Halloween – Answers

1 What might explain a feature on ghosts on this date? It’s October 31st, Hallowe’en, when spirits are supposed to be active.
2 What phrase is used meaning ghostly or scary happenings? Spooky goings-on (or ghostly sightings would mean they had been seen).
3 How is the most haunted place in Britain chosen every year? There is a vote (a poll).
4 Is this year’s choice expected? No -it’s a bit of a surprise – it’s usually a small lane or an isolated country road.
5 What is the UK’s ‘most haunted place’ this year? The M6, a motorway.
6 Can you give one fact about it? It is a) 230 miles long or b) the longest motorway in the country or c) It runs north / south or d) It leaves the M1 at Rugby for Carlisle / the Scottish border.
7 What phrase is used meaning ‘very haunted’ or ‘full of ghosts’? Riddled with ghosts – riddled is usually used of something negative.
8 What phrase does the reporter use for ‘all sorts of things’ All manner of things.
9 What two examples are given of ghosts which have been seen?
a) A ghost-hunter was followed by a ‘phantom pick-up truck’ round Birmingham.
b) 20-25 Roman soldiers (‘a Roman cohort’) march along a section of the M6.
10 Which part of their bodies is invisible? The lower part of the leg, below the knee / from the knee downwards.
11 What explains the partial visibility of the group of ghosts? The road / earth level was lower 2000 years ago This phenomenon is well known from a well-documented account of a lost Roman legion seen in the cellar of the Treasurer’s House in York.
12 What phrase was used in the first account of a ghostly sighting which meant ‘ for a long time’? For ages.
13 What phrase is used meaning the presenter is sceptical about what is being said? ‘I don’t mean to pour cold water on this but …..’
14 Have any of these happenings been proved or verified?
No; there hasn’t been any independent proof or verification; there have, however, been a lot of different theories.
15 Can you cite any of the explanations or reasons put forward for ‘ghosts’ having been seen?
a) Some people believe in ghosts b) it may be an effect of mist or c) weather conditions or d) tiredness
16 The reporter gives an example of having seen a strange phenomenon himself once. What did he keep doing that suggests he was fighting tiredness while driving up the M1 from London? He kept opening and shutting the window.
17 What did he start seeing? Enormous Easter Eggs all the way up the motorway.
18 What did he decide? That it was time to pull into a service station.
19 What does Martin Wainwright describe as a ‘real ghost’? A ghost junction – on the M54, junction 5 moved ½mile up the road ‘ ghostly traces of the old junction no 5 can still be seen……fading dotted lines…..’
20 What jokes did you spot which were shared between the two reporters?
a) The choice of a section of the M6 must be a joke – it’s so outlandish, the reporters must just be having a laugh. In British newspapers there is sometimes lengthy correspondence on ridiculous amusing topics, and this may be a typical example of a journalistic joke.
b) They joked that as the Roman soldiers had been seen marching on a section of the new toll-road they actually paid the toll (Martin Wainwright suggests a sesterce each – an anglicised version of the Roman coin called a sestertius.
c) The story Martin tells about having seen massive Easter Eggs is clearly a joke, or ‘a wind-up’ (= a deliberate attempt to amuse (or annoy) someone). The pair of them are just having a laugh!! He means he was starting behave oddly because he was losing concentration.
d) At the end of the feature Martin Wainwright describes the old abandoned sliproad as ‘a genuine motorway ghost’… but all he means here is that the evidence of the road is fading – ‘ghostly traces’ is just an amusing spin he puts on the facts. (a spin on sth = a certain invention, version or fabrication which makes a story more attractive or convincing.)

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