The 7 posts of Christmas

As a special treat to our thousands of ... er, hundreds of ... er, couple of followers, we will be posting something each day for the next seven days, leading up to a specially designed Christmas card, appropriately enough on Christmas Day itself!

Call it our own special Two Men and a Ghost Advent calendar, but without the tiny chocolates and the snakes and ladders game on the back.

Today's tasty treat is our appearance this morning on Rony's Panel on BBC Radio Sheffield (listen at this link while you can - the file will be out of date by Boxing Day). Hear what the men behind Two Men and a Ghost think about faith schools, the nativity story and what our favourite Christmas songs are.

We are joined by the legend that is Van Morrison, Ulster musician who has entranced millions throughout the decades with his soulful voice and catchy compositions.

(What was that? Sorry. Got it wrong. It was Val Morrison, moderator of the general assembly of the United Reformed Church. But we're sure she's just as soulful and catchy.)

2MG on the radio with top comedian!

This morning, our very own Mike Kazybrid - first man of Two Men and a Ghost - was interviewed on BBC Radio Sheffield by none other than Phoenix Nights star, Toby Foster.

The subject was the unexplained, which is appropriate because one of life's great unexplained mysteries is how the two of us manage to keep this ghost hunting blog going when we still haven't found any ghosts!

Mike reveals all - about the origins of 2MG and more - and his words of wisdom can be found here, starting at 2.47.10. But listen quick - it's only online for another seven days.

And don't forget to tune in to The Toby Foster Bigger at Breakfast Show on BBC Radio Sheffield, every weekday from 7am to 10am, with a topical phone-in every final hour.

Competition extended!

From Mike Kazybrid’s recent interview with Rony Robinson on BBC Radio Sheffield:

Rony: Have you seen any good ghosts lately?

Mike: No.

Rony: Have you ever seen a ghost?

Mike: Erm … no.

Rony: Isn’t it a bit odd to be a hunter of ghosts if you’ve never seen one?

Mike: (mumbles a half-hearted embarrassed defence)

As you can see, Rony rumbled us immediately, live on air, and Mike’s insightful, eloquent and well-thought-out responses did little to convince him. So, if we haven’t found any ghosts yet, we need you to tell us about your ghost encounters. Doesn’t have to be long – just a sentence or two. Either comment at the bottom of this blog, or bung us an email at twomenandaghost@hotmail.com.

Out of all the stories received, we’ll turn our favourite into a comic strip, like the one above which relates to our adventure in Bunting Nook (you can read about it here and here). For more examples of Mike’s excellent artwork, see his latest graphic novel about the legendary Humph the Cat, completely free to download here.

Just imagine, your story can be illustrated by a top UK artist (Mike is currently drawing the Wallace & Gromit strip for The Sun), and you will also receive his original artwork through the post, signed personally to you.

Our original deadline for this competition was the end of June, but we so love reading your stories (they turn us green with envy) that we’ve extended the deadline to the end of the summer hols (last day of August). Many thanks for Martin Dawes of The Star for promoting our competition here.

Please get scribbling and scare us with your true-life tales!

Great Halloween competition - one week left!

That's right - only one week left to enter our great Halloween competition. Here's your chance to win a collectible, original piece of artwork from a top UK comics artist.

In fact, there's the prize in front of you now. Imagine holding in your sweaty hands the original, intricate A3 drawing of the above illustration, signed personally to you by the two men themselves (but not a ghost).

All you have to do is answer one simple question. More details here.

And while you're thinking of the answer, have a listen to Mike Kazybrid's lengthy interview this week with Rony Robinson on Radio Sheffield. Mike can be heard here, about 2 hours, 20 minutes in, and the file is available to listen again till 28th October.

(This competition is not open to friends, employees or relatives of the ghost.)

'I've seen a ghost!' (by Julie Blount)

Last month, during one of our appearances on Radio Sheffield, we bumped into Julie Blount. (Sorry, Julie! Hope the coffee stain has washed out by now.) Julie is a stand-up comedienne at night - watch out for her on the Sheffield circuit - but by the day she runs an excellent marketing company which can be found here. Julie has very kindly agreed to share a personal ghost story with us:

I thought I would tell you about a ghostly tale from my younger years ... it is true ... I used to be young.

Well, I was married at the time (yes, it's true, I used to be married) to an annoying chap, but we won't go there. Well, it was early in the morning and I was alone in the house. I was finishing off my last few scraps of breakfast (yes, it's true, I used to eat scraps for breakfast) and it was during the final slurp of tea that I turned around to look in the living room.

As I turned, I saw a figure pass from one side of the room to the other. This figure wore a blue uniform and hat ... don't know what the uniform was, but the hat was a box type without a peak. The colour was more of an electric blue and the outline extremely realistic ... it could have been someone actually walking in my house. I don't know where the figure started walking from, but it finished going through the wall which would lead to the outside of the house.

Strange thing was that as I looked at it I didn't think anything of it. I fully realised it was inside the house, but after it disappeared I simply went to work. Then, at about ten o' clock as I drank yet another cup of tea in my unauthorised break at work, I started to shake a bit, declaring: 'I've seen a ghost!'

My colleagues were intrigued and looked around the office to see where it was.

'NO!' I said creepily. 'It was this morning before I set out to work!'

'Right!" came their cynical response as they sniffed suspectingly at said tea. No matter how I tried to convince them, my colleagues were loathe to believe.

I have no idea why it took me a few hours to actually realise what was going on. Needless to say, I moved very shortly afterwards and never felt relaxed in that house again.

Now, some 20 odd years on, I just wish I could've offered him a cup of tea ... thirsty work I reckon this wall walking.

Two Men and the Radio

2MG's marketing efforts continue apace. One-third of 2MG (Andrew Wooding) was interviewed by Rony Robinson yesterday on BBC Radio Sheffield. To hear the mammoth, in-depth interview - covering the origins of this very blog, tips on ghost hunting, as well as exclusive revelations about Larry Grayson and Cliff Richard's underpants - click here. Andrew's interview starts about 40 minutes from the end. Be warned: this file is only available to listen again till midday Friday, 2nd October.

The second third of 2MG (Mike Kazybrid) will be receiving similar treatment from Rony Robinson next month. Listen out for him from 2.20pm onwards on BBC Radio Sheffield, Friday, 23rd October. And don't forget to watch him live on the Radio Sheffield webcam here.

Negotiations are ongoing for Rony to complete the 2MG hat trick. The final third of 2MG ('a ghost') is currently checking his diary for dates, and as soon as we know when he's available we'll pass on the news of his historic appearance. (The webcam pictures should be interesting.)

In the meantime, our good friend Spike Nesmith - top radio presenter, based in the States, and co-host of The Paul and Spike Show - has given us a plug in their latest podcast. The podcast's page is here (we're mentioned about halfway down), and you can download the mp3 right here.

Good, eh? Rumours that next week we're sitting in for Steve Wright in the Afternoon are unfortunately unfounded.

Blanket media coverage for Two Men and a Ghost! (by Andrew Wooding)

What a phenomenal week it’s been! With our Sheffield ghost-hunting blog barely two weeks old, we have been the proud recipients of what can only be described as blanket media coverage … a veritable whirlwind of publicity in a frenzied Sheffield media storm.

In short, we had blanket media coverage at the bottom of page 10 of The Star on Thursday … and on Saturday morning, on BBC Radio Sheffield, we had blanket media coverage for 9½ minutes at 7.45 in the morning, between traffic reports and an interview with a vicar about trespassing sheep.

The Star article, expertly scribed by columnist Martin Dawes, can be eyeballed here:

http://www.thestar.co.uk/diary/Comic-writers-get-in-spirit.5353540.jp

As for our radio appearance – on the Saturday Breakfast show, hosted by the effervescent Gareth Evans – I was hoping to provide a ‘listen again’ link, but there isn’t one. Too bad, as there seems to be a ‘listen again’ option for just about every other Radio Sheffield programme, including Sunday Breakfast, and Gareth Evans’ weekday shows.

Was it ghostly intervention that prevented our interview from being archived? Even though we’ve just started, are we getting so dangerously close to the truth that spooks are scared of us and need to intervene with BBC mixing desks and digital recorders? Naah … I didn’t think so either.

I’d like to report on one spook, though … the subject of our first investigation, the mad monk of Stocksbridge, a ghost that purportedly interferes with the inner workings of cars because he isn’t happy about his eternal rest being disturbed by the sudden new influx of noisy traffic thundering along the Stocksbridge bypass.

You may recall that our first outing to Stocksbridge was in Mike’s car, the mileometer of which inexplicably packed in for the entirety of our exploration and only started working again when we headed away from the so-called haunted area.

Trying to be scientific – we decided to pay a visit to Stocksbridge again – but this time in my car. Cynics could say that maybe Mike’s mileometer was faulty and it was all just coincidence. But if the mileometer stopped in two separate cars on two different journeys, then we would really have something worth writing about.

Our experiment paid off. Sure enough, as Mike hopped into my passenger seat and we set off from Meadowhall car park to the busy Stocksbridge bypass, my mileometer…

…worked perfectly, and it did so for the remainder of the evening. Ah well. At least it was nice getting out for a drive, as well as pigging out on a family pack of Gold Bars, kindly supplied by Mike.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe, just maybe, the mad monk is pleased with us for spreading the word about his frustrations. He only does his stuff with people he’s narked with, but by sticking up for him we’re now in his good books and he’ll leave our cars alone. So the fact that our mileometer worked perfectly might still be definite proof that the mad monk exists. Not convinced? Don’t blame you, but I’ll leave you with this final true fact.

After dropping Mike back to his parked car at Meadowhall, then heading for home in my own car (in Waterthorpe near Crystal Peaks shopping centre), I put my iPod on ‘shuffle’ mode. There are hundreds of possible songs on there, but just minutes from reaching Waterthorpe, shuffle threw up Rasputin by Boney M again, that celebrated hit single about the most famous mad monk in history. What are the chances of that, eh? Was it a sign from the mad monk himself? It makes you think, doesn’t it?

The mad monk of Stocksbridge might be pleased with us, but he has a terrible taste in music.