Ghosts on the Underground

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Halloween 666

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SUPERNATURAL SATURDAY

To kick this one off, there are probably a few things I should mention about it. For starters, it's a made-for-TV British documentary, running just about 45 minutes in length. Secondly, the official title for this IS 'Ghosts *ON* the Underground' not 'Ghosts *OF* the Underground' (in case there's confusion with the poster). But lastly, and most importantly, this is one of the eeriest documentaries about hauntings I've ever seen. Skeptic or not, this one's a lot of fun to sit down with and feel those creepy tingles one may remember from ghost stories around the campfire. I've seen a few haunting documentaries, but none of them really gave me that specific feeling until now. Perhaps it's being a tiny bit familiar with the tube (which I used a lot for travel during my UK visit), and being able to recognize that the London Underground is a pretty naturally spooky place.

The film itself goes through interviews with various underground workers as they recall their creepiest and eeriest ghost stories from their experiences. All sorts of information is given to us about things like mass graves that have been tunnelled through, as well as church crypts, plague pits, and a bunch of other stuff your typical Canadian traveller wasn't thinking about during his trip to London, using the tube as his primary source of transportation. To be quite honest though, I don't say that as though it creeps me out now. I say that wishing I knew a lot of this information before my travels because famously haunted places always fascinate me.  That said, according to this documentary, it's no surprise that these tunnels are considered one of the most haunted places in the world.

When it comes to ghosts, hauntings and the like, I tend to have a sort of agnostic approach to it all. Seeing is believing, and while I have seen and heard things that I cannot explain, that does not necessarily mean "ghosts". Generally, the skeptic in me outweighs the believer, but I still love and appreciate a good ghost story. As far as I'm concerned, if that little excited tingle in my stomach shows itself, or a chill runs up my spine, or I get goosebumps, then the story did what it set out to do effectively. These stories are told through the eyes of the underground workers, and all of them have a great tale from their experiences working down there. One can't help but admire some of the subtleties in these stories that once again show that sometimes simple is better. 

As usual, with any documentary like this, I wouldn't recommend any true, hardened skeptics watch it (which they probably won't anyway) just because I can see it being picked apart pretty easily. One has to go into this with something of an open mind, or at least with the will to have some spooky fun with something, if only for the season. In my humble opinion, this is probably one of the best documentaries one can check out in time for Halloween, just because its a nice, quick viewing of a strong collection of ghost story recounts from these underground workers. Some often result in a worker leaving and never coming back, some show areas of the tubes very few people are willing to walk down, and some are just plain fascinating for being unlike anything you've heard.

I do praise this documentary for its overall execution. The stories generally go uninterrupted, it's sprinkled with a bunch of interesting quick-read factoids, and it's very atmospheric. They make a point of showing you the hustle-bustle of everyday life in London and following it up with how empty it gets after hours. Then all you have to do is imagine being left down there all alone, and occasionally, perhaps, having to walk down those unlit tunnels to inspect things, armed only with a torch (that's a flashlight for us North Americans, it's not like these workers are tomb raiders). The whole thing can be found very easily on YouTube - in fact, here's a quick link. I truly think that whether you're a skeptic about these things or not, there's, at the very least, some Halloween intrigue and/or fun to be had with this documentary.

4/5

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