Episode 1: A Noise in the Night

Assume Nothing - A podcast by BBC Radio Ulster - Saturdays

When Belfast-born sound mixer Peter Devlin leaves a recorder running overnight while working on a movie in Greystone Mansion, Beverly Hills – he captures a bizarre, unexplained sound. After hours of silence, there is a sudden crash, two loud bangs and then …. silence. As the cast and crew take turns to listen, Peter begins to learn more about the dark history of Greystone Mansion – and discovers that two men died in the house in mysterious circumstances on the 16th February, 1929. At the time of their deaths, the men were embroiled in a huge corruption and bribery scandal that went to the very top of the United States government. A scandal that stretched from the Wild West to the Whitehouse, involving a multimillionaire oil tycoon whose father fled the famine in Ireland, a corrupt Senator - and a black bag stuffed with $100,000 in cash. In this eight part series, Peter Devlin and producer Conor McKay trace the extraordinary rags to riches story of Edward L Doheny – a penniless prospector who built a vast oil empire – to try and uncover the story of what really happened on that fateful night in Greystone mansion. Cast: Edward Doheny – Michael Patrick Reporter – Aoibhéann McCann Presented by Peter Devlin and Conor McKay Produced by Conor McKay Executive editor Andy Martin A BBC Northern Ireland production