BBC sent a crew to our investigation and completely stitched us up - how do we handle media next time?

Right, so some of you might have seen the piece that aired on BBC Three last Tuesday, the one titled "Britain's Ghost Botherers" or whatever they called it. That was us. That was the Pennine Paranormal Society doing an overnight at Bolling Hall in Bradford, and I want to set the record straight because the edit was an absolute hatchet job from start to finish.

We gave them full access on the understanding it would be a fair documentary. Instead they cut out the four hours of serious equipment work, the two genuine EVP captures we got in the east wing, and the very clear temperature drop of 11 degrees that our laser thermometer logged at 2:47am. What did they keep? Darren walking into a doorframe in the dark and swearing. Six minutes of that. Six. Minutes. They also used a sort of comedy trombone sound effect over the bit where Sandra had her genuine distress response near the old servants' quarters, which I thought was frankly disrespectful.

My question to the forum is: has anyone else dealt with media crews on an investigation, and what protocols do you put in place beforehand? Do we need to be getting signed agreements about editorial control? Because I feel like we handed them a loaded weapon and then acted surprised when they shot us with it.

For what it's worth, the location itself was brilliant. Bolling Hall is genuinely one of the most active spots in West Yorkshire and it deserved better than to be turned into a laugh track. We'll be going back in November, media-free this time.

Oh mate, I saw that programme. Honestly thought it might be a different group but then they showed the banner on your equipment case. For what it's worth, I thought Sandra came across as completely genuine and even the sceptical presenter looked a bit rattled when the door moved. The trombone thing was horrible though, that was clearly a production decision by someone who'd never spent a night in a genuinely active building.

Standard BBC behaviour tbh. They did almost exactly the same thing to a group down in Somerset a few years back, filmed them for two days at a supposedly haunted farmhouse and turned the whole thing into a mockumentary without telling anyone that was the format. The lesson everyone keeps learning the hard way is: never agree to anything without a contract specifying the tone and format of the final piece. Get a media lawyer if you can, or at minimum get the series producer to put in writing that it isn't a comedy. They won't always agree, but at least then you know where you stand before you waste a weekend being filmed.

I'd push back slightly here and say... is any publicity bad publicity? People in this community knew the footage was being manipulated. And now your group name has been on national telly. I've seen groups get hundreds of new members after dodgy TV appearances because people search them out wanting the "real" version of events. Might be worth doing a YouTube video walking through what actually happened that night, with your actual data. Turn the narrative around yourself.

The EVP point is interesting though. Have you uploaded those captures anywhere? Because if the BBC ignored solid audio evidence that's genuinely newsworthy in itself, at least within this community. Forget the BBC, put them on here and let people analyse them properly. We've got a few people on this forum who are very good with audio and they'll give you a straight assessment rather than a comedy tuba sting.

Bolling Hall is massively underrated as a location, you're absolutely right about that. We did a session there in March 2022 and the room they call the ghost room - obvious name, I know - had this persistent cold spot that moved. Not drifted, moved, like it was tracking along the wall. Our thermal camera footage was inconclusive because of the stone construction messing with readings, but four of us independently followed the same path with our hands before we compared notes. Anyway. Sorry the TV people were awful. They usually are.

My protocol now after a similar experience with a local ITV regional thing is: phone stays recording in my pocket for the entire time the crew is present, I keep my own written log timestamped, and I send the producer a summary email after each session noting what was captured. That way there's a paper trail if they try and claim nothing significant happened. It's extra work but it means you've got receipts. Also means if they DO use your footage fairly, you've got corroboration for everything which actually strengthens the material.