Urban Ghost Story

Urban myths were the stuff of much shared classroom and playground discussion. Listened to with an acute degree of curiosity, laughed at and dismissed, but the stories were secretly stored away and dwelled upon for those moments when walking home alone at night on the empty inner-city streets where myth could somehow, just possibly, slip into reality. Genevieve Joliffe's film, Urban Ghost Story, set in the built up and densely populated Glasgow of the late '90s hits just the right note in this supernatural thriller - a mix of Ken Loach and Glasvegas topical scenarios meeting up with paranormal happenings and you get the picture - and is being shown on BBC2 at 12.50am Friday 29th October.

Photo credit: Jason Brown

Quietly the Watcher Waits...

Long nights are drawing in and on those long dark evenings alone in the house with the slow tick-tock of the heavy clock on the mantlepiece, do you ever get the sensation that from some dark corner or quiet place you are being watched? Thursday 28th October at 11.30am on Radio 4, The League of Gentleman 's Ghost Chase with Reece Shearsmith leading Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton on a real-life paranormal adventure. Listen with amusement and pleasure...

Edgar Allan Poe - Drunkard, Snob and the Art of Self Destruction

Yes, yes, I'll promise to end my October fascination with tintypes, ambrotypes and all that is Victoriana on the 31st October. However, until then, to put you in the mood for tonight's broadcast of Edgar Allan Poe: Love, Death and Women on BBC4 at 9pm, here's a suitable image of a tintype brooch - most probably a mourning brooch. Unfortunately, the chap who is immortalised by camera is unknown. After that, dear viewer, stay seated, as the marvellously dark Mr Mark Gatiss presents A History of Horror:Home Counties Horror. How splendid.

Photo credit: Lisby1

Finnish Gothic

I just adore this beautifully shot image of photographer Onyxei Haapala who is wearing one of milliner Fiona Timantti's hats. Onyxei is the owner of the performance art project 'Atelieri O. Haapala' which produces neo-victorian scenarios set in character role play with scenic backdrops; such as a sanatorium and arctic hunting scene. A collection of these images have been exhibited at the Finnish Museum of Photography.

Photo credit: Riku Ryynanen

Shattered

The shattered glass of this ambrotype lends an extra melancholic air to this image. But what is the relationship between the two sitters? Look closely at the image for possible clues.

(Ambrotype Image: The Theodor E. Ulieriu Collection)

Isolation

An eerie isolated and broken down farm house - would you dare to spend the night here if you were forced to take shelter?

(Ambrotype image courtesy of Christopher Perez)

Get Stuffed

As the days close in and All Souls Day/Halloween draws near, October will be dedicated to the odd. First up is the wonky Victorian world of taxidermist and diorama maker Walter Potter. When the Walter Potter Museum based at Jamaica Inn, Cornwall closed a few years back, Damien Hirst made a bid to buy the whole collection of stuffed animals, however the collection was split into lots and sold world-wide. Walter's favourite animal of choice was the kitten; the poor fated things were taken from this mortal coil and ended their days encapsulated in strange tea party scenarios or as pictured here preparing to getting married complete with button hole and hymn book. Polly Morgan is another artist dealing with taxidermy as art and makes beautifully strange 'mini world' dioramas.

Photo Credit: Stefan Richter