December 19, 2025 • 31 mins
In September 1934, amidst wide political unrest, something was stirring in the home of the Palazon family in Zaragoza, Spain.
What started as a strange burst of maniacal laughter, soon transformed into the terrifying haunting known the world over as ‘El Duende de Zaragoza’… ‘The Goblin of Zaragoza’.
Written by Diane Hope and Richard MacLean Smith
Find us at youtube.com/@unexplainedpod, tiktok.com/@unexplainedpodcast, twitter @unexplainedpod, facebook.com/unexplainedpodcast or www.unexplainedpodcast.com for more info. Thank you for listening.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, it's Richard mclinsmith here, just to let you know
that after this week's new episode, we'll be taking a
short break over the holiday period. We'll be dipping back
into the vaults for the next two weeks, after which
we'll return with season nine, Episode eight on Friday, January ninth,
twenty twenty six. Also, thank you so much to everyone
who's taken the time to fill out the survey, and
(00:20):
if you haven't, you can still do so for another
week for a chance to win one of ten signed
copies of the Unexplained Book. You can find it on
the homepage of our website at Unexplained podcast dot com.
Forward slash survey until next time, Happy holidays to all,
and have a great new year. In September nineteen thirty four,
(00:50):
political tensions were running high across Spain. Elections the previous
year at fueled anxiety for some and excitement for others
there might be a fascist takeover in the offing. Hints
of revolution were in the air, but on the twenty
seventh of that month, despite the febrile atmosphere, all appeared
to be calm. In the home of the Palason family.
(01:14):
The Palazons lived on the second floor of a four
story apartment building on the corner of Gascon to Go
Tour Street, with its smooth stone facat and nondescript cafe
taking up most of the bottom floor. The building looked
much the same as any other in the bustling city
of Saragosa in northeast Spain. Birds chirped on the street
(01:36):
outside and cars droned by as the Palason family members
got ready for the day ahead, when suddenly a burst
of loud, maniacal laughter was heard echoing down the corridor outside.
Startled by the peculiar sound, a member of the family
opened the front door to see what an earth might
(01:56):
be causing it. Outside, the corridor was empty save for
a few other confused looking neighbors who'd also been brought
to their doors by the strange noise. They listened together
as the unnerving cackling continued for a moment longer before stopping,
suddenly leaving a haunting silence in its wake. Up and
(02:17):
down the corridor. The confused residents shuffled back into their apartments,
none the wiser as to what had caused the bizarre outburst,
But the return to normality wasn't to last. That short
burst of eerie laughter would prove to be just the
start of a deeply disturbing two months ordeal for the
(02:38):
palace On family and their neighbors, in a haunting that
would become known as El Duende, The Goblin of Sara Gosa.
You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard mc lane Smith.
(03:00):
A few hours after the strange laughter erupted, daily life
was proceeding as normal in the palace On household. Later
in the morning, Pasquala Alcacer, the family's young maid, arrived
to begin her shift. In the corner of the kitchen.
Below a band of white tiles was a cast iron
wood fire stove. Pasquala opened the oven's firebox and stacked
(03:23):
up some wood in preparation for cooking the family's lunch.
Then struck a match and brought it close to the kindling.
From out of nowhere, a strange voice cried out, no,
you're hurting me. The palace On family was sitting quietly
in the living room listening to the radio when they
heard a shriek coming from the kitchen. It was followed
(03:46):
by the sudden appearance of a pale Pasquala with a
look of utter terror on her face. Just then the
voice came again, louder, this time shouting out to them
from the kitchen light light. I cannot see Pasquala couldn't
understand it, she said. It seemed to be coming directly
(04:08):
from inside the stove. It was as though a small
child were trapped in there. Together, she and the family
went next door to investigate, but found nothing untoward. They
began to wonder if it was all somehow connected with
the strange, maniacal laughter they'd heard earlier that day, Perhaps
(04:29):
some one was playing a practical joke on them. But
over the next few days it was clear that something
was not right in the apartment. Strange sounds began to
drift through the rooms, the kind of noises you might
at first blame on a loose pipe or a wind
in the walls. But then the sounds grew louder, clearer.
(04:51):
They always seemed to emanate from the same place, the
kitchen stove. Sometimes it was only a rattle, a scrape,
or the hollow clang of metal shifting when no one
was near it. Other Times it sounded a lot like laughter,
a shrill, unhinged cackling that seemed to rattle up through
(05:13):
the stove's chimney and spill into every corner of the home.
Other times, a mournful wail would seep out, and then disturbingly,
the voice returned. One evening, the family gathered round the
stove under candlelight, growing increasingly anxious about what was happening
in their home. Then the laughter came again. Where are you?
(05:38):
One of the masts hesitantly inside the stove, came the
immediate reply, startling them all. From then on, the voice
was a constant presence in the household. At first, it
was the voice of a child, high pitched and playful,
but then it began to shift. Each word became thicker, rougher,
(06:02):
until it carried the guttural weight of something not entirely human.
Sometimes the voice barked out orders in the middle of
the night. Turn on the light, it demanded in its hideous,
raspy growl. Other times it would call out the name
(06:27):
of the maid, Pasquala, followed by bursts of cruel, maniacal laughter.
All the while, Pasquala would stand frozen in the kitchen doorway,
her face drained of blood as the family watched on helplessly.
Some nights, the voice would just scream raw, tormented screams
(06:48):
that would rise out from the stove and echo hideously
around the apartment. Desperate for an answer and starting to
worry for their sanity, the Palazons invited the neighbors in
to hear it for themselves. They all confirmed that they
too could hear the peculiar, disembodied voice. It seemed that
(07:09):
whatever had been responsible for that first burst of laughter
that had rattled round the building only a few days previously,
had now taken up residents in the Palazon's home. By
mid November, Terrified, exhausted, and scared for their sanity, the
Palazons finally picked up the phone and called the police.
(07:32):
It's likely the authorities would not have taken much interest
in the case had word about the apparent haunting not
already spread so rapidly. With the whole building now aware
of the strange voice coming from the stove, it wasn't
long before curious onlookers began to gather outside the front
door to try and hear the voice for themselves. The
(07:53):
papers quickly picked up on the story too. With the
crowds outside the apartment growing, the Zaragosa Police announced that
it was time to put an end to the circus,
as they called it, so a team was swiftly put
together to dispel the family's claims once and for all.
It was a cool, overcast afternoon when the police entered
(08:17):
the building for the first time. The sound of heavy
boots echoed along the corridor as they steadily made their
way to the Palaceon apartment. Despite the police insistence that
there was a perfectly rational explanation for what was happening,
the Palaceons were happy to finally have their assistance. The
(08:38):
family invited the officers in, but before they even stepped
through the doorway, a strange voice rang out from inside
the kitchen. It spoke each man's name one by one.
(09:01):
The police officers froze on the threshold. None of them
had announced themselves, yet the voice seemed to know exactly
who they were. A little unnerved, the men proceeded into
the kitchen just then the voice came again from the
direction of the stove, announcing each man as they entered.
(09:22):
Then a low chuckle rising into a wild, unhinged laughter,
echoed through the room, again, seemingly coming from the stove.
Whenever someone crossed the threshold of the kitchen. The voice
called out again, recognizing instantly who had entered and who
had left, and no one could explain how. At one point,
(09:46):
an officer flicked off the kitchen light. Instantly, a devilish
voice ripped through the room light. I cannot see. The
officers exchanged wary glances. Some shifted nerves, their hands resting
on the grips of their pistols, glancing back to the stove.
(10:06):
One officer spoke, who are you? He asked. For a moment,
they heard nothing save for the faint murmur of the
spectators gathered in the street outside. Then another officer stepped forward,
What do you want? Again? There was no reply. Do
you want money? A sharp response came back, as if
(10:30):
the voice was insulted by the question. No, do you
want a job, said another officer. No, then who are you?
What is it you want? Man? Said the officer then,
his voice beginning to waver, The answer was immediate nothing
and I am not a man. The words brought a
(10:52):
stunned silence from all who were present. Gathering himself, another
officer asked, can you see us? If you can, how
many people are in the room? Without hesitation, the voice
gave the correct number. The police had come expecting a
(11:16):
clearly disprovable hoax. Instead, they found themselves confronting something that
should not have been possible, and they were no closer
to solving any of it. Nonetheless, most of the public
remained convinced that the whole event was just some kind
of prank, but some began to whisper a different theory,
(11:38):
that what spoke from the stove was not a hoax
at all, or simply a disembodied ghost, but a duende.
In Spanish folklore, the duende is a kind of natural spirit,
sometimes an elf, sometimes a goblin. Like sprites and bogarts,
(11:58):
their nature ranges from mischievous to malevolent, and to those
who believed that voice in the stove was proof that
one had taken up residents inside the pallace on home,
they began to call it the stove goblin. A goblin
is a small, grotesque humanoid found in the folklore of
(12:20):
many European cultures. Exhibiting a wide range of temperaments and
magical abilities. Goblins can be nefarious, bestial creatures, like the
Red Cap. One of the most frightening goblins of all,
the Red Cap comes from Scottish folklore. Red caps are
said to inhabit ruined castles that lie along the border
(12:43):
between Scotland and England. Looking like sturdy old men, but
with taloned hands and large teeth, they are reputed to
murder travelers who have strayed from their route. Once the
murder has taken place, this demonic goblin reputedly dyes its
hat with their victim's blood, hence the name. Legends also
(13:06):
say that red caps carry heavy iron pikes with which
they stab their victims, and despite wearing heavy iron shod boots,
they can move incredibly quickly. It's said to be impossible
to outrun a red cap goblin. In the folklore of
northern Spain, the equivalent of a goblin is called a trasgout.
(13:30):
These are said to be evil spirits with a tendency
to enter homes and move objects, who will create disorder
in the household if they feel they've been insulted or
are being neglected. Having failed to solve the problem with
routine police questioning, the authorities began to apply logic to
the situation. They reasoned that since the chimney was likely
(13:53):
connected to many other units in the building, the voice
was most likely coming from a different part of the building.
Perhaps they thought a prankster was hiding in the walls
and casting their voice into the network of chimney pipes
and flues to scare the building's residents. Stonemasons who'd previously
worked on the building were called in along with the
(14:16):
building's architect. They were asked to inspect the entire structure
from top to bottom in the hope of discovering the
hiding place of the troublesome ventriloquist. At some point towards
the end of November in nineteen thirty four, an architect
(14:37):
and some workmen meticulously searched every square inch of the
Palason's building from the cellar to the attic, giving particular
attention to the interior of the Palazon family residence. The
assembled experts found no place where a prankster could hide,
let alone project their voice in a loud and clear
way throughout the building. Just how such a person might
(15:01):
remain hidden, Yet to be fully aware of what was
happening at the Palazon's kitchen was even more perplexing. One
of the masons was tasked with taking the measurements of
a section of war next to the stove to find
the size of the chimney opening. But no sooner had
he leant in to take his measurement, the guttural voice
appeared once more. You need not trouble it's six inches.
(15:27):
To the astonishment of everyone in the kitchen, it was
exactly as the voice had said. Unnerved, many of the
workmen present quickly crossed themselves and hurried straight out of
the apartment, leaving their tools behind. While answers to the
mystery continued to evade the authorities, public interest in the
(15:47):
Zaragosa Goblin, as it became known, was growing so much
that some began making sightseeing trips from nearby Billboo just
to come and hear it. Doctors and psycho ecologists were
also drafted in to assist the investigation, along with a
priest who sprinkled the stove with holy water to little
(16:08):
or no effect. One psychiatrist on the scene by the
name of Joaquin Arieira, became especially suspicious of the Palazon's
young maid, Pasquala Alcacer. After subjecting her to a series
of questions, he soon concluded that she had been responsible
for the voice all along. He described the case as
(16:29):
a mixture of hysteria and subconscious ventriloquism. Ventriloquism has deep roots,
often linked with mystical practices and religious ritual There is
even archaeological evidence suggesting that the phenomenon could be traced
(16:52):
back to at least two thousand BCE. The term derives
from the Latin words venta or belly, and loqui, meaning
to speak, because early practitioners were thought to speak from
their stomachs. Some ancient cultures believed that ventriloquists could speak
to spirits and convey messages from the gods. In ancient Greece,
(17:16):
a famous ventriloquist named Eurocles was also thought to be
able to communicate with the dead. It's possible even that
the Oracle of Delphi, who was widely believed to channel
divine prophecies, which were highly regarded in ancient Greece, was
little more than a polished circus act using ventriloquism to
(17:36):
fool her supporters. During the Middle Ages, the practice was
linked with sorcery and heresy. Not surprisingly, this has made
ventriloquism both fascinating and feared. It has been a subject
of interest in cognitive science because it provides insights into
how our brains integrate multisensory information. Quism has even been
(18:01):
used as a therapeutic technique, for example, in the case
of a boy with Asperger's syndrome who used a ventriloquist's
puppet to help him communicate with his family and friends.
But while you may have seen a ventriloquist with a
puppet perform on television, experts in the field are rare,
with likely fewer than four hundred professionals in the world,
(18:23):
so it would seem very unlikely that the palace On
Family made. Pasquala Alcace was so talented in the art
that she could throw a voice entirely different from her
own throughout an entire building. Pasquala flat out denied any involvement,
telling anyone who'd listen that she was a victim of
the so called goblin, just like everyone else. But psychiatrist
(18:48):
Ariea was determined to be proved correct. He asked Pasquala
if she would leave the building to run some errands,
in the expectation that the voice would stop once she'd gone.
The maid agreed to do what she was asked, but
much to the psychiatrist's annoyance, and confusion. With Pasquala out
of the building, it is said the voice continued to
(19:10):
issue forth from the stove, despite repeating the experiment on
multiple occasions. The voice continued to talk and cry out
even when Pasquala was on a different street, nowhere near
the property. With the ventriloquism theory dismissed, the pallace On
family and their neighbors became engulfed by the feeling that
(19:31):
there was indeed something very sinister at work in their building. Privately,
some of the investigators were inclined to agree with them,
and so it was decided that the only logical next
step was to evacuate the building. With the residents moved
(19:59):
out at the property, the army was brought in. They
cut all electrical and telephone wires connected to the building
to prevent any potential pranksters from finding a way to
broadcast their voice. A team of police and volunteers also
began guarding the building morning and night, maintaining a thirty
yard perimeter so any mischief maker who might be behind
(20:21):
it all could not get in or out. Even the
Governor of Zaragosa intervened, forcing the media to commit to
a blackout as the building was searched for evidence of
a perpetrator, and so with every resident evacuated, the lights
extinguished and the building stripped of any possible trick or device,
(20:43):
the police, along with the building's owner, Signor Grialba, and
his young son arturo Re, entered the four story property
on the corner of Gascon Goteur Street. With the building
now completely vacant. The footsteps echoed even louder this time
as the officers climbed the stairs up to the second floor,
(21:04):
using flashlights to guide the way. Then together they pushed
on into the Palaceon's apartment. They shuffled into the kitchen
and stood in silence, with the empty stove looming before them,
lit up by their torches. One officer cleared his throat
and then, with some trepidation, called out are you there.
(21:28):
For a moment, there was no reply. Then incredibly, that
same guttural cackle, rising up from nowhere, came bursting out
of the stove. But that wasn't all. According to a
report later published in British newspaper The Times of London,
the voice in the stove spoke incessantly, railing against the police,
(21:52):
spitting rapid fire insults at them. Then it turned its
fury back onto the palace on family. I will kill them,
all of them, it insisted. The officers stood rooted to
the spot, their faces growing ever more pale in the
half light. Just then, the building owner's son, our Turo,
(22:14):
piped up, let's go dat. This whole thing is crazy.
From deep inside the stove, came the voice's response, No,
not crazy, little one. Our Tiro was stunned. After that,
after two months of near constant noise, the stove fell silent,
(22:35):
and the voice seemed finally to have gone eager to
restore order. The local magistrate dismissed the entire affair as
nothing more than a strange anomaly that would be best
forgotten about, and moved on from the police packed up
(22:57):
and withdrew. Two days, however, a small group of neighbors
were gathered in the Palazon's apartment when the voice suddenly returned. Cowards, here,
I am the Goblin, it seemed, was back. Later it
would taunt the police again, promising to show itself, but
(23:19):
the apparent entity never did. By now, interest in the
Zaragosa Goblin had reached fever pitch far and wide. One
Barcelona radio station attempted to get a microphone in the
room so they could broadcast the goblin's voice. It's even
rumored that a team of detectives from Scotland Yard in
London were planning a trip to the apartment to try
(23:42):
and solve the case, while the National Guard were called
in to keep the growing crowd of sightseers a safe
distance away. On November thirtieth, deciding that he had had enough,
the Governor of Zaragosa, still convinced it was a prankster,
put out a public appeal for any information that could
(24:02):
help identify the culprit. The governor also ordered a more
thorough investigation of the people at the center of the affair.
The entire Palazon family, along with their maid Pasquala, were
brought in for severe questioning. Then, on December fourth, the
governor announced that he'd finally found the explanation for the
(24:24):
extraordinary events. Just like psychiatrist Joaquin Arieira, he also believed
that the source of all the torment and the perpetrator
of the voice was indeed the maid Pasquala Alcacer. According
to the official statement, Alcacer was believed to be suffering
from a condition called unconscious ventriloquism, which caused her to
(24:47):
throw her voice without being aware that she was doing it. However,
many people rejected the finding, pointing out that not only
did the phantom voice seem too low to belong to
a female, but it had been demonstrated several times that
it continued when the young maid was nowhere near the building.
(25:09):
Alcasa herself firmly denied the allegation, but the officials would
not budge, insisting that they had witnessed her carrying out
the ventriloquism while she was in custody. With the case
then seemingly solved, residents were urged to simply go back
to their normal lives. For the Palasons and Pasquala Alcacet,
(25:31):
it had all proved too much. The maid was relieved
of her duties and the family moved on to another city.
With no evidence to arrest Pasquala Alcacet. She also left
Zaragosa to return to her hometown. While she escaped the
(25:55):
judgment of those in Zaragosa who believed her to be guilty,
the stigma of the accusation against her hung over her
for the rest of her days. It said that she
subsequently lived a very reclusive life and claimed to never
fully recover from the blame that was foisted on her.
But Squala steadfastly refused to speak about the incident for
(26:17):
almost her entire life. In old age, she did finally
relent and gave one interview. When asked where the voice
was coming from, all she could say was it came
from within the wall. Either way. With Pasquala and the
Palazons gone, the building eventually settled back down into relative normality,
(26:40):
although tenants would occasionally report ghostly sounds, to what degree
they were imagined or where in fact a continuation of
the supposed Goblin haunting was hard to say. With opinion
divided on whether it really had been a manifestation of
a malevolent spirit or just an incredibly elaborate hoax. The
(27:02):
city of Zaragoza soon forgot the whole incident of the Goblin.
In any case, larger events were at play. In October,
a worker's uprising known as the Revolutionary General Strike of
nineteen thirty four took place in Catalonia and Astorias. The
uprisings were repressed by Spanish government forces, but it proved
(27:26):
to be just the start of a series of events
that would ultimately lead to the Spanish Civil War. Just
a few years later, in nineteen seventy seven, the four
story apartment block on the corner of Gascon de Gotur
Street was demolished, but there is still a reminder of
the strange events where a new building now stands on
(27:49):
a stone wall near the entrance. Emblazoned in glittering gold letters,
you can find the new building's name. It reads Edificio Duerdende,
Goblin Building. No culprit was ever found or any cause
settled upon for the strange events that took place in
(28:09):
that troublesome year of nineteen thirty four on Gascon de
Gator Street, and so the case of the Zaraghos of
Goblin remains to this day Unexplained. This episode was written
(28:30):
by Diane Hope and Richard McLain Smith. Thank you as
ever for listening Unexplained as an Avy Club production podcast
created by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
including the music, are also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained.
The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide.
(28:53):
You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and
other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or
a story of your own you'd like to share. You
can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and
(29:16):
reaches online through X and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod
and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast,
(30:04):
DoD
Hello, it's Richard mclinsmith here, just to let you know
that after this week's new episode, we'll be taking a
short break over the holiday period. We'll be dipping back
into the vaults for the next two weeks, after which
we'll return with season nine, Episode eight on Friday, January ninth,
twenty twenty six. Also, thank you so much to everyone
who's taken the time to fill out the survey, and
(00:20):
if you haven't, you can still do so for another
week for a chance to win one of ten signed
copies of the Unexplained Book. You can find it on
the homepage of our website at Unexplained podcast dot com.
Forward slash survey until next time, Happy holidays to all,
and have a great new year. In September nineteen thirty four,
(00:50):
political tensions were running high across Spain. Elections the previous
year at fueled anxiety for some and excitement for others
there might be a fascist takeover in the offing. Hints
of revolution were in the air, but on the twenty
seventh of that month, despite the febrile atmosphere, all appeared
to be calm. In the home of the Palason family.
(01:14):
The Palazons lived on the second floor of a four
story apartment building on the corner of Gascon to Go
Tour Street, with its smooth stone facat and nondescript cafe
taking up most of the bottom floor. The building looked
much the same as any other in the bustling city
of Saragosa in northeast Spain. Birds chirped on the street
(01:36):
outside and cars droned by as the Palason family members
got ready for the day ahead, when suddenly a burst
of loud, maniacal laughter was heard echoing down the corridor outside.
Startled by the peculiar sound, a member of the family
opened the front door to see what an earth might
(01:56):
be causing it. Outside, the corridor was empty save for
a few other confused looking neighbors who'd also been brought
to their doors by the strange noise. They listened together
as the unnerving cackling continued for a moment longer before stopping,
suddenly leaving a haunting silence in its wake. Up and
(02:17):
down the corridor. The confused residents shuffled back into their apartments,
none the wiser as to what had caused the bizarre outburst,
But the return to normality wasn't to last. That short
burst of eerie laughter would prove to be just the
start of a deeply disturbing two months ordeal for the
(02:38):
palace On family and their neighbors, in a haunting that
would become known as El Duende, The Goblin of Sara Gosa.
You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard mc lane Smith.
(03:00):
A few hours after the strange laughter erupted, daily life
was proceeding as normal in the palace On household. Later
in the morning, Pasquala Alcacer, the family's young maid, arrived
to begin her shift. In the corner of the kitchen.
Below a band of white tiles was a cast iron
wood fire stove. Pasquala opened the oven's firebox and stacked
(03:23):
up some wood in preparation for cooking the family's lunch.
Then struck a match and brought it close to the kindling.
From out of nowhere, a strange voice cried out, no,
you're hurting me. The palace On family was sitting quietly
in the living room listening to the radio when they
heard a shriek coming from the kitchen. It was followed
(03:46):
by the sudden appearance of a pale Pasquala with a
look of utter terror on her face. Just then the
voice came again, louder, this time shouting out to them
from the kitchen light light. I cannot see Pasquala couldn't
understand it, she said. It seemed to be coming directly
(04:08):
from inside the stove. It was as though a small
child were trapped in there. Together, she and the family
went next door to investigate, but found nothing untoward. They
began to wonder if it was all somehow connected with
the strange, maniacal laughter they'd heard earlier that day, Perhaps
(04:29):
some one was playing a practical joke on them. But
over the next few days it was clear that something
was not right in the apartment. Strange sounds began to
drift through the rooms, the kind of noises you might
at first blame on a loose pipe or a wind
in the walls. But then the sounds grew louder, clearer.
(04:51):
They always seemed to emanate from the same place, the
kitchen stove. Sometimes it was only a rattle, a scrape,
or the hollow clang of metal shifting when no one
was near it. Other Times it sounded a lot like laughter,
a shrill, unhinged cackling that seemed to rattle up through
(05:13):
the stove's chimney and spill into every corner of the home.
Other times, a mournful wail would seep out, and then disturbingly,
the voice returned. One evening, the family gathered round the
stove under candlelight, growing increasingly anxious about what was happening
in their home. Then the laughter came again. Where are you?
(05:38):
One of the masts hesitantly inside the stove, came the
immediate reply, startling them all. From then on, the voice
was a constant presence in the household. At first, it
was the voice of a child, high pitched and playful,
but then it began to shift. Each word became thicker, rougher,
(06:02):
until it carried the guttural weight of something not entirely human.
Sometimes the voice barked out orders in the middle of
the night. Turn on the light, it demanded in its hideous,
raspy growl. Other times it would call out the name
(06:27):
of the maid, Pasquala, followed by bursts of cruel, maniacal laughter.
All the while, Pasquala would stand frozen in the kitchen doorway,
her face drained of blood as the family watched on helplessly.
Some nights, the voice would just scream raw, tormented screams
(06:48):
that would rise out from the stove and echo hideously
around the apartment. Desperate for an answer and starting to
worry for their sanity, the Palazons invited the neighbors in
to hear it for themselves. They all confirmed that they
too could hear the peculiar, disembodied voice. It seemed that
(07:09):
whatever had been responsible for that first burst of laughter
that had rattled round the building only a few days previously,
had now taken up residents in the Palazon's home. By
mid November, Terrified, exhausted, and scared for their sanity, the
Palazons finally picked up the phone and called the police.
(07:32):
It's likely the authorities would not have taken much interest
in the case had word about the apparent haunting not
already spread so rapidly. With the whole building now aware
of the strange voice coming from the stove, it wasn't
long before curious onlookers began to gather outside the front
door to try and hear the voice for themselves. The
(07:53):
papers quickly picked up on the story too. With the
crowds outside the apartment growing, the Zaragosa Police announced that
it was time to put an end to the circus,
as they called it, so a team was swiftly put
together to dispel the family's claims once and for all.
It was a cool, overcast afternoon when the police entered
(08:17):
the building for the first time. The sound of heavy
boots echoed along the corridor as they steadily made their
way to the Palaceon apartment. Despite the police insistence that
there was a perfectly rational explanation for what was happening,
the Palaceons were happy to finally have their assistance. The
(08:38):
family invited the officers in, but before they even stepped
through the doorway, a strange voice rang out from inside
the kitchen. It spoke each man's name one by one.
(09:01):
The police officers froze on the threshold. None of them
had announced themselves, yet the voice seemed to know exactly
who they were. A little unnerved, the men proceeded into
the kitchen just then the voice came again from the
direction of the stove, announcing each man as they entered.
(09:22):
Then a low chuckle rising into a wild, unhinged laughter,
echoed through the room, again, seemingly coming from the stove.
Whenever someone crossed the threshold of the kitchen. The voice
called out again, recognizing instantly who had entered and who
had left, and no one could explain how. At one point,
(09:46):
an officer flicked off the kitchen light. Instantly, a devilish
voice ripped through the room light. I cannot see. The
officers exchanged wary glances. Some shifted nerves, their hands resting
on the grips of their pistols, glancing back to the stove.
(10:06):
One officer spoke, who are you? He asked. For a moment,
they heard nothing save for the faint murmur of the
spectators gathered in the street outside. Then another officer stepped forward,
What do you want? Again? There was no reply. Do
you want money? A sharp response came back, as if
(10:30):
the voice was insulted by the question. No, do you
want a job, said another officer. No, then who are you?
What is it you want? Man? Said the officer then,
his voice beginning to waver, The answer was immediate nothing
and I am not a man. The words brought a
(10:52):
stunned silence from all who were present. Gathering himself, another
officer asked, can you see us? If you can, how
many people are in the room? Without hesitation, the voice
gave the correct number. The police had come expecting a
(11:16):
clearly disprovable hoax. Instead, they found themselves confronting something that
should not have been possible, and they were no closer
to solving any of it. Nonetheless, most of the public
remained convinced that the whole event was just some kind
of prank, but some began to whisper a different theory,
(11:38):
that what spoke from the stove was not a hoax
at all, or simply a disembodied ghost, but a duende.
In Spanish folklore, the duende is a kind of natural spirit,
sometimes an elf, sometimes a goblin. Like sprites and bogarts,
(11:58):
their nature ranges from mischievous to malevolent, and to those
who believed that voice in the stove was proof that
one had taken up residents inside the pallace on home,
they began to call it the stove goblin. A goblin
is a small, grotesque humanoid found in the folklore of
(12:20):
many European cultures. Exhibiting a wide range of temperaments and
magical abilities. Goblins can be nefarious, bestial creatures, like the
Red Cap. One of the most frightening goblins of all,
the Red Cap comes from Scottish folklore. Red caps are
said to inhabit ruined castles that lie along the border
(12:43):
between Scotland and England. Looking like sturdy old men, but
with taloned hands and large teeth, they are reputed to
murder travelers who have strayed from their route. Once the
murder has taken place, this demonic goblin reputedly dyes its
hat with their victim's blood, hence the name. Legends also
(13:06):
say that red caps carry heavy iron pikes with which
they stab their victims, and despite wearing heavy iron shod boots,
they can move incredibly quickly. It's said to be impossible
to outrun a red cap goblin. In the folklore of
northern Spain, the equivalent of a goblin is called a trasgout.
(13:30):
These are said to be evil spirits with a tendency
to enter homes and move objects, who will create disorder
in the household if they feel they've been insulted or
are being neglected. Having failed to solve the problem with
routine police questioning, the authorities began to apply logic to
the situation. They reasoned that since the chimney was likely
(13:53):
connected to many other units in the building, the voice
was most likely coming from a different part of the building.
Perhaps they thought a prankster was hiding in the walls
and casting their voice into the network of chimney pipes
and flues to scare the building's residents. Stonemasons who'd previously
worked on the building were called in along with the
(14:16):
building's architect. They were asked to inspect the entire structure
from top to bottom in the hope of discovering the
hiding place of the troublesome ventriloquist. At some point towards
the end of November in nineteen thirty four, an architect
(14:37):
and some workmen meticulously searched every square inch of the
Palason's building from the cellar to the attic, giving particular
attention to the interior of the Palazon family residence. The
assembled experts found no place where a prankster could hide,
let alone project their voice in a loud and clear
way throughout the building. Just how such a person might
(15:01):
remain hidden, Yet to be fully aware of what was
happening at the Palazon's kitchen was even more perplexing. One
of the masons was tasked with taking the measurements of
a section of war next to the stove to find
the size of the chimney opening. But no sooner had
he leant in to take his measurement, the guttural voice
appeared once more. You need not trouble it's six inches.
(15:27):
To the astonishment of everyone in the kitchen, it was
exactly as the voice had said. Unnerved, many of the
workmen present quickly crossed themselves and hurried straight out of
the apartment, leaving their tools behind. While answers to the
mystery continued to evade the authorities, public interest in the
(15:47):
Zaragosa Goblin, as it became known, was growing so much
that some began making sightseeing trips from nearby Billboo just
to come and hear it. Doctors and psycho ecologists were
also drafted in to assist the investigation, along with a
priest who sprinkled the stove with holy water to little
(16:08):
or no effect. One psychiatrist on the scene by the
name of Joaquin Arieira, became especially suspicious of the Palazon's
young maid, Pasquala Alcacer. After subjecting her to a series
of questions, he soon concluded that she had been responsible
for the voice all along. He described the case as
(16:29):
a mixture of hysteria and subconscious ventriloquism. Ventriloquism has deep roots,
often linked with mystical practices and religious ritual There is
even archaeological evidence suggesting that the phenomenon could be traced
(16:52):
back to at least two thousand BCE. The term derives
from the Latin words venta or belly, and loqui, meaning
to speak, because early practitioners were thought to speak from
their stomachs. Some ancient cultures believed that ventriloquists could speak
to spirits and convey messages from the gods. In ancient Greece,
(17:16):
a famous ventriloquist named Eurocles was also thought to be
able to communicate with the dead. It's possible even that
the Oracle of Delphi, who was widely believed to channel
divine prophecies, which were highly regarded in ancient Greece, was
little more than a polished circus act using ventriloquism to
(17:36):
fool her supporters. During the Middle Ages, the practice was
linked with sorcery and heresy. Not surprisingly, this has made
ventriloquism both fascinating and feared. It has been a subject
of interest in cognitive science because it provides insights into
how our brains integrate multisensory information. Quism has even been
(18:01):
used as a therapeutic technique, for example, in the case
of a boy with Asperger's syndrome who used a ventriloquist's
puppet to help him communicate with his family and friends.
But while you may have seen a ventriloquist with a
puppet perform on television, experts in the field are rare,
with likely fewer than four hundred professionals in the world,
(18:23):
so it would seem very unlikely that the palace On
Family made. Pasquala Alcace was so talented in the art
that she could throw a voice entirely different from her
own throughout an entire building. Pasquala flat out denied any involvement,
telling anyone who'd listen that she was a victim of
the so called goblin, just like everyone else. But psychiatrist
(18:48):
Ariea was determined to be proved correct. He asked Pasquala
if she would leave the building to run some errands,
in the expectation that the voice would stop once she'd gone.
The maid agreed to do what she was asked, but
much to the psychiatrist's annoyance, and confusion. With Pasquala out
of the building, it is said the voice continued to
(19:10):
issue forth from the stove, despite repeating the experiment on
multiple occasions. The voice continued to talk and cry out
even when Pasquala was on a different street, nowhere near
the property. With the ventriloquism theory dismissed, the pallace On
family and their neighbors became engulfed by the feeling that
(19:31):
there was indeed something very sinister at work in their building. Privately,
some of the investigators were inclined to agree with them,
and so it was decided that the only logical next
step was to evacuate the building. With the residents moved
(19:59):
out at the property, the army was brought in. They
cut all electrical and telephone wires connected to the building
to prevent any potential pranksters from finding a way to
broadcast their voice. A team of police and volunteers also
began guarding the building morning and night, maintaining a thirty
yard perimeter so any mischief maker who might be behind
(20:21):
it all could not get in or out. Even the
Governor of Zaragosa intervened, forcing the media to commit to
a blackout as the building was searched for evidence of
a perpetrator, and so with every resident evacuated, the lights
extinguished and the building stripped of any possible trick or device,
(20:43):
the police, along with the building's owner, Signor Grialba, and
his young son arturo Re, entered the four story property
on the corner of Gascon Goteur Street. With the building
now completely vacant. The footsteps echoed even louder this time
as the officers climbed the stairs up to the second floor,
(21:04):
using flashlights to guide the way. Then together they pushed
on into the Palaceon's apartment. They shuffled into the kitchen
and stood in silence, with the empty stove looming before them,
lit up by their torches. One officer cleared his throat
and then, with some trepidation, called out are you there.
(21:28):
For a moment, there was no reply. Then incredibly, that
same guttural cackle, rising up from nowhere, came bursting out
of the stove. But that wasn't all. According to a
report later published in British newspaper The Times of London,
the voice in the stove spoke incessantly, railing against the police,
(21:52):
spitting rapid fire insults at them. Then it turned its
fury back onto the palace on family. I will kill them,
all of them, it insisted. The officers stood rooted to
the spot, their faces growing ever more pale in the
half light. Just then, the building owner's son, our Turo,
(22:14):
piped up, let's go dat. This whole thing is crazy.
From deep inside the stove, came the voice's response, No,
not crazy, little one. Our Tiro was stunned. After that,
after two months of near constant noise, the stove fell silent,
(22:35):
and the voice seemed finally to have gone eager to
restore order. The local magistrate dismissed the entire affair as
nothing more than a strange anomaly that would be best
forgotten about, and moved on from the police packed up
(22:57):
and withdrew. Two days, however, a small group of neighbors
were gathered in the Palazon's apartment when the voice suddenly returned. Cowards, here,
I am the Goblin, it seemed, was back. Later it
would taunt the police again, promising to show itself, but
(23:19):
the apparent entity never did. By now, interest in the
Zaragosa Goblin had reached fever pitch far and wide. One
Barcelona radio station attempted to get a microphone in the
room so they could broadcast the goblin's voice. It's even
rumored that a team of detectives from Scotland Yard in
London were planning a trip to the apartment to try
(23:42):
and solve the case, while the National Guard were called
in to keep the growing crowd of sightseers a safe
distance away. On November thirtieth, deciding that he had had enough,
the Governor of Zaragosa, still convinced it was a prankster,
put out a public appeal for any information that could
(24:02):
help identify the culprit. The governor also ordered a more
thorough investigation of the people at the center of the affair.
The entire Palazon family, along with their maid Pasquala, were
brought in for severe questioning. Then, on December fourth, the
governor announced that he'd finally found the explanation for the
(24:24):
extraordinary events. Just like psychiatrist Joaquin Arieira, he also believed
that the source of all the torment and the perpetrator
of the voice was indeed the maid Pasquala Alcacer. According
to the official statement, Alcacer was believed to be suffering
from a condition called unconscious ventriloquism, which caused her to
(24:47):
throw her voice without being aware that she was doing it. However,
many people rejected the finding, pointing out that not only
did the phantom voice seem too low to belong to
a female, but it had been demonstrated several times that
it continued when the young maid was nowhere near the building.
(25:09):
Alcasa herself firmly denied the allegation, but the officials would
not budge, insisting that they had witnessed her carrying out
the ventriloquism while she was in custody. With the case
then seemingly solved, residents were urged to simply go back
to their normal lives. For the Palasons and Pasquala Alcacet,
(25:31):
it had all proved too much. The maid was relieved
of her duties and the family moved on to another city.
With no evidence to arrest Pasquala Alcacet. She also left
Zaragosa to return to her hometown. While she escaped the
(25:55):
judgment of those in Zaragosa who believed her to be guilty,
the stigma of the accusation against her hung over her
for the rest of her days. It said that she
subsequently lived a very reclusive life and claimed to never
fully recover from the blame that was foisted on her.
But Squala steadfastly refused to speak about the incident for
(26:17):
almost her entire life. In old age, she did finally
relent and gave one interview. When asked where the voice
was coming from, all she could say was it came
from within the wall. Either way. With Pasquala and the
Palazons gone, the building eventually settled back down into relative normality,
(26:40):
although tenants would occasionally report ghostly sounds, to what degree
they were imagined or where in fact a continuation of
the supposed Goblin haunting was hard to say. With opinion
divided on whether it really had been a manifestation of
a malevolent spirit or just an incredibly elaborate hoax. The
(27:02):
city of Zaragoza soon forgot the whole incident of the Goblin.
In any case, larger events were at play. In October,
a worker's uprising known as the Revolutionary General Strike of
nineteen thirty four took place in Catalonia and Astorias. The
uprisings were repressed by Spanish government forces, but it proved
(27:26):
to be just the start of a series of events
that would ultimately lead to the Spanish Civil War. Just
a few years later, in nineteen seventy seven, the four
story apartment block on the corner of Gascon de Gotur
Street was demolished, but there is still a reminder of
the strange events where a new building now stands on
(27:49):
a stone wall near the entrance. Emblazoned in glittering gold letters,
you can find the new building's name. It reads Edificio Duerdende,
Goblin Building. No culprit was ever found or any cause
settled upon for the strange events that took place in
(28:09):
that troublesome year of nineteen thirty four on Gascon de
Gator Street, and so the case of the Zaraghos of
Goblin remains to this day Unexplained. This episode was written
(28:30):
by Diane Hope and Richard McLain Smith. Thank you as
ever for listening Unexplained as an Avy Club production podcast
created by Richard McLain Smith. All other elements of the podcast,
including the music, are also produced by me Richard McLain Smith. Unexplained.
The book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide.
(28:53):
You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and
other bookstores. Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever
you get your podcasts, and feel free to get in
touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've
heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or
a story of your own you'd like to share. You
can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and
(29:16):
reaches online through X and Blue Sky at Unexplained Pod
and Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast,
(30:04):
DoD
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.