“BIGGER THAN ROSWELL” and 4 More Disturbing But True Stories!

Find Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts: https://weirddarkness.com/listen. #roswell #extraterrestrial #ufo #aliens #flyingsaucer #blanchemonnier #elisabethfritzl #dollyoesterreich #stargate #cia #mindcontrol #truecrime #weirdhistory #horrorstory #truestory
Listen to ““BIGGER THAN ROSWELL” and 4 More Disturbing But True Stories!” on Spreaker.

IN THIS EPISODE: After the wealthy and prominent Blanche Monnier fell in love with a commoner, her mother did the unthinkable in an attempt to stop it – locking her in her room for years on end. (Locked Away For Falling In Love) *** A similar story to that of Blanche Monnier, is the imprisonment of Elisabeth Fritzl. She spent 24 years in captivity, confined to a makeshift cellar and repeatedly tortured – by her own father. (The Horrifying Case of Elisabeth Fritzl) *** Despite having one husband and two boyfriends over the years, Dolly Oesterreich continued to keep her secret lover hidden in her attic. (Lover In The Attic) *** TOP secret CIA files have emerged from the 1950s exposing the explosive truth about alien UFOs visiting earth. (Bigger Than Roswell) *** The Star Gate project. What was it, really? And did the government shut it down? (The Star Gate Project)
SOURCES AND ESSENTIAL WEB LINKS…
“The Star Gate Project” by Arjun Walia (link no longer available)
“Locked Away For Falling In Love” by Gina Dimuro for All That’s Interesting: http://bit.ly/2nDCz57
“The Horrifying Case of Elisabeth Fritzl” by Katie Serena for All That’s Interesting: http://bit.ly/2mc4h8M
“Lover In The Attic” by Erin Kelly for All That’s Interesting: http://bit.ly/2ooCN0h
“Bigger Than Roswell” by Michael Havis for DailyStar.co.uk: http://bit.ly/2mGGePD
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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT…..

Mysterious encounters with flying saucers and aliens… stunned witnesses describing strange crafts moving at high speed through the skies… others mentioning meetings with shadowy figures… or bizarre recordings of noises in space. Recently declassified documents detail a catalog of all of these events and more. If they are to be believed, the accounts are more incredible than the supposed alien crash near Roswell.

I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

SHOW OPEN==========

Welcome, Weirdos – I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you’ll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.

Coming up in this episode…

After the wealthy and prominent Blanche Monnier fell in love with a commoner, her mother did the unthinkable in an attempt to stop it – locking her in her room for years on end.

A similar story to that of Blanche Monnier, is the imprisonment of Elisabeth Fritzl. She spent 24 years in captivity, confined to a makeshift cellar and repeatedly tortured – by her own father.

Despite having one husband and two boyfriends over the years, Dolly Oesterreich continued to keep her secret lover hidden in her attic.

TOP secret CIA files have emerged from the 1950s exposing the explosive truth about alien UFOs visiting earth.

The Star Gate project. What was it, really? And did the government shut it down?

If you’re new here, welcome to the show! While you’re listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, my newsletter, enter contests, to connect with me on social media, plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you’re struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

Now.. bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness!

STORY: STAR GATE=====

“Star Gate” is a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) program which involved(s) the use of phenomena that many in the mainstream world still consider non-existent. Project “Star Gate” in particular lasted for 25 years before it was unexpectedly shut down. Much of the material and research from the program still remain classified. “Star Gate” incorporated(s) consciousness, paranormal phenomena, ESP, remote viewing, and more for intelligence collection and research. How can the Department of Defense have programs that study these phenomena for over 35 years when our mainstream world still doesn’t consider it real enough to study? I find the name “Star Gate” intriguing and wonder what inspiration lay behind the name chosen by those who initiated the program. It’s unfortunate that these concepts are not studied by major universities and our mainstream world, the significance of these realities can be far reaching. Having major educational institutions governing what type of “knowledge” is useful for learning isn’t fair. It’s simply a stepping stone for people to integrate themselves into a system that no longer resonates with the majority on the planet. As a result, extended human capacities, which are completely natural and lay dormant within all of us, remain unused, undiscovered, and not provided the opportunity to grow.

Star Gate was declassified in September of 1995, and the final report was released to the public which concluded that “a statistically significant effect had been demonstrated in the laboratory,” but that there is compelling evidence that the CIA set the outcome with regard to intelligence usage before the evaluation had begun. This was accomplished by limiting the research and operating data sets to exude positive findings, by purposefully not interviewing historically significant participants, by ignoring previous DOD extensive program reviews, and by using the questionable National Research Council’s investigation of parapsychology as the starting point for their review.

Although a statistically significant effect had been demonstrated in the lab, it was shut down because it remained unclear whether the existence of paranormal phenomenon, remote viewing, and more had been demonstrated phenomenon, because the origins and nature of the phenomenon remained unclear, assuming it exists, nor does it address an important methodological issue of inter-judge reliability.(1) It was concluded that even if paranormal phenomenon occurs under the conditions present in the setting of a laboratory, (which it did) conditions would still differ outside the lab and have limited applicability and utility for intelligence gathering operations in the real world. The review was done by a group of experts, one of them being Dr. Jessica Utts, a professor in the Division of Statistics at the University of California, Davis.

*****It is concluded that psychic functioning has been well established. The statistical results of the studies examined are far beyond what is expected by chance. Arguments that these results could be due to methodological flaws in the experiments are soundly refuted. Effects of similar magnitude of those found in government experiments have been replicated at a number of laboratories across the world. Dr. Utts*****

Star Gate, after a 25 year run was shut down due to it’s lack of applicability within the world of intelligence gathering. Most people these days know that the explanations for a previous, extremely classified subject are not always indicative of the truth. Could there have been another reason for the shut down? Did the US government really shut it down? Is there evidence to suggest that it was “shut down” for other reasons?

There is some evidence that suggests it was not shut down at all. First of all, these programs are called Special Access Programs, they are extremely classified and extremely secretive, the full extent and findings within these programs are not yet, and never have been known to the main stream world, but truth can’t remain concealed forever. They are so secretive that they do not even have to report to the congress, they are exempt. That means there is absolutely no oversight into these programs, no body has any idea about what is going on and who is involved. You can read more about the recent leak by Edward Snowden on the black budget here, it could be taking in trillions and trillions of dollars each year.

Another significant reason, some might call it definitive proof that the program is still running is the ‘whistle-blowing,’ of Ingo Swann. Ingo was the primary participant in multiple studies conducted by the CIA, NSA, the DOD, alongside researchers at Stanford University, on the subject of “Remote Viewing.” Remote Viewing is the ability of an individual to describe a remote geographical location of up to several hundred thousand kilometers away from their physical location.

*****The FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) resulted in the government’s recent admission of its two-decade plus involvement in funding highly classified, special access programs in remote viewing and related psi phenomena. First at Stanford Research Institute and then at Science Applications International Corporation (SIAC), both supplemented by various in-house government programs. – H.E. Puthoff*****

During the experiments, Ingo was able to successfully remote view the rings around Jupiter before the NASA pioneer 10 made a fly by of the planet. All of this is documented in the literature. What is not documented is the fact that Ingo Went on to write multiple books sharing is experience within the program. In his experience, he describes intelligence officers coming to get him, blind folding him, transporting him to locations that were underground where he would speak to another man in a suit. We know that Ingo successfully remote viewed Jupiter (as documented), he claims he also remote viewed the back side of the moon, and that who ever was taking him to these locations and interrogating him were astounded to know that he was able to see what he saw a the back side of the moon. That means they (men in suits) were confirming what he (Ingo) was looking at, and already knew of what he was looking at. You can read more about Ingo’s findings on the back side of the moon here.

Ingo expressed that the reason the program was declassified was so they (DIA) could say it was shut down and didn’t find anything worthy of use within the intelligence community. It was really shutdown and declassified so it could remain secret, and so they could say “it’s been declassified, nothing more to see here.” Ingo expressed that it was highly classified, and that they publicly shut it down because remote viewing and psychic phenomenon is one of the greatest threats to government secrecy. This seems to me to be a much better explanation of the apparent shut down of the program.

*****According to our best estimates, more than half of all U.S. government records are classified. For an archivist seeking to preserve and understand our history, that means most of our history is kept secret from us, think about that for a moment – Richard Dolan*****

Human beings are capable of much more than they are currently aware of. Many of these capacities (as illustrated earlier) still remain known, but hidden. Regardless, truth cannot remain concealed forever, it will eventually make it’s way out over time. What is occurring here are natural phenomena, it’s nothing to fear. In our not-too-distant history, exploring concepts such as these was viewed as a heretic act. Fear was used as a form of control, and people were taught to be wary of these concepts and stay away from them as if they were the work of something not so pleasant. The dominant ruler on the planet in these times was the Catholic Church, and it was common for them to ban and forbid knowledge that did not fit the accepted framework, worldview or paradig. Things are changing, and extended human capacities like ESP are beginning to be seen in a new light.

The implications of this are far reaching. From birth we emerge into a world with so much to discover. As children, discovery is the joy of life. That sense of discovery is taken from us at a very early age. We are placed into the educational system very fast and told that “this” is how the world is and what we need to do to be “successful” in it. This immediately shifts our attention away from what is really important, into a framework of a robotic like existence, trapping ourselves into a program and way of life that does not resonate with our souls, and is not in balance with our natural selves. In the mean time, we let our planet suffer, and let others live in conditions that nobody deserves to live in.

We can live in a world that is built upon cooperation, and service to others. Where all needs are met, and the enthusiasm of discovery we had when we were children is encouraged and extended. If we did this, the human race would be living in world of more wonder and potential, far beyond the limitations we put on ourselves today. The only barrier that prevents us from getting there is the place at which the human race chooses to operate from. We don’t have the best track record in using our ‘scientific discoveries’ to benefit the whole. The only way we can continue forward with our exploration beyond this point is if our intention for creation has the entire planet and every living being on it first in their heart. Technological developments must work with nature, not against it. The same concept applies to extended human capacities, and specifically the place to which we choose to apply them.

Using extended human capacities and new technological discoveries with the intention of doing nothing but good for the entire collective, would be a really cool planet to live on.

BREAK=====

Up next…

After the wealthy and prominent Blanche Monnier fell in love with a commoner, her mother did the unthinkable in an attempt to stop it – locking her in her room for years on end.

Plus, a similar story to that of Blanche Monnier, is the imprisonment of Elisabeth Fritzl. She spent 24 years in captivity, confined to a makeshift cellar and repeatedly tortured – by her own father.

And, despite having one husband and two boyfriends over the years, Dolly Oesterreich continued to keep her secret lover hidden in her attic.

These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns!

STORY: LOCKED AWAY FOR FALLING IN LOVE=====

One May day in 1901, the attorney general of Paris received a strange letter declaring that a prominent family in the city was keeping a dirty secret. The note was handwritten and unsigned, but the attorney general was so disturbed by its contents that he decided to investigate immediately.

When the police arrived at the Monnier estate, they must have had some misgivings: the wealthy family had a spotless reputation. Madam Monnier was known in Parisian high society for her charitable works, she had even received a community award in recognition of her generous contributions. Her son, Marcel, had excelled at school and now worked as a respectable lawyer.

The Monniers had also had a beautiful young daughter, Blanche, but no one had seen her in close to 25 years.

Described by acquaintances as “very gentle and good-natured,” the young socialite had simply vanished in the prime of her youth, just as high-society suitors had begun to come calling. No one gave much thought to this strange episode any longer and the family went about their lives as though it had never happened.

The police made a customary search of the estate and did not come across anything out of the ordinary until they noticed a putrid odor coming from one of the upstairs rooms. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that the door had been padlocked shut. Realizing that something was amiss, the police smashed the lock and broke into the room, unprepared for the horrors that lay within.

The room was pitch black; its only window had been shuttered closed and hidden behind thick curtains. The stench in the dark chamber was so overwhelming that one of the officers immediately ordered the window to be broken open. As the sunlight streamed in the policemen saw that the horrendous odor was due to the rotting scraps of food that littered the floor surrounding a decrepit bed, to which an emaciated woman was chained.

When the police officer had opened the window, it was the first time Blanche Monnier had seen the sun in over two decades. She had been kept completely naked and chained to her bed since the time of her mysterious “disappearance” 25 years earlier. Unable to even get up to relieve herself, the now-middle-aged woman was covered in her own filth and surrounded by the vermin that had been lured in by the rotting scraps.

The horrified policemen were so overwhelmed by the smell of filth and decay that they were unable to stay in the room more than a few minutes: Blanche had been there for twenty-five years. She was immediately taken to a hospital while her mother and brother were placed under arrest.

Hospital staff reported that although Blanche was horrendously malnourished (she weighed only 55 pounds when she was rescued), she was quite lucid and remarked “how lovely it is” was to breathe fresh air again. Slowly, her whole sad story began to emerge.

It turned out that Blanche had found a suitor all those years ago; unfortunately, he was not the young, rich aristocrat her family had hoped she would wed, but rather an older, poor lawyer. Although her mother insisted she choose a more suitable husband, Blanche refused.

In retaliation, Madame Monnier locked her daughter in a padlocked room until she ceded to her will.

The years came and went, but Blanche Monnier refused to give in. Even after her beau died she was kept locked in her cell, with only rats and lice for company. Over the course of twenty-five years, neither her brother nor any of the family servants lifted a finger to help her; they would later claim they were too terrified of the mistress of the house to risk it.

It was never revealed who wrote the note that triggered Blanche’s rescue: one rumor suggests a servant let the family secret slip to her boyfriend, who was so horrified he went straight to the attorney general. Public outrage was so great that an angry mob formed outside of the Monnier house, leading Madame Monnier to suffer a heart attack. She would die 15 days after her daughter’s liberation.

The story bears some similarities to the much more recent case of Elisabeth Fritzl, who also spent 25 years imprisoned in her own home.

Blanche Monnier suffered some lasting psychological damage after her decades-long imprisonment: she lived out the rest of her days in a French sanitarium, dying in 1913.

STORY: ELISABETH FRITZL=====

If you’re not familiar with the aforementioned case of Elisabeth Fritzl, prepare for a heart-wrenching, and gut-sickening story.

On Aug. 28, 1984, 18-year-old Elisabeth Fritzl went missing.

Her mother Rosemarie hastily filed a missing-persons report, frantic over the whereabouts of her daughter. For weeks there was no word from Elisabeth, and her parents were left to assume the worst. Then out of nowhere, a letter arrived from Elisabeth, claiming she had grown tired of her family life and run away.

Her father, Josef, told policeman who came to the house that he had no idea where she would go, but that she likely joined a religious cult, something she had talked previously about doing.

But the truth was that Josef Fritzl knew exactly where his daughter was. She was about 20 feet below where the police officer was standing.

On Aug. 28, 1984, Josef called his daughter into the basement of the family’s home. He was re-fitting a door to the newly renovated cellar and needed help carrying it. As Elisabeth held the door, Josef fixed it into place. As soon as it was on the hinges, he swung it open, forcing Elisabeth inside and knocking her unconscious with an ether-soaked towel.

For the next 24 years, the inside of the dirt-walled cellar would be the only thing Elisabeth Fritzl would see. Her father would lie to her mother and the police, feeding them stories about how she’d run away and joined a cult. Eventually, the police investigation into her whereabouts would run cold and before long, the world would forget about the missing Fritzl girl.

But Josef Fritzl wouldn’t forget. And over the next 24 years, he would make that very clear to his daughter.

As far as the rest of the Fritzl family was concerned, Josef would head down to the basement every morning at 9 a.m. to draw plans for the machines that he sold. Occasionally, he would spend the night, but his wife wouldn’t worry – her husband was a hard-working man and was thoroughly dedicated to his career.

As far as Elisabeth Fritzl was concerned, Josef was a monster. At the minimum, he would visit her in the basement three times a week. Usually, it was every day. For the first two years, he left her alone, keeping her captive. Then, he began to rape her, continuing the nightly visits he had begun when she was just 11 years old.

Two years into her captivity, Elisabeth became pregnant, though she miscarried 10 weeks into the pregnancy. Two years later, however, she fell pregnant again, this time carrying to term. In August of 1988, a baby girl named Kerstin was born. Two years later, another baby was born, a boy named Stefan.

Kerstin and Stefan remained in the cellar with their mother for the duration of her imprisonment, being brought weekly rations of food and water by Josef. Elisabeth attempted to teach them with the rudimentary education she herself had, and give them the most normal life she could under her horrific circumstances.

Over the next 24 years, Elisabeth would give birth to five more children. One more was allowed to remain in the basement with her, one died shortly after birth, and the other three were taken upstairs to live with Rosemarie and Josef.

Josef didn’t just bring the children up to live with him, however.

In order to conceal what he was doing from Rosemarie, he staged elaborate discoveries of the children, often involving placing them on bushes near the home or on the doorstep. Each time, the child would be swaddled neatly and accompanied with a note allegedly written by Elisabeth, claiming that she couldn’t take care of the baby and was leaving it with her parents for safe keeping.

Shockingly, social services never questioned the appearance of the children and allowed the Fritzl’s to keep them as their own children. Officials were, after all, under the impression that Rosemarie and Josef were the babies’ grandparents.

It is not known how long Josef Fritzl intended to keep his daughter captive in his basement. He had gotten away with it for 24 years, and for all the police knew he was going to continue for another 24. However, in 2008, one of the children in the cellar fell ill.

Elisabeth begged her father to allow her 19-year-old daughter Kerstin to get medical attention. She’d fallen rapidly and critically ill and Elisabeth was beside herself. Grudgingly, Josef agreed to take her to a hospital. He removed Kerstin from the cellar and called an ambulance, claiming that he had a note from Kerstin’s mother explaining her condition.

For a week, police questioned Kerstin and asked the public for any information on her family. Naturally, no one came forward as there was no family to speak of. The police eventually grew suspicious of Josef and reopened the investigation into Elisabeth Fritzl’s disappearance. They began to read the letters that Elisabeth had supposedly been leaving for the Fritzls and began to see inconsistencies in them.

Whether Josef finally felt the pressure or had a change of heart regarding his daughter’s captivity, the world may never know, but on April 26, 2008, he released Elisabeth from the cellar for the first time in 24 years. She immediately went to the hospital to see her daughter where hospital staff alerted police to her suspicious arrival.

That night, she was taken into custody to be questioned about her daughter’s illness and her father’s story. After making the police promise she never had to see her father again, Elisabeth Fritzl told the tale of her 24-year imprisonment.

She explained that her father kept her in a basement and that she bore seven children. She explained that Josef was the father of all seven of them and that he would come down during the night, make her watch pornographic films and then rape her. She explained that he’d been abusing her ever since she was 11.

The police arrested Josef Fritzl that night.

After the arrest, the children in the cellar were also released and Rosemarie Fritzl fled the home. She had allegedly known nothing about the events taking place right under her feet and Josef backed up her story. The tenants who had lived in the apartment on the first floor of the Fritzl home also never knew what was happening right beneath them, as Josef had explained away all sounds by blaming faulty piping and a noisy heater.

Today, Elisabeth Fritzl lives under a new identity in a secret Austrian village known only as “Village X.” The home is under constant CCTV surveillance and police patrol every corner. The family doesn’t allow interviews anywhere within their walls and decline to give any themselves. Though she is now in her mid-forties, the last photo taken of her was when she was just 16 years of age.

The efforts to conceal her new identity were made to keep her past hidden from the media and let her live her new life. Many believe, however, that they’ve done a better job of ensuring her immortality as the girl held captive for 24 years.

STORY: LOVER IN THE ATTIC=====

It’s not always the female who is kidnapped and locked away against their will. It can happen to the male species as well, as you’re about to find out.

The 1920s murder and love-triangle that involved Dolly Oesterreich is strange and sordid even by today’s standards.

Walburga ‘Dolly’ Oesterreich was a housewife in her early thirties, married to the owner of a Milwaukee apron factory. Fred Oesterreich was successful and worked long hours. But, Dolly had needs, and Fred was either too busy or too drunk to meet them.

One warm autumn day in 1913, Dolly found that her sewing machine wasn’t working. She called Fred to vent her frustration, and he promised to send over a repairman. The young man that showed up to fix it was 17-year-old Otto Sanhuber.

Dolly must have figured that Fred would send Otto over because she knew the teenager worked for Fred at the factory. When Otto arrived he was met by the alluring Dolly, wearing only a robe and stockings. Thus began a bizarre affair that would last a decade.

At first, Dolly and Otto conducted their relationship in the usual secretive manner; meeting in hotels to continue their sexual relationship. After a while, meeting outside the home became burdensome, and the two began having sex in the Oesterreich’s bed. Soon, though, nosy neighbors began asking about the man who’d been hanging around. Dolly told them he was her “vagabond half-brother.”

After realizing they were drawing attention to themselves, Dolly decided that Otto should take up residence in the attic of the Oesterreich home. That way, he’d never be spotted coming or going. Otto quit his job at the factory, and having virtually no family, began to spend all his time (not spent with Dolly) in his hideaway within the house.

But this new arrangement meant that Otto couldn’t ever leave the attic, or prying eyes would notice. He remained sequestered there and worked on writing pulp fiction stories that he’d hoped to have published. The Los Angeles Times reported, “At night, he read mysteries by candlelight and wrote stories of adventure and lust. By day he made love to Dolly Oesterreich, helped her keep house and made bathtub gin.”

For five years, Dolly and Otto carried on this odd relationship, with Otto living in the cramped attic. So when Fred informed Dolly in 1918 that he thought they should sell the house and move to Los Angeles, things could have gotten complicated.

Instead, Dolly found a house overlooking Sunset Boulevard with an attic and sent Otto there early, so he’d be waiting for her when she arrived.

And life continued on, in the exact same way it had been for four more years until Aug. 22, 1922 when Otto overheard Dolly and Fred fighting from his attic abode. He burst into the room where the Oesterreichs were quarreling. He was brandishing two pistols. Fred recognized Otto from the factory and became exceedingly angry. The two men struggled, and the guns went off.

Fred was shot, and Otto and Dolly panicked. Otto locked Dolly in a closet from the outside, taking the key and the guns with him to the attic. He knew neighbors would report the gunshots, and this way, Dolly would have an alibi: she couldn’t have shot her husband while locked away.

When the police arrived, Dolly indeed told them of a burglary where the robber shot Fred, took some expensive belongings, and then locked her in a closet before fleeing. The police were somewhat wary of the story, but couldn’t prove that it wasn’t true, so they released her.

Now that Dolly Oesterreich was a widow, she moved into a new house and continued on with her life. One would assume that she and Otto could eventually bring their relationship into the open, allowing Otto to have a normal life. But instead, when Dolly moved, her voluntary, live-in sex slave took up residence in her attic. Again.

Otto Sanhuber had managed to get a few pulp stories published, and with this money (plus a few nickels and dimes here and there from Dolly) purchased a typewriter to keep writing. All while Dolly managed to get herself a new lover – lawyer Herman S. Shapiro.

But, like Dolly’s first husband, Shapiro spent long hours away due to his profession. Enter Roy Klumb, another lover to keep Dolly occupied – though her use of Klumb might have been to help her get rid of the guns used to shoot Fred. Dolly persuaded him to ditch a gun for her, saying it resembled the burglar’s gun and she didn’t want to get in trouble. Klumb tossed it in the LaBrea tar pits. She then sweet-talked a neighbor into burying the other gun in his yard.

So when Dolly eventually broke up with Klumb a while later, he went to the police with the story. The gun was pulled from the tar pits, and Dolly was taken into custody. Her neighbor dug up the other gun and took it to the cops, but neither weapon could be tied to Dolly because the guns had corroded.

With Dolly awaiting trial in jail, she pleaded with Shapiro to “buy groceries for Sanhuber and to tap on the ceiling of the bedroom closet to let him know he should come out.” She also tried to tell Shapiro that the attic-bound Sanhuber was her vagabond brother. But starved for conversation with another male, Sanhuber spilled the truth to Shapiro about the nature of his and Dolly’s relationship.

Shapiro essentially told Sanhuber to get lost, and got Dolly released on bail. Apparently, the fact that she had kept a man in the attic was not a deal breaker, as the lawyer promptly moved in with her. All charges against Dolly Oesterreich were dropped.

That is, until seven years later when things became irreparable between Dolly and Shapiro. He moved out and told the police what he’d gathered of the crime against Fred Oesterreich. Warrants were (again) issued for Dolly and this time Sanhuber as well. A jury found Sanhuber guilty of manslaughter even after his defense stated that Dolly had enslaved him.

The trial became known as the ‘Bat-man’ case since Sanhuber had been kept in a secluded, cave-like attic. Nevertheless, the statute of limitations on the manslaughter had run out; Sanhuber was a free man.

Dolly Oesterreich went to trial on a conspiracy charge but also walked free after a hung jury. The indictment was eventually dropped in 1936. She died in 1961 at age 80, hopefully having learned a thing or two about relationships.

BREAK=====

Coming up next on Weird Darkness… top secret CIA files have emerged from the 1950s exposing the explosive truth about alien UFOs visiting earth.

STORY: BIGGER THAN ROSWELL=====

Recently declassified documents detail a catalogue of mysterious encounters with flying saucers and aliens.

In reports going back decades, stunned witnesses describe strange crafts moving at high speed through the skies.

Others mention meetings with shadowy figures or bizarre recordings of noises in space.

And if they’re to be believed, the accounts are more incredible than the supposed alien crash at Roswell.

A file from 1952 gives the sworn testimony of Oskar Linke, the former mayor of Gleimershausen in Germany.

He describes how he spotted two men in “shiny metallic clothing” – one of them with a glowing lamp on his body.

Next to them was a large object “like a huge frying pan” which – when Oskar’s daughter called out to him – they climbed into.

“The object rose to a horizontal position,” he said, “turned toward a neighbouring town, and then disappeared over the heights and forests.”

He added: “I would have thought that both my daughter and I were dreaming if it were not for the following element involved.

“When the object had disappeared, I went to the place where it had been.

“I found a circular opening in the ground and it was quite evident that it was freshly dug.”

The file notes how many others living in the same area later related to seeing a comet-like object at the time.

Another file from that year describes two “fiery disks” seen lurking over a uranium mine in what was then the Belgian Congo.

Both glided in “elegant curves” said an eyewitness, before coming to a stop mid-air and taking off in a zig-zag fashion.

Commander Pierre, who flew after them from an airfield in Elisabethville – today called Lubumbashi, sketched them.

And the airman – who is described as a “dependable officer” – predicted their speed to be approximately 900mph.

One more account from May of that year describes a strange object soaring over Barcelona emitting flashes of light.

The journalist who saw it, Valentin Garcia, said: “The newspaper office was soon flooded with telephone calls from people who had seen the object.”

Further sightings from different witnesses the following month describe similar encounters over Algiers in Tunisia, and Meknes, Taourirt and Casblanca in Morocco.

Daily Star Online contacted leading UFO sceptic Robert Sheaffer to try and secure a scientific explanation for the declassified files.

He said: “If you go through old newspapers and UFO books, you will find numerous sensational sightings of landed saucers, little men, etc.

“And none of them have ever resulted in anything beyond the original account.”

“No evidence, no follow-up, in more than 60 years,” he added. “No clear photos have turned up, and no artifacts.”

Mr Sheaffer, author of Bad UFOs, added “We understand much more clearly than we did 60 years ago what is wrong with uncritically accepting human recollections as being accurate.”

(Photos of some of the documents can be found by clicking the link to this story in the show notes.)

But what do you think? Perhaps we’ll never know. Or perhaps the truth is out there.

SHOW CLOSE=====

Thanks for listening. If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do! And please leave a rating and review of the show in the podcast app you listen from! You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren@weirddarkness.com. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find all of my social media, listen to audiobooks I’ve narrated, shop the Weird Darkness store, sign up for monthly contests, find other podcasts that I host, and find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on TELL YOUR STORY. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true (unless stated otherwise) and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes.

“The Star Gate Project” by Arjun Walia (link no longer available)
“Locked Away For Falling In Love” by Gina Dimuro for All That’s Interesting
“The Horrifying Case of Elisabeth Fritzl” by Katie Serena for All That’s Interesting
“Lover In The Attic” by Erin Kelly for All That’s Interesting
“Bigger Than Roswell” by Michael Havis for DailyStar.co.uk

WeirdDarkness® – is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright, Weird Darkness, 2022.

Now that we’re coming out of the dark, I’ll leave you with a little light… “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” — Hebrews 9:28

And a final thought… “Your worth consists in what you are, not in what you have.” – Thomas Edison

I’m Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.