 Hey Weirdos, if you played Identify the Imposter on my Patreon page for tonight's show, the story title that was a hoax and is not one of the stories tonight is Time Portal Plagiarism. Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Bob Taylor's encounter with the mysterious Spheres in Deckman Wood near Livingston in Scotland is probably one of the most written about cases of a close encounter in Britain. The case stands as one of the most intriguing in British ufology. On the 9th of November, 1979, at around 10.30 am, Robert Taylor, a forestry worker employed by the Livingston Development Corporation, parked his pickup off a track at the bottom of Deckman Law just off the busy M8 motorway. He walked up the lower slope of the forested hill with his dog and as he emerged into a clearing an amazing sight greeted him. Before him in the clearing was a large circular sphere-like object about 20 feet across. It appeared to be made from a dark metallic material with a rough texture like sandpaper, parts of which were transparent. A narrow flange ran around the outside of the object. As he approached, two spheres with protruding metal spikes in the manner of old naval mines dropped from the object. They were about three feet wide and made of the same dark metallic substance as the larger object. The two spheres rolled towards him and flanked him, each rolling at the same time to his left and right foot. With his dog now barking furiously, the spikes attached to Bob's trousers and pulled him toward the large sphere. Bob heard a distinct hissing sound and smelled an acrid smell that caused him to choke. The next thing he knew, he was coming around lying face down on the grass with his dog nearby. The strange objects had disappeared from the clearing. His legs were aching, his trousers were torn and he found he could not speak. He crawled the rest of the way to his pickup and could not get it started, so had to walk the mile to his home in Livingston. His wife was at home when he arrived in his disheveled state and he quickly phoned the doctor and eventually the police. The police treated the matter seriously and returned to the site with Bob. They found a ladder shaped marks in the soil where the craft was said to have stood and marks following the path of the mine-like objects. Although there may be several possible explanations, what has been agreed to is that Bob Taylor was a man of character not given to fanciful stories. He never changed his account, never actively sought publicity and never gained from any of the publicity generated at the time of the event. The case remains to this day the only UFO encounter that became a criminal investigation. It is known as the Deckman Woods Encounter. I am Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. This is Weird Darkness. Here you will find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. Coming up in this episode… Hundreds of years after his death, the tomb of William Longspe was opened and what was found horrified the man who opened it. The skeleton of a black rat was found in the skull of Longspe, but that wasn't the end of the story. Most people are superstitious to at least a tiny degree, avoiding walking under ladders, not opening umbrellas indoors, or having a tingle down the spine every Friday the 13th. Perhaps you have a favorite or lucky shirt to wear on special occasions or a lucky pair of socks. Maybe you have to dress from left to right instead of the other way around. Superstitions may seem silly, but we seem to live with them everywhere. But your superstitions don't hold a candle to the ones believed by those in the theater. Vespians on and off the stage have some pretty bizarre concepts about what is lucky and unlucky. Viking sagas described the ritual execution of the blood eagle in which victims were kept alive while their backs were sliced open so that their ribs, lungs, and intestines could be pulled out into the shape of bloody wings. The torture method was so grisly that some historians believe it never truly happened. We can only hope those historians are correct because the thought of someone going through it alive is unbelievably terrifying. Physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked the question, where are they to express his surprise over the absence of any sign for the existence of other intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy? Although many potential resolutions to this so-called Fermi paradox have been suggested over the years, there is still no consensus on which one, if any, is correct. We'll look at some of the theories as to where ET might be hiding. But first, only once in the history of law enforcement and ufology has there been a case where a UFO incident turned into an actual criminal investigation. We'll look at the Declment Woods encounter. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for 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. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Police would treat Robert Taylor's report regarding his apparent out-of-this-world encounter as a case of criminal assault. This would make the incident the only UFO or alien abduction case to be part of a criminal investigation. It's highly probable that one of Scotland's most famous UFO encounters, sometimes referred to as the Declment Woods encounter, involved the alien abduction of Taylor, or at least some kind of interaction. Whether aliens whisked Robert Taylor off from the Declment Woods that cold morning or not, it remains one of the most interesting and genuinely strange cases on record. On the morning in question, Robert Taylor decided to pull his vehicle to the side of the road so he could stretch his legs and allow his dog to do the same. He did so on a quiet road near the M8 motorway. It was around 10.30 a.m. as he was walking through the woodland with the seven-year-old red-setter Laura. It was as he was coming up on a clearing among the fir trees that Taylor's morning and indeed his life was about to take a drastic turn. There in front of him, no further than 12 yards away, was a flying dome or circular object that was suddenly in his line of sight. It appeared to be floating slightly above the tops of the trees. The craft was close enough that he could make out the rough sandpaper-like texture of the black metallic material. An aroma of burning breaks suddenly seemed to fill the air. He noticed two objects that had fallen to the ground from the main craft. Taylor would later describe these as looking like Second World War naval mines. Each of the strange objects had spikes all around them. They headed toward him, one to each side, making a strange noise against the ground as they moved. When they were level with him, an attachment with a spike on the end shot out of each one and attached themselves to each leg of his trousers. Of more concern to Taylor, he could feel a pulling sensation on his body as if the craft was dragging him towards it. He began to panic and pull back from it, but his body didn't respond. As this was happening, a rotten, choking smell filled his nostrils, immediately weakening his resistance to the pull as he gagged on whatever the aroma was. As he seemingly began to lose consciousness, the last sound he heard was the unsettling hissing of the object and the agitated barks of Laura. The next thing he knew, he was alone on the clearing floor. The object had vanished. As he picked up his face from the dirt and leaves of the forest floor, he noticed how severely his legs ached. He also realized he couldn't bring himself to speak in an attempt to calm his dog, who was still barking somewhere in the immediate vicinity. After gathering his thoughts, Taylor made his way to his vehicle. Although some time had passed, it stood in the spot he'd left it. It was a short joy, however. Try as he might, the car would no longer start as if drained of power by an unknown source. He would continue his journey on foot. When he arrived home, his family was aghast at his torn clothing as well as the cuts and bruising to his face and arms. He would inform his wife, Mary, bluntly, that he'd been attacked by a spaceship when she asked what had happened to him, herself in deep shock at the state of her husband. Unsure what to do, Mary informed her husband's employer and boss of the incident, Malcolm Drummond. He would always state that Robert was not a person to make up stories. He had no doubts whatsoever of his genuineness or lack thereof. Drummond would order a search of the area where the incident took place using other forestry workers. However, there was nothing untoward discovered. That something had happened to Taylor, though, was surely beyond doubt. With this in mind, the Livingston police were notified of the attack and would shortly arrive at the Taylor home to investigate. Given that Taylor had been physically attacked and he had shredded clothes and marks to prove it, the police would treat the incident as a crime. They had Taylor take them back to the site of the encounter so that they could see it for themselves. Headed by Detective Inspector Ian Wark, they would discover strange, ladder-shaped impressions on the ground where Taylor claimed the incident had unfolded. Furthermore, they also noted two invention rows, right where Taylor claims the two spiked objects had moved toward him on either side, seemingly corroborating his version of events of him being dragged toward the object. His torn trousers went off for scientific analysis, the conclusion being that the damage appeared to be in line with a machine-like object gripping and pulling him. In short, every indication so far was that he was telling the truth. Although they might not have believed Taylor was attacked by a vehicle from outer space, the police very much believed he was attacked by something and the criminal investigation was open. The track marks of the machines and vehicles used by forestry workers in the area were all examined in an attempt to locate a match to the markings and the clearing where Taylor was attacked. None of them matched. Flight records of the airspace over Livingston were also examined. No helicopters or small airplanes were overhead that day. The grounds around where the incident had taken place were even examined in the event that evidence of a crane that might have lifted some kind of machine into the clearing might be found. No such evidence was uncovered and with the ground being soft from the rain, these markings would have been clear. Ultimately, although they could not explain the encounter, the police were certain of Taylor's credibility. Inspector Lark stated they had no reason to doubt anything about what he was telling us, adding that everyone they had spoken to who knew Taylor claimed he just would not make up a story like that. Perhaps because of the police involvement, public interest in the encounter soared with local and national media coverage, and as we might imagine with the intense interest, many theories and suggestions as to what actually happened that November morning in 1979 also surfaced. If we take out the possibility that Taylor witnessed a genuine extraterrestrial vehicle of some kind, what else might explain this most bizarre event? Some would suggest that Taylor merely suffered an intense illusion, possibly due to an epileptic fit. However, there is no evidence of any such seizures in Taylor's medical history, and even if something had triggered this one-off fit, it is highly unlikely that he would have recovered sufficiently as quickly as he did in order to walk home from where the incident occurred. There have also been suggestions that ball-lightning might be responsible for the incident, with Taylor perhaps coming too close and ultimately confused by what he was seeing. Once more, however, this explanation is hardly watertight, not least as Taylor specifically recalled seeing a metallic machine-like craft as opposed to ball-lightning, which even then would have been easy to identify. There are others who wonder whether the machine witnessed that day was some kind of top-secret military vehicle. If this was the case, though, where was it produced? By who, and whose was it? Was the purpose of the attack on Taylor merely to allow this futuristic vehicle to escape? If this was the case, however, we might expect that something very similar would have entered the public domain in the decades since. Might this not be a UFO but some kind of vehicle from another dimension, or even the ancient past, that appeared for a very short time due to some kind of rip in time and reality? Might there be some energy forces in this region of Scotland that somehow produce these portals that allow such vehicles to enter hours from another time or from other realms of existence? Of course, there are some who believe the incident to be a very clever hoax, one designed to attract UFO tourists to the area for the financial betterment of the region. However, as Ron Halliday points out, this notion is fanciful simply because it was not beneficial for the region simply because the area was largely industrial urban Scotland and essentially not Loch Ness. Besides, business opportunities were already well on their way to becoming Scotland's Silicon Glen, home to computer and associated industries. One skeptic of the case, Stuart Campbell, claimed in his book, The UFO Mystery Solved, which I will link to in the shown notes, that the markings discovered on the ground were likely from equipment being used in the area by water authority workers. However, when he spoke to these workers, who had indeed operated in the nearby area, they claimed that none of the equipment had been stored in the region Taylor had his encounter. Despite this, Campbell persisted that he suspected they were not being truthful, further suggesting they might have used the area to store equipment without permission. As Halliday points out, Taylor was a regular visitor to this area with his dog and claimed he not once seen any such equipment in the area. In short, the encounter remains both unexplained and difficult to dismiss convincingly. There is no doubt that the Livingston incident is one of the most intriguing and credible on record, whatever the truth of the sighting might one day prove to be. That something strange happened to the 61-year-old Taylor that cold morning in the Deckmount Woods is surely beyond doubt. Ron Halliday writes that Taylor made next to nothing financially out of the incident and never tried to capitalize on his fame. He would elaborate that Taylor even became thoroughly fed up with the persistent interest people had in the incident. We might also note similarities to the Falcon Lake incident 12 years earlier in May 1967 in the Manitoba region of Canada, in which 51-year-old mechanic Stefan Michalek happened upon a similar craft and a clearing in the woods while searching for quartz crystal. He would report hearing a strange hissing sound, perhaps similar to that described by Taylor and also complained of a noxious smell similar to sulfur that he further described as like burnt electric wiring. UFO researcher and former Ministry of Defense UFO project director Nick Pope claims that the case offers no middle ground. It is his belief that Robert Taylor is a very genuine witness who had little to gain and much to lose by telling of the incident. Robert Taylor passed away in 2007, but there remains an interest in his story, not least because of its apparent authenticity. Incidentally, Taylor would not alter his version of events at any point after the incident. In the book UFO Scotland, The Secret History of Scotland's UFO Phenomenon, which I have linked to in the show notes, Ron Halliday relays several other UFO incidents that took place around the same time as Robert Taylor's encounter. According to one such account told to Halliday, at around 8 p.m. the night before Taylor's incident on the 8th of November, a Mr. Ferguson was bringing his lorry to a stop in a lay-by when he saw a strip of brilliant lights which was shaped like a ruler heading in the direction of the Degment Law region. At around the same time, two brothers, Stephen and Alan Little, witnessed a spherical, dome-shaped object in the Bell's Quarry region of Livingston. The two brothers, who viewed the object from their home, estimated the craft was around 1200 feet from them, seemingly hovering around 150 feet above a nearby road. They would further recall that white, red and blue lights ran around the outside of the vehicle. The strange craft remained in view for several minutes before it slowly faded from sight. All the while, it remained completely silent. Several hours earlier, at a little before 6 p.m., Josephine Quigley, along with four of her friends, witnessed a circle of lights that were slowly rotating over the Livingston area. Although she couldn't make out any intricate details, she did note that it moved too slowly to be a helicopter or an airplane. The following day, the same day as Taylor ran into the strange apparatus in the woods, strange lights and objects continued to be witnessed by members of the public in and around the Livingston area. During the morning rush hour, Graham Kennedy was heading west on the A89 road when his attention was captured by an extremely bright light passing overhead as he drove to Bangor Hospital. Even more alarming, the object appeared to head toward his vehicle at great speed, only changing direction at the last moment. As Kennedy was bringing his car to a stop to avoid a collision, following the fast approach of the strange object from above, a nurse, Anne McGregor, was walking along the A89 on her way to work at Bangor Hospital. As she walked, a strange hissing sound reached her ears that appeared to be coming from above. As she turned her attention upward, she noticed a bizarre, bright light seemingly heading toward the Dechmont Law Region. It appeared that the same bright yellow light was witnessed by a cyclist several minutes later. At somewhere between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Mrs. Scott was stood waiting at a bus stop, which faced the Pentland Hills. As she stared lazily ahead, she suddenly noticed a round, silvery object with flashing lights hovering overhead. She turned to another lady also at the bus stop and asked her what she thought the strange object was. She wasn't sure, other than it was something out of the ordinary. As the two women watched the disc light craft, it suddenly sped off in the direction of Dechmont Law. The Mann family experienced a strange experience while driving home. Much like them and Taylor, many others have found themselves suddenly involved in other worldly incidents while driving on the sometimes lonely roads of the United Kingdom. One of the more interesting and chilling is the claims of Gary Wood from August 1992. Wood was driving along the A-70 with his friend Colin Wright. They were heading towards Lanarkshire at a little after 10 p.m. Suddenly, a dark, black object made its way into their line of sight high above them. As they continued along the road, a bright wall of light descended in front of them. The two men appeared to be caught in the headlights of this strange light. They believed it was then that they blacked out. The next thing each of the men remembers is that their vehicle had come to a stop and the clock now read 11 p.m. It also appeared that the car had changed direction and now faced the opposite way they had been driving. Understandably disturbed by the events, each of the men agreed to hypnotic regression. Their comments were both fascinating and alarming. As their car came to a stop, their bodies stiffened in pain as though they'd received electric shocks. Three beings took the men from the car and onto the black object, now on the ground. Both men would state the object was very clearly a spaceship. Each was stripped of their clothes and subjected to intricate examinations. At the same time, red-hot poker-like objects would explode into their eyes. Woods in particular said that screams of other people were audible around him. They appeared to be in the same room. One of the more recent of these types of accounts took place in January 2005, while driving along the A-65 road in North Yorkshire, the Devereux family would share an experience that would change their lives. Rachel Devereux, her sons Benji and Alex and her mother Ann could all see a bright light hovering over their car. The clock read just after 5 p.m. They continued on their way towards High Bentham with a light suddenly screeched towards them in a flash it then vanished. Shaken but otherwise unhurt, the family went on with their journey, arriving home shortly after 6 p.m. It wasn't until the following day that Rachel began to wonder just what had happened on their drive home. She would drive the route again, this time it would take only 10 minutes to complete, while it took an hour the previous day. Either that or they couldn't account for around 45-50 minutes of time. Reports on the local radio suggested that others had also seen the strange light that evening. Many callers went on air with their information. When Alex Devereux began to experience intense dreams, however, Rachel agreed to go under hypnosis to recover the memories she now suspected was residing in her mind. Perhaps surprisingly, perhaps not, her testimony under hypnosis revealed all four of the Devereux were victims of alien abduction. Since the incident, they regularly witnessed strange lights over their farmhouse home. Whether those lights are simply sightings or further abductions is a question still requiring an answer. Businessist Enrico Fermi famously asked the question, where are they, to express his surprise over the absence of any signs for the existence of other intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. Although many potential resolutions to this so-called Fermi paradox have been suggested over the years, there is still no consensus on which one, if any, is correct. Up next, we will look at some of the theories as to where ET might be found. Plus, Viking sagas describe the ritual execution of the Blood Eagle in which victims were kept alive while their backs were sliced open so that their ribs, lungs and intestines could be pulled out into the shape of bloody wings. The torture method was so grisly that some historians believe it never truly happened. We can only hope historians are correct about this, because the thoughts of someone going through it alive is unbelievably terrifying. These stories and more when Weird Darkness Returns Paranormal experiences, encountering extraterrestrials, extraordinary states of consciousness, spiritual phenomenon, encounters with non-human entities that can't be explained by science. These stories of what people have come across are ubiquitous here on Weird Darkness, and often those who've had these encounters choose to stay quiet and not even tell close friends or family out of fear of ridicule, and they suffer silently trying to deal with the internal horror of what they've experienced. If I'm describing you or someone you know, there is now a place you can turn to for professional counseling from experts who, unlike others in their field, are open to the paranormal, supernatural and extraterrestrial experiences of others, and they're not there to explain away your experience but to help you recover from it and move forward with living. I'm referring to the Opus Network. If you want to reach out for help or learn more, look for the Opus Network towards the bottom of the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. The Fermi Paradox is one of the most puzzling problems about living in our universe. Based on our current understanding of biology and physics, we should see alien civilizations or signs of their existence across the night sky. Yet as far as we can tell, we are alone in the cosmos. Why is this? One reason that we are not finding alien life is that we are not looking in the right places. Since Earth life forums are the only ones we know of, scientists have tended to look for life like ours. Perhaps Earth is unusual, and life flourishes in far stranger places than we ever imagined. Here are just a handful of strange places that have been suggested as homes for alien organisms. Venus Venus is quiet like Earth, or at least Earth if it was sent to hell. Both planets are similar in size and mass, and the surface's gravity is comparable. Surely this makes it an obvious place to look for life. When astronomers in the early 20th century peered at Venus through their telescopes, all they could see were dense clouds reflecting sunlight. This led some to picture the surface as a tropical and humid swamp, teaming with lifeforms. Unfortunately, when space probes explored the planet, they found its surface temperature was hot enough to melt lead, and its toxic atmosphere had a pressure nearly 100 times that on Earth. Not really somewhere to expect life then. Except there are parts of the planet that may just harbor organisms. There are places higher in the atmosphere where the pressure is not too great, the temperature is cool enough for liquid water, and there might be less of the ubiquitous sulfuric acid. Single-celled organisms might be able to exist there, caught in the high winds. One theory is that these organisms could live their lives in two stages. When in the right place, they are active and alive, but if they start falling toward the surface as a droplet forms around them, they go into a tough hibernation state that can survive at lower levels. As they dry out on their descent, they become lighter and are carried back into the habitable zone, where they can become active again. A recent observation by the ALMA Observatory suggested there were high levels of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. On Earth, only life is known to form phosphine, so it was suggested it might be coming from Venusian life. Unfortunately, it seems that this detection was mistaken. If life exists on Venus, we will have to look harder. Under the Ice One of the reasons astronomers search Earth-like planets in certain orbits around stars is that there is one indisputable fact about life on Earth. It needs liquid water to survive. Too close to a star, and all the water boils. Too far, and it all turns to ice. At least, that was what astronomers thought. Some places outside the habitable zone of our own sun might be concealing vast oceans. The icy moons of Jupiter like Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto are covered with layers of ice, but underneath may be deep reservoirs of water where life could survive. Europa is only a quarter the diameter of Earth, but could have more than four times all the water found in Earth's oceans under its icy outer crust. It is thought that the massive pressures exerted by Jupiter's gravity provide the energy to keep this ocean in its liquid form. We know that life can exist in the deepest and darkest parts of Earth's seas, and so it is just possible that life found a way to survive on these icy moons. Multiple space probes have been and will be launched toward Jupiter to get a better look at its moons and see if life can be detected. Comets Comets can be some of the most spectacular sites in our sky. As they plunge from the outer solar system toward the sun, they warm up and blast huge plumes that form illuminated tails behind the comet. Because they have a large amount of ice, could life exist on comets? At first it seems unlikely. Comets spend the majority of their time far away from the light and warmth of the sun. When at their furthest, temperatures can be just 50 degrees above absolute zero. When at this temperature and with minimal gravity of their own, comets have no atmosphere to speak of. When the Rosetta space mission placed a lander on comet 6-7P Cheryomov-Jersimenko in 2015, it detected chemicals strongly associated with biological life. Very few scientists suggested this could mean that organisms were actually living on the comet. According to the Pan-Spermia theory, comets spread life to other planets as they go about their travels. Most scientists dismiss the idea of comet-based life, though, and even less than it had anything to do with the appearance of life on Earth. Meteorites Meteorites look pretty when they streak into our atmosphere, but apart from making a wish on a shooting star, most people probably don't pay them much attention. On the other hand, scientists have long looked at rocks that fell from space to uncover what they might reveal about the solar system. This includes looking for life in them. While most meteorites originate from the asteroid belt and the leftover debris of the formation of the solar system, some come from other planets and moons. When a collision is big enough, rocks from the surface of a planet or moon can be ejected into space, where they wander until they fall to Earth. Several meteorites have been recovered that can be traced to Mars, and inside some of them are microscopic structures that some scientists interpret as fossils of Martian life. In 1996, President Clinton announced the finding of such fossils in a Mars meteorite. The results of this discovery were soon questioned, though, but other researchers have come to similar conclusions about other Mars meteorites. Others have found the building blocks of proteins in meteorites. Next time you see a shooting star, maybe wish that it has indisputable proof of alien life inside it. Gas Giants In 1976, Carl Sagan and Edwin Salpeter published a paper examining whether Jupiter could be home to varieties of life. They concluded that Jupiter, whose atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with methane, ammonia and water, might actually be habitable for aliens. They would just be very alien aliens. Jupiter does not seem a promising place for life at first, given it is far from the sun, has no solid surface and has high speed winds. Sagan and Salpeter came up with four types of organisms that might just call it home, however, and all live in the upper atmosphere. The first they call sinkers, which are small organisms that function like algae in Earth's oceans. Floaters are vast animals kilometers across that move by taking in the gases of the atmosphere and expelling them as jets. They hold on to the hydrogen and helium, however, which helps them to float. They also posit species of hunters and scavengers in the Jovian atmosphere. So far, nothing like this has been found, but other scientists have suggested that gas giants around other stars could be home to exotic lifeforms. Maybe they are in liquid methane. Titan is the largest moon of the planet Saturn and the second largest in the solar system. It is surrounded by a thick atmosphere that gives the moon an orange and hazy look. It was only when probes reached Titan that its surface was uncovered. This revealed a world with a thick crust of ice, volcanoes that spray water and ammonia, and, most startlingly, lakes. Because the temperature of Titan is well below the freezing point of water, these lakes are not like ours on Earth, but instead are made of liquid methane and ethane. Could life survive in these liquids instead of water? Models have been produced which would have organisms in these lakes metabolizing hydrogen and acetylene from the atmosphere to get their energy. These cells would have to be radically different from our own. Earth cells have a phospholipid membrane around them, but these would break up in the hydrocarbon layers of Titan. It is just possible that cells of Titan could use acrylonitrile, a molecule found on Titan, to make membranes that would keep them together. Instead of our floppy membrane, these would be flat, hard, and crystalline. A sleep. What if the reason we are not detecting life is that all the aliens have gone to sleep? That is the suggestion of one team of researchers who have come up with what they call the Aestivation Hypothesis. Why would alien civilizations decide to give up on being active and go into hibernation? According to the research, it is an efficient use of their efforts. We are currently living relatively early in the history of the universe. Only 14 billion years have passed since the Big Bang and galaxies are still relatively active with new stars being born all the time. But one day, the last star will die and there will be none to replace it. Energy will dissipate and the universe will be a colder and darker place. This might be just what the aliens are waiting for. If they store a lot of energy now and go to sleep, they can wake up in the distant future and use their stores of energy to do more work with it due to the prevailing physical conditions of the universe. According to the research, the aliens who do this will get 10 to the 30th power times more work done if they are just willing to wait a bit, say, several trillion years. Black Holes A black hole is probably the last place you want to find yourself. If you slip below the event horizon, there is literally no way that you can escape its fearsome gravity. If a black hole is actively absorbing matter, then the entire region around it will be filled with high energy radiation that would kill most life. However, some researchers say that black holes might just offer sanctuary to organisms. Black holes are not magical entities that just suck up everything around them. They pull in matter by gravity, just like any other massive object. This means that if you are traveling at the right speed and in the right direction, you can orbit them like the earth orbits the sun. Planets could form from the matter surrounding a black hole. Even the absence of the sun and a black hole planetary system might not be too much of a problem. The energy needed to support life could come from the searing hot accretion disk which forms around many black holes. Dust One of the reasons that we are not finding life in space is because we are looking at planets and not its space itself. Computer models produced by physicists in 2007 said that interstellar dust that is electrically charged could organize itself into something that behaves in a very life-like manner. Atoms in space often exist as a plasma of charged ions, having had electrons stripped off by radiation. Unlike the familiar plasma of the sun, this plasma can be cold, which allows the ions to interact relatively non-violently. Simulations of such plasmas in low-gravity environments showed them forming into filaments that corkscrewed a little like DNA. Once you have structures that can self-assemble, that looks like life. Different forms of filament were studied and were seen to evolve over time as they created more copies of themselves. Maybe aliens are out there. They were just more out there than we ever imagined. Stars Perhaps the most extreme form of alien life ever suggested by a serious researcher could be lurking within the inferno of active stars. If they exist, then they would not be made from ordinary matter or even objects that have been discovered. Cosmic strings and magnetic monopoles would be needed for life to evolve within stars. Both of these are theoretical ideas in physics, but many scientists suspect that they might exist in the universe. Researchers have suggested that cosmic strings might be captured within the gravity of stars. Once inside the high temperature of a star's interior, which is also filled with strong magnetic fields, the strings and monocles would be twisted into complex forms. These shapes might be able to replicate themselves using other strings and monopoles. This is analogous to DNA copying itself. The self-replicating strings could then make copies of themselves with slight variations. Over time, the complexity of these stringy life forms could continue to grow into something very like life as we recognize it. Intriguingly, the authors of this research suggest that such life forms might be detectable as they influence the energy output of the stars that they inhabit. So if the sun ever looks brighter than you expect, it might be just our neighbors saying hello. The Vikings didn't come into towns walking on moonbeams and rainbows. If their sagas are to be believed, the Vikings cruelly tortured their enemies in the name of their god Odin as they conquered territory. If the suggestion of a blood eagle was even uttered, one left town and never looked back. Viking sagas detail blood eagles as one of the most painful and terrifying torture methods ever imagined. The story describes how. Earl Inar went to Huffden and carved blood eagle on his back in this wise, that he thrust a sword into his trunk by the backbone and cut all the ribs away from the backbone down to the loins and drew the lungs out there. One of the earliest accounts of the use of the blood eagle is thought to have occurred in 867. It began a few years before, when Ala, king of Northumbria, present day North Yorkshire, England, fell victim to a Viking attack. Ala killed Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok by throwing him into a pit of live snakes. In revenge, Lothbrok's sons invaded England in 865. When the Danes captured York, one of Lothbrok's sons, Ivar the Boneless, saw to it that Ala would be killed. Of course, simply killing him wasn't good enough. Ivar's father Ragnar had, allegedly, met a gruesome fate by a pit of snakes. Ivar the Boneless wanted to make an example out of Ala and strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. Thus, he committed the damned king to the blood eagle. Modern scholars debate how Vikings performed this ritual torture and whether they even performed the gruesome method at all. The process of the blood eagle is indeed so cruel and grisly that it would be difficult to believe that it could actually be carried out. Regardless of whether it is merely a work of literary fiction, there is no denying the fact that the ritual is stomach churning. The victim's hands and legs were tied to prevent escape or sudden movements. Then the person seeking vengeance stabbed the victim by his tail bone and up towards the rib cage. Each rib was then meticulously separated from the backbone with an axe, which left the victim's internal organs on full display. The victim has said to have remained alive throughout the entire procedure. What's worse, the Vikings would then literally rub salt into the gaping wound in the form of a saline stimulant. As if this wasn't enough, after having all the person's ribs cut away and spread out like giant fingers, the torturer then pulled out the lungs of the victim to make it appear as if the person had a pair of wings spread out on his back. Thus the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. The victim had become a slimy, bloody bird. King Ayla was not the last royal to face the blood eagle. One scholar believes that at least four other notable figures in Northern European history suffered the same fate. King Edmund of England was also a victim of Ivar the Boneless. Hafden, son of King Harlder of Norway, King Melgoiwai of Munster, and Archbishop Elhea were all believed to be victims of blood eagle torture because they were victims of Ivar the Boneless. There were two main reasons Vikings used the blood eagle on their victims. First, they believed it was a sacrifice to Odin, father of the Norse pantheon of gods and the god of war. Second, and more plausibly, was that the blood eagle was done as a punishment to honorless individuals. According to the Orkda Jenga saga of the Vikings, Hafden was defeated in battle at the hands of Earl Einar who then tortured him with a blood eagle as he conquered Hafden's kingdom. Similarly, Ayla was tortured in vengeance. Indeed, even the stories of the blood eagle, true or not, would have emptied out any village just by word of mouth before the Vikings could ever even make ground there. At the very least, the rumors of such torture would have established the Vikings as a divinely fearsome lot not to be trifled with. Victims of the practice died in the 800s and 900s, possibly into the 1000s. Written accounts, often embellished and told for entertainment during long winter nights up north, didn't come about until the 1100s and 1200s. Writers of the Viking sagas heard stories and wrote them down. Perhaps they embellished the ferocity of Vikings to make them sound more heroic. However, there may be merit to the blood eagle story. The poets who wrote them down were very specific in the method used. Surely someone actually tried this torture method because of the gory details that someone described. One Danish historian, Saxo Grammaticus, relays the ritual as merely the means of carving an eagle into a victim's back. Another details were added later and combined in inventive sequences designed for maximum horror. Either the blood eagle was an actual thing or it was a propaganda tool. But either way, it was terrifying. The Vikings employed other torture methods aside from the blood eagle. One was known as hung meet, which was just as nasty as it sounds. Vikings pierced the heels of victims, threaded ropes through the holes and then strung them upside down. Not only was piercing the heels horrendously painful, but the blood ran down to their hearts. The fatal walk was another gruesome testament to torture. A victim's abdomen was sliced open and a bit of intestine was pulled out. Then the torturer held the victim's intestines as the victim walked around a tree. Eventually, the entirety of the victim's intestinal tract would wrap around the tree. Whether it was a blood eagle, hung meet or a fatal walk, the Vikings knew how to make examples out of their enemies. When Weird Darkness returns, most people are superstitious to at least a tiny degree, avoiding walking under ladders, not opening umbrellas indoors or having a tingle down the spine every Friday the 13th. Perhaps you have a favorite or lucky shirt to wear on special occasions or a lucky pair of socks. Maybe you have to dress from left to right instead of the other way around. Superstitions may seem silly, but we seem to live with them everywhere. But your superstitions don't hold a candle to the ones believed by those in the theater. Vespians on and off the stage have some pretty bizarre concepts about what is lucky and unlucky. We'll take a look at some superstitions of the stage. Up next. Are you a business owner or marketing manager? How would you like to share your product or service with our Weirdo family of listeners? Whether your business is worldwide, nationwide or local, I would love to tell people about what you have to offer. To get your business heard in Weird Darkness or just get information about advertising in the podcast, visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Advertise. Any activity after a period of time will develop folklore, superstitions or nervous traditions. But few mediums have such a long list of mystical fail safes than theater. Perhaps it's simply a product of how long theater has been an art form, originating in Greece in the 6th century BC, or perhaps there's something about stage performances that invite the attention of others, ghosts, demons, spirits of misfortune, the world of theater plays hosts to all sorts of phenomena and portents of ruin. But where do all of these weirdly specific rules, rituals and folktales come from? Let's dive into the strange, sometimes paranoid world of theater superstitions. Perhaps one of the most complex theater traditions relates to the gifting of flowers. The type of flowers you gift and when you gift them matters. As superstition claims these stipulations could have a direct effect on the actor's performance and the success of the entire show. For example, giving an actor a bouquet of flowers before a show could tempt fate for accidents and poor performance, unless it's opening night, in which case it's good luck. The end of a show is run in many ways is considered a form of death, as the cast and crew put the show to rest on closing night. Therefore, the tradition of giving the lead actors and director flowers from graves after the curtain falls on the final show became a common practice to signify the passing of the production. Some also claim that because historically actors were not always fairly compensated, pulling flowers from graves was a cost-effective gift option. Many consider green the color of wealth, prosperity, health and growth. However, if you're a fan of color theory or believe in the spiritual aspects of colors, you know green has a dark side, envy, jealousy, death and hatred. After all, some people are just green with envy. In the case of green's bad luck on stage, there is an even deeper, more specific reason many actors avoid it at all costs. France's greatest playwright, Molière, first rose in popularity in his 20s during the late 1650s. Molière wrote many controversial works of art and they were often censored for how they mocked society, the monarchy and the church. The French religious community was continually in an uproar over his work, all while Molière was quietly living with tuberculosis. Despite his worsening condition, he continued performing. Despite the controversy surrounding his work, Molière's last show took place in 1673 before King Louis XIV. The playwright was clad in a beautiful, brilliant green, though he coughed and gasped throughout the performance. He insisted on completing the show even as he collapsed and suffered a hemorrhage. Upon returning home, he died quietly, still wearing his green costume. Likely because of his controversial status, he was refused last rights, causing many to speculate that Molière's soul failed to arrive in heaven. Since then, actors have avoided wearing the color on stage, perhaps fearful they might suffer Molière's same tragic fate. Even if you don't have the pleasure or misfortune, depending on who you ask, of being a theater kid, most people have heard of the Don't Say Macbeth on stage rule. Or at the very least, they know there's something up with the play itself. Shakespeare's Macbeth, first performed around 1606, was ostensibly doomed right out of the gate. There seems to be two prevailing theories for this. The first is that, allegedly, a local coven of witches took offense to the playwright's use of real magical incantations and placed a curse on the whole production. The other theory posits that the incantations themselves cursed the play, a byproduct of Shakespeare including spells that he didn't fully understand. Whatever the true cause and regardless of whether or not you believe in such powers, Macbeth was plagued by tragedy from the start. Shortly after its debut, the actor portraying Lady Macbeth suddenly died, forcing Shakespeare himself to assume the role. Real daggers would mysteriously replace harmless props, and one such instance resulted in the death of the actor playing King Duncan. But the play's bad luck isn't just confined to the 17th century. The year 1849 saw the infamous New York Astor Place riot, the product of a rivalry between English actor William Charles McCready and American actor Edwin Forrest both playing Macbeth in opposing productions, ultimately resulting in 20 deaths and more than 100 injuries. More notable accidents relating to Macbeth include unexplained deaths, inexplicable suicides, actors falling off the stage, broken orchestral instruments and falling stage weights. According to Dr. Anjna Cohen of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, a more reasonable explanation for the recurring tragedies is simply a matter of statistics, saying it tends to run for longer than, say, a symboline. When you have more performances, it's statistically more likely that things will eventually go wrong. Wherever you land on the spectrum of belief, there is a way to break the Macbeth curse. Although the origins are unclear, legend says you must simply go outside the theater, turn around three times, and spit on the ground. Curse, hopefully broken. Honestly, though, I'm not sure how you go about obeying this particular superstition if you are actually putting on a performance of Macbeth. I can imagine the spittoons outside the theater would need to be emptied every hour on the hour. Typically, the rule of three is considered pretty neutral, whether it's Newton's Three Rules of Motion or Christianity's Holy Trinity. Sets of three appear often and generally don't suggest ominous notions. However, theater superstition takes an uncommonly negative stance on threes, especially where candles are concerned. Originating from the days before electricity, when humans relied on fire for light, you would always find candles lighting the stage for set dressing, visibility, or usually both. The unlucky nature of open flames in a place filled with distracted actors and audience members likely had much to do with accidental fires than anything supernatural. And how could we forget the common use of highly flammable materials and chemicals throughout the ages? Look at you, Victorians, that open flames certainly had no business being near. Fires aside, however, the legend claims the person closest to the shortest candle of the three would be the next to marry or next to die. You may think marriage hardly sounds like a curse, but flipping a coin between marriage and death is quite the gamble. These days, with modern safety procedures, flame-retardant materials, sprinkler systems, and fake candle props, the three candle rule isn't a common worry anymore, but some legends can't be so easily extinguished even by time. For example, always say, break a leg, not good luck. The story behind this particular theater superstition is a bit confusing to say the least. Theories about its origin range from ancient Greece where audiences would not clap, but instead stomped long enough to break their legs to the notion that spirits would wreak havoc on your wishes and make the opposite come true if you said good luck. The phrase's very first published mention comes from 1921 when literary essayist Robert Wilson Lind wrote the article A Defense of Superstition and posited that wishing someone good luck could push their luck too far and cause the opposite. Instead, he offered a version of reverse psychology that he believed would appease the spirits of fate by wishing the worst. The phrase break a leg appeared once more in 1939 in Edna Ferber's autobiography A Peculiar Treasure where she talks of understudies sitting backstage hoping that principal actors would break their legs so they could finally perform. This reference seems to align with the most popular theory behind the phrase. In theaters early days, ensemble actors would cue to perform and, while not performing, would stay behind the leg line. Being in the leg line meant you wouldn't get paid, so many ensemble actors would hope a performing actor would break their leg, opening up a spot for one of the leg line performers. Over time, the saying seemed to and became shorthand for wishing an actor the opportunity to perform and get paid. These days, the phrase is so ingrained that saying good luck before performance may earn you some frowns or even complaints that you are jinxing the show. Unlike some of the more paranormal superstitions on our list, the rule against whistling backstage actually comes from old backstage safety procedures. Dating back to the 17th century before theaters electrification, backstage staff would cue scene changes, music changes, special effects, and stage entrances with distinct whistles or ringing bells. In fact, these whistles have been found notated as W in prompt books from the late 19th century. Some historians suggest that whistling as a form of communication actually stems from nautical traditions of whistling on ships to indicate the lowering of sails and cranes. Because theater seasons tended to align with shipping trade off seasons, many dock workers and sailors would get jobs as stagehands due to their experience with ropes, rigging systems, and repairing canvas backdrops. Considering how large and heavy set pieces could be and the potential dangers of mishandled props or stage weights, whistling at the wrong time could obviously lead to confusion and onstage accidents. All it would take is an absent-minded whistle to accidentally cue a stage change with hazardous consequences. These days, with the advent of electric light cue systems and intercoms, whistling is no longer used to cue backstage changes. However, this practical use of whistles has now been replaced with superstition, causing many to believe whistling backstage could attract accidents or even tragedies. But then, if you are backstage during a performance, you are supposed to remain as quiet as possible anyway, so not whistling just seems like common sense to me. Ghost lights are perhaps the most infamous and beloved superstition within the theater world. Often a simple bare bulb standing vigil over the stage when all other lights have been turned off, ghost lights likely began as a practical safety tool. Many theaters feature an orchestra pit between the stage and the audience, essentially a small cliff just asking to be accidentally walked off. The lone light provides visibility near and around the stage, so even if staff should return after closing, they can safely navigate the normal bumps, ledges and uneven places common on stages. In regards to the ghost lights supernatural function, reasons vary wildly. Many believe the emotions and energy on stage can somehow charge the very building itself, attracting wandering spirits. The most common purpose is to chase away mischievous spirits that may linger in such a liminal space that sees hundreds or even thousands of patrons every single day. Others insist the bulb lights the way for ghosts still hanging around, keeping them happy and calm or even providing them a place to dance and perform when the theater is empty. Thousands of personal accounts of supernatural activity often mention seeing shadowy figures or other weird occurrences near the light. Whether ghosts are truly drawn to these lonely lights or they simply prevent easily avoided accidents, you'll find most theaters employing ghost lights in honor of this long fascinating tradition woven into the fabric of western theaters. Beware the ghost of Vespas. While few people today are likely familiar with the name Vespas, plenty know the derivative term Vespian. But who was the actual Vespas? Little is known about this ancient elusive figure, but according to what little historical information is widely available, Vespas lived in the 6th century BC as an ancient Greek poet and singer of Dithrams, songs about stories from Greek mythology. Most importantly, Aristotle cited him as the first performer to speak dialogue on stage as a character in a story. In fact, Vespas won the first ever documented competition for best tragedy in 534 BC at the city Dionysia in Athens. So if Vespas was possibly the first ever western stage actor and inventor of the Greek drama, why would we need to fear his very ancient spirit? The legend likely finds power from the common belief that theaters are inherently haunted places. Many theaters throughout the world have ghost stories. Some are haunted by past famous actors or the victims of great tragedies. For the supposedly haunted theaters without a named ghost to wander their halls, the ghost of Vespas has become a placeholder spirit to blame for a number of accidents and misfortunes. Hauntings attributed to Vespas's ghost often include a trickster element from flickering lights and mysteriously moving objects to unexplained noises or voices and shadowy figures. Never bring a peacock feather on stage. Peacock feathers have long been the showstoppers among bird feathers for time in memorial. Many cultures, especially eastern cultures, consider the feathers to be tokens of good luck, but that belief is hardly universal. For some, the distinctive eye shape at the top of the peacock feather bears two striking resemblance to the famous evil eye from Greek culture. Although many cultures have some variation of an evil eye curse, the idea remains relatively the same. You can fall victim to an evil eye curse if a person casts a malevolent gaze upon you. Most people know of the evil eye due to the popular amulet often worn on jewelry, which features a distinct eye-shaped blue and white bead. Because Western theater has deep roots in Greek and British history and superstitions, the fear of evil eye imagery has found its way into theater culture itself. Some people believe having peacock feathers on stage invites the evil eye in and could bring misfortune or even personal injury to the person the evil eye faces. Finally, never bring a mirror on stage. Mirrors have long been a source of superstition, whether they break and cause seven years of bad luck or serve as a portal for spirits to enter the mortal world. While these tales may still apply to the theater world, mirrors are also forbidden for their logistical issues, as well as the belief they will distract particularly vain actors. Having a mirror under bright stage lights can illuminate places not meant to be seen, cause technical issues for certain effects or blind actors during their performance. Although some productions have found ways to incorporate mirrors and break the superstition, many others still refuse to use them, whether for mystical reasons or to avoid the hassle they can cause during their performance. I don't typically think of myself as superstitious, but being reminded of these theater beliefs and looking back fondly on my days on the stage, all throughout school as well as community theater, I have to admit I kind of miss it. Even if you don't believe the superstitions, they were kind of fun to take part in. They were a kind of unofficial ceremonial part of being in the theater. You don't know why you did or said such things, you just did because you were in the theater. I kind of want to go audition for a play now. Up next, hundreds of years after his death, the tomb of William Longspe was opened, and what was found horrified the man who opened it. The skeleton of a black rat was found in the skull of Longspe. But that wasn't the end of the story. There is a knock at the door late at night. You answer it to find two small children standing there. You're suddenly filled with an inexplicable fear. Let us in, they say. We need to use the phone. It's at that point the fear turns to utter dread as you see that these kids have completely black eyes. The black eyed kids is an exploration of this terrifying phenomenon using true stories of encounters with black eyed kids submitted to the My Haunted Life 2 website. G. Michael Vasey examines the evidence and investigates the terrifying black eyed kids phenomenon coming to some startling and shocking conclusions. Are they demonic soul eaters responsible for the disappearance of some of the 90,000 Americans missing at any point in time? Or is this just another urban legend, another boogeyman, designed to keep you awake at night? Listen to the book and find out. The Black Eyed Kids by G. Michael Vasey, narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar. Here a free sample on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. In 1789, Bishop Shute Barrington authorized the remodeling and reordering of Salisbury Cathedral. The man he hired for the job was the famous architect and rival of Robert Adam, James Wyatt. As part of the plan, Wyatt oversaw the repositioning of the cathedral's tombs from different parts of the cathedral into the nave. One of the tombs, that of William Longspey, which had been originally placed in the Trinity Chapel, the chapel being at the time of his death, the only part of the cathedral to have been completed was opened. Wyatt decided to open Longspey's tomb is not known. It could have made it easier to move or it might have just been out of sheer curiosity. Whatever the reason, the tomb was discovered to contain a rather surprising guest, the well-preserved skeleton of a black rat, positioned, in of all places, inside Longspey's skull. To add to the mystery of how the rat got into the tomb in the first place was the fact that, on testing, traces of arsenic were found in its body. So, what terrible secret did the rat reveal? Was Longspey murdered or was there a more innocent explanation and is it possible that we will ever know the truth? Born around 1176, William Longspey was the illegitimate son of Henry II. For a long time, his mother was believed to have been Rosamond, with whom Henry had an infamous affair. It was only with the discovery of documents in the 21st century that it was revealed that his mother was in fact Countess Ida de Tostny, later the wife of Roger Begode, 2nd Earl of Norfolk. William gained his nickname Longspey from his great physical size and his use of oversized weapons. He was acknowledged by Henry and given the honor of Applebee in Lincolnshire in 1188 and the right to use the coat of arms of his grandfather, Jeffrey of Anjou. In 1196, Richard gave William permission to marry the immensely wealthy and sought-after heiress, Ella of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury and granted him the title and lands of the Earldom. William and Ella had six daughters and four sons. William was raised with his half-brothers and although he chose to fight alongside Richard I in Normandy, it seems that his loyalty lay with John. William was one of the few people that John trusted and William served him well as both a diplomat and commander. There was only a brief period of time when William's faith in John was tested, which was in the Baron Wars, when John fled to Winchester on the arrival of Louis of France on English soil. Maybe William did for a short time believe that John had lost or perhaps he was disgusted with John's cowardly behavior. It's hard to tell. Suffice it to say, William returned to John's side, eventually pledging his loyalty to John's son, Henry III. William, along with William Marshall, fought to establish the young king in his rightful place. Longspee also played his part in bringing the siege of Lincoln to a satisfactory conclusion and was granted the title of Sheriff of Lincolnshire and given the role of Castellan of Lincoln Castle. This honor led him to a bitter enmity with the previous Castellan, the shrewd and indomitable Nicolae de la Hay, the female Sheriff of Lincolnshire. Over his lifetime, Longspee held a number of important positions, including the High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Lieutenant of Gasconi, Constable of Dover, Lord Warden of the ports of Sincay, Warden of the Welsh Marches, and Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. An outstanding and fearless soldier, Longspee took part in many conflicts, but he will always be known for one in particular, which is the Battle of Danne. The Battle of Danne occurred during the 1213-1214 Anglo-French War. On the 30th or 31st of May, 1213, Longspee commanding the English forces, comprised of 500 ships, accidentally came across a large French fleet under the supervision of Savare de Milion in the vicinity of the port of Danne and Flanders, whilst most of the French crew were assured pillaging the surrounding villages and countryside. Encountering limited resistance, Longspee captured the 300 French ships at anchor and looted and fired at a further 100 beached ships. Philip II, who was at this time besieging the city of Ghent as part of his strategy for the suppression of Flanders, on hearing the news immediately marched back to Danne. Philip managed to drive off the English landing forces, but decided that to be on the safe side, it was advisable to burn the remainder of his fleet to prevent them from falling into English hands. Longspee's actions put an end, for the time being, to any designs the French might have had on England. It was also extremely lucrative. Never had so much treasure come into England since the days of King Arthur. The Battle of Danne earned its place in the history books as the first great English naval victory. Longspee had an eventful life. He'd survived wars, civil unrest, his brother King John's notoriously capricious nature and being held for ransom. In 1224, Longspee left England for Gasconi to help protect England's interests in the region. On the return journey in 1225, a violent storm blew up and Longspee's ship was nearly lost. Shipwrecked, he managed to make his way to the monastery on the Isle de Re, where he took refuge. He remained there for a few months until he was able to return to England. Longspee died at Salisbury Castle not long after his return. Longspee was buried at Salisbury Cathedral in 1226, the first person to ever be buried at the cathedral. The cathedral must have held an important place in his heart. Both he and Ella had taken a strong personal interest in the new building, laying down foundation stones in 1220. Longspee's tomb is an extremely beautiful one. Sculpted in the Gothic style, the altar is made of wood with a marble recumbent figure lying on top. William looks to his right and the effigy is remarkably lifelike. He wears chainmail, a military cloak, and a flat headpiece. Only his eyes and nose are visible. His head rests on a pillow. In his left hand, he holds a shield showing seven lions, the coat of arms of his grandfather. The edge of the slab is decorated with English trefoil foliage. Both the altar and figure would have originally been brightly colored, traces of the paint can still be seen, and also gilt. Who would have thought such a peaceful image could have hidden such a dark secret? The discovery of the rat led many people to surmise that Longspee had in fact been murdered. Those that accepted this supposition then turned their attention to who could have been responsible and why. One possibility could have been jealousy. Someone at court might have been envious of Longspee's power and authority. He had, after all, become even more prominent in Henry III's court after the death of William Marshall. Unfortunately, there is virtually no evidence to support such a hypothesis, with the exception of a comment made by Roger of Wendiver in his work, The First Flores Historiarum. In his account, Roger of Wendiver points the finger at the influential Hubert de Burg, accusing him of poisoning Longspee. So what could have been de Burg's motive? The Burg rivaled and possibly exceeded Longspee for political influence. Who do you have wanted to become even more powerful? Or was there another reason why de Burg wanted Longspee out of the picture? One theory that has also been put forward is that during Longspee's sojourn with the monks at the Isle de Re, he was believed to be dead, and that de Burg took the opportunity to try to win the hand of his widow Ella. His plans were destroyed by the arrival of the very much alive Longspee. De Burg exacted his revenge and murdered him. On the surface, this story could sound plausible, casting a greedy and morally corrupt de Burg into the role of arch-villain, but on looking at it in more detail, there is one significant problem. At the time de Burg was married to Margaret, the sister of Alexander II, King of Scotland. Was he planning to win Ella and then murder his wife? It seems unlikely, and it is strange that there is only one mention of de Burg as a murder suspect. Surely if the uncle of the king died in suspicious circumstances, it wouldn't have gone unnoticed. In any event, even after Longspee's death, Ella did not remarry. She was awarded the title of Sheriff of Wiltshire, a role she held for two years before retiring from the world to Lecoque Abbey in Wiltshire, an abbey that she founded in 1238, becoming its abyss in 1261. Another possible reason for the presence of arsenic in Longspee's body is that the arsenic had been ingested or absorbed long before he died. Arsenic as both a poison and a medicine has been in use since antiquity. Indeed, the Greeks used arsenic to treat ulcers and abscesses, and many apothecary shops would stock arsenic as a matter of course. Arsenic was used in a variety of ways and in different quantities according to the illness or disease, as well as a corrosive for treating wounds of people and animals. When Longspee arrived at Alderay after the shipwreck, he could have been severely injured and very ill. Maybe the monks healed him using an arsenic based treatment, and maybe he was accidentally given too much. We will never know, but it is definitely a theory that should be taken into consideration. There is another plausible scenario. Could it be that Longspee hadn't been poisoned at all, but that it was the rat that had ingested the poison? At the time of Longspee's burial, Salisbury Cathedral had not been completed. Material used in the construction of the cathedral including paints could have contained arsenic. The rat could have chewed on something containing the poison and then managed to get into the tomb with Longspee whilst his remains were being interred. The rat could then have eaten Longspee's head, a grisly thought to be sure, and got into the skull where it subsequently died. Such a hypothesis is perfectly plausible. If you wish to see the rat for yourself, its remains are today displayed at Salisbury Museum. Although believing that Longspee was murdered adds an air of mystery and romance to his story, I think maybe it is more likely that the rat somehow managed to get into his tomb. There is just not enough evidence to support the poisoning claim, although much depends on how reliable you view Roger of Wendover as a source. Most modern historians do not have a high opinion of his trustworthiness, with an entry in the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, stating that, quote, Wendover is a copious but inaccurate writer, where he is the sole authority for an event he is to be used with caution, unquote. With that word of warning ringing in your ears, I leave you to make up your mind on the mystery of the Tomb of William Longspee. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find all of my social media, listen to free audiobooks I have narrated, visit the store for Weird Darkness t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases and more merchandise, sign up for monthly contests, find other podcasts that I host like Retro Radio, Old Time Radio in the Dark, Micro Terrors, Scary Stories for Kids, The Church of the Undead and more. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes. A criminal investigation of a UFO incident was written by Marcus Louth for UFO Insight and Ian for Mysterious Britain and Ireland. Where might E.T. be hiding is by Ben Gaiser for Listverse. Strange superstitions of the stage is from Amanda Boyson for Ranker. The rat in Longspeak's skull was posted at the Haunted Palace blog. And The Blood Eagle Viking Torture was written by William DeLong for All That's Interesting. 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. First, John 3, verse 16. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. And a final thought, you can wear a mask for so long until you really think the face you're wearing is you when actually the real you is hiding behind the mask. You can wear your mask for so long until you totally lose touch with the real you. Jamarian Whitaker. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. A recent observation by the ALMA Observatory. When the Rosetta space mission placed a lander on Comet 67PC, on Comet 67PC, on Comet 67PC, on Comet 67PC, on Comet 67PC, on Comet 67PC, Curyamov, Curyamov, Garasimenko. Each one might hear from the other. Hey Weirdos, our August Weirdo Watch Party is Saturday, August 5th, with a movie presented by a perfectly named horror host show, The Weirdness Really Bad Movie, with Dave Binkley. Dave will be presenting 1962's Dreck of a Film, The Magic Sword, starring Basil Rathbone, and trust me, Rathbone is the only good part about this movie. The Son of a Sorceress, armed with weapons and armor assisted by six magically summoned knights, embarks on a quest to save a princess from a vengeful wizard. That's right, it's not just an awful movie, it's an awful historically incorrect period piece movie. You got a two-headed fire-breathing dragon, cursed shrunken people, a giant ogre that looks like a guy in a werewolf costume, a wicked and ugly witch, you'll see the cone heads from Saturday Night Live. While they look that way at least, you've got dated special effects, terrible acting, and costumes that look like they were ripped right out of a Monty Python skit. The Weirdo Watch Party is always free to watch online with all of us, so grab your popcorn, candy and soda and jump into the fun and even get involved in the live chat as we watch the movie. It's The Magic Sword, presented by The Weirdness Really Bad Movie Show, Saturday, August 5th, starting at 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 8pm Mountain, 7pm Pacific. See a trailer for the film and invite your friends to watch along with you on the Weirdo Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com and we'll see you on Saturday, August 5th for the Weirdo Watch Party. Bonus points if you're wearing your Renaissance festival costume while watching. When Salem Roanoke took a job near his family's new home as a hired hand in the Texas Hill Country, he anticipated learning the rancher's trade, but a series of strange events, shocking murders and unholy revelations divert him down another path. This terrifying trajectory puts him directly into the middle of a struggle between monsters, magic and men. Armed and backed by a militia of ranchers, Salem attempts to combat the creeping tide of evil that threatens to engulf his new home and destroy the people most important to him. Will Salem manage to save his home or have his actions condemn everyone he hopes to save? The Witch Trials, a summer of wolves and season of the witch by SR Roanoke. Available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions, look for The Witch Trials by SR Roanoke on Amazon or find it on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash audiobooks. Hey Weirdos, be sure to click the like button and subscribe to this channel and click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos. I post videos seven days a week and while you're at it, spread the darkness by sharing this video with someone you know who loves all things strange and macabre. If you want to listen to the podcast, you can find it at WeirdDarkness.com slash listen.