Paranormal Tales From The World Of Radio

From the early experiments of Marcello Bacci to the global reach of Coast to Coast AM, radio has played a crucial role in shaping paranormal belief. I worked in radio for most of my adult life, which makes the intersection between the paranormal and radio all the more special.

So, to celebrate World Radio Day, I wanted to share some of my own ghostly perspectives when it comes to hauntings and broadcasting.

Halloween 2005 was an unforgettable night in radio for me. I was working on Late Night Love, a well-known national love songs and relationship talk show hosted by the legendary Graham Torrington. Instead of the usual relationship discussions, the show took a break from its normal format and dedicated the night to ghost stories.

There were four of us working on the show. I was in a large studio on my own in Bristol, Kate the researcher was in another studio down the corridor, and Graham and his producer, Justin, were putting the show together in Birmingham. My role was to take the feed from Birmingham and ensure it went out across all the radio stations on the network.

Then something strange happened. I heard what sounded like a digital compression error, followed by Graham's voice repeating the same phrase for about 20 seconds. I immediately started typing a message on our internal system to check if everything was okay, but before I could even send it, Graham phoned. He wasn't aware of the distortion but called to say that Justin had just seen something "odd" moving, and the lights were flashing in nearby studios. They were getting a little spooked and Graham was letting me know they'd decided to stop talking about ghosts.

Just after the call ended, Kate walked in looking unsettled - she thought she had seen something too in the building we were in. The show continued for a little while longer until Graham phoned again, saying they were bailing. Justin was absolutely terrified, close to collapsing, and they needed to leave. I had to take control of the show from Bristol and play an emergency backup programme, effectively taking a national radio show off the air because of ghosts. That was a first for me.

During my time working for Capital FM in London's Leicester Square, I learned that the building had a haunted past - something that was once widely known among staff but has since been largely forgotten due to high turnover.

The studios at 28 Leicester Square were often the subject of strange technical problems and unexplained sounds, which many attributed to ghosts. What most people didn't realise, however, was that the building had a chilling history. It was once the home of John Hunter, an 18th-century Glaswegian surgeon whose work in anatomy inspired The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Hunter's townhouse, which originally stood on Charing Cross Road, was connected to an anatomy theatre and another property in Leicester Square. The Leicester Square entrance was allegedly used to receive a steady supply of corpses for dissection, fuelling Hunter's obsession with anatomy and earning him the nickname "The Knife Man." Despite being one of London's most respected doctors - offering medical advice to King George III - his demand for bodies was relentless. This double life, balancing medical respectability with a macabre fascination, is said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.

Today, the building houses a bar at street level, with the radio studios and offices above. Though few current employees know its history, the eerie atmosphere and unexplainable disturbances continue to make it one of London's most intriguing haunted locations.