Episode 112: Shadow Dancing
NIC: Hey, everyone! Producer Nic here! Before we present our final episode of season one, I just wanted to say, thank you so much for listening. If you’re anything like us, you love podcasts, and there’re so many great ones to choose from. We appreciate that you take the time to listen to ours. And we’re going to try and make The Black Tapes even better for season two. Please check this feed tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14th, for a special announcement. For now, please enjoy episode 12 of The Black Tapes Podcast.
(Theme song and intro play)
Alex: The Black Tapes Podcast is an exploration of life, belief, faith, and, occasionally, the paranormal. This season we're focusing our lens on the work of The Strand Institute and its enigmatic founder and president, Dr. Richard Strand. This week, we’ll be digging into just about every corner of this thing, and we’ll be crossing the country: from California to New Mexico.
There’s still no word from Amalia or Keith Dabic in Russia. And we’ve been unable to reconnect with Charlie Strand. We’ll start where we left off last week, when I asked Dr. Strand about a possible connection between all of these cases. It’s the Black Tapes Podcast, I’m Alex Reagan. Stay with us.
(Musical Interlude)
ALEX: There was something in Strand’s voice that made me want to believe him. I don’t think he’s keeping a secret from me, but it feels like he’s almost imploring me to trust him. And that would mean shutting off the very thing he wants me to retain- my skepticism. So I asked Nic about my last conversation with Strand. That’s when he dropped this bombshell.
ALEX: Nic pulled up an image on his computer. It was a painting- a cave painting. It looked very familiar, a lot like the petrographs found in Boulder Field just outside of Bath, the ones Professor Kermode sent. But this was different, it was more…disturbing. It had the rows of dark figures, very militaristic, but they were surrounded by concentric circles, and outside those circles stood a giant figure. Tall. It didn’t have a face. None of the figures did. But this one had something interesting, it looked like a large crown that hung down off the head. It was hard to tell what it was supposed to be, but the connection to Kermode’s photographs sent a chill through me.
ALEX: That’s John Uvela, a first class scout with The Boy Scouts of America. That’s right, I spent the afternoon with an actual boy scout.
ALEX: Urraca Mesa sits in an area at the south tip of the Sangre de Cristos mountain range in northern New Mexico, called the Philmont Scout Ranch. It covers over 140,000 acres and was once owner by the oil baron, Waite Phillips, who eventually transferred the huge parcel of land to the scouts for the purpose of training their recruits. Uvela drove me in his ATV most of the way on a gravel road, and then we hiked uphill for about an hour. Before us lay what was left of a bunch of ancient homes built into and around a steep hill face, with ruins and caves scattered here and there.
ALEX: John took out his compass. The needle was going haywire.
ALEX: John led me up a thin trail toward the mesa. It towered above, leaving us in its shadow. A series of small caves lined in the steep cliff walls.
ALEX: John led me back out and we climbed further up the hillside until we reached a cave slightly larger than the rest.
ALEX: If I sounded distracted, I was. There in front of me, in a cave 5,000 miles from Bath, was a painting remarkably similar in style and content to the one sent by Professor Kremode. I felt a cold chill run through my body, and I suddenly felt the world shifting under my feet.
ALEX: I was showing John a close up of the tall shadow figure from the Bath petrographs. The one wearing a ceremonial mask, or upside down face. Because right there, I was standing in front of a large symbol etched into the cave wall. It was a circle, about five feet in diameter. Inside the circle, a horizontal line and below that line, two dots side by side. Like a pair of eyes.
ALEX: Uvela took me through some other caves to show me other petrographs, but I was too distracted by what I had just seen to really pay attention. When I got back to my hotel there was a message from Nic.
ALEX: I was looking forward to getting back to Seattle, but John Uvela wanted me to stop by his office on my way to the airport. He wanted to show me something.
ALEX: It was old video footage of the outside of the cave. The sun was setting so the images were grainy and not very clear. The camera was placed above the cave, looking down over its entrance, almost like a security camera angle. The director focused the lens. Another boy stood below, just outside the mouth of the cave.
ALEX: I’ll try and explain what I saw. The boy named Dave yells, something comes screaming out of the cave. Then they all run away. I thought it might be a bat flying really close to the camera.
ALEX: It was sexy James Bond alright, only his name wasn’t James. It was right there on the television. His name was Thomas. Thomas Warren. While I was watching Thomas Warren on television, I received a call that went to voicemail. It was from Tina Stevenson.
ALEX: I have a lot of questions. Did Coralee Strand just walk into Tina Stevenson’s store in Lake Tahoe? Alive and well? And who is this Advocate that Brother Edward mentioned? And what about the mysterious Thomas Warren, the man from the coffee shop. Who is he and what was he doing there? And perhaps the biggest question of all- are Dr. Strand’s black tapes cases connected? And if so, am I ever going to be able to find out how? Or why? Is Strand right? Do we see only what we want to see? What we expect to see? Or are there some things in this world that we just can’t and perhaps won’t ever understand? And if so, is a little bit of mystery in the world such a bad thing? I don’t know, but I do know that I’m not finished looking for answers, not even close. My promise to you. I’m going to keep looking as long as you’ll keep listening.
It's The Black Tapes Podcast. I’m Alex Reagan. We'll be back again soon.
(Theme music)
ALEX: Black Tapes Podcast is a Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale production, recorded in Seattle and Vancouver. Produced by Nic Silver, mixed and engineered by Alan Williams and Samantha Paulson. Edited by Nic Silver and Alex Reagan. Associate producer Robert Romero Jr. Executive producers Paul Bae and Terry Miles.
(Theme song and intro play)
Alex: The Black Tapes Podcast is an exploration of life, belief, faith, and, occasionally, the paranormal. This season we're focusing our lens on the work of The Strand Institute and its enigmatic founder and president, Dr. Richard Strand. This week, we’ll be digging into just about every corner of this thing, and we’ll be crossing the country: from California to New Mexico.
There’s still no word from Amalia or Keith Dabic in Russia. And we’ve been unable to reconnect with Charlie Strand. We’ll start where we left off last week, when I asked Dr. Strand about a possible connection between all of these cases. It’s the Black Tapes Podcast, I’m Alex Reagan. Stay with us.
(Musical Interlude)
- Alex: You’ve never heard of these drawings or caves before?
- Strand: This is the first time I’ve seen these particular images. Cave paintings don’t normally fall into the paranormal category, I’m afraid.
- Alex: Right. But an upside down face is pretty interesting, all things considered, isn’t it?
- Strand: Very interesting. But, you're not suggesting a connection.
- Alex: I have to ask. Your black tapes. (pause) They're not just a random collection of unsolvable videos, are they? (long pause) Dr. Strand?
- Strand: Yes.
- Alex: Are the black tapes all connected?
- STRAND: (cutting out)
- ALEX: Dr. Strand?
- STRAND: (cutting out)
- ALEX: I’m going to call you back.
- (phone ringing)
- STRAND: Hello hello.
- ALEX: Hello, Dr. Strand.
- STRAND: Yes.
- ALEX: Okay, this is much better.
- STRAND: Excellent
- ALEX: So, are the black tapes all connected?
- STRAND: What you makes you think they’re all connected?
- ALEX: (scoffs) I dunno… everything? The Unsound’s connection to Percival Black, and Scriabin’s symphony to bring on the apocalypse? The shadow people and devil’s doors and math? Simon and Sebastian? The upside down face? You’re telling me you don’t see the connections? They’re right there.
- STRAND: Oookay. Let’s look at these connections, as you call them, in their entirety. Sebastian was found in a cabin filled with sacred geometry. It’s likely the abductor had been stalking Sebastian for a while.
- ALEX: That sounds unlikely.
- STRAND: But certainly possible.
- ALEX: Okay, it’s possible, but-
- STRAND: You called Simon to ask about sacred geometry, but he’s not the only one who’s obsessed with it. Sacred geometry’s been around for centuries. So you basically presented your case to a clinically insane murderer. He put the idea of a church in your head, and so of course, that light hitting that wall formed a cross. But you know that any old cabin will have strange light patterns coming through the cracks.
- ALEX: But what about the cave drawings of the upside down face and the shadow people in them?
- STRAND: Are you in front of a computer?
- ALEX: Yep.
- STRAND: Can you search Sicani cave drawing, please?
- ALEX: Okay…S-I- how do you spell it?
- STRAND: C-A-N-I.
- ALEX: I, okay.
- STRAND: Now, click on the first image result you see.
- ALEX: Okay.
- STRAND: That is a cave painting from Sicily. It dates back to about 8,000 years BC. What do they look like?
- ALEX: Shadows?
- STRAND: Most cave drawings look like shadowy figures.
- ALEX: Okay, but what about the upside down face?
- STRAND: What did it look like? Was it actually a face?
- ALEX: The face had a line where the eyes should be and two dots where the mouth should be.
- STRAND: There could be reasons for that. The foremost being that the figure is wearing a ceremonial mask, it could also be attributed to the degradation of the painting itself- leaving only eyebrows and a bit of the mouth. You merely interpreted it as upside down because that’s what you’re expecting. Hello?
- ALEX: Apophenia.
- STRAND: I didn’t say it.
- ALEX: (laughing) You’re like a doctor who prescribes placebos for everything.
- STRAND: Wouldn’t that make you a hypochondriac?
- ALEX: (laughs) That doesn’t even make sense!
- STRAND: Listen. You actually believe that this cave painting in England could be related to a strange festival in eastern Washington because two dots and a line look like an upside down face? That’s what you want me to consider? Seriously?
- ALEX: Uh... I don’t know what to think anymore.
- STRAND: Look, I appreciate that as a journalist you keep an open mind to everything. But that sometimes can lead to closing your mind to nothing, which is exactly the mode of thinking I’ve been fighting against with my Institute. There are some things, many things that you don’t have to consider more than once. Unicorns. Fairies. Flying elephants.
- ALEX: Flying elephants?
- STRAND: I couldn’t think of anything else.
- ALEX: (laughing) ‘kay.
ALEX: There was something in Strand’s voice that made me want to believe him. I don’t think he’s keeping a secret from me, but it feels like he’s almost imploring me to trust him. And that would mean shutting off the very thing he wants me to retain- my skepticism. So I asked Nic about my last conversation with Strand. That’s when he dropped this bombshell.
- NIC: They found Sebastian’s kidnapper.
- ALEX: What?!
- NIC: Yeah, just this morning.
- ALEX: Why isn’t it on the news?
- NIC: Well, it is. In San Jose.
- ALEX: How did you hear about it?
- NIC: Chief Colins called a few minutes ago.
- ALEX: Chief Colins? Why would he call us? I thought he wanted us as far away from the case as possible?
- NIC: Yeah, I’m sure he does. But he actually needs to speak with Dr. Strand.
- ALEX: Why Strand?
- NIC: The kidnapper won’t speak with anyone but Strand.
- ALEX: I’m not following.
- NIC: Well, he wouldn’t go into too much detail, but Colins says that when they were questioning him, this guy asked about our show.
- ALEX: Our podcast?
- NIC: Yeah, and as you can imagine, Colins was not pleased.
- ALEX: Oooh. What did he say?
- NIC: Well, I can’t actually repeat what he said if we want to keep our clean, family friendly rating, but let’s just say he voiced some…displeasure.
- ALEX: Wow.
- NIC: Yeah.
- ALEX: Well, how did they catch the guy?
- NIC: Well, the usual. He returned to the scene of the crime.
- ALEX: The cabin?
- NIC: Yeah. He’d apparently been sitting there for days, it was like he was waiting to get arrested.
- ALEX: That makes no sense. If he wanted to be arrested, why not just turn himself in at the station?
- NIC: Well, they think that he may have been waiting for something- something specific. When they questioned him at the station, all he would say was that he would only speak with Strand.
- ALEX: Strand.
- NIC: Yeah.
- ALEX: Why would he want to speak to Strand?
- NIC: No idea.
- ALEX: Well, it looks like we’re headed back to California?
- NIC: Colins booked a flight for the good doctor to fly down today, he’s probably in the air right now.
- ALEX: Okay, well, I should book a flight.
- NIC: Well, Colins won’t let anyone else in the building. Just Strand.
- ALEX: (pause) Oh. That’s…not cool.
- NIC: No, not cool. Well, there’s no reason he would want a journalist poking around up there, I suppose. And if you look at things from his point of view, maybe we aired some things we shouldn’t have. Maybe?
- ALEX: Yeah, but didn’t our airing that stuff help them catch the guy?
- NIC: Yeah, but either way, you’re boxed out for now.
- ALEX: This is bull(expletive beeped out).
- NIC: Well, I did book you a flight, however.
- ALEX: Okay, where?
- NIC: New Mexico.
- ALEX: Why am I going to New Mexico?
- NIC: Because of this. (keyboard strokes)
- ALEX: Oh. Did Professor Kermode send this?
- NIC: No, it’s from a cave in New Mexico.
- ALEX: How did you find this?
- NIC: Internet.
- ALEX: (laughing) Seriously?
ALEX: Nic pulled up an image on his computer. It was a painting- a cave painting. It looked very familiar, a lot like the petrographs found in Boulder Field just outside of Bath, the ones Professor Kermode sent. But this was different, it was more…disturbing. It had the rows of dark figures, very militaristic, but they were surrounded by concentric circles, and outside those circles stood a giant figure. Tall. It didn’t have a face. None of the figures did. But this one had something interesting, it looked like a large crown that hung down off the head. It was hard to tell what it was supposed to be, but the connection to Kermode’s photographs sent a chill through me.
- ALEX: So… when am I going to New Mexico?
- NIC: You leave this evening. I’ve set you up with a guide.
- ALEX: A guide?
- NIC: This place is a little bit off the beaten path.
- ALEX: Oh.
- UVELA: Hey! How are ya?
- ALEX: Hey! Good. Thanks for meeting me.
- UVELA: Not a problem.
ALEX: That’s John Uvela, a first class scout with The Boy Scouts of America. That’s right, I spent the afternoon with an actual boy scout.
- ALEX: So that’s the way to Urraca Mesa?
- UVELA: Yes, we’re going to have to hike a bit. Good thing you wore the right shoes.
- ALEX: (both laughing) Yeah. Always.
ALEX: Urraca Mesa sits in an area at the south tip of the Sangre de Cristos mountain range in northern New Mexico, called the Philmont Scout Ranch. It covers over 140,000 acres and was once owner by the oil baron, Waite Phillips, who eventually transferred the huge parcel of land to the scouts for the purpose of training their recruits. Uvela drove me in his ATV most of the way on a gravel road, and then we hiked uphill for about an hour. Before us lay what was left of a bunch of ancient homes built into and around a steep hill face, with ruins and caves scattered here and there.
- ALEX: So what’s the background of this place?
- UVELA: Well… it’s old. (both laughing)
- ALEX: Okay.
- UVELA: The Urraca Mesa ruins are over 1,000 years old. They were already here when my people moved to these parts.
- ALEX: Your people?
- UVELA: Navajo. Well... (laughs) one quarter Navajo.
- ALEX: A Navajo boy scout.
- UVELA: Yes, ma’am. There aren’t many of us.
- ALEX: (laughing) So, you grew up around here?
- UVELA: No, no one really grows up around here specifically. You see this ground that we’re standing on is supposed to be cursed.
- ALEX: Oh. Is it an ancient burial ground?
- UVELA: No, that’s Poltergeist. (both laugh) Look at this.
ALEX: John took out his compass. The needle was going haywire.
- ALEX: Why’s it doing that?
- UVELA: Like I said…cursed.
- ALEX: Oh.
- UVELA: (laughs) Or it’s the tons of iron in these hills. (both laugh)
- ALEX: So why’s it supposed to be cursed?
- UVELA: Well, a long time ago, we’re talking over a thousand years ago, this place was home to a people called the Anasazi. In Navajo today, that means ancient people. But some scholars have pointed out that Anasazi in old Navajo means ancient enemies.
- ALEX: Interesting.
- UVELA: No one really knows who the Anasazi were or what they were like. We know they were quite advanced for their time. You can tell just by looking at these buildings or what’s left of them.
- ALEX: So what happened to the Anasazi people?
- UVELA: That’s one of the great mysteries of this region. No one knows. At the end of the 13th century, they just disappeared. No trace of anyone, just vanished.
- ALEX: The Navajo didn’t wipe them out?
- UVELA: They didn’t come here until hundreds of years after the Anasazi vanished off the face of the earth. But there are stories among the Navajo about this place. They studied the petroglyphs left in the caves up there. And there’s enough to suggest that the Anasazi had these religious ceremonies that involved horrific rituals- like dismemberment, cannibalism…
- ALEX: Brutal.
- UVELA: Yeah.
- ALEX: Can we see them?
- UVELA: Yeah, this way.
ALEX: John led me up a thin trail toward the mesa. It towered above, leaving us in its shadow. A series of small caves lined in the steep cliff walls.
- UVELA: Watch your head.
- ALEX: Oh, wow.
- UVELA: Here are the petroglyphs I was talking about. See how that one looks like the legs and arms are separated from the body of that figure.
- ALEX: (laughing) It actually looks like a bunch of sticks to me.
- UVELA: It could be that too. (laughs) This one, what’s that look like to you?
- ALEX: …lollipops?
- UVELA: Yeah, yeah, maybe. But you see those people standing around them? Those aren’t lollipops. They’re the heads of their enemies. On sticks.
- ALEX: Really?
- UVELA: Yeah.
- ALEX: Are there any petroglyphs or petrographs in this cave that look like this?
- UVELA: Yeah, yeah, this way.
ALEX: John led me back out and we climbed further up the hillside until we reached a cave slightly larger than the rest.
- UVELA: These are the only petrographs in the whole area. The rest are just etchings like we just saw, but this painting looks a lot like the one in your picture. Where’s that picture from?
- ALEX: What?
- UVELA: The one in your hand. Where’s it from?
- ALEX: Oh, England.
- UVELA: Huh. I’m pretty sure the Anasazi never made it to England.
ALEX: If I sounded distracted, I was. There in front of me, in a cave 5,000 miles from Bath, was a painting remarkably similar in style and content to the one sent by Professor Kremode. I felt a cold chill run through my body, and I suddenly felt the world shifting under my feet.
- UVELA: Are you okay, Ms. Reagan?
- ALEX: What are these images supposed to mean?
- UVELA: Well, most people think it depicts a war.
- ALEX: That’s an army? Those rows of figures?
- UVELA: Yeah, supposedly.
- ALEX: And that really tall one? That’s their general?
- UVELA: Well, no. See those circles surrounding the army?
- ALEX: Yeah?
- UVELA: That’s apparently a gateway. This whole painting is about a war the Anasazi fought against evil spirits.
- ALEX: Evil spirits?
- UVELA: Yes.
- ALEX: As in…demons?
- UVELA: Yes.
- ALEX: And that tall one-
- UVELA: That’s their leader.
- ALEX: Does the leader have a name?
- UVELA: Not that I’ve ever heard, but that’s why this place is called Urraca Mesa. Urraca means magpie, and in all the Indian cultures in this area, magpies are messengers of death.
- ALEX: So, you said the Anasazi fought evil spirits, like demons?
- UVELA: The story goes that the Anasazi beat the demon forces back to that gateway, and then they built a series of totems to keep that gateway locked.
- ALEX: And where are the totems?
- UVELA: Just outside. There are only two left. They say when the last two fall, the gateway will open again.
- ALEX: How many totems were there to begin with?
- UVELA: No one’s sure. Six. Maybe four?
- ALEX: Well, let’s hope those last two totems stay up! What’s this?
- UVELA: No one’s really sure.
- ALEX: I was looking at another group of figures. They had what appeared to be long sticks protruding down from the tops of their heads.
- ALEX: They look like straw hats.
- UVELA: Could be. The prevailing theory is that they’re farmers.
- ALEX: But they’re not farming.
- UVELA: It’s not a strong theory. If you take a look at the opposite wall here, you’ll see some older petroglyphs. These were here well before that painting went up.
- ALEX: Oh my god.
- UVELA: What?
- ALEX: I’ve seen this. Look. Right here.
- UVELA: That is a striking similarity.
ALEX: I was showing John a close up of the tall shadow figure from the Bath petrographs. The one wearing a ceremonial mask, or upside down face. Because right there, I was standing in front of a large symbol etched into the cave wall. It was a circle, about five feet in diameter. Inside the circle, a horizontal line and below that line, two dots side by side. Like a pair of eyes.
- ALEX: Do you have any idea what this symbol’s supposed to mean?
- UVELA: No, as far as I know this is the only instance of it in the whole area. This is the oldest petrograph in the area.
ALEX: Uvela took me through some other caves to show me other petrographs, but I was too distracted by what I had just seen to really pay attention. When I got back to my hotel there was a message from Nic.
- (phone ringing)
- ALEX: Hello?
- NIC: Hey, Alex!
- ALEX: Hey, Nic! Ooh, you’re never going to believe what I found up here.
- NIC: Cool, I can’t wait to hear about it, but Strand talked to Sebastian’s kidnapper.
- ALEX: Oh, and?
- NIC: And, well, he actually recorded the interview.
- ALEX: They let him record it?
- NIC: Yeah, the guy- his name is Edward Lewis, mid-forties- he actually requested it.
- ALEX: What? For the interview to be recorded?
- NIC: Yeah, and his lawyer couldn’t do anything about it.
- ALEX: Who is this guy?
- NIC: We don’t know yet, he claims to be some kind of monk.
- ALEX: A monk?
- NIC: Yeah, we’re waiting for them to send over the sound file from Strand’s interview. I’ll let you know as soon as I have it.
- ALEX: Perfect. Thanks.
- NIC: You’re welcome.
ALEX: I was looking forward to getting back to Seattle, but John Uvela wanted me to stop by his office on my way to the airport. He wanted to show me something.
- ALEX: Thanks for calling. You mentioned that you had some more cave paintings to show me?
- UVELA: You didn’t tell me your show was about ghosts.
- ALEX: Oh, well, it’s not really. Not intentionally anyway.
- UVELA: I was telling my wife about you, she’s the one who told me about your show.
- ALEX: Oh, I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.
- UVELA: No, please, please. I’m not upset about it. I just thought you should see something.
- ALEX: Oh, okay. I’ve seen more VCRs this month than I have in my whole life.
- UVELA: Well, some things you can’t play on Blu-ray.
- ALEX: Right.
- UVELA: A bunch of kids made this amateur video of those caves back in ’92.
- DAVE: Hurry up, Johnny!
- JOHNNY: Give me a second, light’s terrible!
- DAVE: I told you we should have done this in the morning.
- JOHNNY: Hold on!
- ALEX: Which cave is this?
- UVELA: Oh, that cave down there is the last one we visited. The one of the big petroglyph symbol with the line and the two dots that you were interested in.
ALEX: It was old video footage of the outside of the cave. The sun was setting so the images were grainy and not very clear. The camera was placed above the cave, looking down over its entrance, almost like a security camera angle. The director focused the lens. Another boy stood below, just outside the mouth of the cave.
- JOHNNY: Hey, Dave! I think it’d be cool if for this scene you gathered some sticks like you were ready to build a fire.
- DAVE: But aren’t I supposed to be hiding from Indians?
- JOHNNY: Yes, so?
- DAVE: Who the hell builds a fire when trying to hide in the mountains? I thought you said they were right on my tail?
- JOHNNY: They are, but I need a scene with you by the fire. It’ll be cool.
- DAVE: What was that?
- ALEX: What was that?
- UVELA: Just watch.
- DAVE: It came from the cave. Johnny, you hear that?
- JOHNNY: Stop, f(expletive bleeped) around, Dave.
- DAVE: It’s not me! Johnny?
- JOHNNY: What is that?
- DAVE: Something’s in there.
- JOHNNY: Hey, come up here.
- DAVE: There’s something moving in that cave.
- JOHNNY: Get away from there!
- DAVE: Something’s here!
- (camera jostling)
- JOHNNY: (expletives)
- (VCR stops)
ALEX: I’ll try and explain what I saw. The boy named Dave yells, something comes screaming out of the cave. Then they all run away. I thought it might be a bat flying really close to the camera.
- UVELA: No, it wasn’t a bat. It was much bigger. Here.
- ALEX: What is that?
- UVELA: Here, let me slo-mo this forward.
- ALEX: What the hell is that?!
- ALEX: The image was frozen on the screen. It took a while for my eyes to adjust.
- UVELA: Does that look like a bat to you?
- ALEX: No… is this real?
- UVELA: It’s definitely real.
- ALEX: How can you be sure?
- UVELA: The kid filming? That’s me.
- ALEX: What?
- UVELA: Yeah, that was my buddy Dave in the film, good actor. We were 16 at the time. I was trying to make an action movie, but then this happened.
- ALEX: Wow.
- UVELA: Like I said, the Urraca Mesa is supposedly cursed.
- ALEX: Was your friend okay?
- UVELA: Dave?
- ALEX: Yeah.
- UVELA: He was really freaked out, it took him at least a week to stop shaking. Actually, we were both kinda freaked out.
- ALEX: Do you think Dave would speak with me?
- UVELA: Well, Dave’s been dead about seven years now. Cancer. In the prostate.
- ALEX: Oh. I’m sorry. Have you ever shown this video to anyone?
- UVELA: You know, I did sent a copy of this tape somewhere a long time ago. They were offering a reward for proof of ghosts.
- ALEX: That place didn’t happen to be called The Strand Institute, did it?
- UVELA: Yeah, that’s it!
- ALEX: Thank you, Mr. Uvela.
- ALEX: So, I’m going to get right to the point.
- STRAND: (laughing) Okay.
- ALEX: Have you ever been to Urraca Mesa?
- STRAND: I have.
- ALEX: Okay, well, I met a man down there named John Uvela. He claims he sent you a video tape many years ago. A video that shows what he calls a witch flying out of a cave?
- STRAND: I think I remember that one.
- ALEX: And you never thought to tell me about it?
- STRAND: I’ve had hundreds of cases sent to me over the years.
- ALEX: The description of what they saw flying out of that cave, do you remember?
- STRAND: I don’t, I’m sorry.
- ALEX: Her face. When he paused the video. It was exactly the same. The hair, the teeth. It was the dark, cloven hooved figure that woman described from that demon board experiment.
- STRAND: That sounds like you’re reaching.
- ALEX: Well, I think all of these cases are connected and that the Order of the Cenophus might be at the center of everything.
- (phone ringing)
- (Strand sighs)
- ALEX: Excuse me.
- STRAND: Certainly.
- ALEX: Hello?
- NIC: Hey, Alex.
- ALEX: Oh, hey!
- NIC: I found something on this Edward Lewis.
- STRAND: You found something on Edward Lewis?
- NIC: Yeah, I did some digging into that order Lewis claims to be a part of- The Brothers of the Mount? And I found a reference to them in one of the local papers from 1985. The National Forestry Service found a community of monks hiding in mountains of the Colville National Forest, near the Washington/Idaho border. They were living in a cave. Have you ever heard of this?
- STRAND: No.
- NIC: Well, wanna read this?
- ALEX: Yeah, sure. (papers rustling) Forest rangers were able to apprehend six of the monks for illegal trespass and development in a national park under the auspices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, an estimated dozen or so monks escaped authorities. They are still at large. They were last seen heading towards the Pandore River Basin.
- STRAND: The Pandore River?
- NIC: That’s the River where they found the body of Sarah Benning in Charlesworth, right?
- STRAND: It is.
- ALEX: And 1985? Isn’t that the year that Wilson Pepper started the Festival of the Upside Down Face?
- STRAND: I believe so.
- NIC: The lawyers released the audio file of Dr. Strand’s interview with Lewis. I’m going to play it now, if that’s okay.
- STRAND: Fine.
- STRAND: Before we begin, I’ll need you to sign this. I believe your lawyer explained it to you.
- STRAND: Thank you. Mr. Lewis, why did you kidnap Sebastian Torres?
- LAWYER: (whispers) You don’t have to answer that.
- LEWIS: Leave me alone, please. It’s not Mr. Lewis. Brother Edward.
- STRAND: Brother?
- LEWIS: Yes.
- STRAND: You belong to a holy order?
- LEWIS: Yes.
- STRAND: Which one?
- LEWIS: I belong to The Brothers of the Mount.
- STRAND: Where is that?
- LEWIS: It closed several years ago.
- STRAND: Closed?
- LEWIS: Membership waned, we moved on.
- STRAND: Let me ask you again, why kidnap Sebastian Torres?
- LEWIS: I think you know why.
- STRAND: No, I don’t.
- LEWIS: I know you’ve been to the cabin. I know you saw what was inside.
- STRAND: If you’re talking about the sacred geometry, the symbols, yes, I saw them.
- LEWIS: Then you know.
- STRAND: The thing is, Brother Edward, I don’t understand what any of it means to you. You’ll have to help me understand.
- LEWIS: Think back, Dr. Strand. You were a lonely man. You like to be alone, but not always. I know there are times when you wished you weren’t so… alone. During those quiet times, when it’s just you and the darkness, have you ever felt an other?
- STRAND: Another what?
- LEWIS: No, not another. An other.
- STRAND: No.
- LEWIS: You have been watched, Richard. All of your life you’ve been watched. You know that.
- STRAND: Brother Edward, if you’re not going to answer my questions, then you’re just wasting my time. And I will end this interview, it won’t be aired, and I know you want people to hear you. For the third time, why did you kidnap Sebastian Torres?
- LEWIS: Think, Richard. Think about Sebastian Torres, think about what he can do. His gift.
- STRAND: What gift would that be?
- LEWIS: You know the gift I’m talking about. Think about Sebastian, about Simon Reese.
- STRAND: You’ve obviously been listening to Alex Reagan’s show. You believe the symbols drawn by Sebastian and Simon were portals.
- LEWIS: Your refusal to connect the dots will be your undoing, Richard.
- STRAND: Why did you insist on speaking to me? Why not just talk to the police?
- LEWIS: The police haven’t seen what you’ve seen. They don’t have all the pieces that need to be fit together.
- STRAND: I don’t have all those pieces.
- LEWIS: Oh, you’re mistaken. You do. You do, and that’s why they’re watching you. That’s why he’s watching you.
- STRAND: That’s why who’s watching me?
- LEWIS: The Advocate.
- ALEX: Okay. Who’s The Advocate?
- STRAND: I have no idea.
- ALEX: Lewis was talking like he knew you.
- STRAND: He’s a mad man, or maybe he’s obsessed with my work. I’ve had several stalkers since opening the Institute.
- ALEX: No. Oh no, you are not waving this one away like you always do.
- STRAND: What do you mean?
- ALEX: You always have an answer for everything! You have this ability to talk your way out of any corner, not this time! We’re following this line until I say we’re finished. Well?
- STRAND: Look, here’s my theory. Edward Lewis believes he can open some interdimensional portal to Hell, and he believes for some reason that Sebastian Torres holds the key or is at least one of the keys. But he’s obviously wrong. Sebastian Torres isn’t the key to opening an interdimensional portal to Hell, well, because science doesn’t work that way. That cabin is still there. No demons are rushing in and out of some magical demon door.
- ALEX: Devil’s door.
- STRAND: Right. Nothing has happened. I don’t know how else to say it without speaking as clearly as possible, but none of this is real. You are listening to the ramblings of a madman.
- ALEX: You really believe Edward Lewis is a madman?
- STRAND: Yes.
- ALEX: Holy Sh(expletive beeped)!
- STRAND: What?
- NIC: Alex?!
- ALEX: On the television in the waiting room!
- NIC: Sorry, the interns were watching it earlier. Do you want me to turn it off?
- ALEX: No! It’s him!
- STRAND: What?!
- NIC: Him who?
- ALEX: On the television! That’s sexy James Bond.
- STRAND: The man from the coffee shop?
- ALEX: Yes.
- NIC: Are you sure?
- ALEX: I’m positive.
- (phone ringing)
ALEX: It was sexy James Bond alright, only his name wasn’t James. It was right there on the television. His name was Thomas. Thomas Warren. While I was watching Thomas Warren on television, I received a call that went to voicemail. It was from Tina Stevenson.
- STEVENSON: Hi, Alex. It’s Tina Stevenson, you know from up here in Lake Tahoe? Anyway, you asked me to call you if I remembered anything about Lisa Graves. I’m not actually calling because I remembered anything new. I’m calling because Lisa Graves just came in and collected her mail. Okay, have a nice day. Bye!
ALEX: I have a lot of questions. Did Coralee Strand just walk into Tina Stevenson’s store in Lake Tahoe? Alive and well? And who is this Advocate that Brother Edward mentioned? And what about the mysterious Thomas Warren, the man from the coffee shop. Who is he and what was he doing there? And perhaps the biggest question of all- are Dr. Strand’s black tapes cases connected? And if so, am I ever going to be able to find out how? Or why? Is Strand right? Do we see only what we want to see? What we expect to see? Or are there some things in this world that we just can’t and perhaps won’t ever understand? And if so, is a little bit of mystery in the world such a bad thing? I don’t know, but I do know that I’m not finished looking for answers, not even close. My promise to you. I’m going to keep looking as long as you’ll keep listening.
It's The Black Tapes Podcast. I’m Alex Reagan. We'll be back again soon.
(Theme music)
ALEX: Black Tapes Podcast is a Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale production, recorded in Seattle and Vancouver. Produced by Nic Silver, mixed and engineered by Alan Williams and Samantha Paulson. Edited by Nic Silver and Alex Reagan. Associate producer Robert Romero Jr. Executive producers Paul Bae and Terry Miles.