Spooky UK

In today’s Spooktober episode, we’re digging into the strange, unsettling and sometimes downright grim stories that have become attached to some of our favourite nursery rhymes. From Ring a Ring o’ Roses to London Bridge Is Falling Down , we’re separating the genuine history from the myths, legends and wonderfully creepy theories that have grown up around them. So, were these rhymes really hiding...

Tonight’s Spooktober episode is a little different… and Martin has absolutely no idea what’s coming! Helen has chosen several spooky locations and, without revealing where they are, she’s going to describe each one and ask the question: Would Martin spend the night there? Some sound creepy. Some sound downright terrifying. And some… well, you’ll have to listen to find out whether Martin would actu...

Why Do We Carve Pumpkins at Halloween? 🎃 Ever wondered why, every Halloween, we happily scoop the guts out of a perfectly good pumpkin and stick a terrifying face on it? 👀 Well, the tradition has a rather strange story behind it… Tonight we’re taking a quick look at why we carve pumpkins at Halloween. We dip our toe into the legend of Stingy Jack , the miserly trickster who was said to have outw...

Tonight we’re taking a little trip to Victorian Cheltenham to meet one of Britain’s most famous ghosts… The Cheltenham Ghost was reportedly seen repeatedly over several years, appearing in the same area and giving rise to one of the best-known haunting stories of the Victorian era. But who, or what, was she? And why did so many people claim to have seen her? Join us for a quick dip into the story...

Apparently, one episode wasn't enough… because we had far too much to say about poltergeists! 😂 So we're back with Part 2 , bringing you even more strange, unsettling and downright bizarre stories of unexplained activity. So settle in, turn the lights down and join us for another dose of things that go bump in the night. And yes… we promise this is the last part. Probably.

Tonight’s Spooktober takes us down to Dartmoor , where the eerie remains of the medieval settlement at Hound Tor sit hidden among the rocks. An abandoned village, a bleak landscape and centuries of history… what happened to the people who once called this place home, is one of them still standing there today? Another little slice of spooky history as we count down to Halloween

Tonight’s Spooktober is a little different… 👻 Martin is sharing a personal ghost story from his childhood, involving his brother, a haunted wardrobe, and some very strange goings-on. Was there really something lurking in that wardrobe? You’ll have to listen and decide for yourself… As always we would love to hear from you. Get in touch at spookyuk666@gmail.com

Welcome back to Spooktober! Today, we’re heading to York to discover the rise of the ghost merchants, those wonderfully weird people who make and sell spooky little spectres. We’ll also be talking about Helen’s own love of making ghosts and handing them out at Halloween. Because apparently one can never have too many ghosts, or craft supplies! Another bite size dose of spooky silliness as we count...

Welcome to Spooktober! Every day throughout October, we’ll be bringing you a bite-sized dose of spooky silliness as we count down to Halloween. Today, we’ve got a phobia of the day , a personal pre-ghost story from Martin (you need to listen to find out what that means!), and, of course, we’ll finish things off with a terrible joke. 👻 So grab a cuppa, settle in, and join us for another little sli...

Hey spooky people, guess what? Spooktober is coming! This October, alongside our usual weekly episodes, we're bringing you a bite size dose of spooky every single day. Each short episode will start with a phobia of the day before we dive into a spooky story, strange bits of history, creepy folklore, or something downright weird we've discovered. And of course, we'll be finishing every episode with...

Knocking on walls. Objects flying across rooms. Furniture moving by itself. Lights, phones and other everyday things behaving in ways they really shouldn’t. But what exactly is a poltergeist? This week on Spooky UK , we dive into the strange world of poltergeist activity, looking at three very different cases from Britain and beyond. Martin takes us into a bizarre British case, while Helen investi...

The werewolf has come a long way from its ancient folklore roots. In this episode, we howl our way through the werewolf's transformation into one of horror's most iconic monsters. From The Wolf Man and An American Werewolf in London to silver bullets, full moons, wolfsbane and getting bitten by another werewolf , just how much of what we think we know about werewolves actually comes from folklore,...

Before Hollywood gave us silver bullets, full moons and hairy men with questionable hygiene, stories of humans becoming wolves were already being told thousands of years ago. In this episode of Spooky UK, we’re going back to the beginning ,from the ancient Greek story of King Lycaon through medieval Europe and its beliefs about shapeshifting, curses and the supernatural, to some of the real people...

Sometimes life throws you a coincidence so bizarre that you can’t help but wonder… what are the chances? In this episode of Spooky UK, we’re stepping away from ghosts and cryptids and diving into some seriously strange true stories. From a bullet that spent years embedded in a tree before finding its way back into the story, to a teddy bear stolen for a minute, and a very odd encounter with a barm...

Spooky UK welcomes its first ever guest — and what a guest! This week, Martin and Helen are joined by Phil Hackett, Museum Manager in Leicester , for a conversation that takes us on a journey through history, art, ghosts, UFOs and some of Leicester’s most fascinating stories. We talk King Richard III , the discovery of his remains and the strange historical legacy surrounding one of England’s most...

We’re back with part two of our deep dive into vampires and this time Martin takes the lead as we sink our teeth into the bloodsuckers of film, television, books, comics, and everything in between. From the shadowy horror of Nosferatu and the vampire boom of classic cinema, right through to 30 Days of Night , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Vampire: The Masquerade and, yes, Edward Cullen, we take a whi...

Spooky people! It's our first 2 parter! Before Dracula. Before Nosferatu. Before Edward Cullen started sparkling in the sunlight… there were the dead who refused to stay dead. In the first part of our vampire double bill, we sink our teeth into the legends, folklore and real-life reports that helped create one of history’s most enduring monsters. From the revenants of old world England and the ori...

ANOTHER BONUS! It's way too hot in the UK at the moment so remember those wonderfully strange magazines from the 1980s, packed with stories of monsters, mysteries and things that science couldn't quite explain? No? Well Martin certainly does. In this episode, we unbox a collection of old spooky magazines — the very same kind Martin's mum used to read, after tracking down some copies on eBay. And l...

BONUS EPISODE! Grab a drink, pull up a chair and join us for our second shoot the s*#t episode! Not our usual format, just us chatting all things paranormal.

Hey spooky people! We thought we were finished with Loch Ness... After exploring the legend of Nessie and the strange connection between the loch and Aleister Crowley, we discovered that the area has another, much darker side. Because Loch Ness isn't just famous for monsters. It has ghosts. In this episode of Spooky UK , we head back to the Highlands to explore some of the eerie stories, legends a...

What do the world's most famous cryptid and the world's most infamous occultist have in common? This week on Spooky UK , we're diving deep (pun intended) into the mystery of The Loch Ness Monster. Most people know the legend of Nessie, but what is fact and what is folklore? Could there really be a connection between Crowley's time at Boleskine House and the enduring mystery of the loch? Is it simp...

This week we have both researched four famous stories that captivated people for decades, but how many of them actually stand up to scrutiny? From the eerie mystery of the Mary Celeste to the blood-soaked legend of Sawney Bean , the enchanting tale of the Cottingley Fairies , and the mind boggling spontaneous human combustion, we're separating the evidence from the embellishment. Some of these tal...

Can our pets really come back to visit us after they've gone? From mysterious phantom cats prowling the shadows to faithful dogs that refuse to leave their owners, even after death we're diving into some of the strangest ghost animal stories ever reported. Martin explores eerie tales from around the UK and beyond, including his own spine-tingling encounter with a ghostly feline, the legend of Grey...

Mystery Triangles – Bennington, Bridgewater & Cannock Chase What is it about certain places that seem to attract the strange, the unexplained, and the downright terrifying? In this episode we head into three of the world's most infamous paranormal hotspots. We begin in the forests of Vermont to explore the chilling disappearances of the Bennington Triangle , where hikers, hunters and even an e...

Bonus episode! Can you really read one of the greatest horror novels ever written in a single day? Helen decided to find out. In this episode we talk about what the challenge was really like, was it worth it, and how reading the novel in one sitting changed the experience. We also dive into our thoughts on the book itself, exploring its themes, characters, and the elements that have made it one of...