BBC Sounds, and BBC Radio 4 May 13, 2023

“Your Grandmother can be one of the most important people in shaping your life… but what if she could still play a role even after she’s gone?”

That sentence alone could strike terror into the hearts of many of us… not for Danny’s kids, of course – I hope their Granny liked her birthday cake – but some have a complex relationship with the elders of their family. That’s sadly the case for this week’s witness, Matthew, from Dublin. Nevertheless, his ‘formidable’ Grandma, Bernie, following a death-bed apology for her strict ways, evidently devoted her afterlife to his safety.

I use the word ‘evidently’ there, but that could be viewed as inaccurate and is certainly loaded with my own bias, as someone who does follow the path of one of the Abrahamic faiths. This is one of those tricky cases that dances and flows in the liminal space between the paranormal and religion… spirits and the spiritual. That’s why I’m glad that the podcast has welcomed back the Reverend Kate Bottley to help add some pragmatic nuance that doesn’t dismiss the potential power of things that, as she puts it, “we just can’t explain.”

Dr Callum Cooper, a Psychologist from University of Northampton, quite currently gives an alternate perspective in that there could well be a prosaic scientific explanation for the fact that a seatbelt seemed to reattach itself during an accident. That makes sense. But after Matthew explains two further instances of Bernie coming to his aid in a life-threatening moment, I’m leaning further into the ‘Granny is a benevolent guide’ idea. The idea of coincidence seems less and less likely with each example.

All we can be sure of is that grief can impact us all in different ways, all dependent on a myriad of factors, not least your own upbringing. I certainly don’t believe there’s any harm in believing that there is good out there in the next world, as there is in this one. It’s good to see Uncanny not shying away from a more sensitive topic that, for me, sits very close to the idea of the paranormal.

Verdict: Angels watching over us and keeping us safe? Believe it or don’t, but I’d suggest that it’s not a sinister thing! 9/10

Claire Smith