 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, solved and unexplained. If you're new here, welcome to the show, and if you're listening to Weird Darkness on the radio, on a streaming station or on YouTube, be sure to look for and subscribe to Weird Darkness in your favorite podcast app as well. I upload episodes every day of the week, and if you're already a member of this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending the podcast to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show, and while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com where you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Miwi and more. Coming up in this episode. In Norfolk, England, the village of Eklis was slowly gobbled by the rising waters of the sea in the early 1600s. But even today, sometimes during a particularly heavy storm, you can see St. Mary's Church mysteriously reappear, bringing with it the dead buried in the church graveyard who cannot find rest. Laurie Price and his wife, Ethel, mysteriously disappeared from Marion, Illinois. But then, sometimes that happens when you are mixed up with the mob or may have learned something you weren't supposed to. The catacombs of St. Calyxtus in Rome, Italy hold the remains of 16 popes, several martyrs and around half a million Christians, and according to one author, a none of this world entity. Before he became a Civil War general, Congressman Dan E. Sickles' scandalous murder trial changed our legal system forever. He said outright that he had killed his wife's lover. So how did he avoid being found guilty of the crime he admitted to committing? In 1150 AD, two children were found near Wolpit in England. They wore strange clothes, spoke oddly, but the most identifiable characteristic for both children was their skin was green. The children themselves were a mystery, but what happened when they grew up? Did they marry? Did they have children? Could there be descendants of the green children of Wolpit living among us today? First, a man is found dead, fully clothed, kneeling in his own bathtub. The physician of the man's body and where he was found is strange enough, but what happened to Christopher Case before his death is stranger still. We begin with that story. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. On the morning of April 18, 1991, a 35-year-old man named Christopher was found dead in his apartment. No signs of struggle or fight were found and even no forced entry. His body was discovered in an empty bathtub, fully dressed in a kneeling position with his head resting on the wall. The death of Christopher Case shook the whole of Washington. When police searched his place, they found a lot of candles, crucifixes, books, salt poured on each and every entry of his home, even windows. When the police further investigated, they heard religious music playing in his room. Maybe to keep his home safe from supernatural powers? The doctors told that he died because of a heart attack. Looking at his place, it doesn't seem like a natural death. Everything pointed towards something paranormal. Was it really a heart attack or some supernatural powers which scared him to death? Christopher was a 35-year-old intelligent and sophisticated man who grew up in Richmond, Virginia. He was a small-town radio DJ. He was very much passionate about his music, so he decided to move to Seattle, Washington to start a new career as a music executive where he worked for Muzak Holdings. Christopher made a lot of new friends in Seattle, but never lost touch with the old ones. He was single for a long time as he was used to traveling a lot because of his work and lived alone. He was a fitness zealot, used to take his vitamins supplements regularly. He didn't have any serious health issues and he used to exercise regularly. Then what happened which made him do all of this? Why was he afraid? April 11, 1991, seven days before his death, he had a meeting in San Francisco with other music executives. He was introduced to an older woman who shared her ancient music interest with him. She seemed interested in him as well and asked him to take her home. He refused her politely as she was his senior. This rejection made her angry and she told him something creepy that she was a witch and cursed him and that he would die within a week. Christopher, of course, did not take this seriously as he did not believe in any supernatural things. He went back to his home in Seattle the next morning. After a couple of days, he completely forgot about the incident. On April 14, he called his friend Sammy and told her that he wasn't able to sleep at night because of strange whispers, footsteps like someone was watching him. On April 16, he again called his friend to tell her how he got attacked last night when he was sleeping. He told her that someone was trying to suffocate him by unseen hands. After some time, he also noticed some cuts on his fingers and blood stains on his bed sheet. In the morning, he went to a religious bookstore and picked a handful of crucifixes. After being asked by the store manager, he told him that he was being attacked by some supernatural powers and the store manager handed him some religious books that might help him. On April 16 in the afternoon, he placed crucifixes all around his home with candles and poured salt on all the entries and also wrote notes on how to overcome supernatural powers that were scattered all over his place. On April 16, in the evening, something strange happened which is not clear even now, but he was so frightened that he left his home to stay in a hotel. Because of this, he was not able to contact his friends and Sammy didn't receive any call from Christopher that night, so she called the local Seattle police force to do a welfare check on Christopher's property. Police found the residents locked and were unable to have access, so they reported back to Sammy. Sammy lived in another part of the country and was feeling helpless as she couldn't reach him. On the 17th of April that morning, Sammy got a message from Christopher on the answering machine in which he said that they almost got him and it's his last day on earth. Not only Sammy but two more people heard from him that day, a Catholic Church priest and the religious bookstore owner. They told him the necessary things, but despite all his efforts, Christopher lost his life on the night of April 17, 1991. Myocarditis was said to be the main cause of Christopher's death as he was used to taking vitamin supplements, but in further investigation it was told that he didn't have any symptoms of myocarditis. His friends to this day still believe he died due to the supernatural curse of a witch. In 1859, Congressman Dan Sickles pulled out a pistol and shot his wife's lover. Standing in full view of the White House, Sickles screamed, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my house, you must die. The shocking crime made headlines around the world and Sickles became the first person in American history to plead temporary insanity to try and get away with murder. The son of a wealthy New York family, Dan Sickles earned a law degree and seduced a teenager before he was elected to Congress. Sickles was 33 when he married 16-year-old Teresa Baggioli. When he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1856, the couple took Washington, D.C. by storm, becoming fixtures in high society. Both Dan and Teresa pursued affairs. Dan also had a reputation for visiting brothels, but only Teresa's dalliance raised eyebrows. In the 19th century, a wife's affair transformed her husband into a cuckold, undermining his masculinity, while a husband's affairs were simply business as usual. According to Dan Sickles, Teresa's affair drove him to murder. Beginning in the spring of 1858, Teresa carried on an affair with Barton Key, a close friend of Congressman Sickles and the son of Francis Scott Key who penned the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. One D.C. gossip columnist called Key the handsomest man in all Washington society. Key signaled Teresa by waving his pocket handkerchief on the street. The pair would meet at an abandoned house only steps from the White House where Teresa confessed, I did what is usual for a wicked woman to do. Everything changed on February 24, 1859, when Sickles received an anonymous letter. The enraged congressman confronted Teresa and forced her to write a confession. Three days later, Sickles spotted Key outside his home, waving his handkerchief to signal Teresa. That villain is out there now making signs, Sickles raged. Grabbing three guns, Sickles rushed out to confront Key. Sickles fired his pistol before Key could say a word. Key threw a pair of opera glasses at Sickles and tried to hide behind a tree, but Sickles continued to fire until a bystander wrestled him to the ground. Sickles had gunned down Key in Lafayette Park on a sunny Sunday afternoon. With no chance of escape, Sickles took a carriage to the home of Attorney General Jeremiah S. Black where he surrendered. The sensational murder became front page news. The tragic affair produced a great sensation, reported the New York Herald. In the streets, the law courts, public houses, private dwellings and, in fact, everywhere, it was the prominent topic of conversation. Even President James Buchanan took sides in the sensational case. He sent the letter of support to the imprisoned congressman. From jail, Sickles gave interviews with the press. He has dishonored me and we could not live together on the same planet," Sickles told OnePaper. Harper's Weekly judged the outcome before the trial even began. The public of the United States will justify him in the killing of the man who dishonored his bed. Dan Sickles, who admitted firing the shots that killed Key, hoped the jury would agree with Harper's Weekly. Congressman Dan Sickles hired eight defense attorneys to represent him during his trial. One of them, John Graham, spent a full two days on his opening statement defending Sickles. Adultery was evil, Graham entombed, quoting Shakespeare's Othello to justify Sickles' actions, discovering the affair had made Sickles temporarily insane. Temporary insanity was a new concept in American courts. While defendants had pleaded insanity before, no one had claimed to be insane only temporarily. But Graham relied on the jury's sympathy towards Sickles to justify the murder. It may be tragical to shed human blood, but I will always maintain that there is no tragedy about slaying the adulterer, Graham argued. The trial also painted Teresa Sickles as a prostitute and murderer, a wife who surrendered to the adulterer longed for her own husband's death, one defense attorney argued, either by the cup of the poisoner or the dagger or pistol of the assassin. Another attorney added that the affair pulled Teresa toward the horrid filth that is common prostitution. Dan Sickles painted himself as the Avenger of the Invaded Household. His wife was an immoral woman and he deserved to die. Was the murder of key justifiable homicide or temporary insanity? Dan Sickles' attorneys argued both at the same time. The presiding judge didn't put much stock in the temporary insanity defense. In his jury instructions on April 26, Judge Crawford warned the jurors that a gap between Sickles' learning of the affair and killing keys weighed the scales toward premeditated murder, and in fact, Sickles had spent three days plotting his revenge after receiving the anonymous note. Yet it only took the jury an hour to declare Dan Sickles not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The packed courtroom burst into applause and 1,500 people led Sickles through the streets in an impromptu victory parade. From the start, many predicted Sickles would walk for his crime. During jury selection, 72 of the first 75 prospective jurors were excused for sympathizing with the murderer. We regard this as a most mistaken and most mischievous verdict, declared the Tribune. It's a verdict which carries this country a long stride backwards toward the age when might was right and all wrongs were redressed by the red hand, or not at all. The trial turned Dan Sickles into a nationally known figure, but his actions after the trial kept Sickles in the headlines for decades. Shortly after his acquittal, Sickles and his wife Teresa publicly reconciled, drawing criticism from their peers in Washington and in the press. We hope the sympathizers with Mr. Sickles at Washington, and especially the jury who exalted him into a great champion of the sanctity of marital relations, will be satisfied with this result, the Baltimore American wrote. Next, Sickles left his congressional seat in 1860, quickly turning around to raise a brigade of men for the Civil War. As a general, Sickles led troops at Gettysburg, where he ignored his superior officers' orders and lost a leg to a cannonball. As an ambassador to Spain after the war, Sickles seduced the Queen, and in his final years, Sickles was accused of stealing public funds. The legacy of Dan Sickles' trial outlived Sickles himself. While his case represents the first successful temporary insanity plea, the jury almost certainly did not buy that defense. Instead, Victorian moralists decided that, well, he had it coming. Even a notorious philanderer like Sickles could claim righteousness if cuckolded. Yet even though Dan Sickles' trial says more about the 19th-century views of masculinity and women's sexuality, the ruling still broke new legal ground. In the past 150 years, the temporary insanity defense has become a mainstay in the American legal system. Up next, in Norfolk, England, the village of Eklis was slowly gobbled by the rising waters of the sea in the early 1600s. But even today, sometimes during a particularly heavy storm, you can see St. Mary's Church mysteriously reappear, bringing with it the dead buried in the church graveyard who cannot find rest. Also coming, Laurie Price and his wife Ethel mysteriously disappeared from Mary in Illinois, but then sometimes that happens when you are mixed up with the mob or may have learned something you weren't supposed to. At first, in 1150, two children were found near Woolpit in England. They wore strange clothes, spoke oddly, but the most identifiable characteristic for both children was that their skin was green. They eventually grew up as all children do, so could there be descendants of the green children of Woolpit living among us today? Those stories and more when Weird Darkness returns. My doc 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 in about 150 calories per bar, less than 3 grams of sugar, up to 19 grams to 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. It's a common stereotype that extraterrestrials may have green skin color, from green Martians to the Egyptian god Osiris depicted with greenish skin. Ancient Celtic mythology often depicts the green man dating back before the Roman Empire. And in 12th century England, there is the story of the curious green children of Woolpit. The story appears to have been based on real people who may even have descendants today. The story is woven together from accounts by two famous English chroniclers, William of Newburg, a monk from the Augustinian Priory of Newburg, and Ralph of Coggeshall, a monk of the Cistercian Abbey. Coggeshall heard the story from a man named Richard de Combe and wrote about it in the Chronican Anglicanum, around 1189. William of Newburg wrote about it later in Historia Rerum Anglicarum, published in 1220. In the mid-12th century in the English county of Suffolk, there was an ancient town called Woolpit. In Old English, the town's name was Wolfpit, named for pits dug in the ground to catch roaming wolves in those days. The wolves were killing livestock and terrorizing villagers, but today, the village is famous for two green children on its side. Around 1150, during the reign of King Stephen, villagers reaping the fields came across two children near a Woolpit who were acting distressed and speaking to each other in an unknown language. A version of the tale says they emerged from the Woolpit twice as tall as the children and a couple hundred square feet in area. The children wore strange clothes, unfamiliar to the villagers and spoke an unrecognizable language, that of course, their skin was green, a startling sight, but otherwise, they appeared to be normal children. In Ralph of Coggescholl's story, the children were taken in by Sir Richard de Combe, the man who told him the story. There, they were offered food but reacted to everything that they were given as if they had never seen it before and refused to eat it. It seemed as if the children would starve until they came across something familiar, green beans. In Coggescholl's story, they find the beans in the garden and gobble them up. In another telling, the children spotted a servant carrying a plate of beans and immediately wanted them. Thereafter, the children were fed beans but slowly weaned over to other food. As their diet changed, the green coloration of their skin began to appear normal. Sadly, the boy died soon afterward, succumbing to an unknown illness after a period of severe melancholy and lethargy. However, the girl survived and was named Agnes. As she adjusted to her new life, she learned English and could finally answer questions about where she and her brother had come from. According to Historic UK, Agnes said, We are inhabitants of the land of St. Martin, who is regarded with peculiar veneration in the country which gave us birth. We are ignorant of how we arrived here. We only remember this, that on a certain day when we were feeding our father's flocks in the fields, we heard a great sound, such as we are now accustomed to hear at St. Edmunds when the bells are chiming. And whilst listening to the sound and admiration, we became on a sudden as it were entranced and found ourselves among you in the fields where you are reaping. The sun does not rise upon our countrymen, our land is little cheered by its beams. We are contented with that twilight which among you precedes the sunrise or follows the sunset. Moreover, a certain luminous country is seen, not far distant from ours, and divided from it by a very considerable river. Another version of the story says the children were courting their father's cattle and heard the bells, then entered into a cave and came out into Wolfebeth. They couldn't find their way back and were discovered by the villagers. Agnes was baptized and lived and worked for Sir Richard and later was married to the Archdeacon of Ely, Richard Barr. The couple had at least one child, thus her descendants may exist today. According to the East Anglian Daily Times, Agnes was known for her very wanton and impudent behavior while in the employ of Decau and that Richard Barr was a man from King's Lynn in Norfolk, then a senior ambassador for Henry II. It is said that England's blue blood even today has a green tinge through Agnes' bloodline. The source claims that finding the descendants has been tricky, perhaps a carefully guarded local secret. In 1978 local author and folk singer Bob Roberts wrote in A Slice of Suffolk that, I was told there are still people in Wolfebeth who are descendants from the green children, but nobody would tell me who they are. To this day, mystery surrounds this story, and many people believe these children came from another world or another dimension. Is it possible they came through some sort of portal and ended up in the relatively densely populated English town? Did they really come from a twilight place where everyone had green skin? Why were they so unfamiliar with bright sunlight? Why did they only recognize and accept green beans, refusing other foods? Lastly, if they were ordinary children, why didn't any relatives ever try to find them? Now it is clearly much more fun to imagine the green children came from another realm, and historically there are similar ancient tales of celestial beings who existed in an underground or hidden world accessed via portals or fairy rings at ancient megalithic structures. The Tuatha de Danan of Ireland was a pre-Celtic Irish tribe of legends that say they were shining beings forced to remove themselves to the underground. They may have been driven away by the Celts, who often depicted the Green Man. Today the Tuatha live on in modern fairy tales and epic movies and novels about elves such as Lord of the Rings. The more likely explanations and one that echoes a dark fairy tale called The Babes in the Woods tale first published in 1595. According to The Guardian, it told the story of a wicked uncle who hires a couple of murderers to kill his orphaned niece and nephew because if they die young he will inherit their estate. The assassins take pity on the children and abandon them in the wood, where they get lost, starve and eventually perish. Another theory along the lines of this terrible tale is that the children were poisoned with arsenic by an earl from Norfolk, which tinted their skin green. An interesting side note, in the 19th century arsenic and copper were used to dye fabric's green. Paris Green and Shields Green were popular colors worn by the social elite in Europe. Arsenic was also found in candy, paper, toys, wallpaper and medicine before people knew that it was deadly toxic. Thus, many in Victorian society died mysteriously. Symptoms could include green hands, yellow nails and crater-like scars. If arsenic poisoning was not to blame with the green skin then the green sickness called chlorosis might be to blame. The condition caused a green complexion and results from iron deficiency. This might explain why Agnes lost her green skin over time as her diet changed. A third theory is that the green sheltering were Flemish victims of persecution during the Battle of Fornum in 1173. According to Mantlefloss, Fornum St. Martin was a nearby village separated from Wolpit by a river and just a few miles from Burry St. Edmunds, where loud bells often chimed. It is possible that children had been orphaned, suffered a poor diet while lost and on their own, and eventually made their way to Wolpit from Fornum St. Martin by following the clanging bells. If you consider all the theories, there is still no clear and definite answer. If Agnes and her brother were Flemish children who had lost their parents, why does she make no mention of losing her father? She said that she was hurting her father's cows by one account but doesn't mention anything out of the ordinary. Why does one account suggest that the green skin coloration was the norm in their place of origin? And lastly, how did the children end up in a pit in the ground after traveling through a cavern? Abundant questions remain about the green children of Wolpit, which makes it a fascinating mystery even today. Swallowed by the greedy sea, most of the ancient village of Eccles on Sea is now under water or beneath the sand that we walk on today. All that is left of another of Norfolk's vanishing villages is the pre-war Bush estate, which hides behind the sand dunes, a thriving medieval village that was once here is now beneath the waves or underneath the sand. St. Mary's Church was one of the last survivors of the village lost to the North Sea. Some say you can still hear its bells ringing under water as you sail by. Probably built during the 12th century with a belfry at a 200 years later, St. Mary's appears to have been in use until the late 1500s. Three horrific storms in 1570 wiped out swaths of the village houses and left the church in a dreadful state of disrepair and led it to being largely dismantled. The tower, however, was left standing, a useful seamark to aid navigation for passing ships. In 1605, villagers in Eccles presented a petition to Norwich Quarter Sessions for a reduction in their taxes, pointing out that advancing seas had gulped down a thousand acres of their land, half of what they had, and left only 14 houses and the church in ruins. By the beginning of the 18th century, the church was on the landward edge of the dunes, but sand began to bury it, leaving only the octagonal belfry visible. But unusually high tides on Boxing Day 1862 carved into the sandhills and left the tower exposed, once again, like a late Christmas gift for the villagers of Eccles. From this moment it led a colorful life, sometimes partially covered in drifts of sand, other times laid bare by scouring tides. Families and artists sought it out for picnics or a subject matter and became known affectionately as the Lonely Sentinel and as such a fashionable place to visit. In Norfolk Life by Lilius Ryder Haggard, she remembers the eerie sight of the stranded church tower and even more terrifyingly, the hideous sight of sea-bleached skeletons exposed in the sandy graveyard. She wrote, One September day years ago, when the tower of Eccles Church still stood on the dunes, there came a northeasterly gale and a scour which swept the sand from the old graveyard, leaving the long outlines of the graves washed clean by the sea. In one lay an almost perfect skeleton embedded in the clay, the hollow-eyed skull gazing up at the limitless sweep of the sky. Until 1895, the tower was one of Norfolk's best known landmarks and a constant reminder of the ever encroaching North Sea. A dreadful gale on January 23, 1895, the worst in living memory finally sunk the tower for good. Author Ernest Stuffling, who lived at next door Hapsburg, tried the lightest pipe inside the tower as the storm began to gain momentum. That I was the last to enter the old tower is certain, as during the night, the wind increased greatly in force and the next day blew with such hurricane violence that the tower was continually surrounded by the sea, he wrote. The next day in Eastern Daily Press correspondent wrote, On visiting the scene, the desolation presented to one's view is appalling. Within months, most of the flint masonry of St. Mary's had been swept away or covered in sand until only a few large sections remained. Often completely buried, the church was remembered every year by an annual beach service held at the spot on the August Bank Holiday Sunday. David Stannard, who was previously a geologist in the offshore industry, but has also worked as a lecturer at City College Norwich and in local government in Great Yarmouth before becoming an amateur archaeologist, author and historian, happened upon the ruins of St. Mary's during a particularly low tide in 1986. He said, If you go down the beach on a Saturday evening when it's getting dark and there is the ruin of a church and a circle of flints in the sand, you can only think, How did that happen? The only reason we saw anything at all, he continued, was the sea scouring away the area. What was exposed was foundations, cart tracks in the clay, Roman pottery, skeletons in graves, and these wells. Between 1986 and 1996, telltale flint circles or rings of clay bricks in the sand gave away the locations of eleven wells, which, at the end of their useful life, had become medieval toilets and rubbish dumps, creating a time capsule of history beneath the Eccles sands. But at Eccles, the ruins have not been seen since about 2000 after the Environment Agency's urgent work to build an offshore rock reef and recharge the beach to protect homes and property. I don't think I'll see St. Mary's Church again in my lifetime, but who knows, Mr. Standard added. And what of those drowned bells tolling beneath the waves before storms? In May 1930, Lieutenant Commander R. N. A. Brooks, the captain of the HMS Boina, reported hearing a bell at around 9.30 in the morning close to Eccles, and having heard the stories and done which of underwater bells similar to that, wrote to the EDP. When a breast of sea pawling at about 9.30 am, I very plainly heard one stroke of a deep toned bell. If any of your readers heard any superstition of Eccles' church bells being heard at sea, read the letter. According to Mr. Standard, it is unlikely that spectral bells are chiming beneath the waves. Firstly, the bells were probably sold off by the Lord of the Manor, Thomas Brampton, in 1571. Secondly, there are no mention of bells from any of the Victorian tourists reports, and thirdly, St. Mary's Tower is now 30 feet below the sand. On January 19, 1927, an Illinois state police officer named Lori Price, along with his wife Ethel, mysteriously vanished from their home in Marion, Illinois. Some say that Price's disappearance could be blamed on the company that he kept, or at least what he knew, because he was a long-time friend of southern Illinois gangster Charlie Berger, who believed that Price had information about the destruction of his hideout near Harrisburg, a barbecue stand called Shady Rest. But whatever the reason for Lori and Ethel's vanishings, it signed a death sentence for Charlie Berger, and left a lingering haunting behind. Lori Price was a frequent visitor at Shady Rest. There was no denying that. Rumors claimed that he worked with Berger in a stolen car racket. Berger's men would steal a car, hold it until a reward was posted, then park it in some remote spot and tip off Price as to its whereabouts. Price would then find the car and split the reward with Berger. Whether this rumor was true, it is certain that Price was on close terms with Berger and his gunman. He was also one of the last people to see Shady Rest before it was destroyed by a bomb, presumably placed by members of the Shelton Gang, enemies of Berger. At the inquest into the deaths of four people killed when the building exploded, Price admitted that he had been at Shady Rest on January 8. He stopped in after attending a movie in Marion. Steve George, the resort's caretaker, greeted him at the door and asked him to come in and meet his wife. While there, Price noticed a man he had never seen before sitting apparently half intoxicated near the fireplace. He also saw a young man whom George called Clarence, passed out drunk on a cot in an adjoining room. George told Price that when the stranger left, he was going to bed. Price testified that he stayed just a few minutes and then returned to Marion. He was having breakfast early the next morning when he heard that two explosions had leveled Shady Rest. One week after the inquest, Price's stepfather, who lived nearby on the edge of Marion, became concerned over the fact that he had not seen Price or his wife Ethel for two days. He knocked repeatedly, but getting no response, he called the police. The deputies forced the door open. Price's highway patrolman uniform was folded over a chair and his pistol and gun belt were lying on the dining room table. Although the bed was rumpled, no one had slept in it. Ethel's nightgown neatly folded lay on the coverlet. Her hat and coat were missing and the telephone wires to the house had been cut. Price and his wife had both vanished. Had they been kidnapped? Or worse? On February 5, 1927, Laurie Price's body was discovered in a field near Dubois, about 25 miles north of Heron. A local farmer found the partially clothed corpse and called the police. Price had been shot several times and was covered with blood. The body had apparently been in the field for several days since animals had chewed on his hands and other extremities County officers identified the dead man as the missing state patrolman. Reporters immediately broadcast the sensational news. One reporter at the trial of the Shelton Brothers, where Charlie Berger had recently testified against them, asked Carl Shelton if he had any idea about who might have killed Laurie Price. He replied, well, this is my theory. You know, we used to hang around Charlie Berger's place and the papers said that he was there before it burned down and Berger, you know, was always suspicious of Spies. I always figured he did away with Price on the theory that Price was going to inform those who destroyed it of a good time to do it. I never had any trouble with Price and I don't know his wife. Charlie Berger could not be reached for comment. Investigators for the Illinois State Police continued to work the puzzling case but would not get a break until May 1927. Initially, they believed that Price had been killed by the Shelton's but an informant within the Berger gang hiding out in Ohio told them that Price had been killed by Berger simply because he knew too much. No one knew what had happened to Ethel Price until Art Newman began to talk. Newman was a trusted Berger gang member who had gone on the run to California when things became too hot in Illinois. He was picked up in Long Beach and extradited back to Illinois. Franklin County Sheriff Jim Prichard went to California to bring Newman back and he took along a reporter for the St. Louis Post Dispatch named John T. Rogers. Somehow, during the long ride back to Illinois, Rogers got Newman to tell his story. The confession was given to the state's attorney when they returned and he indicted Newman, Charlie Berger, Ernest Blue, Connie Ritter, Leslie Simpson and Riley Simmons for the murder of Lori Price. The story that Newman told was a chilling one. He claimed that on the day that the prices disappeared, Berger had called him to Harrisburg and informed him that the gang intended to question Price about his snitching to William County authorities. The prices had visitors until after midnight when Berger and the others entered the house. Even though Price stated that he had not been informing on Berger and had nothing to do with the explosion at Shady Rest, Berger ordered him into Newman's car. Price asked Charlie if he planned to hurt him but Berger said he just wanted to talk to him. He shoved Price into the back seat of the car and climbed in next to him. Wooten slid into the passenger seat next to Newman and as the car started Berger called out to the men who were heading for the second automobile. He yelled take that woman and do away with her. Price pleaded with Berger not to hurt his wife but Charlie told him to shut up. He ordered Newman to keep driving and then he began to question the patrolman about everything he suspected about him. Price was an informant, Berger declared, and there was nothing worse than a disloyal friend. He ordered Newman to drive them to the ruins of Shady Rest. They arrived around 2 a.m. and Berger dragged Price out of the car. Price denied again that he had betrayed the gang but Berger shot him three times. Just then, the second car of the gangsters pulled on to the road next to the ruins. Wooten panicked, certain that Apple Price had seen the murder of her husband. One of the newcomers climbed out of the car, heard the conversation and told them not to worry about the woman. They had killed her. When asked what they had done with her, the man replied, we shot her and threw her into a mineshaft near Carterville. Berger proposed putting Price's body in the same shaft but gang members told him that they had dumped metal and timbers down over her to hide the body. Berger thought for a moment and then suggested another mine near Decoyne but when he suggested putting the bloody and still breathing Price back into the car, Newman claimed that he bought. Berger flew into a rage and said that he would kill any man who didn't go along with him. Price was tossed into the back seat of Newman's car and Berger climbed in after him, weapons still in hand and sat down on top of his body. Near Carbondale, he ordered Newman to stop the car. He hurried to the side of the road and began to vomit. He gasped out words when he was able to speak again. That's too much for me. I can kill a man but I can't sit on him. I don't know what in the hell is the matter with me. It isn't my nerves. Every time I kill a man, it makes me sick afterward. I guess it's my stomach. Berger switched places in the car with Connie Ritter and a few miles down the road, Price regained consciousness and pleaded with Ritter, swearing that he was an innocent man. Ritter told him to shut up or he would turn the machine gun on him. A few miles later, Price spoke again, his voice almost a whisper, Connie, you'll live to regret this. Berger ordered Newman to drive to a nearby mine but finding a watchman on duty scrapped the plan. Eventually they dumped Price in the field where he was later found. Berger shot him several more times to make sure that he was dead. On the way back to Harrisburg, one of the men who had kidnapped Ethel Price allegedly told Newman that he and the others had taken her to the abandoned mine, shot her and then had thrown her body to the bottom of the shaft. Then they'd covered it with timbers, stones and debris. No one he claimed to would ever find her. But of course that turned out to be wrong. As soon as the gruesome story of Ethel Price's fate was made public, workers began removing the debris that Newman said the men had used to clog the shaft of the old Carterville district mine. The crowd of onlookers began to gather as the opening deepened and miners with picks and shovels worked relentlessly to clear the way. Lines formed and buckets filled with dirt, rocks and other debris began to be passed upward from hand to hand, dumped and then passed back down again. County officials and Sheriff Oren Coleman labored alongside the outraged citizens who came to volunteer their help. As darkness fell, lights were strung up over the pit illuminating the ghastly scene. Work continued throughout the night and into the next morning, only stopping briefly during a rainstorm that came during the early hours. By Sunday afternoon, June 12th, the men had achieved a depth of nearly 30 feet. Planks were nailed on telephone poles that had been laid across the opening earlier in the day. From this platform it was easy to lower buckets down into the shaft in order to haul the debris up even faster. Early Monday morning, Ethel Price's body was finally found. She was taken to the Osbent funeral home in Marion and the surrounding streets had to be cordoned off to keep back the curiosity seekers. Her funeral was held two days later. For many years after the discovery of Ethel Price's body, the area around the abandoned shaft of the old Carterville district mine was largely avoided by people in the vicinity. Even teenagers looking for a thrill on a late Saturday night were afraid to go there. According to a friend of mine who grew up nearby, many were convinced that the ghost of Ethel Price haunted the place. Stories circulated of a woman in a white dress who was sometimes seen around the site of the old forgotten shaft. She reportedly wept in despair and those who dared drive too close to her sometimes claimed that she threw herself at the windows of the car begging to be let inside. The stories continued for many years and are sometimes recounted even today. Thankfully though, current reports of a lingering spirit here have been few. We can only hope that Ethel Price is finally resting in peace. As it turned out, the discovery of Ethel Price's body was the downfall of Charlie Berger. Public opinion, which often painted him as sort of a folk hero, turned most people against him. After Ethel's body was found, Berger was moved from the jail in Benton, Illinois to the Sangamon County jail in Springfield. His attorneys had already appeared before a judge and requested the change of venue, but the charged atmosphere surrounding the search for Ethel Price made it clear to Sheriff Prichard that a lynching might occur if Berger remained in Benton. Berger arrived in Springfield on the very day that Ethel's body was removed from the bottom of the Carterville mineshaft. Reporters were waiting for him when he stepped out of the automobile that had been used to transport him. He shook his head at them as they shouted out questions. He only had one statement to make, I'm done. Berger was eventually prosecuted for murder. Not for Lori and Ethel Price though, but for that of Joe Adams, the mayor of West City, Illinois. He went to the gallows in April 1928. When Weird Darkness returns, the catacombs of St. Calyxtus in Rome, Italy, hold the remains of 16 popes, several martyrs and around half a million Christians, and according to one author, a not-of-this-world entity as well. That story is up next. The Chilling True Terror of the Black-Eyed Kids, A Monster Compilation by G. Michael Vasey The Black-Eyed Kids are an urban legend of vast proportions. The stories of small children turning up on people's doorsteps all across the world spreading fear and terror have only increased over time. This compilation of G. Michael Vasey's books on this scary phenomena include new material and new true stories as well as the complete texts of the Black-Eyed Demons are coming and the Black-Eyed Kids. Supernatural expert G. Michael Vasey carefully investigates this truly terrifying phenomenon using real-life encounters with these scary supernatural beings. The result is an unsettling and sometimes terrifying book that will have you fearfully anticipating that knock at your door late at night. Who and what are these mysterious visitors to the doorstep? Are they demons? Aliens? What do they want? Why do they need to enter your home and what happens if they do? Small kids that ask to use your phone or for a ride and yet those who encounter them are scared to death even before they notice their black eyes. The Chilling True Terror of the Black-Eyed Kids, A Monster Compilation by G. Michael Vasey, narrated by Weird Darkness host Darren Marlar. Here a free sample on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. The catacombs of St. Calyxtus in Rome, Italy hold the remains of 16 popes, several martyrs, and around half a million Christians. Nine of those popes were buried in the famous Crypt of the Popes. The underground burial chambers named after Calyxtus who at the time of their construction was the deacon of Rome under Pope Zephanairus have long been a popular tourist attraction. Calyxtus was later elected pope and eventually martyred for his Christian beliefs. Those who visited this rather gloomy place say they experienced something strange here. Among these people are two authors who report a very strange encounter with a mysterious entity they believed was not of this world. What did they see and why were they under the impression this being was not of this world? Did they accidentally catch a glimpse of someone from another reality? There is one particular aspect of this case that makes the experience very unusual to say the least. Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe have investigated the world's unsolved mysteries for more than 30 years and are the authors of 15 bestselling books. In their fascinating book Mysteries and Secrets of Time, they recall a highly unusual sighting of a being who was present inside the catacombs of St. Calyxtus. Lionel was visiting the catacombs together with Patricia and they were both behind the rest of the party. They were so far away from the rest of the other tourists that they could still see them but both authors are convinced no one, absolutely no one, was behind them. According to their own testimony, Lionel and Patricia were not walking side by side. Lionel was about 30 meters behind Patricia and she was far behind the party in the catacomb. Lionel remembers how he suddenly became aware of someone's presence right behind him. In their book, the authors write, The tall stranger behind him in the eerie darkness of the Calyxtus catacombs was not of this earth but he was nothing hostile or negative. If he gave off any psychic atmosphere at all it seemed to be curiosity. He seemed to be asking politely enough who Lionel was and what he was doing there. Lionel also got the impression that the entity was probably an ordained deacon or priest. He was wearing a tall, pointed hat like a traditional wizard from legend and folklore and a long cape which together with the hat gave the outline of a tall upright cone. The cloak and hat were black but they shone, gleaming and glistening as though something bright and sparkling was woven into them. When Lionel turned to look more closely at the entity he could see nothing. It was one of those apparitions that is restricted to peripheral vision. Because as a priest Lionel is frequently called upon to conduct funerals and regards comforting and helping the bereaved as one of the most important parts of his priestly work, he wondered whether the entity that had looked over his shoulder down there in the solemn silence of the Calyxtus catacombs had also been a priest, one who had laid to rest the mortal remains of those that lay there. The experience made a big impression on Lionel who tried to make sense of who he had encountered in the Calyxtus catacombs. In time Lionel became convinced the mysterious stranger must have been an early Christian funeral priest. This puzzling encounter raises many intriguing questions. Listeners who believe in the existence of ghosts will most likely say Lionel witnessed a spirit or phantom of some sort. As mentioned on several occasions, the number of scientists who promote the multiverse theory is steadily increasing. If our reality is surrounded by multiple worlds invisible to our naked eye, it can occasionally happen that these worlds collide with our own and we can watch brief glimpses from other realities. Lionel and Patricia wonder if the encounter in the catacombs could have been a time slip. In their book, the authors ask, did a priest from the 3rd or 4th century encounter a fellow priest from the 21st century? Did a man who had done his best to help the bereaved 17 centuries ago glide through a mysterious portal in time to encounter a kindred spirit doing that same work today? Assuming this was a time slip, it cannot be denied it was a very different experience than most time slip cases reported worldwide. What's unusual about this particular case is that Lionel saw the mysterious being once again, but this time not in the catacombs. When Lionel and Patricia returned to their hotel, the sightings continued for the next 36 hours. Lionel saw brief glimpses of the same entity that simply wasn't there in physical form. Lionel, who thought this must have been a priest, says the man seemed to be surrounded by animals, most likely sheepdogs or tamed docile wolves. As time passed, Lionel's peripheral visions faded until they were completely gone and he could no longer see the unknown stranger anymore. Lionel and Patricia think the experience was most likely a time slip and not an encounter with a ghost. As a theologian, Lionel had a great deal of sympathy for Calyxtus and he has wondered whether the entity he encountered could have been the deacon himself. In their book, Lionel asks could that strange figure looking over Lionel's shoulder in the catacomb have been Calyxtus himself from the days when he was the deacon responsible for it? It Calyxtus sensed that this British priest visiting these ancient Roman burial places from a century 1700 years ahead of his own was a tolerant kindred spirit, potentially a theological comrade in arms who would stand beside him in his dispute with bitter opponents who held cruder, narrower, less merciful views. These are valid questions and the reasoning is logical. But let's not forget that most who report time slips have no relation with the places or people they witnessed. Thanks for listening. Feel free to email me any time with your questions or comments at Darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. You can also find all of my social media and a link to the Weird Darkness Weirdos Facebook group on the contact page of the website. If you're listening to Weird Darkness on the radio, on a streaming station or on YouTube, be sure to subscribe to Weird Darkness in your favorite podcast app too, where I upload episodes seven days a week. I'd also appreciate leaving a review of the show in the podcast app you listen from, and if you're already a weirdo, please take a moment today and share Weird Darkness with someone you know who loves paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or mysteries like you do. Do you have a dark tale to tell of your own? 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 Calyxtus Catacombs Entity was written by Ellen Lloyd for ancient pages. The Cursing of Christopher Case is by Granua Kaur for conspiracy theories. The Disappearing and Reappearing Village of Equus is by Stacia Briggs for Eastern Daily Press. The Vanishing of Lori Price is by Troy Taylor from his book Bloody Illinois. Great-grandkids of green children is from ancient code. And how a congressman got away with murder is from Genevieve Carlton for all that's interesting. Weird Darkness is a production of Marlar House Productions. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Second Timothy 1 verse 7. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control. And a final thought, how beautiful it is to find someone who asks for nothing but your company. Bridget Nicole. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. William of Newburgh. A monk from the Augustinian Priory of Newburgh. And Ralph of Cogeschal. A monk with the Cistercian. A monk with the Cister... A monk with the Cister... Cistercian. A monk of the Cistercian. Cister... Cistercian. Cister... There's a word you don't hear every day. Cister... Cister... Cister... Cister, don't you? Cister, don't you kiss me once or twice? Say it's very nice and then you run. Cister, don't you do what you're being existed on? Cisterian... Cistercian. Cistercian. Cistercian. That was wrong no matter what. No matter what way I went. Let's try that again. A third theory is that the green children were Flemish victims of persecution during the battle of Fornum. Flemish victims of persecution during the battle at Fornum. Flemish victims of persecution during the battle at... The underground burial chambers named after Calyxtus who at the time of their construction was the deacon of Rome under Pope Zephenyrus. Zephrenus. Zephrenus. Z manifestation Idea! Um... I don't know, that's right... Sounds like a name the Hollywood couple would give their their new kid. We'd like for you to meet our new daughter, Zepheniris. 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.