WEBVTT - Season 03 Episode 09: Come Talk to Me (Rerun)

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, it's Richard McClain smith here. Season seven of Unexplained

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<v Speaker 1>will begin on Friday, July twenty eighth. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>we are revisiting some of our favorite episodes. This week

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<v Speaker 1>is one of my personal favorites. Back in nineteen fifty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>Friedrich Jergenson was recording bird song in his garden when

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<v Speaker 1>he captured something else entirely. The experience would change his

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<v Speaker 1>life forever. With a title taken from a song by

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<v Speaker 1>Peter Gabriel, this week's rerun is Unexplained, Season three, episode nine,

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<v Speaker 1>Come talk to me, won't you please? Sun me? If

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<v Speaker 1>you sure? Sus Friedrich Jergensen did not believe in ghosts,

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<v Speaker 1>at least not in the traditional sense of something that

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<v Speaker 1>had once lived, somehow remaining after death, much less that

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<v Speaker 1>the dead could talk. He did not follow any religion

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<v Speaker 1>or pin his master to any one political party, and

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<v Speaker 1>neither did he believe in an interventionist god. He had

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<v Speaker 1>seen too much for that. Jurgensen was born in Odessa

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<v Speaker 1>in February nineteen o three, then a major city of

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<v Speaker 1>the Russian Empire and soon to be cradle of revolution.

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<v Speaker 1>Though his family lived a relatively charmed life by comparison

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<v Speaker 1>to many of its citizens. His formative years were nonetheless

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<v Speaker 1>surrounded by misery, as he once put it, and it

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<v Speaker 1>certainly wasn't lacking in drama. By the time he was

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<v Speaker 1>forty years old, Jurgensen will have fled from Bolshevik revolutionaries

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<v Speaker 1>to Estonia, before later moving to Berlin to train as

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<v Speaker 1>an opera singer under the great Italian tenor Tito's Skeeper.

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<v Speaker 1>After a period of almost unrivaled sexual and creative freedom

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<v Speaker 1>in the city, he will later watch in horror as

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<v Speaker 1>a new Puritanism takes hold, while those not blessed with

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<v Speaker 1>the privilege of being able to work in the arts,

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<v Speaker 1>struggling under crippling poverty and unemployment, are drawn ever closer

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<v Speaker 1>to the rising tide of fascism. Its subsequent fanning of

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<v Speaker 1>a growing antisemitism leaves the Jewish skeeper no option but

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<v Speaker 1>to escape to Palestine, where Friedrich will join him for

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<v Speaker 1>eight years, swapping one war zone for another. Returning to

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<v Speaker 1>Europe in nineteen thirty eight, Friedrich, now a successful opera

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<v Speaker 1>singer in his own right, makes plans to continue his

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<v Speaker 1>career in Italy. However, after visiting his parents in Estonia,

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<v Speaker 1>the cold climate plays havoc with his health and his voice,

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<v Speaker 1>eventually forcing him to give up his singing dream. He

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<v Speaker 1>returns to Italy soon after with the intention of becoming

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<v Speaker 1>a professional painter, only to find war waiting for him

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<v Speaker 1>once again. Unwilling to fight for a fascist cause and

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<v Speaker 1>having no distinct nationality of his own to defend, Friedrich,

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<v Speaker 1>whose mother was Swedish, flees to her home country. By

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<v Speaker 1>the end of the Second World War in nineteen forty five, Jergensen,

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<v Speaker 1>who by now speaks ten different languages, is forty two

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<v Speaker 1>years old, married, and finally ready to settle down. Incredibly,

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<v Speaker 1>despite all that he has seen and experienced, the most

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<v Speaker 1>extraordinary moment of his life still awaits. You're listening to

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<v Speaker 1>Unexplained and I'm Richard MacLean Smith. It is thirteen years later,

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<v Speaker 1>and a now fifty five year old Friedrich has established

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<v Speaker 1>himself as a talented portraitist and archaeological painter, admired even

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<v Speaker 1>by the Pope. At some point in nineteen fifty seven,

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<v Speaker 1>having spent many years working at the ruined Roman city

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<v Speaker 1>of Pompeii, he accepts an invitation to hold an exhibition

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<v Speaker 1>in its grounds. The magic of the place had infatuated

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<v Speaker 1>him since he was a child, how it had once

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<v Speaker 1>been forgotten, buried under fire and ash, only to be

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<v Speaker 1>unearthed by chance and rescued from its violent end to

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<v Speaker 1>stand once more as a testament to civilization. The offer

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<v Speaker 1>was made even more appealing when he was given the

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<v Speaker 1>opportunity to work on site, establishing a studio in the

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<v Speaker 1>House of the Tragic Poet, one of the more well

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<v Speaker 1>preserved buildings, elaborately decorated throughout with exquisite mosaics depicting scenes

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<v Speaker 1>from Greek mythology. But best of all was being granted

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<v Speaker 1>a key to the city. As dusk settled over the ruins,

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<v Speaker 1>long after everyone else had left, Friedrich would be free

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<v Speaker 1>to wander the deserted homes and streets alone in the

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<v Speaker 1>eerie silence. The quieter it was, the more fiercely he

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<v Speaker 1>felt the ghosts fighting to emerge from the shadows. As

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<v Speaker 1>he walked, he let his imagination drift. From a street corner,

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<v Speaker 1>an exuberant shopkeeper emerges measuring grain for his customers. Over there,

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<v Speaker 1>a horse and cart trundles by, as robed dignitaries saunter behind,

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<v Speaker 1>while the sound of children playing echoes through the streets,

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<v Speaker 1>and if he listens carefully enough from a distance, the

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<v Speaker 1>fleeting roar of a crowd packed into the city's amphitheater

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<v Speaker 1>is carried on the wind, and sometimes the imagining of

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<v Speaker 1>the sudden explosion, followed by a growing plume of ash,

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<v Speaker 1>the darkening of the sky, and the billowing cloud of

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<v Speaker 1>boiling heat speeding down the mountainside as the screams grow

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<v Speaker 1>louder and louder. Soon summer is approaching and Friederich's exhibition

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<v Speaker 1>is coming to its end. As a final thank you

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<v Speaker 1>for his work, he has offered the chance to fulfill

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<v Speaker 1>a lifetime's ambition when the Pompeii Archaeological Commission invites him

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<v Speaker 1>to take part in an excavation of a newly discovered

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<v Speaker 1>property the following year. He gladly accepts the offer and

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<v Speaker 1>returns to Stockholm soon after to begin putting together his

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<v Speaker 1>plans for his next visit. Little did he know, then, however,

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<v Speaker 1>that he would not be returning to Pompeii any time soon,

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<v Speaker 1>for something was about to occur that would change his

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<v Speaker 1>life and understanding of it forever. In June nineteen fifty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>Friedrich and his wife Monica traveled to their country house

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<v Speaker 1>just south of Merlinboe, a small village located sixty kilometers

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<v Speaker 1>southwest of the capital Stockholm. The property, which backed on

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<v Speaker 1>to a placid and tranquil lake, was as idyllic a

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<v Speaker 1>country retreat as one could imagine. Aside from the main house,

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<v Speaker 1>the property consisted of an old, dilapidated hut by the

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<v Speaker 1>water's edge, as well as a guest house on the

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<v Speaker 1>fringes of a nearby forest bordering the garden, itself an

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<v Speaker 1>enchanting mess of wild flowers and apple blossom, it was

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<v Speaker 1>the perfect place to capture the sound of singing birds,

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<v Speaker 1>as Friedrich had long planned to do, but never quite

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<v Speaker 1>had the time. This year, he determined to do it

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<v Speaker 1>once and for all, making sure to bring his tape

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<v Speaker 1>recorder down from Stockholm. After spending the day by the lake,

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<v Speaker 1>it was some time in the afternoon, with the local

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<v Speaker 1>birds in full voice, that Friedrich retired to the house

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<v Speaker 1>to collect the tape recorder, before making his way out

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<v Speaker 1>to the forest cabin and up into its attic. Moments later,

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<v Speaker 1>having rigged up a microphone, he slid open the window

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<v Speaker 1>and pointed the microphone out of it, just as a

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<v Speaker 1>gentle finch came to rest on the roof, flicking the

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<v Speaker 1>switch to record. Friederic sat back in his chair and

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<v Speaker 1>listened to the bird sing as the tape slowly unspooled

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<v Speaker 1>from one reel to the other. After a few minutes,

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<v Speaker 1>with the bird having taken off, Friedrich stopped the recording

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<v Speaker 1>and rewound the tape. He pressed play and waited eagerly

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<v Speaker 1>to hear what he had captured, but something was wrong.

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<v Speaker 1>Though he could just about make out the merry chirping

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<v Speaker 1>of the finch, it was completely drowned out by a

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<v Speaker 1>blaring burst of static, as if someone had been taking

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<v Speaker 1>a shower right next to the microphone. Friedrich made a

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<v Speaker 1>quick check of all the connections and spun the tape

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<v Speaker 1>forward to see if something was wrong with the tape itself,

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<v Speaker 1>but all seemed fine. Repositioning the mic he tried again.

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<v Speaker 1>After another few minutes, he rewound the tape, pressed play,

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<v Speaker 1>and waited, but yet again, much to his annoyance, after

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<v Speaker 1>a short period of quiet, the speakers blared out the

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<v Speaker 1>same static hiss of interference. Since he could still just

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<v Speaker 1>about hear the sound of birds singing in the distance,

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<v Speaker 1>clearly the record function was working, but as he was

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<v Speaker 1>about to switch off the tape, something else burst through

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<v Speaker 1>the noise. It sounded like a voice. As he moved

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<v Speaker 1>closer and listened more carefully, he could hear it clearly now.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a male voice speaking in Norwegian about the

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<v Speaker 1>sound of bird song at night. Though it was a

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<v Speaker 1>bizarre occurrence, the tape player must merely have somehow picked

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<v Speaker 1>up a Norwegian radio transmission, he reasoned, though it was

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<v Speaker 1>certainly an extraordinary coincidence that it would be all about

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<v Speaker 1>bird song, he thought, as he made his way back

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<v Speaker 1>to the house that evening. For the next month, unable

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<v Speaker 1>to make clean recordings, Friedrich turned his attention to another

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<v Speaker 1>pet project he had been working on, researching the fate

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<v Speaker 1>of Russian Princess Anastasia. Though today it is widely accepted

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<v Speaker 1>that the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas the Second and Tzarina,

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<v Speaker 1>Alexandra Fyodorovna, was murdered along with the rest of her

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<v Speaker 1>immediate family in July nineteen eighteen, in the nineteen fifties,

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<v Speaker 1>her whereabouts remained very much a mystery, But as Friedrich

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<v Speaker 1>tried to concentrate on the task, he found his mind

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<v Speaker 1>continually wandering back to the strange recordings he had made

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<v Speaker 1>weeks before. Though he tried a few times to recapture

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<v Speaker 1>the peculiar broadcast, it appeared to have since come to

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<v Speaker 1>an end. That was until one evening in mid July,

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<v Speaker 1>with Monica having now returned to Stockholm. That night, Friedrich

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<v Speaker 1>was once again sat alone in the outhouse attic, trying

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<v Speaker 1>in vain to capture another radio transmission. Since he didn't

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<v Speaker 1>have headphones, he kept his eyes glued to the recording

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<v Speaker 1>light for any sign that something was being received. But

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<v Speaker 1>as the moon outside the window rose higher into the sky,

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<v Speaker 1>with nothing to show for his efforts, Friedrich was beginning

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<v Speaker 1>to get tired. Just as his eyelids were starting to close,

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<v Speaker 1>the control light flashed red. That's strange, he thought, since

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<v Speaker 1>all about him was completely still. After waiting for a

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<v Speaker 1>few minutes, as the recording light continued to flash, Friedrich

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<v Speaker 1>stopped the recording before rewinding the tape and pressing play.

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<v Speaker 1>After a brief moment of light atmospheric sound, Friedrich was

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<v Speaker 1>overjoyed to hear that familiar hissing raw once again, and

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<v Speaker 1>as he strained to listen through the interference, once again

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<v Speaker 1>came the familiar Norwegian voice tired but pleased with the

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<v Speaker 1>knight's results, Friedrich went to bed, returning to listen to

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<v Speaker 1>the tape the following morning, just as he thought, he

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<v Speaker 1>had indeed captured the same voice as before, only this

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<v Speaker 1>time something was different. It wasn't just the one voice.

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<v Speaker 1>It was multiple, speaking in a range of languages, including English, German, Swedish, Italian,

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<v Speaker 1>and Polish, all crossing over each other, reciting strange and

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<v Speaker 1>incomprehensible sentences. And then one other voice, a little clearer

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<v Speaker 1>than the rest, burst through the static. Friedrich sat back

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<v Speaker 1>in astonish. It couldn't be, he thought. He stopped the

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<v Speaker 1>tape and looked around the empty room. Satisfied he was alone,

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<v Speaker 1>he spun back the tape and played it again. Friedrich said,

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<v Speaker 1>the voice your being observed. Friedrich played the tape back

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<v Speaker 1>again and again. It was clear somebody was trying to

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<v Speaker 1>communicate with him. Later, after hearing a second mention of

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<v Speaker 1>his name, came a bizarre, cryptic request, Friedrich, when you

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<v Speaker 1>translate and interpret into German during the day, try to

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<v Speaker 1>solve the truth every evening with the ship in the dark.

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<v Speaker 1>Worried he might be losing his mind, Friedrich promptly played

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<v Speaker 1>the tapes to Monica, as it was for anyon one

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<v Speaker 1>who would later hear them. It was hard to discern

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<v Speaker 1>much of anything through the violent roar of the static,

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<v Speaker 1>but slowly, as her ears began to adjust to the

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<v Speaker 1>different frequencies buried within it, Monika too heard the voices.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a strange predicament coming across this apparent phenomena

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<v Speaker 1>so unexpectedly. Friedrich had not been looking for this, nor

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<v Speaker 1>even spent any time considering it. He also had much

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<v Speaker 1>work to do, not only preparing for the excavation in

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<v Speaker 1>Pompeii the following spring, but keeping up with his commissions

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<v Speaker 1>in Sweden too, But everything seemed suddenly to pale into

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<v Speaker 1>comparison with what was occurring in that attic room on

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<v Speaker 1>his tape recorder. Another set of recordings made soon after

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<v Speaker 1>revealed yet more voices, but distinguishing between them all was

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<v Speaker 1>near impossible listening to them being played back on the machine. Eventually,

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<v Speaker 1>Friedrich bought a pair of headphones to better interpret just

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<v Speaker 1>what exactly was going on. Now he was able to

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<v Speaker 1>hear the sounds being captured as they were being recorded.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't long after that he realized slowing the recordings

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<v Speaker 1>down made it much easier to pick out the voices,

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<v Speaker 1>but despite having accrued a number of similar recordings, he

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<v Speaker 1>was no closer to figuring out exactly what they were. Naturally,

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<v Speaker 1>his first assumption, and surely the only reasonable one, was

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<v Speaker 1>that he was continuing to pick up a number of

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<v Speaker 1>converging radio signals, signals that are constantly traveling through the

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<v Speaker 1>air around us. Those mentions of his name just coincidence

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<v Speaker 1>and a form of confirmation by us, he thought. Either way,

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<v Speaker 1>Ascertaining their provenance became his top priority. A few weeks later,

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<v Speaker 1>having returned to Merlinbau, this time with his poodle Corino

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<v Speaker 1>for company, Friedrich returned again to his attic room, plugged

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<v Speaker 1>in the headphones, and switched the tape player to record.

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<v Speaker 1>No sooner had he put the headphones on, the peaceful

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<v Speaker 1>atmosphere of the Merlin Beau country air was suddenly obliterated

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<v Speaker 1>in a blare of static, and before long he could

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<v Speaker 1>hear the voices coming through again, mixed also this time

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<v Speaker 1>with a variety of other strange sounds and music too.

0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:44.320
<v Speaker 1>After listening for a few minutes, Friedrich heard the phone

0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:49.600
<v Speaker 1>ringing downstairs. Leaving the tape to record, he headed down

0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.600
<v Speaker 1>to answer it, escorted by his ever faithful Carino, who

0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.680
<v Speaker 1>followed him closely behind It was Monica on the line,

0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.560
<v Speaker 1>just wanting to know how the day's recordings were going.

0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.719
<v Speaker 1>With Carino sitting patiently next to him. Friedrich was just

0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:10.680
<v Speaker 1>telling Monica about what he had heard so far when

0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.000
<v Speaker 1>his dog abruptly rose to his feet and scampered out

0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.480
<v Speaker 1>of the room. As he continued talking on the phone,

0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.720
<v Speaker 1>Friedrich heard what he took to be the dog in

0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:24.840
<v Speaker 1>the attic, jumping up around his chair before finally settling

0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.119
<v Speaker 1>down in it. Returning to the top floor a few

0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:33.880
<v Speaker 1>minutes later, sure enough, Friedrich found Carino sitting on the chair,

0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:39.879
<v Speaker 1>wagging his tail in excitement. Friedrich picked him up and

0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:43.320
<v Speaker 1>placed him on the spare bed before returning again to

0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:48.040
<v Speaker 1>the tape player. After a few more minutes recording, he

0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:50.960
<v Speaker 1>decided to stop and listen back to what he had captured.

0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.120
<v Speaker 1>Having rewound the tape to just before the phone call,

0:18:55.880 --> 0:19:01.560
<v Speaker 1>he hit play, sat back and listened once again. Came

0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.280
<v Speaker 1>the heavy burst of static, and just audible, deep in

0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.199
<v Speaker 1>the cacophony, he can just make out the sound of

0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:13.639
<v Speaker 1>a telephone ringing. Next he hears himself removing the headphones

0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:17.520
<v Speaker 1>and pacing out of the room, with Carino's poor steps

0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.960
<v Speaker 1>following close behind. Strangely, as soon as he has left

0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:28.000
<v Speaker 1>the room, the hissing stops. In the ensuing silence, Friedrich

0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.439
<v Speaker 1>strains to hear the phone conversation with Monica, but it

0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:35.800
<v Speaker 1>is inaudible, so with nothing else occurring, he skips the

0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.280
<v Speaker 1>tape forward a few minutes. Soon the sound of his

0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.960
<v Speaker 1>approaching steps can be heard as he returns to the

0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.320
<v Speaker 1>room before opening the door and picking Carino up from

0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.720
<v Speaker 1>the chair. At the sound of him putting his headphones

0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:55.199
<v Speaker 1>back on, curiously, the loud static bursts immediately come back in.

0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:01.520
<v Speaker 1>Unable to decipher the subsequent set of noise exploding within

0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:05.679
<v Speaker 1>the interference, Friedrich decides to play the tape back again

0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.280
<v Speaker 1>to confirm with the static had indeed only occurred when

0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:13.480
<v Speaker 1>he was sat at the tape player. He returns the

0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.199
<v Speaker 1>tape back to the moment he left the room and

0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:21.400
<v Speaker 1>lets it play out. What he hears next changes everything.

0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.199
<v Speaker 1>At first, he hears only the faint sound of his

0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.120
<v Speaker 1>voice on the phone downstairs, when suddenly a peculiar, high

0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:36.600
<v Speaker 1>pitched noise cuts in, followed by a male voice quietly

0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:41.520
<v Speaker 1>humming the opening refrain of the song VLAA, and then

0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.960
<v Speaker 1>a different sound, Corno's approaching poor steps as he makes

0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.000
<v Speaker 1>his way up the stairs, and then the sound at

0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.760
<v Speaker 1>the door as he nudges it open. Just as the

0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.960
<v Speaker 1>dog enters the room. Friedrich is stunned when he hears

0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:04.560
<v Speaker 1>a clear Italian accented voice. Ah, Carino, do you hear me?

0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:11.399
<v Speaker 1>It asks, Carino, do you know me? And in the

0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:16.000
<v Speaker 1>background he hears Corino joyously spinning about on the chair,

0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:27.800
<v Speaker 1>wagging his tail. Later in the autumn, Monica's mother comes

0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.720
<v Speaker 1>to stay at the house in Merlinbau, having left a

0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:35.600
<v Speaker 1>tape recording during the afternoon. When Friedrich listens to it

0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:41.760
<v Speaker 1>later that evening, he makes yet another astonishing discovery. At

0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.399
<v Speaker 1>one point he is able to hear Monica talking to

0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:48.200
<v Speaker 1>her mother downstairs, when suddenly the volume of the tape

0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:54.520
<v Speaker 1>inexplicably drops drastically. Friedrich turns the volume up as loud

0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.920
<v Speaker 1>as it will go, and with Monica's voice just audible

0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.840
<v Speaker 1>in the background, another voice suddenly breaks in, a male

0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:09.639
<v Speaker 1>speaking in German. At Monica's It's cozy, it says, and

0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:14.360
<v Speaker 1>then another voice chimes in again in German. I can

0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:19.760
<v Speaker 1>see her, I hear her directly, it says. A moment

0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:25.720
<v Speaker 1>later the recording ends. Friedrich leans back in his chair

0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:32.159
<v Speaker 1>in a state of utter disbelief. As the weeks pass,

0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:37.160
<v Speaker 1>Friedrich continues to record and pick up the numerous disembodied voices,

0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:40.959
<v Speaker 1>but grows frustrated by the lack of coherence and begins

0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:45.199
<v Speaker 1>to wonder what is the point of it all. Worried

0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:47.879
<v Speaker 1>also that he might somehow be the butt of an

0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:51.760
<v Speaker 1>elaborate joke, he decides to bring an end to the experiments,

0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:57.160
<v Speaker 1>But soon something else begins to occur that terrifies him.

0:22:58.640 --> 0:23:01.639
<v Speaker 1>Although he is no longer listened to the tapes, he

0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:06.600
<v Speaker 1>is still hearing the voices. One afternoon, while resting in

0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:10.919
<v Speaker 1>his study, as rain pours down outside, he is certain

0:23:11.119 --> 0:23:13.920
<v Speaker 1>he can hear a voice in the patter of the raindrops.

0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:18.000
<v Speaker 1>Then later he hears it again in the rustle of

0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:23.480
<v Speaker 1>the burning fire. The voices seem to be following him everywhere.

0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:29.440
<v Speaker 1>Concerned he is showing early signs of some form of schizophrenia,

0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:33.840
<v Speaker 1>he reassures himself that he is otherwise healthy, not suffering

0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:40.240
<v Speaker 1>any anxiety, and sleeping perfectly well. One afternoon, he is

0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:44.960
<v Speaker 1>certain he hears a voice calling out to him. Listen

0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:56.119
<v Speaker 1>to me, it says, take part in the work. Having

0:23:56.160 --> 0:24:00.560
<v Speaker 1>been convinced to return to his sonic research, Friedrich invites

0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:03.399
<v Speaker 1>a number of friends and scientists to join him in

0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:08.240
<v Speaker 1>his listening sessions. Though they are skeptical at first, they

0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:12.199
<v Speaker 1>too start to notice the peculiar messages buried in the recordings,

0:24:13.480 --> 0:24:16.000
<v Speaker 1>and though they are reluctant to speculate on what they are,

0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:22.320
<v Speaker 1>all agree that they are highly unusual. Frequently, most of

0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:25.520
<v Speaker 1>the voices are preceded by a female voice who seems

0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.280
<v Speaker 1>to be instructing Friedrich on how best to hear the

0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:33.399
<v Speaker 1>assumed communications. Eventually, he discovers that using a radio in

0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:37.960
<v Speaker 1>close proximity to the recorder intensifies the messages, and that

0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:42.040
<v Speaker 1>tuning to certain frequencies at specific times will work best.

0:24:43.920 --> 0:24:48.160
<v Speaker 1>In January nineteen sixty, Friedrich receives the upsetting news that

0:24:48.240 --> 0:24:52.040
<v Speaker 1>Boris Sakarov, an old friend from his childhood days in Odessa,

0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:55.480
<v Speaker 1>had been killed in a car crash back in October

0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:00.879
<v Speaker 1>of the previous year. Shortly after, Friedrich learn that Sakarov

0:25:01.280 --> 0:25:05.480
<v Speaker 1>had recently become a renowned yoga teacher who also specialized

0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:12.040
<v Speaker 1>in the instruction of breathing exercises. Moments later, Friedrich raised

0:25:12.119 --> 0:25:16.880
<v Speaker 1>up to his study and pulled a tape from the shelf. Hurriedly,

0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:22.400
<v Speaker 1>he fixed it into place and pressed play. The recording

0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:24.440
<v Speaker 1>was one of a number he had made over the

0:25:24.480 --> 0:25:29.439
<v Speaker 1>Christmas period and had been confusing him ever since. He

0:25:29.520 --> 0:25:33.879
<v Speaker 1>understood it now that sound he had heard when sitting

0:25:33.920 --> 0:25:36.920
<v Speaker 1>alone in his room a few weeks ago had been

0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:41.879
<v Speaker 1>a deep exhalation of breath. Hearing it again on the

0:25:41.920 --> 0:25:47.160
<v Speaker 1>tape confirms his suspicions at the time. He had heard

0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.040
<v Speaker 1>the sound both in the room and through the headphones.

0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:54.800
<v Speaker 1>He spins the tape back a little further and lets

0:25:54.840 --> 0:25:59.760
<v Speaker 1>it play out. First, the violent cacophony of static blares

0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:03.320
<v Speaker 1>out into the room, and then from out of the

0:26:03.400 --> 0:26:09.600
<v Speaker 1>chaos come the words, as clear as day, your boris

0:26:10.119 --> 0:26:20.760
<v Speaker 1>is at the equipment. Over eight years in total, Friedrich

0:26:20.840 --> 0:26:25.200
<v Speaker 1>Jergensen will record one hundred and forty tapes containing between

0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:29.080
<v Speaker 1>five to six thousand different recordings of what will later

0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:34.840
<v Speaker 1>become known as electronic voice phenomena, being left in no

0:26:34.960 --> 0:26:38.840
<v Speaker 1>doubt that what he had captured were the voices of

0:26:38.880 --> 0:26:44.800
<v Speaker 1>the dead. Further reported voices included those of his own mother,

0:26:45.560 --> 0:26:48.119
<v Speaker 1>as well as a number of recently deceased figures of

0:26:48.280 --> 0:26:53.479
<v Speaker 1>historical note, including in an odd twist, that of Adolf

0:26:53.600 --> 0:26:58.679
<v Speaker 1>Hitler and Winston Churchill. As a man of no little

0:26:58.680 --> 0:27:03.200
<v Speaker 1>intellectgans was more than aware of the many rational explanations

0:27:03.280 --> 0:27:06.879
<v Speaker 1>that might account for what he had heard, with early

0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:13.200
<v Speaker 1>satellite communications and radio transmission being the most obvious. However,

0:27:13.960 --> 0:27:16.280
<v Speaker 1>not only did many of his friends and a number

0:27:16.320 --> 0:27:19.480
<v Speaker 1>of scientists keen to find an answer for the communications

0:27:19.840 --> 0:27:24.000
<v Speaker 1>hear them too, but often he would capture voices speaking

0:27:24.080 --> 0:27:28.879
<v Speaker 1>single sentences in multiple languages, which would seem to negate

0:27:29.040 --> 0:27:34.119
<v Speaker 1>the radio broadcast theory. Some have also suggested that the

0:27:34.200 --> 0:27:38.119
<v Speaker 1>multi lingual Jurgensen had somehow projected the voices onto the

0:27:38.200 --> 0:27:43.240
<v Speaker 1>tape himself. What seems never to have been in doubt

0:27:43.880 --> 0:27:48.200
<v Speaker 1>was Friedrich's integrity or the authenticity of the raw recordings.

0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:52.320
<v Speaker 1>He died at the age of eighty four in late

0:27:52.480 --> 0:27:59.240
<v Speaker 1>nineteen eighty seven. Whatever we believe about Jergenson's peculiar findings,

0:27:59.600 --> 0:28:03.320
<v Speaker 1>perhaps we can take at least one thing from his experiences.

0:28:04.600 --> 0:28:07.560
<v Speaker 1>When all you can hear is the cacophony of chaos,

0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:12.199
<v Speaker 1>it pays not to turn away from the noise, but

0:28:12.280 --> 0:28:14.720
<v Speaker 1>to take the time to listen to what might be

0:28:14.800 --> 0:28:19.240
<v Speaker 1>buried underneath. Perhaps you too will hear the sound of

0:28:19.320 --> 0:28:29.320
<v Speaker 1>voices just wanting to be heard. This episode was written

0:28:29.320 --> 0:28:33.400
<v Speaker 1>by Richard mclin smith Unexplained as an AV Club Productions

0:28:33.440 --> 0:28:38.000
<v Speaker 1>podcast created by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of

0:28:38.040 --> 0:28:41.440
<v Speaker 1>the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me

0:28:41.720 --> 0:28:46.760
<v Speaker 1>Richard McClain smith Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories

0:28:46.840 --> 0:28:49.760
<v Speaker 1>never before featured on the show, is now available to

0:28:49.800 --> 0:28:55.160
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0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:05.680
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0:29:05.720 --> 0:29:08.480
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0:29:08.560 --> 0:29:11.160
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