WEBVTT - S05 Episode 14: The Devil’s Kiss 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.320 Nine year old Anna was the first to be afflicted, 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.680 having been found just outside the house one chilly morning 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:22.320 in February, rolling around in the dirt and convulsing wildly. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:26.920 When the strange fit eventually ended, she was brought inside 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:30.159 and placed on her bed, where she lay limp and 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.640 lifeless for what seemed like hours before finally coming round, 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.000 seemingly unharmed, as if merely waking from a deep sleep. 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.000 The funny turn had been all but forgotten by the 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:46.840 following week, when workers out in the field were alerted 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:49.760 to the sound of screams coming from a nearby road, 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.560 running to investigate. This time it was Anna's ten year 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:58.520 old brother, John, who was found writhing about in the mud, 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.920 his teeth shut and his eyes fixed in terror at 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.520 some far off point, as foam frothed at his mouth. 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.319 It took three of them to still him before they 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:16.880 could carry him inside. That night, with John recovered, parents 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.720 Anne and Nicholas Starkey stood watch over their children as 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.840 they lay peacefully in their beds, a candle gently flickering 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.240 on the mantelpiece as they prayed to God to protect them. 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:33.040 Since their marriage in fifteen seventy eight, Anne and Nicholas 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.080 had already lost four children and they would be damned 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:39.640 if they were to lose another. But the fits would 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:44.240 not stop. Each time, the children would be struck, rigid 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:47.200 and flung to the ground as their bodies jerked and 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:53.240 spasmed uncontrollably. Afterwards, they would be left almost catatonic, sometimes 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.800 for hours, before returning to their normal selves. Over the 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.680 next six weeks, the couples tirelessly for a cure, spending 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.680 the equivalent of thousands of pounds in today's money on 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.880 doctor's fees, only to be told repeatedly there was nothing 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:15.440 physically wrong with their children. Eventually, the couple were forced 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.359 to accept the terrifying truth that their children had been 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:27.480 possessed by something diabolical. The family lived at Cleworth Hall, 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:31.400 a large mansion house built sometime around the year thirteen 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:35.680 hundred located just outside the town of Tyldesley in Lancashire 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.760 in the northwest of England, that had been passed down 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:43.320 through Anne's family before she herself inherited it. They lived 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.000 there with a number of staff and their children, who 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:51.400 managed the property and worked the surrounding fields. At the time, 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:56.000 much of Lancashire remained largely untouched by the Reformation currently 0:02:56.040 --> 0:03:00.920 sweeping the land. The Reformation sought primarily to undermine the 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.239 power and teachings of the Catholic Church and bring the 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:09.400 nation into a more modern, less superstitious age. But as 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:15.560 many might have said, it wasn't merely superstition. You're listening 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:27.519 to unexplained and I'm Richard McClean smith. It was late 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:31.440 one evening in March fifteen ninety five when Nicholas Starkey 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.320 rode out in desperation under the silvery light of the moon, 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:39.600 to the home of Edmund Hartley, a well known local conjurer. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.280 After Nicholas explained his predicament, Heartly accompanied him back to 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.360 the clue Worth estate, where he found the children once 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:54.400 again subdued and unresponsive after another bout of fits. Recognizing 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:58.160 the work of the devil, instantly, Heartly grabbed a series 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:01.680 of ornate Catholic charms from his bag and some bunches 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.960 of herbs, which he lit with a candle, flooding the 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:09.400 room with their pungent to roma. Then, standing over the children, 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.000 he began to utter strange and unusual words, until finally 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:20.000 his work was done. The following morning, the children arose 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:25.000 as fit and healthy as they had ever been. Nicholas 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.960 thanked Hartly for his work and paid him handsomely for 0:04:28.000 --> 0:04:32.080 his services, but the cure did not last long, and 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.800 soon he was forced to call for Hartly once again. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.719 After administering another successful treatment, Hartly suggested they make the 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.880 arrangement more formal so he could be on hand whenever 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.560 they needed him. After all, there was no knowing if 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.320 he'd even be available next time. Terrified at the prospect 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.760 of being unable to help their children, the Starkey's agreed 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:59.080 to the arrangement and offered Hartly the equivalent of forty 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.960 days pay to cover his costs for the next year. 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.359 And so things continued for the next eighteen months, with 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.880 Hartly continuing to visit the property to employ his charms 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.440 and herbs whenever John and Anna were tormented by the 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:18.880 evil spirits. Then, in September fifteen ninety six, with their 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:25.640 possession seemingly well under control, Partly seized his chance. It 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:29.159 was only fair, he said, considering how successful he'd been 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.320 in keeping the evil at bay, that they consider giving 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:36.359 him a raise, and perhaps a house and some land too. 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.279 But with the children appearing to be all but cured. 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:45.960 The starkeys refused. Angered by their snub, hertly fled from 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:49.839 their home, but not before issuing the stark, warning that 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.920 their battles with the devil were far from over and 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.719 with him gone, they would almost certainly get worse. And 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:07.440 with that he left. If there's ever been a year 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:09.719 to make the mums in your life feel loved and 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.080 appreciated on Mother's Day, it's this one. 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The following month, a strange noise was 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:36.120 heard one morning coming from young Elizabeth Hardman's bedroom. Hardman, 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.680 the daughter of house staff who also resided at Cleworth Hall, 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.840 was found scrabbling about under her bed, clawing at the floor. 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.240 When asked what she was doing, she stopped suddenly and 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.880 stuck her head out from underneath. I must find a 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.960 way through, she said, because the devil is waiting for 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:59.680 me on the other side. Then, jumping out from under 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.880 the bed, the girl charged head first toward a nearby window, 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.280 only to be caught just in time before she was 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:11.600 able to throw herself out of it. Not long after 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.560 this bizarre incident, the house was shaken by strange cries 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:20.240 coming from every quarter. Elizabeth, her sister Margaret, and their 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.080 friend Eleanor Holland, who also resided at the property, were 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.800 found in a bedroom howling together like wolves, and before 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.520 long John and Anna Starkey began howling too, in unison 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:38.120 with them. Not only had the demonic spirits returned, but 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:43.240 they were now spreading. To Convinced that Edmund Hartley was 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.880 somehow responsible, Nicholas traveled immediately to Manchester to seek the 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.720 advice of the warden of Manchester's christ College, a man 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.360 considered by many to be one of the most learned 0:08:54.400 --> 0:09:01.480 individuals in the country. His name was doctor John d d. 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.199 A graduate of Cambridge University and one of the leading 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.960 scientific minds of his day, had by the fifteen eighties 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.720 risen to become a respected scholar and leading adviser to 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:17.640 Queen Elizabeth, as well as her designated court astronomer, after 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:21.800 becoming increasingly fascinated in the occult. However, by the fifteen 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:27.520 nineties his reputation had waned considerably when it was revealed 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.040 that he had been attempting to communicate with angels, and 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:35.400 according to him, succeeding in his venture, Rumors began to 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:40.400 spread that he was in league with the devil. Having 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.839 amassed one of the largest libraries in the country, D 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.560 returned home from a six year trip to Europe in 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.760 eighteen eighty nine to find it had been ransacked by 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.880 a paranoid mob who destroyed over four hundred of his 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.319 most treasured texts, as well as numerous instruments and laboratory equipment. 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.680 Worse still, the man he entrusted his estate too, while 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.800 he was gone, had failed to collect rent payments that 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.920 were owed to him. Struggling for money, he was forced 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:13.080 to seek settled employment, and in fifteen ninety six took 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:17.079 on the role as warden of Christ's College. It was 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.839 in this capacity that Nicholas Starkey sought his help, telling 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.120 him that Edmund Hartley had, through malignant kisses, put the 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.520 devil into his children and three others in his household. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.920 Though d took the matter seriously enough, he simply couldn't, 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.200 under the circumstances, be seen to be dealing in anything 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:42.480 of a diabolical nature. Instead, he suggested that Starkeys seek 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.360 the help of some godly preachers who might be willing 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.440 to pray over the children and help weed out the 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:53.960 nefarious spirits. D agreed also that Edmund Hartley should be 0:10:54.040 --> 0:11:04.240 dealt with. By the time Nicholas returned to Cleworth Hall, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:08.320 things appeared to have settled down in the new year, 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.840 with the children seeming much better. They were taken to 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:16.520 visit relatives in Manchester, including thirty three year old Marge Byrom, 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.280 a close relation of Nicholas's. It was a few days 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.480 after the Starkey's left that Marge was sat at home 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:28.200 alone in front of the fire, when suddenly she was 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:31.520 raised from her chair and thrown violently to the floor. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.240 Coming round moments later, she managed to clamber back to 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.360 her feet and back into the chair, only to be 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.880 violently flung from it again. From that point on, she 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:48.280 became convinced that something malignant had got inside her, and 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:53.200 soon she was seeing it too. It started with the 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:56.680 sense of something moving about in her belly that seemed 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.440 to take the form of a calf's head that pushed 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.120 and squirmed under her skin, stabbing at her as if 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.439 it were made of nails. Then a rush of cold 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.320 air would shoot up from her lungs and out of 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:12.920 her mouth, giving her the overwhelming urge to bark and 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:17.760 howl into the air. Moments later, it would return the 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.280 other way, as if someone were breathing cold air straight 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:25.080 into her mouth. Then it shot down into her stomach, 0:12:25.440 --> 0:12:28.280 weighing her down like a stone, pulling her to the 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.880 ground where she would be forced to lie on her 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:34.640 side as her body shivered and her teeth chattered in 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.520 her mouth. Any attempt she made to get warm would 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:41.680 only result in her being wrenched back away from the 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:48.160 source of heat. Calling on Hartley's services again, Nicholas took 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.040 him to march Byrom's house to see if he could help. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:56.040 With d tipped off. He sent an observer, Matthew Palmer 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.439 there also to keep an eye on the proceedings. Barging 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:05.480 into the property, he found Heartly murmuring strange incantations over 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:09.440 a prostrate Byrom, and demanded immediately to know what was 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:14.000 going on. When Hartly said he was merely praying, an 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:20.040 unconvinced Palmer demanded to hear the prayers for himself. Looking sheepish, 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:24.000 Heartly admitted that the only prayer he really knew was 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.520 the Lord's prayer. Very well, then, said Palmer, I will 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:34.880 hear that. But Hartly had lied about that. Palmer then 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:37.920 turned to Byrom and asked her for her version of events, 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.400 but the woman would not meet his eye, too afraid 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:45.560 of what Hartly might do should she betray him. Having 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.440 seen enough, Palmer reported Hartly to the local justices of 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:53.680 the Peace, and in March fifteen ninety seven, he was 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:58.040 promptly arrested and sent to Lancaster Castle to await trial 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:07.120 on suspicion of conjuring and raising the devil. 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With Hartly awaiting trial, Justice of the 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.480 Peace Edmund Hopwood rode out to Cleworth to take testimony 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.960 from his apparent victims and witness their plight for himself. 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:29.040 In the days prior to his arrival, the children had 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.000 taken to crawling about for hours on their hands and knees, 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:36.320 yelping like dogs, and scuttling away from anybody that tried 0:15:36.360 --> 0:15:39.360 to get near them, And when they did finally return 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.359 to their feet, they appeared gripped by a supernatural inability 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.800 to speak, though they seemed well enough. When Hopwood arrived 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.360 at the estate, none dared to talk to him about Hartly, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.080 since they were also afraid of what he might do. 0:15:55.040 --> 0:16:00.400 Marg Byrom at least agreed eventually to talk. In six 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.480 weeks since Hartley had visited her, she claimed to have 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.840 been continually attacked by familiars of the Devil. Every night 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.840 around the hour of nine pm. The creatures, who invariably 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:14.800 took the form of a cat or a dog, took 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.240 it in turns to knock her down onto the floor, 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.640 leaving her unable to move until three am the following morning. 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:27.200 Sometimes she would have an insatiable appetite, eating meat like 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:31.680 a starving wild animal, or she might just simply stiffen up, 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:36.520 being unable to move for hours. One day in February, 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.520 a terrifying invisible force took hold of her, yanking her 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.840 about the room as if she were about to be 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:47.280 torn into a hundred pieces. When it finally stopped, a 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:52.080 noxious black smoke that stunk of rotting flesh emerged from 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:56.640 her mouth. In their deliberations, the justices of the Piece 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.680 consulted all manner of texts on the matter, from Johann 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:06.119 Vyers de Prestigious Daimonum and Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Springer's 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:11.800 Malais Melificarum. However, despite the clear evidence to suggest that 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:16.240 the conjuror, Edmund Hartley had indeed brought something unsavory to 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.520 Kluworth Hall. The court were unable to find specific evidence 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:24.280 that he'd summoned the devil to do it, but then 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:30.480 Nicholas Starkey remembered a crucial detail. Back one night, while 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.000 the pair were traveling to Nicholas's father's home, Hartly had 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.000 taken him into a small wood. After walking for some 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.439 time in the dark, deeper and deeper into the trees, 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.639 Heartly suddenly stopped and began to mark a circle in 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.679 the dirt. Then he divided it into four parts and 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.439 filled it with crosses and other symbols, before turning to 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.520 Starkey and asking ominously for him to step inside it. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:03.040 This was the evidence they needed, and after some further deliberations, 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:08.200 the court made up their mind Edmund Hartley was dabbling 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:18.439 in witchcraft and must be hung for his crimes. The 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.760 next day, Hartley was marched up to the gallows at 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.719 Lancaster Castle in front of a baying crowd eager to 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:28.040 see the end of the man who had later become 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:32.959 known as the Tilsley Witch. Hartley was then ordered to 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:36.119 stand on a large block of wood as the noose 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.800 was placed around his neck. Then the block was kicked 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.240 from beneath his feet, leaving him dangling for a moment, 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:48.359 clawing desperately at the rope, when suddenly it snapped, sending 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:53.560 him sprawling to the floor, choking and wretching, gasping for breath. 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.480 He turned to his accusers and repented for everything they 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:01.679 accused him off, begging them for mercy, promising never again 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:08.240 to participate in such diabolical activity. Unmoved, the justices beckoned 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.040 for a second rope to be brought, which was promptly 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.720 fixed to the scaffolding. The executioner then grabbed heartly and 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:18.840 marched him back on to the block, before placing the 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:23.400 noose once more around his neck. This time it did 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:29.680 not break back At Cleworth, despite Hartley's death, things only 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:33.680 continued to get worse, with Byram having since moved into 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:37.080 the property. Soon a seventh member of the household would 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:41.080 become effected by the apparent possession, not a child either, 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.879 but thirty year old maid Jane Ashton. With doctor d 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.919 unable to intervene directly, his butler made the suggestion to 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:54.680 Nicholas Starkey that he contact John Darrell and Pastor George Moore, 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:58.399 two ministers who'd helped to cure his young cousin of 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.639 a similar affliction. Having convinced d to write to the 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:07.280 pair personally, they reluctantly agreed to help. And so it 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.159 was in the evening of March sixteenth, just as dusk 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:15.159 was descending, that Darrel and Moore arrived at the vast 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:19.920 grounds of Clewworth Hall. Stealing themselves for what may be 0:20:20.000 --> 0:20:25.080 about to come, the pair stepped warily out of their carriage. Then, 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:29.000 armed with little more than their trusty bibles, they ventured 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:39.920 forward into the house. Anna and Nicholas greeted the men 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:43.520 on arrival and quickly ushered them inside and up to 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:47.920 visit their children, both of whom appeared well, having apparently 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:53.040 been unmolested by Satan for at least four days. Afterwards, 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.359 Darrel and Moore joined the Starkeys in their dining hall 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.560 for dinner. Having just sat down to eat, Margaret and 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:05.680 Elizabeth Hardman and Eleanor Holland appeared in the doorway. One 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.399 by one. They stepped slowly into the room and approached 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:13.879 the two ministers, announcing confidently that they had come of 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.040 their own free will. To welcome them into the house, 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.400 when their faces suddenly contorted into pained looks, and all 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.200 three of them were picked off their feet and flung 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:29.679 violently backwards. The ministers looked on with horror as the 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:33.800 girls screamed and writhed on the floor, their bodies appearing 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.240 to swell and bulge, as though something were trying to 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:41.400 push out of them. Then Margaret shot up and fixed 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.720 the men in a terrifying stare. Do they think they 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.960 can hang the devil? She hissed. They might have hanged dead, 0:21:49.200 --> 0:21:51.679 but they could not hang the devil. It was no 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:54.440 marvel that the rope broke, for they were two head 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:58.000 and the devil. In the end, he who had so sweetly, 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:01.240 by his kisses, sent the devil, as so many had 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:06.359 by the just judgment of God, the devil sent into him. Then, 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:10.200 from somewhere deep in the house, the maid Jane Ashton 0:22:10.680 --> 0:22:14.919 began to howl. With no time to waste, Darrel and 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.800 more ordered for Jane, Marge, Byron, and all the children 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:22.960 to be rounded up and placed in a chamber together. Then, 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:25.760 with Nicholas and Anne, as well as a number of 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:30.160 staff looking on, began to pray over the afflicted each 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.720 one writhing and howling at the utterance of every sanctified word. 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.399 Then a strange murmuring started up among the children that 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:45.720 steadily evolved into words Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prettle, prattle, 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:49.919 and soon their voices were beginning to rise, tormenting Darrel 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.160 and more with their ferocity, until the pair couldn't take 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:57.119 any more and retreated out of the room. When the 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:02.879 noise finally abated, they agreed to try again the following day. 0:23:06.760 --> 0:23:09.480 I'm excited to share with you a brand new podcast 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:14.320 from Pineapple Street Studios called My Fugitive. Throughout the series, 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:18.159 host Nina Gilden CV works to answer a question that 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.440 haunted her family for decades. Whatever happened to Howard Mechanic. 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.600 Howard was a college student in Saint Louis when he 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:29.119 vanished after a riot left of federal building burnt to 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.600 the ground. Nina's dad was the civil rights attorney who 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:36.840 represented Howard. On her hunt for answers, she came across 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:40.359 a cold war spy rink, a conspiracy to assassinate a 0:23:40.440 --> 0:23:44.719 civil rights icon, black bag jobs against activists whose lives 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.760 were changed forever, and the government's attempts to cover it 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:51.359 all up. New episodes of My Fugitive are available every 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:55.000 week wherever you get your podcasts, but why wait binge 0:23:55.040 --> 0:23:59.360 All episodes now exclusively on the new Ordyssey app. Ordyssey 0:23:59.440 --> 0:24:03.119 is your audio home for all the podcasts, music, news 0:24:03.160 --> 0:24:08.120 and sports that matter to you. That's Ordyssey au da Cy. 0:24:12.800 --> 0:24:17.240 The next morning, having sent word out for reinforcements, around 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:21.000 thirty members of the local community gathered in the parlor 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:25.440 as the five children, Jane Ashton and Marge Byron were 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:29.640 brought out and each laid down on a couch, With 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:34.800 Darrel and more leading proceedings. The group chanted prayers solemnly together, 0:24:35.240 --> 0:24:38.760 and before long the afflicted began to writhe and to 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:42.920 cry out in strange and disturbing ways, as others tried 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:47.320 their best to hold them down. A gasp went up 0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:50.880 from the crowd when blood began to flow from John's 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:55.920 mouth and nostrils as his body flailed wildly. Then those 0:24:55.960 --> 0:25:00.399 words came again, whispered at first among the girls, before 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:05.560 increasing in volume. Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prettled prattle, 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:11.080 Bible babble, Bible babble, prittle, prattle, prittle, prattle. Darrell, in 0:25:11.160 --> 0:25:14.480 turn spoke ever louder, urging the crowd to lift their 0:25:14.600 --> 0:25:18.160 voices in unison as they cried out to God for mercy. 0:25:18.840 --> 0:25:23.680 Then came a horrifying scream from Marge Byrom. It is coming, 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:27.679 she cried. Grabbing at her belly, she felt what she 0:25:27.760 --> 0:25:31.399 described later as something rising up from inside her that 0:25:31.600 --> 0:25:35.200 moved into her throat before emerging finally from her mouth. 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:39.080 It was a dark mist at first, before it quickly 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:42.080 transformed into a crow that flew off to the far 0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:45.560 side at the parlor, where it perched and watched her 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:48.840 for a moment before shooting out the window in a 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:53.439 flash of fire. Byrom thumped back down on the couch 0:25:53.960 --> 0:25:59.359 where she lay silent and still. Then something shifted in 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:03.719 John to when suddenly, with his face now covered in blood, 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:06.760 he gave out a scream at the sight of what 0:26:06.880 --> 0:26:09.600 he would later describe as a man with a large 0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:12.400 bulge on his back and a look of utter darkness 0:26:12.440 --> 0:26:16.920 on his face. Emerged from his mouth. The thing turned 0:26:16.960 --> 0:26:20.159 for a moment and attempted to re enter him, before 0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:24.200 finally vanishing out of the room. Then John too fell 0:26:24.240 --> 0:26:29.840 back limp and silent. Convinced his son was dead, Nicholas ran, 0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:33.280 distraught to his side and begged God to have mercy 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:37.359 and not to take another one from him. After what 0:26:37.480 --> 0:26:41.680 seemed like hours, the boy finally began to stir, then 0:26:41.760 --> 0:26:45.600 sat bolt upright with a look of bright contentment in 0:26:45.680 --> 0:26:50.600 his eyes. And just then Margaret gave out a wild howl. 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:54.240 I am hot, I am too hot, she said, I 0:26:54.359 --> 0:26:58.840 will not die. Then she lurched forward and vomited, and 0:26:58.920 --> 0:27:02.960 all the other girls did the same. For Margaret, Anna, 0:27:03.000 --> 0:27:06.080 and Elizabeth, it emerged in the shape of a white, 0:27:06.160 --> 0:27:09.840 bearded thing with a bulge on its chest sticking out 0:27:10.080 --> 0:27:13.959 like a second head. For Eleanor, it was a small, 0:27:14.320 --> 0:27:18.840 strangely shaped child in ragged clothes that scuttled away through 0:27:18.880 --> 0:27:22.879 a small hole in the wall. It had also tried 0:27:22.920 --> 0:27:26.280 to return, telling her he would break her neck and 0:27:26.440 --> 0:27:28.920 cast her into a pit of fire if she didn't 0:27:29.000 --> 0:27:33.920 let him climb back inside, but she resisted, and finally 0:27:34.240 --> 0:27:37.800 it appeared they had all been delivered, all that is, 0:27:38.400 --> 0:27:49.119 except for Jane Ashton. That night, terrified they might become 0:27:49.160 --> 0:27:52.880 possessed again, the children hid under their bed sheets as 0:27:52.920 --> 0:27:57.120 their local pastor father Dickens watched and prayed over them, 0:27:57.359 --> 0:28:01.320 urging them to resist and come the morning, their ordeal 0:28:01.560 --> 0:28:05.919 appeared to be over. For Jane Ashton, however, all was 0:28:06.000 --> 0:28:10.040