Found [Ongoing Serial]

16. Nickelson This Morning Transcript

The following is a transcript of the Nickelson This Morning, the daily radio show broadcast from Nickelson's public radio station on March 5, 2012.

Gale Springs: Good morning, Nickelson. It's 8:10 on Monday, March 5. I'm Gale Springs, and this is Nickelson This Morning.

[Theme music]

Gale Springs: This morning we have with us Carrie Page, a local folklorist, here to help shed some light on the unfortunate disappearance of Carol Baker and some of the more outlandish theories shared about that disappearance. Carrie, I assume you heard the sheriff at the press conference giving his update?

Carrie Page: Yes.

Gale Springs: While there are some crazy theories running through the town about what happened to Carol, the most likely scenario is that Carol has become lost in the woods or has run away to a city somewhere. But rumours that have been making their way through the town include alien abduction, fatal bigfoot encounters, and even fairies.

Carrie Page: Yes, well, outlandish stories in times of community stress are not unusual and fall into the realm of folklore.

Gale Springs: Then I'm glad you are here.

Carrie Page: Thank you.

Gale Springs: Some of these stories are quite painful for Carol's family and friends. But, understanding why these stories emerge and how they spread is important

Carrie Page: Absolutely. And since you've brought up bigfoot, I think I can start there.

Gale Springs: I remember hearing stories about bigfoot in the hills around Nickelson when I was a child over 30 years ago.

Carrie Page: Yes. In my own studies and others around the Appalachian Mountains show that stories about violent encounters with bigfoot or disappearances tied, the creature can be dated back to the days of Prohibition. As you know, there was a large underground industry in these hills tied to the manufacture and distribution of illegal alcohol. The mountains, with their miles of sparsely populated and hard to access spaces, made it ideal for production.

Gale Springs: I did know about the back country stills, but I'm not sure what the connection would be to bigfoot.

Carrie Page: But if you are involved in illegal activity in the woods, what better way to discourage people visiting those woods than by spreading stories of a monster that may attack and kill you in those woods.

Gale Springs: I see now!

Carrie Page: Yes. And if people get lost in the miles and miles of wilderness, if you were a criminal doing crime in those woods, why wouldn't you use that story to your advantage and add it to your mythology?

Gale Springs: I understand you have an older example that's a bit more positive but still a little scary.

Carrie Page: Green Teeth Jenny is a monster from English folklore. She had green skin and razor-sharp teeth. Her victims were the very old, and children, who she would pull down into the waters of ponds and rivers.

Gale Springs: I think if I was a child and heard about Jenny, I'd stay far away from water.

Carrie Page: That was the idea. It'd keep kids away from dangerous bodies of water.

Gale Springs: That's an example of some helpful folklore. But I understand not all folklore was beneficial.

Carrie Page: Yes, unfortunately. Some of our folklore and mythology comes from a need to find a reason for hardships we can't explain. Sometimes, this is because we did not have the knowledge at the time to be able to provide an explanation.

An example of this would be a Changeling. People used to believe that fairies would sometimes steal away children and leave a double in the child's place. The child would look and sound like the children who had been stolen but would act oddly and strange.

Gale Springs: Fae, I believe is another word. Strange and otherworldly.

Carrie Page: Yes. The solution would be to either torture the child or abandon it so the fairies would come back to rescue their Changeling child. Or at least rid the human parents of the fairy children. What we think now is children born with autism or brain damage or became ill and suffered brain damage of some kind would act not quite like other children would act. Sometimes suddenly. We know now this is a matter of biology and can act humanly and lovingly to these children; that they are just a little different.

Gale Springs: You said torture ...

Carrie Page: Yes. I hesitate to bring this up, but some solutions included dunking and holding children under water or putting babies on shovels and holding them over a fire. Their cries and suffering would either drive the fairy out of the children or call the fairy parents back to save the changeling and return the human child.

Gale Springs: My goodness.

Carrie Page: Yes. It's horrific. You think of all the children who suffered at the hands of the very people meant to protect and love them. The parents themselves were not acting out of malice but rather helplessness and ignorance. But the actions were no less terrible. So that is an instance where folklore, rumors, and wild stories grew into something quite dangerous. Like the witch trials in New England in the 17th century.

Gale Springs: Surely, though, like the witch trials, this happened hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

Carrie Page: Actually, there was a case of a four year old boy killed by his mother in 1826. And in 1895 a woman was killed by her family when they thought she was a fairy changeling.

Gale Springs: I had no idea. My great-grandmother could have been one of those children.

Carrie Page: It's closer than you think.

Gale Springs: So, while it is in our nature to create stories to explain the unexplainable, it is not always harmless.

Carrie Page: No, people should take great care. Stories can be powerful and dangerous.

Gale Springs: Perhaps we should talk a bit about some of the more fantastical stories surrounding the disappearance of Carol Baker.

Carrie Page: All right.

[At this point in the broadcast, a burst of static lasting 15 seconds is recorded]

Gale Springs: Our apologies, listeners. We're not sure what happened there.

Carrie Page [There is stress in Page's voice. She is clearly disturbed]: Who was that?

Gale Springs: Who was what?

Carrie Page: A voice in the static. It was a woman or a girl. Didn't you hear it?

Gale Springs: All I heard was static. Frank? Did you record that? Can you go back and listen for a voice.

[A pause while an unheard "Frank" communicates]

Gale Springs: Frank, our engineer and producer, is going to review. If there was a voice you heard, it was most likely another station with the same frequency as ours bouncing in off the mountains or clouds. It happens ... Frank?

Carrie Page: No, this was a girl crying and asking where she was.

Gale Springs: Listeners, Frank says there was no voice in the static. Carrie, if this is your idea of joke, I suggest now is not the time for it.

Carrie Page [Sounding angry and frightened]: I know what I heard! She said she was with the lost in Sitheron! Where is Sitheron? We have to help her!

Gale Springs: That's enough! Frank, cut her mike. Now.

[Carrie Page's mike is cut, but she can be heard crying herself and demanding the person whose voice she heard be helped fading as she is presumably removed from the studio]

Gale Springs: My apologies, listeners. That was in very bad taste. Our research suggested that Carrie Page is a reputable and respected academic. But it seems otherwise. We need to get our studio back in order, so let's play a little Kelly Clarkson, and we'll be right back with the weather.