Ghostwatch is NIGHTMARE FUEL

/ @thehorrorexchange
💀 UTG DEEP DISCUSSIONS 💀
🎥 Topics of Terror from the Rabbit Hole of Randomness
🍿 Ghostwatch is NIGHTMARE FUEL (1984)
🎬 Connor takes on a deep discussion, where he dives into random subjects about a variety of horrific matters! This time, he dives into one of the greatest hoaxes in TV history: a 'live' broadcast of a paranormal investigation gone wrong!
👮🏼 Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favour of fair use.
🦇 Huge thanks to Karl Casey @White Bat Audio on the music!
#NightmareFuel #Ghostwatch #Ghosts

[@UnleashTheGhouls]

Join our top secret upcoming project... kzbin.info/door/HrajuBG_V1mzJWv38lnoEA

[@EmlynBoyle]

I remember seeing this when it originally aired, back in 1992. I was on my own at home (my folks had gone out), and had missed the first five minutes, so it felt even more like an actual live broadcast. It's only because I slowly recognised the actress playing the doctor (interviewed by Parky), that I soon came around to it being staged. But still, it scared the life out of me and I remember everyone talking about it in school two days later. So I was delighted when it finally got released on DVD, and I always watch it near Halloween. I also remember later on, that original Halloween night, the BBC showed that whole Dr. Terror segment, with various creators in the horror genre being interviewed, etc. It's a shame the Beeb don't do Halloweens like that anymore...now it's just some random horror movie, and maybe an old documentary, on BBC4 and that's it. Anyways, great video!

[@ytsm]

My folks had gone to a Halloween party, so my 16yr old self and my 11 year old sister watched this on our own. I don't remember if we missed the beginning of not, but we were bloody terrified, regardless. The silhouette of Pipes behind the curtain still haunts me to this day.

[@andymclaren1624]

This and The Woman In Black on ITV Christmas Eve in 1989 were 2 shows that terrified a very young me for years 😂😂😂 when TV stations actually tried to do something special. Think they have only attempted anything remotely similar with an episode of Inside No 9 which was equally terrifying

[@TheCodeDaemon]

Let's not forget that Pipes appears ALOT more in the show that was called out.... Stealth examples are... When the play the tape in the studio he is hidding in the shadows, in the reflect of the glass doors of the house and when the lamp expodes at the end he is up there to name three other times... I believe he appears 13 times in total.

[@0_dearghealach_083]

13!! I could only count 3. Reflection, in the crowd outside in the interview, when the lamp explodes and when the Glory Hole door opens. 13...

[@adamhickey396]

@@0_dearghealach_083 Allegedly Pipes appears 13 times in the programme, however there have only been 9 confirmed sightings of him.

[@spanish4289]

I was 9 when this aired and it stuck with me for years. I was convinced there was something I'm my room lurking in the curtains. Watching it years later it's still creepy

[@pipoo1]

Sarah Greene was of course at this point the undisputed Queen of children’s TV having been a main presenter of Blue Peter, Saturday Superstore and Going Live. Her naturally warm personality shines through the broadcast helping to pull you in, the fact she was part of the program, that it was Halloween and that it was a Saturday night meant that there’d have been a much larger family dynamic to the audience than would be normal for a post 9pm TV program. Add in her husband Mike Smith another very well known TV personality of the era, and of course Parky and Craig Charles and it’s hard to imagine any combination of better presenters for a “TV show” such as this. This was top drawer casting for this era of British TV.

[@0_dearghealach_083]

I remember watching this online on an archive site, and I was wondering why it'd been removed. I thought it didn't score well. Nnnnnnope. It scared people so much, they pulled it. You *know* it's scary. Hell, I was rewatching it, and I would keep an eye out for hidden Pipes appearances. It sent chills down my spine, just knowing that Pipes was always there, watching. Fee fi fo fum...

[@sumthingwikked4257]

Didn't believe the story... Mother Seddons... Did you???

[@BLACKSYNTH]

I saw this when I was 12, Mum n dad went out for the night so I watched this alone.................It was super erie and terrifyng as I thought it was real.

[@theproplady]

The movie "The WNUF Halloween Special" is somewhat based on this. It shows a local U.S. TV station's Halloween broadcast featuring a seance in a haunted mansion, complete with cheesy commercials and news commentary (It's all fake, but in universe it's supposed to be a real block of programming from 1987, taped onto a VHS.) It has several twists and you're never sure if the supernatural events depicted in the film are real or fake (until the very end.) I'd highly recommend it, especially if you're into American 80's nostalgia.

[@JAProductions494]

I wasn’t alive when this came out so I didn’t get the same experience as everyone else however I have since watched it and it is still great. I think I still prefer Inside No. 9 Dead Line which was very similar but this was still great. It’s also great to try and learn about the reaction to it from Inside a Mind and this video OFC

[@andrewclarvis8976]

I was 20 when this was aired and I remember seeing it, my sister thought it was real but I wasn’t sure! Still fabulous tv and great that it’s still being shown and talked about today

[@scottfree7633]

Saw this when it aired, I was 12 so the perfect age, this was the scariest thing I'd ever seen. Watching back there is a bit of dodgy acting, but a fantastic programme anyway.

[@ackbarfan5556]

8:11 Hey, Denis Lawson! Wedge Antilles from the original trilogy and Ewan McGregor's uncle!

[@burquebandit7169]

Gotta look out for pipes in the glory hole

[@UnleashTheGhouls]

Always

[@younglink309]

Tracked this down. It was fun. Couldn't imagine seeing it on TV thinking it were actually live. Would have been wild.

[@duncanevans1795]

I've watched it on original transmission, 13, alone in a dark caravan while parents at out. I got so freaked by Pipes being seen in cellar door made me turn all power of and shake in the dark

[@Welleher]

I really want to finish this, but I have crap to do in the morning and don't want to be kept awake by visions of a dead pedo ghost in my sleep XD.

[@timmone1861]

This is one of parky's best moments

[@MysteryEzekude]

Personally, I was lucky enough to stumble upon this curious piece British television history online. Somebody was brave enough to upload the entire footage despite the risks involved. And thus, though I was naturally skeptical at first, I was both amazed and unsettled by how frightfully believable it seemed as the production approached its nightmarish climax. For me, the most frightening aspect of this whole production were the yowling cats in the background. In my opinion, it may inevitably have made certain people afraid of cats. Then again, I doubt such an effect would've been as catastrophic (no pun intended) as the rampant ailurophobia during the 17th-century witch hunts. All in all, Ghostwatch is practically a pioneer of found footage horror, made popular by films such as The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity. But I can understand why most of the viewers criticised it has harshly as they did with Orson Welles' radio drama based on The War of the Worlds. Ideally, horror is best shared privately via books, cinema and offline video games. When you share horror publicly via television, radio and/or the Internet, you risk scaring the whole world to death. If anything, maybe the backlash against Ghostwatch would've been avoided if the show stated from the beginning that it was just a work of fiction. Then again, Ghostwatch may not have become as infamous as it is now if that happened.

[@ReddwarfIV]

The show was preceded by an announcement that talked about "blurring the lines between fact and fiction", and the Screen One drama logo. It also had a Radio Times article a week earlier. It began with credits including a writer, and the phone number would play a recorded message telling you it was fake. Unfortunately, "from the start" means anyone jumping in halfway through won't know. Also, the phone exchange jammed IRL, not just in the show.

[@mart73100]

I did see this when the show was aired. I would have been 19. Me, my mum & youngest brother had missed the first five minutes, but mum was sure, but not positive that it was a drama. Two things that convinced me that it was a drama 1) the actor & actress who played the experts, I recognised 2) the Welsh man who phoned in, with the dodgy Welsh accent saying that the plate had fallen off his arm chair while watching, had me and my brother in stitches. People should have taken notice of The Radio Times the week before where Michael Parkinson was talking about it.

[@Knautschfriese]

I own that movie, got it from amazon UK three years ago. That thing is great: very cringe at the beginning, but gets really creepy and scary at the end. Awesome! 😺

[@cannibalcheese]

Remember watching this at my nans that night it came out. I was young and it literally made me have nightmares.

[@Foebane72]

I saw this at a hotel room at Halloween 1992 when it broadcast, and I loved every minute of it. It was good, harmless spooky fun!

[@schizoidboy]

A "glory hole" making a noxious odor... Okay I can see where this is going... Don't want to go there... ;)

[@UnleashTheGhouls]

Looooooooool

[@antteeter7646]

Saw this live. I knew that it was a drama going in, but I suspended my disbelief enough to traumatise myself for a looooooong time. To this day the only drama to have that impact on me.

[@CatJabZ]

I just watched this recently as Shudder just added it here in the US. Wow! What a ghoulish treat this is! Genuinely creepy and disturbing as it hits its climax. Also, couldn't stop giggling at the glory hole referencing. 😂 🕳️

[@splodge71]

i didn't watch this on its airing(i was at a Halloween party)but rather watched it a few months later at Christmas on a VHS borrowed from a friend so i knew it was fictional and it still scared the crap out of me,the whole mythology of Pipes was very disturbing and used wonderfully in the show

[@itsyoboy2000]

I have watched this over and over and I NEVER noticed that cat on the window ledge 🤣

[@UnleashTheGhouls]

I loved the subtlety Caron!

[@PoopscoopMcgoop204]

First time I saw this, as soon as I saw Dave Lister from Red Dwarf, I knew it was a hoax, but hella cool effects.

[@pastorbri]

My fave ghost story!!!!

[@PWGregory]

I watched this live and it scared the absolute piss out of me. I thought it was real but to be fair to myself I was only 7 when i saw it LOL

[@adeytup1]

Oh I remember this, I watched it live an it scared the shite out of me. There'd been nothing like this before an I remember the next day talking about it with friends an I don't think it had sinked in that it was a film, I don't think anything has scared me since like this did that first night. I think it still holds up today aswell, not to that level but it still gets you a bit.

[@cthulhluftagn3812]

Theres a part where, as everything starts breaking down, something lunges around the corner screaming. I have NEVER been able to figure out what that Something is and it freaks me out...

[@ivaneames4354]

I was 12 when this was broadcast and like many others I thought it was real. That made the ending super confusing as I was waiting for someone to tell the viewers that Parky and the others were ok but nothing happened and they just moved onto the next scheduled programme. I had gone to bed before the reassurance message was put out so I didn't see it or know anything about it. Even as a 12 year old I didn't understand the hate it got because although I found it spooky, it didn't scare me that much. If anything I was more intrigued as I loved things to do with ghosts and was really hoping for some conclusive evidence that they were real. I found the idea of it scaring someone into killing themseves to be utterly ridiculous and felt people were majorly overreacting. I didn't know at the time that the young man had learning difficulties and only found that out later when the DVD came out. I watched it again as an adult when it finally came out on DVD and found it to be incredibly tame and pretty badly acted. Seeing it through adult eyes I wondered how on earth anyone took this seriously in 1992 and, just like child me, still could not understand at all how 30'000 people got so upset about it.

[@allentheobold8133]

This was amazing, watched it live. I've been trying to remember the name of something similar that happened a few years later around Halloween, it was on multiple days, kind of a big brother style but in a haunted house. All I remember is the people talking about smelling flowers on different episodes and the whole thing ended on the final night in the attic full of flowers, then the lights flicker and a creepy guy crawls at the characters. Was also apparently live. Anyone else remember it and know what it was called?

[@rogermorrison4092]

I immeadietly thought you were on about DeadSet writeen by Charlie Brooker. Big Brother house whilst a zombie apocalypse happens outside

[@allentheobold8133]

@@rogermorrison4092 na it wasn't that one. Deadset was great though.

[@midnightparanormalinvestigate]

full suypport my friend

[@nocturnalcove9736]

Ah. Back when BBC really couldn't give a shit and was actually watchable.

[@andytabor3829]

Terrified me as a kid.

[@kathryngordon5115]

Do you know where I can get my hands on this in America?

[@ooo66o]

Probably on KZbin.

[@christopherwall2121]

There are pirated copies floating around video sites, but also a legit, region-free, albeit bare-bones, DVD release.

[@katherinewiykovics1602]

Know this is old post but Shudder just added it to its line up if you still want to see it stateside.

[@SyaroChan]

Like the video damn it

[@UnleashTheGhouls]

Or else!

[@Grandmastergav86]

It's aged poorly but it was pretty scary at the time.

[@vodkasvoice]

This past Halloween, my brother and a friend and I actually watched this and did a reaction video for my brother's youtube channel, and we started off joking and making fun of some of the cheesy aspects... but by the end, we were all so quiet you could hear a pin drop, just. SHOCKED by how well the scares hold up and how surprisingly modern some of them feel. Ghostwatch absolutely holds up and I would wholeheartedly suggest people actually go out and watch this thing for themselves. (his channel, for the curious, is famouscoozie.)

[@user-vy5fc3ho2y]

Was it not a giveaway that Lister from Red Dwarf was a news correspondent? (Was this before Red Dwarf?)

[@stewartmcminn7773]

I think they Just finished season 4 of dwarf

[@user-vy5fc3ho2y]

@@stewartmcminn7773 Thanks! Then fans should of known.

[@stewartmcminn7773]

@user-vy5fc3ho2y all the presenters are all family friendly easy viewing and safe to watch. This is what sold the show being scary.

[@keychainere]

Craig Charles wasn’t just an actor. He’s a comedian and does do presenting. So seeing him in something like this is perfect.