“ALIEN ARTIFACTS: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE LEFT BY UFOS” | 5 True Creepy Stories! #WeirdDarkness
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For millennia, humans have looked up at the sky and seen phenomena that cannot be explained.

Lights far away. Unseen shapes. Sudden flashes that flash out of existence just as quickly. And while many of the reported sightings can easily be explained away by natural phenomena or man-made objects like satellites, some are simply unexplainable.

And in some very rare and remarkable instances, witnesses have stumbled across physical evidence - remnants some would call artifacts - left behind by these mysterious visitors. Take the harrowing tale of two Swedish men in 1956 who saw a glowing, disc-shaped craft and brought home a strange metal object they had never seen before.

Or the story of a letter sent from Brazil to a newspaper reporter describing a UFO exploding over a beach and showering down shards of super-pure magnesium - materials that the letter states were impossible to produce with the technology of the day. In Finland, a man pulled a strange layered rock out of a lake after he saw it drop from a hovering object and plummet to Earth. Each of these artifacts was put under scientific examination.

And, while some discoveries indicate likely terrestrial origins, others remain unexplained. These reports don't come from only one part of the world or one period in time. They are from many decades and continents, suggesting a pattern of visitations more frequent than we ever thought.

The artifacts also tend to have unusual characteristics: metals of unmatched purity, materials crafted in patterns that imply intelligence, and evidence of intense heating. Even stranger, many of these objects appear to be intentionally left behind, as if beckoning examination. Could it be accidental artifacts, much like the debris we humans leave on Mars?

Or are these intentional breadcrumbs left by advanced extraterrestrial or interdimensional beings that are trying to contact us? I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. 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... In 1949, the dark and twisted romance of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, the infamous Lonely Hearts killers, shocked the nation.

Fueled by obsession and deceit, their deadly love story left a trail of victims and a haunting legacy of betrayal and murder. In the shadows of Ottawa's lumber industry, Joseph Currier's rise from ambitious teenager to wealthy businessman was matched only by the mysterious tragedies that followed him, including the death of his young bride in a mill accident that some say wasn't quite what it seemed.

Perhaps her ghost has something to say about it. Awakening to find yourself paralyzed, you sense a sinister presence in the darkness, its weight pressing down as your lungs gasp for air. Helpless and terrified, you realize the nightmare has only just begun. You're in the presence of a sleep demon.

From ghostly serenades at Meridian's Grand Opera House to the chilling specter of Stucky pacing his deadly bridge, Mississippi's haunted locales are teeming with restless spirits and dark legends. Whether it's playful children in a graveyard or vengeful apparitions at the McRaven House, each site promises an encounter with the otherworldly.

First up, though, when strange objects fall from mysterious lights in the sky, junior UFO researcher Sarah Martinez must investigate five incredible cases where aliens might have left behind actual pieces of their spacecraft.

As she digs deeper into each mysterious discovery, she realizes these aren't just stories of lights in the sky. These are cases where someone found something they could hold in their hands. We begin with that story.

If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter, enter contests, connect with me on social media, hear other podcasts that I host, listen to free audiobooks I've narrated. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression, dark thoughts, or addiction. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness. All through history, folks have gazed into the sky and perceived things they weren't able to explain.

Most UFO sightings, it goes without saying, are merely lights or objects in the distance. And a signature of Milsom's work is using aerial surveillance methods to get further context on these distant, ephemeral objects, which might be a natural phenomenon or man-made, like a satellite. In these exceptional cases, witnesses claim to have discovered real physical artifacts from these unknown aircraft.

These discoveries have occurred across the globe, indicating that if these mysterious tourists are real, they have been visiting Earth for decades. First, before we get into specifics, we should note what scientists mean when they discuss UFO artifacts.

They are physical objects that witnesses allege were taken from unidentified flying objects. They can be metal objects, odd and exotic stones, strange liquids, or other stuff you usually wouldn't come across on Earth.

When scientists analyze these candidates, they begin exploring what makes them different, including materials that are so pure or mixed in ways we don't usually use, unusual properties that are unlike known materials, manifestations of exposure to exceptionally high temperatures, abnormal shapes or patterns indicating artifice, unusual or novel chemical compositions,

Though most of these objects would eventually be shown to have normal explanations, a few remained mysterious even after detailed study. Now let us discover some of the more fascinating cases of UFO archaeoastronautics from across the globe. One of the first and best documented cases occurred in 1956 in Sweden. Stig Ekberg and Harry Sjöberg were working on a house on the Isle of Wadau on a cold November night.

There are things that they have been blinded to. They are unaware that what they are about to witness will make scientific history. Around 10:00 p.m., as they were driving on the island, they saw something strange in the sky. What they saw was unlike any aircraft familiar to them. They had described it as a flattened sphere, roughly 25 feet across and 10 feet high. What was especially interesting about the sighting was how close it got to them.

It flew over their truck at a height of about 300 feet. As it got close, something very strange happened. Their truck's headlights went out, and the engine completely stopped running. This type of electrical interference is something many people have experienced during UFO contact. The mysterious craft then did something even more unexpected. It descends to the side of the road, hovering a few feet above the ground almost 300 feet away from their truck.

It was so bright, Ekberg would say later, that the whole area was illuminated - the buildings in the distance visible in the darkness. They also noticed a weird odor, describing it as a mix of ozone - like the air after a lightning storm - and burning electrical insulation. The two men gazed in disbelief for around 10 minutes. Then the object's light got even brighter, and it sped away into the distance at incredible speed.

Suddenly, it left and their truck worked again, as if nothing happened. Most UFO tales would stop right there. But what sets this case apart is what the men discovered next. When they walked to where the object had been hovering, they found not one, but two things.

The grass was matted flat in a perfect circle, and in the middle of this circle of flattened grass was a shiny, three-sided piece of metal about the size of a matchbox. When it was lifted off the ground, it was still hot to the touch, and it had a surprising heft for its size.

Later, scientists at the SAAB airline company studied the piece of metal. They determined that it was made from tungsten carbide and cobalt, materials that were widely used for industrial applications back then. This led to a curious question: did this mean that the object was not from another world? Or do creatures from other worlds just have some common parts with us?

But in September 1957, the drama on a beach in Brazil unfolded with even more flair. As a journalist named Ibram Sued reports it, a mysterious letter came with an amazing story. The anonymous letter writer claimed that they observed a disc-shaped UFO soaring across Ubatuba Beach in the province of Sao Paulo. The object then suddenly exploded, according to the letter, and pieces of white metal showered down to the beach.

So the witness picked up several pieces of this metal and sent three of them to the journalist. Now here's where it gets interesting. The particles were analyzed by scientists at the Mineral Production Laboratory, and they were stunned by the findings. They came from a super-pure magnesium source.

What was so remarkable about this finding was how pure the magnesium was. They said it would be virtually impossible on Earth, with the technology available at the time, to produce magnesium of that purity. This led some researchers to propose that the metal pieces could have actually originated elsewhere. But there are a few issues with this case.

The letter claimed multiple witnesses saw the UFO blow up, but no one knows who penned the letter or who else witnessed the incident. We don't even know precisely what day it occurred. As for the missing details, they have irritated, not helped, scientists in fully verifying the tale, even as the metal morsels themselves remain unexplainable.

On a summer evening in August of 1964, a 30-year-old man named Remo Blomqvist was visiting his parents' summer cottage near Lake Kalevesi in Finland. It was about 7 p.m. when he saw a sight that would baffle scientists for decades to come. Blomqvist initially saw an odd, colorful ball of light appear under the clouds. As he watched, he realized it was actually an oval-shaped object.

The UFO then hovered over the surface of the lake, and then something amazing happened. Blomqvist claimed to have seen an object fall from it onto the shallow water. He heard a crackling hissing noise like hot metal plunging into water. After the UFO dropped this object, it glowed very bright and descended into the clouds, vanishing in just a couple of seconds. Curious about what had plunged into the lake, Blomqvist waded into the shallow water,

What he found appeared to be a stone, but was far from an ordinary rock. It was four centimeters long and had five separate layers. What makes the case especially intriguing is that Blomqvist didn't promptly go public with his find. For more than a decade, he said nothing about it to UFO investigators and then gave them the stone for scientific analysis. The scientists who examined the stone discovered an unusual combination of metals,

copper, zinc, magnesium, manganese, zirconium, vanadium and titanium. And even more surprisingly, they found the stone had been subjected to temperatures around 800 degrees Celsius, or 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit, over an extended period of time. Some theorists propose the stone may have originated from an iron mill, as similar material is used in industrial processes.

But other scientists said although there were similarities, that stone didn't match any known industrial byproducts. In California, in the summer of 1972, one of the most bizarre of UFO artifact cases occurred. Tom McCulley was on a quiet early morning fishing trip in the Sierra Mountains just outside of the Stanislaus River when his mundane morning turned extraordinary.

In the wee hours, McCulley spotted a psychedelic gleam on the water. At first, he wondered whether the image could be a reflection coming from a local forest fire, but he could not smell smoke and heard no crackling typical of a fire. Then suddenly, there was a bright flash of light and it sounded almost as if hailstones were crashing all around him. Terrified by this strange encounter, McCulley began to pack his fishing gear.

That was when he saw something that looked like a gold nugget on the ground. He grabbed it and slipped it into his shirt pocket. Before he left, he spotted other things out of place. The trees around him had pockmarks that looked like bullet holes. When McCully returned home, he wanted to show the gold nugget to his wife, but noticed it had slipped from his pocket. Convinced he'd gone crazy and having no other evidence of his bizarre experience, he chose to keep the story to himself.

Weeks later, packing for a different camping trip, he discovered the gold nugget wrapped up in a sleeping bag. When he learned that Dr. Alan Hynek, a noted UFO researcher, was offering a $50,000 bounty for physical evidence of UFO phenomena, McCulley arranged for the object to be tested. The results were baffling, and what appeared to be a gold nugget was in fact 99.4% iron.

But this was not normal iron. It possessed two very peculiar properties. First, it wasn't magnetic, which is very unusual for iron. Second, it didn't trigger any metal detectors, which shouldn't be possible for something so large and metallic. The scientists gauged the object's potential and were intrigued.

Dennis Hayek of the UFO Registry called the results "silly" because an object with these properties can't even exist. This curious piece of metal even piqued NASA's interest. One of the most convoluted cases of UFO artifacts started in early 1979 in Finland. It spanned multiple witnesses, odd craters, strange liquids and repeated UFO sightings over a period of weeks.

The event started on February 2nd, when Rachel Kolomeninen noticed something strange outside his home: a crater roughly eight feet wide in the freshly fallen snow. At the bottom of the crater sat some odd red liquid that stunk of vinegar, a few scraps of metal, and what appeared to be a metal cup. Kolomeninen called the police, who photographed and collected samples. Three nights later, the family heard a strange shooting noise.

The next day, they discovered another crater even larger than the first, also filled with red liquid and fragments of metal. The police theorized that someone might be tossing homemade bombs, but the family felt that explanation didn't add up. On February 21st, they found three more craters, and these also held the same red liquid and debris.

They also observed something unusual: the electric wires strung above the holes were free of snow, although all other power cables were snow-covered. A stranger part of the story happened when their friend Jarmo Nykanen came to Hausit in March. Nykanen himself had a history with UFOs, having seen some strange lights and experienced some unusual phenomena in 1973 at his summer cottage.

On March 10, Nikanan was walking around the property when he noticed a flash of light through some nearby woods. Then, a bell-shaped object appeared, blue on top, red on the bottom. His camera flash also wouldn't work when he attempted to take photos. When he turned on his flashlight and moved closer to the object, it began to rise a little bit and flew right up into the sky.

This showed that the craters were forming a triangle whose top point seemed to point towards his cottage, and it was an interesting discovery for Nikanan. A few days later, he saw the bell-shaped object again, and he managed to snap several photographs. As he attempted to move closer, he stumbled. The object emitted a brilliant red beam that struck his face, momentarily blinding him.

After hiding among some trees and keeping an eye on the object for a bit, he watched it lift into the air, trail red smoke and then vanish in a bright flash. When he traversed the area where it had been flying over, he discovered the same curious red liquid and pieces of metal that had been found in the craters. These tales of UFO residuals leave a lot of thought-provoking questions. If these objects actually originated from ships from another world, why did they get left behind?

Some scientists believe they could resemble the trash human beings leave behind when we explore space, such as the equipment and garbage we've left on the Moon and Mars. Some others wonder whether some of these objects could have been left intentionally, even to be discovered. Scientists are still investigating, and the world is still looking to the skies. Everyone is hoping to find answers somewhere.

Up next... In 1949, the twisted love story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, known as the Lonely Hearts Killers, left a trail of deception, jealousy, and murder across the United States. Bound by passion and crime, their tale of deadly romance and betrayal captivated the nation and ended in the electric chair.

Plus, in 1800s Canada, successful businessman Joseph Currier seemed to have it all, until a series of mysterious tragedies struck, including the strange death of his second wife at his own lumber mill, leaving behind conflicting stories and a ghost. But first, Mississippi. It might be known for its river and music, but it also is home to chilling tales of ghosts, restless spirits, and haunted legends.

These stories and more, when Weird Darkness returns. We all dream, but for some people, what should be a time for their bodies and minds to rest turns into a nightmare from which they cannot escape. Our next Weird Darkness live stream is Saturday night, December 28th on the Weird Darkness YouTube channel, and during the live broadcast I'll share some of these chilling nighttime stories.

Tales of shadow people, sleep paralysis, and demons who stalk their victims in that place between dreams and reality. I'll share true tales of prophetic dreams, some joyful, some not. Sleepwalking incidents that are both amusing and disturbing. I'll also share real stories of night terrors so horrifying that sleep

became something to fear and dread for those victimized by the night. You might not want to sleep after joining our next live-screen. It's Saturday, December 28th at 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern. On the lighter side, I'll also be responding to comments and questions live on the air and doing a giveaway of some Weird Darkness merch.

Prepare yourself for our next live-scream for chilling tales of what some people must endure in an attempt to get some sleep. Find the details on the live-scream page at WeirdDarkness.com. Rusty Clark, an Army and Air Force veteran, needed treatment at a VA hospital.

meet his wife Juanita. We live above Borgentown, West Virginia. It would take us about seven hours to get here and I was prepared to sleep on the hospital floor beside of Mr. Clark but the Fisher House opened up that door. We had a lovely suite to stay in. We had food to eat. We didn't have to worry about that because the Fisher House, the foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher took care of all that years ago following their dream to make our reality that we were together and

we could be treated here. It's a great blessing. Meet Rusty. I was in the Army Guard, and then I went into the Air Force, and then I met Juanita. Keeping families together when they need it most. For active-duty military wounded and veterans sick or injured, Fisher Houses make a huge difference. Learn more at fisherhouse.org. That's fisherhouse.org. Because of family's love. It's good medicine.

When you're part of a military family, you understand sacrifice and support. At American Public University, we honor your dedication by extending our military tuition savings to your extended family. Parents, spouses, legal partners, siblings, and dependents all qualify for APU's preferred military rate of just $250 per credit hour for undergraduate and master's level programs.

Mississippi is known for catfish, bluegrass music, and its beautiful river. But did you know that it is also brimming with paranormal activity? Whether you're a local gathering the courage to visit a bridge of dark legend, or a traveler hoping to get a nasty scare at a cemetery,

Here are a few of the most haunted places in Mississippi. Meridian's Grand Opera House opened in 1890. After a series of disputes over ownership, the building closed down in 1927 and sat vacant for decades - vacant in terms of the living, at least. After a period of restoration, the opera house reopened in 2006, and staff today reports plenty of paranormal activity.

Apparently, this beloved space hosts the ghosts of performers of the past. When quiet falls over the building, staff and visitors can hear a woman singing from the main house. The identity of this friendly ghost is not known for certain. Some believe it is the spirit of the woman depicted in a portrait that hangs above the stage. Others theorize her to be an actress, Lily Langtry, who was popular in the early 1910s.

There are some other instances of ghostly interactions. Even in the hot summer months, one might find themselves walking through a cold spot. Lights will flicker on and off throughout the building. One staff member claims to have felt a hand on their shoulders when they were completely alone. However, the energy of these spirits has been consistently categorized as positive and benevolent.

Stuckey's Bridge. Near the end of the 19th century, the outlaws known as the Dalton Gang terrorized the Old American West. One member of that notorious gang was a man named Stuckey, who opened up an inn near the Chunky River. When all of his guests at the inn were asleep for the night, Stuckey would murder them, rob them and dump their bodies in the river.

When Stuckey's crimes were revealed, he was put to death by hanging off of the bridge crossing that very river he dumped the bodies in. Today, visitors will still find his soul pacing the bridge with a lantern, looking for new victims of his deadly scheme. One visitor has even claimed to have been pushed off the bridge

Some have reported sightings of Stucky's lifeless body dangling off the bridge, while others report the sound of a loud splash, as if Stucky's body has hit the water after the noose was cut. Waverly Mansion was built back in 1852. This historic house is open to tours and is the home to several ghosts. The most well-known ghost of the mansion is the little girl lost.

Besides seeing her wander visibly through the building, visitors can also hear the child calling out for her mother. On some occasions when the girl is sleepy, small impressions of a child can be seen in the beds. Some visitors have also claimed to have spotted the ghost of a Confederate soldier inside of a mirror, as well as a man on a horse outside, trotting through the grounds.

The Garden of Hope Cemetery, also called Franklin Cemetery, is regarded as one of the most haunted graveyards in the United States. Many of the grounds' eternal residents have dark backstories, and some even love having fun at visitors' expense. Within the cemetery stands a tomb containing a mother, a father, and five children who were all murdered one stormy night.

The spirits of the children are restless, and they can be found climbing over and playing amongst the gravestones. If you're lucky, you might run into the ghost of a young girl named Cheryl Ann. She appears to visitors in a blue 1960s-era dress and will sometimes help people locate graves within the grounds. She's been known to offer to hold people's hands or carry their flowers for them, though she always disappears shortly after.

Paranormal investigators have gotten incredibly clear photos of Cheryl, as well as a recording of her saying, "Hope you'll come back and see me soon." If you're unlucky, you might run into an unfriendly ghost, known to steal flowers from other graves. Some believe that this ghost is that of Cheryl Ann's father, Hal, who reportedly murdered his daughter, her siblings, and his wife.

Another common spirit is Bloody Sarah. She appears to visitors as a middle-aged woman with red hair, wearing a housecoat and slippers covered in blood. She likes to dart into the road so tourists think they've hit somebody. Her manic laughter can be heard when drivers get out of their cars to investigate.

Other legends include a werewolf howling from his coffin on a full moon, a ghostly gravedigger who hitchhikes, and the horrid spook, Joanna, who will chase and hit those who pass through the cemetery. The McRaven House was built around 1797 and is now considered by paranormal investigators to be the most haunted home in Mississippi. Considering a slew of horrific deaths have occurred on the grounds, who could be surprised?

The home was actually used as a Confederate field hospital and campsite during the Civil War. Because of this, countless soldiers spent their final days at the estate, leaving their spirit behind. After the fall of Vicksburg, owner John Bob encountered a group of Union soldiers picking flowers from the garden. He shooed them away by throwing a brick, causing the men to vow to return to burn the house to the ground.

What they did was far worse, however. Bob was accosted by 25 Union soldiers who mercilessly beat him before ending his life with bullets to the back and face. Though Bob is the only reported murder on the property, at least five others have died in the home, including notorious highwayman and original owner Andrew Glass.

Bob and Glass are not the only ghosts active at McRaven. Visitors have seen plenty of soldiers and Native Americans on the ground as well. And the most active spirit? Mary Elizabeth Howard. Mary was the wife of previous owner Sheriff Stephen Howard. The young woman died during childbirth in 1836. And now her spirit likes to play pranks on visitors. In the history of the world, how many crimes have been attributed to love?

Those were the words of Martha Beck, one half of the duo who became known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" after their conviction for the murder of 66-year-old Janet Fay in New York in 1949. Beck, a lonely and overweight nurse with two children, met her other half, Raymond Fernandez, in the same way that the duo would eventually select their victims.

She placed a so-called "Lonely Hearts" ad in the newspaper, and Fernandez answered it. At that time, these "Lonely Hearts" were a common form of personal ads, often placed in newspapers by men or women seeking friendship, romance, or matrimony. The days before you could swipe right. The days before mobile devices even existed. Fernandez himself already had a wife and four children whom he had abandoned across the sea in Spain.

Since making his way to America, he had made his way by answering such ads, swindling the women out of their life savings and then disappearing. He believed that he was capable of doing this because of the power of voodoo, which had been taught to him by a cellmate after he was arrested for stealing some clothes. That initial brush with the law may have been exacerbated by an injury that Fernandez received during a shipboard accident when a steel hatch cover fell on his head.

There has been speculation since then that the injury may have caused a total personality change in Fernandez, leading not only to his initial incarceration but to his later life of crime. Beck and Fernandez proved to be a formidable, if volatile, pair. At the time they met, Beck was living in Florida, where Fernandez visited her for a time following his usual playbook of sponging off his victims and then vanishing.

When he attempted to return to New York, however, he underestimated the power he already had over Beck, who followed him, showing up unannounced on his doorstep. Perhaps realizing how devoted to him she had already become, Fernandez confided his criminal enterprises in his new accomplice.

Rather than turning against him, however, Beck seemed to become even more attached, giving up her two children to the Salvation Army so that she could devote herself completely to Fernandez and aiding him in his con schemes against other lonely women. In this, she proved a valuable but also frustrating asset.

By posing as Fernandez's sister, Beck could grant the enterprise an air of legitimacy and put his victims at ease. They felt more comfortable visiting or having a gentleman collar when there was also another woman in the house. However, Fernandez's attempts at wooing his victims were complicated by Beck's jealousy, which eventually served as the catalyst for the one murder for which they were convicted.

In 1949, the 34-year-old Fernandez became engaged to 66-year-old Janet Fay, who came to live with him in his apartment in Long Island. Fernandez had reportedly promised Beck that he would never consummate his relationships with his victims, but when Beck caught him and his new fiancée in bed together, she flew into a rage. She reportedly struck Fay in the head with a hammer, after which time Fernandez strangled the older woman to death.

Martha Beck would later state that she had no memory of the crime. The last thing she claimed to remember was Fernandez telling her to keep Faye quiet, and then the next thing she knew, she was standing over the older woman's body while Fernandez screamed, "My God, Martha, what have you done?"

With Faye's family asking her whereabouts, Beck and Fernandez fled New York and headed to Michigan, where they settled in a suburb of Grand Rapids, moving in with Delphine Downing, a 28-year-old widow selected through their usual methodology. Downing had a two-year-old daughter, and neither would survive the brief encounter.

The story goes that Downing became agitated over something, which prompted Fernandez to give her sleeping pills, possibly more than she should have taken. Her condition after taking the pills frightened her daughter, who began to cry. This enraged Beck, who strangled the little girl, although not to death. Nonetheless, the pair were worried that they had already gone too far, and Fernandez shot Downing to death while she was still unconscious from the sleeping pills.

The killers then stayed on for several more days in the deceased woman's house. However, her daughter knew that something was wrong, and her continued crying led Beck to eventually finish the job she had started - drowning the young child in a basin of water. Both bodies were buried in the basement beneath the house, but suspicious neighbors soon turned the authorities on to the nefarious pair, and Beck and Fernandez were arrested on March 1, 1949.

"I'm no average killer," Fernandez is said to have boasted when the police took him in. He confessed to not only the three murders detailed here, but over a dozen more, eventually confessing to killing some 17 or 20 women over the course of his deceptions.

With Beck by his side the entire time, the pair signed a 73-page confession so salacious that they became the talk of the national media, which gave them the nickname they still possess to this day, the Lonely Hearts Killers.

As the two stood trial in a sweltering New York City courtroom in July, Fernandez attempted to retract his earlier confession, claiming that he only did it to spare his sweetheart. "All my statements were made for the purpose of helping Martha," he said in court. "I love her. It couldn't be anything else." Fernandez was right about one thing: the media was especially hard on Martha Beck,

Reporting, at the time, constantly belittled her, often focusing on her weight, which was sometimes misrepresented as being considerably higher than it actually was. The lurid details of the case also drew huge crowds to the courtroom, such that rules were put into place that unauthorized persons were not permitted to loiter outside, and the New York Times reported that Martha Beck's testimony was disrupted yesterday afternoon by a near-riot of would-be spectators outside the courtroom.

Both were found guilty of the murder of Janet Fay, and both were sentenced to die in the electric chair in New York's Sing Sing Prison, a verdict which was carried out in March of 1951. Of course, death was not enough to end the public's fascination with the Lonely Hearts' killers.

Though their exploits were too salacious for the cinemas of the day, the crimes of Beck and Fernandez were nonetheless immortalized in numerous films, beginning with the 1970 cult hit "The Honeymoon Killers."

More recently, fictionalized versions of Beck and Fernandez appeared in a 2006 film simply called Lonely Hearts, in which an extremely unlikely Salma Hayek plays Martha Beck, while Jared Leto plays Raymond Fernandez, opposite John Travolta and James Gandolfini as the cops who bring them down.

Though Beck and Fernandez seemed to experience a love-hate relationship during their time on death row, they both went to the electorate chair professing their love for one another. "I want to shout it out," Fernandez said as he was dragged to his doom. "I love Martha. What do the public know about love?"

Beck, meanwhile, walked to her execution under her own power, saying that "My story is a love story, but only those tortured with love can understand what I mean." The life of Joseph Merrill Currier was a classic tale of Murphy's Law. He was born in Troy, Vermont in 1820 and at the age of 17 moved to Ottawa, Canada to work in the lumber business.

He became successful over the next 25 years, owning a number of sawmills and businesses in the Ottawa area. He even constructed a grand house at 24 Sussex Drive, which subsequently became Canada's Prime Minister's residence. But while he enjoyed success, Currier faced tragedy in his personal life. Currier married Christina Wilson in 1846. They had four children. Then disaster struck.

In those five days, three of their little children died of scarlet fever - a common and deadly disease in those days. Christina, too, died three years after losing the children. People claimed she died of the grief of losing her kids. On his second trip to Lake George, two years after Christina's death, Currier spent a month in the Crosby Side Hotel. There he encountered Anne, the daughter of the hotel owner. They fell in love and married the next year.

To celebrate their marriage, Currier took Anne to tour his properties, such as his mill in Manitouk, now known as Watson's Mill. This is again the background of something terrible happening when they visit the mill. Anne had on a hoop dress which was so broad that it could be hazardous because she could easily walk into something accidentally. Two different accounts describe what happened next.

The popular account goes that Anne separated herself from the group and something in her dress became entangled in the mill's machinery. The machinery hurled her into a post and she died on impact. But there is another version of the story, one told by Lord Rosebury, who went on to be Prime Minister of Britain. Ten years later, he visited the mill and recorded what Currier had told him.

In this rendition, Currier witnessed the machine kill Ann on their wedding day. It was not in a later visit as such. This difference in accounts has left some wondering what actually took place that day. Things went from bad to worse for Currier once Ann died. His mill burnt down and he lost most of his money.

He was elected a member of Parliament but had to resign when a young politician named Wilfrid Laurier accused him of violating the rules regarding conflicts of interest. Anne's ghost is said to still appear at Watson's Mill and around Parliament Hill. Ironically, in a strange twist, the hotel Currier met Anne at was subsequently purchased by someone from the same Vermont hometown.

It evolved into a retreat for women named Waiowaka, which it remains to this day. What happened to Ann Currier, no one knows. Some believe it was simply a horrible accident, while others suspect there may be more to the story. What we do know is that Joseph Currier led a life of tremendous success, followed by terrible tragedy.

Coming up next... In the dead of night, you wake, paralyzed, the suffocating weight of an unseen force pinning you to your bed. Shadows twist and shift, revealing a sinister presence that grows closer, stealing your breath and draining your very essence. As terror consumes you, the line between nightmare and reality dissolves, leaving you helpless against the ancient evil that feeds on your fear.

You've just come face to face with a sleep demon. Hey Weirdos! If you enjoy what you're hearing from me in the Weird Darkness Podcast throughout the year, may I ask for a Christmas gift from you? It's an easy one, and it's free to give. This month, just invite two or three people you know to give Weird Darkness a listen. That is truly the greatest gift you could ever give to me.

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Envision waking up at night out of the blue. You panic when you realize that you cannot move. It heightens your fear when you feel another presence there with you. You're gasping for air, and the creature is getting nearer and nearer. Your lungs fill up with water. You begin to gasp, but you can do nothing. The horrible creature starts crushing you.

By a variety of names across time and geography, different cultural groups have described vampire-like demons that suck humans' energy and assail their victims during the night. Two of the most well-known names for such actors in English are "incubus" and "succubus" - the plural forms of incubi and succubi that attack their preferential targets by lying heavy upon them, sometimes committing their sexual assaults at the same time.

Incubus is referred to as the male version of the demon, who is said to rape women. The name of this demon is derived from late Latin, incubo, literally meaning "nightmare", but is rooted from the Latin word incubare, or "to lie on". This account loosely fits with what the Incubus does to its prey. It lies on or crushes them. They are supposedly exceedingly difficult to dismiss once they have settled on a mark.

Since these demons supposedly can shapeshift, their appearance varies, though they are frequently described as appearing human-like. The incubi may also be particularly physically alluring for the subjects.

Some argue that demons do not have an actual corporeal shape and take the form of a man through the reanimation of corpses, the employment of human flesh, or through powers of a supernatural nature that allows the demons to manifest themselves in a way that haunts the victims with a form of a man that may be desirable and/or known to victims.

Many texts have written about incubi, and they were particularly popular - well, infamous would be a better word - in Europe in the Middle Ages. Not unexpectedly, these demons, and their victims occasionally, were linked with witchcraft too. The Church came up with the theory that the demons were fallen angels who were so overwhelmed with a desire for human women that they just couldn't help themselves.

Consequently, some sources say incubi like to attack women of a strong religious nature, such as nuns. Medieval legend claimed there were nine times as many incubi compared to their female counterparts, the succubi. Succubus, meaning "spirit bride" or "lie under," is the female incarnation of an incubus demon. These demons feature in ancient Akkadian, Sumerian and Greek texts.

Succubi have usually been depicted as femme fatales, with exquisite beauty phenomenally too, but with bat or other flying animal's wings on their back. Like the incubi, the succubi attack their victims at night and are said to favor victims who are religiously inclined as well.

The succubi are not human women, but demons. They were known as the ones who go out and look for sleeping men. They are said to suck its blood, its breath, its life, energy, and its semen until the point that the victim could even die. Some sources say that a succubus doesn't even have to be physically in the man's room to attack. They say the succubi can just visit men in their dreams and drain their life energies that way.

These dreams are typically also of a sexual nature, and lead the men into a state of deep sleep paralysis, which I'll come back to in a moment. According to some legends, succubi and incubi are actually two manifestations of the same demon. These tales imply that the male body is the most desirable form for the creature,

That being said, the succubus form is considered essential as this demon cannot reproduce by itself. And so the female succubi would assault human men and drain their sex energy i.e. sperm before transforming into the male counterpart to breed with a human female and produce offspring. Such nightmarish attacks are reported to be happening globally

One from Japan, where the inability to move is known as kanashibara and is attributed to multiple causes. Many legends tell about this phenomena and differ about the reason for each one. Possession by a supernatural spirit, demon or monster, or a curse by priests or sorcerers are typical explanations.

Sometimes, the cause may be a spirit that needs to be exorcised, which can be done by a certain type of priest, waving a Buddhist sutra to drive away the illness. Another example is "Trocco", a creature hailing from Chileo, an island in the south of Chile. This creature seems to have powers to seduce any woman he wants, and he frequently visits her in her sleep. According to legend, Trocco lives in the forest and has a magical attraction that makes women want to have sex with him.

These same stories say that men are fearful of the being's gaze, which can cause death. The myth of Traco's trysts was previously used to explain unwanted or sudden pregnancies, particularly among unmarried women. Because of Traco's powers, the woman would be deemed blameless. Horai is a female supernatural being that is believed to attack men in the Indian state of Assam. The entity gets to the man in a dream cycle and slowly deteriorates his health.

Pori is said to have an influence in all her power and lust that the victim may even kill himself. T'Kolosh is yet another example of a creature that preys on helpless victims while they sleep. T'Kolosh is said to be an evil creature that wizards send to attack their enemies, especially women, who the T'Kolosh may sexually assault.

Exercising the entity by a witch doctor or putting a brick under each leg of one's bed have been recommended as ways to keep horrifying apparitions at bay. Lastly, Turkish mythology has karabasan, an evil spirit or jinn that descends on its prey while they sleep. Like the kene-shibara , karabasan can be experienced as a dense pressure on the chest while the victim is unable to move or wake up.

Kiribati attacks are triggered, they say, when a person eats in bed or is not fully covered while sleeping. It mirrors such similar entities as the Hmong people's pressure demons Zog Tsum, the German Hexendrucken , or the French Koshmar , Newfoundland's Og Rog and the Spanish Pesadilla. There are just too many of these nightmarish beings to name here, so it's time to jump to their offspring.

Cambions. Cambion, the offspring of an incubus and a human woman, or less frequently succubus and a human man. They are lesser known beings than incubi or succubi. The earliest examples of Cambions are found in a post-medieval European demonology. They were particularly suspicious of twins who were thought to be the product of a demonic human mating. Cambions are said to show little signs of life and are not even really alive until they reach the age of seven.

That belief, it seems, was enough that medieval witch hunters apparently felt no guilt if they executed a suspected cambion before they reached that age. So to search for cambions in the age of witch hunting, one test would be for a holy person to touch a suspected cambion, and the test, which seemed an odd one, was that a hybrid would shriek or cry at the touch. But if a cambion would reach adult age, it would become very tall and strong.

They were described as very arrogant, evil, and bold. Though not all Cambions were said to be evil, they were often thought to have personalities similar to their looks.

All Cambiones were thought to possess at least one of the powers of their infernal parent as magical abilities. Some alleged examples of Cambiones are Alexander the Great, Caesar Augustus, Martin Luther, Romulus and Remus, Plato, Merlin of Arthurian legends, and other notable names.

Arnold Villanova, a 13th-century physician, penned a detailed description of what transpired to someone who thought she or he had been preyed upon by an incubus.

As such demons were widely discussed during the medieval epoch, what he wrote is important. He said, "They know they can neither speak nor make a noise. They try to get rid of something that prevents them because they want to rise up, call out and speak, and because they cannot, they try but they cannot get loose and so they press."

They perceive the cause of the impediment, and because their imagination and estimative faculty have not yet been bound by that sleep, as it is light and in the first stage, they perceive a form in the form repository of the imagination, the shape of that which most meaningfully signifies the cause of the impediment. And because the breast and the throat are withheld of expansion, they perceive with their imagination the shape of a man lying on top of them and choking them.

According to medieval physicians, incubi and succubi appeared when a person was in the state of sleep when their reasoning ability ended but their imagination wasn't shut off, thus keeping them vulnerable to demonic attack. So what this means is, in addition to the belief in supernatural attacks of demons, fallen angels, or rage spirits, other explanations have been offered for supposed encounters with succubi and incubi.

However, just like the experiences, these explanations have been very debated as well. Some researchers have said that the incubus-succubus attacks are tied to severe sexual repression. As already pointed out, stories of incubi and succubi were initially associated more with monks and nuns. Both orders of people who have taken a vow of celibacy.

Because the nature of the attacks is sexual and has been linked with erotic dreams and/or physical sensations, some believe that the victims of the attacks have sexual urgencies that they cannot admit to, and therefore their unconscious processes play their sexual instincts out during the night while their body can run amok. Moreover, some believe the experiences are human hallucinations or delusions rooted in the repression of sexual needs.

Alternatively, some of the other people have drawn their attention toward the experience of one undergoing fear due to these types of attacks, and said that the person who has these types of experiences is suffering through strong issues related to either anxiety or stress. Even as far back as the medieval era, medical physicians recommended that it was beneficial for an individual to minimize their stressors in order to better eliminate the demons.

For example, Bernard de Gordon wrote that the person should "live in joy and happiness and avoid all sadness" and suggested music or conversations with friends could make the patient feel better. He also suggested that a man threatened by an incubus should possess a very beloved friend who, on coming to hear him calling out and almost lamenting, he should awaken.

On the surface, stories of both types of alien contact are similar in many respects. Both typically include meetings with supernatural entities and recollections of observing things one cannot explain and/or hearing unusual sounds. After meeting with either organization, the person may also report being physically drained or confused.

Moreover, certain individuals have put the case that demons, as described in history and legends, are actually beings from outer space who have allegedly been observed since time immemorial. Some aliens, like the supposed demons, are said to feed off of human energy, sexual or fear-based, and like the supposed demons, may drain their victims to the point of near death.

Sleep paralysis is the feeling of being unable to move when a person is going into or coming out of a rapid eye movement REM sleep state.

This is the period when people usually dream and the body's muscles are relaxed even until the point of paralysis, which can be to prevent a person from acting out his or her dream. The "demon" is said to show themselves to the person at hypnopompic or hypnagogic junctures and are thought by some researchers to be the results of scary hallucinations.

Sleep paralysis is a common phenomenon among many people, some of whom experience the feeling of someone sitting or pushing on their chest, back or side. They occasionally experience a sensation of someone strangling, biting them or twisting their limbs around, and also frequently reporting the sensation of an evil presence in the same room with them during these attacks. The physiology of it occurs most vividly during REM sleep.

All these factors together might explain the appearance of the dreaded demons. While the brain scrutinizes this heavy feeling and lack of movement they panic and experience arousal at the same time, it recognizes the fact that sleep paralysis on its own continues to be seen as an enigmatic phenomenon.

There's also the chance that some, if not many, of those whose minds were supposedly attacked by terrorizing demons weren't imagining their ordeal, or being assaulted by supernatural entities and got attacked by other human beings. This aligns with the general descriptions of demons being human-like in their appearance as well.

Whoever attacked them may have forced them to lie about what had visited them in the night, or the victims themselves had invented the demons as a way to make sense of the horrific attacks. Incubi are said to prefer strongly religious people as their victims, however, as we mentioned before, so it's little wonder that many of the answers to battle the demons are religious in nature.

Specifically, the Church says that the method of resisting the demons is through exorcisms, making the sign of the cross multiple times, or begging Jesus or God not to be possessed, or as a penultimate, excommunication. People often try to get rid of demons by moving to another house, hoping the demon won't

Those who think the demon established a link with its victim using dark magic recommended that the individual looks for and disposes of any belongings that may have supernatural powers linked with them, and that the individual should cleanse their aura or use other means to keep their energy around them positive.

For people who view the nightmarish attacks as less than supernatural, counseling and self-help techniques are reported to have played a role in easing physiological stressors and alleged disruptions of some people's experience at night as well. Some also have been prompted to assess the "big picture" - to ask what they are feeling and seeing is even real while they are being attacked.

This may be easier said than done, as the individual is going through episodes of intense fear. However, practicing these techniques prior to episodes can help lower the feelings as well. Regional differences in the mythical attacker of course lead to differences in modes of protection, so cultural context applies as solutions when confronted with dealing with experiences with the nightmare beings. However, there are those who have actually pursued sex with succubi and incubi.

One case takes the form of a brothel that was said to have operated in Bologna, Italy. The owner supposedly populated his whole business with the demons for his clients' enjoyment. At a much more minor level, there are reports of people using magical incantations to summon demons to themselves for sexual purposes. Many later wish they had not made that request when they can't shake the demons, or they're brutally attacked by the creatures who visit them at night.

While these ancient demons might be seen as relics of the past, people are still affected, including yours truly who is bringing you this story. Feelings at night of a crushing weight on their chest, nightmares every so often, the feeling of an evil presence in the room, sleep and dreams along with those moments before and after remain the subject of fascination and wonder, bewilderment and terror.

Thanks for listening! If you like the show, please, share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do! You can email me and follow me on social media through the Weird Darkness website,

WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can listen to free audiobooks I've narrated, get the email newsletter, visit the store for creepy and cool Weird Darkness merchandise. Plus, it's where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression, addiction, or thoughts of harming yourself or others. While on the site, you can also click on "Tell Your Story" to share your own true paranormal or creepy tale. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.

All stories used in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the authors, stories, and sources I used in the episode description as well as on the website at WeirdDarkness.com. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. John 3:18-21:

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in God's Son. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it, for fear their sins will be exposed.

But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see what they are doing what God wants. And a final thought, you don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great. Les Brown, I'm Darren Marlar, thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. A 30-year-old man named Remo Blomqvist, Blomqvist,

Blomqvist. A 30-year-old man named Remo Blomqvist was visiting his parents' summer cottage near Lake Kalevesi in Finland. It was about 7 p.m. when he saw a sight that would baffle scientists for decades to come.

Blomqvist, how do you say that? There is no phonetically easy way to say that word. Blomqvist. Let's check our online sources for pronunciations to see if we can find something.

Over the last six years has been the Group B RS200, the ex-Stig Blomqvist car, and the... Blom... Blom... Blomqvist? Blom... Blom... Blom... Blomqvist? And this is another piece that I made with a Swedish performance artist, Johannes Blomqvist, in Sweden, so... Blomqvist. Blomqvist. Blomqvist. Yeah, let's pretend the V is a U. Blomqvist. That actually makes... Alright, let's do that. F***.

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