Must Listen: Paranormal Podcasts

Are you a sceptic or a believer when it comes to all things that go bump in the night?

Matt Deegan, from the British Podcast Awards, has chosen four of his favourite paranormal podcasts as part of 5 Live's Must Listen, on air every Monday at midnight on the Sarah Brett show.

Matt has picked: Alien Nation, The Unexplained, This Paranormal life and Stranger Things. Plus at the end of the article you can hear an interview with the presenters of This Paranormal Life.

Have you heard any of these podcasts? Comment below to let us know what you think.

Alien Nation

"Jo Wood, ex-wife to Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, has this interest in UFOs. Her first encounter was when she was in Brazil with Ronnie in a hotel room and they both saw some lights in the sky. The second encounter was on a plane with her son years later, he spotted some glowing green globes outside the plane and woke Jo up so she could see them too.

"Alien Nation is a podcast where Jo speaks to her celebrity mates and other interesting people about aliens. Celebrities on this podcast range from Dan Aykroyd, who wrote Ghostbusters, to Robbie Williams.

"I often feel that her guests know more about UFOs than she does but Jo clearly loves the topic and is interested in her guests and why they found themselves chasing across the world. It's that magic of podcasting where an interviewer you wouldn't expect is talking about an unexpected topic with guests you'd never think to hear from."

The Unexplained

"Not THAT Howard Hughes. Howard is a radio presenter who pops up on speech radio stations from time to time and has been podcasting for a very long time.

"The Unexplained started in 2006, which is almost at the very start of podcasting. The podcast ranges from looking at parapsychology and psychic ability all the way through to conspiracy theories like the JFK assassination attempts and UFO sightings."

Stranger Things

"What normally happens with TV podcasts is that they just recap everything that has happened after each episode. The Stranger Things podcast has shaken up that format and gone behind the scenes of the whole show.

"In one episode they talk about how detailed the set is and how even stores in the mall that aren't shown in detail on the show are fully fitted out with VHS tapes, cassettes and movie posters.

"I think if you love a TV show and you have invested so much time into it, actually you are after a bit more information from that universe. It's a really interesting idea from Netflix to take what they've got access to, the talent both in front and behind the camera, and dig a little deeper."

This Paranormal Life

"This Paranormal Life was the surprise winner of Best Entertainment Podcast at the 2019 British Podcast Awards. That was the most entered category with more than 100 entrants from some of the biggest and most well-known podcasts.

"It was the relationship between hosts Rory Powers and Kit Grier that the judges liked.

"The pair have taken the topic of paranormal activity and gone in a different direction to lots of other podcasts, they've built this community and are very funny - it's a great podcast."