An Interview with Andy Matthews
What was it that first got you interested
in ghosts?
I think it was trying to analyze the sleep paralysis episodes I had as a child. I
began to read books on the subject, stories, watch the films and it just snowballed
from there.
How did the Ghost Detectives start?
In the nineties I was a full time singer and was approached by a local production
company to record a cover version of the 60s hit “There’s a Ghost in my
House”. This was originally supposed to be the main title theme for a pilot show
called Phantom or Fraud which unfortunately never got commissioned. Anyway
I did the song together with a video and began to join the team on investigations.
Back then there were only 5 members and eventually we became TVs Ghost Detectives.
I have very fond memories of those times but as with all good things they eventually come to an end and you have to move on.
Have you experienced the paranormal
or seen a ghost first hand?
I have experienced what I believe to be paranormal phenomena many times and
by paranormal I mean unexplainable. Personal proof of an afterlife, spiritual
guidance and so on is something a little different to evidence gathering and I try
and keep the two separate so as not to interfere with my reasoning. I have ever
only seen what I think was a ghost once at Bowden House Totnes. She appeared
as solid as you or I but was gone in the blink of an eye. Wonderful stuff.
How did you find investigating the
Tower of London?
Ghost Watch Live, BBC Worldwide at the Tower of London. I loved every
minute of it. I thought that with the Tower being a tourist attraction most of
the ghost stories would probably be rubbish or exaggerated but I have to say that the Tower of London is one the most haunted places I have ever been fortunate enough to work in. Having a film crew there didn’t help, but the place was just buzzing. An investigator could spend his whole life in there. Even the film crew reported unusual occurrences, equipment going down, electrical problems bangs, crashes, screams, moans, fantastic sensations and of course one or two big bright orbs, lol.
Have you ever been scared whilst investigating
a site?
Yes, Margate Theatre Royal where I witnessed for the first time an entity apparently jumping from one team member to another in order to escape. I’m always scared lol. Seriously, I don’t take anything for granted and since none of us really know what we are dealing with its better to sometimes tread cautiously rather than stomp around believing
you are untouchable. I have a great deal of respect for what I am trying to study. I treat potential ghosts as people, not as hunted animals.
How did you start with Haunted
Homes and will Mark Webb be investigating
alongside you in future episodes?
In 2006, I had been in regular contact with the execs at September Films for a year or so regarding another TV format so they knew who I was anyway. However it was still a surprise to get a call inviting me down to London for a chat about Haunted Homes. I hadn’t really seen the show so I didn’t know a lot about it, anyway we had a chat for a couple of
hours, they watched my show reel, read my CV and then asked if I would be interested in taking over Mark Webbs role for episodes 6 and 7. Once they had ITVs approval of the change I ended up filming the last three programmes of series 2. It was a bit of roller coaster but I enjoyed every minute of it. Mark and I were in touch at the time and he wished me well with Haunted Homes but the series to my knowledge has been cancelled.
How do you feel the paranormal is
portrayed on TV?
I think there are good shows and there are bad ones. The first series I did, Ghost Detectives was honest fly on the wall, although looking at it now some scenes are rather embarrasing due to editing and you find yourself asking “Did I say that???” The orb phenomena, which at the time was fairly new and under-researched provided the audience with a new angle on "ghosts" but many of the theories and evidence in the show look a little dated now especially the repeated quotes of orbs being souls of the dead where in actual fact many of them now have a more logical explanation. But despite it being a TV show, it was real, it was about what we thought at the time warts and all.
With my new series, N.I. Greatest Haunts I wanted to try and bring that kind of honesty back and mix it with a lot more analysis and history and going by the comments from viewers, it appears we got the formula right.
I never really watched Most Haunted all the way through until June 2009 where I caught an episode on Living 2. Other shows such as the early series of Ghosthunters is as close as one can get to viewing a typical paranormal investigation being run correctly. The occasional Discovery channel documentaries are more of a hit with me because they portray and discuss the genre from a wider open minded perspective.
How did the new series begin?
The series entitled Northern Irelands Greatest Haunts is a six x 30 min series of programmes formatted by myself together with Coco Television. It was commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland in October 2007.
Having realised that the UK market was awash with numerous ghost series tackling the subject all the same way, I felt that a fresh approach would be better suited to somewhere untouched by the media and was amazed to discover that Northern Ireland, the land of myth, ghosts and legend, had never had a programme exploring this type of phenomena. Last year we crafted a series that not only looks great, but is rich in history and studies all the myths surrounding hauntings whilst covering the mediumistic and scientific aspects of the paranormal in an optimistic way. The series has been a massive hit in Ireland and I am currently in the early stages of working on series two.
The investigation side of the series is very down to earth, was this something that you wanted from the very begining?
From the very start, I was adamant that the investigation side of the programmes were to be conducted correctly and to the best of our resources, scientifically and that all “evidence” would be open to debate, so hopefully depending upon what makes the final edit, some of what you will see hasn’t been seen on British TV. We have a very strong team of experienced paranormal investigators, and were grateful for advice from sound and light science techs within the BBC and the military. The team all have a mixed perspective of belief and their sole purpose is to investigate, experiment and report any findings.
Where did you find the team?
When picking a team for this one, I looked at many different options. Firstly, I know many great groups here in the UK, but I felt that if I was to move forward, then I needed to start afresh and leave the past behind. As in the UK, there are groups in Ireland but the Northern Ireland Paranormal Society were by far the best for the job. They have media experience, a vast amount of knowledge, and the right personalities to make TV without any egotistical nonsense rearing its head and having worked with then now for over a year and a half, I know I made the right choice.
In the beginning, there was to be no regular medium. When it was decided to include one, obviously Marion Goodfellow was top of the list, but for a time there were a number of Irish mediums under consideration, but in the end the BBC went with my recommendation to use Marion. However, the production company did fly her to Dublin to test her mediumistic abilities in a number of secret locations and she came through with flying colours. Indeed they even booked her into a haunted hotel, but she picked that up too.
As for me, well I’m the presenter/investigator who has the job of driving around Ireland each week bringing together the team and attempting to uncover the truth behind the haunting.
Are you hoping that this shows approach to the paranormal will help to rectify some of the damage that has been caused by other shows investigating in a somewhat dubious manner?
It was never my aim to rectify any damage as you say, or even to provide an alternative to Most Haunted. Greatest Haunts is more history based and although doesnt set out to shock or scare, certainly has its fair share of tense moments. The show covers everything from the extraordinary to the plain obvious and when the drama does kick in, rest assured what is captured and experienced is real. If we give viewers a different opinion regarding ghosts and hauntings then that’s fine. The show wont give you proof, but it will take you on an interesting exploration of the very nature of ghosts and why so mnay people beleive in them.
Do you believe most hauntings and
ghost stories have a rational or logical
explanation?
Definatly yes. If you dig deep enough you will find yourself questioning your
evidence, there’s always a little flicker in the back of ones mind that says “Go on
admit it there is another explanation” Whether or not you follow your instincts
and look for that alternative answer is up to you. You cannot accept a ghost story
as fact simply because someone tells you its true. You have to experience or
witness it. So okay this building has a ghost but until it makes itself known to
me personally it doesn’t exist.
