Speaker 1: This episode contains a graphic scene of gore and mutilation.
Speaker 1: Parental discretion is advised. You're listening to the second and
Speaker 1: final part of Unexplained Season six, episode twenty six, Under
Speaker 1: the Rocks and Stones. With many on the island united
Speaker 1: in grief over Reverend Lee's death and only just beginning
Speaker 1: to process it, something far more disturbing was about to
Speaker 1: come to light. In the locality of Lake Cappelle, about
Speaker 1: a mile southwest of the newly discovered Dolmen, just off
Speaker 1: the Lake Canus Road. It had just gone nine a m.
Speaker 1: On the morning of Sunday, November tenth, nineteen twelve, when
Speaker 1: a Missus Olivier looked out of her kitchen window toward
Speaker 1: the home of her neighbor opposite, John Robert, and noticed
Speaker 1: something unusual. The sixty three year old Robert was known
Speaker 1: to be a man of regular habits and being a farmer,
Speaker 1: was a committed early riser that morning. However, come nine
Speaker 1: a m. Mister Roberts curtains had yet to open. Mister Gabriel,
Speaker 1: another of Robert's neighbors, had also noticed this unusual occurrence,
Speaker 1: and after waiting another hour and a half with still
Speaker 1: no sign of movement from Robert's house, he went over
Speaker 1: to investigate. To get to the front door, it was
Speaker 1: first necessary to walk through a small greenhouse that had
Speaker 1: been built on to the side of the property, which
Speaker 1: was always locked when Robert was home. That morning, however,
Speaker 1: the door was open, with all about seeming unusually still.
Speaker 1: Mister Gabriel pushed at the greenhouse door. It opened with
Speaker 1: a loud, metallic creak, and Gabriel stepped forward into the
Speaker 1: space beyond. He was just about to call through for
Speaker 1: mister Robert when the words caught in his throat sprayed
Speaker 1: out below him. On the floor of the greenhouse was
Speaker 1: Robert lying face down in a thick puddle of darkening blood.
Speaker 1: There was blood sprayed across the wall and the window
Speaker 1: above him too, and from what Gabriel could make out
Speaker 1: from the mess of Robert's head, the entire back of
Speaker 1: it had been smashed open. At twelve thirty, Constables rob
Speaker 1: Yard and Ogier from the Guernsey Police arrived, accompanied by
Speaker 1: a doctor Joseph, to analyze the scene. Judging by the
Speaker 1: extensive damage to the back of Robert's head, Joseph had
Speaker 1: little doubting the man was dead. As he made the
Speaker 1: regulation check of his pulse before formally announcing it. Then
Speaker 1: he turned the body over and gasped in horror. Five
Speaker 1: strange wounds had been inflicted on the head, two substantial
Speaker 1: holes at the front, penetrating deep into Robert's skull, one
Speaker 1: each at the top and side, and another on the back.
Speaker 1: Robert had been wearing a peaked cap at the time
Speaker 1: of the assault. It had been carried out with such
Speaker 1: ferocity that whatever had caused the wounds had driven the
Speaker 1: material deep inside his skull. His head had also been
Speaker 1: beaten with significant force numerous times, long after he was
Speaker 1: already dead. The police made cursory search of the property,
Speaker 1: but found no sign of a murder weapon or any
Speaker 1: evidence even of an intruder. With mister Robert being a
Speaker 1: man of such regular habits, it was a fairly easy
Speaker 1: task to piece together his last known movements, As he
Speaker 1: had done every Saturday night since as far back as
Speaker 1: anyone could remember. Robert had spent the evening before at
Speaker 1: the home of his cousin Nicholas Robert, about a ten
Speaker 1: minute walk away. Nicholas, who had a solid alibi for
Speaker 1: the evening, stated that the deceased had left him completely
Speaker 1: sober around eight thirty pm, assuming that he walked straight home.
Speaker 1: The police and doctor Joseph estimated the attack to have
Speaker 1: taken place sometime around nine pm the following Monday. After
Speaker 1: an official inquiry was opened into the cause of mister
Speaker 1: Robert's death, his body was taken to the mortuary at
Speaker 1: Town Hospital in Saint peter Port, where it was viewed
Speaker 1: by members of the Royal Court. At one thirty pm,
Speaker 1: John Roberts's remains were placed in a polished pine coffin
Speaker 1: and taken by hers to his home, where it was
Speaker 1: received by friends and family, before being taken on to
Speaker 1: Saint Sampson's Church on Guernsey's East coast an hour later.
Speaker 1: The hundred mourners gathered there, many still in shock, watched
Speaker 1: on solemnly as mister Roberts's body was committed to the earth.
Speaker 1: Over the next few days, police continued to make inquiries,
Speaker 1: but had little to show for their efforts. John Robert
Speaker 1: was not known to have any enemies, and with no
Speaker 1: witnesses to the crime and no significant evidence or motive
Speaker 1: to work with, the police were at a loss to
Speaker 1: explain the shocking murder. Their best guess was that mister
Speaker 1: Robert had entered his greenhouse freely and made it as
Speaker 1: far as the window sill beside his front door, where
Speaker 1: he was known to keep his key, before the assailant,
Speaker 1: who they believed had likely been hiding in a small
Speaker 1: utility space to the right side of the greenhouse, attacked him.
Speaker 1: To some the likely identity of the attacker was obvious.
Speaker 1: On November sixteenth, an editorial column in The Guernsey Star
Speaker 1: titled Petty Causeret confidently voiced this opinion, pointing the finger
Speaker 1: at an all too often supposed bogey man, stating that
Speaker 1: a few years ago a burglary in the island was
Speaker 1: almost undreamed of, and to this day many people are
Speaker 1: most casual on the subject of locking up at night.
Speaker 1: Yet nowadays Oldham, a month passes but we see that
Speaker 1: some house or shed or store has been broken into.
Speaker 1: It is rather deplorable, and one would be glad to
Speaker 1: know the reason for this falling off in public morals.
Speaker 1: Though it seems to me that as long as the
Speaker 1: dregs of the Breton population continue to drift this way,
Speaker 1: and French peasants of the lowest class are allowed to
Speaker 1: herd in our midst we cannot expect to maintain our
Speaker 1: high standard others. However, as reports regarding the excavation of
Speaker 1: the Dolmen in Lelee continued to crop up in the news,
Speaker 1: began to wonder if something a little less tangible and
Speaker 1: far more disturbing was responsible. On that same November sixteenth,
Speaker 1: the police at Saint Helier in Jersey received a telegram
Speaker 1: from the Constable of Saint Sampson in Guernsey requesting that
Speaker 1: they at a man who was heading their way on
Speaker 1: the latest faery in connection with the John Robert murder.
Speaker 1: A short time later, a small team of Jersey officers
Speaker 1: watched on from Saint Helier Harbor as passengers disembarked from
Speaker 1: the Guernsey Ferry and quickly spotted the man who Guernsey
Speaker 1: police had described to them. The man, who arrived with
Speaker 1: his wife, was at a loss to explain why he'd
Speaker 1: been suspected of the crime, and after a few hours
Speaker 1: of questioning, he was eventually let go. A wire back
Speaker 1: to the Sat. Sampson's constable explained that the man's answers
Speaker 1: had all been satisfactory and there was no reason to
Speaker 1: suspect that he was the murderer. The following week, a
Speaker 1: reward of a hundred pounds about thirteen thousand pounds in
Speaker 1: today's money, was put up for any information leading to
Speaker 1: the capture of the killer, who, much to the horror
Speaker 1: of the Guernsey community, was still presumed to be at
Speaker 1: large on the island. John Robert's inquest, which concluded on
Speaker 1: November twenty third, offered little comfort, having failed to establish
Speaker 1: anything the police didn't already know, and soon the rumors
Speaker 1: began to grow that something ominous and strange was happening
Speaker 1: to the island. On the evening of Friday, November twenty ninth,
Speaker 1: Charles Druet, who also lived in Lake Cappelle like John Robert,
Speaker 1: was walking Larute to Coutanchey when two men were said
Speaker 1: to have sprung out in the darkness from behind a
Speaker 1: gate and knocked him violently to the floor before running away.
Speaker 1: No reason for the attack was ever established. That same night,
Speaker 1: the young son of Margaret Leticier was woken by a
Speaker 1: strange sound coming from outside his bedroom window in Cornet Street,
Speaker 1: Saint Peter Port. Opening the curtain, he was confused to
Speaker 1: see his mother underneath the moonlight, stumbling around on the
Speaker 1: roof outside his confusion turned to horror when she then
Speaker 1: suddenly fell from the roof and crashed through a skylight
Speaker 1: into the family's back yard. Missus Letitier was found to
Speaker 1: have broken her neck from the fall and likely died instantly.
Speaker 1: The abundance of bizarre and horrifying incidences taking place so
Speaker 1: close together left many and no doubt that the recent
Speaker 1: uncovering of the prehistoric grave site in Lelee had unleashed
Speaker 1: a malignant curse on the island that was terrorizing the
Speaker 1: local community and in some cases seemed to be possessing
Speaker 1: people to do malevolent things. Could the spirits of those
Speaker 1: ones buried there, they wandered, be seeking some kind of
Speaker 1: retribution for the disturbance of their final resting place. It
Speaker 1: later came out that only a few weeks before, Margaret
Speaker 1: Laticier had been found in a state of distress by
Speaker 1: her children, having apparently just seen the ghost of her
Speaker 1: husband William sat at the foot of her bed. The
Speaker 1: man had been dead for five years, having hung himself
Speaker 1: in the wash house close to where Margaret's own body
Speaker 1: was later found. All of which seemed only to amplify
Speaker 1: the growing sense of dread that some kind of unknowable
Speaker 1: darkness seemed to have the island in its grip now
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Speaker 1: disregarding all the other unsettling events, there still remained the
Speaker 1: very real issue that John Roberts murderer, regardless of whether
Speaker 1: they were human or not, was very much still at large.
Speaker 1: With many of the island's country roads and streets yet
Speaker 1: to have lighting installed, many became too frightened to leave
Speaker 1: the house at night. Doors and windows that had once
Speaker 1: nonchalantly been left open were kept firmly shut and locked,
Speaker 1: with many people who lived alone choosing to stay with
Speaker 1: friends or family for added security, and still the seemingly
Speaker 1: random acts of violence continued. On the evening of Friday,
Speaker 1: November thirtieth, mister Green from Saint Andrew's was knocked down
Speaker 1: and stunned in the Torbot Valley. The following morning, a
Speaker 1: mister Neville was attacked shortly after leaving his home in
Speaker 1: Long Cress and had two pounds stolen in the process.
Speaker 1: The following week, a missus d Garis was walking with
Speaker 1: her daughter along Bouboney Road, just south of Lilay when
Speaker 1: a figure sprung from the shadow of a tree. The
Speaker 1: figure attacked her with a stick and tried to make
Speaker 1: off with her bag. The woman screamed, attracting the attention
Speaker 1: of men in a nearby farm, and the attacker dashed
Speaker 1: off into the night. De Garis collapsed from shock when
Speaker 1: she and her daughter finally made it home to safety.
Speaker 1: A little later that night, two miles away in castell A,
Speaker 1: mister Maschon was woken by his daughter after she'd heard
Speaker 1: suspicious noises coming from their back garden. Much like everyone else,
Speaker 1: Maschon had found it hard to ignore or the talk
Speaker 1: of a wave of terror that was said to be
Speaker 1: sweeping the north of the island, and had taken to
Speaker 1: sleeping with a loaded rifle by his bed. That night,
Speaker 1: he leapt up, grabbed the gun and dashed downstairs. He
Speaker 1: opened the back door and without even looking, fired a
Speaker 1: warning shot into the darkness. After waiting a few minutes,
Speaker 1: having heard nothing untoward, he quietly closed the door and
Speaker 1: went back to bed. It was early in January the
Speaker 1: following year that two previously unreported clues regarding the ongoing
Speaker 1: investigation into the murder of John Robert were remarked upon
Speaker 1: in The Guernsey Star under the heading Strange Rumors. One
Speaker 1: was the discovery of a rope found at the murder scene,
Speaker 1: tucked underneath the deceased mattress. The discovery had caused quite
Speaker 1: a stir at the time, but was later discarded as
Speaker 1: having no relevance to the crime. The second regarded a
Speaker 1: letter written in French and by an unknown hand, which
Speaker 1: arrived at mister Robert's house shortly after he was killed.
Speaker 1: Any suspicions that it was written by someone involved in
Speaker 1: his death was soon dismissed, however, when it was found
Speaker 1: to have simply been delivered to the wrong address. All
Speaker 1: in all, by the end of January nineteen thirteen, Guernsey
Speaker 1: police had made no further headway in solving the mystery. However,
Speaker 1: on January twenty ninth, another mystery was picked up by
Speaker 1: The Guernsey Star concerning the unknown whereabouts of Guernsey resident
Speaker 1: Clifford Nikol. The news was buried in the back pages,
Speaker 1: just below an article regarding yet another bicyclist thrown head
Speaker 1: first from their bike. Under the heading the missing Man.
Speaker 1: The paper reported that Nicol had seemingly completely vanished and
Speaker 1: had been missing from the island for the best part
Speaker 1: of a week, and still the peculiar events continued. One
Speaker 1: young man, while walking up the Rohee on the outskirts
Speaker 1: of Saint peter Port late one night, became suddenly aware
Speaker 1: of another presence watching him from the other side of
Speaker 1: the street. As the man continued up the road, he
Speaker 1: noticed the figure slipped from out of the shadows and
Speaker 1: begin to follow him. The young man continued along Victoria
Speaker 1: Road until he became suddenly spooked again and turned to
Speaker 1: find the man behind him, once again watching him from
Speaker 1: a little further down the road. Having been spotted, the stranger,
Speaker 1: who was described as being powerfully built, quickly pulled his
Speaker 1: cap down over his eyes and scurried back off into
Speaker 1: the shadows. Just to add a further bizarre spin to proceedings,
Speaker 1: in early February, the people of Guernsey were alarmed to
Speaker 1: see a mysterious airship flying over the island. The vessel,
Speaker 1: which was said to be carrying brilliant lights, was thought
Speaker 1: to be the same as that which had been seen
Speaker 1: skirting the coastline of the United Kingdom only weeks before.
Speaker 1: Though some ridiculed the reports, others speculated that the craft
Speaker 1: could well be the German airship known as the Hanza.
Speaker 1: A portent, perhaps, along with everything else that had happened
Speaker 1: of the all too earthly events of the First World
Speaker 1: War which would soon ravage the continent. It was around
Speaker 1: the same time, as if things hadn't be bad enough
Speaker 1: on the island that something else mysterious began to reveal itself.
Speaker 1: Beginning with a fever, cough and sore throat, the symptoms
Speaker 1: of diphtheria can develop quickly and drastically. Before long, the
Speaker 1: bacteria that caused the infection can destroy healthy tissue in
Speaker 1: the respiratory system and create a membrane of dead tissue
Speaker 1: that can make it difficult to breathe. In previous outbreaks
Speaker 1: of the disease, as many as ten percent of those
Speaker 1: infected had died, and by the end of Febry, Guernsey
Speaker 1: was hit by an island wide outbreak. It was made
Speaker 1: all the worse by the significant number of residents who
Speaker 1: decided not to seek treatment against the disease on account
Speaker 1: of their beliefs and superstitions, leading one local doctor to
Speaker 1: remark it is still believed in Guernsey that the consequences
Speaker 1: of diseases like diphtheria and scarlet fever are due to
Speaker 1: witchcraft or the opening up of dolmen against which it
Speaker 1: is useless to fight. With so many affected by the outbreak,
Speaker 1: people steadily began to forget about the peculiar spate of
Speaker 1: violent attacks and disturbing incidents that had so preoccupied them
Speaker 1: over the last few months, and with police overstretched by
Speaker 1: the outbreak and the unusually high number of assaults that
Speaker 1: had been occurring, investigation into John Roberts's murder eventually petered
Speaker 1: out in early March nineteen thirteen, according to writer Glynnys Cooper,
Speaker 1: whose two thousand and six book Foul Deeds and Suspicious
Speaker 1: Murders in Guernsey also examined this case. The Guernsey Star
Speaker 1: reported that missing man Clifford Nicole might have simply sailed
Speaker 1: out of Guernsey without telling anyone. It isn't known if
Speaker 1: Nicol had any connection to John Robert, or if indeed
Speaker 1: his sudden disappearance was picked up on by police as
Speaker 1: possibly being related to the crime. Either way, having seemingly
Speaker 1: hit a dead end, the investigation into John Robert's murder
Speaker 1: was closed soon after. As Glynnus Cooper says in her book,
Speaker 1: it was almost as though in the end the law
Speaker 1: preferred to allow Islanders their belief that dark powers had
Speaker 1: killed mister Robert and that he was murdered by someone
Speaker 1: or something unknown. His death remains to this day unexplained.
Speaker 1: As for the Leelay Dolman, it remains just as it
Speaker 1: was when it was uncovered, hidden away in the small,
Speaker 1: unassuming patch of ground just off the corner of close
Speaker 1: to Sablon for any one wishing to take a look
Speaker 1: at it to day. Now, there's just one thing before
Speaker 1: I go. I don't mean to unsettle any one, but
Speaker 1: during my research for these stories, I came across an
Speaker 1: article written by Juliette Pouteaux for the Guernsey Press back
Speaker 1: in September of this year titled Secrets of Dolmen and
Speaker 1: Stone Circle could be unearthed. The article concerned the Levart Dolmen,
Speaker 1: which is situated on Long Crest Common, said to be
Speaker 1: one of Guernsey's richest archeological sites. As the article goes
Speaker 1: on to say, Levart was rediscovered in eighteen eleven after
Speaker 1: centuries filled with sand and bone fragments and pottery was found,
Speaker 1: with the Lucas family exploring the sight in the summers
Speaker 1: of eighteen thirty seven to thirty eight. Standing the highest
Speaker 1: point of Long Crest, it is one of the island's
Speaker 1: most visible dolments, but it still holds secrets, with the
Speaker 1: site having been covered significantly by sand and vegetation since
Speaker 1: it was first uncovered. A team of archeologists led by
Speaker 1: doctor Phil de Jersey, were hoping to find evidence of
Speaker 1: the stone circle that the Lucas family had previously recorded.
Speaker 1: Due to the extensive sand cover that has covered much
Speaker 1: of Long Crest Common since the seventh century, to Jersey
Speaker 1: is hopeful that there could be even more ancient relics
Speaker 1: to discover in the years to come. I don't know
Speaker 1: if the excavation went ahead as planned or not, but
Speaker 1: perhaps something to keep an eye on at least. If
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Speaker 1: been 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
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