Joining me for this episode is author and historian Dr Richard Sugg. Richard has written both fiction and non-fiction on a wide range of unusual subjects - from John Donne in 2007, through to Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires in 2011, Fairies: A Dangerous History in 2018, and more recently: A History of Disgust from Jesus Christ to Boris Johnson in 2023.

His research has featured in popular magazines and press, and Richard has appeared on international television and radio, in addition to guesting on various podcasts. He has been published with institutions such as BBC History, The Guardian, The Lancet, Der Spiegel, and the New Yorker.

He has also published three edited collections of historic stories with a Fortean twist: A Century of Supernatural Stories, A Century of Ghost Stories and A Singing Mouse at Buckingham Palace.

These books come together in recent research Richard has done on animal homing instincts, perhaps most famously exemplified by Bobbie the Wonder Dog, who returned to his family home in Oregon after a six month, three thousand mile journey in February 1924.

In the first half of the interview I talk with Richard about some of the subjects he has written on and how his interest in weirder topics progressed during that time, which has seen his attitude to the paranormal change accordingly.  We talk about some of the ghostly encounters that have been reported to him and the validity of anecdotal evidence, which for many paranormal phenomena is extensive.

After that we focus on Richard’s current research into the remarkable homing abilities of animals such as Bobbie the Wonder Dog, along with other examples such as Railway Jack, Lampo, and an Irish Terrier called Prince.

You can find out more about Richard and his writing at https://doctorrichardsugg.com/ and his recent article for The Guardian is available here.

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