Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Did you watch Ghostwatch?

116 replies

Charlavail · 25/10/2022 20:37

It aired 30 years ago today and has never aired in full since. I have been reading the Wikipedia and it sounds very spooky but also seemed such a good trick that people actually believed it was true. I was only 1 at the time so I haven't seen it.

OP posts:
HappyPumpkin81 · 25/10/2022 20:56

My sister and I watched it with my parents when we were 10 and 11. I thought it was completely real and was absolutely terrified. It was in 2 parts and my parents didn't let us watch the second part. We got sent (still terrified) to bed!

NoOnKnows · 25/10/2022 20:56

Pipes was genuinely scary 😨

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 25/10/2022 20:58

Yeah I was 14 and it did scare me a bit even though I guessed early on that it was fake 🤣

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Spooky & paranormal TV
Wafflehouse · 25/10/2022 20:59

I didn’t make it to the end, I was only 8 so shouldn’t have been watching it anyway but remember it being really scary, at the time I didn’t know it wasn’t real. I remember my mum being really cross because she told me not to watch it and I asked to sleep in her bed that night. She wouldn’t let me, so I slept on her floor.

Elderflower2016 · 25/10/2022 20:59

I was 12 at a sleepover and never been as scared before or since!

GorgeousLadyofWrestling · 25/10/2022 21:01

Yeah I was utterly sucked in by it. I was about 11 and was watching it with my brother at his friend’s house. We had to be home before it finished and walking home, my brother played this ridiculously scary trick on me where he pretended someone was following us home and I had to run down a pitch black alley because it was my only chance to out run “them”. I ran into our back garden screaming my head off and my brother came in the front door laughing his head off. Utter twat. Only a big brother could do that.

But yeah Ghost Watch was proper scary. I think towards the end, where someone phoned in saying their glass coffee table just exploded in front of them, I started to twig it wasn’t real. But because it was regularTV hosts - Sarah Greene presented a Saturday children’s tv show, for god’s sake! - that we felt like we knew and trusted, no one questioned it at all.

Wafflehouse · 25/10/2022 21:02

Wafflehouse · 25/10/2022 20:59

I didn’t make it to the end, I was only 8 so shouldn’t have been watching it anyway but remember it being really scary, at the time I didn’t know it wasn’t real. I remember my mum being really cross because she told me not to watch it and I asked to sleep in her bed that night. She wouldn’t let me, so I slept on her floor.

I’m wrong, I would’ve been 10. Not sure it matters much, I was still terrified.

Pearapplepeach · 25/10/2022 21:07

I was a child and completely terrified. It took months for me to stop being frightened at bedtime.

Cornettoninja · 25/10/2022 21:07

I would have been around 11 - can’t believe I had a tv in my room! I went downstairs at the end to check my parents hadn’t turned into demons Grin

It was very of its era and given we only had four channels pretty unique. We weren’t quite as desensitised as we are these days. It was the ‘war of the worlds’ of its day.

(the original war of the worlds radio broadcast is worth a listen if you’re into that kind of thing)

PotatoFamily · 25/10/2022 21:08

I was 14 and already fully into the paranormal so it didn’t scare me, but I loved it!

ZombieKettle · 25/10/2022 21:10

I was 12 or 13 and watched it live with my mum. We loved it! Brilliant piece of television.

Stupidbonfire · 25/10/2022 21:11

I watched it at the time. I was 13. I thought it was brilliant, and although I knew it was a set up, my friend and I really got caught up and suspended out disbelief the whole time

AutumnDaysConkers · 25/10/2022 21:12

It was so scary! I was a kid at the time and watched it with my Mum. She was scared as well and really believed it.

The way it was presented was as if it was real. Also they had Michael Parkinson presenting. You wouldn't think someone like him would be involved in anything 'fake'.

BingoLingFucker · 25/10/2022 21:13

I watched it with my sister. We both fully believed it all and were terrified.

I remember one scene in the children's room, all was apparently quiet, but you could clearly see a figure standing in the room - we were shouting at the tv and nearly crying 😂

lunar1 · 25/10/2022 21:13

I was 12 and terrified. We watched it at my grandparents, they were in sheltered accommodation. My younger brother and I then had to go stay alone in the guest accommodation which was down so many dark corridors!

Subnauctic · 25/10/2022 21:15

Yup it scared the shit out of me. I was about 12 I think. I remember not being able to sleep all night afterwards.

It's not the sort of thing that would work nowadays. This was before stuff like Derek Acorah and Most Haunted, before Blair Witch and before Paranormal Activity.

It's like Jurrasic Park. It was amazing and ground breaking in its time. First ever good CGI dinosaurs. It looks shit now, there's bugger all dinosaurs in it and you're waiting 40 minutes until you see one!

Subnauctic · 25/10/2022 21:17

Didn't it have a live phone in as well? Like Going Live! I think they put a recorded message on it saying it was fake?

Lagattolove · 25/10/2022 21:21

I watched it at 19 and got it was a drama but still pretty scary for the time. Older colleagues at work were so worried about ‘poor Michael Parkin’ I was a bit 🤔 that they had been took in but I suppose it was a new tv concept and they believed everything that was put in front of them.

GrunkleStan · 25/10/2022 21:21

I was 21 and completely taken in.

ScarlettOHaraHamiltonKennedyButler · 25/10/2022 21:24

I was 9 and watched it at my friends house. I remember being terrified for a really long time afterwards.

It's crazy because my eldest DC is now 9 and no way would I let him watch anything like that. Not in a million years.

chocolateoranges33 · 25/10/2022 21:26

I remember this really clearly. I was 11 and I absolutely believed it and was really frightened by it.

I watched it on my own in my room and only when I ran downstairs scared did my parents explain it wasn't real. To be honest, I did continue to think it was real til I googled it when I was am adult.

I would love to watch it again as an adult!

MarcelEtCeleste · 25/10/2022 21:27

@NoOnKnows Thanks for the link!

I was 10 and it scared the life out of me. I’d love to watch it again. Bet it’s crap! 🤣

TheGirlInTheGreenDress · 25/10/2022 21:29

Spookily, I hadn’t heard of this until today when I listened to the most recent episode of the Criminal podcast by Phoebe Judge! It was quite informative so was going to look it up on YouTube for myself tonight!

Nordstrom · 25/10/2022 21:30

Yes. I was 11 and watched with a friend. We were terrified!

tempch · 25/10/2022 21:30

I watched it and would've been 18. Someone said earlier it wouldn't happen again now but there was something similar on Inside Number 9 episode maybe last year? It was meant to be a live episode and there appeared to be some issues a few minutes in. Lots of people (according to social media) believed the issues to be real but in fact it was all part of the show.
Has anyone else seen that and does it ring similar bells to Ghostwatch or am I being daft?!

Swipe left for the next trending thread