"I Know What I Saw"

December 30, 2021 1:07 AM

The BBC have decided that the weird and the spooky gets listeners, and released a podcast series called The Uncanny presented by Danny Robins, which has grown a community of listeners who listen along live on Twitter or comment between episodes. This follows the success of Robins' 'The Battersea Poltergeist' (podcast link), which combined narration, interview and drama reconstruction to explore one of the UK's best known poltergeist cases and became the number one drama on Apple podcasts.

The Battersea Poltergeist told the story of a twelve-year long haunting which saw the BBC try and contact the noisy spirit live on air, and the Home Secretary discuss the case in the House of Commons. The show combined interviews with the surviving witnesses including Shirley Hitchings, now 80 year-old but then the teenage girl at the heart of the case, discussion with various experts and commentators, Robins' usual breathless but engaging narration and lots of dramatised reconstructions of events with a cast that included the wonderful Toby Jones and Dafne Keen.

The Uncanny drops the dramatised elements of the Battersea Poltergeist and covers a number of different cases (though two cases each get revisited in a second episode) which branch out from just hauntings . The first episode, about strange goings on in a student accommodation block in Belfast, and provoked a flurry of former students and staff getting in touch to share their own experiences, some of which are in the follow-up.

The most recent episode features a strange encounter in an abandoned cottage in the Scottish Highlands used as a bothy by Scottish climbers, and what happens when one returns after a terrifying night spent there. In between, the series explores UFO sightings and strange abandoned bodies [1,2] in Todmorden in Yorkshire, a polt in Brooklyn, whether an angel unlocked a door to save a life, and more.

Robins' love of the supernatural in his work goes beyond audio: his play '2:22: A Ghost Story' is currently playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London, and has received positive reviews. He didn't start with the Battersea Poltergeist though - you can also listen to his earlier series 'Haunted' produced by Panoply.

For all of it: lights low, headphones on, enjoy, and that's probably just a floorboard creaking, don't worry about it.

posted by reynir (9 comments total)

I enjoyed The Battersea Poltergeist, although I found jumping back and forth between the dramatization and the investigation a bit distracting and hard to follow. The Uncanny, as just the investigation part, feels more stable to me narratively, although I don’t regret listening to either.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:29 AM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

That sounded a bit dismissive; I think the first episode of The Uncanny is effective and punchy.

Also, the theme song is a very good choice for the theme.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:11 AM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

I find that I am a sucker for well-done paranormal stuff. Thanks!
posted by Thorzdad at 4:40 AM on December 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Yaaaaay, another one! I love this stuff. I also like the one with Rainn Wilson, whatsitcalled, Radio Rental. And listener stories on Morbid. Can't deal with Morbid proper At. All.; hate true crime, but like the listener stories, a mix of "here's the story of how I narrowly avoided murder by serialkiller de jour" and "there was a terrifying ghost in my house" and "when I was ten the neighbor lady started acting really really weird and thirty years later when I asked my mom did she remember that time she turned white and her crochet hook fell from her nerveless fingers and I got The Real Story." Love this stuff.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:09 AM on December 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

Wow—thanks for this. Great post. Love this sort of thing!
posted by Ahmad Khani at 8:52 AM on December 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Well. I'm going to give the Battersea Poltergeist a listen, and have finished the first episode. However, if this is a bad idea for a single person alone in an apartment, terror-wise, please tell me now!
posted by Glinn at 3:50 PM on December 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Not so far, Glinn. I of course began immediately to binge it despite the fact that I get PTSD from scary stuff and live-in pard is out of town. I'm on episode 6, and so far it's engaging and fun and not causing terror.
posted by Don Pepino at 5:13 PM on December 30, 2021 [2 favorites]

Thanks for posting - I enjoyed the Hansard extracts.
posted by paduasoy at 7:06 AM on December 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can’t wait to listen to this, thanks!
posted by corey flood at 8:10 AM on December 31, 2021 [2 favorites]