Speaker 1: Ambling across the South Downs, a large stretch of chalk hills,
Speaker 1: valleys and woodland just to the north of the south
Speaker 1: coast of England, you might chance upon a peculiar collection
Speaker 1: of beech trees perched atop a prominent spot on its
Speaker 1: northern edge. The trees, first planted by local landowner Charles
Speaker 1: Goring in seventeen sixty, but later replaced after being destroyed
Speaker 1: by a hurricane in nineteen eighty seven, marked the spot
Speaker 1: of an ancient circular structure believed to date back to
Speaker 1: the Bronze Age, known today as Changtonbury Ring. The original
Speaker 1: purpose of the site remains unknown, with suggestions ranging from
Speaker 1: the mundane, such as it having been first used as
Speaker 1: little more than a livestock enclosure, to the sublime, with
Speaker 1: others believing instead that it may well have been some
Speaker 1: kind of religious or mystical shrine. Some, however, have claimed
Speaker 1: it to have been used for an altogether different purpose,
Speaker 1: and that the ring had in fact been created by
Speaker 1: the devil. A worthy feature, you might say, for an
Speaker 1: area of England long thought to have hosted more than
Speaker 1: its fair share of unexplained phenomena. Some have put the
Speaker 1: bizarre activity that seems to plague this quiet part of
Speaker 1: the countryside in the County of Sussex to a curse
Speaker 1: placed on the local village of Clapham by a disgruntled
Speaker 1: resident back in twelve eighty eight, after losing a legal
Speaker 1: case against a local parson, Robert Lafulconer was said to
Speaker 1: have damned the accursed village and all its meager holdings,
Speaker 1: stating that the priesthood of a false god would soon
Speaker 1: come to know its fate. Others, however, are argue it
Speaker 1: had begun a long time before, with Changtonbury believed to
Speaker 1: be the site of an otherworldly power, being thought to
Speaker 1: have once been the location of a former Druidic temple
Speaker 1: used for ancient and mysterious rituals. Back in the nineteen twenties,
Speaker 1: local resident and famed occultist Victor Neuberg, along with his
Speaker 1: cohort and sometime lover Aleister Crowley, was said to have
Speaker 1: taken a keen interest in the area. According to local law,
Speaker 1: if one were to venture to the ring at midnight
Speaker 1: on a Midsummer's Eve and walk its circumference twelve times,
Speaker 1: the midnight drew, it would appear or even the devil themselves.
Speaker 1: Other local tales speak of a white bearded Saxon soldier
Speaker 1: believed to have been killed at the Battle of Hastings
Speaker 1: in ten sixty six, seen scrabbling about the floor looking
Speaker 1: for something, while some report the sightings of hazy lights
Speaker 1: and strange apparitions seen in the area at night, with
Speaker 1: some suggesting that they might have something to do with
Speaker 1: a nearby plague pit. Perhaps the most romantic of all
Speaker 1: the ghost stories that shroud the area is that of
Speaker 1: the ghost of Prince Agasaci's Syenesis, a famed astrologer from
Speaker 1: Carrier in western Anatolia. As legend goes, it was in
Speaker 1: the early seventeenth century that the prince began using Changtonbury
Speaker 1: Ring to observe the stars, when one night, after writing
Speaker 1: the words Sir Pelli Ubi kakidi bury me wherever I
Speaker 1: have fallen, he fell down dead. It is said that
Speaker 1: to this day the astrologer can still be seen wandering
Speaker 1: the ring of trees at night. You're listening to Unexplained
Speaker 1: and I'm Richard MacLean Smith. It was the morning of
Speaker 1: all Hallow's Eve. Back in nineteen seventy eight, when Reverend
Speaker 1: Harry Snelling made his way to the town of Goring
Speaker 1: in West Sussex for a routine dental operation. Riding the
Speaker 1: bus into town, the sixty five year old recently retired
Speaker 1: vicer chatted amiably with his former parishioners before arriving at
Speaker 1: the dentist just in time for his appointment later that afternoon.
Speaker 1: Having arrived in Findon, four miles from the town of Stenning,
Speaker 1: where he lived, Snelling called his wife from a phone
Speaker 1: box and asked if she could pick him up. However,
Speaker 1: since their car had broken down recently and was still
Speaker 1: in need of servicing, Snelling had no other choice but
Speaker 1: to make the journey on foot. A short time later,
Speaker 1: with dusk descending, Snelling was seen heading off the main
Speaker 1: road and striking out across the downs in the direction
Speaker 1: of his home. As evening turned to night, Snelling's wife
Speaker 1: waited anxiously for her husband's return, but Harry never made
Speaker 1: it home. The next day, after he was reported missing,
Speaker 1: twenty five police officers from the surrounding area were immediately
Speaker 1: dispatched to search for him, focusing their attention on the
Speaker 1: most likely route he would have taken to get home.
Speaker 1: For the best part of a week, the police assisted
Speaker 1: by search dog teams, a raft of volunteers, and even
Speaker 1: a light aircraft, tried desperately to find any sign of
Speaker 1: the man, but in the end found nothing. A few
Speaker 1: days later, the search was called off, With no reason
Speaker 1: to suspect anything otherwise. It was assumed that Snelling had
Speaker 1: either tragically ended his own life or had collapsed and
Speaker 1: died somewhere and was yet to be found. At the
Speaker 1: time of the reverend's disappearance, Charles Walker worked as a
Speaker 1: sales assistant in Worthing, just five miles south of where
Speaker 1: the retired clergyman was last seen alive. In his spare time, however,
Speaker 1: Walker had become somewhat of an expert on the peculiar
Speaker 1: history of his local area, collecting and documenting evidence that
Speaker 1: seemed to suggest that something very sinister had been brewing
Speaker 1: there for quite some time. Could it be he thought
Speaker 1: that there was a little more to the Reverend's disappearance
Speaker 1: than first met the eye. Having always been fascinated by
Speaker 1: the possibility of the paranormal, it was back in April
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two that Charles Walker's interest was really piqued.
Speaker 1: It was then that the region's numerous apparent mysterious happenings
Speaker 1: were given a thoroughly modernized slant. Three friends from Walker's
Speaker 1: hometown had ventured up toward Chantonbury Ring late one night
Speaker 1: when they noticed a soft light flickering from within it.
Speaker 1: Having assumed it to be nothing more than a bonfire,
Speaker 1: they were surprised to find when they arrived at the
Speaker 1: trees moments later, that the light had gone out and
Speaker 1: there was no sign of anyone else around. It was
Speaker 1: only then, as one of the group later recounted, that
Speaker 1: a sudden wish from above drew their attention to the
Speaker 1: dim red glow of some kind of object that was
Speaker 1: hovering just above the tree tops in front of them.
Speaker 1: A moment later, they watched it as it shot up
Speaker 1: into the sky, though its possible significance to the wider
Speaker 1: story was not yet apparent to Walker. It was around
Speaker 1: the same time that local police officer Peter Goldsmith disappeared.
Speaker 1: It was in June of that year that Goldsmith, who
Speaker 1: like Harry Snelling, also lived in Standing, left work after
Speaker 1: completing his shift for the day, but never made it
Speaker 1: back home. It wasn't until six months later that a
Speaker 1: local farmer, helping to co ordinate a hunting party at
Speaker 1: a nearby farm just west of Stenning discovered Goldsmith's dead
Speaker 1: body hidden under a thick growth of brambles at the
Speaker 1: edge of the farm land. The body was found curled
Speaker 1: up on its left side, as if Goldsmith had merely
Speaker 1: gone to sleep. A bottle of brown liquid was also
Speaker 1: found next to the body. While curiously clutched in the hand,
Speaker 1: police found what was described as some kind of metal
Speaker 1: disk like a token. With many assuming the liquid had
Speaker 1: been some kind of poison the coroner was stumped when
Speaker 1: it was in fact found not to have been poisonous
Speaker 1: at all. With no definitive cause of death, there was
Speaker 1: no choice but to record an open verdict, with some
Speaker 1: form of suicide thought to be most likely. However, many
Speaker 1: were left wondering not only how search teams had failed
Speaker 1: to spot Goldsmith's body despite investigating that area extensively, but
Speaker 1: also how on earth he managed to place himself under
Speaker 1: such a thick, impenetrable mesh of brambles, which had to
Speaker 1: be cut away in order to extract the body. Though
Speaker 1: brambles can grow up to three inches in a day,
Speaker 1: the extent to which the body had been hidden was
Speaker 1: something of a surprise. Over the next few years, Walker,
Speaker 1: having joined a local paranormal research group, continued to keep
Speaker 1: an ear out for any peculiar activity, but what he
Speaker 1: craved most was to experience something himself, and he wouldn't
Speaker 1: have long to wait. It was in August nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: four that Walker, then in his early twenties, along with
Speaker 1: three others, made a late night research trip to Chantonbury Ring.
Speaker 1: Walker would later claim that it was sometime around eleven
Speaker 1: p m. When one of the group, William Lincoln, stepped
Speaker 1: into the center of the ring, only to be suddenly
Speaker 1: snatched up by an invisible force and thrust five feet
Speaker 1: into the air, and there he would stay for the
Speaker 1: best part of a minute, seemingly levitating in mid air
Speaker 1: as he screamed to be released, before finally being sent
Speaker 1: sprawling to the ground. It wasn't long after that that
Speaker 1: the dogs started to go missing. The reports began appearing
Speaker 1: in local papers in spring of nineteen seventy five, though
Speaker 1: many believe it had been happening for some time. The
Speaker 1: first to be reported was a three year old and
Speaker 1: well trained chowdog that was walking with its family in
Speaker 1: Clapham Wood, just to the north of Clapham Village in
Speaker 1: an area known as the Chestnuts, when it suddenly bolted
Speaker 1: off into the trees, never to return. Only a week later,
Speaker 1: a two year old Collie, an intelligent working farm dog,
Speaker 1: was being walked near the same spot when it too
Speaker 1: shot off into the undergrowth, never to be seen again.
Speaker 1: Not long after, a golden labrador, while walking in the
Speaker 1: same woods, became distracted by something unseen in the trees,
Speaker 1: before darting off in search of it. The dog's companions,
Speaker 1: alerted to its location by the sound of its desperate whimpers,
Speaker 1: were devastated to find it in some distress and unable
Speaker 1: to walk. After it was later found to have somehow
Speaker 1: been paralyzed. The dog was unfortunately put down, and soon
Speaker 1: more people came forward to report their own experiences walking
Speaker 1: with their dogs at the same locations. How they or
Speaker 1: their dog had clearly felt an uneasy, ominous atmosphere in
Speaker 1: those woods. Back at his home in Worthing, Charles Walker,
Speaker 1: as ever, followed the stories with the keen interest, keeping
Speaker 1: copies of the articles for future reference. A few months later,
Speaker 1: a body was found in the woods. Sixty six year
Speaker 1: old Leon Foster had been missing for three weeks when
Speaker 1: a couple out looking for a horse that had escaped
Speaker 1: a nearby paddock noticed a pair of boots sticking out
Speaker 1: from the undergrowth. When police arrived soon after, they found
Speaker 1: it to be the body of Leon Foster Straw. Discovered
Speaker 1: under and around his body and the remains of a
Speaker 1: makeshift shelter tied around the trunk of a nearby tree,
Speaker 1: suggested that he'd been living in the woods for some time,
Speaker 1: with most assuming that he'd simply died of hunger or
Speaker 1: exposure while living outside. However, with the coroner once again
Speaker 1: unable to ascertain a precise cause of death, an open
Speaker 1: verdict was recorded. It was around this time that Walker
Speaker 1: began to wonder if all these mysterious incidences, from the
Speaker 1: disappearances to the UFO sightings, not to mention the area's
Speaker 1: apparent supernatural history stretching back centuries, might somehow be linked.
Speaker 1: Over the next few years, drawing on the various reports
Speaker 1: of peculiar activity and the litany of local folklore claiming
Speaker 1: that Shantonbury Ring and the surrounding area was somehow a
Speaker 1: focal point of a cult activity, he wondered if it
Speaker 1: might be possible that perhaps an occult organization was using
Speaker 1: the area for nefarious purposes. In October nineteen seventy eight,
Speaker 1: Walker wrote to the local paper asking its readers for
Speaker 1: any information they might have on such a group. Within days,
Speaker 1: he was inundated with replies from the mundane to the outlandish.
Speaker 1: None of it, however, warranted following up to flate it.
Speaker 1: Walker had resigned himself to having found nothing useful when
Speaker 1: one night in early November, having just settled down to
Speaker 1: watch TV, his phone rang. Answering the call, Walker was
Speaker 1: greeted by an assertive sounding man with a low voice
Speaker 1: and an RP accent. Though the man wouldn't identify himself,
Speaker 1: he claimed to have the information that Walker was looking for,
Speaker 1: and suggested the pair of them meet up to discuss
Speaker 1: it further. Though Walker couldn't say exactly why, it was,
Speaker 1: unlike all of the other responders to his request, something
Speaker 1: about this caller seemed genuine. Walker duly agreed to meet
Speaker 1: up with him, assuming they would set a date to meet,
Speaker 1: either at his home or somewhere neutral. But the man
Speaker 1: had something else in mind. Tonight, he said. At nine
Speaker 1: p m. Walker looked at the clock on his wall,
Speaker 1: the hands now pointing to eight thirty. I'll be waiting
Speaker 1: for you in Clapham Woods, by the crossroads and the chestnuts,
Speaker 1: he said, and then he hung up. It was pitch
Speaker 1: black when Walker arrived twenty minutes later at the top
Speaker 1: of Tipnaw Lane, a small rise overlooking the forest beyond.
Speaker 1: Making his way toward the entrance road, he noticed the
Speaker 1: car parked the woods was completely empty, with only the
Speaker 1: sound of an occasional car passing along the road behind him.
Speaker 1: Walker pushed on through a gate and into the trees behind.
Speaker 1: With the gentle roar of distant traffic having disappeared altogether
Speaker 1: and only the sound of his own footsteps for company,
Speaker 1: Walker pressed on toward the crossroads, anxiously listening out for
Speaker 1: any hint of someone else approaching. Arriving at the meeting
Speaker 1: point at nine on the dot, Walker called out for
Speaker 1: a response, but heard nothing in return. The place was deserted.
Speaker 1: Only then did Walker realize his hands were shaking, but
Speaker 1: not from the cold night air. Lighting a cigarette to
Speaker 1: calm his nerves, Walker began to pace up and down,
Speaker 1: trying to keep warm as he waited. By the end
Speaker 1: of a second cigarette, Walker was beginning to suspect that
Speaker 1: it had been nothing but a practical joke, But just
Speaker 1: as he started to make his way back out, he
Speaker 1: heard someone whisper out from behind some nearby trees. Don't
Speaker 1: attempt to look for me, the voids said, for your
Speaker 1: safety and mine, it is imperative you do not see
Speaker 1: who I am. Walker froze, immediately recognizing it as the
Speaker 1: man he had spoken to earlier. After Walker agreed to
Speaker 1: keep looking the way he was facing, the man began
Speaker 1: to talk. I am an initiate of the Friends of
Speaker 1: her CARTI, named after the Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft,
Speaker 1: and the Night. We are the group you've been looking for,
Speaker 1: he said, and it would be in your best interests
Speaker 1: to stop looking. Unperturbed, Walker asked the man if the
Speaker 1: group had anything to do with the recent disappear inces,
Speaker 1: without going into too much detail, the man replied that
Speaker 1: their rituals occasionally required a blood sacrifice, if that was
Speaker 1: the answer he was looking for. And so it continued
Speaker 1: as the increasingly nervous Walker listened carefully as the man
Speaker 1: explained how the group had been operating in that area
Speaker 1: for at least ten years because the atmosphere of the woods,
Speaker 1: as he described it, was perfect for their purposes, but
Speaker 1: when Walker inquired as to what that purpose was exactly,
Speaker 1: the man fell silent. He then explained to Walker that
Speaker 1: they had friends in very high places, before warning him
Speaker 1: again to back off and that they would stop at
Speaker 1: nothing to ensure the safety of their cult. Then there
Speaker 1: was another silence. When Walker called out moments later, it
Speaker 1: was clear he was once again alone. Hurrying out of
Speaker 1: the forest, Walker was relieved to finally make it back home.
Speaker 1: A few days later, while cycling home from work, Walker
Speaker 1: heard a car pull up close behind him. He barely
Speaker 1: felt the bump before finding himself sprawled on his back
Speaker 1: in the middle of the road, watching aghast as the
Speaker 1: car sped off into the distance before he could make
Speaker 1: note of its details. After lying low for the next
Speaker 1: six months, in the spring of the following year, Walker
Speaker 1: renewed his search for evidence of the Friends of Herkart's activities.
Speaker 1: One morning, whilst walking through the grounds of the Church
Speaker 1: of Saint Mary the Virgin, just south of Clapham Woods,
Speaker 1: Walker was distracted by the site of the town's manor
Speaker 1: house next door, but more specifically by the Medie barn
Speaker 1: that still stood on its grounds. The house had been
Speaker 1: occupied for some time, but seeing that the barn door
Speaker 1: was open, Walker began to wander. Quickly checking that no
Speaker 1: one was around, Walker leaped over the church wall, scooted
Speaker 1: up the driveway and ducked into the barn. Looking up,
Speaker 1: he gasped at the sight of a bizarre mural on
Speaker 1: the wall, about three foot high in size. It was
Speaker 1: apparently composed primarily of a demonic looking entity with a
Speaker 1: huge horned head, scaly body, and forked tail. In its hands,
Speaker 1: it held a sword and chalice, ancient symbols of fertility,
Speaker 1: and behind it a bank of flames licked up from
Speaker 1: the ground. Hearing a sound outside, Walker looked out to
Speaker 1: see a man running toward him. In panic, he bolted
Speaker 1: away away as the man gave chase, before managing to
Speaker 1: lose him in the woods. Over the next few years,
Speaker 1: Charles Walker continued hunting for evidence not only of the
Speaker 1: apparent occult group's existence, but also of their connection to
Speaker 1: the many strange events that had taken place in the
Speaker 1: area over the last few years, but the group and
Speaker 1: its members remained elusive. In August nineteen eighty one, officers
Speaker 1: at Worthing Police station received a package with a battered
Speaker 1: and disheveled wallet inside, along with a crudely drawn map
Speaker 1: of some woods located on the Sussex Downs, about a
Speaker 1: mile to the northwest of Stenning. Examining the bank cards
Speaker 1: in the wallet, police found the name Harry Snelling embossed
Speaker 1: on the front of them, as an accompanying letter explained
Speaker 1: the center of the package. A tourist from Canada named
Speaker 1: Mike called Rain had found a human skeleton while walking
Speaker 1: across the Downs the previous week, which he believed to
Speaker 1: be the remains of Reverend Snelling. Since he had an
Speaker 1: important flight to catch, Worried that he would be dragged
Speaker 1: into a lengthy police investigation, Rain decided instead to send
Speaker 1: the wallet as evidence of his find and a map
Speaker 1: to explain where the remains could be located. Following the instructions,
Speaker 1: later that day, police found the skeleton at the north
Speaker 1: edge of some woodland close to a property known as
Speaker 1: Whiston House. Not only were they surprised to find that
Speaker 1: the bones, despite having supposedly been there for almost three years,
Speaker 1: had not been much obscured by surrounding vegetation, but also
Speaker 1: that the area in which they were found had been
Speaker 1: thoroughly searched numerous times before. It wasn't long after the
Speaker 1: discovery of Snelling's remains that others began to notice the
Speaker 1: suspicious number of unexplained deaths and other events that seemed
Speaker 1: to be plaguing this quiet, unassuming area of the English countryside.
Speaker 1: Writing in the paranormal magazine unexplained that year, Toy Newton,
Speaker 1: without any reference to the Friends of Herkati, made his
Speaker 1: own effort to document the bizarre collection of events. A
Speaker 1: few months later, he received a curious letter from a reader.
Speaker 1: Dear Sirs, it began in your article on Clapham Woods.
Speaker 1: You ask of the mysterious events a link to a
Speaker 1: black coven. I can tell you they are, but it's
Speaker 1: much more than that. They are called the Friends of Herkati,
Speaker 1: and they meet in the woods and the barn up
Speaker 1: by the church make ritual sacrifices. At the time of Orion.
Speaker 1: The Archer people get headaches and strange feelings at Clapham
Speaker 1: because the place is building up vibrations so they can
Speaker 1: get the force that they want. Sometimes this strange force
Speaker 1: has even started fires, but everything is hushed up. They
Speaker 1: can make people do what they want. I can't sign
Speaker 1: my name, but be warned they are much more powerful
Speaker 1: than a black coven. If you enjoy Unexplained and would
Speaker 1: like to help supporters, you can now do so via Patreon.
Speaker 1: To receive access to add free episodes, discount or merchandise,
Speaker 1: as well as brand new video and audio content exclusive
Speaker 1: to Patreon members. Just go to patroon dot com, forward
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Speaker 1: to make a one time donation, you can go to
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com forward Slash support. All donations, no
Speaker 1: matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained. The
Speaker 1: book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before
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 McLain Smith. Please subscribe and
Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com,
Speaker 1: or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com.
Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast. This episode was written by Richard McLain.
Speaker 1: Unexplained is an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard
Speaker 1: McClain smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music,
Speaker 1: are also produced by me Richard mclinsmith. Unexplained. The book
Speaker 1: and audiobook, with stories never before featured on the show,
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon,
Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to
Speaker 1: and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and
Speaker 1: feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or
Speaker 1: ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps
Speaker 1: you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
Speaker 1: You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com
Speaker 1: and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and
Speaker 1: Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast, assass