Ever wonder what’s lurking in the forgotten corners of Britain's folklore? We're not talking about your average ghosts and ghouls. In our latest episode, we took a deep dive into four truly mind-bending encounters with strange humanoid figures that have left witnesses baffled for decades.
The Gateshead Grey: A Coal Shovel vs. an Alien
This story takes us back to World War II and a five-year-old boy named Robert Hall. Robert claimed to have encountered a whole group of beings next to an egg-shaped craft in a back alley. They asked to "examine" him, and he had a very British retort: "It’s 1940 and we’re at war with Germany!"
But it gets even more unbelievable. After a visit from the Men in Black, Robert says a Grey alien later tried to snatch him. Luckily, his uncle Ernie was there to save the day, allegedly "bashing its head in with a coal shovel." The body was supposedly put in a coal sack and taken away by the army. It’s a story that’s so uniquely British it's hard to believe... and hard to ignore.
Sam the Sandown Clown: The Most Unsettling Encounter?
From the northeast, we travel to the Isle of Wight in 1973. A girl named Faye was led by a strange wailing sound to a swampy area where she met a seven-foot-tall figure in a bizarre outfit. He introduced himself as "All Colours Sam" and invited her into his two-level hut, which was wallpapered with dials.
The encounter is full of odd details, like Sam's strange eating habit of putting a berry in his ear and it reappearing in his eye socket. The hosts discuss theories ranging from a case of folie à deux—a shared delusion between Faye and her father—to the idea of screen memory, where a bizarre story is planted to mask a genuine abduction. Either way, this tale of a clown-like being is deeply unsettling.
Spring-Heeled Jack: The Victorian Nightmare
Forget aliens; this is a homegrown British nightmare. Spring-Heeled Jack was a widespread phenomenon that terrorized the nation for decades, starting in 1837. Witnesses described a powerful, agile figure who could leap over walls with ease.
His attacks were terrifying. He was said to have glowing red eyes, metallic claws, and, in one famous case involving a woman named Lucy Scales, he spat blue flames directly at her face. Was this a rich eccentric playing a prank? An urban myth born from a mass panic? Or a genuine supernatural entity manifesting in the urban setting of Victorian England? We think all of the above!
The Solway Firth Spaceman: The Photograph That Defies Logic
Finally, we look at the most documented case: the Solway Firth Spaceman photograph from 1964. A firefighter named Jim Templeton took a picture of his five-year-old daughter in a remote field, and when the film was developed, a mysterious figure in a white suit appeared in the background.
Jim was adamant that no one else was there, and Kodak confirmed the photo was not a hoax. The case became so high-profile that Templeton claimed he was visited by the Men in Black who tried to get him to admit he faked the photo. The most plausible explanation is that it's just his wife with her back to the camera, but Jim never believed it. It remains a fascinating and enduring visual mystery.
Which of these four wyrd beings do you think is the most believable? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to listen to the full episode to hear the hosts debate which one would win in a fight!