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Speaker 1: To paraphrase author Terry Pratchett, though light might think it

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Speaker 1: travels fastest, darkness appears always to find a way of

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Speaker 1: arriving first. Wherever light goes, it seems the darkness is

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Speaker 1: already there, ready in waiting. In the United States's Detroit

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Speaker 1: Institute of Arts hangs a strange and captivating painting of

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Speaker 1: an unconscious woman dressed in white, her body stretched out

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Speaker 1: across a bed, with her arms and head dangling toward

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Speaker 1: the floor. Squatting on her chest staring out at the

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Speaker 1: picture with dark red eyes is a peculiar and somewhat

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Speaker 1: grotesque cherubic imp. Though the woman is bathed in light,

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Speaker 1: the imp, clearly a creature of the night, resolutely remains steadfastly,

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Speaker 1: refusing to be cast back into the shadows, and in

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Speaker 1: the darkness beyond, another creature is emerging, a black horse

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Speaker 1: with flared nostrils and bright white eyes. The Nightmare, painted

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Speaker 1: by Henry Fuseli in seventeen eighty one, serves as an

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Speaker 1: ironic repost to the Enlightenment, Europe's pervading cultural movement of

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Speaker 1: the day, or, as art historian doctor Noel Paulson puts it,

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Speaker 1: the painting demonstrates the ultimate futility of light to penetrate

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Speaker 1: or explore the darker realms of the unconscious. For many,

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Speaker 1: myself included, the picture brings to mind the terrifying and

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Speaker 1: vivid effects of sleep paralysis, an uncanny phenomenon that can

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Speaker 1: result in the seemingly very real experience of believing you

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Speaker 1: have woken from sleep only to find yourself completely paralyzed.

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Speaker 1: Though I am now familiar with the experience enough to

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Speaker 1: know it when it happens, what I have never grown

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Speaker 1: used to are the occasions when I believe I have

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Speaker 1: woken up to find not only am I unable to move,

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Speaker 1: but that there is a shadowy humanoid creature standing over me.

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Speaker 1: Much worse, when that figure scurries out from the corner

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Speaker 1: of the room and launches itself at me as I

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Speaker 1: fight to regain consciousness. It was some time before I

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Speaker 1: discovered others had also had similar experiences to myself, and

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Speaker 1: that these illusory creatures had a name, shadow people. The

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Speaker 1: term's modern iteration was popularized by Art Bell, the much

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Speaker 1: missed late night talk show host who sadly died in

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Speaker 1: April of this year. It was back in April two

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Speaker 1: thousand and one that Art dedicated an entire episode of

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Speaker 1: his pioneering Coast to Coast AM show to the discussion

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Speaker 1: of the phenomena. Listening to it again recently, I was

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Speaker 1: struck by how similar my own experiences had been to

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Speaker 1: those described by his listeners, but also how different some

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Speaker 1: of them were too, like the ones where listeners claimed

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Speaker 1: to have seen shadow people when they were wide awake,

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Speaker 1: for example, or those who had come across their children

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Speaker 1: talking to themselves late at night, only for their children

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Speaker 1: to tell them that they weren't talking to themselves. The

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Speaker 1: episode reminded me also of a deeply unsettling story I

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Speaker 1: came across recently, regarding the two thousand and seventeen film Veronica.

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Speaker 1: The film tells the story of a teenage girl from

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Speaker 1: a suburb in Madrid who dies in terrifying circumstances after

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Speaker 1: fooling around with auiji board. Many may, no doubt have

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Speaker 1: seen the film, but did you know that it was

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Speaker 1: based on a true story. You're listening to Unexplained and

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Speaker 1: I'm Richard McClane smith, Please, said the operator. You need

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Speaker 1: to calm down. You say this someone in your house, No,

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Speaker 1: not some one came back the desperate voice on the

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Speaker 1: other end of the line, something please hurry. Maximo Gutierrez

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Speaker 1: had placed the call to his local police station in

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Speaker 1: the early hours of November twenty seventh, nineteen ninety two,

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Speaker 1: going on to explain that his family were being terrorized

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Speaker 1: by something in their apartment and that they didn't know

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Speaker 1: what to do. The operator listened with amusement as Maximo

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Speaker 1: frantically recounted the events of that night. He had been

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Speaker 1: woken by the screams of his terrified wife, Concepcion, shouting

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Speaker 1: about some one she couldn't see, pressing down on her

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Speaker 1: chest and grabbing at her arms and legs. Within seconds,

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Speaker 1: an incessant banging could be heard reverberating around the flat.

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Speaker 1: Concepcion screams, along with the terrible thumps, had brought four

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Speaker 1: of the couple's five children racing in fear into the bedroom.

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Speaker 1: Their fifth child, being a young baby, was now crying

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Speaker 1: in its cot, panicked by all the commotion. Moments later,

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Speaker 1: the petrified family gathered in the living room, only to

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Speaker 1: watch with horror as the crucifix nailed to the wall

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Speaker 1: seemingly turned upside down on its own accord. Maximo concluded

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Speaker 1: that they had decided to stay together in the family

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Speaker 1: room since they were too afraid to leave the apartment. Why,

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Speaker 1: asked the operator, because there was something standing at the

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Speaker 1: end of the hallway blocking their way out, he replied.

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Speaker 1: Wary of how all this might sound, Maximo passed the

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Speaker 1: phone around his wife and children, who all repeated the

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Speaker 1: same to the operator with equal desperation. If their story

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Speaker 1: seemed confusing to the officer, the distress and their voices

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Speaker 1: at least was real enough. The officer duly advised Maximo

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Speaker 1: to keep the family together and try to stay calm,

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Speaker 1: and offered to send a squad car to investigate at

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Speaker 1: the first available opportunity. It would be another forty minutes, however,

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Speaker 1: before Chief Inspector Jose Pedro and Negri, along with four

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Speaker 1: other armed officers, pulled up alongside the vast thirteen story

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Speaker 1: housing block on Callier Louis Marin. The street was located

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Speaker 1: in the Vacas district of Madrid in Spain, a proud

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Speaker 1: and tight working class neighborhood on the southeastern fringes of

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Speaker 1: the city. On exiting the car into the freezing night air,

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Speaker 1: the officers were surprised to find the family, including the baby,

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Speaker 1: whose conception clasped firmly to her chest, now standing in

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Speaker 1: a huddle in the entranceway to the apartment block. Approaching

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Speaker 1: them from across the road, it was clear to the

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Speaker 1: bespectacled Inspector Negri that they were in a state of

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Speaker 1: deep distress. Maximo explained that they had been unable to

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Speaker 1: withstand the strange activity any longer, and finally plucked up

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Speaker 1: the courage to abandon the apartment. Moments later, having been

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Speaker 1: reassured by the presence of the police, Maximo, followed by

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Speaker 1: the rest of the family, led the officers into the

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Speaker 1: building and towards the apartment. Anxious faces peered out from

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Speaker 1: behind half closed doors as the family and police officers

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Speaker 1: made their way along the narrow hallway, with Inspector Negri

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Speaker 1: assuring each one as they passed that all was fine

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Speaker 1: and to go back inside. Finally, Maximo stopped through here,

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Speaker 1: he said, pointing the way into the flat. Negri could

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Speaker 1: clearly see the reticence on the family's faces as they

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Speaker 1: lingered outside the entrance. Taking the lead, he made his

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Speaker 1: way inside, followed closely behind by the other officers. Clean

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Speaker 1: and well kept, if a little cramped for a family

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Speaker 1: of seven. The flat seemed much like any other family

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Speaker 1: home that Negri had visited, with the exception of one thing.

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Speaker 1: On stepping into the living room, Negri's attention had been

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Speaker 1: caught immediately by what looked like some kind of shrine.

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Speaker 1: Lined up along the mantelpiece of a back wall, a

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Speaker 1: row of vases filled with bright plastic flowers, small angel

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Speaker 1: figurines made from porcelain, and just above it, in the

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Speaker 1: middle of the wall hung a large painting of a girl,

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Speaker 1: and underneath it was the original photo of the same,

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Speaker 1: all watched over by the beatific face of Jesus. Come

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Speaker 1: and sit, said Maximo, inviting the police to join him

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Speaker 1: around the dining table. The officers looked to each other

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Speaker 1: with concern, having expected to be chasing out an intruder

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Speaker 1: by now. It will only happen when we are calm,

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Speaker 1: he continued. The officers sat down at the table while

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Speaker 1: the rest of the family gathered round, a look of

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Speaker 1: apprehension on their faces. Negri watched intrigued as Conception collected

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Speaker 1: herself before nodding to one of her children to switch

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Speaker 1: off the light. Though it was dark, Negri was still

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Speaker 1: able to see all the family gathered close to the

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Speaker 1: table when the sound of a cupboard door creaking open

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Speaker 1: broke the silence. Moments later, another door was opened suddenly

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Speaker 1: before violently slamming back shut with an almighty bank. An

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Speaker 1: officer jumped from the table and swiftly turned on the light,

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Speaker 1: revealing at the far side of the room a cupboard

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Speaker 1: door which had been closed when they sat down, was

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Speaker 1: now wide open. Inspector Negrie walked over to the door

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Speaker 1: and pushed it shut, expecting it to loosely swing back open,

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Speaker 1: but it remained firmly shut. He turned back to the

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Speaker 1: family and looked again to the shrine along the back wall.

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Speaker 1: Her name was Estefania, the couple's third child. She had

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Speaker 1: died just over a year ago, explained Concepcion, before proceeding

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Speaker 1: to tell the offices about everything that had happened ever since.

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Speaker 1: It had all started after the death of Concepcion's father

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Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety, when he had fallen gravely ill that year.

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Speaker 1: Although they had rarely got on, Concepcion requested that the

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Speaker 1: family gather round his hospital bedside to comfort him in

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Speaker 1: his final moments. However, it was reported that the elderly

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Speaker 1: man still bitter and cantankerous from many years of family feuds,

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Speaker 1: was unmoved by the gesture, vowing that not even death

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Speaker 1: would prevent him from continuing to be a nuisance to

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Speaker 1: the family. A short time after the old man died, Estefania,

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Speaker 1: who was sixteen at the time, arrived at school one morning,

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Speaker 1: shocked to discover that her friend's boyfriend had been tragically

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Speaker 1: killed in a motorcycle accident. At some point, perhaps in

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Speaker 1: an effort to alleviate her friend's suffering, Estefania made a

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Speaker 1: peculiar suggestion, what if she thought they tried to contact him.

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Speaker 1: Her friend, who had been understandably devastated by the death,

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Speaker 1: leapt at the opportunity death brute for any comfort she

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Speaker 1: might find. A few days later, Estefanier set off on

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Speaker 1: the short journey to the Colegio Arragon, located barely five

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Speaker 1: minutes walk from her family's apartment, with something extra peeking

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Speaker 1: out of her rucksack her Wuiji board. That afternoon, she

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Speaker 1: and her friend, along with another classmate, made their way

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Speaker 1: to the back of the playing field, finding a quiet,

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Speaker 1: secluded spot in the shadow of the nearby Callia Louis

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Speaker 1: Marin apartment. Blocks, with the three of them sat cross

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Speaker 1: legged in a semicircle. Estefania laid the board out in

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Speaker 1: front of them as another of the girls removed a

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Speaker 1: glass tumbler from her bag, turned it upside down, and

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Speaker 1: placed it in the middle of the board. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: clear how long they had been sat there when the

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Speaker 1: teacher found them, asking questions into the air, with their

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Speaker 1: fingers lightly touching the glass as it moved around the board.

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Speaker 1: When the teacher demanded to know what was going on,

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Speaker 1: it was said that the glass shot off the board

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Speaker 1: and smashed into pieces soon after. One of the girls

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Speaker 1: would later claim that in that moment, a strange, dark

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Speaker 1: vapor was released from the glass, rising like the smoke

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Speaker 1: of a recently blown out candle, straight up and into

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Speaker 1: estefanius nose. The teacher, scolding the children, demanded their return

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Speaker 1: to class immediately before picking up the board and breaking

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Speaker 1: it in two. It was only a few weeks later

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Speaker 1: when the voices started. Are you always taking care of

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Speaker 1: your family? Do you often take care of others and

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Speaker 1: not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself.

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Speaker 1: To make time for you. You deserve it. Tell it,

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Speaker 1: Doc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help

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00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:05,560
Speaker 1: you get back to feeling your best, to feeling like

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Speaker 1: yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed

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00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,720
Speaker 1: therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven

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Speaker 1: days a week from seven am to nine pm local time.

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Speaker 1: If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious,

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Speaker 1: depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a

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00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:30,080
Speaker 1: personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed

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00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:33,800
Speaker 1: to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy

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00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:38,200
Speaker 1: to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is

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Speaker 1: available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or

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Speaker 1: visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to

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00:15:46,840 --> 00:16:00,960
Speaker 1: get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. The

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Speaker 1: first time Estefania heard them, they were little more than

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Speaker 1: whispers in the night, hurriedly spoken words she couldn't quite discern.

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Speaker 1: But soon she found she could understand them. They were

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Speaker 1: calling out her name, and it wasn't long before she

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Speaker 1: could see them too, Whispy, shadowy shapes that seemed to

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Speaker 1: flicker in the edges of rooms. It was clear to

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Speaker 1: her that they were stalking her. Conception had noticed the

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Speaker 1: quiet change in Estefania, how she had become irritable and withdrawn.

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Speaker 1: At first, she merely put it down to the shock

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Speaker 1: of her friend's boyfriend's death, but after hearing about the

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Speaker 1: incident of the school, she began to wonder if it

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Speaker 1: might not in some way be related. One morning, after

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Speaker 1: hearing a commotion coming from her daughter's bedroom, Conception found

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Speaker 1: her lying rigid on her bed and foaming at the mouth,

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Speaker 1: with her eyes rolled in to the back of her head.

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Speaker 1: Moments later, Estafania came too with no recollection of the event.

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Speaker 1: For the next six months, she would be plagued by

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Speaker 1: similar insidances. Conception, who had suffered for years from epilepsy,

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Speaker 1: began to wonder if her daughter was suffering from a

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00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:35,000
Speaker 1: similar infliction. However, after countless trips to various doctors and hospitals,

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Speaker 1: nobody was able to give a satisfactory diagnosis. One evening,

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Speaker 1: Conception found Estafania sat upright in her bed, her eyes

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Speaker 1: wide with terror. They were beckoning me to go with them,

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00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,520
Speaker 1: she said. Her mother could only look on aghast, trying

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Speaker 1: her best to comfort her daughter, who would later request that,

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Speaker 1: if the time came, that she be buried with a

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00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:09,160
Speaker 1: photo of her mother and father. On Tuesday, August the thirteenth, Marianella,

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Speaker 1: Estefania's sister, entered the bedroom they shared together, only to

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Speaker 1: find Estefania in a peculiar state. Having at first not

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Speaker 1: registered the sister's presence, Estefania turned toward her suddenly, before

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Speaker 1: leaping from the bed and trying to grab her, managing

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00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:32,680
Speaker 1: to jump away just in time. Marianella could only watch

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Speaker 1: on in horror as her sister then collapsed to the floor,

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Speaker 1: convulsing violently. The fit lasted only a few minutes before

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00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:49,359
Speaker 1: Estefania regained full consciousness, but again having no recollection of

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Speaker 1: the event. That evening, Estefania went for a walk with

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Speaker 1: her boyfriend in the warm summer air, returning home lay

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Speaker 1: to that night. It was some time in the early

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00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,240
Speaker 1: hours of August the fourteenth when the family were woken

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00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,760
Speaker 1: by the strange and hideous sound of gurgling and grunting

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00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: coming from Estefania's room. Maximo switched on the light to

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00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,680
Speaker 1: find her in the grip of yet another terrible seizure,

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00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:26,200
Speaker 1: writhing about in her bed, terrified and screaming. At each

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00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,760
Speaker 1: other to do something. They did their best to restrain

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Speaker 1: her while Conception rushed to call an ambulance. Estefania, having

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Speaker 1: slipped into a coma, was already unresponsive when the ambulance

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00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,760
Speaker 1: arrived and rushed the now seventeen year old to nearby

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Speaker 1: Gregorio Moranan Hospital. Despite attempts to resuscitate her, she was

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Speaker 1: declared dead at two am. Though there was no obvious

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Speaker 1: explanation for the cause of death, a subsequent autopsy would

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Speaker 1: conclude that she had died as the result of asphyxiation.

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Speaker 1: Tissue samples sent off for further tests yielded nothing. In

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00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,320
Speaker 1: the months following Estefania's death, her grieving family did what

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Speaker 1: they could to support each other, praying each day for

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Speaker 1: her salvation at the Makeshifts Shrine that Conception had constructed

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00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:39,040
Speaker 1: for Estefania's siblings. Especially the strange nature of her death

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00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,760
Speaker 1: and her disturbing behavior prior to it had left an

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00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:49,159
Speaker 1: indelible mark. Though her sister's decision to move out of

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00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,399
Speaker 1: the bedroom they shared together had primarily been made on

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00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: account of how unbearably sad it was to sleep there,

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00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:58,919
Speaker 1: she couldn't help but feel a little scared when in

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00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,720
Speaker 1: there too, But if she had hoped a change of

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00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 1: rooms would bring her peace, she was going to be

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00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:12,359
Speaker 1: very much mistaken. It began in the early hours one morning,

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Speaker 1: as winter settled into the city. The sisters heard it first,

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Speaker 1: a quiet voice coming from somewhere in the apartment, always

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Speaker 1: after the lights had gone out. Mamma, mamma, it seemed

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Speaker 1: to be saying, with no sign of it abating. One

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Speaker 1: of the girls decided to investigate and made her way

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00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,879
Speaker 1: to the bedroom door. Opening it, she found only the

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00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:49,760
Speaker 1: emptiness of the apartment. Beyond Mamma came the voice again,

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00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:56,280
Speaker 1: but this time from the direction of the bathroom. Quietly

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00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,879
Speaker 1: making her way over to it so as not to

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00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:04,159
Speaker 1: disturb her parents, Slowly she pulled open the door, but

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00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 1: there was nobody there. A few days later, when the

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00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: flat was empty, Conception was cleaning the apartment when she

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00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 1: heard a tremendous racket coming from Estefania's old room. The

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00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:26,199
Speaker 1: room was kept clean and virtually untouched, but when she

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00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:30,199
Speaker 1: opened it that morning, he found it completely rearranged, with

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00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:36,240
Speaker 1: bed sheets, books, and toys strewn across the floor. Soon after,

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00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: the children began to complain of a bizarre scraping sound

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00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: coming from inside the walls. Appliances would turn off and

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00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 1: on randomly, whilst doors slammed open and shut without anyone

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00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 1: standing near them. Thinking it nothing more than the effects

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00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,440
Speaker 1: of a draft coming from the communal hallway, Maximo took

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00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: to placing the sofa cross one of the doors, as

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00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,000
Speaker 1: well as a heavy marble table, in an effort to

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00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: stop it from opening. One night, with all the family

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00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 1: gathered in their living room, a heavy pounding noise was

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00:23:13,359 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 1: followed by what seemed like an inordinately strong gust of wind,

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00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:22,200
Speaker 1: unlatching the door and sending the table and sofa sliding

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00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 1: back across the room, knocking a photo of Estefanie to

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00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,919
Speaker 1: the floor in the process. Conception picked up the frame,

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00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 1: only to drop it again when it burnt her fingers.

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00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:40,119
Speaker 1: When Maximo picked it up moments later, he turned it over,

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00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 1: only to find, to his horror that the photograph was

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00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 1: now burning from inside the frame. He watched, completely stunned

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00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,160
Speaker 1: as the smiling face of his daughter melted and turned

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00:23:53,160 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 1: to ash right in front of him. Late one night,

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00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 1: with the family fast asleep, two of the sisters who

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00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,119
Speaker 1: shared a room together, were awoken by the sound of

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00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: whistling outside the apartment. The noise soon dissipated, only to

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00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,640
Speaker 1: be replaced by a strange groaning. But this didn't come

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00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:29,400
Speaker 1: from outside the apartment. It came from outside the bedroom door.

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Speaker 1: One of the girls screamed, look, she said, on the floor.

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00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: Now huddled together on one bed, the sisters stared in

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00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: disbelief at the ground. There. Caught in the soft orange

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00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,800
Speaker 1: glow of the street light outside, was the silhouetted shape

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00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:57,719
Speaker 1: of a man crawling towards them. The pair screamed together

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00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 1: as the shape brought one arm over the other and

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00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:07,640
Speaker 1: dragged itself closer and closer. They cried out again as

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00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: the toys on their shelf were sent flying across the room,

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00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 1: followed by loud, banging noises that echoed throughout the house.

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00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: By the time their parents arrived, the activity had stopped

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00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 1: and the shadow man was nowhere to be seen. From

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00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 1: that moment on, however, the family continued to witness what

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00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,600
Speaker 1: they took to be strange humanoid shapes drifting about inside

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00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: their apartment. Neighbors and friends also reported seeing them, and

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Speaker 1: it wasn't long before local paranormal investigators were queuing up

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00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:51,199
Speaker 1: to see them. Two By autumn nineteen ninety two. The

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00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: family had been suffering for the best part of a

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00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: year before finally deciding to seek help. In October, they

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00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:03,399
Speaker 1: were visited by two self described psychics who promised to

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00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 1: help them get to the bottom of their troubles. Their

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00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 1: subsequent efforts were filmed by a local news channel and

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00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:17,159
Speaker 1: broadcast later that month. The report documented a number of

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00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: bizarre occurrences, including what seemed like the voice of a

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00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 1: young girl speaking through a radio device that had been

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00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: placed in the bathroom. The voice said, simply, beware of Grandpa.

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Speaker 1: It was only a few weeks later when Conception awoke

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00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 1: with the sensation of someone pressing down on her chest

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00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:48,320
Speaker 1: and grabbing at her hands and feet. Investigator Negri, having

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00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:54,959
Speaker 1: listened patiently to the family story, was speechless. As they

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00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 1: stood up from the table to examine the rest of

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00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: the flat. One of the officers just a rusty, brown

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00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:05,240
Speaker 1: colored stain that seemed to be materializing on the tablecloth

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00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,200
Speaker 1: right in front of them. Pulling a pen from his pocket,

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00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 1: he prodded at it, finding it to be damp and

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00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: made from something like the drool of a dog. Three

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00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,800
Speaker 1: of the officers, deciding they had seen enough, requested permission

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00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,760
Speaker 1: to leave the flat. Before hurriedly making their way downstairs

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00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 1: and out of the building, Negri asked to see the

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00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: bathroom first, where the family believed many of the bizarre

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00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:40,880
Speaker 1: noises had first originated. By this point, so terrified were

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00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: they of it, they used it only as a storeroom

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00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,639
Speaker 1: and kept it locked at all times. As soon as

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00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 1: Negri stepped inside, he felt the temperature plummet, but otherwise

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00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: there was little of note, and then they showed him

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00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 1: into Estefania's old bedroom. The room had not been much

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00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: changed since the day Maximo and Conception's daughter had died.

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00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: Posters and pictures of Estefania and her friends lined the walls,

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Speaker 1: as well as a large crucifix with a smaller, pearly

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00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:29,480
Speaker 1: crucifix hanging off it. The two twin beds that she

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00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,679
Speaker 1: and her sister had slept in remained side by side,

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00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:38,640
Speaker 1: unused for months. The inspector took a seat on Estefania's

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00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 1: old bed and looked about, noticing another large poster stuck

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00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: to the back of the door. He had been sitting

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00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,160
Speaker 1: for less than a minute when an odd sound was

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00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:55,320
Speaker 1: heard coming from the balcony right outside the room. It

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00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:57,880
Speaker 1: was as if a heavy stone was being rolled about

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00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 1: on the concrete. It was drowned out moments later by

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00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: a terrible scream that came from the same direction. Negri

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00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: and his partner rushed to the balcony, flinging open the door,

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00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 1: unleashing a cold wind into the room outside. However, they

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00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:23,440
Speaker 1: found the balcony completely deserted. Turning back into the room,

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00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: Negri could see that something was wrong. The family stood frozen,

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00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: staring at the wall, their faces completely pale. Negri followed

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00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 1: their gaze to the crucifix that was now turned completely

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00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: upside down. The smaller crucifix seemingly thrown into the middle

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00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: of the room. Look, said one of the children, pointing

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00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 1: to the back of the door. Negri moved in for

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00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: a closer inspection, completely stunned to find three slash marks

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00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,120
Speaker 1: in the poster, as if something had clawed at it,

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00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: pulling it away from the door. He could see also

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00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: that the scratches had gone right through into the wood.

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00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: Utterly dumbfounded and cautious of the family's obvious distress, Negri

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00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: agreed to stay with them for a while longer until

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00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: he was satisfied that whatever had been occurring had come

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00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:34,479
Speaker 1: to an end. Later that morning, the inspector stepped back

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Speaker 1: into the cold and joined his colleagues in the car

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Speaker 1: before driving back to the station, not one of those

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Speaker 1: officers being entirely sure what on earth they had just experienced.

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Speaker 1: Inspector Negri's official report of the event, attesting to what

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00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: he heard and saw, remains the only report in the

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00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 1: history of Spain's police force to allude to the possibility

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Speaker 1: that what had been witnessed had been of a paranormal nature.

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