WEBVTT - S01 Episode 4: Where Darkness Plays 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.280 We like to think we know the difference between fantasy 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:18.400 and reality. Perhaps one evening we might find ourselves alone 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:21.920 at home. Then we hear a noise or see something odd. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:26.520 Maybe it's a cupboard door left slightly ajar, a door 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:31.280 that we could have sworn was closed before. Slowly we 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.560 might begin to feel the creeping sense of fear that 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.839 perhaps someone somewhere is watching us, that we aren't alone 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:47.400 after all. Fear, it would seem, is a powerful primal emotion, 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.920 so potent that it can even make us afraid of 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:55.960 something that may not exist. But then again, just because 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:03.000 we can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. In 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.320 a physiological sense, at least, most people would feel confident 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.679 if asked to locate and identify the human heart, or 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.280 indeed the brain. But if someone were to ask where 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:16.760 exactly does consciousness preside, we might find the answer a 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.360 little harder to come by. It is a question that 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:24.480 has profound consequences, particularly if you're inclined to believe that 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:31.360 the mind might also exist outside the body. You're listening 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:48.160 to Unexplained And I'm Richard McClain Smith on one cold 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:51.559 January evening in nineteen twenty four, a young woman named 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.280 Doris was giving birth at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London. 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.720 The attending obstatrician, Lady Florence Barrett, had made a successful 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:01.800 to live free when things took a turn for the worse. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.320 Just as the baby was being born, Doris suffered a 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.639 sudden heart attack from which she would not recover. As 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.040 she lay dying, she grabbed Lady Barrett's hand. Don't let 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.720 it get dark, she said, It's getting darker and darker. 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.600 But then something extraordinary happened. An ecstatic smile played across 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:27.160 Doris's face. What is it, inquired Lady Barrett. Father is here, 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:33.000 she said, and so too my sister Vida. The sudden 0:02:33.000 --> 0:02:36.519 appearance of Vida was especially remarkable, considering she had died 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.200 two weeks earlier and Doris had not yet been informed 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.280 of her death. For the next hour, Doris continued to 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.080 talk to Lady Barrett, but also with the spirits of 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.800 her father and sister, who she believed had come to 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:53.000 take her to the other side. A short time later, 0:02:53.360 --> 0:03:01.440 Doris passed away. When Lady Barrett returned home, she relayed 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.160 the incredible story to her husband, Sir William Barrett. For 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.520 Sir William, an eminent physicist and fellow of the Royal Society, 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.320 it was an astonishing revelation, a revelation that was to 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.040 mark a significant turning point in the research he had 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.600 been conducting for the last fifty years, research into the 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:25.520 possible existence of poltergeist's. The word poltergeist is derived from 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:29.240 the German for a ghost that knocks. For some, they 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.840 are believed to be malevolent spirits that can interact and 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:36.760 communicate with our physical world. Sir William, however, had a 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.560 different theory. Rather than being the mechanations of an evil spirit, 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.080 he believed the reported effects of poltergeists were actually caused 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.840 by as yet unknown powers of the mind. He believed 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.360 this right up until Lady Barrett told him the tragic 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:54.760 story about her patient Doris. Suddenly it had become clear. 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:58.360 Could it be he thought that the poltergeist was a spirit? 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.880 After all, that, unlike the spirit of Lady Barrett's patient had, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.200 for reasons perhaps linked to the manner of their death, 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:09.720 not being collected by loved ones while waiting at death's door. Instead, 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.160 they had become trapped forever, destined to exist in the 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:20.719 horror of a disembodied limbo. For author and paranormal enthusiast 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.520 Colin Wilson, his feet were firmly in the former camp. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.240 He believed the habit caused by so called poltergeists was 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.040 in fact linked to the chemically charged process of puberty 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.560 and adolescence, or at least he believed that until something 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:39.919 extraordinary occurred that would change his mind as well. Just 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.840 what exactly took place in a small West Yorkshire town 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.400 between nineteen sixty six and nineteen seventy has never been 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.400 fully accounted for. Often described as the most violent haunting 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.120 in Europe, it is a mystery that remains to this 0:04:53.200 --> 0:05:07.880 day unexplained. Located on a Roman road part way between 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.240 Leeds and Doncaster, the town of Pontefract has a rich 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.719 and bloody history. For John Betchaman, it was home to 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.240 the licorice fields, where his love and he did meet. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.679 For Shakespeare, the town's castle was the place of Richard 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.040 the Second's brutal murder, hacked to death within the guilty 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.760 closure of its walls, and some have even claimed Pontefract 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.839 as the death place of Robin Hood. But for the 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.159 Pritchard family of number thirty East drive. It will forever 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.800 be associated with the terrifying events that began one swelteringly 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:44.080 hot day in August nineteen sixty six. For Jeane and 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.839 Joe Pritchard and their twelve year old daughter, Diane, the 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.520 August Bank holiday weekend was a chance to relax after 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.320 the recent move into their new home. For Jean and 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:54.760 Joe's son, Philip, however, it was a chance to have 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:57.799 some time to himself. Having fallen out with his father, 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.520 Philip had elected to stay behind, but since he was 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.680 only fifteen, it was arranged that his grandmother, Sarah would 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:09.240 stay to look after him. After seeing the rest of 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.600 the family off, Philip went to the garden to read, 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:16.280 leaving his grandmother knitting inside the house. A few hours later, 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.640 a large gust of wind tore through the living room, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.400 slamming the back door shut. A surprised Philip ran into 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.839 the house to see if everything was all right. Sarah 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:27.400 had assumed it to be the wind, but as Philip remarked, 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:32.360 it couldn't have been more calm outside. Shortly after, Philip 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:34.680 went to put the kettle on. When he returned ten 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:39.159 minutes later, something strange had occurred. His grandmother still knitting 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.520 on the sofa, had been too engrossed to notice the 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:46.320 peculiar cloud of fine white dust floating around the room. Instinctively, 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:48.640 they looked to the ceiling, thinking it might be some 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:52.800 whitewash that had fallen from above. But then Philip noticed 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:57.080 something incredibly strange. The dust seemed to be falling from 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.040 waist height, as if it had materialized out of a 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.840 Sarah noticed it too when she stood up from the sofa, 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:07.080 it was as if she had poked her head above 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.720 the clouds. Puzzled by the strange appearance of the dust, 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.840 Sarah called on her other daughter, Marie Kelly, who lived 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.520 in the house opposite. They returned to find the dust 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.760 still falling in the living room, the furnishings now completely 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.160 covered in a thick layer of the chalk like substance. 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.559 Marie went to the kitchen to begin cleaning the mess, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.600 when she suddenly skidded across the floor. She looked down 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.520 to find little pools of water all over the linoleum, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.200 but when she tried to mop one up, another puddle 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:41.360 would seem to instantly appear in its place. Assuming it 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:43.200 to be a leak coming up from under the house, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.000 Marie pulled up the lino, only to find the concrete 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:51.119 underneath completely dry. A plumber was called to the house, 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:53.800 but he too was unable to locate the cause of 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:59.520 the flood. An hour later, the puddles mysteriously disappeared. What 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:02.160 they didn't know at the time was that those strange, 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.240 reoccurring puddles are considered a classic sign of a poltergeist. 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.720 At about seven o'clock that evening, Philip came through from 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:22.960 the kitchen. It's happening again, he said. When Sarah followed 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.720 Philip into the kitchen, she found the counter covered in 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:29.320 sugar and tea leaves. The dispenser was switching itself on 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:34.400 and off as boiling water cascaded onto the surface top. Suddenly, 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.959 an almighty crash came from out in the hallway. Clearly 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:42.960 somebody was in the house. Philip and Sarah cautiously approached 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.600 the door and slowly pulled it open, but the hallway 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.880 was empty. Then the light was inexplicably turned on, revealing 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.720 the sauce of the crash. At the bottom of the 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.240 stairs was a plant pot that had been smashed on 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.800 the floor. Then another banging started, this time coming from 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.959 the kitchen. In terror, they ran back to find one 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:06.520 of the cupboards shaking violently, as if somebody was trapped inside. 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.880 In a fit of panic, Philip yanked it open, but 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:15.280 it was empty. They ran again to get Marie. When 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.360 they returned, all the cupboard doors were now shaking, the 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:23.120 cutlery and plates rattling violently inside, and then it stopped. 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.560 Marie's husband, Vic, although skeptical, suggested they speak to their neighbor, 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.240 mister o'donald, who was thought to have experience dealing with 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.960 such things. Despite the lateness of the hour, mister o'donald 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.760 was more than happy to oblige. On returning to number thirty, 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.439 they found the place to be exceptionally cold. However, after 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.960 waiting for almost two hours, they found no sign of 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.880 anything else untoward. But as three were exiting the house, 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.599 a loud crash was heard from inside. Marie sweeched on 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.680 the light to find that two paintings had been thrown 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.760 to the floor, their glass frames completely shattered, and further 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.120 down the hall lay another a broken frame. Marie turned 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.000 it over and gasped it was a photo of Jean 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:08.200 and Joe Pritchard on their wedding day. It had been 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:16.560 slashed right across their faces. Are you always taking care 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.120 of your family? Do you often take care of others 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.480 and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.640 to make time for you you deserve it. Teledoc gives 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.440 you access to a licensed therapist to help you get 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.680 back to feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.360 With tele adoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.160 by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.120 a week from seven am to nine pm local time. 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:48.160 If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:51.480 depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:56.240 personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.920 to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:04.360 to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is 0:11:04.400 --> 0:11:08.559 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:13.000 visit teledoc dot com forward slash Unexplained podcast today to 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:25.560 get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained Podcast. When 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.319 the rest of the family returned two days later, they 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.160 struggled to believe the accounts of Marie, Sarah, and Philip, 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.360 and that appeared to be the end of the incident. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.160 Two years later, as the August Bank holiday came round again, 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:40.920 Jean's mother, Sarah, couldn't help but be reminded of the 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:45.360 events of nineteen sixty six. She started to hear noises again, 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.000 a low thud at first, shortly followed by a familiar 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.640 loud bang. She asked her daughter if she'd heard them too. Jean, 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:56.280 who had spent most of the day redecorating, had little 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.760 patience for her mother's nonsense and told her so in 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:04.120 no uncertain terms. Seconds later, however, there was a tremendous crash. 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.720 At the bottom of the stairs was Jean's bed pane. 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:10.240 She picked it up and started carrying it back to 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.880 her bedroom when they heard a second crash. Racing back 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.560 to the landing, they found that three plants had been 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:19.880 thrown and smashed from their pots. It would appear the 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:27.520 poltergeist was back. That evening, Jean, unable to sleep, headed 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.440 to the kitchen to get a drink, but when she 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.040 walked into the hall, she froze in fear. A strip 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.600 of wallpaper was moving on its own accord, and then 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:39.640 the brushes she had been decorating with earlier were pulled 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.320 into the air, and one after the other launched at 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.559 her head. She scrambled back to the room, screaming for 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.480 Joe to wake up. Joe and Jean rushed back to 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.040 the hall, where Diana and Philip now stood, woken by 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.680 Jean's screens. All around, more objects were pulled into the 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.760 air and flung at the terrified family. Together, they fled 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.240 to the safety of Joe and Jean's bedroom and the 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:05.560 door shut. At this point, it might be reasonable to 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.640 ask why the Pritchards didn't move, but they argued the 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.960 event had brought out an innate territorial nature. This was 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.439 their home and they weren't about to allow themselves to 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.880 be bullied out of it. For the next few years, 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.840 they endured a number of strange events, from loud bangs 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.800 to severe drops in temperature, as well as the intermittent 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.559 battles with flying objects. They had even given the poltergeist 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.480 a name, calling him Fred. At one point, a local 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:34.360 reverend was consulted, which seemed to act as a catalyst 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.200 to a sinister turn of events. The reverend, mister Davy, 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:42.240 was convinced there was something evil inside the house, something 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:53.240 that later seemed to fix its attention on Diane. One night, 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:58.160 after getting into bed, Diane felt a presence in her room. Suddenly, 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.600 the covers were yanked from the bed and the mattress 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.520 wrenched up from underneath, throwing her violently to the floor. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.360 Another time, a crucifix was flung across the room that 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.520 stuck to Diane's back like a magnet. When it was 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.319 finally pulled off, a red cross shaped mark could be 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:17.480 seen on her back for the next few days. Perhaps 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:20.360 the most terrifying event happened one night when Diane was 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.080 making coffee. As the kettle boiled, the power was suddenly 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.600 cut off. As Jean stumbled to find a torch, Diane 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.320 let out a blood curdling screen. When Jean ran into 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:34.200 the hall, she found Diane being dragged up the stairs 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:37.680 by an unknown force, her cardigan stretched out behind her 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.000 as if being pulled, and an invisible hand seemingly at 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.960 her throat. When Diane was finally released, her neck was 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:58.040 covered in finger marks. The events finally came to an 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.520 end after a family friend alerted them to an old 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:05.120 Scottish tradition many years ago. Superstitious crofters would hang garlic 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.800 to ward off evil spirits. The Pritchards gave it a go, 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:17.440 and sure enough it did the trick Fred had gone. 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:21.080 Ten years later, local historian Tom Cuniff began to wander 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.040 if the haunting might have something to do with the 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.400 Pontefract Priory. The priory had been built to house a 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.400 number of Cluniac monks before being dissolved by Henry the 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.560 Eighth in fifteen thirty nine. The story gained credence when 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:35.280 a neighbor of the family found a book in the 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.920 town's library detailing the case of an unsavory Cluniac monk. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.160 The monk had been sentenced to hang for the rape 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:44.440 and murder of a young girl during the time of 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:47.400 Henry the Eighth. It was also believed that the monk 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.680 had strangled his victim. After a little more research, Tom 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.440 made an unnerving discovery. The Pritchard's house was built almost 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.360 directly on top of where the old gallows would have stood. 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.080 In truth, we will never know exactly what happened in 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.520 those four years, but after a careful study of the records, 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:10.880 it would appear that no monk had been executed in 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:14.800 the area after all. Certainly, the debate as to what 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:18.120 might explain the strange series of events remains wide open. 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.360 A few years after the Pontefract haunting came to an end, 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:33.600 a group of Canadian scientists, intrigued by poltergeist phenomena, carried 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.480 out an extraordinary experiment that they hoped might settle the 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:41.440 debate once and for all. The experiment, created by Canadian 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.400 mathematician doctor George Owen and overseen by psychologist Joel Witten 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.640 of the University of Toronto, took place in nineteen seventy 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:54.000 two and has become known as the Philip Experiment. Together 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:56.880 with the test group of individuals of extremely high IQ, 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.320 including doctor Owen's wife, Iris Owen, a former chair person 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.000 of MENSA Canada, the scientists claimed, under test conditions to 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:08.399 have contacted a spirit known as Philip. The spirit was 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.680 even captured on video, seemingly conversing with the group through 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:14.280 knox on a table and at one point even moving 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.920 the table around the room. The only thing was Philip 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:22.480 didn't exist. A few months earlier, the group had been 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.320 tasked with creating a fictitious individual with whom they might 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.159 later try to contact. The group settled on a character 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.000 that they named Philip Aylesford born in sixteen twenty four. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.439 Philip was given an entire backstory, including links to a 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.960 young Charles the Second. It was also decided that Philip's 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.959 life had come to a tragic end, committing suicide at 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.399 the age of thirty after his girlfriend was accused of 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:50.120 witchcraft and later burnt at the stake. Having sufficiently plotted 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:52.560 out the story of Philip's life, the group began trying 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:56.919 to contact his spirit. After a number of months, the 0:17:56.960 --> 0:18:01.199 experiment failed to yield any meaningful results. However, when they 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.960 adopted a different approach, this time recreating the atmospheric setting 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:09.240 of as seance, the results were staggering. Almost instantly, they 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:13.200 experienced that the familiar knocking noises associated with poltergeist hauntings, 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.680 followed by the table being rocked and pulled across the room. 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.439 The group was utterly convinced. They believed that the sound 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:23.600 and the movement of the table was the result of 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.119 their collective minds trained in such a way as to 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.720 effect the physical world around them. What they claimed to 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:35.200 have discovered was nothing less than telekinesis. Unsurprisingly, their results 0:18:35.200 --> 0:18:38.760 met with skepticism from the scientific community. And despite claims 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.160 to have replicated the results in studies across the world, 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:45.680 an absolute proof has remained elusive. But perhaps it is 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.240 something else entirely that is taking place, something unrelated to 0:18:49.320 --> 0:19:03.840 the spirits of the dead, real or otherwise. In his 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:08.119 essay Mind and Matter, the celebrated Austrian physicist Erwin Schroedinger 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:11.760 considered the relationship between our conscious minds and the physical world. 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.320 He believed it was merely a convenience to imagine the 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.080 world existing objectively on its own, that one way or another, 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.919 it does not become manifest without a conscious mind to 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.880 observe it. The inference being not that the material world 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.840 might only exist as a figment of our imagination, but 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:33.560 rather that our conscious minds might somehow create the physical 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:37.359 world around us. As improbable as this may sound, the 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:41.560 truth may be even stranger, as demonstrated by what is 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.320 known as the double Slit experiment. Physicists have come to 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.399 accept an extraordinary peculiarity in the way that subatomic particles behave. 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.960 Thanks to the work of physicist Max Bourne, it is 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.000 widely thought, in the mathematical sense, at least, that rather 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:59.280 than occupying determined positions and outcomes. All particles exist merely 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:03.840 as a collection of probabilities. The principle is known as superposition, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:09.360 and its implications are unfathomably profound. In short, it would 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.919 seem that only when a particle is observed by the 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:15.440 external world does it become fixed in any meaningful way, 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.080 Perhaps like the eponymous planet of Stanislavlem's Solaris. We might 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:23.159 imagine the universe as merely a giant mass of energy 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:26.800 drawn into shape and form when witnessed by our conscious minds. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.800 The world we create an experience, seamlessly assembled before us, 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:35.000 as if molded from some kind of subatomic putty. Is 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.320 it inconceivable that, rather than being the disembodied energy of 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.199 a malevolent spirit or the as yet untapped power of telekinesis, 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:47.240 the Poltergeist phenomena is nothing less than our imaginations becoming manifest, 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.600 a phenomena powered by the heightened sense of collective fear. 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.120 With this in mind, you might start to wander just 0:20:56.200 --> 0:21:01.199 what terrors could we create next? As it might seem, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:03.600 it is not fear itself that we should be afraid of, 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:16.159 but rather ourselves that we should fear. All elements have 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.080 unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.240 and rate the show on iTunes. 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