Boggart and Banshee: A Supernatural Podcast Chris and Simon

Simon raps once for ‘yes’ and Chris raps twice for ‘no ‘over the results of the five-year ‘Philip Experiment’. Canadian parapsychology researchers invented a fictional character, the dashing but suicidal cavalier Philip. Then they began to receive communications from Philip through rappings and table tippings. Expect to learn how you can best create a ghost at home: glasses of wine, sing-songs and wishful thinking top the list. The correct pronunciation of Tibetan tulpa (sorry sprulpa). And all hail the bronies who create anthropomorphic multicoloured ponies at will.  

The first rule of fairy gifts is you don’t talk about fairy gifts. Chris and Simon recklessly flout that rule in this look at artifacts stolen from or given by the fairies to human neighbours. Some are exotic, like The Luck of Edenhall and the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan. Others, like elf shot and tiny tobacco pipes, are common field finds. Chris waxes lyrical about fairy textiles, and the connection between Huldrefolk bridal crowns and the Virgin Mary. Simon shoe-horns in a discussion of tiny footwear said to be made by leprechauns, some of which, worringly, show signs of wear. And what about that  ‘leprechaun suit’ from County Louth? And should you ever amputate a fairy foot? (Only if you have arthritis...). Our Facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1396529487421974

Simon and Chris are all atwitter over stories of supernatural birds: spectral ravens, death-predicting rooks, ghostly-bloodied doves, glass-smashing partridges and, the horror, housebound robins. Chris causes a flutter with an intolerably creepy magpie rhyme; our thoughtful pair wonder at phantom birds often being heard and not seen; and why oh why do birds keep attacking Simon? 

Chris and Simon cross swords over a medieval X-files collection: necromancers, monsters emerging from graves, an encounter with a fairy-like Woman in White, the walking dead, and, best of all, a trustworthy demon named Oliver, all found in Caesarius of Heisterbach’s thirteenth-century Dialogue on Miracles. Although Caesarius’s purpose was to instruct Cistercian novices, these stories of medieval high strangeness can still delight the Fortean, the anomalist and anyone else interested in the supernatural. So step into the cloister, dear friend...

In the 1880s, two sisters had an encounter with three gyrating, squeaking, white veiled supernatural women at Sennen Cove, Cornwall. Chris and Simon dance around the topics of Cornish otherworldliness, supernatural languages and circle jigs. Were the women goddesses, fairies, vestal virgins or amorous cats? Where do fairies 'foot it all the night'? Why do so many supernatural encounters report high-pitched voices? And most importantly did the ladies of Sennen Cove mess with Simon's mike, which played up in parts of this episode... The booklet with the text of the encounter is Pwca's Magicians, Red Heads and Small People: The Legends and Folklore of Sennen and Sennen Cove.

Chris and Simon embark on a quest to uncover the origins of the archetypal ghost in a sheet, tracing its lineage back to the death shroud. With a dash of sartorial flair, they explore sheet chic, evolving trends of ghostly attire through the ages. They muse on shroud styles, the mystery of naked phantoms, potato thieves,  headless Vikings, and  that all-important 'Tailored Terror' accessory, rusty chains. But questions linger. Why have apparitions in white draperies become a rarity? Is there a link between zombies and shrouded spectres? And why was phosphorous so important for Victorian ghost enthusiasts?