10 TV Hoaxes That Fooled Everyone
5. That Totally Convincing BBC Ghost "Documentary" - Ghostwatch
If you're looking for a scary movie to watch this Halloween or any other, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Ghostwatch.
Aired on the BBC on Halloween night 1992, Ghostwatch was presented as a supposedly real live TV special in which BBC reporters investigated a house in London allegedly haunted by paranormal entities.
The genius of Ghostwatch is its absolutely convincing style, adopting all the presentational techniques you'd expect from a real BBC documentary, and even roping in real TV presenters including Craig Charles and the inimitable Michael Parkinson.
With its subtle, ambiguous approach to the supernatural shenanigans taking place within the house, and airing back in 1992 as it did, Ghostwatch held a fearful British nation firmly in its grip, enough that the BBC received 30,000 complaint calls.
In the weeks that followed, Ghostwatch's disturbing nature was the source of controversy in the media, and the BBC even faced lawsuits from those who claimed to be adversely affected by its persuasive pseudo-authenticity.
But of course Ghostwatch was pure fiction, albeit so thoroughly ahead of its time in exploiting the audience's belief that anything presented as "news" would be effortlessly accepted as such.