WEBVTT - S05 Episode 8: Sound of the Overground 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.400 Nothing's better than feeling comfortable in your own shoes. Maybe 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:05.760 you're a parent raising a little rock star, or a 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.640 technomad working from anywhere. All birds wants you to be 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.520 comfortable in your actual shoes too. They're wool runners, pipers 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.720 and loungers are so cozy you might forget you're wearing them, 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.599 and they're crafted from natural materials that tread lightly on 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.759 our planet. So get comfortable in your shoes. Get to 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.800 know the wool runners, pipers and loungers at Alberts dot com. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:40.239 That's alll bi rds dot com. For a county that 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.400 is home to the Westbury white Horse, the ancient feature 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.240 once etched into the side of an Iron Age hill fort, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.519 and the ever mystical prehistoric monument of Stonehenge, it can 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.000 be hard to stand out in Wiltsha. Back in nineteen 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:57.440 sixty five, however, the town of Warminster gave it a 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.360 could try. Perhaps the lines of it being an unusual 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:05.160 place had always been there. It is said that Clay Hill, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.640 for example, a prominent vantage point just to the west 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:11.800 of the town, was created by the devil after they 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.240 dug up a mound of earth to bury the nearby 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:17.959 town of Devizes. When the devil decided in the end 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.920 not to bother, the mound was left behind. Some also 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.840 say the Golden Ram of Satan, a supposed talisman that 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.800 once belonged to the devil, is located inside, and that 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.200 a triangular network of tunnels built for an unknown purpose 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.880 lead from the cellar of a nearby tavern directly into 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.160 the center of it. Once, as writer Steve Dewey notes 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.720 in his book in Alien Heat, prominent Warminster journalist Arthur 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.080 Shuttlewood wrote about the urban myth in a leading paper, 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:52.640 only for the owner of the pub in question, the 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.320 Royal Oak, to then contact him with a peculiar story 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:00.680 of his own. There was indeed a tunnel located under 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.560 the pub, he explained, but he'd never given it much 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.440 thought until then, when, not long after the article was published, 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:12.480 he was apparently visited by a mysterious stranger. When the tall, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:16.280 thin man with fanatical dark eyes, as he described him, 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.720 asked to see the tunnels, the landlord kindly led him 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:22.720 to the basement to inspect them, at which point the 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.079 man requested permission to excavate behind a wall that led 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.480 to the tunnel. When the landlord asked why, the man 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.880 replied simply that he needed access to Clay Hill to 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:39.040 reclaim the golden ram that was buried underneath it. Upologist 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.120 John Cleary Baker had his own theory about the hill, 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.200 believing that somehow an alien species had injected a homing 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.600 beacon into it so their UFOs could be guided toward 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.320 the area. It was an idea borne out of the 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:57.320 extraordinary series of events that occurred in and around Wominster 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.400 in the mid nineteen sixties that, without a doubt, for 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.240 one of the most bizarre and comprehensive UFO flaps in 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:10.919 British history. You're listening to Unexplained, and I am Richard 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:21.160 McClean smith. It had just gone six am on the 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.360 morning of December twenty fifth, nineteen sixty five, when thirty 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.400 three year old Marjorie By stepped out of her front door, 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.280 her breath billowing about her in the chilly morning air. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.720 A boundless sea of stars glimmered in the sky above 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.960 as she pulled her coat in and set off toward 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.560 the church, the heels of her shoes echoing along the quiet, 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.160 deserted streets as she went. When something caught her attention, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.280 like a faint harm at first, it soon morphed into 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.760 an ominous crackling noise, coming from somewhere in the distance, 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.680 as if a lorry were spreading grit nearby only the 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:04.720 one vehicles on the road. In fact, Marjorie was completely 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.720 alone on those empty streets. But as the sound drew nearer, 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.840 she soon realized it wasn't coming from down the road. 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:19.719 It was coming from somewhere above. Marjorie looked up expectantly 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.000 as the sound moved closer, straining for a glimpse of 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.560 whatever was making the noise, but saw only the stars above. 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:31.880 Suddenly gripped by fear, Marjorie could only stand rooted to 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:36.120 the spot as the strange, menacing sound passed right over 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.880 her head, a thunderous rattling, as if the very air 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:44.240 above her was being ripped apart, until finally it was 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:49.719 gone and faded away into the night. With her legs trembling, 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.000 Marjorie finally managed to place one foot in front of 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.040 the other and hurried on to the church in desperate 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:01.560 need of shelter. But almost actly the same time, in 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.520 another part of the town, Roger Rump, the town's postmaster, 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.960 was sat having breakfast in his kitchen when he too 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.240 became aware of a low hum. Seconds later, he was 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.680 cowering in his own home when a terrifying clatter rang 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:20.279 out from somewhere above the house, sounding, as he said later, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.240 as if the roof tiles were being rattled about and 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.040 plucked off by some tremendous force. It was followed moments 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:31.280 later by a strange scrambling sound, as if the same 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:35.680 tiles were then being hurriedly slammed back into place. When 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.679 the disturbance was over, Roger raced into the street, relieved 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.599 to find his house was still intact, but no sign 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:46.479 of whatever could have possibly caused such a racket. And 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.520 there he stood in the quiet of the early morning, 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:53.640 scratching his head, gazing up at the sky under the 0:05:53.720 --> 0:06:04.440 soft light of all those many glimmering stars. Over the 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.480 next few months, down at the offices of the Warminster 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.000 Journal on a market place, the phone didn't stop ringing 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.040 as more and more residents called in to report being 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.839 terrorized by the strange, ominous noise. Most calls were directed 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.159 to Arthur Shuttlewood, a well known local journalist at the time. 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:26.279 Though originally from Essex, the forty four year old Arthur 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:29.599 had moved to Warminster in nineteen forty to start work 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:33.480 at the Wiltshire Times. Arthur moved to the Warminster Journal 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.320 ten years later, and having once served on the town's 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.960 Urban District Council, by nineteen sixty five he was well 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:43.440 established as a much liked and trusted member of the community. 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:47.919 Arthur was immediately intrigued by the reports and dedicated what 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.840 time he could to collating as much testimony as possible, 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.200 but as interesting as it all was, aside from the 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.839 frequency and similarity of the reports, there was very little 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.760 for him to sink his teeth into. But all that 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:06.000 was about to change. At some time around eleven p m. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.600 On the night of March twenty eighth, local resident Eric 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.560 Payne left his girlfriend's house in Sutton Veni, a small 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.560 village about a mile to the south of Warminster, and 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.440 set off on the short walk back to town. Leaving 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.160 the pale sodium glow of the village street lights, Eric 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.440 stepped on into the dark country lane ahead as a 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:31.800 thick fog began to roll in, and before long it 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.600 had completely surrounded him, even blotting out the sky above. 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.640 As Eric plowed on, he could just make out the 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.280 hazy lights of the next village when he heard a 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:46.000 whistling noise that steadily grew into a loud buzzing like 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.680 the hum of electricity. Assuming it was coming from a 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.720 nearby telegraph pole, Eric moved over to inspect it when 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.480 he sensed a dimming of the moonlight. Looking up, he 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.440 could just make out a small shadow moved moving through 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:04.960 the fog. Above him, a vicious wind whipped across the road, 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:10.120 and then came the noise, like nuts and bolts rattling 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:15.280 around a tin can, he later said, swirling all about him. 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.800 Eric stood in terror as a strange sensation of heat 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.840 and pins and needles began to build all over his body, 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:26.800 followed by a strange pressure from above. Unable to resist it, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.960 Eric was horrified to find himself being pushed to the 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.360 ground by an invisible force, onto his hands and knees. 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.640 With the shrill whine of that hideous noise buzzing in 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.040 his ears, it was all he could do to drag 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.040 himself to the side of the road and throw himself 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:47.160 down into the grass. And then as quickly as it 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:52.200 had begun, it was gone. A deeply shocked and rattled 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.400 Eric dragged himself to his feet and stood for a 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.120 moment in a daze, staring in amusement at the trees 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.880 by the side of the road. Their tops had been 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:14.080 completely flattened. It was Warminster resident Hilda Hebdage who finally 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:18.160 saw it first, a cigar shaped object in the sky 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:20.679 over the forest of Long Leap, just to the west 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.440 of Warminster, that winked vivid shades of gold and yellow. 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.240 As was recounted to Arthur Shuttlewood, Hilda had apparently seen 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:33.319 the object three times before contacting a UFO group she knew, 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.960 who in turn passed on the information to Arthur, each 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.440 time hovering for a moment, she said before shooting off 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.480 into the blue. It was the beginning of Arthur's intense 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.600 association with the phenomenon, as he threw what weight he 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:52.160 had behind the reports. Then, on June third, nineteen sixty six, 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:58.120 three separate sightings from completely unrelated sources, the Philips family 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:02.160 in Haytesbury see a brightly cigar shaped object hanging in 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.880 the sky, while Dora and Harold Horlock, seeing it from 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.520 their home in Warminster, described it as being like two 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.920 red hot pokers hanging downwards, one on top of the other, 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.559 with a black space in between them. And At Sheer Water, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.800 a human made lake about a mile south of Warminster, 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.440 resident Colinhampton was so distracted by the bizarre object he 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:28.920 saw that he fell into the water. He was just 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.440 one of seventeen individuals at the lake that day who 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.600 claimed to have seen it too. With the number of 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.120 sightings continuing to grow throughout the summer, it was clear 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:42.960 to Arthur that something very peculiar indeed was taking place 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.800 in the area, with what had first started out as 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:51.319 an ominous, unsettling sound now having solidified into something else entirely. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.920 The locals had a name for it too, the Warminster Thing, 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.680 and perhaps with good reason, it was starting to worry them. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:05.160 On the evening of August seventeenth, David Pinnell was at 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:08.240 home on the Boreham Field housing estate when a huge 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.360 explosion coming from the direction of Battlesbury to the north 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.559 sent him running from his property. With the ground shaking 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.760 beneath him. Pinnell got out just in time to see 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.760 what he described as a monstrous flame in the sky, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.800 shaped like a light bulb, that bathed the hills below 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:30.440 in a soft orange light. Pinnell had watched, mesmerized as 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.240 this light faded to reveal another yellow light, surrounded by 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:38.040 a huge ball of smoke that floated down to the hills, 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:41.040 cracking and hissing as it came into contact with the ground. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:47.240 Such occurrences weren't entirely irregular, since a British Army's school 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:52.400 of infantry was located only twenty miles away. Pinnell was adamant, however, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.760 that not only did this come from a completely different direction, 0:11:56.160 --> 0:12:01.120 but it was unlike anything he'd seen before. Keen to investigate, 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:05.040 Arthur Shuttlewood got in touch with all military installations within 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.400 the vicinity, and all denied it was anything to do 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:19.480 with them. By August nineteen sixty six, with local nerves 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:24.760 becoming increasingly frayed, Emlyn Rees, chairman of Warminster Urban District Council, 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:28.080 took the extraordinary move to call a town hall meeting 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.319 in the hope of getting to the bottom of it all. 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.040 But with news of the Warminster thing beginning to spread 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:36.959 far and wide, there was no sign of the phenomenon 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.720 abating anytime soon. On the day of the meeting, Reheese 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.720 arrived at the town hall staggered to find upwards of 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.160 three hundred people, many from out of town, trying to 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.920 cram inside the building, with many spilling out onto the streets. 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.000 The event was so oversubscribed that Reece could barely get 0:12:56.040 --> 0:13:02.079 in himself. Inside, onlookers bustled for space alongside a dozen 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.480 or so journalists, including a TV crew from a national 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.760 news agency, as they all waited excitedly for the event 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:13.800 to begin. Finally, with wreaths in place, he welcomed up 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.920 the first of six eyewitnesses to give their accounts of 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:21.920 what they'd seen. Among them were Roger Rump, the town's postmaster, 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:26.319 and Rachel Atwell, another Warminster resident, who only a few 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.200 weeks before had been stirred from sleep in the early 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:33.120 hours of the morning by a deep, droning sound. When 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:35.680 she opened her eyes, she was shocked to find the 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.880 room was shaking. Following the sound to the window, she 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.079 looked out to see a bright, dome shaped object hanging 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.280 in the sky about two hundred yards away above a 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:50.240 range of hills. She watched it, she said, shaking like 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:53.400 a leaf for a good twenty five minutes before it 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.080 and the noise disappeared, leaving her with the feeling of 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:00.199 a tight band of steel around her forehead and a 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.360 pounding in her ears. The witnesses were joined by doctor 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:09.360 John Cleary Baker, evaluating officer of the British UFO Research Association, 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:14.240 and doctor E. R. Dole, chairman of the National UFO Association. 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.480 Both were quick to put the crowd at ease, imploring 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.920 that they should not feel afraid, but rather privileged to 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:25.320 be at the center of such an extraordinary event. Both 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.480 men were convinced the town were dealing with, as Cleary 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:33.400 Baker put it, the manifestation of an advanced technology, undoubtedly 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:38.560 piloted by alien beings. At one point, Counselor Reese stopped 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:41.440 proceedings when he was given a telegram to read out 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:48.680 investigations completed. Stop invasion fears are unfounded. Stop. The message 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:53.040 had been sent by a doctor who One man who 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.600 didn't attend the meeting was local resident David Holton, an 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:01.400 amateur geologist. While carrying out his own investigations along five 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.440 Ash Lane, a narrow road that ran through a small 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:08.080 patch of woodland just south of Warminster, Halton discovered a 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:12.160 flock of dead pigeons scattered across the road. The birds, 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:14.960 according to Halton, had died at the same time as 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:17.760 one of the occurrences of the terrifying noise had been heard, 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.080 causing him to speculate but they'd been killed by the 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:25.400 sonic interference. Halton also claimed to have amassed evidence of 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.360 up to two hundred separate sightings and accounts of the 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.080 Warminster Thing, but later burnt the dossier to preserve the 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:37.000 identity of his sources. Councilorese's ultimate hope was that his 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.000 meeting might bring an end to the Warminster Thing. In reality, 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.000 it did anything, but not least because only two weeks 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:54.240 later someone finally got a picture of it. This year, 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.160 I'm refocusing on what it means to take care of myself, 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:00.200 and it couldn't be easier than with Daily Harvest. Daily 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:03.320 Harvest delivers delicious food or built on organic fruits and 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.360 vegetables right to your door. 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That's promo code unexplained 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.560 for twenty five dollars off your first box at daily 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:10.920 harvest dot com. That's Daily Harvest dot com. Arthur was 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:13.240 in the offices at work when he received the call. 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.080 It was a young man from Warminster in possession of 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:22.400 an incredible photograph. The man, Gordon Faulkner, was walking out 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.439 of his house a few days previously carrying a camera. 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:27.879 He was planning to give to his sister when he 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.040 spotted it what he first took to be a plane 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:36.560 shooting across the sky, but completely silent. Without thinking, he 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:40.000 grabbed a camera and started to shoot. It was only 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:43.040 when the photo was developed, however, that he saw clearly 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.680 it was in fact a sorcer shaped object. When Arthur 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.399 saw the picture for himself, he was in no doubt 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.760 as to what it was. Finally, there was irrefutable proof. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.920 Without delay, he traveled immediately to the offices of national newspaper, 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.479 The Daily Mirror. They published it the following day, along 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.200 with Arthur's supporting article, the biggest scoop of his career, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:15.359 and then four days later something else. Around midnight, on 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.600 a quiet stretch of the A thirty eight road, thirty 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.920 two year old Kenneth Kimberly is driving home from Bristol 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.679 when he spots a patch of mist up ahead, approaching 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.840 at speed. The moment he enters it, the engine and 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:32.600 light cut out, suddenly bringing the car to a quick 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:36.600 stop by the side of the road. Sitting alone in 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.480 the pitch black of amused, Kenneth tries the engine again, 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:44.800 unsuccessfully for the third time. When the car is suddenly 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:48.840 bathed in light from above. Kenneth is trying to see 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.879 where the light is coming from when he's bombarded by 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.879 a terrifying, shrill and guttural roar like a jet engine. 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.560 With the back of the car now beginning to vibrate, 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.960 Kenneth pushes open the door and leaps out, but no sooner. 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.919 As he stepped into the road, the lights and noise 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:11.920 completely disappear, leaving him standing alone and trembling in the dark, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:23.959 silent night. On September twenty sixth, Arthur Shuttlewood was at 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.360 home when he received a phone call from a mystery 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.880 caller wanting to discuss the sightings with him directly. When 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.840 Arthur suggested they meet at the office of the Warminster Journal, 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.639 the caller declined, saying they needed to see him right away. 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.359 The caller's name, a Shuttlewoo would later claim was carn 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:47.280 and they had come here from the planet Ainstria. Assuming it, 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.080 of course to be a hoax, Shuttlewood joked that if 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:52.359 they were really who they said they were, he would 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:55.080 like to meet them in person. So it was with 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.359 huge surprise when only moments later there was a loud 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.640 knock at the door opening it, Arthur was greeted by 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:06.720 the apparent Khn, who, although bearing a striking resemblance to 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.879 a human being, none the less, had unusually small pupils 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:15.679 and oddly bluish cheeks and lips. As Shuttlewood later wrote, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.040 the supposed visitor came with a warning that he wished 0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.280 Arthur to relay to the human race that if humanity 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.600 didn't change its ways immediately, it would cause irreversible destruction 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.760 to itself and the planet. When the visitor made their 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.240 good byes after ten minutes, Shuttlewood claimed he traced the 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.479 original call back to a location near bore and Field, 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.280 close to a nearby army barracks. According to Shuttlewood, he 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:45.359 continued to field calls from a number of representatives of 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.160 the planet of Ainstria throughout September and October of nineteen 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.240 sixty five, never entirely sure if it had been a 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.359 hoax or not. But what Shuttlewood wanted more than anything 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.560 else was to see the thing for himself, and he 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:10.879 wouldn't have long to wait. On the afternoon of September eighteenth, 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.240 Arthur was at home finishing an article about famed lion 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.800 tamer Mary Chippenfield when he went upstairs to grab a 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.560 notebook from his office. Stepping into the room, he was 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:25.320 distracted by something outside the window, hovering under the clouds, 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:30.280 a white cigar shaped object with a slight domed protrusion 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:34.879 the color of burned amber. Arthur called down to his 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.840 wife to bring up his film camera, only to remember 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.120 he was alone in the house at the time. Returning 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.240 to the room moments later with camera in hand, relieved 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:47.479 to find the object was still there, he quickly flipped 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:50.919 off the lens cap and proceeded to film it. But 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:54.159 as soon as he pressed record, as Arthur would later recall, 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:57.800 the camera began stuttering and jumping about in his hands. 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:01.639 Then a sharp pain gripped the entire left side of 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:05.359 his body, shooting up his arm and face. When he 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.480 was finally able to try again, the object had gone. 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:13.359 Opening the camera up, he found the film uselessly coiled 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:17.639 up inside, hoping you might have caught something. Nonetheless, he 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.200 sent it away to be processed. Just over twenty four 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:23.879 feet of it was untouched, while the other eight or 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:28.960 so inches were completely overexposed. In the weeks following this 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.520 apparent sighting, Shuttlewood claimed he suffered from a partial paralysis 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:35.960 at the less side of his body and a weeping 0:22:36.000 --> 0:22:46.399 eye that lasted two months. A few miles away, on 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:50.919 the night of October seventh, Annabel Randall, a confidential clerk 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.560 for the War Department, was driving with her fiance John Plowman, 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:59.640 towards Stockton from Warminster. It had just gone eleven thirty pm. 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:02.840 A couple rounded the curve onto a railway bridge when 0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:05.439 Annabel gasped at the sight of what looked like a 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:09.200 man slumped against the pavement with his legs dangling into 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:13.320 the road. Pressing hard on the brakes, Annabel brought the 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:16.639 car to a screeching halt as she took a moment 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.040 to collect herself. John jumped out and sprinted back to 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:25.040 the bridge, only to find it completely deserted. Having made 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:28.159 a quick search of the area and finding nothing untoward, 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.720 a greatly relieved John returned to the car and the 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:36.800 couple continued on their way, returning later from the opposite direction. 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:39.919 Annabell was approaching the bridge for a second time that 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.919 night when she was distracted by the glow of a 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:46.480 large orange ball shaped object to her right, moving close 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.800 to where the rail tracks trailed off. Just then her 0:23:50.840 --> 0:23:54.760 car engine began to sputter As the headlights flickered and dimmed. 0:23:56.200 --> 0:24:00.199 With the light growing brighter, Annabell realized with horror that 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:04.600 it was now moving quickly toward her. Squinting through the glare, 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:07.640 she fought hard to stop the car from careening off 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:11.440 the road when another object up ahead spun suddenly into 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.119 her path, But as she braced for impact, the car's 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:19.080 engine cut out altogether, slowing the car down just in time. 0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.760 Annabel could only watch in complete disbelief as the second 0:24:23.800 --> 0:24:26.840 object flew off quickly to the right, shooting red and 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:30.000 blue sparks as it went, and leaving in its wake 0:24:30.200 --> 0:24:33.520 what appeared to be two people standing still in the 0:24:33.560 --> 0:24:38.119 middle of the road. As she recounted later, they seemed 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:42.080 to be dressed in dark, tight fitting clothes like scuba divers. 0:24:43.560 --> 0:24:47.480 Finding her engine was then working properly again, Annabel was 0:24:47.520 --> 0:24:50.399 just able to avoid hitting the figures as she sped 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:53.399 off back into the night, relieved to put the bizarre 0:24:53.440 --> 0:25:04.560 episode behind her. Over the next few years, Warminster's reputation 0:25:04.640 --> 0:25:08.000 as a hotbed of UFO activity, championed by the likes 0:25:08.000 --> 0:25:11.640 of Arthur Shuttlewood, only continued to grow with no let 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.600 up in the rate of sightings. In May nineteen sixty seven, 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:21.000 Shuttlewood published a book, The Warminster Mystery, Astounding UFO Sightings, 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.359 which provided a comprehensive list of all known sightings up 0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:28.200 to that point. By then, the town had become inundated, 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:30.920 with skywatchers eager to catch a glimpse of the thing, 0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:33.920 often camping out at the top of Cradle and Clay 0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:37.560 Hills for days on end. On one night in nineteen 0:25:37.600 --> 0:25:41.160 sixty six, a team of enthusiasts led by doctor John 0:25:41.200 --> 0:25:45.560 Cleary Baker even attempted to contact the apparent visitors using 0:25:45.600 --> 0:25:48.080 storm lanterns in the shape of a triangle in an 0:25:48.119 --> 0:25:51.880 effort to help guide them toward the area. The sightings 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:55.679 were so extensive that in nineteen seventy one, local UFO 0:25:55.840 --> 0:26:01.240 enthusiast Ken Rogers began publishing Warminster's very own UFO newsletter. 0:26:01.960 --> 0:26:04.760 This was followed in late nineteen seventy five by the 0:26:04.840 --> 0:26:08.679 opening of a dedicated UFO research center run by wife 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:12.879 and husband team Jane and Peter Paget, called the Fountain Center, 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:17.200 which also published its own newsletter. But as the years 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:20.840 went by, eventually the sightings would start to dwindle, and 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:23.960 with them, so too did the town's enthusiasm for any 0:26:24.000 --> 0:26:27.760 talk at the Warminster Thing, and before long it was 0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:30.719 little more than a bizarre footnote in the memories of 0:26:30.760 --> 0:26:34.480