HELLHOUNDS IN AMERICA: From Pike County To Palm Springs | #WDRadio

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Even within the realm of cryptozoology, there are creatures that
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seem to defy easy classification. And some believe there's a
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distinct line between the field of cryptozoology, which by definition
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deals with undiscovered organisms which are real flesh and blood animals,
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that of paranormal phenomena, and that of folklore. While they
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may at times cross paths or briefly converge, Typically, these
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fields are as different as night and day, and deal
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with entirely different sets of phenomena, with different areas of study, classifications, methods, aims,
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and goals. Yet there are times when the gulf between
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them is not clear-cut, when something that on the surface
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appears to be an uncategorized animal evades such a simple identification.
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One such enigmatic beast has surely got to be the
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infamous Black Hellhounds, a unique category of creature so bizarre
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that it transcends any attempts to safely label it. I'm
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Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. I'm
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Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness Radio. where every
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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 unexplained.
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Coming up this hour … Love, money, divorce, anger, and murder.
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One Pennsylvania family had it all, and then some in
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the late 1800s. Count Saint-Germain or Jacques Saint-Germain, John and
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Wayne Carter, the Casket Girls of New Orleans, despite many
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years between all of their lives, they all still have
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one grisly thing in common. All were thought to be
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and possibly were real vampires tied to the Big Easy,
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a place where real bloodsuckers continue to live and roam
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the streets even now in the 21st century. But first
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… They have a long history in the United Kingdom,
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stalking the moors and fog-carpeted streets in the night. But
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it appears hounds from hell have also made their way
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to the Americas. We begin there. If you're new here,
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welcome to the show. And if you're already a member
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of this weirdo family, please take a moment and invite
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someone else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness
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to others helps make it possible for me to keep
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doing the show. While you're listening, be sure to check
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out WeirdDarkness.com, where you can follow me on social media,
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listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, and more. That's WeirdDarkness.com. Now,
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bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,
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and come with me into the Weird Darkness. Hellhounds, in
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one form or another, have been recorded throughout human history,
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from a variety of far-flung cultures, and although their appearance
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varies depending on the area and the local traditions, they
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are typically described as a very large black hound, which
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can range anywhere in size from that of a large
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Great Dane all the way up to the size of
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a cow or a horse. They're usually described as truly
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frightening beasts, being totally black, with shaggy or matted fur,
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and large, saucer-sized eyes that are typically described as burning
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with a malevolent red, yellow, or green glow, although some
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accounts say they have only a single luminous eye. Usually
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they're described as having formidable claws, vicious-looking fangs, and as
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being supernaturally agile, fast, and strong. The hounds can be
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reported as either tangible and real, or conversely, purely spectral creatures,
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with any attempt to touch them proving to pass through
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them as if they aren't there. Folklore usually suggests that
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they have a horrific wail or howl which can invoke
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sheer terror in those who hear it, and they're known
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to even have a sinister, human-sounding laugh, but that their
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footfalls are typically completely silent. The British Isles in particular
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have long had tales of such entities, with countless tales
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of phantom hounds which prowl the lonely roads, crypts, cemeteries,
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and wilds here. And stories of these hellhounds go back centuries.
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The hounds have been known as the Gertdog, Padfoot, Barguest,
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the Hairy Hound, the Yeff, and Old Shock, Old Snarleyow,
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and Old Scarf, among many others. In Ireland, they're known
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as Pooka. On the Isle of Man, they are Modidu.
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In Wales, the Wolegi. And in Scotland, the beastly hounds
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are called Susith. The most popular and widely used term
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for these bizarre entities in the United Kingdom is the
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Black Shuck, a term which originated with the name the
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hounds were given in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, with the
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name deriving from the Old English word skukka, meaning demons.
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or possibly the word shucky, meaning shaggy or hairy. These
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frightening creatures were said to be anything from the ghosts
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of dead travelers to the spirits of dead hounds awaiting
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the return of their masters, to inscrutable guardians of forbidden knowledge,
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to being the devil himself. The folklore and sightings of
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these huge, mysterious hounds go back centuries, inspiring a great
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amount of literature and spooky history in their path. Yet
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these creatures are certainly not confined to the old folklore
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of Britain. And there are many real modern sightings and
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encounters with apparent hellhounds across the pond in the United States.
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And these have come up right into the present. True
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Stories of Hellhounds in the Americas When Weird Darkness Returns Hey, weirdos.
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Church of the Undead, book one, is on presale right now. Bigfoot,
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a werewolf, and a guy who calls you a bigot
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for not telling him his curse is a good thing.
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The zombies that walked through Jerusalem. A hole in Washington
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State that gives back dead animals you drop into it. Slenderman,
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the Wendigo, Linus and his pumpkin patch, and the shiny
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thing I watched fly into a cloud over Iowa and
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come out going the wrong direction, which I still can't
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explain and I'm not going to pretend I can. Every
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one of those stories held up against Scripture to see
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what it has to teach us. Some of it will
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make you laugh. Some of it will keep you up
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at night. That's kind of the point. It's Church of
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the Undead, Book 1. Wendigo, zombies, werewolves, and other subjects
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you'd never hear from your pastor's pulpit. It unlocks Halloween night,
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but it's on pre-order right now at WeirdDarkness.com slash books.
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Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar. We're talking
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about hellhounds. And although they are... We start at the
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Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, which have seen
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quite a few reports of what seem to be hellhounds,
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especially in the states of Kentucky and West Virginia. Reports
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go back quite some time, with some accounts coming from
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as early as the late 17th century, of great black
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dogs with glowing eyes terrorizing the region, and such accounts
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have continued on into more recent times. In Kentucky, there
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have long been reports of massive black dogs measuring about
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four feet high at the shoulder and seven feet long,
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and one of these beasts allegedly prowled the area of
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Pike County through the 1930s and 40s, purportedly massacring cattle
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and sometimes even humans, as well as frightening locals. In
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modern times, such reports drew the interest of paranormal and
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cryptid investigators for the TV show Mountain Monsters, who went
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to the area for an investigation. The excursion would turn
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out to be pretty bizarre, if inconclusive. The investigators spoke
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with farmers in the area who showed them torn apart
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carcasses of livestock and gave spooky accounts of something large
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and dark prowling through the wilderness. They were also shown
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an alleged video of the beast. as well as paw
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prints measuring 7.5 to 8 inches long. Very big for
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a dog. During the investigation, the team built a bamboo
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drop cage and baited it with hog shoulders in an
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effort to lure it out. And although they don't catch it,
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they can hear something crashing around in the brush, growling,
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and can see a large shadow. It's all very dramatic,
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and whether the episode has any truth to it or
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not Kentucky and other areas of Appalachia have still produced
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many reports of hellhounds. Also on the East Coast is
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an account from Connecticut, where a witness on the site
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Real Unexplained Mysteries claims to have lived in an apartment
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that was haunted by shadow people and the apparition of
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some sort of massive spectral hound. The thing would first
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appear one night looming over their bed, and she would
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describe the terrifying experience thus... I woke with an over-my-then boyfriend.
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It's very immense. Stands like a human. Has red eyes. Long,
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pointy nails. The hands are not like ours, but not paws.
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It has a very unique snout, more pronounced than a canine.
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It's no dog, but a beast. I warded it off.
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I had so much fear, I guess I had nothing
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to lose, and hovered over my boyfriend almost like a dog.
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Told myself, show no fear, and I can't even explain
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the immense anger I felt. It does not speak like us,
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but more in mind. Almost perception. I growled like in
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my mind and remember thinking, stay away. That's when the
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anger swept over me. It backed up and vanished in
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the wall. I wish I could say it was a
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happy ending, but wasn't. I started having night terrors, always
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ending in my death. Every night. This report fits in
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well with the lore of hellhounds being spectral entities rather
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than physical ones. and also matches some of the stories
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of them feeding off of fear. What did she see?
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We'll likely never know. Moving up to Michigan, we also
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have reports of outsized canine monstrosities, and one report posted
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in Jason Offit's blog, From the Shadows, comes from the
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area of Romulus, Michigan. The witness, known as S. Costea,
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claimed that he'd been living with his family in a
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cabin on a farm there at the time, which was
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all surrounded by thick woods that was the home of
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something rather unusual, to say the least. According to Castella,
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there was some sort of dog creature, about the size
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of a Great Dane, and with glowing red eyes. It
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skulked about in the darkness there in the evening hours,
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and he would say of it, We had this really
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strange dog creature that would hang around the property. I
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say dog creature because this thing was far too big
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and intelligent to be a stray dog. It had very
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pronounced red eyes, I'm not saying it was a werewolf
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or a dogman, but it was very werewolf-like. The dog
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would frequently stalk the edge of the woods on our
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property in the day. It seemed to have no fear.
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My uncle would yell at it or throw things towards
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it to try and scare it off. It would simply
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rear up on its hind legs like a ram and
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charge at him for a short distance. We would frequently
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find dead chickens or rabbits after thunderstorms. We knew it
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was that dog thing because it would leave huge paw
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prints in the mud. and claw marks on the window ledges.
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Sometimes we would find the screens ripped from our screen
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doors and windows. It would never outright attack us, but
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it did seem to enjoy taunting us and harassing us.
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This was all frightening enough, but it got even weirder
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when it demonstrated an ability to walk about on two
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feet for short durations, and even more bizarrely, began to speak,
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seeming to call people outside for some insidious purpose. Castella
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claims that his mother found him one night, sitting by
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the window, talking to the creature, and would describe the
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surreal scene thus. One summer night, my mom had left
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the window open in my bedroom to cool the room
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off so I could sleep. She was on her way
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to the bathroom and went by my room and heard
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me talking to someone. When she opened the door, she
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saw me standing in my bed and I had apparently
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wet my pajamas. I was talking towards the window, I
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wasn't screaming or freaking out, but seemed to be transfixed
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and talking in a low voice towards the window. When
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she looked towards the window, the dog had its two
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front paws pushed through the screen and was looking through
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the window at us and making a low growl. Its
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eyes glared red. I always recall its eyes. You could
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see its eyes out in the woods sometimes at night.
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I have bad dreams about it from time to time.
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The boy's mother then threw a beer bottle at the
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thing to chase it off, but for the next few weeks,
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Castella allegedly displayed odd behavior and the house pets would
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not go near him. He would also blurt out cryptic
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messages such as, we don't want you here, our ghosts
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are food, or God thinks you're bad, and would sometimes
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intentionally prick himself with sharp objects until he drew blood.
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It almost seemed as if the thing at the window
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had crawled into his head somehow. and that this was
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a kind of, like, demonic possession to an extent. The
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frightening ordeal would finally come to an end when his
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uncle hit it with a rifle, and Costello would say
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of this, My uncle was out back working on his
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truck when he saw the dog at the edge of
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the woods making its way toward the rabbit pen. At
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this point he was tired of dealing with it and
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went into the house to get his. 22. Apparently he
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fired at it and hit it in the rear. The
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dog turned and ran into the woods. We didn't see
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it anymore after that, and everything cleared up. Also from
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Michigan is a report from the unlikely locale of Detroit,
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where a witness living in one of the city's suburbs
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claims he had an encounter with a hellhound in 2012.
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He claims that one evening, he was driving through his
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neighborhood after leaving his girlfriend's house at around midnight when
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he saw some streak of movement coming from someone's backyard,
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and he described it as being a very large and
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well-built creature. he immediately stopped his car in order to
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get a view of the thing and was first impressed
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with how incredibly fast it moved for its size, estimated
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as around 40 to 50 miles per hour. He observed
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it for a moment before it streaked out of view
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and would describe it thus. The creature was very large.
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If I had to compare the size to another animal,
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I'd say it was about the size of an adult lion.
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The body type appeared to be that of a dog,
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although I've never seen any breed of dog this size
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and there are absolutely no wild or stray dogs in
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the area. It had a pitch-black coat, and while I
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could slightly make out the shape of its head from
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the side, I never saw its eyes or mouth. When
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it ran past my headlights initially, it never acknowledged my presence.
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It did not turn and look at me, slow down,
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or do anything that was directed toward me. I feel
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confident that if this was a hellhound, it was not
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looking for me, but I don't know that for sure.
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In nearby Wisconsin, we have reports emanating from a place
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called Meridian Island on the Chippewa River, which, according to
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a few witness accounts, seems to be prowled by some
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sort of canine beast. One report comes from a young
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couple by the names of Shelley Touchstone and Chris Weiner,
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who were at the island's boat landing looking for a
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secluded spot, when a thick fog or mist began to
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form out of nowhere, and which seemed to instill an
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inexplicable dread in them. They then heard something moving about
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and growling in a menacing fashion just out of the
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periphery of their vision, as well as a large shadow
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as big as a bear with two pinpoints of glowing
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red eyes. On another occasion, two men named Mike Bagazzi
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and Jeremy Stark were in the very same area when
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they too felt a sudden onset of dread and witnessed
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a fog congeal out of nowhere. They then apparently spotted
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a large black hound with matted, filthy hair which gave
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chase as they ran away. They only apparently managed to
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evade it when they got to their car and locked
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the doors, after which it meandered off into the wilderness
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and vanished. These cases hit a couple of interesting points
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in that hellhounds are supposedly fond of areas near water,
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and also that many supernatural phenomena seem to involve a
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fog or mist, although whatever this connection may be is misunderstood.
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Going down south, we have a case from the state
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of Louisiana, in a report published by the National Cryptid Society.
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The report comes from the area of Robeline, Louisiana, in 1995,
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and concerns a witness who claims he was in a
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graveyard looking for paranormal phenomena, the two of them armed
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with crosses and an M16, which seems a bit extreme,
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but here we are. As they pushed forward into the cemetery,
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they allegedly heard strange growling noises and and the witness
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describes what happened next. We shined our flashlights all over
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the graveyard. It was small and enclosed by a fence.
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I said it must be a dog tied over at
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the parsonage. The church and parsonage was about 500 feet away.
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So I shined around and over in the corner of
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the graveyard, I saw four fresh graves. They were apart
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from the other graves. They had no flowers, just two
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big graves and two small ones marked by four iron crosses.
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As he went to explore, we heard the growling grow louder.
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I said, Lanny, is that dog loose? I kind of
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felt a little safe, knowing it'd be hard for it
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to jump the fence. But as we got closer to
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the grave, the hair on my neck stood up, and
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I got chills. My friend got the same feeling. The
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growls had a sound like Rottweiler's. They chilled you to
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the bone, and you felt something wasn't right. We heard
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the snarling as we got a few feet from the grave.
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The growls were not part of a body. They were disembodied.
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Then I tried to rationalize it in my head. Is
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it a couple loose, mean dogs outside the gate? Is
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it a group of coyotes? But as we shined the
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light this time, we saw them. We'll find out exactly
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what they did see when Weird Darkness returns. Since 1997,
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young men have walked out of bars alone and turned
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up in rivers. Two retired New York detectives say it's
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a serial killer network and that police have been calling
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murder an accident. The FBI says there's no evidence any
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of it is connected. My new book gives that theory
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00:20:51.369 --> 00:20:54.309
its best case at full strength and then checks it
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against the record. The Concrete Smiled, The Smiley Face Killers,
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00:20:58.950 --> 00:21:04.990
available now at weirddarkness.com slash books. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash books.
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I'm Darren Marlar. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. When we
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left our story, a couple of witnesses from the National
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Cryptid Society were investigating a haunted graveyard, or what they
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thought might have been one. But then they started hearing
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some snarling just a few feet from a grave. But
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as we shined the light this time, we saw them.
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two sets of glowing red eyes not attached to a body.
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They were only three feet away and stood guard by
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those graves. My friend froze in fright and pushed me
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in front. He was crying about leaving his gun. I said, Lanny,
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your gun won't help against this. The dogs were vicious,
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and I said, Lanny, whatever you do, don't run. I
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prayed for guidance. I'd not been to church in many
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a year, but I knew what I was dealing with
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was straight from hell. I looked right at them. I
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showed my cross and said that I know what you are.
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They snarled louder. My friend was really upset and wanting
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his mama. I said, Lanny, please. I said, I demand
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in the name of Jesus Christ that you allow us
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to leave as we came in peace and alone. I
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demand this in the name of the Son of Man
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and victor over all that is evil. I said that
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the Son of Man ruled over all evil and I
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demand you let us leave in peace. We slowly backed up.
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and as we got to the gate, we left. This
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particular report seems to go overboard a bit, but who knows?
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All the way over on the other side of the country,
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we come to California, which has a few accounts of
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hellhounds of its own. From American Canyon, California, comes an
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account from a 28-year-old witness known as Jedediah, who claims
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that one night, as he was walking back from a market,
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he heard an ear-piercing howl echo out into the night.
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He soon caught sight of a very large dog, which
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he at first took to be a stray or someone's pet,
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but which seemed to be too large to be such
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a thing. As he looked more closely, he saw that
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it seemed to have glowing red eyes and be entangled
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with what looked to be barbed wire. He would say
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of what happened next, At this point I was quite scared.
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I continued on my way home and I found myself
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dreading each corner, fearing another sighting of this hellish creature.
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It almost made it home when the beast appeared again.
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This time it stood directly in my path. I was
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frozen with fear, hair standing up on end, and I
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closed my eyes, fearing an attack. It starts to growl,
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a deep, rumbling growl, one that I felt deep in
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my soul, one that threatens to turn my legs to jello.
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I don't know what compelled me to do so, but
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I started praying, to the Lord and Jesus Christ in heaven,
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to make this beast leave. but the growling intensified. It
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seemed as if the growl just pulsated through my mind,
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doing everything in its power to get me to stop praying.
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I continued to pray. I just prayed and prayed and prayed.
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As I continued to pray, the growl slowly dissipated. When
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I finally opened my eyes, all that was left was
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scorch marks where the dog stood. To this day, I
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have yet to see the same dog, or another like it,
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so this begs the question, what did I see? A hellhound?
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a spectral creature, some sort of demon? I never will know,
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but then again, I'm not sure I want to. Also
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in California is a case that made the rounds involving
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what seems like a pack of hellhounds in Palm Springs, California.
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In 2013, there were supposedly numerous reports of large black
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hounds running amok in the streets, with glowing eyes and
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sharp fangs. The creatures were described as having the bodies
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of dogs but the heads of wolves and baffled all
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who saw them. Apparently, they tore through people's yards and
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even attacked a man's car to rip up his bumper
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before disappearing into the night to vanish. There is very
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little to corroborate this, but it is a strange case indeed.
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Such creatures surely seem to toe the line between the
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real and fantasy. where we're not really sure what we
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should be looking at. What are hellhounds? How can they
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possibly be? Are these some sort of demonic entity, wandering spirit,
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or what? Are they misidentifications of large dogs or some wildlife?
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These reports seem to be beyond explanation and show that
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these old legends from across the world have seemed to
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seep into the realm of the real. Whatever they are,
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Hellhounds have been spotted all over the world, and the
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United States is no exception. When Weird Darkness Returns Love? Money? Divorce? Anger? Murder?
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One Pennsylvania family had it all, and then some, in
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the late 1800s. Christina Hasler, 50 years old, grew quite
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wealthy from several oil wells operating on her farm in
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Butler County, Pennsylvania. But she was not so fortunate in
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her personal life. She married a man named Nordheim and
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had four children by him. They lived together until, for
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some unspecified reason, Nordheim made a murderous assault against Christina's father.
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He was sent to the penitentiary, and Christina secured a
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divorce and resumed her maiden name. In 1878, one of
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Christina's three daughters married a man named Harper Whitmere. They
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borrowed money from Christina, giving her a mortgage on the property.
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Whitmere later induced her to cancel the mortgage and put
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the farm in his wife's name and consider it her
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full share in her mother's estate. But Whitmere had already
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borrowed money on the farm, representing himself as the owner.
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When the loan came due, he had to continue borrowing
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money to stay out of trouble. Mrs. Whitmere died under
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suspicious circumstances in 1891. Though he was never arrested, many
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believed that Harper Whitmere had beaten her to death. Whitmere
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put the children in the care of a charitable school
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and left Butler County. Whitmere returned in early December 1893
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and went to see Christina Hassler, presumably to ask for money.
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She let him stay in the farmhouse. Also staying at
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the house where Christina's daughter, Flora, who had recently married
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James Martin, and her son, Louis Nordheim, who worked on
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the oil wells. Louis had been working the night of
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December 4th, and when he returned home at 9 o'clock
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the following morning, he found the house in disarray. Trunks
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had been opened. Boxes and drawers had been ransacked. In
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an adjoining room, he found his mother lying in agony,
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barely breathing. She'd been struck in the forehead by the
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broad blade of a hatchet. Nearby, Flora lay dead and
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her throat cut from ear to ear. Christina remained alive
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just long enough to tell her son that Harper Whitmer
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had committed the murders. Sheriff Campbell began the search for
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the killer, and at the house of his brother, Samuel Whitmer,
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he learned that Harper had been there and asked to
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borrow his revolver. When Samuel asked why he wanted it,
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Harper said, I've killed two women, and I want to
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make an end of myself. Samuel refused to give him
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the revolver, and Harper went away. Samuel contacted his other brothers, Lewis, Daniel,
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and Peter. Peter went to town to get a warrant,
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and the other three went looking for Harper. They found
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him sitting by a fire outside the home of John Calvin.
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As the brothers tried to convince Harper to return to
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Samuel's for dinner, they saw two rigs coming toward the house.
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Harper said that he would not be taken alive. He
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ran to the barn, found his son Sid, and gave
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him some money. Then he went around a hill to
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a small grass plot, and before anyone reached him, he
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sat down and cut his throat, hacking it six times
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with the same razor he used on Flora Martin. He
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was dead by the time his brother got him back
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to Samuel's house. Public sentiment against Harper Whitmer had been strong,
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but as reported in The History of Butler County, Pennsylvania,
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Whitmer relieved the county of the onus and cost of
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the prosecution. New Orleans is an eerie place. It's gothic
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in one sense and dangerous in another. The city has
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a rich and colorful history and is the perfect place
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for scouting out the supernatural. New Orleans boasts a whole
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host of vampire, cemetery, voodoo, and ghost tours, which often
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last as long as two hours. It is known as
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one of the most haunted cities in America. Vampire legends
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are an important part of New Orleans' history. Stories stretch
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back to France in the illustrious 1700s when there was
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a mysterious man who charmed the courts of Europe. The
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00:31:04.579 --> 00:31:09.890
Comte de Saint-Germain was a very strange, extraordinary, and enigmatic character.
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He was a master of the piano and the violin,
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could converse in six different languages, and his skills as
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a conversationalist were unrivaled, a skill that is nowadays a
465
00:31:21.190 --> 00:31:26.309
lost art. He also composed music. including arias and solo
466
00:31:26.349 --> 00:31:31.730
work for violin. His wealth was unfathomable. He carried gems
467
00:31:31.819 --> 00:31:34.119
around in his clothing, and no one knew how he
468
00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:37.839
came into such wealth. No one knew anything about his family,
469
00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:41.900
where he came from, or who he was. He did,
470
00:31:41.980 --> 00:31:44.980
according to some accounts, claim to be a son of
471
00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:50.440
Francis II Rokoski, Prince of Transylvania. One of his greatest
472
00:31:50.500 --> 00:31:53.619
passions was alchemy, and he was believed to have an
473
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:57.720
extraordinary talent for maintaining his youth. Perhaps it was his
474
00:31:57.779 --> 00:32:00.880
vast knowledge of cosmetics and herbs that kept him young.
475
00:32:02.180 --> 00:32:05.640
The philosopher Voltaire called him the man who knows everything
476
00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:09.619
and who never dies. No one really knew his true age.
477
00:32:10.329 --> 00:32:12.490
He looked about 40 in all of his portraits and
478
00:32:12.569 --> 00:32:17.269
continued to appear so for over half a century. Although
479
00:32:17.309 --> 00:32:20.769
he was charming, engaging, and graced the dinner tables of
480
00:32:20.890 --> 00:32:23.869
many dukes and kings, no one had ever seen him
481
00:32:24.109 --> 00:32:29.170
eat anything. He would only sip his wine, exquisitely, and
482
00:32:29.269 --> 00:32:34.170
ramble on about everything from history to chemistry. There was
483
00:32:34.230 --> 00:32:38.319
much speculation about the Count's lineage and immense wealth, which
484
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:41.299
resulted in the development of many myths and legends about
485
00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:46.000
his background. He is considered by some to have mastered immortality,
486
00:32:46.619 --> 00:32:48.769
as many have claimed to have seen him since his
487
00:32:48.809 --> 00:32:54.589
death in 1784. Fast forward to New Orleans, Louisiana, and
488
00:32:54.609 --> 00:32:57.309
there appears a man by the name of Jacques Saint-Germain
489
00:32:57.710 --> 00:33:01.490
in the early 20th century. He fits every description of
490
00:33:01.509 --> 00:33:05.190
the Comte, around 40 years of age, with heavy money bags,
491
00:33:05.710 --> 00:33:09.740
the most fascinating of dinner guests, and still a complete mystery.
492
00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:14.339
He would throw lavish parties and invite the elite, and
493
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:18.500
everyone would sit enraptured in the conversation and food. But
494
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:22.720
curiously enough, this Jacques would never eat a morsel only
495
00:33:22.819 --> 00:33:27.309
sip his wine. One night, several months after moving to
496
00:33:27.349 --> 00:33:29.630
New Orleans, he had a lady stay a bit late.
497
00:33:30.430 --> 00:33:32.769
Out on his balcony, at the corner of Ursuline and
498
00:33:32.829 --> 00:33:36.529
Royal Streets, this Saint-Germain grabbed her and tried to bite
499
00:33:36.609 --> 00:33:39.980
her neck. She escaped by falling from the balcony and
500
00:33:40.019 --> 00:33:44.000
then reported the incident to the police. When the police
501
00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:48.359
came to investigate, Jacques Saint-Germain had vanished. They searched his
502
00:33:48.420 --> 00:33:51.940
apartment and found tablecloths with large splotches of blood on them.
503
00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:55.319
They searched the kitchen, where they found no sign of
504
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.880
food or evidence that food had ever been there. All
505
00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:02.069
they found were bottles of wine, and after pouring themselves
506
00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:05.170
a glass, drinking it, and then spitting it out, they
507
00:34:05.210 --> 00:34:07.750
discovered that it was not only wine in those bottles.
508
00:34:08.530 --> 00:34:13.329
It was wine mixed with human blood. It is unclear
509
00:34:13.449 --> 00:34:17.050
whether the Count Saint-Germain and Jacques are the same person,
510
00:34:17.670 --> 00:34:21.150
but believers speculate that they are. To this day, the
511
00:34:21.170 --> 00:34:24.849
mysterious figure of the Count Saint-Germain has his own occult following,
512
00:34:25.150 --> 00:34:30.989
from theosophists to complete way-out-there mystics. Although he allegedly died
513
00:34:31.070 --> 00:34:35.150
in the year 1784, no one saw his death, and
514
00:34:35.250 --> 00:34:39.329
some claim to have seen him many years afterward. Nevertheless,
515
00:34:39.429 --> 00:34:42.829
he disappeared from court life. I would too if I
516
00:34:42.869 --> 00:34:45.469
knew that the French Revolution was coming, which some people
517
00:34:45.530 --> 00:34:50.039
claim he had foreseen. In terms of murder rates, New
518
00:34:50.139 --> 00:34:53.420
Orleans ranks among the highest. It's always been a notorious
519
00:34:53.500 --> 00:34:56.460
place for missing persons. That is, it is a place
520
00:34:56.480 --> 00:34:59.980
where people just disappear, and no one ever knows what
521
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:06.190
happened to them. The blood of the French, Spanish, Indian, African, Creole,
522
00:35:06.349 --> 00:35:09.570
and English all mix together here, where the mosquito is
523
00:35:09.630 --> 00:35:15.090
not so picky. Nor, perhaps, are other creatures. John and
524
00:35:15.110 --> 00:35:18.559
Wayne Carter were brothers. They seemed to be normal in
525
00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:22.070
every aspect. They both had normal labor jobs down by
526
00:35:22.110 --> 00:35:25.070
the river and lived in the French Quarter. It was
527
00:35:25.110 --> 00:35:28.449
the 1930s, during the Great Depression, and times were hard,
528
00:35:28.929 --> 00:35:32.429
so a man worked all he could. One day, a
529
00:35:32.469 --> 00:35:35.019
girl was reported to have escaped from the Carter brothers'
530
00:35:35.059 --> 00:35:38.340
apartment and run to the authorities. Her wrists were cut,
531
00:35:39.059 --> 00:35:41.400
not enough to cause immediate death, but enough to cause
532
00:35:41.420 --> 00:35:43.960
her blood to drain slowly over the next several days.
533
00:35:44.949 --> 00:35:48.329
The policemen ran to the Carters' third-story apartment and found
534
00:35:48.429 --> 00:35:51.989
four other people tied to chairs with their wrists sliced
535
00:35:52.030 --> 00:35:55.550
in the same fashion. Some had been there for many days.
536
00:35:56.880 --> 00:35:59.239
The story was that the brothers had abducted these people
537
00:35:59.619 --> 00:36:01.559
in order to drink their blood at the end of
538
00:36:01.659 --> 00:36:04.940
every day when they came home from work. Police also
539
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.179
found about 14 dead bodies. The cops waited for the
540
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:13.000
brothers to return, and when they did, it took 708
541
00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:17.400
of them to hold down the two average-sized men. A
542
00:36:17.420 --> 00:36:20.599
few years later, when the Carters were finally executed, their
543
00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:24.130
bodies were placed in a New Orleans vault. Cemeteries in
544
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:27.260
New Orleans are quite picturesque. Not only are they more
545
00:36:27.389 --> 00:36:30.250
ornate than the rest of the nations, but they intermany
546
00:36:30.309 --> 00:36:35.050
generations of one family inside one vault. The remains sift
547
00:36:35.130 --> 00:36:37.110
down into the bottom of the vault, and when it's
548
00:36:37.170 --> 00:36:41.860
all rubble, a new body is slid inside. Many years
549
00:36:42.019 --> 00:36:44.880
after the Carter brothers' deaths, when they were placing another
550
00:36:44.940 --> 00:36:47.780
Carter in the family vault, they discovered the vault was
551
00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:54.260
completely empty. No John or Wayne. They were gone. To
552
00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:56.780
this day, many sightings have occurred in the French Quarter
553
00:36:56.800 --> 00:37:00.090
that match the description of these two brothers almost exactly.
554
00:37:01.190 --> 00:37:04.269
Years later, an owner of their apartment saw two figures
555
00:37:04.309 --> 00:37:07.869
that match their descriptions outside on the balcony, whispering to
556
00:37:07.909 --> 00:37:10.909
each other, Both figures jumped off the top of the
557
00:37:10.949 --> 00:37:15.590
third-story balcony and took off running. The legend goes that
558
00:37:15.630 --> 00:37:18.670
if a vampire drinks your blood seven nights in a row,
559
00:37:19.289 --> 00:37:23.730
then and only then can you become a vampire. Some
560
00:37:23.769 --> 00:37:26.570
of those found in the Carter brothers' apartment had been
561
00:37:26.610 --> 00:37:30.059
there for more than seven days. One warped fellow named
562
00:37:30.219 --> 00:37:34.300
Philippe went on to become a notorious serial killer. And
563
00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:37.159
of course, he would do more than just kill his victims.
564
00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:40.820
he was believed to drink the blood of all 32
565
00:37:40.820 --> 00:37:45.869
of his victims. During the colonization of New Orleans, France
566
00:37:45.909 --> 00:37:48.730
was having a hard time convincing women to make the voyage.
567
00:37:49.469 --> 00:37:51.289
This was mostly due to the fact that the men
568
00:37:51.369 --> 00:37:55.429
originally sent were thieves, murderers, and culprits of every type
569
00:37:55.489 --> 00:38:02.590
and caste, not to mention Louisiana's snakes, alligators, mosquitoes, and humidity. Eventually,
570
00:38:02.809 --> 00:38:06.389
some women were sent, Some sources say they were nuns,
571
00:38:06.469 --> 00:38:10.550
while others say they were prostitutes. But, nevertheless, a few
572
00:38:10.590 --> 00:38:14.110
of them made it. Many of them snuck off the
573
00:38:14.170 --> 00:38:17.289
ship in Mobile, Alabama, when they ported there, and were
574
00:38:17.329 --> 00:38:19.650
told what type of riffraff they would be tricked into
575
00:38:19.690 --> 00:38:23.900
marrying if they stayed on board. Historically, these women were
576
00:38:23.940 --> 00:38:27.760
referred to as casket girls, in reference to these small
577
00:38:27.840 --> 00:38:32.239
chests in which they carried their clothing and other belongings. However,
578
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:34.789
the legend goes that these girls were had the most
579
00:38:34.929 --> 00:38:40.199
interesting luggage, shaped like coffins. So, to the dismay of
580
00:38:40.219 --> 00:38:42.320
the men of New Orleans, all that arrived in New
581
00:38:42.400 --> 00:38:47.280
Orleans were 300 of these coffin-like suitcases. Some stories say
582
00:38:47.300 --> 00:38:52.690
they were empty. Some say they contained the undead. These
583
00:38:52.730 --> 00:38:55.710
suitcases were reportedly stored in the attic of a convent
584
00:38:55.769 --> 00:38:59.090
in the French Quarter where they still sit behind windows
585
00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.659
that are nailed shut because they have a strange habit
586
00:39:01.699 --> 00:39:07.960
of just opening by themselves. Years later, in 1978, two
587
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:11.699
amateur reporters demanded that the convent's priest let them in
588
00:39:11.739 --> 00:39:15.599
to see the coffins. The priest, of course, denied their entrance,
589
00:39:16.260 --> 00:39:18.389
so one night these two men climbed over a wall
590
00:39:18.570 --> 00:39:22.429
with their recording equipment and set up their workstation. The
591
00:39:22.469 --> 00:39:25.409
next morning, the reporters' equipment was found strewn about on
592
00:39:25.429 --> 00:39:28.869
the street outside, and there on the convent's front steps
593
00:39:29.150 --> 00:39:31.780
were found the almost decapitated bodies of these two men.
594
00:39:32.909 --> 00:39:36.769
Eighty percent of their blood was gone. To this day,
595
00:39:36.829 --> 00:39:42.630
this unsolved crime baffles investigators. However, research indicates that these
596
00:39:42.690 --> 00:39:48.019
legends are completely unsupported by historical evidence. It's unclear how
597
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:51.519
or when the myth of the casket girls began, but
598
00:39:51.559 --> 00:39:55.099
the story continues to haunt tourists and believers to this day.
599
00:39:56.739 --> 00:40:01.119
Clinical vampirism has been recognized as a neurological disease in
600
00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:04.440
which those with symptoms drink human blood, believing it to
601
00:40:04.480 --> 00:40:08.500
be beneficial for their health. Psychologists have said that symptoms
602
00:40:08.579 --> 00:40:12.679
begin with incidences in childhood that draw a sexual connection
603
00:40:12.739 --> 00:40:16.429
to the ingestion of blood. This interest in blood results
604
00:40:16.570 --> 00:40:20.150
in the individual drinking their own blood, and eventually that
605
00:40:20.190 --> 00:40:24.969
of other humans or animals. John Edgar Browning, a Ph.D.
606
00:40:25.030 --> 00:40:29.030
candidate at Louisiana State University, conducted research in New Orleans
607
00:40:29.400 --> 00:40:32.920
that determined that there were about 50 individuals who identified
608
00:40:33.019 --> 00:40:36.679
as vampires living in New Orleans alone. Many of the
609
00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:41.320
real vampires of New Orleans have fangs or are nocturnal,
610
00:40:42.340 --> 00:40:45.280
Research has indicated that these markers are cultural, but the
611
00:40:45.320 --> 00:40:50.260
vampires insist they are biological. Another study by the Atlanta
612
00:40:50.300 --> 00:40:54.239
Vampire Alliance reported about 5,000 of these individuals in the
613
00:40:54.280 --> 00:40:59.969
United States. However, clinical vampirism, also sometimes called Renfield's syndrome,
614
00:41:00.469 --> 00:41:03.809
has not been recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
615
00:41:03.849 --> 00:41:08.989
of Mental Disorders. Those who self-identify as vampires even have
616
00:41:09.030 --> 00:41:12.119
their own organization in New Orleans. known as the New
617
00:41:12.219 --> 00:41:18.309
Orleans Vampire Association, or NOVA. The organization accepts all paradigms,
618
00:41:18.429 --> 00:41:22.349
or denominations of sorts, of those who identify as vampires.
619
00:41:23.550 --> 00:41:26.230
NOVA is governed by a council, which is comprised of
620
00:41:26.289 --> 00:41:30.429
members of seven houses that serve as sects of denominations,
621
00:41:30.869 --> 00:41:36.739
reflecting various aspects of NOVA's community values. Browning's research involved
622
00:41:36.780 --> 00:41:40.539
extensive time spent at NOVA meetings, from which he observed
623
00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:44.400
that the members were predominantly Caucasian. There were nearly equal
624
00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:47.119
numbers of men and women, and the members were between
625
00:41:47.139 --> 00:41:51.530
the ages of 18 and 50. The association was formed
626
00:41:51.590 --> 00:41:56.730
in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Members participate
627
00:41:56.789 --> 00:41:59.829
in charitable events, such as serving food to the homeless
628
00:42:00.289 --> 00:42:05.219
and hosting silent auctions. However, their website is not currently maintained,
629
00:42:06.019 --> 00:42:17.119
and it's unclear whether they are still in operation. Thanks
630
00:42:17.139 --> 00:42:19.840
for listening. If you like the show, please tell somebody
631
00:42:19.880 --> 00:42:24.760
about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,
632
00:42:24.880 --> 00:42:27.719
or unsolved mysteries like you do, and tell them where
633
00:42:27.739 --> 00:42:29.579
they can listen to the show so they can tune
634
00:42:29.619 --> 00:42:32.449
in next weekend. If you missed any part of tonight's show,
635
00:42:32.670 --> 00:42:34.610
or if you'd like to hear it again, you can
636
00:42:34.670 --> 00:42:37.829
subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app by
637
00:42:37.889 --> 00:42:40.929
searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that, you'll get a
638
00:42:40.969 --> 00:42:44.550
copy of tonight's show, plus daily podcast episodes that come
639
00:42:44.630 --> 00:42:48.570
out seven days per week. Visit WeirdDarkness.com. You can also
640
00:42:48.650 --> 00:42:51.469
follow me on social media. Drop me an email. Send
641
00:42:51.489 --> 00:42:55.019
me your own true paranormal story. Listen to other podcasts
642
00:42:55.099 --> 00:42:58.480
that I host and more. All stories used tonight are
643
00:42:58.539 --> 00:43:01.519
purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can
644
00:43:01.559 --> 00:43:03.760
find links to the stories or the authors in the
645
00:43:03.800 --> 00:43:08.369
show notes, which I have already posted at WeirdDarkness.com. American
646
00:43:08.389 --> 00:43:12.269
Hellhounds is by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe. The Butler
647
00:43:12.309 --> 00:43:15.389
County Tragedy is by Robert Wilhelm for Murder by Gaslight.
648
00:43:16.130 --> 00:43:19.889
And Vampires of New Orleans is by Brian Harrison for Eximplore.
649
00:43:20.789 --> 00:43:25.329
Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness. And
650
00:43:25.349 --> 00:43:27.570
now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave
651
00:43:27.610 --> 00:43:31.920
you with a little light. 1 John 1, verse 19.
652
00:43:31.920 --> 00:43:34.820
This is how God showed His love among us. He
653
00:43:34.860 --> 00:43:37.980
sent His one and only Son into the world that
654
00:43:38.039 --> 00:43:43.289
we might live through Him. And a final thought. I
655
00:43:43.329 --> 00:43:46.949
began learning long ago that those who are happiest are
656
00:43:46.989 --> 00:43:51.150
those who do the most for others. Booker T. Washington
657
00:43:52.670 --> 00:43:57.170
I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.
658
00:44:17.420 --> 00:44:20.449
You might think of werewolf stories as something only told
659
00:44:20.489 --> 00:44:24.010
for fun around the campfire, but that hasn't always been
660
00:44:24.050 --> 00:44:30.329
the case. Historically, many slayings, crimes, and generally horrific incidents
661
00:44:30.730 --> 00:44:34.900
have been attributed to werewolves. People truly believed in the
662
00:44:34.980 --> 00:44:38.460
existence of these creatures. In fact, in the 16th and
663
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:43.699
17th centuries in Europe, werewolf trials accompanied witch trials, and
664
00:44:43.780 --> 00:44:47.659
sometimes they were even one and the same. It's even
665
00:44:47.719 --> 00:44:50.809
more surprising to note the number of people who confessed
666
00:44:50.889 --> 00:44:56.309
to being werewolves or lycanthropes. Some were likely tortured into confession,
667
00:44:56.889 --> 00:45:01.610
but others believed themselves to be real werewolves. The idea
668
00:45:01.659 --> 00:45:04.880
that someone could transform into an animal was a popular one,
669
00:45:05.400 --> 00:45:07.139
and people thought they could make a deal with the
670
00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:10.739
devil in order to obtain that power. Is there any
671
00:45:10.800 --> 00:45:14.869
truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf? Or were
672
00:45:14.909 --> 00:45:20.610
these creatures just convenient scapegoats for mysterious misdeeds? Whatever you think,
673
00:45:21.050 --> 00:45:24.599
there's no denying that these historical encounters with werewolves are
674
00:45:24.679 --> 00:45:29.659
fascinating and downright spooky. Keep listening if you dare. But
675
00:45:29.699 --> 00:45:34.340
be warned, these real-life werewolf stories might have you worried
676
00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:41.630
about the next full moon. I'm Darren Marlar and this
677
00:45:42.190 --> 00:45:54.460
is Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and this
678
00:45:54.659 --> 00:45:58.000
is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find stories
679
00:45:58.039 --> 00:46:08.079
of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre,
680
00:46:08.659 --> 00:46:14.400
unsolved and unexplained. Coming up this hour … On a
681
00:46:14.449 --> 00:46:17.949
barren field in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite
682
00:46:18.010 --> 00:46:21.889
slabs rise in a star pattern. Each of them weighs
683
00:46:22.030 --> 00:46:25.590
over 20 tons, and on top of them there's a capstone.
684
00:46:26.449 --> 00:46:29.489
Nobody knows who built it or why they were placed there,
685
00:46:30.010 --> 00:46:33.190
but one popular opinion is that their purpose is to
686
00:46:33.269 --> 00:46:37.960
guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come
687
00:46:38.139 --> 00:46:43.780
in the not-so-distant future. When you think fairies, what comes
688
00:46:43.820 --> 00:46:47.980
to mind? You probably picture an adorable and sparkly creature
689
00:46:48.059 --> 00:46:52.429
akin to Disney's Tinkerbell. a lovely and, above all, friendly presence.
690
00:46:53.050 --> 00:46:56.449
You may even want to make contact with them. Unfortunately,
691
00:46:56.610 --> 00:47:00.530
glittering humanoids with butterfly wings are the stuff of children's books.
692
00:47:01.429 --> 00:47:06.750
Retrace fairy folklore and you'll discover their secret, scary origins.
693
00:47:08.570 --> 00:47:12.670
In the summer of 1949, a geologist discovered a strange
694
00:47:12.750 --> 00:47:15.829
feature on the surface of the Earth in southeastern Siberia.
695
00:47:16.570 --> 00:47:20.659
Encircled by a largely treed area, This anomaly is oval,
696
00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:25.210
with a conical crater that contains a small, ball-like mound
697
00:47:25.369 --> 00:47:29.650
in its middle. The geological mystery has baffled scientists who
698
00:47:29.730 --> 00:47:35.869
are uncertain of what has caused this weird formation. But first,
699
00:47:36.690 --> 00:47:40.750
is there any truth behind the enduring legend of the werewolf?
700
00:47:41.429 --> 00:47:45.789
We begin there. If you're new here, welcome to the show.
701
00:47:45.989 --> 00:47:48.090
And if you're already a member of our Weirdo Family,
702
00:47:48.460 --> 00:47:51.039
Please take a moment and invite someone else to listen
703
00:47:51.079 --> 00:47:54.099
in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make
704
00:47:54.139 --> 00:47:56.650
it possible for me to keep doing the show. And
705
00:47:56.730 --> 00:47:59.730
while you're listening, be sure to visit WeirdDarkness.com where you
706
00:47:59.769 --> 00:48:03.289
can follow me on social media, listen to free audiobooks
707
00:48:03.329 --> 00:48:09.329
that I've narrated, and more. That's WeirdDarkness.com. Now, bolt your doors,
708
00:48:10.510 --> 00:48:15.280
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with
709
00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:45.360
me into the Weird Darkness. In the 1500s, a French
710
00:48:45.429 --> 00:48:49.289
tailor was convicted of luring in, torturing, and slaying his
711
00:48:49.329 --> 00:48:52.610
victims before cooking and eating them for supper. He was
712
00:48:52.670 --> 00:48:56.010
also accused of turning into a werewolf to terrorize the
713
00:48:56.070 --> 00:49:00.150
town by night. Although there was no exact victim count,
714
00:49:00.550 --> 00:49:04.800
he was believed to have slain dozens. As the story goes,
715
00:49:05.239 --> 00:49:09.019
the tailor made no attempt to defend himself. Instead, he
716
00:49:09.139 --> 00:49:11.679
cursed until his last breath when he was burned at
717
00:49:11.699 --> 00:49:15.260
the stake. The court was apparently so shocked by his
718
00:49:15.420 --> 00:49:18.309
evil acts that the court documents were burned as well.
719
00:49:20.389 --> 00:49:25.460
Peter Stubb was one of many self-confessed werewolves. In 1589,
720
00:49:25.460 --> 00:49:28.760
he claimed that his wolfskin belt allowed him to transform,
721
00:49:29.340 --> 00:49:32.059
and he also said he had slain over a dozen victims.
722
00:49:33.280 --> 00:49:36.460
As one story went, the devil transformed him into the
723
00:49:36.500 --> 00:49:40.510
likeness of a greedy, devouring wolf, strong and mighty, with
724
00:49:40.760 --> 00:49:44.320
eyes great and large, which in the night sparkled like
725
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:47.320
unto brands of fire, a mouth great and wide, with
726
00:49:47.440 --> 00:49:51.519
most sharp and cruel teeth, a huge body and mighty paws.
727
00:49:52.780 --> 00:49:55.340
Stubbs' tail should be taken with a large grain of salt.
728
00:49:55.940 --> 00:50:00.960
He confessed after prolonged torture. He was ultimately decapitated on
729
00:50:01.019 --> 00:50:05.070
Halloween 1589, and his body was burned at the stake.
730
00:50:07.329 --> 00:50:11.250
In 1685, the people of Ansbach were angry and scared
731
00:50:11.690 --> 00:50:14.829
as their livestock was attacked by a wolf, and that
732
00:50:14.849 --> 00:50:19.139
was before it started taking lives. The locals were convinced
733
00:50:19.159 --> 00:50:21.960
it was their deceased mayor back to torment them by
734
00:50:22.019 --> 00:50:26.519
returning in wolf form. The townspeople eventually slew the wolf.
735
00:50:27.179 --> 00:50:29.340
They then dressed it as the mayor and put the
736
00:50:29.380 --> 00:50:32.360
carcass on display before moving it to a local museum.
737
00:50:34.380 --> 00:50:37.199
Estonia held a number of werewolf trials in the 17th century,
738
00:50:38.230 --> 00:50:42.789
including that of Hans the werewolf. Many accused werewolves claimed
739
00:50:42.869 --> 00:50:44.780
to have made a deal with the devil to gain
740
00:50:44.820 --> 00:50:49.179
their shapeshifting powers. But 18-year-old Hans said that a man
741
00:50:49.239 --> 00:50:52.639
in black had bitten him. He confessed that he had
742
00:50:52.699 --> 00:50:56.320
hunted as a werewolf for the past two years. Although
743
00:50:56.380 --> 00:50:58.860
Hans didn't claim to have made an actual pact with
744
00:50:58.880 --> 00:51:01.980
the devil, the court still considered him guilty of sorcery
745
00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:06.440
and sentenced him to be executed. The French seemed to
746
00:51:06.460 --> 00:51:09.409
be obsessed with werewolves, and one of their most famous
747
00:51:09.429 --> 00:51:13.409
cases was the werewolf of Dole. Giles Garnier was a
748
00:51:13.510 --> 00:51:16.050
hermit who lived out on the outskirts of his town
749
00:51:16.090 --> 00:51:18.829
with his wife. When children in the town started to
750
00:51:18.869 --> 00:51:22.429
go missing and turned up mutilated, the townspeople set off
751
00:51:22.639 --> 00:51:26.440
on a wolf hunt. They eventually decided Garnier was to blame.
752
00:51:27.179 --> 00:51:29.960
He confessed to being given anointment by a demon that
753
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:32.380
allowed him to turn into a wolf and said that
754
00:51:32.420 --> 00:51:36.590
he had slain and eaten at least four children. He
755
00:51:36.619 --> 00:51:41.030
was burned at the stake. A mutilated boy was found
756
00:51:41.070 --> 00:51:45.010
in the French woods in 1598, with the unfortunate Jacques
757
00:51:45.050 --> 00:51:50.320
Roulet discovered nearby. Roulet, hurt and disrobed, was detained and
758
00:51:50.360 --> 00:51:53.019
confessed to the murder of the boy and others before him.
759
00:51:53.940 --> 00:51:56.460
Roulet claimed he had an ointment that could transform him
760
00:51:56.519 --> 00:52:01.440
into a wolf. Unlike many cases of lycanthropy, he wasn't executed.
761
00:52:02.079 --> 00:52:05.039
On an appeal, he was proclaimed insane and put in
762
00:52:05.059 --> 00:52:09.599
an asylum. With a long trail of gore behind them,
763
00:52:10.059 --> 00:52:16.130
Pierre Bourgault and Michael Verdun confessed to being werewolves in 1521.
764
00:52:16.130 --> 00:52:19.530
Their deeds were gruesome, as records indicate. They killed a
765
00:52:19.570 --> 00:52:22.769
woman who was gathering peas, also seized a little girl
766
00:52:22.809 --> 00:52:26.130
of four years old and ate the palpitation flesh, all
767
00:52:26.210 --> 00:52:29.340
save one arm. Other persons were murdered by them in
768
00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:31.840
this way, for they loved to lap up the warm,
769
00:52:32.000 --> 00:52:38.340
flowing blood. One chilling American werewolf legend comes from the
770
00:52:38.360 --> 00:52:42.269
state of Georgia. As the story goes, the widowed Mildred
771
00:52:42.309 --> 00:52:44.690
Burt lived in a rural part of the country in
772
00:52:44.710 --> 00:52:48.690
the mid-19th century. One of her daughters, Emily Isabella Burt,
773
00:52:49.090 --> 00:52:51.989
had trouble sleeping at night, and she had extra hair
774
00:52:52.230 --> 00:52:55.860
and sharp teeth. When a local man, William Gorman, told
775
00:52:55.900 --> 00:52:59.000
the Burts that someone had been killing his sheep, Mrs.
776
00:52:59.039 --> 00:53:01.679
Burt feared that Emily had something to do with the attacks.
777
00:53:02.480 --> 00:53:05.000
When Mrs. Burt went out to investigate one night, an
778
00:53:05.119 --> 00:53:08.050
animal lunged at her. Mrs. Burt fired at it, but
779
00:53:08.070 --> 00:53:11.829
the animal escaped. The next day, Emily was missing her
780
00:53:11.889 --> 00:53:14.510
left hand. She was sent away to Paris to be
781
00:53:14.570 --> 00:53:19.239
treated for lycanthropy, and the attacks stopped. She passed away
782
00:53:19.639 --> 00:53:25.219
in 1911. Vyzevlov was the very real ruler of Poletsk
783
00:53:25.440 --> 00:53:29.019
in what's now known as Belarus. Known as Vyzevlov the
784
00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:32.730
Sorcerer for his rumored magical prowess, he was also believed
785
00:53:32.849 --> 00:53:35.650
to take the form of a wolf in He passed
786
00:53:35.750 --> 00:53:39.550
in 1101, but the legend didn't stop there. In fact,
787
00:53:39.650 --> 00:53:43.750
even a 2005 commemorative coin in Belarus showed a wolf
788
00:53:43.989 --> 00:53:49.070
behind Veslav's portrait. The tale of the Beast of Gavodin
789
00:53:49.170 --> 00:53:52.460
is once surrounded by mystery and a whole lot of bloodshed.
790
00:53:53.219 --> 00:53:59.179
Between 1764 and 1767, the French province of Gavodin suffered
791
00:53:59.219 --> 00:54:02.139
a series of attacks and slayings in which the throats
792
00:54:02.179 --> 00:54:05.920
of victims were ripped out. Theories abounded as to who
793
00:54:06.219 --> 00:54:09.659
or what was responsible, but most believed it to be
794
00:54:09.699 --> 00:54:13.500
a giant wolf. Locals fired at the beast and attempted
795
00:54:13.519 --> 00:54:19.219
to poison it, with no noticeable effects. It vanished in 1767,
796
00:54:19.219 --> 00:54:24.389
and its fate remains unknown. And finally, beliefs differ on
797
00:54:24.429 --> 00:54:28.280
what exactly turned someone into a werewolf. In ancient Greece,
798
00:54:28.340 --> 00:54:31.929
apparently people believed that someone could be transformed by eating
799
00:54:31.949 --> 00:54:34.329
the meat of a wolf and a human mixed together.
800
00:54:35.010 --> 00:54:37.409
This story is similar to the tale of King Ligon.
801
00:54:37.969 --> 00:54:41.349
He attempted to trick the god Zeus into eating human flesh.
802
00:54:42.090 --> 00:54:45.280
Zeus wasn't pleased and turned the king into a wolf
803
00:54:45.559 --> 00:54:48.719
as punishment. His name is likely the root of the
804
00:54:48.760 --> 00:54:57.380
word lycanthropy. When Weird Darkness Returns On a barren field
805
00:54:57.440 --> 00:55:01.369
in the U.S. state of Georgia, five granite slabs rose
806
00:55:01.489 --> 00:55:05.130
in a star pattern. Each of them weighed over 20 tons,
807
00:55:05.210 --> 00:55:08.489
and on top of them, there was a capstone. Nobody
808
00:55:08.530 --> 00:55:11.639
knows who built it or why they were placed there,
809
00:55:12.239 --> 00:55:15.400
but one popular opinion was that their purpose was to
810
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:20.239
guide humanity after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that would come
811
00:55:20.300 --> 00:55:25.650
in the not-so-distant future. We'll look at America's Stonehenge, up next.
812
00:55:52.780 --> 00:55:56.039
Hey Weirdos, Church of the Undead Book 1 is on
813
00:55:56.079 --> 00:55:59.980
pre-sale right now. Ten of the strangest sermons I've ever preached,
814
00:56:00.260 --> 00:56:05.320
in print. Bigfoot, the Wendigo, Slenderman, the zombie horde in Jerusalem,
815
00:56:05.639 --> 00:56:07.469
and the thing that I saw over Iowa that I
816
00:56:07.510 --> 00:56:10.230
still can't explain. Every one of them held up against
817
00:56:10.369 --> 00:56:12.989
scripture to see what it has to teach us. It
818
00:56:13.050 --> 00:56:17.590
unlocks Halloween night, but it's on pre-order right now at WeirdDarkness.com
819
00:56:17.670 --> 00:56:34.469
slash books. WeirdDarkness.com slash books. On a barren field in
820
00:56:34.510 --> 00:56:38.150
the state of Georgia, five granite slabs rise in a
821
00:56:38.210 --> 00:56:42.150
star pattern. Each of them weighs over 20 tons, and
822
00:56:42.230 --> 00:56:46.070
on top of them, there's a capstone. Nobody knows who
823
00:56:46.110 --> 00:56:49.070
built it or why they were placed there, but one
824
00:56:49.170 --> 00:56:52.550
popular opinion is that their purpose is to guide humanity
825
00:56:52.699 --> 00:56:56.059
after a predicted post-apocalyptic event that will come in the
826
00:56:56.099 --> 00:57:00.039
not-so-distant future. The huge blocks send a message out to
827
00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:03.320
the world in eight different current languages— as well as
828
00:57:03.400 --> 00:57:07.599
for extinct ones, ancient Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example.
829
00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:11.659
The set of ten guidelines has baffled people around the world,
830
00:57:12.320 --> 00:57:17.280
with descriptions ranging from perfect and utopian to satanic or quirky.
831
00:57:18.059 --> 00:57:21.219
But no matter what the case, these Ten Commandments should
832
00:57:21.300 --> 00:57:27.719
definitely get you thinking. 1. Maintain humanity under 500 million
833
00:57:27.880 --> 00:57:33.909
in perpetual balance with nature. 2. Guide reproduction wisely, improving
834
00:57:33.969 --> 00:57:41.510
fitness and diversity. 3. Unite humanity with a living new language. 4.
835
00:57:41.989 --> 00:57:48.019
Rule passion, faith, tradition, and all things with tempered reason. 5.
836
00:57:48.400 --> 00:57:54.079
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. 6.
837
00:57:54.079 --> 00:57:57.699
Let all nations rule internally, resolving external disputes in a
838
00:57:57.780 --> 00:58:04.969
world court. 7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. 8.
839
00:58:04.969 --> 00:58:12.039
Balance personal rights with social duties. 9. Prize truth, beauty, love,
840
00:58:12.360 --> 00:58:17.139
seeking harmony with the infinite. 10. Be not a cancer
841
00:58:17.300 --> 00:58:21.360
on the earth. Leave room for nature. Leave room for nature.
842
00:58:22.980 --> 00:58:26.280
While some of them are clearly noble and laudable, like
843
00:58:26.320 --> 00:58:29.550
having fair laws and avoiding petty ones, some of them
844
00:58:29.610 --> 00:58:34.840
have stirred controversy, especially maintain humanity under 500 million in
845
00:58:34.900 --> 00:58:39.960
perpetual balance with nature, and guide reproduction wisely, improving fitness
846
00:58:40.000 --> 00:58:43.340
and diversity. If we were to apply these laws now,
847
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:48.260
we'd have to kill over 90% of the planet. However,
848
00:58:48.380 --> 00:58:51.670
this is a perfect example of a misinterpretation, because it
849
00:58:51.710 --> 00:58:54.630
has to be kept in mind that these commandments have
850
00:58:54.670 --> 00:58:58.800
to be applied after the alleged apocalyptic event. It's not
851
00:58:58.860 --> 00:59:03.130
clear why they settled on 500 million. But the bottom
852
00:59:03.170 --> 00:59:06.030
line is that many believe the world to be overpopulated
853
00:59:06.210 --> 00:59:09.610
right now. We're indeed finding better and better ways to
854
00:59:09.670 --> 00:59:13.559
manage our resources and use sustainable or renewable forces, but
855
00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:16.239
in just the last 50 years, the population of the
856
00:59:16.280 --> 00:59:18.960
Earth has more than doubled. And if we were to
857
00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:22.989
keep that up, the prognosis could be dire indeed. But
858
00:59:23.030 --> 00:59:27.070
back to our Georgia stones. Whoever built them definitely knew
859
00:59:27.090 --> 00:59:30.449
what they were doing, The slabs stand proud and sturdy
860
00:59:30.710 --> 00:59:34.210
and will endure through the centuries with minimal damage. They
861
00:59:34.250 --> 00:59:37.550
also have a remarkable set of other features. For example,
862
00:59:37.909 --> 00:59:41.309
they feature a built-in channel that indicates the celestial pole,
863
00:59:41.869 --> 00:59:44.909
a horizontal slot that shows the annual travel of the sun,
864
00:59:45.349 --> 00:59:48.159
as well as a system that marks noontime throughout the year.
865
00:59:49.280 --> 00:59:52.559
But why they have these features and lack others that
866
00:59:52.619 --> 00:59:56.000
would apparently be more useful for dazed survivors is still
867
00:59:56.039 --> 00:59:59.969
a mystery. It all started on a Friday in June 1979.
868
00:59:59.969 --> 01:00:04.880
An elegantly dressed gray-haired man showed up in Elbert County
869
01:00:05.239 --> 01:00:09.840
and introduced himself as R.C. Christian, a reference to Christian Rosencruise,
870
01:00:10.159 --> 01:00:13.869
or Christian Rose Cross in English, and said he represents
871
01:00:13.929 --> 01:00:18.170
a small group of loyal Americans. Rosencruise is a legendary
872
01:00:18.230 --> 01:00:21.309
character that founded the Order of the Rose Cross. He
873
01:00:21.389 --> 01:00:24.590
quickly became one of the most important and mysterious figures
874
01:00:24.699 --> 01:00:28.300
of the time, by blending Christianity with some teachings of
875
01:00:28.460 --> 01:00:32.889
Arab and Persian sages. R.C. Christian admitted this is not
876
01:00:32.929 --> 01:00:36.389
his real name, but refused to reveal anything about his identity.
877
01:00:37.650 --> 01:00:41.510
Joe Fenley, president of the company that specializes in granite construction,
878
01:00:41.929 --> 01:00:45.150
didn't care too much about this. That is, until he
879
01:00:45.190 --> 01:00:49.929
found out what monument R.C. Christian had in mind. He
880
01:00:49.989 --> 01:00:53.340
explained that it would be a compass, calendar, and clock,
881
01:00:53.780 --> 01:00:56.239
and also be engraved with a set of guides written
882
01:00:56.320 --> 01:00:59.699
in eight of the world's languages. Fenley believed he was
883
01:00:59.739 --> 01:01:01.900
dealing with a crazy man and wanted to get rid
884
01:01:01.940 --> 01:01:04.219
of him, so he explained that a large number of
885
01:01:04.300 --> 01:01:08.159
tools and machines would be required. But Christian just nodded.
886
01:01:08.860 --> 01:01:11.489
He then quoted a price several times greater than the
887
01:01:11.610 --> 01:01:16.829
real one. But again, Christian seemed indifferent. So, Fenley sent
888
01:01:16.869 --> 01:01:19.809
him to Wyatt Martin, president of the Granite City Bank.
889
01:01:20.619 --> 01:01:22.739
Martin is probably one of the people who have seen
890
01:01:22.820 --> 01:01:26.489
and spoken to the mystery man the most. The astrological
891
01:01:26.530 --> 01:01:30.809
specifications were incredibly complex, so the construction company had to
892
01:01:30.869 --> 01:01:33.730
employ the help of an astronomer from the University of Georgia.
893
01:01:34.590 --> 01:01:38.860
The complex indicates the day of the year, equinoxes, and solstices,
894
01:01:38.920 --> 01:01:42.019
among others. But the main feature is the ten guides
895
01:01:42.159 --> 01:01:45.980
engraved in the several languages. The mission statement raises the
896
01:01:46.019 --> 01:01:49.019
first few question marks, let these be guidestones to an
897
01:01:49.159 --> 01:01:53.480
age of reason. but controversy started even before the monument
898
01:01:53.500 --> 01:01:56.300
was finished, many claiming it to be the devil's work.
899
01:01:57.119 --> 01:02:00.619
By 1980, when they started building the monument, Martin remembers
900
01:02:00.639 --> 01:02:03.780
that people started telling him to stop and accused him
901
01:02:03.820 --> 01:02:07.210
of being part of an occult movement. The main problem
902
01:02:07.269 --> 01:02:10.809
is that the commandments engraved on the stones are quite eccentric,
903
01:02:10.849 --> 01:02:13.170
to say the least. It didn't take a lot to
904
01:02:13.210 --> 01:02:16.210
compare the first two commandments to the practices of Nazis,
905
01:02:16.289 --> 01:02:19.139
among others. But again, this doesn't mean that a large
906
01:02:19.199 --> 01:02:22.820
part of mankind has to disappear. The guides apply in
907
01:02:22.860 --> 01:02:27.420
a post-apocalyptic event, where the population is undoubtedly very small.
908
01:02:28.139 --> 01:02:30.670
This can be very hard to digest, but seeing things
909
01:02:30.710 --> 01:02:33.789
from their point of view is quite interesting, and any
910
01:02:33.829 --> 01:02:38.869
comparison with the Nazis or far-right ideology is unreasonable. I mean,
911
01:02:38.909 --> 01:02:42.650
if a horrendous tragedy happens, and somehow the world population
912
01:02:42.769 --> 01:02:45.860
is reduced to just a few hundred million, then Yes,
913
01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:48.219
it'd be a good idea to have some care regarding
914
01:02:48.239 --> 01:02:52.400
the number of humans. Guide number three instructed people to
915
01:02:52.559 --> 01:02:56.239
use a common language, which would, of course, greatly reduce
916
01:02:56.340 --> 01:03:00.619
numerous difficulties throughout today's world. Achieving such a task is, however,
917
01:03:00.780 --> 01:03:04.840
impossible at the moment due to evident practical reasons. This
918
01:03:04.900 --> 01:03:07.900
is the part that bothered and annoyed the Christians who
919
01:03:07.980 --> 01:03:10.320
quoted the Bible saying that a common tongue is the
920
01:03:10.340 --> 01:03:13.469
mark of the Antichrist. Yeah, makes a lot of sense
921
01:03:13.489 --> 01:03:17.929
for me too. Same thing with the rule, passion, faith, tradition,
922
01:03:18.010 --> 01:03:21.679
and all things with tempered reason. For some, faith has
923
01:03:21.699 --> 01:03:24.360
to be the alpha and omega with nothing else in between.
924
01:03:25.079 --> 01:03:28.500
For others, yours truly included, finding a sustainable balance is
925
01:03:28.559 --> 01:03:32.969
a much nobler goal. The structure, sometimes referred to as
926
01:03:33.159 --> 01:03:37.469
an American Stonehenge, sure stirred a lot of controversies, but
927
01:03:37.650 --> 01:03:39.989
it got us to thinking, which means that at least
928
01:03:40.030 --> 01:03:43.179
a part of its objective was achieved. even ignoring the
929
01:03:43.219 --> 01:03:47.760
more controversial commandments, the final six should definitely be worth achieving.
930
01:03:48.579 --> 01:03:52.860
After all, what's wrong with avoiding unnecessary officials and prizing truth?
931
01:03:53.969 --> 01:03:59.269
Prize truth, beauty, love, seeking harmony with the infinite, and
932
01:03:59.650 --> 01:04:02.590
be not a cancer on the earth. Leave room for nature.
933
01:04:03.210 --> 01:04:07.130
Leave room for nature. There's a really powerful vibe in here.
934
01:04:07.769 --> 01:04:11.429
Of course, now the Georgia Guidestones are no more. They
935
01:04:11.449 --> 01:04:45.639
were destroyed by a bombing in 2022. My brand new book,
936
01:04:45.760 --> 01:04:50.789
Connective Tissue, How Cattle Mutilations Link Bigfoot, Alien Abductions, Mind Control,
937
01:04:50.849 --> 01:04:53.489
and the Men in Black is releasing Friday, November 13th.
938
01:04:53.710 --> 01:04:56.829
But you can read the first two chapters absolutely free
939
01:04:57.090 --> 01:05:00.219
simply by signing up for the Weird Darkness newsletter. Every week,
940
01:05:00.340 --> 01:05:02.880
the Weird Darkness newsletter lands in your inbox with a
941
01:05:02.920 --> 01:05:06.440
whole week in one place. Episodes of Weird Darkness, Retro Radio,
942
01:05:06.599 --> 01:05:09.780
Horror Fiction from Midnight in the Macabre, and Murder Noir.
943
01:05:10.070 --> 01:05:13.269
Scary stuff for the kids with micro-terrors. The Weird Darkness
944
01:05:13.309 --> 01:05:16.010
newsletter is where the deep dive case files live too.
945
01:05:16.210 --> 01:05:19.610
The hauntings, the unsolved murders, and the just plain strange.
946
01:05:19.849 --> 01:05:22.329
Weird Dark News is in there too, with true crime
947
01:05:22.389 --> 01:05:25.449
as it breaks, paranormal reports, and the oddities most outlets
948
01:05:25.550 --> 01:05:27.969
scroll right past. And right now, when you sign up,
949
01:05:28.159 --> 01:05:30.280
I'll also send you the first two chapters of my
950
01:05:30.320 --> 01:05:34.659
new book, Connective Tissue, How Cattle Mutilations Link Bigfoot, Alien Abductions,
951
01:05:34.760 --> 01:05:36.860
Mind Control, and the Men in Black, as a way
952
01:05:36.900 --> 01:05:39.380
of saying thanks. It's free, it's once a week, and
953
01:05:39.420 --> 01:05:42.960
it takes 10 seconds to sign up. WeirdDarkness.com slash newsletter.
954
01:05:43.659 --> 01:06:06.889
I'm Darren Marlar. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. When you
955
01:06:06.909 --> 01:06:11.619
think fairies, what comes to mind? You probably picture an
956
01:06:11.659 --> 01:06:16.119
adorable and sparkly creature akin to Disney's Tinkerbell, a lovely
957
01:06:16.280 --> 01:06:19.429
and above all friendly presence. You may even want to
958
01:06:19.449 --> 01:06:24.250
make contact with them. Unfortunately, glittering humanoids with butterfly wings
959
01:06:24.309 --> 01:06:28.150
are the stuff of children's books. Retrace fairy folklore and
960
01:06:28.170 --> 01:06:32.860
you'll discover their secret scary origins. Cultures all over the
961
01:06:32.900 --> 01:06:35.800
world put their own disturbing spin on the fairy folk,
962
01:06:36.599 --> 01:06:39.380
In Wales, fairy folk take away babies and leave their
963
01:06:39.480 --> 01:06:43.460
own twisted offspring in their place. Scottish Kelpies, meanwhile, are
964
01:06:43.500 --> 01:06:46.940
known for their taste for human flesh. As for Icelandic
965
01:06:47.000 --> 01:06:51.369
Huldufolk and Filipino Berberoka, you'll have to keep listening to
966
01:06:51.409 --> 01:06:55.809
discover just what makes them so chilling. Just because they're
967
01:06:55.829 --> 01:06:59.889
mythological doesn't mean that fairies are any less frightening. Here
968
01:06:59.969 --> 01:07:03.429
are a few of their darkest attributes. Just remember to
969
01:07:03.510 --> 01:07:08.110
shut your windows tight before going to sleep tonight. The Banshee,
970
01:07:08.570 --> 01:07:12.670
also known as Woman Fairy, originated in Ireland and is
971
01:07:12.710 --> 01:07:15.090
said to be most active at night before a passing.
972
01:07:15.909 --> 01:07:18.000
In some folklore, she even comes to the door of
973
01:07:18.039 --> 01:07:20.840
those who are expected to pass. She looks like a
974
01:07:20.960 --> 01:07:25.079
full-sized human female, and though her appearance varies by region,
975
01:07:25.420 --> 01:07:27.840
her hair is always stringy and she always wears a
976
01:07:27.960 --> 01:07:31.909
white gown or shroud. She frequently appears covered in moss
977
01:07:32.230 --> 01:07:36.530
as well. The banshees recognized by her loud, mourning wails,
978
01:07:36.590 --> 01:07:39.110
which are said to be a harbinger of someone's demise.
979
01:07:41.010 --> 01:07:45.650
Bionphion fairies are also known as drowning fairies. They're said
980
01:07:45.690 --> 01:07:49.230
to pull children to their underwater doom. If you're searching
981
01:07:49.269 --> 01:07:53.019
for a Bionphion fairy, you're advised to look around dark
982
01:07:53.079 --> 01:07:57.199
waters where drownings have occurred. These creatures were likely devised
983
01:07:57.260 --> 01:07:59.719
by parrots looking to keep their kids from playing in
984
01:07:59.760 --> 01:08:02.360
the water, but that doesn't make them any less creepy.
985
01:08:04.260 --> 01:08:07.119
Utbirds are fairies that are believed to be the revived
986
01:08:07.179 --> 01:08:11.389
spirits of babies who passed during harsh winters. They tend
987
01:08:11.409 --> 01:08:14.090
to haunt anyone who hangs around the sites of their demise.
988
01:08:14.849 --> 01:08:19.050
Misery is their mission. Utbirds are even known to transform
989
01:08:19.090 --> 01:08:22.670
into large and terrifying owls that prey on night travelers.
990
01:08:24.510 --> 01:08:28.449
Varicas gather outside the homes of dying people while happily
991
01:08:28.550 --> 01:08:32.710
chatting to each other. These 18-inch-tall harbingers of doom are
992
01:08:32.810 --> 01:08:36.930
instantly recognizable thanks to their vivid red color and blood-stained teeth.
993
01:08:37.869 --> 01:08:40.649
According to folklore, they can be appeased, but it isn't easy.
994
01:08:41.470 --> 01:08:45.489
Varikas require a shrine filled with daily burned offerings of
995
01:08:45.550 --> 01:08:50.409
flowers and spices to leave you alone. Fairies aren't just
996
01:08:50.470 --> 01:08:53.029
menaces to humans. They can be a threat to their
997
01:08:53.069 --> 01:09:00.119
own kind, too. Consider Kelpies, a kind of human-eating fae. Small, ugly,
998
01:09:00.220 --> 01:09:03.619
and bulbous, kelpies are known for their foul tempers. They
999
01:09:03.659 --> 01:09:06.590
were once said to crop up everywhere in Scottish lochs
1000
01:09:06.649 --> 01:09:09.470
and the North Sea, but fell into decline thanks to
1001
01:09:09.510 --> 01:09:13.829
their appetite for other fairies. But kelpies don't discriminate when
1002
01:09:13.869 --> 01:09:17.069
it comes to slaying. They love to eat deer that
1003
01:09:17.130 --> 01:09:19.649
wander too near to the lochs, and they're able to
1004
01:09:19.710 --> 01:09:23.850
shapeshift to lure in human prey. There are even folktales
1005
01:09:23.909 --> 01:09:27.770
about Kelpies who take the appearance of seahorses, luring young
1006
01:09:27.840 --> 01:09:33.300
maidens who they then submerge and devour. According to Irish folklore,
1007
01:09:33.340 --> 01:09:36.520
the Slough are fairies thought to be the souls of
1008
01:09:36.699 --> 01:09:40.239
evil people. These fairies travel in a swarm at night,
1009
01:09:40.560 --> 01:09:44.560
often appearing like black birds. Their preferred prey are dying
1010
01:09:44.619 --> 01:09:46.659
people who have yet to be given their last rites.
1011
01:09:47.590 --> 01:09:50.010
Some stories, however, say that you can call them by
1012
01:09:50.149 --> 01:09:54.489
feeling deep sadness or simply by saying their name. Once
1013
01:09:54.529 --> 01:09:56.949
the sloth have you in their sights, the only way
1014
01:09:56.989 --> 01:09:59.609
to be rid of them is to offer another person
1015
01:09:59.770 --> 01:10:03.229
in your place. But they're easy to spot. In their
1016
01:10:03.289 --> 01:10:07.310
humanoid form, the sloth look like malnourished people with leathery wings.
1017
01:10:08.189 --> 01:10:13.109
According to Filipino folklore, berberoka are highly dangerous fairies that
1018
01:10:13.149 --> 01:10:16.699
inhabit rivers and swamps. they're said to prey upon fishermen
1019
01:10:16.760 --> 01:10:20.539
by ingesting large volumes of water, thereby bringing up fish.
1020
01:10:21.420 --> 01:10:23.800
Once the fishers make their way to that specific spot,
1021
01:10:24.340 --> 01:10:29.100
the baraboca regurgitates the water to capsize their boats. Ultimately,
1022
01:10:29.159 --> 01:10:34.810
the helpless fishers are dragged underwater and eaten. Bendith, a
1023
01:10:34.850 --> 01:10:39.750
clan of Welsh fairies, are notorious baby-nappers. They nab human
1024
01:10:39.789 --> 01:10:43.090
babies and replace them with their own deformed offspring known
1025
01:10:43.250 --> 01:10:47.380
as crimbles, Sometimes, the bendith will return the baby after
1026
01:10:47.420 --> 01:10:50.319
teaching it about music, but more often than not, parents
1027
01:10:50.359 --> 01:10:53.420
require the assistance of a witch to get their child back.
1028
01:10:54.779 --> 01:10:57.430
When they're not taking children, the bendith get their kicks
1029
01:10:57.510 --> 01:11:03.310
riding horses and tangling up their manes. Mischievous will-o'-the-wisps haunt
1030
01:11:03.409 --> 01:11:07.609
marshy ground and love playing practical jokes. However, their jokes
1031
01:11:07.649 --> 01:11:12.270
consist of leading travelers astray with their flickering lights. sometimes
1032
01:11:12.350 --> 01:11:16.409
leading people straight to their doom in the bogs. It's
1033
01:11:16.449 --> 01:11:19.750
believed that steering clear of the Will-o'-the-Wisp footpaths is the
1034
01:11:19.829 --> 01:11:22.390
best way to avoid them, although they are known to
1035
01:11:22.449 --> 01:11:25.109
sometimes help people who are kind to them and offer
1036
01:11:25.130 --> 01:11:30.100
them money. A threatening but solitary creature, the Feichan fairy
1037
01:11:30.420 --> 01:11:34.239
lives in the Highland Mountains. The Feichan's brooding nature is
1038
01:11:34.279 --> 01:11:37.140
due to its appearance, as it has only one of everything,
1039
01:11:37.779 --> 01:11:42.189
one ear, one arm, one leg, one toe, and one eye.
1040
01:11:43.050 --> 01:11:45.680
All of these features are centered directly down the middle
1041
01:11:45.720 --> 01:11:49.140
of its body, which is both hairy and feathery. These
1042
01:11:49.180 --> 01:11:51.520
creatures are said to be so hideous that the mere
1043
01:11:51.640 --> 01:11:54.680
sight of them can stop a person's heart. The fei
1044
01:11:54.699 --> 01:11:57.600
chan is sensitive about not having wings or the gift
1045
01:11:57.640 --> 01:12:00.260
of flight, so it waves a spiked club at all
1046
01:12:00.319 --> 01:12:04.399
living things that cross its path. The blue men of
1047
01:12:04.460 --> 01:12:08.779
the minch, or sea kelpies, prey on sailors. They sport
1048
01:12:08.840 --> 01:12:12.430
green beards and hair and are pretty buff. Some say
1049
01:12:12.470 --> 01:12:15.210
that these creatures live in caves underwater and that they
1050
01:12:15.229 --> 01:12:18.090
can control the weather and the seas. If you ever
1051
01:12:18.149 --> 01:12:20.689
plan on sailing the high seas, make sure you have
1052
01:12:20.729 --> 01:12:24.229
what it takes to defeat the sea kelpies. According to folklore,
1053
01:12:24.270 --> 01:12:27.319
captains have escaped disaster on the water simply with their
1054
01:12:27.399 --> 01:12:30.600
sharp tongues. However, the Blue Men of the Minch can
1055
01:12:30.680 --> 01:12:36.600
only be beaten in rhyming duels. Huldufolk are Icelandic fairies
1056
01:12:36.640 --> 01:12:40.109
that are somewhat neutral. Some people believe them to be beneficial,
1057
01:12:40.529 --> 01:12:43.090
and they build tiny wooden homes for the fairies to
1058
01:12:43.149 --> 01:12:47.390
live in. Huldufolk aren't typically malicious, but they do have
1059
01:12:47.430 --> 01:12:50.829
a strict moral code. These human-like creatures are known to
1060
01:12:50.869 --> 01:12:55.109
attempt to seduce people. Those who resist are rewarded, while
1061
01:12:55.180 --> 01:12:59.199
anyone who surrenders is punished. I actually went more in-depth
1062
01:12:59.279 --> 01:13:03.159
regarding the Huldufolk, or Iceland elves, in a previous episode.
1063
01:13:03.479 --> 01:13:04.779
I'll place a link to it in the show notes.
1064
01:13:06.199 --> 01:13:10.619
The Calicanceroi fairies are always without clothes. While that might
1065
01:13:10.659 --> 01:13:13.819
make you uncomfortable, the creep factor comes with their feet.
1066
01:13:14.359 --> 01:13:18.579
They're usually shaped like those of different animals. Calicanceroi fairies
1067
01:13:18.880 --> 01:13:22.260
tend to ride around on chickens and are blind, so
1068
01:13:22.359 --> 01:13:26.380
they're typically found in groups. Sometimes they even recruit outcast
1069
01:13:26.439 --> 01:13:31.239
fairies to be their guides. And finally, brownies. They're typically
1070
01:13:31.420 --> 01:13:34.199
garden fairies who do chores and help around the house.
1071
01:13:34.899 --> 01:13:38.520
While that might sound sweet and endearing, folklore says that
1072
01:13:38.539 --> 01:13:42.289
they are hideous to look at. In some regions of Scotland,
1073
01:13:42.609 --> 01:13:46.489
brownies have no separated toes or fingers. In other areas,
1074
01:13:46.770 --> 01:13:49.270
they have a hole in their face where their nose
1075
01:13:49.329 --> 01:14:01.600
should be. When Weird Darkness Returns In the summer of 1949,
1076
01:14:01.579 --> 01:14:06.060
a geologist named discovered a strange feature on the surface
1077
01:14:06.100 --> 01:14:34.630
of the Earth in southeastern Siberia. Jersey Beth sent in
1078
01:14:34.989 --> 01:14:40.989
Gertie's red pen. Here's her story. When I visited Gertie
1079
01:14:41.010 --> 01:14:43.710
for lunch at the nursing home, she told me she
1080
01:14:43.750 --> 01:14:46.630
was ready to die. What do you think happens when
1081
01:14:46.649 --> 01:14:50.789
we die? I asked. She scoffed. Nothing, she said with
1082
01:14:50.829 --> 01:14:55.140
a dismissive wave. Lights out. It was this kind of
1083
01:14:55.220 --> 01:14:59.260
incisive brevity I loved about her. Gertie and I had
1084
01:14:59.300 --> 01:15:02.100
gotten to know each other editing the nursing home's newsletter.
1085
01:15:02.960 --> 01:15:05.960
I was the English major cum receptionist, she was the
1086
01:15:06.000 --> 01:15:10.810
retired secretary. Gertie was unmarried, had no children, and no
1087
01:15:10.869 --> 01:15:14.609
family in the area. The newsletter gave her purpose and
1088
01:15:14.670 --> 01:15:17.949
gave me a creative outlet. We were a couple of
1089
01:15:17.989 --> 01:15:21.789
administrative pros, separated by a couple of generations and a
1090
01:15:21.850 --> 01:15:26.199
shared disinterest in Comic Sans. You couldn't add an extra
1091
01:15:26.239 --> 01:15:29.939
space after a period in any community publication without Gertie
1092
01:15:29.960 --> 01:15:33.329
finding out. She carried a ruler in her handbag to
1093
01:15:33.409 --> 01:15:36.470
measure margins on the go. Can Lord help you if
1094
01:15:36.489 --> 01:15:40.229
you started a sentence with a conjunction? My shift had
1095
01:15:40.260 --> 01:15:43.140
started at 3 p.m., and Gertie would be promptly at
1096
01:15:43.180 --> 01:15:46.520
my desk at 3.01, a stack of papers on her walker,
1097
01:15:46.899 --> 01:15:49.539
a red pen tucked behind her ear, and a look
1098
01:15:49.579 --> 01:15:54.329
of disdain.' Poetry is unamusing, yet we're obligated to publish it,'
1099
01:15:54.590 --> 01:15:57.729
she said, licking her index finger and flipping through the
1100
01:15:57.770 --> 01:16:00.819
first few pages. Can you have these retyped before I
1101
01:16:00.859 --> 01:16:05.539
come down for dinner at 4.30? Absolutely, I said. And
1102
01:16:05.640 --> 01:16:09.720
I always did. We had continued this song and dance
1103
01:16:09.819 --> 01:16:12.810
of newsletter editing week after week for over a year.
1104
01:16:14.069 --> 01:16:16.390
By the second year, Gertie would arrive in a wheelchair
1105
01:16:16.409 --> 01:16:19.390
at my desk at 3.02, a stack of papers in
1106
01:16:19.430 --> 01:16:22.270
her lap, a red pen tucked in a messy bun,
1107
01:16:22.609 --> 01:16:26.539
and a look of defeat. It's yours now, she said
1108
01:16:26.680 --> 01:16:29.300
one day. handing me a rough copy of the upcoming
1109
01:16:29.359 --> 01:16:35.359
week's submissions. The pages rattled in her quivering hands. Narrow margins,.
1110
01:16:34.739 --> 01:16:39.420
5 inch, don't forget. She nodded pointedly at me, a
1111
01:16:39.439 --> 01:16:43.579
little smirk on her face, making sure I understood. I did.
1112
01:16:45.100 --> 01:16:48.500
By the following week, I had a polished, crisp, freshly
1113
01:16:48.579 --> 01:16:51.510
printed copy of the final newsletter and had looked forward
1114
01:16:51.550 --> 01:16:55.930
to surprising Gertie on my day off. Instead, I woke
1115
01:16:55.989 --> 01:16:59.189
up with a start. realizing my alarm hadn't gone off
1116
01:16:59.279 --> 01:17:02.850
and that my lights were out. My cell phone hadn't charged.
1117
01:17:03.689 --> 01:17:09.329
That had never happened before. Everything was suddenly dead. My
1118
01:17:09.409 --> 01:17:12.510
heart was pounding and I felt disoriented. I felt a
1119
01:17:12.630 --> 01:17:15.779
nagging urge to get to the nursing home quickly. I
1120
01:17:15.859 --> 01:17:18.739
scrambled to get myself ready and into the car, the
1121
01:17:18.779 --> 01:17:22.920
dashboard clock reading 8.30. With the newsletter on the seat
1122
01:17:22.960 --> 01:17:25.239
next to me, I raced to the office, taking the
1123
01:17:25.300 --> 01:17:28.159
stairs to bypass the elevator and go straight to her
1124
01:17:28.239 --> 01:17:31.239
side of the unit. As I knocked and peered into
1125
01:17:31.279 --> 01:17:34.039
her room, I was surprised to see that it had
1126
01:17:34.119 --> 01:17:36.800
already been cleaned out. A new pair of sheets on
1127
01:17:36.819 --> 01:17:40.439
the bed, like fresh paper. There was the faint smell
1128
01:17:40.699 --> 01:17:45.000
of bleach. I looked into the hallway and confirmed the
1129
01:17:45.039 --> 01:17:48.579
room number.' Where did she go?' I asked a passing nurse.'
1130
01:17:48.260 --> 01:17:52.829
Did someone change the font on the menus again?' The
1131
01:17:52.850 --> 01:17:56.250
nurse's face fell. She looked at her clipboard and tapped
1132
01:17:56.270 --> 01:17:59.890
a note saying, Oh no, Gertrude passed away last night.
1133
01:18:00.850 --> 01:18:05.390
It was in her sleep. Well, I'll be darned. I
1134
01:18:05.430 --> 01:18:08.750
looked up at the ceiling with a smirk. Lights out, eh?
1135
01:18:10.229 --> 01:18:13.949
Thank you. I know you cared for her well. The
1136
01:18:13.989 --> 01:18:17.479
nurse gave a somber nod in reply and continued walking.
1137
01:18:18.479 --> 01:18:22.130
She had a red pen tucked behind her ear. It
1138
01:18:22.149 --> 01:18:25.800
was just that kind of subtle wit I loved about Gertie.
1139
01:18:27.420 --> 01:18:29.899
I left her room, turning the lights out behind me.
1140
01:18:31.060 --> 01:18:46.069
I had a newsletter to publish. In the summer of 1949,
1141
01:18:46.069 --> 01:18:50.420
a geologist named Vadim Kolpakov discovered a strange feature on
1142
01:18:50.460 --> 01:18:53.760
the surface of the Earth in the Badaibo-Urkutsk region of
1143
01:18:53.840 --> 01:18:59.199
southeastern Siberia. Encircled by a largely treed area, this anomaly
1144
01:18:59.239 --> 01:19:02.220
is oval with a conical crater that contains a small,
1145
01:19:02.399 --> 01:19:06.439
ball-like mound in its middle. The entire structure consists of
1146
01:19:06.539 --> 01:19:10.010
broken gray limestone. Its width is between 130 and 160
1147
01:19:10.010 --> 01:19:15.970
meters and while the cone is up to 80 meters high. Oddly,
1148
01:19:16.149 --> 01:19:19.789
few trees grow on the formation. However, the surrounding conifers
1149
01:19:20.149 --> 01:19:26.350
have experienced rapid growth. Named the Potomsky Crater, the Kulpakov Cone,
1150
01:19:26.770 --> 01:19:30.449
and the Fire Eagle Nest, the geological mystery has baffled
1151
01:19:30.489 --> 01:19:34.170
scientists who are uncertain of what caused this weird formation.
1152
01:19:35.390 --> 01:19:37.949
Named for the river that runs near the anomaly, the
1153
01:19:37.989 --> 01:19:43.739
Potomsky Crater has spawned many interesting theories. Wild ideas speculated
1154
01:19:43.779 --> 01:19:47.020
that it was a secret Stalin-era uranium mine that used
1155
01:19:47.159 --> 01:19:51.619
Gulag labor forces. Ancient astronaut theorists chimed that it was
1156
01:19:51.659 --> 01:19:55.859
the landing site of an alien UFO. Other popular theories
1157
01:19:55.939 --> 01:20:00.840
include an underground uranium or natural gas explosion, a dust-sized
1158
01:20:00.920 --> 01:20:04.079
meteorite that burrowed through the planet and left the crater
1159
01:20:04.140 --> 01:20:08.229
as an exit wound, a cylindrical metallic object of unknown origin,
1160
01:20:08.890 --> 01:20:14.420
and the Tunguska event. The uranium theory may sound unlikely, however,
1161
01:20:14.500 --> 01:20:17.439
this area is known to be rich in naturally occurring
1162
01:20:17.520 --> 01:20:21.439
radioactive elements. A precise series of events would need to
1163
01:20:21.479 --> 01:20:24.609
take place in order to create the circumstances for an explosion,
1164
01:20:25.090 --> 01:20:28.550
but it lies within the realm of possibility. However, the
1165
01:20:28.590 --> 01:20:32.069
trees do not indicate large explosions from uranium or the
1166
01:20:32.090 --> 01:20:36.439
Tunguska event, which would have leveled the conifers. By far,
1167
01:20:36.500 --> 01:20:39.039
the theory most out of this world involves some kind
1168
01:20:39.060 --> 01:20:42.909
of external or alien body that long ago embedded itself
1169
01:20:42.989 --> 01:20:47.359
in the Potomac Crater, causing the unique shape. The unremarkable
1170
01:20:47.420 --> 01:20:51.079
radiation levels seem to contradict this, though, as an object
1171
01:20:51.119 --> 01:20:54.319
from space would leave far higher radioactive levels than the
1172
01:20:54.380 --> 01:20:57.970
typical levels on Earth. Of course, one could counter this
1173
01:20:58.050 --> 01:21:01.289
by saying that the spacecraft landed so long ago that
1174
01:21:01.390 --> 01:21:05.010
by now high levels have returned to nominal. This is
1175
01:21:05.029 --> 01:21:08.350
supported by the increased size of the vegetation surrounding the site.
1176
01:21:09.649 --> 01:21:13.350
The two most reasonable theories that initially arose stated that
1177
01:21:13.409 --> 01:21:17.949
the origin is volcanic or meteoric. The problem is that
1178
01:21:18.010 --> 01:21:21.189
scientists have not found any evidence of either scenario on
1179
01:21:21.210 --> 01:21:24.710
the slopes of the Siberian crater yet. There is no
1180
01:21:24.789 --> 01:21:30.130
volcanic rock, no meteor debris anywhere. Nonetheless, the site reminded
1181
01:21:30.189 --> 01:21:33.329
scientists of the meteor impact marks on the moon and
1182
01:21:33.369 --> 01:21:36.090
believed that evidence lay deeper in the Earth where the
1183
01:21:36.130 --> 01:21:39.810
meteor would have exploded. By now, the majority of the
1184
01:21:39.890 --> 01:21:42.710
evidence has ruled out a meteor, and most scientists have
1185
01:21:42.750 --> 01:21:47.020
abandoned this theory. Although remote, the Irkutsk region has an
1186
01:21:47.100 --> 01:21:51.500
indigenous population called the Yakut. These people consider the crater
1187
01:21:51.539 --> 01:21:54.659
a bad place, and they insist that large animals do
1188
01:21:54.760 --> 01:21:58.539
not go into the area. One theory about this superstition
1189
01:21:58.979 --> 01:22:02.340
suggests that perhaps their ancestors were present at a time
1190
01:22:02.359 --> 01:22:05.760
when the area had a far higher radiation level. These
1191
01:22:05.880 --> 01:22:09.079
ancestors may have become ill and died from this radiation.
1192
01:22:09.920 --> 01:22:13.590
Over time, the legend was synthesized into oral tribal stories
1193
01:22:13.909 --> 01:22:16.989
that became a part of the Yakut culture. In fact,
1194
01:22:17.050 --> 01:22:20.189
the Yakut gave the crater the name Fire Eagle's Nest
1195
01:22:20.449 --> 01:22:25.210
because of its shape. Although discovered in 1949, the first
1196
01:22:25.289 --> 01:22:30.229
scientific expedition committed to properly investigating the Potomac Crater wasn't
1197
01:22:30.250 --> 01:22:34.199
launched until 2005. There were a number of reasons for
1198
01:22:34.239 --> 01:22:37.590
this delay, whereas in many other countries, an anomaly of
1199
01:22:37.609 --> 01:22:41.489
this magnitude would have been a scientific focus. Until the
1200
01:22:41.529 --> 01:22:47.979
Soviet Union fell, expenditure on scientific activity focused on military development. Consequently,
1201
01:22:48.020 --> 01:22:51.979
the study of the crater was postponed. The initial expedition
1202
01:22:52.039 --> 01:22:55.579
in 2005 met with a major setback when, not long
1203
01:22:55.659 --> 01:22:59.460
after embarking for their target, the lead researcher, Eugeny Vorobyov,
1204
01:22:59.720 --> 01:23:02.909
died on the trail. When officials recovered his body, an
1205
01:23:02.989 --> 01:23:07.560
autopsy showed a massive heart attack. Nonetheless, a bad omen
1206
01:23:07.600 --> 01:23:11.260
or not, the group pressed on. Although scientists studied the
1207
01:23:11.319 --> 01:23:15.539
area thoroughly, it only provided more possibilities. At that time,
1208
01:23:15.560 --> 01:23:20.140
they were unable to make conclusive determination about its cause. Interestingly, though,
1209
01:23:20.180 --> 01:23:23.060
a number of anomalies were discovered in the surrounding area.
1210
01:23:24.399 --> 01:23:26.680
Because it was around the beginning of the Cold War,
1211
01:23:27.100 --> 01:23:29.840
the Russian government was originally concerned this could be the
1212
01:23:29.880 --> 01:23:33.130
site of a nuclear test by another nation. After all,
1213
01:23:33.189 --> 01:23:36.310
the Americans had only made their nuclear debut over Japan
1214
01:23:36.369 --> 01:23:39.149
three years prior, and it was an open secret that
1215
01:23:39.170 --> 01:23:43.670
the Russians were attempting to create the same technology. Subsequently,
1216
01:23:43.909 --> 01:23:46.109
one of the first things officials searched for at the
1217
01:23:46.149 --> 01:23:51.229
site was increased levels of radiation. However, the results were unremarkable.
1218
01:23:51.909 --> 01:23:56.260
Although fractionally above nominal, the amount in no way indicated
1219
01:23:56.319 --> 01:24:00.300
a nuclear blast. What is perplexing, though, is that the
1220
01:24:00.340 --> 01:24:04.840
surrounding vegetation experienced a sharp increase in size for over
1221
01:24:04.899 --> 01:24:09.520
a century before its discovery. Whilst sounding benign, this anomaly
1222
01:24:09.739 --> 01:24:14.170
is common in instances of nuclear contact. The mutagenic properties
1223
01:24:14.210 --> 01:24:18.430
of radiation affect the size of flora, often dramatically increasing
1224
01:24:18.470 --> 01:24:21.130
it over time. This was also the cause in the
1225
01:24:21.170 --> 01:24:26.109
vegetation around Chernobyl. Magnetic anomalies are also present on and
1226
01:24:26.289 --> 01:24:30.560
in the surrounding vicinity of the odd Potomsky crater. However,
1227
01:24:30.739 --> 01:24:33.789
of course, there are other causes of tree growth spurts.
1228
01:24:35.010 --> 01:24:38.470
Modern geomorphologists believe the Fire Eagle's Nest may be a
1229
01:24:38.550 --> 01:24:42.810
very rare gas volcano, acting as a vent for vast
1230
01:24:42.909 --> 01:24:46.979
stores of underground gases. The odd rock formations may also
1231
01:24:47.039 --> 01:24:50.380
be indicative of chemical reactions between elements on the surface
1232
01:24:50.720 --> 01:24:54.850
and those leaking through deep in the Earth. Dimitri Damesko,
1233
01:24:55.119 --> 01:24:59.470
Institute of Geophysics, Yekaterinburg, proposes that the crater formed in
1234
01:24:59.550 --> 01:25:03.710
two phases. First, the tectonic actions in the area created
1235
01:25:03.750 --> 01:25:08.140
a type of channel similar to mud volcanism. Then, over time,
1236
01:25:08.600 --> 01:25:11.239
repeated freezing and thawing caused the rock to break up.
1237
01:25:12.640 --> 01:25:16.199
One of the most recent studies published in 2015 in
1238
01:25:16.239 --> 01:25:20.500
a paper by V.S. Antepin, B.G. Pokrovsky, and A.M. Federov
1239
01:25:20.920 --> 01:25:24.289
concludes that the formation occurred from one or more explosions
1240
01:25:24.390 --> 01:25:27.170
of steam as magma moved up through water and rock
1241
01:25:27.619 --> 01:25:30.579
or when fissures released pressurized water trapped in the rock.
1242
01:25:31.399 --> 01:25:35.250
Little by little, experts are getting closer to conclusively solving
1243
01:25:35.289 --> 01:25:38.670
this puzzling mystery once and for all, if they haven't already.
1244
01:25:39.670 --> 01:25:42.609
Something all scientists appear to agree on is that there
1245
01:25:42.670 --> 01:25:46.590
is nothing like the Potomac Crater anywhere else on the planet.
1246
01:26:03.659 --> 01:26:06.500
Thanks for listening. If you liked the show, please tell
1247
01:26:06.560 --> 01:26:09.619
someone about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories,
1248
01:26:10.100 --> 01:26:14.340
true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do, and
1249
01:26:14.380 --> 01:26:16.140
tell them where they can listen to the show so
1250
01:26:16.180 --> 01:26:18.890
they can tune in next weekend. If you missed any
1251
01:26:18.930 --> 01:26:20.810
part of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear
1252
01:26:20.850 --> 01:26:23.550
it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in your
1253
01:26:23.609 --> 01:26:27.529
favorite podcast app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that,
1254
01:26:27.569 --> 01:26:30.609
you'll get a copy of tonight's show, plus daily podcast
1255
01:26:30.670 --> 01:26:35.060
episodes that come out seven days per week. Visit WeirdDarkness.com
1256
01:26:35.119 --> 01:26:37.520
and you can follow me on social media, drop me
1257
01:26:37.560 --> 01:26:41.159
an email, send me your own true paranormal story, listen
1258
01:26:41.199 --> 01:26:45.050
to other podcasts that I host, and more. All stories
1259
01:26:45.310 --> 01:26:48.609
used tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise,
1260
01:26:49.109 --> 01:26:51.090
and you can find links to the stories or the
1261
01:26:51.170 --> 01:26:55.409
authors in the show notes which I've already posted at WeirdDarkness.com.
1262
01:26:56.489 --> 01:26:59.899
Planet Werewolf was written by Leah Rose Emery for Graveyard Shift.
1263
01:27:00.770 --> 01:27:03.869
The Dark Side of Fairies is by Amber Foie for Rancor.
1264
01:27:04.689 --> 01:27:08.770
The American Stonehenge was by Mahai Andrea for ZME Science.
1265
01:27:09.649 --> 01:27:13.750
What Caused the Potomsky Crater is by Lachlan McClelland for
1266
01:27:13.829 --> 01:27:17.590
Historic Mysteries. And The Red Pen was written by Jersey
1267
01:27:17.630 --> 01:27:22.829
Beth for Paranormality Magazine. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark.
1268
01:27:23.310 --> 01:27:26.770
Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of
1269
01:27:26.810 --> 01:27:30.670
the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. 1
1270
01:27:30.670 --> 01:27:35.500
Thessalonians 4, verse 14. We believe that Jesus died and
1271
01:27:35.579 --> 01:27:39.100
rose again, and so we believe that God will bring
1272
01:27:39.180 --> 01:27:43.000
Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. And a
1273
01:27:43.020 --> 01:27:46.859
final thought. Sometimes we pray for God to change a
1274
01:27:46.899 --> 01:27:53.100
situation when God wants the situation to change us. I'm
1275
01:27:53.149 --> 01:27:57.409
Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.
1276
01:28:02.340 --> 01:28:03.119
Thank you.