Speaker 1: Welcome to Unexplained Extra the final episode of season four
Speaker 1: with me Richard McClain Smith, where for the weeks in
Speaker 1: between episodes we look at stories and ideas that, for
Speaker 1: one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show.
Speaker 1: In the last episode, The Weight Under, we learned about
Speaker 1: a series of strange events that apparently plagued a number
Speaker 1: of residents of the Newport housing development just outside of Houston,
Speaker 1: Texas in the nineteen eighties. The events, which ranged from
Speaker 1: alleged to supernatural activity to general feelings of oppression and malaise,
Speaker 1: were said to have been so incessant that many residents
Speaker 1: were ultimately forced to move, often at a considerable cost.
Speaker 1: When it transpired, the development had been partially built over
Speaker 1: an unofficial graveyard known as Black Hope Cemetery. Many of
Speaker 1: those affected were left wondering if that had in some
Speaker 1: way been a trigger for all that had taken place.
Speaker 1: It is a compelling idea, and one that is routinely
Speaker 1: played out in many a successful horror story. Certainly, whatever
Speaker 1: we believe about the supposed supernatural consequences of disturbing a grave,
Speaker 1: there are few of us who wouldn't feel a little
Speaker 1: uneasy at the prospect of unwittingly digging up someone's final
Speaker 1: resting place, or indeed living above it. And yet we
Speaker 1: might ask why all of us will die. And even
Speaker 1: for those who believe we are somehow more than a
Speaker 1: bundle of cells and flickering synapses, and that something else
Speaker 1: awaits us beyond this mortal realm, there are few who
Speaker 1: consider the preservation of the body or its final resting
Speaker 1: place to have any significant bearing on that. But then again,
Speaker 1: death has never really been about the dead. In September
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, cave divers Rick Hunter and Stephen Tucker set
Speaker 1: out to explore the Rising Star cave system, located thirty
Speaker 1: miles northwest of Johannesburg in the Fossil Homonid site of
Speaker 1: South Africa. The region is so named due to the
Speaker 1: propensity of ancient hominid fossils, particularly those belonging to Homo
Speaker 1: sapiens and our closest relatives that have been found there.
Speaker 1: Having made it about sixty meters in and thirty meters
Speaker 1: down through a series of hair raisingly narrow passages, jagged
Speaker 1: rock faces, and stalagmite chambers, the men paused to take
Speaker 1: some video footage. Not wanting to get in the picture,
Speaker 1: Tucker dropped into a small crack by the back wall,
Speaker 1: only to find it was a little deeper than he'd
Speaker 1: first assumed in tree. To find out just how deep
Speaker 1: it was, Tucker continued dropping into it through a passage
Speaker 1: as narrow as eight inches in parts, until finally, at
Speaker 1: about fifteen meters down, he hit the bottom, Turning to
Speaker 1: find the space opening up below him, Tucker soon found
Speaker 1: himself in an entirely new section of the cave that
Speaker 1: had never been mapped before, as recounted by Jamie Shrieve
Speaker 1: for the National Geographic with Hunter joining him soon after,
Speaker 1: Tucker made a quick sweep of the chamber with his
Speaker 1: head torch and drew back in astonishment. The floor was
Speaker 1: littered with fossilized bones, many of which looked to be human.
Speaker 1: Realizing the potential of their find, the cavers took photos
Speaker 1: of their discovery that eventually made their way to eminent
Speaker 1: paleoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger of the University of Fittworter Strand
Speaker 1: in Johannesburg. However, as Berger and his team soon discovered
Speaker 1: the bones weren't human at all, nor did they belong
Speaker 1: to any of our direct ancestors. Instead, they concluded they
Speaker 1: were in fact the bones of an earlier offshoot of
Speaker 1: the Homo genus, which had never been seen before. They
Speaker 1: later named it Homo nilledi, after the local Sotho word
Speaker 1: for star. In twenty seventeen, the fossils were found to
Speaker 1: be roughly two hundred and fifty thousand years old. Despite
Speaker 1: all of that, however, as Page Madison noted in a
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen essay in Aon magazine, it is arguable that
Speaker 1: what was most shocking about the discovery was not the
Speaker 1: age of the fossils, or that they belonged to a
Speaker 1: previously unknown species, but rather the location in which they
Speaker 1: were discovered. Considering how deep and inaccessible the chamber is,
Speaker 1: not to mention its complete lack of natural it is
Speaker 1: highly unlikely that homeowner Leddie lived there. Taking into account
Speaker 1: that there were no signs of predation, no sign that
Speaker 1: the bones had dropped into the chamber from above, no
Speaker 1: evidence that water had carried them into the chamber, and
Speaker 1: the fact that the bones had accumulated over time, the
Speaker 1: team were left with one startling conclusion the bodies had
Speaker 1: been deliberately placed there After death by other members of
Speaker 1: the community. Are you always taking care of your family?
Speaker 1: Do you often take care of others and not yourself.
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Speaker 1: slash Unexplained Podcast. Though some have cautioned against the hypothesis,
Speaker 1: there is good evidence to suggest that the Rising Star
Speaker 1: homeowner Leddy discovery is in effect the first ever known graveyard,
Speaker 1: as Page Madison also noted in aon This is hugely
Speaker 1: significant since mortuary rituals reveal, as Aison says, a capacity
Speaker 1: to think symbolically, in other words, the capacity to understand
Speaker 1: things in the abstract, and ultimately the capacity for imagination.
Speaker 1: Assuming that our ancestors were operating at a similar level
Speaker 1: of sophistication at the time, it could also be that
Speaker 1: this discovery marks the beginnings of our ability to tell stories,
Speaker 1: a feat of cognitive gymnastics that many believe sets us
Speaker 1: apart from other animals. With the emergence of our ability
Speaker 1: to tell stories also comes the beginnings of our search
Speaker 1: for meaning and our endeavor to comprehend ourselves and the cosmos.
Speaker 1: In turn, we find these stories and ideas that we
Speaker 1: tell each other reflected in our mortuary rituals, and as such, paradoxically,
Speaker 1: we reveal a great deal about our philosophies and ways
Speaker 1: of life through our relationship with death and our rituals
Speaker 1: for the dead. From ancient Egyptian pyramids and tombs laden
Speaker 1: with jewels and trinkets to take to the afterlife for
Speaker 1: the select few to plague pits or the mass graves
Speaker 1: of a wartime atrocity, to the notion of consecrated ground
Speaker 1: or a so called pauper's grave. To eco friendly bio
Speaker 1: urns or the option to be blasted into space, to
Speaker 1: the simple scattering of a loved one's ashes across a
Speaker 1: favorite beach. There is much to discern about human life. Personally,
Speaker 1: I've never been particularly drawn to the great search for meaning,
Speaker 1: and feel indifferent as to whether our existence means anything
Speaker 1: or not. For me, if it has to mean anything,
Speaker 1: it is the fact that we were here at all,
Speaker 1: that all of us, no matter for how short of
Speaker 1: a time or whoever or whatever we were, existed. And
Speaker 1: although on a personal level I have opinions about how
Speaker 1: we should or shouldn't live, on a cosmic level, I
Speaker 1: don't believe there is such a thing as right or
Speaker 1: wrong human behavior. All of it, from those actions and
Speaker 1: thoughts we consider to be abhorrent and monstrous to that
Speaker 1: which we might call saintly or good, is human, and
Speaker 1: all of it tells the story of what it means
Speaker 1: to be human. To be able to think in the
Speaker 1: abstract gives us the ability to go a little further
Speaker 1: than simple reflexive primal tendencies. These also serve a purpose,
Speaker 1: of course. However, it is this abstract ability that caused
Speaker 1: such consternation to the residence of the Newport subdivision in Texas,
Speaker 1: and why the remains of the dead are never just
Speaker 1: flesh and bones to us. With Black Hope Semmetry being
Speaker 1: a resting place for descendants of black slaves, what pain
Speaker 1: the Newport residence more than anything was that they had
Speaker 1: inadvertently become entangled in a lineage of injustice for a
Speaker 1: community who, not, even in death, were afforded the dignity
Speaker 1: that so many others are granted. It is often written
Speaker 1: that the Black Hope Cemetery was a forgotten cemetry. It
Speaker 1: was not. It was remembered by the relatives and friends
Speaker 1: of the people buried there, and by others who were
Speaker 1: local to the area before the housing development was built
Speaker 1: over it. And you too now know it was there.
Speaker 1: And though graves and headstones might be useful markers, regardless
Speaker 1: of how well they or the remains within are maintained,
Speaker 1: all of them will one day be lost to time.
Speaker 1: All we really have, then, of the truth of our
Speaker 1: existence are the stories we tell. I find the overuse
Speaker 1: of the word storyteller a little tiresome. Individuals or brands
Speaker 1: even like to label themselves as such, because in truth,
Speaker 1: we are all storytellers, each of us carrying the story
Speaker 1: of the human race and the story of all life
Speaker 1: that we share this planet with as it hurtles through
Speaker 1: space at almost half a million miles per hour about
Speaker 1: the Milky Way. The only question is in so far
Speaker 1: as we can influence how our story is told, If
Speaker 1: many years from now, it were one day to be
Speaker 1: found and read by someone else, what would we want
Speaker 1: it to say? You've been listening to Unexplained Season four.
Speaker 1: We will return in the spring. If you enjoy Unexplained
Speaker 1: and would like to help support us, you can now
Speaker 1: do so via Patreon to receive access to add three episodes,
Speaker 1: discount or merchandise, as well as brand new video and
Speaker 1: audio content exclusive to pay two members. Just go to
Speaker 1: patron dot com, forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up,
Speaker 1: or if you'd like to make a one time donation,
Speaker 1: you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward Slash support.
Speaker 1: All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1: Unexplained the book and audiobook featuring ten stories that have
Speaker 1: never before been covered on the show, is now available
Speaker 1: to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
Speaker 1: and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including
Speaker 1: the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts,
Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts
Speaker 1: or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like
Speaker 1: to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast
Speaker 1: dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast Now, it's time
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you,
Speaker 1: teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help
Speaker 1: you get back to feeling your best. Speak to a
Speaker 1: licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between seven am
Speaker 1: to nine pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc
Speaker 1: Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the
Speaker 1: app or visit teledoc dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast
Speaker 1: Today to get started. That's t e ladoc dot com,
Speaker 1: slash Unexplained podcast