This Paranormal Life - #283 Hy-Brasil The PHANTOM Island - Is Atlantis Confirmed?

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

Irish folklore is full of magical and fantastical tales. Whether it's banshee, giants, leprechauns or phantom islands, we tend to think of them as myth - evidence of a beautiful oral history but nothing physical. But if they are only myth, why does the legendary land of Hy-Brasil appear on dozens of maps from around the world dating back to the 14th century? Could it be real? Could it be evidence of Atlantis? There's only one way to find out - time for Kit and Rory to investigate.Support us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis BlatherwickIntro music by www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are birds remote-controlled government drones? Where is wind going? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello and welcome back to This Paranormal Life. This is the weekly comedy podcast where two paranormal investigators dive into a different paranormal case every week and decide whether it's truly paranormal or not by the end. Oh, yeah.

This podcast is basically that scene in The Matrix where you get to choose between the red pill and the blue pill. But the pills are just a distraction so that you don't notice the guy is about to whack you in the back of the head with a two-by-four. That's the real experience. That's where you go to the real paranormal dimension. And the Matrix comparisons don't end there.

We're going to take you to a goo pod, and then we're going to flush you down the goo pod at a thousand miles per hour through an alien f***ing megacity by the end of this podcast. No, we're not going quite as sci-fi just today, Rory, but we do have a tantalizing paranormal case in our hands. But first, I have to ask you, as is tradition, how are you doing today? I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. We swung by Tim Hortons, sponsored by, hashtag sponsored by Tim Hortons.

Friends of the show, Tim Hortons. I swung by there today and picked up four coffees. Right, for two boys. For me. I didn't know you wanted one. You should have texted ahead. You asked me and I said, yeah, an oat latte, please. And you got four for yourself.

I got four lattes, one iced, one regular, one oat, one milk. Can I have the oat one? The thing is I kind of want it. I kind of want it now. Right, that much is clear. And I need the regular latte to wash down the taste of, because I hate oat milk, so I'm going to need to wash down the taste of the oat milk. I really feel like you should have just

given me that. There's no way you need that much caffeine to get through today's episode, by the way. I guess not. I guess I could spare one of these. So, here, I'll take this scolding hot oat latte and yeah! That's what you get for asking for my shit, motherfucker. I can't read the script. Christ, this is the kind of combative environment we like to record this Paranormal Life in. We are going to dive into today's case

right after some words from today's sponsors. Roy, I think we've dilly-dallied enough at the top of today's episode. Why don't we jump into today's case? No, I feel like dilly-dallying more, actually. Okay, what about it? I really do. Just life. Just talking about life and what it's like. I'm just looking at the clock. I don't think we have time, so...

As a paranormal investigator, I have stories to tell. I have, you know, my life has taken me to strange places. But this is an episode that I'm hosting, so, like, maybe I could tell a story this time. Dublin, many years ago. No, no, no. A young boy and his baseball team. That's quite enough. That's quite enough.

Unbelievable. Rory's been trying to tell that story for years. I'm not going to let him. Not today. You throw coffee in my eyes? I grabbed your iced coffee, threw it back at you. You're not a million miles off the mark though, Roy, because today's story does bring us to Ireland.

Ooh, okay, okay. But not Dublin. False. It was Sunday, 7th of July, 1878 in Ballycotton, County Cork. 1878, god damn. Yeah, I'm quite impressed that we can pin it down to a Sunday. Normally, sometimes we just say the date is irrelevant.

Other times we give the date, but I can tell you it was a Sunday. That's impressive. That just is an indication of the level of evidence and documentation we're going to have for this case. It's a quaint little fishing town on the south coast of Ireland with a population of less than 600 people. Wow. Being a coastal town, it had glorious views of the glittering ocean

that the residents of the town enjoyed every day. But today, there was something a little bit different about the view. Here, Connor, we should take a look out there. What do you think that could be? There was an island on the horizon that hadn't been there before. Ooh.

Jesus, Patrick. I've not a clue. Let's ask Liam. Liam, have a gander off the coast here. Notice anything unusual? Jesus, Harry. You're a wizard, Harry.

Here, Patrick, Liam. Take a wee peek at that. Jesus Christ. It was unmistakable. There was no mirage or trick of the light. What on earth? I've never seen a Spitaland out there. Everyone, come and take a look at this.

A crowd soon gathered. Most of those with their eyes glued on the strange new rock were fishermen who knew the Celtic Sea like the backs of their rugged hands. In fact, many of them had sailed over that very spot in the last 24 hours and had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Rory, you've grown up by the seaside. Even two little 90s kids like us with our heads

firmly fixed at 90 degrees downwards at our Game Boy Colors, I think we would have even noticed a new island. A lot of people might not know this because I don't know if this is just a local thing, but islands off the coast of Northern Ireland, and Ireland, I assume, are called the Scaries. Oh, yeah. Just off where we are right now. Yeah. Yeah. Which I didn't believe as a child. I assumed they were called the Scaries because there was some sort of unfathomable evil that took place on these islands. Right, a kind of Indiana Jones,

Temple of Doom situation. Yeah, but it's actually pronounced, what, S-K-E-R, like scare? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Scaries. S-K-E-R-I-S. Not like the freakies or the terribles. It's not like there's something terrifying that goes on.

Maybe there is something weird that goes on in those islands. I don't know. It's international water. I assume there's monkey knife fights and illegal gambling. It's not international waters. It's like 300 meters off the coast. You're still very much in British law. When the tide goes out, you can walk to the island.

You're down at the beach surfing in the law. When the tide goes out, you can walk to the island. You're down at the beach surfing in the water and you can just see me out there just pushing around a bunch of monkeys with knives. Fight! Fight each other! They really don't want to.

Rory, they clearly don't want to fight. Oh, hey, kid! Yeah, you're not that far out, man. If you can hear me from the shore. But yes, your point being, you know, if you grow up somewhere and you spend enough time on the coast, you know, if you grow up somewhere and you

spend enough time on the coast, you should, in theory, know where islands are and where islands aren't. And islands don't tend to move that much. Especially when this patch of ocean that was suddenly covered in land was some of the most fertile fishing ground for miles around. So these guys really did know it. The longer they looked, the more curious they became. It wasn't just a little bit of exposed rock. Some parts were rocky, some parts were topped with lush green grass. There was a patch of forest and a cluster of mountains at the far end. The hills tired over the water and created a gentle slope down to sea level at the front with rolling green meadows in the middle.

It looked like borderline paradise. I mean, the weird part there is forests. I mean if there was some sort of tectonic shift, well there would have been a crazy tsunami, but if there had have been and the earth has now protruded from the ocean, there wouldn't be trees. Yeah. Overnight there wouldn't be trees and that sort of above sea vegetation. So that's a weird one. Even grass. That's a great point, detective.

Is there room on the island for some sort of arena? Some sort of... I'm just going to cut you off right now for monkey knife fight arena. Monkey fight fighting arena. Yeah. Just if we could cut down some of those trees and just build a little haven where monkeys can be safe from the prejudices

of the land where they can fight okay not a prejudice they don't want to fight monkeys don't naturally in their habitat have knives either i think if they do want to fight it's like a little tussle right it's like like territory or mating rights yeah to show who's the alpha of the pack. It's not like monkey knife crime. It's not something you have to be worried about. I'm just, you know, I'm not saying I'm going to, I'm not saying we're going to do it on the island. I'm just saying they don't like me doing it on this island.

So I've got to move somewhere. Is that why you're here? Is that why you're in Northern Ireland right now? We've had too many episodes recently talking about monkey fights. Needless to say, soon the townspeople were ready for a closer look. So they took to the sea in boats of every shape and size. Some sailed, some rowed. But every single one of them kept their eyes fixed on the bizarre island that had appeared overnight. Smart. But the closer they got, the more difficult it was to see.

It was as if the vivid colors were getting less vibrant. The emerald-colored greenery in the misty mountains gradually grew pale and a mist surrounded them. By the time the first fishermen arrived at its shores, there were no shores. What?

It had completely vanished. So they didn't arrive at the shores. They were still just floating in the water. Sure. They were sure they should have arrived at the shore by now. Nice. It was so weird. They had no choice

but to return to the mainland, crestfallen. And when they did, there was just an old man sitting on the shore laughing. So you've seen it too. It only appears once every seven years, a mystical and legendary land they call Brazil. What? Brazil.

It's called... It's called Brazil? Can you... Are you hard of f***ing hearing? No, no, no, no. It's called f***ing Brazil. But there is already a Brazil, and I don't think that was it.

So is this Brazil 2? Is it named after... You are living the confusion that these people must have felt. Yeah. Granted, I don't know if they knew about Brazil before then. I know on a clear day from where we are in Northern Ireland, you can see Scotland. Yes, you can.

I don't think you can see Brazil. That might be a bit far. I'm not a cartographer. I don't think it's that close. No, it's the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, of course. I'm not a cartographer. I'm just the creator of a monkey UFC fight league. I'm a simple man with a simple job.

I do not understand. I've come to Ireland to find the Conor McGregor of monkey fights. I really think he's out there. But Brazil is pretty far. It is. So before the listeners at uh switch off in anger and disgust no we don't mean brazil with a z we mean brasil oh with an s brasil brasil brasil uh well this is similar to the scaries you know know, with the S-K-E-R. So this is Brazil. Oh, yeah, this place is f***ing scary.

I'm getting that vibe, yes. It's a ghost island. That only appears every seven years as well. That's a cool little fact. It is strange why it's called Brassel. I'm going to call it Brassel from now on. I think that's how you say it. Some people called it Brassel.

Some people called it High Brassel. That's the million dollar question is, is it just a coincidence that it sounds the same as Brazil in South America? Well, one theory is that this word comes from the Irish E Brassel, meaning descendants or clan of Brassel, one of the ancient clans of Northeastern Ireland. Ah. I appreciate we're early in this story, but to give you an idea of how deep this rabbit hole

goes on the Wikipedia page for the country Brazil in South America, it says Brazil might be named after this island, High Brassel. What? The island that doesn't exist? That's right. That's crazy. What? The island that doesn't exist? That's right. That's crazy. What would the link be there? Is it people from Ireland who has connections in Brazil? That's how legendary this ghost island is.

Have we come across a ghost island before? This is like finding an island and then someone's like, they call it america one the original america it's like yeah a ghost island off the coast of papa new guinea have we covered a ghost island before i feel like the closest maybe we've ever come to is um lost cities uh you know like atlantis, for example, not necessarily an island. Maybe it was at one point, but that was believed to be an island that had fallen to the ocean and disappeared over time.

So that's kind of similar to what, well, no, it's not similar to what we're seeing here. This is a proper mystical island that seems to be able to disappear and reappear at will every seven years. Atlantis, an early episode of This Paranormal Life, and I believe a double yes confirmed to be real and paranormal. Well, sure. It was a double yes. Also one of the first episodes where we were drinking on the podcast. Sure. So I want to flag that. I want to flag that. Well, I want to make sure this is a double yes. So here you go, brother.

Let's get stuck in. All right. Bushmills whiskey. Nice. Good choice. Let's Irish up this Timmy's. That's just rubbing alcohol. I put in a Bushmills bottle.

Don't drink too much too fast. So returning to the people of Victorian Ballycotton, the town was flooded by whispers of the brief glimpse they'd caught of High Brassel. It's enchanted, you know! It's not what it seems! It winks into existence for mere seconds at a time!

I heard it only appears once every seven years! I love that guy! I like to think it's the same guy in every story. He just keeps wandering into towns where shit's going down.

I heard he was ten feet tall. We even have a real quote from a fisherman from Kerry. This was recorded in a book of Irish legends

from the time. Rory, would you do the honour of reading this from the time. Rory, would you do the honor of reading this statement? Yes. It be coming and going like a light in a bog. And when ye do see it, ye can see through it and by jaggers. If it's a true island, a mighty queer one it is, and no mistake.

Wow, I really feel like... Is that verbatim? I was placed there in the 1800s. Is that how it's written? That is how it was written. I guess they wrote it the way he said it. Something like, It be coming and going like a light in a bog,

and when you do see it You can see through it And bite your eggers If it's a true island And a mighty quervon It is a no mistake Yeah your delivery Was a little better than mine But

We don't have to decide Who was Who was best You know I came out With more of a straight read And you You kind of just Right you were doing

You were on your ratta shit Yeah I was yeah Your Shakespearean read And you did some like Goofy F***ing weird accents. So some nonsense reads. So who's, we don't, no one was better than the other persons.

It was like, we both did two different reads. Yeah. And you know, it was fine. I didn't say it wasn't fine. We can move past it. Yeah. Anytime. It be coming and going.

Sorry. Sorry, you want to give it a go? No, no, no, I don't. I don't. I was just having a little try. It be coming and going. Sorry. Sorry, you want to give it a go? No, no, no, I don't. I was just having a little try. It be coming and going. Yeah. No, I'm good. I'm good.

I'm good. Yeah, it's fine. Can I move on? Yeah. It's just, yeah. Okay. Just, you know, I didn't know what it was before I read it, and you obviously did know what it was.

So if mine sounded shit. Of course. If mine sounded shit, it's for a lot of different reasons, all right? Because I was nervous, for one. I was nervous was nervous it's all right and i haven't brought it up obviously on the podcast but i haven't pooped in a few days which is adding to just the stress the situation this is tmi i just need you to know this behind the scenes i don't need to know that i'm also sad all the time so so that's sort of like stop looking for monkeys okay if you're going through a rough patch like this is not the way to get around it there's monkeys yeah okay well the best ones find you

all right like love that way deconstructing this statement because we get a little bit lost in the kind of dialect of the time. But he says, it comes and goes like a light in a bog. And if it's a real island, then a really big one it is. Oh, light in a bog. Yeah. I was like, what the f*** are you talking about? Light in a toilet? Because that's what you call it. Bog is slang for toilet or or bathroom in well in northern

ireland and in ireland i presume but you're saying bog like a swamp bog so he's saying it's like a willow wisp or a phantom light which we've talked about in recent episodes yes not a bathroom uh lamp no also any toilets there were in the late 1800s, they didn't have lights. They weren't like Japanese futuristic toilets. That's a really good point. But the more paranoid among the local residents had darker ideas than that.

Don't let yourselves be deluded by the devil. His evil spirits have shown you the place In hopes of getting you into his clutches To take you straight to the underworld Whoa, okay Calm down there That last bit got a bit out That's Harry

He's sitting at the back of the bar Fifteen whiskeys deep They're like, oh Jesus Here he goes again I think Harry might be a demon By the sounds of his voice. Don't trust it. That's where I, I mean, he, he, the devil, he takes you there.

The dark lord, I mean, Satan. That's where my master lives. Jesus. Oh, how he's blessed me. You have one eye and a crooked back. I think you're drinking blood. They don't even serve that here. He's got blood all around his mouth.

Another half pint, please. People. Anyway, who wants to come back to my place on the island? After party at Harry's. No, no one's going back to Harry's. He's like, after back to Harry's. He's like, I'm running to Harry's. You know what? Screw you guys.

I'm just going to start walking and you guys can follow behind me. He starts doing a Kong guy at the door. No one follows him. Do, do, do, do, do. Do, do, do, do, do, do. I hope he does go back to the island and the devil's there. And it's just like, what happened, Harry? You said you were going to bring back dozens this time.

I'm sorry, my lord. People didn't know whether to be terrified or fascinated by the island. They knew next to nothing about it. But there was one man that knew, who was trusted far and wide. Not Harry. An old fisherman of Ballyconnelly Bay on the Connemara Coast, west of Galway, called Dennis Moriarty. He knew all about High Brassel. He'd seen it with his own eyes.

But not only that, he'd been told all about it as a young boy by a fairy man. And the ferryman... The ferry... What? And the ferryman had been told all about it by the good people. I gotta stop you right there.

Uh... Hmm? Ferryman is in... a winged bug man or a man who is the captain of a ferry, the boat, the type of boat.

Oh, right. Sorry. Which would you prefer? The boat. Which would make you believe it more? The boat captain, 100%. All right, that one then. Okay.

No, that's not how this works. All right. And who are the good people, sir? What do you want them to be? Jehovah's Witnesses or something? Ferry pilots. Okay. I feel like this is going to hinder the evidence portion of this podcast,

but the fairy man is a winged man, yes, and the good people are leprechauns. Okay. Okay, that's what I was afraid of. They can't be your witnesses when you're on trial. The next line in my script is, Rory, do leprechauns make good witnesses? There's no way.

Well, if they're called the good people, hopefully you want them on your side, you know, if you're in a court case. But I don't even think they would defend you for certain crimes. So if you're doing weird shit on an island, you can't say that the leprechauns are going to defend you. Right. The problem with leprechauns as lawyers is they're already rich. They don't need cash. So how are you going to get them to work for you?

It's true. That's part of the problem. I would suggest by hitting them because they're very small. Right. So you could kind of just threaten them with a punch. Right.

What is it? What's the little stick in Irish legend you hit leprechauns with? Not a real thing. Not a real thing that exists. That is just crime against a mythical beast. I'm going to Google it. Stick to hit leprechauns. Oh, it's a baseball bat. That's what it is. It's a baseball bat. Yeah. The mythical

Irish tool. Oh, it's a shillelagh. I'm showing Rory the Wikipedia page for shillelaghs. I embarrassingly know what one of these is and have one in my house. So that is... Just in case. I literally have one. Americans have baseball bats in their closet just in case a home intruder... Irish people have shillelaghs.

Also, I don't want to alarm you, but the Wikipedia page, that's not a shillelagh. That's a mace. That's a mace on a chain. Back at my house I have a Chipper Jones autographed shillelagh To beat home intruding leprechauns

Do you want to know What shillelaghs are for? Beating little people right? By the sounds of it Well that's what I thought They were for Apparently they were Originally used for

To anyone who doesn't know what the f*** we're talking about. It's an Irish baseball bat. It's just a stick, really. It's like a walking stick, though, I believe. It looks a bit like a walking stick. The shillelagh was originally used for settling disputes in a gentlemanly manner. Like a jewel with pistols

or swords. People were just beating the shit out of each other in pubs in the olden days with these sticks? They're calling it martial art here. That's not civilized by the way. I'm pretty sure the f***ing cavemen did this. I want to see this in UFC.

Gentlemen Neanderthals would settle disputes among the tribe by putting a rock in their fist and hitting the other one in the head. But researcher Amy points out that, OK, it seems a bit mad to us, but back in the day when people believed a bit more readily and commonly in leprechauns, they would have been the absolute ultimate authority of evidence because who better to tell you about the existence of other paranormal things

than a paranormal entity themselves? That's true. I guess our main problem with that today is we've investigated leprechauns on this podcast before, and it was a double no. Oh, spoilers. We said they were not real. Did we?

So if they're your witness in terms of proving that this island exists, we're not off to a great start. Stop talking. Stop talking. You hit me with a shillelagh? Yeah! Oh! Try and take out your legs.

If he can't walk, he can't pod. That's my attitude. Old Mr. Moriarty was extremely old and deep into his retirement He would only divulge the details of his knowledge After a glass or two of grog And a draw or ten on his pipe But sure enough

If you got him just the right level of blasted The story came tumbling out Not rightly sure how long ago it was But it was a good while before the blessed St. Patrick came to the country. It was as full of people as it could hold and the cities were on it with palaces and courts and heathen temples and round towers all covered with gold and silver

till they shone, till you couldn't see for the brightness. What was that? Was he drinking something? The king of the ages. He had a furball stuck in his throat. Okay, yeah. The king of the island had the biggest tower.

He was the biggest of the heathens. He was Satan's own. And if anyone did something to displease him, he'd slice off their heads with a sword

as long as me. Longer even. Wow. People. You're the guy at the bar who doesn't want to hear the f***ing story. That's great, man. Can I, drinks, guys, anything? You've got to keep drinking if you want to stay here.

Yeah, I had two grogs and it was about four hours ago. That guy's drinking blood. Can I get some of that? It looks good. People were chopped up and hung without trial. He had a hundred wives. And if one of his wives ever stood up to him, he'd lop off her head and laugh,

saying that that was the only cure for a woman's tongue. Ooh, that's not on. I mean, I'm not on board with any of it, but that's also not on. He'd curse from sunup to sundown. I don't dare repeat any of the things

he would say. He slept in a bed of solid gold and would slay his wives by the tens if he woke up on the wrong side of it. I don't dare repeat it,

but here's a few to get your imagination started. F***. Titties. Ballsack. Bastard. Three minutes of non-stop swearing. The island. The island. Oh, yes, yes. The island.

Of course, the island. And yet a few more before we get back to the story. Crap. Titty fiddle. He said a bunch of stuff about immigrants. He's you. You're just saying all the things you want to say. Now he sits in this very pub.

I'll say, alright, it is you. He said a bunch of stuff about immigrants. Some of it honestly wasn't too far off the mark. He was kind of an ancient Joe Rogan of the island.

His family disowned him. Now he sits in a pub telling stories to strangers. And then taking their wallets when they leave.

It's 4am. You have to get up. You haven't had a drink in days. The legend went that word of the king's evil ways reached a wizard back on the mainland. This wizard decided to take it upon himself to make things right. Love this.

He used his magic to rescue the king's subjects and his surviving wives. So the next morning, when the king awoke, there were no wives and no townspeople. Wow. The necromancer had left the king totally alone. Not only that, he'd cursed the entire island to vanish. It would still exist, but only in between the plains of our world and the next. exist, but only in between the planes of our world and the next. From that moment on, the island was cursed to exist only briefly once every seven years, and the king was left to spend the rest of his life in painful solitude.

Whoa, so this demon king was banished to a ghost island? To the shadow realm, video style. That is hardcore. This wizard did not f*** about. He probably could have just been like, hey, uh, vatacadabra, boom, boom. Now you got chicken legs and every time you speak, shit comes out of your mouth. Right. Not the proverbial shit that already comes out of your mouth, but literal crap.

Yes. But instead he went, he biblical on it. He was like, I will rescue the people banish the island set a curse in place you know very much more romantic stuff yeah i mean this feels like textbook irish legend in that it's quite a mishmash of like religious stuff and ancient pagan paranormal mystical stuff because in our our legend, just to recap, there was a king who was so satanic and evil that a wizard banished him to a shadow realm. It's like, why is a wizard doing God's work for him? Do you know what I'm saying? It's like in this world,

because the king worshiped Satan, a wizard punished him. Wizards don't normally factor into these religious kind of stories, right? Yeah. How evil do you have to be, a wizard punished him. Like wizards don't normally factor into these religious kind of stories, right? Yeah. How evil do you have to be before a wizard just decides to get involved? Like is the wizard a Christian? Like I don't. Yeah.

It's quite strange, isn't it? Maybe he was just a really like Dumbledore or Gandalf, just a very like pure hearted. I just don't like evil kind of a white hat wizard, you know? Yes. This is the kind of overlapping mythologies of Ireland that you had like all the pagan, more mystical stuff pre-Christianity

and then it all kind of blended into Christianity after St. Patrick and all that. So according to this legend, it is true that the island only appears every seven years. Rory, that is obviously a pretty wild legend. Does that help explain anything that has happened so far? I mean, it is an explanation, but it's a pretty wild one. I'm going to go ahead and assume we have zero evidence to back up this story. Given that this story came from the mouth of old Moriarty, 10 pints of grog in the back of a tavern in the 1800s? No, there's no evidence. Yeah. And he only appears in the bar once every seven years. It's very suspicious. I mean,

the closest thing we could have is, hey, maybe there was some sort of bizarre, paranormal, supernatural occurrence all those years ago. And the way that the locals processed it and comprehended it was through the lens of their folklore and their stories. Maybe there was something genuinely paranormal and creepy that happened. And the way that that's manifested over time is in the legends of this wizard and this king, you know, like a lot of the stories that came out of this time. Well said. These are the kind of possibilities we're going to have to consider going forward. Either way, I'm going to start carrying a shillelagh.

I think that might be my thing now. I've gone from skeptic to shillelagh carrier. Can we add that to the merch store? This paranormal life shillelaghs? I'm 100% down with that. They do look like little pipes. Maybe we can also sell them as weed pipes for the Gen Zers out there. There's so much more to talk about in the second half of today's case, right after these words from today's sponsors. But Rory, the sighting of the people of Ballycotton of High Brassel is not the only recorded sighting

in history. Some have even claimed to have set foot on the island. In 1674, Captain John Nisbet of Killebegs and his crew were sailing in familiar waters off the west coast of Ireland when the entire landscape became swallowed by a thick fog. The young lookout scurried to the top of the mast on the orders of the grizzled captain. Keep an eye out lad. In weather like this, you never know what we might hit. I need constant vigilance from you. It seemed like an age had passed before the dense mist began to lift. The young lad atop the mast suddenly began making a commotion. Rex! Turn hard to starboard!

The ship was dangerously close to an outcrop of rocks. The water was alarmingly shallow, and they had no choice other than to moor up or risk getting grounded. Anchors away! The fog continued to clear, and they soon realised they were on the shores of a vast island. The crew got to work launching rowing boats and set off towards the land. They were amazed by the island's beauty. They spent the entire day exploring every inch of it. The pastures were grazed by cattle, sheep and horses.

The rest of the island was overrun by hundreds upon hundreds of sleek black rabbits. Whoa! It was so pleasant they decided to stay overnight. They made sure to leave it pristine, exactly how they found it. Smart, smart. You don't want to start showing up on some island that popped out of nowhere.

That could be f***ing magical. With a bunch of rabbits on it and start lighting bonfires and like just pissing everywhere and spilling cigarettes in the back of rabbits yeah just like let's just cut down a few trees for fun you know leaving that place as you found it is definitely the smart thing to do the place felt magical and when morning came they were sad to have to leave and continue on their journey with heavy hearts

they pushed their boats out to sea and leapt in. They made it back to the ship and were almost ready to set sail when the lookout's voice rang from atop the mast. Hold on! We've got company! Prepare to be boarded! Sure enough, a little wooden boat was gliding up to the ship, inside was a singular old man. Oh, God. Who seemed to be approaching from the island. The crew had just left. Well, I don't know why you're laughing.

I don't know why you're laughing. It's just funny. I feel like there's just an old man who works for the island. And it's like his job is like, oh. I'm starting to think it's the same old man in every story, by the way. Whether he's in the pub or he's sitting on the shore or he's rowing from the island. The captain was confused because there seemed to be no sign of civilization on the island. The man boarded the ship and was surrounded by the crew.

He was elderly with a long white beard down to his knees. Whoa. I see you gentlemen have spent the night on my beautiful island. The crew stood in stunned silence. So the man continued. I've only had myself for company as long as I can remember. You see, until just yesterday, the island was under the spell of an evil necromancer. He made my lovely homeland invisible to the outside world.

But your rival has broken his awful curse. You will be rewarded handsomely for this favour. Whoa! The man dropped sacks of silver and gold coins at the feet of the captain and his men and thanked them for breaking the necromancer's spell. Wow, that really worked out, didn't it?

Could it be that the sailors encountered the evil old king Moriarty had heard about from the fairies? Oh, that was a quick... You're looking at me like, that's a question. I'm looking at you so seriously. Shillelagh risen in the air

getting ready to strike. If I step out of line... Tread carefully here. Worrying, if that is the case, because I don't think you want to take money from a guy like that. Where did he get it? Yeah. He killed a few leprechauns, I think, to get those gold coins.

Is the idea that maybe they showed up and found this island on the one day of every seven years that it's visible? Yeah, potentially. Wow. Potentially. And that's enough to break the curse? island on the one day of every seven years that it's visible uh yeah potentially wow potentially and that's enough to break the curse why would the wizard put that in the contract it's weird yeah keep that thing airtight um just kill him i don't even think it had to be a wizard's curse just kill the king oh a wizard and a knight show up and the wizard's like, because of your crimes against humanity, I will use my powers and ancient scrolls

to bring down a curse that will go on for years. And I think, it's like, I just stabbed him. Yeah, he's dead. So, you know, we don't have to do the curse thing. For God's sake, Lancelot. I was made curse. We do this every time.

We do this all the time. Shmulgen the Wise. You just gotta, we gotta move on. We've got like six more kings to kill, Shmulgen. Yeah, curse the island if you want, but I gotta make sure he doesn't f***ing come back. Yeah. I don't know what I'm supposed to do

now. Come on, time is money. Time is money. Shmulgen's like a thousand years old as well. It's like, will you carry me back down the stairs? You shouldn't have come, Smolgan. You shouldn't have come if you knew I could handle this myself. I told you there'd be stairs. You insisted on coming. I just got this new curse I wanted to try out. You're too old. You should have stayed home. You're not coming on another adventure. He goes to leave. A curse on you.

I heard that. I saw in the dark. I heard that. I can hear you, Smolgan. I was just mumbling, old man mumbling. And may the depths of hell come take your soul. You're next. I'm going to stab you. Oh dear. Rory, I can see that we're deep in this podcast and we've barely talked about

anything other than legend now granted some of these sightings do have place in history these are real people um that spotted the island um and claimed to have set foot there but then again clearly these stories um are intertwined with legend they're so kind of unbelievable where is this island where is it on a map do you have like that is there an x where it is allegedly supposed to be i'm looking for like any kind of tangible evidence to to back up these claims rory you want to see a map of High Brassel? Yes. Then see it now.

That's such a weird way to present this evidence. If this is all legend, Rory, why does this map from 1595 of Europe have an island called Brassel off the coast of Ireland? Whoa. Okay. Holy shit. This is exactly what I was looking for. Actual documentation and records showing that this island did exist at some point. And this isn't the only one. Another map from 1570. Brasselel Unmistakably with another island called Brassel off the coast

This is blowing my mind Why did you lead with all that leprechaun stuff? And there's more So the location of the island does shift slightly from map to map But it's there in every single one of these Another one, 1595 Gerardus Mercator's map of Europe. Again, unmistakably written off the coast of Ireland, the island of Brassel.

Another earlier, 1513, another island. Granted, the maps are getting very squirrely when we get this early. That Ireland looks like a mess, as does England. But again, another large island off the coast yeah uh yeah as you said that the shapes of the islands now are getting a bit wonky uh ireland looks like a baked potato with a bite taken out of the side but yet there is mention of brazil there's a little island off the coast the earliest of all a catalan atlas from 1375 which shows it extends all of europe into russia into africa into the middle east and again

off the coast what's going on what are we looking at here this is a 700 year old map with and in every one across the hundreds of years it has this island this is low-key kind of crazy i was not expecting any evidence to be able to back up claims that this island existed but this is insane that there's actually this many mentions of the island i would have been happy with one map but we're seeing maps that are spawning hundreds of years all with the island in existence this is not just an irish legend now we've talked about the irish legends because we're trying to explain why it's there we're trying to uh explain some of the more detailed history of what it looked like and where it was supposed to be but it was seen countless times over hundreds of years by cartographers, sailors and scholars across the ages.

There have even been expeditions trying to find it as early as 1480 and 1481. Two expeditions left Bristol trying to find the island, noting that it had been seen many times before. And again, this would maybe indicate where these legends come from. The fact that everyone can see it, but when they actually try to sail to it or get there, it's not there. Right, right, right. Almost like trying to get to the bottom of the rainbow, you know? Because it's some sort of optical illusion. You can never actually reach the base.

It keeps moving. It's kind of what we're seeing with this island. You can't actually reach it because by the time you get there, it disappears. The last documented sighting of High Brassel was in 1872, exactly 150 years ago. Arthur T.J. Westrop and several companions saw the island appear and then vanish. And it was T.J. Westrop's third time seeing the island. And on this final voyage, he was joined by his mother and her friends, and they were all convinced by what they saw. But still, to this day, whether or not the island exists or ever existed is hard to tell. Because despite it being on all these maps,

you might have gathered that it ain't on the map anymore. Yeah, I mean, because now we have Google Maps, which isn't a drawing or an illustration. It's satellite photographs taken from space that document everything on Earth. Granted,

I don't know how frequently those pictures are taken. Maybe we missed the window where the brief window where this island is visible to the naked eye. But I mean, if I go on right now and have a little peek, I don't think I'm going to see anything, will I, off the North Coast.

And it is worth mentioning that for anyone who doesn't know, Ireland has hundreds, I think, hundreds of islands of varying sizes. We have some inhabited islands where people live there and communities have lived there for hundreds and hundreds of years. We have tiny, tiny things, even like the skerries we mentioned. Great example on the north coast of Ireland here. Yeah. Where it's just a bit of a rocky outcrop. There's nothing really there.

A bit of grass, a bit of rocks. Like many countries, we have tons of islands. This doesn't appear to be that. In all of the maps, it is. Well, it's huge as well. In all of the statements statements people say it's giant yeah i mean if you see it on these maps it's not like a speck or something it's a fully uh circled and mapped little island now if we're getting into the weeds of this you did mention

rory one of the biggest confusing things about this is its appearance granted these maps are old and wonky but its location varies a lot. So, you know, in one, it'll be just off the south coast of Ireland. In another, it's kind of off the north coast. It's floating around that west side. It's floating around that west side. That looks like a map of Mordor.

There's another here where it's like quite a bit further off the coast, almost kind of like bordering on the Azores. So this gives us a hint of, you know, it's really hard to know if everyone was even talking about the same thing. Yeah. I will say that the prevailing scientific opinion on this was best summed up by IFLScience.com, who said, on this was best summed up by um iflscience.com who said there was likely no island to begin with phantom islands have been appearing on maps long before and even after this one there are land masses that appear on maps despite having probably never existed in any physical sense one known as sandy island survived on maps from 1774 all the way up to Google Earth. What?

And it was finally removed after a group of scientists sailed through the alleged island and declared it non-existent and it was removed from Google Maps afterwards. Wow, I didn't realize that. What do you mean it was removed from Google Maps? Isn't Google Maps the satellite pictures? So how did they not know there was no island? I don't know man phantom islands can be the result of myth being incorporated by map makers you know even atlantis made its way

onto some real maps appearing in one in 1664 now that's a whole other kettle of fish but it's yes it's a real island but it does indicate that we have a chicken and egg problem is it on the map because it exists or is it on the map because everyone has just talked about it enough? Yeah, do people think it exists because someone put it on a map? Yeah, well, I'm glad we had the scientists chiming in there because I didn't realize

this was such a common phenomenon where islands appear on maps that don't actually exist because I was going to go straight for, I mean, is there a chance that it did exist at one point? But I don't actually exist because i was going to go straight for i mean is there a chance that it did exist at one point but i don't know rising sea levels have kind of submerged it over the years you know any number of possibilities but it's good to know that this is another option where they're just like hey people didn't know what the was going on back

then maps were insane people said atlantis and narnia were real so i mean that's something we definitely need to take into account when coming down on our conclusions today which is what we have to do at the end of every episode rory decide whether the story we've discussed is truly paranormal or not we've got a tough one on our hands. Needless to say, is the land of High Brassel a real place that appears every seven years where a necromancer banished the satanic king to another unearthly realm doomed to never be discoverable by people off the coast of Ireland? Or is it simply an Irish legend that traveled the world so broadly it ended up on world maps? Irish legend that traveled the world so broadly it ended up on world maps.

Yeah. I mean, I really like that origin story, although it is a bit outlandish. If your best explanation as to why an island is sometimes seen and sometimes not involving a wizard, that's not a good sign. You know, in terms of like, we've covered a lot of stuff on this podcast before. The cases that involve wizards mostly tend to be double no's. Even if it's very reliable, as soon as the wizard gets involved, it quickly turns to a double no. Yeah, I don't know what the stats is on cases that have the word necromancer in it and it being a double yes. It's just one perfect circle.

So I'm not saying that there wasn't some paranormal reason why this island is sometimes seen and sometimes not that isn't involving a wizard, but we just don't have any proof of that today, really, and there aren't any other theories as to why this island would be disappearing and reappearing. So I don't know, for me today, even though we do have some evidence where it has existed at some point on maps,

I think I need to get a bit more proof, maybe a photograph of the island or a few more theories as to why it would be disappearing and reappearing. Rory, I'll take the lead on today's conclusion. You know, I think for me, this was a truly fascinating case to dive into one that's close to home and just a rare treat in terms of how real it is across history, how much it's documented. But I think what it comes down to today is it's very exciting to think about

whether High Brassel existed. But if it did exist, it's probably in some kind of capacity, like you said, where it was lost to the waves or some kind of tectonic shift swallowed it up in the ocean. And that's why it hasn't been seen in over 150 years. Point being, if it did exist, it wasn't necessarily paranormal. I don't think I can sign off on the wizard being the cause of this thing

disappearing and that's why for me today I believe it's a no it's gonna be a no for me too until we get that old man

who just turns up everywhere on the podcast as a guest to explain kinda what's going on it's gonna be a no from me

unfortunately we gotta get Harry on the pod after party at Harry's damn explain kind of what's going on it's going to be a no from me unfortunately we gotta get harry on the pod after party at harry's damn a double no on the case of high brassel but man i really love that it's such a treat when this long into recording this part of my life over five years when we still come across consistently cases that are um just really fascinating to learn about. Yeah. And hey, fun to do one in Ireland because not only are we in Northern Ireland right now recording the podcast, but tomorrow morning, we're actually driving down to Dublin to attend the Irish Podcast Awards. Hell yes.

Which is fantastic. I'm feeling festive now. I'm going to have a hunt in my house, see if I can find my shillelagh to bring down for the red carpet hopefully they won't find that incredibly insensitive uh and instead find it actually pretty smart to come prepared yeah um because for the irish podcast awards they have a rule because you guys have heard us talk about the british podcast awards before where you have to be british to enter um and for the irish podcast awards you have to be irish to enter so we are technically allowed yeah i got my irish passport we were born and raised don't ask too many questions on the aisle just because no one thinks we're irish am i overcompensating by wearing a green tie bringing a shillelagh sh Bringing a shillelagh.

Maybe we are, but no, we're very excited to be there. And hey, maybe if Rory gets a spare 20 minutes, he might go and try and find the Dublin Gorilla Man again. I didn't even think about that, but that's a good idea, brother. Can we make a little detour on the way down? I don't think a shillelagh is going to take him down if you're caught in a corner against him. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this investigation. Me fighting the Dublin Gorilla Man would be like in the Indiana Jones movies

when he like tries to fight like eight foot Nazi. Yeah, yeah. And he kind of like punches the Nazi and he doesn't move. Just grabs his fist, yeah. And I just like tip my hat and he grabs me by the throat. tip my hat and grabs me by the throat. Guys, I hope you enjoyed this investigation into High Brassel. If you want to hear a little bit more chat about it,

why not head over to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life, because we'll be recording an after party where we mention this case. That's true. After Tuesday, we disappear, but only for a few days because we reappear every Friday in the form of bonus audio. And this stuff is not a legend, folks. It's real. You can listen to it with your ears. So if you want to hear all the amazing bonus audio that we have, including bonus episodes and episodes of the after party, go to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life i say it often i say it loudly and proudly that we release one episode a week as you know four

episodes here on the public feed did you know there are five more a month whoa more than one more a week uh over on patreon exclusive to our patrons so for a mere five bucks you can get access to uh the entire back catalog of bonus episodes um for a mere five bucks you can get access to the entire back catalog of bonus episodes um for a little bit more you get access to the weekly after parties and a bunch of other rewards only available on patreon.com forward slash this part over live one of said rewards is a shout out here at the end of the podcast. Let's dive into them. So special thank you to Crystal Dernan. Thank you so much to Crystal. Crystal.

It's so great to have you supporting the podcast. You're saying it weird again. I'm not. I'm simply saying Crystal. That's not how anyone says the word Crystal. Just say, say Chris. Chris. Tol.

Tol. Crystal. Easy. Crystal. Okay. There's. Tull. Crystal. Easy. Crystal. Okay. There's something wrong with your brain. Thanks also to Violet Lewis. Who is Violet Lewis?

We may never know. They, much like the island of High Brassel, appear once every seven years on Patreon to demand a shout out and then disappear. That's kind of how it works. We just waited seven years to actually give them their shout out. So they got in touch to be like, I've been waiting for ages. Oh, they're just a real person that we've been screwing over. Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that, Violet.

Sorry about it. Thanks also to Nicholas Edward Willis. Nicky Eddie Willie made a Milly selling vanilla ice cream. Come on time to his ice cream parlor. Such a long winded a Milly selling vanilla ice cream. Come on down to his ice cream parlor. Such a long-winded way to say he sells ice cream. You can eat vanilla. Is that vanilla? No, it's a unique blend created by Nicky Eddie Willie.

So many people are going to want vanilla ice cream. It's mint choc chip. It's mint choc chip. He calls it, he says it's a proprietary blend of flavors. It's f***ing mint. I'll tell you that. And mini choccy chippy. That's vanilla, you bet.

That's vanilla. Thanks to Audrey Haber. Audrey never says sorry. Even when things are really her fault, you know. Oh God, what did they do this time? Just whatever it is, you know? Oh, God. What do they do this time? Just whatever it is. You know, if they're at a restaurant and they kind of accidentally back up into a waiter

and the food goes everywhere, they'll just look at him dead in the eyes. Jeez. Not even say a word. Or sometimes they'll just be at a restaurant and a waiter will walk by and they'll slap the food out of their hands. This seems to be, they hate waiters.

A lot of it's waiter related, but refuses to apologize. And I waiters. A lot of it's waiter related but uh, waiter really refuses to apologize and I respect that. I don't. Thanks to Angie V. Angie V is an ATV. That's right, an all-terrain vehicle. Woo! Angie can roam on water, on dirt, on fire, on wind. That really is all terrain. It's all terrain. The shadow realm. Okay, that's paranormal.

It's pretty cool. So if you ever want to lift, you know who to call. Thanks to Tom Havens. Tom's always misbehaving. Ooh. Backing up into waiters, slapping food out of their hands.

Refusing to apologize. Refusing to tip. A lot of waiter hate in the commune for some reason. And as someone who, you know, worked for a waiter a long time, I respect that. You worked for a waiter? I worked for a waiter,

that's right. That's so f***ed up. You were subcontracted by a waiter? He delegated a lot of work too. Sounds like you were a waiter thanks to heather scott heather the bot scott just hangs out in social media platforms sowing disinformation real bot behavior honestly weird way to spend your time are they also a robot or just oh just a human just reposting the same piece of Donald Trump related misinformation 12,000 times a day across 15 social media channels. So outdated. It's so weird. Can you start plugging us, Heather?

Start plugging us. Put that power to use. Thanks to Ryan Menzies. Ryan really needs to make a menzies after what he pulled at that restaurant i saw him flip off a waiter who brought him what he ordered who brought him what he ordered the waiter said here is your spaghetti pomodoro just for you ryan just tell you like it at ryan and he said you and he gave him he flipped the bird and then slapped the food out of the table. Jesus. And that waiter told me to clean it up. Oh, God. How's that fair?

Thanks to Nathan Barrett. Nathan Barrett's mother's a carrot. I don't need to explain to you. Son of a carrot? How that worked, yeah. What's his dad's? Don't call him that, all right? That's an insult.

You don't call him a little son of a carrot. That's rude to his family and his family lineage. They come from a proud family of vegetables. So don't just say you little son of a carrot, you little orange piece of shit. Don't call him that. I didn't say you did. Don't call him that. It's an insult.

Thanks to Adam Cools. Adam Cools is the biggest dork you've ever met what that's that's rude his family lineage all right his parents were like he because his parents are like like elvis presley had sex with the fawns sunglasses leather jackets and they're like adam's gonna carry on the the lineage of the family, the cool name. And then, you know, all of a sudden they're like,

Adam, is that a calculator wristwatch? A pocket calculator, yeah. Yeah, and it's like, yes, that's how I can do my equations on the go. Ah, buddy. You don't want to play, like, football like your old man? You don't want to smoke Marlboro Reds like your old man? No, it's bad for you. Oh, jeez.

Oh, jeez. There's more to life than book smarts, like your old man. No, it's bad for you. Oh, geez. Oh, geez. There's more to life than book smarts, Adam. Sometimes you got to smoke a cigarette. Thanks to Mara7356. Mara, I really don't admire the way you treated that kitchen porter. I've been hanging out at restaurants a lot lately. I don't know if you could tell. A kitchen porter was merely trying to ferry some dishes,

some dirty dishes, back to the kitchen, minding their own business. Mara stuck out their foot and tripped them up. Dishes everywhere. Also, you can't order a margarita, all right, because it's not a real drink. Right. If you want a margarita, maybe they'd be able to do it, but you can't just say, a margarita, my own cocktail. Right. And if they come back with just a margarita, maybe they'd be able to do it, but you can't just say, a margarita, my own cocktail. Right.

And if they come back with just a margarita, don't slap it out of their hands. I saw you do it. I saw you slap them. It's also, you know it's not your signature. Like, you spent six months demanding that your signature was the spaghetti marinara sauce. Nice, dude, nice.

I think we're out of Mara. Some marinades. Some marinades. No. Mayonnaise. Just watch it, all right? Yeah. Behave.

And thanks lastly today to Maxwell, who we missed shouting out a long time ago, and they wanted to just say, for everyone in the Paran paranormal nation to stay safe and united in these strange post-2012 CERN times, guys. Stay safe out there. Hope you're having

a fantastic time. You enjoyed this episode. I know I did. And that you will join us again on Tuesday for a brand new paranormal tale. And hey, in the meantime,

head on over to Patreon. Check out those bonus episodes. See you back here for a brand new paranormal tale