Season 09 Episode 07: The Stove Goblin

copies of the Unexplained Book. You can find it on the homepage of our website at Unexplained podcast dot com. Forward slash survey until next time, Happy holidays to all, and have a great new year. In September nineteen thirty four, political tensions were running high across Spain. Elections the previous year at fueled anxiety for some and excitement for others

there might be a fascist takeover in the offing. Hints of revolution were in the air, but on the twenty seventh of that month, despite the febrile atmosphere, all appeared to be calm. In the home of the Palason family. The Palazons lived on the second floor of a four story apartment building on the corner of Gascon to Go Tour Street, with its smooth stone facat and nondescript cafe taking up most of the bottom floor. The building looked much the same as any other in the bustling city

of Saragosa in northeast Spain. Birds chirped on the street outside and cars droned by as the Palason family members got ready for the day ahead, when suddenly a burst of loud, maniacal laughter was heard echoing down the corridor outside. Startled by the peculiar sound, a member of the family opened the front door to see what an earth might be causing it. Outside, the corridor was empty save for a few other confused looking neighbors who'd also been brought

to their doors by the strange noise. They listened together as the unnerving cackling continued for a moment longer before stopping, suddenly leaving a haunting silence in its wake. Up and down the corridor. The confused residents shuffled back into their apartments, none the wiser as to what had caused the bizarre outburst,

But the return to normality wasn't to last. That short burst of eerie laughter would prove to be just the start of a deeply disturbing two months ordeal for the palace On family and their neighbors, in a haunting that would become known as El Duende, The Goblin of Sara Gosa. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard mc lane Smith. A few hours after the strange laughter erupted, daily life

was proceeding as normal in the palace On household. Later in the morning, Pasquala Alcacer, the family's young maid, arrived to begin her shift. In the corner of the kitchen. Below a band of white tiles was a cast iron wood fire stove. Pasquala opened the oven's firebox and stacked up some wood in preparation for cooking the family's lunch. Then struck a match and brought it close to the kindling. From out of nowhere, a strange voice cried out, no,

you're hurting me. The palace On family was sitting quietly in the living room listening to the radio when they heard a shriek coming from the kitchen. It was followed by the sudden appearance of a pale Pasquala with a look of utter terror on her face. Just then the voice came again, louder, this time shouting out to them from the kitchen light light. I cannot see Pasquala couldn't understand it, she said. It seemed to be coming directly from inside the stove. It was as though a small

child were trapped in there. Together, she and the family went next door to investigate, but found nothing untoward. They began to wonder if it was all somehow connected with the strange, maniacal laughter they'd heard earlier that day, Perhaps some one was playing a practical joke on them. But over the next few days it was clear that something was not right in the apartment. Strange sounds began to drift through the rooms, the kind of noises you might at first blame on a loose pipe or a wind

in the walls. But then the sounds grew louder, clearer. They always seemed to emanate from the same place, the kitchen stove. Sometimes it was only a rattle, a scrape, or the hollow clang of metal shifting when no one was near it. Other Times it sounded a lot like laughter, a shrill, unhinged cackling that seemed to rattle up through the stove's chimney and spill into every corner of the home. Other times, a mournful wail would seep out, and then disturbingly,

the voice returned. One evening, the family gathered round the stove under candlelight, growing increasingly anxious about what was happening in their home. Then the laughter came again. Where are you? One of the masts hesitantly inside the stove, came the immediate reply, startling them all. From then on, the voice was a constant presence in the household. At first, it was the voice of a child, high pitched and playful,

but then it began to shift. Each word became thicker, rougher, until it carried the guttural weight of something not entirely human. Sometimes the voice barked out orders in the middle of the night. Turn on the light, it demanded in its hideous, raspy growl. Other times it would call out the name of the maid, Pasquala, followed by bursts of cruel, maniacal laughter. All the while, Pasquala would stand frozen in the kitchen doorway, her face drained of blood as the family watched on helplessly.

Some nights, the voice would just scream raw, tormented screams that would rise out from the stove and echo hideously around the apartment. Desperate for an answer and starting to worry for their sanity, the Palazons invited the neighbors in to hear it for themselves. They all confirmed that they too could hear the peculiar, disembodied voice. It seemed that whatever had been responsible for that first burst of laughter that had rattled round the building only a few days previously,

had now taken up residents in the Palazon's home. By mid November, Terrified, exhausted, and scared for their sanity, the Palazons finally picked up the phone and called the police. It's likely the authorities would not have taken much interest in the case had word about the apparent haunting not already spread so rapidly. With the whole building now aware of the strange voice coming from the stove, it wasn't long before curious onlookers began to gather outside the front

door to try and hear the voice for themselves. The papers quickly picked up on the story too. With the crowds outside the apartment growing, the Zaragosa Police announced that it was time to put an end to the circus, as they called it, so a team was swiftly put together to dispel the family's claims once and for all. It was a cool, overcast afternoon when the police entered the building for the first time. The sound of heavy boots echoed along the corridor as they steadily made their

way to the Palaceon apartment. Despite the police insistence that there was a perfectly rational explanation for what was happening, the Palaceons were happy to finally have their assistance. The family invited the officers in, but before they even stepped through the doorway, a strange voice rang out from inside the kitchen. It spoke each man's name one by one. The police officers froze on the threshold. None of them had announced themselves, yet the voice seemed to know exactly

who they were. A little unnerved, the men proceeded into the kitchen just then the voice came again from the direction of the stove, announcing each man as they entered. Then a low chuckle rising into a wild, unhinged laughter, echoed through the room, again, seemingly coming from the stove. Whenever someone crossed the threshold of the kitchen. The voice called out again, recognizing instantly who had entered and who had left, and no one could explain how. At one point,

an officer flicked off the kitchen light. Instantly, a devilish voice ripped through the room light. I cannot see. The officers exchanged wary glances. Some shifted nerves, their hands resting on the grips of their pistols, glancing back to the stove. One officer spoke, who are you? He asked. For a moment, they heard nothing save for the faint murmur of the spectators gathered in the street outside. Then another officer stepped forward, What do you want? Again? There was no reply. Do

you want money? A sharp response came back, as if the voice was insulted by the question. No, do you want a job, said another officer. No, then who are you? What is it you want? Man? Said the officer then, his voice beginning to waver, The answer was immediate nothing and I am not a man. The words brought a stunned silence from all who were present. Gathering himself, another officer asked, can you see us? If you can, how many people are in the room? Without hesitation, the voice

gave the correct number. The police had come expecting a clearly disprovable hoax. Instead, they found themselves confronting something that should not have been possible, and they were no closer to solving any of it. Nonetheless, most of the public remained convinced that the whole event was just some kind of prank, but some began to whisper a different theory, that what spoke from the stove was not a hoax at all, or simply a disembodied ghost, but a duende.

In Spanish folklore, the duende is a kind of natural spirit, sometimes an elf, sometimes a goblin. Like sprites and bogarts, their nature ranges from mischievous to malevolent, and to those who believed that voice in the stove was proof that one had taken up residents inside the pallace on home, they began to call it the stove goblin. A goblin is a small, grotesque humanoid found in the folklore of many European cultures. Exhibiting a wide range of temperaments and

magical abilities. Goblins can be nefarious, bestial creatures, like the Red Cap. One of the most frightening goblins of all, the Red Cap comes from Scottish folklore. Red caps are said to inhabit ruined castles that lie along the border between Scotland and England. Looking like sturdy old men, but with taloned hands and large teeth, they are reputed to murder travelers who have strayed from their route. Once the murder has taken place, this demonic goblin reputedly dyes its

hat with their victim's blood, hence the name. Legends also say that red caps carry heavy iron pikes with which they stab their victims, and despite wearing heavy iron shod boots, they can move incredibly quickly. It's said to be impossible to outrun a red cap goblin. In the folklore of northern Spain, the equivalent of a goblin is called a trasgout.

These are said to be evil spirits with a tendency to enter homes and move objects, who will create disorder in the household if they feel they've been insulted or are being neglected. Having failed to solve the problem with routine police questioning, the authorities began to apply logic to the situation. They reasoned that since the chimney was likely connected to many other units in the building, the voice was most likely coming from a different part of the building.

Perhaps they thought a prankster was hiding in the walls and casting their voice into the network of chimney pipes and flues to scare the building's residents. Stonemasons who'd previously worked on the building were called in along with the building's architect. They were asked to inspect the entire structure from top to bottom in the hope of discovering the

hiding place of the troublesome ventriloquist. At some point towards the end of November in nineteen thirty four, an architect and some workmen meticulously searched every square inch of the Palason's building from the cellar to the attic, giving particular attention to the interior of the Palazon family residence. The assembled experts found no place where a prankster could hide, let alone project their voice in a loud and clear

way throughout the building. Just how such a person might remain hidden, Yet to be fully aware of what was happening at the Palazon's kitchen was even more perplexing. One of the masons was tasked with taking the measurements of a section of war next to the stove to find the size of the chimney opening. But no sooner had he leant in to take his measurement, the guttural voice appeared once more. You need not trouble it's six inches. To the astonishment of everyone in the kitchen, it was

exactly as the voice had said. Unnerved, many of the workmen present quickly crossed themselves and hurried straight out of the apartment, leaving their tools behind. While answers to the mystery continued to evade the authorities, public interest in the Zaragosa Goblin, as it became known, was growing so much that some began making sightseeing trips from nearby Billboo just

to come and hear it. Doctors and psycho ecologists were also drafted in to assist the investigation, along with a priest who sprinkled the stove with holy water to little or no effect. One psychiatrist on the scene by the name of Joaquin Arieira, became especially suspicious of the Palazon's young maid, Pasquala Alcacer. After subjecting her to a series of questions, he soon concluded that she had been responsible for the voice all along. He described the case as

a mixture of hysteria and subconscious ventriloquism. Ventriloquism has deep roots, often linked with mystical practices and religious ritual There is even archaeological evidence suggesting that the phenomenon could be traced back to at least two thousand BCE. The term derives from the Latin words venta or belly, and loqui, meaning to speak, because early practitioners were thought to speak from their stomachs. Some ancient cultures believed that ventriloquists could speak

to spirits and convey messages from the gods. In ancient Greece, a famous ventriloquist named Eurocles was also thought to be able to communicate with the dead. It's possible even that the Oracle of Delphi, who was widely believed to channel divine prophecies, which were highly regarded in ancient Greece, was little more than a polished circus act using ventriloquism to fool her supporters. During the Middle Ages, the practice was linked with sorcery and heresy. Not surprisingly, this has made

ventriloquism both fascinating and feared. It has been a subject of interest in cognitive science because it provides insights into how our brains integrate multisensory information. Quism has even been used as a therapeutic technique, for example, in the case of a boy with Asperger's syndrome who used a ventriloquist's puppet to help him communicate with his family and friends.

But while you may have seen a ventriloquist with a puppet perform on television, experts in the field are rare, with likely fewer than four hundred professionals in the world, so it would seem very unlikely that the palace On Family made. Pasquala Alcace was so talented in the art that she could throw a voice entirely different from her own throughout an entire building. Pasquala flat out denied any involvement, telling anyone who'd listen that she was a victim of

the so called goblin, just like everyone else. But psychiatrist Ariea was determined to be proved correct. He asked Pasquala if she would leave the building to run some errands, in the expectation that the voice would stop once she'd gone. The maid agreed to do what she was asked, but much to the psychiatrist's annoyance, and confusion. With Pasquala out of the building, it is said the voice continued to issue forth from the stove, despite repeating the experiment on

multiple occasions. The voice continued to talk and cry out even when Pasquala was on a different street, nowhere near the property. With the ventriloquism theory dismissed, the pallace On family and their neighbors became engulfed by the feeling that there was indeed something very sinister at work in their building. Privately, some of the investigators were inclined to agree with them, and so it was decided that the only logical next step was to evacuate the building. With the residents moved

out at the property, the army was brought in. They cut all electrical and telephone wires connected to the building to prevent any potential pranksters from finding a way to broadcast their voice. A team of police and volunteers also began guarding the building morning and night, maintaining a thirty yard perimeter so any mischief maker who might be behind

it all could not get in or out. Even the Governor of Zaragosa intervened, forcing the media to commit to a blackout as the building was searched for evidence of a perpetrator, and so with every resident evacuated, the lights extinguished and the building stripped of any possible trick or device, the police, along with the building's owner, Signor Grialba, and his young son arturo Re, entered the four story property on the corner of Gascon Goteur Street. With the building

now completely vacant. The footsteps echoed even louder this time as the officers climbed the stairs up to the second floor, using flashlights to guide the way. Then together they pushed on into the Palaceon's apartment. They shuffled into the kitchen and stood in silence, with the empty stove looming before them, lit up by their torches. One officer cleared his throat and then, with some trepidation, called out are you there.

For a moment, there was no reply. Then incredibly, that same guttural cackle, rising up from nowhere, came bursting out of the stove. But that wasn't all. According to a report later published in British newspaper The Times of London, the voice in the stove spoke incessantly, railing against the police, spitting rapid fire insults at them. Then it turned its fury back onto the palace on family. I will kill them,

all of them, it insisted. The officers stood rooted to the spot, their faces growing ever more pale in the half light. Just then, the building owner's son, our Turo, piped up, let's go dat. This whole thing is crazy. From deep inside the stove, came the voice's response, No, not crazy, little one. Our Tiro was stunned. After that, after two months of near constant noise, the stove fell silent, and the voice seemed finally to have gone eager to

restore order. The local magistrate dismissed the entire affair as nothing more than a strange anomaly that would be best forgotten about, and moved on from the police packed up and withdrew. Two days, however, a small group of neighbors were gathered in the Palazon's apartment when the voice suddenly returned. Cowards, here, I am the Goblin, it seemed, was back. Later it would taunt the police again, promising to show itself, but the apparent entity never did. By now, interest in the

Zaragosa Goblin had reached fever pitch far and wide. One Barcelona radio station attempted to get a microphone in the room so they could broadcast the goblin's voice. It's even rumored that a team of detectives from Scotland Yard in London were planning a trip to the apartment to try and solve the case, while the National Guard were called in to keep the growing crowd of sightseers a safe

distance away. On November thirtieth, deciding that he had had enough, the Governor of Zaragosa, still convinced it was a prankster, put out a public appeal for any information that could help identify the culprit. The governor also ordered a more thorough investigation of the people at the center of the affair. The entire Palazon family, along with their maid Pasquala, were

brought in for severe questioning. Then, on December fourth, the governor announced that he'd finally found the explanation for the extraordinary events. Just like psychiatrist Joaquin Arieira, he also believed that the source of all the torment and the perpetrator of the voice was indeed the maid Pasquala Alcacer. According to the official statement, Alcacer was believed to be suffering from a condition called unconscious ventriloquism, which caused her to

throw her voice without being aware that she was doing it. However, many people rejected the finding, pointing out that not only did the phantom voice seem too low to belong to a female, but it had been demonstrated several times that it continued when the young maid was nowhere near the building. Alcasa herself firmly denied the allegation, but the officials would not budge, insisting that they had witnessed her carrying out

the ventriloquism while she was in custody. With the case then seemingly solved, residents were urged to simply go back to their normal lives. For the Palasons and Pasquala Alcacet, it had all proved too much. The maid was relieved of her duties and the family moved on to another city. With no evidence to arrest Pasquala Alcacet. She also left

Zaragosa to return to her hometown. While she escaped the judgment of those in Zaragosa who believed her to be guilty, the stigma of the accusation against her hung over her for the rest of her days. It said that she subsequently lived a very reclusive life and claimed to never fully recover from the blame that was foisted on her. But Squala steadfastly refused to speak about the incident for almost her entire life. In old age, she did finally

relent and gave one interview. When asked where the voice was coming from, all she could say was it came from within the wall. Either way. With Pasquala and the Palazons gone, the building eventually settled back down into relative normality, although tenants would occasionally report ghostly sounds, to what degree they were imagined or where in fact a continuation of the supposed Goblin haunting was hard to say. With opinion divided on whether it really had been a manifestation of

a malevolent spirit or just an incredibly elaborate hoax. The city of Zaragoza soon forgot the whole incident of the Goblin. In any case, larger events were at play. In October, a worker's uprising known as the Revolutionary General Strike of nineteen thirty four took place in Catalonia and Astorias. The uprisings were repressed by Spanish government forces, but it proved to be just the start of a series of events

that would ultimately lead to the Spanish Civil War. Just a few years later, in nineteen seventy seven, the four story apartment block on the corner of Gascon de Gotur Street was demolished, but there is still a reminder of the strange events where a new building now stands on a stone wall near the entrance. Emblazoned in glittering gold letters, you can find the new building's name. It reads Edificio Duerdende,

Goblin Building. No culprit was ever found or any cause settled upon for the strange events that took place in that troublesome year of nineteen thirty four on Gascon de Gator Street, and so the case of the Zaraghos of Goblin remains to this day Unexplained. This episode was written by Diane Hope and Richard McLain Smith. Thank you as ever for listening Unexplained as an Avy Club production podcast created by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,

including the music, are also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained. The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get your 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 or

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