0:00:03 > 0:00:05In the Caribbean,
0:00:05 > 0:00:06on the shore of one
0:00:06 > 0:00:08of the American Virgin Islands,
0:00:08 > 0:00:11sits a strange, crumbling building.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17It's a monument to perhaps the most remarkable period
0:00:17 > 0:00:19in the history of animal science.
0:00:22 > 0:00:28In the 1960s, a group of researchers came here to study dolphins.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Dolphins have been here 65 million years.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35We're just getting out of the trees. They know more than we do.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38Inspired by new discoveries about the animal mind,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42the researchers believed they could, for the first time,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46communicate with another species, by teaching dolphins to speak.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Why not?
0:00:49 > 0:00:50That's what I kept saying.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52Let's do this.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55- Hello.- Ah-oh.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Speak English only, Peter.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Their work had extraordinary ambition.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Scientists believed if they could talk to dolphins,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07they could even talk to extra-terrestrials.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Are we alone in the universe?
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Are there other creatures out there that we might get to know?
0:01:15 > 0:01:17It wasn't science fiction.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20It was... "Wow, this is where we're going."
0:01:23 > 0:01:26But what started with '60s idealism
0:01:26 > 0:01:29would spiral into the darkness of the decade,
0:01:29 > 0:01:30and end in tragedy.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34"The worst experiment in the world,"
0:01:34 > 0:01:37I've read somewhere, was me and Peter.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39Until now,
0:01:39 > 0:01:43those involved have never spoken publicly about the experiment.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47But 50 years on, they've broken their silence
0:01:47 > 0:01:50to reveal just what happened within these walls.
0:01:50 > 0:01:57This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Communication is what defines us as humans.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17We're a social species, which wants to talk to others,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20and not just other people.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30It's long been a human dream to be able to talk to the animals.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Do this, Vicky.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36THEY BLOW AIR
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Early experiments in the 20th century involved
0:02:39 > 0:02:42trying to teach the great apes sign language,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44and even how to speak English.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Another sound resembles the letter K.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52Vicky. Sit up, girl. Come on. Do this.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54THEY MAKE SOUNDS
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Vicky has to hold her hand over her nose.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01But by the end of the 1950s, there had been no real progress
0:03:01 > 0:03:05and serious scientific attempts to talk to the animals
0:03:05 > 0:03:06ground to a halt.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13There was one person, however, who hadn't given up.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16His name was John Lilly.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21John Lilly was a scientist, a visionary
0:03:21 > 0:03:26and, uh, maybe above all, an explorer.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Explorer of the brain, the mind.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Lilly's a fascinating character.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38He was a super smart,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41physics-oriented, Caltech grad,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44who during the Second World War,
0:03:44 > 0:03:49ends up working in an aviation physiology laboratory,
0:03:49 > 0:03:53doing experimental work on American pilots, monitoring data
0:03:53 > 0:03:57about heart rates and respiration.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01And then subsequently, as his research life develops,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04increasingly interested in animals.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09By the late '50s, Lilly was a respected brain-scientist
0:04:09 > 0:04:13working for the American National Institute Of Mental Health.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15If one believes that they not only
0:04:15 > 0:04:17have the brain to learn it, but the ears...
0:04:17 > 0:04:20His area of expertise was what brains of animals
0:04:20 > 0:04:23could tell us about our own.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25His wife, Mary, worked with him.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29He was always interested in brains.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34And he would find out what areas of the brains did what,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36that sort of thing.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41But it's easier to work on other species than humans.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44And there was one species whose brain fascinated Lilly
0:04:44 > 0:04:46above all others...
0:04:47 > 0:04:50..an animal which human beings believed was one of the cleverest
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and most ancient creatures on Earth -
0:04:53 > 0:04:57the bottlenose dolphin, also often called the porpoise.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00So, they've been here, you know, 25 million years.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02We haven't been here that long.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04We've only been here with our present brain size
0:05:04 > 0:05:07about two tenths of a million years.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08This is a big brain.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11This is a bigger brain than we're accustomed to working on.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14In fact, it's a bigger brain than a human brain!
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Lilly needed access to the dolphins' super-sized brains.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21And he found it in Florida.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Leaping three feet out of the water
0:05:23 > 0:05:26and through a hoop is only one of the accomplishments of Flippy,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29the pride of the studios at Marine Land Florida.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Flippy gets a big kick out of demonstrating his high IQ.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Marine Studios in Florida
0:05:35 > 0:05:39is one of the first institutions in the post-war period to keep
0:05:39 > 0:05:42a bottlenose dolphin in captivity.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Lilly makes his way down there in order to have access to
0:05:45 > 0:05:48some of these animals for experimental purposes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Lilly began doing brain experiments on the dolphins
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and recording their reactions.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01One day, in 1957, this research triggered a behaviour that
0:06:01 > 0:06:04would change the course of his life.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06The first to spot it was Mary.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Whilst John and his team were working nearby,
0:06:09 > 0:06:11she noticed something they'd missed.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13I came in.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I heard John talking and the porpoise would go
0:06:17 > 0:06:20"Awawawawawa," like John.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Chee-chee. Chee-chee. More, more. Fish.
0:06:25 > 0:06:31And then I realised it was hearing their voices and imitating them.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36And I went down to where they were operating
0:06:36 > 0:06:41and told them that this was going on, and they were quite startled.
0:06:41 > 0:06:42More, more fish.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45DOLPHIN SQUEAKS
0:06:45 > 0:06:49Lilly was convinced the dolphin was imitating the humans,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51trying to speak to them.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53If he was right, it would be one
0:06:53 > 0:06:56of the greatest discoveries in the history of science.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01For the rest of his career, Lilly would write about and talk about
0:07:01 > 0:07:05that moment in 1957, where it all popped open for him.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09He thinks that this indicates ambition on their part
0:07:09 > 0:07:13to communicate with the beings around them that are human.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17A breakthrough of not just scientific, but potentially
0:07:17 > 0:07:20even world historic significance -
0:07:20 > 0:07:23humans were being displaced from their position
0:07:23 > 0:07:27atop the cosmos of intelligent creatures.
0:07:27 > 0:07:28We were not alone.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33DOLPHIN SQUEAKS
0:07:33 > 0:07:36"And now... here's Jack."
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Lilly believed his mimicking dolphins would revolutionise
0:07:41 > 0:07:44the science of animal communication.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48For the first time, here was another species which seemed to be
0:07:48 > 0:07:50trying to make contact with us.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54And in 1961, he published a book revealing his findings.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59John, what was the prediction in your book that caused such comment?
0:07:59 > 0:08:03I predicted that, within a decade or two,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06the human species would establish communication
0:08:06 > 0:08:08with another species.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09This is a scientist.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12This isn't some, you know, nut that I've brought out here!
0:08:12 > 0:08:16- This man knows... He may be a little nutty, I don't know.- Thank you(!)
0:08:16 > 0:08:18But he's a real, acknowledged scientist.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Now, roll this film and you're going to see some interesting things.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23These are some of the sounds they make.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26What in the main do you think dolphins talk among each other?
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Oh. Food, sex and danger.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Sounds like Westport, Connecticut, to me, there.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42That's it, forward. Come on.
0:08:42 > 0:08:43Come on.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47That's it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Lilly's talking dolphins captured the public's imagination.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55But for one group of people, his work had special significance.
0:08:55 > 0:08:56'OK, it is in.'
0:08:56 > 0:08:58'Ignition.'
0:08:59 > 0:09:00'Blast off!'
0:09:03 > 0:09:07In the early '60s, America was in the midst of a space-race...
0:09:09 > 0:09:13..launching satellites and spacecraft to the Moon and planets.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16'That's as far as we go for EDA.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20'OK, they're free from EDA from here. Ready for decompression.'
0:09:20 > 0:09:25And surprisingly, Lilly's ideas chimed with this new space age.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28They'd caught the eye of a team of American astronomers
0:09:28 > 0:09:31who were searching for extra-terrestrial life.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33They were led by Frank Drake.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36It was a very exciting book
0:09:36 > 0:09:37because it had these new ideas -
0:09:37 > 0:09:40particularly the idea that there could be creatures
0:09:40 > 0:09:43as intelligent and sophisticated
0:09:43 > 0:09:45in their thinking as us,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49and yet living in a far different milieu.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Drake and his team were part of an official, government-funded
0:09:55 > 0:09:59project to use radio telescopes to listen for signals from other
0:09:59 > 0:10:01intelligent life in the galaxy.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06For them, Lilly's work was potentially groundbreaking.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11The possible intelligence of dolphins was of special interest to me
0:10:11 > 0:10:15and the others who were interested in extraterrestrial intelligent life
0:10:15 > 0:10:19because we wanted to understand as much as we could about
0:10:19 > 0:10:21what the challenges were going to be in communicating
0:10:21 > 0:10:24with other intelligent species.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28There might be other civilisations in space attempting to send us
0:10:28 > 0:10:29messages.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31The detection of extraterrestrial signals
0:10:31 > 0:10:34are going to be one of the most exciting things
0:10:34 > 0:10:36that ever happened.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41Here was perhaps an example of another intelligent species,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43very different from us -
0:10:43 > 0:10:46its vocal system was very different, its means of communicating
0:10:46 > 0:10:49any information was different.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51It would tell us what was important,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53what we should specialise in,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56what we should learn as much as we can about
0:10:56 > 0:11:00if we were to understand extraterrestrial intelligent life.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02'Four, three, two...
0:11:02 > 0:11:04'All engines ready.'
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Lilly realised the astronomers' interest opened up an opportunity.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15America's space programme was extremely well-funded through NASA.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Here was his chance to get funding for a whole new phase of research.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26Lilly brilliantly pitches the space administration
0:11:26 > 0:11:29on the idea that they need
0:11:29 > 0:11:31a model organism
0:11:31 > 0:11:33upon which to experiment
0:11:33 > 0:11:37for the prospect of an encounter with aliens.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42NASA backed Lilly with many thousands of dollars.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And with financial support from other government agencies
0:11:45 > 0:11:47like the US Navy,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49he commissioned the lab of his dreams.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53At St Thomas in the Virgin Islands, stands a unique laboratory...
0:11:53 > 0:11:57In 1961, Lilly built a white, modern villa right on the shore
0:11:57 > 0:12:02of St Thomas', one of the American Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05This was the Dolphin House.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Here, a thousand miles from the American mainland,
0:12:08 > 0:12:13he would now focus on research into human communication with dolphins.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Lilly had discovered that dolphins become quickly responsive
0:12:16 > 0:12:18to human companions.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20In daily playtime, they develop intense friendships,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23often prefer people to other dolphins...
0:12:23 > 0:12:26But Lilly would need a team to help him carry out the work.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Lilly was charismatic,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32and he attracted some brilliant and hardworking people.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37He recruits a very significant figure - Gregory Bateson,
0:12:37 > 0:12:43an anthropologist - who rounds out his team for thinking
0:12:43 > 0:12:45big about these animals.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48Gregory Bateson was an intellectual giant of his time.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51He had explored subjects like linguistics
0:12:51 > 0:12:55and human anthropology at Cambridge and Sydney Universities.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Now he was looking for an opportunity to study
0:12:57 > 0:12:58animal behaviour.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01I worked as an anthropologist.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04I looked around and I was clear
0:13:04 > 0:13:06I didn't want to live in a lab.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Gregory had been doing
0:13:08 > 0:13:13behavioural work - not only with humans but with
0:13:13 > 0:13:19otters. And we had in our house 17 octopuses.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24And we were studying their personal relationships.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Which was interesting.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Bateson's area of interest wasn't humans communicating with
0:13:29 > 0:13:33animals, but rather how animals communicated with each other.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39But in 1963, he was persuaded by Lilly to move his family out
0:13:39 > 0:13:43to St Thomas' - including his 11-year-old stepson.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45My Dad was much more interested in
0:13:45 > 0:13:47the interaction between the dolphins.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50Looking at the posture of pectoral fins - I mean,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54does this mean something? Or the...uh, the alignment
0:13:54 > 0:13:55of two animals swimming together,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58is this sexual or is this just friendship
0:13:58 > 0:14:00or is this just waiting to be fed?
0:14:04 > 0:14:06The house was built over a single outdoor pool
0:14:06 > 0:14:08where the dolphins would live.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Linked to the sea, it was cleaned by the tide.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Lilly's new lab offered the best conditions
0:14:16 > 0:14:19possible for the animals in captivity.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23And a window would allow Bateson to observe the creatures underwater.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26I actually thought it was fantastic.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30I mean, the water was absolutely crystal. That was neat.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34I mean, it was just... It was all new. It was exotic.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36That's the best word I can say for it.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41The island's vet was also enlisted to ensure
0:14:41 > 0:14:43the wellbeing of Lilly's dolphins.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Dr Lilly called me.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51And he put me through an interview.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55His concern was the health of his animals.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59He wanted to be sure that I could relate
0:14:59 > 0:15:03to the dolphins by putting me in the water with them.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11And then, early in 1964, the lab had a visitor.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Margaret Howe was an attractive, 22-year-old college dropout
0:15:15 > 0:15:18who had come to St Thomas' in search of adventure.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22She'd heard rumours about a strange house at the end of the island
0:15:22 > 0:15:24which had dolphins.
0:15:24 > 0:15:31I was curious and I drove out and found signs saying, "Keep Out."
0:15:31 > 0:15:33It was pretty isolated.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38And I said, "Well, I heard you had dolphins here and I thought I'd come
0:15:38 > 0:15:42"and see if there's anything I can do or if there's any way I could help."
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Gregory Bateson sat me at the top of this spiral staircase,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49where you could just look down and he said, "Just sit here
0:15:49 > 0:15:54"and write what you think is happening, what you see."
0:15:54 > 0:15:56You begin to think...
0:15:56 > 0:16:00There's things going on other than just the prettiness of it all.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03One of them is in front. One is in the back.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05One is above. One is below.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07One jumped. The other one went ahead.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11And after an hour, I figured that out and started writing that.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Gregory Bateson said, "I like the way you wrote that.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18"You think well on your feet."
0:16:18 > 0:16:21He said, "You're able to see things.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23"You can come here any time you want.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25"We can't pay you, but you can come here.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27"Would you like to do that?"
0:16:27 > 0:16:29"Yes," I said.
0:16:29 > 0:16:31"Yes, thank you! I will come back here any time."
0:16:31 > 0:16:32So I did.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Margaret Howe rounded off Lilly's human team.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43But it was the dolphins that everyone was there to study.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Lilly brought them from Marine Studios in Miami.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Before coming to the Virgin Islands, they'd also been used in filming
0:16:49 > 0:16:51the movie Flipper.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54There were three animals at the VI lab.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Peter, Pamela and Sissy.
0:16:57 > 0:16:58Sissy was the biggest one.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03She was pushy, loud.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05Sort of ran the show.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12So I had... Most of my relationship was with Sissy.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Very social.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Pam, she wouldn't come near anybody.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24It took a full year before I was able to get close enough to her
0:17:24 > 0:17:25to stroke her.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32You are drawn to an animal who is shy and a little fearful.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34It makes you feel good when they will come
0:17:34 > 0:17:36and you can help them over that.
0:17:36 > 0:17:37And that was Pamela.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And then there was one male dolphin.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Peter was an immature male. I don't think he was fully mature.
0:17:49 > 0:17:50He was different.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54He was definitely a young guy.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Sexually coming of age, I'm sure, and
0:17:56 > 0:18:01liked Sissy. And Sissy was always having to... Bip!
0:18:01 > 0:18:04She'd... Bip! Flip him off like that.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07And that's who they were.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14By February, 1964, the lab was in full operation.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Lilly was often away travelling, publicising his work or
0:18:18 > 0:18:22raising funds, so left much of the research to the others.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25He charged Margaret with picking up the mimicry work
0:18:25 > 0:18:27where he'd left off.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30It was her job to encourage the dolphins to copy the specific
0:18:30 > 0:18:32sounds of human speech.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37They can click and squeak and whistle
0:18:37 > 0:18:39and do all the dolphin noises, and there are many.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44But this human-like sound, humanoid they call it, not underwater,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47in the air, and through the blowhole.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51The blow hole, where they force air out of the lungs,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and the lips on the blow hole, actually open and closing,
0:18:55 > 0:19:00and they can talk that way, if you want to call it talking.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Margaret began to focus on one of the dolphins in particular -
0:19:04 > 0:19:05the male.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07I really chose to work with Peter
0:19:07 > 0:19:13because he'd not had any human-like sound training.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14The other two had.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18My first goal was to get him to listen while I speak.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23And then I would listen while he speaks and we would set up this
0:19:23 > 0:19:27conversation-type thing where we could make some sort of progress.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38Today is January 27th. The time is 09.00 hours.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41PETER CLICKS
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Much of the work in the Dolphin House was captured on tape,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48and these are the real sound recordings of Margaret's lessons.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52A, E, I, O.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59PETER SQUEAKS
0:20:02 > 0:20:06But from the start, Peter was a reluctant pupil.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Speak for fish.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Don't squirt.
0:20:15 > 0:20:16He would listen to me.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21And I would say, "No, no, no, no, Peter.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"What I want you to do is count to three.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28"You're going to say one, two, three,"
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and Peter wouldn't repeat everything I told him,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35he would work on the "eh, oh, eeyr..."
0:20:35 > 0:20:39HE SQUEAKS
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Listen. One, two, three.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45HE WARBLES
0:20:45 > 0:20:48You can do better, Peter.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Yeah, we had a few disagreements on things.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54He could slap his tail.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56You know when a dolphin is annoyed.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00"One, two, three, I've already done that. I..."
0:21:00 > 0:21:01"One, two, three, I told you I've...
0:21:01 > 0:21:04"I'm going to do it one more time. One, two, three, and now that's it."
0:21:04 > 0:21:06And he'd disappear.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10HE SQUEAKS LOUDLY
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The mimicry work seemed to have stalled.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20But then Margaret had an idea.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23It was very ambitious.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28Every night we would all get in our cars and pull the garage door down
0:21:28 > 0:21:31and click it and everybody would drive away.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34And I thought, "Well, there's this big brain,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36"three big brains floating around all night.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40"What's really going on?"
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And it amazed me that everyone kept leaving.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45And I said, "That's craziness."
0:21:45 > 0:21:48I said, "I will stay and I will do this."
0:21:48 > 0:21:50And Lilly said, "What's that?"
0:21:50 > 0:21:52I said, "I want to plaster everything
0:21:52 > 0:21:55"and fill this place with water.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59"I want to live here with Peter."
0:22:02 > 0:22:05And Lilly got very excited.
0:22:05 > 0:22:06And he went for it.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Margaret drew up radical plans for the house.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23She began completely redesigning the layout of the upstairs rooms,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25altering their shape
0:22:25 > 0:22:27and making them waterproof.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30The building had not been built to flood.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33And we're gonna flood the place comfortably - knee deep,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35a little bit deeper.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39I didn't want to just be indoors for so long, so the balcony as well.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47We flooded it and it kept leaking, so we had to drain it all
0:22:47 > 0:22:49and plaster it up again. It took a while.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57They had a giant elevator.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02You'd get the animal on the elevator with a sling under it.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05That's how the animal got up and down.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Margaret had created a domestic dolphinarium,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13where she and Peter could live together
0:23:13 > 0:23:16in a semi-aquatic environment.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20I had a desk hanging from the ceiling, a telephone,
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and a little stove I could make tea.
0:23:24 > 0:23:30I was on a foam cushion and Peter would sleep next to me,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33and he would sleep as long as I did.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36And I lived there day and night.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And it was perfect.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43And so, Margaret's extraordinary experiment began.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Over the coming months, she would live with Peter
0:23:45 > 0:23:49in the Dolphin House almost full-time.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Margaret would immerse him completely in her world
0:23:52 > 0:23:57to try to teach him English, like a mother teaching a child to speak.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03One, two, three, four.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06These are the audio recordings she made.
0:24:06 > 0:24:07Today is...
0:24:07 > 0:24:10HE SQUEAKS August 18th.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13This is the morning lesson with Peter.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15Hello.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18HE WARBLES
0:24:18 > 0:24:19No. Hello.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23HE WARBLES
0:24:23 > 0:24:24Clearly, Peter.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27HE WARBLES PARTLY UNDERWATER
0:24:27 > 0:24:30What's all the bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh? Come on!
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I didn't talk to Peter the way I talk to you.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35I...
0:24:35 > 0:24:37I spoke in single words usually
0:24:37 > 0:24:41and made inflection, something that he could follow.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42That they were very good at.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45The enunciation was not good.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50But if I said, "One, two, THREE."
0:24:50 > 0:24:52I...I wouldn't get one, two, three,
0:24:52 > 0:24:58but I would get, "Wah, urwah, REHR."
0:24:58 > 0:25:00One, two, THREE.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Ehr, ehr, ehr.
0:25:02 > 0:25:03Good boy.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07Hard as Peter tried,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10there were still some anatomical restrictions
0:25:10 > 0:25:12that limited his speech.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14"M" is very difficult.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18My name, you know, "Hello, Margaret," I worked on.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And M is just impossible,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26but he eventually rolled over so that it kind of... "Bwah..."
0:25:26 > 0:25:28He would bubble it into the water.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Mmmm...
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Margaret.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Ahee-aaheeee.
0:25:37 > 0:25:38Oh, he just couldn't get it right!
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And he just would try and he would try. God!
0:25:43 > 0:25:45To help with Peter's pronunciation,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47Margaret wanted to draw his attention to the movement
0:25:47 > 0:25:49of her mouth and lips.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55His blowhole and my mouth
0:25:55 > 0:25:58sort of were trying to do the same thing,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01I actually put a white make-up -
0:26:01 > 0:26:06thick white and black around my mouth -
0:26:06 > 0:26:09so that when I was talking to him
0:26:09 > 0:26:12or teaching a word,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15he could really see my blowhole, as it were,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and I would...
0:26:18 > 0:26:20really use my mouth, with this make-up on it,
0:26:20 > 0:26:23and his eye was in air looking at my mouth,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I mean, no question about it. He wanted to know,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30"Where is that noise coming from? What is that sound?"
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Fish in buck-et.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36HE SQUEAKS
0:26:36 > 0:26:38During his visits back to the Dolphin House,
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Lilly was delighted by Margaret's progress.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I feel armed with a kind of knowledge...
0:26:47 > 0:26:50..that we could never have obtained...
0:26:51 > 0:26:55..except through these experiments.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58This must be supported
0:26:58 > 0:27:00and enthusiastically encouraged.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05He was very enthusiastic about it. We were very together.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10I felt very supported and encouraged to do more.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15But not everyone was as enthusiastic about Margaret's experiments.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Whilst the Batesons were happy to swim with the dolphins,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20they weren't keen to teach them English.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Lois' husband, Gregory, doubted its scientific merit.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27He felt his research on dolphin-to-dolphin communication
0:27:27 > 0:27:30in the sea pool downstairs was of more value
0:27:30 > 0:27:32than Margaret's work with Peter.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34We liked Margaret.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36She was certainly trying to see
0:27:36 > 0:27:40if they could be trained to speak English
0:27:40 > 0:27:42SHE CHUCKLES
0:27:42 > 0:27:44Which was an ambitious plan.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47It was interesting, but, you know, it wasn't...
0:27:47 > 0:27:49It wasn't our cup of tea.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Despite the Bateson's doubts, Margaret persevered.
0:27:53 > 0:27:57She began using Peter's curiosity and playfulness to keep him
0:27:57 > 0:27:58interested in the lessons.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Whatever I brought to him,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04whether it was me or an object
0:28:04 > 0:28:06or just my time or my voice,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09he was interested in that.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Uh, and that's very appealing.
0:28:11 > 0:28:17Whether it was a ball or a toy or a square shape or whatever
0:28:17 > 0:28:21I was interested in, he would have to turn to that.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23And he did.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26He loved to look at different shapes and...
0:28:26 > 0:28:29and different sets of things and little toys.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Let's go through all our toys, Peter.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35- Ball.- Baaah-ba.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37Good.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38Oblong.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41- Ah-aaaaah.- Good!
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Triangle.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Ah-ah-ah.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49Oh, nice, Peter! Beautiful!
0:28:49 > 0:28:52We just hit it off. We had that connection.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58We were a team and it...it just worked.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00SATELLITE SOUNDS
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Margaret's progress with Peter also intrigued the astronomers.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10They wanted to know whether the experiment to talk to another
0:29:10 > 0:29:12species was producing results.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20In the summer of 1965, they dispatched the famous
0:29:20 > 0:29:21astronomer, Carl Sagan.
0:29:23 > 0:29:24It's possible,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27but by no means certain that life on many of these planets
0:29:27 > 0:29:29evolves into beings
0:29:29 > 0:29:33which are as advanced as we, or more advanced.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Carl, I think, was into anything that had anything to do with
0:29:36 > 0:29:40trying to speak to anything alien.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Dolphins, they're another species, in a different environment
0:29:45 > 0:29:50and in that regard, I think, the space people were interested.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53- Hello.- Ah-oh.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Oh! I like it, I like it, I like it, Peter!
0:29:57 > 0:29:58Good boy.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01It was clear to Sagan
0:30:01 > 0:30:04and the astronomers that despite Margaret's progress,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07Peter was a long way from being able to understand and use English.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12So instead of teaching the dolphins a human language,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16like the Batesons, they suggested Lilly try to find out
0:30:16 > 0:30:18how dolphins communicate with each other.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20A prime experiment we suggested to him
0:30:20 > 0:30:24was to reveal just how complicated a message
0:30:24 > 0:30:27one dolphin could communicate with another dolphin.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30And so we would suggest to have two dolphins,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33one in each tank of water, separately,
0:30:33 > 0:30:35not able to see each other,
0:30:35 > 0:30:39but to be able to hear any phonations - one to the other -
0:30:39 > 0:30:42and that he should teach one dolphin
0:30:42 > 0:30:46some procedure by which it could
0:30:46 > 0:30:48obtain food
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and then see if it could tell the other dolphin
0:30:51 > 0:30:53how to do the same thing in its tank.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56This was a prime experiment to be done,
0:30:56 > 0:30:58but he was never able to do it.
0:30:58 > 0:30:59Ball.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04Instead, Lilly instructed Margaret to continue her lessons with Peter.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06Ball.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08Ball.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10Ball.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13- Eh-ho.- No.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14Ball.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18- Ahll.- That's it! Yes!
0:31:18 > 0:31:20Now you're getting there.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22His vocalisation got better.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26It was never clear, uh,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29but it had control and it had tone
0:31:29 > 0:31:32and it had space between the words.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34The effort was there and that's what impressed me.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35Ahll.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40SHE CLAPS You're a good boy, yes, you are!
0:31:40 > 0:31:42Thank you, Peter.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47Margaret's lessons with Peter upstairs in the flooded house
0:31:47 > 0:31:49ran for six days a week.
0:31:49 > 0:31:50But on their day off,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54they would join the others downstairs in the sea pool for fun.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58One day, Andy Williamson brought his dog, Suki, to the house,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00an encounter they captured on film.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04Suki came into The Dolphin House,
0:32:04 > 0:32:07the door was open into the pool.
0:32:09 > 0:32:10And she saw me in the water.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13And next thing I knew,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16she took a little flying leap right into the pool.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21And Andy and I are just shocked! And we thought, "Oh, my God!"
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Peter passed her a couple of times and rubbed against her.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30And Suki went crazy.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33She was quivering. Her little ears were going like this,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35she was just... And Andy was holding her.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Peter came up and stuck his beak right up,
0:32:41 > 0:32:46made a couple of squeaks or clicking sounds.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50And Suki went off Andy's shoulder.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Dachshunds, the way they are built with short little legs,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55I mean, she kind of sank a bit.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57Started paddling around.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01The dog was having fun and the dolphins were having fun,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02they were all having a party.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14Life went on at the Dolphin House.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18But back on the mainland, Lilly's interests were shifting.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21MUSIC: "Eight Miles High" by The Byrds
0:33:24 > 0:33:26It was the mid-1960s
0:33:26 > 0:33:30and a new mind-altering drug had been invented - LSD.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34# Eight miles high
0:33:34 > 0:33:38# And when you touch down
0:33:38 > 0:33:41# You'll find that it's stranger
0:33:41 > 0:33:45# Than known
0:33:45 > 0:33:46# Signs in... #
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Brain scientist Lilly became obsessed by how humans
0:33:50 > 0:33:51reacted to it.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54And he began experimenting on himself,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57convinced that it offered exciting new opportunities
0:33:57 > 0:33:59to explore the mind.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07There was one time where he said,
0:34:07 > 0:34:12"All right, I'm going to go up and inject the LSD."
0:34:12 > 0:34:14And I said, "Whoa!
0:34:14 > 0:34:17"I will have nothing to do with that.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20"And I will stay out of that, and you stay out of my business,"
0:34:20 > 0:34:22which was dolphins.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24I could see the difference in John Lilly.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28He went from being, you know, a guy with a tie and a white coat
0:34:28 > 0:34:31and a scientist in his laboratory to
0:34:31 > 0:34:34a full blown hippie after a while.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39He was a real explorer of those drugs that
0:34:39 > 0:34:41expand our consciousness, you know.
0:34:41 > 0:34:42I don't know there were too many
0:34:42 > 0:34:45people with his...his expertise
0:34:45 > 0:34:48and his scientific background that was doing that kind of work.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54John's self-experimentation with LSD was becoming a concern for Margaret.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00But something else was affecting her work with Peter.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03They have sexual urges.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09I'm sure Peter had plenty of thoughts along those lines.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12Peter liked to be...with me.
0:35:12 > 0:35:17He would rub himself on my knee or my foot or my hand or...
0:35:17 > 0:35:20whatever, and I allowed that. I wasn't uncomfortable with that,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22as long as it wasn't too rough.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Peter had caused Margaret some
0:35:26 > 0:35:29minor injuries on her legs and stuff
0:35:29 > 0:35:33of pushing like an obsessed suitor.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37In the beginning, when he would get rambunctious and had this need,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39I would put him on the elevator and say,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41"You go play with the girls for a day."
0:35:41 > 0:35:44HE SQUEAKS
0:35:47 > 0:35:50But as Peter's urges grew more frequent,
0:35:50 > 0:35:53the process of transporting him down to the two female dolphins
0:35:53 > 0:35:55to satisfy him proved disruptive.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05And Margaret felt the best way of focusing his mind
0:36:05 > 0:36:09back on the lessons, was to relieve his desires herself manually.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15It was just easier to incorporate that and let it happen.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18It was very, uh, precious.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20It was very gentle.
0:36:20 > 0:36:21Peter was right there.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23He knew that I was right there.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Again, it was sexual on his part, it was not sexual on mine.
0:36:27 > 0:36:28Sensuous perhaps.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31It had just become part of what was going on.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Like an itch, you just get rid of that.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35"We'll scratch it and we'll be done, move on."
0:36:35 > 0:36:39And that's really all it was.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43I was there to get to know Peter, that was part of Peter.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47It was great that she wasn't going to be damaged by that,
0:36:47 > 0:36:50but, as a veterinarian,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52I wondered about poor Peter.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56This dolphin was madly in love with her.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Margaret.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Ahee-aaheeee.
0:37:01 > 0:37:05Margaret and Peter's relationship was continuing to deepen.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08But with his ringside seat at the Dolphin House,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12anthropologist Gregory Bateson was now seriously questioning
0:37:12 > 0:37:14the value of Lilly's work.
0:37:14 > 0:37:15My dad had, I think,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20a pretty firm and clear view that this was a kind of circus trick.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23For Bateson, Peter was simply copying Margaret's sounds
0:37:23 > 0:37:27with no real comprehension of what he was saying.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30I can't see why anybody in their right mind would think...
0:37:32 > 0:37:37..they were going to be able to teach or learn to speak
0:37:37 > 0:37:40in some common language.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43You're not demonstrating anything about an animal's capacity
0:37:43 > 0:37:48for language by getting them to master some part of your language.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51You want to find out whether they have language,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54you want to find out what they have for their language.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00Come right out with the English, Peter.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03Don't even think in your own language.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05English all the time.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- Margaret.- Ah-ah.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Better. Thank you, Peter.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16Like Gregory Bateson, Lilly's funders were also having
0:38:16 > 0:38:19doubts about the value of the work.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23And from 1965, in the absence of more impressive results,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26they were starting to pull out.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Any of the work with dolphins was very difficult -
0:38:29 > 0:38:31time consuming, expensive -
0:38:31 > 0:38:35and at that time, John was not adequately financed
0:38:35 > 0:38:38to really conduct the experiments that needed to be done.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44As funding for the Dolphin House looked increasingly shaky,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Lilly was becoming desperate for results to impress his backers.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53He turned to the one experiment he had so far resisted.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58Why wouldn't you go ahead and use this very powerful drug
0:38:58 > 0:39:01that has been used to facilitate psychotherapy,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03namely LSD?
0:39:05 > 0:39:07Take a little bit yourself so you're a little more open
0:39:07 > 0:39:10to the alien world of the other and...
0:39:10 > 0:39:12and heck while you're at it,
0:39:12 > 0:39:15give a little bit to the dolphin so that they're a little bit more
0:39:15 > 0:39:19kind of open to the communicative world of the other themselves.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Lilly hoped that giving the dolphins LSD would have a dramatic effect.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32In a note to Gregory Bateson, he even wondered
0:39:32 > 0:39:36if it might cause the animals to stop breathing.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40LSD's a pretty powerful, psychedelic drug,
0:39:40 > 0:39:45and I had no idea how the dolphins would react to that.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48I mean, humans didn't always react to it very well, so, you know...
0:39:52 > 0:39:55Despite these uncertainties about the consequences,
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Lilly became obsessed with giving LSD to the dolphins.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03My first thought was, "Not Peter."
0:40:03 > 0:40:04I just said, "Not Peter."
0:40:07 > 0:40:10What was I? 24 or something.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14And it was his stuff, it was his animals, it was his pool.
0:40:14 > 0:40:15I can't stop him.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Lilly coerced Margaret into being an assistant to his LSD experiment
0:40:22 > 0:40:23on the dolphins.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29And he pulled back and he said, "OK, not Peter."
0:40:29 > 0:40:32We pulled Peter out of the sea pool where they were.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35So Pam and Sissy were in the sea pool.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41And John did inject them with LSD.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- LILLY:- 10:06pm.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Different species react in different ways.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09Playing with pharmaceuticals is tricky business to say the least.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12We didn't know what was going to happen.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15And we certainly weren't prepared for anything to happen.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23The dolphins were circling,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26and John occasionally glanced
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and said, "Oh, well, it's only been ten minutes."
0:41:31 > 0:41:34And nothing was going on and it's been, well, 20 minutes now.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40Nothing was going on, nothing, nothing, nothing happened, period.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45Lilly was desperate to provoke a response.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49He came up with a bizarre and cruel idea,
0:41:49 > 0:41:54which shows how far he'd now come from genuine scientific research.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Dolphins have extraordinarily sensitive hearing,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01using sound waves to sense their environment.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Could he use that to trigger a reaction?
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And then John disappeared, and he went to the other side
0:42:10 > 0:42:13and he picked up a jackhammer.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Jackhammer makes a big "thunk" going through the earth
0:42:17 > 0:42:19and the cement and the rock and...
0:42:21 > 0:42:23And he just started jackhammering,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25which had everything sort of shaking.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31And still nothing happened.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33So that was sort of the end of it.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39It just confirmed for me that John Lilly and I,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41we were...we're very different.
0:42:42 > 0:42:43For Gregory Bateson,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47Lilly's use of LSD on the dolphins was the last straw.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50He packed up the family and left.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56St Thomas was really an impossible place to work.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00And I actually don't think he felt like he made much progress
0:43:00 > 0:43:01that year in St Thomas.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06We had learned as much as we could from that particular setting
0:43:06 > 0:43:07in St Thomas
0:43:07 > 0:43:11and we just felt it was time to go.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15With the Batesons gone and funding turned off,
0:43:15 > 0:43:20by the summer of 1966, Lilly was running up large debts.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22And in his LSD-fuelled world,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25his attention was drifting away.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28He lost focus on it,
0:43:28 > 0:43:34and the drug culture and the LSD took his interest away.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36It did fall apart at the end.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38Badly.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42The Dolphin House would have to close.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44But decommissioning it would not be easy.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52When you're dealing with live subjects,
0:43:52 > 0:43:57whether they're rats or monkeys or dolphins,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59what do you do with them after...
0:44:00 > 0:44:03..after the experiments are over?
0:44:03 > 0:44:05There was nothing we could do about it.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09Lilly decided the dolphins would be transported to the US mainland,
0:44:09 > 0:44:14to live in another private lab he ran outside Miami.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18It would be the end of Margaret and Peter's relationship.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21He wasn't mine. I couldn't keep him.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25We couldn't elope, you know.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28We couldn't rush off into the sea and disappear and hide.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30You just can't do that.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35It's a very expensive business, having a dolphin.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38If he'd been a cat or a dog, I could have made a deal and kept him,
0:44:38 > 0:44:41but, uh... How do you do that?
0:44:44 > 0:44:48After months of living almost continuously with Peter,
0:44:48 > 0:44:49the experiment was over.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53It was time for Margaret to say goodbye.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57I went back to the lab and spent the evening
0:44:57 > 0:44:59and the night with Peter.
0:45:01 > 0:45:06Being in the water with him, and just that sweetness.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10It was very special and privileged.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Somebody who really wants you to be there
0:45:14 > 0:45:17and sometimes is just comforted by the fact that you are there.
0:45:22 > 0:45:27That was misty-eyed, because at that point, I knew...
0:45:28 > 0:45:31..and Peter didn't know,
0:45:31 > 0:45:33but I knew that that was the end.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50In October 1966, the dolphins were loaded into travelling tanks
0:45:50 > 0:45:52to be flown to Lilly's lab on the mainland.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Seeing that plane take off and circle - I didn't go with them -
0:45:58 > 0:46:00that was emotional.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06Margaret and Andy believed the animals had gone to a good home.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11I was told that they were shipped some place where
0:46:11 > 0:46:12they would be very happy.
0:46:14 > 0:46:18I was told he arrived healthy, that they had him checked by a vet.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24In reality,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27this is the building outside Miami where the dolphins were moved to.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30THEY SQUEAL
0:46:30 > 0:46:34With little or no natural light and tiny, cramped tanks,
0:46:34 > 0:46:37this nightmarish room was a very different environment
0:46:37 > 0:46:38to the Dolphin House.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44Lilly's friend Ric O'Barry remembers once visiting the labs.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48It was awful, to be frank. It was awful.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51The first thing that hit you... Bff! ..was that smell.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58Dolphins urinate and defecate
0:46:58 > 0:47:01three to five times the quantity people will,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03so you can imagine the stench of having dolphins
0:47:03 > 0:47:06inside of that small room,
0:47:06 > 0:47:10in a plastic, portable swimming pool.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15And the chlorine... Copper sulphate, chlorine, heavily chlorinated...
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Yeah, it was awful. It was awful.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24THEY SQUEAL
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Back at the Dolphin House, Margaret was oblivious
0:47:32 > 0:47:35to the conditions the dolphins were now being kept in.
0:47:36 > 0:47:41Weeks passed, and then Margaret received a phone call about Peter.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43I got that phone call.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46From John Lilly.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49John called me himself to...to tell me.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52And he said he committed suicide.
0:47:56 > 0:47:57Suicide.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02And I use that word with some trepidation,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06at the risk of sounding anthropomorphic, but
0:48:06 > 0:48:12it does describe what is indeed self-induced asphyxiation.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17They're not automatic air breathers like we are.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20Every breath is a conscious effort.
0:48:20 > 0:48:24If life becomes too unbearable,
0:48:24 > 0:48:27the dolphins just take a breath...
0:48:27 > 0:48:30And they sink to the bottom. They don't take that next breath.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36The shock of being moved from the Dolphin House had been too much.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39Peter, it seems, had died of a broken heart.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46You could think that Margaret could rationalise it,
0:48:46 > 0:48:50but when she left, could Peter?
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Here's the love of his life, gone.
0:49:11 > 0:49:1450 years of ocean and storms have taken their toll
0:49:14 > 0:49:17on the Dolphin House.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20RECORDING OF MARGARET: I must eat my fish.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Today, this derelict shell is all that remains of the building which
0:49:24 > 0:49:28housed the strangest experiment in the history of animal science.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32The ruins of the Dolphin House...
0:49:32 > 0:49:35It's easy to see, in that brokenness,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38the...pathetic brokenness
0:49:38 > 0:49:41of Lilly's own extraordinary ambition.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Boy.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45PETER CLICKS AND SQUEAKS
0:49:45 > 0:49:47Lovely!
0:49:47 > 0:49:50People who study language aren't really persuaded
0:49:50 > 0:49:55that his claims about dolphin talking
0:49:55 > 0:49:57are really informed by the best work
0:49:57 > 0:49:59in the study of language itself.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Instead, today's leading animal language experts believe what
0:50:05 > 0:50:09happened at the Dolphin House was in reality a sophisticated
0:50:09 > 0:50:10mimicry experiment.
0:50:12 > 0:50:13Listen.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16Fish in Buck-et.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Your parrot says, "Polly want a cracker,"
0:50:22 > 0:50:26and you give that parrot a cracker,
0:50:26 > 0:50:29have you broken through to an alien species?
0:50:29 > 0:50:32Fish in Buck-et.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36- Ah-ah-ah!- Yes!
0:50:36 > 0:50:38Peter could copy Margaret's sounds
0:50:38 > 0:50:42and relate them to objects and people.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44What he couldn't do was use the words to communicate
0:50:44 > 0:50:47spontaneously back to her.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50He listens to me so well!
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Listen.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54Margaret.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Margaret.
0:50:58 > 0:50:59Margaret.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Ah-aaaaah.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Listen, listen.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08For Margaret, this was simply because the experiment
0:51:08 > 0:51:10was stopped too early.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13She believes Peter's progress was far more advanced than
0:51:13 > 0:51:17a human infant's would have been after the same coaching.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19And with more time,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23she feels she would have taken his communication to the next level.
0:51:23 > 0:51:24Six months.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27You have a six-month-old baby, they're doing that? No.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30You're talking to them all the time, sleeping with them,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33hugging them, cuddling them, Are they doing that? No.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37It's nothing. But people are impatient.
0:51:37 > 0:51:38Do more, do more.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46Despite the failure of the Dolphin House,
0:51:46 > 0:51:47throughout the '70s and '80s,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50Lilly's desire to communicate with dolphins continued.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55Some of his research was bizarrely mystical,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58like this attempt to try to contact them telepathically.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01HE PLAYS THE KEYBOARD
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Lilly was based in California,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07and other experiments attracted high-profile celebrity interest.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12We have this wonderful opportunity to explore communicating with
0:52:12 > 0:52:14this species that lives
0:52:14 > 0:52:15on our planet
0:52:15 > 0:52:18with brains larger than ours.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Jeff Bridges was introduced to Lilly by Hollywood friends.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25He became fascinated by his work trying to teach dolphins
0:52:25 > 0:52:27to communicate using electronic sounds.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32He was interested in trying to
0:52:32 > 0:52:34teach humans a way
0:52:34 > 0:52:38that would be easier for the dolphins to communicate.
0:52:38 > 0:52:43And not so much trying to get the dolphins to speak humaneeze,
0:52:43 > 0:52:45but giving the dolphins a code
0:52:45 > 0:52:49rather than trying to make the dolphins speak like humans.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55But Lilly's approach was completely at odds with other scientific
0:52:55 > 0:52:58research into animal communication.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01The failure of the Dolphin House killed off
0:53:01 > 0:53:05serious scientific interest in teaching animals a human language.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09Instead, over the following decades,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12scientists have focused on trying to understand
0:53:12 > 0:53:14animal-to-animal communication,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17as Gregory Bateson and the astronomers had championed.
0:53:20 > 0:53:2250 years after the Dolphin House,
0:53:22 > 0:53:24it's not Peter's command of English
0:53:24 > 0:53:26which the experiment is remembered for,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29but Margaret's sexual encounters with him.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34When an account of what happened was finally published in the 1970s,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37it fascinated a prurient public.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40And someone came up and said, "Well, aren't you just...?"
0:53:40 > 0:53:42I didn't know what they were talking about.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45I, first of all, had never even heard of Hustler Magazine.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47And I opened the Hustler...
0:53:49 > 0:53:51SHE GASPS And I found this story
0:53:51 > 0:53:54with my name and Peter,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57and a drawing of the sexual activity.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01"The worst experiment in the world," I've read, was me and Peter.
0:54:01 > 0:54:03I was very upset.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07I never hid it from anybody.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10There were people around, John Lilly sometimes.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13Maybe somebody visiting with John Lilly.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Peter would be aroused and we would go through this.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18But it always had to be respected.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Tarnished by the reputation of his work at the Dolphin House, Lilly
0:54:25 > 0:54:29continued his use of mind-expanding drugs in the years which followed.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33And he began championing many of the wilder ideas
0:54:33 > 0:54:37from the counter-culture, becoming a new-age guru and cult figure.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40With me is Dr John C Lilly.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43What is true in the province of the mind?
0:54:43 > 0:54:46In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true
0:54:46 > 0:54:50either is true or becomes true within certain limits.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59But as he got older, Lilly's appreciation of dolphin
0:54:59 > 0:55:03intelligence got him thinking about the animals differently.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Up to that point, I think he was
0:55:06 > 0:55:09very involved in what dolphins
0:55:09 > 0:55:12can do for me, John Lilly, the scientist.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15And something happened along the way where he understood,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18"They have just as much rights as we do
0:55:18 > 0:55:22"and let's start thinking about what we can do for them."
0:55:22 > 0:55:25John changed his thinking about the dolphins,
0:55:25 > 0:55:31and he felt uncomfortable about keeping them confined -
0:55:31 > 0:55:35and he ended up releasing his dolphins.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41That's the first time that happened in America, or anywhere.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45The first permit ever issued to release dolphins.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49I had no right to confine them,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51to imprison them,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53to work on them.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58My only right would be to work with them
0:55:58 > 0:56:02in their natural habitat, in their natural state.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06In the mid-1980s, Lilly began campaigning
0:56:06 > 0:56:09relentlessly against holding dolphins captive.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13This, together with the profile his work had given dolphins,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16helped transform the way they were viewed by the public.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21Congress passed the US Marine Mammal Protection Act.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23And for organisations like Greenpeace,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27they became an iconic symbol of the wider conservation movement.
0:56:27 > 0:56:34That story of the rising campaign to afford new protections
0:56:34 > 0:56:35to the world's marine mammals,
0:56:35 > 0:56:39I would argue it's impossible to imagine that work without
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Lilly's legacy.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46John Lilly died in hospital in 2001, after a short illness,
0:56:46 > 0:56:47at the age of 86.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54Margaret Howe had stayed on in St Thomas' and married
0:56:54 > 0:56:57the photographer who had taken the pictures of her with Peter.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Remarkably, she and her husband continued living in the house
0:57:02 > 0:57:04for another ten years,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07converting it into a family home and bringing up three girls.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11It was a good place,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14there was good feeling in that building all the time.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20But for Margaret, today the house has an even more powerful memory.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24That relationship of having to be together,
0:57:24 > 0:57:27that sort of turned into really enjoying being together,
0:57:27 > 0:57:33and wanting to be together, and missing when you weren't there.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35I'm a human, I'm in love with a human.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37I married a human, I had babies.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40I did have a very close encounter with...
0:57:40 > 0:57:44I can't even say a dolphin again, ..with Peter, one dolphin.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46I was very lucky.
0:57:46 > 0:57:47PETER SQUEAKS
0:57:51 > 0:57:53HE SQUEAKS
0:57:53 > 0:57:56SHE GIGGLES
0:57:56 > 0:57:58That's amazing!
0:57:58 > 0:58:00For the first time in 50 years,
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Margaret has been able to hear recordings of her with Peter.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07Trying so hard! God...
0:58:07 > 0:58:10'One, two, three, four, five.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13'Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15'Nice five, Peter.'
0:58:15 > 0:58:16Nice five, Peter!
0:58:16 > 0:58:19SHE LAUGHS AND CLAPS
0:58:47 > 0:58:50PETER SQUEAKS
0:58:52 > 0:58:54MARGARET: What is that all about, Peter?