WEBVTT - Season 07 Episode 02: UFO 54

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<v Speaker 1>On a tiny speck suspended amid the great black abyss

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<v Speaker 1>of space, exists everything we have ever known and possibly

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<v Speaker 1>will ever know, every person that has ever existed, every

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<v Speaker 1>thought that has ever been thought, every love affair, every war,

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<v Speaker 1>every lie, every kiss, every piece of music that has

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<v Speaker 1>ever been written, and every glimmer of a future not

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<v Speaker 1>yet realized. All of it. That tiny speck is, of

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<v Speaker 1>course Earth, home to us and everything that makes us us.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's estimated there are roughly ten thousand stars in

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<v Speaker 1>the universe for every grain of sand found on our

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<v Speaker 1>planet itself, only one of over a bit billion planets

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<v Speaker 1>in our galaxy. That galaxy, the Milky Way, is one

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<v Speaker 1>of two trillion galaxies in the observable universe, an incomprehensibly

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<v Speaker 1>vast space ninety three billion light years from end to end.

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<v Speaker 1>The rest of the universe that we can't yet see

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<v Speaker 1>could be anything from one hundred and fifty to two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty billion trillion times bigger. In nineteen eighty one,

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<v Speaker 1>Alan Guth of Stamford University proposed the theory of cosmic inflation,

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<v Speaker 1>the idea that the nascent universe passed through a phase

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<v Speaker 1>of exponential expansion and has been continually expanding ever since.

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<v Speaker 1>Is the universe vast but finite with opposite ends, or

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<v Speaker 1>is it something else, some as yet unquantifiable, non Euclidean

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<v Speaker 1>space with wraparound properties, like a game of pac Man,

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<v Speaker 1>where traveling so far in one direction eventually brings you

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<v Speaker 1>back to where you started. Or is the entire universe

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<v Speaker 1>as we know it just the inside of a black

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<v Speaker 1>hole existing inside a whole other universe, or inside an

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<v Speaker 1>infinite number of other possible universes for that matter, Is

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<v Speaker 1>the universe itself infinite in space, never ending no matter

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<v Speaker 1>what direction we travel through it, be that spatially or temporarily,

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<v Speaker 1>we simply don't know. But from astronomers to philosophers to

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<v Speaker 1>stargazing stoners, all of us grapple with this dizzy in conundrum.

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<v Speaker 1>Either way, For most people, far more than wanting to

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<v Speaker 1>know what shape our universe actually takes, what we really

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<v Speaker 1>want to know is are we alone in it? You're

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<v Speaker 1>listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith the twenty

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<v Speaker 1>seventh of October nineteen fifty four. The early autumnal sun

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<v Speaker 1>is sweet and crisp where it turns the Tuscan Street's gold.

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<v Speaker 1>Shouts of laughter and good natured talk fill the streets

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<v Speaker 1>of Florence, Italy, as crowds of people head towards the

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<v Speaker 1>Stadio Comunale later to be known as the Stadio Artemio Francie.

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<v Speaker 1>Tens of thousands of fans turn out in their drogues

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<v Speaker 1>to watch a highly anticipated local derby, a match between

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<v Speaker 1>home team Fiorentina and their rivals Pistoiese. There's much excitement

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<v Speaker 1>from even the Pistoiese fans at the site of Ardco

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<v Speaker 1>Magnini de Fender, local legend and World Cup star of

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<v Speaker 1>the summer, as he runs out onto the pitch. He

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<v Speaker 1>would become famous in nineteen fifty six for a photograph

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<v Speaker 1>depicting him flying through the air and appearing to roundhouse

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<v Speaker 1>kick a ball, his mouth open in a defiant shout,

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<v Speaker 1>but for now he is taking it easy. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>friendly match and the atmosphere is jovial. The first half

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<v Speaker 1>is much like any football match, people drinking and cheering

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<v Speaker 1>and swearing animatedly at the ref whenever the moment called

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<v Speaker 1>for it. Half time arrives and the teams huddled together

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<v Speaker 1>in intense conversation, patting each other on the back. Fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>minutes later, the crowd roared as one as the players

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<v Speaker 1>fanned out onto the pitch again. It was about twenty

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<v Speaker 1>minutes past two, barely a few minutes into the second half,

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<v Speaker 1>when a sudden, eerie silence fell across the whole stadium,

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<v Speaker 1>like someone had suddenly turned down the volume on a radio.

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<v Speaker 1>From the middle of the pitch, ardco Magnini looked up

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<v Speaker 1>at the crowd, who, as though the radio had been

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly cranked on again, let out a deafening roar and

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<v Speaker 1>pointed to the sky. Magnini followed the many outstretched arms

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<v Speaker 1>to where they were pointing, and his eyes grew wide

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<v Speaker 1>in astonishment. Up above him, a large silver egg like

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<v Speaker 1>shape was moving slowly, slowly, slowly, as Magnini would later

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<v Speaker 1>describe it, right over the stadium. All the players stopped

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<v Speaker 1>to marvel at the bizarre site. Moments later, there was

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<v Speaker 1>a bright sparkling in the air underneath the object, as

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<v Speaker 1>a strange silver glitter began to fall from the sky.

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<v Speaker 1>In the aftermath of the peculiar event at the football match,

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<v Speaker 1>the silver glitter would remain a common denominator in the

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<v Speaker 1>many accounts of the event given by numerous spectators. Some

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<v Speaker 1>described it as being like silvery filaments descending from the heavens,

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<v Speaker 1>while others noted how the sky itself seemed to shimmer

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<v Speaker 1>and glow with random flashes of light. Roberto Pinotti, the

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<v Speaker 1>president of Italy's National UFO Center, recalled the light, sticky

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<v Speaker 1>substance falling from above. In English, they called this angel hair.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, the only problem was after a short period

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<v Speaker 1>of time it disintegrated. But I remember in broad daylight

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<v Speaker 1>seeing the roofs of the houses in Florence covered in

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<v Speaker 1>this white substance for one hour, and like snow, it

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<v Speaker 1>just evaporated. Gigi Bonni, a lifelong Fiorantina fan, remembered many

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<v Speaker 1>objects in the sky that day, describing them as being

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<v Speaker 1>silver and shaped like Cuban cigars and moving unusually fast,

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<v Speaker 1>then stopped over the pitch before dropping the shimmering silver rain.

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<v Speaker 1>In the official match record, it stated that the match

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<v Speaker 1>was suspended due to something in the sky. Others, including

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<v Speaker 1>another player, Romolo Tucci, reported seeing multiple smaller crafts in

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<v Speaker 1>those years. He said, everybody was talking UFOs and we

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<v Speaker 1>had the experience. We saw them directly for real. Tucci

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<v Speaker 1>was not wrong. In those years the nineteen fifties, everyone

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<v Speaker 1>really was talking about aliens. As the governments of the

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<v Speaker 1>US and the Soviet Union invested increasingly heavily in space

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<v Speaker 1>exploration in an effort to prove to the world who

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<v Speaker 1>was the true superpower. Talk of space probes and satellites

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<v Speaker 1>quickly entered the mainstream. In October nineteen fifty one, the

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<v Speaker 1>Soviet engineer Mikhail to Konovoff published an article titled Flight

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<v Speaker 1>to the Moon. In it, he described in evocative detail

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<v Speaker 1>the hypothetical spaceships of the future, laid out the science

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<v Speaker 1>needed to create them, and ended his article with what

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<v Speaker 1>to many imaginative, impressionable minds must have read as a

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<v Speaker 1>call to arms. We do not have long to wait.

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<v Speaker 1>We can assume that the bold dream will be realized

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<v Speaker 1>within the next ten to fifteen years, not to be outdone.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the next three years. The United States Colliers magazine

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<v Speaker 1>responded with a series of seven articles titled man will

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<v Speaker 1>Conquer Space Soon. Then, in nineteen fifty five, Disney screened

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<v Speaker 1>an animated episode of their television series Disneyland titled Man

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<v Speaker 1>in Space. It reached an audience of forty million people

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<v Speaker 1>and was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best

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<v Speaker 1>Documentary Short The space race had not yet begun, but

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<v Speaker 1>the competitors were well and truly at the start line,

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<v Speaker 1>limbering up and poised for the starting pistol. It's no wonder, then,

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<v Speaker 1>that UFO sightings during the early nineteen fifties skyrocketed, with

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<v Speaker 1>reports soon numbering in their thousands across the world. For

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<v Speaker 1>the people of Italy, it was factory worker Bruno Faccini

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<v Speaker 1>who was perhaps more responsible than anyone for kicking off

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<v Speaker 1>that country's own wave of bizarre aerial sightings that would

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<v Speaker 1>eventually peak in nineteen fifty four. On that strange summer

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<v Speaker 1>afternoon in Florence. It was the evening of April twenty fourth,

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty a little after ten p m. On the

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<v Speaker 1>outskirts of the city of Tredate, just north of Milan.

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<v Speaker 1>All day long, the city had been shrouded by thick,

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<v Speaker 1>dark clouds and pummeled with rain. Having waited for the

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<v Speaker 1>latest downpour to stop, Facchini stepped hurriedly from his back door,

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<v Speaker 1>leaving his wife and young son inside as he made

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<v Speaker 1>a dash for their outdoor toilet located at the back

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<v Speaker 1>of the garden. After relieving himself, Faccini stepped outside and

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<v Speaker 1>lit a cigarette, savoring the musty smell of wet grass

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<v Speaker 1>and warm rain on concrete. As he made his way

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<v Speaker 1>back down the garden path toward the house. It was

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<v Speaker 1>then that he noticed the strange flashes of light in

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<v Speaker 1>the dark sky above. Naturally, at first he thought it

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<v Speaker 1>was simply lightning, but the storm clouds had since moved off,

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<v Speaker 1>and in any case, when he looked again, he saw

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<v Speaker 1>the light was in fact coming from a field opposite

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<v Speaker 1>his house, so Facchini went to investigate. As he made

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<v Speaker 1>his way over, the lights continued to flash. He began

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<v Speaker 1>to wonder if maybe it was the electrical spark of

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<v Speaker 1>a broken power line damaged by the storm, but as

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<v Speaker 1>he drew nearer, the flashing light suddenly stopped. He stood

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<v Speaker 1>for a moment in the silence and scanned the field ahead,

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<v Speaker 1>but saw nothing unusual. Perhaps it was just light reflecting

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<v Speaker 1>off some glass, he thought, Feeling a little stupid, He

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<v Speaker 1>felt cold suddenly and pulled his light jacket a little

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<v Speaker 1>tighter together. Turning back to his house, he was just

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<v Speaker 1>about to set off for home when he sensed the

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<v Speaker 1>light flashing again from out the corner of his eye,

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<v Speaker 1>and sure enough, there it was, just where he'd seen

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<v Speaker 1>it before. Once again, he set off toward it, convinced

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<v Speaker 1>it probably was a faulty power line. He was just

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about calling it in to the police when he froze.

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<v Speaker 1>Suddenly there about two hundred yards ahead of him, as

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<v Speaker 1>if it had just suddenly materialized then and there was

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<v Speaker 1>what he later described as a huge, dark shape, like

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<v Speaker 1>a ball, but with a flattened top. He judged the

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<v Speaker 1>object to be about thirty feet high and twenty feet across,

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<v Speaker 1>and as he drew closer he saw it was illuminated

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<v Speaker 1>by an unearthly greenish glow. And then he saw ladders

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<v Speaker 1>stretching down from the underside of it, and at the

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<v Speaker 1>bottom of one of them a man, or at least

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<v Speaker 1>he thought it was a man. The human like figure

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<v Speaker 1>was wearing some kind of thick suit and a large,

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<v Speaker 1>bulbous helmet with a black, sheeny visor down over the eyes.

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<v Speaker 1>Though Facchini didn't quite know how to describe it at

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<v Speaker 1>the time, he would later compare it to the suits

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<v Speaker 1>worn by the Apollo astronauts of the nineteen sixties more

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<v Speaker 1>than a decade later, as Flashes of light continued to

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<v Speaker 1>come from the direction of the object. Bruno Facchini figured

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<v Speaker 1>the man in the suit was welding something, perhaps carrying

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<v Speaker 1>out repairs of some kind. Then a secondary glow emerged

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<v Speaker 1>from the peculiar craft, this time coming from inside it,

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<v Speaker 1>shining out of some kind of hatch. Once the light subsided,

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<v Speaker 1>Facchini claimed he was briefly able to glimpse inside the craft,

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<v Speaker 1>where he apparently saw another ladder leading to a higher level,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as an odd array of items that he

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<v Speaker 1>described as being like bottles connected together in rows, with

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<v Speaker 1>gauges and tubes between them. Stepping in for a closer look,

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<v Speaker 1>he then claimed he could see two other figures moving

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<v Speaker 1>clumsily around inside. Years later, Fackini would again reference the

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<v Speaker 1>Apollo Astronauts to describe the manner in which the figures moved,

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<v Speaker 1>languid and heavy, as if floating in space. He continued

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<v Speaker 1>staring on as the figures apparently passed pipelike objects between

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<v Speaker 1>them and occasionally sent more metallic sparks shooting out all

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<v Speaker 1>around them. Steadily, he noticed more and more strange things.

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<v Speaker 1>What he was seeing was like a polar the Royd

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<v Speaker 1>picture slowly emerging in front of him. He saw dials

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<v Speaker 1>and cylinders along the interior walls, and heard a distinct

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<v Speaker 1>and constant buzzing sound reminiscent of a swarm of bees,

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<v Speaker 1>And all about him, the air grew strangely warmer. Bicckini

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<v Speaker 1>wondered if the men were from the military, operating a

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<v Speaker 1>brand new, state of the art aircraft and had been

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<v Speaker 1>forced to make an emergency landing due to the storm.

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<v Speaker 1>It was only then that he realized the men were speaking,

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<v Speaker 1>but not in any language that he had ever heard before.

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<v Speaker 1>The bizarre guttural utterances they were apparently making caused him

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<v Speaker 1>to realize the men weren't men at all, at least

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<v Speaker 1>not of the human kind. Just then, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>figures on board the craft gestured in his direction. Fear

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<v Speaker 1>sliced through him. He stumbled backwards, suddenly realizing just how

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<v Speaker 1>exposed he was out there, and with that he turned

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<v Speaker 1>and ran, sprinting for his house. Across the field, Vacchini

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<v Speaker 1>saw in his peripheral vision one of the figures point

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<v Speaker 1>something in his direction. A sudden, bright beam of light

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<v Speaker 1>blinded him, and a burning pain split him in two.

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<v Speaker 1>He felt as though he'd been cut in half. Across

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<v Speaker 1>his torso. Looking down, he saw, much to his relief,

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<v Speaker 1>that his body was still intact, but he could no

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<v Speaker 1>longer move. Then he collapsed heavily to the ground in

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<v Speaker 1>the grip of utter panic. Vacchini claimed to have then

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<v Speaker 1>watched the figures, convinced they would chase after him, only

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<v Speaker 1>for them to continue doing what they were doing, as

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<v Speaker 1>though they had merely meant to keep him away. Facchini

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<v Speaker 1>watched wide eyed, trying to keep his face out of

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<v Speaker 1>the dirt, as the figures finished up and returned inside

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<v Speaker 1>the craft. Then the greenish light that had been emanating

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<v Speaker 1>from the vessel throughout began to dim as the hatch

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<v Speaker 1>door was slowly closed. A moment later, with only the

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<v Speaker 1>half light of night, Facchini watched on as that peculiar

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<v Speaker 1>buzzing sound grew louder in intensity, until he heard a

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<v Speaker 1>great whush and felt the rush of the aircraft as

0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:46.000
<v Speaker 1>it shot into the sky and disappeared. Bruno Facchini claimed

0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.240
<v Speaker 1>to have remained on the ground for some time until

0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:53.399
<v Speaker 1>he felt it was safe enough to return home. After

0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:57.120
<v Speaker 1>a sleepless night. The next morning, he returned to the sight.

0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:03.520
<v Speaker 1>There he noticed four more distinct circular impressions and noted

0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:09.080
<v Speaker 1>that the grass had considerable burn markings, pieces of scrap

0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.720
<v Speaker 1>and melted metal littered the ground, all confirming to him

0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:18.680
<v Speaker 1>that whatever he had seen had genuinely happened. At least

0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:23.800
<v Speaker 1>that's what he reported to the police. Despite their skepticism,

0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.600
<v Speaker 1>some officers were sent out to investigate the site and

0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:32.760
<v Speaker 1>collected pieces of the strange metal for analysis. The results

0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:37.800
<v Speaker 1>were mostly inconclusive, but did conclude the fragments were comprised

0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.080
<v Speaker 1>of some kind of heat resistant and anti friction material.

0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.760
<v Speaker 1>They also stated that the metal would quote be ideal

0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.680
<v Speaker 1>in spaceflight to face the burn up as a craft

0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:57.600
<v Speaker 1>entered the Earth's atmosphere. A secondary examination found that the

0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.200
<v Speaker 1>metal was comprised of mostly bronze with traces of lead.

0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:07.560
<v Speaker 1>Vacchini later said that a few days after his apparent encounter,

0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:12.280
<v Speaker 1>he was struck down with excruciating back pain. When he

0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:14.679
<v Speaker 1>turned to get a look at his back in the mirror,

0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.160
<v Speaker 1>he found there a huge black mark, darker than any

0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:23.119
<v Speaker 1>bruise he'd ever had, stretched across the entirety of it.

0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:38.160
<v Speaker 1>By the October of nineteen fifty four, UFO sightings were

0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:43.840
<v Speaker 1>being reported throughout Europe. In unprecedented numbers. In September nineteen

0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.360
<v Speaker 1>fifty four in north just south of Lille in northern France,

0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:54.199
<v Speaker 1>train station guard Marius de Veilde contacted local police with

0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.439
<v Speaker 1>an incredible story of his own. It was around ten

0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:02.400
<v Speaker 1>thirty pm on the night to September tenth, as Deveild

0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.920
<v Speaker 1>was preparing for bed, that is dark, began barking manically.

0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.959
<v Speaker 1>Believing that something outside was distressing her, he grabbed a

0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:17.119
<v Speaker 1>torch and promptly headed out to investigate. In the silence

0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.040
<v Speaker 1>of the evening. He walked a few steps along the

0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:26.320
<v Speaker 1>rail tracks when a sudden noise caused him to spin around. There,

0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.240
<v Speaker 1>Caught in the beam of his flashlight, as he later

0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:34.400
<v Speaker 1>told police, were two humanoid figures, each no more than

0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.520
<v Speaker 1>a meter in height, standing beside some kind of craft.

0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:42.919
<v Speaker 1>When he pointed the light at their heads, it apparently

0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.920
<v Speaker 1>reflected bright and silver, as if the figures were wearing

0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:53.600
<v Speaker 1>mirrored helmets. Not unlike Facchini's experience, Devilda is then said

0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:56.440
<v Speaker 1>to have suddenly found himself in the grip of a

0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:02.120
<v Speaker 1>mobilizing beam of light. Unable to move, he simply watched

0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:06.440
<v Speaker 1>as the figures then stepped into the craft. Moments later,

0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:11.040
<v Speaker 1>it shot off into the sky, rippling with effervescent color

0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:16.760
<v Speaker 1>as it went. Officers despatched to investigate first interviewed da

0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.719
<v Speaker 1>Vilde's wife and neighbor to see if they could corroborate

0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:27.159
<v Speaker 1>his story, but neither had seen anything. Unimpressed, the officers

0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.200
<v Speaker 1>nonetheless agreed to follow Devilda out to the spot where

0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:35.440
<v Speaker 1>he'd apparently seen the strange craft. When they got there,

0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.760
<v Speaker 1>they found a six meter depression in the ground. De

0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:44.159
<v Speaker 1>Vilda then cried out suddenly and bent over, seemingly in

0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:48.560
<v Speaker 1>the grip of an intense pain. In that moment, the

0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.240
<v Speaker 1>torch he'd been carrying in his hand seemed also to

0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:57.439
<v Speaker 1>suddenly stop working. In one report, it was said that

0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:02.640
<v Speaker 1>three days later, the wilder's dogged guide while Davilda developed

0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:08.080
<v Speaker 1>respiratory problems that he couldn't shake. Three cows were later

0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:14.280
<v Speaker 1>found dead in a neighboring field, all apparently completely drained

0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:26.159
<v Speaker 1>of blood. After Dville's apparent inexplicable encounter, a number of

0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:30.240
<v Speaker 1>similar sightings were reported throughout France over the next few weeks.

0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:35.680
<v Speaker 1>From Brie to Bergerac and Clermont Ferrand, came bizarre tales

0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:40.480
<v Speaker 1>of floating crafts, strange lights, and the sudden onset of

0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:47.120
<v Speaker 1>paralysis inflicting those who reported the sightings. On October eleventh,

0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:52.960
<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifty four, Henri Gaulois and Louis Vigneron were driving

0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.280
<v Speaker 1>together in Assier, in the south of France, when they

0:22:56.400 --> 0:23:00.240
<v Speaker 1>suddenly felt as though they'd been struck by something, ending

0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:04.560
<v Speaker 1>an electric shock through their bodies. Both expected the car

0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:08.880
<v Speaker 1>to spin wildly out of control, but instead it came

0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:13.080
<v Speaker 1>to a swift halt, as though someone had simply switched

0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:18.840
<v Speaker 1>it off. As the pair remained paralyzed, the men claimed

0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:22.480
<v Speaker 1>they then spotted what appeared to be some kind of

0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:27.359
<v Speaker 1>machine like object in the distance, being approached by three

0:23:27.680 --> 0:23:33.720
<v Speaker 1>strange creatures. The creatures then disappeared inside the object, and

0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:38.520
<v Speaker 1>moments later it rose into the air, gained rapid speed,

0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:44.640
<v Speaker 1>and vanished. With the peculiar craft gone, the car came

0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:50.200
<v Speaker 1>back to life and their movement returned. Two nights later,

0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:53.760
<v Speaker 1>a near identical event is said to have happened to

0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.840
<v Speaker 1>a doctor Henri Robert in Balliolet, seven hundred kilometers to

0:23:58.960 --> 0:24:03.800
<v Speaker 1>the north. Whether it's the rumour that a UFO followed

0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:06.440
<v Speaker 1>the flight path of a plane from New York to

0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:10.480
<v Speaker 1>London in June of nineteen fifty four, or it's the

0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.040
<v Speaker 1>sighting of a strange green ball over Madagascar in August

0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:19.000
<v Speaker 1>of nineteen fifty four. That year certainly seemed to be

0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:23.960
<v Speaker 1>a hotbed of apparent UFO related incidents. It was even

0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:28.840
<v Speaker 1>said that an unscheduled dentist trip for America's President Eisenhower

0:24:29.200 --> 0:24:32.639
<v Speaker 1>in February of nineteen fifty four was in fact a

0:24:32.760 --> 0:24:44.520
<v Speaker 1>meeting with multiple alien species. Despite the flurry of supposed

0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:48.720
<v Speaker 1>UFO sightings in nineteen fifty four, not everyone was so

0:24:48.960 --> 0:24:55.359
<v Speaker 1>easily persuaded that something truly otherworldly was taking place. Scientists

0:24:55.400 --> 0:24:58.800
<v Speaker 1>suggested that many of the UFO sightings in Italy and

0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:03.240
<v Speaker 1>France of that year were caused by temperature inversions, which

0:25:03.280 --> 0:25:06.280
<v Speaker 1>occur when a layer of hot air moves over a

0:25:06.400 --> 0:25:09.639
<v Speaker 1>layer of cool, which can bend light rates so that

0:25:09.800 --> 0:25:12.760
<v Speaker 1>it seems an object on the ground is in fact

0:25:13.000 --> 0:25:17.639
<v Speaker 1>hovering somewhere above in the sky. Others advised that the

0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:21.760
<v Speaker 1>silver glitter or angel hair as seen at the Italian

0:25:21.840 --> 0:25:27.120
<v Speaker 1>football match, was likely due to migrating spiders who send long,

0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:30.879
<v Speaker 1>whitish strands of their silk into the air to travel

0:25:30.960 --> 0:25:36.639
<v Speaker 1>by wind. Roberto Pinotti, the president of Italy's National UFO

0:25:36.800 --> 0:25:42.760
<v Speaker 1>Center disagreed, however, stating that the migrating spider's theory is

0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:48.280
<v Speaker 1>an old and stupid hypothesis. According to Pinotti, the chemical

0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:53.000
<v Speaker 1>analysis of the angel hair samples was nothing like spider silk,

0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:59.720
<v Speaker 1>which is a protein, an organic compound containing nitrogen, calcium, hydrogen,

0:25:59.760 --> 0:26:04.760
<v Speaker 1>and oxygen. On the day the apparent UFOs stopped his

0:26:04.920 --> 0:26:09.680
<v Speaker 1>team's football match, Giorgio Battini, a journalist at the Florentine

0:26:09.760 --> 0:26:14.440
<v Speaker 1>newspaper The Nazione, gathered several samples of the angel hair

0:26:14.840 --> 0:26:18.359
<v Speaker 1>and took them to the Institute of Chemical Analysis at

0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:23.719
<v Speaker 1>the University of Florence. After thorough testing, the lab concluded

0:26:24.080 --> 0:26:30.840
<v Speaker 1>it actually contained the elements boron, silicon, calcium, and magnesium,

0:26:31.800 --> 0:26:37.920
<v Speaker 1>not radioactive, but not spider silk either. In fact, not

0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:44.159
<v Speaker 1>like anything they'd ever seen before. Sadly, the samples were

0:26:44.240 --> 0:26:49.360
<v Speaker 1>destroyed by the testing process and their true provenance remains

0:26:49.480 --> 0:26:56.800
<v Speaker 1>a mystery to this day. This episode was written by

0:26:56.840 --> 0:27:01.399
<v Speaker 1>Ella mcleoud and Richard mc lean smith. Unexplained as an

0:27:01.440 --> 0:27:05.639
<v Speaker 1>Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard mc clain smith.

0:27:06.359 --> 0:27:09.600
<v Speaker 1>All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are

0:27:09.640 --> 0:27:14.000
<v Speaker 1>also produced by me Richard mc lean smith Unexplained. The

0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:17.680
<v Speaker 1>book and audiobook, with stories never before featured on the show,

0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:22.200
<v Speaker 1>is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon,

0:27:22.520 --> 0:27:27.280
<v Speaker 1>Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please subscribe to

0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:30.560
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0:27:30.680 --> 0:27:32.960
<v Speaker 1>feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or

0:27:33.000 --> 0:27:36.760
<v Speaker 1>ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps

0:27:36.840 --> 0:27:39.280
<v Speaker 1>you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.

0:27:39.960 --> 0:27:43.040
<v Speaker 1>You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com

0:27:43.480 --> 0:27:47.119
<v Speaker 1>and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and

0:27:47.359 --> 0:28:00.159
<v Speaker 1>Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast. Ba

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