Behind the Ring O'Bells

Giles Booth 21 Apr 2026

Third post in my behind-the-episodes series, this time a look at the inspirations and Easter eggs in series 3 of Listen with Other, 'The Ring O'Bells.'

First up, yes my mother really did buy the entire contents of a corner shop that was closing down, and nobody really knew why. And of course, yes we really did have family Ouija board nights back in the 1970s, and we did get 'messages' from someone connected with a pub called 'The Ring O'Bells'. The 'spirit' said he worked for British Cellophane.

Last year British Cellophane, ahem, rang a bell. I'd already read a story by Ray Newman set in a similar factory, but then I discovered his Fortean Times article that made the link more real. This was the spark for my story...

The Haunted FactoryI'm writing with a postscript to 'The Haunted Factory[FT369:55, Aug 2018] in whichRay Newman describes tales of deaths and hauntings at the old British Cellophane factory in Bridgwater in Somerset. By chance I recently saw a post by Ray on social media in which he mentioned his dad having worked for British Cellophane.This jogged a memory: in the late 1970s there was a bit of fad for Ouija boards. Indeed I think a mainstream boardgame company like Parker Bros may even have produced a version.It seems odd now, but 10-year-old me took part in Ouija board sessions with my adult siblings and parents. The only thing I recall is that we were 'contacted' by someone who said he worked for British Cellophane and mentioned a pub called the Ring O'Bells. I mentioned this

to Ray who put me on to his 2018 article, and the coincidence is indeed striking. Were we contacted by one of the workers killed in the factory? Ray even confirmed there is indeed a pub called the Ring O'Bells in Ashcott, a village about 10 miles (16km) from the factory.My brother, the only other living (!) member of the 1970s family Ouija board party, confirms the detail about British Cellophane.He said we were also given a name (we can't remember it). He called the company at the time and they said they'd never heard of him.Had a family member heard the same stories Ray heard as a child and was pushing the glass?We lived in North Somerset, which seems close enough, but we had no links with Bridgwater, which in those days seemed a world away.The family Ouija board sessions stopped abruptly. I don't know whether my parents and siblings got too spooked, or if it was the influence of our village vicar who, my mother told me, spoke out against dabbling with the dead in such ways.Giles BoothLondon

The *entirely fictional* terrible paranormal podcast our narrator appeared on, The Unexplained Universe of Roger Unthank, will occur again in the next series of Listen with Other. It's entirely fictional, ok?

The A303 appears because, according to Mr Fatboy Slim, everyone needs A303...

In episode 2 we learn that the narrator's father worked for the MOD and was a radio ham, all true of course. You can probably guess what the Morse code and RTTY (radio teletype) sounds in this episode are spelling out... .-. .. -. --. --- -... . .-.. .-.. ...

f that's piqued your interest, look for series 3 of Listen with Other on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other podcast providers and here.

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