At a time when science claims to explain almost everything, ghost stories still refuse to fade. In this episode of Haunted History Chronicles, I’m joined by author Paul Weatherhead to explore the strange cases that gripped Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries — from violent apparitions and riotous ghost hunts to poltergeists, hoaxes, and even a royal spectre. Drawing on contemporary newspaper reports, Paul reveals how these hauntings reflect not just fear of the supernatural, but the social psychology of the people who reported, chased, and believed in them. Were these ghosts something more — or do they tell us more about ourselves than the dead?

My Special Guest Paul Weatherhead 

Paul Weatherhead is a native of the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire and was brought up in Hebden Bridge. After several years teaching in Greece, Moscow and Northern Siberia, he returned to the Valley in the late 1990s. 

He has a longstanding obsession with the weird history of the area leading to the first edition of Weird Calderdale in 2003 which went on to become a local best-seller. His research into Alan Godfrey’s alien encounter led to a deeper investigation into the phenomenon, which formed his Master of Arts dissertation about the philosophy of alien abduction.

Paul’s writing has been published in various magazines and journals, including Psychology Today, The Skeptic, Northern Life and Psychedelic Scene Magazine.

Paul's fascination with the Halifax Slasher and other phantom attacker panics led to him working with renowned expert on mass hysteria Dr Robert Bartholomew on Social Panics and Phantom Attackers: A Study of Imaginary Assailants, published by Palgrave Macmillan. 

Paul's latest book is Phantoms of Christmas Past: Festive Ghost Hoaxes, Ghost Hunts and Ghost Panics, a unique approach to true Christmas ghost stories, combining the author's fascination with weird history and hysterical panics.

In this conversation, expect insights into: 

• Chilling cases drawn from real newspaper reports, including hoaxes and notorious public scares

• Insight into what these accounts reveal about belief, fear, and society at the turn of the twentieth century

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Guest Links⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Website: https://paulweatherhead.com/ 

Podcast Link: https://weirdcalderdale.podbean.com/ 

Book Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Phantoms-Christmas-Past-Festive-Hoaxes/dp/1803418400