Happy New Fear
A whole new year of spookiness to enjoy
Here we are again, another year of hopes and dreams to look forwards to ho-hum. Please excuse my somewhat cynical tone. I gave up saying happy new year a good while ago, as I’ve become a slightly curmudgeonly old man. As I’ve grown older, the change from the old year to the new has lost a lot of meaning, and I find it harder to get overexcited. I used to join in with everyone else, getting drunk, singing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, and making vague promises to be different next year.
My New Year's Eve these days mainly consists of me watching rubbish TV until midnight and then sending a Happy New Year message to close friends and family. Long gone are the drunken promises to resolve to change my ways.
However, New Year's Day is the most popular time to hit the proverbial "reset button." Some resolve to lose weight, while others hope to spend more time with family and friends. But what is it about the New Year that brings hope for such change, and why do people make resolutions? People love to set goals, and setting objectives can lead to meaningful change. We tend to set resolutions because the New Year serves as a cyclical marker of time during which we reevaluate and take inventory of our lives. But let's face it: We could be better at sticking to those goals. 64% of us will abandon our New Year's resolutions within a month. I don't tend to make specific resolutions, mainly because I know I will be one of the 64% that has given up by February 1st! Nevertheless, I want to set myself a task or two, and this year I want to continue building on the hard work Juliette and I put into Out There in 2022. So expect more offbeat podcasts with special guests, a few more investigations of spooky places and a selection of what we hope will be exciting articles shared with you here.
I'm also going to lose three stone in weight and exercise more. So let's see how that goes.
Happy New Year to all the lovely people reading and subscribing to "What's Out There?" We hope that 2023 turns out to be a fantastic year for you all.
Norfolk Tales-A County Steeped In Tradition
In a way, we are fortunate to live in one of the most haunted counties in the UK, Norfolk.
A glance at the above image shows several books written about the ghostly going on from way down south at Thetford to the North Norfolk coast at Hunstanton. Stories have been told of long-dead monks, strange black dogs, dragons under bridges, murder most foul, and white women drifting around, looking for their lost loves.
It's always been our plan to look at these tales and bring them to life. So, a while back, I started to film a series called "Tales of Haunted Norfolk". The idea is to look at some of our local tales, tell the story itself, and then investigate where the account takes place. It was adventurous on my part. I am self-taught in the art of filming, and editing videos, learning most of what I know from watching YouTube "How too.." videos!! So, dragging poor Allison Harding from Out There over to Acle, we put together "Burge's Pooling Blood". An old country tale of a horrible murder that's re-enacted on the bridge every year.
This first attempt at telling the tale, then investigating afterwards, was well received, but it was a steep learning curve for me. I quickly learned that there is much to do, and it's more complex than YouTube videos would have you believe. Saying that important lessons were learnt and new equipment was purchased to address some problems.
A long time goes by before I attempt another tale. This time round, it's off to Bacton Woods, with Juliette Smith telling us the story of "Bloody Will Suffolk", once again on the theme of murder most horrid. I am horribly attracted to these grisly tales!!
We follow the same format, tell the tale, and investigate the site. In the time lapse between the two videos, my editing skills have improved. However, I still have a lot to learn, and once again, new equipment was purchased, ready for another tale to be filmed and told.
The project was put on the back burner where it firmly sat, waiting for me to give it the attention it deserves. But, unfortunately, it was to be a long wait.
However, we found a different way to share the local tales with our audience, Podcasts!
So back to YouTube, I search for videos that will teach me how to record and edit a podcast. I introduced myself to this process, and as a result, "What's Out There?" our podcast channel was born, and we duly began to tell some more tales.
Our first foray into tale-telling via a podcast was an episode entitled "Ghosts of the Coast." Where we pick out a few ghostly stories from the Norfolk coastline.
This proved to be quite successful, so we followed it up with an episode entitled "Tales From a Fine City", where we share a selection of stories from the city of Norwich itself.
Our last set of tales on the podcast front arrived in the shape of the "Fact or Folklore" episode, where we tell the Acle and Bacton tales again and add the gruesome story of Martha Alden to the mix. All three accounts tell of murder most horrid and the restless spirits left behind.
I still want to share stories via the medium of the video, though, and I remembered the long-stalled "tales of haunted Norfolk" project from a while ago. So a decision is made, and a trial episode is put together to see if we can reboot the project. The resulting video is an episode entitled "The Witch's Leg."
In this episode, we visit the ruined chapel of St Mary at East Somerton, where we tell the folklore tale of a witch said to be buried there. Then, following our original format, we return to the location to conduct an investigation.
The resulting video shows how far we have come with our filming and editing process, a massive leap forward from the first episode we attempted from Acle.
There are so many tales we can tell. We have a hit list of stories we want to share with you via Youtube and our podcast channel. After all, everyone loves to hear a spooky or gruesome tale.
So keep an eye open because something wicked this way comes.