This wasn't actually the review I had lined up for my very first podcast post...
However, I came across this when I was feeling spooky and had finally got up to date with Morning Cup of Murder and just got hooked.
The Battersea Poltergeist is 9 episodes (plus some bonus ones) dedicated to investigating the true story behind the London haunting in the 50s. This series explores the things that went bump in the night as well as how they impacted day to day life for the people who experienced it.
I found this podcast really interesting as it had a mixture of documentary as well as re-enactments in a drama sort of way. We jump from Dafne Keen as a young Shirley (the young girl who the poltergeist latched onto) to the real life Shirley in her 70s telling her story as the only remaining witness.
The sound effects and creepy music laced through the retellings were a stroke of genius by Danny Robins who hosts and co-wrote the show. He is a brilliant host and asks the right sort of questions we are all thinking, as well as being very interactive with the audience and just being down to earth.
Danny doesn't shroud doubt on anything the witness is saying in these podcasts, in fact I find he encourages them to speak out and is genuinely interested in the story they want to tell, even if he doesn't believe what he is hearing, it is clear he wants to. Danny even says at the start of the show he doesn't believe in ghosts, but he wants to, and that is very clear from his enthusiasm. The doubt? That's down to the experts Ciaran O'Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow to either support or throw scepticism upon the story presented to them. I find Ciaran who is a parapsychologist is extremely keen to come up with a rational explanation to these hauntings but seems very frank about it and almost uninterested as it could be a hoax. Whereas Evelyn, also a parapsychologist and writer, comes across like she wishes to believe in the witnesses retelling and that while she presents the rational aspect, she also throws up the 'well on the other hand' for the paranormal. I like her.
Regarding the story itself, we get the opportunity to compare this to other cases like the Enfield Haunting featured in the Conjuring 2.These cases were extremely famous at the time but you don't really hear of any widespread media coverage of ghosts and the like anymore do you. Not unless people like Danny make a series about it, it isn't on the news like it was back then.
Journalists flocked to the Hitching's house during the height of the haunting, all eager to get to witness 'Donald' (what they named the spirit) do something nasty. One lucky journalist following a bad experience with another, was even invited to spend the night to prove the haunting following the accusation that Shirley was responsible for this all as a grand hoax.
A gent called Harold Chibbett dedicated the end of his days to this poltergeist and trying to find out who he was. He used to sleep on the kitchen floor during the hauntings and did this all free of charge to try and help the family cope. This poltergeist seemed quite vicious, burning Shirley's father, throwing her grandmother down the stairs, and probably the least of their worries at this point-trashing the house. He and Shirley put together all the clues Donald left like the Fleur de Lis painted on the walls and the tapping of Frere Jacques which they thought indicated he was the Dauphin Louis XVII.
I'll admit, while believing in this sort of thing usually, I was a little sceptic on this occasion especially as I noticed Shirley kept singing the French nursery rhyme before Donald began knocking it. He was either copying her, or this was her inspiration to make more of it as people had lost interest. The coincidences unearthed since the airing of the first few episodes linking Donald to France and supporting he may have been Louis is quite scary, but equally the 60+ per day letters received by the family and Chibb were analysed and confirmed to be written in Shirley's hand. She had an answer for this but you have to listen to it to hear what it was!
Danny has since moved on to produce two more podcasts and a Tv show detailing hauntings. The Witch Farm and Uncanny are both podcasts covering this sort of thing and I'll admit I actually prefer The Witch Farm to The Battersea Poltergeist.
Overall then, I give The Battersea Poltergeist a 7/10. It was witty, scary, and informative. This was right up my street and I binged it within a day at work and really enjoyed it to the point I've got Jamie listening to it now as he loves the supernatural also. Danny was the perfect presenter for this as he comes across as gentle but more importantly genuinely interested, and I think that makes for a great listen as you are living through his enthusiasm and we rely on him.
Have you listened to this podcast? Are you #teamsceptic or #teambeliever? Drop me a comment on my socials to let me know which!
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