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Uncanny (BBC Programme / Podcast)

MorningAngel said:
Uncanny crossover with BBC Ghosts sitcom. (I’ve also put this in the ghosts threads but some people might no watch the sitcom but might be interested in his experiences)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0d2ynkj
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Well it’s work for Danny, so that’s a positive but doesn’t interest me, sort of thing an intern would have dreamt up. Hope Uncanny is back for a new series soon.
 
Great news :) New series:

“Landing just in time for Halloween, The Witch Farm is the sequel to Danny Robins’ smash hit The Battersea Poltergeist, which examined creepy real-life happenings in the heart of London. The massive public response to that case inspired ghostly investigation series Uncanny, which took on a different story each week, all submitted by the online community flourishing around the show.”

https://bigissue.com/culture/radio/...lows-uncanny-with-plunge-bath-of-pure-terror/

You will find it on BBC Sounds but as yet no episodes
 
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I’ve just listened to a trailer for The Witch Farm and get the impression that it is a drama rather than a documentary style programme.
Not sure I want to listen to a drama. I may hold fire until some reviews come out.
I have The Quantum Mechanics to lull me off to sleep tonight.
 
I'm currently listening to the first episode of The Witch Farm and I can confirm it's very much in the style of The Battersea Poltergeist. There are dramatic parts but it is interspersed with commentary from Danny and experts giving their own thoughts on the case. As I'm listening to it, I can't help but think that I know this case, it seems really familiar... I'll continue with it but I really hope Uncanny comes back soon!
 
Cloudbusting said:
I'm currently listening to the first episode of The Witch Farm and I can confirm it's very much in the style of The Battersea Poltergeist. There are dramatic parts but it is interspersed with commentary from Danny and experts giving their own thoughts on the case. As I'm listening to it, I can't help but think that I know this case, it seems really familiar...
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I'm saving it for a rainy day, but yes it's a bit of a mix of docudrama and commentary. I'm not a massive fan of docudrama - which often seems to me to manage to be neither of the things it purports to be - but I'll give it a go.

The Heol Fanog case, although not as infamous as some, is fairly well known. I wonder if you might have listened to Richard MacLean Smith's Unexplained podcast two-parter on the case, from a couple of years or so ago.

First episode here.

Edit: It was also the subject for one of the stories in a Channel 4 series of standalone dramas, which I think was called True Horror - again a few years ago now.
 
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Spookdaddy said:
I'm saving it for a rainy day, but yes it's a bit of a mix of docudrama and commentary. I'm not a massive fan of docudrama - which often seems to me to manage to be neither of the things it purports to be - but I'll give it a go.

The Heol Fanog case, although not as infamous as some, is fairly well known. I wonder if you might have listened to Richard MacLean Smith's Unexplained podcast two-parter on the case, from a couple of years or so ago.

First episode here.

Edit: It was also the subject for one of the stories in a Channel 4 series of standalone dramas, which I think was called True Horror - again a few years ago now.
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Yes! That's where I've heard it, the Unexplained podcast. :) It wasn't the haunting so much that I remembered, but rather that it happened in Wales and the father was an artist. It's weird what you remember... think I might listen to those episodes again to compare.
 
Listened to the podcast yesterday I remember reading the book years ago.
Didn’t the father have loads of books on the occult in the house??
One of the exorcists or a friend told him to get rid of them because he was feeding the phenomena with what he was reading.
 
Who me said:
...Didn’t the father have loads of books on the occult in the house??
One of the exorcists or a friend told him to get rid of them because he was feeding the phenomena with what he was reading.
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Oh, dear. That's a significant portion of this message board's membership stuffed then.

There's water dripping through the ceiling again - chuck a couple of Crowley's in the bin, will you?

That's better.

Hold on, that shapeless black entity emitting an atmosphere of cosmic dread and imbuing all in its vicinity with a black depression and insurmountable anxiety - it's hogging the bloody toilet again. I told you not the read The Hieroglyphic Monad in there. Make sure you flush properly before I get the vicar in.

Back to Heol Fanog. I have the whisper of a memory of having listened to something on the radio with a very similar storyline, long before the podcast era, and any of the sources mentioned before. I can't quite fix it, but I'm wondering if BBC Radio 4 may have done a radio play based on the story.
 
Well I saved the first two episodes for a dark and stormy night but curiosity got the better of me, although it has been raining and it is grey, windy and almost dark out there….

So far 10/10, great work Danny….! I agree I prefer the format of ‘Uncanny‘ to the docu-drama but then Danny has to get his work commissioned and perhaps that is what the BBC want. Regardless it is a proper haunting and I am gripped by the series of events and can't wait for the next episodes

The phenomenon with the electricity meter also took place at Ripperstone Farm in 1976/77 during the height of the ‘Welsh Triangle’ UFO flap. Ripperstone and the Coombes family were central to many of the poltergeist-like events that included cows ‘teleporting’ from locked paddocks to other locations.
 
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I've just listened to episode 2 of "The Witch Farm" about the Heol Fanog case. A possessed pig??? This story has to be made into a movie!
 
CharmerKamelion said:
I've just listened to episode 2 of "The Witch Farm" about the Heol Fanog case. A possessed pig??? This story has to be made into a movie!
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It is certainly full-on...! I feel the skeptic is keeping his powder dry as thus far he has sort of nodded and said "that's strange isn't it?". He certainly hasn't put forward a convincing explanation for the sky-high electricity bills. be interesting to hear how he does try to explain what is a multiple witness case
 
Morning spook daddy that works for me .
Half watched summat on tv last night about a house Martin roberts (homes under the hammer) tv presenter owns and wanted proof of the ghosts.
He was quite sympathetic to the ghosts and stated he was happy sharing the house with them as long as they didn’t scare him or his family. Reality tv I think
 
Decided to buy the book of this case:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Testimony-Mark-Chadbourn-ebook/dp/B00QRSH8R2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IFJV93BGWQBG&keywords=testimony&qid=1667752116&sprefix=testimony,aps,79&sr=8-1

At present about half-way through. I'm essentially in two minds and can't decide whether I am feeling like a believer or somewhat skeptical. They call in various spiritualists and church people etc. but never a group such as the Ghost Club (https://www.ghostclub.org.uk) who could fill the place with cameras and sensors and get hard evidence of what they claim. Or they could have made a tidy sum selling their story to one of the red-top tabloids, rather than simply telling the local rag (well perhaps enough cash to move out)..

In many ways it feels as if the narrative is from a different, earlier time whereas they were actually in the late-80s/early-90s. One skeptical argument might be that by moving to this remote place as a recession hit was a mistake that led them to becoming 'trapped in the building' and this impacted their state of mind. Thus far, there only appears to be the one disputed electricity bill, the one they received after moving in. Also, I haven't read of an independent witness who experienced the phenomena and didn't have a vested interest in what was going on and that to my mind is a weakness in this case.
 
Now listened to Episode 3 and the excellent recap episode

Personally, I am siding with Team Skeptic as regards the animals and the electricity. Sadly, a cohort of different species were kept in the barn, there was an unpleasant disease present and they had little experience of animal husbandr.y. In fact, could they afford a vet given his work had dried up? The electricity company may have inspected the supply to their meter but did they check all the wiring including floor and wall spaces? Unlikely, you would need an electrician as that is not their problem. They don’t seem to have called an electrician but rather told the legal chap it was due to the spirits.

They seem to be in an extremely heightened state and attributing everything and anything to the spirits. The footsteps and banging from upstairs we are told happened at a regular time just after 6pm, so can we rule out air trapped in the central heating as it came on each evening…? This all started as Autumn was turning to Winter. It says in the book they had incense burners in the house and also a teenage son, so was he lighting incense to cover up tobacco smells…?

That said, I’m still open-minded about the manifestations and it may certainly be a case of ‘no smoke without fire’

Also, I know of someone who moved into a house and one of the upstairs rooms had a terrible, evil atmospher. The family dog refused to go anywhere near it. They called on the church and had it cleansed and then became Christians themselves. I believe this testimony and so I am open to this case. The couple featured also undergo baptisms.
 
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Danny is a busy boy I’ve just found out he’s behind the immersive Gunpowder Plot experience. What with that and 2.22 crossing the pond we’re lucky to get podcasts.
 
Not much involvement with this new case on this thread, has it not tickled our collective Fortean tastebuds?

There is a Facebook group dedicated to this case and Liz th principle witness that Danny interviews is a member, however she seems more focused on promoting her late husband’s art than answering questions. I feel it is fair to say that Team Skeptic are more vocal, especially with some of the wilder claims such as entities being denied by crosshead screws….
 
Morning Paul yeah your right it’s not generating much interest really.
Don’t know why cos it’s just as good as the first one perhaps a bit more dramatic mebbe
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Decided to buy the book of this case:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Testimony-Mark-Chadbourn-ebook/dp/B00QRSH8R2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IFJV93BGWQBG&keywords=testimony&qid=1667752116&sprefix=testimony,aps,79&sr=8-1

At present about half-way through. I'm essentially in two minds and can't decide whether I am feeling like a believer or somewhat skeptical. They call in various spiritualists and church people etc. but never a group such as the Ghost Club (https://www.ghostclub.org.uk) who could fill the place with cameras and sensors and get hard evidence of what they claim. Or they could have made a tidy sum selling their story to one of the red-top tabloids, rather than simply telling the local rag (well perhaps enough cash to move out)..

In many ways it feels as if the narrative is from a different, earlier time whereas they were actually in the late-80s/early-90s. One skeptical argument might be that by moving to this remote place as a recession hit was a mistake that led them to becoming 'trapped in the building' and this impacted their state of mind. Thus far, there only appears to be the one disputed electricity bill, the one they received after moving in. Also, I haven't read of an independent witness who experienced the phenomena and didn't have a vested interest in what was going on and that to my mind is a weakness in this case.
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I haven't listened to this yet but I thought I would pitch in... I think trying to collect hard evidence of ghosts is a pointless task, any evidence gathered will always be ambiguous; it seems to be the rules of the game.
 
Who me said:
Morning Paul yeah your right it’s not generating much interest really.
Don’t know why cos it’s just as good as the first one perhaps a bit more dramatic mebbe
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I feel the weakness of the case is that it happened in the early-1990s and yet there doesn’t seem to be any tape or video evidence of the poltergeist-type footsteps etc. Instead they behaved as if it were the 1890s and invited in mediums and spiritualists. What The Ghost Club and others would have given for a shot at this case
 
I've just listened to the second 'case update' on the Witch Farm story, and there seems to be one whopping great big omission that I can only assume will be addressed in one of the later episodes.

As Paul mentioned above, the lack of any kind of recorded evidence in this case (so far) is strange considering it is based on events that took place as recently as the 1990s. In the second case update, we are told that a news crew came to the farm to record an interview with Liz, focusing on the weird behaviour of the electricity meter. According to the journalist, during the interview, some kind of loud angry roar was heard, by all 3 people present including the sound recordist, and the journalist says Liz wearily explained to her that "it is angry that you are here". The journalist and sound recordist completed the interview and left, feeling unnerved. So... what happened to the recording? Did the noise get recorded? If so, did they not re-listen to it? And does the recording still exist? It would be gold dust on a series like this!

Maybe Danny is holding it back for a big "clincher" moment in episode 8. I can just hear it now : "... you remember that interview that was interrupted by an angry roar....?"
 
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CharmerKamelion said:
I've just listened to the second 'case update' on the Witch Farm story, and there seems to be one whopping great big omission that I can only assume will be addressed in one of the later episodes.

As Paul mentioned above, the lack of any kind of recorded evidence in this case (so far) is strange considering it is based on events that took place as recently as the 1990s. In the second case update, we are told that a news crew came to the farm to record an interview with Liz, focusing on the weird behaviour of the electricity meter. According to the journalist, during the interview, some kind of loud angry roar was heard, by all 3 people present including the sound recordist, and the journalist says Liz wearily explained to her that "it is angry that you are here". The journalist and sound recordist completed the interview and left, feeling unnerved. So... what happened to the recording? Did the noise get recorded? If so, did they not re-listen to it? And does the recording still exist? It would be gold dust on a series like this!

Maybe Danny is holding it back for a big "clincher" moment in episode 8. I can just hear it now : "... you remember that interview that was interrupted by an angry roar....?"
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You’d think he would have asked if they managed to capture it or not.
 
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