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  • 2 days ago
Strange But True S04E10
Transcript
00:00Good evening.
00:27If you're ill, you call the doctor.
00:30When the pipes burst, it's the plumber.
00:32But who are you going to call if you see a ghost?
00:36If you've seen the movie, you'll know the answer.
00:38It's the Ghostbuster.
00:40Paranormal investigator Andrew Green doesn't advertise in the yellow pages.
00:45He doesn't need to.
00:46His reputation travels by word of mouth.
00:49He's had calls from all sorts of people, local councils, even the Royal Albert Hall.
00:55The reason for asking me to come along is to get confirmation of what they feel.
01:09Confirmation from the outside.
01:11Confirmation from somebody who's given some sort of knowledge and understanding of the paranormal.
01:17To confirm what they believe.
01:23I'm not what people would say, a clairvoyant or a spiritualistic medium.
01:29I am, I like to think, a scientifically minded investigator.
01:33Staff at a Margate fun fair have been reporting strange experiences, and Ghostbuster Andrew Green has been called in to investigate.
01:43All of a sudden, the whole area became very, very cold, which was quite strange, because we had heaters to keep the place warm and so on.
01:52All the lights that were on the side of the skating rink actually burst and smashed all over the floor.
02:01Looking at this and thinking about what was happening, we thought, God, you know, let's get out of here, because it was so frightening.
02:07There was no answer at all to it.
02:09It just happened.
02:10This is the second time the fairground have called upon Andrew Green's services.
02:17Problems have intensified since the building last year of a new attraction, the stowaway ride.
02:24It was a rush job to get the ride open, and the contractors were asked to work through the night.
02:30And on one or two occasions, they downed tools and went home.
02:35They refused to work because of sensations and cold feelings and things that were happening to them.
02:43They never found any explanation for them?
02:46No, they didn't stay long enough.
02:47So myself and one of the managers that was with the company that was installing it went in there at night time, and we felt as if somebody was watching you.
02:58You know, like your hair lifted up on the back of your neck, there was a feeling of something was watching you.
03:05And it was during those changes, really, that our problems started.
03:09Really?
03:09Um, yes.
03:11Chief Operations Manager Russell Whiteside took Andrew behind the scenes of the ride to investigate.
03:19Dreamland, Margate, 17th of June, temperature 71.23, and I'm here...
03:27Green claims his methods are scientific, and that he can physically detect the presence of ghostly activity.
03:35One of Green's most prestigious clients is the Royal Albert Hall.
03:39He was called in last year to deal with a rush of sightings by staff when the public had all gone home.
03:47Security guard Diane Baylor was patrolling with her partner Terry Riley.
03:51They were completely alone in the hall.
03:53At least, that's what they thought.
03:57What's that?
04:11Was that you?
04:12Don't be daft.
04:13I'm standing right next to you.
04:14How could it have been?
04:15Well, what was it then?
04:16Well, I don't know.
04:18Perhaps somebody's in the building.
04:19Couldn't have been a person.
04:20It was much too forceful for that.
04:22Come on.
04:23Let's have a look.
04:24He thought I was playing a joke, but I was too close to him anyway, and I couldn't have physically done it.
04:29I don't think there's anybody I know that's strong enough to do that to a dog.
04:34When you get out the doors, you can see possibly 30 yards each side, and there was nobody in there, and I mean, it was only...
04:45I've had to go five yards, so there's no way that anybody could have got out of sight in that length of time.
04:53It was quite strange.
04:55Very strange.
04:56But there was more to come for Terry and Diane that night.
05:05Me?
05:05Really?
05:06Did you hear that?
05:08Yeah.
05:09What was it?
05:12I don't know.
05:13Is it coming?
05:14Well, the Royal Phil wasn't in the hole last time I looked.
05:19Do you think somebody could have heard the radio on somewhere?
05:22It sounded very orchestral, but very faint, wasn't it?
05:28But definitely, you could make out that it was definitely music.
05:34Here, why you fuck?
05:36It's getting louder, isn't it?
05:37Yeah.
05:39Come on.
05:40We rushed along, didn't we, to see if we could hear it louder someplace else?
05:45Frightened?
05:47I wouldn't say frightened.
05:49No, just more...
05:50Apprehensive, yeah.
05:51A little unsettling, I think.
05:54Other staff report a presence they've felt when alone at night in the hall.
06:00I was taking a shortcut across a room called the garden room.
06:07It's a room that's always been a little bit spooky.
06:14I walked into the room and I became aware that there was someone behind me.
06:21I turned round and there was no one there.
06:25Then I thought I heard footsteps quite plainly.
06:31I turned round and there was someone behind me at my left shoulder here and that their face was so close that I could hear them breathing.
06:59I believe in ghosts only as a form of electromagnetic energy that can be seen at certain times and more especially by certain people.
07:15Andrew Green combed the Royal Albert Hall to see if he could detect any trace of whatever it was that was troubling staff.
07:31So, as I got to about here, I was definitely aware of somebody coming into the room behind me.
07:36That's extraordinary.
07:42seems to have gone right up. It was 72, now it's 81.
07:50Have you had new heating installed?
07:53No, the temperature's constant in this part of the building.
07:56Seems to be a hot spot right here.
07:59I felt quite pleased that he'd discovered something, in a way,
08:02because it made me feel even more that my experience
08:04hadn't been imagination, that there was something behind it.
08:12Andrew Green's investigations convinced him
08:15that the Albert Hall was indeed haunted,
08:18but he told staff there was no need to worry.
08:22I advise people that it is irrational to be frightened by seeing a ghost,
08:28because it is merely a form of electrical energy,
08:32like an image on a television set. That can't harm you.
08:36But sometimes people's experiences
08:38for what they believe to be paranormal forces
08:41can be too disturbing to dismiss lightheartedly.
08:44Many former landlords of the Seven Stars pub
08:47in Robertsbridge, Sussex, say the pub is haunted.
08:50The problems for Mike Pearce and his wife, Christine,
08:53began in their very first week.
08:56You got them bar snakes ready yet, love?
08:58Oh, hang on a minute. I'm going as quick as I can.
09:01Oh, my God.
09:07Oh, my God.
09:20Mike! Mike, it started!
09:22Mike came up and said,
09:23What on earth is going on up here?
09:26And there's all the mugs all smashed, and I was nowhere near it,
09:29and there wasn't any vibrations, no trembles, no doors banging, nothing.
09:36Initially sceptical about the pub's reputation,
09:38Mike soon had an experience of his own.
09:41I got a very good sense of hearing, very sensitive.
09:45And I could hear a mumbling sound.
09:50I detected that it was coming from the cellar, like a party was going on.
09:55I opened the door to the cellar, and as I opened it, there was a whoosh.
10:00It was like mayhem being let loose inside the cellar.
10:12I thought, well, I must be a bad person.
10:15Maybe this is done because I've been a bad person.
10:18You don't like me.
10:20Oh, Mike.
10:22I tell you, the mess in here.
10:24It was hard enough...
10:26As the problems mounted, Christine Pearce called in Andrew Green.
10:30It's not going to go sprightening the life out of you.
10:33What we've got to do is try and understand the root of it.
10:38Let's carry on with the kitchen incident.
10:42Yeah, well...
10:43But for once, the investigator turned witness.
10:46Mike was in the bar. He was polishing the glasses.
10:52What's he doing?
10:53He's supposed to be stuffing up in there.
11:00Bundles of the local free newspaper stored in the cellar
11:03had come loose from their bindings.
11:06Christine!
11:09Newspapers were flying around all over the place.
11:12Now, he couldn't blow them around.
11:14It was just impossible.
11:16I observed this and noted it as yet another incident
11:20of paranormality in the seven stars.
11:26Green told Mike and Christine that a poltergeist was responsible
11:29for the phenomena they were experiencing.
11:32He tried to explain to me that with the poltergeist activity,
11:36you've got to be stronger than what's there.
11:38If you're a weak person and you let it get to you, then it'll carry on and on.
11:45When the mugs came flying off the shelf a second time, Christine knew what to do.
11:49This time, I remember what Andrew had said to me and I had a good swear and told it that I wasn't going to get out and it wasn't going to drive me out and that's all there was to it.
12:01And I actually physically didn't have any more poltergeist activity happened to me in the pub ever again.
12:18But the Dreamland file remains open and Andrew Green settles in for a long vigil in the stowaway ride.
12:23What I'm going to try to do is to see if there's any buildup of electricity in this area, which may account for that sort of phenomena.
12:32Well, that's peculiar.
12:35There's only water down there.
12:37Is there any cables underneath there, do you know of?
12:39No, the nearest electric cable is about two metres away from here.
12:43And yet there's buildup of electricity.
12:45This really is most peculiar because the buildup of static electricity, as that is indicated,
12:49does suggest that there's something unusual in this area which could account for this sort of phenomena.
12:56Green's investigations produced this one positive finding.
13:00The ride, he believes, may well be haunted.
13:03But his advice remains the same.
13:06Don't worry about ghosts.
13:08They never hurt anyone.
13:10It's only the living that do that.
13:13Since Andrew Green's visit to the funfair, no more hauntings have been reported.
13:17It seems he might have spooked the spooks.
13:27Anyone who has a pet knows that animals possess extraordinary senses which have evolved far beyond our own.
13:33A dog with its powerful sense of smell and acute hearing can not only tell whether its owner has been in a room,
13:40but how long ago he or she was there.
13:42His ears will pick up the most distant sounds, like the rattle of a lead, which would be imperceptible to us.
13:49But can animals possess a sixth sense, one which actually enables them to perceive what is about to happen?
13:56Tiki is a Cavalier King Charles. He's very friendly, very good-natured. He's a very clever dog, and he's definitely our hero, and there's something special about him.
14:11We were taking him for his normal walk along the disused railway line, where we normally take him quite often.
14:19We were walking along, everything was fine. He just suddenly stopped and wouldn't let us walk on.
14:24He refused to let us carry on walking. He was grabbing at our legs, barking, and he was just adamant that we weren't going to carry on.
14:34It was like he knew something was going to happen, and he just wouldn't let us carry on.
14:38We bent down to see what was wrong with him, you know, kind of trying to calm him down, saying,
14:46What's wrong, Tiki? What's the matter? Then there was an eye of crack.
14:54If Tiki hadn't done that, we would have walked on and been almost directly under the branch by the time it cracked,
15:00so it could have fallen on our heads and, you know, injured us very badly or even killed us.
15:10When the branch fell, I thought it was really strange. I was quite shocked and amazed,
15:15because I realised that Tiki knew this was going to happen, and it really shocked us.
15:23We call him our psychic pet.
15:25Many scientists would explain away Tiki's so-called premonition as mere coincidence,
15:31but his story does not stand alone.
15:34That day when Shana pulled me out of the way, she saved my life.
15:41I was taking Shana for a walk and was walking along the footpath by car dealers,
15:47and all of a sudden she dived between the two parked cars and pulled me with her.
15:52This van mounted the footpath where we were going to walk, along the footpath.
15:58I don't know whether she had a premonition or a sixth sense,
16:01but she just sort of pulled me out of the way, and in fact she saved my life, really.
16:07Sadly, Shana has since died.
16:11Shep was a Shetland sheepdog, and I had him for 15 years.
16:15He was eight weeks old when I got him, and he was a great dog.
16:19I owe my life to him, really.
16:24Come on then, Shep.
16:27I used to walk him first thing in the morning, and this particular morning I came down,
16:31and I was surprised to see that when I came in that he stayed where he was and wouldn't move.
16:36Shep refused his walk for ten minutes before suddenly jumping out of his basket and trotting to the back door.
16:43And as I got out onto the main road, I saw there had been an accident on our side of the road,
16:49on the side that I was walking on, and the car had gone across out of control over the grass verge,
16:55across the pavement, and had crashed into the wall.
16:57The accident had happened ten minutes earlier.
17:01Had Shep got up at the time I first came down to give him his walk,
17:07I would almost certainly have been squashed by this car.
17:14I believe he had a sixth sense, and maybe he knew that something was happening or about to happen.
17:22There are many testimonies to the predictive powers of animals,
17:25but the phenomenon has only recently caught the interest of scientists.
17:29I think that, in some of these cases at least, the dog probably is showing some real sense of premonition.
17:36Nobody knows how premonitions can work, but pets do seem to have them.
17:41Pets aren't able to predict or prevent tragedies.
17:44What happens is that we forget all of the times when the dog didn't want to go out for a walk,
17:50and we remember that one occasion when it didn't want to go out for a walk and there was a tragedy on the street.
17:54There's no doubt that, compared to humans, many animals have what we could call supersensory perception.
18:01They can hear things that we can't hear, they can smell things that we can't smell,
18:06and under some circumstances they can see things that we can't see.
18:09So they may be able to detect things that we're completely unaware of.
18:13But that's very different from extrasensory perception, the ability to look into the future.
18:17That's something that has been studied to see whether animals are able to do this,
18:21and there has been no conclusive scientific proof to show that that is the case.
18:28Whatever the truth, believers have yet to prove the predictive powers of animals.
18:34But the owners of pets who've saved lives won't be dissuaded that they have borne witness to pet premonitions.
18:40Of course, if animals could talk, and we could understand them, we could settle the question once and for all.
18:49I found him very amazing, very spooky, almost like something like the X-Files, you know.
18:56If he's not genuine, he's the best con man I think I've ever met in my life.
19:01John Starkey believes he can talk to animals.
19:05I think everyone can do it.
19:07I think it's a matter of training your mind to be able to do it.
19:10Drayton Manor Zoo in Tamworth is home to 300 animals, including lions, tigers, and the majestic black panther, or leopard.
19:19Zig, a male black or melanised leopard, has now been with the zoo for five years.
19:24Zig was very sort of anti-social at first.
19:29He wasn't a particularly nice tempered animal.
19:32But Zig used to get up on a platform and pace up and down, up and down.
19:36It's not the sort of situation we like.
19:39It shows that the animal is showing stress.
19:42We tried everything, everything, to try and stop it.
19:46We altered the layout of his enclosure.
19:48We, you know, tried varying his feeding times at various times.
19:53We tried hanging his food from the roof of the enclosure.
19:56All the usual tricks.
19:58John Foden also consulted animal behaviourists, but nothing seemed to work.
20:03By chance, animal psychic John Starkey got to hear of Zig's problem.
20:08Well, we've tried everything else. Let's see what he makes of the leopard.
20:12I wondered if I could help and, you know, just sort of try to sort out what we could do.
20:17Before introducing John Starkey to Zig, John Foden decided to test him.
20:21Esther's a Burmese giant tortoise.
20:25I thought, I'll throw an animal, a very unlikely animal at him.
20:27What can you make of a tortoise, you know?
20:30She was wonderful because she was still motionless and yet told me she'd got a problem with one of her legs.
20:36She's a very old tortoise and she got arthritis and she walks with a limp.
20:39But John hadn't seen the tortoise move.
20:42You know, that got me going to start with, you know.
20:44Intrigued by this insight into Esther, Foden decided it was time for Starkey to meet Zig.
20:52The leopard immediately approached him, which is very unusual for Zig.
20:55You know, he's normally very hostile to close contact.
20:58We were able to get close with eye contact and that was the thing really that revealed the secrets later.
21:06Zig was just sort of responding and looking at him and just went very, very quiet.
21:09You know, very, very docile. It was weird.
21:11The thing that I did more than anything was focused on his eyes and just allowed him to sort of relax with me and then try to pick up things from there.
21:21He told me that he'd seen something very tragic and it occurred to me that there were all sorts of things that were causing behavioural problems there.
21:29Zig, I thought, was traumatised by that.
21:32Starkey claimed that Zig had told him he was suffering from the loss of his mate.
21:37The zoo have since established that Starkey was correct.
21:39Before Zig's arrival, he had once been separated from a mate.
21:44It surprised me, yes. Yeah.
21:46But having said that, he did look like he was looking for something.
21:51John Starkey warned the zoo that there would be no shortcut to Zig's recovery.
21:56But he said the leopard's misery would pass in time.
21:59The leopard is getting better. You know, we no longer class Zig as a problem animal.
22:06Can animals talk to us?
22:09John Foden is not the only zookeeper who believes that Starkey can understand what they're saying.
22:15Yolanda Surkov owns a zoo in Essex.
22:18When John Starkey came, I thought initially it was going to be a waste of time.
22:23I did not believe in anything at all.
22:27And I thought, right, we'll see if we can catch him out.
22:31I gave him this goat to look at and to talk to.
22:34And after a few minutes, he turned around and he said that the goat had told him that she'd spent all her time in a stable, her feet were hurting her, where the owners hadn't treated him at all.
22:47And that was perfectly true. I just could not believe what I was hearing. Absolutely astounded.
22:52I think John Starkey could be a Dr. Doolittle.
22:56I think animals are probably more psychic than human beings.
22:59I think they have powers which we've lost in the course of our evolution and living in cities and modern education and so on.
23:06These things have suppressed our powers. So I think that if we're going to study psychic phenomena, the best place to look for them is in animals.
23:15By the way, John Starkey and the zookeepers were qualified to pass through the safety barrier.
23:21But if you take a trip to the zoo, Samwell back, even psychic animals can have very sharp teeth and a nasty bite.
23:28Good night.
23:36Good night.
23:37Good night.