'Penny Dreadful' Episode 2: 'Séance' Invoked Real Spirit Sign While Filming
'Penny Dreadful," is a horror TV series created for Showtime. The show refers to the penny dreadfuls, a type of 19th century cheap British fiction, with series featuring Dorian Gray and Victor Frankenstein, among other public domain characters in the 19th century Irish and British fiction.
"Penny Dreadful" premiered on the Showtime channel on May 11, and gave viewers a jaw-dropping moment in their second episode entitled "Séance," according to Yahoo TV. The episode shows Ferdinand (Simon Russel Beale) bring out a clairvoyant in a party attended by Vanessa (Eva Green) and Malcolm (Timothy Dalton). The clairvoyant leads a séance that took a disturbing turn when Vanessa gets possessed by an evil spirit. Apparently, the séance scene took the cast by surprise as well, according to Access Hollywood, when it reportedly invoked a "spirit" in a form of a butterfly.
Scroll Down for the Séance Clip of "Penny Dreadful"
"Penny Dreadful" cast Timothy Dalton, who plays Sir Malcolm Murray, told Yahoo TV that the cast and crew had a curious surprise of their own while filming the séance.
"In the middle of that scene, in a quiet moment, I don't know the name of the butterfly, but it's a red and black butterfly, maybe a Red Admiral, fluttered across the stage and landed on the table, silently, whilst we were filming," he explained. He added that when everyone saw the butterfly they all exclaimed "It's a sign!"
The said butterfly, according to Access Hollywood, did not only appear in that particular séance scene, but made its presence known again and again while cast were filming sequences for "Penny Dreadful".
"Penny Dreadful" is filmed in a big, old studio. The fact that the studio may have been left dark for some time and suddenly lighted with all the energy and heat from the lamp in the séance, must have attracted the butterfly, according to Dalton. He added that they were filming during winter, and the warmth of the activity and the lights were attracting the insect to flutter around. However, he still found it unbelievable that while doing the séance scene, a butterfly would mysteriously land on a table like a spirit. He thought it was odd, yet magical and marvellous. For Dalton it was a sign of something and he loved it.
Source: Youtube/Penny Dreadful