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E145: The Humpty Doo Poltergeist
4.5k Plays3 years ago
Pebbles materializing above their heads. Household knives thrown at them. Messages written in rocks and with markers on walls. Since January 1998, the six residents of 90 McMinns Drive in Humpty Doo, Australia were terrorized by a presence that kept them up at night and sometimes gave them no reprieve from its menacing activities. Was it all a hoax or were the residents truly plagued by what is now known at the Humpty Doo Poltergeist?
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Transcript
Beginnings and Friendships in Podcasting
00:00:00
Speaker
As you guys know, Maggie and I began our podcasting journey as two teachers obsessed with all things true crime. We would stay after school talking about the latest podcast episode that we had listened to until we made the leap to start our own podcast. Recently, we became friends with two other teachers who've begun a similar journey, though they met on TikTok.
00:00:24
Speaker
Ashley and Brooke talk about the nitty gritty details of crime and education in their podcast, Teachers Talk Crime. They're down to earth, fun, and when you listen, it feels like you're chatting with good friends. A recent review of their podcast stated the following, quote, I recently found you guys when looking for a podcast to listen to on my way to work. I'm a special education teacher.
00:00:45
Speaker
I absolutely love your personalities and how you keep it real about teaching and life. I love how respectful you are of the victims and their families. And you make my drive to and from work way more interesting. I've already binged through over half of your episodes in a week." End quote. Wow. So here's a little about the show from Ashley and Brooke.
True Crime Discussions in Education
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm Ashley. And I'm Brooke and we're the host of Teachers Who Talk Crime. Podcast. Hey Ashley, did you know that teachers have lives outside of school? They even have hobbies. What? Shocker alert. And it just so happens we are among those teachers. One of our hobbies was true crime so we decided to make a podcast about it.
00:01:33
Speaker
But not just any true crime podcast, a true crime podcast about kids. That's right, the ones we teach every day. Each week we focus on a case that involves student age kids. We discuss what happened and where the educational system could have helped prevent these tragedies. But also we share our own lives with you inside the classroom and we tell our personal experience that we've had with some crazy.
00:01:57
Speaker
And that is yax on tax on bikes. So see you every Monday and the occasional happy hour when a full moon is present. Listen to teachers talk crime wherever you get your podcasts. So sit down, shut up. The murder is about to begin.
Maggie's Real-Life Horror Experience
00:02:21
Speaker
I was in graduate school when the movie The Ring came out at the movie theaters. My roommate Katie had seen the movie several days before my other roommate Angie and I were going to see it. And after it was over, Angie said something along the lines of, if something happens to Katie, we know we'll be next. The movie terrified me.
00:02:41
Speaker
Not because I'm necessarily scared by the movies themselves, but because I have a bad track record with horror movies and then bizarre and unexplained things happening to me immediately afterward. Seeing the ring was one such occurrence. Every time I fell asleep, I kept having nightmares and seeing the girl from the well, her face covered by her long dark hair, shrouded in darkness.
00:03:08
Speaker
That's when I decided to read a novel until I fell asleep. Anything to take my mind off of the image I kept creating in my mind. Eventually, sleep gripped me in its tight embrace, and my body relaxed, so exhausted that no dreams came. But then came the noise. It was quiet, yet loud enough to wake me from my sleep. A dripping sound coming from the bathroom.
00:03:37
Speaker
My mind was racing, my pulse had quickened. I could feel it throbbing in my temples as I made my way to the door. There was a scene like this in the movie. I pictured it now, just as my hand was grabbing for the knob. I swung the door open quickly and flipped on the light as if I could scare off whatever evil my mind had conjured up was occupying my bathroom, scared away as if it were a bug. Katie and Angie came running.
00:04:05
Speaker
in response to the scream that escaped my throat when I saw what was in the bathroom. They were standing behind me as we stared at the water that was pulled in the tub and that covered the entire floor. It was so much like the scene in the movie that we were all terrified.
00:04:27
Speaker
Of course, we called the building maintenance who checked out the water the next day. The apartment above hours had a pipe that had burst and it was leaking down into my bathroom through the bathroom fan. One worker made a comment about how lucky I was that I hadn't stepped into the bathroom water and accidentally hit the switch for the fan as well as the light as I could have easily been electrocuted.
00:04:51
Speaker
While I felt better that there was a logical explanation to what had happened, and nothing ever happened to Katie so Angie and I could breathe a sigh of relief, I've always wondered if there might also have been something else at play. I definitely believe in both angels and in demons. I wholeheartedly think that there is an activity in a spiritual realm at the same time as there is activity in our physical one.
00:05:18
Speaker
and that's what terrifies me so much. It's not even that I know it's there, it's that I worry that I can't protect myself from it in the same way I can with people. It's the devil we know versus the one we don't know and can't see coming, even with our eyes wide open. Once that kind of attack begins, how do we make it stop?
00:05:44
Speaker
And what do you do when you face that kind of battle and no one believes that the evil is real? This is the case of the Humpty-Doo Poltergeist.
Podcast Mission and Audience Engagement
00:06:32
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:06:41
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:07:09
Speaker
Okay, after that very dark introduction, let's bring a little bit of light before we jump back into it. Yes, because the whole time that you were reading that I was like, God, please protect my soul.
00:07:29
Speaker
But anyways, it's love notes for Maggie and Allison. And we've got lots of love to share.
Celebrating Podcast Achievements
00:07:39
Speaker
So first we want to say a million thank yous to everyone who voted for us in the podcast awards. I am a little bit speechless, honestly.
00:07:51
Speaker
because I can't believe that we're finalists in the best female hosted podcast category. I know what I know. Again, I would say this. We belt PR pants because we're so excited. Yeah. Yeah. And if you voted for us in the first round,
00:08:08
Speaker
You may have been selected to vote in the final round, so please check your email. Ours was in the spam folder, but honestly, everything goes in my spam folder, but be sure to check yours to see if you were chosen. And if so, we would greatly appreciate another vote from you for us here at Coffee and Case's podcast. We have also joined forces
00:08:36
Speaker
And this is a cool one with real life, real crime and local leaders, the podcast. So we are urging you to vote for them as well. Our friend Woody Overton from real life, real crime is up for so many of us because he is phenomenal.
00:08:54
Speaker
He is up for people's choice, best male hosted podcast, storyteller drama, and true crime. So we want you to vote for real life, real crime in all of those categories. Yes, please. And our friend.
00:09:10
Speaker
Jim Chapman is up for local leaders in the business category. So please vote for them. And if you've already voted in those categories and you're like, well, crap, now that Maggie's saying I need to vote, what do I do now, Maggie?
00:09:25
Speaker
Yeah, you can still change your vote. So I urge you to go ahead and pause the episode and check that you voted for coffee and cases, check that you voted or changed your vote for real life, real crime and local leaders. We are helping each other.
00:09:42
Speaker
And we're going to show how powerful heart and good listeners can be. Having heart is powerful. And we have also had several conversations and shout outs on Facebook and Instagram over the last couple of weeks. So we want to send out some love notes to Katie Marie.
00:10:01
Speaker
Amanda. C. Roberts. Robards. Not sure. One of the two. We love you. Even if I've mispronounced it. You'll love you. Yes. Kristin. Mama Pumpkin. Kirsten. Lynn.
Listener Appreciation and Exclusive Content
00:10:15
Speaker
Michelle. Wendy Smith. Woody. Michaela. And Chasity. So much love. I know. And we have gotten a couple new
00:10:26
Speaker
five-star reviews this week. One was from Jez Mack who wrote, quote, I love y'all's friendship, your raw honesty and your humor. I also love your compassion when discussing each victim because of y'all their names live on, end quote. And that is the goal here. And that makes me so happy. Me too. That was realized. I know. It warms my heart, especially the part about their names and their stories living on. Yes.
00:10:53
Speaker
And we got a second five-star review from Jana who said, quote, love this podcast and Alison and Maggie. I look forward every week to the next episode. I appreciate you ladies and keep up the good work. I like my coffee hot and my case is cold, but to be honest, I sometimes like my coffee cold too. Iced. Keep up the good work. Listen, Jana, coffee's good in all of its forms. So, Ophelia. And so where's hot chocolate? Yeah.
00:11:24
Speaker
And we thank you for that review. Well, in all honesty, I needed this distraction because your intro is scary and Anthony is in the basement right now working on a project and I am upstairs. Okay, get your phone ready to text him if you need him.
00:11:46
Speaker
It got it. It's onsite. I've told you and all of our Patreon listeners have heard my story with the doll that I would swear was possessed. So you know why things like this episode scare me, but it's been a long time since we've done a paranormal one. So yeah, and these are always my favorite. Oh, yeah.
00:12:12
Speaker
If you have not checked out our Patreon, listen, the demented doll one is an episode you do not want to miss. I mean, unless you get super scared really easily. But if you don't and you really want to hear it, please consider checking out our Patreon to support the show because every dollar helps and you can join Patreon for only $5 a month. There you can enjoy some mini episodes to get to know us better.
00:12:37
Speaker
including my doll story you can laugh with us and you can hear about some wild solved cases so just go to patreon.com forward slash coffee and cases all one word today now maggie are you ready for this one as ready as i'm gonna be
00:12:57
Speaker
Which is not at all. Have you watched the show Stranger Things? Um, I have watched them through like two times. Anthony has watched them through probably seven. But yes, we are all caught up on Stranger Things.
Exploring the Paranormal and Hidden Realms
00:13:13
Speaker
Okay, so then you know about the upside down.
00:13:18
Speaker
Yeah so the upside down like that creepy place you go to that's kind of still on earth but kind of not. Right. Yeah. It's this realm that's not visible in our own world but it can have some crossover and the dangers lurking in this other realm.
00:13:37
Speaker
can find their way into our own. And I feel like it's that overlap and the potential of hidden danger that's so scary about that television show, about movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, that evil is just
00:13:52
Speaker
waiting in worlds so much like our own yet mirror opposites where the unthinkable and the unimaginable are possible and where light is now darkness and shadows, goodness tipped upside down on its head until all good things like empathy and joy and kindness have fallen out.
00:14:12
Speaker
And the town where we are set this week, Maggie, is in Australia's Northern Territory, about 25 miles from Darwin, which is a larger city. The town where we're located this week has fewer than 5,000 people. It's always the small towns, guys. It's always the small towns. It really is always the small towns. And this town is called Humpty Doo. But it was originally called
00:14:42
Speaker
um-di-do, which was from an aboriginal term meaning resting place, but over time the name shifted to hump-di-do, a phrase meaning everything done wrong and upside down.
00:14:58
Speaker
Oh, so stranger things come to life. Yes, yes, exactly. So despite the negatives of the town's name, much was going right for a young couple, Dave Clark and Jill Somerville.
The Humpty Doo House: Strange Events Begin
00:15:15
Speaker
and their friend Doug Murphy, who they called Murph, who had in August 1997 moved into the four-bedroom bungalow located at 90 McMinn's Drive in Humpty-Doo. The house was
00:15:30
Speaker
perfect for them. It was situated at the end of a 70 meter long gravel driveway on a five acre plot, complete with an outdoor bar area, a pool, a garage, everything they needed. Life was good. I mean, that sounds good for me. Oh, yeah. Heck yeah. Yeah, especially in this heat, this Kentucky heat.
00:15:58
Speaker
They all three had decent jobs. Murph was a commercial fisherman, Dave a mechanic, and Jill a shop worker. And when they weren't working,
00:16:07
Speaker
they could hang out together in their secluded place. By January 1998, the three friends had decided to make their situation even better and split the rent with one other couple, Andrew and Kirsty, who had just moved in along with their 10 or 11 month old daughter Jasmine. Different sources said one said 10 months, several said 11 months. Andrew was a driller in construction and Kirsty was a stay at home mom.
00:16:36
Speaker
I remember that January when they moved in is the summertime in Australia. Right, because we had that one conversation about what does Santa Claus look like in Australia. Yes, exactly. So the roommates were enjoying much of their free time outside on the back patio when they could between the thunderstorms.
00:16:57
Speaker
You see in Australia between, especially Northern Australia, between December and March is the monsoon season, a season often called the wet. And during that time, there are again, especially in Northern Australia, torrential downpours or drownpours, as we call them in my family, because you feel like you're drowning in the water.
00:17:23
Speaker
and some of the most awe-inspiring, terrifying, yet beautiful lightning storms you could ever witness. So I've included some pictures of the storms so that you can see them, Maggie, and I'll post them for our listeners this coming Monday when I do the social media post. But when I say beautiful yet terrifying, you'll see why. And all of the pictures I'm getting ready to show you, Maggie, are from Darwin.
00:17:52
Speaker
which is the closest big town to Humpty-Doo or other places in Northern territory where a case this week is set. Wow. Okay. Oh my. Okay. So they are very beautiful. Like. Yeah.
00:18:11
Speaker
That one's scary, that's a little terrifying. I mean, they're very intense, I think would be a good word for them. I mean, they're beautiful, but I would literally pee on myself if I saw those come out of the sky. I mean, we see one lightning bolt and we're like, oh, look, it's a lightning. Yeah. And we run inside. There are so many pictures of these storms where people are just standing outside watching them.
00:18:36
Speaker
No, it's not like one little lightning bolt It's like a huge lightning bolt branching off in 20 different directions is what it looks honestly that one picture the first one looks like a Tree in the fall when all the leaves have fallen off and they just look like branches from a tree that just fork off of each other Yeah, so now you know what I mean when I say it's beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Mm-hmm
00:19:05
Speaker
So it was a storm just like the one you saw in those pictures. That's what the five adults were seeing when they were sitting on their back patio. That's what they were watching while baby Jasmine slept inside. And it was late January, 1998. All right. So right now we have one couple.
00:19:25
Speaker
Another couple and their kid and then the Murph. Yes, exactly. Okay. Okay. Right. Andrew was a four bedroom bungalow. And at first it was just Dave and Jill and Murph. And they were using two of the bedrooms. So there's still some other bedrooms. So they were probably like, listen, it'd be smart of us if we had another
00:19:51
Speaker
you know, couple who are friends of ours move in and then we can split the rent even more. Oh, so they knew these people. It wasn't just like strangers. No, no, no. These were not people. Yeah. So Andrew, not as pure. Exactly. Andrew, Kirstie and Jasmine had just settled in. So it was nice to finally get to relax, listen to the rain hitting the roof and the ground, watching the beauty of mother nature on full display right in front of them.
00:20:19
Speaker
but the relaxation didn't last long. Within minutes, the five were being pelted by tiny pebbles. The pebbles were- Like hail? Well, I'm sure it probably felt like hail, but it was rocks. The pebbles were hitting their heads, their bodies, the ground at their feet, and initially the roommates were annoyed.
00:20:46
Speaker
They were thinking, OK, well, this has to be some kids from the neighborhood. They're trying to pull a prank at our expense. And they're probably hiding in these surrounding trees, throwing rocks at us. So they yell into the darkness of the trees for the prank to stop. But the pebbles keep coming. They even ventured in. You've got to get your teacher voice out. That's right. You say, listen here. Listen, I am the least intimidating. But if I raise my voice because it never happens, those kids are like,
00:21:17
Speaker
You know, they freeze. But they even ventured into the surrounding foliage to find the culprits, because they're like, we're going to find these teenagers who are pulling this prank. But they found nothing. However, when they entered the tree line, the pebbles had stopped. So they're thinking, OK, well, we must have scared the pranksters away.
00:21:39
Speaker
Okay, but when we read pebbles, are we talking like the pebbles that are tiny, like those little river rocks? Yeah, like a couple centimeters wide. That you use when you decorate something. So I'm wondering, could it have been raining hard enough that they were bouncing up or was this like they were falling from the sky? Well, it was like they were falling from the sky, but it was the same pebbles that were in their driveway.
00:22:09
Speaker
So that's why they're thinking it's like neighborhood kids or whatever. But when they returned to the back patio again after they searched the woods and it had stopped, the pebbles also returned, raining at them from everywhere. But since it was getting dark, instead of entering the trees again to look for whoever was pulling this prank, they decided, you know what, let's just go inside. Yes, for you guys. Yeah.
00:22:38
Speaker
It was then that they stopped dead in their tracks. Inside the home were pebbles everywhere. There were pebbles on tables, on cabinets, on television stands, on the floor. And the pebbles, like I said a second ago, looked just like the ones from their driveway. So at first they're thinking, did these pranksters sneak into our house and then do this?
00:23:08
Speaker
So, okay, the people that are outside are Andrew. All of them. All of them are outside except for Jasmine. Okay, all of them except the baby. Yes. Okay. So then they're thinking, okay, did somebody sneak in when we're like going around and going into the woods, right? Because they would have had time. But then the crew likely thought not because
00:23:36
Speaker
Even though there were torrential rains outside of their home, right, it's pouring. The pebbles that were inside of their house, their bungalow, were completely dry. So if somebody had scooped them up and dumped them inside, then those would have also been soaked from the rainstorm that was currently going on.
00:24:01
Speaker
Okay. So how long were they outside? Like were they outside for like five minutes? Were they outside for an hour? Perhaps it had time to dry. Maybe. I mean, I do think that they were outside for an extended period of time because they're watching that storm. So of course, Kirstie who's coming in and she's thinking, Oh my goodness, if somebody came in, Jasmine is in here.
00:24:27
Speaker
So she immediately ran to check on Jasmine who was peacefully sleeping in her crib. Were there pebbles in her crib? No, but there were in Kirstie and Andrew's bedroom as well as that of the other roommates. Pebbles litter the mattresses and the floor. So where had they come from? Cause this was like more pebbles than you can imagine. They were everywhere. I think I would be leaving
00:24:54
Speaker
Well, they're still thinking at this point, okay, somebody's trying to play a prank on us. You know what I mean? It's kids. It'll be a pain to clean it up, but whatever. The problem is that then something else strange happened.
00:25:13
Speaker
I swear to God, if you tell me that when they go inside this house, this bungalow, that they start getting hit with pebbles that are flying through the sky out of nowhere, I don't know what I'll do. I don't know. Well, you better figure it out soon because that's exactly what happened.
00:25:33
Speaker
Oh my God. Even though they're inside, pebbles kept falling on their heads. And it was almost as though they were materializing through the ceiling and dropping on them. Now, obviously, logically, that is not possible. So they're thinking, okay, maybe
00:25:54
Speaker
Maybe we're imagining it, right? They can't materialize right above our heads. Maybe they're like the ceiling is saturated and it's soft and it's falling through. Maybe they're up in the attic. So one of the five thinks, okay, I'm going to pull down the door to the attic to check up there. And when he did, loads of pebbles fell down on him. Again, strangely, all dry and warm to the touch.
00:26:19
Speaker
Okay. So were they all standing like huddled together when they fell or was like Andrew in the kitchen and oh God. Okay. No, it was crazy. Again, I'm leaving. Yeah. Eventually the pebbles stopped falling though. You can imagine the cleanup of this place now with pebbles everywhere. And they must've been confused as to how the event happened yet probably relieved that it had now stopped.
00:26:48
Speaker
until strange things again began happening.
Escalation of Paranormal Activity
00:26:53
Speaker
This time, instead of pebbles, other items whirled around the room. Items that had previously been setting on counters, enclosed in drawers, or packed away in the attic. I'm talking wrenches, knives, batteries, and the like.
00:27:16
Speaker
No, you need to pack your stuff and go. Sometimes items from one room like an ashtray would appear in another room as it went hurtling toward a wall only to smash into tiny glass shards. This is crazy. They had checked the house by this point and no one was there except for them.
00:27:41
Speaker
And they knew it couldn't be one another because items would fly through the air that were originating in directions of the rooms in which none of them were standing. Then things escalated again. I can't even imagine.
00:27:57
Speaker
In addition to items being thrown around the house, appliances were wrenched from their place. A CD player was thrown onto the floor, for example. And like I said, not only would ashtrays fly and shatter, but ashtrays would be randomly launched from rooms into windows and glass cabinet doors, causing them to shatter.
00:28:24
Speaker
And this attack from a silent and invisible source went on for days, though the frequency of the activity varied. So sometimes there was only a single incident in a whole day or sometimes nothing at all. But then other days it was as though the source was angry.
00:28:44
Speaker
and the activity would go on for several hours at a time. Items thrown, appliances overturned, mattresses overturned. So this is 1997, right? 98, when this is happening, January of 98. Okay.
00:29:06
Speaker
Like I would have just set up a video recorder and just record it at all times. Like, well, actually I would have left, but if I stayed, that's what I would have done. Because I would want to have proof that my freaking
00:29:20
Speaker
CD player was being thrown to the floor and they, wrenches were flying at me out of my garage. Like I would want to know, like I would want video evidence. Right. And we'll talk about videos here in just a little bit. I cannot imagine how mentally exhausting that would be because it's like, you don't know when it's going to happen, how long it's going to last and what's going to end up being thrown.
00:29:46
Speaker
Right, like I said, I've already been out of there, but y'all are braver than me. Well, now's when you might get a little scared, Maggie. So I'll go ahead and warn you. One night, Kirstie, Andrew, and Jasmine were sound asleep in their room when Kirstie awoke to a sound. It was faint at first. What was that? It almost sounded like an animal outside the home scratching on the exterior wall.
00:30:16
Speaker
That must be it, she likely said to herself to calm her nerves. After all, it hadn't woken Jasmine up, nor had it awoken Andrew. So she lay there trying to find sleep again, convincing herself this is just an animal. But again, she heard the scratches, louder now. No, this sound was not coming from outside at all. Instead, it was coming from
00:30:46
Speaker
inside the house and almost sounded like it was inside the wall. No, no ma'am. The scratching continued still.
00:30:59
Speaker
and only grew louder, making Kirstie feel as though whatever in the wall was making the noise, it was definitely coming closer and closer to her. Yeah, because the Demi Gorgon is about to grab you and take you to the upside down. This is real live stream of things right now. She jumped from the bed to turn on the light and the noise stopped. Oh, God.
00:31:26
Speaker
Jill had heard noises too and Jill and Kirstie were so affected by the occurrences like the scratching sound that they would cry and they even stated, quote, it completely freaked us out. It was like something was actually inside the walls right next to us. We couldn't sleep. We were crying. We would have left the house, but we had nowhere else to go, end quote.
00:31:54
Speaker
And can you imagine being in that situation? I would have somewhere else to go. I would sleep in my car before I stayed there. I would go anywhere before I stayed there. And side note, I had to look away because I felt like I was reading a novel and I was almost reading ahead in your story. And I was like, nope, calm down, Maggie, calm down. And I had to look away.
00:32:27
Speaker
I wouldn't sleep in my car. I would drive away, sleep in my car. No, I would not be there. Maggie and I do not camp, and we would actually contemplate camping to get out of this place. Yes, ma'am. I would. Yes, ma'am. The scratching, though, wasn't the only new thing that whatever it was that was causing these disturbances had begun doing.
00:32:53
Speaker
Afraid that anyone who heard about what was going on wouldn't believe them the five had not filmed it Well, we're gonna get to that But the five had not told many people about what they were experiencing They did however tell a couple of friends who had come to the home to see for themselves Annette Taylor a local teacher and her partner Lloyd Green and
00:33:18
Speaker
But I'm telling you, I would be like, I trust you. I believe you. I don't need to see it. No, thank you. Yeah, I have trust in you. I have faith. No, thank you. Right. At this point, though, Maggie, this had been going on for almost two months because when those friends came over, it was on March 20th. And it was then that the next phase occurred. The writing. Oh, no.
00:33:48
Speaker
This is gonna be Maggie's comments the whole episode. No, no, no. Yeah, exactly. When one of the friends entered the hallway of the home, just as the five had done in the monsoon, he was stopped in his tracks by the site right in front of him. It was what looked like a cross and then
00:34:14
Speaker
a trident, which to me looks a lot like the traditional devil's pitchfork. These symbols were made out of rocks and they were in the middle of the hallway. None of the roommates would have had time to make this creation because people had been traipsing through the hallway all evening, nor would they have been able to lug the rocks in to do it without someone seeing them.
00:34:44
Speaker
So it was as though these rocks appeared out of nowhere and that they formed themselves into these shapes. Oh, Lord. Even more strange, the rocks were balanced in rows so precisely on one another that the friend Lloyd claimed it almost looked as though they were being held there by an invisible force because otherwise this level of balancing would be next to impossible.
00:35:14
Speaker
Lloyd told NT News correspondent David Wood in an article published on March 1st, 2015 that the rocks were, quote, so neat and perfect. It would have taken me hours to make with a straight edge, a square and a rule, end quote, to have made that formation look as precise as it did.
00:35:36
Speaker
But when David, who came up behind Lloyd to see the site, leaned down to touch the rocks, the rocks themselves flew off in all directions.
00:35:50
Speaker
I just want our listeners to know if you hear little popping sounds, that is me clapping my hands in surprise. So don't think it's faulty audio. Like I've been going to some of this. Okay. So just so you guys know. But whatever had been holding them in place did not like the interference from curious hands. In that same interview,
00:36:19
Speaker
Lloyd continued by saying, quote, as soon as Dave touched the gravel, it just flew everywhere. It pelted down the passageway. It was so loud hitting the walls. The baby woke and started crying. Then the tools started flying around, end quote. So I feel like whatever it is,
00:36:44
Speaker
is not really interfering with the baby, like the loud noise is waking it up. Right. But after this, the writing escalated as well.
00:36:58
Speaker
It was almost as though the spirit that they'd been living with for several months now were trying to communicate with them. Of course it is. Okay, of course. Since the symbols on the floor didn't necessarily convey anything specific, the communication changed. Andrew was in the bathroom when he noticed something on the ground. Rocks were piled up, spelling the word
00:37:29
Speaker
Next to that was a pile of scrabble tiles with a few of the tiles pulled out to spell out skin. Kirsty yelped from the other room at a similar time and when Andrew came running his eyes landed on the spot that Kirsty was staring at. Scrawled on the wall in blue ink were other words.
00:37:57
Speaker
fire, and help. And even before Murph saw the final word spelled out in front of him, he knew what it would say. Troy. Back in January, so right when all of this started, right before the strange phenomena began, Murph's best friend, Troy Raddatz,
00:38:24
Speaker
had died
Connecting Tragedy to Paranormal Events
00:38:25
Speaker
in a vehicle accident on the Stewart Highway just a few kilometers away from their bungalow. Troy had been driving a paint thinner truck along with a coworker. The truck had exploded, burning Troy and the coworker alive. I mean, I just don't have a comment right now. Like my mouth is just like open. So it spelled out car, skin, fire,
00:38:55
Speaker
Help and Troy. And I want you to scroll down Maggie because they actually have photographic evidence of the words. I'm scared. Okay here we go. Take a deep breath. No ma'am.
00:39:20
Speaker
I think the writing, I don't know what's scarier to me. I don't know if the rocks and the scrabble tiles are scarier that Andrew's looking at or the words written on the wall. It's. No, it. No, it's all freaky. But I think the scrabble tiles and the pebble. No, I lied. It's all scary. I can't put this one scarier. I. I do not know. What? Like, what do you do?
00:39:50
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. Oh, Lord, y'all need a priest. Well, they'll get one here in just a minute. OK. But there was one major problem that the roommates discussed. If this were some harmless spirit of their friend who in death was trying to communicate with him about something, why would he throw rocks at him? Well, an even bigger question.
00:40:17
Speaker
Why had he spelled his own name wrong with the Scrabble tiles? Because their friend Troy spelled his name T-R-O-U-Y, but the tiles only spelled out T-R-O-Y. And if this were not their friend, what kind of spirit might be trying to use that recent loss of a friend against them to get the roommates to trust it?
00:40:46
Speaker
Despite the fact that none of the roommates were religious, I think we would all agree in these types of situations, when you feel that there are spirits at work, there was only one place to turn, the church. And that's exactly who they called.
00:41:07
Speaker
You guys know our obsession with Krispy Kreme and other sweets, and at the same time, how much we detest exercise. Yes, we do. But as we grow older, those calories and extra sugar seem to add up faster and faster with each passing year. And it is time to start thinking about how the way I eat affects my life.
00:41:27
Speaker
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00:41:50
Speaker
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00:42:07
Speaker
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00:42:37
Speaker
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00:43:06
Speaker
Thank you Magic Spoon for sponsoring this episode.
Failed Exorcisms and Media Attention
00:43:14
Speaker
So Maggie, the first priest they got to come to the house was Father Steven DeSouza from St. Mary's Cathedral in nearby Darwin.
00:43:26
Speaker
I like that you said the first priest meaning this is true. So you know that this first one was unsuccessful. He actually priest had sent, he had spent some time in India dealing with other paranormal activity. And here in Humpty Doo, after taking a look around the place, he ended in the kitchen. Just as he turned to walk back towards the roommates, one of them yelled, father,
00:43:54
Speaker
and DeSosa swung around to see a knife that had previously been on top of the microwave flying through the air toward him.
00:44:04
Speaker
None of the roommates, yes, none of the roommates were even in the kitchen and unable to get out of the knife's path, the priest threw up his hand. It was as though the knife hit an invisible shield around Father D'Souza because it stopped immediately in its flight and fell straight down to the ground. I stopped breathing just then.
00:44:31
Speaker
And you know that's not natural for something that's in motion like a forward trajectory to just stop and fall straight down. He defied physics. Father DeSouza used an old ritual to quote unquote, bind the spirit so that it couldn't hurt the occupants of 90 McMinn's drive. Though he said to them that this type of spirit rarely actually causes physical harm anyway.
00:45:00
Speaker
So though he added that it was a poltergeist, a name meaning noisy spirit, and this one certainly was that, they don't usually just go away because of the ritual he performed. No, this type of spirit, he said, is mischievous like that. And it would only go away when it was ready to go. It's like peeves from Harry Potter.
00:45:28
Speaker
Peeves, the poltergeist. Yep. Nevertheless, Father D'Souza prayed over them and left, and all was quiet. I'm going to need Dr. or Father D'Souza to move in if I was open there. Yeah. I'd be like, we got a room for you. Come on over. Yeah. For three days, nothing happened. But then it all began again with even greater intensity than before.
00:45:59
Speaker
Frustrated, the roommates contacted another priest, Father Tom English, to try his hand at ridding them of the poltergeist. Father English visited the home on four separate occasions, and at each one he saw the spirit in action. The first time, while Father English was standing in the home, an object seemingly materialized out of thin air and fell at his feet.
00:46:28
Speaker
It was a pistol cartridge. Okay. So they're pretty violent with, I mean, like threatening with the priests, a knife, a pistol cartridge. They mean business. Yes. On other visits, items would come flying out of the doorways of rooms that were empty of people. Those items would hurdle against walls.
00:46:50
Speaker
Father English also prayed and used a vial of holy water to bless the residents. However, he's going to need to fill up their pool with holy water. Yes, he does need to. Yes, sink, pool, everything. However, as he would flick the water into corners of one room,
00:47:09
Speaker
the spirit would rage in another, smashing things about making itself heard that it did not like what Father English was doing. When he left the five roommates, he left a Bible, some holy water, and a crucifix with them. That crucifix became a favorite of the spirits as it frequently became an item that would crash to the floor for no reason.
00:47:39
Speaker
or be thrown across rooms. Okay, so we're a little bit like brazen. We go at some guts, this little spirit does, picking up a crucifix. Yes, the container of holy water was soon smashed on a wall of the home. All this and the scratching was beginning again. No, you don't need to move. The roommates turned to the third and final priest to try to help them.
00:48:08
Speaker
a Greek Orthodox priest. So perhaps a priest from a different denomination might be able to rid them of the spirit. This priest went so far as to construct an altar in the kitchen and to go through and bless each room of the home while reading from a large book. As he was walking, the spirit was continually trying to pull the book from his hands.
00:48:38
Speaker
This force even twisted the priest's arms behind his back, forcing him down to the ground as if showing his power over a mere mortal. This has left me speechless. This is like a movie.
00:48:58
Speaker
Out of breath, sweating, the color drained from his face, priest number three told the roommates that this was the strongest spirit he had ever encountered. And he left them with no peace to their troubles.
00:49:17
Speaker
Just as before, the activity was sporadic. Some days have nothing. Other days, things were thrown across a room nearly every minute of the day. But they stayed in the home, primarily for three reasons. Number one, they didn't have another place to go. And if they broke their lease, they wouldn't get their security deposit back. Number two, even when dangerous items were thrown at them, so knives, glass, wrenches, they were never, never hurt.
00:49:46
Speaker
by any of the items. If the items even touched them, which was rare, usually it was whiz right past them close, if the item even touched them, it was like a feather was hitting them. So none of them were never hurt. And number three, the most vulnerable of all of the residents, baby Jasmine, had never been harmed, nor had anything thrown at her. She seemed safe from whatever this was.
00:50:15
Speaker
I mean, I think I don't know their situation, but I almost think I do not care if my security deposit was $50,000. I would still go. I know I'd be too terrified to stay.
00:50:31
Speaker
Kirstie told Catholic World News in an article from April 2nd, 1998, quote, the priest told us that we shouldn't be afraid because it feeds off our fear. So now we just sort of tolerate it, but it does get annoying because it's always breaking stuff, end quote. And she pointed to this glass cabinet that they had kind of, it had shattered it. So they kind of,
00:50:57
Speaker
pieced it back together with tape. And she said, quote, and we can't move because the owner is in Queensland somewhere and he won't believe us. And we'll probably think we've just trashed the joint during a party or something and he won't give us our security deposit back. End quote. It was after father English visited the home that the media got wind of what was happening in the home and decided to investigate themselves.
00:51:22
Speaker
Of course, many of them were skeptical of this honestly being a ghost. Many accused the roommates of staging the scenes and even lambasting Kirsty specifically for being a horrible mother and staying in this environment, whether this were a real spirit or a malevolent roommate wreaking havoc. So they're like, how could you do that as a mom? Leave your child in that environment. The roommates were mocked.
00:51:48
Speaker
they felt they needed to prove that what was happening to them was real. When the local media, the Litchfield Times, heard about the events and came to the home, they too were hit by pebbles. Well, if they're making fun of them for this, then I'm glad they got hit by a pebble.
00:52:08
Speaker
Two reporters from Northern Territory News also stated that they were hit on the backs of their necks despite standing with a wall within inches of their backs. So again, it's not like someone could have thrown it. They're standing inches away from a wall. They also said that they saw a beer mug shoot across the room.
00:52:31
Speaker
ABC radio reporters out of Darwin came next and reporter Tracy Farrar was interviewing Kirstie when small brown seashells began to fall at her feet. Small shells that were identical to the ones that she had walked the beach collecting only the day before. So that had to be creepy.
00:52:59
Speaker
Yeah, I would have had a heart attack right there in their house. She also reported seeing a remote control levitate before flying across the room. And she reported receiving a shock from her microphone, something that it had never done before when asking questions about the spirit. So it's almost like the spirit is kind of like possessive over these people.
00:53:25
Speaker
tournaments these people, but it's like they're my people, leave them alone. Yeah. Several reporters also noted that they had terrifying nightmares in the nights that followed their visits. I'm also probably going to have terrified. After those reports, nearly every radio station and newspaper wanted to visit and to interview the roommates.
00:53:48
Speaker
So when they were approached by Channel 7's show, Today Tonight, they knew they wanted them to come and record what was happening, see for themselves that the roommates were not creating the disturbances themselves, even though the news station didn't have a reputation of being the most ethical from what I read in my research. But they're like, hey, it's at least somebody. We can prove that we are not doing this.
00:54:17
Speaker
The news crew, of course, brought in cameras to record. So just what you wanted them to do, Maggie. However, the spirit was, again, mischievous. And wherever the camera was facing, nothing would happen there, only in other rooms or in the direction that the camera wasn't facing. They weren't able to ever catch objects in flight.
00:54:45
Speaker
When the cameras were turned off. Did the camera crew see them though? Yes, the camera crew saw it, but they could never catch it on film. But when the cameras were turned off or the battery had died, then items flew in all directions. Lids, bottles, knives thrown at the roommates at the media against walls. But as soon as the new battery was put in, nothing.
00:55:15
Speaker
writing began appearing directed toward either the roommates or the media themselves as a warning scrawled in ink on the wall were things like no cameras no tv and pig cameras i hope that you give me some theories on this one because i am one petrified and two dumbfounded
00:55:42
Speaker
After continuing to try to capture the events on camera to prove to their viewers whether the activity was real or fake, the chief editor of Today Tonight was going through the footage and he noticed something odd in one single frame of the footage.
00:56:02
Speaker
in one of the only pieces of evidence where activity had barely been caught on camera, a bottle lid flying across the room. When he slowed down the footage, Kirstie, who was on the other side of the room folding laundry at the time, a mirror had caught her reflection. And right at the moment before the lid came whizzing by, there was a slight flinch by Kirstie.
00:56:29
Speaker
That was enough for the editor to proclaim that all of the activity in the house had been a hoax, and he loudly proclaimed so to all of the Channel 7 viewers. So he said all of this was made up because of what he thought he saw in that one little frame. So according to him, story's over. The roommates were branded liars, yet they were still being attacked by the invisible predator.
00:56:59
Speaker
After seeing about the events on the news and reading about it in the newspaper, the landlord of the property concerned himself that this was a hoax and that the property was being destroyed in the process, tried to have Dave, Jill, Murph, Andrew, Kirstie, and baby Jasmine evicted.
00:57:19
Speaker
He even took them to court to get them out. Now, my research was contradictory on this part because one source said that the judge also thought it was a hoax, but he still ruled in favors of the roommates because the property that was destroyed belonged to the roommates and the premises itself wasn't damaged. But other sources said that the judge believed that the roommates were being plagued by a poltergeist.
00:57:44
Speaker
and that he had ruled in their favor because it was not them destroying the property, but an evil spirit. But either way- So either way though, they win the dispute. Exactly. Yes, they are allowed to stay and they did for a time.
00:58:02
Speaker
But not long after, after they received the $2,000 payment for being on Today Tonight and giving that show the rights to come in and film, the roommates decided to leave the home of their own accord. And that was when the paranormal activity at 90 McMinn's Drive stopped.
00:58:21
Speaker
And it's about time. Yes. In addition to the roommates' experiences and that of their friends, that of the priests and those of the media, there were two other individual witnesses to what occurred in the home. So I'm going to tell you about them before we discuss the theories. These two who showed up were paranormal investigators.
00:58:43
Speaker
After having been burned after trusting the media to tell their story truthfully, the roommates quite understandably were hesitant to let the two men who showed up at their door into their home. Tony Healy and Paul Cropper stayed for five days and five nights keeping notes of all kinds of strange phenomena that occurred while they were there. They wanted a show and the spirit did not disappoint.
00:59:11
Speaker
They began collecting and placing in a drawer all the items that had flown across rooms or that had been flung at them. And at the end of five days, they had nearly 30 items.
00:59:23
Speaker
Wow. According to an excerpt from the book Healy and Cropper wrote about all of their paranormal investigations from a chapter specifically on the Humpty-Doo poltergeist, they wrote the following, quote, most of the objects were familiar household items, but some like a yellow light bulb, which fell beside us on the concrete patio without breaking, had not been seen before.
00:59:49
Speaker
We gathered the material and stashed it in a drawer on the patio only to have the items appear one by one back inside the house. After some of the episodes, we found Dave and Jill's bedroom trashed, the mattress askew and sometimes gravel strewn about.
01:00:08
Speaker
Okay, we're doing that. Yeah. On one occasion, Paul heard a rattling sound on the tin roof and an instant before 13 pebbles landed on the kitchen floor beside him, having apparently teleported through both roof and ceiling. Stones later fell on his head and a skinning knife nearly missed Tony's ear." End quote.
01:00:35
Speaker
Another time, a pistol cartridge fell vertically onto Paul's leg when no one was standing near him. In another instance, Paul was sitting on the back patio with all of the roommates at great distance away in the yard when the crucifix that had been on the mantelpiece
01:00:53
Speaker
landed squarely at his feet. Then, Tony had a brass plug fall on the table right in front of him while Kirstie, the only other person in the house, was sitting across the table from him, both hands on the newspaper that she was reading.
01:01:11
Speaker
One of those investigators, Tony Healy, said to NT Times, quote, it doesn't take long for most reasonable people to believe there is a genuine effect, a genuine phenomenon. The disagreement comes over what causes it, a departed spirit, a demonic other or mind of matter, end quote.
01:01:32
Speaker
What he's implying is that while some might still consider the strange occurrences at 90 McMinn's drive a hoax, most others agree that it was genuine. The only point of contention is who or what caused it. So let's take a look at the theories. Okay, I am ready for these theories because I need to know. I need to be able to sort it out. Rationalize it. Feel some peace.
01:02:01
Speaker
Okay. Theory number one is that it was all a hoax. Many who believe the whole situation was faked go straight to the fact that the roommates were paid $2,000 by Today Tonight for rights to the story. Okay. First off, $2,000 is not enough money for me to clean up all those pebbles and all that other crap. Right. And to do this for months. Yeah.
01:02:26
Speaker
So they believe that the young men and women staged all of it in order to profit off of people's fears. Additionally, the editor, who said that Kirstie flinched on camera, later reported that he had called Kirstie and directly accused her of throwing the object and of faking the whole thing. And he claims that she finally admitted that she had faked the incident.
01:02:55
Speaker
okay but like when we interview criminals sometimes they admit to or not even criminals but um suspects in cases they can admit to things just so people will quit asking them questions and leave them alone i mean that's true and like you said two thousand dollars okay if they split it either three ways or five ways depending on if it was split by person or by couple
01:03:21
Speaker
That's really not enough for a group of friends to make something like this up as a money scheme so I can make $400 Like wouldn't they have held out for more that were the case And how do you explain away some of those incidents like I talked about So if it wasn't a hoax What could it be? We have some theories about that all signed
Analyzing Poltergeist Behavior
01:03:49
Speaker
out. Okay number two
01:03:51
Speaker
typical paranormal activity. So Healy, one of the two paranormal investigators, he said of the behavior from the spirit that he and Cropper, what they observed at Humpty do, particularly after going on to investigate other cases of paranormal activity, here's what he said, quote,
01:04:10
Speaker
Now we understand a lot more about poltergeists here and overseas. We understand that what happened in Humpty-Doo is classic poltergeist behavior. That seems to be a thing with poltergeists. They seem to like throwing them stones around. And if people are hit, they're never hurt. People are almost never hit. But if you are, it feels just like almost like being hit by a marshmallow." End quote.
01:04:40
Speaker
So you think that if it was a poltergeist, like essentially they're just doing this, this spirit is just doing this for fun? Well, I thought it was interesting because I think we have a misconception from movies that poltergeists are there to harm you. But Healy and Cropper actually found that most poltergeists never hurt the person.
01:05:06
Speaker
but yeah it just seems like they're kind of teasing them. Well and and that mental mind game can sometimes be just as terrifying because in another publication Healy and Cropper expounded on those similarities among poltergeists and they wrote quote
01:05:23
Speaker
The Humpty-Doo case seemed to have almost everything we've come to expect from a major cult outbreak. Showers of stones, wrappings and scratchings, dangerous objects thrown with great force but without causing injury, threatening messages, mind games, violent reaction to prayers and religious paraphernalia, resistance to exorcism." End quote.
01:05:51
Speaker
So to further show that the actions were real, when the media was in their home, after days of attempting to record the poltergeist, the crew actually brought in a cameraman with a special piece of equipment. After all, they were there to truly investigate, and if they were going to give the truth, they had to make sure that the roommates were not causing the activity themselves.
01:06:16
Speaker
So what would have looked to the roommates like just another video camera, the new crew member brought with him a thermal imaging camera. Interesting. Yes. And what he found seemed to leave no question that what threw the objects was not human. Objects that are thrown by a human hand, right,
01:06:41
Speaker
When they're shown through the thermal imaging camera, it would clearly be hotter where the fingers had gripped the item, right? An obvious handprint captured. But these items didn't look like that at all. Instead, the entire item glowed red, heated from end to end.
01:07:03
Speaker
As it would have done if the entire object had been heated in the oven or in a microwave for an extended time before it was thrown. The stones were warm. And if you scroll down one more time Maggie to the very last picture. You'll see the thermal imaging from a piece of glass. I mean it literally looks like.
01:07:30
Speaker
a photograph or almost like an x-ray kind of that somebody took and put it into paint on their computer and put a red line. Like that whole object is red.
01:07:48
Speaker
Even if someone tried to explain the thrown objects by saying that it could have been faked right or traps said or stones set on top of the fan so that when the fan was turned on it would rain down right and seem to come from the ceiling or
01:08:02
Speaker
that items maybe were thrown imperceptibly when the backs of other roommates were turned. The thermal imaging is something that couldn't be explained away because none of the roommates are heating up an item in an oven just in case they could then, while the items were still hot, throw it or sneak at a top of a fan blade.
01:08:24
Speaker
Of the theories, Cropper wrote about his experience and threw those theories of a hoax back into question. Writing of his experience with the pebbles falling on him from the ceiling, quote, while the ceiling fan in the kitchen was switched on, the stones had dropped straight down.
01:08:42
Speaker
and not scattered until after they hit the floor. So it was clearly not the source. Similar rains of gravel took place throughout the house during our investigation. Some of these occurred when the fans were switched off and others took place in rooms without ceiling fans." Even some of the producers and media from Today Tonight and other media outlets believed that what they saw
01:09:11
Speaker
was 100% real. So all six of the other media people who visited, all except for that one chief editor, no matter what that editor tried to argue, they believed that this was real. And while Healy and Cropper asked Kirstie about the supposed confession to the hoax, she maintained that she had said no such thing.
01:09:38
Speaker
This is just crazy. So is it just a classic poltergeist, like spirit of a random person? The next theory is that it was the spirit of Troy. Could this have been the spirit of their friend? Was he trying to communicate with them as a friendly spirit? How did the spirit know the details of Troy's death? And his death did occur just days before the strange occurrence began. And that seems more than coincidence.
01:10:08
Speaker
But just like the roommates questioned, if it were him, could he have even mistakenly misspelled his own name? And if it were him, why so violent? Like I could get the rotting on the wall and the pebbles and like forming words and the scrabble, but why throwing knives and pistol things? Like why the violence? Right.
01:10:35
Speaker
The next theory is that it could be a living person. So apparently, some believe that a poltergeist can be created by the energy of a living person. OK, that's not terrifying at all. No. Five years before the friends had moved in, a man by the name of Stavros Canaris had been living in the home. And this was before the landlord bought the property.
01:11:02
Speaker
This man who had spent 20 years at 90 McMinn's Drive was evicted by the bank when he could no longer make his payment. He was forced out and after hearing about what was happening there, he believed that his own spirit was taunting and disturbing the roommates while he slept. Well, let's just go ahead and add
01:11:29
Speaker
People manifested poltergeist into the category with ball lightning. Yes. Yeah. To irrational fears. Yes. He said, as reported in Helian Cropper's work, quote, the bank took my blood 30 years of hard work. The family still dreams of returning. Every night I'm there in my dreams. My wife is also there too. It was our life, end quote.
01:11:57
Speaker
Even though, and here's my devil's advocate, even though those who believe in poltergeist do believe that they can be caused by a living person, the living person more often than not is a teenager, not an older person. Interesting. In nearly every case of poltergeists, there is a teenager in the home.
01:12:21
Speaker
The common explanation is that the changing hormones in those young teens attracts the energy of poltergeists. However, if that is our reason as to why Canaris is likely not the medium for the spirit, it would also seem to exclude those living in the house because that's a baby and five adults in their twenties. Yeah, I was just thinking that too. The final theory,
01:12:50
Speaker
is could there be someone in the house who was an unconscious medium? Was there someone there that the spirit had quote unquote attached itself to and they weren't even aware? Interesting. This very idea is a fear that father DeSosa when he visited the home had himself worried.
01:13:16
Speaker
whether one of the roommates was an unconscious medium for the spirit and had carried the spirit with him or her into 90 McMinn's drive. Now, if we believe this theory, there are only three people that the unconscious medium could be because they were the only ones who moved in in January when the strange activity began. Andrew, Kirstie, or Jasmine.
01:13:46
Speaker
OK, so so far. Well, I don't know. I'm not I'm not sold on any of these theories yet, but this one in the weirdest kind of way makes a little bit of sense to me. However, terrifying to think that a baby could be an unconscious medium carry on. OK. Two years before moving into McMinn's drive,
01:14:12
Speaker
Well, now I've narrowed it down to you to two people because Jasmine wasn't around two years before. Andrew and Kirstie had lived in bachelor in North territory when they had experienced having stones thrown at them through the door of their home. They had chalked it up to neighborhood kids having a little fun and it might very well have been, but something else had happened.
01:14:41
Speaker
Andrew had been working at a construction site for a while. But suddenly, weird things began happening. Objects around the construction site went missing. And on one occasion, another worker went into a building to grab a mug for some coffee, only to find that all of the mugs were missing.
01:15:05
Speaker
They were later discovered in odd places scattered around the construction site, some in places that it would have been impossible to reach alone, like on top of roofs. Those strange experiences happened at the same time. Kirsty also began working at the site. So Maggie, what are your thoughts? Was this a hoax?
01:15:34
Speaker
Or was this a very real poltergeist? Well, I want to start by saying, first off, no matter which one of those options it was, this one was very scary. But I...
01:15:51
Speaker
I kind of, the logical person in me wants to say that it's a hoax that somehow somebody was doing all this. The theory that if I take logic out, that makes the most sense to me is number five, the unconscious medium. But again, either way, I just want to say, God, please protect my soul. Amen. Yes. Amen.
01:16:17
Speaker
The Vatican established rules on exorcism as far back as 1614 with a revised version as recent as 1999. Are evil spirits real? Lurking just beyond our scope of vision in a realm much like the Upside Down? It seems if you don't believe,
01:16:41
Speaker
than it is you who are among the minority. As in practically every religion that exists, there is a belief in not only angels, good spirits, good gods, but also demons, malevolent evil spirits with a sole intent to harm. Similarly, nearly all of those religions also have a means or a ritual to protect not only one's body,
01:17:11
Speaker
but also one soul from that evil. Can such a spirit link itself unknowingly to a person just waiting to act out and show itself? When it comes to that possibility, you'd better put that Ouija board away because you best believe I'm not touching it and taking that chance.
01:17:37
Speaker
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01:18:06
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.