WEBVTT - S03 Episode 3: Under the Asphalt 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:03.120 There's nothing better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes, 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:05.200 and that doesn't mean flopping down on the couch with 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.559 bunny slippers. Maybe you're a parent raising a little rock star, 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.399 or a techno man working from anywhere and jumping from 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:14.400 one thing to the next. Whoever you are, All Bird 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.680 wants you to be comfortable in your actual shoes too. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.640 Their wool runners, pipers, and loungers are designed for a 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:21.560 level of coziness that makes you feel like you can 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:24.759 do anything. You might even forget you're wearing them. And 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.280 their shoes are so stylish they go perfectly with a 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.280 wear whatever I want attitude. All Birds is all about 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.839 loving mother nature too, because no one wants to leave 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:37.280 a bad footprint. Each shoe is carefully crafted from natural 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.760 materials that tread lightly on our planet, from ZQ certified 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.680 Marino wool to a bouncing midsill made from sweet foam, 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:51.120 the world's first carbon negative EVA material made from sugarcane. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:03.000 That night, Zoe was restless, lying in bed with her 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:07.319 boyfriend's stan Fast asleep beside her. She had noticed a strange, 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:11.160 diffuse light that appeared to be emanating from just inside 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:16.399 the bedroom window. Nudging Stan awake, she gestured toward the 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:20.480 far end of the room. Seeing it now too, he 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.600 sat up, trying to comprehend what he was looking at. 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.840 Before he had time to think, Soie was already up 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:31.760 and flicking on the main light, nervously looking about the room, 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.440 before turning it off again. With the room shrouded once 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.360 more in darkness, the peculiar light appeared to have gone. 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:44.720 Must have been something from outside, said Stan, as he 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.840 rolled on to his side and closed his eyes. Soe 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.400 rubbed her arms, suddenly feeling a little cold, and moved 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.680 over to the window. Peering down through the curtains to 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.000 the quiet street below, she could see the soft sodium 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.200 of a street light illuminating the pavement on the far 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:07.160 side of the road. That must have been it, she thought. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:11.959 She pulled the curtains tighter and got back into bed. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.560 Before she could get comfortable, however, she saw once again 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:23.440 that the strange light had returned. Stan whispered Zoe. He 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:26.440 opened his eyes for a moment before turning away again 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.240 on to his side. I told you it's just something 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:38.440 from outside, but Stan, said Zoe. It's moving. Stan paused 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.920 before turning to look at Zoe, and then towards the 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.000 end of the room, what at first seemed like a 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.520 light was more like a misty white shadow now, and 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.840 it was moving away from the window and further into 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:58.600 the room. Stan's hands gripped tighter on the covers. The 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.760 pair froze as the amorphous shadow of light continued to 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.480 move around the room before stopping at the end of 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:09.600 the bed. Stan shot under the covers in terror, but 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.160 Zoe couldn't take her eyes off it. She reached out 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.840 her hand, drawing closer and closer until she was near 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:20.880 enough to touch it, and then as quickly as it 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:28.040 had appeared, it vanished. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:40.560 Richard McClean Smith. The following morning, Zoe and Stan weren't 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.200 quite sure what, if anything, they had seen. An embarrassed 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.040 Stan left early for work, leaving a perplexed Zoe to 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.280 explain the events to her housemate Rosemary. The two of 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:57.120 them lived together in Flat number twenty four of Frankom House, 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:02.040 a five story red bricked council housing block built in 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.160 the late nineteen thirties. It was located on the corner 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.960 of Frankam Street and Deptford Church Street in southeast London, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.400 forming part of the area's Crossfield Estate. The estate had 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.240 been built over a ten year period as part of 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.320 a major regeneration drive to improve housing in the local area, 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.400 but had itself in recent times come under threat of demolition. 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.800 In early nineteen seventy three, builders had moved in to 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:35.120 widen the adjacent road, and now the council were considering 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.760 the partial removal of some of the housing blocks on 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.200 the estate to make way for it. It was shortly 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:45.279 after builders moved in that Zoe's peculiar experience had taken 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:50.760 place that morning. However, recounting the story to Rosemary, she 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.679 couldn't help but feel a little bit stupid. Most likely, 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.920 as Stan had suggested, it really was just a trick 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.320 of the light. Twenty one year old Zoey had moved 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.640 into the flat the previous year, shortly after giving birth 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.800 to her baby Natalie. The pair shared the apartment with 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.719 the twenty eight year old Rosemary, her eight and three 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.880 year old daughters Donna and Jennifer, and her seven year 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:21.440 old son Mark. Though neither was particularly superstitious. With their 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.560 young children also living in the flat with them, they 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.400 could be forgiven a slight sense of apprehension at the 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:32.120 thought of something strange happening inside their home. They had 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.480 soon forgotten the incident, however, until a few weeks later, 0:05:35.760 --> 0:05:38.839 when Zoey, who worked as a nurse, returned to the 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.200 flat after a long shift to find a putrid smell 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.240 filling the apartment. She had come across that smell before 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:52.880 at work. It was the smell of rotting flesh. Rosemary 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.320 had recently adopted a puppy. Perhaps it had brought something 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.240 into the flat, thought Zoey, Yet despite scouring the place 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:05.320 from top to bottom, she found no obvious source. When 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.360 Rosemarie returned with the children later that day, they spent 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:13.559 the evening pulling back furniture and disinfecting the property, even 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.799 spraying air freshener everywhere, but it was to no avail. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:23.000 Nothing could shake it. The following day the stench persisted. 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.640 Being Saturday, the families took the opportunity to get out 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.560 for the day, hoping the odor would dissipate by the 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.800 time they had got back. Returning later that evening, they 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:38.360 were somewhat disappointed to find it still very much lingering. 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.360 Zoe took little convincing to stay it stands for the night, 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:47.320 leaving the others to deal with it alone. Doing their 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.200 best to ignore it, the family would eventually bed down 0:06:50.240 --> 0:07:00.840 for the night and find some sleep. It was sometime 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:05.040 around one a m. When Rosemary awoke with a start. 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.920 The room was pitch black, but as her eyes slowly adjusted, 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.800 she could just make out the figure of a man 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:18.280 standing at the foot of her bed, watching her. Assuming 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.280 it to be her boyfriend Lloyd, who had mentioned possibly 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:25.280 heading over that night, Rosemary watched in silence as the 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:29.080 figure turned and walked straight out at the bedroom without 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:35.800 saying a word. Lloyd whispered Rosemary into the night, but 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:41.320 there was no reply. Feeling suddenly unsure, she stepped from 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.440 the bed and peered into the darkness of the corridor, 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.880 looking down to the far end. Although the living room 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.120 door was closed, she could see the room's light was on, 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:59.800 softly shining out from under the door. Lloyd she whispered again, 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:06.000 but still there was no response. After checking to make 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.160 sure that there was no one in the kitchen, Rosemary 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:14.080 cautiously made her way toward the living room. Stopping outside 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.280 the door, she could just make out an airy scratching 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:23.000 sound coming from within. Slowly she opened the door, but 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:28.680 there was nobody inside the room. The sound, she now realized, 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.520 had been coming from the record player, which had inexplicably 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:38.000 been turned on. She watched for a moment, mesmerized by 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:41.920 the empty table as it spun round and round, listening 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.640 to the scratch of the needle as it dragged against 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:49.440 the empty plate. With a rising sense of panic, she 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.680 hurried to check on the children in the other rooms 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.040 and found them all sound asleep, with no sign of 0:08:55.080 --> 0:09:01.440 an intruder, or Lloyd, for that matter, anywhere. Finally making 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.840 her way to the front door, Rosemary double checked the locks, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.000 finding them just as she had left them earlier that night. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:13.640 Now thoroughly spooted, Rosemary switched off the living room light 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:23.800 and returned to bed. After eventually getting back to sleep, 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.880 she was woken just before seven by an unexpected brightness, 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.720 surprised to find her bedroom light had been switched on. 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.240 In fact, as she would discover soon after, every light 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:42.040 in the house had been turned on again, there was 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.400 no sign of anybody else other than her children, who 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.000 were still sound asleep in their beds. A few hours later, 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:53.800 while helping her daughters get dressed, Rosemary went to the 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.640 spare room to get clean clothes. She opened the door 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.160 and let out a stifled cry. The room had been 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.960 completely smashed up. The bed had been stripped and the 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.480 mattress tossed to the bottom of the room. All her 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.920 children's clothes had been wrenched from their drawers and scattered 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.880 across the floor. And in the middle of the room 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.760 sat a small rocking horse, which until that morning had 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:26.160 been perched high on top of the wardrobe. Then she 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:30.839 spotted something else lying on the floor, a golliwog doll 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:35.560 of her daughters, its head torn off and the stuffing 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.959 ripped out of it. Although quite popular with many white 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:43.880 families at the time, the dolls designed in the image 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.839 of a black face minstrel have since been broadly recognized 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:52.360 as racist and offensive depictions of black men. All other 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:57.559 dolls in the room had been left curiously untouched. There 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:02.560 was something else too. The wind was wide open, However, 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.960 as Rosemary looked down at the sheer drop two flights below, 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:09.439 it was clear that nobody could have climbed in or 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.960 out of it. Later that day, having confirmed that her 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.760 boyfriend Lloyd had been nowhere near the flat, a deeply 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:21.880 shaken Rosemary accompanied by her three small children, made her 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:26.200 way up the road to Saint Paul's Church. Terrified that 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.480 she was going mad, she relayed the events to Cannon 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:33.760 David Diamond, who listened with patience and concern to her story. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.520 Though he wasn't free to see the flat for himself, 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.040 he gave her a crucifix to install in the apartment. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.960 A short time later, Rosemary returned home, joined by friends 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:53.400 and neighbors Linda and the aptly named Missus Mystery. Stepping 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:57.520 into the damaged bedroom, Mystery was immediately gripped by a 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:03.680 profoundly unsettling sensation. Blood drained from her face, and the 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.960 hairs rose on the back of her neck. Certain that 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:13.280 whatever had been here was violently angry. Together the friends 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.440 cleaned up the room and placed the crucifix on the wall. 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:23.040 At Linda's suggestion, the nervous Rosemary also scattered garlic throughout 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:28.320 the room to ward off any evil spirits. That night, 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:32.880 with Lloyd staying over this time, Rosemary slept soundly with 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:38.880 no repeat of the previous night's disturbances. The next day, 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:43.800 Priest Diamond arrived, and, sensing something of an unquiet spirit, 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:49.040 he offered up a solemn requiem Mass, also known as 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:53.760 the Mass for the dead. The Mass, as the Catholic 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.600 Rosemary knew well, was usually given at funerals in an 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.400 effort to bring rest to the souls of the cease. 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.920 But Rosemary was confused. Why would he need to say 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:10.800 it in her apartment, she asked, as Diamond explained this 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.000 wasn't the first time he had given the Mass at 0:13:13.080 --> 0:13:17.440 Frankom House. In fact, he had been hearing reports for 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:22.280 some time that the place was haunted. As it would transpire, 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:25.800 there had been another building here before the council knocked 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.520 it down to build the estate. It was a church 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.959 demolished in the nineteen thirties, and Frankom House had been 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:39.640 built right on top of its cemetery. Perhaps the recent 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:45.559 building work had disturbed something in the soil. But Rosemary 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.120 shouldn't worry, said Diamond. The spirits wouldn't be bothering her now, 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.240 and he was right. For a short time at least. 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.480 Are you always taking care of your family? You often 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.559 take care of others and not yourself. Now it's time 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.800 to take care of yourself. To make time for you. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.240 You deserve it. TELEDOC gives you access to a licensed 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.080 therapist to help you get back to feeling your best, 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.360 to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.119 to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.040 are available seven days a week from seven am to 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:28.520 nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.640 you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely, or you 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.240 might be struggling with a personal or family issue, teledoc 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:40.960 can help. Teledoc is committed to facilitating great therapeutic matches, 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.800 so they make it easy to change counselors if needed. 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:48.920 For free. Teledoc therapy is available through most insurance or employers. 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:53.200 Download the app or visit teledoc dot com forward slash 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:59.600 Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:08.920 slash Unexplained podcast. Hattie Smith and husband Jim had lived 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.280 at Number sixteen for twenty seven years when they accepted 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.920 the council's offer to move out as part of their 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.440 redevelopment plans for the area, and they couldn't have been 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.320 happier for the opportunity. All six of their children had 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:25.760 at some point grown up in the Frankeom House flat 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:31.200 and all had strange stories to tell. The family had 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.200 always kept it to themselves, not ever quite sure of 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.840 what they had experienced, but also concerned with what others 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:43.560 might think. Hattie had often sensed a presents when alone 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:47.080 in the apartment, and at times had even felt something 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:52.680 touching her or pulling at her clothes. Lights would frequently 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.000 turn off and on of their own accord. Hattie's daughter 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.880 Shirley saw shadows moving about the flat and heard odd 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.920 noises late at night, as if furniture was being moved around, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.400 only to find the next morning that nothing had been touched. 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.920 Another daughter, Sylvia, had spent an entire night staring with 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.440 horror at her bedroom door as the handle moved up 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.600 and down the door, seemingly being opened and shut by 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:29.200 something unseen. One time, a neighbor late one evening thought 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:32.280 she caught sight of Hattie's husband, Jim, standing at one 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:36.560 of the windows just inside their apartment. Only the flat 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:42.200 had been empty at the time. The strange events seemed 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.640 to have abated until that final year before they moved 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:51.600 and the workmen moved into the area. It was late 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.480 one Tuesday night when Hattie returned home from playing bingo 0:16:56.760 --> 0:16:59.720 with Jim away for work, and the children having left 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:04.359 home many years before, Hattie was completely alone when she 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:06.679 put a pile of dirty washing in the bath to 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:13.040 soak overnight before retiring to bed. The next morning, she 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.159 was woken at seven thirty am by the sound of 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:20.639 fast running water racing into the bathroom. She found it 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.479 gushing out of the tap. With the tub almost full, 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:28.399 Hattie hurriedly turned it off and looked down at the water. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:33.840 It was the strangest thing. At the very bottom were 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.320 her clothes soaking in a layer of dark, dirty water, 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:41.679 but then on top an entirely other layer, completely clear. 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:49.040 Whatever it was, it was back. A few weeks later, 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.879 Hattie was cleaning the bathroom when the door suddenly closed 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:56.840 behind her. Turning to pull it open, she found it 0:17:56.880 --> 0:17:59.520 had stuck fast, as if it had been locked from 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:04.080 the outside side. Hattie called out to Jim for help, 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:09.320 pulling furiously at the handle. Looking down, she screamed in 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.360 terror at the sight of a hand sticking out from 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:17.120 under the door. Jim arrived moments later, opening the door 0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:31.639 with ease. It had been unlocked the whole time. The 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.280 Smiths left their apartment. In February of nineteen seventy four. 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.680 It was around the same time that Hattie's friend and neighbor, 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:45.760 Beatrice Goringe, first experienced her own peculiar happenings. Beatrice lived 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:49.359 next door at number seventeen, and things had never been 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.560 quite the same since her husband died the year before. 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:59.600 It started with the knocking, short quiet taps that seemed 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:03.960 to come from within the walls. Then other sounds were heard, 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:09.639 like something being dragged across the floor. One night, early 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:12.600 in the new year, the fifty six year old Beatrice 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.280 had just said goodbye to her daughter, who had come 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.359 to visit, when she turned back into the flat and 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:23.520 noticed the bathroom door swing closed. She called out, but 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.040 received no reply, hearing only voices coming from the radio 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:33.399 in the living room. Tiptoeing down toward the bathroom, she 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:39.600 felt the temperature drop suddenly. She pushed open the bathroom door, 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:46.080 but found nobody inside. Now feeling very cold, she listened 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:48.600 with alarm as the volume on the radio in the 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:55.399 other room was suddenly turned down. Hello, she said, but 0:19:55.560 --> 0:20:01.840 again there was no reply. Moving slowly into the living room, 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.760 she headed to the radio and turned the dial back up, 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:10.359 but the volume wouldn't shift. When Beatrice stepped out of 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.840 the room. A moment later, the radio blared out at 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.440 full volume, rushing back in. She wrenched the cord from 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.840 the wall and stood for a moment in the silence. 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.520 That night, Beatrice awoke in the dim light of the 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.399 late evening to find what appeared to be the faint 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.840 outline of a figure standing at the end of her bed. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:39.760 Too terrified to move, Beatrice waited until morning before packing 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.360 a bag and racing to her mother's, where she would 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:47.080 spend the night for the next few weeks. Friends suggested 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:50.400 the figure she had seen was her recently deceased husband, 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:56.480 but she insisted it wasn't. Her husband had been quite short, 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:02.879 but this figure was something else, entirely tall and oddly shaped. 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.480 Back inside number twenty four. A few nights later, Rosemary 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.960 was woken by the sound of the baby crying. With 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.880 Zoe out for the evening. She was just getting up 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.199 to see to her when she heard the cry of 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.320 leave me alone coming from her daughter's bedroom, But when 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.000 she entered there was no one there except for Donna 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:38.000 and her sister, Jennifer. I'm frightened, said Donna, as her 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:43.560 mother tried to comfort her. For the next few days, 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.639 the family are plagued by doors in the property that 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:51.960 continually open and close on their own. When a friend 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.720 hears of the latest events, she convinces Rosemary and Zoe 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.200 to try out a wijiboard in an attempt to communicate 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.879 with whatever is haunting their home. One night in early March, 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:09.440 with the children fast asleep, Rosemary, Zoe, and her boyfriend 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:14.359 Stan set themselves around the kitchen table, having crudely constructed 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:17.280 their own numbers and lettering, and place them in a 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:21.399 circle around a glass with their fingers on the vessel. 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:27.919 Rosemary asks quietly if anybody is there. Slowly, the glass 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:34.160 begins to move, stopping next to the word yes. Are 0:22:34.160 --> 0:22:39.359 you a good or bad? Spirit cuts in Zoe. Rosemary 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:42.600 gasps as the glass makes its way across the table, 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:47.280 first to the letter B, then to the A, and 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:51.920 finally to the D. Cut it out stand, says Zoe. 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:56.600 But I'm not doing anything, he says. To prove it, 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.480 he takes his finger from the glass and asks a 0:22:59.560 --> 0:23:03.600 question that neither of the others could possibly know. What's 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.640 the first initial of my brother's name, he says, with 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:11.320 a deep breath. Slowly, again, the glass begins to move. 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.840 Sliding across to the letter j Zoe looks to stand, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:23.600 whose face has already gone white. Another session ends with 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:27.960 the glass repeatedly spelling out goodbye and shooting off the 0:23:28.000 --> 0:23:34.439 table into Rosemary's lap. One evening, after a particularly fraught session, 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:37.639 Zoe was too scared to sleep alone and spent the 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:41.679 night with Rosemary. The following morning, she returned to her 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:44.679 room to find it completely trashed, with everything from the 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:48.840 top of her dresser swept onto the floor, including a crucifix, 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:53.760 bottles of perfume, and her nurse's book. The chair in 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:56.760 her room had been moved next to the book, as 0:23:56.760 --> 0:23:59.000 if some one had just recently been sitting in it. 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:16.720 Zoe moved out the following month. Shortly before Zoe left, 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:20.320 a local journalist caught wind of the strange events taking 0:24:20.320 --> 0:24:24.440 place at Frankom House. A series of short articles printed 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:28.000 in the Southeast London Mercury, in turn caught the attention 0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:32.080 of Society of Psychical Research member Hugh Pincot, who promptly 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:36.760 made arrangements to speak with some of the residents. Pincot 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:41.720 found Rosemary and her family deeply traumatized by the recent events. However, 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:45.920 despite holding a number of further seances. Together with Rosemary 0:24:45.920 --> 0:24:50.280 and Zoe, Pincot was unable to gleam any substantial information 0:24:50.600 --> 0:24:55.320 about what exactly had been taking place. One night, soon 0:24:55.359 --> 0:25:00.480 after Rosemary is woken by her daughter Donna's screams, there 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:03.240 had been a tall man with a large beard standing 0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:05.720 at the back of her room, she said between sobs, 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:12.240 as her mother looked on aghast. Not long after, the 0:25:12.320 --> 0:25:15.720 building works taken place around the property finally came to 0:25:15.800 --> 0:25:19.920 an end, and so too did the strange occurrences within 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:25.040 the walls of Frankem House. Despite everything that had happened, 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:28.080 there seemed no trace of the apparent haunting that had 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:34.120 taken place at the property, except for one thing. When 0:25:34.200 --> 0:25:38.119 Hugh Pincot eventually managed to track down Hattie Smith, she 0:25:38.280 --> 0:25:41.200 was keen to finally be able to share her experiences. 0:25:42.800 --> 0:25:45.959 Taking a picture from a family photo album, she passed 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:50.320 it to mister Pincot. It had been taken by one 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:53.679 of her grandchildren, a portrait of Hattie and one of 0:25:53.720 --> 0:25:58.200 her daughters standing side by side, and there in the background, 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:01.920 to the left of the door stood the dark, shadowy 0:26:01.960 --> 0:26:18.000 shape of a tall figure lurking just behind them. In 0:26:18.080 --> 0:26:23.199 two thousand and fifteen, the Population Reference Bureau estimated that 0:26:23.320 --> 0:26:27.359 since the appearance of modern Homo sapiens sometime around fifty 0:26:27.359 --> 0:26:31.480 thousand BCE, just over a hundred billion of us have 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:36.040 lived and died on this planet. London, like all major 0:26:36.080 --> 0:26:41.040 cities of the world, has buried its fair few. Considering 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:43.480 that humans have lived in the area for over five 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:46.840 thousand years, it's a wonder that there is any space 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:50.840 there at all that doesn't somewhere adjacent or directly below 0:26:50.880 --> 0:26:54.240 it contain remnants of those who have come before us. 0:26:57.080 --> 0:26:59.879 And considering the frequency with which even those who are 0:26:59.880 --> 0:27:03.359 still living here will be ripped from their communities and 0:27:03.520 --> 0:27:08.840 involuntarily resettled as if they were mere ghosts themselves, perhaps 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:12.200 we should not worry or feign surprise when we find 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:18.840 bones amid the foundations. In some ways, it is strange 0:27:18.880 --> 0:27:21.480 to think for those lucky enough to have a place 0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:24.600 to call their own, or a piece of land, perhaps, 0:27:25.400 --> 0:27:28.600 how desperately we cling to the notion that it is ours, 0:27:29.640 --> 0:27:34.560 the thought of it being invaded the ultimate violation. But 0:27:34.680 --> 0:27:38.320 this ownership, of course, can only ever be a legal fiction, 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:42.359 a reality only as long as there are enough people 0:27:42.640 --> 0:27:48.040 to believe it, so, in truth, land belongs to no one. 0:27:50.760 --> 0:27:53.960 The idea that ghosts remain attached to the land long 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:57.840 after their bodies have gone has also always seemed problematic 0:27:57.920 --> 0:28:02.280 to me. Much like the question played out to wonderful 0:28:02.320 --> 0:28:06.560 and mournful effect in David Lowery's two and seventeen film 0:28:06.840 --> 0:28:10.960 A Ghost Story. I find myself wondering just where with 0:28:11.119 --> 0:28:14.399 these ghosts go when the earth is swallowed by the 0:28:14.440 --> 0:28:18.840 massive giant our sun is destined to become it too 0:28:19.240 --> 0:28:23.480 fated to die and perhaps one day vanish from existence. 0:28:25.800 --> 0:28:28.960 But perhaps one way or another, as long as it 0:28:29.400 --> 0:28:32.840 and people are here to keep it so, the land 0:28:33.000 --> 0:28:37.240 will always be haunted, something of it, always to be 0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:42.680 trespassed upon, or, in the words of the poet Philip Freneau, 0:28:43.800 --> 0:28:47.680 thou stranger that shalt come this way, no fraud upon 0:28:47.720 --> 0:28:52.760 the dead. Commit observe the swelling turf, and say they 0:28:52.840 --> 0:29:03.720 do not lie, but here they sit. If you enjoy 0:29:03.800 --> 0:29:06.600 listening to Unexplained and would like to help support us, 0:29:07.040 --> 0:29:10.200 you can now go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward 0:29:10.240 --> 0:29:14.800 slash support. All donations, no matter how large or small, 0:29:15.120 --> 0:29:24.360 are massively appreciated. All elements of Unexplained are produced by 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:27.520 me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show 0:29:27.520 --> 0:29:29.640 on iTunes, but feel free to get in touch with 0:29:29.680 --> 0:29:32.240 any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 0:29:32.280 --> 0:29:35.160 the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own 0:29:35.200 --> 0:29:37.719 you'd like to share. You can reach us online at 0:29:37.760 --> 0:30:18.040 Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod Now. 0:30:18.040 --> 0:30:21.040 It's time to take care of yourself. To make time 0:30:21.240 --> 0:30:25.280