WEBVTT - S04 Episode 2: Coming to You Live 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:03.559 Good evening, Europe. This is the North American continent live 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:07.600 via a T and T Telstar July twenty third, nineteen 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.720 sixty two, three pm Eastern Daylights. Are convinced that the 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:16.000 ability to portray immediacy, to realize what's new, what's going on, 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:20.279 is the true significance of this new communications bridge. These 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.079 first eighteen minutes will attempt to show you a few 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.520 of the things that are going on right now on 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.639 the North American cope. We have just been informed that 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:34.159 this baseball game is being seen in Europe right now 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:39.960 over the Telstar satellite. Let's give all the baseball friends 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:53.560 in Europe a big hello from Chicago. And so began 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:58.440 on July twenty third, nineteen sixty two, the first live 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:03.840 transatlantic broadcast beamed courtesy of the newly launched Tellstar's satellite 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.320 into millions of homes across the United States and Europe. 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.520 For those able to tune in and watch the momentous occasion, 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.600 it was impossible to escape the giddy's sensation that they 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.560 were witnessing something of the world changing forever right in 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:25.120 front of their eyes. As tellst our engineer James Early 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:30.920 later remarked, the moment revealed unmistakably that all of humanity 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:36.720 were members of a single global community. Of course, not 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:40.440 all of humanity would necessarily have felt themselves reflected in 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:43.840 those first few images, let alone all of those who 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:47.600 made up the respective populations of the nations receiving them. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:52.400 But certainly never before could an awareness of the simultaneous 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:56.000 existence of distant others with which we share the planet 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:01.280 being so profoundly felt. It was an ironic turn of 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.840 events in some ways, since both the United States and 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.840 the Soviet Union's space programs, which led directly to the 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:12.800 development of satellite technology, had been initiated by those in 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:17.799 power not for a collective benefit, but rather to foster 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:22.880 a respective sense of superiority over the other. And yet 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:27.960 here embodied in the revolutionary Tellstar satellite was not a 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:33.560 tool of division, but one of unity. Almost inadvertently, we 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.320 had been given what remains today one of our greatest 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:42.280 mechanisms for communication, and one that ultimately enabled us, for 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:53.919 the first time, to really see each other. The Telstar 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.080 satellite was very much a tool worthy of the spirit 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.480 of the age, and one that perhaps could have come 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:05.400 soon enough. Barely four months after its launch, the Soviet 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.960 Union and United States governments brought the world to the 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:13.560 brink of nuclear war. For this was the nineteen sixties, 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:19.600 a wildly turbulent decade characterized by complex and often violent 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:26.120 social upheaval on a global scale, of multiple nations forging 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.560 new identities from the ashes of the Second World War, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.960 with many having only recently been unshackled superficially at least 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:40.200 from the bonds of colonialism. Its strange mix of animus 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:43.840 and optimism being no less than the reflections of an 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:49.440 entire planet grappling with its future, and everything was up 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:55.280 for grabs. It was also a decade when younger generations 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.160 felt more empowered than ever before to genuinely challenge the 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.600 status quos of old, whether it be through the music 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:07.120 of the day, the proliferation of recreational drugs, or ordinary 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:12.880 political protest. A decade when swathes of teenagers and young adults, 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.080 using whatever tools they could, took one collective look at 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.520 the world they had inherited and said no, thank you. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.520 Perhaps it was fitting then that the person who would 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.960 deliver the first official address on live satellite TV during 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:35.159 that July twenty third broadcast would be President John F. Kennedy, 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:40.719 the youngest ever American president elected to office. His message 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:43.520 to the world that day was very much in keeping 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:48.000 with the spirit of communication epitomized by Telstar, as he 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.680 celebrated the power of this new technology to potentially bring 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:56.680 us closer together. Sadly, in a turn of events that 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:01.720 couldn't better encapsulate the tragedy of the human experience, Barely 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.880 eight months after Telstar's launch, this mighty symbol of unity 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:11.680 was destroyed by the radioactive fallout from a high altitude 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:18.080 nuclear weapons test. But it was ever Thus we rise, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:24.240 we fall, we rise again, and so too did the 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:30.080 Telstar when in May nineteen sixty three, its second incarnation, 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:35.400 Telstar two, was launched into orbit. By the autumn of 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.320 sixty three, a total of thirteen satellites had been successfully 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.720 placed in orbit around the globe, though small in comparison 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.240 to today's models, if you happened to be gazing up 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.560 at the right time on a clear enough evening, you 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.800 might just have caught the odd sight of one drifting 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:58.240 strangely in the sky, like a star suddenly loosened from 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.960 its moorings. Such a sighting at the time would none 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.240 the less have been a rare occurrence, and one that 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.279 no doubt had many of those who might have glimpsed one, 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.919 perhaps believing it wasn't a satellite they had just witnessed, 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:18.960 but something a little more other worldly instead. At least 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.760 that was one of the many suggestions put forward to 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.520 explain a sighting of an apparent UFO made by four 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:29.200 British teenagers on their way home from a dance one 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:35.440 November evening and sixty three. Such a suggestion, however, barely 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:41.400 scratches the surface of just what exactly happened. Next, you're 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:54.800 listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McClane Smith. The village 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.440 of Saltwood, in the southeast of England, located less than 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:02.160 a kilometer north of the Kent Coast, is perhaps best 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.200 known for its eponymous castle, built some time in the 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.360 eleventh century CE. It was insult with castle on one 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:14.360 cold night in December eleven hundred and seventy that four 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:19.000 knights of the Realm, Sir Hugh de Morville, Reginald Fitzurs, 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:24.720 William de Tracy and Richard le Breton, took lodgings on 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:29.880 the eve of committing the most infamous assassination in British history. 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.720 The following day, the four Knights made their way to 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.240 Canterbury Cathedral under orders from King Henry the Second to 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:43.720 apprehend then Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett, who was accused 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:47.200 of undermining the King's recent efforts to limit the powers 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:51.400 of the church. When Beckett refused to accept the Knight's 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:55.680 authority to arrest him, they responded by slicing off the 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.360 top of his head and dashing its contents across the 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:06.000 cathedral floor. Understandably, such history as a knack of lingering 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:10.200 in places like Saltwood, much like the talk of ancient 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:12.840 bloody battles that are thought to have occurred on the 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.800 land surrounding the village from as far back as the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:20.080 Bronze Age. That and the existence of numerous Roman and 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.640 Anglo Saxon burial sites nearby, only served to intensify the 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:28.400 belief among some local residents that there were more than 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.960 just a few ghosts that haunted this quiet corner of 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:36.440 the British Isles. It is little surprised, then, that such 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.600 things might have wormed their way into the minds of 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:44.240 sixteen year old Jenny Holloway, her boyfriend John Flaxton and 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.679 their two friends Tony and Mervyn as they made their 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:53.640 way home on that chilly evening of Saturday, November sixteenth. 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.320 But all those familiar old tails they knew of ghostly 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:03.400 legionnaires and ladies in white so passe. This was the sixties, 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.720 after all. It was time for something a little different. 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:13.760 Here they come now on their way to nearby Sandling Station, 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.200 approaching the last street light on the edge of the village. 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.520 Let's join them as they step beyond the reaches of 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:25.240 its soft sodium glow and into the dark of the 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:35.640 Kent countryside. It is nearly nine pm when the four 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:39.600 friends draw up alongside the playing fields of Saltwood's Brockhill 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:44.480 Park School, trying their best to ignore the ominous silhouette 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.680 of the gloomy old manor house at the back of 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:51.440 the premises. The house, along with the rest of the site, 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.080 had once been part of a vast private estate belonging 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:59.720 to the Tawney family after inheriting it in the eighteen eighties. 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.920 The estate's last owner, William Towney, considered by some to 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.080 have been somewhat of an eccentric, was said to have 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.920 been a recluse rarely seen by any one other than 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:16.160 the property's caretakers. Even as far back as the late 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.079 nineteenth century, Brochial Manor was known to the locals as 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:24.960 the Haunted House. In days gone by, those who dared 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:28.199 to get close enough to look inside would be treated 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.880 to the intimidating sight of a huge polar bear raised 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:35.160 up on hind legs, with its teeth and claws, beard, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.400 and all manner of other animal skins dotted about the place. 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.640 But it was for the small patch of woodland located 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.319 just behind the house that the most elaborate tales were preserved. 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.480 For it was there, at the foot of Chesterfield Wood, 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.880 on a small island in the middle of a private lake, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.880 that the enigmatic Towney was laid to rest in the 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:03.680 autumn of ninety three, along with his dark Daisy, who 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:08.079 was killed and buried with him as per his final request. 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:14.240 Tawney's ghost was said to haunt the island and surrounding woods, 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.760 the same woods, incidentally, towards which something peculiar was now 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:30.439 falling from out of the sky. John is the first 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:34.119 to notice it, alerting the others to the bright, reddish 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.200 yellow light that he assumes to be some kind of 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:40.880 shooting star, but just as it looks as though it 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.840 might smash into the ground, the group watch with amazement 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:50.080 as the peculiar light appears to slow down, suddenly, then 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:55.880 hover for a moment before disappearing behind the trees. Growing 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.439 a little unnerved, the group hurry on toward the station 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.960 until approaching a bend in the road known as Slighbrook Corner, 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:08.560 John notices a strange, hazy glow coming from the direction 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:13.120 of the woods. Turning the corner, they catch sight of 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:17.520 something resting on top of the hill. At roughly twenty 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.920 feet wide in diameter and oval in shape, it appears 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:26.880 to be lit up from the inside. As the friends 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.319 continue on, all the while keeping their eyes fixed on 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.280 the object, they struggle to shake the distinct feeling that 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:40.080 whatever it is is watching them. A short time later, 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:42.839 with the group having come to a dip in the road, 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.480 they have just lost sight of the strange object when 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:51.200 a figure suddenly emerges stumbling into the road thirty yards 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:55.360 ahead of them. The group freeze as they watched the 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.640 silhouetted outline of what seems to be a man in 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:03.560 a cloak carrying an old fashioned hurricane lamp. The light 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:08.640 of which flashes intermittently as the figure shuffles slowly forwards. 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:14.240 When they strain for a closer look. However, they soon 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.520 realize their mistake. It isn't a cloak that the man 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.960 has on his back, it's a pair of wings. And 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.839 where at first they had assumed the man's head to 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.640 have been rendered invisible by the lack of light, the 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.320 more they look at it, the more it begins to 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:37.480 seem as though there isn't a head at all. Too 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:41.440 afraid to move, the friends watch and stun silence as 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.240 the figure disappears over the rail track, before running to 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:49.520 the safety of the station. After seeing Jenny on to 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.280 her train, the boys make their way back to Saltwood Village, 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.520 but see nothing again of the strange figure or glowing 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:04.160 light in the trees. Are you always taking care of 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:06.680 your family? Do you often take care of others and 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.960 not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:14.160 to make time for you you deserve it. Teledoc gives 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.920 you access to a licensed therapist to help you get 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.160 back to feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.400 With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.000 or video therapy. Appointments are available seven days a week 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.440 from seven am to nine pm local time. If you 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:36.520 feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.480 or lonely, or you might be struggling with a personal 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:43.840 or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed to 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.600 facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy to 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:52.440 change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc therapy is available 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.400 through most insurance or employers. Download the app or visit 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.480 teledoc dot com Forward Slash Unexplained podcast to day to 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:06.800 get started. That's t e ladoc dot com Slash Unexplained podcast. 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.480 When John Flaxton first recounts the story to his other friends, 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:20.360 he has convinced that he saw a ghost, and before 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.360 long news of the peculiar sighting begins to spread amongst 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:28.760 the kids of the local area. However, the following Friday, 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.040 news of a very different kind was beginning to filter 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.320 through to Saltwood Village and indeed the rest of the world. 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.000 For viewers of BBC one, the announcement came through at 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:45.680 shortly after seven pm UK time that President John F. 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.600 Kennedy of the United States had been shot while on 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:55.000 a presidential visit to Dallas in Texas. A second news 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.040 flash thirty minutes later confirmed that the president of the 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:04.960 United States was dead, Thanks in part to the Telstar 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.680 to satellite news and images of the assassination quickly filtered 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.040 through to the rest of the world. Though some, including 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.720 far right elements within the United States angered by his 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:23.160 position on civil rights, celebrated Kennedy's death, a great many 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:30.920 more around the world were united in shock. Later that night, 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:35.200 in Saltwood, another group of friends, this time driving towards 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:39.360 Sandling Station, also witness what they at first take to 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.520 be a shooting star, but then on their way back, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.440 they spot a light behind Chesterfield Wood, just as the 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:51.880 others had seen the week before, only this time they 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.680 see it rise into the air and land in a 0:16:54.800 --> 0:17:01.000 field a hundred yards away in utter amusement. After pulling 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.640 over the car, one of the group, sixteen year old 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:10.199 Annette Baxter, volunteers to take a closer look. Speaking to 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:14.840 reporters a few days later, Baxter described how surely, after 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.040 making her way toward the light, she saw what she 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.440 took to be some kind of a figure emerge from 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:25.399 out of it. The last thing she remembered was turning 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:32.680 to run before apparently blacking out. That same night, at 0:17:32.720 --> 0:17:36.360 a quarry located about half a mile outside the village, 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:40.359 the appearance of soft glowing lights in the distance is 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:45.120 followed by the sound of engines and music growing in intensity, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.720 until finally two cars of teenagers burst forth from the 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:54.479 surrounding trees. The head lamps illuminate the cavern as space 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.119 for the briefest of moments as the cars spin round, 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.199 then come to rest at the quarry's air and the 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:08.080 lights are switched off. Inside the vehicles, cigarettes are passed 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:11.720 around as the music shifts and the reedy wobble of 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:16.360 a harmonica is followed by two liver Puddlian voices singing 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:22.160 in perfect harmony. The kids sing along and turn their 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:26.400 heads to enjoy the uninterrupted view of a vast, starlit 0:18:26.520 --> 0:18:32.040 sky above, too busy to notice the strange figure lurking 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:36.320 in the shadows until one of them spots it standing 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:40.080 a short distance away from the cars. In a panic, 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.439 the kids fumbled for the lights and switch off the radio, 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:55.720 but when they look again, the figure has gone. The 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:59.879 following day, as the news and implications of President Kennedy's 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:04.720 as assination dominate headlines across the globe. For the teenages 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.840 of Saltwood in Kent, there is only one thing on 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.760 their mind. With rumors of the recent peculiar sightings beginning 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:17.000 to escalate, one resident takes it upon himself to try 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.240 and get to the bottom of it all. On the 0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:24.720 morning of Saturday, November twenty third, sixteen year old John 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:29.720 McGoldrick ventures up into the woods behind Brockhill Park, where 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.440 after a short investigation of the area, he comes upon 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:38.360 something unexpected. As he would later recount to the UK's 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:43.040 Flying Saucer Review, he had stumbled upon a vast expanse 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.440 of bracken that looked as if it had been completely flattened, 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.240 as if a huge, heavy object had rested there. But 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:57.840 that wasn't all. Moving around the space, John came across 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.560 a series of odd impressions in the ground that looked 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:06.080 like huge webbed feet over half a meter in length. 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:11.080 Later that afternoon, a strange creature from out of space 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:15.760 most definitely did arrive, if only on British television screens. 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.719 It was shortly after five fifteen PM when thousands of 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.439 British viewers were introduced for the first time to an 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:31.200 enigmatic and prickly individual known only as the Doctor, appearing 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:36.120 in the first episode ever of Doctor Who. But if 0:20:36.119 --> 0:20:39.440 the Doctor's arrival had stirred the imaginations of the Saltwood 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.680 Village youth, already preoccupied with their own stories of visitors 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.560 from space, it would soon be eclipsed by some even 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:51.359 more incredible news beamed in from across the Atlantic. The 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:56.160 following day. It was hard to say how many exactly 0:20:56.480 --> 0:20:59.720 tuned in to watch a ghast as Lee Harvey Oswalt, 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:04.600 the man accused of Kennedy's assassination, was shot live on 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:10.120 t V by Dallas night club owner Jack Ruby. Either way, 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.520 there were few who didn't hear about it soon after, 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.200 and only a day later, to cap off one of 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:22.320 the most extraordinary week ends in world history, many British 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:27.199 residents watched live again courtesy of the Telstar to satellite, 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:32.200 as President Kennedy was laid to rest, and with him 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:38.320 too went forever a now quaint and distant age. Only 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.719 the year before, President Kennedy's press conference had ushered in 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.439 a new era of hyper connectivity in the hope that 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:50.800 it would foster peace. But in his death something a 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:55.480 little darker of this new world was being revealed. A 0:21:55.640 --> 0:22:00.800 new media age had well and truly arrived. Author of 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:05.920 a clockwork Orange and television critic Anthony Burgess would later note, 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:11.080 we have seen everything now that impartial eye has looked 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:15.520 on murder. From now on there will always be the 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:27.879 stain of a corpse on the living room rug. Back 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.720 in Saltwood. With all the focus on the extraordinary events 0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:34.800 that had been taking place in the States, talk of 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.840 the strange goings on of the previous week had been 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:43.160 all but silenced. Sixteen year old John McGoldrick, however, had 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.840 yet to give up hope of seeing the supposed visitor 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.680 for himself, and it wasn't long before he would get 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:54.160 his wish. It was sometime toward the end of November, 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:58.440 around eight p m. The John and two friends made 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:02.320 their way along the Sandling Road. When, having just passed 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:05.800 the school playing fields, John caught sight of what he 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.159 took to be a tall figure standing still in the 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:13.760 field behind a line of trees. The boys hurried along 0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:16.439 the path as they fought to keep it in their sights, 0:23:17.160 --> 0:23:20.040 but as they approached the entrance to the school, they 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.400 were disappointed to find that the figure had now disappeared. 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:28.040 Moments later, one of the boys let out a sharp 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:33.800 gasp and pointed toward a corner of the playing field. There, 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:37.359 standing motionless in the middle of it was the tall 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:42.840 figure they had seen earlier. Hoping they hadn't been spotted 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:46.320 by it, the boys quietly made their way to Slaybrook 0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:50.919 Corner and into the field beyond. They were hoping to 0:23:50.960 --> 0:23:53.600 get a more sheltered view of the figure from up 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:57.800 the hill, but was soon questioning their decision when halfway 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:01.680 up the rise they caught the whip of something putrid. 0:24:03.280 --> 0:24:06.920 After taking only a few more steps further, John let 0:24:06.960 --> 0:24:09.760 out a cry at the sight of the figure that 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:14.960 was now standing directly in front of them. The boys 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:19.280 immediately fled from the scene in terror, running without once 0:24:19.320 --> 0:24:25.879 looking back to the safety of the village. With a 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:29.000 few local journalists starting to pick up on the story, 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:32.640 two reporters accompanied John and his friends to the same 0:24:32.680 --> 0:24:37.280 spot a few weeks later, where they reported witnessing a strange, 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:41.760 pulsating light coming from within the trees that lasted for 0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:46.280 almost half an hour. Neither of the group, however, were 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:50.760 quite willing to get a closer look at it, and 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:55.120 so concluded the last reported sighting that formed just one 0:24:55.160 --> 0:24:57.840 of the many strange events that took place in a 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:02.480 quiet seaside community in the south of England one eventful 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:15.520 month in nineteen sixty three. After eventually being picked up 0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:19.440 by the national press, the apparent sightings convinced a number 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:22.920 of UFO enthusiasts to visit the area not long after 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:28.040 the initial reports first came out. Despite collating a host 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:32.199 of eyewitness accounts from local residents, with many reporting the 0:25:32.240 --> 0:25:37.760 sighting of a bizarre winged bat like creature, no satisfying 0:25:37.840 --> 0:25:44.000 explanation for the events was found, and that it seemed 0:25:45.040 --> 0:25:50.159 was that it was three years later, almost to the 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.280 day of that first sighting in Saltwood Village, when four 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:58.160 thousand miles away outside the small town of Point Pleasant 0:25:58.240 --> 0:26:02.840 in West Virginia, USA, two young couples were cruising in 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:05.879 a car along the back roads of a local farmlands 0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:11.240 and wetlands region known as the TNT Area. The place 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:14.280 was so called due to its former usage as an 0:26:14.280 --> 0:26:20.920 ammunition manufacturing and storage facility for the US military. More recently, however, 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:24.200 it had become a popular spot for kids and young 0:26:24.280 --> 0:26:27.600 adults from the local area to hang out and loose 0:26:28.000 --> 0:26:31.400 away from the prying eyes of the town's more senior residence, 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:37.720 but that night the area was oddly deserted. The four friends, 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:42.160 Roger and Linda Scarborough and Mary and Steve Mallett, were 0:26:42.240 --> 0:26:46.400 just about to head home when Steve spotted something up 0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:49.840 ahead by the side of the road. It was some 0:26:49.960 --> 0:26:52.320 kind of animal that appeared to be caught on a 0:26:52.359 --> 0:26:56.760 wire and was trying desperately to free itself, but as 0:26:56.800 --> 0:27:00.600 they drew nearer, they soon discovered it was like no 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:06.000 animal either of them had ever seen before. Roger, who 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:09.560 was driving at the time, slammed on the brakes and 0:27:09.680 --> 0:27:14.480 switched off the radio. Then together they sat in stunned 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:17.600 silence as they tried to wrap their minds around what 0:27:17.720 --> 0:27:22.560 it was they were looking at. The apparent creature had 0:27:22.640 --> 0:27:28.040 two long arms and stood upright on two legs, looking 0:27:28.080 --> 0:27:32.400 almost human were it not for its disproportionately large hands. 0:27:34.160 --> 0:27:37.600 It was almost seven feet tall, with a lithe and 0:27:37.720 --> 0:27:40.800 muscular body, and from what they could make out and 0:27:40.800 --> 0:27:44.399 the glare of the headlights, a sort of pale beige 0:27:44.400 --> 0:27:49.959 in color from afar, It had first appeared as if 0:27:49.960 --> 0:27:53.919 the creature's hand was trapped in the wire. It was 0:27:53.960 --> 0:27:57.640 only when they moved in closer that they realized it 0:27:57.720 --> 0:28:02.960 wasn't a hand. It was then they noticed the pair 0:28:03.040 --> 0:28:08.399 of them sticking up behind its shoulders, having eventually freed 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:13.200 itself and then stumbled away. The apparent creature was alleged 0:28:13.200 --> 0:28:16.640 to have appeared in the sky moments later and chased 0:28:16.720 --> 0:28:20.360 the four friends all the way back to Point Pleasant. 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:26.240 This creature that became known as the Mothman, was considered 0:28:26.280 --> 0:28:30.520 by some, such as famed uthologist John Keel, to be 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:37.280 an almost mythological being of indeterminate galactic origin. Keel's best 0:28:37.320 --> 0:28:41.400 known book on the subject, The Mothman Prophecies, although dealing 0:28:41.440 --> 0:28:44.760 mainly with the sightings and subsequent events that took place 0:28:44.800 --> 0:28:50.600 around Point Pleasant, also speculated that the bizarre sightings in Saltwood, England, 0:28:50.880 --> 0:28:54.440 three years previously might have been of the same creature. 0:28:55.680 --> 0:28:58.560 That the Mothman was possibly a portent of tragedy and 0:28:58.720 --> 0:29:04.080 death was perhaps one of his more outlandish theories. Either way, 0:29:05.080 --> 0:29:08.479 one thing we can be sure of, whatever it was 0:29:08.560 --> 0:29:11.680 that took place exactly in that quiet Kent village in 0:29:11.760 --> 0:29:22.840 nineteen sixty three, remains to this day unexplained. If you 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:26.040 enjoy listening to Unexplained and would like to help supporters, 0:29:26.480 --> 0:29:29.680 You can now go to Unexplained podcast dot com Forward 0:29:29.680 --> 0:29:34.280 slash support. All donations, no matter how large or small, 0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:42.040 are massively appreciating. All elements of Unexplained are produced by me, 0:29:42.280 --> 0:29:45.720 Richard mcclained smith. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes. 0:29:45.920 --> 0:29:47.880 Feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or 0:29:47.920 --> 0:29:51.400 ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:53.520 you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. 0:29:54.240 --> 0:29:57.000 You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com 0:29:57.120 --> 0:30:12.760 or on Twitter at Unexplained pod. Now. It's time to 0:30:12.840 --> 0:30:17.080 take care of yourself. To make time for you, teledoc 0:30:17.200 --> 0:30:20.160 gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you 0:30:20.240 --> 0:30:23.560 get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed 0:30:23.640 --> 0:30:27.680