Unexplained: Based on the 'world's spookiest podcast'

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Introduction: Containing a fascinating personal story from the author, the introduction does a good job of setting out the reasons for writing the book and the sort of questions that will be explored, and the book remains true to these intentions throughout. It was really interesting to see a story from the author's family, too -- and such a remarkable one, at that.

I skipped almost the whole chapter about UFO’s because I found it quite boring.... even though the Welsh village named in the book as being home to more than 14 UFO sightings is only 8 miles from my house. The best part was the tales. If the author had just went full blown telling the tale like it was true it would have been entertaining. If the author had instead examined each tale by being scientifically critical and giving references in-between that would have been great too. But the whole trying to fit science to explain the tale irked me. I really should read more ‘local’ books about my area. You often forget what a plethora of history and mythology can exist in an area you live in, and it was truely delightful to read some stories based solely around the region I have lived and grown up in for over 30 years (minus a year I spent living in Manchester). It’s made me fall in love with Teesside all over again. I tried. But verbosity to this extent would never have grabbed me, even if the proofs and voices were better, more authentic. Stringy and roundabout writing, filled with circling redundancies and asides. I have no idea what he means by "uncertain times" either. Regardless, that's a quirky slant to describe these episodes. Nor is it accurate, IMHO. Apologies for going wanky, but there is a quote by philosopher Roger Scruton…which goes something like, “The consolation of imaginary things is not imaginary consolation,” and that’s one of the principles I’ve built the show on.Unexplained, based on a successful podcast of the same name, is a feast of the supernatural, paranormal and just plain weird that is known to have happened at various periods throughout the UK and is practically perfect for those drawn-in Autumn nights as we head towards Halloween. I am a fan of these often creepy stories from all corners of the globe and read them no matter the dale they're published, but I must admit that these had a bigger impact on me being both from this country and released at an inspired time of the year!

This book has some really good thought provoking information, but sadly quite equally as much boring suppositions. The majority of the stories have been carefully selected and are indeed very spooky, but they are too long winded. The author could have got to the point much sooner, whereas I just feel the chapters are too long which resulted in me becoming disinterested. TVOM: It’s clear from the beginning that a ton of research goes into the topics that you discuss in the podcast. How do you go about choosing a topic, and what’s that research process like?

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I having trouble trying to decide what this book was meant to be. I know it is inspired from the author's podcast which the blurb tells me is very successful. If this book was just meant to be a podcast in book form, I guess it succeeded. But I don't think it was what I was looking for. Every Story is a Ghost Story: An account of the poltergeist haunting of Hannath Hall, which was a case I had no idea about! This is a rare thing for me now, so I read it with much fascination. It's a good, creepy, solid poltergeist story, and a good choice for the final chapter. There's a lot of discussion on the nature of hauntings, what it means to be haunted, the different expectations and experiences of such things, how everything could be said to be haunted... nice and eerie. TVOM:It seems like the “unexplained mystery” podcast is becoming incredibly popular these days. Why do you think that’s the case?

Slender Man siedzi w lesie, dzieci spotykają kosmitów, matki wyrzucają noworodki przez okna, staruszki wkurzone wojną przywołują demony, a ja jestem zirytowana. Usually books like this don't really bring much to the table. They go over the same old facts, and the only real difference (and therefore the level of enjoyment) is determined by how much detail there is. Sometimes a book will have come across another source, or a lesser-known story, and the writing will be engaging, and that's good! But it doesn't really bring anything new to the discussion. On the flip side, some books will lean too heavy on pet theories and only look at the evidence from that specific theory, and while sometimes that can be ignored, other times it's a bit much. And then on top of that all, the music kind of brings it all together, and although neither of these elements are particularly novel in their own right, something about the way they all come together makes the show what it is. This book fell into neither trap. The selected stories were fascinating, covering both classic incidents and ones that even I hadn't heard of; even the ones I had heard of had lots of new information that I was reading about for the first time. As I've said previously, I'm not usually into UFOs as much as I am ghosts and cryptids and other paranormal elements -- this book had me absolutely hooked on a straight-up UFO story, because it was so engaging and such an interesting case. Following each meticulously researched story was a lot of really interesting information, speculation, and context. The incidents were put into their social context; there was a lot of philosophising that asked questions about the nature of such things, about why we might be drawn to them, about what could have potentially caused them and why we might be open to them. Especially fascinating was the discussion regarding the internet's role in such things; the book went into detail about creepypasta and the rise of internet folklore, and it's the first time I've seen this subject touched upon in a book like this and I was thrilled, considering that's one of the subjects I'm fascinated by. There were lots of interesting things to say about it.But I sped read after that section. Because it's full of tangents about the author himself, and also strange "eyes" to almost a negation of any true questioning for the events at the same time. Yes, some suppositions but not disciplined inquiry in most of these cases. Smith:I really only have 3 criteria that a story must satisfy: one, that it has a human element at the heart of it; two, that it is actually a story and not just an event (for example, like just saying, “this person was abducted on this day, and that’s all they can remember”); and [third], that the unexplained mystery has never been sufficiently debunked. There are so many stories of this ilk flying around on the internet (where I spend a lot of time generally and researching for the show), but, surprisingly very few that are still genuinely still mystifying.Occasionally I’ll come across a story that sounds amazing (like the Fox sisters, for example,who claimed to have been psychically communicating with spirits), and you think “wow that is such a rich story, it has everything: fascinating historical context, atmospheric location, they’re sisters, etc,” but then before long, you find actually they confessed to making it up; so for me, that’s the end of the story in terms of including it in the show. I’ll still include it, but not in the context that it is one of the unexplained mysteries[.] With each episode, MacLean Smith leads the listener on an atmospheric journey through the strange and eerie, taking in everything from bizarre tales of supposed time-slips, vanishings and UFOs to chilling unexplained deaths and dabblings in the occult. But more than just a show about unnerving and spooky stories, Unexplained is a series that takes Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle to heart, always asking the unsettling question: you might well think you know what is or isn’t true, but can you ever be entirely certain? We humans cling desperately to a sense of purpose. We have an almost pathological need to know and understand the why and wherefores. And nothing irks us more than a story with no end, a joke without a punchline, a jigsaw with a missing piece.