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Bit of a ghosty day today as I was researching Danny Robins for tonight’s RHLSTP and listened to all of his Haunted podcast series (it and the latest “The Battersea Poltergeist” are spooky and excellent and also have stuff to teach about the human mind and social history). I’ve had a few weird experiences in our old house, but put most of them down to exhaustion or still being asleep or half-asleep. But all the bits and bobs that have gone wrong - the carbon monoxide, the car crashing into our wall and the other one narrowly missing our garage etc definitely happened.
An electrician came to fix our broken kitchen lights today. But there was nothing wrong with them. Maybe some damp had got into a fitting somewhere and now dried out. Or maybe it was a ghost.
I had fun researching Danny and then chatting to him. It is a long time since we did That Was Then, This Is Now and I’m not sure I’ve seen him since. He did not seem to have aged. He’s a talented writer and performer, but it’s great to see him getting some attention for his excellent ghost podcasts, which he has clearly worked very hard on (did somebody say hard on?).
I was glad to get to bed and hoping to get a good night’s undisturbed sleep, as I haven’t had a good unbroken rest for a while and am feeling pretty knackered. I fell asleep easily, but was snapped awake an hour or so later, just after midnight, by some loud music. Top volume. Playing in the house.
My wife heard it too and I stumbled out of bed to investigate. In the kitchen (that had been dark since the weekend but now had lights) my new Apple Pod player was blasting out a random song. It was very loud. Louder than the last time we’d used it. Also everyone in the house was asleep and the thing is voice activated and no one had spoken. I recognised the song, but I turned it off before I’d worked out exactly what it was. It wasn’t anything that I’d played (and only I have been using this device so far as it’s brand new) or from my library or anything that I’d have asked Apple Music to play. How the fuck was this playing on its own?
After all the ghost podcasts and ghost chats this was a bit unsettling, though I was more worried that it might somehow have been a human intruder. Who wanted music while he burgled? Really loud?
Could the cat meowing have somehow been interpreted as a command? I know Siri keeps on butting in in the day time from my watch or phone, but only when I am actually speaking. Is there a button you can press on it that would make it play?
Perhaps this is an early move from our own poltegeist or maybe my new equipment is faulty - though to be fair, if it’s going to start doing this every night then it’s going in the bin.
It was super annoying to be pulled from sleep, especially given that there wasn’t a peep out of the kids til 6am and I googled Apple Pod playing by itself before I went back to sleep, to reassure myself that it was a thing. It seems to be, though usually requires some hacking or interference from a nearby device.
Spooky huh, kids?
Very good and funny RHLSTP with the wonderful one-off that is @ashleystorrie out today
