Haunted Phones and Threatening Texts

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK Host Unforgettable backackyard Barbecues with savings from Whole Foods Market. Get the good times going with made in house chicken or pork sausages and ready to cook kebabs for hassle free flavor. Grab tasty flatbreads and their new balsamic chicken salad in the prepared foods department. Keep things fresh with organic red cherries, strawberries and peaches at their peak And stock up on bug sprays and suncare must haves. Make your summer sizzle at Whole Foods Market. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first didn't live up to the height. Like those five dollar roses at a gas station. or a second hand piece of technology that breaks in the first ten minutes Marketers know that feeling We optimize for the numbers that look great. impressions, reach and reacts when they don't show revenue Well That's a not so great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that Bull spend Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO LinkedIn adds generates the highest roWas of all major ad networks You'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title more. cut the bull spend Advertise on LinkedIn. the network that works for you pend two hundred and fifty dollars on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a two hundred and fifty credit for the next one. Just go to linkedIn d. com slash broadcast That's linkedIn d. com slash broadcast terms and conditions apply He again How do you feel another Ptergeist's case. They are the most terrifying and attention grabbing ofauntings, aren't they? where objects seem to do the impossible and sometimes danger is palpable. We've got that right now. I want you to picture yourselves in Southhields, a seaside town just outside Newcastle in the northeast of England, but we're headed for a quiet road called Lock Street and an ordinary two story house we're back in two thousand five A family was terrorized something they could not explain. Expect haaunted phones and gadgets and some truly disturbing communications with something that appears to intend this young family heart And we explain it? I'm Danny Robins and this is uncanny cold places W has pass Aes again In the co world where lear. S G st Sct crystal How are you? This is a case that I have been fascinated by for a long time, partly because I grew up not too far from where it happened in the Northeast of England, but also as it is packed with phenomena and Our favourite thing, reliable witnesses, both in the shape of the family at the heart of it and a pair of investigators who meticulously document the activity before we get into it. Let me introduce you to our own pair of paranormal investigators, King of Skeceptics, Dr. Kira O'Keefe and team belieelvers seecret weapon Evelyn Hollllow Ean, we've looked at a lot of historic hauntings recently in this series. We've had HMS Asp, Cock Lane, Spring Heel Jack This is a really modern case. It is this is the early two thousands. And I think what this case affords us is that modern lens, because in older cases we're relying on newspaper articles, we're relying on stories, very little photographic evidence. But because this is happening in modern times, we have things that we can look at a bit very uniquely in this case, we have two actual investigators working on it That's a good point K, isn't?'s a really well documented case It is really well documented, even to the extent where a colleague of mine went and spoke to the investigators and was presented with almost five hundred photos documenting some of the phenomena that had been captured. So it's great that we've got a case that has been systematically investigated and that we've got some evidence to pull through All right, thank you both. I'm excited I'm a little bit scared. We are gonna jump back. to december, two thousand five. South Shields is a coastal town, a short drive from the city of Newcastle where I grew up Marianne Peterworth lives there with her partner, Mark and her three year old son Robert at number forty two Lock Street Marianne is in her early twenties, she's a supervisor in a local care home That's why she met Mark. He works there in the kitchen Marianne has a long blonde ponytail. She's warm and empathetic, the kind of person who wants to offer you a cup of tea as soon as you walk from the door Mark's about the same age, he's handsome with a chiseled jaw, close cropped hair, somebody who always looks for the bright side of any situation But even he will struggle with what is about to happen They've been living in the house for a couple of years by this point. but recently, They've been bothered by things that they just can't explain. At first It's a steady drip of small, eerie things. The shower turns itself on when the house is empty. Mugs tip themselves off countertops and smash at their feet. One night Marianne and Mark swear Hear a voice comoming from Robert's bedroom on the baby monitor, warning them Robert to fall out of bed. They both rush upstairs, but when they get there? There's nobody there, justust Robert asleep. They shake it off, but one day when they get home from a family trip out, Marianne's brother Ian finds Robert's rocking horse hanging by its reins from the loft hatch, still swinging like something has only just let it go One evening, while they're relaxing in the living room Something whispers a single harsh word in Mark's ear He spins aroundound, with's no one there. but Marianne's friend is sitting next to him and they look pale. Did you hear that? Mark asks. She nods. They're both unnerfed. Who the hell just spoke to them It's only the beginning, though Turning from another day out, they find a bed and a chest of drawers have been moved while they were out and Robert's wooden rocking horse has been placed on the landing. Now, this is not a big house. Mark is able to quickly establish that there is no intruder, no untidy burglar hiding in a cupboard. So who moved these things? Shaken and unsure what to do, they put everything back as it was and head downstairs together to have dinner before they've even finished eating they hear noises upstairs. When they go back, Robert's toys have spread all over the place like a tornado has hit the room and That wooden rocking horse has somehow made its way back out onto the landing Marianne is so freaked out that Mark grabs the horse and decides to stick it in the back garden By locking the back door, they feel reassured enough to go to bed But in the morning, when Mark and Marianne bring Robert down for breakfast, the first thing they see is that rocking horse? sitting, waiting for them in the middle of the kitchen Truly terrifing. We we should probably say shouldn't to anybody wanting to research this case that the names of the witnesses and the street as well have been changed to respect the family's privacy Evelyn, where do we start on this? This feels so recognisable, so real. The objects being haunted here, seemingly, are ones we'd find familiar from our own homes. They are. I think most people think that haunting cases are things like bedsheet ghosts and rattling chains, but they're not. We see them everywhere from new builds to shopping centers to playing fields. It certainly makes it feel more frightening to us, I think, you know you're listening, watching this and thinking if it can happen to these people, it could happen to me Kin, we've got a really frightened family here, haven't we? As an investigator yourself, what would be your starting point here? What would you be trying to rule out I think with any investigation I'd be looking at kind of environmental but potentially practical reasons that are somewhat mundane. So for example, the shower coming on by itself, is that a simple plumbing problem If an object's moving, is there something environmental that could be causing that? Vibration or low frequency sound, something could be causing that. Are the parents very, very tired? They've got a very young child? Are they misinterpreting stuff that they're interpreting then as paranormal? So there's a huge checklist and at the moment open minded to all possibilities, but I'm just keeping an eye out for the phenomenon. We've got to talk about this rocking horse. It is locked out in the garden It finds its way back into the kitchen. How is this possible Can a rocking horse open a back door with its rocking hoose I don't think it can. It would be amazing if that's what we had in terms of evidence. I think we've got to be careful about interpreting this. Do we know for sure that that rocking horse was out in the back garden. What evidence do we have that the garden was checked? How do we know that the rocking horse wasn't just brought out from the back garden and brought back into the house at some point? But that was forgotten. So there's lots of points that I would like to know and like to get verification of before I jump to the idea that a rocking horse can open the back door.. If the horse is rocking, don't buother knocking Evelyn. We've got this couple at the heart of this. and I guess I'm wondering, is it reassuring to be facing this for somebody you love Or is it the opposite? Yeah, it definitely gives us a different dynamic because if it's not an intruder and it's not a paranormal force, then you would be left with it being it's one of you two. And that is obviously incredibly damaging. It creates a level of paranoia. And there's no escaping it because you live together, you know, peopleople often say to us, well, why don't people just get up and move? You probably can't, You can't afford to move. You can't afford to stay in a hotel every single night And what are you supposed to tell your family, your friends, you know, you've got kids in school, I'll be left Wh why? because our house was haunted. You don't want to be painted as the crazy person. So you stick it out, you endure it and you hope that it either stops or that you get a rational explanation for it. All right, fascinating stuff. let's go to Loock Street in South Shields because Things have not let up at all In fact It is about to escalate So Robert is Marianne's son. Mark is his stepdad. He's a friendly child, unusually articulate for a three year old. He's not scared of strangers. He'll chatter to anyone and listen In fact, Marianne heard him talk your away in his room. If she asks him about it, He says he's talking to his friend Sammy He comes to play with me in my room, Robert says Marianne can't see Sammy, but she doesn't think too much of it at first. It's just kids and their imaginations, right? Robert only likes Sammy sometimes because other times He's mean He froze things, and when Robert tells him to stop Sammy doesn't always listen So far so normal, Marianne feels until one day Robert gives her a strange detail He has bubbled, Robert says on his skin from where he got burned in the fire s unsetting. and Sammy, isn't the only person Robert mentions. On eighteenth of july two thousand six, he's in the living room, trying to get his mum's attention. Ma'am, he says, There's a man here Words no parent ever wants to hear from their child, right Marianne follows his eyeline to the corner of the living room. She's got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, but at first I can't see anything wrong Until Her eye is drawn down to the sofa seat is pushed in a deep impression like somebody heavy is sitting on it. ing them. Marianne is freaked out now but hides her fear from Robert They head upstairs to Robert's bedroom, but when they get there He tells her that the man is there too, flying over his bed. Marianne is scared now. She lets out a few choice swear words and as if in return Cam, a body spray, is thrown at her. He take the back of her head. Who threw it? Only she and Robert are in this room and he is standing right by her It marks a shift, the poltergeist, if that's what it is appears to be developing a particularly mean sense of humour over the coming weeks Chairs are pulled out from underneath both Mark and Marianne as they go to sit down, leaving them falling bruised on the floor Coins drop noisily to the kitchen floor, seemingly from nowhere. Robert handful of beloved talking toys that start to go off without interaction. Marianne gets so freaked out she takes the batteries out they play their tunes anyway by themselves in empty rooms. What is causing all of this? Could it be linked to the man that Robert sees? How does that man link to Sammy? For Mark and Marianne It starts to feel like a nightmare brought Theyavid life Here another look the testimony of Robert this young boy. We've got to consider here, haven't we the possibility of an imaginary friend Yes, we do, but also we've got to consider how sensitive Robert is to the environment parents will be worried, they'll be fearful, they'll be anxious, and he might be picking that up and that then results in quite a negative imaginary friendnder he's got. Evelyn, he's three years old Where iss he getting these details from this idea of somebody burnt with bubbled skin? Yeah, this is really odd because obviously he is very young. Is he looking at burnnt victims on Terry in the newspapers?? How he is able to piece that together? And also for the parents It's going to be scary because Imaginary friend is one thing. The burnt boy that's doing weird things in the house feels threatening, It feels like you know their child is in danger. Also, we' got one very unimaginary detail, which is that Irint the sof, How on eararth to we explain that? Yeah, if everything else is sort of like noisies and disembodied things, that's one thing. It's different when something inexplicable is visually occurring in front of you in real time. And for the parents, it's a case of them trying to protect their child. They don't want the child to know that they are also afraid. You talked earlier about the idea of kids being more receptive to the paranormal. If we do say any store buddies, if we feel it could be potentially paranormal Are Sammy and the man somehow linked? Yeah, this is an interesting point Is it that one of them is an imaginary friend and the other one is something else that is supernatural. I think if it was straightforward, it wouldn't be as interesting for us. It wouldn't be a case that has endured or stood the test of time. It's easy to point one thing and be like it was this ghost, this thing rather than saying there's multiple different aspects of psychology at play. Hell of a lot to think about. Karein, we've got a litany of things happening now in this case that feel very real world as well. chairs being pulled out from under people so they intoj themselves. cooins flying through the air Electronic toys playing when their batteries are removed H to exple. Yes, very hard to explain. and I'd have to be looking for a skeptical explanation for each of the phenomena rather than one thing that could explain them all But maybe the process of thinking I'm going through is the same thing that Marianne would be doing. There is so much happening here. Is it paranormal or is there something that can explain each of these things? too put yourself in her shoes, she's got bruised bum from being pulled off her chair. She's got W thingsings flying around the house, she is utterly bloody terrified What do you do Well, I think the only thing that you can do call to investigators and she does. She calls Darren Ritszon and Mike Hallowell. I know about the case and I know about their investigation of the case. I have scientific colleagues who have worked with Darren and re examamined the data and published it in a journal. So given that you've now got Darren and Mike involved as investigators really gives us kind of a systematic way of examining this phenomenon Hoast unforgettable backackyard barbecues with savings from Who Foods Market. Get the good times going with made in house chicken or pork sausages and ready to cook kebabs for hassle free flavor. Grab tasty flatbreads and their new balsamic chicken salad in the prepared foods department. Keep things fresh with organic red cherries, strawberries and peaches at their peak And stock up on bug sprays and sunca must haves. Make your summer sizzle at Whole Foods Market. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first didn't live up to the height. Like those five dollar roses at a gas station or a second hand piece of technology that breaks in the first ten minutes. Marketers know that feeling We optimize for the numbers that look great. impressions reach and react when they don't show revenue Well That's a not so great conversation with the CFO LinkedIn has a word for that Bull spend Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO LinkedIn adds generates the highest RAas of all major ad networks You'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title more. cut the bull spnd. Advertise on LinkedIn the network that works for you spepend two hundred and fifty dollars on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a two hundred and fifty credit for the next one go to LinkedIn d. com slash broadcast That's linkedIn d. com slash broadcast Terms and conditions apply Well, let us see what Darren and Mike make of what is happening in South Shields. We'll join them just a couple of hours after they arrive at the house. They're setting up cameras and recording equipment, trying to be methodical, scientific Mike feels what he describes as a change in the atmosphere, a cold Plumg in temperature and an oppressive feeling like something is about to happen out of the corner of his eye, he sees something so subtle. quite describe it. it's a movement or shimmer This bright yellow piece of plastic, the nut that goes with a screw from a toy workbench, flies through the air and strikes Marian with such force It makes an audible crack And she yelps with paint Darren and a Mike their first glimpse the South Sields Boltergeist. For Mark and Marianne a steady drip of unexplained activity is taking its toll on both of them One evening in late July. Marianne and Mark decide to try a long shhop. They go to Robert's bedro empt to Samy to make him understand that if he is behind a phenomenon They want it to end Mark goes first, he says If this is you, Sammy We have to stop it now If you frightened us you might bring other things into the house. And if you do that We won't be able to stay here and then They hear a thump. This seems to be coming fromrom the cupboard in the corner of the room One of Robert's doodle boardes face down. on the floor Marian goes over and Pixs it up It has a message on it It simply says m Sorry Marianne erases the message, puts the board back into the cupboard. It's her turn. She tells Sammy He must stop being naughty They wait a minute or two And then she goes to the cupboard again. She picks the board up and holds it up so Mark can see it There's another message Okay, ma', but the Drawing it looks like an animal mark Mariana puzzled is Sammy trying to say he's afraid of something? They ask Sammy if he'll talk to Darren and Mike, the investigators. But the answer is unambiguous. The word no written again and again and again all over the board Darren and Mike photograph these messages and take the photographs to two different handwriting experts along with samples of handwriting from everyone who lives in or regularly visits the house, Mark, Marianne, her parents, her brother Ian Handwriting analysts come back to say that the writing shares characteristics with one of these people There are similarities they say that suggest M may be the source of the writing on the board It is a huge shock, but Maria knows that she put the board to that cupboard blank and took it out. writing on it. Mark It was on the other side of the room the whole time He is writing these messages Nobody can work at now. Bloody almark Kiran this is Quite the test, do we have to now So that Mark is responsible for all of this Yeah, I think we do. becausecause all the phenomena seems to focus around him. If he's responsible, how's he doing this? Because Mariana's eyeball on him the whole time, and then he's not writing this stuff. Yeah, I think it would be one thing if we were just relying on the reports of the couple becausecause there could be confusion. But if Marianne is handling the board and she's the one that puts it away and she's the one that sees that it's clear. and then the next time they open the cupboard, know she pulls it out and the writing is on it How has he done that know how has he remotely in two thousand five managed to operate the board from the other side of the room? So we have a photograph here of this message on the doodle board. you can imagine the kind of thing. It's like a etcher sketch, that kind of thing. It says, okay ma'am and then this image of what looks like a dog or some kind of animal. And if you want to see an image of this, you can go onto the uncanny YouTube channel, the visualised version of this episode. you can see it there, or you can also look on my social media as well. Is it significant, Evelyn, that Samy, if this is Sammy, if we're looking at it from that supernatural point of view, that he is calling Marianne Mum. He's referring to her as his mum Is it that the person who has written it is of that dialogue? they're from that part of the country. If we think it is Samy or some sort of ghost, is that how they would have spoken? Or if it's not Samy, is it something pretending to be a child, which is arguably worse? Kirin, one of the things I love about you is your ingenuity. You come up with brilliant theories to explain things. We've had mold, we've had bioluminescent mushrooms hallucinatory popcorn You are Mark across the other side of the room. How you do it? How'd you write on this You can't You can't be at the other side of the room and actually physically cause that writing to happen. Unless of course you're dealing with a device like You mentioned about an eter sket that relies on ion filings. you know there's a magnetic component to it. Maybe you can kind of almost prep the device so that you've got a magnetic component that produces that writing. But judging from your reaction. What are you talking about? It writes through some sort of remote magnites. it writes, okay man, but the squiggle. Yeah, yeah, even as I say it, I think how ridiculous that explanation sound.'t stand in the corner to stand in the cor done that. No, but the issue I've got here is that it would be so easy for a skeptic to say Mark is responsible for this phenomenon, either deliberately, which is very worrying. or through some sort of what we call dissociative state, which could be triggered by anxiety and various other psychological triggers, that he goes into a dissociative state and he doesn't realize that he's doing some of these things. But when you get instances like this The person who's this prime suspect is at the other side of the room It immediately breaks that argument down So where I am at the moment with this case is that some of the evidence I could explain naturally and put mark at the centre of it. Other phenomena like this that we're looking at now, this writing I go That is not marked. so what is the explanation for it? and I find it difficult Could he be responsible in an entirely different way? Could he be the focus for his haunting? Evelyn, just explain that concept of the focus for people less familiar with pololtercast Cis. So typically in a poltergey's case, regardless of if it affects a family, coworers or even a group of friends living together always but sometimes it seems to focus on one person. A couple of examples of this would be say Janet Hodson in the Efield haunting. We had Shirley in the Bassy pololtergeist and then earlier in the series we also had Betty in the Coocklane pololtergeist. The idea of a ghost addressing you by name is chilling, isn't it Yeah. I mean, what are you really supposed to do with that? If you believe it's something paranormal and it's not just a series of random events, then it is something with agency and agenda that can write that can speak a language, then it has intention. And if it has intelligence and intention, then it can create harm. Thank you both. That is so much, isn't it? It already feels really hard to explain about this case, but don't go anywhere just yet because I'm afraid that what happens next 's even harder to explain Mark and Marianne are sitting on the sofa one night in the living room watching TV together When there's a ping as Marianne receives a text on her phone. It says Get you, bitch But it's spellt B I C H. The spelling is terrible, but Marianne gets the gist. She stares at it. been said. Mark's phone First the handwriting experts now this it is not looking good for Mark. She shows him the text Mark is freaked out too. He takes his phone out of his pocket and shows her the screen His phone is out of battery But he wants to be sure that Marianne knows that he did not send her this message. So he takes the battery out of his phone and puts it on the table between them. They sit and look at it together Ining, another message arrives on Marianne's phone. You're dead, it says. Again, the message looks like it's been sent from Mark's phone Marianne calls Mike the investigator. He lives close by so he comes over. He's there when the next text arrives Eat you bitch Mike takes a good look at Mark's phone. There's no residual power. He slides the SIM card out too and places it on the table next to the battery. Ping, another message comes through. will die today Marianne is so desperate for it to stop that she turns her own phone off. but A landline rings Marianne answers hesitantly. She is met with a flat, robotic voice, the kind that you get when somebody sends a text message to your landline by mistake d today G Gotta get you Then very end, a different Almost child like vibe. Okay man here and this is terrify heart in mouth real life horror movie stuff