You're listening to the second and final part of Unexplained, season seven, episode twenty, The Haunting of Hannath Hall. I thought we might begin with a seance, says Tony. The group is gathered in the living room of Hannath Hall
around a small dining table. The occupants of the house, Audrey and Derek Page and Audrey's mother Rose, Local journalist Anthony Wilmot and his acquaintances mister Perryman and mister Trumpus, and three members of the Cambridge University Society of Psychical Research Investigation Teamwell David Murray and Michael Brotherton have all taken a seat. The fourth member of the team, Alan Gold,
has been tasked with keeping watch upstairs. A ripple of excitement circles the room as Tony takes a set of cards from his pocket, the letters of the alphabet numbers zero to nine and the words yes and no, and lays them out in a wide circle on the table. Then he takes a wineglass from a nearby cabinet and places it upside down in the middle of the cards. I take it you're all familiar with the wijab boards, he says. They all nod enthusiastically and draw closer together.
Tony takes a candle from the mantelpiece and places it on the table. He lights it with a single strike of a match. Upstairs, in a dimly lit corridor, Alan closes the door to Bedroom A, the haunted bedroom, and positions a small table just outside it with a thermometer placed on top. Remarks the reading as sixty degrees fahrenheit in his note book, then heads back downstairs. All set,
he says to Tony, poking his head into the living room. Great, says Tony, Let's begin, Derek, would you mind turning off the lights? Derek Julie obliges, then returns to his seat as Alan clicks on his torch and heads back upstairs. With everyone now seated in darkness save for the yellow, flickering light of the candle and the dying embers of a fire, Tony instructs everyone to place their fingers on top of the upturned glass. Is there anybody there? Asks Tony.
There is no response. A scattering of nervous laughter breaks out. Tony waits for it to die down before asking again, is there anybody there? Look, it's moving, says Rose. Everyone fixes their attention to the glass that is now clearly moving over the table. Alan stands in pitch black at the top of the stairs. At the far end of the hallway is the door to Bedroom A, which he can't quite make out in the darkness. He tries to ignore the gasps coming up from the kitchen. When he
hears a loud snap. It sounded like it came from the other end of the hallway. He flicks on the torch and points it into the darkness, surprised to see that the door to Bedroom A is now slightly ajar A little unsettled, he holds the light steady on the gap in the doorway, but sees no sign of movement. Slowly he makes his way down the corridor. He stops outside the children's bedroom and takes a quick look in sight.
Both the children are fast asleep in their beds. Continuing on, he soon reaches Bedroom A. He shines the torchlight through the gap in the door and cocks his head to listen for any sound coming from inside. Is there anybody there, repeats Tony back in the living room. Wilmot lets out a gasp as the glass begins to shift across the surface of the table. It stops just in front of the cart labeled Yes. Now, come on, who's doing that? He says a little peeved. Well, it could be any
of us, says Tony. Well it isn't me. I'm hardly touching it, look says Derrick. Sh We need to concentrate, says Audrey. Thank you, Audrey, you'd like to ask the next question, says Tony. Audrey looks at him nervously and pauses for effect before finally asking who are you back up stairs? Having heard no repeat of the snapping sound, Allan returns to the middle of the hallway and turns
off the torch. He feels the temperature drop suddenly. Then from the direction of the stairs, he hears the unmistakable sound of footsteps climbing up toward him. T says Tony, as the glass continues its way around the alphabet, and h Hannath? Was that Hannath? The others watching stun silence as the glass moves back towards the Yes cart back upstairs, the sound of footsteps. It's getting louder. Alan keeps the torch pointed at the top of the stairs as he
makes his way toward them. Finally, there he shines the light towards the bottom. The stairwell is completely empty. The seance is brought to a close, and the cu spr team retire to the lounge to discuss their findings. Alan fills them in on the sounds he heard upstairs, but theorizes that they were a little more than the creakings of an old house. In return, the others discuss the weija session. They speculate that either Wilmot or his friends
Perryman and Trumpus were responsible for moving the glass. After a quick break for tea and sandwiches, Tony and Alan head off to begin observations in Bedroom A, while David and Michael initiate another seance with everyone else so they
can keep an eye on them. It's just gone one thirty am when, with the others back round the table, Tony and Alan switch on their torches and make their way toward Bedroom A. As they passed the children's room, Tony checks inside and confirms that both are still fast asleep in their beds. When they arrive at the door to Bedroom A, Alan checks the thermometer he left outside the room. He's surprised to find that the mercury has
dropped a full ten degrees. As the distant sound of voices bubble up from the kitchen, The two men push open the door to the bedroom and head inside. Back in the living room, Michael lays out the Weija cards once more and places the wineglass back in the center. David lights the candle and switches off the lights before returning to the table. Let's see what we can get this time, says Michael, placing his finger on top of
the glass as the others do the same. A sudden hush descends and all eyes fix on the empty vessel. Is there anybody there? Asks David. Upstairs, Alan and Tony point their torches around. The room is exactly as it was from their earlier inspection. After making sure that there is nobody else hiding in the room with them, Alan
closes the door and bolts it shut. They each take a seat on one of the mattresses on the floor, Then, facing each other, they connect the soles of their feet to make sure that neither is trying to hoax the other. Alan lays a blanket over them both as a second precautionary measure. With both settled into place, they switch off their torches, plunging themselves into complete and utter darkness. Perhaps
it's gone for the night, says a despondent Derek. The group take a collective breath and take their fingers away from the glass, which hasn't moved an inch since they started. Michael suggests that Rose try the next question. Rose pauses for a moment before asking, is there anybody there? For a moment, there is nothing, But then, almost imperceptibly, at first, the glass starts to move. What was that, says Tony, throwing torchlight into the corner of the room. Alan does
the same. Forget it, it was nothing. He nearly gave me a heart attack, says Alan. No wait over there, listen, says Tony again, more urgent now, Alleyan quickly turns his torch back on and sweeps it around the room. No, keep it off, just listen. Can you confirm that your name is Hannath? Asks Rose. The group watches and raped as the glass slides across the table to the yes cart before returning to the center of the circle. Why
are you here? The glass moves quicker now from one letter to the other as it hastily spells out the words looking for someone. Rose looks nervously to her daughter. Who are you looking for? She asks, but the glass doesn't move. Will you give us a sign of your presence? After a moment's pause, the glass moves again to the yes card. There. Did you hear it? Just to your left, says Tony excitedly. It comes again, clear and unmistakable. This time three knocks on the floor just to Allan's left.
Good God, Hello, Can you knock again? Three times? I don't believe it, says Allan, before adding hurriedly, knock once for yes and two knocks for no. Do you understand? You don't really think it's going to be able to make its presence known? Do you? Says Audrey. Try something else, insists Derrick. Where are you now? Asks Rose Again. The glass begins to move, but slower, this time, much more deliberate.
It stops beside the letter G, then moves left to the letter E, then back to H, and around the circle until the word gehenna is spelt out and the glass returns to the center of the circle. Ger hennah Is that what it said? That's not a word. It must be a mistake. Try it again, says Wilmot. Wait, nobody knows that word, says David, looking across at all the bemused faces, He takes his finger suddenly from the glass. What is it? Asks Rose. I'm not sure I should
just tell us, insists Wilmot. It's a Hebrew word. It means valley of Hinnham. It's a place just south of Mount Zion in Jerusalem. It's where the kings of Judah said to have sacrificed their children. They burned them alive. But what, says Wilmot, It's also another word for hell? Are you a male? Asks Tony. Back upstairs, comes the reply did you die in the house? Did you die?
And natural death? Back downstairs, the group, thoroughly unsettled by David's revelation, bring the seance to an abrupt end, and Perryman and Trumpers decide to call it a night, and despite Wilmot's please for them to stay a while longer, he eventually agrees to join them in heading home. Wilmot is disappointed that he won't see Tony and Alan before leaving, but David promises to be in touch as soon as
they have their reports written up. Soon after, the three friends head off back to Wisbeach with the others gone, Michael and David head upstairs to inform Alan and Tony that Wilmot and his friends have left. When they hear the sound of knocking coming from inside Bedroom A. It
seems to be responding to Tony and Alan's questions. Allan explains from behind the door that they've just spent the last ten minutes communicating with some kind of female entity claiming to have been murdered in the house in nineteen oh six. Allan suggests David and Michael head to the washroom, the room below them, to make sure no one is
making the noises from there. Before they leave, The pair make a trap outside the bedroom by tying a length of string around two music stands in case anyone plans to sneak around in the corridor while they're gone. Back downstairs, the pages are sitting in the living room as Michael and David continue through into the washroom beyond which they find completely empty. Back inside Bedroom A, the knocks are growing louder and more insistent as Tony and Allan continue
to quiz the apparent entity. How old were you when you die? Asks Allan. There is a pause before a loud bang, bang bang. The bangs ring out from opposite sides of the room. Each bang gets closer to Tony, until finally a fourth wraps against the brass bedstand beside his head. Tony launches himself from the mattress. Why don't we check on the others downstairs? Equally unnerved, Alan is only too happy to take a break. He grabs his torch from the bed and hurriedly makes his way to
the door. At the sound of yet another loud knock, Alan flings the door open and charges straight into David and Michael's trap, bringing the stands clattering to the floor and sending him stumbling back into the bedroom. With Tony close behind. The pair are forced back for a moment when they hear a strange rumbling from inside. Tony points to the torch just in time to catch one of the chairs seemingly being flung through the air and onto
the mattress where he'd just been sitting. A stunned Tony holds the now stilled chair in a beam of torchlight. He stares at it for what seems like ours. Satisfied it won't move again, he picks it up and places it back on the pile of boxes. A moment later, it falls back down onto the floor, making both men jump again. Cursing himself, Tony picks it up one more
time and places it firmly back onto the boxes. Tony's had a chair thrown at him, and we're getting clear messages, says Alan, running into the washroom, the adrenaline coursing almost visibly through him. Michael and David agreed to keep one the family as Alan and Tony, having gathered themselves, returned
to Bedroom A to finish their questioning. Stepping back into the bedroom, Tony gasps when he catches sight of another chair that seems to have been placed on the floor, blocking the path from the door, while a cardboard box is now sitting on one of the mattresses under turret. The men move the items to the side and return to their makeshift beds to begin their questions anew. They start by asking how old the apparent entity was when she died. Downstairs, David and Michael hear a commotion in
the living room. David heads through to find that Anthony Wilmot and his two friends have returned to the house. Wilmot explains that their car broke down half a mile away so they came back, hoping to get a lift into Wisbeach, with the family having filled them in on the events of the last few minutes. Wilmot asks if they can be of any assistance, but David declines the offer. Derek suggests he drives the three men back to their homes,
and just after two am they head off together. Michael, suspicious of whether Wilmot and his friends had ever truly left the house at all, watches them in the car as it drives off the property and disappears into the night. Back upstairs, Tony and Allen continued their questions. What month did you die? Asks Tony. Eleven knocks come back in reply,
and what day was that? Again the knocks come. They seem to emerge from a space just to the right of Tony, but as the knocks continue, now up to fourteen, they begin slowly again to draw nearer to him. In a panic, he shines his torch at the spot, bringing the knox to an abrupt stop, much to Allan's frustration. They're getting too close, says Tony. He takes a moment to recompose himself before switching the light off again and repeating the question The knocks return almost instantly and stop
at eighteen eighteenth of November nineteen o six. Is that correct? Comes the reply? To make sure that neither of fabricating the exchanges, Tony suggests to Allan that they hold hands for the next question. Now, with the soles of their feet ganteed against each other's and their hands clasped tightly together, Tony asks again, are you still there? Comes the reply?
With only Rose and Audrey left downstairs, Michael remains in the living room to keep watch over Rose, while David and Audrey, who's eager to hear the noises for herself, move into the washroom to listen from underneath the bedroom a. For the next twenty minutes, the pair stand in the pitch black together, listening silently as Tony and Alan can be heard from above. Each time they ask a question,
the knocks come back without fail. At two forty five am, the wraps finally begin to peter out, with Tony and Alan concluding that the apparent entities age at death was either thirty eight or eighty three. The men from the cusbr take a break. An hour later, with Derek now having returned, the men restart their investigation with David keen
to experience the haunted bedroom first hand. Michael agrees to keep the Pages and Rows company downstairs, while the other three head back up to Bedroom A, with Alan leading the way. The men once again pause outside the children's bedroom. Inside, the young boy and girl are still fast asleep in their beds. Alan shines his torch toward the end of the corridor and gives a start. The door to Bedroom A is slightly a jar. What is it? Asks Tony? I close that when we came downstairs. The men look
to each other, then cautiously head toward the room. Alan leads the other two inside. Tony has just shut the door behind them when a strange metallic clattering is heard. He swiftly points his torch towards the internal bolt lock, where a large brass fork has been thoroughly jammed in its place, locking them inside. The men flash their torches about the room, but find no one else there with them, and all is still and silent. Taking a breath, Tony removes the fork from the lock and places it to
the side. The men take a seat on the mattress nearest the middle of the room, arranging themselves in a circle. They plant their feet one against each other, and once again switch off their talk watches. In the darkness, they reach out and take hold of each other's hands. Is anybody there, asks Tony. For a moment, there is nothing but silence. Then something very gentle, like a soft rustling,
is heard. As they listen further, the noise intensifies until it sounds like scratching an animal, suggests Allen, but Tony isn't so sure. He listens more intently, now focusing his mind on nothing but the sound coming from somewhere out of the dark to his right. As he stares toward the back wall, it feels as though that same dark is collapsing into itself, and then it is pulling him in from somewhere far away. A cold breeze drifts through
the room. Suddenly, David and Alan sent something tugging at their hands. Tony's body has gone limp. Go away, go away, he shouts, startling himself awake, before leaning forward suddenly with his head in his hands. I must have fallen asleep. Alan quickly feels for Tony's wrist and finds his pulse racing at over two beats a second. What happened. Something was attacking me a horse. I think all I could
see were the hoofs kicking down onto my head. It was just as Derek's mother had experienced during her brief stay in the same room. Alan and David wait a moment for Tony to calm. When he assures them he's okay to continue, the three men begin again. For more than an hour, they sit holding hands in the dark, asking questions into the air, but there are no more replies. At five a m Tony, Allan and David decide to
call it a night. They gather their things and make their way downstairs for a final cup of tea and another debrief. When Tony shows the brass fork to Audrey, Derrick and Rose, each claims to have never seen it before. A short time later, the men of the Cambridge University Society for Psychical Research thank the Pages and Rose for their time and make their way back to the car. It is still dark outside. As Tony pulls out to
the end of the driveway. He takes in the looming presence of Hanneth Hall last time before slowly easing out into the road and heading off into the distance. None of the cu spr team will ever be entirely sure quite what it was they'd experienced that night. As they make their way south, it isn't long before the waterways, vast open skies, and plowed black earths of the fens
are replaced by more familiar and solid surrounds. As they cross the border into the city of Cambridge, a pale winter sun is just creeping up over the horizon, while in the sky above the stars have all but dissolved into daylight. Over the next two years, Tony Cornell and Alan Goud return to Hannith Hall on at least ten further occasions, although no audio or visual proof of the
apparent Poultic guysed activity was ever recorded. Of the eight hundred cases of supposed paranormal activity that Tony would eventually go on to investigate, he only considered a handful to be as genuine as you might ever hope to find. Hannath Hall was one of them. This episode was written by Richard McLain Smith unexplained as an Avy Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are also produced by me.
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