Every age has its ghosts and demons, and every age has had people who went looking for the wires. When Belfast newspapers were advertising 'marvellous séances', the freethinker William M Knox was taking spiritualism apart in print.

In 1920, the Rationalist Press Association, one of Humanists UK's forerunners, sent Joseph McCabe to debate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle before a vast audience at the Queen's Hall. As McCabe later pointed out, one of the 'materialised spirits' Doyle brandished was a portrait of President Woodrow Wilson with a moustache daubed on.

Yet ghosts, vampires, and poltergeists have never lost their grip. Folklorist Deborah Hyde has spent decades asking why, and what our belief in the dark supernatural says about us. Ten days before Halloween, she joins Maddy to discuss the sceptics who called the spirits' bluff, and why a good ghost story still gets under our skin.

About Deborah Hyde

Deborah Hyde is a folklorist and author. She wants to know why people believe in the supernatural, and uses psychology, cultural anthropology, history, and folklore to shed light on this intractable strand of human nature. She has written for periodicals such as the Guardian and the Fortean Times, and has contributed material to book anthologies. For ten years, Deborah was Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic and she is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. She makes frequent TV appearances, being a regular contributor to Strange Evidence and Mysteries at the Museum, and has presented sceptical insights in two of BBC Sounds' most successful recent podcasts, Uncanny and The Battersea Poltergeist.

In a parallel life, Deborah has provided production management and coordinator services in the film industry for the past 30 years. She occasionally strays to the wrong side of the camera, most notably as the 500-year-old Thurlingian Queen in Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm, and (according to Deb) puppeteering the ‘best leaf’ on the ‘Devil’s Snare’ plant in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.