Jay Austin is a former Professional Mixed Martial Artist, Professional and Amateur wrestler, amateur stand up comedian, blogger and ufologist. 

I first met Jay at The Festival of The Unexplained, where he will also be appearing as a speaker this year. He has had some pretty incredible paranormal experiences throughout his life and always seems to attract paranormal entities wherever he goes.

We chat about his experiences, his research, beliefs and his plans for the future.

You can catch up with Jay on his social media accounts and, of course, at The Festival of the Unexplained.

https://www.festivaloftheunexplained.com/exhibitors/

https://www.facebook.com/TheJayMatthews?locale=en_GB

Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe (born 21 March 1971) is an English psychologist specialising in parapsychology and forensic psychology. He is currently employed at Bucks New University. He has previously held a research associate position at the University of Toulouse and also an online tutor position at Derby University. Previously employed at Liverpool Hope University, lecturing in psychology with a parapsychology component, O'Keeffe is a member of the Society for Psychical Research and an advisor to The Ghost Club. According to his own website, he completed his PhD at the University of Hertfordshire under the supervision of Richard Wiseman and Julia Buckroyd.

TV Shows

Ciaran's specialist knowledge in parapsychology and ghostly experiences has led him to appear on television and radio shows with a fascinating array of celebrities including Jane Goldman, Yvette Fielding (Most Haunted), Stacey Solomon, Rylan Clark-Neal, Girls Aloud, Tony Robinson, Paul O’Grady etc. and to work with a number of well-known artists in collaborative science-art projects: Sarah Angliss, Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Jason Andrew Pierce (J. Spaceman in the band Spiritualized), GéNIA.

Ciaran states that his career highlight is his recent work on a podcast with Danny Robins (writer, broadcaster, journalist) for BBC Radio 4, named 'Uncanny'. This, in turn, grew into a successful tv show and live theatre tour.

You can find Ciaran on many social media platforms. His research can be found at: https://www.bucks.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/ciaran-okeeffe

Rachel Hayward is a paranormal investigator and author. She grew up in a haunted lock house and has spent the last 40years investigating and researching paranormal phenomena. A member of The Ghost club and ASSAP, Rachel has done talks on poltergeists and a local witch, Ellen Hayward (no relation).

Rachel is a lead investigator and founder of the paranormal investigation group ROPE (Researchers of paranormal events) and is mentioned in several other books and tv shows.

Music credits

Intro/outro Tom Cooke

Underscore -Giant Wyrm by Kevin McCleod

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lock-House-Haunting-influenced-Paranormal/dp/1533082553/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1Z4I10VRNVQ70&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IlX5OO_f_A8SnX_5dNUEN2lMc8qYt7JDwfjVvav2HkAVnhmIXXoPFJiyYiX342X-IYXsOFQiX9mEwHC2qrq8xptCh7lKINhFe5rqEtubahjwc8S1ZKMhhJUylLIw4mu7_UbHjrFSLZBODSjsSP_JBMOrZVcQ1t4c5e4usd_GAY89q9utByM8674ssR_hFt_b.yOlSiMHewafkRD_cF_45cdFUvSTLMNt7ZdlC_xA86Fg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+lock+house+haunting&qid=1749581530&sprefix=the+lock+house+haunting%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1

Emily had her first paranormal experience age 13 and has been fascinated ever since. She has seen a full-bodied apparition of her grandmother and runs her own paranormal investigations. She runs a successful Facebook page named Emily_paranormal, where she logs her experiences, investigations and chats to like-minded people. Join us as we discuss Emily's experiences and take a turn down a rather spooky, deserted path.

Music credits

Intro/outtro music- Tom Cooke

Underscore- Giant Wyrm by Kevin McCleod

Michelle is a seasoned paranormal investigator with Into The Shadows paranormal team and has had a long-time interest in non-human intelligences. She is currently working with the protocols established by Dr Steven Greer for contacting these types of intelligent beings, known as CE5.

They play sound recordings gathered at the sites of crop circles, use meditation and peaceful intentions to try to make peaceful contact.

We talk about how Michelle got into the paranormal, her spooky moments as an investigator and how her work with CE5 is growing.

Join me for our fascinating chat on lifting the lid on this new way of contacting non-human entities.

Music credits

Intro/outtro music Tom Cooke

Underscore- Giant Wyrm by Kevin McCleod

I chat to Ian Varrow, who runs Residential Haunting; a private case team based in Hastings. Ian has been in the field for 30 years, having investigated with some of the big names in the paranormal. He grew up in a very active house and was also in the Paranormal Truth documentary, 'Ouija: Dicing With Death'.

He has been on many radio and podcast shows in the UK and USA and is featured in a book, 'Who Blew Out The Candles?' by Tessa Mauro from the Paranormal Prowlers podcast.

Ian co-hosts the Freaky Friday show on the Simply Spooky Network.

Music

Giant Wyrm by Kevin McCleod

Intro/outtro music by Tom Cooke

Ash and Greg host Pursuit of the Paranormal podcast and Ash also hosts the UFO Identified Facebook page and database of UFO sightings in the UK. We have a good chat about their paranormal origin stories and best investigations.

Music credits

Intro/outtro music by Tom Cooke

Underscore by Kevin McCleod - Giant Wyrm

Sound mixing by Jee at Jeemusic.com

Neil Nixon is an author, journalist and academic from Workington, England. Nixon's published works include titles on the paranormal, popular music, football and two novels published under the name of Stanley Manly. In 1999, he founded the United Kingdom's first full-time higher education course in Professional Writing. Nixon's scripts include material for television and radio. His radio play Mr. Lennon was nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Award for Best Single Drama.

We talked about many aspects of the paranormal, Neil's experiences, his books and writing career and theories about what ghosts and aliens may be.

You can find Neil's work and links at:-

http://www.neilnixon.com/

Music credits

Intro music by Tom Cooke

underscore - Giant Wyrm by Kevin McCleod

From katecherrell.com:- Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer, researcher and broadcaster specialising in paranormal history and popular séance. A former cemetery worker, she is the creator of BurialsAndBeyond.com, a blog exploring the stranger sides of life, death and what’s left behind. She has been internationally published, writing both commercially and academically about paranormal history, and her debut novel ‘Begotten’ is due to be published by Roundfire in May 2025. She has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming with Jack Osbourne and Jonathan Ross (Discovery, 2022, 2024), Unexplained: Caught on Camera (Discovery, 2023), and has provided historical expertise on television shows for both the BBC and National Geographic. She has edited her blog Burials and Beyond since 2017 and – when not exploring cemeteries or haunted locations – she can usually be found in some dark, dusty corner with a big glass of wine and a good book.I chat to Kate about her paranormal origins, childhood hauntings, new book, tv shows and much more.

Kate will be appearing at The Festival Of The Unexplained in September this year.

Tickets are available here:- https://www.festivaloftheunexplained.com/venue/

Credits

Intro & outtro music by Tom Cooke

Underscore by Kevin McCleod- Giant Wyrm

In the absence of an interview this week, we have some spooky real life stories from around the world. Settle down and see whether you can sleep well after listening to these beauties!