“THE MOST FAMOUS GHOSTS IN AMERICA” and More True Tales! (PLUS BLOOPERS!) #WeirdDarkness

Listen to ““THE MOST FAMOUS GHOSTS IN AMERICA” and More True Tales! (PLUS BLOOPERS!) #WeirdDarkness” on Spreaker.

IN THIS EPISODE: America is full of creepy tales about ghosts that give us chills. We’ll explore some of the most famous ones. (The Most Famous Ghosts In America) *** In 1996, in a quiet neighborhood in Austin, Texas, something terrible happened to six-year-old Katherine Korzilius. She was a sweet girl who wanted to show she could walk home alone from the mailbox. But when her family returned from shopping, Katherine was missing. What happened to her? Was it an accident, or something worse? (What Happened To Katherine Korzilius?) *** It’s October 21, 1638, and the quaint English village of Widecombe-in-the-moor is holding services at St. Pancras church. But this Sunday will be like no other. As Minister George Lyde speaks to his 300 congregants, darkness engulfs the church, followed by thunder so loud it shakes the stone walls. Then, a fiery orb crashes through a window, causing chaos and destruction. Witnesses describe terrifying scenes: a man’s head bashed against a pillar, a dog thrown into the air by flames, and bodies burnt to ash while clothes remain untouched. What happened at this small town church? (The Scalding And Burning of 1638) *** Ever heard of criminals so clueless they seem straight out of a cartoon? From bungling burglars to comically misguided crooks, Some cartoon criminals will have you laughing and shaking your head at the same time.(Cartoon Criminals) *** Sin-eaters are described as people hired to assume the sins of a dead person by eating food placed near the corpse. Why did society feel the need for such a service and why would a person choose to accept a role which was viewed with such revulsion? (Sin Eaters: Saviors of the Walking Damned)

SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
My drive through Resurrection Cemetery: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/DriveThruResurrectionCemetery
“The Most Famous Ghosts in America” by Christina Chilin for Graveyard Shift: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y9bb4u49
“What Happened To Katherine Korzilius?” by Kelsey Christine McConnell for The Line Up: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2dmvkv4a
“Cartoon Criminals” by Jerry Aujla for ListVerse.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/24twwpay
“Sin Eaters: Saviors of the Walking Damned” by Miss Jessel for HauntedPalaceBlog.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/msusfx2n
“The Scalding And Burning of 1638” posted at Creative History Stories: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/wkvhn5jb
Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.

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“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” — John 12:46
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WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2024, Weird Darkness.
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Originally aired: March 29, 2024

PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:

DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.

INTRODUCTION=====

From one end of the country to the other, the United States is full of stories about ghosts that give people goosebumps. These spooky tales are about spirits that haunt old houses, creepy forests, and even famous cities. The Greenbrier Ghost of West Virginia, Resurrection Mary in Chicago, Jean Lafitte of New Orleans the Grey Man in South Carolina, and more. These ghost stories and others are just a glimpse into the spooky side of American folklore. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, these tales have been captivating people’s imaginations for years, reminding us that there’s still so much we don’t know about the world around us. We’ll look at a few of these famous hauntings – all of which are still, supposedly, active… meaning, if you visit, you might hear a strange noise or see a flicker of movement out of the corner of your eye.. and get those goosebumps all over again.

I’m Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

SHOW OPEN=====

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

Coming up in this episode…

In 1996, in a quiet neighborhood in Austin, Texas, something terrible happened to six-year-old Katherine Korzilius. She was a sweet girl who wanted to show she could walk home alone from the mailbox. But when her family returned from shopping, Katherine was missing. What happened to her? Was it an accident, or something worse? (What Happened To Katherine Korzilius?)

It’s October 21, 1638, and the quaint English village of Widecombe-in-the-moor is holding services at St. Pancras church. But this Sunday will be like no other. As Minister George Lyde speaks to his 300 congregants, darkness engulfs the church, followed by thunder so loud it shakes the stone walls. Then, a fiery orb crashes through a window, causing chaos and destruction. Witnesses describe terrifying scenes: a man’s head bashed against a pillar, a dog thrown into the air by flames, and bodies burnt to ash while clothes remain untouched. What happened at this small town church? (The Scalding And Burning of 1638)

Ever heard of criminals so clueless they seem straight out of a cartoon? From bungling burglars to comically misguided crooks, Some cartoon criminals will have you laughing and shaking your head at the same time.(Cartoon Criminals)

Sin-eaters are described as people hired to assume the sins of a dead person by eating food placed near the corpse. Why did society feel the need for such a service and why would a person choose to accept a role which was viewed with such revulsion? (Sin Eaters: Saviors of the Walking Damned)

America is full of creepy tales about ghosts that give us chills. We’ll explore some of the most famous ones. (The Most Famous Ghosts In America)

If you’re new here, welcome to the show! While you’re listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter, enter contests, connect with me on social media, hear my other podcasts including “Church of the Undead” and a sci-fi podcast called “Auditory Anthology,” listen to FREE audiobooks I’ve narrated, plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you’re struggling with depression, dark thoughts, or addiction. 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: The MOST FAMOUS GHOSTS IN AMERICA=====

The US is full of countless ghost stories and reports of paranormal encounters. From ghosts dating back to colonial days to ghosts from the Golden Age of Hollywood, stories can be found in all corners of the country. Here are some of the most well-known haunts that are still quite active to this day.

***The story of the Greenbrier Ghost begins on January 23, 1897, with the discovery of a young woman’s body in her Greenbrier County, WV, home. Andy Jones, the 11-year-old boy who helped with chores around the home, discovered Elva Zona Heaster’s body at the bottom of the staircase in the log house she shared with her husband, Edward S. Shue. Shue and Heaster had only been married three months when this tragedy struck. Initially, authorities claimed Heaster died from a heart attack, and Shue requested the coroner not further examine the body. Shue then dressed Heaster in clothes that covered her entirely, including her neck, around which he tied a scarf. Soon after, Heaster’s mother, Mary Jane, claimed her daughter’s ghost came to her and told her Shue had murdered her. Mary Jane managed to convince John A. Preston, a prosecutor, to look into the case. Heaster’s body was exhumed, and medical examiners discovered her windpipe was crushed and her neck was broken. Mary Jane insisted her daughter had been murdered after discovering Shue’s second wife (Heaster was his third) died under mysterious circumstances. Shue was arrested, and a trial was held. A jury found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison. The trial was considered one of a kind, and today, a highway marker in Greenbrier reads, “Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer.”

***The RMS Queen Mary has been permanently docked in the harbor of Long Beach, CA, since 1967. The ship has the distinction of being one of the greatest cruise ships built – and also one of the most haunted. Paranormal investigation teams from all over the world have visited the ship to investigate. Officially, there are approximately 49 deaths that occurred aboard the ship. Reports of scary occurrences have come from all areas of the ship, from the engine room to the swimming pool area. Many of the deaths were very gruesome. Two of the most famous include the deaths of crew member John Pedder and Senior 2nd Officer W.E. Stark. Stark, who died after he accidentally drank acid he thought was gin. Pedder, an 18-year-old fireman, was crushed by an iron mechanical door on July 10, 1966. Legend claims the ship was conducting an emergency drill in which the watertight doors closed automatically, and unfortunately, Pedder didn’t make it through in time. Since then, guests have reported seeing the apparition of a young man in coveralls near the door where Pedder lost his life. Odd sounds, lights, and cold spots are some of the many paranormal phenomena that occur on a daily basis aboard the ship. Visitors can join specific haunted tours aimed at visiting the most spiritually active spots aboard the ship.

***Pawleys Island, SC, is one of the oldest summer resort towns on the East Coast. Since it’s located along the coast, Pawleys Island is especially vulnerable to storms, and legend says the Grey Man has appeared prior to every major hurricane that has struck the area for the last 200 years. People who have seen the Grey Man claim he appeared dressed in all grey clothing and warned them to leave the island. The Grey Man’s origin is thought to be tied to a tragedy that struck a young couple: A young woman was waiting for her fiancé to return home to her, and while the young man made it back to the island, he decided to take a shortcut. Unbeknownst to him, the shortcut would lead him through a patch of quicksand, which quickly sucked in both him and his horse. His manservant was riding behind him and witnessed the incident but was unable to save him. The young woman was heartbroken. She claimed that one day, she was walking along the beach when a figure who looked like her fiancé appeared and told her to leave the island at once because she was in danger. The young woman and her family heeded the warning and went to their inland home. A storm hit the coast that night, destroying most of the homes but sparing the one belonging to the woman and her family. Since then, locals believe the Grey Man continues to warn others of impending danger.

***The Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is located near the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve roughly 25 miles outside of Chicago. The cemetery is the oldest in the Cook County area, and according to many, it’s also the most haunted. Visitors have reported encounters with a variety of specters, including a woman in a white dress, blue and red orbs of light, a man and his horse, and a disappearing farmhouse. The woman in white, in particular, has appeared in many visitors’ photographs, all of whom insist no one was around when they took the picture. Many theories persist regarding who she may be, but two of the most popular include a woman buried far away (but whose baby was buried at Bachelor’s), and the spirit of a hit-and-run victim who died close to the cemetery and was buried there. Some call her the “Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove.” The cemetery was in use from 1834 to 1989, and today it’s open for visitors from sunrise to sunset. Many believe the vandalism the cemetery has seen over the years has caused further unrest to the spirits there, making it a very active place of paranormal activity.

***While we’re in the Windy City… Chicago’s history is rich with dark occurrences, so it’s no wonder the city has plenty of ghost stories to go around. One of these is that of a ghost known as Resurrection Mary. Mary’s ghost is believed to belong to a young woman who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while she was walking home from a party in the 1920s. Countless people have seen her ghost along Archer Avenue in Willow Springs, an area about 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. Mary fits the hitchhiker/woman in white archetype: Legend claims that at night, she walks along the road in her white gown and asks strangers for rides. Those who pick her up say she disappears into thin air before reaching her requested destination. Some also claim they’ve seen Mary’s ghost in nightclubs on the Southside of Chicago and that they’ve even shared a dance with her, only noting something was off by her extremely cold hands. This has led people to describe her as having “cold hands but a warm heart.” Her name, Resurrection Mary, comes from the Resurrection Cemetery located close to the site where many believe she was killed. It’s also the site where she’s allegedly buried – and where she frequently asks drivers to drop her off. I actually took a short drive through Resurrection Cemetery back in 2022 and filmed it for my YouTube channel. I’ll place a link to the video in the show description.

***The Kimo Theatre can be found in Albuquerque, NM. It opened in 1927, and like many old buildings, it has been the site of several tragic accidents. This includes the death of Bobby Darnall, a 6-year-old who was visiting the theater with some of his friends. Bobby was at the concession stand when a boiler located beneath the area exploded, killing him. Since then, theatergoers and workers have reported seeing a little boy running around and playing pranks on people. Bobby is especially fond of playing tricks on performers while they’re on stage. To appease him, they leave out treats like donuts and candy. Tales of performances going haywire because people either take the treats or forget to leave them have become common over the years.

Another ghost frequently spotted in the theater is that of a young woman wearing a bonnet, who simply walks around the theater minding her own business. No one knows who she is or why she’s there, but she appears content strolling the halls alone. The theater is still in use today.

***Around the world, the word “Hollywood” conjures images of fame, fortune, and flashing lights. The actual Hollywood, however, has a long history of tragedies that don’t often get splashed on the front page of tabloid magazines. One of these tragedies is that of Peg Entwistle, and it’s tied to the Hollywood sign itself.

Around the late 1920s, Entwistle traveled to Hollywood with the dream of becoming a famous actress. The future seemed bright for Entwistle when she earned a role in the film Thirteen Women; however, a higher-up later decided to cut the part. Entwistle had been cast to play a lesbian, a very controversial role in the 1930s. Understandably, Entwistle was devastated.

On September 16, 1932, Entwistle climbed a maintenance ladder up to the top of the Hollywood sign’s letter H and jumped 50 feet to her death. The next day, her body was found with a note that read: “I am afraid, I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this a long time ago, it would have saved a lot of pain. P.E.” Since her passing, many visitors to the Hollywood sign and park rangers patrolling the hills have sighted her alleged ghost. Legend says the smell of gardenia perfume permeates the air right before a sighting. Those who have seen her describe her as having a forlorn expression, likely due to the sad end she met in the very place where her dreams came crashing down.

***The Bell Witch haunting has spurred people’s imaginations for centuries and has led to many movies and documentaries. The story behind the US’s most famous haunting starts with a man named John Bell and his family moving to a farm in Robertson County, TN, in 1804. For the first 13 years on the farm, the Bell family lived peacefully. That all changed in the summer of 1817, however, when the family began seeing strange creatures on their land and hearing odd noises in their home. The sounds reportedly escalated from bumps and knocks to actual voices that spoke directly to the family members. The entity would start conversations about religion and even predict the future. John and his youngest daughter, Betsy, were especially tormented by the entity, who came to be known as the Bell Witch. John would often hear the witch threaten him directly, while Betsy was beaten into unconsciousness. John died in 1820, and many attributed his death to the Bell Witch, who never stopped tormenting him. The entity allegedly came and went for decades, often letting the family know it would be gone for several years but would eventually return. To this day, the property is a hotbed of paranormal activity, with many people experiencing odd things on the land. Photography also shows odd lights, mist, and even entities that weren’t visible to the human eye.

***Kate and Maggie Fox were young girls when they moved into an old cottage in New York’s Hydesville Memorial Park in 1848. The cottage had a history of paranormal behavior, which pushed many families to leave. The Fox family, however, took a different approach. On March 31, 1848, as the sisters were going to bed, the knocking and bumping noises began, as they usually did. The only difference that night was, the sisters decided to communicate with whatever was causing the sounds. That night, the girls determined the spirit belonged to a man named Charles B. Rosna. The spirit was also able to tell them he was murdered at the property, and that his body was buried in the cellar. After that, they attempted to find Rosna’s body in the cellar, but flooding in the area made this impossible. The Fox sisters continued communicating with the entity and grew to become famous mediums. Many now consider them the first modern spiritualists. Decades later, in 1904, bones were discovered in the cottage’s cellar walls. Today, the home is open to visitors, and the thumping noises continue.

***Jean Lafitte was a notorious pirate who lived in New Orleans, LA, in the early 1800s. His smuggling operation catered to whatever his clientele desired, ranging from spices and jewels to enslaved people. Lafitte was well-known in the New Orleans area and often catered to some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the city. Lafitte also owned and operated a Blacksmith Shop that’s still open to the public to this day. Many believe Lafitte hid treasure somewhere in the shop, though no one has found it; this might be why store workers and visitors report seeing a pair of red eyes staring up from cracks in the basement walls and out of the fireplace. Others have claimed a full-figure apparition of Lafitte himself appears in the halls if a federal officer or a Frenchman enters the store. Lafitte is also said to appear in other areas around the city, including Pirate Alley near St. Louis Cathedral and the Old Absinthe House, where he made his notorious deals.

***Buckskin Joe was a bustling mining town with a population of around 5,000 during the early era of the Colorado Gold Rush. The town was home to various dance halls, saloons, and bars. According to legend, one day, a beautiful young woman dressed head to toe in black arrived in town. She sought out a job at Buck Bills Dance Hall, where her beauty made her especially popular with the dance hall patrons. It’s there she received her nickname of Silverheels, a reference to the shiny silver heels she often wore. Men from all over town would come to see her perform and try to get her attention. The town sadly changed, however, when a smallpox epidemic swept through the region. Silverheels stopped dancing on stages and began tending to the sick. The disease had almost completely finished ravaging the town when Silverheels fell ill. The only person she allowed in her home was an elderly woman named Aunt Martha, who helped her through her sickness. One night, after Silverheels was past the worst of the illness, she got dressed up and bid Aunt Martha goodnight. Aunt Martha was the last person to see her alive. Silverheels disappeared. The townsfolk organized an intense search, but no trace of her was ever found. Silverheel’s story continued, however, when soon after her disappearance, a figure began appearing at the Buckskin Joe Cemetery. People began claiming a woman dressed in all black would appear and walk from tombstone to tombstone, placing what seemed to be flowers on each one. They believed this could be Silverheels’s ghost comforting those who died from the disease. While Buckskin Joe is a ghost town today, the cemetery still stands, as does the story of Silverheels and her ghostly apparitions.

***The tale of the Pegues Ghost legend dates back to a bright night in the spring of 1862 in Cahawba, AL. As the story goes, one night, a young couple was out walking on the grounds behind Colonel C.C. Pegues’s home. As they wove in and out of thick cedars, a glowing white ball of light appeared in front of them. The ball darted back and forth, moving close to them before moving back. Curious and confused, the young man attempted to touch the light, only for it to disappear completely. Colonel Pegues was the leader of the Fifth Alabama Regiment; the sighting of this light occurred soon after he was killed in battle. Colonel Pegues often returned home to Cahawba to recruit young men to fight during the Civil War; some say the light may have been a warning to young men – like the one who attempted to touch it – of impending doom, or perhaps the spirit of Pegues himself. Eventually, Cahawba’s residents abandoned the area, leaving it a ghost town. Some believe the light and its sudden disappearance was a warning of the town’s fate.

Today, the town functions as an archeological park, and visitors from all over arrive with hopes of spotting the orb.

BREAK=====

When Weird Darkness returns… In 1996, in a quiet neighborhood in Austin, Texas, something terrible happened to six-year-old Katherine Korzilius. She was a sweet girl who wanted to show she could walk home alone from the mailbox. But when her family returned from shopping, Katherine was missing. What happened to her? Was it an accident, or something worse?

Plus… a church in England suddenly experiences darkness, followed by thunder, a fiery orb crashing through a window, and bodies burnt to ash while their clothes remain untouched. What happened to St. Pancras Church in 1638? These stories and more coming up!

STORY: WHAT HAPPENED TO KATHERINE KORZILIUS?=====

An essential part of growing up is gaining more independence. But a parent’s worst nightmare is when that exploration of independence ends in tragedy. Such was the case in 1996 for six-year-old Katherine Korzilius, a kind little girl in Austin, Texas who lost her life all too soon. The circumstances of her death still perplex investigators to this day—the mystery has not yet been solved.

Katherine lived in a nice neighborhood with her parents, Nancy and Paul, and her 9-year-old brother, Chris. Considering Paul was the manager for rock legend Jon Bon Jovi, the Korzilius family was well off. They never expected their lives would come crashing down around them one summer afternoon.

On August 7th, on Paul’s birthday, Nancy and the kids were out shopping for gifts. When they returned home, they stopped to collect their mail. From the communal mailboxes, Katherine asked if she could walk the rest of the way home. It was an especially quiet day, even for their calm neighborhood, and Katherine had made the short journey on her own before. Katherine wanted to prove she was growing up, and Nancy saw no reason to say no.

In their car, Nancy and her son headed off in one direction. Katherine set off to walk home a shorter way in the opposite direction. The distance between the mailbox and their home was less than a quarter-mile.

When Nancy and Chris arrived home, they set about putting their things away. But Chris soon realized he couldn’t find Katherine. Nancy sent him out to retrieve her from her walk, but he came back in tears, swearing he couldn’t find her out there, either.

The two of them checked in with their neighbor, who hadn’t seen Katherine either. With a bad feeling in her gut, Nancy continued her search and found Katherine just a few minutes later, six houses away. She was lying on the street, and though she was unconscious, she was still breathing.

Nancy was torn on what to do. She knew you were never supposed to move an injured person, especially if you were unsure of what injuries they might have sustained. But it was hot—too hot to leave a child on the pavement. She made the risky choice to get Katherine in the car and rush her to the emergency room herself.

At the hospital, Katherine was found to have a severe skull fracture and was put on a ventilator to keep her breathing. Unfortunately, she was already brain-dead. Her father, Paul, was in New York City at the time and rushed home to see his daughter. He was an hour late, as Katherine was pronounced dead at 11:30 that night.

The immediate assumption was that Katherine died as a result of a hit-and-run. But odd circumstances surrounding her death caused alternative theories to quickly materialize.

When Katherine’s body was found less than ten minutes after she and her family parted, she was discovered half a mile away, on the side opposite the route she was taking around the circular road. There were no skid marks in the area, and none of the neighbors heard any commotion. With the angle of impact, it would be very easy to see a child and slow down in plenty of time—at least in an accidental collision. Furthermore, the medical examiner ruled that her injuries were not consistent with being struck by a vehicle. She died as a result of either jumping from a moving vehicle, being thrown from a moving vehicle, or falling from a moving vehicle.

But whose vehicle was Katherine taking a fall from? And why was she in it?

The first theory was, unbeknownst to Nancy, Katherine had hopped onto the back of the family car to car surf. Under this theory, Katherine would have fallen off on her own as the car rounded the street. This would explain why she was found on that side of the circle, rather than her usual path. For Nancy, it also meant the horrifying possibility that she was responsible for her daughter’s death.

Private investigator Barbara O’Brian has some evidence to debunk this theory. For one thing, if the pavement was too hot to leave a child on, the car would have been too hot for anyone to want to grab onto. Katherine also had a splint on a broken thumb at the time of her death, which would have made gripping anything nearly impossible.

Soon a second more sinister theory emerged from the minds of the Korzilius family: Katherine was abducted and murdered. When a K-9 unit searched a vacant lot 30 yards away from the mailboxes, they may have found a vital clue to corroborate this theory. The dogs picked up her scent, which indicates that she started off down her typical route. The scent was lost, however, and may indicate where she was taken.

Nancy believes her daughter was deliberately staged on the street. She claims that Katherine’s hair was neatly smoothed down, as were her shirt and shorts. Her sandals were still in place, and even her toes were pointed straight. It’s as if someone left her there to be found.

After her death, Katherine helped save lives through the donation of her organs. To honor her memory, a mural was painted in her elementary school cafeteria, and her neighbors planted a tree with a plaque in her name. Jon Bon Jovi wrote the song “August 7, 4:15” to pay tribute to Katherine.

Today, signs line Katherine’s neighborhood declaring a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit.

STORY: THE SCALDING AND BURNING OF 1638=====

It is Sunday October 21, 1638 and approximately 300 worshippers are packed into St. Pancras church in the English village of Widecombe-in the-moor during the early afternoon.

The worshippers represent almost the entire able-bodied population of Widecombe. Only a few idle church dodgers, whose souls are sure to go to Hell anyway, everyone in St. Pancras’ church believes, choose to spend their Sabbath day drinking and gambling at a tavern just a few miles outside the village.

The faithful are there in church, as they are every Sunday, to listen to the sermon of their Anglican minister, George Lyde and to hear the Word of the Lord. Lyde stands at the altar, as he does each week, with his faithful wife sitting attentively in the first pew only a few feet away at the very front of the church. Little does he, or anyone else in St. Pancras that fateful afternoon know, but many there that day have only moments left to live.

Suddenly, right in the middle of Minister Lyde’s sermon it’s as if day becomes night and dark clouds blot out all of the sunlight outside and the congregation inside the church is bathed in darkness.

A contemporary report said that there was a “Strange darkness, increasing more and more so that the people there assembled could not see to read in any book.”

Then, in another instant, powerful thunder shook the church and the enormous stone bell tower of St. Pancras swayed from side to side. The same report from 1638 went on to say, “Then there was the sound of thunder…the rattling whereof did answer like unto the sound and report of many cannons.”

Dust fell from the ceiling and coated the parishioners in fine gray powder as the rumbling of thunder continued to rock the building.

Just as the worshippers were adjusting to the darkness and straining to hear the words of their minister through the booming thunder, “[A] great ball of fire ripped through the window.” The flaming orb flew around the church and burned part of the roof as it incinerated some inside and knocked others to the ground and flung still more against the stone walls of the building.

The minister George Lyde, though terrified by this vision of Hell itself just like everyone else, was unhurt but his wife at the very front of the congregation had, “Her clothes and her body burnt in a very pitiful manner.”

It was said that during the storm, as the orb of fire ricocheted around the inside of the church that one Robert Mead, a local warrener or sort of exterminator had his head bashed against a pillar that supported the ceiling, leaving an indentation that can be seen to this very day! His brains were splattered across the floor.

A dog was picked up by the vortex of flame, whirled around in the air as if caught in a tornado, and flung out the door where it died. Some parishioners’ bodies were incinerated in a flash, with their flesh burnt to flakes of ash, while mysteriously, their clothes are said to have remained untouched.

An eyewitness account reported that, “The extraordinary lighting came into the church so flaming that the whole church was presently filled with fire and smoke…the smell whereof was very loathsome much like unto the scent of brimstone.”

These words, written in the immediate aftermath of the Great Thunderstorm of 1638 sum up the death and destruction, the horror, caused by the event:

“Some say at first that they saw a great fiery ball come through the window and pass through the church, which so affrighted the whole congregation that the most part of them fell down in their seats, and some upon their knees, some on their faces, and some one upon another with a great cry of scalding and burning…”

In the immediate aftermath of the Great Thunderstorm of 1638 in England written accounts of what happened that day in Widecombe almost immediately began to circulate in the form of early 17th century broadsheets and were eagerly devoured by a newly largely literate public clamoring to hear news about this strange, and some would say cursed, event.

All of the quotes I’ve used thus far in this story are taken from a work entitled: A True Relation of those Strange and Lamentable Accidents Happening in the Parish Church of Widecombe in Devonshire on Sunday the 21st of October 1638 etc…” This contemporary report was published in London less than one month after the Great Thunderstorm and is considered, even to this very day by many historians and folklorists, to be an accurate eyewitness representation of what happened in St. Pancras Church in the English village of Widecombe on the afternoon of what has been dubbed The Great Thunderstorm of 1638.

In total, out of the 300 or so worshippers gathered in St. Pancras Church that day as many as sixty were severely injured and perhaps as many as fifteen, though no less than six, were killed as a direct result of the Great Thunderstorm. The large mostly stone church of St. Pancras sustained substantial damage with the roof of the building having been completely destroyed.

Today, many believe that the worshippers inside the walls of St. Pancras church were the victims of a phenomenon known as “Ball Lighting”.

Ball lightning is a rare, and to this day, a largely unexplained phenomena that is associated with thunderstorms in flatland areas of the United Kingdom. There is no largely agreed upon theory in the scientific community for what causes, or what exactly constitutes “Ball Lightning” although much of the science behind what it may be is quite complex and beyond the scope of this podcast or the knowledge of your host to fully get into. Suffice it to say that “Ball Lightning” is said to be a large flaming orb of energy that lasts much longer than typical, ordinary lightning which strikes spots on the earth both prior to and during severe thunderstorms but then vanishes in a flash. Ball lightning tends to linger and fly around and those who have seen it, say that ball lightning explodes after it has spent many moments hovering through the air (both indoors and outdoors!) and leaves behind a sulfurous smell once it dissipates. All of these characteristics are in line with the contemporary accounts of the Great Thunderstorm of 1638 as described by eyewitnesses.

And a natural explanation for the death and destruction wrought by the Great Thunderstorm of 1638 upon the unsuspecting parishioners of St. Pancras Church of Widecombe village in the English countryside is definitely quite probable, after all, Widecombe and the moorland that surrounds it is known throughout England as being in, “The Valley of the Thunderstorms.” If a historically destructive and “Great” Thunderstorm were to happen anywhere in Great Britain, perhaps anywhere in the world, it would most probably be in Widecombe.

But the moorland of the English countryside with its vast seemingly endless mossy rolling hills has been known throughout history for its eerie, almost supernatural, qualities. Ball lightning is said to have been the inspiration for the creation of jack-o-lanterns, and even today, many who travel in the moorland insist they see specters and spirits that are not of this world.

The somewhat rural and desolate village of Widecombe and its stone church of St. Pancras in particular is located at the very epicenter of this eerie and unsettling landscape. The English moorland known for its gothic setting has been immortalized in English Literature by such luminaries as Arthur Conan Doyle who used it as the setting for his classic Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles and even by none other than Charles Dickens himself who has an escaped convict in his seminal work Great Expectations rise up out of the moors as if he had been conjured by some witches’ black magic.

It’s no wonder then that a legend, which some believe to be true, surrounds The Great Thunderstorm of 1638 and the destruction of St. Pancras Church in Widecombe.

As legend would have it in the Fall of 1638 a local gambler named Jan Reynolds (or Bob Reade by some accounts!) made a deal with the devil that caused the Great Thunderstorm of 1638. Jan Reynolds (or Bob Reade whatever you want to call him) was usually one of those Sunday church dodgers that wouldn’t normally have been in attendance during a Sunday service at St. Pancras.

However, after a losing streak at the card table, Jan Reynolds said that he would go to church every week if only he could start to win at gambling to support his family, which he promptly started to do. But, since gambling isn’t the way of the Lord, in return for his good fortune Jan Reynolds made a pact with the devil and said that if Satan ever caught him asleep during a church service then he could come and take his soul.

Well, apparently, on the afternoon of October 21, 1638 Jan Reynolds fell asleep in church and the devil set out to take his soul. After stopping at a local tavern to ask directions, where a local barmaid reported she had seen a man with cloven hooves for feet, the devil set off accompanied by the Great Thunderstorm to fetch Jan Reynolds. It was reported that Satan entered the church in the form of what many might call ball lightning and that he snatched up Jan Reynolds and rode away on a flaming, flying horse, up into the cloudy sky of the Great Thunderstorm of 1638!

Today, at the foot of the large stone tower that’s part of St. Pancras Church in Widecombe, which still rises above the rolling flatland of the moors, are four panels, wallboards that were placed there way back in the 17th century that tell in detail the story of The Great Thunderstorm of 1638.

These commemorative plaques, a memorial to all of the victims of the Great Thunderstorm begin with a verse from The Bible, Lamentations 3:22, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not…”

Perhaps, the Great Thunderstorm of 1638 was just a freak historical weather event, a one in a million occurrence involving something as rare as ball lightning, or some other even more readily explainable natural phenomena, or maybe, it was the result of something more sinister, something unnatural and not of this world that may have, for a brief moment, caused the Lord’s mercies to fail…

BREAK=====

Coming up on Weird Darkness… Ever heard of criminals so clueless they seem straight out of a cartoon? From bungling burglars to comically misguided crooks, Some cartoon criminals will have you laughing and shaking your head at the same time.

But first… Sin-eaters are described as people hired to assume the sins of a dead person by eating food placed near the corpse. Why did society feel the need for such a service and why would a person choose to accept a role which was viewed with such revulsion? That story is up next!

STORY: SIN EATERS – SAVIORS OF THE WALKING DAMNED=====

The occupation of professional sin-eater was not one a person would take on lightly, so, it is no surprise that sin-eaters usually came from the lowest strata of society. Only those who had no other options in life and no other way to earn a living would accept a role that banished them to the edges of society, forcing them to live a reclusive life, reviled and feared by their neighbors.

Sometimes that fear turned to even darker thoughts. The nature of the sin-eaters’ work meant that they absorbed the sins of others and so, many people believed that with every act, the sin-eater performed they became “more and more removed from the hope of mercy”. Being damned and predestined for an afterlife in hell, hardly makes them the most sought-after company and in the minds of many, sin-eaters became associated with the devil, witchcraft, and other unholy practices.

The few accounts of the rituals relating to sin-eating are very homogenous in nature. The sin-eater was called in to administer the ceremony either when a person was moribund or had just passed away. Probably it was considered that time was of the essence, for who wants their nearest and dearest to suffer any more than they had to.

In all the ceremonies bread was used. Why bread was seen as essential to the ritual is unknown, maybe it was due to its porous nature which made it seem the perfect medium for ‘absorbing sins’. In any case, bread was either placed on a plate of salt and laid on the breast of the dying or dead person or handed over the body to the sin-eater along with a bowl of beer or ale (sometimes milk was used as a substitute). The sin-eater would then say a prayer or recite chants in which they commanded the sins to pass from the deceased into them. After which they would then drink and eat the bread i.e. to physically absorb the sins into their own body. Once the ritual was completed, the family would burn the wooden utensils and in that way rid themselves and their household of immoral contamination.

Minor details do vary. For instance, in some cases, it was said that the sin-eaters were forbidden to enter the mourners’ home and so the ritual took place either on the threshold or just outside the house. Sometimes the sin-eater was seated on a low stool, other times he stood. There are even reports that the sin-eater after he had finished was sent packing with curses and threats to never return.

For their troubles, the sin-eater would be paid a meager fee, little more than sixpence or if they were lucky thirty pence dipped in whitewash to resemble silver. It hardly seems worth it considering the heavy burden they had taken on at the expense of their own souls. Possibly they were more concerned with saving themselves in this life than worried about the next one or maybe they truly believed they were doing good. One commentator believed it was for the former reason,“Men who undertook so daring an imposture must all have been infidels, willing, apparently like Esau, to sell their birth right for a mess of potage”. Possibly spoken by an arrogant and self-righteous man who had probably never been hungry in his life!

How widespread was the practice of sin-eating? The earliest source for sin-eating comes from the work of the 17th-century chronicler, John Aubrey. He recalls how a sin-eater living along the Rosse road would be regularly hired to perform this service. Aubrey rather compassionately described the man as a “gaunt, ghastly, lean, miserable, poor rascal”. One other interesting comment that Aubrey makes is that there existed a popular belief that the sin-eater would prevent the ghost of the deceased from walking. Taking it at face value, it does appear a logical conclusion for a time when the belief that ghosts of tormented souls haunted the living, unable to find rest, was prevalent.

Sin-eaters are also mentioned as existing in Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and East Anglia, but whether or not these were isolated occurrences or indicative of a widespread practice is difficult to tell due to the fragmentary nature of the reports. In 1958, Enid Porter, a well-respected folklorist, wrote an article about the case of a female sin-eater who had died in 1906. The woman had become a sin-eater after ingesting a large dose of poppy tea. Finding her unconscious, her neighbors called the minister to perform the last rites and help her on the journey to the afterlife. To their surprise, she recovered, and now free of her own sins, she was able to take on the sins of others.

Apart from the interesting account above, most of the evidence that is left to us suggests that the practice of sin-eating was most common in Wales and the surrounding English border counties.

In the introduction to a biography on the Welsh preacher, Christmas Evans (1750-1850), Paxton Hood mentions the existence of sin-eaters in Cwmaman, Carmarthenshire. Paxton was referencing the minutes taken by Matthew Moggridge during a meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. None of the members showed any surprise upon hearing the news as the inhabitants of that region had a reputation for being rowdy, lawless, and ignorant. A row did erupt though, on the publication of the book with Welsh clergymen emphatically denouncing the existence of sin-eaters. One such denier was Canon Silvan Evans, the rector of Llanymawddwy in Merionethshire who stated that having lived in the region for years he had never witnessed such a practice or even heard of sin-eaters.

In volume 3 of The Mountain Decameron, Joseph Downes, a surgeon by trade, relates an incident in which a gentleman traveling through Cardiganshire, Wales became lost in a desolate area of countryside, Cors Fochno, near the village of Borth. Exhausted after riding around the large peat mire for hours, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the candle lights of a cottage in the distance. Going towards the dwelling, he witnessed a woman emerge and call out a name whilst from inside the cottage came the sound of weeping.

On entering, he saw a corpse of man laid out in preparation for burial. On his breast was a plate of salt and a piece of bread. Next to the body stood a man in the process of performing a strange ritual. Laying his hand on the dead man, he made a sign of the cross and prayed that the deceased’s sins would transfer into him in order for the soul to be free from the “pains or penances in fire”. After he had completed his task, the sin-eater came towards the traveller, and together they watched as the woman took the straw from the deceased’s bed and burnt it, a common practice in that part of Wales.

Later the traveller learnt more about the sin-eater. According to the locals the man lived in a hovel made from wreckage from the sea in an area between the sea-marsh and the peat bog. He ascertained from his inquiries that few were brave enough to approach the sin-eater’s residence by day and none by night “whether for the footing or the great fear or at least awe, which all felt of that recluse”.

There is a debate about whether or not Downes was writing a factual account or not, as much of this work is more of a literary nature. This together with the scarcity of primary sources has led to many doubting whether or not sin-eaters actually ever existed?

One of the main arguments made against their existence is that prior to Aubrey’s treatise, no reference is made to them. Many have surmised from this that Aubrey had simply misinterpreted an unusual bereavement ritual. In my opinion, the fact that there is no mention of sin-eaters before this period of time does not negate the validity of Aubrey’s report. It is very likely that they didn’t exist prior to the mid-1600s, but that the role could have been created during this time due to the social and political upheaval of a world turned upside down.

The first half of the seventeenth century was the scene of profound change for England with the execution of a king, the establishment of Cromwell as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland and then his death and the re-establishment of the monarchy. Aside from the political mayhem, there was also religious chaos, with the persecution of Catholics and the banning of Catholic religious practices and rituals. One of these rituals was the deathbed confession of sins and the giving of absolution. The removal of such an important function would have left many feeling vulnerable and terrified of what they would face after they died. People may have looked for another source to help them and so possibly this is why the role of sin-eater may have been created.

As to the denial of clergymen, that is also understandable. Sin-eating would have been viewed as heretical. Those involved would have been seriously punished. So, it made sense for both the clergymen to turn a blind eye and refuse to admit that they were incapable of stamping out such a practice and for those who believed and participated in it, to remain silent.

As time passed and society changed, the role of the sin-eater would have become less and less important until it died out completely. Despite this; there is evidence such as from Enid Porter (already mentioned) and from Shropshire, where a Richard Munslow was buried and who is known today as the last of the sin-eaters, that the practice of sin-eating did continue to some extent into the late 1800s.

In September 2010, an unusual service took place at St Margaret’s Church in Ratlinghope, Shropshire to honor, the sin-eater, Richard Munslow who had died in 1906. The ceremony was held to celebrate the restoration of his gravestone with funds raised by a local stonemason, Charles Shaw. The reason given by those involved was to ensure that an important custom was remembered, as well as to bring to attention the role that Munslow and others played in the religious history of England and Wales.

As was mentioned previously, usually the mantle of professional sin-eater was taken on by the poorest members of society; beggars, vagabonds, and outcasts of society but Munslow on the other hand was a respectable and prosperous farmer who owned a 70-acre farm in Upper Darnford. Hardly the typical candidate for the role of sin-eater.

So, why did Munslow become a sin-eater? His real reasons died with him and those who knew him, but one possible explanation could have been grief. Munslow lost four children, including three in the same week. Maybe fear for their souls or an attempt to ensure that they entered the kingdom of heaven was his motivation. In any case, despite his new role, he remained a valued member of his community performing a much-needed service. Part of the speech he used has survived, “I give easement and rest now to thee, dear man. Come not down the lanes or in our meadows. And for thy peace I pawn my own soul. Amen”. In his own way, Munslow protected his community from harm and saved those he cared about.

We owe our gratitude to Aubrey and Munslow and a few others that what was an important custom has not disappeared from the historical record. Personally, I am glad that sin-eaters are no longer needed today but as with all customs which have existed it throws an important light on the dark corners of our past.

STORY: CARTOON CRIMINALS=====

Dumb, cartoonish criminals have been around for as long as crime has existed. Some just aren’t cut out for a life of crime. Of those, some believe they still are. And when you live on that edge of being morbidly self-confident and profoundly oblivious, you naturally tend toward absurdity. Here are a few such criminals and crimes that are worthy of their own cartoon.

***I think we all know what bank heists are. But have you heard of one so underwhelming that the lack of effort begins to fall into the realm of comedy? Well… Edner Flores entered a bank in Chicago intending to rob it. He casually waited in line and produced a deposit ticket to the teller that read “No die Packs” and “armed” in poor handwriting. The teller, giving no care to the situation, continued with bank business as usual and politely asked the robber if he wanted to make a deposit or withdrawal. The robber, now lulled into his own demise, proceeded to scribble “$10,000” dollars on a withdrawal slip along with a gibberish account number before also handing the teller his Illinois state-issued ID. Why, Edner? At least make it interesting. Show them your professional calling card or maybe your gun—not your identification. Way to let down your fellow criminals! Chicago officers arrived shortly after because that stubbornly professional teller had also hit the silent alarm. You’d think Flores would have at least attempted to make a quick, surgical extraction from the bank after his debauched attempt at a life of crime. Not quite. He was still there, in front of the teller, when the cops arrived, so they arrested this slow-to-escape robber.

***When a criminal wants to hide, they will find an obscure hiding spot and wait it out until the coast is clear—as everyone knows, right? It’s what I’d do. Hypothetically speaking, I might have been in hiding before—not from anyone explicitly, just in general—but I can’t get into specifics “under the grounds that it may ‘uncriminate’ me.” Moving on, though, I’d like you to meet a man who did none of the above and took the definition of hiding very loosely. Liberty PD was looking for a man wanted in Missouri for possession of a controlled substance. He was right under their noses, but they couldn’t quite pinpoint him. That is until he let out a mammoth fart. He cooked up a stink storm so powerful that “they were able to locate and arrest the suspect after he passed gas so loud.” The real crime here is the cartoon-level disregard for himself and the enormity of his farts. Passing gas and law-breaking don’t really go hand in hand unless you’re this guy. Note to anyone in hiding: don’t reveal your hiding spots with high-volume methane loosing.

***I’m not going to pretend to know the ins and outs of criminal mischief, but to be both a clown and a criminal is a tough life. Maintaining duality of mind and context along with these opposite personas is not for the faint of heart. I only say this because it seems like this person on the list must be a low-end, last-resort-type clown. The story goes that a young man in the UK—apparently stoned—was pulled over by the coppers for reckless driving. This happened after a 35-mile (56-kilometer) chase when the police observed the driver dangerously weaving in and out of traffic. Starting the pursuit in southeast London and ending in Kent, the services of a helicopter were even called in. So what’s the clown angle? It turns out that when the driver finally stopped and was asked for his driver’s license, he complied and was then arrested. The problem was that the license was issued by Legoland. Evidently, the driver was the proud owner of a “Driving Licence,” an apparent card-carrying member of the “Legoland Driving School.” I guess that’s a step up from a license issued by the ACME Company.

***Sometimes hunger pangs can be unbearable. “So hungry, I could eat a horse” and “hungry as a wolf” are common phrases that indicate hunger. Here’s a not-so-common one: “So hungry, I could break into a store with my Ford Freestyle station wagon and eat a banana off the shelf.” Although rare, its usage has been traced to at least one person: this unnamed man on the list. At 1:48 am in a Connecticut gas station, a surveillance video showed a man drive up to the gas station and back into the store entrance a few times to break the glass. Then, with no attempt to conceal himself whatsoever, he got out of the car, walked into the store, grabbed a banana from the shelf, peeled it, ate it, and left. That’s got to be the most “cartoon gangsta” thing I’ve ever heard. Committing a crime just because you were craving a banana can be a cartoon sketch on its own. At least nobody was hurt, except for the man’s Ford Freestyle station wagon, which was left damaged and dented after the banana heist.

***When authorities in Louisiana went to arrest Justin Savoie for “suspicious activity,” he didn’t know how far the authorities would take their search. Of course, if the police are involved, you have to assume no stone will be unturned and no nook or cranny will be left unearthed—in a very literal sense. After the police uncovered marijuana and other drug paraphernalia in an initial search, they simply weren’t satisfied. So, like a dissatisfied partner, they stripped Justin down and went searching for the truth. Maybe they had the magic touch or something because, from his bum, out popped a loaded .25 caliber Titan pistol. He was sentenced to prison for that and other firearms found in his truck. Looks like the gun in his crack was special and was shown more love than the rest. Using your bumhole as a holster seems like a GTA mod or game hack. Maybe we’re in a game? I digress. By the way, the pistol was four inches long with a 2.5-inch (3.4-centimeter) barrel, so you can use your imagination there.

***Noemi Duchene and an accomplice posted up in front of a Texas jewelry store with a getaway vehicle ready to go. The getaway vehicle was a wheelchair, and Noemi was wearing a garbage bag on her head. We can already see this robbery going nowhere, but the duo pushed on, driven by some unforeseeable power of will. Noemi entered the store and attempted the robbery at knifepoint. Almost immediately, the clerk noticed the thief’s incompetence and thought, “I knew I could outrun her.” A Tom-and-Jerry-like chase ensued around the store, after which the thief was tackled by another customer. When asked about the incident later, the clerk responded, “You cannot be terrified when someone cannot run and has a black bag on their head.” Looks like the garbage bag made the thief less threatening. So, what would have been the slowest getaway on record was foiled by the real hero, the garbage bag. Seems like criminals are only getting dumber, and garbage bags are being abused. Another criminal in cuffs, one knife-wielding crazy lady down.

***A blue-collar robbery doesn’t need to be complicated. Cover yourself up, go in, make your threats, get the goods, and dip. A teenage boy from Florida didn’t understand that. He went in trying to rob the place; he ended up filling out a job application. Cody Conner went into an adult toy store one Wednesday afternoon, pulled out a gun, and demanded money. The clerk, Cheryl Hunter, instead offered him a job, and, after some contemplation, they both sat down to fill out a job application. Cody, play by play, you were doing fine. But with that last move there, you’re now a member of the “criminally challenged,” and there’s no coming back. Cody, now completely trusting the clerk for reasons that are unobvious to me, put his full name on the application and left. I take back what I said before; you’re not a member of the criminally challenged. The disturbing, lampoon-level idiocy displayed here makes you a member of the “criminally unqualified.” Cheryl then called the cops; they found Cody a few blocks away from the shop and arrested him. “I don’t always fill out job applications, but when I do, it’s cuz I can’t rob the place,” Cody Conner probably said in his head. Anyways, another criminal busted’ one criminally unqualified member recruited.

***Desperate criminals will try asinine things to get their hands on some cash. How asinine? Fifty-nine-year-old Mark Smith from California will tell you. Smith went into a bank and told the workers he had a bomb in his backpack and was ready to blow the place up. Apparently having no notion of risk and reward, the would-be thief demanded a grand total of $2,000. He could have just gone to a low-key corner store for that and had better chances. After hearing Mark’s empty threats, the bank manager politely suggested Mark take out a loan to help with his cash flow problem. In response, like any sane criminal, Mark waited patiently to fill out the loan paperwork. Mark, you just threatened a bank, its workers, and customers with a death-by-backpack-style bomb explosion. There is no chance you’re getting a loan from them. Maybe, you should have ended with “just kidding” and re-strategized when you got back home. While Mark was distracted with the loan, like a toddler with a rattle, the bank manager called emergency services, and they arrested this gullible thief. Mr. Smith, welcome to the criminally unqualified club, and congrats for being on this list.

***When criminals don’t think things through, we end up in a situation like this. On a summer day, Derrick Mosley from Oregon thought he’d have a go at armed robbery. At a gun store. With a knife. We see the paradox begin to unfold, yet we’re only helpless observers from here. Derrick, feeling unjustifiably lucky, decided to press his luck and brandish his knife at the store, which ended in a foreseeable, not-so-lucky outcome: with him on the ground taking orders from the store manager. To be fair, Derrick did try. He smashed a display case and took a handgun, but the manager immediately drew his own weapon and ordered the suspect to the ground. On his way down, he likely felt deep regret, heard the words “shame… shame” in his head, and felt the scorn of a thousand suns. Just speculating. Washington County authorities arrived shortly after and arrested his delusional self.

***One day, Ruben Zarate decided to walk into a Chicago muffler shop and rob it. Armed with a gun, he demanded an undisclosed amount of cash from one of the employees. However, there was a minor complication. Most of the money was in a safe that only the manager could access, and the manager wasn’t there. So he did the next logical thing. Ruben was obviously a decorated ninja-criminal five-star-mastermind man who leaves no trace behind—except for his calling card… literally. Zarate left his name and phone number on a desk and asked the employee to call him back once the manager returned. As soon as Zarate left, one of the employees called the Chicago police, who immediately got ready for a sting operation to take Zarate in if he returned. The employee was instructed to call Zarate back. Not surprisingly, he returned only to be welcomed by the police. After a brief shootout, Zarate was tackled to the ground and arrested. You can’t make this stuff up. This one is for the comic strips.

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! You can email me and follow me on social media through the Weird Darkness website. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find information on sponsors you heard during the show, listen to FREE audiobooks I’ve narrated, get the email newsletter, find my other podcasts including “Church of the Undead” and a sci-fi podcast “Auditory Anthology”. Also on the site you can visit the store for Weird Darkness tee-shirts, mugs, and other merchandise… plus, it’s where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, addiction, or thoughts of harming yourself or others. And if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell of your own, you can click on TELL YOUR STORY. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

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

“The Most Famous Ghosts in America” by Christina Chilin for Graveyard Shift
“What Happened To Katherine Korzilius?” by Kelsey Christine McConnell for The Line Up

“Cartoon Criminals” by Jerry Aujla for ListVerse.com

“Sin Eaters: Saviors of the Walking Damned” by Miss Jessel for HauntedPalaceBlog.com

“The Scalding And Burning of 1638” posted at Creative History Stories

WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright, Weird Darkness.

Now that we’re coming out of the dark, I’ll leave you with a little light… Psalm 41:11, “Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.”

And a final thought… “Sometimes it’s better to hit the DELETE key instead of the SEND key.”

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

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