WEBVTT - Season 6 Episode 7: That Cold Black Cloud 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.240 This episode is adapted from a live episode that I 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.920 presented at the London Podcast Festival in twenty sixteen and 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:09.880 later released on this stream, so may be familiar to 0:00:09.960 --> 0:00:24.640 some listeners. The town of Runcorn, located on the banks 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.159 of the River Mersey, fifteen miles east of Liverpool in 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.760 the northwest of England, was once a beating heart of 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:37.200 the British Industrial Revolution. Back then, the chemistry of soap 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.839 and alkali production were its most prominent industries. By the 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.080 mid twentieth century, however, it was the chemistry of societal 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.240 change that seemed to be working hardest on the town. 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.520 With much of its past industrial glory having dissolved or 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.440 moved on, it was only the dark and pungent tanneries 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.760 that still clung on the last remnant of a different 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:06.759 age in nineteen fifty two, despite the Second World War 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.800 having ended seven years previously, its shadow continued to linger 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.240 deep within the fabric of British society, and the communities 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.000 of Rumhorn were no different. Among the many from the 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:23.600 town who went off to fight one hundred and nineteen 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.360 did not return, and the ones that did were not 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:33.120 the same anymore. It caused significant upheaval to a great 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:38.279 many families, families like the Glenn and Joneses of Number 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:44.080 one Byron Street, Like most typical working families of the region, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.880 they had little choice but to keep calm and carry 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:52.640 on regardless, to just somehow find a way through it all. 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.960 But there was nothing that could prepare them for the 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:02.320 extraordinary events that were soon to engulf their lives. What 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.080 exactly happened to the family in that most peculiar year 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:12.200 has never truly been accounted for. You're listening to Unexplained, 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:25.160 and I'm Richard McClean smith. In nineteen fifty two, Number 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.880 one Byron Street, a two story end of terrace house 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.440 in the north of Runcorn, was home to sixty eight 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.960 year old widower Sam Jones, as well as his widowed 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:39.840 sister in law Lucy Jones, his eight year old granddaughter 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.280 Eileen Glynn, and his seventeen year old grandson John Glynn. 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:48.520 Fifty nine year old Ellen Whittle, who'd been lodging with 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:52.600 the Glynn and Joneses since nineteen thirty seven, completed this 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:59.480 unusual quintet of occupants. The house was divided into three bedrooms, 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.400 with Lucy and Eileen sharing one room and Sam and 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:08.079 John sharing another, while the third, which led off from 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:13.160 Sam and John's room, was occupied by Miss Whittle. Things 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:17.240 became a little more crowded On Sunday, seventeenth of August, however, 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.600 when Sam, John, Lucy, and Eileen were forced to share 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.679 a bedroom together to accommodate Lucy's son and daughter in law, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:30.239 who were visiting that weekend. It was by no means 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.840 a new arrangement. Yet for some reason that night Lucy 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:40.560 was having trouble sleeping. Lying in the dark, she was 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.840 convinced she could hear a strange noise that seemed to 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:48.840 be emanating from the dresser, like something gently clawing at 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:55.840 the wood. Did you hear that? She whispered. Irritated, Sam 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.800 got up and turned on the light, then whipped open 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:03.640 the drawers. Inside he found nothing but the usual odds 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:09.680 and ends of pencils, notepaper, and shaving implements. Pushing the 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.440 drawers back in with a huff, he switched off the 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:18.440 light and went back to bed. Moments later, the noise returned, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.599 except this time it began steadily to get louder and 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:27.400 the clawing faster, until it started to sound as though 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.600 something were trying to get out of the dressing table, 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.159 staring aghast in the dark toward the sound. The family 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:39.760 hurriedly jumped up together and rushed from the room in 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:45.040 a collective terror. Suddenly finding themselves standing together in their 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.040 nightclothes in the cold of the hallway, they looked sheepishly 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.080 toward each other, feeling a little silly about the whole episode, 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:57.919 Laughing it off. One by one, they returned to the 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.200 bedroom to find the strange noise had now stopped, But 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.680 as they each slipped back under their respective sheets, they 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.080 soon found that something of the event had remained with them, 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:14.960 and no matter how hard each of them tried, neither 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.400 of them quite managed to reach the land of sleep. 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:30.080 The next night, Lucy and Eileen returned to their usual bedroom, 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:35.279 leaving Sam and John alone to sleep in theirs. No 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.040 sooner had their lights gone out, the scratching began again, 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.719 followed moments later by a terrific series of bangs as 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:48.919 the dresser draws were repeatedly slammed open and shut. Sam 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.960 hurriedly switched on the light and gasped the dressing table 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.440 was now standing well over a foot away from the wall, 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.240 thinking that perhaps some kind of practical joker had invaded 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:06.960 their home. Sam immediately called the police. A short time later, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.919 two local officers and a sergeant arrived to find the 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:15.560 family in deep distress. As the police listened patiently to 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.680 Sam detailing the strange events, how they only happened in 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.479 the dark and stopped as soon as the light was 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:25.839 turned on, it was hard not to suspect that one 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:31.480 of Sam's own family was in fact responsible. Nonetheless, after 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.080 making a thorough search of the property, the police set 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.800 a series of traps to rule out human involvement, including 0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.720 placing a tumbler on the dressing table and applying adhesive 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:48.240 tape over the drawers. Sam and John sat together on 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.919 the bed as the police kept watch. Then one of 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:57.960 the officers switched off the light. Moments later, the dressing 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.040 table was heard rocking wild back and forth, followed by 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.680 a furious rattling of the drawers and an almighty crash, 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:10.040 like the sound of a window being smashed in. When 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.920 the light was turned on. Seconds later, the smashed remains 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.680 of the tumbler could be seen on the floor, and 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:23.680 the dresser had once again been seemingly pulled from the wall. Strangely, however, 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:28.720 the tape remained intact over the drawers, and neither Sam 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:38.240 nor John had been seen to leave their bed. 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Go to squarespace dot com Forward slash 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.000 unexplained for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.560 use the offer code unexplained to save ten percent of 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:59.720 your first purchase of a website or domain with no 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:04.600 vidence of criminal activity. After a second fruitless night of tests, 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:08.000 the police withdrew from the property and later filed a 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:12.600 report detailing the unexplained activity at the house. As the 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.000 sergeant would go on to note, we tried every method 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.160 known to us, and believe me, the family and not 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:25.079 doing it. After four sleepless nights, seventeen year old John 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:29.120 was fast becoming a nervous wreck, not least because of 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.000 the growing sense among those in the house that the 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:37.560 disturbances were beginning to center on him. As word of 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:41.320 the events began to spread, a local self styled medium 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:46.960 named Phil France volunteered to help the family. Believing the 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.319 house to be haunted, France, together with fellows self described 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.520 medium and friend of the family, Missus Bousfield, offered to 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.720 conduct a seance to rid the property of any ghosts 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.840 that were located there. On the evening of Thursday, twenty 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:08.000 first of August, France and Bousfield gathered with John and 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:13.280 Sam in their bedroom. Then after asking for the light 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:17.240 to be switched off. France called out into the darkness 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:23.400 and asked for a sign. Just then, two bibles that 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:26.080 France had brought with him were flung from the dresser, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.800 followed by a small clock that clattered to the ground 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:34.280 as the family shrieked in fear. In haste, the light 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:40.240 was switched back on. Sam gasped at the sight of Bousfield, who, 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.760 with a strange look on her face, was staring directly 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.880 to the side of the dresser. There's someone there, she said, 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:55.120 a man. As she began to describe him, It quickly 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:58.280 became clear to John that the man she was detailing 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.800 was his dead father, Michael, who died of cancer only 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:08.400 four months previously. Then France spoke suddenly and appeared to 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:13.160 double over in pain. It was a spirit guide coming through, 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.600 he said, with the message for John to pass on 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:21.440 to his mother Norah. A pained and tight voice came 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:26.280 from France's lips, saying that Michael's spirit had remained earth 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:32.160 bound after inadvertently becoming attached to an evil poltergeist. Once 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.400 John had delivered this message to his mother, it said, 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:40.640 Michael would be free to pass over. The following night, 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:45.640 with John having spoken to his mother. Just as France predicted, 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.880 not a sound was heard, and the family finally bedded 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:54.679 down for their first uninterrupted sleep in five nights. The 0:11:54.840 --> 0:12:06.000 disturbances appeared to be over. With news of the events 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.160 at Byron Street spreading fast, the family became inundated with 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:15.000 interview requests from local press. Having first resisted them all, 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.920 when a series of unflattering rumors began to circulate about 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:24.040 the family, Sam decided to set the record straight. The 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:28.840 resultant article appeared in the Runcorn Guardian on August twenty ninth, 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.280 by which point there had been no sign of activity 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.679 in over a week. But any hope that going public 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.960 would settle the story once and for all proved to 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:43.960 be wildly naive. Certainly, for a town eager to be 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.920 distracted from the drudgery of the shipyards and tanneries, an 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.839 article proclaiming the existence of an evil poltergeist at the 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.040 home of one of their own was too much to ignore. 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:59.400 For one reader, especially, the story would prove to be 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.880 of particular interest. On the afternoon of the twenty ninth, 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.560 on the other side of the River Mersey, in the 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:10.920 town of Widness, Reverend William Stephens was settling down for 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.720 his tea when he came across the story of the 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:18.520 Byron Street poltergeist, now being referred to as the Runcorn Thing. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.920 As a Methodist minister, it was perhaps unsurprising that Stephens 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:29.160 would take an interest in such speculative talk of evil spirits. However, 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.960 it was in a somewhat different capacity that his interest 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.840 had been piqued. In addition to his position as a minister, 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.360 Stevens had also for a number of years been a 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:44.400 member of the Society for Psychical Research, with a particular 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:49.280 interest in the paranormal and mediumship. Despite all his years 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:53.400 of interest, however, never before had Stephens had a case 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.720 land on his own doorstep, and it was too good 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:02.400 an opportunity to turn down. Meanwhile, back at the Glyn 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:08.839 and Jones's household, something was stirring. After two weeks of peace, 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.560 John and Sam had just settled down to sleep when 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:18.680 those familiar scratches darted up again in the darkness. Sam 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.040 had just enough time to duck as something large and 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.120 bulky flew through the air before clattering to the floor 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.840 at the far side of the room. Switching on the light, 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.120 Sam and John gasped at the sight of the chair, 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.040 now lying on its side against the wall, a large 0:14:37.120 --> 0:14:41.240 dent in the plaster where it had hit the thing, 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:53.160 it seemed was back. The following day, Sam turned up 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:58.360 for work at near by Pool Farm, completely shattered. Seeing 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:02.240 the state of his employee, His boss, Harold Crowther, couldn't 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:06.200 help but ask if Sam was okay. Sam took a 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.560 moment as he tried to answer. Then a wave came 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.960 over him, and despite his best efforts to stop it, 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.880 he burst into a flood of tears. He couldn't take 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.600 it anymore, he said, all the sleepless and endless nights 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:25.720 of terror. As he wiped away at his eyes. He 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.200 begged Crowther to come and see for himself if anything 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:34.960 could be done. Back home, John was also struggling to cope. 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.920 Equally terrified and afraid for his life, He divided his 0:15:40.000 --> 0:15:43.240 good friend, nineteen year old John Berry to stay with 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:47.840 him in the house. Happy to help, Berry promptly moved 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:52.120 into John's bedroom with Sam, by then preferring to sleep 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:57.800 downstairs on the sofa. On Monday, twenty second of September, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.320 having been informed of a sick our barrage of violent activity, 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:07.040 occurring at Byron Street the night before, Reverend Stevens resolved 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:12.320 to go immediately to the property. That evening, he and 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:17.440 two associates, Reverend Stafford and Leicester, made their way to 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.960 the Glynn and Jones's home, only to find roughly three 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.680 hundred people gathered outside and the house crammed with visitors, 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.720 the result of an open invitation from Sam for anyone 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.880 who doubted his family's story to come and witness the 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:39.640 phenomenon for themselves. At eleven thirty pm, with the crowd 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:43.600 largely dispersed, the ministers were joined in the bedroom by 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.800 Sam's boss, Harold Crowther and one other of his associates. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.200 With things only seeming to happen under cover of darkness, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.800 the men had brought torches with them in the hope 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:00.640 of catching the phantom out. John Glynn and John Berry 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.119 got into the bed and the light was once again 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:08.639 switched off. The five men stood watch in the dark, 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:12.679 waiting patiently with their fingers poised over the switch of 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:18.919 their torches, ready to catch a ghost. Before long, the 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:23.120 dresser cracked and creaked into life and started rocking viciously 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:27.399 against the wall. The torches were hurriedly switched on, and 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:32.800 all activity instantly ceased. Stevens pushed the dresser back into 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:37.400 the corner, and again the light was turned out. If 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:41.879 you can hear my voice, knock three times, shouted Stevens, 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.560 as if in response, the dresser began again to shake violently, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.480 but this time, when Stevens shone his torch at it, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.760 all in the room reeled back in horror as the 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.480 dresser continued to rock on its own accord for over 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:05.040 three seconds. What followed was another night of violent bombardment, 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:10.040 with everything in sight dislodged. A chest at the foot 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.920 of the bed was repeatedly banged against it, moving four 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.439 men who were sat on it at the time, and 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.880 the bed itself across the room. At one point, something 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.040 even grabbed hold of John Berry and threw him to 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:29.639 the floor. Another time, Stephen's positioned a jigsaw puzzle box 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:33.000 behind him, making sure it was beyond any one's reach. 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.119 At the sound of a rattle coming from inside the box, 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:41.040 Stephens shone his torch on the two boys, but both 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:45.480 were lying completely still under the bed sheets. Moments later, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.399 the box flew through the air, caught by the beam 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:54.000 of Stephen's torch and for a moment, it seemed almost 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:57.879 suspended in mid air, as if, as one of the 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:02.479 witnesses described it, it were being carried with directional intent. 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:13.640 With the violence of the incidents intensifying, a second seance 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:18.840 was hastily arranged, led once again by Phil France. On 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.000 the evening of September twenty sixth, in a house on 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:26.960 Greenway Road, overlooking Runcorn Cemetery. John Glynn and his mother 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:31.280 Norah arrived to find a small crowd waiting for them inside. 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.280 In the center of the living room stood a cone 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:41.280 shaped trumpet coated at both ends with luminous paint. The participants, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:46.919 including Reverend Stephens, two Methodist ministers, and a journalist, gathered 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.840 in a circle around the trumpet, and the lights were extinguished. 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:55.399 After a short prayer, came the soft hum of voices 0:19:55.480 --> 0:20:00.920 breaking gently into song hymns to awaken the spirits. As 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.400 the singing grew louder, eyes glanced anxiously around the room 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.760 and back to the cone, but it remained fixed to 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:14.080 the floor. Suddenly, the calm was punctured by strange, garbled 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.600 voices emanating from the mouth of one of the mediums. 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:23.040 It was Phil France again. The words were unintelligible, but 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.159 was said by one journalist a little vaguely, and no 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:32.360 doubt stereotypically to resemble the tones of a native of Africa. 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.760 It is unlikely that phil France had much experience with 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:40.720 African dialects, either regional or ones that might somehow represent 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.880 an entire continent. However, he later claimed to have been 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.880 channeling the spirit of a member of the Southern African 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.879 Zulu tribe who was called Duca. Although there is little 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:56.119 credibility attached to this incident, the name Juca was often 0:20:56.240 --> 0:21:00.760 used in reference to the apparent poltergeist. No other evidence 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.760 of supernatural activity was recorded at the seance, nor did 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:15.800 it bring an end to the disturbances. In nineteen fifty four, 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.960 Richard Whittington Egan, who would later become known as a 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:23.760 leading authority on the so called Jack the Ripper, wrote 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.119 a piece for the Runcorn and Witnessed Guardian detailing the 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:32.119 events that occurred at Byron Street. Years later, feeling that 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:35.560 his editor had opted for hyperbole at the expense of 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:40.199 sobriety and reason, Whittington Egan felt compelled to set the 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:45.400 record straight. Like everyone else from the local area, Richard 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:50.480 had read and heard much about the Runcorn thing, Although skeptical, 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:53.879 such was the sheer number of stories that appeared in 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.360 the press, he felt compelled to take a look for himself. 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:02.720 On Sunday, twenty eight of September back in nineteen fifty two, 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.359 he drove to Witness to meet with Reverend Stevens, who, 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:10.560 although he found to be of a decent and agreeable character, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.640 he couldn't help but question whether he might have been 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.879 too willing to believe all that he'd supposedly been seeing. 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:24.919 At ten thirty pm, Whittington Egan arrived at one Byron Street, 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:28.920 parking up outside as a light drizzle began to fall. 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.440 Later that night, he watched quietly as the two Johns 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.680 clambered into bed in front of a group of twenty 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:42.159 people who'd somehow squeezed into the room with them. Again, 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.200 the light was clicked off, and barely a moment later, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:48.960 the clock was hurled across the room, followed by a 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:54.560 colossal bang. There it is, said John. There it is 0:22:54.600 --> 0:23:00.359 all right, said Stevens. A woman sung a hymn. Others 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:04.119 claimed to see ghostly lights appear in the room. Stevens 0:23:04.160 --> 0:23:08.120 offered up the lord's prayer while John Glynn played haunting 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:12.840 strains on a harmonica in the dark. To Whittington Egan, 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:17.880 the entire thing was a ridiculous pantomime, and later on, 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:23.560 when the familiar pattern of events was repeated, something different occurred, 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:27.720 but the sound of one supposed knocking of a spirit. 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:32.560 Whittington Egan switched on his torch just in time to 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:36.560 see the arm of John Glynn rapidly withdrawing from the 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:40.960 direction of the chest at the end of the bed. Later, 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.639 when Whittington Egan finally stepped out of the house in 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:48.399 the early hours of the morning, with the rain falling harder, 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:51.840 he allowed himself a rye smile at the crowd of 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:57.720 onlookers huddled silently underneath the bedroom window, gazing up expectantly 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:03.480 for any sign of the phantom. A few days later, 0:24:03.520 --> 0:24:07.919 a genuine tragedy would strike the house. On the evening 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:12.879 of Thursday, October sixteenth, the family's lodger, Ellen Whittle, was 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:17.000 out walking with her friend James Sutton. While making their 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:21.320 way over runcorn Hill, just above a disused quarry known 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:26.080 as Frog's Mouth, they inexplicably slipped and fell twenty four 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:31.399 feet to the ground. James Sutton was hospitalized for three months, 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:35.600 but Ellen Whittle was not so fortunate. She died of 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:46.960 her injuries the following day. By mid November, after three 0:24:47.040 --> 0:24:51.440 months of unbridled destruction, the strange activity at Number one 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:55.439 Byron Street seemed to be coming to an end. On 0:24:55.520 --> 0:25:01.280 November twenty third, pioneering BBC documentarian Dennis Mitchell was sent 0:25:01.320 --> 0:25:03.479 to the house in the hope of catching a glimpse 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:08.000 of the phantom, but nothing unto ward occurred. Then a 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:13.280 few days later, Reverend Stevens, along with three journalists, caught 0:25:13.400 --> 0:25:17.600 Sam Jones red handed launching a book against the bedroom wall. 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:22.879 To journalist Whittington Egan, it was the final nail in 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:28.119 the coffin of the Runcorn thing forever and Stephens, However, 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:31.879 like many of the other witnesses, it was proof only 0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:35.919 that Sam, like John before, had merely succumbed to the 0:25:35.960 --> 0:25:40.120 pressure of maintaining the disturbances so that people would continue 0:25:40.160 --> 0:25:45.720 to believe their original claims. By mid December, however, the 0:25:45.800 --> 0:25:49.920 press were no longer calling at Byron Street, while outside, 0:25:50.240 --> 0:25:54.719 the noise and bustle of expectant crowds had dispersed, replaced 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:59.480 by the more familiar quietude of small town suburbia. A 0:25:59.520 --> 0:26:07.200 short time later, the disturbances stopped altogether. But then something 0:26:07.359 --> 0:26:13.199 very peculiar came to light. At eight am on the 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:17.480 morning of Saturday, December thirteenth, roughly the same time that 0:26:17.560 --> 0:26:20.240 the events at Byron Street were coming to an end. 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:25.040 Down at Pool Farm, where Sam Jones worked, his boss, 0:26:25.119 --> 0:26:28.919 Harold Crowther, had just released his dogs into the courtyard 0:26:29.480 --> 0:26:33.960 when he noticed something bizarre towards the back of the yard. 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:38.159 A small black cloud appeared to be hovering just above 0:26:38.200 --> 0:26:42.800 the ground. The dogs had seen it too, and immediately 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:45.840 gave chase when it started to move away at a 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:50.680 rapid pace. Before the dogs could reach it, it lifted 0:26:50.720 --> 0:26:55.800 into the air and disappeared. An odd event, no doubt, 0:26:56.480 --> 0:26:59.920 but it wasn't the first time that Crowther had seen 0:27:01.160 --> 0:27:04.440 The story of the runcorned thing was about to take 0:27:04.640 --> 0:27:13.639 one more twist. It took me a long time to 0:27:13.680 --> 0:27:16.120 realize that it isn't the bed or even the mattress 0:27:16.280 --> 0:27:20.920 necessarily that makes for the perfect sleeping experience. It's the sheets. Now. 0:27:20.960 --> 0:27:22.960 I might not be sure of much in life, but 0:27:23.119 --> 0:27:26.080 this I can guarantee you that feeling when you get 0:27:26.119 --> 0:27:28.240 home from a stay at your parents house or a 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:31.000 night at a fancy hotel. If you're so lucky and 0:27:31.119 --> 0:27:33.720 your bed just doesn't feel the same, I'm telling you 0:27:33.800 --> 0:27:37.040 now it's the sheets. Recently, I was lucky enough to 0:27:37.040 --> 0:27:39.119 get a set of sheets from boll And Branch, and 0:27:39.200 --> 0:27:40.639 if it wasn't for the fact that I have to 0:27:40.680 --> 0:27:43.400 wash them from time to time, I'd never take them off, 0:27:43.520 --> 0:27:46.360 which is just as well, because incredibly they get even 0:27:46.440 --> 0:27:49.920 softer with every wash. Buttery soft, lightweight in a one 0:27:49.960 --> 0:27:54.199 hundred percent organic cotton satine weave. Boll And Branch sheets 0:27:54.200 --> 0:27:57.359 are also made with toxin free processes and fair trade 0:27:57.400 --> 0:28:01.119 certification to ensure workers are paid fair living wages. To 0:28:01.240 --> 0:28:04.480 experience the best sheets you've ever felt, choose boon and Branch. 0:28:04.840 --> 0:28:07.320 You can try them worry free for thirty nights with 0:28:07.400 --> 0:28:10.280 free shipping and returns, and my listeners can get an 0:28:10.280 --> 0:28:13.399 exclusive fifteen percent off your first set of sheets with 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:17.200 promo code unexplained at boll and Branch dot com. That's 0:28:17.280 --> 0:28:22.160 boll And Branch bo ll and Branch dot com promo 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:31.120 code Unexplained. With his assessment of the events completed, Reverend 0:28:31.160 --> 0:28:34.960 Stephens submitted his report to the Society of Psychical Research 0:28:35.240 --> 0:28:39.440 in April of nineteen fifty three. A short time later, 0:28:39.920 --> 0:28:43.520 Stevens heard of a series of distressing events believed to 0:28:43.560 --> 0:28:49.240 have taken place at Pool Farm. Intrigued, he contacted the Krouthers, 0:28:49.440 --> 0:28:53.000 who eventually agreed to share their story, but only on 0:28:53.000 --> 0:28:56.440 one condition that their names and the events they were 0:28:56.480 --> 0:29:01.880 about to divulge be kept out of the press. The 0:29:01.960 --> 0:29:05.240 Crowthers were pig farmers and had lived at the fifteenth 0:29:05.240 --> 0:29:08.720 century farmhouse at Pool Farm for a number of years 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:13.840 without ever witnessing anything strange. On the morning of Sunday, 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:18.280 August seventeenth, the exact same day that trouble began at 0:29:18.280 --> 0:29:22.880 Byron Street, Harold Crowther was approaching the pigstye when he 0:29:22.960 --> 0:29:26.840 sensed that something was wrong. One of the pigs, in 0:29:26.880 --> 0:29:30.320 a fit of terror, was trying desperately to jump the fence, 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:34.000 while a number of other pigs were fighting among themselves. 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:38.800 As Crowther neared the pen, he then saw three pigs 0:29:38.880 --> 0:29:43.640 lying dead on the ground. It isn't uncommon for livestock 0:29:43.720 --> 0:29:47.040 to die unexpectedly from time to time, but to lose 0:29:47.120 --> 0:29:50.440 three in one night was a serious cause for alarm, 0:29:51.840 --> 0:29:57.040