 This episode is dedicated to the men and women of our Armed Forces and First Responders. Whether you are currently serving or have served in the past, you are appreciated. It is because of your courage and sacrifice that we enjoy the freedoms and liberties we hold dear. And I for one, appreciate every single one of you for protecting what many of us take for granted. So thank you. 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 the next hour, a girl communicating with the ghost of her dead grandfather finds out the ghost isn't grandpa at all, but something much more evil. Bethlehem Royal Hospital would not be considered a hospital at all in today's society, but an insane asylum from some of the darkest horror films and novels you've ever read. We'll look at the stories of ten people whose luck almost got them killed. Then again, maybe it was their bad luck. While most people don't know about it, but way back in the year 2012, the world was shot to discover real evidence of Bigfoot. We had undeniable proof of its existence in the form of DNA. Or did we? These stories and more coming up, so bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Don't you hate it when grandfather's ghost turns out to be the devil? In 1565 AD, 16-year-old Nicola Aubrey of Vervin, France, and known to history as the Damaniac of Lant, was frequently visited by an apparition that told her it was her dear departed grandfather requesting masses and prayers for his immortal soul, as many ghosts have been known to do since they don't have jobs beyond the occasional haunting. Why not weadle a few hosannas out of the living, you know, to pass the time? Only when the specter started whisking Mrs. Aubrey away for occasional day trips in full view of witnesses did it occur to anyone that this might not be the revenant of old grandpappy after all. While this may seem an extreme conclusion to jump to over a little teleportation and by-location, later symptoms of demonic possession would validate it. Nicola herself didn't believe it was the devil, but once the Bishop of Laos, in northern France, so not Lyon, caught wind of the situation, he ordered a procès verbaux, a French legal term for the authenticated account drawn up by a magistrate, and gave the local priest the authority to conjure the offending spirit. I wasn't aware that one could apply for such an official dispensation. I need to find my local bishop, gotta get my ducks in a row. Anyway, beginning in November 1565, Father Mata of Verven undertook the first attempted exorcisms in order to figure out just which devils they were dealing with, concluding, among other things, that Nicola was possessed by no less than thirty different devils, the three of which were particularly intractable and beyond the reach of the poor local priest Father Mata. The exorcisms lasted more than three months and only served to prove more and more the fact of the possession. The poor sufferer was torn from the hands of nine or ten men who could hardly retain their hold of her, and on the last day of the exorcisms, sixteen could not succeed in so doing. She had been lying on the ground when she stood upright and stiff as a statue without those who held her being able to prevent it. She spoke diverse languages, revealed the most secret things, announced others at the moment they were being done, although at a great distance. She discovered too many the secret of their conscience, uttered at once three different voices or tones, and spoke with her tongue hanging half a foot out of her mouth. She discovered Hollywood exorcism fair and pretty much what are considered to be the hallmarks of a well-organized demon possession. Hell clearly had good project managers. Holy sacraments seemed to have some temporary effectivity, during which times Nicola would return to lucidity and related that during those observable, trance-like periods of possession she found herself surrounded by shadowy men, menacing her with glittering knives and threatening murder, as well as horrible beasts breathing fire and brimstone trying to suffocate her. This state of affairs and the surrounding publicity would simply not do in the eyes of the Catholic Church. On January 3, 1556, the Bishop of Lone had Nicola brought to the Cathedral of Lone and proceeded with a heavy-duty exorcism surrounded by a gawking crowd of some 12,000 persons, both the common folk and aristocrats, as well as people nusios, parliamentary deputies and university scholars. Those bishops do love an audience and scaffolding was erected in the Cathedral to accommodate an unobstructed view of the ceremony. Now, the devil is a tricky guy. It's his thing and he owns it. He likes theatrics and he has a good sense of timing. 16th century France was already an upheaval. Six years after the events in Lone, France would be plunged into the second deadliest religious war in European history, a 30-year conflict between Catholics and Calvinist Protestant Huguenots that through violence, famine and disease would claim some 3 million lives. The devil saw his angle at Lone and as the bishop commenced through Nicole Aubry made some awfully surprising declarations for a malevolent satanic entity. The devil forced by the exorcisms rendered such testimony to the truth of the Catholic religion and above all to the reality of the Holy Eucharist and at the same time the falsity of Calvinism, according to Calmet 1850, page 158. In short, the devil took the opportunity to add kindling to the already burning conflagration that would shortly flare into full-blown religious civil war in France. Obviously, the Calvinists who maintained that they should have killed Nicole Aubry at the outset or at least imprisoned her were not thrilled by the bizarre validation of the Catholic Church by the devil. Violence ensued. The exorcism was interrupted and a Calvinist zealot named Dr. Collier attempted to assassinate Nicole with poison, which obviously didn't work, while with her being possessional. The scaffolding was removed from the cathedral and the ritual pre-exorcism processions stopped. The devil was feeling pretty smug at this point, I'm sure, and began taunting the bishop regarding his failure to observe the proper exorcism rituals and probably his Latin grammar. The outraged Calvinists conceived the idea of a writing from M. de Montmorency forbidding the continuation of the exorcisms and enjoining the king's officers to be vigilant. Thus they abstained a second time from the procession and again the devil triumphed at it. Nevertheless, he discovered to the bishop the trick of this supposition writing, named those who had taken part in it and declared that he had again gained time by this obedience of the bishop to the will of man rather than that of God. Besides that, the devil had already protested publicly that it was against his own will that he remained in the body of this woman that he had entered there by the order of God, that it was to convert the Calvinists or to harden them, and that he was very unfortunate being obliged to act and speak against himself. The chapter then represented to the bishop that it would be proper to make the processions and the conjurations twice a day to excite still more the devotion of the people. The prelate acquiesced in it and everything was done with the greatest detail and in the most orthodox manner. The devil declared again more than once that he had gained time once because the bishop had not confessed himself, another time because he was not fasting, and lastly because it was requisite that the chapter and all the dignitaries should be present as well as the court of justice and the king's officers in order that there might be sufficient testimony that he was forced to warn the bishop thus of his duty and that accursed was the hour when he entered into the body of this person at the same time he uttered a thousand implications against the church, the bishop, and the clergy. First, this devil had quite the devious strategy, claiming that God sent him to convert Calvinists, which of course further enraged the Calvinists. Second, he seems to have spent a lot of time criticizing the bishop's exorcism technique, ostensibly under duress. From then on the bishop made sure to do everything strictly by the theological playbook, confessing, fasting, and all the other little rituals expected of a well-healed exorcist. What is thy name, as the bishop? Beosabab, prince of the devils, next to Lucifer, answered the evil spirit. How many companions hast thou here at present? There are nineteen of us now, answered Satan. Tomorrow there will be twenty, but this is not yet all, for I see that I must call all hell to my assistance. I commend thee in the name and by the power of God, said the bishop in a solemn voice, to depart instantly with thy infernal companions. Yes, we shall depart, replied the evil spirit, but not now, not here. My work is not yet done in this city. Where goest thou when expelled by the power of the real presence of our Lord in the blessed sacrament? asked the bishop. Do you want to know where I go, do you? Well, last night I paid you a visit, answered Satan, and then he related the very words the bishop had said on hearing a noise in his room. Satan was at last expelled again by means of the blessed sacrament. On leaving he paralyzed the left arm and the right foot of Nicola. It also made her left arm longer than her right, and no power on earth could cure this strange infirmity, until some weeks after that is, when the devil was at last completely and irrevocably expelled. Well, the devil had been successfully expelled, but had clearly accomplished a more important goal, that is further exacerbating the tensions between Catholics and Protestants, ultimately wreaking more havoc than a simple possession of a teenage girl. And oh my, why is it take thirty demons to possess one girl? Maybe they work in shifts. There must be some kind of union. It really seems like an inhuman resources problem, qualified professionals of which there must be an abundance of in hell. It is said that numerous Calvinists converted to Roman Catholicism after this incident, with those largely church propaganda promulgated long after the fact. In fact, the contemporary Calvinists didn't let things stand when the Etrusism concluded successfully. Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, a Huguenot leader, and later a general in the ensuing religious wars ordered the interrogation of Nicola Aubrey and finding no hint of artifice angrily sent her home, only to later have her arrested and imprisoned. Nicola was released after her parents and treated King Charles the Ninth to rectify this injustice, and she was ordered set at liberty by His Majesty. Given the growing antagonism between Protestants and Catholics in France, conspiracy theories regarding Nicola Aubrey abounded. Let's face it, the devil clearly knows his business. He must be disconcerting as an exorcist when possessing devil is such a jerk as to correct your Latin grammar or harp on your ritual adherence as if he is giving lessons on how to properly exercise himself. Maybe the devil has to deal with so many incompetent clergy who fell asleep in exorcist class that he gets a bit frustrating, there's just no challenge in it. Might as well start a religious war for kicks. That's long-term planning, a skill of which should be a shame, assuming you prefer to be the author of Evil in the World to Lose. The devil should probably stop giving out free advice to exorcists, for as Frederick Nicci said, be careful, lest in casting out your demon, you exercise the best thing in you. Up next, Bethlehem Royal Hospital would not be considered a hospital at all in today's society, but an insane asylum from some of the darkest horror films and novels you've ever read. Coming up. He has been spotted all over the world, but photographic evidence is lacking, as is any scientific proof, but he still exists and is still seen. And now you can search for Bigfoot every month in the Find Bigfoot calendar by Timothy Wayne Williams. Each month you'll be captivated by an original Timothy Wayne Williams painting, beautiful and captivating, but within each painting hides a monster. Bigfoot is hiding somewhere in each painting. Search for Bigfoot and invite others to do so as well with the new Find Bigfoot calendar available now at WeirdDarkness.com slash Bigfoot. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Bigfoot. Is anything paranormal happen to you? You can call the dark line toll free at 1-877-277-5944. That's 1-877-277-5944. In fact, we got a call recently from Wilhelmina. Hi, my name is Wilhelmina and I work for a security company in my town where I live. And there's a building that I check, and of course I usually work at night. And when I first started checking this building, I would go in and I would feel very uncomfortable. I didn't know it, but there was a morgue in the basement when the building was first built in the very, very late 1800s. So I just kind of talked it up to it's an old building, you know, they make noises, whatever. So I ignored it. And then as, you know, as time went on and I would be in there alone checking the building, I would hear people talking and, you know, people walking or like the swishing of clothing behind me, even though the building's empty. You know, there was nobody there but me. It has now gotten to the point where whatever is going on in there is so blatantly a thing. There's like no qualms about just making noise and being very present, even when I'm training new people. Like, for instance, I was training a guy just last weekend that was his last time training. He was with me on a really late shift and it was overnight. And he, this was his first security job. So, you know, kind of doing this stuff. And so we were in there and I was talking to him, kind of telling him what to do. And this is probably about two in the morning. And we both hear this incredibly loud banging sound like somebody dropped a full Rubbermaid container on the floor. But neither one of us could identify where the sound came from. And the building was totally locked. There was no way to get in or out without being seen. So, yeah, it was pretty creepy. And then this evening, I also had someone else with me and we walked by a door and then we kind of stood there because I was telling them about it. And we both heard this sound like somebody walked up to the door and pushed it. Like they were trying to get out of the door. You know, like you would just a swinging door. So, yeah, I honestly don't know what to do at this point. I've tried things. There's multiple different businesses in this particular building and some of the people at the businesses have tried stuff. We don't know what to do. We're just totally at the end of our world here with this. So, if you have any suggestions at all as to what to do, I would love to hear them because honestly, I'm afraid to go in there anymore because of how absolutely active I guess would be the right word that whatever in this building has become. So, yeah, if you could just give me some ideas on what to do. I really appreciate it. Thanks. Bye. Oh, Willamina. You know, you did not mention in your call contacting the police. I'm sure, though, that that has to have been something you probably have done at this point. I mean, if this happens to you as often as you say it does. So, if the cops haven't found anything, then I'd talk to the owner or operator of that morgue and ask them to please have a priest bless the place or something. And if that still doesn't work, I'd find a new job or at least start walking around with the gun on one hip and a holy water pistol on the other. That is some creepy stuff. Thanks for the story, Willamina. If you have a true paranormal or creepy story to share of your own or maybe something that's happened to somebody else, you can tell the story by calling the line toll-free to darkline 1-877-277-5944. Again, it's a toll-free call 1-877-277-5944. Want to receive the commercial-free version of Weird Darkness every day? For just $5 per month, you can become a patron at WeirdDarkness.com. As a patron, you get commercial-free episodes of Weird Darkness every day. Bonus audio, and you also receive chapters of audiobooks as I narrate them, even before the authors and publishers hear them. But more than that, as a patron, you're also helping to reach people who are desperately hurting with depression and anxiety. You get the benefits of being a patron and you also benefit others who are hurting at the same time. Become a patron at WeirdDarkness.com. If you were to visit the Bethlehem Royal Hospital circa the 15th century, it would look like a scene out of American horror story. Bethlehem was the only institution in Europe that handled society's rejects, namely the mentally or criminally ill for the vast majority of European history. It did not, however, treat patients with a kind and affirming hand. Quite the opposite happened. Patients were subjected to horrendous cruelty, experimentation, neglect and humiliation, all of which was entirely socially acceptable up until the 20th century. The term bedlam, defined as chaos and confusion, was coined as a descriptor for the Bethlehem Asylum during the height of its malfeasance in the 18th century. Founded in 1247, it was the first hospital of its kind in Great Britain. Never before had there been a place for the mentally infirm, disabled and criminally minded to be adequately locked away from society. While patients came to Bethlehem suffering from complaints such as chronic mania or acute melancholy, people were just as likely to be admitted for crimes such as infanticide, homicide, even ruffianism. Being admitted to Bethlehem, as it was called, didn't necessarily mean a person was well on their way to being rehabilitated, since treatment implied little more than isolation and experiment. If the patient managed to survive the asylum at all, they and their families were typically worse for the wear by the end of their stay. Patients were subjected to treatments such as rotating therapy, wherein they were seated in a chair suspended from the ceiling and spun as much as 100 rotations per minute. The obvious purpose was to induce vomiting, a popular, purgative cure for most ailments during this period. Incidentally, the resulting vertigo in these patients actually contributed a large body of research to contemporary vertigo patients. Their dizziness, it seems, was not all for not. Beyond social mores at the time, a lack of funding can explain why Bethlehem became Bethlehem. The asylum was a poorly funded government institution, heavily reliant upon the financial support of a patient's family and private donors. Of course, the vast majority of those who found themselves at Bethlehem had not come from wealth or even the middle class. Patients were often poor, uneducated, and had been victimized not only by whatever mental infirmities they possessed but a society that was repelled by them. In fact, by the 18th century, Bethlehem had become less a hospital and more a circus sideshow and for a pretty straightforward reason. Freaks made money. People came from all over to see the patients at Bethlehem Royal Hospital, some even arranging holidays around it. Of course, none of them were actually freaks, but since Bethlehem was so fiscally reliant upon the money guests would pay to see them, patients were certainly driven to behave as though they were mad. By the mid-1800s, a man named William Hood became a physician in residence at Bethlehem and wanted to completely turn the institution around. He hoped to create actual rehabilitation programs which would serve the hospital's patients rather than the administrators. The bedlamites, as they were nicknamed, had been subjected to horrific treatments, both experimental and some downright cruel and were often desired only for the study of their corpses. Others were simply thrown into a mass grave on Liverpool Street, which was only discovered a few years ago. During World War II, Bethlehem Royal Hospital was moved to a more rural location, which was meant to improve the quality of life for patients. The move also helped rid the institution of its horrendous legacy. Though, thanks to the Museum of the Mind Archives, we are able to get a glimpse of the haunted faces of bedlamites. Many of them were photographed upon their admission, with a note or two about their diagnosis. One wonders, looking at the photos today, how many of these patients survived a bedlamite, and if they did, if any of them were ever truly well again. You can't measure luck, it's simply not quantifiable, but that doesn't mean that there are not people who are luckier or unluckier than others. That person who always seems to hit their numbers at bingo or the one who always catches a break, they probably come to mind. And then there are those people who somehow find themselves on both sides of the scale. Someone who is both lucky and unlucky at the same time. It sounds strange, but there are a few who have managed it. Here are a few of the luckiest, unlucky people, and each has a fascinating tale to tell. Three white star sister ships were involved in severe accidents and disasters, including the RMS Titanic, Olympic, and Britannic. The Titanic is the best known, but it was only one of three similar Olympic-class ocean liners. Serving aboard all three ships was Violet Jessup, a seriously unlucky woman. She survived tuberculosis at an early age, and by 1908 she began working as a stewardess for the White Star Line, finding her way aboard the Olympic in 1910. That vessel collided with the HMS Hawke in 1911 and nearly sank. She walked away from that accident and later joined the crew of the HMS Titanic, which she also survived by carrying for an infant in a lifeboat as the ship sank. When the war broke out, she served aboard the Britannic as a nurse, and well, you know what happened next. The Britannic hit a mine when Jessup wasn't lucky enough to jump into a lifeboat this time. Instead, she leaped overboard and was sucked under the keel where she hit her head. Still, she survived with a skull fracture. Despite her naval experiences, she continued to work aboard various ships, retiring at the age of 61. Someone who might have known Violet Jessup was Arthur John Priest. Arthur John Priest worked as a stoker or fireman whose job was to keep the boilers of a ship steaming by constantly shoveling coal. While serving aboard the Olympic, he survived when the vessel was struck and holed below the waterline in 1911. The following year, he got a job on the Olympic's sister ship, the Titanic. A massive layoff saw many of his peers lose work, but he made it into the bowels of the ship. When it sank, he survived. But it wasn't the last time he nearly died in a shipwreck. His World War I service saw him aboard the armed merchant ship, Alcintara. A battle saw that vessel sink and he survived that as well. He later served aboard the Britannic, the other sister ship to the Olympic and Titanic, and well, you know what happened there. The Britannic hit a mine and sank in November 1916, and Priest survived that one as well. The following year, the luckiest unlucky sailor in history was serving aboard the Donegal when it was hit by a torpedo and sank in the English Channel. He survived yet again, but it was the last vessel he called home, ending his military career in 1917 due to a head injury. Most people don't know about it, but way back in the year 2012, the world was shocked to discover real evidence of Bigfoot. Yep, we had undeniable proof of Sasquatch in the form of DNA. Or did we? Coming up next on Weird Darkness. Our latest Weirded Work winner is Tanya Martin. Tanya works at Maid in Meridian in Meridian, Idaho. Tanya is co-owner of the company and they do residential cleanings in the Meridian, Idaho area. She says, when we do our move in, move out cleans, the house is empty and sometimes creepy. Your voice guiding us through your stories during those long, sometimes very late night cleans has helped us keep our sanity. Thank you from these two very tired house cleaners. You're very welcome, Tanya, and I'm glad I can keep you company in those creepy old houses. Well, because I chose Tanya's entry at random, she's receiving four Weird Darkness coffee mugs, four Weird Darkness magnets, and a batch of Weird Dark Roast coffee, all of which she can share with her partner at Maid in Meridian. And for being the one who entered her company in the drawing, Tanya herself gets a Weird Darkness t-shirt. Congratulations, Tanya, and Maid in Meridian in Meridian, Idaho. If you listen to the podcast on a job with your co-workers, visit the contest's page at WeirdDarkness.com to enter, and I might draw your entry next month. In the search for Bigfoot, or indeed any cryptid, the ultimate goal of cryptozoologists has always been physical evidence, and the holy grail of such evidence is DNA. Cryptozoologists need this, as blurry photos and witness accounts are not traditionally held up high in the realms of mainstream science as particularly of worth. Over the decades, there have been many instances of people claiming to have found just this, yet it's always been an elusive specter. One of the most notable claims of finding supposed Bigfoot DNA and proof of the existence was released in 2012 by a genetics lab and would take the nation and world by storm. Melwood Ketchum was an active practicing veterinarian in Texas, as well as the owner of a laboratory for studying animal genetics and the chair of the International Society for Animal Genetics Equine Genetics Standing Committee, specializing in animal forensics, disease diagnostics, and other pursuits regarding animal DNA, as well as serving as the director of the lab DNA Diagnostics Inc. It's all pretty impressive, but she would not become a major name and an instant celebrity in the field of cryptozoology if it were not for an amazing announcement that she made on November 24, 2012. On this day, she made a public statement that she had finally proven that Bigfoot exists, and not only that, but that she knew what kind of creature it specifically was. Wait, what? According to Ketchum, her genetics lab had acquired various pieces of Bigfoot DNA evidence for analysis, including hairs, blood, mucus, pieces of toenail, bark scrapings, saliva, and even purportedly a scrap of skin from one of the beasts, all of which were extracted, analyzed, and sequenced DNA from over 100 separate samples obtained from scores of collection sites throughout North America. Over a five-year period, Ketchum claimed that these samples, 11 of them in total, were laboriously compared with the genetic sequence of similar samples from a wide range of disparate wild animals, including humans, dogs, cows, horses, deer, elk, moose, foxes, bears, coyotes, and wolves, but no match could be found. The conclusion was that these samples had come from a human hybrid species that came about around 15,000 years ago, when a mysterious hominid and humans had interbred, and she made the very bold statement. Quote, Hair morphology was not consistent with human or any known wildlife hairs. DNA analysis showed two distinctly different types of results. The mitochondrial DNA was unambiguously human, while the nuclear DNA was shown to harbor novel structure and sequence. The data conclusively proves that the Sasquatch exists as an extant hominin and are a direct maternal descendant of modern humans. Sasquatch nuclear DNA is a mosaic comprising human DNA interspersed with sequence that is novel but primate in origin. Sasquatch nuclear DNA is incredibly novel and not at all what we had expected. While it has human nuclear DNA within its genome, there are also distinctly non-human, non-archaic hominin and non-ape sequences. Further study is needed and is ongoing to better characterize and understand Sasquatch nuclear DNA. Our data indicate that the North American Sasquatch is a hybrid species, the result of males of an unknown hominin species crossing with female homosapiens. The results were published in the De Novo Journal of Science under the title Novel North American hominins, next generation sequencing of three whole genomes and associated studies. And considering how spectacular it all was and the pedigree of Ketchum herself, this was all over national news at the time, going viral and being featured on many shows such as Good Morning America. It was seen as completely groundbreaking, the find of the century. I mean, after all, Bigfoot had finally been proven to be real. Well, anybody listening to this knows that we in fact don't know if Bigfoot is real or not. It's not considered to be scientific fact, so you can probably tell where this is heading. If it all seems to be too good to be true, then it's probably too good to be true. Even before the initial viral excitement died down, it didn't take long at all for holes to start appearing in the whole thing. First and foremost was the fact that the paper had not appeared in a legitimate peer-reviewed scientific journal, and not only was the De Novo Journal of Science actually owned by Ketchum herself, but her paper was the only one that had ever appeared in the journal. Indeed, it would turn out that the paper had been rejected by all other scientific journals. If this was such an earth-shattering scientific discovery then why would that be? Shouldn't these discoveries be jumped on by the scientific world if they have merit? Not a few people were asking that question, and it gets worse. It was also the fact that Ketchum refused to release her alleged samples to other labs for verification, although some were apparently procured by Eric Berger, a reporter for the Houston Chronicle who sent them in to be analyzed by an independent lab to find that the samples looked as though they had come from a possum, something which Ketchum had adamantly denied. Elisa Gutierrez of the Smithsonian Institution and Ronald H. Pine from the Biodiversity Institute in Kansas would also apparently get their hands on some of the samples and determine that there is no reason to believe that the two samples came from anything other than brown bears, with the idea being that Ketchum had been working with samples that had been contaminated with human DNA and which were also likely degraded, which she also refutes, continuously stating that there was no chance of contamination or degradation of the samples. She would say of this quote, we had two different forensic labs extract these samples and they all turned out non-contaminated because forensic scientists are experts in contamination. We see it regularly, we know how to deal with mixtures, whether it's a mixture or a contaminated sample, and we certainly know how to find it. And these samples were clean, it's not human hair, it's clearly non-human hair. It was washed and prepared forensically, and it gave a human mitochondrial DNA result that just doesn't happen. Within the first year, we knew that we had them. It was just a matter of accumulating enough proof to satisfy science. We've done everything in our power to make sure the paper was absolutely above board and well done. I don't know what else we could have done short of spending another few years working on the genome, but all we wanted to do was prove they existed, and I think we did that." Despite these efforts to defend herself, there were other problems with the findings too. It was pointed out that the research includes questionable methods, withholds important information such as how the samples were handled or under what specific circumstances they were found in the first place, and generally seems to jump to conclusions in many places. Then there was also the fact that even Ketchum's team had gotten some strange results from some of the various samples, despite their insistence that there had been no chance for mixed up or contaminated samples. For instance, Ketchum has said, We had one weird sequence that we blasted in the genome, blast, and we got closest to polar bear of all things, and then we turn around and blast and get 70% Risa's monkey with a bunch of SNPs. That's single base changes out. Just weird, weird stuff. We would get these crazy different variants of sequence. Some reactions produced the expected human-sized PCR products. Others produced products with unexpected sizes. Still others produced the sort of thing you'd expect to see if the PCR had failed entirely or there was no DNA present. We would get these things that were novel in GenBank. We would get a lot of failure and we'd get some that would have regular human sequence. We could not account for this, and it was repeatable. This certainly suggests that they were working with samples from various sources and which had likely been contaminated. Yet they stuck with the ones that most supported the theory that they had from the beginning, that Bigfoot exists. There were myriad other problems with the research and approaches the team took, and many flaws in the reasoning behind some of the findings. In the end, it seems that this was most certainly not what it had been made out to be, although Ketchum's heart does seem to be in the right place and this does not appear to have been an outright intentional hoax. However, it just goes to show how stringent the standards for these things really are. We all hope for true physical evidence of these mysterious creatures, myself included. I'd love to see an actual proof of Bigfoot. But if we're to find it, it has to be done properly and carefully. Maybe one day we'll get there, but this doesn't seem to be it. 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, a cob, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode, Jean Harlow was the original blonde bombshell, but it turns out the blonde hair could be the very thing that killed her. Patrick Henry is famous for the speech in which he said, Give me liberty or give me death. He obviously was not speaking of his wife because she had no liberties whatsoever, being held captive in a cellar after giving birth to his six children. Plus, in the early 1870s, Boston experienced a rash of gruesome murders that remained unsolved until a man was seen leaping from the Warren Avenue Baptist Church belfry and the body of a young girl was found in the steeple. It was then that all the pieces slowly started to fall into place. These stories and a whole lot more coming up. While you're listening, be sure to follow Weird Darkness on Facebook and Twitter and visit WeirdDarkness.com where you can find the daily Weird Darkness podcast and send me your own true story of something paranormal that's happened to you or someone you know and more. You can find it all at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Jean Harlow was the original blonde bombshell. She made a name for herself during the Great Depression in Hollywood after getting a big break with Howard Hughes' Hell's Angels and despite dying at the young age of 26 on June 7th, 1937, she left behind a long film reel and an even longer list of scandals, relationships and drama. Harlow quickly became one of the biggest names in Hollywood, surpassing even Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. MGM bought out her contract from Hughes and she proved a lucrative acquisition for the studio. Her brazen sex appeal coupled with her ability to hang with the boys made her an undeniable star. But that hair of hers was problematic. Harlow's platinum blonde color, which she claimed was natural, of course, wasn't. Her hairdresser later said that he dyed it weekly with Clorox, Ammonia and Lux soap flakes. While Jean Harlow's death can be attributed to plenty of unfortunate events in her life, repeatedly inhaling the toxic fumes created by Bleach and Ammonia couldn't have been good for the young starlet. That dangerous beauty hack is just another piece of the puzzle regarding what happened to Jean Harlow. Bleaching your hair the way Harlow did with actual Bleach and Ammonia produces a bunch of chemicals that are toxic to humans. Combining the two, whether via cleaning products or accidentally, produces the following dangerous chemical byproducts. Hydrochloric acid, chlorine, chlorine gas, chloramine and hydrazine, along with more Ammonia and Bleach. Toxicity aside, the process is also physically painful. Harlow worked almost until her death in 1937. While bedridden shortly before she died, Harlow's former co-star, Clark Gable, came to wish her well. Gable later said of the interaction, it was like kissing a dead person, a rotting person. Since Harlow had kidney failure, she could not urinate and her body was ridding itself of waste in any way it could. She likely looked different as well. She had already been wearing wigs thanks to her thinning hair and water weight had caused her to increase in size dramatically. When Harlow fell ill on May 20, 1937, no one thought that the 26-year-old was on her deathbed. She passed away shortly afterward though on June 7. Her symptoms began as fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, water retention and graying skin. She also had trouble breathing on set and she started wearing wigs since her iconic locks were beginning to fall out. Though kidney failure in the modern world is not a death sentence, it was in 1937. There were no kidney transplants or dialysis machines and there was not even any antibiotics available for Harlow's condition. Rumors spread almost immediately after Harlow fell ill and passed away. Did she die of an abortion gone wrong? Was her binge drinking out of control? Were her mother's Christian scientist beliefs somehow to blame? Some thought that she had had sunstroke while another rumor claimed that Paul Byrne, her second husband, had beaten her. Though the chemical byproducts created by Harlow's bleach and ammonia mixture were not good for her, she'd experienced a litany of health problems going back years before. She'd experienced the flu, a bad reaction to having wisdom teeth removed and a severe sunburn which we now know is one of the signs of kidney failure. She also suffered from scarlet fever, polio and meningitis and had two abortions and an appendectomy during her rather short life. Harlow's relationship with her mother was reportedly difficult. Mama Jean, as she was known, was a failed actor who seemingly put all her ambition and lost dreams on her daughter. In fact, Baby Jean, as everyone called Jean Harlow, only ended up in Hollywood after her parents divorced and her mother brought her there in order to become a star. But it wasn't meant to be. Mama Jean did not become a star. Baby Jean took center stage and Mama Jean stayed extremely involved in her daughter's life and career. Some claim Mama Jean was at least somewhat responsible for her daughter's death. Mama Jean was a Christian scientist and some reports say that she took her sick daughter home and refused medical treatment for her. Writing for The Guardian, Christian scientist Tony Lobel explained that the doctors did in fact see Harlow. He added that while Christian scientists do believe in natural healing, that doesn't mean neglecting Western medicine when it's needed. Regardless of the truth, there was nothing that Western medicine could have done to save Harlow's life. In 1932, Harlow wed Paul Byrne, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive. A few months into their marriage, Byrne was found fatally shot inside their home. Rumors swirled that Harlow had killed her new husband, while others thought Byrne's spurned ex-Common Law wife was the one responsible. Further, some say that Byrne was a polygamist, others that he was not interested in women at all. Regardless, Louis B. Mayer later said that he found a suicide note in the home. As was the custom in the day, Byrne's butler didn't call police when he found Byrne's body. Instead, he called the studio, which came and cleaned up. Harlow never spoke about Byrne's death. The tragedy and subsequent scandal led MGM to ask actress Tallulah Bankhead to replace Harlow in a film. Bankhead refused, saying, to damn the radiant gene for the misfortune of another would be one of the shabbiest acts of all time. I told Mr. Mayer as much. As if it weren't enough that Harlow's second husband was found naked and dead of a gunshot wound, she had plenty of other bad publicity at the time. Right after Byrne died, Harlow had an affair with boxer Max Baer. Unfortunately, he was still married. Harlow also cycled up to mobsters when they came to Hollywood, namely Bugsy Siegel. Harlow ended up becoming close enough to Siegel that she was an unofficial godmother to his daughter Millicent. After Harlow's failed relationships and affairs, MGM decided to step in and try repairing her image. Their best idea? A sham marriage. MGM orchestrated a marriage between Harlow and cinematographer Herald Rosson. Not surprisingly, Harlow got divorced for the second time in her short life only eight months later. Though Harlow's life was tragic in many ways, she's remembered for something other than dying young and having platinum hair. She was ahead of her time, even defying norms with a racy scene in a bathtub in one of her films. She not only eschewed censorship, but the movie was a huge hit. In her words, men like me because I don't wear a brazier. Harlow's obituary from June 7, 1937 highlights her relationship with actor William Powell, noting that he stayed by her side through illness and death. The obituary stated Powell had been her constant companion at social events in recent months, and Hollywood was confident that there would be a marriage. But it was never realized. Harlow hit Hollywood right as talkies became a reality, and Howard Hughes gave her the opportunity to replace a Norwegian actress with an accent in the movie Hell's Angels. Hughes' team dubbed her the Platinum Blonde, and she became an overnight superstar. Up next on Weird Darkness, Patrick Henry is most famous for the speech in which he said, give me liberty or give me death. He obviously was not speaking of his wife because she had no liberty whatsoever, being held captive in a cellar after giving birth to his six children. That story and more coming up on Weird Darkness. Hey Weirdos, have you signed up for the Weird Darkness email newsletter? It'll keep you up to date on what's happening with the podcast when our next Weirdo Watch Party will take place. You can see when the next sale in the Weird Darkness store is scheduled and more. Sign up for the Weird Darkness email newsletter for free at WeirdDarkness.com. Congratulations to Mike Ahern. He is my email newsletter winner for November, and Mike has won a Weird Darkness prize pack, which includes a Weird Darkness pen, button, phone stand, bumper sticker, fidget key chain, magnet, and more. Congratulations, Mike. If you want to win next month, be sure that you're signed up for the free Weird Darkness email newsletter. You can sign up by clicking on the Contests tab at WeirdDarkness.com. If you've got a creepy or paranormal story that you'd like to share, you can call the dark line toll free at 1-877-277-5944. That's 1-877-277-5944. You've got a call just the other day. A lot of people don't realize there's a possibility that shadow people are actually us when we experience out-of-body experiences. This happened to me. I lived in an apartment complex with a courtyard, a common courtyard in the center where people would go and sit at the tables and read books and do whatever. A friend of mine was out in the courtyard one day, reading a book, relaxing, and he saw a shadow pass from the door of my apartment down through the hallway, and this was in the daytime in the morning, and it freaked him out because there was nobody there to cast it. Unknown to him, at the same time he saw this shadow about my size, high bill come out the door and go down the hallway. I was inside asleep and having what I thought was a dream of an out-of-body experience where I left my body, walked out the door and went down the hallway. He said when he saw the shadow that it freaked him out so bad he ran to his apartment, got his Bible out and started praying. So I think there may be something to it, the dimensional theory. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or if I was experiencing an actual out-of-body experience and he'd seen my soul and saw it as a spirit or as a shadow rather, but I always remember that. Thanks for the show. Keep on. Put your stories out there. Well, whoever you were, you didn't leave your name. That is a creepy thought and an interesting one. I've never heard that shadow people might be us in a dream-walking state. I'll have to let the audience decide whether or not there's some credence to that theory. If you want to let me know what you think about it, you can drop me an email, Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N or you can call the dark line yourself. 1-877-277-5944 In the last hour of the show, we talked about being mentally ill and how some people were sent to Bethlehem Hospital and that did not mean that they were any better off being sent there. Even if you're not sent there and you're mentally ill, doesn't mean that you're still any better off. Take this story. The marriage of Patrick Henry and Sarah Shelton in 1754 certainly got off to a good start. Her parents provided them both with a fine dowry including a 600-acre tobacco farm in Virginia called Pine Slash, a house and six slaves. Sadly, Patrick's early attempt at becoming a gentleman farmer ended due to a disastrous drought in Virginia and a fire in 1757 that destroyed their house. He then sold all their slaves and used the profits to open a store which also failed. Despite these setbacks, Patrick Henry's self-taught law skills and talent for oratory earned him public attention and launched him on a political career including becoming the first post-colonial governor of Virginia. He eventually purchased a new plantation and all seemed to be well except by 1771 and the birth of her sixth child, Sarah's mental health deteriorated rapidly. Diagnosis on the basis of historical accounts is always a tricky business and the exact nature of her illness is open to debate. Postpartum depression is one possibility. What's not in debate is that Sarah was no longer able to care for herself or her children and that left the question of what to do with the incredibly unstable Sarah. Unfortunately, families with mentally ill members had really few options in those days. While the colony of Virginia did have a lunatic asylum similar to Bethel in operation, the standard of care for inmates there left much to be desired as well. Treatment was non-existent and it was primarily a place where the mentally ill could be held against their will and out of sight of the rest of society. To place Sarah in such an institution was unthinkable for Sarah's family and instead they decided to care for her themselves on the family plantation. For her own protection and considering the stigma surrounding mental illness which was seen as hereditary at the time, she was primarily confined to a large cellar room which no doubt worsened her condition, although her family ensured that it was as comfortable as possible. While Patrick Henry and the children visited her as often as they dared, most of the care that Sarah received came from a female slave who attended to her constantly. The isolation likely made her condition worse and according to reports she spent much of her time in a straight jacket to keep her from harming herself. Sarah eventually died in 1775 without ever having recovered her sanity and she was buried in an unmarked grave on the plantation. Her death hit her husband hard and when he made his famous Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech one month later it was likely that the memory of his dead wife made it especially poignant. He would later remarry and his stature as a politician would ensure him a permanent place in U.S. history but there is little to mark Sarah's life except as a footnote in her husband's biography. For generations after Sarah's death families with mentally ill members would be forced to make the same harsh choices that her own family did. Spontaneous recovery from mental illness rarely occurred, especially in the cramped, undeserved hospital settings that most mental patients were forced to endure. It wasn't until the late 20th century that effective treatment would make hospitals into something more than a place to warehouse those considered too insane to be accommodated in society. While the stigma of mental illness continues and downsizing of psychiatric services means that too many of the mentally ill are wandering the streets, we've hopefully moved somewhat beyond the era of mad women and men locked in cellars. If you or someone you know struggles with depression or dark thoughts, I'd like to recommend the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. There I've gathered resources to help fight depression with the Seven Cups app connecting you with people who've also struggled with depression and are there to lift you up, even professional listeners there to listen at all hours of the day. If you're having dark thoughts of harming yourself or worse, there's the suicide prevention lifeline that you can either call or chat online with anytime 24-7. The folks at ifred.org are doing what they can with research and education on depression to give us the tools we need to fight against it in the days ahead. These resources are absolutely free and there when you need them on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. In the early 1870s, the city of Boston experienced a rash of gruesome murders. In October 1871, 18-year-old Kate Leon was raped and murdered. A year later, the dismembered body of Abisha Ellis was found floating in the Charles River. In 1874, Jesse Pomeroy killed two children and tortured several others and perhaps most disturbing to the people of Boston, a series of violent sexual assaults committed between 1871 and 1875 resulted in the deaths of two young women. These crimes remained unsolved until a Sunday in May 1875 when the body of five-year-old Mabel Young was found in the bell tower of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church shortly after Thomas W. Piper was seen leaping from the bell free. When Sunday school classes at the Warren Avenue Baptist Church led out around 330 on May 23, 1875, Miss Augusta Hobbs was at the church to meet her five-year-old niece Mabel Young. Mabel stood by her aunt's side as Miss Hobbs conversed for several minutes with Reverend Pentecost, but when the conversation was over, Mabel was nowhere to be found. While Miss Hobbs and some other women of the church were searching for Mabel, they heard an agonized cry coming from the church bell free. Three men broke down a locked door and rushed up the stairs into the tower. At the first landing, they saw a fresh puddle of blood and under a loose floorboard found a blood-stained cricket bat. They hurried up the next level and pushed open a heavy trap door. Dozens of pigeons flew out of the way as the men entered the bell free and found Mabel Young lying on the floor. Her skull was crushed and her hair and clothes were covered with blood, but she was still alive. A man carried her down from the bell free and though she never regained consciousness, Mabel managed to live until eight o'clock the following evening. A young boy outside the church had seen a man leap from the bell free and run away. When Chief of Police Savage heard of the attack, he had a good idea who that man was. Savage lived not far from the Warren Avenue Baptist Church and he knew that sexed into the church had been a suspect in a similar murder a year and a half earlier. On December 5, 1873, near Dorchester, a man heard a noise in the bushes and when he investigated, a cloaked figure jumped from the bushes and ran away. He had interrupted the rape of a woman who was later identified as a domestic servant named Bridget Landegren. Her skull had been crushed and she was naked from the waist down. Nearby was a bloody bat-like club. A few hours later, the rapist accomplished his goal with the assault and rape of Minnie Sullivan. Though she survived the attack, Ms. Sullivan could give no description of her attacker. The police were able to trace the club to a shop where Thomas W. Piper was working, but they did not have enough evidence to arrest him. Not long after this, Piper was hired as sextant of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church on the recommendation of his brother, a member of the church who was studying for the ministry. Even without knowing his suspicious past, members of the church had reason to be wary of their new sextant. The 26-year-old Piper was described as melancholy, but quiet and agreeable, until the 16-year-old daughter of a minister met him in the vestry one Sunday evening. It was not revealed what he proposed to her, but she hurried home to tell her parents she thought he was a very bad man indeed and was afraid of him. The Reverend Pentecost had caught Piper reading a racy adventure novel called Chord and Crease. The prosecutor at Piper's trial would later say that the book's publishers ought to be sent to the House of Correction for the rest of their lives. It was also discovered that Piper kept bottles of whiskey in his room and had one hidden in the pews at the church laced with london. Piper was already in police custody when Mabel Young died. At least three more little girls came forward to say that Piper had tried to lure them into the belfry, offering to show them the pigeons. The cricket bat used on church outings was usually kept in the sextant's room. Piper had deliberately brought it out in preparation for the crime. While Piper was being questioned in police custody, Assistant Deputy Chief of Police John Ham told him it would go better if you confessed. He then brought Reverend George Pentecost into Piper's cell and Piper apparently complied, making some incriminating statements to his spiritual advisor. When the prosecution tried to enter the confession as evidence, Piper's attorney vehemently objected, saying the police had deliberately brought Pentecost to encourage Piper to confess. The judges, sitting on the trial, first ruled for the defense, but the prosecutor argued that he was not offering the testimony as evidence of a confession, but to show the defendant's consciousness of guilt. On this fine point of law, the testimony was allowed. Nonetheless, Piper's first trial ended in a hung jury. In his second trial, prosecutors entered evidence of the evil literature that Piper enjoyed reading. This seemed to be enough to sway the jury to convict Thomas Piper of first-degree murder. Throughout his trials, Thomas Piper maintained that he was innocent of the murder of Mabel Young. However, on May 7, 1876, he sent for his attorney and confessed to the crime. In addition, he confessed to the murder of Bridget Landegren and the attack on Minnie Sullivan. He also confessed to the murder of Mary Tynum, a crime for which he had not been a suspect. Mary Tynum was a prostitute and Piper had spent the night with her. In the morning, he smashed her head with the blunt end of an axe so that he could get his money back. He told the police where they could find the murder weapon. Thomas W. Piper was hanged on May 26, 1876, inside Suffolk County Jail, in front of a crowd of 400 people. Tickets to the hanging had been selling for as much as $50. Outside the jail, another thousand people waited for the announcement of Piper's death. At 1035, the sheriff said to the hushed crowd, I proceed to execute the sentence of the law and make God in his infinite mercy have pity on his soul. The trap was sprung. Piper fell 8 feet and died instantly. In 1920, the congregation of the Warren Avenue Baptist Church joined the First Baptist Church on Commonwealth Avenue and sold the church building on the corner of Warren and Canton Streets. In 1969, it was razed by the city and eventually replaced by Hays Park. Today, the small but beautiful landscaped park includes an original sculpture called West Canton Street Child by former West Canton Street resident Cahill Gibran. Though not specifically intended as a memorial to Mabel Young, it is a fitting monument for the site of her death. Here's a great little newspaper clipping from the Buffalo Inquirer that I thought you'd like is from January 22, 1897. Toledo, Ohio. January 22. About 21 miles out of Toledo in a little town known as Richfield Center, a remarkable condition of affairs exists and the German country residents are panicked-ricken. Nearly 20 families are down with the disease which baffles them completely. They can find no explanation for it and tell extraordinary tales of the singular manifestations of some evil influence among them. They believe they are bewitched and nothing can move them from this opinion. The afflicted ones insist that they can neither eat nor sleep and that many of their number are slowly dying from witchcraft. AF Miller, a farmer, came in from there last night after a daughter who was in the city and whom he wanted to go home and assist in nursing her mother who was down with the disease. In his family there are also four sons stricken and one of them is near death. He says, and in this Henry Neiman another farmer confirms his story, that at night their great trouble occurs. Black cats in some mysterious manner enter the bedrooms, no matter how securely the doors may be fastened, and they hiss, snarl, and catter-wall about the room, leap up on the bed and follow the inmates about the room when they arise. If the bedrooms are vacated, the animals disappear as miraculously as they appear. The epidemic affliction or plague started three or four weeks ago, although a disease somewhat similar existed in the community last autumn. The youngest son of one of the families who was afflicted cannot sleep in a bedroom, but lies down in the kitchen beside the stove. He will not go into a room where there are any beds. It is claimed this is true with the children in at least a dozen other families. One woman who has three children says that they have all been sleeping in one room recently and that as many as four of the black cats have entered the room at one time and their actions are such as to frighten the strongest-hearted. A farmer, Andrew Wilson Miller, it is related, put up a stove in his barn and took his family there to sleep, but they experienced the same illusions as in the house. The livestock also became frantically alarmed. Miller says the farm horses, which have been in good condition until recently, will suddenly snort and rear around their enclosure, wild with fright. Sometimes the animals will do this for several hours at a time until completely exhausted. Several have died as a result of fright and exhaustion. The milk of the cows in these families it is alleged is red, and this is cited as one of the surest evidences of witches. Another remarkable part of the story, as told, is that the feathers in their pillows and beds have been found to be formed in perfectly made wreaths, hard and compact. Mrs. Miller says that she has destroyed at least ten pounds of feathers in a hope of removing the spell, and that the other women in the neighborhood have burned whole feather beds for the same reason. One man says that wooden chips in a box near a bedroom door curled into wreaths. Doctors seem unable to give any relief or diagnose the condition of affairs. They are of the opinion that the trouble arises from some sanitary arrangement from which a disease which plays havoc with the imagination grows and which is slowly spreading in the neighborhood. The Buffalo Inquirer, January 22, 1897 As late as May of that same year, newspapers continued to report weird, mysterious illnesses and deaths in the Richfield Center for which no cause could be found other than these goblin cats. Then, as generally happens, the story seems to have quietly faded away with no known resolution, which is exactly the kind of thing that makes it perfect for weird darkness. In 2025, neutron bombs wipe out much of the world's drinkable water. For the next several years, survivors exist in deplorable conditions and their rations are dwindling. One woman arises from the camp determined to improve conditions. Charlotte is ready to do whatever it takes to ensure clean water for her fellow survivors. Water is almighty. Whoever controls the water rules the world. Can Charlotte prevent the power from falling into the wrong hands? Weird Darkness Publishing Presents Working for H2O by Sarah Faith Now available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions on Amazon and at WeirdDarkness.com Here are a few of the weird news items that made it into the Weird Darkness website the past few days. You can find links to the full story on all of these by clicking on Weird News at WeirdDarkness.com. If you're looking for some quick cash at a part-time job, a $40,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the strange deaths of dozens of cows near Jamestown. Yep, cattle mutilations have come to the point now that wanted posters are being put up to apprehend the culprits. The suspects are said to be light-skinned with large dark eyes, appear to be naked and drive horseless carriages that can fly. Can you cackle and make shivers run up spines? Can you convince all around that you will turn any children into mice? If so, we have a unique role that is unlikely to be found anywhere else in the world. Join our afternoon tea team for October and get to terrify and delight all tea-goers in equal amounts. That is the reading of the job posting looking for a grand-high witch to work at a hotel featured in the movie The Witches. I'm not exactly sure who would even be qualified to do this, even less who would be qualified and living in the area of Newquay on the north coast of Cornwall where you'd have to be in order to work there, but you can learn more about it in the Weird News section at WeirdDarkness.com. Three leather shoes and slippers that were found in Michelangelo's home after his death and are thought to have belonged to the Renaissance artist were used to estimate their owner's size and show the art world giant was physically a mere five feet two inches tall or 1.6 meters. It's rumored Michelangelo overcompensated though by using a really long selfie stick when doing self-portraits. Osborn Mint, the oldest privately owned and operated Mint in America, has released a pure silver commemorative coin honoring the Jackalope, the second cryptid joining the Yeti in its cryptid creatures collection. Other rumored to exist but undiscovered creatures they're considering using for future coins are the Chupacabra, Nessie and a teenager who can leave home without a mobile device. After being charged $70,000 for X-rays taken during a hospital stay, engineer William Osborn built his own working home X-ray machine using a $155 X-ray vacuum tube that he recovered from a broken dental X-ray machine, a giant roll of sheet lead, several Geiger counters and an electricity supply cable of delivering 60,000 volts. He says it works fine with the only side effect being whenever he gets angry he puffs up and turns green. Ireland is under attack by an annual invasion of swarms of sexually aggressive, extremely fast fist-sized male house spiders, one of the world's largest measuring four inches across, looking for females to impregnate then dying while the females lay their eggs. So yeah, there you go, another reason not to visit Ireland. Sounds like a great opportunity though like maybe for Carnival Cruise, you team up with a bug bomb company like Raid or something and there's a unique sales promotion there. You kill all the spiders in your house while cruising the high seas because you really don't want to be there for that. Residents of Benson in Northern Utah are raising money to repair a beloved wooden Bigfoot that was decapitated by vandals. The family who owns it, they like to dress it up and move it around town to cheer people up, so it doesn't have a head so it is still perfect for Halloween parties. You can find links to all of these stories and others in the Weird News section at WeirdDarkness.com. And let's end the evening with a strange one. In Australian Man, he is absolutely convinced that the Yaoi that's Australia's Bigfoot is the real deal and he might be the reason that missing people are well missing, because the Yaoi is eating them. Although encounters with larger bipedal hominids are mostly associated with North America and the Himalayas, these creatures have been reported for years in Russia, China, even Australia. And for years, Yaoi Hunter-Jason Heel has been scouring the wilderness around Earth in search of evidence to prove this. Co-founder of the Yaoi Research Group, he and his colleagues have amassed a large collection of sighting reports, photographs, audio recordings captured in the country's huge national parks, and he claims he has even witnessed Yaoi's with his own eyes. I recently saw Yaoi's running at superhuman speeds north of Bullsbrook, he said. I don't do an Australian accent. Anyway, I believe there's a population of Yaoi's all around the outer suburbs, including Bondarang, Serpentine Dam, and Lake Nangara. I think they go to pockets of bush near people and use bush corridors, but because they're moving in early hours and morning and are incredibly quick, people never see them. When it comes to concrete physical evidence, though, Heel maintains these elusive hominids, they're intelligent enough to conceal anything that might give away their existence. He even believes that some of those who encounter Yaoi's end up becoming Yaoi's lunch. There are a lot of people who go missing in the bush and the cases remain unsolved and it's usually put down to a homicide, he says. But I think some of these are the work of Yaoi's. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, follow it on Facebook and Twitter at Weird Darkness. Please tell somebody about the show too. Somebody you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. Doing so makes it possible for me to keep doing the show. You can also subscribe to the podcast. I upload episodes seven days a week. If you missed any part of this week's radio show, part of the first hour, second hour, maybe you just missed a few minutes, my Patreon members do get a recording of tonight's show immediately after it's over. You can become a patron at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories I've shared tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find source links or links to the authors in the radio show notes for this episode which you can find on the Weird Darkness website. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions, copyright 2021. And now that we're cutting out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Proverbs 10 verse 9, The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out. And a final thought from Chris Isaiah, your life may not be ideal, but you must always count your blessings instead of stressing. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Satan, demons and evil spirits, they're everywhere in pop culture and media, but how close are those portrayals to their true forms? Real demons are not to be taken lightly, they can and will deceive you, tempt you and harm you, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, even physically. This week in Church of the Undead, I talk about the true nature of the devil, demons and evil spirits and also let you know how to defend against them. You don't want to miss this one, your soul might just depend on it. Find the Church of the Undead podcast at WeirdDarkness.com slash Church. Or just look for Church of the Undead wherever you listen to podcasts.