1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: Unexplained now has a substack page. If you enjoy Unexplained 2 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: and want to go deeper into the world of the show, 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: I've created a new space for all the bits that 4 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: don't quite fit into the podcast, including the Unexplained Addendum, 5 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,040 Speaker 1: a weekly companion piece to each new episode. Expect essays 6 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: that lean more academic and analytical explorations of folklore, psychology, 7 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: and the shadowy corners of history that have shaped the 8 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:24,799 Speaker 1: stories you hear on the show. But it's also a 9 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: home for something more personal, my fiction, my strange amusings, 10 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: and the odd fragments that don't belong anywhere else. Search 11 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: for Unexplained podcast on substack or go to Unexplained podcast 12 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: dot substack dot com to find out more and subscribe. 13 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: If it's like a little bit more of me and 14 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: Unexplained in your week, join me on substack and let's 15 00:00:43,880 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: keep exploring the unknown together new writing every Monday. You're 16 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,360 Speaker 1: listening to the third and final part of Unexplained, Season nine, 17 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: episode twelve, Eyes that Shine, Burning Bread. On a mild 18 00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: September afternoon in eighteen seventy five in the village of 19 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,479 Speaker 1: long Compton, eighty year old an tenant is returning home 20 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: from the Bakers when a local farm laborer named James 21 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,039 Speaker 1: Heywood spies her from across the road. The tired and 22 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: weary James, still carrying his pitchfork, has spent all day 23 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: working in the field, but the sight of Anne seems 24 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: to stir something animalistic inside of him. Holding his pitchfork aloft, 25 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,520 Speaker 1: he tears across the road and unleashes hell on the 26 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: elderly woman, stabbing her first in the leg, then two 27 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: more times in the body. He screams for her to 28 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: leave him alone and to die. Hayward is eventually pulled 29 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: off the woman and taken to the police, and Tenant 30 00:02:06,880 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: dies the following day from her injuries. Pressed on why 31 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: on earth he attacked the poor, defenseless old woman, Hayward 32 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: insisted she wasn't defenseless at all, but was in fact 33 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: a witch. Not only that, but she was the head 34 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 1: of an entire coven that had been actively cursing him 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: since he was a young boy. Naturally, to Hayward's mind, 36 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: the only way to break the hecks was to kill 37 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: off the coven's leader. The plan was then to take 38 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: out the rest of the coven one by one until 39 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: the earth was wet with their blood. After being examined 40 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: by a physician, it was determined that Hayward had a 41 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: quote enfeebled mind and was incapable of controlling his emotions, 42 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: possibly owing to an accident he'd had as a boy 43 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: when he'd been struck on the head by a falling branch. 44 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: But it was also found that Heyward was not entirely 45 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: alone in his suspicions about the existence of malignant witches 46 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: in the area. In fact, he owed much of his 47 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: suspicions to the influence of his parents, who regularly complained 48 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: to fellow villagers that local witches wouldn't leave their boy alone. 49 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: With the same local suspicions and the use of the pitchfork, 50 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: it was hard not to see the similarities between the 51 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: murders of Charles Walton and Anne Tenant. Though Inspector Fabian 52 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 1: at little time for the suggestion that Charles really was 53 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: a witch, was it at least possible that, much like 54 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:49,400 Speaker 1: James Heyward to Anne Tenant, his murderer believed it, could 55 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: they have been so unnerved by all the strange rumors 56 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: surrounding Charles, or convinced even that he'd actually put a 57 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: curse on them, they killed him for it. Surely it 58 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: wasn't possible in that day and age, reasoned fabian. But 59 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: then the investigators did a little more digging. As it 60 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: turned out not only was it possible, but that small 61 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 1: area of English countryside that Charles Walton called home, known 62 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: to some as the Land of the Covens, was especially 63 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: famous for it. Back in eighteen eighty, on a farm 64 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: in Ilmington, four miles south of Lower Quinton, a number 65 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: of cows died inexplicably. Fearing a curse had been put 66 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,919 Speaker 1: on them. The farmer's made cut out the heart of 67 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: one of the dead cows, then stuck it with pins 68 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: and baked it in the farmhouse oven. As the story goes, 69 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: no sooner had the flesh started to cook, a strange creature, 70 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,159 Speaker 1: the likes of which had never been seen before, appeared 71 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: suddenly in the kitchen and made a bee line for 72 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: the oven. It scratched desperately at the oven door, trying 73 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,040 Speaker 1: to get inside to get at the heart, but before 74 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: it could, the creature was captured and killed. From that 75 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,920 Speaker 1: day on, the farmer's cows were apparently no longer bothered 76 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: by the supposed curse. On February night in eighteen eighty 77 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,799 Speaker 1: six in the town of fenny Compton, twenty miles east 78 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: of Lower Quinton, a local police officer disappeared. A few 79 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 1: days later, the body of twenty nine year old Constable 80 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: William Hine was fished out of the local canal. An 81 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: inquest found that the cause of death was due to 82 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: one expertly delivered stab wound to the jugular vein. The 83 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: man had, as the coroner noted, been stuck like a pig. 84 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: Though local poachers were suspected of the murder, others believed 85 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:56,480 Speaker 1: there was a far more strange and supernatural motive for 86 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: the killing, a belief that never truly went away. There 87 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: were also numerous tales of one apparent witch local to 88 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: the area called Betty. It said that one evening sometime 89 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: around the late eighteen hundreds, a cat appeared at a 90 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: village party that Betty had not been invited to. Believing 91 00:06:17,400 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 1: the cat was actually Betty in disguise, the host is 92 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,480 Speaker 1: said to have chased it down and driven a pitchfork 93 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: through its pow. The following day, a sheepish looking Betty 94 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: was apparently seen around the village nursing a hand wound. 95 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:37,280 Speaker 1: More recently. One farmer living at Hillside Farm, not far 96 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: from where Charles Wharton was murdered, was said to have 97 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: been having trouble keeping its gate shut. Each morning he 98 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: would awake to find them left wide open, and all 99 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,520 Speaker 1: his cattle missing. Even when he bought padlocks for them, 100 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: all still he would wake to find them all unlocked 101 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: and pushed open, his cattle scattered about. He blamed. Which 102 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: is and then, of course there were the roll Right Stones. 103 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,960 Speaker 1: Not fifteen miles south of Lower Quinton, on a scarp 104 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: overlooking the village of long Compton, where Anne Tenant was murdered, 105 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: resides a peculiar stone circle constructed from oulite limestone. Like 106 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: Edward Leeds Skalnin's Strange Coral Castle in Florida, it is 107 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: composed of seventy seven stones placed in a ring about 108 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: thirty meters in diameter, known as the King's Men. Beside 109 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: this are four standing stones seemingly in a huddle together, 110 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: known as the Whispering Knights, thought to be the remains 111 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: of a burial chamber, and lastly a large solitary stone 112 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: at the head of it, all known as the Kingstone. 113 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: As the story goes, early one afternoon a king was 114 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: riding through the countryside with his army when they were 115 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: accosted by a witch. She offered the king a challenge 116 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,440 Speaker 1: in return for which he would become king of all 117 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: the land. But the king failed, so he and his 118 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: men were turned to stone, where they stood in truth. 119 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:19,559 Speaker 1: The ancient ritual site was built periodically over the course 120 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:23,200 Speaker 1: of about three thousand years, with the Whispering Knights burial 121 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: chamber thought to have been built some six thousand years ago. 122 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,120 Speaker 1: The witch related origin story may be apocryphal, but the 123 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: mysterious stone circles association with witches does not end there. 124 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: For centuries, rumors have abounded of a coven of witches 125 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: who regularly gathered for late night sabbaths in the middle 126 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: of the roll ride stones. On certain nights when the 127 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 1: moon is at its fullest or the mist at its thickest, 128 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,200 Speaker 1: Witnesses claimed to have seen groups of naked people cavorting 129 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 1: inside the circle, rubbing ointments onto their bodies, and dancing 130 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:07,760 Speaker 1: themselves into a state of delirium. At least one so 131 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: called roll right, which is said to be executed in 132 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 1: the seventeenth century at the hands of the infamous witch 133 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: finder General Matthew Hopkins. It was said to be common 134 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: knowledge to any woman struggling to get pregnant that all 135 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: they had to do was ruber breast against one of 136 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: the stones, and they would no longer struggle to conceive. 137 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: One farmer is alleged to have tried to steal one 138 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: of the stones for use in a building project, using 139 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: horses to pull it free, but every time he tried 140 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: to attach them to the stone, the horses simply reared 141 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: away in fear, it seemed witches, or at least the 142 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: fear of them was still very much alive and well. 143 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,679 Speaker 1: In fact, there was also a rumor that at least 144 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: three men and four women still met regularly at me 145 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: and Hill to conduct Sabbath's One man from long Marston, 146 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: another local village, claimed that he saw them eat a 147 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: nest of hairless mice, washing each one down with gluttonous 148 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: gulps of cider. As it happened. Charles Walton was a 149 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: known cider drinker, which he would always buy by the 150 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: barrel to supposedly drink at home away from prying eyes. 151 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: Despite the headlines being dominated by the war, it wasn't 152 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: long before the rumor that something truly strange had occurred 153 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: in Lower Quinton began to get noticed by the wider public. 154 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 1: Talk of black magic and witchcraft began to intensify. Though 155 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: Inspector Fabian had no time for the supernatural, he also 156 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,680 Speaker 1: knew that it didn't matter what he believed, only what 157 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: Charles's killer did. Suddenly it didn't seem so out of 158 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: the question that someone might have been sufficiently rattled at 159 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: the thought that Charles was a witch that they had 160 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: killed him for it. Mutterings intensified about rum things that 161 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: happened last spring, and how the crops had been inexplicably 162 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: poor despite good weather. As one man put it, something's 163 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: wrong when crops go against nature. Was Charles and his 164 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: natterjack toads to blame for this? They wondered? And then 165 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: there was the watch. According to some, Charles's pocket watch 166 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,800 Speaker 1: was no ordinary timepiece, but was really used to store 167 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: a small black scrying mirror, which he used to predict 168 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: the future and cast his spells. Is that what the 169 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: murderer had been searching for all along? Despite the many 170 00:11:55,840 --> 00:12:00,679 Speaker 1: peculiar theories now beginning to percolate, Inspector Fabian still had 171 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:03,640 Speaker 1: nothing solid to go on. At the heart of it 172 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,680 Speaker 1: all was the villager's continued refusal to name anyone to 173 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: go along with their various theories about who might have 174 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: done it and why. But there was one thing Fabian 175 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,679 Speaker 1: couldn't stop thinking about, just how was it possible that 176 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,000 Speaker 1: no one in the village had seen Charles being attacked 177 00:12:22,040 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: in broad daylight, or at least someone who would have 178 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: been covered in blood fleeing the scene. In a re newed 179 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: effort to get to the bottom of it, a reconnaissance 180 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: plane was used to take detailed photographs of the area 181 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: surrounding the murder site. From this, a detailed map was compiled, 182 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,199 Speaker 1: marking out all local landmarks and farms from which someone 183 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: might have had a good line of sight to where 184 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 1: Charles was working when he was attacked. Anyone associated with 185 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: those places was pressed again on what they'd seen that day, 186 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: but all maintained their ignorance. Police also looked into the 187 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: records for all the murders committed in the region over 188 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:05,360 Speaker 1: the last ten years to see if any had been 189 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 1: linked to witchcraft or black magic, or anything else that 190 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,800 Speaker 1: might tie together with the Charles Walton killing, but nothing 191 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: was found. After three months, it seemed that all avenues 192 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 1: to find the killer had been exhausted in all that time. 193 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: Aside from the man named Smith who'd killed himself, only 194 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:35,680 Speaker 1: one other person was considered a possible suspect, a soldier 195 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: who lived near the village who also dabbled in poaching rabbits. 196 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: Some speculated that Charles had caught him red handed and 197 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,440 Speaker 1: he'd murdered him for it, but it all sounded a 198 00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:51,560 Speaker 1: little far fetched to inspect a fabian, and though he 199 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,560 Speaker 1: had no way to prove it for him, there was 200 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:58,800 Speaker 1: only one name worth considering, because when it came to murder, 201 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: more often than not, the simplest answer was the right one. 202 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: As it turned out, there was one person who they 203 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: knew had a perfect line of sight of Charles around 204 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,000 Speaker 1: the time he was murdered, who also just happened to 205 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,160 Speaker 1: be the last known person to have seen him alive, 206 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: Alfred Potter. For all his supposed alibis, there wasn't actually 207 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: anyone who could confirm absolutely that Potter wasn't near me 208 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 1: and Hill when Charles was killed. For example, one local 209 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 1: shopkeeper who Potter put forward as an alibi, confirmed that 210 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 1: Alfred had brought pig feed from him on the day 211 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: of the crime, but not at the time of the murder. 212 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: Digging further into Potter's farm, Inspector Fabian learned there were 213 00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: rumors of financial irregularities in the family estate. Maybe he 214 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,119 Speaker 1: wondered Charles had found out about this and had demanded 215 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,000 Speaker 1: more pay in return for his silence. If Charles had 216 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: refused to let it go, so, perhaps Potter had just 217 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: snapped and put an end to it. As a man 218 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: of good standing in the community, unlike the outcast Charles 219 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: who few would miss. Perhaps he reasoned that he'd get 220 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: away with it, and maybe he did. Perhaps he'd even 221 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: done it out of a genuine fear of Charles's supposed 222 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: black magic powers, genuinely holding him responsible for the previous 223 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: year's fallow harvest or ailments affecting his animals. Perhaps hearing 224 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,600 Speaker 1: that one of his heifers was dead in a ditch 225 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: had been the final straw. But in the end, just 226 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: like Inspector Robert Fabian, we will never know. As summer arrived, 227 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,360 Speaker 1: Fabian was forced to make the tough decision to end 228 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:58,720 Speaker 1: the investigation and return to London. In the years that followed, 229 00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: the formal investigation into Charles Walton's murder. The esteemed Inspector 230 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: Fabian could never quite shake off the case, and had 231 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: haunted him for the rest of his life. In his 232 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,400 Speaker 1: subsequent memoirs, he described it as one of the strangest 233 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:16,360 Speaker 1: of his career, and it was clear that something of 234 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: the country's dark superstitions had left a permanent mark on 235 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 1: the man, though he said little about it at the time. 236 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: Reflecting on the case in nineteen seventy, Fabian is reputed 237 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,080 Speaker 1: to have said, I advise anybody who is tempted at 238 00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: any time to venture into black magic, witchcraft, shamanism, call 239 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 1: it what you will, to remember Charles Wharton and to 240 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:45,160 Speaker 1: think of his death, which was clearly the ghastly climax 241 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: of a pagan rite. There is no stronger argument for 242 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: keeping as far away as possible from the villains with 243 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: their swords, incense and mumbo jumbo. It is prudence on 244 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: which your future peace of mind and even your life 245 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:07,880 Speaker 1: could depend. Superintendent Alex Spooner from Warwickshire's CID was similarly 246 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,359 Speaker 1: affected by it, and equally troubled by the inability to 247 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: find a culprit. Every Valentine's Day for the next fifteen years, 248 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,080 Speaker 1: he returned to Lower Quinton and made a solitary pilgrimage 249 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:25,000 Speaker 1: to the precise spot where Charles was murdered. There at noon, 250 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: precisely he could be seen keeping his own quiet vigil 251 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: in Charles's memory. The idea was to send a message 252 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,919 Speaker 1: to the killer, if they still frequented the area, that 253 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: he hadn't forgotten, in the hope that he might provoke 254 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: them into finally buckling under their own guilt. But no 255 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: one came forward, and in time, as is often the way, 256 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,479 Speaker 1: the villagers came to resent his visits. They wanted to 257 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: move on, so Spooner stopped coming. Somewhere along the line, 258 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,679 Speaker 1: it was pointed out that Charles Walton had been murdered 259 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: on February fourteenth, but only according to the Gregorian calendar. 260 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: If you were a pagan traditionalist, you might prefer to 261 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: go by the Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind. 262 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,719 Speaker 1: If so, the day Charles was murdered was actually February 263 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: the first, a traditional Druidic day of sacrifice. Could it be? 264 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:26,679 Speaker 1: Some wondered that it wasn't Charles, who in fact was 265 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:31,880 Speaker 1: the witch, but his murderer. Had he actually been murdered 266 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: as part of a pagan ritual using his blood to 267 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:39,880 Speaker 1: replenish the soil and keep the local crops thriving. As 268 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: coroner James Webster pointed out at the inquest, the likelihood 269 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: was that Charles had been struck first over the head 270 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 1: with its walking stick, then run through with the pitchfork, 271 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: and only then had his throat slit. It was certainly 272 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 1: odd the way the pitchfork seemed to have been deliberately 273 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: positioned to keep the jugular angled toward the ground, which 274 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:06,640 Speaker 1: in turn would enable the most blunt to soak into 275 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:20,320 Speaker 1: the earth. A few years after Charles's murder, a mister J. F. 276 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: Rogers from Bambury, a town about twenty miles east of 277 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,359 Speaker 1: Lower Quinton, heard a rumor about a black Sabbath that 278 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: was due to take place at the Rollright Stones. On 279 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: May twelfth, nineteen forty nine, mister Rogers drove out to 280 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: the mysterious site as a full moon shone in the 281 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 1: sky above him. He parked his car as close as 282 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: he could, then stealthily made his way up the hill 283 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,920 Speaker 1: toward the stones. As he drew near to them, he 284 00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: heard strange shrieking and whooping sounds with the ominous silhouette 285 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,400 Speaker 1: of mean Hill rising up in the background, he saw 286 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,480 Speaker 1: the source of the ecstatic, a group of seven or 287 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: so men and women dancing naked among the so called 288 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,679 Speaker 1: King's Men, one of whom he later claimed, appeared to 289 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 1: be wearing some kind of goat mask, or perhaps it 290 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: wasn't a mask at all. Not long after, a woman 291 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: from Birmingham contacted the police asking for protection in return 292 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: for answers. The woman claimed to have been a witch 293 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: who'd taken part in satanic rituals and knew the killer 294 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: of Charles Walton, a fellow witch who'd supposedly been brought 295 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: in from a different part of the country to conduct 296 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:44,200 Speaker 1: a fertility ritual, with Walton as the sacrifice. The police 297 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: declined to investigate further. By the nineteen fifties, Charles Wharton's 298 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: murder continued to cast a disturbing shadow over Lower Quinton 299 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: and the wider area. Though most had tried to move on, 300 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: others remained determined to uncover the truth about who had 301 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: been responsible. Since regular police work could failed to find 302 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: the perpetrator, Bernard Payne from the Birmingham Psychic Research Society, 303 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,960 Speaker 1: decided to take a slightly more unorthodox approach. It was 304 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,880 Speaker 1: a bitterly cold night when he and fifteen others arrived 305 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: at the foot of Mean Hill in late November nineteen 306 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: fifty two, together with fellow society member and farmer, a 307 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:32,400 Speaker 1: man named mister Mills. Leading the way, they trudged gallantly 308 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,119 Speaker 1: through a driving blizzard of sleet and snow, over barbed 309 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: wire fences, across muddy fields, and through icy puddles as 310 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: they searched for the spot where Charles had been killed. 311 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: The Birmingham Psychic Research Society expedition had been six months 312 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: in the making. The plan was simple. They would hold 313 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: a seance at the murder sight in the hope of 314 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: making contact with Charles. Perhaps then the man himself could 315 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: reveal who killed him. However, every medium they convinced to 316 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,640 Speaker 1: take part soon pulled out of the endeavor, unsettled by 317 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: the thought that they too might become victims of the 318 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: killer should they succeed in discovering their name. But finally 319 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 1: one medium agreed to make the trip. The group powered 320 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,560 Speaker 1: on through the relentless sleep until about an hour into 321 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:35,640 Speaker 1: the mission, with the team barely able to see more 322 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 1: than two meters in front of them, the medium called 323 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: out for everyone to stop. This was the place, she said. 324 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: Mister Mills and Bernard Paine, shivering in the colt, looked 325 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:52,159 Speaker 1: all around and then back to each other with confusion, 326 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 1: But before they could question it, the medium had fallen 327 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: into a trance. The rest of the team gathered round 328 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: as she swayed back and forth while the wind howled 329 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: and whipped at their bodies. Then a strange voice emanated 330 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: from her lips. It was barely audible at first through 331 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: the gale, but soon grew in strength. I forgive, it said, 332 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: I forgive. I deserved what was coming to me, but 333 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,439 Speaker 1: not in such a brutal way. Then the medium became 334 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: suddenly unsteady on her feet. Just as she was about 335 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: to collapse, two Society members rushed in to catch her, 336 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:38,160 Speaker 1: and slowly she came round. The voice was Charles Walton, 337 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:42,359 Speaker 1: she said, she was sure of it. Just then the 338 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: blizzard began to ease off, and mister Mills shone his torch. 339 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: About a few meters away. The light bounced back off 340 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: an old white fence, the fence next to where Walton's 341 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: body had been discovered. They had been in the right 342 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: spot after all. With the seance complete, the team spent 343 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: some time taking photos and collecting soil samples before making 344 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:18,640 Speaker 1: the long walk back to their cars. During her apparent trance, 345 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: the medium, supposedly channeling the voice of Charles Wharton, was 346 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: said to have mentioned two names. When Bernard Payne ran 347 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,200 Speaker 1: them past a local detective some time later, he confirmed 348 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: that both were relevant to the investigation. The detective was 349 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: also disturbed by the medium's claim that Charles's apparent spirit 350 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: had said he had had it coming to him. It 351 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: reminded him of just how many in the force were 352 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,800 Speaker 1: convinced that the farm hand had been up to something 353 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,240 Speaker 1: strange in the lead up to his death. And as 354 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: for the samples of soil, from the moment mister Mills 355 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: brought them home, his family was said to have been 356 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: beset by constant mishaps. First, his daughter contracted pneumonia three 357 00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: times in quick succession. Then he broke an ankle. Not 358 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,919 Speaker 1: long after his son was almost killed falling through the 359 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: loft floor. Later, one morning, mister Mills went into his 360 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: yard to feed his sixty chickens, only to find that 361 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: most of them had inexplicably died. Then the small number 362 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: of cattle he owned became sick, Mills was left with 363 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: little doubt that something evil had tainted the soil. When 364 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 1: he eventually decided to throw it away, his family's misfortune 365 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: was said to have ended immediately. Then there were the 366 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,560 Speaker 1: pictures that were taken at the sight. Mister Mills developed 367 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 1: them himself as he had stood in the dark room 368 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: under that eerie crimson light. He watched patiently as one 369 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: after another image appeared in the development tray. Most showed 370 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,919 Speaker 1: little more than blurry smudges of sleet and the occasional 371 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: outline of a hedgerow, just visible through the dark. Then 372 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 1: another image emerged in the tray, and the hairs on 373 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: the back of Mills's neck stood up. There was something 374 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: in the hedge overlooking the precise spot where Charles was slaughtered. 375 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,440 Speaker 1: To Mills's mind, it looked just like the angry, scowling 376 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 1: face of an elderly woman. Some time later, in nineteen sixty, 377 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: as part of a renovation of Charles's old house in 378 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: Lower Quinton, the outhouse in the back garden was knocked down. 379 00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: As one of the builders cleared away the rubble, he 380 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 1: spotted something silver glinting among the dust and brick, A 381 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: silver pocket watch. Whether or not it was Charles Walton's 382 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: missing watch has never been confirmed. Regardless, no black scrying 383 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: mirror was found inside its casing. To this day, Me 384 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,439 Speaker 1: and Hill and the Rollright Stones remain as shrouded in 385 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:07,560 Speaker 1: myth and mystery as they have ever been, while reports 386 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:11,360 Speaker 1: of phantom black hounds stalking the area continue to trickle 387 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: in from time to time. As for the truth about 388 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: just what exactly happened to Charles Walton, still the oldest 389 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:25,000 Speaker 1: unsolved murder in Warwickshire's constabulary records that remains to this 390 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: day unexplained. This episode was written by Richard mcclin smith, 391 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:41,120 Speaker 1: James Connor Patterson and Emma Dibden. Thank you as ever 392 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: for listening Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions podcast created 393 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: by Richard mclin Smith. All other elements of the podcast, 394 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: including the music, are also produced by me Richard mclin Smith. Unexplained. 395 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 1: The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. 396 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and 397 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever 398 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,080 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in 399 00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:12,360 Speaker 1: touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've 400 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: heard on the show. 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