UKH

Uncanny is back for series 3. I'll listen in bed later. Hopefully this will be better than series 2, most of which was pretty unconvincing (unlike series 1 which had some genuinely creepy cases).

Appropriately, given it's Friday the 13th, the TV version of 'Uncanny' is showing this evening at 9pm on BBC2. I'm intrigued by the Radio Times online quote 'a man who believed an entity was flushing his toilet'. There's often something sinister floating in my toilet - should I call Danny?

There was definitely something creepy about tbe TV version. A man in his late 40s dressed as some sort of little red riding hood, and I wish he did less "looming" he couldn't pass a camera without looming 

You don’t actually take any of this seriously, surely?

I keep an open mind. It's entertaining and intriguing - I'm not a credulous dupe if that's what you're implying.

 I’m sure you’re not!  But this blurring of factual investigation and dramatised storytelling makes me uncomfortable.  You may not be credulous, but plenty of people are, apparently.

I'd tend towards the 'team sceptic' but I'm not looking at Uncanny as rigorous scientific exposition, it's entertainment. Some of the episodes are far more easy to explain rationally than others but some of them are distinctly 'odd'. I think the very first episode (and it's follow ups) was the eeriest. Particularly since the people (Bloody hell,Ken!) involved were all scientists or engineers who couldn't rationalise what they'd all experienced. Ghosts absolutely do exist. There are far too many records going back millennia for them not to. What that 'existence' actually is, whether it's the human brain or something else is the intriguing part for me. I've never personally had a supernatural experience just some odd occurrences that could have had a rational explanation. Lots of people seem to believe Tchaikovsky is better than Chuck Berry but if that's what they think then where's the harm? I know who got bolted to the side of the Voyager spacecraft and sent to the stars.

Haven't ghosts gone the way of Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monsters, UFOs etc, all slain by the smartphone?

Who's to say, with all the supernaturalness sloshing around, they're not actually one and the same?

XKCD again: https://xkcd.com/1235/

I did read somewhere where he explains the reason for the red jacket. I think it's some kind of 'homage' to a horror film but I can't recall which particular one.

I think DNA testing of the loch waters was the final nail in Nessie's coffin?

Yes - but have they tested Loch Morar?

I can't understand all this scepticism when a current BBC documentary series provides absolute proof of the existence of ghosts. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts

"Don't look now", Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland.

One of the 'Celebrity special' episodes of Uncanny features one of the writer/actors from Ghosts. I think it's the guy who plays the Neanderthal ghost? He doesn't believe in ghosts but does go on to relate a very strange encounter (not that sort!) in the gents toilets of a hotel ...

Could be more productive testing the eyesight/blood alcohol levels of the witnesses? I recall staying a night at the Oban bothy right at the head of the loch. It's a wild and lonely spot and Ali and I were the only occupants. It's a place conducive to the imagination and I remember being drawn to looking out along the water (just in case!) whenever I was outside or by a window. Just knowing that it's over a thousand feet deep is thought-provoking.

I listened keenly to the first series, but got turned off by the second series as it seemed to be all too formulaic.  Can anyone on the thread clear up a mystery that's been bugging me though - one of the episodes from the last series was supposed to be a follow up to room XX or whatever in that Belfast Halls of residence but it got pulled just before transmission and replaced with a recording of a live session from I think the Hay Festival.  What was all this about?  Did I imagine it? 

My wife believes in poltergeists. Sometimes she wakes up with ectoplasm on her face or chest.

I don't believe in ghosts.

Yes, that Room 611 episode was cancelled. I haven't heard why or if there will be a later airing. The situation was definitely quite creepy. I agree the second series was underwhelming. It didn't help that it was aired during the lighter months. Everyone knows that real ghosts need it dark outside and the wind whistling through the trees.

Deep, but so easy to ground amongst the islands which are just gorgeous.  

I camped at Oban once with a red deer who followed us all day. Someone else turned up and was rather shocked to see us having our tea outside the tent with a hind lying down beside us chewing the cud.  It is a very atmospheric place (and the atmosphere often liquid)

Ah good glad it wasn't just me then. The mystery continues!

The first sighting of nessie around a 100 years ago was by a local hotel owner. His business sense may well have been better than his eyesight.