Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show. Last week's episode of View from a Hill took a look at the haunting tale of the infamous Coonian ghost House in Ireland. As was mentioned briefly in the episode, it is said that author Sean Leslie, who wrote about the Coonyan Haunting in his nineteen fifty six book Ghost Stories, did himself grow up
in a haunted house. Castle Leslie and the surrounding estate, located in County Monaghan in the north of Ireland, has been owned by the Leslie family since the sixteen sixties, although the current castle was built in eighteen seventy. Now a high end hotel, the lavish, stately property has been home to a number of distinguished occupants over the years, some of which, it is alleged, have never truly left.
When Sean Leslie's mother, Leone, was approaching the end of her life, she spent much of her time bedridden in what was known as the Mauve Room. Shortly before she died, it is said that her nurse witnessed her conversing with an elderly woman who was assumed to be just a good friend of Leone's. Later, after Leonie had died, the nurse was attending a memorial service at Leslie Castle when
she recognized the elderly friend in a family painting. The woman was Lady Constance Leslie, Leonie's mother in law, who died twenty years before. A second ghost said to aunt the castle is that of Norman Leslie, Leoni's son, and Sean Leslie's brother. A number of visitors claimed to have seen an apparition fitting Norman's description in the room known
ominously as the Red Room. It was there in nineteen fourteen that Leoni is said to have awoken suddenly to find her son standing next to her, despite the fact that he was overseas fighting in the First World War at the time. Leoni discovered shortly after that Norman had been killed in battle. As some might point out, it could be claimed that Leoni hadn't seen a ghost at all, but instead experienced what is referred to as a crisis apparition, a supposed momentary vision of a loved one that some
belief can occur in a moment of extreme stress. This story put me in mind of a similar incident that has claimed to have taken place just over a decade later. Early one morning, aboard a large steamship out somewhere off the coast of West Africa in the early hours of March fourteenth, nineteen twenty eight, Below deck of the Grand ocean liner S S. Barrabole, somewhere to the south of the Canary Islands, Squadron leader Rivers old Meadow was fast
asleep in his cabin. Also on board was old Meadow's good friend and colleague, Colonel George Henderson. The former RIF pilots and veterans of the Great War, were returning from South Africa after a six month stint demonstrating the latest in aviation technology. It had just gone to a m when Old Meadow was startled awake by the sound of
someone crashing into his room. Hurriedly switching on the light, he was bemused to find his friend, Colonel Henderson standing before him in his pajamas, with a look of shock on his face and in the grip of an obvious and distressing panic. God Rivers. He cried something ghastly has happened? Hinch has been in my cabin by patch and all it was ghastly. He kept repeating, over and over again, Hendy, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? I've got this woman with me and I'm lost,
I'm lost. And then he disappeared in front of my eyes, just completely disappeared. Old Meadow stared for a moment, trying to take it all in, then, thinking the best course of action was to try and calm his friend down, poured Henderson a stiff drink. As Henderson sipped his whiskey, the pair tried to comprehend what had taken place. Hinch was their mutual friend and fellow former RF pilot, Captain
Raymond Hinchcliff. The three of them were said to have formed a strong bond, having flown together during the Great War, the only problem being that Hinchcliff wasn't on board the ship. Since they both knew Hinchcliff to be flying commercial planes in Europe, they could only assume that Henderson's vision had been at best and especially lucid dream or at worst, a portent of an imminent threat to their friend. As for the identity, of the mysterious woman he apparently spoke of.
They had absolutely no idea. Having eventually calmed down, Henderson returned to his cabin and did his best to get back to sleep. As it happened, Hinchcliff wasn't in Europe at all, but was instead flying somewhere over the Atlantic while taking part in a record breaking attempt to fly to America. It was two days days later when the news reached all those on board the s s barable that the plane Captain Hinchcliffe had been flying in was now missing over the Atlantic. The vision, it seemed, had
been portentous after all. However, there was no mention of any woman on board with him. Since Hinchcliffe had been attempting the journey alongside his good friend and co pilot for the flight, Gordon Sinclair, or so people thought, are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, to make time for you. You deserve it. Tele Adoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best,
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Slash Unexplained Podcast. Elsie McKay was born in eighteen ninety three, the daughter of wealthy businessman James McKay, who would go on to become the chairman of the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company better known as p and O. After eloping with actor Den Windham in nineteen seventeen, Elsie was said to have been disinherited by her family before embarking on a successful career as an actor in her own right, starring in a number of silent movies over the next
few years. When the marriage ended abruptly in nineteen twenty two, Elsie was welcomed back into the family, after which, with the help of her father, she embarked on a second career as an interior decorator, going on to design the interiors for a number of his company's vessels. Elsie's true passion, however, was flying. In the years since the end of the First World War, air flight and speed records had been rapidly tumbling as aviation technology continued to advance at an
exponential rate. Elsie had followed them all with increasing excitement. In June nineteen nineteen, John Alcock and Arthur Brown were the first to cross the Antic, followed by Portuguese aviators Geigo Coutino and sat Dura Cabral in nineteen twenty two,
who flew from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. Five years later, Charles Limburgh caught the public imagination with his extraordinary solo crossing from the United States to Europe, and before long, Elsie was dreaming of creating her own record to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic, despite the reservations of her father, who worried about the dangers of such
a venture. Elsie, who'd always plowed her own furrow, began preparations in earnest and by the end of nineteen twenty seven had purchased a six seater aircraft named the Endeavor to complete the trip. What she needed next was a co pilot. Captain Raymond Hinchcliffe needed little convincing, having lost an eye during an aerial dog fight towards the end into the war, The pilot, who'd become famous for his eyepatch, was by the late twenties finding it harder and harder
to judge his take off and landings. With Mackay offering not only the prize money for becoming the first woman to complete the Atlantic crossing, she also offered to ensure his life for ten thousand pounds close to five hundred and fifty thousand British pounds today, enough for the thirty three year old Hinchcliffe to retire altogether and spend the rest of his time at home with his wife and children.
Worried that her father might try to stop her, Elsie took pains to keep the trip secret from him and the press, even threatening to sue one prominent paper when they got wind of the planned adventure. In order to throw them off the scent, Hinchcliffe's friend Gordon Sinclair was asked to put his name forward as the official copilot on the flight plan. Sinclair even went as far as to stay at a hotel close to the airfield in which they would begin their flight on the night before
they were due to leave. By then, Sinclair's involvement had been leaked to the press, and by the morning of the flight a number of papers were heralding Hinchcliff's attempted journey to New York, with Sinclair accompanying him as his co pilot. Sinclair had even agreed to go into hiding
until Hinchcliff and McKay had completed their journey. On the morning of Tuesday, March thirteenth, at r F Cranwell Airfield in the east of England, Captain Hinchcliffe clambered into the cockpit of the Endeavor and moments later Elsie McKay was smuggled on board without anyone noticing. A few minutes later, as a light snow began to fall, the pair were taking off into the sky. As they embarked on their ambitious three and a half thousand mile journey across the Atlantic.
At one thirty pm, chief lighthouse keeper at Mysen Head on the southwest coast of Cork in Ireland, looked up to see mackay's six seater monoplane shooting overhead toward America. Not long after, the crew on board a steamship out in the Atlantic on route from France also witnessed the endeavor,
by then heading on into increasingly stormy weather. Many hours later, roughly three thousand kilometers away, the S S. Barrabole was drawing closer to the Canary Islands when Squadron leader Rivers old Meadow was shocked awake by the arrival of Colonel George Henderson in his cabin, claiming to have seen a
vision of a deeply distressed Hinchcliff. A five thousand strong crowd waited at Michael Field in Long Island, Newfoundland, to welcome the safe arrival of Hinchcliffe and what they assumed to be his co pilot, Gordon Sinclair, but the plain was never seen again. In December nineteen twenty eight, a wheel with a serial number traced back to Elsie McKay's
endeavor washed ashore in Donegal, Northwest Island. The only part of her plain that was ever found, or at least that is how the story was told by writer John G. Fuller in his nineteen seventy eight book The Airmen Who Would Not Die, which drew largely on a letter that Fuller claimed to have found written by Rivers Old Meadow
in nineteen sixty one. Though there is no disputing the fate that befell Elsie McKay and Captain Raymond Hinchcliffe, doubts were raised regarding the extraordinary claim of Henderson's supposed vision
on the night of their disappearance. In two and eighteen, Robert Chamran and Steve Hume, writing in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, exposed a number of holes in the story, not least of all that the SS Barraball had not in fact set self for England until mid April of nineteen twenty eight, which would have put Henderson and old Meadow on board the vessel a good two weeks after Mackay and Hinchcliffe's disappearance had come to light.
Though some have sought to excuse the inconsistency that no one as yet has managed to uncover a copy of Old Meadows supposed nineteen sixty one letter describing the extraordinary event has only helped to cast further doubt on the story. Unexplained, the book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble,
and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at
Facebook dot com, Forward slash Unexplained Podcast. Now it's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you, Tell a doc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time, seven days a week. TELEDOC therapy is available through most insurance or employers download the app, or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash Unexplained
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