 They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for? If not for shedding. There is nothing to worry about. You're gonna be just fine. I'm your number one fan. She just goes... a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Hello? Have you checked the children? Children. Wait right there, Mr. Benow. How do you know my name? I didn't tell you my name. Hang up. I didn't tell you my name. You're all a part of it. Whatever you do, don't fall asleep. I'm scared to close my eyes. I'm scared to open them. Out of here. How'd you feel it alive? Watching. Waiting. Now clear your minds. Knows what scares you. It has from the very beginning. Don't give it in the help, it knows too much already. Need to startle, yeah? That's alright. You know, Salah, we... I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare, huh? What an excellent day for an excellent decision. I am... Dracula. I have such sights to show you. I think something is my call. Be one of us. Please don't create psychos. Movies make psychos. Or create a drug. You let it drown. You never paid any attention. I'm gonna swap that fly. I hope they are watching. They'll see. They'll see and they'll know. And they'll say... Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly. The census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some father beans. And a nice candy. That's what I'm going to do to you now. Fair the skin from your body. I wanna hear you scream. It's from them. The blood of human sacrifice must come. From them. The blood of expiation. He was weak. No! He was weak. Say it now! Rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. I'll show you how to do it. They're coming to get you, Barbara. Here's Johnny! Welcome, weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar. This is Friday Frights Live. We are streaming live on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. So please invite your friends in during the show. I've waited long enough to get things started. I wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time for people to jump in so they could actually see this taking place live. I'm gonna be here for the next couple of hours or so. I'll be telling stories when I take a break. I'll reply to some of the comments, because I see I already have a ton of them coming in. Also, we've got some other things planned. You should see a link, by the way, when it comes to the comments. You should see a link in the video description for how to get permission to leave comments through StreamYard. That's what I'm using to stream tonight. You should see those comments. Well, I could see the comments on my screen if you follow the link. And if you're on Facebook, I know you can go to StreamYard.com slash Facebook, and you can do it from there. But there should be a link if you're watching on YouTube or I think maybe on Twitter, at least I sure hope so. Like regular episodes of Weird Darkness, like the Halloween livestream, I'm gonna be sharing stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, unexplained, sometimes fiction, sometimes not. In fact, I've got a little bit of a mix of that. Tonight, I'm gonna begin with a suggestion from the members of my dark syndicate, my Patreon members. I'm gonna start with Edgar Allan Poe's Murder in the Rue Lord. And then after that, I've got The October Game by Ray Bradbury. And then I will share a true story. It's The Ghosts of the Coffee Riceman House by Deborah Johnston. And if we have time after that, I've got H.G. Wells on the agenda with the inexperienced ghost, which I just love the title of that, the inexperienced ghost. It reminds me of the ghosts from Beetlejuice. They don't know what the heck they're doing. And I've not read these, by the way. Except for, of course, except for the Rue Morgue. I have not read any of these, so this is gonna be a surprise for me as I read these to you. So that we have on the agenda. And if we have time after H.G. Wells, I've got another true tale this time from an amazing author who also has an incredible podcast called Lord. And if you know that podcast, you know who I'm talking about, Aaron Menke, from his book, his first book of Lord. It's a true story called Deep and Twisted Rue's. And if I don't have time for all of those, all I'll do is I'll just move them over to next month. But we'll see how the evening progresses. If you're new to Weird Darkness, welcome to the show. And while you're watching Friday Frights, please be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com. I've got merchandise there. My newsletter is there, which I have a monthly contest from. I have other contests. You can connect with me on social media. And you can also visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you are struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, close your doors. Lock your windows. Turn off your lights. And join me in the Friday Frights. We're going to begin tonight, though, before I jump into the stories. I want to let you know about the caption contest that we're holding. If you go to FridayFrights.com, it might take you directly to the page. If not, you can click on today's date for the episode that's there. And you can actually watch the show live on that page. But also, if you scroll down, you will see a caption contest. This is the photo that we are using for the caption contest this month. Now, I was originally planning on announcing the winner of our caption contest at the end of the show. But I'm but having some email issues. So if that happens, what I'll do is I will choose a winner and then announce it on sometime next week in the podcast. It'll probably be an easier way to go. And that'll also give me more time to go through all the entries. But this is our caption. And if you want to enter this, all you have to do is go to WeirdDarkness.com, click on FridayFrights, get to today's show, today's episode. And if you scroll down the page, you will see this photo. And there's a form that you can fill out there for you can enter the caption this contest. Our creepy caption contest actually is what it is. Our winner, whenever I do decide to or whenever I do announce it, they're going to win two, excuse me, I'm looking at two fungos here, but it's actually one WeirdDarkness t-shirt. It's printed on two sides. That's where I was going. It's got the front and the back there. It's one of the newer designs. It's the I don't believe in humans design that I get a lot of feedback on, especially when I go out to these events and cons and expos, but I have my table of freebies. I've got stickers and magnets that have this design on it. And people just love it. So I decided to make a t-shirt out of it as well. So tonight's winner will get that t-shirt. And when you register, it'll give you the opportunity to say what size you wear. So that way I'll know what to send to you. Again, here's our caption. So again, just go to FridayFrights.com, click on or go to WeirdDarkness.com and click on FridayFrights. Either way, that works. And then make your way to the episode for today, January 27th, scroll down the page, you will see caption this. Okay. So for the stuff that you're here for, I said that I begin with Edgar Allan Poe's Murders in the Room. Morg, so let's get started. By the way, if the music is too loud, please let me know. In fact, let me go to the comments here real quick just to make sure that nobody else is saying that it is caption rules. The only caption rules are just, you got to be clean about it. All right. No cursing, no blue humor. Okay. That kind of stuff. It explains it on that page. So I believe I'm not looking at any... Okay. Oh, Renee Carlson has already sent me a super chat. Wow. Thank you, Renee. That is so sweet of you. I appreciate that. I was not planning on doing that tonight, but I will not turn it down. Thank you very much. Okay. So I'm going to go back to the story then and I'll check on the comments later on. So again, if the music is too loud, please let me know. That's one thing that I cannot tell from here. All right. So I said Edgar Allen Poe murders in the room or here we go. What song the sirens sang or what name Achilles assumed when he hit himself among women, although puzzling questions are not beyond all conjecture Sir Thomas Brown. The mental features discourse does has the analytical part in themselves, but little susceptible of analysis. We appreciate them only in their effects. We know of them, among other things, that they are always to their possessor, when inordinately possessed, a source of the liveliest enjoyment. As the strongman exalts in his physical ability, delighting in such exercises as call his muscles into action, so glories the analyst in that moral activity which disentangles. Disentangles. He derives pleasure from even the most trivial occupations bringing his talent into play. He's fond of enigmas, of conundrums, of hieroglyphics, exhibiting in his solutions of each a degree of acumen which appears to the ordinary apprehension quite unnatural. His results brought about by the very soul and essence of method have in truth the whole air of intuition. The faculty of re-solution is possibly much invigorated by mathematical study, and especially by that highest branch of it, which unjustly and merely on account of its retrograde operations has been called, as if par excellence, analysis. Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyze. A chess player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. He follows that the game of chess in its effects upon mental character is greatly misunderstood. I am not now writing in a treatise, but simply preposing a subtle of peculiar narrative by observations very much at random. I will therefore take occasion to assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the ostentatious game of drafts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces of different and bizarre emotions with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken, a not unusual error, but what is profound. The attention here called powerfully into play. If it flagged for an instant, an oversight is committed resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold, but involute. Involunt, that is. The chances of such oversights are multiplied. And in nine cases out of ten, it is the more the concentrated rather than the more acute player who conquers. In drafts, on the contrary, where the moves are unique and have but little variation, the probabilities of inadvertence are diminished. And the mere attention being left comparatively unemployed, what advantages are obtained by either party are obtained by superior acumen. To be less abstract, let us suppose a game of drafts where the pieces are reduced to four kings and where, of course, no oversight is to be expected. It is obvious that here the victory can be decided. The players being at all equal only by some reshare movement, the result of some strong exertion of the intellect, deprived of ordinary resources, the analyst throws himself into the spirit of his opponent, identifies himself therewith and not unfrequently sees thus, at glance, the sole methods, sometimes indeed absurdly simple ones, by which he may seduce into error or hurry into miscalculation. Leist it has long been noted for its influence upon, but his term, the calculating power, and yet in the highest order of intellect have been known to take an apparently unaccountable delight in it while eschewing chess as frivolous. Beyond doubt, there is nothing of a similar nature so greatly tasking the faculty of analysis. The best chess player in Christendom may be a little more than the best player of chess, but proficiency in Leist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind. When I say proficiency, I mean that perfection in the game, which includes a comprehension of all the sources when legitimate advantage may be derived. These are not only manifold, but multi-form and lie frequently among recesses of thought altogether inaccessible to the ordinary understanding. To observe attentively is to remember distinctly, and so far the concentrated chess player will do very well at Leist. While the rules of Hoyle themselves based upon the mere mechanism of the game are sufficiently and generally comprehensible, thus to have a retentive memory and to proceed by a book, are points commonly regarded as the sum total of good playing, but it is in matters beyond the limits of mere rule that the skill of the analyst is advanced. He makes in silence a host of observations and inferences, so perhaps do his companions, and the difference in the extent of the information obtained lies not so much in the validity of the inference as in the quality of the observation. The necessary knowledge is that of what to observe. Our player confines himself not at all, more because the game is the object does he reject deductions from things external to the game. He examines the countenance of his partner, comparing it carefully without of each of his opponents. He considers the mode of asserting the cards in each hand, often counting trump by trump, and honor by honor through the glances bestowed by their holders upon each. He notes every variation of face as the play progresses, gathering a fund of thought from the differences in the expression of certainty, a surprise of triumph or of chagrin. From the manner of gathering up a trick he judges whether the person taking it can make another in a suit. He recognizes what is played through faint by the air with which it is thrown upon the table. The casual or inadvertent word, the accidental dropping or turning of a card, with the accompanying anxiety or carelessness in regard to its concealment, and counting of the tricks with the order of their arrangement, embarrassment, hesitation, eagerness, or trepidation all afford to his apparently intuitive perception indications of the true state of affairs. The first two or three rounds having been played, he is in full possession of the contents of each hand, and then forward puts down his cards with an absolute precision of purpose as if the rest of the party had turned outward the faces of their own. The analytical power should not be confounded with ample ingenuity. While the analyst is necessarily ingenious, the ingenious man is often remarkably incapable of analysis. The constructive or combining power by which ingenuity is usually manifested, and to which the chronologists, like believe erroneously, have assigned a separate organ proposing it a primitive faculty has been so frequently seen in those who intellect bordered immediacy as to have attracted general observation among writers on morals. Between ingenuity and the analytical ability, there exists a difference far greater indeed than that between the fancy and the imagination, but of a character very strictly analogous. It will be found, in fact, that the ingenious are always fanciful and the truly imaginative never otherwise than analytic. The narrative which follows will appear to the reader somewhat in the light of a commentary upon the propositions just advanced. Residing in Paris during the spring and part of the summer of 18, I there became acquainted with Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin. I don't know, folks, I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've read this. Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin. This young gentleman was of excellent indeed of an illustrious family, but by a variety of untoward events, he'd been reduced to such poverty that the energy of his character succumbed beneath it, and he ceased to bestow himself in the world or to care for the retrieval of his fortunes. By courtesy of his creditors, there still remained in his possession a small remnant of his patrimony, and upon the income arising from this, he managed by means of a rigorous economy for cure the necessities of life, without troubling himself about its superfluities. Books indeed were his sole luxuries, and in Paris, these are easily obtained. Our first meeting was at an obscure library in the Montmartre, where the accident of our both being in such of the same very rare and very remarkable volume brought us into closer communion. We saw each other again and again. I was deeply interested in the little family history which he detailed to me with all that candor, which a Frenchman indulges whenever mere self is his theme. I was astonished too that the vast extent of his reading, and above all felt my soul impingled within me by the wild urban and the vivid freshness of his imagination. Seeking in Paris the objects I then sought, I felt that the society of such a man would be to me a treasure beyond price, and this feeling I frankly confided to him. It was at length arranged that we should live together during my stay in the city, and as by worldly circumstances music's too loud. Okay, thank you very much. Alright, before I continue on then, I'll make sure that music gets turned down. We were at 50%, let's make it down to 25%, see how that works for you folks. Alright, back to the story. I felt that the society of such a man would be to me a treasure beyond price, and this feeling I frankly confided to him. It was at length arranged that we should live together during my stay in the city, and as my worldly circumstances were somewhat less embarrassed than his own, I was permitted to be at the expense of renting and furnishing in a style which suited the rather fantastic bloom of our common temper. A time eaten and grotesque mansion long deserted through superstitions into which we did not inquire and tottering to its fall in a retired and desolate portion of the Faubog Saint Germain. Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen, although perhaps as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors. Indeed, the locality of our retirement had been carefully kept a secret from my own former associates, and it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris. We existed within ourselves alone. It was a freak of fancy in my friend, for what else shall I call it, to be enamored of the night for her own sake, and into this bizarre air as into all others I quietly fell, giving myself up to his wild whims with a perfect abandon. The sable divinity would not herself dwell with us always, but we could counterfeit her presence. At the first dawn of the morning we closed all the messy shutters of our old building, lighting a couple of tapers which strongly perfumed throughout only the ghastliest and feeblest of rays. By the aid of these, we then visit our souls in dreams, reading, writing and conversing until warned by the clock of the advent of the true darkness. Then we sallied forth into the streets, arm in arm, continuing the topics of the day, or roaming far and wide until a late hour, seeking amid the wild lights and shadows of the populous city that infinity of mental excitement which client observations can afford. At such times, I could not help remarking and admiring from his rich ideality, I had been prepared to expect it, a peculiar analytical ability in Dupen. He seemed to take an eager delight in its exercise, if not exactly in its display and did not hesitate to confess the pleasure thus derived. He boasted to me with a low chuckling laugh that most men in respect to himself wore windows in their bosoms and was wont to follow up such assertions and abstract and very startling proofs of his intimate knowledge of my own. His manner at these moments was frigid and abstract. His eyes were vacant in expression while his voice, usually a rich tenor, rose into a tremble which would have sounded petulately but for the deliberateness and entire distinctiveness of the enunciation. Observing him in these moods, I often dwelt meditatively upon the old philosophy of the by-part soul and amused myself with the fancy of a double Dupen, the creative and a resolvent. Would it not be supposed from what I have just said that I am detailing any mystery or penning any romance? What I have described in the Frenchman was merely the result of an excited or perhaps a diseased intelligence. But of the character of his remarks at the periods in question an example will best convey the idea. We were strolling one night down a long dirty street in the vicinity of the palace royal, being both apparently occupied with thought neither of us had spoken a syllable for 15 minutes at least. All at once, Dupen broke forth with these words He is a very little fellow, that's true and would do better for the Theatre de Veratias. I have no idea how to say those French words I'm just making it up. Anyway There could be no doubt of that, I replied unwittingly and not at first observing so much had I been absorbed in reflection, the extraordinary manner in which the speaker had chimed in with my meditations. In an instant afterward I recollected myself or recollected myself and my astonishment was profound. Dupen, sat I gravely, this is beyond my comprehension. I do not hesitate to say that I am amazed and can scarcely credit my senses. How was it possible you should know I was thinking of here I paused to ascertain beyond doubt whether he really knew of whom I thought of Chantilly, said he Why do you pause you are remarking to yourself that his diminutive figure unfitted him for tragedy This was precisely what had formed the subject of my reflections. Chantilly was a quantum cobbler of the Rue Saint-Anise who became becoming stage mad had attempted the role of Xerxes in Crabillian's tragedy so-called and been notoriously pascunated for his pains. Tell me for heaven's sake, I claimed the method, if method there is by which you have been enabled to fathom my soul in this matter. In fact, I was even more startled than I would have been willing to express. It was the fruitierre the fruitierre fruitierre is apparently a real word it was the fruitierre, replied my friend who brought you to the conclusion that the mender of souls was not a sufficient height for Xerxes the fruitierre you astonish me, I know no fruitierre whom so-ever the man who ran up against you as we entered the street, it may have been 15 minutes ago I now remembered that in fact a fruitierre carrying a large basket of apples had nearly thrown me down by accident as we passed from the Rue C into the thoroughfare where we stood, but what this had to do with Chantilly I could not possibly understand there was not a particle of charlatanere charlatanere about Dupont I will explain, he said and that you may comprehend all clearly. We will first retrace the course of your meditations from the moment in which I spoke to you until that of the ring from now on, no French words that's it, I'm not doing the French words anymore all right and that you may comprehend all clearly we will first retrace the course of your meditations from the moment in which I spoke to you until that of the Rue Contraire with the fruitierre in question the larger lengths of the chain run thus the Rion, after Nichols the Bacchorus the Stereotomy the Street Stones the Foodmer there are a few persons who have not at some period of their lives amused themselves in retracing the steps by which particular conclusions of their own minds have been attained the occupation is often full of interest and he who attempts it for the first time is astonished by the apparently illimitable distance from the goal what then must have been my amazement when I heard the Frenchman speak what he had just spoken and when I could not help acknowledging that he had spoken the truth he continued we had been talking of horses just before leaving the Rue Sea this was the last subject we discussed as we crossed into the street the fruitierre with a large basket upon his head rushing quickly past us thrust you upon a pile of paving stones where the causeway is undergoing repair you stepped upon one of the loose fragments slipped slightly strained your ankle appeared vexed or sulky muttered a few words, turned to look at the pile and then proceeded in silence I was not particularly attentive to what you did but observation has become with me of late a species of necessity you kept your eyes upon the ground glancing with a petulant expression at the holes and ruts in the pavement so that I saw you were still thinking of the stones until we reached the little alley called La Motine which has been paved by way of experiment with the overlapping and riveted blocks here your countenance brightened up and perceiving your lips move I could not doubt that you murmured the word stereotomy a term very effectively a term very effectively applied to the species of pavement I knew that you could not say to yourself stereotomy without being brought to think of atomies and thus of the theories of Epicurus and since when we discussed this subject not very long ago I mentioned to you how singularly yet with how little notice the vague guesses of that noble Greek had met with confirmation in the late nebulary cosmogony I felt that you could not avoid casting your eyes upwards to the great nebula in Orion and I certainly expected that you would do so but I did look up and I was now assured that I had correctly followed your steps but in that bitter tirade upon Chantilly which appeared in yesterday's touche we satire the satirists making some disgraceful allusions to the Cobbler's change of name upon assuming the buskin quoted a Latin line about which we have often conversed I mean the line I told you that this was in reference to Orion formally written your Orion and from certain pungencies connected with this explanation I was aware that you could not have forgotten it it was clear therefore you would not fail to combine the two ideas of Orion and Chantilly that you did combine them I saw by the character of the smile which passed over your lips you thought of the poor Cobbler's emulation so far you had been snooping in your gate but now I saw you draw yourself up to your full height I was then sure that you reflected upon the diminutive figure of Chantilly at this point I interrupted your meditations to remark that as in fact he was a very little fellow that Chantilly he would do better at the Theta des Verites not long after this we were looking over an evening edition of the Gazette de Trivonneau when the following paragraphs invested our attention extraordinary murders about three o'clock the inhabitants of the courtierre Saint Roche were aroused from sleep by a succession of terrific shrieks issuing apparently from the fourth story of a house in the rumour known to be in the sole occupancy of one madame Lea Spagnet Lea Spagnet and her daughter Memoiselle Camille Lea Spagnet after some delay occasioned by a fruitless attempt to procure admission in the usual manner the gateway was broken and broken and with a crowbar and eight or ten of the neighbors entered accompanied by two gendarmes by this time the cries had ceased but as the party rushed up the first flight of stairs two or more rough voices and angry contention were distinguished and seemed to proceed from the upper part of the house as the second landing was reached these sounds also had ceased and everything remained perfectly quiet the party spread themselves and hurried from room to room a large back chamber in the fourth story the door of which being found locked with the key inside was forced open a spectacle presented itself which struck everyone present not less with horror than with astonishment the apartment was in the wildest disorder the furniture broken and thrown about in all directions there was only one bedstead and from this the bed had been removed and thrown into the middle of the floor on a chair Lea Razor the smeared with blood on the hearth were two or three long and thick tresses of grey human hair also dabbled in blood and seeming to have been pulled out by the roots upon the floor were found four napoleons an ear ring of topaz three large silver spoons three smaller of matalde alge and two bags containing nearly four thousand francs in gold the drawers of the bureau which stood in one corner were open and apparently rifled although many articles still remained in them a small iron safe was discovered under the bed not under the bedstead it was open with the key still in the door it had no contents beyond a few old letters and other papers of little consequence of Madame Les Espanae no traces were here seen but an unusual quantity of soot being observed in the fireplace the search was made in the chimney and horrible to relate the corpse of the daughter head downward was dragged there from it having been thus forced up the narrow aperture for a considerable distance the body was quite warm upon examining it many excoriate excuse me upon examining it many excoriations were perceived no doubt occasioned by the violence with which it had been thrust up and disengaged upon the face were many severe scratches and upon the throat dark bruises and deep indentations of fingernails as if the deceased had been throttled to death after a thorough investigation of every portion of the house without further discovery the party made its way into a small paved yard in the rear of the building where lay the corpse of the old lady with her throat so entirely cut that upon an attempt to raise her the head fell off the body as well as the head was fearfully mutilated the former so much so as scarcely to retain any semblance of humanity to this horrible mystery there is not as yet we believe the slightest clue the next day's paper had these additional particulars the tragedy in the room the work many individuals have been examined in relation to this most extraordinary and frightful affair the word affair has not yet in France that levity of import which it conveys with us but nothing whatever transpired to throw light upon it we give below all the material testimony elicited Pauline de Bourre Laundress deposes that she had known both the deceased for three years having watched for them during that period the old lady and her daughter seemed on good terms very affectionate towards each other they were excellent they were excellent pay could not speak in regards to their mode or means of living believed that Madame L told fortunes for a living was reputed to have money put by never met any persons in a house when she called for the clothes or took them home was sure that they had no servant in employ there appeared to be no furniture in any part of the building except in the fourth story Pierre Moreau tobacconist deposes that he has been in the habit of selling small quantities of tobacco and stuff to Madame L for nearly four years was born in the neighborhood and has always resided there and her daughter had occupied the house in which the corpses were found for more than six years it was formally occupied by a jeweler who underlet the upper rooms to various persons the house was the property of Madame L she became dissatisfied with the abuse of the premises by her tenant and moved into them herself refusing to let any portion the old lady's childish witness had seen the daughter some five or six times during the six years the two lived an exceedingly retired life or reputed to have money had heard it said among the neighbors that Madame L told fortunes did not believe it had never seen any person enter the door except the old lady and her daughter a porter wants her twice and a physician some eight or ten times many other persons neighbors gave evidence to the same effect no one was spoken of as frequenting the house it was not known whether there were any living connections of Madame L and her daughter the shutters of the front windows were seldom opened the rooms in the rear were always closed with the exception of the large back room fourth story the house was a good house not very old is a dormuset gendarme it poses that it was called the house about three o'clock in the morning and found some twenty or thirty persons at the gateway endeavoring to gain admittance forced it open at length with a bayonet not with a crowbar had but little difficulty in getting it open on account of its being a double or folding gate and bolted neither at bottom nor top the shrieks were continued shrieks okay what I'm sure I have the right word there the shrieks continued until the gate was forced and then suddenly ceased they seemed to be screams of some person or persons in great agony were loud and drawn out not short and quick witness led the way upstairs upon reaching the first landing heard two voices in loud and angry intention you want a gruff voice the other much shriller a very strange voice could distinguish some words of the former which was that of a Frenchman was positive that it was not a woman's voice could distinguish the words Sacré and Diabla a shrill voice was that of a foreigner could not be sure whether it was the voice of a man or of a woman could not make out what was said but believed the language to be Spanish the state of the room and the bodies was described by this witness and was described and we described them yesterday Henry Duval a neighbor and by trade a silversmith deposes that he was one of the party who first entered the house corroborates the testimony of Musa in general as soon as they forced an entrance they re-closed the door to keep out the crowd which collected very fast not withstanding the lateness of the hour the shrill voice this witness thinks was that of an Italian was certain that it was not French could not be sure that it was a man's voice it might have been a woman's was not acquainted with the Italian language could not distinguish the words but was convinced by the intonation that the speaker was an Italian new Madam L and her daughter had conversed with both frequently was sure that the shrill voice was not that of either of the deceased Woodenheimer restaurateur this witness volunteered his testimony not speaking French but went through an interpreter is a native of Amsterdam was passing the house at the time of the Shrieks they lasted for several minutes probably ten they were long and loud very awful and distressing was one of those who entered the building corroborated the previous evidence in every respect but one was sure that the shrill voice was that of a man of a Frenchman could not distinguish the words uttered they were loud and quick unequal apparently in fear as well as in anger the voice was harsh not so much shrill as harsh could not call it a shrill voice the gruff voice said repeatedly Sacré Diable and once Mondeu Jules Mignod banker of the firm of Mignod Effili at Effil's Rue de Lorienne he's the elder of Mignod Madam L had some property and opened an account with his banking house in the spring of the year eight years previously made frequent deposits in small sums had checked for nothing until the third day before her death when she took out in person the sum of 4,000 francs this sum was paid in gold and the clerk went home with the money Edav Le Bon clerk to Mignod Effili disposes that on the day in question about noon he accompanied Madam L to her residence with the 4,000 francs opened two bags upon the door being opened Madam L appeared and took from his hands one of the bags while the old lady relieved him of the other he then bowed and departed did not see any person in the street and at the time it is a by street very lonely William Byrd deposes that he was one of the party who entered the house is an Englishman has lived in Paris two years heard the voices in contention the gruff voice was that of a Frenchman could make out several words but cannot now remember all heard distinctly Sacré and Mondeau there was a sound at the moment as if several persons struggling scraping and scuffling sound the shrill voice was very loud, louder than the gruff one is sure that it was not the voice of an Englishman appeared to be that of a German his voice does not understand German four of the above-damped witnesses being recalled deposed that the door of the chamber in which was found the body of Mamoiselle L was locked on the inside when the party reached it everything was perfectly silent no groans or noises of any kind upon forcing the door no person was seen the windows both of the back and front room were down and firmly fastened from within a door between the two rooms was closed but not locked the door leading from the front room into the passage was locked with the key on the inside a small room in the front of the house on the fourth story at the head of the passage was open the door being a jar this room was crowded with old beds boxes and so forth these were carefully removed and searched there was not an inch of any portion of the house which was not carefully searched sweeps were sent up and down the chimneys the house was a four-story one with garrets a trap door on the roof was nailed down very securely did not appear to have been opened for years the time elapsing between the hearing of the voices in contention and the breaking open of the room door was variously stated by the witnesses some made it as short as three minutes some as long as five the door was opened with difficulty Alfonso Garcia undertaker deposes that he resides in the room or is a native of Spain was one of the party who entered the house did not proceed upstairs is nervous and was apprehensive of the consequences of agitation heard the voices in contention the gruff voice was that of a Frenchman could not distinguish what was said the shrill voice was that of an Englishman is sure of this does not understand the English language but judges by the intonation Alberto Montani confectioner deposes that he was among the first of the stairs heard the voices in question the gruff voice was that of a Frenchman distinguished several words the speaker appeared to be ex postulating could not make out the words of the shrill voice spoke quick and unevenly thinks it's the voice of a Russian that came out of nowhere thinks it's the voice of a Russian corroborates the general testimony he's an Italian never with a native of Russia several witnesses were called here testified that the chimneys of all the rooms on the fourth story were too narrow to admit the passage of a human being by sweeps were meant cylindrical sweeping rushes such as are employed by those who clean chimneys these brushes were passed up and down every flu in the house there was no back passage by which anyone could have descended while the party proceeded upstairs the body man was LL was so firmly wedged in the chimney that it could not be got down until four or five of the party untied their strength or united their strength Paul Dumas a physician deposes that he was called to view the bodies about daybreak they were both then lying on the sacking of the bedstead in the chamber where a man was LL was found the corpse of the young lady was much bruised and ex or it and exoriated the fact that it had then thrust up the chimney would sufficiently for these appearances the throat was greatly chafed there were several deep scratches just below the chin together with a series of livid spots which were evidently the impression of fingers the face was fearfully discolored and the eyeballs protruded the tongue had been partially bitten through a large bruise was discovered upon the pit of the stomach produced apparently by the pressure of a knee in the opinion of M. Dumas members LL had been throttled to death by some person or persons unknown the corpse of the mother was horribly mutilated all the bones of the right leg and arm were more or less shattered the left tibia much splintered as well as all the ribs of the left side whole body dreadfully bruised and discolored it was not possible to say how the injuries had been inflicted a heavy club of wood or a broad bar of iron chair any large heavy and obtuse weapon would have produced such results if wielded by the hands of a powerful man no woman could have inflicted the blows with any weapon the head of the deceased when seen by witness was entirely separated from the body that was also greatly shattered the throat had evidently been cut with some very sharp instrument probably with a razor Alexandra Etienne surgeon was called with M. Dumas to view the bodies corroborated the testimony and the opinions of M. Dumas nothing farther of importance was elicited although several other persons were examined a murder so mysterious and so perplexing in all its particulars was never before committed in Paris if indeed a murder has been committed at all the police are entirely at fault an unusual occurrence in affairs of this nature there is not however the shadow of a clue apparent the evening edition of the paper stated that the greatest excitement still continued in the courtiers in Roche since that the premises in question have been carefully researched and fresh examinations and witnesses instituted but all to no purpose a post script however mentioned that Adolf Le Bon had been arrested and imprisoned although nothing appeared to discriminate him beyond the facts already detailed Dupin seemed singularly interested in the progress of this affair at least so I judged from his manner or he made no comments it was only after the announcement that Le Bon had been imprisoned that he asked me in my opinion respecting the murders I could merely agree with all Paris in considering them an insoluble mystery I saw no means by which it would be possible to trace the murderer we must not judge of the means said Dupin by the shell of an examination the Parisian police so much extolled for acumen are cunning but no more there is no method in their proceedings beyond the method of the moment they make a vast parade of measures but not unfrequently these are so ill adapted to the objects proposed as to put us in mind of Monsieur Jourdain's calling for his robe de chambre pour mieux entendre de la musique the results obtained by them are not unfrequently surprising but for the most part are brought about by simple diligence and activity when these qualities are unveiling they the schemes fail Ben oak for example was a good guesser and a preserving man but without educated thought he aired continually by the very intensity of his investigations he impaired his vision by holding the object too close he might see perhaps one or two points with unusual clearness but in so doing he necessarily lost sight of the matter as a whole thus there is such a thing as being too profound truth is not always in a well in fact as regards the more important knowledge I do believe that she is invariably superficial the depth lies in the valleys where we seek her and not upon the mountain tops where she is found the modes and sources of this kind of error are well typified in the contemplation of the heavenly bodies to look at a star by glances to view it in a side long way by turning toward it the exterior portions of the retina more susceptible of feeble impressions of light than the interior is to behold the star distinctly is to have the best appreciation of its luster a luster which grows dim just in proportion as we turn our vision fully upon it a greater number of rays actually falls upon the eye in a latter case but in the former there is the more refined capacity for comprehension by undue profundity we perplexed and feeble thought and it is possible to make even Venus herself vanish from the firmament by a scrutiny to sustained to concentrated or too direct as for these murders let us enter into some examinations for ourselves before we make an opinion respecting them an inquiry will afford us amusement I thought this an odd term so applied but said nothing and besides Laban once rendered me a service for which I am not ungrateful we will go and see the premises with our own eyes I know gee the prefect of police the prefect of police and shall have no difficulty in obtaining the necessary permission the permission was obtained and we proceeded at once to the room work this is one of those miserable thoroughfares which intervene between the Rue Richelot and the Rue Saint Roche it was late in the afternoon when we reached it as this quarter this quarter is at a great distance from that which we resided the house was readily found for there were still many persons gazing up at the closed shutters with an objectless curiosity from the opposite side of the way it was an ordinary Parisian house with a gateway on one side of which was a glazed watchbox with a sliding panel in the window indicating a loge de crochet before going in we walked up the street turned down an alley and then again turning past in the rear of the building dupe and meanwhile examining the whole neighborhood as well as the house with a minuteness of attention for which I could see the object retracing our steps we came again to the front of the dwelling rang and having shown our credentials were admitted by the agents in charge we went upstairs into the chamber where the body of memoiselle L had been found and where both the deceased still lay the disorders of the room had as usual been suffered to exist I saw nothing beyond what had been stated in the Gazette dupe and scrutinized everything we then went into the other rooms and into the yard Asian Darm accompanying us throughout the examination occupied us until dark when we took our departure on our way home my companion stepped in for a moment at the office of one of the daily papers I've said that the whims of my friend were manifold and that for this phrase there is no English equivalent it was his humor now to decline all conversation on the subject of the murder until about noon the next day we then asked me suddenly if I had observed anything peculiar at the scene of the atrocity there was something in his manner of emphasizing the word peculiar which caused me to shudder without knowing why no nothing peculiar I said nothing more at least than we both saw stated in the paper the Gazette he replied has not entered I fear into the unusual horror of the thing but dismiss the idle opinions of this print it appears to me that this mystery is considered insoluble for the very reason which should cause it to be regarded as easy of solutions I mean for the altrae character of its features the police are confounded by the seeming absence of motive not for the murder itself but for the atrocity of the murder they are puzzled too by the seeming impossibility of reconciling the voices heard in contention that no one was discovered upstairs but the assassinated men was LOL and that there were no means of egress without the notice of the party ascending the wild disorder of the room the corpse thrust with the head downward up the chimney the frightful mutilation of the body of the old lady these considerations with those just mentioned and others which I need not mention have sufficed to paralyze the powers by putting completely at fault the boasted acumen of the government agents they have fallen into the gross but common error of confounding the usual with the obtruse but the unusual with the abstruse but it is by these deviations from the plane of the ordinary that reason feels its way if at all in its search for the true in investigations such as we are not pursuing it should not be so much asked what has occurred as what has occurred that has never occurred before in fact the facility with which shall arrive or have arrived at the solution of this mystery is in the direct ratio of its apparent insolubility in the eyes of the police I stared at the speaker in mute astonishment I am now waiting looking toward the door of our apartment I am now waiting a person who although perhaps not the perpetrator of these butcheries must have been in some measure implicated in their perpetration the worst portion of the crimes committed it is probable that he is innocent I hope that I am right in this supposition for upon it I build my expectation of reading the entire riddle I look for the man here in this room every moment it is true that he may not arrive but the probability is that he will should he come it will be necessary to detain him here are pistols and we both know how to use them when occasion demands their use I took the pistols scarcely knowing what I did or believing what I heard while Doopin went on very much as if in a soliloquy I have already spoken of his abstract manner at such times his discourse was addressed to myself but his voice although by no means loud had that intonation which is commonly employed in speaking to someone at a great distance his eyes vacant an expression regarded only the wall that the voices heard in contention by the party upon the stairs or not the voices of the women themselves was fully proved by the evidence this relieves us all this relieves us of all doubt upon the question whether the old lady could have been first destroyed the daughter and afterward have committed suicide I speak of this point chiefly for the sake of method for the strength of Madame L would have been utterly unequal to the task of thrusting her daughter's corpse of the chimney as it was found and the nature of the wounds upon her own person entirely preclude the idea of self-destruction murder then has been committed by some third party and the voices of this third party were those heard in contention what me now adverts not to the whole testimony respecting these voices but to what was peculiar in that testimony did you observe anything peculiar about it I remarked that while all the witnesses agreed in supposing the gruff voice to be that of a Frenchman there was much disagreement in regard to the shrill or as one individual turned the harsh voice that was the evidence itself said Dupont but it was not the peculiarity of the evidence you observed nothing distinctive yet there was something to be observed the witness as you remark agreed about the gruff voice they were here unanimous but in regard to the shrill voice peculiarity is not that they disagreed but that while an Italian an Englishman a Spaniard a Hollander and a Frenchman attempted to describe it each one spoke of it as that of a foreigner each is sure that it was not the voice of one of his own countrymen each likens it not the voice of an individual of any nation with whose language he is conversant but the converse a Frenchman supposes it's the voice of a Spaniard and might have distinguished some words had he been acquainted with the Spanish the Dutchman maintains it to have been that of a Frenchman but we find it stated that not understanding French this witness was examined through an interpreter the Englishman thinks it's the voice of a German and does not understand German the Spaniard is sure that it was that of an Englishman but judges by the intonation all together as he has no knowledge of the English the Italian believes that the voice of a Russian but has never conversed with a native of Russia a second Frenchman defers more over with the first and is positive that the voice was that of an Italian but not being cognizant of that tongue is like the Spaniard convinced by the intonation now how strangely unusual must that voice have really been about which such testimony has this could have been elucidant in whose tones even denizens of the five great divisions of Europe could recognize nothing familiar you will say that it might have been the voice of an Asiatic of an African neither Asiatic nor Africans abound in Paris but without denying the inference I will now merely call your attention to three points the voice is turned by one witness harsh rather than shrill is represented by two others to have been quick and unequal no words no sounds resembling words were by any witness mentioned as distinguishable I know not continued dupin what impression I may have made so far upon your own understanding but I do hesitate to say that legitimate deductions even from this portion of the testimony the portion respecting the gruff and shrill voices are in themselves sufficient to engender a suspicion which should give direction to all further progress in the investigation of the mystery I said legitimate deductions but my meaning is not thus fully expressed I designed I designed to imply that the deductions are the sole proper ones and that the suspicion arises inevitably from them as the single result what the suspicion is however I will not say just yet I merely wish you to bear in mind that with myself it was sufficiently forcible to give a definite form a certain tendency to my inquiries in the chamber let us now transport ourselves in fancy to this chamber what shall we first seek here the means of egress employed by the murderers it is not too much to say that neither of us believe in preternatural events with them and memoiselle were not destroyed by spirits the doers of the deed were material and escaped materially then how fortunately there is but one mode of reasoning upon the point and that mode must lead us to a definite decision let us examine each by each the possible means of egress it is clear that the assassins were in the room where memoiselle was found or at least in the room adjoining when the party ascended the stairs it is then only from these two apartments that we have to seek issues the police have laid bare the floors the ceilings and the masonry of the walls in every direction no secret issues could have escaped their vigilance but not trusting to their eyes I examined with my own there were there no secret there were then no secret issues both doors leading from the rooms into the passage were securely locked with the keys inside let us turn to the chimneys these although with ordinary width for some eight or ten feet above the hearths will not admit throughout their extent the body of a large cat the impossibility of egress by means already stated being thus absolute we are reduced to the windows through those of the front room through okay hold on a second got itchy nose today through those of the reduced through those of the front room no one could have escaped without notice from the crowd in the street the murderers must have passed then through those of the back room now brought to this conclusion in so unequivocal a manner as we are it is not our part as reasoners to reject it on account of apparent impossibilities it is only left for us to prove that these apparent impossibilities are in reality not such these are two windows in the chamber one of them is unobstructed by furniture and is wholly visible the lower portion of the other is hidden from view by the head of the unwieldy bedstead which is thrust close up against it the former was found securely fastened from within it resisted the utmost force of those who endeavored to raise it a large gimlet hole had been pierced in its frame to the left and a very stout nail was found fitted therein nearly to the head upon examining the other window a similar nail was seen similarly fitted in it in a vigorous attempt to raise this sash failed also the police were now entirely satisfied that egress had not been in these directions and therefore it was thought a matter of super superrogation to withdraw the nails and open the windows my own examination was somewhat more particular and was so for the reason I have just given because here it was I knew that all apparent possibilities must be proved to be not such in reality I proceeded to think thus the murderers did escape from one of these windows this being so they could not have re-fastened the sashes from the inside as they were found fastened the consideration which put a stop through its obviousness to the scrutiny of the police in this quarter yet the sashes were fastened they must then have the power fastening themselves there was no escape from this conclusion I stepped to the unobstructed casement which drew the nail with some difficulty and attempted to raise the sash it resisted all my efforts as I had anticipated a concealed spring must I now know exist and this corroboration of my idea convinced me that my premises at least were correct however mysterious still appear the circumstances attending the nails a careful search soon brought to light the hidden spring I pressed it and satisfied with the discovery forebode to upraise the sash I now replaced the nail and regarded it attentively a person passing out through this window might have re-closed it and then the spring would have caught but the nail could not have been replaced the conclusion was plain and again narrowed in the field of my investigations the assassins must have escaped through the other window supposing then the springs upon each sash to be the same as was probable there must be found a difference between the nails or at least between the modes of their fixture getting upon the sacking of the bedstead I looked over the headboard and minutely at the second casement passing my hand down behind the board I readily discovered and pressed the spring which was as I had supposed identical in character with its neighbor I now looked at the nail it was as stout as the other and apparently fitted in the same manner moving in nearly up to the head you will say that I was puzzled but if you think so you must have misunderstood the nature of the inductions to use a sporting phrase I had not been once at fault the scent had never for an instant been lost there was no flaw in any link of the chain I had traced the secret to its ultimate result and that result was the nail it had I say in every respect the appearance of its fellow in the other window but this fact was an absolute nullity conclusive it might seem to be we compared with the consideration that here at this point terminated the clue there must be something wrong I said about the nail I touched it and the head without about a quarter of an inch of the shank came off in my fingers the rest of the shank was in the gimlet hole where it had been broken off the fracture was an old one for its edges rusted with rust and had apparently been accomplished by the blow of a hammer which had partially embedded in the top of the bottom sash the head portion of the nail I now carefully replaced this head portion in the indentation when I had taken it and the resemblance to a perfect nail was complete the fissure was invisible pressing a spring I gently raised the sash for a few inches the head went up with it remaining firm in its bed I closed the window and the semblance of the hole nail began perfect the riddle so far was now unriddled the assassin had escaped through the window which looked upon the bed dropping of its own accord upon his exit or perhaps purposely closed it had become fastened by the spring and it was the retention of this spring which had been mistake had which had mistaken the police for that of the nail further inquiry being thus considered unnecessary the next question is that of the mode of descent on this point I had been satisfied in my walk with you around the building about five feet and a half from the casement in question there runs a lightning rod from this rod it would have been impossible for anyone to reach the window itself to say nothing of entering it I observed however that the shutters of the fourth story were of the peculiar kind called the Parisian Carpenters for AIDS a kind rarely employed at the present day but frequently seen upon very old rations at Lyons and Bordeaux they are in the form of an ordinary door a single not a folding door except that the lower half is lattice or worked in open trellis thus affording an excellent hold for the hands in the present instance these shutters are fully three feet and a half broad when we saw them from the rear of the house they were both about half open that is to say they stood off at right angles from the wall it is probable that the police as well as myself examined the back of the house but if so in looking at these for AIDS in the line of their breath as they must have done they did not perceive this great breath itself or at all events failed to take it into a due consideration in fact having once satisfied themselves that no egress could have been made in this quarter they would naturally bestow here a very cursory examination it is clear to me however that the shutter belonging to the window at the head of the bed would if swung fully back to the wall reached within two feet of the lightning rod it was also evident that by exertion of very unusual degree of activity and courage and entrance into the window from the rod might have been thus affected by reaching to the distance of two feet and a half we now suppose the shutter open to its whole extent a robber might have taken a firm grasp upon the trellis work letting go then his hold then his hold upon the rod placing securely against the wall and springing boldly from it he might have swung the shutter so as to close it and if we imagine the window open at the time might even have swung himself into the room I wish you to bear especially in mind that I have spoken of a very unusual degree of activity as requisite to success in so hazardous and so difficult a feat it is my design to show you first that the thing might possibly have been accomplished but secondly and briefly I wish to impress your understanding the very extraordinary the almost preternatural character of that agility which could have accomplished it you will say no doubt using the language of the law that to make out my case I should rather undervalue than insist upon a full estimation of the activity required in this manner this may be the practice in law but it is not the usage of reason my ultimate object is only the truth my immediate purpose is to lead you to place lead you to place in juxtaposition that very unusual activity of which I have just spoken with that very peculiar shrill or harsh and unequal voice about whose nationality no two persons could be found to agree and in whose utterance no syllabification could be detected at these words a vague and half formed conception of the meaning of dupin flitted over my mind I seemed to be upon the verge of comprehension without power to comprehend many times find themselves upon the brink of remembrance without being able in the end to remember my friend went on with his discourse you will see he said that I have shifted the question from the mode of egress to that of ungrus it was my design to convey the idea that both were affected in the same manner at the same point let us now revert to the interior of the room let us survey the appearances here the drawers of the bureau it is said had been rifled although many articles of apparel still remained within them the conclusion here is absurd it is a mere guess a very silly one and no more how are we to know that the articles found in the drawers were not all these drawers had originally contained Adam L. and her daughter lived an exceedingly retired life saw no company seldom went out numerous changes of habillament those found were at least of as good quality as any likely to be possessed by these ladies if a thief had taken any why did he not take the best why did he not take all in a word why did he abandon 4,000 francs in gold to encumber himself with a bundled linen the gold was abandoned nearly the whole sum mentioned by Monsue Mignol the banker was discovered in bags upon the floor I wish you therefore to discard from your thoughts the blundering idea of motive engaged, engendered in the brains of the police by that portion of the evidence which speaks of money delivered at the door of the house coincidences ten times as remarkable as this the delivery of the money and murder committed within three days upon the party receiving it happened to all of us every hour of our lives without attacking without attracting even momentary notice coincidences in general are great stumbling blocks in the way of that class of thinkers who have been educated to know nothing of the theory of possibilities a theory to which the most glorious objects of human research are indebted for the most glorious of illustration in the present instance had the gold been gone the fact of its delivery three days before would have formed something more than a coincidence it would have been corroborative of this idea of motive but under the real circumstances of the case we are to suppose gold the motive of this outrage we must also imagine the perpetrator so we must also imagine the perpetrator so viscillating an idiot as to abandon his gold and his motive together keeping now steadily in mind the points to which I have now drawn your attention that peculiar voice that unusual agility and the startling absence of motive and a murder so singularly atrocious as this would as glance the butchery itself here is a woman strangled to death by manual strength and thrust up a chimney head downward ordinary assassins employ no such modes of murder as this least of all do they thus dispose of the murder in the manner of thrusting the corpse up a chimney you'll admit that there was something excessively altre something altogether irreconcilable with our common notions of human action even when we suppose the actors the most depraved men think too how great must have been that strength which could have thrust the body up such in aperture so forcibly that the united vigor of several persons was found barely sufficient to drag it down turn now to other indications of the employment of a vigor most marvelous on the hearth were thick tresses very thick tresses of gray human hair these have been torn out by the roots you're aware of the great force necessary in tearing thus from ahead even twenty or thirty hairs together you saw the locks in question as well as well as myself their roots a hideous sight were clotted with fragments of the flesh of the scalp sure token of the prodigious power which had been exerted in uprooting perhaps half a million of hairs at a time the throat of the old lady was not merely cut but the head absolutely severed from the body the instrument was a mere razor I wish you also to look at the brutal ferocity of these deeds of the bruises upon the body of madam l I do not speak well sure do moss and his worthy co-ajutor well sure tian have pronounced that they were inflicted by some obtuse instrument and so far these gentlemen are very correct the obtuse instrument was clearly the stone pavement in the yard upon which the victim had fallen from the window which looked in upon the bed this idea however simple it may now seem escaped the police for the same reason that the breadth of the shutters escaped them because by the affair of the nails their perceptions had been hermetically sealed against the possibility of the windows having ever been opened at all if now in addition to all these things you have properly reflected upon the odd disorder of the chamber we've gone so far as to combine the ideas of an agility astounding a strength superhuman a ferocity brutal a butchery without motive a grotesquery and horror absolutely alien from humanity and a voice foreign in tone to the ears of men of many nations and devoid of all distinct or intelligible syllabification syllabification what result then has ensued what impression have I made upon your fancy I felt a creeping of the flash as dupin asked me the question a madman I said has done this deed some raiding maniac escaped from the neighboring mesh into senta in some respects he replied your idea is not irrelevant but the voices of madmen even in their wildest proxisms are never found to tally with that peculiar voice heard upon the stairs madmen are of some nation and their language however incoherent in its words has always the coherence of syllabification besides the hair of a madman's not such as I now hold in my hand I disentangled this little tuft from the rigidly clutched fingers of madam L tell me what you can make of it dupin I said completely unnerved this hair is most unusual this is no human hair I have not asserted that it is said he but before we decide this point I wish you to glance at the little sketch I have here traced upon this paper it is a facsimile drawing of what has been described in one portion of the testimony as dark bruises and deep indentations of fingernails upon the throat of man was LL and in another by Meserm's Dumas and Tien as a series of livid spots evidently the impression of fingers you'll perceive continued my friend spreading out the paper up on the table for us this drawing gives the idea of a firm and fixed hold there is no slipping apparent each finger has retained possibly until the death of the victim the fearful grasp by which it originally embedded itself attempt now to place all your fingers at the same time in the respective impressions as you see them I made the attempt in vain we're possibly not giving this matter a fair trial he said the paper is spread out upon a plain surface but the human throat is cylindrical here's a billet of wood the circumference of which is about that of the throat wrapped the drawing around it and try the experiment again I did so but the difficulty was even more obvious than before this I said is the mark of no human hand read now replied Dupin this passage from Cuvier it was a minute anatomical and generally descriptive account of the large folders orangutan of the East Indian islands the gigantic stature the prodigious strength and activity the wild ferocity and the the imitative propensities of these mammalia are sufficiently well known to all I understand the full horrors of the murder at once the description of the digits said I as I made an end of reading is an exact accordance with this drawing I see that no animal but an orangutan of the species here mentioned could have impressed the indentations as you've traced them this tuft of tawny hair too is identical in character with that of the beast of Cuvier but I cannot possibly comprehend the particulars of this frightful mystery besides there were two voices heard in contention and one of them was unquestionably the voice of a Frenchman true and you will remember an expression attributed almost unanimously by the evidence to this voice the expression mon dieu I've got to take a break here in a second the story is going a lot longer than I remember true and you will remember an expression attributed almost unanimously by the evidence to this voice the expression mon dieu which this under the circumstances has been justly characterized by one of the witnesses Montenny the confectioner as an expression of remonstrance or upon these two words therefore I have mainly built my hopes of a full solution of the riddle a Frenchman was cognizant of the murder it is possible indeed it is far more than probable that he was innocent of all participation in the bloody transactions which took place the orangutan may have escaped from them he may have traced it to the chamber but under the agitating circumstances which ensued he could never have recaptured it it is still at large I will not pursue these guesses for I have no right to call them more since the shades of reflection upon which they are based are scarcely a sufficient depth to be appreciable by my own intellect and since I could not pretend to make them intelligible to the understanding of another we will call them guesses then and speak of them as such if the Frenchman in question is indeed as I suppose innocent of this atrocity this advertisement which I left last night upon our return home at the office of Le Monde a paper devoted to shipping interest a much sought and much sought by sailors will bring him to our residence he headed me a paper and I read thus caught in the Bois de Belon early in the morning of the inst the morning of the murder a very large tawny orangutan of the Borny Species the owner who was ascertained to be a sailor the Maltese vessel may have the animal again upon identifying it satisfactorily and paying a few charges arising from its capture and keeping call at number of choice mom how is it possible I asked that you should know the man to be a sailor and belonging to the Maltese vessel I do not know it said Dupin I am not sure of it here however is a small piece of ribbon which from its form and from its greasy appearances evidently been used in tying to hair and one of those long cues of which sailors are so fond moreover this knot is one of which moreover this knot is one which few besides sailors can tie and is peculiar to the Maltese I picked the ribbon up at the foot of the lightning rod it could not have been belong could have belonged to either of the deceased now if after all I am wrong in my induction given that the Frenchman was a sailor belonging to a Maltese vessel still I can have done no harm in saying what I did in the advertisement if I am an arrow he will merely suppose that I had been misled by some circumstance into which he will not take the trouble to acquire but if I am right a great point is gained cognizant although innocent of the murder the Frenchman will naturally hesitate about replying to the advertisement about demanding the orangutan he will reason thus I am innocent therefore my orangutan is of great value to one in my circumstance a fortune of itself why should I lose it through idle apprehensions of danger here it is without my grasp it was found in the at a vast distance from the scene of that butchery how can it ever be suspected that a brute beast should have done the deed the police are at fault they have failed to procure the slightest clue should they even trace the animal it would be impossible to prove me cognizant of the murder or to implicate me in guilt of account of that cognizant above all I am known the advertiser designates me as the possessor of the beast I am not sure to what limit his knowledge may extend should I avoid claiming a property of so great value which it is known that I possess I will render the animal at least liable to suspicion it is not my policy to attract attention either to myself or to the beast I will answer the advertisement get the orangutan and keep it close until this matter is blown over at this point we heard a step upon the stairs be ready said dupin with your pistols but neither use them nor show them until a signal from myself the front door of the house had been left open and the visitor had entered without ringing and advanced several steps upon the staircase now however he seemed to hesitate presently we heard him descending dupin was moving quickly to the door when we again heard him coming up he did not turn back a second time but stepped up with decision and wrapped at the door of our chamber come in said dupin in a cheerful and hearty tone a man entered he was a sailor evidently a tall stout and muscular looking person with a certain daredevil expression of countenance not altogether unprepossessing his face greatly sunburnt was more than half a hidden by whisker and mustachio he had with him a huge oak and cudgel but appeared to be otherwise unarmed out awkwardly and bade us good evening in french accents which although somewhat novachentalish were still sufficiently indicative of a Prussian origin sit down my friend said dupin I suppose you have called about the orangutan upon my word I almost envy you the possession of him a remarkably fine and no doubt a very valuable animal how old do you suppose him to be the sailor drew a long breath with the air of a man relieved of some intolerable burden and then replied in an assured tone I have no way of telling but he can't be more than four or five years old have you got him here oh no we had no conveniences for keeping him here he's in a library stable in the rue du Bois just du Bourg just by you can get him in the morning of course you are prepared to identify the property to be sure I am sir I shall be sorry to part with him I shall be sorry to part with him said dupin I don't mean that you should be at all this trouble for nothing said the man couldn't expect it I'm very willing to pay a reward for finding of the animal that is to say anything and reason well replied my friend that is all very fair to be sure let me think what should I have oh I will tell you my reward shall be this you shall give me all the information in your power about these murders in the rue morgue dupin said the last words in a very low tone very quietly just as quietly to he walked toward the door locked it and put the key in his pocket he then drew a pistol from his bosom and placed it without the least flurry upon the table sailor's face flushed up as if he were struggling with suffocation he started to his feet and grasped his cudgel for the next moment he fell back into a seat trembling violently with the countenance of death itself he spoke not a word I pitied him on the bottom of my heart my friend said dupin in a kind tone you are harming yourself unnecessarily you are indeed we mean you no harm whatever I pledge you the honor of a gentleman and of a Frenchman that we intend you no injury I perfectly well know that you are innocent of the atrocities in the rue morgue I will not do however to deny that you are in some measure implicated in them from what I have already said you must know that I have had means of information about this matter means of which you could never have dreamed you have done nothing which you could have avoided nothing certainly which renders you culpable you were not even guilty of robbery when you might have robbed with impunity you have nothing to conceal you have no reason for concealment on the other hand you are bound by a very principle of honor to confess all you know an innocent man is now imprisoned charged with that crime of which you can point out the perpetrator the sailor had recovered his presence of mind in a great measure while he had uttered these words but his original boldness of bearing was all gone so help me God said he after a brief pause I will tell you all I know about this affair but I do not expect you to believe one half I say I would be a fool indeed if I did still I am innocent and I will make a clean breast if I die for it what he stated was in substance this he had lately made a voyage to the Indian archipelago he formed one landed at Borneo and passed into the interior on an excursion of pleasure himself and a companion had captured the orangutan this companion dying the animal fell into his own exclusion exclusive possession after great trouble occasioned by the intractable ferocity of the captive during the voyage home he at length succeeded in lodging it safely at his own residence in Paris where not to attract toward himself the unpleasant curiosity of his neighbors he kept it carefully included until such time as it should recover from a wound in the foot received from a splinter on board the ship his ultimate design was to sell it returning home from sailors frolic the night or rather in the morning of the murder he found the beast occupying his own bedroom into which it had broken from a closet adjoining where it had been as was thought securely confined razor in hand and fully lathered it was sitting before lookinglass attempting the operation of shaving in which it had no doubt previously watched its master through the keyhole of the closet terrified at the sight of so dangerous a weapon in the possession of an animal so ferocious and so well able to use it the man for some moments was at a loss as to what to do even accustomed however to quiet the creature even in its fiercest moods by the use of a whip and to this he now resorted upon sight of it the orangutan sprang it once through the door of the chamber down the stairs and then through a window unfortunately open into the street the Frenchman followed in despair the ape razor still in hand occasionally stopping to look back and gesticulate at its pursuer until the latter had nearly come up with it it then again made off in this manner the chase continued for a long time the streets were profoundly quiet as it was nearly three o'clock in the morning passing down an alley in the rear of the the fugitive's attention was arrested by a light gleaming from the open window of the chamber in the fourth story of her house rushing to the building it perceived the lightning rod clamored up with inconceivable agility grasped the shutter which was thrown fully back against the wall and by its means swung itself directly upon the headboard of the bed the whole feat did not occupy a minute the shutter was kicked open again by the orangutan as it entered the room the sailor in the meantime was both rejoiced and perplexed he had strong hopes of now recapturing the road would scarcely escape from the trap into which it had ventured except by the rod which it might be intercepted as it came down on the other hand there was much cause for anxiety as to what it might do in the house this latter reflection urged the man to still follow the refute the follow the fugitive lightning rod is ascending is ascended without difficulty especially by a sailor but when he had arrived as high as the window which lay far to his left his career was stopped what he could accomplish was to reach over so as to obtain a glimpse of the interior of the room at this glimpse he nearly fell from his hold through excessive horror now it was that those hideous shrieks arose upon the night which had startled from slumber the inmates of the room org madame else L and her daughter habit habit it in their night clothes and apparently been occupied in arranging some papers in the iron chest already mentioned which had been wheeled into the middle of the room it was open it was provided on the floor victims must have been sitting with their backs toward the door and from the time lapsing between the ingress of the beast and the screams it seems probable that it was not immediately perceived the flapping to the shutter would naturally have been attributed to the wind as the sailor looked in the gigantic animal had seized madam L by the hair which was loose as she had been coming it and was flourishing the razor about her face in imitation of the motions of the barber the daughter lay straight and emotionless she had swooned the screams and struggles of the old lady during which the hair was torn from her head had the effect of changing the probable had the effect of changing the probably pacific purposes of the orangutan into those of wrath with one determined sweep of his muscular arm it nearly severed her head from her body the sight of blood inflamed its anger into frenzy gnashing its teeth and flashing fire from its eyes it flew upon the body of the girl and embedded its fearful retaining its grasp until she expired it its wandering and wild glances fell at this moment upon the head of the bed over which the face of its master rigid with horror was just discernible the fury of the beast who no doubt bore still in mind the dreaded whip was instantly converted into fear consciousness conscious of having deserved punishment it seemed desirous of concealing its bloody deeds and skipped about the chamber in an agony of nervous agitation throwing down and breaking the furniture as it moved and dragging the bed from the bedstead in conclusion it seized first the corpse of the daughter and thrust it up the chimney as it was found then that of the old lady which it immediately hurled through the window headlong as the ape approached the encasement with its mutilated burden the sailor shrank aghast to the rock and rather gliding then clamoring down hurried at once hum dreading the consequences of the butchery and gladly abandoning in his terror all solicitude about the fate of the orangutan the words heard by the party upon the staircase were the Frenchman's exclamations of horror and a fright co-mingled with the fiendish jabberings of the brute I have scarcely anything to add the orangutan must have escaped from the chamber by the rod just before the break of the door it must have closed the window as it passed through it it was subsequently caught by the owner himself who obtained it for a very large sum at the end of a planter the dawn was instantly released upon our narration of the circumstances with some comments from Dupin at the Bureau of the Prefect of Police this functionary however well disposed to my friend could not altogether conceal his chagrin at the turn which affairs had taken and was feigned to indulge in a sarcasm or two about the propriety of every person minding his own business let him talk said Dupin who had not thought it necessary to reply let him discourse it will ease his conscience I am satisfied with having defeated him in his own castle nevertheless that he failed in the solution of this mystery is by no means that matter for wonder which he supposes it for in truth our friend the Prefect is somewhat too cunning to be profound in his wisdom is no stamen it is all head and no body like the pictures of the goddess Laverna or at best all head and shoulders like a codfish he is a good creature after all I like him especially for one master stroke of Kant by which he has attained his reputation for ingenuity I mean the way he has the near good some French term which ends the story I'm not even going to try long story even though it's supposedly a short story so I'm going to take a quick break and I'll be back in just a bit. A short story about the goddess Lamea queen of the dark from her horror hotel as she brings us a classic movie of comedy and horror from 1927 the cat and the canary based on the award winning stage play of the same name in the film relatives of an eccentric millionaire gathering his spooky mansion on the 20th anniversary of his death for the reading of his will the film is so iconic it is spawned at least four movies blatantly using the same premise in fact the cat and the canary was not only one of universal pictures earliest horror films but it is considered the cornerstone of universal school of horror the weirdo watch party is always free to watch with all of us so grab your popcorn, candy and soda and even jump into the live chat with me and the rest of our weirdo family as we watch the movie along with a fun horror host giving us classic horror film knowledge and it's the cat and the canary from 1927 presented by horror hotel's lamea queen of the dark the weirdo watch party is Friday February 3rd starting at 7pm pacific, 8pm mountain 9pm central, 10pm eastern you can see clips from the film and watch horror movies and horror hosts for free 24 7 on the weirdo watch party page at weirddarkness.com and we'll see you there on Friday February 3rd Urban legends are thought by most to be tall tales passed down through the ages some of the stories are obviously make-believe while others as strange as they may seem have their origins in actual events do alligators roam the dark tunnels deep beneath new york city do boogie men who terrorize those afraid of the night really exist are killer clowns a myth born from our fear of the unknown or could such evil truly walk among us these are just a few of the urban legends that are explored in this book after hearing some of the history for yourself maybe you will be able to answer the age old question could it be true could it be true volume 1 urban legends by Cindy Parmitter narrated by weird darkness host Darren Marlar for a free sample on the audiobooks page at weirddarkness.com congratulations to Joshua Trevino he is my email newsletter winner for January and Joshua has won a weird darkness prize back it includes weird darkness pen button, phone stand, bumper sticker, fidget key chain, magnet and more congratulations Joshua if you want to win next month be sure that you're signed up for the free weird darkness email newsletter at weirddarkness.com be registered for the monthly drawing but you'll also stay up to date on everything weirddarkness you'll find out when sales are taking place in the weirddarkness store you'll see weird news items that don't get shared in the podcast you'll be informed when the next weirdo watch party and friday frights is taking place you'll know about other contests also taking place see where I'll be next on the weirddarkness road trip and more sign up for the weirddarkness email newsletter for free at weirddarkness.com and you'll be in the know will be registered for the monthly drawing welcome back weirdos alright let's take a look at some of the comments right now I've got like 152 of them that have come in so let me sort through some of these Barnumus did a super chat thank you Barnumus I appreciate that that's very kind of you thank you so much let me make sure there aren't any other super chats I want to get to those first for obvious reasons I don't think there are alright we'll start with some of the recent ones last reddit in high school you know a couple years ago obviously you're talking about Rue Morg can't we agree that his coffee is the best thank you Charlie I appreciate that this is fun hope more people watch next time well you never know you're right it's the first time I wasn't sure how he was going to go and it's just an experiment if it goes really well I'll do it every month but you don't know Tim says that was a really good mystery actually it's a thank you I think I think it is too it's actually considered by many the first actual mystery like detective story you know way before Sherlock Holmes and everything else this was like this is the one that started it all let's see here people saying hello from where they are I pressed the heart button this entire time hope you have thousands you're on Facebook okay I don't know how that works on Facebook but that's great I know that's a TikTok thing it's not on Facebook as well you do a lot of hearts there let's see here people are leaving YouTube YouTube only represents a small portion of my listeners the majority listen on Spreaker yes very very close mom I didn't realize that was mom I was reading hi mom YouTube is a very very small portion I'm lucky if I get 900 to 1000 views on a video but the episodes of the podcast I usually get about 30,000 downloads so it's like 30 times better on the podcast and Spreaker is where I host it but people listen to it everywhere I don't explain but Spreaker is kind of like the server that I put it on and then that goes out to Apple Podcasts and Spotify and Pocket Casts and the Spreaker app as well they have their own apps stuff like that so yeah let's see what's everybody snacking on or drinking while watching our head weirdo you're having a Diet Coke just so you know with something I just recently discovered it's I don't know if you can can you see this there he goes this is not my favorite flavor this is their green thunder which tastes kind of like green apple it reminds me of a green apple Jolly Rancher like when I was a kid the cherry is really good with my own energy it's got B12 and caffeine putting that into the mountain dew I'm going to be with you for a while I'm going to be wired well let's see here mom read to me as a child loved it Darren's got such an engaging voice thank you very much appreciate it and I appreciate you guys not giving me a whole bunch of comments complaining about my French all this reflection to why Darren doesn't have a bazillion more subs well I don't know Charzie but Charzie is one of the biggest fans on youtube as well she's always commenting very nice of you let's see here how many we got going 54 you guys can always invite your friends to jump in I'd love to have them come in here as well let's see greetings from the Mojave deserts so glad I remember this before the show ended glad to have you with us right man thank you very much I listened to your show on podbean but in France it's 20 you've been a fan of mine since the year 2116 so you're a fan of mine since the future don't you hate typos thank you Kevin I appreciate it I used to be on podbean before I moved over to speaker let's see here I'm not good at French either I took Spanish in school I took Spanish for one quarter in junior high so half a semester and I couldn't grasp that very well it wasn't the hardest thing in the world I just didn't apply myself to school was just not my thing but I understand French is just so hard compared to Spanish so if I didn't really get Spanish all that well I know I'm not even going to try to do French Darren I think it would be much better without the music I still love you though well let me know guys if you think you'd rather do it without the music in fact I'll go ahead and turn the music off for now and we'll just play it that way for a while and if you like it that way I'll just leave it without the music on boom okay no music there we go okay well let's do something a little bit fun before we jump into the stories and if you want to email me it's right there there's my email address right there just email me Darren at WeirdDarkness.com and you'll usually end up in something that's called the Chamber of Comments which I've been making separate episodes for but this came in not too long ago and I thought it'd be fun to share on Friday Frights you'll see why here in a second and I'm not going to say the person's name and that's also going to be obvious for a moment Darren let me start off by saying Semper Fi as a combat marine from the Gulf War I can honestly say there's not much of anything that scares me once you face enemy military weapons firing at you one tends to get over your initial fear quite fast it's either that or you die I'm still around so obviously I chose the first choice I'm a huge fan of the show my lovely wife actually turned me on to your podcast we love listening to your insightful stories and comments and here's the part that is really cool I used to work at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas with high security clearance believe me there is so much the government does not tell the general public for whatever reason that being said keep doing your great podcast especially in the area of so-called conspiracy theories there are some subjects that may be listed as conspiracy theories by the public but they are in fact true to life for obvious reasons the proof has to come out from shows like yours there are various investigative reporters that just don't give up on a story or theory what I can tell you is I honestly feel the lid is about to be blown wide open on several so-called conspiracy theories to the general public for now you stay safe have a great 2023 and keep doing a marvelous job semper fi my friend and then I'm not going to again I'm not going to say his name now you know why I wanted to read that to you he has not revealed my reply to him but he has not come back and given me any information was probably a smart thing on his part but anyway I said you should never have told me that you have insider information on conspiracy theories do you have any idea how hard it is for me right now to not ask you to spill the tea but I won't because I care about your safety more than I do getting a story but still you are such a tease lol thank you for your incredible kind words thank you for your service I know that sounds cliche and empty nowadays it's said often as like a reflex but when I say it I mean it I have huge respect for those who are in or who have been in the military whether you agree with current politics presidential administrations wars or police actions in various parts of the world you still need to respect the brave men and women who are there under orders in the name of the United States of America so again I thank you and I thank your lovely wife as well for introducing her to the podcast so if he ever decides to break and send us actual information I will let you know but just the idea that I have somebody that used to work at NASA and has all that information in their head that's just pretty cool I really wish he'd never told me though because now it's going to bug me let's check into the dark line Hi my name is Amanda and I am from Arizona I am a nurse at a very very large hospital in the valley I want to say I probably had a couple experiences at the hospital but that's not why I'm calling I'm calling because when I was a teenager I lived in a little cute town called Claremont in California and I had a cousin who I went to high school with we were very close in age you're in the same grade like a month apart grew up about a mile from her my whole life she is like my sister I was always over there spending the night at her house and she had a little sister my little cousin she was about four years old and this was an old big house when we were at school my aunt was home with my little four year old cousin and we would come home from school together and my aunt would be saying your baby sister to my cousin your baby sister and she would be saying things again today I was like wait what fill me in what's going on apparently my little cousin had been seeing a man around the house wearing a hat and she had seen it a few times and my aunt at first thought it was like a prowler or someone looking inside their you know their house they had a really big backyard with a pool there's a lot of open area where you know the garage so you had to walk from the back to the garage in order you know to go to the garage so she was kind of freaked out and I guess this had happened more than once one time we came home and my aunt said that she actually had to call the police because my cousin then said hey mom mommy that the man with the hat is in the house now my aunt obviously freaked out it was just her and my little four year old cousin so she was you know freaking out thinking this guy had finally made his way inside the house the police came over they looked around she called my uncle at work he left immediately came home no one was there they didn't find anybody my aunt thought that it was you know she was really creeped out she started doing some research on the house like I said it was a really old house right across the street with with a strawberry field like a with a strawberry patch it's no longer there it's a freeway now but back then it was and I guess apparently this family had owned it and they lived in the house that my aunt lived in she started doing some research on it and she noticed that you know all of the people all the men in the in the photos were wearing top hats they look like you know the older bull bowler and top hat style from you know way back when because it's like I said it's a very very old house and she decided to ask my cousin what kind of hat is that man wearing when you see him and my cousin said it looks like that and she pointed to a picture of Abraham Lincoln because my aunt had gotten out a couple of books you know she got out a book with someone wearing a baseball hat and a cowboy hat and there's like a picture of Abraham Lincoln on one of the books and she pointed to that one and my aunt immediately got the chills and was like okay yeah so to this day we think that whoever previously owned that home was probably hanging out just checking on his property no one saw him but my little four year old cousin no one ever felt his presence my cousin is now an adult she's older now she's in college and I asked her you know do you remember that and she says no I don't ever remember saying anybody but we all remember her clearly saying that she did when she was little so I know that there's a theory that children and animals can send ghosts but as you get older you kind of grow out of it so she actually doesn't remember anything a lot of other weird creepy things have happened in that house one of them was a situation where we think we saw a doppelganger of my other cousin but I'll say that story for another time anyway I just want to let you know that I really love your podcast I listen to it every morning on the way to work I drive about 15 minutes in just desert on both sides of me on the Tulane Highway thank you very much Amanda left that message and she just ran out of time which is why I cut off like that you get five minutes to tell your story when you call the dark line so it's something to keep in mind if you plan on calling it but very creepy story when she started telling that story just from the beginning I was immediately thinking oh my gosh shadow people hat man I'm thinking this is going to be a hat man story the more it goes the more the less it started to sound like a hat man story even though she was seeing a man in a hat typically with a hat man situation you're seeing it's a shadow person but he's wearing like a fedora it's just the outline just like just like you would see a shadow wearing the shadow form of a fedora it's usually the hat that people report never heard of the hat man wearing a top hat like what you would see on President Lincoln also the hat man is almost always always has a sense of benevolence or evil when he shows up shadow people most of the time as well but a lot of people the reason I'm saying shadow people and hat man is because a lot of people think they're two separate entities and I'm actually going to be doing a little research on that I've decided I'm going to do a talk I was originally planning on doing a talk about urban legends and some of the true stories attached to them but the more I look into that the more it just doesn't feel like it's going to be that engaging at least not as engaging as I thought it would be but man when you talk about shadow people the hat man and be case black-eyed children I'm going to talk about that as well those I'm going to actually create a talk for and that way when I go go around the country to these festivals and expos and stuff and they have these people that are like teaching for half an hour to an hour I'll be one of those people and you can hear about the shadow people black-eyed kids and stuff like that but that but to Andrea's story yeah I thought I was a hat man at first but there's no evil presence there nobody was ever harmed in fact from what it sounded like nobody's really even scared except for when the kid pointed out that it was that particular hat and that's just because it was the creepy factor there of of realizing that your kids really see in something the incident itself wasn't scary it was the realization that your child was seeing something that was that was the scary part but yeah please send us send us your other you said you said you maybe had a doppelganger incident send it in either email it to me I can use it on a fireside frights episode or fireside fears I think is what I'm going to change that to because it gets confusing with fireside frights and Friday frights but either way it'll still be the campfire setting and if you want to send it in for that you can or you can just call the dark line again and leave us your doppelganger story we're I'm getting ready to in just a moment start off with Ray Bradbury if that's what up next Ray Bradbury in the October game that's what I'm getting ready to to touch on but just real quick to give you an update on our caption contest this is the this is the picture that you're captioning if you want to enter the creepy caption contest go to fridayfrights.com make your way to today's episode so if it doesn't take you directly to the page for this episode you'll see on when you get there there's something to click on to get to this episode you'll see the video there of us streaming there and also if you scroll down you will see the caption this photo along with a form that you can fill out and if you do fill that out and if I choose your caption as the winner you'll receive a t-shirt from the Weird Darkness store it's the don't believe in humans shirt that's the design on the front on the back it has the Weird Darkness logo and when you're sending in your caption in that form it does ask you for your t-shirt size so keep that in mind when you're sending in your caption and we have received so far two captions let me make sure there's not another one come in not yet okay so the first one came in from Chris saying how to serve parents not bad and Tony came in with that's a very good question Webster says weird oh now informal see Darren Marlar nice yes stroke the host why don't you that always works right stroke the host okay let's get on with the stories I know that's what you're here for mostly anything else but I'm throwing a lot of other stuff at you to just to see what sticks to the wall you guys can let me know after the show today what you liked what you didn't like so the October game by Ray Bradbury I was reading Stephen King from on my screen this one's gonna be in a book so I'm gonna be looking down most of the time I'm not ignoring you I'm just reading all right okay he put the gun back into the bureau drawer and shut the drawer no not that way Louise wouldn't suffer that way she'd be dead and it'd be over and she wouldn't suffer it's very important that this thing have above all duration duration through imagination how to prolong the suffering how first of all to bring it about well the man standing before the bedroom mirror carefully fitted his cuff links together he paused long enough to hear the children run by swiftly on the street below outside this warm two-story house like so many grey mice the children like so many leaves by the sounds of the children you knew the calendar day by their screams you knew what evening it was you knew it was late in the year October the last day of October and with white bone masks and cut pumpkins and the smell of dropped candle fat no things hadn't been right for some time October didn't help any if anything it made things worse he just did his black bow tie if this were spring he nodded slowly emotionally at his image in the mirror then there might be a chance but tonight all the world was burning down and ruined there were no green or spring none of the freshness none of the promise there was a soft running in the hall that's Marion he told himself my little one all the quiet years of her never a word just her luminous grey eyes and her wondering little mouth this daughter had been in and out all evening trying on various masks asking him which was the most terrifying most horrible they had both finally decided on the skeleton mask it was just awful it would scare the beans from some people again he caught the long look of thought and deliberation he gave himself in the mirror he never liked October ever since he first lay in the autumn leaves before his grandmother's house many years ago and heard the wind and saw the empty trees it had made him cry without a reason and a little of that sadness returned each year to him he always went away with the spring but it was different tonight there was a feeling of autumn coming to last a million years there would be no spring he had been crying quietly all evening he did not show not a vestige of it on his face it was all somewhere hidden but it wouldn't stop a rich syrupy smell of candy filled the bustling house Louise had laid out apples and new skins of caramel there were vast bowls of of a punch fresh mixed stringed apples in the door scooped, vented pumpkins peering triangularly from each cold window there was a waiting water tub in the center of the living room waiting with a sack of apples nearby for bobbling to begin all that was needed was the catalyst the inpouring of children to start the apples bobbling the stringed apples to penduluming the crowded doors the candy to varnish the halls to echo with fright or delight it was all the same now the house was silent with preparation and just a little more than that Louise had managed to be in every other room saved the room he was in today it was a very fine way of intimating, oh look, Mick see how busy I am so busy that when you walk into a room I'm in there always something in another room just see how I dash about for a while he had played a little game with her a nasty childish game when she was in the kitchen then he came to the kitchen saying I need a glass of water after a moment him standing drinking water she like a crystal witch over the caramel brew bobbling like a prehistoric mud pot on the stove she said oh I must light the window pumpkins she rushed to the living room to make the pumpkins smile with light he came after her smiling I must get my pipe oh the cider she had cried running to the dining room I'll check the cider he had said I'll check the cider he had said but when he tried following she ran to the bathroom and locked the door he stood outside the bath door laughing strangely and senselessly his pipe gone cold in his mouth and then tired of the game but stubborn he waited another five minutes there was not a sound from the bath the best she enjoyed in any way knowing that he waited outside irritated he suddenly jerked about and walked upstairs whistling merrily at the top of the stairs he had waited finally he had heard the bath door unlatch and she'd come out and life below stairs had resumed as life in a jungle must resume once a terror has passed on away and they had a look returned to their spring now as he finished his bow tie and put on his dark coat there was a mouse rustle in the hall Marion appeared in the door all skeletoness in her disguise how do I look Papa? Fine! from under the mask blond hair showed from the skull sockets small blue eyes smiled he sighed Marion and Louise the two silent denouncers of his virility his dark power what alchemy had there been in Louise that took the dark of a dark man bleached the dark brown eyes and black black hair and washed and bleached the ingrown baby all during the period before birth until the child was born Marion blonde blue-eyed ruddy cheeked sometimes he suspected that Louise had conceived the child as an idea completely asexual an immaculate conception of contemptuous mind and cell as a firm rebuke to him she had produced a child in her own image and to top it off it somehow phased the doctors so he shook his head and said sorry Mr Wilder your wife will never have another child this is the last one and I wanted a boy Mitch had said eight years ago he almost bent to take hold of Marion now in her skull mask he felt an inexplicable rush of pity for her because she had never had a father's love only the crushing holding love of a loveless mother but most of all he pitied himself that somehow he had not made the most of the bad birth enjoyed his daughter for herself regardless of her not being dark and a son and like himself somewhere he had missed out other things being equal he would have loved the child but Louise hadn't wanted a child anyway in the first place she had been frightened of the idea of birth she had forced the child on he had forced the child on her and right all through the year until the agony of the birth itself Louise had lived in another part of the house she had expected to die with the forced child it had been very easy for Louise to hate this husband who so wanted his son that he gave his wife over to the mortuary but Louise had lived and in triumph her eyes the day he came to the hospital were cold I'm alive they said and I have a blonde daughter just look the mother had turned away to conspire with her new pink daughter child away from that dark forcing murderer it had all been so beautifully ironic his selfishness deserved it but now it was October again there had been other October's and when he thought of the long winter he had been filled with horror year after year to think of the endless months mortared into the house by an insane fall of snow trapped with a woman and child neither of whom loved him for months on end during the eight years there had been respites in spring and summer you got out walk walked picnicked these were desperate solutions to the desperate problem of a hated man but in winter the hikes and picnics and escapes fell away with the leaves life like a tree stood empty the fruit picked the sap runned earth yes you invited people in it was hard to get in winter with blizzards and all once he had been clever enough to save for a florida trip they'd gone south he had walked in the open but now the eighth winter coming he knew things were finally at an end he simply could not wear this one through there was an acid walled off at him that slowly had eaten through tissue and tissue over the years and now tonight it would reach the wild explosive in him and all there was mad ringing with the bell below in the hall louise went to see maryon without a word ran down to greet the first arrivals there were shouts and hilarity he walked to the top of the stairs louise was below taking wraps she was tall and slender and blond to the point of whiteness laughing down upon the new children he hesitated what was all this the years the boredom of living where had it gone wrong? certainly not with the birth of the child alone but it had been a symbol of all their tensions he imagined his jealousies and his business failures and all the rotten rest of it why didn't he just turn pack a suitcase and leave now not without hurting louise as much as she had hurt him it was simple as that divorce wouldn't hurt her at all it would simply be an end to numb indecision if he thought divorce would give her pleasure in any way he would stay married to the rest of his life to her for damned spite no he must hurt her figure some way perhaps to take maryon away from her legally yes that was it that would hurt most of all to take maryon away hello down there he descended the stairs beaming louise didn't look up hello there the children shouted waved as he came down by ten o'clock the doorbell had stopped ringing the apples were bitten from stringed doors the pink child faces were wiped dry from the apple bobbling napkins were smeared with caramel and punch and he the husband with pleasant efficiency had taken over he took the party right out of louise's hands he ran about talking to twenty children and the twelve parents who had come and were happy with the special spiked cider he had fixed them supervised fin the tail on the donkey spin the bottle musical chairs and all the rest amidst fits of shouting laughter then in the triangular eyed pumpkins shine all house lights out he cried hush follow me he said tiptoeing toward the cellar the parents on the outer periphery of the costumed riot commented to each other nodding at the clever husband speaking to a lucky wife how well he got on with children they said the children crowded after the husband squealing the cellar he cried the tomb of the witch more squealing he made a mock shiver abandon hope all ye who enter here the parents chuckled one by one the children slid down a slide with mick which mick had fixed up from lengths of table section into a dark cellar he hissed and shouted gasly utterances after them a wonderful wailing filled the dark pumpkin lighted house everybody talked at once everybody but marion she had gone through all the party with a minimum of sound or talk it was all inside her all the excitement and joy what a little troll he thought with a shut mouth and shiny eyes and with a shut mouth and shiny eyes he watched her own party like so many serpentines thrown before her now the parents they slid down the short incline uproarious while little marion stood by always wanting to see it all to be the last louise went down without his help he moved to aid her but she was gone even before he bent the upper house was empty and silent in the candle shine marion stood by the slide here we go here we go he said and picked her up they sat in a vast circle in the cellar warped came through the distant bulk of the furnace the chairs stood on a long line down each wall 20 squealing children 12 rustling relatives alternately spaced with louise down at the far end mitch up at his end near the stairs he peered but saw nothing they had all groped to their chairs catch as you can in the blackness the entire program from here on was to be enacted in the dark he as mr. interlocutor there was a child scampering the smell of damp cement and the sound of the wind out in the october stars now cried the husband in the dark cellar quiet everybody settled the room was black not a light not a shine, not a glint of an eye a scraping of crockery a metal rattle the witch is dead intoned the husband the witch is dead she has been killed and here is the knife she was killed with he handed over the knife it was passed from hand to hand down and around the circle with chuckles and little odd cries and comments from the adults the witch is dead and this is her head whispered the husband and handed an item to the nearest person I know how this game is played some child cried happily in the dark he gets some old chicken innards from the ice box and then hands them around and says these are her innards and he makes a clay head and passes it out for her head and passes up soup bone for her arm and he takes a marble and says this is her eye and he takes some corn and says this is her teeth and he takes a sack of plum pudding and gives that and says this is her stomach I know how this is played you spoil everything some girl said the witch came to harm this is her arm said Mitch eeee the items were passed and passed like hot potatoes around the circle some children screamed wouldn't touch them some ran from the chairs to stand in the center of the cellar until the grisly items had passed it's only chicken insides scoffed a boy come back Helen shot from hand to hand with small scream after scream the items went down the line down to be followed by another and another the witch cut apart and this is her heart said the husband six or seven items moving at once through the laughing trembling dark Louise spoke up Marion don't be afraid it's only play Marion didn't say anything Marion asked Louise are you afraid Marion didn't speak she's alright said the husband she's not afraid on and on the passing the screams the hilarity the autumn wind sighed about the house and he the husband stood at the head of the dark cellar intoning the words handing out the items Marion asked Louise again from far across the cellar everybody was talking Marion called Louise everybody quieted Marion answer me are you afraid Marion didn't answer the husband stood there at the bottom of the cellar steps Louise called Marion are you there no answer the room was silent where's Marion called Louise she was here said a boy maybe she's upstairs Marion he was quiet Louise cried out Marion Marion turned on the lights said one of the adults the items stopped passing the children and adults sat with the witches items in their hands no Louise gasped there was a scraping of her chair wildly in the dark no don't turn on the lights don't turn on the lights please don't turn on the lights Louise was shrieking now the entire cellar froze with the scream nobody moved everybody sat in the dark cellar suspended in the suddenly frozen task of this October game the wind blew outside banging the house the smell of pumpkins and apples filled the room with the smell of the objects in their fingers one boy cried I'll go upstairs and look and he ran upstairs hopefully and out around the house four times around the house calling Marion Marion Marion over and over at last coming slowly down the stairs into the waiting breathing cellar and saying to the darkness I can't find her then some idiot turned on the lights I like that one we used to do that as kids have you done that one for Halloween or whatever we used to well not we I think it was my dad mom or dad they'd appeal unpeeled grapes and pass those around they were eyeballs and stuff like that a lot of fun that brings back memories I have not thought about that in years I'm really glad that I had that story I'll be back in just a second I gotta take a real quick break and then we will return with a bit more fun I've got some weird news for you and then also a true story the ghost of the copy of Reisman house that's on the way are you more than just a fan of weird darkness would you consider yourself a loyal listener of the podcast do you want even more content take your dedication to the next level by becoming a member of weird darkness's darkness syndicate as a member of the darkness syndicate you receive exclusive weird darkness merchandise get daily episodes of the podcast commercial free along with commercial free recordings of the weekly radio show listen to chapters of audiobooks I narrate even before the publishers or authors hear them get video updates about the weird darkness podcast and future projects that I'm working on before anyone else and share your opinions on ideas to help me decide what to do in the weird darkness podcast in the future you get all of these benefits starting at only $5 per month join the darkness syndicate at weirddarkness.com that's weirddarkness.com slash syndicate terror began in January by the light of the full moon the first scream came from the snowbound railwayman who felt the werewolves fangs ripping at his throat the next month there was a scream of ecstatic agony from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom scenes of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines on the isolated main town of tarkers mills no one knows who will be attacked next but one thing is sure when the full moon rises a paralyzing fear sweeps through tarkers mills for snarls that sound like human words can be heard whining through the wind and all around are the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated cycle of the werewolf by steven king hear the entire novel absolutely free on the audiobooks page at weirddarkness.com breaker breaker for a trucker giveaway congratulations to my first deadhead trucker winner, robert who goes by the cb handle rob o rob o drives for rrc city that listens to weird darkness while behind the wheel congratulations rob o rd darkness t-shirts a hardcover journal two travel mugs and an extra large pillow to rest your head on brakes or your butt while driving if you're hauling the trailer on the road and listening to weird darkness you can register to win next month's giveaway just go to weirddarkness.com slash truckers to register to win that's weirddarkness.com slash truckers welcome back weirdos all right we got a one more creepy in our caption contest creepy caption contest greg sent in daddy says you have a new mommy now creepy nice one greg nice one i might have to go back and share all of them at the end of the at the end of the evening so you guys can can see what came in all right let's take a look at some of these comments that have come in um charlie says and he's back yes have you noticed i'm doing this now i think that's going to be our weirdo handshake it's not even a handshake i'm just going to hold up just like the arm coming out from the ground welcome weirdos so if i if i do a horror show if i if i become a horror host which i mean i've got just about everything laid out now i could do that if i really had the time for it but if i ever did that would be that would be the that'd be like at every break we do that so that's why i'm doing it lea said growing up our local community center used to do a halloween thing where you were blindfolded and they walked you through that you touched all that stuff yeah yeah that that exactly that's what it was i think we use spaghetti for guts is what we used um barbara says i remember the field grapes cold oil spaghetti for interest there it is right there uh all right let's see um barbara says that she loves rey brad berry's stories andrew says that's a great story um charlie's been here since the beginning way to go charlie let's see how long you can last we'll see how long i can last and see if you could if you can last that long uh okay i like the music but it isn't a must whatever works for me okay so yeah let me know guys if you uh if you like the music or if you didn't like the music it's easier if i don't do the music because that's one less thing i have to worry about clicking but that's totally up to you guys as to what you want to do uh all right so before we get into our next our next one from debba johnson uh i have a little bit of weird news for you guys here it is it's time for weird dark news when someone's taken to a funeral home deceased you expect that's the end of the story however in this case it's only the beginning there's a report out of iowa where a woman was taken to a funeral home believed to be dead now it's believed that she is very much alive kcc itv8 in iowa shared the story of how the fire department in ankeny iowa was called to ankeny funeral home in crematory it's believed the woman was transported to the funeral home from a senior care facility no names have been shared or confirmed at this time there's been no comment about the situation from the fire department or the senior care facility they believe the woman was transported from it's also not confirmed who called the fire department or what the resolution was so while details are a bit sketchy audio from a first responder call included the following just so you know this female was transported there deceased and she is not they are in the chapel and she is on a cot apparently dr. Seuss now works for the ankeny fire department you think this is a happy ending for the woman but they laid her on a cot that's a glorified stretcher how horrible is the casket your family bought for you that EMS thinks you'd be more comfortable on a collapsible cot a florida man who was out on bond for allegedly abusing a baby was arrested again after he tried to rob a public's grocery store Patrick Abbott entered the public's in Miami when he handed an employee a note that said that he had a gun and put money in a bag police said Abbott left empty handed and was arrested while throwing his note away as it turns out the so-called gun Abbott claimed to have was allegedly just a black stapler still Abbott was arrested on a charge of armed robbery and if you've ever seen the documentary film office space you know how serious of a crime taking someone's stapler can be a man is avoided jail after drunkenly attacking a pet tortoise at a nursery in California the tortoise a 70 year old African solcata named Michelangelo was found bleeding after being stabbed with six inch shards from a wooden garden gate post a rake handle had been shoved between the animal's head and leg and shattered glass put on its back George Robles was sentenced after he pleaded no contest to charges of animal abuse commercial burglary and vandalism the tortoise needed surgery following the attack and was said to be doing great by the vet who performed the operation Robles was also linked to other break-ins at a preschool in East San Jose is still thousands of dollars of items in the days before and after the attack in January last year maybe we need to send this guy back to that preschool one more time to learn how to be nice to animals and learn how it's wrong to steal from children the pedagons new office for investigating potential UFO sightings received hundreds of new reports in 2022 and while it can explain more than half of those events a sizable chunk remains a mystery since it was formed last summer the all domain anomaly resolution office received 366 UFO or UAP reports out of the 366 reports the office's initial analysis found that 195 objects had shown quote unremarkable characteristics unquote saying that they were linked to common activities 26 of the reports were found to be various types of drones six reports were attributed to clutter a category that includes plastic bags weather phenomena and birds sorry birds and the bulk of those reports 163 were attributed to balloons or balloon-like entities Ronald Moultrie the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security commented we've not seen anything that would lead us to believe that any of the objects that we have seen are of alien origin although he did have difficulty explaining why so many reports came in on Christmas Eve about a balloon-like entity being pulled along by a reindeer speaking of Old Saint Nick Santa came to town with 20 pounds of cocaine Adderley Santos Familia was caught smuggling bricks of coke and stuffed Santa toys at JFK airport on December 14th after arriving from the Dominican Republic Familia who lives in Queens told authorities he'd been visiting family in the Dominican Republic and the feds found nearly 9 kilos of cocaine in his belongings according to court filings prosecutors included a photo of the small plush Santas with a mixture of stuffing and cocaine packets torn out of them Familia was charged with the importation of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute felonies punishable by up to life in prison and $10 million in fines he was released the following day on $100,000 bond and immediately placed on Santa's naughty list and here all these years we've been laying out cookies and milk for Saint Nick but apparently he prefers candy what is it about the Dominican Republic a potential juror in Young Thug's trial who skipped the start of jury selection could have been held in contempt of court and faced a fine jail time or both juror number 64 decided to continue her vacation in the Dominican Republic instead of showing up for jury selection prompting Judge Ural Glanville to ask deputies to take her into custody when she finally made it back to the States instead of a fine or jail time though the Fulton County Georgia judge came up with a much more old school solution have the woman write an essay on the importance of jury duty citing at least 20 sources followed by banging erasers after court cleaning gum from the bottom of the juror seats and writing on the blackboard 100 times I am not as important as I think I am in the let's sue somebody for something ridiculous files Hollywood director Michael Bay is being sued for accidentally killing a single pigeon on the set of one of his films he's even hired Matthew Rosengart the high-profile attorney who helped free Britney Spears the rap which is an online entertainment news and gossip site reported that Bay was facing charges related to a pigeon that was allegedly killed by a dolly during production on six underground in Italy in 2018 with Bay being held responsible because he was the director Rosengart slammed the rap's piece as false reckless and defamatory basically there is an ongoing court case but Bay doesn't want anybody to think that he's being accused of personally ending a bird's life ending quality filmmaking yeah but not ending a bird's life Canadian baby stroller maker Gluckskind is set to release the world's most advanced AI-powered baby stroller originally unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics show CES the Gluckskind Ella is a technological wonder compared to most other baby strollers calling it a stroller actually sounds a bit unfair considering that it's more of a high-tech nanny that can independently rock your baby to sleep assist the user on uphill and downhill slopes and constantly monitor surroundings via an array of sensors and cameras among many other impressive functions such as immediately saying Asta LaVista to women named Sarah Connor who want a closer look at your baby and finally a man from Yakima Washington became enraged and shot at a Taco Bell for being closed David W. Sharp was arrested and now faces charges of a drive-by shooting, DUI, harassment malicious mischief and violation of a concealed pistol license according to Taco Bell employees they were closing the restaurant when the man arrived at the drive-through around 2am the man reportedly became immensely upset and via yelling said that he would break the windows if he wasn't served then he started banging on the front doors of the fast food restaurant and tried to break in the man eventually left or so the employees thought one of them was driving away when they heard a single gunshot the employee called 911 stating that the man was shooting at them police were able to swiftly locate his pickup in a rest sharp inside the vehicle police found a Sig Sauer 9 millimeter pistol with a loaded magazine and a loaded blood alcohol level Yokietto a lawyer and an AA meeting that's your weird dark news weirdos now back to Friday Frights something you might remember me doing a daily dose of weird news many many years ago and that's pretty much what it was like it was a lot shorter than that that was my first attempt to bring it back just to see if you guys liked it or not so again I'll be looking for comments to see what you like and not like about this premiere episode so that way when I'm organizing next month's episode I'll have a little bit better idea of what you guys like so and it looks like we've got 53 people that are that are watching right now so welcome to all 53 of you let's check out just some of the looks like we had just a few more comments come in Greg says thanks for the shout out well thanks again to you like your shot I'm shouting out to you yet again um hey y'all I love weird darkness live long live mirrored and prosper nice Barbara I like that one um summary says I like the fireside noises so you like the fireside frights that is very popular some people say that that's the that's the best that's the best way that they like to listen it's just with the fire there's no music no other sound effects just me and the fire they seem to like that um but the the audio producer in me just feels like that's a little too boring for me for me I know it's it might be comforting relaxing maybe that's why people like it but for me I've been I'm wanting to throw everything at the wall and and see what sticks you know that's just that's just me okay so we are back to storytelling time and this is our third one this is from the book uh skeletons in the closet I don't know if I could if I can show it to you the green screen that thing kind of kind of takes away this is from skeletons in the closet more true stories of the shoals area by Debra Johnson okay here we go in the heart of the historic district on one of Florence's oldest streets stands a lovely Queen Anne style Victorian home known as the Reisman coffee house the two and a half story house at 618 Northwood Avenue with its combination of pure middle and gabled roofs weather board and shingled sighting L shaped porch and Eastlake trim is one of the most beautiful Victorian houses in Florence a finial piece tops a square tower on the front of the house intricate cornices trim the the eaves the high pitched gabled roof is supported by nine turned posts balusters and handrails connect the turned posts adding to the Lacey Woodwork which is representative of the elegant Victorian style the house was lovingly restored both inside and out by Benji and Bobby Wilson who lived there with their children Savannah and Drake Wilson's share their home with several restless spirits who these spirits were in life is somewhat of a mystery since the coffee Reisman house has always been a place of historical significance and home to several families and borders the house was built in the late 1880s by Mark Reisman one of the first Jewish merchants in the area Mark and his wife Hannah Reisman purchased the land from William J and Eugenia Wood for the sum of $1500 Reisman's owned a dry goods business in downtown Florence on the corner of Court Street and Tennessee Street where Meffert's Jewelers now stands one Florence Herald reporter stated the Reisman came to Florence around 1886 from Decatur, Alabama and opened his store under the firm name of Reisman and Friedman a Florence Times article reported that Reisman moved to Florence from Tuscaloosa Hannah was from Nashville they had two children a son named Emanuel and a daughter named Emanuel the Reismans later changed the name of the business to the Atlanta store Mark Reisman was a key player in getting the first Jewish temple in Florence built outwardly Mark Reisman seemed to be a prosperous merchant family man model citizen but on Saturday morning October 5th 1901 Mark Reisman told his son Emanuel that he was going upstairs to clean his pistol after a few moments the shot was heard and Reisman was found on the floor outside with a bullet with a bullet hole through his head his obituary was in both the Florence Herald and the Florence Times Florence Herald Thursday October 10th 1901 Mark Reisman dead shot through the head with a pistol buried at Nashville here's the story from the newspaper the city was startled Saturday morning to learn of the tragic death of Mark Reisman one of the oldest and best known merchants of Florence which occurred at his home at about 7 a.m. Reisman told his son Emanuel that he was going to clean his pistol in a few minutes a report was heard and he was found on the floor with a bullet hole through his head death ensued a few minutes after the shot was fired the remains were taken to Nashville Saturday night by the way of Stevenson, Alabama and the burial took place Sunday afternoon Mr. Reisman came to the city 15 years ago from Decatur and opened under the firm name of Reisman and Friedman a successful merchant and was liked by all who came in contact with him deceased leaves a wife and two children the Messers, collective Nashville and Henderson, Kentucky are in the city and I will look after the business of the deceased which is temporarily closed but will be opened in a few days the Florence Times report of Reisman's death on Friday October 11th was somewhat more detailed Mr. Reisman dead tragic death of a prominent citizen and he shocked at the horrible affair on Saturday morning last between the hours of 7 and 8 o'clock Mr. Mark Reisman one of our most prominent merchants and most widely known citizens met his death in a most tragic and horrible manner he was shot through the head with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol and after lingering less than an hour passed into eternity he had arisen early to go to the store and remarked that while waiting for breakfast he would go upstairs and clean up his pistol in a few moments the report of the pistol was heard and family rushed to the room and found him lying on the floor with a wound through the head the bullet had entered the right side of his head a little above the ear and had come out about the same position on the left side he was removed from the floor to the bed and within an hour expired the family regards the shocking event as an accident the news of the Dreadful event quickly spread through the city and many friends went to the stricken home the community was profoundly shocked and all day a gloom appeared to pervade the city on the midnight southern train the body escorted to the depot by the Masonic fraternity and other friends was carried by the stricken family via Stevenson to Nashville where at 2.30 o'clock Sunday the internment took place in the death of Mr. Reisman our city has lost one of its leading citizens having been a leading merchant here for the past 18 years he was widely and familiarly known his death was sad intelligence indeed to many friends both here and elsewhere the deceased came to Florence from Tuscaloosa about 18 years ago and since that time he was engaged in the mercantile business in which he was highly successful and he leaves his family, a wife and son and a daughter in very comfortable circumstances he carried life insurance to the extent of $13,000 Mr. Reisman was prominent in fraternal society circles was a thorough businessman he was always interested in the public welfare in his deplorable and untimely passing away he has left many friends sincerely grieved who extend to the heartbroken family their profound sympathy the bloodstain is still visible a dark oval blotch soaked into the hardwood floor in the upstairs hall but whether Mark Reisman suffered an unfortunate accident or committed suicide is debatable not long after the Wilson's moved into the house Bobby began to hear heavy footsteps pacing in the hall where Reisman shot himself after hearing this several times and determining the noise was not being made by workmen Bobby called out to the spirit the footsteps ceased at the sound of her voice perhaps this is the restless spirit of Mark Reisman who undeniably died with unfinished business it's difficult to tell because several families have since called the Reisman Coffee House home in the 20th 1903 the house was purchased by Camilla Matting Jones Coffee for $5,350 Camilla's husband was Captain Alexander Donaldson Coffee a son of one of the founders of Florence, General John Coffee AD as he was known attended school in Florence and then in Nashville before returning to take charge as executive of Hickory Hill Place the coffee estate he was a well to do cotton planter and was known throughout Florence as a well read and prominent citizen the coffees lived at Hickory Hill Place but bought the Reisman Coffee House to use as their townhouse their only child, a daughter Eliza Kroom Coffee for whom the municipal hospital in Florence was named also lived in the house according to William McDonald's book the story of Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital not much is known about Eliza she was born August 18th, 1879 at the age of Ardoin Plantation about four miles west of Florence on Gunwilford excuse me Florence on Gunwilford Road that's a mouthful Gunwilford Road she was a quiet studious and religious young lady who was known for her extraordinary beauty throughout most of her life Eliza was frail and sickly she graduated from Florence Synodical College and was elected historian for the Florence chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in fact Florence and Lauderdale County Civil War History in fact Florence and Lauderdale in fact Florence and Lauderdale County Civil War History were her primary interests she was also an accomplished pianist who participated in recitals at Brevard College near Asheville, North Carolina where the coffees owned a summer residence Eliza became ill early in 1904 either from an ulcer condition or malaria while her ailment did not improve Camilla took to their summer cottage where she died on September 4, 1904 at the age of 25 her body was brought back to Florence where she was buried in the Coffee Family Cemetery at Hickory Hill Place in memory of Eliza Camilla gifted $10,000 for the building of a hospital in 1919 she also donated the land behind the Reisman Coffee House on which the first Coffee High School was built in 1941 the Maples family rented the home from the coffee heirs John Malcolm Maples was a doctor who converted a large downstairs closet into an examining room where he saw and treated patients he and his wife Irene Rainey Maples purchased the home in 1952 according to Ronald and Brenda Pettis in their book History of Killin' Alabama once known as Masonville Dr. Maples was born in Limestone County in 1872 he settled in the Killin' Center Star Area around 1912 he lived in a large house located on Highway 72 which was destroyed around 1939 when his grandson accidentally set fire to it Maples was a well known and respected doctor his practice was varied he treated various illnesses and also delivered several babies after Dr. Maples died his wife lived in the downstairs part of the house after her death in 1961 the house stood vacant until Elizabeth Maples Looft and her husband Theodore returned from Chicago in 1967 the Loofts lived in the house until the Wilson's bought it in the late 1990s none of the former owners ever admitted to feeling the presence of unearthly inhabitants in the house perhaps the Wilson's restoration efforts sparked the recent sightings and other paranormal occurrences in the house while the house was under restoration one painter heard a woman's laughter come from right behind him the experience so unnerved him he didn't like to work in the house alone afterwards one morning as Bobby Wilson walked up the stairs something caught her attention she looked and standing in the hallway in front of her daughter's room was a little girl who appeared to be about 8 years old with shoulder length brown hair pulled back with a ribbon and a high colored ankle length cream colored dress the child stood and stared shocked by the child's appearance Bobby blinked and when she looked again the little girl had vanished Benji was skeptical when Bobby told him about the little girl that is until they had a party one night and WQLT DJ Jimmy Oliver walked in and asked who the little girl in the den was Bobby explained to him that there weren't any children in the house adamant that he had seen a child he described the same little girl Bobby had seen on the stairs the Wilsons became convinced they were sharing their house with its former occupants sometimes the Wilsons hear the sound of a child walking in the halls upstairs or playing with toys in the children's rooms two-year-old Drake Wilson often points at an entity only he can see declaring there's that goose mommy sometimes it comes in my room and gets my toys one evening in October 2002 Bobby and Benji were awakened during the night by the sound of a wind-up toy moving both children were sound asleep Benji got up to investigate and when he walked into Drake's room other toys began to wind up seemingly of their own accord as if an unseen child were playing with them Bobby's mother as well as Benji's refused to house it for the Wilsons anymore while the Wilsons were away Benji's mother Jan decided to show the house to some friends she took a lady up to the tower room on the third floor and suddenly all the lights switched off Jan had the overwhelming feeling the spirits in the house thought that she was an intruder and were trying to get her to leave according to Jan they were successful these occurrences prodded Bobby into investigating the history of the house and although she felt that she'd made friends but the spirits there some of what she discovered unnerved her Bobby learned of a legend that has circulated in the Wood Avenue District for years three bodies had been buried underneath the floor of the cellar in the Riceman Coffee House the details of the clandestine burial were sketchy but all agreed that there were indeed three bodies buried there while collecting the story for my book I asked the Wilsons if they would mind if I brought a psychic to their home to see what information she could intuit curious they agreed and I consulted Jeanette McClure PhD Dr. McClure who has degrees in psychology and business as well as a doctorate in hypnosis does personal consultations and private readings she has appeared on sci-fi channels sightings she works nationwide with police and families victims on murder and missing persons cases recently she found her 14th missing person without any prior information about the history of the house she arrived and sat down in the living room her first impression upon entering the house was of a man who had medium to dark hair and was about six feet tall she said he carried a cane for ornamentation and his later life looked somewhat like Mark Twain she said she felt this man was a doctor and that he was standing in front of the mantle his name started with an M she said I'm also getting the name Immanuel and Martha was there an Elizabeth who lived here Bobby confirmed the names Immanuel was Riceman's son and Elizabeth was undoubtedly Eliza coffee Jeanette also picked up the spirit of a child in the house and described her as being under 10 years old and having died of an accident involving a horse she also spoke with the spirit of Mark Riceman and determined that he was stuck in between this world and the next a prayer was said to help Mr. Riceman's spirit move on in all Jeanette got good feelings about the house and the spirits there however the vibrations she got in the cellar were something all together different just under the kitchen in a small root cellar with stone walls and a concrete floor Jeanette confirmed that there were indeed bodies buried there and told the Wilson's she thought it was three people three people her psychic impression was of three men one was dirty one was a dirty thin white man another was a black man she thought was called old squire and the other man was in his twenties she believed the men got caught either trying to steal something or doing something illegal Jeanette's impression was that the men were beaten and held in the cellar until their captors thinking them dead buried them alive right there underneath the house overall the Wilson's believe the spirits that they are excuse me overall the Wilson's believe the spirits they are pleased with the restoration of the house they rather enjoy sharing their house with its former occupants and are not afraid when they hear footsteps crossing the hardwood doors and feel cold drafts even in the heat of summer no doubt the spirits who remain in the riceman coffee house appreciate the careful attention to historical details the Wilson's have undertaken in renovating the house and certainly the child ghost must enjoy having Savannah and Drake as playmates there you go again from skeletons in the closet more true ghost stories of the Shoals area by Deborah Johnson try at the end of this to go back and put links to these books if I can find them online I'll link to them so that way you can find them later on let me check some of the comments before we take a real quick break Alan says show has been good well thank you Alan I'm glad you're liking it Barbara you're really a great Darren on nights have trouble sleeping and put on your channel let your voice soothe me to sleep thank you I appreciate that I was talking to another podcaster just the other day and the same thing happens with him and I'll be telling you about him in the future I think he and I are going to probably tell each other's audiences about our podcast but I'll wait until we get that official but the same thing happens to him people email him and say that they listen to him as they're going to sleep he has a certain vocal style I'm a bit more animated in what I do but I also lower my register when it comes to like the nonfiction stuff when it's like a documentary style something like what I just read you know I'm not acting I'm just narrating and that has a that sort of has this not monotone but soothing sound to it I guess is what people say I didn't know that myself but that's what people say he has the same thing happening with him his voice is like that all the time no matter what he's reading that's just his style and so people will turn him on so I was joking with him I said well if that's the case I have people listening to you when they go to bed and they fall asleep to your voice let's make sure that you tell your audience about me at the beginning of your show otherwise they're never going to hear it because they're going to be asleep alright let's see here Glitter Gunners says you're amazing and I love the podcast and show well thank you Glitter that's very nice of you very kind thank you Gamer says this is so great it's fun to actually see you doing what I listen to I appreciate that I'm not really a video guy this is very awkward for me but I also think it's a great learning learning curve for me something that you push yourself Greg says more weirdling woods there's a lot more to come in fact I will tell you guys today on this that volume 2 is already finished and it will be going it will be published sometime in the next few months the rest of the first volume narrated as episodes first and then the next novel the next anthology in the weirdling woods series will be coming out and I'll tell you the author John Allen he just continually outdoes himself I asked him to do one story in a noir style you know like a like a Humphrey Bogart PI detective kind of thing I mean I've got the music in my head for it and I got everything is like in like first person I saw her walk through the door she looked like blah blah blah old school noir detective stuff he wrote a story for the weirdling woods universe in that style I have not read it yet but I'm so looking forward to it it's one of his longer pieces too we even talked about maybe making that a separate book all by itself because it's just with a mark where you could consider it a novelette not a full novel but a novelette we're going to keep it in the weirdling woods it's going to be great I just know it let's see Brian says love the weird dark news please bring it back regularly great thank you Barbara I've missed the news of the weird bring it back alright thank you Tim I think the dark news is a good idea to bring back alright anime mage I like weird news cool alright guys well then I think that's what we'll be doing I'll keep that in mind it will be nearly as long next time I think let's see Summer says I love the weirdling woods painting from the fundraiser oh yeah it was really nice we didn't get as much on that as I had hoped I was really expecting that to bring in a bit more money so I don't know if we'll do it again next year but it was definitely unique and certainly a beautiful piece okay up next yeah that was number three okay up next I'll be reading out of an Alfred Hitchcock presents My Favorites in Suspense book oh it's H.G. Wells the inexperienced ghost just I haven't again I've not read this the story yet but just the title of it it really makes me want to jump into it so I will do that right after this break if you or someone you know struggles with depression or dark thoughts I'd like to recommend the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com there I've gathered numerous free resources to help you fight depression including the Seven Cups app connecting you with people who've also struggled with depression and know what you're going through and they're there to lift you up you can even connect with professional listeners there to listen at all hours of the day if you're having dark thoughts that you can't control there's the Suicide and Crisis Hotline where you can call or chat online anytime 24-7 the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression are doing what they can to give us the tools we need to fight against depression in the days ahead and as always if you are in an emergency situation where you're contemplating taking your own life you can call 988 in the US or 999 in the UK these resources are either free or have free to use options and are always there when you or someone you love needs them on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com This is the dark and lonely road you drive you're tired and falling asleep behind the wheel the windows are down the cool air blowing through your hair as you crank up the stereo AC DC blurs on the radio and you're screaming out the chorus then a set of headlights emerges from the darkness and your night has become a nightmare Welcome to Last Exit an anthology of 17 horrific tales where life on the road can sometimes take a dark and unexpected turn Last Exit by Jason R. Davis narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar You're a free sample on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com Our latest Weirded Work winner is Kevin Kramer. Kevin works at Olympian Machine in Grey, Louisiana where they manufacture components for oil field tools and he and a couple of his listen to Weird Darkness while doing it Because I chose Kevin's entry at random he's receiving four Weird Darkness coffee mugs, four Weird Darkness magnets and a batch of Weird Dark Roast Coffee all of which he can share with his coworkers at Olympian Machine in Grey, Louisiana and for being the one who entered his company in the drawing Kevin gets a Weird Darkness t-shirt Congratulations Kevin and Olympian Machine in Grey, Louisiana If you listen to the podcast on the job with your coworkers visit the contest page at WeirdDarkness.com to enter and I might draw your entry next month Welcome back Weirdos We're just about like five seconds away from three hours and I still got more to come Quick reminder we do have our creepy caption contest going on this is what you are captioning and you can enter the contest if you go to fridayfrights.com and then click on today's date for the episode that's currently airing if you go there and scroll down you will see this photo along the way and you can fill out and add your own caption for our creepy caption contest we've only got three of them that have come in so far so you've got a good chance of doing well assuming that you are creative enough to come up with a caption if you do win then this is what you win you win a Weird Darkness t-shirt it's the I don't believe in humans t-shirt that's on the front and on the back is the Weird Darkness logo and we'll get that if they come up with the best caption for this particular photo so we're having a lot of fun with it I think I'll probably have to tell you guys the winner tomorrow just because I don't want to spend time looking through those again while you guys are watching me read things that I'm not going to be chatting out to you so I'll probably mention that sometime tomorrow maybe in the podcast maybe I'll throw it into a break or something like that just so you know it's still going on go ahead and go ahead and register I'm sorry I'm thinking three things at the same time we're going to do this real quick and then we're going to come back with more what time is it boys and girls well if you're a Weird Darkness listener or Friday Frights viewer and you've been putting off a haircut or a shave like me well you might want to consider doing so this is your call to action December 24th 1919 in the Washington Herald appendicitis caused by mustaches is the latest curious case just reported to the Frank Society of Medicine by two Paris surgeons they declare they recently operated on a patient in whose case the inflammation was found to be due to a hair from his mustache which he had swallowed with his food it's too bad it was his own hair had that been from a chef in a fancy restaurant he could have filed a lawsuit and maybe afforded the subsequent medical bills something I used to do on my radio show totally outrageous I just something real quick throw it out there Alan had a question where can we get your merchandise in fact what I'm wearing right now is part of the merchandise it's proud to be a weirdo the shirt is available it's in the store how you get to it is you just go to weirddarkness.com slash store that's the easiest way it'll take you directly to it's actually on T public but that URL will take you to my page and I had another question the other day on Facebook regarding the store they wanted to know if they're not buying something specifically from my store do the profits still get donated to organizations that help people who struggle with depression so anything you buy on the Weird Darkness store page something specifically that's from Weird Darkness it'll show who the creator is all of that of course whatever I receive any profits from that are going to go towards those organizations if however you start on the Weird Darkness page and then start hopping around to find what you want I still get a little bit from that the creators of those other T-shirts mugs or whatever merchandise you're buying the creators of those designs they get the bulk of it but they do throw a little my way just for leading people to their page and that amount will get donated as well so you can still buy even if you don't find anything in the Weird Darkness store if there's other stuff on T public that you do like so long as you start by going to weirddarkness.com slash store and then start jumping around it'll still benefit the fundraiser I appreciate somebody asking that they were actually concerned because they found stuff that they wanted but they didn't want to buy it unless it was going to help out with the fundraiser which I just think is really cool ok so we're on story number four this one is H.G. Wells the inexperienced ghost I've been looking forward to this one most of the evening just from the title I just think it's going to be fun alright I'm going to make sure I'm on track here done that done that done that ok good oh and this is coming from like I mentioned earlier Alfred Hitchcock presents my favorites in suspense there you go I'm trying to get it without that green screen getting in the way there it is I got a lot of Alfred Hitchcock books I love the short stories that he put together alright H.G. Wells the inexperienced ghost the scene amidst which Clayton told his last story comes back very vividly to my mind very sat for the greater part of the time in the corner of the authentic settle by the spacious open fire and Sanderson sat beside him smoking the rosely clay that bore his name there was Evans and that marvel among actors Wish who was also a modest man we all come down to the Mermaid Club that Saturday morning except Clayton who had slept there overnight in the morning of his story we had golf until golfing was invisible we had dined and we were in that mood of tranquil kindliness when men will suffer a story when Clayton began to tell one we naturally supposed he was lying it may be that indeed he was lying of that the reader will speedily be able to judge as well as I he began it is true with an air of matter of fact anecdote let me try to say that word but again he began it is true with an air of matter of fact anecdote but that we thought was only the incurable artifice of the man I say he remarked after a long consideration of the upward rain of sparks from the log that Sanderson had dumped you know I was alone here last night except for the domestics said Wish who sleep in the other wing say Clayton yes well he pulled it a cigar for some little time as though still hesitated about his confidence and then he said quite quietly I caught a ghost caught a ghost did you said Sanderson where is it and Evans who admires Clayton immensely and has been four weeks in America shouted caught a ghost did you Clayton I'm glad of it tell us about it right now Clayton said he would be a minute and asked him to shut the door he looked apologetically at me there's no eavesdropping of course we don't want to upset our very excellent service with any rumors of ghosts in the place there's too much shadow and oak paneling to trifle with that and this you know wasn't a regular ghost I don't think it will come again ever you mean to say you didn't keep it said Sanderson I hadn't the heart to said Clayton and Sanderson said he was surprised we laughed and Clayton looked aggrieved I know with the flicker of a smile but the fact is it really was a ghost and I'm sure of it as I am talking to you now I'm not joking I mean what I say Sanderson drew deeply at his pipe with one reddish eye on Clayton and then admitted a thin jet of smoke more eloquent than many words Clayton ignored the comment it is the strangest thing that has ever happened in my life you know I never believed in ghosts or anything of the sort before ever and then you know I bagged one in a corner and the whole business was in my hands he meditated still more profoundly and produced and began to pierce a second cigar with a curious little stabbery effected you talked to it asked wish for the space probably of an hour chatty I said joining the party of the skeptics the poor devil was in trouble said Clayton bowed over his cigar and with a very faintest note of reproof sobbing someone asked Clayton heaved a realistic sigh at the memory good lord he said yes and then poor fellow yes where did you strike it asked Evans in his best American accent I never realized said Clayton ignoring him the poor sort of thing a ghost might be as he hung us up for a time while he sought for matches in his pocket and lit and warmed to his cigar I took an advantage he reflected at last where we were none of us in a hurry the character he said remains just the same character for all that's been disembodied that's the thing we too often forget people with a certain strength or fixity of purpose may have ghosts of a certain strength and fixity of purpose most haunting ghosts you know must be as one idea as monomaniax it just mules to come back again and again this poor creature wasn't he suddenly looked up rather clearly and his eye went around the room I say it he said it all kindness but that is the plain truth of the case even at the first glance he struck me as weak he punctuated with the help of his cigar I came upon him you know in the long passage his back was towards me and I saw him first right off I knew him for a ghost he was transparent and whitish clean through his chest I could see the glimmer of the little window at the end and not only his physique but his attitude struck me as being weak he looked you know as though he didn't know in the slightest whatever he meant to do one hand was on the paneling and the other fluttered to his mouth like so what sort of physique said Sanderson lean you know that sort of young man's neck that has two great floodings down the back here and there here and here so and a little meanish head with scrubby hair and rather bad ears shoulders bad narrower than the hips turned down collar ready-made short jacket trousers baggy and a little frayed at the heels that's how he took me I came very quietly up the staircase I did not carry a light you know the candles are on the landing table and there is that lamp I was in my list slippers and I saw him as I came up I stopped dad at that taking him in I wasn't a bit afraid I think that in most of these affairs no one is never nearly so afraid or excited as one imagines one would be I was surprised and interested I thought good lord here's a ghost at last and I haven't believed for a moment in ghosts during the last five and twenty years um said wish um excuse me let me take a real quick um said wish I suppose I wasn't on the landing the moment before he found out I was there he turned on me sharply and I saw the face of an immature young man a weak nose a scrubby little mustachey feeble chin so for an instant we stood he looking over his shoulder at me and regard one another but he seemed to remember his high calling he turned around drew himself up projected his face raised his arms spread his hands in approved ghost fashion came towards me as he did so his little jaw dropped and he admitted a faint drawn out boo no it wasn't not a bit dreadful I'd I'd had a bottle of champagne and being all alone perhaps two or three perhaps even four or five whiskies so I was as solid as rocks and no more frightened than if I'd been assailed by a frog boo I said nonsense you don't belong to this place what are you doing here I could see him wince boo he said boo be hanged are you a member I said and just to show I didn't care a pin for him I stepped through a corner of him and made delight my candle are you a member I repeated looking at him sideways he moved a little so as to stand clear of me and his bearing became crestfallen no he said in answer to the persistent interrogation of my eye I'm not a member I'm a ghost well that doesn't give you the run of the mermaid club is there anyone you want to see or anything of that sort and doing it as steadily as possible for fear that he should mistake the carelessness of whiskey for the distraction of fear I got my candle alight I turned on him holding it what are you doing here I said he had dropped his hands and stopped his booing and there he stood a bastion awkward the ghost of a weak silly aimless young man I'm haunting he said you haven't any business to I said in a quiet voice I'm a ghost he said as if in defense that may be but you haven't any business to haunt here this is a respectable private club people often stop here with nursebades and children and going about in your careless way you do some poor little trick easily come upon you and be scared out of a wits I suppose you didn't think of that no sir he said I didn't you should have done you haven't any claim on the place have you weren't murdered here or anything of that sort non sir but I thought he was old and oak paneled that's no excuse I regarded him firmly you're coming here is a mistake I said in a tone of friendly superiority I feigned to see if I had any my matches and then looked up at him frankly if I were you I wouldn't wait for cock crow I'd vanish right away he looked embarrassed the fact is sir he began I vanish I said driving at home the fact is sir that somehow I can't you can't no sir there's something I've forgotten I've been hanging about here since midnight last night hiding in the cupboards of the empty bedrooms and things like that I'm flurried I've never come haunting before and it seems to put me out put you out yes sir I've tried to do it several times and it doesn't come off some little thing has slipped me and I can't get back that you know rather bold me over that you know that you know really bull me over he looked at me in such an abject way that for the life of me I couldn't keep up quite the high hectoring vein I had up I had adopted that's queer I said and as I spoke I fancied I heard someone moving about down below come into my room and tell me more about it I said I didn't I didn't of course understand this and I tried to take him by the arm but of course you might as well have tried to take hold of the pop of smoke I had forgotten my number I think anyhow I remember going into several bedrooms it was lucky I was the only soul in that wing until I saw my traps here we are I said and sat down in the arm chair sit down and tell me all about it seems to me you've got yourself into a jolly awkward position old chap well he said he wouldn't sit down he preferred to flip up and down the room as if it was all the same to me and so he did and in a little while we were deep in a long and serious talk and presently you know something of those whiskies and sodas evaporated out of me and I began to realize just a little what a thundering man and weird business it was that I was in there he was semi-transparent the proper conventional phantom and noiseless except for his ghost of a voice flitting to and fro in that nice clean shins hung old bedroom you could see the gleam of the copper candlesticks through him and the lights on the brass fender and the corners of the framed engravings on a wall and there he was telling me all about his wretched little life of his that had recently ended on earth he hadn't a particularly honest face you know but being transparent of course he couldn't avoid telling the truth hey said wish suddenly sitting up in his chair what said Clayton being transparent couldn't avoid telling the truth I don't see it said wish I don't see it said Clayton with imitable insurance but it is so I can assure you nevertheless I don't believe he got once the nails Brett thought the Bible truth he told me how he'd been killed he went down into a London basement with a candle to look for a leakage of gas and described himself as a senior English master in a London private school and that release occurred poor wretch said I that's what I thought when the more he talked the more I thought it was there he was purposeful purposeless in life and purposeless out of it he talked of his father and mother and his school master and all who had ever been anything to him in the world meanly he'd been too sensitive too nervous none of them had ever valued him properly or understood him according to him he never had a real friend in the world I think he had never had a success he had shirked games and failed examinations it's like that with some people he said when whenever I get into the examination room or anywhere everything seemed to go engaged to be married of course to another over sensitive person I suppose but with the indiscretion with the gas escape ended his affairs and where are you now I asked not in he wasn't clear on that point at all the impression he gave me was a sort of vague intermediate state a special reserve for souls to non existing for anything so positive as either sin or virtue I don't know he was much too egotistical and observant to give me any clear idea of the kind of place kind of country there is on the other side of things wherever he was he seems to have fallen in with a set of kindred spirits ghosts of weak cockney young men who are on a footing of Christian names and among these there was certainly a lot of talk about going haunting and things like that yes going haunting they seem to think haunting a tremendous adventure and most of them funk flunked at it all the time and so primed you know he had come but really said wish to the fire these are the impressions he gave me anyhow said Clayton honestly I may of course have been in a rather uncritical state but that was a sort of background he gave to himself he kept flitting up and down with his thin voice going talking talking about his wretched self and never a word of clear firm statement from from first to last he was thinner and sillier and more pointless than if he had been real and alive only then you know he would not have been in my bedroom here if he had been alive I should have kicked him out of course said Evans there are poor morals like that I'm so sorry folks and there's just as much as chance of there having ghosts as the rest of us I admitted what gave a sort of point to him you know was the fact that he did seem within limits to have found himself out the mess he had made of haunting had depressed him in terribly he had been told it would be a lark he had come expecting it to be a lark and here it was nothing but another failure added to his record he proclaimed himself an utter out and out failure he said I can quite believe it that he never tried to do anything all his life that he hadn't made a perfect mess of and that he had he said and I quite believe it that he had never tried to do anything all his life that he hadn't made a perfect mess of and through all the of eternity he never would if he had sympathy perhaps he paused at that and stood regarding me he remarked that strange as it might seem to me nobody not anyone ever had given him the amount of sympathy I was doing now I could see what he wanted straight away and I determined to head him off at once I may be a brute you know but being the only real friend the recipient of the confidences of one of the egotistical weaklings ghost or body is beyond my physical endurance I got up briskly don't you brood on these things too much I said the things you gotta go the things you've got to do is to get out of this get out of this sharp you'll put yourself together and try I can't he said you try I said and try he did try said sanerson hell passes said clayton passes complicated series of gestures and passes with hands that's how he'd come in and that's how he had to get out again Lord what a business I had but how could any series of passes I began then said clayton turning on me and putting a great emphasis on certain words you want everything clear I don't know how all I know is that you do that he did anyhow at least after a fearful time you know he got his passes right and suddenly disappeared did you said sanerson slowly observed the passes yes said clayton and seemed to think it was tremendously queer he said there we were by this thin vague ghost in that silent room in this silent empty inn in this silent little friday night town not a sound except our voices and a faint panting he made when he swung there was the bedroom candle and one candle on the dressing table a light that was all sometimes one or other would flare up into a tall lean astonished flame for a space and queer things happened and suddenly he sat down on a little chair at the foot of the bed and began to sob and sob Lord what a harrowing whimpering thing he seemed you pull yourself together I said I tried to pat him on the back and my confounded hand went through him by that time you know I wasn't nearly so massive as I had been on the landing I got the queerness of it full I remember snatching back my hand out of him as if it were like with a little thrill and walking over to the dressing table pull yourself together I said to him and try and in order to encourage and help him I began to try as well what said Sanderson the passes yes the passes but I said moved by an idea that eluded me for space this is interesting said Sanderson with his finger and his pipe bowl you mean to say this ghost of yours gave way did his level best a whole confounded barrier yes he didn't said wish he couldn't or you'd have gone there too that's precisely it I said finding my elusive idea put into words for me that is precisely it said Clayton with thoughtful eyes upon the fire for just a little while there was silence and at last he did it said Sanderson at last he did it I had to keep him up to it hard but he did it last rather suddenly he despaired we had a scene and then he got up abruptly and asked me to go through the whole performance slowly so that he might see I believe he said if I could see I should spot what was wrong at once and he did I know he said what do you know said I I know he repeated then he said previously I can't do it you look at me I really can't it's been that partly all along I'm such a nervous fellow that you put me out well we had a bit of an argument naturally I wanted to see but he was as obstinate as a mule and suddenly I had come over as tired a dog suddenly I come over as tired as a dog he tired me out all right okay I said I won't look at you and turned toward the mirror on the wardrobe by my bed he stared off very fast I tried to follow him by looking in the looking glass to see just what it was he had done he had hung round when his arms and his hands so and so and so and then with a rush came to the last gesture of all you stand erect and open out your arms and so don't you know he stood and then he didn't he wasn't I wheeled round from the looking glass to him there was nothing I was alone with the flaring candles and a staggering mind what had happened had anything happened had I been dreaming and then with an absurd note of finality about it the clock upon the landing discovered the moment was right for striking one so ping and I was as grave and sober as a judge with all my champagne and whiskey gone into the vast serene feeling queer you know confoundedly queer queer good lord he regarded his cigar ash for a moment that's all that happened he said and then you went to bed said Evans what else was there to do I looked wish in the eye we wanted to scoff and there was something something perhaps in Clayton's voice and manner that hampered our desire and about these passes said Sanderson I believe I could do them now oh said Sanderson and produced a pen knife and set himself to grub the doddle out of the bowl with his clay so don't you do it why don't you do them now said Sanderson shutting his pen knife with a click that's what I'm going to do said Clayton they won't work said Evans if they do I suggested you know I'd rather you didn't said wish stretching out his legs why asked Evans I'd rather he didn't said wish but he hasn't got him right said Sanderson plugging too much tobacco into his pipe all the same I'd rather he didn't said wish we argued with wish he said that for Clayton to go through those gestures was like mocking a serious matter but you don't believe I said wish glanced at Clayton who was staring into the fire weighing something in his mind I do more than half anyhow I do said wish Clayton said I you're too good a liar for us most of it was alright but that disappearance happened to be convincing tell us it's a tale of cock and bull he stood up without heating me took a middle of his took the middle of his hearth rug and face to me for a moment he regarded his feet thoughtfully and then for all the rest of the time his eyes were on the opposite wall with an intent expression he raised to his hands slowly to the level of his eyes and so began now Sanderson is a Freemason a member of the Lodge of the Four Kings which devotes itself so ably to the study and elucidation of all the mysteries of Masonry past and present and among the students of this lodge Sanderson is by no means to the least he followed Clayton's motions with a singular interest in his reddish eye that's not bad he said when it was done you really do you know put things together Clayton in a most amazing fashion but there's one little detail out I know said Clayton I believe I could tell you which well this said Clayton and did a queer little twist and writhing and thrust to the hands yes that you know was what he couldn't get right said Clayton but how do you most of this business and particularly how you invented it I don't understand at all said Sanderson but just that phrase I do he reflected these things happen to be a series of gestures connected with a certain branch of esoteric Masonry probably you know or else how he reflected still further I do not see I can do any harm in telling you just the proper twist after all if you know you know if you don't you don't I know nothing said Clayton except with the poor devil let out last night well anyhow said Sanderson and placed his church warden very carefully upon the shelf fireplace then very rapidly he gesticulated with his hands so said Clayton repeating so said Sanderson it took his pipe in hand again now said Clayton I can do the whole thing right he stood up he stood up he stood up before the waning fire and smiled at us all but I think there was a little hesitation in his smile I begin he said I wouldn't begin said wish it's alright said Evans matter is indestructible you don't think any jiggery pokery of this sort is going to snatch Clayton into the world of shades not it you may try Clayton so far as I'm concerned until your arms drop off at the wrists I don't believe that said wish and stood up and put his arm on Clayton's shoulder you maybe have to believe in that story somehow and I don't want to see the thing done goodness said I he's wish frightened I am here's wish frightened I am said wish with real or admirably feigned intensity I believe that if he goes through those motions right he'll go he'll not do anything of the sort I cried there only one way out of this world for men and Clayton's 30 years from that besides and such a ghost do you think wish interrupted me by moving he walked out from among the chairs stopped beside the table and stood there Clayton he said you're a fool Clayton with a humorous light in his eyes smiled back at him wish he said it's right and all you others are wrong a wish is right and all you others are wrong I shall go I shall go to the end of these passes and as the last wish whistled be blank amazement and a respectable dressed gentleman a 15 stone will plump into the world of shades I'm certain so will you be I declined to argue further let the thing let the thing be tried no said wish and made a step and ceased and Clayton raised his hands once more to repeat the spirit's passing by that time you know we were all in a state of tension largely because of the behavior of wish we sat all of us with our eyes on Clayton I at least with a sort of tight stiff feeling about me as though from the back of my skull to the middle of my thighs had been changed to steel and there with a gravity that was there with a gravity that was impertibly serene Clayton bowed and swayed and waved his hands and arms before us as he drew towards the end one piled up one tingled in one's teeth the last gesture I've said was to swing the arms out wide open with the face held up and when at last he swang out of this closing gesture he ceased even to breathe he was ridiculous of course but you know that ghost story feeling it was after dinner in a queer old shadowy house would he after all and then he stood for one stupendous moment with his arms open and his upturned face assured and bright and the glare of the hanging lamp we hung through that moment as if it were an age and then came from all of us something that was half a sigh of infinite relief and half a reassuring no for visibly he wasn't going it was all nonsense he told an idle story and carried it almost to conviction that was all and then in that moment the face of Clayton changed it changed it changed as a lit house changes when its lights are suddenly extinguished his eyes were suddenly eyes that were fixed his smile was frozen on his lips still he stood there very gently swaying that moment too was an age and then you know chairs were scraping things were falling and we were all moving his knees seemed to give and he fell forward and Evans rose and caught him in his arms it stunned us all for a minute I suppose no one said a coherent thing we believed it yet could not believe it I came out of a muddled stupification to find myself kneeling beside him his vest and shirt were torn open and Sanderson's hand lay on his heart well well the simple fact before us could very well wait our convenience there was no hurry for us to comprehend it lay there for an hour it lies a thwart to my memory black and amazingly still to this day Clayton had indeed passed into the world that lies so near to and so far from our own and he had gone hither by the only road that mortal men may take but whether he did indeed pass there by that poor ghost's incantation or perhaps he was stricken suddenly by apoplexy in the midst of an idle tale as the coroner's jury would have us believe is no matter for my judging it is just one of those inexplicable riddles that must remain unsolved until the final solution of all things shall come all I certainly know is that every moment in the very instant of concluding those passes he changed and staggered and fell down before us dead the inexperienced ghost by H.G. Wells great story I think I might take this one and use it in the actual podcast and cut out all of the errors and coughing and everything I'll just re-narrate the whole thing but that was a lot of fun let's look at some of the comments oh wow I got another super chat I'm not a real marine biologist nice to put a face to the voice thanks for the stories I appreciate that let's see Jeanine says don't tell Robin but I have to sleep with Darren's voice can't sleep with that your secret is safe with me Robin never sees this video Jeanine also said hit through soon I got two awesome t-shirts ordered tonight Bigfoot and the alien one saying I don't believe in humans cannot wait until I get them thank you for doing that all the proceeds I get come from that so thank you very much or the proceeds I get go to depression and help and awareness so thank you for that anime can you imagine being a ghost and can't figure it out I know that's that's why just the title of it the inexperienced ghost I'm sorry folks my nose is so itchy tonight even after taking a clariton but that whole thing the inexperienced ghost just the title of it made me giggle and so that's why I used it I can't imagine being a ghost and not knowing what to do except that the movie Beetlejuice covered that Jennifer says better late than never nice to have you here and I think we're done okay good we're done with those comments alright I gotta get something to drink this is throat is driving me baddie so I'm gonna take another break and then we'll be back with my last of the evening number five lore deep and twisted roots by Aaron Mankey we'll do that after the break you shut yourself in the lights are out and you're listening to weird darkness but suddenly you get that feeling you're not alone you don't know what might be under the bed or in the closet or in the attic or in the room with you you don't dare try to sleep now you're too scared to if you doze off you might be vulnerable to the creatures who haunt your dreams there's one more reason to have weird dark roast coffee in the cupboard because you just never know when you might need it weird dark roast coffee contains deep notes of cocoa, caramel and a touch of sinister sweetness each bag is fresh roasted to order by Evansville coffee and delivery is free for your first order just use the promo code weird you can find a link to it at weirddarkness.com grab a bag before something else grabs you from the dark and goes on in the mind of a murderous killer what is it about some people that lead them to commit murder is there something that is different or is it simply a switch that gets turned on murderous minds stories of real life murderers that escaped the headlines offers a look into the lives of individuals who didn't just become killers but who managed to avoid the media storm that usually accompanies them inside you will hear about people like Sante Kheims a 65 year old mother who was driven by greed and who committed multiple murders with her son Robert James Ackerman the MBA graduate who murdered three people in order to continue getting lap dances from a stripper that he became infatuated with Larry Jean Ashbrook who became deluded by the thinking that strangers were accusing him of murder when he could not take it anymore he carried out a massacre at the Wedgewood Baptist Church and more each story harbors its own distinct narrative and reasoning for the perpetrators of these heinous crimes along with the background to the case their lives and the aftermath of their actions sometimes the truth is more appalling anything fiction can provide and murderous minds proves it once again murderous minds volume 1 stories of real life murderers that escaped the headlines by Ryan Becker narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar hear a free sample or purchase the title on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com 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 Welcome Weirdos or welcome back should I say we do have a couple more entries in our creepy caption contest here's the photo again if you want to leave your caption for this and possibly win you can go to FridayFrights.com and then make your way to today's episode which is streaming there on one of the pages you can scroll down to see this photo and that's also where you will find the form to fill out in order to submit your caption and it looks like we had just another one come in just now as well okay so let me scroll down to where okay so Lori says and that's how the white rabbit made a peanut butter and blood sandwich Timmy said and that was the end end of the human race and the dawn of the robots and Lori sent in another one oh no never mind that's still Lori somehow that came in twice okay so we've had quite a few those are looking pretty good never done a caption contest live before so I wasn't sure what to think of it but if you guys want to all you gotta do is just go to FridayFrights.com go to that page for today's episode and if you win there it is you get the t-shirts actually this is just showing the front and the back of the shirt that you'll win it's the I don't believe in humans design with the weird darkness logo on the back of the shirt sorry the vote the throats get a little bit scratchy so I don't know if I'm gonna make it through my last story or not there's a couple of things that I do want to take care of let's look at some comments first though Alan says great show thank you very much butterflies I've tried four or five times out to submit a caption for the picture but doesn't seem to be working I'm sorry butterfly if you want to just email it to me you can do that but you need to make sure that you give me your name, mailing address and shirt size if you're just gonna mail it directly to me Lee Jackson price absolutely awesome if I logged in from the start thank you Lee you're committed we're almost at four hours now so that's pretty good alright let's let's see what else do I have here before moving on to the next one oh yeah you know what I did have another dark line call I wanted to share with you my name is Sharon and I have a story that I think is pretty interesting it happened years ago happened to my friend Jean who is a video imager for a hospital she fixes the machine and he had invited me to come to his house for dinner and he lives in a cabin on the water here in Michigan in Sanford so I get to his house and he pulls his shirt to the side now Jean is like 6'6 he's a tall guy pulls his shirt to the side he's got three tiny little scratches I say oh my goodness he's got a cat he's like no I don't he goes there's something in this house and I'm like oh really I know that I like the paranormal don't let it know I'm afraid so he showed me the house on the main floor the first floor is a laundry room and there's like an outside access to the dock and there's two windows one on either side of the door and the door has windows in it as well and I said why would you mess up your blind because one of the windows had blinds on it it was all crumbled and stuff and he said you could have just stepped to the side like not even moved your feet and you could have looked out the window he said I didn't do that and I'm like oh so and he lived alone so we went upstairs play video games and we had dinner and he's like can you just stay stay over I said sure and he goes there's an old lady that haunts this house but I don't I said well let me stay in that room he goes no and he had locked that door so he told me what room to stay in and I got comfortable and listen and stuff and he said to me in the morning he said you can stay then stay over stay as long as you want just shut the deck door when you leave it a lock I said okay so after he left me being the investigator that I am I'm walking through the house and I've got my phone and I'm taking pictures and I was like so why don't you show yourself you like to poke and prod at Gene and scare him why don't you come scare me move the airplane he had a toy airplane that was hanging by the laundry room I said why don't you move the airplane as I'm walking through the house and nothing and I said oh and you screwed up his blinds and why don't you just show yourself what are you afraid of and I walked all through the house taking pictures I did not get in that one room where the old lady is that he said because it was locked but I'm walking through and as I'm leaving I was like yeah you go and pick on a poor guy who doesn't like the paranormal I do I said you make me wonder why he won't show me share that I locked the door or shut the door and what was on my way so he texted me did you leave I said yeah I'm home he's like okay well thanks for coming by there's a couple weeks later he asked me can you come back I said sure so play video games and I he put me in that same room that I was in and I kind of had my my hips forward but my upper body was kind of like sideways ish so that my right ear was into the mattress the pillow and now we're on the we're on the water so and I feel something by my feet and I'm like oh crap no no no no it's gonna be a mouse gonna be a snake pass on who knows and I feel it grab my left calf like kind of move up not really grab but it moved up my left cat so I'm like kind of frozen in here like I don't like critters like I'll deal with a ghost but I don't want to deal with critters and whatnot so I'm laying there and I again it's like so I feel it on my thigh this this thing moving because I'm laying with my my right ear into the pillow this huge hand it felt like a ginormous hand covered the whole left side of my face covering my ear and I heard a voice come up through the mattress box spraying two pillows into my right ear and it said you make me wonder I was like okay okay you make me wonder creepy very creepy see you don't do that it even if you're not you don't think a ghost is there never challenge you're just asking for trouble I also want to share another email with you before I get to the next email email email every day here's your mail today this email comes from Michelle she says hi Darren I wanted to tell you thank you for the Santa episodes during the holiday season it really gives me the chance to share my weirdness with my kids and hope they follow in my weird footsteps so far it's going well also I have one question why aren't you going to the convention in Plano Texas I was getting ready to buy tickets for myself and my eight-year-old and noticed you weren't going anymore we're bummed but glad I noticed before we bought tickets keep up all the amazing work that you do hopefully we'll see you one day down here in Texas signed Michelle the Plano Texas thing was a supernatural TV show fan convention and the idea that you would buy tickets to see me and not see the two J's is is beyond me I I can't I can't tell you why I canceled and not because it's a secret or anything it's just I'm not really sure I was I was supposed to go to two of those one in Kansas City one in Plano Texas I canceled both I'll go ahead and read what I sent to her and this is the reason I'm bringing it up here in this video because you might have other people I might have others from the Dallas area that maybe wanted to be there Michelle glad you and your kids like Spooky Santa he was a lot of fun to put together as for Plano I can't really explain why I canceled it it was just a gut feeling I actually canceled two events with that same company both for the supernatural TV show Fan Expo it's strange because I love the show I think people there would definitely be the kind of crowd who would be interested in my podcast but I just had this uncomfortable feeling about it so about out that being said I do have family very close to Plano so I'm going to keep an eye out for events that could bring me back to the area in the future so that's it some sometimes you get I think it's I think it's a Christian thing but because I would I would call it a check in my spirit like maybe God saying you know what you know I won't tell you why but I just don't want you to go to this particular event and who knows what the reasoning would be for that you know some people just get a gut feeling so you know what you know there's there's no rationale for that gut feeling but somehow you have it and so you just don't do something that's what I got so that was it I don't know why I absolutely loved the supernatural TV show watch the whole thing a couple of times actually I binge watching it I think it's definitely the crowd that would that would like the podcast but you know so okay let me get a sippery real quick we'll go on to the last story I didn't I didn't think I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the whole all the stories tonight but if my if my voice can stick around for just a little while longer this last one comes from it's actually it was probably already shared on another podcast and I say that because it's Aaron Mankey trying to get this so you can see it and Aaron Mankey he actually his own podcast called lore and I was listening to his podcast before I started Weird Darkness he is one of the reasons that it one of the things that inspire me to create Weird Darkness I absolutely loved his style he's just he's a narrator he's also he's the writer actually he's a writer and narrator does it all by himself he doesn't have guests or anything like that he's just just a storyteller like I am and his stories are just amazing so if you're looking for another podcast lore trust me he's fantastic anyway this is from his book the world of lore monstrous creatures and I believe this is the first of the the entire series I think is the first book and this story is called deep and twisted roots in the early 1990s two boys were playing on a gravel hill near an abandoned old mine outside of Griswold Connecticut oh by the way Aaron Mankeys are all nonfiction these are all these are true stories kids do the oddest things to save off boredom so playing on a hill covered in small rocks doesn't really surprise me and my guess is that they were having a blast that is until one of them dislodged two larger rocks but when the rocks tumbled free and rolled down the hill both boys noticed something odd about them they were nearly identical in shape and that shape was eerily familiar they headed down the hill one last time to take a closer look and that's when they realized what they found skulls at first the local police were brought in to investigate the possibility of an unknown serial killer that many bodies all in one place was never a good sign but it became obvious very quickly that the real experts they needed were in fact archaeologists they were right in the end 29 graves were discovered in what turned out to be the remnants of a forgotten cemetery time in the elements had slowly eroded away the graveyard and the contents had been swallowed by the gravel many skeletons were still in their caskets though and it was inside one of them marked with brass tacks to form the initials of the occupant that something odd was discovered long ago it seems someone had opened this casket shortly after burial and had then made changes to the body specifically they had removed both femurs the bones of the thigh and placed them across the chest then moving some of the ribs and the breast bone out of the way they placed the skull above them it was a real life skull and crossbones and its presence hinted at something darker the skeleton you see wasn't just the remains of an ordinary early settler of the area this man was different and the people who buried him knew it according to them he was a vampire while it might be a surprise to some people graves like the one in Griswold are actually quite common today we live in the Brom Stoker era of vampires so our expectations and imagery are highly influenced by his novel and the world that evokes Victorian gentlemen in dark in dark cloaks mysterious castles sharp fangs protruding over blood red lips but the white face with red lips started life as nothing more than stage makeup an artifact from a 1924 theatrical production of the novel called Count Dracula another feature we associate with Dracula the high collar also started there with wires attached to the points of the collar the actor playing Dracula could turn his back on the audience and drop through a trap door leaving an empty cape behind to fall to the floor moments later the true myth of the vampire though is far older than Stoker it's an ancient tree with deep and twisted roots as hard as it is for popular culture to fathom the legend of the vampire and of the people who hunted actually predates Dracula by centuries just a little further into the past from Bram Stoker when the cradle of what would one day become the United States the people of New England were identifying vampire activity in their own towns and villages and then assembling teams of people to deal with what they perceived as a threat turns out that Griswold was one of those communities according to the archaeologists who studied the 29 graves a vast majority of them were contemporary to the vampire's burial and most of those showed signs of an illness this is the most likely guess which goes a long way toward explaining why the people did what they did the folklore was clear the first to die from an illness was usually the cause of the outbreak that followed patient zero might be in the grave sure but they were still at work slowly draining the lives of the others because of this belief bodies all across the northeast were routinely exhumed and destroyed in one way or another in many ways it was as if old superstitions were clawing their way out of the depths of the past to haunt the living the details of another case from Stafford, Connecticut in the late 1870s illustrates a ritual perfectly after a family there lost five of their six daughters to illness the first to have passed away was dug up and examined this as well as recorded about the event quote exhumation has revealed a heart and lungs still fresh in living encased in rotten and slimy encased in rotten and slimy in and that's a word you just don't use anymore slimy in two arguments and in which after burning those portions of the defunct living relative else doomed hastening to the grave has suddenly and miraculously recovered this sort of macabre community event happened frequently in Connecticut, Vermont, New York New Hampshire, Ontario and of course Rhode Island where the family of Mercy Brown exhumed her body after others died. Mercy Brown wasn't really the first American vampire though. As far as we can tell, that owner goes to the wife of Isaac Burton of Manchester Vermont all the way back in 1793 and for as chilling and dark as the exclamation of Mercy Brown might have been the Burton incident puts the story to shame. Captain Isaac Burton married Rachel Harris in 1789 but their marriage was brief. Within months of the wedding Rachel took sick with tuberculosis and soon died leaving her husband a young widower. Burton married again in April 1791 this time to a woman named Halda Powell but again within just two years of their marriage Burton's new bride also became ill. Friends and neighbors started to whisper and as people are prone to do they began to try and draw conclusions. Unanswered questions bother us so we tend to look for reasons and the people of Manchester thought they knew why Halda was sick. Although Isaac's first wife Rachel had been dead for nearly three years the people of Manchester suggested that she was the cause. Clearly from her new home in the graveyard she was draining the life from her husband's new bride. With Burton's permission the town prepared to exhume her and end the curse. The town blacksmith brought a portable forge to the grave site and nearly a thousand people gathered there to watch the grim ceremony unfold. Rachel's heart, liver and lungs were all removed from her corpse and then reduced to ashes. Sadly though Halda Burton never recovered and she died a few months later. This ancient ritual at least as far as the people of Manchester Vermont were concerned had somehow failed them. They did what they had been taught to do and unpleasant as it must have been and yet it hadn't worked which was odd because that had not always been the case. As we've seen a lot of what we think we know about the vampire legend is thanks to Bram Stoker's Dracula which is set in Romania. But Stoker never traveled there and the castle that he describes as the home of Dracula was based on an illustration of Bran Castle he found in a book. The image of this Romanian castle may have captured the mood he was aiming for but as far as historians can tell the castle has no connection to the historical Vlad III or Vlad Dracula. The notion of the notion of the vampire or at least of an undead creature that feeds on the living does have its roots in the area though. Stoker was close but he missed the mark by a little more than 300 miles. The real roots of the legend according to most historians can be found in modern day Serbia. The Serbia of the day sits at the southwestern corner of Romania just south of Hungary. Between 1718 and 1739 the country passed briefly from the hands of the Ottoman Empire to the control of the Austrians. Because of its place between these two empires the land was devastated by war and destruction and people were frequently moved around in service to the military and as is often the case when people cross borders so do ideas. Peter Blagojevic was a Serbian peasant in the village of Kislova in the early 1700s. Not much is known about his life but we do know that he was married and had at least one son and Peter died in 1725 at the age of 62 of unknown causes. You probably knew that though didn't you? In the eight days that followed Peter's death other people in the village began to pass away. Nine of them in fact. And all of them made startling claims on their deathbeds details that seemed impossible to prove but were somehow the same in each case. Each person was adamant that Peter Blagojevic their recently deceased neighbor had come to them in the night and attacked them. You know even made the startling claim that her dead husband had actually walked into her home and asked for of all things his shoes. She believed so strongly in this visit that she moved to another village to avoid future visits and the rest of the people of Kislova took notice. They needed to take action and they would begin with digging up Peter's corpse. Inside the coffin they found Peter's body to be remarkably well preserved. They noticed how the man's nails and hair had grown. Others remarked that the condition of his skin which was flush and bright not pale. It wasn't natural they said and something had to be done. They turned to a man named Frumbald a local representative of the Austrian government and with the help of a priest he examined the body for himself. In his written report he confirmed the earlier findings and added his observation that fresh blood could be seen inside Peter's mouth. Frumbald described how the people of the village were overcome with fear and outrage and how they proceeded to drive a wooden stake through the corpse's heart. Then still afraid of what the creature might be able to do to them in the future the people burned the body. Frumbald's report details all of it but he also makes the disclaimer that he wasn't responsible for the villagers actions. Fear he said drove them to it. Nothing more. The story was powerful and it created a panic that quickly spread throughout the region. It was the first event of its kind in history to be recorded in official government documents but there was still no explanation for what had been observed. Just a year later though something happened and the legend has never been the same. I'll tell you that as soon as I get a sip. I told you I love Aaron Mink's writing. It flows so easily. It's like he's writing for the ear rather than the eye. I love that kind of writing. Arnold Payle was a former soldier one of the many men transplanted by the Austrian government in an effort to defend and police their newly acquired territory. No one is sure where he was born but his final years were spent in a Serbia village along the great Morava river near Paris. In his post war life Arnold had become a farmer and he frequently told stories from days gone by. In one such story Arnold claimed that he had been attacked by a vampire years before while living in Kosovo. He survived but the injury continued to plague him until he finally took action. He said that he cured himself by eating soil from the grave of the suspected vampire. Then after digging up the vampire's body he collected some of its blood and smeared it. According to Arnold and the folklore that drove him to it he was cured. After he died in a farming accident in 1726 though people began to wonder because within a month of his death at least four other people in town complained that Arnold had visited them in the night and attacked them. When those four people died the villagers began to whisper in fear. They remembered Arnold's stories of being attacked by a vampire of taking on the disease himself of his own attempt to cure himself. But what if that hadn't worked? One of the suspicions of Arnold's suspicion in doubt they decided to exhume his body and examine it. Here for what most likely the first time in recorded history the story of the vampire was taking on the form of communicable disease transmitted from person to person through biting. This might seem obvious to us now but we have all grown up with the legend to the people of this small Serbian village though this was something new and horrific. What they found seemed like conclusive evidence, fresh skin new nails, longer hair and beard that Arnold even had blood in his mouth. Putting ourselves in their context it's easy to see how they might have been chilled with fear so they drove a steak through his heart. One witness claimed that as the steak pierced the corpse's chest the body groaned in blood. Unsure what else to do they burned the body and then they did the same to the bodies of the four who had died after claiming Arnold had attacked them. They covered all their bases so to speak and then walked away. Five years later however another outbreak spread throughout the village. We know this because so many people died that the Austrian government sent a team of military physicians from Belgrade to investigate the situation. These men led by two officials named Glaser and Fluckinger were special. They were trained in communicable diseases which was a good thing. By January 7th, 1731 just eight weeks after the beginning of the outbreak 17 people had died. At first Glaser and Fluckinger looked for signs of a contagious disease but they came up empty handed. They noted signs of mild malnutrition but nothing deadly could be found. The clock was ticking though. The villagers were living in such fear that they had been gathering together in large groups each night taking turns keeping watch for the creatures they believed were responsible. They even threatened to pack up and move elsewhere. Something needed to be done and quickly. Thankfully there were suspects. The first was a young woman named Steina a recent newcomer to the village who had died during childbirth early in the outbreak. It seemed to have been a sickness that took her life but there were other clues. Steina had confessed to smearing vampire blood on herself years before as protection. But that the villagers claimed now had backfired most likely turning her into one instead. The other suspect was an older woman named Milicia. She too was from another part of Serbia and had arrived shortly after Arnold Payle's death. Like so many others, she had a history. Neighbors claimed she was a good woman who had never done anything intentionally wicked but she had told them once of how she'd eaten meat from a sheep killed by a vampire. That seemed like enough evidence to push the investigators to go deeper. Literally. With permission from Belgrade, Glazer and the villagers exhumed all of the recently deceased opening their coffins for a full examination. And while logic and science should have prevailed in a situation like that what they found only deepened their belief in the supernatural. Of the 17 bodies, only 5 appeared normal and that they had begun to decay in the expected manner. These 5 were reburied and considered safe. But it was the other 12 that alarmed the villagers and government men alike because these bodies were still fresh. In the report filed in Belgrade on January 26, 1732 signed by all 5 of the government physicians who witnessed the exhumations, the witnesses claim that these 12 bodies were completely untouched by decay. Their organs still held what seemed to be fresh blood. Their skin appeared healthy and firm and their nails and hair apparently had grown real. We understand decomposition much better today and recognize that these are not uncommon findings, but 3 centuries ago it was less about science and more about superstition. This didn't seem normal to them. And so when the physicians wrote their report they used a term that until that very moment had never before appeared in any historical account of such a case. They described finding the 12 bodies in a vampiric condition. In the face of so many unanswered questions this was the only conclusion they could commit to. With that the villagers did what their tradition demanded. They removed the heads from each corpse, gathered all the remains into a pile and then burned the whole thing. The threat to their village was finally dead and gone. But something new had been born. Something more powerful than a monster. Something that lives centuries and spreads like fire. A legend. Many aspects of folklore have not fared too well under the critical eye of science. Today we have a much deeper understanding of how disease really works and what happens to the body after people die. And while experts are still careful to explain that every corpse decomposes in a slightly different way, we have a better grasp of the entire process now than any previous time in history. Answers when we find them can be a relief. It's safe to say that today we don't have to fear a vampiric infection when the people around us get sick. But still, at the center of these old stories were people, normal folk like you and me, who simply wanted to do what was right. We might handle things differently today but it's hard to fault them for trying. Answers don't kill every myth, though. Vampire stories, like their immortal subjects, have simply refused to die. In fact they can still be found if you know where to look for them. In the small Romanian village of Mauritinu de Sus, near the southwestern corner that borders Bulgaria and Serbia, authorities were called in to investigate an illegal exhumation. But this wasn't in 1704 or even 1804. Now, this happened just a decade ago. Peter Toma had been the clan leader there in the village, but after a lifetime of illness and hard drinking, his accidental death in the field came almost as a relief to his family and friends. That's how they put it at least. So when he was buried in December 2003, the community moved on. But then individuals from Peter's family began to get sick. First, it was his niece, Mirella Marinusco. She complained that her uncle had attacked her in her dreams. Her husband made the same claim and both offered their illness as proof. Even their infant child was not well. Luckily the elders of the village immediately knew why. In response, six men gathered morning and evening in early 2004. They entered the local graveyard close to midnight and made their way to the burial site of Peter Toma. Using hammers and chisels, they broke through the stone slab that covered the grave and then moved the pieces aside. They drank as they worked. Can you blame them? They were opening the grave of a recently deceased member of their own community. But I think it was more than that. In their minds, they were putting their lives in danger, because there inside the grave they had just uncovered lay the stuff of nightmares. A vampire. What these men did next will sound strangely familiar, but to them it was simply the continuation of centuries of tradition. They cut open the body using a knife and a saw. They pried the ribs apart with a pitchfork and then cut out part. According to one of the men who were there, when the heart was removed they found it full of fresh blood proof to them, at least, that Peter had been feeding on the village. When they pulled it free, the witness said the body audibly sighed and then went limp. It's hard to prove something that six incredibly superstitious men, men who had been drinking all night, mind you, claimed they witnessed in a dark cemetery. But to them it was pure unadulterated truth. They then used the pitchfork to carry the heart out of the cemetery and across the road to a field where they set it on fire. Once it was burned completely, they collected the ashes and funneled them into a bottle of water. They offered this tonic to the sick family who willingly drank it. It was, after all, what they had been taught to do. Amazingly, everyone recovered. No one died of whatever illness they were suffering from, and no one reported visits from Peter Tomah for that. In their mind, the nightmare was over. These men had saved their lives. Maybe something evil and contagious has survived for centuries, spreading across borders and oceans. It certainly left a trail of horrific events in its wake, and its influenced countless tales and superstitions, all of which seemed to point to a real-life cause. Far from being unique to Serbia or Romania, this thing is global. And as if that weren't enough, this horrible, ageless monster is and always has been right inside each of us. Like a vampiric curse, we carry it in our blood. But it's probably not what you'd expect. It's fear. Aaron Menke. There you go. And that is the last one that I planned for tonight, folks. I've had a lot of fun with you guys. I've got a couple of things that I still want to check on. Let me see. I got another caption. Let's see here. Okay. Let me go. We bring that up so you guys can see the caption again. The caption contest is going on. Again, you can just go to Weird Darkness. Click on Friday Frights. Get to today's episode and you can find this along with the form to fill out to enter your own caption. And this caption came in from Janine saying, do you think Darren will give us some weird dark roast coffee after this? And Summer says, and that is why you always carry duct tape. Cute. All right. I've got quite a few of those. I tell you what, why don't I go ahead and read all of them before you? Because I know a lot of you are just you weren't there for the very beginning of them. So we said Chris said, how to serve parents. Tony says, that's a very good question. Webster says, weird oh, noun, informal see Darren Marlar. Greg says, Daddy says you have a new mommy now. Lori says, and that's how the white rabbit made a peanut butter and blood sandwich. Timothy said, and that was the end of the human race and the dawn of the robots. Let's see here. Janine said, do you think Darren will like this weird coffee after this? Weird dark roast coffee, that is. And Summer says, that's why you always carry duct tape. So those are our entries. I'll go through them again and figure out a winner and I'll let everybody know tomorrow in the podcast. But that was a lot of fun, guys. I really appreciate that. Again, the winner is going to win a weird darkness t-shirt. I don't believe in humans shirts that has that pattern on the front. That's a lot of fun. We still have 43 people watching, which is really nice. Okay, let's check out some of the comments. Music good now. Okay. I've had it off for a long time. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Lee. Magnus says good night. Good night, Magnus. Talk to you later. Thank you for being with us. We're exhausted. You're exhausted. Let's see here. Rene says my husband and I rescued two puppies with cleft palates. We're going to euthanize them. I've been listening to your live cast all night while caring for the pups. It's great to be entertained while bottle feeding, cuddling with and keeping an eye on these day old golden lab puppies. Rene, why don't you send me a photo of the puppies? I'll put it up on the website so everybody can see them. What are their names? I want to know their names, too. Okay. You must be watching the beginning of the yeah, you must watch the beginning of the video or the beginning of the live stream. I enjoy these 12 days of Halloween. I don't have a 12 days of Halloween. I have a Halloween live screen, but I also have the 12 days of 12 nightmares of Christmas. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. Bad nightmares brought on by bad mustard. You guys are having your own conversation in there, aren't you? Alan says, Darren, do you ever go ghost hunting or cryptic hunting? No. I never do. I try to remember who I've even been asked. I don't know if I've ever been asked to go, but I wouldn't do it anyway. I love telling the stories. I love, you know, whether they're fiction or nonfiction, I just love telling the stories, being a voice artist. I'm not crazy enough to go out there and actually start looking for it. No, not me. Not my thing. I take it back. I was, I wasn't necessarily asked to go on a ghost hunt, but I had some friends many years ago before I started Weird Darkness that they were going to go ghost hunting. They were some friends from the Chicago film community, which I was a real big part of for a while. And I thought about going with them because they weren't Christians and I am and I thought maybe if I was to go with them, I could stay, pray it up the whole time, you know, kind of pray over the situation and what's going on. But for some reason, I just, I, we just never went with it. I don't know. I could, I actually had, they're in the garage somewhere. I had a whole bunch of bottles that I planned out filling with water and blessing them. So to give, to give holy water to my friends, but I never got around to it. Let's see here. Mark says, love it. Thank you, Darren. You're a horror patriot. Patriot, horror patriot. That is a compliment that I've never heard that term before. That's awesome. I appreciate that. Anime says, I like the lore podcast, but love yours better. Well, that's the ultimate compliment. Thank you. Like I said, Aaron Menke's lore is just incredible. The way he puts it together. I do mine a whole, I do mine more often than him because he's the one that does all of his writing is on research. It takes him a while to put it all together. So he's just so good at what he does that he's inspired me. In fact, he's the reason that I started saying I'm Darren Marlar. This is weird darkness because he starts his after a brief introduction, he says I'm Aaron Menke and this is lore. I thought, ooh, that sounds nice. It kind of gave me chills every time he said it and he says that same way each time. That's why I use I'm Darren Marlar. Welcome to weird and this is weird darkness. So that got a little insight there on what I do and why I do it. So let's see. Bridgewater Bridgewater Paranormal. We go to the Bridgewater Triangle Area in Massachusetts. Well, good luck. Oh, she's got the names. Forget about naming them snug and honey. Oh, how cute. Yeah, you got to send the pictures, send the pictures and I'll share them. Okay, so that's it for the comments. Let me make sure there's nothing else that I need to take care of. I don't think there is. I think we've got everything. We don't have another, we didn't have another caption come in. So I got a list here in front of me. I just want to make sure that I did everything that I wanted to share with you guys. And I did and I shared a lot. I had the weird news or the weird dark news sort of darkness, weird dark news. I had totally outrageous. I did the email bag a couple of times. I had the dark line collars, the creepy caption contest. Let me know what you thought about all of that. Drop me an email or leave comments here in the video. Even after I'm done, you can still go back to the video and watch it and comment on it. Let me know what you thought about these individual pieces of the of the show. And so that way I'll be sure to bring them back for next time because I'm sure there's going to be a next time. This was just way too much fun not to do it again. So thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate you joining me for Friday Frights. If you like the show, like and subscribe wherever you happen to be via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter. If you are on YouTube, be sure to also subscribe, follow the Weird Darkness podcast. It's there every day of the week including holidays. You can find the podcast, if you're just now watching for the first time, you're just now meeting, just go to WeirdDarkness.com and you can find the podcast in your favorite podcast app by doing that. WeirdDarkness.com and listen. Also, WeirdDarkness.com, while you're there, that's also where you can find all of my social media. You can listen to free audio books that I've narrated. You can find a few free ones there. You can visit the store for WeirdDarkness t-shirts like this one. Like the proud to be a weirdo, but also the one that I'm giving away in the caption contest. I don't believe in humans. I've got a lot of different t-shirts that I either designed myself or had designed for the WeirdDarkness store. Hoodies are also there, mugs, phone cases, all that kind of merchandise with the WeirdDarkness imagery on it. You can sign up for monthly contests that I hold. You can find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead, Micro-Terrors and other things. And of course you can find the Hope in the Darkness page. If you or somebody you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts, that's what the page is for. Most everything there is free to use or they have at least free versions to use. So if you're struggling with depression or whatever, that's the place to go. And also you can tell your story. If you go to WeirdDarkness.com, click on tell your story and if you've got a paranormal tale that you or somebody else maybe told you, send it my way. I'll use it in a future episode, be it Friday Frights or maybe Weird Darkness or in the Friday Fears. Or excuse me, not Friday Fears, but the Fireside Fears. Fireside Frights is what it used to be called. Like I said, those Fireside Frights and Friday Frights are too confusing. I've got to change the names of them differently. But anyway, thanks for joining me. Fireside Frights and Weird Darkness are productions and trademarks of Barler House Productions Copyright 2023. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Proverbs 21, verse 16. The person who strays from common sense will end up in the company of the dead. And a final thought, sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe, if you must. But take the step. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me for Friday Frights Live in the Weird Darkness.