Assume Nothing

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Episode 8 – A Final Question

Hidden deep among letters and photographs in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research – Reggie uncovers a note marked ‘confidential’ – could it shed new light on Crawford’s state of mind and his relationship with the Goligher family?

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

Produced by Conor McKay

Editor Andy Martin

A BBC Northern Ireland production

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Episode 7 – Beyond the Veil

Professor Fournier D’Albe concludes the strange occurrences in the séance room were not caused by psychic forces. Another investigator claims Crawford confessed everything was faked – but his widow and friends still believe it was all true.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

A BBC Northern Ireland production

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 6 – The Investigator

Following Dr Crawford’s death, a highly respected scientist – and psychical investigator – is dispatched to Belfast to carry out a series of experiments with the Goligher Circle. However, Professor Edmund Edward Fournier D’Albe soon runs into problems during a séance

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

Produced by Conor McKay

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Episode 5 – The Descendants

Reggie is back on the road to Bangor to meet Kathleen Goligher’s grand daughter. What more can she tell him about her Grandmother’s life as a spiritualist and medium, and how does she feel about Dr Crawford’s unusual experiments?

Meanwhile – Dr Crawford’s great granddaughter Clare reveals the engineer did not have a good reputation in their family history.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

Dave Fleming

Produced by Conor McKay

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 4 – A Question of Propriety

Dr Crawford records his experiments with Kathleen and her family in painstaking detail – but some feel his methods, which frequently involve underwear, are not appropriate.

Produced by Conor McKay

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Episode 3 – Mr Splitfoot

1848, Wayne County in rural New York. Two young sisters claim they can communicate with a strange presence in their home – the ghost of a murdered pedlar who uses raps, knocks and bangs to answer their questions.

The Fox sisters become key in the creation of a new religious movement known as Spiritualism – the belief that the dead may be contacted by the living. Word spreads fast and it soon takes root in Ireland, where Spiritualism finds its way to Belfast – and the Goligher family.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

Dave Fleming

Produced by Conor McKay

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 2 – The Unseen Operators

Dr Crawford invites a visitor to attend a séance with Kathleen and her family, known as the Goligher Circle. Sir William Barrett, a highly respected physicist and parapsychologist, is astonished when a wooden table appears to float into the air.

Meanwhile, nearly one hundred years later – Reggie Chamberlain King’s plans to give a lecture about Dr Crawford and Kathleen Goligher are disrupted when a protest is announced.

Readings by

Dave Fleming

Produced by Conor McKay

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920.

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 1 – A Man in His Usual Health.

The body of a man is found on a rocky shore near Bangor, Northern Ireland. In his pockets are a sealed letter to his wife, a silver watch stopped at 7.50 and a small bottle of whiskey.

Dr Crawford was a respected engineer, but in the years before his death he carried out a series of elaborate and increasingly unusual experiments – to prove that Belfast teenager Kathleen Goligher could communicate with the dead.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by

Dave Fleming

Produced by Conor McKay

A baby is born with disabilities in the wake of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. She grows up neglected and in fear in an orphanage in Belarus, until she is taken on a radiation holiday to Ireland. A new life with hope and possibility unfolds before her. But the mystery of what happened in her early life has cast a shadow over her life. And she’s determined to solve it.

Series producer: Sara Smyth

A baby is born with disabilities in the wake of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. She grows up neglected and in fear in an orphanage in Belarus, until she is taken on a radiation holiday to Ireland. A new life with hope and possibility unfolds before her. But the mystery of what happened in her early life has cast a shadow over her life. And she’s determined to solve it.

Series producer: Sara Smyth