Podchaser Logo
Home
S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

Released Tuesday, 7th May 2024
 2 people rated this episode
S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

S4. Case 2: Dad's Phone

Tuesday, 7th May 2024
 2 people rated this episode
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

Transcripts are displayed as originally observed. Some content, including advertisements may have changed.

Use Ctrl + F to search

0:00

This. Is the Bbc? This

0:03

podcast is supported by advertising outside

0:06

the Uk. Burrow.

0:12

There's never been a faster or easier way

0:14

to start your weight loss journey than with

0:17

PlushCare. PlushCare accepts most insurance

0:19

plans and gives you online access to

0:21

board-certified physicians who can prescribe FDA-approved

0:23

weight loss medications like Wigovi and Zepbound

0:25

for those who qualify. Take charge of

0:28

your health and speak with a

0:30

board-certified physician about a weight loss plan

0:32

that's right for you. Get

0:34

started today at plushcare.com/ weight

0:37

loss. That's plushcare.com/weight loss.

0:40

There's. Never been a faster or easier

0:42

way to start your weight loss journey

0:44

than with Plush Care. Flush Care except

0:47

most insurance plans and gives you online

0:49

access to board certified physicians who can

0:51

prescribe F D A approved weight loss

0:53

medications like We Go V and Zip

0:56

Bound For those who qualify, take charge

0:58

of your health, and speak with a

1:00

board certified physician about a weight loss

1:02

plan that's right for you. Get started

1:05

today at Plush care.com/weight Loss That's Plush

1:07

gear.com/weight Loss Plush Care dot Com slash

1:09

Weight Loss. Bbc

1:15

Sounds Music Radio podcasts,

1:21

He was very clear and from ah

1:23

if there is life after death I

1:25

will reach out to you. The

1:28

idea of ghosts can be terrifying, but

1:30

the flip side is it can also

1:32

be deeply comforting The idea that those

1:34

we have loved and lost a still

1:37

out there somewhere trying to get through.

1:39

And so what I was

1:42

expecting I guess was at

1:44

knocking or something on his

1:47

birthday. But. Is it possible. That

1:49

even those we've loved can out state are

1:51

welcome. I thought it was cool,

1:54

but actually it was kind of unsettling.

1:56

I mean it is he see and

1:58

everything I'm doing. This

2:01

episode we have a strange, moving,

2:03

eerie new case to investigate about

2:05

a dad who won't let go.

2:08

I think about it and go if you're going to show yourself. Don't

2:10

make it when I'm in the shower

2:13

for crying out loud. I'm

2:15

Danny Robbins and this is

2:18

Uncanny USA. I

2:31

know what I should

2:34

have. I

2:40

know what I should have. Case

2:52

2. Dad's

2:54

phone. Hello,

3:02

I'm at Atlanta Airport right now, the

3:04

busiest airport in the world. Thank you

3:06

for all of your messages in response

3:08

to our first case, Marcus's story of

3:10

that terrifying night that he believed came

3:12

courtesy of his Aunt Jean's Ouija board.

3:15

Can we explain what happened to

3:18

Marcus, environmentally or psychologically?

3:20

Or did he really unleash

3:22

something that night? Whether you are team

3:24

believer or teams get to keep those

3:26

thoughts coming, we will return to Marcus's

3:28

case later in the series. But

3:30

right now we have

3:33

a brand new case to dive into. It

3:35

takes us to Austin, Texas. So

3:37

let's meet our witness, Wendy.

3:42

I was a medic nurse in the

3:44

Air Force and I

3:46

also rode in an ambulance crew. So, you

3:48

know, I've seen my share. Wendy's

3:51

got shoulder length, dark hair and glasses. She

3:54

feels, I guess, kind of solid and dependable,

3:56

the kind of person that you would call in a

3:58

crisis. These days she works

4:00

in public health policy for the state of

4:03

Texas and is in her late fifties but

4:05

our story takes place nearly

4:07

twenty years ago and it revolves around

4:09

her dad. Hurry. My

4:12

dad was English and he

4:14

flew photo reconnaissance in the

4:16

RAF during World War II.

4:19

He joined when he was seventeen, he lied about

4:21

his age and he flew

4:24

spy planes basically over

4:27

the enemy lines. The latest fighter

4:29

is the Slit-Sai and here she goes on

4:31

her first try. So

4:34

he was presumably risking his life every single day.

4:36

Oh my god yes. The

4:38

mortality rate in his squadron was

4:40

like over fifty percent and

4:44

I think that really shaped his

4:46

curiosity about what happens

4:49

afterwards. After the

4:51

war Harry settled here in the states and joined the

4:53

US Air Force. So in

4:55

his capacity there he did kind

4:58

of espionage stuff. He was involved

5:01

in the Korean War of course

5:03

leading into Vietnam. And

5:05

then he retired to Austin and dabbled in

5:07

real estate running a business from home. There

5:10

was always a restlessness about him and he

5:13

was kind of cranky. Well

5:16

I think I actually called him in my communication to

5:18

you a cranky bastard. But you loved

5:20

him. I did. He was not an

5:22

easy guy to love. He was a

5:25

very complicated individual with a

5:28

lot of secrets. And

5:30

I think partially that came from his training

5:33

in defense intelligence. After

5:35

he died I found files. I

5:39

kept a journal like every teen girl.

5:41

He had copied those. It

5:43

was kind of a a psyops sort

5:45

of thing. He would

5:47

do background checks on my

5:50

friends. He did a background check on my

5:52

husband. My first apartment.

5:54

I came home one day and

5:56

he didn't have a key. his

6:00

real estate card was laid out on

6:02

the counter. So

6:04

it was that sort of, I've been here,

6:06

I can find you. He

6:08

sounds almost like a real

6:11

life version of that character that Robert De

6:13

Niro plays and meet the parents. Yeah, our

6:15

family jokes about that a lot. He was

6:17

very, very much like that, yes. So

6:21

there were really rough patches

6:24

in our relationship. But

6:26

in 2005, Harry

6:29

receives a terminal cancer diagnosis,

6:31

and it's Wendy who takes care of him

6:33

as his health deteriorates. There was

6:36

a lot to be resolved for both of us. We

6:38

had a lot of conversations

6:41

about life after death,

6:44

and he was very clear and firm. If

6:47

there is life, intelligent life after

6:49

death, I will reach out

6:51

to you. Reach out? Yeah, I don't know how

6:53

that will be, but I will reach out to

6:55

you. After

6:57

Harry's death, Wendy does think that perhaps feels a

7:00

little unusual. She moves into his

7:02

house, her childhood home in

7:05

Austin. The ghosts of her troubled adolescent

7:07

still haunting the place. And

7:10

there are other reminders of her dad that she

7:12

must deal with too. Remember, Harry

7:14

had been running a real estate business from

7:16

the house. So there

7:18

were those big, like 80s business

7:21

phones all around the house.

7:24

And one of the first things I did was call

7:27

the phone company and have

7:29

dad's phone shut down. But

7:32

then, about a month after Wendy and her family

7:34

moved in... I was working out

7:36

in the garden, and I could

7:39

hear the phone ring. So

7:41

I came in, I was like, well, that's

7:43

where dad's line, and I answered it. And

7:48

I just heard static. Hello?

7:51

Hello? That's really strange. So I just hung up

7:53

the phone, and then

7:55

I punched the line to listen again to

7:58

see if somehow it was active. And

8:01

there was just baseline silence.

8:05

Wendy doesn't think any more of it, but...

8:09

Well, these calls start happening

8:12

more frequently. So

8:14

I called the phone company and said, I'm

8:16

still getting calls. Can you please check what

8:18

is going on? And

8:21

they said, that's impossible. The line

8:23

is absolutely deactivated. And

8:25

from other phones, I would call the line,

8:28

and you would get the message. The number

8:30

you have called has been disconnected or is

8:32

no longer in service. So there

8:34

was no way that line

8:36

was active. So what are you thinking at

8:38

this point? It's definitely weird.

8:41

We can't explain it. I

8:43

pulled the jack out. It is

8:45

not connected. And

8:47

it was always when I had

8:49

my hands full, either back in the garden or bringing

8:52

in groceries. This

8:54

goes on for weeks. That distinctive

8:56

ring keeping Wendy on her toes

8:59

until one evening. Our

9:01

family was gathering for dinner. The

9:04

kids are milling around. And

9:06

the phone rang again. And

9:09

I just kind of

9:11

explained, God damn, it's a dad's line

9:13

again. And

9:15

then all of a sudden, the penny dropped. And

9:18

I was like, oh my God, it's

9:20

dad. So I picked

9:22

up the phone and sure enough, there's the

9:24

same static. And I'm like,

9:26

dad, this was not what I

9:28

was expecting. But there you

9:30

are. I can't hear you though. And

9:33

the kids were like, what? It's granddad.

9:35

That's been granddad the whole time. And

9:38

so they're all shouting. And

9:40

the static would get

9:42

louder and softer, like almost maybe a

9:44

speech pattern. So

9:47

I could almost just feel him on

9:49

the other end of the phone going, I've been

9:51

doing this for months. I told

9:54

you I believed in intelligence. Really

10:07

powerful moment. I've spoken to so many

10:09

people over the years who lose somebody

10:11

close to them and crave the idea

10:13

of contact of communication has Wendy

10:16

just received it. It is time to

10:19

bring in some experts. I'm joined

10:21

by psychologist and skeptic Dr. Cal

10:23

Cooper from the University of Northampton

10:25

in the UK and alongside him

10:27

heading up team believer writer and

10:29

Emmy nominated paranormal podcaster

10:31

Jeff Bellinger. Jeff,

10:34

we spend so much of our lives

10:36

on phones if we in any

10:38

way entertain the idea that the dead can communicate.

10:40

It kind of makes sense

10:42

that they would try to do it this way.

10:44

Well, of course, it's the way we're used to

10:47

communicating. You know, just a few hundred years ago,

10:49

we only communicated face to face, right? The first

10:51

telephone was 1876. You've got

10:53

phonographs invented and within decades, someone

10:55

claims I think I captured a

10:58

spirit voice. So every time we've

11:00

had some technology that is enabling

11:02

communication, whether it's a photograph or

11:04

audio or video or radio or

11:06

telephone, someone has tried to

11:08

adapt that for spirit communication, because we

11:11

long for that connection so badly. But

11:13

it's also worth noting if you subscribe

11:15

to the theory that ghosts are electromagnetic

11:18

energy, a telephone requires

11:20

a lot less energy than

11:22

say a radio or something else. So

11:25

could something have reached through Cal? I

11:27

think it's important to say that Wendy

11:29

is not alone here. There's even a

11:31

famous book isn't there called phone calls

11:33

from the dead by two parapsychologist, D

11:35

Scott Roga and Raymond Bayless, who studied

11:39

50 of these kinds of cases, including people reporting

11:41

whole conversations with dead loved ones

11:43

seemingly on the phone. I

11:46

know that you as a psychologist, you've done your

11:48

own research and written about this subject. If

11:51

it is not genuine afterlife

11:53

contact, what is going on?

11:56

So with Wendy, the first call is just about static

11:58

and she's on her own. And when

12:00

you're alone and you've lost someone, you could

12:02

end up with intentional amnesia. Part of you

12:04

is longing for a call to happen, and

12:06

you hear the call. It could be a

12:08

genuine call, and it's a telemarketing company or

12:10

something like that, trying to sell you something.

12:12

But you don't hear them. You hear what

12:14

you want to hear, or your mind is

12:16

filling in the gaps. This telephone

12:19

has had a big influence in her

12:21

life. She's always been worried about his

12:23

background with the intrusive nature, and now

12:25

she's in his domain. And this is

12:27

his personal line, and he's already primed

12:29

her with, if there's some means by which

12:31

I can get in contact with you, I will

12:33

do it. Just that intrusiveness of Harry that Cal

12:35

mentions, I think it's one of the most interesting

12:38

aspects of this case for me. Whatever we think

12:40

is going on here, whether it's paranormal,

12:43

mechanical or psychological, these

12:45

kind of contacts, you

12:47

expect them to be comforting. But

12:50

given when these relationships are done, I'm not

12:52

sure this is. It absolutely is to me.

12:54

So I know it's a paranormal cliché at

12:56

this point, that spirits stick around because they

12:58

have unfinished business. I believe the

13:01

unfinished business is with us, the living.

13:03

We keep them around because we have

13:05

the unfinished business. Wendy needed

13:07

that closure. There's

13:09

also the possibility that this could be

13:11

psychokinesis. Psychokinesis would be

13:13

the ability of us living people

13:15

to manifest something in our own

13:17

environment, break a dish or shatter

13:19

a light bulb or something like that, and

13:21

the person doing it wouldn't even be aware

13:24

that they were doing it potentially. And

13:26

maybe she's projecting this idea, this energy to the

13:28

point where the phone picks it up and it

13:31

rings a little bit, which

13:33

is still incredible, paranormal, but

13:35

a possible explanation. Intriguing, Ford. Psychokinesis obviously

13:37

is a really contentious topic, stretching back

13:39

to people like Yuri Geller, who claim

13:41

that he could bend spoons of his

13:43

mind. Team Skeptic would

13:45

tell you it's impossible, but it is

13:48

often cited as a potential factor in Poltergeist cases. Cal,

13:51

we have that huge moment in our

13:53

case where Wendy's whole family hear the

13:55

phone ring. You said that

13:57

when somebody is alone, distracted by grief, they can't

13:59

imagine things. how do

14:01

you explain this though? multiple witnesses hearing

14:04

it simultaneously I think it actually is ringing

14:06

at that point and she's responding to the

14:09

static the kids overhear it because she finally

14:11

decides to say dad is that you we

14:14

have to question did they actually hear the ringing

14:16

as well or did they just hear her on

14:18

the phone in conversation and therefore they didn't see

14:20

the start of it so we

14:22

could still have some group conformity going on

14:24

there potentially the fact that she's still hearing

14:26

static again I think something is going on

14:29

that's an electrical issue but Jeff they're gonna

14:31

be people listening literally screaming at us right

14:33

now going the phone is disconnected

14:36

it is not even plugged into the wall how

14:38

can this be happening I don't know I wish

14:40

I did I don't know how

14:42

to manipulate electromagnetic waves right now as

14:45

a living person however if

14:47

you subscribe to the theory that energy can't be

14:49

created or destroyed we've been around for all of

14:51

eternity and always will be around then

14:53

perhaps that energy can be funneled and

14:55

maybe all they can come through is

14:58

static and we have to remember to

15:00

those microphones in a telephone they're not

15:02

very good they can distort quite easily

15:04

and so maybe just maybe that's all it

15:07

could come through just the tiniest little bit

15:09

and maybe that's all that Wendy needed it's quite

15:12

a moving thought isn't it that the energy exerted

15:14

to try and make communication is so much that

15:17

that is all we can get you can't get the voice but

15:19

this is a desperate attempt to make that

15:21

intelligent contact that Harry Everyone

15:26

knows therapy is great for solving problems,

15:28

but getting therapy has its own problems

15:30

too. Like finding the right

15:32

therapist, fitting into their schedule, and

15:35

of course, the cost. Well, BetterHelp

15:37

can solve those problems. It's totally

15:39

online and built around your schedule.

15:41

It's surprisingly affordable too. Connect with

15:43

a credentialed therapist by phone, video,

15:46

or online chat. All from the

15:48

comfort of your home. Visit betterhelp.com

15:50

to learn more and save 10% on

15:52

your first month. That's BetterHelp.

15:55

H-E-L-P. hey it's Ryan Reynolds

15:57

and I'm here with Keith co-star of my upcoming film

15:59

if theaters May 17th. You want to tell

16:01

people the big news? All right,

16:03

I'll do. Sign up now and

16:06

you'll get unlimited for $15 a

16:08

month in six months of Paramount

16:10

Plus Essential Plan on us. mintmobile.com/switch.

16:12

Up front payment of $45 equivalent to $15 per

16:14

month. Unlimited over 40 gigabytes per month. This lowers

16:16

speeds. Videos at 480p. Pecoment customers by $531.24. Get

16:18

six months of Paramount Plus Essential Plan. Auto renews

16:21

after six months. Ever ends May 31st, 2024. Separate

16:23

Paramount Plus registration requires. Terms and conditions apply. If

16:25

rated PG. All

16:30

right, lots to ponder, but let's go back

16:32

to Wendy in her dad's old house in

16:35

Austin, Texas with that disconnected phone that

16:37

seems to be doing the impossible and after

16:39

the moment when her whole

16:41

family hear it, it

16:43

just keeps on ringing. And

16:46

I would just laugh like

16:49

he didn't just have to prove it once. It

16:52

was like out of stubbornness he was

16:54

just gonna keep calling. Wendy, people

16:56

report all sorts of different ways that they feel that

16:59

the spirits of their loved ones are

17:01

communicating with them, seeing white feathers or

17:03

butterflies. But if this

17:06

is actually your dad getting through, his

17:10

method feels quite intrusive. You know, you

17:12

talked about feeling under surveillance as a

17:15

teenager. It feels almost like you

17:17

are again. Yes, absolutely.

17:19

And I'm really

17:21

shocked that I didn't

17:23

pick up on that sooner. The

17:26

use of his phone while

17:28

I'm doing stuff, the

17:31

intelligent use of his phone, because

17:33

it was only his business line, absolutely

17:36

fits his character. Is this

17:38

him checking up on you? I think

17:41

it was him proving his point.

17:44

I mean, it was like he was

17:46

standing there berating me over

17:48

some fact that I should have known. I

17:51

felt like actually it's a little bit creepy.

17:54

What else is he seeing? How is he

17:56

getting into the phone

17:58

line? How is this happening? You

18:01

get the sense that Wendy is not at all sure

18:03

how she feels about these calls anymore. It's like she's

18:05

torn between her conflicting memories

18:07

of her dad, that tender closeness

18:10

that they shared towards the end,

18:12

but also the claustrophobic, intrusive,

18:14

oppressiveness of her teen years. So

18:18

full of this uncertainty, one night Wendy

18:20

has a friend round for dinner. Brian

18:23

is really close to her family and always

18:25

got unwelled with her dad. Brian

18:27

had been in the Coast Guard and

18:30

he loved military history. He

18:32

always called my dad the Colonel,

18:34

which my dad just loved. But

18:37

Brian has one other useful thing on his

18:39

CV when it comes to dealing with

18:41

this strange situation. Brian's background

18:44

is in technology security.

18:47

So he knows all about

18:49

phones and alarm systems and

18:51

stuff like that. And

18:53

it was my daughter who was like, Mom,

18:55

mom, tell them about Granddad Paulie. And

19:00

this is where things are about to get

19:02

very interesting because it is time to bring

19:04

in our second witness. Brian,

19:07

I have him here on Zoom right now.

19:10

I was a C-130 air crew

19:12

in the Coast Guard. So whenever you get

19:15

a couple aviators around, they just start swapping

19:17

stories. Harry was someone that you looked up

19:19

to. Yeah, he was

19:21

a phenomenal person. He

19:23

was lighthearted, jovial,

19:26

at least in my experience. I know some people

19:28

didn't think so. Brian is in

19:30

Florida these days. He's got gray hair

19:33

and glasses and he's absolutely the kind of

19:35

sensible guy that you would expect to try

19:37

and talk you out of believing that your

19:39

dad was calling you from beyond the grave.

19:41

I said, that's impossible. There's no

19:43

way. And I

19:45

literally pulled it off the wall and

19:48

showed there's no cables here.

19:51

There's no physical way for it to

19:53

ring. And I put it back on the

19:55

wall and no sooner

19:57

than I put it back on the wall, the

19:59

phone. rings. Oh

20:02

my god. I'm sure my eyes were as

20:04

big as saucers because I'm like, it was

20:06

shock. It's like, this is impossible.

20:08

You know, and my head is telling me

20:10

that but I'm staring at a phone and

20:13

hearing it ringing. You have all

20:15

of these years of experience from work telling you

20:18

what you are witnessing right now cannot

20:20

be possible. Yeah, I've worked on

20:22

avionics and electronics and airplanes. I know there's no

20:24

physical way that this phone should be ringing. And

20:26

what are Wendy and the family doing at this

20:28

point? They're like, pick it up, pick it up.

20:31

It's Harry. It's Harry. It's dad. It's dad. Pick

20:33

it up. So I

20:35

pick it up and I'm like, Harry, is that you?

20:37

And I hear staff and

20:39

they're egging me on. Talk to them. Talk to me. I'm

20:42

like, well, Harry, you know, you're

20:44

a great man. You're a brave,

20:47

you were a good person. And

20:49

I said, thank you for your service.

20:52

But I think it's time that you go. It's

20:54

time to move on. Do you feel that you

20:57

are actually talking to him? I actually do. I

20:59

actually do. And I hung up the

21:01

phone and then picked it right back

21:04

up. And it was dead. It

21:06

was totally dead. Ron, your

21:08

relationship with Harry was obviously very different

21:10

to Wendy's. Do you think that you

21:12

were able to say things to him

21:14

that she couldn't? Yeah. He

21:17

asked me to kill him. Let me

21:19

put it that way. He was

21:21

sick with cancer. He was

21:24

in pain. And he was a soldier.

21:26

And he said to me,

21:28

I wasn't supposed to go out like this. It

21:31

was just me and him talking. I was

21:33

like, yeah, I understand, Harry, but I can't do that for

21:35

you, man. You just got to hang on. He

21:38

asked you to do that for him to kill him. Yeah.

21:41

But when it came to it, at the end,

21:45

it was you who told him to move on. Yeah,

21:48

I didn't think of that. I

21:50

got chills now because I had never thought

21:52

of that at all. That didn't ever

21:55

occur to me. I

22:05

am back with our experts and I think

22:07

we all maybe just got something

22:09

in our eye there. A huge, huge thank you to

22:11

Brian. Jess, we

22:13

have another witness. What does that do for

22:15

our investigation? When it was just Wendy who

22:18

heard the phone call, you could say maybe

22:20

she was mistaken. When

22:22

the whole family hears the phone ringing

22:24

and the static, it gets more

22:26

compelling. When you now have an outsider come in, to

22:29

me this is further evidence that this

22:31

is beyond the improbable, that now we're

22:33

getting into something that really is profound.

22:36

Cal, we sometimes talk about the idea of

22:38

people being primed to believe. They

22:40

come with certain preconceptions that can make

22:42

them misinterpret events. But

22:45

Brian is a telecommunications expert. Surely there

22:47

can't be anybody less primed

22:49

to believe that a disconnected phone will

22:52

work. He's the most perfect person to understand the

22:54

technology, but he's one of the people that you

22:56

would expect the most to want one of these

22:58

experiences from Harry. He was very respectful of him

23:01

and he's heard from other people that the impossible

23:03

has seemingly happened. He is primed. All right, I

23:05

will give you that one. Jess, fantastical

23:08

coincidences happen all the time across the

23:10

world. We know that. And

23:12

yet for people in these situations, I think

23:15

it's extremely hard to get your head

23:17

around the idea that this is coincidence.

23:20

The phone malfunctions at the

23:22

precise moment that people are talking about

23:24

it. Well, one time is just a

23:26

coincidence. Two times still could be a

23:29

coincidence. Three, four, five and six. Well,

23:31

that's a pattern. I think at some

23:34

point you can't dismiss it. Cal, Brian is

23:36

holding a phone that

23:38

is not attached to the wall. What

23:41

point do we call this as impossible? I

23:43

think you're really pushing me into a corner here

23:45

to give an explanation. But then

23:48

I thought, actually, the worst that is in the

23:50

70s and 80s of unusual things regarding things around

23:52

the house. People had reported

23:54

that they would hear the chainsaw burst into

23:56

song or the cookers started talking to them.

23:58

I think one woman. reported her microwave

24:01

talking dirty to her. And these got

24:03

researched by people at the time. And

24:05

it turned out that it was high

24:07

electromagnetic outputs from things in the local

24:09

vicinity, generators or radio pylons as well.

24:12

I don't think the fault is with the

24:14

telephone itself because it's already demonstrated the wiring's

24:16

gone. But it's still a piece of

24:18

technology that still has elements to it. I

24:21

think the explanation isn't inside the house with

24:23

the thermometer experience. It could be greater than

24:25

that. Ingenious, I can almost

24:27

audibly hear the tap of a million

24:29

keyboards right now, Googling microwaves talking dirty.

24:32

I will make you go ding. Jeff, on

24:34

a serious note, it's incredibly

24:37

poignant. That idea of Brian

24:39

telling Harry enough

24:42

is enough. That to me is the most

24:44

intriguing part of this case. Here's Wendy's

24:46

father, in her mind anyway, still checking up

24:48

on her, still spying on her. And

24:50

finally, it's a friend of her father

24:53

that can say, Hey, it's enough.

24:55

Let it go. That's the moment.

24:57

And whether the spirit of Harry let

25:00

go or whether his daughter Wendy let

25:02

it go, the result is the same.

25:04

There's closure. All right. Thank you

25:06

so much, both. Let's go back to Wendy one last

25:09

time now to find out what happens in

25:11

the wake of Brian seemingly

25:13

telling Harry it

25:16

is time to call it a day. The

25:18

phone never rang again. I

25:21

never sensed his presence at all

25:23

after that. Before

25:25

we part, Wendy tells

25:27

me one more story that

25:30

stops me in my tracks. It's

25:32

about the night that Harry died. Was

25:35

right around Christmas. He died December 23rd. The

25:39

night before his death, he had

25:42

been basically unconscious for about

25:44

24 hours, just

25:47

actively dying. And all

25:49

of a sudden he raised his arms

25:51

up and started making these movements. And

25:56

what I noticed right away is they

25:59

seemed very intense. He started

26:01

moving his hands in front of

26:04

him, his head started turning. He

26:07

was making motions like

26:10

maybe he was pressing

26:12

something. And I realized

26:15

suddenly, oh my God, he's looking

26:17

out the windows. He's

26:20

looking at his instruments. He

26:23

is flying a plane. And

26:27

for the next six or seven hours,

26:29

now mind you, this is a guy

26:31

who hasn't moved out of his

26:33

bed in a week and has been unconscious, he

26:36

is miming flying,

26:39

essentially, acting out

26:41

what he saw, probably

26:43

as a young man

26:45

in a Spitfire cockpit.

26:49

And eventually, it's getting towards

26:51

dawn, he starts

26:54

tipping the stick and

26:56

is apparently coming in for a

26:58

landing. And he

27:00

lands, unbuckles his

27:02

gear, writes something in his

27:05

flight log, appears to turn

27:07

some things off. And

27:10

then he just crossed his hands and

27:12

put them on his chest. And

27:15

within three hours, he

27:17

was dead. It was

27:19

the most amazing thing I've ever seen. His

27:21

last flight? Yeah. And

27:23

that's just extraordinary to me. It's

27:26

totally extraordinary. But if

27:28

what you believe about the phone is

27:31

true, then he

27:33

was potentially flying towards that thing that

27:35

I guess this whole series is about.

27:38

The idea that there is something

27:41

more out there, a

27:43

destination to that last flight. I just,

27:46

I have to believe there is. There

27:48

is no other explanation

27:51

for a disconnected phone line

27:53

that has then had the

27:56

jack pulled out of the wall

27:58

to ring. When

28:00

those calls stopped, I'm

28:02

wondering if, in a

28:05

weird way, it felt like a

28:07

relief. Yes, because he's kind

28:09

of a tortured person, and

28:11

I just, I hope

28:13

that he's moved on and is doing whatever

28:16

intelligent life after death does. Thank

28:23

you to Wendy. Grease is so often

28:25

the fuel for ghosts, but is it

28:27

powered by our inability to let go,

28:29

our brains need to fill in the

28:31

heartbreaking gaps, or can it

28:33

really be possible that the dead can reach

28:35

out? Some of you listening right now may

28:37

feel that you have experienced something similar to

28:40

Wendy. Intelligent contact. Others will

28:42

be listening, feeling it is plain impossible.

28:44

Team believer or team skeptic, I want

28:46

to hear from you. Email me your

28:48

questions and theories to Uncanny at

28:50

bbc.co.uk. And if you have a story

28:52

to tell me, get in touch. We

28:54

will come back to this case and

28:56

Markuses from case one later in the

28:58

series. But next time on

29:01

Uncanny, we

29:03

have a poltergeist. I

29:06

would say out loud, whatever you are, I don't want to

29:08

see you. I still have

29:10

nightmares about that house. We

29:13

were terrified, luckily terrified. Uncanny

29:17

USA was written and presented for me,

29:19

Danny Robbins. It was co-produced by me

29:21

and Simon Barnard. Our editor and sound

29:23

designer is Charlie Brandon King and music

29:25

is composed by Evelyn Sykes. Our theme

29:28

tune is by Lanterns on the Lake.

29:30

The script editor is Dale Shaw and

29:32

our production manager is Tam Reynolds. The

29:34

commissioning executive is Paula McDonald and the

29:36

commissioning editor is Rhianne Roberts. This is

29:39

a baffle gab and Uncanny media production

29:41

for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

29:51

Thanks for watching! Hello,

30:12

I'm Dr Michael Moseley and in my

30:14

BBC Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing,

30:17

I'm investigating some quick, simple and

30:19

surprising ways to improve your health

30:21

and life. So which

30:23

will you try? Maybe

30:26

playing a musical instrument. To

30:29

boost your brain power or

30:31

a spoonful of olive oil to

30:34

help your heart. How

30:36

about doing some volunteering to improve

30:38

your immune system? So

30:40

to benefit your brain and body in

30:43

ways you might not expect, here's just

30:45

one thing you can do right now.

30:48

Subscribe to the podcast on BBC

30:50

Sounds. Playing

30:55

for your next trip? Elevate your travel

30:57

style with Quince. Quince has all the

30:59

jet setting essentials you'll want for your

31:01

next getaway, like European linen, premium luggage

31:03

options, buttery soft Italian leather bags and

31:05

so much more. And it's all priced

31:07

at 50-80% less than similar brands. Plus,

31:11

Quince only works with factories that

31:13

use safe and ethical manufacturing practices.

31:16

Pack your bags with high quality essentials you'll

31:18

be wearing for vacations to come with Quince.

31:21

Go to quince.com/pack for free shipping and

31:23

365 day returns. Hey,

31:26

I hear you think podcasts are all about true

31:28

crime, huh? Well wise guy, the

31:30

iHeartRadio app's got all kinds of podcasts.

31:32

We got stuff you should know and

31:34

stuff they don't want you to know.

31:36

We got Bobby Bones, Big Boy and

31:39

Lou Lander. We got Spongebob, Binge Pants

31:41

and Exotic Erotic Story Time. We got

31:43

Doughboys, Two Dudes in the Kitchen, Green

31:45

Eggs and Dan. Hey, we got ElfQuest.

31:48

We got podcasts for everything on the iHeartRadio

31:50

app for free. If you don't

31:52

download that, well, that's not just a true

31:54

crime, my friend. That's criminal.

Unlock more with Podchaser Pro

  • Audience Insights
  • Contact Information
  • Demographics
  • Charts
  • Sponsor History
  • and More!
Pro Features