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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

BBC Radio Ulster

The teams assume nothing as they examine events through fresh eyes.

Assume Nothing

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 
Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 8 – A Final Question

Hidden deep among letters and photographs in the archives of the Society for Psychical Research – Reggie uncovers a note marked ‘confidential’ – could it shed new light on Crawford’s state of mind and his relationship with the Goligher family?
Meanwhile, intrigued by the process of a séance and the beliefs of Belfast’s Spiritualist community – Reggie arranges to meet a medium and undergo a reading.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 
Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay

Editor Andy Martin 

A BBC Northern Ireland production

8. A Final Question

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 
Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 7 – Beyond the Veil

Professor Fournier D’Albe concludes the strange occurrences in the séance room were not caused by psychic forces. Another investigator claims Crawford confessed everything was faked – but his widow and friends still believe it was all true.
Gathering in Crewe, England – they apparently begin to receive strange messages upon a photographic plate.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 
Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs
Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 

A BBC Northern Ireland production

7. Beyond the Veil

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 6 – The Investigator

Following Dr Crawford’s death, a highly respected scientist – and psychical investigator – is dispatched to Belfast to carry out a series of experiments with the Goligher Circle. However, Professor Edmund Edward Fournier D’Albe soon runs into problems during a séance 

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 
Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland production

6. The Investigator

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 
Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 5 – The Descendants

Reggie is back on the road to Bangor to meet Kathleen Goligher’s grand daughter. What more can she tell him about her Grandmother’s life as a spiritualist and medium, and how does she feel about Dr Crawford’s unusual experiments?

Meanwhile – Dr Crawford’s great granddaughter Clare reveals the engineer did not have a good reputation in their family history.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 

Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland production

5. The Descendants

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 4 – A Question of Propriety

Dr Crawford records his experiments with Kathleen and her family in painstaking detail – but some feel his methods, which frequently involve underwear, are not appropriate. 
Reggie visits the archives of the Society for Psychical Research in Cambridge to see photographs taken by Crawford during his experiments, along with dozens of handwritten letters and notes. Reggie also gets a chance to see and hold a sample of historical ectoplasm, though it isn’t quite what he is expecting.
Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King
Readings by 
Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay 
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland Production

4. A Question of Propriety

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 
Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 3 – Mr Splitfoot

1848, Wayne County in rural New York. Two young sisters claim they can communicate with a strange presence in their home – the ghost of a murdered pedlar who uses raps, knocks and bangs to answer their questions.

The Fox sisters become key in the creation of a new religious movement known as Spiritualism – the belief that the dead may be contacted by the living. Word spreads fast and it soon takes root in Ireland, where Spiritualism finds its way to Belfast – and the Goligher family.

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 

Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland Production

3. Mr Splitfoot

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 2 – The Unseen Operators

Dr Crawford invites a visitor to attend a séance with Kathleen and her family, known as the Goligher Circle. Sir William Barrett, a highly respected physicist and parapsychologist, is astonished when a wooden table appears to float into the air.

Meanwhile, nearly one hundred years later – Reggie Chamberlain King’s plans to give a lecture about Dr Crawford and Kathleen Goligher are disrupted when a protest is announced.

Readings by 

Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland production

2. The Unseen Operators

The story of Dr William Jackson Crawford, an engineer and teacher, who carried out a series of strange experiments with a teenage medium and her family before his untimely death on the shores of Belfast lough in 1920. 

Dr Crawford’s findings were extraordinary and widely published – but was it all a hoax?

Episode 1 – A Man in His Usual Health.

The body of a man is found on a rocky shore near Bangor, Northern Ireland. In his pockets are a sealed letter to his wife, a silver watch stopped at 7.50 and a small bottle of whiskey.

Dr Crawford was a respected engineer, but in the years before his death he carried out a series of elaborate and increasingly unusual experiments – to prove that Belfast teenager Kathleen Goligher could communicate with the dead. 

Written and presented by Reggie Chamberlain King

Readings by 

Dave Fleming
Lucy McConnell
Mark Claney
Stephen Beggs

Produced by Conor McKay
Editor Andy Martin 
A BBC Northern Ireland production

1. A Man in His Usual Health

The story of a 35 year old nursing assistant who collapsed and died following an altercation with a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Northern Ireland.

35 years later, her family is still searching for answers.

Episode 6: Duty of Care

Nathan brings his findings to Mary’s family – the possible implications are far from straightforward.

Questions remain for Mary’s former employer. Will the family receive any answers?

Series produced by Nathan Edgar
Executive editor Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production

6. Duty of Care

The story of a 35 year old nursing assistant who collapsed and died following an altercation with a patient at a psychiatric hospital in Northern Ireland.

35 years later, her family is still searching for answers.

Episode 5: The Rhythm

As Norman’s legal battle comes to an end, could something the family was unaware of provide new answers?

With the benefit of modern knowledge, a group of leading experts re-examine the case.

Series produced by Nathan Edgar
Executive editor Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland Production

5. The Rhythm

Twenty years on, nobody has been convicted of the murder of Denis Donaldson. One potentially key piece of evidence, a journal he was supposedly writing around the time of his death, is being held by Irish police. His family wants it returned, but their efforts are unsuccessful. 

Please note this programme was updated on 02/07/2026.

Following correspondence from Denis Donaldson’s family, and a further submission of details, this programme was amended on 2nd July 2026 to reflect the fact that a newspaper report by Hugh Jordan was published in a Belfast edition of the Sunday World prior to Mr Donaldson’s murder. This article did contain further detail about where Denis Donaldson was living in County Donegal. This programme has been edited to include pertinent information about that article.

8. The Journal

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