I may be a little late to the ‘Uncanny’ party, but I’ve been listening to the Danny Robins Uncanny podcast recently. This probably came about from seeing Robins pop-up on many social media feeds of late. Then more recently I caught a couple of magazine article in both the Haunted Magazine and the Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR).

Now I’ve probably listened in completely the wrong order; I’ll began with the TV series, which I watched before Christmas. However, since then I’ve gone back and listened to the entire Uncanny podcast series; this I followed up with the Battersea Poltergeist podcast series and then the Witch Farm podcast series. In fact, as I write this blog post, I am listening to the episode nine ‘An Ancient Evil’ of the Witch Farm.

First, I want to praise Robins and the team for creating such an engaging podcast on the Paranormal. Equally, this has managed to generate such interest in the Paranormal, which has certainly been a positive interest as far as I am aware.

Robins format for Uncanny, the Battersea Poltergeist and the Witch Farm is in my opinion, quite refreshing. Is it a fantastic new format never thought of before? Not really in my opinion, but that should not be seen as a negative here. Many reality TV shows in the Paranormal have been using a format which was probably made popular by Ghost Watch and Most Haunted. That provides us with the usual ghost hunter approach that many of us are familiar with these days. Robins does not join this train though and he takes us back to an earlier time, perhaps a darker time when stories of ghosts were something that captured our imagination, and had us ask many questions to try to understand more. This is why I found an interest in the Paranormal in my younger years, reading those ghost stories, and finding myself wanting to solve those mysteries.

Robins picks up many Paranormal stories from his inbox, and then lays out the various aspects of the case, delivering the pieces with implicit timing that provides us with the drama needed to hook the audience. Cut in the audio of our key witness telling their story, plus some excellent sound effects, then some music and we have an atmospheric delivery of The Modern Ghost Story. I’ve seen several TV shows try this approach, but never really delivered the story. Robins enthusiastic energetic approach, delivers the story brilliantly, making a bid as a modern MR James.

If you think that Uncanny is all about providing one case per episode, like all those TV shows that open and close the case files, along with the title sequences; then you would be wrong. Robins, like many of us paranormal investigators, understand that often these weird cases are far Open and Shut. He also knows that these cases can evolve all by themselves. This can occur through our investigation where we manage to find more details pertaining to our cases. This can often take us off on some strange directions, sometimes turning out to be a complete red herring. As Paranormal investigators, we can often find ourselves down an Uncanny rabbit hole. In a perfect display of good investigation Robins shows that cases don’t really close and that we often have to come back to them as more comes to light. Uncanny provides the possibility of information being from people out there, listening to the podcast and takes into consideration their theories too. These are often especially fascinating as it means the listeners are providing theories on cases. This then gives the podcast something which I love about the Paranormal community and that is a discussion. Having open conversation about the Paranormal is such a great thing as it allows us to truly open our minds to Paranormal possibilities. Only through this level of discussion can we begin to find The truth.

There is one more element that Robins includes in his podcast, and that is the debate of the case. This is done with the inclusion of a sceptic and believer, so to speak more often introduced as ‘the experts;’ the likes of Carol Watts, Chris French, Ciaran O’Keefe and Evelyn Hollow; help to provide greater opinion on the cases. Is this engagement of the experts at crucial points in the story that really adds an interesting element to these podcast. The reason being is that it places Robins in a position where he is open to the criticism that they may provide. Most TV shows do not do this with the main characters taking on the positions of the experts in my opinion. A position that none of us can really take up in reality.

Danny Robins Provides us with a format that feels like it fits a genuine case investigation and to a degree it most certainly does. Obviously certain aspects have to be delivered in a certain manner in order to provide entertainment for the audience. However, this is well hidden in an approach that has me feel like I am entering my own study, when Robins unlocks his shed in his Walthamstow garden, something which is a nice touch by the way. As there’s nothing quite like that space where paranormal investigators review their cases. It is this space where I often find myself sifting through books, digging deep into the Internet and these days often holding video calls with witnesses to capture their stories. Covid and technology has changed the way we can truly investigate and capture Paranormal experiences. When the Society for Psychical Research was originally set up they conducted a similar gathering of information, which would lead to their ‘Phantoms of the Living’ publication. This was achieved by gathering thousands of letters from experiencers, but only really digging into a few. Today, both Robins and the SPR’s , Spontaneous Cases Committee approach in a similar fashion. We receive emails from people outlining their strange experiences then some of those are looked into in more detail. However, technology can allow us to capture more information without heading down the time-consuming path of visiting the individuals house, unless of course the experiences are current and require further investigation. On some occasions we may visit simply as it can provide a better understanding of the phenomena experienced in that environment. At least this is how I approach some of my cases .

I’m happy to say that Uncanny has reminded me why I started investigating the Paranormal originally, and that was to capture the strange stories of peoples experiences and try to look into those to gain some kind of understanding. Both Robins and a recent case has reminded me that sometimes as investigators, part of our role is simply to listen and that the people can understand that they have been heard. The Paranormal provides us with an abundance of strange experiences, which the experts can always present possible theories for. Even though they cannot always be sure. Often what we present is our best theory on the matter, and as fellow Spontaneous Cases Committee member, Dr Malcolm Schofield reminded me, belief plays a huge part too. In a similar fashion to being respectful to someone’s religious beliefs, we must equally begin to assure we are respectful of their Paranormal or spiritual belief could define their loss of a loved one or simply they’re understanding of the next life after this one. We can continue to investigate the Paranormal or debunk things as we used to call it and the importance of the experience to the individual. Robins does this well I think and perhaps it’s that which makes the stories he shares so relatable.

I’ve stated TV shows in recent times, have placed a completely misunderstood image of what the Paranormal is, and how to investigate it; I standby this, as we are still creating that same scare fest format, which is far from the truth. However, like the early morning sun breaking through the trees in the forest, the likes of Robins podcast and the documentary series like the one on the Enfield Poltergeist on Apple TV, are changing our perception providing more than the usual content. These new approaches are certainly capturing peoples imagination, by going beyond and demanding more than just walking around a darken building. People want a detective story, the mystery and a greater understanding.

One question I am often asked is how do I approach an investigation and what equipment would I take? The answer is always dependent on the case itself. There is no point turning up to an investigation overnight with 20 flight cases of gadgets, if there has been no activity overnight and what has occurred was brief visions of an apparition. To truly investigate, we must understand what has been occurring, when and where.

Perhaps it’s time we got a little uncanny and looked at cases differently. Perhaps we may gain more understanding together.

Thank you to Danny Robins and the team for a podcast that has reminded me why I love this field and truly entertained, but always informed. I look forward to future episodes of Uncanny to listen to and watch; I may even have to attend the live tour too.