 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Welcome Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. If you're new here, welcome to the podcast and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. If you're already a weirdo, please share the podcast with others. Doing so helps make it possible for me to keep doing the podcast. While listening, be sure to check out the Weird Darkness website so you can find me on social media and drop me an email. Coming up in this episode... If you ever attended grade school in the United States, you no doubt are more than familiar with the Mayflower and why the ship is so famous. But what you were not told in that classroom is about the mystery that took place on that voyage, on that very ship, that went unsolved for over three hundred years. Juno Bryan has a problem. She loves toast and her toast does a really good job of toasting bread. So what's the problem? Well, it appears her toaster is possessed by the devil. It was June 1969 and less than a week from his seventh birthday. Dennis went camping with his dad, brother and grandpa for Father's Day weekend. The next day, they bumped into some other Father's Day campers with the kids and they all became quick friends. But while the kids were playing in the tall grass, Dennis disappeared and was never seen again. But first, how can you believe in extraterrestrials but not be convinced of alien spacecraft? That's the argument being made by one well known astronomer. We begin there. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights and come with me into the Weird Darkness. If intelligent aliens visit the earth, it would be one of the most profound events in human history. Surveys show that nearly half of Americans believe that aliens have visited the earth either in the ancient past or recently. The percentage has been increasing. Belief in alien visitation is greater than belief that Bigfoot is a real creature but less than belief that places can be haunted by spirits. Scientists dismiss these beliefs as not representing real physical phenomena. They don't deny the existence of intelligent aliens but they set a high bar for proof that we have been visited by creatures from another star system. As Carl Sagan said, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I am a professor of astronomy who has written extensively on the search for life in the universe. I also teach a free online class on astrobiology. Full disclosure, I have not personally seen a UFO. UFO means unidentified flying object. Nothing more, nothing less. There is a long history of UFO sightings. Air Force studies of UFOs have been going on since the 1940s. In the United States, ground zero for UFOs occurred in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico. The fact that the Roswell incident was soon explained as the crash landing of a military high altitude balloon didn't stem a tide of new sightings. The majority of UFOs appear to people in the United States. It's curious that Asia and Africa have so few sightings despite their large populations and even more surprising that the sightings stop at the Canadian and Mexican borders. Most UFOs have mundane explanations. Over half can be attributed to meteors, fireballs and the planet Venus. Such bright objects are familiar to astronomers but are often not recognized by members of the public. Reports or visits from UFOs inexplicably peaked about six years ago. Many people who say that they have seen UFOs are either dog walkers or smokers. Why? Because they are outside the most. Sightings concentrate in evening hours, particularly on Fridays, when many people are relaxing with one or more drinks. A few people like former NASA employee James Oberg have the fortitude to track down and find conventional explanations for decades of UFO sightings. Most astronomers find the hypothesis of alien visits implausible, so they concentrate their energy on the exciting scientific search for life beyond the Earth. While UFOs continue to swirl in the popular culture, scientists are trying to answer the big question that is raised by UFOs. Are we alone? Astronomers have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets or planets orbiting other stars, a number that doubles every two years. Some of these exoplanets are considered habitable since they are close to the Earth's mass and at the right distance from their stars to have water on their surfaces. The nearest of these habitable planets are less than 20 light years away, in our cosmic backyard. Extrapolating from these results leads to a projection of 300 million habitable worlds in our galaxy. Each of these Earth-like planets is a potential biological experiment and there have been billions of years since they formed for life to develop and for intelligence and technology to emerge. Astronomers are very confident that there is life beyond the Earth. As astronomer and ace exoplanet hunter Jeff Marcy puts it, the universe is apparently bulging at the seams with the ingredients of biology. There are many steps in the progression from Earth's with suitable conditions for life to intelligent aliens hopping from star to star. The astronomers use the Drake equation to estimate the number of technological alien civilizations in our galaxy. There are many uncertainties in the Drake equation, but interpreting it in the light of recent exoplanet discoveries is very unlikely that we are the only or the first advanced civilization. This confidence has fueled an active search for intelligent life, which has been unsuccessful so far. So researchers have recast the question, are we alone to where are they? The absence of evidence for intelligent aliens is called the Fermi Paradox. Even if intelligent aliens do exist, there are a number of reasons why we might not have found them and they might not have found us. Scientists do not discount the idea of aliens, but they are not convinced by the evidence to date because it is unreliable, or because there are so many other more mundane explanations. UFOs are part of the landscape of conspiracy theories, including accounts of abduction by aliens and crop circles created by aliens. I remain skeptical that intelligent beings with vastly superior technology would travel trillions of miles just to press down our wheat. It is useful to consider UFOs as a cultural phenomenon. Diana Pusolka, a professor at the University of North Carolina, notes that myths and religions are both means for dealing with unimaginable experiences. To my mind, UFOs have become a kind of new American religion. So, no, I don't think belief in UFOs is crazy because some flying objects are unidentified and the existence of intelligent aliens is scientifically plausible. But a study of young adults did find that UFO belief is associated with schizotypal personality, a tendency toward social anxiety, paranoid ideas and transient psychosis. If you believe in UFOs, you might look at what other unconventional beliefs you have. I am not signing on to the UFO religion, so call me an agnostic. I recall the aphorism popularized by Carl Sagan. It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open, your brains fall out. Although everyone has heard of the Mayflower, what is largely unknown is that the famed voyage is connected to a poignant historical mystery, one that went unsolved for over 300 years. For many years, historians were puzzled by the fact that among the Mayflower passengers were four young brothers and sisters who were unrelated to anyone else on board. The ship's log listed Ellen Moore, age 8, and her siblings Jasper 7, Richard, 6, and Mary 4 as servants of four different pilgrim leaders. It was first assumed that these children were penniless orphans or offspring of parents too poor to keep them. Then it was discovered that according to the parish register of Shepton Shropshire that the father of these children, Samuel Moore, was a rich landowner. This new information made the presence of these children on the Mayflower seem strange, even incomprehensible. Why would a man of wealth and standing ship all of his children to a foreign land where they faced a dangerous and highly uncertain future? An English genealogist named Sir Anthony Wagner became so fascinated by this mystery that in 1959 he was able to persuade a descendant of Samuel Moore to scour the family archives for any clues as to what had caused Moore to virtually disown his offspring. Many clues were indeed found and it all added up to a story that reads like something out of one of Thomas Hardy's more depressing novels. When Samuel Moore was only 17, he was married to his 25-year-old cousin, Catherine Moore. It was an arranged match made in order to keep Catherine's considerable inheritance in the Moore family. Although Catherine quickly bore four children, the marriage was not a success. Catherine had been in love with another man whom she had planned to marry and the teenage Samuel likely lacked any real affection for his much older bride. The real trouble began when the children became older. It was common fame that Catherine was conducting an affair with her old love, Jacob Blakeway, a fellow of mean parentage and condition. As there had been a formal betrothal contract, she even referred to him as her husband before God. Samuel, studying the faces of his presumed progeny, became convinced that they all resembled not little Moores, but little Blakeways. There was of course no way for Samuel to confirm his suspicion about the children's parentage and whether or not he was right is something we will never know, but he was taking no chances. The four youngsters were packed off to London and Moore paid the pilgrim leaders to take them to Virginia. He would see to it that the children were given sufficient food, lodging and other necessities and at the end of seven years he would arrange for each of them to have 50 acres of land in Virginia, but other than that he washed his hands of them. Catherine made numerous legal appeals protesting this action, but they were all dismissed. Samuel, believing that his marriage to Catherine was invalid, wed Juan Elizabeth Worsley. Seven children were the product of this remarriage and the second Mrs. Moore must have prayed that each of them would be the spitting image of her husband. As for Catherine, she subsequently disappeared from the historical record. Although we know nothing of her subsequent life, it's a safe bet that she went to her grave cursing Samuel Moore. The harsh new world did not treat the Moore children kindly. Ellen, probably greatly weakened by the long arduous voyage, died right after the Mayflower landed in Plymouth. Jasper soon followed her to the grave, a victim of the common infection, probably pneumonia or typhoid. That same winter, Mary died of the same cause. That left only Richard, a small boy left utterly alone in the world. Richard lived with the family of his guardian William Brewster until mid-1627 when he was 14. He then entered the employ of a transatlantic trader named Isaac Allerton. During his apprenticeship, he became a captain of numerous ships that provided supplies to the colonies. In 1636, he married a young woman named Christian Hunter. Soon after their marriage, they moved to Salem where they eventually had seven children. Richard seems to have inherited his mother's taste for extra marital intrigue. In 1645, Richard, who was then in London, bigamously married one Elizabeth Wolnuff. The following year, Elizabeth appeared in court to answer a charge against Moore who had apparently skipped the country for being drunk in the company of a prostitute. As far as it is known, Elizabeth never came to America and her subsequent history is unknown. The couple had one daughter, Elizabeth, who eventually settled in Long Island. After Christian died in 1676, Richard married a widow named Jane Hollingsworth Crumpton. After such an unpromising beginning, Richard did quite well for himself in the New World. By the time he was 24, he was captain of his own ship, doing a successful trading business between the colonies, the West Indies and England. He also became a prominent landowner. In 1654, Moore participated in naval battles against the French and served in a successful expedition against the enemy country at Port Royal where his French fort was reduced to English obedience. The following year, he headed the rescues of colonists at Cape Fear who were reduced to starvation after a ship that was meant to bring them supplies never arrived. In his many years as a mariner, Moore never lost a ship or had any sailor under his command bring charges against him. Unfortunately for him, Moore fell on hard times in his final years. He began suffering financial losses and in July 1688 he got into major trouble with the Salem church elders. The church records thundered old Captain Moore having been for many years under suspicion and common fame of lasciviousness and some degree at least of inconstancy, but for want of proof we could go no further. He was at last left to himself so far as that he was convicted before justices of peace by three witnesses of gross unchastity with another man's wife. Moore was excommunicated, but after making public repentance for his sin, he was restored to the church in 1691. The pastor who punished Moore was Nicholas Noyes who earned his own historical infamy by leading the persecution of the Salem witches. Richard Moore died in Salem, probably in 1696. He is believed to have been the last male survivor of the Mayflower voyage. And if it wasn't for the four waifs who mysteriously arrived on the Mayflower, we would never have learned about him when the mystery was finally solved in 1959. When Weird Darkness Returns, it was June 1969, and less than a week from his seventh birthday, Dennis went camping with his dad, brother and grandpa for Father's Day weekend. The next day they bumped into some Father's Day campers with kids and they all became quick friends. But while the kids were playing in the tall grass, Dennis disappeared and was never seen again. That story is up next. Hey Weirdos, our December Weirdo Watch Party is Saturday, December 23rd, hosted by horror host Hall of Famers, Drac and Countess Corita. Dracula and his bride are bringing us the 1946 noir thriller Shock, starring Vincent Price. In the film, a psychologically distraught woman is committed to a private sanitarium. Only to find out that the man who committed her was the man she witnessed commit a murder. The Weirdo Watch Party is always free to watch online with everybody, so grab your popcorn, candy and soda and jump into the fun, and even get involved in the live chat as we watch the movie, this Christmas Eve Eve. Shock, starring Vincent Price, presented by Count Drac and Countess Corita, Saturday, December 23rd, starting at 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 8pm Mountain, 7pm Pacific. See a few clips from the film and invite your friends to watch along with you on the Weirdo Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com and we'll see you on Saturday, December 23rd for the Weirdo Watch Party. The loss of a child might be the most devastating of all tragedies. It is every parent's greatest fear, and the burden of protection, perhaps the most important of parental duties, weighs heavy on those of us blessed enough to have children. The loss of a child leaves the bereaved parents not only reeling from grief, but from guilt, the guilt that they failed in their most sacred of duties, protecting their offspring. In most cases, the parent has nothing to feel guilty about. Accidents do happen no matter how careful we try to be. Children sometimes simply do not listen to or follow the directions of the adult figure in their lives, which sometimes leads to their demise. Certainly no parent should ever blame themselves should their child develop cancer or some other insidious disease. Still, the parents have lost children often feel they have done something wrong or that they could have done something differently. If they had, they reason, their child would still be alive. The pain of loss dulls over time to some degree, but the guilt seems to be there always, just beneath the surface, waiting to bubble to the top if given even half a chance. These are the thoughts that passed through my mind as I revisited one of the most puzzling missing person cases in U.S. history. The Disappearance of Dennis Martin It was the summer of 1969 when Bill Martin decided to take a Father's Day weekend camping trip. It would be a trip for the men of the Martin family and time to get back to nature. Bill loaded up his father Clyde, his oldest son Doug, nine years old, and Dennis, who was less than a week away from his seventh birthday and headed for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Martin men spent the first night of their trip at the Russell Field Shelter. Early on the morning of June 14, the group hiked west for two miles until they reached their destination, Spence Field. Spence Field was a grassy area running east to west on the main Great Smoky Ridge. The Appalachian Trail and the Tennessee-North Carolina border run along the apex, 4,800 feet above sea level of the field. Streams and creeks on the north side of the ridge drain into the volunteer state, while water courses on the south side of the ridge descend into North Carolina. The area features steep slopes, deep ravines, fast-moving creeks, and scores of laurel and rhododendron vines, but the grassy and flat Spence Field seemed benign enough on this sunny and cloudless day. That being the case, the group settled into a shelter cabin on the western end of the campground. After putting their gear away, Bill and his father sat contentedly and watched the boys who had found two playmates from another family camping nearby. Coincidentally, this other family also had the last name of Martin. The men watched as the group of young boys came together in the tall grass and whispered to each other. Then, almost like a football team, breaking a huddle, they sprinted off in two different directions. Doug and his two new friends ran to the woodline to the south. Dennis alone ran into the woods to the northwest. The boys had planned a prank on their father and grandfather. They decided to run into the woods, sneak up behind the men, and then jump out and startle them. Why one of the three boys did not go with Dennis has never been clear. What is clear is that after Dennis ran into the woods that afternoon, he would never be seen again. Doug and his two friends carried out their plan and sprang from the woods to scare Bill and Clyde. Dennis did not. The men and the boys waited between three and five minutes, thinking Dennis might have misunderstood the timing of the prank before becoming concerned. Bill, Clyde, and the other boys set off to look for Dennis, but found no sign of the young boy. Calls went unanswered. The only noise was the wind whistling through the forest canopy as a storm approached. After searching on their own for over an hour, Bill Martin managed to report his missing son to park authorities. The reaction was swift, with several park rangers responding, but their efforts were stopped short when a ferocious thunderstorm rolled into the area. Spence Field received between two and a half to three inches of rain over the next several hours. Hail fell from the heavens in some spots. The streams and creeks in the area rose quickly and were described as high and turbulent in the official incident report. No sign of young Dennis was found. Bill, Clyde, and Doug had to sit and wait out the storm knowing Dennis was out there somewhere alone. The initial search the following day consisted of upwards of 50 people ranging from park rangers to maintenance personnel. Also joining the effort were members of the Sevier County Rescue Squad, the Blount County Rescue Squad, and the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club. The searchers began combing drainages in the area. Rain continued to fall intermittently washing away potential tracks and signs. Winds kicked up and the temperature dropped into the 50s, increasing the chance of the boy becoming hypothermic. The searchers beat the bushes until well past dark. There was no sign of Dennis. As word of the missing boy got out, more and more people made the trek to Spence Field to help. The number of searchers would swell to 1,500 before the operation was called off. It would become the largest search in National Park's history, with the volunteers investigating at least 50 square miles. No one found any sign of the boy. Some believe the search party became too large and unwieldy. Clay Jordan, Deputy Park Superintendent in a 2019 interview with USA Today, said, Today, we would not have anywhere near that number searching. The hearts of the people who showed up to help were in the right place, but looking back, far too many well-meaning but inexperienced volunteers were allowed to participate. It is quite possible that some sign left by the boy was trampled by people who did not know what to look for. In addition to the mistake of allowing too many novice searchers to participate, officials decided, due to the prolific rainfall, not to call in dogs to search for Dennis's scent. The officials were likely correct in that Dennis's scent near Spence Field was likely washed out, but he was still out there somewhere and should have been creating new scent trails that search dogs might have been able to lock onto. These and other miscues have been used as teaching tools ever since for search and rescue teams and training. Even so, the fact that absolutely no sign of the boy was found was shocking. Something should have been found, said Dwight McCarter, a veteran tracker and retired Smokies Ranger, struck by the complete lack of signs. By the second day of searching, Bill's wife and Dennis's mother, Violet Martin, had arrived on the scene. She was devastated by the developments, but hopeful. I have a feeling we're going to find him, she said. Maybe God sent this ordeal to us so we could appreciate things more. Others, however, were beginning to lose hope. Some searchers were told surreptitiously to start closely examining any bear, coyote, or bobcat scat. Others were dispatched to areas where vultures were spotted circling. The hours and the days dragged on, still no Dennis. The first of several self-proclaimed psychics chimed in on Wednesday, June 18. The Martins, and to some degree park authorities, did not dismiss the visions of these seers outright. The areas recommended by the clairvoyants were all dutifully searched. I believe some people have the ability to see or predict things, said Bill Martin at the time. Whether the Knoxville-based architect had given any thought to such matters prior to the disappearance of his son remains unknown, but desperation had set in and all involved wanting to leave no stone unturned in the hunt for Dennis. One such example came from Mrs. Schwaller of Linden, Michigan, who contacted authorities to say Dennis would be found in a spot near a stream by a small waterfall with white pine trees in the area. Unfortunately, like other visions reported by the various psychics who contacted authorities, this description was so vague that it could have been applied to hundreds of spots in the region. Still, the parents grabbed on to each of these visions as if they were life rings and the searchers did their best to check them all out. Excitement was briefly aroused on the fourth day of searching when volunteers located a set of faint child-sized tracks about a mile from Spence Field. After examination, authorities dismissed them, though, as having been made by members of a Boy Scout troop that was searching the area. Potentially, this was yet another missed lead. Tracker Dwight MacArthur, still aggravated about the way the tracks were dismissed, would tell USA Today 50 years later they didn't find tracks from a bunch of kids. They found tracks from one kid. It will never be known with any certainty who made those faint impressions or what they might have led searchers to discover. Later, Dennis' seventh birthday would come and go, June 20th, without any trace of him having been found. On June 23rd, the Spartanburg, South Carolina police department provided a police dog to help in the search. According to the official report, the search met with negative results. The description of the canine as a police dog and not a search dog could be simply a semantic error or it could be significant as not all police dogs are trained for search and rescue. Other dogs were called in, far later than they should have been, but they fared no better. Rumors began circulating from the beginning that the dogs were not attempting to find Dennis' scent and failing, rather they were refusing to track at all. The canines, so the story goes, simply sat down and whined, refusing to work. This is one of the big factors that has set off the high strangeness radar of so many, however, I simply cannot say whether it is true or not. I found references to dogs not being successful, but never found any source that stated the dogs refused to track. Fate can be cruel, and she turned especially so on June 24th. Searchers came across a young man wearing a red t-shirt and green shorts. The same color of t-shirt and shorts Dennis had been wearing when he vanished, walking the perimeter road of the Cades Cove campground. Turned out the boy's name was Michael Devlin and he was camping in the area with his parents. The parents agreed to change the boy's shirt so as to avoid any future confusion. On the 26th, a man called in to Carson Brewer of the Knoxville News Sentinel told him to inform the searchers to look in the trees and treetops, stop looking on the ground. Did this caller have some kind of inside knowledge of the case? Was he another alleged psychic? We will likely never know. This cryptic phone call is another of the strange details surrounding the case that just does not sit right with many. The official search would end on June 29th. Unofficial efforts would continue until September. The Martin family, refusing to believe their son was dead in their defense, no body, blood or any other spore that might lead to that conclusion was ever found, put up a $5,000 reward for information leading to the return of their son. Authorities never bought into the Martin's kidnapping theory, but could not dismiss it outright either. In any case, the reward remained unclaimed. The scope of the search for Dennis Martin has given pause to some. Never before had such a large force of government resources been used in a missing person's case. Between the National Park Service employees, various county rescue squads and military personnel involved, nearly 30,000 man-hours were invested in this search. This total does not include private citizens who volunteered their time. It is the involvement of those military personnel that has raised suspicion among many that something unusual, something other than the disappearance of a small boy, had occurred at Spence Field that June day in 1969. While it is not unusual for the National Guard to help in such matters, I have been told it is highly unusual for a regular military outfit to do so, much less a special forces unit like the Green Berets. The story was they were in the area on a training exercise and were instructed to come help in the search. As a non-military person, this did not seem like anything unusual to me, but I have since been told by friends in the military that this simply does not happen. A bit of research revealed that the Green Berets are considered a special operations force of the U.S. Army and exist to deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions, none of which include search and rescue operations. Digging a bit deeper, secondary missions sometimes taken on by U.S. special forces include, among others, combat search and rescue, hostage rescue, and manhunts. This being the case, perhaps the involvement of the Green Berets is not as strange as it first seems. Other details however do lend an air of mystery to their presence. Many witnesses claim the special ops guys were standoffish, unfriendly and did their own thing, which intimates a lack of communication and coordination with other searchers. In addition, multiple reports state that these military units were armed with rifles while conducting their searches. This does sound unusual to me, but I have been unable to absolutely confirm this assertion. I have seen photos of military personnel arriving at Spence Field, but have not seen any weapons. One thing that cannot be denied is that the government and the military were heavily involved in the search for Dennis Martin, much more so than any other missing persons case I can recall. A fixed-wing plane, multiple helicopters, a dozen jeeps, multiple National Guard units, and special forces were called in. Several military command posts were established that seemed to be working independently of the National Park Service and FBI. In the official case report on the incident, it states that President Nixon was monitoring the situation and wanted to be kept up to speed. The sheer scope of the government and military involvement regarding this event was unprecedented. The question many ask is, why? It is true that Tennessee Congressman James Jimmy Quillen requested assistance from the government, but the sheer scale of the effort would have required much more than a call for help from a representative. In any case, the military commitment was extraordinary. Here are some statistics from the case report to chew on. The Army flew 938 sorties in Spence Field. The Air Force flew 78 sorties in Spence Field. The military moved between 1,800 and 2,000 personnel in and out of the area via jeep over the course of the search. Involved branches military resources include Tennessee Air National Guard, Tennessee Army National Guard, United States Special Forces, the U.S. Marine Reserve, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. Army troops from Fort Benning, Georgia, Air Force personnel from McGee Tyson Air Force Base, Tennessee, Air Force personnel from Robbins Air Force Base, Florida, personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Tennessee, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, two Huey helicopters, two HH-53 Jolly Green Giant helicopters, one U-10 fixed wing airplane, two CH-53 helicopters, two Air Force communications trucks and two Chinook helicopters. I must admit to being quite taken aback regarding the investment of time, money and resources the federal government committed to the search for a civilian missing person. I do not think it is stretched to state that it was highly unusual. George W. Frye, at the time superintendent of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, echoed a similar opinion in a letter to Tennessee Representative James H. Quillen sent on June 26, 1969, three days before the official search for Dennis Martin concluded. He wrote, In my entire experience with the National Park Service, I have never heard of or participated in a search the extent of which this has built up to. It may be the cynic in me, but I simply do not believe that the government was acting out of the goodness of its heart in this matter. Neither do I believe a personal relationship with someone in Congress could yield such a deep level of involvement. Military personnel were flown in from as far away as Florida. It is very strange. The final piece of weirdness is quite likely the most well-known piece of the entire strange puzzle that is the Dennis Martin case. It seems a family, Keys was their last name, hiking between three to six miles, I found documentation supporting both those numbers, from the spot where Dennis vanished, reported hearing a young boy scream in the woods. One of the family members spotted movement in a brushy area and thought it must be a bear. Instead, it turned out to be a man walking in the woods with something red slung over his shoulder. Remember, Dennis was wearing a red t-shirt when he disappeared. The details of this report have morphed together and now you will find that the Keys saw a bear man walking upright through the woods. This birthed the theory that young Dennis had been snatched by a wood ape or a saw squatch. Other reports describe the figure as an unkempt man. Largely ignored, another version of the Keys visual is that they saw only a suspicious man in dark gray work clothes that drove away after being seen. Either way, the FBI gave the Key report no credence and failed to share the information with Bill Martin, something that angered him greatly as he believed in his heart his son had been kidnapped. It's been over 50 years since little Dennis Martin disappeared. Bill Martin died in 2014, never knowing what had become of his youngest boy. The rest of the Martin family had been silent and had not discussed the case publicly since the search was called off all those years ago. There have been a few false alarms over the years when it seemed the remains of Dennis Martin might have been discovered. The most recent occurred in 1985 when a ginseng hunter reached out to tracker and retired Smokies Ranger Dwight MacArthur and told him he'd come across a child-sized skeleton below Spence Field near an uprooted tree. A search of the area, however, yielded nothing. Most have come to the same conclusion as Clay Jordan, Deputy Park Superintendent who said, I think it's virtually impossible that we will ever know what happened to Dennis Martin. It's become one of the enduring mysteries of the Smokies. Spence Field looks quite different than it did a half century ago. Trees now cover what was once open ground. Leaf litter and other forest debris cover the earth where metal grasses once grew. For every year nature layers up about an inch, Dwight MacArthur said, and it's been a lot of years. As a parent most of us sympathize greatly with the torment Bill Martin must have endured after his son disappeared practically before his very eyes. Such pain is something to which we believe we can relate, but can we? Can we really? I for one pray I never find out. Coming up, Juno Bryan has a problem. She loved toast, and her toast did a really good job of toasting bread. So what was the problem? Well, it appears her toaster was possessed by the devil. That story is up next on Weird Darkness. I was waiting and waiting and it has finally hit the website. Built Bar now has my absolute favorite flavor available for the holiday season. Candy Cane Brownie. But they have surprised me by coming out with two varieties. The original Candy Cane Brownie Bar, which is chocolatey, chewy and truly does taste like a chocolate-covered candy cane, and now they have the new Candy Cane Brownie Puff, which brings the whole holiday flavor to a marshmallow creation. Both bars are covered with candy cane sprinkles, but because these are protein bars, not candy bars, each one is only 150 calories or less, and each has 17 grams of protein. So I can use these as a meal or as a low-calorie dessert. Or in my case, both. I have no discipline. I've ordered enough to get me through the Christmas season and beyond because it is a limited-release seasonal flavor. You can join me in the holiday taste festivities at WeirdDarkness.com slash Built. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built and use the promo code WeirdDarkness all one word and you'll get 10% off everything in your cart. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built promo code WeirdDarkness. It's beginning to taste a lot like Christmas. If you had in your possession a demonic toaster, but it made pretty good toast, would you keep it? That was the conundrum June O'Brien faced back in the late 1980s. You see, she had a toaster, a perfectly ordinary two-slice toaster. But as she explained during an interview on the Today Show back in 1988, the toaster had a dark side. It not only served toast, it served satan. Now, this one O'Brien said as she held up a demonic piece of toast to Sun reporter Richard Dominic. Can you see that Richard? Satan lives. Just terrible. She said the first indication the toaster was possessed came when a deep voice emanated from the part that read put one slice. The voice said, I am the devil. Then on it was a special kind of kitchen nightmare. Asked if the toaster was still possessed at the time of the interview, O'Brien admitted they continued to have trouble with it, at which point to demonstrate she tried to insert another slice of bread. It wouldn't go in. It seems to be aware, she said, shaking her head. When the toaster finally relented, she pushed it away, perhaps knowing what was about to happen. A pillar of flame erupted toward the ceiling. Richard Dominic asked her, why have you kept this toaster? Well, Richard, when all is said and done, it makes good toast. Juno O'Brien's unusual story was featured on the Today Show on May 4, 1988 as part of a short featurette exploring tabloids and how seriously people should take them. The whole video is worth a look and I'll put a link to the video in the show notes. It covers a few other odd stories too like the one about the Japanese woman who had her body cryogenically frozen and thawed 25 years later. As the Today Show pointed out, she suspiciously gained weight during that process. Richard Dominic covered that story as well and gave his analysis of the situation. I don't know, he said. I think that what happened was they dehydrated her body, deep fried it, deep-freezed her body, and I guess when they added water, I guess like you would instant coffee, she got a little heavier. Dominic also covered the story about a howdy-duty doll that came to life and saved a drowning man in Skokie, Illinois. All of a sudden, just as I was about to black out, I felt small hands lift me out of the water, out of the ice, and when I came to, there was just my dummy howdy. He was all wet next to me and nobody else was around. Dominic would later go on to become executive producer of the Jerry Springer Show. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking a living howdy-duty doll? A demonic toaster that Prince Satan lives, merchandise? These people are just having a laugh. But in the immortal words of an old English rock band, is it really so strange? Thanks for listening. Feel free to drop me a note anytime with your questions or comments. You can email me at darren at weirddarkness.com. You can also find all of my social media on the contact page of the website. If you want to help the podcast, be sure to subscribe if you haven't already done so, and leave a review of the show and the podcast app you listen from. But more important than anything, please share the podcast, tell somebody about it, somebody who loves paranormal stories, true crime, monsters or mysteries like you do. Do you have a dark tale to tell of your own? Fact or fiction, click on tell your story on the website and I might use it in a future episode. All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes. The Mayflower Mystery is from Strange Company. June O'Brien's Satanic Toaster was written by Rob Schwartz. What happened to Dennis Martin is from Michael Mays for Texas Cryptid Hunter. And Astronomer believes in aliens but not UFOs is by Chris Ipey for the conversation. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Isaiah 40 verse 31. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. In a final thought from George Bernard Shaw, a life spent making mistakes is more honorable than a life spent doing nothing. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. The sheer scope of the government and military involvement regarding this evident this evident this evident regarding this evident now at this event regarding this event the sheer scope of the government and military involvement regarding this event was unprecedented. The question many ask is why is it true the Tennessee congressman is it true the Tennessee congressman see it's it's not hard to say if you're saying it by itself is it true the Tennessee congressman James Jimmy Quillen all right we're gonna try the sentence again is it true that Tennessee congressman James Jimmy Quillen requested assistance from the government but the sheer scale of the effort would have required much more than a call for help from a representative it oh say agnab it it's not is it true it it is true it's not a question Darren it's a statement it is true the Tennessee congressman congressman here it comes my favorite part have you ever noticed that when George Bailey is on the bridge it doesn't start snowing again until after he says oh man the power's out no problem because you're prepared with the patriot power generator from four patriots while the rest of the city's dealing with the weather outside is frightful you can have the power that's so delightful inside your home flip the switch and suddenly you're back to the tv and radio for weather updates your space heaters are keeping you toasty warm your phones and laptops are charged your fridge is still running and you're back to watching it's a wonderful life in time to hear at a boy clearance the patriot power generator has zero fumes so you can use it indoors and it's solar so if the outage lasts a while you're still good to go grab a patriot power cell cx too and everybody can charge up at the same time don't let the unexpected put your family in danger grab a patriot power generator today at fourpatriots.com slash weird that's the number four patriots.com slash weird free shipping for orders over $97 have a merry little Christmas not a scary little Christmas visit fourpatriots.com slash weird for the patriot power generator the patriot power cell cx and more that's the number four patriots.com slash weird hey weirdos be sure to click the like button and subscribe to this channel and click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos i post videos seven days a week and while you're at it spread the darkness by sharing this video with someone you know who loves all things strange and macabre if you want to listen to the podcast you can find it at weirddarkness.com slash listen