 Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. At the end of a quiet street in Felizca, Iowa, there sits an old white frame house. Up the street there are a group of churches, and a few blocks away is a park that faces a middle school. The old white house looks like many of the others that fill the neighborhood, but unlike them, it lies abandoned. The house emits no light or sound, and upon closer inspection, the doors are found to be tightly boarded up. A small sign out front reads, Felizca acts murder house. Despite its ominous air, the little white house was once filled with life, life that was harshly stamped out one warm summer's night in 1912 when a mysterious stranger broke in and viciously bludgeoned its eight sleeping inhabitants to death. The event would come to be known as the Felizca acts murders, and it has baffled law enforcement for over a century since. 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, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode Social media over-sharers are a common complaint. Facebook is a medium where people spill their guts, sometimes without enough discretion. While detailed status updates about breakups can be annoying, killers who confessed on social media give new meaning to the term TMI. It's hard to believe, but some people use Facebook as a platform to announce the heinous crimes they've committed. While some people confess on social media to the murders they've committed, in some cases it is social media that caused people to commit murder or be killed. We'll look at a few of those cases. What if you could talk to God, not through prayer, but through thought? Where you would be able to converse directly and receive direct answers. One group of scientists believed it was possible and set out to do just that. Author and researcher Raymond Fowler tackles the tricky and trippy subject of time slips and ripples in time. A young girl is continually beckoned to take a boat ride, but the one doing the beckoning is not of this world. But first, on June 10, 1912, all eight people inside the Moors family house in Velisca, Iowa, including two adults and six children, were murdered by an axe-wielding assailant. It's a mystery over a century old that still has no answers. We begin there. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter, and our contests. Connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. On June 10, 1912, the Moors family was sleeping peacefully in their beds. Joe and Sarah Moore were asleep upstairs, while therefore children were resting in a room down the hall. In a guest room on the first floor were two girls, the still-injure sisters who had come for a sleepover. Shortly after midnight, a stranger entered through the unlocked door, not an uncommon sight in what was considered a small, safe, friendly town, and plucked an oil lamp from a nearby table, rigging it to burn so low it supplied light for barely one person. On one hand, the stranger held the lamp, lighting the way through the house. In his other hand, he held an axe. Ignoring the sleeping girls downstairs, the stranger made his way up the stairs, guided by the lamp and a seemingly unerring knowledge of the home's layout. He crept past the room with the children and into Mr. and Mrs. Moore's bedroom. Then, he made his way to the children's room and finally back down to the bedroom downstairs. In each room, he committed some of the grizzliest murders in American history. Then, as quickly and silently as he had arrived, the stranger left, taking keys from the home and locking the door behind him. The Voliska axe murders may have been quick, but as the world was about to discover, they were unimaginably horrifying. The next morning, the neighbors became suspicious, noticing that the usual rambunctious home was dead quiet. They alerted Joe's brother who arrived to take a look. What he saw after letting himself in with his own key was enough to make him sick. Everyone in the house was dead. All eight of them bludgeoned beyond recognition. The police determined that the Moore parents had been murdered first and with obvious force. The axe that had been used to kill them had been swung so high above the murderer's head that it gouged the ceiling above the bed. Joe alone had been hit with the axe at least 30 times. The faces of both parents, as well as the children, had been reduced to nothing but a bloody pulp. The state of the bodies wasn't the most concerning part, however, once the police had searched the home. After murdering the Moors, the killer had apparently set up some kind of ritual. He had covered the Moore parents' heads with sheets and the Moore children's faces with clothing. He then went through each room in the house covering all of the mirrors and windows with cloths and towels. At some point, he took a two-pound piece of uncooked bacon from the fridge and placed it in the living room along with a keychain. A bowl of water was found in the home, spirals of blood swirling through it. Police believed that the murderer had washed his hands in it before leaving. By the time the police, the coroner, a minister, and several doctors had thoroughly perused the crime scene, word of the vicious crime had spread and the crowd outside the home had grown. Officials cautioned the townspeople against going inside, but as soon as the premises were clear, at least 100 townspeople gave in to their gross fascinations and traipsed through the blood-spattered home. One of the townspeople even took a fragment of Joe's skull as a keepsake. As for the perpetrator of the Voliska axe murders, the police had shockingly few leads. A few half-hearted efforts to search the town and surrounding countryside were made, though most officials believed that with the roughly five-hour head start that the killer had had, he would be long gone. Bloodhounds were brought in, but with no success, as the crime scene had been fully demolished by the townspeople. A few suspects were named over time, though none of them panned out. The first was Frank Jones, a local businessman who had been in competition with Joe Moore. Moore had worked for Jones for seven years in the farm equipment sales business before leaving and starting his own rival business. There was also a rumor that Joe was having an affair with Jones' daughter-in-law, though the reports were unfounded. The townspeople insist, however, that the Moores and the Joneses harbored a deep hatred for each other, though no one admits it was bad enough to spark murder. The second suspect seemed far more likely and even confessed to the murders, though he later recanted claiming police brutality. Lynn George Jaclyn Kelly was an English immigrant who had a history of sexual deviancy and mental problems. He even admitted to being in town the night of the Voliska Axe murders and admitted that he had left early in the morning. Though his small stature and meek personality led some to doubt his involvement, there were certain factors police believed made him the perfect candidate. Kelly was left-handed, which police determined from blood spatters that the killer must be. He also had a history with the Moore family, as many had seen him watching them while at church and out and about in town. A dry cleaner in a nearby town had received bloody clothing from Kelly a few days after the murders. He reportedly also asked police for access to the home after the crime while posing as a Scotland yard officer. At one point, after a long interrogation, he eventually signed a confession detailing the crime. However, he almost immediately recanted and a jury refused to indict him. For years, police looked into every possible scenario that could have culminated in the Voliska Axe murders. Was it a single attack or part of a larger string of murders? Was it likelier to be a local perpetrator or a traveling killer simply passing through town and taking an opportunity? Soon reports of similar enough crimes happening throughout the country began to pop up. Though the crimes were not quite as gruesome, there were two common threads. The use of an axe as the murder weapon and the presence of an oil lamp set to burn extremely low at the scene. Despite the commonalities, however, no actual connections could be made. The case eventually ran cold and the house was boarded up. No sale was ever attempted and no changes were made to the original layout. Now the house has become a tourist attraction and sits at the end of the quiet street as it always has while life goes on around it, undeterred by the horrors that were once committed within. As you can imagine, plenty of creepy things happen in this house today. Tour guides, visitors and investigators hear whispers and footsteps. A lot. People see shadows and catch them on camera. Rumor has it that if you don't believe in ghosts, you will after spending the night at the super haunted Voliska Axe murder house. Many to visit the quaint former home of the Moore family in Voliska, Iowa have reported to have strange experiences. Some claim that the murder victims still remain, trapped within the house, while others believe a dark entity may lurk in the attic space, just as the murderer did all those years ago. However, others believe this not to be the case and that different energies may exist within the house today, possibly brought in by other investigators or created by their differing intentions. One thing that is certain is the house can be incredibly active. Doors seem to open and shut on their own. Objects move and strange sounds can be heard. Bangs, clangs, footsteps and especially voices which can often be captured on EVP are commonly reported within the home. Another report that is particularly eerie and that seems to come out of the house a lot is the unexplainable changing of visitors' moods. People can be happy, sad or even angry from one moment to another. A few years ago, a recreational paranormal investigator stabbed himself in the chest when visiting the house with a group of friends. He went into the northwest bedroom by himself and then, next thing you know, he is radioing his friends for help. The wounds were pretty bad. He had to be flown to Omaha for treatment, which is why you never break the first rule of ghost hunting club. Never wander off by yourself. The Velisca Axe Murder Houses open seasonally for guided day tours and the property can even be rented for overnight stays and paranormal investigations. But be warned, according to local reports, many of the residents of the small town of Velisca, Iowa, aren't that keen on all the visitors that slept through the town looking for ghosts or getting their true crime fix. Some locals think it's improper to exploit the deaths of the Moore family and their friends and hate that the town is famous for such a heinous crime. So you may get the stink eye from the townsfolk if you go to check it out. When Weird Darkness returns, social media over-sharers are a common complaint. Facebook is a media where people spill their guts, sometimes without enough discretion. While detailed status updates about breakups can be annoying, killers who confessed on social media give new meaning to the term TMI. It's hard to believe, but some people use Facebook and other social media sites as a platform to announce the heinous crimes they've committed. Weird Darkness is now partnering with Paranormality Magazine. Paranormality Magazine is based out of love for the strange, unexplained and paranormal, as well as a fascination with the people and creators that make the paranormal community what it is. Exploring all 40 subjects, from phantoms to UFOs and every cryptid creature in between, their global team collects stories, conducts interviews, and reports on cutting-edge paranormal projects. They also consider contributions from outside writers, researchers, and artists. Visit WeirdDarkness.com-slash-magazine to learn more or subscribe to Paranormality Magazine. That's WeirdDarkness.com-slash-magazine and you can get 10% off your subscription if you use the promo code Weird. That's WeirdDarkness.com-slash-magazine-promocode-weird. WeirdDarkness.com-slash-magazine-promocode-weird. Some of the following stories are incredibly unsettling. Others are downright dumbfounding in their stupidity. There are the killers who bragged on Facebook taking pride in their act, as well as those who were remorseful and robbers taunting cops to catch them, or those who have committed crimes and just had to report it as part of their Here's What I Did Today online social media posts. Regardless of the motivations behind their status updates, there is something undeniably strange about committing a crime and proceeding to use social media to announce it to the world. Police had an easy time tracking down Floridian Mack Yearwood, wanted in connection with an assault that took place over Labor Day weekend 2016 after he used his own wanted poster as his Facebook profile picture. Cops in Steward, Florida, north of Miami used Yearwood's Facebook to track him to his brother's house where he was arrested. Writing on the Steward Police Department Facebook page, Corporal Brian Bacino noted, Facebook is a great way to communicate and connect with old friends and family. If you're wanted by the police, it's probably not a good idea to use the wanted of the weak poster of yourself as your profile pic. Michael Baker siphoned gas from a cop car in 2012 and shared a picture on Facebook of the deed. He was arrested soon after. In a bizarre tragedy, Randy Janssen took to social media in May of 2015 to post an unnerving status update about his actions 10 days prior. He claimed his daughter suffered debilitating migraines. As a result, he felt he had no choice but to murder his daughter as well as his wife and sister to spare them pain and shame over his actions. In a lengthy post, he described the psychological suffering his daughter's migraines caused. Janssen seemed almost relieved at his actions. I took a gun and shot her in the head, and now she is migraine-free and floating in the clouds on a sunny afternoon, he wrote, her long, beautiful brown hair flowing in the breeze, a true angel. When police arrived on scene, a four-hour standoff ensued. They saw a man matching Janssen's description in the window, and shortly thereafter, the house was engulfed in flames. The inferno was so intense, it took three days before it was safe to re-enter the home. Upon searching the ruins, Janssen's charred body was found. Forensic reports indicated he had shot himself after starting the fire. After prematurely tweeting that he beat a body, referring to the person he killed and the charges he evaded in 2012, gang leader Ronald Herron posted a YouTube video of himself firing handguns and claiming that he was head of a murder team. Herron was arrested. When Rosemary Fareed's roommate got too noisy for her liking, she began posting violent status updates about her desire to harm him. Later that same day, Fareed, who described herself as mentally disturbed, uploaded a bizarre video to Facebook in which she confessed to having brutally beaten her roommate to death by repeatedly bashing his head onto the bathroom floor. In 2014, video was taken while she was walking outdoors and at one point, she paused to greet a passerby with the words, How you doing, man? God bless your family. Police officers found Fareed's roommate in a pool of blood in the bathtub. There were bloody washcloths in the kitchen sink and a trail of blood led to the bathroom. Fareed confessed she took her roommate's phone before killing him so he could not contact authorities. She was arrested the next day and charged with murder. Benjamin Robinson and Daniel Hutchinson stole thousands of British pounds from gambling machines then took selfies with their hull. North Yorkshire police originally found more than 3,000 euro in cash in Robinson and Hutchinson's car when they stopped it in Skipton, UK in June 2014. The men wore disguises during the act but snapped pictures afterwards and posted them to social media. When his estranged wife cut off Facebook contact with him, Mark Alvin Manlislik was desperate to get her attention. His wife had left the Philippines for Canada for a job, an action she allegedly took out of fear of her own life. As revenge, Manlislik brutally stabbed their daughter to death and posted the images of her body online. Some witnesses claim he also posted a video of the murder which was later taken down. Manlislik's aunt found the 7-year-old girl's body and police found stab wounds in her neck, abdomen and back. While the murder is an unbelievable tragedy, at least justice was served. Manlislik was swiftly taken into custody. After fatally shooting his wife several times, Florida man Derek Medina uploaded images of her corpse to Facebook. He claimed the murder was in self-defense but he still expected to go to prison. The jury did not buy his self-defense claim, however, and the judge overseeing the case was quick to point out Medina foretold his own fate in the post. While Medina claimed his wife was abusive, the prosecution countered this with testimony from his wife's friends. Medina also gave conflicting reports on what occurred and his wife's wounds did not match his story. When he was sentenced to life in prison, he gave a rambling statement to the court claiming he did not get a fair trial. Dominic Antonio Alfanesca held up a bank in Virginia Beach in 2015. He posted a picture of the note he passed a bank teller demanding the money. He also uploaded two videos he took while committing the crime, including one of the bank teller reading his note and another of the teller handing over the cash. He was picked up by police 20 minutes later. When Gypsy Blanchard posted a bizarre Facebook message reading that B is dead, police decided to search her home. They were shocked to discover the body of Gypsy's mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, who had been stabbed to death in her bed. Neighbors did not believe Gypsy had committed the crime as Gypsy was allegedly wheelchair bound. However, police soon found Gypsy and her mother had been faking her disability to gain financial assistance from the government. A story gets stranger from there. It soon came out that Gypsy did not act alone. She conspired with boyfriend Nicholas Paul Gojohn who she met on a Christian dating site. Gojohn confessed to having stabbed Dee Dee to death on orders from Gypsy and the pair were promptly charged with first degree murder. Hannah Sabata stole $6,000 from a cornerstone bank in 2012 before immediately coming home to make a YouTube video about it. I just stole a car and robbed a bank. Now I'm rich. I can pay off my college financial aid and tomorrow I'm going for a shopping spree. She wrote in the video's description, adding, Bite me. I love Green Day. Police were notified and Sabata was arrested. The video was used at her trial as evidence. When Samantha Stansifer broke up with her boyfriend Anthony Hall, he let her stay with him for two weeks while she worked out her living situation. This turned out to be a deadly mistake. When Stansifer was going through Hall's phone, she found he had been texting another girl. Her reaction was to brutally stab him to death in his sleep and then post on Facebook, I did it, he deserved it. Stansifer, who was covered in Hall's blood when she was arrested, apparently showed no remorse and was unfazed as she recounted her story. The only solace is that a judge and jury showed Stansifer little empathy in return. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole in June of 2015. In 2011, Rodney Knight Jr. stole a bunch of stuff like cash, a laptop, and a winter coat from Washington Post journalist Mark Fisher's home and took a photo of himself doing it. He posted the image to his son's Facebook account. He was later arrested and charged with burglary. In September of 2016, Earl Valentine posted an unsettling video on Facebook Live. In the video, Valentine said, Hello everyone, I just killed my effing wife. Unbeknownst to Valentine, his wife had survived her gunshot wound, but his 15-year-old son was not so lucky. Valentine's son had been shot in the crossfire and used his dying words to phone the police for help. There would end up being no trial for Valentine. After the shooting, he fled the scene and phoned police to say he was going to Virginia to kill more relatives. However, after visiting his father's grave, Valentine checked into a hotel room in Columbia, South Carolina. Less than 48 hours after the shooting, Valentine died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Rashia Wilson called herself the Queen of IRS Tax Fraud in 2011 because, according to court documents, she stole more than $20 million. She gave herself the title on Facebook, and when cops found out, she was sentenced to 21 years in jail. When Nancy Lopez logged on to Facebook in December of 2011, she saw a disturbing status from her Facebook friend Bart Heller. In the status, Heller claimed he had killed his ex-girlfriend and a friend of his and would soon take his own life. Lopez phoned the police in Fort Lauderdale, Indiana, nearly a thousand miles away from her home to report the crime. Police arrived at the scene to find the bodies of Heller, Aaron Gell and Ryan Tipton. Allegedly, some kind of love triangle spurred Heller's actions. Gell had recently begun a relationship with a police officer and Heller was also suspicious of her friendship with Tipton. His jealousy led him to commit this unspeakable act. After allegedly robbing a savings bank in Ohio in 2015, John Mogan and Ashley Dubow posted a number of silly photos of themselves posing with the cash in various positions online, they were soon arrested. Despite her online confession, 18-year-old Nakasha James pled not guilty to the stabbing death of her boyfriend Dorian Powell. After a heated argument, James claimed to have killed Powell in self-defense, according to a distraught Facebook status update. In the post, James seems genuinely remorseful. She wrote, I got the knife and stabbed him, didn't I would hurt him, but I did he died. She then wrote she was going on the run, hoping the Lord would forgive her. She ended the status with the chilling message, and sorry Dorian Powell, rip. In 2012, police arrested 43 alleged gang members in connection with a series of shootings in Brooklyn. The suspects posted about their supposed criminal activities on Facebook and Twitter. After killing his child's grandfather, Anthony Curtis Becneal posted on his Facebook page that he had killed a man. In a series of status updates, he claimed he was going to take his own life. The last status read, goodbye to my friends and people who gave a damn. Police later found Becneal's decomposing body less than half a mile from the murder scene. He had apparently shot himself in the head. After being accused of rape by force in 2012, Dustin McCombs took umbrage with the police department, labeling him the creep of the week, and decided to troll them on Facebook. The authorities traced his location and arrested him soon after. While some people confess on social media to the murders they've committed, in some cases it is social media that caused people to commit murder or be killed. We'll look at a few of those cases up next. In the near future, virtual reality games are indistinguishable from the real world. Players can take on the role of a star quarterback or rule as the king of a virtual kingdom. 13-year-old Jake prefers to spend his free time building Zaloria, a virtual world he created from scratch, where he and his two best friends, Des and Kerry, spend their afternoons completing quests and collecting treasure. However, all in Zaloria is not what Jake expected. When Jake discovers that the world he built is growing and changing on its own, he and his friends uncover a secret that could change the world forever. Jake and his friends must fight for survival when his virtual world takes on a mind of its own. Game Alive, a science fiction adventure novel by Tripp Ellington, narrated by Darren Marlar. You're a free sample on the audiobooks page at WeirdDartness.com. We're all well-versed in the belief that the internet can be a dangerous and oftentimes intimidating place. You have to be wary of the things you put out into the world, especially publicly, because everyone in the world then has access to it. In a world ruled by digital communication, hosting the wrong status update can actually be fatal, and there are several statistics on it. These social media deaths were caused by a number of differing circumstances. Something as simple as a relationship status change on Facebook or a catfishing gone unbelievably awry could then lead to an array of tragedies and real victims. If these harrowing stories are enough to make us just a tad more discerning of what we're willing to post online, then retelling these tragedies may actually cause some good. We can only hope that fatally targeting others isn't the newest and most dangerous social media trend. One evening in 2010, after reading child support-related Facebook comments from his ex-wife that he perceived as passive-aggressive, Adam Mann beat Lisa Beverly in her London home with a hammer before using a knife to sever her neck. The couple had reportedly divorced in 2007, then Mann left Beverly's body for the couple's five-year-old son to discover the next day. Mann's son phoned his grandparents to tell them what he discovered, and they ultimately called the police. Mann received a 24-year sentence. Perhaps the most bizarre social networking killer never directly took any lives. In a twisted scheme taken to the extreme, then-27-year-old New Zealander Natalie Burgess spent months creating fake Facebook and Bebo profiles of attractive teenage girls. She gave them alluring names like George Williams, Becca Maria Julien, and Abby Janes O'William. And her ultimate goal was to seduce dozens of teenage boys as young as 13 into online relationships. As if that wasn't I belong on to catch a predator enough, Burgess would then kill off the fake girls in tragic accidents or suicides using other made-up personas to break the news on Facebook. Burgess would trick the teens into believing they'd found someone special and then later deliver the devastating news of their passing. The girls' online boyfriends were traumatized. Over 40 teen boys had been identified as victims of her digital mind games, and one subsequently took his own life. Her machinations were discovered only when in 2011 a 22-year-old woman found her own photographs in an online memorial video for one of these fake internet girls, a girl named Abby. Burgess was sentenced to two years and two months in prison. In 2014, Scott Humphrey, 27, of Nottingham Shire, was sent to jail after he repeatedly punched his friend Richard Ravetto, 29, in a cab on the way back from a guy's night out. Humphrey was upset because Ravetto had allegedly poked Humphrey's girlfriend on Facebook. Ravetto claimed that he didn't know the woman was Humphrey's girlfriend and met no offense by the virtual flirting. The punches reportedly caused Ravetto to become lightheaded, and he passed when Humphrey pushed him to the ground causing a fatal head injury. Humphrey received four years and four months for manslaughter. In August of 2010, three Colombian teens were found shot without any obvious reason, and it was just the beginning of a digital reign of terror. Five days later, the names of the teens and 66 others showed up on a mysterious Facebook death list. The passings all took place in the town of Puerto Aces, located in Putamayo. When another teenager named on the list was slain three days later, more lists were posted and leaflets were placed on cars asking the families of kids on the lists to leave town within three days or see their children's lives ended. At the time, a local named Juan David Sopalveda tweeted, Need to protect our youth, promoting a public outcry. But the police, aside from suspecting gang activity, were at a loss. To this day, nobody knows or is willing to speak up about the responsible party or parties. The slayings stopped after most of the kids on the lists who were predominantly minors fled town. Even adults can succumb to the ugliness that is cyber-jealousy. In 2008, 41-year-old Edward Richardson's 26-year-old wife, Sarah, decided to change her Facebook relationship status from married to single. Even though they were already separated, Richardson was adverse to the status change. After their separation, Sarah decided to move back in with her parents. Later, Richardson snuck into the Staffordshire house and confronted Sarah with a knife while she slept. Following her passing, Richardson attempted to take his own life but was apprehended by authorities. He received a 17-year sentence. Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, aged 20, was a self-styled horror-core rapper living in Castro Valley, California with his sister. Realizing that nobody actively follows bands on Facebook, McCroskey turned to MySpace in an attempt to reach out to all the horror-core fans looking for the next big thing. He made a connection with Emma Niderbrock, 16, and her friend Melanie Wells, 18. Under the name Psycho Sam, McCroskey posted some of his musical stylings on the social platform. You're not the first just to let you know. I've killed many people and I killed them real slow. It's the best feeling watching their last breath, stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left. In 2009, McCroskey went to Emma's home in the small town of Farmville, Virginia. There, he attacked Emma and Melanie as well as Emma's parents, Pastor Mark Niderbrock, 50, and Dr. Deborah Kelly, 53. Their bodies were found at the Niderbrock home having been bludgeoned with a hammer and a mall while they slept. A friend and fellow horror-core rapper claimed, you would never ever imagine that kid even being a suspect. McCroskey was sentenced to life in prison. In 2008, a teen from Mesa, Arizona, committed patricide. When a normal 15-year-old is forbidden to use his favorite social networking site, they might choose to go outside and play with their friends or interact with the real world. But when 15-year-old Houston Schlicker's father threatened to ban him from using MySpace, he ended his dad's life with a 12-gauge shotgun. Reportedly, Schlicker had been threatening to take his own life for weeks on MySpace. On the day in question, Schlicker stayed home from school specifically to end his father as well as himself. He decided that if his father was going to take away his internet, he was going to take both of their lives. However, he called a friend who convinced him to turn himself in. Schlicker was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. In 2010, a Facebook feud between Tori Lynn Emery, 23, and Daniel Booth, 20, led to a deadly high-speed car chase. The two women had been fighting on Facebook for months over a guy that was in prison at the time. When Emery saw Booth driving with a friend, she pursued them across town, with her three-year-old in the back seat. Emery rammed 21-year-old Alicia Abernathy's car several times until the car ran a red light and was hit by a dump truck. Abernathy passed instantly, and Booth was in critical condition. Tracy Emery, Tori's mother, said tearfully, she made a mistake but her intentions weren't to kill nobody, her intentions were to fight. Emery received a sentence of 18 to 60 years for numerous charges, including child endangerment. Sarah Elston, 22, was reportedly excited to see her ex again. For the first time in months, 28-year-old Daniel Garcia contacted her on Facebook to set up a meeting. While Elston, an artist in Brisbane, was looking forward to the reconciliation, her former boyfriend's intentions were sinister. Elston was unaware of Garcia's pre-existing mental health conditions, and Garcia had recently confessed his desire to commit homicide to a counselor. In June 2008, the police were called to a disturbance at Elston's flat and then found her mutilated body. Neighbors reported that they had heard loud noises coming from the unit but didn't report it sooner because such commotion was common in their neighborhood. Garcia was arrested but found mentally unfit to stand trial. Reportedly, Garcia is a paranoid schizophrenic and will be permanently institutionalized for his crimes. Sarah Luterman, 18, and Rachel Wade, 19, had a particularly vicious internet battle. In the months leading up to her murder in April 2009, Luterman kept posting photos of herself with her new boyfriend, Josh, even though his ex-girlfriend Wade reportedly asked her to stop posting them. The two girls were harassing each other for months, including dropping threatening F-bombs into each other's voicemails. This particular voicemail transcript was played during the 2010 trial. Please tell me, Sarah, why you would be a dumb donkey brat and put a brand new picture of you and Josh at the beach on your MySpace? Seriously, I told you to watch your effing back and not to effing chill with him. I'm guaranteeing you that I'm going to effing murder you. I'm letting you know that now. So, following up on her promise, Wade went over to Luterman's house to continue taunting her. After an altercation, Wade stabbed Luterman in the chest with a kitchen knife and watched her bleed out. After being sentenced to 27 years in prison, Wade revised her stance on cyber exchanges, saying, It's almost like you can threaten something or say whatever you want and possibly scare them and you don't have to face them at that moment. Childhood friends, Jameg Blake and Kwame Dancy have been exchanging heated 140 character insults on Twitter for days over a woman both man-liked. In December 2009, just hours before a fatal confrontation in the luxury New York City high-rise where the 22-year-olds lived on the same floor, Dancy taunted Blake online. Dancy tweeted, N-word is looking for you. Don't think I won't give up yet dress for a price better chill ASAP. Blake then used a shotgun to target his former BFF. Immediately after the murder, Blake tweeted, R.I.P. Kwame. Dancy's mother, Madeline Smith, expressed her distraught, That's not a reason to shoot somebody. That's crazy. I don't know what's going on with that Twitter thing. Blake pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 21 years in prison. It was New Year's Eve in 2009 and most teens were busy spending time with their loved ones, ringing in the New Year. In Burri in Washington, seasoned 16-year-old criminal Matthew Dubois was arguing with his 15-year-old girlfriend, Makara Tinky Sanders, over a comment another boy had posted to her Myspace page. Dubois had a youthful record already spotted with theft, burglary, assault, and witness intimidation. He was so utterly thrown by the Myspace comment that by midnight he had taken a 547 handgun and shot his girlfriend in the face. It was then that Dubois had the idea to shoot himself in the shoulder so that he could blame Tinky's passing on an imaginary gang member. His plan backfired and Dubois, charged as an adult, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. When a London teen gang of 20 decided to kill rival 15-year-old Sophie and Bella Mauden, they planned the attack online. Further taking the public sharing theme to the next level, the group decided to go after Sophie and while hundreds of people watched. In 2010, armed with an eclectic assortment of weapons from samurai swords and machetes to Swiss army knives and screwdrivers, the teens chased Sophie and across busy Victoria Tube station before committing a 12-second long attack in front of hundreds of onlookers. Since the assault took place in a public space, a subway station, it was captured on CCTV, which made the whole who-done-it aspect of the criminal trials open and shut. In the end, three were convicted of murder, five of manslaughter, and nine on lesser charges. In 2014, 32-year-old Courtney Ann Sanford of North Carolina fatally crashed her car into a highway median moments after updating her Facebook status. Reportedly, Sanford posted, The happy song makes me happy. KTLA-5 reported that one of the drivers involved in the collision saw Sanford's car cross the median but was unable to maneuver out of the way. Authorities believe that Sanford had been updating her status and taking pictures while operating her vehicle. Amidst a digital sea of up-to-the-minute status updates, 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante of Missouri stood out from the crowd. Her Facebook profile interests even included killing people, and she wasn't lying. In 2009, Bustamante dug a shallow grave in advance, then stabbed her nine-year-old neighbor Elizabeth Olton multiple times before slitting her throat. She then hid the little girl's body. Of the crime, Bustamante later told police that she, quote, wanted to know what it felt like, unquote, to take a life. In her journal following the passing, Bustamante wrote that it was amazing. The prosecutor on the case, Mark Richardson, had argued for life in prison plus 71 years accounting for the years Elizabeth lost. Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action. She was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole for the first charge and 30 years for the subsequent charge. In 2016, two Franciscana dolphins were pulled out of the ocean in Argentina. The rare dolphins were then passed around by a bunch of people on the beach at the Santa Teresa Resort and used as props in the group's selfies. According to conservation specialist Vita Silvestra, the species of dolphin is susceptible to dehydration and heat. Reportedly, only 30,000 Franciscana dolphins exist. At least one of the dolphins passed during the reckless ploy for Instagram likes by this irreverent group of tourists. In 2014, 23-year-old Teri Marie Palmer stabbed her boyfriend, Damon Searson, after posting a Facebook status saying that her BF ticked her off sitting on Facebook, completely blanking her when she is talking to him. In retaliation for her boyfriend's inattentive attitude while he checked messages on his phone, Palmer assaulted him with a bread knife, ending his life. She then phoned emergency services and attempted to lie by stating her boyfriend had caused his own injury while they were messing around in their Lancashire caravan. The hairdresser was found guilty and given a life sentence in prison. She may be eligible for parole after 12 years. In 2016, a few weeks away from graduation, an 18-year-old Indiana teens life was taken as the result of a feud on Twitter. The tension started when Gerald Parker tweeted at his soon-to-be-assailant, Devin Legget 19, saying that he couldn't rap. Not too long after, Legget shot Parker multiple times according to several witnesses. Legget was charged with murder and carrying a handgun without a license. In 2016, Aaron Rao, a 24-year-old man from Bangalore, India, posted Hi Shisha while chatting with one of his friends, Sandeep, on Facebook. Shisha means disciple, but in his particular dialect it can also mean camp follower. Somehow, this sparked an argument between the two, which escalated into tension involving a whole group of men. A few weeks after making the comment, Sandeep and his friends approached Rao at his own home and asked to step outside to talk. When he didn't return immediately, Rao's mother went out to look for him. She found Sandeep and his buddies beating her son. Rao was then kidnapped in front of his mother, placed in a van, and repeatedly stabbed in his abdomen. Rao's brother and his friends searched for Rao and found him bleeding out at Bagular Cross. Rao passed while undergoing treatment at a local Baptist hospital. In 2016, 17-year-old Cassandra C.C. Porter, a senior at West Side High School in Dayton, Idaho, took her own life after another student set up a Facebook page under a false name encouraging her to. Two weeks prior, the teen reportedly attempted to take her life due to the continued online harassment. Thinking his daughter had recovered and the bullying had ceased, Craig Porter went out of town on business. When he returned, C.C. had passed. Her father lamented they just said terrible, graphic things about her and told her to kill herself. When Weird Darkness returns, author and researcher Raymond Fowler tackles the tricky and trippy subject of time slips and ripples in time. But first, a young girl is continually beckoned to take a boat ride. But the one doing the beckoning is not of this world. That story is up next. Hey Weirdos, how would you like to receive a box full of scary stuff in the mail full of fear-inducing objects like creepy collectibles, true crime-themed accessories, frightening flair, blood-curdling books, terrifying trinkets, eerie e-downloads, and more. Absolutely free. Every other month, I'm filming an unboxing video of the newest creepy crate that I get in the mail, then I'm boxing it all back up and giving it away by random drawing to someone subscribed to the Weird Darkness email newsletter. And before I close up the box for good, I might toss in a couple of Weird Darkness goodies as well for good measure. You can keep the creepy crate for yourself or give it away to a weirdo friend or family member. To watch my latest creepy crate unboxing video and to register to win a creepy crate of your own for free, visit WeirdDarkness.com slash creepy crate. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash creepy crate. The following tale was related by Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie E. Brown in their book Haunted Holidays, 12 Months of Kentucky Ghosts, which I will link to in the show notes. The Browns were spending one Fourth of July weekend with friends in a cabin on Lake Cumberland. Although they enjoyed sitting on the cabin's porch and looking over the water, they did not swim. When the lake was created, it flooded farms, houses, and wild landscapes. They had heard alarming tales of unwary swimmers encountering barbed wire, huge fish, and other such dangerous items. As it turned out, the lake harbored something even worse than they'd imagined. One afternoon, a family named Jackson, who were renting the cabin next door, came over for a chat. Their seven-year-old daughter, Tiffany, asked if she could walk on the beach. Both parents replied with a vehement, no. Mr. Jackson explained to the Browns that when they were staying at the lake the previous summer, they had a terrifying experience. As the front yard of their cabin was fenced, they allowed Tiffany to play in the yard alone. The gate was kept locked. Tiffany began telling her parents that every day around sunset, she saw a little girl alone in a boat on the lake. When the Jackson's would go to look, they saw nothing. One day, Tiffany informed them that the boat was bobbing in the water, empty, and the little girl was walking on the beach gesturing to her. Tiffany said that the girl wanted her to go in the boat. Tiffany's increasingly disturbed parents sternly warned her that she must never do that. The Jackson's decided they needed to find this girl's parents and have a serious talk with them. Late the following day, the Jackson's went out to the front porch to watch the sunset. Tiffany had already gone out to play. They were shocked to find that the gate had been unlocked and Tiffany was gone. A moment later, they saw their daughter in a boat just offshore. It was sinking and the child was screaming for help. Mr. Jackson dashed to the lake rescuing the girl just before she went under. What on earth were you doing in that boat alone? How did you get through the locked gate? The horrified parents asked her. Tiffany replied, the little girl opened the gate and helped me in the boat. She said it would be fun, but it wasn't. The next day, Mr. Jackson went in search of the mysterious child's family. Nobody knew of any other little girl currently staying at the lake, but a man who ran a bait shop did remember something. A couple of years back, a family with an eight-year-old girl rented the cabin where the Jackson's were staying. One night, the girl sneaked out and took their boat out on the lake. Gusts of wind capsized the boat and the child drowned. The Jackson's still had a week left on their rental and they were loathe to let this disturbing information ruin their vacation. They decided all would be well if they made certain that the gate and the doors of their cabin were kept locked. They also vowed to never let Tiffany out of their sight. That night, they awakened to hear Tiffany calling them. When the Jackson's came to her room, the child was standing by her window, looking into the yard. Tiffany cried, she's back. She wants me to go with her again. She says she wants someone to play with. Her parents saw no girl in the yard, but they noticed that the gate they had so carefully locked was now open and swinging in the wind. They brought Tiffany to their room for the rest of the night. First thing in the morning, they packed and left for home. The holiday was definitely over. The Jackson's told the Browns, this year we rented a different cabin. So far, we haven't seen anything unusual, but it doesn't pay to take any chances. It has become an increasingly popular notion that linear time, time measured from the past, the present and the future is not the complete story. The many variations from our normal perception of time spring from numerous source experiences to include UFO encounters, near-death experiences, and past life experiences. Even the CIA in its formerly classified remote viewing program encountered movements in time in addition to seeing the desired targets. In his book, Time Slip Connections, We Are Holograms, veteran UFO and paranormal researcher Raymond Fowler tackles the tricky subject of ripples in time from many angles while also demonstrating the interrelatedness of things previously thought to be completely separate phenomena. A place a link to the book in the show notes. The author of 11 books on UFOs and NDE's, Fowler began his career in the paranormal as a nuts and bolts researcher of UFO sightings in the 1960s. Over the decades, he gradually widened his belief system to embrace alien abduction, near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and other phenomena that came to seem linked to an overarching intelligence from which everything we know about reality originates. So what is a time slip? A time slip is an occurrence, Fowler writes, in which a person or persons step from their time into another time, either in the past or in the future. A person having a time slip may also experience a disquieting, unsettling or depressed feeling at the outset of the event. Some people have even described a sort of fog surrounding them as they emerge into another time. Others, as if a vacuum is lowered over them and all the sounds around them disappear at the outset of the time slip. This also sometimes occurs at the outset of a UFO experience. Fowler's interest in the phenomenon began with his own time slip experience. One morning in the spring of 1980, he recalls, when I entered the half-seller of our former home in Wenham, Massachusetts and stepped down a few steps into the full-seller, I instantly became totally paralyzed. Shocked, I found it hard to believe my eyes. A man with my build, wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white shirt appeared from behind the furnace where our freezer is located. He walked toward me, and when he was three feet away from me, he turned to my right and walked out of sight toward the cellar stairs. His body was solid, but it had a rapidly vibrating appearance to it. I could not make out facial features. Then, just as suddenly, I could move. I was dumbfounded and ran into the full-seller to find no one there. I called up to my wife and asked her if she had just been down in the cellar. She had not. In any event, the figure was exactly in my build and was wearing black pants and a white shirt. Fowler says he only later came to realize what had happened when one day he went to retrieve some frozen vegetables from the freezer in the cellar. He was wearing a pair of black dress pants and a white shirt and followed the exact same path as the apparition. He is convinced that what he saw in spring of 1980 was himself in the future. I can think of no other explanation, he writes. I was not hallucinating. I saw the man distinctly. The cellar was well-lighted with sunlight pouring in a window to my left. Fowler continues by saying that the only time he would be attired in black dress pants and a white shirt would have been for the weddings of three of his children in 1983, 1989, and 1991. He would continue to have time-slip experiences and eventually decided to write time-slip connections. The book examines several hypotheses concerning the structure of the universe and its relationship to time. It also provides an overview of research by the CIA that concluded that time, as we experience it, is an illusion and that so-called past events can be accessed via altered states of perception. One obvious and very disturbing implication of the time-slip phenomenon is that future events can be foretold. Even Fowler's brief encounter with his future self in the cellar implies that some events are etched in stone and that we eventually catch up with such events after the passage of time. Meaning, if time is an illusion, then so is free will. Fowler goes in-depth in his investigation of current theories concerning the holographic universe, part of which leads to the conclusion that we exist in a predetermined hologram, similar to a video game which is overseen by an advanced race of aliens who both created and control us all. We exist as mere holographic contrivances, made up of energetic atoms that masquerade as solid flesh and bone. The late sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick wrote along similar lines, and there are those who claim that his work was appropriated and used in the popular movie franchise The Matrix, which also centers on the artificial, mechanized nature of reality. The subtitle of Fowler's previous book, UFO's The Ultimate Abduction, We Are Property, which demonstrates that Fowler is proceeding along a path where free will is brought into question, if not done away with completely. I'll link to this book in the show notes as well. To make his argument, Fowler offers nearly a hundred anecdotal case histories of time slips from retro-cognition experiences in which a person steps bodily into a past time and even interacts with the environment there, to glimpses of the near future that are sometimes sent as a friendly warning to help experiencers to avoid certain forms of danger. In one of the appendixes to time slip connections, Fowler reports on some of the quantum physics and hard science that may be at play in the CIA's sometimes successful remote viewing efforts. It is reassuring to learn that such a mystical and out-there program has hard scientific support at all. As we continue to struggle with questions of space and time, Raymond Fowler is on the front lines, fighting to make sense of the unknowable in both scientific and spiritual terms, two fields of study that are gradually beginning to merge together into what may prove to be a beautiful and wondrous truth. Up next, what if you could talk to God? Not through prayer, but through thought, where you would be able to converse directly and receive direct answers. One group of scientists believed it was possible and set out to do just that. Loneliness can be a real burden, and while you can always log on to social media or watch TV, sometimes you just want someone near you. I mean, what if you could be in your living room sitting right next to Michael Myers or sleeping in your bedroom with Freddy Krueger? Maybe watch a horrible B movie with Elvira right there next to you. Have dinner with Hannibal Lecter. Do some quilting or sewing with Pinhead watching over you the whole time. Maybe wash and groom your dog in the presence of the Wolfman. Bobbletopia is the place to get your favorite horror characters as bobbleheads, and their Nika line of hyper-realistic horror action figures is incredible, like King Kong, the alien Xenomorph, Pennywise, Frankenstein's Monster, and more. And most every item is under 40 bucks. No need to be lonely any longer. Visit bobbletopia.com slash Weird Darkness and get 10% off your first order by using the promo code WeirdDarkness, that's bobbletopia.com slash Weird Darkness. See, you're feeling less lonely already. In 1983, a team of scientists theorized that a human denied access to any of their senses would be able to perceive the presence of God. They believed that these senses clouded the awareness of eternity, and without them a human could actually establish communication with God by thought. All they had to do was test their theory. They sought out volunteers for their experiment, and an elderly man stepped up. The scientists performed a complex operation on the man, severing every sensory nerve connection to the brain, leaving him unable to see, hear, taste, smell, or feel. All he had left was muscle function and the ability to speak, though he could not hear anything. Scientists monitored the man, and at first, all he spoke about was the state of his mind and jumbled slurred sentences. After about four days, he reported that he was hearing what sounded like hushed, unintelligible voices in his head. The scientists believed it was merely the onset of psychosis and dismissed the man's concerns. It should be noted that sensory deprivation has been known to have psychedelic effects, including hallucinations and hearing things, which began as early as 15 minutes into the deprivation. In those cases, the test subjects were merely placed in pitch-black, soundproof booths for different durations of time. Just two days later, the man claimed he could hear his dead wife speaking to him, and he was able to communicate back to her with just his mind. Though they were intrigued, the scientists gave it little thought until the man started naming off the scientists' dead relatives. He had information, personal information, that only they would know. Scared, a large number of the scientists left the study. After about a week of conversing with the dead, the man became overwhelmed and distressed. He was constantly being bombarded by the numerous voices anxious to speak with him. He began to throw himself against the wall, willing himself to feel something, gain back at least that sense. But it was useless. The man begged the scientists to sedate him, quieting his mind so he could escape, if even for a little while. It worked for a time, but then he began having horrible nightmares. Not only could he hear the voices, but he could see the dead now as well. The voices of the dead became increasingly hostile, speaking of hell at the end of the world. At one point, scientists recorded him yelling, no heaven, no forgiveness, for five hours straight. He begged to be killed, but was refused yet again. The scientists were sure he was on the brink of establishing contact with God. Another day went by, and the man could no longer form coherent sentences. He began biting chunks of flesh from his arm. To stop him, the scientists restrained him on a table. After a few hours of struggling and screaming, he fell silent. He stared blankly at the ceiling, tears silently spilling from his eyes. The man lay there for two weeks, crying constantly. As if out of nowhere, the man turned his head, and despite being blind, made focused eye contact with one of the scientists. He whispered, I have spoken with God, and he has abandoned us. The man died then, with no apparent cause of death. If this sounds like fiction, then you are absolutely correct. The story titled The Gateway of the Mind is a creepypasta, which can be found at creepypasta.com, but for some reason people have picked it up and shared the story, thinking it is a true news story. Although the story is not real, it does make you wonder, what would happen if a person were cut off from all of their senses? It is said that when a person loses a sense, such as sight, their other senses become heightened. They can hear better, have a better sense of touch. Does that amplify when two senses are taken away? Is it illogical to believe that the mind would be highly elevated without the distraction of any senses, or would it simply lead to madness? Did the elderly man really speak to the dead and God, or had he simply gone mad? Sensory deprivation has been used by the military for purposes of interrogation. In particular, the five techniques of wall standing, hooding, subjection to noise, sleep deprivation, and food and drink deprivation. In the civilian world, sensory deprivation is used as a tool to reduce stress and encourage relaxation. This is achieved through the use of sensory deprivation tanks and chambers where the subject is monitored for safety. Religion is often a controversial subject. For some, it is a belief system. For others, it is a tool used for control. It depends on your motivations and the true nature of your heart. Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find information on any of the sponsors you heard about during the show. Find all of my social media. Listen to audiobooks I have narrated. Sign up for the email newsletter. Find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead. Visit the store for Weird Darkness merchandise and more. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories on Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. The Horror and Haunting in Velisca is by Katie Serena for All That's Interesting, Amy from Amy's Crypt and Carly and Tara from Homespun Hates. The Ghost in the Boat was posted at Strange Company. Online Crime Confessions is by Patricia Platt and J.F. Sargent for Unspeakable Crimes. Dead because of social media is by Whitney Millam for A Ranker. Raymond Fowler and the Ever-Changing Nature of Time was posted at SpectralVision.com and A Direct Line to God was posted at the Scare Chamber. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. James 1, verse 26, If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. And a final thought, we must be willing to let go of the life we planned in order to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell, I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Have you ever noticed that in just about every post-apocalyptic TV show or movie, the electrical grid is gone? No power at all. Anywhere. No places to plug in a radio to get news. And you can forget about charging your mobile devices or relaxing in an air-conditioned house or apartment. We rely on electrical power. Did you know that the power grid we are currently surviving off of was designed in the 1800s? It's so fragile that in 2003 a tree branch hit a power line in Ohio and it shut down 21 power plants and close to 100 people died because of it. And it's not just natural disasters. In January, a power station in North Carolina was damaged by gunfire, marking the third time it happened. The terrifying truth is that our national security experts are warning us that our aging power grid is now more vulnerable than ever, and these attacks just raise a new level of threat. Those post-apocalyptic TV and film scenarios could easily turn from fiction to fact. Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or even months. Your life would be frozen in time at the moment the power fails. Lights all over the country would go out, throwing people into total darkness. That's why having your own personal source of solar power is more important than ever. With the Patriot Power Generator, you get a solar generator that doesn't install into your house because it's portable. You can take it with you wherever you go, even use it indoors. And it's powerful enough for your phones, medical devices, even your refrigerator. Right now you can go to 4patriots.com, that's the number 4, Patriots.com, and use the code WEIRD to get 10% of your first purchase on anything on the website, including the life-saving Patriot Power Generator. You'll also get their famous guarantee for an entire year after your order. Plus, free shipping on orders over $97. And the reason I approached 4Patriots to be a sponsor? A portion of every sale is donated to charities who support our veterans and their families. Prepare for the future. Go to 4patriots.com today and use the code WEIRD to get 10% off. That's the number 4, Patriots.com, promo code WEIRD and ensure you will survive the future. Click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos. 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