Society & Culture
This is the documentary that started with a man from the Church of England shouting at us, and ended with police involvement. Writer and journalist, Helen Stenson, investigates Sefton's spooks. She meets Steven Tucker, author of Paranormal Merseyside, and learns about local legends such as Old Trash — the demon dog of Formby, and Teresa Higginson — a religious fanatic from Bootle who believed she was persecuted by the Devil. She also talks to the former owner of a house in Altcar, who was moved to have the place exorcised — twice — due to violent poltergeist activity. And whilst a polite enquiry to the warden of a church in Sefton about its history yielded only being yelled at, feedback from the internet produced a far more interesting story: current and historical occurences of flashing lights at the abandonded Seaforth Radar Tower. Then things got really weird. Helen went AWOL. The police were involved. Her tapes were recovered. And then the whole thing was pieced together by Rebecca Downing, resulting in the piece we hear now. Part of the Coastlands project: six documentaries about the Sefton coast. Created by Helen Stenson and Rebecca Downing. Supported by Arts Council England and The Hemby Trust.