It’s a dark misty morning, the full moon slowly merges from behind a cloud as a low rumble of thunder angrily vibrates the air after the explosive flash of lightning forking through the pre-dawn sky. Slowly a violin plays a sombre, mournful melody – adding to the tense atmosphere - as your view pans to the lonely house on a hill, set next to the jagged outline of a graveyard. A car crunches up the gravel driveway the sound louder due to the silence of the thunder. The brake light illuminate and the engine is silenced. The driver opens his door, alights, and walks toward the cavernous portal that is the front door of the house. Opening the door with a squeak he walks in and…
If this were a horror film this is how the birth of a paranormal investigator would be presented. In fact the start of this journey starts with a question – “Have you listened to Uncanny?”
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| www.dannyrobins.com/podcasts |
The first thing I have learned is that podcasts are a thing. The second was that I can get them on my phone. The third (and Mrs James will no doubt look smug) is that I don’t actually mind wireless headphones. If faced with that question again I can now answer “Yes, have you listened to The Battersea Poltergeist or the Witch Farm or his earlier one Haunted?”
So yes I have now listened to Uncanny and I am now
definitely a Danny Robins fan.
To catch you up
- - a podcast is an audio recorded programme about a
topic or topics of interest
- - you can listen to a podcast through a podcast
provider like BBC Sounds or a podcast catcher like Spotify
- - wireless headphones are pretty convenient – especially
if they charge magically when you leave them with your wife.
Danny Robins in Uncanny takes a paranormal case and views it
from both the believer and sceptical perspectives, assisted by guests. He
presents the case with quality production values (Thank you BBC) that
immerses you for 30 minutes into the story. The only criticism I have is that
supply has outweighed demand and having completed it I needed more.
A quick search of ‘Paranormal’ in my Podcasts app led me to
The Dark Paranormal and We Need to Talk About Ghosts, both coming ‘Live from
Liverpool’ and presented by Kevin Eustace. Both telling the real life ghostly
encounters of his audience, the latter being more light-hearted and
conversational including Kevin’s partner, Becca, and the Neighbours Cat, where
The Dark Paranormal is… dark.
Having already known what a book was, the next learning
revolution was Kindle Unlimited. A book – but on my phone! Now I wouldn’t get
those sideways looks that scream ‘Weirdo!’ when sat in public and they see the
cover of a spooky book. This new superpower led me to grow my team of trusted
advisors as I discovered the real life haunting experiences of Andrew Hopkins
and the adventures of paranormal investigators Richard Estep, Chris Whitehouse
and Peter Underwood. I will go into more details of my paranormal Yodas in
later posts.
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| Lucas Arts |
I discovered through their experiences how they conduct investigations, the tools of the trade, the pitfalls and traps and most importantly that the key quality for any paranormal investigator is patience.
Having completed this research phase I encountered The
Enfield Poltergeist, The Black Monk of Pontefract, the occupants of Shepton
Mallet prison as well as many not so famous hauntings through normal people’s
real life tales. I felt it was now time to suit up and get out there and
actually investigate something supernatural.
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