I do a lot of driving – a 1,000 mile round trip to Yorkshire and back (twice) every other weekend to pick up my son, bring him back down South and then return him back to his home up North. So I need to keep myself entertained… Amazon Music does a great job but a bit like those dodgy commercial radio stations sooner or later the same tracks keep coming around again.
Therefore, the storage on my phone is now full of heavy rock and audio books but also I have several podcast subscriptions that have kept me sane over the past months. Allow me to indulge in sharing some of, what I consider to be, the best podcasts out there at the moment…
13 MINUTES TO THE MOON
Dr Kevin Fong provides a unique insight into the 13 minutes before the Eagle moon lander touched down on the surface of the moon on 24th July 1969, where history could be telling a very different story. He expertly provides a background to the space race and the personalities of those responsible for making history whilst meticulously breaking down the technical mishaps, heroic actions and momentous feats of human endeavour that successfully landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.
Apologies at this point to all those conspiracy theorists out there who don’t think man has ever walked on the moon; you are entitled to your opinion, wrong though it may be.
This podcast is essential for anyone who has even the remotest of interests in NASA in the late 1960’s and I guarantee you that no matter how much you think you knew about Apollo 11, you will learn something new.
UNCANNY
Like most young boys growing up in the 70’s and 80’s I was surrounded by stories of science fiction and strange phenomena. My brother used to collect a regular magazine published by Orbis called “The Unexplained: Mysteries of Mind, Space, & Time”… 156 issues dealing with mysteries of the paranormal such as UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, and spontaneous human combustion to name just of few of the subjects covered. That fascination with the unknown has stayed with me (and my brother) so when he recommended that I listened to “Uncanny” from the excellent Danny Robins I didn’t hesitate.
I’d already been hooked to Danny’s previous offering “The Battersea Poltergeist” and whilst I took some of the “evidence” of the paranormal activities that occurred at 63 Wycliffe Road over a 12 year period with a pinch of salt the production (a mix of fact and drama) was impressive.
In “Uncanny” Danny treats us to 15 gripping episodes, recounted by the likes of you and me, which play on the imagination and certainly make you question the sceptic in you. Spooky takes of a haunted University halls of residence, haunted houses, UFO sightings and a ghost that saves someone’s life keep you wanting more and eager for the next instalment. Danny welcomes questions from the listeners who email and tweet intelligent explanations for some (but not all) of the phenomenon whilst also asking interesting additional questions that take the “investigation” down other avenues.
The mix of personal recollections of events with commentary from “experts” and “expert sceptics” make this a more down-to-earth rather than sensationalist podcast – well worth a listen (just keep the light on whilst you do so).
DEATH IN ICE VALLEY
A 2018 true crime podcast produced by NRK, the Norwegian radio and television public broadcasting company and BBC World Service. It is authored and presented by Marit Higraff, a Norwegian investigative journalist with NRK, and Neil McCarthy, documentary producer with BBC. The podcast follows a two-year investigation into the “Isdal Woman” case, concerning an unknown woman whose burned body was discovered in western Norway in 1970.
Fascinating theories of cold war assassinations, secret identities and mysterious clandestine meetings of shady characters give this case a gritty back-story that seems straight out of a John LeCarre novel. Marit employs a similar approach to Uncanny’s Danny Robins in inviting listeners to offer theories and questions that are further investigated and contribute to the story as it unfolds.
Excellently researched, presented and delivered keeping you on the edge of your seat waiting for that breakthrough piece of evidence. NO SPOILERS as to the outcome here – you’ll have to listen to it !
THE LOVECRAFT INVESTIGATIONS
This podcast is slightly different to the others… a fact that I embarrassingly should have spotted rather than having my brother point it out ! My brother was a big fan of H. P Lovecraft’s books (I preferred his sauce… sorry), so I thought I would give “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” a listen as it was advertised as being “Lovecraft-like” in it’s mysteriousness. I had assumed that, like the previous podcast offerings, it was a factual account of some paranormal events and after listening to the first episode I found it slightly too “staged” and “dramatised” for my liking.
It wasn’t until I was discussing this fact with my brother that he pointed out that it was in fact a radio dramatisation (“You pillock !”) of a Lovecraft story… so, armed with my new found knowledge I gave it another go and was instantly hooked.
The story follows the Mystery Machine (not the Scooby-Doo one); two investigators (Mathew Haewood and Kennedy Fisher) looking into the disappearance of a young man (the aforementioned Charles Dexter Ward) from a locked room in an asylum. 10 episodes of this well-told story link nicely into another one (“The Whisperer in Darkness”) that takes the listener on another disturbing journey into the unknown. Then, the final instalment is the excellent “Shadow Over Innsmouth” which is undoubtedly the best of the three.
Fans of supernatural stories should definitely check this one out.
I was so hooked after the last one that I then downloaded all of the Dark Adventure Radio Theatre H.P Lovecraft audiobooks – if you like the Lovecraft Investigations podcast you should too !
END OF DAYS
I am in no way a religious person, quite the opposite, but the excellent “End of Days” from Chris Warburton is enthralling. It is the story of David Koresh: the prophet whose cult in Waco, Texas preached an apocalypse, and specifically the 30 Britons taken in by his message. Interviews with people who experienced things first hand (some at a very close proximity to the man himself), as well as documented news footage provide the backdrop to the tragic events that led to the deaths of too many innocent people and the physical and emotional scarring of many more.
The podcast is researched and presented intelligently with no sense of bias toward either side but excellently questioning the effectiveness of Koresh’s charismatic draw and his ability to convince “normal” people to do abnormal things.
I was aware, like most, of the events that had unfolded in Waco, Texas in February 1993 from UK news reports. At the time, and from what the media was portraying, it seemed to be purely the actions of a madman that had culminated in what appeared to me a mass suicide similar to that at Jonestown, Guayna in 1978. However, Chris Warburton’s meticulous research provides an explanatory narrative that explains the initial botched FBI confrontation and the escalation that followed. He also discovers evidence that the tragic events could perhaps have been avoided had US law enforcement allowed communication between Koresh’s senior confidants and respected theologians that might have shown those inside the compound that perhaps what Koresh had been preaching was not necessarily inevitable.
Sobering listening… but I thoroughly recommend it.
I haven’t included a link to the podcasts mentioned here at the risk that over time it would become outdated and unavailable… all are available on BBC Sounds so have a look there ! And let me know what you think !
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