Eerie Essex Investigates

Wespeak to the team behind Eerie Essex, a local podcast exploring the county’s folklore, urban legends and supernatural history.

Firstly, how did the idea for the podcast come about?

We both worked at Firstsite Art Gallery together and used to share stories when things were quiet. When lockdown came, we discovered similar podcasts, and in particular, Weird Norfolk.

They sometimes tell tales from Suffolk and when we asked if they would ever consider covering spooky tales from Essex they said “why don’t you do it?”… so we did.

How would you describe Eerie Essex for people who haven’t heard about it before?

Eerie Essex is two friends with a love for strange tales discovering what’s on their doorstep. We talk about everything from witches to ghosts, folklore and weird history. Essex’s folklore and myths are so often overlooked, but it’s all there as part of our history, it’s just not often discussed. Each month, we pick a theme, research that topic and discuss what we’ve found - sometimes it’s strange or funny, as well as a bit spooky.

What do you think makes Essex folklore such a great topic for discussion?

Essex is full of weird tales and forgotten history that gets overlooked a lot due to unfortunate portrayals by the media. Folklore can tell you a lot about a place - more so than history – so we feel as though it’s the story of the people.

How has the reception been to the podcast? Have you been surprised?

It’s a cliche but we really didn’t know it would become so popular. Originally, we expected that maybe a few friends and family would listen. We recently hit over 10,000 downloads and the numbers are climbing all the time.

We have listeners from other countries who contact us with their strange tales, as well as our listeners from Essex. It’s been really well received and we get lots of compliments on the depth of research we do from other notable podcasters and researchers.

Have you had any of your own spooky experiences in Essex?

Yes we have had a few spooky moments! UFOs, ghosts, premonitions, and most surprisingly, a gnome!

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned since you started the podcast?

That whatever topic we pick, from UFO sightings to exorcisms, there will always be stories in Essex.

We seem to have a bit of everything. I think I was most surprised to find out we had a werewolf case which ended up being taken on by Ed and Lorraine Warren.

Obviously, I have to ask: what are your personal favourite Essex folklore stories or urban legends?

We have our own personal favourites but we definitely got a lot more than we bargained for with our episodes on Essex monks. That was a far darker dive into the past than we expected.

You can listen to the Eerie Essex podcast on all major podcast streaming platforms