Steph Lay

🎃 October’s off to a spooky start on the podcast and two episodes are already out!

👻 @stephlay.bsky.social joins me to explore haunted Milton Keynes

🦕 Ep 117: Monster Month begins with "what is a cryptid?"

And another episode drops tomorrow when @icysedgwick.bsky.social and I discuss Ghostlore

We Called Her Annie, Wolverton Some stories arrive as fragments – fleeting memories, half-remembered encounters that still manage to unsettle. Others arrive whole, rich with detail, stretching across years and leaving no d…

New Milton Keynes case! A family haunted across years and houses… footsteps in the night, ghostly apparitions, voices whispering in the dark, scratches on a child’s face. And the name they gave their ghost? It was real. #UncannyCommunity cityofsecrets.blog/2025/10/02/w...

It's here! Listen to me and Rob talking about the dark side of Milton Keynes and the ghost stories I'm finding here. I also read a very creepy story about a mysterious encounter at a local pub: was it a warning, a curse or something even darker? I'd love to know what you think! #UncannyCommunity

Happy Halloween-on-the-horizon! What a massive privilege and delight to be kicking off spooky season with Rob tomorrow - I might stay up till midnight just to see it drop ;) #UncannyCommunity

Nothing at all to do with the fact she’s got a book out for sale - nooo, not at all :)

So exciting!! My chat with Rob will be coming out very soon - and just look at everything else he’s got planned for October! #UncannyCommunity

Ghosts In Milton Keynes: Paranormal Tales From The City Of Roundabouts | Spooky Isles Even the most unremarkable places can harbour the uncanny, as ghost stories from Milton Keynes begin to emerge from the shadows, writes guest writer DR STEPH LAY

:D Very exciting to see this go live - thank you to David for featuring my project @spookyisles.bsky.social !

The stories are certainly coming in now - ghost by ghost, the grid is filling up... www.spookyisles.com/ghosts-in-mi... #UncannyCommunity

City of Secrets featured in Haunted Magazine! Around this time last year, long before this project even existed, I decided I wanted to start writing more non-fiction pieces as well as stories. I sat down and made a list of topics I could cover…

White rabbits, white rabbits - the first of the month, and that's particularly exciting because it means my article in @hauntedmagazine.bsky.social is going out to the world! It was such an honour to write this, can't wait for people to read it. #UncannyCommunity
cityofsecrets.blog/2025/09/01/c...

A Presence in the Pictures, Bolbeck Park It sometimes seems amazing to me that I only started this project in April – it’s hard to believe that it’s only been five months, so much has happened in that short time. I&#8217…

New blog post from the City of Secrets! My witness Karen finds comfort in messages from beyond - and I wonder why I never had any of my own. cityofsecrets.blog/2025/08/23/a... #UncannyCommunity

A screenshot of an article in Haunted Magazine all about Milton Keynes. The link to order is hauntedmag.com

The cover of the 47th issue of Haunted magazine. The link to order is hauntedmag.com

A stack of copies of Haunted magazine. The link to order is hauntedmag.com

Here’s a sneak preview of my article about this surprisingly haunted city! Haunted is out on the 1st of September, in the UK shops a day later and should be with our US and Australian distributors by the end of that week. Order now at hauntedmag.com wherever you are. #UncannyCommunity

Going Back To The Ghosts, Milton Keynes One of the things I love most about this project has been how it’s led to me meeting so many fascinating, generous and generally awesome people! Honestly, I’ve crossed paths with some a…

I'm sharing a different kind of story tonight - my first interview for the project! It was a pleasure to talk to renowned poet and filmmaker Wade Radford about his teenage ghost hunting days, what MK means to him, and why EVPs are so very scary... cityofsecrets.blog/2025/08/10/g... #UncannyCommunity

A cover image for a story called "Bless The Light" by Steph Lay. The picture shows a snowy village in a valley, all the houses blazing with candlelight, except for a dark cottage in the foreground, only one window lit.

New story time! 'Bless The Light' is included in this new anthology from @commapress.bsky.social and is all about rituals, protection and pride - and the things that wait for the darkness to fold in. Thanks again to @mattjwesolowski.bsky.social for a fab course! www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...

That was a great talk, thank you! Sorry my question on EVPs popped up *just* after you'd answered a similar one ;) I've pre-ordered!

A dramatic nighttime photograph of The Rose memorial in Milton Keynes, with the city skyline in the background. Four lines of text read: Milton Keynes City of Secrets I've found dark stories for a quarter of the grid Help me find the rest!

Milton Keynes people! I've collected true spooky stories from across 25% of the city - but there's still a lot more to find! If you've got a story to share, I want to hear it... cityofsecrets.blog/tell-your-st...

Everyone else - v grateful for shares to get the word out! #UncannyCommunity

:D

Very exciting news: I'm going to be one of the 'experts' at this excellent @ifmkfest.bsky.social event! So, if you'd like a slightly more than one-in-four chance of chatting to me about MK's poltergeists, spooks and haunted shops, come along! ifmiltonkeynes.org/event/cabare... #UncannyCommunity

View of The Point in Milton Keynes as seen from the shopping centre car park. It's abandoned, derelict and sprayed with graffiti.

View of The Point in Milton Keynes as seen from the shopping centre car park against the city skyline - Hotel la Tour and the XScape visible in the distance. It's abandoned, derelict and sprayed with graffiti.

View of The Point in Milton Keynes as seen from the empty shopping centre car park opposite.

I didn't realise these photos I took the other week would become historic artefacts quite so soon... I'm glad that the site will be used for something now, but it is always sad to see an old landmark vanish. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I'm delighted to be reviewing these tiny slices of life - it's such an excellent format for capturing the most intense sort of flash story, and it's always a pleasure working with the @fiveminutelit.bsky.social team - if you've got a moment you'd like to share, get your submission in now :)

When You’re Not There, Pennyland Tonight’s story takes us across the city to the charmingly named Pennyland estate. There’s a lovely tradition in MK where the street names on each estate are themed, and my witness told me al…

Ever wonder what's going on in your house when you're not there? My latest haunted Milton Keynes story might have you thinking about that more than usual - read Fiona's story here: cityofsecrets.blog/2025/07/05/w... #UncannyCommunity

That was excellent! "It's the quest for magic, the search for something more out there" - yeah, that! The ghost in the shower - that eerie gentleness - reminded me a lot this story I was told... cityofsecrets.blog/2025/06/07/a...

#UncannyCommunity #UncannyListenAlong

Well, I don't care if I'm the only one doing it, I'm going to have my own little #UncannyListenalong at 9pm :P (The fact I've just got in from the pub has nothing at all to do with it!) (I probably won't live post it all though!) #UncannyCommunity @dannyrobins.bsky.social

Into The Fog with Peter Laws Scary true storytelling told with immersive audio. Catch the Video Version on YouTube (links in show notes for each episode) or listen on the go with this audio edition. Note: Peter Laws was the ...

:D I've just voted for Into The Fog with Peter Laws - podfollow.com/1758531943 in the British Podcast Awards Listeners' Choice Award. I'd love it if you did too: www.britishpodcastawards.com/voting. #UncannyCommunity #BritishPodcastAwards

After the Light, the Darkness, West Bletchley Tonight’s story takes us to the quiet, tree-lined streets of West Bletchley — more specifically, to Angus Drive, where a seemingly ordinary household lightbulb became the source of something altoge…

Did my latest witness see the face of a demon in a burned-out lightbulb? Come with me to Bletchley, where a dark entity lingered until the bulb was smashed. #UncannyCommunity, you'll like this one :) cityofsecrets.blog/2025/06/15/a...

The Shadow Line, Two Mile Ash You might remember that a few days ago, I started telling you Jadee’s story — and I promised I’d come back to it. When we left her, she was still at her childhood home in Woolmans on Fuller’s Slade…

Tonight's eerie MK story comes from Two Mile Ash, and is part two of a tale about shadowy entities that appear in the most unlikely of places. Just to warn you, this one includes themes of domestic abuse and paranormal attachment. #UncannyCommunity

cityofsecrets.blog/2025/06/13/t...

;) I'm finding a lot of the stories aren't neat, tidy narratives with a cinematic conclusion or an explanation. They're just intense moments that stay with people for years - and it's quite something that they're willing to share them with me.

It really has been eye-opening. I thought I was going to be really struggling to collect stories and that it would take years. I'm just about to publish number fifteen in - what - six weeks?!

Thank you! There will be a new one up in a bit :)

Pretty great - only four weeks left at the OU, already started a new job, and I've got ghost stories coming at me left, right and centre. Life gets weirder by the day, and it's a lot of fun.

Oh, that could be perfect - isolated out at sea, maybe a bit of drifting mist, hopefully no gale-force winds... fingers crossed the ferry has wifi!

:D Hello you. How are you doing?