WEBVTT - Season 04 Episode 18: The Dark Ascending (Rerun) 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.800 Ambling across the South Downs, a large stretch of chalk hills, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.040 valleys and woodland just to the north of the south 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.880 coast of England, you might chance upon a peculiar collection 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:26.000 of beech trees perched atop a prominent spot on its 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:31.800 northern edge. The trees, first planted by local landowner Charles 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:36.240 Goring in seventeen sixty, but later replaced after being destroyed 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.920 by a hurricane in nineteen eighty seven, marked the spot 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.559 of an ancient circular structure believed to date back to 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:49.519 the Bronze Age, known today as Changtonbury Ring. The original 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:53.840 purpose of the site remains unknown, with suggestions ranging from 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.440 the mundane, such as it having been first used as 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.600 little more than a livestock enclosure, to the sublime, with 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.920 others believing instead that it may well have been some 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:10.240 kind of religious or mystical shrine. Some, however, have claimed 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.120 it to have been used for an altogether different purpose, 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.520 and that the ring had in fact been created by 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.560 the devil. A worthy feature, you might say, for an 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.800 area of England long thought to have hosted more than 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:29.560 its fair share of unexplained phenomena. Some have put the 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.080 bizarre activity that seems to plague this quiet part of 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.679 the countryside in the County of Sussex to a curse 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.320 placed on the local village of Clapham by a disgruntled 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.840 resident back in twelve eighty eight, after losing a legal 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:48.960 case against a local parson, Robert Lafulconer was said to 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.680 have damned the accursed village and all its meager holdings, 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.160 stating that the priesthood of a false god would soon 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:00.520 come to know its fate. Others, however, are argue it 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:04.600 had begun a long time before, with Changtonbury believed to 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.800 be the site of an otherworldly power, being thought to 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.080 have once been the location of a former Druidic temple 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:16.520 used for ancient and mysterious rituals. Back in the nineteen twenties, 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.120 local resident and famed occultist Victor Neuberg, along with his 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.080 cohort and sometime lover Aleister Crowley, was said to have 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:30.240 taken a keen interest in the area. According to local law, 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:32.880 if one were to venture to the ring at midnight 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:37.679 on a Midsummer's Eve and walk its circumference twelve times, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.640 the midnight drew, it would appear or even the devil themselves. 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:47.720 Other local tales speak of a white bearded Saxon soldier 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.400 believed to have been killed at the Battle of Hastings 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.280 in ten sixty six, seen scrabbling about the floor looking 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:58.600 for something, while some report the sightings of hazy lights 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:02.720 and strange apparitions seen in the area at night, with 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.760 some suggesting that they might have something to do with 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:10.520 a nearby plague pit. Perhaps the most romantic of all 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.440 the ghost stories that shroud the area is that of 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:18.239 the ghost of Prince Agasaci's Syenesis, a famed astrologer from 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.960 Carrier in western Anatolia. As legend goes, it was in 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:27.000 the early seventeenth century that the prince began using Changtonbury 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.400 Ring to observe the stars, when one night, after writing 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:35.840 the words Sir Pelli Ubi kakidi bury me wherever I 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.040 have fallen, he fell down dead. It is said that 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:44.520 to this day the astrologer can still be seen wandering 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.800 the ring of trees at night. You're listening to Unexplained 0:03:49.360 --> 0:04:00.120 and I'm Richard MacLean Smith. It was the morning of 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:04.080 all Hallow's Eve. Back in nineteen seventy eight, when Reverend 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.160 Harry Snelling made his way to the town of Goring 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.960 in West Sussex for a routine dental operation. Riding the 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:15.680 bus into town, the sixty five year old recently retired 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:20.400 vicer chatted amiably with his former parishioners before arriving at 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:25.240 the dentist just in time for his appointment later that afternoon. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.200 Having arrived in Findon, four miles from the town of Stenning, 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:32.800 where he lived, Snelling called his wife from a phone 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.640 box and asked if she could pick him up. However, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.080 since their car had broken down recently and was still 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:43.400 in need of servicing, Snelling had no other choice but 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.359 to make the journey on foot. A short time later, 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.760 with dusk descending, Snelling was seen heading off the main 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.440 road and striking out across the downs in the direction 0:04:55.560 --> 0:05:00.960 of his home. As evening turned to night, Snelling's wife 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.760 waited anxiously for her husband's return, but Harry never made 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:10.880 it home. The next day, after he was reported missing, 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.280 twenty five police officers from the surrounding area were immediately 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.479 dispatched to search for him, focusing their attention on the 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.159 most likely route he would have taken to get home. 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:26.040 For the best part of a week, the police assisted 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.880 by search dog teams, a raft of volunteers, and even 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.479 a light aircraft, tried desperately to find any sign of 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.880 the man, but in the end found nothing. A few 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:42.360 days later, the search was called off, With no reason 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:46.400 to suspect anything otherwise. It was assumed that Snelling had 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:50.000 either tragically ended his own life or had collapsed and 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:54.279 died somewhere and was yet to be found. At the 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.320 time of the reverend's disappearance, Charles Walker worked as a 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.920 sales assistant in Worthing, just five miles south of where 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:06.919 the retired clergyman was last seen alive. In his spare time, however, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:10.799 Walker had become somewhat of an expert on the peculiar 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.200 history of his local area, collecting and documenting evidence that 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.880 seemed to suggest that something very sinister had been brewing 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:23.120 there for quite some time. Could it be he thought 0:06:23.640 --> 0:06:26.360 that there was a little more to the Reverend's disappearance 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:39.760 than first met the eye. Having always been fascinated by 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:43.119 the possibility of the paranormal, it was back in April 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:47.520 nineteen seventy two that Charles Walker's interest was really piqued. 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.680 It was then that the region's numerous apparent mysterious happenings 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:58.080 were given a thoroughly modernized slant. Three friends from Walker's 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.320 hometown had ventured up toward Chantonbury Ring late one night 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.800 when they noticed a soft light flickering from within it. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.720 Having assumed it to be nothing more than a bonfire, 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:12.680 they were surprised to find when they arrived at the 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:17.240 trees moments later, that the light had gone out and 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.080 there was no sign of anyone else around. It was 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:24.880 only then, as one of the group later recounted, that 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.120 a sudden wish from above drew their attention to the 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.560 dim red glow of some kind of object that was 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:35.360 hovering just above the tree tops in front of them. 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:38.800 A moment later, they watched it as it shot up 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:43.880 into the sky, though its possible significance to the wider 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:47.560 story was not yet apparent to Walker. It was around 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:52.120 the same time that local police officer Peter Goldsmith disappeared. 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.640 It was in June of that year that Goldsmith, who 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.520 like Harry Snelling, also lived in Standing, left work after 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.480 completing his shift for the day, but never made it 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:09.120 back home. It wasn't until six months later that a 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.680 local farmer, helping to co ordinate a hunting party at 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:17.360 a nearby farm just west of Stenning discovered Goldsmith's dead 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.920 body hidden under a thick growth of brambles at the 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.880 edge of the farm land. The body was found curled 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.560 up on its left side, as if Goldsmith had merely 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:32.319 gone to sleep. A bottle of brown liquid was also 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.480 found next to the body. While curiously clutched in the hand, 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.280 police found what was described as some kind of metal 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.880 disk like a token. With many assuming the liquid had 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.360 been some kind of poison the coroner was stumped when 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.080 it was in fact found not to have been poisonous 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.480 at all. With no definitive cause of death, there was 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.680 no choice but to record an open verdict, with some 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:03.720 form of suicide thought to be most likely. However, many 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.200 were left wondering not only how search teams had failed 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:12.760 to spot Goldsmith's body despite investigating that area extensively, but 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.040 also how on earth he managed to place himself under 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.720 such a thick, impenetrable mesh of brambles, which had to 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:23.719 be cut away in order to extract the body. Though 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.200 brambles can grow up to three inches in a day, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.800 the extent to which the body had been hidden was 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:40.240 something of a surprise. Over the next few years, Walker, 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.480 having joined a local paranormal research group, continued to keep 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.800 an ear out for any peculiar activity, but what he 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:52.080 craved most was to experience something himself, and he wouldn't 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.280 have long to wait. It was in August nineteen seventy 0:09:56.320 --> 0:10:00.440 four that Walker, then in his early twenties, along with 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:04.680 three others, made a late night research trip to Chantonbury Ring. 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:09.280 Walker would later claim that it was sometime around eleven 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.480 p m. When one of the group, William Lincoln, stepped 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:16.400 into the center of the ring, only to be suddenly 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.280 snatched up by an invisible force and thrust five feet 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.040 into the air, and there he would stay for the 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.480 best part of a minute, seemingly levitating in mid air 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.560 as he screamed to be released, before finally being sent 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:37.200 sprawling to the ground. It wasn't long after that that 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:42.560 the dogs started to go missing. The reports began appearing 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.880 in local papers in spring of nineteen seventy five, though 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:51.600 many believe it had been happening for some time. The 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.400 first to be reported was a three year old and 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.960 well trained chowdog that was walking with its family in 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.520 Clapham Wood, just to the north of Clapham Village in 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.240 an area known as the Chestnuts, when it suddenly bolted 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:10.240 off into the trees, never to return. Only a week later, 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:14.320 a two year old Collie, an intelligent working farm dog, 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.800 was being walked near the same spot when it too 0:11:18.240 --> 0:11:21.360 shot off into the undergrowth, never to be seen again. 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:26.480 Not long after, a golden labrador, while walking in the 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.640 same woods, became distracted by something unseen in the trees, 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:35.599 before darting off in search of it. The dog's companions, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.360 alerted to its location by the sound of its desperate whimpers, 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.560 were devastated to find it in some distress and unable 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:47.120 to walk. After it was later found to have somehow 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:53.120 been paralyzed. The dog was unfortunately put down, and soon 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.960 more people came forward to report their own experiences walking 0:11:56.960 --> 0:12:01.160 with their dogs at the same locations. How they or 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:05.360 their dog had clearly felt an uneasy, ominous atmosphere in 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:10.720 those woods. Back at his home in Worthing, Charles Walker, 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.840 as ever, followed the stories with the keen interest, keeping 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:19.640 copies of the articles for future reference. A few months later, 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:30.920 a body was found in the woods. Sixty six year 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.360 old Leon Foster had been missing for three weeks when 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:38.160 a couple out looking for a horse that had escaped 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.280 a nearby paddock noticed a pair of boots sticking out 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:47.559 from the undergrowth. When police arrived soon after, they found 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.000 it to be the body of Leon Foster Straw. Discovered 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.120 under and around his body and the remains of a 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:59.000 makeshift shelter tied around the trunk of a nearby tree, 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.199 suggested that he'd been living in the woods for some time, 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.600 with most assuming that he'd simply died of hunger or 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:12.720 exposure while living outside. However, with the coroner once again 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.480 unable to ascertain a precise cause of death, an open 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:21.560 verdict was recorded. It was around this time that Walker 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:25.840 began to wonder if all these mysterious incidences, from the 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:30.040 disappearances to the UFO sightings, not to mention the area's 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:36.160 apparent supernatural history stretching back centuries, might somehow be linked. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.119 Over the next few years, drawing on the various reports 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:45.560 of peculiar activity and the litany of local folklore claiming 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.520 that Shantonbury Ring and the surrounding area was somehow a 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.920 focal point of a cult activity, he wondered if it 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:57.240 might be possible that perhaps an occult organization was using 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:02.640 the area for nefarious purposes. In October nineteen seventy eight, 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.360 Walker wrote to the local paper asking its readers for 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:11.160 any information they might have on such a group. Within days, 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:16.120 he was inundated with replies from the mundane to the outlandish. 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:21.520 None of it, however, warranted following up to flate it. 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:26.040 Walker had resigned himself to having found nothing useful when 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.920 one night in early November, having just settled down to 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:36.320 watch TV, his phone rang. Answering the call, Walker was 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.720 greeted by an assertive sounding man with a low voice 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:44.600 and an RP accent. Though the man wouldn't identify himself, 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.640 he claimed to have the information that Walker was looking for, 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.000 and suggested the pair of them meet up to discuss 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:56.240 it further. Though Walker couldn't say exactly why, it was, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.440 unlike all of the other responders to his request, something 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:05.880 about this caller seemed genuine. Walker duly agreed to meet 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.960 up with him, assuming they would set a date to meet, 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.160 either at his home or somewhere neutral. But the man 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:18.760 had something else in mind. Tonight, he said. At nine 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.840 p m. Walker looked at the clock on his wall, 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.960 the hands now pointing to eight thirty. I'll be waiting 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.880 for you in Clapham Woods, by the crossroads and the chestnuts, 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:46.400 he said, and then he hung up. It was pitch 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:50.360 black when Walker arrived twenty minutes later at the top 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:55.440 of Tipnaw Lane, a small rise overlooking the forest beyond. 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:59.280 Making his way toward the entrance road, he noticed the 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:04.680 car parked the woods was completely empty, with only the 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.320 sound of an occasional car passing along the road behind him. 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:13.720 Walker pushed on through a gate and into the trees behind. 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.040 With the gentle roar of distant traffic having disappeared altogether 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.480 and only the sound of his own footsteps for company, 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:26.400 Walker pressed on toward the crossroads, anxiously listening out for 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.880 any hint of someone else approaching. Arriving at the meeting 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.360 point at nine on the dot, Walker called out for 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:40.479 a response, but heard nothing in return. The place was deserted. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:46.640 Only then did Walker realize his hands were shaking, but 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:50.840 not from the cold night air. Lighting a cigarette to 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.960 calm his nerves, Walker began to pace up and down, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.680 trying to keep warm as he waited. By the end 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:01.320 of a second cigarette, Walker was beginning to suspect that 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.800 it had been nothing but a practical joke, But just 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.760 as he started to make his way back out, he 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:13.040 heard someone whisper out from behind some nearby trees. Don't 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.760 attempt to look for me, the voids said, for your 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:20.080 safety and mine, it is imperative you do not see 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:26.199 who I am. Walker froze, immediately recognizing it as the 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:30.600 man he had spoken to earlier. After Walker agreed to 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.119 keep looking the way he was facing, the man began 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:38.600 to talk. I am an initiate of the Friends of 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:43.880 her CARTI, named after the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:48.040 and the Night. We are the group you've been looking for, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:51.280 he said, and it would be in your best interests 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:57.600 to stop looking. Unperturbed, Walker asked the man if the 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:01.480 group had anything to do with the recent disappear inces, 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.280 without going into too much detail, the man replied that 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:10.000 their rituals occasionally required a blood sacrifice, if that was 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:14.960 the answer he was looking for. And so it continued 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.560 as the increasingly nervous Walker listened carefully as the man 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:23.000 explained how the group had been operating in that area 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.680 for at least ten years because the atmosphere of the woods, 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:31.399 as he described it, was perfect for their purposes, but 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:35.200 when Walker inquired as to what that purpose was exactly, 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.840 the man fell silent. He then explained to Walker that 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.560 they had friends in very high places, before warning him 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.560 again to back off and that they would stop at 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:52.240 nothing to ensure the safety of their cult. Then there 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:58.000 was another silence. When Walker called out moments later, it 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:02.240 was clear he was once again alone. Hurrying out of 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:06.080 the forest, Walker was relieved to finally make it back home. 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:12.639 A few days later, while cycling home from work, Walker 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.760 heard a car pull up close behind him. He barely 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:20.080 felt the bump before finding himself sprawled on his back 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.679 in the middle of the road, watching aghast as the 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.840 car sped off into the distance before he could make 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:36.840 note of its details. After lying low for the next 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.480 six months, in the spring of the following year, Walker 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:44.440 renewed his search for evidence of the Friends of Herkart's activities. 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.119 One morning, whilst walking through the grounds of the Church 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.320 of Saint Mary the Virgin, just south of Clapham Woods, 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.920 Walker was distracted by the site of the town's manor 0:19:55.960 --> 0:20:00.600 house next door, but more specifically by the Medie barn 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.400 that still stood on its grounds. The house had been 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.800 occupied for some time, but seeing that the barn door 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:13.399 was open, Walker began to wander. Quickly checking that no 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.960 one was around, Walker leaped over the church wall, scooted 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:22.840 up the driveway and ducked into the barn. Looking up, 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.800 he gasped at the sight of a bizarre mural on 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.879 the wall, about three foot high in size. It was 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.560 apparently composed primarily of a demonic looking entity with a 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:42.040 huge horned head, scaly body, and forked tail. In its hands, 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:46.280 it held a sword and chalice, ancient symbols of fertility, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.120 and behind it a bank of flames licked up from 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:55.840 the ground. Hearing a sound outside, Walker looked out to 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:59.800 see a man running toward him. In panic, he bolted 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.000 away away as the man gave chase, before managing to 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:07.320 lose him in the woods. Over the next few years, 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.359 Charles Walker continued hunting for evidence not only of the 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.439 apparent occult group's existence, but also of their connection to 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.919 the many strange events that had taken place in the 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:22.439 area over the last few years, but the group and 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:30.440 its members remained elusive. In August nineteen eighty one, officers 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.240 at Worthing Police station received a package with a battered 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.680 and disheveled wallet inside, along with a crudely drawn map 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.560 of some woods located on the Sussex Downs, about a 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:47.240 mile to the northwest of Stenning. Examining the bank cards 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:51.880 in the wallet, police found the name Harry Snelling embossed 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.879 on the front of them, as an accompanying letter explained 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.720 the center of the package. A tourist from Canada named 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:03.240 Mike called Rain had found a human skeleton while walking 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:06.520 across the Downs the previous week, which he believed to 0:22:06.520 --> 0:22:10.399 be the remains of Reverend Snelling. Since he had an 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.520 important flight to catch, Worried that he would be dragged 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:18.200 into a lengthy police investigation, Rain decided instead to send 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.200 the wallet as evidence of his find and a map 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:26.240 to explain where the remains could be located. Following the instructions, 0:22:26.960 --> 0:22:30.560 later that day, police found the skeleton at the north 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:33.800 edge of some woodland close to a property known as 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:38.320 Whiston House. Not only were they surprised to find that 0:22:38.359 --> 0:22:42.639 the bones, despite having supposedly been there for almost three years, 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:48.040 had not been much obscured by surrounding vegetation, but also 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:51.040 that the area in which they were found had been 0:22:51.080 --> 0:23:02.480 thoroughly searched numerous times before. It wasn't long after the 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:06.639 discovery of Snelling's remains that others began to notice the 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:10.720 suspicious number of unexplained deaths and other events that seemed 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:14.880 to be plaguing this quiet, unassuming area of the English countryside. 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.919 Writing in the paranormal magazine unexplained that year, Toy Newton, 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:26.480 without any reference to the Friends of Herkati, made his 0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:31.399 own effort to document the bizarre collection of events. A 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:35.280 few months later, he received a curious letter from a reader. 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:41.720 Dear Sirs, it began in your article on Clapham Woods. 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:45.080 You ask of the mysterious events a link to a 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:49.520 black coven. I can tell you they are, but it's 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:54.560 much more than that. They are called the Friends of Herkati, 0:23:55.400 --> 0:23:58.160 and they meet in the woods and the barn up 0:23:58.200 --> 0:24:03.200 by the church make ritual sacrifices. At the time of Orion. 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:08.480 The Archer people get headaches and strange feelings at Clapham 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:12.199 because the place is building up vibrations so they can 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:16.840 get the force that they want. Sometimes this strange force 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:22.080 has even started fires, but everything is hushed up. They 0:24:22.080 --> 0:24:26.520 can make people do what they want. I can't sign 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:30.720 my name, but be warned they are much more powerful 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:40.760 than a black coven. If you enjoy Unexplained and would 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:43.800 like to help supporters, you can now do so via Patreon. 0:24:44.400 --> 0:24:48.040 To receive access to add free episodes, discount or merchandise, 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:51.280 as well as brand new video and audio content exclusive 0:24:51.320 --> 0:24:54.879 to Patreon members. Just go to patroon dot com, forward 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:58.240 slash Unexplained Pod to sign up, or if you'd like 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:00.560 to make a one time donation, you can go to 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:05.399 Unexplained podcast dot com forward Slash support. All donations, no 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:09.919 matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained. The 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:13.560 book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:17.200 been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. 0:25:17.560 --> 0:25:21.000 You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:26.119 among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, 0:25:26.200 --> 0:25:29.720 are produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Please subscribe and 0:25:29.800 --> 0:25:32.680 rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel 0:25:32.720 --> 0:25:35.080 free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 0:25:35.119 --> 0:25:38.119 regarding the stories you've heard on the show. 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Please subscribe to 0:26:28.800 --> 0:26:31.919 and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:34.280 feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or 0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:38.080 ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:40.639 you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. 0:26:41.280 --> 0:26:44.760 You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com 0:26:44.800 --> 0:26:48.520 and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and 0:26:48.680 --> 0:30:05.400 Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast, assass