581: The Disappearance of Peter Williamson | Lightning Pants from Another Dimension

The Why Files: Operation Podcast

Science, Life Sciences, Fiction, Society & Culture, Documentary, Science Fiction

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A summer barbecue transformed into a nightmare when lightning split the sky above Somerset, England. Peter Williamson dashed across his rain-soaked lawn to rescue his terrified dog, unaware that his next step would carry him beyond the boundaries of our world.

His family watched in horror as a blinding flash illuminated his silhouette against the stormy sky. When their vision cleared, Peter had evaporated into thin air.

The police launched a search, but found no footprints, no scorch marks, and no explanation for how a man could disappear from a walled garden. Sixteen witnesses swore they watched him vanish in plain sight.

Three days passed before Peter materialized in his backyard, wearing unfamiliar clothes and carrying items that defied explanation. His memories painted a picture of a hospital that both existed and didn't exist, where reality shimmered like heat waves rising from summer pavement.

The investigation into his disappearance uncovered something extraordinary: evidence suggesting Peter had slipped through a crack between parallel universes. His impossible story forces us to question everything we think we know about the nature of reality.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It was the summer of 1974 in Somerset England.
0:04.0	Peter Williamson was flipping burgers on the grill when a storm rolled in.
0:08.0	His wife, kids, and guests ran to the patio to stay dry and keep the party going.
0:15.0	Peter packed up the grill as the rain came out harder.
0:18.0	When the thunder and lightning started, everyone laughed nervously.
0:21.6	When a lightning boat split a tree next door, people stopped laughing.
0:25.6	It was then that his kids noticed their dog was still out in the yard, cowering under a bush.
0:30.6	Peter told them to stay put and ran out to get the dog.
0:33.6	He was halfway across the lawn when lightning hit again, this time even closer.
0:40.4	Peter's friends
0:41.3	and family saw his silhouette against
0:43.3	the flash. Then he was gone.
0:45.5	He just vanished.
0:47.0	Three days later, he reappeared in his
0:49.2	backyard. But everything
0:51.4	was wrong.
1:05.0	Music But everything was wrong. There might be more to reality than we think, or there might be more realities than we think. It splits with every choice we make.
1:08.0	Whoever proposed this in 1957 with his many worlds theory of quantum mechanics.
1:13.6	Picture an electron spinning in every direction at once, superposition.
1:17.6	Traditional views says measuring it forces it to choose one direction.
1:22.6	Everett disagreed. He said the electron keeps spinning in all directions, but in different universes.
1:30.3	Each measurement splits reality, creating infinite parallel worlds.
	...

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