 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. 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 in this episode... Today the name Marquis de Sade is immediately associated with immorality and sadistic sexuality. But does history bear out the disdain we have for him? Connie Converse wrote and performed trailblazing music in the 1950s, but one day in 1974 she drove off looking for a fresh start and was never seen again. Jack Pyle was a hermit and a recluse, living in a tiny shack, selling the fish he caught out of the river to supplement his income. But that doesn't mean he didn't have money, which might have been the reason someone killed him. Napoleon Bonaparte is known as one of the greatest military commanders in history and his battles and ambitions changed the shape of Western Europe. But it seems that the only foe that could best this great man was small and fluffy. For centuries bizarre physical conditions, strange health-based occurrences and questionable treatments have gained widespread attention, only to be exposed as frauds. We'll look at some of the strangest. In 1896, 22-year-old school teacher Pearl Bryan was found dead. But after her killers were found, tried and hanged, her story continued to fascinate the public, even to the point of having folk songs sung about her. But it wasn't her beauty that inspired the songwriters so much as it was that she was found without her head. We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter, and our contests. Connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. On January 28, 1896, Sunday school teacher Pearl Bryan left her home in Greencastle, Indiana to visit a friend in Indianapolis, or so she said. At the time, Bryan was 22 years old and unbeknownst to her parents, who would never see her again, five months pregnant. Less than a week later, Bryan's headless body was found more than 150 miles away in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her head, on the other hand, has never been recovered. In short order, two students at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in nearby Cincinnati were arrested for the murder. Scott Jackson, it turned out, had been engaged in a secret romance with Bryan across several months leading up to her death. According to testimony offered during their trial, he had convinced his roommate, Alonzo M. Walling, to help him. The two had slipped cocaine into Bryan's drink while they were at a saloon, then murdered her by cutting off her head. The coroner's report corroborated that Bryan's stomach contained cocaine and that she had been decapitated while she was still alive. As for what the two murderers had done with the missing head, no one could say. The suspects gave conflicting statements, claiming the head was buried in a Kentucky sandbar or at the bottom of the Ohio River. Some of the authorities investigating the case believed the pair had burned her head in the furnace at the dental college. Though many nearby waterways were drained, dragged, or otherwise searched, Bryan's head was never found and remains missing to this day. The gruesome nature of the crime attracted considerable media attention at the time. The trial of the two killers was dubbed the Trial of the Century, while contemporary accounts described the courtroom as theatrical. What's more, people came from miles around to view the crime scene, even going so far as to take souvenirs up to and including branches taken from around the area where the body was found, some of which may have been splashed with the victim's blood. In a shameless display of distasteful opportunism, a store near the courthouse sold Pearl Bryan memorabilia and other merchandise. Both men soon found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. According to newspaper accounts, the announcement of the verdict was accompanied by a large force of armed officers in citizens' clothing ready and waiting for any mob violence that might break out. Indeed, the likelihood of a public lynching in a case already so notorious and widely publicized was a very real danger. According to a retrospective article published in the Dayton Daily News some 40 years later, there was a jailbreak not long after the two men received their sentence. However, an immense mob on hearing this news rushed to the jail but dispersed when they heard that Jackson and Walling were still behind bars. It seemed that the two killers had been unwilling to join their fellow convicts in their flight because they knew that the jail was the safest place for them. The two men were hanged on the morning of March 20, 1897. Walling went to the gallows protesting his blamelessness in the crime while Jackson, when given a last-minute opportunity to stay the other man's execution with his testimony, declared that he could not in truthfulness say that Walling was innocent. Both men were hanged simultaneously. According to reports, neither of their necks broke, so each one strangled to death. Yet, neither ever confessed to what they had done with the head of Pearl Bryan. Perhaps unsurprising for so grisly and mysterious a crime, the story of Pearl Bryan and her missing head did not end there. Within a couple of decades of the crime itself, popular folk songs began to appear detailing it, or embellishing it, with the earliest recordings dating to 1926 and 27. New songs dealing with Bryan's death have appeared as recently as the 2000s. Among these is the claim that the possibly still headless ghost of Pearl Bryan haunts the establishment, which is also said to be one of several gateways to hell. The tenuous connection between Bryan and the hockey talk in question is that her body was found just over two miles from the nightclub's current location. Legends that have sprung up over the years suggest that Bryan's killers might have been Satanists who cursed the ground on which the nightclub stands, vowing to haunt those involved in the case. Unlikely, but perhaps not unreasonable, given that the locale of their execution was also just a few miles from the Roadhouse. In fact, the legends around Bobby Mackie's music world tend to be heavily inflected with satanic themes, probably due to the fact that most of the stories developed during the satanic panic of the 70s and 80s. Like most of the stories surrounding Bobby Mackie's music world, however, there is precious little to corroborate these tales. Nothing in the trials of either Jackson or Walling suggest occult or ritualistic motivations behind their actions. Pearl Bryan's pregnancy was the far more likely motive. According to that same report in the Dayton Daily News, Walling testified that Jackson told him of Pearl Bryan's condition and asked him to relieve her by a criminal operation. From there, the plan seems to have gone through several mutations, possibly even once including a proposal to poison her to make it look like a suicide. The truth of what actually happened on that tragic night is shrouded in mystery. All we know is that it left the trees along the roadside dripping with blood and Pearl Bryan's headless corpse leaning against the fence. As to what became of Bryan's missing head, it's a secret that, assuming they truly knew it, both men took to their graves. I will tell you now, in the last moment of my life, Walling is reported to have said in an emotionless voice just before he was hanged, I was not there, and I am innocent of the whole crime. I cannot say any more. Did she fail? But in one moment parted from the home she loved so well. Last night the moon shone brightly, the stars were all aflame. Down to this maiden's cottage, a jealous lover came. Come love and let us wander down to the meadow gate, and we will wander and ponder for the coming of our wedding day. The way was cold and dreary, the night was coming on into that lonely valley he led this maiden on. Scott Jackson, I am tired of wandering here so long. The way is cold and dreary, I pray you take me home. You have not the wings of an eagle, nor from me can you fly. No human hand can save you, you instantly must die. What have I done? Scott Jackson, that you should take my life. You know I've always been good to you and promised to be your wife. Down on her knees before him, she pleaded for her life into that snowy bosom. He plunged a gleaming knife. Scott Jackson, I'll forgive you with my last and dying breath. I never have deceived you, as it closed my eyes in death. Down on his knees he banded, saying, oh what have I done? I've murdered my Pearl Brian as pure as the rising sun. Now in that lonely us we bow her grave. Pearl Brian lies forgotten, where the merry sun beams play. And in case you're curious, that is Pearl Brian by Bradley Kincaid. It was released January 28, 1929. When Weird Darkness returns, Jack Pyle was a hermit and a recluse, living in a tiny shack selling the fish he caught out of the river to supplement his income. But that doesn't mean he didn't have money, which might have been the reason someone killed him. But first, Napoleon Bonaparte is known as one of the greatest military commanders in history, and his battles and ambitions changed the shape of Western Europe. But it seems that the only foe that could best this great man was small and fluffy. That story is up next. Terror began in January by the light of the full moon. The first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolf's fangs ripping at his throat. The next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now, scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated main town of Tarker's Mills. No one knows who will be attacked next, but one thing is sure. When the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through Tarker's Mills for snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind. And all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King Hear the entire novel absolutely free on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com Killless wars have been fought throughout the course of human history. Some have lasted for just minutes, such as the Anglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted no more than 45 minutes, and others have officially lasted for hundreds of years. Perhaps one of the most bizarre wars, however, is one that Australia waged in 1932 against emus. You know, those flightless birds? Whilst the war does sound silly, there were actually some quite serious social and economic problems which caused it. After the First World War, many ex-soldiers from the British Commonwealth, particularly Britain and Australia, were encouraged to settle in Western Australia as farmers. However, the worldwide depression of 1929 started by the Wall Street crash hit Australia particularly badly, and all these new farmers suddenly found that the cost of their produce had plummeted. Making ends meet was becoming increasingly difficult for these farmers, and the problem was exacerbated by emus. Emus are native to Australia and had initially been a protected species, but by 1922 they had been causing so much damage to farmers' crops that they became officially known as vermin, and it became legal to cull them. Every year these emus would migrate from inland areas to the coast after breeding. These vast swaths of newly converted farmland, which were being used for livestock or wheat, turned out to be a perfect habitat for the emus. There was a plentiful food supply, and it was easy to traverse. When farmers were already suffering from the depression, to have the few assets they did have being destroyed by hordes of hungry emus on the prowl was even more ruinous. By 1932, there was an estimated 20,000 of these emus attacking farms in Western Australia. The farmers gathered together and petitioned the Minister of Defense, George Pierce. Keen to help these former soldiers, Pierce decided to send military aid. On November 2, a group of soldiers led by Major G.P.W. Meredith traveled to the Campion District to kill a group of 50 emus. It had been decided that the soldiers would use machine guns as their effectiveness had been proven during the First World War. It was also argued it would be good target practice for the soldiers, and it was also expected to be good PR for the government to prove they were helping war heroes. However, the task was not as easy as anticipated. As soon as shots were fired, the emus split into small groups and they were fast runners, meaning the machine gun fire was not as effective as expected. No more than a dozen birds were killed. A few days later, a group of around a thousand birds were ambushed by the same men and whilst a few more were killed, the machine guns jammed, and the rest of the birds had scattered before the guns could be used again. On two separate attempts, the birds had made a mockery of the army. The rest of the first week had little more success, with 2,500 rounds of ammunition being fired to kill somewhere between 50 and 500 birds. On November 8, just six days after initial engagement, the military personnel were withdrawn due to negative press coverage. The conflict had been discussed by members of the Australian House of Representatives and parliamentarian A.E. Green quipped that medals should be given to the emus, who had won every round so far. Despite all of this, farmers continued to ask for support as a drought had brought even more emus onto farmland in search for water. On the 12th of November, approval was once again granted for a military campaign. By December, the troops seemed to have come up with a better system for culling the birds, for on the 10th of the month, Meredith claimed he had killed nearly a thousand birds with just under 10,000 rounds. Despite this, the operation was officially ended and was not taken up again despite farmers continuing to ask for military assistance for the next few years. The Australian government ended up setting up a bounty on emus, which led to over 280,000 emus being killed in western Australia between 1945 and 1960. This, coupled with barrier fences being erected, eventually controlled the problem of emus destroying crops. Although the emus won the war, Australia seems to have forgiven them, as an emu still features on the Australian coat of arms to this day. When looking at history, it seems that great military men losing fights against animals is not so unique, and this brings us to Napoleon. The story of Napoleon's most humiliating defeat is one that has circulated the internet for years. According to legend, in July 1807, Napoleon's chief of staff, Alexander Berthier, organized a rabbit hunt for his esteemed master. He invited Napoleon and his honorage to a park that he owned within Paris, and was ecstatic when the emperor accepted. He made sure to do everything he could to make the hunt as pleasing for Napoleon as possible, and the day started with a splendid breakfast. The only thing Berthier had not been able to organize from within his property were the rabbits himself. Rabbits were at the time the most common game eaten in France, and so sourcing them could be difficult. He therefore arranged for a thousand rabbits to be brought to the park, especially for the emperor. Berthier had just gained the title of Prince of Neuchâtel thanks to Napoleon, so perhaps this was his way of thanking him. Breakfast finished, the rabbits were released in the park. The huge horde started to bolt and split in different directions in an attempt to avoid the attacks that Napoleon and his companions were firing at them. Then, the strangest thing happened. The herd of rabbits converged into one large mass, turned around and swarmed towards Napoleon. Shock hit the party, and the angry Berthier immediately organized the coachmen into a battalion armed with their long riding whips to knock them back. Initially, this organization worked, and the rabbits started to flee again. The party considered it a bizarre delay, but were preparing to resume their hunt. When, once again, the rabbits turned on them. The rabbits turned around and flanked the party on the left and right. They attacked Napoleon with an unspeakable frenzy, climbing up his legs and swarming him so much that he stumbled. Realizing this was not a fight he could win, Napoleon fled to his carriage, but the rabbits followed him and climbed upon it. Eventually, the party was able to escape. With the Emperor of France safe, investigations began as to what exactly happened in this strange incident. As it turned out, the man with whom Berthier had entrusted the task of procurement did not realize that there could be any difference between a rabbit and a rabbit, and as such had bought tame, hutch rabbits instead of wild rabbits which were usually used for hunts. These rabbits were less wary of humans and had not eaten since the day before. Thus, when they were released, they ran towards the group looking eagerly for food, instead of running in fear as a wild rabbit would. The story is certainly fantastic, but is it true? Most of the more popular results on Google recount the story in very similar words, and many of them consistently quote historian David Chandler with the exact same quote from him each time. This made me suspicious that the story could be a case of internet telephone, and so I decided to try and go back to some sources. I found that David Chandler in question, and sure enough, Google Books threw up a source. The campaigns of Napoleon by David G. Chandler originally published in 1966, and there on page 593 was the tale of Napoleon fighting the rabbits. But frustratingly, Chandler did not provide a source for the story. This is not so unusual for older history books, but maddening nonetheless. So back to Google. After some deeper digging, I came across a tumbler page called And Other Lies, run by a French woman who describes herself as an amateur historian. Back in August 2019, someone had asked the question that I wanted answered, was the Napoleon story true? Luckily for us, there was finally a source. A user called Napoleon Did That cited a French text published in the 1890s, called Memoirs du Général de Theobald. The book is digitized by the Bibliothèque National de France, and is listed as being written by Paul Theobald, the eponymous general. Theobald was a general who fought in Napoleon's army, and thus would have been on first hand to know such a story. However, Theobald died in 1846, and many of his stories and memoirs were published after his death. In this case, the book entry tells us that this version was published by his daughter from the original manuscript by someone called Fernand Calmetis. So, whilst the story does come from someone who knew Napoleon and was a general in his army, it was published almost 90 years after the alleged incident by the general's daughter. This means we have to have some skepticism, especially as Napoleon Did That highlights that Theobald had a long-standing grudge against Berthier, the unfortunate host whose park was home to the whole incident. So, did this happen at all, or was it something that Theobald made up despite his enemies who died 30 years before him? Maybe some historians with far more knowledge and expertise than me in this area will dig through papers and archives and one day be able to corroborate the story further. Perhaps they already have, and the answer is to be found in history books I have not read yet. But in the meantime, we can smile at the story and the image of one of Europe's greatest military commanders cowering in terror at a ridiculously large amount of rabbits. In 1908, Jack Pyle, 56, lived in Holt County, Missouri. A widower, his only living relatives were a brother and a daughter who resided in Kansas. Pyle rented a shack and five acres from Emmet Hayer about three miles outside the village of Craig. The courting mirror reported that he raised chickens and pigs and worked by day for nearby neighbors. Living within yards of the Missouri River, Pyle often sold fish to augment his income. The mirror stated that on Saturday morning, August 23, at 11.30 o'clock, Jack Pyle was found dead on his kitchen floor in the Lakeshore District. On Monday and Tuesday, the 17th and 18th, he had been helping Jim Allen make hay. He took supper at Mr. Allen's Tuesday evening. This was the last scene of him. Allen had paid Pyle $60 for his services. Pyle, described variously as a recluse, a miser, or a hermit, lived in a small, cluttered cabin. For years, rumors circulated in town that he had a stash of gold coins secreted in his home. He was said to be irritable at times and somewhat daffy, but he was a good worker, so neighbors put up with his quirky habits. The St. Joseph Press reported the obvious. Robbery is believed to have been the motive for the killing, the headline read. On Tuesday, after working with Allen, Pyle visited Hayer. He spoke to his landlord about wanting to purchase a small farm. Pyle showed Hayer his earnings and said he planned to use the cash as a down payment. He had not been seen since leaving the Hayer farm and, after a week, neighbors went to Pyle's home to check on him. Investigators told reporters the victim had been sitting in a chair, eating supper when someone fired a shotgun through the window, hitting him in the temple. The killer then entered the residence, stole Pyle's small wad of cash, and placed a rust-colored and cobweb-choked shotgun across his body. If this was intended to make Pyle's death look like a suicide, it failed. Dust and spiderwebs blocked the inside of the barrel and the coroner, who was in charge of the case, proved the gun had not been fired in months. Pyle's cabin sat alone in a remote area of Hayer's property, making the victim an easy target for robbers. The place had been ransacked and news reports speculated the killer may have been searching for the fabled gold. Whether the alleged stash was found or even existed is still a mystery. As investigators searched for his killer, the community laid Pyle to rest in Mount Hope Cemetery in Corning. Suspicion fell on a farmhand who worked for Emmett Hayer. The worker was known to have a shotgun and disappeared the day after the murder. He was never found. Five months after his internment, the leader reported an exhumation and examination of the body was made a few days ago by Drs. Jay M. Davis and Edgar Miller of this place. Only the skull was exhumed and examined. All the necessities of the inquiry were being answered by it. Unfortunately, there were actually few answers, the main one being that the shooter had stood outside Pyle's window. Of course, that had already been determined by investigators. The load from the shotgun shell ranged downward at a rather sharp pitch, editors wrote, tearing an oblique hole in the floor of the skull and into the pharynx. Of the 40 or 50 shot taken from the wound, a large proportion were in the pharynx, the remainder in the skull. After the exhumation, the case died. Pyle probably never even saw the shooter. The murderer did seem to have some cunning about him. Placing Pyle's own shotgun on his body didn't convince investigators that Pyle had committed suicide, but it did show a bit of creativity in the killer's makeup. Speaking of creativity, Jack Pyle seemed to have an artistic streak. Among his possessions, authorities found a handmade violin. The box and the arm of the violin had been made of driftwood found along the banks of the river. Pyle had cut it into shape, then scraped and polished the wood to perfection. Finally, he added keys and strings to it. A local musician played the violin and told reporters he was worth at least $100, an equivalent of $3,100 in today's world. Homemade violins are often found, the musician stated, but few meet the quality of Pyle's. You have to wonder if this lonely laborer enjoyed attending local hoedowns with that fiddle he made. Did he take pleasure in hearing musicians play the fiddle while people danced and enjoyed themselves? Did he flirt with local women at these dances? Was he a musician himself? We'll never know. Fiddle sticks. Coming up, today the name Marquitosod is immediately associated with immorality and sadistic sexuality. But does history bear out the disdain we have for him? Plus, Connie Converse wrote and performed trailblazing music in the 1950s. But one day, in 1974, she drove off looking for a fresh start and was never seen again. These stories and more 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. You can find a link to it at WeirdDarkness.com. Grab a bag before something else grabs you from the dark. Donatien Alphonse Francois Marquitosod was one of the highest ranked and powerful French noblemen of the 18th and 19th centuries. Yet he is remembered today for his depraved reputation and cruelty to others, apparently in pursuit of self-exploration and discovery. Despite all the advantages of rank, position and wealth, the Marquis would end his life in a mental asylum, dying wretchedly and shunned by his peers. But does the man who coined the word sadism to describe his wanton cruelties deserve his fate? Certainly the evidence is damning. The Marquis wrote many scandalous, sexually explicit and sadistic literary works. But already there is a contradiction in the response of his readership. On one side, he was a best-selling author of his day, gaining quite a bit of fame. On the other side, his works were often banned from public circulation, some as late as the 1950s. Modern depreciation has been a long time coming, but it is firmly in support of the Marquis today. In 2017, the modern-day French government announced that Marquitosod's works were a national treasure. So the question again rises, was Marquitosod a great writer and genius or simply someone who indulged in sexual profanity and sadism? The answer is yet to be found. Although he was a politician and philosopher, the Marquitosod was more famous for his works. His works included novels, short stories, plays and political tracts. Many of his works were indeed published under his name. However, a number of his works were published under a pseudonym and Marquitosod denied ever writing them. He is most famous for his erotic literature works that combined pornography with deep philosophy. There was both violence and beauty in Marquitosod's erotic works. His works often focused on physical and emotional responses to external influences, and he returned several times to the concepts of humiliation, sodomy, pain and crime. More dangerously, his erotic works also touched upon blasphemy against Christianity which enraged people of his time. Therefore, it is unsurprising that he became infamous and his works were forbidden. Were the extreme acts he explored in his literary works mirrored in his real life? It certainly seemed so, with several anecdotes about the Marquis showing the same streak of violent sadism he discussed in his works. He was certainly a man of excess, known to participate in orgies and beat his servants. Was it madness that drove him to these acts then? Madness he even apparently self-diagnosed in his works. This seems to be a step too far. These incidents did not show clinical signs of sadism as explained in his writing. This shows that how the mind works is not always reflected by the actions of a person. The person can very well function according to social rules while hiding dark, unacceptable thoughts in his mind, and it seems the Marquis was exploring his dark thoughts, but also aware of their limitations within society. He was aware of his boundaries, but perhaps he was testing those boundaries as well. Saad was not a supporter of unbridled lust that could lead to criminal corruption in society. He advocated for the use of public brothels supported by the state so that men could satisfy their most innate desires without causing harm to society. In a way, this shows that Marquis Saad was not really the sex-hungry, depraved maniac that he has been portrayed as. In his recognition of the baser instincts of humans, there was an honesty that most public conversations shy away from in their prudery. He was to an extent merely acknowledging sides of human emotion which exist and which for some must give vent to expression. However, this does not mean that Marquis Saad was free from controversies or scandals. To be clear, the Marquis was not above practicing what he preached, and from his life history it is clear that he thrived on scandal and controversies. He repeatedly hired prostitutes, both male and female, to fulfill his sexual fantasies. The accusation of blasphemy was also at the time a serious allegation against a nobleman. All these stories of the Marquis, including a suggestion of an extra marital affair with his wife's sister, are however only accusations. With the events described hidden away behind the high walls of his castle, his accounts cannot be fully proven. Even if they were true, Marquis Saad was never publicly profane. Even today, people are confused about the Marquis Saad. On the one hand, we have a revolutionary philosopher not afraid to speak out at both the hypocrisies of the French aristocracy and the evils of the reign of terror that followed the French Revolution, both actions which saw this imprisoned. On the other, we have a monster driven by lust and greed of the physical kind. Although the written accounts only point to the beating of a maid, Marquis Saad was also accused of rape, sodomy and torture. He was even accused of keeping six children as prisoners in his palace. He is also believed to have fed his many prostitutes with the aphrodisiac known as Spanish fly, extracted from beetles, a dangerous substance which could even kill. It seems the Marquis was seeking to explore the sensations he discussed in his works, either himself or through proxies that he summoned to his castle. But in the details of these acts, it seems he was not deliberately cruel so much as careless with the lives of people from a lesser station. Nevertheless, his actions did get him into trouble. In the year 1763, the infamous Marquis Saad was imprisoned in the prison of Incenes for committing blasphemy and ruining an image of Christ. He reportedly stomped over a crucifix while screaming profanities to a hired prostitute in a locked room. Once this episode was over, he ordered the prostitute to whip him with a catanine tails, a particularly brutal form of punishment. Because of his works and his sexual reputation, he was put under arrest and surveillance many other times in his life as well. In the year 1768, some years after his first imprisonment for sexual crimes and blasphemy, he was also accused of keeping a woman captive after giving her a job as a housemaid in his residence. He picked up this German widow and took her to his country residence with the excuse of needing house cleaning services. He then held her at knife point and assaulted her for two days. He even raped her, tortured her with hot wax and whipped her. After two days of torture and sexual assault, the poor woman was able to escape from the residence through a small window. The Marquis de Sade was then again arrested on charges of rape and torture. However, the widow was later bribed to drop the charges and Marquis de Sade escaped without any legal charge against his name. Even though there were no legal charges against him, Sade spent most of his time in captivity and under house arrest. Most of his works were also indeed written while he was in captivity. Although he did spend a lot of time in an asylum, his continued writings and philosophical works raised the question if he really was mad. He died in 1814 in a mental asylum, forever branded as a madman. However, the nature of his works and his views about sex and philosophy have inspired many modern historians and philosophers to study his works and life closely. Whether he was a sex maniac or not, his works continue to influence today's literature and thinking. So, a man who explored cruelty along other expressions of his free will? Certainly. A man drawn to such cruelties perhaps more than most, apparently. But was he a madman or rather someone searching for basic truths about the human condition? Or was he just evil? That answer is less clear. I'll let you decide. Connie Converse never released a commercial album, yet nearly 50 years after she vanished from the face of the earth, her music has gained more recognition and acclaim than ever before. She was ahead of her time, a singer-songwriter whose music sounds surprisingly contemporary considering when it was made. Her lyrics are witty, solemn and at times funny, but with an unspoken sense of longing, reveling in her isolation as much as she lamented it. She was a female folk singer at a time when such a thing was largely unheard of and no one knew her name. It's entirely possible her name would still be unknown had her friend, Jean Deitch, not held onto tape recordings of Converse's music for half a century, tapes that were recorded in a New York City apartment kitchen in 1954 and kept a secret from the world until 2009 when they were compiled into the album How Sad How Lovely. I'll place a link to the album in Amazon Music in the show notes. But while her music has earned a cult following since its public release, the woman who wrote it never took her rightful place in the spotlight. In 1974, just after her 50th birthday, the downtrodden, depressed Converse sent letters to her family and friends saying that she wanted to start fresh in life. She was never seen again. This is her story. Elizabeth Eaton Converse was born on August 3, 1924 in Lasonia, New Hampshire to a minister in his wife whose household was strictly Baptist. She had two brothers, Paul, who was three years older, and Philip, four years younger. Per the BBC, Philip, who later became a political scientist, once described his sister Connie as both a genius and a polymath when she was young. I do not use the terms lightly, he said. Converse excelled in her academic studies and eventually earned a full scholarship to Mount Holyoke College, which both her grandmother and mother had attended. But in a departure from tradition, Converse did not graduate from Mount Holyoke College. Instead, she dropped out after her second year and chartered a course for New York City to pursue her passions for music and writing. In a further act of shunning tradition, she dropped the name Elizabeth and began to use the name Connie instead. Our parents were devastated, Philip Converse would later tell the New Yorker. And if that weren't devastating enough for their parents, Connie Converse took up drinking and smoking, reveling in her independence and self-reinvention. While in New York, Converse spent her time writing poetry, drawing, painting and learning to play the guitar. She began publishing essays with the Far Eastern Survey and worked at a printing house in the Flatiron District. She had an apartment in Greenwich Village and it was there that she wrote her music and performed it for her friends. As chronicled in the New Yorker, Philip Converse did not follow his sister to New York. Instead, he moved to the Midwest and the two kept in touch by exchanging letters. In one of these letters, she wrote to him, Being a complex and inward personality, I've always found it difficult to make myself known. I generally conceal my own problems and listen attentively to those of others. Converse's introspection reads like an unfortunate prediction. For one reason or another, she could never make herself known and her recognition only came many years after she vanished. When Connie Converse arrived at Gene Deitch's apartment in 1954 to record her music, the animator and audio enthusiast nearly didn't record the standoffish plain woman. Converse was a friend of a friend, an atypical woman of the time who, one attendee said, looked like she'd just come in from milking the cows. But when she performed her intimate songs in Deitch's kitchen that day before a small audience, she stunned everyone in the room. Her music was personal, eerie, folksy, and metaphorical in a way that had never been done before, though the echoes of it can now be heard in the music of modern singer-songwriters. The more I thought about it, the songs were all about herself. Deitch later told the BBC, I think that's what makes the songs interesting. No matter what she was singing, it all had to do with sexual frustration and loneliness. There's something about those songs that was extremely personal. In those days, this was something you never heard. Not long after the recordings of Deitch's, Converse appeared on CBS's Morning Show, hosted by Walter Cronkite. But what should have been a moment that skyrocketed Converse's career, instead, amounted to nothing. Despite the televised performance, there were no recording contracts, no tours, and no marquee featuring her name. Over the course of the next seven years, Converse's style changed dramatically. She put down the guitar in exchange for the piano. Her once short-form compositions became longer and more sophisticated, all culminating in a series of songs inspired by the myth of Cassandra, which tells of the woman who was given the gift of prophecy by the gods and then cursed by Apollo so that no one would believe them. Still, Converse struggled to find an audience for her music, and in 1961 she left New York for Ann Arbor. Once again, Converse was ready to start anew. By 1963, according to The New York Times, Converse abandoned songwriting entirely. She worked as a secretary, then as the managing editor for the University of Michigan's Journal of Conflict Resolution. She began writing a novel and volunteered as a political activist while back in New York, the folk revival was properly taking off without her as artists such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Woody Guthrie, and Leonard Cohen rose to stardom. Converse's friends and relatives, meanwhile, saw a woman who'd become bored with her routine, increasingly disillusioned and depressed, drinking with an alarming frequency. Half a year in London did little to ease her sorrows, and a subsequent trip to Alaska seemingly made them worse. Then in 1974, she reportedly told her brother Philip, Human Society fascinates me and oz me and fills me with grief and joy. I just can't find my place to plug into it. That same year, one week after her 50th birthday, she wrote a series of letters to her family and close friends saying she needed to make a fresh start somewhere else. She loaded her things into the boot of her Volkswagen Beetle and left Ann Arbor. No one ever heard from her again. In 2014, five years after the release of How Sad, How Lovely, filmmaker Andrea Kans released We Lived Alone, the Connie Converse documentary, which explored Converse's life and music through Converse's own home recordings, letters, and journals. It's almost like she wanted it to be found and looked through, Kans told the BBC. What I found most fascinating was how funny she was in her writing. Here was a person who struggled through her whole life to feel successful, and you can tell there's a great sadness with a lot of the things she did and the way she lived her life, but she was also incredibly funny. But there was still this wall between her and other people, she added, where it didn't seem like she 100% connected with anybody. Perhaps the clearest insight into Converse's mind, however, comes in the form of a letter she wrote to her brother Philip. I've watched the elegant, energetic people of Ann Arbor, those I know and those I don't, going about their daily business on the streets and in the buildings, and I felt a detached admiration for their energy and elegance. If I ever was a member of this species, perhaps it was a social accident that has now been cancelled. Let me go. Let me be if I can. Let me not be if I can't," she wrote in another letter. And while the truth of what happened to Converse is still a mystery, Philip Converse came to believe that his sister died by suicide, her dreams forever unfulfilled. Today, though, Connie Converse's legacy lives on in her music, and many credit her as history's first modern singer-songwriter. Here's one of Connie's songs called The Witch and the Wizard, and it does in fact involve a witch and a wizard, and a little elf, but hidden in there is a pretty vivid description of a marriage made in hell. The wizard, in spite of his wizardly eyes, didn't know he had married a witch in disguise. He thought her a very respectable maid, and hoped she would never discover his trade. The witch was not wanting in womanly while she covered her bright room with waffles and smiles. She only went witching on Saturday night and hoped in between times it all would go right. Next day, the witch wore the wizard and elf. So handsome he looked like the devil himself, and he was the devil himself. The wizard looked down at his son's surprise, saying none of my family has lavender eyes. I think for my honor, there's only one course I'll ask you to grant me an instant divorce. The law witch was in tears for she knew beyond doubt she certainly hadn't been getting out loud. And now, since the baby had lavender eyes, she saw very clearly her husband's disguise. The devil looked up from his crib, and he smiled. Don't break up your home, you must think of your child. A child, said the witch, has his very well known, requires a mom of his own. Although you're a very contemptible man, I think we should both stick it out if we can. The wizard refused to acknowledge his son, but in dutiful deeds he would not be outdone. By a wife would waffle and put things to rights, and stick to her knitting on Saturday nights. The witch settled down and the wizard as well, and both began raising the devil in hell, in rage and vexation and tears. The witch can't stop witching me, the wizard won't speak, and though they've been married for only a week, it seems like a thousand years. Up next, for centuries bizarre physical conditions, strange health-based occurrences and questionable treatments have gained widespread attention, only to be exposed as frauds. We'll look at some of the strangest. My doc agrees that I need to lose a few pounds. I knew that going in, but he also told me that the meds I'm taking from my type 2 diabetes aren't going to do me much good if I finish each meal with ice cream or cheesecake. I kind of knew that in advance too. But cutting back on carbs and sugars is a lot easier said than done. I've tried a lot of protein bars while on the road, but I swear it's like eating non-sweetened chocolate-dusted particle board. But now I travel with built bars. Built bars taste like candy bars. In fact, I'm now using them for my dessert, and in about 150 calories per bar, less than 3 grams of sugar, up to 19 grams of protein, I can satisfy my sweet cravings guilt-free. Visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Built in Try a Box. You can go for a variety pack of several flavors to try or pick and choose to build a box of your own. Use the promo code WeirdDarkness at checkout and get 10% off your entire purchase. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built. Often, the people perpetrating medical hoaxes are ordinary individuals who manage to fool physicians or scientists, at least for a while. Sometimes a medical practitioner is in on the scam as well for one reason or another. Here are just a few of history's weirdest medical hoaxes. While modern science has done a lot to dispel myths and superstitions associated with trans species breeding, major developments in reproduction, such as the ability to clone mammals, have given way to a whole new crop of lab-based breeding hoaxes. One recent example of this is the story of a human-dog hybrid that was widely circulated across the internet. The article explained that Israeli scientists were studying a cross between a human and a labrador retriever. Acknowledging that a trans species like this was thought to be impossible, it went on to report that humane workers had discovered the remains of another trans species that was believed to be this animal's parent, buried in a shallow grave. The human parent seemed to be the son of a high-profile political family. The story was accompanied by a photo of what appeared to be a strange half-woman, half-dog, or pig hybrid mother nursing its young. Turns out that there was no human-dog hybrid. Apparently, the image in the photo, which had been forwarded to so many inboxes all over the world, is not even a living creature, just a sculpture by Patricia Piscini from a 2003 exhibit titled We Are Family, not to be confused with the Sister Sledge song. The Phil Donahue show, which aired on television in syndication from 1970 to 1996, was a pioneering daytime talk show for its emphasis on socially relevant topics. But along with the lofty subject matter, there was also a fair amount of sensationalistic episodes, including one show that was shocking in a completely unexpected way. During the live taping of an episode about gay senior citizens on January 21, 1985, people in the audience started fainting. Beginning with an audience member who passed out while she was speaking into a microphone, seven people fainted in the course of taping that one show. There was speculation that the heat in the studio, which contrasted with the very cold temperature outside, might be the explanation for this strange occurrence. It turned out that the mass fainting was just a stunt organized by the group Fight Against Idiotic Neurotic Television, or Faint for Short, led by media hoaxer Alan Abel to protest what Abel thought was the poor quality of TV at the time. Boy, wouldn't he love what's on TV today. The term cello scrotum sounds like a joke, which is exactly what it turned out to be. However, 35 years went by before the two people who mischievously coined the phrase admitted they were only kidding about it. The prank was in response to a letter from Dr. P. Curtis that appeared in the British Medical Journal, reporting three cases of amality the doctor described as guitar nipple. Assuming the letter was a hoax, married couple John Murphy and Dr. Elaine Murphy were inspired to write a reply. The letter, published in a 1974 issue of the journal, was signed by John but written by Elaine. It said in part, though I have not come across guitar nipple as reported by Dr. P. Curtis, I did once come across a case of cello scrotum caused by irritation from the body of the cello. When the Murphy's finally announced that cello scrotum was just a spoof, they argued that it would be obvious to anyone who had watched the cello being played that such a condition was impossible. Here is a good one. In Medieval times, astrology was often used to guide medical practitioners and researchers. In the late 16th century, a medical professor at Julius University in Helmsted named Jacob Horst decided to investigate reports of Christoph Mueller, a young boy in Silesia, said to have grown a golden tooth. When tests confirmed that Mueller had a real gold tooth, Horst wrote a treatise in which he laid out a theory based on astrology. He speculated that the bone in Mueller's jaw had turned to gold because he was born when the planets were in an unusual alignment, which Horst believed had caused heat from the sun's rays to intensify. When the impact of chewing food and multiple tests caused deterioration of what turned out to be just a thin layer of gold fitted on the outside of the tooth, Mueller refused to let it be examined anymore. One curious drunken nobleman who would not take no for an answer stabbed the boy's cheek. After a physician treating the wound discovered the truth about the tooth, the person responsible for the gold veneer seems to have escaped punishment either by running away or remaining anonymous, but Mueller was hauled off to prison. However, something positive did come out of the hoax. This was the first documented creation of a molded gold crown in the history of dentistry. There have been a lot of hoaxes that have centered on the possibility of extending the human lifespan. One of these was a widespread story in the 1970s involving the Ecuadorian village of Vilcabamba, where it was said to be common for residents to live past 100 years old with at least one person reaching 134. American journalists took the story seriously, and an article in National Geographic drew a large number of tourists to Vilcabamba. But the reason behind the longevity was unclear. In 1978, Richard Mazzis of the University of Wisconsin and Sylvia Foreman of UC Berkeley released the findings of research they had conducted, which revealed this fountain of youth to be a myth. Investigations showed that no one in the village was over 100 years old. The average age of those who were believed to be centenarians was just 86 years old. One man claiming to be 127 was actually 91. Still impressive, just not as much so. As a playful hoax, 18th-century physician Johann Heinrich Kohausen included a description of a very strange formula in Hermipis redivivas, an expositional work that he authored on longevity. He wrote about an elixir that bottled the breath of young women, saying the consumption of the product could lengthen a person's lifespan. However, Kohausen reveals in the last few pages of the treatise that it is really a satire, so instead of a fraud, in this case it is more of just a scholarly, practical joke. There have been countless weight loss hoaxes over the years, from pills and elixirs to topical treatments, fad diets and more. One product sold in the 1970s with glaringly false claims was vision-dieter glasses, which were said to decrease cravings and hunger by using, quote, secret European color technology, unquote. The initial objective of the creator was to manufacture glasses that would distort the color of food packaging in hopes of making shoppers less likely to purchase products just because they were in colorful containers. By realizing how much money could be made in the dieting field, he decided to market the glasses as a tool for consumers who were trying to lose weight. It should come as no surprise that the Food and Drug Administration took action. These color-tinted weight-reduction glasses were seized due to misbranding. Most pairs were eventually destroyed by the FDA when the claimant refused to come forward. The 18th century was filled with all sorts of preposterous medical hoaxes, especially far-fetched devices and treatments. One of the strangest products marketed for pain relief was a set of two small-pointed metal rods flat on one side and rounded on the other called metallic tractors. They were invented by Connecticut physician Elisha Perkins. These implements could, according to Perkins, ease discomfort from gout, rheumatism, and other conditions by draining the noxious electrical fluids which he thought were to blame for these conditions. The sufferer was instructed to gently rub the affected area with these rods. It wasn't just ignorant people who fell for this scam, either. Among those who ordered a set was George Washington. A series of clinical trials from 1799 to 1801 demonstrated that any pain relief was just a placebo effect. Have you heard about the celestial bed? The legendary 18th century British quack James Graham had a whole temple full of hoaxes. Graham, who had passed himself off as a physician, even though he never completed his medical schooling, was best known for what he called electrical medicine. The harnessing of electricity was still a new science during this time, and Graham was inspired by the experiments of Benjamin Franklin, who he actually met while in America. Graham's Temple of Health was frequented by aristocrats and other celebrities. One of his most interesting devices was a fertility contraption called a celestial bed which he claimed could cure sterility and impotence. This love nest was available for couples to rent per night. It could be tilted to different angles and contained a mattress full of sweet new wheat or oat straw, lavender flowers, rose leaves, balm and horsetail hairs. There was also costly perfumes and oils underneath the bed. According to the self-styled doctor, static electricity that moved through copper coils around the bed produced a magnetic fluid surrounding the lovers, which helped boost their strength and increase the woman's fertility. The couple was treated to gentle music, and above the bed there was a mirror decorated with lush flowers and erotic illustrations. Graham asserted that anyone who spent an evening there would conceive a child. And I saved the best for last. People have often been fascinated by the idea of cross-breeding between different species, especially the possibility of humans breeding with other types of animals, such as the human-dog hybrid hoax mentioned earlier. There have been a number of women over the centuries who claimed to have given birth to creatures belonging to a different species. However, the most famous such story is that of an 18th-century English servant woman, Mary Toft, who managed to convince physicians and others that she had given birth to rabbits that were thought to be multiple litters totaling 15 bunnies, all dead at birth. To answer an obvious question, how were the rabbits conceived, Toft said that she had been startled by a rabbit in a field, an explanation which fit in with old myth of maternal impression. Following the incident, Toft supposedly dreamt about rabbits and experienced an intense appetite for rabbits as food. Obstetrician John Howard was sure enough that Toft really had birthed rabbits. He spread the word to prominent British doctors as well as King George I who had his doctor look into the matter. Although this physician was fooled as well, an investigation by a surgeon dispatched from the royal household found evidence of a hoax. While examining some of the rabbits, he discovered that dung inside one of them contained corn, proving it could not have developed inside Mrs. Toft's womb. Toft kept up the ruse though, producing various animal parts like a hog's bladder and a kitten's legs. So when a man was caught sneaking a rabbit into her room, she finally confessed to placing the rabbits in her vagina, allowing them to be delivered, hoping the stunt would result in a pension from the crown. But instead, she got a few months in prison. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories. True crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren at weirddarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. Weirddarkness.com is also where you can find information on any of the sponsors you heard about during the show. Find all of my social media. Listen to audiobooks I've narrated. Sign up for the email newsletter. Find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead. Visit the store for Weirddarkness merchandise and more. Weirddarkness.com is also where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at Weirddarkness.com. All stories on Weirddarkness are purported to be true, unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. Pearl Bryan and her missing head was written by Oren Gray for the lineup. Death of a Mizer is by Robert A. Waters for kidnapping, murder, and mayhem. Does the Marquis de Sade deserve the hate was written by Bipin Dimry for Historic Mysteries? A Strange Disappearance of singer-songwriter Connie Converse is by Austin Harvey for All That's Interesting. Napoleon vs. the Bunnies was written by Gemma Holman for Just History Posts, and Medical Hoaxes was by Jennifer Lafferty for Listverse. Weirddarkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weirddarkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Matthew 6 vs. 31-33 Jesus emphasized the following truth to his disciples. So don't worry about these things saying what will we eat, what will we drink, what will we wear. These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. And a final thought. Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation, while bad luck is when lack of preparation meets reality. Eliyehu Goldrat I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weirddarkness. Hey Weirdos, I'm really excited to let you know that I am stepping into the Marvel Universe as the voice of Jay Jonah Jameson in a new animated film coming in 2024 called Spider-Man Turning Point. That's right, I get to play Peter Parker's jerk of a boss. And not only am I a voice actor for this film, I'm also an executive producer because I believe in it. We even have a celebrity voice actor in the cast. Mike Vaughn was the voice of Ghostface in the screen TV show, while he is voicing Harry Osborn. If you'd like to see some of the slick animation, the storyboards, character concepts, the first teaser trailer for the film and more, visit Weirddarkness.com slash Spider-Man. We even have an original musical score. In fact, you're hearing Green Goblin's theme behind me right now. That's Weirddarkness.com slash Spider-Man. When you visit there, you'll also have an opportunity to get involved if you'd like. Getting your name in the credits, getting a social media shout-out from the Spider-Man Turning Point production, get an animated thank you from Spider-Man himself just for you and more. I cannot wait to bring my J. Jonah Jameson to you in 2024. Learn more about our upcoming animated film, Spider-Man Turning Point, at Weirddarkness.com slash Spider-Man. That's Weirddarkness.com slash Spider-Man. Not yet. Have you ever noticed that in just about every post-apocalyptic TV show or movie, the electrical grid is gone, no power at all, anywhere, no places to plug in a radio to get news, and you can forget about charging your mobile devices or relaxing in an air-conditioned house or apartment. We rely on electrical power. Did you know that the power grid we are currently surviving off of was designed in the 1800s? It's so fragile that in 2003, a tree branch hit a power line in Ohio, and it shut down 21 power plants, and close to 100 people died because of it. And it's not just natural disasters. In January, a power station in North Carolina was damaged by gunfire, marking the third time it happened. The terrifying truth is that our national security experts are warning us that our aging power grid is now more vulnerable than ever, and these attacks just raise a new level of threat. Those post-apocalyptic TV and film scenarios could easily turn from fiction to fact. Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or even months. Your life would be frozen in time at the moment the power fails. Lights all over the country would go out, throwing people into total darkness. That's why having your own personal source of solar power is more important than ever. With the Patriot Power Generator, you get a solar generator that doesn't install into your house because it's portable. You can take it with you wherever you go, even use it indoors. And it's powerful enough for your phones, medical devices, even your refrigerator. Right now, you can go to 4patriots.com, that's the number 4, patriots.com, and use the code WEIRD to get 10% of your first purchase on anything on the website, including the life-saving Patriot Power Generator. You'll also get their famous guarantee for an entire year after your order. Plus, free shipping on orders over $97. And the reason I approached 4Patriots to be a sponsor? A portion of every sale is donated to charities who support our veterans and their families. Prepare for the future. Go to 4patriots.com today and use the code WEIRD to get 10% off. That's the number 4, patriots.com, promo code WEIRD, and ensure you will survive the future. And while you're at it, spread the darkness by sharing this video with someone you know who loves all things strange and macabre. If you want to listen to the podcast, you can find it at weirddarkness.com.