I think I covered Leap in the Dark in a previous post on here somewhere, putting up a few episodes. I've since discovered more episodes though, so thought I would share! The series was broadcast on British TV on BBC 2. It ran for 4 seasons - in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980 - with a total of 24 episodes. The first-season episodes were all documentaries, seasons 2 & 3 were presented by Colin Wilson and consisted of docudramas re-enacting real-life cases of paranormal occurrences, and season 4 was when the series changed and decided to just do original dramas, including episodes written by Alan Garner, Fay Weldon, and David Rudkin. Only the pilot episode remains from season 1, with the rest falling foul of the BBC's tendency to write over all their old master tapes, which has seen many classic series being lost forever.
The episodes I'm sharing today are all docu-dramas from Seasons 2 and 3, and are all quite interesting if you're into this sort of thing.....
(The story of Émilie Sagée, who seemed to be capable of bi-location/ producing a doppleganger)
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Definitely worth adding these to your Halloween watch list! I wish they still made stuff like this...well, I mean they sometimes do, but nowhere near as often...
This will not be my only post today...I have another two or three lined up, but if I remember right, they should all be stuck together like one big post by the end of the day, which means this will appear at the bottom...so I'll put the link to the Countdown Hub here! Click the badge below for the last time this year to be magically transported by Ye Interweb to the Countdown to Halloween Blog, where you can find a list of all this year's participants...
Keep an eye out for more posts throughout the day!
The BBC have been uploading things to their Youtube archive for a few years now, and there is a wealth of interesting clips to be found there! Obviously, for the purposes of the blog I've picked some of the spookier, weirder clips, but if you want to see glimpses of old British life, you should go check out some of the other stuff that's on there for yourselves later.....
But for now, I hope you find somethinamong the videos here that tickles your spooky bone....even if the authenticity of some of the claims in these videos might be, slightly, suspect!
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"Llyn Dulyn (‘Black Lake’ in Welsh) lies nestled in the Carneddau range of mountains in Snowdonia.
A quiet, eerie place, it’s steeped not only in an ancient folklore of evil spirits and witches, but also a more modern variety of ghost story. It was the site of multiple airplane crashes during WWII, and became infamous across North Wales. In this clip, the locals speak in hushed tones to reporter John Swinfield of collecting debris from the plane wrecks, catching strange-looking fish and hearing disembodied voices calling out to them…
Excerpt taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Wednesday 17th October 1973. "
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""Either 17 people have all been having hallucinations - including the police - or this is the best-documented ghost story of all time."
Nationwide's James Hogg reports from a seemingly ordinary, suburban house in Ponder's End, Enfield, where residents have reported experiencing a variety of unusual phenomena. There has been knocking in the walls, and furniture is regularly thrown around the house - apparently unaided.
These bizarre occurrences have piqued the interest of Maurice Grosse, an inventor and a member of the Society of Psychical Research. Mr Grosse believes that the disturbances are being caused by a poltergeist, and thinks that the recordings he has made while investigating the disturbances in the house might be the best evidence yet of parapsychological activity.
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, 23 November, 1977."
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"Fyfe Robertson reports from the ruins of Broomhill House in Larkhall, which locals claim is haunted by a ghost known as the Black Lady. They have enlisted the help of a local ghost hunter, Tom Robertson (no relation), to exorcise the spirit.
Originally broadcast 1 February, 1963."
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"There were strange goings-on in Warminster, Wiltshire, home to a spate of flying saucer sightings in the west of England. Nationwide's Brian Ash spent a day and night looking for UFOs with the help of Arthur Shuttlewood and Rex Dutta.
This clip is from Nationwide, originally broadcast 28 August 1973."
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"BBC Northern Ireland's roving reporter James Boyce attends a traditional straw wedding in Derrylin, County Fermanagh and interviews local expert Captain George Saunderson.
"A straw wedding probably dates back to pre-Christian times."
"When the bridal couple return from their honeymoon, the local farmers and farmers' boys gather together dressed in straw to welcome home the happy couple."
This clip was taken from Six Ten, BBC Northern Ireland's local news programme.
Originally broadcast in 1964."
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""It's not rubbish. I saw it and I believe in it."
BBC Panorama reports on alleged Nessie sightings, as well as an ongoing loch-wide search for the elusive beast.
The hunt for the Loch Ness monster, involving a team of volunteers and army-hired search lights is led by David James, a British Member of Parliament.
Reporter Jameson Clark also hears from local eyewitnesses, who claim to have seen Nessie for themselves.
"The evidence, as you've heard, varies. Sometimes one hump, sometimes two, sometimes three."
"It's been seen all over Loch Ness, from Port Augustus to Castle Urquhart."
Clip taken from Panorama, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 13 June, 1960."
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"A major controversy has shaken the rural tranquility of Annacloy in County Down. A celebrated "fairy thorn" tree - a type of hawthorn bush that fairies are especially partial to - has been removed during the dead of night. The uprooting of this magical tree, which was in the proposed path of a major road development, has left many people in the area angry.
BBC Northern Ireland's roving reporter James Boyce visits the scene to speak to some local residents. Have they ever seen a fairy? What is likely to happen to the person who chopped down the fairy thorn?"
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"Fyfe Robertson visits Gruinard, Britain's most mysterious island. Gruinard was the site of Government experiments during World War II and remains shrouded in secrecy.
Local crofters and fishermen know better than to land on Gruinard. Just what do they think happened there all those years ago?
Originally broadcast 17 Ocotober, 1962."
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""Allowing for the fact there's a lot of fraud, a lot of delusion, a lot of wishful thinking... there still is a hard core of something." - Tony Cornell.
Nationwide's James Hogg follows paranormal investigators on the hunt for poltergeists. He meets psychical researcher Tony Cornell, who has been investigating paranormal incidents for over 30 years. Cornell is a Cambridge graduate, whose interest in the paranormal was piqued when he was stationed as a Naval Officer in India. He has investigated hundreds of alleged hauntings, with no success. He and two physics graduates are currently investigating a chest of drawers that has been at the centre of alleged poltergeist activity.
David Berglas is a practising magician, but also a trained psychotherapist and the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for Scientific Investigation into claims of the Paranormal. He demonstrates some of the ways that people can deceive investigators, and explains how often the simplest explanation turns out to be the truth.
James then speaks to Dr Alan Gauld, who has written a book on poltergeists with Cornell, and often investigates phenomenon alongside him. Gauld is particularly stumped by a recent case involving a loud, persistent banging emanating from a young boys' bedroom. The banging has been heard even when the child isn't in the room, and Dr Gauld has gone as far as taking up the floorboards in an attempt to uncover the source.
Gauld and Cornell have now purchased the 'haunted' chest of drawers, in order to wire it up to various electronic gizmos - including a Sinclair Spectrum and several cameras - so if the chest of drawers moves of its own accord, they'll spot it.
After 30 years with no confirmed ghost sightings, what keeps Cornell and Gauld going?
Clip taken from Nationwide, originally broadcast on BBC One, Thursday 17 March, 1983."
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Blimey! Do we really only have a few days left before Hallowe'en!?
Better make sure you head over to the Countdown to Halloween hub to see what the other Cryptkeepers have been up to...I know that Mark Harveyhas been creating some groovy, ghoulish soundscapes for you to listen to, so you should definitely pop over to his blog too!
It's time once again for Vincent Price, Boris Kaloff and Christopher Lee to haunt my blog.......with something to listen to, something to watch, and something to learn......
Hope you enjoyed those....again my original plans for today's post were ruined, this time by the ongoing shutdown of Internet Archive due to some idiotic, juvenile, attention-seeking hackers.....but hey, it is what it is.....
Be sure to go check out what everyone else has been up to over at the Countdown Hub by clicking the badge below! Just realised it's only 10 days left until Halloween itself, which is quite frankly the scariest thing yet! Where the heck does the time go...and is it going by quicker and quicker each year? Certainly seems so to me.......
I thought today I'd show a double bill of a couple of animated shorts that popped up on my Youtube!
First up is The Curse ofDracular....
From Director, Jack Paterson....
"Director Statement
The Curse of Dracular is a claymation film I produced for my final year of University, based on a story my Dad wrote when he was a child (around nine years old). He discovered it a few years ago after finding that his mum had kept a collection of his old schoolwork. Upon reading it, it becomes clear that the story was heavily inspired by the classic Hammer Horror films he would catch late at night as a child. We both found his story hilarious, and I thought it would be the perfect basis for a short film.
I should note that one detail I found particularly funny was the fact he had misspelled the name Dracula as "Dracular", hence the title.
Although the film is comical, it comes from a very personal place as my Dad has been a continuous inspiration to me for as long as I can remember, and I credit a lot of my love of film and animation to him. Thus, this film is in large part a tribute to him. Claymation is also our favourite form of animation, and some of my oldest memories were us sculpting various characters and creatures out of Play-Doh and Plasticine.
This claymation film is the culmination of months of work, and was filmed primarily in my dining room. Being a one-man crew, the production of this film has been quite the journey, so I'm very excited to finally share it with the world.
So sit back, and enter the deadly domain of the dastardly Count Dracular!"
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Next up, we have Butterflies..
From Youtube....
"The short stop-motion animation Butterflies, directed by Isabel Peppard, weaves a haunting tale of a young artist named Claire (voiced by Rachel Griffiths), who struggles to sustain herself by selling her art on the street. Her fortunes seem to change when a businessman, Dalton Hearst (voiced by Nicholas Hope), recognizes her talent and offers her a paid position. However, what initially appears to be a golden opportunity soon threatens to suffocate her creativity.
Peppard masterfully blends Claire’s vivid childhood memories with her present-day struggles, crafting a gothic fairytale within a world that is both dark and intricately detailed.
Butterflies stands out with its distinctive, tactile aesthetic, achieved through highly sculptural sets constructed from a variety of materials such as wood, latex, fiberglass, resin, and plaster.
The film’s puppets, made from hyper-realistic silicone, feature meticulously airbrushed skin tones, lifelike eyeballs, and individually implanted hairs, creating an unsettlingly real yet surreal experience. The visual style draws inspiration from visceral horror, Victorian industrial architecture, and oriental art and design, resulting in a richly atmospheric and immersive world.
The film's core team included Isabel Peppard, Warwick Burton, and Beau White. Isabel and Warwick co-wrote the story, with Warwick producing the film. Isabel, in addition to her directorial and cinematographic roles, oversaw set construction, puppet creation, and animation. Beau White collaborated closely with Isabel during pre-production, focusing on the intricate building of sets and characters. Jon Billington, the director of photography, played a crucial role in shaping the lighting to reflect the film's different worlds, while Nick Hilligoss, the key animator, made significant contributions during post-production, helping to bring the film's chilling narrative to life. Music was composed by Elliott Wheeler, the multi award winning Australian film composer. The sound designer was Michael McMenomy."
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Hope you enjoyed those....I needed a nice easy post today after two days of writing!
Be sure to go check out what everyone else is doing over at the Countdown Hub!
When I was a kid, I had a weird dream that Frankenstein's Monster lived at a dump just along the road from our house... My brother and I used to go to the dump a lot, as staying in farm cottages, there wasn't many other places to go when looking for play areas, and there was quite often some new odd thing that would appear at the dump to take a look at (like for instance, some weird wooden car frame that our local aging ex-military eccentric had decided to build, and then just randomly discard when he got bored of that project). And we had a 'gang hut' nearby too, which was basically just the side of large tree that we had added extra foliage to to bulk it up a bit.
But after I had that Frankenstein dream, I became a bit wary of going near the dump alone for a while. The dream had freaked me out. Something about the way the monster lurched out of the bushes in the dream had really unsettled me, and it had be quite a lucid experience that made me question the reality of it for a good few weeks!
So why am I telling you about this dream? Because not long after having it, we watched Neon Maniacs on VHS. And the first thing that struck me about the film was that the way the maniacs stumbled around in the dark totally reminded me of the lurching Boris-brute from my dream...and has done every time I've watched it since!
Now, Neon Maniacs is not a good film. In fact it's pretty bad. But the weird, surreal ideas of the film are amazing! For some reason, a whole group of crazy-assed mutants, all with their own personality and preferred tools of torture, randomly live under the Golden Gate bridge and after a random fisherman finds some giant-sized trading card style snaps of them outside the bridge, the kill him and then go on a rampage, slaying whoever else they come across for seemingly no other reason than it's just what they do!
And watching this as a ten-year-old in 1987ish, I reckon I was just the right age for weird trading-card troll beasts to make an impact, even if it meant having to endure the terrible battle-of-the-bands sequence....
I'm probably getting way ahead of myself though, as a lot of you won't have seen this and will have no idea what I'm talking about....so lets just watch the film and then I'll get back to you!
So there you have it. the weirdness that is Neon Maniacs! Apparently the film was stopped halfway through filming when the original makers ran out of cash, and so another company picked it up to finish it off, which might explain some of the rubbishness. For instance, there was going to be 27 maniacs, but they were reduced to 12... and supposedly all of the maniacs were going to have more background story, and there was going to be a bigger end battle, but it all had to be cut due to the cost of special effects.
But I've always felt that this was a film that would have benifitted greatly from a sequel or two...where they could build on the odd lore.......
Why was there weird trading cards of the Neon Maniacs just lying around? What age is Laura actually supposed to be? How long have they been under the bridge? Why is water so deadly to them? How did such a rag-tag bunch get together? Were they hiding in another dimension in the back of the ambulance??
I've come up with my own ideas for a sequel, which I won't get into too much here other than to say....think how well trading card ink and water go together......
Oh, and also, on a side note, do you think that the reason the kids in Zombies Ate My Neighbors use water pistols is totally because of this movie? I can't think of any other horror films which use water pistols to defeat the enemies!!
So yeah, it's a shame that Neon Maniacs was essentially an unfinished film, but it's even more of a shame that it didn't get the sequels it deserved! I hope that in watching it you feel the same....
Be sure to go check out what everyone else is doing over at the Countdown hub by clicking the badge below, or you could start with Vraie Fictionwho has a cool book recommendation for you today! I'll see you back here tomorrow for more spooky shenanigans!
This film from 1960 is all about something that happened around 18 miles from where I'm sitting right now...sure, it happened long before I was born, but I've walked the same streets that many of the real life characters in this movie would have walked before me!
For this is the tale of three notorious men, who around about 196 years ago, decided that rather than leaving newly dead folks to go to waste underground, they would use them to line their pockets and advance medicine at the same time!
Yes, the dubious Dr. Knox, and body snatching Burke and Hare were all very real people, and are well known to anybody with an interest in the spookier side of Auld Reekie! If however, you have no idea what I'm talking about, then this film should enlighten you.....
Starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Knox, Donald Pleasance as Wiliam Hare, George Roseas William Burke andMelvyn Hayes as Daft Jamie, the film seems to have been released to mixed reception, but it has gained a bit of a cult following in recent years.....but of course, now we can make up our own minds on whether or not its any good!
* *Also just a heads-up to be aware that this film has some nudity in it, so might not be suitable to watch in some spaces!**
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There is heavy use of artistic licence in the film, so here's a few facts to clear things up a bit...
Whether or not Dr. Knox was actually aware that the corpses he was purchasing had been freshly murdered is still up for debate, but after the scandal and capture of Burke and Hare and their wives, his reputation was certainly in tatters. This caricature below from the time of the trial, shows Dr. Knox harvesting new bodies....
He resigned from his position as curator of the College of Surgeons museum, and was gradually excluded from university life by his peers. Later after moving to London, he was debarred from lecturing by the Royal College of Surgeons and ended his days working in a cancer hospital.
The real Dr. Knox
Daft Jamie was not the last victim, and although one of Knox's assistants did think they recognised the corpse of Mary Paterson, there was no news of any relatonships..
Both Burke and Hare were married, and both their wives also faced prosecution, but were delivered a not guilty verdict, as was Hare....
Hare was actually protected after being cleared of the murders, and not blinded in an alley, and would eventually disappear into obscurity. Burke on the other hand was hanged, and his
skeleton was given to the Anatomical Museum of the Edinburgh Medical School where it still remains to this day. His death mask and a book said to be bound with his tanned skin is on display at Surgeons' Hall Museum, and can be seen by visitors to said museum...
Burke's Skeleton
After the murders, a new poem started circulating the streets of Edinburgh....
Be sure to go and check out the Countdown Hub by clicking the badge below, and you can hopefully find something a bit less grim to lighten the mood.....
Wow! That seemed to roll around fast again! Spook season is upon us!
I'm looking forward to reading everyone's posts again this year, and I'll do my best to post at least something every day, and (touch wood) try my best to avoid the dreaded curse of the blog!
I'm always worried about being too ambitious with my plans, but i do have a few things up my sleeve for this year....but I've learned if you don't mention what they are then no one will be any the wiser if they fail to materialize! :D Expect the usual comics, games, spook sightings, spooky pictures and evrything else......
Anyway, it should be a great Countdown so I wish you all well with it, and hope that our favourite festival is great fun for everyone! To start things off, here's a few spooky pics I found on Pinterest.....
Be sure to head on over to the Countdown to Halloween main hub page by clicking the badge below, and you'll find a list at the side of all of this year's participants!
Something a bit different for tonight's feature....an Italian Fantasy-Horror movie from 1961!
Hercules in the Haunted World (Italy - 'Ercole al centro della terra' UK 'Hercules at the Center of the Earth') is a sword-and-sandal film directed by Italian horror director, Mario Bava.
Reg Park (British bodybuilder, previous Mr. Universe and the man who inspired Arnold Schwarzenegger to pick up weights) plays Hercules for the second of five movies in which he played the role, and a de-fanged Christopher Lee appears as the mysterious King Lico.
The film sees Hercules journey to the underworld in search of a magical stone, the only thing that can bring his lady friend Princess Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) back to her senses...
Originally releaased in Italy in 1961, it made it's way to an English dub in 1962, and an American release in 1964, although a different actor voiced Christopher Lee's Lico....
So grab some snacks, dim the lights, sit back and prepare to head to Hades with Herules and pals!
A change of planned post tonight, as I had to deal with some unforeseen family drama, which I won’t go into here other than to say it’s nothing new, and nothing too serious, but quite frequent and annoying. There may well be a blog post about it someday, but now is not the time or place….
Anyway, hopefully things will get back on track tomorrow, but in the meantime, here’s a nice little documentary I found over on The Museum of Classic Chicago Television’s Youtube channel….not being an American, I obviously didn’t see a lot of the old TV you guys got in the 70s, 80s and 90s…but after discovering this channel I get to find lots of cool things I missed!
The museum is a non-profit dedicated to preservation…here’s their mission statement!
Anyway, this documentary takes a look at the monster phenomenon, mostly through old film and TV, and was originally aired on Chicago local TV on the 23rd of October, 1981…hope you enjoy it!
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Head over to the Countdown to Halloween hub by clicking the badge below, where you can find a list of all the participants taking part this year!
Bit of a headache, so an easy post for me today I think....I found a couple of good documentaries on Youtube that I thought I'd share with you guys in case you haven't seen them yet!
I watched these as I ate my dinner and thoroughly enjoyed them, so I hope you do too! I'll be back tomorrow with another post, but in the meantime the other Cryptkeepers like Alexis over at 31 Days of Halloween have plenty of other posts to kepp you occupied! You can find a full list of all the Countdown to Halloween participants over at the Countdown Hub, by clicking the badge below!
Been having a hell of a day travelling back to my flat….got soaked with rain, sprayed with horrible dung-filled water by a passing lorry, got some food when I got to Edinburgh that was supposed to be hot but wasn’t and then had to find another bus-stop to get home from because the main road was shut due to water-pipe issues AND then change buses halfway through the journey back for some unknown reason! All while still soggy and cold….
Anyway, I should have just enough time to post a few old spooky TV shows I’ve found on Twitter over the last week or so….they all come from a bit before I started to watch some of this type of stuff when it actually aired (when I was about 5 in 1982..😅) so when I watched them last week, that was the first time I had seen them too! But they seem to be exactly the kind of freaky nonsense I remember from growing up in the late 70s/early 80s so, here we go…
First up is an episode from a series by NigelKneale…writer of the ‘Quatermass’ series, ‘The Stone Tape’ and later Halloween III, although he had his name removed from that after the producer demanded more violence and gore! This episode of ‘Beasts’ (1976) is called ‘TheDummy’ and is about a creature-suit wearing actor, who isn’t having a great time and lets things get to him a bit more than is probably healthy….
Blimey! Good job it’s not Halloween yet…the day I’ve been having, wearing a costume apparently might be dangerous! Let’s move swiftly on to a slightly creepier tale, but one which will come with a warning that the ending is a bit of a let down, in that disappointing, ‘just ends with no answer’ kinda way…if that doesn’t bother you too much, it’s still worth a watch for the creepy feel, and it is directed fairly well! It’s from a series called ‘Leap in the Dark’ and is about a journalist/paranormal investigator who goes to hear about a variety of ghosts haunting a home, but becomes strangely drawn to the absent daughter of the household… ‘Come and Find Me’ is from 1980..
See what I mean about the ending? What was that all about!?
Anyway, time for one last video, and this is a classic! It’s an adaptation of M.R. James’ 1895 short story ‘Lost Hearts’ and this one I have seen before, but it’s been years since I did! And I haven’t watched it again yet either, so I’m going to watch it along with you! All I remember is that the ending is properly scary and involves the ghoulish children you see at the top of this post….*shivers*….nightmare fuel! M.R. James stories were often adapted by the BBC and shown as part of their yearly ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ series, that has continued on and off right up until current times, and I’m pretty sure I’ve posted a couple on the blog before…
I hope you enjoy these terrifying tales! I’ll probably post some more before the month is out! If you’re not spooked enough yet though, be sure to check out what everyone else is doing over at the Countdown hub by clicking the badge below!
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