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It began unremarkably. Parkinson, in the studio, introduced the subject of the evening: hauntings in Britain. He presented a guest, an expert in the paranormal called Dr. Pascoe, and spoke with her of her experiences in the field. The show cut to a council flat in Ealing, where Greene was on hand with a small film crew to investigate a real-life horror story — a family that claimed to be terrorized by a menacing poltergeist. And all the while Smith manned the phone lines, fielding calls from viewers interested in contributing their own opinions on matters of the extramundane. The topic was a bit spooky, perhaps. But in all respects, this programme seemed as ordinary as any other.

Then some unusual things started to happen.



The BBC denounced the show, apologized and have never once aired it again since.

A spectral figure may have appeared in the background of a scene: dozens phoned in alleging they saw it. Greene, camped out in the home where the Early family insisted a ghost resides, heard strange banging noises in the walls, and found a perfect, unaccountable ring of water on the living room floor. One of the Early children woke from bed with scratches all over her face. A framed picture was flung inexplicably from the wall. Toward the end of the program the situation graduated to sheer chaos: panic-stricken anchors, screaming kids, a full-blown bogeyman glimpsed unmistakably in the reflection of a window.

The nation reeled. It’s easy to overstate the credulousness of the viewing public in moments of cultural deception — witness the persistent myth of silent cinema audiences who fled in terror fromL’Arrivee d’un train en gare de La Ciotat. But, in this case, the legend is true. People, and particularly young people, really did seem to believeGhostwatchwas real, and furor really was whipped up amid the confusion. The phone lines were jammed. Children refused to sleep. Even animals were losing it: it later transpired that the creators of the show had run a high-pitched tone throughout the programme to agitate England’s pets.