1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,680
Speaker 1: Please be advised the following episode contains graphic scenes of

2
00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:18,720
Speaker 1: sexual assault and murder. Parental discretion is advised. On the

3
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,280
Speaker 1: morning of Saturday, January fourth, nineteen sixty four, nineteen year

4
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,480
Speaker 1: old Mary Sullivan woke up early on the sofa and smiled.

5
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 1: Sullivan had arrived in Boston from Cape cod after accepting

6
00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,600
Speaker 1: a job at Filene's department store down on Washington Street.

7
00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,680
Speaker 1: Being confident and personable, it didn't take her long to

8
00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,600
Speaker 1: start making friends, and after a few months, was invited

9
00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,560
Speaker 1: by two of her colleagues, Pat and Pam to move

10
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 1: in with them. Mary didn't mind that with only two

11
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,080
Speaker 1: single beds and one bedroom, the best they could offer

12
00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:56,880
Speaker 1: her was a couch in the living room. She was

13
00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,360
Speaker 1: just grateful to be moving in with two people she

14
00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 1: liked and into an area that she'd come to A

15
00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,200
Speaker 1: door forty four A. Charles Street was situated on the

16
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,560
Speaker 1: top floor of a three story building, just a stone's

17
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,919
Speaker 1: throw from her favorite pub, a small but lively place

18
00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,280
Speaker 1: called The Sevens. The street itself cut a line through

19
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,760
Speaker 1: the vibrant Beacon Hill neighborhood, a picturesque Bohemian mix of

20
00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:27,640
Speaker 1: old moneyed wealth and new immigrant communities complete with cobbled

21
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:32,880
Speaker 1: stones and ornate gas lamps. Mary's smile that morning was

22
00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,880
Speaker 1: one of contentment and new beginnings, not to mention excitement

23
00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,520
Speaker 1: of what the new year might bring. While her flatmates

24
00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,120
Speaker 1: would be spending a grueling day at the store for

25
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,840
Speaker 1: the first weekend of the January sales, Mary who was

26
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,240
Speaker 1: due to start a new job at a bank on Monday,

27
00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,680
Speaker 1: had the week end all to herself. At roughly the

28
00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,320
Speaker 1: same time, about seventy miles to the south, at Mary's

29
00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,720
Speaker 1: family home in Cape Cod, a letter arrived through the

30
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:06,320
Speaker 1: door from Mary, addressed to her seventeen year old sister, Diane.

31
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,160
Speaker 1: Of her four siblings, it was Diane who Mary was

32
00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,560
Speaker 1: closest to, and the letter was the first Diane had

33
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,840
Speaker 1: heard from Mary since she left for Boston. Diane opened

34
00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,360
Speaker 1: it with excitement and was soon buried in her sister's words.

35
00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:24,960
Speaker 1: It was a thrill to hear how much Mary was

36
00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,440
Speaker 1: loving life in her newly adopted home, and even more

37
00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,920
Speaker 1: so to read Mary's invitation for Diane to come and

38
00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,160
Speaker 1: visit her as soon as possible. It was some time

39
00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,720
Speaker 1: around six p m. Later that evening back in Boston

40
00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,880
Speaker 1: when Pat and Pam returned home from work to find

41
00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,960
Speaker 1: the door slightly ajar. Assuming Mary had carelessly left it open,

42
00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,720
Speaker 1: The pair pushed on into the apartment, making sure to

43
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,440
Speaker 1: lock the door behind them. Inside, the hall light was

44
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,280
Speaker 1: on while the rest of the apartment were shrouded in darkness.

45
00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 1: Pam was just about to call out for Mary when

46
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,240
Speaker 1: she caught the shape of someone in their bedroom, lying

47
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,799
Speaker 1: propped up on one of the beds. It was Mary,

48
00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,560
Speaker 1: sat with her eyes open, staring vacantly into space. Come on,

49
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 1: we're putting dinner on, said Pam, a little bemused that

50
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 1: Mary hadn't said hello when they came in. Mary said

51
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:32,960
Speaker 1: Pam again, stepping into the room, but Mary didn't move.

52
00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:46,800
Speaker 1: Pam flicked on the light, then screamed. Mary Sullivan had

53
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,320
Speaker 1: been strangled to death with a stocking tied tightly around

54
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:54,160
Speaker 1: her neck. Two other pairs of stockings were also found

55
00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: tied tightly around it. Ejaculate was said to have been

56
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,000
Speaker 1: found in her mouth and on her body, while a

57
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,200
Speaker 1: broom was left inserted three inches into her vagina at

58
00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,080
Speaker 1: the end of the bed by her right foot. A

59
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,040
Speaker 1: card had been placed that read simply Happy New Year.

60
00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,919
Speaker 1: To the police called in to investigate, it was clear

61
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:24,240
Speaker 1: there was only one culprit. As it happened, Mary was

62
00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,559
Speaker 1: the eleventh woman in eighteen months to be found dead

63
00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,080
Speaker 1: in similar circumstances in and around the wider Boston area,

64
00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,039
Speaker 1: apparent victims of a single vicious serial sex offender and murderer.

65
00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,799
Speaker 1: Dubbed the Mad Strangler by the press. In the course

66
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:45,080
Speaker 1: of those eighteen months, the Boston police had made little

67
00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,680
Speaker 1: headway in their efforts to apprehend him. Throughout the city,

68
00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:53,400
Speaker 1: dog pounds struggled to keep up with demand for guard dogs,

69
00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,520
Speaker 1: while home security devices were flying off the shelves. So

70
00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,599
Speaker 1: lacking was the local faith in law enforcement to put

71
00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,719
Speaker 1: an end to the horror. Previous possible victims of the

72
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:08,599
Speaker 1: so called Mad Strangler ranged in age from twenty to

73
00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,320
Speaker 1: eighty five. The fact that Mary Sullivan, the youngest victim,

74
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,640
Speaker 1: was only a teenager, provoked particular fury from the public.

75
00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:24,040
Speaker 1: As a result, recently elected Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke

76
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:30,240
Speaker 1: stepped in personally to take over the floundering investigation. Within days,

77
00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:34,120
Speaker 1: he set up a dedicated Strangler task force to concentrate

78
00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: solely on the case, appointing Assistant Attorney General John Bottomley,

79
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,640
Speaker 1: to oversee the day to day running of it. After

80
00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,320
Speaker 1: looking closer at the case history, Brooke was alarmed by

81
00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:49,800
Speaker 1: just how little progress had in fact been made, and

82
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 1: resolved to leave no stone unturned in his efforts to

83
00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:58,080
Speaker 1: find the perpetrator. Even still, few could have guessed that

84
00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,039
Speaker 1: the force would become so desperate they would turn to

85
00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:05,760
Speaker 1: a supposed psychic to help crack the case. Yet incredibly,

86
00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:11,560
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they did. It isn't known precisely who

87
00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,919
Speaker 1: suggested it, but not long after the task force was

88
00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,279
Speaker 1: set up, the name Peter Herkos began cropping up in

89
00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:26,480
Speaker 1: their regular meetings. Herkos, whose nineteen sixty biographical documentary One

90
00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:30,880
Speaker 1: Step Beyond had catapulted him into the public eye along

91
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,360
Speaker 1: with a series of public performances over the last few years,

92
00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,400
Speaker 1: was already somewhat of a celebrity. By the time Brooks's

93
00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,960
Speaker 1: team got in touch. There were even rumors that a

94
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,880
Speaker 1: Hollywood biopic was in the pipeline, with Herkos set to

95
00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:51,799
Speaker 1: be played by Glenn Ford. Attorney General Edward Brooke received

96
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:56,680
Speaker 1: widespread condemnation for allowing a self described psychic anywhere near

97
00:06:56,720 --> 00:07:01,120
Speaker 1: the case. To others, however, who'd been follow her Coss's

98
00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:05,440
Speaker 1: steady rise. There was no harm in trying. After all,

99
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,760
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be the first time he'd apparently helped to

100
00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,400
Speaker 1: solve a crime. To her Coss, however, it was simply

101
00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:19,040
Speaker 1: something he'd been born to do. You're listening to Unexplained,

102
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:29,280
Speaker 1: and I'm Richard McClean smith. Most nights I share a

103
00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,880
Speaker 1: bed with a pro bowl quarterback, an Olympic swimmer, and

104
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,800
Speaker 1: a national soccer star. I should explain. When I heard

105
00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:40,360
Speaker 1: how many elite athletes sleep on a molecule mattress and

106
00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,200
Speaker 1: call it their best sleep, ever, I ordered one for

107
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,880
Speaker 1: myself and soon found they were spot on. Molecule sleep

108
00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:51,400
Speaker 1: scientists literally created the world's most perfect mattress. It's unlike

109
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,400
Speaker 1: any other mattress in a box. It's cool to the touch,

110
00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,160
Speaker 1: unlike other foam mattresses. It has six times the airflow

111
00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,960
Speaker 1: of my old mattress, so it keeps me cool or night.

112
00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,240
Speaker 1: It has zonn reflex layers that are just with me

113
00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,640
Speaker 1: in all my weird sleep positions, so I never awaken

114
00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,680
Speaker 1: with a stiff neck or saw back. And it's antimicrobial.

115
00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,760
Speaker 1: Molecule mattress is how elite athletes and I get the

116
00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,560
Speaker 1: best sleep ever. Sleep on your Molecule mattress risk free

117
00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:22,160
Speaker 1: for one hundred nights. If you don't have your deepest,

118
00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:27,280
Speaker 1: most restorative sleep ever, return it. Visit onmolecule dot com

119
00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,280
Speaker 1: and save twenty percent with promo code unexplained. Again, save

120
00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,840
Speaker 1: twenty percent with promo code unexplained at onmolecule dot com.

121
00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:44,360
Speaker 1: That's o n molecule dot com. On the morning of

122
00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,720
Speaker 1: May twenty first, nineteen eleven, another scream echoed through the

123
00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,920
Speaker 1: halls of the red bricked terrace house on vondel Strut

124
00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:55,640
Speaker 1: in the center of door Direct, an industrial port town

125
00:08:55,880 --> 00:09:00,120
Speaker 1: just south of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Inside the bed,

126
00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:04,800
Speaker 1: Propped up on the bed, Apollonia herk screwed her eyes

127
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: up at the pain as another wave of contractions rose

128
00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,880
Speaker 1: up from inside her. Gripping her husband Jacobus's hand, she

129
00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:18,560
Speaker 1: let out another guttural cry, straining with everything she had

130
00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:24,200
Speaker 1: until finally the baby's head began to emerge. With one

131
00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:28,319
Speaker 1: final push, the head was free, followed soon after by

132
00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:30,840
Speaker 1: the rest of the baby as it slipped into the

133
00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:36,000
Speaker 1: grateful arms of the midwife. But as Apollonia lay back, exhausted,

134
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,000
Speaker 1: she saw the look of concern on Jacobus's face, and

135
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,920
Speaker 1: then looked down in horror at the wriggling body in

136
00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:48,679
Speaker 1: the midwife's hands, at the strange membranous material completely covering

137
00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:53,600
Speaker 1: its head. The midwife urged Apollonia to stay calm as

138
00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: she clawed desperately at the membrane, then shouted for the

139
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,000
Speaker 1: doctor to come and help. Finally, after what seemed like hours,

140
00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,800
Speaker 1: the doctor succeeded in uncovering the baby's mouth, and its

141
00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:11,120
Speaker 1: cries soon flooded the room. Peter Cornelis van der Herk

142
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,040
Speaker 1: was borne with his head covered by part of the

143
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,480
Speaker 1: amniotic sac, the vessel in which the fetus develops in

144
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:24,199
Speaker 1: the womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid. Most commonly, the sac

145
00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,560
Speaker 1: breaks open prior to birth. However, for roughly one out

146
00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:32,320
Speaker 1: of eighty thousand births, the baby will be borne either

147
00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:36,000
Speaker 1: still inside the sack or at least partially covered by it.

148
00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,600
Speaker 1: Due to the rarity of the phenomena. Sometimes known as

149
00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,680
Speaker 1: being born with the veil or with the helm, as

150
00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,080
Speaker 1: it is known in the Netherlands, cultures the world over

151
00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,720
Speaker 1: have often tended to see it as a sign of

152
00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:54,720
Speaker 1: good luck. Some believe babies born this way are destined

153
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:59,679
Speaker 1: for greatness, others that they will never drown, and some

154
00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:04,679
Speaker 1: say those born with the veil will be gifted with

155
00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 1: the power of second sight. For the first six months

156
00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,680
Speaker 1: of his life, due to the complications of his birth,

157
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,680
Speaker 1: Peter was unable to open his eyes and left effectively

158
00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:25,800
Speaker 1: blind as a result, though this would eventually be resolved

159
00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,920
Speaker 1: and Peter's sight restored. Shaking the circumstances of his birth, however,

160
00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:36,880
Speaker 1: would be a different matter altogether. To his siblings, he

161
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,600
Speaker 1: was always somewhat of a strange child, prone to sudden

162
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,439
Speaker 1: bursts of intense emotion, who would run away for days

163
00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:49,160
Speaker 1: on end whenever he got too upset. Sometimes he would

164
00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,760
Speaker 1: disappear into the nearby woods, hiding out among the trees

165
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,720
Speaker 1: until he was ready to return. Other times, he would

166
00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,080
Speaker 1: take a canoe and head off down one of the

167
00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,359
Speaker 1: many rivers waterways that snaked their way around his hometown.

168
00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty five, at the age of fourteen, Peter

169
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:11,560
Speaker 1: threw a pot of ink at his teacher and was

170
00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:16,079
Speaker 1: promptly expelled from school. He ran away again soon after,

171
00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,280
Speaker 1: except this time he kept on running all the way

172
00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:22,599
Speaker 1: to the docks, where he took the first job he

173
00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:26,319
Speaker 1: could find as a cook's assistant on board a merchant ship.

174
00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,200
Speaker 1: After twelve years at sea, Peter returned home in nineteen

175
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,720
Speaker 1: thirty nine and settled down after meeting a woman named

176
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,800
Speaker 1: Bia van der Burgh, with whom he had two children.

177
00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,560
Speaker 1: The pair moved close to Peter's old home in Door

178
00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,960
Speaker 1: Direct with plans for a life together. The following year,

179
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,760
Speaker 1: the German army invaded the country. By this time, Peter

180
00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,840
Speaker 1: was working for his father painting houses. With the German

181
00:12:55,880 --> 00:13:00,400
Speaker 1: government now effectively controlling the Netherlands, much of local production

182
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,960
Speaker 1: and industry was refocused to support the German war effort.

183
00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,800
Speaker 1: For Peter and his father, that meant being forced to

184
00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:13,400
Speaker 1: paint the newly occupied government buildings. On July tenth, nineteen

185
00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:17,080
Speaker 1: forty one, a by then thirty year old Herk was

186
00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,440
Speaker 1: stood high up a ladder painting the facade of a

187
00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,600
Speaker 1: four story building in the Hague, the seat of the

188
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:29,880
Speaker 1: newly installed Reich Commissariat for the occupied Dutch territories. Peter

189
00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:33,439
Speaker 1: was stretching over to apply some more paint when the

190
00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 1: ladder suddenly gave way beneath him. After a sudden sensation

191
00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:45,120
Speaker 1: of free fall, everything went black. Moments later, he was

192
00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,280
Speaker 1: basking in bright, warm sunshine, skipping through rich, verdant fields

193
00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:55,600
Speaker 1: under bright blue skies, when suddenly all color drained away.

194
00:13:57,280 --> 00:14:01,200
Speaker 1: Peter opened his eyes to find himself rounded by the cold,

195
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,720
Speaker 1: sterile walls of a hospital room, unable to move as

196
00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,240
Speaker 1: a doctor soon explained, despite cracking his head on the

197
00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,640
Speaker 1: pavement from four stories up, he'd somehow survived the fall

198
00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,720
Speaker 1: and the subsequent operation to relieve pressure on his brain.

199
00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,080
Speaker 1: He'd been unconscious for five days. Peter took a moment

200
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,320
Speaker 1: to adjust to his surroundings, with the light seeming especially bright.

201
00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,360
Speaker 1: As he averted his eyes from the window, more light

202
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,040
Speaker 1: seemed to be seeping in from somewhere, followed by a

203
00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:40,760
Speaker 1: strange swirl of sound. It was muffled at first, then

204
00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,960
Speaker 1: soon grew into a chaotic cacophony. Peter clasped his head

205
00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:48,720
Speaker 1: in his hands and yelled for the doctor to make

206
00:14:48,760 --> 00:15:00,720
Speaker 1: it stop. And that was when it all began. One morning,

207
00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:04,760
Speaker 1: while he was convalescing, Peter's wife, Beer, came to visit

208
00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:10,160
Speaker 1: him in hospital. Peter later claimed his mind became flooded

209
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,440
Speaker 1: with horrific images of their young son Benny, screaming at home,

210
00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:20,080
Speaker 1: surrounded by roaring flames, he scolded Beer for leaving Benny

211
00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:25,800
Speaker 1: at home. Shocked by Peter's behavior, Beer eventually calmed him down,

212
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,720
Speaker 1: insisting that their son was being well looked after by relatives.

213
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,560
Speaker 1: Later that afternoon, she returned home to find all as well.

214
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,680
Speaker 1: Five days later, while herk was still in hospital, a

215
00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,080
Speaker 1: fire broke out at his and Beer's home. After becoming

216
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,520
Speaker 1: trapped by the smoke and flames, Benny had to be

217
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:53,800
Speaker 1: rescued by emergency services. A few days earlier, something equally

218
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,880
Speaker 1: strange had apparently occurred when a man that Peter didn't

219
00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:02,360
Speaker 1: recognize came into his room to wish him a quick recovery.

220
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,440
Speaker 1: The man had also been convalescing at the hospital and

221
00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,640
Speaker 1: had seen Peter come on to the ward. When the

222
00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,280
Speaker 1: two men shook hands, Peter claimed later that he was

223
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:16,040
Speaker 1: suddenly overwhelmed with grief and the utter conviction that the

224
00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:20,920
Speaker 1: stranger would soon lose his life. Two days later, Peter

225
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,120
Speaker 1: saw a picture of the same man, identified as a

226
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,920
Speaker 1: British agent in a newspaper. He had been captured and

227
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:33,440
Speaker 1: killed by German soldiers, and still the cacophoner's sounds and

228
00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:36,880
Speaker 1: bright lights continued to plague him as though he were

229
00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:41,600
Speaker 1: suffering a perpetual migraine. It had also become apparrot that

230
00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:46,320
Speaker 1: Peter was suffering from severe amnesia, another common consequence of

231
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:51,480
Speaker 1: a serious head injury. Over time, both the chaos in

232
00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:57,560
Speaker 1: his mind and the amnesia began to improve. After returning home, however,

233
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:01,560
Speaker 1: Peter's situation only got worse when he was picked up

234
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,600
Speaker 1: by German occupying forces and sent to Camp Foote, a

235
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:10,480
Speaker 1: concentration camp in southern Netherlands. Not much is known about

236
00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:13,439
Speaker 1: his time at the camp, only that Peter succeeded in

237
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:16,800
Speaker 1: escaping it and managed to return home when he later

238
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:21,119
Speaker 1: joined the Dutch underground resistance movement, helping in a series

239
00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:26,280
Speaker 1: of disruptive campaigns blowing up bridges and railroads. It was

240
00:17:26,320 --> 00:17:29,440
Speaker 1: around this time too, that Peter changed his name from

241
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:34,480
Speaker 1: Herk to Herkos. At the end of the war, Peter

242
00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:38,359
Speaker 1: received a medal from Queen Juliana for his participation in

243
00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:42,920
Speaker 1: the resistance and found work in a coffee house back

244
00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,760
Speaker 1: home and or Direct. Though he may have been hoping

245
00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,760
Speaker 1: to live the quiet life door Direct was not an

246
00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,399
Speaker 1: easy city in which to disappear, and rumors about his

247
00:17:52,440 --> 00:18:03,600
Speaker 1: apparent unusual powers were beginning to run rife. It was

248
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,600
Speaker 1: some time toward the end of nineteen forty five, with

249
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 1: the country slowly beginning to emerge from the fog of war,

250
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,000
Speaker 1: that Peter and his family were woken by the door

251
00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:17,160
Speaker 1: bell at three am in the morning. Staggering to the door,

252
00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,080
Speaker 1: Peter opened it to find a woman standing alone on

253
00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:25,040
Speaker 1: the street, clearly in some distress as she went on

254
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,399
Speaker 1: to explain her husband had gone out a few nights

255
00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:32,960
Speaker 1: before but had failed to return home. Having heard about

256
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,080
Speaker 1: Peter's apparent gift, she wanted to know if he would

257
00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:40,000
Speaker 1: help her find him. Peter looked to the clock in

258
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,400
Speaker 1: the hallway, then back to the woman. Realizing just how

259
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,320
Speaker 1: desperate she was, he told her to go home and

260
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,320
Speaker 1: find an item of her husband's clothing to bring back

261
00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:54,359
Speaker 1: to him. Half an hour later, she returned with her

262
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:59,280
Speaker 1: husband's jacket. Peter invited her inside to sit with him

263
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:01,800
Speaker 1: as he took hold of it and ran it through

264
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:07,040
Speaker 1: his hands, then sat back deep in thought. I see

265
00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:11,359
Speaker 1: a football, he said, Yes, said the woman, her eyes

266
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,880
Speaker 1: lighting up in response as she went on to explain

267
00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,360
Speaker 1: her husband was a talented footballer, but had a few

268
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:22,080
Speaker 1: days ago discovered he was suffering from a degenerative disease

269
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,920
Speaker 1: that would eventually leave him paralyzed. He'd gone out drinking

270
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,760
Speaker 1: to drown his sorrows when he found out. Suddenly, Peter's

271
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,719
Speaker 1: lips turned into a frown. What is it, the woman

272
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:42,080
Speaker 1: asked anxiously, Your husband is dead, he said flatly, I'm sorry,

273
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,679
Speaker 1: But how she asked As he explained she didn't have

274
00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,000
Speaker 1: to take his word for it, but if his vision

275
00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,119
Speaker 1: was to be believed, she would find her husband's body

276
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: submerged in an anti tank trench in the outskirts of

277
00:19:56,560 --> 00:20:01,639
Speaker 1: the city. Later that morning, Peter reportedly escorted the woman

278
00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,040
Speaker 1: to the nearest police station to deliver his theory about

279
00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,720
Speaker 1: what had taken place. Peter is said to have then

280
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,160
Speaker 1: led police to the deep water filled ditch he'd seen

281
00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,040
Speaker 1: in his mind, where after a short time looking, they

282
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:20,560
Speaker 1: found the missing man's cap caught in a nearby bush.

283
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,560
Speaker 1: After several days of dredging the ditch, the man's body

284
00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:34,520
Speaker 1: was found at the bottom of it. As his reputation

285
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:38,080
Speaker 1: as a possible psychic started to grow around the world,

286
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:41,600
Speaker 1: Peter Herkos, who became known as the Man with the

287
00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:45,320
Speaker 1: radar eyes and the X ray Brain, began offering his

288
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,919
Speaker 1: services to a number of police departments throughout Europe, to

289
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:53,919
Speaker 1: various degrees of success. In nineteen fifty six, he was

290
00:20:53,960 --> 00:21:01,000
Speaker 1: contacted by American parapsychologist doctor Andrea Puharich. The early fifties,

291
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 1: Puharich served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps,

292
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 1: where at some point he developed a fascination in the

293
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:14,640
Speaker 1: potential military application of paranormal phenomena. In nineteen fifty five,

294
00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:19,119
Speaker 1: after leaving the Army, he founded the round Table Foundation

295
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,720
Speaker 1: in Glen Cove, Maine, in order to study the possibilities further.

296
00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 1: After reading about Peter's apparent abilities, Puharich was convinced he'd

297
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: found the perfect subject for his experiments and invited him

298
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:38,919
Speaker 1: to have his unique skills tested under laboratory conditions. Peter,

299
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 1: who had by then separated from his first wife, Bea,

300
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,720
Speaker 1: took up the invitation and arrived in nineteen fifty six

301
00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:51,320
Speaker 1: to begin the study. In total, he would spend seven

302
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 1: years visiting Puharich at his foundation to undergo a series

303
00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:01,400
Speaker 1: of unusual tests. Days would often begin with Peter being

304
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,639
Speaker 1: strapped down into a chair and his head covered in

305
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: a mesh of wires and electrodes to monitor his brain

306
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:13,639
Speaker 1: function as Pooharich put him through his paces. In one test,

307
00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:18,680
Speaker 1: doctor Pooharich bombarded Herkos with strobe lighting, then showed him

308
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,480
Speaker 1: a series of envelopes in which various objects had been placed,

309
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,200
Speaker 1: such as a butterfly or a safety pin, and invited

310
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,679
Speaker 1: him to guess what was in them. According to Pooharich,

311
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,680
Speaker 1: under the strobe lighting, Peter guessed the correct object every

312
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:40,240
Speaker 1: single time. Intriguingly, according to Pooharich, when no strobe lighting

313
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,160
Speaker 1: was used but Peter was allowed to touch the envelope,

314
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 1: his success rate was still a remarkably high eighty percent.

315
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:51,159
Speaker 1: When only allowed to look at the envelope, this dropped

316
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 1: markedly to forty percent. By then, Peter was attracting the

317
00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:02,359
Speaker 1: attention of other well known parapsychological research, most prominently doctor

318
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:09,359
Speaker 1: Joseph Ryan, who was responsible for coining the term extrasensory perception. Ryan,

319
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 1: who ran a laboratory at the prestigious Duke University, was

320
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,679
Speaker 1: arguably the most credible scientist working in the field at

321
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 1: the time, and made frequent requests to test Peter himself,

322
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 1: but her Coos refused his offer, claiming later that he'd

323
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,000
Speaker 1: been offended by Ryan's insistence that he sit a lie

324
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 1: detective test as part of the study. In October nineteen

325
00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: fifty eight, Peter, who was then living in Miami, received

326
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,880
Speaker 1: a call from the Miami Police on behalf of its

327
00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: head of homicide, Detective Lieutenant Tom Lepp. Detective Leip's team

328
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: had hit a dead end in a murder investigation, and,

329
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: after hearing that her Coos was living in the city,

330
00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,960
Speaker 1: decided to reach out to him. Without being told anything

331
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,160
Speaker 1: of the crime. Her Cos was invited to sit inside

332
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,800
Speaker 1: a bloodstained cab and simply tell the police if anything

333
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: came to him. The cab had once belonged to sixty

334
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 1: three year old Edward Sentner, who, unbeknownst to Peter, had

335
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 1: been shot dead in it with a point to twenty

336
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 1: two bullet. A little irked by the whole thing, Peter

337
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,400
Speaker 1: nonetheless got inside the vehicle, then sat back and waited.

338
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 1: After a short pause, he began to speak. He had

339
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 1: a vision of a tattoo on a man's right arm.

340
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 1: Not the victims, the murderers. He was tall and slim too,

341
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:48,480
Speaker 1: and had a peculiar loping walk. A sailor, perhaps, he said,

342
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:53,200
Speaker 1: who was often in Detroit and Havana. Then a name

343
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:58,159
Speaker 1: came to him, Smitty, he said, And there was something else,

344
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 1: another man set dead in the Florida Keys. The officers

345
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:09,000
Speaker 1: present turned to each other in confusion, unsure of what

346
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:13,679
Speaker 1: Peter could possibly be talking about. Clearly they thought it

347
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: had all been one big charade. Then the news came

348
00:25:17,880 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: in a few days later, a Navy commander named John

349
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: Stewart was found shot to death in an apartment in

350
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,359
Speaker 1: Key Largo. He'd also been shot with a point twenty

351
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 1: two bullet identical to the bullet used to kill the

352
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:38,680
Speaker 1: cab driver. As police investigated further, a man was eventually

353
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,040
Speaker 1: identified as a potential suspect for what was now a

354
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: double murder investigation. His name wasn't Smitty exactly, but Charles Smith,

355
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,960
Speaker 1: a merchant seaman who, incredibly, as it turned out, often

356
00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:57,440
Speaker 1: shipped into Cuba and had spent time in prison in Detroit, Michigan.

357
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: About the same time, a restaurant server in Miami contacted

358
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,440
Speaker 1: police to say that she'd overheard a man boasting one

359
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:11,199
Speaker 1: night about killing two men. After receiving a picture of

360
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 1: the suspect from Michigan authorities, the police showed it to

361
00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: the server. She recognized the man instantly, who it turned out,

362
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,400
Speaker 1: was tall and slim with the tattoo on his arm,

363
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: just as Peter had seemingly predicted. A few weeks later,

364
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: Charles Smith was arrested for his involvement in an armed

365
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 1: robbery and eventually put on trial for the murders in

366
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:41,560
Speaker 1: Miami and Key Largo. He was found guilty and sentenced

367
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:50,200
Speaker 1: to life in prison. Orby Parker was founded with a

368
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,040
Speaker 1: rebellious spirit and a lofty goal to create bootique quality

369
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: I wear at a revolutionary prize point. Glasses start at

370
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: ninety five dollars. Including prescription lenses, sunglasses, progressives and blue

371
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,200
Speaker 1: light lenses are also available. Warby Parkers committed to providing

372
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: exceptional vision care online and in stores, offering eyeglasses, sunglasses,

373
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 1: eye exams, and contact lenses. Just answer a few quick

374
00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: questions online and they'll suggest some great looking glasses that

375
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,760
Speaker 1: are totally personalized to fit your face and style. The

376
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 1: best thing of all is Warby Parker's home try on system,

377
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 1: allowing you to order up to five pairs of glasses

378
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,160
Speaker 1: for free to try on at home, either for yourself

379
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:31,440
Speaker 1: or to get the advice of friends and loved ones

380
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:35,920
Speaker 1: before purchasing Try warby Parkers free home try on program.

381
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: Order five pairs of glasses to try at home for

382
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: free for five days with no obligation to buy ships

383
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: free and includes a prepaid return shipping label. Try five

384
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: pairs of glasses at home for free at warby Parker

385
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:53,320
Speaker 1: dot com. Forward slash unexplained that's w a r by

386
00:27:53,760 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: Parker dot com. Forward slash unexplained. It was four years later,

387
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:07,680
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two, on the evening of June fourteenth,

388
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,920
Speaker 1: that Euras Less arrived at his mother, Anna's home at

389
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 1: seventy seven Gainsborough Street, an apartment block located in the

390
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:20,760
Speaker 1: Back Bay area of Boston, Massachusetts. Twenty five year old

391
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: Euras knocked on his mother's door, but got no response

392
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,280
Speaker 1: from inside. It was strange that his mother would leave

393
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:31,639
Speaker 1: him waiting, since it was her that insisted on Eurys

394
00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,159
Speaker 1: getting there early that night. Anna had plans to attend

395
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 1: a memorial service at her church to commemorate her fellow

396
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,520
Speaker 1: Latvians that were deported to Siberia by the government of

397
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 1: the Soviet Union during the Second World War. She'd asked

398
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:52,280
Speaker 1: Euras to take her there after knocking again to no avail.

399
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 1: Euryas headed back down to the pavement to wait for her.

400
00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: There thirty minutes later and there was still no sign

401
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:05,520
Speaker 1: of her. Suddenly concerned, Eurys returned to his mother's apartment.

402
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,000
Speaker 1: Hearing nothing from inside, he pounded on the door as

403
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: hard as he could, but still nobody came. In desperation,

404
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 1: Eurys threw his shoulder against it, back and forth until

405
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:24,200
Speaker 1: eventually it flew open with a loud bang. Running inside,

406
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 1: he almost stumbled into a chair that had been left

407
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,040
Speaker 1: out oddly in the middle of the hall. He called

408
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 1: out again for his mother, but still there was no reply.

409
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 1: The place was in complete darkness, except for a soft

410
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: chink of light emanating from the kitchen. Eurys made a

411
00:29:44,520 --> 00:29:47,640
Speaker 1: quick sweep of the living room, then headed into the bedroom,

412
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,520
Speaker 1: where he found the dresser drawers had been left open,

413
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,160
Speaker 1: something his mother would never have done if she'd left

414
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: the property. He headed back out into the hall and

415
00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: turned towards the light at the far end. With his

416
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: heart pounding in his chest, he headed on toward the

417
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: kitchen and then he saw her. Fifty five year old

418
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: Anna Slesser's body was found lying outstretched on a runner

419
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: on the kitchen floor, naked save for a blue taffeta

420
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,880
Speaker 1: housecoat left open at the front. Her left leg was

421
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 1: lying stretched out, while the right was bent at the

422
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: knee and positioned at almost a right angle to the other,

423
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: leaving her completely exposed. The blue cord from her housecoat

424
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,719
Speaker 1: had been tied tightly around her neck, the ends of

425
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: it seemingly left turned up to resemble a bow. Forensics

426
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 1: later determined that she'd been sexually assaulted with an object.

427
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: Anna Slesser's would become the first in a series of

428
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: similarly horrific crimes over the next eighteen months. Nina Nichols,

429
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 1: Helen Blake, Ida Erger, Jane Sullivan, Sophie Clark, Patricia Bissett,

430
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:18,680
Speaker 1: Mary Anne Browne, Marie Corbyn, and Joanne Graff would be found.

431
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: Most were raped or sexually assaulted and then strangled to death,

432
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: and all were believed to be potential victims of a

433
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: single vicious sex offender and murderer operating close to or

434
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 1: within the Boston area. On January fourth, nineteen sixty four,

435
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: Mary Sullivan became the eleventh woman suspected of being sexually

436
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 1: assaulted and murdered by the same perpetrator, by then being

437
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:52,160
Speaker 1: referred to in the press as the mad Strangler. Two

438
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: weeks later, Peter Hercos received the call from Assistant Attorney

439
00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: General of Massachusetts John Bottomley. As Bottomley explained, the police

440
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: was struggling with the investigation and wanted to know if

441
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 1: he would be interested in trying to help. Herkos was

442
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: reluctant to get involved at first, having been asked to

443
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 1: assist in another brutal and high profile murder case in

444
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,280
Speaker 1: Virginia back in nineteen sixty involving a couple and their

445
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 1: two young children. Though Peter had apparently made a number

446
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:31,560
Speaker 1: of startlingly accurate predictions, he'd failed to identify the correct

447
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,120
Speaker 1: murderer and was publicly ridiculed for it in the press.

448
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: But Bottomley persisted, and eventually Herkos caved in. On January

449
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: twenty ninth, Peter Herkos landed in Providence, Rhode Island, to

450
00:32:49,560 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: see what he could do. You'd been listening to Unexplained

451
00:32:56,600 --> 00:33:02,320
Speaker 1: Season five, episode eighteen, Learning to See Part one. The

452
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: second and final part will be released next Friday, June

453
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 1: twenty fifth. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to

454
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,719
Speaker 1: help supporters, you can now do so via Patreon to

455
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: receive access to add three episodes. Just go to patron

456
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,920
Speaker 1: dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Pod to sign up, or

457
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: if you'd like to make a one time donation, you

458
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,120
Speaker 1: can go to Unexplained podcast dot com Forward Slash Support.

459
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 1: All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained,

460
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,200
Speaker 1: the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never

461
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: before been covered on the show, is now available to

462
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 1: buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,

463
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including

464
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 1: the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith.

465
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts,

466
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts

467
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,120
Speaker 1: or ideas regarding the story reads you've heard on the show.

468
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,840
Speaker 1: Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like

469
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,240
Speaker 1: to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast

470
00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: dot com or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at

471
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:16,000
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast