1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard mccleinsmith here with a quick update before 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: we dive into today's episode. Unexplained is very excited to 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 1: be a part of Crime Wave at Sea this November, 4 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: joining forces with some of the eeriest voices in the 5 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: world of true crime and the paranormal four nights in 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: the Caribbean, with amazing podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left, 7 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: Scared to Death and many more live shows, Meet and greets, 8 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: Creepy Stories under the Stars and you can be there too, 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: but don't wait. Rooms are nearly sold out. Head to 10 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: Crimewavetsea dot com forward slash Unexplained to grab your fan 11 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: coat and lock in your cabin. We'd love to see 12 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: you on board. For as long as we've been cognizant 13 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: of our place within the universe, humans have been attracted 14 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: to the notion of an afterlife. We see it every 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: time we pass a church or graveyard. We hear about 16 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: it every time someone makes reference to the dead. Passing 17 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: on from the ancient Egyptian belief that our body and 18 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: soul duplicate themselves in the Kingdom of the Dead to 19 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: the more modern iterations of heaven and hell represented by 20 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: the Abrahamic religions. Our relationship with mortality, and indeed religion, 21 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: is largely informed by our unwillingness to accept death as 22 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: the end. Understandably, believing in an after life offers great comfort, 23 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 1: yet simply believing the dead continue to exist somewhere else 24 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: isn't enough. Throughout history, we've desperately sought ways to pierce 25 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: the veil between life and death, to receive guidance from 26 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: those who have gone before us, or glimpse what awaits us. 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: This is why so many cultures have produced oracles than visionaries. 28 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: In the Greco Roman era, these people were often revered 29 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: priestesses known as sibyls, who would invite pollucinogenic cocktails to 30 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: produce prophecies and dream visions. In Roman poet Virgil's epic 31 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: The Aeneid, for example, when Trojan hero a Eneas makes 32 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: the brave decision to try and visit his dead father 33 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: in the underworld, it is to the famous Cumean Sybil, 34 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: who he turns to for advice on how to make 35 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: it out alive. Since moving from the Renaissance, through the 36 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, at least in the secular West, 37 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:45,639 Speaker 1: we increasingly outsource our anxieties about death to empirical strategies 38 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: focusing more on sustaining life or at least providing the 39 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: illusion of eternal life through technology, cosmetics, and the intervention 40 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: of modern medicine. But our animal hard wiring has proved 41 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: stubbornly persistent that little part of us that remains so 42 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: terrified of the idea of death being the complete and 43 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: utter end, we just can't face up to it, So 44 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: that even when numerous studies show belief in gaud falling 45 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: steadily throughout the West over the last forty years, the 46 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: number of people who believe in an after life has 47 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: remained more or less consistent throughout the same period, despite 48 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: both ideas broadly going hand in hand. Perhaps one reason 49 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: for this has been the ever growing fascination with near 50 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: death experiences or endase, which, thanks to modern technology, has 51 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: never been more thoroughly studied than it is to day. 52 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: In two thousand and eight, in one large scale study 53 00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: published by the University of Southampton, over two thousand patients 54 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: from fifteen different hospitals were interviewed about what they encountered 55 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: during their near death experiences. It found that over forty 56 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: percent of those who survived cardiac events had an acute 57 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,280 Speaker 1: sense of awareness during the time that they were supposedly 58 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: clinically dead. At least one patient had reportedly verified out 59 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: of body experience, while many more reported what were described 60 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 1: as hallucinatory events. One group of scientists from the Charite 61 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: University of Medicine in Berlin surmised during a study in 62 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: twenty eleven that near death experiences are most likely due 63 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: to an explosion of serotonin released into the bloodstream when 64 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: the brain senses the body shutting down. In this way, 65 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,479 Speaker 1: an NDE is little more than consciousness giving itself one 66 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: last hurrah to ease the transition from being into non being. 67 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: The release of d MT from the pineal gland at 68 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,039 Speaker 1: the moment of death has also been suggested as a 69 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: material explanation for the event. But even if this were 70 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: to prove categorically correct, we wouldn't be human if we 71 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: didn't at least think, hope or pray for a moment. 72 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: Just what if? Since the brain is relatively poorly understood 73 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 1: when compared with other organs, and since Newtonian physics does 74 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: not allow for the destruction of energy, only its transfer, 75 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: numerous hopeful theories have been proposed regarding the possibility of 76 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: consciousness surviving death, So it should come as no surprise 77 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: that visions experienced in the face of death still hold 78 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: a great fascination for us. In James One's twenty ten 79 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: horror blockbuster Insidious, a demonic entity known as the Long 80 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,919 Speaker 1: Haired Fiend attaches itself to a young boy after he 81 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: falls from a ladder and slips into a prolonged coma. 82 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: To date, the Insidious franchise has made almost a billion 83 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,800 Speaker 1: US dollars at the box office, clear evidence that the 84 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: very idea of another site still has the enduring power 85 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,359 Speaker 1: to both titillate and terrify to such an extent that 86 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: we will turn out in droves just to get a 87 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: peak at what we imagine might be behind the curtain. But 88 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: how should we approach near death experiences when the visions 89 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: don't come from a hospital bed or a laboratory setting. 90 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: What happens when they emerge from the bowels of the 91 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: earth itself? From men trapped in absolute darkness, facing certain death, 92 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: with no medical equipment to monitor their brain activity and 93 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: no scientists to explain away what they're seeing, these were 94 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: exactly the questions that would haunt investigators in the aftermath 95 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: of one tragic event in the small town of Shepton, Pennsylvania, 96 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: in the summer of nineteen sixty three. You're listening to 97 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: Unexplained and I'm Richard mc lean smith. Tuesday morning of 98 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:28,640 Speaker 1: August thirteenth, nineteen sixty three was unseasonably cold, even more 99 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: so down in the depths of the single entry Anthrokite 100 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,640 Speaker 1: coal mine near the small town of Shepton, Pennsylvania. Fifty 101 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: eight year old David Felon was the mine's co owner. 102 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: Despite his authority, David was well respected and liked by 103 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: his men because, unlike many other mine owners, he wasn't 104 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: afraid to get his hands dirty. He cared about his 105 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: co workers and was always quick with a kind word 106 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: about their families or asking after their welfare. That morning, 107 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:05,920 Speaker 1: David was at the head of a skeleton crew with 108 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 1: two of his most trusted employees, fifty four year old 109 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: Lewis Bova and twenty eight year old Henry Throne. Though 110 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: fairly new to the wrong, Henry was energetic and curious 111 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: about the intricacies of his work, and usefully strong when 112 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: it came to moving heavy loads. Though David was loath 113 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: to admit it. He was fast approaching the end of 114 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: his own tenure physically, and was pleased to have the 115 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: eager young worker by his side. The coal mine was 116 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: small scale and cramped, but the men didn't mind. They 117 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 1: saw themselves as working within a tradition that went all 118 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: the way back to the days of the American Frontier. 119 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,679 Speaker 1: They didn't need excavators or bulldozers, industrial drills, or fancy 120 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,839 Speaker 1: lighting ricks. Felen and his men relied solely on their 121 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: wits and the tried and tested method of extracting coal 122 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: with pickaxes and handcarts. They were three hundred and thirty 123 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: feet underground, separated from the outside world by countless tons 124 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: of rock and soil above them, with only a low 125 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: hanging narrow mine shaft held up by wooden support beams 126 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: for a way out. The men pummeled at the seam 127 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: under the flickering light of their gas lamps, their faces 128 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: black from the coal dust. After an hour or so, 129 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: they loaded up a cart with the spoils and sent 130 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: it back up to the surface. As the heavily laden 131 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: cart inched its way ever closer to the outside world, 132 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 1: pulled by an aging piece of corroded steel, cable. The 133 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,440 Speaker 1: men got back to work chipping away at the coal. 134 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,679 Speaker 1: They rarely thought of the perilousness of what they were doing, 135 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: preferring instead to focus on getting the job done so 136 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: they could get back to their families and loved ones. 137 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: So maybe it was just sheer luck that they'd gotten 138 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: away with working under such dangerous conditions for so long, 139 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 1: But that luck was about to change. As the cart 140 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: continued its way, inching up the tunnel toward the daylight, 141 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: that corroded steel cable slowly began to unravel, one strand 142 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: at a time, each loosening for a moment before suddenly 143 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: pinging off. Then, with one loud crack, the entire cable snapped. 144 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,480 Speaker 1: Hearing a strange sound, at first, David Felon thought he'd 145 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: pierced through the seam and exposed a natural gas bubble, 146 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: something that was common in that line of work, and 147 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,559 Speaker 1: that would have left all three men with no hope 148 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: of survival. Then he heard an ominous, distant rumbling sound, 149 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: the sound of the coal cart thundering back down the 150 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: mine shaft toward them, taking out every support beam in 151 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: it path. David had just enough time to scream for 152 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: his team to take cover before their entire world collapsed 153 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: on their heads as countless tons of rock rained down 154 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:26,200 Speaker 1: on them. Both David and the younger man, Henry Throne, 155 00:11:26,520 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: managed to dive out of the way just in time, 156 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: taking refuge in an air pocket at one end of 157 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:37,960 Speaker 1: the mine track. Lewis Bova was not so lucky. He'd 158 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,080 Speaker 1: been working further up the track when the collapse happened, 159 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,720 Speaker 1: and was now separated from his colleagues by a meter's 160 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: thick wall of crushed stone, wooden beams, buckled railway sleepers, 161 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 1: and smashed metal. For a moment, David and Henry heard 162 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 1: him shouting from the other side of the rubble, something 163 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: about his hip being backd hurt. Then he went quiet. 164 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:07,320 Speaker 1: They tried knocking and calling his name. They rattled the 165 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,679 Speaker 1: wire on the light fixtures, hoping he would rattle back, 166 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 1: but there was no response. David and Henry, it seemed, 167 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: were now on their own, with only the flame of 168 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: a flickering gaslight to illuminate the cramped space, and not 169 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: long after the light flickered out, plunging them into unfathomable darkness. 170 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: The older David did his best to keep Henry calm. 171 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: The main thing was they were alive and uninjured, and 172 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:41,359 Speaker 1: their colleagues would soon be coming for them, he insisted. 173 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: In the meantime, they just had to hold on. But 174 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: David knew only too well that in order to do that, 175 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: they were likely going to have to push the boundaries 176 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: of human endurance far beyond what either men had imagined 177 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: they would ever have to do. Listening in the darkness, 178 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: they followed the sound of droplets and discovered puddles of brackish, 179 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: sulfurous water. It was vile, like drinking liquid coal, but 180 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:16,160 Speaker 1: it would keep them alive. As for food, all they 181 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 1: had between them was the half eaten cheese and pickle 182 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: sandwich in David's top pocket. When that ran out, they 183 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: chewed on the damp bark of a broken support beam 184 00:13:27,559 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 1: to stave off the pangs of hunger. But worst of 185 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: all was the cold. It seemed to pulse through the 186 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: walls like a nuclear winter, and so they endured minute 187 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: after minute, hour after hour in the pitch black, clinging 188 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:48,359 Speaker 1: to each other to preserve body heat and for comfort. 189 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,559 Speaker 1: It had been two days, maybe even three by their 190 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: rough estimation, when David and Henry began to scent something strange, 191 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,440 Speaker 1: though they knew it made no logical sense. Both men 192 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: were becoming increasingly convinced that they weren't alone in the mind. 193 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,240 Speaker 1: It was David who saw it first, the faint light 194 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: in the distance, getting closer and closer. It seemed to 195 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,480 Speaker 1: be coming from a flashlight. Then what appeared to be 196 00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: two shapes seemed to emerge from out of the gloom. 197 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: Then Henry apparently saw it too, Hey, show me some 198 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: light over here, he shouted, annoyed at how long the 199 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: figures seemed to be taking to get to them. As 200 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: they came closer, David realized suddenly they were wearing spacesuits 201 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: and didn't seem to hear Henry's cry. David watched as 202 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: the figures drew closer, feeling as though he were spinning 203 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: through a hall of mirrors. Panicking suddenly, he tried to 204 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: move toward them, only for the two figures to suddenly 205 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: head off in the opposite direction, getting smaller and smaller 206 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: until they disappeared completely. It was some time later, as 207 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: the two men drifted in and out of consciousness, that 208 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: Henry suddenly stirred, Awake, Do you see it? He said? 209 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:32,600 Speaker 1: See what, replied David? The light said Henry, But this 210 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: time it wasn't a flashlight, but something else entirely, an 211 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: eerie blue glow radiating from out of what appeared to 212 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: be a doorway located some way off in the darkness. 213 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: Henry was certain he could see a marble staircase in 214 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:55,320 Speaker 1: the space behind leading up into the light. The young 215 00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: man stumbled to his feet, stooping low to avoid the ceiling. Davy, 216 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: I'm going home, and I'll go alone if you don't 217 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: want to come, he said, as he tried to stagger away. 218 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: Feeling a sudden surge of dread, David grabbed for Henry 219 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: and held on to him for dear life. Don't go 220 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: to it, he urged, as though he knew if he 221 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: went for it, Henry's life would be over in time. 222 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: As they would later tell it, David also came to 223 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 1: see the doorway. It was perhaps a day later when 224 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: Henry saw the strain celestial light again, this time seemingly 225 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 1: shining out of a huge fissure in the mine wall. 226 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: Henry couldn't take his eyes off it and what was 227 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: supposedly contained within it. Beyond the crack, as he later claimed, 228 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: he saw a vast, golden city with bizarre cherub like 229 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: creatures flying in the air playing harps. There was a 230 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: face too, of a man Henry didn't recognize. Then the 231 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: crack closed up and the light disappeared. Throughout their ordeal, 232 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: a large glowing crucifix was also said to have appeared 233 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: to them. Neither man was quite sure how much time 234 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: had passed when they heard a faint rumbling sound above them, 235 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:30,720 Speaker 1: followed by the unmistakable vibration of a drill moving closer overhead, 236 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,959 Speaker 1: until finally it pushed through the rock and sent a 237 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: shower of rubble cascading from above. When all was still, 238 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: the men realized with startled relief that they had been found. 239 00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: Unknown to David and Henry, from the moment the mind collapsed, 240 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: an extraordinary rescue effort had been put in motion to 241 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,959 Speaker 1: try and get to the Five days had passed before 242 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: that first borehole pushed through into where they were sheltering. 243 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: As soon as they realized what had happened, the men 244 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: screamed out to whoever might be listening that they were alive. 245 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: In time, food, water, flashlights, and medication were passed down 246 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,800 Speaker 1: into their chamber. A microphone was also dropped into the 247 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: hole so the men could communicate with their families. Here 248 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: we come, they shouted into it, delighted at the prospect 249 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: that their ordeal was finally coming to an end. Sadly, however, 250 00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: there was still some way to go. It soon became 251 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,399 Speaker 1: obvious the borehole had not been made wide enough for 252 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: the men to fit through. Having heard about the calamity, 253 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes offered to help with the rescue effort. 254 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:57,440 Speaker 1: With his support, a state of the art industrial drill 255 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:00,919 Speaker 1: was flown in by the Navy, before being transported on 256 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:05,560 Speaker 1: a flatbed trailer by a convoy of Pennsylvania State troopers. 257 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: The massive rig was set up and ready to begin 258 00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 1: drilling on August twentieth, seven days after the initial collapse. 259 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,480 Speaker 1: By then, family and friends had been joined at the 260 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: digging site by over two hundred media personnel, along with U. S. 261 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,119 Speaker 1: Navy physicians who had been drafted in to tend to 262 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 1: the men as soon as they could be brought out. 263 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: All watched on in agonizing disbelief as every turn of 264 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: the huge drill increased the danger of further collapse into 265 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 1: the mine. What if the pickaxe hewn air pocket, which 266 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: held both David and Henry gave way. What if the 267 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: smaller borehole that had already taken five days to drill 268 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: suddenly collapsed too. Finally, after seven straight days of digging, 269 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:01,199 Speaker 1: howd Hughes's drill pushed through into the mine shaft. Even still, 270 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: the new borehole was only seventeen and a half inches 271 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: in diameter, and though the two men had lost considerable 272 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 1: weight during their entrapment, their exit proved a little more 273 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,480 Speaker 1: difficult than anticipated. The men were given cover alls to 274 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: where to protect them from the three hundred feet of 275 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: jagged rock they were to be pulled through, and axel 276 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: grease to cover themselves with to help ease the journey. 277 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,560 Speaker 1: And so it was that on August twenty seventh, at 278 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: David's behest, Henry was the first to be clipped onto 279 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,119 Speaker 1: the rescue cable. Then, as he held on for dear life, 280 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: he was steadily winched through the tiny hole and ascended 281 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: up into the light. At the first sight of him 282 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: above ground, a huge cheer and wave of relief washed 283 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: over the crowd as Henry blinked furiously and winced at 284 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: the brightness of it all. It wasn't the after life, 285 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: but it was heaven to be back on the surface. 286 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: A short time later, David followed, singing deliriously as he went, 287 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: She'll be coming round the mountain when she comes, until 288 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: finally he too was pulled up into the light. Immediately 289 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,479 Speaker 1: after both men were extracted from the cave, they were 290 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 1: rushed to the nearest hospital, where, incredibly, they were found 291 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: to be in relatively good health. Perhaps even more incredibly, 292 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: when Henry was brought into hospital, with his eyes slowly 293 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: adjusting to the daylight, he caught sight of an image 294 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: behind one of the nursing stations, a picture of the 295 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,200 Speaker 1: same face he'd apparently seen in the vision he'd had 296 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,679 Speaker 1: of the Golden City while trapped underground. When he asked 297 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,800 Speaker 1: who the man was, a nurse replied that it was 298 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 1: Pope John the twenty third, who had only recently died. 299 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:09,919 Speaker 1: Henry had apparently never seen him before, and so steadily 300 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: reports of the strange visions the men had seen while 301 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: trapped in the darkness began to emerge. Both men were 302 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,439 Speaker 1: interviewed separately by Fate magazine, where the author of the 303 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,359 Speaker 1: piece was amazed to find that not only had both 304 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:29,639 Speaker 1: men apparently experienced the visions, but They claimed also to 305 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:34,680 Speaker 1: have experienced the same ones, as David Felon himself told 306 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:38,160 Speaker 1: the magazine. Pope John and a cross were there all 307 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: the time, but these other things kept jumping across. First, 308 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: there were these men with lights, and after a while 309 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: the steps would come. It was real. Both of us 310 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: were seeing it, and we knew they were live people. 311 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:57,560 Speaker 1: We know that both men are said to have become 312 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: convinced that the golden city they saw was in fact 313 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: a vision of heaven. Though David had been raised Catholic 314 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: and was familiar with the Pope and heavenly imagery, Henry 315 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: was not a fact that many who believed the men's 316 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:18,880 Speaker 1: claims say proves the veracity of their account. Skeptics, however, 317 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: point out that the stories of supposed heavenly visions only 318 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,800 Speaker 1: conveniently started to appear after the men began fielding criticism 319 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,479 Speaker 1: about their mining venture. Though glad to be alive, David 320 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: Felon was quick to complain that he and Henry Throne 321 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: could have been saved in five days instead of fourteen, 322 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:43,440 Speaker 1: had the rescuers come equipped with the proper drilling equipment 323 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 1: in the first place. In response, Pennsylvania's Deputy Secretary of 324 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:53,680 Speaker 1: Mines Gordon Smith, who directed the rescue operation, blamed David, 325 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 1: as co owner of the mine, for the collapse. As 326 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: it turned out, the mine had already been worked out 327 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: by another mining company, and David's team were effectively removing 328 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: coal that had been deliberately left in place to keep 329 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: the mind from collapsing. Despite the men's claim that their 330 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:18,160 Speaker 1: visions were identical, others have pointed out discrepancies in their 331 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: account as evidence that they concocted their story. For example, 332 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,959 Speaker 1: the cross they apparently saw was said by David to 333 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: have had square ends, while Henry described them as round. 334 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,360 Speaker 1: David also described the marble staircase he apparently saw as 335 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: being ten to twelve feet wide and ascending upwards out 336 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,600 Speaker 1: of sight, while Henry described it instead as being three 337 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: to four feet wide and leading to another doorway higher up. 338 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: In February nineteen seventy, almost seven years after the shit 339 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: Shepton incident, the band The Buoys from the nearby city 340 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 1: of Scranton released a song called Timothy. The song was 341 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:12,360 Speaker 1: a minor success, spending eight weeks in the Billboard Top forty, 342 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:17,359 Speaker 1: peaking at number seventeen. In it, the Buoy's chief songwriter 343 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: and frontman Rupert Holmes recounts a dark tale of three 344 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: miners who descended into the earth, only to get trapped 345 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: by a cave in. When one of the men dies, 346 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,120 Speaker 1: the eponymous Timothy, the other two are forced to eat 347 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: him in order to survive. The strange blurring of the 348 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: stories has left some wandering about what really happened to 349 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: David and Henry's partner Lewis Bova, and whether the tale 350 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,479 Speaker 1: of their strange visions was in fact some way of 351 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: distracting themselves from a far darker truth. For his part, 352 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: songwriter Rupert Holmes has flatly denied any connection to the 353 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 1: Shepton minace this ordeal, stating that if I had known 354 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: about Shepton at the time, I probably never would have 355 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: written the song because I don't want to make fun 356 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,040 Speaker 1: of something that's tragic. I sadly found out there was 357 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,879 Speaker 1: a parallel in reality, but only after the fact. It 358 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: never occurred to me that there could be anything quite 359 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: like that. Either way, there is no doubt that David 360 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,480 Speaker 1: and Henry's survival was a miracle of sorts. As for 361 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: whether they experienced the true miracle of seeing heaven, however, 362 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: if indeed they truly had those visions at all. That 363 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: remains to this day unexplained. But there is one thing 364 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,119 Speaker 1: for sure. If there is such a thing as an afterlife, 365 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,520 Speaker 1: both David Felen and Henry Throne, who died in nineteen 366 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:51,680 Speaker 1: ninety and ninety eight, respectively, or know all about it. 367 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: As for the rest of us, I guess we'll just 368 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:06,119 Speaker 1: have to wait and see. This episode was written by 369 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 1: James Connor Patterson and Richard McLain Smith. James is a 370 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: brilliant writer and poet. His debut collection of poems, titled 371 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 1: Bandit Country, Exploring the Hintland between the North of Ireland 372 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: and Republic, was shortlisted for the twenty twenty two T. S. 373 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 1: Eliot Prize and is out now to buy, so do 374 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: check it out. Thank you as ever for listening Unexplained 375 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: as an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. 376 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are 377 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:43,040 Speaker 1: also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained. The book 378 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can 379 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Quarterstones and other bookstores. 380 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get 381 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with 382 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the story you've heard on 383 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:03,919 Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or a story 384 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,400 Speaker 1: of your own you'd like to share. 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