 In the late 1800s, London's East End was a place that was viewed by citizens with either compassion or utter contempt. Despite being an area where skilled immigrants, mainly Jews and Russians, came to begin a new life and start businesses, the district was notorious for squalor, violence and crime. Prostitution was only illegal if the practice caused a public disturbance, and thousands of brothels and low-rent lodging houses provided sexual services during the late 19th century. At that time, the death or murder of a working girl was rarely reported in the press or discussed within polite society. The reality was that ladies of the night were subject to physical attacks, which sometimes resulted in death. However, the series of killings that began in August 1888 stood out from other violent crime at the time. Marked by sadistic butchery, it suggested a mind more sociopathic and hateful than most citizens could comprehend. Jack the Ripper didn't just snuff out life with a knife. He mutilated and disemboweled women, removing organs such as kidneys and uteruses, and his crimes seemed to portray an abhorrence for the entire female gender. What many do not know is that four years after the White Chapel murders, another Jack the Slasher arose to mutilate the innocent, but this Jack's stalking grounds were New York City. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, time, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. Coming up this hour, an English town is terrorized by a beast that appears to have a rooster's head and body, the wings of a bat, and a snake's tail. We'll look at the legend of the cockatrice. Shortly after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001, another terrorist attack began. This time, it was targeting public figures. The weapon of choice was anthrax, and the method of delivery was the U.S. Post Office. A legal battle takes place over the rights of ownership of mummified cats. A very strange case involving time travel and power to change timelines was reported in 1977. The case caused a sensation worldwide. Had Sin Perwick, the creator of the time-altering machine, really found a way to alter historical events? An incestuous love triangle between a young woman, her uncle, and a restaurant chef ends up in murder. But first, in 1888, London was terrorized by the serial murderer of women who called himself Jack the Ripper. Four years later, another Jack came into existence, this one murdering men, and this time in New York City. We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome to the show. And if you're already a member of this weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to follow Weird Darkness on Facebook and Twitter, and visit WeirdDarkness.com to find the daily Weird Darkness podcast. Watch streaming B horror movies and horror hosts 24-7 for free. Listen to free audiobooks that I've narrated. Send me your own true story of something paranormal that's happened to you or someone you know and more. You can find it all at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. On January 17, 1892, Officer Masterson of the New York City Police arrested a man the police in press had dubbed Jack the Slasher. Since December 29, Jack the Slasher had been on a rampage, cutting the throats of seven men with a straight razor, leaving one of them dead. About 3 am, the morning of the arrest, Officer Masterson noticed a hard-looking man walking the streets of the bowery and followed him to see what he was up to. The man stopped for a minute to speak with a drunk, then led the drunk down James Street. Masterson rushed in when he saw the man attack the drunk, pulling a razor across his throat. When he saw the officer, the assailant fled. Masterson fired three shots, which missed, but attracted the attention of other officers in the area. The policeman ran him down and put him under arrest. The victim, William Muller, was taken to the hospital. His wounds were severe, but he would recover. Jack the Slasher was actually Henry G. Doud, a 30-year-old mentally ill man who had spent much of his adult life in mental institutions. He spent several years in the Flatbush Insane Asylum before escaping in 1874 by picking a lock and climbing through a transom. Soon after, he was arrested for assault and sentenced to five years in state prison. He served two years, then was pardoned through the influence of rich relatives. In 1891, he was arrested in New York, judged to be insane and committed to the asylum on Ward's Island. Six months later, he was pronounced sane by a jury of experts and released. Inspector Burns of the New York Police intensely questioned Doud and got him to admit to several of the slashings. He said the impulse to kill was uncontrollable. He wanted to kill all Dutchmen and Germans. The reason for this is that a German had once ravaged his mother at their home in Brooklyn. The face of the ravager still haunted him, and he wanted to kill any man who looked like him. The victim who had died, John Carson, a lawyer from Baltimore, had not been German, but his throat was slashed in the same area and the same timeframe as the others, and it was believed that Doud was his killer. Doud at first denied killing Carson, but under continued questioning became violently excited and said, I cut him because I thought he was a blank Dutchman. I hate Dutchmen, and I never see one who looks like that, but I want to kill him. I can't help it. Henry Doud's brother John was also arrested partially because he was known to be a religious maniac, and it was suspected that the same murderous strain might run in his blood. John Doud denounced his brother, saying that he is a bad man who does not believe there is a God or in heaven or hell. EA White, a distant relative who had served as Henry Doud's guardian for several years, told police that the family had come to America from Liverpool, England. He said Henry Doud's assertion that his mother had been assaulted by a German was entirely untrue. It was a hallucination of Doud's crazed intellect. When it was learned that Henry Doud had been born in England and had traveled back several times to his homeland, it was speculated that Doud may have in fact been London's Jack the Ripper come to America. Inspector Burns was quick to point out that Doud's time was accounted for, and he was not in England at the time of the Whitechapel murders. It was impossible that he was Jack the Ripper. On January 29th, Henry Doud was tried for assault. There had not been enough evidence to charge him with the murder of John Carson, but he was caught red-handed cutting the throat of William Muller. Doud had first claimed a self-defense. Muller had shoved him and, fearing for his life, he defended himself. However, at his trial, he pleaded insanity. It did not take long for the jury to return a verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity at the time of the commission of the act. Jack the Slasher was committed to the state asylum for insane criminals at Auburn, New York. When Weird Darkness returns, shortly after the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001, another terrorist attack began. This time, he was targeting public figures. The weapon of choice was anthrax, and the method of delivery was the U.S. Post Office. But first, an incestuous love triangle between a young woman, her uncle, and a restaurant chef ends up in murder. That story is up next. Here On Weird Darkness In often, those who've had these encounters choose to stay quiet and not even tell close friends or family out of fear of ridicule, and they suffer silently, trying to deal with the internal horror of what they've experienced. If I'm describing you or someone you know, there is now a place you can turn to for professional counseling, from experts who, unlike others in their field, are open to the paranormal, supernatural, and extraterrestrial experiences of others. And they're not there to explain away your experience, but to help you recover from it and move forward with living. I'm referring to the Opus Network. If you want to reach out for help or learn more, look for the Opus Network towards the bottom of the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar. If you're looking for Weird Darkness merchandise, you can find it in the Weird Darkness store. You can search through all the merchandise by clicking on Store at WeirdDarkness.com. LP Christensen was the proprietor of the Vienna house in Kansas City, Missouri in 1888. William E. Bell was the head cook at the hotel until August of that year, when Christensen fired him for paying too much attention to his niece, Annie Christensen. Christensen was not exactly acting to protect his niece's virtue, he had eyes for Annie himself. LP scandalized the Vienna house when he left his wife and persuaded Annie to run away with him to Omaha. With her husband gone, Mrs. Christensen brought back William Bell to help run the hotel. The two soon became intimate, causing further scandal at the Vienna house. Mrs. Christensen and William Bell were soon at each other's throats. She fired him again and left for Omaha to find her husband. Before she left, Bell told her, if you bring Christensen back with you, I'll kill him. Despite the warning, Mrs. Christensen returned to Kansas City with her unfaithful husband. As soon as Bell learned that Christensen had returned, he started for the hotel. He was heard muttering, if you make some move, I'll mean to blow him to blank. I've stood this razzle long enough and will end it tonight. Bell entered the hotel by the rear stairway leading to the second floor and made straight to Christian's room. He drew a .32 caliber bulldog revolver and fired twice. The first shot hit the wall above Christensen's head. The second struck him in the forehead, above the right eye. Mrs. Christensen opened the door when she heard the first shot, and as her husband fell bleeding at her feet, she shrieked, Oh God, Will, you're a murderer. You've killed my husband. Bell ran outside to the pavement and raised the still-smoking revolver to his own head. He fired and instantly died. LP Christensen died later that day without regaining consciousness. Mrs. Christensen denied that she had been intimate with Bell and blamed it all on the love of the two men for Annie Christensen. On September 11, 2001, also known as 9-11, terrorists attacked the United States. Citizens were shocked, scared, and grieving. It was a time of deep paranoia and distrust. People wondered when and if the country would be attacked again. And then in a matter of days, another act of terrorism shook the country. A number of letters containing spores of the bacteria that causes anthrax were sent to public figures and media outlets. People who had been exposed to these letters, or even letters that had only come into contact with those anthrax letters, began falling ill. Anthrax is a disease that's caused by the bacteria bacillus anthrasis. It typically affects herbivore mammals but can infect any mammal, including humans. Most human anthrax infections result from contact with infected animals or infected animal byproducts. There are three ways to contract the disease, through open skin, breathing in spores, or ingesting the bacteria. It does not spread from one infected human to another. However, the fatal dosage is invisible to the naked eye. The anthrax letters of 2001 caused five deaths and seventeen illnesses. All of them occurred in individuals who had inhaled the bacteria. Anthrax that is contracted through the lungs is the deadliest form of the disease. Symptoms start like the common cold and progress to severe difficulty breathing. Eventually, respiration becomes so challenging, victims have described the sensation as having your head held underwater. Roughly 75% of people who contract anthrax through their lungs will die. According to the FBI, there were four letters. There are claims of more, however. The first two went out on September 18, 2001. Their intended recipients were Tom Brokaw of NBC and The New York Post. Two more were sent October 9, 2001. The intended recipients of those letters were Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. All of the letters went out from the same mailbox in Newark, New Jersey. Through handwriting analysis, the FBI concluded that the same person wrote each of the letters. Of course, this did not rule out the possibility that a group planned the attack. The popular thinking initially was that a foreign terrorist group was responsible for it. Authorities knew that they had to quickly uncover the perpetrator. However, authorities did not uncover a foreign terrorist group. When it was found that the anthrax came from an American source, the FBI turned their attention to possible domestic terrorists. The first official person of interest in the 2001 anthrax letters case was Dr. Stephen Hatfill, an infectious disease bioweapons scientist with the U.S. Army. In 2002, under the direction of lead investigator Richard Lambert, the FBI raided his apartment wearing biohazard suits while TV cameras filmed the event. Then in August of that year, the Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly announced that Hatfill was a person of interest. Intense surveillance included tapping his phones, continuously searching his home, and scrutinizing his every move. On one occasion, FBI agents who had been following Hatfill ran over his foot when he approached their vehicle to confront them. The investigation was affecting every aspect of his life. And in 2006, the Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory illegally fired Hatfill from his job for whistleblowing. In March 2008, the FBI officially exonerated Hatfill of any wrongdoing. The courts subsequently awarded him $4.6 million in the settlement of a lawsuit he filed in 2003 against the government for violations of the Privacy Act. The next noteworthy person of interest in the anthrax letters case was an unassuming Army biodefense expert, Dr. Bruce Ivins. The FBI had concluded that the anthrax-causing bacteria had come from his laboratory. However, experts have since claimed that the FBI's evidence proved inconclusive. They subjected Bruce to the same scrutiny as Steven. However, they found things that led them to believe that he was their guy. The doctor had a number of photos of blindfolded women on his computer. Later in the investigation, they found correspondence in which he claimed to have multiple personalities. Additionally, the FBI discovered that Bruce had a deep obsession with women. They also listened in on a conversation in which the doctor said that he couldn't remember mailing any anthrax letters. He also felt that he wasn't capable of such a thing. Dr. Bruce Ivins committed suicide when he ingested a fatal amount of Tylenol in 2008. He never confessed to the crimes, nor have investigators ever found direct evidence linking him to the anthrax letters. In February of 2010, the FBI officially closed their investigation into the anthrax letters of 2001. They concluded that Dr. Bruce Ivins was responsible for the letters and that he acted alone. Many people believe the FBI closed the case prematurely, or they based their investigation on preconceived notions. Lawrence Selen, PhD, and others believe that while it could have been Ivins, the case has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Furthermore, it is the belief of some that Ivins' mental issues, apart from his obsession with women, including the suicide, were a direct result of the investigation. An English town is terrorized by a beast that appears to have a rooster's head and body, the wings of a bat, and a snake's tail. We look at the legend of the cockatrice when Weird Darkness returns. Elgin on Blackwood's novella The Willows was originally published as part of Blackwood's 1907 collection The Listener and Other Stories. It is one of his best known works and has been influential on a number of later writers. In fact, horror author H. P. Lovecraft considered the story The Willows to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature, and you can hear the story The Willows by Elgin on Blackwood absolutely free. Visit the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com to find it. The Willows by Elgin on Blackwood at WeirdDarkness.com slash audiobooks. I'm Darren Marlar. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. Coming up later, a very strange case involving time travel and the power to change timelines. It was reported in 1977 and the case caused a sensation worldwide. Had Sid Hurwick, the creator of the time-altering machine, really found a way to alter historical events? That's coming up in a few minutes. If you like what you're hearing here on Weird Darkness and you want even more, you'll want to check out the free audiobooks I've narrated at WeirdDarkness.com. I've got free audiobooks there by Stephen King, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, and more. You can listen to them all for free on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. According to local legend, there was once a terrifying mythical creature that tortured the village of Werewell Hampshire, England. The quiet village, which is located along the River Test, only has about 500 residents, but this small little village is also famous for a creepy monster that allegedly lurked around at one time. The legend states that a duck laid an egg in Werewell Abbey where it was hatched by a toad, and the baby turned into a cockatrice that had several different animal body parts. It appeared as a two-legged dragon-like monster with a rooster's head and body, the wings of a bat and the snake's tail. Locals cared for the baby creature until it grew to a massive size and began feeding on the villagers by flying over the land and grabbing people with its claws before bringing them to its lair where it would feed on them. Villagers were so scared of the beast they offered four acres of land to anyone who could kill it. While numerous people died while attempting to rid the land of this monster, one local apparently accomplished the task as described. A man named Green polished a piece of steel until it gleamed like a mirror and lowered it down to the beast's lair. Upon seeing its reflection, the cockatrice fought until it was exhausted, and then Green ran the beast through with a javelin and claimed his reward. Today, in Harewood Forest, there is still an area known as Green's Acres. Oddly enough, trees don't grow at Green's Acres. This legend affected the locals so much that up until the 1930s, the older villagers would not eat duck eggs. Interestingly, the cockatrice has been mentioned in the Bible, as well as by Shakespeare and even in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Those living in Werewell won't soon forget the legend of this terrifying cockatrice, as there was a weather vane in the shape of the monster that was on the Church of St. Peter and Holy Cross which has since been moved to the Andover Museum. There are other references of the creature, such as on Andover High Street in addition to two cockatrices decorating the coat of arms of Alfred of Werewell. It's a good thing the cockatrice was allegedly killed, as the legend has described it as being one terrifying monster. The ability to change the past and get an insight into the future is often resulted in the creation of the most remarkable time-altering machines. A very strange case involving time travel and power to change timelines was reported in 1977. The case caused a sensation worldwide. Had Sid Hurwick the creator of this time-altering machine really found a way to alter historical events? Born in 1918, Sid Hurwick was a Jewish appliance repairman living in Toronto, Canada who used to experiment with various kinds of technology. As a child, Sid showed great interest in collecting random junk and dissembling the pieces into working machines. Later, as an adult, he became famous as the man who could fix anything that was broken. In 1934, Sid earned the distinction of being the first private appliance repairman in all of Canada. He was such a skilled technician that the local power company succeeded in taking him out of the army so he could develop the infrastructure of the public electrical utility. Sid Hurwick earned enough money to set up two successful companies of his own. He was still young when he got a heart attack, only 36, and he retired. Hurwick continued to experiment with various tech devices though until one day he finally invented a remarkable device that could supposedly freeze or rather change the flow of time. This machine also had the ability to send out beams of influence to manipulate objects in distant locations. In 1969, a wave of bank robberies swept through Toronto and local authorities had trouble catching the thieves. Hurwick contacted the police and offered his help, saying it was possible to freeze time to find out what transpired. The article in the Vancouver Sun Times gives this account. Quote, All I Recall, said Bolton, one of the police officers in charge, is that it was under the table, the device, whatever it was, and there was a bedspread over the table. He froze by service revolver, you couldn't pull the trigger, you couldn't lift it up off the table, and even on the table, you couldn't pull the trigger. Sid responded to that by saying, Now take a look at your watches. I remember one of them said, When did this happen? And I said, The minute you walked through that door, you walked in there about 25 minutes ago. Now look at your watches. You're late, about 25 minutes. As the security officers filed out of his home, Sid's wife overheard one of them suggest that the army should be told about the device. That was the first time it entered my mind for war or army purposes or anything like that, he said. As this so often happens with new brilliant inventions, the time-altering machine was later used by the military, or so it was reported. According to an article that appeared in 1977 in a British publication called Foreign Report, Sid Herwick's time-altering machine ended up in Israel where it was used by the military. Quote, The device sends out electronic rays to alter the natural composition of electronic fields and centers of gravity of weapons, instrument dials, and mechanical devices. Using the Herwick principle, there was no reason why the new beams could not reach and disable tanks, ground-to-ground missiles, and complete radar systems. The beams could also be tacked together to form a screen that would make whole zones safe from bombs and missiles, unquote, according to Foreign Report. Whether the time machine is still in possession of the Israel military or not has been widely debated. Does the Israeli military still have the Herwick device? Are they still using it on special occasions or in dire situations of military crisis? Skeptics say that if they really had a device, they could provide a kind of shield from bombs and missiles, freeze weapons, and even slow or halt time. The Israeli military would be invincible and would not have suffered as many casualties as it has in its decades-long struggles with antagonists in the Middle East. Others counter, however, by saying that the Herwick device might be a two-edged sword. If it can freeze the weapons of the enemy, it would also freeze the weapons of those employing the device. Thus, the device can perhaps only be used in a limited way. Enough to knock out radar detection and other enemy electronics, for example, but not to induce the full-blown time-freeze effect for the benefit of the user. Although many people have written and speculated about this time-altering device of Sid Herwick over the years, there has never been a follow-up story since it appeared in the Vancouver paper back in 1977. What happened to Sid Herwick is also unclear. By now, he has assuredly passed on, but it is interesting to note the researchers have not been able to find his obituary or any information about it. It is as if he vanished into thin air. When he talked to the police, he said, It is not really a new invention. It is designed on principles that are already well-known. I just thought of it one day when I heard about the bank robberies. I knew this could work. The time-altering machine created by Sid Herwick could be one of the world's greatest inventions, but its whereabouts are shrouded in mystery, perhaps deliberately. I am someone who prefers their cats live, not mummified. However, when I came across a story on the topic, which includes the phrase Right of Inheritance, I take notice. From the Lansing State Journal, September 24, 1926. Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The question of ownership of a mummified cat and kitten found in the wall of a century-old house being torn down here is causing wide interest and some agitation. There are three people who claim their relics. Barry Lawson, tearing away the residents of Dr. J.T. Price, found the mummified felines walled into the building. It was evident the mother cat and kitten had been caught in the space inside the wall, unknown to workmen who had built around them. This was early in the last century. Lawson took the curious remains, and so many persons clambered to see them, it was reported a small admission fee was charged. The question of ownership arose when Lawson claimed the mummies by right of discovery and proprietorship of the house. Dr. Price said the cats belonged to him, as he sold the house to Lawson, but not the contents of the building. The third claim has attracted the most attention of all. Barayama Goffin of McAllister, Oklahoma, who has been spending the summer here, says the cat's remains belong to him by right of inheritance. The old house was built by his grandfather, Barayama Goffin, the first father of Barayama Goffin II, who was governor of Kentucky during the Civil War, and held Kentucky as neutral ground in that struggle. Mr. McGoffin says the first Barayama had a pet cat whose mysterious disappearance became a family legend, handed down to the generations. The mummy cat, he believes, is the lost feline of his grandfather, and he wants to link the past and present to that extent anyway. Unfortunately, or not that I think of it, maybe fortunately, I wasn't really able to learn who finally won possession of the earthly remains of these tragic, if highly prized, mummy cats. Here are some of the weird news that made it to the Weird Darkness website, the past few days. You can find links to these stories by clicking on Weird News at WeirdDarkness.com. From the Daily Mail, dozens of TikTok users are claiming that they have shifted realities into parallel timelines, both accidentally and intentionally. The users claim that they use the shower as their portal for time travel, simply by changing the temperature from hot to cold and manifesting that change that they want. I have a really hard time believing this because if it were true, wouldn't they be using their power to go back in time so that they would still have enough hot water to stay in the shower for another hour? That's what I would do if I had that superpower. From Oddity Central, a 26-year-old man in Nigeria was recently arrested by the Islamic police for trying to sell himself to anyone who would pay the $20 million Nigerian Naira, which is about $49,000 U.S. At the time, the 26-year-old man explained that he had resorted to selling himself because of what he called poverty, claiming that he planned to give most of the money to his parents and keep the rest for daily expenses. Good thing you're in Nigeria, pal. Selling yourself for $49,000 in America might get you two weeks in a New York City flat. From the unexplained mysteries website, Danish artist Jens Honning, and I'm sure I'm butchering his name, he said he'd received 534,000 Danish Krohn from the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Alborg with the expectation that he would recreate two of his previous works that literally framed the banknotes themselves as an artistic depiction of the relationship between art and working life. Instead, Honning seemingly did a runner with the money in protest over what he described as miserable working conditions and low pay. Having returned two empty picture frames to the museum, he took things one step further and declared that his theft of the money was itself a work of art that he had entitled Take the Money and Run. And you thought modern art couldn't get any more stupid. From UPI, a Scottish library said officials were stunned to open a package that arrived in the mail and find an overdue book that had been checked out 73 years earlier. On five libraries said the Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries received a package in the mail in early November that contained a copy of Stately Timber by Rupert Hughes. The book had been checked out from what was then known as the Dunfermline Public Library's Central Library and had been due back November 6, 1948. The library said overdue fees are currently suspended to encourage the return of long overdue materials during the COVID-19 pandemic and that's probably a good thing. They figured out the overdue fee for this would have come to a whopping €2,847, which is $3,840.97. I guess time really is money. From Audity Central, surgeons at a hospital in Lithuania spent over three hours saving the life of a man who, for some reason, had swallowed more than a kilogram of metallic objects over a one-month period. Man, there has got to be a better way to get more iron in your diet. From unexplained mysteries, a man in the United States is suing a psychic who he claims had failed to remove a curse put on his marriage by his ex-girlfriend who happens to be a witch. Well, there you go, right there. She was a witch and you dumped her. You don't need your psychic to tell you that you should have seen that one coming. From Insider.com, a man in India was mistakenly declared dead and left in a morgue freezer overnight until his family found him alive and breathing the next day. Swakesh Kumar was declared dead on arrival at a private medical facility in Mordabad. He was then placed in the morgue's freezer for his family to collect him in the morning. Kumar's family members went to view his body and identify him, and that's when they noticed that he was breathing and moving. The superintendent called Kumar's survival nothing short of a miracle. Honestly, it's a miracle this doesn't happen more often here. I mean, the morgue is in a city called Mordabad. Enough said. From Audity Central, an Ohio man tried to sue his wife for leaving her shoes in an inappropriate place and causing him to trip and tumble down a flight of stairs, suffering multiple bone fractures. Alright, you could sue your own spouse? You're married, so legally your money belongs to both of you, right? So what if you sue your wife and she can't pay? Well, it's not like you can get the money from her husband instead because you are the husband. How do you collect on a settlement like this? And if you can sue family members, why don't you sue your kid for leaving Legos out where you step on them on your bare feet? Sue your own kid, make his parents pay damages, then pay the lawsuit settlement to yourself out of your own checking account. This is all kinds of wacko. From Audity Central, an Egyptian man is reportedly seeking a divorce from his new wife, claiming that he cannot get used to her natural look after seeing her without makeup in the morning. Apparently the definition of love is different in Egypt than it is in the rest of the world. Maybe she can seek spousal support from him because she couldn't get used to his natural smell in the morning. From our friends at Animalian, an article published in the journal Nature Electronics talks about the concept of creating an electronic brain. It's planned to copy the neural connections of the brain using electrodes and transfer this data to a hard drive. With successful experiments on copying brains, it'll be necessary to transfer the data array of nerve cells to a storage device. Scientists explain that both solid state media and ordinary flash cards could act as a drive. If successful, you'd be able to have all your mental problems intact while not being bothered with those pesky things like enjoying pizza, smelling flowers, getting hugs from your loved ones, you know, all the really boring stuff. Just think of the fun you'll have when your entire self is transferred over to a thumb drive and it gets lost because there was a hole in somebody's pocket. From Animalian, new research suggests that astronauts traveling to and landing on Mars can get large brain lesions which can cause dementia. How awful is that? You get to Mars but then completely forget the directions on how to get back home. You can find links to these stories and others in the Weird News section at WeirdDarkness.com Thanks for listening! If you missed any part of tonight's show or if you'd like to hear it again, you can subscribe to the podcast where you'll hear not only tonight's radio show but also the extra sudden death overtime content that I prepared that I did not have time to fit in because, well, I went overtime. And while the radio show is one night per week, I do upload episodes for the podcast seven days a week. And if you're one of my patrons, you can get a commercial free copy of tonight's radio show immediately after it's over. You can become a patron or subscribe to the podcast at WeirdDarkness.com. And of course, you can find the podcast everywhere you listen to podcasts. Just do a search for Weird Darkness. You can also follow the show on Facebook and Twitter at Weird Darkness, and please tell others about the show who love the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. Doing that helps make it possible for me to keep doing this show. And if you'd like to be a part of the show, you can call in to the dark line toll-free to tell your own true paranormal story, or a story that has happened to somebody you know. That number is 1-877-277-5944. Again, the toll-free number is 1-877-277-5944. You can also email me anytime at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions, copyright 2021. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Psalm 34, verse 9, Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. And a final thought from Melody Beatty. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Dunfermline Carnegie on Five Libraries said the Dunferm-Leen-Galleries Hey Weirdos, keep listening. Hour 2 of the Weird Darkness radio show is coming up. The town is standard. A small, Midwestern town where nothing ever happens. Quiet, peaceful, and tucked away among the cornfields and away from the dangers of the outside world. Unfortunately, there is nothing normal about standard. There has been an evil that has been awakened and now the residents are slowly going crazy. Men for no reason are coming home and murdering their families and dark forms are appearing in people's mirrors. The evil is spreading and now it's up to ex-Chicago cop Roboletto to find it. Time is running out and the neighbors are becoming quiet shadows as they watch him. He doesn't have long before it'll start to get into his mind and then he himself would be making that deadly trip home. Inside the Mirrors by Jason R. Davis, narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar. Hear a free sample or purchase the title on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com This episode is dedicated to the men and women of our armed forces and first responders. Whether you are currently serving or have served in the past, you are appreciated. It is because of your courage and sacrifice that we enjoy the freedoms and liberties we hold dear. And I for one, appreciate every single one of you for protecting what many of us take for granted. So thank you. There is probably no cryptid out there that is as cited, talked about and as well known as Bigfoot. It is the rock star of cryptids, the one that even people with no interest at all in cryptozoology have heard of, right up there with the Loch Ness Monster. Ask most people what they think these creatures are and you will more likely than not get the answer that they are some sort of massive undiscovered ape-like animal that lurks in remote areas of the world. Yet what if Bigfoot is, at least in some cases, no animal at all? Or at least not like any known by us? What if these creatures are something from not only beyond our understanding, but from beyond our very reality? I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up this hour. Haunted by a shadowy spirit creature which they say lives inside their homes, a Gasparilla family is now seeking spiritual help to remove their unwanted guest. Coyotes are of the dog family and are formidable and deadly hunters, but could they also have the ability to shapeshift? But first, people have been chasing Bigfoot for more than 60 years, yet still we have no definitive physical proof of its existence. Could the explanation be that Bigfoot is visiting us from another dimension? We begin there. If you're new here, welcome to the show and if you're already a member of this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to follow Weird Darkness on Facebook and Twitter and visit WeirdDarkness.com to find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, watch streaming B horror movies and horror hosts 24-7 for free, listen to free audiobooks I've narrated and send me your own true story of something paranormal that's happened to you or someone you know and more. You can find it all at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. The traditional assumption concerning hairy hominids such as Bigfoot is of course that they are biological entities, flesh and blood creatures of a species that has simply not been discovered and properly described by science yet. In this paradigm, these are living, breathing animals, hiding out in the remote wilds of our planet, skulking about in the shadows and skirting about out just beyond our ability to find them, constantly evading and confounding us. In many ways, this seems to make sense. After all, there are many examples of such robust ape-like creatures and early versions of Homo sapiens in the fossil record of some areas of the world that could provide a link to an explanation for what's been seen. There are also many fairly large animals throughout history that have managed to remain hidden and which long inhabited the same realm as cryptids before their eventual discoveries. On the surface, it all seems at least possible that relic populations of hairy bipeds could be out there tucked away in the remote wildernesses of our planet, away from our prying eyes and rampant exploration. Yet in recent years, the age-old entrenched idea that Bigfoot and other creatures like it could only be biological animals has experienced more and more criticism from both skeptics and a few cryptozoologists alike. The most commonly stated problem is a lack of any fossil evidence in many of the areas where some of these entities have been seen, such as North America, Australia and, bizarrely, England. This is actually not a major setback in and of itself, as fossils do tend to be very rare in the first place, with a rather incomplete record and we are constantly finding whole new prehistoric species through newly found fossils. The problem is that there has been no reliable fossil evidence of anything even remotely like Bigfoot in many of the places where they are routinely seen. These creatures would not exist in a vacuum. There should be at least something like a primate that could be somewhat connected to Bigfoot, yet there is nothing. In this sense, the problem is not necessarily that there are no fossils of Bigfoot, but rather that there is a complete void of anything in the record of North America and some other locations that could even be tentatively associated with something like it. With the rather sketchy nature of fossils to begin with, it is not necessarily the natal in the coffin for a flesh and blood Bigfoot, but it is a rather glaring anomaly to contend with. Another thing that seems to be a strike against the notion of a biological Bigfoot is simply that these creatures have been seen absolutely everywhere and by scores of people from all walks of life in increasingly urbanized areas. Look through sightings reports, archives from organizations such as the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, BFRO, and you will find that there are hundreds and hundreds of sightings of these creatures from all over. At times it seems as if Bigfoot is spotted even more than some actual known animals, such as moose, cougars, bears, wolverines, and so on. Taking a sheer number of sightings reports into account, it is increasingly difficult to hold on to the notion that these are elusive and rarely seen creatures relegated to isolated remote areas where they can hide from mankind, for if they are hiding they are doing a very bad job at it as they are spotted all of the time. If even half of these reports are genuine then this is actually a rather well witnessed large animal, not some barely glimpsed specter. Bigfoot is apparently widespread as well, as then you have the fact that these reports come in from pretty much everywhere, including places where they have no right to be at all. Every single state of the Union has Bigfoot reports, yes including Hawaii. Bigfoot-like creatures have also been spotted in other unlikely places as well, including as I mentioned England and Australia, neither of which have anything whatsoever in their natural history at all to suggest an animal such as this should be there. Yet there they are, why should this be? We'll find out when Weird Darkness returns. You shut yourself in, the lights are out, and you're listening to Weird Darkness, but suddenly you get that feeling you're not alone. You don't know what might be under the bed, or in the closet, or in the attic, or in the room with you. You don't dare try to sleep now, you're too scared to. If you doze off, you might be vulnerable to the creatures who haunt your dreams. That's just one more reason to have Weird Dark Roast Coffee in the cupboard, because you just never know when you might need it. Weird Dark Roast Coffee contains deep notes of cocoa, caramel, and a touch of sinister sweetness. Each bag is fresh roasted to order by Evansville Coffee, and delivery is free for your first order. Just use the promo code Weird, you can find a link to it at WeirdDarkness.com. Grab a bag before something else grabs you from the dark. Are you more than just a fan of Weird Darkness? Would you consider yourself a loyal listener of the podcast? Do you want even more content? Take your dedication to the next level by becoming a member of Weird Darkness' Darkness Syndicate. As a member of the Darkness Syndicate, you receive exclusive Weird Darkness merchandise, get daily episodes of the podcast, Commercial Free, along with commercial free recordings of the weekly radio show. Listen to chapters of audiobooks I narrate, even before the publishers or authors hear them. Get video updates about the Weird Darkness podcast and future projects that I'm working on before anyone else, and share your opinions on ideas to help me decide what to do in the Weird Darkness podcast in the future. You get all of these benefits starting at only $5 per month. Join the Darkness Syndicate at WeirdDarkness.com slash Syndicate. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Syndicate. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar. If you have a true paranormal story that has happened to you or someone you know, you can share it by clicking on Tell Your Story at WeirdDarkness.com, or you can call the dark line toll-free at 1-877-277-5944. That's 1-877-277-5944. I might use your story in a future episode. So as Bigfoot, an interdimensional being, we continue looking into it. If you put together the vast number of sightings and the widespread nature of these reports, if any of it is to be remotely believed, then it's not difficult to get the impression that Bigfoot cannot really be classified as a super rare beast that lives in only the most remote uninhabitable locales, and it subsequently gets more and more difficult to defend how they could have possibly gone without being discovered in any sense, especially in this modern age. Indeed, there has not ever been any definitive physical evidence of these creatures, despite all of these sightings. Sure, there are footprints and other signs of their activities, such as rock piles, shelters, and so on, but as for blood, reliable hairs, a carcass, or even a fragment of a bone, there is none. Remember that these are creatures seen all throughout the United States and other places, often near highways and roads, yet there has never been a single trace of a body. It does seem rather odd that this should be the case with such a widely seen beast. Of course, if one is to ask a hardcore skeptic why any of this should be, you get a rather simple reply that Bigfoot simply does not exist, man never has. Here is another notion that it is an all-nation spanning urban legend that sprawls across cultures and that it is all a tapestry of misidentifications, misinformation, hoaxes, and downright lies. As a skeptic, and they'll say that the reason there is no solid physical evidence of fossils is that Bigfoot has never existed in any form in the first place. However, we run into problems here as well. To outright dismiss or deny every single piece of evidence we do have out of hand, no matter how circumstantial, as well as the testimony of hundreds if not thousands of people is to suggest that this is one of the most complicated elaborate hoaxes ever pulled off by mankind. While there are surely those who have fabricated sightings accounts or pulled hoaxes, can we say that every single person who has ever reported a Bigfoot is mistaken, a prankster, or worse yet a liar? Are there so many people often experienced or reliable witnesses known for their honesty who would make up this stuff on such a large scale? What's more, are so many people out roaming around in the forest faking tracks and other signs of Bigfoot, often with rather compelling results or cavorting about in guerrilla costumes? In some ways, to suggest this is all some giant delusion and hoax is almost harder to accept than that there is a giant ape-like hominid wandering the wilds. So, if Bigfoot is seen by so many yet leaves behind so little strong evidence and still has remained undiscovered, and if these people are not all liars and delusional, then perhaps the explanation for Bigfoot lies somewhere else altogether. And this is where things get really weird. One admittedly controversial and outlandish idea that has nevertheless gained more and more momentum and traction in recent years is that rather than a flesh and blood animal that has simply remained undiscovered, we're perhaps dealing with an entity from some other reality or dimension that instead of earthbound biological creatures, we're encountering interdimensional interlopers that shuffle back and forth across whatever membrane that separates our realms either by accident or design. This idea in general is not new to the world of the paranormal. Indeed, researcher and author John Keel, most famous for his book The Mothman Prophecies, he was well known for his speculation that some unexplained phenomena could possibly originate with what he termed ultra-terrestrials or beings from a parallel dimension. Keel reasoned that their tentative nature in this reality and ability to shift between domains would help to explain some phenomena in which mysterious entities were widely seen, yet frustratingly unable to be concretely proven or catalogued. This could be applied to ghosts, aliens, demons, or even Bigfoot. An eminent UFO author and researcher Jacques Vallée often cited these ultra-terrestrials as being perhaps behind the UFO phenomena, rather than nuts and bolts spaceships from some distant planet. The idea that Bigfoot could be interdimensional in origin would also go a long way towards explaining a variety of other anomalies that have proven to be inconvenient to the notion that we're dealing with a flesh and blood creature. The list of such strangeness connected to the Bigfoot phenomena is long. Reports of Bigfoot tracks that lead to nowhere disappear in mid-stride or end at sheer walls of rock that such a creature could not possibly hope to climb are not uncommon. Many Bigfoot sightings possess a definite feel of the paranormal, such as accounts of the creatures vanishing into thin air or disappearing into flashes of light or shape-changing as well as invisible, vanishing or telepathic Bigfoot. Then there are mysterious orbs of light or sudden inexplicable bright flashes that accompany many Bigfoot reports, details which are often downplayed or even omitted, as well as the numerous technical malfunctions that seem to plague those who would record the creatures, as well as their ability to generally avoid camera traps and other such electronic gear. On top of all of this, there are the numerous permutations of the creatures spotted all over the United States and elsewhere such as dogmen, goatmen, sheep-squatch, bat-squatch, werewolves and lizard-men which open up a whole world of high strangeness that becomes more and more difficult to reconcile with any sort of flesh and blood animals this world of ours possesses. The idea that Bigfoot is an interdimensional entity might sound at first to be absurd, but considering all of the boxes this potential explanation takes, is it really? Is it really so far-fetched if one's to accept that Bigfoot is real in any form? Indeed, such ideas are being pursued more and more to explain a wide variety of what has traditionally been seen as paranormal phenomena, and even in mainstream science our understanding of physics and the universe has increasingly opened up the possibility that other universes exist beside our own, even bleeding over into ours. Such an interdimensional link is being seen more and more plausible as both a scientific theory and as a possible thread that runs through it all. One paranormal researcher named William Hall has said of this, it used to be that the UFO people didn't talk to ghost people because they were a little weird and nobody would talk to the Bigfoot people because they were crazy. I found out we could not continue to do that. In reality, quantum physics is leading us there. So is Bigfoot an interdimensional being? We'll talk more about that coming up on Weird Darkness. You shut yourself in, the lights are out, and you're listening to Weird Darkness, but suddenly you get that feeling you're not alone. You don't know what might be under the bed, or in the closet, or in the attic, or in the room with you. You don't dare try to sleep now, you're too scared to. If you doze off, you might be vulnerable to the creatures who haunt your dreams. That's just one more reason to have Weird Dark Roast Coffee in the cupboard, because you just never know when you might need it. Weird Dark Roast Coffee contains deep notes of cocoa, caramel, and a touch of sinister sweetness. Each bag is fresh roasted to order by Evansville Coffee, and delivery is free for your first order. Just use the promo code Weird, you can find a link to it at WeirdDarkness.com. Grab a bag before something else grabs you from the dark. I'm Darren Marlar, welcome back to Weird Darkness. We're talking about Bigfoot, and how there's no evidence for him, but maybe that's because he's not a physical animal, but something interdimensional. There is a lot of controversy over the theory. It's meaningless to postulate at this point as to how or why these entities might do this. We wouldn't even know where to begin at this point. However, considering that this theoretical interdimensional travel by these beings could possibly be explained by science, none of this would even be technically paranormal at all, but rather an effect of natural phenomena that we simply just don't understand yet. In this sense, such interdimensional interlopers would not be supernatural in any sense, just utilizing features of laws of the universe that simply lie beyond our understanding at this point. Paranormal researcher Rob Riggs gave his spin on this on the podcast After Dark. He said, We always want to jump right in and say that's extradimensional or paranormal. But you know, I think we may simply be talking about creatures that have access to physical spaces that humans cannot perceive. That they in fact are three dimensional physical creatures, but they're able to go into spaces that lie outside our perception because they are outside our reality tunnel. That somehow these creatures enter into spaces that we have not mentally tuned into. Nevertheless, the interdimensional Bigfoot theory is at this point still very controversial among cryptozoologists, many of whom cling to their flesh and blood explanation, tooth and nail, and consider any other explanation woo-woo and in the front to their field. To even mention such an idea on some Bigfoot forums or at Bigfoot conventions will get you the cold shoulder at best, and laughed out of the room at worst, and it's actually rather shocking at times how close-minded some in the field can be with any theory that doesn't quite see eye to eye with what they think. In many respects, these cryptozoologists are every bit as dismissive of the interdimensional theory as skeptics are of the idea of Bigfoot to begin with, which could actually be hindering finding out any answers either way as it forces us into close-minded, preconceived avenues of inquiry and creates divides between different camps who are all at least ostensibly searching for the truth. One cryptozoologist named James R. Harnock had explained this attitude towards interdimensional explanations within cryptozoology. While many cryptozoologists and cryptozoology supporters find such theories ridiculous and often laugh them off, we would all do well to remember that the so-called mainstream of science has much the same reaction when presented with the possibility of Sasquatch existing at all. If we help from mainstream scientists to keep an open mind, we must lead by example and not waste time and energy. That would be better spent searching for evidence fighting amongst ourselves. Of course, not all cryptozoologists are so resistant to the idea, and there has even been the idea that flesh-and-blood cryptids such as Bigfoot can coexist with theories of more interdimensional entities, that they are not mutually exclusive. For instance, there could very well be biological hairy hominids in some areas of the world, and perhaps even a flesh-and-blood Bigfoot in some areas, but that those creatures are also joined in their habitat by other, more mysterious entities from another reality. There is not necessarily a need to favor one over the other, and famed cryptozoologist Lauren Coleman has said of this, quote, "...so as not to come off as a hypocrite, I must point out that I have investigated and written about winged humanoids, dogman werewolves, goat men, lizard men, mermaids and a myriad of other non-human entities. If they exist, these apparitions are most certainly paranormal in nature. Interdimensional, extraterrestrial, demonic, choose-your-own wording. The difference with Bigfoot slash Sasquatch is that it is clearly represented in our fossil history in the form of robust hominids from the Pleistocene. That makes its existence very viable in the natural world. I respect everyone's right to their opinion and don't make a habit of questioning anyone's personal experiences. If you believe you have seen a Bigfoot material eyes or vanish, it may very well be that there is a supernatural phenomenon that chooses to take the form of a giant hairy humanoid, seemingly related to Bigfoot but only superficially similar," unquote. Maybe this is true, and we are dealing with a spectrum of disparate phenomena that ranges from real flesh and blood animals to other more paranormal or woo-woo explanations. Perhaps the answers lie somewhere in between these different ideas, depending on the case. But it seems the full truth will possibly elude us if we are not willing to at least admit that there are certain holes in the theory of these creatures as solely undiscovered animals that have not been satisfactorily proven and hold firmly to the flesh and blood hypothesis in every single case. I don't mean to particularly endorse the idea of an interdimensional Bigfoot here, nor to even say that a flesh and blood Bigfoot is impossible, yet this does not cover the full range of the phenomenon at large. I only mean to suggest that in the light of the various anomalies and oddities that can be seen across the full spectrum of the Bigfoot phenomenon, which are often inconsistent with a normal animal as we know it, perhaps we need to at least consider other possibilities, no matter how outlandish or even absurd they might seem at first. Maybe we need to think outside the box to seek fresh avenues to pursue in order to shine new light into the darkness of the unknown and illuminate beyond the edges of what we can now see. In the considerable morass of all the ideas and theories swirling about on Bigfoot, in the end it can be basically distilled into a few choices. We can either believe sightings reports and the evidence so far have merit and thus accept that Bigfoot perhaps really exists, or we can dismiss it all as a grand elaborate hoax. If we are to take the former, then we can choose to deal with it as strictly a biological animal as we uncomfortably struggle with the growing improbability of it going undiscovered so long in every state of the Union and places where it should not be without a shred of concrete evidence. In that case, we must also accept all sightings reports as being potentially real, including ones that have uncomfortable paranormal tones, which can be hard to reconcile with an animal as we know it, and so must wrestle with this conundrum. Or we can concede that at least some of it is something perhaps weirder than we would like to admit, whether this is interdimensional phenomena or something else. Maybe we have to consider for a moment that the Bigfoot phenomenon might be stranger than we imagine, perhaps even stranger than we can imagine. Haunted by a shadowy spirit creature which they say lives inside their home, a Gasperilla family is now seeking spiritual help to remove their unwanted guest. Krishnamathura of Hilltop Drive, Gasperilla, town in southern Trinidad, says over the past seven months a three-foot-tall, spirit-like creature believed to be a buck has been roaming his home. The house is perched on an incline overlooking the central range. It is fenced, and Mathura says the supernatural occurrences have been causing them sleepless nights. According to Caribbean folklore, the buck has ties with both Guyanese and African folklore. They are believed to have originated in West Africa, where the short races, the pygmies, were believed to have magical powers. They were referred to as Baku, which in many West African languages means little brother or short man. There are also stories of rich Trinidadians who came upon their wealth not through hard work, but rather through a trip to the forests of Guyana to capture one of these little wish grantors. The bucks usually live in dark places like attics and usually demand blood and milk. During an exclusive interview with Guardian Media, the family's home recently, Mathura said his wife Balmatti and son Gavinda began hearing a voice inside the house. The house was telling Balmatti that he wanted sex. Mathura, who retired from his workplace recently said it was only when he started staying home that he realized what his family was going through. The creature, Mathura claimed, has also been eating valuable racing pigeons that he rears behind his home. Their goats have also been poisoned and sausages, meat and other items eaten from his fridge. Balmatti claimed the creature appears and vanishes before their eyes. She said that she was in the living room when the tablecloth flew up and went flying out the window. Gavinda was also there. They chased after it and Balmatti said it dropped in some bushes and then disappeared. This is not the only item that has vanished. Gavinda said an expensive vase and a picture of Jesus Christ also went missing, along with their Bible. Playing a recording of a voice he claimed belonged to the buck, Gavinda said the creature admitted to stealing the Bible and the picture to take to his boss. If there is one thing I won't do is lie to you. I carry it by the boss and he tell me to bring it back before I get in trouble, the voice on the audio drawled. In another recording the voice said that he came from Jamaica. I don't fray pundit Ramesh and I don't fray no pastor, the voice said. A dethroned laugh and the mewing of a cat were also recorded as evidence of this spirit creature. Gavinda said the voices were recorded at night. Gavinda used clay and created a horned idol to ward away the buck, but Mathura said that has not worked. We tried everything. We burned incense, googool, sprinkle salt, garlic, red lavender. We called the pundit and the pastor. They told us it's a buck. This thing is distressing us. We cannot sleep. Every night we hearing banging. It loves to wake us up. Every time we can hear it through the cracks in the house saying, oh, he added. Gavinda said the buck is a short fat man with a fat face, big hair and big ears. He doesn't walk on his foot. He walks on his toes. His left hand is on his right side and his right hand is on his left. He does cuss me. A few days ago he came with a match to burn down my father's car. Most times he's invisible, but I could hear his voice. He follows us, Gavinda says. Pastor Dina Ramnareen from the Christ Crusaders Assembly in Whiteland confirmed to the TNT Guardian that she had visited the family and said that she believed they were facing a demonic attack. When I visited them it was almost night and I prayed with them and they said they slept very well. I told them that they have to pray and believe in God, Ramnareen said. As to whether she believed it was a buck, Ramnareen said yes. I have encountered things like that, she said, because I work in the interior of Guyana. I've seen a buck in Guyana so I believe in them. We cannot be afraid of it. We have to take authority and the Lord delivers. The buck will usually beat up the house, whistle at them. You'll see flying things all over the room. It'll take time for it to leave, but they have to stop playing with it by talking about it and talking to it. Just ignore it and call to Jesus for deliverance. The Lord of the Elements wants to change reality. He has enlisted the evil Zeltan to help him and together they will try to recruit Stanley, a man gifted with incredible imaginative capabilities to help them. Unless Edward and his friends can stop them, that is. A tale of white and black magic, quantum physics and a plot that twists in turns. If you like science fiction, fantasy and horror, you'll love The Last Observer, a magic battle for reality by G. Michael Vasey, narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar. Hear a free sample of The Last Observer on the audiobooks page. at WeirdDarkness.com Welcome back to Weird Darkness, I'm Darren Marlar. The coyote or coyote is one of the most mysterious and magical creatures within the mythology of Native Americans and it's noted for its sheep-shifting abilities. Before we get to that issue, however, a bit of background information on the animal is first required. Coyotes are of the dog family and are formidable and deadly hunters. While they typically go for small prey like rabbits and squirrels, they have been known to take on fully grown deer, even cattle. They are noted for their swimming skills and for the fact that they can run at high speeds. That all said, there is another side to the coyote, one which revolves around shape-shifting. Perceived almost unanimously by Native Americans as a trickster-like animal, the coyote is said to have the ability to control the weather, specifically rain and storms. And like so many other trickster entities, such as fairies and goblins, coyote can be friendly, playful and helpful. But, and also like all tricksters, coyote has a dark side. It can be manipulative, deceitful and even deadly and as the mood takes it. As for what Native American lore says of the shape-shifting abilities of coyote, we are told that the animal can take on human form, usually in the guise of a man with a large mustache. Coyotes are said to be able to transform into the forms of birds, fish and cats. Also, according to Native American mythology, witches and those familiar with magical rituals can transform themselves into coyotes. Thus a coyote seen running wildly late at night might well be a shape-shifting witch or wizard embarking on some dark and disturbing mission. And we are far from being done with the coyote and its skills as a shape-shifter. There is a long-standing tradition among Native Americans that coyote will stalk hunters in the woods and on the plains. Then, when it closes in on its victim, the coyote will supernaturally shed its coat, which it quickly throws over its query. It is this action that allows coyote to shape-shift into the exact appearance of its victim. Typically, legend suggests this is done to allow the animal to have sex with the wife of the victim, coyotes and folklore having a particular liking for women. While many people might relegate such accounts to the domain of legend, the matter of shape-shifting and coyotes continues even in the world today. It is an issue that brings us back to the mystery of the chupacabra. It was in 1995 that the phenomenon of the chupacabra exploded across Puerto Rico. In early 2000s, however, reports began to surface suggesting that the chupacabra had somehow made its way to the United States and specifically to the Lone Star State. In South Texas in 2003 and 2004, ranchers reported seeing strange, hairless creatures on their properties that attacked and killed their animals, such as chickens and goats. That all of this paralleled what was afoot in Puerto Rico inevitably provoked claims that hordes of chupacabras were on the loose and possibly all across Texas. Whereas the Puerto Rican original was described as bipedal, glowing eyed and winged, the monster of the Lone Star State looks like a large, hairless coyote, which is exactly what it was and still is. Unlike the situation in Puerto Rico where a specimen has never been caught or killed, in Texas it did not take long at all before a couple of the beasts were shot by irate farmers and hit by cars. A careful study of the dead animals conclusively proved they were coyotes, but they were not normal coyotes. They had certain genetic mutations and that brings us back to this whole matter of shape-shifting. In the old Native American tales, the coyote could transform itself into numerous different creatures, even that of a person. What we saw in the 2000s, however, eerily paralleled the ancient legends, but in upgraded 21st century fashion. What was thought to be severe cases of mange on the dead coyotes was nothing of the sort. The animals in question appeared to be mutating into a completely hairless offshoot of the regular South Texas coyote population. They had developed large overbites and their front limbs were abnormally short, something which led them to run in an odd hopping fashion. And then there was the presence of curious pouches growing out of the upper parts of their hind legs. Strangest of all, several witnesses claimed to have seen the animals rise up onto their back legs and hold the position for several minutes as they scan to the landscape. The Texas Chupacabra, which was actually something arguably even stranger, was born. And yet another layer of legend was added to the mythology surrounding the coyote and its shape-shifting skills. Ken Gerard, a noted cryptozoologist and monster hunter, suspects that the strange transformation of the Texan coyote is due to mutagens, which can affect animals at a DNA level, and almost certainly sulfur dioxide, which is a byproduct of coal-burning power plants. Notably, Ken has discovered that many sightings of these transformed coyotes have been made in the direct vicinity of Texas-based plants, something which leads him to strongly suggest this is the answer to the riddle. So we have a shape-shifting coyote in centuries-old Native American tales, and we have a changing thing in 21st century Texas. From the world of the supernatural to that of science and environmental pollution, the coyote continues to shape-shift, but in very different ways. Thanks for listening. If you missed any part of tonight's show or if you'd like to hear it again, you can subscribe to the podcast where you'll hear not only tonight's radio show, but also the extra sudden death overtime content that I prepared that I did not have time to fit in because I went overtime. And while the radio show is one night per week, I upload episodes for the podcast 7 days per week. If you're one of my patrons, you get a commercial-free copy of tonight's show immediately after it's over. You can become a patron and or subscribe to the podcast at WeirdDarkness.com. You can follow the show on Facebook and Twitter at Weird Darkness, and please tell others about the show who love the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. Doing that helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And if you'd like to be a part of the show, you can call into the dark line toll-free and tell your own true paranormal story or a story that's happened to somebody you know. That number is 1-877-277-5944. Again, the toll-free number is 1-877-277-5944. You can also email me anytime at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright 2021. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Psalm 34, verse 8. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. And a final thought from Albert Schweitzer. In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, dark thoughts or addiction, please visit the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. There, I've gathered numerous resources to find hope and solutions. For those suffering from thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, as well as the Crisis Text Line. Both have trained counselors at all hours to help those in need. And the page even includes text numbers for those in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. Those struggling with depression can get help through the Seven Cups website and app. And there's information for anyone to read more about what depression truly is and how to identify it through our friends at ifred.org. There are resources for those who battle addictions, be it drugs, alcohol, or self-destructive behavior, along with help for those related to addicts. The page has links to help you find a therapist or counselor to find help for those who have a family member with Alzheimer's or dementia. Help for those in a crisis pregnancy and more. These resources are always there when you or someone you love needs them on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com.