WEBVTT - S02 Episode 1 Extra: Operation Cone of Power

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane smith. For

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<v Speaker 1>the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that,

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<v Speaker 1>for one reason or other, didn't make it into the show.

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<v Speaker 1>In last week's episode, Whispers in the Trees, we looked

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<v Speaker 1>at the unsettling mystery of the skeleton found inside the

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<v Speaker 1>hollowed out trunk of an old witch elm tree. The

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<v Speaker 1>gruesome discovery was made one evening in April of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>forty three by four young boys looking for rabbits and

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<v Speaker 1>birds eggs. The boys had been searching through a small

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<v Speaker 1>stretch of forest just west of Birmingham known as Hagley

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<v Speaker 1>Wood when they came across the bizarre tree and its

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<v Speaker 1>grizzly secret. For over seventy years, numerous attempts have been

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<v Speaker 1>made at piecing together the mystery, but to this day,

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<v Speaker 1>the identity of both the victim and the perpetrator remains unknown.

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<v Speaker 1>There is one theory, however, relating to the case that

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<v Speaker 1>stands out amongst all others. In nineteen forty five, the

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<v Speaker 1>historian and anthropologist doctor Margaret Murray surmised that whatever crime

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<v Speaker 1>had been enacted may have been ritualistic in nature. Suggesting

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<v Speaker 1>a possible link to witchcraft and the occult. Murray's supposed

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<v Speaker 1>authority on the subject was crystallized in her nineteen twenty

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<v Speaker 1>one book The Witch Cult in Western Europe. The book

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<v Speaker 1>drew a great deal of criticism, but in equal measure

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<v Speaker 1>it was also to become exceedingly influential to a number

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<v Speaker 1>of like minded individuals, individuals such as Gerald Gardner. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>Gardner is perhaps best known for having been a leading

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<v Speaker 1>figure of pagan witchcraft, also known as wicker. What is

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps less known is the extraordinary story of what Gardner,

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<v Speaker 1>along with sixteen other witches, claims to have attempted on

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<v Speaker 1>behalf of the British war effort in August of nineteen forty.

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<v Speaker 1>It was an unsettling time, to say the least, after

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<v Speaker 1>the Nazi invasion of Poland in September nineteen thirty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>Belgium and the Netherlands was to follow in May nineteen forty.

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<v Speaker 1>After a gallant but disastrous attempt to halt the invading forces,

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<v Speaker 1>the British Army were forced to evacuate from the continent

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<v Speaker 1>at Dunkirk. Barely ten days later, the Nazi army had

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<v Speaker 1>captured France. It seemed only a matter of time before

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<v Speaker 1>Hitler would send his forces across the Channel to claim

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<v Speaker 1>the British Isles, and so it was when Gerald Gardner,

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<v Speaker 1>operating as part of a group known as the New

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<v Speaker 1>Forest Covern, hatched a cunning plan to halt the anti

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<v Speaker 1>Scipated invasion. Born in eighteen eighty four in Blundell Sands

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<v Speaker 1>in the northwest of England, into a wealthy line of

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<v Speaker 1>timber merchants, Gardner was to spend his formative years traveling

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<v Speaker 1>the world with his nurse maid, Josephine McCombe. Such exposure

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<v Speaker 1>to many different peoples and cultures filled Gardner with a

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<v Speaker 1>deep sense of searching and a desire to get to

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<v Speaker 1>the root of life. It was a path that would

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<v Speaker 1>lead him to increasingly esoteric and occult interests, culminating ultimately

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<v Speaker 1>in his devotion to pagan witchcraft. In nineteen thirty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>shortly after returning to the UK with his wife Dorothea,

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<v Speaker 1>Gardner had become fascinated with a group known as the

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<v Speaker 1>Rosicrucian Order krotona fellowship who were operating in his newly

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<v Speaker 1>adopted town of Highcliffe on the Dorset coast. But something

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<v Speaker 1>didn't fit. Within a year, Gardner became skeptical of some

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<v Speaker 1>of the Orders followers who were taken to believing that

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<v Speaker 1>their founder, George Alexander Sullivan, was immortal. After expressing his

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<v Speaker 1>dissatisfaction to other members of the group, Gardner was invited

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<v Speaker 1>to join a small gathering at a large house known

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<v Speaker 1>as the Mill House in Highcliffe. After arriving, Gardner was

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<v Speaker 1>invited to strip naked before being taken through a series

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<v Speaker 1>of initiation rituals, by the end of which Gardener had

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<v Speaker 1>become a fully fledged member of the New Forest Covern.

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<v Speaker 1>Twelve months later, the fate of the British nation hung

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<v Speaker 1>in the balance. Are you always taking care of your family?

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<v Speaker 1>Do you often take care of others and not yourself?

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<v Speaker 1>It was shortly after night descended on Lamas Day, the

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<v Speaker 1>first of August nineteen forty, when seventeen people made their

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<v Speaker 1>way deep into the new forest. They gathered a few

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<v Speaker 1>miles north of High Cliff at the foot of an

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<v Speaker 1>ancient gallows tree known as the Naked Man. Once the

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<v Speaker 1>group had assembled, they made their way to a part

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<v Speaker 1>of the woodland known as Ferny Nap, in a forest

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<v Speaker 1>clearing of ancient primordial beauty, surrounded by birch, oak and fern.

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<v Speaker 1>The group marked out a large circle of about nine

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<v Speaker 1>feet in diameter. It was a witch's circle. A shutter

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<v Speaker 1>lantern was placed to the east of the circle, facing

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<v Speaker 1>out towards Berlin, providing a beacon for which the group

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<v Speaker 1>could focus their powers. One by one, the group lined

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<v Speaker 1>themselves around the circle and began to strip free from

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<v Speaker 1>their clothes in preparation for the ritual. Some covered themselves

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<v Speaker 1>in goose fat to better endure the chill summer air.

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<v Speaker 1>On the order of one the group began to dance

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<v Speaker 1>in a spiral pattern about the circle, slowly at first,

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<v Speaker 1>but then as their awareness grew, the movement became faster

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<v Speaker 1>and more fluid. Then they began to chant louder and louder.

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<v Speaker 1>As the bodies spun around the circle. More and more

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<v Speaker 1>they moved as their voices built in unison to an

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<v Speaker 1>ecstatic crescendo. Finally, with the cone of power established in

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<v Speaker 1>all their minds, a collective picture was drawn of a

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<v Speaker 1>circular base of energy moving up like clay on a

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<v Speaker 1>potter's wheel, squeezing to an apex of power, rising high

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<v Speaker 1>into the night sky before being flung through the air.

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<v Speaker 1>The energy bursting forth from the cone thundered over the

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<v Speaker 1>tree tops and across the fields, across the freezing gray

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<v Speaker 1>waters of the North Sea and the lowlands of Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>and headed straight for the mines of the German High Command.

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<v Speaker 1>You cannot cross the sea. They said you cannot cross

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<v Speaker 1>the sea. You will not cross the sea. The rest is,

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<v Speaker 1>of course history. All elements have Unexplained are produced by me,

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<v Speaker 1>Richard McClain Smith. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes,

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<v Speaker 1>and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts

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<v Speaker 1>or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.

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<v Speaker 1>Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like

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<v Speaker 1>to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast

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<v Speaker 1>dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Hello, it's

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