Weird in the Wade

Weird in the Wade

Do you like your spooky stories with some historical context? Do you like your history with a pinch of the paranormal? Then Weird in the Wade is the podcast for you. Weird in the Wade is about all that’s weird, wonderful and a little off kilter in a small English town called Biggleswade and its surrounding area. Each episode we explore a story that will make you pause and ponder, whether its a haunting, flying saucers, witches, poisoners or body snatchers. Social history meets the unexplained in Weird in the Wade.

Episodes

May 26, 2025 81 mins

Beneath the pretty market town of Royston in Hertfordshire, lies a cave that was carved out of the chalk by hand, in the distant past. After being dramatically rediscovered in the mid 18th century, Royston cave has spawned competing theories about its use and meaning and has been a tourist attraction ever since. Smothered in medieval carvings which in turn have been covered by more recent etched graffiti, this cave is unique in man...

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As a celebration of two years of Weird in the Wade, Nat returns to the subject of her first ever episode: The Haunted Poundstretcher. The site is now a café and gym where Nat and her team of friends hold a ghost hunt overnight. They have access to the café, gym, attic and cellar space. They hear from staff and visitors who have experienced something uncanny in and outside of the building.

Nat also explores why the rumour that the g...

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In 1612 in Milton Ernest, a village five miles north of Bedford, two women, a mother and daughter are accused and tried by their village for witchcraft. Their story is written up in a propaganda pamphlet the following year, and their case is used in a 1627 legal guide for witchcraft cases. Yet even those who are familiar with the dark tales of England's witch trials often have not heard of their story. The 1612 Northampton witch tr...

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March 12, 2025 43 mins

In this episode Nat completes her exploration of witchcraft in Bedfordshire starting with a 19th Century ghost sighting of a witch.

The episode covers a case of Victorian girls playing at witches to horrific and cruel effect. Then moves through the 20th Century with it's contrast between the rise of wicca and nature based neo pagan witchcraft, and the persistent fear of "black magic" and the satanic panic.

Nat ponders whether we ha...

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March 12, 2025 63 mins

In this episode Nat takes you on a journey, exploring the history of witchcraft in Bedfordshire from medieval times up until the late 18th century. Kicking off with a ghost story about a witch. 

This episode moves from what is possibly Bedfordshire's earliest record of witchcraft, to the witch trials of the 17th century and beyond. It seems even when persecuting witches was outlawed in 1735, the people of Bedfordshire persisted in ...

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As the missing person's charity, Locate International launch a fresh appeal into "Biggleswade Man" Nat takes a closer look at this missing persons, and unidentified body case.

Even if you don't live in Biggleswade you could hold the key to solving this 28 year mystery. 

In February 1997 some schoolboys playing truant discovered the body of a homeless man. They recognised this man as "Old Ragbones," an itinerate tool sharpener. 

Old...

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February 24, 2025 3 mins

Just a quick update to let you know where your Weird in the Wade episode is? Don't worry new episodes are on their way. You won't have to wait long.

Listen to find out why the Witches of Bedfordshire episodes will be a little late. There's also exciting news about an appeal to find a missing man who's body was discovered in Biggleswade 28 years ago. He has never been identified. Coming in the next few days is an episode about this ...

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There's a wood between the Bedfordshire town of Potton and the ancient hamlet of Sutton, which has spooked many locals including Nat. The creepiness seems to coalesce around an ancient bridge along an equally venerable footpath which has possibly been in use for over 1000 years. 

After Nat encountered this strange part of the woods nearly three years ago, she's been trying to piece together it's history and to find a cause of the u...

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December 23, 2024 82 mins

In this festive special episode Nat chats with Danny Robins of Uncanny, the Witch Farm, the Battersea Poltergeist and 2:22 A Ghost Story Fame. They chat about haunted cinemas, theatres and doppelgangers.

But before their chat, Nat explores the creepy tales from one of Bedford's former cinemas. There's phantom monks and an old Priory to explore along the way.

Special guest Owen Staton returns with a confession about a haunted cinema...

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This stocking filler of an episode is packed full of new witnesses and updates to previous cases. 

In today’s episode we’ll hear from a new witness to the haunting of the Golden Pheasant. It's a chance to set the story straight about one of the hauntings I covered in that episode.

There’s new information about Thelma Roberts the 1950s UFO investigator and some medical evidence which could shed new light on the Potton Poisoner case.

...

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November 25, 2024 73 mins

They say every theatre has a ghost. Nat embarks on an investigation to see if this is true. Starting with the newest theatre in Biggleswade, the Bigg Theatre. Once a town hall, then a petrol station, department store and a restaurant, it seems the Bigg Theatre building has a long history associated with performance and more recently ghostly happenings.

Three actors share their stories of uncanny occurrences within theatres from Bri...

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October 28, 2024 64 mins

In this episode we travel to RAF Henlow where phantom footsteps in the snow, and a poltergeist are said to be linked to a daring pioneer of parachuting in the 1920s. We'll learn about the hauntings, and this airman's dare devil antics which tragically led to his untimely death. 

Nat Doig also shares some of her eerie memories of living at RAF Henlow as a child in the 1980s, including ghost stories, creepy world war II buildings and...

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19th Century spiritualism is at the heart of this episode which we'll explore through the exploits of a Biggleswade medium who believed he was in direct contact with the spirit of William Shakespeare. John Francis Hunt, who we met in the previous episode, was an extraordinary man, he pursued justice, sought out buried treasure and was a constant correspondent with the newspapers, the social media of his day. 

We'll explore spiritua...

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I'd almost given up on discovering how murder bridge between Biggleswade and Sutton, got it's name. Until completely by accident I stumbled across a ghost story, reported as part of the minutes of a meeting of the Biggleswade Hospital Board in 1922. That led me on a twisty path to the truth, involving a libel case, a notorious Biggleswade spiritualist who believed he was the ghost of Shakespeare's secretary, and two tragic and myst...

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The Night Hag, is an old name for sleep paralysis. A sleep condition or disorder that has led to some of the most terrifying stories and folktales from around the world. From encounters with demons, witches and ghosts, to alien abductions sleep paralysis has spawned many scary stories. Likewise many paranormal experiences have been explained by sceptics as being caused by sleep paralysis.

In this episode I explore my own terrifying...

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June 24, 2024 80 mins

Find out how terrifying sighting of a Cavalier ghost in the 1930s links to Biggleswade's mysterious tunnels. I explore the cellar below where the phantom was seen, discover hidden passageways, bricked up tunnel entrances, and much more. I take you on a trip down the river, and to the Camden House school room, we explore the history of Biggleswade's brewing industry, and I visit the Bedfordshire archives all in an effort to solve th...

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May 27, 2024 62 mins

Today's episode follows a ghost story over three centuries. We start in the 1880s with school children terrified by a ghost in a garden. Then we explore a newsagents bothered by paranormal activity in the 1960s. In the present day we discover a secret tunnel entrance and hear rumours of a helpful spirit where the garden once bloomed. Linking all these hauntings is the building of Camden House. Once a Victorian school, then a newsag...

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As part of my haunted house challenge I spent the night at the Golden Fleece Hotel in York. The pub is renowned for being the most haunted pub in the city and maybe even Britain. No fewer than 15 ghosts have been reported to haunt the 17th century pub. 

Listen to my live recordings during the night, as well as interviews with fellow guests over breakfast, all of whom had strange stories to tell. 

I investigate one of the pubs most ...

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We take a short wander away from Biggleswade, over the county border into Hertfordshire in this episode. Nat Doig tells the tale of Blind George of Anstey. It's a folktale with a bit of everything, a secret tunnel, a blind fiddle player, a faithful dog, the devil, and a ghost. 

Nat also explores myths and legends around blindness including busting some modern myths with her guest Paul Day.

Nat and Paul discuss a neurological condit...

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In this episode Nat Doig explores the tale of Biggleswade's body snatchers. As is often the case it turns out that the truth is stranger and more satisfying than fiction. Do the body snatchers haunt the town still? Why might the town have forgotten the most exciting part of the story, preferring instead to remember just a murky fragment of the tale? Nat ponders these questions and finds some surprising answers.

This episode also lo...

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