WEBVTT - Season 07 Episode 21: Wild is the Wind

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<v Speaker 1>The man leaned against a boulder, taking respite in the

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<v Speaker 1>wind's brief lull. His eyes were red, his lips cracked

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<v Speaker 1>and parched. Another squall of warm air thick with dust

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<v Speaker 1>hit him again. He ducked to shield his eyes and

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<v Speaker 1>cursed its constant rattling round his head. It was only wind,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was driving him to distraction. The man was

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<v Speaker 1>fifty three year old Episcopalian Bishop James Albert Pike. In

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<v Speaker 1>early September nineteen sixty nine, he and his twenty eight

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<v Speaker 1>year old wife Diane, ventured out into the Judean Desert

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<v Speaker 1>in the West Bank. They were looking for the place

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<v Speaker 1>where Jesus was supposedly tempted by by the Devil for

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<v Speaker 1>a book Pike was writing. Driving out of bethy Hem

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<v Speaker 1>one morning, they turned off the main road onto a

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<v Speaker 1>dirt track, believing they were heading north toward Jericho, but

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<v Speaker 1>the track was instead taking them further east toward the

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<v Speaker 1>Dead Sea, further into the desert. When they finally realized

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<v Speaker 1>their mistake, the couple attempted to turn the car around,

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<v Speaker 1>only for it to get stuck in a rut. After

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<v Speaker 1>an hour spent battling to free the vehicle with a

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<v Speaker 1>faulty carjack, they were forced to accept they were now stranded.

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<v Speaker 1>They'd already drunk the two cokes they took with them

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<v Speaker 1>that morning and had no other liquid. With the heat

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<v Speaker 1>steadily intensifying, their only option was to get walking in

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<v Speaker 1>the hope of finding help before it was too late.

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<v Speaker 1>Not used to the desert environment, the heat fell like

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<v Speaker 1>a great pressure that seemed to be pushing them down

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<v Speaker 1>into the dusty ground with each step, and without water,

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<v Speaker 1>they became rapidly dehydrated. After mercifully coming across a large,

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<v Speaker 1>overhanging rock, they stopped to get some pressure shade, but

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<v Speaker 1>James no longer had the strength to continue. Diane looked

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<v Speaker 1>out into the desert toward a shady looking canyon or

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<v Speaker 1>waddy in the distance, as a wind began to pick up,

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<v Speaker 1>sweeping sand into the air like a haze. She knew

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<v Speaker 1>then that she was their only hope. If she couldn't

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<v Speaker 1>find help before nightfall, they would most likely both die there,

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<v Speaker 1>and so she told her husband to sit tight, then

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<v Speaker 1>headed back out into the irrepressible heat. James watched Diane

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<v Speaker 1>until her silhouette disappeared into the horizon, then lay back

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<v Speaker 1>against the rock and fell asleep with exhaustion. You're listening

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<v Speaker 1>to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. Hours later, James

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<v Speaker 1>awoke to find the sun much lower in the sky,

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<v Speaker 1>but the wind still blowing incessantly, feathering grains of sand

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<v Speaker 1>over the desert floor towards him. As it tugged at

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<v Speaker 1>his shirt and blue dust in his eyes, it almost

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<v Speaker 1>felt like fluttering. Insistent fingers were scratching, even clawing at him.

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<v Speaker 1>He couldn't stand it any longer. Perhaps if he could

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<v Speaker 1>follow his wife into that shady waddy, he could get

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<v Speaker 1>out of the wind, find her footsteps, and walk to safety.

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<v Speaker 1>James staggered to his feet and made it a few

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<v Speaker 1>hundred yards into the waddy, where he found a large

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<v Speaker 1>shaded pool of water. He took long, desperate gulps of

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<v Speaker 1>the warm, silty liquid, then sat down again to rest.

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<v Speaker 1>But still the wind would not leave him alone. It

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<v Speaker 1>snaked through the canyon, tugging at his hair, ruffling his

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<v Speaker 1>damp cotton shirt. He knew in his head that the

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<v Speaker 1>safest thing was to stay put and wait for Diane.

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<v Speaker 1>He had shelter and water, but he just had to

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<v Speaker 1>get away from that wind with a renewed sense of

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<v Speaker 1>strength and purpose, he turned to face the wall of

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<v Speaker 1>the canyon. Finding a solid hole to grip, he pushed

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<v Speaker 1>up from the ground and began to climb elsewhere. Diane

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<v Speaker 1>had been stumbling across the stony desert for hour I

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<v Speaker 1>was barely managing to keep going in the encroaching darkness.

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<v Speaker 1>She later said that what prompted her to keep going

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<v Speaker 1>was that if her body were found on the way

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<v Speaker 1>to get help, at least people wouldn't think that the

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<v Speaker 1>couple had committed suicide. After ten strenuous hours, first scrambling

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<v Speaker 1>up the walls of the canyon, then stumbling along a

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<v Speaker 1>road under construction, relief washed over Diane when finally in

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<v Speaker 1>the distance she saw the camp of the laborers who

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<v Speaker 1>were building the road. As she staggered into the camp,

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<v Speaker 1>the men reached out to stop her from collapsing to

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<v Speaker 1>the ground. They sat her down and wrapped a blanket

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<v Speaker 1>around her while they waited for their foreman to arrive.

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<v Speaker 1>Having recovered somewhat, Diane was then taken to the nearest

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<v Speaker 1>army camp, where she asked the camp's captain to help

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<v Speaker 1>her rescue her husband, but with it now long in

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<v Speaker 1>the night, there was little the captain could do. The

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<v Speaker 1>search for James would have to wait until the next day.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't long before the Pike's abandoned car was located

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<v Speaker 1>just at the beginning of a waddy called Mura Barat.

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<v Speaker 1>A few of the men helped pull it out of

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<v Speaker 1>the rut in no time. The engine still worked perfectly,

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<v Speaker 1>but there was no sign of James. James Pike had

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<v Speaker 1>risen to prominence within the Episcopal Church in large part

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<v Speaker 1>due to his outspoken liberal views, which were both fated

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<v Speaker 1>and hated in equal measure. In nineteen fifty eight, Pike

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<v Speaker 1>was appointed as the fifth Bishop of California, in which

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<v Speaker 1>capacity he was an early promoter of the acceptance of

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<v Speaker 1>LGBT people into the church, civil rights, and the ordination

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<v Speaker 1>of women into the priesthood. By nineteen sixty six, Pike

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<v Speaker 1>had grown tired of all the politics that came with

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<v Speaker 1>his position. He left California and went to share a

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<v Speaker 1>period of sabbatical study at Cambridge University in England with

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<v Speaker 1>his son, Jim, one of four children from his second marriage.

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<v Speaker 1>In early February, Jim left his father in Cambridge and

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<v Speaker 1>returned to the US. A few days later, he fatally

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<v Speaker 1>shot himself in the head in a New York City

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<v Speaker 1>hotel room just over two weeks later. Having just returned

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<v Speaker 1>to Cambridge from attending his son's funeral, James walked into

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<v Speaker 1>the bedroom of the apartment he and his son had

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<v Speaker 1>shared to find two postcards that he'd never seen before

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<v Speaker 1>lying on the floor. They were positioned at an angle

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<v Speaker 1>of approximately one hundred and forty degrees, apparently mimicking the

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<v Speaker 1>hands of a clock, showing the precise time that his

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<v Speaker 1>son had killed himself. It was just the first in

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<v Speaker 1>a number of bizarre occurrences that led James to believe

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<v Speaker 1>his son was trying to communicate with him from beyond

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<v Speaker 1>the grave. In response, Pike dived deeply into a very

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<v Speaker 1>public pursuit of various spiritualist and clairvoyant methods. He even

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<v Speaker 1>participated in a televised seance supposedly with his dead son

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<v Speaker 1>through the so called medium Arthur Ford in nineteen sixty six.

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<v Speaker 1>By nineteen sixty seven, Pike had been divorced twice and

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<v Speaker 1>was living with his then girlfriend Marion Bergrad, when she

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<v Speaker 1>also committed suicide. The following year, he married Diane Kennedy,

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<v Speaker 1>whom he'd collaborated with on his book The Other Side,

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<v Speaker 1>in which he outlined his experiences with supposed paranormal phenomena

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<v Speaker 1>following his son's suicide. The marriage was controversial among members

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<v Speaker 1>of Pike's church, and three days after the wedding, Pike

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<v Speaker 1>was barred from performing all priestly functions, and so it

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<v Speaker 1>was with Pike free to pursue new projects, that in

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<v Speaker 1>August nineteen sixty nine, Pike and Diane traveled to Israel

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<v Speaker 1>to conduct research for a new book Pike wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>write about the historical Jesus. A few days later, they

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<v Speaker 1>made their fateful trip into the desert. For three days,

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<v Speaker 1>with temperatures reaching a above one hundred degrees fahrenheit, hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of off duty soldiers searched high and low for James,

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<v Speaker 1>but found no sign of him. With little chance that

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<v Speaker 1>the bishop could survive that long out in the desert,

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<v Speaker 1>the official search was called off, while a number of

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<v Speaker 1>Bedouin and former army scouts continued to look for him.

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<v Speaker 1>At the end of that third day, Diane gave a

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<v Speaker 1>press conference to update the media on the situation. Shortly after,

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<v Speaker 1>she received a phone call from her family in the States.

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<v Speaker 1>They'd received word from Arthur Ford, the self described medium

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<v Speaker 1>who'd apparently helped Pike contact his dead son. Ford said

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<v Speaker 1>that Pike was still very much alive and sheltering in

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<v Speaker 1>a cave close to where Diane had last seen him,

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<v Speaker 1>but he was sick and in need of urgent medical attention.

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<v Speaker 1>After that, Diane was suddenly inundated by numerous self described

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<v Speaker 1>mediums offering to help locate her husband in Tel Aviv.

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<v Speaker 1>One so called medium swung a pendulum over a large map,

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<v Speaker 1>then recorded the position on the map where it stopped.

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<v Speaker 1>When they repeated the pendulum swing over a different map, miraculously,

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<v Speaker 1>it stopped at the precise same location. Two men were

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<v Speaker 1>despatched from Tel Aviv immediately to locate the spot, but

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<v Speaker 1>when they got there, the place was deserted, with no

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<v Speaker 1>sign of Pike having ever been there. The following day,

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<v Speaker 1>the same medium attempted a spot of automatic writing to

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<v Speaker 1>see if that might help. Holding a pen over a

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<v Speaker 1>piece of paper, they fell seemingly into a trance as

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<v Speaker 1>another spirit entered their body and began to move their

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<v Speaker 1>hand across the paper. Snapping out of the apparent trance

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<v Speaker 1>moments later, the medium consulted the paper on which a

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<v Speaker 1>message was now written. It had supposedly come from infamous

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<v Speaker 1>apparent psychic Edgar Case, who died almost twenty years earlier.

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<v Speaker 1>The message declared that Pike was lying unconscious and close

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<v Speaker 1>to death in a cave on a narrow ridge that

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<v Speaker 1>was hidden by shrubs. A team of volunteers raced back

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<v Speaker 1>out to the desert and searched for the cave to

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<v Speaker 1>no avail. On September fifth, five days after Pike had

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<v Speaker 1>last been seen alive, a search volunteer close to Wadi Murabarat,

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<v Speaker 1>came across a map, then a pair of undershorts, followed

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<v Speaker 1>by some glasses and later a contact lens case. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a part that had been laid out by Pike,

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<v Speaker 1>and at the end of it, part way down Wadi Murabarat,

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<v Speaker 1>was Pike's body, sprawled out on the floor at the

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<v Speaker 1>bottom of a steep face. It appeared that he'd fallen

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<v Speaker 1>from high up, having attempted to climb out of the canyon.

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<v Speaker 1>The next day, he was buried in Saint Peter's Protestant

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<v Speaker 1>Cemetery in Jaffa, Israel, and it wasn't long before the

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<v Speaker 1>rumors began that something weird had happened to Pike while

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<v Speaker 1>he was out in the desert that it wasn't the

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<v Speaker 1>fall that killed him, but rather he'd been driven to

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<v Speaker 1>his death by a weird kind of madness brought on

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<v Speaker 1>by the wind. The wind that James and Diane Pike

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<v Speaker 1>experienced on their desert misadventure is known in Israel as

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<v Speaker 1>the Sharav and more widely across the Mediterranean as the Soroco.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a wind that brings warm air from the Sahara

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<v Speaker 1>and the Arabian Peninsula, with many names, the Levante in

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<v Speaker 1>Spain or the Camscene in Egypt. Its characterized by a

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<v Speaker 1>temperature roughly twenty five degrees fahrenheit higher than the seasonal average,

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<v Speaker 1>and south of the Mediterranean, the Sorocco is always dry,

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<v Speaker 1>with a relative humidity sometimes falling to zero. Some believe

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<v Speaker 1>these two characteristics do something fundamental to the wind's electrical

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<v Speaker 1>properties and to anybody unfortunate enough to be caught in

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<v Speaker 1>its grip. One researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem

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<v Speaker 1>found that almost one third of Israel's population experience some

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<v Speaker 1>kind of adverse reaction, and the Charaf blows forty three

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<v Speaker 1>percent of the people he tested experienced unusually high concentrations

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<v Speaker 1>of the hormone serotonin in their blood system when the

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<v Speaker 1>wind was blowing. Serotonin causes the constriction of peripheral blood vessels,

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<v Speaker 1>including those in the brain and ones that control sleep.

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<v Speaker 1>In modest concentrations, it's a natural tranquilizer, but too much

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<v Speaker 1>serotonin produces migraines, allergic reactions, flushes, palpitations, irritability, and sleeplessness.

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<v Speaker 1>That people might be driven to distraction, even madness by

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<v Speaker 1>the wind is not a new theory or specific to

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<v Speaker 1>any one part of the world. The Greek physician from

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<v Speaker 1>the fourth century BCE, Hippocrates, was convinced that certain winds

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<v Speaker 1>made people in ancient Greece sick. He wrote that the

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<v Speaker 1>west winds were worse and that people exposed to them

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<v Speaker 1>became pale and sickly, with digestive organs that were quote

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<v Speaker 1>frequently deranged from the phlegm that runs down into them

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<v Speaker 1>from the head. The French Enlightenment writer, philosopher and historian

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<v Speaker 1>Voltaire spent time in England while in exile from its

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<v Speaker 1>native France during the seventeen twenties. He wrote that in London,

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<v Speaker 1>when the east wind blew. A black melancholy spreads over

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<v Speaker 1>the whole nation. Even the animals suffer from it and

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<v Speaker 1>have a dejected air. Men strong enough to preserve their

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<v Speaker 1>health in this accursed wind lose their good humor. Everyone

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<v Speaker 1>wears a grim expression and is inclined to make desperate decisions.

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<v Speaker 1>Even claimed that it was under the influence of the

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<v Speaker 1>East wind that the English beheaded King Charles the First

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<v Speaker 1>and opposed King James the Second. It hadn't crossed the

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<v Speaker 1>mind of travel writer Nick Hunt how the wind might

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<v Speaker 1>affect his state of mind and well being as he

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<v Speaker 1>set out in twenty sixteen on a walking adventure across

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<v Speaker 1>Europe to experience its various winds, a journey that became

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<v Speaker 1>the subject of his next book, Where the Wild Winds Are.

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<v Speaker 1>Things went as well as expected as Nick trekked across

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<v Speaker 1>the Low Pennine Hills of northern England, experiencing Britain's only

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<v Speaker 1>named wind, the Helm. He continued to enjoy his wonderings

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<v Speaker 1>as he traveled to Trieste, from where he sauntered across Slovenia,

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<v Speaker 1>then down the coast of Croatia, enjoying chile blasts at

0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.879
<v Speaker 1>the borer a frigid blast of air that blows across

0:17:59.920 --> 0:18:04.800
<v Speaker 1>the Adriatic coast from snow covered mountains to its northeast.

0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.639
<v Speaker 1>Then Nick arrived in Switzerland looking forward to sampling the fern,

0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.840
<v Speaker 1>a warm, dry wind that blows down from the Alps

0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.960
<v Speaker 1>in spring and at its most intense as the power

0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:24.040
<v Speaker 1>to bring down cable cars and derailed trains. Having mentioned

0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.520
<v Speaker 1>his plans to a German friend, the person replied, Ah, yes,

0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:34.880
<v Speaker 1>the fern. That's why everyone in Bavaria is crazy. Famed

0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:39.080
<v Speaker 1>novelist Hermann Hess had even written about the fern as

0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.680
<v Speaker 1>a boy. He said that he was afraid of even

0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:48.240
<v Speaker 1>hated that wind. Everything was going smoothly as Nick began

0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:52.359
<v Speaker 1>his traverse of alpine foothills in the German speaking part

0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:56.160
<v Speaker 1>of the country, until he reached the village of inert

0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:00.919
<v Speaker 1>Kirchen in the Canton of Bern, where the fern began

0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.720
<v Speaker 1>to blow. Are you sure you want to do this?

0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:09.080
<v Speaker 1>It's a bit a bit windy, shouted the owner of

0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.440
<v Speaker 1>a campsite where Nick had decided to pitch his tent

0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:17.320
<v Speaker 1>for the night. After repeated attempts wrestling with the writhing

0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.359
<v Speaker 1>giant nylon manta, ray that his tent had become. He

0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:25.000
<v Speaker 1>managed to peg it down under a lone peach tree

0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:30.080
<v Speaker 1>that thrashed wildly in the howling gale all night. Nick's

0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.840
<v Speaker 1>tent bucked and flapped, while the wind all around him

0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:38.479
<v Speaker 1>bellowed like a banshee. He wrote that at some point

0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.040
<v Speaker 1>in the next twelve hours it was as if something

0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:46.439
<v Speaker 1>in his brain snapped. He struggled for breath as he

0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:50.920
<v Speaker 1>packed his tent the following morning, then walked on watching

0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.920
<v Speaker 1>waterfalls being blown upwards. His limbs felt heavy and tired,

0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.639
<v Speaker 1>his mind seemed clouded and foggy, and he was overcome

0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:05.399
<v Speaker 1>with a sudden sense of despair. For three weeks, the

0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:11.080
<v Speaker 1>wind continued to howl, and Nick's mood worsened. Even boarding

0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.080
<v Speaker 1>a high speed train to the French speaking part of

0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:18.159
<v Speaker 1>the Swiss Alps didn't seem to help. As he watched

0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:23.840
<v Speaker 1>the landscape speed by, his anxiety grew. He found accommodation

0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:28.399
<v Speaker 1>with a hospitable Buddhist woman clothed in yellow robes, but

0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:33.400
<v Speaker 1>still couldn't seem to relax as he collapsed into bed.

0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:40.000
<v Speaker 1>He felt plagued by an inexplicable apprehension that, in his words,

0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:47.120
<v Speaker 1>something had gone extremely wrong on waking. The next morning, however,

0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:52.760
<v Speaker 1>Nick stepped outside to find that the fern had finally stopped.

0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.400
<v Speaker 1>He admired a blue sky peppered with cotton wool clouds,

0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:00.399
<v Speaker 1>and was charmed as he watched his host to feed

0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:05.120
<v Speaker 1>her rabbits. Then strolled contentedly down the street to buy

0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:10.320
<v Speaker 1>a croissant. Instead of looking desolate and forbidding, the surrounding

0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:16.080
<v Speaker 1>hillsides now seemed inviting. His dark mood had miraculously lifted.

0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:22.080
<v Speaker 1>Suddenly the world was full of possibilities. Nick continued his

0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.040
<v Speaker 1>hike down the valley with all the gloom from the

0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:37.280
<v Speaker 1>previous few days having completely evaporated. Over the centuries, there's

0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:41.160
<v Speaker 1>been general agreement that the wind can deeply influence our

0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:47.280
<v Speaker 1>bodies and mines. South African biologist and anthropologist Lyle Watson,

0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:52.320
<v Speaker 1>author of the best selling New Age classic SuperNature, published

0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.960
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy three, spent his life trying to make

0:21:56.040 --> 0:22:01.119
<v Speaker 1>sense of natural and supernatural phenomena in biological terms. He

0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.080
<v Speaker 1>examined and wrote about the effects of the wind in

0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:08.320
<v Speaker 1>some detail in his nineteen eighty four book Heaven's Breath,

0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.480
<v Speaker 1>A Natural History of the Wind. In it, he wrote

0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:16.879
<v Speaker 1>that it's easy to imagine that in human prehistory, days

0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.440
<v Speaker 1>with a lot of wind were dangerous, with the ability

0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:25.719
<v Speaker 1>to destroy shelters, disperse warning scents, and mask the sound

0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:31.159
<v Speaker 1>of approaching predators. Lyle Watson suggested that the effect of

0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.159
<v Speaker 1>the wind on the human body is to invoke a

0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:40.320
<v Speaker 1>classic alarm reaction, increasing the production of adrenaline, speeding up metabolism,

0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:45.280
<v Speaker 1>dilating blood vessels in the muscles and heart, widening the pupils,

0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:48.919
<v Speaker 1>and even causing hares to stand on end with a

0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:54.680
<v Speaker 1>prickle of apprehension. A study documenting the effect of temperatures

0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:59.800
<v Speaker 1>on physical fitness tests found that performances reached their efficiency

0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:03.800
<v Speaker 1>when a wind blew on the subjects at about twenty

0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:08.480
<v Speaker 1>five kilometers per hour or four four Any higher or

0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:13.680
<v Speaker 1>lower and performances began to drop off. One American study

0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:17.600
<v Speaker 1>investigating how wind affects the behavior of children in the

0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:22.240
<v Speaker 1>playground found that when wind speeds rose above four six

0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:26.480
<v Speaker 1>or forty four kilometers per hour, the average number of

0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:31.639
<v Speaker 1>fights that broke out doubled. As Lyle says, there is

0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:36.040
<v Speaker 1>something about wind, quite apart from its cooling influence, that

0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:42.160
<v Speaker 1>directly affects our well being. Lyle hypothesized that the bodies

0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.959
<v Speaker 1>of sailors and fishers who live constantly under the strain

0:23:46.040 --> 0:23:50.640
<v Speaker 1>of the wind have adapted to the constant stimulus. Conversely,

0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:55.280
<v Speaker 1>many city dwellers have lost the ability to withstand it sufficiently,

0:23:55.800 --> 0:24:00.159
<v Speaker 1>leading to increased incidences of heart attacks and strokes on

0:24:00.240 --> 0:24:05.200
<v Speaker 1>windy days. One study revealed that fifty percent of all

0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:09.840
<v Speaker 1>strokes and myocardial infarctions happened when the wind was blowing

0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:14.320
<v Speaker 1>at fourse four or five. Strangely, when the wind speed

0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:19.720
<v Speaker 1>is higher, however, the effect is diminished. Reaction times can

0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:23.600
<v Speaker 1>also be effected, so much so that, according to Touring

0:24:23.680 --> 0:24:29.080
<v Speaker 1>Clubs SUE, a nonprofit representing the interests of motorists in Switzerland,

0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:34.440
<v Speaker 1>in nineteen seventy two, traffic accidents in Geneva increased by

0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:39.920
<v Speaker 1>over fifty percent when the fern wind was in effect. Furthermore,

0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:45.440
<v Speaker 1>as lyell wrights. In nineteen seventy six, the medical department

0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:49.359
<v Speaker 1>of the West German Weather Station in Freiburg published the

0:24:49.400 --> 0:24:53.680
<v Speaker 1>results of a four year study proving that industrial accidents

0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:58.600
<v Speaker 1>during the fern wind required surgery sixteen percent more often

0:24:59.240 --> 0:25:03.680
<v Speaker 1>and other medical treatment twenty percent more frequently than at

0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:10.800
<v Speaker 1>any other time. Increases in hypotension, coronary crises, migraine, and

0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:15.159
<v Speaker 1>psychic disturbances both during and on the day preceding a

0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:21.639
<v Speaker 1>fern wind were also reported Lyle continues, the incidence of

0:25:21.760 --> 0:25:26.360
<v Speaker 1>post operative death due to both heavy bleeding and thrombosis

0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:30.320
<v Speaker 1>during a fern wind has become so high that in

0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:35.560
<v Speaker 1>some hospitals in Switzerland and Bavaria, major surgery is postponed

0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:41.640
<v Speaker 1>whenever possible until the wind has passed, and, like something

0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:46.359
<v Speaker 1>out of an Mnite Shamalan movie, even suicides and suicide

0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:51.960
<v Speaker 1>attempts sore to epidemic proportions throughout Switzerland and into Austria

0:25:52.480 --> 0:25:56.919
<v Speaker 1>whenever the Witch's wind, as the fern is sometimes called

0:25:57.840 --> 0:26:07.080
<v Speaker 1>touches ground. This episode was written by Dianehope and Richard

0:26:07.119 --> 0:26:12.600
<v Speaker 1>McClain smith Unexplained as an av Club Productions podcast created

0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:16.280
<v Speaker 1>by Richard McClain smith. All other elements of the podcast,

0:26:16.400 --> 0:26:20.080
<v Speaker 1>including the music, are also produced by me Richard McClain

0:26:20.160 --> 0:26:25.080
<v Speaker 1>Smith Unexplained. The book and audiobook, with stories never before

0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:28.679
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0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:43.600
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