 Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third-party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Ancient Mesopotamia, where gods and demons held sway over the fates of mortals. Among these dark figures, one name stands out. Pazuzu. Known to many as the sinister force that possessed a young girl in the iconic film and novel The Exorcist, Pazuzu's origins trace much further back than that. His tale is more than mere legend. It is etched in time through ancient artifacts and inscriptions. From amulets to statuettes, his likeness adorned the possessions of those who sought his protection, a testament to his enduring presence in the hearts of ancient believers. Yet, as the centuries passed, Pazuzu's influence waned, and today he is considered but a relic of a bygone era, remembered primarily through the lens of popular culture. But don't think he doesn't have power. Don't you begin to think that. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. 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… Latoya Ammons and her family claimed to have experienced demonic possession that began when they moved into what became known as the House of Two Hundred Demons in 2011. In the eerie depths of 1920s Los Angeles, a sinister tale unfolded, shrouded in secrets and steeped in darkness. It all began with May Otis Blackburn and her daughter Ruth, who claimed to receive divine revelations from the angels Gabriel and Michael. Thus emerged the enigmatic Blackburn Cult, a group entangled in a web of prophecies, tributes and whispered mysteries. 19th century freak shows brought both the extraordinary and the macabre to captivated audiences far and wide. Among the peculiar spectacles of these exhibitions stood a man whose skeletal frame defied all norms of human anatomy, as his skeleton and skin appeared to be the only parts of his anatomy intact. In the heat of summer 2008, a mysterious creature washed ashore on a beach in Montauk, Long Island, sending shock waves through the community. What began as a simple sighting by a local resident soon exploded into a media frenzy, with wild theories and speculation running rampant. While epic Hollywood films often depict gladiators as men, the truth is far more captivating. We'll step into the arena with the women who dared to defy convention and enter the gladiatorial games. But first, the exorcist is widely regarded as one of the most influential horror movies of all time. Even now, more than half a century after its release, it continues to terrify audiences. In large part, due to its horrifying practical effects and iconic antagonist, Pazuzu, we begin there. 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, listen to my other podcasts, listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, plus you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression, dark thoughts or addiction. 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. In the film The Exorcist, Pazuzu is a demon who possesses the body of a young girl named Regan, transforming her from an innocent little girl into a foul-mouthed, blistered nightmare who expels green slime from her throat and twists her head a full 180 degrees. Although Pazuzu itself is only seen briefly, a few fleeting moments of its on-screen appearance leave a lingering impression. But Pazuzu was not created for The Exorcist. In fact, Pazuzu has appeared in lore since the first millennium BC, dating back to ancient Mesopotamian religion, and he was no less terrifying then than he is now. In ancient Assyria and Babylonian religion, Pazuzu was the king of wind demons, a dichotomous evil entity who simultaneously brought famine and destruction and warded off other demons. Per the Encyclopedia Britannica, the earliest archaeological evidence of Pazuzu, discovered in the grave of a royal woman near present day Iraq, dates back to the 8th century BC. Images of Pazuzu are similar to those of other Mesopotamian demons, but with some distinct characteristics. Pazuzu's head takes on a more rectangular shape and features horns, heavy eyebrows, a two-pronged beard and an open canine-like mouth displaying his teeth and tongue. Notably, this was the first known Mesopotamian iconography to merge multiple animal components. Prior to Pazuzu, iconography typically only featured a single animal body on a human body. The ancient Assyrians and Babylonians regarded Pazuzu as an evil demon of the underworld who could control the wind, bringing famine during the dry seasons and storms and locusts during the rainy season. Ancient humans tried to offset Pazuzu's destructive nature by offering prayers to him, hoping that he would contain the winds and use them for more benevolent purposes. Although Pazuzu was considered to be evil, he was not evil incarnate. Pazuzu was regularly seen as a protective force as much as a destructive one, and he was invoked for protection from other demons, in particular protecting pregnant women and children from the demoness Lamashtu, who is said to viciously murder young and unborn children. As noted in World History and Cyclopedia, the word demon in ancient times had a slightly different meaning from the current understanding. Following the spread of Christianity, demons are considered to be the spawn of Satan, creatures from hell who enact their evil will over the humans of earth as well as in hell. To the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, however, demons were simply spirits. The word itself derives from the Greek word for spirit, daemon, and refers to lesser immortal beings that act as supernatural intermediaries between gods and humans. Demons might be sent to punish mortals or else to encourage them to fulfill their duties. As such, not all demons were necessarily evil, and even those who were, like Pazuzu, often had several layers of complexity to their personalities. Perhaps the most baffling thing about Pazuzu is just how difficult it is for archaeologists to determine his origin. Unlike with many other supernatural beings throughout history, there is no real trace of how the common iconography of Pazuzu evolved. Based on the archaeological record, depictions of Pazuzu seemingly sprung up fully realized out of nowhere. Pazuzu's appearance did not change over time. It was as if the world simply came to an understanding about who he was and what he looked like. This makes it difficult for historians and scholars to pinpoint a precise location or moment in time in which these depictions took shape, though it is likely that Pazuzu iconography originated in Egypt or Mesopotamia. And while full-body statuettes of the demon certainly exist, it is far more common to see his likeness portrayed only as a head, usually as an amulet or an adornment on other pieces of jewelry. In one instance, a Pazuzu statuette was found in an abandoned house, hung directly across from the entrance, leading historians to believe it had been put in place as a protection from other demons. Amulets and other iconography of Pazuzu have been found in locations ranging from the Levant, Mesopotamia and Iran to the Greek island of Samos, while written sources describing Pazuzu began to appear around 670 BC. Often these amulets and pieces of jewelry depicting Pazuzu are inscribed on the back with the images of other Mesopotamian deities, usually those considered to be allies of humans. Scholars believe this may have been done to protect the wearer and redirect Pazuzu's power away from humans. Pazuzu is known to us today largely due to the exorcist, but the widespread prevalence of his iconography throughout the ancient world shows that even in his time he was a well-known and fairly popular demon. Pazuzu is also the only prominent Mesopotamian demon or deity to make its way into Hollywood films, and there may be several reasons for this. Notably, while numerous statuettes of Pazuzu have been discovered throughout the years, no one has ever found a full-sized statue of the demon. It was believed by the Assyrians and Babylonians that depicting the likeness of a being from the underworld attracted that being's attention. Because of this, few likenesses of other demons, such as Areshkigal, the Queen of the Dead, were ever even made. Moreover, the size of the image also determined the amount of power it contained. The Mesopotamians believed that these small statuettes and charms depicting Pazuzu drew small amounts of his power to protect them, as they were honoring him by wearing the protective charm, and that when invoked, he would direct that power at those who had not invoked him. Pazuzu's status as a protector likely contributed to the widespread circulation of his iconography, and, subsequently, his modern-day prominence. But that still doesn't fully explain why other Mesopotamian demons didn't weather the course of time to the same degree. The simplest answer is also the most obvious. As Christianity swept across the world, the devout no longer had a need for protective demons, and Christians naturally wanted belief in the old ways to disappear in favor of their new monotheistic religion. Demons of the old faith were relegated to hell. After all, anything from the underworld had no place in the holy world of heaven. In fact, the New Testament frequently saw Jesus Christ driving demons back to hell, and that has been echoed throughout time in various forms of media, including, of course, the Exorcist, in which a priest invokes the Bible to drive the demon Pazuzu back to hell. Coming up, Latoya Ammons and her family claimed to have experienced demonic possession that began when they moved into what became known as the House of 200 Demons in 2011. But first, in the eerie depths of 1920s Los Angeles, a sinister tale unfolded, shrouded in secrets, and steeped in darkness. It all began with May Otis Blackburn and her daughter Ruth, who claimed to receive divine revelations from the angels Gabriel and Michael. Thus emerged the enigmatic Blackburn cult, a group entangled in a web of prophecies, tributes, and whispered mysteries. That story is up next. This is an exclusive coffee that I selected specifically for you, my Weirdo family. Weird Dark Roast is not available in stores, coffee houses, mad scientist labs, or even the dark web, but you can find it at WeirdDarkness.com slash coffee. Weird Dark Roast coffee. Fresh roasted to order so it's as fresh as it can be when it lands on your doorstep and knocks three times. Grab yours now at WeirdDarkness.com slash coffee. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash coffee. Weird Dark Roast coffee does not actually knock on your door because it doesn't have arms or hands, so if you hear knocks at the door and no one answers when you ask who it is, it's probably paranormal and you should just leave the door shut and locked. On October 7, 1929, the body of a 16-year-old girl named Willa Rhodes was found buried beneath her adopted parents' home in Los Angeles. She had not been murdered. Willa had died from an infection caused by an obsessed tooth. But the circumstances of her illegal burial were what caught the attention of the authorities. It also didn't help that her parents were connected to one of the most notorious Southern California cults of the 1920s. The story of the cult began in 1922 in LA's Bunker Hill area when May Otis Blackburn and her daughter Ruth began to receive revelations they claimed came directly from the angels Gabriel and Michael. Their claims went on to say that they were the first two witnesses described by John of Patmos in a vision that became the Book of Revelation. She added that Michael and Gabriel were dictating a book to them that would reveal all the secrets of the universe. When the book was completed, the seventh seal would open and an apocalyptic event would occur on Earth. The book would be called The Seventh Trumpet of Gabriel, although May later changed it to the slightly different The Great Sixth Seal. Around these announcements, May and Ruth founded a religious group that they called the Divine Order of the Royal Arms of the Great Eleven, or what the newspapers later called the Blackburn Cult. The Great Eleven referred to a proclamation by May that after the apocalypse, the world that remained would be ruled by eleven Queens from mansions located on Olive Hill in Hollywood. Believe it or not, this nuttiness attracted a lot of people. May and Ruth gathered many followers and demanded tributes of money and property from them so that they could finance and continue their great work. While the book that was supposed to have been The Sixth Great Seal was never published, May did eventually publish a book called The Origin of God in 1936. It contained some of the elements of her early revelations. However, by the time the book came out, the Blackburn Cult had spun out of control, plagued by rumors of strange happenings and mysterious deaths. Weird claims and accusations involved sex scandals, animal sacrifices, whirling dervish ceremonies, and the story that a member of the cult named Francis Turner, who was paralyzed, was placed in a sort of homemade oven for two days resulting in her death. And then there were the disappearances. Several cult members were said to have mysteriously vanished including Samuel Rizio who was married to Ruth Blackburn. He went missing right after allegedly striking his wife and was never heard from again. Some claimed that May had poisoned him, but whatever happened his body was never found. But perhaps the strangest story associated with the Blackburn Cult was the attempted resurrection of Willa Rhodes. Willa died in 1926 from an infection, but May and Ruth promised her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Rhodes, that she could bring their daughter back to life. Willa's body was mummified with ice, salt, and spices and buried under the floorboards of their home with the bodies of seven dogs, sacrificed to represent the seven tones of the angel Gabriel's trumpet and ensure the resurrection. Not surprisingly it didn't happen. It took three years, but Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes eventually lost faith in the Blackburns and had Willa's body removed. The police were called when the exhumation occurred and Willa's body was taken to the medical examiner for an autopsy. It was discovered that her death had been a natural one and no charges were pursued against the Rhodes family or the Blackburns. What ultimately landed May Otis Blackburn behind bars, albeit briefly, had nothing to do with dead bodies or resurrections. In 1929 Clifford Dabney, a former member of the cult, charged May with defrauding him of $50,000 that he had given her to help her write her book. The district attorney started an investigation uncovering additional fraud claims from Blackburn's other followers and discovered that she had built them of more than $200,000. Ultimately, May was convicted of eight counts of grand theft. She appealed the ruling which found its way before the California Supreme Court in 1931. The higher court overturned the original verdict on the grounds that the evidence relating to the cult's bizarre activities had no bearing on the charges of grand theft and that it was impossible to prove whether May had in fact taken the money in bad faith. May was released after appealing her case in 1931, but the divine order of the royal arms of the grade 11 was effectively finished. She did go on to publish The Origin of God in 1936, but by then her followers had abandoned her. She died in Los Angeles in 1951, a footnote in the bizarre history of Southern California. In November 2011, Latoya Ammons along with her mother Rosa Campbell and three young children embarked on what they hoped would be a fresh start in a quaint one-story home on Carolina Street in Gary, Indiana. Little did they know, their new abode would become the center of chilling events that would shake their beliefs and test their sanity. The first ominous sign came in the form of a swarm of black flies that descended upon their screened-in porch in the dead of winter. Despite their efforts to rid themselves of the pests, the flies kept returning, a harbinger of the strange events to come. A true terror began one night in March 2012, and around 2 a.m. Ammons and her family were jolted awake by the piercing screams of her 12-year-old daughter. Rushing to her room, they were confronted with a sight straight out of a nightmare. The young girl was levitating above her bed, unconscious and seemingly under the influence of some malevolent force. This incident marked the beginning of a series of inexplicable and horrifying occurrences that would plague the family. They reported hearing phantom footsteps, discovering mysterious wet boot prints and witnessing shadowy figures prowling throughout their home. Desperate for answers, Ammons and Campbell sought the assistance of clergy members and performed rituals to cleanse their home of the evil spirits. However, the sinister presence only seemed to grow stronger, targeting the children with increasingly disturbing manifestations. Their plight caught the attention of local authorities and medical professionals, who were initially skeptical of their claims. Yet their doubts were dismissed when they witnessed first-hand the inexplicable phenomena occurring within the walls of the Carolina Street home. Reports surfaced of the children speaking in unearthly voices, exhibiting superhuman strength and defying the laws of physics. These chilling accounts sent shockwaves throughout the community, prompting an investigation by the Department of Child Services and eventually garnering national media attention. As the scrutiny intensified, so too did the intensity of the haunting. The family found themselves caught in a nightmarish cycle of fear and uncertainty, unsure if they would ever find respite from the relentless onslaught of supernatural activity. In a desperate bid to reclaim their lives, Ammons and her children underwent multiple exorcisms, performed by Reverend Michael Maginot in a final attempt to banish the evil that had taken hold of their home. And miraculously, it worked. The dark cloud that had loomed over Carolina Street lifted, allowing the family to finally break free from its sinister grip. In 2014, Ghost Adventures host Zach Baggins paid $35,000 for the home in Gary, Indiana, then had it demolished two years later. But the chilling bizarre mystery surrounding the structure continues to live on despite its destruction. Something was inside that house that had the ability to do things that I have never seen before. Things that others carrying the highest form of credibility couldn't explain either, Baggins told the Indie Star in 2016. There was something there that was very dark yet highly intelligent and powerful. Today, the house on Carolina Street stands no more, but its story continues to send chills down the spines of those who hear and believe it. And for Latoya Ammons and her family, the harrowing ordeal served as a stark reminder that some mysteries are best left behind you. As they reflect on their ordeal, they offer a word of caution to those who would dismiss their story as mere fantasy, saying, when you hear something like this, don't assume it's not real because I've lived it. I know it's real. When Weird Darkness returns, 19th century freak shows brought both the Extraordinary and the Macabre to captivated audiences far and wide. Among the peculiar spectacles of these exhibitions stood a man whose skeletal frame defied all norms of human anatomy, as his skeleton and skin appeared to be the only parts of his anatomy intact. Plus, while epic Hollywood films often depict gladiators as men, the truth is far more captivating. We'll step into the arena with the women who dared to defy convention and enter the gladiatorial games. These stories and more on the way. When Salem Roanoke took a job near his family's new home as a hired hand in the Texas Hill Country, he anticipated learning the ranchers trade, but a series of strange events, shocking murders, and unholy revelations divert him down another path. This terrifying trajectory puts him directly into the middle of a struggle between monsters, magic, and men. Armed and backed by a militia of ranchers, Salem attempts to combat the creeping tide of evil that threatens to engulf his new home and destroy the people most important to him. Will Salem manage to save his home or have his actions condemn everyone he hopes to save? The Witch Trials, a summer of wolves and season of the witch by SR Roanoke. Available in paperback, Kindle, and audio book versions, look for The Witch Trials by SR Roanoke on Amazon or find it on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash audiobooks. Freak shows were a very popular medium of entertainment in Europe and the United States of America for the major part of the 19th century. These formally organized exhibitions presented people with various physical deformities and anomalies, such as conjoined twins, people with extra limbs or no limbs, midgets, giants, as well as fabricated human exhibits such as cannibals and savages. Living skeletons were part of the freak show's repertoire as well. These were often men with unusually thin bodies. One of the most famous living skeletons or human skeletons as they were sometimes referred to was Claude Ambrose Serrat. Claude Serrat was born in Troy's in the Department of Champagne, France, on the 10th of April 1797. At birth Serrat seemed healthy and normal, but as the child grew he began to display symptoms of bodily wasting. At the age of 10 Serrat was as healthy as other children except that his chest was depressed and he was much weaker. By the age of 14 his frame dwindled away to the skeleton form which it ever afterwards retained. At the age of 28 he was reported to be 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed only 78 pounds or about 35 kilograms. Serrat's case excited great interest in France and a number of medical men offered Serrat's father considerable sums of money to acquire the body of Serrat after his death. But Serrat's father refused, stating that in the event of his son's death he should be peacefully consigned to the cemetery of his native city. In 1825 Serrat travelled to London to be exhibited at the Chinese Gallery in Palm Mall. One of the visitors, William Holm, who went to attend the exhibition, wrote, quote, I was instantly riveted by his amazing emaciation. He seemed another Lazarus come forth without his grave clothes and for a moment I was too consternated to observe more than his general appearance. My eye then first caught the arm as the most remarkable limb from the shoulder to the elbow. It's like an ivory German flute somewhat deepened in colour by age. It is not larger and the skin is of that hue and not having a trace of muscle it is as perfect a cylinder as a writing rule. Amazed by the wasted limbs I was still more amazed by the extraordinary depression of the chest. Its indentation is similar to that which an over-careful mother makes in the pillowed surface of an infant's bed for its repose. Nature has here inverted her own order and turned the convex inwards while the nobler organs, obedient to her will, maintain life by the gentle exercise of their wanted functions in a lower region. Below the ribs the trunk so immediately curves in that the red band of the silk covering though it is only loosely placed seems a tourniquet to constrict the bowels within their prison house and the hip bones being of their natural size the waist is like a wasp's. By this part of the frame we are reminded of some descriptions of the Abstemias and Bedouin Arab of the desert in whom it is said the abdomen seems to cling to the vertebra. If the integument of the bowels can be called flesh it is the only flesh on the body for it seems to have wholly shrunk from the limbs and where the muscles that have not wholly disappeared remain they are also shrunk. He wears shoes to keep cold from his feet which are not otherwise shaped than those of people who have been accustomed to wear tight shoes. His instep is good and by no means so flat as in the generality of tavern waders. His legs are not more ill-shaped than in extremely thin or much waisted persons. The right leg which is somewhat larger than the left is not less than were the legs of the late Mr. Suek the comedian. Contemporary physicians regarded Sera as a case of marquors and early obliteration of the lactial vessels and mesenteric glands. Richard Park, a senior registrar in the Gastroenterology and General Medicine in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, suggests that there is little evidence of malabsorption and the emaciation was likely caused by inadequate oral intake of food. Sirot's daily intake of food amounted to a penny roll and small quantities of wine due to dysphagia which is evident from a description of Sirot by William Hone saying, quote, in eating he masticates his vitals very much, taking small pieces as the passage to the stomach would not admit to any great repletion and in drinking the same precaution is required. Otherwise suffocation would ensue, a slight impediment to his swallowing with dispatch of such morsels are not cut very small, unquote. Sirot also suffered from a number of congenital deformities such as Sprangles' deformity which was first identified in 1891, 66 years after Sirot's exhibition in London. Park believes that Sirot may have been the earliest recorded case of Sprangles' deformity. Sirot may also have had Clipple-File syndrome, a triad of short neck, low posterior hairline and reduced neck movements. A year after his exhibition in Britain, Sirot went back to France where he became part of a traveling circus that arrived in Bordeaux in 1826. His last recorded performance was in 1833 at Dynan in Brittany after which Sirot disappeared from the public eye. Nobody knew where he went, but it was rumored that he went back to London where he died, after which Sir Ashley Cooper performed the necropsy. Sirot's skeleton was allegedly placed in the museum at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, although there are no records of Sirot's Cooper's findings nor of Sirot's skeleton in the College Museum. Writing in 1868, historian Gilbert Richard Redgrave commented, I have not yet been able to ascertain the date of his death. Who knows whether the poor fellow may not still be going the round of the French fairs. It may all have started when female sword fighters performed funerals in the very early days of Rome. There may also be some connection between women participating in chariot racing and women gladiators. The Greek Hurrayan games were pivotal. They were a four-yearly female sports event dedicated to Hera and founded by the legendary queen Hippodemia. They would later become a template for the Olympics and continued for centuries until suppressed by the Christians. Apart from the usual foot races, javelin throwing and so on, the games included female chariot races. According to Paesanias' description of Greece, Hippodemia assembled a group known as the 16 women to organize the Hurrayan Games, during which the women competitors incidentally wore men's clothes. A first-century AD description from Delphi records the two young women competed in races, possibly those at the Sebasta Festival in Naples in the Roman Empire and during Emperor Domitian's reign that were races for women at the Capitoline Games in Rome in 86 AD. There's a tendency to think of gladiators only as men, thanks largely to some epic Hollywood films. However, women were not uncommon competitors in the amphitheaters around the Roman world, playing out the phony fights and grappling in close combat much to the delight and carnal titillation of the audiences. The nearest the modern world has come to it is probably female wrestling. The women were usually warm-up acts, providing light relief in between the top-of-the-bill crowd-pleasing gruesome and gory acts. Women gladiators might have shared their particular stage, for example, with an elephant walking on a tightrope, as at Games arranged by Nero in honor of his mother, Acropina the Younger, whom he had recently murdered. Roman historian Tacitus expresses outrage by female participation, saying, many ladies of distinction, however, and senators disgrace themselves by appearing in the amphitheater. The fact that these were rich women and had no need of menomission or celebrity suggests that they did it for the adrenaline. The historian Dio tells of another spectacle in which Nero, entertaining King Tyrant, it's the first of Armenia, put on a gladiatorial show featuring Ethiopian men, women, and children. Petronius described a woman who fights from a chariot booked for a gladiatorial show at a festival. Women gladiators were just one of many variations on a theme put into the arena to keep the baying crowds entertained. In the 100-day Games staged by Emperor Titus, women competed in a battle between cranes and one between four elephants, just a handful of the 9,000 beasts slaughtered in one single day, and women took part in dispatching them. They must surely have participated in Trajan Games in 108 AD, which lasted 123 days, and in which 11,000 or so animals, both wild and tame were killed and 10,000 gladiators fought. Marshall, in his Dispectaculus, describes women battling in the arena, one dressed as Venus, another as a Venetrix, animal hunter, subdues a lion. Caesar, we have now seen such things done by women's courage, he marvels. Stasius describes in his Sylvae, the sex untrained in weapons recklessly dares men's fights. You would think a band of Amazons was battling by the River Tannis. The Romans would appear to have held their show dogs in higher regard than women's fighters. While some men were incredulous at the thought and sight of women fighting in the arena, Roman audiences seemed to have had no qualm about domestic dogs. In one of the epigrams, Marshall tells the sad story of the hunting dog, Venetrix, Lydia, who was raised amid the amphitheatrials. Trainers at the amphitheaters, she loved her job and was loyal to Dexter, her trainer. Age did not wither her, rather she was killed by a lightning-quick goring from a huge, slovering wild boar. Lydia had no complaints, she could not have asked for a nobler death. Emperor Domitian put on hunts of wild beasts, gladiatorial shows at night by the light of torches and not only combats between men but between women as well. In Dino ads, sometimes he would pit dwarfs and women against each other. Statius sums it all up with, women untrained to the rudas take their stand, daring how recklessly virile battles. The rudas was the wooden sword given to a gladiator when he was freed after a series of conspicuous victories. Marshall praises Titus for showing women fighting like hercules. Juvenal sardonically describes Mevia hunting wild boars in the arena, holding her spear, breasts exposed. Elsewhere, he was more scathing. How shameful is a woman wearing a helmet who shuns femininity and loves brute force. If a sail is held, if your wife's effects, how proud you will be of her belt and arm pads and plumes and her half-length left leg shingard. Or if instead she prefers a different form of combat, how pleased you will be when the girl you love sells off her grieves. Hear her grunts while she practices thrusts from the trainer, wilting under the weight of the helmet. Nicholas of Damascus mentions women gladiators. Nero dealt with annoying senators by threatening to have their wives thrown into the arena to do combat. Marriage guidance at its best. In addition to performing, women were also, if the men are to be believed, seduced by the sheer sexuality exuded by some male gladiators. Faustina, wife of Marcus Aurelius, was smitten by a gladiator and finally confessed her passion to her husband. The upshot was that the gladiator was slain and Faustina was made to bathe in his blood and then to copulate with her husband, still covered in blood. Much earlier, juvenile highlights this libido for gladiators and his tirade against women, which in turn chimes with Ovid's assertion that some elite women were partial to a bit of rough and with Patronius, who in his satricon, has creases describe how some well-to-do women burn with desire for men of the lower orders, saying, There are some women you see whose lust is triggered only at the sight of slaves or messenger boys with their tunics belted right up high. Gladiators in the arena, a mule driver covered with dust, an actor in the shameful exposure of this performance, that is what it takes to get some females heated up." These women even go so far as to lick the wounds of the flogged. Some women bribed guards to allow them access to the gladiator bullets. Excavations in the army of the Pompey Gladiatorial Barracks unearthed 18 skeletons in two rooms, presumably of gladiators, but they were not alone. There were also the bones of a woman wearing gold and expensive jewelry, and an emerald studded necklace. She clearly was not there just to serve the rations. The gladiator, usually a slave and inhabiting the lowest level of Roman society, was seen as something of a fascinating paradox with magical qualities. His blood was used as a remedy for impotence, an aphrodisiac, and any sensible bride would have her hair parted by a spear to ensure a fertile married life, ideally one that had been dipped in the blood of a defeated and dead gladiator. Medical authorities had it that drinking a gladiator's blood or eating his liver cured epileptics. Only gladiators, it seems, were given vasectomies. Despite their lowly station, some became celebrities and were depicted in mosaics and sculptures. On lamps and tombstones, graffiti was scrawled by them and about them. Crescent's the netter of young girls by night. Gladiators were all the rage, but even in victory, the gladiator remained what he was – infamous and a slave, unable to escape his ranking alongside criminals, whores, actors, dancers, and similar so-called dregs. The paradox and irony were not lost on torturion and despectaculus. Men surrender them their souls and weapon their bodies to. Archaeological evidence for the sexualization of gladiators has been found in the shape of a multitude of objects depicting phalluses, a phallus-shaped terracotta gladiatorial helmet, a stone relief from Beneventum, showing a heavily armed gladiator in combat with a huge phallus. The word gladius, sword, carries unmistakable sexual connotations and is sometimes slang for phallus. The famous bronze figurine from Pompey shows a menacing gladiator using his sword to fend off a dog-like beast which is growing out of his huge erect phallus. Juvenile relates with contempt the sorry tale of Epia, the senator's wife, who ran off with a gladiator. And what were the youthful charms which captivated Epia? What does she see in him to allow herself to be called a she gladiator? Her dear Sergius had already begun to shave. A wounded arm gave promise of military discharge, and there were sundry deformities in his face, a scar caused by the helmet, a huge wane upon his nose, a nasty humor always trickling from his eye. But then he was a gladiator. It is this that transformed these fellows into hyacinths. It was this that she preferred to children and to country, to sister and to husband. What these women love is the sword. In 11 AD, an attempt to ban senators and women performing in amphitheaters and on the stage was unsuccessful. The law decreed that no female of free birth of less than 20 years of age and for no male of free birth of less than 25 years of age to pledge himself as a gladiator or hire out his services. In 19 AD, the tabula larinas prohibited the gladiatorial recruitment of daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of senators or of knights under the age of 20. Nearly 200 years later, in 200 AD, Septimus Severus barred any female from fighting in the arena. Because, as Dial reports, women took part vying with one another most fiercely with the result that jokes were made about other very distinguished women as well. Therefore, it was henceforth forbidden for any freeborn woman no matter what her origin to fight in single combat. This came about after Severus' visit to the Antiochene Olympic Games, where he would have seen traditional Greek female athletics. His attempt to impress the mob in Rome with a similar extravaganza was met with derision from the crowds in the Colosseum. In September 2000, the Museum of London announced that they had discovered the grave of a female gladiator from the first century AD in Southwark, the first ever to be found, although it is hotly disputed that it is actually a woman gladiator. A shard of pottery has been discovered with the inscription, Veracunda the Woman Gladiator, Lucius the Gladiator. But this may just be the paraphernalia typical of a woman who was married to or a mistress of a gladiator. The British Museum has a first or second century AD marble relief commemorating the release from service of two female gladiators with stage names Amazon and Achilla. It was found in holocarnassus, modern Bodrum in Turkey. They are armed with swords and shields and are advancing toward each other to attack. The gladiatrics on the right had lost her head, damaged, not decapitated. They are standing on a platform and below on each side a specter can be seen. It is inscribed above and on the platform in Greek with the two names and the word apollothesan, telling the fight was a draw. They have the same equipment as male gladiators, but without helmets and are heavily armed with greaves, loincloths, and belt. They carry a mid-sized rectangular shield and a dagger in their right hand which is protected by the manica or arm protection. The galleg armlets of both women are at their backs on the floor. Their hair is cropped in the style of a slave and their breasts are bare. Such a spectacle must have been prestigious for it to be commemorated in this way. An epigraph from Ostia praises Hustalianus as the first to arm women in the history of the local games. A bronze statuette, now in the museum for Kunst and Geveterb, Hamburg, which has always been thought of as representing a female athlete holding a strigel, may actually depict a female gladiator, a threax, a kind of gladiator who fought with a short curved dagger, a weapon that can be confused with a strigel. It seems likely that female gladiators came to the arena by a number of different routes. Some would have been slaves coerced into the profession by their masters, the Lannister. Others would have volunteered and received the requisite training in the gladiator schools. Others still may have been just thrown in there as punishment, damned to the sword. Women would not have faced men. Rather, they would fight from chariots with the bows and arrows characteristic of the Amazons, Diana, and Atlanta. They may have been pitched against dwarfs, presumably the intention being to attempt to match physically like with like. It is evidence that not all gladiatrists, trained in the elutists like their male counterparts, but in the Colesia Levenum paramilitary associations set up to train free men and women in martial arts. Three Latin funerary inscriptions indicate female participation in these schools include one for Valeria Lusanda, who died aged 17. And yes, I know I butchered just about every non-English word in this story, but you're not paying for this, and I don't care. If you feel that strongly about it, you can come and throw me to the lions. Up next on Weird Darkness, in the heat of summer 2008, a mysterious creature washed ashore on a beach in Montauk, Long Island, sending shock waves through the community. What began as a simple sighting by a local resident soon exploded into a media frenzy, with wild theories and speculation running rampant. Are you a member of the Darkness Syndicate? The Darkness Syndicate is a private membership where you receive commercial-free episodes of the Weird Darkness podcast and radio show. Behind the scenes, video updates about future projects and events I'm working on. You can share your own opinions on ideas to help me decide upon Weird Darkness contests and events. You can hear audiobooks I'm narrating before even the publishers or authors get to hear them. You also receive bonus audio of other projects I'm working on outside of Weird Darkness. You get all of these benefits and more, starting at only $5 per month. Join the Weird Darkness Syndicate at WeirdDarkness.com The following was written and posted by TheGhostInMyMachine, which you can find at TheGhostInMyMachine.com. There's a truly astonishing array of Weird Nature pages on Wikipedia, the kind of pages that prove that the truth is often stranger than fiction. One of my favorites, though, it's the brief and puzzling entry on the so-called Montauk Monster, the mysterious creature carcass that washed up on a beach in Montauk Long Island, New York during the summer of 2008. It ultimately wasn't that mysterious. There are numerous reasonable explanations for what exactly the thing may have been, and no evidence at all to suggest that it was anything other than what those reasonable explanations suggested. But for about a month in 2008, folks couldn't get enough of this strange story and the many outlandish theories floating around about it. The paper trail for the story begins July 23rd, 2008, although the story itself, allegedly at least, began some 11 days earlier on July 12th, a Saturday for the curious. That day, Montauk resident Jenna Hewitt, then 26 years old and a handful of friends, reportedly spotted the beached creature as they were searching for a place to sit down on Ditch Plains Beach. One of the group had brought a digital camera. Hewitt said, which she borrowed in order to snap a few pictures. She wouldn't learn about Hewitt and her friends until a bit later, though. On July 23rd, the story that ran in the print edition of the East Hampton Independent, the first outlet to publish anything about the creature, simply stated in glorious, intentionally overwrought prose that residents feared the worst when a malformed carcass washed up on the beach at Ditch Plains in Montauk, formenting all manner of speculation and, and, terror, not to mention, revulsion." A photograph accompanied the piece, printed in black and white and captioned with the following, this was found on the beach in Montauk last week. Can you say, you? The piece, which is very funny, by the way, floated a handful of speculations about what the creature could have been, from the fanciful Satan to the substantially more likely, a raccoon that had degraded due to, you know, being in the water for so long, per Larry Penney, director of natural resources for the town of East Hampton. But it wasn't a long nor a particularly in-depth one, and that probably would have been that, if it weren't for Gawker. I'm talking about old Gawker here, the one that shuddered in 2016, not the later iteration. Full disclosure, I used to work for BDG, which purchased Gawker at auction in 2018 and relaunched it in 2021. I was long gone by the time the relaunch happened, though, so I have no insight into the inner workings of Gawker 2.0, which has also been shuttered as of February 2023, so there's that. At the time, the site was only around five years old, and new media was in its post-random stuff, with maybe a paragraph of description and call it a day phase. And that is exactly what Gawker did when the photograph of the strange creature ended up in their inbox. They ran a very short piece, consisting only of the image and a short paragraph under the headline, Dead Monster Washes a Shore in Montauk on July 29th. It was filed under the tag, Good luck with your hell, demons. Gawker may still have been in his early years, but it had a major reach even then, and as a result of the site's quick take on the beached Montauk creature, the story spread far and wide. A wide array of both local and national outlets picked it up, as did blogger after blogger. In fact, following Gawker's use of the word monster to describe the creature, one such blogger coined the name by which it's now known. On July 29th, cryptozoologist Lauren Coleman concluded his short post at the Cryptomundo blog with the sentence, For now it remains the Montauk monster. The name stuck. It was around this time that Jenna Hewitt entered the picture. In a piece published on July 31st at Newsday, which primarily serves the Long Island counties NASA and Suffolk, where Montauk itself is located, she recounted her tale of spotting and photographing the Montauk monster. We didn't know what it was, she told the outlet. We joked that maybe it was something from Plum Island. The picture it seemed, the one that had taken the Internet by storm, was hers. She confirmed this to be the case in an interview that aired on local Hamptons program The Juice on August 1st. By Plum Island, by the way, she met Plum Island Animal Disease Center, a federal research facility located on the titular island in Gardner's Bay, not too far away from Montauk itself. It's part of the directorate for science and technology arm of the Department of Homeland Security and runs in partnership with the Department of Agriculture. The reason Hewitt joked about it is because of what it studies, livestock, specifically foreign animal diseases in livestock. The implication in Hewitt's comment was that the creature could have been a test subject from Plum Island or perhaps an experiment, one that had gone wrong a little bit sideways. Naturally, the idea gained quite a amount of traction with conspiracy theorists, particularly since the monster hadn't yet been satisfactorily identified. In fact, a huge amount of information about both the story and the creature was then and remains still not quite confirmed, although we've got a few ideas, some better than others. One of the many news day pieces published about the Montauk monster, for instance, suggested it could be anything from a waterlogged dog to a movie prop or something similar made of latex. A second Gawker post published the same day as the first, proposed that it might be a marketing stunt for a cartoon network show called Cryptids Are Real, but this proposal was debunked the following day by New York Magazine. Perhaps most be funnelingly, claims began circulating that Montauk monster had something to do with the film Splinterheads, which was shooting in Montauk at the time. Those claims were quickly debunked as well, however. But for all the talk of the Montauk during the summer of 2008, there wasn't really a satisfactory conclusion to the whole thing. Or much of a conclusion at all, really. Several experts made appearances in the news coverage, including paleozoologist Darren Naish and wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, all of whom arrived at more or less the same explanation that the monster was really just a heavily waterlogged and decayed raccoon. Notably, this is the same extremely plausible theory that was floated in the very first article published about the creature, the one from the July 23 issue of the East Ampton Independent. Ultimately, we just sort of came right back around to where we started. Still though, hot Montauk monster summer remains a favorite on the books, and even though there is no thrilling conclusion, the fact that it was such a low-stakes mystery was sort of what made it fun in the first place. On one level, I suspect we all knew that it was probably just a dead mammal that had spent a little too much time in the water, rather than a mutant or a science experiment gone wrong. The Plum Island facility, by the way, is not long for this world. In fact, by 2008, when the Montauk monster was taking the world by storm, plans had already been put into motion to retire it in favor of a newer facility. Department of Homeland Security had made the announcement almost three years earlier in September of 2005. The new facility, the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility, subsequently completed construction in Manhattan, Kansas in 2022. The weirdest thing to me about the whole story though is this. The Montauk monster was reportedly removed from Ditch Plains Beach by an unknown person not associated with any local agency or cleanup crew the same day it was found, and no one knows where it went. Not really, at least. Per Jenna Hewitt, speaking with Newsday on July 31, 2008, a guy took it and put it in the woods in his backyard. He has a big backyard. The thing is rotting there. But she declined to identify who this guy with the big backyard was, and no one has reported anything else about it. To be perfectly honest, you could use that point to make the argument that the whole thing may have been a hoax in the first place. Either it was a fake latex creature, or the photo was a fabrication in and of itself. Photography experts have said that the photo didn't bear the hallmarks of a Photoshop project and the raccoon argument is pretty solid too. But still, what if? What if? Thanks for listening, and be sure to stick around for the bloopers at the end. 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 and follow me on social media through the Weird Darkness website. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find information on sponsors you heard about during the show, listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, get the email newsletter, find my other podcasts. Also on the site you can visit the store for Weird Darkness t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise. Plus, it's where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, addiction, or thoughts of harming yourself or others. And if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell of your own, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories on Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. Pazuzu, the demon the exorcist made famous, is by Austin Harvey for all that's interesting. The Blackburn Cult is by Troy Taylor from his book, Taking of Serpents, American Cults, Messiahs, and Mad Men. The haunting on Carolina Street is a conglomeration of several articles I found and I've linked to all of them in the show notes. Surah, the living skeleton, is by Kashyyyk Potalary for amusing planet. Gladiators of the fairer sex is by Paul Crystal for ancient origins, and he probably knows better than me how to pronounce some of those names. Hot Montauk Summer is by TheGhostInMyMachine.com Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright, Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Proverbs 10, verse 7, The memory of the righteous will be a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. And a final thought. A man is not old until his regrets take the place of his dreams. John Barrymore. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. What began as a simple sighting by a local resident soon exploded. By a local resident exploded. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, because of this, few likenesses of other demons, such as Aarishkigal, the Queen of the Dead, were even made. Am I even saying Aarishkigal correctly? That is a weird-looking word. That began when they moved into what became demonic possession. That began when they f... possession. Let's stumble over the easy words today, shall we? Richard Park, a senior registrar in Gastroenterology and General Medicine in Glasgow, Royal Hood for... glass... glass... I don't know what it is. Glasgow or Glasgow. Every time I see the word, I want to say it one way and it's always wrong. She studied at Sheffield, Hallam University, and at the Glasgow School of Art. Go. It's a long O sound. I don't know why I can never remember that. They were a four-yearly female sports event dedicated to Hera and founded by the legendary Queen Hepademia. Hepademia? Hepademia. Can you imagine going through life with a name like Hepademia? If you're not fat, you certainly sound like you are. It's the wedding of King Pyrethois of the Lapis to Hepatomaya. Hepatomaya. Oh, Hepatomaya. All right, a little better, but not much. Dedicated to Hera and founded by the legendary Queen Hepatomaya. Hepademia. Hepatomaya. Founded by the legendary Queen Hepademi... Hepademi... Hepademiah. Marshall in his despec... Marshall in his despec... specta... specta-cula. Who was raised amid the amphi... Who was raised amid the amphi... amphithetrials. And with Petronius, who in his satir... Petronius, who in his satiracon has creases. Petronius, who in his satiracon has creases describe how some... It is inscribed above and on the platform in Greek with the two names and the word apu-loothesyn and the word apel- apel... apelhothesson... apelhothesson. and the word apel... apelhothesson with the two names and the word pulloofe- with the two names and the word apil... apu... with the word apelulthesson. with the word Apolluthesen and the word Apolluthesen. An epigraph from Astia praises Hustillianus. Hey weirdos, be sure to click the like button and subscribe to this channel and click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos. I post videos seven days a week 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 slash listen.