Boggart and Banshee: A Supernatural Podcast

Chris and Simon

So a Brit and a Yank walk into a supernatural podcast… Nattering on fairies, folklore, ghosts and the impossible ensues. Cross your fingers, turn your pockets inside out and join Simon and Chris as they talk weird history, Fortean mysteries, and things that go bump in the night.

  1. FEB 1

    Gef, the Extra Clever Mongoose: Fake, Poltergeist or Talking Animal?

    In 1931 at the Irvings' farmhouse on the Isle of Man there were poltergeist bangs, words and, then, the appearance of Gef a talking weasel-like creature with human hands, 'the extra, extra clever mongoose'. Join Simon and Chris as they attempt to be extra, extra clever about Gef who could talk, sing, report gossip from all over the island and do selfies. Expect to learn what kind of families produce poltergeists, why Harry Price was a 'conman', and whether Gef's pronouncements are teenage or frustrated adult male. And what was Gef really? A poltergeist? Folie en famille? An actual talking animal? Tulpa? A witch's familiar? Or a hoax by one or all of the Irvings, so disappointed in their lives?

    58 min

  2. JAN 1

    Haunted Churches

    What spirits (holy and otherwise) haunt churches? Women in white, ghostly clergymen, fairies, angels, organist twins, naughty nuns, and giant maggots. Simon and Chris bicker, in this ecclesiastical outing, about consecrated ground, wimples, the recording properties of stones, the mental health of vicars' families and double dipping. Chris tells of infernal churches in the States, while Simon pontificates about church porches where the dead foretell the coming year. In just forty-five minutes expect to learn: how to get to hell via a church; why churches are like muzzled dogs; and where to get a glimpse of Jimmy Garlick (bring a shilling).

    48 min

  3. 12/01/2025

    Bunny Horror: Ghostly Rabbits and Witchy Hares

    Ghostly rabbits, witchy hares... Welcome to one of the strangest corners of the supernatural warren. Chris and Simon talk sheep-killing, human attacking, Roman-hating, bad luck bringing bunnies and speculate about why rabbits and hares so terrified our ancestors. In this episode you will learn: what a graveyard bunny is; tricks for getting off a poaching charge; and how to sabotage a witch trial with a hare in a sack. Other highlights include: Donnie Darko, the axe-wielding Bunny Man, Lewis Carroll's White Rabbit, Stonehenge encounters, and Chris's ickie rabbit foot embargo. Will the two get hopping mad with each other or will they share a carrot and be friends? Find out on Boggart and Banshee's Night of the Lepus.

    43 min

  4. 11/01/2025

    Fiftieth Anniversary Episode and Listeners' Questions

    It's been 50 glorious episodes of nattering and squabbling and dramatic readings about all forms of the supernatural!  Chris and Simon reminisce fondly about how they first met (it involves a baby, a settee and an unfortunate accident). The duo answer questions from readers: when can we expect Fairy Census 3? What is the origin of the phrase 'fairies at the bottom of the garden'? Why does Simon hate Gef? What are Chris' favourite horror reads? They reveal their favorite episodes, share some ideas about supernatural encounters, and discuss 'Is Bigfoot, known to braid horse's manes and take food offerings just a large hairy fairy?' They also give an honest answer to the question of whether they have actually encountered a fairy/boggart/leprechaun... Tune in to find out!

    51 min

  5. 10/01/2025

    Possessed Possessions: Haunted, Cursed, and Hoodoo Furniture

    Roll out the U-Haunt truck while Chris and Simon load up stories of haunted furniture. Simon tests out haunted chairs where ghosts sit and deftly avoids cursed seats. Chris takes joy in bouncing beds from brothels and trap beds that make human sausage meat. There is the murderer trunk and the toy box with angry gnomes. Clocks foretell death (and, in rare instances, prevent premature burials). Do humans get so attached to household furnishings that they cling to them even after death? Can a piece of furniture somehow influence us in weird ways? Or do spirits possess possessions? And what about the IKEA ghost, Chris's vacuum cleaner tale, the Monet painting and Simon's bagatelle board? All will be revealed in the October episode of Boggart and Banshee!

    50 min

  6. 09/01/2025

    Victorian Shapeshifters: Furries, Shaggies or Folk Angels?

    Is it a dog!? Is it a calf?! No, it’s something in between or just possibly a headless bear or a giant lolloping rabbit, instead. Simon and Chris debate the appearance and habits of a class of supernatural creatures Simon insists on calling, to Chris's irritation, 'furries': solitary, shaggy shapeshifters that haunted the roads and wilds of nineteenth century Britain. These ambiguous animals, with their trademark fiery, saucer-like eyes, might predict death, assault those who confront them, or protect vulnerable travelers from attack. Then there are the big questions. Did these shapeshifters make their way to the United States as Chris claims? Did they become the Alien Big Cats and Black Dogs of modern folklore, as Simon insists? Are they ghosts, cryptids, fairy-animals, or just a mangy tabby glimpsed in the moonlight? And watch out for swelling sheep on those late-night rambles. Further Reading Wilder Mann, Charles Freger https://www.charlesfreger.com/portfolio/wilder-mann-fr/ Explore phantom black dogs, Bob Trubshaw Black Dog Folklore, Mark Norman Mystery Big Cats, Merrily Harpur American Monsters, Linda S. Godfrey Monsters Among Us, Linda S. Godfrey http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/creature-feature-something-between-a-dog-and-a-calf/ Past Praying For: Something Sinister in a Field http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/12988/ http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/a-ghost-of-evil-odour/ http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/black-dogs-and-dynamite-south-mountains-washington-monument/ https://esoterx.com/2018/11/06/exit-stage-left-pursued-by-a-ghost-bear/

    50 min

  7. 08/01/2025

    Highway to Hell: Road Ghosts and Phantom Hitchhikers

    Chris and Simon hit the road with tales of spectral travelers: headless motorcyclists, driverless hearses, ghostly coaches, and hitchhikers who vanish mid-ride. Highway hobgoblins leap into passing carriages and crossroads—where suicides were buried—are haunted by the devil. Chris steers the conversation to carriages as omens of death, while Simon says it’s his way or the highway, as the duo bicker over paths. Chris reveals how she almost became a Canadian road ghost on her vintage BMW R60/2. Simon maps out ghost coach routes, Chris tells of some terrifying first-hand experiences of phantom hitchhikers and the two finally agree on the uncanny habit of road ghosts in always keeping one step ahead. You’ll want to keep the car doors locked for this one.

    53 min

  8. 07/01/2025

    Household Helper Spirits: from Brownie to Hob

    Simon and Chris are pixelated by household helpers, those elusive, often hairy beings like Brownies, Tomten, and Skrats who muck out stables, scrub pans, rock babies, edit podcasts and occasionally fetch the midwife, all in exchange for a humble bowl of porridge. Our domestic duo explore why these  spirits have such complicated relationships with clothing, what draws them to a home (or sends them storming off), and wonder aloud if you can still hire one in today’s difficult real estate market.  Along the way, the two squabble over whether houses go up or down in value with a helper, the emotional climate of homes, and the surprising requirements for crafting your own supernatural assistant (spoiler: toes and horses are involved). UK helpers are compared with their Scandinavian, North European, and North American cousins. While Simon berates Chris for her shocking ignorance of the Swiss variety, Chris lectures Simon on a brave new world of railway-building brownies on the other side of the Atlantic.

    48 min
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4.9
out of 5
35 Ratings

About

So a Brit and a Yank walk into a supernatural podcast… Nattering on fairies, folklore, ghosts and the impossible ensues. Cross your fingers, turn your pockets inside out and join Simon and Chris as they talk weird history, Fortean mysteries, and things that go bump in the night.

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