 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. People who go to horror movies or visit haunted houses each October, or first-time thrill-seekers such as Bungie Jumpers or Sky Divers, will often tell others afterwards that they were scared to death during their experience. But obviously, they weren't truly scared to death if they're telling you about it, unless they are now among the walking undead, at which point that's a much better story than them being scared to death and you should get me an interview with them ASAP. But that phrase, we use it all the time, scared to death. Is it even possible to be scared to death, literally? I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. This is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode of Weird Darkness, the tragic death of 11-year-old Darius Flinders could quite possibly be one of the strangest deaths ever recorded. It wouldn't seem so at first, but it gets that way as the possible explanations come forth. Last month, a group of disgruntled TikTok witches reportedly got together and combined their online powers to cast a negative spell on the moon. Not a sentence I thought I'd ever read aloud, but that's just the kind of year we're having, isn't it? Weirdo family member Chris Harrell feels something hop onto the end of his bed, and it wasn't his dog. Philadelphian Dorothy Cooper-Forstein appeared to be happily married, comfortably well-to-do, a loving mother and well-liked. He was, in short, one of the last people anyone would imagine as a victim of one of the creepiest disappearances in American history. Alan Pinkerton started the nation's first PI firm, saved Abraham Lincoln's life, and led Union spies behind Confederate lines during the Civil War. We'll look at the formation of the Pinkerton agency. But first, it has been scientifically proven that we can truly be scared to death. But some of the situations of people dying of fright might surprise you. We'll look at a few newspaper headlines and stories from the past where people were deemed to be scared to death. While you're listening, you might want to check out the Weird Darkness website. At WeirdDarkness.com, you can sign up for the newsletter, find paranormal and horror audio books I've narrated, 24-7 streaming video of horror hosts and classic horror movies. You can find my other podcast, Church of the Undead. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression, anxiety or thoughts of suicide. And you can also shop the Weird Darkness store, where all profits go to support depression awareness and relief. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Does anybody remember the 1958 William Castle film, McCobb, where moviegoers got life insurance in case they died of fright? It is a sensational theme, death by terror. We casually toss around phrases like, I was scared to death. I just about dropped dead when I heard the news. It was axiomatic in the newspapers of the past that people could truly die of fright. We might call it something different now, Broken Heart Syndrome, Tucketsubo, or Stress-Induced Cardiomyopathy. Typically, past news reports spoke of persons frightened or thrown into convulsions. Doctors certainly knew about things like heart failure, but it's interesting how often dying of fright is cited as a cause of death in thousands of news items. Whether or not it was true, it was certainly believed to be true. It may have simply been a journalistic convention, a convenient way to explain an unexplained death, or a way to make a story more sensational. Here is a snippet from a longer article that gives some standard contemporary medical wisdom about death from fear. 1. Headline. Frightened to death, the shock which ends life with a broken heart. From the British Medical Journal. 2. Story. The serious effects of shock to the nervous system, especially by fright, are constantly witnessed, the results being mostly syncope and convulsions. Death itself is, fortunately, comparatively rare. It is reported in the newspapers to have occurred at Broccoli on March 21, in the case of a girl aged 18 who was frightened to death by a man dressed as a ghost near the Depford Cemetery. The pathology of emotional death is of great interest and varies in different cases. In some instances, a fatal issue results from sanguine apoplexy. In others, and much more frequently, from shock to the heart. Examples of the former are recorded by Dr. D. Hack-Took in his influence of the mind upon the body. Thus, a woman at Bradford received a fright from a man throwing a stone against her window. He had previously threatened her. She soon afterwards complained of numbness and rapidly became insensible. There was right hemiplegia. She died in seven hours, and on post-mortem examination, a clot of blood was found in the left lateral ventricle. If the heart, as in Hunter's case, John Hunter, the eminent doctor and surgeon for whom the Hunterian collection is named, be strongly contracted on its contents and the blood expelled, one efficient cause of syncope with fatal results is present. Probably this was the pathological explanation of this unfortunate girl's death from the silly practical joke played upon her. She arrived home after her fright in the road by the Depford Cemetery at Broccoli, looking very ill and excited. She is said to have taken off her waterproof, drawn a chair to the table to take supper, then fallen forward with her head on the table, and died after a short struggle. Mr. Hollis, the medical man who was called in, made a post-mortem examination and reported that all organs were healthy, but that the state of the heart, combined with the fright, would account for death. Cincinnati, Ohio, Inquirer, 29th of September, 1883, Page 10. Thunder, lightning, trains, mad dogs, earthquakes, sudden noises, glare from an automobile headlight, comets, 4th of July fireworks, encounters with tramps and the insane. They were all mentioned as causes of death by fear. Burglars were a particularly common cause of death, so common in fact that if you read that a lady frightened by a burglar dropped dead of heart failure before the alarm could be raised, the end, you've pretty much covered that category. A more interesting cause of death was the apparition. In this case, the ghost was the lady's doppelganger, which she rightly understood as an omen of her own death. Mrs. Coombs, wife of one Coombs, a chairman, her death was occasioned by a fright, being far gone with child for going into the cellar to all appearance well. She gave a great shriek, her husband running down to her to know the reason. She declared she saw her own apparition in a winding sheet standing before her, nor could any arguments deface the impression made on her mind. So strongly did she believe it. She sickened immediately and died soon after. White Hall Evening Post, or London Intelligencer, London, England, 3rd of January, 1761, page 2. Headline. Diet of Fright, minor season apparition and the scare proves fatal. From Susquehanna, Pennsylvania Courier, New York Press. Story. Robert Montgomery, a well-known resident of Wenami, Pennsylvania, recently died from fright or a belief that he had been warned of his approaching death and that he had a premonition that he could not live. Montgomery, who was a brave soldier in the war, was employed in a coal mine near Wilkes Bar. Two weeks before he died, he said that when working he heard a peculiar noise in the mine. He paid no attention to it. Soon a strange feeling came over him as though there was a strong draft circulating through the mine and he became chilly. He looked up from oiling the machinery at the repetition of the strange noise. He said he felt as though there were someone else there besides himself, but he could not see anyone. Then he beheld something white like a man's figure. It moved as though floating in the air and kept a certain distance from him. He spoke to the apparition, but it made no answer and soon disappeared. Montgomery made search, but did not find anyone. He told his friends that he regarded the wraith as an omen of death. He at once gave up his position and in two days took to his bed, although he had no specific sickness which the physicians could discover. He continued to talk of the wraith and said it was of no avail to take medicine because he was doomed. His friends tried to dispel his thoughts about death by saying that the supposed wraith was a man sent into the mine by the company to see if he performed his duty, but Montgomery would only believe that it was an omen of death and gradually grew weaker until he died. Cincinnati, Ohio, Enquirer, 5th of December, 1896, page 11. Fake ghosts and supernatural creatures were one of the most popular causes of death by fear. They also drove a surprising number of the nervous into hopeless insanity. Headline, Minor Scared to Death, Zanesville, Ohio, December 25th. Story, Howard Mills, a minor living near Coaldale, was scared to death about midnight by some boys who rigged up a ghost, which with the aid of some thin paddles with hooks to swing through the air was able to emit unearthly groans and shrieks. Mills was confronted with the machine while returning home late at night and was so overwhelmed with the terrific noise and the suddenness of the apparition that he dropped dead in his tracks. He was a stalwart man 47 years of age and the father of six children. The Ohio Democrat, Logan, Ohio, 2 January 1902, page 1. At Preston, England, two boys, Richard Forshaw and Robert Maudsley, have been committed for trial for manslaughter in frightening a young girl to death. They got a coffin and tied a string to it, placing it in a path where it would be passed by some young factory girls at dark, and by drawing it along, gave the girls a severe fright, from which one of them died the next day. Berkshire County Eagle, 3 December 1858, page 2. At Bowling Green, Kentucky, a short time since, Ms. Rochester, daughter of W.H. Rochester, died of fright, occasioned by a rude boy having run after her on her way to school with a mask or false face on him. She ran in her fright into a pond of water whence she was carried to her father's house, where, when nature was exhausted by frequent convulsive or apoplectic fits, she expired, aged five years and five months. American Sentinel, Washington, D.C. Globe, 2 September 1833, page 2. There is a tradition that, at the old mansion, an invalid wife was frightened to death by her husband placing a hideous mask at the window of her sick room, and that this husband, while enamored of his housekeeper, affected great grief at his wife's funeral, sitting his horse backward and demanding a sheet for his tears. Growing out of this tradition is another ghost story to the effect that the spirit of this woman haunted the house for many years, and that groans, screams, stealthy footsteps, and other fearful sounds drove tenant after tenant away from the place. A history of Carolyn County, Virginia, Marshall Wingfield, 1924, pages 356 through 358. The Frankfurt Journal of August 17th has the following. In a school at Turin, superintended by the nuns of St. Joseph, the children, having lately made a disturbance by uttering cries, the sisters threatened them with the apparition of the devil if they continued to make a noise. Soon after, on a signal given, there appeared a chimney sweep dressed in frightful garb with horns and a fiery-looking mouth. The children were so much frightened that some of them fainted. At the noise caused by this scandal, the house and street were soon filled with a crowd. At length, the rector of the parish came and put an end to the shameful exhibition, but not till several of the children had died of terror. Washington, D.C. Globe, 5 October 1833, page 3. Headline A Lesson to Ponder on Story William B. Dries of Minster is a raving maniac, and thereby hangs one of the saddest tales that pencil ever sat down. It is a lesson of horror to the practical jokers who are all too numerous. Dries was a young man, his age being only 24. As he was of a highly excitable temperament, he was early singled out a victim of those who foolishly believe pranks that cause terror and suffering to others are fun. One of those strange black nights when monstrous forebodings and awful shadows creep upon him who is solitary and alone in its racking silence, a party of these crept noisily upon him. As he stood guard in an immense deserted factory and clothed in white sheets, suddenly arose about him as so many ghosts, uttering the most dreadful groans. Afrighted beyond measure, he fled wildly into the outer darkness, running until he fell from sheer exhaustion. It was a great joke and excruciatingly funny, and the jokers almost split their sides with laughter until they heard that Dries had been picked up in convulsions. Then they had some doubts about it, and when they saw him started for the asylum shackled hand and foot, they realized the criminal folly of which they had been guilty. Portsmouth, Ohio Times, 11 April 1908, Page 6 A few nights ago, Henry Waters, a youth whose home is near Youngston, Ohio, was aroused from his sleep by something in the room. He sat bolt upright in bed. The moon shone through a window, and as Young Waters looked toward the light, he saw a tall figure in ghostly attire slowly approaching. He spoke, but the ghost made no reply. Then he grasped his revolver and thus armed and thus emboldened said, If you are a man, I kill you. If you are a ghost, this won't hurt you. He pulled the trigger and report came, but as with quick motion, the ghost lifted an arm. Waters heard the bullet rebound against the headboard of the bed. This sent a cold chill through the youth, but he discharged his revolver again and again, and then, wild with fear, curled it at the intruder. At that moment, the ghost threw off his disguise. Several other parties to the joke came laughing in, and lights were struck. The merry-makers had drawn the bullets from the pistol, leaving enough powder to make a report, and at each discharge, the play ghost had thrown a bullet against the headboard. All this the practical jokers expected Waters to enjoy, as he was a jovial fellow, but they found him first dazed, then incoherent, then raving, and now, as his parents fear, a maniac. New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, Concord, New Hampshire, March 16, 1882, page 2. While fainting at the sight of blood is a cliche, dying at the sight of it was actually not uncommon. New York, May 22. Fright resulting from the discovery that the front of her shirt waist was covered with a crimson stain was responsible, physicians believe, for the death of Mrs. Kate Harding, a widow 33 years old of number 301 Webster Avenue Parkville, who was accidentally stabbed in the breast by a sharp-pointed bread knife in the hand of her sister, Mrs. Rose Logan Mason this morning. Cincinnati, Ohio, Inquirer, 23 May 1908, page 2. A singular death is reported from Darien, England. The young lady, the daughter of a surgeon, happened to go into a kitchen where a butcher was in the act of killing a brace of ducks. Seeing blood running from one of the birds, she fainted, and being removed to a couch, died almost immediately. Death is supposed to have resulted from the shock occasioned to the nervous system, the young lady having a great aversion to the sight of blood of any kind. Macon, Georgia, Telegraph, 10 August 1865, page 3. Sudden unexplained death syndromes are recognized if elusive disease, perhaps related to the old hag. This man seems to have had something similar. Headline. His foes attacked him in a dream and Wilcox died of fright when he woke up. Marry in Indiana, September 20th. Story. Peter S. Wilcox, aged 60 years, awoke his wife at four o'clock this morning by springing up in bed and fighting an imaginary foe. Mrs. Wilcox attempted to rouse him from what appeared to be a dream, but before she could do so he fell back on the bed and died. Positions declare he had died of nightmare. Mrs. Wilcox said her husband was subject to nightmare and that he had been frightened a number of times believing he was murderously attacked. She said he often told her of what he had experienced in the dreams and that he feared he would not recover from the shocks. Wilcox apparently was in excellent health. He owed a large fruit and garden farm and worked yesterday. Cincinnati, Ohio, Inquirer, 21st of September 1906, page 1. Others did not have to dream. Their enemies were real. Headline. Died of fright. Caused by her husband's threat to kill her. Story. The curtain fell on the final act of a remarkable domestic tragedy when Mrs. Florence Bueller expired in the county hospital. The woman actually died from fright. Her husband was earnest Bueller and her life for a long time had been most unhappy. Several months ago she applied for a divorce, but friends affected a truce between herself and her spouse. Two weeks ago, however, the family troubles again became acute when Bueller threatened his wife with a revolver. The woman left her home at 5220 Maplewood Avenue with the purpose of visiting a lawyer's office but was waylaid by Bueller, whose actions became so menacing that Mrs. Bueller in her terror fell unconscious. In this condition she was taken to the hospital. Bueller was arrested and in a cell in the 20th precinct station pricked his wrist with a pin causing great loss of blood. He was then removed to the county jail hospital where he succeeded in killing himself. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bueller hovered between life and death. Two days ago she was told of her husband's suicide. This news intensified the first shock and she sank rapidly until death came to her relief. It is not known that the couple had any relatives in Chicago. Since the Natty Ohio Inquirer, 19 September 1900, page 6. Animals Could Also Die a Fright The Lafayette Courier says that a farmer on the line of the Valley Road near Delphi had a valuable cult frightened to death a few days since by the whistle of a locomotive. The cult was over two years old and one of the farmer's sons was engaged in breaking him to harness. While standing near the track of the railroad, a train came thundering along. The engine gave a shrill and long continued whistle which so frightened the animal that he plunged forward and after running about 50 yards fell dead. The then son is Indiana weekly western, Sunday the 25th of April, 1857. While the parade was passing Rohr Bakken Allen's store Friday, a horse owned by F. F. Fenn of Talmadge dropped dead. He was frightened to death by the big elephant. It is said he burst a blood vessel. His remains were at once removed to the boneyard. Akron, Ohio Daily Democrat, 15 September, 1899, page 4. Captain Godfrey of the Seventh Cavalry said, I once saw a cat frightened to death. It was one that used to play with my children at West Point. It was playing around the baby carriage with a child. When Professor Bassie's big dog came up, he made a grand rush at the cat but stopped within 10 feet of it. The cat braced itself up, bowed its back, assumed a defensive attitude and prepared for war. I drove the dog off and going to the cat put my hand on its back when it fell over. It never moved, it was dead. There was no frothing at the mouth nor any of the contortions seen in fits. The cat was simply scared to death. The National Tribune, Washington, D.C. 25 December 1890, page 5. At the Brighton Review of English Volunteers, a horse died of fright. He was near the 18-pounder battery when it was fired and at the report he leaped subtly up and fell dead, the cause, a rupture of the great vessels of the heart through terror. Vincenas Indiana Gazette, 31 May 1862. Our dumb chums could also be the cause of sudden death. This piece is from James Rodwell. Unhappily, however, these rat frights do not always terminate so harmlessly as in the preceding cases. The press of Paris some time ago related an extraordinary case of death from fright. A young woman was passing near the Rucadette when she suddenly fell to the ground, exclaiming, the rat, the rat. At first, nobody could comprehend the meaning of her exclamations, but on being taken into a drugist's shop and placed on a chair, a rat was seen to run from beneath her gown. It was then evident that the rat, which had come from a sewer just as she was passing, had got between her legs and that when she fell from fright, it had concealed itself under her clothing. She was taken home to her friends in a state of delirium which lasted four days, during which time the only words she uttered were, the rat, the rat. But on the evening of the fourth day, she expired. Now, here was a melancholy occurrence arising out of this immoderate fear of rats. What had the rat done to her? Nothing whatever except hiding in her clothes and making its escape as soon as possible. Yet from the various fears she became deranged and dies a maniac. The rat, its history and destructive character with numerous anecdotes, by James Rodwell, Uncle James 1858. Headline, brightened to death by a cat. Animal jumps on bed in St. Louis Hospital and patient dies from the shock. Story Shortly before the death of Mrs. Mary Ziegler of 1210 North Spring Avenue, St. Louis, a cat gained entrance to her room in the hospital where she had undergone a critical operation. The cat clawed at her and frightened her to death. It was near midnight before the physician in charge had succeeded in getting her to sleep. The nurse, worried with her constant watching, was also asleep. The patient awoke to find a cat on her bed. Then followed a shriek and a howl. The woman's cries awakened the nurse who rushed into the room to find a grey cat tearing the covers around the patient. The nurse made a clutch at the animal but it eluded her hand and leaping from the bed ran from the room. She chased it through the halls and it was finally cornered and put out of the building. When the nurse returned to the ward, the patient was shaking with terror and it was found that the shock had wrecked her nervous system. She died before morning. Evening news, San Jose, California, 7 August 1906, Page 3. Near Chapel's Gap, Kentucky, a three-year-old girl was frightened to death by a gander which had attacked her. Daily Public Ledger, Maceville, Kentucky, 7 April 1911, Page 1. 3. Headline Cow's moo kills child. Baby frightened into convulsions when wandering bovine puts head in window. Story. Investigation by Dr. H. Albert McMurray, coroner of Westmoreland County into the death of James Henry Pershing, three-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Pershing of Grapeville, revealed that the child literally was frightened to death. Several days ago, the boy was playing when a cow at pasture in a lot to joining the house looked in an open window of the room where the child was. As the little one glanced toward the window, the cow moved loudly. With a scream, the child collapsed and went into convulsions. A physician was unable to give the boy any relief and death ensued 12 hours later. Greensburg, Pennsylvania dispatch Philadelphia record. It's also Oklahoma star, 18th December 1915, Page 7. A Lady Frightened to Death The Rocking and Virginia Register states that Mrs. Dietrich, wife of Mr. Jacob Dietrich, residing near Mount Crawford in that county, was frightened to death a few weeks since. Her little daughter for sport threw a tree frog upon her lap, which began jumping up towards her face and so frightened her that she died in two or three days. Daily National Intelligence, Washington, D.C. 15th June, 1852, Page 3. You would think 20th century medical advances would wipe out death by fear, but the term has lingered on and apparently so did the reality of being scared to death. As a 1994 news story reported about a man who, the police said, apparently died of fright while accusing another driver of trying to run him over. But if it makes you feel better, you don't have to die of fear. You can die of happiness, too. A powerful positive emotion can be just as deadly. A few years ago, a man was golfing with a friend and he hit a hole in one. He had played golf his whole life and had never had such a shot. That day, he had shot the ball over a rise and couldn't see where it landed. Finally, he and his partner went over and looked down on the green, and the ball was in the hole. The man exclaimed to his friend, wow, I hit a hole in one. I can die now. And he did. Coming up, the tragic death of 11-year-old Darius Flinders could quite possibly be one of the strangest deaths ever recorded. It wouldn't seem so at first, but it does get that way as the possible explanations come forth. Last month, a group of disgruntled TikTok witches reportedly got together and combined their online powers to cast a negative spell on the moon. Not a sentence I thought I'd ever read aloud, but that's just the kind of year we're having, isn't it? And weirdo family member Chris Harrell feels something hop onto the end of his bed, and it wasn't his dog. These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns. My dog agrees that I need to lose a few pounds. I knew that going in, but he also told me that the meds I'm taking for my type 2 diabetes aren't going to do me much good if I finish each meal with ice cream or cheesecake. I kind of knew that in advance, too. But cutting back on carbs and sugars is a lot easier said than done. I've tried a lot of protein bars while on the road, but I swear it's like eating non-sweetened chocolate-dusted particle board. But now, I travel with built bars. Built bars taste like candy bars. In fact, I'm now using them for my dessert. And at about 150 calories per bar, less than 3 grams of sugar, up to 19 grams of protein, I can satisfy my sweet cravings guilt-free. Visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Built in Try a Box. You can go for a variety pack of several flavors to try, or pick and choose to build a box of your own. Use the promo code WeirdDarkness at checkout and get 10% off your entire purchase. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built. Darius Flinders was an 11-year-old boy who was growing up in Ogden, Utah shortly after the turn of the 20th century. He lived with his parents in a small house that sat just across the street from what is now Marshall White Park. His father, Fred, was a real estate agent, and his mother, Holda, stayed home to care for Darius and his two siblings. Life in the Flinders household seemed to be pretty typical, until the afternoon of October 3, 1920. Around 5 p.m. on October 3, the Flinders family who had been driving around town in their car returned home to find 11-year-old Darius dead in his room. What followed next is one of the strangest deaths ever recorded. Earlier in the day, the Flinders family, most likely including Fred, Holda and Darius, we can't be sure who exactly was in the car, were driving down Washington Boulevard. His older sister was possibly with them as well. According to Fred, Darius asked if they could drop him off at home because he really wanted to read. Fred was quick to tell the reporter that Darius really loved to read. They turned down 27th Avenue to Grant and dropped him off at the house, then continued driving towards 13th Street to look at a house that Fred was having built. When they returned to the home around 5 p.m., they found that Darius had been strangled to death in his room by a corduroy belt. One of the first articles to be published about the death was the Salt Lake Tribune the following day. According to the article, Darius was strangled in his room while playing with friends. Specifically, the boys tied Darius to the post of his own bed with a belt that was placed around his neck. When the boys left the house, Darius tried to move, fell, and choked to death. The belt had been placed around Darius' neck in such a way that it was not easy to undo, and when he fell, the weight of his body caused him to strangle to death. The same day, the Ogden Standard Examiner published a much more in-depth report of the death. And in the headline itself, it says the theory that Darius had been killed accidentally while playing with friends was wrong. The new theory was that he did it to himself. Fred Flinders said the folks went into the house and found Darius dead. Fred rushed in and while dead, Darius' body was still warm. He would not have said the folks went in if he was one of them. He would have said we went in. So who were the folks? Probably Mrs. Flinders, but who else was with her if not Fred? None of the articles are clear about who exactly had been in the car that day. Fred said the belt around his neck was from one of Darius' coats, but not the coat he'd been wearing earlier that day. The coat Darius had been wearing was found outside, along with his hat. According to Fred, they questioned the neighborhood boys and were told that they'd been playing with Darius outside but had not gone into the house. They told Fred and would later tell the medical examiner that Darius was playing with them outside and had gone into the house, telling them he would be back out soon, leaving his coat and hat outside. One of the strangest things about this whole situation is Fred Flinders making a statement the day after his son was found dead saying, There is nobody to be blamed. It looks like the affair will always be a mystery. Fred then went on to say that the belt was tied in a way that it didn't seem possible Darius could have tied it himself. Elaborating he said that the bed wasn't high enough to cause strangulation unless Darius bent his knees. It would have been possible for the boy to have been strangled elsewhere and then to have been taken to the bedroom and fastened to the bed. To conclude that no one is to be blamed and that it will always be a mystery and then follow that with such a statement is extremely odd to say the least. Finally, Fred suggested that Darius was possibly putting things away and slipped and fell and the belt became tangled in just the right way to kill him. City Judge D. R. Roberts who was the ex-officio coroner interviewed the family as well as many of the boys in the neighborhood. He stated more investigation needed to be done before he could decide whether or not an inquest was required. It seems that whatever information he gleaned from talking to the various people satisfied him and the following day stated that it was simply an unfortunate accident and no inquest would be held. Along with the announcement that there would be no inquest, there was also a statement saying that the closet in which Darius kept his clothes was too high for him to reach in order to put things away. According to the final police theory, Darius was standing with one foot on his bed and the other precariously resting on the knob of the closet door. While Darius was in this position, he slipped the belt around his neck while reaching for something in the closet. His foot slipped and as he fell, the belt caught on the head of the bed, choking him. At the time of his death, Darius had two older siblings. His older brother was 13 and his sister was 12. According to his brother's autobiography, shortly before Darius' death, the family had taken a trip to Yellowstone and that during that trip, Darius stepped on a rusty nail and had to receive tetanus shots. According to his brother, Darius was recovering just fine. The brother then goes on to relate the story of Darius' death. He said that he and Darius and other neighborhood boys had their bikes and they rode off leaving Darius behind, with Darius shouting that he would catch up with them soon. He said his parents later found Darius dead and it was his opinion that there was no strangulation at all and that it must have in fact been an aftermath of the rusty nail and tetanus shots. I should point out that a tetanus vaccine wasn't created until 1924, four years later and not widely used until World War II. Treatment in 1920 would have been an injection of tetanus antitoxin and I'm not certain they would have given it without him showing symptoms. The official cause of death was stated as strangulation by hanging dead when found. Contributory, no disease whether suicidal or not, coroner unable to decide. While the police coroner's theory is plausible, it leaves too many unanswered. Who were the people that actually found Darius? Was it Fred and Hilda? Who was in the car when they were driving around town? According to Darius' brother's autobiography, he was at home or in the area when Darius died. Darius had the belt of a coat around his neck, yet he had a coat and hat that he left outside before running into the house. It seems unlikely he was there to get another coat. The weather for that day was said to be generally fair, slightly warmer, according to the Ogden Standard Examiner. If he needed both hands free while grabbing something from the closet, why would he wrap the belt around his neck instead of simply tossing it on the ground or bed? If he wrapped it around his neck, why would he tie it in a knot? According to Fred's statement, the bed wasn't high enough to strangle Darius unless his knees were bent. According to the death certificate, there were no marks on the body. If he had hit his head on the bed post hard enough to knock himself out, wouldn't that have left some kind of mark? Why was Fred so quick to assume less than 24 hours after the incident that it was just a freak accident and there was no one to blame, even before the coroner announced his decision? And if his death was caused somehow by the tetanus antitoxin that his brother recalled him getting many years later, why wasn't any of that mentioned on the death certificate? It clearly stated there were no contributory causes for his death. In the end, it turns out that Fred Flinders was at least partially correct. It looks like the affair will always be a mystery. The old farmer's albinac calls a full moon in August a full sturgeon moon. And during the full moon this month, I wouldn't blame you if you thought something felt just a bit off. Has the moon changed? Well, maybe. Last month, July 2020, a group of disgruntled TikTok witches reportedly got together and combined their online powers to, as Newsweek put it, cast a negative spell on the moon. Not a sentence I thought I'd ever read aloud, but that's just the kind of year we're having, isn't it? Now, you might think, well, that's not so bad. They're witches. They know what they're doing. But perhaps not. Apparently, the group who cast the spell were beginner or baby witches, amateurs. A Twitter user named Jupiter had the scoop on July 19. In the past few days, a group of fresh baby witches decided to band together and hex the fey and then the moon, and they did. They're now planning to hex the sun, too. The moon, the sun? I'd be a bit more worried about going after the fey, but you know how it is. According to the Twitterer, Jupiter, the moon is very important to witchcraft. And the spell, or more accurately, the hex, may have hurt the energy of the gods that rule the moon, namely the goddess Artemis. This likely angered Apollo, her twin brother, the god of the sun, who was probably looking for some payback as a result. So far, or at least as far as I can tell, not much has happened. The moon appears to be just fine. But at the time, Jupiter wasn't quite so sure what it would all mean for the rest of us, stating only, I don't know, people don't usually hex the moon. It's mostly the principle of it, and energy will likely be out of whack for a while. After word got out of the hex, other witches got together to create protective counterspells and blessings. However, as a counterpoint, other witches have stated the hex was actually a hoax, perpetuated to make light of witchcraft or otherwise not effective and that humans have no power over the moon anyway. But if that's true, then why did they need counterspells? This one comes from weirdo family member Chris Harrell. One night, while sleeping with my now ex-wife, I felt the end of the bed begin to lean down, as if one of my dogs were attempting to climb up onto the bed. What I thought was a dog became quickly known as something much more. The sheer weight that I could feel in the bed must have been closer to my weight or more. I attempted to open my eyes, but was only able to look at the ceiling. The room was dimly lit, but I knew my wife had been reading in bed, so I didn't think much of it. As I became more curious as to what was at the end of the bed, I tried to lift my head, but to no avail. I was stuck, paralyzed. As I realized this, I also noticed that I was having a hard time breathing as well. I became frantic and began to try and move my body any part of my body. I couldn't. It felt as if I had something tying me to the bed. I felt the weight at the end of the bed become more prevalent and closer to both of us. I became more frightened but unable to move. I tried to scream to wake my wife, but the lack of breath in my lungs kept me from making a sound. I was horrified at what could happen knowing I couldn't stop it. After endlessly trying to move, I was finally able to raise my head to reveal a much more horrifying reality than I had imagined. At the end of the bed seemed to be something human, but it couldn't be. For what I saw, no human could survive. There were no eyeballs. The empty black sockets peered through my eyes deep into my soul. The skin that remained appeared to be melting off of the carcass as it crawled closer and closer to us, with pus and blood excreting from the loose skin dripping onto the bed, forming multiple puddles of bodily fluid. As it began to cross over my feet, I fought harder than I had ever fought in my life to move just one limb from my paralysis. Within a blink of an eye, I was able to jump up from my position, move to my wife's side of the bed, dragging her off with me as I truly woke up to realize it was just a dream. I stood next to my wife in the darkness and out of breath, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. I was exhausted from fighting nothing. I laid back down without being able to explain to my wife what had just happened, and slept silently for the remainder of the night. Philadelphia and Dorothy Cooper-Forstein appeared to be happily married, comfortably well to do, a loving mother and well-liked. She was, in short, one of the last people anyone would imagine as a victim of one of the creepiest disappearances in American history. And Alan Pinkerton started the nation's first PI firm, saved Abraham Lincoln's life and led Union spies behind Confederate lines during the Civil War. We'll look at the formation of the Pinkerton Agency. These stories are up next. 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 will 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. Philadelphia and Dorothy Cooper-Forstein appeared to be happily married, comfortably well to do, a loving mother and well-liked. She was in short one of the last people anyone would imagine as a victim of one of the creepiest disappearances in American history. In 1944, Dorothy had been married for two years to City Magistrate Jules Forstein. The couple had three young children, Myrna and Marcy. His offspring from a previous marriage, Jules' first wife, Molly, died sometime around 1940 and their new baby, Edward. One evening in that year, Mrs. Forstein dropped her children off at a neighbor's house so she could do some shopping. By the time she returned home, it was nearly dark. As she entered her house, someone suddenly sprang up and attacked her, beating the helpless woman into unconsciousness. Her fall knocked over the telephone, and when the operator heard strange noises coming from the instrument, she alerted the police. Mrs. Forstein was found with her nose and jaw broken and a shoulder fractured. She was also suffering from a concussion. After she regained consciousness, all she could say was, Someone jumped out at me. Investigators were baffled by the crime. Burglary could not have been the motive as nothing in the house had been taken. Her husband, the usual prime suspect in such cases, had a cast iron alibi. She had no known enemies. Jules Forstein could think of no one who could have held enough of a professional grudge against him to attack his wife. The fact remained, however, that someone had enough hatred for this seemingly inoffensive woman to lie in wait and nearly beat her to death. But who? The assault remained a mystery. Mrs. Forstein recovered physically from her injuries, but her emotional health was never the same again. Quite understandably, Mrs. Forstein became fearful, paranoid and constantly on her guard. Five years went by, and life for the Forstein family gradually returned to normal. On the night of October 18, 1949, Mr. Forstein was away from home for the evening. The eldest child, 19-year-old Myrna, was also absent, visiting friends. Mrs. Forstein and the younger children spent a routine evening at home. Around 9 p.m., Dorothy phoned a friend to arrange for the two of them to take a shopping trip the next day. She showed no sign she suspected anything was amiss. Mr. Forstein returned home about 11.30 p.m. He found young Edward and Marcy cowering in an upstairs bedroom. Mommy's gone, they told him. Very curiously, particularly in light of the previous attack on his wife, Jules Forstein waited two days before contacting the police. Officers then made a search all over Philadelphia without finding any sign of the missing woman. Her purse and keys were still at home. As with the earlier attack, nothing in the house was taken. The front door had still been locked. All we know about her disappearance is the story told by 9-year-old Marcy Forstein. She told police that on the night her mother vanished, she was awakened by the sound of someone entering the house. When she went out in the hall to investigate, she saw a strange man coming upstairs. Her pajama-clad mother was lying face down on the floor of her bedroom, resting. She saw this man pick the dazed or unconscious Dorothy up and carry her downstairs. Marcy asked him, what are you doing? He replied, go back to sleep, little one, your mother is all right. He patted Marcy on the head and walked out with Mrs. Forstein's limp body still slung over his shoulder. About 15 minutes later, she said, her father returned home. Police were reluctant to credit the girl's story. There were no strange fingerprints found anywhere in the house, no sign of forced entry into the securely locked residence, and it seemed impossible that anyone could carry a woman's body down a busy street unnoticed. And how could Mrs. Forstein have been rendered dazed or unconscious before this stranger entered the house? However, Marcy consistently stuck to this account, and psychiatrists who examined her were convinced she was telling the truth. As bizarre and incomprehensible as the girl's story may have been, it is all we have to go on in trying to solve the mystery of Dorothy Forstein's disappearance. No trace of her has ever been found. In his hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, Alton Pinkerton was not considered to be a man on the right side of the law. After his father, a police sergeant, was killed by rioters in 1828 when Pinkerton was 10 years old, he took a job as a barrel maker to support his mother. He eventually became a member of the Chartist Movement, fighting for workers' rights. His passion for the cause was so great that when he was asked to help a Chartist leader escape from prison, he didn't hesitate to help. The Scottish government came after him, and the rest of the Chartists, as traders to the Crown, so to avoid execution, Pinkerton grabbed his brand new bride and sailed to Canada. The couple eventually immigrated to the United States, and by 1842 Pinkerton was working once again as a barrel maker, this time in Chicago. He slowly returned to his roots as an advocate for the common man. He joined the Chicago abolitionists and set up his home as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Recognizing the large number of criminals populating Chicago, Pinkerton decided to take after his old man and joined the Chicago Police Department in 1847. He became their first detective in 1849, and developed a reputation as a shrewd investigator. However, he soon realized he could make more money on his own, so he decided to leave the force and open the first-ever American Private Eye firm. After securing enough prospective clients, Pinkerton teamed up with Attorney Edward Rucker, and they formed the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, revolutionizing the art of surveillance and disguise. Pinkerton required all his detectives to be upstanding citizens, and he created the Pinkerton Code as a way to act while on the job. Here's what they had to do. Accept no bribes. Never compromise with criminals. Partner with local law enforcement agencies. Refuse divorce cases or cases that initiate scandals. Turn down reward money. Never raise fees without the client's pre-knowledge. Keep clients surprised on an ongoing basis. In 1856, Pinkerton hired the first female detective, Kate Warner. Although she had no formal training, she quickly rose to be the agency's most talented investigator, and she paved the way for Pinkerton to hire other female detectives, something unheard of at the time. Warner became Pinkerton's right-hand woman and was crucial in solving some of the agency's most baffling crimes, like the attempted assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While the majority of the agency's cases specialized in railroad robberies and embezzlement, in 1861, Pinkerton was hired to provide security for the president-delect during his journey from Illinois to Washington, D.C. for his inauguration. Pinkerton investigated some suspicious rumors coming out of Baltimore and learned of a plan to stab Lincoln as he passed through the city. He arranged for the politician to take an alternate train in the middle of the night, now called Lincoln's midnight ride, and he successfully avoided any potential assassins. Once Lincoln took office, he commissioned Pinkerton with forming the Union Intelligence Service in order to gather information on the southern spies posing as Unionists in the capital during the first few months of the Civil War. Pinkerton worked with Ohio-based Union General George B. McClellan on this project, and when McClellan was transferred to Washington, Pinkerton went with him, expanding his intelligence operation behind enemy lines. He hired freed slave John Scoble, noted for being the first African-American agent to pose as a food vendor, laborer, and cook in Richmond, the Confederate capital. Scoble collected information about supplies, troop morale, and other information from black leaders in the area. Unfortunately, in 1862, Pinkerton was replaced as Intelligence Service Chief, and he returned to private agency work in Chicago. He was hired by the railroad express to track down the infamous outlaw, Jesse James. However, as James continued to elude capture, the railroad withdrew their funding for the investigation. Pinkerton continued to track James at his agency's expense, however, his efforts ended in failure. On July 1, 1884, Pinkerton died of an alleged stroke. His sons took over the agency, and by the 1890s, they had over 2,000 active agents and 30,000 reserves. In 1899, the agency made headlines far and wide. They disbanded Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. Throughout the 20th century, the esteemed agency continued its high-profile work. In 1968, they escorted the Mona Lisa across the Atlantic Ocean. Still in business, the agency continues to protect railroads, and is considered one of the leading innovators of corporate risk management solutions. The incredible history of Alan Pinkerton and the Pinkerton Detective Agency continues to be a source of inspiration in pop culture today. The agency was featured in television shows Boardwalk Empire, Deadwood, and the Pinkertons, and films such as Wild Wild West and 310 de Yuma. But the best stories of the agency come from Alan Pinkerton. Originally written to in response to the negative press surrounding the agency, Pinkerton wrote embellished retellings of some of the agency's most exciting cases, beginning with the Expressman and the Detective. However, the stories became enormously popular and even went on to inspire the works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain. Thanks for listening. If you like the podcast, please share a link to this episode and recommend Weird Darkness to your friends, family and co-workers who love the paranormal, horror stories or true crime like you do. Every time you share a link to the podcast, it helps spread the word about the show, growing our Weirdo family in the process, plus it helps get the word out about resources that are available for those who suffer from depression. So please share the podcast with others. Do you have a dark tale to tell of your own? Fact or fiction, click on Tell Your Story at WeirdDarkness.com 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. Incidents of Death by Fright is by Chris Woodyard for the Victorian Book of the Dead. The Strange Death of Darius and Flinders is by Jennifer Jones for the Dead History. The Disappearance of Dorothy Forstein is posted at Strange Company. Disgruntled Witches Curse the Moon is by Rob Schwartz for Stranger Dimensions. Zombie Paralysis was written by Weirdo family member Chris Harrell. In America's First Private Eyes, it's by Grace Shrinivasaya for the lineup. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Do everything without complaining or arguing so that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. Philippians 2 verses 14 through 16. And a final thought. God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. was exhausted by frequent, convulsive, or apaplectic. See, if I just kept going, I would have had it right. Now you're second guessing yourself, Darren. Apaplectic, convulsive, or apaplectic. It clearly stated that there were no contributory. I don't know why I want to add another syllable in there. Contributory causes. Okay. Her pajama clad. Her pajama clad. That's right.