On the penultimate show of the season, we’ll be speaking to blogger, writer and paranormal investigator Emma L. Holohan. Emma is based in Bristol, U.K. She has a passion for the paranormal, folklore, and forteana. Through her blog Ghost Catcher Isles, she explores the strange and eerie stories from the UK and Republic of Ireland. Originally from Norfolk, Emma spent time as a paranormal investigator in Dublin before returning to the UK. Her writing appears in Haunted Magazine and Unexplained.IE. You can discover more of her work at Ghost Catcher Isles: https://ghostcatcherie.wordpress.com/

At the beginning of the show, we’ll touch on the ‘Uncanny Community’. First aired on BBC Radio 4 in October 2021, the popular paranormal documentary has received acclaimed success and a cult following. Created by English writer, performer, broadcaster and journalist Danny Robins each episode explores unaccountable supernatural behaviour, with interviews with key witnesses, followed by analysis from experts in the field such as Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe, Professor Chris French and Dr Evelyn Hollow. A TV series was broadcasted on BBC 2 in October 2023, which included three episodes lasting an hour long. Uncanny Live, the stage show, an adapted version of the programme toured the UK and Ireland this year. One of the questions we’ll be asking Emma is, are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic?

The second topic of the evening will be the ‘Uffington White Horse’. This prehistoric horse chalk hill-figure (roughly 110metres in length), dating from the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age (1380-550 BC) is located in Oxfordshire, England. The earliest reference to the site comes from Medieval Welsh literature, and it is believed to have a strong connection with Epona – a goddess in Celtic and Gallo-Roman mythology and protector of equine animals, or 12th and 13th century Welsh stories of Rhiannon of the Mabinogion. The figure was created by digging deep trenches into the ground and filling it up with white chalk. Every year, a fair would be held up on the hill, and often a ‘scouring’ ceremony would take place – a removing of unwanted vegetation and soil in order to preserve its state. Recently, restoration has taken place to reshape the horse into its original form and position. We’ll ask Emma about her visit to Uffington, if the hillside is haunted, and are there any other ancient sites nearby?
For the last subject we’ll focus on ‘The Whispering Mummies of St Michan’s’. The church of St Michan’s is situated on Church Street, Dublin, Ireland. It dates back to 1685. Yet, an even earlier Christian chapel existed on the site from 1095, (operating as a Catholic church) up until the Reformation – the rectifying of the Roman Catholic Church (instigated by Protestants in 1517). The vaults contain many mummified remains. Their preservation could be credited to the limestone walls and emitted methane gas arising from the previous swamp land the church now stands on. The most visible mummies (without lids on the coffins) are the four-hundred-year-old ‘nun’, the ‘thief’, who has both his feet and right forearm missing, ‘the unknown’, thought to have been a woman, and finally the six-and-a-half-foot man named the ‘crusader’. The Sheares Brothers – Henry (1753-1798) and John (1766-1798), executed for their involvement in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 were also interred at the vaults. Sadly, in June 2024, a man set a fire to the crypt, as a consequence, five mummies were destroyed including the ‘crusader’. In regards to the supernatural, there have been accounts of strange voices, in particular whispering being heard within the vaults, also there have been reports from people of being touched by unseen hands.