“THE WHISTLING GHOST OF CALKE ABBEY” and 6 More Scary True Paranormal Stories! #WeirdDarkness

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IN THIS EPISODE: Nuns that meow like cats, people who can’t stop laughing maniacally, an entire high school begins twitching… even the Salem witch trials. Just a few of the 8 cases of mass hysteria I’ll be sharing with you. *** January 7, 1950, events began in what became one of the strangest disappearances of the middle twentieth century – the vanishing of a West Point cadet. *** Visitors to Calke Abbey have reported a strange atmosphere of sadness and foreboding and many have reported being scared by the sounds of a tin whistle. *** We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle – but there are strange, anomalies worldwide – and one in Russia is known as the “M Triangle”. *** As far back as the 19th century, a hairy monster has been frightening guests of an Irish castle. *** When living in a home built in the 1800s, it might be expected to have something paranormal living with you.

SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“The Whistling Ghost of Calke Abbey”: https://tinyurl.com/y53zgov3
“The M-Triangle”: https://tinyurl.com/y582ymo6
“Arkaim Anomalous Zone”: https://tinyurl.com/y465d3u7
“Hairy Monster Frightening The Guests Of The Irish Castle”: https://tinyurl.com/y5gbnbx2
“The Haunted Farmhouse”: https://tinyurl.com/yyncsbyo
“8 Strange Cases of Mass Hysteria”: https://tinyurl.com/y6ja9ezo
“The Vanished Cadet”: https://tinyurl.com/y4h8et3p
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OTHER PODCASTS I HOST…
Paranormality Magazine: (COMING SEPT. 30, 2023) https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag
Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors
Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio
Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead

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TRANSCRIPT:

DISCLAIMER: Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.

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…

Nuns that meow like cats, people who can’t stop laughing maniacally, an entire high school begins twitching… even the Salem witch trials. Just a few of the cases of mass hysteria I’ll be sharing with you.

January 7, 1950, events began in what became one of the strangest disappearances of the middle twentieth century – the vanishing of a West Point cadet.

Visitors to Calke Abbey have reported a strange atmosphere of sadness and foreboding and many have reported being scared by the sounds of a tin whistle.

We’ve all heard of the Bermuda Triangle – but there are strange, anomalies worldwide – and one in Russia is known as the “M Triangle”.

As far back as the 19th century, a hairy monster has been frightening guests of an Irish castle.

When living in a home built in the 1800s, it might be expected to have something paranormal living with you.

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: CALKE ABBEY=====
Calke Abbey is a run down stately home that is now owned by the National Trust in the UK. It is kept in the state that it was in when handed over to the NT and so visitors are treated to a glimpse of its former glories. It’s peeling walls and overgrown gardens paint a picture of the decadence of a former period and the harsh realities of changing family fortunes. The stately home was built on the site of a former religious house – Calke Priory – but it lasted only a few years and was eventually dissolved by Henry VIII. The estate was eventually purchased by Henry Harpur in 1622 for £5,350 and it stayed in the Harpur family until the National Trust began caring for it in 1985.
The son of Sir Harry Harpur, 6th Baronet, and Lady Frances Greville of Warwick Castle, was known as the ‘isolated baronet’. Sir Henry Harpur became the 7th Baronet in 1789. He withdrew from society, a characteristic which continued in the family for the next 200 years, and this rather eccentric and solitary nature has shaped the house you can still see today.
Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, 10th Baronet, was little seen outside the grounds of Calke Abbey. Much like his ancestors he preferred isolation. He was kind to his workers, but lacked in manners when it came to his own family. His passion was for collecting stuffed animals and when he died in 1924, there were several hundred specimens in the house. By the time the NT took over the house, many of its rooms had been abandoned for decades and they have been left that way.
Visitors to the Abbey have reported a strange atmosphere of sadness and foreboding and many have reported being scared by the sounds of a tin whistle. One account posted to Reddit describes the whistle sound and the creepy underground tunnels as follows;
Was in with my mum who can be quite sceptical and there’s a part that they have let run down on purpose. It was quiet so no one else was there in that part of the building and me and me mum heard the sound of someone whistling on a tin whistle type thing. There are some old kitchens near the end of the building and I was terrified and felt really weird to the point where i clutched onto my mum. There are tunnels there that are very creepy and we found out later monks were buried in the courtyard next to them. I was very creeped out and walked very fast through them and looked back to see a black figure stood in a pool of light, which my mum saw too. Very creepy.
According to the UK Haunted Locations Database, there are many ghosts reported in this old house, including a hooded monk in the stable block, an elderly man in a long flowing coat and footsteps in The Old Brewhouse, and poltergeist-like activity (including chairs being put on tables and people being slapped and pinched) in the Chop House. A figure has also been observed in the lobby, footsteps, an old lady sitting and watching visitors (possibly Nanny Pearce, who was kept on well after her duties with the house’s children had ceased) and a lady in period dress who was mistaken for an actress.
Very creepy place and well worth a visit…

STORY: M-TRIANGLE=====
There are many anomalous zones in various parts of Russia. Also, called the M-Triangle, Perm anomalous zone is one of the most intriguing places and home to several accounts of unusual and mysterious phenomena.
Most people who visited the M-Triangle often feel the presence of some energy force that can be either negative or positive.
Nearly everyone who visits such places experiences something odd, enigmatic, some presence of unknowns forces.
Though it is assumed that strange and unexplained events have taken place in the region for a long time, Perm anomalous zone was officially discovered in the 1980s. The zone is located about 10 km from the Molyobka village, which was founded in 1787. This “remote corner” is located at the confluence of the Sylva and Molyobka rivers. The area of the anomalous zone is roughly 70 sq. km and is essentially comprised of dense forest.
One of the first observations of an unusual phenomena was reported in the summer of 1980 by Pavel Sergeyev, a local resident who witnessed how an object fell into a pond. It must have been a rather large and heavy object because the waves rose more than ten meters above the water-line.
In October 1984, Emil Bachurin, one of Russia’s leading ufologists who passed away in 2009, observed a purple ball that suddenly appeared out of nowhere from the forest.
Soon, the M-Triangle became a a place of great interest for researchers, journalists and tourists interested in strange and unexplained mysteries.
People who visited the Perm anomalous zone have reported observing rare phosphorescence, mysterious dark figures, flying spheres, plant mutations, unusual phenomenon of freezing rain, sound mirages, coronal anomalies, colored lightning and a few have heard ancient choir singing.
There are no reports of disappearing people or objects, but watches do stop, and bright glowing and colored lightning often appear in the sky. Researchers think the unusual lights are caused by underground fractures where strong energy is coming up from the depths of the Earth.
Some scientists have suggested magnetic fields change the movement of the Sylva River, which then forms the mysterious triangle from all sides.
Russian researcher Nikolay Subbotin who has organized many tours to the Perm anomalous zone thinks many of the region’s anomalies are caused by electromagnetic energy that comes up from the lower layers of the planet.
“For example, take the effect of a “frozen sound”, as we call it. It happens as follows. You sit near a fire and hear a tractor coming. You wait for it to come into view but it never does and the sound subsides. Some phenomena cause inexplicable fear, when you walk along a path and suddenly get overwhelmed as if the infra-sound or some other thing affected your brain. You can come to the same place on purpose the next day and nothing happens. There must be something there, either of the electromagnetic nature or some invisible objects indeed,” Subbotin said.
People who visited the M-Trianle have experienced headaches, high temperatures and states of temper. Electromagnetic energy can also cause people to feel ill under certain conditions. For example, Scientist James Beal has suggested that variations in the Earth’s magnetic field can trigger responses in the nervous systems of certain people who are particularly sensitive to such anomalies because of quirks in their body chemistry. Both animals and people can react to electromagnetic energy.
Perhaps the strong energy present in the region can also explain why this place was sacred to the Mansi people, whose ancestors populated the areas west of the Ural Mountains.
It is estimated there are about dozens of anomalous zones in Russia. Another very intriguing place is Arkaim that remains a scientific enigma and anomalous zone where strange things take place.
This place is unique and surrounded by mystery.
Arkaim is one of twenty prehistoric sites covering an area that expands over 400 by 200 km on the Eurasian steppes east of the southern part of Ural Mountains.
It’s commonly agreed that Arkaim, a circular fortified settlement, roughly 150 metres in diameter, and related artefacts was built somewhere between 4000-5000 years ago.
Other sites in the vicinity of Arkaim, dated to 2300-1600 BC were discovered by aerial survey that definitely confirmed a great importance of this region of Ural
Thousands of years old legends and myths from the region of Ural Mountains and ancient Siberia say that Arkaim is not any ordinary place where people live. On the contrary, four thousand years ago, the local inhabitants suddenly abandoned Arkaim and the empty settlement burnt.
It was once located in the southern part of what today is the Chelyabinsk Region.
Arkaim’s circular fortification aligned with stars has even more complex structure than the famous Stonehenge but Arkaim is, in fact, located in a remote place of Russia and is not so well-known as the British stone rings.
It’s long been known that Stonehenge has and was built with astronomical observation in mind and possibly may still allow for observations of 10 astronomical phenomena using 22 elements, whereas some archaeoastronomers claim that Arkaim allows for observations of 18 phenomena using 30 elements.
This essentially means that certain events in the sky could be observed and tracked by using the site in particular ways and from different positions, and that Arkaim offered more observable events than Stonehenge.
According to Russian archaeologist K.K. Bystrushkin, Stonehenge offers an observational accuracy of 10-arc minutes to a degree, whereas Arkaim offers accuracy of 1-arc minute.
This precision was only recorded in the Almagest of ancient Greece.
Astronomers who carefully investigated the location of the Arkaim’s remains, found no traces of any earlier constructions in that area. The accuracy and complexity of Arkaim structure is a scientific enigma.
However, the strangeness of this anomalous zone does not end here.
One of the greatest puzzles regarding Arkaim is the fire which destroyed the prehistoric settlement. This prehistoric incident is very difficult to explain.
No reliable explanation was proposed regarding the absence of any human remains in the burnt place. The only possible suggestion could be that the residents already left the settlement before the fire broke out.
A number of professionals such as historians, archaeologists and ethnographers demonstrated their true interest in the anomalous area of Arkaim. The place has been visisted by thousands of astrologists, prophets, contactees, psychics and members of religious cults.
These people did not contribute much to the understanding of the Arkaim’s phenomena, but they did witness strange lights (not that of satellites) moving in the sky, mysterious light flashes, appearance of fog clusters and unexplained abrupt changes in atmospheric temperature.
People often start to feel not well in the area, reporting unexplainable psychic tension and disturbances in blood pressure, body temperature and changes in heart beating rhythm.
The fact is that Arkaim’s distant past is an unknown page of history and apparently, there are many secrets hidden in the prehistoric remains of Arkaim considered by many as “holy Arkaim”.

BREAK=====
Up next… when living in a home built in the 1800s, it might be expected to have something paranormal living with you. That seems to be the case in one particular New York farmhouse.
But first – as far back as the 19th century, a hairy monster has been frightening guests of an Irish castle. I’ll have that story when Weird Darkness returns.

STORY: MONSTER OF THE IRISH CASTLE=====
This mysterious story of a hairy monster that persecuted the inhabitants of an ancient castle in Ireland, became known in the 1930s. According to two ghost investigators, this story took place in the second half of the 19th century and was described in detail by Maud Fowlkes in her book “True Ghost Stories”, published in 1937.
As stated in Fouloukes’ book, Sir Reginald Span, a priest of the Anglican church in Arizona, was ready to vouch for the truthfulness of this story, as it happened to his friends who were vacationing in the picturesque castle in the south of Ireland, shot for the summer. ”
It all began with the fact that a certain Mrs. A. was sitting late in the evening in one of the rooms of the castle (the name of the castle is not indicated anywhere) in anticipation of the return of her husband. Suddenly she heard a knock at the door outside, and then there were loud, strange steps. Someone or something was walking there outside the walls of her room in the corridor or on the street near the entrance with a staircase.
The woman took a lighted candle and left the room. To her horror, she saw on the stairs a dark figure, which ascended upstairs to her room. Probably, the creature felt that they noticed it and it raised its head and looked at the woman at point-blank range, forcing the woman to freeze from fear.
This creature possessed a strong and hairy body, like a monkey, but its head was like a man, although also overgrown with long hair. For a few moments she looked at the woman with a rather malicious expression, and then suddenly disappeared, as if she had dissolved into the air.
But the story did not end there. A few days later the mysterious hairy monster saw the husband of that woman. It was inside the castle. At first he heard a terrible laugh, echoing through the old halls of the building, and then he saw in the shadows in the niche a large hairy monkey with a man’s head, just as his wife had told him before.
Apparently the man was able to better see the mysterious creature, since he described it in more detail later. He said that the creature’s hair / coat was a reddish-brown color and meeting with him looked like a nightmare from a dream. After seeing the man ran to his bedroom in horror.
For the next few days everything was pretty quiet, but then the creature (or ghost) returned. Mrs. A. at that time was in the living room and decorated the table with flowers. Suddenly she felt two pairs of hands lie on her shoulders. Mrs. A. thought that it was her daughter and turned and at that moment saw a creature towering above her, at least 6 feet tall (180 cm). It made a strange, ghastly sound and Mrs. A. screamed in horror at once.
When her friend ran to her cry, the creature disappeared also suddenly and incomprehensibly where, as in the previous time. After this incident, all guests quickly collected their belongings and returned to the US.
The explorer of the anomalous phenomena Ronan Colan, in connection with the study of this history, notes that there is an old Irish word “gruagach”, which can be translated as a “cannibal” “magician” or “giant”, but most often it is used in relation to a large hairy creature. And mention of this creature can be found even in the Norwegian text of the 13th century about Ireland. There it is mentioned that in Ireland people once grabbed a wild hairy man, whose mane grew along his back.
In another ancient Irish text, wild people named “Gelt” (Gelt) are described and how they appear. These creatures are men who lose their minds from fear in battles between clans. They run in fear into the woods and live there like wild beasts, avoiding communication with people. According to stories from the people, after 20 years in such forests on the bodies of these creatures feathers grow and they protect them from frost. These creatures can run around the trees as quickly as monkeys or squirrels.
Geltam needed for life only water to drink, water plants, to eat and bedding for sleep. More of them did not care and did not care. Since there are no actual contemporary meetings with the Gelt in Ireland, the researcher Kolan is wondering whether it is possible that the specter of such a creature was frightened at the guests’ castle, and not by itself?

STORY: HAUNTED FARMHOUSE=====
I grew up on a small farm in western New York. It was an old farmhouse, built in the 1850s. Weird stuff happened frequently. You’d set an object down, and it would disappear, only to reappear later in the same place. Being a farm, we had a lot of animals, particularly cats and dogs. The cats would often watch something we couldn’t see moving around the room, and sometimes they would hiss at nothing. My little sister and I had a lot of frightening experiences over the years.
Something often came into our room at night. I once heard it slowly climb up the stairs, then a figure looked around my door but quickly retreated when it saw me looking at it. My sister said she often felt something settle at the foot of her bed, like an adult was sitting there. Sometimes she could see the silhouette of an old man. We often wondered if it was our grandfather since she didn’t remember feeling frightened by the presence.
I remember very clearly waking up early when I was about 13. I don’t remember where my sister was, but I was alone in the room. This would have been maybe 5:30 in the morning, and the sun was just starting to rise. My cat was howling, and I mean HOWLING. He was normally really sweet and relaxed, but he was freaking out, running between me and the door and meowing his head off. Finally he just bolted out the door and ran downstairs.
I shrugged it off and rolled over, trying to go back to sleep. I could feel something wasn’t right, and turned back toward the door to see what was up. Standing on the other side of the room was a white female figure. I couldn’t see her face, but I could make out her long hair and body. We just sat there staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally, I heard people starting to move around downstairs, and the figure disappeared.
We also used to have a German shepherd named Jasmine. She was a ferocious guard dog, and if she heard or smelled anything out of place, she would bark to be let out. One day, I was upstairs in my bedroom, and I heard Jasmine start barking. I went downstairs to let her out, expecting her to be waiting by the door, only she wasn’t. She was standing in the living room, barking and growling at thin air. I asked her if she wanted to go outside, but she totally ignored me and kept barking at whatever it was she saw. When she finally stopped, she looked at me and was completely perplexed.
If I was ever home alone in the middle of the day, I’d always hear voices from downstairs, usually male voices. I’d go down, thinking maybe someone had stopped by, but I wouldn’t see anyone and the voices would stop.
One night, I woke up (I’m a very light sleeper) and turned over so I was looking toward my sister’s side of the room. I saw a little girl standing there, and it definitely wasn’t my sister. For one thing, I could see my sister sleeping soundly in her bed. This girl had thick, wild hair that went down to her waist, and she was standing there, arms hanging out to the side, like she was ready to pounce. I quickly turned the light on, but couldn’t see anyone, or anything that would have cast such a distinct shadow. The next morning I woke up to my sister freaking out because all of her horse pictures had been torn off the walls.
In addition to that, several years after this particular incident, the people who previously owned our house dropped by to talk to my mom. They asked her if anyone had seen the little girl who haunted the house.
Another time I had this really vivid nightmare about zombies. I was surrounded and they started pulling at me, only I woke up and I could still see them. They were in my room, crawling over my bed, grabbing at me. I turned on my light and blinked frantically until they disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up. Not four feet away, a black mass was hovering. It shot into my closet when I looked directly at it.
A few years after that, I was home alone on a very dark, winter night. I was sitting on the couch reading a book. My sister’s cat, Stormy, was laying on top of the recliner, drifting off to sleep. Then, I saw a grayish figure walk through the living room and into my parents’ room. I might have thought I imagined it, except Stormy had watched it, too, and her eyes were glued to the spot where it disappeared.
When I was 16-17, my parents decided to remodel their bedroom. When they started breaking down the wall in their closet, they found a bible. We think it was written in German, and the weird thing was it looked singed around the edges. We knew there had been a fire in the home many years ago. My parents wanted to keep the bible out, but I insisted they replace it. They listened, but I think the damage was done.
My sister and I didn’t get much sleep until they finished the remodel. We kept waking up scared, and both of us were having nightmares. Sometimes we would hear noises during the night, like whispering or footsteps. Then, we started waking up with injuries we couldn’t account for. Finger-shaped bruises appeared on our wrists, I had a long burn running down my face, and my sister had three deep scratches on her chest. Once the construction stopped, things calmed down for the most part, but we would still hear footsteps when we were alone in the house, and I often heard my name being called.
I have since moved out of the house. My sister still lives there, but refuses to talk about the things we experienced.”

BREAK=====
When Weird Darkness returns: January 7, 1950, events began in what became one of the strangest missing persons cases on record. How does a cadet in one of the – if not THE – most prestigious military school in the world, simply disappear? We’ll look at the mystery of the Vanishing West Point Cadet, up next.

STORY: THE VANISHED CADET=====
January 7, 1950, events began in what became one of the strangest disappearances of the middle twentieth century – the vanishing of a West Point cadet named Richard Colvin Cox. As far as anyone could tell, he vanished without a trace while still on the grounds of the legendary military academy, creating a mystery still remains unsolved. To this day, he is the only West Point cadet that vanished and was never found – dead or alive.
West Point, America’s most esteemed military academy, is located on the banks of the Hudson River, about fifty miles from New York City. It is an impressive gothic-like fortress with slit windows, turrets, and stone walls that give the impression of it being an impregnable place. The academy has a rich history and, in addition, has provided America’s armies with its top commanders, as well as a number of notable personalities, including Federal and Confederate Civil War officers like Grant, Lee, Hood, Jackson, Longstreet, Sheridan, Sherman and Stuart; George Armstrong Custer; John J. Pershing; Dwight D. Eisenhower; Douglas MacArthur; and many others.
Still, it must be pointed out that many of the young men and women who manage to get into West Point, have doubts about their decision during the first year. During that time, first year students are known as “plebes,” the lowest of the low. Hazing by upperclassmen is rough and old-fashioned, as are the scholastic and psychological approaches of the academy. The purpose of West Point has always been to mold young people into field commander potential and the idea behind hazing has been an effort to blot out a cadet’s past personality and turn them into West Pointers. Every once in a while, a cadet finds himself or herself unable to bear the pressure and occasionally, a plebe – or even an upperclassmen – goes absent without leave from West Point. However, the tradition and honor code of the academy usually brings them back again, ashamed and penitent. Oddly enough, West Point, usually rigid and severe, has always maintained sympathy for such cases and while a punishment is always meted out, cadets are almost always welcome back into the fold.
In 1950, one cadet who successfully weathered the stress of his plebe year at West Point was a young man named Richard Colvin Cox. He was twenty-one years old, with blue eyes, a fair complexion, and light brown, close-cropped hair. Instructors and fellow classmen later recalled that Cox was morose during his first year, but not unusually so. The moods had not affected his studies and he rated in the upper third of his class. All in all, he seemed to be shaping up into top officer material.
Cox was an exceptional student and a promising young man. He grew up in Mansfield, Ohio, with his widowed mother, two brothers and four sisters. He had been an excellent student and the star of his high school swimming team. He had also been the president of his senior class and a member of the National Honor Society, which required good character as well as good grades. Although regarded as shy, Cox began dating Betty Timmons in high school. By the time that he reached West Point, the two were engaged. Cox spent his 1949 Christmas leave in Mansfield, where he and Betty had been inseparable. They talked constantly of their future together.
Dick had always dreamed of being an Army officer. He was in high school during most of World War II and he enlisted in the Army as soon as he graduated in June 1945. After training in Kentucky, he was assigned to the 27th Constabulary Division, a military police unit in Germany, which had recently surrendered. His unit, located in Coburg, Germany, was assigned to patrol the newly created border between East and West Germany. He took to Army life and spent his free time sightseeing and playing basketball on the Army team. He was an outstanding soldier and rose quickly to the rank of four-stripe sergeant. Cox began thinking of West Point and took the competitive exam for the Point. While he was waiting for the results, he received word from his mother. She had applied for a political appointment for him to West Point and had succeeded on getting it for him. This irritated Cox. He had wanted to get into the academy on his own merits, but as his friends told him, at least he would be able to attend. Cox accepted the appointment and arrived at West Point in September 1948.
Nothing especially remarkable occurred to Richard Cox during his first year at West Point. Already familiar with Army life, he found the regimen at the academy not too difficult. He suffered through his share of hazing, just like the other plebes, and went through a period of depression that was noted by his classmates and instructors, but never seemed to have any thoughts of quitting.
In September 1949, as his second year began, Cox was established in Room 1943 of the North Barracks. He shared the space with Cadets Joseph Urschell and Deane Welch and seemed happy to be back at West Point.
When he returned home to Mansfield for Christmas, he took with him two suits of civilian clothing, as cadets were permitted to do. Free of his uniform for a time, he slipped easily into civilian life. He and Betty Timmons at one point talked of eloping, apparently considering it rather seriously. But to do so meant expulsion from West Point, since cadets weren’t allowed to marry, and perhaps even the end of his military career. Cox – or perhaps Betty – thought about this dire penalty and the subject of elopement was dropped.
Cox returned to West Point on January 2, 1950 and the first week back from vacation passed uneventfully. Then on January 7, the first odd – and still unexplained – event occurred in the case. Peter C. Hains was the Cadet in Charge of Quarters at North Barracks on that Saturday afternoon. At around 4:45 p.m., the B Company telephone rang. Hains answered it and a rough man’s voice demanded to know if a fellow named Dick Cox was in the company. Hains replied that yes, Dick Cox was in B Company and the man said, “Well, look. When he comes in, tell him to come down to the hotel. Tell him George called. We knew each other in Germany. Tell him I’m a friend who wants to buy him dinner.”
When questioned later, Hains couldn’t remember much about the call, only that the man said his name was George. He was unsure if it was the man’s first name or last name. There was, however, no question about the hotel. It could only be the Hotel Thayer, which was about a half mile from the West Point grounds. By the academy’s rules, this was the only place other than the mess hall where Cox or any other cadet could eat a meal. Even so, any cadet who wanted to eat at the hotel needed a special dinner privilege pass to leave the grounds.
Several minutes after Hains took the call, Richard Cox walked past him. Informed of the call, Cox looked bewildered. He had no idea who “George” might be and couldn’t remember meeting anyone by that name in Germany. Finally, Cox shrugged off the message and went upstairs to his room.
About 45 minutes after the mysterious telephone call, a man who was about six feet tall, hatless and wearing a tightly-belted trench coat, walked into Grant Hall and asked to see Richard Cox. Visitors who come to West Point to see a cadet must come through the hall, a large lounge that was decorated with an impressive array of paintings and divisional insignia. Visitors were to give the name of the cadet that they wished to see and the cadet was informed. If he was free, he reported to greet the visitor at Grant Hall.
Cadet Officer of the Guard Mauro Maresca was on duty that evening and he remembered the man as having blond hair and a lightly tanned face, which was unusual in New York in January. However, Maresca did not ask the man his name, he merely relayed word to Cox that he had a visitor. A few minutes later, Dick entered Grant Hall. He hung his long gray dress overcoat on a rack, as cadets were required to do, and then presented himself to Maresca. The Officer of the Guard called out Cox’s name and the blond visitor stepped forward.
Cox recognized the man and they shook hands. Maresca later remembered that they seemed glad to see each other and after a few minutes, they walked over to the coat rack. While Cox was putting on his coat, the visitor kidded him about how he looked in his uniform. Before leaving Grant Hall, Cox signed out on a dinner pass or DP, which would allow him to dine at the Hotel Thayer. But apparently, he never went there. His DP was signed at 5:30 p.m. and by 7:00 p.m., Cox was back in North Barracks. This would have hardly have given him time to reach the Thayer, let alone eat one of the leisurely meals that the hotel’s dining room was known for, and return to the barracks.
Nor did anyone recall seeing Cox at the Thayer that night. The hotel had two small dining rooms with about thirty tables in each one. No one, not a staff member or another cadet, saw Cox in the restaurant that night.
There was one thing off about Cox when he returned to the barracks the night – he was slightly drunk. This was a foolish and dangerous state for a cadet to be seen in at West Point. He got away with it, though, and when he reached his room he changed out of his uniform and into a sweatshirt and running pants. Then he picked up a book and began to study. When his two roommates came in at about 10:30 p.m., he was asleep with a textbook in his hands.
The curious events of January 7 did not end with the arrival of Cox’s roommates.
A few moments after they walked in the door, the bugle sounded for lights out, startling Cox out of his sleep. He leapt hysterically to his feet, not seeming to realize where he was or who was in the room with him. Incoherent, he ran out of the room before his surprised roommates could restrain him. In the hallway, he leaned over the stairwell and shouted words that sounded like, “Is Alice down there?”
Alice? His roommates had never heard him mention a girl with that name. Later, a suggestion was made that Cox actually yelled, “Alles kaput,” which translates to “All is over!” This might have made more sense, given the events that were still to come.
Cadet Urschell led Cox back into Room 1943, asking him who Alice was. Cox shook his head, unable to explain his bizarre behavior. He collapsed onto his bed, not turning down the covers or undressing, and was immediately asleep again.
The next morning, Cox didn’t speak about anyone named Alice, but he was anxious to tell his friends about the previous night’s visitor. He explained that the man had been in his outfit in Germany and before that, was an Army Ranger. They had not been close friends – Cox considered the man to be quite morbid – and he had had a few drinks the night before, refusing to let Dick out of the car until he had some, too. He told his friends that the man spun terrible stories of his exploits when he was a Ranger, talking of cutting and emasculating Germans and that he’d lived with a girl in Germany, gotten her pregnant and killed her.
Welch and Urschell were as bothered by the stories as Cox seemed to be. He finished the account by expressing his dislike for “George.” He was always boasting, bragging all the time, he said, and he hoped that he would not return to visit again.
Unfortunately, George came back again around noon the next day, and once again, Cox went to meet him. He told Urschell and Welch that he would be back in about two hours, all the while complaining bitterly about the time that George was wasting and speaking again of his dislike for the man. He further characterized him as sadistic, strange and highly strung. He walked away muttering that he hoped to never see the man again.
To Urschell and Welch, Cox didn’t seem to fear his visitor. The mysterious George rated no higher than a nuisance. They attributed the fact that Cox went to meet him two times to mid-winter boredom. After enjoying himself during the holidays, Cox was finding it difficult to adjust to the rigid life of the Point again. Even an unwanted visitor like George offered a distraction from day-to-day life.
In the week that followed, Cox continued to make disparaging comments about George. Urschell and Welch could never remember if they asked Cox about Alice again, but they did recall that, back in December, about two weeks before going home to Ohio, Dick had written a letter to a young woman whom he had met in Germany. Without asking him directly, his roommates assumed this girl’s name was Alice.
On Saturday, January 14 – a week after George’s first appearance – Cox and Welch went together to watch the Army basketball team play against Rutgers. After the game, they walked back to North Barracks. Near the east entrance, Cox told Welch that he wanted to look at his grades, which each Saturday were posted near the company barracks. The two cadets parted ways.
It was later discovered that, just moments later, Cox met with a man who seemed to be waiting for him near the east entrance. It was assumed that this was George, but according to Cadet John Samotis, who witnessed Cox walk up to him, the man was short, had dark hair and was lighter than George. He also wore a trench coat, but it hung casually open.
Cox returned to Room 1943 about twenty minutes after Welch and again informed his roommates that he was going to have dinner with a “friend.” They assumed that he meant George, although he never stated that. He said that he would be back around 9:30 p.m.
Cox left the room at 5:45 p.m. and he took no money with him. In his room, he left behind $60 in cash and $45 in checks. Over his dress gray uniform, he put on his regulation long gray overcoat, which made him a conspicuous figure and one that would have been remembered if he was seen on the street. Unfortunately, though, no one remembered him and it was in this recognizable uniform that Cox vanished.
He did not go to the Hotel Thayer, for no one who dined there that night remembered seeing him. He did not return to the barracks that night, as required by regulations, and his bed was empty at 1:00 a.m. during the final check. The next morning, Cadets Urschell and Welch nervously appeared before the Provost Marshal to report their roommate missing.
Cadet Richard Cox became permanently absent without leave.
What happened to Richard Cox that night is unknown. If he left West Point by automobile, then he would have had to have been in the trunk, because cars were inspected when they exited through the gates. A young man in a West Point uniform would have attracted attention and Cox had to have been in uniform since his two civilian suits were still hanging in his closet. If Cox had been sneaking out, he could have climbed in a car trunk or, worse yet, if George had overpowered him and killed him, he could have hidden Dick’s body there. But, in light of Cox’s physical fitness and dislike for George, this scenario seemed unlikely.
Officials were taking the disappearance seriously, especially in light of George’s strange visits and Cox’s reported hostility towards the man. It was concluded that Cox had met either with an accident or with foul play on West Point grounds. A search was made of the academy by a Special Services regiment stationed at West Point but no trace of the missing cadet came to light on that Sunday.
In Cox’s room, though, an odd discovery was made. On his calendar, the day was circled in red, with the notation “See Kelley,” written in Cox’s neat hand beside the circle. At first, this was assumed to have been in reference to George, but it turned out to be in reference to James Kelley, a boyhood friend of Dick’s from Mansfield and a midshipman at Annapolis, Maryland. Kelley was visiting West Point on February 15 – not January 15 – and Cox had simply made the notation on the wrong calendar month.
On Monday, the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command was notified about Cox’s disappearance. A circular was drawn up with Cox’s description and information was provided to the civilian press the following day. But there was no word from anyone who might have seen Richard Cox. As days became weeks, the hunt for the cadet continued. The Army called in the FBI and local and state police joined in the search, sending out information throughout the country and to Germany.
At West Point, there was a room-by-room search of all buildings and then the search spread out into the surrounding area. Searchers formed in long lines five or six feet apart and moved slowly up and down the hillsides. When the search of the area yielded no clues, both Delafield Pond and the Lusk Reservoir were drained and dragged. The draining of Delafield Pond alone took two weeks.
In Ohio, the Cox family and Betty Timmons were interrogated by the FBI. They had no idea where Richard might be and had not seen him since Christmas, when his mother said that he was anxious to return to West Point.
Then, another odd thing happened. The letter that Cox had written to the young woman in Germany arrived back at the post and across its face were the German words for “Address Unknown.”
Investigators who believed this letter had been written to a girl named Alice got a surprise – Cox had written to a girl named Rosemary Vogel. The contents of the letter were innocent. Cox said that he had been looking through some of his photos of Germany and noticed one of Rosemary and decided to write. Cox’s quarters were ransacked in a search for the picture of Rosemary Vogel but nothing was found. It eventually turned up in Mansfield. Cox had apparently taken the photo, along with the rest of his pictures from Germany, home with him for Christmas.
Although the letter offered no clues of anything other than a young man feeling nostalgic for friends in another country, CID investigators in Germany set out to find Rosemary Vogel. The result was curious. The girl’s mother reported that her daughter had married an American sergeant and was living in a small town in New York. FBI men rushed there, only to find a happily married young woman who barely remembered Richard Cox.
Back in Germany, the CID investigators questioned every man that Cox had bunked or soldiered with. His daily movements were re-created and yet not a single clue of a double life or any suspicious behavior ever turned up. The FBI search in the United States was just as fruitless.
The hunt for the mysterious “George” was just as determined as the search for Cox himself. Military records in Germany were combed for a man who had transferred from the Rangers to the 27th Constabulary – a man who was blond, a braggart, and perhaps the lover of a girl named Alice. At the Army’s dead files center in St. Louis, personnel records of the Rangers and the 27th Constabulary were scrutinized for a man with George as a first or last name and who fit the description of the man who came to West Point. Only one such man was even found and he had an airtight alibi for the nights of January 7 and January 14.
At first, the Cox disappearance got little coverage in the newspapers. The actor Robert Montgomery, who also worked as a news commentator, mentioned the story on his show. Soon, reports of Cox began flooding in from around the country. He had been seen in hotels, motels, swimming pools and nightclubs. A gas station attendant claimed that he had seen Cox in the company of a dazzling blond showgirl. Richard’s brother called the report “absolutely preposterous.”
Every night for two months, the name Richard Colvin Cox was shouted out in the West Point roll call. There was only silence in reply. Finally, on March 15, Cox was formally dropped from the cadet roster. Colonel Edwin N. Howell, West Point Provost Marshal, said, “I am convinced there was foul play. I am sure that we will not find Cadet Cox alive.”
When the spring thaw arrived, another intensive search of the countryside began. It turned up something interesting – an unusual Brazilian-made .38 caliber pistol near the West Point firing range. Someone suggested that it was just the sort of exotic weapon that might be used by a Ranger. There was no way to tell how long the gun had been there, since it was so damaged by the rain and snow of the past winter months.
July 25, 1950 was Richard Cox’s twenty-second birthday. Every other year that he had been away from home, Cox had telephoned his family at some point during the day. Now, the family gathered by the telephone early in the morning and prayed that he would call. The phone rang several times but it was never Dick. At the end of the daylong vigil, his mother sighed, “You just go around in circles and come back to the beginning. There’s no end to it!”
At First Army Headquarters in New York, Colonel Robert J. Murphy said almost the same thing: “In view of the fact that the man has not turned up and we have no evidence to prove that he is deceased, we must hold to the belief that he is alive. Apparently he has no desire to reveal his whereabouts. Therefore, we will search for him until we find a solution of the disappearance.”
On the day that Cox’s class graduated from West Point, the cadet had been missing for two years, four months and twenty-four days. Betty Timmons had decided not to wait for her lost love and she married a man named William Broad. The case faded from news accounts, but it was not forgotten. When Life magazine printed a photograph of a GI in Korea named Cox, hundreds of people wrote in to say that it must be the missing cadet. While it seemed unlikely that the runaway soldier would have used his real name, a CID investigator was sent to question the man. His name was Cox, but he was not the right one, as proven by his fingerprints.
The man named “George” has also never been found. There is nothing to indicate who this mysterious man might have been and whether or not he had anything to do with the disappearance of Richard Cox. The case of Cadet Richard Cox remains open and unsolved to this day. He is the only West Point cadet who ever disappeared without being found, either dead or alive, but what happened to him remains unknown.

BREAK=====
Coming up… nuns that meow like cats, people who can’t stop laughing maniacally, an entire high school begins twitching… even the Salem witch trials. Just a few of the many cases of mass hysteria I’ll be sharing with you when Weird Darkness returns!

STORY: MASS HYSTERIA=====
In medical terms, mass hysteria, also known as collective delusions, is the spontaneous manifestation of a particular behavior by a considerable number of people–either from a phantom illness or an inexplicable event. Often occurring in places where small, tight-knit groups of people are gathered together, mass hysterias generally spread rapidly but are short-lived affairs. With examples found in most societies, and hysterical outbreaks that can be traced back throughout history, they remain a baffling reminder of the power of the human mind.
From nuns that began to meow like cats to an entire city that couldn’t stop dancing, here are the most bizarre cases of mass hysteria ever recorded in history.
1. The Trouble with Nuns
According to the book Epidemics of the Middle Ages by J. F. C. Hecker, a baffling case of mass hysteria gripped a secluded convent in France. It all began when one nun began to meow like a cat, an animal that is closely associated with the Devil in Catholicism. Soon, others in her company began to meow as well. Together they would sometimes meow for hours at a time. To contain the situation soldiers were brought in and tasked with whipping and beating the nuns until they promised to stop.
A similar case occurred in Germany during the 15th century, where nuns began to bite one another. When the news traveled, other nunneries in the area started experiencing the same problem. Soon the biting epidemic had spread as far as Holland and Rome, with no clear explanation as to why this was happening. According to reports from the time, the biting eventually ceased due to the nuns exhaustion.
The bizarre behavior of both cases is generally credited to the period’s intense belief in the supernatural, as well as the fact that many of the women had been forced into convents by their families to live a lifestyle that demanded celibacy, poverty, and hard manual labor. It’s little wonder nuns found themselves particularly susceptible to episodes of hysteria.
2. The Deadly Dancing Mania
In the July of 1518, as disease and famine swept through the streets of Strasbourg, France, a strange thing happened: A woman named Troffea began to dance. After a week of nonstop dancing, others had joined her. By August, over 400 people lined the city streets silently dancing.
Doctors were mystified but came to the conclusion that the incessant dancing was caused by a fever and recommended the sufferers continue until the fever burned itself out. The city governor’s constructed a stage and brought in a band and professional dancers to dance alongside the inflicted. Soon, people began to pass out from heat exhaustion; some even died. The dancing mania only ended when people were forcibly removed from the streets and taken to shrines to pray to St. John the Baptist or St Vitus to cure them of the dancing curse.
Stranger still, this incident was not the first of its kind. In the 13th century in Aachen, Germany, the dancing plague, also called “St John’s Dance”, caused thousands of people to start dancing with uncontrolled emotion. Italy, Holland, and Switzerland also experienced these strange bouts of dancing plagues, with the last known occurrence taking place in the 17th century.
3. The Tanganyika Laughers
You’ve probably heard of infectious laughter, but nothing like this. In 1962, three young girls from a boarding school in Tanzania began to laugh uncontrollably. They would laugh for hours at a time without being able to stop. The laughter spread to other children and became so widespread that the school was forced to shut down. This, however, did not the end of the epidemic: Some of the girls spread their laughing sickness when they went home.
By May, there were 217 reported cases of the laughing flu in the area. Most of the afflicted were school-age children. When June came and went and the laughter had continued to spread, then it all stopped as suddenly as it began. In five months, the laughing flu caused 14 schools to close with around 1,000 cases of laughing fits recorded.
4. The Muhnochwa
In 2002, the people of Uttar Pradesh in India reported seeing an alien spacecraft that would burn the flesh on people’s face. It was given the name “Muhnochwa”, which loosely translates to “Face-Scratcher.” There were seven deaths associated with the alien. The local police deputy did nothing to calm matters when he made a statement claiming that these afflictions were brought on by some sort of anti-national genetically engineered insect.
Villagers stormed police headquarters and demanded protection, inciting a riot and leaving one person dead. People even committed suicide to save themselves from these foreign attackers. In the end, the national government had to step in and send agents to investigate the case. They attributed the whole outbreak to mass hysteria and declared all burn marks and injuries were entirely self-inflicted.
5. New York Tourette Epidemic
Tourette syndrome is characterized as a vocal and/or physical tick that is uncontrollable. It’s a rare neuropsychiatric disorder, which made it all the more strange when a New York school experienced what seemed to be an outbreak of Tourette syndrome in 2011. After several schoolchildren began to display Tourette-like symptoms, parents became concerned that there was some sort of toxin that was causing this outbreak.
Many of those parents still believe this, though researchers, including Erin Brockovich, concluded that there was nothing unusual about the environment. Dr. Laszlo Mechter came to the conclusion that this outbreak was the result of conversion disorder–another name for mass hysteria. This basically means that though the students were experiencing real symptoms, they had not suddenly come down with Tourette syndrome.
6. The Halifax Slasher Panic
The Halifax Slasher panic began on November 16th, 1938 in Halifax, England, when two women entered the local police station with head wounds. They told the police that a man had attacked them with a razor blade, but upon investigating the police could find no evidence at the crime scene. Word of the attack quickly spread.
Over the following days, more people came forward, all with cuts and knife wounds. Vigilante groups began to roam the streets, attacking men who appeared suspicious. With the local police stumped by the lack of evidence and with no suspects, detectives from Scotland Yard were called in to help. But just as the detectives began their investigation, the case took an unexpected turn.
During questioning, many of the victims began confessing they had actually injured themselves after hearing about the so-called Halifax Slasher. When nine of the 12 victims confessed to self-harm, the police closed the investigation. Five were subsequently charged with public mischief offenses, and four were sent to prison for their part in the slasher panic.
7. The Twitching Outbreak
A high-school in Louisiana experienced a strange moment of mass hysteria in 1939 when one of their students inexplicably began to feel an uncontrollable twitch in her right leg. After attending the school’s annual homecoming dance her leg began to twitch along with the music. This continued in school the next day and soon spread to several of her female classmates. Concerned parents began to pull their children out of school. As fear spread, so did the twitching phenomenon, until it suddenly and ultimately ended within a week. Sociologists explain that there was no real condition, and that this was merely a case of mass hysteria.
8. The Salem Witch Trials
One of the most well-known examples of mass hysteria in American history, the Salem Witch trials resulted in around 20 deaths and its enduring legacy. Salem was already rife with rumors of witchcraft, when, in 1692, Betty Paris and Abigail Williams began displaying strange tendencies, including screaming and flailing around uncontrollably. Doctors declared the girls were bewitched.
Along with Ann Putnam, the young girls began identifying women in town as witches. Their accusations started with societal outcasts but also targeted supposed pillars of society as more and more accusations were made. By the time the trials ended a year later, over 200 people had been accused of practicing witchcraft, 19 people had hanged, one man had been pressed to death by stones, and seven had died in jail awaiting execution.
Although Salem remains a popular tourist attraction for history and witchcraft enthusiasts, it is widely accepted that these accusations and executions were a result of an extreme case mass hysteria, in part propelled along by religious extremism, isolationism, false accusation and a total failure of the system.

BREAK=====
When Weird Darkness returns we flip from fact to fiction as I bring you a couple of original short fictional horror stories, or creepypastas, written by Weirdo Family Members! We’ll do that up next!

STORY: THE REARVIEW=====
This is the longest red light I think I ever sat at. It’s midnight and I am ready to get home and get some sleep. I have never been down this way before. It’s a dark and secluded road, strange place for a red light. I can’t imagine having much traffic here, even in the daytime. I should just drive through the damn thing. No cops behind me, but wait, am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?
Is there somebody there?
What is this black figure in my rearview mirror?
It’s a shadow of some kind, but in the shape of a man. I’m in the middle of nowhere there can’t be someone there. Maybe it’s someone that needs help, but why is he standing still and so close to my vehicle. I can’t make him out, it’s too dark, only the red glow of my brake lights are illuminating the figure. Maybe he means me harm and he may want my vehicle.
Are my doors locked?
No!
I need to lock them quickly!
When is this light going to change?
I found the only red light in this back woods town!
Maybe I should yell out the window and let him know that I see him there, maybe he does need help?
I’ll wind the window down, slightly.
The air is cold and misty, and I didn’t notice the cemetery across the road a second ago. My car is the only lights glowing on this road, except for the brightly lit moon above. He is still there, not moving, just standing near my back window. I’ll put my head out ever so slightly and yell at him.
“Hey!! What do you need? Do you need some help?” I don’t hear or see anything, just the smoke form my exhaust flowing past the yellow lines on the road below creating a red mist highlighted by my tail lights.
I need to sit back.
Is he still behind me in my rearview mirror? ….No!
Where did he go?
I’m starting to panic a bit now. My window is still down, I need to wind it up!
I need to get through this light!
There he is, but in my drivers’ side mirror coming around from behind the car approaching my car door!
I can’t hear him walking but I need to wind up the damn window!
The light is green!
“Thank god!” I say aloud as I drive down the road.
I don’t know these roads that well, but I need to get away form here. I’m not stopping anymore. I wonder if he had done something to the back of my car. I glance in my rearview mirror.
The figure, it’s still there!
It can’t be!
I’m driving down this road at thirty miles per hour!
Is he hanging on to my car?
I’ll swerve and see if he is.
The figure is not moving, maybe I’m seeing things.
Wait, it’s moving, it’s moving around to my side again!
I can see it now in my side mirror, a black figure, almost like a cloaked figure, moving along the side of my car as I’m driving!
It’s moving faster than me, it’s coming closer!
I have to speed up! Sixty miles per hour, it’s still there!
How can this be?
I can see below it, in my mirror, it has no feet, its’ black cloak ends just above the road!
The yellow lines are racing by below this thing as it approaches!
My doors are locked, but my window is still down, I need to close it! This road is dark and becoming very difficult to drive on at this speed! My heart is racing! I need to wind up the damn window! The figure is getting closer to my door! Oh god, I’m not going to make this turn!
My head…..it’s killing me. What happened?
I’m not moving anymore. My head feels wet. Is it blood? Yes it is.
I must have hit the steering wheel, after I hit this tree. How long have I been out? My door, it’s wide open, my whole left side is cold and getting colder from the cool misty night air flowing in from outside.
The wooded area I am in is glowing with a red mist from my car tail lights. I can’t see anything, just this red mist. Was I dreaming about the dark figure that I couldn’t escape? Did I crash and injure my head that in-turn, caused me to have a horrible dream? Or could this thing still be out there next to my car, with my door wide open? Maybe I should close the door. I need to get my cell phone to call for some help. Should I look in my rearview mirror? My cell phone was in the backseat, I hope I can reach it.
I raise my head to look into the rearview mirror.
It’s there! The dark cloaked figure! It’s there in my rearview mirror, but not behind my vehicle! It’s in my backseat! Leaning toward me! It is here to harm me, I’m sure of that now, and now, I can see its’ face!

STORY: BETTY BITES=====
My mother had fallen ill not very long ago and we had to put her in a rehabilitation center to get her back on her feet. I spent my non working hours sitting at her bedside. I used to be a nursing assistant at a place like this and I knew how it could be. About a week after my mother was admitted she got a new roommate. I could hear the nurse talking to the aide. Going over the information about the new patient. Betty they said was 92 years old, had dentures, glasses, and dementia. She was admitted for a restbit. A restbit is when the normal care taker for one reason or another needs a break.
The next thing I remember them saying is that Betty’s home nurse made a note in her chart that “Betty bites”. I couldn’t help but chuckle. I’ve been gummed before by patients who forgot they didn’t have any teeth without there dentures in. By the time they were done it was getting late, I must have dosed off in the chair beside mom’s bed because I was awoken by a terrifying, bone chilling scream. I jumped and had to catch my breath. I checked on Mom, she was sleeping soundly. I then checked on Betty who put a pale wrinkled finger over her lips as her face twisted into a toothless smile.
Sometime later I kissed my mother good night and headed home for a few hours of sleep and a much needed shower. The next morning I remember clear as it was this morning. I was stopping by to drop some donuts off for Mom and her nurses. I heard a scream again coming from the direction of my mom’s room. I ran as fast as a 40 year old five foot two woman could. I was the first one to the room with a nurse’s aide close behind me. As soon as I entered the room I saw my mother was still in her Ambien induced sleep. Betty’s bed however was empty. The bathroom door hung about three quarters of the way open. I turned and stepped into the bathroom. Suddenly I found myself on the ground, I had slipped in slick sticky blood. The trail led to the shower. I pulled myself up and peered behind the curtain. As I did the nurse’s aide came in behind me. We both stood in shock for a moment at the sight of the nurse’s limp blood soaked body. I was going to puke, something had torn the flesh from her neck. As I turned I saw Betty running towards us. I just didn’t see her in time. She jumped on the aide and tore into her flesh pulling it free from her body. Luckily all the commotion drew a crowd and Betty was subdued. They removed her from the floor in a drug induced stupor. I had my mother transferred the same day. As I unpacked my mother’s belongings I pulled a round plastic cup out of a box labeled bathroom. On the lid of the cup was written Betty and inside were her dentures still soaking from the night before.

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 – doing so helps the show to get noticed! You can also email me anytime with your questions or comments through the website at WeirdDarkness.com. That’s also where you can find all of my social media, listen to free audiobooks, shop the Weird Darkness store, sign up for the newsletter to win monthly prizes, find my other podcast “Church of the Undead”, and find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Plus if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on TELL YOUR STORY – or call the DARKLINE toll free at 1-877-277-5944. That’s 1-877-277-5944.

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 Whistling Ghost of Calke Abbey” written by G. Michael Vasey for MyHauntedLifeToo.com
“The M-Triangle” and “Arkaim Anomalous Zone” were posted at MessageToEagle
“Hairy Monster Frightening The Guests Of The Irish Castle” posted at Earth Chronicles
“The Haunted Farmhouse” posted at GhostsNGhouls
“8 Strange Cases of Mass Hysteria” was posted at The Occult Museum
“The Vanished Cadet” written by Troy Taylor

Again, you can find link to all of these stories in the show notes.

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

Now that we’re coming out of the dark, I’ll leave you with a little light… “I call to God, and the LORD saves me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.” — Psalm 55:16-17

And a final thought… “There are three solutions to every problem: accept it, change it, or leave it. If you can’t accept it, change it. If you can’t change it, leave it.” – Unknown

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

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