Unexplained

00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. 00:02 Guaranteed human. 00:04 Hey, Portlandia fans. 00:05 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. 00:07 The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. 00:10 We're launching Podlandia AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. 00:22 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. 00:34 Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. 00:39 Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. 00:41 I remember you thinking that. 00:43 Listen to Podlandia, AAO Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 00:51 What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and iHeart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka showing out. Shout-outs to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashawn Rock's boxing journey. She looks good. Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. 01:14 Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. 01:23 Hey, this is Hayes Davenport. And Sean Clemens. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode, we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. 01:34 The show's famously super accessible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. 01:40 We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed, and Mary Steenburgen. 01:45 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 01:51 I'm Nick Turturro. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, The Longest Yard, or Spike Lee's Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Turturro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone, from Seth Rollins. What are you doing with my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now, we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Turturro. 02:17 It's called happiness. Delivering happiness. 02:19 And many, many more. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Delivering Happiness with Nick DeTuro, and listen now. 02:26 Hello, and welcome to Unexplained, with me, your host, Richard McLean Smith, where each week we explore another true tale of high strangeness. If you're new here and you're a fan of expertly told, atmospheric stories about the strange and unexplained, then you've come to the right place. And please subscribe to the show if you haven't already done so. 02:47 I'm very excited to be taking Unexplained to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. I'll be performing at the Space's Surgeon's Hall venue at 10.05pm every night from August 7th to the 29th, except for the 16th and 23rd. You can get tickets at thespaceuk.com forward slash shows forward slash 2026 forward slash unexplained hyphen live. For those watching on YouTube, you can find the link below. 03:15 with all that out of the way this is unexplained season 9 episode 30 come hear what we have to say part one In the late 19th and early 20th century, a new phenomenon sparked across the English-speaking world. 03:44 Spiritualism, the belief that something of the person remains after death, and more crucially still, that we the living can communicate with them. 03:55 To some it was seen as a social movement, others considered it a religion, but either way, it fundamentally altered the way in which Western society reflected on humanity's place in the material and immaterial world. 04:10 The founding philosophies of spiritualism are commonly attributed to a pair of earlier 18th century theorists, Immanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer. 04:20 Swedenborg, a Swedish polymath and expert in a wide array of natural and philosophical sciences, is perhaps best known for his book, Heaven and Hell, in which he outlined his thoughts on the afterlife. 04:35 For Swedenborg, when you die, you don't go straight to heaven or hell. 04:40 instead it was his belief that you first pass through an in-between place he called the world of spirits this is where your true character is revealed to all or rather your hidden drive as he put it not the facade perhaps that you project to the world but your most natural moralistic impulses which in theory has been solidified over time through the choices you made in life for example In life, you might have pretended to be virtuous and polite, but all the while were in fact being driven by more selfish goals. 05:17 Swedenborg called this hidden drive a person's ruling love. It was his belief that death strips away the body's ability to disguise it, and rather than being judged by God for their worthiness to enter heaven or be banished to hell, individuals instead will have an instinctive feeling about where they prefer to be. 05:40 In this way, as Swedenborg had it, those ruled by selfishness and greed will naturally gravitate to hell, while those ruled by love for God and others will gravitate to heaven. 05:53 According to Swedenborg, this choice is also partly driven by how an individual responds to the light of divine truth that illuminates all of heaven when they first see it. 06:05 Those he would label as good feel comforted and warmed by the light, but those he would describe as evil can't stand it and naturally prefer the murky light of hell. 06:18 in swedenborg's interpretation heaven is active and ordered full of people with jobs relationships and marriages their happiness comes from being useful and connected to others hell meanwhile isn't all fire and brimstone but simply a place full of selfish people endlessly playing out the intractability of a whole society built on nothing but self-interest Swedenborg knew all this because he'd seen it in a vision. 06:50 German doctor Franz Mesmer, on the other hand, had no fervent belief in the hereafter, but instead contributed his practice of mesmerism, or hypnosis as it is otherwise known, which he claimed could facilitate a ready state of communication with higher spiritual planes. 07:09 Together, the work of these two men built the scaffolding upon which the following century's spiritualist obsession would be staged. 07:26 Unlike most organic social trends, the birth of modern spiritualism can be pinpointed to a specific date and place. 07:34 March 31st, 1848, in Hydesville, a small town in eastern upstate New York, It was there that two young girls named Kate and Margaret Fox claimed to have made contact with the spirit of a murdered man who apparently told the tale of his violent end through a sequence of rapping noises in response to the girls' yes-or-no questions. The story quickly spread, and the Fox sisters became a sensation. 08:02 For decades, they toured the US and abroad, putting on shows of mediumship to rapt audiences. 08:09 And though controversy and suspicion stalked their careers, and despite a short and soon retracted admission that the wrappings were actually the cracking of their toes, the Fox sisters were heralded as pioneers of the movement. 08:24 Adherents of spiritualism were widespread and often prestigious. 08:29 Famous mediums, including the Fox sisters, were hosted at the White House to perform seances for no less than the then President of the United States himself, Abraham Lincoln, and his wife Mary Todd. 08:43 Both the President and his wife were deep in mourning over the loss of their son, and spiritualism offered a tenuous hope that perhaps their severance need not be total. 08:54 That yearning for connection with the lost fuelled the wholesale explosion of spiritualism in years marred by lethal conflict. 09:03 The American Civil War drove thousands to consult mediums in a desperate attempt to reach their lost sons, brothers, husbands and friends. 09:15 Over in Europe, the carnage of the First World War had an equal effect. 09:20 By the turn of the 20th century, it's claimed that over 8 million people identified as followers of the movement. 09:28 Various spiritualist societies either came into being or grew in stature in the post-war years, attracting such luminaries as the biologist Alfred Russell Wallace, physicist William Crookes, famed inventor Thomas Edison, and Nobel laureate Pierre Curie. 09:46 Perhaps the most famous pillar of rationality to be lured by the séance parlour was the writer Arthur Conan Doyle. 09:55 After losing his son Kingsley to pneumonia in the final days of the First World War, Doyle threw himself zealously into spiritualist pursuits, an emotional obsession seemingly at odds with the calculated, grounded shrewdness of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. 10:13 These men and women of reason attempted to apply the scientific method to the practices of spiritualism. Investigating the many supposed manifestations of connection with the other side, from table turning to inexplicable noises and seemingly impossible knowledge, and even the emanation of ectoplasm. 10:42 It all seems rather quaint now, looking back at those 19th century spiritualists, caught a little off guard perhaps by a world that began to change far more rapidly than it ever had done before, in which old grand narratives were fraying from the friction of exhilarating, terrifying modernity. 11:02 Seen through this lens, spiritualism and mediumship can perhaps be dismissed as an archaic absurdity, a set of dusty eccentrics coming together to expunge their grief or cling to the numinous like a life raft, as all previous beliefs seem to be dissolving around them. 11:22 For the most part, perhaps, it was merely the stuff of fiction, of bad theatre and hammy Christmas ghost stories. 11:30 But even as modernity reigned and technology improved, the questions underpinning spiritualism never went away. 11:39 Is there such a thing as the spirit? 11:42 If so, where does it go when the body dies? And is it possible to bridge the divide? 11:49 Thus, in the waning years of the 20th century, in a world on the cusp of yet more radical change, a group of researchers decided to finally tackle the great enigma. 12:02 Together, they descended on a small village in the southeast of England, and over the next five years, would commit to one of the most thorough and compelling studies of the boundary between our tangible, quantifiable world and whatever lies beyond it. 12:18 Their experiences, and the apparent evidence they collected, has the potential to shake the most fundamental assumption about life and consciousness. 12:28 Namely, does it, or do we, ever really end? 12:34 You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. 12:44 What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam Jay. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. 12:54 Because let's be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. 12:59 So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. 13:14 and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. 13:22 Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka. Shout-outs to you, Naomi. 13:27 You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 13:45 Hey, Portlandia fans. 13:46 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. 13:48 You know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. 13:54 We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast today. 14:02 Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. 14:16 How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. 14:21 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. 14:33 Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. 14:43 Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 14:52 Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode, we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. 15:03 The show is famously super accessible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. 15:09 We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Tarot Reed. 15:32 It's a good name. 15:33 They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. 15:36 I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. I don't think she was in American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Then Mary Steenburgen. 15:49 Why are you guys talking to me like, why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play... Play games. 15:59 I just really— I get it. I'm trying to set you up for success here. 16:02 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 16:08 This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse, the world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible you're the problem. 16:18 If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you. Okay, if you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'ma play you. 16:27 Join Yamanika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast, You're the Problem with Yamanika. 16:34 Do you know I just found out who Sydney Sweeney was? 16:37 New episodes weekly every Wednesday as part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. 16:43 If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. 16:50 So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? 16:55 I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. 16:58 Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 17:13 It's October 1993 in Skoll, a sleepy village in a southern corner of Norfolk in the southeast of England. 17:22 Down in the cellar of Street Farmhouse, a room no larger than five feet by ten, three people sit in darkness, huddled around a small circular table, while outside, a chill wind whistles across the low, wide landscape. 17:39 Robin Foy is the co-owner of the property and the de facto leader of the group. 17:45 Ordinarily, he would have been joined by his wife Sandra, but having endured an especially uncomfortable visit to the dentist earlier that day, she has decided to retire to bed. 17:56 Diana and Alan Bennett are the other two present that day. 18:01 The Bennetts are a middle-aged couple who live with their four children on a farm in the depths of the Norfolk countryside. 18:08 All three wear bands of soft fluorescent light around their wrists, providing just enough light to illuminate the strange metal cone on the table before them. 18:19 It's a spirit trumpet, a device that is said to be able to amplify sounds coming from beyond the veil. 18:27 Hidden in the darkness around them is also a tape recorder and two microphones angled toward the table. 18:35 At Robin's nod, Diana hits record on the tape player and then they begin. 18:41 Infinite spirit, Robert intones, creative source of all things, be with us this evening and guide us in our work. 18:51 His words evaporate into the silence as the group waits expectantly in the dark. 18:57 Then a low, gravelly voice is heard, emanating from Diana's mouth. 19:04 I am Manu, it says. 19:07 Robin and Alan lean forward aghast, staring at Diana, who remains completely still with her eyes closed. 19:15 Then the strange voice comes again. 19:18 Robin and Alan listen in wonder as it begins to tell a story. 19:30 The so-called Manu claims to have once lived on Earth in what is now South America. 19:36 Now, however, he is part of a team of beings made up of many thousands of minds from all the realms of existence. 19:45 And they want to help. 19:47 We will work with you, continues the so-called Manu through Diana's body, to provide tangible evidence of these other realms and to pioneer important methods of communication between them. 20:01 Then a heavy thud is heard from the tabletop, as if something had just landed on it. 20:06 But in the low light, cast by their luminescent wristbands, neither Robin or Alan can make out what it is. 20:14 We have brought you a gift, says the gravelly voice again. And with that, Diana falls silent. 20:22 When Diana finally comes round, from whatever trance-like state she had slipped into, a visibly shaken Robin jumps up and turns on the lights. 20:31 Then he stares in astonishment at the table. 20:35 There, lying on top of the unvarnished wood, is a coin. 20:40 It's a Churchill crown, says Robin, confused. 20:44 Examining it closer, he sees it is in perfect mint condition. 20:49 Diana and Alan seem equally astounded by its sudden appearance. 20:54 All three of them claim to have never seen it before, and all agree that it wasn't on the table before the experiment began. 21:03 Moments later, Sandra Foy, having been roused from sleep by all the commotion, appears at the top of the basement stairs. 21:11 When Robin shows her the coin, she too is filled with unbridled joy. 21:17 After weeks and months of spiritual experimentation, they finally have the physical evidence they've been chasing. 21:24 An inexplicable object and an unknown voice caught on tape. 21:29 But this was just the beginning. 21:39 Sandra and Robin Foy had always been interested in spiritualism. 21:44 In fact, the pair had even first met at a seance, where a medium, claiming to be channeling an entity, calling itself Dr. Dunn, told them that, in the future, you will work in a new way, using energy, not ectoplasm. 22:00 When the couple later decided to begin trying to investigate spiritual matters together, this message became their guide. 22:08 What the Foy's ultimately became interested in was a branch of spiritualism known as physical psychic phenomena. 22:16 Unlike mental mediumship, which relies heavily on thoughts, images and messages being supposedly sent to the living, physical mediumship is a step beyond, in which spiritual forces are instead said to manifest in ways that are more tangible, visible or audible to onlookers. 22:36 Seance-goers experiencing physical mediumship, for example, may feel a phantom touch. Others may smell out-of-place odours, like flowers or smoke, or hear sounds, which can also be recorded on tape. 22:52 For over a century, the most well-known and extreme form of physical psychic phenomena was ectoplasm, a supposedly physical substance often thought to be a mixture of bodily fluids or plasma that is said to be catalyzed by spiritual energy and then apparently exuded by mediums during a séance. 23:13 For the Foy's, however, ectoplasm was really just a relic from spiritualism's somewhat more vaudevillian days. they were far more interested in what they termed creative energy. 23:26 According to the Foyes, this was a blend of human, spirit and earth energy, which they aimed to manipulate in various experiments in order to produce physical evidence of the spirit realm. 23:40 The Foy's knew well that in order to prove the existence of the spirit to the scientific community, they needed to provide evidence that could be held, weighed, and taken away whole for further examination. 23:54 They wondered if creative energy could achieve this. 23:57 Suitably applied, in theory, it would allow for the physical manipulation of atoms and molecules, the very building blocks of what we call reality. 24:07 It was a bold aim to combine the energies of the living and the spirit world to create something where nothing had been before. 24:16 And it would require a laboratory. 24:24 Having identified Street Farmhouse in the village of Skoll as the perfect place to begin their investigations, the Foy's immediately began transforming the cellar into the ideal experimental space. 24:37 First, the cellar was completely light-proofed and then repainted a matte navy blue in colour in order to better see the spiritual energy, which the Foy's believed commonly appeared as inexplicable light. 24:52 The only way into the room was through a door at the bottom of a creaky wooden staircase, which left no space for doubt about hidden figures or hoaxes breaking in. 25:04 All in all, it was a wholly controlled environment, and by February 1992 it was ready. 25:12 Having already established a spiritualist group of their own, the Foy's then invited all the members to join them in Skoll from that point on to continue their meetings. 25:22 Among the members of the group was renowned local self-described medium Stuart Alexander. 25:29 Under Alexander's guidance, the group is said to have met repeatedly for seances at the Foy's new home. where raps and loud clicks were said to have often been heard coming from the walls. 25:41 A strange whistle was also said to have been heard on numerous occasions, while strange drops in temperature were frequently reported. 25:50 As the group's notoriety spread, more curious spiritualists came to the farmhouse. 25:56 At one time, 28 people crammed into the cellar to experience the activity for themselves. 26:03 But by early spring, the spasm of activity was petering out. 26:08 As one session after another continued without result, frustration began to settle over the group. 26:15 Worse yet, tempers had begun to fray. 26:19 A disastrous outcome for spiritualist pursuits, which are thought to rely heavily on positive harmony between participants. 26:27 One night, Alexander even relayed an apparent message from the spirit realm, warning the group that their misaligned energies were barring contact with others in the realm. 26:39 One by one, members began to fall away from the group, often citing the difficulty of making the weekly trek to the village. 26:48 By the end of that summer in 1992, Robin and Sandra were more or less conducting their studies alone, sitting together night after night in a lightless cellar, seemingly unable to conjure even the smallest spiritual phenomena. 27:05 They had no luck, no data, and no evidence of any presence beyond their own. 27:17 What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam Jay. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. 27:27 Because let's be real, women's sports is giving us way too much to talk about these days. 27:31 So Kelsey Finler, she became the first female solo rower to go from California to Hawaii. My first thought is just like, what's up with the snacks? Like, what are we eating? The highlights, the rivalries, the breakout stars, the moments that take over your entire timeline. 27:47 and the conversations that start during the game and somehow keep going all week. Every week, we're breaking down the biggest stories across women's sports. 27:54 Naomi Osaka showing out. She beat Sabalenka. Shout out to you, Naomi. 27:59 You get the palm, Naomi. You get the palm for that. Because we're not just interested in what happened, we're interested in why everyone's talking about it. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 28:17 Hey, Portlandia fans. 28:19 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. 28:20 You know us, or rather, you know them. Tony and Candace, Nina and Lance, Spike, and yes, the chicken. 28:27 We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast today. 28:35 Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. 28:48 How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. 28:53 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. 29:05 Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. 29:11 Well, I thought he was going to write, I thought you were all going to write a song. 29:13 I remember you thinking that. 29:16 Listen to Podlandia Ayo Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 29:25 Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clemens. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode, we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. 29:36 The show is famously super accessible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. 29:42 We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller. The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway too, right? What do you think it is now? It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology. Danny McBride. He loves Boba. Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on, you make your own. That's great. I call him Tarot Reed. 30:05 That's a good name. 30:06 They're all named after cast members of American Pie. Yeah. 30:09 I call, I don't, I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leachie Sobieski. I don't think she was in American Pie, but I still like that. Haven't looked it up. Haven't looked it up. She was prominent around the same time. Then Mary Steenburgen. 30:22 Why are you guys talking to me like, why are you talking so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game? 30:31 I just really am trying to set you up for success here. 30:35 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 30:41 This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week the news gets worse, the world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible, you're the problem. 30:50 If you come over here to play games, I'ma check you, okay? If you do some in the news that don't sound good, I'ma play you. 31:00 Join Yamanika Saunders as she breaks down the week's most problematic stories on her new podcast, You're the Problem with Yamanika. 31:07 Do you know I just found out who Sydney Sweeney was? 31:10 New episodes weekly every Wednesday as part of my new network, the Dear Chelsea Network. 31:16 If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. 31:23 So join Yamanika each episode as she answers one question. Who's the problem? 31:28 I'm Yamanika and I'm out. 31:31 Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 31:46 At some point, the Foyce heard of a woman living in the nearby village of Dis who was looking for like-minded people to begin a spiritualist circle with her. 31:57 Mimi Salisbury was a French businesswoman, working for a local engineering company. 32:02 Bright and scientifically minded, but with a deep curiosity on the subject of spiritualism, She was the ideal candidate for the Foy's rigorous approach, so the couple got in touch and invited her to join them at the farmhouse. 32:18 On Monday, September 21, 1992, Mimi arrived at the Foy's home for their first session together. 32:26 Almost immediately, things began to pick up. 32:30 As they settled into the basement for that first session, a short time later, when Sandra started the audio recorder, it was with a greater optimism than she'd felt in months. 32:41 The Foy's believed that singing together helped to galvanise the energy required to perform, and so they began, as they always did, by putting on a record. 32:52 That evening's chosen music was Bring Me Sunshine by the comedy duo Morecambe & Wise. 32:59 Then the three of them began to sing along. 33:02 Almost as soon as the music started, Mimi, Robin and Sandra heard what sounded like the loud click of false teeth. 33:11 It came from the air between them. 33:14 It was the first significant result that the Foy's had experienced in months, and they all couldn't help but laugh. 33:22 Eric Morecambe was famous for his use of chattery teeth in his act, so perhaps, they wondered, this apparent spirit had a sense of humour. 33:31 But over the next few days, more serious signals came through. 33:36 The phenomena seemed to quickly focus on the Foy's bedroom, where loud bangs were said to have been heard coming from the wall and doors. 33:45 Then one night, the couple are said to have been jerked awake from sleep by a loud slap on their headboard. 33:53 Although a little unnerving, the group were keen to continue, however each agreed that there was little more they could achieve with so few members. 34:03 And so, in order to expand their numbers, the Foy's ran a weekend retreat at the farmhouse for anyone with an interest in the field. 34:12 One of the first people they met was Ken Britton, who worked at the headquarters of the National Union of Spiritualists, as well as Ken's friend Burnett Head, a local post office employee. 34:25 It wasn't long after that when Diana and Alan Bennett came across an advertisement for one of the Foy's retreats in their local newspaper. 34:34 The Bennets had been taking part in seances and apparently making contact with spirits since they were young. 34:41 Diana and Alan both reported strange events happening throughout their lives. 34:47 However, when they mediated together, according to the couple, their ability to interact with the spirit realm intensified exponentially. 34:57 The Foy's thought they were perfect. 35:07 On January 4, 1993, the Skoll Experimental Group, as it would come to be known, assembled for the first time. 35:16 The atmosphere was one of untrammeled excitement. 35:21 Unlike the Foy's previous group, riven by frustration, this new collective seemed to fill the Foy's farmhouse cellar with beautiful, harmonious energy. 35:32 After a few initial sessions to settle in, these improved vibes began to reap dividends. 35:39 On April 26, the aluminium spirit trumpet was said to have been knocked from the table by an invisible force. 35:47 During the following session, the cellar echoed with loud raps and taps, and the temperature plummeted to what Robin Foy described as an incredible coldness. 35:59 Then the trumpet was again seemingly flung by an invisible force right into Ken Britton's lap. 36:06 The group made a habit of recording every session. When they played the tape back from this one, it was said to have been filled with white noise. 36:15 The noise grew continuously louder until the precise second that the trumpet was thrown and then ceased entirely, almost as if some build-up of energy had suddenly been discharged. 36:29 Throughout the summer of 1993, these strange incidents in the cellar continued, with new phenomena continuously added to the mix. 36:39 With each session conducted in near-darkness, in order to better focus the energies as the Foy's had it, it was said to have been especially thrilling when the lights began to appear. 36:51 Records of the experiments reference uncanny illuminations that appeared faint at first, before growing brighter and brighter. 37:00 Within weeks, what started as flashes of light had apparently coalesced into orbs of varying colours and luminosity. According to the group, these manifestations almost seemed to be intelligent at times, or at least under the guidance of something sentient. 37:18 The group recorded how orbs would seem to respond to individuals, gliding closer when invited and moving away when asked, even changing direction as if in response to some authority. 37:32 On occasion, a thick mist was said to appear. 37:36 Members of the group also claimed to have been splashed with freezing water and each reported their clothes and even their bodies being tugged by unseen hands. 37:47 During this heady period, the group also began to experiment in earnest with trance communication, trying to speak directly to the spirit world through Sandra, who adopted the role of lead medium. 38:01 However, Sandra quickly began to feel under too much pressure to perform, and so they asked the spirits to choose someone else to communicate through. 38:10 It seems that whatever power was apparently present in the cellar, it ultimately decided to use Diana and Alan Bennett as its conduits. 38:27 The Bennets were seen as the group's most seasoned spiritualist practitioners, but while Diana was familiar with transmediumship, the method was new to Alan. 38:38 At first, he appeared to fight against the incursion as he writhed and spluttered in the dark, seemingly rejecting whatever spirit was trying to communicate through him, until finally he seemed to relax into the role. 38:53 Primarily, Diana and Alan were supposedly used as vessels for simple communications. 39:00 But then, in October 1993, came something else entirely. 39:06 That strange gravelly voice announcing itself as Manu. 39:11 Manu would ultimately declare himself the leader, or gatekeeper, as the Skoll Experiment Group would later put it, of a strange team of spirits made up of thousands of minds from all realms of existence. 39:25 Together they were determined to help the Skoll Group prove the existence of these other realms. 39:32 Over the coming months and years, the group would meet the rest of Manu's team. Not only that, but they would apparently work with them, converse with them, and together, from each side of the veil, the two groups would offer the world some of the most startling insights into the paranormal ever recorded. 39:56 You've been listening to part one of Unexplained, season nine, episode 30. Come, hear what we have to say. 40:04 The second and final part will be released next Friday, August 14th. 40:10 This episode was written by Neil McRobert and Richard McLean Smith. 40:15 All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook at Unexplained Podcast and on X and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod. 40:46 Until next time, stay strange and dissonant. 41:04 Hey, Portlandia fans. 41:05 Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen here. 41:07 The dream of the 90s is alive in podcast form. 41:10 We're launching Podlandia AO Rewatch, our brand new podcast where we revisit every episode of Portlandia together, breaking down sketches, going deep on our iconic characters, and pulling back the curtain on how it all got made. 41:22 And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. Guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Kreisel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more. 41:34 Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. 41:39 Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. 41:41 I remember you thinking that. 41:43 Listen to Podlandia, AAO Rewatch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 41:51 What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the hosts of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and iHeart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka showing out. Shout-outs to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashawn Rock's boxing journey. She looks good. Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. 42:14 Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to Everyone Watches Women's Sports on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 42:23 Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clemens. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode, we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers. 42:34 The show is famously super accessible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on. 42:40 We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller, Danny McBride, Riz Ahmed, and Mary Steenburgen. 42:45 Listen to Hollywood Handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 42:51 This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. Every week, the news gets worse, the world gets crazier, and Yamanika is here to tell whoever's responsible you're the problem. 43:01 Do you know I just found out who Sidney Sweeney was? If he got a bunch of women, then I should have a bunch of men. Do better or do less so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 43:21 This is an iHeart Podcast. 43:24 Guaranteed human.