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Welcome Weirdos. A'm Darron Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio,
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where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,
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the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and
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unexplained coming up this hour. More than one hundred years ago,
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reports described it as the most weird and gruesome apartment
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in the world. Why display an entire room full of
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grotesque items and open it to the public kills Irish
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pop in Seattle has a creepy vibe to it, even
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if the displays and decorations inside aren't meant to be.
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Perhaps that's because the building started its life as a
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massive mortuary. Early one February morning in eighteen ninety seven,
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John Marge jumped out of bed from a sound sleep,
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and while the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs wafted up
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to the second level of the house, he inexplicably grabbed
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his pistol and went on a shooting spree of his
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own family. But first, a four year old has a
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paranormal experience, and the man he grew into over sixty
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years later is still unsure of what happened to him.
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We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome
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to the show. And if you're already a member of
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this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone
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else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to
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others helps make it possible for me to keep doing
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the show. While you're listening, be sure to visit Weirddarkness
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dot com, where you can follow me on social media,
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listen to free audio books, off narrated and more. That's
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Weird Darkness dot com. I'll bolt your doors, lock your windows,
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turn off your lights, and come with me into the
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Weird Darkness. When this occurrence happened, I would have been
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about three and a half years of age, and I
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have never forgotten it. This would have been in nineteen
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fifty one or nineteen fifty two. My understanding is that
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this particular house came as a job package with my
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father's employment. I can still recall some parts of the
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house and its general interior layout. At this time, my
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parents and my sister younger than myself, we were living
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at thirty six Canal Street, Derby. I was never brought
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up with bogeyman tails or other happenings to cause some
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fear or to obtain obedience from me. Therefore, I can
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not say that such imaginings were put into my head
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for me to invoke an event later. Despite my young age,
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I can recall this particular evening and event. The house
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was somewhat large and it had a semi spiral staircase
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with a red colored stair carpet on the treads and risers.
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At the top of this staircase was a landing which
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led to the bedrooms and bathroom. For whatever reason, I
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always used to ask my mother to leave the curtains
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open and occasionally the window partly open. It was one
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of these sash type of windows that opened and closed vertically.
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On the adjacent wall to the window was the door
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to the landing. This door was in the area of
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the foot of the bed and to the right of
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the bed. The side of the bed was across from
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this wall, with the bed head on the wall behind me.
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There was a small table to the head of the
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bed where I always had a tumbler of water, as
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often I would awaken overnight and have a drink of water,
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which continues to this day. When in bed and before
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the forthcoming event happened, I sometimes would hear what I
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thought to be a voice of someone who was speaking
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very softly, something like a loud whisper. The way this
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voice spoke, it sounded to me as if this person
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was looking for someone, but in a more inquiring fashion.
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Sometimes I never heard this voice, but it always came back,
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even if eventually there was just the one word spoke,
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but it was repeated. This sounded to my ears to
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be Jack Jack. These two words would stop for a
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short while, and then the same two words were softly repeated,
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Jack Jack. This may happen three or four times, and
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then stop as if the person had gone away. I
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had no idea as to which gender the voice belonged.
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All of this caused me no issues whatsoever, and it
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certainly never frightened me. It was just there from time
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to time. After I went to bed. The incident which
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I'm about to relate, I can well recall. My mother
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put me to bed, and as per usual, the curtains
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were left open and the window slightly cracked. I never
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heard these soft spoken words of inquiry, and so I
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must have fallen asleep. Later I awoke to what sounded
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like two cats fighting outside. We had no pets, but
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there were a couple of cats that came into the
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small garden. During all this screeching and wailing from these cats,
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there was the sound of what appeared to me as
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being of empty tin cans pooling, falling onto a paved surface,
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and then rolling along this surface. I imagined that the
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cats had run into such cans and toppled them. Over
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All of this certainly caused me no concerns. I had
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a drink of water, and I must have gone back
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to sleep. I was awoken by a lady laughing. She
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was in front of the bedside table and between the
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edge of my bed and the wall where the door
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was located, which in turn was adjacent to the window
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at the foot of my bed. The lady was nondescript
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in color, being a dark gray. However, I could see
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some patterns and frills on her dress. This was bell
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shaped front and back, but more so at the back,
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and something that would be seen in the late seventeen
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hundreds to early eighteen hundreds. Her hair was pulled backward
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and in the fashion of a bun at the back
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of her head. She appeared to have long sleep leaves
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on her dress that had a lace or other frill material.
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Close to the wrists, there seemed to be something like
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a frill or a lace collar to her dress. This
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lady had a bracelet on her right wrist. However, the
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most significant detail of this particular lady to me was
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that she was laughing, but more so by the way
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that she actually laughed. Her laughing was very loud, and
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it could be best described as being in the form
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of what is sometimes referred to as hysterical laughter. She
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had both her hands over her face and partly on
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her forehead while she endlessly laughed. Throughout this laughing, she
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was rocking forward and back up again from waste level.
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I do not recall if I was frightened, but even
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at my tender age at the time I thought something
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was amiss. I left my bed and went into my
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parents' room, awoke them and told them that there was
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a lady laughing in my room. And this is my
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story of the lady at thirty six Canal Street, Derby.
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Nothing frightening, but I would love to know if something
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ever went awry in the history of this house, long
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before we occupied it. Very many years later, I must
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have been around seventeen or eighteen At the time I
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learned that this house had originally been built by a
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person that arrived in Derby from what is now Belgium.
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My understanding is that this person was associated with, or
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was a founding member of the soft drink manufacturer Burrows
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and Sturgists of Derby. That would require investigative authentication, which
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I have never performed. This newly learned piece of news
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at that time made me prick my ears up as
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it made me think, or should I say, at least consider,
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was the voice that I sometimes heard when in my
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bedroom which caused me no alarm or other concern not
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be saying Jack Jack, but in fact could it have
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been Jacques Jacques, or even being the shortened form of
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Jacqueline in the French dialect. I wondered whether the person
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voicing Jack Jacques was actually looking for a Jack somewhere
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in the house, so calling out softly to get a
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response from Jack to locate that person's whereabouts. Very many
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years later I learned that my parents often heard talking
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elsewhere in the house and persons moving about in the house,
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as well as furniture being shuffled about. However, there was
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never any evidence on inspection or investigation of any furniture
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that had been moved. There were neighbors I never knew them,
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of course, who always had visitors, and they made some noises. However,
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these people left and I was informed that the noises
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and inaudible talking within the house persisted on. My mother
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was somewhat concerned and rather uneasy at times about this house.
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Apparently my father was not so inclined. This attitude of
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my father may have been related to the fact that
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during World War II he served in the raf As
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aircrew in bombers, which could be a physically and psychological
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terrifying experience in itself. Consequently, he had little to know
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fears of noises or voices emanating from elsewhere in the house.
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In later life, I cannot recall ever seeing or believing
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my father to be a fearful type of person. I
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recall when in this house and whether it was pre
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or post by experience of the lady. My aunt, my
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mother's sister, visited us from Scotland. The only thing that
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I can recall was that my aunt, my younger sister,
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and myself were in the lounge room one night with
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Radio Luxembourg playing loudly. My parents had attended some function
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at Nottingham and my aunt was babysitting my sister and myself.
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My aunt appeared to be rather distressed, as I recall,
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my parents returned home, and I can recall my father
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being the first to enter into the lounge room. Both
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my parents were very surprised that my sister and I
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were still up and about, and also the radio playing loudly.
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The radio's volume was reduced, and my aunt, who was
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now in tears, was speaking to both my parents and
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all on the far side of the room. I never
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heard one word of this conversation. I was told again
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many years later that my aunt was very frightened on
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this evening as she heard talking outside the lounge room
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along with other noises. Also, the above mentioned neighbors had
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since left. Therefore, to drown out these stories and voices,
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she had greatly increased the radio's volume, and furthermore, she
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would not venture outside this room to put my sister
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and myself to bed. I tried a number of times,
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after learning of this incident, to get my aunt to
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tell me her experience of that evening. She adamantly refused
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to talk about it, and Sadly, I never found out
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directly from the person concerned what actually occurred. Apparently my
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aunt was always very frightened and alarmed about this house
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after her first visit before that mentioned episode. We eventually
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left Derby and moved to the village of Willington, where
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my father originated. We lived at Willington until September nineteen
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sixty two, when we moved to Stafford with my father's employment.
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Many years later, the subject of thirty six Canal Street
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came into the conversation with one of my father's friends.
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My father went on to say to this friend that
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the person who moved into the vacated house at thirty
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six Canal Street, Derby when we left for Willington once
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pulled my father to one side and asked him if
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the house was haunted. Apparently, my father would neither confirm
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or deny this. This person then told my father that
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he and his wife had heard all manner of noises
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within that house with people talking, but their conversations were imperceptible.
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On one occasion, late one night, when he returned home
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from work, a lady had passed this man on the stairs.
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This lady said something to him, but he was very
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tired and unsure of what she had voiced, and didn't
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realize this passing on the stairs until he was on
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the landing. Furthermore, and most interestingly, he told my father
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that his daughter, who was about six years of age,
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was very frightened in the house and that she had
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heard somebody calling out Jack Jack. Furthermore, this little girl
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had seen a lady laughing very loudly in her bedroom.
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When Weird Darkness returns, more than one hundred years ago,
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reports described it as the most weird and gruesome apartment
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in the world. Why display an entire room full of
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grotesque items and open it to the public. I'm Darren Marler.
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Welcome back to Weird Darkness. You can get more Weird
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Darkness seven days a week through the Weird Darkness podcast,
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which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts on YouTube,
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or visit Weird Darkness dot com slash listen, and you
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can find a list of all the apps where you
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can listen to the show. That's Weirddarkness dot com slash listen.
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In June of eighteen ninety nine, newspapers across the country
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trumpeted the story of New York city's newest site, something
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so strange and macabre it would have rated the highest
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attention even in the heyday of Pt. Barnum. Reported first
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by the New York Journal and then picked up by
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the Newswires, it was the story of a hospital room
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that was being decorated entirely with human bones in order
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to present a specter of mortality that was intended to
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eventually rival such morbid monuments as the Paris Catacombs or
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Rome's Capuchin Cemetery. The masterminds of the project were a
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pair of doctors Northway Meyer and Howard Nielsen, both on
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staff as anatomy demonstrators at Flower Hospital at sixty third
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and Eastern, it would later merge with other hospitals to
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become the New York Medical College, and William Flatter, the
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head nurse of the dissecting room. The trio had converted
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the anatomy lab into a veritable Charnel house. A pyramid
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composed of bones from all parts of the human body
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surmounted by a skull, were set on a long table
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as the room's centerpiece, and were flamed by skulls hollowed
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into drinking cups atop what the newspapers described as tripods
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of tibia. Next to this was a full skeleton enthroned
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and a large chair with his arm resting on the
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table and his gaze overlooking the pile. The room also
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included signs lettered with tow and finger bones. These spelled
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out the names of Meyer and Nielsen against a black
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background and noted the initials of the institute's proper name
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n Y, H, M, and C in large blocks New
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York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital. Various skulls and crossbones
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adorned the walls and garlands of bones had already been hung,
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with additional planned so that the ceiling itself would be
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obscured by a sea of human remains. Finally, as one
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newspaper account explained, up and down the walls like gasly,
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the white serpents crawl coils of vertebra. Wire Service reports
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dubbed it the most weird and gruesome apartment in the
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world and said that if the feeling of dread for
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these specimens displayed can be overcome, the display is quite
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enough to excite the interest and imagination of the most
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case hardened sightseer. Sensational it was, but the project was
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also not in the least controversial. What was the point
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to this macabre display or was it all simply the
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gratuitous fantasy of sick minds. Flater, who performed the actual
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labor of assembling the bones and was noted as the
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artist whose eccentric inspiration is accountable, was quick to provide
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a defense. It was meant to be didactic, a kind
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of learning aid, he explained. Our bone room is intended
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to serve as a practical aid to students of an anatomy.
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He told reporters. Human bones of every description can be
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found grouped about in artistic confusion, he continued, and this
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would allow the anatomy lecturers to quiz students in novel
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ways on their knowledge of the parts of the human body.
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Flater's explanation struck many as a bit hollow. Was there
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really academic value in instructors pointing at bones hanging on
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wire from the ceiling as a means of a pop quiz.
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The scholarly value of the room was not the only
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issue of debate, though. There were also questions about the
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exact provenance of the bones. How did Flator explain where
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the bones came from? We'll find out when weird Darkness returns,
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you can stay up to date on everything Weird Darkness.
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00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:59.359
Read original paranormal articles by me, register for contests and
277
00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.559
more signing up for the email newsletter. You can sign
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up for the Weird Darkness newsletter for free at weird
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00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:33.000
Darkness dot com slash newsletter. Welcome back to Weird Darkness.
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00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.079
I'm Darren Marler. If you'd like to display your dark
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00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.759
weirdness wherever you go, you can find Weird Darkness t shirts, buttons, hoodies,
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office supplies, clothes for your kids, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs,
283
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and a whole lot more in the Weird Darkness Store,
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00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.720
with dozens of designs to choose from and a variety
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00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.160
of colors to match your style. You can grab some
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00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:55.119
weirdo merchandise for yourself or maybe as a gift for
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00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.240
the weirdo in your life by clicking on store at
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00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:02.680
weird Darkness dot com. When last we left, Flatter's explanation
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for why he needed bones in the classroom struck many
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00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.839
as a bit hollow, but there was a bigger question
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where exactly did those bones come from. Flater told reporters
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that they had been obtained several years before. When acquiring
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human remains was easier and had been lying around the college,
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many packed away in boxes and of little use to anyone.
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No doubt the medical school had bones stored away, but
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whether they had quite so many was another matter, and
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one theory that made the rounds during the meeting of
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a local medical association involved the distasteful idea that the
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trio had stolen or otherwise obtained them from the potter's
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field or pauper's cemetery on Hart Island. For a long time,
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Hart Island has been New York's naughty secret. A mile
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long island at the eastern end of the Bronx, Hart
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has served many functions throughout its history, including acting as
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a Civil War prison camp, a tuberculosis sanatorium, and a
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shutter island style psychiatric hospital. But most notably, it has
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acted since the late nineteenth century as a dumping place
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for New York's impoverished dead, and holds the distinction of
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being the world's largest paupers cemetery, with over a million interments.
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The first burial was in eighteen sixty nine, and the
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volume eventually grew so high that the dead were placed
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in large mass graves. Three layers deep, with a level
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of sod between each layer. Pits for children, for instance,
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00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:53.960
were so vast that they held up to one thousand burials.
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By the time the room at Flower Hospital was being decorated,
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there had already been one one hundred, ten thousand, seven
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hundred fifty one burials on heart, so there were potentially
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plenty of bones to be obtained there. Bodies were delivered
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to the island by a boat named the Fidelity, captained
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by Edward McAvoy, who had received several demerits for misconduct
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while in the Navy. He would sail the East River
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to pick up bodies from the City Morgue and Harlem Hospital,
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among others, and twice weekly during the winter and three
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times a week during the summer, dropped them off on heart.
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The Fidelity could hold up to one hundred corpses, which
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were covered over on the deck by tarps so that
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passing boats would not be able to see the grisly cargo.
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On the island, they were received by Superintendent of Burials
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John Bopp, who then processed them with a team of
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fifty convicts from Riker's Penitentiary. It was a nauseating spectacle
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and as a crew member from the Fidelity told a
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reporter in nineteen hundred, it's all the same after you're dead.
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But if you want to know the advantage of passing
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away among friends, take a trip to Hart's Island on
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burying day. It would have been scandalous to the hospital
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if it were to turn out that the trio had
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been obtaining bones from the graves on hart Island for
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their project, but the suspicious past of Meyer and Nielsen
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meant that the question would not go away easily. The
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pair had already come under media scrutiny in eighteen ninety four,
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when The New York Times carried a story about how
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they were using narcotics to place stray dogs into comas
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in order to experiment with a potassium solution as an
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antidote to morphine poisoning. Meyer at the time was known
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by his true first name of Oscar, although when he
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went into professional practice he adopted instead his middle name
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of Northway, apparently in order to avoid confusion with the
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Oscar Meyer Wiener Company, which had been founded in eighteen
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eighty three. At the time, neither of the two were
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even properly physicians, having yet to graduate medical school, and
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they instructed the paper to omit the title of doctor, since,
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as they described it, they were simply students with an
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inquisitive bent. They would administer morphine intravenously to the dogs
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until they fell into a coma very quick for a
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small mongrel, up to four hours for a large dog,
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and follow that with a solution of premanningate of potash.
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The validity of their experiment was questionable, but at least
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none of the dogs died, or so they claimed. Not surprisingly,
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the weight of both public and private opinion was falling
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heavily against Meyer, Nielsen and Flater. The latter was vehement
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in his insistence that not only was the display ethical,
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it wasn't even intended to be morbid. If the bones
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present a sight most gruesome, he argued, it is because
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of the nature of the subject, and not because I
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had any eye idea of arranging such an effect. Despite
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the claims of the trio that the room was simply
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a means to put the remains of the dead to
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good and practical use, the hospital's governing board eventually mandated
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that not only would they cease adding to the display,
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they would remove what had already been constructed. Such a
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spectacle might be fine for the Catholic bone houses of
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seventh century Europe, but modern New York would not tolerate it.
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And with that, amid suspicions of grave robbing and professional misconduct,
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America lost its one and only attempt at a fantastic
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charnel house coming up. Kell's Irish Pup in Seattle has
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00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:51.559
a creepy vibe to it, even if the displays and
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00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:55.759
decorations inside aren't meant to be. Perhaps that's because the
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building started its life as a massive mortuary, and early
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00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.920
one February morning in eighteen ninety seven, John Mars jumped
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00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.400
out of bed from a sound sleep, and while the
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00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:10.880
smell of breakfast cooking downstairs wafted up to the second
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00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:14.559
level of the house, he inexplicably grabbed his pistol and
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00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:18.759
went on a shooting spree of his own family. These
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00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:51.039
stories are up next when Weird Darkness returns. If there
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00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:54.759
is a definitive go to Irish pub in Seattle, Washington,
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00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.319
it's Kels in the Pike Place Market. Just about any
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00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:03.559
Localsque who doesn't live the teetotal life has spent an
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00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:07.039
after work happy hour on its post alley patio or
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00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.839
a drunken Saint Patrick's day or two in this creaky, spooky,
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00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:15.559
old fashioned bottom floor bar, perhaps partaking in the city's
390
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:19.920
largest collection of single malt Scotch. But not everyone who
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00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:23.200
hangs out at Kells knows that there is a great
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00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:27.799
reason why it is so creepy in there. Kells is
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00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.559
in the ground floor of the Butterworth Building, as in
394
00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:37.240
Er Butterworth, who built Seattle's first mortuary inside this building,
395
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.279
and who basically invented the modern funeral as we know it,
396
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:45.960
and the very words mortuary and mortician for that matter.
397
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:52.759
Kells occupies the former stables and funeral wagon garage. Half
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00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:56.799
a block east from Kells. The Greco Roman sandstone arches
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00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:01.119
at nineteen twenty one First Avenue were, as Seattle Metz
400
00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.519
editor in chief James ross Gardner wrote in twenty twelve,
401
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.359
a passageway of sorts from this life into the next,
402
00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:13.119
Beginning in nineteen oh three, when Butterworth and Sons moved
403
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:16.559
into this snappy new building after bouncing around from the
404
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.200
old Masonic temple at Second in Pike to another location
405
00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:24.440
on Second and then another on Third. Arn Company had
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00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:28.440
a monopoly on the death industry in Seattle. For the
407
00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:32.480
first few decades that followed, just about everyone who died
408
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:37.799
in Seattle sailed through this building's archway. Many of the
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00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:42.519
dead came through without names or identification. The era in
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00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.119
which Seattle was settled saw epidemics of tuberculosis, diphtheria, and
411
00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:51.519
Spanish flu likely among others, and without proper burial services
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00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:55.599
available the case before Butterworth and sons, dead bodies would
413
00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:00.039
regularly just appear on the streets of downtown Seattle. He
414
00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:04.000
got so bad that the city started offering undertakers fifty
415
00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:06.960
dollars per body that they could take off the streets
416
00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:11.359
as a community clean up effort. Butterworth saw an opportunity
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00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:14.079
and took it, and it would make him a very
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00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:19.359
wealthy man. He hired John Graham, the English architect whose
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00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:22.519
firm would later design the Space Needle, to plan out
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00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.920
his grand five story mortuary with a two hundred mortar chapel,
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00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:33.160
a crematorium, a columbarium for storing funeral urns, a casket showroom,
422
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:36.400
and an elevator, the very first on the West coast,
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00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:40.319
used for transporting bodies up and down this marvelous palace
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00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:45.279
of death. Butterworth had Graham draw up eight different blueprints
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00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:49.680
before he presented one that was to Butterworth's liking. The
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00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:52.880
building was done up in the bosar style of the era,
427
00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:57.920
with four sculpted lionheads on the facade facing first Avenue
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00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:02.680
from three stories up. The aforementioned space that Kels now
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00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:06.920
sits in held horses and hearses concealed in the alley
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00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:11.160
to hide the unsightly bodies from public view. The floors
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00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.319
above were tricked out in mahogany, bronze and brass fixtures,
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00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:21.319
elaborate stained glass and general Victorian filigree. The spacious chapel
433
00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:24.960
had pews of Flemish oak, a choir loft, and a
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00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.440
new fangled system of light signals that acquire should the
435
00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:31.839
family hire one could follow to start or stop singing.
436
00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.160
Some of the services offered for Butterworth and Son's funeral
437
00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.400
packages were the transport of the body to the mortuary,
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00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.359
washing the body, dressing the body, embalming, newspaper death notices,
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00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:50.720
limousine and hearse service casket with optional crushed silk interior,
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00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:57.240
fresh flowers, burial permit, air sealed vault, and musicians. There
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00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.319
was nothing like it in the United States. Gardner's of
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00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:03.759
Butterworth and Sons may be nothing like it in the world.
443
00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.119
Edgar Ray Butterworth never meant to work as an undertaker
444
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:12.799
to begin with. Born in the Boston suburbs in eighteen
445
00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:16.240
forty seven, he found himself working as a cattleman on
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00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.839
the plains of Kansas when he encountered a grieving settler
447
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:23.680
while traveling with his team. The man, whose wife and
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00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:28.359
newborn child had both just died, had no lumber available
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00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.440
for coffins on the prairie. Butterworth had said, built a
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00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:35.359
coffin for the guy with wood taken from his own wagon.
451
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.920
Everyone in turn of the century Seattle knew Er, who
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00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:43.200
also served in the state legislature, and his oldest son
453
00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:47.359
Gilbert respectively by Ar's signature long ago Tee and his
454
00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:51.200
son's high, classic cheek bones and all around good looks.
455
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.440
They trusted the Butterworths with their family members who'd passed on,
456
00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:59.640
although it is unclear whether folks did because they wanted
457
00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:04.079
to or because they didn't really have a choice. As
458
00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:08.400
for its modern day incarnation as Kells, it has ghosts.
459
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.599
Everyone who even vaguely follows that sort of thing will
460
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.839
tell you this The most sighted one is a young
461
00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:19.359
girl of about eight years old with blonde or red hair.
462
00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:23.920
She supposedly shows up most when the traditional Irish music
463
00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:27.400
is going, appearing in the main room or on the stairs.
464
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.599
It's less famous ghost is Sammy, who will show up
465
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:34.920
in the mirror on the back wall. People say, you'll
466
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:38.039
see a man's face in the mirror looking right at you,
467
00:33:38.839 --> 00:33:42.039
but if you turn around to check him out, he vanishes.
468
00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:46.319
Turn back around to face the mirror, he's right there again,
469
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:50.799
grinning at you. There are also ghosts that never show
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00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:54.720
their faces. According to local legend, there is a small
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00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.880
ornate whiskey bar in the back corner at the restaurant,
472
00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:01.680
just a little corner bar. It's easy to miss, but
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00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.119
if you keep an eye on it, the candles all
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00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:07.319
around the bar will allegedly light up on their own,
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00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:12.320
Glasses are known to break on their own, silverware will levitate,
476
00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:17.360
and disembodied women's voices are heard. That same stairwell in
477
00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:20.440
the back where the little red haired girl hangs out,
478
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:24.559
is supposedly home to lots of other spirits too, who
479
00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:30.559
turn up in photographs via orbs, or maybe it's just dust.
480
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:36.119
Mercedes Caraba, who once ran the now defunct full Disclosure
481
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:40.760
Market Ghost Tours told Kuow in two thousand and nine
482
00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:44.559
that she spotted a pair of muddy, dirty hands pressed
483
00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:47.559
up in the windows of the first Avenue entrance to
484
00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:52.480
the building. The area is just kind of inarguably deathy,
485
00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:56.880
said Caraba, with a Duwamish burial site nearby and a
486
00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:02.320
nineteenth century settler's graveyard a block away. That said, this
487
00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:06.000
building hasn't been a mortuary or funeral parlor for a
488
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:10.559
really long time. In nineteen twenty three, E. R. Butterworth
489
00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:13.719
moved his business to the western slope of Capitol Hill,
490
00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:17.320
at the northeast corner of Melrose Avenue and Pine Street.
491
00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:21.719
The new building was even more souped up and deluxe,
492
00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:27.280
with the crematorium and columbarium, fireproof vaults, and even bigger
493
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:32.440
chapel and drawing rooms ursus equipped with Cadillac motor equipment
494
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.199
with special designed bodies. Pioneer historian Clarence Bagley wrote of
495
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:41.000
it in nineteen twenty nine. In addition to funeral furnishings
496
00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.960
from the most simple to the magnificent, er passed the
497
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:49.039
business on to his sons, who passed it on to theirs,
498
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:52.679
and it remained in the family until New Orleans based
499
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:57.639
chain Stewart Enterprises bought Butterworth Funeral Home in nineteen ninety eight,
500
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:00.960
making it one of the longest opera raiding family owned
501
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:05.440
businesses in Seattle history. The last Butterworth to run it
502
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.079
was e Ar's great grandson, Bert Butterworth Junior, who was
503
00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:13.599
the one who sold it. Kells moved into the former
504
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:16.760
livery in nineteen eighty three, and not much of the
505
00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:21.360
grandiose Victorian interior of Butterworth and Sons remains there, or
506
00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:25.280
even inside the building's upper floors for that matter. Other
507
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:27.800
than the bar, the building has been more or less
508
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:31.719
empty as long as anyone can remember, except for the
509
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:36.440
ghosts if you count those. Its deathy superstitions are still
510
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:40.440
being kept alive by the building's current owners, though. Since
511
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:43.599
two thousand and five, the Butterworth Block has been owned
512
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.800
by the McAleese family, which also owns Kells And the
513
00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:51.679
same year it was purchased, Karen McAleese saw something in
514
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:55.800
the pub's kitchen that she still can't explain. He was
515
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:58.800
a tall man who looked like he was part black,
516
00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.440
with a suit jacket on. She reported to the Seattle Times.
517
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:05.280
He had very thin hands. He walked to the end
518
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.119
of the bar and just kind of faded. Whether it's
519
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:14.079
Halloween or Saint Patrick's Day, if you're in Seattle and
520
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.800
you feel like having an other worldly experience, you just
521
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:21.119
might want to spend it at an Irish pub and
522
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:29.679
try your luck. Missus Emma Mars and her sister in
523
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:34.239
law Ida Mars, were preparing breakfast the morning of February thirteenth,
524
00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:38.239
eighteen ninety seven, in their home at one twenty nine
525
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:43.679
South Upper Street, Lexington, Kentucky. Around seven forty five. Missus
526
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:46.519
Mars sent the servant girl upstairs with a bowl of
527
00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.320
warm water so her husband John could wash up. When
528
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.519
she entered the room, John jumped out of bed with
529
00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:56.880
such a peculiar expression on his face that she quickly
530
00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:59.639
set the water down and hurried out of the room.
531
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:02.239
She was half way down the stairs when she heard
532
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:06.559
a pistol shot from the bedroom. Mister and Missus Mars
533
00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:10.000
and their two children, John Junior, aged five, and Helen,
534
00:38:10.119 --> 00:38:13.880
aged fifteen, slept in two beds in the same room.
535
00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:18.280
John Mars Senior had shot his son in the forehead
536
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.800
as he lay in bed. The shot startled Helen awake.
537
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:26.000
She saw what had happened and started screaming. John fired
538
00:38:26.039 --> 00:38:29.480
two shots at Helen, one mister the other went through
539
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:32.800
her neck. Helen ran from the room as Emma and
540
00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:38.119
Ida approached the room, Running into her mother's arms, Helen cried, Oh, Mamma,
541
00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:40.679
Papa has killed me. Don't go in there, He'll kill you.
542
00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:45.239
Ida Mars entered the room just as John Mars smashed
543
00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:48.639
the head of his wounded son with the pistol. He
544
00:38:48.719 --> 00:38:51.880
turned the gon on his sister and fired. When the
545
00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:54.800
shot missed Ida, he threw the pistol at her head,
546
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.320
knocking her to the ground. The boy was still crying
547
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:02.440
in pain. Mars drew a straight razor and with a wild,
548
00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:06.679
maniacal laugh, cut his son's throat from ear to ear.
549
00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:11.840
He then did the same to his own throat, severing
550
00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:16.480
his windpipe and jugular vein. Carrying the gunshot's neighbors forced
551
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.920
open the door and rushed in. In the bedroom, now quiet,
552
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:25.079
they found a gruesome scene. The young boy lay on
553
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:30.599
the bed, shot beaten and slashed. John Mars lay on
554
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:33.960
the floor in a sea of blood. In the hall,
555
00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:37.840
Helen was wounded and unconscious. Ida was in a state
556
00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:43.400
of shock and Emma was suffering from nervous prostration. John
557
00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:47.880
Mars had a history of mental illness. At age twenty two,
558
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:51.000
he was courting Emma Davis and asked for her hand
559
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:55.639
in marriage. When she refused, he became infuriated and swore
560
00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:58.199
he would kill her if she did not marry him.
561
00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:03.760
Mars was judged insane and committed to the Eastern Kentucky Asylum.
562
00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:07.840
After six months, the doctors determined him cured and he
563
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:11.559
was released. Emma then agreed to marry him, and they
564
00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:15.800
settled into a happy marriage. John had a successful career
565
00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:19.039
with M. Kaufman and Company clothiers, and owned a great
566
00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:22.760
deal of real estate and interest in several building associations.
567
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:26.280
He belonged to the Knights of Honor and the Odd Fellows,
568
00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:30.639
and was a deacon at the Central Christian Church. Around
569
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:35.920
Christmas eighteen ninety six, John was taken violently ill, having
570
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.039
peculiar headaches. Since then, he had not been in his
571
00:40:40.199 --> 00:40:43.880
right mind. He was given to spells of melancholy, during
572
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:48.880
which he would discuss suicide. Doctor Joseph Bryan examined John
573
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.440
and advised the family to commit him to the asylum. Again.
574
00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:56.320
The night before the murder, he said to his wife
575
00:40:56.360 --> 00:40:59.880
and sister, I'm not afraid to die, but I can't
576
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:03.119
bear to leave you all. I want my children to
577
00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:07.519
go with me. Thinking he was joking, one of them responded,
578
00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:09.840
why what are you going to do with your wife
579
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:13.960
and sister. Oh, you must come too, he said, I
580
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:18.119
want all of you. The Mars family was one of
581
00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:22.760
the oldest and most prominent families in Kentucky. The funeral
582
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:26.320
for John Mars Senior and John Mars Junior on February
583
00:41:26.360 --> 00:41:31.360
fourteenth filled the Central Christian Church with fifteen hundred mourners,
584
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:36.519
and many Moore stood outside, blocking the streets for blocks.
585
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:52.519
Father and son were buried in the same grave. Thanks
586
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:54.960
for listening. If you like the show, please tell someone
587
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.559
about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,
588
00:41:59.639 --> 00:42:02.880
or unsteries like you do. If you missed any part
589
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:04.719
of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear it again,
590
00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:07.719
you can subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast
591
00:42:07.719 --> 00:42:11.000
app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that, you'll
592
00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:14.039
get a copy of Tonight's show, plus daily podcast episodes
593
00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:17.400
that come out seven days per week. Visit Weirddarkness dot
594
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:19.960
com and you can follow me on social media, drop
595
00:42:19.960 --> 00:42:22.800
me an email, send me your own true paranormal story,
596
00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:26.320
listen to other podcasts that I host, and more. All
597
00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:29.920
stories used tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise,
598
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:31.719
and you can find links to the stories or the
599
00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:34.480
authors in the show notes, which I've already posted at
600
00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:38.039
Weirddarkness dot com. The Leady Laughing in My Bedroom is
601
00:42:38.039 --> 00:42:41.400
by Jeff James from My Haunted Life Too, New York.
602
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:45.320
Charnelhouse was posted at Empire Dilomort. The Beaux Arts Butterworth
603
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:48.920
Building was by Meg Van Heygen for Seattle Curbbed. The
604
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:51.519
Act of a Madman was written by Robert Wilhelm for
605
00:42:51.639 --> 00:42:56.400
Murder by Gaslight. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark copyright
606
00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:59.440
Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark,
607
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:03.000
I'll leave you with a little light one Peter five,
608
00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:08.000
Verses six and seven. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand,
609
00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:10.880
that he may lift you up in due time. Cast
610
00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:13.880
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
611
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:19.360
And a final thought, value yourself and know your worth.
612
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:23.320
You are as important as everyone on this earth. Every
613
00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.519
human being has a purpose. Your life has value. It
614
00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:31.239
is not worthless. You are beautiful and special. Be proud
615
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:34.280
of who you are. Live your life to the fullest,
616
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:39.880
and reach for the stars. Harry Bridgeman, I'm Darren Marler.
617
00:43:40.639 --> 00:44:21.239
Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. One hundred
618
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.000
and fifty years ago, Jacob Cooley ordered his African American
619
00:44:25.079 --> 00:44:28.679
slave Josea to build a chest for his first child.
620
00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:33.719
Josea set to work crafting a wooden chest of some remark.
621
00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:38.679
For some unknown reason, his master was displeased with his
622
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:43.039
efforts and beat his slave to a pulp, killing him.
623
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:47.559
Cooley's other slaves vowed to avenge the death of their
624
00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:51.159
friend and sprinkled the dried blood of an owl in
625
00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:54.760
the chest and had a conjure man cursed the chest
626
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.719
as if by magic. Cooley's first born died in infancy,
627
00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:04.960
and over the forthcoming years, a total of seventeen deaths
628
00:45:05.320 --> 00:45:10.840
were attributed to the conjured chest. I'm Darren Marler and
629
00:45:11.000 --> 00:45:23.719
this is Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and
630
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:26.719
this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find
631
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:37.199
stories of the paranormal supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre,
632
00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:44.559
unsolved and unexplained Coming up this hour. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
633
00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:47.519
there was a home built by slaves that is considered
634
00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:53.880
the most haunted in Alabama. Drivers are reporting strange, ghostly
635
00:45:54.119 --> 00:45:57.239
orbs following them on dark roads. We'll look at a
636
00:45:57.239 --> 00:46:02.800
few haunted roads and spook lights. But first, the brutal
637
00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:06.360
death of an African slave brings a curse upon the
638
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:10.079
wooden chest he was ordered to construct. We begin with
639
00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:13.760
that story. If you're new here, welcome to the show.
640
00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:16.440
If you're already a member of this weirdo family, please
641
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:18.880
take a moment and invite someone else to listen in
642
00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:21.880
with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it
643
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:24.519
possible for me to keep doing the show. And while
644
00:46:24.519 --> 00:46:27.360
you're listening, be sure to visit Weirddarkness dot com, where
645
00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:30.119
you can follow me on social media, listen to free
646
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:34.960
audiobooks I've narrated, and more. That's Weird Darkness dot Com. Now,
647
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.480
bult your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,
648
00:46:40.239 --> 00:46:54.400
and come with me into the weird Darkness. An elegant
649
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.639
mahogany veneer chest of drawers pan carved by an African
650
00:46:58.679 --> 00:47:02.599
American slave one hundred and fifty years ago, resides in
651
00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:07.840
the Kentucky Historic Museum at Frankfort. Crafted in the Empire style,
652
00:47:08.199 --> 00:47:12.280
the chest has glass knobs on its four drawers. Nothing
653
00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:16.679
about its outward appearance gives any hint that tragedy has
654
00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:20.800
stalked its existence that it's known to historians as the
655
00:47:21.039 --> 00:47:26.360
Conjured Chest. Two decades before the Civil War, the family
656
00:47:26.400 --> 00:47:30.519
of one Jacob Cooley lived a sumptuous life as wealthy
657
00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:36.000
Southern planters. Jacob owned many slaves and farmed thousands of acres.
658
00:47:36.760 --> 00:47:41.159
He was also an evil, despicable man who frequently beat
659
00:47:41.239 --> 00:47:45.239
his slaves for the slightest infraction of his stringent rules.
660
00:47:46.360 --> 00:47:50.000
Jacob Cooley ordered one of his slaves, an excellent furniture
661
00:47:50.039 --> 00:47:53.519
maker named Joseia, to construct a chest that would be
662
00:47:53.639 --> 00:47:57.840
used for his firstborn child. For some unknown reason, Jacob
663
00:47:58.039 --> 00:48:01.800
was angered at Hosea's finished product and beat him so
664
00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:07.159
savagely he died a few days later. Cooley's slaves, led
665
00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:10.440
by an old conjure man, placed a curse on the
666
00:48:10.559 --> 00:48:16.360
chest for all future generations. Wandroor was sprinkled with dried
667
00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:21.480
owl's blood, and a conjure chant was sung. All those
668
00:48:21.519 --> 00:48:25.599
associated with the chest would fall within the curse's evil power.
669
00:48:26.280 --> 00:48:31.639
Although Jacob Cooley himself evidently escaped the malevolence, his descendants
670
00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:35.280
were not as fortunate. The baby for whom the chest
671
00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:40.519
was originally built died soon after birth. The chest was
672
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:44.400
in his nursery. His brother inherited the chest, and he
673
00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:48.679
was stabbed to death by his personal servant. Jacob Cooley
674
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:52.440
had another son, John, who inherited one of his father's
675
00:48:52.559 --> 00:48:57.039
many plantations. The young man led a serene bachelor's life
676
00:48:57.119 --> 00:49:00.960
until a vivacious young woman, barely out of returns came
677
00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.239
into his life. Her name was Ellie, and she soon
678
00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:08.480
married John, nearly three times her age. The couple inherited
679
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:12.519
the conjured chest. Knowing of the tragedies that had befallen
680
00:49:12.639 --> 00:49:17.599
her husband's siblings, she put the chest in an attic. Meanwhile,
681
00:49:17.679 --> 00:49:22.519
Jacob Cooley's youngest daughter, Melinda, eloped with a waggish irishman
682
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:27.440
named Sean. With nowhere to live, Melinda turned to Ellie.
683
00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:30.719
John and Ellie had done well and had accumulated several
684
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:34.519
farms in Tennessee. They turned over one of these to
685
00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:38.559
Sean and Melinda to work. While Melinda bore her young
686
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:42.440
husband a brood of children and worked from sunrise to sunset,
687
00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:47.400
Sean came to loathe the dullness of farm life. Ellie
688
00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:51.719
Cooley tried to help, but Shawn's rebuffs made her presence unwelcome.
689
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:56.199
To try and bring some beauty into Melinda's dreary existence,
690
00:49:56.679 --> 00:49:59.719
Ellie sent over her father in law's chest. It had
691
00:49:59.760 --> 00:50:02.119
been in her attic for a very long time, and
692
00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:06.079
nothing had happened. She had almost forgotten the chest's legacy.
693
00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:11.519
Perhaps the curse was only a lot of talk. Within days,
694
00:50:11.719 --> 00:50:15.079
Sewn deserted his wife for the bright lights of New Orleans.
695
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:21.719
Melinda was inconsolable. She took to her bed with an ailment. There,
696
00:50:22.119 --> 00:50:26.559
Melinda soon died, an exhausted, gray haired woman barely out
697
00:50:26.599 --> 00:50:30.800
of her thirties. Shortly after his wife's death, Sewn was
698
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:34.000
struck in the head by a steamboat's gangplank and died.
699
00:50:35.039 --> 00:50:38.480
The conjured chest had claimed its third and fourth victims.
700
00:50:39.639 --> 00:50:43.679
The couple left many orphaned children. John Cooley was given
701
00:50:43.719 --> 00:50:46.920
the job of traveling to Tennessee to assign the youngsters
702
00:50:46.920 --> 00:50:50.960
to other family members. The youngest, a baby named Evelyn
703
00:50:51.280 --> 00:50:55.239
ran up to him her tiny arms outstretched. John took
704
00:50:55.239 --> 00:50:58.800
her to live with his own family in Kentucky. Little
705
00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:03.000
Evelyn grew into a beautiful and intelligent young woman. When
706
00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:06.880
she turned sixteen, Evelyn passed an examination that provided her
707
00:51:06.920 --> 00:51:09.920
with a teaching certificate, with which she took over a
708
00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:15.239
one room schoolhouse. She met and married a Scotsman, Malcolm Johnson,
709
00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:19.320
barely two months after she began teaching. As a wedding present,
710
00:51:19.400 --> 00:51:23.599
Ellie presented her niece with Jacob Cooley's handsome chest, and
711
00:51:23.679 --> 00:51:28.880
the evil passed to a new generation. Evelyn Johnson had
712
00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:32.880
children and even adopted a young orphan, a girl named Arabella.
713
00:51:33.639 --> 00:51:36.920
The curse was all but forgotten. Evelyn had the chest,
714
00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:40.960
but didn't find it necessary to use right away. However,
715
00:51:41.400 --> 00:51:45.679
after Arabella married some years later, Evelyn put the girl's
716
00:51:45.719 --> 00:51:51.960
bridle gown in the chest. Shortly thereafter, Arabella's husband suddenly died.
717
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:55.880
That was the beginning of a series of horrible events
718
00:51:55.960 --> 00:52:01.920
visited upon Evelyn and Ellie child died after her baby
719
00:52:01.960 --> 00:52:05.239
clothes had been put in the chest. Evelyn's daughter in
720
00:52:05.320 --> 00:52:08.559
law Esther, married to her oldest son put her wedding
721
00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:13.320
attire in the chest she died. Evelyn's aunt Sarah knitted
722
00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:16.239
a scarf in gloves to give to her son for Christmas.
723
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.400
While walking along a train trestle, he fell off and
724
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:25.360
was killed a few days before Christmas. Two other tragedies
725
00:52:25.400 --> 00:52:30.000
befell Evelyn's immediate family. A son in law deserted his wife,
726
00:52:30.039 --> 00:52:33.599
and a child was crippled for life in a bizarre accident.
727
00:52:34.639 --> 00:52:39.440
Yet Evelyn's husband, Malcolm, was a success. A small man,
728
00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:43.239
always courteous to those around him, he parleyed a shrewd
729
00:52:43.280 --> 00:52:47.079
Scottish sense of thrift into a burgeoning business empire that,
730
00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:52.159
at its height consisted of mills, houses, a coal yard, wharf,
731
00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:56.920
and a dry goods store. Malcolm was an extraordinarily wealthy
732
00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:00.599
man when he died. Despite her material cos comfort, his
733
00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:03.599
wife was haunted by the memories of those around her
734
00:53:03.840 --> 00:53:06.960
who were struck down or stricken in some other way
735
00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:12.960
by hardship. She took her own life eleven persons. The
736
00:53:13.079 --> 00:53:18.000
conjured chest was taking its toll as the twentieth century unfolded.
737
00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:21.599
The chest was inherited by Virginia Carrie Hudson from her
738
00:53:21.599 --> 00:53:26.280
grandmother Evelyn Johnson. Missus Hudson thought tales of the curse
739
00:53:26.480 --> 00:53:31.239
were just hearsay. She was wrong. Her first baby's clothes
740
00:53:31.239 --> 00:53:36.000
were put into the chest. She died. Another child's clothes
741
00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:40.079
were tucked in a drawer, and she contacted infantile paralysis.
742
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:44.320
Another daughter's wedding dress was stored there, and her first
743
00:53:44.400 --> 00:53:48.079
husband ran off. A son was stabbed in the hand.
744
00:53:48.679 --> 00:53:51.760
He had clothes in the chest. A friend of the
745
00:53:51.760 --> 00:53:54.960
family put hunting clothes in it. He was shot in
746
00:53:55.000 --> 00:54:00.559
a hunting accident. And so it went sixteen victims, all
747
00:54:00.599 --> 00:54:03.519
of whom had one thing in common. Some of their
748
00:54:03.559 --> 00:54:08.000
personal clothing had been put in the conjured chest. Missus
749
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:11.280
Hudson wanted to put an end to the curse. She
750
00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:14.000
found what she had hoped would be the solution in
751
00:54:14.039 --> 00:54:16.519
the form of an old friend of hers, an African
752
00:54:16.519 --> 00:54:22.639
American woman named Annie. Annie understood curses and conjures. The
753
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:26.400
spell cast by Hoseiah's faithful companions would be broken only
754
00:54:26.440 --> 00:54:30.679
when three conditions were met. First, Missus Hudson would have
755
00:54:30.760 --> 00:54:33.559
to be given a dead owl without her having to ask.
756
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:37.320
For one second, the green leaves of a willow tree
757
00:54:37.679 --> 00:54:41.440
had to be boiled from sun up to sundown, the
758
00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:46.199
dead owl had to remain in sight. Third, the boiled
759
00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:48.719
liquid was then to be buried in a jug with
760
00:54:48.760 --> 00:54:53.199
its handle facing east toward the rising sun, below a
761
00:54:53.239 --> 00:54:58.000
flowering bush. A stuffed owl, given to Missus Hudson's son
762
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:03.079
by a friend, accomplished the first requirement. Missus Hudson plucked
763
00:55:03.159 --> 00:55:06.000
leaves from a nearby willow tree and boiled them in
764
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:09.599
a large black pot. The owl kept watch from a
765
00:55:09.679 --> 00:55:13.960
kitchen counter. At dusk, old Annie and Missus Hudson took
766
00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:17.559
the jug and, with its handle pointed east, buried it
767
00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:22.199
beneath a flowering lilac bush outside the kitchen window. Annie
768
00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:24.280
said they would only know if the curse had been
769
00:55:24.320 --> 00:55:27.639
broken if one of them died before the first full
770
00:55:27.760 --> 00:55:33.559
days of fall. Annie died in early September, the seventeenth
771
00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:38.480
and last known victim. The final private owner of the
772
00:55:38.519 --> 00:55:43.599
conjure chest was Missus Hudson's daughter, Virginia c. Main. Though
773
00:55:43.599 --> 00:55:46.119
she may have been skeptical of the curse and knew
774
00:55:46.119 --> 00:55:49.480
fully the story of the curse being lifted by Annie
775
00:55:49.519 --> 00:55:52.960
and her mother, she never stored anything in the chest
776
00:55:53.199 --> 00:55:56.920
and kept it hidden in her attic. The Kentucky History
777
00:55:57.000 --> 00:56:00.239
Museum has it now. Missus Maine donated it to the
778
00:56:00.320 --> 00:56:05.880
museum in nineteen seventy six. According to museum registrar Mike Hudson,
779
00:56:06.320 --> 00:56:09.000
the chest is in storage in our vaults, awaiting the
780
00:56:09.039 --> 00:56:12.800
time when it fits into a new exhibit. Supposedly, the
781
00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:17.519
curse has been removed, but has it tucked safely. In
782
00:56:17.559 --> 00:56:21.159
the top chest drawer is an envelope with a cluster
783
00:56:21.280 --> 00:56:29.400
of owl feathers inside. The museum isn't taking any chances.
784
00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:32.920
Up next, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, there is a house built
785
00:56:32.960 --> 00:57:00.679
by slaves that is considered the most haunted in Alabama.
786
00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:05.039
Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marler. If you
787
00:57:05.199 --> 00:57:08.559
or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts,
788
00:57:08.840 --> 00:57:11.639
I'd like to recommend the Hope in the Darkness page
789
00:57:11.719 --> 00:57:15.360
at Weird Darkness dot com. There I have gathered numerous
790
00:57:15.400 --> 00:57:18.559
free resources to help you fight depression, including the Crisis
791
00:57:18.599 --> 00:57:22.440
text line, the suicide and Crisis lifeline, save dot org,
792
00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:26.360
I Fred and more. These resources are absolutely free, They're
793
00:57:26.400 --> 00:57:29.519
there when you need them anytime. Twenty four to seven
794
00:57:29.880 --> 00:57:32.400
on the Hope in the Darkness page at weird Darkness
795
00:57:32.480 --> 00:57:46.960
dot com, That's weird darkness dot com slash Hope. On
796
00:57:47.079 --> 00:57:50.719
Seventeenth Street in Tuscaloosa, there is a home that is
797
00:57:50.760 --> 00:57:54.199
hailed as the most haunted in the state of Alabama.
798
00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:58.119
It is called the Drish House, which was formerly known
799
00:57:58.199 --> 00:58:02.880
as Monroe Place. Built mostly by slaves for John Drish
800
00:58:02.960 --> 00:58:05.400
and his wife on a plot of four hundred fifty acres,
801
00:58:05.760 --> 00:58:08.920
It was a beautiful home, styled in both the Greek
802
00:58:09.039 --> 00:58:13.639
and Italian Renaissance style. However, as beautiful as it was,
803
00:58:14.119 --> 00:58:19.039
darkness from its past marred its beauty. The owner, John Drish,
804
00:58:19.159 --> 00:58:22.480
already had a sad morbid history when the house was built.
805
00:58:23.320 --> 00:58:25.360
He was a doctor and was married to a woman
806
00:58:25.440 --> 00:58:30.400
named Catherine Washington. They had a daughter named Catherine. Sadly,
807
00:58:30.440 --> 00:58:33.239
his wife died when their daughter was young. He sent
808
00:58:33.280 --> 00:58:36.280
her to live in Virginia with relatives because he believed
809
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:38.880
living with a widower would not be good for her.
810
00:58:40.159 --> 00:58:43.800
John Drish was allegedly a charming man, and it didn't
811
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:46.800
take long for him to woo and marry a rich
812
00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:50.039
widow by the name of Sarah Owen. In eighteen twenty five,
813
00:58:51.039 --> 00:58:53.639
he brought his daughter Catherine back to Alabama to live
814
00:58:53.679 --> 00:58:57.159
with him, but their relationship was freyed, so much so
815
00:58:57.320 --> 00:59:01.679
that a story of cruelty surrounds them. Allegedly, Catherine fell
816
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:04.880
in love with a man John didn't approve of. He
817
00:59:04.960 --> 00:59:07.760
locked her in her room with very little food and water,
818
00:59:08.119 --> 00:59:12.199
and she eventually relented. She later married, only to bring
819
00:59:12.239 --> 00:59:15.880
her sons back to the Dirish house she had divorced
820
00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:21.280
their father. Many rumors suggest that Catherine suffered from mental illness.
821
00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:25.960
Though charming, Johndrish was an alcoholic, and he suffered from
822
00:59:25.960 --> 00:59:30.719
a violent temper. Sadly, Johndrish would die because of that.
823
00:59:31.840 --> 00:59:35.039
There are three stories surrounding his death. The first is
824
00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:38.920
he threw himself from a second floor balcony, the second
825
00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:41.519
is that he was drunk and fell down the stairs,
826
00:59:41.840 --> 00:59:44.960
and the third story alleges that he was trying to
827
00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:48.960
stop drinking and began to shake from withdrawals and fell.
828
00:59:50.119 --> 00:59:52.920
Regardless of which doory is true, John Dorish died in
829
00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:57.159
eighteen sixty seven, leaving his distraught wife to plan his funeral.
830
00:59:58.719 --> 01:00:03.000
Sarah was so distraught that she became more and more eccentric.
831
01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:06.960
She planned an elaborate funeral. When it was over, she
832
01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:10.360
kept her husband's funeral candles and hid them away. She
833
01:00:10.559 --> 01:00:14.320
insisted that they be burned at her funeral. When she
834
01:00:14.519 --> 01:00:18.840
died in eighteen eighty four. No one could find the candles,
835
01:00:18.880 --> 01:00:22.679
so her wishes were not met. Sadly, these were not
836
01:00:22.760 --> 01:00:27.119
the only dark things to surround the Drish family. Doctor
837
01:00:27.159 --> 01:00:30.440
Drish's niece was murdered by her husband, and there was
838
01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.920
also a rumor that a runaway slave hid in one
839
01:00:33.960 --> 01:00:37.360
of the towers, but when he exited because he needed food,
840
01:00:37.760 --> 01:00:40.719
he was returned to his owner, who burned him alive.
841
01:00:41.800 --> 01:00:44.360
There have been reports of a male ghost who is
842
01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:49.599
assumed to be this slave. Since Sarah's death, the house
843
01:00:49.599 --> 01:00:53.679
has been used as a school, a church, salvage yard,
844
01:00:54.039 --> 01:00:57.039
an auto parts store, and was also reportedly a prison
845
01:00:57.159 --> 01:01:01.760
during the Civil War. Besides the malee ghost, ghost lights
846
01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:04.239
have also been reported near the top of the house
847
01:01:04.639 --> 01:01:07.639
and what appears to be a ghostly fire shooting from
848
01:01:07.639 --> 01:01:11.400
the third story tower. Of course, there is no fire
849
01:01:11.599 --> 01:01:15.440
when the firemen arrive. This occurrence is either blamed on
850
01:01:15.519 --> 01:01:19.159
the ghost of the slave or Sarah Drish, who is
851
01:01:19.239 --> 01:01:22.159
believed to be angry because her wishes of using her
852
01:01:22.199 --> 01:01:25.239
husband's funeral candles at her own funeral were not met.
853
01:01:26.360 --> 01:01:29.079
Though the house fell in disrepair for a while, it
854
01:01:29.119 --> 01:01:31.840
has been restored and it's now open for those who
855
01:01:31.920 --> 01:01:35.079
wish to hold events there. So there is hope that
856
01:01:35.119 --> 01:01:38.440
the dark history of the Drish house is gone and
857
01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:44.559
can now have a bright future. In a society known
858
01:01:44.599 --> 01:01:48.880
for its superstitions, a property agency faced an unusual challenge
859
01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:53.239
when tasked with selling an alleged haunted house in Clayging, Malaysia.
860
01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:58.400
To reassure potential customers, it took a unique approach, seeking
861
01:01:58.440 --> 01:02:02.679
the help of a paranormal research team. Brandon Grimes from
862
01:02:02.760 --> 01:02:07.679
Paranormality Magazine tells us about it. The property in question
863
01:02:07.800 --> 01:02:10.679
was rumored to have a dark history, with claims that
864
01:02:10.719 --> 01:02:14.599
the previous owner had tragically taken their own life. Keen
865
01:02:14.679 --> 01:02:18.440
on dispelling these rumors and certifying the property's safety, the
866
01:02:18.480 --> 01:02:23.039
property agency hired a paranormal research team, whose investigation garnered
867
01:02:23.079 --> 01:02:28.320
significant attention on the kl sealogor LA long Properties Facebook page.
868
01:02:28.400 --> 01:02:32.159
On the specified date and time of observation, May thirtieth,
869
01:02:32.280 --> 01:02:35.639
twenty twenty three, from nine pm to midnight, the dedicated
870
01:02:35.639 --> 01:02:39.719
team diligently explored the property, searching for any signs of
871
01:02:39.719 --> 01:02:44.039
ghostly activities. Their findings were encouraging as they revealed no
872
01:02:44.239 --> 01:02:49.039
major indications of paranormal occurrences. They attributed the flickering lights
873
01:02:49.079 --> 01:02:52.199
to faulty cables, the doors movement to the wind, and
874
01:02:52.239 --> 01:02:57.000
the eerie sounds to wildlife in the vicinity. Intrigued by
875
01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:00.800
the team's assessment, netizens had a good natured life, thanking
876
01:03:00.840 --> 01:03:05.159
them for confirming the absence of major ghostly activities, while
877
01:03:05.239 --> 01:03:10.639
jokingly speculating about the possibility of minor ghostly activities. However,
878
01:03:10.840 --> 01:03:15.159
some curious nedicines offered amusing suggestions to the research team.
879
01:03:15.920 --> 01:03:20.760
Some humorously recommended extending the observation period until three am,
880
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:25.079
citing Chinese beliefs about heightened negative energy during that time.
881
01:03:25.840 --> 01:03:30.440
Another proposed and even longer investigation of fifteen consecutive nights
882
01:03:30.599 --> 01:03:35.400
rather than days. Despite the lighthearted banter, the property's value
883
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:38.679
remained significant, with a market worth of two point four
884
01:03:38.760 --> 01:03:42.599
million in their currency, auctioned off at one point four million.
885
01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:47.719
Situated in negated community with access to exclusive clubhouse facilities,
886
01:03:48.119 --> 01:03:52.760
the property possessed alluring features for potential buyers. While the
887
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:56.519
haunted house might have once discouraged buyers, the intervention of
888
01:03:56.559 --> 01:04:01.280
the paranormal research team managed to dispel some fears. Ultimately,
889
01:04:01.320 --> 01:04:04.599
it seems that superstitions and beliefs still hold a place
890
01:04:04.639 --> 01:04:08.920
in Malaysian society, but thanks to creative solutions, selling even
891
01:04:08.960 --> 01:04:13.599
these spookiest properties can become a spirited affair, leaving netizens
892
01:04:13.639 --> 01:04:16.760
open to the idea of an extra companion in a
893
01:04:16.840 --> 01:04:46.199
large home. I'm Darren Marler. Welcome back to Weird Darkness.
894
01:04:46.599 --> 01:04:49.400
Have you seen the Monster Channel. It has horror hosts,
895
01:04:49.760 --> 01:04:53.599
b horror movies, retro television commercials, and a whole lot more.
896
01:04:53.679 --> 01:04:56.639
And you can watch it anytime, absolutely free twenty four
897
01:04:56.679 --> 01:04:59.960
to seven, three sixty five on the Monster Channel page
898
01:05:00.159 --> 01:05:03.559
at Weird Darkness dot com. Just go to Weird Darkness
899
01:05:03.760 --> 01:05:18.840
TV dot com. That's Weird darknesstv dot com. Roads have
900
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:22.519
always seemed to attract about them, tales of the strange
901
01:05:22.599 --> 01:05:26.880
and unusual. They push out further and further ahead of us,
902
01:05:27.280 --> 01:05:32.679
their destinations not visible, mysterious, as the landscape rushes by us,
903
01:05:33.079 --> 01:05:38.320
sometimes bringing with it bizarreness. It is perhaps this almost
904
01:05:38.440 --> 01:05:42.679
primal sense of oddness that has spawned countless tales of
905
01:05:42.719 --> 01:05:48.119
haunted roads inhabited by all manner of strange entities and apparitions.
906
01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:53.360
One feature of some spooky haunted roads are ghost lights
907
01:05:53.400 --> 01:05:57.719
also called spook lights, dancing and twirling in the dark
908
01:05:57.800 --> 01:06:01.559
to baffle and amaze, and sometimes they seem to be
909
01:06:01.800 --> 01:06:07.199
far from harmless. Some malevolent spooklights seem to be linked
910
01:06:07.280 --> 01:06:11.519
to some sort of phantom motorists, and perhaps one of
911
01:06:11.559 --> 01:06:14.480
the more well known of these is said to prowl
912
01:06:14.599 --> 01:06:17.679
a rural road in the town of Switzerland in Saint
913
01:06:17.760 --> 01:06:21.880
John's County, Florida, in the United States. Here there is
914
01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:26.639
a modest little road called Greenbriar Road, which runs just
915
01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:29.840
east of the main town, and there have for years
916
01:06:30.119 --> 01:06:34.599
been tails of a rather aggressive spooklight that stalks vehicles
917
01:06:34.639 --> 01:06:38.320
that dare to drive along here at night. The enigmatic
918
01:06:38.400 --> 01:06:41.760
light is typically said to look just like a motorcycle headlight,
919
01:06:42.239 --> 01:06:45.880
which will pull up behind cars and steadily catch up
920
01:06:46.039 --> 01:06:49.960
no matter how fast the car goes, growing even larger
921
01:06:50.079 --> 01:06:54.119
in the rear view mirrors of the startled drivers. The
922
01:06:54.199 --> 01:06:57.440
light of the Greenbriar Road will then either chase the
923
01:06:57.480 --> 01:07:01.440
car until it is gone, or bizarrely perch itself atop
924
01:07:01.599 --> 01:07:05.599
the vehicle, sort of piggybacking the car for some distance
925
01:07:06.039 --> 01:07:09.719
before blinking out of existence, as if it were never
926
01:07:09.760 --> 01:07:13.920
there at all. In some cases, the mysterious light has
927
01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:18.039
even been blamed for causing crashes alongside this lonely stretch
928
01:07:18.079 --> 01:07:21.880
of road. The most common origin story for this mysterious
929
01:07:21.960 --> 01:07:24.800
light is that it is the wraith of a doomed
930
01:07:24.920 --> 01:07:29.079
motorcyclist who died along the road when he was decapitated
931
01:07:29.119 --> 01:07:32.119
after running into a telephone pole wire, and that he
932
01:07:32.199 --> 01:07:35.880
now terrorizes the stretch upon which he met his fate,
933
01:07:36.559 --> 01:07:40.639
with only the headlight of his phantom bike visible. One
934
01:07:40.679 --> 01:07:44.119
witness named Todd m. Gave his story to the Weird
935
01:07:44.360 --> 01:07:48.159
Us website, saying, a few years ago, I went to
936
01:07:48.159 --> 01:07:51.280
see Greenbrier Road at night with three of my friends.
937
01:07:52.119 --> 01:07:55.000
We had heard the stories about that light that people see,
938
01:07:55.119 --> 01:07:57.920
and we wanted to see it. We drove up and
939
01:07:58.000 --> 01:08:01.239
down the road for like forty minutes trying to see something,
940
01:08:01.280 --> 01:08:04.159
but never saw anything. Until we got ready to leave.
941
01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:07.199
My friend Tom was driving and he looked in the
942
01:08:07.239 --> 01:08:10.800
rear view mirror and said, what's that. He looked behind
943
01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:13.840
us and there was the headlight of a motorcycle coming
944
01:08:13.920 --> 01:08:16.960
up fast. We slowed down a little and thought the
945
01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:20.399
biker would pass us, but then just as it got
946
01:08:20.479 --> 01:08:24.000
right behind us about one hundred feet, the light went out.
947
01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:28.640
There was no motorcycle or anything. We turned around and
948
01:08:28.720 --> 01:08:31.560
went back, but didn't see anything. I really think we
949
01:08:31.600 --> 01:08:34.720
saw a ghost biker of that guy that was killed
950
01:08:34.720 --> 01:08:40.479
on his motorcycle on that road. The malignant Greenbriar ghost
951
01:08:40.560 --> 01:08:43.039
light is so well known in the area that it
952
01:08:43.079 --> 01:08:47.079
has been the target of paranormal investigations and even scientific
953
01:08:47.119 --> 01:08:51.640
studies and police investigations trying to find a rational explanation
954
01:08:51.720 --> 01:08:55.479
for what people are seeing, but no explanation has ever
955
01:08:55.520 --> 01:09:01.359
been found. Speaking of phantom motorcyclists, there is another similar
956
01:09:01.399 --> 01:09:04.840
spook said to haunt a remote stretch of road winding
957
01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:09.199
through the rural farming county of Exeter in Tulare County, California,
958
01:09:09.359 --> 01:09:12.720
which is supposedly the stomping ground of a similar ghost.
959
01:09:13.840 --> 01:09:16.600
In this case, in the nineteen fifties, a group of
960
01:09:16.640 --> 01:09:19.560
friends allegedly decided to play a prank on one of
961
01:09:19.600 --> 01:09:23.199
their friends by stretching out some rope across a narrow
962
01:09:23.319 --> 01:09:27.159
road called Bardsley Road in the Fresno Valley, after which
963
01:09:27.239 --> 01:09:29.880
they lied in wait for their motorcycle riding poal to
964
01:09:29.880 --> 01:09:33.159
come cruising by on his way home from work. The
965
01:09:33.199 --> 01:09:35.359
plan was for the rope to just hit him in
966
01:09:35.399 --> 01:09:38.279
the chest and knock him off his bike, which was
967
01:09:38.439 --> 01:09:41.560
pretty mean, but they didn't intend to seriously hurt him,
968
01:09:41.880 --> 01:09:45.319
certainly not kill him. The story goes that the rider
969
01:09:45.439 --> 01:09:49.159
came along the darkened road as expected and also hit
970
01:09:49.199 --> 01:09:53.039
the rope just as expected. What wasn't expected was that
971
01:09:53.079 --> 01:09:56.199
the rope would be too high and lop his head
972
01:09:56.439 --> 01:10:00.640
clean off to go rolling across the pavement. In the
973
01:10:00.680 --> 01:10:04.520
aftermath of the gruesome accident, people started occasionally claiming to
974
01:10:04.560 --> 01:10:07.640
see a bright light shooting up and down the road,
975
01:10:08.239 --> 01:10:11.920
sometimes accompanied by the sound of a motorcycle engine, and
976
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:16.079
with the full apparition of a headless rider visible as well.
977
01:10:17.399 --> 01:10:20.600
Motorists and people walking along the road at night have
978
01:10:20.720 --> 01:10:23.720
also told of being followed or even chased by the
979
01:10:23.760 --> 01:10:28.000
phantom motorcyclist, and it's believed that if you encounter the rider,
980
01:10:28.520 --> 01:10:31.359
you will be cursed to be in an accident yourself.
981
01:10:32.960 --> 01:10:36.319
Adding to these is a headless rider said to Prowl
982
01:10:36.399 --> 01:10:41.279
Creek Road of Ojai, California, apparently riding a vintage nineteen
983
01:10:41.359 --> 01:10:45.239
forties motorcycle and appearing as a glowing light at first,
984
01:10:45.760 --> 01:10:48.800
often pulling right up next to motorists to bang on
985
01:10:48.840 --> 01:10:53.640
their vehicles or chase them. Interestingly, Creek Road is ground
986
01:10:53.760 --> 01:10:58.279
zero for all manner of ghostly phenomena and high strangeness,
987
01:10:58.279 --> 01:11:04.079
including at least twotum horse riders, numerous apparitions, a smoking,
988
01:11:04.279 --> 01:11:09.079
horribly burned and disfigured entity called the charmn and even
989
01:11:09.119 --> 01:11:13.760
a supposed vampire making a headless motorcycle rider actually one
990
01:11:13.840 --> 01:11:18.439
of the less bizarre tales from this place. Other sinister
991
01:11:18.600 --> 01:11:23.439
spook lights seem to be malevolent spirits or even possibly demons.
992
01:11:24.399 --> 01:11:29.159
Located out just northeast of Jacksonville, Florida, is Saint George Island,
993
01:11:29.279 --> 01:11:32.560
which is home to a historic sugar cane, cotton and
994
01:11:32.720 --> 01:11:38.199
corn plantation from the slave days called Kingsley Plantation, established
995
01:11:38.359 --> 01:11:43.079
by a man named Zephaniah Kingsley in eighteen thirteen. The
996
01:11:43.119 --> 01:11:47.279
original plantation would quickly grow until Kingsley owned around a
997
01:11:47.279 --> 01:11:50.479
total of thirty two thousand acres of land and employed
998
01:11:50.520 --> 01:11:55.640
about two hundred slaves. Despite having so many slaves, Kingsley
999
01:11:55.680 --> 01:11:59.680
was known for being a very lax and kind slave master,
1000
01:12:00.399 --> 01:12:03.640
allowing his workforce to basically do whatever they wanted when
1001
01:12:03.640 --> 01:12:06.159
they were off duty, and they were allowed to sell
1002
01:12:06.239 --> 01:12:09.960
any crafts they made on their own time. Kingsley even
1003
01:12:10.039 --> 01:12:13.359
married one of his slaves and a magagin Jai, who
1004
01:12:13.359 --> 01:12:16.039
would go on to take a prominent management role on
1005
01:12:16.079 --> 01:12:20.039
the plantation, own her own land, and end up being
1006
01:12:20.079 --> 01:12:24.560
one of the richest women in the state. Although conditions
1007
01:12:24.560 --> 01:12:27.800
were much better for slaves on the Kingsley plantation than
1008
01:12:27.800 --> 01:12:31.319
they were elsewhere, there was some amount of tragedy on
1009
01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:35.960
the plantation. Nevertheless, at some point one of the slaves
1010
01:12:35.960 --> 01:12:40.680
allegedly took to beating and raping other female slaves, even,
1011
01:12:40.720 --> 01:12:43.760
according to the stories, murdering a few and hiding their
1012
01:12:43.760 --> 01:12:47.279
bodies in the wilderness. When the other slaves got wind
1013
01:12:47.359 --> 01:12:50.039
of this grim behavior, they are said to have gathered
1014
01:12:50.119 --> 01:12:53.119
up a lynch mob to haunt the perpetrator down, and
1015
01:12:53.159 --> 01:12:56.039
had him strung up and hanged on a massive, spooky
1016
01:12:56.079 --> 01:12:59.680
looking oak tree right in front of the plantation along
1017
01:12:59.680 --> 01:13:03.399
the main road to the premises, leaving his lifeless Bonnie
1018
01:13:03.439 --> 01:13:07.239
to swing there in the wind. Although Kingsley would move
1019
01:13:07.319 --> 01:13:09.840
to Haiti along with all of his slaves in eighteen
1020
01:13:09.920 --> 01:13:12.920
thirty seven. It seems that at least some of them
1021
01:13:13.159 --> 01:13:18.399
remained in a macabre sense. Over the years, the Kingsley
1022
01:13:18.439 --> 01:13:21.960
Plantation has come to gather quite a reputation for being
1023
01:13:22.039 --> 01:13:26.399
intensely haunted, supposedly by the ghosts of those murdered here.
1024
01:13:27.399 --> 01:13:30.279
One is a woman in white that is frequently spotted
1025
01:13:30.640 --> 01:13:34.079
roaming around and as a habit of photobombing pictures taken
1026
01:13:34.119 --> 01:13:38.000
at the locale, while another is an unearthly screaming or
1027
01:13:38.199 --> 01:13:42.159
wailing that supposedly emanates from the old abandoned well on
1028
01:13:42.199 --> 01:13:45.199
the property, said to be from a victim of the
1029
01:13:45.319 --> 01:13:49.680
crime spree whose body was unceremoniously dumped down there in
1030
01:13:49.720 --> 01:13:54.159
the darkness. However, one of the most frightening of the
1031
01:13:54.159 --> 01:13:58.239
spirits of the old Kingsley Plantation is supposedly the vindictive
1032
01:13:58.279 --> 01:14:02.880
spirit of the mad slave murderer himself, who terrorizes the
1033
01:14:02.920 --> 01:14:09.439
plantation's creepy and rugged, unpaved road. This particularly malicious spirit
1034
01:14:09.920 --> 01:14:14.000
typically takes the form of two malevolent, angry looking red
1035
01:14:14.079 --> 01:14:18.520
lights said to be his glowing eyes, earning the phantom
1036
01:14:18.560 --> 01:14:22.520
the name Old Red Eyes. These lights will supposedly appear
1037
01:14:22.840 --> 01:14:26.359
right behind cars right about at the Old Oak Tree
1038
01:14:26.600 --> 01:14:31.520
and chase them, in some reports, even relentlessly attacking them.
1039
01:14:32.119 --> 01:14:35.079
One report of an encounter with Old Red Eyes was
1040
01:14:35.119 --> 01:14:39.880
described by a witness thus, I saw Old Red Eyes
1041
01:14:39.960 --> 01:14:43.199
several years ago. I have a friend that lives just
1042
01:14:43.319 --> 01:14:46.239
off that road and had taken him home from Jacksonville
1043
01:14:46.319 --> 01:14:49.680
one night. It's about midnight, and after driving him off,
1044
01:14:49.760 --> 01:14:52.039
I was driving back down that road to the hard
1045
01:14:52.159 --> 01:14:54.760
road and looked in the side mirror on my car
1046
01:14:55.039 --> 01:14:57.880
and saw two red lights. At first, I thought it
1047
01:14:58.000 --> 01:15:00.840
was the tail lights of another car, but they were
1048
01:15:00.840 --> 01:15:04.319
too close together. I slowed down a little and watched
1049
01:15:04.319 --> 01:15:06.159
them in the mirror, and it looked like they were
1050
01:15:06.159 --> 01:15:09.720
coming closer. I knew that I had not passed another car,
1051
01:15:09.760 --> 01:15:11.920
and it did not seem like a car would be
1052
01:15:11.920 --> 01:15:15.960
coming down that dark road backwards. I stopped and stuck
1053
01:15:15.960 --> 01:15:18.439
my head out the window and looked back, and there
1054
01:15:18.479 --> 01:15:21.680
was nothing there. Then I looked in the mirror again,
1055
01:15:21.800 --> 01:15:24.800
and there they were, and they were right behind my car.
1056
01:15:25.479 --> 01:15:27.439
I gunned it and got the hell out of there.
1057
01:15:28.159 --> 01:15:33.119
What I saw wasn't a car. Just as ominous is
1058
01:15:33.199 --> 01:15:38.000
the appropriately named Demon's Road in Huntsville, Texas, which is
1059
01:15:38.079 --> 01:15:42.600
already spooky enough as at meanders through groves of twisted
1060
01:15:42.680 --> 01:15:46.279
trees and darkened woods, and ends up at the desolate
1061
01:15:46.399 --> 01:15:51.600
Martha's Chapel Cemetery. The real name is Bowden Road, but
1062
01:15:51.800 --> 01:15:55.359
it has earned its nickname in the decidedly frightening phenomena
1063
01:15:55.439 --> 01:15:58.800
that had been reported from there, such as shadow people,
1064
01:15:59.319 --> 01:16:03.479
a ghostly child with glowing eyes on a tricycle, a
1065
01:16:03.560 --> 01:16:08.960
hulking faceless beast, a strange hooded figure, and arms reaching
1066
01:16:09.000 --> 01:16:13.159
out from graves. There are many spirits said to lurk
1067
01:16:13.359 --> 01:16:17.000
along the murky stretches of this road and in the cemetery,
1068
01:16:17.720 --> 01:16:20.520
but one of the creepiest is a ghost light that
1069
01:16:20.600 --> 01:16:25.720
seems to be quite malicious. Indeed, motorists venturing down the
1070
01:16:25.800 --> 01:16:30.720
Demon's Road have often reported mysterious red lights hovering about
1071
01:16:30.840 --> 01:16:33.880
in the dark, the number of which seem to depend
1072
01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:36.800
on how many people are in the vehicle at the time.
1073
01:16:37.800 --> 01:16:43.239
These spook lights will supposedly aggressively pursue cars, and spookiest
1074
01:16:43.239 --> 01:16:48.399
of all, will leave unexplained handprints on the outside. Indeed,
1075
01:16:48.680 --> 01:16:52.119
these lights have plagued many who have traveled down the road,
1076
01:16:52.640 --> 01:16:57.319
often leaving those handprints and always hostile, sometimes even clawing
1077
01:16:57.479 --> 01:17:00.920
or grabbing at cars to leave scratches and dance behind.
1078
01:17:01.920 --> 01:17:05.640
What could this diabolical force be and why does it
1079
01:17:05.680 --> 01:17:17.319
want to attack vehicles? Nobody knows More haunted roads and
1080
01:17:17.439 --> 01:17:51.960
ghostly lights when weird darkness returns. Another case in Texas
1081
01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:55.079
of an aggressive ghost light is that said to Roma
1082
01:17:55.159 --> 01:17:59.720
Road in Hardin County, leading from Bragg to Saratoga, which
1083
01:17:59.720 --> 01:18:02.319
acts at one point was a part of the Santa
1084
01:18:02.319 --> 01:18:06.279
Fe Railroad back in the early nineteen hundreds, before being
1085
01:18:06.319 --> 01:18:09.560
paved over to be turned into a road in an
1086
01:18:09.600 --> 01:18:13.279
area called Big Thicket, there have long been reports of
1087
01:18:13.319 --> 01:18:17.479
a multi colored spook light hovering about at night along
1088
01:18:17.520 --> 01:18:20.680
the road and in the surrounding wilderness, with many of
1089
01:18:20.720 --> 01:18:25.000
them pointing at the light being quite evil. Even from
1090
01:18:25.039 --> 01:18:28.319
the beginning, the reports of the Big Thicket ghost light,
1091
01:18:28.760 --> 01:18:32.920
also called the Saratoga ghost Light, were far from friendly.
1092
01:18:33.760 --> 01:18:36.840
Hunters reported being chased by the lights, and it was
1093
01:18:36.880 --> 01:18:40.600
not uncommon to hear of them rushing amongst horses to
1094
01:18:40.680 --> 01:18:44.439
send the animals into a panicked frenzy, to the point
1095
01:18:44.479 --> 01:18:47.760
that on at least one occasion, a horse drawn wagon
1096
01:18:47.880 --> 01:18:50.880
was forced to go crashing into a ditch because of
1097
01:18:50.920 --> 01:18:54.600
the lights. At the time, the lights became a pretty
1098
01:18:54.640 --> 01:19:00.640
widespread rumor, attracting all sorts of curiosity seekers. Author F. E.
1099
01:19:00.800 --> 01:19:04.640
Abernethy would explain that the phenomenon in his book Tales
1100
01:19:04.680 --> 01:19:09.039
from the Big Thicket. Thus, light seers poured onto the
1101
01:19:09.119 --> 01:19:12.720
road by the hundreds. People of all ages and intellects
1102
01:19:12.760 --> 01:19:15.560
came to see and test their beliefs in the supernatural.
1103
01:19:16.279 --> 01:19:19.239
They shot at it, they chased it, and they tested
1104
01:19:19.279 --> 01:19:23.199
it with litmus, paper and Geiger counters. A preacher harangued
1105
01:19:23.199 --> 01:19:26.439
the road's multitudes from the top of this car, making
1106
01:19:26.479 --> 01:19:30.039
the light as an ill omen of the world's impending doom.
1107
01:19:30.439 --> 01:19:32.800
There were some nights the light didn't show at all,
1108
01:19:32.960 --> 01:19:35.439
but for the most part, it was there to inspire
1109
01:19:35.560 --> 01:19:39.359
stories that could be passed on to change and grow
1110
01:19:39.520 --> 01:19:45.600
at the will and imagination of the storyteller. In later years,
1111
01:19:45.640 --> 01:19:48.880
the light did not stop its antics in the slightest bit,
1112
01:19:49.479 --> 01:19:53.119
with reports of its chasing people or even attacking them common,
1113
01:19:53.640 --> 01:19:56.560
such as cases in which the light stopped car engines,
1114
01:19:57.119 --> 01:20:02.399
burned people's hands, or even violent knocked them down. There
1115
01:20:02.439 --> 01:20:06.800
have been reports of cars being dinged, dented, or smashed
1116
01:20:06.840 --> 01:20:10.039
by the ghost light, and it is generally not something
1117
01:20:10.119 --> 01:20:13.640
one wants to encounter while driving down the already eerie
1118
01:20:13.720 --> 01:20:17.640
rural road. As usual, there have been many attempts to
1119
01:20:17.800 --> 01:20:21.920
rationally explain the big Thicket light, such as that it
1120
01:20:22.000 --> 01:20:26.279
is some sort of illusion, swamp gas, or merely headlights,
1121
01:20:26.560 --> 01:20:29.520
and there have been a fair number of more paranormal
1122
01:20:29.640 --> 01:20:33.239
explanations as well, including that it is the spirit of
1123
01:20:33.279 --> 01:20:37.039
a hunter or Civil War soldier, or even that it
1124
01:20:37.159 --> 01:20:41.960
is a curse placed over a lost Spanish treasure. Whatever
1125
01:20:42.000 --> 01:20:44.760
the case may be, the stories of the evil ghost
1126
01:20:44.840 --> 01:20:50.159
light of Saratoga persist. Texas seems to be a haven
1127
01:20:50.319 --> 01:20:53.600
for such spook lights because there is another road in
1128
01:20:53.640 --> 01:20:57.399
this state that has its own scary stories of such entities.
1129
01:20:58.439 --> 01:21:01.880
In the area of Mitchell flo east of Marfa, Texas.
1130
01:21:02.319 --> 01:21:05.720
There have long been reports of mystery lights floating out
1131
01:21:05.880 --> 01:21:09.720
over the desert landscape since at least the eighteen hundreds.
1132
01:21:10.600 --> 01:21:14.439
The phenomena are usually described as dancing orbs of light
1133
01:21:14.920 --> 01:21:18.039
that zip and zoom low to the ground over the
1134
01:21:18.119 --> 01:21:22.159
parched desert scrub, and they have collectively been coined the
1135
01:21:22.319 --> 01:21:28.000
Marfa Lights. While the phenomenon is puzzling but usually harmless
1136
01:21:28.039 --> 01:21:31.640
and distant, there have been some reports that show these
1137
01:21:31.720 --> 01:21:36.359
lights can be rather frightening on occasion. In one report
1138
01:21:36.520 --> 01:21:40.319
from Weird Texas, one man named Tim Stevens gave an
1139
01:21:40.319 --> 01:21:44.479
account of a very bizarre experience witnessed by a friend
1140
01:21:44.520 --> 01:21:48.479
of his father's named Roy, while traveling down Route ninety
1141
01:21:48.560 --> 01:21:52.720
in the nineteen seventies. According to the report, Roy had
1142
01:21:52.760 --> 01:21:56.640
been driving for hours out from San Antonio after sunset
1143
01:21:56.760 --> 01:21:59.520
and just before dark, and there had been no other
1144
01:21:59.600 --> 01:22:02.520
cars out in this remote stretch of the highway that evening.
1145
01:22:03.479 --> 01:22:06.399
Suddenly he noticed what he took to be headlights in
1146
01:22:06.479 --> 01:22:09.960
his rear view mirror. For some time, the lights remained
1147
01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:13.399
a comfortable distance away, but at some point the lights
1148
01:22:13.479 --> 01:22:17.479
quickly closed the distance to follow right behind him. The
1149
01:22:17.560 --> 01:22:23.199
report explained the following sequence of events. My dad said
1150
01:22:23.199 --> 01:22:25.000
that Roy had been driving up with the lights a
1151
01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:28.600
comfortable distance behind him for several minutes when the vehicle
1152
01:22:28.800 --> 01:22:32.520
sped up and approached his truck rapidly. For a few seconds,
1153
01:22:32.560 --> 01:22:34.920
he honestly thought he was about to be rear ended
1154
01:22:35.439 --> 01:22:38.520
before an impact occurred. However, the light stopped a few
1155
01:22:38.560 --> 01:22:41.880
feet short of hitting his truck. It's sixty miles per
1156
01:22:41.920 --> 01:22:45.159
hour in the middle of an otherwise deserted highway. It
1157
01:22:45.239 --> 01:22:48.000
probably wasn't too much to ask for a courtesy of
1158
01:22:48.039 --> 01:22:52.199
a little breathing room, so Roy tapped the brakes. The
1159
01:22:52.319 --> 01:22:56.159
driver of the vehicle behind him maintained his distance. Roy
1160
01:22:56.239 --> 01:23:01.359
again tapped his brakes, no response. Finally, very annoyed, Roy
1161
01:23:01.520 --> 01:23:04.119
jammed hard on his brakes for a fraction of a second.
1162
01:23:04.640 --> 01:23:08.000
To his amazement, the vehicle behind him stayed the exact
1163
01:23:08.119 --> 01:23:11.840
distance from his rear bumper as it had been. Roy
1164
01:23:11.880 --> 01:23:14.960
decided to try a different approach, he said. He floored
1165
01:23:14.960 --> 01:23:18.720
the gas pedal, making his small truck shudder and lurch ahead.
1166
01:23:19.439 --> 01:23:22.079
The speed crept up to eighty miles per hour. The
1167
01:23:22.159 --> 01:23:27.000
lights behind him reacted in perfect unison, staying several feet
1168
01:23:27.039 --> 01:23:30.119
behind his truck as it approached speeds Roy was sure
1169
01:23:30.199 --> 01:23:33.359
he'd never pushed it to before. At nearly one hundred
1170
01:23:33.399 --> 01:23:36.239
miles per hour, the truck was beginning to vibrate badly,
1171
01:23:36.720 --> 01:23:40.279
but the lights did not waver and often was enough.
1172
01:23:40.479 --> 01:23:42.960
Roy eased off the gas and let the truck coast
1173
01:23:43.000 --> 01:23:46.319
down to a scene speed. Then he stood on the brakes.
1174
01:23:46.640 --> 01:23:50.279
The tires screeched and smoked, and the truck pitched and
1175
01:23:50.439 --> 01:23:53.439
slid slightly to the side. But the whole time Roy
1176
01:23:53.479 --> 01:23:56.960
watched the lights in the mirror, they stayed in exactly
1177
01:23:57.039 --> 01:23:59.720
the same spot until the truck came to a stop.
1178
01:24:00.439 --> 01:24:04.800
Roy then saw something completely unexpected. The lights shot out
1179
01:24:05.039 --> 01:24:07.239
off the road to the right and fired across the
1180
01:24:07.279 --> 01:24:10.720
desert like missiles. He craned his neck around to try
1181
01:24:10.720 --> 01:24:13.960
and follow them. Visually impressed by the driver's driving on
1182
01:24:14.039 --> 01:24:16.920
what was sure to be a very rough road, he
1183
01:24:17.000 --> 01:24:19.359
smiled and was about to drive on when a thought
1184
01:24:19.399 --> 01:24:23.079
occurred to him. He frowned, and, making sure he wasn't
1185
01:24:23.119 --> 01:24:25.359
about to be run over by a big rig or
1186
01:24:25.359 --> 01:24:28.760
other traffic, put his truck in reverse and slowly backed
1187
01:24:28.840 --> 01:24:32.239
up maybe a couple hundred feet. He checked the barbed
1188
01:24:32.239 --> 01:24:35.439
wire fence line for a road, a gate, or other
1189
01:24:35.560 --> 01:24:38.560
break of some kind where his pursuer may have slipped through,
1190
01:24:39.359 --> 01:24:42.479
but there was done. Roy said he was pretty spooked
1191
01:24:42.479 --> 01:24:45.520
all right. Off the distance, he could see lights moved
1192
01:24:45.520 --> 01:24:51.680
swiftly across the horizon. Whatever this was, whether it was
1193
01:24:51.720 --> 01:24:55.039
connected to the Marfa lights or not, it certainly seems
1194
01:24:55.039 --> 01:24:57.840
hard to explain away as a trick of light or
1195
01:24:57.960 --> 01:25:01.920
headlight reflections from the distance. Ghost Lights have been a
1196
01:25:01.960 --> 01:25:05.920
persistent phenomenon within the world of the weird, and there
1197
01:25:05.920 --> 01:25:09.720
have been countless theories to try and explain them, Yet
1198
01:25:09.800 --> 01:25:12.399
none seem to touch on those lights that seem to
1199
01:25:12.439 --> 01:25:15.800
reach out from the merely mysterious to lash out at
1200
01:25:16.000 --> 01:25:21.039
or harass those who encounter them. Is there some explanation
1201
01:25:21.159 --> 01:25:25.079
for this or is this just poaxes and tall tales.
1202
01:25:26.199 --> 01:25:29.800
If it is indeed real, then why do these particular
1203
01:25:29.880 --> 01:25:33.840
spook lights cling to these locations and why do they
1204
01:25:33.840 --> 01:25:38.520
seem so hostile and threatening? It seems to be beyond
1205
01:25:38.560 --> 01:25:42.159
our ability to comprehend at this point, and these lights
1206
01:25:42.319 --> 01:25:46.520
may flit about the periphery of our understanding, prowling their
1207
01:25:46.560 --> 01:26:04.720
haunted grounds, without ever being satisfactorily explained. Thanks for listening.
1208
01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:07.199
If you like the show, please tell somebody about it
1209
01:26:07.199 --> 01:26:11.720
who loves the paranormal or strained stories, true crime, monsters,
1210
01:26:11.880 --> 01:26:15.000
or unsolved mysteries like you do. If you missed any
1211
01:26:15.039 --> 01:26:16.880
part of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear
1212
01:26:16.920 --> 01:26:19.439
it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in your
1213
01:26:19.439 --> 01:26:23.640
favorite podcast app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that,
1214
01:26:23.680 --> 01:26:26.840
you'll get a copy of tonight's show, plus daily podcast
1215
01:26:26.880 --> 01:26:29.520
episodes that come out seven days per week, and you'll
1216
01:26:29.560 --> 01:26:33.319
also get tonight's Sudden Death overtime content with stories I
1217
01:26:33.399 --> 01:26:37.199
prepared but didn't have time to share. Visit Weirddarkness dot
1218
01:26:37.239 --> 01:26:39.399
com and you can also follow me on social media,
1219
01:26:39.600 --> 01:26:42.720
drop me an email, send me your own true paranormal story,
1220
01:26:42.920 --> 01:26:46.119
listen to other podcasts that I host, and more. All
1221
01:26:46.159 --> 01:26:49.960
stories used tonight aren't purported to be true unless stated otherwise,
1222
01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:51.680
and you can find links to the stories or the
1223
01:26:51.720 --> 01:26:54.239
authors in the show notes, which I've already posted at
1224
01:26:54.239 --> 01:26:59.079
Weirddarkness dot com. The Conjure Chest is for the Unexplained Mysteries.
1225
01:26:59.560 --> 01:27:01.960
The Haunting of Drish House was written by Amanda Penn
1226
01:27:02.000 --> 01:27:05.319
for Horror Media. Haunted Roads and spook Lights is by
1227
01:27:05.359 --> 01:27:08.880
Brant Sponsor for Mysterious Universe. The Haunted House for Sale
1228
01:27:08.880 --> 01:27:12.800
in Malaysia was written by Brandon Grimes for Paranormality magazine.
1229
01:27:13.560 --> 01:27:17.840
Weird Darkness is a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And
1230
01:27:17.880 --> 01:27:19.880
now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave
1231
01:27:19.960 --> 01:27:23.640
you with a little light Proverbs eleven, verse nine. With
1232
01:27:23.800 --> 01:27:27.720
his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge,
1233
01:27:27.880 --> 01:27:32.359
the righteous escape and a final thought, if the only
1234
01:27:32.439 --> 01:27:35.720
prayer you said in your whole life was thank you,
1235
01:27:36.560 --> 01:27:42.039
that would suffice meister Eckhart. I'm Daryn Marler. Thanks for
1236
01:27:42.159 --> 01:28:43.439
joining me in the weird darkness dis in Washington, d C.
1237
01:28:43.800 --> 01:28:47.439
There are two walls that, from far enough away, appear
1238
01:28:47.520 --> 01:28:51.560
to be black slabs. As you come closer, you start
1239
01:28:51.600 --> 01:28:55.800
to notice the etchings on the walls. Closer still, and
1240
01:28:55.880 --> 01:28:59.520
you will see that the etchings are names. In total,
1241
01:28:59.600 --> 01:29:03.600
there are fifty eight thousand, three hundred and eight names,
1242
01:29:04.319 --> 01:29:07.600
each one belonging to an American man or woman who
1243
01:29:07.680 --> 01:29:11.640
lost their life in the Vietnam War. Most of these
1244
01:29:11.720 --> 01:29:15.720
lost souls return home to be buried, but far too
1245
01:29:15.760 --> 01:29:19.279
many some who died but were never found, Others who
1246
01:29:19.279 --> 01:29:24.079
were taken as POWs et cetera, never came back. For
1247
01:29:24.159 --> 01:29:27.600
the families of these missing twelve hundred people, there is
1248
01:29:27.640 --> 01:29:31.800
a hole that will never be filled, a hole created
1249
01:29:31.880 --> 01:29:38.319
by uncertainty, by fear, by grief. To this day, there
1250
01:29:38.359 --> 01:29:42.399
are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters
1251
01:29:43.000 --> 01:29:47.520
hoping for a miracle, hoping that their loved one will return,
1252
01:29:48.119 --> 01:29:51.239
and with each passing year the chances of that miracle
1253
01:29:51.279 --> 01:29:56.520
happening shrinks. For the family of Master Sergeant John Hartley Robertson,
1254
01:29:57.079 --> 01:30:01.239
that miracle happened in twenty thirteen, No matter what the
1255
01:30:01.279 --> 01:30:05.720
world tells them. John Robertson was thirty two when the
1256
01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:09.039
helicopter he was in was shot down over Laos in
1257
01:30:09.119 --> 01:30:13.760
May nineteen sixty eight. The copter carrying Robertson was never recovered,
1258
01:30:13.920 --> 01:30:17.159
and in nineteen seventy six he and the other passengers
1259
01:30:17.199 --> 01:30:22.199
were declared dead. In nineteen eighty two, Robertson, along with
1260
01:30:22.239 --> 01:30:25.239
his brothers in arms, had his name etched into the
1261
01:30:25.319 --> 01:30:29.119
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He can be found on panel
1262
01:30:29.199 --> 01:30:34.000
sixty four, e row eight. At the same time as
1263
01:30:34.039 --> 01:30:37.000
the memorial was opened to the public, the U. S
1264
01:30:37.039 --> 01:30:41.880
Government received reports that Robertson was alive. Robertson's wife and
1265
01:30:41.960 --> 01:30:47.319
children weren't told. Tom Fonce never had an easy life.
1266
01:30:47.359 --> 01:30:50.479
Born in Detroit, France's father died when he was young,
1267
01:30:50.800 --> 01:30:53.640
and while Fonce never liked to speak about it, his
1268
01:30:53.800 --> 01:30:57.079
children believed that their grandfather perished in a house fire.
1269
01:30:58.000 --> 01:31:00.760
After the death of his father, Fonce spent a life
1270
01:31:00.800 --> 01:31:04.800
in and out of orphanages and detention centers, suffering abuses.
1271
01:31:04.840 --> 01:31:08.159
He preferred to keep to himself. When the chance came,
1272
01:31:08.279 --> 01:31:11.119
Fance joined the U. S. Army and spent twenty seven
1273
01:31:11.159 --> 01:31:14.600
months in Vietnam. His time in the military gave Fance
1274
01:31:14.680 --> 01:31:19.079
something he had been missing, a family. After the war,
1275
01:31:19.479 --> 01:31:22.119
France became a born again Christian and chose to live
1276
01:31:22.119 --> 01:31:25.920
his life by a simple but honorable credo, radical love,
1277
01:31:26.560 --> 01:31:31.720
No one left behind, no one left unloved. Fans spent
1278
01:31:31.760 --> 01:31:35.680
his life traveling the world on humanitarian missions, doing his
1279
01:31:35.840 --> 01:31:39.800
best to ease the suffering of others. In two thousand
1280
01:31:39.840 --> 01:31:42.840
and eight, Fance was on a humanitarian mission in Vietnam
1281
01:31:43.199 --> 01:31:47.039
when he heard about John Robertson, the American soldier who had
1282
01:31:47.079 --> 01:31:50.359
been living in a small village. Fonce set out to
1283
01:31:50.399 --> 01:31:54.960
the village to find Robertson. Robertson was old and he
1284
01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:58.600
had all but forgotten how to speak English. He sat
1285
01:31:58.680 --> 01:32:02.359
with Fonse and explained what happened. In May nineteen sixty eight,
1286
01:32:03.199 --> 01:32:05.640
his coptor was enroute to a rescue mission when it
1287
01:32:05.680 --> 01:32:09.560
was shot down over some mountains. Robertson survived the crash,
1288
01:32:09.560 --> 01:32:13.560
but was instantly taken captive by North Vietnamese soldiers. For
1289
01:32:13.600 --> 01:32:17.680
four years, they kept Robertson caged up, beating and starving him.
1290
01:32:17.960 --> 01:32:21.119
At first, they tortured Robertson in hopes of gaining information
1291
01:32:21.199 --> 01:32:24.479
from him, but in time the torture just became something
1292
01:32:24.520 --> 01:32:27.800
to pass the time when he saw his chance, Robertson
1293
01:32:27.920 --> 01:32:31.640
escaped from his cage and ran. He evaded the soldiers
1294
01:32:31.640 --> 01:32:34.399
that pursued him and broke out of the forest before
1295
01:32:34.479 --> 01:32:37.000
collapsing into a field, where he was found by a
1296
01:32:37.039 --> 01:32:40.199
woman he would later marry and have four children with.
1297
01:32:41.359 --> 01:32:45.359
For reasons unknown, Robertson never tried to contact his family
1298
01:32:45.439 --> 01:32:50.159
in America. For over forty years, John Hartley Robertson lived
1299
01:32:50.159 --> 01:32:52.960
with his new wife and children under the name of
1300
01:32:53.000 --> 01:32:59.159
his new wife's dead husband. Dang Tan knock fonce pushed Robertson,
1301
01:32:59.279 --> 01:33:02.760
now in his seventies, for more information. He wasn't about
1302
01:33:02.800 --> 01:33:05.479
to blindly trust the man, but he hoped deep in
1303
01:33:05.520 --> 01:33:08.840
his heart that what he was being told was the truth.
1304
01:33:09.800 --> 01:33:13.119
Robertson was clear on some details, but other things, like
1305
01:33:13.279 --> 01:33:16.000
when he was born or the names of his American children,
1306
01:33:16.399 --> 01:33:20.159
he couldn't remember, he was suffering from dementia and would
1307
01:33:20.199 --> 01:33:24.119
often break down in tears. Fonts, with the help of
1308
01:33:24.159 --> 01:33:29.319
Emmy winning documentarian Michael Jorgensen, searched for more information on Robertson.
1309
01:33:30.840 --> 01:33:33.520
They found that the US government has been contacted by
1310
01:33:33.600 --> 01:33:38.560
Robertson multiple times, but they never informed his family. Robertson
1311
01:33:38.600 --> 01:33:41.479
first contacted the US military in two thousand and six
1312
01:33:41.600 --> 01:33:44.680
to tell them that he was alive. In the information
1313
01:33:44.760 --> 01:33:47.319
he filled out, Robertson wrote down the name of a
1314
01:33:47.359 --> 01:33:50.520
non existent high school and the wrong address for his
1315
01:33:50.680 --> 01:33:56.279
US home. He also misspelled his own name. Robertson tried
1316
01:33:56.319 --> 01:33:59.039
again in two thousand and eight, and this time he
1317
01:33:59.079 --> 01:34:01.159
was taken to the U. S s Embassy in Panan,
1318
01:34:01.239 --> 01:34:04.920
Penn where he was fingerprinted. His prince did not match
1319
01:34:04.960 --> 01:34:07.880
the ones on file. As far as the US government
1320
01:34:07.960 --> 01:34:10.880
was concerned, this was another case of a Vietnamese man
1321
01:34:11.239 --> 01:34:13.880
trying to trick the military into giving him the back
1322
01:34:13.920 --> 01:34:18.319
pay that John Robertson would be owed. Tom Fauns wasn't
1323
01:34:18.359 --> 01:34:21.680
so ready to call Robertson a liar, though. His belief
1324
01:34:22.039 --> 01:34:24.760
is that the US authorities are working to keep Robertson
1325
01:34:24.880 --> 01:34:30.279
and other living US Miapow's and Vietnam silent, though the
1326
01:34:30.319 --> 01:34:34.720
reason to do so is unclear. Fonce and Jorgenson took
1327
01:34:34.800 --> 01:34:38.479
Robertson to Edmonton, Canada to meet his only living sister,
1328
01:34:39.119 --> 01:34:42.840
Jean Robertson Holly. After a brief moment, Jeane was sure
1329
01:34:42.920 --> 01:34:45.800
the man standing before her was her brother back from
1330
01:34:45.840 --> 01:34:49.760
the dead. Jorgenson turned the story into a documentary titled
1331
01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:55.640
Undocumented in twenty thirteen. Shortly after the premiere, US authorities
1332
01:34:55.680 --> 01:35:00.239
released new information on Robertson. In nineteen ninety one, former
1333
01:35:00.319 --> 01:35:04.920
CIA Paramilitary Operations officer Billy Waugh traveled to Vietnam to
1334
01:35:04.960 --> 01:35:09.119
fined Robertson and obtain a DNA sample for testing. Waw
1335
01:35:09.359 --> 01:35:12.880
was successful, and the test proved that Robertson had not
1336
01:35:13.000 --> 01:35:15.800
taken the name Dang Tang Knock from a dead man.
1337
01:35:16.359 --> 01:35:20.840
He was Dang Tan Knock. How Dang Tan Knock, a
1338
01:35:20.920 --> 01:35:24.800
Vietnamese citizen of French origin, had found the name of
1339
01:35:24.920 --> 01:35:29.159
Master Sergeant John Hartley Robertson, or why he chose it
1340
01:35:29.199 --> 01:35:32.239
is unknown. What is known is that Dang Tang Knock
1341
01:35:32.479 --> 01:35:35.199
is a well known con man who has used the
1342
01:35:35.319 --> 01:35:39.359
names of multiple dead soldiers to con veterans groups into
1343
01:35:39.359 --> 01:35:43.600
giving him money. While believed that Knock had collected thousands
1344
01:35:43.680 --> 01:35:48.680
of dollars over the year, still Master Sergeant Robertson's family
1345
01:35:48.920 --> 01:35:52.720
held out hope. In November of twenty thirteen, they started
1346
01:35:52.760 --> 01:35:55.800
a gofund me campaign in hopes to get the money
1347
01:35:55.800 --> 01:35:59.520
needed to perform their own DNA test. While they were
1348
01:35:59.560 --> 01:36:02.960
unable to reach the intended goal, the Robertson family was
1349
01:36:03.039 --> 01:36:06.000
able to get the test done. The results showed that
1350
01:36:06.079 --> 01:36:09.600
Wall had found over twenty years earlier. Dang Tan Knock
1351
01:36:09.760 --> 01:36:14.760
was not John Hartley Robertson. Men like Dang Tan Knock,
1352
01:36:15.039 --> 01:36:18.039
men who take advantage of the grieving and the hopeful,
1353
01:36:18.319 --> 01:36:22.119
are true monsters who walk the earth every day. To
1354
01:36:22.159 --> 01:36:24.920
lose a family member to a war can be nothing
1355
01:36:25.039 --> 01:36:29.199
less than shattering to one's soul. To lose them again
1356
01:36:29.760 --> 01:36:32.600
because of the actions of a con man is something
1357
01:36:32.800 --> 01:36:36.319
no one should ever have to feel. The want to
1358
01:36:36.399 --> 01:36:40.399
believe that your loved one is alive and well overtakes
1359
01:36:40.439 --> 01:36:44.239
the rational side of your mind, pushing out all doubts,
1360
01:36:44.760 --> 01:36:48.359
because in the end, all any of us want is
1361
01:36:48.399 --> 01:36:53.399
a happy ending. To find out more about Mia or
1362
01:36:53.439 --> 01:36:56.920
POW's that are still missing, and to donate to those
1363
01:36:56.960 --> 01:36:59.840
families who are still living with uncertainty about their loved
1364
01:37:00.079 --> 01:37:04.239
one who fought in Vietnam. You can visit pow dash
1365
01:37:04.439 --> 01:37:11.159
Mia families dot org. That's pow dash Mia families dot org.
1366
01:37:16.000 --> 01:37:20.159
When Weird Darkness returns, a woman comes home to find
1367
01:37:20.199 --> 01:37:24.840
her visiting sister murdered and police are convinced she was
1368
01:37:24.880 --> 01:37:28.199
the one who committed the crime, So why wasn't she
1369
01:37:28.319 --> 01:37:33.239
locked up in prison? And a bordello, pizza and a haunting.
1370
01:37:33.560 --> 01:37:36.199
You can find them all at the Red Onion Saloon.
1371
01:37:37.119 --> 01:38:08.840
These stories are up next. Missus Ida Quinlan and her
1372
01:38:08.920 --> 01:38:11.359
nine year old son Johnny, went out to buy a
1373
01:38:11.359 --> 01:38:15.159
pair of stockings around nine o'clock the night of February first,
1374
01:38:15.279 --> 01:38:18.560
eighteen ninety six. Leaving her baby in the care of
1375
01:38:18.600 --> 01:38:22.159
her sister, missus Sophia Grant. They took a street car
1376
01:38:22.239 --> 01:38:26.119
to the store several miles away, purchased the stockings and
1377
01:38:26.279 --> 01:38:29.800
other sundry items. Returning to the house at around eleven,
1378
01:38:30.680 --> 01:38:34.479
Ida rang the bell, but there was no response, so
1379
01:38:34.520 --> 01:38:37.279
she went to the landlord who lived nearby and got
1380
01:38:37.279 --> 01:38:40.199
a key to the house. Entering the sitting room, she
1381
01:38:40.319 --> 01:38:43.439
was surprised to see the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled
1382
01:38:43.479 --> 01:38:47.279
out and the contents spread on the floor. She called
1383
01:38:47.319 --> 01:38:50.279
for Sophia, and, getting no response, went into the kitchen,
1384
01:38:50.760 --> 01:38:53.600
where she found her sister lying dead on the floor,
1385
01:38:54.199 --> 01:38:58.479
covered with blood. Horrified, Ida ran from the house to
1386
01:38:58.479 --> 01:39:01.560
seek assistance from the neighbors. At least that was the
1387
01:39:01.560 --> 01:39:05.640
story she told the police. The following day, Ida Quinland
1388
01:39:05.680 --> 01:39:09.600
was arrested for the murder of her own sister. They
1389
01:39:09.640 --> 01:39:12.840
lived in a three story tenement in the Charlestown section
1390
01:39:13.119 --> 01:39:16.000
of Boston. It was a two family home, but at
1391
01:39:16.000 --> 01:39:19.039
the time Ida Quinland and the two children shared the
1392
01:39:19.079 --> 01:39:22.920
house with their sister, Sophia Grant and their brother Angus MacLeod,
1393
01:39:23.279 --> 01:39:26.560
a conductor on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
1394
01:39:27.199 --> 01:39:30.680
They also took in lodgers John Thompson, a brake band
1395
01:39:30.760 --> 01:39:32.880
on the same line as Angus, at a room there.
1396
01:39:33.880 --> 01:39:37.319
Sophia had married b. W. Grand three years earlier, but
1397
01:39:37.399 --> 01:39:39.920
after a few months they decided that they did not
1398
01:39:40.079 --> 01:39:43.439
want to live together. She stayed in Charlestown and he
1399
01:39:43.680 --> 01:39:46.119
lived in Providence, Rhode Island, where he had a dry
1400
01:39:46.119 --> 01:39:49.880
goods business. It was said Sophia and her husband were
1401
01:39:49.880 --> 01:39:55.439
on friendly terms and corresponded frequently. Doctor O'Brien examined the
1402
01:39:55.479 --> 01:39:58.800
body for the police and determined Sophia Grant had been
1403
01:39:58.840 --> 01:40:02.159
struck in the head several times, with a blunt object
1404
01:40:02.680 --> 01:40:06.199
fracturing her skull. She was wearing nothing but a night
1405
01:40:06.279 --> 01:40:10.479
dress and stockings, but had not been sexually assaulted. There
1406
01:40:10.520 --> 01:40:13.279
were no signs of a struggle, but a rocking chair
1407
01:40:13.319 --> 01:40:17.479
in the kitchen was overturned. She was probably struck while
1408
01:40:17.520 --> 01:40:21.600
sitting in it. Robbery was thought to be the motive,
1409
01:40:21.640 --> 01:40:24.039
but no one from the house could say that anything
1410
01:40:24.239 --> 01:40:28.920
was missing. Ida thought Sophia kept twenty five dollars and
1411
01:40:29.039 --> 01:40:32.800
wanted the drawers, but that could not be confirmed. The
1412
01:40:32.840 --> 01:40:35.640
doors had been locked when Ida returned, and there were
1413
01:40:35.640 --> 01:40:38.760
no signs of a forced entry. It could have been
1414
01:40:38.840 --> 01:40:41.079
one of the residents of the house, but everyone with
1415
01:40:41.119 --> 01:40:44.399
a latch key had an alibi. It might have been
1416
01:40:44.439 --> 01:40:47.960
a former lodger who kept his key, or possibly the
1417
01:40:48.079 --> 01:40:50.560
killer had climbed a drain pipe and entered through a
1418
01:40:50.600 --> 01:40:54.159
broken window on the third floor, but the police did
1419
01:40:54.199 --> 01:40:57.359
not think it was necessary to go so far afield.
1420
01:40:58.119 --> 01:41:02.479
Ida Quinlan's story did not stand up to close scrutiny.
1421
01:41:02.840 --> 01:41:06.520
The police had several reasons to suspect Ida of the murder.
1422
01:41:07.079 --> 01:41:09.720
She had a record of violence, having been charged with
1423
01:41:09.760 --> 01:41:13.680
assault and battery three months earlier. Ida's husband, David, had
1424
01:41:13.720 --> 01:41:17.279
moved out due to her bad temper and drinking habits.
1425
01:41:17.479 --> 01:41:19.920
She was the last to see the murdered woman and
1426
01:41:20.000 --> 01:41:23.279
the first to find her dead. She could not explain
1427
01:41:23.479 --> 01:41:26.800
why she left the house after nine o'clock and traveled
1428
01:41:26.880 --> 01:41:29.359
so far to make a purchase that she could have
1429
01:41:29.399 --> 01:41:32.600
made at a store near her home. It was unusual
1430
01:41:32.960 --> 01:41:34.800
for her to keep her nine year old boy out
1431
01:41:34.840 --> 01:41:38.079
past eleven. After finding the body, she ran from the
1432
01:41:38.119 --> 01:41:41.279
house without first checking on her baby. Their guard dog,
1433
01:41:41.439 --> 01:41:45.520
a large black Newfoundland named Fred, gave no indication of
1434
01:41:45.560 --> 01:41:49.680
being disturbed by an intruder. The police were convinced that
1435
01:41:49.720 --> 01:41:53.000
Ida Quinlan was guilty and arrested her for the murder
1436
01:41:53.000 --> 01:41:58.239
of her sister. Additional evidence was gathered. Doctor Wood of
1437
01:41:58.239 --> 01:42:02.640
Harvard University, who did forensic analysis for the police, examined
1438
01:42:02.680 --> 01:42:06.479
the dress Ida war and found blood not in blotches
1439
01:42:06.560 --> 01:42:09.279
which might have resulted from touching the body after death,
1440
01:42:09.760 --> 01:42:15.039
but small spots as if spattered. Her Macintosh shirt, waist
1441
01:42:15.079 --> 01:42:19.279
and shoes also had spots of blood. Nine year old
1442
01:42:19.359 --> 01:42:22.960
Johnny Quinlan, when questioned, said he'd been by his mother's
1443
01:42:23.000 --> 01:42:27.279
side all night, but the police found witnesses who contradicted that.
1444
01:42:28.079 --> 01:42:30.560
At nine o'clock, a delivery man came by with a
1445
01:42:30.560 --> 01:42:34.279
dozen bottles of beer Ida had ordered. Normally, he would
1446
01:42:34.319 --> 01:42:36.880
have carried them upstairs for her, but this time Ida
1447
01:42:36.960 --> 01:42:41.920
carried them herself while she was inside. William D. Daughtry,
1448
01:42:42.119 --> 01:42:44.199
a tailor on his way to the shop, saw a
1449
01:42:44.239 --> 01:42:47.880
boy standing alone on the street. He recognized him as
1450
01:42:47.960 --> 01:42:52.159
Johnny Quinlan and said hello. Ida and Johnny had been
1451
01:42:52.199 --> 01:42:56.039
seen apart long enough for her to have murdered Sophia.
1452
01:42:57.359 --> 01:43:00.399
The biggest problem for the police was the absence of
1453
01:43:00.439 --> 01:43:04.880
a motive for the murder. Relations between Ida and Sophia
1454
01:43:04.960 --> 01:43:08.840
were cordial. There were no recent arguments or long standing
1455
01:43:08.880 --> 01:43:12.399
feuds between them. It was said that they disagreed on
1456
01:43:12.600 --> 01:43:17.199
religious matters, but not enough to incur violence. Ida would
1457
01:43:17.239 --> 01:43:21.199
not benefit financially by her sister's death. There appeared to
1458
01:43:21.239 --> 01:43:25.359
be no reason for Ida to kill her sister. In
1459
01:43:25.399 --> 01:43:27.840
spite of this, the police were ready to take their
1460
01:43:27.880 --> 01:43:31.199
case to the grand jury. Without a motive, it was
1461
01:43:31.239 --> 01:43:34.399
doubtful that Ida would be indicted for a first degree murder,
1462
01:43:34.880 --> 01:43:37.319
but the police were sure that she'd be charged with
1463
01:43:37.520 --> 01:43:41.600
second degree murder or at least manslaughter. But the grand
1464
01:43:41.680 --> 01:43:45.199
jury was not impressed by the evidence against Ida Quinlan
1465
01:43:45.600 --> 01:43:49.680
and did not return any indictment. While they vowed to
1466
01:43:49.720 --> 01:43:53.920
keep investigating, the police were reluctant to pursue any other theory.
1467
01:43:54.560 --> 01:43:57.800
They had gone all in against Ida Quinland and they
1468
01:43:57.880 --> 01:44:02.399
still believed she was guilty. Their reputation as officers rests
1469
01:44:02.479 --> 01:44:05.720
on their claim, said the Boston Daily Advertiser, and it
1470
01:44:05.760 --> 01:44:07.880
could not be said that they would attempt to pass
1471
01:44:07.920 --> 01:44:10.920
over any other clue. Yet it can easily be seen
1472
01:44:10.960 --> 01:44:12.680
that it would be very hard for them to get
1473
01:44:12.760 --> 01:44:15.600
up much enthusiasm and working over something that would be
1474
01:44:15.600 --> 01:44:20.159
a slap in their own faces. The Boston Police found
1475
01:44:20.319 --> 01:44:24.199
no more evidence against Ida Quinland or anyone else in
1476
01:44:24.199 --> 01:44:28.600
the case. The murder, which made sensational headlines in February,
1477
01:44:29.439 --> 01:44:43.960
was all but forgotten in March. In the small city
1478
01:44:44.000 --> 01:44:47.880
of Skagway, Alaska, on Broadway Street, there was a building
1479
01:44:48.079 --> 01:44:51.960
built with planks cut by the town's founder Captain William Moore.
1480
01:44:52.840 --> 01:44:56.600
This building is interesting for three reasons, a bit of
1481
01:44:56.840 --> 01:45:03.199
naughty history, pizza, and a haunting. The naughty history of
1482
01:45:03.239 --> 01:45:06.680
the building began just after its completion, when it opened
1483
01:45:06.720 --> 01:45:10.239
as a bordello in eighteen ninety eight, called the Red
1484
01:45:10.279 --> 01:45:14.399
Onion Saloon. This was during the gold rush when miners
1485
01:45:14.439 --> 01:45:17.680
hoping to hit it big traveled through Skagway, which had
1486
01:45:17.680 --> 01:45:20.399
been dubbed the Gateway to the Klondike, on their way
1487
01:45:20.439 --> 01:45:23.680
to find gold nuggets. Miners would come in looking for
1488
01:45:23.800 --> 01:45:27.720
entertainment in both drink and ladies that they found both
1489
01:45:27.800 --> 01:45:31.039
in the Red Onion Saloon. The first floor was a
1490
01:45:31.079 --> 01:45:34.159
saloon where the men would imbibe alcohol and dance with
1491
01:45:34.239 --> 01:45:38.000
the women. The second floor contained ten rooms where the
1492
01:45:38.000 --> 01:45:42.079
men were entertained by the ladies who inhabited them. Choosing
1493
01:45:42.079 --> 01:45:45.239
the ladies was done with dolls. Each had a doll
1494
01:45:45.279 --> 01:45:48.319
that represented them behind the bar. If the dolls were
1495
01:45:48.319 --> 01:45:51.560
sitting up, the lady that the doll represented was available.
1496
01:45:51.960 --> 01:45:55.359
If the doll was lying on their back, they were entertaining.
1497
01:45:56.359 --> 01:45:59.119
As time passed and the rush for gold faded from
1498
01:45:59.119 --> 01:46:03.079
the area, the bordello eventually faded as well, leaving the
1499
01:46:03.119 --> 01:46:07.319
building behind to become other things. It was used as
1500
01:46:07.399 --> 01:46:11.039
barracks in World War II to house soldiers. It also
1501
01:46:11.199 --> 01:46:15.239
became a union hall, bakery and gift shop, as well
1502
01:46:15.279 --> 01:46:18.680
as a laundry and television station. But its history as
1503
01:46:18.720 --> 01:46:21.680
a bordello would not fade and it was destined to
1504
01:46:21.720 --> 01:46:26.640
become a saloon again, only this time there would be pizza.
1505
01:46:27.800 --> 01:46:30.920
Today it is a historical landmark and operates as a
1506
01:46:31.000 --> 01:46:36.039
saloon and brothel themed pizzeria with pizzas with bordello themed
1507
01:46:36.119 --> 01:46:40.600
names like the Busty LaRue or Lady Lavois, and the
1508
01:46:40.640 --> 01:46:44.760
employees dress as madams from the Red Onion Saloons Heyday,
1509
01:46:45.319 --> 01:46:48.920
as well as barmen and musicians in period dress from
1510
01:46:48.920 --> 01:46:52.399
that time. It's also a working museum where they give
1511
01:46:52.479 --> 01:46:55.319
tours and you can view items that were once in
1512
01:46:55.359 --> 01:46:59.319
the brothel. Sounds like a fun place to visit, even
1513
01:46:59.359 --> 01:47:03.399
without a ghost. The haunting itself is allegedly the ghost
1514
01:47:03.479 --> 01:47:06.199
of a woman who had been named Lydia and is
1515
01:47:06.239 --> 01:47:08.800
thought to have been a prostitute at the Red Onion
1516
01:47:08.840 --> 01:47:12.560
Saloon during the gold Rush. There have been multiple sightings
1517
01:47:12.600 --> 01:47:16.079
of her, especially in the upstairs area, though she has
1518
01:47:16.159 --> 01:47:19.520
been allegedly hostile to men. She does have a fondness
1519
01:47:19.600 --> 01:47:23.319
for plants in the saloon and waters them. There have
1520
01:47:23.359 --> 01:47:26.479
been footsteps heard on the second floor, and if that
1521
01:47:26.520 --> 01:47:29.359
doesn't frighten you, she also has appeared as a full
1522
01:47:29.439 --> 01:47:33.399
bodied apparition that ran down the hall when police came
1523
01:47:33.439 --> 01:47:36.680
to check out a disturbance. She then ran into the
1524
01:47:36.680 --> 01:47:40.159
Madam's room. When they checked it, no one was in
1525
01:47:40.159 --> 01:47:43.840
the room. It is often this room where her spirit
1526
01:47:43.920 --> 01:47:46.600
is seen walking around and watering plants that are no
1527
01:47:46.680 --> 01:47:50.680
longer there. There is often a strong smell of perfume
1528
01:47:51.039 --> 01:47:55.840
and cold spots. Unfortunately, it's not known whether she died
1529
01:47:56.079 --> 01:47:59.119
in the Red Onion Saloon, but one of the former
1530
01:47:59.159 --> 01:48:03.600
madams believed to be named Lydia, and perhaps it is
1531
01:48:03.720 --> 01:48:07.279
her spirit that lingers. So if you want to do
1532
01:48:07.359 --> 01:48:10.640
some ghost hunting on your own, the Red Onion Saloon
1533
01:48:10.880 --> 01:48:16.159
operates from April to October. Get a drink, order a pizza,
1534
01:48:16.840 --> 01:48:19.920
and if you're lucky, you'll also get to see Lydia
1535
01:48:20.279 --> 01:48:24.439
sid intent over time with your darkness
1
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.919
Welcome Weirdos. A'm Darron Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio,
2
00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:17.280
where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,
3
00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:24.920
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and
4
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:31.280
unexplained coming up this hour. More than one hundred years ago,
5
00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:35.119
reports described it as the most weird and gruesome apartment
6
00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.240
in the world. Why display an entire room full of
7
00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:44.799
grotesque items and open it to the public kills Irish
8
00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.719
pop in Seattle has a creepy vibe to it, even
9
00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:51.240
if the displays and decorations inside aren't meant to be.
10
00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.159
Perhaps that's because the building started its life as a
11
00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:01.039
massive mortuary. Early one February morning in eighteen ninety seven,
12
00:01:01.399 --> 00:01:04.200
John Marge jumped out of bed from a sound sleep,
13
00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:07.760
and while the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs wafted up
14
00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:11.239
to the second level of the house, he inexplicably grabbed
15
00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:14.040
his pistol and went on a shooting spree of his
16
00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:18.719
own family. But first, a four year old has a
17
00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:22.680
paranormal experience, and the man he grew into over sixty
18
00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.640
years later is still unsure of what happened to him.
19
00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:31.400
We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome
20
00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:33.400
to the show. And if you're already a member of
21
00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.120
this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone
22
00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.920
else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to
23
00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.040
others helps make it possible for me to keep doing
24
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:44.040
the show. While you're listening, be sure to visit Weirddarkness
25
00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:46.439
dot com, where you can follow me on social media,
26
00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:50.400
listen to free audio books, off narrated and more. That's
27
00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:55.680
Weird Darkness dot com. I'll bolt your doors, lock your windows,
28
00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:00.239
turn off your lights, and come with me into the
29
00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:18.120
Weird Darkness. When this occurrence happened, I would have been
30
00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:21.360
about three and a half years of age, and I
31
00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.439
have never forgotten it. This would have been in nineteen
32
00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:30.000
fifty one or nineteen fifty two. My understanding is that
33
00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:33.800
this particular house came as a job package with my
34
00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:37.879
father's employment. I can still recall some parts of the
35
00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:42.759
house and its general interior layout. At this time, my
36
00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:46.479
parents and my sister younger than myself, we were living
37
00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.840
at thirty six Canal Street, Derby. I was never brought
38
00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:55.520
up with bogeyman tails or other happenings to cause some
39
00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:59.919
fear or to obtain obedience from me. Therefore, I can
40
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.840
not say that such imaginings were put into my head
41
00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:07.879
for me to invoke an event later. Despite my young age,
42
00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.039
I can recall this particular evening and event. The house
43
00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.840
was somewhat large and it had a semi spiral staircase
44
00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:21.000
with a red colored stair carpet on the treads and risers.
45
00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.120
At the top of this staircase was a landing which
46
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:29.159
led to the bedrooms and bathroom. For whatever reason, I
47
00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.000
always used to ask my mother to leave the curtains
48
00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:37.199
open and occasionally the window partly open. It was one
49
00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:41.120
of these sash type of windows that opened and closed vertically.
50
00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:45.120
On the adjacent wall to the window was the door
51
00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:48.439
to the landing. This door was in the area of
52
00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:50.759
the foot of the bed and to the right of
53
00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.800
the bed. The side of the bed was across from
54
00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.159
this wall, with the bed head on the wall behind me.
55
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:01.039
There was a small table to the head of the
56
00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:04.599
bed where I always had a tumbler of water, as
57
00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.639
often I would awaken overnight and have a drink of water,
58
00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:12.080
which continues to this day. When in bed and before
59
00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:15.840
the forthcoming event happened, I sometimes would hear what I
60
00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.160
thought to be a voice of someone who was speaking
61
00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:25.639
very softly, something like a loud whisper. The way this
62
00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.480
voice spoke, it sounded to me as if this person
63
00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.720
was looking for someone, but in a more inquiring fashion.
64
00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:37.959
Sometimes I never heard this voice, but it always came back,
65
00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:42.839
even if eventually there was just the one word spoke,
66
00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.800
but it was repeated. This sounded to my ears to
67
00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:52.920
be Jack Jack. These two words would stop for a
68
00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:57.120
short while, and then the same two words were softly repeated,
69
00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:03.720
Jack Jack. This may happen three or four times, and
70
00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:07.279
then stop as if the person had gone away. I
71
00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:11.439
had no idea as to which gender the voice belonged.
72
00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:15.560
All of this caused me no issues whatsoever, and it
73
00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:20.040
certainly never frightened me. It was just there from time
74
00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:24.160
to time. After I went to bed. The incident which
75
00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:28.639
I'm about to relate, I can well recall. My mother
76
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:31.800
put me to bed, and as per usual, the curtains
77
00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:35.759
were left open and the window slightly cracked. I never
78
00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:39.040
heard these soft spoken words of inquiry, and so I
79
00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:43.079
must have fallen asleep. Later I awoke to what sounded
80
00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:47.120
like two cats fighting outside. We had no pets, but
81
00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.199
there were a couple of cats that came into the
82
00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:54.199
small garden. During all this screeching and wailing from these cats,
83
00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:56.680
there was the sound of what appeared to me as
84
00:05:57.399 --> 00:06:02.480
being of empty tin cans pooling, falling onto a paved surface,
85
00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:06.759
and then rolling along this surface. I imagined that the
86
00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.800
cats had run into such cans and toppled them. Over
87
00:06:10.839 --> 00:06:13.680
All of this certainly caused me no concerns. I had
88
00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.680
a drink of water, and I must have gone back
89
00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:21.480
to sleep. I was awoken by a lady laughing. She
90
00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:24.160
was in front of the bedside table and between the
91
00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.759
edge of my bed and the wall where the door
92
00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:30.079
was located, which in turn was adjacent to the window
93
00:06:30.199 --> 00:06:33.879
at the foot of my bed. The lady was nondescript
94
00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:38.240
in color, being a dark gray. However, I could see
95
00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:43.279
some patterns and frills on her dress. This was bell
96
00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:46.720
shaped front and back, but more so at the back,
97
00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:49.680
and something that would be seen in the late seventeen
98
00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:54.040
hundreds to early eighteen hundreds. Her hair was pulled backward
99
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.680
and in the fashion of a bun at the back
100
00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:00.279
of her head. She appeared to have long sleep leaves
101
00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.959
on her dress that had a lace or other frill material.
102
00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:07.920
Close to the wrists, there seemed to be something like
103
00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:11.600
a frill or a lace collar to her dress. This
104
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lady had a bracelet on her right wrist. However, the
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most significant detail of this particular lady to me was
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that she was laughing, but more so by the way
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that she actually laughed. Her laughing was very loud, and
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it could be best described as being in the form
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of what is sometimes referred to as hysterical laughter. She
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had both her hands over her face and partly on
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her forehead while she endlessly laughed. Throughout this laughing, she
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was rocking forward and back up again from waste level.
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I do not recall if I was frightened, but even
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at my tender age at the time I thought something
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was amiss. I left my bed and went into my
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parents' room, awoke them and told them that there was
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a lady laughing in my room. And this is my
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story of the lady at thirty six Canal Street, Derby.
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Nothing frightening, but I would love to know if something
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ever went awry in the history of this house, long
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before we occupied it. Very many years later, I must
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have been around seventeen or eighteen At the time I
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learned that this house had originally been built by a
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person that arrived in Derby from what is now Belgium.
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My understanding is that this person was associated with, or
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was a founding member of the soft drink manufacturer Burrows
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and Sturgists of Derby. That would require investigative authentication, which
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I have never performed. This newly learned piece of news
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at that time made me prick my ears up as
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it made me think, or should I say, at least consider,
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was the voice that I sometimes heard when in my
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bedroom which caused me no alarm or other concern not
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be saying Jack Jack, but in fact could it have
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been Jacques Jacques, or even being the shortened form of
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Jacqueline in the French dialect. I wondered whether the person
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voicing Jack Jacques was actually looking for a Jack somewhere
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in the house, so calling out softly to get a
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response from Jack to locate that person's whereabouts. Very many
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years later I learned that my parents often heard talking
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elsewhere in the house and persons moving about in the house,
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as well as furniture being shuffled about. However, there was
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never any evidence on inspection or investigation of any furniture
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that had been moved. There were neighbors I never knew them,
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of course, who always had visitors, and they made some noises. However,
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these people left and I was informed that the noises
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and inaudible talking within the house persisted on. My mother
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was somewhat concerned and rather uneasy at times about this house.
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Apparently my father was not so inclined. This attitude of
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my father may have been related to the fact that
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during World War II he served in the raf As
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aircrew in bombers, which could be a physically and psychological
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terrifying experience in itself. Consequently, he had little to know
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fears of noises or voices emanating from elsewhere in the house.
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In later life, I cannot recall ever seeing or believing
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my father to be a fearful type of person. I
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recall when in this house and whether it was pre
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or post by experience of the lady. My aunt, my
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mother's sister, visited us from Scotland. The only thing that
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I can recall was that my aunt, my younger sister,
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and myself were in the lounge room one night with
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Radio Luxembourg playing loudly. My parents had attended some function
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at Nottingham and my aunt was babysitting my sister and myself.
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My aunt appeared to be rather distressed, as I recall,
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my parents returned home, and I can recall my father
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being the first to enter into the lounge room. Both
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my parents were very surprised that my sister and I
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were still up and about, and also the radio playing loudly.
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The radio's volume was reduced, and my aunt, who was
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now in tears, was speaking to both my parents and
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all on the far side of the room. I never
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heard one word of this conversation. I was told again
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many years later that my aunt was very frightened on
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this evening as she heard talking outside the lounge room
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along with other noises. Also, the above mentioned neighbors had
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since left. Therefore, to drown out these stories and voices,
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she had greatly increased the radio's volume, and furthermore, she
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would not venture outside this room to put my sister
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and myself to bed. I tried a number of times,
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after learning of this incident, to get my aunt to
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tell me her experience of that evening. She adamantly refused
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to talk about it, and Sadly, I never found out
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directly from the person concerned what actually occurred. Apparently my
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aunt was always very frightened and alarmed about this house
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after her first visit before that mentioned episode. We eventually
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left Derby and moved to the village of Willington, where
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my father originated. We lived at Willington until September nineteen
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sixty two, when we moved to Stafford with my father's employment.
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Many years later, the subject of thirty six Canal Street
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came into the conversation with one of my father's friends.
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My father went on to say to this friend that
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the person who moved into the vacated house at thirty
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six Canal Street, Derby when we left for Willington once
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pulled my father to one side and asked him if
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the house was haunted. Apparently, my father would neither confirm
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or deny this. This person then told my father that
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he and his wife had heard all manner of noises
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within that house with people talking, but their conversations were imperceptible.
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On one occasion, late one night, when he returned home
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from work, a lady had passed this man on the stairs.
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This lady said something to him, but he was very
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tired and unsure of what she had voiced, and didn't
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realize this passing on the stairs until he was on
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the landing. Furthermore, and most interestingly, he told my father
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that his daughter, who was about six years of age,
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was very frightened in the house and that she had
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heard somebody calling out Jack Jack. Furthermore, this little girl
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had seen a lady laughing very loudly in her bedroom.
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When Weird Darkness returns, more than one hundred years ago,
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reports described it as the most weird and gruesome apartment
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in the world. Why display an entire room full of
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grotesque items and open it to the public. I'm Darren Marler.
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Welcome back to Weird Darkness. You can get more Weird
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Darkness seven days a week through the Weird Darkness podcast,
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00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.159
which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts on YouTube,
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00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:25.399
or visit Weird Darkness dot com slash listen, and you
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00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:27.320
can find a list of all the apps where you
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00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:31.399
can listen to the show. That's Weirddarkness dot com slash listen.
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00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.360
In June of eighteen ninety nine, newspapers across the country
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trumpeted the story of New York city's newest site, something
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so strange and macabre it would have rated the highest
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attention even in the heyday of Pt. Barnum. Reported first
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by the New York Journal and then picked up by
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the Newswires, it was the story of a hospital room
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that was being decorated entirely with human bones in order
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to present a specter of mortality that was intended to
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eventually rival such morbid monuments as the Paris Catacombs or
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Rome's Capuchin Cemetery. The masterminds of the project were a
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pair of doctors Northway Meyer and Howard Nielsen, both on
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staff as anatomy demonstrators at Flower Hospital at sixty third
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and Eastern, it would later merge with other hospitals to
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become the New York Medical College, and William Flatter, the
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head nurse of the dissecting room. The trio had converted
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the anatomy lab into a veritable Charnel house. A pyramid
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composed of bones from all parts of the human body
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surmounted by a skull, were set on a long table
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as the room's centerpiece, and were flamed by skulls hollowed
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into drinking cups atop what the newspapers described as tripods
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of tibia. Next to this was a full skeleton enthroned
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and a large chair with his arm resting on the
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table and his gaze overlooking the pile. The room also
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included signs lettered with tow and finger bones. These spelled
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out the names of Meyer and Nielsen against a black
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background and noted the initials of the institute's proper name
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n Y, H, M, and C in large blocks New
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York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital. Various skulls and crossbones
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adorned the walls and garlands of bones had already been hung,
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with additional planned so that the ceiling itself would be
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obscured by a sea of human remains. Finally, as one
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newspaper account explained, up and down the walls like gasly,
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the white serpents crawl coils of vertebra. Wire Service reports
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dubbed it the most weird and gruesome apartment in the
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world and said that if the feeling of dread for
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these specimens displayed can be overcome, the display is quite
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enough to excite the interest and imagination of the most
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case hardened sightseer. Sensational it was, but the project was
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also not in the least controversial. What was the point
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to this macabre display or was it all simply the
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gratuitous fantasy of sick minds. Flater, who performed the actual
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labor of assembling the bones and was noted as the
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artist whose eccentric inspiration is accountable, was quick to provide
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a defense. It was meant to be didactic, a kind
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of learning aid, he explained. Our bone room is intended
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to serve as a practical aid to students of an anatomy.
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He told reporters. Human bones of every description can be
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found grouped about in artistic confusion, he continued, and this
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would allow the anatomy lecturers to quiz students in novel
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ways on their knowledge of the parts of the human body.
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Flater's explanation struck many as a bit hollow. Was there
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really academic value in instructors pointing at bones hanging on
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wire from the ceiling as a means of a pop quiz.
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The scholarly value of the room was not the only
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issue of debate, though. There were also questions about the
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exact provenance of the bones. How did Flator explain where
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the bones came from? We'll find out when weird Darkness returns,
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you can stay up to date on everything Weird Darkness.
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00:19:55.720 --> 00:19:59.359
Read original paranormal articles by me, register for contests and
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00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.559
more signing up for the email newsletter. You can sign
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00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:05.240
up for the Weird Darkness newsletter for free at weird
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00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:33.000
Darkness dot com slash newsletter. Welcome back to Weird Darkness.
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00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.079
I'm Darren Marler. If you'd like to display your dark
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00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.759
weirdness wherever you go, you can find Weird Darkness t shirts, buttons, hoodies,
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00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:44.039
office supplies, clothes for your kids, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs,
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00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:46.920
and a whole lot more in the Weird Darkness Store,
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00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.720
with dozens of designs to choose from and a variety
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00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.160
of colors to match your style. You can grab some
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00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:55.119
weirdo merchandise for yourself or maybe as a gift for
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00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.240
the weirdo in your life by clicking on store at
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weird Darkness dot com. When last we left, Flatter's explanation
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for why he needed bones in the classroom struck many
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as a bit hollow, but there was a bigger question
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where exactly did those bones come from. Flater told reporters
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that they had been obtained several years before. When acquiring
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human remains was easier and had been lying around the college,
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many packed away in boxes and of little use to anyone.
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No doubt the medical school had bones stored away, but
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whether they had quite so many was another matter, and
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one theory that made the rounds during the meeting of
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a local medical association involved the distasteful idea that the
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trio had stolen or otherwise obtained them from the potter's
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field or pauper's cemetery on Hart Island. For a long time,
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Hart Island has been New York's naughty secret. A mile
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long island at the eastern end of the Bronx, Hart
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has served many functions throughout its history, including acting as
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a Civil War prison camp, a tuberculosis sanatorium, and a
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shutter island style psychiatric hospital. But most notably, it has
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acted since the late nineteenth century as a dumping place
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for New York's impoverished dead, and holds the distinction of
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being the world's largest paupers cemetery, with over a million interments.
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The first burial was in eighteen sixty nine, and the
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volume eventually grew so high that the dead were placed
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in large mass graves. Three layers deep, with a level
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of sod between each layer. Pits for children, for instance,
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00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:53.960
were so vast that they held up to one thousand burials.
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By the time the room at Flower Hospital was being decorated,
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there had already been one one hundred, ten thousand, seven
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hundred fifty one burials on heart, so there were potentially
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plenty of bones to be obtained there. Bodies were delivered
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to the island by a boat named the Fidelity, captained
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by Edward McAvoy, who had received several demerits for misconduct
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while in the Navy. He would sail the East River
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to pick up bodies from the City Morgue and Harlem Hospital,
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among others, and twice weekly during the winter and three
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times a week during the summer, dropped them off on heart.
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The Fidelity could hold up to one hundred corpses, which
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were covered over on the deck by tarps so that
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passing boats would not be able to see the grisly cargo.
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On the island, they were received by Superintendent of Burials
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John Bopp, who then processed them with a team of
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fifty convicts from Riker's Penitentiary. It was a nauseating spectacle
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and as a crew member from the Fidelity told a
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reporter in nineteen hundred, it's all the same after you're dead.
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But if you want to know the advantage of passing
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away among friends, take a trip to Hart's Island on
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burying day. It would have been scandalous to the hospital
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if it were to turn out that the trio had
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been obtaining bones from the graves on hart Island for
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their project, but the suspicious past of Meyer and Nielsen
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meant that the question would not go away easily. The
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pair had already come under media scrutiny in eighteen ninety four,
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when The New York Times carried a story about how
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they were using narcotics to place stray dogs into comas
342
00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:38.920
in order to experiment with a potassium solution as an
343
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:43.240
antidote to morphine poisoning. Meyer at the time was known
344
00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:46.960
by his true first name of Oscar, although when he
345
00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.680
went into professional practice he adopted instead his middle name
346
00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:54.359
of Northway, apparently in order to avoid confusion with the
347
00:24:54.359 --> 00:24:57.400
Oscar Meyer Wiener Company, which had been founded in eighteen
348
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.400
eighty three. At the time, neither of the two were
349
00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:06.000
even properly physicians, having yet to graduate medical school, and
350
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:10.160
they instructed the paper to omit the title of doctor, since,
351
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.519
as they described it, they were simply students with an
352
00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:18.400
inquisitive bent. They would administer morphine intravenously to the dogs
353
00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:21.720
until they fell into a coma very quick for a
354
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:24.960
small mongrel, up to four hours for a large dog,
355
00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.200
and follow that with a solution of premanningate of potash.
356
00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:34.039
The validity of their experiment was questionable, but at least
357
00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:38.680
none of the dogs died, or so they claimed. Not surprisingly,
358
00:25:38.799 --> 00:25:41.920
the weight of both public and private opinion was falling
359
00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.559
heavily against Meyer, Nielsen and Flater. The latter was vehement
360
00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:50.640
in his insistence that not only was the display ethical,
361
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:54.200
it wasn't even intended to be morbid. If the bones
362
00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:57.400
present a sight most gruesome, he argued, it is because
363
00:25:57.400 --> 00:25:59.359
of the nature of the subject, and not because I
364
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:03.880
had any eye idea of arranging such an effect. Despite
365
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:06.119
the claims of the trio that the room was simply
366
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.000
a means to put the remains of the dead to
367
00:26:08.119 --> 00:26:12.960
good and practical use, the hospital's governing board eventually mandated
368
00:26:13.079 --> 00:26:15.960
that not only would they cease adding to the display,
369
00:26:16.519 --> 00:26:20.400
they would remove what had already been constructed. Such a
370
00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:23.960
spectacle might be fine for the Catholic bone houses of
371
00:26:24.039 --> 00:26:28.000
seventh century Europe, but modern New York would not tolerate it.
372
00:26:28.759 --> 00:26:33.279
And with that, amid suspicions of grave robbing and professional misconduct,
373
00:26:34.039 --> 00:26:38.200
America lost its one and only attempt at a fantastic
374
00:26:38.440 --> 00:26:48.680
charnel house coming up. Kell's Irish Pup in Seattle has
375
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:51.559
a creepy vibe to it, even if the displays and
376
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:55.759
decorations inside aren't meant to be. Perhaps that's because the
377
00:26:55.799 --> 00:27:00.640
building started its life as a massive mortuary, and early
378
00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:04.920
one February morning in eighteen ninety seven, John Mars jumped
379
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.400
out of bed from a sound sleep, and while the
380
00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:10.880
smell of breakfast cooking downstairs wafted up to the second
381
00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:14.559
level of the house, he inexplicably grabbed his pistol and
382
00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:18.759
went on a shooting spree of his own family. These
383
00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:51.039
stories are up next when Weird Darkness returns. If there
384
00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:54.759
is a definitive go to Irish pub in Seattle, Washington,
385
00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.319
it's Kels in the Pike Place Market. Just about any
386
00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:03.559
Localsque who doesn't live the teetotal life has spent an
387
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:07.039
after work happy hour on its post alley patio or
388
00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:10.839
a drunken Saint Patrick's day or two in this creaky, spooky,
389
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:15.559
old fashioned bottom floor bar, perhaps partaking in the city's
390
00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:19.920
largest collection of single malt Scotch. But not everyone who
391
00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:23.200
hangs out at Kells knows that there is a great
392
00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:27.799
reason why it is so creepy in there. Kells is
393
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:31.559
in the ground floor of the Butterworth Building, as in
394
00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:37.240
Er Butterworth, who built Seattle's first mortuary inside this building,
395
00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:41.279
and who basically invented the modern funeral as we know it,
396
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:45.960
and the very words mortuary and mortician for that matter.
397
00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:52.759
Kells occupies the former stables and funeral wagon garage. Half
398
00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:56.799
a block east from Kells. The Greco Roman sandstone arches
399
00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:01.119
at nineteen twenty one First Avenue were, as Seattle Metz
400
00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.519
editor in chief James ross Gardner wrote in twenty twelve,
401
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:08.359
a passageway of sorts from this life into the next,
402
00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:13.119
Beginning in nineteen oh three, when Butterworth and Sons moved
403
00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:16.559
into this snappy new building after bouncing around from the
404
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.200
old Masonic temple at Second in Pike to another location
405
00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:24.440
on Second and then another on Third. Arn Company had
406
00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:28.440
a monopoly on the death industry in Seattle. For the
407
00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:32.480
first few decades that followed, just about everyone who died
408
00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:37.799
in Seattle sailed through this building's archway. Many of the
409
00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:42.519
dead came through without names or identification. The era in
410
00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.119
which Seattle was settled saw epidemics of tuberculosis, diphtheria, and
411
00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:51.519
Spanish flu likely among others, and without proper burial services
412
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:55.599
available the case before Butterworth and sons, dead bodies would
413
00:29:55.599 --> 00:30:00.039
regularly just appear on the streets of downtown Seattle. He
414
00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:04.000
got so bad that the city started offering undertakers fifty
415
00:30:04.039 --> 00:30:06.960
dollars per body that they could take off the streets
416
00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:11.359
as a community clean up effort. Butterworth saw an opportunity
417
00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:14.079
and took it, and it would make him a very
418
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:19.359
wealthy man. He hired John Graham, the English architect whose
419
00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:22.519
firm would later design the Space Needle, to plan out
420
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.920
his grand five story mortuary with a two hundred mortar chapel,
421
00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:33.160
a crematorium, a columbarium for storing funeral urns, a casket showroom,
422
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:36.400
and an elevator, the very first on the West coast,
423
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:40.319
used for transporting bodies up and down this marvelous palace
424
00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:45.279
of death. Butterworth had Graham draw up eight different blueprints
425
00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:49.680
before he presented one that was to Butterworth's liking. The
426
00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:52.880
building was done up in the bosar style of the era,
427
00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:57.920
with four sculpted lionheads on the facade facing first Avenue
428
00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:02.680
from three stories up. The aforementioned space that Kels now
429
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:06.920
sits in held horses and hearses concealed in the alley
430
00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:11.160
to hide the unsightly bodies from public view. The floors
431
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.319
above were tricked out in mahogany, bronze and brass fixtures,
432
00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:21.319
elaborate stained glass and general Victorian filigree. The spacious chapel
433
00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:24.960
had pews of Flemish oak, a choir loft, and a
434
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:28.440
new fangled system of light signals that acquire should the
435
00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:31.839
family hire one could follow to start or stop singing.
436
00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.160
Some of the services offered for Butterworth and Son's funeral
437
00:31:36.200 --> 00:31:39.400
packages were the transport of the body to the mortuary,
438
00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.359
washing the body, dressing the body, embalming, newspaper death notices,
439
00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:50.720
limousine and hearse service casket with optional crushed silk interior,
440
00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:57.240
fresh flowers, burial permit, air sealed vault, and musicians. There
441
00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:00.319
was nothing like it in the United States. Gardner's of
442
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:03.759
Butterworth and Sons may be nothing like it in the world.
443
00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.119
Edgar Ray Butterworth never meant to work as an undertaker
444
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:12.799
to begin with. Born in the Boston suburbs in eighteen
445
00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:16.240
forty seven, he found himself working as a cattleman on
446
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.839
the plains of Kansas when he encountered a grieving settler
447
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:23.680
while traveling with his team. The man, whose wife and
448
00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:28.359
newborn child had both just died, had no lumber available
449
00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.440
for coffins on the prairie. Butterworth had said, built a
450
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:35.359
coffin for the guy with wood taken from his own wagon.
451
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:39.920
Everyone in turn of the century Seattle knew Er, who
452
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:43.200
also served in the state legislature, and his oldest son
453
00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:47.359
Gilbert respectively by Ar's signature long ago Tee and his
454
00:32:47.480 --> 00:32:51.200
son's high, classic cheek bones and all around good looks.
455
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.440
They trusted the Butterworths with their family members who'd passed on,
456
00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:59.640
although it is unclear whether folks did because they wanted
457
00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:04.079
to or because they didn't really have a choice. As
458
00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:08.400
for its modern day incarnation as Kells, it has ghosts.
459
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.599
Everyone who even vaguely follows that sort of thing will
460
00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.839
tell you this The most sighted one is a young
461
00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:19.359
girl of about eight years old with blonde or red hair.
462
00:33:20.119 --> 00:33:23.920
She supposedly shows up most when the traditional Irish music
463
00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:27.400
is going, appearing in the main room or on the stairs.
464
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.599
It's less famous ghost is Sammy, who will show up
465
00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:34.920
in the mirror on the back wall. People say, you'll
466
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:38.039
see a man's face in the mirror looking right at you,
467
00:33:38.839 --> 00:33:42.039
but if you turn around to check him out, he vanishes.
468
00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:46.319
Turn back around to face the mirror, he's right there again,
469
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:50.799
grinning at you. There are also ghosts that never show
470
00:33:50.839 --> 00:33:54.720
their faces. According to local legend, there is a small
471
00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:57.880
ornate whiskey bar in the back corner at the restaurant,
472
00:33:58.559 --> 00:34:01.680
just a little corner bar. It's easy to miss, but
473
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.119
if you keep an eye on it, the candles all
474
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:07.319
around the bar will allegedly light up on their own,
475
00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:12.320
Glasses are known to break on their own, silverware will levitate,
476
00:34:12.760 --> 00:34:17.360
and disembodied women's voices are heard. That same stairwell in
477
00:34:17.400 --> 00:34:20.440
the back where the little red haired girl hangs out,
478
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:24.559
is supposedly home to lots of other spirits too, who
479
00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:30.559
turn up in photographs via orbs, or maybe it's just dust.
480
00:34:31.079 --> 00:34:36.119
Mercedes Caraba, who once ran the now defunct full Disclosure
481
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:40.760
Market Ghost Tours told Kuow in two thousand and nine
482
00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:44.559
that she spotted a pair of muddy, dirty hands pressed
483
00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:47.559
up in the windows of the first Avenue entrance to
484
00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:52.480
the building. The area is just kind of inarguably deathy,
485
00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:56.880
said Caraba, with a Duwamish burial site nearby and a
486
00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:02.320
nineteenth century settler's graveyard a block away. That said, this
487
00:35:02.440 --> 00:35:06.000
building hasn't been a mortuary or funeral parlor for a
488
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:10.559
really long time. In nineteen twenty three, E. R. Butterworth
489
00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:13.719
moved his business to the western slope of Capitol Hill,
490
00:35:14.199 --> 00:35:17.320
at the northeast corner of Melrose Avenue and Pine Street.
491
00:35:18.039 --> 00:35:21.719
The new building was even more souped up and deluxe,
492
00:35:21.960 --> 00:35:27.280
with the crematorium and columbarium, fireproof vaults, and even bigger
493
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:32.440
chapel and drawing rooms ursus equipped with Cadillac motor equipment
494
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:37.199
with special designed bodies. Pioneer historian Clarence Bagley wrote of
495
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:41.000
it in nineteen twenty nine. In addition to funeral furnishings
496
00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:45.960
from the most simple to the magnificent, er passed the
497
00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:49.039
business on to his sons, who passed it on to theirs,
498
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:52.679
and it remained in the family until New Orleans based
499
00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:57.639
chain Stewart Enterprises bought Butterworth Funeral Home in nineteen ninety eight,
500
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:00.960
making it one of the longest opera raiding family owned
501
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:05.440
businesses in Seattle history. The last Butterworth to run it
502
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.079
was e Ar's great grandson, Bert Butterworth Junior, who was
503
00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:13.599
the one who sold it. Kells moved into the former
504
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:16.760
livery in nineteen eighty three, and not much of the
505
00:36:16.760 --> 00:36:21.360
grandiose Victorian interior of Butterworth and Sons remains there, or
506
00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:25.280
even inside the building's upper floors for that matter. Other
507
00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:27.800
than the bar, the building has been more or less
508
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:31.719
empty as long as anyone can remember, except for the
509
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:36.440
ghosts if you count those. Its deathy superstitions are still
510
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:40.440
being kept alive by the building's current owners, though. Since
511
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:43.599
two thousand and five, the Butterworth Block has been owned
512
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:47.800
by the McAleese family, which also owns Kells And the
513
00:36:47.880 --> 00:36:51.679
same year it was purchased, Karen McAleese saw something in
514
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:55.800
the pub's kitchen that she still can't explain. He was
515
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:58.800
a tall man who looked like he was part black,
516
00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.440
with a suit jacket on. She reported to the Seattle Times.
517
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:05.280
He had very thin hands. He walked to the end
518
00:37:05.360 --> 00:37:10.119
of the bar and just kind of faded. Whether it's
519
00:37:10.159 --> 00:37:14.079
Halloween or Saint Patrick's Day, if you're in Seattle and
520
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.800
you feel like having an other worldly experience, you just
521
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:21.119
might want to spend it at an Irish pub and
522
00:37:21.239 --> 00:37:29.679
try your luck. Missus Emma Mars and her sister in
523
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:34.239
law Ida Mars, were preparing breakfast the morning of February thirteenth,
524
00:37:34.400 --> 00:37:38.239
eighteen ninety seven, in their home at one twenty nine
525
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:43.679
South Upper Street, Lexington, Kentucky. Around seven forty five. Missus
526
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:46.519
Mars sent the servant girl upstairs with a bowl of
527
00:37:46.599 --> 00:37:50.320
warm water so her husband John could wash up. When
528
00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:53.519
she entered the room, John jumped out of bed with
529
00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:56.880
such a peculiar expression on his face that she quickly
530
00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:59.639
set the water down and hurried out of the room.
531
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:02.239
She was half way down the stairs when she heard
532
00:38:02.280 --> 00:38:06.559
a pistol shot from the bedroom. Mister and Missus Mars
533
00:38:06.760 --> 00:38:10.000
and their two children, John Junior, aged five, and Helen,
534
00:38:10.119 --> 00:38:13.880
aged fifteen, slept in two beds in the same room.
535
00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:18.280
John Mars Senior had shot his son in the forehead
536
00:38:18.440 --> 00:38:21.800
as he lay in bed. The shot startled Helen awake.
537
00:38:22.440 --> 00:38:26.000
She saw what had happened and started screaming. John fired
538
00:38:26.039 --> 00:38:29.480
two shots at Helen, one mister the other went through
539
00:38:29.519 --> 00:38:32.800
her neck. Helen ran from the room as Emma and
540
00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:38.119
Ida approached the room, Running into her mother's arms, Helen cried, Oh, Mamma,
541
00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:40.679
Papa has killed me. Don't go in there, He'll kill you.
542
00:38:41.920 --> 00:38:45.239
Ida Mars entered the room just as John Mars smashed
543
00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:48.639
the head of his wounded son with the pistol. He
544
00:38:48.719 --> 00:38:51.880
turned the gon on his sister and fired. When the
545
00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:54.800
shot missed Ida, he threw the pistol at her head,
546
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.320
knocking her to the ground. The boy was still crying
547
00:38:58.320 --> 00:39:02.440
in pain. Mars drew a straight razor and with a wild,
548
00:39:02.679 --> 00:39:06.679
maniacal laugh, cut his son's throat from ear to ear.
549
00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:11.840
He then did the same to his own throat, severing
550
00:39:11.880 --> 00:39:16.480
his windpipe and jugular vein. Carrying the gunshot's neighbors forced
551
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.920
open the door and rushed in. In the bedroom, now quiet,
552
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:25.079
they found a gruesome scene. The young boy lay on
553
00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:30.599
the bed, shot beaten and slashed. John Mars lay on
554
00:39:30.639 --> 00:39:33.960
the floor in a sea of blood. In the hall,
555
00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:37.840
Helen was wounded and unconscious. Ida was in a state
556
00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:43.400
of shock and Emma was suffering from nervous prostration. John
557
00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:47.880
Mars had a history of mental illness. At age twenty two,
558
00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:51.000
he was courting Emma Davis and asked for her hand
559
00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:55.639
in marriage. When she refused, he became infuriated and swore
560
00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:58.199
he would kill her if she did not marry him.
561
00:39:59.199 --> 00:40:03.760
Mars was judged insane and committed to the Eastern Kentucky Asylum.
562
00:40:04.519 --> 00:40:07.840
After six months, the doctors determined him cured and he
563
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:11.559
was released. Emma then agreed to marry him, and they
564
00:40:11.559 --> 00:40:15.800
settled into a happy marriage. John had a successful career
565
00:40:15.880 --> 00:40:19.039
with M. Kaufman and Company clothiers, and owned a great
566
00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:22.760
deal of real estate and interest in several building associations.
567
00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:26.280
He belonged to the Knights of Honor and the Odd Fellows,
568
00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:30.639
and was a deacon at the Central Christian Church. Around
569
00:40:30.679 --> 00:40:35.920
Christmas eighteen ninety six, John was taken violently ill, having
570
00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:40.039
peculiar headaches. Since then, he had not been in his
571
00:40:40.199 --> 00:40:43.880
right mind. He was given to spells of melancholy, during
572
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:48.880
which he would discuss suicide. Doctor Joseph Bryan examined John
573
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.440
and advised the family to commit him to the asylum. Again.
574
00:40:53.559 --> 00:40:56.320
The night before the murder, he said to his wife
575
00:40:56.360 --> 00:40:59.880
and sister, I'm not afraid to die, but I can't
576
00:41:00.119 --> 00:41:03.119
bear to leave you all. I want my children to
577
00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:07.519
go with me. Thinking he was joking, one of them responded,
578
00:41:07.760 --> 00:41:09.840
why what are you going to do with your wife
579
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:13.960
and sister. Oh, you must come too, he said, I
580
00:41:14.119 --> 00:41:18.119
want all of you. The Mars family was one of
581
00:41:18.119 --> 00:41:22.760
the oldest and most prominent families in Kentucky. The funeral
582
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:26.320
for John Mars Senior and John Mars Junior on February
583
00:41:26.360 --> 00:41:31.360
fourteenth filled the Central Christian Church with fifteen hundred mourners,
584
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:36.519
and many Moore stood outside, blocking the streets for blocks.
585
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:52.519
Father and son were buried in the same grave. Thanks
586
00:41:52.559 --> 00:41:54.960
for listening. If you like the show, please tell someone
587
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.559
about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,
588
00:41:59.639 --> 00:42:02.880
or unsteries like you do. If you missed any part
589
00:42:02.920 --> 00:42:04.719
of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear it again,
590
00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:07.719
you can subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast
591
00:42:07.719 --> 00:42:11.000
app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that, you'll
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00:42:11.000 --> 00:42:14.039
get a copy of Tonight's show, plus daily podcast episodes
593
00:42:14.079 --> 00:42:17.400
that come out seven days per week. Visit Weirddarkness dot
594
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:19.960
com and you can follow me on social media, drop
595
00:42:19.960 --> 00:42:22.800
me an email, send me your own true paranormal story,
596
00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:26.320
listen to other podcasts that I host, and more. All
597
00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:29.920
stories used tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise,
598
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:31.719
and you can find links to the stories or the
599
00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:34.480
authors in the show notes, which I've already posted at
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00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:38.039
Weirddarkness dot com. The Leady Laughing in My Bedroom is
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00:42:38.039 --> 00:42:41.400
by Jeff James from My Haunted Life Too, New York.
602
00:42:41.440 --> 00:42:45.320
Charnelhouse was posted at Empire Dilomort. The Beaux Arts Butterworth
603
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:48.920
Building was by Meg Van Heygen for Seattle Curbbed. The
604
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:51.519
Act of a Madman was written by Robert Wilhelm for
605
00:42:51.639 --> 00:42:56.400
Murder by Gaslight. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark copyright
606
00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:59.440
Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark,
607
00:42:59.719 --> 00:43:03.000
I'll leave you with a little light one Peter five,
608
00:43:03.199 --> 00:43:08.000
Verses six and seven. Humble yourselves therefore under God's mighty hand,
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00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:10.880
that he may lift you up in due time. Cast
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00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:13.880
all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
611
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:19.360
And a final thought, value yourself and know your worth.
612
00:43:19.679 --> 00:43:23.320
You are as important as everyone on this earth. Every
613
00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:26.519
human being has a purpose. Your life has value. It
614
00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:31.239
is not worthless. You are beautiful and special. Be proud
615
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:34.280
of who you are. Live your life to the fullest,
616
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:39.880
and reach for the stars. Harry Bridgeman, I'm Darren Marler.
617
00:43:40.639 --> 00:44:21.239
Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. One hundred
618
00:44:21.280 --> 00:44:25.000
and fifty years ago, Jacob Cooley ordered his African American
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00:44:25.079 --> 00:44:28.679
slave Josea to build a chest for his first child.
620
00:44:29.599 --> 00:44:33.719
Josea set to work crafting a wooden chest of some remark.
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00:44:34.639 --> 00:44:38.679
For some unknown reason, his master was displeased with his
622
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:43.039
efforts and beat his slave to a pulp, killing him.
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00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:47.559
Cooley's other slaves vowed to avenge the death of their
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00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:51.159
friend and sprinkled the dried blood of an owl in
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00:44:51.280 --> 00:44:54.760
the chest and had a conjure man cursed the chest
626
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.719
as if by magic. Cooley's first born died in infancy,
627
00:45:00.400 --> 00:45:04.960
and over the forthcoming years, a total of seventeen deaths
628
00:45:05.320 --> 00:45:10.840
were attributed to the conjured chest. I'm Darren Marler and
629
00:45:11.000 --> 00:45:23.719
this is Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and
630
00:45:23.800 --> 00:45:26.719
this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find
631
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:37.199
stories of the paranormal supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre,
632
00:45:37.639 --> 00:45:44.559
unsolved and unexplained Coming up this hour. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
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00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:47.519
there was a home built by slaves that is considered
634
00:45:47.559 --> 00:45:53.880
the most haunted in Alabama. Drivers are reporting strange, ghostly
635
00:45:54.119 --> 00:45:57.239
orbs following them on dark roads. We'll look at a
636
00:45:57.239 --> 00:46:02.800
few haunted roads and spook lights. But first, the brutal
637
00:46:02.880 --> 00:46:06.360
death of an African slave brings a curse upon the
638
00:46:06.400 --> 00:46:10.079
wooden chest he was ordered to construct. We begin with
639
00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:13.760
that story. If you're new here, welcome to the show.
640
00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:16.440
If you're already a member of this weirdo family, please
641
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:18.880
take a moment and invite someone else to listen in
642
00:46:18.960 --> 00:46:21.880
with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it
643
00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:24.519
possible for me to keep doing the show. And while
644
00:46:24.519 --> 00:46:27.360
you're listening, be sure to visit Weirddarkness dot com, where
645
00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:30.119
you can follow me on social media, listen to free
646
00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:34.960
audiobooks I've narrated, and more. That's Weird Darkness dot Com. Now,
647
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.480
bult your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,
648
00:46:40.239 --> 00:46:54.400
and come with me into the weird Darkness. An elegant
649
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.639
mahogany veneer chest of drawers pan carved by an African
650
00:46:58.679 --> 00:47:02.599
American slave one hundred and fifty years ago, resides in
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00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:07.840
the Kentucky Historic Museum at Frankfort. Crafted in the Empire style,
652
00:47:08.199 --> 00:47:12.280
the chest has glass knobs on its four drawers. Nothing
653
00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:16.679
about its outward appearance gives any hint that tragedy has
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00:47:16.719 --> 00:47:20.800
stalked its existence that it's known to historians as the
655
00:47:21.039 --> 00:47:26.360
Conjured Chest. Two decades before the Civil War, the family
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00:47:26.400 --> 00:47:30.519
of one Jacob Cooley lived a sumptuous life as wealthy
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00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:36.000
Southern planters. Jacob owned many slaves and farmed thousands of acres.
658
00:47:36.760 --> 00:47:41.159
He was also an evil, despicable man who frequently beat
659
00:47:41.239 --> 00:47:45.239
his slaves for the slightest infraction of his stringent rules.
660
00:47:46.360 --> 00:47:50.000
Jacob Cooley ordered one of his slaves, an excellent furniture
661
00:47:50.039 --> 00:47:53.519
maker named Joseia, to construct a chest that would be
662
00:47:53.639 --> 00:47:57.840
used for his firstborn child. For some unknown reason, Jacob
663
00:47:58.039 --> 00:48:01.800
was angered at Hosea's finished product and beat him so
664
00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:07.159
savagely he died a few days later. Cooley's slaves, led
665
00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:10.440
by an old conjure man, placed a curse on the
666
00:48:10.559 --> 00:48:16.360
chest for all future generations. Wandroor was sprinkled with dried
667
00:48:16.480 --> 00:48:21.480
owl's blood, and a conjure chant was sung. All those
668
00:48:21.519 --> 00:48:25.599
associated with the chest would fall within the curse's evil power.
669
00:48:26.280 --> 00:48:31.639
Although Jacob Cooley himself evidently escaped the malevolence, his descendants
670
00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:35.280
were not as fortunate. The baby for whom the chest
671
00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:40.519
was originally built died soon after birth. The chest was
672
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:44.400
in his nursery. His brother inherited the chest, and he
673
00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:48.679
was stabbed to death by his personal servant. Jacob Cooley
674
00:48:48.719 --> 00:48:52.440
had another son, John, who inherited one of his father's
675
00:48:52.559 --> 00:48:57.039
many plantations. The young man led a serene bachelor's life
676
00:48:57.119 --> 00:49:00.960
until a vivacious young woman, barely out of returns came
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00:49:01.000 --> 00:49:04.239
into his life. Her name was Ellie, and she soon
678
00:49:04.360 --> 00:49:08.480
married John, nearly three times her age. The couple inherited
679
00:49:08.480 --> 00:49:12.519
the conjured chest. Knowing of the tragedies that had befallen
680
00:49:12.639 --> 00:49:17.599
her husband's siblings, she put the chest in an attic. Meanwhile,
681
00:49:17.679 --> 00:49:22.519
Jacob Cooley's youngest daughter, Melinda, eloped with a waggish irishman
682
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:27.440
named Sean. With nowhere to live, Melinda turned to Ellie.
683
00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:30.719
John and Ellie had done well and had accumulated several
684
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:34.519
farms in Tennessee. They turned over one of these to
685
00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:38.559
Sean and Melinda to work. While Melinda bore her young
686
00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:42.440
husband a brood of children and worked from sunrise to sunset,
687
00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:47.400
Sean came to loathe the dullness of farm life. Ellie
688
00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:51.719
Cooley tried to help, but Shawn's rebuffs made her presence unwelcome.
689
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:56.199
To try and bring some beauty into Melinda's dreary existence,
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00:49:56.679 --> 00:49:59.719
Ellie sent over her father in law's chest. It had
691
00:49:59.760 --> 00:50:02.119
been in her attic for a very long time, and
692
00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:06.079
nothing had happened. She had almost forgotten the chest's legacy.
693
00:50:06.880 --> 00:50:11.519
Perhaps the curse was only a lot of talk. Within days,
694
00:50:11.719 --> 00:50:15.079
Sewn deserted his wife for the bright lights of New Orleans.
695
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:21.719
Melinda was inconsolable. She took to her bed with an ailment. There,
696
00:50:22.119 --> 00:50:26.559
Melinda soon died, an exhausted, gray haired woman barely out
697
00:50:26.599 --> 00:50:30.800
of her thirties. Shortly after his wife's death, Sewn was
698
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:34.000
struck in the head by a steamboat's gangplank and died.
699
00:50:35.039 --> 00:50:38.480
The conjured chest had claimed its third and fourth victims.
700
00:50:39.639 --> 00:50:43.679
The couple left many orphaned children. John Cooley was given
701
00:50:43.719 --> 00:50:46.920
the job of traveling to Tennessee to assign the youngsters
702
00:50:46.920 --> 00:50:50.960
to other family members. The youngest, a baby named Evelyn
703
00:50:51.280 --> 00:50:55.239
ran up to him her tiny arms outstretched. John took
704
00:50:55.239 --> 00:50:58.800
her to live with his own family in Kentucky. Little
705
00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:03.000
Evelyn grew into a beautiful and intelligent young woman. When
706
00:51:03.000 --> 00:51:06.880
she turned sixteen, Evelyn passed an examination that provided her
707
00:51:06.920 --> 00:51:09.920
with a teaching certificate, with which she took over a
708
00:51:09.960 --> 00:51:15.239
one room schoolhouse. She met and married a Scotsman, Malcolm Johnson,
709
00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:19.320
barely two months after she began teaching. As a wedding present,
710
00:51:19.400 --> 00:51:23.599
Ellie presented her niece with Jacob Cooley's handsome chest, and
711
00:51:23.679 --> 00:51:28.880
the evil passed to a new generation. Evelyn Johnson had
712
00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:32.880
children and even adopted a young orphan, a girl named Arabella.
713
00:51:33.639 --> 00:51:36.920
The curse was all but forgotten. Evelyn had the chest,
714
00:51:36.960 --> 00:51:40.960
but didn't find it necessary to use right away. However,
715
00:51:41.400 --> 00:51:45.679
after Arabella married some years later, Evelyn put the girl's
716
00:51:45.719 --> 00:51:51.960
bridle gown in the chest. Shortly thereafter, Arabella's husband suddenly died.
717
00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:55.880
That was the beginning of a series of horrible events
718
00:51:55.960 --> 00:52:01.920
visited upon Evelyn and Ellie child died after her baby
719
00:52:01.960 --> 00:52:05.239
clothes had been put in the chest. Evelyn's daughter in
720
00:52:05.320 --> 00:52:08.559
law Esther, married to her oldest son put her wedding
721
00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:13.320
attire in the chest she died. Evelyn's aunt Sarah knitted
722
00:52:13.320 --> 00:52:16.239
a scarf in gloves to give to her son for Christmas.
723
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.400
While walking along a train trestle, he fell off and
724
00:52:20.559 --> 00:52:25.360
was killed a few days before Christmas. Two other tragedies
725
00:52:25.400 --> 00:52:30.000
befell Evelyn's immediate family. A son in law deserted his wife,
726
00:52:30.039 --> 00:52:33.599
and a child was crippled for life in a bizarre accident.
727
00:52:34.639 --> 00:52:39.440
Yet Evelyn's husband, Malcolm, was a success. A small man,
728
00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:43.239
always courteous to those around him, he parleyed a shrewd
729
00:52:43.280 --> 00:52:47.079
Scottish sense of thrift into a burgeoning business empire that,
730
00:52:47.119 --> 00:52:52.159
at its height consisted of mills, houses, a coal yard, wharf,
731
00:52:52.360 --> 00:52:56.920
and a dry goods store. Malcolm was an extraordinarily wealthy
732
00:52:57.000 --> 00:53:00.599
man when he died. Despite her material cos comfort, his
733
00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:03.599
wife was haunted by the memories of those around her
734
00:53:03.840 --> 00:53:06.960
who were struck down or stricken in some other way
735
00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:12.960
by hardship. She took her own life eleven persons. The
736
00:53:13.079 --> 00:53:18.000
conjured chest was taking its toll as the twentieth century unfolded.
737
00:53:18.320 --> 00:53:21.599
The chest was inherited by Virginia Carrie Hudson from her
738
00:53:21.599 --> 00:53:26.280
grandmother Evelyn Johnson. Missus Hudson thought tales of the curse
739
00:53:26.480 --> 00:53:31.239
were just hearsay. She was wrong. Her first baby's clothes
740
00:53:31.239 --> 00:53:36.000
were put into the chest. She died. Another child's clothes
741
00:53:36.000 --> 00:53:40.079
were tucked in a drawer, and she contacted infantile paralysis.
742
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:44.320
Another daughter's wedding dress was stored there, and her first
743
00:53:44.400 --> 00:53:48.079
husband ran off. A son was stabbed in the hand.
744
00:53:48.679 --> 00:53:51.760
He had clothes in the chest. A friend of the
745
00:53:51.760 --> 00:53:54.960
family put hunting clothes in it. He was shot in
746
00:53:55.000 --> 00:54:00.559
a hunting accident. And so it went sixteen victims, all
747
00:54:00.599 --> 00:54:03.519
of whom had one thing in common. Some of their
748
00:54:03.559 --> 00:54:08.000
personal clothing had been put in the conjured chest. Missus
749
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:11.280
Hudson wanted to put an end to the curse. She
750
00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:14.000
found what she had hoped would be the solution in
751
00:54:14.039 --> 00:54:16.519
the form of an old friend of hers, an African
752
00:54:16.519 --> 00:54:22.639
American woman named Annie. Annie understood curses and conjures. The
753
00:54:22.679 --> 00:54:26.400
spell cast by Hoseiah's faithful companions would be broken only
754
00:54:26.440 --> 00:54:30.679
when three conditions were met. First, Missus Hudson would have
755
00:54:30.760 --> 00:54:33.559
to be given a dead owl without her having to ask.
756
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:37.320
For one second, the green leaves of a willow tree
757
00:54:37.679 --> 00:54:41.440
had to be boiled from sun up to sundown, the
758
00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:46.199
dead owl had to remain in sight. Third, the boiled
759
00:54:46.239 --> 00:54:48.719
liquid was then to be buried in a jug with
760
00:54:48.760 --> 00:54:53.199
its handle facing east toward the rising sun, below a
761
00:54:53.239 --> 00:54:58.000
flowering bush. A stuffed owl, given to Missus Hudson's son
762
00:54:58.159 --> 00:55:03.079
by a friend, accomplished the first requirement. Missus Hudson plucked
763
00:55:03.159 --> 00:55:06.000
leaves from a nearby willow tree and boiled them in
764
00:55:06.079 --> 00:55:09.599
a large black pot. The owl kept watch from a
765
00:55:09.679 --> 00:55:13.960
kitchen counter. At dusk, old Annie and Missus Hudson took
766
00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:17.559
the jug and, with its handle pointed east, buried it
767
00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:22.199
beneath a flowering lilac bush outside the kitchen window. Annie
768
00:55:22.199 --> 00:55:24.280
said they would only know if the curse had been
769
00:55:24.320 --> 00:55:27.639
broken if one of them died before the first full
770
00:55:27.760 --> 00:55:33.559
days of fall. Annie died in early September, the seventeenth
771
00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:38.480
and last known victim. The final private owner of the
772
00:55:38.519 --> 00:55:43.599
conjure chest was Missus Hudson's daughter, Virginia c. Main. Though
773
00:55:43.599 --> 00:55:46.119
she may have been skeptical of the curse and knew
774
00:55:46.119 --> 00:55:49.480
fully the story of the curse being lifted by Annie
775
00:55:49.519 --> 00:55:52.960
and her mother, she never stored anything in the chest
776
00:55:53.199 --> 00:55:56.920
and kept it hidden in her attic. The Kentucky History
777
00:55:57.000 --> 00:56:00.239
Museum has it now. Missus Maine donated it to the
778
00:56:00.320 --> 00:56:05.880
museum in nineteen seventy six. According to museum registrar Mike Hudson,
779
00:56:06.320 --> 00:56:09.000
the chest is in storage in our vaults, awaiting the
780
00:56:09.039 --> 00:56:12.800
time when it fits into a new exhibit. Supposedly, the
781
00:56:12.880 --> 00:56:17.519
curse has been removed, but has it tucked safely. In
782
00:56:17.559 --> 00:56:21.159
the top chest drawer is an envelope with a cluster
783
00:56:21.280 --> 00:56:29.400
of owl feathers inside. The museum isn't taking any chances.
784
00:56:29.480 --> 00:56:32.920
Up next, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, there is a house built
785
00:56:32.960 --> 00:57:00.679
by slaves that is considered the most haunted in Alabama.
786
00:57:01.679 --> 00:57:05.039
Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marler. If you
787
00:57:05.199 --> 00:57:08.559
or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts,
788
00:57:08.840 --> 00:57:11.639
I'd like to recommend the Hope in the Darkness page
789
00:57:11.719 --> 00:57:15.360
at Weird Darkness dot com. There I have gathered numerous
790
00:57:15.400 --> 00:57:18.559
free resources to help you fight depression, including the Crisis
791
00:57:18.599 --> 00:57:22.440
text line, the suicide and Crisis lifeline, save dot org,
792
00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:26.360
I Fred and more. These resources are absolutely free, They're
793
00:57:26.400 --> 00:57:29.519
there when you need them anytime. Twenty four to seven
794
00:57:29.880 --> 00:57:32.400
on the Hope in the Darkness page at weird Darkness
795
00:57:32.480 --> 00:57:46.960
dot com, That's weird darkness dot com slash Hope. On
796
00:57:47.079 --> 00:57:50.719
Seventeenth Street in Tuscaloosa, there is a home that is
797
00:57:50.760 --> 00:57:54.199
hailed as the most haunted in the state of Alabama.
798
00:57:54.880 --> 00:57:58.119
It is called the Drish House, which was formerly known
799
00:57:58.199 --> 00:58:02.880
as Monroe Place. Built mostly by slaves for John Drish
800
00:58:02.960 --> 00:58:05.400
and his wife on a plot of four hundred fifty acres,
801
00:58:05.760 --> 00:58:08.920
It was a beautiful home, styled in both the Greek
802
00:58:09.039 --> 00:58:13.639
and Italian Renaissance style. However, as beautiful as it was,
803
00:58:14.119 --> 00:58:19.039
darkness from its past marred its beauty. The owner, John Drish,
804
00:58:19.159 --> 00:58:22.480
already had a sad morbid history when the house was built.
805
00:58:23.320 --> 00:58:25.360
He was a doctor and was married to a woman
806
00:58:25.440 --> 00:58:30.400
named Catherine Washington. They had a daughter named Catherine. Sadly,
807
00:58:30.440 --> 00:58:33.239
his wife died when their daughter was young. He sent
808
00:58:33.280 --> 00:58:36.280
her to live in Virginia with relatives because he believed
809
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:38.880
living with a widower would not be good for her.
810
00:58:40.159 --> 00:58:43.800
John Drish was allegedly a charming man, and it didn't
811
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:46.800
take long for him to woo and marry a rich
812
00:58:46.880 --> 00:58:50.039
widow by the name of Sarah Owen. In eighteen twenty five,
813
00:58:51.039 --> 00:58:53.639
he brought his daughter Catherine back to Alabama to live
814
00:58:53.679 --> 00:58:57.159
with him, but their relationship was freyed, so much so
815
00:58:57.320 --> 00:59:01.679
that a story of cruelty surrounds them. Allegedly, Catherine fell
816
00:59:01.679 --> 00:59:04.880
in love with a man John didn't approve of. He
817
00:59:04.960 --> 00:59:07.760
locked her in her room with very little food and water,
818
00:59:08.119 --> 00:59:12.199
and she eventually relented. She later married, only to bring
819
00:59:12.239 --> 00:59:15.880
her sons back to the Dirish house she had divorced
820
00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:21.280
their father. Many rumors suggest that Catherine suffered from mental illness.
821
00:59:22.000 --> 00:59:25.960
Though charming, Johndrish was an alcoholic, and he suffered from
822
00:59:25.960 --> 00:59:30.719
a violent temper. Sadly, Johndrish would die because of that.
823
00:59:31.840 --> 00:59:35.039
There are three stories surrounding his death. The first is
824
00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:38.920
he threw himself from a second floor balcony, the second
825
00:59:39.000 --> 00:59:41.519
is that he was drunk and fell down the stairs,
826
00:59:41.840 --> 00:59:44.960
and the third story alleges that he was trying to
827
00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:48.960
stop drinking and began to shake from withdrawals and fell.
828
00:59:50.119 --> 00:59:52.920
Regardless of which doory is true, John Dorish died in
829
00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:57.159
eighteen sixty seven, leaving his distraught wife to plan his funeral.
830
00:59:58.719 --> 01:00:03.000
Sarah was so distraught that she became more and more eccentric.
831
01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:06.960
She planned an elaborate funeral. When it was over, she
832
01:00:07.039 --> 01:00:10.360
kept her husband's funeral candles and hid them away. She
833
01:00:10.559 --> 01:00:14.320
insisted that they be burned at her funeral. When she
834
01:00:14.519 --> 01:00:18.840
died in eighteen eighty four. No one could find the candles,
835
01:00:18.880 --> 01:00:22.679
so her wishes were not met. Sadly, these were not
836
01:00:22.760 --> 01:00:27.119
the only dark things to surround the Drish family. Doctor
837
01:00:27.159 --> 01:00:30.440
Drish's niece was murdered by her husband, and there was
838
01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.920
also a rumor that a runaway slave hid in one
839
01:00:33.960 --> 01:00:37.360
of the towers, but when he exited because he needed food,
840
01:00:37.760 --> 01:00:40.719
he was returned to his owner, who burned him alive.
841
01:00:41.800 --> 01:00:44.360
There have been reports of a male ghost who is
842
01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:49.599
assumed to be this slave. Since Sarah's death, the house
843
01:00:49.599 --> 01:00:53.679
has been used as a school, a church, salvage yard,
844
01:00:54.039 --> 01:00:57.039
an auto parts store, and was also reportedly a prison
845
01:00:57.159 --> 01:01:01.760
during the Civil War. Besides the malee ghost, ghost lights
846
01:01:01.760 --> 01:01:04.239
have also been reported near the top of the house
847
01:01:04.639 --> 01:01:07.639
and what appears to be a ghostly fire shooting from
848
01:01:07.639 --> 01:01:11.400
the third story tower. Of course, there is no fire
849
01:01:11.599 --> 01:01:15.440
when the firemen arrive. This occurrence is either blamed on
850
01:01:15.519 --> 01:01:19.159
the ghost of the slave or Sarah Drish, who is
851
01:01:19.239 --> 01:01:22.159
believed to be angry because her wishes of using her
852
01:01:22.199 --> 01:01:25.239
husband's funeral candles at her own funeral were not met.
853
01:01:26.360 --> 01:01:29.079
Though the house fell in disrepair for a while, it
854
01:01:29.119 --> 01:01:31.840
has been restored and it's now open for those who
855
01:01:31.920 --> 01:01:35.079
wish to hold events there. So there is hope that
856
01:01:35.119 --> 01:01:38.440
the dark history of the Drish house is gone and
857
01:01:38.480 --> 01:01:44.559
can now have a bright future. In a society known
858
01:01:44.599 --> 01:01:48.880
for its superstitions, a property agency faced an unusual challenge
859
01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:53.239
when tasked with selling an alleged haunted house in Clayging, Malaysia.
860
01:01:54.000 --> 01:01:58.400
To reassure potential customers, it took a unique approach, seeking
861
01:01:58.440 --> 01:02:02.679
the help of a paranormal research team. Brandon Grimes from
862
01:02:02.760 --> 01:02:07.679
Paranormality Magazine tells us about it. The property in question
863
01:02:07.800 --> 01:02:10.679
was rumored to have a dark history, with claims that
864
01:02:10.719 --> 01:02:14.599
the previous owner had tragically taken their own life. Keen
865
01:02:14.679 --> 01:02:18.440
on dispelling these rumors and certifying the property's safety, the
866
01:02:18.480 --> 01:02:23.039
property agency hired a paranormal research team, whose investigation garnered
867
01:02:23.079 --> 01:02:28.320
significant attention on the kl sealogor LA long Properties Facebook page.
868
01:02:28.400 --> 01:02:32.159
On the specified date and time of observation, May thirtieth,
869
01:02:32.280 --> 01:02:35.639
twenty twenty three, from nine pm to midnight, the dedicated
870
01:02:35.639 --> 01:02:39.719
team diligently explored the property, searching for any signs of
871
01:02:39.719 --> 01:02:44.039
ghostly activities. Their findings were encouraging as they revealed no
872
01:02:44.239 --> 01:02:49.039
major indications of paranormal occurrences. They attributed the flickering lights
873
01:02:49.079 --> 01:02:52.199
to faulty cables, the doors movement to the wind, and
874
01:02:52.239 --> 01:02:57.000
the eerie sounds to wildlife in the vicinity. Intrigued by
875
01:02:57.000 --> 01:03:00.800
the team's assessment, netizens had a good natured life, thanking
876
01:03:00.840 --> 01:03:05.159
them for confirming the absence of major ghostly activities, while
877
01:03:05.239 --> 01:03:10.639
jokingly speculating about the possibility of minor ghostly activities. However,
878
01:03:10.840 --> 01:03:15.159
some curious nedicines offered amusing suggestions to the research team.
879
01:03:15.920 --> 01:03:20.760
Some humorously recommended extending the observation period until three am,
880
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:25.079
citing Chinese beliefs about heightened negative energy during that time.
881
01:03:25.840 --> 01:03:30.440
Another proposed and even longer investigation of fifteen consecutive nights
882
01:03:30.599 --> 01:03:35.400
rather than days. Despite the lighthearted banter, the property's value
883
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:38.679
remained significant, with a market worth of two point four
884
01:03:38.760 --> 01:03:42.599
million in their currency, auctioned off at one point four million.
885
01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:47.719
Situated in negated community with access to exclusive clubhouse facilities,
886
01:03:48.119 --> 01:03:52.760
the property possessed alluring features for potential buyers. While the
887
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:56.519
haunted house might have once discouraged buyers, the intervention of
888
01:03:56.559 --> 01:04:01.280
the paranormal research team managed to dispel some fears. Ultimately,
889
01:04:01.320 --> 01:04:04.599
it seems that superstitions and beliefs still hold a place
890
01:04:04.639 --> 01:04:08.920
in Malaysian society, but thanks to creative solutions, selling even
891
01:04:08.960 --> 01:04:13.599
these spookiest properties can become a spirited affair, leaving netizens
892
01:04:13.639 --> 01:04:16.760
open to the idea of an extra companion in a
893
01:04:16.840 --> 01:04:46.199
large home. I'm Darren Marler. Welcome back to Weird Darkness.
894
01:04:46.599 --> 01:04:49.400
Have you seen the Monster Channel. It has horror hosts,
895
01:04:49.760 --> 01:04:53.599
b horror movies, retro television commercials, and a whole lot more.
896
01:04:53.679 --> 01:04:56.639
And you can watch it anytime, absolutely free twenty four
897
01:04:56.679 --> 01:04:59.960
to seven, three sixty five on the Monster Channel page
898
01:05:00.159 --> 01:05:03.559
at Weird Darkness dot com. Just go to Weird Darkness
899
01:05:03.760 --> 01:05:18.840
TV dot com. That's Weird darknesstv dot com. Roads have
900
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:22.519
always seemed to attract about them, tales of the strange
901
01:05:22.599 --> 01:05:26.880
and unusual. They push out further and further ahead of us,
902
01:05:27.280 --> 01:05:32.679
their destinations not visible, mysterious, as the landscape rushes by us,
903
01:05:33.079 --> 01:05:38.320
sometimes bringing with it bizarreness. It is perhaps this almost
904
01:05:38.440 --> 01:05:42.679
primal sense of oddness that has spawned countless tales of
905
01:05:42.719 --> 01:05:48.119
haunted roads inhabited by all manner of strange entities and apparitions.
906
01:05:49.440 --> 01:05:53.360
One feature of some spooky haunted roads are ghost lights
907
01:05:53.400 --> 01:05:57.719
also called spook lights, dancing and twirling in the dark
908
01:05:57.800 --> 01:06:01.559
to baffle and amaze, and sometimes they seem to be
909
01:06:01.800 --> 01:06:07.199
far from harmless. Some malevolent spooklights seem to be linked
910
01:06:07.280 --> 01:06:11.519
to some sort of phantom motorists, and perhaps one of
911
01:06:11.559 --> 01:06:14.480
the more well known of these is said to prowl
912
01:06:14.599 --> 01:06:17.679
a rural road in the town of Switzerland in Saint
913
01:06:17.760 --> 01:06:21.880
John's County, Florida, in the United States. Here there is
914
01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:26.639
a modest little road called Greenbriar Road, which runs just
915
01:06:26.800 --> 01:06:29.840
east of the main town, and there have for years
916
01:06:30.119 --> 01:06:34.599
been tails of a rather aggressive spooklight that stalks vehicles
917
01:06:34.639 --> 01:06:38.320
that dare to drive along here at night. The enigmatic
918
01:06:38.400 --> 01:06:41.760
light is typically said to look just like a motorcycle headlight,
919
01:06:42.239 --> 01:06:45.880
which will pull up behind cars and steadily catch up
920
01:06:46.039 --> 01:06:49.960
no matter how fast the car goes, growing even larger
921
01:06:50.079 --> 01:06:54.119
in the rear view mirrors of the startled drivers. The
922
01:06:54.199 --> 01:06:57.440
light of the Greenbriar Road will then either chase the
923
01:06:57.480 --> 01:07:01.440
car until it is gone, or bizarrely perch itself atop
924
01:07:01.599 --> 01:07:05.599
the vehicle, sort of piggybacking the car for some distance
925
01:07:06.039 --> 01:07:09.719
before blinking out of existence, as if it were never
926
01:07:09.760 --> 01:07:13.920
there at all. In some cases, the mysterious light has
927
01:07:14.000 --> 01:07:18.039
even been blamed for causing crashes alongside this lonely stretch
928
01:07:18.079 --> 01:07:21.880
of road. The most common origin story for this mysterious
929
01:07:21.960 --> 01:07:24.800
light is that it is the wraith of a doomed
930
01:07:24.920 --> 01:07:29.079
motorcyclist who died along the road when he was decapitated
931
01:07:29.119 --> 01:07:32.119
after running into a telephone pole wire, and that he
932
01:07:32.199 --> 01:07:35.880
now terrorizes the stretch upon which he met his fate,
933
01:07:36.559 --> 01:07:40.639
with only the headlight of his phantom bike visible. One
934
01:07:40.679 --> 01:07:44.119
witness named Todd m. Gave his story to the Weird
935
01:07:44.360 --> 01:07:48.159
Us website, saying, a few years ago, I went to
936
01:07:48.159 --> 01:07:51.280
see Greenbrier Road at night with three of my friends.
937
01:07:52.119 --> 01:07:55.000
We had heard the stories about that light that people see,
938
01:07:55.119 --> 01:07:57.920
and we wanted to see it. We drove up and
939
01:07:58.000 --> 01:08:01.239
down the road for like forty minutes trying to see something,
940
01:08:01.280 --> 01:08:04.159
but never saw anything. Until we got ready to leave.
941
01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:07.199
My friend Tom was driving and he looked in the
942
01:08:07.239 --> 01:08:10.800
rear view mirror and said, what's that. He looked behind
943
01:08:10.920 --> 01:08:13.840
us and there was the headlight of a motorcycle coming
944
01:08:13.920 --> 01:08:16.960
up fast. We slowed down a little and thought the
945
01:08:17.000 --> 01:08:20.399
biker would pass us, but then just as it got
946
01:08:20.479 --> 01:08:24.000
right behind us about one hundred feet, the light went out.
947
01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:28.640
There was no motorcycle or anything. We turned around and
948
01:08:28.720 --> 01:08:31.560
went back, but didn't see anything. I really think we
949
01:08:31.600 --> 01:08:34.720
saw a ghost biker of that guy that was killed
950
01:08:34.720 --> 01:08:40.479
on his motorcycle on that road. The malignant Greenbriar ghost
951
01:08:40.560 --> 01:08:43.039
light is so well known in the area that it
952
01:08:43.079 --> 01:08:47.079
has been the target of paranormal investigations and even scientific
953
01:08:47.119 --> 01:08:51.640
studies and police investigations trying to find a rational explanation
954
01:08:51.720 --> 01:08:55.479
for what people are seeing, but no explanation has ever
955
01:08:55.520 --> 01:09:01.359
been found. Speaking of phantom motorcyclists, there is another similar
956
01:09:01.399 --> 01:09:04.840
spook said to haunt a remote stretch of road winding
957
01:09:04.880 --> 01:09:09.199
through the rural farming county of Exeter in Tulare County, California,
958
01:09:09.359 --> 01:09:12.720
which is supposedly the stomping ground of a similar ghost.
959
01:09:13.840 --> 01:09:16.600
In this case, in the nineteen fifties, a group of
960
01:09:16.640 --> 01:09:19.560
friends allegedly decided to play a prank on one of
961
01:09:19.600 --> 01:09:23.199
their friends by stretching out some rope across a narrow
962
01:09:23.319 --> 01:09:27.159
road called Bardsley Road in the Fresno Valley, after which
963
01:09:27.239 --> 01:09:29.880
they lied in wait for their motorcycle riding poal to
964
01:09:29.880 --> 01:09:33.159
come cruising by on his way home from work. The
965
01:09:33.199 --> 01:09:35.359
plan was for the rope to just hit him in
966
01:09:35.399 --> 01:09:38.279
the chest and knock him off his bike, which was
967
01:09:38.439 --> 01:09:41.560
pretty mean, but they didn't intend to seriously hurt him,
968
01:09:41.880 --> 01:09:45.319
certainly not kill him. The story goes that the rider
969
01:09:45.439 --> 01:09:49.159
came along the darkened road as expected and also hit
970
01:09:49.199 --> 01:09:53.039
the rope just as expected. What wasn't expected was that
971
01:09:53.079 --> 01:09:56.199
the rope would be too high and lop his head
972
01:09:56.439 --> 01:10:00.640
clean off to go rolling across the pavement. In the
973
01:10:00.680 --> 01:10:04.520
aftermath of the gruesome accident, people started occasionally claiming to
974
01:10:04.560 --> 01:10:07.640
see a bright light shooting up and down the road,
975
01:10:08.239 --> 01:10:11.920
sometimes accompanied by the sound of a motorcycle engine, and
976
01:10:12.119 --> 01:10:16.079
with the full apparition of a headless rider visible as well.
977
01:10:17.399 --> 01:10:20.600
Motorists and people walking along the road at night have
978
01:10:20.720 --> 01:10:23.720
also told of being followed or even chased by the
979
01:10:23.760 --> 01:10:28.000
phantom motorcyclist, and it's believed that if you encounter the rider,
980
01:10:28.520 --> 01:10:31.359
you will be cursed to be in an accident yourself.
981
01:10:32.960 --> 01:10:36.319
Adding to these is a headless rider said to Prowl
982
01:10:36.399 --> 01:10:41.279
Creek Road of Ojai, California, apparently riding a vintage nineteen
983
01:10:41.359 --> 01:10:45.239
forties motorcycle and appearing as a glowing light at first,
984
01:10:45.760 --> 01:10:48.800
often pulling right up next to motorists to bang on
985
01:10:48.840 --> 01:10:53.640
their vehicles or chase them. Interestingly, Creek Road is ground
986
01:10:53.760 --> 01:10:58.279
zero for all manner of ghostly phenomena and high strangeness,
987
01:10:58.279 --> 01:11:04.079
including at least twotum horse riders, numerous apparitions, a smoking,
988
01:11:04.279 --> 01:11:09.079
horribly burned and disfigured entity called the charmn and even
989
01:11:09.119 --> 01:11:13.760
a supposed vampire making a headless motorcycle rider actually one
990
01:11:13.840 --> 01:11:18.439
of the less bizarre tales from this place. Other sinister
991
01:11:18.600 --> 01:11:23.439
spook lights seem to be malevolent spirits or even possibly demons.
992
01:11:24.399 --> 01:11:29.159
Located out just northeast of Jacksonville, Florida, is Saint George Island,
993
01:11:29.279 --> 01:11:32.560
which is home to a historic sugar cane, cotton and
994
01:11:32.720 --> 01:11:38.199
corn plantation from the slave days called Kingsley Plantation, established
995
01:11:38.359 --> 01:11:43.079
by a man named Zephaniah Kingsley in eighteen thirteen. The
996
01:11:43.119 --> 01:11:47.279
original plantation would quickly grow until Kingsley owned around a
997
01:11:47.279 --> 01:11:50.479
total of thirty two thousand acres of land and employed
998
01:11:50.520 --> 01:11:55.640
about two hundred slaves. Despite having so many slaves, Kingsley
999
01:11:55.680 --> 01:11:59.680
was known for being a very lax and kind slave master,
1000
01:12:00.399 --> 01:12:03.640
allowing his workforce to basically do whatever they wanted when
1001
01:12:03.640 --> 01:12:06.159
they were off duty, and they were allowed to sell
1002
01:12:06.239 --> 01:12:09.960
any crafts they made on their own time. Kingsley even
1003
01:12:10.039 --> 01:12:13.359
married one of his slaves and a magagin Jai, who
1004
01:12:13.359 --> 01:12:16.039
would go on to take a prominent management role on
1005
01:12:16.079 --> 01:12:20.039
the plantation, own her own land, and end up being
1006
01:12:20.079 --> 01:12:24.560
one of the richest women in the state. Although conditions
1007
01:12:24.560 --> 01:12:27.800
were much better for slaves on the Kingsley plantation than
1008
01:12:27.800 --> 01:12:31.319
they were elsewhere, there was some amount of tragedy on
1009
01:12:31.359 --> 01:12:35.960
the plantation. Nevertheless, at some point one of the slaves
1010
01:12:35.960 --> 01:12:40.680
allegedly took to beating and raping other female slaves, even,
1011
01:12:40.720 --> 01:12:43.760
according to the stories, murdering a few and hiding their
1012
01:12:43.760 --> 01:12:47.279
bodies in the wilderness. When the other slaves got wind
1013
01:12:47.359 --> 01:12:50.039
of this grim behavior, they are said to have gathered
1014
01:12:50.119 --> 01:12:53.119
up a lynch mob to haunt the perpetrator down, and
1015
01:12:53.159 --> 01:12:56.039
had him strung up and hanged on a massive, spooky
1016
01:12:56.079 --> 01:12:59.680
looking oak tree right in front of the plantation along
1017
01:12:59.680 --> 01:13:03.399
the main road to the premises, leaving his lifeless Bonnie
1018
01:13:03.439 --> 01:13:07.239
to swing there in the wind. Although Kingsley would move
1019
01:13:07.319 --> 01:13:09.840
to Haiti along with all of his slaves in eighteen
1020
01:13:09.920 --> 01:13:12.920
thirty seven. It seems that at least some of them
1021
01:13:13.159 --> 01:13:18.399
remained in a macabre sense. Over the years, the Kingsley
1022
01:13:18.439 --> 01:13:21.960
Plantation has come to gather quite a reputation for being
1023
01:13:22.039 --> 01:13:26.399
intensely haunted, supposedly by the ghosts of those murdered here.
1024
01:13:27.399 --> 01:13:30.279
One is a woman in white that is frequently spotted
1025
01:13:30.640 --> 01:13:34.079
roaming around and as a habit of photobombing pictures taken
1026
01:13:34.119 --> 01:13:38.000
at the locale, while another is an unearthly screaming or
1027
01:13:38.199 --> 01:13:42.159
wailing that supposedly emanates from the old abandoned well on
1028
01:13:42.199 --> 01:13:45.199
the property, said to be from a victim of the
1029
01:13:45.319 --> 01:13:49.680
crime spree whose body was unceremoniously dumped down there in
1030
01:13:49.720 --> 01:13:54.159
the darkness. However, one of the most frightening of the
1031
01:13:54.159 --> 01:13:58.239
spirits of the old Kingsley Plantation is supposedly the vindictive
1032
01:13:58.279 --> 01:14:02.880
spirit of the mad slave murderer himself, who terrorizes the
1033
01:14:02.920 --> 01:14:09.439
plantation's creepy and rugged, unpaved road. This particularly malicious spirit
1034
01:14:09.920 --> 01:14:14.000
typically takes the form of two malevolent, angry looking red
1035
01:14:14.079 --> 01:14:18.520
lights said to be his glowing eyes, earning the phantom
1036
01:14:18.560 --> 01:14:22.520
the name Old Red Eyes. These lights will supposedly appear
1037
01:14:22.840 --> 01:14:26.359
right behind cars right about at the Old Oak Tree
1038
01:14:26.600 --> 01:14:31.520
and chase them, in some reports, even relentlessly attacking them.
1039
01:14:32.119 --> 01:14:35.079
One report of an encounter with Old Red Eyes was
1040
01:14:35.119 --> 01:14:39.880
described by a witness thus, I saw Old Red Eyes
1041
01:14:39.960 --> 01:14:43.199
several years ago. I have a friend that lives just
1042
01:14:43.319 --> 01:14:46.239
off that road and had taken him home from Jacksonville
1043
01:14:46.319 --> 01:14:49.680
one night. It's about midnight, and after driving him off,
1044
01:14:49.760 --> 01:14:52.039
I was driving back down that road to the hard
1045
01:14:52.159 --> 01:14:54.760
road and looked in the side mirror on my car
1046
01:14:55.039 --> 01:14:57.880
and saw two red lights. At first, I thought it
1047
01:14:58.000 --> 01:15:00.840
was the tail lights of another car, but they were
1048
01:15:00.840 --> 01:15:04.319
too close together. I slowed down a little and watched
1049
01:15:04.319 --> 01:15:06.159
them in the mirror, and it looked like they were
1050
01:15:06.159 --> 01:15:09.720
coming closer. I knew that I had not passed another car,
1051
01:15:09.760 --> 01:15:11.920
and it did not seem like a car would be
1052
01:15:11.920 --> 01:15:15.960
coming down that dark road backwards. I stopped and stuck
1053
01:15:15.960 --> 01:15:18.439
my head out the window and looked back, and there
1054
01:15:18.479 --> 01:15:21.680
was nothing there. Then I looked in the mirror again,
1055
01:15:21.800 --> 01:15:24.800
and there they were, and they were right behind my car.
1056
01:15:25.479 --> 01:15:27.439
I gunned it and got the hell out of there.
1057
01:15:28.159 --> 01:15:33.119
What I saw wasn't a car. Just as ominous is
1058
01:15:33.199 --> 01:15:38.000
the appropriately named Demon's Road in Huntsville, Texas, which is
1059
01:15:38.079 --> 01:15:42.600
already spooky enough as at meanders through groves of twisted
1060
01:15:42.680 --> 01:15:46.279
trees and darkened woods, and ends up at the desolate
1061
01:15:46.399 --> 01:15:51.600
Martha's Chapel Cemetery. The real name is Bowden Road, but
1062
01:15:51.800 --> 01:15:55.359
it has earned its nickname in the decidedly frightening phenomena
1063
01:15:55.439 --> 01:15:58.800
that had been reported from there, such as shadow people,
1064
01:15:59.319 --> 01:16:03.479
a ghostly child with glowing eyes on a tricycle, a
1065
01:16:03.560 --> 01:16:08.960
hulking faceless beast, a strange hooded figure, and arms reaching
1066
01:16:09.000 --> 01:16:13.159
out from graves. There are many spirits said to lurk
1067
01:16:13.359 --> 01:16:17.000
along the murky stretches of this road and in the cemetery,
1068
01:16:17.720 --> 01:16:20.520
but one of the creepiest is a ghost light that
1069
01:16:20.600 --> 01:16:25.720
seems to be quite malicious. Indeed, motorists venturing down the
1070
01:16:25.800 --> 01:16:30.720
Demon's Road have often reported mysterious red lights hovering about
1071
01:16:30.840 --> 01:16:33.880
in the dark, the number of which seem to depend
1072
01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:36.800
on how many people are in the vehicle at the time.
1073
01:16:37.800 --> 01:16:43.239
These spook lights will supposedly aggressively pursue cars, and spookiest
1074
01:16:43.239 --> 01:16:48.399
of all, will leave unexplained handprints on the outside. Indeed,
1075
01:16:48.680 --> 01:16:52.119
these lights have plagued many who have traveled down the road,
1076
01:16:52.640 --> 01:16:57.319
often leaving those handprints and always hostile, sometimes even clawing
1077
01:16:57.479 --> 01:17:00.920
or grabbing at cars to leave scratches and dance behind.
1078
01:17:01.920 --> 01:17:05.640
What could this diabolical force be and why does it
1079
01:17:05.680 --> 01:17:17.319
want to attack vehicles? Nobody knows More haunted roads and
1080
01:17:17.439 --> 01:17:51.960
ghostly lights when weird darkness returns. Another case in Texas
1081
01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:55.079
of an aggressive ghost light is that said to Roma
1082
01:17:55.159 --> 01:17:59.720
Road in Hardin County, leading from Bragg to Saratoga, which
1083
01:17:59.720 --> 01:18:02.319
acts at one point was a part of the Santa
1084
01:18:02.319 --> 01:18:06.279
Fe Railroad back in the early nineteen hundreds, before being
1085
01:18:06.319 --> 01:18:09.560
paved over to be turned into a road in an
1086
01:18:09.600 --> 01:18:13.279
area called Big Thicket, there have long been reports of
1087
01:18:13.319 --> 01:18:17.479
a multi colored spook light hovering about at night along
1088
01:18:17.520 --> 01:18:20.680
the road and in the surrounding wilderness, with many of
1089
01:18:20.720 --> 01:18:25.000
them pointing at the light being quite evil. Even from
1090
01:18:25.039 --> 01:18:28.319
the beginning, the reports of the Big Thicket ghost light,
1091
01:18:28.760 --> 01:18:32.920
also called the Saratoga ghost Light, were far from friendly.
1092
01:18:33.760 --> 01:18:36.840
Hunters reported being chased by the lights, and it was
1093
01:18:36.880 --> 01:18:40.600
not uncommon to hear of them rushing amongst horses to
1094
01:18:40.680 --> 01:18:44.439
send the animals into a panicked frenzy, to the point
1095
01:18:44.479 --> 01:18:47.760
that on at least one occasion, a horse drawn wagon
1096
01:18:47.880 --> 01:18:50.880
was forced to go crashing into a ditch because of
1097
01:18:50.920 --> 01:18:54.600
the lights. At the time, the lights became a pretty
1098
01:18:54.640 --> 01:19:00.640
widespread rumor, attracting all sorts of curiosity seekers. Author F. E.
1099
01:19:00.800 --> 01:19:04.640
Abernethy would explain that the phenomenon in his book Tales
1100
01:19:04.680 --> 01:19:09.039
from the Big Thicket. Thus, light seers poured onto the
1101
01:19:09.119 --> 01:19:12.720
road by the hundreds. People of all ages and intellects
1102
01:19:12.760 --> 01:19:15.560
came to see and test their beliefs in the supernatural.
1103
01:19:16.279 --> 01:19:19.239
They shot at it, they chased it, and they tested
1104
01:19:19.279 --> 01:19:23.199
it with litmus, paper and Geiger counters. A preacher harangued
1105
01:19:23.199 --> 01:19:26.439
the road's multitudes from the top of this car, making
1106
01:19:26.479 --> 01:19:30.039
the light as an ill omen of the world's impending doom.
1107
01:19:30.439 --> 01:19:32.800
There were some nights the light didn't show at all,
1108
01:19:32.960 --> 01:19:35.439
but for the most part, it was there to inspire
1109
01:19:35.560 --> 01:19:39.359
stories that could be passed on to change and grow
1110
01:19:39.520 --> 01:19:45.600
at the will and imagination of the storyteller. In later years,
1111
01:19:45.640 --> 01:19:48.880
the light did not stop its antics in the slightest bit,
1112
01:19:49.479 --> 01:19:53.119
with reports of its chasing people or even attacking them common,
1113
01:19:53.640 --> 01:19:56.560
such as cases in which the light stopped car engines,
1114
01:19:57.119 --> 01:20:02.399
burned people's hands, or even violent knocked them down. There
1115
01:20:02.439 --> 01:20:06.800
have been reports of cars being dinged, dented, or smashed
1116
01:20:06.840 --> 01:20:10.039
by the ghost light, and it is generally not something
1117
01:20:10.119 --> 01:20:13.640
one wants to encounter while driving down the already eerie
1118
01:20:13.720 --> 01:20:17.640
rural road. As usual, there have been many attempts to
1119
01:20:17.800 --> 01:20:21.920
rationally explain the big Thicket light, such as that it
1120
01:20:22.000 --> 01:20:26.279
is some sort of illusion, swamp gas, or merely headlights,
1121
01:20:26.560 --> 01:20:29.520
and there have been a fair number of more paranormal
1122
01:20:29.640 --> 01:20:33.239
explanations as well, including that it is the spirit of
1123
01:20:33.279 --> 01:20:37.039
a hunter or Civil War soldier, or even that it
1124
01:20:37.159 --> 01:20:41.960
is a curse placed over a lost Spanish treasure. Whatever
1125
01:20:42.000 --> 01:20:44.760
the case may be, the stories of the evil ghost
1126
01:20:44.840 --> 01:20:50.159
light of Saratoga persist. Texas seems to be a haven
1127
01:20:50.319 --> 01:20:53.600
for such spook lights because there is another road in
1128
01:20:53.640 --> 01:20:57.399
this state that has its own scary stories of such entities.
1129
01:20:58.439 --> 01:21:01.880
In the area of Mitchell flo east of Marfa, Texas.
1130
01:21:02.319 --> 01:21:05.720
There have long been reports of mystery lights floating out
1131
01:21:05.880 --> 01:21:09.720
over the desert landscape since at least the eighteen hundreds.
1132
01:21:10.600 --> 01:21:14.439
The phenomena are usually described as dancing orbs of light
1133
01:21:14.920 --> 01:21:18.039
that zip and zoom low to the ground over the
1134
01:21:18.119 --> 01:21:22.159
parched desert scrub, and they have collectively been coined the
1135
01:21:22.319 --> 01:21:28.000
Marfa Lights. While the phenomenon is puzzling but usually harmless
1136
01:21:28.039 --> 01:21:31.640
and distant, there have been some reports that show these
1137
01:21:31.720 --> 01:21:36.359
lights can be rather frightening on occasion. In one report
1138
01:21:36.520 --> 01:21:40.319
from Weird Texas, one man named Tim Stevens gave an
1139
01:21:40.319 --> 01:21:44.479
account of a very bizarre experience witnessed by a friend
1140
01:21:44.520 --> 01:21:48.479
of his father's named Roy, while traveling down Route ninety
1141
01:21:48.560 --> 01:21:52.720
in the nineteen seventies. According to the report, Roy had
1142
01:21:52.760 --> 01:21:56.640
been driving for hours out from San Antonio after sunset
1143
01:21:56.760 --> 01:21:59.520
and just before dark, and there had been no other
1144
01:21:59.600 --> 01:22:02.520
cars out in this remote stretch of the highway that evening.
1145
01:22:03.479 --> 01:22:06.399
Suddenly he noticed what he took to be headlights in
1146
01:22:06.479 --> 01:22:09.960
his rear view mirror. For some time, the lights remained
1147
01:22:10.000 --> 01:22:13.399
a comfortable distance away, but at some point the lights
1148
01:22:13.479 --> 01:22:17.479
quickly closed the distance to follow right behind him. The
1149
01:22:17.560 --> 01:22:23.199
report explained the following sequence of events. My dad said
1150
01:22:23.199 --> 01:22:25.000
that Roy had been driving up with the lights a
1151
01:22:25.000 --> 01:22:28.600
comfortable distance behind him for several minutes when the vehicle
1152
01:22:28.800 --> 01:22:32.520
sped up and approached his truck rapidly. For a few seconds,
1153
01:22:32.560 --> 01:22:34.920
he honestly thought he was about to be rear ended
1154
01:22:35.439 --> 01:22:38.520
before an impact occurred. However, the light stopped a few
1155
01:22:38.560 --> 01:22:41.880
feet short of hitting his truck. It's sixty miles per
1156
01:22:41.920 --> 01:22:45.159
hour in the middle of an otherwise deserted highway. It
1157
01:22:45.239 --> 01:22:48.000
probably wasn't too much to ask for a courtesy of
1158
01:22:48.039 --> 01:22:52.199
a little breathing room, so Roy tapped the brakes. The
1159
01:22:52.319 --> 01:22:56.159
driver of the vehicle behind him maintained his distance. Roy
1160
01:22:56.239 --> 01:23:01.359
again tapped his brakes, no response. Finally, very annoyed, Roy
1161
01:23:01.520 --> 01:23:04.119
jammed hard on his brakes for a fraction of a second.
1162
01:23:04.640 --> 01:23:08.000
To his amazement, the vehicle behind him stayed the exact
1163
01:23:08.119 --> 01:23:11.840
distance from his rear bumper as it had been. Roy
1164
01:23:11.880 --> 01:23:14.960
decided to try a different approach, he said. He floored
1165
01:23:14.960 --> 01:23:18.720
the gas pedal, making his small truck shudder and lurch ahead.
1166
01:23:19.439 --> 01:23:22.079
The speed crept up to eighty miles per hour. The
1167
01:23:22.159 --> 01:23:27.000
lights behind him reacted in perfect unison, staying several feet
1168
01:23:27.039 --> 01:23:30.119
behind his truck as it approached speeds Roy was sure
1169
01:23:30.199 --> 01:23:33.359
he'd never pushed it to before. At nearly one hundred
1170
01:23:33.399 --> 01:23:36.239
miles per hour, the truck was beginning to vibrate badly,
1171
01:23:36.720 --> 01:23:40.279
but the lights did not waver and often was enough.
1172
01:23:40.479 --> 01:23:42.960
Roy eased off the gas and let the truck coast
1173
01:23:43.000 --> 01:23:46.319
down to a scene speed. Then he stood on the brakes.
1174
01:23:46.640 --> 01:23:50.279
The tires screeched and smoked, and the truck pitched and
1175
01:23:50.439 --> 01:23:53.439
slid slightly to the side. But the whole time Roy
1176
01:23:53.479 --> 01:23:56.960
watched the lights in the mirror, they stayed in exactly
1177
01:23:57.039 --> 01:23:59.720
the same spot until the truck came to a stop.
1178
01:24:00.439 --> 01:24:04.800
Roy then saw something completely unexpected. The lights shot out
1179
01:24:05.039 --> 01:24:07.239
off the road to the right and fired across the
1180
01:24:07.279 --> 01:24:10.720
desert like missiles. He craned his neck around to try
1181
01:24:10.720 --> 01:24:13.960
and follow them. Visually impressed by the driver's driving on
1182
01:24:14.039 --> 01:24:16.920
what was sure to be a very rough road, he
1183
01:24:17.000 --> 01:24:19.359
smiled and was about to drive on when a thought
1184
01:24:19.399 --> 01:24:23.079
occurred to him. He frowned, and, making sure he wasn't
1185
01:24:23.119 --> 01:24:25.359
about to be run over by a big rig or
1186
01:24:25.359 --> 01:24:28.760
other traffic, put his truck in reverse and slowly backed
1187
01:24:28.840 --> 01:24:32.239
up maybe a couple hundred feet. He checked the barbed
1188
01:24:32.239 --> 01:24:35.439
wire fence line for a road, a gate, or other
1189
01:24:35.560 --> 01:24:38.560
break of some kind where his pursuer may have slipped through,
1190
01:24:39.359 --> 01:24:42.479
but there was done. Roy said he was pretty spooked
1191
01:24:42.479 --> 01:24:45.520
all right. Off the distance, he could see lights moved
1192
01:24:45.520 --> 01:24:51.680
swiftly across the horizon. Whatever this was, whether it was
1193
01:24:51.720 --> 01:24:55.039
connected to the Marfa lights or not, it certainly seems
1194
01:24:55.039 --> 01:24:57.840
hard to explain away as a trick of light or
1195
01:24:57.960 --> 01:25:01.920
headlight reflections from the distance. Ghost Lights have been a
1196
01:25:01.960 --> 01:25:05.920
persistent phenomenon within the world of the weird, and there
1197
01:25:05.920 --> 01:25:09.720
have been countless theories to try and explain them, Yet
1198
01:25:09.800 --> 01:25:12.399
none seem to touch on those lights that seem to
1199
01:25:12.439 --> 01:25:15.800
reach out from the merely mysterious to lash out at
1200
01:25:16.000 --> 01:25:21.039
or harass those who encounter them. Is there some explanation
1201
01:25:21.159 --> 01:25:25.079
for this or is this just poaxes and tall tales.
1202
01:25:26.199 --> 01:25:29.800
If it is indeed real, then why do these particular
1203
01:25:29.880 --> 01:25:33.840
spook lights cling to these locations and why do they
1204
01:25:33.840 --> 01:25:38.520
seem so hostile and threatening? It seems to be beyond
1205
01:25:38.560 --> 01:25:42.159
our ability to comprehend at this point, and these lights
1206
01:25:42.319 --> 01:25:46.520
may flit about the periphery of our understanding, prowling their
1207
01:25:46.560 --> 01:26:04.720
haunted grounds, without ever being satisfactorily explained. Thanks for listening.
1208
01:26:05.000 --> 01:26:07.199
If you like the show, please tell somebody about it
1209
01:26:07.199 --> 01:26:11.720
who loves the paranormal or strained stories, true crime, monsters,
1210
01:26:11.880 --> 01:26:15.000
or unsolved mysteries like you do. If you missed any
1211
01:26:15.039 --> 01:26:16.880
part of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear
1212
01:26:16.920 --> 01:26:19.439
it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in your
1213
01:26:19.439 --> 01:26:23.640
favorite podcast app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that,
1214
01:26:23.680 --> 01:26:26.840
you'll get a copy of tonight's show, plus daily podcast
1215
01:26:26.880 --> 01:26:29.520
episodes that come out seven days per week, and you'll
1216
01:26:29.560 --> 01:26:33.319
also get tonight's Sudden Death overtime content with stories I
1217
01:26:33.399 --> 01:26:37.199
prepared but didn't have time to share. Visit Weirddarkness dot
1218
01:26:37.239 --> 01:26:39.399
com and you can also follow me on social media,
1219
01:26:39.600 --> 01:26:42.720
drop me an email, send me your own true paranormal story,
1220
01:26:42.920 --> 01:26:46.119
listen to other podcasts that I host, and more. All
1221
01:26:46.159 --> 01:26:49.960
stories used tonight aren't purported to be true unless stated otherwise,
1222
01:26:50.000 --> 01:26:51.680
and you can find links to the stories or the
1223
01:26:51.720 --> 01:26:54.239
authors in the show notes, which I've already posted at
1224
01:26:54.239 --> 01:26:59.079
Weirddarkness dot com. The Conjure Chest is for the Unexplained Mysteries.
1225
01:26:59.560 --> 01:27:01.960
The Haunting of Drish House was written by Amanda Penn
1226
01:27:02.000 --> 01:27:05.319
for Horror Media. Haunted Roads and spook Lights is by
1227
01:27:05.359 --> 01:27:08.880
Brant Sponsor for Mysterious Universe. The Haunted House for Sale
1228
01:27:08.880 --> 01:27:12.800
in Malaysia was written by Brandon Grimes for Paranormality magazine.
1229
01:27:13.560 --> 01:27:17.840
Weird Darkness is a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And
1230
01:27:17.880 --> 01:27:19.880
now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave
1231
01:27:19.960 --> 01:27:23.640
you with a little light Proverbs eleven, verse nine. With
1232
01:27:23.800 --> 01:27:27.720
his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge,
1233
01:27:27.880 --> 01:27:32.359
the righteous escape and a final thought, if the only
1234
01:27:32.439 --> 01:27:35.720
prayer you said in your whole life was thank you,
1235
01:27:36.560 --> 01:27:42.039
that would suffice meister Eckhart. I'm Daryn Marler. Thanks for
1236
01:27:42.159 --> 01:28:43.439
joining me in the weird darkness dis in Washington, d C.
1237
01:28:43.800 --> 01:28:47.439
There are two walls that, from far enough away, appear
1238
01:28:47.520 --> 01:28:51.560
to be black slabs. As you come closer, you start
1239
01:28:51.600 --> 01:28:55.800
to notice the etchings on the walls. Closer still, and
1240
01:28:55.880 --> 01:28:59.520
you will see that the etchings are names. In total,
1241
01:28:59.600 --> 01:29:03.600
there are fifty eight thousand, three hundred and eight names,
1242
01:29:04.319 --> 01:29:07.600
each one belonging to an American man or woman who
1243
01:29:07.680 --> 01:29:11.640
lost their life in the Vietnam War. Most of these
1244
01:29:11.720 --> 01:29:15.720
lost souls return home to be buried, but far too
1245
01:29:15.760 --> 01:29:19.279
many some who died but were never found, Others who
1246
01:29:19.279 --> 01:29:24.079
were taken as POWs et cetera, never came back. For
1247
01:29:24.159 --> 01:29:27.600
the families of these missing twelve hundred people, there is
1248
01:29:27.640 --> 01:29:31.800
a hole that will never be filled, a hole created
1249
01:29:31.880 --> 01:29:38.319
by uncertainty, by fear, by grief. To this day, there
1250
01:29:38.359 --> 01:29:42.399
are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters
1251
01:29:43.000 --> 01:29:47.520
hoping for a miracle, hoping that their loved one will return,
1252
01:29:48.119 --> 01:29:51.239
and with each passing year the chances of that miracle
1253
01:29:51.279 --> 01:29:56.520
happening shrinks. For the family of Master Sergeant John Hartley Robertson,
1254
01:29:57.079 --> 01:30:01.239
that miracle happened in twenty thirteen, No matter what the
1255
01:30:01.279 --> 01:30:05.720
world tells them. John Robertson was thirty two when the
1256
01:30:05.760 --> 01:30:09.039
helicopter he was in was shot down over Laos in
1257
01:30:09.119 --> 01:30:13.760
May nineteen sixty eight. The copter carrying Robertson was never recovered,
1258
01:30:13.920 --> 01:30:17.159
and in nineteen seventy six he and the other passengers
1259
01:30:17.199 --> 01:30:22.199
were declared dead. In nineteen eighty two, Robertson, along with
1260
01:30:22.239 --> 01:30:25.239
his brothers in arms, had his name etched into the
1261
01:30:25.319 --> 01:30:29.119
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. He can be found on panel
1262
01:30:29.199 --> 01:30:34.000
sixty four, e row eight. At the same time as
1263
01:30:34.039 --> 01:30:37.000
the memorial was opened to the public, the U. S
1264
01:30:37.039 --> 01:30:41.880
Government received reports that Robertson was alive. Robertson's wife and
1265
01:30:41.960 --> 01:30:47.319
children weren't told. Tom Fonce never had an easy life.
1266
01:30:47.359 --> 01:30:50.479
Born in Detroit, France's father died when he was young,
1267
01:30:50.800 --> 01:30:53.640
and while Fonce never liked to speak about it, his
1268
01:30:53.800 --> 01:30:57.079
children believed that their grandfather perished in a house fire.
1269
01:30:58.000 --> 01:31:00.760
After the death of his father, Fonce spent a life
1270
01:31:00.800 --> 01:31:04.800
in and out of orphanages and detention centers, suffering abuses.
1271
01:31:04.840 --> 01:31:08.159
He preferred to keep to himself. When the chance came,
1272
01:31:08.279 --> 01:31:11.119
Fance joined the U. S. Army and spent twenty seven
1273
01:31:11.159 --> 01:31:14.600
months in Vietnam. His time in the military gave Fance
1274
01:31:14.680 --> 01:31:19.079
something he had been missing, a family. After the war,
1275
01:31:19.479 --> 01:31:22.119
France became a born again Christian and chose to live
1276
01:31:22.119 --> 01:31:25.920
his life by a simple but honorable credo, radical love,
1277
01:31:26.560 --> 01:31:31.720
No one left behind, no one left unloved. Fans spent
1278
01:31:31.760 --> 01:31:35.680
his life traveling the world on humanitarian missions, doing his
1279
01:31:35.840 --> 01:31:39.800
best to ease the suffering of others. In two thousand
1280
01:31:39.840 --> 01:31:42.840
and eight, Fance was on a humanitarian mission in Vietnam
1281
01:31:43.199 --> 01:31:47.039
when he heard about John Robertson, the American soldier who had
1282
01:31:47.079 --> 01:31:50.359
been living in a small village. Fonce set out to
1283
01:31:50.399 --> 01:31:54.960
the village to find Robertson. Robertson was old and he
1284
01:31:55.000 --> 01:31:58.600
had all but forgotten how to speak English. He sat
1285
01:31:58.680 --> 01:32:02.359
with Fonse and explained what happened. In May nineteen sixty eight,
1286
01:32:03.199 --> 01:32:05.640
his coptor was enroute to a rescue mission when it
1287
01:32:05.680 --> 01:32:09.560
was shot down over some mountains. Robertson survived the crash,
1288
01:32:09.560 --> 01:32:13.560
but was instantly taken captive by North Vietnamese soldiers. For
1289
01:32:13.600 --> 01:32:17.680
four years, they kept Robertson caged up, beating and starving him.
1290
01:32:17.960 --> 01:32:21.119
At first, they tortured Robertson in hopes of gaining information
1291
01:32:21.199 --> 01:32:24.479
from him, but in time the torture just became something
1292
01:32:24.520 --> 01:32:27.800
to pass the time when he saw his chance, Robertson
1293
01:32:27.920 --> 01:32:31.640
escaped from his cage and ran. He evaded the soldiers
1294
01:32:31.640 --> 01:32:34.399
that pursued him and broke out of the forest before
1295
01:32:34.479 --> 01:32:37.000
collapsing into a field, where he was found by a
1296
01:32:37.039 --> 01:32:40.199
woman he would later marry and have four children with.
1297
01:32:41.359 --> 01:32:45.359
For reasons unknown, Robertson never tried to contact his family
1298
01:32:45.439 --> 01:32:50.159
in America. For over forty years, John Hartley Robertson lived
1299
01:32:50.159 --> 01:32:52.960
with his new wife and children under the name of
1300
01:32:53.000 --> 01:32:59.159
his new wife's dead husband. Dang Tan knock fonce pushed Robertson,
1301
01:32:59.279 --> 01:33:02.760
now in his seventies, for more information. He wasn't about
1302
01:33:02.800 --> 01:33:05.479
to blindly trust the man, but he hoped deep in
1303
01:33:05.520 --> 01:33:08.840
his heart that what he was being told was the truth.
1304
01:33:09.800 --> 01:33:13.119
Robertson was clear on some details, but other things, like
1305
01:33:13.279 --> 01:33:16.000
when he was born or the names of his American children,
1306
01:33:16.399 --> 01:33:20.159
he couldn't remember, he was suffering from dementia and would
1307
01:33:20.199 --> 01:33:24.119
often break down in tears. Fonts, with the help of
1308
01:33:24.159 --> 01:33:29.319
Emmy winning documentarian Michael Jorgensen, searched for more information on Robertson.
1309
01:33:30.840 --> 01:33:33.520
They found that the US government has been contacted by
1310
01:33:33.600 --> 01:33:38.560
Robertson multiple times, but they never informed his family. Robertson
1311
01:33:38.600 --> 01:33:41.479
first contacted the US military in two thousand and six
1312
01:33:41.600 --> 01:33:44.680
to tell them that he was alive. In the information
1313
01:33:44.760 --> 01:33:47.319
he filled out, Robertson wrote down the name of a
1314
01:33:47.359 --> 01:33:50.520
non existent high school and the wrong address for his
1315
01:33:50.680 --> 01:33:56.279
US home. He also misspelled his own name. Robertson tried
1316
01:33:56.319 --> 01:33:59.039
again in two thousand and eight, and this time he
1317
01:33:59.079 --> 01:34:01.159
was taken to the U. S s Embassy in Panan,
1318
01:34:01.239 --> 01:34:04.920
Penn where he was fingerprinted. His prince did not match
1319
01:34:04.960 --> 01:34:07.880
the ones on file. As far as the US government
1320
01:34:07.960 --> 01:34:10.880
was concerned, this was another case of a Vietnamese man
1321
01:34:11.239 --> 01:34:13.880
trying to trick the military into giving him the back
1322
01:34:13.920 --> 01:34:18.319
pay that John Robertson would be owed. Tom Fauns wasn't
1323
01:34:18.359 --> 01:34:21.680
so ready to call Robertson a liar, though. His belief
1324
01:34:22.039 --> 01:34:24.760
is that the US authorities are working to keep Robertson
1325
01:34:24.880 --> 01:34:30.279
and other living US Miapow's and Vietnam silent, though the
1326
01:34:30.319 --> 01:34:34.720
reason to do so is unclear. Fonce and Jorgenson took
1327
01:34:34.800 --> 01:34:38.479
Robertson to Edmonton, Canada to meet his only living sister,
1328
01:34:39.119 --> 01:34:42.840
Jean Robertson Holly. After a brief moment, Jeane was sure
1329
01:34:42.920 --> 01:34:45.800
the man standing before her was her brother back from
1330
01:34:45.840 --> 01:34:49.760
the dead. Jorgenson turned the story into a documentary titled
1331
01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:55.640
Undocumented in twenty thirteen. Shortly after the premiere, US authorities
1332
01:34:55.680 --> 01:35:00.239
released new information on Robertson. In nineteen ninety one, former
1333
01:35:00.319 --> 01:35:04.920
CIA Paramilitary Operations officer Billy Waugh traveled to Vietnam to
1334
01:35:04.960 --> 01:35:09.119
fined Robertson and obtain a DNA sample for testing. Waw
1335
01:35:09.359 --> 01:35:12.880
was successful, and the test proved that Robertson had not
1336
01:35:13.000 --> 01:35:15.800
taken the name Dang Tang Knock from a dead man.
1337
01:35:16.359 --> 01:35:20.840
He was Dang Tan Knock. How Dang Tan Knock, a
1338
01:35:20.920 --> 01:35:24.800
Vietnamese citizen of French origin, had found the name of
1339
01:35:24.920 --> 01:35:29.159
Master Sergeant John Hartley Robertson, or why he chose it
1340
01:35:29.199 --> 01:35:32.239
is unknown. What is known is that Dang Tang Knock
1341
01:35:32.479 --> 01:35:35.199
is a well known con man who has used the
1342
01:35:35.319 --> 01:35:39.359
names of multiple dead soldiers to con veterans groups into
1343
01:35:39.359 --> 01:35:43.600
giving him money. While believed that Knock had collected thousands
1344
01:35:43.680 --> 01:35:48.680
of dollars over the year, still Master Sergeant Robertson's family
1345
01:35:48.920 --> 01:35:52.720
held out hope. In November of twenty thirteen, they started
1346
01:35:52.760 --> 01:35:55.800
a gofund me campaign in hopes to get the money
1347
01:35:55.800 --> 01:35:59.520
needed to perform their own DNA test. While they were
1348
01:35:59.560 --> 01:36:02.960
unable to reach the intended goal, the Robertson family was
1349
01:36:03.039 --> 01:36:06.000
able to get the test done. The results showed that
1350
01:36:06.079 --> 01:36:09.600
Wall had found over twenty years earlier. Dang Tan Knock
1351
01:36:09.760 --> 01:36:14.760
was not John Hartley Robertson. Men like Dang Tan Knock,
1352
01:36:15.039 --> 01:36:18.039
men who take advantage of the grieving and the hopeful,
1353
01:36:18.319 --> 01:36:22.119
are true monsters who walk the earth every day. To
1354
01:36:22.159 --> 01:36:24.920
lose a family member to a war can be nothing
1355
01:36:25.039 --> 01:36:29.199
less than shattering to one's soul. To lose them again
1356
01:36:29.760 --> 01:36:32.600
because of the actions of a con man is something
1357
01:36:32.800 --> 01:36:36.319
no one should ever have to feel. The want to
1358
01:36:36.399 --> 01:36:40.399
believe that your loved one is alive and well overtakes
1359
01:36:40.439 --> 01:36:44.239
the rational side of your mind, pushing out all doubts,
1360
01:36:44.760 --> 01:36:48.359
because in the end, all any of us want is
1361
01:36:48.399 --> 01:36:53.399
a happy ending. To find out more about Mia or
1362
01:36:53.439 --> 01:36:56.920
POW's that are still missing, and to donate to those
1363
01:36:56.960 --> 01:36:59.840
families who are still living with uncertainty about their loved
1364
01:37:00.079 --> 01:37:04.239
one who fought in Vietnam. You can visit pow dash
1365
01:37:04.439 --> 01:37:11.159
Mia families dot org. That's pow dash Mia families dot org.
1366
01:37:16.000 --> 01:37:20.159
When Weird Darkness returns, a woman comes home to find
1367
01:37:20.199 --> 01:37:24.840
her visiting sister murdered and police are convinced she was
1368
01:37:24.880 --> 01:37:28.199
the one who committed the crime, So why wasn't she
1369
01:37:28.319 --> 01:37:33.239
locked up in prison? And a bordello, pizza and a haunting.
1370
01:37:33.560 --> 01:37:36.199
You can find them all at the Red Onion Saloon.
1371
01:37:37.119 --> 01:38:08.840
These stories are up next. Missus Ida Quinlan and her
1372
01:38:08.920 --> 01:38:11.359
nine year old son Johnny, went out to buy a
1373
01:38:11.359 --> 01:38:15.159
pair of stockings around nine o'clock the night of February first,
1374
01:38:15.279 --> 01:38:18.560
eighteen ninety six. Leaving her baby in the care of
1375
01:38:18.600 --> 01:38:22.159
her sister, missus Sophia Grant. They took a street car
1376
01:38:22.239 --> 01:38:26.119
to the store several miles away, purchased the stockings and
1377
01:38:26.279 --> 01:38:29.800
other sundry items. Returning to the house at around eleven,
1378
01:38:30.680 --> 01:38:34.479
Ida rang the bell, but there was no response, so
1379
01:38:34.520 --> 01:38:37.279
she went to the landlord who lived nearby and got
1380
01:38:37.279 --> 01:38:40.199
a key to the house. Entering the sitting room, she
1381
01:38:40.319 --> 01:38:43.439
was surprised to see the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled
1382
01:38:43.479 --> 01:38:47.279
out and the contents spread on the floor. She called
1383
01:38:47.319 --> 01:38:50.279
for Sophia, and, getting no response, went into the kitchen,
1384
01:38:50.760 --> 01:38:53.600
where she found her sister lying dead on the floor,
1385
01:38:54.199 --> 01:38:58.479
covered with blood. Horrified, Ida ran from the house to
1386
01:38:58.479 --> 01:39:01.560
seek assistance from the neighbors. At least that was the
1387
01:39:01.560 --> 01:39:05.640
story she told the police. The following day, Ida Quinland
1388
01:39:05.680 --> 01:39:09.600
was arrested for the murder of her own sister. They
1389
01:39:09.640 --> 01:39:12.840
lived in a three story tenement in the Charlestown section
1390
01:39:13.119 --> 01:39:16.000
of Boston. It was a two family home, but at
1391
01:39:16.000 --> 01:39:19.039
the time Ida Quinland and the two children shared the
1392
01:39:19.079 --> 01:39:22.920
house with their sister, Sophia Grant and their brother Angus MacLeod,
1393
01:39:23.279 --> 01:39:26.560
a conductor on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.
1394
01:39:27.199 --> 01:39:30.680
They also took in lodgers John Thompson, a brake band
1395
01:39:30.760 --> 01:39:32.880
on the same line as Angus, at a room there.
1396
01:39:33.880 --> 01:39:37.319
Sophia had married b. W. Grand three years earlier, but
1397
01:39:37.399 --> 01:39:39.920
after a few months they decided that they did not
1398
01:39:40.079 --> 01:39:43.439
want to live together. She stayed in Charlestown and he
1399
01:39:43.680 --> 01:39:46.119
lived in Providence, Rhode Island, where he had a dry
1400
01:39:46.119 --> 01:39:49.880
goods business. It was said Sophia and her husband were
1401
01:39:49.880 --> 01:39:55.439
on friendly terms and corresponded frequently. Doctor O'Brien examined the
1402
01:39:55.479 --> 01:39:58.800
body for the police and determined Sophia Grant had been
1403
01:39:58.840 --> 01:40:02.159
struck in the head several times, with a blunt object
1404
01:40:02.680 --> 01:40:06.199
fracturing her skull. She was wearing nothing but a night
1405
01:40:06.279 --> 01:40:10.479
dress and stockings, but had not been sexually assaulted. There
1406
01:40:10.520 --> 01:40:13.279
were no signs of a struggle, but a rocking chair
1407
01:40:13.319 --> 01:40:17.479
in the kitchen was overturned. She was probably struck while
1408
01:40:17.520 --> 01:40:21.600
sitting in it. Robbery was thought to be the motive,
1409
01:40:21.640 --> 01:40:24.039
but no one from the house could say that anything
1410
01:40:24.239 --> 01:40:28.920
was missing. Ida thought Sophia kept twenty five dollars and
1411
01:40:29.039 --> 01:40:32.800
wanted the drawers, but that could not be confirmed. The
1412
01:40:32.840 --> 01:40:35.640
doors had been locked when Ida returned, and there were
1413
01:40:35.640 --> 01:40:38.760
no signs of a forced entry. It could have been
1414
01:40:38.840 --> 01:40:41.079
one of the residents of the house, but everyone with
1415
01:40:41.119 --> 01:40:44.399
a latch key had an alibi. It might have been
1416
01:40:44.439 --> 01:40:47.960
a former lodger who kept his key, or possibly the
1417
01:40:48.079 --> 01:40:50.560
killer had climbed a drain pipe and entered through a
1418
01:40:50.600 --> 01:40:54.159
broken window on the third floor, but the police did
1419
01:40:54.199 --> 01:40:57.359
not think it was necessary to go so far afield.
1420
01:40:58.119 --> 01:41:02.479
Ida Quinlan's story did not stand up to close scrutiny.
1421
01:41:02.840 --> 01:41:06.520
The police had several reasons to suspect Ida of the murder.
1422
01:41:07.079 --> 01:41:09.720
She had a record of violence, having been charged with
1423
01:41:09.760 --> 01:41:13.680
assault and battery three months earlier. Ida's husband, David, had
1424
01:41:13.720 --> 01:41:17.279
moved out due to her bad temper and drinking habits.
1425
01:41:17.479 --> 01:41:19.920
She was the last to see the murdered woman and
1426
01:41:20.000 --> 01:41:23.279
the first to find her dead. She could not explain
1427
01:41:23.479 --> 01:41:26.800
why she left the house after nine o'clock and traveled
1428
01:41:26.880 --> 01:41:29.359
so far to make a purchase that she could have
1429
01:41:29.399 --> 01:41:32.600
made at a store near her home. It was unusual
1430
01:41:32.960 --> 01:41:34.800
for her to keep her nine year old boy out
1431
01:41:34.840 --> 01:41:38.079
past eleven. After finding the body, she ran from the
1432
01:41:38.119 --> 01:41:41.279
house without first checking on her baby. Their guard dog,
1433
01:41:41.439 --> 01:41:45.520
a large black Newfoundland named Fred, gave no indication of
1434
01:41:45.560 --> 01:41:49.680
being disturbed by an intruder. The police were convinced that
1435
01:41:49.720 --> 01:41:53.000
Ida Quinlan was guilty and arrested her for the murder
1436
01:41:53.000 --> 01:41:58.239
of her sister. Additional evidence was gathered. Doctor Wood of
1437
01:41:58.239 --> 01:42:02.640
Harvard University, who did forensic analysis for the police, examined
1438
01:42:02.680 --> 01:42:06.479
the dress Ida war and found blood not in blotches
1439
01:42:06.560 --> 01:42:09.279
which might have resulted from touching the body after death,
1440
01:42:09.760 --> 01:42:15.039
but small spots as if spattered. Her Macintosh shirt, waist
1441
01:42:15.079 --> 01:42:19.279
and shoes also had spots of blood. Nine year old
1442
01:42:19.359 --> 01:42:22.960
Johnny Quinlan, when questioned, said he'd been by his mother's
1443
01:42:23.000 --> 01:42:27.279
side all night, but the police found witnesses who contradicted that.
1444
01:42:28.079 --> 01:42:30.560
At nine o'clock, a delivery man came by with a
1445
01:42:30.560 --> 01:42:34.279
dozen bottles of beer Ida had ordered. Normally, he would
1446
01:42:34.319 --> 01:42:36.880
have carried them upstairs for her, but this time Ida
1447
01:42:36.960 --> 01:42:41.920
carried them herself while she was inside. William D. Daughtry,
1448
01:42:42.119 --> 01:42:44.199
a tailor on his way to the shop, saw a
1449
01:42:44.239 --> 01:42:47.880
boy standing alone on the street. He recognized him as
1450
01:42:47.960 --> 01:42:52.159
Johnny Quinlan and said hello. Ida and Johnny had been
1451
01:42:52.199 --> 01:42:56.039
seen apart long enough for her to have murdered Sophia.
1452
01:42:57.359 --> 01:43:00.399
The biggest problem for the police was the absence of
1453
01:43:00.439 --> 01:43:04.880
a motive for the murder. Relations between Ida and Sophia
1454
01:43:04.960 --> 01:43:08.840
were cordial. There were no recent arguments or long standing
1455
01:43:08.880 --> 01:43:12.399
feuds between them. It was said that they disagreed on
1456
01:43:12.600 --> 01:43:17.199
religious matters, but not enough to incur violence. Ida would
1457
01:43:17.239 --> 01:43:21.199
not benefit financially by her sister's death. There appeared to
1458
01:43:21.239 --> 01:43:25.359
be no reason for Ida to kill her sister. In
1459
01:43:25.399 --> 01:43:27.840
spite of this, the police were ready to take their
1460
01:43:27.880 --> 01:43:31.199
case to the grand jury. Without a motive, it was
1461
01:43:31.239 --> 01:43:34.399
doubtful that Ida would be indicted for a first degree murder,
1462
01:43:34.880 --> 01:43:37.319
but the police were sure that she'd be charged with
1463
01:43:37.520 --> 01:43:41.600
second degree murder or at least manslaughter. But the grand
1464
01:43:41.680 --> 01:43:45.199
jury was not impressed by the evidence against Ida Quinlan
1465
01:43:45.600 --> 01:43:49.680
and did not return any indictment. While they vowed to
1466
01:43:49.720 --> 01:43:53.920
keep investigating, the police were reluctant to pursue any other theory.
1467
01:43:54.560 --> 01:43:57.800
They had gone all in against Ida Quinland and they
1468
01:43:57.880 --> 01:44:02.399
still believed she was guilty. Their reputation as officers rests
1469
01:44:02.479 --> 01:44:05.720
on their claim, said the Boston Daily Advertiser, and it
1470
01:44:05.760 --> 01:44:07.880
could not be said that they would attempt to pass
1471
01:44:07.920 --> 01:44:10.920
over any other clue. Yet it can easily be seen
1472
01:44:10.960 --> 01:44:12.680
that it would be very hard for them to get
1473
01:44:12.760 --> 01:44:15.600
up much enthusiasm and working over something that would be
1474
01:44:15.600 --> 01:44:20.159
a slap in their own faces. The Boston Police found
1475
01:44:20.319 --> 01:44:24.199
no more evidence against Ida Quinland or anyone else in
1476
01:44:24.199 --> 01:44:28.600
the case. The murder, which made sensational headlines in February,
1477
01:44:29.439 --> 01:44:43.960
was all but forgotten in March. In the small city
1478
01:44:44.000 --> 01:44:47.880
of Skagway, Alaska, on Broadway Street, there was a building
1479
01:44:48.079 --> 01:44:51.960
built with planks cut by the town's founder Captain William Moore.
1480
01:44:52.840 --> 01:44:56.600
This building is interesting for three reasons, a bit of
1481
01:44:56.840 --> 01:45:03.199
naughty history, pizza, and a haunting. The naughty history of
1482
01:45:03.239 --> 01:45:06.680
the building began just after its completion, when it opened
1483
01:45:06.720 --> 01:45:10.239
as a bordello in eighteen ninety eight, called the Red
1484
01:45:10.279 --> 01:45:14.399
Onion Saloon. This was during the gold rush when miners
1485
01:45:14.439 --> 01:45:17.680
hoping to hit it big traveled through Skagway, which had
1486
01:45:17.680 --> 01:45:20.399
been dubbed the Gateway to the Klondike, on their way
1487
01:45:20.439 --> 01:45:23.680
to find gold nuggets. Miners would come in looking for
1488
01:45:23.800 --> 01:45:27.720
entertainment in both drink and ladies that they found both
1489
01:45:27.800 --> 01:45:31.039
in the Red Onion Saloon. The first floor was a
1490
01:45:31.079 --> 01:45:34.159
saloon where the men would imbibe alcohol and dance with
1491
01:45:34.239 --> 01:45:38.000
the women. The second floor contained ten rooms where the
1492
01:45:38.000 --> 01:45:42.079
men were entertained by the ladies who inhabited them. Choosing
1493
01:45:42.079 --> 01:45:45.239
the ladies was done with dolls. Each had a doll
1494
01:45:45.279 --> 01:45:48.319
that represented them behind the bar. If the dolls were
1495
01:45:48.319 --> 01:45:51.560
sitting up, the lady that the doll represented was available.
1496
01:45:51.960 --> 01:45:55.359
If the doll was lying on their back, they were entertaining.
1497
01:45:56.359 --> 01:45:59.119
As time passed and the rush for gold faded from
1498
01:45:59.119 --> 01:46:03.079
the area, the bordello eventually faded as well, leaving the
1499
01:46:03.119 --> 01:46:07.319
building behind to become other things. It was used as
1500
01:46:07.399 --> 01:46:11.039
barracks in World War II to house soldiers. It also
1501
01:46:11.199 --> 01:46:15.239
became a union hall, bakery and gift shop, as well
1502
01:46:15.279 --> 01:46:18.680
as a laundry and television station. But its history as
1503
01:46:18.720 --> 01:46:21.680
a bordello would not fade and it was destined to
1504
01:46:21.720 --> 01:46:26.640
become a saloon again, only this time there would be pizza.
1505
01:46:27.800 --> 01:46:30.920
Today it is a historical landmark and operates as a
1506
01:46:31.000 --> 01:46:36.039
saloon and brothel themed pizzeria with pizzas with bordello themed
1507
01:46:36.119 --> 01:46:40.600
names like the Busty LaRue or Lady Lavois, and the
1508
01:46:40.640 --> 01:46:44.760
employees dress as madams from the Red Onion Saloons Heyday,
1509
01:46:45.319 --> 01:46:48.920
as well as barmen and musicians in period dress from
1510
01:46:48.920 --> 01:46:52.399
that time. It's also a working museum where they give
1511
01:46:52.479 --> 01:46:55.319
tours and you can view items that were once in
1512
01:46:55.359 --> 01:46:59.319
the brothel. Sounds like a fun place to visit, even
1513
01:46:59.359 --> 01:47:03.399
without a ghost. The haunting itself is allegedly the ghost
1514
01:47:03.479 --> 01:47:06.199
of a woman who had been named Lydia and is
1515
01:47:06.239 --> 01:47:08.800
thought to have been a prostitute at the Red Onion
1516
01:47:08.840 --> 01:47:12.560
Saloon during the gold Rush. There have been multiple sightings
1517
01:47:12.600 --> 01:47:16.079
of her, especially in the upstairs area, though she has
1518
01:47:16.159 --> 01:47:19.520
been allegedly hostile to men. She does have a fondness
1519
01:47:19.600 --> 01:47:23.319
for plants in the saloon and waters them. There have
1520
01:47:23.359 --> 01:47:26.479
been footsteps heard on the second floor, and if that
1521
01:47:26.520 --> 01:47:29.359
doesn't frighten you, she also has appeared as a full
1522
01:47:29.439 --> 01:47:33.399
bodied apparition that ran down the hall when police came
1523
01:47:33.439 --> 01:47:36.680
to check out a disturbance. She then ran into the
1524
01:47:36.680 --> 01:47:40.159
Madam's room. When they checked it, no one was in
1525
01:47:40.159 --> 01:47:43.840
the room. It is often this room where her spirit
1526
01:47:43.920 --> 01:47:46.600
is seen walking around and watering plants that are no
1527
01:47:46.680 --> 01:47:50.680
longer there. There is often a strong smell of perfume
1528
01:47:51.039 --> 01:47:55.840
and cold spots. Unfortunately, it's not known whether she died
1529
01:47:56.079 --> 01:47:59.119
in the Red Onion Saloon, but one of the former
1530
01:47:59.159 --> 01:48:03.600
madams believed to be named Lydia, and perhaps it is
1531
01:48:03.720 --> 01:48:07.279
her spirit that lingers. So if you want to do
1532
01:48:07.359 --> 01:48:10.640
some ghost hunting on your own, the Red Onion Saloon
1533
01:48:10.880 --> 01:48:16.159
operates from April to October. Get a drink, order a pizza,
1534
01:48:16.840 --> 01:48:19.920
and if you're lucky, you'll also get to see Lydia
1535
01:48:20.279 --> 01:48:24.439
sid intent over time with your darkness
