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 Listen to Excess Baggage for 28听February 2004
HAUNTED
28听February 2004
Presented by Sandi Toksvig
Sandi Toksvig and her guests broadcast live from Leap Castle in Ireland believed by many to be the most haunted building in Europe. In fact, during the broadcast did a ghostly something make its presence felt?听Listen and judge for yourself...
Guests
Patricia Lysaght, Professor of Irish Folklore, University College Dublin
Patricia originally started out as a lawyer, but came back to UCD to study classics and ended up on the Irish Folklore course. When she first started teaching, much of what she taught were legends that she had heard at home when she was growing up in Co. Clare. Irish culture is very rich in folklore. As a child the return of the dead, the existence of fairies and the closeness of the other world formed part of an alternate reality that was accepted by everyone around her.
Patricia is also editor of Folklore, the magazine of the .
Sean Ryan, musicianand current owner of Leap Castle
Sean is a Tipperary man now living in Co.Offaly. He has a unique and beautiful whistle style, and is one of the few masters of the instrument. Sean has two solo albums to his credit and has toured the world both playing and teaching his craft. Sean wanted to live in a castle and when, in 1991, he saw that Leap Castle was up for sale he bought it. He didn鈥檛 buy it because it was haunted, but when he found out about its history it didn鈥檛 bother him. At that stage it was just a shell, having been gutted during the civil war. He and his family moved into the gate lodge in 1992 and have lived in the castle itself for four years. Sean is still renovating it.
Simon Marsden, photographer and author
Simon is a well respected photographer who devotes his life to photographing ancient ruins and landscapes. He attempts to capture in his images the atmosphere of their mysterious past and the eerie presence of the spirits that are still believed to haunt them. He has visited over 5000 reputedly haunted sites.
His photographs can be seen in many prestigious collections, including the Getty Museum in California, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. He has exhibited his work in New York, Brussels, Milan and Tokyo.
His latest book, the one featuring Leap Castle is called The Twilight Hour: Celtic Visions from the Past published by Little Brown ISBN 0-316-64537-0
Simon's photographs can be seen online at .
The 大象传媒 cannot be held responsible for
the content of external sites | | | | | | PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES | | | | |  Sandi Toksvig:
The daughter of a foreign correspondent, Sandi has been travelling all her life more info | | |
John McCarthy is a widely travelled journalist and presenter with a particular interest in the Middle East.
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