A Ouija board, mysterious telephone calls and a sinister man in tweeds make “Harry Called” one of Uncanny’s creepiest cases, writes DAVID SAUNDERSON

Uncanny: Series 2 – Case 10: Harry Called
First broadcast: 7 June 2023
Presenter: Danny Robins
Witness: Will
Experts: Dr Ciarán O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow

Uncanny Classic Case: Harry Called – Reece Shearsmith’s Choice
First broadcast: 11 October 2023
Introduced by: Reece Shearsmith
Presenter: Danny Robins
Witness: Will

Uncanny Harry Called Review

Some ghost stories feel so perfectly constructed that you immediately begin questioning whether they could possibly be true.

“Harry Called” sounds like a modern M.R. James ghost story, complete with a sceptical victim and pursuing presence.

The Uncanny episode combines a Ouija board, mysterious telephone calls, a locked room and a bedside visitor.

When Spooky Isles recently asked Facebook readers for their scariest Uncanny episode, “Harry Called” emerged as a favourite.

Several readers suggested it would make an excellent BBC Ghost Story for Christmas, and they were absolutely right.

Those celebrated Christmas ghost stories are fiction, however, while “Harry Called” is presented as Will’s genuine experience.

Reece Shearsmith also chose “Harry Called” when introducing the Uncanny Classic Case repeat during October 2023.

The Inside No. 9 co-creator knows a tightly constructed and horribly effective ghost story when he hears one.

Harry wants Will

Will’s story begins at Royal Holloway University in 1992, when he was a sceptical first-year student.

Three friends make a Ouija board using paper, biro and a 50p piece after visiting the Student Union.

Will refuses to participate because his mediumistic hairdresser once warned him against releasing something beyond his control.

The coin identifies a supposed spirit called Harry, before spelling W-I-L-L when the students ask what Harry wants.

Will suspects a joke, but the following day finds an unsettling message written upon his university door.

The words “Harry called” continue appearing as mysterious telephone calls repeatedly reach Will’s communal student corridor.

Will finally answers and hears an unfamiliar male voice speaking through static while completely ignoring his questions.

The voice seems strangely “out of time”, as though Will has intercepted a conversation from another period.

Danny Robins also notices that the mysterious caller must apparently know Will’s exact room number.

Harry is no longer simply ringing a communal telephone, because he seems to know precisely where Will lives.

The man in tweeds

A year later, Will sees a thin, moustachioed man watching him through Cumberland Lodge’s locked bar window.

When Will reaches the entrance, he finds the bar securely locked and the disturbing stranger completely gone.

Another “Harry called” message soon appears, suggesting the mysterious caller has followed Will to Cumberland Lodge.

The same man later stands before Will’s car during torrential rain, yet his clothing remains completely dry.

Several quiet years pass before another mysterious caller asks for Will at his Essex workplace during 1997.

That night, Will awakens inside his flat and hears footsteps steadily approaching his bedroom door.

The entering figure wears the familiar tweed suit and narrow moustache seen inside the bar and road.

Will cannot scream as the visitor sits upon his bed and slowly moves closer towards him.

He closes his eyes until morning, when the sinister visitor has vanished and Harry’s calls finally cease.

What do the Uncanny boffins think?

The Uncanny boffins provide thoughtful analysis without pretending they can completely solve this remarkably complicated case.

Parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow makes worthy points about electronic voice phenomena and spirits manipulating modern communications technology.

She also compares Harry’s persistent behaviour with stalking, because the calls apparently follow Will between different locations.

Psychologist Ciarán O’Keeffe suggests unconscious movement, tiredness, hallucination and sleep paralysis as possible natural explanations.

However, even Ciarán concedes that, without an elaborate prank, the remaining explanation would have to be supernatural.

That small but extremely important “if” carries the entire weight of Will’s extraordinary ghost story.

Is the story too perfect?

Finding convincing ghost sightings which are both genuinely interesting and entertaining is surprisingly difficult for paranormal writers.

Most witnesses simply saw something unusual, sensed a presence or felt uncomfortable inside a supposedly haunted building.

Those experiences might be paranormal, but making them entertaining resembles making a cup of tea sound exciting.

“Harry Called” is different because Will delivers a full-blown supernatural tale with characters, escalation and a frightening conclusion.

I have no reason to doubt Will’s sincerity, and he sounds genuinely disturbed by these remembered experiences.

However, sincerity alone cannot prove that every incident occurred exactly as Will remembers it today.

Memory is not a recording, and frightening experiences can become neater whenever people remember and retell them.

False memories, dreams, intoxication or drugs might distort events, although the programme provides no supporting evidence.

I also wonder whether the moustachioed man actually had any connection with those original mysterious telephone calls.

Perhaps Will connected separate experiences because placing them together created a more coherent and frightening supernatural narrative.

Given enough years, I could probably find spooky incidents during my daily commute and construct my own haunting.

A strange passenger, an unexplained noise and an unsettling dream might become connected when presented in careful order.

However, Will apparently received repeated telephone calls, while other students actually took messages from somebody calling himself Harry.

If Will remembers those calls accurately, the central story remains genuinely creepy regardless of the later apparitions.

What kind of ghost story is Harry Called?

“Harry Called” follows the familiar structure and steadily approaching menace of a traditional M.R. James ghost story.

A sceptical young man becomes involved in an ill-advised experiment and attracts an apparently malignant supernatural presence.

He changes locations, but distance provides no protection once the mysterious thing has apparently selected him.

The missing explanation also brings the story closer to Robert Aickman’s deliberately ambiguous supernatural tales.

We never learn Harry’s identity, his reasons for selecting Will or what he ultimately wanted.

As mentioned earlier, Reece Shearsmith selected “Harry Called” as his favourite Uncanny episode for its Classic Case repeat.

Shearsmith particularly praised its combination of a Ouija board and supposed telephone calls from the dead.

“Harry Called” begins with four students, a sheet of paper and an ordinary 50p piece.

By the frightening conclusion, the mysterious caller no longer requires the telephone to reach Will.