Ghostwatch

First broadcast by BBC1 on Halloween night in 1992, this War of the Worlds-esque horror mockumentary prompted thousands of calls to the network switchboard. Presented as a live reality TV special investigating paranormal activity, the hosts of this faux program spend the night with a family who claims to be tormented by a poltergeist called “Mr. Pipes.” What the crew captures in the house scarred a whole generation of children and adults alike. Produced years before The Blair Witch Project, this TV special was so scary and its hoax so convincing, it was officially linked to at least two diagnoses of childhood PTSD in the weeks following its airing and was later deemed by the Broadcasting Standards Commision to be “excessively distressing and graphic.”