Speaker 1: Nine year old Anna was the first to be afflicted,
Speaker 1: having been found just outside the house one chilly morning
Speaker 1: in February, rolling around in the dirt and convulsing wildly.
Speaker 1: When the strange fit eventually ended, she was brought inside
Speaker 1: and placed on her bed, where she lay limp and
Speaker 1: lifeless for what seemed like hours before finally coming round,
Speaker 1: seemingly unharmed, as if merely waking from a deep sleep.
Speaker 1: The funny turn had been all but forgotten by the
Speaker 1: following week, when workers out in the field were alerted
Speaker 1: to the sound of screams coming from a nearby road,
Speaker 1: running to investigate. This time it was Anna's ten year
Speaker 1: old brother, John, who was found writhing about in the mud,
Speaker 1: his teeth shut and his eyes fixed in terror at
Speaker 1: some far off point, as foam frothed at his mouth.
Speaker 1: It took three of them to still him before they
Speaker 1: could carry him inside. That night, with John recovered, parents
Speaker 1: Anne and Nicholas Starkey stood watch over their children as
Speaker 1: they lay peacefully in their beds, a candle gently flickering
Speaker 1: on the mantelpiece as they prayed to God to protect them.
Speaker 1: Since their marriage in fifteen seventy eight, Anne and Nicholas
Speaker 1: had already lost four children and they would be damned
Speaker 1: if they were to lose another. But the fits would
Speaker 1: not stop. Each time, the children would be struck, rigid
Speaker 1: and flung to the ground as their bodies jerked and
Speaker 1: spasmed uncontrollably. Afterwards, they would be left almost catatonic, sometimes
Speaker 1: for hours, before returning to their normal selves. Over the
Speaker 1: next six weeks, the couples tirelessly for a cure, spending
Speaker 1: the equivalent of thousands of pounds in today's money on
Speaker 1: doctor's fees, only to be told repeatedly there was nothing
Speaker 1: physically wrong with their children. Eventually, the couple were forced
Speaker 1: to accept the terrifying truth that their children had been
Speaker 1: possessed by something diabolical. The family lived at Cleworth Hall,
Speaker 1: a large mansion house built sometime around the year thirteen
Speaker 1: hundred located just outside the town of Tyldesley in Lancashire
Speaker 1: in the northwest of England, that had been passed down
Speaker 1: through Anne's family before she herself inherited it. They lived
Speaker 1: there with a number of staff and their children, who
Speaker 1: managed the property and worked the surrounding fields. At the time,
Speaker 1: much of Lancashire remained largely untouched by the Reformation currently
Speaker 1: sweeping the land. The Reformation sought primarily to undermine the
Speaker 1: power and teachings of the Catholic Church and bring the
Speaker 1: nation into a more modern, less superstitious age. But as
Speaker 1: many might have said, it wasn't merely superstition. You're listening
Speaker 1: to unexplained and I'm Richard McClean smith. It was late
Speaker 1: one evening in March fifteen ninety five when Nicholas Starkey
Speaker 1: rode out in desperation under the silvery light of the moon,
Speaker 1: to the home of Edmund Hartley, a well known local conjurer.
Speaker 1: After Nicholas explained his predicament, Heartly accompanied him back to
Speaker 1: the clue Worth estate, where he found the children once
Speaker 1: again subdued and unresponsive after another bout of fits. Recognizing
Speaker 1: the work of the devil, instantly, Heartly grabbed a series
Speaker 1: of ornate Catholic charms from his bag and some bunches
Speaker 1: of herbs, which he lit with a candle, flooding the
Speaker 1: room with their pungent to roma. Then, standing over the children,
Speaker 1: he began to utter strange and unusual words, until finally
Speaker 1: his work was done. The following morning, the children arose
Speaker 1: as fit and healthy as they had ever been. Nicholas
Speaker 1: thanked Hartly for his work and paid him handsomely for
Speaker 1: his services, but the cure did not last long, and
Speaker 1: soon he was forced to call for Hartly once again.
Speaker 1: After administering another successful treatment, Hartly suggested they make the
Speaker 1: arrangement more formal so he could be on hand whenever
Speaker 1: they needed him. After all, there was no knowing if
Speaker 1: he'd even be available next time. Terrified at the prospect
Speaker 1: of being unable to help their children, the Starkey's agreed
Speaker 1: to the arrangement and offered Hartly the equivalent of forty
Speaker 1: days pay to cover his costs for the next year.
Speaker 1: And so things continued for the next eighteen months, with
Speaker 1: Hartly continuing to visit the property to employ his charms
Speaker 1: and herbs whenever John and Anna were tormented by the
Speaker 1: evil spirits. Then, in September fifteen ninety six, with their
Speaker 1: possession seemingly well under control, Partly seized his chance. It
Speaker 1: was only fair, he said, considering how successful he'd been
Speaker 1: in keeping the evil at bay, that they consider giving
Speaker 1: him a raise, and perhaps a house and some land too.
Speaker 1: But with the children appearing to be all but cured.
Speaker 1: The starkeys refused. Angered by their snub, hertly fled from
Speaker 1: their home, but not before issuing the stark, warning that
Speaker 1: their battles with the devil were far from over and
Speaker 1: with him gone, they would almost certainly get worse. And
Speaker 1: with that he left. If there's ever been a year
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Speaker 1: ten dollars off. The following month, a strange noise was
Speaker 1: heard one morning coming from young Elizabeth Hardman's bedroom. Hardman,
Speaker 1: the daughter of house staff who also resided at Cleworth Hall,
Speaker 1: was found scrabbling about under her bed, clawing at the floor.
Speaker 1: When asked what she was doing, she stopped suddenly and
Speaker 1: stuck her head out from underneath. I must find a
Speaker 1: way through, she said, because the devil is waiting for
Speaker 1: me on the other side. Then, jumping out from under
Speaker 1: the bed, the girl charged head first toward a nearby window,
Speaker 1: only to be caught just in time before she was
Speaker 1: able to throw herself out of it. Not long after
Speaker 1: this bizarre incident, the house was shaken by strange cries
Speaker 1: coming from every quarter. Elizabeth, her sister Margaret, and their
Speaker 1: friend Eleanor Holland, who also resided at the property, were
Speaker 1: found in a bedroom howling together like wolves, and before
Speaker 1: long John and Anna Starkey began howling too, in unison
Speaker 1: with them. Not only had the demonic spirits returned, but
Speaker 1: they were now spreading. To Convinced that Edmund Hartley was
Speaker 1: somehow responsible, Nicholas traveled immediately to Manchester to seek the
Speaker 1: advice of the warden of Manchester's christ College, a man
Speaker 1: considered by many to be one of the most learned
Speaker 1: individuals in the country. His name was doctor John d d.
Speaker 1: A graduate of Cambridge University and one of the leading
Speaker 1: scientific minds of his day, had by the fifteen eighties
Speaker 1: risen to become a respected scholar and leading adviser to
Speaker 1: Queen Elizabeth, as well as her designated court astronomer, after
Speaker 1: becoming increasingly fascinated in the occult. However, by the fifteen
Speaker 1: nineties his reputation had waned considerably when it was revealed
Speaker 1: that he had been attempting to communicate with angels, and
Speaker 1: according to him, succeeding in his venture, Rumors began to
Speaker 1: spread that he was in league with the devil. Having
Speaker 1: amassed one of the largest libraries in the country, D
Speaker 1: returned home from a six year trip to Europe in
Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine to find it had been ransacked by
Speaker 1: a paranoid mob who destroyed over four hundred of his
Speaker 1: most treasured texts, as well as numerous instruments and laboratory equipment.
Speaker 1: Worse still, the man he entrusted his estate too, while
Speaker 1: he was gone, had failed to collect rent payments that
Speaker 1: were owed to him. Struggling for money, he was forced
Speaker 1: to seek settled employment, and in fifteen ninety six took
Speaker 1: on the role as warden of Christ's College. It was
Speaker 1: in this capacity that Nicholas Starkey sought his help, telling
Speaker 1: him that Edmund Hartley had, through malignant kisses, put the
Speaker 1: devil into his children and three others in his household.
Speaker 1: Though d took the matter seriously enough, he simply couldn't,
Speaker 1: under the circumstances, be seen to be dealing in anything
Speaker 1: of a diabolical nature. Instead, he suggested that Starkeys seek
Speaker 1: the help of some godly preachers who might be willing
Speaker 1: to pray over the children and help weed out the
Speaker 1: nefarious spirits. D agreed also that Edmund Hartley should be
Speaker 1: dealt with. By the time Nicholas returned to Cleworth Hall,
Speaker 1: things appeared to have settled down in the new year,
Speaker 1: with the children seeming much better. They were taken to
Speaker 1: visit relatives in Manchester, including thirty three year old Marge Byrom,
Speaker 1: a close relation of Nicholas's. It was a few days
Speaker 1: after the Starkey's left that Marge was sat at home
Speaker 1: alone in front of the fire, when suddenly she was
Speaker 1: raised from her chair and thrown violently to the floor.
Speaker 1: Coming round moments later, she managed to clamber back to
Speaker 1: her feet and back into the chair, only to be
Speaker 1: violently flung from it again. From that point on, she
Speaker 1: became convinced that something malignant had got inside her, and
Speaker 1: soon she was seeing it too. It started with the
Speaker 1: sense of something moving about in her belly that seemed
Speaker 1: to take the form of a calf's head that pushed
Speaker 1: and squirmed under her skin, stabbing at her as if
Speaker 1: it were made of nails. Then a rush of cold
Speaker 1: air would shoot up from her lungs and out of
Speaker 1: her mouth, giving her the overwhelming urge to bark and
Speaker 1: howl into the air. Moments later, it would return the
Speaker 1: other way, as if someone were breathing cold air straight
Speaker 1: into her mouth. Then it shot down into her stomach,
Speaker 1: weighing her down like a stone, pulling her to the
Speaker 1: ground where she would be forced to lie on her
Speaker 1: side as her body shivered and her teeth chattered in
Speaker 1: her mouth. Any attempt she made to get warm would
Speaker 1: only result in her being wrenched back away from the
Speaker 1: source of heat. Calling on Hartley's services again, Nicholas took
Speaker 1: him to march Byrom's house to see if he could help.
Speaker 1: With d tipped off. He sent an observer, Matthew Palmer
Speaker 1: there also to keep an eye on the proceedings. Barging
Speaker 1: into the property, he found Heartly murmuring strange incantations over
Speaker 1: a prostrate Byrom, and demanded immediately to know what was
Speaker 1: going on. When Hartly said he was merely praying, an
Speaker 1: unconvinced Palmer demanded to hear the prayers for himself. Looking sheepish,
Speaker 1: Heartly admitted that the only prayer he really knew was
Speaker 1: the Lord's prayer. Very well, then, said Palmer, I will
Speaker 1: hear that. But Hartly had lied about that. Palmer then
Speaker 1: turned to Byrom and asked her for her version of events,
Speaker 1: but the woman would not meet his eye, too afraid
Speaker 1: of what Hartly might do should she betray him. Having
Speaker 1: seen enough, Palmer reported Hartly to the local justices of
Speaker 1: the Peace, and in March fifteen ninety seven, he was
Speaker 1: promptly arrested and sent to Lancaster Castle to await trial
Speaker 1: on suspicion of conjuring and raising the devil. One of
Speaker 1: the things I always struggle with is finding the time
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Speaker 1: harvest dot com. With Hartly awaiting trial, Justice of the
Speaker 1: Peace Edmund Hopwood rode out to Cleworth to take testimony
Speaker 1: from his apparent victims and witness their plight for himself.
Speaker 1: In the days prior to his arrival, the children had
Speaker 1: taken to crawling about for hours on their hands and knees,
Speaker 1: yelping like dogs, and scuttling away from anybody that tried
Speaker 1: to get near them, And when they did finally return
Speaker 1: to their feet, they appeared gripped by a supernatural inability
Speaker 1: to speak, though they seemed well enough. When Hopwood arrived
Speaker 1: at the estate, none dared to talk to him about Hartly,
Speaker 1: since they were also afraid of what he might do.
Speaker 1: Marg Byrom at least agreed eventually to talk. In six
Speaker 1: weeks since Hartley had visited her, she claimed to have
Speaker 1: been continually attacked by familiars of the Devil. Every night
Speaker 1: around the hour of nine pm. The creatures, who invariably
Speaker 1: took the form of a cat or a dog, took
Speaker 1: it in turns to knock her down onto the floor,
Speaker 1: leaving her unable to move until three am the following morning.
Speaker 1: Sometimes she would have an insatiable appetite, eating meat like
Speaker 1: a starving wild animal, or she might just simply stiffen up,
Speaker 1: being unable to move for hours. One day in February,
Speaker 1: a terrifying invisible force took hold of her, yanking her
Speaker 1: about the room as if she were about to be
Speaker 1: torn into a hundred pieces. When it finally stopped, a
Speaker 1: noxious black smoke that stunk of rotting flesh emerged from
Speaker 1: her mouth. In their deliberations, the justices of the Piece
Speaker 1: consulted all manner of texts on the matter, from Johann
Speaker 1: Vyers de Prestigious Daimonum and Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Springer's
Speaker 1: Malais Melificarum. However, despite the clear evidence to suggest that
Speaker 1: the conjuror, Edmund Hartley had indeed brought something unsavory to
Speaker 1: Kluworth Hall. The court were unable to find specific evidence
Speaker 1: that he'd summoned the devil to do it, but then
Speaker 1: Nicholas Starkey remembered a crucial detail. Back one night, while
Speaker 1: the pair were traveling to Nicholas's father's home, Hartly had
Speaker 1: taken him into a small wood. After walking for some
Speaker 1: time in the dark, deeper and deeper into the trees,
Speaker 1: Heartly suddenly stopped and began to mark a circle in
Speaker 1: the dirt. Then he divided it into four parts and
Speaker 1: filled it with crosses and other symbols, before turning to
Speaker 1: Starkey and asking ominously for him to step inside it.
Speaker 1: This was the evidence they needed, and after some further deliberations,
Speaker 1: the court made up their mind Edmund Hartley was dabbling
Speaker 1: in witchcraft and must be hung for his crimes. The
Speaker 1: next day, Hartley was marched up to the gallows at
Speaker 1: Lancaster Castle in front of a baying crowd eager to
Speaker 1: see the end of the man who had later become
Speaker 1: known as the Tilsley Witch. Hartley was then ordered to
Speaker 1: stand on a large block of wood as the noose
Speaker 1: was placed around his neck. Then the block was kicked
Speaker 1: from beneath his feet, leaving him dangling for a moment,
Speaker 1: clawing desperately at the rope, when suddenly it snapped, sending
Speaker 1: him sprawling to the floor, choking and wretching, gasping for breath.
Speaker 1: He turned to his accusers and repented for everything they
Speaker 1: accused him off, begging them for mercy, promising never again
Speaker 1: to participate in such diabolical activity. Unmoved, the justices beckoned
Speaker 1: for a second rope to be brought, which was promptly
Speaker 1: fixed to the scaffolding. The executioner then grabbed heartly and
Speaker 1: marched him back on to the block, before placing the
Speaker 1: noose once more around his neck. This time it did
Speaker 1: not break back At Cleworth, despite Hartley's death, things only
Speaker 1: continued to get worse, with Byram having since moved into
Speaker 1: the property. Soon a seventh member of the household would
Speaker 1: become effected by the apparent possession, not a child either,
Speaker 1: but thirty year old maid Jane Ashton. With doctor d
Speaker 1: unable to intervene directly, his butler made the suggestion to
Speaker 1: Nicholas Starkey that he contact John Darrell and Pastor George Moore,
Speaker 1: two ministers who'd helped to cure his young cousin of
Speaker 1: a similar affliction. Having convinced d to write to the
Speaker 1: pair personally, they reluctantly agreed to help. And so it
Speaker 1: was in the evening of March sixteenth, just as dusk
Speaker 1: was descending, that Darrel and Moore arrived at the vast
Speaker 1: grounds of Clewworth Hall. Stealing themselves for what may be
Speaker 1: about to come, the pair stepped warily out of their carriage. Then,
Speaker 1: armed with little more than their trusty bibles, they ventured
Speaker 1: forward into the house. Anna and Nicholas greeted the men
Speaker 1: on arrival and quickly ushered them inside and up to
Speaker 1: visit their children, both of whom appeared well, having apparently
Speaker 1: been unmolested by Satan for at least four days. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: Darrel and Moore joined the Starkeys in their dining hall
Speaker 1: for dinner. Having just sat down to eat, Margaret and
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Hardman and Eleanor Holland appeared in the doorway. One
Speaker 1: by one. They stepped slowly into the room and approached
Speaker 1: the two ministers, announcing confidently that they had come of
Speaker 1: their own free will. To welcome them into the house,
Speaker 1: when their faces suddenly contorted into pained looks, and all
Speaker 1: three of them were picked off their feet and flung
Speaker 1: violently backwards. The ministers looked on with horror as the
Speaker 1: girls screamed and writhed on the floor, their bodies appearing
Speaker 1: to swell and bulge, as though something were trying to
Speaker 1: push out of them. Then Margaret shot up and fixed
Speaker 1: the men in a terrifying stare. Do they think they
Speaker 1: can hang the devil? She hissed. They might have hanged dead,
Speaker 1: but they could not hang the devil. It was no
Speaker 1: marvel that the rope broke, for they were two head
Speaker 1: and the devil. In the end, he who had so sweetly,
Speaker 1: by his kisses, sent the devil, as so many had
Speaker 1: by the just judgment of God, the devil sent into him. Then,
Speaker 1: from somewhere deep in the house, the maid Jane Ashton
Speaker 1: began to howl. With no time to waste, Darrel and
Speaker 1: more ordered for Jane, Marge, Byron, and all the children
Speaker 1: to be rounded up and placed in a chamber together. Then,
Speaker 1: with Nicholas and Anne, as well as a number of
Speaker 1: staff looking on, began to pray over the afflicted each
Speaker 1: one writhing and howling at the utterance of every sanctified word.
Speaker 1: Then a strange murmuring started up among the children that
Speaker 1: steadily evolved into words Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prettle, prattle,
Speaker 1: and soon their voices were beginning to rise, tormenting Darrel
Speaker 1: and more with their ferocity, until the pair couldn't take
Speaker 1: any more and retreated out of the room. When the
Speaker 1: noise finally abated, they agreed to try again the following day.
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Speaker 1: The next morning, having sent word out for reinforcements, around
Speaker 1: thirty members of the local community gathered in the parlor
Speaker 1: as the five children, Jane Ashton and Marge Byron were
Speaker 1: brought out and each laid down on a couch, With
Speaker 1: Darrel and more leading proceedings. The group chanted prayers solemnly together,
Speaker 1: and before long the afflicted began to writhe and to
Speaker 1: cry out in strange and disturbing ways, as others tried
Speaker 1: their best to hold them down. A gasp went up
Speaker 1: from the crowd when blood began to flow from John's
Speaker 1: mouth and nostrils as his body flailed wildly. Then those
Speaker 1: words came again, whispered at first among the girls, before
Speaker 1: increasing in volume. Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prettled prattle,
Speaker 1: Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prittle, prattle. Darrell, in
Speaker 1: turn spoke ever louder, urging the crowd to lift their
Speaker 1: voices in unison as they cried out to God for mercy.
Speaker 1: Then came a horrifying scream from Marge Byrom. It is coming,
Speaker 1: she cried. Grabbing at her belly, she felt what she
Speaker 1: described later as something rising up from inside her that
Speaker 1: moved into her throat before emerging finally from her mouth.
Speaker 1: It was a dark mist at first, before it quickly
Speaker 1: transformed into a crow that flew off to the far
Speaker 1: side at the parlor, where it perched and watched her
Speaker 1: for a moment before shooting out the window in a
Speaker 1: flash of fire. Byrom thumped back down on the couch
Speaker 1: where she lay silent and still. Then something shifted in
Speaker 1: John to when suddenly, with his face now covered in blood,
Speaker 1: he gave out a scream at the sight of what
Speaker 1: he would later describe as a man with a large
Speaker 1: bulge on his back and a look of utter darkness
Speaker 1: on his face. Emerged from his mouth. The thing turned
Speaker 1: for a moment and attempted to re enter him, before
Speaker 1: finally vanishing out of the room. Then John too fell
Speaker 1: back limp and silent. Convinced his son was dead, Nicholas ran,
Speaker 1: distraught to his side and begged God to have mercy
Speaker 1: and not to take another one from him. After what
Speaker 1: seemed like hours, the boy finally began to stir, then
Speaker 1: sat bolt upright with a look of bright contentment in
Speaker 1: his eyes. And just then Margaret gave out a wild howl.
Speaker 1: I am hot, I am too hot, she said, I
Speaker 1: will not die. Then she lurched forward and vomited, and
Speaker 1: all the other girls did the same. For Margaret, Anna,
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth, it emerged in the shape of a white,
Speaker 1: bearded thing with a bulge on its chest sticking out
Speaker 1: like a second head. For Eleanor, it was a small,
Speaker 1: strangely shaped child in ragged clothes that scuttled away through
Speaker 1: a small hole in the wall. It had also tried
Speaker 1: to return, telling her he would break her neck and
Speaker 1: cast her into a pit of fire if she didn't
Speaker 1: let him climb back inside, but she resisted, and finally
Speaker 1: it appeared they had all been delivered, all that is,
Speaker 1: except for Jane Ashton. That night, terrified they might become
Speaker 1: possessed again, the children hid under their bed sheets as
Speaker 1: their local pastor father Dickens watched and prayed over them,
Speaker 1: urging them to resist and come the morning, their ordeal
Speaker 1: appeared to be over. For Jane Ashton, however, all was
Speaker 1: not so well. On the second day, as many as
Speaker 1: fifty locals were said to have joined Daryland Moore in
Speaker 1: the parlor as they attempted once and for all to
Speaker 1: be reared of the demonic spirits. With the children and
Speaker 1: Byrom also present for precautionary measures, their efforts focused mainly
Speaker 1: on Ashton. At the first sound of prayer, Ashton screamed
Speaker 1: in pain as her body convulsed, then began to shake manically,
Speaker 1: as if she were a rag doll caught in the
Speaker 1: jaws of a large dog. Then finally, just after one pm,
Speaker 1: she heaved forward, vomiting bile to the ground, then collapsed
Speaker 1: in a heap, exhausted, claiming later to have seen a large,
Speaker 1: bulbous toad escape her body. For the next few days,
Speaker 1: the children and Byrom claimed they were approached again numerous
Speaker 1: times by the devilish spirits, but each refused them re entry,
Speaker 1: until finally they were left alone for good, with each
Speaker 1: of them eventually being given a clean bill of health.
Speaker 1: They were never bothered again by the spirits. Jane Ashton
Speaker 1: was not so lucky. After leaving Cluworth, having apparently been cured,
Speaker 1: it was said that she went to live with a
Speaker 1: Catholic uncle, where her devilish symptoms once more reared their head.
Speaker 1: She was eventually rounded up, and, having been given up
Speaker 1: as a lost cause, was exhibited to the public, howling
Speaker 1: and barking as a warning to all Catholics what might
Speaker 1: perform them if they didn't convert to Protestantism. The following year,
Speaker 1: John Darrell and George Moore were imprisoned by the Archbishop
Speaker 1: of Canterbury for their involvement in the exorcism of a
Speaker 1: man from Nottingham named William Summons. They were imprisoned again
Speaker 1: the next year after being convicted of aught for what
Speaker 1: many saw as their blasphemous practice. In sixteen hundred, they
Speaker 1: publish their summary of all these events in their book
Speaker 1: A True Narration of the Strange and Grievous Vexation by
Speaker 1: the Devil of seven Persons in Lancashire and William Sommers
Speaker 1: of Nottingham, where you can still read all about it
Speaker 1: to this day. If you enjoy unexplained and would like
Speaker 1: to help supporters, you can now do so via Patreon.
Speaker 1: To receive access to add three episodes, just go to
Speaker 1: Patron dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Pod to sign up,
Speaker 1: or if you'd like to make a one time donation,
Speaker 1: you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com Forward Slash Support.
Speaker 1: All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained,
Speaker 1: the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never
Speaker 1: before been covered on the show, is now available to
Speaker 1: buy worldwide. You can purchased through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
Speaker 1: and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including
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