WEBVTT - S03 Episode 11 Extra: Hare Raising 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:15.440 Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClean Smith, where 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.919 for the weeks in between episodes we look at the 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:20.119 stories that, for one reason or other, didn't make it 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.240 into the show. In last week's episode, Into the Abyss, 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.440 we fell headlong into the seemingly never ending mystery of 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.840 the Oak Island Treasure Pit. The hunt for what some 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:34.360 have claimed to be the lost treasure of pirate Captain 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.600 William Kidd is widely considered one of the most famous 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:41.440 treasure hunts of all time. We might also say that 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:44.000 what has played out on that island in the one 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.479 hundred and twenty odd years since the pit's discovery is 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.280 nothing less than the story of humankind, of land and 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:56.400 lives destroyed on a promise of riches. The beguiling Oak 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:59.720 Island Mystery put me in mind of another much publicized 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.280 as your Hunt, of an eminently more gentle variety, though 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:16.280 it is a story no less interesting because of it. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:20.160 It began in nineteen seventy six with a request from 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.800 publishing agent Tom Maskler to the then thirty year old 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:28.600 artist Kit Williams to put together a picture book. Though 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:31.640 Williams was open to the idea, he didn't want to 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.479 create something that would just be flipped through by the reader, 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:39.520 with his art being treated as something incidental, and so 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:44.160 he hashed a plan. He accepted Mascula's offer on one 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.960 condition that he be allowed to do something that no 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:52.800 one had done before. Over the next few years, Williams 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:55.920 developed the story and set to work on the sixteen 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.440 paintings that would help to tell it. He gave it 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:06.520 the title Masquerade. After completing the material, Williams, also an 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:11.120 expert metal worker, retired to his craft studio, whereafter tinkering 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.359 away for a few days, he crafted an ornate pendant 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.880 made of eighteen carrot gold, fashioned into the shape of 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.919 a hare and adorned with ruby, turquoise and mother of pearl. 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:28.359 This was to be the center of his plan. Once finished, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.880 the pendant was set into wax to preserve it before 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.120 being deposited in a ceramic bowl, on which was written 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.840 the words I am the keeper of the Jewel of Masquerade, 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:43.440 which lies waiting safe inside me for you or eternity. 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:48.720 Some time later, one night in the summer of nineteen 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.240 seventy nine, Williams and a friend drove out to a 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.440 secluded patch of England where under the light of the moon, 0:02:55.840 --> 0:03:00.400 they dug a small hole. Into this, the hare, encased 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:06.880 in its ceramic container, was deposited and covered over with earth. Finally, 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:10.560 on the eve of publication a few days later, Williams 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:14.079 made the enigmatic announcement to the world that contained within 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.440 the pages of his new book were all the clues 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.280 any reader would need to find the location of the 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:24.639 buried treasure. The story of Masquerade was a simple one. 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:28.480 It told the tale of a hare called Jack, who 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:31.600 was given a golden ornament by the Moon to deliver 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.520 as a gift to the Sun. Only when Jack reaches 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.840 the Sun, he discovers he has lost the ornament. It 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.800 was down to the reader to find it again. However, 0:03:44.240 --> 0:03:46.640 it wasn't in the text so much that the clues 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:50.360 were hidden, but rather among the sixteen exquisite paintings that 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:55.160 Williams had created, meaning, as had been his plan all along, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.160 readers would be forced to study his work like never 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:04.560 before in order to crack the code. On the first day, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.840 the book sold fifty thousand copies, sending the publisher into 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.400 a spin as they tried to keep up with demand. 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.040 The following day, it was another fifty thousand copies, and 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:18.279 by the end of the week a quarter of a 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:22.440 million copies of the book had been sold, and not 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:30.279 long after came the letters. Are you always taking care 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.839 of your family? Do you often take care of others 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.200 and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself. 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.039 To make time for you. You deserve it. Tele Adoc 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.919 gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.400 get back to feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.080 With tele adoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.880 by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.839 a week from seven a m. To nine pm local time. 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.880 If you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.200 depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.960 personal or family issue, teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.679 to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:18.080 to change counselors if needed. For free teledoc therapy is 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.280 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.720 visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast today to 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:40.359 get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast To 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.080 avoid treasure hunters unnecessarily carving up the British isles. Williams 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:47.880 had encouraged readers to write to him with their answers, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.159 whereupon he would call them back if they had solved 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:56.080 the puzzle correctly. Soon he was receiving thousands of letters 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.479 on a weekly basis, but whether he got back to 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.000 readers or not, it did little to stop the more 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:06.040 adventurous from putting their theories to the test, with some 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.360 traveling from as far as Japan, Germany and the United 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:14.400 States in the quest to uncover the hair. Some even 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:17.479 turned up at William's door begging him for more clues, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.400 but as the months went by, some grew skeptical that 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.880 there was even a puzzle to be solved, or that 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.359 at the very least, there would be no treasure to 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:31.200 be found at the end of it. Publisher Tom Maskler 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.320 received one letter from a reader convinced he had uncovered 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:39.200 the ruse, believing there was no such person as artist 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.920 Kit Williams since his name was an anagram for I 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:47.719 will mask it. It was over two years later when 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.640 Williams's wife Elaine, headed downstairs one morning to collect the 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:55.800 latest batch of posts in amongst the bills and the 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.039 mound of letters from people who regularly wrote in she 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:04.479 came across one envelope that was unlike any of the others. Intrigued, 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.279 she took it upstairs and handed it to Kit to open. 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.920 Inside he found a letter, as well as a series 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:17.480 of small sketches, including one of a monument underneath which 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:21.960 they had drawn across. Kit recognized it as the place 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.520 where he had buried the treasure. Using the phone number 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.120 that had been included, Kit Julie gave the mysterious reader 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:34.920 a call. Moments later, he was speaking to a softly 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.880 spoken man with a croaky voice, who introduced himself as 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:43.680 Ken Thomas. Although Kit was relieved that the puzzle had 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:47.400 finally been sold, he was a little disappointed to discover 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.720 that Ken had apparently only managed to partially solve it 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:55.880 before he found the location. Perhaps more unexpected. However, he 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.560 didn't even seem that happy that he had done it, 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.520 being reluctant as he was to go back to the 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.320 site and dig up the hair since he was suffering 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:09.680 from a slight cold. As for the puzzle itself, Kit 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:11.800 believed he had set it up in such a way 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.680 that it was virtually impossible to solve it without all 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.720 the information. If anything, it was almost impossible either way. 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.000 Each of the books sixteen pictures were formed of a 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.840 central picture bordered by a cryptic set of words, some 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.640 letters of which were painted red or had a line 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:34.560 drawn across them. Selecting each of these letters would reveal 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:40.079 two more words. In each of the pictures were also 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.080 to be found the image of a hair, often hiding 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:46.199 within it, as well as a number of other animals. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:51.280 Some pictures also included number sets, and all were covered 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:54.720 in symbolism, where even the positioning of limbs could have 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:59.800 a double meaning taken in its entirety. These clues, of 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:03.920 which many were red herrings, did provide significant hints as 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.000 to the location of the treasure. But the big piece 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:10.080 that most failed to work out was that by drawing 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.120 a line from the eye of any living animal depicted 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:17.080 in a painting through its corresponding hands and feet would 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:21.600 reveal another set of words. Taken together, they gave the 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:29.160 phrase Catherine's long finger overshadows, earth, buried, yellow, amulet, midday 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:35.040 points the hour in light of equinox. Look You. Then, 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.480 by taking the first letter of each word, you found 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:43.760 another line close by Ampthill, a market town in the 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:48.920 County of Bedfordshire in southern England. Ken Thomas had done 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:54.280 none of this. Instead, he claimed to have first deduced 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:57.280 that the location had something to do with King Henry 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:02.040 the Eight's first wife, Catherine of Arragon, before later hitting 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.079 upon the town of Ampthill from other clues in the book. 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.160 On a whim, he had traveled to the town one 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.559 morning with his dog and ended up walking in Ampthill Park, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.480 a large country estate on the edge of the town. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:20.160 It was here that his dog ran off ahead towards 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:27.000 a cross monument, where it promptly urinated. When Thomas caught 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.760 up with it, he found, to his surprise that the 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:35.240 monument was dedicated to Catherine of Arragon. Realizing he had 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:38.679 found the location of the Golden Hair, he promptly wrote 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:43.240 his letter and sent it off to Williams. Thomas would 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:46.760 eventually claim his prize in March nineteen eighty two, and 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:50.480 later meet Williams and some photographers in Amphill Park for 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:55.760 a series of publicity shots. However, eager to maintain his anonymity, 0:10:56.320 --> 0:11:02.160 Thomas strangely wore a disguise throughout and that as bizarre 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.120 as it sounds, was that, or so it was thought. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.280 Five years later, in nineteen eighty four, a computer game 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:23.959 called Hair Raiser was released onto the market. Only it 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.480 wasn't a game as such, but a treasure hunt, whereby 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:30.319 the treasure was the same golden hair that had been 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:35.640 found by Ken Thomas five years previously. The game's creators, 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.480 Dougald Thompson and John Guard, claimed to have come into 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.760 possession of the pendant a few years earlier and decided 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.559 to use it again for their own venture. The game, 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.079 which was sold in two parts at almost five times 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.560 the value of the original book, was composed of a 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:56.800 series of static screens showing a variety of images and 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.520 occasional text. It soon became clear to those unlucky enough 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:05.640 to have purchased it, however, that the puzzle was probably unsolvable, 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:10.920 and as a result, the game failed to sell. The 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:15.160 existence of the prize, however, was genuine enough, although rather 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.120 than giving it to a lucky winner, Thompson and Guard 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.360 were forced to have it sold at Sotherby's auction house 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.040 in nineteen eighty eight when their company went into liquidation. 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.959 It would eventually sell for thirty one thousand pounds equivalent 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:35.360 to eighty thousand pounds today. And then in December that year, 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:40.839 something unexpected came to light. Although it was thought that 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.559 a man called Ken Thomas had successfully discovered Kit Williams's 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:50.680 golden hair, in truth there was no Ken Thomas. Thomas 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.640 was in fact dugal to Thompson, the maker of Hair Raiser, 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:01.199 as revealed in a Sunday Times expose. As it turned out, 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:07.160 his business partner, John Guard's girlfriend, Veronica Robertson, had once 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.959 been Kit Williams's girlfriend. More to the point, she had 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.320 been his girlfriend when he conceived the puzzle for Masquerade 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:21.160 and knew roughly where the treasure was buried. Robertson was 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.120 convinced by Guard to give up the location on the 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:26.920 promise that he would donate the treasure to an animal 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:33.280 rights charity. He did no such thing. Kit Williams was 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:37.720 understandably devastated when he heard the news, as were two 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:43.680 young physics teachers, Mike Barker and John Rousseau. Barker and 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.400 Rousseau were the only people to successfully solve the puzzle 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:51.440 in its entirety, and had traveled to Ampthill only days 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:55.600 before Dugald Thompson went looking for the hare, only to 0:13:55.679 --> 0:14:01.240 miss uncovering it by inches. In fact, Thompson later said 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.600 it was only because of Barker and Rousseau's dig marks 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.120 that he realized he was looking in the right place. 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.560 Next week's episode twelve will be the final episode of 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.880 season three. However, we will return in mid November twenty 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:27.600 eighteen for season four. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.240 and would like to help support us, you can now 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:35.920 go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:43.360 no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.640 elements of Unexplained are produced by me, Richard mcclained smith. 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.680 Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes. Feel free 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.080 to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.920 the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.600 an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.480 can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:15.280 on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now it's time to take 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:19.680 care of yourself. To make time for you, teledoc gives 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:22.680 you access to a licensed therapist to help you get 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.680 back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.240 by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.600 pm local time, seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.800 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:43.200 visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained podcast Today to 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:48.880 get started. That's t e ladoc dot com Slash Unexplained 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:49.480 Podcast