Cult Mexican horror radio show The Hairy Hand ends

A cult Mexican horror radio programme called "The Hairy Hand" has ended after 22 years on air.

It could be heard from 22:00 until midnight every weeknight and was a favourite among overnight taxi drivers and late-shift workers.

The format was simple. Listeners would call in to tell disturbing stories of supernatural experiences to a receptive and believing presenter.

In its early years the show gained huge audiences in Mexico and abroad.

Its first presenter, Juan Ramón Sáenz, died seven years ago of a heart attack, aged only 48.

The "Hairy Hand Maniacs" ("peludomaniacos" in Spanish) as his fans called themselves, speculated that something supernatural or a bad spell had got to him too.

Grupo Fórmula, the Mexican media company that carried the show, has as yet given no reason for taking it off the air.

But as the current presenter, Ruben Garcia Castillo, announced the show was ending, he said: "Be more afraid of the living than the dead."