1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,120 Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard Maclin Smith here, not the impostor you've 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: been listening to on the podcasts the real one. Join 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: me for Unexplained TV at YouTube dot com Forward Slash 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: Unexplained pod. It could be argued that our ability to 5 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: comprehend our own death and the fear of such an idea, 6 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: is the very thing that makes us the conscious, self 7 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: aware creatures that we consider ourselves to be. That only 8 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: in understanding our lives as something in opposition to death 9 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: do we develop a concept of the self. You might 10 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: say that death is the ultimate price of self awareness. 11 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: A recent Gallup poll conducted across sixty one countries around 12 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: the world found that roughly sixty percent of people believe 13 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: in an after life, and yet for many of those 14 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: same people, the idea of death as a final end 15 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,640 Speaker 1: for us and the ones we love is still the 16 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:18,360 Speaker 1: greatest of fears. We need only witness the ferocity with 17 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: which people will instinctively fight for their survival, even if 18 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 1: they believe heaven awaits them on the other side, to 19 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: understand how potent this fear can be. This instinct heart 20 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: wired into the brain's hypothalamus, suggests from a biological perspective, 21 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: at least that, despite what we hope may await us 22 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: after we die, that our bodies seem very reluctant to 23 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: find out exactly what that might be. All stories, says 24 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: Ernest Hemingway, are about death. What then, of the stories 25 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: we tell that go a little further. The first law 26 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: of thermodynamics dictate that the total amount of energy in 27 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 1: a closed system is constant. It can neither be destroyed 28 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: nor created, merely changing from one form to another. If 29 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: the universe is a closed system, as many scientists believe, 30 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: there is little dispute as to what fate awaits the 31 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: material of the body after death. Its constituent parts will 32 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: be broken down piece by peace, repurposed and reintegrated, never 33 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: disturbing the scales of the universal totality of energy. Perhaps 34 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: for the materialist, then this is satisfaction enough that we, 35 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: in some way or other, continue to exist long after 36 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: our bodies have decomposed. The idea of where we go 37 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: we being the slightly more abstract and intangible notion of 38 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,920 Speaker 1: the self, as proven and altogether more difficult beasts to 39 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: pin down. It is an unknown that cause into question 40 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: the very nature of consciousness, and one that has been 41 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: explored in stories told across every community and culture from 42 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:14,400 Speaker 1: as far back as we know. You're listening to Unexplained 43 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: and I'm Richard MacLean Smith. Death, as an ancient Greek, 44 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: provided you had received a burial, would supposedly be followed 45 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: by the separation from your body of your soul, which 46 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: would then be led by Hades to the entrance of 47 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: the underworld. From here, your soul, taking the form of 48 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: your living world self, would be ferried by Charon across 49 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: the Acharn River, where, under the watchful eye of Cerberus, 50 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: the three headed hound of Hades, the judges of the 51 00:03:54,600 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: underworld would decide your fate. For the virtuous heroes and semigods, 52 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: the golden fields of Elysium would await. For those unlucky 53 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: enough to be judged sufficiently undeserving, it would be to 54 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: the unlit gloom of the Tartarus Abyss that you would 55 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:18,160 Speaker 1: be dispatched. For. The ancient Egyptians, differing traditions offered a 56 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: variety of after life scenarios. The most well known is 57 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,239 Speaker 1: to be found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, 58 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: which details a horrifying and complex journey into Duart. The 59 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: Egyptian underworld. Provided your soul was able to survive a 60 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: treacherous gauntlet chased by terrifying and grotesque entities, it would 61 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: arrive at the Hall of Truth to face the judgment 62 00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: of Osiris, the god of the Dead. If found to 63 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: have lived a sufficiently virtuous life, your heart would be 64 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: taken by Anubis, the god of embalming, and weighed against 65 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: the goddess my arts, white ostrich feather of Truth. If 66 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,719 Speaker 1: the heart was equal to more lighter than the feather, 67 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: your soul would be granted access to the red fields 68 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:14,239 Speaker 1: of Aru, a paradisical land, where again, in the guise 69 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: of your wants living body, your soul would dwell for eternity. 70 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: A heart heavier than the feather of Truth would be 71 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: thrown to and promptly gobbled up by the goddess and 72 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,120 Speaker 1: devourer of the dead Amit, condemning the soul to an 73 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: eternal restlessness. In contemporary cultures influenced by the Abrahamic religions 74 00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, stories of the afterlife follow 75 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: a similar theme, promoting a version of continued life consistent 76 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: with our living sense of self image, just as it 77 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: was for the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, life becomes a 78 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:59,480 Speaker 1: test of moral courage, and where we end up is 79 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:05,240 Speaker 1: subsequently dependent on our actions. The options are invariably divided 80 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:10,039 Speaker 1: between some form of heaven or hell. Followers of religions 81 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 1: such as Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, however, believe our lives 82 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: to be but one moment in the process of samsara, 83 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 1: the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death, more commonly 84 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: known as reincarnation. Much like the eschatology of other faiths, 85 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: those that incorporate samsara believe too, in the karmic process 86 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: of the life you lead, dictating your fate in death, 87 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: while also employing a dualist separation of body and soul. 88 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 1: A fundamental difference is the complete rejection of a singular 89 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: image of the body. Instead, Samsara dictates that the soul, 90 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: your true essence, is the only consistency, while its body 91 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: will take potentially infinite forms as it is reborn ceaselessly 92 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,760 Speaker 1: into the material world. Release from the infinite cycle comes 93 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: only to those souls who are able to become so 94 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: transcendentally enlightened that they are liberated from the bondage of 95 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: consciousness altogether and dissolved back into the great oneness of 96 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:27,560 Speaker 1: all things. Buddhist teachings of Samsara have suggested that such 97 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: a process could allow for the remembrance of previous lives, 98 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: since all previous lives are considered to be merely different 99 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: experiences of the same soul. Some believe this phenomenon known 100 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: as jattismara. Although traditionally the preserve of great Buddhist saints 101 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: can be unnearthed through past life regression, the technique of 102 00:07:52,240 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: using hypnosis to recover these apparent memories. Although common in 103 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: ancient India, it wasn't until the late nineteenth century, through 104 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: the teachings of occultist Elena Blovatski and the Theosophical Society 105 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: that she co founded in eighteen seventy five, that the 106 00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: idea of past life regression gained prominence in modern European society. 107 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: Many accounts have been dismissed as simple cases of false 108 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:37,840 Speaker 1: memories recollections of names and places that have been subconsciously absorbed. However, 109 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: there are a few cases that have not been so 110 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: easy to dismiss. In twenty fifteen, a young boy named 111 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: Ryan from Muskogee in Oklahoma who was ten at the time, 112 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: hit the headlines with the claim that he could remember 113 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:57,479 Speaker 1: the life of a man who died fifty years previously. 114 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: It began with a nightmare when, at the age of four, 115 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:06,119 Speaker 1: Ryan woke up screaming, saying that his chest was exploding. 116 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: He began dreaming about a life spent working in Hollywood 117 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties and nineteen forties, a trip that 118 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: had once taken to Paris, that he had a sister 119 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: and lived on a street with the word rock in it, 120 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,720 Speaker 1: as well as the bizarre claim that he had had 121 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: five wives. Ryan became so insistent that his mother, not 122 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,480 Speaker 1: quite sure what to do about it, took out some 123 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,679 Speaker 1: books on the Golden era of Hollywood and brought them 124 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,959 Speaker 1: home for Ryan to look at. While perusing one of them, 125 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:46,600 Speaker 1: Ryan yelled, that's George, pointing at an image taken from 126 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:51,120 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirty two movie Night After Night. And that 127 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,000 Speaker 1: guy's me, he said, pointing to another man at the 128 00:09:55,040 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: back of the picture. Growing increasingly unsettled by Ryan's ba proclamations, 129 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: his parents enlisted the help of child psychologist doctor Jim 130 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: Tucker from the University of Virginia, whose division of Perceptual 131 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: Studies specializes in investigating cases of apparent reincarnation. With doctor 132 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: Tucker's help, the man that Ryan pointed out in the 133 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: picture was identified as Marty Martin, who had appeared in 134 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: the movie Night after Night as an extra. Incredibly, the 135 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: other man Ryan had pointed to was indeed called George. 136 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: It was the actor George Raft. Neither man was listed 137 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: under the image in the book. It was later discovered 138 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: that Marty Martin did indeed have a sister, had at 139 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:53,319 Speaker 1: one point visited Paris, and incredibly, had had five wives. 140 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 1: Martin was also found to have lived on not Rock exactly, 141 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:03,359 Speaker 1: but Roxbury Drive. And that sensation of his heart exploding 142 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: that had so terrorized Ryan at four years old. Some 143 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: might say it had something to do with the heart 144 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: attack that killed Marty Martin at the age of sixty one, 145 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: or at least that's how old Ryan claimed Martin was 146 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: when he died. However, when doctor Tucker located his death certificate, 147 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:29,559 Speaker 1: it listed his age at death as fifty nine. It 148 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,280 Speaker 1: was some time later when doctor Tucker found Marty Martin 149 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:37,719 Speaker 1: listed in an old census report, amazed to discover that 150 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:43,200 Speaker 1: the death certificate had incorrectly listed Martin's birth by two years. 151 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: He most likely had been sixty one when he died 152 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:53,319 Speaker 1: after all. The Division of Perceptual Studies at the University 153 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 1: of Virginia was founded in nineteen sixty seven by psychiatrist 154 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: doctor Ian Stephenson. By the time of his retirement in 155 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: two thousand and two, Stephenson had logged over two and 156 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:10,960 Speaker 1: a half thousand cases of apparent reincarnation, with varying degrees 157 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:17,400 Speaker 1: of credibility. One such case involved a young boy from Middlesbrough, England, 158 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: whose story he would learn about after reading an article 159 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: published in nineteen eighty three detailing the boy's extraordinary claims. 160 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,319 Speaker 1: It would prove to be one of the most compelling 161 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: cases that doctor Stephenson would ever come across. On the 162 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: bitterly cold afternoon of January fifteenth, nineteen forty two, with 163 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:50,839 Speaker 1: night beginning to fall, Captain e s Parks of the 164 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:55,439 Speaker 1: Ess Empire Bay watches from the ship's bridge as all 165 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: across the British Isles, the lights go out. The sky 166 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:05,960 Speaker 1: shimmers like oil. Electric pinks dissolve into inky blue as 167 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 1: the last of the sun's rays drop below the horizon. 168 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: At seventeen hundred hours, the ship's engine gurgles and sputters 169 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: before roaring into life as thick black plumes of smoke 170 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,560 Speaker 1: are belched into the air. The cargo ship is laden 171 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:27,600 Speaker 1: with three thousand, eight hundred tons of coal and thirty 172 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:32,280 Speaker 1: eight crew, bound for London. Such journeys are among the 173 00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: most treacherous for the Merchant Navy as they attempt to 174 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: deliver fuel to the Capitol to aid the British war effort. 175 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: They skulk close to the coast in small convoys in 176 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: the hope that their limited company and the cover of 177 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: darkness will keep them safe from the peril above. It 178 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: is shortly after seventeen hundred hours and fifteen minutes when 179 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 1: the Empire draws level with the S. S. Corse, when 180 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: Captain Parks orders the anchor dropped while they wait for 181 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,320 Speaker 1: the final vessel of their convoy to catch up to them. 182 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: The crew pull their pea coats a little tighter, taking 183 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: drags on woodbines. As the boat gently rocks and creeks 184 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: on the ebbing tide. All eyes are turned nervously to 185 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 1: the skies. It's just gone seventeen hundred hours and thirty 186 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: minutes when the looping whale of an air raid siren 187 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: comes twisting out of the dark from somewhere in the 188 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: direction of Hartleypool action stations. Screams, parks, glowing embers are 189 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: flicked overboard, and hats hurriedly pulled onto heads as the 190 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: crew scurry into position along the coastline. Bulbous barrage balloons 191 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: vast inflatables designed to obstruct low flying aircraft are drifting 192 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: up into the air as the men continue to scan 193 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: the sky, their necks in manic desperation for any glimpse 194 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 1: of incoming planes. Chief Stewart John Cavanagh is perched behind 195 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: the twin Lewis guns on the port side of the 196 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 1: ship's bridge, his eyes fixed on Captain Parks, waiting for 197 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: his signal. When he finally hears the dreaded, unmistakable hum 198 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: of approaching aircraft, Cavanah spins round, squinting into the distant 199 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,440 Speaker 1: darkness as his eyes work desperately to adjust to the gloom. 200 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: Clouds and eye spots teas shapes in the sky that 201 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: swiftly vanish into nothing, until finally something solid materializes. A 202 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: row of small spots twelve miles or so off the 203 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: port beam, steadily growing in size as the rumble of 204 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: engines grows ever louder, the spots grow longer and thinner 205 00:15:56,200 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: and sprout wings and tails. Grips the gun tight and 206 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: positions the planes in its sights. Then one breaks suddenly 207 00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: from the pack, the drone of its engine giving way 208 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:14,040 Speaker 1: to a piercing shriek as it plunges menacingly from the clouds. 209 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: Cavanagh hopes for a moment that it might disappear into 210 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: the water, only to see it level out at the 211 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: last instant before continuing on its path straight towards them. 212 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 1: Guns hold fire, yelled parks. Cavernah's fingers hover over the 213 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: triggers as the aircraft, now less than five miles away, 214 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: bears down upon them. Hold two miles, hold one mile fire. 215 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 1: Cavanagh squeezes the triggers, releasing a thundering racket as the 216 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,760 Speaker 1: plane roars overhead, swerving viciously to the left, before circling 217 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: back round and heading for the SS Corsey. Cavanah watches 218 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: with alarm as the plane reaches the second vessel. It 219 00:17:17,400 --> 00:17:23,040 Speaker 1: fears away at the last moment, releasing a single bomb. Mercifully, 220 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:26,600 Speaker 1: it misses the ship and drops straight into the black 221 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:31,159 Speaker 1: waters around it. The crew find their breath as the 222 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 1: plane pulls up and away, heading in land toward the 223 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: River Tees. A strange calm descents as the worst looks 224 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 1: to be over, but then comes that dreaded sound again. 225 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: Portside bellows Captain Parks. Cavanagh swings the guns back round, 226 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: and there it is again, dropping out at the sky 227 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,679 Speaker 1: and heading straight for the SS Empire Bay. He fights 228 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,680 Speaker 1: to a nor the trembling in its fingers, and steadies 229 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:08,479 Speaker 1: himself once more behind the sights. Hold your fire, and 230 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: again it comes closer and closer, until finally it is 231 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: so close that Cavaner is sure he can see the 232 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,760 Speaker 1: pilot's eyes fire. A rocket shoots out from the bridge 233 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: with a fierce rasp. As Cavanah lets off another volley 234 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: of fire, it pummels into the underside of the wing. 235 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: As the plane rears up, missing the ship's funnel by inches. 236 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,679 Speaker 1: Caverner spins round just in time to see it swerve 237 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: wildly again to the left, before this time releasing five 238 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: bombs from underneath its wings. For a moment they seem 239 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,679 Speaker 1: like soft clods of earth suspended above them, before ripping 240 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:58,360 Speaker 1: violently through the air. Cavner breathes the sigh of relief 241 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: as he catches sight of four of them, disappearing down 242 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,080 Speaker 1: the port side and straight into the water, but there 243 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 1: were five. A booming explosion reverberates from out of the 244 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 1: starboard quarter. As the boat is lifted from the sea, 245 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: Flames and fountains spray up in unison. Cavanah is thrown 246 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: to the floor, his ears ringing from the chaos as 247 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 1: the boat crashes back down. When he finally gets its bearings, 248 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,640 Speaker 1: the ship appears to be holding, and in the space 249 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:36,639 Speaker 1: beyond he can just make out the hulking silhouette of 250 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: an aircraft heading towards the mouth of the River Tees, 251 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,479 Speaker 1: with a trail of thick, dark smoke spewing out of 252 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: its engine. Twenty miles in land, on the outskirts of Billingham, 253 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: a call comes through reporting enemy aircraft spotted off the 254 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:59,560 Speaker 1: coast of Hartlepool, leading aircraftmen while to Myers and his 255 00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 1: crew leap to their stations and begin manically pumping hydrogen 256 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:09,200 Speaker 1: into defense balloons. Once inflated, they stand back and watch 257 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: together as Annie, as they'd christened it, the last of 258 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: their set makes its slowercent into the sky. Its limp 259 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:22,760 Speaker 1: tail flapping casually in the wind. Come on before it's 260 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: too late. Hands turn faster and faster on the winch, 261 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: unspooling the cable until a final click locks it into place. 262 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 1: A sudden gust of wind catches the tail, expanding the 263 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: balloon to its full corpulent glory. The men make their 264 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: way back to the station hut and have only just 265 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:49,120 Speaker 1: settled in when the telltale rumble of a spluttering engine 266 00:20:49,160 --> 00:21:00,880 Speaker 1: is hurt Drawing closer. Maya spots it first, coming in 267 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: far too low and trailing huge clouds of black smoke. 268 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: The rumble turns to a sickening, shrieking wine as the 269 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:13,600 Speaker 1: plane lurches suddenly to the right and heads straight for 270 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: the hut. He's going to machine gunners, No look the cable. 271 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: The air itself seems to tear apart as the plane 272 00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:29,000 Speaker 1: roars past, sending the men scattering for cover. A horrifying 273 00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: crunch and the hulking winch lorry is lifted from the 274 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: floor before it clatters back down to the ground. The 275 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:41,879 Speaker 1: balloon's cable as sliced straight through the starboard wing, propelling 276 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: it in the opposite direction. The rest of the plane 277 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,160 Speaker 1: jerks to the site and veers off towards the Middlesbrough 278 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:52,679 Speaker 1: Docks before slamming into the ground in a ball of 279 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,120 Speaker 1: fire just south of the river Tees. An air raid 280 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 1: warden watches the drama unfolding from his back garden. He 281 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 1: tracks the plane until it disappears just meters from his 282 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,639 Speaker 1: home onto the train tracks behind the Dorman Long steel 283 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:14,479 Speaker 1: works at the bottom of Clay Lane. The warden races 284 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:18,040 Speaker 1: to the crash site as quickly as he can. When 285 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,760 Speaker 1: he arrives, he's immediately sent sprawling to the ground by 286 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: the aircraft's ammunition, exploding in every direction. When the violent 287 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: popping stops, a fire has engulfed the plane. It's already 288 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 1: too intense to attempt a rescue of the men trapped 289 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: in sight. It'll be thirty minutes before firefighters are able 290 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:46,959 Speaker 1: to extinguish the inferno. Meanwhile, twenty miles up the coast, 291 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: the crew of the SS Empire Bay, having all been 292 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 1: successfully retrieved, watch huddle together from rescue boats as the 293 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 1: ship's bow raises into the air before stead sinking below 294 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: the waves. First light on Teesite reveals a monochrome landscape 295 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: of industrial plants and wastelands little changed from the evening's drama, 296 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,080 Speaker 1: save for the smoldering pile of metal, one hundred feet 297 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,040 Speaker 1: of smashed rail track, and a large hole in the 298 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 1: ground measuring roughly ten feet deep and twelve feet wide. 299 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 1: In the distance beyond, the slag and coal heaps lie 300 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,480 Speaker 1: dotted with snow, while the chimneys of the dormant Long 301 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:38,600 Speaker 1: steelworks blow white clouds into the morning air. At the 302 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: crash site, rescue workers, watched over carefully by two men 303 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,160 Speaker 1: wrapped in thick woolen coats, pull three charred bodies from 304 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: the wreckage. A fourth body was thought to have likely 305 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 1: evaporated in the flames. The two men presiding over the 306 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: grizzly scene have been sent by British intelligence to gather 307 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: what they can from the German bomber, but with little 308 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: of interest to be found, and the government keen to 309 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: rebuild the rail track as soon as possible, the officers 310 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: wrap up the search that morning. Within days, the remains 311 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: of the aircraft are buried under a mound of earth, 312 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: and the track is reinstalled as if nothing had ever happened. 313 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 1: The three bodies, identified by their dog tags as Feldvabel 314 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: Jokim Lenes, Lieutenant Rudolph Mattn and uberfeld Wabel Heinrich Richter 315 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: are taken to the nearby Thornaby on Tees Cemetery and 316 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:51,920 Speaker 1: laid to rest. At the turn of the nineteenth century, 317 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: Middlesbrough as little more than a farm located on the 318 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,880 Speaker 1: banks of the River Tees in the northeast of England, 319 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: populated by roughly twenty five people. But a tidal wave 320 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: of change is approaching that will soon turn this bucolic 321 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,760 Speaker 1: idol into one of the country's most prolific industrial powerhouses. 322 00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:19,400 Speaker 1: As the spirit of Enlightenment begins to permeate all aspects 323 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: of British society, there comes a sudden synchronicity of vision 324 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: with the means of production, igniting a fuse from which 325 00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: there will be no going back. From the bowels of 326 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:37,120 Speaker 1: the earth, the British Industrial Revolution rrupts in an explosion 327 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 1: of steam, fire and smoke, a time of extraordinary physical 328 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: and philosophical upheaval built on ambition, greed, and the blood 329 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: and sweat of the men, women and children who rip 330 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,080 Speaker 1: it from the ground and smelt it in the factories. 331 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:01,600 Speaker 1: Soon throughout the land, colossal quadron of industry are springing 332 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:06,239 Speaker 1: up wherever the raw ingredients are most abundant. In the 333 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: early eighteen twenties, railway pioneer Joseph Peas gazes out over 334 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,639 Speaker 1: the banks of the River Tees as it meanders towards 335 00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 1: the North Sea, seeing not the tranquility of its placid waters, 336 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:26,120 Speaker 1: but rather a gateway to the world. By eighteen fifty, 337 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: having bought that Middlesborough farm in eighteen twenty nine, Peas 338 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: brought coal storage facilities and trains to the area, transforming 339 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: the quaint hamlet into a bustling town with a population 340 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:45,680 Speaker 1: of over seven thousand. Twenty years later, after iron ore 341 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:49,159 Speaker 1: is discovered in the nearby town of Eston in the 342 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:54,679 Speaker 1: Cleveland Hills, Middlesbrough quickly establishes itself as a world leader 343 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:59,080 Speaker 1: in steel production. By the end of the century, the 344 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:04,120 Speaker 1: population has grown to ninety thousand, and the town, widely 345 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,200 Speaker 1: referred to as Ironopolis, is producing a third of the 346 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: nation's iron Before long, with the increasingly expanding British Empire, 347 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:18,919 Speaker 1: easton steel, as writer H. G. Reid put it, like 348 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,719 Speaker 1: a strong and invincible serpent is coiling itself around the world. 349 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,800 Speaker 1: In the nineteen twenties, Arthur Dorman and Albert de Land 350 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,320 Speaker 1: long better known as Dorman Long, purchase the Teeside Iron Works, 351 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,119 Speaker 1: and in nineteen thirty two will oversee the building of 352 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:43,520 Speaker 1: their most famous construction, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. But a 353 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: lot can change in fifty years. A combination of the 354 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:52,439 Speaker 1: reduced demand for steel and an ever expanding pool of 355 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: global competition leaves Middlesbrough's key industries floundering. By the early 356 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:03,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, the town, once known as the Infant Hercules, 357 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: is struggling to stay afloat. Nineteen seventy two is an 358 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: especially chaotic year, characterized by strikes and stalemates between a 359 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: conservative government intent on consolidating what little profit there is 360 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:23,199 Speaker 1: left to be made, and the workers' unions intent on 361 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: protecting the interests of the people on whose backs that 362 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 1: very profit had been raised. Throughout Middlesbrough and many of 363 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: the flailing industrial towns of the Midlands and the North 364 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 1: of England, many jobs are lost as companies seek to 365 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: reduce expenditure in the hope of maintaining what are by 366 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:51,480 Speaker 1: now unrealistic profit margins. The government's disastrous efforts to combat 367 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: falling employment ultimately results in the worst unemployment figures since 368 00:28:56,520 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: the nineteen thirties. It is into this urbulent period on 369 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:06,720 Speaker 1: Friday twenty eighth, at December nineteen seventy two, that Carl 370 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 1: Eden is born. You've been listening to Unexplained Season eight, 371 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: episode twenty one, East of Eden, Part one of three, 372 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: Part two will be released next Friday, March seventh. This 373 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: episode was written by Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained is an 374 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,960 Speaker 1: Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. All 375 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,360 Speaker 1: other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also 376 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,840 Speaker 1: produced by me Richard mclin Smith. Unexplained. The book and 377 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase 378 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please 379 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,960 Speaker 1: subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, 380 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts 381 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: or ideas regarding the stories you've had on the show. 382 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like 383 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: to share. You can find out more at Unexplained podcast 384 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,120 Speaker 1: dot com and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained 385 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained 386 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: Podcast