Uncanny has taken over the airwaves of late, with host Danny Robins delving into some of the scariest tales of the paranormal. CHRISTINE MILLER revisits the hugely popular BBC Sounds series.
Danny Robins, award-winning writer, journalist, broadcaster and creator of The Battersea Poltergeist, is the host of Uncanny, the unsettling yet highly entertaining podcast which delves into listeners’ chilling encounters with the supernatural.
From poltergeist hauntings, sinister bothies in Scotland to UFO encounters and guardian angels, Uncanny truly is a paranormal podcast not to be missed.
If you haven’t yet listened to it (seriously, where have you been?), here is an episode guide to the hugely popular 15-part first series.
(Spoilers not included.)
Uncanny: Series One Episode Guide
Case One: The Evil In Room 611
One of the most popular episodes in the series, the first case revolves around Ken, now a renowned scientist, and his time spent in Room 611 in Alanbrooke Hall, Belfast, as an undergraduate. The tragedy of the flat’s history comes back to haunt – literally – Ken and subsequent residents.
Read much about the Alanbrooke Hall case in chilling detail here.
Case Two: The Hanging Room
The story of The Hanging Room revolves around then-teenager Millie who was haunted by something otherworldly over a period of five years in her parent’s farmhouse, which was first built in 1667. From feelings of being watched to items moving in front of her, it soon becomes apparent that the old house has a disturbing past, with one spirit in particular keen to make itself known to Millie.
Case 3: The Todmorden UFO
In a move away from poltergeist-like encounters, Danny delves into the Todmorden UFO sighting, speaking to Alan Godfrey, a former police officer serving in the town in West Yorkshire. In 1980, Alan reported witnessing a diamond-shaped aircraft on a dark road, whilst also experiencing a bizarre loss of time.
He then had the infamous Men in Black to contend with…
Case 4: My Best Friend’s Ghost
Case 4 covers a real-life tale from a woman named Laura that Danny believes is “possibly the strangest and the hardest to explain story that we have had so far”. Laura believes that after her best friend Anna’s death, Anna had returned from the afterlife. Danny poses the question: is it really possible for the dead to make contact with the living?
Case 5: Return To Room 611
Danny returns to the case of Alanbrooke Hall in Belfast with some brand-new information, as well as additional witnesses to the strange phenomena. He speaks to Gary Foster, who, like Ken, is also now a highly regarded scientist who had lived in Alanbrooke Hall as a student. Gary has many of his own petriying encounters with the mysterious entity to relay to Danny.
Case 6: The Brooklyn Poltergeist
Model and influencer Charli tells Danny of her time living in a rental in Brooklyn, New York with two flatmates when some menacing and unexplainable activity alongside an unsettling male presence begins which begins to descend on the building.
Case 7: Angel In The Bathroom
Do guardian angels really look over the living? Mental health support worker Tom seems to think so. When a suicidal patient on day release attempts the unthinkable, Tom is placed in a horrifying position. With the odds firmly against him saving his patient, he receives help from the most unlikely of sources.
Case 8: The UFO In The Playground
Danny returns to the case of the Todmorden UFO and makes a possible connection to a police case Alan Godley had previously worked on – the bizarre death of Zigmond Adamski, a polish miner who mysteriously disappeared some years before Alan’s bizarre experience.
Case 9: I Will Kill You All
In 1987, aged 16, Hannah, alongside her large family move into a new house, but as it would turn out, the home is anything but welcoming. With three ghosts to contend with in the Victorian villa, the family soon becomes terrorised by phantom forces and mysterious phenomena.
Case 10: Don’t Sleep In This House
The tenth episode focuses on Phil’s eyewitness testimony, when, at just 18 years old, he and his friend stay in haunted Luibeilt bothy, deep in the Scottish Highlands. It would be a night that Phil would remember for a very, very long time.
Read in more detail more about Phil’s horrific encounter at Luibeilt here.
Case 11: The Curse Of Luibeilt
This is the second episode analysing Luibeilt. Phil soon begins to believe that whatever was once lurking at the bothy has now followed him home to Glasgow. He returns to Luibeilt in search of answers.
Case 12: Fatal Collision
Delivery driver Amanda was involved in a life-changing accident that she believes was paranormal in nature. Could this life-changing collision have been a hideous premonition of terrible tragedies to come?
Case 13: The Return Of Elizabeth Dacre
A young family moves into their new home, once part of a former hotel frequented by the rich and famous, when strange occurances begin to happen. They soon begin to question whether they are welcome when Grant and his relatives begin to see an apparition of what appears to be the former owner.
Case 14: The Haunting Of Tanfield House
The penultimate episode of Uncanny looks at the case of a young student who suffers from a torublesome poltergeist. Does the entity have neferious intend, or is it simply trying to relay an important message?
Case 15: Bloody Hell, Ken!
The last episode in the series returns to the story of Alanbrooke Hall as well as some of the other stand-out episodes that have kept the nation hooked and spooked over the last few months.
Listening to Uncanny
Of course, if you haven’t already, you can listen to Uncanny in all its horrifying glory on BBC Sounds; you won’t regret it.
Or perhaps you will – I felt forced to sleep with the lights on for three nights solid after listening to the episode surrounding Phil’s petrifying stay at Luibeilt bothy, near Glencoe.
Listener discretion may therefore be wisely advised.And, don’t forget to check out our interviews with Uncanny host Danny Robins, as well as one of the show’s experts, parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow – both of which are on our Spooky Isles YouTube channel.
Tell us what you thought of Uncanny in the comments section below!
