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Speaker 1: dot com. Welcome to a special bonus episode of Unexplained.
Speaker 1: Since I am currently away, rather than leave a large
Speaker 1: gap before the next episode, I thought I'd give you
Speaker 1: something else to fill the time. So, without further ado,
Speaker 1: I invite you to imagine we're deep in the forest,
Speaker 1: camped out around a roaring fire, telling each other stories.
Speaker 1: This one is mine. The window began to rattle, and
Speaker 1: for the first time he became aware of the storm
Speaker 1: unfurling outside. Leaving him on the bed, She ran to
Speaker 1: the window and unclasped the lock. A huge gust of
Speaker 1: wind rips the pane from her hands. He watches as
Speaker 1: his mother leans into the night and speaks fast and
Speaker 1: soft under her breath. Something between her and the wind
Speaker 1: high above, a bright moon begins to dim as the
Speaker 1: clouds thicken and twist above the house. Moments later, a
Speaker 1: large black bird swoops on to the window sill. She
Speaker 1: lets it hop on to her finger calmly strokes its
Speaker 1: feathers before bringing it over to the child. She holds
Speaker 1: the bird out for him to stroke. He laughs as
Speaker 1: it hops on to his shoulder. Yes, he is yours now,
Speaker 1: he will take care of you, she says. The sound
Speaker 1: of distant voices draws her back to the window. Staring
Speaker 1: into the thick of the woodland beyond, she saw again
Speaker 1: the three small orange lights bobbing around in the dark,
Speaker 1: like hot coals floating on the wind. She turned back
Speaker 1: to the boy. It is time, William. As she lifts
Speaker 1: him from the bed, he sees the wetness run from
Speaker 1: her eyes, and when she presses him close, he can
Speaker 1: feel the damp warmth of it on his face. Promise me,
Speaker 1: you won't let them see you, no matter what, she says.
Speaker 1: He nods as she takes his hand and leads him
Speaker 1: to the back door. When she opens it, the voices
Speaker 1: are nearer, and there are two more lights approaching from
Speaker 1: the back. I will be right behind you, I promise.
Speaker 1: Now go. She pushes him out, and for a moment
Speaker 1: he stops, expecting her to follow. But she does not run,
Speaker 1: she says, and then he has gone into the dark.
Speaker 1: Janet Horn comes a cry from the front of the cabin.
Speaker 1: Come out and faces. She wipes away her tears and
Speaker 1: readies herself. The men dragged her by her hair and
Speaker 1: threw her to the porch, before taking it in turns
Speaker 1: to kick and stamp on her body. The dogs whipped
Speaker 1: up by the frenzy barked manically, straining at their leashes
Speaker 1: as their black fur bristled with unseen charge. The handler's
Speaker 1: feet slid in the dirt at the strength of them,
Speaker 1: trying for all their lives to stop them from ripping
Speaker 1: her apart. One of the dogs slipped free and tore
Speaker 1: down upon her with the startling orcity. Finally, Lockhart yelled
Speaker 1: for them to stop, and the errant dog was wrenched,
Speaker 1: snarling and snapping from the body, fresh blood dripping from
Speaker 1: its jaws. The men, catching breath and wiping hands on shirts,
Speaker 1: looked anxiously into the darkness of the surrounding forest, and
Speaker 1: then back to the woman, lying crumpled and still at
Speaker 1: their feet. Light from their torches streaked across the porch,
Speaker 1: covering all in a soft orange glow. Lockhart jumped down
Speaker 1: from his horse. To his horror, she started to move,
Speaker 1: drawing herself round to face him. The men gasped at
Speaker 1: the sight of her, swollen and blackened, her skin yellow
Speaker 1: and purpling underneath the reddening night dress. She fixes them
Speaker 1: all with her bloodied eyes, but mostly she fixes him back.
Speaker 1: For seconds, are we? She says you? He said, pointing
Speaker 1: to a man from the back. The man stepped forward
Speaker 1: with lantern in and his wiry body trembling as he
Speaker 1: neared the bloodied woman. His name was McConnell, a crofter
Speaker 1: from the Black Aisle. With me, said Lockhart. The rest
Speaker 1: of you get her tied up. She managed a few
Speaker 1: crawls towards the door before another of the men stopped her,
Speaker 1: holding her down by the neck with his boot. She
Speaker 1: squirmed underneath, her body jarring and breath heaving as flecks
Speaker 1: of red splatter the ground. The man presses down harder
Speaker 1: as another of the men kneels beside her. He grabbed
Speaker 1: her hands and tied them fast with twine, staining red
Speaker 1: as he pulled it tight. Satisfied by the restraints, Lockhart
Speaker 1: took a lantern and proceeded to lead mcconnall into the house.
Speaker 1: The two men entered cautiously, tiptoeing slowly through the corridor.
Speaker 1: The darkness seemed to recoil and slither into furthest corners
Speaker 1: at the moment of illumination. As the men continued forward,
Speaker 1: with the dark sealing up behind and the sound of
Speaker 1: the cabin creaking, it was as if the very walls
Speaker 1: were closing in around them. McConnell could feel his heart
Speaker 1: beating in his throat, and then Lockhart stopped listen. They
Speaker 1: had entered a small room to the back of the house.
Speaker 1: McConnell sniffed at the air and tried to hear above
Speaker 1: the din of the blood thumping in his ears. Lockhart
Speaker 1: moved the lantern around, showing up little more than a
Speaker 1: tiny black stove and a small rug laid out on
Speaker 1: the ground. He kicked away the rug, exposing a door underneath.
Speaker 1: He dropped down and pressed his ear to the floor.
Speaker 1: It was as if the sound was vibrating through it.
Speaker 1: He set down the lantern and took hold of his
Speaker 1: side knife. With his eyes locked on McConnell, he pulled
Speaker 1: up the door. A strange heat wafted out, and something
Speaker 1: sickly and sweet drew water from their eyes. McConnell wretched
Speaker 1: and held his hand out in front of him as
Speaker 1: if it might fend off the smell. Both pulled their
Speaker 1: shirts to their mouths and noses. Lockhart picked up the
Speaker 1: lantern and held it into the new darkness, revealing steps
Speaker 1: leading into the nothing below. The strange hum, now louder,
Speaker 1: pulsed through the air as slowly, the men descended far
Speaker 1: up the hill. William, having finally scrambled through the last
Speaker 1: of the ferns, emerged into the open and collapsed at
Speaker 1: the foot of the great tree. Panting in the darkness,
Speaker 1: he gazed up at the gnarly twisting arms of brown
Speaker 1: stretching high into the night, the leaves rattling in the wind.
Speaker 1: The large blackbird cowed as it swooped down, taking shelter
Speaker 1: in the upper branches. High above, the clouds pulled apart
Speaker 1: in places, and peering into the space beyond made William's
Speaker 1: head spin. He'd never been here alone, this familiar place
Speaker 1: where he would lie in her lap, listening to her
Speaker 1: stories as she picked out the constellations above. His mother
Speaker 1: had told him this was the place of his berth,
Speaker 1: above the pit of fire from which he had been
Speaker 1: forged and then become life. A crack of lightning had
Speaker 1: shot down, igniting the whole tree. It had burned all
Speaker 1: of that night, but not left one sign or scar,
Speaker 1: save for a twisted line coiled all around the trunk.
Speaker 1: William rose on to old fours and wandered over to
Speaker 1: touch the bark, being careful not to trip on the
Speaker 1: fat roots that had burst through the ground, snaking their
Speaker 1: way through the undergrowth. Looking closer, he could just about
Speaker 1: make out the ancient ruins etched onto the surface by
Speaker 1: unknown hands. She told him it was a sacred tree,
Speaker 1: had always been so that the soul of an ancient
Speaker 1: king had been trapped inside, and if ever a tree
Speaker 1: was harmed in the forest, there would be a fatal
Speaker 1: price to pay. The guilty bellies nailed to the bark
Speaker 1: and marched all way round until their innards would spill
Speaker 1: like the gutting of rabbits, replenishing the soil with the
Speaker 1: blood of man. Trace the line that twisted all around
Speaker 1: with his finger, following it down to the base, where
Speaker 1: a small cluster of mushrooms were sprouting out from below
Speaker 1: the roots, their slender bodies holding the caps aloft like
Speaker 1: little bells. He slipped down between the two large roots
Speaker 1: and lay back against the trunk, Gazing up at the sky.
Speaker 1: He wandered at the infinite space, the distance into which
Speaker 1: he would forever fall, and the stars, so many stars.
Speaker 1: The hum was now a throbbing organic drone. Lockhart stepped
Speaker 1: forward with the light, causing a million flies to scatter,
Speaker 1: before settling down again in strange thick clumps on the ground.
Speaker 1: McConnell let out a cry and dropped his lantern to
Speaker 1: the floor. Control yourself, shouted Lockhart. He handed the lantern
Speaker 1: back to McConnell, but stopped short when he too had
Speaker 1: seen the dirt floor was sticky with congealed blood, the
Speaker 1: filthy walls smeared with a black and red glistening in
Speaker 1: the light. Lockhart flicked again at the flies, causing them
Speaker 1: to disperse just long enough to reveal pieces of tiny
Speaker 1: limbs and matted hair covered in the syrupy mess. Oh God.
Speaker 1: McConnell vomited violently into the corner, then fled up the stairs. Lockhart,
Speaker 1: no longer aware of himself, continued on stumbling through the
Speaker 1: room towards something moving in the darkness. The sound of
Speaker 1: a whimper brought him to a sudden halt. He lifted
Speaker 1: the lantern towards the corner of the room. Ada. Lockhart
Speaker 1: took a step closer. Oh Christ, he said, bringing his
Speaker 1: hand to his mouth. The child was sat facing the wall,
Speaker 1: still in the dress she was taken in, now just
Speaker 1: a ratty, maroon stained rag. Lockhart moved ever closer, with
Speaker 1: the lantern held in front, shaking in his hand. The
Speaker 1: girl who was tied up remained still, but he was
Speaker 1: now close enough to see her little chest moving up
Speaker 1: and down. Ada, I'm here, he said, his voice beginning
Speaker 1: to break. He laid a trembling hand on her back
Speaker 1: and felt her warmth. As she drew a short breath
Speaker 1: and turned stiffly towards the wall. He held the torch
Speaker 1: up to her face. Ada, it's me. Lockhart's tears were
Speaker 1: now steadily spilling on to the dirt floor as she
Speaker 1: slowly turned her head towards him. Outside, Hans reached for
Speaker 1: guns and calmed the horses as the last of the
Speaker 1: scream was ripped from the dark of the cabin and
Speaker 1: flung into the raging wind. Moments later, Lockhart staggered to
Speaker 1: the door, a large bundle in his hands. He stood
Speaker 1: motionless as the wind lashed out and sent his hat
Speaker 1: flying into the trees. There's no one else, said Lockhart.
Speaker 1: They're all dead. McConnell, still wretching, was now leaned back
Speaker 1: against the wall of the house. He slid to the
Speaker 1: floor as a strange sound emanated from his lips. One
Speaker 1: of the men came forward, dressed smarter than the others,
Speaker 1: in a dark suit and thin framed glasses. He took
Speaker 1: the bundle from Lockhart, taking care as he unpeeled his
Speaker 1: arms from around the girl, and gasped at the sight
Speaker 1: of her face. Where he had expected to see the
Speaker 1: gentlest of soft, olive eyes, instead were two large chasms,
Speaker 1: each a gaping red abyss. Hurriedly, he brought her over
Speaker 1: to a small leather briefcase and gently sat her down
Speaker 1: beside it. He opened the case and pulled out various
Speaker 1: ointments and dressings and got to work. What have you done,
Speaker 1: said Lockhart, looking at nothing in particular. Janet, who had
Speaker 1: been sitting tired and quiet on the porch, eased herself up.
Speaker 1: This is nought but your conscience, the world you create,
Speaker 1: she said wearily. Lockhart tore down upon her, grabbing her
Speaker 1: throat and pinning her to the wall With the slow,
Speaker 1: steady hand. He pulled out his knife and held it
Speaker 1: under her chin. She spat blood to the ground and
Speaker 1: fixed him again. Get on with it, you cowered, Stop.
Speaker 1: We must take her to Dla ROSSI, shouted one of
Speaker 1: the men, stepping forward. It was the chaplain. This is
Speaker 1: the devil's work. We must dispose of her properly. He
Speaker 1: looked at the others for support, but found only the
Speaker 1: turning away of faces. Lockhart, either ignoring the cry or
Speaker 1: most likely not hearing it at all, ran the knife
Speaker 1: into her belly. She grabbed him by the hand and
Speaker 1: bit hard into his wrist. He wrenched it from her
Speaker 1: mouth and slapped her to the ground. Flesh dangled from
Speaker 1: her teeth. String her up. She howled as they approached,
Speaker 1: thrusting her jaws at any who came near. Some would
Speaker 1: later say that she turned wolf. Some swore they'd seen
Speaker 1: her hover inches from the ground, but finally she succumbed
Speaker 1: the butt of a rifle. Having done with it, they
Speaker 1: hitched the rope to the top of the porch and
Speaker 1: passed the bottom end of it around her neck. It
Speaker 1: took three of them to hoist her up to the
Speaker 1: tip of her toes, and then a click echoed around
Speaker 1: the trees. The chaplain stepped forward, holding out the gun.
Speaker 1: She must go to Dalarossie or this will never be over.
Speaker 1: Lockhart stared at the chaplain, then turned away. He grabbed
Speaker 1: Janet by the face, his eyes catching yellow under the
Speaker 1: flickering torchlight. She roused herself one final time and spat
Speaker 1: blood in his face. The three men pulled hard on
Speaker 1: the rope, lifting her feet from the floor. There was
Speaker 1: a moment to struggle before her stomach fell from her
Speaker 1: and onto the porch. Lockhart spat onto the ground, burn everything.
Speaker 1: The chaplain dropped the gun and sank to his knees,
Speaker 1: marking the sign of the cross as he went. William
Speaker 1: turned his head at the sound of far off voices
Speaker 1: and climbed out of the roots. Far below, a gentle
Speaker 1: orange light seemed to dance and weave amongst the trees.
Speaker 1: It swayed and flickered, lilting to a silent music within
Speaker 1: the wind, then brightened with the music of its own, snapping, crackling,
Speaker 1: and rising out of the darkness. Mumma at once. William
Speaker 1: tore down the hill towards the house, sprinting through the
Speaker 1: trees and bracken as it whipped and scratched at his
Speaker 1: arms and legs. Above the canopy, the black bird swooped
Speaker 1: and cord as it desperately tried to keep up. As
Speaker 1: William neared, he began to feel the heat of it.
Speaker 1: He could see the trees burning now and the flaming
Speaker 1: cabin and something on the porch, A dark shape shrouded
Speaker 1: in flame, swinging on a rope, Mamma. Then a sudden
Speaker 1: movement underneath, the slip of palms and feet on wet rock.
Speaker 1: He went down with a sickening crack. The trees swelled
Speaker 1: above him, blending with the sky, and then all was black.
Speaker 1: Out of the dark came the faintest flickering of pale yellow.
Speaker 1: It grew to a fine wisp, swaying softly in the
Speaker 1: black silence. More it grew, hissing and crackling as it
Speaker 1: gained in size, finally letting out a huge roar. As
Speaker 1: it erupted into a golden fireball, consuming all the blackness.
Speaker 1: Through the noise and heat, a knocking could be heard.
Speaker 1: The noise grew louder as something wet and red dripped
Speaker 1: from above. Then it was pouring, lashing down on the fire.
Speaker 1: The knocking grew louder still, and inside the flames, something
Speaker 1: was moving, A body writhing in the fire, his mother's body.
Speaker 1: And then he was awake, sing for air and screaming
Speaker 1: into the stillness of dawn. William felt for the soreness
Speaker 1: on his head and touched the sticky redness with his fingers.
Speaker 1: The black bird ceased its knocking of a nearby tree
Speaker 1: and swooped down to the boy. It pushed at William
Speaker 1: to return him to the great Tree, but he would
Speaker 1: not be moved. William pushed the bird away and crawled
Speaker 1: into the clearing. The house had been reduced to blackened
Speaker 1: beams and soft gray ash, but somehow the porch had
Speaker 1: remained intact. There still hanging was the blackened body of
Speaker 1: his mother. William crawled underneath and peered up at the
Speaker 1: shape of it. He held out his hands and took
Speaker 1: hold of the charred remains of her fingers. Mamma. William
Speaker 1: dived into the rubble, clawing through the blackened splinters of
Speaker 1: wood until he had something sharp. He found the brittle
Speaker 1: remains of his mother's chair and dragged it over to
Speaker 1: the body. He climbed up and cut the rope. The
Speaker 1: body thumped to the ground, and slowly he drew down
Speaker 1: and examined the burnt remains Mamma. He held his fingers
Speaker 1: out to her face that seemed to him nothing more
Speaker 1: than a shadow. William grabbed her body and began to
Speaker 1: shake it. Mamma He looked around, confused, shaking harder as
Speaker 1: his face contorted into alarm. Mamma. He gathered the stiff
Speaker 1: shape in his arms and squeezed as the wet spilled
Speaker 1: from his eyes. Mamma. He fell on to her body
Speaker 1: and buried his head under his arms as he sobbed.
Speaker 1: The core of the black bird startled him. Drawing away
Speaker 1: from her body, he noticed something was clinging to her leg.
Speaker 1: It was the root of a tree bursting up through
Speaker 1: the soil. Then he saw another attached to her arm.
Speaker 1: He felt something shift moving underneath the ground. More roots appeared,
Speaker 1: stretching out from the edge of the clearing, unfurled like
Speaker 1: coiled bone, creaking and crackling as they neared her body.
Speaker 1: He watched as they reached out like talons, feeling for her,
Speaker 1: before wrapping themselves around and lifting her high above the ground.
Speaker 1: William leaped up, grabbing for any part of her, desperate
Speaker 1: to keep a hold, keep her in this world. Things
Speaker 1: began to gather. They crawled, wriggling and pink from the earth,
Speaker 1: or stumbled, bursting through the soil in black carapis bodies
Speaker 1: of green iridescence. There was a rumble from deep and
Speaker 1: it seemed as if the whole earth was going to
Speaker 1: tear apart. Finally, the soil ripped open to reveal an
Speaker 1: unknowable dark, a truth beyond time itself, as if the
Speaker 1: world of trees and green and men was nothing but
Speaker 1: an elaborate distraction. Something cold and damp came from above,
Speaker 1: splashing down in ever larger droplets, then a guttural growl.
Speaker 1: As the clouds ruptured and spewed down upon him. William
Speaker 1: reached out helplessly. Her body was delicately passed from root
Speaker 1: to root before being lowered under the soil and taken
Speaker 1: down into the abyss. William threw himself to the ground
Speaker 1: and sobbed. As the rain pumbled down, The earth readjusted
Speaker 1: and smoothed, and the silence returned. At the base of
Speaker 1: the surrounding trees, red droplet shaped flowers had started to appear.
Speaker 1: They sprouted up the trunk and out to the branches,
Speaker 1: hanging like jewels. By the time he looked up again,
Speaker 1: she was gone. He jumped to his hands and feet
Speaker 1: and started clawing desperately at the mud. No matter how
Speaker 1: much he dug, the hole would not deepen. Finally, he
Speaker 1: broke off and lay exhausted, his thick clothes heavy with rain,
Speaker 1: clinging to him like a blistering skin. He looked at
Speaker 1: the cabin, where the last of the fire had gone,
Speaker 1: but the warmth of it still lingered. He sniffed the
Speaker 1: air and crawled into the remains of his home and
Speaker 1: trawled for something to eat. Shuffling through the ash and
Speaker 1: blackened wood, he saw a small burst of light, something
Speaker 1: glinting in the rubble. He picked his way over to
Speaker 1: it and peered down at the strange thing. It was
Speaker 1: as though a small piece of the sky was lying
Speaker 1: on the ground. He brushed at it, then staggered back
Speaker 1: in alarm. There was someone else there. Cautiously, he approached
Speaker 1: again and looked down again. Came the face. He pulled
Speaker 1: the thing from the rubble and stared at the face
Speaker 1: gazing back at him. He brought up his hand to
Speaker 1: touch the face, and the other face did the same.
Speaker 1: He barked at the face, and the other face did
Speaker 1: the same. The blackbird cord high up in a tree,
Speaker 1: William sniffed. He helped the thing close and looked at
Speaker 1: himself fully for the first time, Where his mumma's face
Speaker 1: had been soft and pure. His was strange and misshapen.
Speaker 1: His ears seemed tied to the side of his head.
Speaker 1: He touched his eyes. That seemed not right for the face.
Speaker 1: William barked again at his reflection as the strange unease
Speaker 1: took hold. He scanned down to the neckline, where just
Speaker 1: above his shirt a red line ran all around. He
Speaker 1: traced it with his finger. As he became more and
Speaker 1: more agitated. He wrenched off the soaking shirt and trousers
Speaker 1: and stood naked looking into the thing. He found the
Speaker 1: same raised red lines circling the top of his arms
Speaker 1: like a fine thread. Wrapped around on his legs, he
Speaker 1: found the same. William threw the thing to the ground
Speaker 1: and screamed into the air. He felt a sensation like
Speaker 1: wanting to run and run, run so fast that he
Speaker 1: might slip out of his skin. This strange jacket he
Speaker 1: did not understand. Again, the blackbird cowed. William looked up
Speaker 1: as it flew down from the tree and landed by
Speaker 1: his side. It pecked three times at the ground and
Speaker 1: then flew back into the trees. William looked at the spot.
Speaker 1: There on the ground. He could see the tracks of
Speaker 1: three brayers leading back into the forest. He sniffed at
Speaker 1: the earth, a smell like Mumma, but somehow different. William
Speaker 1: walked slowly on hands and feet along the line of
Speaker 1: the horse prince, tracking them to the edge of the
Speaker 1: clearing up above. The blackbird followed, hopping from branch to
Speaker 1: branch as William made his way along the trail and
Speaker 1: disappeared into the forest. All elements of Unexplained are produced
Speaker 1: by me Richard McClain Smith. Please subscribe and rate the
Speaker 1: show on night Tunes, and feel free to get in
Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
Speaker 1: heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of
Speaker 1: your own you'd like to share. You can reach us
Speaker 1: online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Unexplained Pod. Now it's time to take care of yourself.
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Speaker 1: a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling
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