Blumhouse Secures Rights to Longest Documented Poltergeist Haunting in History

In an ultra competitive bidding situation, Blumhouse Television and Michael Seitzman’s Maniac Productions have secured the rights to BBC Radio 4’s “The Battersea Poltergeist” podcast, presented by Danny Robins, which the company is developing as the first season of a scripted ongoing series and a companion unscripted series, titled Blumhouse’s Ghost Story. Additionally, the companies have also secured Hitchings’ life rights, as well as the rights to her and James Clark’s book, The Poltergeist Prince of London: The Remarkable True Story of the Battersea Poltergeist.

The wildly popular docu-drama podcast, written and presented by Danny Robins, was the #1 drama podcast worldwide on Apple Podcasts and features the voices of Dafne Keen (Logan) and Toby Jones (The Dark Crystal). The podcast documents the strange events focused around Shirley Hitchings in 1956 that were investigated over a 12-year period, the longest documented poltergeist haunting in history. The podcast boasts nearly 3 million streams and downloads since its launch, and has been at the forefront of the boom in audio storytelling in the UK. It was co-produced by Robins with Simon Barnard for Bafflegab Productions and commissioned by Rhian Roberts for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

“From our first listen to Danny’s captivating podcast, we were hooked and could easily envision how to bring the story to life - in both scripted and unscripted formats - for television viewers,” said Chris McCumber, Blumhouse Television president. “We’re grateful to Michael Seitzman for identifying the project early on, and championing it so aggressively.”

“It's been an amazing journey making the podcast for the BBC and now I couldn’t have hoped for a better partner than Blumhouse, a leader in the genre, when looking to further develop it,” said executive producer and series creator Danny Robins. “I’m thrilled to work with them and Michael to bring the series to life visually. Ghost stories don't get stranger or scarier than this.”

“Once you listen to the gripping and terrifying true story of Shirley Hitchings, it’s easy to understand why Danny’s podcast inspired two-page spreads in every newspaper in the UK,” said executive producer Michael Seitzman. “It was exactly what we’d been looking for to launch our new ongoing series based on true hauntings. As he did with his podcast, Danny Robins will have viewers sleeping with the lights on after they watch his show!”

Danny Robins, Michael Seitzman, Jason Blum, and Chris McCumber will executive produce both the scripted and unscripted series, and Emma Cooper (The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Bikram) is attached to produce, via her company Empress Films, on the unscripted series with the aforementioned team.

Robins co-created the BAFTA-nominated BBC series Young Dracula, which won a Royal Television Society Award. His credits also include Rudy’s Rare Records, The Cold SwedishWinter, Trollied and the critically-acclaimed podcast Haunted.

About Blumhouse:

Blumhouse is known for pioneering a new model of studio filmmaking: producing high-quality micro-budget films and provocative television series. Regarded as the driving force in the horror renaissance, Blumhouse has produced over 150 movies and television series with theatrical grosses amounting to over $4.8 billion. The company has produced iconic, genre, film franchises like Halloween, Paranormal Activity, The Purge, and prolific films like Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man; Glass, The Visit and Split from M. Night Shyamalan; Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman; Get Out from Jordan Peele; among several others. Blum’s television company operates in horror programming - with streaming anthology series like Welcome to the Blumhouse for Amazon and a slate of horror/thriller films for Epix - and has also expanded beyond genre with provocative and acclaimed scripted and unscripted series and documentaries, such as The Good Lord Bird, starring Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke, for Showtime; The Loudest Voice, starring Golden Globe winner Russell Crowe for Showtime; A Wilderness of Error (FX); The Jinx for HBO; A Secret Love, from executive producer Ryan Murphy, for Netflix; and lauded HBO series Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams and Patricia Clarkson, among others.