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Uncanny (BBC Programme / Podcast)

I'd have to go through them all which might take a while. Most are irreverent and irrelevant missives. I'll see what I can do but I'm hoping that others will help here.
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A little thought about Tom Slemen. I find it incredible that he's managed to find so many odd stories from that one region. Merseyside and its environs might have spooks, timeslips, UFOs, ABCs etc but c'mon, not THAT many surely! Did he just indiscriminately post anything regardless of provenance?!
 
DrPaulLee said:
I'd have to go through them all which might take a while. Most are irreverent and irrelevant missives. I'll see what I can do but I'm hoping that others will help here.
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A little thought about Tom Slemen. I find it incredible that he's managed to find so many odd stories from that one region. Merseyside and its environs might have spooks, timeslips, UFOs, ABCs etc but c'mon, not THAT many surely! Did he just indiscriminately post anything regardless of provenance?!
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+ The astounding but enigmatic story of a Liverpool mortgage broker who found himself in a land of giants…
https://tomslemen.wordpress.com/haunted-liverpool-20/

In short - Yes!
 
Doing a bit of a catch up on Uncanny. Just watched the episode where Danny interviewed the photographer on the Enfield Poltergiest case that took the photos for the Daily Mirror. Have a look at the following images (apologies for the quality of the first 2 photos).
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The first two photos are from the show and the b&w image is from the book This House Is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair. They seem to be shot in sequence. However, look at the bed cover on the left hand bed. The bed in the third photo does not match up with the first two. In photos 1 and 2 you can see the blue bed base quite clearly yet in the 3rd photo it is obscured. These photos were supposedly taken remotely on a static camera. Answers on a postcard please....
 
Interesting...but I can't see it being a case of a living photographer in a different position going "let's take that again' because the fold of the bed cover and the length of the curtain are also different and the balloon absent. So could it be a composite of some kind in playfairs book for clarity/repair purposes?
 
In some of the shots one of the young brothers is in the right hand bed with the other sister (you can see the edge of an extra bed in the bottom of the shott). He is closest to the wall and raising his arm, you can see his blue and white pyjama top (in the bottom right of the six pictures above)).

Personally I just feel this is children playing up, we know Janet excelled in gymnastics at school. I was much more interested in the photos taken in the kitchen when there were multiple witnesses to objects flying around.
 
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DrPaulLee said:
A little thought about Tom Slemen. I find it incredible that he's managed to find so many odd stories from that one region. Merseyside and its environs might have spooks, timeslips, UFOs, ABCs etc but c'mon, not THAT many surely! Did he just indiscriminately post anything regardless of provenance?!
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I think so. But then, so to a very big degree did Fort, although he was paddling in a much slower stream.
 
I've just watched the latest episode...

:willy:It's demons!

Actually I enjoyed the episode and found it thought provoking. It started with some pretty classic haunting phenomena, such as voices where you can't distinguish the words, sounds that stop the moment you open the door of the room etc.

Then you have three theology students. Now, depending on the flavour of the theology in vogue at the time, they may well have been encouraged to view all paranormal phenomena as the work of the Enemy (that's the Devil, not Sauron!) which would certainly ramp up the fear.

I am of the opinion that certain entities feed on fear, like psychic vampires, so once the fear got going, the phenomena would increase and take a nastier turn, reinforcing the fear and conviction of an evil presence. Certainly it developed in a poltergeist-like manner, and studies repeatedly confirm that poltergeists do not react well to exorcism attempts, which can make the phenomena worse. I understand that Church-trained exorcists are discouraged from intervening in poltergeist cases for that very reason.
 
SimonBurchell said:
I've just watched the latest episode...

:willy:It's demons!

Actually I enjoyed the episode and found it thought provoking. It started with some pretty classic haunting phenomena, such as voices where you can't distinguish the words, sounds that stop the moment you open the door of the room etc.

Then you have three theology students. Now, depending on the flavour of the theology in vogue at the time, they may well have been encouraged to view all paranormal phenomena as the work of the Enemy (that's the Devil, not Sauron!) which would certainly ramp up the fear.

I am of the opinion that certain entities feed on fear, like psychic vampires, so once the fear got going, the phenomena would increase and take a nastier turn, reinforcing the fear and conviction of an evil presence. Certainly it developed in a poltergeist-like manner, and studies repeatedly confirm that poltergeists do not react well to exorcism attempts, which can make the phenomena worse. I understand that Church-trained exorcists are discouraged from intervening in poltergeist cases for that very reason.
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Also just watched it and really enjoyed it, too.

They were good witnesses and I agree with your thoughts on how they would have viewed such activity in terms of Satan and demons etc. But they also came across as genuinely frightened. Team Skeptic had a good episode with the infrasound theory but I feel Ciaran glossed over the radio and also the tape deck turning themselves on when not plugged in. When pressed on this he vaguely mentions "electrical interference" but that's not really an answer.

It was great detective work from Danny to track down the couple who had also lived there although their experiences were less convincing. For example tapping noises can be caused by central heating, water pipes or even birds outside the window. Also the baby pointing to the bathroom and asking for help may have simply being trying to communicate it wanted the toilet (if they were using a potty on the toilet seat or similar toilet training).

Sad it is the last of the series but pleased for Danny they have been a success
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Also just watched it and really enjoyed it, too.

They were good witnesses and I agree with your thoughts on how they would have viewed such activity in terms of Satan and demons etc. But they also came across as genuinely frightened. Team Skeptic had a good episode with the infrasound theory but I feel Ciaran glossed over the radio and also the tape deck turning themselves on when not plugged in. When pressed on this he vaguely mentions "electrical interference" but that's not really an answer.

It was great detective work from Danny to track down the couple who had also lived there although their experiences were less convincing. For example tapping noises can be caused by central heating, water pipes or even birds outside the window. Also the baby pointing to the bathroom and asking for help may have simply being trying to communicate it wanted the toilet (if they were using a potty on the toilet seat or similar toilet training).

Sad it is the last of the series but pleased for Danny they have been a success
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what I thought it was a 6 parter :(
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Also just watched it and really enjoyed it, too.

They were good witnesses and I agree with your thoughts on how they would have viewed such activity in terms of Satan and demons etc. But they also came across as genuinely frightened. Team Skeptic had a good episode with the infrasound theory but I feel Ciaran glossed over the radio and also the tape deck turning themselves on when not plugged in. When pressed on this he vaguely mentions "electrical interference" but that's not really an answer.

It was great detective work from Danny to track down the couple who had also lived there although their experiences were less convincing. For example tapping noises can be caused by central heating, water pipes or even birds outside the window. Also the baby pointing to the bathroom and asking for help may have simply being trying to communicate it wanted the toilet (if they were using a potty on the toilet seat or similar toilet training).

Sad it is the last of the series but pleased for Danny they have been a success
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Yes, the 3rd episode was another intriguing hour of TV, apart from the padding of doing the stuff with the 'stand up when you hear a bell' thing.

A few of the usual queries that occurred to me while watching....

The incident of the cake tin that was seen to slide across the table by both Heather and Deborah seemed to get a bit forgotten about. I suppose if Deborah had been willing to coroborate the incident it might have had more weight. I noticed that at one point Danny referred to it as 'the flying cake tin' which seemed to be over-egging it a bit.

I struck me as weird that Heather reported hearing mocking laughter while the 3 friends were praying, but Toddy didn't recall that (he says he heard stomping sounds from the room above, iirc). That is quite a discrepancy. Surely if there was 'demonic' laughter, you wouldn't forget that? And surely the 3 of them must have discussed what they had heard after the event? When interviewed by Danny, Toddy didn't say anything like "yes, Heather said at the time she had heard laughter right next to her, but all I heard was stomping from the room above".

Finally (well, for now) I wondered about what it might have been that scared the young child whose parents lived in the house in the 2010s. The child apparently had the same experience several times of seeing something (which the child referred to as 'it') in the bathroom. Did the child at any stage volunteer any further info about what 'it' was? Presumably 'it' wasn't a clown with a red balloon.

I know it's probable that the parents didn't want to ask their kid about it at the time for fear of alarming them further. The child must be a lot older now. I wonder if they have any recollection of the thing that terrified them so much on several occasions?
 
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It makes me laugh every episode when Danny introduces the pub-break with the experts, "and now we're off down the shi' pub", not exactly a ringing endorsement! (Oh, I know it's the Ship, but he doesn't pronounce the "p" very strongly and my imagination fills in the rest).
 
SimonBurchell said:
I've just listened to the latest episode, I'm glad it's back. Firstly, I'll drop a link to the photos that Danny talks about:

Photos taken on the mobile phone

Supposedly too shocking to share on social media. Well, my first impression is that is someone in a gorilla mask, the hairs look synthetic, like in fancy dress. If there really was no-one there, this is still pretty shocking. The greenish tinge to eyes and nose indicates a light source within the mask, I would say, and it does seem like a prank. Note that the camera does not change position at all, so no-one is holding it, it looks like the phone was left lying on a flat surface.

I've also been inverting the colours on image-processing software, which in fact make the figure seem more natural, especially the eyes and nose, but throws off the room colours substantially, but makes me think the images may have been digitally manipulated.
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There is an interesting thread on Mumsnet* about the 'Uncanny' tv show interspersed with a few Mumsnetter's personal experiences (although rarely with dates and exact locations). Was reading it more to get a feel of how the show has been received. But then I found this:

"kswaddle · 27/10/2023 07:20

Yeah he confirmed at the live show that those ghost photos were in fact a child messing around with the phone in the back of a car."

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4919385-uncanny-bbc2?page=6

Just a reminder, these are the photos taken on the iPhone left on the table that were apparently too shocking to put out on social media:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/qmbQ7s4hdqx7gJqYq5CdZm/is-this-a-photo-of-a-ghost

If the post by kswaddle is factual (seems straightforward) then I feel Danny is playing a bit 'fast and loose' with his audience here by letting a select group know the rational answer but still having them unsolved and on the 'Uncanny' website for the rest of us.

*no, not a Mum
 
Paul_Exeter said:
There is an interesting thread on Mumsnet* about the 'Uncanny' tv show interspersed with a few Mumsnetter's personal experiences (although rarely with dates and exact locations). Was reading it more to get a feel of how the show has been received. But then I found this:

"kswaddle · 27/10/2023 07:20

Yeah he confirmed at the live show that those ghost photos were in fact a child messing around with the phone in the back of a car."

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4919385-uncanny-bbc2?page=6

Just a reminder, these are the photos taken on the iPhone left on the table that were apparently too shocking to put out on social media:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/qmbQ7s4hdqx7gJqYq5CdZm/is-this-a-photo-of-a-ghost

If the post by kswaddle is factual (seems straightforward) then I feel Danny is playing a bit 'fast and loose' with his audience here by letting a select group know the rational answer but still having them unsolved and on the 'Uncanny' website for the rest of us.

*no, not a Mum
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Well if this is correct, someone jolly well deserves a good smack bottom. I mean the kid, not Danny. And I am in no way endorsing corporal punishment, I mean a metaphorical smack bottom - like taking away the kid's tablet, or summat.
 
Another poster makes a good point about the radio and tape deck playing when unplugged:

"Why doesn't Danny ask the questions that are in my head? eg the tape player that he described as working on its own even afte they pulled the plug out. I wanted to know if the tape was actually going round. Or if they tried to press stop or rewind or turn the volume right down. Or take the tape out. Cos surely a rational person would just do that? I had a stereo "ghetto blaster" thing around the same time. It had a main adapter AND a battery back up. So if it was unplugged from the mains it would still work from the battery. Those are the sort of questions I would want to ask about those specific situations desribed in the programme and he never asked them. Just sat round in a pub talking to supposed experts and describing events as "deeply unnerving" all the time."

CurlyhairedAssassin

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4919385-uncanny-bbc2?page=7

I feel Danny does often leave events a little vague in order to encourage participation on social media and is probably hoping a viewer will suggest this on FB or X
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Yeah he confirmed at the live show that those ghost photos were in fact a child messing around with the phone in the back of a car."
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Had a bit of this yesterday. A mobile's camera can be accessed without the password.
So when I left mine in my brother's car yesterday it came back with a video of him and Girlfriend mocking me.
Bastards. :chuckle:
 
Paul_Exeter said:
There is an interesting thread on Mumsnet* about the 'Uncanny' tv show interspersed with a few Mumsnetter's personal experiences (although rarely with dates and exact locations). Was reading it more to get a feel of how the show has been received. But then I found this:

"kswaddle · 27/10/2023 07:20

Yeah he confirmed at the live show that those ghost photos were in fact a child messing around with the phone in the back of a car."

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/4919385-uncanny-bbc2?page=6

Just a reminder, these are the photos taken on the iPhone left on the table that were apparently too shocking to put out on social media:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/qmbQ7s4hdqx7gJqYq5CdZm/is-this-a-photo-of-a-ghost

If the post by kswaddle is factual (seems straightforward) then I feel Danny is playing a bit 'fast and loose' with his audience here by letting a select group know the rational answer but still having them unsolved and on the 'Uncanny' website for the rest of us.

*no, not a Mum
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What I am wondering now about those photos (in the case "The Ghost That Followed Us Home") is : did the parents (Carly & Simon) genuinely not realise they were looking at pictures of one their own children? Would it not occur to you that this was a much more likely explanation than the idea that a ghost/demon/whatever had been taking selfies on an unattended phone? Were they deliberately trying to hoodwink someone by saying they had no explanation for them? And - knowing what has been said above by Cate about the checks the Uncanny team went through with her for her episode - did no-one say to the parents "are you sure these photos couldn't have been taken by one of your kids somehow?".

I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but if it turns out that they now have decided the pics do just show one of their own children, there will surely be red faces all round, and some kind of explanation put forward to the audience.
 
The_Discordian said:
Catching up on these. The bloke on the Mark Gatiss live episode who saw the UFO from Chanctonbury Ring is totally plausible - it's one of those places that, as I think I've commented on here before, seems to be where a whole smorgasbord of weird shit happens.
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From two personal visits and experiences - which I do not care to recount - I can say that a lot of weird shit goes on in Chanctonbury.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
What I am wondering now about those photos (in the case "The Ghost That Followed Us Home") is : did the parents (Carly & Simon) genuinely not realise they were looking at pictures of one their own children? Would it not occur to you that this was a much more likely explanation than the idea that a ghost/demon/whatever had been taking selfies on an unattended phone? Were they deliberately trying to hoodwink someone by saying they had no explanation for them? And - knowing what has been said above by Cate about the checks the Uncanny team went through with her for her episode - did no-one say to the parents "are you sure these photos couldn't have been taken by one of your kids somehow?".

I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but if it turns out that they now have decided the pics do just show one of their own children, there will surely be red faces all round, and some kind of explanation put forward to the audience.
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Maybe they denied it was their kid or could have been anyone they knew.
 
CharmerKamelion said:
What I am wondering now about those photos (in the case "The Ghost That Followed Us Home") is : did the parents (Carly & Simon) genuinely not realise they were looking at pictures of one their own children? Would it not occur to you that this was a much more likely explanation than the idea that a ghost/demon/whatever had been taking selfies on an unattended phone? Were they deliberately trying to hoodwink someone by saying they had no explanation for them? And - knowing what has been said above by Cate about the checks the Uncanny team went through with her for her episode - did no-one say to the parents "are you sure these photos couldn't have been taken by one of your kids somehow?".

I hope I'm not jumping the gun here, but if it turns out that they now have decided the pics do just show one of their own children, there will surely be red faces all round, and some kind of explanation put forward to the audience.
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100% - now I actually have more questions about those photos and what Danny knew! They're still pretty creepy, surely they've got some sort of filter on? They don't look like normal photos to me, which again raises questions about sincerity...

P.S I'm going to the live show soon so I'll report back about anything that is said in relation to those photos. :salute:
 
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