WEBVTT - S04 Episode 19: A View from a Hill (RERUN) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:04.800 Hello, This is Richard mcclinsmith here. Unexplained. Season seven has 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.480 now finished, but we'll be back on Friday, September sixth 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.319 to begin season eight. In the meantime, I'm replaying some 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.920 of my favorite episodes from the archives. Most of the 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.480 time when writing for Unexplained, I like to find stories 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.880 with far more information than I can possibly pack into 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.840 one episode. But once in a while, a story is 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:30.480 just too good to ignore, even when the details are 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.920 a little thin on the ground. The tale of the 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.919 so called Cooneen Ghost House in Ireland just so happens 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.640 to be considered one of the most compelling haunted house 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:48.440 stories of all time. This is Unexplained, Season four, episode nineteen, 0:00:49.400 --> 0:01:04.520 A View from a Hill. Any regular listeners of this 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.040 show will have gathered that Unexplained is rather fond of 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.640 a good old haunted house story. Such stories often have 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:15.720 the magical ability to conjure a sense of unique and 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.200 specific places, while at the same time leave us feeling 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:22.840 as though the hauntings are in fact occurring wherever we 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.039 happen to be, as if the story itself were the 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:31.720 portal through which distant, ghoulish specters can seep into our lives. 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:35.840 The story of the Coonian Ghost House of Ireland is 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:39.919 just one such tale, a strange and troubling thing, owing 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.320 mostly to the fact that, despite it often being regarded 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:47.199 as one of the most compelling supposed true life hauntings, 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.880 there is so little on record with which to support 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.960 this claim. Much like the apparent ghost or spirit at 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:56.640 the heart of it, the story is a slippery and 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:01.400 amorphous one, seemingly rooted in real time tangible things, but 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:06.080 existing mostly as fable told and retold over the years, 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.680 passed from one generation to the next, never quite keeping still, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:16.280 the facts, never quite staying fixed. What we do know 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.160 is the Murphy family, the owners of the home at 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:22.600 the time and apparent focus of the phenomena, were very 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:28.040 much real, appearing in a census recorded in nineteen eleven. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:31.959 The house too, very much existed and in fact still 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:36.400 stands in the County of fer Manor, located today just 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.359 to the north of the border in northern Ireland. That 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.440 we have anything of record about it at all is 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.040 due largely to the work of Sir Sean Leslie, a 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.200 writer with many broad and varied interests and avid chaser 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:56.720 of supposed true life ghost stories, born John Randolph in 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.040 eighteen eighty five, the sun of wealthy socialite Leone Jerome 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:06.120 and aristocrat John Leslie, the second Shawn Lesley grew up 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.760 within the palatial walls of the family stately home, Castle Leslie, 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:14.840 in County Monaghan, just twenty miles to the east of Coonyon. 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.079 The castle is said by many to itself be haunted, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.360 though it isn't known whether Leslie, who changed his name 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.320 to the Irish shorn out of affection for his homeland, 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:30.280 ever experienced this himself. Though Leslie credits his time at 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.120 the English boarding school Eton College with fostering his fascination 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:38.200 in the possibility of ghosts and the paranormal, it wasn't 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:42.040 until his time at Cambridge University that his passion for 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.960 the ghost story was truly cemented. There he was introduced 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:51.520 to Provost Montague Road's James, otherwise known by his pen 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.520 name m R James, considered by many to be the 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.880 finest purveyor of ghost stories that ever lived. It is, ever, 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.680 from his own fictional writings that Leslie was greatly influenced 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:08.000 by the prolific m R James. However, it was potentially 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.480 real accounts of ghosts that Leslie was most interested in. 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.680 Having spent much of his life collecting and recording as 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.400 many accounts of true life hauntings he could find, Leslie 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.719 would eventually collate those he felt especially compelling in his 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:27.680 nineteen fifty six publication Sean Leslie's Ghost Book. It is 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:31.159 there that Leslie presents what he describes as the last 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.359 word on the famous series of phenomena known as the 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:39.400 Coonian Ghost, from which much of the following story is taken. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.960 When Leslie asked m R James shortly before he died 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.760 what he really thought on the subject of ghosts, he 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.560 is said to have replied, depend upon it. Some of 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:54.799 these things are so, but we do not know the rules. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:07.120 You're listening to unexplained, And I'm Richard MacLean Smith. The 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.880 small brick farmhouse stood silhouetted and still in the night, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.679 a black monolith under moonlight, perched up high on the hill. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.359 To observe this quiet scene from a distance is to 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.800 participate in the grand illusion of permanence, or the world 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:29.039 seeming for a moment like a grand tableaux fixed in time. 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.800 Should we gaze on this house a little while longer, however, 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.920 it would not be long before our illusion was punctured 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.560 by the distant core of a disgruntled crow, or the 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.560 haunting screech of a fox in the undergrowth, or by 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.280 the movement of a thin mist steadily creeping toward it 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.599 from out of the valley below. In fact, should we 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.719 stare long enough, we would see that even the stars 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.320 above that seemed so fixed in the sky in a 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:05.600 state of constant shift. Inside the house, a small fire 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.320 cracked and crackled in the hearth. As Bridget Murphy and 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:13.240 her oldest daughter Anne slept under the soft flickering light 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.160 of the flames. Next door, in the bedroom to their right, 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:21.440 eighteen year old Mary, fourteen year old Bridget, nine year 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:24.800 old Catherine, and the youngest, five year old Jane Anne 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.280 slept soundly together in their bed, while twenty three year 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.359 old James had the fortune of a bed to himself 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:36.120 at the other end of the house. It had been 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.400 only a matter of months since eight had become seven, 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:44.040 after Michael Murphy, the father and Bridget's husband, had been 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.840 violently upended from his cart and fallen head first onto 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:53.960 a rock, killing him instantly. That night, with the fire 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:58.160 having all but gone out, Bridget awoke suddenly in the dark, 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.479 alerted to what sound like something moving about in the 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:07.240 attic above. Although the room, which could only be accessed 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.520 from a stone stairwell outside, was being used as a 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.080 makeshift barn, she knew only too well that it was 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:20.040 currently unoccupied. Hearing the sound again, with Anne fast asleep 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.480 beside her, Bridget made a quick check of the bedrooms, 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:28.679 but found all her children accounted for, having just returned 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.240 to the central room. A tremendous thud rang out from 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.720 behind her, followed by the startled screams of her four 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:40.520 daughters as they bolted from their bed, with James joining 0:07:40.520 --> 0:07:46.360 them moments later, Bridget urged him to investigate upstairs, as 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.360 the rest of the family huddled by the hearth. The 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.960 sound of footsteps could be heard above. As James inspected 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:58.720 the attic, finding nothing inside but bales of straw. No 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:03.040 sooner had he returned downstairs, a violent bang echoed through 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.920 the house, Then another and another, each one louder than 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:12.600 the next. Make it stop, cried Catherine, as Bridget gathered 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.480 her in her arms, and they all looked anxiously toward 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:21.280 each other. When finally the banging stopped. It would be 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:25.200 a few nights later, when young Jane Anne woke up screaming, 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:28.600 having felt the bed move across the room, and that 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:39.240 something had been pressing down on her from above. Over 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:44.160 the next few weeks, the terrifying sounds continued, always beginning 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.800 late at night in the children's bedroom or from the 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:50.640 makeshift barn above, but not once did they see any 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:55.720 sign of a culprit. Confused and scared, Bridget sought the 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.920 counsel of her friends and neighbours, inviting them round to 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.960 hear it for themselves. Together, they sat huddled in the 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.560 center room as the colossal bangs echoed through the walls 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:11.040 and rattled the windows, or that strange foot dragging sound 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.840 lurched from one side of the ceiling to the other, 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:19.679 And soon the rumours began to circulate. One neighbour had 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.160 heard that the Sherry family, the previous owners of the house, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:28.040 had only stayed one night before hurriedly leaving for reasons unknown. 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:32.800 The property had remained unoccupied for six months before it 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:37.320 was sold. Others told of a man that had hung 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:42.800 himself in one of the bedrooms many years before. By 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:47.559 now convinced that something outther worldly was taking place, Bridget 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:53.000 turned to their local priest, Father Smith, for help. Smith 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.679 arrived at the house late one night, keen to make 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.199 an assessment for himself before deciding what could be done. 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.199 To find the family in a state of deep distress. 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:05.760 Asking for them all to gather in the central room, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.280 Smith solemnly made his way around the house before being 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:15.440 led upstairs by James to inspect the barn. Returning back down, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:21.240 Smith requested permission to stay the night. As the family slept, 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:25.920 He took a seat by the fire and waited. And 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.840 then it came. It was like the sound of straw 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:34.120 being rustled from the room above, followed by a tremendous thud. 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.520 As the others ran screaming from their beds. The sound 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.040 only intensified until it was as if a horse was 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:47.640 kicking at the walls. Without thinking, Smith gathered them together 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:53.200 and hastily recited Mass. As the family held hands and 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:57.880 clutched each other tightly. Smith's forthright voice rose over their 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:02.679 quiet whimperings, and slowly the sickening noise began to dissipate 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:14.400 until it stopped altogether. As Smith related his findings back 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.360 to the church, a different set of rumors were beginning 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:21.920 to circulate in the nearby towns. When the girls attended 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.280 their crochet lessons, others in the class would move away 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:28.960 from them, pointing and whispering from a distance that the 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.559 family had the black Art and had used it deliberately 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:37.880 to invite a demon into their home. Others rejected the 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.040 nonsense entirely, believing instead that the family were just making 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:46.320 the whole thing up. Having spoken to Father Smith, the 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:51.360 regional bishop instructed local reverend Eugene Coyne from nearby McGuire's 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:56.240 Bridge to get a second opinion. Since Smith's visit, the 0:11:56.320 --> 0:12:00.480 disturbances had steadily intensified and were already in full swing 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:05.760 when Coin arrived late one autumn night, with an anxious 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:10.360 Bridget hurriedly showing him into the children's bedroom. Coin looked 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.200 on aghast at the terror on the faces of the 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.680 girls lying down on their bed as a series of 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:21.560 bangs rattled out around them. Turning to two men in 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.280 the room who had also come to help, Coin told 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.720 them to take hold of the children's arms and legs 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:31.000 to make sure they weren't the source of the disturbances 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.760 at the next break in the bangs, while being careful 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.440 not to hurt the children. The men did as they 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:44.160 were told and held them down. Satisfied they were sufficiently restrained, 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.160 Coin took a seat at the end of the bed, 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:51.240 but almost as soon as he'd sat down, the thumping 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.720 started again, continuing for ten minutes until the other two 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:59.319 men leapt suddenly from the bed, crying out in horror. 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:05.040 Something had pushed them off, they cried. Having felt nothing himself, 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:09.360 Coin resisted the urge to move, but just moments later, 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.160 with his eyes firmly on the children, there came the 0:13:13.200 --> 0:13:17.760 most peculiar sensation at his back, as if something else 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.200 in the room had drawn right up to him, And 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:26.800 then the bangs started again. Just then a Collie, the 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.800 family farm dog, wandered into the room, giving Coin an idea. 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.920 Picking the dog up, he placed it under the bed. 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.160 Whatever is there, he said, I ask you, if you 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:44.880 have the power to do it, push the dog back out. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:50.160 A deafening cacophony of bangs engulfed the room like nothing 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:54.480 they'd heard before, sending the dog leaping and yapping from 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.080 out of the bed in a fit of terror, before 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:02.160 scurrying out of the room altogether. As Father Coyne later 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.439 explained to Bridget, Though he regretted to be the bearer 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:08.960 of such disturbing news. There was no doubt in his 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:12.959 mind that they were sharing their home with something malicious 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:25.400 and most likely diabolical. In the following days, fathers Coin 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:29.560 and Smith continued to visit the house, often together, as 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.920 they attempted to bring comfort to the family, but also 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.000 with talk of performing a possible exorcism, it was vital 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.480 for them to get a better understanding of what they 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:44.080 were dealing with. On each occasion, after the children had 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:48.880 been put to bed, the knocking would start up, sometimes instantly, 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:53.920 but other times a good hour later. One night, with 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.080 the children fast asleep and the house completely silent save 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.320 for the sound at the fire in the heart, Coin 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.600 requested to hear more about the strange noises that seemed 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:08.480 to emanate from the attic room. As father Smith stayed 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:12.320 with bridget by the fire, James lit a candle and 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.800 led Coin into the second bedroom, the gentle light of 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:20.000 the candle pushing the shadows away as they went. The 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:24.080 room was sizeable, with blinds pulled down over both its windows, 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:29.680 and in the corner a bed covered with a white quilt. Together, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.280 they stood for a moment and listened, their faces bathed 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.840 in the orange light of the candle as the rest 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:42.200 of the room was shrouded in darkness. There, said James, suddenly, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:47.600 pointing to the ceiling. Do you hear it? Coin strained 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.480 to listen. It was barely perceptible at first, as if 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.320 a small animal were burrowing into straw, yet it was 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.520 clearly moving from one side of the room to the other. 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.480 Asking James to stay put, Coyn took another candle and 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.280 slowly made his way out of the house and up 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:12.640 the stone steps to the attic door. Pushing it open, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:19.600 Coyn peered into the darkness, lit his candle and stepped inside. 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.960 As he stood in the silent room, pushing the shadows 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:29.160 back with the candlelight, he saw nothing but bundles of straw. 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.880 Moments later, Coyn returned to the bedroom, where once again 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.280 he could hear that peculiar sound coming from the room above. 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.760 Having asked James to repeat the test, this time, Coyn 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:46.840 stood below as James went upstairs to investigate, with the 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:51.520 priest carefully listening out. Despite clearly hearing James enter the room, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:17:02.280 not once did the other noise desist. As soon as 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:07.280 James joined Coyn back downstairs, something even more peculiar occurred, 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:10.480 as both men would later go on to a test. 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:14.040 It felt as if something had rushed down from above, 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:17.600 shooting past them like a gust of wind, straight down 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:22.439 into the floor. Unnerved, Coyn ordered James to lift up 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.760 the blinds, and in an instant the room was bathed 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.840 in the hazy light of dawn. Then, turning to look 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.159 back into the room, James gasped in horror, Pointing a 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:41.320 finger toward the bed. Coyne slowly turned around. The quilt 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.800 was moving softly, billowing about as if being blown by 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:52.160 the wind. Coyn stepped forward and brushed his hand over it, 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.080 and felt for a moment as if a barrel of 0:17:55.160 --> 0:18:00.600 eels were squirming about underneath it. Stepping back, he watched 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.840 with alarm as the amorphous sheet seemed gradually to fix 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.720 into shape, outlining what appeared to be some kind of 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:13.760 figure lying underneath at the point where a chest might be. 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.240 Coin watched with amusement as the quilt began to rise 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.520 and fall, as if that chest were heaving up and down, 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:26.960 struggling to breathe, And then suddenly the entire quilt began 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:31.040 undulating violently, as if whatever was under it were in 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:36.040 the final throes of death. Wasting no more time, Father 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:40.840 Coin broke immediately into mass, directing it toward that shape, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.200 as a steady din of what sounded like a hideous 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:48.080 gurgling flooded the room, as if something were dying right 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.520 in front of them. All the while he kept on 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:55.800 spitting out the words with ever increasing intensity, as the 0:18:55.840 --> 0:18:59.439 bed began to rock back and forth, lifting the legs 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.639 inches from the ground. And then, as quick as it 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:08.040 had begun, the quilt dropped down and the mayhem ceased. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.120 As were traveled far and wide at the apparent hauntings 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.359 in the Murphy's home, more and more people requested to 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.359 come and observe it for themselves. One evening, a well 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:27.960 known horse dealer arrived at the house to see what 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.879 all the fuss was about. Sitting next to his driver 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.960 as they approached on his pony and trap, there was 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:37.919 no doubt some apprehension as they caught sight of that 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:42.000 small stone house perched high up on the hill before them, 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:46.960 its windows like eyes flickering ominously with the candlelight from within. 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:51.879 All was quiet as the driver brought them to a 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:57.040 stop outside. James, who'd been expecting them, greeted the horse 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:01.320 dealer before showing him inside, while the i was instructed 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:06.680 to wait alone under the moonlight. It was some time later, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.520 as the driver blew into his hands to keep them warm, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.040 that he noticed the silhouette of a figure walking toward 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:18.240 him from out of the distant dark. The driver watched 0:20:18.280 --> 0:20:21.760 it as it drew closer and closer, until eventually it 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.760 passed him by and disappeared into the night. It was strange, 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.640 he thought, since there were some distance from the nearest 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:34.840 neighbor or village for that matter. Thinking nothing more of it, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.399 the driver had just turned his attention back to keeping 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:42.280 warm when he caught sight of another figure approaching from 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:45.520 out of the same direction as the one before, only 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.480 for them to again pass straight by without a word 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:54.639 and then vanish. Grabbing a torchlight, the driver held it 0:20:54.720 --> 0:20:58.720 out behind him and squinted into the dark, but saw nothing. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.959 Turning back, he jumped at the sight of yet another 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:06.960 figure emerging from out of the distance, again from the 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:11.520 same place as the other two. Calling out, the driver 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:15.040 demanded to know their business, but got nothing in response, 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.240 as all the while the figure drew nearer and nearer 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.520 walked past the cart and vanished back into the night. 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.600 Just then, a heavy gust of wind swept across the hill, 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.120 blowing out the driver's light and throwing the pony into 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.680 a frenzy neighing and stamping and raising up on two 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:39.199 feet before the driver could bring it under control. It 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.680 was with some relief when his employer emerged moments later 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.679 from out of the house and demanded to be taken 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:56.359 back home, though both Father Smith and Coyne urged the 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.000 church to grant permission to conduct an exorcism in the air, 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.880 and it was decided not to take such drastic measures. 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:08.240 Perhaps one of the most unusual incidences occurred shortly before 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.400 Father Coin was due to transfer to another parish. On 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:16.200 one afternoon, while out visiting a sick neighbour of the Murphy's, 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.800 Coin was passing the Murphy household when he decided to 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:23.879 check in on the family. Little had changed since he 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:26.520 last saw them, but on this occasion he had a 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:31.200 holy pix with him containing the consecrated host wafers of bread, 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:34.520 which are considered in Catholicism to be the body of 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.720 Jesus Christ. As more of an experiment than anything else, 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:43.360 Coin entered the children's bedroom, and, holding the pix aloft, 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:46.840 made the sign of the Cross with it. This moment 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.840 was followed immediately with such loud bangs everyone else present 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:53.600 through themselves to the ground in fear of what might 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:58.120 happen next. Panicking, Coin was then said to have placed 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.240 the picks on the floor, at which point the sound 0:23:01.480 --> 0:23:04.600 seemed to travel through the wall down toward the small 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.560 holy container, before dropping under the floor below it, moving 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:11.600 deeper and deeper into the ground until it could no 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:16.439 longer be heard. In the end. Unable to escape the 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.840 strange phenomena, Bridget Murphy eventually decided to pack up and 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:24.720 move the family to America. Though it isn't known what 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:28.280 happened to them after their arrival in America, or if 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:31.639 they continued to be plagued by similar hauntings. Some have 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:35.120 reported that passengers traveling on the same boat as them 0:23:35.359 --> 0:23:39.160 heard peculiar noises coming from the family's cabin late at night. 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:43.000 As for the clergyman that had spent so much time 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:47.520 with the family, as Shawn Leslie noted, their involvement apparently 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:50.080 was said to have led to two of them suffering 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:56.680 spinal meningitis and facial paralysis, respectively, while a third suffered 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:06.240 a complete nervous breakdown. Unexplained is an AV Club Productions 0:24:06.280 --> 0:24:10.879 podcast created by Richard McLain smith. All other elements of 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:14.320 the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:19.920 Richard mcclinsmith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories never 0:24:20.000 --> 0:24:23.760 before featured on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:28.159 You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:32.640 other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:35.240 you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:38.840 touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:41.560 heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:44.320 your own you'd like to share. You can find out 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:48.120 more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reach us online 0:24:48.160 --> 0:24:53.240 through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com, 0:24:53.280 --> 0:25:15.639 Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast, bolpopopo