1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard mccleinsmith here with a quick update before 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,280 Speaker 1: be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November, 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: world of true crime and the paranormal four nights in 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: the Caribbean, with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left, 7 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: Scared to Death and many more live shows, meet and greets, 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: Creepy Stories under the Stars and you can be there too, 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: but don't wait. Rooms are nearly sold out. Head to 10 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: Crimewave Atsea dot com forward slash Unexplained to grab your 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: fan coat and lock in your cabin. We'd love to 12 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:54,800 Speaker 1: see you on board. What is it about water that 13 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: haunts us? Perhaps it's the way that great bodies of it, locks, 14 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: canals and ponds sit like amorphous entities beneath the moonlight, quiet, patient, indifferent. 15 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: Perhaps is the thought of what they might conceal, their 16 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: mirror like surfaces, offering the perfect metaphor and sometimes genuine 17 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: hiding place for whatever unknown horrors might lurk within its depths. 18 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: Perhaps it's to do with waters awesome power to overwhelm 19 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: and destroy we see footage on the news of tsunamis 20 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: and extreme weather events. We know what it means when 21 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: a region reports higher than average rainfall, and can almost 22 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: feel the creak of the levee when a storm assaults 23 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: the coastline. It's the ultimate irony that the most abundant 24 00:01:49,360 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: element on Earth, the one thing other than air, which 25 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: is non negotiable for survival, is also a deadly killer. 26 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: Just as gods are granted the power to give and 27 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: take life, we might do well to see water in 28 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: just those same terms. In nineteen forty one, T. S. 29 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,919 Speaker 1: Eliot wrote in The Dry Salvages that the Mississippi River 30 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: was a strong brown god, unhonoured, unpropitiated by worshipers of 31 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting, and that in 32 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: keeping his seasons and rages, the river was also a destroyer, 33 00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:34,959 Speaker 1: reminder of what men choose to forget. It was Eliot's 34 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,160 Speaker 1: contention that attempts to outgrow the natural world would wreak 35 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: havoc of the kind we see today as a result 36 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: of global warming. It should therefore come as no surprise 37 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 1: that in almost every culture around the world, from the 38 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: Japanese kappa to the figure of Poseidon. In Greek mythology, 39 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: water is depicted as a jealous and unforgiving supernatural force. 40 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: We ignore it at our peril, and if we fail 41 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: to pay it due deference, it has the power to 42 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: claim us and our loved ones and drag them impassively 43 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: to its depths. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard 44 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: McLean Smith. The English legends of Peg Powler and Ginny 45 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: Green Teeth, from the northeast and northwest of England, respectively, 46 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: might at first give the appearance of a more frivolous 47 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,880 Speaker 1: take on the subject of elemental destruction. Both are spirits 48 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: or old crones, said to haunt inland waterways. Both prey 49 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: on children and old people, using their elongated arms, talon 50 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: like fingers, sharp teeth, long straggly hair, and green skin 51 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: to petrify and insight ne'er anyone unlucky enough to encounter them. 52 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: The presence of duckweed is usually an indication that either 53 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: Ginny or Peg is close by, keeping their presence mostly 54 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: to rivers and ponds, with occasional forays into haunting canals 55 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: and sewer systems. In more industrialized urban landscapes like Liverpool 56 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: and Newcastle. Both have been invoked to warn people away 57 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,920 Speaker 1: from dangerous bodies of water, and both can trace their 58 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: origins within a long folkloric tradition stretching as far back 59 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: as the thirteenth century. Some scholars, however, think that the 60 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,960 Speaker 1: legends date further, noting striking similarities between the figure of 61 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: Grendel from the tenth century epic Beowulf and the Welsh 62 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: myth of Haffron or Sabrina, who was drowned in Britain's 63 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: longest river, the River Seven, and curse to haunt its 64 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: waters forevermore. But not all stories to do with Ginny 65 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:08,359 Speaker 1: Green Teeth or peg Powler are quite so esoteric. On 66 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: thirteenth of January eighteen sixty a recently constructed iron bridge 67 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: over the River Tees near Yarm in North Yorkshire collapsed 68 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,680 Speaker 1: into the water, leading many locals to believe that the 69 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: spirit of peg Powler had somehow been angered. A local 70 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: paper wrote at the time the new bridge was built 71 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: adjacent to the old one, but peg Powler, the mythical 72 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: spirit of the River Tees, objected to the effrontery offered 73 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: by these new fangled ideas, rose in her wrath and 74 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 1: before the much vaunted new way was opened to the public. 75 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:52,320 Speaker 1: It collapsed at midnight on January twelfth, eighteen sixty. The implication, 76 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: of course, is that, like T. S. Eliot's depiction of 77 00:05:56,279 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: an ancient water got disturbed by modern industrial lifedzation, the 78 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: figure of peg Powler rose up in anger to foil 79 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: modern man's tampering with the order of the natural world. 80 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: Not only do mortals in this story fail to show 81 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: respect to the spirit of the river, they are punished 82 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: for their transgressions through physical violence and economic sabotage. Thanks 83 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:37,480 Speaker 1: largely to more advanced public understanding of scientific natural processes, 84 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: the prevalence of mythbusting on social and traditional media, and 85 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: sustained government efforts to clean up and make safe dilapidated waterways, 86 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: stories about Peg Powler and Ginny Green Teeth have mostly 87 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: been forgotten, and yet many urban legends of this nature 88 00:06:55,839 --> 00:07:01,200 Speaker 1: have not been completely consigned to history. Still whispers about 89 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: malevolent beings ready to pounce on unsuspecting victims who stray 90 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: too close to the water's edge. Many in Britain will, 91 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: no doubt remember the brilliant and haunting public information films 92 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: released by the suitably Orwellian sounding Central Office of Information 93 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: that proliferated on British TV in the nineteen seventies. The 94 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:29,800 Speaker 1: drowning awareness film Lonely Water was perhaps the most haunting 95 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: of them all. 96 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 2: I am the spirit of dark and lonely water, ready 97 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 2: to trap the unwary, the show off, the fall. And 98 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 2: this is the kind of place you'll expect to find 99 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 2: me that no one expects to find me. Here it 100 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 2: seems too order me, but that call is deep. The 101 00:07:51,720 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 2: boys showing off. The bank is slippery, The shops are easy, 102 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 2: but the unwary ones are easiest too. This branch is weak, rotten. 103 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 2: It will never take his way. Only a fool would 104 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 2: ignore this. But there's one born every minute. Under the water. 105 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 2: There are traps, old cars, bedsteads, weeds, hidden depths. It's 106 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,800 Speaker 2: the perfect place for an accident. Oh I love the. 107 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: Stamin wah, great you step big sticks came out? 108 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 2: Since children, I have no power over them. Why am 109 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 2: I that stupid cries to swim? Hi, go and get 110 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 2: that thing to reckon me. You do have to call 111 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 2: my own resum. I'll be back back back. 112 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: The somber narrator was, of course, the Green Reaper himself 113 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: forever lurking in the background, watching on patiently as one 114 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,000 Speaker 1: child after another fails to heed his warnings to stay 115 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: away from the water. Perhaps the most chilling British urban 116 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:19,520 Speaker 1: legend of recent times concerns an alleged serial killer that 117 00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: some believe has been using the warren of isolated waterways 118 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 1: that snake through much of England's northwest as a hunting 119 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:31,960 Speaker 1: ground for their victims. Police have dismissed this as a 120 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,719 Speaker 1: modern moral panic, though for those who believe it, this 121 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: phantom figure is said to be responsible for upwards of 122 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: eighty six deaths. For more than two hundred and fifty years, 123 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:49,160 Speaker 1: Manchester and its surrounds such as Salford, has been a 124 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: Northern English powerhouse. In the nineteenth century. It was there 125 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:59,319 Speaker 1: that Friedrich Engels and Carl Marx studied the industrial working classes. 126 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: So important was their labour for the manufacture and distribution 127 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,920 Speaker 1: of cotton and linen to international markets. The city's burgeoning 128 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: textiles industry earned it the nickname Cottonopolis, and required the 129 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: construction of a vast network of shipping canals, docks and 130 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: fire ducts to bring raw materials from the New World overnight. 131 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: It seemed the city was transformed from a sleepy market 132 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: town into a kind of infernal red brick inversion of Venice. 133 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:39,599 Speaker 1: Instead of gondolas and churches, cobbled squares and famous art expositions, 134 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,600 Speaker 1: it was schooners and warehouses, dirty terraces, and row upon 135 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: row of red bricked factories breathing hell fire into the 136 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: choked streets. As the population exploded from just a couple 137 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: of thousand at the start of the eighteenth century to 138 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:00,600 Speaker 1: more than three hundred and fifty thousand by eighteen sixs 139 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: the canals were the arteries that fed the city's heart, 140 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: though by the end of the nineteen seventies, with the 141 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: decline of heavy industry cruelly accelerated by Margaret Thatcher's government 142 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: of the day, Manchester began a steady decline into unemployment 143 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: and deprivation. The disintegration of the city's literal and psychological 144 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: horizons would later define much of Greater Manchester's local music scene, 145 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: as exemplified in the timeless work of bands like Joy Division, 146 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: The Smiths and The Four. Over time, the canals fell 147 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: into disuse and disrepair, and what had once been vital 148 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: transport lanes connecting the city to the rest of the 149 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:53,440 Speaker 1: world suddenly became something far less edifying and much closer 150 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,200 Speaker 1: to the kind of still water favoured by those dark 151 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: legendary figures like Ginny Green Tea. By the early nineteen nineties, 152 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,560 Speaker 1: a new Manchester was beginning to emerge, driven by the 153 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:19,200 Speaker 1: city's intrinsically indomitable spirit and blossoming out of the detritus 154 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: of its former glories. From its resurgent music scene dubbed 155 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: Manchester to the unrelenting success of the city's Manchester United 156 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: football club, Manchester at once again established itself as one 157 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: of the nation's most heralded cities. By two thousand seven, 158 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: work was well underway to redevelop the Bridgewater and Manchester 159 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: ship Canals to cater to what would eventually become Media 160 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: City UK, a sprawling two hundred acre site in Salford 161 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: that became home to much of the nations leading media organizations. 162 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: With that came bars and artisanal restaurants, glass fronted hotels 163 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: and the kind of sophistication that would have been unimaginable 164 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: on the banks of the Manchester Shipping Canal just one 165 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: hundred years previously. The redeveloped waterways with their newly installed 166 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: towpaths became popular walking routes for everyone from young professionals 167 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: on their way to work to joggers, and, most crucially 168 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: for this story, drinkers and nightclub revelers making their way 169 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:32,560 Speaker 1: home after an evening on the town. Greater Manchester is 170 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:36,319 Speaker 1: home to over thirty six miles of criss crossing rivers 171 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: and canals, many of which are lowered from street view 172 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: to allow for the easy passage of a boat or 173 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: transport vessel. It stands to reason that after a few drinks, 174 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: straying too close to the water's edge could spell disaster. 175 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: After only a few units of alcohol, your heart rate 176 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: speeds up, your reaction time lessons, your inhibitions lower, and 177 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:07,199 Speaker 1: your hand to eye coordination becomes impaired. With increased consumption, 178 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,319 Speaker 1: performing even simple tasks like holding a conversation or walking 179 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: in a straight line can become difficult, let alone the 180 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: prospect of treading icy, treacle thick water having taken a 181 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 1: tumble over the edge of an embankment. Add to that 182 00:14:24,720 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: the precarious living situation many homeless people find themselves in, 183 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 1: and it should come as little surprise that between two 184 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: thousand and four and twenty eighteen, the bodies of at 185 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,480 Speaker 1: least eighty six people, most of them young men, were 186 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: recovered from the water. Some had been out clubbing before 187 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,200 Speaker 1: they disappeared. Many were last seen walking near the canal, 188 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: often after dark, sometimes intoxicated and always on their own. 189 00:14:55,560 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 1: Nineteen year old engineering student Suvic Powell was one of them, 190 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: having grown up in a strict Indian household before traveling 191 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: to the UK to study at Manchester's Metropolitan University, Suvic 192 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: Powell had never been much of a drinker, much less 193 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: of regular fixture on the city's famous clubbing scene. Nonetheless, 194 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: according to his friend Charlotte Wilson, on New Year's Eve 195 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 1: twenty twelve, he found himself out celebrating at a club 196 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: called Warehouse Project in the Trafford area of the city. 197 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: CCTV footage showed Suvac's last movements with friends as they 198 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: entered the venue before being escorted off the premises by 199 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: a security guard, ostensibly for being too intoxicated. Three weeks later, 200 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: the young student's body was pulled from Manchester's Bridgewater Canal, 201 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: a thirty nine mile stretch of water running through Manchester. 202 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 1: The autopsy revealed no obvious signs of trauma, no signs 203 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: of injury caused by a third party, and no defensive 204 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: wounds showing that he'd put up any kind of struggle. 205 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:21,160 Speaker 1: Suvic's death was ruled as an accidental drowning, but questions 206 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 1: remained about the circumstances surrounding it. Why had it taken 207 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: so long to find his body between the time of 208 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: his disappearance and the likely time of his death, which 209 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: coroners acknowledged had taken place much closer to the end 210 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: of the three weeks, Where had he been for all 211 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: that time? Suvic's parents made it clear that they didn't 212 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: believe he'd simply fallen into the water. Members of his 213 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: family even appealed to the Indian government to investigate the 214 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: possibility of foul play, but with nothing more than a 215 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: series of patchy CCTV images to go on, the young 216 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:08,199 Speaker 1: man's case quickly went cold. He was cremated in his 217 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:14,200 Speaker 1: hometown of Bangalore in January twenty thirteen. Nine years earlier, 218 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: on seventeenth of April two thousand and four, twenty one 219 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:21,679 Speaker 1: year old David Plunkett had also been out in the 220 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: Trafford area of the city. Like Suvic, he too, had 221 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,639 Speaker 1: been out with friends at Dayton of Racetrack in Trafford Park. 222 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: At some point, David's friend Michael realized that David was 223 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: no longer with the group. Unknown to him, David had 224 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,479 Speaker 1: been ejected by the event organizers for being too drunk. 225 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: When Michael was unable to reach him on the phone, 226 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:50,480 Speaker 1: he contacted the young man's parents and and Mike Plunkett. They, 227 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 1: in turn then attempted to contact David. In the quiet 228 00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: of the night, the deeply concerned Anne and Mike sat 229 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 1: in their home trying to call their son. It took 230 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 1: and three attempts before the call was finally answered, but 231 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: her son didn't speak, seemingly unaware that his phone had 232 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:15,879 Speaker 1: picked up the call. What struck her first and foremost 233 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: was the strange quietness of where he seemed to be. 234 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: No sounds of revelry or traffic, no sound of anything 235 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,240 Speaker 1: much at all. All she could hear was the sound 236 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:33,400 Speaker 1: of him walking and his breathing. David, she repeated into 237 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,359 Speaker 1: the phone, to no reply, Can you hear me? Do 238 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: you know where you are? Are you in Manchester? Do 239 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 1: you recognize anything? About seven or eight minutes into the call, 240 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: David's mother heard a series of ghastly screams. Horrified, Anne 241 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,080 Speaker 1: started crying and handed the phone to her husband, Mike, 242 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: then quickly called nine ninety nine on a separate phone, 243 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: hoping that some one could get to David wherever he was. 244 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:05,959 Speaker 1: As she talked to an officer on the other line, 245 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: David's screams continued until finally, a short time later, David's 246 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: phone went dead. The screams and plunkets spoke about were 247 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,640 Speaker 1: also heard by the police officer on the other line, 248 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,400 Speaker 1: though they weren't picked up on tape the recorder had 249 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,199 Speaker 1: failed to work. The officer in question would go on 250 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: to describe the noises as distressing. She later resigned from 251 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: her post, speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, who ran 252 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,720 Speaker 1: an early piece on the possibility of a serial killer 253 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:54,920 Speaker 1: operating on the Manchester Canal network. The incident still haunts 254 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,400 Speaker 1: me to this day. With every death I see reported 255 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: in the news, more and more convinced that these are 256 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: murders and not accidents. As David's father, Mike also put it, 257 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: the screaming I heard made me feel like David had 258 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: seen something that terrified him. Like Suvic. It was a 259 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,080 Speaker 1: long time before David's body was found eventually washing up 260 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: two weeks later in the Manchester Ship Canal. The coroner 261 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 1: ruled it as drowning, and like Suvic, there was a 262 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: lot of alcohol in David's bloodstream, so much so that 263 00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:37,119 Speaker 1: the coroner publicly admonished the organizers of the event for 264 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: ejecting someone in his vulnerable state when it was known 265 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: that he would not have had the coordination to look 266 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: after himself. The third, and one of the most high 267 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:51,720 Speaker 1: profile cases for amateur sleuths on the hunt for what 268 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: many have taken to calling the Manchester Pusher is that 269 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,720 Speaker 1: of Nathan Tomlinson. Nathan was a twenty one year old 270 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,919 Speaker 1: student student who disappeared after a Christmas party on seventeenth 271 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: of December twenty ten. His last confirmed sighting was at 272 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:14,439 Speaker 1: the Mita Hotel near Manchester Cathedral. Anecdotal evidence picks up 273 00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: his whereabouts on Victoria Street in the center of the city, 274 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: where he is said to have hopped a war before 275 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:24,959 Speaker 1: making his way toward Chapel Street in Salford to the west. 276 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,360 Speaker 1: A man fitting his description was seen asking a passing 277 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: bus driver how he might get home to Stockport, about 278 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,719 Speaker 1: five miles away to the south, A figure also matching 279 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: his description was spotted by CCTV walking toward the River Irwell. 280 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,640 Speaker 1: At that point, no more sightings were picked up of Nathan, 281 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,959 Speaker 1: speculative or otherwise, after which he is said to have 282 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: disappeared completely. An agonizing three month search followed, during which 283 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,040 Speaker 1: time police focused their efforts on the area around the 284 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:06,879 Speaker 1: University of Salford, nearby Peel Park and Salford Crescent Railway station. 285 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: His body was recovered from the River Irwell three months later, 286 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: washing up at a bridge near Meadow Road in Lower Broughton. 287 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,440 Speaker 1: An inquest into the search for Nathan found that police 288 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: had failed to do basic investigative work to ensure that 289 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: his body was uncovered more quickly. Pathologist Naomi Carter said 290 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: that although Nathan had water in his lungs, she couldn't 291 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: determine whether he'd died before going into the river or 292 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 1: whether he'd drowned. Nathan was found with its phone and wallet, 293 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: though his coat was missing, and his mother even suggested 294 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: at one point that she thought the discovery scene might 295 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: have been staged to make it look as though Nathan 296 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: had gone into the water of his own accord. Behind 297 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,800 Speaker 1: each of these high profile cases. The men's families insists 298 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:13,119 Speaker 1: there is more to the story, and perhaps there is. 299 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't until twenty fifteen, when a newspaper published an 300 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: article featuring criminal psychologist Professor Craig Jackson from the University 301 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,520 Speaker 1: of Birmingham that whispers began about the deaths of Nathan, 302 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: David and Souvic, and possibly scores of others being connected. 303 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,639 Speaker 1: The professor was quoted as saying that it was extremely 304 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,679 Speaker 1: unlikely that such an alarming number of bodies found in 305 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: the canals could be the result of accidents or suicides, 306 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,960 Speaker 1: and that it was entirely possible a serial killer was 307 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: responsible for at least some of the deaths. A theory 308 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:59,199 Speaker 1: arose that because Manchester's waterways had been used over the 309 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 1: decades as a cruising area for gay men, an elusive 310 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: murderer may have been targeting the gay community and catching 311 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: potential cruisers unaware. In twenty sixteen, British TV station Channel 312 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:19,480 Speaker 1: four commissioned a documentary called Manchester's Serial Killer, which featured 313 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: a more cautious, though no less intrigued Professor Craig Jackson 314 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: expounding on his theory. Once again, forums exploded with hypotheses 315 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:34,959 Speaker 1: and innuendos, and Detective Chief Inspector Pete Marsh of the 316 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:40,680 Speaker 1: Greater Manchester Police was even instructed to reopen investigations into 317 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: all the deaths linked to the theory. Marsh reported that 318 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 1: he did not believe young men or those that were 319 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:51,280 Speaker 1: gay made up the majority of the deaths, and added 320 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,400 Speaker 1: that it was his belief that many of the individuals 321 00:24:54,440 --> 00:25:01,040 Speaker 1: who died on Manchester's waterways had died accidentally. Skepticism remained, however, 322 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: Almost all victims identified were young men aged between eighteen 323 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: to thirty. Last scene after dark, walking alone, found in 324 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:15,080 Speaker 1: or near one of the city's rivers or canals, with 325 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: no witnesses, no clear cause of death, and no sign 326 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: of struggle against their likely impending doom. Rumors of the 327 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:34,960 Speaker 1: so called Manchester Pusher might have eventually died out were 328 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 1: it not for the number of supposed survivors who claimed 329 00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,679 Speaker 1: to have had near brushes with the elusive serial killer. 330 00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,760 Speaker 1: One anonymous source calling himself Tom, a thirty four year 331 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: old cyclist who regularly frequented Bridgewater Canal, felt an arm 332 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: knock him off his bike and into the water one 333 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: April evening in twenty eighteen. As he struggled to get out, 334 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:02,719 Speaker 1: found that someone was waiting at the edge of the 335 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: water for him, kicking his hand away repeatedly as he 336 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: struggled to clamber over the embankment. By the time he 337 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: eventually managed to haul himself out of the water, all 338 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: signs of an attacker had disappeared. He'd heard rumors about 339 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,200 Speaker 1: the apparent pusher and had likely been on his guard, 340 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 1: especially given that there were no lights where the attack 341 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:30,240 Speaker 1: was alleged to have occurred. With all that said, Tom 342 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:34,080 Speaker 1: freely admitted that he'd heard about the pusher rumors before 343 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: his near drowning, and with the shock of going into 344 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: the water, he may have been in a state of 345 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: mind suggestible enough for his unconscious to invent a dark 346 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:50,439 Speaker 1: figure that was responsible. With no new evidence to go on, 347 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: and with Greater Manchester Police having effectively shelled their investigation 348 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: into all searches for a murderer, its likely will never 349 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: know whether someone or something was responsible. Was it murder, 350 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: misadventure or something older, colder and harder to explain. Either way, 351 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: the water doesn't care. Perhaps only one thing is for 352 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,920 Speaker 1: certain that wherever water lies, the grim Reaper is never 353 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: far away, just watching, waiting, I Will be. This episode 354 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,879 Speaker 1: was written by James Connor Patterson and produced by Richard 355 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: McLean Smith. James is a brilliant writer and poet. His 356 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:02,159 Speaker 1: debut collection of poems titled Bandit, exploring the Hinterland between 357 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: the North of Ireland and Republic, was shortlisted for the 358 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two t S Eliot Prize and is out 359 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,040 Speaker 1: now to buy, so do check it out. Thank you 360 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 1: as ever for listening Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions 361 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of 362 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me 363 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained The book and audiobook is now 364 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 1: available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes 365 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 1: and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and 366 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and feel 367 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 368 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you 369 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,960 Speaker 1: have an explanation or a story of your own you'd 370 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: like to share. You can find out more at Unexplained 371 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: podcast dot com and reaches online through x and Blue 372 00:28:55,480 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: Sky at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. 373 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained podcast 374 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 2: D