and Les Essards (immediately North-West of Langeais), mainly young shepherd girls and small children.

Source : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bête_de_Benais
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Great find, maybe let Danny know...?
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Thanks.

I can't imagine a feral or escaped goat wandering up those stairs unless it were for food or shelter. What does seem a little odd is that the drawbridge was down during the night, unless the mechanism was faulty at that time. There don't seem any noticeable drains or drainage ditches.
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The photo suggests to me that if the drawbridge were raised, the lads might have sheltered in the little niche under the stone steps.

In that case of course there wouldn't be any trip-trapping. :nods:


Dunno though. It's the Devil innit.
 
I just listened to The Beast of Langeais episode, quite chilling for an episode dedicated to, possibly, a wandering goat!

A few thoughts, there is mention of a moat, but I dropped into Google streetview, and there is no moat - this is a raised drawbridge in the sense that to enter the castle, you have to climb steps to reach the drawbridge, so the idea of the lads sleeping in the moat, and (as suggested by the sceptic) being essentially sleeping in a drain below the water table, while logical when imagining the account, actually makes no sense. It is not the case that the moat is recently filled in either, since looking at the links posted by @AmStramGram shows that the approach is essentially unchanged.

Secondly, Danny mentions things like, "Well, would an experienced police officer confuse the smell..." etc. The point here is that the witness is an experienced police officer now, but wasn't at the time, so had no basis for comparison.

The whole experience sits very much in the 1970s-1980s mindset, with much fear of devil worship etc. reflected in the media (for example in the Omen films and Satanic cult panics).

I also assume that the portcullis was lowered, or the main gate shut, or the lads would naturally have slept in the castle, so a wandering goat couldn't have just climbed the steps and entered the castle, explaining its disappearance.
 
DougalLongfoot said:
Certainly from the episode you don't get an accurate impression of how the castle looks or is situated. Given it is in the middle of the town, their decision to sleep under the drawbridge seems slightly odd.
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Agreed, was there not a youth hostel or affordable guest house nearby? Actually makes me wonder if we have the right location, might have to research nearby chateaus and such-like as Langeais is a district as well as a town.

They mention the sky was dark and the weather clear as they settled down, which according to this:

https://sunrise.maplogs.com/langeais_france.179594.html

...makes it after 9pm, so there seems to be a couple of hours at least to account for who they could have been searching for somewhere to stay. Will have to listen to it again and then try to work out approximate journey times etc.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Actually makes me wonder if we have the right location, might have to research nearby chateaus and such-like as Langeais is a district as well as a town.
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I remember they mentioned a street name along which the sound of hooves came - I've just relistened and the street name is Rue Gambetta, which is indeed the street facing directly towards the drawbridge, suggesting that they have the right location.
 
I agree today's episode was pretty creepy! One of the best episodes this series no doubt. I feel that a phrase like "I don't believe in ghosts but I have a ghost story" could go on an Uncanny bingo card tbh. There was one part where the witness was driving and believed he nearly hit an apparition with his car, and the sceptic said it could be a hypnogogic hallucination. It just seemed like a ridiculous suggestion to me so I'm interested to hear what others think.

As a side point, when the witness talked about not being scared of things that you can't see - all I could think of was the fact that you can't see ionising radiation but it's certainly something to be afraid of!
 
Cloudbusting said:
There was one part where the witness was driving and believed he nearly hit an apparition with his car, and the sceptic said it could be a hypnogogic hallucination. It just seemed like a ridiculous suggestion to me so I'm interested to hear what others think.
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I have not heard this episode yet, but it sounds interesting.

I wouldn't write off the suggestion of a hypnagogic hallucination, per se. It is common for people who are over tired and driving, particularly if it is a long unbroken stretch of road, to briefly fall asleep at the wheel. So it would be pertinent to assess the person's level of tiredness.
 
It was one of the better Uncanny episodes so far. My thoughts: The incident with the figure sitting on his bed sounds like classic sleep paralysis, I actually thought that was the weakest part of the episode. However, the rest of the episode was really good, a chilling ghost story. The telephone calls could partially be explained by a faulty telephone line. But the fact it was preceded by "Harry called" is to me the unexplainable part. Interestingly, this means someone actually spoke to the caller, before taking the message "Harry called" (so the telephone line was not unintelligible to the 1st person). This would have happened on the multiple calls that were received (the witness claims over 30 missed calls "from Harry") before he was actually at home and took the call "from Harry" and heard the static noise. And also, his claim that these phone calls followed him to different locations, suggests it is not a technical fault in the telephone line. So either he is making the story up, or his friends played a prank, or something odd did happen. Interesting!
 
guitarh said:
It was one of the better Uncanny episodes so far. My thoughts: The incident with the figure sitting on his bed sounds like classic sleep paralysis, I actually thought that was the weakest part of the episode.
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I agree that it sounds like classic sleep paralysis, but I would not dismiss it out of hand because of that. I have had sleep paralysis overlap with paranormal events. I think paranormal entities can use sleep paralysis as a vector of attack, or that sleep paralysis may be a symptom of attack in some cases. Perhaps in some way the soul is slightly disjointed from the body, and more vulnerable.
 
Yes DrPaulLee, I agree with you 100%. That is an aspect of the story that needs further investigation. What was the caller saying to the first person who took the message? ....I once lived in an apartment that had a faulty phone line, and sometimes we would get calls that were dead air or static. We knew it was a technical problem. But the events in this Uncanny episode can't be explained by technical fault in the phone line, because the person insists these calls began with someone communicating clear messages: requesting to speak with him, and then dictating the message "Harry called". And this allegedly happened over 30 times. Solve that part and you solve the mystery, I suspect?
 
guitarh said:
Yes DrPaulLee, I agree with you 100%. That is an aspect of the story that needs further investigation. What was the caller saying to the first person who took the message? ....I once lived in an apartment that had a faulty phone line, and sometimes we would get calls that were dead air or static. We knew it was a technical problem. But the events in this Uncanny episode can't be explained by technical fault in the phone line, because the person insists these calls began with someone communicating clear messages: requesting to speak with him, and then dictating the message "Harry called". And this allegedly happened over 30 times. Solve that part and you solve the mystery, I suspect?
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Not only that, "Harry" called to multiple locations...
 
Hmmm. Certainly creepy. My immediate thought though was that Will's friends, who did the ouija board, told some of their other student acquaintances about Harry spelling out that he wanted Will and the whole thing went viral, with different students ringing up to say Harry called or to play weird sounds over the phone. Subconsciously, this ongoing prank disturbed Will sufficiently for hypnagogia and night terrors/sleep paralysis to do the rest.
 
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