Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

Tonight, on "Unsolved Mysteries," four eerie

tales for all Hallows' Eve.

The legend of a gray man.

For more than a century, this solitary ghost

has wandered the sand dunes of a tiny island in South Carolina.

Some residents claim that his ghostly appearance

has protected their homes from the fury of Hurricane Hugo.

Halloween, 1988, 29-year-old David Stone

embarked on a bizarre spiritual journey

across the New Mexico desert.

He left behind a trail of baffling clues,

and then mysteriously vanished.

Eyewitnesses claim that this woman

possesses remarkable psychic ability,

both mental and physical.

An extraordinary case of paranormal powers

or a brilliant deception?

We'll also bring you an intriguing update

on last season's story about reincarnation.

Can we truly experience a past life or is it all in the mind?

Join me.

It's Halloween night on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

Traditionally in Halloween ghost stories,

ghosts are described as frightening entities.

But on a tiny island in South Carolina,

they tell of a very different kind of spirit.

Over the last 170 years, five deadly Hurricanes have

ripped through Pawleys Island.

Every single one of these storms have

been accompanied by a local sighting of a ghost

known as the Gray Man.

In a bizarre coincidence, apparently

every person who has encountered the ghost

has been spared from harm.

Fairy tale or evidence that ghosts do exist?

The record may speak for itself.

The legend of the Gray Man began in the late summer of 1822.

Along the dunes of a deserted beach on Pawleys Island,

a wealthy young planter rode with his man servant

on a mission of the heart.

His destination was his fiance's plantation.

The wedding was just days away, but the groom

was overcome with youthful emotion and impatience.

By the time he could be pulled out of the marsh,

it was too late.

The young man was dead.

At the plantation, the bride-to-be

heard the tragic news.

PAPA: Rachel.

RACHAEL: Yes, Papa?

It's James.

He was riding, and he fell in the marsh.

Oh.

He died from the fall.

ROBERT STACK: According to the legend,

a girl took to wandering the shore

alone contemplating a life she no longer had reason to live.

One afternoon she discerned a shadowy form

standing in the sands.

That night her betrothed whispered an urgent warning.

GHOST: Leave the island.

The wind is coming.

ROBERT STACK: She and her parents

left the next day just before a hurricane

slammed into the island.

But the girl, her family, and miraculously their plantation

were spared.

The specter of the dead lover had voiced a warning

from beyond the grave.

It was not to be the last time.

One of the next recorded sightings of the Gray Man

took place on Pawleys Island at the turn of the century.

In anticipation of an approaching hurricane,

a tenant farmer was herding animals owned by a local family

off the island when he encountered the Gray Man.

Hey, mister, you better follow me off the island,

there's going to be a storm tonight.

I say, follow me off the island.

There's going to be a storm tonight.

Oh, you're crazy, man, do what you want.

The following day's hurricane went

right past the family's plantation

sparing them from destruction.

GENEVIEVE PETERKIN: The property owned

by that family was protected in the hurricane, which

is always what happens when the great Gray

Man appears to someone.

That was in October of 1893.

But through the years, there have

been numbers of different stories,

often in the newspaper, after a storm.

And in 1954, a man who lived in Georgetown

had a summer home at Pawleys Island

and saw the Gray Man before Hurricane Hazel.

His home was so protected that beach towels that they had left

hanging on the railing of the porch were still there

after the storm.

Well, I was here in Hurricane Hazel, so it's very hard for me

to believe the beach towels could

have remained on that railing and not have been blown away,

but they did.

ROBERT STACK: In 1954, hurricane Hazel had left the Southern

Atlantic Coast in ruins.

35 people were killed and over 1800 homes were destroyed.

For the next 35 years, the killer winds steered clear

of Pawleys Island, and the Gray Man

came to be perceived by locals as something

of a guardian angel.

GENEVIEVE PETERKIN: When he appears to you,

you're very blessed and fortunate.

Your house will be saved.

And so I think it's strange how people seem

to have a sense of fear about ghosts,

and yet the Gray Man is a benign and kindly

person who helps people when he comes and appears to them.

ROBERT STACK: Midnight, September 22nd, 1989,

after laying waste to the Caribbean,

Hurricane Hugo slammed into the coast of South Carolina.

Its winds ripped through the coastline

at speeds in excess of 135 miles per hour.

Thousands were forced to flee their homes.

In South Carolina alone, there was close to $5 billion

worth of damage.

Over 9,000 homes were destroyed.

Pawleys Island was particularly hard hit.

JIM MOORE: Well, it looked like a giant dump pile.

Chairs, couches, iceboxes, all that stuff was piled up

in the middle of the road.

It was terrible.

CLARA MOORE: It practically destroyed Pawleys Island.

It destroyed 14 houses in our section.

Ours was left standing.

ROBERT STACK: Amazingly, even though the entire neighborhood

was destroyed, the Moore's home was virtually unscathed.

CLARA MOORE: As we went in, I was so happy to find everything

just like I had left it.

The papers that we had on the counter,

still there, even though the front door had blown open.

There was no evidence of any water or anything inside,

and the house was intact.

JIM MOORE: Even the little pictures and things

were still on the refrigerator.

They weren't even blown off.

The salt and pepper shakers were still on the counter,

and little things that I left around were still there.

ROBERT STACK: The devastation to the rest

of the homes on the island brought about local speculation

as to the Gray Man's whereabouts.

Caught up in the aftermath of the hurricane, Jim and Clara

Moore had completely forgotten about a haunting

encounter that occurred two days before Hugo struck.

CLARA MOORE: We didn't think much about it

until later on when the article came out in the paper,

"The Gray Man Failed to Appear."

And then we talked about, well, we had seen him.

Hard to walk in the sand, isn't it?

We were taking a walk late in the afternoon,

which we usually do.

And you see so many people walking on the beach

at this time of the day.

That particular afternoon we only saw the one,

and he was coming directly toward us.

When I got within speaking distance,

I decided, well you always speak to people whether you know them

or not, so I raised my hand to say hi,

or beautiful evening, or beautiful night, or whatever,

and he disappeared.

What happened?

Where'd he go?

JIM MOORE: I don't know how to explain it,

because an eerie thing like that, you know.

But, of course, I didn't worry too

much about it, because I said, well, I was just seeing things.

But I'm sure that he was there, and when I started to speak,

he wasn't there.

I didn't know it was the Gray Man.

I just thought it was someone on the beach until he disappeared.

And then that's set us to thinking.

I can't explain our good fortune,

except through the presence of the Gray Man and the Lord,

of course.

He may have used the Gray Man.

But I know our house was saved.

JIM MOORE: I can't think of any way

that you could rationalize the saving of our house,

except it had to be a miracle.

I never did believe too much in ghosts.

I have changed my outlook.

I believe there are ghosts.

After seeing a ghost, you got to believe it, you know.

ROBERT STACK: Is said that every legend has some basis in truth.

According to the story, the Gray Man ended his tenure on earth

with an urgent mission unaccomplished his great love

irretrievably lost.

Yet, some say he unknowingly walks the sands of Pawleys

Island still searching for the woman who has been in her grave

for over a century.

It is somehow inspiring to contemplate a love

so strong as to defy death.

But if these witnesses are to be believed,

and the Gray Man's personal tragedy has led to others

salvation, and to those whose homes and lives he has helped

to save, the only real tragedy is

that they cannot give the Gray Man a heartfelt thank you.

Next, the strange case of a young and successful

stockbroker who vanished in the New Mexico desert.

[music playing]

The desert that stretches across Arizona and New Mexico

has been a part of Native American myth

and legend for centuries.

Many believe it is a source of mystical power,

a spiritual vortex where natural beauty and supernatural energy

mysteriously merge.

In 1988, this picturesque but unforgiving wilderness

became the setting for a real life mystery.

It all began on Halloween two years ago.

Dawn, October 31st, 140 miles east of Tucson, Arizona,

local farmer Larry Rivers encountered

a young stranger who claimed to be searching for the beast.

LARRY RIVERS: And it was pretty cold that morning.

I come driving out on my road, and this guy

has walking out here in a short sleeved shirt

and a pair of shorts on and carrying a stick in his hand.

Hello, you lost?

No, I'm not lost.

Well, what are you doing out here?

I'm looking for the beast.

And I told him he wasn't going to find the beast out here,

and he told me he'd find it.

Well, I'm going to keep looking.

You need a ride somewhere?

No.

I thought it was weird.

ROBERT STACK: The stranger was later identified

as 29-year-old David Stone.

He has not been seen or heard from in two years.

David Stone was a highly successful stock market analyst

who ran a branch of his father's business

in La Jolla, California.

But about four years ago, David expressed the desire

to change his life and became increasingly involved

with a New Age movement.

The term New Age encompasses a variety of religious beliefs

and philosophies that promote self enlightenment

and spiritual growth.

Many followers believe that they can tap into a universal energy

through the use of crystals, pyramid power, and meditation.

But in this case, David Stone's unyielding obsession with a new

found spirituality may have sent him on a journey

from which there is no return.

HARRY STONE: Well, I think he could

best be described as an overachiever in just about

every way.

You've never met are a kinder, gentler young man than him,

very close to family.

But then on the other hand, you put him in a football uniform,

and he was like a proverbial commando.

ROBERT STACK: For years, David struggled with his dual nature.

Hey, I said, don't be doing that.

What's your problem, man?

ROBERT STACK: On October 28th, 1988,

during a party at his apartment, David temporarily lost control.

Hey, hey, what's going on?

JOHN DUFFUS: David started hitting him.

He said he might have hit him, oh, 20, 25 times.

He didn't really hurt him, but felt like he had to do that.

Roughly around 9 o'clock in the morning, he came down

and told me what he had done.

Where you going?

Oh, I'm not sure.

Grand Canyon, Sonora Desert, I don't know.

ROBERT STACK: David told John that he

needed to get away to reflect on his explosive behavior.

He said he would return home in a few days.

Well, take care of yourself.

OK, later.

Later.

ROBERT STACK: Five days later, David's car

was discovered on a desolate stretch

of New Mexico Highway 80.

HARRY STONE: When we hadn't heard from him,

we called the New Mexico State Police,

and his car had been found abandoned,

and they had towed it in.

ROBERT STACK: Police interviewed local residents

and learned that several had seen David.

LILLIAN RICHINS: We had left our home in Cotton City

and were driving up to the ranch.

As we went by, we saw this young man

and we thought perhaps he'd had car trouble.

So we stopped.

Hi.

Hi.

You broke down?

You have car trouble? - No.

I'm OK.

Thank you.

LILLIAN RICHINS: And so we just went on.

I am the power.

I am the power.

GLENN DUNCAN: I heard this voice,

and I seen this man walking across the way there.

Be gone.

I am the power.

GLENN DUNCAN: I thought it was unusual that he'd be going out

across the desert at that time of the year in shorts

with no coat or anything, you know.

ROBERT STACK: David's car was found near the Pyramid Mountain

Range.

Pyramids are an integral part of New Age philosophy.

And each year, many believers come here to experience what

are known as vision quests.

According to New Age philosophy, a vision quest

is an introspective journey taken in order

to discover one's inner self.

It is believed that through isolation and meditation

a person can experience a vision which will

reveal their true identity.

HARRY STONE: I am convinced that once he arrived

at that location, that he felt like this would be

the perfect starting point for whatever vision quest

he personally felt that he had to embark on.

There's quite a process of preparation.

In that process you have to face what

they term as being the beast.

This beast is that evil or negativism which is in you.

And it is the object that must be faced by every person

and conquered before you can reach this state of oneness

with God.

ROBERT STACK: Four days after his son's car was discovered,

Harry Stone joined a full scale manhunt launched by the Boot

Heel Search and Rescue team.

For three days they scoured the desert using four planes

and more than 40 trackers and volunteers on the ground.

David's trail headed Northwest from his car

in the direction of Granite Peak.

RALPH DAWDY: We thought it was interesting

because that mountain from the south

looks kind of pyramid shaped.

It has an interesting look to it that might have meant

something to his religion.

It might not have.

ROBERT STACK: One half mile from the highway, searchers

discovered the first in a series of bizarre clues left by David.

JOHN HILL: That's when they found a large pyramid up

in that wash that had been made out of sand, mounded up,

and rocks on the corner.

That was the first thing we found.

After I got further down the canyon,

it seemed like the tracks were real fresh.

I had a real strange feeling.

The hair stood up on my arms, and I

had an intense feeling that he was sitting watching me.

Come here.

JOHN HILL: You find something?

ROBERT STACK: On the second day, trackers discovered

another puzzling clue.

Once again, David had erected a small pyramid,

but this time, he left behind his gold Rolex

watch and two quarters.

I wonder how come he left his watch here?

I don't know what that means.

It must be something to do with his religion.

The coins and David's watch were found here, about 1/4

mile from the first pyramid.

Approximately three miles to the north, another puzzling clue

was discovered.

Searchers came upon a strange sequence

of numbers written in the sand.

They later learned that these numbers are called

a Fibonacci series and are used by stock

market analysts the world over.

But the last number in the sequence should have been 21.

Oddly, David wrote 18.

HARRY STONE: He knew better than that.

So it's one of the mysteries, is why would

he write 18 instead of 21?

But that goes along with a lot of other unanswered questions.

It's real rare for a person to be out as long as he probably

was without ever losing a gum wrapper

or without ever finding any sign where they slept,

where they ate.

Any sign of that kind of stuff we never found.

ROBERT STACK: The stones now feel

that the number 18 may have been David's way of telling

them he was in trouble.

Ironically, his car was found at mile marker 18.

And during his senior year in college

David's football jersey number was 18.

By the final day of the search, the elements had all but

obliterated David's footprints.

However, bloodhounds were able to track scent

over the rocky desert terrain.

They followed it back to Highway 80.

When they came to the intersection of Interstate 10,

David's trail suddenly stopped approximately 13 miles north

of where his car was found.

At the time we took it to be a hopeful sign

that he had hitchhiked out, or that somebody had given him

a ride, and that was the only thing we could

understand that would mean why the scent disappeared

like it did.

Well, I just kept feeling that everything was there

to let us know what had happened but we just weren't seeing it.

ROBERT STACK: At the conclusion of the search,

Carol and Harry Stone made a more extensive inventory of

the items left in David's car.

Tucked away in a pocket version of the New Testament,

they found a business card bearing

the name of a Tony Ballesteros and an Arizona phone number.

They immediately contacted Ballesteros.

I never met David Stone myself,

but the possible way he could have gotten my card

is I placed it in a mesquite tree for other friends

to find our campsite.

Maybe the wind blew it down, and he picked it up later.

At this point, nothing makes sense

how my card got into his Bible to tell you the truth.

In In addition to the business card,

the stones found a strangely worded note.

HARRY STONE: The note said, they think the Word is in the safe.

Six knives in Rob's room.

Yous buys your tea and yous takes your chances Halloween.

We don't know what the word "tea" means.

We think it's the old saying, you buy your ticket

and you take your chances.

But it just says yous buys your tea and yous

takes your chances Halloween.

And that was the day he disappeared,

which was October 31st Halloween.

ROBERT STACK: What is the meaning

behind the strange clues that David left across the desert?

Were they a coded message that he was in trouble?

Or were they a sign of his ultimate destination?

It seems apparent that David managed to walk out

of the desert, but what became of him

after he reached the intersection of Highway

80 and Interstate 10?

CAROL STONE: There are always those unanswered questions.

You know, life has to go on.

And it's very difficult at times.

And we would always want him to feel

free to contact us, and let him know that we love him,

and we want to hear from him.

But we know we face the possibilities--

ROBERT STACK: When we return, the story of a woman

named Katie who has reportedly demonstrated

bizarre psychic abilities that defy explanation.

You're about to meet a woman named Katie.

According to witnesses, Katie can

predict the future, materialize objects out of thin air.

She has supposedly written perfect medieval French while

in a trance, a surprising accomplishment

for a person who claims that she never learned to read or write.

Throughout history many have claimed

to possess psychic powers, but have

been exposed as clever fakes using sleight of hand.

Is Katie gifted with eerie paranormal abilities

or is she just a talented magician

with extraordinary powers of illusion?

You be the judge.

I'll see people that ain't there.

And I hear voices that no one else hears.

Objects coming from eyes, ears, nose, mouth just popping out.

I've seen her take forks, spoons, nails, anything

like that, and by doing this, she could take two fingers

and you could watch it droop.

I saw Katie's face go from nothing there to the diamond

start to come out of her eye.

Katie is a great classical, physical medium, a psychic who

has the ability or apparently the ability's

a gift which she has where things

happen which is unexplainable.

Physical things, mind over matter,

seeds germinating, things moving without reason,

things appearing and disappearing,

and all kinds of prophesy, all kinds of things,

both mental and physical phenomena.

ROBERT STACK: Katie says that her odd experiences

began in 1974.

She was 25 years old.

KATIE: I was cleaning in my kitchen,

and this man opens the door, and he comes in, and proceeds

to go back to my bedroom.

I thought It was the guy that we were renting from.

So I go back to the bedroom to see what he wants.

And when I get back there, there's nobody there.

So I'm thinking, ooh, god, I'm losing it.

You know I seen this man walk in my door back to my bedroom.

My windows are locked.

There's no way out, and he's not there.

ROBERT STACK: Several days later Katie's husband brought home

a family photo album which Katie claims

she had never seen before.

That's him.

That's the man I saw.

That's my dad.

KATIE: He had a picture of him.

And I said, well, this is the man that opened the door.

And he says, it can't be.

He said, that's my dad.

I'd never, never seen a picture of his dad,

but his dad had died maybe five years before we'd ever met.

My view myself was very skeptical

when it comes to psychics.

I view myself as very skeptical anyway.

If I can't see something that's quite tangible,

I just don't believe it.

And in this particular case, we've

seen some things that were quite astounding

that I can't explain.

ROBERT STACK: Jerry Burr is a retired police

investigator who has enlisted Katie's

help on several occasions.

In one burglary investigation, Burr withheld the location

of the crime scene from Katie.

That's it.

That's the house.

This is the house here?

OK, that's the right one.

According to Burr, Katie not only

found the house she described the oriental art inside

and said that something had been stolen

from a box in a blue room.

JERRY BURR: As we walked in the entry way,

it was all oriental art.

We walked into the room, the bedroom

that the items were taken from, and it turned out

the bedroom was blue as well.

She had said it was taken from a box

and sure enough the items that were taken

were from a cherry wood box.

I didn't know what to think at first.

Because she was so dead on, and because I am quite skeptical,

I started looking at Katie as a good suspect.

I just wasn't aware that she was that good.

ROBERT STACK: 15 minutes later, Katie had another premonition.

KATIE: As we left the house, we were driving back around,

and I kept smelling this odor.

I smell marijuana.

I don't smell anything, Katie.

Stop the car.

This is where it's strongest.

And he says, well, what direction

is it come coming from now?

And I said from the water there.

So we was up on this like dock.

And he asked me if I could still smell it, and I told him, yes.

And he asked me kind of jokingly, he says, well,

do you know when this stuff's going to come in here?

She said in two weeks that we would have this marijuana

would come up on the beach.

Two weeks almost to the hour we had 25 bales of marijuana

wash up on the beach.

ROBERT STACK: The Marijuana washed ashore only

a few yards from where Katie had sensed the distinctive smell.

However, police confirmed that marijuana

shipments had often been recovered in the same area.

Was Katie's prediction a true display of psychic powers

or just a lucky guess?

PAUL KURTZ: Psychics make general predictions,

and it's difficult to confirm them.

I don't think on the basis of what I've seen that miss

Katie has any special powers.

Surely not--

ROBERT STACK: Professor Paul Kurtz

spent 15 years investigating the unverified claims

of the paranormal.

She may have the powers of persuasion,

but I don't know that there is anything

mysterious about what she's done or what she claims to do.

Stick your tongue out, please.

ROBERT STACK: Katie's abilities, however, extend

beyond the psychic realm.

The most astounding manifestations are physical.

Katie has been videotaped by her psychiatrist sweating

what appears to be a gold foil out of the pores of her skin.

KATIE: It comes out all over my body, face, eyes, ears, mouth,

arms, thighs, tummy, back.

Wherever I've got pores, this is where it comes out at.

BERTHOLD SCHWARZ: It's getting larger it seems to me.

ROBERT STACK: Katie has supposedly exuded

the foil more than 100 times.

Psychiatrist, Berthold Schwarz, has examined her

during some of these episodes.

BERTHOLD SCHWARZ: Miss Katie has the ability apparently

of having a metallic, gold-like, metal foil form on her body

and sometimes on objects nearby.

For example, a framed picture of her late mother

and this gold-like foil will appear on the borders

of the picture on the frame.

More likely the gold, using the words loosely,

will appear on her cheeks, under the eyes,

the abdomen, forearms.

Here we have something which is a medical marvel.

MARY BETH MCDONALD: I saw the gold on her tongue

first as Dr. Schwarz was taking the gold off,

he had to actually peel it off with a tweezer-like instrument.

And then I looked down at her arm,

and I was holding her hand.

And there was nothing on her arm at all,

and then she had these long strips of gold that

resemble candy kiss wrapping.

As we were sitting in a room with Katie,

Katie had picked up the front of her blouse,

and gold flakes were covering her entire stomach area.

And after it was brushed off, with her shirt

still in the open position, more gold flakes appeared.

ROBERT STACK: Eyewitnesses insist that these incidents

were not faked, that the gold foil

appeared before their eyes.

A laboratory analysis of the material

reveals it to be 80% copper and 20% zinc.

I don't think there's any objective hard evidence that

this is exuding from her pores.

Most likely, the point is that someone wants

other people to believe this, and so they put

this metallic paper on them.

ROBERT STACK: Two of Professor Kurtz's colleagues

were able to simulate Katie's alleged abilities

using ordinary metallic foil.

OK, so this is what we did.

If we went to a regular art store in Buffalo.

We bought something called gold leafing.

It's very thin strips of foil colored gold.

ROBERT STACK: The chemical composition of the foil

closely resembles that of Katie's foil.

And I put the foil on in thin strips.

Cathy helped me.

And then I sprayed hairspray on it so it would stick,

and it's been stuck for four hours since 11:00 this morning.

I have some on my tongue.

And I can still talk and swallow sometimes.

And then I put it on my stomach, and then I put it on my back.

KATIE: If somebody come up to me and said,

well, hey, I know this person that's

got this stuff that comes out of their skin, you know,

it's gold.

I really-- I've seen this.

I would think it was a trick.

Until I seen it myself I would believe that, you know, well,

what are they doing?

You know, how are they getting this on them?

Or, you know, what kind of magic are they doing?

I would believe it was fake till I saw it.

I'm here, Kate.

I put the hair out of the way.

ROBERT STACK: Even more unbelievable

are Katie's apparent powers of apportation

where solid objects seem to appear out

of her mouth, nose, or ears.

This videotape taken by her psychiatrist shows

what appears to be a gold charm emerge

from the vicinity of her ear.

This tape was also shot by Dr. Schwarz

and shows a glass stone resembling

a diamond apparently materializing out

of Katie's eye.

BERTHOLD SCHWARZ: It might look as though she's going to throw

up and cough, cough away, and out pops a gem of some kind

right out of the mouth.

Now prior to that, the mouth and throat

was examined very carefully.

There was nothing there.

She sipped some water and swallowed,

so nothing was secreted which it's hard to see how it

could be anyway in the stomach.

So you have to ask the question, where did this thing come from?

ROBERT STACK: Are these examples of apportation really

skillful sleight of hand?

This footage has been slowed down to take a closer look.

In these frames we can see the object

emerge from above her ring.

PAUL KURTZ: As soon as we saw the apportation,

we decided we would get a magician

in here who has attended our meetings

and worked with us in the past.

To see if he could duplicate what she has done,

and he did that.

I assume that at the point when she actually caused

the gem to appear she had the gem palmed in her hand

just like this, palmed between her fingers.

A very comfortable place, and you can gesture comfortably

and nobody suspects anything.

And then when she reached her hand up to her eye,

it was a simple matter to spread her fingers apart.

And you could see them spreading apart as the gem

falls through, just like that.

ROBERT STACK: Is Katie a brilliant fraud?

If so, it seems odd that she has never attempted to profit

in any way from her abilities.

But could Katie truly be marked for paranormal powers?

JERRY BURR: Where does something like this fit into my thinking?

It doesn't.

It's, uh, it's beyond me.

It's beyond my comprehension.

I was a Doubting Thomas, too.

But if you saw it, you would be a believer.

KATIE: I've learned to accept it a little bit more

now than what I did in the beginning.

But I do still have questions in my mind

that are not answered yet.

And I don't know if they will be answered.

But I'm going to keep trying until I find out.

ROBERT STACK: Next, a surprising update

on our story of reincarnation.

Can two lovers from the past be reunited?

[music playing]

Reincarnation, life after death, has

fascinated people in cultures all over the world

for centuries.

Last season we presented the eerie story of a woman named

Georgia Rudolph who was convinced that she

is a reincarnation of a girl who lived

at the turn of the century.

Tonight, a surprising update on Georgia's bizarre story.

Since childhood, Georgia has been beset by recurring dreams

and memories of an unfamiliar earlier time visions of horses

and carriages, a river, and repeatedly

old fashioned sternwheelers.

Often there was a young man dressed

in a brown suit and Derby hat and always the image

of a dark-haired girl.

GEORGIA RUDOLPH: My whole childhood

I thought I was crazy, because I don't think

it was a month that went by that I didn't

have either memories or dreams.

ROBERT STACK: Continually haunted by these images,

Georgia sought therapy in the form of regressive hypnosis.

DR. SMITH: When Georgia first contacted me,

I felt it might be something like

an early traumatic childhood memory

that she was trying to remember.

Or possibly, it could be an aspect

of a multiple personality.

Other than that, reincarnation was

probably the last thing in my mind

about what had happened to her.

ROBERT STACK: Under hypnosis, Georgia began

to give detail to her visions.

She believes the girl in her dreams

is named Sandra Jean Jenkins.

The young man in the Derby hat was her fiance.

His name was Tommy Hicks.

In 1914, according to Georgia's visions,

Tommy Hicks drowned in the Ohio River.

His body was never found.

Sandra Jean Jenkins was left unmarried and pregnant

with Tommy's child.

Distraught over the death of Tommy,

and unable to face the shame that their unborn child would

bring, Sandra Jean Jenkins took her own life.

Georgia began searching for the people

and places she saw in her dreams.

In 1984.

she journeyed to Marietta, Ohio, where she

met with reporter Ted Bauer.

Ted is a lifelong resident of Marietta

and worked for the local newspaper for 32 years.

TED BAUER: When Georgia arrived in Marietta,

I said, I'll take you around and show you some of the places

that you talked about over the phone.

And she says, no, I'll show you where to go.

I couldn't believe her knowledge of Marietta.

I can't buy the reincarnation bit,

but she has some kind of power, some way of knowing

what happened in the past.

ROBERT STACK: In a nearby town, Georgia

located a house she says matches the house in her visions.

Relatives of the former owner gave Georgia what she feels

is evidence that Sandra Jean Jenkins did exist.

GEORGIA RUDOLPH: They brought out a picture taken in 1908,

and the girl that I call Sandra is standing in that picture.

There was a statement made by a member of the family,

I don't know this girl's name, but I know she

drowned out back of the house.

ROBERT STACK: Georgia's story is difficult to accept.

But there's so many coincidences that we cannot

simply dismiss it out of hand.

After our broadcast, we learned of another equally baffling

coincidence.

A 36-year-old college professor, who had never

met Georgia Rudolph, claims that over a year

before our broadcast he underwent hypnosis and had

a past life experience in which he recalled that he was

a young man living in Ohio at the turn of the century named

Tommy Hicks.

JACK TURNOCK: When I saw the original segment with Georgia

Rudolph, I could just feel the anxiety

building in myself, because there

was almost instant recognition.

And my wife was watching me and thinking,

what's wrong with him?

And I was gripping the arm with the couch tighter, and tighter,

and tighter, as it went through and then when she finally--

when Georgia Rudolph finally said, you know,

that his name was Tom Hicks, I almost fell off the couch.

ROBERT STACK: Our broadcast aired in February, 1990.

In September of 1988, Jack Turnock

underwent regressive hypnosis with Dr. Bruce Crystal

in Jacksonville, Florida.

JACK TURNOCK: The particular session

that I went through, I was taken back to the turn of the century

Ohio.

And I told the interviewer that my name was Tom Hicks.

While under hypnosis.

Jack said that a river seemed to play a large part

in the life of Tommy Hicks, and that Tommy's

younger brother had drowned.

Jack also recalled that Tommy Hicks had a girlfriend

with long dark hair.

DR. SMITH: I still remained somewhat skeptical.

I need more proof.

But were getting closer and closer to the point

where we cannot excuse it on the basis of chance or probability.

I think Jennifer.

ROBERT STACK: In September, Jack Turnock

traveled to Macon, Georgia, and underwent regressive hypnosis

with Dr. Douglas Smith.

House During the session, Dr. Smith

asked Jack several key questions in order

to determine if he could have in any way fabricated

the events he described while under hypnosis

two years earlier.

Hair's pulled back.

DR. SMITH: We had asked him to compare the reincarnation

experience that he had with something

that did not occur to him, and he could make the distinction.

In my professional opinion, I am quite certain that he

was telling the truth.

Boat stuck.

I was skeptical before the two regression sessions

that I've had.

But if they're not true, then there's

an awful lot of very odd coincidences going on.

Something very definite is going on,

but we have no rational explanation that science can

provide as to what's happening.

I suggest we keep an open mind.

ROBERT STACK: The stories of Georgia

Rudolph and Jack Turnock are, indeed, hard to believe.

But keep in mind, many of the world's religions

accept reincarnation as a basic part of their belief.

For the rest of us, the possibility

of life after death, however hopeful,

remains an unsolved mystery.

[music playing]

Next week on "Unsolved Mysteries," 55 years ago,

aviatrix Amelia Earhart was the most famous woman in America.

In 1937, she left Oakland, California,

to fly around the world.

Six weeks later, her plane went down in the South Pacific.

Today, evidence from the remote island of Saipan

has suggested Amelia Earhart was captured by the Japanese

and may have been executed.

In Woodstock, Illinois, a high school romance

turns sour and ends in tragedy for 17-year-old Colleen Ritter.

Perhaps you can help capture her missing boyfriend

who is wanted for murder.

Also, a special appeal from the musical group New Kids

on the Block.

Three years ago 16-year-old Kari Nixon disappeared.

In June, 1989, she may have been spotted at a New

Kids concert in Los Angeles.

Join me next week for another edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

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