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I have found myself facing ethical questions in the years since I started the New Ghost Stories project. On several occasions, I’ve had to consider the subject of exploitation, for example, and have declined to pursue cases where I felt someone was not able to properly consent to take part, or to understand what I would do with their account.
There are several cases in the archive which involve crimes being committed. For the most part, those crimes are minor, the sorts of incidents where the police might not even charge the people involved. There are, however, a few cases where the subject or someone close to them commits a very serious crime.
Now the way the project works is that I give subjects the opportunity to tell their story, and they in turn enjoy full anonymity – I do not give out their name and make sensible editorial changes to make it hard for them to be identified.
But when a crime is committed, where does my responsibility lie? If someone confesses to taking part into a serious offence, should I take my evidence to the police?
It’s hard for me to believe that my investigative skills are better than the authorities. They have resources and experience that are beyond me. I would hope that they have looked into matters professionally and pursued all avenues of investigation.
Yet I also know that subjects may give information to me that they would not give to the police, because of the anonymity I grant them.
And while I’ve made an agreement with them to keep their name confidential, I’m also conscious that there may be someone out there who may want to hear this information. Someone who might give anything to discover more about a terrible crime that has been committed.
I have also, however, spent time considering exactly what the police would think if I were to go to them with my information. I cannot imagine that they would take seriously any accounts of ghosts, possession and, in this case, foxes.
This does somewhat let me off the hook. I do, however, still think of those others who might be desperate to know what happened to a loved one. Perhaps they would find these accounts difficult to take seriously too. But for anyone who hears this account, and has good reason to want to know more, I am willing to consider sharing what I know, for the right reasons. It seems like the least I can do.
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New Ghost Stories Podcast 21 - Prince of Foxes part 1