Vampires, Demons, Werewolves, Witches,
Zombies, supernatural creatures which have criss-crossed our nightmares for centuries. But
are they just figments of our imagination? Is there some basis in truth that might explain
why these stories are so wide-spread, so familiar, and for many, still so frightening?
Anthony, who for years played the character
Giles alongside the fictional Buffy The Vampire Slayer, embarks on a series of
extraordinary journeys around the world to investigate. Vampires in the Carpathian
mountains of Transylvania, Demons in the Syrian desert, Werewolves in the forests of
France, Witchcraft in Zululand and Zombies in Haiti - across the globe Anthony uncovers
the facts behind these legends. What he discovers is that, beyond the Hollywood
images, lie some very dark, very disturbing tales; stories that go to the very heart of
our beliefs, our humanity and our perception of life and death. True stories, True Horror.
Anthony has interviewed the head of the
Vatican exorcism division, chief druids, theologians and archaeologists. The series has
seen him travel the globe from the Syrian desert to Rome and Romania to South Africa and
the Caribbean. Anthony explains, "I interviewed a criminal pathologist in a morgue in
Romania about what happens to the body after death and how symptoms can be mistaken for
vampirism. Its not often you get to examine a dead body. That was fairly...sobering."
Anthony says he was spooked only once while
making the series. "We did a seance," he recalls, "and the director kept
saying, 'Don't come upstairs, we're just setting everything up.' I thought he was rigging
it. I had reservations all the way through. At the end of the seance the table twisted
nearly 360 degrees and then tipped on end, and I'm going 'yeah, yeah'! Afterwards the guy
who was running it said to me, 'The reason I didn't go too far was that I didn't want it
to get too personal because there were people in the circle that had stories to come out
and I didn't want that to come out on camera.' I said, 'So what we've just been through
was real then,' and he said 'yeah.' I said, 'Well I've got to address the camera and say
that, cause I thought it was all rigged and it wasn't."
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