 Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is a Chamber of Comments episode where I answer the emails I've sent recently. Sometimes it's just a nice complimentary email that I receive. Sometimes it's heart-wrenching. Sometimes it's asking for advice. Sometimes it's a complaint. You can email me anytime about anything, though, at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. Your emails always do come directly to me. I don't have an assistant or a service that looks at them first. They all come directly to my inbox, and I do try to read every one of them. I may not be able to reply to every single one of them, but I do try my best. And more often than not, if you don't get a reply from me in email, that's because I've decided to reply to you here in the Chamber of Comments. Again, you can email me anytime Darren-D-A-R-R-E-N at WeirdDarkness.com. Before we get into the emails, though, a quick apology. As you've probably been able to tell the last few weeks, I've been uploading a lot of archive episodes. I'm not identifying them as such, because I know a lot of people are listening for the very first time. So to them, it's still brand new material. But for those of you who've been with me for a very long time, you probably are listening and thinking that those stories sound very similar. Well, that's because they are. Excuse me. Part of the reason for that is, it's kind of ironic, but part of the reason for that is the depression has really hit me hard the last few weeks. And I've also got the migraines that have been cosmic issues as well. I'm sure many of you are really tired of hearing that. And honestly, I'm really tired of saying it. I wish I didn't have to say it anymore, but that's the way it is. But I say ironic, because this has happening during our Overcoming the Darkness campaign. Last month, I was spending a lot of time getting ready for it. Now, this month, we're actually doing the campaign. And here I am raising funds to help organizations that help people who suffer with depression while I suffer from depression. So you tell me if that's appropriate or not. I really don't know. I am a little discouraged to as well. Maybe that's part of the reason we have a goal this year of $5,000 for just a little over $1,000. And most of that came in before the campaign ever began, because I was throwing money in that I was making on the t-shirt sales and CBD oil, which I'm no longer doing with the CBD oil, but I did for a while, that the Weird Dark Roast coffee I was pouring the profits in from that. So you can tell I don't make a lot of money on that. But I'm a little discouraged now. And it's early. I probably shouldn't be discouraged. It's only the 4th of October. We have the entire month. But at this point, we're going to need to make about $150 per day or bring in $150 per day if we want to meet that $5,000 goal. And we're not remotely close to that. We're getting $10 here, $20 there. And so I don't know. But if you could spread the word to your friends and family, I greatly appreciate that. Also tonight, I think that's another reason that I'm suffering from the depression is because of all the stress. I've got so much on my plate right now. It is ridiculous. And I've done this to myself. I know that it's my fault, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still stressful. I've got tonight is the very first listen and chat at kcorradio.com. It's the Weird Darkness radio show. But there they have a chat room specifically for their listeners. And so we're going to try it out and see how it goes. Tonight, it's 8 p.m. Pacific, 11 p.m. Eastern. You can listen in. It's the full two hours of the radio show. And then during the show, while you're listening, you can chat with me in the kcor text room or the chat room. Just go to kcorradio.com, click on listen live, and then you'll be able to do that. Again, that is 8 p.m. Pacific, 11 p.m. Eastern. And then, of course, I've got all of the road trip stuff that I'm doing. And I think I've overextended myself on that a bit. Last month, it was insane. I had something almost every weekend. And in fact, one weekend, I had to cancel because the weirdo wagon ended up catching a virus or something or other. We still have yet to figure out exactly what it was, but it's running fine now. But I had to cancel my trip to Kansas City. And I'm kind of glad that happened because I really needed that break. But I'm back at it this coming weekend. I'll be in Summit, Illinois for the Chicago Paranormal Con. And then next weekend on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, I'll be in Milwaukee for the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference. Then I'm in Plattsburgh, New York the weekend after that. And then I'm in Rockford, Illinois for something. And then, of course, this entire month, I'm planning the live scream. And I still have yet to figure all of that out yet on what exactly I'm going to do. And I know it's going to sound odd, but I'm also doing taxes. Our taxes, I know, were supposed to be done in April. But as many of you might remember, I had a computer crash. And that meant means that I lost everything on my computer. Not only did I lose all of your stories that I was using for Fireside Brights, well, at that same time, I lost all of the email receipts that I had been collecting over the last year. So I had nothing for taxes. And it's just been this long before I finally just resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to owe the IRS because I don't have the receipts. So now I got to put all of that together. And that's just one more thing that's stressful. I don't mean to be a downer on this when I get started. Just like all of that just to say I'm really sorry that it's been archive episodes. But yeah, I have a lot on my plate and now you kind of understand where I'm coming from. Okay, for the reason that you are here, though, is for me to reply to some emails. The first one comes from Carol. She says, Hi, Darren. After listening to the episode on Olivia Mabel, I did look at the website, and of course, I went down the rabbit hole, which took me to the site of Mr. Paul, who is an English teacher, who explained that four people had put this entire thing together to kickstart a horror movie. Of course, many people only looked at the Olivia Mabel website, screamed, Oh my gosh, and forwarded it to a thousand friends. And here we are today, taking it as fact. I think maybe you were taken into this viral marketing by Elf Tree Media, although it was a great story to listen to. It took me a few tries to actually get to the truth behind the website, since I couldn't find any articles about the incident at all when looking at the town or surrounding areas in Texas, signed Carol. Yeah, Carol, after you sent me that, I did do a little bit of research and I can't find a hide nor hair of anything about Olivia Mabel except for that website. I think you're right. I got taken in by a very good story with a really effective campaign for promotion, and I just happened to be caught. It's going to happen once in a while. That's one of the reasons that I say that the stories are purportedly true, unless I say unless found otherwise. And that one was purportedly true at the time, but I think maybe you have found the otherwise on that. Bruce Wayne sent me an email. Yes, that's his name. He said, we just recently got our Comic Con back. The previous one, Central Canada Comic Con, or C4, was permanently cancelled in 2018. And then we were supposed to have the first Winnipeg Comic Con in 2020, but COVID happened and it was cancelled. Winnipeg is not a popular Canadian destination city, so we hardly ever get anyone as cool as you, Darren. Maybe next year or some year after this one, we'll see you there. Stay weird, signed Bruce Wayne. Well, you're a billionaire playboy, Bruce. Can you pay my way and all my travel expenses? I promise not to let anybody know about your nighttime activities. Deborah sent an email. She said, Darren, she's talking and referring to the Benazuzki episode, which is, yes, the worst episode that I've ever done when it comes to the content. It's just so brutal. She says, Darren, my God, that poor child, I really hope Sylvia is in heaven. Thank God for Jenny alerting the police and Marie's honesty on the stand. Please tell me, did Jenny and Marie get the help they need to overcome the trauma and have happier lives? Do we know, signed Deborah? I honestly don't know, Deborah. They were minors at the time, so we're probably never going to know. I'm sure they and law enforcement would love to kind of keep wraps under that, just to give them some privacy. I'm sure they would be just inundated with reporters and YouTubers and podcasters like myself and everybody else who'd want to get their story, and it just would be nonstop, and they'd never have any peace. So I'm guessing that we'll probably never know, and that's probably the way that they would like to keep it. But yes, I do certainly hope that they did somehow find a way to overcome the trauma and move on with their lives. Beth sent me an email saying, Hey Darren, been listening to nothing but your podcast lately. I think I'm finally caught up to 2021, loving every story. Some of those creepypastas had me leaving lights on it in my creepy old 1886 built home. Have you done any clips on the hex murder of Nelson Reimer in York County, Pennsylvania? Sad but interesting story. Lots of documentaries about it. I got excited when you did the Toad Road in Helen, Pennsylvania clip. Always fun to hear about local stories. A side note, and maybe just my opinion, I noticed the background music in your bonus bite sessions has a high pitched sound that goes up and down. This sound keeps me from listening to the actual words you're saying. It's all I can hear. Listening in my car, these clips actually give me anxiety because I think something is wrong with my car or a tractor trailer is nearby. From a fellow weirdo battling anxiety and depression, thank you for keeping me company and giving me something to focus on. Keep doing what you're doing. Stay weird, signed Beth. Well, Beth, I had to go back and listen to those bonus bites. I've not done those in quite some time. I am thinking about bringing them back in the new year. Maybe something that I can do when I am on the road at these places because I found when I go to these events that it's just way too noisy to do an actual podcast from these live events that I'm going to these cons and festivals and stuff. So I'm thinking I might bring back the bonus bites where I could do something really short on location or something like that. But anyway, I hear what you mean with the chosen music after I've gone back and listened to those. It sounds fine on my computer, but yeah, the high pitched notes that come in and out, they could be annoying if you're not listening on headphones. It would, in a way, sound like feedback or as you said, something being wrong with your car. So I'll choose a different music bed for that feature when I do bring it back. And that's fine by me. I just downloaded a boatload of new vintage sounding horror music a few days ago that might be perfect for it. I'm using the vintage stuff right now for the micro terrors that we're doing in October. And it really fits well. It's that old, really old 30s, 40s and 50s horror style. And I think it works well for those stories. So as for the hex murder that you had asked about, I actually have touched on that in the past. And upon looking at my files, it disappeared that it was way back in 2018. And so I'm going to have to go back to that story soon because it truly is a creepy and interesting story. I'm surprised that when I looked online on my website that I couldn't find it there because I would have sworn it was there. But yeah, somehow it has been removed from the website, but I have it in my files. So I'll bring that back again very soon. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I appreciate it. And then Danny had a comment about Church of the Undead regarding anxiety. Now, if you're not familiar with Church of the Undead, it's something I do. It's a separate podcast. Just look for Church of the Undead wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can go to WeirdDarkness.com and then click on Church of the Undead or WeirdDarkness.com slash church probably the fastest way to get there. But last weekend, I did an episode of Church of the Undead regarding anxiety and how anxiety is lying to you. So that's what Danny's referring to. She's saying, I just wanted to say thank you. October is a horrible, I almost said October, which actually kind of fits what she's saying. October is a horrible month for me. And I woke up this morning filled with dread. I haven't left my house in a couple of days because of anxiety. And then the YouTube notification for the Church of the Undead episode about anxiety popped up on my phone. It felt like a sign. I'm one of those people that can't go to church. I honestly feel like a fraud. Like God doesn't even want me there. So I honestly needed to hear this today. Thank you for all that you do. A fellow weirdo, Danny. Well, thank you very much for sending this to me, Danny. I really appreciate that. I think, you know what? I think we all feel unworthy of God and or church at times. Some of us more than others. But if a thief hanging on a cross near Jesus can be forgiven and be taken to paradise that same day with him, and if a prostitute can walk away from her life and become a Christ follower, and if a mass murderer can have a miraculous experience on the Damascus Road and become one of the greatest biblical teachers of all time, I'm talking about Paul, then every single one of us is worthy of God's love and mercy. I don't think that if you go to church, you're going to be the only hypocrite there. Every single person in those pews or chairs is also a hypocrite. We all have sins in our lives, and those sins, we just haven't walked away from them yet. We struggle with them. We actually struggle to walk away from them. We all have times in our lives where we feel far from God because we're not reading our Bible every day. We're not praying every day. We're not doing the so-called right things all the time. I'm talking to myself here as much as I'm talking to you, because this is a struggle for me as well. But God wants you just as you are. The whole idea of having to get your life right or clean up your act before going to church, that is a lie from the devil himself. And it fools so many people. They don't think that they can go to church because they're not perfect. Jesus didn't come for those who are perfect and living godly lives. He came for the sinners who don't deserve love, grace, mercy, and spiritual healing, but He gives it to us anyway. That was the whole point. He came for the spiritually sick, not the healthy. And let's face it, we're all sick, whether we want to admit it or not, be it physically or sick in the head. And that makes you a weirdo. Anyway, if you'd like to drop me an email, you can do it. Just email me, Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. And I might share your email in a future Chamber of Comments. Thanks, Weirdos.