Speaker 1: Hi there to Mumbay listeners. This is Fred Greenholsch, the
Speaker 1: host of Undertow Realm's premiere horror podcast, and I'm excited
Speaker 1: to let you know that the creators of Tumumbay have
Speaker 1: a new show out with us called The Sisters. When
Speaker 1: the curator of a museum of medical oddities receives a
Speaker 1: mysterious gift, she uncovers a story of a curse that
Speaker 1: connects her present with one family's haunted past. Terrifyingly enough,
Speaker 1: this tale of grief and obsession was inspired by real events,
Speaker 1: and if you are a skeptic about ghosts and the paranormal,
Speaker 1: while listening to The Sisters will probably make you think again.
Speaker 1: Today you'll hear the first full episode of The Sisters.
Speaker 1: To find the rest, look for The Sisters, season six
Speaker 1: of Undertow rever Podcasts are served.
Speaker 2: What you are about to hear is a true story.
Speaker 2: It happened in Hexham, England in the nineteen fifties and sixties.
Speaker 2: Names have been changed out of respect to the victims
Speaker 2: and to protect the innocent. The Sisters episode one Believe
Speaker 2: it or.
Speaker 3: Not, it's the third nineteen sixty five interview number seven with.
Speaker 4: Well why don't you introduce yourself? My lovely tell me
Speaker 4: your name?
Speaker 5: Where's Jackie? We do everything together, which I.
Speaker 4: Know you are, Jill.
Speaker 3: I bet you have a lot of fun, don't you. No,
Speaker 3: But today Jill is all about you.
Speaker 5: Is it black going to the dentist?
Speaker 6: No, that's much nicer than going to the dentist.
Speaker 4: What have you got there, Jill? What are you playing
Speaker 4: with my locket? Is there anything inside it?
Speaker 5: Yes? H from an angel.
Speaker 4: Well that's something that'll keep you safe't it now? Jill?
Speaker 4: Why don't you tell me about My name.
Speaker 7: Is mart.
Speaker 4: Did you?
Speaker 8: That doesn't mean anything?
Speaker 4: She's heard me talk? Please let the child speak.
Speaker 6: My name is mort all right, Maude, tell me about yourself.
Speaker 9: My name is Jill any years old. We are eight
Speaker 9: years old. We live in Hexham, England.
Speaker 10: We ride bikes.
Speaker 11: Hell.
Speaker 12: Hello, good afternoon. My name is Sprinkie Bradshaw. I'm the
Speaker 12: chief curator of the world famous Mutter Museum here in
Speaker 12: downtown Philadelphia, and I'll be your tour guide through hell. Kidding,
Speaker 12: that's just a joke. Before we get started, you should
Speaker 12: know some of the objects on display here can be
Speaker 12: quite triggering. I hate that word, but it's true. This
Speaker 12: isn't a typical museum. It's not filled with beautiful objects.
Speaker 12: To the contrary, it's a showcase of imperfection, an unflinching
Speaker 12: look into the mysteries of the human body, and that.
Speaker 13: Yes, you have a question.
Speaker 7: Is it true you have a piece of Einstein's brain?
Speaker 4: Yes, we do.
Speaker 12: We also have the fucking moor of pickled skin. This
Speaker 12: is the last place I ever wanted to work.
Speaker 14: Yes.
Speaker 12: Actually, when I was in grad school at Penn, I
Speaker 12: thought I'd be the curator of the Philadelphia Art Museum
Speaker 12: by now, or at least a gallery with actual art.
Speaker 6: Follow me.
Speaker 12: The fact is I'm thirty four years old and working
Speaker 12: here is one step above Ripley's believe it or not.
Speaker 7: So where's the rest of Einstein's brain?
Speaker 4: Do you keep it on a separate floor?
Speaker 14: Like the different rings? And Lord of the Rings? It's
Speaker 14: too powerful to have them together?
Speaker 12: So how do I deal with questions like these? I
Speaker 12: sneak into the bathroom for a drink. I really shouldn't.
Speaker 12: What I should do is call my sponsor. But before
Speaker 12: I get the chance, Frankie, Yes, duncan, I'm in here.
Speaker 14: We just got a delivery, a box. They won't let
Speaker 14: me time for it.
Speaker 11: Did you tell them you work here?
Speaker 14: Yes, Frankie, of course.
Speaker 15: Well what kind of box?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 14: I haven't seen it.
Speaker 16: I want you, Frankie, what should I tell him?
Speaker 3: Do you?
Speaker 17: Frankie to diary?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 12: Yeah, well sort of. I'm divorced. It's no longer.
Speaker 14: My last name. Well, whatever your name is.
Speaker 1: You kept me out here fifteen minutes freezing my assigh?
Speaker 14: Yeah, sorry, don't be gorgeous A signy? So where's the
Speaker 14: box back of the truck? You got a back door
Speaker 14: or something.
Speaker 18: I can help you load it in.
Speaker 12: How big is it?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 8: It's big.
Speaker 2: Let's take the plastic off.
Speaker 14: Okay, let me cut it.
Speaker 7: Shit.
Speaker 12: I think it's some kind of animal.
Speaker 14: Animal, Franky, it's a bipedal. Do you know what this is?
Speaker 14: It's a fucking alien. Look at the thing. It's huge.
Speaker 12: It is huge, twice as thick and several feet longer
Speaker 12: than a normal human skeleton. And there's no space between
Speaker 12: the bones. It's like the skeletal remains of a blob.
Speaker 14: Jesus, where do you think he's from? Mars or Venus?
Speaker 12: Probably New Jersey? Oh, come on, Duncan, don't you see
Speaker 12: it's a prank, you think. Yeah, remember the two headed
Speaker 12: pig man we got in the mail.
Speaker 14: Last year, Hey, that was very convincing.
Speaker 11: I know.
Speaker 12: And remember how disappointed you were.
Speaker 11: Hi Estas, Yeah, I know.
Speaker 12: It's my faults. Day is my childhood friend from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 12: She's from an orthodox Jewish family, but she's a devout
Speaker 12: atheist like me. I'm proud of her. She's the best
Speaker 12: medical examiner in Philly.
Speaker 11: Anyway, it's been a long day.
Speaker 12: Listen, we have something for you. Tada, So what do
Speaker 12: you think? It just arrived?
Speaker 7: Duncan thinks it's an alien?
Speaker 11: Tilt the camera, Frankie.
Speaker 14: Frankie thinks it's a frank.
Speaker 11: Oh, it's not a prank. Pull back, Frankie, scroll from
Speaker 11: head to toe.
Speaker 2: Poor woman, it's a woman.
Speaker 11: I think. So it's hard to tell over FaceTime. Maybe
Speaker 11: I can come by tomorrow and take a closer look.
Speaker 14: Sure, that'll be great.
Speaker 11: Just so I'm clear, there was no information, no return address.
Speaker 12: Nothing, no no, she came in this box, just totally anonymous.
Speaker 8: Shall we stop right?
Speaker 18: Today is August the twenty third, nineteen sixty nine, and
Speaker 18: I'm here interviewing Francis Pollard. Has brought hospital night and
Speaker 18: giral wins.
Speaker 4: It's all right.
Speaker 7: You can call it an asylum for the criminally insane,
Speaker 7: because that's what it is.
Speaker 18: I'm here to help you better understand your your situation.
Speaker 7: No doctor, No, you're here to answer a question.
Speaker 8: Well, hopefully together we will answer many.
Speaker 4: No, just one.
Speaker 7: Why would a mother come to the conclusion that the
Speaker 7: world would be a better place if her children were dead?
Speaker 7: That's the question.
Speaker 19: Okay, yeah, all right, Mum and dad, if you stand
Speaker 19: on either side of.
Speaker 8: The girls, all right, like this yet? Yeah, just like
Speaker 8: that it Maud, move a bit closer on the sofa.
Speaker 13: I'm Mary.
Speaker 8: It's okay.
Speaker 7: Everyone confuses.
Speaker 19: Sorry about that, Mary, about you and your sister have
Speaker 19: a lot of fun confusing people.
Speaker 5: Ah, No, I'm married. No, I'm married.
Speaker 20: Enough.
Speaker 17: Okay, a big smile everyone, three two one.
Speaker 7: We had a happy life. We were a happy family until.
Speaker 18: Relax, Francis, just relax, have another sip of water, the better.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 8: Do you want to stop now? No?
Speaker 7: No, I want to carry on all right. It was
Speaker 7: the summer of nineteen fifty seven, our last summer together.
Speaker 7: Our twins Mary and Maude were everything we ever wanted.
Speaker 7: It was a good year for us, for the whole country.
Speaker 7: In fact, the war was over, we had a new
Speaker 7: queen on our throne, and we just bought our first
Speaker 7: car on higher purchase. It seemed like it really was
Speaker 7: a new era where everything was possible. My husband, Thomas,
Speaker 7: was an engineer. He worked at the local car factory.
Speaker 7: Was a good, steady job. We enjoyed simple pleasures, you know,
Speaker 7: family outings, picnics by the lake, church, social events, we
Speaker 7: went to Saint Luke's.
Speaker 18: But most of all.
Speaker 7: We enjoyed going to the pictures around New York, especially
Speaker 7: Hollywood movies from America.
Speaker 5: I want to go to America in there. Why no,
Speaker 5: you don't. You're only seen it because I said it.
Speaker 11: No, not yes, you are.
Speaker 7: Girls. We had everything we needed, and yet Thomas.
Speaker 8: What about Thomas Francis?
Speaker 7: There was somehow did I ever really know him?
Speaker 8: What do you mean, Francis?
Speaker 20: You're such a good girl, you know I think Matelda
Speaker 20: needs a brother. Good idea, Mary, Hey, Dad, can we
Speaker 20: get a boy dog? What we can name him Cliff?
Speaker 19: Oh no, no, no, no more dogs.
Speaker 18: No, but listen, I've got something even better for you.
Speaker 17: Come on, come on, girls.
Speaker 19: Following into the garage.
Speaker 8: Is this another invention, Daddy? No, No, it's not just
Speaker 8: another invention. It's the invention.
Speaker 4: This is my masterpiece.
Speaker 19: You ready, Tella?
Speaker 4: Well what is it?
Speaker 19: This is our future, girls. It's a refrigerator motor, my
Speaker 19: original design, so it will allow fridges to run longer
Speaker 19: and more efficiently.
Speaker 7: Do you have any other inventions?
Speaker 19: This is my masterpiece.
Speaker 7: So that's how it started, with a fridge motor. He
Speaker 7: took it around the trade show as we tried to
Speaker 7: find investors. No one was interested. As far as I
Speaker 7: was concerned, it was a hobby, something he tinkered within
Speaker 7: the garage. I didn't realize then that.
Speaker 8: What didn't you realize, fancis.
Speaker 7: That it would lead to the end of everything. Fancy
Speaker 7: a cup of tea?
Speaker 4: Love?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 7: One evening we were watching television. The girls were upstairs asleep,
Speaker 7: and suddenly Matilda, our dog, began running around in circus bark.
Speaker 17: Matilda calmed down.
Speaker 4: Helm's got into her eight Until they come here?
Speaker 7: You expecting anyone?
Speaker 18: It's probably someone collected for some of that.
Speaker 4: All right or right? I'm coming.
Speaker 17: Uh yeah, hello, there are you? Thomas pol If not,
Speaker 17: I've got their own half.
Speaker 13: Hi, I'm Frankie.
Speaker 12: Hi, Hi, I'm an alcoholic.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 12: I'd been sober, well semi sober, for you know, about
Speaker 12: three years, but the last six months have been, uh
Speaker 12: been pretty rough on me. You know, I got divorced. Well,
Speaker 12: I mean it wasn't consensual, you know. He he left me,
Speaker 12: which was probably a good decision on his part because
Speaker 12: I'm a complete mess.
Speaker 13: But you know, I'm I'm.
Speaker 12: Also a fighter.
Speaker 13: So here I am Bagels.
Speaker 15: I've got bagel, Good morning yesterday.
Speaker 7: Here you go, duncan Oh?
Speaker 14: I stay here?
Speaker 4: The best?
Speaker 14: Could you remember this extra cream cheese?
Speaker 15: Yes, we're all going to have high cholesterol. Now where
Speaker 15: is she.
Speaker 18: In the back?
Speaker 4: Come on?
Speaker 15: So, Frankie, how was your date last night?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 7: Shit, you forgot Huh?
Speaker 1: Poor guy.
Speaker 2: He'll be fine.
Speaker 11: He's a straight man on tender.
Speaker 12: He probably had another date lined up right after. Besides,
Speaker 12: I'm preoccupied with who Banil?
Speaker 11: Frankie, you got to stop thinking about him.
Speaker 17: It's over.
Speaker 7: No, not Banil.
Speaker 12: I was thinking about Matilda, who.
Speaker 14: She named the skeleton Matilda?
Speaker 15: You name the skeleton Matilda.
Speaker 11: It's cute?
Speaker 15: Any reason?
Speaker 11: Why?
Speaker 7: No?
Speaker 12: Not really, It's just sort of came to me. Okay,
Speaker 12: there she is that's her in the box.
Speaker 14: And I still think it's an alien.
Speaker 11: Mm hmm. This is.
Speaker 13: Wow.
Speaker 15: The bones are so thick. See here, the first seven
Speaker 15: ribs are completely fused. They're thick as baseball bats. Right,
Speaker 15: I've never seen anything like this?
Speaker 17: Who is she?
Speaker 11: Not she?
Speaker 7: They?
Speaker 11: Maybe?
Speaker 5: Wait?
Speaker 7: Two people?
Speaker 15: Oh look at the neck here in the conjoin twins
Speaker 15: connected like this, just stacked on top of each other,
Speaker 15: their organs would be crushed.
Speaker 12: I mean, she's not a conjoined twin, she's not a giant.
Speaker 7: Who is she?
Speaker 15: I don't there is one other possibility? What I have
Speaker 15: to call doctor Lee?
Speaker 14: Who my boss?
Speaker 15: Can you stop by?
Speaker 8: Is there a better light back here?
Speaker 14: Maybe turn on the overheads they're already on.
Speaker 17: Oh maybe it's just my eyes. No, that can't be possible.
Speaker 8: No, no, no, no.
Speaker 14: Just say it.
Speaker 15: Say what it's FOP right?
Speaker 8: FOP yes?
Speaker 15: Or to use the technical name fibro dysplasia osipicuns progressive.
Speaker 17: My god, there's only been a handful of cases.
Speaker 12: Really in your whole career.
Speaker 17: Ever, and you have no idea where it came from.
Speaker 12: No, she was sent here anonymously.
Speaker 8: Well I need to know more. Can I take her
Speaker 8: back to my office.
Speaker 12: No, sorry, it might be helpful, I know, but it
Speaker 12: was sent here ESDA to me.
Speaker 4: Is this about credit?
Speaker 11: Yes?
Speaker 12: Actually, I'm the curator of this museum.
Speaker 8: Who else has seen it?
Speaker 15: Just us break it down for me, Doc, What is FOP?
Speaker 14: I mean?
Speaker 12: If what you're saying is true, if it's so extremely rare,
Speaker 12: then finding the owner of this skeleton shouldn't be too hard, right.
Speaker 4: Okay, let's see.
Speaker 12: For the next week, I researched every known case of
Speaker 12: FOP I could find Harvard Medical Journal, July. It turns
Speaker 12: out FOP is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes
Speaker 12: the body's soft tissue to transform permanently into bone. In
Speaker 12: other words, a second skeleton grows on top of the first.
Speaker 12: Early doctors posited that it was the result of two
Speaker 12: souls trapped in one body. Hi, I'm calling about an
Speaker 12: old case of a child with FOP back in the
Speaker 12: early seventies in a village called Mattie Carrey. Okay, this
Speaker 12: might sound kind of strange, but basically, in nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 12: in the small farm town of Mahdi, Care, India, a
Speaker 12: boy named ragu Basi Maadra was born with FOP. Some
Speaker 12: of the locals worshiped him as the reincarnation of the
Speaker 12: god Vishnu. You knew the location of that skeleton at
Speaker 12: this time. Sorry, unusual cases, and my apartment slowly transformed
Speaker 12: into a science lab. I pinned up pictures of bones
Speaker 12: on the wall, surrounded by anatomy textbooks and medical journals.
Speaker 12: If someone walked in on me, they'd think I was
Speaker 12: a doctor, or a serial killer, or just a lonely
Speaker 12: woman desperate to connect some dots.
Speaker 13: And that our next guest is.
Speaker 7: Great.
Speaker 12: Meanwhile, my ex husband, Vanil, a professor at Penn, was
Speaker 12: on TV promoting his new book about ancient religion.
Speaker 21: With you, and we'll just jump right in with the
Speaker 21: first question.
Speaker 11: Sure, does God exists?
Speaker 17: It would depend largely on what you mean by God.
Speaker 16: You know what our next move is, right, speciall exhibit
Speaker 16: display her display the skeleton for the public, you think,
Speaker 16: I know, it'll get people talking, and who knows, maybe
Speaker 16: a real academic.
Speaker 14: Will show up.
Speaker 12: I'm a real academic.
Speaker 16: Well, you're also a curator, and it's your job, your
Speaker 16: responsibility to bring asses through the.
Speaker 12: Door, isn't it asses in the seats?
Speaker 14: You know what I mean? Besides, I'd already said, yes,
Speaker 14: you spoke to the board. Well, I floated the idea, Duncan.
Speaker 14: It'll be fun.
Speaker 16: We'll have a party, red carpet, paparazzi, like a respectable museum.
Speaker 14: Hi, I'm Duncan. I'm the assistant curator here at the museum.
Speaker 15: Wow, this is quite the turnout.
Speaker 7: Oh no, cute boys.
Speaker 12: Well, Duncan is around here somewhere passing out wine and cheese.
Speaker 15: Pass although I could use a drink. Shit, franky, Sorry.
Speaker 12: It's okay, I'm a I'm back in the program.
Speaker 14: Really.
Speaker 13: Yeah, well, I'm proud of you.
Speaker 15: Come on, let's go check out the star attraction.
Speaker 10: Okay, Sda is right.
Speaker 12: It is quite the turnout. More than two hundred visitors
Speaker 12: have flooded the mutter to see Matilda.
Speaker 15: There she is.
Speaker 12: The skeleton is presented, simply positioned upright behind a thin
Speaker 12: wall of glass.
Speaker 15: She's kind of beautiful, don't you think like it? A
Speaker 15: Tim Burton way.
Speaker 10: It's true, she is beautiful.
Speaker 17: Yeah. Hello, are you Thomas Pollard? If not, I've got
Speaker 17: the wrong hat.
Speaker 18: Yes, I mean no, No, you do have the right house.
Speaker 8: I am Thomas Pollard, Mark Whitney.
Speaker 17: I'm a friend of father Tim from Saint Louis.
Speaker 19: Well, if it's church business, perhaps it's my wife you
Speaker 19: want to speak to.
Speaker 17: No, no, it's you, Thomas. May I come in. Well
Speaker 17: you see, father Tim told me all about your invention.
Speaker 17: Oh right, right, I may be able to help you. Well, yes, yes,
Speaker 17: of course, come.
Speaker 6: On Ina, mm hmmm, oh Francis, this is mister mister Woodney.
Speaker 17: Oh well, but I hope I'm not interrupting, and I
Speaker 17: think missus Parler.
Speaker 7: No, no, no, no, no, it's I was just going
Speaker 7: to make a coop of tea. Can I make you.
Speaker 17: If it's not too much trouble. Yes, that well, that
Speaker 17: that would be lovely.
Speaker 4: I'm so sorry mister.
Speaker 17: That's quite all right.
Speaker 4: He we dog come here stopped that.
Speaker 18: I don't know what's gotten into her.
Speaker 5: She doesn't like you.
Speaker 15: What what you doing down here?
Speaker 7: You should be in bed, Maude?
Speaker 17: What a lovely name. Hello, little miss I'm Mark Marred.
Speaker 7: Off you go upstairs?
Speaker 8: Now?
Speaker 5: Can I take Matilda?
Speaker 14: Yes?
Speaker 8: Off you go go on, good night, good night, maud.
Speaker 7: Well, I'll make a cup of tea. I didn't like
Speaker 7: mister Whitney from the start. He was too rehearsed, and
Speaker 7: the dog didn't like him. Either I didn't trust him.
Speaker 18: Mister Whitney, how can I help you?
Speaker 17: That's the other way around to us. From what father
Speaker 17: Tim tells me, you're a bit of an engineering genius.
Speaker 17: Oh well, go as far to say that. You know,
Speaker 17: I double don't be modest. I want to see your
Speaker 17: refrigerator engine.
Speaker 4: Why's that?
Speaker 17: Because I'm a businessman.
Speaker 19: You see, it takes barely any time to warm up
Speaker 19: or cool down.
Speaker 17: It's certainly more compact than I've seen before. Some beam
Speaker 17: an electrologue aren't marketing anything this small? Well, hey, you've
Speaker 17: done your research well. As I said, I am a businessman.
Speaker 17: Have you Have you protected it? Have you applied for
Speaker 17: a patent so no one can copy it?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 19: No, no, no yet, No, there are still few little
Speaker 19: niggles that need to be sorted out first.
Speaker 17: I should apply for protection.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 17: I can't stress how important that it.
Speaker 4: Look.
Speaker 17: I'll tell you what. I'm going off to London next week.
Speaker 17: If you give me the schematics, I can pop into
Speaker 17: the patent offers and I can just you know, get
Speaker 17: things started for you.
Speaker 8: Oh no, no, you don't have to do no, no, no.
Speaker 17: You know, no expense on your end. I mean we
Speaker 17: can sort that out later, but you really must do
Speaker 17: this to protect yourself, you know, and your family.
Speaker 21: Morning, Philadelphia Today is Friday, October eighth, and in today's
Speaker 21: Talk of the Town segment, a strange story from a
Speaker 21: local oddity called the Mutter, a museum dedicated to.
Speaker 7: Medical abnormalities.
Speaker 14: Their latest arrival.
Speaker 12: Yes, I'm watching it.
Speaker 15: It's like a human Good morning, Philly.
Speaker 11: Remember they're doing the segment.
Speaker 1: On Prepare morning.
Speaker 22: We got another box, delivery box. I think it's got
Speaker 22: something to do with Matilda. Really, just get out of
Speaker 22: bed and come down to the museum. I'm dying to
Speaker 22: open it.
Speaker 12: Okay, Okay, well, well don't open it, just wait for me.
Speaker 4: What have you got there? Jill? What are you playing with?
Speaker 5: My locket?
Speaker 4: Has there everything inside it?
Speaker 11: Uh?
Speaker 13: Humaine?
Speaker 4: If you're safe? Wasn't it now? Jill? Why don't you
Speaker 4: tell me about?
Speaker 5: My name is mart?
Speaker 4: Did you?
Speaker 8: That doesn't mean everything?
Speaker 4: She's heard me talk? Please let the child speak.
Speaker 6: My name is mart all right, Maude, tell me about yourself.
Speaker 5: My name is Jill, a years old.
Speaker 9: We are eight years old. We live in Hacksome, England.
Speaker 11: We ride bikes.
Speaker 2: The Sisters is a Goldhawk production presented by Realm in
Speaker 2: association with Lights Out, created by Brett Neatchen and written
Speaker 2: by Brett Neatchen, John Scott Dryden and Mack Rogers. Frankie
Speaker 2: is played by May Whitman, Francis, Helen Baxendale, Mark, David
Speaker 2: Morrissey Duncan, Miles Heiser, Thomas Lee, ingleby Stay, Karen Chay
Speaker 2: and the psychiatrist David Holt, with sound designed by Adam
Speaker 2: Woodhams and original music by Seymour Milton and Sasha Putnam.
Speaker 2: The script editor is Mike Walker for Goldtalk Productions, the
Speaker 2: producer is Emma Hearn, and the director and executive producer
Speaker 2: is John Scott Dryden. For Realm, the producers are John Brooks,
Speaker 2: Fred Greenhall and Nicole Otto, and the executive producers are
Speaker 2: Molly Barton, Marcy Wiseman and Julian Yapp. Find the full
Speaker 2: list of credits in the show copy. Realm is Your
Speaker 2: Portal to Another World. Listen away.