Strange Stories : Eva C, Margery and Stella C séances & scandals investigated by the SPR

Send us Fan Mail Windrush Men, Marriage and Murder” examines a series of domestic homicide cases involving Caribbean and African migrants in postwar Britain during the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on police files, psychiatric reports, witness statements and court records, it explores how jealousy, marital breakdown, sexual insecurity and fears of abandonment were understood within the social pressures of migration and the Windrush era. The cases reveal recurring themes of emotional dependency, masculinity, racism, economic strain and changing gender roles, while also exposing how British courts and psychiatrists often treated so-called “crimes of passion” with sympathy. The podcast says 'Send fan mail' Please note I am not asking this. I have only just noticed this request and do not know how to delete it.

Send us Fan MailThis podcast will be niche. It is an in depth assessment about the Society of Psychical Research’s investigations into three famous mediums of the 1920s. Eva C., also known as Marthe Béraud or Eva Carrière, and Mina Crandon, better known as Margery and Dorothy Stella Cranshaw, aka Stella C. Most people will find it dull, although quite shocking in places; but I enjoyed researching it.This podcast is recorded in one take with no editing. I probably mispronounce some words. There may be some background noise, chickens and there is a nightingale singing outside in the rain. 

Send us Fan MailSomething a little different in this podcast, an unsolved murder in the Dordogne. Karen Carter was murdered in April 2025 at her home in a small French village. A couple of months earlier a British couple were killed about 100n kms away and there were similarities. This was also an officially unsolved murder.

Send us Fan MailThis is a curious case. July 2023, a car mounts a pavement and crashes into a school injuring a number of people and killing two 8 year old girls who were all standing on a lawn in the school grounds. There seems to be a news blackout after initial reports.A year later, 2024, The Crown Prosecution Service says there will be no further action as it was a result of a medical emergency. There was public puzzlement, two girls killed, ten people injured, no-one held responsible?April 2026 it was announced that there was a reinvestigation, the original police officers investigating the case are also being investigated for gross misconduct and the CPS are reconsidering their decision.This all against a backdrop of suggestions of one law for the rich and another for everyone else.

Send us Fan MailDuring the 1980s there were  at least 10 pre-teenage and teenage boys that went missing from South London. This podcast is a reflection on what may have happened to them, the focal point is the case of Kevin Hicks who went missing on Sunday 2 march 1986 from Croydon.

Send us Fan MailJuly 1966. A Labour government in trouble, America getting bogged down in a foreign war and England winning a world cup, Are there Parallels with July 2026? This case is long forgotten today from Richmond, Surrey. The sons from the   dysfunctional Brown family fight in the living room. A rather strange story unfolds, how can a fatal injury go unnoticed during a family fight?

Send us Fan MailA selection of Society of Psychical Research investigations 1919-1922 get a mention and brief analysis.Lord Rayleigh's presidential address. Arthur Conan Doyle, Veronica Laparelli, Hereward Carrington,  The Swanton Novers poltergeist,  The Woods family tradition, book review about by Bligh Bond,.Martha Beraud, aka Eva C, Charles Richet, Gustave Geley, Mr Hope's psychic photographs and fraud in spirit photography, Fairies, the Abraham Florentine case, Harry Price and Eric Dingwall becoming known, The case of Nancy Sinclair, The Witch cult in Western Europe, Willy Schneider, Harry Houdini, Kathleen Goligher case, Teleplastic developments, all of these get a mention. 

Send us Fan MailPlease be advised that this is not a podcast but an announcement.I feel sorry that I have to make this boring and tedious announcement, but I feel I have to  stand up to a fellow podcaster who I find an arrogant bully. 

Send us Fan MailSociety of Psychical Research investigations 1917 and 1918.Usual poor narration, warning this is lo-fi, recorded in one take and no editing. There are also mistakes. I call Oliver lodge a physicist when he was a physician. I was conscious of this mistake at the time but there may be more. I am not a professional podcaster, I just enjoy making them rather than watching tv or scrolling through social media. I have full time work and am trying to rewild the farmland around the house where I live.Regarding the content of this podcast. Gladys Osborne Leonard was the favoured medium of the time and very talented. I also think that she was an attractive woman which gave her prominence amongst certain male investigators of the time. She features strongly in this podcast as there was so much content about her in the SPR publications.Also mentioned are a number of alleged apparitions and telepathic dreams of servicemen serving in the war reported in the SPR publications.There are book reviews of the time, Oliver Lodge, William Barrett and Margaret Murray were the books I chose to showcase. Non of which have stood the test of time.Cross-correspondence continued to be a puzzle that needed to be solved by the clever minds of the SPR investigators. It almost seems that those trying to make sense of the puzzle are showing off how clever they are.There were some American case influences discussed in the SPR publications. James Hyslop is being  outspoken about his views, drowning out others.There was what was known as the Folkestone poltergeist case which I covered in detail with associated subjects a few years back, but good to mention an interesting case.There does seem to be a shift in thoughts about  paranormal phenomena being about psychological issues in the articles. I am just posting podcasts as I finish them now rather than scheduling trying to space them out. I have finished the next podcast in this sequence covering four years 1919-1922 but have not recorded it yet, so will probably post it next week for anyone that may be interested. After that there will be a true crime or cryptozoology episode.

Send us Fan MailPart 2 of the Biddy Gold murder investigation. Crime gangs, corrupt police, suspicions about Bernie Silvers.Please be advised, recorded in one take without editing.