 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. 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... In 1908, Charles Luard found his wife Carolyn shot dead at a neighbor's country house. But who killed her? We're all familiar with it, thanks to Steven Spielberg, the concept of a close encounter of the third kind. That's when you not only see a UFO but you also see the extraterrestrials. The fourth kind of encounter is when you are abducted. A close encounter of the fifth kind is when you communicate with the alien, either verbally or telepathically. But then there is a close encounter of the sixth kind. The kind of encounter not even die hard ufologists and lovers of anything extraterrestrial want to experience, because nobody comes back from it alive. But first, Madame Delphine LaLaurie, made popular by Cathy Bates in TV's American Horror Story Coven, was a first-class monster. A figure of high society, she was well known for her mistreatment of slaves, but no one knew just how sick she truly was. So much so, that even after leaving the mansion and it burning down, there are still terrors taking place there, thanks to Madame LaLaurie, the monster of Royal Street. We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome to the show. And 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 your contests, connect with me on social media, listen to my other podcasts like Retro Radio, Old Time Radio in the Dark, Church of the Undead, and a classic 1950s sci-fi-style podcast called Auditory Anthology. Listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, plus you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you are 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. Delphine LaLaurie was born Marie Delphine McCarty on March 19, 1787 in New Orleans, Louisiana, as one of five children in Louisiana's Spanish occupied territory. Her father, Louis Barthelamy McCarthy, was an Irish immigrant and her mother, Marie Jean, was a French woman. Louis shortened the family's surname from McCarthy to McCarthy, and together they all immigrated to the United States in 1730. They lived in the whole Creole community, and her cousin, Augustine de McCarty, became mayor of New Orleans from 1815 to 1820. Remaining family members were wealthy merchants, army officials, and slavers. Delphine was beautiful, and men were quite interested in her. When she hit the tender age of 13, it wasn't hard for her family to find a suitable groom for her. She was married in June 1800 to a high-ranking Spanish official by the name of Don Ramón de López Iangüello. A major part of New Orleans was under Spanish occupation, so when Don was appointed Consul General of Spain, Delphine became one of the most powerful women in the state. In 1804, Don Ramón received a letter with a royal command stating that the young Spanish officer was to quote, take his place at court as befitting his new position, unquote. Don Ramón and a very pregnant Delphine departed the United States and paused in Havana, Cuba. While there, Don Ramón became very ill and died just days before his daughter was born. She was named Marie Delphine Borja López Ianguala de Candeleria, but became best known in later years as Borquita, meaning Little Borja, from the fact that she was named after her father's grandmother. Widowed and with a newborn baby, Delphine returned to New Orleans where she lived comfortably in her mansion. In 1808, she married a second time to one of the richest men in the region, who was also a well-settled merchant, banker and lawyer. Jean Blanc bought them a house on Royal Street, which became known as Villa Blanc. He and Delphine had four children, Marie Louise Pauline, Louise Marie Laurie, Marie Louise Jean and Jean Pierre Pauline Blanc. Delphine remained a figure of high society, spending time with other socialites. Her marriage to Jean Blanc did not last long, albeit longer than her marriage to Don Ramón. In 1816, Jean Blanc died after just eight years of marriage. She remained a widow for the next nine years, and that was when she met Dr. Leonard Louise Nicole Lallori. He had come to New Orleans from Villeneuve-sur-Lotte, France and was ready to set up practice. Although he was much younger than Delphine, twenty years, the couple were married on June 12th, 1825. As a busy doctor, Leonard was not at Delphine's side very often. In 1831, Delphine purchased a three-story mansion at 1140 Royal Street in the French Quarter, with attached slave quarters. She lived there with Leonard and two of her daughters, as her other children had moved on and married, while maintaining her central position in New Orleans society. The Lallorries maintained several slaves in their attached quarters. While out in public, Delphine was often observed being generally polite to Black people and even concerned for her slaves' health, she had even freed two of her slaves, Jean Louise in 1819 and DeVence in 1832. However, other recounts of her treatment of slaves was not so kind. For example, British social theorist and wig writer Harriet Martinau wrote in 1838 that she had witnessed Delphine's slaves to be singularly haggard and wretched. She also wrote that public rumors about Delphine's mistreatment of her slaves were so widespread that a local lawyer had to visit her home to remind her of the laws for the upkeep of slaves. However, during his visit, he found no evidence of wrongdoing or mistreatment of slaves. Beyond the treatment of her slaves, Delphine was having marital problems. Neighbors reported hearing loud arguments and noises coming from the home. In 1834, the couple officially called it quits and Leonard moved out of the house. It is said that after three tragic and failed marriages, Delphine went mad. Rumors spread about Delphine's slaves living in constant fear as she mistreated them a lot. One rumor claimed that she kept her 70-year-old cook chained to the stove, starving. Another claimed she kept secret slaves for her husband to practice Haitian voodoo medicine on. Two reports of mistreatment are on record as actually being true. One slave, terrified of punishment from Delphine, threw himself out of a third-story window, preferring death over torture. The third-story window was then cemented shut and remains so to this day. The other report was regarding a 12-year-old slave girl named Leah. Leah was brushing Delphine's hair and pulled just a little too hard once. Delphine flew into a rage and whipped the girl. To escape for their punishment, the girl climbed out onto the roof where she leapt to her death. Delphine was witnessed burying Leah's corpse, and police were forced to fine her $300 and made her sell nine of her slaves. However, mistreatment of slaves by the wealthy and socially connected was not a matter for the police at the time, so they didn't flinch when she bought back those nine slaves. Then on the afternoon of April 10, 1834, the LaLaurie mansion went up in flames when police and marshals barged into the house to get the fire under control. They found a 70-year-old slave woman chained to the stove while Delphine frantically tried to save her valuables. The police set the woman loose, and she led them up to the attic where it was believed that slaves would go and never return. There, they found seven slaves, tied with spiked iron collars. As the authorities were releasing the slaves, they discovered that their bodies were badly mutilated with their limbs deformed, and in some cases, their intestines had been pulled out of their bodies and tied to them. They also discovered discarded corpses and mutilated body parts. Other slaves were found chained in their quarters. Once the fire had been extinguished, the 70-year-old woman confessed to setting the fire because she was afraid of the punishment Delphine was going to give her. Those that had helped free the chained up slaves were indignant, and on April 15th a mob charged the LaLaurie mansion and began to wreck it. They were only dispersed when a company of U.S. regulars of the regular army were called out by the helpless sheriff. During the chaos, Delphine and Leonard took to their carriage and escaped the city with their Creole Black coachman Bastien driving. It was written in 1838 by Harriet Martinau that they fled to a waterfront and boarded a schooner. They traveled to Mobile, Alabama, and then to Paris. While the LaLaurie's made their escape, a mob of nearly 4,000-tounds people ransacked their mansion, smashing windows and tearing down doors. The slaves were taken to a local police station where they detailed the atrocities carried out on them. They told tales of Delphine performing medical experiments on them, including removing their skin, breaking bones and setting them into peculiar positions, amputating their limbs. They were forced to wear spiked collars, spoke of an exposed brain being stirred with a stick, and of a friend having their lips sewn shut after Delphine placed animal feces in their mouth. The slaves were then presented for public viewing, which fuelled the rage already burning within the townspeople. By the time it was over, the LaLaurie mansion was in ruins. Neither Delphine nor Leonard ever returned to New Orleans. She was respected and lived a good life in Paris until the day she died. Her death is somewhat of a mystery, however, with some claiming that she died during a boar hunting accident, others claiming she secretly returned to New Orleans to live a secret life of anonymity. Looking through official documents, you'll find that Paris has recorded her death as December 7, 1849. Unsettling, however, is the old, cracked copper plate found in the late 1930s in the New Orleans St. Louis Cemetery, bearing the name LaLaurie Madame Delphine McCarty. The inscription in French claims that Madame LaLaurie died in Paris on December 7, 1842, seven years earlier. To this day, the remains of Madame Delphine LaLaurie have never been found. The horrifying reign of Madame Delphine over her slaves did not end with her death. Wait until you hear what happened to the property later on and what people saw in the shadows. Plus, in 1908, Charles Luard found his wife Carolyn shot dead at a neighbor's country house. But who killed her? These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns. ***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 for my type 2 diabetes aren't going to do me much good if I finish each meal with ice cream or cheesecake. I kinda 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. Imagine, if you will, being a young girl, a student at an all-girls school in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was a new school, a primary school for young African American ladies, a place to learn and grow. But unfortunately, that's not all that would happen there. You'd be physically assaulted, running to your teacher with your sleeve rolled up, showing your forearm scratched and bruised. You can't help but cry, and when the teacher would ask, who did this to you, the only thing you could say was, that woman. What woman would do such a thing? Who or rather what was in that school? What if I told you that the school was once known as the LaLaurie Mansion? The LaLaurie Mansion, located at 1140 Royal Street in the French Quarter, was once home to Madame Delphine LaLaurie. On the afternoon of April 10th, 1834, the LaLaurie Mansion went up in flames, and during the chaos, LaLaurie escaped the city with her Creole black coachman, Bastien, driving. And as mentioned earlier, they traveled to Mobile, Alabama, and then to Paris, and then were kind of at a loss as to exactly where LaLaurie truly did end up. The mansion itself sat in decay and disrepair for the next several years. Once renovations began in order to restore the home, more horrors were discovered. Skeletal remains were uncovered under floorboards and in the yard. Those who walked past the building often remarked that they could hear the cries and screams of agony coming from within. There were even reports of ghost sightings appearing and then disappearing from the iron-lined balconies. The renovations made it possible to turn the mansion into an all-girls primary school for African Americans. Teachers became concerned, though, that Madame LaLaurie's ghost was haunting the school. Girls were being attacked, bruises and whip marks, the whip being one of LaLaurie's preferred devices for use on her slaves when she was alive. The mansion was converted into apartments. Unfortunately, the previous tenants hadn't left and they made their presence known. New tenants had confrontations with the previous and never stayed for long. One such confrontation included a resident being attacked by what appeared to be a naked man bound in chains. Another resident woke to find a dark figure, presumably a woman, standing over a baby's crib. The mansion is home to endless cries, moans, screams and even phantom footsteps. But it was never just minor assaults and scares as one man discovered in 1894. The man had lived in one of the converted apartments when he was brutally murdered. His home had been ransacked as though somebody had been searching for something. His death appeared to be the result of a robbery gone wrong. What's interesting, though, is how the man had spoken to his friends and neighbors. He confided in them that he believed he had a demon in his house, a demon who would not rest until the man was dead. Could this have been a robbery gone wrong or the result of a robber being influenced by the demon in the apartment? We will probably never know. The mansion has passed from owner to owner over the years, probably the most noteworthy being actor Nicholas Cage, who purchased it in 2006 for $3.4 million. The property was foreclosed, however, in 2009 and was then purchased by Michael Whalen, an energy trader from Houston. Whalen took up the task of renovating and restoring the house and he visits it about once a month. To those who love to visit a good haunted house, I do have some bad news for you. Since Whalen purchased the LaLaurie mansion, he has not allowed any paranormal investigators inside, nor has he allowed any tours. Fortunately, for those who still wish to see it, ghost city tours of New Orleans does provide a few options that will take you to the house, just not inside. Carolyn and Major General Charles Luard were upstanding members of their community in Kent, England. Then tragedy struck, robbing them of the life they had built and enjoyed together. First, Carolyn was found murdered at a neighbor's country home in Seal Charred Kent. Just weeks later, Charles took his own life. And though there has been much speculation, the case widely known as the Seal Charred Murder was never conclusively solved. Charles Luard was a former military man, a golfer and a local politician who had founded the patriotic party. Carolyn Luard was a well-liked friend, neighbor and frequent volunteer for charitable causes. The parents of two grown sons, the couple was settling into the golden years of their life. Their social standing as upper-class members of late Victorian society made their untimely deaths particularly shocking and notable. The series of events began on August 24, 1908, a typical summer's day for 58-year-old Carolyn and 69-year-old Charles. They left their home together on foot at 2.30 p.m. Charles was headed to the golf club to retrieve his clubs while Carolyn was planning to enjoy some exercise before returning to the house for afternoon tea with a friend. At 3 p.m. they parted ways at a particular gate. She headed through the gate and down a path that would take her through the woods, past their neighbors, mostly unused summer house and back to their home. Charles traveled onward to the golf club. Little did the couple know that would be the last time they ever bid each other farewell. Various townspeople saw the Major General over the next 35 minutes as he made his way to the club. At or around 4.05 p.m. after leaving the club, the local vicar, driving in the opposite direction, promised him a ride home after completing an errand. The reverend made good on his word, driving by again and picking up Charles at 4.20 p.m. and depositing him at his home at 4.25. Arriving at home, Charles was surprised to find Mrs. Stewart, the friend Carolyn had promised to host for tea, waiting patiently for his wife's return. Upon realizing Carolyn was missing, Charles set off in search of her at 4.30 p.m. 45 minutes later, his search ended when he found her lifeless body on the veranda of their neighbor's summer house. She had been shot in the back of the head twice and her purse and rings were missing. No cartridges could be found. In fact, there was no evidence of the killer at all, save for a few footprints. In the aftermath of Carolyn's murder, many strangers and self-proclaimed experts determined that Charles had killed his wife, despite his tight alibi. He could account for his whereabouts, though, at 3.15 p.m., the estimated time of the murder based on the accounts of a neighbor and a gardener, both of whom heard three shots fired in the general direction of the summer house. Furthermore, the Major General offered up all three of the revolvers that he owned to the authorities and none matched the bullet holes found in Carolyn's skull. Still, rumors proclaiming Charles' guilt spread. Some believed that Carolyn's missing rings had in fact been taken by Charles to throw police off of his trail. Soon, Charles was receiving hate mail from people vehemently accusing him of his wife's murder. As the days progressed with no new evidence leading to any likely suspect, Charles' hope of finding Carolyn's killer dwindled. Devastated and a pariah in his community, he put his home up for sale. A member of Parliament, Colonel Ward, offered Charles a place to stay. On September 17, as soon as the official inquest had ended, Colonel Ward collected the Major General and took him home. Additionally, the Lord's son, stationed in South Africa, had finally gotten news of the family tragedy. He was en route to England to be with his father the following day. On the morning of September 18, the day his son was due to arrive, Charles LeWard woke up, showered and walked to the local train station. There, he hid in the bushes beside the track, then committed suicide by jumping in front of a passing train. The General Major met his tragic end less than a month after his wife met hers. LeWard's suicide fanned the flames of the Seal Chart murder mystery. In the ensuing years, investigators came to believe the crime was committed by someone that Carolyn knew rather than by a random passerby. They thought her rings had been taken in an attempt to mislead the authorities to the true motive of the murder. In 1914, Sir Sidney Orm Rowan Hamilton, who went on to serve as Chief Justice of Bermuda in the 1930s, wrote a book about the unsolved murder that explored that line of thinking. He put forth the notion that Carolyn's killer was a man named John Dickman. Dickman was sentenced to death in 1910 for murdering a man on a train. Rowan Hamilton asserted that Dickman was connected to Carolyn LeWard through an advertisement the former placed in the Times. He believed that Carolyn responded to John Dickman's advertisement asking for financial help by sending him a check, which Dickman then forged, possibly by changing the amount. Upon discovering the forgery, Carolyn contacted the man and arranged to meet him without telling her husband first. So the theory goes, Dickman then murdered Carolyn at his meeting to cover his tracks. This is just a theory, however, and has never been conclusively proven. To this day, the SEAL chart murder case remains unsolved. We are all familiar with, thanks to Steven Spielberg, the concept of a close encounter of the third kind. That's when you not only see a UFO, but you also see the extraterrestrials. The fourth kind of encounter is when you are abducted. The close encounter of the fifth kind is when you communicate with the alien, either verbally or telepathically. But then there is a close encounter of the sixth kind. The kind of encounter not even die hard ufologists and lovers of everything extraterrestrial want to experience, because nobody comes back from it alive. That's up next on Weird Darkness. Remember staying up late on a Friday or Saturday night, either at home or at a friend's house, and watching your local TV station's horror host presenting a terrible B-movie with aliens, monsters, ghosts, alien monster ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and all other kinds of crazy, creepy characters? Those were fun nights, weren't they? Well, that's what the Weird O Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com has to offer, all day, every day. Thanks to our friends at the Monster Channel, you can visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Watch Party right after listening to this episode and immediately be entertained by a horror host and horrible movie, or should I say horror-a-bull movie. And not only can you watch the B-movies and horror hosts streaming there 24-7, but once a month we all gather together to watch a movie and talk about it in the chatroom on that same page. Get your frights and funnies on the Weird O Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com. While most people who witness a UFO, even those who claim to have been abducted, live to tell their tales, others are not so lucky. For some, these seemingly out-of-this-world encounters appear to have killed them, either at the scene of the sighting or in the immediate hours or days following. These deaths are referred to as close encounters of the sixth kind, and there are more than you might think. Zygmina Damsky, for example, was found dead in June 1980 on top of a large pile of coal in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, having been missing for five days. There were no cool marks on his clothes, as if he had been placed on the coal pile from above, and there was also the presence of an unidentified gel on the back of his neck. Frederick Valentik literally appeared to vanish into thin air in October 1978 as he was flying his small aircraft over the Bass Strait in Australia. He had reported to the radio tower of seeing a strange metallic object flying above him. His final moments were caught on the radio exchange recording at the tower. It is truly one of the most harrowing yet intriguing cases on record, not least as Valentik remains missing, and the case remains unsolved. The incident has been examined and investigated by multiple UFO and aviation researchers, and Timothy Goode included an in-depth analysis in his book Beyond Top Secret. We'll move on to the Valentik case in detail shortly, as well as several other similar encounters. First, though, we will turn our attention to the Heineck scale and what it means. J. Allen Heineck is an important figure in the UFO community, even now, decades after his death. Not only was he one of the first serious scientists to show a level of respect and interest in the UFO phenomena, despite his initial skepticism, but he also devised a system with which researchers and investigators could better log and catalog such sightings. His research and theories resulted in the Heineck scale, something that is still utilized by ufologists and researchers today. Heineck's scale originally had three levels, but as more and more research into the UFO phenomena is carried out, more extensions were added. In short, the Heineck scale is as follows. A close encounter of the first kind is a visual sighting. A close encounter of the second kind is where there is some kind of interference, perhaps electrical, or there is damage to vegetation or the ground where the event took place. A close encounter of the third kind is where an actual pilot or an animated creature is seen during a UFO sighting. A close encounter of the fourth kind is where a person is abducted by the UFO. The close encounter of the fifth kind is one where communication takes place between humans and extraterrestrial intelligence. This includes the much reported telepathic communication. A close encounter of the sixth kind is where a death of a human or an animal, including cattle mutilations, has resulted during or because of a UFO event. A close encounter of the seventh kind is the creation of an alien human hybrid. And a close encounter of the eighth kind is a reference to any individual's unique event that may include several of the first kinds of encounters together. On the evening of October 21, 1978, 20-year-old Fred Volentic set out in his Cessna 182L aircraft from Amoriban Airport in Victoria, Australia on a routine training flight. A relatively inexperienced pilot, Volentic had about 150 hours of flying time to his credit, but he was also qualified to fly at night as well as day. We should perhaps note that Volentic had drawn the attention of aviation authorities several times prior to this fatal flight that evening in 1978. For example, there was considered prosecution for flying blind into a cloud as well as receiving a warning for a flying in restricted airspace. What's more, he had only his private pilot license for a little over a year, having obtained it in September 1977. He left the runway just short of 6.20 pm, a little over 45 minutes later what was a non-eventful flight changed drastically. At 7.06 pm at an altitude of around 4,500 feet, Volentic would radio the control tower in Melbourne asking if there were any other aircraft in his airspace. After the control tower replied that no traffic was in the same airspace as he was, he would report that he could clearly see an unidentified aircraft approaching. He would further describe that it appeared to have four bright landing lights. Volentic would continue that the aircraft had passed over the top of his vehicle at high speed, so fast that he couldn't focus on the details of its shape. After several moments, according to the tapes of the transmissions, Volentic would offer, It seems to me that he is playing some sort of game, he's flown over me two or three times at speeds I can't identify. And then things turned even stranger. The control tower continued to request information about the strange craft Volentic claimed he could see. At 7.09 pm, three minutes after his first contacting the control tower, Volentic would state with a distinct sound of panic in his voice that the vehicle was not an aircraft before his microphone remained open for several seconds. He would further offer that the object appeared to be a long shape, before stating, It seems like it's stationary. What I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me. Also, it's got a green light and a sort of metallic, it's all shiny on the outside. As the time turned to 7.12 pm, the control tower asked Volentic where he was intending to fly to. He would reply that he was headed to King Island, before continuing that the strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again, it is hovering and it's not an aircraft. Around 30 seconds later, after the open microphone captured the scraping metal sounds, the transmission ended. Shortly after, an extensive search would get underway. It would last four days and would involve RAAF and civilian aircraft. In total, over a thousand square miles were searched, but no sign of the wreckage or Volentic himself was ever found. Even the radio survival beacon that was on board the plane failed to identify its location. However, further investigations into the incident would leave people divided as to what happened. Did Volentic have the misfortune to run into a UFO or did he simply become disoriented due to his inexperience? According to Timothy Goode, those taking part in the search were asked by the military to report any incidents of UFOs or strange lights to them only and not to speak publicly of any potential sightings. What's more, any planes who were airborne at the time were told to keep any communications they might have heard on the frequency wave out of the public. Whether these orders, if indeed they were issued, were done so in the knowledge of UFO activity in the region or not, or whether it was simply an order given to prevent panic or sensationalizing the incident, remains open to debate. There were several tentative sightings, one of an oil slick and one of a parent wreckage in the water, but neither appeared to be connected to Volentic's Cessna, with the wreckage itself not officially confirmed. The eventual findings of the report released in 1982 would state that the reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined. They did however presume that the result was fatal to Volentic. Despite the mystery, perhaps the most convincing evidence that something very much untoward did indeed take place that evening in October 1978 over the Bass Strait are the words of Steve Roby, the person on the radio control in Melbourne. He would state that he didn't for one minute believe that Volentic was attempting to carry out a hoax incident. Roby would elaborate that in the final moments he was definitely concerned for his safety. He would further describe this communication as rushed and as if he was startled. In light of the report, there was an abundance of theories and claims as to what might have happened to Volentic. Some claimed that it was likely that Volentic had become disoriented, possibly due to the reflection of the setting sun off the water shining back at him. Further suggestions asserted that due to this disorientation, he very well could have ended up flying upside down, perhaps even mistaking the lights from his own aircraft reflecting off the water in the seconds before crashing into the water. There have also been suggestions that the long shape that Volentic reported was actually his perception of the planet Venus, Mars and Mercury as well as the star Antares, which is particularly bright. However, while these suggestions are certainly possible, surely such a scenario would have led to a discovery of wreckage in the vicinity. After all, a search mission was in place almost immediately. Even though Volentic did have an active interest in UFOs, it's also surely a little bit of a stretch to think that he imagined the metallic exterior after mistaking planets and stars for its lights. Of course, at least to UFO researchers, it was likely that the unfortunate pilot was the victim of alien abduction, and what's more, there is some apparent evidence to at least support the notion that a strange aerial object was in the area that evening. Aside from the declaration that the object was not an airplane as well as the horrendous metallic scraping noise, there is the fact that Volentic and his plane had seemingly vanished into thin air. Not a trace of wreckage was discovered at the time of the search, and nothing has washed to shore or floated to the surface in the decades since. There were several residents who would inform UFO researcher Paul Norman a little over a decade after the incident that they'd witnessed an unusual green light flying just above an aircraft on the night in question. And we should remind ourselves that there was, at least officially, no other aircraft in the region other than Volentic's. There's also the intriguing photograph captured by Roy Manifold over the Bass Strait around 20 minutes before the disappearance of Volentic. Not only the picture but his son Jason remained outside after his father returned inside and recalled hearing the sound of a small aircraft in the distance. He would listen to this for several moments before realizing it had suddenly stopped as if someone had turned it off. Had Roy Manifold captured the object that was responsible for Volentic's disappearance on film? And did his son Jason hear those final moments play out? There are other intriguing theories that we should examine, however. For example, some researchers and investigators assert that Volentic had orchestrated the whole affair in order to disappear and then begin a new, secret life, possibly in Cape Oatway. And while such claims are perhaps outrageous, there are some intriguing details to examine. We know, for example, that Volentic had a keen interest in UFOs, and we also know that his run-ins with the aviation authorities led to deliberation as to whether he was to face charges at the time of his disappearance. He also gave two different reasons for being in the air that evening, telling flight officials that he was traveling to King Island to pick up some friends, while telling others he was making the journey to pick up crayfish. Furthermore, it would later come to light that he had not correctly informed King Island Airport of his intention to land there. In truth, despite apparent sightings of Volentic in the area over the coming years, it is highly unlikely that Volentic did fake the incident. Perhaps the tape recording alone dismisses such a notion. Aside from the obvious panic in his voice, he also appears confused, particularly when he first reports the strange craft when he claimed the lights were landing lights of an aircraft, before realizing he was mistaken. Unless Volentic's acting skills were of the highest caliber, and his ability to plan such details as mistaking the lights for landing lights was so intricate, we should probably push the staged disappearances to the very back of the back burner. Despite the proposed explanations on one side and the assertions by those in the UFO community that the incident is one of alien abduction and certainly a UFO encounter on the other, the disappearance of Fred Volentic remains unexplained and just as mysterious today as it did almost half a century ago in October 1978. It is perhaps also interesting that the incident took place over the Bass Strait, a stretch of water that has a long history of strange disappearances, bizarre lights and UFO sightings. Might Volentic not have been a victim of alien abduction but of something more akin with the unknown fate that meets those who were lost in such mysterious locations as the Bermuda Triangle? Or might the two even be connected? If we return our attention back to Roy Manifold's photographs for a moment, which you can find online by the way by doing a simple search of Roy Manifold UFO, it's perhaps interesting to note that UFO researchers claim they show the object, fast moving and of triangular type shape, leaving the water. Might this suggest some kind of alien base under the Bass Strait off the coast of southern Australia? And might this potential extraterrestrial facility be where Volentic was taken? While it is unlikely that the Volentic case will be officially reopened or investigated in the near future, many researchers of UFOs and strange unsolved events remain fascinated with the incident. Indeed, it is only through further investigation and examination of the case that we can hope to get the truth of what happened that October evening in 1978. In his 1990 book, Confrontations, Jacques Vallet, an associate of the previously mentioned Alan Heineck and himself a respected ufologist, told of many UFO sightings that had resulted in the deaths of the people who had witnessed them. Perhaps one of the most chilling and the incident that made Vallet took a look at such UFO sightings was an event that occurred August 1966 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. A local teenager came upon the corpses of two men while looking for his kite. The scene was puzzling. Both men lay on their backs with no signs of having put up a struggle. Both were dressed in neat raincoats and suits, and both had lead masks near to their heads. Examination of them appeared that they had died from a heart attack, which by itself would not be anything out of the ordinary. However, the fact that the two men both dressed the same with makeshift protective headgear, both suffered a heart attack in the same spot at the same time. Well, when Vallet studied the case notes, he surmised that the two men had been witness to a UFO. He even went as far as to state that they were at least hopeful, if not expecting, to witness such a craft due to the lead masks that he theorised they had used to offer some kind of protection from any harmful rays. The men were identified as Jose Viana and Manuel Pereira de Cruz, both local television transmitter engineers. When the deaths of the two young men were announced, others came forward to tell of strange sightings around the area their bodies had been found. Usually reported was an oblong-shaped object that appeared to glow orange and emitted strange beams to the ground. Had this been the craft that the two television transmitter engineers had been hopeful of seeing? You can read a more in-depth account of that particular incident in the book From Deep Within the Archives of UFO Insight, History's Most Bizarre, Outlandish and Controversial UFO and Alien Encounters, written by Marcus Louth. I'll place a link to that book in the show notes. Upon visiting the site of Viana and Cruz's death as part of his research, Vallet was soon bombarded with other strange stories and tales from the region, some dating back two decades prior. In 1946, Prestus Filho was returning to his village of Arecaguama at a little after 7 pm from a fishing trip when a strange object appeared overhead, shooting out a strange beam of light as it did so. The light hit Filho, who barely managed to get to his front door and inform his sister of what had happened. Within hours, his condition had worsened dramatically. Vallet wrote that he had learned from the reports his flesh had literally detached itself from the bones. It was as if he had been boiled in hot water for a very long time so that the skin and underlying tissue fell. By the time Filho had reached the local hospital, he was dead. Bizarrely, his skin continued to come away from his bones even after death. Another account took place three years after the original incident that Vallet had traveled to Brazil to investigate, this time in the small town of Analema, in Colombia. Just after 7 pm, on July 4, 1969, two children saw a strange, bright object land in a nearby field of a local farm. One of the main witnesses, Mauricio Neco, had arrived at the farm with his aunt Rosa, whose cousin was the owner. There were several other children who were also part of the family and had arrived to spend several nights at the farm. One evening, during the stay, Mauricio, along with three cousins, Andres, Marina and Enrique, had ventured to a hill to look at the stars overhead. It was as they were doing so that they first noticed the strange light, different from the stars up here overhead. The children remained where they were and watched the light as it moved. As they did so, they could clearly see that it was growing steadily larger as if it were approaching. Bizarrely though, they noted between themselves that no sound could be heard, even as the object continued its approach. As Mauricio continued to watch, the other children began calling to other family members to come and see this bizarre and unnerving light. Grabbing their torches, they began to flash and signal in its direction. The object responded and came rapidly closer to them. The rest of the family, the three adults and the six younger children, now alerted by the children's terrified cries, came out to witness the bright craft. In all, there were 13 family members who saw the object overhead. They would describe it as approximately the size of a car and a sphere-like shape. Furthermore, it glowed a particularly bright amber color, which lit up the area below. Then it began to move again back toward the main house over the field of Blackberry crops. Aquisio snatched a torch out of his child's hands and made off in the direction the brightly lit craft had gone. He quickly disappeared into the Blackberry crops that lined the field. The children followed, a little less eager than Aquisio. As they did, they could hear the general distress of the cattle and chickens, as well as the apparent agitation of the family's dogs. They suddenly arrived at one of the outbuildings behind the main house. There, in front of them was Aquisio, and across from him was the glowing object, hovering only ever so slightly above the ground. They watched for several minutes, as Aquisio and the strange object remained opposite to each other, as if in a bizarre standoff. Then it rose into the air and suddenly took off at breakneck speed into the night sky. Mauricio would recall how it was like something seen in a science fiction movie. They all would return home, and although they would turn into bed as normal, no one in the house slept at all that evening. The next day, the children were to return to their respective homes following their stay. Before doing so, however, they went to find their uncle, Aquisio, to thank him and bid him farewell. However, he had remained in bed due to waking up feeling extremely ill. Then, three days later, things took an even more dramatic turn. Mauricio's mother received a call from his aunt. She needed her to come back to the farm and take Aquisio to the hospital. In the coming days, Aquisio became increasingly ill. Dark blue spots had appeared on his skin and he had a constant feeling of nausea. A week after the sighting, he had died. The official explanation for his death was put down to gastroenteritis. The doctor in charge of this case, however, did note that he could not explain his very low body temperature. In fact, according to some reports, so cold was Aquisio that nurses were not able to take blood samples due to the crystallization having occurred. Perhaps even stranger is the account from Mauricio's mother, who claimed that on the way to the hospital, Aquisio leaned on her for a moment. Not only could she feel how disturbingly cold he was, but that cold feeling remained on that side of her body until he passed away three days later. Some reports even state that Aquisio had claimed to family that he had witnessed a strange creature and a clear part to the top of the craft on the night of the sighting. He had shown his light on it and alerted it to his presence, causing the object to light up once more and vacate the area entirely. How true this claim is, however, remains open to debate. This truly bizarre and tragic case, though, doesn't end there. We should also note, as highlighted by UFO researcher Scott Corrales, that far from being a strange case that no one had heard of, the incident drew national and international attention for a brief period in 1969, with several publications running stories and reports on it. In fact, one of the leading UFO organizations at the time, APRO, would send several field investigators to examine the incident. It was their general opinion that Aquisio had arguably been exposed to large amounts of radiation due to his close proximity to the UFO. They would seek permission from the family to have his body exhumed in order to perform tests. The family would, incidentally, refuse. However, several years later, when they eventually did agree to allow them to exhum the body, the situation turned even more disturbing. Upon opening the coffin, all present would discover that the body was gone. What's more, there has never been a satisfactory explanation as to what happened to it, or who might have taken it. Might we suspect that there was a military involvement in the removal of the body, or perhaps even a discrete foreign intelligence, especially given the attention the case received? One particularly outlandish suggestion was that whatever intelligence was behind the strange craft had returned to retrieve his body for study. There has however been much speculation about the grim theft. Perhaps the claim that rings truest though is the one that the family members themselves learned through their own investigations in the local community. According to what they were told, several strange men had offered a substantial amount of money to one of the gravediggers of the churchyard where Aquisio was buried in return for allowing them to dig up and remove the body. Who these men were, however, is not known. The tragic case of Aquisio Bermudez is one that still frustrates UFO investigators and enthusiasts around the world, and while the truth coming to light might be unlikely, perhaps the fact that Aquisio's body was taken by a mysterious person, or persons, leaves open the possibility of a disclosing or leaking of information regarding the case. We should though collectively keep the case alive through research, investigation, discussion and the exchange of ideas and theories, perhaps not least as the incident is one that appears credible and genuine. From the number of witnesses to the event, the official records of the treatment of Aquisio at the hospital in the days that followed the incident as well as the attention it received in the press and across borders. The main witness to the incident, Mauricio, has maintained an interest in the events of that July evening in 1969, events he would describe as life-changing, and he has also suffered a certain amount of ridicule and even bullying over the years for his open-minded approach to ascertaining just what did happen to his uncle. We will cover more about close encounters of the sixth kind in just a moment on Weird Darkness. No matter the time of day or season, sometimes you need to find a way to rid yourself of those ghostly chills that bring raised hairs and goosebumps to your skin. Other times you're looking for those ghostly chills. Either way, it sounds like you need a mug of Weird Dark Roast Coffee. Weird Dark Roast Coffee has deep notes of cocoa, caramel, and a touch of sinister sweetness that'll send shivers down your taste buds. 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. Valet concluded from his research in Brazil that many of the victims who had witnessed UFOs had died from high-powered pulsed microwaves, essentially as if they'd been placed into a large microwave and cooked. Whether these deaths were intentional or just a result of someone being in the vicinity to such strange craft is open to debate, as is who the people behind these microwaves might have been. Were they extraterrestrial visitors from another world or might they have been secret government weapons being tested somewhere far away from home soil? Although the official word is that the U.S. government, for example, was working with the beginnings of such technology in the 1960s, it's widely accepted that behind closed doors they're generally 20 or 30 years ahead of their official position. Dr. Stephen Greer is just one of many people who believe that to be the case. He also firmly believes that, at least in part, recovered and back-engineered alien technology is the reason for this. In an extensive interview he gave in 2005, he stated to having in his possession leaked papers that showed the United States government alone monitors around 500 UFOs that enter the Earth's atmosphere every year. These UFOs are codenamed Fast Walkers. The CEO of Lockheed Skunkworks, a company who oversees many secret government projects, is famous for having brashly stated to the media, quote, anything you can imagine we already have the technology to do, but these technologies are locked up in black budgets, unquote. The U.S. secret government and military offshoots are certainly not the only government to have at least come under some suspicion of such activities. In 1959, in the far northern reaches of the Soviet Union, following the discovery of nine missing but experienced hikers, questions began to be asked if such weapon tests had contributed to their deaths. The incident is commonly referred to as the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it's one of the most bone-shilling mysteries of the 20th century. Their final campsite was discovered in late February 1959, over three weeks after their last entry was made. Their tent had been cut out from the inside, and it appeared that many of the hikers had left the tent unclothed and barefoot. Footprints were noticed in the snow, but they stopped suddenly in the middle of nowhere. A short distance away, the first group of four hikers were discovered. It was a further three months before the remaining five were found. Examinations on their remains led to an official ruling of accidental death due to the extreme elements they were exposed to. However, all of the hikers had signs of radiation, and perhaps more telling, all of them had internal injuries that were more reminiscent in people who had been struck by a high-speed vehicle, despite no external injuries to suggest such a collision. Was the Soviet military testing secret pulse weapons that evening? The area the hikers were found in was close to land where such weapon tests had previously taken place. Of course, many also firmly believe that UFO activity, which was recorded by locals the evening of the group's last recorded diary entry, is purely responsible for their deaths. There was also said to have been considerable damage and burns made to a tree overhead, where the first four hikers were found, said by some to have been caused by an object that had descended on the group. Several of the hikers appeared to have precise cuts to the mouth, eyes, and tongue, very much in the same way that cattle mutilations are carried out. This is interesting in itself, given that a much debated topic of the cattle mutilation phenomena is just how the animals are tamed to allow such procedures to take place with no struggle. Might they also be subjected to pulse technology? A possible UFO encounter that resulted in someone's death in more recent times is the unsolved and unexplained death of Todd Sease in 2002. Sease would leave his home where he lived with his family to embark on a morning scouting deer. He would not return home, however, and his body was eventually discovered only a short distance from his home in a place that had already been searched. This last detail perhaps might remind us of other similar accounts from the missing 411 research of David Paulides. However, when it came to light that there were several witnesses in the town that had seen strange objects over the area on the day of Sease's disappearance, including one that would even claim to have seen a person trapped in a strange beam over the area where Sease's vehicle was eventually found, investigators and researchers in UFO circles began to take a serious interest in this tragic affair. Many such researchers and investigators of the paranormal have examined the Sease case, with Butch Woodkowski perhaps conducting some of the most extensive research. We should also note that the case is that of a real person with a real family who are undoubtedly more distressed and upset than anyone at Todd's death. There are, though, it would appear legitimate reasons to research and investigate the case and the links to UFO activity in the area. It was around 5 a.m. on August 4, 2002, when 39-year-old Todd Sease left his home in Montor Rich in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He planned to scout deer, something he had done many times previously, with this family expecting him home around noon. He would set out in his four-wheel drive truck, perfect for the rough terrain where he was headed. However, when noon came and went without his return, his family became immediately concerned. They would soon notify local police of his disappearance and a search operation was put into action. This involved local and state police, search and rescue personnel, as well as around 200 volunteers. Furthermore, highly trained sniffer dogs and helicopter units would take part in the search efforts. The entire area was searched, including the family property itself and the woodlands adjacent to it. Also searched was a pond that was around 70 feet from the family home. In fact, because of a small body of water and its close proximity to the house, this particular area was searched extremely thoroughly. No sign of Todd Sease was discovered. However, his truck was found around two miles from his home at a ridge where he had stated he would be that morning. Around 36 hours into the search, by pure chance, something in the bushes near the aforementioned pond caught the attention of one of the searchers. They would go to investigate further and make the grim discovery of Todd's body. Quite how it could have been missed only the previous day has not been explained. Equally baffling is the eventual official ruling of fatal cocaine toxicity, despite obvious areas of concern and circumstances surrounding the case. In fact, it would be only the first of many controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Todd Sease. We should perhaps start by highlighting the distance between Sease's truck and the location of the pond where his body was discovered, a total of three miles. Had he attempted to walk home, leaving the truck on the ridge? If so, why? It was a particularly hot day when he disappeared and such a walk, while not a great distance, relatively speaking, is still a fair distance on such a day. What's more, given that the cause of death was already established and no one was being sought in connection with it, why did the FBI seemingly have an involvement in the case? Perhaps even more perplexing is that according to a member of the search team in response to Butch Wodkowski's question on the state of the body, there was no sign of injury or bite marks that would indicate an animal attack. In fact, his body was intact. However, when asked why his family had not identified the body, Wodkowski was informed that they were to be spared from witnessing his amiciated remains, as he, Gary Steffen, the Northumberland County's chief of police, knew Todd Seas well. Steffen was indicating that Seas' body has suffered from decomposition. Why had this seemingly happened so quickly in a little over just 24 hours? This confusion was seemingly compounded when the coroner, James Kelly, referred to Seas' body as the remains, indicating that something physical had indeed injured Seas. Perhaps above all else, why was his body missed the day before? Was he somewhere wandering around the woods, seemingly missing the searchers as he did so? We have to think that's unlikely, especially given how well he knew the area and the close proximity to his house. There were, of course, at least two UFO reports around the same time as Seas' disappearance. Each would claim to have witnessed a saucer-shaped object over Montua Ridge, the location where Seas' car was discovered. Of even more concern, though, was the detail that a light beam had seemingly snare to human being and was moving it through the air and toward the disc-like object overhead. It is perhaps also worth noting that the area, much like Pennsylvania, has a long history of UFO sightings, and the sightings continue now in the 2020s. Was Seas the extremely unfortunate victim of alien abduction, and even that on this occasion turned deadly? If not, what was the reason for the apparent secrecy and closed nature of the authorities on the circumstances of his death? It is a fine line to tread for those in the UFO community who wish to examine the case. On the one hand, there is the very real death of a young man with a family. On the other, there is a whole host of unanswered questions and reasons for suspicion, not to mention the claims of UFO sightings in the area on the day of Seas' disappearance. And if you want to find out more about the UFO sightings in the area, check out the video books I have narrated, sign up for the email newsletter, find other podcasts that I host, including Retro Radio, Old Time Radio in the Dark, Church of the Undead, and a classic 1950s sci-fi style podcast called Auditory Anthology. Also on the site, you can visit the store for Weird Darkness t-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise. 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. The Seal Chart murder was written by Elizabeth Tilstra for the lineup. The Monster of Royal Street was posted at the scare chamber. Close encounters of the sixth kind was written by Marcus Louth for UFO Insight. 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. Mark 9, verse 23. If you can, said Jesus, everything is possible for one who believes. And a final thought. In the end, people would judge you anyway, so don't live your life impressing others. Live your life impressing yourself. Eunice Camacho Invente. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.