Speaker 1: It was September nineteen ninety eight when the Cobb family
Speaker 1: first brought the bed into their home. Parents Al and
Speaker 1: Leela had slowly made their way about the auction house,
Speaker 1: running their eyes over the various lots, while their two
Speaker 1: fourteen year old twins, Jason and Lee, flitted about the
Speaker 1: place looking for a potential bargain of their own. Though
Speaker 1: Lee enjoyed the world of antiques, it was really more Jason,
Speaker 1: who'd taken on his dad's love for it. As a
Speaker 1: gallery owner himself, these trips for Al were usually more
Speaker 1: about finding a bargain to sell on than for something
Speaker 1: to take home themselves. It was Jason who spotted it first,
Speaker 1: the single honey oak bed propped up in the corner
Speaker 1: of the room. He guessed it was late eighteen hundreds, perhaps,
Speaker 1: with its finely carved headrest and fancy molding on the feet.
Speaker 1: Seeing how enamored their son was with it, Al and
Speaker 1: Leela agreed to leave a bid for the bed as
Speaker 1: a possible early Christmas present. Al was at work the
Speaker 1: next morning when he received the call informing him the
Speaker 1: bid had been successful. The family lived in a modest,
Speaker 1: two story home in the picturesque suburbs of the Isle
Speaker 1: of Hope in Savannah, Georgia. It is often said that
Speaker 1: the US city of Savannah, a majestic port town located
Speaker 1: at the north of Georgie's Atlantic coastline, is one of
Speaker 1: its most beautiful. It is also said to be one
Speaker 1: of its most haunted. With its live oak lined streets
Speaker 1: dripping with Southern moss and grand architecture a colorful mix
Speaker 1: of almost every style since it was founded in the
Speaker 1: eighteenth century, it's impossible to escape the air of the
Speaker 1: Southern Gothic, for perhaps nowhere else in the United States
Speaker 1: is the gulf between esthetic beauty and the horror and
Speaker 1: brutality with which much of it was forged. So vast
Speaker 1: you're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClain smith. The
Speaker 1: story of Savannah is, in many ways the story of
Speaker 1: the United States, in all its complex, thrilling and terrifying glory.
Speaker 1: First established in seventeen thirty three by British politician James Oglethorpe,
Speaker 1: it was intended as a second chance opportunity for anyone
Speaker 1: stuck in the misery of the British debtors prison system.
Speaker 1: Oglethorpe was effectively offering an opportunity to those less fortunate
Speaker 1: than others to escape the drudgery of life in Britain
Speaker 1: in return for a chance at prosperity in the New World.
Speaker 1: Unlike many others in his position, Oglethorpe was keen to
Speaker 1: avoid any hostility with the local Native American tribes, maintaining
Speaker 1: friendly relations with the Yamacraw tribe, most notably through his
Speaker 1: friendship with the tribe's leader, Chief Toma chi Chee, though
Speaker 1: not above utilizing them himself. Oglethorpe also outlawed slavery. It's thought, however,
Speaker 1: that this was done less out of concern for slaves
Speaker 1: and more out of concern for how it might corrupt
Speaker 1: the colonists. Since the settlement was only ever intended as
Speaker 1: a buffer to provide a first line of defense for
Speaker 1: other more prosperous colonies like the South Carolinas, any arguable
Speaker 1: need for slave labor was non existent. Everything changed, however,
Speaker 1: when Oglethorpe eventually returned home ten years later. As the
Speaker 1: colony grew in size and began to take on its
Speaker 1: own identity, the desire amongst residents to compete with other settlements,
Speaker 1: the prosperity of which was greatly enhanced by slave labor,
Speaker 1: only grew more intense. By the time of the American
Speaker 1: Revolution in seventeen sixty five, there were sixteen thousand slaves
Speaker 1: in Georgia, most abducted from West Africa and arriving through
Speaker 1: the port of Savannah. Over the course of the next
Speaker 1: hundred years, cotton plantation owners from Savannah were the third
Speaker 1: highest exporters of cotton in the South, the number of
Speaker 1: slaves registered in the state by then numbering almost half
Speaker 1: a million. In eighteen o three, a ship carrying seventy
Speaker 1: five enslaved people from what is now Nigeria docked in Savannah.
Speaker 1: The people members of the Ebo community, were then packed
Speaker 1: into another vessel and sent a hundred kilometers on towards
Speaker 1: Saint Simon's Island. At some point, the captives managed to
Speaker 1: overthrow the ship's crew, forcing the ship to run aground
Speaker 1: at a place called Dunbar Creek. Stranded and with no
Speaker 1: hope of returning home, rather than phase a life in captivity,
Speaker 1: the group decided to make a final stand. Under the
Speaker 1: guidance of one of the group, thought to be a
Speaker 1: high Ebo chief, they marched together solemnly into the water,
Speaker 1: from where they did not return. In eighteen fifty nine,
Speaker 1: at a racecourse two miles west of Savannah, in what
Speaker 1: is locally referred to as the Weeping Time, over the
Speaker 1: course of two days, four hundred and thirty six children,
Speaker 1: women and men were sold into slavery. It is thought
Speaker 1: to be the largest single sale of people in US history.
Speaker 1: Throughout the history of Savannah, being as it is surrounded
Speaker 1: by extensive marsh and swampland, there have also been multiple
Speaker 1: outbreaks of yellow fever, claiming the lives of many local residents,
Speaker 1: most famously perhaps in eighteen twenty, when seven hundred people
Speaker 1: lost their lives, many of which were collected and buried
Speaker 1: in mass graves in the city's Colonial Park Cemetery. Savannah
Speaker 1: also played host to one of the bloodiest battles of
Speaker 1: the American Revolutionary War, with hundreds thought to have died
Speaker 1: in the skirmish. Then, in nineteen o nine the Worth
Speaker 1: of Savannah Acts murders, and in nineteen eighty one the
Speaker 1: murder of Danny Hansford, a young tradesman who was shot
Speaker 1: dead by his employer, Jim Williams, at his mansion home
Speaker 1: on Bull Street. Hansford's murder and the subsequent trial of
Speaker 1: Jim Williams would form the basis of the city's most
Speaker 1: famous book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,
Speaker 1: And in nineteen eighty four, the discovery of Francis Campbell's
Speaker 1: body in the Tremont Park area of the city. Campbell
Speaker 1: was thought to be one of nearly one hundred people
Speaker 1: killed by Samuel Little, one of the country's most prolifick
Speaker 1: serial killers. All of which is to say Savannah is
Speaker 1: not a town short on ghosts. After hearing that their
Speaker 1: bid for the bed had been successful, Al jumped into
Speaker 1: his Volvo and made the short trip from his shop
Speaker 1: on Whittaker Street to pick it up, with Lilah, spending
Speaker 1: the afternoon lovingly putting it together. When Jason arrived back
Speaker 1: from school, he was overjoyed to find it waiting for
Speaker 1: him in his bedroom, just as beautiful as he'd remembered it. Later,
Speaker 1: Jason thanked his parents again for the wonderful gift before
Speaker 1: saying good night and retiring to his bedroom, looking forward
Speaker 1: to his first night alone in the new bed. He
Speaker 1: just turned the light off when he felt something strange
Speaker 1: at the back of his neck, as if someone were
Speaker 1: breathing on it. Hurriedly, switching on his bedside i'd light,
Speaker 1: he looked around to find himself completely alone. Only there
Speaker 1: was one place he couldn't see, stealing himself. He edged
Speaker 1: toward the side of the bed and slowly peered underneath,
Speaker 1: relieved to find the space was completely empty. Looking up,
Speaker 1: he caught sight of the air vent just above him
Speaker 1: in the ceiling. Realizing he'd most likely just let his
Speaker 1: imagination get the better of him, Turning back over, he
Speaker 1: switched off the light and nodded off back to sleep.
Speaker 1: A few nights later, Jason was drifting off to sleep
Speaker 1: again when this time he was certain he felt a
Speaker 1: weight shift in his pillow, as if some one had
Speaker 1: just laid their elbows either side of his head, and
Speaker 1: then came those breaths again. Jason shot up and switched
Speaker 1: on the light once more, only to find again that
Speaker 1: he was completely alone. It was then that he noticed
Speaker 1: with surprise that the photo of his grandparents that usually
Speaker 1: stood upright on the table next to him, was now
Speaker 1: lying face down. Confused, Jason writed the picture before turning
Speaker 1: off the light once more and heading back to sleep.
Speaker 1: The next morning, Jason awoke to find the photo was
Speaker 1: again lying face down. Over the next few weeks, Jason
Speaker 1: continued to experience a number of peculiar events, sometimes even
Speaker 1: waking in the middle of the night to find all
Speaker 1: his pillows had somehow ended up on the floor. Having
Speaker 1: avoided telling his parents for fear of being ridiculed, Jason
Speaker 1: eventually plucked up the courage to tell his mum about it.
Speaker 1: Knowing her son wasn't one to make something up like that,
Speaker 1: Lillah wondered if perhaps Jason's brother Lee was playing some
Speaker 1: kind of cruel trick on him. With the activity seeming
Speaker 1: to center on the photo of Jason's grandparents, she suggested
Speaker 1: that the next time it was placed down that she
Speaker 1: put it back and wait to see what happened. One morning,
Speaker 1: after waking to find it lying down again, Jason due
Speaker 1: placed it upright, and, together with Lila, then waited outside
Speaker 1: the bedroom door to see what might happen. With al
Speaker 1: upstairs and Lee playing outside, the pair listened with alarm
Speaker 1: at the sound of something scraping across the floor. Opening
Speaker 1: the door. Moments later, they were shocked to discover the
Speaker 1: picture lying face down once more. Lila cautiously stepped toward it,
Speaker 1: and picking it back up, let out a pained gasp
Speaker 1: the front of it had been smashed. After racing to
Speaker 1: tell his dad exactly what had happened, Jason returned to
Speaker 1: his bedroom, shocked to find that someone had now placed
Speaker 1: a pile of toys in the middle of his bed.
Speaker 1: After yelling for Al and Lila to take a look,
Speaker 1: the couple joined him moments later, with Al feeling compelled
Speaker 1: to ask if they had a casper in the house.
Speaker 1: Remembering something he'd seen before, Al suggested that if it
Speaker 1: was a ghost, they should try and communicate with it.
Speaker 1: That night, the family placed a pencil and paper at
Speaker 1: the foot of the bed and waited to see what
Speaker 1: might happen. It was one thirty in the morning, with
Speaker 1: Jason having elected to spend the night in Lee's room,
Speaker 1: when the family peered into Jason's bedroom to find a
Speaker 1: short message had now appeared on the paper. Written in
Speaker 1: a childish scrawl, it said simply Danny, aged seven. Soon after,
Speaker 1: a second note was found that dread mum sick in
Speaker 1: bed died eighteen ninety nine. Love toys. A little unnerved.
Speaker 1: With Jason and Lee returning to bed, Alan Lila closed
Speaker 1: the door to Jason's room and also headed off to bed.
Speaker 1: A short time later, they were woken by the terrified
Speaker 1: screams of their sons yelling for them to come back down,
Speaker 1: and the pounding sound coming from inside Jason's room. The
Speaker 1: place had been completely trashed. Over the next few weeks,
Speaker 1: the family claimed they continued to communicate with what they
Speaker 1: took to be the ghost of seven year old Danny.
Speaker 1: In one message left for the family, he demanded that
Speaker 1: nobody sleep in his bed again. Angered at being put
Speaker 1: out of his room, one night, Jason called out to
Speaker 1: ask if Danny was there, Getting no reply. Out of defiance,
Speaker 1: he took a moment to lie down on the bed.
Speaker 1: Having got up again to pick up some clothes from
Speaker 1: the floor, a colossal smash rang out around the room.
Speaker 1: All about the floor was littered with shards of a
Speaker 1: terra cotta wallpiece that had somehow been dislodged and sent
Speaker 1: flying to the floor. That night, Alan Lila made the
Speaker 1: decision to take the bed apart and sell it on
Speaker 1: After another bout of violent activity the following day, with
Speaker 1: a lamp knocked over, curtains pulled off their rods, and
Speaker 1: clothes ripped from their hangars al Julie took the bed
Speaker 1: to the nearby Cramer Sadler Gallery and put it up
Speaker 1: for auction. With word beginning to spread of their apparent haunting,
Speaker 1: the Cobb family were contacted by local journalist Jane Fishman. Fishman,
Speaker 1: who worked for the Savannah Morning News, was at first
Speaker 1: skeptical of the story. After speaking to the family, however,
Speaker 1: and being shown the apparent communications with Danny, she was
Speaker 1: no longer sure. Fishman's article was released on October sixteenth,
Speaker 1: and later that day the bed was put up for
Speaker 1: auction and eventually bought by Deborah Brogden, who ran a
Speaker 1: second hand furniture shop in nearby Pembroke. Thanks to Fishman's article,
Speaker 1: Deborah was soon inundated with calls from prospective owners hoping
Speaker 1: to catch a glimpse of the seemingly possessed artifact. Growing
Speaker 1: tired of the interest, she sold it a few days
Speaker 1: later for five hundred dollars to Faith Demea. Demea, a
Speaker 1: financial manager for a local car company, had become intrigued
Speaker 1: after reading Fishman's article and was keen to meet Danny herself.
Speaker 1: Her plan was to keep the bed in its own
Speaker 1: bedroom in the hope that she might coax Dannie into
Speaker 1: becoming a regular resident in her home. However, after living
Speaker 1: with the bed for a few days, Danny failed to materialize,
Speaker 1: and less than a week later, Demea had a change
Speaker 1: of heart. The following Friday, the bed was back at
Speaker 1: the Cramer's auction house. That weekend, a motion detective at
Speaker 1: the auction house was repeatedly set off, despite no one
Speaker 1: being in the shop at the time. The following Monday,
Speaker 1: the bed was sold to Detective Joey Warrenzac of the
Speaker 1: Chatham County Vice Squad. Warrenzac was the last known owner
Speaker 1: of the bed. As for Danny, however, and perhaps the
Speaker 1: reason why he never showed up at Faith to Me's home,
Speaker 1: it appeared he'd never left the Cobs. It was October
Speaker 1: the eighteenth, just two days after the bed had been removed,
Speaker 1: that Jason, feeling relieved to finally be rid of Danny,
Speaker 1: had just stepped out of the shower when he heard
Speaker 1: his bedroom door slam shut. He stood for a moment,
Speaker 1: aghast at what sounded like somewhat or something moving about inside. Hurriedly,
Speaker 1: he opened the door, only to find at the end
Speaker 1: of his bed a small note written again in that strange,
Speaker 1: childish scrawl that said simply Danny Sorry. A week later,
Speaker 1: Jason was woken in the middle of the night by
Speaker 1: a soft clunking sound. Lying still in the dark, he
Speaker 1: peered over toward the closet, which he could just make
Speaker 1: out in the dim light, to see its door was
Speaker 1: inexplicably gently opening and closing of its own accord. When
Speaker 1: he looked up from the base of it, there seemed,
Speaker 1: for a moment to be the shadow of a small
Speaker 1: figure standing next to it. Danny, is that you, he asked,
Speaker 1: but there was no reply. The family claimed that over
Speaker 1: the next few days they were able to communicate with
Speaker 1: Danny once more. When they asked where he was staying now,
Speaker 1: he replied that he was sleeping above Jason. A few
Speaker 1: weeks later, Al bumped into Detective Warrenzac at the auction house.
Speaker 1: Although he planned to sell it, Warrenzac had set the
Speaker 1: bed up out of curiosity, installing it in his garage.
Speaker 1: Ever since, his dog had not stopped growling at it,
Speaker 1: while he'd been unable to shake the feeling that something
Speaker 1: in his house was watching him. It was shortly after
Speaker 1: the new year when Al received a call at work
Speaker 1: from Jason, who had been sent home from school after
Speaker 1: feeling ill. As Jason explained, the fear palpable in his voice,
Speaker 1: a man had just appeared in the living room, standing
Speaker 1: by the fireplace, dressed like a mountaineer from the nineteenth century.
Speaker 1: Jason had only time to look up and see him
Speaker 1: before he'd vanished. Just then, the sound of cabinet being
Speaker 1: flung open and slammed shut rang out from Jason's end
Speaker 1: of the phone. It was followed by Jason yelling out
Speaker 1: in terror before everything went completely silent. Having heard nothing
Speaker 1: more from Jason, al raced home to find the place
Speaker 1: in a complete mess and Jason lying barely conscious on
Speaker 1: the floor underneath a chair that appeared to have fallen
Speaker 1: on top of him. A week later, it was Leela's
Speaker 1: turn to receive a call from Jason. It was happening again,
Speaker 1: he said, from underneath the kitchen table as he tried
Speaker 1: to shelter from the maelstrom breaking out around him. As
Speaker 1: the same crashing sounds rang out from Jason's end of
Speaker 1: the line. Leela demanded to know what was going on.
Speaker 1: As her son explained the mysterious mountaineering figure had returned again,
Speaker 1: but this time he was looking for something. For some reason,
Speaker 1: Jason had sensed he was looking for his baby that
Speaker 1: had been under the house. Just then, as another crash
Speaker 1: rang out, the line went completely dead, but when Leela
Speaker 1: tried to call Jason back, it appeared all the lines
Speaker 1: at her work had also gone dead. By the time
Speaker 1: she made it home to Jason, who was unharmed but
Speaker 1: shaken by the ordeal. The disturbances had stopped after this
Speaker 1: latest terrifying event. However, it was clear to the family
Speaker 1: they were severely out of their depth. In early nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine, al contacted famed parapsychologist William Rowell at Georgia College,
Speaker 1: who in turn passed the case on too a doctor
Speaker 1: Andrew Nichols, director of the Florida Society for Parapsychological Research
Speaker 1: based out of City College Gainesville in Florida. Nichols was
Speaker 1: working with another family at the time that seemed to
Speaker 1: be suffering from a similar haunting. The family in Albany,
Speaker 1: New York, had also been communicating with their apparent spirit,
Speaker 1: using a chalkboard to talk to it. Unlike Danny, however,
Speaker 1: whatever had been plaguing them was far warm align supposedly
Speaker 1: writing curse words and throwing knives into the walls. At
Speaker 1: one point, it had even allegedly levitated their baby out
Speaker 1: of its cot. After driving five hours to meet the family,
Speaker 1: Nichols was given a rundown of everything that had happened
Speaker 1: so far. Nodding along as the family detailed everything from
Speaker 1: the written communication with Danny to the loud disturbances and
Speaker 1: recent appearance of the second apparent entity, doctor Nichols was
Speaker 1: left in no doubt that they were dealing with some
Speaker 1: kind of poltergeist. Nichols took some equipment from his bag
Speaker 1: and the family led him into Jason's room. If indeed
Speaker 1: this were a to guist, he explained, it was likely
Speaker 1: that Danny had died in the bed, and in so
Speaker 1: doing something of the young boy had somehow seeped into
Speaker 1: the material. Nicholls held out one of his instruments and
Speaker 1: moved in closer toward the back wall, asking if that
Speaker 1: was where the bed had been positioned. The family nodded
Speaker 1: in agreement as Nicholls made a series of further measurements.
Speaker 1: He suggested that perhaps a concentration of electromagnetism had somehow
Speaker 1: energized Danny's ghost into existence, although he would need to
Speaker 1: make further tests to be sure. After two days of
Speaker 1: inspecting the property, Nicholls concluded that the activity was most
Speaker 1: likely a combination of the unusual concentration of electromagnetism in
Speaker 1: the bedroom and the psychokinetic energy created by Jason and Lee,
Speaker 1: exacerbated by their relationship as twins. Shortly after Nicholls left,
Speaker 1: Al was inspired to make a tape recording of the
Speaker 1: empty bedroom, hoping to try and capture some of the activity.
Speaker 1: One night, with the family out of the house for
Speaker 1: the evening, the recorder was left running in the property. Later,
Speaker 1: Al sat quietly on his own as he listened back
Speaker 1: to what he'd recorded. With a loud click, the tape
Speaker 1: word into action, and a quiet hiss began to emanate
Speaker 1: from the speakers. Hearing little more than the gentle drone
Speaker 1: of the air conditioner humming away in the background, Al
Speaker 1: stayed and rapped as the hypnotic sound continued uninterrupted, minute
Speaker 1: after minute, until suddenly something else jumped out. Al rewound
Speaker 1: the tape and let it play out again, and there
Speaker 1: again he heard it what sounded like the squeaking of
Speaker 1: a drawer or a footstep, perhaps followed by the clear
Speaker 1: sound of some one or something moving across the floor.
Speaker 1: Over the next few months, as Al wrote in his
Speaker 1: book Danny's Bed, detailing the family's experiences, things became increasingly fraught.
Speaker 1: After the supposed arrival of Danny, the family apparently found
Speaker 1: themselves contending with the number of other ghosts, from a
Speaker 1: little girl thought to have lived around the same time
Speaker 1: as Danny, to a woman dressed in Victorian era clothes,
Speaker 1: as well as the peculiar vision of the mountaineer. At times,
Speaker 1: the family would come home from a night out to
Speaker 1: find all the lights in the house had been turned off,
Speaker 1: despite leaving them on when they left. They would frequently
Speaker 1: have the sensation that they were being observed by something invisible.
Speaker 1: Once Jason and Lee returned home to the sound of
Speaker 1: something running up the stairs into their attic. Following the noise,
Speaker 1: they found themselves standing up there staring at a mannequin
Speaker 1: that Al had brought Jason one time as a practical joke.
Speaker 1: When the mannequin's head had then moved in their direction,
Speaker 1: the pair was sent to scarrying back down in horror.
Speaker 1: In one incident, Jason was said to have come home
Speaker 1: one day to find two knives impaled in the ceiling
Speaker 1: of his parents bedroom, with a note telling them all
Speaker 1: to leave, pinned under one of them. After this incident, however,
Speaker 1: it seems whatever was occurring came to an abrupt end,
Speaker 1: with little else happening after. Rare is the household without
Speaker 1: at least one ornament or piece of furniture that once
Speaker 1: belonged to someone else. Many of us will have something
Speaker 1: that once belonged to those that are no longer withers
Speaker 1: to remind us of their existence, or just simply because
Speaker 1: they meant something special to us. You certainly don't have
Speaker 1: to believe in literal ghosts to feel the weight and
Speaker 1: warmth of someone you miss return instantly the moment you
Speaker 1: take hold of something that once belonged to them, or conversely,
Speaker 1: should an object hold less palatable memories for you, feel
Speaker 1: the weight of that person slip from your shoulders once
Speaker 1: the object has been dispensed with. Though such is life
Speaker 1: with or without such objects, there is no guarantee that
Speaker 1: something of them won't continue to remain. If you enjoy
Speaker 1: Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can
Speaker 1: now do so via Patreon to receive access to add
Speaker 1: free episodes. Just go to patron dot com Forward Slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained Pod to sign up, or if you'd like to
Speaker 1: make a one time donation, you can go to Unexplained
Speaker 1: podcast dot com Forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter
Speaker 1: how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained, the book
Speaker 1: and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been
Speaker 1: covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,
Speaker 1: among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music,
Speaker 1: are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and
Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com,
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