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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ
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For our ramble this week,
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we'll go first to
the blue hills of the Cotswolds.
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The open air,
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the countryside
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where the sheep are
the aristocrats of their kind.
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Thatched roofs
cover cottages of stone
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and, incidentally,
hearts of gold.
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And near the village
are the famous Rollright Stones,
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which they say are earlier
than Stonehenge.
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The story goes
that a lord of the province
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aspired to become
King of England,
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but that wasn't okay
by the local witch.
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So she turned him and
his knights into lumps of stone.
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And let that be a lesson to you,
Mr. Brownsmith.
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Cotswold hospitality is a byword
among those who travel.
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I came to visit my parents
here in the Cotswolds.
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And my father and I one evening
went down to his local pub.
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Where I started chatting
with a local.
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And he said, "Have you heard of
the murder of Charles Walton?"
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In 1945,
on the slopes of Meon Hill...
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00:02:02,948 --> 00:02:06,300
...a particularly gruesome
murder was committed.
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Who's there?
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00:02:09,303 --> 00:02:11,653
Who is it? Who is it?
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00:02:13,437 --> 00:02:15,874
Who are you?
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00:02:15,961 --> 00:02:18,050
He was battered to death
with a stick.
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Keep away, keep away!
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00:02:23,317 --> 00:02:26,537
He was pinned to the ground
with his own pitchfork.
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I say keep away!
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A sign of the cross
was cut on his chest
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with his own billhook.
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00:02:41,987 --> 00:02:44,381
His name was Charles Wharton.
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We challenge death
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00:02:49,473 --> 00:02:51,606
out of the village.
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00:02:51,693 --> 00:02:54,696
Challenge death
out of the village.
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00:02:54,783 --> 00:02:57,655
We challenge death
out of the village.
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00:02:57,742 --> 00:02:59,744
Charles Walton,
by all accounts,
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00:02:59,831 --> 00:03:01,659
was a harmless old man.
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00:03:03,879 --> 00:03:06,316
He was warm. He was friendly.
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He offered greeting to people
he passed in the street.
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So why did someone
go into the field that morning
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and kill him in such
a brutal fashion?
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00:03:27,250 --> 00:03:30,645
It was the day particularly
rich in black magic Association.
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00:03:33,430 --> 00:03:37,913
The Druids were reported to have
made sacrifice to the earth.
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Had the villagers
blamed him for a bad crop
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that had happened that year.
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00:03:51,796 --> 00:03:54,930
Was this the last ritual
killing in modern Britain?
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00:03:59,674 --> 00:04:03,852
The murder of Charles Walton
struck a nerve with the nation.
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00:04:05,375 --> 00:04:07,551
This bizarre ritualistic killing
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00:04:07,638 --> 00:04:09,858
fueled the tabloids
for decades.
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00:04:13,340 --> 00:04:15,994
It inspired the imaginations
of rebellious youths.
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00:04:16,081 --> 00:04:18,780
I was,
as ordinary schoolgirls do,
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00:04:18,867 --> 00:04:20,738
doing séances with my friends.
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00:04:20,869 --> 00:04:22,784
And bored housewives.
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00:04:25,047 --> 00:04:27,397
And also authors,
screenwriters, and directors
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00:04:27,528 --> 00:04:29,791
of the 1960s and '70s.
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There is nothing
fictitious about black magic.
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It is a fact which has existed
for several thousand years.
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Satanic ceremonies will
be happening in Britain tonight.
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00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,024
It was this moment
in cultural history
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00:04:46,111 --> 00:04:50,246
that birthed its own genre,
the folk horror movie.
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Amy's at the castle
and hold debauched gatherings.
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Men and women stripped naked.
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It's usually
some idyllic picture box
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00:05:02,389 --> 00:05:03,825
English village
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00:05:03,955 --> 00:05:06,044
where all the villagers
seem to be acting
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00:05:06,131 --> 00:05:07,959
a little bit strangely.
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00:05:09,309 --> 00:05:11,876
Someone in this village
is practicing witchcraft.
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00:05:11,963 --> 00:05:13,922
The horror lies in the fact
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that it comes out of
the beliefs of the folk,
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like in "Midsommar".
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No!
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Custom? It's fucked!
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To do with fertility
represented in men,
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to do with giving
a sacrifice of blood
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back to the land,
like "Kill List".
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00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:35,335
So the Charles Walton
murder case directly influenced
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00:05:35,422 --> 00:05:38,425
a whole host
of folk horror offerings,
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but specifically
"The Wicker Man".
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00:05:50,219 --> 00:05:54,441
It's an enormously bizarre
thriller,
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almost an occult musical.
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00:05:59,446 --> 00:06:02,840
A policeman goes
to an island, Summerisle,
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00:06:02,927 --> 00:06:06,061
where a girl has
allegedly gone missing.
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00:06:08,063 --> 00:06:10,544
The island is run
by a pagan cult.
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00:06:13,198 --> 00:06:15,853
I think what I relate to most
with "Wicker Man"
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00:06:15,940 --> 00:06:18,769
is the idea of sort of
being contained within a society
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that's kind of mad.
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00:06:21,337 --> 00:06:23,992
British people put
a huge amount of importance
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in structures and rituals.
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To the outside, they seem
completely pointless,
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but have a dark underbelly.
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And it all goes back
to this murder in 1945.
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A very English murder
in a very English village.
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If you cut through
the headlines
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and the horror movies...
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00:06:49,191 --> 00:06:51,411
...then you'll find
a real mystery...
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...a mutilated dead body
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00:06:54,762 --> 00:06:59,027
that even the soberest minds
have failed to explain.
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00:06:59,157 --> 00:07:03,118
My motive in coming here
was to find the truth.
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00:07:03,248 --> 00:07:05,294
It poses a terrifying question.
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Who are we?
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00:07:10,255 --> 00:07:12,562
What is really going on
in England's green
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and pleasant land?
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00:07:16,348 --> 00:07:18,916
What are we hiding?
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00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:21,136
Who killed Charles Walton?
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00:07:22,746 --> 00:07:24,661
And most intriguingly...
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...why?
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So on the morning
of February 14th, 1945...
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00:07:55,649 --> 00:07:58,216
...Charles Walton,
he's a 74-year-old farm laborer
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00:07:58,303 --> 00:08:01,306
in the Lower Quinton...
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00:08:01,393 --> 00:08:03,787
he goes downstairs
for his morning breakfast
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00:08:03,831 --> 00:08:05,354
with his niece, Edith.
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00:08:09,140 --> 00:08:11,055
And she prepares for him
the snack
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he always takes out into
the fields each day to work.
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He leaves his house at 8:30.
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00:08:23,459 --> 00:08:24,721
And Edith watches him leave.
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He crosses the lane
from his house.
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She returns from her job
that evening at 6:00,
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and she enters the cottage,
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fully expecting to find
her Uncle Charles at home.
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00:08:53,837 --> 00:08:55,535
But he isn't.
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00:09:02,846 --> 00:09:04,805
This is very odd,
because Charles Walton
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usually gets home at about 4:00.
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00:09:07,459 --> 00:09:09,679
He has terrible arthritis,
he feels the cold,
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00:09:09,766 --> 00:09:12,203
and he doesn't like
to be out in the cold weather.
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00:09:17,121 --> 00:09:18,514
So she's alarmed.
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00:09:18,601 --> 00:09:21,517
She knocks on the door
of a neighbor,
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00:09:21,561 --> 00:09:24,389
tells him that, you know,
Uncle Charles hasn't come home.
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00:09:24,476 --> 00:09:26,435
The neighbor's concerned.
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They go across the lane,
through the churchyard,
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00:09:31,527 --> 00:09:33,224
out into the fields.
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00:09:35,444 --> 00:09:37,141
And they search
for about 20 minutes
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00:09:37,272 --> 00:09:39,709
and they enlist the help
of Alfred Potter...
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00:09:42,756 --> 00:09:44,627
...the farmer who's employed
Charles Walton
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00:09:44,714 --> 00:09:46,411
to trim the hedges.
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00:09:50,415 --> 00:09:52,069
And they come across
in the field
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00:09:52,156 --> 00:09:53,767
where Charles
had been working that day,
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00:09:53,897 --> 00:09:55,725
where two hedges intersect...
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00:09:57,248 --> 00:09:59,947
...they find Charles lying
in that corner.
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00:10:03,733 --> 00:10:05,343
His pitchfork has been impaled
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00:10:05,387 --> 00:10:07,781
through his face
and part of his throat.
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00:10:09,957 --> 00:10:11,959
And the trouncing hook,
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00:10:12,089 --> 00:10:15,223
the tool he uses to trim the
hedges is buried in his neck.
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00:10:36,287 --> 00:10:38,289
- Morning, sergeant.
- Morning, sir.
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00:10:38,420 --> 00:10:40,509
- Had any luck?
- No, sir.
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00:10:41,858 --> 00:10:43,207
That's obviously
where it happened, sir.
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00:10:43,338 --> 00:10:45,166
Over there.
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00:10:47,647 --> 00:10:51,085
When Charles Walton's murder
occurred in Lower Quinton,
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00:10:51,172 --> 00:10:54,828
it was in 1945,
on Valentine's Day.
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00:10:54,958 --> 00:10:56,873
Lovers walk,
they call it, sir.
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00:10:56,917 --> 00:10:59,180
Not there was much love here
last night.
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00:11:01,443 --> 00:11:05,099
Nobody really knew
what had happened.
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00:11:05,186 --> 00:11:08,755
A famous policeman called Fabian
got involved.
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00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:12,976
This is Fabian
of Scotland Yard.
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00:11:14,369 --> 00:11:17,067
He later had his own TV show.
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00:11:17,198 --> 00:11:19,461
He was a very well-known
household name.
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00:11:19,548 --> 00:11:21,768
Let us meet the real
Bob Fabian,
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00:11:21,855 --> 00:11:25,119
the man called England's
greatest detective.
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00:11:25,206 --> 00:11:29,514
He himself became involved
in investigating this murder.
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00:11:29,558 --> 00:11:32,300
We can see that parallel
directly with "The Wicker Man",
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00:11:32,387 --> 00:11:34,389
with Sergeant Howie.
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00:11:37,653 --> 00:11:41,657
An outsider policeman arrives
at this strange village.
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00:11:41,788 --> 00:11:44,791
Good day to you, sir.
I'm the harbormaster.
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00:11:44,834 --> 00:11:47,402
Sergeant, Howie,
West Highland Police.
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00:11:51,841 --> 00:11:53,713
It's kind of hard
to imagine today
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00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,716
a police officer being
a household name.
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00:11:59,762 --> 00:12:03,244
But Robert Fabian was the most
famous detective in Britain.
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00:12:06,334 --> 00:12:08,075
He's worked undercover
in the underworld.
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00:12:08,205 --> 00:12:10,338
He's taken down cat burglars.
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00:12:12,862 --> 00:12:16,083
He has solved every case
he's ever worked.
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00:12:18,912 --> 00:12:21,610
And so when the local police
in Warwickshire
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00:12:21,697 --> 00:12:24,918
turn up at the Lower Quinton
crime scene...
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00:12:26,528 --> 00:12:29,226
...and they see the severity
of the crime,
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00:12:29,313 --> 00:12:31,446
the brutality of it...
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00:12:31,533 --> 00:12:34,797
...they realize they need
a greater level of expertise
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00:12:34,884 --> 00:12:36,059
to handle the case.
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00:12:39,846 --> 00:12:43,937
Fabian gets this request
to travel out to Lower Quinton.
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00:12:50,508 --> 00:12:54,556
This quiet hamlet
of less than 500 people...
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00:12:59,735 --> 00:13:03,913
...where everyone
knows everything...
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00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,047
and suspicious behavior
is easily noticeable.
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00:13:09,310 --> 00:13:14,097
So he heads out there believing
he's going to catch his man.
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00:13:14,184 --> 00:13:15,751
Do you know her?
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00:13:19,668 --> 00:13:23,063
When Fabian arrives,
he has a game plan.
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00:13:23,150 --> 00:13:27,154
He starts off by having a
Spitfire fly over Lower Quinton
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00:13:27,241 --> 00:13:29,678
and take a reconnaissance
photograph.
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00:13:33,638 --> 00:13:35,858
He has it blown up to wall size
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00:13:35,945 --> 00:13:38,078
and he pins it up
in his operations room
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00:13:38,165 --> 00:13:39,775
in the police station.
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00:13:42,647 --> 00:13:46,042
And his plan is to interview
all 493 inhabitants
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00:13:46,086 --> 00:13:48,262
of Lower Quinton,
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00:13:48,349 --> 00:13:50,568
and use colored pins
to denote each person,
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00:13:50,655 --> 00:13:52,396
stick them in the map,
194
00:13:52,483 --> 00:13:54,529
and then he can see who
was near the murder scene
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00:13:54,616 --> 00:13:56,009
at the time of the killing,
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00:13:56,139 --> 00:13:58,620
and thereby identify
who the killer was.
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00:14:03,930 --> 00:14:06,280
Alfred Potter is a local farmer,
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00:14:06,323 --> 00:14:09,370
and he's the farmer that
Charles Walton is working for.
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00:14:14,070 --> 00:14:17,987
Fabian suspects Potter
of the murder pretty quickly.
200
00:14:18,074 --> 00:14:21,425
If you don't cooperate
with me here and now,
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00:14:21,512 --> 00:14:24,385
you may well find yourself
inside a police cell tonight.
202
00:14:24,472 --> 00:14:26,561
Have I made myself quite clear?
203
00:14:30,217 --> 00:14:32,784
Alfred Potter
is 40 years old.
204
00:14:32,872 --> 00:14:35,222
He's a big guy.
He's physically imposing.
205
00:14:35,309 --> 00:14:38,442
Broad shoulder, big chest,
thick neck.
206
00:14:38,529 --> 00:14:42,403
He comes across as sort of
a dunce and not too smart.
207
00:14:44,492 --> 00:14:47,321
But Fabian thinks
that behind the facade
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00:14:47,408 --> 00:14:50,237
is someone of extreme cunning.
209
00:14:53,849 --> 00:14:56,417
So Potter helps look
for Charles Walton
210
00:14:56,504 --> 00:14:58,549
the night he doesn't come home.
211
00:15:00,116 --> 00:15:02,510
He actually touched
the handle of the trouncing hook
212
00:15:02,597 --> 00:15:05,252
that was buried
in Walton's throat.
213
00:15:07,819 --> 00:15:11,736
Fabian confronts Potter on this,
and Potter says,
214
00:15:11,867 --> 00:15:13,738
"Well, when we found the body,
215
00:15:13,825 --> 00:15:16,524
I wanted to make sure
Walton was dead."
216
00:15:19,005 --> 00:15:20,484
If you stumble across someone
217
00:15:20,528 --> 00:15:22,530
and they've got a pitchfork
through their face
218
00:15:22,617 --> 00:15:24,880
and a trouncing hook
buried in their throat,
219
00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:26,577
chances are they're dead.
220
00:15:26,664 --> 00:15:28,405
You probably
don't need to check.
221
00:15:30,668 --> 00:15:32,975
And while they're standing
over this body...
222
00:15:34,803 --> 00:15:38,894
...Potter turns to the police
officer and says...
223
00:15:39,025 --> 00:15:40,983
"I'm really famished."
224
00:15:44,378 --> 00:15:46,554
If you're standing
over the body of someone
225
00:15:46,641 --> 00:15:49,774
who's been horribly mutilated,
226
00:15:49,861 --> 00:15:51,602
usually your appetite
isn't going to be
227
00:15:51,646 --> 00:15:53,604
the first thing you think about.
228
00:15:54,779 --> 00:15:57,173
This guy wanted to get away
from the crime scene
229
00:15:57,260 --> 00:15:58,827
as quickly as possible.
230
00:15:58,870 --> 00:16:00,220
And why?
231
00:16:05,834 --> 00:16:10,317
Eventually, Potter has
a moment of stunning honesty...
232
00:16:13,537 --> 00:16:15,975
...and admits
that he's been skimming wages
233
00:16:16,105 --> 00:16:18,629
from his family's business.
234
00:16:21,241 --> 00:16:23,069
And to Fabian's mind,
235
00:16:23,156 --> 00:16:26,115
there's some sort of
money problem going on here.
236
00:16:26,202 --> 00:16:27,943
Could he have
done the murders?
237
00:16:28,030 --> 00:16:31,251
I mean, could he be one of those
people with a split mind --
238
00:16:31,338 --> 00:16:33,035
sane one moment,
but mad the next?
239
00:16:37,039 --> 00:16:39,911
Walton, in the village,
is rumored to walk around
240
00:16:39,999 --> 00:16:42,697
with large sums of cash.
241
00:16:48,746 --> 00:16:51,532
You have Walton working
in a field...
242
00:16:54,056 --> 00:16:57,364
...away from the village
on Potter's property.
243
00:17:02,847 --> 00:17:06,025
He's a perfect target.
It's a crime of opportunity.
244
00:17:17,340 --> 00:17:21,736
Couldn't Potter have killed
Walton to steal his money?
245
00:17:21,823 --> 00:17:23,303
It is a thin motive.
246
00:17:23,433 --> 00:17:26,045
There is no evidence, obviously,
that a robbery occurred.
247
00:17:27,698 --> 00:17:29,439
Walton's niece, Edith,
248
00:17:29,526 --> 00:17:32,181
said she wasn't aware
of him carrying around money.
249
00:17:34,531 --> 00:17:38,970
Then the question is, if this
was a murder for robbery,
250
00:17:39,014 --> 00:17:41,234
why was the crime so brutal?
251
00:17:43,540 --> 00:17:45,716
Fabian never charged Potter
with a crime
252
00:17:45,803 --> 00:17:48,241
because he just couldn't find
that one piece of evidence
253
00:17:48,328 --> 00:17:50,678
to basically seal the deal.
254
00:18:02,559 --> 00:18:06,476
Something that Fabian found
particularly irritating
255
00:18:06,563 --> 00:18:09,044
and suspicious
about the villagers...
256
00:18:13,962 --> 00:18:18,097
...was that a brutal murder had
been committed in their midst,
257
00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:20,447
but nobody seemed
terribly bothered.
258
00:18:23,493 --> 00:18:25,930
Nobody seemed
in the least bit nervous
259
00:18:25,974 --> 00:18:30,631
that there might be a demented
killer harbored in their midst.
260
00:18:35,810 --> 00:18:38,378
They seem more intent
on stonewalling him
261
00:18:38,465 --> 00:18:42,251
than showing any interest in
the apprehension of the killer.
262
00:18:46,342 --> 00:18:49,258
I suspect murder
and conspiracy to murder.
263
00:18:50,738 --> 00:18:53,436
Your lordship
seems strangely unconcerned.
264
00:18:55,046 --> 00:18:56,657
He had a constant feeling
265
00:18:56,744 --> 00:18:58,789
that instead of coming
forward to help him,
266
00:18:58,876 --> 00:19:00,965
the village was covering
something up.
267
00:19:02,315 --> 00:19:05,144
Sergeant, if I were you,
I would go back to the mainland.
268
00:19:05,231 --> 00:19:08,625
Stop interfering in things
that are no concern of yours.
269
00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:13,326
The natives of Upper
and Lower Quinton
270
00:19:13,369 --> 00:19:17,852
and the surrounding district
are of a secretive disposition,
271
00:19:17,982 --> 00:19:20,681
and they do not take
easily to strangers.
272
00:19:23,074 --> 00:19:25,599
Therefore, I have borne in mind
the possibility
273
00:19:25,686 --> 00:19:27,557
of there being some local
history attached
274
00:19:27,601 --> 00:19:30,865
to the murdered man
or his neighbors,
275
00:19:30,908 --> 00:19:33,563
which we have not yet touched
upon,
276
00:19:33,650 --> 00:19:36,218
and which may have a direct
bearing upon the murder.
277
00:19:47,882 --> 00:19:50,928
Fabian's failure
created a vacuum
278
00:19:51,015 --> 00:19:53,540
into which, one by one,
279
00:19:53,627 --> 00:19:57,848
other investigators who were
not official began to seep.
280
00:20:01,374 --> 00:20:06,074
And the first to get there
was a very respected academic,
281
00:20:06,161 --> 00:20:09,947
a leading Egyptologist
called Margaret Murray.
282
00:20:10,034 --> 00:20:11,645
...Dr. Margaret Murray,
283
00:20:11,688 --> 00:20:14,343
who is probably the leading
authority on witchcraft
284
00:20:14,430 --> 00:20:15,997
in the world today.
285
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,260
Dr. Murray, have you ever met
a witch yourself?
286
00:20:18,391 --> 00:20:21,959
I've seen a witch.
I didn't meet her.
287
00:20:22,046 --> 00:20:26,094
She was a farmer's wife,
and I saw her on the road,
288
00:20:26,181 --> 00:20:30,011
and I passed close by her
and had a good look,
289
00:20:30,054 --> 00:20:33,275
and I thought she was one
of the most disagreeable people
290
00:20:33,362 --> 00:20:34,581
I'd ever seen.
291
00:20:34,711 --> 00:20:36,626
Now, what sort of powers
did she have?
292
00:20:36,757 --> 00:20:40,064
Well, she claimed to be able --
She was credited...
293
00:20:40,151 --> 00:20:42,806
I don't know whether she claimed
that she was credited
294
00:20:42,937 --> 00:20:45,200
with being able to kill
the animals,
295
00:20:45,331 --> 00:20:47,202
the farm animals,
296
00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:49,900
and the other farmers' wives
were terrified of her.
297
00:20:51,728 --> 00:20:52,816
Kathy.
298
00:20:52,903 --> 00:20:54,731
Kathy. Kathy.
299
00:20:56,298 --> 00:21:00,868
Margaret Murray's take was that
pagan witches were practitioners
300
00:21:00,998 --> 00:21:02,783
of an ancient religion.
301
00:21:02,870 --> 00:21:04,524
Hail
spirit of the dark,
302
00:21:04,654 --> 00:21:08,136
take thou my blood,
my flesh, my skin, and walk.
303
00:21:08,223 --> 00:21:10,269
Rise now from the forest,
from the furrows...
304
00:21:10,399 --> 00:21:13,010
They were surviving pagans.
305
00:21:13,054 --> 00:21:14,969
Hail
spirit of the dark.
306
00:21:15,056 --> 00:21:18,538
These were disgusting people
307
00:21:18,625 --> 00:21:21,584
practicing a religion
of sexual orgies...
308
00:21:23,586 --> 00:21:26,110
...and sacrificial
bloodletting...
309
00:21:30,201 --> 00:21:35,294
...left over from the darkness
of prehistory,
310
00:21:35,381 --> 00:21:37,905
and therefore
the witch trials were justified,
311
00:21:38,035 --> 00:21:42,997
which resulted in a slaughter
of tens of thousands of people.
312
00:21:48,437 --> 00:21:50,091
Elizabeth!
313
00:21:53,094 --> 00:21:57,403
Murray made a few additions
to the tradition of witchcraft
314
00:21:57,490 --> 00:22:00,754
as a surviving pagan religion,
315
00:22:00,841 --> 00:22:03,583
which became standard
and popular culture
316
00:22:03,670 --> 00:22:06,977
like horror and thriller novels
of Dennis Wheatley.
317
00:22:07,064 --> 00:22:08,631
You fool!
318
00:22:08,675 --> 00:22:12,243
I'd rather see you dead
than meddling with black magic.
319
00:22:12,331 --> 00:22:14,376
One was that witches,
320
00:22:14,463 --> 00:22:17,292
traditionally gathered
in covens,
321
00:22:17,423 --> 00:22:19,686
had ideally 13 members.
322
00:22:19,729 --> 00:22:22,950
Now that our coven of 13
has been restored,
323
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:24,865
we can begin the setup.
324
00:22:26,257 --> 00:22:28,564
Margaret Murray emphasized
not only
325
00:22:28,651 --> 00:22:32,612
that some witches had been
guilty of hideous crimes...
326
00:22:37,181 --> 00:22:38,618
...but that that sort of witch
327
00:22:38,705 --> 00:22:43,100
was still around
in modern England...
328
00:22:43,144 --> 00:22:46,539
and still secretly practicing
human sacrifice,
329
00:22:46,669 --> 00:22:49,237
as seen in
"The Devil Rides Out".
330
00:22:49,368 --> 00:22:52,675
Father of darkness,
King of death,
331
00:22:52,806 --> 00:22:55,330
I pledge this knife.
332
00:22:57,027 --> 00:23:00,030
Margaret Murray went
to the Lower Quinton area.
333
00:23:03,730 --> 00:23:05,949
She disguised herself
as an artist
334
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,996
and thought that way
to ingratiate herself
335
00:23:09,083 --> 00:23:12,086
with the local people
and uncover some more facts
336
00:23:12,216 --> 00:23:14,131
about the murder
of Charles Walton.
337
00:23:16,830 --> 00:23:22,009
She later gave an interview
to the Birmingham Post
338
00:23:22,052 --> 00:23:26,579
and suggested that Walton
had been a human sacrifice...
339
00:23:32,889 --> 00:23:36,197
...a propitiatory right
to make the crops grow...
340
00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:44,031
...of a surviving group of
black magic practicing witches.
341
00:23:45,989 --> 00:23:47,687
No!
342
00:23:52,039 --> 00:23:57,000
So the second theory is
that he was killed by witches
343
00:23:57,087 --> 00:24:01,570
as part of some sort of
blood sacrifice to the land.
344
00:24:15,715 --> 00:24:18,065
When you think of witchcraft,
you think of hysteria,
345
00:24:18,195 --> 00:24:20,981
as something that just exists
in people's mind.
346
00:24:21,068 --> 00:24:24,419
But in the 1960s,
there were real witches.
347
00:24:33,820 --> 00:24:36,475
There was an explosion
of interest in the supernatural
348
00:24:36,562 --> 00:24:38,955
and in ritualism.
349
00:24:46,267 --> 00:24:49,792
The revival
of public interest in witchcraft
350
00:24:49,879 --> 00:24:53,056
is one of those curious features
of life today.
351
00:24:53,187 --> 00:24:55,189
But it's very difficult
to get to the truth
352
00:24:55,276 --> 00:24:57,147
of what it's all about.
353
00:24:57,234 --> 00:24:58,584
On one estimate,
354
00:24:58,714 --> 00:25:01,630
there are 30,000 people
practicing in witchcraft
355
00:25:01,674 --> 00:25:03,458
in this country alone.
356
00:25:03,545 --> 00:25:06,505
But even so,
it's enough to make you think,
357
00:25:06,635 --> 00:25:09,029
are there really dangers
involved?
358
00:25:19,518 --> 00:25:22,782
And now to meet the witch,
Dr. Gerald Gardner.
359
00:25:22,869 --> 00:25:25,349
Dr. Gardner, how many witches
are there today?
360
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,439
Well, about 400,
I should think.
361
00:25:28,483 --> 00:25:30,485
And do these people worship
the devil?
362
00:25:30,529 --> 00:25:33,488
No. Good Lord, no.
They've got their own gods.
363
00:25:33,575 --> 00:25:36,665
Their own god's a very nice god.
They're the old gods of Britain.
364
00:25:36,752 --> 00:25:39,538
And you asked me to believe
that you are a witch yourself?
365
00:25:39,668 --> 00:25:42,410
Yes. I can be initiated into --
366
00:25:42,541 --> 00:25:44,891
brought into a circle
in the proper way.
367
00:25:47,197 --> 00:25:49,025
Away from the circle,
368
00:25:49,156 --> 00:25:51,898
the initiate, blindfolded,
369
00:25:52,028 --> 00:25:53,682
is prepared for the ordeals
370
00:25:53,769 --> 00:25:56,772
which he must undergo
before becoming a witch.
371
00:25:56,859 --> 00:25:59,340
The first is water.
372
00:26:07,130 --> 00:26:09,045
Michael?
373
00:26:11,874 --> 00:26:13,746
Michael!
374
00:26:18,489 --> 00:26:20,622
As well as the elements,
375
00:26:20,709 --> 00:26:25,235
the initiate is made
acutely aware of himself.
376
00:26:25,366 --> 00:26:28,674
- Naked, blind...
- Michael!
377
00:26:28,804 --> 00:26:30,501
...alone.
378
00:26:30,589 --> 00:26:34,593
He is confronted with some
of man's basic fears --
379
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:36,333
of nakedness,
380
00:26:36,420 --> 00:26:38,118
drowning,
381
00:26:38,161 --> 00:26:39,946
falling,
382
00:26:39,989 --> 00:26:42,383
pain.
383
00:26:42,470 --> 00:26:45,386
If he cannot master them
and himself,
384
00:26:45,473 --> 00:26:48,737
he will be considered
incapable of wisdom
385
00:26:48,868 --> 00:26:50,739
and will not be initiated.
386
00:26:53,699 --> 00:26:55,788
"Legend of the Witches"
is very much representative
387
00:26:55,875 --> 00:26:59,182
of witchcraft at the time.
388
00:26:59,226 --> 00:27:02,664
This idea of witches
out in the woods naked,
389
00:27:02,751 --> 00:27:05,101
what's referred to as skyclad
in Wicca.
390
00:27:07,147 --> 00:27:09,453
It's something I've done myself
when I was younger.
391
00:27:15,938 --> 00:27:18,811
It comes into Wicca because
of Dr. Gerald Gardner.
392
00:27:21,596 --> 00:27:24,599
Gardner and my dad
were great friends.
393
00:27:24,643 --> 00:27:27,254
Dad always famously used to say,
King of the witches.
394
00:27:27,297 --> 00:27:29,996
His hair goes this way
and his beard goes that way.
395
00:27:32,128 --> 00:27:34,827
He made the witchcraft
revival happen
396
00:27:34,914 --> 00:27:39,353
by being a retired civil servant
with nothing to lose.
397
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,355
He liked taking his clothes off,
basically.
398
00:27:43,357 --> 00:27:45,054
And he discovered the witches.
399
00:27:45,141 --> 00:27:47,578
The witches liked him.
400
00:27:47,666 --> 00:27:51,278
He recreated witchcraft
as a living,
401
00:27:51,365 --> 00:27:54,673
breathing religion in the UK.
402
00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:58,285
Be frank, one reason
for the secrecy today
403
00:27:58,328 --> 00:28:02,115
is because covens are
an excuse for sexual orgies.
404
00:28:02,202 --> 00:28:03,594
Oh. That's nonsense.
405
00:28:03,638 --> 00:28:05,901
Well, what do you dress in
when you dance?
406
00:28:05,988 --> 00:28:08,599
The traditional witches costume.
407
00:28:08,643 --> 00:28:10,079
Which is what?
408
00:28:10,166 --> 00:28:11,602
The skin.
409
00:28:11,733 --> 00:28:13,343
- In the nude?
- The nude. Yes, exactly.
410
00:28:17,478 --> 00:28:19,828
Symbolic whipping
lets him understand
411
00:28:19,915 --> 00:28:23,571
that from now, he is subject
to the discipline of the cult.
412
00:28:25,094 --> 00:28:28,445
In spite of this,
he is told
413
00:28:28,532 --> 00:28:31,231
in other religions,
you would kneel
414
00:28:31,361 --> 00:28:34,408
while I would tower above you.
415
00:28:34,538 --> 00:28:37,672
But in ours,
we are taught to be humble.
416
00:28:44,810 --> 00:28:47,290
You can honestly say
that witchcraft does no harm?
417
00:28:47,421 --> 00:28:50,032
No, I think it's absolutely
no harm at all.
418
00:29:08,268 --> 00:29:12,620
On the night of Friday,
September the 13th, 1963,
419
00:29:12,707 --> 00:29:15,188
something strange
happened in this place.
420
00:29:16,580 --> 00:29:20,671
A workman unlocking the door
of the 800-year-old keep
421
00:29:20,759 --> 00:29:22,282
found this...
422
00:29:24,588 --> 00:29:26,112
...two human effigies.
423
00:29:26,242 --> 00:29:29,680
The top one male,
the bottom one female.
424
00:29:29,724 --> 00:29:32,727
Between them -- a soot
blackened sheep's heart
425
00:29:32,814 --> 00:29:35,556
pierced
by 13 hawthorn twigs.
426
00:29:37,471 --> 00:29:39,865
The work of a practical joker,
427
00:29:39,952 --> 00:29:44,304
a crank, or someone
dabbling in black magic.
428
00:29:47,829 --> 00:29:49,700
Gerald Gardner
was accused by the press
429
00:29:49,831 --> 00:29:52,965
of whitewashing Wicca
and witchcraft.
430
00:29:55,663 --> 00:29:59,580
The tabloids reported on this
huge explosion of black masses
431
00:29:59,710 --> 00:30:01,321
all over Britain.
432
00:30:03,540 --> 00:30:07,196
Animal sacrifices,
seances with the dead,
433
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,852
summoning demons,
and casting curses.
434
00:30:24,953 --> 00:30:26,563
If you've got power
to do good,
435
00:30:26,694 --> 00:30:28,565
then presumably
you can do harm as well.
436
00:30:28,652 --> 00:30:30,785
Yes, we could if we wanted to.
437
00:30:30,916 --> 00:30:34,136
We only know
that they do practice witchcraft
438
00:30:34,223 --> 00:30:35,572
by what people say.
439
00:30:35,659 --> 00:30:38,140
But we never see anything.
440
00:30:38,271 --> 00:30:40,360
I'm uneasy about it.
441
00:30:40,490 --> 00:30:42,449
You know, when I hear about it.
442
00:30:42,492 --> 00:30:45,582
What makes you uneasy about
having witches living here?
443
00:30:45,669 --> 00:30:47,976
Lack of knowledge,
I should think.
444
00:30:48,063 --> 00:30:50,761
You know, I mean, if you don't
know anything about anything
445
00:30:50,849 --> 00:30:52,633
on the subject, what do you do?
446
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,810
You get nervous.
You get frightened, don't you?
447
00:30:55,897 --> 00:30:57,638
There's one particular lady
in the village
448
00:30:57,725 --> 00:31:00,336
who's convinced that I gave
her a great dose of diarrhea,
449
00:31:00,380 --> 00:31:01,990
which is absolutely ridiculous,
450
00:31:02,121 --> 00:31:05,733
but, um, she's convinced
that I was the cause of it.
451
00:31:07,517 --> 00:31:11,086
The bishops regularly denounce
the alleged witch cult
452
00:31:11,173 --> 00:31:14,176
as an attack
on the Christian family.
453
00:31:14,307 --> 00:31:15,830
Ken Malin is 23.
454
00:31:15,917 --> 00:31:17,701
He's done many jobs
455
00:31:17,745 --> 00:31:20,313
and is convinced his failure
to make money out of any of them
456
00:31:20,443 --> 00:31:22,663
was due to the malign influences
of the devil,
457
00:31:22,750 --> 00:31:25,144
rather than his own
shortcomings.
458
00:31:25,231 --> 00:31:27,059
Have you ever seen the devil?
459
00:31:27,189 --> 00:31:29,061
I think I've seen him once,
yes.
460
00:31:29,191 --> 00:31:31,106
I said, you know, I'm going
to sell my soul to the devil.
461
00:31:31,193 --> 00:31:32,629
And I used to sit
in front of the mirror
462
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,327
or something like that,
and I'd pray.
463
00:31:34,414 --> 00:31:36,198
I'd pray to the devil.
464
00:31:36,285 --> 00:31:37,765
I'd pray to the devil
and say, "Take my soul.
465
00:31:37,896 --> 00:31:39,854
Give me all the things
that I want.
466
00:31:39,941 --> 00:31:41,508
Give me a white Rolls-Royce
with black windows
467
00:31:41,638 --> 00:31:43,510
and a TV aerial on top.
468
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:45,164
Give me all the wealth.
469
00:31:45,207 --> 00:31:46,339
Give me all the girls
I want to go to bed with."
470
00:31:46,426 --> 00:31:48,123
But I woke up one night
471
00:31:48,210 --> 00:31:50,343
and I saw this
incredibly handsome man
472
00:31:50,430 --> 00:31:52,214
standing in the room.
473
00:31:52,345 --> 00:31:53,955
I mean, really handsome.
474
00:31:53,999 --> 00:31:56,001
I mean, you know,
it was a real attraction.
475
00:31:56,088 --> 00:31:58,003
I just almost wanted
to sort of touch him.
476
00:31:58,090 --> 00:32:00,048
But I became frightened.
477
00:32:00,135 --> 00:32:02,224
And when I closed my eyes to
sort of try and get rid of it,
478
00:32:02,311 --> 00:32:03,922
it was still there.
479
00:32:03,965 --> 00:32:05,271
I mean, the moment
I closed my eyes,
480
00:32:05,401 --> 00:32:07,055
it was still there in my mind.
481
00:32:07,142 --> 00:32:10,232
I command in the name
of the father,
482
00:32:10,319 --> 00:32:14,671
and of the son,
and of the Holy Ghost
483
00:32:14,758 --> 00:32:18,110
that all evil forces,
all evil spirits,
484
00:32:18,197 --> 00:32:22,941
all forms of witchcraft, black
magic, or sorcery may depart.
485
00:32:23,071 --> 00:32:25,247
Beat down Satan under our feet
486
00:32:25,334 --> 00:32:31,297
and call these evil forces
to depart.
487
00:32:52,405 --> 00:32:57,366
I feel a definite kind of
violent force attacking me.
488
00:32:57,410 --> 00:33:00,369
Sort of thing
that almost knocks me out.
489
00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:02,154
And, I mean,
there have been occasions
490
00:33:02,241 --> 00:33:03,894
when I have been knocked out.
491
00:33:04,025 --> 00:33:06,549
The force coming out
from him was so great
492
00:33:06,636 --> 00:33:09,161
that I was flung about five feet
across the altar.
493
00:33:13,643 --> 00:33:15,689
Charles Walton lies buried
494
00:33:15,776 --> 00:33:18,779
in Lower Quinton's
peaceful churchyard.
495
00:33:18,866 --> 00:33:23,653
A murder victim whose killer
I failed to bring to justice.
496
00:33:23,784 --> 00:33:28,441
I've never said this before,
but I think I know who did it.
497
00:33:28,571 --> 00:33:31,966
Who, though, will come
forward with the evidence?
498
00:33:35,839 --> 00:33:38,451
After the efforts of Fabian,
499
00:33:38,538 --> 00:33:43,847
Scotland Yard's best detective,
is unable to solve the murder...
500
00:33:45,719 --> 00:33:49,636
...Margaret Murray came from
London to do her investigation,
501
00:33:49,723 --> 00:33:52,073
who believed witches did this.
502
00:33:54,554 --> 00:33:58,558
Then in 1956,
this woman steps forward...
503
00:34:00,212 --> 00:34:02,518
...and claims to know
who did it.
504
00:34:04,564 --> 00:34:06,914
And she claims
to have been a witch.
505
00:34:10,570 --> 00:34:11,745
She won't give her name,
506
00:34:11,788 --> 00:34:13,834
but she provides
all the details,
507
00:34:13,877 --> 00:34:17,229
details that the police
haven't been able to suss out.
508
00:34:20,406 --> 00:34:22,060
And she tells a story.
509
00:34:25,237 --> 00:34:29,023
And it's the story of outsiders
coming into the village...
510
00:34:34,811 --> 00:34:36,509
...gathering in a field
around Charles Walton
511
00:34:36,596 --> 00:34:38,946
while he's out there,
trimming the hedge.
512
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:48,608
And they stab him
with his pitchfork.
513
00:34:51,828 --> 00:34:54,309
And they pour his blood
into goblets.
514
00:34:57,095 --> 00:35:01,229
And they dip their robes
into the blood...
515
00:35:01,273 --> 00:35:04,232
and they dance around his body.
516
00:35:12,806 --> 00:35:15,722
This is the popular conception
of what witches do.
517
00:35:15,809 --> 00:35:17,680
We asked Europe's
leading witchcraft authority
518
00:35:17,724 --> 00:35:19,334
what he thought
of this widespread image.
519
00:35:19,421 --> 00:35:21,075
That has a lot of rubbish.
520
00:35:21,162 --> 00:35:24,774
Alexander Saunders,
Europe's king of the witches.
521
00:35:24,818 --> 00:35:27,342
When people meet me
in the street,
522
00:35:27,429 --> 00:35:29,127
they're so terrified of me,
523
00:35:29,257 --> 00:35:31,825
after seeing a scene like that.
524
00:35:31,912 --> 00:35:33,914
Alex Saunders is the person
525
00:35:33,957 --> 00:35:37,396
who emerges as the most famous
witch in the world
526
00:35:37,483 --> 00:35:40,486
in the 1960s.
527
00:35:40,573 --> 00:35:43,924
He is a working class man
from the Birkenhead,
528
00:35:44,011 --> 00:35:45,708
Liverpool region.
529
00:35:45,752 --> 00:35:48,755
He reinvents himself
as a pagan witch,
530
00:35:48,842 --> 00:35:52,498
inspired by
Gerald Gardner's witch religion.
531
00:35:55,631 --> 00:35:57,503
They come from all over
the world,
532
00:35:57,633 --> 00:35:59,679
and some of them
asking for help.
533
00:35:59,766 --> 00:36:02,812
The majority of them are
people asking for initiation.
534
00:36:02,943 --> 00:36:08,470
And from 1964, he's got the
perfect partner called Maxine.
535
00:36:08,601 --> 00:36:11,517
He was especially protective
of vulnerable young women
536
00:36:11,604 --> 00:36:13,475
because being gay,
537
00:36:13,519 --> 00:36:18,176
he really had no vested interest
at all in exploiting them.
538
00:36:18,263 --> 00:36:21,701
He must have initiated more
people into pagan witchcraft
539
00:36:21,831 --> 00:36:24,182
than anybody else in history.
540
00:36:24,225 --> 00:36:26,227
We followed up
one of these inquiries
541
00:36:26,314 --> 00:36:28,098
and found a young lady,
542
00:36:28,186 --> 00:36:30,057
far from the image
of the cranky spinster
543
00:36:30,144 --> 00:36:33,147
one might associate
with witches and broomsticks.
544
00:36:33,278 --> 00:36:35,149
Penny's leaving her work
earlier than usual today
545
00:36:35,236 --> 00:36:37,586
because she has
a most important date.
546
00:36:37,717 --> 00:36:39,806
I'd always had
this interest in the occult
547
00:36:39,936 --> 00:36:42,025
ever since I can remember,
548
00:36:42,112 --> 00:36:44,506
but I didn't know how
to go about contacting anyone
549
00:36:44,593 --> 00:36:47,683
until I read a book
about Alex Saunders.
550
00:36:57,867 --> 00:36:59,608
A friend of mine
phoned up one day and she said,
551
00:36:59,695 --> 00:37:02,872
"Janet, I've just read
a fascinating book
552
00:37:02,959 --> 00:37:05,135
about a man called
Alex Saunders.
553
00:37:05,266 --> 00:37:07,442
He says he's the king
of the witches,
554
00:37:07,529 --> 00:37:09,618
and I'm going to meet him."
555
00:37:09,749 --> 00:37:11,359
Alarm bells.
556
00:37:14,144 --> 00:37:16,756
I grew up
in a Christian household.
557
00:37:18,584 --> 00:37:21,413
My grandfather was a deacon
of the church
558
00:37:21,456 --> 00:37:23,197
and became
a Sunday school teacher.
559
00:37:23,241 --> 00:37:27,375
I had no interest in the occult
at all
560
00:37:27,419 --> 00:37:29,638
because to me
it was all satanic.
561
00:37:29,682 --> 00:37:32,337
I've thought about
what I'm doing quite a lot
562
00:37:32,424 --> 00:37:35,296
and talked it over with my
parents and friends and people.
563
00:37:35,383 --> 00:37:37,864
Almost all of them
think I'm crazy.
564
00:37:37,951 --> 00:37:40,301
So I said, "Well, if you're
going, I'm going, too,"
565
00:37:40,388 --> 00:37:41,868
because my attitude was,
566
00:37:41,955 --> 00:37:43,783
you're not getting involved
in this, darling.
567
00:37:46,351 --> 00:37:49,179
So the two of us
set off to meet Alex Saunders,
568
00:37:49,267 --> 00:37:53,532
who lived in a very dingy little
flat in Notting Hill Gate.
569
00:37:53,662 --> 00:37:56,056
Well, in the book it shows
us dancing around fires.
570
00:37:56,099 --> 00:37:58,319
I found him fascinating.
571
00:37:58,450 --> 00:38:02,323
And something about witchcraft
made sense.
572
00:38:02,410 --> 00:38:06,109
I decided I'd go along
and join the coven as well.
573
00:38:06,196 --> 00:38:08,373
I had no idea
what I was walking into,
574
00:38:08,503 --> 00:38:11,332
because I thought
I'd put on a lovely robe,
575
00:38:11,419 --> 00:38:12,986
and that would be it.
576
00:38:18,992 --> 00:38:22,561
And Alex said, well, actually,
we're filming an initiation
577
00:38:22,648 --> 00:38:24,824
and we need an initiate.
578
00:38:24,867 --> 00:38:27,000
And you, Janet,
are the initiate.
579
00:38:29,437 --> 00:38:32,614
On the floor is a circle
nine feet in diameter,
580
00:38:32,701 --> 00:38:36,183
with a candle burning at each
of the four cardinal points.
581
00:38:37,576 --> 00:38:40,013
I bring before you Janet.
582
00:38:44,191 --> 00:38:47,542
"Take her clothes off."
What?
583
00:38:47,629 --> 00:38:50,980
"Well, you're the initiate.
You have to be naked."
584
00:38:51,067 --> 00:38:53,418
I've never seen a naked man
in my life.
585
00:38:53,548 --> 00:38:55,898
So here am I, being told
to take my clothes off
586
00:38:55,942 --> 00:38:58,553
and be naked
in a room full of strangers.
587
00:38:58,597 --> 00:39:00,860
Outside the circle
stands the initiate,
588
00:39:00,990 --> 00:39:02,949
who is waiting to be admitted.
589
00:39:02,992 --> 00:39:05,081
She is naked and blindfold.
590
00:39:05,212 --> 00:39:07,693
Well, in for a penny,
in for a pound, as they say.
591
00:39:07,780 --> 00:39:10,870
So I took all my clothes off and
stood there shaking in my boots,
592
00:39:10,913 --> 00:39:13,002
which, of course,
I wasn't wearing.
593
00:39:15,614 --> 00:39:17,485
When one of the women came in
594
00:39:17,616 --> 00:39:21,881
and she proceeded to tie me up
like a chicken and blindfold me.
595
00:39:23,883 --> 00:39:27,756
Well, I was led into a room
where the incense was burning.
596
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,193
I'm on my knees,
trussed up like a chicken,
597
00:39:30,324 --> 00:39:32,370
and they take the blindfold off.
598
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:35,373
Right in front of me
and fully erect
599
00:39:35,460 --> 00:39:38,376
was the first male naked penis
I'd ever seen.
600
00:39:38,463 --> 00:39:40,465
And it was not a pretty sight.
601
00:39:40,552 --> 00:39:42,684
But on the other hand,
if you're going to be a witch,
602
00:39:42,771 --> 00:39:44,904
you put up
with all sorts of things.
603
00:39:52,390 --> 00:39:53,826
There was an efflorescence
of British horror film
604
00:39:53,913 --> 00:39:56,611
starting in the late '50s,
605
00:39:56,742 --> 00:39:59,222
but there was a kind
of concentration of them
606
00:39:59,309 --> 00:40:02,530
in the early '70s.
607
00:40:02,661 --> 00:40:05,794
Increasingly weird and wonderful
British horror films.
608
00:40:10,582 --> 00:40:11,757
Look.
609
00:40:11,844 --> 00:40:13,149
What do you see?
610
00:40:15,325 --> 00:40:17,023
It's very easy
to look back at them now
611
00:40:17,110 --> 00:40:19,547
and view them purely
as fantasies.
612
00:40:22,768 --> 00:40:25,423
But there was a very strange
interbreeding
613
00:40:25,466 --> 00:40:30,428
between film stories and the
bizarre stuff that was going on.
614
00:40:33,431 --> 00:40:35,171
The horror movies
look like the products
615
00:40:35,258 --> 00:40:38,044
of deranged imaginations
of the directors,
616
00:40:38,131 --> 00:40:40,263
but they actually look
like they're lifted
617
00:40:40,307 --> 00:40:44,485
from documentary footage of
real witches made at the time.
618
00:40:58,586 --> 00:41:00,936
"Secret Rites",
619
00:41:01,023 --> 00:41:05,288
what you see in that documentary
is very, very slightly hyped,
620
00:41:05,419 --> 00:41:07,856
but otherwise it is actually
pretty accurate portrayal.
621
00:41:07,943 --> 00:41:10,729
I do summonst her
and call her up
622
00:41:10,816 --> 00:41:14,297
to witness my rights
and to guard the circle.
623
00:41:15,647 --> 00:41:17,431
In late 1960s Britain,
624
00:41:17,562 --> 00:41:21,914
there was a major societal shift
culturally, socially.
625
00:41:24,177 --> 00:41:28,616
People exploring drugs,
psychedelia,
626
00:41:28,747 --> 00:41:32,838
new ways of thinking, new ways
of being, alternative religions.
627
00:41:34,883 --> 00:41:37,320
There were witches
on chat shows.
628
00:41:37,364 --> 00:41:39,366
Being a witch
is bloody hard work.
629
00:41:39,453 --> 00:41:41,020
We've had everybody
in our coven
630
00:41:41,107 --> 00:41:43,413
from building site laborers
down to grandmas.
631
00:41:43,457 --> 00:41:45,415
In fact,
you probably all know a pagan
632
00:41:45,503 --> 00:41:47,548
or a witch somewhere
who lives quite close to you
633
00:41:47,635 --> 00:41:49,942
and you would never
even guess what they are.
634
00:41:50,072 --> 00:41:51,421
I'm a secretary.
635
00:41:51,552 --> 00:41:53,380
I do spray painting
most of the time.
636
00:41:53,467 --> 00:41:55,730
I work in a boutique.
637
00:41:55,817 --> 00:41:58,516
Witchcraft was everywhere,
it was all pervasive.
638
00:41:58,559 --> 00:42:01,170
Witchcraft is growing
in this country
639
00:42:01,257 --> 00:42:03,216
and there are so many
black covens.
640
00:42:03,259 --> 00:42:06,045
I am issuing a challenge
to the others.
641
00:42:06,088 --> 00:42:09,265
Come out
and fight me for my throne.
642
00:42:09,352 --> 00:42:11,790
There was an awareness
that Britain was going nuts.
643
00:42:14,096 --> 00:42:16,621
It was almost as if the country
were sort of entering
644
00:42:16,708 --> 00:42:19,928
into a nervous breakdown, a kind
of collective nervous breakdown.
645
00:42:22,322 --> 00:42:24,672
Britain goes through
an identity crisis.
646
00:42:24,803 --> 00:42:26,369
Its empire has ended.
647
00:42:26,413 --> 00:42:29,111
It's not as rich
as it used to be.
648
00:42:29,155 --> 00:42:31,374
There's class war.
649
00:42:35,465 --> 00:42:36,945
There's sexual revolution.
650
00:42:40,340 --> 00:42:42,516
There's satire,
651
00:42:42,603 --> 00:42:45,432
and the institution's respect
for them is crumbling.
652
00:42:48,087 --> 00:42:52,004
And all the assumptions
about how to behave
653
00:42:52,091 --> 00:42:54,615
were blown to smithereens.
654
00:43:02,492 --> 00:43:05,104
Has it helped you,
being a witch?
655
00:43:06,584 --> 00:43:11,806
The entire advertising industry
is witchcraft, darling.
656
00:43:11,850 --> 00:43:15,288
The poor old public
is permanently spellbound.
657
00:43:21,773 --> 00:43:23,905
Witchcraft is the only religion
658
00:43:23,992 --> 00:43:26,429
that the UK has given
to the world.
659
00:43:29,519 --> 00:43:32,261
Because it involved
a certain amount of nudity,
660
00:43:32,348 --> 00:43:34,220
it was a salacious,
it was exciting,
661
00:43:34,350 --> 00:43:36,788
it was titillating.
662
00:43:36,831 --> 00:43:39,138
It was catnip
to the Sunday papers.
663
00:43:47,102 --> 00:43:51,411
Witches in popular culture
has changed over the decades.
664
00:43:54,153 --> 00:43:56,503
If you think about
the notion of the witch
665
00:43:56,546 --> 00:44:00,333
as a hag in "Snow White"
or "The Wizard of Oz"...
666
00:44:02,727 --> 00:44:06,208
...but then the 1960s and '70s
in folk horror,
667
00:44:06,295 --> 00:44:09,081
we see these kind of young,
nubile,
668
00:44:09,168 --> 00:44:12,693
kind of naked women,
very sexualized.
669
00:44:12,824 --> 00:44:15,000
I did some articles
on witches once.
670
00:44:15,087 --> 00:44:16,697
No. Not witches, damn them.
671
00:44:16,784 --> 00:44:18,525
People who thought
they were witches,
672
00:44:18,612 --> 00:44:20,222
the psychology of it,
673
00:44:20,353 --> 00:44:22,268
it's a sex thing, deep down,
of course.
674
00:44:22,355 --> 00:44:24,487
Mostly women go in for it.
675
00:44:25,837 --> 00:44:29,101
This reflects
what was going on in society.
676
00:44:29,231 --> 00:44:32,582
There's a lot of
sexual liberation with the pill.
677
00:44:32,713 --> 00:44:36,195
Women can be in charge
of their own sexual freedom.
678
00:44:37,718 --> 00:44:41,287
Being in a circle full
of naked people was liberating.
679
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,683
A lot of the women were young.
They were good-looking.
680
00:44:47,119 --> 00:44:50,644
They were taught
to be proud of their bodies,
681
00:44:50,775 --> 00:44:52,951
to represent the goddess.
682
00:44:53,038 --> 00:44:55,736
And that was fantastic.
683
00:44:55,823 --> 00:44:59,653
They were exploited
to some extent, but willingly.
684
00:45:02,047 --> 00:45:05,006
And it upset your mum that
you were naked in the papers.
685
00:45:07,356 --> 00:45:10,664
My father was sitting
there reading a newspaper.
686
00:45:10,708 --> 00:45:14,015
I said, "I think I'd better tell
you something, Daddy.
687
00:45:14,102 --> 00:45:15,930
I don't quite know
how to tell you this, Dad,
688
00:45:16,061 --> 00:45:17,932
so I'm going to come
straight out with it.
689
00:45:18,019 --> 00:45:19,673
I'm naked on the cover."
690
00:45:19,804 --> 00:45:23,895
Without batting an eyelid,
he lowered the newspaper,
691
00:45:24,025 --> 00:45:25,766
peered over the top, and went,
692
00:45:25,853 --> 00:45:28,638
"That's nice,"
and pulled the newspaper up
693
00:45:28,726 --> 00:45:30,728
and continued reading.
694
00:45:30,815 --> 00:45:33,731
And that was my father's
initiation into witchcraft.
695
00:45:35,776 --> 00:45:38,431
The counterculture
was sort of spreading
696
00:45:38,518 --> 00:45:40,389
into people's breakfast tables.
697
00:45:40,476 --> 00:45:42,261
You know, Mr.
and Mrs. Average Briton
698
00:45:42,348 --> 00:45:44,089
couldn't open their tabloid
newspapers
699
00:45:44,176 --> 00:45:46,439
without reading bizarre stories.
700
00:45:49,921 --> 00:45:53,489
And all this fed, really,
into horror films of the period.
701
00:45:53,576 --> 00:45:57,972
A date with the devil.
702
00:45:58,059 --> 00:46:00,061
A bacchanal with Beelzebub.
703
00:46:00,148 --> 00:46:02,847
- Sounds wild!
- It's Sunday supplement stuff.
704
00:46:03,935 --> 00:46:07,155
The details
of the Charles Walton murder --
705
00:46:07,286 --> 00:46:09,244
well, they were
extremely gruesome.
706
00:46:09,331 --> 00:46:12,030
And the intimations
of ritual murder
707
00:46:12,117 --> 00:46:14,641
were so gruesomely glamorous.
708
00:46:17,992 --> 00:46:20,865
This titillated
the tabloids enormously.
709
00:46:20,908 --> 00:46:22,562
And, of course, filmmakers.
710
00:46:22,649 --> 00:46:24,782
I've heard of things.
Every now and then.
711
00:46:24,869 --> 00:46:26,871
There's a song and dance
about it in the Sunday papers.
712
00:46:27,001 --> 00:46:31,484
Devil worship, graves dug up,
churches desecrated...
713
00:46:31,527 --> 00:46:33,791
...blood.
Stories of blood.
714
00:46:40,623 --> 00:46:43,322
After the Walton murder
in 1945,
715
00:46:45,628 --> 00:46:47,761
there were actually
several novels on the subject
716
00:46:47,848 --> 00:46:49,807
of ritual murders.
717
00:46:51,721 --> 00:46:55,682
There was Robin Estridge's
novel, "Day of the Arrow,"
718
00:46:55,769 --> 00:46:59,425
which became a film
called "Eye of the Devil,"
719
00:46:59,512 --> 00:47:03,951
in which the marquis
of a region of Bordeaux
720
00:47:04,038 --> 00:47:07,128
has had a failed crop
for three years running
721
00:47:07,172 --> 00:47:09,174
is ritually sacrificed...
722
00:47:11,393 --> 00:47:13,743
Alain! No!
723
00:47:13,831 --> 00:47:17,660
...in order to ensure that the
wine will flow better in future.
724
00:47:17,747 --> 00:47:21,621
This heathen mumbo-jumbo,
these sadists!
725
00:47:23,101 --> 00:47:27,322
Sharon Tate was making a film
called "The Eye of the Devil"
726
00:47:27,409 --> 00:47:31,196
and the film company obviously
had heard about Alex Sanders.
727
00:47:34,112 --> 00:47:37,855
And so they decided
to get hold of real witches
728
00:47:37,942 --> 00:47:40,205
to consult about the film.
729
00:47:41,641 --> 00:47:46,124
He and Maxine went along
and they met the cast,
730
00:47:46,211 --> 00:47:47,908
and Alex did one
of his oogie boogie bits,
731
00:47:47,995 --> 00:47:50,215
as I call it,
732
00:47:50,302 --> 00:47:52,565
which basically involves
Maxine lying on the floor
733
00:47:52,652 --> 00:47:55,002
and he's --
I don't know what he's doing,
734
00:47:55,089 --> 00:47:57,222
but anyway, he's doing
something with Maxine.
735
00:47:59,354 --> 00:48:03,663
There was Norah Lofts novel
called "Devil's Own,"
736
00:48:03,706 --> 00:48:06,666
which became a Hammer film
in 1966 called "The Witches."
737
00:48:06,753 --> 00:48:08,668
- Afternoon, miss.
- Good afternoon.
738
00:48:08,711 --> 00:48:11,236
And in that, Miss Mayfield
decides to become a teacher
739
00:48:11,323 --> 00:48:14,152
in what appears to be
a beautiful, idyll village.
740
00:48:19,418 --> 00:48:21,594
The occult novel
that inspired "The Wicker Man"
741
00:48:21,724 --> 00:48:24,075
was "Ritual" by David Pinner.
742
00:48:26,381 --> 00:48:29,471
The Charles Walton murder
case also directly influenced
743
00:48:29,515 --> 00:48:31,821
a whole host of other folk
horror offerings...
744
00:48:31,909 --> 00:48:33,606
Who's that?
Who is it?
745
00:48:37,697 --> 00:48:39,481
...like "Robin Redbreast,"
746
00:48:39,568 --> 00:48:41,831
"Penda's Fen,"
"Plague of the Zombies"...
747
00:48:41,962 --> 00:48:43,833
This is a Cornish
village inhabited by
748
00:48:43,921 --> 00:48:47,011
simple country people,
riddled with superstitions.
749
00:48:47,054 --> 00:48:49,970
They all represent
the theme of the outsider
750
00:48:50,101 --> 00:48:55,019
coming into a local village
where the villagers are unwelcoming,
751
00:48:55,106 --> 00:48:57,282
unfriendly, uncooperative.
752
00:48:57,935 --> 00:48:59,501
Is there anything we can do,
vicar?
753
00:48:59,588 --> 00:49:01,199
Yeah.
You can keep away from us.
754
00:49:01,286 --> 00:49:02,809
Please, it was not our fault.
755
00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:04,506
Leave us alone!
756
00:49:04,550 --> 00:49:06,856
- But surely, you --
- I said leave us alone!
757
00:49:07,727 --> 00:49:10,904
Which certainly happened
in the Charles Walton case.
758
00:49:10,991 --> 00:49:13,951
The villagers were not only
misleading people,
759
00:49:14,081 --> 00:49:16,475
but they were blatantly lying --
760
00:49:17,693 --> 00:49:19,130
making up stories,
761
00:49:19,217 --> 00:49:21,349
giving fabricated evidence,
762
00:49:21,436 --> 00:49:24,439
leading the police
down all sorts of rabbit holes,
763
00:49:24,526 --> 00:49:25,832
different tracks.
764
00:49:26,528 --> 00:49:29,053
Whose desk is that?
765
00:49:29,140 --> 00:49:30,750
No one's.
766
00:49:30,793 --> 00:49:33,535
Margaret Murray said
specifically in the Walton case,
767
00:49:33,622 --> 00:49:35,581
that the murder
had been committed
768
00:49:35,711 --> 00:49:39,454
to give the blood sacrifice to
the land for fertility purposes.
769
00:49:39,846 --> 00:49:43,676
And from his blood,
the crops would spring.
770
00:49:44,024 --> 00:49:48,420
The earth has to have
sacrifice.
771
00:49:50,465 --> 00:49:52,337
So Fabian left Lower Quinton,
772
00:49:52,424 --> 00:49:54,426
never having resolved this case,
773
00:49:54,556 --> 00:49:57,690
never having found out
what really happened.
774
00:49:57,777 --> 00:49:59,170
Did you find the girl?
775
00:50:00,823 --> 00:50:03,652
No, well,
I can't say I'm very surprised.
776
00:50:06,133 --> 00:50:08,744
"The Wicker Man" is set on
a far-flung island
777
00:50:08,831 --> 00:50:12,705
among people who are still
trying to live in the distant pagan past.
778
00:50:14,924 --> 00:50:19,364
But it's also very much
a film of the 1960s and '70s.
779
00:50:20,713 --> 00:50:23,281
The hysteria around
Charles Walton,
780
00:50:24,543 --> 00:50:27,241
the sexual revolution,
781
00:50:27,328 --> 00:50:29,765
and a fascination
that people had for witchcraft.
782
00:50:34,422 --> 00:50:37,686
I invoke thee and call upon
thee, mighty mother of us all.
783
00:50:37,817 --> 00:50:39,688
Bringer of all fruitfulness.
784
00:50:39,819 --> 00:50:42,082
Queen of Heaven.
Queen of Hell.
785
00:50:42,169 --> 00:50:44,084
Horned hunter of the night.
786
00:50:44,171 --> 00:50:47,870
The wind is crying through the
trees.
787
00:50:47,957 --> 00:50:50,873
And we invoke thee to appear.
788
00:50:51,178 --> 00:50:53,572
Mighty god of the sun,
789
00:50:53,615 --> 00:50:57,141
Bountiful goddess
of our orchards...
790
00:50:57,228 --> 00:51:01,406
So "The Wicker Man" is as much
about fact as it is fiction.
791
00:51:03,886 --> 00:51:05,584
But the killing
of Charles Walton
792
00:51:05,671 --> 00:51:08,717
wasn't the only occult crime
that inspired folk horror.
793
00:51:26,996 --> 00:51:30,696
Highgate Cemetery.
794
00:51:30,783 --> 00:51:32,437
Something was going on there.
795
00:51:39,096 --> 00:51:42,447
I worked for an architect.
796
00:51:44,623 --> 00:51:45,711
He came into work one morning,
797
00:51:45,754 --> 00:51:47,582
he was as white as a sheet.
798
00:51:50,585 --> 00:51:53,022
And I said,
"Are you all right?"
799
00:51:53,066 --> 00:51:56,330
And he said, "I've just had
a weird experience, Janet.
800
00:51:56,417 --> 00:51:58,289
Um, you're a witch,
aren't you?"
801
00:51:58,376 --> 00:52:00,378
And I said, "Well,
you know I am. Why?"
802
00:52:02,858 --> 00:52:04,338
He said, "When I went
home the other night,
803
00:52:04,382 --> 00:52:06,775
I parked my car where
I usually park it,
804
00:52:06,862 --> 00:52:09,604
right by the railings
of the old Highgate Cemetery."
805
00:52:11,432 --> 00:52:13,782
I went, "Yeah, so?"
806
00:52:13,826 --> 00:52:18,004
"I saw something, Janet."
807
00:52:18,091 --> 00:52:19,484
"What did you see?"
808
00:52:21,486 --> 00:52:23,531
"I don't know," he said,
809
00:52:23,618 --> 00:52:25,577
"but it scared the hell
out of me.
810
00:52:28,667 --> 00:52:33,454
It was about seven foot tall
with blazing red eyes,
811
00:52:33,498 --> 00:52:35,369
and it was staring at me.
812
00:52:35,413 --> 00:52:37,241
And it was shaped
like a human being,
813
00:52:37,328 --> 00:52:38,807
but I don't know what it was."
814
00:52:41,114 --> 00:52:43,116
He said, "I've never been
so scared in my life."
815
00:52:43,247 --> 00:52:46,380
He said, "I ran.
I absolutely ran to my house."
816
00:52:51,472 --> 00:52:53,257
Shortly after that,
817
00:52:53,344 --> 00:52:55,781
David Farrant started
investigating the concept
818
00:52:55,868 --> 00:52:58,175
of the Vampire
of Highgate Cemetery.
819
00:53:08,097 --> 00:53:10,970
Farrant wanted publicity.
820
00:53:11,100 --> 00:53:13,190
He contacts a newspaper.
821
00:53:14,887 --> 00:53:17,368
The journalist wanted to take
somebody along
822
00:53:17,455 --> 00:53:19,718
who was a natural
born medium --
823
00:53:19,805 --> 00:53:21,198
muggins here.
824
00:53:22,547 --> 00:53:25,332
So I'm going to be roped
along to go marching
825
00:53:25,376 --> 00:53:27,552
into an old cemetery.
826
00:53:29,293 --> 00:53:30,990
I am a natural medium,
827
00:53:31,077 --> 00:53:34,254
and I think the idea was that I
was supposed to be able to dowse
828
00:53:34,341 --> 00:53:35,647
where the vampire was,
829
00:53:36,387 --> 00:53:38,519
and maybe communicate with it.
830
00:53:40,826 --> 00:53:44,046
In the meantime, Farrant goes
with a different young lady.
831
00:53:47,136 --> 00:53:49,443
According
to the newspaper reports,
832
00:53:49,530 --> 00:53:53,186
the young lady danced naked
on top of the gravestone.
833
00:53:55,406 --> 00:53:58,278
Farrant, not content with naked
ladies dancing on gravestones,
834
00:53:58,365 --> 00:54:00,628
decided to slay the vampire.
835
00:54:05,633 --> 00:54:08,332
Have you ever seen this --
vampire?
836
00:54:08,419 --> 00:54:10,029
I have seen it. Yes.
837
00:54:10,159 --> 00:54:13,206
I saw it last February.
And I saw it on two occasions.
838
00:54:13,293 --> 00:54:14,816
What was it like?
839
00:54:14,903 --> 00:54:17,602
It took the form
of a tall gray figure,
840
00:54:17,732 --> 00:54:20,692
and it -- about eight feet tall,
841
00:54:20,779 --> 00:54:24,391
and it seemed to glide off the
path without making any noise.
842
00:54:25,218 --> 00:54:29,831
Farrant, because he
can't keep his mouth shut, gets arrested.
843
00:54:29,918 --> 00:54:31,572
Desecration of the dead.
844
00:54:37,230 --> 00:54:39,058
In the late '60s
and early '70s,
845
00:54:39,145 --> 00:54:44,411
the line between fiction and
fantasy became somewhat blurred.
846
00:54:44,498 --> 00:54:47,762
In fact, they do say that
a Hammer film
847
00:54:47,893 --> 00:54:49,938
called "Dracula A.D. 1972"
848
00:54:50,025 --> 00:54:52,854
was directly inspired
by the Highgate Vampire.
849
00:54:52,985 --> 00:54:55,596
Well, come on,
before some nosy cop nabs us
850
00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:58,425
- for loitering with intent.
- Intent to what? Rob a grave?
851
00:55:01,254 --> 00:55:02,864
David Farrant used to
come into the shops.
852
00:55:02,995 --> 00:55:05,911
I would see him.
I got to know him a bit.
853
00:55:05,998 --> 00:55:11,220
And he was one
of these foppish hippy types.
854
00:55:11,264 --> 00:55:16,835
He was born to wear a velvet
drape suit and lace cuffs.
855
00:55:19,316 --> 00:55:22,797
But in a case of
what-goes-around-comes-around,
856
00:55:22,884 --> 00:55:27,759
it interests me that when the
Highgate Vampire palaver all began,
857
00:55:27,846 --> 00:55:29,978
right at the end of 1969,
858
00:55:30,022 --> 00:55:32,894
an earlier Hammer Dracula film,
"Taste the Blood of Dracula,"
859
00:55:32,938 --> 00:55:37,072
had been filming
in Highgate Cemetery.
860
00:55:37,159 --> 00:55:37,986
Action!
861
00:55:43,078 --> 00:55:45,298
This may have
stimulated imaginations,
862
00:55:45,385 --> 00:55:48,519
the fact that a vampire film
was being shot in the cemetery.
863
00:55:50,259 --> 00:55:53,524
And so eventually we end up with
apparently"Dracula A.D. 1972"
864
00:55:53,567 --> 00:55:55,700
was inspired by
the Highgate Vampire.
865
00:55:55,830 --> 00:55:57,571
I summoned you!
866
00:55:57,658 --> 00:55:59,356
It was my will.
867
00:56:00,748 --> 00:56:02,924
I think this really is
an indication
868
00:56:03,011 --> 00:56:08,669
that fiction and fantasy
were bleeding into the real
869
00:56:08,756 --> 00:56:10,671
or the imagined,
or whatever it might be,
870
00:56:10,758 --> 00:56:12,804
but nevertheless, stuff that
was happening in the real world,
871
00:56:12,847 --> 00:56:16,155
in a most intriguing
and off-the-leash kind of way.
872
00:56:20,942 --> 00:56:24,729
What is interesting also is
what Farrant was accused of.
873
00:56:26,339 --> 00:56:28,123
He was accused of
actually doing rituals.
874
00:56:29,342 --> 00:56:33,999
This is something
that was actually going on.
875
00:56:34,086 --> 00:56:37,437
Like you see in
"Dracula A.D. 1972,"
876
00:56:37,524 --> 00:56:41,833
you were having this
whole crowd from Hampstead
877
00:56:41,963 --> 00:56:45,097
who were experimenting
with cultism using old churches.
878
00:56:46,533 --> 00:56:49,188
They were dabbling.
879
00:56:49,318 --> 00:56:51,756
They weren't serious occultists,
they weren't serious witches,
880
00:56:51,886 --> 00:56:55,107
but they were dabbling around.
881
00:56:55,194 --> 00:56:59,328
You can't underestimate
the power of Dennis Wheatley,
882
00:56:59,416 --> 00:57:02,114
Hammer House of Horror,
Hollywood, all those things.
883
00:57:02,244 --> 00:57:06,684
I call on Andras,
Grand Marquis of Hell.
884
00:57:12,080 --> 00:57:14,082
A little knowledge is
a dangerous thing.
885
00:57:16,998 --> 00:57:19,174
They are dabbling.
886
00:57:19,218 --> 00:57:23,788
And they don't know a demon
from an entity.
887
00:57:23,831 --> 00:57:26,747
If enough people believe in
something, it can become real.
888
00:57:26,834 --> 00:57:28,401
It can materialize.
889
00:57:32,144 --> 00:57:34,102
So if enough people had believed
890
00:57:34,189 --> 00:57:37,758
that there was a vampire
in Highgate Cemetery,
891
00:57:37,889 --> 00:57:39,978
they could manifest this.
892
00:57:46,854 --> 00:57:50,554
I was at Highgate Cemetery
a few years ago,
893
00:57:50,641 --> 00:57:53,252
and I was looking
through the wrought iron gates
894
00:57:53,382 --> 00:57:55,994
to see if I could see
anybody's gravestones...
895
00:57:57,735 --> 00:58:00,912
...and I felt something.
896
00:58:00,999 --> 00:58:03,131
I looked across the lane
897
00:58:03,218 --> 00:58:06,961
and there was a man in
a stovepipe hat, all in black.
898
00:58:07,048 --> 00:58:10,791
He was about seven foot tall,
it seemed,
899
00:58:10,835 --> 00:58:14,578
and in two or three strides,
he was across the lane.
900
00:58:14,621 --> 00:58:16,275
I saw the Highgate Vampire.
901
00:58:30,637 --> 00:58:32,726
Despite the sensationalist
tabloid headlines
902
00:58:32,857 --> 00:58:36,643
and all the horror films,
the question remained --
903
00:58:36,687 --> 00:58:38,732
who killed Charles Walton?
904
00:58:40,995 --> 00:58:43,520
And most puzzling of all, why?
905
00:58:46,392 --> 00:58:49,351
The Charles Walton Enigma is
not just that of a
906
00:58:49,438 --> 00:58:50,701
straightforward whodunit.
907
00:58:50,744 --> 00:58:53,660
It's the enigma
of Britain itself.
908
00:58:57,098 --> 00:59:01,320
Was Britain's pagan past
secretly alive in the present?
909
00:59:03,365 --> 00:59:06,151
Or was this just
yet another fantasy?
910
00:59:10,895 --> 00:59:14,376
So in 1945, as Fabian's
investigating this crime,
911
00:59:14,463 --> 00:59:17,597
his first motive for the killing
that he comes up with
912
00:59:17,684 --> 00:59:19,599
is that it's a robbery.
913
00:59:24,212 --> 00:59:25,779
But there is no evidence,
obviously,
914
00:59:25,866 --> 00:59:27,564
that a robbery occurred.
915
00:59:29,304 --> 00:59:34,179
So the second theory is
that he was killed by witches
916
00:59:34,266 --> 00:59:38,575
as part of some sort of
blood sacrifice to the land.
917
00:59:41,229 --> 00:59:43,101
And according to these theories,
918
00:59:43,144 --> 00:59:45,538
he was murdered
in broad daylight
919
00:59:45,582 --> 00:59:48,933
and then there was a pagan dance
ritual around his body.
920
00:59:51,936 --> 00:59:55,766
It's a village of 493 people.
921
00:59:55,853 --> 00:59:57,768
They're aware of outsiders.
922
01:00:01,075 --> 01:00:04,601
If you have a coven of 13 people
walking through the town,
923
01:00:06,254 --> 01:00:08,126
someone's gonna notice that.
924
01:00:10,563 --> 01:00:13,610
One of the villagers
925
01:00:13,697 --> 01:00:14,959
is probably the murderer.
926
01:00:22,531 --> 01:00:25,622
When the Charles Walton
murder occurred in 1945,
927
01:00:27,449 --> 01:00:30,061
basic forms of folk magic
were still carried out.
928
01:00:40,637 --> 01:00:42,900
The origin
of festivities such as this
929
01:00:42,987 --> 01:00:45,119
at Abbots Bromley
in Staffordshire
930
01:00:45,206 --> 01:00:47,339
lie centuries back
in prehistory.
931
01:01:11,189 --> 01:01:13,452
What you see is the she-male...
932
01:01:18,326 --> 01:01:20,328
...dancing at the head
of the procession.
933
01:01:26,117 --> 01:01:28,206
The hobby horse...
934
01:01:34,255 --> 01:01:36,954
...and the horned dancers,
with the antlers.
935
01:01:41,480 --> 01:01:44,004
And that festival is
still carried out.
936
01:01:57,017 --> 01:01:58,671
Beltane is, of course,
May Day...
937
01:02:05,460 --> 01:02:08,507
...where traditionally
you would jump over a fire
938
01:02:08,637 --> 01:02:10,857
for the purpose
of fertility in the countryside.
939
01:02:13,381 --> 01:02:15,819
They're jumping
through the flames
940
01:02:15,906 --> 01:02:18,560
in the hope that the god
of fire will make them fruitful.
941
01:02:22,042 --> 01:02:24,436
The May Queen appears
at Beltane
942
01:02:26,264 --> 01:02:28,788
and she's the regrowth
of the land.
943
01:02:33,097 --> 01:02:35,621
There's actually so much
in the horror films.
944
01:02:41,279 --> 01:02:43,847
The first example has to be
"The Wicker Man".
945
01:02:46,893 --> 01:02:50,592
Then films made later,
such as "Midsommar."
946
01:02:54,074 --> 01:02:56,729
Normally a young girl is chosen.
947
01:03:02,126 --> 01:03:03,823
Sometimes it was a competition.
948
01:03:19,143 --> 01:03:22,886
You still see it around in
folklore customs around the UK.
949
01:03:22,973 --> 01:03:27,194
- You are our May Queen.
- Me?
950
01:03:27,325 --> 01:03:28,979
- Yes!
- Why?
951
01:03:29,066 --> 01:03:30,154
You won!
952
01:03:38,858 --> 01:03:42,122
The Cotswold Hills
at the bottom of Warwickshire
953
01:03:42,253 --> 01:03:44,385
in the mid 20th century,
954
01:03:44,472 --> 01:03:49,303
was one of the most folklore-
saturated parts of England
955
01:03:49,390 --> 01:03:53,830
and especially the area around
the village of Lower Quinton.
956
01:03:56,963 --> 01:03:59,618
Warwickshire people seem to
have the same kind of affinity
957
01:03:59,748 --> 01:04:02,664
with witchcraft that the Welsh
have with singing.
958
01:04:03,056 --> 01:04:07,974
Today, one of Warwickshire's
best known witches is Irene Ison.
959
01:04:08,018 --> 01:04:11,021
In fact, she's been called
the Queen of English Witches.
960
01:04:11,456 --> 01:04:14,633
There are still
so many self-contained villages
961
01:04:14,676 --> 01:04:17,592
who really do not like strangers
and don't like visitors,
962
01:04:17,636 --> 01:04:20,552
and they cover all things up
963
01:04:20,639 --> 01:04:22,467
that they don't want
anybody to know about.
964
01:04:22,597 --> 01:04:24,382
The communication here,
965
01:04:24,469 --> 01:04:28,168
although for radio,
television, and telephone
966
01:04:28,255 --> 01:04:30,388
still people believe in
the old ways.
967
01:04:40,093 --> 01:04:44,097
These standing stones on a
ridge above Long Compton village
968
01:04:44,184 --> 01:04:47,057
are known locally
as the Rollright Stones.
969
01:04:50,974 --> 01:04:52,366
Covens of witches,
970
01:04:52,410 --> 01:04:54,412
who, even in these modern times,
971
01:04:54,499 --> 01:04:57,241
visit the Rollright Stones
in the dead of night
972
01:04:57,328 --> 01:05:00,722
and dance naked
around his unmoving form.
973
01:05:10,210 --> 01:05:13,039
Rollright Stones have very,
very, very strange energy.
974
01:05:16,738 --> 01:05:19,916
Really a warmth to it
in a strange sort of way.
975
01:05:28,402 --> 01:05:30,100
It's a great place to work.
976
01:05:33,886 --> 01:05:36,236
You can get loads of people
into the Rollright Stones.
977
01:05:38,238 --> 01:05:40,110
I've been to handfastings there.
978
01:05:42,721 --> 01:05:45,419
It's a nice place.
It's fairly central.
979
01:05:51,382 --> 01:05:53,297
You can't really park
there very well.
980
01:05:55,864 --> 01:05:59,651
But it's so open.
981
01:05:59,781 --> 01:06:02,480
You feel you are somewhere else.
982
01:06:09,835 --> 01:06:12,620
One of the
very last real murders
983
01:06:12,707 --> 01:06:15,362
of somebody connected
with witchcraft
984
01:06:15,449 --> 01:06:17,756
was that of Anne Tennant...
985
01:06:19,845 --> 01:06:22,587
...right underneath
the famous prehistoric monument,
986
01:06:22,630 --> 01:06:24,328
the Rollright Stones.
987
01:06:29,420 --> 01:06:34,120
She was murdered by a farm
laborer called John Heywood.
988
01:06:36,166 --> 01:06:39,908
He murdered her because he was
convinced that she was a witch,
989
01:06:39,952 --> 01:06:44,609
and that she had bewitched
both him and his livestock.
990
01:06:48,613 --> 01:06:52,138
This is not the Middle Ages,
it's 1875.
991
01:06:52,225 --> 01:06:54,793
And he had killed her
in the same way
992
01:06:54,923 --> 01:06:56,534
that Charles Walton died.
993
01:06:56,664 --> 01:06:59,363
He had pinned her down
with a pitchfork.
994
01:07:04,542 --> 01:07:08,720
And his defense was
that he didn't mean to kill her.
995
01:07:08,807 --> 01:07:12,767
That he knew --
and this was indeed a very widespread
996
01:07:12,854 --> 01:07:14,639
popular superstition,
997
01:07:14,726 --> 01:07:18,556
that you could break
the curse of a witch,
998
01:07:18,599 --> 01:07:20,906
providing you drew blood
from her.
999
01:07:23,126 --> 01:07:27,782
And it seems extremely likely
that the person
1000
01:07:27,913 --> 01:07:30,698
who killed Charles Walton
would have known
1001
01:07:30,785 --> 01:07:34,006
how Ann Tennant had died.
1002
01:07:34,659 --> 01:07:38,402
These villagers were only
a few miles from each other.
1003
01:07:38,489 --> 01:07:40,317
They're walking distance.
1004
01:07:42,797 --> 01:07:44,843
We fear that
witchcraft has returned.
1005
01:07:46,497 --> 01:07:48,368
It is more than witchcraft.
1006
01:07:54,853 --> 01:07:57,986
When Fabian arrives
in Lower Quinton.
1007
01:07:58,074 --> 01:07:59,684
Obviously, one of
the first things he wants to do
1008
01:07:59,771 --> 01:08:02,861
is establish a motive
for the crime.
1009
01:08:05,603 --> 01:08:09,085
"What motive?"
I asked briskly.
1010
01:08:09,172 --> 01:08:11,957
"Revenge?
A quarrel?"
1011
01:08:12,044 --> 01:08:15,003
"Well," he hesitated,
1012
01:08:15,091 --> 01:08:17,963
"Perhaps you'd better
look at this."
1013
01:08:18,050 --> 01:08:23,403
"Folk Lore, Old Customs
and Superstitions in Shakespeare Land"
1014
01:08:23,534 --> 01:08:25,405
by J. Harvey Bloom."
1015
01:08:28,234 --> 01:08:34,240
"Puzzled, I read, 'In 1875,
a young man killed a woman
1016
01:08:34,327 --> 01:08:38,375
with a hay-fork because he
believed she had bewitched him.'"
1017
01:08:42,379 --> 01:08:46,078
But Fabian ultimately
doesn't pursue the angle.
1018
01:08:47,384 --> 01:08:49,081
Too much time has passed.
1019
01:08:52,302 --> 01:08:56,349
But then, in the 1950s,
1020
01:08:56,436 --> 01:08:58,046
a distant relative
of Ann Tennant
1021
01:08:58,134 --> 01:09:00,353
writes a letter to the police
1022
01:09:00,397 --> 01:09:02,486
which makes its way
to Scotland Yard.
1023
01:09:04,836 --> 01:09:06,751
And the letter basically says,
1024
01:09:06,838 --> 01:09:08,883
my great grandmother Ann Tennant
1025
01:09:08,970 --> 01:09:13,236
was murdered in Long Compton
back in 1875
1026
01:09:13,323 --> 01:09:15,325
by a man with a pitchfork.
1027
01:09:18,850 --> 01:09:21,505
The man believed my
great grandmother was a witch,
1028
01:09:21,635 --> 01:09:24,160
and she had a
quote unquote "evil eye."
1029
01:09:28,642 --> 01:09:32,037
And she put a curse on one
of his pigs, and the pigs died.
1030
01:09:40,219 --> 01:09:44,397
The Evil eye, for instance,
has been known to be used there,
1031
01:09:44,528 --> 01:09:49,489
and I've actually seen
this thing used and
1032
01:09:49,533 --> 01:09:52,318
I've seen its effects.
1033
01:09:52,405 --> 01:09:57,193
For instance on animals
such as pigs and then cows.
1034
01:09:57,280 --> 01:10:01,153
They can be bewitched
by the power of the evil eye.
1035
01:10:03,329 --> 01:10:08,900
It is a baleful glance
thrown toward the object,
1036
01:10:08,943 --> 01:10:12,338
which is generally
an object of hate.
1037
01:10:12,425 --> 01:10:16,821
And it causes,
well, some misfortune,
1038
01:10:16,908 --> 01:10:20,172
usually some kind of
wasting illness.
1039
01:10:21,913 --> 01:10:23,741
This sort of
grabs the attention
1040
01:10:23,828 --> 01:10:26,352
of the Warwickshire police,
who first see the letter,
1041
01:10:26,439 --> 01:10:29,747
because obviously Charles Walton
was killed with a pitchfork.
1042
01:10:36,449 --> 01:10:38,973
And number two,
Alfred Potter, the key suspect,
1043
01:10:39,060 --> 01:10:42,890
he'd had a cow die in a ditch
the day before the murder.
1044
01:10:48,722 --> 01:10:52,335
Dead pig in the
Ann Tennant case.
1045
01:10:52,378 --> 01:10:56,513
Dead cow in the Walton case.
1046
01:10:56,556 --> 01:10:59,124
Did the police believe
that Potter killed Walton
1047
01:10:59,211 --> 01:11:00,604
over the death of this cow?
1048
01:11:03,911 --> 01:11:05,391
Just as Heywood
had killed Tennant
1049
01:11:05,522 --> 01:11:07,437
over the death of his pig.
1050
01:11:09,221 --> 01:11:11,789
Did Potter believe
that Walton was a witch?
1051
01:11:22,669 --> 01:11:24,323
By the late 1960s,
1052
01:11:24,410 --> 01:11:27,065
rumors were starting
to circulate
1053
01:11:27,108 --> 01:11:31,765
that Walton had been odd
in really quite profound ways.
1054
01:11:35,073 --> 01:11:38,076
I grew up in Warwickshire.
1055
01:11:38,119 --> 01:11:40,644
One time we had a lot
of snowfall in the winter,
1056
01:11:40,731 --> 01:11:45,518
and we went sledging on hills
very close to Meon Hill.
1057
01:11:45,562 --> 01:11:51,045
We heard all these stories and
the fact that there was a ritual murder.
1058
01:11:53,657 --> 01:11:55,398
The story that I was told
1059
01:11:55,485 --> 01:12:00,533
was that the body was discovered
with frogs pinned to the ground
1060
01:12:00,620 --> 01:12:02,405
all around the body,
1061
01:12:02,448 --> 01:12:05,669
and the frogs were pinned
in various postures.
1062
01:12:10,151 --> 01:12:11,196
There have been
so many accounts written
1063
01:12:11,327 --> 01:12:14,155
about this case,
1064
01:12:14,242 --> 01:12:19,030
and they all clue into the fact
that Walton was a witch.
1065
01:12:22,250 --> 01:12:24,688
Depending on what account
you read,
1066
01:12:24,775 --> 01:12:27,821
Charles Walton bred
Natterjack toads.
1067
01:12:27,865 --> 01:12:31,695
He could talk to animals or
he could forecast the weather.
1068
01:12:31,782 --> 01:12:34,088
He had all these powers
of clairvoyancy.
1069
01:12:34,175 --> 01:12:36,221
The demon walks again!
1070
01:12:46,927 --> 01:12:52,672
He is said to have tied a toy
plow to the leg of a pet toad
1071
01:12:52,759 --> 01:12:55,414
and sent it scurrying
across the local fields.
1072
01:13:02,987 --> 01:13:04,858
And this is called blasting...
1073
01:13:06,991 --> 01:13:08,645
an ancient which tradition,
apparently,
1074
01:13:08,732 --> 01:13:10,516
of killing fertile soil.
1075
01:13:13,258 --> 01:13:15,173
And so the rumor is
that Walton was killed
1076
01:13:15,303 --> 01:13:18,263
because he bred these toads,
he killed the crops.
1077
01:13:18,350 --> 01:13:21,092
And so the villagers
wanted vengeance.
1078
01:13:21,353 --> 01:13:22,920
Oh, that's it.
The crops failed.
1079
01:13:24,965 --> 01:13:26,924
In 1945,
when the murder happened,
1080
01:13:26,967 --> 01:13:30,971
it was quite common
to look for supernatural sources of bad luck,
1081
01:13:31,015 --> 01:13:34,627
such as dead cattle
or personal ailment.
1082
01:13:34,758 --> 01:13:36,716
Let's chuck her in,
see if she's a witch!
1083
01:13:38,631 --> 01:13:39,850
The accused could
have had nothing
1084
01:13:39,937 --> 01:13:41,634
to do with the occult at all.
1085
01:13:41,721 --> 01:13:43,506
So it has come to this.
1086
01:13:43,593 --> 01:13:46,160
You accuse me, a priest,
of working with the devil.
1087
01:13:46,247 --> 01:13:47,901
We can only judge
by the evidence.
1088
01:13:47,988 --> 01:13:50,426
And there's a lot
of that, old man.
1089
01:13:50,513 --> 01:13:54,038
Just innocent victims
of spurious accusations.
1090
01:13:54,168 --> 01:13:57,476
As was most likely the case with
Ann Tennant...
1091
01:13:57,563 --> 01:13:58,608
...and Charles Walton.
1092
01:14:25,243 --> 01:14:27,245
Unable to solve the crime,
1093
01:14:29,203 --> 01:14:30,901
Fabian leaves the force.
1094
01:14:32,903 --> 01:14:34,600
He starts writing his memoirs.
1095
01:14:38,735 --> 01:14:42,347
Elements of the supernatural
start creeping in.
1096
01:14:46,003 --> 01:14:48,919
He says that during
the course of his investigation,
1097
01:14:49,006 --> 01:14:51,487
he walks up to the top
of Meon Hill one day
1098
01:14:51,574 --> 01:14:53,184
to look out at the village.
1099
01:14:54,925 --> 01:14:57,710
"I climbed Meon Hill,
a bleak and lonely spot
1100
01:14:57,841 --> 01:15:00,278
to examine the scene
of the crime for myself.
1101
01:15:10,593 --> 01:15:13,944
A black dog sat
on the nearby wall for a moment,
1102
01:15:14,031 --> 01:15:15,859
then it trotted past me.
1103
01:15:22,039 --> 01:15:24,781
Shortly afterwards, a farm boy
came along.
1104
01:15:24,868 --> 01:15:28,436
'Looking for your dog,'
I asked him.
1105
01:15:28,524 --> 01:15:31,048
'What dog?'
'A black dog.'
1106
01:15:34,704 --> 01:15:36,488
The lad didn't wait
to hear any more.
1107
01:15:36,532 --> 01:15:38,403
He fled down the hill.
1108
01:15:40,492 --> 01:15:42,581
Instantly, word spread
through the village
1109
01:15:42,668 --> 01:15:45,279
that I had seen the ghost."
1110
01:15:50,720 --> 01:15:54,158
He then goes down
to the local pub in the village.
1111
01:15:59,163 --> 01:16:03,254
A scene worthy of something like
"An American Werewolf in London."
1112
01:16:03,297 --> 01:16:05,561
He confronts this group
of yokels,
1113
01:16:05,648 --> 01:16:07,432
tells his story,
1114
01:16:07,519 --> 01:16:10,740
and they all suddenly exit
the bar in silence.
1115
01:16:16,310 --> 01:16:19,400
"The dog incident caused
a total change of attitude
1116
01:16:19,531 --> 01:16:22,012
towards us in Lower Quinton.
1117
01:16:22,055 --> 01:16:24,971
No longer did anyone cooperate
with our investigation.
1118
01:16:25,015 --> 01:16:27,104
It was like the pulling
down of a shutter."
1119
01:16:29,628 --> 01:16:32,326
Should the world know
our business?
1120
01:16:32,370 --> 01:16:34,894
- It's murder, then.
- Then murder it is!
1121
01:16:37,201 --> 01:16:40,030
"I realized for certain
we were up against witchcraft
1122
01:16:40,117 --> 01:16:43,120
when the body of a black dog
was found hanging from a bush
1123
01:16:43,207 --> 01:16:45,252
near the spot where Walton died.
1124
01:16:47,037 --> 01:16:49,039
I advise anybody who is tempted,
1125
01:16:49,126 --> 01:16:52,085
at any time and on any pretext,
1126
01:16:52,172 --> 01:16:54,784
to venture into black magic,
witchcraft,
1127
01:16:54,914 --> 01:16:58,178
Satanism,
call it what you will,
1128
01:16:58,265 --> 01:17:00,485
remember Charles Walton.
1129
01:17:00,572 --> 01:17:02,400
Think of his death,
1130
01:17:02,443 --> 01:17:06,970
which was so clearly the ghastly
climax of a pagan rite."
1131
01:17:17,154 --> 01:17:20,940
When you read the official
case reports that Fabian wrote,
1132
01:17:23,726 --> 01:17:25,945
he doesn't mention witchcraft.
1133
01:17:27,860 --> 01:17:30,036
Now, he does say the people
of Lower Quinton
1134
01:17:30,167 --> 01:17:32,952
are a secretive lot, and there
might be some sort of history here
1135
01:17:32,996 --> 01:17:35,433
that we're not aware of,
that they're not sharing us.
1136
01:17:37,827 --> 01:17:40,786
Perhaps he kept it out
of his official police reports
1137
01:17:40,917 --> 01:17:43,006
to avoid ridicule.
1138
01:17:44,442 --> 01:17:46,357
You know, you can't turn in
a case report
1139
01:17:46,487 --> 01:17:49,839
to the Commissioner of Police
going, "I think witches did this."
1140
01:17:51,144 --> 01:17:52,363
You're pulling my leg, sir.
1141
01:17:54,670 --> 01:17:56,193
After Fabian leaves
the force,
1142
01:17:56,280 --> 01:17:59,022
he becomes a real celebrity.
1143
01:17:59,239 --> 01:18:01,589
This is Fabian
of Scotland Yard.
1144
01:18:01,677 --> 01:18:04,680
Part of me thinks that Fabian
was a natural entertainer.
1145
01:18:08,901 --> 01:18:12,209
Fabian might have just been
giving people what they wanted,
1146
01:18:12,862 --> 01:18:16,300
stories of witchcraft
and folklore from movies and TV.
1147
01:18:16,387 --> 01:18:18,737
There's recently been
a murder in this district, as yet unsolved.
1148
01:18:18,824 --> 01:18:20,347
That's why we're interested
in strangers.
1149
01:18:20,434 --> 01:18:23,263
I see.
1150
01:18:23,350 --> 01:18:25,309
My personal viewpoint?
1151
01:18:25,439 --> 01:18:28,486
I don't think there's
any evidence whatsoever
1152
01:18:28,573 --> 01:18:30,227
that it was
a witchcraft killing.
1153
01:18:35,058 --> 01:18:38,714
What you have is Alex Sanders
regularly appearing
1154
01:18:38,801 --> 01:18:40,063
in the newspapers.
1155
01:18:42,630 --> 01:18:45,024
Margaret Murray is just trying
to prove her own theory.
1156
01:18:46,765 --> 01:18:50,682
And Fabian is jumping
on a bandwagon.
1157
01:18:55,252 --> 01:18:56,819
Charles Walton
was living with you
1158
01:18:56,906 --> 01:18:58,037
at the time of the murder?
1159
01:18:58,124 --> 01:18:59,604
Yes.
1160
01:18:59,691 --> 01:19:01,649
Do you think that
there was any chance
1161
01:19:01,780 --> 01:19:04,174
that witchcraft played
any part in his death at all?
1162
01:19:04,304 --> 01:19:07,307
No. I think, um,
1163
01:19:07,394 --> 01:19:09,440
the papers made a lot of it.
1164
01:19:11,224 --> 01:19:17,404
Um, and I lived with him
all my life,
1165
01:19:17,491 --> 01:19:20,407
and I've never,
never known such things.
1166
01:19:20,538 --> 01:19:23,541
I think it's ridiculous, really,
the things that were said.
1167
01:19:24,977 --> 01:19:27,675
In his official
police reports,
1168
01:19:27,763 --> 01:19:29,503
there is no mention
of encountering
1169
01:19:29,590 --> 01:19:31,027
a black dog on the hill.
1170
01:19:33,072 --> 01:19:34,639
The black dog is important,
though,
1171
01:19:34,726 --> 01:19:36,510
to the Charles Walton story
1172
01:19:36,554 --> 01:19:39,949
because in the 1929 book
by Harvey Bloom...
1173
01:19:42,473 --> 01:19:47,304
there's a story in there about a
young boy named Charles Walton.
1174
01:19:54,311 --> 01:19:56,400
According to this story,
1175
01:19:56,487 --> 01:19:59,011
young Charles Walton
has put in a day in the fields,
1176
01:19:59,142 --> 01:20:01,274
and he's walking home
and it's misty.
1177
01:20:04,887 --> 01:20:06,845
And he sees something take
shape in the mist.
1178
01:20:11,023 --> 01:20:13,069
Young Charles Walton goes home.
He's terrified.
1179
01:20:16,942 --> 01:20:20,206
No, sir, a sort of head,
a face.
1180
01:20:20,250 --> 01:20:21,642
Of a fiend?
1181
01:20:26,169 --> 01:20:28,171
He goes back to work
the next day in the fields.
1182
01:20:30,173 --> 01:20:31,565
And the same thing happens
the following night
1183
01:20:31,652 --> 01:20:33,002
when he's walking home.
1184
01:20:40,444 --> 01:20:42,489
On the third night...
1185
01:20:45,928 --> 01:20:47,016
the spectral hound appears.
1186
01:20:52,325 --> 01:20:55,241
And this time, it's accompanied
by a headless woman.
1187
01:21:08,167 --> 01:21:11,605
Now, according to the story
in the Harvey Bloom book,
1188
01:21:11,736 --> 01:21:15,044
several days later,
Charles Walton's sister dies.
1189
01:21:27,621 --> 01:21:29,449
And supposedly,
this whole incident gave
1190
01:21:29,580 --> 01:21:32,975
Charles Walton the powers
of clairvoyancy.
1191
01:21:33,018 --> 01:21:35,673
Beware my words, you fools!
1192
01:21:35,716 --> 01:21:37,893
For they are his commands!
1193
01:21:39,807 --> 01:21:41,331
This story is apocryphal.
1194
01:21:41,418 --> 01:21:43,899
No one knows where it came from,
where it originated.
1195
01:21:45,901 --> 01:21:47,946
But a lot of people believe
that Charles Walton
1196
01:21:47,990 --> 01:21:50,731
in the 1885 story
1197
01:21:50,818 --> 01:21:54,431
is the same Charles Walton
who got murdered in 1945.
1198
01:21:59,740 --> 01:22:02,091
Welcome, Poole.
1199
01:22:02,134 --> 01:22:06,182
You have come of your own free
will to the appointed place.
1200
01:22:07,661 --> 01:22:08,706
The game is over.
1201
01:22:09,750 --> 01:22:11,665
Game?
1202
01:22:11,796 --> 01:22:12,797
What game?
1203
01:22:14,755 --> 01:22:17,410
They say it's better
the devil you know
1204
01:22:17,454 --> 01:22:19,325
than the devil you don't.
1205
01:22:19,456 --> 01:22:22,198
But the murder of Charles Walton
suggests otherwise.
1206
01:22:25,114 --> 01:22:27,246
Perhaps the devil issomeone
you know.
1207
01:22:32,208 --> 01:22:34,471
The Charles Walton who,
according to Bloom,
1208
01:22:34,558 --> 01:22:36,212
encountered the dog
1209
01:22:37,953 --> 01:22:40,390
may not have been
the same Charles Walton
1210
01:22:40,477 --> 01:22:42,261
that was murdered on Meon Hill.
1211
01:22:43,741 --> 01:22:46,831
But just because it may
not have been true,
1212
01:22:46,874 --> 01:22:49,616
that wouldn't have stopped
many of the villagers from believing it.
1213
01:22:50,704 --> 01:22:53,620
- Youare
the right kind of adult.
1214
01:23:00,584 --> 01:23:05,110
Youuniquely were the one
we needed.
1215
01:23:07,286 --> 01:23:12,291
I feel like particularly
in the last 50, 60 years in Britain,
1216
01:23:12,378 --> 01:23:16,121
there's been a really strong
paranoia around our identity.
1217
01:23:18,341 --> 01:23:20,473
That's kind of true of us today.
1218
01:23:25,304 --> 01:23:27,480
And I think horror
always reflects the time
1219
01:23:27,524 --> 01:23:28,960
in which it's being made.
1220
01:23:30,179 --> 01:23:34,226
In the last decade, this folk
horror trend has really taken off
1221
01:23:34,357 --> 01:23:36,533
- with things like "The Witch"...
- Boo!
1222
01:23:36,620 --> 01:23:38,056
..."Midsommar,"
1223
01:23:38,100 --> 01:23:40,363
the films of Ben Wheatley,
like "Kill List."
1224
01:23:41,712 --> 01:23:43,801
The brilliance of these films
1225
01:23:43,844 --> 01:23:47,370
is that they excavate into
the depths of the British psyche
1226
01:23:49,198 --> 01:23:52,810
and churning up all
that we fear about the world
1227
01:23:52,940 --> 01:23:54,464
and about each other.
1228
01:23:57,641 --> 01:23:59,425
There are these times
that I've kind of spent
1229
01:23:59,512 --> 01:24:01,732
in the countryside.
1230
01:24:01,819 --> 01:24:06,084
There is that palpable feeling
of invasion at times
1231
01:24:06,171 --> 01:24:08,608
when you go to your little,
local supermarket
1232
01:24:08,695 --> 01:24:11,307
or your little butchers
or the pub.
1233
01:24:12,699 --> 01:24:17,661
You arrive and you immediately
break an unspoken rule.
1234
01:24:17,748 --> 01:24:21,447
I think "Men" does capture,
in Rory Kinnear's performance,
1235
01:24:21,578 --> 01:24:23,797
particularly British
idiosyncrasies.
1236
01:24:23,884 --> 01:24:26,931
- Apple from the garden?
- Y-Yeah, it was delicious.
1237
01:24:27,062 --> 01:24:28,889
Scrumping, eh?
1238
01:24:28,976 --> 01:24:31,414
No, no, no, no, no.
Mustn't do that.
1239
01:24:31,544 --> 01:24:32,719
Forbidden fruit.
1240
01:24:32,763 --> 01:24:35,679
Oh, uh, God. Sorry.
I-I-I...
1241
01:24:35,809 --> 01:24:37,855
I'm joking.
1242
01:24:37,985 --> 01:24:42,251
There is this immediate
kind of tension that you feel.
1243
01:24:44,383 --> 01:24:45,689
Who are you?
1244
01:24:45,819 --> 01:24:47,125
Why are you here?
1245
01:24:49,519 --> 01:24:54,089
There is so much neurosis
about keeping others out
1246
01:24:54,176 --> 01:24:57,440
and maintaining the status quo
within places like that.
1247
01:24:59,094 --> 01:25:03,228
These films portray a constant
state of paranoia in Britain.
1248
01:25:03,315 --> 01:25:04,664
I have a weapon!
1249
01:25:04,708 --> 01:25:06,405
If you come in here,
I'm going to use it!
1250
01:25:08,146 --> 01:25:10,583
Miss Marlowe, what on earth
are you talking about?
1251
01:25:10,670 --> 01:25:14,109
You can just see
people getting whipped up
1252
01:25:14,196 --> 01:25:16,894
into a frenzy
over really strange ideas.
1253
01:25:20,680 --> 01:25:22,508
This is a country
1254
01:25:22,639 --> 01:25:25,555
that, in order
to make a point of principle,
1255
01:25:25,642 --> 01:25:28,732
is willing to burn things up
and do extreme things.
1256
01:25:28,819 --> 01:25:30,168
Well, don't you see
that killing me
1257
01:25:30,212 --> 01:25:32,083
is not going to bring back
your apples?
1258
01:25:34,477 --> 01:25:36,696
Summerisle, you know it won't.
1259
01:25:36,783 --> 01:25:39,090
Well, go on, man, tell them!
Tell them it won't!
1260
01:25:40,091 --> 01:25:41,832
I know it will.
1261
01:25:43,877 --> 01:25:45,618
The final scene
of "The Wicker Man"
1262
01:25:45,662 --> 01:25:49,187
is at once laughable
and horrific.
1263
01:25:49,274 --> 01:25:51,015
And that, to me,
is what Britain is.
1264
01:26:07,597 --> 01:26:11,688
I think in some ways...
1265
01:26:13,820 --> 01:26:15,779
...the Cotswold village
1266
01:26:15,866 --> 01:26:18,085
is the most likely place
in the world for me
1267
01:26:18,173 --> 01:26:21,045
for somebody to sacrifice
someone in a ritualistic way.
1268
01:26:21,132 --> 01:26:24,048
Oh, God! Oh, Jesus Christ!
1269
01:26:29,880 --> 01:26:32,578
Our fascination
with the Walton murder
1270
01:26:32,665 --> 01:26:34,189
and "The Wicker Man"
1271
01:26:34,276 --> 01:26:36,539
points to an unease we have
1272
01:26:36,626 --> 01:26:38,628
about ourselves
and what we're capable of.
1273
01:26:43,546 --> 01:26:45,722
Those lovely-looking tea ladies.
1274
01:26:48,725 --> 01:26:50,727
Or the charming butcher.
1275
01:26:55,862 --> 01:26:58,213
They aren't really
who they say they are.
1276
01:27:02,478 --> 01:27:04,349
Beneath the veneer of politeness
1277
01:27:04,436 --> 01:27:06,438
and good manners
lies something darker.
1278
01:27:10,616 --> 01:27:12,705
The enemy is not
the barbarian at the gates,
1279
01:27:12,792 --> 01:27:14,011
clamoring to get in.
1280
01:27:17,014 --> 01:27:19,234
The enemy is already inside.
1281
01:27:25,327 --> 01:27:26,937
The enemy within.
1282
01:27:29,635 --> 01:27:31,898
Quite literally,
the devil you know.
1283
01:27:38,035 --> 01:27:40,429
We know the terrible things
we've done to each other.
1284
01:27:44,520 --> 01:27:47,392
We know the bad things
we're doing to each other today.
1285
01:27:58,055 --> 01:27:59,578
Because we know ourselves.
1286
01:28:03,582 --> 01:28:05,236
And we know that deep down...
1287
01:28:10,372 --> 01:28:11,677
...it's possible.
1288
01:28:57,201 --> 01:29:01,161
"The Teletubbies" was almost
entirely filmed on location
1289
01:29:01,292 --> 01:29:03,686
in the corner of a field
on a farm
1290
01:29:03,816 --> 01:29:05,905
on the edge of the Cotswolds.
1291
01:29:05,992 --> 01:29:09,039
Cameras always angled down
to include the rabbits
1292
01:29:09,126 --> 01:29:10,867
and the Teletubbies,
1293
01:29:10,910 --> 01:29:12,738
but if they'd just gone up
slightly,
1294
01:29:12,825 --> 01:29:14,653
they would have seen
the surrounding countryside
1295
01:29:14,784 --> 01:29:17,221
and, of course, Meon Hill.
1296
01:29:21,356 --> 01:29:23,314
I was the original Tinky Winky,
1297
01:29:23,401 --> 01:29:26,796
the first actor
to inhabit that purple costume
1298
01:29:26,839 --> 01:29:28,275
with the triangular aerial.
1299
01:29:28,363 --> 01:29:29,625
Uh-oh.
1300
01:29:29,712 --> 01:29:32,454
Laa-Laa and Po and I
1301
01:29:32,541 --> 01:29:35,370
lived in a country house hotel,
1302
01:29:35,500 --> 01:29:38,416
and sometimes I'd take them
for a drive in my little car.
1303
01:29:42,942 --> 01:29:46,598
And one day drove off
trying to find Meon Hill.
1304
01:29:50,210 --> 01:29:54,171
And then we saw a sign saying
"private property, keep off."
1305
01:29:54,301 --> 01:29:57,479
But the lane was so narrow, we
couldn't actually turn round,
1306
01:29:57,566 --> 01:29:59,045
so we had to keep going.
1307
01:30:05,574 --> 01:30:08,272
And as we got into the driveway,
1308
01:30:08,403 --> 01:30:11,841
this ferocious black dog
attacked the car.
1309
01:30:20,327 --> 01:30:22,634
And then the front door opened
of this house
1310
01:30:22,765 --> 01:30:26,682
and this ferocious man
just started shouting at us.
1311
01:30:32,252 --> 01:30:34,472
He was quite evil
in his appearance,
1312
01:30:34,559 --> 01:30:36,866
and it just felt
like the black dog
1313
01:30:36,953 --> 01:30:38,781
and the man
with the shaggy beard
1314
01:30:38,911 --> 01:30:41,479
were almost like
two manifestations
1315
01:30:41,566 --> 01:30:43,438
of the same evil spirit.
1316
01:30:49,879 --> 01:30:55,188
Charles Walton saw a black dog
on nine consecutive mornings.
1317
01:31:00,672 --> 01:31:03,936
I can't help wondering
whether that black dog
1318
01:31:03,980 --> 01:31:05,938
was the same black dog
1319
01:31:06,025 --> 01:31:09,376
that nearly hurled itself
through the window of my car.
1320
01:31:13,816 --> 01:31:16,383
The filming went extremely well
throughout the summer.
1321
01:31:16,471 --> 01:31:19,386
The director told me
what I was doing was fantastic,
1322
01:31:19,474 --> 01:31:22,564
but the BBC didn't like
my performance,
1323
01:31:22,607 --> 01:31:25,784
and they wanted me
to be removed from the role.
1324
01:31:25,915 --> 01:31:28,526
So afterwards I got fired.
1325
01:31:33,618 --> 01:31:35,402
The "Sunday Mirror"
approached me,
1326
01:31:35,490 --> 01:31:37,622
and I told them about Meon Hill.
1327
01:31:40,625 --> 01:31:43,759
How I experienced extremes
of good fortune
1328
01:31:43,802 --> 01:31:47,763
and extremes of bad fortune.
1329
01:31:47,893 --> 01:31:51,027
And I can't help thinking
that that earth energy
1330
01:31:51,114 --> 01:31:54,857
around Meon Hill
actually had an effect.
1331
01:31:54,900 --> 01:31:58,121
And they say it's a place
of power.
1332
01:31:58,208 --> 01:32:02,952
Well, the Teletubbies had a
huge impact all over the world,
1333
01:32:03,039 --> 01:32:06,085
and it all emanated
from that little place
1334
01:32:06,172 --> 01:32:07,913
just next to Meon Hill,
1335
01:32:08,000 --> 01:32:12,222
the site of the most recent
satanic black magic murder.