Original subtitles

[filmrise sound effect playing]

NARRATOR: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries."

ROBERT STACK: 21-year-old Angela Maher was intelligent,

energetic, and spirited.

A passionate young crusader against drinking and driving.

When Angela climbed into her car on a summer night in 1994,

no one could have imagined the cruel twist of fate

she was about to encounter.

Viewed from the sky, Peru's Nazca Plateau

is a breathtaking marvel.

Hundreds of ramrod straight lines that converge

in geometric perfection.

Giant figures formed by a single, continuous strokes.

Who created these massive artworks and why?

If you're looking for a good night's sleep,

you might want to steer clear of this ranch house in West Texas.

Those who didn't have a hair raising story to tell.

Paul Pollis lives in the shadow of ugly suspicion.

The day his wife, Charlotte, disappeared,

Paul says he was out running errands with his children.

But Shawna's family claims Paul is lying.

Stay with us.

Perhaps you hold the key.

Perhaps your call can help solve one of tonight's

unsolved mysteries.

[theme music]

Tell Patricia I'd pick her up.

Shouldn't be long.

Just a couple of hours.

I love you, honey.

Love you more.

You look so pretty tonight, Angela.

ROBERT STACK: 21-year-old Angela Maher grew up in a close knit

family in Scottsdale, Arizona.

On July 29, 1994, Angela was home from college to celebrate

her mother's birthday.

[car starts]

At 10:00 PM, she left the house to pick

up a friend who needed a ride.

[music playing]

Around the same time, 31-year-old Gloria Schulze

was leaving a local bar.

Moments later, the paths of these two strangers,

Gloria Schulze and Angela Maher, would collide.

[tense music playing]

[car horn honking]

ROSE MARIE MAHER: There was a knock at the door.

It was the police officers.

And they said that there had been an accident.

And my question was, is my daughter OK?

And they said no.

[ambulance sirens sounding]

ROBERT STACK: Angela had suffered massive blunt force

trauma to her head.

By the time paramedics were able to cut her out of the car,

it was too late.

Gloria Schulze survived.

Although she sustained a broken jaw,

she was lucid enough to be questioned at the scene.

Ma'am, have you had anything to drink tonight?

Yeah.

Obviously too much.

ROBERT STACK: Tests later revealed traces of marijuana

in Schulze's system and a blood alcohol content of 0.15.

Well above the legal limit for driving in Arizona.

Angela Maher had apparently become one of them

more than 16,000 Americans killed in alcohol

related accidents in 1994.

But Angela Maher is more than just a statistic.

In a cruel tragic irony, Angela Maher

had been an active crusader against drinking and driving.

When she was a high school junior,

a close friend was killed while driving drunk.

Rather than do nothing, Angela took a stand

and helped establish a chapter of SADD,

Students Against Drunk Driving.

ANGELA: Being involved with SADD means

that you just care enough to be a really good friend.

If any have you ever gotten to a situation where you needed

a ride home, you could just give me a call

and I would come and get you no questions asked.

You're probably wondering why you're holding these balloons.

Well if everyone that has a black balloon

could go ahead and release it.

These balloons signify the number

of people that were killed in drunk driving

accidents in Arizona last year.

By releasing this white balloon, it signifies hope that this

will never happen to one of us.

DONALD MAHER, JR: What's really an awful irony

is that the night that my sister was hit,

she was on her way to pick up a friend

who had called from a bar here in Phoenix for a ride home.

My sister felt strongly enough that if she knew she was going

out with friends and that they were going to drink,

she would not drink so she could drive everybody home

and make sure that everybody got home safe and sound.

ROSE MARIE MAHER: Always.

She always wanted to be the designated driver.

That's why she would always take our car.

And she'd always just answer us by saying, mother,

I want to make sure I get home.

Your honor, it is the state's position that a bond

should be set in this manner--

ROBERT STACK: On September 6, 1994,

Gloria Schulze was arraigned on charges

of manslaughter and reckless endangerment.

Schulze was represented by a prominent attorney,

experienced in handling drunk driving cases.

Do the families wish to be heard?

Yes, your Honor.

Rose Marie Maher, the victim's mother,

wishes to make a statement.

Judge Ryan, we all know in this country

that a person is innocent until proven

guilty in a court of law.

But does that mean that the life of the accused

continues on as if nothing had happened?

ROSE MARIE MAHER: She wasn't arraigned until four and a half

weeks after the accident.

She's never spent a day in jail.

She kept her driver's license.

She went on every day like nothing happened.

At this point, Ms. Schulze, I'm

going to release you under the supervision

of the pretrial services agency in this court.

And this will include drug monitoring.

ROBERT STACK: To the Mahers' dismay,

Gloria shows was released without being

required to post bond.

The judge, however, did stipulate that Schulze submit

to drug testing three times a week,

and that she report to the court by phone once a week.

JUDGE: Now, do you understand the conditions of your release?

Yes, your Honor.

Thank you, your Honor.

May we be excused?

Yes.

ROBERT STACK: It was the beginning of months

of frustration for the Mahers.

Gloria Schulze's attorney would seek and receive

six trial postponements.

The prosecutor and judge originally on the case

were reassigned.

Gloria Schulze would also be permitted

to leave the state on three separate occasions,

despite the Mahers' and the prosecutor's objections.

Finally, more than a year after Angela Maher's death,

Gloria Schulze was offered a plea bargain arrangement.

If Schulze waived her right to a trial

and plead guilty to the reckless endangerment and manslaughter

charges, she would serve a reduced sentence.

A pretrial hearing was scheduled for September 15th, 1995.

A day Rose Marie Maher will always remember.

ROSE MARIE MAHER: When I didn't see

her sitting in the courtroom, all I could think of

was, where was she?

Had she skipped?

Let's go out in the hall and talk for a second.

I need to talk with you out in the hall.

Well is anybody looking for her?

We've issued a warrant for her arrest.

ROSE MARIE MAHER: We discovered that she

had missed six drug test dates.

And then to find out her last time that she called in

was the end of August or the 1st of September--

she could have called in from anywhere.

DONALD MAHER, JR: The fact that Gloria Schulze ran definitely

affected my mother and I. The healing

that goes along with grieving and mourning

somebody you love--

it just hasn't happened.

There's no closure.

Here's to Miss Congeniality.

Hi.

Congeniality.

ROSE MARIE MAHER: She was bubbly,

friendly, full of life and vitality, and always smiling.

I had a young lady that was polished and educated,

personable, and loved life, and this woman took that away.

Not only from me, but from everybody else

who's touched Angela's life.

ROBERT STACK: At the time of her death,

Angela was a senior at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Accepting this honorary degree for Angela

is her mother, Mrs. Donald J Maher.

ROBERT STACK: On May 13, 1995, in an unprecedented display

of respect, Angela was granted a diploma posthumously.

[crowd applause]

Gloria Schulze has not been seen in more than seven months.

She is wanted on manslaughter charges

in the death of Angela Maher.

There is also a federal warrant for her arrest.

Scottsdale police have only two pictures

of Schulze, her booking photo and one

from her driver's license.

Gloria Schulze is 5 feet, 5 inches tall

and weighs 115 pounds.

She is 33 years old and has red hair and green eyes.

[music playing]

Next, the wondrous Nazca Lines in Peru.

Are they other calling card of an ancient lost

civilization or guide posts for visitors from beyond the stars?

And later, a husband stands accused in the baffling

disappearance of his wife.

[music playing]

They are like enigmatic gifts from a vanished time.

The Sphinx rises inscrutable above the sands of Egypt.

Stonehenge, somber monoliths circled in silent prayer.

And the statues of Easter Island, the faces

curiously turned away from the sea.

In South America, another ancient mystery has defied all

who would uncover its secrets.

Here inexplicably, monumental drawings have been

etched into the desert plain.

Were they created to placate angry gods,

or map out the heavens, or perhaps to welcome

visitors from another galaxy?

Welcome to the Nazca Plateau, 100

square miles of unanswered questions in Western Peru.

This spider prowls the eastern corner of the plateau.

It is formed by a single winding line that starts

and ends in the same place.

But for what purpose?

This gigantic monkey, its contours dimmed by time

could fill two football fields.

But how did this jungle dweller come to be

marooned in an empty desert?

More than 800 ramrod straight lines shoot across the plateau.

Laid end to end, they total 1,000 miles.

The lines converge at 62 different points.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the ancient Nazcas,

famous for their ceramic art, inscribed

the giant drawings between 1,500 and 2,500 years ago.

However, the Nazcas left little that

tells us the meaning of the figures

or reveals how they were made.

Imagine standing on the Nazca Plateau

without modern surveying tools, aerial photographs,

or topographical maps.

How would you plot out the enormous monkey?

Where would you put its tail?

Its head?

How would you make sure that the parts

all fit perfectly together?

Somehow, the ancient Nazca artists

were able to do exactly that.

[music playing]

All totaled, nearly 1,000 lines of geometric shapes and figures

are tattooed across the Nazca Plateau.

When they are mapped and cataloged,

the images form an astounding body of work.

To this day, no one has fully explained the drawings,

though many have tried.

One of the first archaeologists to visit Nazca

theorized that the plateau was a giant celestial calendar.

He observed that on a summer solstice,

the sun set in perfect alignment with one of the markings.

Over 40 years, a German mathematician

named Maria Reiche spent virtually every waking hour

studying the Nazca Plateau.

She concluded that dozens of the lines and animal figures

pointed to major constellations.

If you go out there at dawn, where you can see the sky

and you can see the dawn glow reflecting off of those lines--

and they really become like lighted

pointers to the heavens.

ROBERT STACK: A radically different theory

was proposed by Swiss author, Erich von Daniken,

in the late 1960s.

He claimed that some of the markings

were nothing less than giant landing strips

for alien spacecraft.

In his book Chariots of the Gods,

von Daniken suggested that the ancient Nazcas had regarded

the aliens as gods and had constructed the runways

under their direct orders.

Von Daniken identified this 840 foot marking as a signpost,

pointing the way to the landing strip.

And this, a portrait of one of the intergalactic voyagers,

complete with space suit.

Scientists aren't against the idea of, necessarily,

extraterrestrials, per se.

But we do expect some evidence before we

then start doing a lot of research in that direction.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Reinhard and other scientists

believe that the plateau was an immense outdoor cathedral.

Prayers were once whispered here in the name

of a priceless resource.

Water.

The plateau was one of the driest places on earth.

In five years-- five good years--

the plateau would be blessed with just

one half inch of rain.

The main concern for people living in that kind of a desert

environment is precisely that they're

very dependent on the rainfall in the mountains to the east.

And they're also dependent on the water level

that goes underground, and which is

also coming from the mountains.

ROBERT STACK: But how were the drawings created?

In 1982, an attempt was made to replicate the process using

only the simplest of tools.

We pirated a couple of broomsticks

from the local hotel and some pieces of string, laid

out a line, and we proceeded to clean and sweep

away the surface of the line.

It took us-- a group of 12--

one morning-- we got back to the hotel for lunch--

to make a line about 20 yards long,

two yards wide, clear it completely,

and here was a brand spanking new Nazca line.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Aveni's line certainly

looked like the genuine article, but clearing a 60 foot curlicue

was a relatively simple task.

How did the Nazca artists accurately

model gargantuan figures like this sprawling monkey

while looking at them only from ground level?

It took a tremendous leap of imagination

to make these large models on the ground,

which they themselves presumably did not see,

not being able to fly.

ROBERT STACK: But perhaps they were able to fly,

argued Jim Woodman, a British author and explorer.

To prove his point, Woodman hired Peruvian craftsmen

to stitch together a hot air balloon

from materials that would have been available centuries ago.

A raging campfire provided the requisite hot air.

Perhaps for the first time in centuries,

Nazcas figures are being viewed as intended.

From a hot air balloon hundreds of feet above the desert.

However many scientists still believe

that the markings are meant to be experienced at ground level.

ANTHONY AVENI: The straight lines look like roadways.

I mean, they start from someplace.

They lead to some place.

So the idea that the lines are meant to be walked on

seems to me to be a much more feasible one than the notion

that somebody had to look at them from above.

The animals are made out of a single sinuous,

continuous line that begins and ends at the same point.

I can imagine that a worshipper of a deity

would walk around one of these animal figures

to pray to the god--

or gods-- that had to do with an animal;

that probably some invocation to the gods

would have happened here.

Maybe it's because, in our culture,

we give a very high priority to visual experience

that we want and think that, ultimately, we

have to be able to explain how these people saw

the lines in order for there to be a rational explanation

for them.

And I think here that maybe we reflect

more of our own interest and the limitations of our own point

of view than any kind of limitation that might have

existed for the Nazca people.

ROBERT STACK: In the end, there are no answers.

Those who created the wondrous artworks of Nazca

have been dead now for centuries, buried

in tombs that ring the plateau.

Over the years, their bones have been carelessly

scattered by grave robbers.

However, the ancient mysteries of Nazca

will, in all likelihood, remain undisturbed forever.

Coming up a most unusual hunting in Texas

proves that some ghosts would rather be heard than seen.

And when a young wife and mother vanishes,

two families become locked in a bitter dispute.

[music playing]

[answering machine beeping]

PAUL (ON PHONE): Hey, guys.

What's up?

This is Paul.

Just wondering if Char is over there.

I haven't seen her all day.

I took the kids out--

ROBERT STACK: These are the opening words

of an actual phone message.

It is left by a man named Paul Pollis on March 12, 1984,

the day his wife, Charlotte, vanished from their home

in Girard, Ohio.

PAUL (ON PHONE): And I just wondered

if maybe she was with you guys, or if she

called you, or something, man.

You know, what is up?

I'm-- I'm sort of getting a little freaked out here.

ROBERT STACK: To the casual listener,

a husband's message of concern.

But Charlotte's family is convinced

that Paul Pollis knows exactly what happened to his wife.

I think Paul got in a fit of rage over something.

And I think he got angry and he struck her.

And he couldn't stop himself.

And I think Paul killed my daughter.

They can point the finger at me all they want.

I didn't do anything wrong.

I know I didn't do anything wrong.

And I can't change what other people think.

ROBERT STACK: There are only two possibilities.

Paul Pollis is totally innocent, a bereaved husband

wrongly accused.

Or perhaps Paul Pollis has gotten away with murder.

The police can't say.

There's not even enough evidence to prove a crime was committed.

Until solid leads developed, Paul Pollis will very likely

remain locked in an ugly dispute with his wife's family

over just what happened back in March of 1994.

About the only thing everyone agrees on

is that Charlotte was sick on Friday, March 11,

the day before she vanished.

- Hey, we're back. - Hey.

Oh.

Hi.

ROBERT STACK: That night, Paul's parents

looked after the couple's two children

while Paul took Charlotte to the hospital.

She had an acute ear infection marked by pain and dizziness.

--met you, perhaps?

No.

Hi, mom.

Yeah.

We just got back from the hospital.

ROBERT STACK: After Paul's parents left,

Charlotte phoned her mother.

It would be the final moment that Charlotte

Pollis was indisputably alive.

Well she said, I'll take to you in the morning.

And at 1:25 AM, I had hung up the phone from her.

That's the last I ever spoke to her.

At ten to 9:00 on Saturday morning, I called the house

to check on my daughter.

Because we'd talk-- generally, we'd talk on the phone anywhere

from 10, to 12, 14 times a day.

And Paul answered the phone.

Oh, she's doing a little bit better.

She's still up in bed.

She's still sleeping?

Well is she OK?

Well doctors said the best thing

now is just to get some rest.

Well you have Charlotte call me when she gets--

gets up, would you?

All right. Talk to you later.

Bye.

Char?

Char?

Yeah?

How you feeling?

ROBERT STACK: Paul says the last time he saw Charlotte was

shortly after that phone call.

I going to go out and take the kids with me for a little bit.

I'm going to do some--

I think it was about 11:00 o'clock.

I took the kids out to do errands for the afternoon.

And I told her, just stay in bed and relax.

I'll bring the medication that you need back.

Just stay in bed.

Take it easy.

ROBERT STACK: According to Paul, he

buckled the kids into their car seats

and headed off for a day of errands.

There were stops at the pharmacy, the laundromat,

and the scrap yard. - Hey, guys.

We got a lot of stuff to do here today.

ROBERT STACK: Then burgers at a fast food restaurant.

And finally a couple of hours spent

looking at houses for sale.

We're going to get something to eat.

How does that sound?

Good?

I know you guys are hungry.

ROBERT STACK: However, Paul's account of that day

is disputed by several people.

--stop at the playground.

[phone ringing]

ROBERT STACK: For example, Charlotte's mother

claims that she called several times

when Paul, by his own account, should still have been there.

CHARLOTTE NAGI: And I called 10:00.

I called 10 after 10:00.

I called at 20 after 10:00.

I just kept calling and calling.

I thought, something's not right.

And no answering machine, nobody answering the phone.

Nothing.

And I thought, well where is she?

You know, why is there nobody answering?

ROBERT STACK: One of Paul's neighbors

contradicted his claim that he simply put the children

in the car and left.

NANCY HUBBARD: It was 10 after 11:00

when I pulled out of the driveway.

And as I backed out, I looked over

at Paul's house and he had--

Paul had his car backed up to the porch.

The trunk was open.

All four doors were open.

His car was completely packed with boxes and bags.

There was no sign of the children.

And there was no way they could be in the car.

There was no possible way that car seats could fit

in the car AS packed as it was.

And as I drove by, he looked at me with a really strange,

eerie look.

He indicated that he had the children with him

all this time.

We've talked to people that he made contact with.

No one saw the children with him.

My children were with me all afternoon.

I don't abandon my children.

Not for a second.

I don't leave the house and leave them unattended.

I don't leave them in a car unattended.

I'm not that type of a parent.

Never will be.

Charlotte, we're home.

ROBERT STACK: Paul says that when

he returned home at around 4:00 PM, Charlotte wasn't there.

At that time, he had no concerns for her safety.

Char, are you in here?

PAUL POLLIS (VOICEOVER): Really didn't

think anything was wrong.

I figured that she was feeling better and had gone out.

Put the kids up to finish their nap in bed and just watched TV

and finished cleaning the house.

About 7:30, I noticed her purse up on the cabinets

and my wife doesn't go anywhere without her purse.

I can't believe that she would have left without it,

so I started calling around to see

if she'd gone out with anybody.

Hey, guys.

What's up?

This is Paul.

I'm just calling to see if you guys had seen Char at all.

I've been--

ROBERT STACK: When Charlotte's family

learned that she was missing, they rushed to the house.

After talking to Paul, Charlotte's sister, Amriah,

decided to take a look outside.

She noticed two sets of footprints in the snow.

They stretched from a side door towards a small shed

and then back around the house.

AMRIAH NAGI: The doors were bulging into pretty

much out of the shed.

They just had, like, a regular padlock on it.

And it kind of bothered me, the way

the shed was, because the doors weren't flush against it.

So I had gone into the house and I had asked Paul for the keys.

He got very angry.

"The shed has nothing to do with Charlotte

and I'm not giving you the keys."

and she'd asked him repeatedly for these keys to the shed.

And he got angrier and angrier.

It's a shed.

All the normal garden tools, lawnmower.

It's-- as matter of fact, I think at the time

there was a key lock.

And there was a key on Charlotte's ring.

If they wanted it open, I would have given them a key.

I don't remember anything about that.

ROBERT STACK: Paul's parents were now staying at the house

and the air was thick with suspicion.

There was an extremely lot of cleaning.

They are clearing everything from the attic to the basement.

They were washing walls.

He had washed-- he did laundry.

He had washed, like-- scrubbed up the kitchen real good

and stuff, which isn't-- you know, it's not characteristic

of Paul to do that.

What was his mother cleaning, and his father?

What was all this cleaning that went on while they were there?

The only floor I scrubbed was the kitchen floor

so I wouldn't stick to it where the baby had dropped his food.

I'll clean.

I live there.

I like to live in a clean house.

The State Bureau of Criminal investigation

came in to check the house.

Sprayed with luminol or to find out if any crime of violence

had been committed.

The house was spotless.

It was cleaned from top to bottom.

And it's very unusual that a house is cleaned this way.

ROBERT STACK: Investigators did find a stain of human blood

in the trunk of Paul and Charlotte's car.

The sample was too small to allow positive identification,

but quite enough to fuel speculation that Charlotte's

body had been in the trunk.

JOHN A. LEOPARDI: Paul weighs 150 pounds.

Charlotte weighed approximately 300 pounds.

Paul would be required to transport a body that was twice

his weight and take it out into the open

and put the body in the trunk of the car.

To me it just does not seem possible at all.

ROBERT STACK: For Charlotte's family, however,

the pair of footprints in the snow hinted at an explanation.

Paul had help.

And I looked at Paul's shoe prints

and they were the same footprints

that were in the snow.

And the other foot prints were fairly large with a shoe

boot who I can suspect would have

been his father's, but they-- you know,

I can't be definite on that.

Either his parents were brought

in after the fact to help him or they were

there at the time it happened.

Oh I think that's positively ludicrous.

There-- to think that anyone would think that us.

We have lived in this area for 40 years.

We're not that type of people.

I can't imagine why they would think that.

It gives them an outlet to vent their anger.

I can only explain me and my actions.

And I've been very straightforward

explaining where I was and what we did that day.

ROBERT STACK: Paul even agreed to take a polygraph test.

He made an appointment for Tuesday, three days

after his wife disappeared.

But Paul Pollis did not show up.

Paul?

Paul?

ROBERT STACK: Paul wasn't at home either.

He had left a note on the bureau, which read in part, "I

love my wife and would never do anything

to harm her intentionally."

Paul stayed out of sight for three months.

Then he resurfaced with an explanation.

PAUL POLLIS: I had a lot of mental anguish

I was going through.

And I wanted some time alone.

People were driving in front of the house nonstop.

They didn't come by to give me a hug or a pat on the back

and say, we're with you.

They just came by to look.

ROBERT STACK: For more than two years,

Paul Pollis has proclaimed his innocence.

But according to Charlotte's family,

there is at least one eyewitness to the alleged crime.

Paul and Charlotte's daughter, now four years old.

Talk to you later.

Bye.

ROBERT STACK: Since her mother vanished,

the child has lived with Charlotte's parents.

They claim the little girl has volunteered

several disturbing comments, some of which they recorded.

CHARLOTTE NAGI: I feel that my granddaughter

witnessed the violence and that it's locked into her memory.

We had to get rid of all dark trash bags in our home

and go with light colored trash bags.

She's paranoid of a dark trash bag.

She screams and she cries because mommy

was put in a dark trash bag.

I think the child is being coached

and the tapes are being made with this coached information

that's being given to her.

And I-- and the sad part about it

is it's very detrimental to the child.

They're destroying this child.

I didn't kill my wife.

And I don't know where she is.

I didn't have anything to do with it,

nor did my family have anything to do with it as far as I know.

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: In a moment we'll take you to a remote ranch

in Texas where three cowboys claim that a noisy ghost is

making their lives miserable.

[music playing]

Everybody loves a good ghost story.

A spooky tall tale about things that go bump in the night.

The three Texas cowboys you're about to meet have a great one.

But their ghost isn't satisfied with th little old bump.

Quite frankly, this noisy entity scares the daylights

out of everyone in earshot.

It started out as a simple business venture.

In June of 1995, three partners took over a 3,000 acre ranch

in the Texas hill country.

All right.

They left us a little furniture.

ROBERT STACK: They planned to sublease

the game-rich land to hunters.

Needs a little paint.

Get rid of that.

Got a fireplace.

Not too bad.

Not too bad.

ROBERT STACK: While they get things rolling,

the three cowboys moved into the main building.

It was a four bedroom wood frame house constructed in the 1950s.

Could any house be more ordinary?

Well from the very first night, the three men

discovered they had company.

Heavy footed company.

[heavy footsteps]

JOHNNY WAY: It sounded as if when it started,

it was, like, off in the distance.

And each time it would make a step,

you could hear the individual steps that he would make.

But in my mind, you know, I didn't want to--

I didn't want to--

consider the fact it might be a ghost

or something of that nature.

[heavy footsteps]

ROBERT STACK: Almost every night, there was something new.

Crashing footsteps, thunderous blows on the walls or ceilings.

The men never saw a ghost, but they heard plenty.

one of the cowboys, Bobby, had a most unnerving experience,

which his partner slept through.

[crash]

BOBBY: I immediately picked the pistol up

and I jumped to my feet.

It was so loud.

It sounded just like wooden chairs been kicked

just plumb across the floor.

[crash]

There wasn't a chair moved.

All the chairs were right in place.

There was nothing turned over anywhere.

This thing-- whatever it is--

it was almost as if it would not let you rest.

It was almost as if it wanted to keep you awake all night.

Just about the time you would doze off,

he would hit the wall.

And I mean-- when I say hit it, it would clobber it.

[crash]

ROBERT STACK: The unearthly racket continued, every night

in the dark hours before dawn.

Pounding footsteps had threatened

to break the floorboards or crash through the ceiling.

Sledge hammer blows that smashed at the wall.

Sometimes everyone heard it.

Other times, the entity chose to torment the cowboys one by one.

JOHNNY WAY: This was the night that I was here by myself.

DISEMBODIED VOICE: Johnny.

JOHNNY WAY: It didn't say Johnny.

It said (WHISPERS) Johnny.

And I looked around.

My room was ice cold.

I mean, that room was cold as ice.

Cold chills running down me. (LAUGHS)

And I was just shivering under the sheets, you know.

Looking around, you know, thinking to myself, man.

ROBERT STACK: Another night, Bobby woke

up sensing someone next to him.

BOBBY: I don't know.

It was probably 2, 3 o'clock in the morning.

[bed creaking]

The side of my bed just mashed plumb down.

I mean, really went down, like someone

had stepped on the side of it with their foot

or sat on the side of it.

Which really scared me, because he had never done that before.

ROBERT STACK: Mike Richards had a similar experience

equally terrifying.

MIKE RICHARDS: Approximately 3 or 4 o'clock

in the morning, my right knee, it woke me up.

I mean, it was pain like I've never felt before.

It was actually like somebody was sitting on my knee.

I went to roll off the bed, but my right leg stayed

in the same position it was.

And I looked and I couldn't see nobody sitting on it.

Because, you know, you can't roll off the bed, you know,

because somebody's got you pinned down.

So all I could do was-- you know, hey,

I raised my other leg up and started waving

it across my leg, you know?

Like, get off, whatever it is.

It stopped and I could get off the bed, you know?

And the minute I got up and walked around, it felt fine.

Y'all need anything, you let me know, OK?

OK.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, Mike's sisters

paid a visit to the ranch house to check

out the noises for themselves. - Yeah, right.

[laughs]

Goodnight.

Night.

SUSIE RYAN: I guess--

I don't know what I really expected.

I guess I expected to just hear a little bump

and that there'd be some logical explanation for it.

But what I heard that night no man or animal could have made.

Before we went to bed Susie and I decided that if I heard

something, I was to nudge her.

And if she heard something, she was going to nudge me.

Well we were nudging each other pretty quick.

[distant thud]

- Kelley? - Yeah?

Did you hear that?

Yeah.

[heavy footsteps]

[loud crash]

Oh my god.

It sounds like there's something on the ceiling.

Oh my god.

It's like it's right above us.

It sounds like--

[loud crash]

It's in the wall!

It's coming through the wall!

This went on for an hours.

We heard whistling that was started off very faint.

Grew to very, very loud.

You could hear the air.

You know, like a person whistling.

And then bam, bam, bam.

Banging in the walls, like something

caught up in the walls.

I mean, I thought the ceilings were going to cave in,

it was so loud.

[panicked whispering]

KELLEY RICHARDS: And we just laid there and whined

and fretted all night.

I don't know what you'd call it.

[crash]

It was so unreal that getting up or calling for my brother

was not an option.

It was almost like I was trapped there.

Basically, all I kept thinking is,

pretty soon, the sun's going to come up

and I'm going to get out of here.

That night, I didn't hear anything.

But there was no doubt, by the expression on their faces,

they-- they had definitely been put

through something that night.

And they just said, it's time to go.

I said, well you want me to cook breakfast?

They said, no, it's time to go. Let's go.

You know?

[laughs] We-- we was out here pretty quick, you know?

ROBERT STACK: We decided to try to find out just what was

happening at the ranch house.

We brought in noted parapsychologist,

Dr. William Roll.

He and his assistant set up equipment inside and outside.

Video cameras and monitoring devices

are used to measure sudden temperature changes, evidence

of radioactivity, and fluctuation

in the electromagnetic fields in the area.

First of all, we recorded a number of sonic effects

from bangs, to booms, to milder sounds.

And the most striking of these was

associated with a sudden increase in the magnetic fields

in the house.

ROBERT STACK: Dr. Roll believes the noises can

be attributed to a physical phenomenon

called the Peltier effect.

According to Dr. Roll, this can occur

when water seeps between underground slabs of limestone.

The resulting reaction not only produces real noises,

but also creates an electromagnetic field that

may affect human brains, making people imagine

all kinds of experiences.

WILLIAM ROLL: These magnetic fields

affect the human brain, because the human brain is a conductor.

And this electrocurrent produces striking

psychological experiences that only happen in the mind.

[footsteps]

ROBERT STACK: A trick of the mind?

Not to those who've heard it.

Not by a long shot.

I was the most frightened I've ever

been in my whole entire life.

I mean, I've been robbed and had a gun sticking in my back.

But that wasn't anything like what this was,

because you're in such shock.

Believe me, I've come up with 1,000 different excuses

that I would like to blame it on.

And-- and none of them work, you know?

All I can say is come on over and we'll fix you up.

You can-- you can-- you know, you're more than welcome

if that's what you want to do.

It won't take long.

It made a believer out of me quick.

And we'll make a believer of you.

[crashing sounds]

[music playing]

ROBERT STACK: On our next "Unsolved Mysteries,"

they call it chupacabras.

A strange, reptile-like creature who

roams the countryside in Puerto Rico,

preying on livestock and small animals.

It may sound fantastic, but eyewitnesses have no doubts.

The beast is real.

When she passed away in 1993, tobacco

heiress Doris Duke was one of the wealthiest

women in America.

Now a bitter dispute over control over a billion dollar

estate has boiled over with accusations

of treachery and foul play.

Join me again next week.

Perhaps you may be able to help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

[filmrise sound effect playing]