WEBVTT - Season 08 Episode 8: Neuroactive Ghostliness 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.720 The similarities and differences between humans and other animals have 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.919 long been a source of philosophical conundrum, since the time 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.799 of the Abrahamic religions, when the God of the Book 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:26.480 of Genesis told Adam he would have dominion over all 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:31.200 the animals in his kingdom. Many assume unquestionably that humans 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.680 are superior to other species, as if by somehow, having 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.600 a broader awareness of our earthly surroundings, we have permission 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.640 to take charge of all living things, that they, in 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:48.040 some ways, are here simply for our sustenance and gratification. 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:53.640 Some point to certain characteristics as a way of differentiating ourselves, 0:00:54.760 --> 0:01:00.480 the supposedly uniquely human imperative towards art, the facility to 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.880 communicate in languages which have grammatical rules far more complex 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.840 than other animals. That we walk upright on two feet, 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.680 rendering us mobile in a way that few other animals 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.840 can mimic, freeing our hands for using tools, and allowing 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:21.199 us to better conserve our energy. And yet with Charles 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.679 Darwin's explosive theory of evolution outlined in the Origin of 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:30.240 the Species, since eighteen fifty nine, many began to question 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:33.960 the received wisdom that we are masters of our space. 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.560 One thing human beings continue to share with other animals 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.560 is a sense of territorialism. We see it on programs 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.520 narrated by the likes of David Attenborough about the natural world, 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:51.320 in the predominantly male species of lions or stags fighting 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.080 with one another to be crowned alpha of the herd. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.840 In astonishing observations made by scientists in Thai National Park 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:05.840 in southwestern Cote Duvoir, for example, chimpanzees are recorded utilizing 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:10.120 distinctly human like warfare tactics, such as the use of 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:16.080 hillside terrain for reconnaissance and weapons. It can be amusing, therefore, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:21.200 or disturbing to see these similarities reframed by certain human 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:27.560 beings as high minded or politically expedient predestined, even when 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:31.760 territorialism is used to whip up anger in instances of 0:02:31.800 --> 0:02:36.680 political rhetoric, or when invasion narratives are used to justify 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.880 acts of violence in the name of protecting a state 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.760 or territory. It is perhaps for this reason that invasion 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:47.800 narratives have long been used as a staple of the 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.160 science fiction and horror genres, in particular, since they play 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:59.480 into humanities more animalistic tendencies when it comes to territorialism. 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:09.079 When we recognize our true animal nature, we see our 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:13.600 inclination for territorialism for what it is, which is to say, 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:18.920 an entirely natural impulse, instinctively driven by fear and the 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:23.680 will to survive perceived threats to the family, threat to 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:29.760 the colony, threat to food supplies, harvests, the prevailing political order, 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.560 or even as in H. G. Wells is classic, the 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.480 war of the world's threat to the species itself will 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:42.640 engender a shift toward territorialism, whereby just where we might 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:47.080 need them most, our base animal tendency will override the 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:51.840 one thing we might actually justifiably hold as something unique 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:57.040 to human beings, our ability to think rationally and abstractly 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:03.920 beyond our primal impulses. Historically, one of the most striking 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.760 examples of humanity's capacity for territorialism came in the form 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:13.520 of the series of witch panics which swept across England, Scotland, 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:17.360 Europe and other parts of the so called New World 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.880 during the late seventeenth century. It is testament to the 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.799 political turbulence of the time that figures such as self 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:31.640 appointed which Finder General Matthew Hopkins, as discussed in Season two, 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.800 Episode two's Time Out of Joint, were able to ascend 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.680 to positions of relative power in England or because of 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:45.320 a perceived threat to the status quo. And yet, despite 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.960 sharing some of the same fear led impulses as invasion narratives, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:55.400 stories about witches and demons also offer something quite unique, 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.960 not just because of what they say about historical attitude 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:05.279 toward women and minorities as examples of individuals considered by 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.560 those in power to be different and unknown and therefore 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:14.440 fair game to be scapegoated, but because the supposed invasion 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.680 meant to be taking place is almost always embedded within 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:24.640 a community. Territorialism leads naturally to paranoia and is a 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:29.080 zero sum game. In order to justify the fear being 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.920 whipped up, an antagonist must be identified, and so when 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.520 all external threats have finally been exhausted, there is nowhere 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.960 left to turn except toward members of your own community. 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.080 It is no accident, for example, that Arthur Miller's most 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:53.360 famous play, The Crucible, ostensibly set during the Salem witch Trials, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.719 was written and performed in the aftermath of the mid 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:02.480 twentieth century Red scare in the United Slce States. Miller 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.920 was explicit in drawing the connections, which he saw as 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.400 an indictment of Cold War hysteria as much as it 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.440 was a fable about the foundation of violence on which 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:18.840 his country was built. The story of the Gloucester invasions 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.599 during the summer of sixteen ninety two is perhaps the 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:28.520 most interesting example of North American witch hysteria, precisely because 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:32.960 it seems to explicitly marry together the most terrifying elements 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:37.920 from within the invasion narrative that the newly settled New 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:42.919 England outpost of Massachusetts viewed itself at war with enemies 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:47.880 both within and without, and as we shall see, people 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:52.760 were often at a loss to distinguish between them. You're 0:06:52.839 --> 0:07:07.400 listening to unexplained and I'm Richard mc lean smith in Massachusetts, America, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:15.280 July sixteen ninety two. Strange things are afoot in Salem Village. 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.640 Eleven women and one man a languishing in jail as 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:27.120 they await trial, accused of perpetrating witchcraft. One Bridget Bishop 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.760 had already been executed twenty miles away to the north, 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.880 in the small village of Capean. An unseasonable warmth seemed 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:42.200 to tighten its grip around the usually mild seaside location. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:47.560 During this time of year, crops were being cultivated for harvest, 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.360 and twenty five year old renowned local family man and 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:57.400 smaller stateholder, Ebenezer Babson felt positive that the weather signaled 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:02.840 good things for his maize god fearing above all things. However, 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.640 Ebenezer knew only too well that the weather was prone 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.680 to change, and so he concentrated his energies on making 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.440 sure there was an ample store of food for what 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.960 would surely be another blistering winter. But the work was 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:24.120 proving a little harder than usual because that July, Ebenezer 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.600 and his family, including his widowed mother Eleanor, had not 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:34.120 been sleeping well. It started with the children crying out 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.840 in terror. One night. Babson ran to their bedroom to 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.920 find them shaking with fear in their beds, claiming they 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.280 could hear noises in the cottage. They said it was 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:50.800 almost as if a person or persons was walking freely 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:55.800 around the humble property, laughing and making merry, and even 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:02.080 rifling through the kitchen cupboards. Hearing though he was, Ebenezer 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:07.280 also possessed a fiercely practical streak. He reasoned that the 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.480 disturbances were likely something to do with the local wildlife, 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:16.800 or more possibly a figment of his children's imagination. He 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:19.600 told them to try and ignore it and get back 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.520 to sleep before returning himself to bed. But the strange 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:31.600 disturbances continued. Over the next few nights. The children continued 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:35.360 to claim that something was in the house with them 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:40.520 moving around at night. Finding no outward reason why his 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.560 children would lie to him. While out in the field, 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:48.160 one day, Ebeneza privately began to wander if his house 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:53.520 was being stalked by Native American hunting parties. He'd heard 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:57.320 of such things taking place down in Maryland and thought 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.680 that if it were happening to them, as the man 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.679 of the house, it was his job to defend it, 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.960 this being a time before law enforcement or even the 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:13.400 comfort of neighbors who lived anywhere nearby. For now, though, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.080 he tried to put the thought out of his mind, 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.199 there was work to be done while the weather was 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.520 still good. When the sun went down, he finished up 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.319 for the day and made his way back to the cottage. 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.880 All things considered, it had been a solid day's work, 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.080 and he allowed himself a smile at the thought of 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:47.800 another job well done. By the time Ebenezer returned home, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:53.160 it was pitch black as he approached the cottage. Candlelight 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.920 flickered from inside the windows. As he drew nearer. For 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:01.800 a moment, he fancied that he could see silhouettes moving 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:06.560 across them on the outside of the house. That strange, 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:12.800 The children must surely be in bed by now. As 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:16.199 he got closer, he made out the shape of two men, 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:20.040 both of whom seemed to have just stepped down from 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:24.920 the wooden porch. Who goes there? He called out, which 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:29.199 seemed to startle them when he trekked further down the path. 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.960 They seemed then to immediately bolt into one of the 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:38.240 nearby cornfields. Ebenezer ran into the house, demanding to know 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:41.280 from his wife who had been calling at such an hour. 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.440 With a look of confusion, she assured him that no 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:50.680 one had been calling, and neither had she heard anyone outside. 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.679 With this, Ebenezer became even more concerned and returned instantly 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.720 to the private fear he'd been harboring all day that 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:03.960 his house was now the target of a Native American 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:08.800 hunting party. With no explanation to his wife about what 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.880 had been troubling him. Ebenezer seized his long armed flint 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.880 lock from above the fireplace and tore off in search 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:22.679 of the elusive intruders. Ebenezer headed straight into the corn fields. 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.439 He knew them like the back of his own hand, 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.240 even in the dark, without a lantern to guide the way. 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:34.080 Every clod of dirt beneath his boots, every root and twig, 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.640 felt familiar to him. In this way, he was able 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.520 to track the men through the corn and emerged on 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.080 the other side at a nearby swamp. When he got there, 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.079 he saw the men start up from behind a log 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:53.280 and run into the marsh, seemingly disappearing with no indication 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:58.160 of their whereabouts. The last thing he thought he overheard 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.400 one of them say, was the man of the house 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.480 is now come, else we might have taken the house. 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.000 Back at the cottage, the whole family was awake and 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:14.240 every one on high alert. Upon his return, Ebenezer seemed 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:18.479 convinced that the mysterious men had been planning a siege. 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:21.520 He hustled his children on to the back of a 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.040 wagon while he hitched up his horses and sat up 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:28.800 front with his wife and mother. His plan was to 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.360 make haste to the nearest garrison, located about two miles away. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.439 The rough hewn timber garrison, surrounded by a large wooden palisade, 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:43.959 was located high on the rocks of Cape Ann, overlooking 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:48.360 the sea. The heavy sound of waves crashing onto the 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.120 rocks could be heard in the distance. As Ebenezer and 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:57.400 his family approached the garrison gate in sight, a number 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:01.280 of men were stationed tasked with protecting the local area. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.880 Seeing the looks of concern on the family's faces, the 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:17.400 garrison occupants quickly ushered them into the building. With the 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:23.480 Babsons safely inside, Ebenezer hurriedly told the others present about 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:27.880 his family's predicament. He wondered if anyone else had experienced 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.440 anything similar, but it was the first that anyone had 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.560 heard of it. But no sooner had he started his account, 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.760 he once again heard what he took to be the 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.800 sound of heavy footfall, but this time it was as 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.840 if a whole group of men were surrounding the building. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.960 What was that, one of the children cried out with alarm. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:55.800 Than others claimed to hear it too. The horses outside 0:14:55.920 --> 0:15:02.920 began to winny. Ebeneze's youngest daughter. Ghased in horror, Eberneza 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:08.080 fetched his gun and ran out into the night. Under 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:12.200 the faint, bony sliver of a crescent moon above. He 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:16.080 caught sight of what appeared to be two men running 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.360 fast and away from the building, but he was too 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:24.760 exhausted to follow. The family chose to lie low at 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.040 the garrison the following day until they were sure it 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:33.320 was safe to return home. But when nightfall came, Eberoneza, 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.720 for the third time in its many days, was keeping 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:41.240 watch outside when once again he believed he caught sight 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:45.000 of the same two men loitering about in the darkness, 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.320 but this time he managed to get a good look 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:53.040 at them. Stepping forward to confront them, he paused suddenly 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:56.440 when he saw that one seemed to be carrying a 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:01.520 bright silver gun, the kind favored by French Canadian trappers, 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:07.960 worn slung across their shoulder. They wore white breeches and waistcoats, too, 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.200 so it stood to reason he thought that they were 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:17.760 most likely frenchmen. He chanced another step forward, the men 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.560 suddenly advanced on him, forcing a terrified Ebenezer to turn 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.960 on his heels and sprint back to the garrison. Once 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.400 safely inside, he warned the others that they might be 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.400 under attack. All the while, the apparent noise of the 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:40.440 men moving around outside remained, but few wanted to go 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:45.960 and confront them. At this point, Ebenezer sought counsel from 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:51.080 another man, local farmer and family friend, John Brown, who 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:55.320 agreed to help him. The pair disappeared into the night 0:16:55.720 --> 0:17:00.520 and reappeared breathless shortly after. The men claimed to have 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.840 successfully chased off the miscreants, but there weren't two of them, now, 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:12.080 claimed Brown, but three. On July fourteenth, Ebenezer, John Brown 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.040 and the other men of h who were stationed at 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.760 the garrison were drawn out once more by the sound 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:23.960 of people flitting about outside. They were stunned to find that, 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:27.720 according to them, the enemy group had now swelled in 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.639 number from two or three to around half a dozen, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:36.040 all seemingly darting away from the garrison back to the 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.679 cover of night. Worried that they might be about to 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:42.879 be drawn into an ambush, the group held back, with 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:48.240 the exception of Ebenezer Babson. Unable to help himself, he 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:51.760 tore off after them once again, and in the process 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:56.080 misfired his rifle, which allowed them all a moment to 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:01.720 take cover. Ebenezer later stated that he was just closing 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.120 in on the mystery men's position when he called out 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:09.520 to his friends. Here they are, he said, at which 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:13.400 point he took aim toward three of the supposed Frenchman, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:26.200 brought his rifle up to his shoulder and fired. Ebenezer 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.719 was stunned for a moment. The three men he'd fired 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.439 on appeared to fall to the ground in sequence, like 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:37.399 fauns during a hunt, he thought, But just at the 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.199 moment when he was about to call to his comrades 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:45.439 that he'd killed them, the men rose like revenance and 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:50.400 disappeared once more as quickly as they came. Just then, 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:55.399 a shot rocketed past Ebeneze's head, missing by a matter 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.160 of inches. It seemed to have come from a nearby 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:04.120 copse of trees, close to where the spectral Frenchman had disappeared. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:10.080 Ebniza turned to see the bullet, still hot, wedged into 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:14.399 the bark of a tree bright behind him. Believing he 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:20.159 was still under threat, Ebenezer swiftly took refuge behind the tree. 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:24.000 John Brown and the others soon joined him, claiming later 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:26.920 that they managed to pin down one of the Frenchmen 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:31.720 who they'd succeeded in separating from his group. This time, 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.840 Brown took aim and shot the man at point blank range, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.520 then watched him crumple to the ground with a sickening thump. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:45.080 The men of Cape Ann cheered in triumph, but when 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.000 they turned back to the body, it appeared to have 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:54.520 completely vanished into thin air. Exhausted, the colonists made their 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:59.399 way back to the garrison with only their small lanterns 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.320 to light the way. The men soon became spooked by 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:07.520 what seemed to be voices whispering out to them in 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:13.200 an indistinguishable language from somewhere in the underbush, But whenever 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:17.040 the light was whipped round and the shadows pushed back, 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:22.600 they saw nothing. The next day, one of the garrison men, 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.800 Richard Dolliver, burst into the building with some alarming news. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.359 He had just been on a scout in one of 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.600 the many orchards scattered around Cape Ann when he spotted 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.520 a party of what seemed to be a dozen of 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:42.240 the frenchmen camped out in its center. They were chanting 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:46.640 in a strange language, he said, and performing bizarre rituals 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:52.800 around a fire, invoking false gods. Just like Ebenezer and 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:57.000 the other colonists, Dolliver was too, a god fearing man 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:01.840 who felt the influence of the devil acute. As he 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.800 explained to the others, he believed the Frenchmen were gathering 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:12.040 supernatural powers from occult forces beyond his control. So he 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:16.159 took aim at the troop of dancing strangers, raised his 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.920 rifle to his shoulder, and fired at them, just as 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:24.840 Ebenezer and John Smith had done before, and just as 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.879 in previous attempts, the shots only sir to break up 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:34.240 the ritual and send the apparent Frenchman scattering into the trees. 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:48.439 It was Dolliver's unnerving story that prompted the garrison to 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:53.679 finally seek help from the outside world. On July eighteenth, 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.920 after ten days of skirmishes with the mystery assailants who 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.639 descended on Cape Anne, Eboneze at Babson sent an emissary 0:22:02.920 --> 0:22:08.520 to the nearby town of Ipswich. His communication emphasized dire 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:14.160 warnings about the potential consequences of an invasion. In response, 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:19.960 senior local army official, Captain Appleton, dispatched sixty men from 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.040 his own garrison in the hope of quelling the threat. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:28.720 From records, however, it seems as though Captain Appleton's troops 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:33.040 fared no better. No sooner had they arrived than they 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:38.199 quickly learned that the so called infernal visitants responded to 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:43.800 lead and gunpowder as children were to snowballs. For a fortnight. 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:48.720 As news arrived from Salem that five more supposed witches 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:53.240 had been hanged, the apparent invaders toyed with the deployment 0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:58.040 from Ipswich. Their laughter and jeering seemed to echo from 0:22:58.080 --> 0:23:03.719 every bush and every tree. They apparently threw stones, rotten 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:08.359 fruit and vegetables, and even excrement. They beat upon the 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:12.520 doors of the garrison building with sticks and fists, and 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.920 it now seemed to Ebenezer, as it did to Captain Appleton, 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:22.120 that the invader's sole purpose was simply mischief, rather than 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:27.520 any design on domination. It's unclear as to how the 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:32.040 series of incidents, which later became known as the Gloucester Invasion, 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:37.880 came to an end. Some have speculated that once Ebenezer Babson, 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.960 Captain Appleton, and the rest of the team at the 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.800 garrison came to the realization that they could not defeat 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:49.400 their enemy with mortal weapons, the so called Frenchmen disappeared, 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:54.720 having seemingly proven some as yet undisclosed point about their 0:23:54.760 --> 0:24:00.520 infernal power. Others, such as colonists and letter writer Thomas 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:04.240 Franklin Waters, seemed to suggest that the band of Mystery 0:24:04.280 --> 0:24:09.159 Invaders were connected to Satanic practices, and that their mission 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:14.399 was simply to break the strong Puritanical Christian faith that 0:24:14.560 --> 0:24:19.520 defined Gloucester County at that time. He wrote an account 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:24.320 of the event shortly after, in the midst of witchcraft accusations. 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:27.919 In sixteen ninety two, he wrote a new and unique 0:24:27.960 --> 0:24:33.000 outburst of Satanic rage revealed itself. Gloucester was invaded by 0:24:33.000 --> 0:24:36.800 a spectral company of Indians and French, coming out at 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:41.439 the swamps or cornfields, sometimes singly again in a group, 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:46.760 they approached the garrison. Usually the guns of the soldiers misfired, 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:50.720 but when the guns were discharged, the bullets had no effect. 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:55.120 Their speech was in an unknown tongue. They carried guns, 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.320 and real bullets shot from them would dug out of 0:24:58.400 --> 0:25:02.479 the trees. They suffered night and day for about a 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:15.119 fortnight altogether. In sixteen ninety three, Reverend John Emerson of 0:25:15.160 --> 0:25:19.560 Gloucester County wrote to his close friend Cotton Mather, an 0:25:19.560 --> 0:25:24.639 influential Puritan minister in the colonies, math the son of 0:25:24.800 --> 0:25:29.760 Increased math considered himself an expert on the subject of bewitchment. 0:25:30.800 --> 0:25:36.000 In sixteen eighty nine, he published memorial Providences relating to 0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:42.040 Witchcrafts and Possessions, in which he confidently affirmed the indisputable 0:25:42.119 --> 0:25:47.119 existence of witches and devils and urged all Christians to 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:51.400 weed them out at the first opportunity. It was Cotton 0:25:51.440 --> 0:25:55.480 Mather who recommended bodily searches be carried out on the 0:25:55.560 --> 0:25:59.240 accused in Salem to search for marks of the devil. 0:26:00.480 --> 0:26:04.639 Emerson's letter to Mathers read, I hope the substance of 0:26:04.720 --> 0:26:08.320 what is written will be enough to satisfy all rational 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:12.840 persons that Gloucester was not alarmed last summer by real 0:26:12.960 --> 0:26:16.920 French and Indians, but that the devil and his agents 0:26:17.320 --> 0:26:21.320 were the real cause of all the molestation. I would 0:26:21.359 --> 0:26:24.600 take upon me to entreat your earnest prayers to the 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:29.080 Father of Mercies, that those apparitions may not prove the 0:26:29.119 --> 0:26:35.680 sad omens of some future and more horrible molestations. Cotton 0:26:35.760 --> 0:26:40.280 Matha himself also recounted the incident in Great detail in 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:46.800 his book Magnalia Christie Americana, embellishing many details taken from 0:26:46.840 --> 0:26:50.760 Reverend Emerson and others which describe the visitants in no 0:26:50.960 --> 0:26:55.080 uncertain terms as demons who'd been sent to Gloucester by 0:26:55.119 --> 0:26:59.920 the Devil himself to molest and upset the inhabitant's security 0:27:01.000 --> 0:27:04.239 for his fervent support of the Salem witch Trials and 0:27:04.320 --> 0:27:09.439 its puritanical dogma. More generally respected author and Salem native 0:27:09.720 --> 0:27:14.240 Nathaniel Hawthorne, best remembered for his classic novel The Scarlet Letter, 0:27:15.000 --> 0:27:18.760 referred to Cotton Mather as the chief agent of mischief 0:27:18.960 --> 0:27:24.640 at Salem, an ironic twist indeed, given Mather's own emphasis 0:27:24.800 --> 0:27:27.840 on the mischief of the so called Frenchman at Gloucester, 0:27:28.440 --> 0:27:32.160 and a stark reminder of how moral values had changed 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:38.160 in the intervening century between his time and Hawthorne's. Nevertheless, 0:27:38.560 --> 0:27:42.240 it seems that Mather's account of the Gloucester invasion endured, 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:45.399 for he was taken on good authority when the story 0:27:45.520 --> 0:27:49.679 was embellished later again by Samuel Adams Drake for his 0:27:49.840 --> 0:27:55.320 book New England Legends and Folklore, published in eighteen eighty four. 0:28:02.800 --> 0:28:06.960 Despite everything written about the glocester invasions. There appears to 0:28:07.000 --> 0:28:10.760 be no concrete evidence that there were any assailants at all, 0:28:11.480 --> 0:28:16.919 at least not in the material sense. Judged by today's standards. 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:20.520 The so called invasion could be read as a lesson 0:28:20.840 --> 0:28:24.080 in the power of fear and how quickly it can 0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:29.440 morph into xenophobia. On the one hand, the purported assailants 0:28:29.600 --> 0:28:33.720 are described as being either French, Canadian or Native American, 0:28:34.440 --> 0:28:38.320 whilst on the other they are ascribed to characteristics which 0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:42.080 each teller of the tale seems keen to emphasize as 0:28:42.240 --> 0:28:48.760 other worldly and sometimes even satanic. Despite the immateriality of 0:28:48.880 --> 0:28:53.040 the apparent assailants, the threat is immediately assumed to be 0:28:53.120 --> 0:28:57.280 one from outside. At no point is it considered to 0:28:57.320 --> 0:29:01.920 be originating from within the settlement, and even when it does, 0:29:02.360 --> 0:29:05.440 such as in the case of those accused of witchcraft 0:29:05.520 --> 0:29:09.400 in Salem, it is only because the individuals in question 0:29:10.000 --> 0:29:14.640 are apparently under the juress of an evil force. Because 0:29:14.680 --> 0:29:18.680 any possibility that there was something rotten within the group 0:29:18.760 --> 0:29:25.360 itself is unthinkable and crucially counterproductive to quelling the fear, 0:29:26.520 --> 0:29:29.560 there was great value in sustaining the idea of an 0:29:29.600 --> 0:29:32.960 external threat, too, For those at the top of the 0:29:33.000 --> 0:29:38.880 community whose prosperity depended on maintaining a solid and committed flock. 0:29:40.280 --> 0:29:43.880 There is little doubt there were genuine reasons to be fearful, 0:29:44.400 --> 0:29:48.200 being abroad in an unknown land, far from the comforts 0:29:48.240 --> 0:29:52.400 and familiarities of home. There is nowhere to turn if 0:29:52.440 --> 0:29:56.480 the harvest fails, and not least of all the ever 0:29:56.600 --> 0:30:01.680 present threat of attack with war between the colonists, competing 0:30:01.840 --> 0:30:06.840 European powers and Native American communities, an ever present danger, 0:30:07.680 --> 0:30:11.680 but seeming obliviousness that the colonists had for their own 0:30:11.800 --> 0:30:17.200 violent contribution in creating that environment in the first place. Notwithstanding, 0:30:18.480 --> 0:30:22.160 what perhaps chills me most of all is the propensity 0:30:22.240 --> 0:30:26.640 with which a community, when feeling threatened, will seek cohesion 0:30:26.720 --> 0:30:31.640 and strength by carelessly demonizing others, or even by seeking 0:30:31.760 --> 0:30:35.800 enemies where none exist, as a way to dampen fear 0:30:36.000 --> 0:30:40.280 and insecurity. And to think that this is an entirely 0:30:40.400 --> 0:30:46.400 natural human phenomena, one we might all perhaps be susceptible 0:30:46.440 --> 0:30:56.000 to given the right set of circumstances. This episode was 0:30:56.040 --> 0:31:00.680 written by James Connor Patterson and produced by me Richard 0:31:00.760 --> 0:31:04.640 McLain Smith. James is a brilliant writer and poet. His 0:31:04.760 --> 0:31:09.480 debut collection of poems titled Bandit Country, Exploring the hinterland 0:31:09.520 --> 0:31:13.040 between the North of Ireland and Republic, was shortlisted for 0:31:13.120 --> 0:31:16.040 the twenty twenty two T S. Eliot Prize and is 0:31:16.040 --> 0:31:19.840 out now to buy. Do check it out. Thank you 0:31:19.880 --> 0:31:22.720 as ever for listening to the show. Please subscribe and 0:31:22.800 --> 0:31:26.400 rate it if you haven't already done so. Unexplained will 0:31:26.440 --> 0:31:29.560 be coming to YouTube very shortly in video form, so 0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:33.200 please watch out for future developments there. You can subscribe 0:31:33.200 --> 0:31:36.240 to the channel at YouTube dot com Forward Slash at 0:31:36.360 --> 0:31:39.680 Unexplained pod. You can also now find us on TikTok 0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:45.600