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On Halloween night, 1992, the BBC aired a program that many believe scarred the British nation. Ghostwatch was a British supernatural horror pseudo-documentary about a haunting, presented as if it were a live television broadcast. The program had actually been pre-recorded weeks earlier, but its almost realistic style, and the fact that it was a late-night broadcast, convinced viewers that they were in fact watching a real event unfolding live. The resulting panic was so severe that the BBC reported that they had received approximately one million phone calls, some from viewers who were impressed, but the majority from those who were in a state of terror. Ghostwatch was, and is, often compared to Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds, where people genuinely thought aliens had invaded.

Ghostwatch

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For context, Ghostwatch was a fictional live investigation of a haunted house at Foxhill Drive, Northolt. Parkinson hosted, with producer Sarah Greene, her husband Mike Smith, and comedian Craig Charles supporting. The purpose was to film solid evidence of paranormal activity, which was centered around the house of Pamela Early and her daughters, Suzanne and Kim, who were plagued by a poltergeist called "Pipes." The entity made knocking sounds from under the stairs.

The hour begins reasonably enough, but it soon turns sinister. Suzanne is apparently faking evidence, then later talks in an unearthly voice, and scratches appear on her body. Calls come in from viewers, some of whom have seen Pipes on their television sets, others who have experienced unexplained phenomena in their own homes. As the program unfolds, more of the house's history is revealed: the Victorian baby farmer Mother Seddons and the psychotic Raymond Tunstall, both of whom seem to have been manipulated by a more powerful evil presence.

In the finale, the line between reality and artifice is thoroughly blurred: Suzanne is found behind a locked door, a mirror strikes a member of the crew, a recording of a ghostly voice is picked up on the studio TV monitors, then poltergeist activity begins to manifest itself in the studio itself, with Greene dragged screaming through the under-stairs door and Parkinson lost in the pitch-blackened studio and appearing to be taken over by Pipes. The confusion was greatly increased by the use of pre-recorded film segments, shown as if they were live.

Psychological Impact

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The reaction was swift. Although a Screen One drama, the effect of its documentary-style presentation meant many viewers thought the haunted house events were real. British tabloids vilified the BBC, and fear spread throughout the country, including to Parkinson's own mother. The depth of psychological effect of the live broadcast's conclusion was measured by Simons and Silveira, who published the results in the British Medical Journal. The publication detailed two specific cases of PTSD in children as a result of the program. Subsequent publications have alluded to other cases in children and even in elderly viewers, demonstrating the severity with which a television program can psychologically affect its audience.

Now that the dust has settled, Ghostwatch is a popular reference in horror television, with various reviews and polls naming it as one of the scariest and most influential mockumentaries. It has also helped spawn additional horror films and television episodes that use similar elements of realism, mounting tension, and satirical wit to successfully terrify their audience. Over three decades later, the impact of Ghostwatch is still noted as the broadcast that frightened an entire country.