WEBVTT - Season 09 Episode 14: Cats in the Cradle 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Unexplained now has a substack page. If you enjoy Unexplained 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.280 and want to go deeper into the world of the show, 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:07.440 I've created a new space for all the bits that 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:11.200 don't quite fit into the podcast, including the Unexplained Addendum, 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.040 a weekly companion piece to each new episode. Expect essays 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.640 that lean more academic and analytical explorations of folklore, psychology, 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:22.400 and the shadowy corners of history that have shaped the 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:24.799 stories you hear on the show. But it's also a 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.680 home for something more personal, my fiction, my strange amusings, 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:32.000 and the odd fragments that don't belong anywhere else. Search 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.599 for Unexplained podcast on substack or go to Unexplained podcast 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:38.840 dot substack dot com to find out more and subscribe. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:40.839 If it's like a little bit more of me and 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.800 Unexplained in your week, join me on substack and let's 0:00:43.880 --> 0:01:01.240 keep exploring the unknown together, new writing every Monday. As 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.959 Philip Larkin once wrote, they fuck you up your mum 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.720 and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.839 They fill you with the faults they had, and add 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.320 some extra just for you, whether for good or bad. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.800 We're all shaped by our family dynamics. Some of us 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.400 are the product of heteronormative relationships. Others will have been 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.880 raised by same sex partners, or maybe even in non 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.800 monogamous or communal parenting arrangements. Some of us will have 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.080 grown up with two parents who live happily together, some 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.400 by parents who are separated, or perhaps by a single 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.720 parent due to choice or loss. Perhaps you are raised 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:41.479 by your grandparents or another member of your family. Some 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.440 of us will be only children. Others might have ten 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.880 sisters and brothers. Some are adopted or fostered with no 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.720 knowledge of their forebears, while others have large blood related 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.560 families that can be traced back for generations. The nuclear 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.280 core of the traditional two parent household has become so 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.240 entrenched as an aspiration in popular culture that when many 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.120 of us think of the word family, we often neglect 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.240 to account for more complex versions of the structure, versions 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:15.000 that are as individual and variable and valid as the 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:19.000 people contained within them. This two point four version of 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.600 the family has been a staple of everything from the 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.960 Simpsons to the Adams family, but in reality, this domestic 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.440 ideal can sometimes conceal a much darker truth at its heart. 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.440 For a start, the family is where we first internalize 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:39.240 ideas about societal hierarchy. Patriarchal attitudes, for example, place the 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:42.280 father at the head of the house, followed by the mother, 0:02:42.760 --> 0:02:47.720 then brother, then sister. The law of primogeniture ensures that 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.200 the eldest and in many cultures historically the male heir, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.519 regardless of age, inherits the lion's share of ancestral wealth 0:02:55.600 --> 0:03:00.280 and status when a parent or grandparent passes on darkest still, 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.560 most of us are familiar with the phrase stranger danger, 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.560 and yet of the five hundred and seventy homicides recorded 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.519 in the UK, for example, in twenty twenty four, a 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.360 staggering forty two percent of crimes were perpetrated by a 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.560 partner or ex partner of the victim. A further eighteen 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:22.200 percent of cases involved people who were murdered either by 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.960 a close relation or other family member, meaning that almost 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.680 sixty percent of deliberate killings in the UK were perpetrated 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.400 in the victim's own home by a relative or partner. 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.960 This galling number has even led the United Nations to 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.640 suggest that, rather than that big bad world out there, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:45.560 home is statistically the most dangerous place to be, especially 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:55.480 for women and girls. For one artist, perhaps more than 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.280 any other. The dark truths that lie behind the facade 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.400 of domestic bliss proved to be an obsession. Over the 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.840 course of nearly fifty years, American filmmaker David Lynch fixed 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:12.840 his penetrating gaze on the hypocrisy of the suburban American dream. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.760 He emphasized the strangeness lurking at the heart of seemingly 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:22.920 ordinary family homes and neighbourhoods by utilizing dream logic, surrealist imagery, 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.640 and the occasional dose of dark humour. It's impossible to 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.919 overstate the importance of Lynch's twin peaks in how influential 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:35.200 it was in puncturing the wholesome veneer of sweet suburbia. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.479 Lynch's unique take on the police procedural, which by the 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.279 nineteen nineties had grown stale, arrived like an atom bomb 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:47.279 into the living rooms of households everywhere. He showed that 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.279 beneath the surface of the supposed familial ideal of straight, 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:56.320 church going, white, picket fenced middle class aspiration, though, were 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.000 complex power dynamics at play, with the potential for violent 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.360 hidden at every turn. He showed how abuse often went 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.599 hidden or was ignored for the sake of etiquette and 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.680 lambasted the insincerity of communities who dared to be shocked 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.159 when the inevitable consequences washed up on their doorsteps. More 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.120 alarmingly to some, he showed how repression can lead to 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.760 madness and how it spreads like a contagion when its 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.480 root causes are not addressed. You might have heard about 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.080 the rare condition of shared madness known as folly adieu, 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.200 which we explored to some degree in Season four, episode sixteen, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:39.000 folly Adieure. The idea was first conceptualized at the end 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.640 of the nineteenth century by psychiatric doctors Charles Lazigai and 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.120 Jules Ferret. The pair noted that in several cases where 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.520 one patient presented with primary delusions as a result of 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:56.359 schizophrenia or other serious mental condition, a partner or someone 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.960 living in close quarters began to experience the same delusion. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.200 The condition is so rare that only about two percent 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.760 of all psychiatric hospital admissions are said to qualify. Even 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.760 rarer is when a delusion is shared by more than 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.599 two people, termed progressively as the madness of three or four, etc. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.640 Or even the madness of several, which is so rare 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.000 that only a handful of cases have ever been documented. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.719 Some believe it was just this kind of madness that 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:32.680 descended on one unlucky family in rural Australia in twenty sixteen. 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:45.920 You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McLean Smith. Back 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.360 in twenty sixteen. On a chilly Tuesday morning in August, 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.360 it had just gone eleven a m when Keith Whittaker, 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.479 owner of a local mining utilities company, pulled into a 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.560 service station in the city of Gulban in New South Wales, Australia. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.919 Keith was heading south to Canberra, about an hour's drive away, 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.640 for a doctor's appointment, and was conscious of time, so 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.240 after a quick dash into the garage store to pay, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.320 he got straight back into his truck and sped off 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.360 as fast as he could. Keith was about halfway into 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.040 the drive when he felt something kick the back of 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.480 his seat. Turning round, he was shocked to see a 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.280 young woman lying down behind him in the back. Keith 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.679 hurriedly pulled the car to the side at the road, 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:33.160 but when he tried to talk to the woman, she 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:37.480 was completely unresponsive. Much to Keith's relief, she was still 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:42.160 breathing at least unsure what to do exactly, he continued 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.880 to try and rouse her without success, until about twenty 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.440 minutes later, when the woman abruptly sat up and, with 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:54.080 a completely blank expression, stared straight ahead at nothing in particular. 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:57.840 Then slowly she seemed to come back to the world. 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.600 Keith asked if she was okay and what her name was. 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.520 It was only then that the woman finally seemed to 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:11.920 notice him. What's your name, asked Keith again, confusion clouded 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:17.760 her face. I don't know, she replied. Keith looked her 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:21.800 over for any sign of injury, but saw nothing. There 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:24.400 was no smell of alcohol on her breath, and her 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.520 clothes were clean and presentable. It was, needless to say, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.079 all very weird. Unable to get any sense from her, 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:36.560 Keith reassured her that she was safe and promptly called 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:39.839 the police. For the next half an hour, the woman 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.840 just stared silently out at the window until the police arrived. 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.160 As they helped her out at the vehicle, she suddenly 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.280 turned to Keith and offered him fifty dollars for his trouble, 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.680 but he told her to keep the money. Then he 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.560 watched with complete amusement as she was led into the 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.920 back of the police car and driven away back to Goulburn. 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.200 About the same time that young woman was found in 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:17.319 Keith Whittakert's truck, police in Melbourne, about five hundred miles 0:09:17.360 --> 0:09:20.959 away to the southwest in the state of Victoria, received 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.800 a strange call from the New South Wales Police. They 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.800 themselves had received a call a short time earlier from 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.640 what sounded like a young woman in a severe state 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:34.559 of distress. The woman, who was calling from a payphone 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.320 in Gulbant, frantically explained that her parents had gone missing. 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.160 Their names were Jacoba and Mark Tromp, and they were 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.760 both in their early fifties. She said the last place 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.679 she'd seen them was that morning at a place called 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:52.680 the Jenolan Caves, a famous natural landmark on the edge 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.600 of the sprawling Blue Mountains National Park. The woman didn't 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.560 seem to be making much sense, but the urgency in 0:10:00.600 --> 0:10:04.199 her voice was palpable. After giving the police a brief 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.679 description of the couple and their home address, the woman 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:12.040 swiftly hung up. The address was a farm located on 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.000 the eastern fringes of Melbourne, hence the call to the 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:19.080 Victoria Police. The call was passed on to Sergeant Mark 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.959 Knight of Munbulk Police Station, a small town close to 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.360 the address given by the woman on the phone. As 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.160 it happened, Sergeant Knight was familiar with the property and 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:34.040 knew the Tromp family reasonably well. The family were well 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.000 known in the area, not least of all because they 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.120 had a thriving red current business that employed a number 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.080 of people and the large family home, swimming pool and 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:47.920 collection of horses to go with it. There were five 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.680 of them in total, parents Jacoba and Mark, and their 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.719 three children, twenty nine year old Rihanna, twenty five year 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.040 old Mitchell, and twenty two year old Ella, all of 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:03.040 whom lived in work on the farm. What Sergeant Knight 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.560 couldn't get his head around, though, was what on earth 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.800 would Mark and Jacoba be doing at the Jenolan Caves 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:13.240 five hundred miles away on a workday. Things only got 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.680 weirder as reports from some of the Trump's employees started 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.559 to come in saying that the entire family seemed to 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:24.240 have completely disappeared without warning the day before, and so 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.880 Sergeant Knight gathered a small team and drove out to 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:33.600 the property to investigate. When they arrived, things immediately felt off. 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.640 As Knight approached the house, he could see the curtains 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.480 were drawn despite it only being early afternoon, and though 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.280 a few vehicles were parked in the drive, it didn't 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:48.320 take long to realize that nobody was home. Hello, he 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.920 called out as he stepped up to the front door. 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:55.280 He rang the bell, then, after a few minutes of 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.600 no response, he tried the handle and was surprised to 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.480 find the door completely unlocked. Hello, he called out again 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.000 as he and his colleagues stepped into the eerie silence 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:12.040 of the home, but again got nothing in response. The 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:16.360 house was in a state of utter disarray. Various items 0:12:16.400 --> 0:12:20.360 were scattered across the floor, including endless pages of paperwork, 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.600 streams of bank statements and financial records. After a further 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.800 search of the property, the officers also found the family's passports, 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:34.319 bank cards, and mobile phones all had been left behind. 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.559 It was a few hours later, as the police continued 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.400 to investigate the property, when they heard the sound of 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.959 wheels crunching up the gravel. It was followed moments later 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.520 by the appearance of a harrowed looking Ella Tromp in 0:12:49.559 --> 0:12:53.680 the doorway. The youngest daughter. It may have been the 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.960 bloodshot eyes and the fact that she clearly hadn't slept 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.880 in a while. Or maybe it was the odd vacant 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.839 expression on her face. Whatever it was, it was clear 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.400 tonight that something wasn't quite right with the young woman. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:18.360 When Ella saw the police, she didn't flinch, which, naturally, 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:23.120 Sergeant Knight thought immediately strange, although in truth this was 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.360 most likely because it was Ella who'd made the original 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.240 call to the police back in Golbin to report her 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:33.760 parents missing. Even still, the nonchalance with which she asked 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.240 the officers if they wanted a cup of tea was 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:40.319 a little jarring, to say the least. Knight said yes, nonetheless, 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:43.400 keen to use the opportunity to get a handle on 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:46.600 her current state of mind. It was his job to 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.080 be suspicious and right then, for all he knew, they 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.120 could be dealing with anything from a domestic dispute to 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:57.040 a possible murder. He followed her into the kitchen and 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.080 watched her like a hawk as she casually boiled the 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.720 kettle and threw some tea bags into mugs. Satisfied that 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.280 she was compassmenttous enough to be interviewed, he began with 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:13.600 some easy questions, namely where the hell was everyone, though 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.960 Ella was a little scatter gun at first, Slowly a 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:21.400 very strange picture began to emerge. It all started a 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.720 few days ago, she said, with her parents becoming increasingly 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.400 anxious over something to do with the farm's finances, or 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.040 at least that's how it seemed at first, But then 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:36.200 things began to get weird. At some point, both her 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.400 parents became convinced that someone was stalking them and wanted 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.560 to steal all their money, perhaps even kill them for it. 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.200 Things came to a head on the morning of August 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:51.560 twenty ninth, the day before. In a sudden burst of panic, 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:55.720 her parents, Jacoba and Mark, announced that the family had 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.000 to leave the property immediately. They told the kids that 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.160 their lives were in days if they didn't leave that instant. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:06.720 They ordered them to drop everything, especially their phones, because 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:11.240 they were bugged. Suddenly, Rhianna began to panic too. Then 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.840 Ella felt a surge of terror rush through her. There 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:18.560 was no time to spare. It was Mark who suggested 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.760 they'd take Ella's car, a Silver Pergio SUV, since the 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:27.560 other vehicles were probably bugged too. Sergeant Knight looked out 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.920 the window toward the Honda Odyssey parked on the driveway 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:36.280 that Ella had arrived in. And whose car is that? Then? Oh, 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:41.160 said Ella, Yeah, I stole that. The sergeant let that 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.440 go for a moment and asked Ella to continue her story. 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.480 From what she said, it seemed her parents had no 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.840 real plan other than to get to the Jenolan caves. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.600 Perhaps they thought they could hide out there until whatever 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.880 it was that was going on blew over, But Ella 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:02.560 wasn't sure. All she knew was that in the moment, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.800 it had all seemed so very real, and before she 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.240 knew it, they were on the road. It was just 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.640 fifteen minutes into the drive when they realized that Mitchell 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:17.440 had taken his phone with him. The parents got suddenly hysterical, 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:22.480 both clearly terrified that they whoever they were, would track 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.479 them down if he didn't throw it out the window immediately. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.680 Unlike the others, Mitchell had begun to question everything that 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.720 was going on, who was after them exactly and why 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.280 couldn't their parents tell them? But they just screamed back 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:40.640 in response, telling him to throw the phone out unless 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:44.480 he wanted them all to die. Eventually, he did what 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:48.240 they asked, and with that they continued on their way. 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.040 They drove non stop for five hundred miles until some 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.360 time around seven a m. The next day, the twenty 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:59.440 five year old Mitchell had had enough and demanded to 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:03.040 be let out. Ella had no idea where he was, 0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:08.200 so what then of her sister, Rihanna, asked Sergeant Knight. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:20.000 Ella looked sheepishly to the floor. Not long after Mitchell 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.240 left the family, Ella too began to question what on 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.240 earth it was they were doing. But more than that, 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.560 she began to worry about her horses. Since they'd left 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.200 without any warning, there was no one to look after 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:37.679 them within twenty four hours. Without food, they could be 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:42.679 at serious risk of developing fatal digestive problems. Ella couldn't 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.159 get the thought of them in pain out of her mind. 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:48.600 When they finally arrived at the car park for the 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:53.680 Genolan Caves, Ella seized her moment, grabbing Rihanna, the pair 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:58.320 made their getaway. It isn't clear how Ella stole the car, 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.160 but she likely found it in the same car park, 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:05.720 perhaps spotting the keys and the ignition. With Rhianna in 0:18:05.760 --> 0:18:08.960 a complete daze in the passenger seat beside her, Ella 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.080 drove for about one hundred miles until they found themselves 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.240 in Golban. It was there that she called the police 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:18.679 to report her parents missing, and it was there that 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:22.600 she inexplicably left her sister Rihanna, who at that point 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.520 could barely string a sentence together, about four hundred miles 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:31.480 from their home. Ella couldn't explain why she'd done it exactly, 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.160 She just simply had to get home to her horses. 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.960 Sergeant Knight listened to it all with complete and utter amusement, 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.880 but promised to do whatever he could to help locate 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.600 the rest of her family. It was around this time 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:48.639 that the woman who'd been found in the back of 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.720 the truck just outside of Golban finally remembered who she was. 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.879 It was, of course, Rhianna Trump. Still not quite in 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.840 her right mind, she was kept at the Low Hospital 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:06.320 for psychological observation. The following morning, Mitchell made it back 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:10.480 to the farm safe and sound. Mitchell, who'd managed to 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:14.600 find an overnight train home, later confirmed Ella's statement, at 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:19.159 least up until the moment he left. Unlike Ella, to 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:23.679 Sergeant Knight, Mitchell seemed to be of entirely sound mind, and, 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.680 as he explained to the sergeant later, he was equally 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.720 baffled by his parents and sister's behavior, he didn't believe 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.439 for a second that anyone was really after them, and 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.840 had only joined the others in the car because he 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:40.320 was worried about them. That worry only intensified when he 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.520 arrived back home to find Ella on her own and 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:47.520 no sign of their parents, who were by then genuinely missing. 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.439 It was some time around ten pm that night that 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.800 a couple driving somewhere close to merrowa park in Wangorata 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:02.040 in northeast Victoria, spotted a silver Pergio suv being driven 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:07.040 erratically and fast approaching them from behind. The suv then 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:10.400 proceeded to tailgate them for about five minutes until they 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:13.080 were eventually forced to pull over to let it pass. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.480 Only it didn't it pulled over to The couple watched 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:22.040 in horror as the driver, a man in his early fifties, 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.399 raced up the road toward them, only to then stop 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:28.879 suddenly and stare at them intensely for what felt like 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:33.199 an eternity, until finally, having not said a word, the 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.080 man turned and fled on foot into the park, abandoning 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:41.359 his vehicle by the side of the road. The following day, 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:45.719 police responding to the peculiar incident, found the silver suv 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:48.600 still parked at the side of the road with the 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:53.080 keys in the ignition. It was quickly identified as Ella's car, 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.320 but there was no sign of the man who'd been 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:59.359 driving it. It was later reported that someone had broken 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.359 into the roof of a nearby motel and appeared to 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:14.439 have stayed there for the night. Some two hundred and 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:17.639 thirty miles away to the north of Wangaratta, in the 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.840 town of Yas, a vacant looking middle aged woman unknown 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:26.000 to anyone was found wandering around the town. Thanks to 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.800 a good Samaritan, she was picked up and taken to 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.120 the local hospital. Later that day, Mitchell and a now 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:37.320 seemingly recovered Ella gave a statement to Australia's Channel nine 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.520 News from their farm, asking for help from the public 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.159 to find their parents, but giving nothing away about their predicament. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.480 Soon after, the woman found wandering around Yas was identified 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:54.080 as their mother, Jacoba, with Rhianna having been identified too. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:58.240 Jacoba was taken to Goban Hospital to be reunited with her. 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:03.439 She too was kept in for psychiatric assessment, but still 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:07.520 nothing was heard of Mark Tromp's whereabouts, prompting an even 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:13.120 more frantic search. Forty eight hours later, around six pm 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:17.320 on September three officers driving along a highway close to 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:22.080 Wangarata Airport spotted him walking aimlessly down the road. He 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:24.960 was immediately picked up and driven to hospital for a 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.439 mental health check, before being taken to the nearest police station. 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:32.760 Six hours later, he was released into the custody of 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.280 his brother, who also happened to be a serving police officer. 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.480 By then, a crowd of journalists had gathered at the 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:42.959 police station to get a glimpse of the man at 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:45.720 the center of one of the strangest news stories in 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:50.280 recent times. When he finally appeared, he was quickly shepherded 0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:53.560 into a waiting car and refused to answer any questions. 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:56.919 As he was driven away, he flipped the bird at 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:02.200 the assembled crowd before disappearing into the night. Nothing else 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:05.359 was heard on the matter until two days later, when 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.679 Mark Tromp issued a statement on the family's behalf. In 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:13.160 recent days, my family has been through a difficult period 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.840 and we will soon be reunited together. I hope that 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.439 we will begin to make sense of our ordeal and 0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:22.800 return to a normal life. I am conscious of the 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:27.080 burden these events have placed upon our extended family, friends 0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:31.639 and the community resources devoted to our aid without reservation. 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.240 I apologize for the hurt and concern caused by these 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:40.040 events on behalf of our family. I express our deep 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.720 gratitude to Victoria and New South Wales Police, as well 0:23:43.760 --> 0:23:47.000 as the healthcare professionals who have looked after our physical 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:50.560 and mental well being. More than anything, my family and 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:54.400 I need time to recover. To this end, we request 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:59.879 that the media organizations respect our request for privacy. No 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:03.440 explanation was given for why he and his wife had 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.840 forced his family to flee their home so suddenly, or 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:15.399 what exactly he had gotten up to in the intervening days. 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:20.520 In the end, police found no history of mental illness 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.119 within the family, no sign that any drugs had been taken, 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:27.680 and no evidence that they were trying to escape from debt, 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:31.720 a church, cult, or any other group who may have 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.600 been out to harm them. Police Sergeant Mark Knight called 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:38.359 it the most bizarre case he'd ever worked on and 0:24:38.520 --> 0:24:40.960 was just as perplexed as the public when it came 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:45.119 to giving an explanation. It was also discovered that during 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.600 conversations prior to their road trip, the Trumps had at 0:24:48.640 --> 0:24:52.360 one point considered leaving the country, but changed their minds 0:24:52.680 --> 0:24:55.880 when it was pointed out that their passports could be tracked. 0:24:56.920 --> 0:25:01.000 The whole trip saw the family travel almost a miles 0:25:01.040 --> 0:25:03.439 in the space of just a few days for no 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:07.879 discernible reason. Offering something of a final word on the matter, 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:12.760 the family's son, Mitchell, told reporters it's really hard to explain. 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:15.320 I'll put a word on it, but they were just 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:19.119 fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee. 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.679 It was a build up of different, normal everyday events, 0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:26.000 just pressure, and it slowly got worse as the days 0:25:26.040 --> 0:25:31.199 went by. In March twenty seventeen, having initially been charged 0:25:31.240 --> 0:25:34.600 with stealing a vehicle, police withdrew the charges against Ella 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.639 Tromp after the vehicle's owner, presumably having thought the family 0:25:38.680 --> 0:25:43.359 had suffered enough, declined to pursue the case. Just six 0:25:43.359 --> 0:25:46.600 months later, the family were back working on the farm 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:51.240 as though nothing had happened. No further explanation was ever 0:25:51.320 --> 0:25:55.760 given for the bizarre road trip. It's likely we'll never 0:25:55.880 --> 0:26:00.400 know just what exactly spooked Mark and Jacoba Trump so much, 0:26:00.600 --> 0:26:04.840 or how exactly their troubled mental state spread so profoundly 0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:08.320 to the rest of the family. Mitchell aside causing Rihanna 0:26:08.440 --> 0:26:11.800 to forget who she was, and Ella, a perfectly law 0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:16.040 abiding citizen to randomly steal someone's car and drive it 0:26:16.160 --> 0:26:26.280 four hundred miles without skipping a beat. Though it doesn't 0:26:26.280 --> 0:26:29.240 give us an explanation for what happened to the Tromp family. 0:26:29.680 --> 0:26:32.480 Before we go, I want to return to that famous 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:37.200 poem of Philip Larkin's This be the verse. They fuck 0:26:37.240 --> 0:26:39.879 you up your mum and dad. They may not mean to, 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:43.480