WEBVTT - Season 8 Episode 20: I Wake Up Dreaming

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, it's Richard McLain Smith here, not the impostor you've

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<v Speaker 1>been listening to on the podcasts, the real one. Join

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<v Speaker 1>me for Unexplained TV at YouTube dot com forward Slash

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<v Speaker 1>Unexplained pod. In seventeen ninety two, in ching Dinnasty, China,

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<v Speaker 1>a philosopher, politician, and writer named che Lun wrote an

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<v Speaker 1>unusual book. Notes of the Thatched Abode of Close Observations

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<v Speaker 1>is a collection of over one hundred stories, thought to

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<v Speaker 1>be a series of satirical portraits of people and society

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. Cleverly concealed within intricate plot lines, ghost

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<v Speaker 1>tales co mingle with history and fantasy in a way

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<v Speaker 1>that makes it difficult to separate truth from figs. One

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<v Speaker 1>of the stories relates the events surrounding an eighty year

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<v Speaker 1>old man living in what today is the city of

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<v Speaker 1>Laijo in Shangdong Province. One day, the elderly man, who

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<v Speaker 1>is somewhat forgetful and unable to walk, is sitting outside alone.

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<v Speaker 1>He asks a family member to bring him something from

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<v Speaker 1>the house, but when they return, the old man and

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<v Speaker 1>the chair he was sitting on are gone. The family

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<v Speaker 1>look high and low for their elder without success. After

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<v Speaker 1>a few days, a neighbor and friend of the family

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<v Speaker 1>returns home to Liaijo from a trip to ching Dao,

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<v Speaker 1>another town located about one hundred miles away. On his arrival,

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<v Speaker 1>he hurries straight to the missing man's son at his

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<v Speaker 1>home and asks him if he's still looking for his father.

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<v Speaker 1>When the Sun, still desperate with worry, replies that he is,

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<v Speaker 1>his neighbor tells him with delight that his is safe

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<v Speaker 1>and well and staying in ching Taut. Though disbelieving it

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<v Speaker 1>at first, the Sun immediately dispatches some servants to ching

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<v Speaker 1>Dau to look for him. Sure enough, the old man

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<v Speaker 1>is soon located in the distant town and promptly returned

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<v Speaker 1>safely to his home. When the Sun asks him how

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<v Speaker 1>on earth he got to ching Dau, the old man

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<v Speaker 1>explains that he was quietly minding his own business when

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<v Speaker 1>suddenly two mysterious figures appeared out of nowhere. Without saying

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<v Speaker 1>so much as a word, the men picked him up

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<v Speaker 1>in his chair, then flew him up to the sky

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<v Speaker 1>and all the way to the town. It is, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>a fantastic fable with no possible foundation in truth. Or

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<v Speaker 1>is it you're listening to unexplained, and I'm Richard mc

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<v Speaker 1>lean smith. It was some time around ten PM when

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one year old farmer Huang yang Cho collapsed into

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<v Speaker 1>his bed after a long day toiling in the fields.

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<v Speaker 1>That night of July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy seven in

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<v Speaker 1>Dongbei Cao, a remote rural village in the Herbei Province

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<v Speaker 1>of northern China, was a hot one. Although most of

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<v Speaker 1>rural China at the time was gripped by extreme poverty

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<v Speaker 1>and the continuing effects of the Cultural Revolution, by all accounts,

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<v Speaker 1>Huang was doing quite well for himself. He'd also recently

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<v Speaker 1>become engaged and was excited for the wedding due to

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<v Speaker 1>take place at the end of the autumn harvest. Some

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<v Speaker 1>of his neighbors even told him that he was living

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<v Speaker 1>a dream of millet, a Chinese proverb meaning his life

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<v Speaker 1>was like a fanciful dream, but the saying also had

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<v Speaker 1>an alto alternative meaning, sometimes interpreted as your hopes will

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<v Speaker 1>ultimately come to nothing. That night, in the thick, humid

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<v Speaker 1>air of peak monsoon season, as the chirp of crickets

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<v Speaker 1>pulsated all around, the exhausted Huang drifted off to sleep.

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<v Speaker 1>The following morning, Huang failed to turn up at the

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<v Speaker 1>rice farm where he worked. Since he was an ordinarily

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<v Speaker 1>reliable and punctual employee, a colleague contacted his family and

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<v Speaker 1>asked if they could check in on him. A short

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<v Speaker 1>time later, a relative of Huang's arrived at the young

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<v Speaker 1>farmer's home and knocked on its door. No Huang's bike,

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<v Speaker 1>his only mode of transport, was still leaning against the

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<v Speaker 1>side of the house. There was no response from inside.

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<v Speaker 1>Feeling a little perturbed by the silence, the relative let

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<v Speaker 1>themselves into the property, where inside they found Huang's clothes

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<v Speaker 1>for the work day ahead neatly laid out in his room,

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<v Speaker 1>but no sign of Huang. In a panic, its family

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<v Speaker 1>and neighbors immediately began to search around the village and

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<v Speaker 1>surrounding fields, which were at least thirty miles away from

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<v Speaker 1>the nearest railway station, But after days of fruitless searching

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<v Speaker 1>for the missing farmer, Huang was still nowhere to be seen.

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<v Speaker 1>It was some ten days later, on August sixth, when

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<v Speaker 1>a telegram was received by the village committee. It had

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<v Speaker 1>been sent from Shanghai, a city located six hundred miles

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<v Speaker 1>away to the south. It said incredibly that Huang was

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<v Speaker 1>being held there in a detention center, and that he

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<v Speaker 1>needed a member of family to confirm his identity so

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<v Speaker 1>they could allow him to return home. But that wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>the strangest thing. The telegram had apparently been delayed on

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<v Speaker 1>its way to the village, having originally been sent to

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<v Speaker 1>the wrong address. But more than that, it appeared to

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<v Speaker 1>have been written at nine a m. On July twenty eighth,

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<v Speaker 1>less than twelve hours after Huang had gone to bed.

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<v Speaker 1>When Huang finally arrived back home two weeks after he

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<v Speaker 1>had gone missing, he was naturally subjected to intense questioning

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<v Speaker 1>by his family and neighbors. The story he had to

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<v Speaker 1>tell was utterly out of this world, as Huang is

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<v Speaker 1>said to have recounted it. Having gone to bed on

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<v Speaker 1>the evening of July twenty seventh, Huang had enjoyed a

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<v Speaker 1>solid night of sleep when sometime around six a m.

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<v Speaker 1>Seemingly on the verge of waking, he drifted in and

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<v Speaker 1>doubt of what he first assumed was a lucid dream.

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<v Speaker 1>All around him, he heard the cocoffhon any of busy

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<v Speaker 1>traffic replete with honking horns, and the trundling of trucks.

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<v Speaker 1>Then slowly images came to him of a busy street scene,

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<v Speaker 1>as if he were standing right in the middle of it.

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<v Speaker 1>Looking around, he saw shops, restaurants, and street science that

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<v Speaker 1>all proclaimed he was in the metropolis of Nanching. Then

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<v Speaker 1>Huang had the sudden, horrifying realization that he wasn't in

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<v Speaker 1>a dream at all. He was really there. Somehow, it

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<v Speaker 1>appeared he'd managed to travel four hundred and eighty five

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<v Speaker 1>miles in the dead of night with no luggage, no money,

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<v Speaker 1>and no memory of the journey. At least that's what

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<v Speaker 1>he's said to have told the two strange men who

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<v Speaker 1>apparently approached him moments later. The men, who Huang is

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<v Speaker 1>said to have thought were traffic police, had little sympathy

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<v Speaker 1>for the amused young man and demanded to see his

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<v Speaker 1>Nuanjing residency permit. When he failed to produce it, Huang

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<v Speaker 1>was promptly arrested and escorted to the local railway station.

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<v Speaker 1>The officers handed him a ticket to Shanghai and ordered

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<v Speaker 1>him to travel there immediately, where he would be taken

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<v Speaker 1>to a repatriation camp until they could confirm his identity.

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<v Speaker 1>Huang boarded the train and Julie set off for Shanghai,

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<v Speaker 1>located two hundred miles away to the east. When the

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<v Speaker 1>train finally pulled into Shanghai station, Huang was staggered to

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<v Speaker 1>see the same two police officers patiently waiting for him

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<v Speaker 1>on the platform, despite the fact that he was almost

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<v Speaker 1>certain they hadn't boarded the train with him. The officers

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<v Speaker 1>then escorted the bemused young man to the Ninth Repatriation

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<v Speaker 1>Camp a short walk away. There he was taken in

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<v Speaker 1>by a People's Liberation Army soldier named Blu qing Tang, who,

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<v Speaker 1>as it turned out, had relatives in dong Bai Ko,

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<v Speaker 1>where Huang lived. Qing Tang felt sorry for the young

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<v Speaker 1>farmer and immediately dispatched the telegram that would eventually make

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<v Speaker 1>its way to Huang's family and secure his release. By September,

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<v Speaker 1>everything in Huang's life seemed to have settled back to normal.

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<v Speaker 1>On the eighth of that month, the village committee held

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<v Speaker 1>a meeting about how to increase their productivity. Huang was

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<v Speaker 1>assigned a job to deliver manure to the fields first

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<v Speaker 1>thing the next day, and advised to go to bed

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<v Speaker 1>early by some of the village elders, and so the

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<v Speaker 1>young man duly obliged. The following morning, he was nowhere

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<v Speaker 1>to be found. It said that when Huang went missing

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<v Speaker 1>for the second time, a co worker was sent to

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<v Speaker 1>look for him. Once again, Huang was not in his house.

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<v Speaker 1>He appeared to have left a message behind. Scrawled across

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<v Speaker 1>his bedroom wall was the name of a distant province

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<v Speaker 1>in China, Shangdong, the names of two people unknown to

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<v Speaker 1>every one in the village, Kao Deng Min and Kao

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<v Speaker 1>yan Chin, and the single word relax. Three days later,

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<v Speaker 1>on September eleventh, Huang miraculously reappeared with an even more

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<v Speaker 1>bizarre tale to tell. Early in the morning of the ninth,

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<v Speaker 1>he said he felt a cold breeze tugging at his

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<v Speaker 1>sleep wear and heard a loud clock strike two. Somewhere

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<v Speaker 1>in the distance. He realized he was once again back

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<v Speaker 1>in Shanghai, at the railway station that he'd apparently been

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<v Speaker 1>sent to on his first mysterious trip. But this type,

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<v Speaker 1>the normally busy station, was eerily quiet, and the air

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<v Speaker 1>was thick and heavy, while ominous dark clouds swirled above.

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<v Speaker 1>Moments later, a loud crack of thunder erupted, followed by

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<v Speaker 1>a torrent of rain, drenching the hapless Shang. He wept

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<v Speaker 1>with frustration and despair until he remembered Lou Qing Tang,

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<v Speaker 1>the soldier who'd taken him in at the repatriation camp

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<v Speaker 1>during his previous misadventure. Then he heard a voice saying, hello,

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<v Speaker 1>you must be Huang yang Cho. Huang was astounded to

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<v Speaker 1>see what he was certain were the same two men

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<v Speaker 1>who'd picked him up last time and taken him to

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<v Speaker 1>the detention center, only this time they were wearing military uniforms.

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<v Speaker 1>The men claimed to have orders to pick him up

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<v Speaker 1>and deliver him to lu Qing Tang. Yuang claimed. He

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<v Speaker 1>then followed the troopers to Lose Artillery Division, located on

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<v Speaker 1>the outskirts of what is now the Pu Dong District

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<v Speaker 1>of Shanghai. Despite the compound being heavily armed, Huang and

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<v Speaker 1>the two men were waved straight in by the seemingly

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<v Speaker 1>unconcerned guards at the front gate. Since Liu qing Tang

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<v Speaker 1>was at a meeting on their arrival, his son lu

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<v Speaker 1>Hai Sheng was summoned to meet the visitor instead. Lu

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<v Speaker 1>Junior is said to have been confused by the two

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<v Speaker 1>men accompanying Huang. It was mostly the clothes they were wearing.

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<v Speaker 1>Their uniforms seemed odd, as if they'd been borrowed, and

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<v Speaker 1>their footwear was all wrong, But when Huang turned around

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<v Speaker 1>to introduce them, the men had completely vanished. When the

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<v Speaker 1>guards were later questioned as to why Huang had been

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<v Speaker 1>granted access to the facility, none of them recalled Eva,

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<v Speaker 1>and seeing him enter once again, telegrams were exchanged, this

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<v Speaker 1>time between the camp commandant and the head of Huang's village,

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<v Speaker 1>asking again to verify Huan's identity. Huang was then threatened

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<v Speaker 1>with arrest if he ever came back again, and was

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<v Speaker 1>promptly sent home. When Huang returned home for the second time,

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<v Speaker 1>he claimed to have no idea who'd left the writing

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<v Speaker 1>on his bedroom wall, but that was the least of

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<v Speaker 1>his worries. Where at first many in the village had

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<v Speaker 1>been intrigued by the story, now they felt a great unease.

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<v Speaker 1>Rumors spread that Huang had been possessed by evil spirits,

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<v Speaker 1>and his fiancee broke up with him, just like the

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<v Speaker 1>Chinese proverb about the millet. It seemed Huang's hopes and

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<v Speaker 1>dreams were beginning to crumble. A week later, on September twentieth,

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<v Speaker 1>a disconsolate Huang was heading home from another day of

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<v Speaker 1>work when he later said, he was suddenly overtaken by

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<v Speaker 1>dizziness and passed out. When he woke up, he apparently

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<v Speaker 1>found himself in an unfamiliar hotel room, sat in front

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<v Speaker 1>of him with those same two men whom he'd apparently

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<v Speaker 1>previously encountered on his strange journeys. They said they were

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<v Speaker 1>two brothers named Kao Deng Min and Ko yang Jin,

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<v Speaker 1>the names that were found written on Huang's bedroom wall.

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<v Speaker 1>The brothers were twenty six and twenty five and apparently

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<v Speaker 1>hailed from Shangdong Province. According to Huan, the men only

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<v Speaker 1>then admitted that they were responsible for all his strange disappearances,

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<v Speaker 1>and now they'd brought him to lan Cho in Gansu Province,

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<v Speaker 1>over seven hundred miles from his home. The men took

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<v Speaker 1>Huang for dinner, then together they spent the night in

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<v Speaker 1>the hotel. The following morning, the two brothers as said

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<v Speaker 1>to have led Huang outside and told him to brace himself. Then,

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<v Speaker 1>just like that, the brothers lifted Huang straight into the air,

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<v Speaker 1>with each taking it in turns to carry him on

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<v Speaker 1>their backs, as like Neo from the matrix, They flew

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<v Speaker 1>through the sky, according to Juan, in just one hour,

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<v Speaker 1>flying low above the land. The men arrived at the

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<v Speaker 1>capital Beijing. There he was taken to Chung'en Grand Theater,

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<v Speaker 1>where they watched an opera. Next, they traveled to Chianniman Square,

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<v Speaker 1>landing in front of a tank before checking into a

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<v Speaker 1>nearby hotel for the night. The following day, they flew

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<v Speaker 1>to Tianjin and snuck into a movie theater and watched

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<v Speaker 1>a film, then traveled to the city of Harpin. Huang

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<v Speaker 1>described how they strolled through a shopping mall before taking

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<v Speaker 1>off again at dusk toward the city of chang Chun,

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<v Speaker 1>followed by shen Yang, Fujo and Nan Ching six hundred

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<v Speaker 1>miles to the north, all on the same day. According

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<v Speaker 1>to Huang, each trip between cities lasted only an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>Not only were the men able to fly, but according

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<v Speaker 1>to Huang, the brothers also had the ability to speak

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<v Speaker 1>local dialects wherever they went, and always had enough money

0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.360
<v Speaker 1>to pay for meals and accommodation. Other than that, the

0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:43.040
<v Speaker 1>two men apparently ate and slept like normal human beings.

0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:47.040
<v Speaker 1>And insisted that Huang not take any photographs or keep

0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.920
<v Speaker 1>any souvenirs from their travels. Finally, on the twenty eighth

0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:56.760
<v Speaker 1>of September nineteen seventy seven, Huang said that the mysterious

0:16:56.840 --> 0:17:00.680
<v Speaker 1>cow brothers finally returned him to his back yard, where

0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.920
<v Speaker 1>they left him under a jujub tree. He never saw

0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:17.880
<v Speaker 1>them or made any lengthy journeys at inexplicable speeds. Again, naturally,

0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:21.560
<v Speaker 1>Huang's accounts of his strange travels were hard for his

0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:26.040
<v Speaker 1>family and friends to take seriously, but as his story spread,

0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:31.439
<v Speaker 1>the authorities felt they had little choice but to investigate. First,

0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.760
<v Speaker 1>the local police and propaganda bureaus are said to have

0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:39.120
<v Speaker 1>interrogated him, followed by a local division of the armed forces.

0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.920
<v Speaker 1>The thinking among these various agencies was that Huang yang

0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:49.320
<v Speaker 1>Cho was deliberately sabotaging the village's reputation. He was pronounced

0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:53.639
<v Speaker 1>a class enemy, and yet, as the story goes, during

0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:59.280
<v Speaker 1>repeated questioning, Huang's behavior appeared perfectly normal, and other than

0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:04.320
<v Speaker 1>insisting that his fantastical flying travels were true, he showed

0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:09.600
<v Speaker 1>no signs of mental illness or cognitive disorder. In the end,

0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.080
<v Speaker 1>it said that the authorities simply gave up and let

0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:17.000
<v Speaker 1>him return to his normal life, and for over twenty

0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:22.719
<v Speaker 1>five years his story subsided into relative obscurity, except that

0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:27.280
<v Speaker 1>it is among members of the ufology community. Some of

0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.760
<v Speaker 1>them believe Huang's story to be a clear case of

0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:35.600
<v Speaker 1>a close encounter of the fifth kind. The close encounter

0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.640
<v Speaker 1>terminology refers to a system drawn up by the astronomer

0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:44.400
<v Speaker 1>and UFO researcher J. Allen Heinich published in his nineteen

0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:50.800
<v Speaker 1>seventy two book The UFO Experience, a Scientific Inquiry. In it,

0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.520
<v Speaker 1>he proposed a quasi scientific classification he believed were the

0:18:55.640 --> 0:19:02.080
<v Speaker 1>six levels of extra terrestrial encounter. One, the most common type,

0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.040
<v Speaker 1>involves a distant sighting at night, or, as he put it,

0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:12.199
<v Speaker 1>seeing nocturnal lights. Level two is a distant observation of

0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:16.119
<v Speaker 1>a disc or oval shape in the sky during the daytime,

0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.800
<v Speaker 1>known as a daylight disc. The third level of sighting,

0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.200
<v Speaker 1>or radar visual, is a visual report of a UFO

0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:30.639
<v Speaker 1>combined with radar confirmation of an object. Level four, also

0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.919
<v Speaker 1>known as a close encounter of the first kite, is

0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:38.280
<v Speaker 1>a visual sighting of an unidentified flying object appearing to

0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.360
<v Speaker 1>be less than five hundred feet away and with some

0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:46.800
<v Speaker 1>clearly visible surface details, while level five, also known as

0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.080
<v Speaker 1>a close encounter of the second kite, is a UFO

0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:54.280
<v Speaker 1>sighting in which a physical effect is alleged, such as

0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.440
<v Speaker 1>interference in the functioning of a vehicle or electronic device,

0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:03.600
<v Speaker 1>or inducing fear zeological effects such as paralysis or heat

0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:07.600
<v Speaker 1>in the witness. A close encounter of the third kind,

0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:12.200
<v Speaker 1>or level six, after which the nineteen seventy seven Steven

0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:17.000
<v Speaker 1>Spielberg movie was named, involves a UFO encounter in which

0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.800
<v Speaker 1>a moving entity is said to be present. For j

0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:25.440
<v Speaker 1>Allen Heineck, that is where it ended. Others have proposed

0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:29.600
<v Speaker 1>two more stages, an encounter of the fourth kind being

0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:33.680
<v Speaker 1>a supposed UFO event in which a human is abducted

0:20:33.800 --> 0:20:37.520
<v Speaker 1>by a UFO or its occupants, or at the very

0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:41.639
<v Speaker 1>least where the witness experiences a transformation of their sense

0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:46.520
<v Speaker 1>of reality, and finally, a close encounter of the fifth kind,

0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.360
<v Speaker 1>where an alien abductee receives some manner of physical effect

0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:57.159
<v Speaker 1>from their supposed close encounter, be that an injury or healing, or,

0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:02.119
<v Speaker 1>as in Huang Yang Chose apparent case, being directly flown

0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:16.800
<v Speaker 1>through the sky. In two thousand and four, Huang's story

0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.280
<v Speaker 1>was investigated by China Central Television under the auspices of

0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:27.400
<v Speaker 1>their science and education channels Approaching Science program. They decided

0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:32.000
<v Speaker 1>to look for evidence to support Huang's stories. Various apparent

0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:36.680
<v Speaker 1>witnesses were interviewed, including lu Qing Tang, the soldier at

0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.240
<v Speaker 1>the repatriation camp in Shanghai, as well as the head

0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.240
<v Speaker 1>of Huang's village committee and its co workers. So to

0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.960
<v Speaker 1>fill in the gaps, they asked Huang to go to

0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:51.159
<v Speaker 1>two different medical facilities in Beijing to conduct a series

0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:55.080
<v Speaker 1>of tests. At the first institution, he was given a

0:21:55.119 --> 0:21:59.320
<v Speaker 1>polygraph test while he was questioned about his story. Huang

0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:05.080
<v Speaker 1>failed the test. However, doctors were reluctant to conclude that

0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:09.000
<v Speaker 1>he was definitely lying. After all, not only was he

0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.119
<v Speaker 1>having to contend with the mental pressure of being in

0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.960
<v Speaker 1>such an environment for the first time, but also twenty

0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:19.520
<v Speaker 1>seven years had passed since the alleged events took place.

0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:23.880
<v Speaker 1>It was understandable that some elements of his recollection might

0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:27.680
<v Speaker 1>be hazy, so his statements were subjected to a second

0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:33.320
<v Speaker 1>evaluation at the psychiatric division of Beijing's Anding Hospital. Their

0:22:33.560 --> 0:22:38.680
<v Speaker 1>deputy director, doctor Chen Bin concluded that Huang was either

0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:41.960
<v Speaker 1>telling bear faced lies or that he suffered from a

0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.840
<v Speaker 1>bizarre and severe case of somnambulism. In other words, he'd

0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:52.320
<v Speaker 1>somehow sleepwalked to the various cities. However, he couldn't offer

0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.919
<v Speaker 1>an explanation as to how the man could have apparently

0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:01.760
<v Speaker 1>traveled such vast distances in the limited time available. Huang

0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.600
<v Speaker 1>yang Cho's brain health was also tested to see whether

0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.040
<v Speaker 1>he might have some form of epilepsy that might induce

0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:14.399
<v Speaker 1>such disassociative sleepwalking, but the tests showed Huang's brain to

0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:19.600
<v Speaker 1>be perfectly healthy. Further tests found no evidence to suggest

0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:23.000
<v Speaker 1>he suffered from any other dysfunction in the brain, with

0:23:23.160 --> 0:23:26.639
<v Speaker 1>one physician adding only that he found Huang to be

0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:32.639
<v Speaker 1>a moderately paranoid person. The documentary producers also arranged to

0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:37.880
<v Speaker 1>film interviews with Huang while he underwent hypnosis. The producers

0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:42.400
<v Speaker 1>watched on expectantly as Huang was filmed being led into

0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:45.800
<v Speaker 1>the hypnotist's office and invited to lie down on a

0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:50.520
<v Speaker 1>couch and try to relax his mind. Huang laid back

0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:55.199
<v Speaker 1>as the hypnotists soporific words washed over him, and before

0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:58.560
<v Speaker 1>long he appeared to have sunk into a deep trance.

0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:03.360
<v Speaker 1>The hypnotist began with a few simple questions about who

0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:07.200
<v Speaker 1>he was and where he came from. Then he asked

0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:10.439
<v Speaker 1>Huang to recount once more the story of how he

0:24:10.520 --> 0:24:15.000
<v Speaker 1>came to be in Nanjing. The first time. Huang proceeded

0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:18.920
<v Speaker 1>to give a detailed account of his apparent mysterious journey.

0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:23.560
<v Speaker 1>Then the hypnotist asked him to describe the cow brothers.

0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:29.240
<v Speaker 1>Huang duly obliged, describing their features, their height, and hair.

0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:33.840
<v Speaker 1>But as he did so, something became immediately apparent to

0:24:33.880 --> 0:24:40.000
<v Speaker 1>the documentary producers. Huang was merely describing his own appearance.

0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:50.600
<v Speaker 1>Though there is little concrete evidence to back up Huang

0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:55.680
<v Speaker 1>yang chose claims, speculation in China and abroad remains rife

0:24:55.800 --> 0:24:59.480
<v Speaker 1>about what it all means. His life's story was even

0:24:59.520 --> 0:25:03.280
<v Speaker 1>adapted into the twenty twenty three film Tell Them I

0:25:03.400 --> 0:25:08.080
<v Speaker 1>Flew Away, directed by Chiu Pung Lie. As the blurb

0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:11.679
<v Speaker 1>for the film on Mubi has it, the film explores

0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.480
<v Speaker 1>the essence of human nature and the pursuit and yearning

0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:20.280
<v Speaker 1>for a better life after the protagonist is abducted by aliens.

0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:24.560
<v Speaker 1>Could Huang really have been abducted as some have it?

0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:28.720
<v Speaker 1>Was he really just sleep walking, Or was he suffering

0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:33.960
<v Speaker 1>from some kind of dissociative identity disorder somehow traveling across

0:25:34.040 --> 0:25:39.199
<v Speaker 1>China as alternately himself and then the cow brothers. Or

0:25:39.840 --> 0:25:43.080
<v Speaker 1>had a young farmer whose only dream was to travel

0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:47.159
<v Speaker 1>and see the world felt so trapped by circumstance and

0:25:47.240 --> 0:25:50.680
<v Speaker 1>the social morase of his community that the only way

0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:54.080
<v Speaker 1>for him to achieve it was to somehow imagine it

0:25:54.200 --> 0:25:58.280
<v Speaker 1>into being. For what it's worth, the producers of the

0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:02.880
<v Speaker 1>documentary came to a rather vague conclusion that Huang yang

0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:07.280
<v Speaker 1>Cho had been sleepwalking, but gave no explanation for how

0:26:07.400 --> 0:26:11.200
<v Speaker 1>he'd seemingly managed to travel so far in such short

0:26:11.240 --> 0:26:15.160
<v Speaker 1>spaces of time, a feat that would have been simply

0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:19.080
<v Speaker 1>impossible in waking life, let alone having to do it

0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:26.520
<v Speaker 1>while you were sleeping. The opera Huang claimed to have

0:26:26.600 --> 0:26:30.879
<v Speaker 1>seen when he was supposedly flown to Beijing was called

0:26:31.320 --> 0:26:36.080
<v Speaker 1>Forced onto Mount Liang. During the making of the documentary,

0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:40.159
<v Speaker 1>a journalist traveled to the chang Un Grand Theatre in

0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:44.439
<v Speaker 1>Beijing to inquire if the opera had actually been playing

0:26:44.480 --> 0:26:48.359
<v Speaker 1>there in September nineteen seventy seven, at the time of

0:26:48.440 --> 0:26:53.240
<v Speaker 1>Huang's apparent visit. After speaking to the theatre manager, the

0:26:53.359 --> 0:26:57.119
<v Speaker 1>journalist was disappointed to find that the theater had in

0:26:57.160 --> 0:27:00.600
<v Speaker 1>fact been closed at the time due to day damage

0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:05.879
<v Speaker 1>sustained during the nineteen seventy six Tongu Shang earthquake. It

0:27:05.920 --> 0:27:11.800
<v Speaker 1>didn't reopen until nineteen seventy nine. However, as the manager

0:27:11.880 --> 0:27:16.240
<v Speaker 1>went on to explain, shang Un Grand isn't the only

0:27:16.359 --> 0:27:20.240
<v Speaker 1>theater in the area. There was also the te Shung

0:27:20.400 --> 0:27:26.280
<v Speaker 1>Theater near by. After getting directions, the journalist headed straight there.

0:27:27.240 --> 0:27:30.000
<v Speaker 1>A short time later, he was stood in the Tea

0:27:30.119 --> 0:27:34.000
<v Speaker 1>Chang Theater foyer as a member of staff thumbed through

0:27:34.040 --> 0:27:38.480
<v Speaker 1>a large record of the theatre's past productions. He lit

0:27:38.520 --> 0:27:42.800
<v Speaker 1>a cigarette and watched hawkishly as the staff member turned

0:27:42.840 --> 0:27:47.240
<v Speaker 1>back the pages until finally they found the date they

0:27:47.240 --> 0:27:50.080
<v Speaker 1>were looking for and the name of the show that

0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:54.080
<v Speaker 1>had been playing at the time. Well, well, they said,

0:27:54.600 --> 0:27:58.800
<v Speaker 1>pointing to it, would you look at that? It was

0:27:58.880 --> 0:28:09.199
<v Speaker 1>the opera Forced onto Mount Young. This episode was written

0:28:09.280 --> 0:28:13.320
<v Speaker 1>by Diane Hope and Richard McLain Smith. Diane is an

0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:16.600
<v Speaker 1>audio producer and sound recordist in her own right. You

0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:19.680
<v Speaker 1>can find out more about her work at Dianehope dot

0:28:19.680 --> 0:28:25.240
<v Speaker 1>com and on Instagram at in the sound field. Unexplained

0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:29.720
<v Speaker 1>is an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain Smith.

0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:33.680
<v Speaker 1>All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are

0:28:33.720 --> 0:28:38.360
<v Speaker 1>also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained. The book

0:28:38.360 --> 0:28:42.320
<v Speaker 1>and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can

0:28:42.360 --> 0:28:46.960
<v Speaker 1>purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores.

0:28:47.640 --> 0:28:50.720
<v Speaker 1>Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get

0:28:50.760 --> 0:28:53.520
<v Speaker 1>your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with

0:28:53.560 --> 0:28:56.960
<v Speaker 1>any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on

0:28:57.000 --> 0:28:59.640
<v Speaker 1>the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own

0:29:00.120 --> 0:29:03.240
<v Speaker 1>like to share. You can find out more at Unexplained

0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:06.959
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com and reach us online through Twitter at

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0:29:12.080 --> 0:30:06.440
<v Speaker 1>Unexplained Podcast, assass