The Devil at the BBC

[Agent_21]

The Devil at the BBC.

In 1953 a radio broadcaster, John Keir Cross, was preparing a special broadcast for Hallowe'en. It was intended to comprise a general survey of the occult including such exotic subjects as Countess Bathory, the Black Man of North Berwick and Oliver Cromwell's alleged pact with satan.

A last minute addition, a gimmick to attract listeners, was the plan to end the programme with an attempt to raise the devil. A circle was to be drawn around the microphone and an actor was to read out an authentic medieval incantation, This done, the studio was to be left vacant with the lights switched off but the microphone open for two minutes to see if anything would transpire.

The broadcast went ahead and nothing out of the ordinary did occur. But later that night John Keir Cook returned home to his flat. As he and his wife sat discussing the anti-climax of the final two minutes, they suddenly heard screams coming from the bedroom occupied by their 6-month-old son. They rush in to find a horrifying scene. The baby's face and hands were covered with blood. John snatched the screaming child from its cot and dashed to the living room, slamming the bedroom door behind him. As his wife comforted the babe, he rang for a doctor. While they awaited the doctor, they heard a scratching sound from behind the bedroom door.

As the doctor attended to the child's wounds he ventured the opinion that the baby had been attacked by a rat. Indeed the following morning Cross found an enormous rat in the room which he duly killed. What he found puzzling was how it had actually got there. The room had no window, nor had it a fireplace or any discernible cracks from which it could gain entry. Also, the flat was three floors above the ground.

Later Cross broached the subject with an acquaintance who was well versed in occult lore. The answer he received gave him a chill he remembered ever after.

'You know what really happened?' his friend said. 'That night on air you invited the devil to come? Well, he did - not in the way you expected, but in a way which would touch you deeply. The rat - poor beast - was only his instrument.'

[Cufflink]

'You know what really happened?' his friend said. 'That night on air you invited the devil to come? Well, he did - not in the way you expected, but in a way which would touch you deeply. The rat - poor beast - was only his instrument.'

Some people get terribly melodramatic, don't they?

Good story, that, Agent. Never heard of anyone trying something along those lines before. It reminds me of that wonderful Ghostwatch thing that Auntie did some years back.

[dancin'hamster]

Good story Agent ~ as always!

There was a similar story about the Devil being conjured up in a Liverpool theatre (think it was the Neptune). The stage production of Dennis Wheatlys' 'The Devil Rides Out' was being shown, and as part of the show, a large Pentagram was drawn on the stage. As soon as this was drawn strange things began to happen. People had nasty accidents, a shadowy figure was seen prowling around the theatre, inexplicable fires broke out, actors had nasty accidents, several had poltergiesty-type outbreaks in their homes ~ all very similar to what happened on the set of The Omen.

Eventually a priest and a white witch were called in to bless the theatre and the trouble ceased.

Was it the imaginations of the cast & crew causing this?

Hammy-the-demon-hamster

x x x

Muh-huh-huh-huh-haaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Cufflink]

Hammy-the-demon-hamster

x x x

Muh-huh-huh-huh-haaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Blimey...always thought there was something odd...

*sound of poncey Cuff legging it like a girl*