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Occasionally I’ll have a conversation with someone who’s a hardcore sceptic. Someone who flat out does not believe in the supernatural. And I have a lot of sympathy for that position. During the years I’ve spent researching these real British ghost stories, there have been many times when I’ve discovered that the subject was wrong, and that what they experienced was not supernatural after all.
A sceptic, however, is more likely to draw a firm line in a way that I wouldn’t. Because if your perspective is that these things aren’t real, then the stories in this podcast cannot and did not happen. An alternative explanation is therefore required.
I’ve never denied that alternative explanations are possible. I work in a place of ambiguity. I never claim that these stories are absolutely true. Rather, what matters to me is that the subject believes them to be true.
But in the mind of the firm sceptic, that ambiguity cannot exist. Each story is caused by something else. Either an error due to some natural human fallibility, or that the story is a kind a cover. That the subject is fulfilling some kind of need that they may or may not be conscious of.
On hearing an account like case no.288, a sceptic might well conclude that something very dark happened here. They might believe that the subject was deliberately trying to cover up for actions which were truly shocking.
I work hard to vet every account that appears on this podcast and in the New Ghost Stories books. And I only use cases where I’m sure that the subject is telling the truth, as far as they know it.
What if I’m wrong? What if, despite the research, and verifications, I’m being used to spread a lie? To help someone deflect the blame and spread misinformation?
It’s a troubling thought. I think it’s important to stay open-minded. To accept that the realm of human experience is complex. And that sometimes the truth can be ambiguous, with many shades of grey.
But I’ll always know that I can never be sure. That I can never fully be certain. And that maybe some things aren’t complicated or ambiguous. They’re simple, clean cut, and devastatingly awful.
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The Damp | New Ghost Stories Podcast 28