15 moments from ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ that every Lancs student can relate to

*Warning: SPOLIER ALERT*

It’s officially Spooky Season and to start it all off ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ dropped this month and because it’s on Netflix and the fact that I have no self-control, I binged it in two days. I would argue that because we’ve all survived the nightmare that has been 2020, we’re professionals and can handle any horror that life throws at us. The show might not be as scary as it would have been in a world without a global pandemic but there are certainly moments that scared the sense out of me which honestly provided a welcome escape from the true horror show we’re living in.

There are spoilers ahead so proceed with caution. The show provided many horrific moments including, but not limited to; that creepy kid Miles, the faceless ghosts that always seemed to be in the background, the plague doctor, and who could forget the crushing realisation that the elite in society don’t really face consequences for their actions (I’m looking at you “uncle” Henry). Amongst these moments there were examples that I think every Lancaster student can relate to so, without further ado, here are fifteen moments from ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ that every Lancaster student can relate to.

1. “This is the classroom, it’s quite boring.”

After freshers week we’re all on a high, meeting so many new people, going to Sugar and Dalton’s for the first time, and the taste of Sultans cheesy chips haunting our taste buds. Unfortunately, however, we all have to attend (or watch) lectures and seminars and the realisation that university isn’t just drinking and eating is thrown at us. We’re all here for an education and to our detriment, it’s quite boring.

2. “I haven’t quite figured out tea yet so…”

I do sympathise with the Southerners that choose Lancaster University, they have to move here and have a new language thrust upon them. It’s breakfast, dinner, tea guys, not breakfast, lunch and dinner.

3. “Well, I’ll never get tired of this place, I swear.”

The moment that we all step on campus for the first time. Everything is so shiny and new. Is that a Greggs five minutes from my accommodation?! I wonder what Sultans is like? 2 for 1 cocktails at Grizedale bar?!

4. “Open the door!”

The moment that we have all had to succumb to at one point. The Underpass is just too cold and the 1A is nowhere in sight so you step onto the 100. As soon as the bus starts to move there’s the 1A, appearing from the darkness, but it’s too late, there’s no getting off the bus now.

5. “But it’s that feeling of remorse, that guilt, that terrible guilt”

Before the pandemic our lives were so much easier, our biggest issue was the morning after Sugar when we wake up with our heads throbbing, our mouths dry and our phone screens broken. We turn around and see someone lying there that we have no recollection of ever meeting.

6. “[panicked breathing]” followed by “[gasping, sobbing]”

We’re all in the same boat after freshers week, we look at our bank account and come to the realisation that our student loan is gone.

It should’ve been spent on a food shop or books but it’s all been blown on Sultans, basic brand vodka, cheap cider and clothes that we desperately needed in the moment but are now just laying in a pile on the floor.

7. “Shh!”

We all reach our breaking point eventually. People sat behind you and talking through a lecture can be one of the most infuriating moments of university.

8. “I’m gonna call the fucking police!”

In the wake of COVID-19 we’re all expected to adapt to online learning. What about the £9250 tuition fee we’re paying for the university experience? Never mind that, Microsoft Teams is apparently an acceptable substitute.

9. “We’re going to stay up all night long, and it’s going to be perfectly—”

It’s always a good idea at the time. “Afters”. Never mind pre-drinking since eight pm and leaving Sugar at three am. The McDonald’s queue is always where this idea seems to come into fruition. But no one ever makes it through afters, no one.

10. “Let me go! Let me go!”

Everyone has suffered through it at one point. It’s nearing 12:50 pm, your spine is in agony after spending two hours sat upright in Elizabeth Livingston and the Greggs queue is surely halfway down Alexander Square by now.  Suddenly it’s 12:52 pm and the lecture just isn’t coming to a close and this is the only thought running through our minds.

11. “I’ll-co-hol you later.”

All of Lancaster’s third years have had to face the recent tragedy of Sugarhouse being closed until September 2021 meaning they won’t be able to go again. It’s hard to say goodbye. The best way to cope is to remain in denial and I think Owen’s words are a very poignant way for us to do that.

12. “Don’t usually see you this early in the a.m.”

Seeing anyone at a nine am seminar is a strange experience. After waking up at seven am to get ready, getting the bus to campus and wandering the halls of Bowland Main to try and find an obscurely numbered room leaves us all discombobulated to the point this is about the only conversation we’re able to muster up.

13. “I don’t want to.” “But you always do.”

It’s Wednesday evening and you’ve convinced yourself you’re going to have a nice night in to relax and get some work done. A message suddenly pops up in the group chat, “It’s Whoops Wednesday, who’s out?” Deep down we don’t want to get ready, start drinking and drag ourselves to Sugar, but we always do. We always do.

14. “I do not go.”

One benefit of online learning is not having to go to campus for a nine am, sometimes spending twenty minutes on a bus in the early hours of the morning just isn’t what we need to get ourselves ready for a lecture.  It’s nice to wake up, leave our pyjamas on and put a lecture on in the background.

15. “How many years in this kitchen? My cooking is still shite.”

Being a third-year is a tricky experience. We’re all technically adults and we have had two years experience of cooking for ourselves and should be reasonably good at it by now. Are we good cooks is the question? No is the answer. Who really cares though? Sultans is always there to come to our rescue.

All nine episodes of ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ are available on Netflix now, I would recommend everyone watched it, it sets the perfect tone for Spooky Season.

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