 Welcome, Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. If you're new here, welcome to the show! And while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for a merchandise, my newsletter, to enter contests, to connect with me on social media, plus you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. This is a special Chamber of Comments episode where I answer emails that you've sent me recently, and you can email me any time by sending an email to darren at WeirdDarkness.com. That's Darren at WeirdDarkness.com, or just click on the contact page at WeirdDarkness.com. Our first email comes from JT, he says, Hi Darren, as someone who was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska and even took grade school field trips to Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City, I was surprised I had never heard of the Seven Sisters legend. It warms my weirdo heart that my little piece of flyover country holds some creepiness just like everywhere else. I love your podcast, and yours is one of a very select few that I'm always listening to. Out of curiosity, I know other podcasts will often have interviews or people who call in and discuss their paranormal stories with the host. If you consider it also looking into that for WeirdDarkness. Also congrats on your new weirdo whip, I'm pretty sure nobody refers to their cars as whips anymore, but I enjoy alliterations. Keep up the good work, signed John T. Well thank you John, I really appreciate it, and it's really great once in a while to hear a story from your own area that you'd never heard before. Living here in Rockford, Illinois, it took me years before I had even heard that there were hauntings here, and yet now I hear about them all the time, but sometimes it takes a while. In fact, I'm from Kansas City originally, and I don't know of any haunts there. I know they're there, I just never really heard of them. It's weird. You hear of haunts everywhere else except your own hometown for some reason. In answer to your question about doing interviews, I get requests to do interviews with guests a lot. I get a lot of paranormal investigators, authors. In fact, Andrea Perron from the Conjuring, you know the oldest girl from the Conjuring House, she even volunteered to be a guest on Weird Darkness, and I might make an exception for her, but really I don't do guests because so many other podcasts do. A lot of other podcasts, especially those of the paranormal and supernatural and true crime, they either have guests that they talk to or there's a bunch of them in a room talking with each other like several hosts, and I'm trying to set Weird Darkness apart from those and be more of a storyteller with just a single voice. So I hope that makes sense to you. Some people would like to hear interviews. I understand that. It's not really my thing, and it is a lot more work than it sounds like, too. And I wouldn't be able to do as many episodes as I do now if I was doing interviews. So thank you for that. And also, thank you for the really nice comments about the whip. We're calling it the Weirdo Wagon right now. I think that's the name that we're sticking with, the Weird Darkness Ford expedition. It's now the Weirdo Wagon, and I'm taking it everywhere I can with my table of swag. This next one comes from Miles. Dear Mr. Marlar, I want to thank you for what you do. I'm behind in the podcast. I've just gotten to where you talk about your struggles with depression and not being able to get your meds. I for one am glad you were able to get the medication you needed. If the darkness would have taken over, the world would have lost one of the best storytellers the world has ever known. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I have found out I have a high possibility of having kidney cancer. Oh my gosh, Miles, I'm so sorry to hear that. You and your podcast have helped me intensely in keeping in the light when my depression kicks in from this frightening time in my life. I just wanted to let you know you and your work still touch the lives of many for the better. With all my best wishes, thank you sincerely, Miles. Wow, Miles, I am so sorry to hear that you're going through that. Kidney disease in any way is awful, but to find out that you might have kidney cancer, that has to be scary. I can understand why you might actually suffer from a bit of depression with that. Please know that I will be praying for you tonight. In fact, I'm going to take a brief moment now and pray for you before I continue with this. Lord Jesus, please be with Miles, be with him and his cancer, lay your healing hand on him and remove whatever it is that's going on there. Whether it truly is cancer or if it's something else. And give Miles and those around him a peace. Let them know that you're in control. And also give wisdom, guidance, and dexterity to the doctors who need to do whatever it is that needs to be done. Thank you, Lord. Amen. So, Miles, thank you very much for sharing. I know that sometimes it's hard to open up like that. And it's really good to hear that your depression, that you kind of come to me sometimes and listen and kind of takes away some of the depression. That's really, really great to hear. Keep me updated on what's going on with you. I'd really like to have a follow up on that. Andy sent me an email saying, hey bud, I know this is coming out of nowhere, but I just had to say I've listened to your show for a couple of years now and every time I hear you mention dark archive episodes, I can't help but wonder why you haven't just named them dark hive LOL seems pretty smooth to me dark hive episodes. Yeah, so anyways, I'll go back to minding my own business now. But just wanted to throw my two cents in LOL. Maybe you've already thought of it. I don't know. I'm sick at home and bored, so I guess I'm bugging you. Have a great weekend and God bless. Signed Andy and St. Joseph, St. Joseph, Michigan. I think that's what it is. Well, Andy, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Sorry you're feeling a little bit under the weather. I hope, I mean, this has been several days since you said this to me, so hopefully you're out of that and back to health. It has been suggested before that I use dark hive instead of dark archive. I don't know why I haven't switched over to that because it is kind of clever and it does kind of roll off the tongue, right? So I don't know, I really don't know why I haven't switched to that. When it was suggested earlier, I tried it for a few episodes and then stopped and started and went back to dark archive and I don't know why. So this is a dark hive episode. This is a dark archive episode. This is a dark hive episode. I don't know. Would people who normally listen, they would understand dark archive is dark hive. Would a new listener understand that? I think maybe that's the reason that I didn't continue with it because it's not a real word in the dictionary. So if somebody who was just listening for the first time was to hear this is a dark hive episode, I wonder, would they be able to figure out that means dark archive or would it leave them scratching their heads the entire time they're listening? That one I don't know. But thank you for the email, Andy, I appreciate it. Rob sent me this one. Hey Darren, just found your podcast the other day on Spotify. I'm loving it. Exactly what I was looking for. I saw you're in Rockford, I think. I'm in Montgomery and drive the Joliette for work. The podcast is perfect for driving back and forth. Keep it up. Signed Rob. Well, Rob, yes, a lot of people actually do listen to and from work. In fact, while I was at the Michigan Paracon over the weekend, I had a lot of people saying that they have long trips to work now. I guess now that the pandemic is over, while a lot of people are continuing to work from home, other people are now having to travel more than they had to before the pandemic. I'm not exactly sure how that works, maybe because they're picking up the slack for those who decided not to come back to work, but regardless, there are people on the road a lot now and they say that they listen to podcasts, which I understand. It's weird. I have been in radio since 1990 and I'm still in radio. I still have the Weird Darkness radio show. So I've been in, aside from maybe a couple of months here and there when I was unemployed looking for a new job, but essentially I've been in radio non-stop since 1990. But I tell you, if I'm in the car driving, I don't listen to the radio. I know if the radio stations that broadcast my show were to hear me say that, they might want to dump me because I'm turning away from them, I'm going to the enemy. But I listen to podcasts and I listen to audiobooks, that's what I do when I'm in the car. That's just the technology nowadays. So thank you very much Rob, I appreciate the email. Nessa sent me an email saying, Hey Darren, new listener here. Started after meeting you briefly at MightyCon on August 21st, 2022. I kept my promise and started listening and now I'm hooked. I started with the very beginning of your podcasts and wondered if you've ever done a podcast covering the actual horror stories behind what Disney made cute, such as Pinocchio or Little Mermaid or Cinderella. If you have, I probably haven't got to it yet, but if not, it will be quite interesting to hear you tell these dark and gruesome stories. I feel I am now a Weirdo family member and will continue to listen to all your podcasts. Thank you for taking the time to make them and for spreading awareness about depression. I also suffer from depression, but mine only seems to affect me physically. I felt it mentally and emotionally in the past, but not so much. I'm lucky enough that I didn't need medication to make me not feel so bad, but hopefully it will not affect me so badly as to need it in the future. Thanks for reading my email and hope to hear Dark Disney as a podcast someday. Neighbor from Wisconsin, Nessa, Nessa, it was really great to meet you at Mighty Con. Thank you very much for coming over and stopping and saying hello to me at the table and taking a chance on a podcast you've never heard before. I'm really happy that you like what you heard and you even consider yourself a Weirdo family member now. I looked through my archives and scripts from the past and I would have sworn that I had done an episode on exactly what you're asking for, about those fairy tales and Disney stories, the actual origins of them, the dark origins of them, but for the life of me, I cannot find that episode. So I either imagined it or somehow it's been lost over the years. So it might actually be a good time to create it. I did do an episode about Hansel and Gretel, maybe that's what I'm thinking of, but other than that, I can't find anything. So thank you for the idea, Nessa. I appreciate that. And Nessa sent me an email reply and she said that she was wondering if she could still go to the Weird at Work contest even though she's the only one listening while at work. Every worker has their own music and whatnot playing, but she prefers listening to the podcast. You know, Nessa, why not? Sure. Go ahead. If you want to go to the contests page at WeirdDarkness.com, if you are listening to the podcast at work, go ahead and fill it out. I would prefer if you're listening to it with other coworkers, but you know, not everybody is able to do that. And I'm not going to, going to fault you or punish you because management or others aren't listening. So yeah, go ahead. Feel free to register for the Weird at Work contest. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can go to the contest page at WeirdDarkness.com. Every month now, I just brought it back. I used to do it before the pandemic, but after everybody kind of went unemployed for a while, it didn't make any sense to do a contest for people listening at work. But now that things have kind of started to get back into normalcy, I've brought back Weird at Work. And once a month, for those of you who do listen at work, I do a random drawing and if I draw your name, you get four Weirddarkness coffee mugs, a bag of Weirddark roast coffee, and a t-shirt if you're the one that sent in the entry. So if you want to do that, you can go ahead and do that on the contest page. And if I don't choose your name, I usually do this the second or third Wednesday of the month. And if I don't choose your name, go right back in and register again because I clear out all the entries every month after I choose a winner because people change jobs all the time. I don't want you in there for years and then I say, hey, you're the winner and you're no longer employed there. So every month, you're going to have to re-register. So if you don't win, feel free to jump in and re-register again. Connie sent me an email. Hi. Weirdo here. I'm a Christian and I love spooky slash crime, etc. stories. I was so happy when I found your podcast a few weeks ago. I listen to it every night. Your voice is soothing and helps me relax and go to sleep. Love your Bible studies also. We are kindred spirits. Keep up the good work. I especially love when you add a Bible verse to the end of a podcast. Well, thank you, Connie. I appreciate the email and also great to hear from a, as we call them, weirdo in Christ. And the Bible studies, what she's referring to is of course my church of the undead, which is not part of the Weird Darkness podcast, but it is on the Weird Darkness website. I've decided to make that a separate podcast because not everybody wants to be preached to every day of the week. So if you're interested in that, you can check out Church of the Undead by going to WeirdDarkness.com. But I'm really glad to hear that you like both podcasts, Connie. Thank you very much. Stacy sent me an email saying, I listen enough to your podcasts to know how often people make snide comments about your verses or religious quotes at the end of your podcast. It honestly confuses me how negatively visceral people's reactions are towards it, just because you choose to do it. I'm not a religious person whatsoever. Sometimes I don't relate to what you say, but I'm not so self-important to impose my opinion against people's beliefs and be so staunchly against it that I choose not to listen to your podcast anymore. Seems rather childish, honestly. For me, sometimes what you say is pretty inspirational because it's relatable to life in general and to the average person's struggles. Of course, I have my opinions about religion. I also understand that in instances such as this, it doesn't matter what my opinion is or if I don't like it or agree. It's your podcast and what you choose to talk about is your choice. Just as it's my choice to not listen if I don't agree without needing to voice my angry feelings all the time, it's just common decency. Here's an opinion that should matter. To be that deeply offended by someone's religion that one absolutely needs to take time out of their day to voice their oppressively negative comments says a lot about a person. Be kind, people. Life is too short to be mad about some Bible verses on a podcast somewhere. Chill out and learn to be respectful. Take a deep breath and just enjoy life. In a world where there is a lot to be offended by, this is definitely not one of them. Nothing but love for your content, Darren. Thank you for all that you do. Your podcast makes my days a lot easier and less lonely. Keep it up. All of it. Signed Stacey. Wow, Stacey. I could not have said that better myself. That was great. For somebody who doesn't even necessarily believe the same thing, I believe. That's amazing, Stacey. So thank you. And you should repent of that, by the way. You need to become a Christian. Otherwise, you're going to burn in hell. But other than that... Oh, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. Stacey, thank you very much for an amazing email. I appreciate that. John sent me an email saying, I've been a listener for a couple of years now. I was listening to your podcast just the other night where you were talking about Highway 2 going across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and it made me laugh. I have been driving many years on my way home from Scout Camp. I saw the weirdo wagon and got so excited. Yep. That was me. I met you when you were going through Menominee, Menominee, Michigan, Menominee, I have no idea how to... I'm going to say Menominee. Anyway, when you were going through Menominee, Michigan, your podcast tells me to get through the workday. Another weirdo, John. Well, I'm glad you flagged me down, John. Thank you very much. I was really hoping that you were a listener and not somebody wanting to complain about my driving. So, Scout Camp. You mentioned that you were coming home from Scout Camp. So I wonder if you're a Scout leader. My dad was Cubmaster when I was a kid. I can't remember the name. 3467, I think, was our pack number in Olathe, Kansas. I might be wrong about the number, but anyway, he was the first Scoutmaster for that particular troop. And me and my little brother were in there, and I think we had maybe 100 Cub Scouts in there at one time, and dad was a great Cubmaster. We had a lot of fun with him, so if you are a Scout leader or if you're just one of the parents that are supportive, thank you. That really does mean a lot to your kids. You may not know that right now, but hopefully later in life they'll come back and say, dad, that was really cool that you were supportive of us in Scouting. So I had a lot of pleasant memories of those days, so thank you for what you're doing there, John. Appreciate it. Emily sent me an email. She said, this is Emily from ParaCon. We talked about the Handicap point of view in paranormal research. I just wanted to email you in case I lost your card. It was great meeting you, and I hope to see you next year. Well, you know what? It was great to see you too, Emily. And you got to know if you let me start up that investigation group. Now, for those of you who obviously don't know what Emily was talking about, she and I had a conversation at the Michigan ParaCon about how she could go into an investigation, but she is hard of hearing. And in that case, she would actually, her heightened senses might be able to pick up something that a normal investigator who doesn't have any disabilities might completely miss. And I had never really thought of that. I mean, I'm not an investigator, so I guess it really wouldn't occur to me anyway. But it's interesting that could you take somebody on an investigation, a paranormal investigation, if you're on a ghost hunt somewhere and bring somebody who has a disability, somebody who is deaf or who is blind or is perhaps autistic, and what are they going to sense that maybe you as just a completely normal human being without disabilities, are they going to pick up something that you don't? Emily said that she's already a sensitive person to that. She's sensitive to the paranormal. So it'd be interesting to see what would happen if she got onto an investigation team and went out. I would love to hear what happens in a situation like that. And one more email, this one comes from Julie, she says, Hi, Darren, hope you're having a great day. I started listening to your podcast this past January when I'm hooked. I tried other horror and paranormal contests, let me try that again. I've tried other horror and paranormal podcasts, but they do not come close to your great narration and production. I have a few stories that I would love to share with you sometime, and hopefully I can make it out to one of your scheduled events this fall. Is there any place that I can listen to older episodes of the podcast? I'm caught up with all the episodes that are currently uploaded to Spotify. I think I heard you mention that your podcast goes back to 2017 or 2018 and I'd love to hear the older shows. Keep up the great work, kind regards, signed Julie. While Julie, I'm really glad that you like the show, that you, as you said, are hooked on it and yes, I would love to see you sometime at one of the events on the road trip. You can keep up with the road trip, just go to WeirdDarkDist.com, click on road trip and I'm trying to keep that list as updated as possible and I'm adding an event almost every week now. It's getting crazy. So be sure to check up on that on a regular basis. In answer to your question about hearing old episodes, I actually began the podcast just before Halloween of 2015. We're coming up on our year number seven this year. But what I do is I take old episodes and repost them as dark archive episodes or as was suggested earlier, dark hive episodes, as Andy recommended. But I'll post those again, especially if I'm not feeling well or if it's a weekend. I post older episodes. So you've probably heard some of those older episodes already. You just didn't know it. So if you just keep listening to the new episodes as they come out, you will eventually hear all the old episodes too. And I do that again because sometimes I'm sick, I also do that on the weekends, but also because I know 90% of the people listening have not heard those older episodes because they go back so far. So that's why I do it. And so far, people don't complain too much about it. I think I've maybe had two complaints out of the 30,000 some people who are listening right now. So I think that's a pretty good ratio. So thank you very much for the email, Julie. I really appreciate it. And if you'd like to email me and be in the Chamber of Comments in the future, all you have to do is send me an email to darren at WeirdDarkness.com. That's darren at WeirdDarkness.com. And if you have a story that you want to tell me, something that's actually true that's happened to you or somebody you know, we do have our Fireside Frights episode that we do every month and you can send those stories in by going to the website and clicking on Tell Your Story. And I try to use all of them that come in, unless I just can't make you know, heads or tails out of them because the spelling is atrocious or because there's no capitalization or if it's one long run-on sentence. But if you can, you know, if you can clean it up at least a little bit, I'd appreciate it. But if you do have a story to tell, again, true stories are what I'm looking for for Fireside Frights. You can just click on Tell Your Story at WeirdDarkness.com.