Shownotes
About this episode
You can listen and download the New Ghost Stories Podcast from a number of platforms. Some of the people I’ve interviewed for New Ghost Stories could fairly be described as ‘unreliable’. It’s important to make a distinction between unreliable and dishonest here. Someone who’s dishonest misleads deliberately. The motives of someone I would describe as unreliable are complex, and they may not even understand them themselves. Any supernatural experience is going to have its impact. Some people find it easier to move on than others. Some begin their experience with baggage already. I’ve written before about ‘internal hauntings’ where it’s unclear whether someone’s pre-existing problems make them more susceptible to a supernatural experience, or simply more susceptible to a delusion. Some might question if interviewing people of questionable reliability is a useful thing to do. If you’re trying to prove the existence of the supernatural, using unreliable witnesses could handicap your efforts. My motivations have never been to prove the existence of ghosts, though I’m happy to contribute to that cause. I have sought to cultivate cases that are ‘convincing’ and backed up with evidence. But I’ve always been more interested in the experiences of people who see ghosts. Confirming whether they really did see them or not has never been the objective. To exclude people with ‘issues’ would cut off a valuable avenue of research. And it silences people who have just as much right to speak as anyone else. The search for truth is always messy. I happen to think that sometimes getting messy is the right thing to do. I don’t know whether the account in Studio flat is the result of a man going ‘stir crazy’ in reduced living and social conditions, or the result of a genuine haunting. But this case, tantalisingly, could be borne out to be true in the fullness of time - if the subject really saw we he believes he did. Proof, in itself, that making the time to listen and verify can be worth the effort. New Ghost Stories Volume 3 is out in 2021. You can read a preview story here and check out previous volumes here . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newghoststories.substack.com