Watching the Ghosts

This was a documentary done by the BBC in 1992. It is a recording of a live show where a group of people investigate a haunted house, and it was hosted by Michael Parkinson! I watched this, and so did a Jet Simian.

There's the most haunted house in England, with recorded phenomena of a poltergeist affecting a family of a single mother and her two children. The BBC give over an hour (although they end up running longer because of events) one Halloween to run cameras there and see if anything happens. Michael Parkinson is in the studio with paranormal specialist Dr Lin Pascoe, and at the house outside is Craig Charles (yes, that one) and in the house is Sarah Greene. Nothing happens for a while, and they cut back to the studio where callers ring in, but then there are bumps... which is traced to one of the children. But then more tapping occurs, things fall off the walls, and people get hurt, and the studio goes haywire...

It's the most amazing demonstration of paranormal investigation that I've ever seen, with very dramatic results.

...

Now this is how you do it! A slow build of atmosphere, keep it subtle, but definitely have something progressing over time! This is where Paranormal Activities and the ilk fail so hard. Just a simple house, two levels, just a bedroom and a kitchen, and yet... bam! Complete with the studio set up, and completely treated as how the BBC would handle such an investigation! If only we could have investigations like this and have these kinds of results! Everything thing was just done brilliantly...

And you might be able to watch for yourself Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Please, America, just stop. The BBC did it far better than you did, over twenty years ago.

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