Scaredy Cat Skeptic - The New Spooky Podcast

Ghosts & Hauntings

Scaredy Cat Skeptic – The New Spooky Podcast

Podcast Premise

While we’re beavering away recording the trailer and first episodes for Scaredy Cat Skeptic, we wanted to give our future listeners an idea of what to expect. I’m a writer at heart – I have a degree in writing and 15+ years of content creation under my belt, so if you don’t feel like listening to the podcast (or you’re not a fan of my mixed Mancunian accent*), you can always come to the blog here and read the transcript or the condensed blog post about the very same spooky stories we’ll be discussing each episode.

The podcast will be released monthly and each episode will cover a haunted location or activity. We’ll be talking to people about the ghostly sightings of each place, digging into the overall history and recording footage from our visits to see if we (or you) see anything spooky. We would also love to hear from our listeners, so we’ll be releasing the name of each location ahead of the recording to give you time to tell us what you know.
As well as ghost stories relating to our official locations, we’d love to hear your spooky experiences in general. Drop us a line and tell us what you believe, what you’ve seen and what you think it was.

Skeptical Guests & Spooky Witches

There may not be a guest every month, but where possible, I am hoping to speak to people about whether they’ve had any run-ins with the supernatural and what they believe those experiences were. There will be a mix of the spiritual and the scientific to make sure we’re covering all bases. This is a learning curve for me as much as it is a chance to hear other opinions. As I am a skeptic (sceptic), the guests on the show will most likely be people who claim to have seen, and who believe in, ghosts. While I will offer an opinion from time to time, I want to give others a platform to speak about what they experienced and at the end, I’ll report back on whether I have been converted or not based on the story, the arguments posed and the footage from the locations we visit.

This is not an opportunity for bulldozing – it’s a chance for philosophical debate. Above all, we want everyone to be having fun. Bullying of hosts, listeners and followers will not be tolerated on or off the podcast.

Haunted Places & Paranormal Investigations

For the most part, each podcast episode will focus on a haunted location where we will examine the ghost stories, mull over the possibilities, and record some footage to see if we can catch anything on camera. I’ll be pushing these out to social media platforms and encouraging people to tell us whether they can see anything spooky or not.

For the moment, we’ll be sticking with locations in the UK. In fact, our home county of Yorkshire should keep us busy for quite some time. It’s rich in history and spookiness. Not only that, but I’m from Glossop in Derbyshire, which is notorious for its hauntings. Glossop and the surrounding towns are known for ghostly sightings of warplanes plummeting to earth, mysterious orbs of light bouncing around the moors and encounters with the devil. While we have a huge list of places to visit already, we will be mixing it up with well known hauntings and places that are off the beaten track and we’re open to suggestion. So if you have a suggestion that trumps our current schedule, send it in! We may also participate in activities, rather than visiting specific places. These could be seances, visits to mediums or tarot readings.

We’re happy to investigate anything supernatural, whether it’s ghosts, witches, monsters or aliens. However, we will not be taking any conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories can be very dangerous for those who suffer with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. Whether there is any basis of truth in any conspiracy theory, at the end of the day, it’s been moulded to fit someone’s belief system and then passed on to someone else who has done the same thing, which renders them absolute poppycock, as far as we’re concerned. We officially don’t think Barack Obama is a lizard.

Language and the Podcast

As a rule, I keep my spelling strictly UK English. This is because of my English degree and a certain pedantry when it comes to the use of language. However, we chose the American spelling of the word “skeptical” rather than going with the UK spelling of “sceptical” and there are two reasons for that.

1. User ease. When we asked the English people we know, half of them weren’t sure which was the correct spelling and several of them said that they would try searching for “sketical” on a search engine, over “sceptical”. When people hear of this amazingly spooky podcast that you’re all definitely going to be shouting about, we want people to be able to find us and share their insights. So we went with the general consensus.

2. The spelling of the UK “sceptical” reminds me of the word septic and it grosses me out.

Other than with our name we will be reverting to UK English, so there will be a “u” in colour, the plural of rooves will not be roofs, and our idioms will be the opposite way around to the American idioms** with the same meanings***.

In addition, we can’t guarantee that there will be no swearing. We’re northerners and we’re adults, and this is an entertainment podcast. Most swearing will be bleeped out in the editing, but the odd word may get missed. If you’re sensitive to swearing or you’re under the age of… whatever the age of consent is for swearing, I will apologise now, but this is your warning.

FOOTNOTES

* If it helps any, as of January 2023, the Mancunian accent was voted the sexiest accent in the UK. Despite the fact that we are a nation that homes both the Scottish and Irish accents, I’m not sure how Mancunian has made it to the top, but I’m taking it!

** Idia?

*** We chalk things down to experience, not up. We use a pinch of salt, not a grain. It’s up to you, not down to you. And we couldn’t give a sh1t.