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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be absolutely terrified after watching latest episode of Uncanny

157 replies

Notafraidofthedark · 17/02/2025 18:57

Been catching up on iPlayer with final episode of Uncanny- the latest one about the shadow man in Crofton.

AIBU to be completely freaked out by this one? At first I thought it was the most easily explained until we found out his friends and family had all seen the shadow man around him.

don’t want to put any spoiler alerts in, but the post mortem podcast has seem even more scary revelations which could explain it, but are not reassuring in the slightest.

Can Anyone shed any light on what this shadow man can be? ( no pun intended!)

OP posts:
PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 10:58

@Loopytiles There was no scientific evidence for the atom either until that was scientifically proven to exist. So there is no logic in your opinion.

You can believe what you want to but your own belief doesn't mean that something does not exist. I don't believe that people who report paranormal experiences are all liars.

Original poster
Notafraidofthedark · 19/02/2025 10:59

TheAverageJoanne · 18/02/2025 22:10

I know the people who now live in Julian's house. I can well imagine that talking with them would have helped him tremendously.

I’m really interested in why you say that.

don’t want you to out them or anything, bit could you explain further?

OP posts:
Original poster
Notafraidofthedark · 19/02/2025 11:01

GreyCarpet · 18/02/2025 22:15

OP, I'm baffled!

I'll admit that I do like Uncanny but I listen to the podcasts in the dark to fall asleep to. I have my favourites and listen to then in repeat (the Room 611 ones, Harry Called and the ones with the Scottish bothy).

I can't imagine actually being scared by them though.

Me either! Never mind them scary - just fascinating!

but this one freaked me out

OP posts:
KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:02

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 10:58

@Loopytiles There was no scientific evidence for the atom either until that was scientifically proven to exist. So there is no logic in your opinion.

You can believe what you want to but your own belief doesn't mean that something does not exist. I don't believe that people who report paranormal experiences are all liars.

Edited

But the atom has been scientifically proven to exist. Ghosts have not. Despite the fact we are now much better equipped to do so than scientists in pre-atomic times would have been.

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:04

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:02

But the atom has been scientifically proven to exist. Ghosts have not. Despite the fact we are now much better equipped to do so than scientists in pre-atomic times would have been.

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Not yet. Do you think we know everything there is to know about the universe?

Fencehedge · 19/02/2025 11:05

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:04

Not yet. Do you think we know everything there is to know about the universe?

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You don't have an argument. You have an 'IOU'

Loopytiles · 19/02/2025 11:07

Incorrect @PixieandDelilahsmum: belief in the paranormal is the illogical opinion, to date.

& I didn’t say people were telling lies, except one person / story on the podcast.

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:12

I don’t think people are liars. I think they have experienced psychological, environmental or natural phenomena that are as yet not fully explained but will turn out to fully comply with the laws of the universe. And not “paranormal”.

Fencehedge · 19/02/2025 11:15

Oh no, some people are definitely liars, especially where money / attention can be gained. It's naive to assume otherwise.

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:17

Fencehedge · 19/02/2025 11:15

Oh no, some people are definitely liars, especially where money / attention can be gained. It's naive to assume otherwise.

Yes, should have said not all people who claim to have experienced paranormal phenomena are liars!

CurlewKate · 19/02/2025 11:20

@PixieandDelilahsmum "Do you think we know everything there is to know about the universe?"

Absolutely not. But we do know some things!

ladyofshertonabbas · 19/02/2025 11:20

Sodthesystem · 17/02/2025 19:40

I've only ever had 2 woo experiences. Both were unfortunately, with these 'shadow men'.
One of the times I was just a kid. Absolutely fucking terrifying. So I believe him whole heartedly. That's how I've described them too ('darker than the dark'). It's like looking at a solid shape with no features. And hatefilled. It wasn't focused on I don't think, but you can feel how much they mean you harm.

I didn't know some of the stuff about the Irish folklore around things. Though I knew the first incident for me was related in some way to that sort of thing because of how things came about.

I felt so sorry for that poor man.
Made me cry for the poor fellow at the end. I hope he had a happy life going forwards.Things that pick on kids are just awful.

I wish I could tell you its all not real but, I'd be lying. And people who say otherwise should count themselves lucky they haven't ever come into contact with these things. Hope I never do again.

I thought about emailing in this week with my own experiences but, it's a difficult thing to talk about. And of course you don't want people associating it with you y'know :/ I mean, I don't care if they think I'm mental or not but you don't want people thinking you're some sort of laying attention seeker or some shit. Kudos for him for having the balls to come forwards tbh.

Please do email in your experiences, they're so relevant to that episode.

ladyofshertonabbas · 19/02/2025 11:23

Same. All of previous Uncanny has been quite scary but forgettable, but this shadow man episode has absolutely terrified me. I had to stay on the phone to my other half when doing a night time drive at the weekend, too scared to drive alone. It's convincing which is obviously... quite alarming!

Mind you, S2E1 about he farm was also pretty bad.

WhatterySquash · 19/02/2025 11:26

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 09:22

Human night vision is actually not very good at all though - the worst in the animal kingdom. So it’s not surprising that people usually see dark shadows in their room at night, rather than in broad daylight.

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When I turn my light off to go to sleep, it looks pitch black. But if I'm still awake a few minutes later, or if I wake up in the night, I can see quite a lot as my eyes have adjusted and can pick up tiny amounts of moonlight or a distant streetlight entering round the sides of the curtains, and I can see furniture and objects. So I would see a presence (real or paranormal!) - but I do also agree that those conditions combined with the effects of being half asleep can make people imagine they've seen something.

GreyCarpet · 19/02/2025 11:30

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:12

I don’t think people are liars. I think they have experienced psychological, environmental or natural phenomena that are as yet not fully explained but will turn out to fully comply with the laws of the universe. And not “paranormal”.

Tbf, that is the definition of paranormal - things that cannot be explained through current scientific knowledge/understanding.

I love hearing about 'paranormal' experiences. I watched a documentary on the Enfield poltergeist when I was about 13 and was fascinated but what I'm most interested in is the possible scientific explanations for these experiences. That's far more interesting to me than discovering ghosts are real!

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:33

GreyCarpet · 19/02/2025 11:30

Tbf, that is the definition of paranormal - things that cannot be explained through current scientific knowledge/understanding.

I love hearing about 'paranormal' experiences. I watched a documentary on the Enfield poltergeist when I was about 13 and was fascinated but what I'm most interested in is the possible scientific explanations for these experiences. That's far more interesting to me than discovering ghosts are real!

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Yes that’s my take, that it is amazing how much science CAN explain and that the world is fascinating enough.

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:38

CurlewKate · 19/02/2025 11:20

@PixieandDelilahsmum "Do you think we know everything there is to know about the universe?"

Absolutely not. But we do know some things!

Indeed we know some things but not everything about the universe. Science cannot explain these kinds of experiences but that does not mean they are not real.

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:43

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:38

Indeed we know some things but not everything about the universe. Science cannot explain these kinds of experiences but that does not mean they are not real.

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It doesn’t mean they are paranormal either!

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:50

Iwas listening a podcast last night, Haunted Uk. They had a famous US paranormal investigator on. He spoke about a case in which a woman was convinced she’d heard footsteps in her attic. Turned out it was a squirrel throwing nuts around, the investigator actually saw it, but the woman refused to believe it wasn’t a paranormal entity. Some people just want to believe so badly.

WhatterySquash · 19/02/2025 11:51

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:38

Indeed we know some things but not everything about the universe. Science cannot explain these kinds of experiences but that does not mean they are not real.

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The laws of the universe are themselves a bit of a mess, incoherent and many of them unexplained. Several things we know about, quantum mechanics, black holes, dark matter etc. are "weird" or don't "make sense" according to other laws.

That does make me think paranormal things could be arising out of "real" or natural phenomena we don't understand - just as we once didn't know about radio waves or ball lightning. I find it really interesting how so many of the things people report, specially ghosts and UFOs, follow similar sequences or have similar features, even descriptions from completely different times and places that couldn't have influenced each other. Though there probably is a contagion effect as well.

CurlewKate · 19/02/2025 11:55

@PixieandDelilahsmum "Indeed we know some things but not everything about the universe. Science cannot explain these kinds of experiences but that does not mean they are not real."

It does not mean that they are paranormal either. When I was a young woman orbs floating in photographs were a big "thing". There were also a lot of photographs of ghosts and ectoplasm. (Who else remembers ectoplasm?🤣). Surprisingly their decline exactly correlates with advances in camera technology. Many ghostly manifestations were easily explained when we found out about sleep paralysis. It's absolutely fine not to know stuff. It's not fine to fill the knowledge gap with the paranormal.

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:56

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 11:43

It doesn’t mean they are paranormal either!

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Difficult to imagine how so many other people saw/experienced this thing if it was a manifestation of grief. Although I know it is said that paranormal experiences can be be sort of contagious/group hysteria can happen. I do agree that the mind IS a very powerful thing but that doesn't explain all the other people who have paranormal experiences at a time when they are in a good place mentally.

Fencehedge · 19/02/2025 11:57

PixieandDelilahsmum · 19/02/2025 11:56

Difficult to imagine how so many other people saw/experienced this thing if it was a manifestation of grief. Although I know it is said that paranormal experiences can be be sort of contagious/group hysteria can happen. I do agree that the mind IS a very powerful thing but that doesn't explain all the other people who have paranormal experiences at a time when they are in a good place mentally.

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Suggestion is so, so powerful. People will swear up and down they have seen / heard something that has been seeded. Derren Brown does this well.

To them, they did see it, because their brain created it. Our eyes and brain together don't work like a camera, there is always processing decisions based on expectations. I have seen and heard things that my brain 100% made up.

Ilovecakey · 19/02/2025 11:58

Serpenting · 18/02/2025 10:34

I didn’t see that episode but I lived not far from where the house was (as described by other ex-Oxford friends who’d seen it), also near the railway line, and I imagine a lot of it was explicable because of trains.

I certainly once gave myself an enormous fright when I was thinking about my dead granddad (it was around his anniversary) when a picture fell right off the wall in front of me and smashed. When I calmed down, I realised it was likely to be slight judderings caused by passing trains, added to crappy student DIY!

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Can living near trains going by cause weird things to happen in your house then? As i have had a lot of weird things happen in mine and there is train tracks not far from mine and often hear them going by

KimberleyClark · 19/02/2025 12:04

Fencehedge · 19/02/2025 11:57

Suggestion is so, so powerful. People will swear up and down they have seen / heard something that has been seeded. Derren Brown does this well.

To them, they did see it, because their brain created it. Our eyes and brain together don't work like a camera, there is always processing decisions based on expectations. I have seen and heard things that my brain 100% made up.

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Danny himself did a demonstration of this. They staged an incident in a lecture theatre with some students, then asked them to discuss the incident afterwards, with a plant there suggesting things that hadn’t happened. Then they interviewed the students individually. Many if not most of the students reported the untrue things the plant had suggested as fact.