0:11

Welcome to Unexplained Extra the final

0:13

episode of season four with me

0:16

Richard McClain Smith, where for

0:18

the weeks in between episodes we look at stories

0:20

and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't

0:23

make it into the previous show. In

0:25

the last episode, The Weight Under,

0:28

we learned about a series of strange events

0:30

that apparently plagued a number of residents

0:32

of the Newport housing development just

0:35

outside of Houston, Texas in the

0:37

nineteen eighties. The

0:39

events, which ranged from alleged to

0:41

supernatural activity to general

0:43

feelings of oppression and malaise, were

0:46

said to have been so incessant that many

0:48

residents were ultimately forced to move,

0:50

often at a considerable cost. When

0:54

it transpired, the development had been

0:56

partially built over an unofficial graveyard

0:58

known as Black Hope Cemetery. Many

1:01

of those affected were left wondering

1:03

if that had in some way been a trigger

1:06

for all that had taken place. It

1:09

is a compelling idea, and one that

1:11

is routinely played out in many a successful

1:13

horror story. Certainly,

1:16

whatever we believe about the supposed supernatural

1:19

consequences of disturbing a grave,

1:21

there are few of us who wouldn't feel a little

1:23

uneasy at the prospect of unwittingly

1:26

digging up someone's final resting place,

1:29

or indeed living above it. And

1:32

yet we might ask why

1:36

all of us will die. And

1:38

even for those who believe we are somehow more

1:40

than a bundle of cells and flickering

1:43

synapses, and that something else

1:45

awaits us beyond this mortal realm,

1:48

there are few who consider the preservation

1:50

of the body or its final resting

1:52

place to have any significant

1:54

bearing on that. But then

1:57

again, death has

1:59

never really been about the dead. In

2:08

September twenty thirteen, cave

2:10

divers Rick Hunter and Stephen

2:12

Tucker set out to explore the

2:15

Rising Star cave system, located

2:17

thirty miles northwest of Johannesburg

2:19

in the Fossil Homonid site of South Africa.

2:23

The region is so named due to

2:25

the propensity of ancient hominid fossils,

2:28

particularly those belonging to Homo sapiens

2:30

and our closest relatives that have

2:32

been found there. Having

2:35

made it about sixty meters in and

2:37

thirty meters down through a series

2:40

of hair raisingly narrow passages, jagged

2:42

rock faces, and stalagmite chambers,

2:45

the men paused to take some video footage.

2:49

Not wanting to get in the picture, Tucker

2:51

dropped into a small crack by the back

2:53

wall, only to find it was a little

2:56

deeper than he'd first assumed in

2:59

tree. To find out just how deep it was,

3:02

Tucker continued dropping into it through

3:04

a passage as narrow as eight inches in

3:06

parts, until finally, at

3:09

about fifteen meters down, he

3:11

hit the bottom, Turning

3:13

to find the space opening up below him,

3:16

Tucker soon found himself in an entirely

3:18

new section of the cave that had never

3:20

been mapped before, as

3:23

recounted by Jamie Shrieve for the National

3:25

Geographic with Hunter

3:28

joining him soon after, Tucker

3:30

made a quick sweep of the chamber with his head

3:32

torch and drew back in astonishment.

3:36

The floor was littered with fossilized

3:39

bones, many of which

3:41

looked to be human. Realizing

3:45

the potential of their find, the cavers

3:48

took photos of their discovery that

3:50

eventually made their way to eminent paleoanthropologist

3:53

Professor Lee Berger of the University

3:56

of Fittworter Strand in Johannesburg.

4:00

However, as Berger and his team

4:02

soon discovered the bones weren't

4:04

human at all, nor did they

4:06

belong to any of our direct

4:08

ancestors. Instead,

4:11

they concluded they were in fact

4:13

the bones of an earlier offshoot of the Homo

4:15

genus, which had never been seen

4:17

before. They later

4:20

named it Homo nilledi, after

4:22

the local Sotho word for star.

4:26

In twenty seventeen, the fossils

4:29

were found to be roughly two hundred

4:31

and fifty thousand years old. Despite

4:34

all of that, however, as Page Madison

4:37

noted in a twenty seventeen essay in

4:39

Aon magazine, it is arguable

4:41

that what was most shocking about the discovery

4:44

was not the age of the fossils, or

4:46

that they belonged to a previously unknown

4:48

species, but rather the location

4:51

in which they were discovered. Considering

4:54

how deep and inaccessible the chamber

4:56

is, not to mention its complete

4:59

lack of natural it is highly

5:01

unlikely that homeowner Leddie lived there.

5:04

Taking into account that there were no signs

5:06

of predation, no sign that the

5:08

bones had dropped into the chamber from above,

5:11

no evidence that water had carried them

5:13

into the chamber, and the fact that the

5:15

bones had accumulated over time, the

5:18

team were left with one startling

5:20

conclusion the bodies

5:23

had been deliberately placed there After

5:25

death by other members of the community.

5:31

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6:40

Though some have cautioned against the hypothesis,

6:43

there is good evidence to suggest that

6:45

the Rising Star homeowner Leddy discovery

6:48

is in effect the first ever known

6:51

graveyard, as

6:53

Page Madison also noted in aon This

6:56

is hugely significant since mortuary

6:58

rituals reveal, as Aison says,

7:01

a capacity to think symbolically,

7:04

in other words, the capacity to understand

7:06

things in the abstract, and ultimately

7:09

the capacity for imagination.

7:13

Assuming that our ancestors were operating

7:15

at a similar level of sophistication at

7:17

the time, it could also be that

7:19

this discovery marks the beginnings

7:22

of our ability to tell stories,

7:25

a feat of cognitive gymnastics

7:27

that many believe sets us apart

7:29

from other animals. With

7:31

the emergence of our ability to tell stories

7:34

also comes the beginnings of our

7:36

search for meaning and our endeavor

7:39

to comprehend ourselves and the cosmos.

7:43

In turn, we find these stories and

7:45

ideas that we tell each other reflected

7:47

in our mortuary rituals, and

7:50

as such, paradoxically, we reveal

7:52

a great deal about our philosophies

7:54

and ways of life through our relationship

7:57

with death and our rituals

7:59

for the dead. From

8:01

ancient Egyptian pyramids and tombs

8:04

laden with jewels and trinkets to take

8:06

to the afterlife for the select few

8:09

to plague pits or the mass graves

8:11

of a wartime atrocity, to

8:14

the notion of consecrated ground or

8:16

a so called pauper's grave. To

8:19

eco friendly bio urns or

8:21

the option to be blasted into space,

8:24

to the simple scattering of a loved one's

8:26

ashes across a favorite beach. There

8:29

is much to discern about human

8:31

life.

8:38

Personally, I've never been particularly

8:41

drawn to the great search for meaning, and

8:44

feel indifferent as to whether our existence

8:46

means anything or not. For

8:49

me, if it has to mean anything,

8:51

it is the fact that we were here at

8:53

all, that all of us, no

8:56

matter for how short of a time or

8:58

whoever or whatever we were, existed.

9:02

And although on a personal level I

9:05

have opinions about how we should or shouldn't

9:07

live, on a cosmic level, I

9:09

don't believe there is such a thing as right

9:12

or wrong human behavior. All

9:14

of it, from those actions and thoughts

9:16

we consider to be abhorrent and monstrous

9:19

to that which we might call saintly or

9:21

good, is human, and

9:24

all of it tells the story of what it means

9:27

to be human. To

9:30

be able to think in the abstract gives

9:32

us the ability to go a little further

9:34

than simple reflexive primal

9:36

tendencies. These also serve

9:39

a purpose, of course. However,

9:41

it is this abstract ability that

9:43

caused such consternation to the residence

9:46

of the Newport subdivision in Texas,

9:48

and why the remains of the dead are

9:51

never just flesh and bones to us. With

9:54

Black Hope Semmetry being a resting

9:56

place for descendants of black slaves,

9:59

what pain the Newport residence more

10:01

than anything was that they had inadvertently

10:04

become entangled in a lineage

10:06

of injustice for a community

10:08

who, not, even in death, were afforded

10:10

the dignity that so many others are

10:12

granted. It

10:15

is often written that the Black Hope Cemetery

10:17

was a forgotten cemetry. It

10:20

was not. It was remembered

10:22

by the relatives and friends of the people buried

10:24

there, and by others who were local

10:27

to the area before the housing development

10:29

was built over it. And

10:31

you too now know it was there.

10:34

And though graves and headstones might

10:37

be useful markers, regardless

10:39

of how well they or the remains within

10:41

are maintained, all of

10:43

them will one day be lost

10:46

to time. All

10:49

we really have, then, of the truth

10:51

of our existence are the stories

10:53

we tell. I

10:56

find the overuse of the word storyteller

10:58

a little tiresome. Individuals

11:00

or brands even like to label themselves

11:03

as such, because in truth,

11:05

we are all storytellers,

11:08

each of us carrying the story of the

11:10

human race and the story of all

11:12

life that we share this planet with as

11:14

it hurtles through space at almost

11:16

half a million miles per hour about

11:19

the Milky Way. The

11:21

only question is in so far as

11:23

we can influence how our story is

11:25

told, If many

11:28

years from now, it were one day

11:30

to be found and read by someone else,

11:33

what would we want it to say? You've

11:39

been listening to Unexplained Season four.

11:41

We will return in the spring. If

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you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support

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no matter how large or small, are greatly

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appreciated. Unexplained

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the book and audiobook featuring

12:20

ten stories that have never before been covered

12:22

on the show, is now available to buy

12:24

worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon,

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Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among

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12:36

smith. Please subscribe and rate the show

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wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel

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free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas

12:43

regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps

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You can reach us online at Unexplained

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