“UFO CRASHES BEFORE ROSWELL” and More Bizarre, True, and Terrifying Stories! #WeirdDarkness

Listen to ““UFO CRASHES BEFORE ROSWELL” and More Bizarre, True, and Terrifying Stories! #WeirdDarkness” on Spreaker.

IN THIS EPISODE: When you hear the words “UFO crash” you likely think of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. And while that is the most famous of supposed extraterrestrial spaceship crashes, it is by no means the first. In fact, there were several taking place before Roswell became a household name. (UFO Crashes Before Roswell) *** But first – we’ll take a look at Roswell itself… and what might have been behind the crash, the UFOs, and the aliens! (Behind Roswell’s Aliens) *** Numerous travelers have gone missing in Nahanni Valley… and many whose bodies have been found, have been decapitated. It’s no wonder it has been nicknamed “The Valley of Headless Men”. (The Valley of Headless Men) *** In 2016, construction in a San Francisco family’s backyard unearthed a terrifying find… a glass coffin. And the history behind it tells a morbid history of the city. (The Karner’s Backyard Glass Coffin) *** Former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that a gang of acid-crazed Manson Family copycats brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970, but then he was found guilty. Did he commit the crime, or did the law convict the wrong man? (The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald) *** It’s understood that scientifically, alchemy – attempting to turn a substance or element into gold – is impossible. But then, there is that one incident that took place in the early seventeenth century that has some people wondering if that’s wrong. (The Alchemy Master)

YOUTUBE TIME STAMPS…
00:00.00.000 = Introduction/Show Open
00:04:24.392 = Behind Roswell’s Aliens / UFO Crashes Before Roswell
00:22:26.053 = The Valley of Headless Men
00:36:00.736 = The Karner’s Backyard Glass Coffin
00:48:35.739 = The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald
00:59:14.839 = The Alchemy Master
01:08:11.195 = BLOOPERS

SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“Behind Roswell’s Aliens” by Adam Janos for History.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yd5fhudu
“UFO Crashes Before Roswell” from Anomalien.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2w6d76yh
“The Valley of Headless Men” by Aleksa Vuckovic for Ancient-Origins.net: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p9c6zf4
“The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald” by Marco Margaritoff for AllThatsInteresting.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8eant7
“The Alchemy Master” by Ellen Lloyd for AncientPages.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4xzysbwc
“The Karner’s Backyard Glass Coffin” by Trilby Beresford for Ranker.com’s Graveyard Shift:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3mpvk9jh
Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library.
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Originally aired: January, 2021

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=====

In the annals of American UFO history, few incidents have inspired as much fascination—and speculation—as the one in Roswell, New Mexico. It began in the summer of 1947, at the dawn of the Cold War, when the U.S. Army Air Forces sent out a shocker of a press release, announcing they’d recovered a “flying disc” from a ranch near Roswell. More than seven decades later, the incident remains a defining aspect of the area’s identity: The town boasts a UFO museum and research center, a flying saucer-inspired McDonald’s, alien-themed streetlights, even an extraterrestrial “family” stranded in a broken-down UFO on the side of State Route 285, looking for a jump-start. But behind all the UFO mania lies an uneasy truth. The events that transpired that summer are anything but clear-cut, with admitted coverups and conflicting explanations: It was a saucer! It was a spy craft! It was the Soviets! And new ones are still emerging.

I’m Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness.

SHOW OPEN=====

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

Coming up in this episode…

Numerous travelers have gone missing in Nahanni Valley… and many whose bodies have been found, have been decapitated. It’s no wonder it has been nicknamed “The Valley of Headless Men”. (The Valley of Headless Men)

In 2016, construction in a San Francisco family’s backyard unearthed a terrifying find… a glass coffin. And the history behind it tells a morbid history of the city. (The Karner’s Backyard Glass Coffin)

Former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that a gang of acid-crazed Manson Family copycats brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970, but then he was found guilty. Did he commit the crime, or did the law convict the wrong man? (The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald)

It’s understood that scientifically, alchemy – attempting to turn a substance or element into gold – is impossible. But then, there is that one incident that took place in the early seventeenth century that has some people wondering if that’s wrong. (The Alchemy Master)

When you hear the words “UFO crash” you likely think of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. And while that is the most famous of supposed extraterrestrial spaceship crashes, it is by no means the first. In fact, there were several taking place before Roswell became a household name. (UFO Crashes Before Roswell)

But first – we’ll take a look at Roswell itself… and what might have been behind the crash, the UFOs, and the aliens! (Behind Roswell’s Aliens)

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: BEHIND ROSWELL’S ALIENS=====

Sometime between mid-June and early July 1947, rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel found wreckage on his sizable property in Lincoln County, New Mexico, approximately 75 miles north of Roswell. Several “flying disc” and “flying saucer” stories had already appeared in the national press that summer, leading Brazel to believe the wreckage—which included rubber strips, tinfoil, and thick paper—might be something of that ilk. He brought some of the material to Sheriff George Wilcox of Roswell, who in turn brought it to the attention of Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF).

The next day, the RAAF released a statement, writing that, “The many rumors regarding the flying disc became a reality yesterday when the intelligence office of the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force, Roswell Army Air Field, was fortunate enough to gain possession of a disc through the cooperation of one of the local ranchers and the sheriff’s office of Chaves County.”

According to that statement, Major Jesse Marcel, an intelligence officer, oversaw the RAAF’s investigation of the crash site and the recovered materials.

The following day, the Roswell Daily Record ran a story about the crash and the RAAF’s astonishing claim. But U.S. Army officials quickly reversed themselves on the “flying saucer” claim, stating that the found debris was actually from a weather balloon, releasing photographs of Major Marcel posing with pieces of the supposed weather balloon debris as proof.

For decades, many UFO researchers were skeptical of the government’s changed account, and in 1994, the U.S. Air Force released a report in which they conceded that the “weather balloon” story had been bogus. According to the 1994 explanation, the wreckage came from a spy device created for an until-then classified project called Project Mogul. The device—a connected string of high-altitude balloons equipped with microphones—was designed to float furtively over the USSR, detecting sound waves at a stealth distance. These balloons would ostensibly monitor the Soviet government’s attempts at testing their own atomic bomb. Because Project Mogul was a covert operation, the new report claimed, a false explanation of the crash was necessary to prevent giving away details of their spy work.

Other elements of the Roswell story—namely that some eyewitnesses claimed that there were alien bodies taken from the site—were explained as fallen parachute-test dummies in a more extensive follow-up report in 1997.

Roger Launius, a historian and retired curator for the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, says those two reports close most of the remaining questions about Roswell.

“This story has been resolved,” Launius says. “Has absolutely every question been answered? I can’t say that. But I’m not sure that there are significant holes.”

“You do not divulge state secrets in the context of national security… My surmise is they probably saw [the initial flying saucer explanation] as a useful cover story.”

Donald Schmitt, a UFO researcher who has spent nearly three decades investigating the Roswell incident and is the co-founder of the International UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, says that explanation makes little sense. The “flying saucer” story, he contends, was so ostentatious that it was bound to draw attention to the area, with its sensitive military operations at the time. Doing so would seem highly counter to the interests of the War Department.

“Two hours west of Roswell the first atomic bomb was detonated. You had ongoing atomic research at Los Alamos. You had all this testing of captured German V-2 rockets at White Sands. And at Roswell, you had the first atomic bomb squadron headquartered,” Schmitt says. “The thought that they would have intentionally set up any type of publicity as a distraction? If anything, they needed less attention.”

Another questionable theory—advanced by the book Area 51: An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base—states that the crashed flying vehicle was neither extraterrestrial nor the work of U.S. spies. Rather, it was an unconventional plan to induce widespread American panic, implemented by Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin.

An unnamed source who worked as an engineer at Area 51 for the defense contractor EG&G told the book’s author Annie Jacobsen, a veteran national security journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee, that the program had been designed by Nazi concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele. According to the source, adolescent children were deformed by the Soviets to resemble aliens and then deployed in an aircraft to fly over New Mexico. According to this book, Stalin’s “plan was for the children to climb out and be mistaken for visitors from Mars. Panic would ensue… [and] America’s early-warning radar system would be overwhelmed with sightings of other ‘UFOs.’”

That theory could go some way in explaining the wreckage described by Jesse Marcel, Jr., the son of the intelligence officer named in the initial press report. According to Marcel, Jr.’s book, The Roswell Legacy, his father brought some of UFO wreckage home, allowing his son to handle the debated debris before he took it to his base.

Marcel Jr. wrote that the material was metallic and “I could see what looked like writing. At first I thought of Egyptian hieroglyphics, but there were no animal outlines or figures. They weren’t mathematical figures either; they were more like geometric symbols—squares, circles, triangles, pyramids, and the like.”

Marcel Jr. was 11 years old at the time, the Cold War only just beginning. Could the young boy have been reading the Cyrillic alphabet for the first time, allowing his imagination to do the rest?

On this, Schmitt and Launius agree: It’s not likely.

“There’s no evidence in any Soviet archives that there were such experiments as this,” says Launius. “And if the intent was to generate panic, it failed utterly miserably.”

STORY: UFO CRASHES BEFORE ROSWELL=====

Some skeptics would have you believe that the Roswell UFO crash set the trend for reporting this type of strange event. It certainly sent it into the stratosphere – but it wasn’t the first to be reported. Unidentified objects had been falling from the skies years before that. Here are 6 of the most intriguing cases.

***Aurora, Texas – 1897: A good 50 years before the Roswell event started the craze, a large UFO allegedly crashed in the small town of Aurora, Texas. The object was silver in color and shaped like a cigar. According to an article published in the Dallas News, the UFO had been steadily losing altitude when it struck Judge Proctor’s windmill. The explosion wrecked the windmill tower and scattered debris over several acres. The article also reported that a well had been also damaged in the crash and its water tainted, leading the locals to bury it. The article read: ”The pilot of the ship is supposed to have been the only on board and, while his remains were badly disfigured, enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.” A small ceremony was held at the local cemetery where the small alien body was buried. The tombstone was stolen in 2012 but from the existing photos one can clearly see it depicted a crudely-carved cigar-shaped object with portholes on its sides. Unfortunately for everyone, at the time of the crash, a spotted fever epidemic was wreaking havoc in the area so the event quickly faded out of view. Another interesting aspect is that in 1945, Judge Proctor’s property was bought by Brawley and Etta Oates. The entire Oates family began suffering serious health problems because they had re-dug the well. Before her death, etta became convinced the water was radioactive.

***Indian Ocean – September 1862: This unusual incident was reported in the May 2, 1897 issue of The Houston Daily Post and centered around a story told by one of the few men who had survived to tell the story – a Dutch sailor. He had been part of the crew aboard a ship called Christine. In the autumn of 1862, following a storm in the Indian Ocean, the ship sank. The crew members who had been lucky enough to survive suddenly found themselves on a small, deserted island completely devoid of life. While on the island, they witnessed an extraordinary event: a giant UFO fell from the sky, crashing into a jagged cliff. It was as big as a battleship and had four huge wings on its sides. The men mustered the courage to examine the wreck and, amid the debris, found the bodies of several 12 foot-tall men with strange clothing and bronze-colored silky beards. This gruesome discovery was too much to bear for the starving, desperate men and some of them even went mad. Only a handful of people survived until rescue came in the form of a Russian trawler, among them, the Dutchman. While this might be nothing more than a sailor’s story, it makes for a very interesting one nonetheless.

***Stavropol, Russia – late 1800s: In the 1960s, a Soviet investigation uncovered clues about a UFO crash landing that took place towards the end of the 19th century. Several witnesses reported that “a strange apparition flew into a village of the Stavropol province” and that its passengers had survived the crash. “Three dark-skinned men came out of it. They were breathing hard, making signs and soon died since they could not breathe air. The village residents quickly pulled apart the thing in which they landed.” As the investigation progressed, the officials began receiving letters corroborating the story. A woman named Irina Danilova recalled a story told by her grandfather, who had personally witnessed the event. According to Danilova’s grandfather, the craft was shaped like an arrowhead and was quickly dismantled by the locals, who used the metal to manufacture household goods. The bodies were “buried without cross or ritual.”

***The Carolinas – 1941: This report comes from noted UFO researcher Leo Stringfield’s book UFO Crash/Retrievals: Search for Truth in a Hall of Mirrors. Stringfield tracked down and spoke with the mother of Guy Simeone, a soldier in the 26th Infantry Division prior to the United States’ involvement into the Second World War. In October 1941, Simeone was taking part in a military maneuver “in the Carolinas” when an unidentified object crashed in the area. Interests rapidly shifted towards recovering the “crashed round, metallic object” and “little dead bodies from space.” The craft was taken to a nearby Army post. It measured about 15 feet in width and 10 feet in height and housed a control room with four seats. The silver UFO had otherworldly inscriptions both on its exterior shell as well as inside. The four recovered bodies were described as small and with large, insect-like eyes. Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this incident, apart from the accounts of second-hand witnesses. Nobody knows what happened to the craft or the body of its passengers.

***Dundy County, Nebraska, 1884: The June 8th, 1884 edition of The Nebraska State Journal ran an article about the crash of a mysterious object and subsequent retrieval of very unusual debris. According to the journal, local rancher John Ellis and other locals witnessed a burning object similar to a meteor falling from the sky. The men rode their horses to the crash site in order to investigate the incident. When they arrived, they found a large number of incandescent objects strewn across the crash site. The objects were so hot and burned so bright that none of the men dared approach them. The ranchers resolved to come back the following day. When they returned, the men noticed the objects were, in fact, mechanical parts resembling gears, wheels and propeller blades. All of them appeared to have been made from an extremely light and durable metal. No bodies were found. Nobody knows what became of the wreckage.

***England – WWII: Former intelligence officer and Flying Saucer Review editor Gordon Creighton launched an investigation into the crash of a UFO on British soil, at the height of the Second World War. The craft wreckage was reportedly retrieved and studied by British authorities. He learned about the incident from a 1955 article published in the Los Angeles Examiner by journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. Here’s an excerpt: “I can report today on a story which is positively spooky, not to mention chilling. British scientists and airmen, after examining the wreckage of one mysterious flying ship, are convinced these strange aerial objects are not optical illusions or Soviet inventions, but are flying saucers which originate on another planet. The source of my information is a British official of cabinet rank who prefers to remain unidentified. ‘We believe, on the basis of our inquiry thus far, that the saucers were staffed by small men—probably under four feet tall. It’s frightening, but there’s no denying the flying saucers come from another planet.’ This official quoted scientists as saying a flying ship of this type could not have possibly been constructed on Earth. The British Government, I learned, is withholding an official report on the ‘flying saucer’ examination at this time, possibly because it does not wish to frighten the public.” After the article was published, Creighton attempted to contact Dorothy Kilgallen and ask for further information. She died shortly after, leading the researcher to believe that “she had been effectively silenced.” But as it turns out, Kilgallen was not the only source of information regarding this incident. Brazilian UFO researcher Olavo T. Fontes also claimed to found out about this retrieval from sources inside Brazil’s Naval Intelligence but had only sparse details. Another interesting detail was revealed in 1988 by former CIA pilot John Lear. His sources revealed that the UFO had been “strapped to a Boeing B-17 and transported to the States.” It seems the British Government managed to keep a tight lid on this enigmatic crash, because nothing else is known about it.

BREAK=====

Coming up, numerous travelers have gone missing in Nahanni Valley… and many whose bodies have been found, have been decapitated. It’s no wonder it has been nicknamed “The Valley of Headless Men”.

Plus, in 2016, construction in a San Francisco family’s backyard unearthed a terrifying find… a glass coffin. And the history behind it tells a morbid history of the city. These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns.

STORY: THE VALLEY OF HEADLESS MEN=====

The Northwestern Territories of Canada are truly one of Earth’s last true wild places. One of its special National Park Reserves, called the Nahanni Valley, is however a little bit wilder than most. It is home to some strange myths and mysteries and boasts a fearsome reputation for being a haunted and deadly place. This remote wild valley is not just inhospitable due to its rugged terrain, extreme weather, and predators, but is also deadly due to some unexplained circumstances. Over the decades, many unfortunate travelers and explorers have gone missing, or they turned up dead and beheaded. The number of decapitated bodies found within Nahanni Valley have earned it the nickname “Valley of Headless Men”. What is the explanation to this mystery?

Many have said that the Nahanni Valley is one of the last truly unexplored places in the world. Situated within the rugged Northwest Territories of Canada, well over 500 kilometers (311 miles) from the nearest city Yellowknife, it is one of those nature’s nooks that persevered in spite of mankind’s busy expansion. Reaching Nahanni can be a challenge – if ever you find a reason to journey inside it. It is hard to reach, and the best routes into it are via air, water, or a long overland journey from the abandoned village of Tungsten. The valley is situated above the 60th Parallel North, which puts it in line with the rest of Canada’s “wild territories”. Cities and civilization “up north” are few and far between and surviving the wilderness can be challenging – or even fatal for the inexperienced traveler.

Thanks to its remarkable natural beauty, its unique geography, its features and wealth of flora and fauna, Nahanni Valley has been proclaimed an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. In fact, it was one of the first four natural heritage locations to be given this status. But this lofty proclamation has not given it a flurry of visitors.

Due to its remoteness, Nahanni Valley has remained largely untouched over the centuries. It is home to many diverse animal species, many of which are predatorial. Large grizzly bears and timber wolves are the chief carnivores here, and people are seldom seen in this nature. Historically, the lands around the Nahanni Valley were home to the peoples of the Dene indigenous tribes who dwelt here for many centuries. However, it seems that they never lived exactly along the Nahanni River and its tributaries, from which the Nahanni Valley gets its name. Their oral histories, passed down through generations, speak of another tribe living there, the one called Naha.

The Dene tell that the Naha were a warlike tribe, living in the high mountains and descending into the lowlands to raid and kill. They became the main foes of the Dene peoples and were greatly feared by them. The name Nahanni itself is of Dene origin and means “ the river of the land of the Naha people”.

These oral histories and the name itself are very important, as they are certain proof that a different indigenous tribe once dwelt here. However, the Dene state that the Naha people simply vanished at one time, ceasing their raids and disappearing altogether. Mystery surrounds these so-called Naha, but no trace of them has ever been found. So far, they are only found in stories. Could they have migrated elsewhere, succumbed to a disease, died out, or have they simply stayed in the Nahanni River valley to this very day, hiding in plain sight? Some speculate that it might be so.

This mystery would likely have died out quickly, being dubbed just another legendary story of an indigenous tribe. But several eerie deaths and disappearances within Nahanni Valley achieved the opposite result – the mysteries surrounding this place were only fueled further, and Nahanni became the focus of many mystery-hunters. And most of this focus was on a special place within the valley – one called the “200 Mile Gorge”. The Dene natives speak of an unknown evil dwelling there, and few ever enter it. Especially because of the events that transpired there. For its the 200 Mile Gorge that gained the grizzly epithet of the “Valley of the Headless Men”.

The origins of this eerie nickname can be traced to the early 20th century, at the time of the famous “Klondike Gold Rush”. At this time, many would-be prospectors wanted to test their fortunes and head out to the remote Canadian wilderness, especially Yukon. It was known to contain gold in its rivers and soils, and a treasure could be quickly made by those lucky enough to “strike gold”. Two of these prospectors decided to forgo the traditional routes and locations leading to Yukon, and to instead try their luck in the Nahanni Valley. They were two brothers of Métis ancestry, Willie and Frank McLeod. In 1906, they canoed upriver to reach the Nahanni Valley, and that was the last time anyone saw them alive. In 1908, two years later, a search party discovered their skeletons at the remains of a camp. Both were headless. Seemingly, they were asleep when they were attacked: the body of one of the brothers lay reaching out towards a gun, indicating a need for defense. A third man, their companion surnamed Weir, was missing.

From here on, the mysteries deepened. Who would decapitate – so ruthlessly – two peaceful prospectors? And what happened to their heads? Rumors began spreading, and many wild theories were put forward. Some spoke of feuding prospectors killing one-another, others attributed the deaths to wild animals, while some spoke of inhospitable warlike natives leaving the headless corpses as a warning to other trespassers. Theories floated about until another corpse was discovered in 1917. It was that of a Swiss prospector, named Martin Jorgenson. His body was discovered, decapitated, next to the remains of his cabin. It was burned to the ground. It is supposed that he struck gold in the vicinity, as he wrote of it back home, before ending up beheaded.

An article from the February 15th, 1947 issue of the “Deseret News” newspaper, titled “ Headless Valley Myths Dispelled”, goes in depth while trying to bash all the mystery and find logic for the murders. Much of the article’s contents are unsubstantiated and mere guesswork. There, it is said that Jorgenson and the McLeod brothers were all murdered for the gold that they had discovered. No evidence for this was ever found.

In 1927, another body was discovered in Nahanni, belonging to a man nicknamed “Yukon” Fisher. Variously dubbed an outlaw and a prospector, this man was sought by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for several years before his death. The officials found his skeleton on the banks of Bennett Creek, quite close to the place where the bodies of McLeod brothers were found in 1908. His death was never fully explained, nor was the fact that he was known to possess a solid number of gold nuggets with which he purchased goods on the frontier.

Then, in 1931, another body was found. This time, it was that of Phil Powers. His charred remains were discovered in the ashes of what was his cabin. The RCMP were quick to attribute his death to a “faulty stovepipe”, but their explanation was repeatedly debunked by various sources. Phil Powers, for what it’s worth, was likely murdered and his cabin set ablaze. Many others simply disappeared without a trace in the remote wilderness of the Nahanni Valley. In 1928, one prospector named Angus Hall, ventured ahead of his party and was never again seen. Another pair of prospectors, Joe Mullholland and Bill Epier, disappeared in 1936. For many years they were searched for, but never found. The only thing discovered was their cabin – burned down to the ground.

A woman, named Annie Laferte, also went missing in Nahanni. In 1926, with her hunting part, she was present in the valley near Flat River, but got lost in the wilderness and disappeared. Many months later, an Indian by the name of Big Charley claimed to have seen the woman, climbing a hill while totally naked, seemingly having lost her mind. She became just another of the many victims of the wild Nahanni Valley. So inhospitable was the Nahanni Valley, that even in the 1920’s it was still unexplored. Maps of the region showed almost nothing except two flat lines that indicated the two main rivers – Nahanni and Flat. It would take decades for an accurate map to be created.

Of course, over the years many sources tried to discredit the mysteries. To that end, some claim that the “original” headless corpses – the McLeod brothers – were not really headless, but in fact were identified by the remnants of the hair on the skulls. However, there is no evidence for either of the theories. Much of this can be attributed to the advanced age of the event – 1908.

But discrediting or not – deaths continued to pile up in Nahanni Valley. In 1945, a miner from Ontario, whose name is now lost, was found dead, still in his sleeping bag. His head, however, was never found. Around that time, another trapper succumbed to the inhospitable wilderness. He was John O’Brien, and was found frozen next to his campfire, his rigid hands still clutching a match. His death was clearly due to freezing.

And it is true – in winter, the Nahanni Valley really is inhospitable. With the freezing cold and the ravaging timber wolves, this nature can claim the lives of the most experienced outdoorsmen. But in the warmer months, this valley transforms into a truly unique environment. So much so that many dubbed it “tropical”. It can turn into a true oasis, being warm and lush with vegetation. One can even bathe in the creeks and streams – fearing no coldness. And that’s all due to the hot sulphur springs that can be found here. Hot springs lie all beneath the valley and give it an additional dose of mystery. The sulphur can often fill the air with an odd smell. And more than that, the combination of the hot sulphury air and the cooler Arctic air above it, created thick and mysterious mists that often cover the entire Nahanni Valley, obscuring it from view and creating an eerie, otherworldly ambience.

This gave rise to tales of a mysterious “tropical valley” that exists somewhere within the (huge) Nahanni Valley. While there is a chance that the clash of the hot sulphuric air and the cold Arctic climate can create a unique environment, a tropical valley still seems far-fetched. Nevertheless, legends just kept mounting up. Scientists – those few that ever set foot in the valley – discovered numerous remains of prehistoric animals, chiefly bones of Mastodons (mammoths) and ancient “bear dogs”. To that end, many have said that these animals still live within the deepest, most remote nooks of the Nahanni. Tales exist of trappers seeing fresh tracks of prehistoric mammals and bringing back huge ivory tusks with flesh and hair still visible. Other tales state that many of the Dene tribe elders living in the area were able to accurately draw pictures of Mastodons, as if from memory. Another prevalent story tells of the prehistoric “bear dogs” (Amphicyonidae) still roaming the valley.

In the end, no one can accurately say what is transpiring within the mysterious Nahanni Valley. Up to 44 persons have either died or disappeared within it starting from 1908 – and that is an eerily high number for just one – albeit enormous – valley. Plenty of odd facts contribute to the prevalent sense of enigma here: the indigenous Dene locals have avoided the valley for centuries, claiming that it is haunted by evil.

Others state that Nahanni Valley is the entrance to the so-called “Hollow Earth”. True, the valley is dotted with subterranean caverns – some 250 of them – and many remain unexplored. However, we are quite sure that the Earth’s belly is rather hot, more than hollow.

Nevertheless, Nahanni remains veiled in enigma. Perhaps it was the territorial Naha tribesmen – who have not disappeared – who have claimed all those lives, seeking to protect their last natural refuge? Or it was simply the harsh and inhospitable wilderness of remote Canada that claimed those lives? Still, harsh nature cannot behead bodies and burn down cabins. And for that, the mystery remains.

STORY: THE KARNER’S BACKYARD GLASS COFFIN=====

When a 1906 earthquake hit San Francisco, the death toll was substantial. Too many bodies buried within the city created health concerns, so most of the tombs were relocated to make way for development. However, it turns out workers missed a few. While many people find bizarre objects buried in their backyards, most of the time the items have simply been abandoned by previous owners, but occasionally, they have a spookier history.

In 2016, a construction crew working in the backyard of John and Ericka Karner’s San Francisco house unearthed a coffin made of glass and cast iron. Inside, the homeowners discovered the well-preserved body of a child. Karner’s children nicknamed the unknown little girl “Miranda Eve” until genealogists – in conjunction with the non-profit Garden of Innocence – determined that the body was that of 2-year-old Edith H. Cook, who died from an illness in 1876. The tiny glass coffin was left behind when her family’s burial plot was moved to the city of Colma in the 1930s. Using hair samples, volunteers worked tirelessly to find Miranda Eve’s living relatives, later identifying one man as her grand-nephew. Since the mass relocation, locals have unwittingly uncovered hundreds more of forgotten graves.

In 2016, John and Erika Karner hired construction workers to remodel their Lone Mountain home in San Francisco – and the workers unknowingly excavated a tiny coffin. The Karners contacted the Office of Public Administration, who turned to genealogist Elissa Davey. Davey operates the non-profit Garden of Innocence, a project which aims to bury unidentified children. Davey and her team used preserved strands of the unknown girl’s hair to perform a DNA test and determine her identity.

They discovered that the deceased child is Edith Howard Cook, the daughter of Horatio Nelson and Edith Scooffy Cook. Edith passed on October 13, 1876, at 2 years, 10 months, and 15 days old. Davey compared old plot maps of Odd Fellows Cemetery from the 1800s with current scaled street maps to determine which plot the coffin belonged to. She found evidence of the Cook family plot, where Edith’s mother and father were laid to rest.

After discovering Edith’s identity, Davey teamed up with Jelmer Eerkens, an anthropologist at the University of California. The two tracked down Edith Cook’s grand-nephew, Peter Cook, via genealogical records. He is her only known living relative. Peter had never heard of Edith, so they swabbed his saliva to guarantee it was a match. Miraculously, they confirmed that Edith Cook was Peter’s great-aunt.

This discovery came as a surprise to Peter, whose father passed when he was only 3 years old. As a result, he didn’t know much about that side of his family.

Through more research, Garden of Innocence tracked down Edith’s funeral records. According to the report, young Edith suffered from marasmus, a form of severe malnutrition common in the 1800s. The illness can be caused by viral, bacterial, or parasitic infections and prevents the absorption of nutrients. Eerkens speculates that Edith contracted another disease that her weakened, undernourished immune system couldn’t fight.

Public records indicate that Edith also had a brother and sister, both who lived into adulthood.

In trying to figure out how little Edith Cook ended up in the backyard of the Karner family’s Richmond District residence, Davey discovered that the San Francisco neighborhood used to be a cemetery. People were buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery between 1865 and 1902 and later transferred to Colma, California, during the 1930s.

Edith was accidentally left behind in her family’s plot during the massive relocation.

According to those who spearheaded the Edith Cook investigation, the 140-year-old body was unaffected from the elements. When researchers opened the coffin, they could easily discern the lavender placed in Edith’s blonde hair as well as her white christening dress. She had been extraordinarily well-preserved due to the air-tight casket. Funerary boxes made of glass and cast iron were popular in the 1800s among wealthy families.

The little window on top, used for viewings, is unusual by modern standards. However, at the time of Edith’s passing, such decor was common.

Hundreds of thousands of graves were moved from San Francisco to Colma in the 1930s because city developers saw housing potential on those plots of land. According to researchers, all the work was performed manually, as excavating technology did not yet exist. As a result, some bodies were simply missed. The former graves are now permanently stationed in the Greenlawn Cemetery of Colma.

According to Garden of Innocence, at least three more unidentified bodies have been uncovered in what was the Odd Fellows Cemetery. These discoveries came after Edith’s exhumation and identification in 2016.

When officials relocated the graves from San Francisco to Colma, unclaimed and broken headstones were re-purposed. While the plots were moved at no cost to families, the headstones were not, causing many markers to be left behind. Reportedly, the City and County Department of Public Works restructured the abandoned stones into seawalls and gutters around San Francisco. Grave markers still occasionally wash up on the beaches.

In 2012, visitors discovered the intact marble tombstone of Delia Presby Oliver on Ocean Beach. She passed in 1890, and her gravestone was used in a makeshift seawall when the city piled tombstones and rocks on the beach in an attempt to prevent erosion.

Tracking the identity of anyone is challenging, but discovering the identity of an infant child in a 140-year-old lost casket is particularly difficult. According to the LA Times, Davey and her team of three spent an estimated 3,000 hours conducting research and driving the efforts to illuminate who “Miranda Eve” was, and why she was in the Karners’ backyard.

They began by finding a map of Odd Fellows Cemetery and comparing it with records of the neighborhood built where it used to stand. Next, the team used the internet to locate open records of births and deaths, and they were ultimately able to trace Edith H. Cook’s family tree.

Several clues led archeologists to believe that Edith Cook came from a distinguished family. She was buried in a beautiful white dress, and her family had woven flowers into her hair and placed lavender on her chest inside the casket. Through research into her family tree, the Garden of Innocence determined that Edith’s family was prominent in San Francisco in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Extensive research revealed that the Scooffy’s – family members on Edith’s mother’s side – arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. These Greek immigrants were California pioneers. On the Cook side, Edith’s father operated a leather-belting business, which was passed down through generations until the 1980s. Both Horatio and Ethel were well-respected within the community, and Ethel was revered as a beauty.

Edith was originally reburied under the name “Miranda Eve.” Her 1800s-era casket was placed inside a new and slightly larger wood coffin with a bouquet of flowers on top. After researchers discovered her identity, Edith was laid to rest in Colma’s Greenlawn Cemetery.

Davey attended Edith’s 2017 memorial along with Cook’s grand-nephew, Peter Cook. Many local residents came to show their support, and those who want to know more are encouraged to research Edith Cook – her gravestone literally reads “Google me.”

For a number of years leading up to the discovery of the coffin, the Karners reported that on numerous occasions, they heard what appeared to be a toddler’s footsteps coming from the floor above them. Erika Karner, who grew up in the house and has two daughters of her own, explained how she and her husband “know very well what a toddler sounds like, and it wasn’t [their] kids.”

Adding another element of the bizarre to the story is the fact that construction workers who had been remodeling the house claimed to have heard the unexplainable footsteps as well. However, once the coffin was removed from the yard and reburied, the footsteps reportedly disappeared.

Since the mass relocation of graves was carried out from 1929 through 1935, there have been numerous occasions during which additional forgotten graves have been rediscovered. One of the first – and perhaps most shocking – of these discoveries was made during the remodeling of the Gleeson Library, which had been constructed over a former Masonic Cemetery. During this accidental exhumation, nearly 200 bodies were found when construction workers plowed directly into a hidden mausoleum.

Another discovery was made in 1993 at the Legion of Honor museum when the site was undergoing renovations. Here workers stumbled upon approximately 750 bodies that had been buried in what was once the Golden Gate Cemetery. A photographer by the name of Richard Barnes happened to be present during the resulting excavations and published a compelling collection of images from the site.

When cemeteries around San Francisco finally began to comply with new city ordinances requiring that graves be relocated, they ran into some unique challenges. First, not all of the recovered bodies were in funerary boxes, as caskets were not required for burial at that time. And those that were in caskets were found in varying states of decomposition.

As a result, remains would be placed into new caskets or small boxes, depending upon the state of decomposition that they had reached – often somewhere between bone and dust. To make matters more complicated, this mandatory exhumation wasn’t free. According to the Planning Department documents from the 1950s, a new burial box could cost anywhere from $.08 to $2.75, depending upon the amount of space required to store the remains.

Garden of Innocence volunteers crafted a new, personalized funerary box for “Miranda Eve,” which they lined with purple felt and yellow flowers. Collectively, the non-profit spent nearly $10,000 to identify and rebury Edith H. Cook.

BREAK=====

When Weird Darkness returns… It’s understood that scientifically, alchemy – attempting to turn a substance or element into gold – is impossible. But then, there is that one incident that took place in the early seventeenth century that has some people wondering if that’s wrong.

But first… former Green Beret Jeffrey MacDonald claimed that a gang of acid-crazed Manson Family copycats brutally murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970, but then he was found guilty. Did he commit the crime, or did the law convict the wrong man? That story is up next on Weird Darkness.

STORY: THE EVIL DEEDS OF JEFFREY MACDONALD=====

Jeffrey MacDonald had it all. Not only did the U.S. Army surgeon marry his high school sweetheart, but he had a flourishing career, two beautiful young daughters, and a son on the way. However, his American dream suddenly became a nightmare in 1970 when his family was found brutally stabbed to death in their home.

As the only survivor, MacDonald claimed that a mysterious blonde hippie oversaw three male intruders who slaughtered his family. But his story crumbled under scrutiny and he was charged with killing his family. It appeared to investigators that MacDonald had staged the scene, inspired by the recent Manson Family murders to blame hippies for his crime.

Tragically, the comparisons to the Sharon Tate killing were striking. Not only had the word “pig” been scrawled on the bedroom headboard in his wife’s blood — but she and her unborn baby were dead.

Currently serving three life sentences for their murders, MacDonald continues to maintain his innocence even as a new documentary series digs into his case.

Born Jeffrey Robert MacDonald on Oct. 12, 1943, in New York City, the fledgling doctor grew up in Patchogue, Long Island. Friends since grade school, he and Colette Stevens began dating as teenagers, and grew serious during college.

Two years into MacDonald’s undergraduate studies at Princeton, Stevens became pregnant. In the fall of 1963, they decided to get married and in April of the following year, their daughter Kimberly was born.

The family moved to Chicago after MacDonald was accepted into Northwestern University Medical School. Their second child Kristen was born in May 1967. Despite the young family’s financial burdens, the important things seemed secure.

It dawned on MacDonald after graduating in 1968 that the U.S. Army could help him advance his career, and he wasn’t wrong. Shortly after relocating to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he was made Group Surgeon to the Green Berets.

By the end of 1969, everything seemed in order. Colette was relieved to find out her husband would not be stationed in Vietnam — and the whole family was overjoyed to learn she was pregnant for a third time. Sadly, the family wouldn’t survive the next year.

After 3 a.m. on Feb. 17, 1970, dispatchers at Fort Bragg received an emergency call from the MacDonalds’ 544 Castle Drive address. MacDonald said there had been a “stabbing” and begged for an ambulance. Four military police (MP) officers arrived at 4 a.m. to find an unspeakable crime scene.

First responder Kenneth Mica discovered the bodies, with MacDonald laying wounded but alive next to his battered and lifeless wife.

26-year-old Colette MacDonald had been stabbed nearly forty times with an icepick and a knife — while “pig” was scrawled on the headboard of her bed in her own blood. Two-year-old Kristen had 33 knife- and 15 icepick wounds in her torso, while five-year-old Kimberly was bludgeoned to death.

MacDonald had only one stab wound, which the hospital surgeon later described as a “clean, small, sharp” incision that made his left lung partially collapse. After Mica performed mouth-to-mouth, MacDonald came to.

MacDonald claimed that his daughter Kimberly wet his side of the bed, prompting him to go to sleep on the couch. He awoke to the sound of screaming and found three male intruders being overseen by a blonde woman. Desperate to save his family, he said he fought back until they stabbed him and beat him unconscious.

MacDonald claimed the mysterious blonde woman who oversaw the murders was wearing a floppy hat and high-heeled boots and was holding a candle while chanting, “Acid is groovy. Kill the pigs.”

Mica remembered seeing a woman who fit this description while en route to the scene but said the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) omitted this during their subsequent inquest. No attempt was made to locate the woman that night.

The CID’s five-month-long interrogation (referred to as an Article 32 hearing) began in April, with officials intent on using only physical evidence and MacDonald’s own statements to form their view.

It ultimately concluded that MacDonald’s wounds were self-inflicted, and his story entirely fabricated. Not only did the living room show few signs of a struggle, but the murder weapons were found outside the back door. The surgical gloves used to scrawl “pig” on the headboard were identical to the supply MacDonald kept in his kitchen.

The chanting blonde, meanwhile, had not been found.

Though the U.S. Army formally charged MacDonald with the murders, presiding officer Colonel Warren Rock recommended the charges be dropped. He claimed there was insufficient evidence, while civilian defense attorney Bernard Segal argued the CID had improperly handled the scene — and that alternative suspects like local drug addict Helena Stoeckley, believed to be the blonde woman at the scene, continued to roam free.

Released and honorably discharged by the Army, MacDonald seemed to be in the clear. Even his in-laws Mildred and Freddie Kassab believed him and testified at his hearing. But, soon after MacDonald moved to Long Beach, California to continue his career at St. Mary Medical Center, and the tide turned once more.

Colette’s grieving parents grew suspicious after a November 1970 phone call in which MacDonald claimed he found and killed one of the intruders. And, in media appearances like his interview on The Dick Cavett Show, meanwhile, MacDonald appeared suspiciously at ease.

After reading the full transcript of his Article 32 hearing, the Kassabs were convinced that MacDonald’s story didn’t add up. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonald’s claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible.

Kassab filed a citizen’s criminal complaint in April 1974, petitioning a federal court to convene a grand jury and determine if MacDonald could be charged. They were successful, and a grand jury indicted MacDonald for murder the following year.

Jeffrey MacDonald was arraigned in May 1975 and pleaded not guilty. He also tried to get the case dismissed, claiming double jeopardy and starting an appeals process that would delay his trial for years.

In 1978, MacDonald’s case went to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, who rejected it. He tried to take his case to the Supreme Court in 1979, but they declined to review the lower court’s decision.

Next, his trial in Raleigh, North Carolina presided over by Judge Franklin Dupree began on July 16, 1979. The prosecution, led by James Blackburn and Brian Murtagh, argued that MacDonald staged the crime scene to blame hippies. They introduced a 1970 issue of Esquire found in MacDonald’s house containing a detailed account of the Sharon Tate murders to suggest that he had created a copycat story based on the Manson family’s crimes.

Furthermore, an FBI lab technician reenacted how MacDonald claimed he defended against the intruders’ attacks — and proved his testimony contradicted the evidence. Most notably, the holes in the shirt MacDonald had been wearing appeared too smooth and clear cut to indicate self-defense. Additionally, MacDonald’s medical records showed that he had no defensive wounds on his arms or hands consistent with the alleged attack.

Next, the defense decided to call the suspected blonde woman Helena Stoeckley as a witness. They hoped to get a confession, but she stated firmly that she had never been inside MacDonald’s home — contrary to previous claims she purportedly made to defense attorneys during witness hearings.

Other witnesses claimed that Stoeckly had confessed at various times that she thought she might have been present during the murders. She allegedly told one person that she recalled holding a candle that dripped with blood. Unfortunately for MacDonald, she would never admit any memory of her involvement in the killings in court.

In the end, MacDonald himself took the stand. He adamantly denied all charges but was at a loss for words during cross-examination by the prosecution. Despite a lack of motive and no history of violence, MacDonald was convicted of the second-degree murders of Colette and Kimberly, and the first-degree murder of Kristen.

He was found guilty and given three life sentences on Aug. 26, 1979. But even though Jeffrey MacDonald has spent decades behind bars, his case doesn’t seem to be closed just yet.

MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss to write a book about the case before it had reached a verdict. The writer had full access to the trial, and appeared sympathetic. However, instead of the firm defense MacDonald expected, the 1983 bestseller A Fatal Vision described him as “a narcissistic psychopath.”

MacDonald sued McGinniss for fraud in 1987, with a mistrial leading them to settle out of court for $325,000. Then, in 2012 Jeffrey MacDonald’s most famous defender, filmmaker Errol Morris, was so intrigued by the case that he wrote the 500-page book A Wilderness of Error.

Since adapted into a documentary series of the same name directed by Marc Smirling, the project aims to detail how much evidence Morris believes was lost, mismanaged — or glaringly unreliable from the start.

However, critics of the book say that while it paints an emotional picture of a man wrongfully tried by the media, it cherrypicks evidence and largely ignores the physical evidence that led to MacDonald’s 1979 conviction. Additionally, much of what Morris introduces as new evidence was already including in the trial that convicted MacDonald.

But of the evidence that Morris presents, perhaps most convincing is the piece cited in MacDonald’s 2017 federal appeal.

Not only were three hairs discovered at the crime scene that didn’t match any of the family’s DNA, but an affidavit revealed that Blackburn had allegedly threatened Stoeckley not to tell the truth in court.

While none of the hairs found at the scene matched Stoeckley’s DNA or that of any of her known associates, MacDonald maintains they prove something more essential to his freedom — that someone else was there that night.

STORY: THE ALCHEMY MASTER=====

Many events that took place in Medieval Europe were interesting because this was a time when magic and science were coming together though many couldn’t distinguish the differences between them. Most Medieval people believed in the power of magic, but the emergence of science was slowly replacing and explaining the unexplainable.

The quest to find a universal elixir goes far back in time. Practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia alchemy originated more than 2000 years ago in Hellenic Egypt. Alchemy was a combination of Greek philosophy, Egyptian technology, and the mysticism of Middle Eastern religions.

In the 12th century, scholars translated Arabic works into Latin, and alchemy was revived in Medieval Europe. Many started to conduct experiments, and everyone was eager to create the elixir of immortality or transmute common substances into gold.

The desire to become famous attracted many swindlers and who claimed they were able to create gold using any earthly material. Many pseudo-alchemists were exposed as fraudsters, but there was also a group of more serious scientists who achieved more than most realize.

Where alchemists really able to transmute lead into gold? Most will say it was impossible, but there is one particular incident that has never been explained. Has the greatest alchemy secret of all time been lost forever?

In Europe, there was a very intelligent medieval alchemist who shunned publicity. Unlike those who sought fame, he was a person who enjoyed working alone and not discussing his achievements. When the outside world learned about his incredible alchemical accomplishments, men of science became curious and wanted to learn more about the occult knowledge he possessed but was unwilling to share.

It’s a story dealing with secret knowledge is about an intriguing alchemist who was visited by a respected and skeptical scientist. After observing the demonstration in person, the scientist was forced to conclude the secretive alchemist was indeed capable of transmuting base metal into gold. The skeptic accepted the evidence and documented what he had witnessed. Later something terrible happened.

Students of the occult may have heard of the Gold-Maker, Alexander Seton (sometimes written Sethon), who was one of the most mysterious alchemists to have ever lived. To many today, his name means nothing, and he wouldn’t have been sad to hear he never became famous because he was reluctant to reveal his secret knowledge.

Much of his life remains shrouded in mystery and we don’t even know when he was born. It’s generally believed he was from Scotland and lived in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. During his time, Seton was known under the pseudonym the Cosmopolitan.

He repeatedly surprised skeptics of alchemy with his demonstrations. The most famous and curious incident took place when he met Professor Wolfgang Drenheim in Fribourg, Switzerland. The year was 1602, and the Professor who was an adversary of all occult practices met Seton who changed the scientist’s opinion not knowing what to think anymore.

In a work titled De Mineralli Medicina, Drenheim told of the experiment he had witnessed with Jacob Zwinger, a goldsmith from Basel.

Drenheim wrote about his meeting with Seton the following: “We went to the house of a gold miner with several slabs of lead which Zwinger had brought from home, a crucible which we had borrowed from a goldsmith, and some ordinary sulfur which we had bought on the way. Sethon touched nothing, He told us to make a fire, place the lead and sulfur in the crucible, put on the lid and stir the mass with rods. Meanwhile he spoke to us.

After a quarter of an hour he said to us: “Drop this little piece of paper into the molten lead, but make sure it falls exactly in the middle and try to let nothing fall into the fire.”

Wrapped in the paper was a rather heavy powder, of a color that appeared to be lemon yellow. It took good eyes to distinguish it.

Although we were as incredulous as Doubting, Thomas, we did everything he said.

When the mass had heated for another quarter of an hour and stirred continuously with iron rods, the goldsmith was told to extinguish the fire under the crucible by pouring water on it. We found pure gold which, in the goldsmith’s opinion, was of even higher quality than the fine gold of Hungary and Arabia. It weighed as much as the lead whose place it had taken. We were stupefied with amazement an; we scarcely dared to believe our eyes.”

There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of this account. Professor was a skeptic and an enemy of those who engaged in occult practices. He met with Seton to expose the alchemist as a fraudster. Instead, he left the demonstrating being convinced he had seen how powder had magically been transformed into gold. He saw this procedure with his own eyes and wrote what he had witnessed.

According to later documented correspondences Seton did a new successful alchemy demonstration in the house of the goldsmith André Bletz. Another similar demonstration was performed in the house of the goldsmith Gustenhover. Seton avoided publicity and he used different names. One of them was the name Hirschborgen.

Knowledge of how an alchemist successfully transmuted base metal into gold reached Emperor Rudolf II who summoned goldsmith Gustenhover to his castle. Emperor Rudolf II told Gustenhover to reveal the secrets of this transmutation, but the poor goldsmith could provide the ruler with any valuable information. He told the emperor he had absolutely no idea how one could use the powder to make gold. The emperor didn’t believe Gustenhover who ended the rest of his life in prison.

Seton made his best to avoid publicity, but he was lured into a trap an ended up in the Christian II, Elector of Saxony where he was tortured. The poor man was pierced with sharp iron spikes, burned with molten lead and beaten with rods; Louis Figuier wrote in L’Alchimie et les Alchimistes.

Despite the pain he had to endure, Seton did not reveal his alchemical secrets and in 1603 his Polish friend Michael Sendivag help him to escape the prison.

By this time, Seton was an old man and his health condition was bad. He passed away shortly after being a free man again.

It is said that Seton wrote down his alchemical formula in a work known as the Book of Twelve Chapters, but the work was destroyed by Sendivag.

Was Seton a fraudster or did he really accomplish what every alchemist dreamt of by transmuting metal into gold? If he was successful, then he took the greatest alchemy secret of all time to his grave.

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 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.

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.

“Behind Roswell’s Aliens” by Adam Janos for History.com

“UFO Crashes Before Roswell” from Anomalien.com

“The Valley of Headless Men” by Aleksa Vuckovic for Ancient-Origins.net

“The Evil Deeds of Jeffrey MacDonald” by Marco Margaritoff for AllThatsInteresting.com

“The Alchemy Master” by Ellen Lloyd for AncientPages.com

“The Karner’s Backyard Glass Coffin” by Trilby Beresford for Ranker.com’s Graveyard Shift

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… “So we say with confidence,’The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’” –Hebrews 13:6

And a final thought… “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” – Napoleon Hill

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