 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. In 1997, Men in Black hit theaters. A science fiction comedy based on a Marvel comic series and starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, the film tells the story of an NYPD officer who unwittingly chases down a disguised alien and is recruited to join a top-secret organization, the Men in Black, with the goal of keeping the public unaware of alien refugees on Earth. The movie was a hit, sequels were made, and most people likely went on with their lives not thinking much more about it. But for a select group of conspiracy theorists and ufologists, the Men in Black were more than just a Hollywood fabrication. In fact, stories of the Men in Black had been circulating for half a century before the film was released. The real Men in Black are said to be shadowy, secretive figures dressed in dark suits who visit witnesses of strange paranormal phenomena, typically those who have claimed to see UFOs. MIBs usually appear in groups of two or three, allegedly threatening witnesses to ensure they remain silent about what they've seen. Some have claimed the MIBs are government agents, but others believe they may in fact be shape-shifting aliens in disguise. In either case, those who claim to have had experiences with the real Men in Black are not quick to forget them. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. This is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. Coming up in this episode. The Bermuda Triangle isn't the only watery region with a reputation for unexplainable events and tragedies. For centuries, a triangular portion of Lake Michigan has been ground zero for sunken ships, disappearing crews, and vanishing aircraft. As if these incidents aren't creepy enough, what is now known as the Lake Michigan Triangle is also notorious for UFO sightings and strange lights appearing on the horizon. There is a beast living in the woodlands outside of Rhinelander, Wisconsin and its description is beyond belief. Sylvia Plath died by suicide at the age of 30 on February 11, 1963, following a barrage of literary rejections and her husband's infidelity. We'll look at her haunting story and tragic death. It's approximately 400 years old, full of colored illustrations of plants, flowers, the stars, women, medicinal herbs, and text. Yet no one has been able to decipher exactly what the Voynick manuscript is for or what it says. The disappearance of a person is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. When we first read about missing people, we usually automatically assume the most logical explanation was what happened. But what if we're wrong? We'll look at the vanishing of Claude and Sue Shelton. But first, unlike their Hollywood counterparts, the real life men in black are mysterious figures who threaten people who have reported paranormal experiences. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter and our contests. Connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. In 1956, Gray Barker released the book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, in which he compiled a series of accounts from people who claimed to have had encounters with aliens before being visited by strange men in dark suits. I'll link to the book in the show notes. From Barker's account, the first mention of men in black can be traced back to June 27, 1947, and a man named Harold Dahl in what came to be known as the Maury Island UFO incident. According to Dahl's account, Dahl was on a conservation mission, gathering logs with his son Charles near the eastern shore of Maury Island, Washington, in Puget Sound. As he was working, Dahl claimed, he saw six doughnut-shaped objects hovering in the air, roughly half a mile above his boat. Before he could make sense of what he was seeing, one of the objects fell from the sky dropping a barrage of metallic debris. Some of the debris struck Charles, and Dahl snapped several photographs of the flying objects. When the men were back on land, Dahl showed the photographs to his supervisor, Fred Crisman. Crisman was skeptical, but when he went to investigate the scene for himself, he allegedly saw one of the strange flying objects hovering before him. The next morning, Dahl claimed he was visited by a man in a black suit who was able to describe Dahl's experience in eerily accurate detail. The man then said to him, What I have said is proved to you that I know a great deal more about this experience of yours than you will want to believe. Before leaving, the man warned Dahl that bad things would happen to him if he should ever speak of the incident. Although both Dahl and Crisman later said the incident was a hoax, it did little to stop conspiracy theorists and ufologists from looking into it. Admittedly, the Maury Island incident gained little notice until Barker's book was published, but it was the way in which Barker connected Dahl's story to that of a young man named Albert K. Bender that truly kicked off the men in black fascination. In 1952, Albert Bender created an organization known as the International Flying Saucer Bureau, a short-lived project mostly known for the magazine it published, Space Review. In a 1953 edition of Space Review, Bender claimed he'd been visited by three men wearing dark suits according to Live Science. These many said told him to cease publishing information about UFOs. That same year, Space Review stopped publishing altogether, and the International Flying Saucer Bureau ceased to be. Many assumed Bender had been planning to stop publishing anyway due to his magazine making little money. Still, Bender's story caught the attention of Gray Barker and it became yet another account in they knew too much about flying saucers to feature the men in black. In his book, Barker recounted Bender's experience describing the men in black as three men in black suits with threatening expressions on their faces, three men who walk in on you and make certain demands, three men who know that you know what the saucers really are. Those who believed in UFO conspiracies often looked to the men in black as some kind of proof that these phenomena were true. If a witness was threatened, that made them more believable the logic went. After all, why would someone try to silence something if it weren't true? By this point, UFOs had evolved from a fringe tabloid section of the paper to the front page. These were the years following the infamous Roswell, New Mexico UFO incident and Barker's book served less as a conspiratorial manifesto and more as a collection of a new sort of folklore. This understanding of UFO phenomena and the men in black as folklore or cultural mythology was furthered by a 1957 report from famed psychoanalyst Carl Jung, flying saucers a modern myth of things seen in the skies. While Jung never argued for or against the existence of UFOs, he noted, our time is characterized by fragmentation, confusion and perplexity. At such times, men's eyes turn to heaven for help and marvelous signs appear from on high. In fact, in the encyclopedia UFOs and Popular Culture, folklorist James Lewis wrote of Barker, Barker considered himself an entertainer and folklorist rather than a factual reporter and was a gifted writer with a gentle, understated sense of humor. As time went on, the mythology of UFOs continued to evolve. More and more people came forward claiming to have seen aliens or mysterious objects in the sky and many of these incidents have become the focus of fascination in their own right. UFO stories evolved culturally as well as more films, television shows, novels, comics and eventually video games took UFOs and extraterrestrial life to greater heights. In 1962, Albert Bender released his own book specifically about the men in black, Flying Saucers and the Three Men, link in the show notes. Bender's own words painted an even more sinister image of the men in black. They floated about a foot off the floor. They looked like clergymen but wore hats similar to Hamburg style. The faces were not clearly discernible for the hats partly hid and shaded them. The eyes of all three figures suddenly lit up like flashlight bulbs. They seemed to burn into my very soul as the pains above my eyes became almost unbearable. Like so much else in the conversation regarding UFOs, the men in black changed over time. No longer were they simply government agents offering a warning, they were mysterious entities under themselves, seemingly human and inhuman at the same time. The transformation of the story from a first press report to a folkloric tale to a comic book and now to a film illustrates how the myth is transformed, Phil Patton wrote for The New York Times in 1997, around the time men in black hit theaters. That process is not unlike the children's game of telephone or what the literary critic Harold Bloom calls innovation by misinterpretation. The period when the saucer phenomenon was new is now a point of reference. In the quarter century since men in black released, it too has become a point of reference. Stories of the real men in black don't circulate as often now as they did in the mid-20th century, partly because the mere concept has been turned into something of a joke. Still, in the midst of the UFO cultural zeitgeist, the men in black were for a time a key part of the conversation and claiming to encounter them was tantamount to proving that you really had seen aliens. Coming up, the Bermuda Triangle isn't the only watery region with a reputation for unexplainable events and tragedies. For centuries, a triangular portion of Lake Michigan has been ground zero for sunken ships, disappearing crews, vanishing aircraft, strange lights, and UFOs. We'll look at the Lake Michigan Triangle. But first, the disappearance of a person is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. When we first read about missing people, we usually automatically assume the most logical explanation was what happened. But what if we're wrong? We'll look at the vanishing of Claude and Sue Shelton. Up next on Weird Darkness. Just because spooky season is over doesn't mean spooky season is over. Here at Weird Darkness, we go from happy Halloween immediately to nightmarish no-well. And that includes the Weird Darkness store. Drink your hot cocoa with a mug that says I'm dreaming of a fright Christmas. Get a laptop case for your computer or a phone case that says have yourself a scary little Christmas. Be cute with your newborn and get them a onesie that says I'm the ghost of Christmas present. All of these designs are available on any product, any size like t-shirts, totes, sweatshirts, wall art, pillows, tapestries, notebooks, hoodies, buttons, magnets, tank tops, stickers, and more. Just in time for some creepy Christmas shopping. Grab some holiday horrors for yourself and for the weirdos on your gift list at WeirdDarkness.com Life was quiet and seemingly uneventful for Claude and Martha Sue Shelton. Claude had worked as a mechanic at the Owens Tire and Muffler Company in Corbin for 10 years, while Sue stayed at home and looked after the children. They were the parents to Sheila, age 10, Ronnie, 8, and Debbie, age 7. The family of five all lived together in their trailer at Jerry's Trailer Park on 18th Street in Corbin, Kentucky. Life was seemingly good until it wasn't. On Friday, May 28, 1971, the Shelton family had gone to see Claude's mother, Tempe Ellswick, in Williamsburg, Kentucky, only about 17 miles from Corbin. It was a nice visit and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. They arrived back in Corbin that night after dark. The children were then tucked into bed, but what would happen overnight would change this young family forever. The Shelton's oldest child, Sheila, had not yet fallen asleep. She heard her parents and was curious so she listened closer to hear her father say to her mother something like, if you're going with me you better come on. The next morning, the children awoke to find something they didn't understand at all. Their parents were gone. Sometime that morning, Claude's boss at Owens had come to the Trailer Park to see why Claude wasn't at work. He normally worked a half-day on Saturdays. It's then that people were alerted to this bizarre scene and the police were called in to investigate. According to a newspaper article, the children were taken in briefly by friends of the couple until the school year concluded. Ultimately, Sue's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Connolly-Hunley, would come and get their three grandchildren and take them to their home in Knoxville. Police and really everyone who knew the Shelton's were shocked and had absolutely no idea where the couple could be. After hearing of the final words that Sheila overheard, it made even less sense. The couple had left their Trailer in their 1967 two-door White Ford Galaxy 500, license plate Whitley County 937-944. Some reports say Sue's purse was left behind. Other reports say it wasn't. The couple, from what everyone could tell anyway, took no belongings with them on their late-night trip. There was an intensive search for the Shelton's. The Civil Air Patrol squadron and rescue squads from four towns searched the area. The Laurel River Lake was being created around that time and was a source for some of the searches. Even with all the investigating and diligent effort by law enforcement, there was absolutely no trace of Claude and Sue's Shelton or their car. The case grew cold very quickly. The owner of Jerry's Trailer Park in Corbin confirmed that the Shelton's only had one payment left on their Trailer. Marvin Craig worked with Claude Shelton for the entire 10 years he was at Owens and the two were friends. He remembers Claude as a quiet but pleasant man, a perfectionist. Claude seemed to be devoted to his family and would speak of his young son often, Mr. Craig remembers. He also mentioned that when the Shelton's disappeared, Claude would have had two checks ready, salary and commission checks, as the company would pay the workers monthly. He also said that Claude left behind about $3,000 worth of Duro brand tools. The amount listed is the value that they would have been in 1971. This case would get a little more attention in 2009. Turns out that female remains that were found in Oregon in August of 1971 loosely resembled that of Sue Shelton. The female was initially referred to as Annie Doe. She remained unidentified for decades. Then, when DNA testing became more available, police contacted the daughters, Debbie and Sheila, for a DNA sample to compare it to the unknown remains. This visit came just a few weeks after the daughters had lost their grandmother, Sue's mother, and it was hopeful this was a sign that could lead to closure in their parents' disappearance. However, after DNA testing was complete, it was announced that the remains belonged to Annie Marie Layman, a 16-year-old who had disappeared under troubling circumstances in Washington state in the winter or spring of 1971. Fast forward to today. There still has been absolutely no trace of Claude and Sue Shelton. There continue to be sporadic searches in the water around Corbin. Adventures with Purpose and other dive teams even searched the area a year ago. You can find the video on YouTube. Everyone is still completely mystified as to what happened to the couple. Here are the main theories. One theory is that the Shelton's may have accidentally driven in water nearby. As stated, the Laurel River Lake was being constructed from 1964 to 1974. It is listed as being 279 feet deep. If the couple did drive into the lake, they have never been found despite numerous searches there. Another theory mentioned is that the Shelton's met with foul play. It is not verified, but there were reports of an abandoned car with its hood up bound in or near the town that night. It has even been mentioned that it might have been stolen. Again, no actual verification of this. This could mean that Claude, being a mechanic, may have stopped to assist the motorist and possibly met with violence that night along with his wife. Debbie is the Shelton's youngest daughter. Although only seven when her parents vanished, she has been living with this mystery practically her entire life. Debbie does not think that the real story has been put out there and that no one has really cared over the years. It is time that the Shelton's children's opinion should not be heard. The Shelton's children say there is some misinformation being reported. First, the date of the disappearance is reported as May 21st or 28th, but an official website says it was the latter date. Some places don't even get the children's age or sex right, but it was again Sheila, Ronnie and Debbie. Sheila clarified once again recently she heard absolutely no mention of her father talking about going to King's truck stop that night. They're unsure where that came from and the children say they were not in the habit of going there. They also say their parents did not have a jar of money they were saving up that reports say they took that night. As far as what the children think happened to their parents, well, that might surprise you. The Shelton's children are adamant that their parents left simply because they wanted to. Debbie was already asleep that night, but Sheila and possibly Ronnie heard their father and were convinced from day one that they wanted to leave. Debbie wasn't told this by her siblings until she was in her 20s. She was asleep that night and didn't hear her father's words, and at first was surprised. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed the most logical explanation. But of course, nothing is logical about this case. The Shelton children have chosen to keep their thoughts about this to themselves until now. Their parents were a subject that was rarely brought up over the years, even between themselves or other family members. They also wanted to protect their grandmother Margaret Conley who had raised them. They knew how painful it would be if she thought Sue had abandoned her own children. Sadly, she passed away on Mother's Day in 2009, still mourning her daughter every day. With her grandmother gone, this is one of the reasons that Debbie felt comfortable in finally speaking out about the disappearance. The Shelton family would go on to have more than its fair share of tragedy. Of Claude and Sue Shelton's four grandchildren, three of them have died at an early age. More recently, there was a bright spot for the family when Debbie and Ronnie got together with a group of their cousins from the Shelton side in early October of 2021. It was a bonding time for the cousins and they planned to stay in touch. Sadly, another tragedy was on the horizon as Ronnie Shelton, Claude and Sue's only son, would suddenly die from a heart attack just a few weeks later in October of 2021. He was only 58 years old. It is hard to believe that the Shelton's who had lived in Corbin for many years would be unfamiliar with the area and accidentally drive into the water. The foul play aspect is certainly a possibility, but again, it is surprising no trace of them or their car has ever been found in all these years with countless searches. As far as them leaving their children, at first we think no one would ever be capable of that. No reports of any abuse or mistreatment of their children were ever reported. Everyone had only kind things to say about Claude and Sue, but their actions that night just don't make sense. They spent the day and night with their children, got home late, tucked them into bed and shortly after just left. What would possibly be the reason for that? If it was to run a quick errand, why wouldn't they have done it with the children before they got home that night? The children say that they had never left them late at night before. Debbie believes they may have left overnight to get a head start in wherever they were going, meaning they would not be discovered missing for many hours. She also wonders if the trip to their grandmothers that night was so their father could see his mother one last time before he left. It would have been easier to disappear if you wanted to in 1971 than it would be today. Even though the children never saw any jar with money collected, this information was given by a so-called witness, it is possible it existed and was hidden. If it was there and was taken that night, it might bolster the theory that the couple had a plan to leave their life behind and brought the money with them to assist with that. Of course, the true victims of this disappearance are the children, Sheila, Ronnie and Debbie. Imagine having an enjoyable night at your grandparents' house, looking forward to a carefree summer, then waking up one morning to find out you're now an orphan. Not knowing whether your parents were injured, dead or just decided to leave you, which scenario is the best to believe? They are all horrible possibilities that these children have had to live with for over 50 years. As you might understand, it's easier for them to just put it out of their heads. They did and all went on to live happy and productive lives despite the sadness of their childhood. As the expression goes, cold cases grow cold because their story stops getting told. Hopefully, our telling this story will warm it up a bit. Without finding some evidence of the Shelton's in their car, though, or evidence that they existed past 1971, we will probably never truly know whether that night was an accident, an abandonment, or something much more sinister. It's been dubbed the Lake Michigan Triangle. A lot of interesting stories have come out of that region of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin Maritime Museum Submarine Curator Karen Duvall says, No one knows why, she then explained. One thing is clear about the Lake Michigan Triangle. The mystery doesn't seem to be easing up anytime soon. The Lake Michigan Triangle is scalene in shape, meaning none of its sides are equal. The three points of the Triangle are marked by three different cities. On the Wisconsin side, there is Manitowoc. On the Michigan side, there is Luddington. On the Michigan side, there is Luddington to the north and Benton Harbor to the south. Unexplained phenomena and frightening legends related to the region date all the way back to the late 17th century when a French vessel disappeared with the tide, never to be seen again. The Great Lake's oldest shipwreck remains one of its most puzzling. The French explorer, Rene Robert Cavallier, sewer data cell, commissioned and oversaw the construction of Le Gryphon, a massive ship designed for fur hauling. In August 1679, Le Gryphon set off on its maiden voyage from Niagara to Michelin Mackenac, an outpost in the Straits of Mackenac. Some historians allege the ship had larger ambitions beyond the outpost to discover a northwest passage to China and Japan. Unfortunately, Le Gryphon vanished while traversing the Lake Michigan Triangle. LaSalle had already departed for the mainland and his remaining six crew members met the same fate as his ship. In 2001, a researcher named Steve Leibert found what he claimed to be Le Gryphon's Bowsprit at the bottom of Lake Michigan. The elaborately designed spar includes sculptures of a mythical half-lion, half-eagle creature. Leibert's findings have yet to be verified and the rest of the ship has never been recovered. Close to 200 years later, the deadliest open water sinking on the Great Lakes would propel the Lake Michigan Triangle into infamy. In the wee hours of September 8, 1860, the wooden-hulled side-wheel steamship, P.S. Lady Elgin collided with the much smaller schooner, Augusta, which was loaded down with heavy lumber and headed for Chicago. The vessel seemed to pay no attention to us, Lady Elgin's second-mate M.W. Beaman told the Chicago Tribune at the time, she struck us just forward the paddle box on the lardboard side, tearing off the wheel, cutting through the guards and into the cabin and hull. The Augusta continued on for Chicago as the Lady Elgin took on more and more water. Hundreds of sleeping passengers on the overpacked steamship returning to Milwaukee from Chicago, exhausted from a night of merriment and dancing, received a rude awakening when the ship's crew began their evacuation efforts. Everything that could be was done to try to stop up the hole, said Frederick Rice, a steward. Mattresses were pushed into it and planks spiked over it, but to no avail. 300 people perished as a result of the crash, including the Lady Elgin's captain, Jack Wilson, who spent his final hours saving as many passengers as possible. Built in 1870, the 132-foot-long, three-masted schooner, Thomas Hume, belonged to lumber baron Charles Hackey's fleet of ships when it disappeared within the Lake Michigan Triangle in 1891. Sailing alongside one of its sister ships, the Rouse Simmons, the Thomas Hume embarked from Muskegon, Wisconsin to Chicago with a large shipment of lumber. After delivering the wood, both ships turned around to venture back toward Muskegon. Seeing ominous storm clouds gathering in the distance, the crew of the Rouse Simmons decided to turn back and stay in Chicago until the weather improved. The Thomas Hume, on the other side, kept on toward home. When the Rouse Simmons returned to Muskegon two days later, its crew knew something was wrong when there was no sign of the Thomas Hume in the harbor. Hackey and his business partner, Hume, put up a $300 reward for information on the Thomas Hume's whereabouts, but the ship and its seven crew members were nowhere to be found. Multiple search operations also resulted in failure. Fast forward a few hundred years to 2005 when professional recovery diver, Terrace Lysenko, found the intact remains of the Thomas Hume in the southeastern portion of Lake Michigan. Shipwreck experts have since shared their theories about what likely happened to the ill-fated ship, such as the storm overhead produced turbulent seas causing it to capsize. Even though it avoided disaster in 1891, the Rouse Simmons later succumbed to the Lake Michigan Triangle on November 22, 1912. The ship and its 16 crew members, including Captain Herman Shuneman, embarked upon a familiar journey from Thomas Michigan to Chicago, set to deliver a load of at least 5,000 Christmas trees. Shuneman had just recently acquired the schooner for his burgeoning business, the Northern Michigan Evergreen Nursery. But the Rouse Simmons never made it to Chicago. On November 23, the ship was seen flying a distress flag in clear conditions. However, when a rescue boat finally arrived at the location, there was no sign of the Rouse Simmons anywhere. Wreckage from the ship, including Christmas trees and Captain Shuneman's wallet, washed ashore in the following decades. It wasn't until October 1971 that the Rouse Simmons was found by scuba diver Gordon Kent Bellrichard off the coast of two rivers Wisconsin. What caused the beloved Christmas tree ship and its equally beloved Captain Santa to go down in the Lake Michigan Triangle? The answer is likely a combination of bad winter weather, a lack of routine maintenance on the ship and the weight added by all its yuletide cargo. The two-masted schooner Roosevelt, built in 1863, had a good life before an unexplained collision in the Lake Michigan Triangle resulted in the ravaged ship washing ashore in 1921. In late October of that year, the Roosevelt left High Island, Michigan bound for Benton Harbor. Loaded with lumber, the Roosevelt encountered some sort of disturbance and its remains were found 42 miles from Milwaukee. None of the ship's 11 crew members were accounted for and their bodies remain uncovered to this day. While some accounts claim the Roosevelt met its demise during a storm, others believe it was involved in some sort of clash with another vessel. What remains so confounding about this theory is that no records of accidents were reported by other ships in the area at the time. Did the Roosevelt meet a rogue wave or was something more nefarious at play? The fact that the ship's yawl or two-headed sail was never recovered adds yet another layer to an already complex mystery. A new mystery of the Great Lakes is unfolded. Befrater, O. M. McFarland, dock in Port Washington, Wisconsin and crew members reported the disappearance of the ship's master, the Cleveland Press, published in 1937. As reported by the ship's crew, Captain George R. Donner vanished from his cabin on April 29, 1937. Days earlier, the coal-powered McFarland made it all the way to Erie, Pennsylvania, where it picked up a shipment of coal. Traversing the Great Lakes, the ship had no problem until it arrived in the Lake Michigan Triangle. After successfully guiding his ship through icy and rough waters, Captain Donner retired to his quarters late on April 28 to get a few hours of sleep. When the McFarland's first mate knocked on Captain Donner's door as they approached Port Washington early on April 29, there was no answer. The door to the Captain's quarters was locked, so the crew searched the galley for their skipper. There was no sign of him anywhere. This prompted the men to break down Captain Donner's door, believing he'd fallen into a heavy sleep. Instead of finding a snoring man, the crew entered an empty cabin. At the time of Captain Donner's evanescence, the McFarland was approximately 30 miles from one of the Lake Michigan Triangles' nexuses, Luddington, Michigan. His body was never found, and the case remains as much of an enigma as it was in 1937. The only thing more horrific than a plane crash is a plane going dark forever, its passengers never to be recovered. That's what happened to Northwest Airlines Flight 2501 in 1950 while flying over the Lake Michigan Triangle. En route from New York City to Seattle, the plane reached the eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan just after midnight on June 24. The plane's captain, Robert C. Lind, requested clearance from air traffic control to descend to 2,500 feet in order to avoid a lightning storm brewing over the Great Lake. Captain Lind was denied, and the plane quickly vanished. Lind, two crew members, and 55 passengers also vanished that night. At the time the plane went AWOL, a local of South Haven, Michigan, told reporters he saw a terrific flash out in the lake. This strange light was seen by others, one of whom explained it was a funny light, it looked like the sun when it goes down, it only lasted a second and then was gone. These ghostly sights and sounds have led to speculations that something supernatural, even extraterrestrial, caused the plane to go missing. The worst commercial airplane disaster of its time, the disappearance of Flight 2501, remains mired in controversy. Only bits of debris and tragically some body parts floated to shore in the days and weeks after the aircraft went dark. While it is assumed the plane crashed into Lake Michigan because of the storm it flew into, no subsequent searches have resulted in the plane's discovery. In fact, nautical fiction writer Clive Cusler funded a yearly quest to retrieve Northwest Flight 2501 from its watery grave. Every year, the search team returned to the shore empty-handed. Known as the Queen of the Lakes, the 639-foot Carl D. Bradley broke through icy Great Lake Waters with ease. The freighter was used to haul limestone from Lake Huron and Lake Superior to Lake Michigan's ports. On November 18, 1958, traveling from Gary, Indiana to the upper Lake Michigan, the Bradley ventured into a common phenomenon, a Lake Michigan storm. Having endured many bad storms, the Bradley's captain and crew forged on. Eventually, the storm became so powerful it began to split the long ship's hull in two. The Carl T. Bradley sank, just like the Titanic, its two broken halves landing upward toward the surface of Lake Michigan. Of the ship's 41 crew members, only two survived. After the disaster, news reports indicated the ship didn't make it through the storm because of damage sustained earlier in 1958, after running aground twice. In February 1978, West Michigan's Stephen Kubocki was reported missing. The Hope College student had recently commenced a cross-country skiing expedition. As authorities swept the area for signs of Kubocki, they discovered a set of footprints that led right to the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and then ended abruptly. After Kubocki's skis and backpack were recovered nearby, everyone assumed he'd fallen through the surface ice on the lake and met his demise, even though the ice and snow over Lake Michigan were thick that winter. To the world's amazement, Kubocki woke up in a grassy field 15 months later. He was 700 miles east in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Kubocki had no memory of where he had been for 15 months or how he ended up so far from home. His last memory was reaching Lake Michigan. Kubocki refused to discuss his situation after his initial rescue, and to this day remains silent about what transpired. The baffling circumstances through which Kubocki disappeared and then reappeared, whether linked to an unearthly cause or not, will forever be a riddle. Michigan ranks high when it comes to UFO sightings by state, and some residents conjecture that Lake Michigan Triangle is a major reason why. The disappearance of Northwest Flight 2501 has stirred interest among ufologists because locals reported seeing unexplained lights in the sky when the plane vanished. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though, when it comes to unidentified flying objects, freak weather events and uncanny observances. The same is true across Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. According to W.O.O.D. TV based out of West Michigan, Wisconsin police have been fielding complaints about UFOs over the Lake Michigan Triangle since 1913. In 1919, The New York Times reported on two colossal balls of fire seen falling into the Great Lake. The paper deemed the object's meteors, but other eyewitnesses chalked it up to metaphysical forces wreaking havoc. The Sausalito News in California noted, the rumblings from the impact were heard as far as South Bend and La Porte, Indiana. In more recent history, hundreds of Michigan residents along Lake Michigan reported seeing disk-like objects, some with flashing lights hovering over them on March 8, 1994. Among the witnesses was a local National Weather Service radar operator. I've never seen anything like this, not even when I'm doing storms, the operator exclaimed when he called the local police department. These aren't storms. When you see it in the water, you're tempted to say this is absolutely real. Underwater archaeology professor Mark Holley shared with reporters in 2007, but that's what we need the experts to come in and verify, he said. With his colleague Brian Abbott, Holley discovered a circular stone arrangement in 40 feet of water while using sonar technology to search for shipwrecks in the Lake Michigan Triangle. Along the periphery of the rocks, Holley and Abbott also found a boulder marked with a prehistoric carving of a long-extinct mastodon. Could the mystery of the Lake Michigan Triangle date all the way back to 10,000-plus years ago when mastodons still roamed the planet? Research into the rock formations remains ongoing, and in order to respect Indigenous groups whose ancestors may have erected Lake Michigan's underwater stonehenge, the exact location of the structure is a secret. Some suspect the stonehenge-like arrangement served a ceremonial purpose, while others believe it was built to dam up the lake in order to make fishing easier. Whatever the case may be, the yet-to-be-explained configuration makes up but a few imprints on the floor of a lake littered with lost hopes, stories and ships. When Weird Darkness returns, Sylvia Plath died by suicide at the age of 30 on February 11, 1963 following a barrage of literary rejections and her husband's infidelity. We'll look at her haunting story and tragic death. Plus, it's approximately 400 years old, full of colorful illustrations of plants, flowers, the stars, women, medicinal herbs and text, yet no one has been able to decipher exactly what the Voynick manuscript is for or what it says. These stories and more on the way. Do you keep a journal or diary? If not, maybe you should consider it. It's been shown that journaling can help you reduce stress, help relieve depression, builds self-confidence, it boosts your emotional intelligence, helps with achieving goals, inspires creativity and more. In fact, my friend, S. Ann Lenees has created a Weird Darkness-themed journal just for you, full of blank pages for you to use as a diary, make notes for class or office meetings, jot down ideas for that novel you want to write, use it for keeping a mileage long if you travel for business, whatever you want. In fact, she has numerous styles of journals to choose from. Along with the Weird Darkness journal, there's one for dealing with grief or teachers' notes, for medical residencies, keeping track of your meds or health routine and several others. Journals make a great gift for others, but it's also a great gift for yourself and your own mental health. No matter what you might want a journal for, my friend Ann has it. And you can see all of our journals, including the one for Weird Darkness on the sponsors and friends page at WeirdDarkness.com. On a frigid night during one of the coldest winters in London's history, a young poet named Sylvia Plath laid down in front of the oven and turned on the gas. Since then, Sylvia Plath's death and her morbid novel and collection of poems have captivated generations of readers. A gifted writer from a young age, Plath started writing and publishing poems before she'd even reached her teens. She attended Smith College, won a guest editorship at Mamoiselle magazine, and was awarded a Fulbright grant to study at Cambridge in London. But beneath Plath's sterling literary credentials, she struggled with severe mental health issues. Indeed, Plath's inner struggles seemed intertwined with her prolific prose. While rising through the literary ranks, Plath also suffered from severe depression that resulted in psychiatric care and suicide attempts. By the time Sylvia Plath died in 1963, both her mental health and her literary career had reached a nadir. Plath's husband, Ted Hughes, had left her for another woman, leaving Plath to care for their two children, and Plath had received a number of rejections for her novel The Bell Jar. This is the tragic story of Sylvia Plath's death and how the young and talented poet died by suicide at the age of 30. Born on October 27, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, Sylvia Plath showed literary promise at a young age. Plath published her first poem, entitled simply, Poem, in the Boston Herald when she was just nine years old. More poetry publications followed, and an IQ test Plath took at the age of 12 determined that she was a certified genius with a score of 160. But Plath's early life was marred by tragedy too. When she was eight years old, her father Otto died from diabetes. Plath had a complicated relationship with her strict father, which she later explored in her poem, Daddy, writing, I have always been scared of you, with your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygook. And as Plath grew up, her literary gifts and inner darkness seemed to play dueling roles. While attending Smith College, Plath won a prestigious guest editorship at Manouzel magazine. She moved to New York City for the summer of 1953, but described her experience working and living in the city as pain, parties, and work, according to The Guardian. Indeed, Plath's inner struggles had begun to intensify. The New York Times reports that Plath had a mental breakdown following a rejection from a Harvard writing program, which the Poetry Foundation writes led the poet to attempt suicide at the age of 20 in August 1953. She then received electroshock therapy as treatment. It is as if my life were magically run by two electric currents, joyous, positive, and despairing negative, whichever is running at the moment dominates my life, floods it, Plath later wrote, according to The Poetry Foundation. Yet despite her struggles, Plath continued to excel. She won a full bright scholarship and moved to London to study at Cambridge University, and there, Plath met her future husband, Ted Hughes, at a party in February 1956. During their intense initial encounter, Plath bit Hughes' cheek, drawing blood. Hughes later wrote of the swelling ring-mote of tooth marks that was to brand my face for the next month, the me beneath it for good. It is as if he is the perfect male counterpart to my own self, Plath wrote, according to History Extra. To her mother, she added that Hughes was the only man I've met yet here who'd be strong enough to be equal with such is life, according to The Washington Post. But though they married after just four months and had two children together, Frida and Nicholas, Plath and Hughes' relationship swiftly soured. By the time Sylvia Plath died in February 1963, her marriage to Ted Hughes had crumbled. He had left Plath for his mistress, leaving her to care for their two young children during one of the coldest winters in London since 1740. But Hughes' betrayal was just one of many of Plath's problems. Not only was she dealing with relentless flu, but multiple American publishers had sent rejections for Plath's novel, The Bell Jar, which was a fictionalized account of her time in New York and subsequent mental breakdown. To be quite honest with you, we didn't feel that you had managed to use your materials successfully in a novelistic way, an editor from Alfred A. Knopf wrote, according to The New York Times. Another wrote, Plath's friends could tell something was off. His Plath's friend and fellow writer Jillian Becker wrote for BBC, Plath was feeling low. Visiting Jillian and her husband Jerry on the weekend before she died, Plath expressed her bitterness, jealousy, and anger about her husband's affair. When Jerry drove Plath and her children home on Sunday night, she started to cry. Jerry Becker pulled over and tried to comfort her, even insisting that she and the children returned to their home. But Plath refused. No, this is nonsense. Take no notice, Plath said, per Becker's book, giving up the last days of Sylvia Plath. I have to get home. The next morning, February 11, 1963, Plath got up at around 7am and tended to her children. She left them milk, bread, and butter so that they would have something to eat when they woke up, put extra blankets in their room, and carefully taped the edges of their door. Then, Plath went into the kitchen, turned on the gas, and lay down on the floor. Carbon monoxide filled the room. Before long, Sylvia Plath had died. She was only 30 years old. Her family, ashamed of her suicide, reported that she had died of virus pneumonia. Ted Hughes later wrote of hearing the news of Plath's death that a voice like a selected weapon or a measured injection coolly delivered its four words deep into my ear, your wife is dead. But though Sylvia Plath died on that frosty February morning in London, her literary legacy had just begun to bloom. While the Beljar had been published in the United Kingdom under a pseudonym shortly before her death, it would not be published in the United States until 1971. And during the darkest days of her depression, Plath had produced a number of poems that would make up her posthumous collection, Aerial, which published in 1965. Plath was also awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1982. Today, she is considered one of the greatest female American poets of the 20th century. Her legacy has not been without controversy, however. After Sylvia Plath's death, her husband assumed control over her estate. According to History Extra, he later admitted to destroying parts of her journal, and Plath's history of depression was apparently inherited by her son Nicholas, who died by suicide at the age of 47 in 2009. Today, Sylvia Plath is remembered in two ways. Certainly, she is remembered for her prolific creative output, which resulted in such works as the Beljar and Aerial. But Sylvia Plath's death informs her legacy as well. Her despair, suicide, and bitter poems from that era are part of her larger legacy. The writer A. Alvarez wrote that Plath made poetry and death inseparable. As the poet herself wrote in her poem Lady Lazarus, dying is an art like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. If you are struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide or self-harm, I urge you to visit the Hope in the Darkness page, where you can find free resources to get the help you need to climb out of your darkness. Visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Hope. That is WeirdDarkness.com slash Hope. The Voynick manuscript is a mysterious manual from the 15th century in Central Europe. It contains text in an unknown language and bright illustrations of women, plants, and astronomy. The first known owner of the manuscript is Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II of Bohemia. Since 1969, Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book Library has possessed the artifact, from which researchers across the world continue to study its puzzling content. Of the original 272 original calfskin vellum pages, about 240 still exist. In total, the book consists of 14 or 15 whole calfskins. Although the cover is goat skin, it is not original. A number of its sheets are foldouts, making a very unusual book from this time period. Its dimensions are 7 inches by 10 inches. Radiocarbon dating of the vellum indicates an origin from 1404 to 1438. Most experts agree that it is European in origin, but they cannot agree on the specific region. There are no examples of the language contained within the text, and the author is still a mystery. According to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, there are six sections in the manuscript. Plants and flowers, including 113 unknown species, astrology and astronomy, which includes astral charts, pictures, zodiac signs like Sagittarius, Pisces and Taurus, and females coming out of chimneys or pipes. A biology section containing women in the nude with swollen midsections standing in baths of some type of fluid or connected to strange tubes. Folded pages containing cosmological medallions that possibly depict geographical forms, 100 different medicinal herbs and roots, and pages of text, possibly also recipes with illustrations of stars or flowers denoting each entry. After the Holy Roman Emperor, the next owner of the manuscript was Jacobus Horsiki de Tempenech. He was Emperor Rudolph's imperial distiller, doctor and director of his botanical gardens. De Tempenech penned his signature onto the first page of the text some time after 1608. By 1637, the book lay in the hands of an alchemist by the name of Jorge Barcius. When Barcius died in 1662, the book found its way to the Jesuit Roman College, or Caligio Romano, where it probably remained for the next 200 years. The manuscript takes the name of the American rare book dealer, Wilfred M. Voynick, who purchased the mysterious text in a bundle of other books from the Jesuit College in 1912. After he died in 1930, the book stayed with Voynick's wife, who left it to their secretary, Ann Nill. Ann sold it to a famous book dealer for $24,500, who in turn donated it to the Yale Bionic Library in 1969 where it remains today. Illustrations in the Voynick manuscript are as mysterious as the language of the text. Many of them are botanical, however, modern science has not documented some of the plants depicted in the book. Other drawings are related to astronomy and women's health, although the pictures appear to contain captions they too are indecipherable. Illustrations and text make up the body of the book. The author used black, red, yellow, green, and blue ink. Two hundred twelve pages display pictures and text. Thirty three pages contain only text. No one has been able to translate the Voynick manuscript. Experts disagree as to whether it is a language or a cipher, a secret code designed to hide meanings. There seem to be patterns within an alphabetic system, possibly containing between 19 and 28 characters. However, because the text is unique and indecipherable, some scholars believe that the author or authors may have created a hidden code, which was not uncommon amongst secret societies of the time. Despite the lack of a title, most experts suggest that the Voynick manuscript is a scientific textbook of botany, biology, astronomy, and medicine according to the illustrations and layout of the manual. Amongst the earlier evidence of the Voynick manuscript is a letter addressed to Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II that mentioned Roger Bacon as its author. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the letter was only guessing at the author of the manuscript. Roger Bacon was a scholar and a Franciscan friar. There is no concrete evidence that Roger Bacon was responsible. Because the text appears indecipherable, some people believe the book may be a hoax. The idea is that someone wanted to pawn it off as a curiosity to Emperor Rudolf, who paid 600 gold duquettes for the curious manual. It is very likely that Emperor Rudolf acquired the manuscript from the English astrologer John D., whose filiation remains in the upper right corner of each leaf. John D. possessed a number of manuscripts that Roger Bacon wrote, and D.'s son commented that his father had spent much time on a book that contained nothing but hieroglyphics while he was in Bohemia. This may suggest that John D. did not write the manual himself, however, where D. may have acquired the book is uncertain. A woman named Edith Sherwood put forth another theory. Edith has theorized that young Leonardo da Vinci wrote and illustrated the manual. While this is an intriguing theory, there is no evidence of this. Although there are few answers about the Voynich manuscript, research is ongoing. Some top experts have dedicated much time to attempt to decipher the code. Of course, there have been those who have claimed to have succeeded, however, all such claims are unsubstantiated. For now, we will have to leave the answers up to our imaginations, and hope that it does not turn out to be a cookbook full of terrible recipes. When Weird Darkness returns, there is a beast living in the woodlands outside of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and its description is beyond belief. I'll introduce you to the Hodag. Central Massachusetts is a land of oddities and apparitions. Stories of the strange and paranormal have been passed down from generation to generation, and only the local populace has any idea of just how vast and deep their superstitions run. The world around you is much more than you can touch, taste, smell, see, and hear. Some of the stories are funny, some are sad, but all of them give you a taste of what it's like to be from the oddest part of the United States. You can't have a region of the country that has been settled for centuries without getting a few odd tales out of it. Open up a whole new world of fact and fiction that'll leave you with a deep appreciation for the strange and bizarre ghosts and heroes await, and the only thing they need to live on is you. Slightly Odd Fitchburg by Ed Sweeney, now available on Kindle, paperback, and audiobook versions on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. Introducing the Hodag. Reports of the Hodag were passed around by word of mouth among logging camp communities in the upper Midwest United States in the 19th century. However, some sources have also noted that the subject might be related in some way to the water-dwelling spirit known in Ojibwe and Mishapishu in English, the Great Lynx, implying a much longer history, though this relation remains speculation only. The earliest known reference to the Hodag in print occurred in 1870 in Kent County, Michigan. Some reports also note it may have been found in the states of Maine and Minnesota, although whether or not it still resides there has not been determined. Regardless, it is perhaps best known for its reported 1893 appearance in Rhineland or Wisconsin, the forest around which it still calls home today. The Hodag appears to be a creature composed of a variety of features that would normally be seen on other animals, although precisely what that composition might be varies by report. According to the primary report of its 1893 appearance, the Hodag possesses the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end. Other reports, meanwhile, have described it as featuring a novelty head with a pair of prominent bulging eyes and two heavy lateral horns that resemble those of a male stag beetle. Stout and powerful claws, a tail with a terminal hook and a row of jagged, stegosaurian dorsal spines. Still other reports describe a strikingly modelled, striped and checked hairless body with a large spade-shaped bony growth on its nose and peculiar phalanges extending up in front of the eye so that he can see only straight up. Similar to the Hodag's basic appearance, its size and measurements have been described variously. It may measure anywhere from the size of a large dog to precisely 7 feet long and 30 inches high. All reports, however, agree on one key point. The Hodag is distressingly ugly and unsettling to behold. It also apparently knows this about itself and it finds this fact upsetting. It would be a kindness not to point it out to it, should you ever encounter one in the wild. The Hodag has no modus operandi other than simply to live. However, it is worth noting that it may be considered dangerous to humans if encountered and extremely dangerous if antagonized. It has inhabited forested regions from the late 19th century onward. It has primarily lived in the north woods of Wisconsin, although, as previously noted, it may have once resided in Maine and or Minnesota. The primary diet of a Hodag is said to consist of mud turtles, water snakes, muskrats and porcupines, although it might occasionally enjoy a white bulldog as a Sunday treat. According to one report, it does not disdain human flesh, suggesting that while it does not regularly target humans for dietary purposes, it will not turn its possibly horned up at such a meal should one present itself. However, potential meals should have ample opportunity to escape, so long as they pay attention to their surroundings or, more accurately, to the aroma of their surroundings. The Hodag reportedly carries with it a scent of buzzard meat and skunk spray, a pungent combination of which may be detected from some distance away. Those in the vicinity may consider this scent an early warning system. Upon detection, it is recommended that you run. Fast. The Hodag's manner of birth is said to be somewhat unusual. It is believed to rise from the ashes of cremated lumber oxen. These oxen, having been subject during their lives to a great deal of abuse and strong language from loggers and lumberjacks, are believed to require cremation as a purification method. However, in purifying an ox after death, the way is paved for the birth of a Hodag, which, large, horned, and bad-tempered, may be viewed functionally as the embodiment of all the unpleasantness built up within the ox's soul as a result of its poor treatment. It should be noted that this aspect of the Hodag's nature is not its own fault, nor is it the fault of the ox from which it sprang. The fault lies solely with the humans who perpetrated the mistreatment of the ox in the first place. Should one laugh at or otherwise mock the creature, it will immediately become aggressive toward whomever or whatever might be doing the laughing. These unwise beings will almost certainly not survive the attack. It is not recommended that one laugh at or mock a Hodag in its presence. As previously noted, the Hodag is aware of how unpleasant it is to look at. As such, it is not uncommon for the beast to weep loudly for extended periods of time. Should one find oneself within the presence of a Hodag while it is engaged in a weeping episode, one may find oneself having to lend a comforting ear to the inconsolable creature until it has cried itself out. Depending on one's perspective, an encounter with a weeping Hodag may be a worse fate than an encounter with an angry one. Proceed at your own risk. The creature is known to be susceptible to three containment methods. Chloroform will subdue it, after which it may be captured and contained in much the same way one might capture and contain any other wild creature. In truly desperate situations, dynamite will destroy it, and lastly, lemons will eliminate the subject instantly. Yeah, lemons. But if you tread carefully and refrain from antagonizing the Hodag, it should not be necessary to employ any of these containment methods. Live and let live and all that. The most notable report of a Hodag appeared in a column published in an October 1893 edition of the local Rhinelander newspaper Near North. In this column, one Eugene Simeon Shepherd recounted what he claimed to have been an encounter with the creature which ultimately ended with him and a small group of other Rhinelander locals blowing up the creature with dynamite. Three years later, Shepherd published a second piece about the beast, this time claiming that he had managed to capture one alive using chloroform. He then put the subject on display, first at the 1896 Oneida County Fair and later in a shed on the grounds of his own home. A photograph dramatizing Shepherd's capture of the subject circulated as a popular postcard for some time. Staged in 1899, it featured Shepherd himself on the far right of the image, brandishing a stick, and his own child, Leighton Shepherd, posing as if being attacked by the beast. I'll link to the photo in the show notes if you'd like to see it. Shepherd later admitted that both of his reports and his subsequent display were hoaxes, though. He had spun the newspaper columns out from stories he had originally recounted within the logging camp communities in which he'd once lived. The specimen he had displayed in 1896 was a sculpture that he'd created along with woodcarver Luke Carney, with a body made of wood covered in ox hide and decked out with cattle horns arranged along the sculpture's spine. Shepherd had also rigged the sculpture with wires so that it could be puppeted, faking movements. Furthermore, his sons hid out of sight, providing growls and other noises for the fabricated creature. Despite Shepherd's admission, the Hodag has since been embraced as sort of a regional mascot. Rylander still prides itself on being the home of the Hodag. In addition to lending its name to everything from the local high school sports teams and athletic facility to the annual Hodag Country Music Festival and a Hodag Run For Your Life Run Walk event, a large fiberglass sculpture of a Hodag resides on the grounds of the Rylander Chamber of Commerce, while two others, one of which blows smoke and lights up, occupy the Rylander ice arena. A great deal of Hodag merchandise is available for those who wish to bring a little bit of Hodag magic home with them. Just because one example of the Hodag proved to be a fabrication, though, doesn't mean that all examples of it are a fabrication. Should you see one in the wild, or more likely should you smell one, leave it be. Otherwise, I hope you brought some lemons with you. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find information on any of the sponsors you heard about during the show. Find all of my social media. Listen to audiobooks I've narrated. Sign up for the email newsletter. Find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead. Visit the store for Weird Darkness merchandise and more. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find The Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories on Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. The Lake Michigan Paranormal Triangle is by Megan Summers for Graveyard Shift. The Tragic Death of Sylvia Plath is by Kalina Fraga for All That's Interesting. The Voynich Manuscript is by Shelley Barclay for Historic Mysteries. Meet the Hodag is from The Ghost in My Machine. The Shelton Disappearance is by Crystal Dawn for Lost and Found Blogs. The Intimidating and Terrifying Men in Black is by Austin Harvey for All That's Interesting. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright, Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Joshua 24 verse 15, But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. And a final thought, persistent people begin their success where others end in failure. Edward Eggleston. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.