I’ve been catching up on my podcasts and just listened to one from the Radio 4 Today Programme. This was originally broadcast last Friday. The story was about a hospital in Derbyshire where staff claimed to have seen a ghost and the hospital management have arranged for an exorcist to come in and sort out the problem. The daft story was picked up elsewhere on the BBC and in some newspapers, but Radio 4 outdid them. They interviewed a former Benedictine monk, now a parish priest, who explained the details of exorcism. He explained that ghosts just inhabit places, but the real difficulties are with demons who are evil spirits that can possess an unfortunate person. Apprently, ghosts are easy to get rid of with a few simple prayers, but demons are more tricky and require the special skills of a trained exorcist.

He was interviewed by Ed Stourton. Now I know Mr Stourton is a well-known catholic, but surely that’s not a good enough reason to give the ex-monk such airtime. He was treated as if he was giving his opinion on the best way to stop slugs eating your lettuces, but he was talking about ghosts and demons. DEMONS!! Is this 2009 or 1609?? Either he was being treated seriously by a presenter who who actually believed in demons or Radio 4 were poking fun at a deluded old man. I don’t think either reflects well on the BBC.