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Uncanny (BBC Programme / Podcast)

Paul_Exeter said:
They are on Kindle and at a fair price.

This is why it is so frustrating that Danny (Uncanny) put the call out live on local radio and apparently found the female witness of this Frank time-slip only to then go quiet on the matter. Now we have Slemen claiming Daany has found the wrong witness, someone on the internet claiming to be the Danny's witness and that Slemen is wrong and still no word from Frank, anyone claiming to be Frank or relatives of Frank...

It is most interesting - and rather damning - that neither of Slemen's alleged witnesses have at any time come out on the record to corroborate his version of events (despite being described as so photogenic that they must surely enjoyed long careers as catwalk models...!).

I do cling to the fact that we have heard elsewhere that Danny puts potential interviewees through quite a rigorous process before he will broadcast their experiences, so there is hope his witness "Julia" is genuine and that somewhere there is a local newspaper article that predates Slemen's account.
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Them being so good looking makes me disbelieve his version even more.

Edit- Did he ever actually say he’d met them?
 
MorningAngel said:
Them being so good looking makes me disbelieve his version even more.

Edit- Did he ever actually say he’d met them?
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Yes, claims to have interviewed them both (which begs more questions than it answers) and that Frank correctly identified his female witness

Not in his original telling of this tale though.

We are in 1976 Owlman of Mawnan (Cornwall) here where all the original supposed witnesses to the man-sized owl-human were linked to a known local hoaxer who had claimed to have photographed Nessie (see attached ). Yet since then other witnesses have since come forward to who aren't inked to the hoaxer (was arguably an escaped eagle owl anyway, although some accounts seem to exclude this)

http://www.artcornwall.org/profiles/Tony_Doc_Shiels.htm
 

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Sounds to me like he's jazzing up the stories, whether these are actually his or those of other writers or even factual at all. Even the '(like)catwalk models' thing appears like the standard dramatic heightening of jeopardy/sympathy regarding a 'woman under threat'. Although it's quite funny to think that the dastardly bloke in the boot was just left there waiting for ages with nobody actually opening the boot. Good!
 
Paul_Exeter said:
@Aydee_Aitchdee I hadn't bothered with any of the other tales in Slemen's 'Haunted Liverpool 2' but having had a look around he has a story about a woman being tailgated by a car along a dark, lonely road only to find out the driver of that car was trying to warn her about a man with a knife who had secreted himself into the boot of her car. Jeffrey Archer wrote this exact story as a four-page spread in one of the big Sunday papers and it was almost certainly before Slemen wrote his book sometime around 1999-2001. Archer himself had probably heard this urban legend before his article, I know I had, but Archer's version was certainly well dramatised. However, Slemen claims his version, which happened in Salt Lake City to a woman originating from Liverpool, is the true version from which all others originated...!
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Just to add that the history of this urban legend is here;

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-killer-in-the-backseat/

The Salt Lake City version Slemen presents as the definitive truth surfaced online in 1999 yet this UL goes back to the 1960s. Hmmm...
 
Paul_Exeter said:
What would forum members like to see from the 'Uncanny' podcast and tv episodes in the future? For me, more UFO encounters from listeners and more high-strangeness such as cryptic encounters, time-slips, vardøgers and doppelgängers,
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That would be my wish too! I fear he may end up covering lots of poltergeist type cases because they're usually ripe for content, but I really want variety. Investigations into ongoing or more recent cases would be brilliant too.
 
Cloudbusting said:
That would be my wish too! I fear he may end up covering lots of poltergeist type cases because they're usually ripe for content, but I really want variety. Investigations into ongoing or more recent cases would be brilliant too.
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Do you feel the format needs a refresh?

Also it hasn't touched on cryptozoology yet, such as alien big cats seen in Britain. Also it has featured a "beast" (smelly wild boar) in France but nothing on the British Bigfoot and/or Cannock Chase creature high-strangeness.

Also would love a decent road ghost and/or phantom hitchhiker case.

Also a reinvestigation of the Welsh Triangle UFO wave of 1976-78
 
Back to Bold Street, this Redditer has posted a transcript of the part of Danny's 'Uncanny' tv episode that is relevant to Bold Street:

https://www.reddit.com/r/timeslip/comments/17bs3u4

It has been mentioned before, but Slemen gave an account of the Bold Street Frank story on Billy Butler's radio show (Radio Merseyside?) before it appeared in his book (he mentions the former in the latter). But of course this doesn't prove Frank told his experience to Slemen, simply that he knew about it. It would have been quite recent back then, maybe three or four years after Frank had his alleged time-slip.


Incidentally, Mr Slemen has a Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedliverpoolbooks
 
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Paul_Exeter said:
I do cling to the fact that we have heard elsewhere that Danny puts potential interviewees through quite a rigorous process before he will broadcast their experiences,
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I would hope so, but there's the wee bit about not letting facts get in the way of a good story and Danny stood more to gain than to lose. The resulting controversy has done nothing except to generate buzz around Danny and Uncanny - which is what they're ultimately after. I just don't like that the buzz is concerning a story with dubious proof.

I hate that I sound so negative and cynical, I'm really not; Danny does a good quality show and deserves the audience he has. But as I've heard it pointed out before, the problem with paranormal shows is you always have to do bigger and bigger things to keep your audience happy....
 
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I must confess to a touch of weariness with the whole uncanny thing.
The Battersea poltergeist was great but it now seems that wherever you look it’s Uncanny. Podcast after podcast, tv series, books.
I think the overexposure has meant that its original magic has worn a bit thin.

There! I've said it. Burn me in a wicker man if you dare!
 
Steven said:
Even the '(like)catwalk models' thing appears like the standard dramatic heightening of jeopardy/sympathy regarding a 'woman under threat'. Although it's quite funny to think that the dastardly bloke in the boot was just left there waiting for ages with nobody actually opening the boot. Good!
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This is exactly how you recognize an urban legend with critical thinking. I have heard the one about a man in the trunk of a woman's car and thought the same. You can't just pop out of a trunk, and if you do, what are you going to do?

And, if he could get into the trunk, why would he not get into the back seat instead? Nothing preventing him from doing anything then. And if someone saw another getting into the trunk, why would that person not approach the woman before she drove away?

@Paul_Exeter and @Aydee_Aitchdee are both quite right that this particular story is suspicious. Why someone would even try to pass it off as real, I don't know. Unless the person passing it off as true is very gullible.

I too hope that producers of Uncanny do extensive research of their stories, otherwise it will become Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark.

Maybe some people won't care, but, we here will be disappointed.
 
brownmane said:
I have heard the one about a man in the trunk of a woman's car and thought the same. You can't just pop out of a trunk, and if you do, what are you going to do?

And, if he could get into the trunk, why would he not get into the back seat instead?
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It might even be a variation on this well-known urban legend: the scary backseat passenger woman with her bag containing knives.
 
How come one week, the sceptical answer is mould and then on another week it’s infrasound and on another some other natural thing like bad plumbing or a settling house? Why not test for all of them in every case as well as more combinations of rational explanation before HEAVILY HINTING and just going with the supernatural?

Rhetorical question.
 
Analogue Boy said:
How come one week, the sceptical answer is mould and then on another week it’s infrasound and on another some other natural thing like bad plumbing or a settling house? Why not test for all of them in every case as well as more combinations of rational explanation before HEAVILY HINTING and just going with the supernatural?

Rhetorical question.
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That’s why I used to like Ghost Hunters. They’d try to rule everything out before saying a place might possibly be haunted.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Do you feel the format needs a refresh?

Also it hasn't touched on cryptozoology yet, such as alien big cats seen in Britain. Also it has featured a "beast" (smelly wild boar) in France but nothing on the British Bigfoot and/or Cannock Chase creature high-strangeness.

Also would love a decent road ghost and/or phantom hitchhiker case.

Also a reinvestigation of the Welsh Triangle UFO wave of 1976-78
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I'm happy enough with the format. I suppose if we got more live cases then we may see some changes which I'd be open to. Ooo yes I'd love a road ghost or phantom hitchhiker case, especially one with recent sightings.
 
brownmane said:
This is exactly how you recognize an urban legend with critical thinking. I have heard the one about a man in the trunk of a woman's car and thought the same. You can't just pop out of a trunk, and if you do, what are you going to do?

And, if he could get into the trunk, why would he not get into the back seat instead? Nothing preventing him from doing anything then. And if someone saw another getting into the trunk, why would that person not approach the woman before she drove away?

@Paul_Exeter and @Aydee_Aitchdee are both quite right that this particular story is suspicious. Why someone would even try to pass it off as real, I don't know. Unless the person passing it off as true is very gullible.

I too hope that producers of Uncanny do extensive research of their stories, otherwise it will become Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark.

Maybe some people won't care, but, we here will be disappointed.
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The “dangerous stranger on the back seat” thing does happen:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/modern-urban-legends.35612/page-4#post-1810196

maximus otter
 
I was warned about “men getting in the trunk of your car at gas stations “when I lived in USA in the early 90’s. Given that the boot of my car was full of pushchairs, nappybags and footballs, not to mention being a bugger to open I wasn’t too worried.
it was one of those stories that always happened to “cousin of someone I know, “and as such wasn’t really credible.
 
While I enjoy the Uncanny podcast and was mildly amused by the TV show, I'm getting the impression that he's flooding 'the market' - radio, TV, theatre, books, merch ... what next - a Netflix film? :roll:
While the demand is there then good for him. Nice little earner and some exposure for Fortean stuff. But how long before Uncanny becomes a reference source? Some members of the general public might become interested in further delving but I suspect most will get bored and drift away.
 
Stormkhan said:
While I enjoy the Uncanny podcast and was mildly amused by the TV show, I'm getting the impression that he's flooding 'the market' - radio, TV, theatre, books, merch ... what next - a Netflix film? :roll:
While the demand is there then good for him. Nice little earner and some exposure for Fortean stuff. But how long before Uncanny becomes a reference source? Some members of the general public might become interested in further delving but I suspect most will get bored and drift away.
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Yup, and there also might be a backlash.
If enough sceptics dig sufficiently hard they might start unearthing solid debunkery. Or pranksters coming clean.

Dunno; he's done his research and checked everything out but then there are the dodgy photos.

I'm still a fan of the Rottingdean house and the boarding school, though. :bthumbup:
 
Stormkhan said:
While I enjoy the Uncanny podcast and was mildly amused by the TV show, I'm getting the impression that he's flooding 'the market' - radio, TV, theatre, books, merch ... what next - a Netflix film? :roll:
While the demand is there then good for him. Nice little earner and some exposure for Fortean stuff. But how long before Uncanny becomes a reference source? Some members of the general public might become interested in further delving but I suspect most will get bored and drift away.
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Erm, actually...
 
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