Dr. Hazard derived pleasure from her macabre methods, convincing patients to fast to cure diseases, leading to starvation and death. She stole their valuables and forged documents for monetary gain.
Patients were fed only eight ounces of watered-down tomato or asparagus soup and orange juice once a day, leading to severe starvation and many deaths.
They looked like living skeletons, resembling Holocaust victims, prompting neighbors to feed them and help them recover.
She served only two years of a 20-year sentence for murder, was pardoned by the governor, and fled to New Zealand, later returning to open another sanitarium.
Residents reported feelings of being watched, faint apparitions of faces seen through time-stained window panes, and other unexplained phenomena.
John Spencer found an artificial cavern containing well-preserved corpses of monks, a woman dressed as a man, and a small creature in a silver suit with a head resembling a ball of silver.
Spencer found a larger chamber with real corpses, while the monks showed him a smaller room with miniature replicas, claiming his fever caused hallucinations.
He disappeared without a trace shortly after leaving, never to be heard from again.
The grandmother warned the narrator that their mother would soon die, which tragically came true within days.
Maura was seen at a liquor store purchasing wine, coffee liqueur, and vodka, shortly before her car was found crashed in New Hampshire.
Staff saw white flashes in doorways, a patient with advanced dementia passed away while staring at a corner of the ceiling, and shuffling sounds were heard in the hall.
This podcast is sponsored by IQ Bar. What if I told you this holiday season you can stuff your face with tasty, craveable snacks and wait for it to feel great? Hi, I'm Will, founder of IQ Bar, the only plant protein bar formulated for your body and your brain. IQ Bar's brain-boosting nutrients are designed to refuel, nourish, and satisfy hunger with zero sugar crash. Featuring delicious holiday flavors like gingerbread, IQ Bars are the less-than-200-calorie snack
that satisfies your sweet tooth and your protein goals. Right now, take 25% off all IQ Bar products and get free shipping. Also, check out our other limited edition holiday flavors like Peppermint Mocha Jitter-Free IQ Joe Coffee. Clean ingredients, fantastic taste, and zero regrets. Tis the season to refuel smarter, hydrate harder, and get rid of the bad.
and caffeinate larger with IQ Bar. Go to eatiqbar.com and enter code audio to get 25% off all IQ Bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eatiqbar.com and enter code audio. This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself? Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace.
Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule, wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner, or just need a little extra one-on-one support, Talkspace is here for you.
Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance? No problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com. 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.
We rarely hear about women serial killers. I think the most talked about female killer is Eileen Wuornos, who was brought into the public's attention due to books and a movie that was released in the last few years.
Rarely do I hear people talk about, though, much less know the horrific history of Elizabeth Bathory, the Hungarian countess who is said to have butchered more than 600 young girls and bathed in their blood. And you likely have never heard of a serial killer named Dr. Linda Burfield Hazard until now. 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 a very remote part of Mongolia, one person made an incredible find. It's a discovery that could easily turn our understanding of ancient history upside down. What would you do if you saw a flash of light down the hall of a nursing home? When you dream of loved ones who have passed away, do you consider it just a dream? Or is that deceased family member reaching out to speak to you?
A college girl leaves campus in her car, never to be seen again. But first… A female serial killer is described as a "sadistic killer" who reveled in her evil actions while pretending to cure people in her sanitarium. 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, my newsletter, Twitter 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! Dr. Linda Burfield Hazard was known as a fasting specialist, meaning she believed that with fasting, one could cure themselves of all diseases. Starving the body is used in many religious ceremonies as well as meditative practices,
"Clear the body, clear the mind." Dr. Hazard was labeled as a sadistic killer because she derived pleasure from her macabre methods. Dr. Hazard would convince her patients that with her methods, they would be cured completely of their ailment within months. The doctor created a sanitarium, which she named Wilderness Heights. The treatment was basic and evil.
She would feed them eight ounces of a watered-down tomato soup or asparagus soup and some orange juice once a day during their stay and convince them that through this new method they would be able to go home cured in no time. When the patients complained of starvation, she would convince them just to hold off a bit longer because they were almost done with the treatment. Needless to say, many of them suffered a horrible death.
Neighbors from around town dubbed Dr. Hazard's place "Starvation Heights" since it was not uncommon for them to run across patients who tried to escape. Looking like living skeletons, many of the doctor's neighbors would take it upon themselves to feed these patients. One eyewitness described how her parents found a patient of Dr. Hazard crawling on the road. She described them looking like Holocaust victims.
The eyewitnesses told of how her parents took the person home and fed them. While her patients were moribund, laying in what essentially became their deathbeds, the doctor and her husband would take their time and steal everything they could from the patients, going through their belongings, stealing cash and valuables, as well as forging documents for monetary gains.
Around 1912, Dr. Linda Hazard was convicted for the death of a wealthy Australian woman, Claire Williamson, who at the time of her death weighed less than 50 pounds. The only reason why Dr. Hazard was caught was because Claire Williamson's sister, Dora, was also in treatment and had managed to get a hold of a family member to come to her rescue.
They both testified against the doctor, who was found guilty and sent to Walla Walla Prison in Washington state. After serving only two years, she was pardoned by the governor, and the doctor and her husband fled to New Zealand. Years later, in 1920, Dr. Hazard returned to Washington state and opened a new sanitarium called School of Health.
Not having a medical license anymore, she continued starving her patients under her new sanitarium. Fifteen years later, a fire broke out and burned the place to the ground, never to be built again. Dr. Linda Hazard, now elderly, fell ill one day, and like most delusional killers, she knew that her treatment was the only thing that could save her. Dr. Hazard died in 1938 after months of fasting.
dying by her own hands the same way many of her victims had perished before. It's only a shame that justice did not prevail in this story. Serving two years of a 20-year sentence for murdering countless victims speaks volumes of the jaded justice system of the olden days. Dr. Hazard's story does not end there. The story does have its paranormal side, as you can imagine.
Current residents of the actual place, which was known as Starvation Heights, were interviewed. The old sanitarium, now turned into a home, still stands in good condition. Many of the old original fixtures, like the kitchen sink, bathtub and even window panes, still exist. Reporters interviewed people that currently inhabit the building. They are well aware of its macabre history and find it fascinating to be living in a place with such gruesome history.
The current resident showed the original bathtub in which Dr. Hazard would dismember her victims. The bathtub is still in use by the husband, wife, and kids. The kitchen sink, which was once used to prepare watery tomato soup to starving victims, is now being used by the family in a normal day-to-day lifestyle. You would assume that with such a tragic history, the building would be torn down, a la Jeffrey Dahmer style.
Apparently, some people are not bothered by such things that happened in the past. The current residents did mention some paranormal activity that happens around their home. Feelings of being watched all the time is not uncommon, as if there was always someone in the house with them. They talked about faint apparitions of faces that were seen through the time-stained window panes. Victims of Dr. Hazard, perhaps. Mongolia
A land full of mysteries little known to the Western world. As you are about to find out, some stories are so incredible they seem almost unreal, and yet those who have witnessed things beyond our comprehension swear their accounts are truthful. In a very remote part of Mongolia, one person made an incredible find. It is a discovery that could easily turn our understanding of ancient history upside down.
Was it all imagination? Did the monks lie? This event is shrouded in mystery, and no one has been able to shed light on what really happened in Mongolia on that day when ancient secrets hidden in an artificial cave were found by mistake. Whenever we encounter a controversial, unexplained ancient mystery, there will always be those who say the events never took place, and those who are convinced the account is genuine.
Here, we think you deserve to know what happened and you can judge for yourself what you want to believe or not. So be prepared to go on a long journey and uncover an astonishing secret. The following story deals with an event that took place in a monastery in Mongolia. It should be added right from the start. There are certain problems with this account, especially concerning names of people and places.
But we will deal with these historical and geographical problems later. In 1920, an American named John Spencer made an astonishing discovery in a remote Mongolian monastery. At the time, Spencer was living in luxury in a large, very comfortable house in China. He earned money on illegal trades like arms and drugs. When there was a dispute between some of his clients, he was forced to leave everything behind.
Overnight, he fled his house and escaped the country. He was a wanted man, and he had no other choice than to flee on foot. Without much food or water, John Spencer struggled through marshlands, mountains, and desert until he finally reached Mongolia. He was so exhausted and tormented by thirst, hunger, and fever that he collapsed on the ground.
He most likely would have died there if it had not been for a group of wandering Buddhist monks who found him and carried him to the Lamaste Monastery at Turin. The monks nursed him day and night, and soon Spencer regained some of his former strength. John Spencer was not the only foreigner who stayed at the monastery at the time. Another American guest was also present there. He was a businessman whose name was William Thompson.
Thompson had been with the monks for several weeks, and he was absolutely fascinated with the religion and tradition of the Far East. It is very likely that Thompson told Spencer several interesting things concerning the monastery because, instead of staying in bed until he made a full recovery, Spencer was very interested in exploring the monastery. He was an adventurer and a man who liked money.
He thought that he could discover a hidden treasure that would make him a rich man once again. One day, early in the morning, Spencer went outside to explore the surroundings. He discovered a worn stone staircase not far from the monastery. He followed it to a narrow door entering a brightly colored polygonal room of 12 or more sides. Spencer stared at the walls that were decorated with strange drawings which seemed to depict constellations.
He was able to recognize one of them. It was the constellation Taurus. He knew that because it was the sign under which he was born, and he had an engraved representation of Taurus on a medallion hanging around his neck. With his finger, Spencer touched the wall and followed the depicted constellations. When he came to the end and touched the drawing representing the Pleiades, the wall suddenly opened before him. Spencer could see a narrow corridor
He took a few steps and was now able to distinguish a dim green glow coming from a distance. He looked around and noticed some boulders on the ground. He took one of them and pushed it into the doorway so that it would remain open. He advanced forward and tried to follow the green light, but it was difficult. The green light seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It became clear to him that he was inside a tunnel of an artificial cavern.
Spencer continued to follow the tunnel until it reached an intersection of several available tunnels at the end. He thought for a while and then took the one to the right. If he kept to the right, he would probably not get lost, he thought. At the time, he was unaware that he had chosen the way dictated by the sketch of the Pleiades constellation above the tunnel entrance. He walked for several minutes until he reached the end of the tunnel.
A large hall opened out before him and he found himself inside a chamber where the green light was much stronger. Standing in a row along one of the walls were 25 to 30 rectangular enshrined coffins, and one of them contained a surprise. The explorer was obviously shocked, but he couldn't believe that his eyes had deceived him. He was convinced that the horrifying sight was real.
The discussion with the monks gave him much to think about, but was he told the truth? At the end, we are confronted with some problems that may or may not have a proper explanation. Some missing links can be explained, but we are also left with a couple of unanswered questions. Undoubtedly, this is one of the most curious ancient mysteries. Spencer thought that he'd found the treasures he was hoping for and started to open the coffins.
One by one, he pushed the lids off the coffins. In the first three coffins, he discovered corpses of monks who wore the same clothes as the monks in the monastery. In the fourth coffin, he uncovered a body of a woman dressed in man's clothing. In the fifth coffin was a man from India dressed in a red silk cloak. Another coffin contained a man dressed in garb from the 1700s. There was also the body of a woman whose origin he could not determine.
All the bodies were surprisingly well-preserved and showed no signs of decomposition. None of the coffins, though, contained treasures he was searching for, only well-preserved dead bodies. When he reached the last shrine and opened it, he could hardly believe his eyes. It contained something not human. The small creature inside was dressed in a sort of silver suit,
According to Spencer's story, he found the body of a man was inside dressed in a sort of silver mail and who in place of a head had a ball of pure silver with round holes where the eyes should have been and an oval thing full of small holes in lieu of a nose, and there was no mouth. Spencer was still in shock, but he leaned forward to touch the corpse. Suddenly, the big round eyes were wide open, emitting a horrifying green gleam.
Spencer was not a man who was easily scared, but this sight made him absolutely terrified. He screamed and fled as fast as he could. He managed to remember the way out and ran until he reached the doorway leading to the Room of Constellations. Then came the next shock. To his astonishment, Spencer saw it was now dark and night outside. He hurried to Thompson and related the whole story. "I must have walked for two or three hours," all told.
"It's impossible that I could have lost all sense of time to such an extent there," Spencer said. Thompson was a little angry that Spencer had taken advantage of the monk's hospitality, but he decided to tell the monks about his friend's experience. The next morning, Spencer was called before the Lama of a very high degree. The monk was neither angry nor upset. Instead, he smiled and greeted Spencer in a friendly manner.
"My poor friend, your fever has played a trick on you. Why didn't you expect to be cured by visiting our holy places?" the Lama said, smiling. Spencer inquired about the corpse without a mouth and was told there are neither corpses nor vaults down there. However, this did not convince Spencer, so the monk suggested that they should visit the chamber together.
The llama accompanied Spencer to the Room of Constellations, touched a wall with his finger, and walked through a different tunnel than the one Spencer had traversed. After a few minutes, they reached a room, but this chamber was much smaller than the one Spencer had visited. There was an altar in the center of this room. On the altar, there was a series of mini-coffins. These were the same coffins Spencer had seen earlier, but they were much smaller.
"This is what you really saw," said the monk, and lifted the lids that revealed perfect miniature replicas of the bodies Spencer had seen. "They are images of people who have enriched the world with their wisdom, and so we honor them. It was your fever, my poor friend, which made you think you were standing in front of a real sarcophagi. And as you can see, there is no green light but only the yellow one from our humble lamps," explained the monk.
Spencer was convinced the monk was not telling the truth, though. It was all an effort to deceive him. He did not wish to argue with the lama and contradict him. Instead, he asked about the silver being with a large round head and no mouth. The lama pointed to the Pleiades on the map and said, "'A high lord from the stars.'"
Later, when Spencer talked to Thompson, he said, "It might easily be that I still had some fever, but I absolutely reject the idea that I dreamt it all or was the victim of delirium. I lost the heel of one of my shoes down in the labyrinth and scratched my hands at least a dozen times when I was feeling the stones for possible snags.
I touched the clothes on that corpse and noticed the veins and wrinkles. The piece of wall which opened was on the left of the entrance whereas the opening the llama stood in front of was almost right in front, slightly to the right. The monk has tried to convince me by showing a miniature copy of what I actually saw." A few days later, shortly after he had left the monastery, John Spencer disappeared without a trace. He was never heard from again.
The reason we can read about Spencer's remarkable discovery is because William Thompson published the entire story in the periodical "Adventure" after returning to America. Thompson always maintained that every word of the published story was actually what Spencer had told him.
Thompson also added, "I have on some occasions myself seen corpses in Mongolian monasteries preserved intact for centuries, perhaps thousands of years, and have heard people talk several times about silver men who had come from the stars. This is undoubtedly a remarkable story. Legends and myths of the Far East are full of accounts of shining, flying spheres and visitors from the stars who came to the earth in ancient times.
It should be added that the American Indians and Australian Aborigines also refer to creatures without mouth who come down from the heavens. The story was described in the books "Not of This World" by Peter Colosimo as well as "The Chinese Roswell" by Hartwig Hausdorff. Those who question the account say the Turin Monastery has never been found.
It's correct, but we should also remember that hundreds of monasteries were destroyed during the period of communist rule in Mongolia. Elizabeth Kendall mentions Turin in her book, "A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a Trip Across West China and Mongolia," stating that this was once a village. "Turin, not a house but a village," she says, "built in and out among the rocks." It was an extraordinary sight to stumble upon here on the edge of the uninhabited desert,
A little apart from the rest were four large temples, crowned with gilt balls and fluttering banners, and leading off from them were neat rows of small, white-plastered cottages with red timbers, the homes of 2,000 lamas who live here. The whole thing had the look of a seaside camp-meeting resort. The greatest problem with the entire story is that we cannot confirm the existence of either John Spencer or William Thompson.
Until we find evidence of their existence, we can only relate the story. Due to lack of evidence, we are unable to say whether this incredible event took place or not. As stated at the beginning of this story, it is a remarkable discovery and it is naturally up to you to form your own opinion of what did or did not happen in ancient Mongolia.
Coming up: When you dream of loved ones who've passed away, do you consider it just a dream or is that deceased family member reaching out to speak to you? Plus, a college girl leaves campus in her car. Never to be seen again! These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns.
Hey Weirdos – our next Weirdo Watch Party is this coming Saturday, and this one is extra special as it's our Christmas Watch Party – and yours truly plays a part in it! Our hostess, Mistress Malicious and her team at Mistress Peace Theatre have recreated and re-edited the film for all of the funny stuff you'd expect from them.
And they replaced all the narration throughout with my own narration, even keeping a few of the ad-libs I tossed in. It's Santa Claus from 1959, sometimes known as Santa Claus vs. the Devil. It tells the story of the devil showing up at Christmas time, determined to ruin it all, and ruin some children in the process.
But Santa refuses to let Christmas be tainted and even teams up with Merlin the magician to help defeat the devil so Christmas can be saved.
Santa Claus, or Santa Claus vs. the Devil, hosted by Mistress Peace Theatre! It's this Saturday night, 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 8pm Mountain, 7pm Pacific, on the Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com. The Weirdo Watch Party is always free to watch – just tune in at showtime and watch the movie with me and other Weirdo family members, and often the horror hosts join in the page's chat box with us too!
Mistress Malicious brings us Santa Claus or Santa Claus vs. the Devil this Saturday night for our next Weirdo Watch Party. I ho-ho-ho-hope to see you there! Get the details on the Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com.
Top reasons your career wants you to move to Ohio. So many amazing growth opportunities, high paying jobs in technology, advanced manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, and more. You'll soar to new heights, just like the Wright brothers, John Glenn, even Neil Armstrong. Their careers all took off in Ohio and yours can too. A job that can take you further and a place you can't wait to come home to. How?
This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself? Talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them?
Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule, wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner, or just need a little extra one-on-one support, Talkspace is here for you.
Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers, and most insured members have a $0 copay. No insurance? No problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code SPACE80 at Talkspace.com. It is Ryan Seacrest here.
Everybody needs some variety in life. That's what I love about Chumba Casino. They know how to keep things fresh and exciting. All their games are free to play. Like spin slots, bingo, and solitaire. You can claim free daily login bonuses too. And they release new games every week. So spice things up with ChumbaCasino.com now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.
Sponsored by Chumpa Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. I was 13 years old when I moved in with my mom. I was a good kid, but my dad's girlfriend didn't like me from the moment she laid eyes on me three years earlier. I told my dad what she did when he wasn't around, but his response was always to placate her.
In November 1992, she'd given him an ultimatum and, as always, she won. I was moving out. I was upset that my dad chose his girlfriend over his daughter, but moving out was also a weight lifted off my adolescent shoulders. My mom loved me, I never questioned that, but my time with her would prove short. My bedroom was small and could only fit a futon from a second-hand store.
The next thing I became aware of was my mom's cat. My mom adopted a tiny kitten to make up for a cat we had to surrender years before. Eppie was the little black runt of her litter, and I'm told she was the last of her litter to be adopted. I was constantly aware that I was unwanted, but life went on. I started classes at a new school, and life slowly took on a sense of normalcy.
The days marched by and the air outside grew chilly. It was December and that normalcy was about to be turned upside down. I came home this night to find my mom pale and white. I thought she looked as though she had died but she hadn't died. She was alive and talking on the phone. I must have had a habit of fighting bedtime because I overheard her comment on how easily I went to bed that night. She then chalked it up to a full moon outside.
I climbed into bed, closed my eyes and fell asleep. But the night wasn't done with me yet. My grandma had died a decade earlier. My grandma was never a frequent or recurring character in my dreams, but tonight she would be back. I saw her so clearly in my mind's eye that this dream is how I remember her face today. My grandma looked right at me and told me that I wouldn't have my mother for much longer.
She made it clear I only had days left and that I had to get ready to let her go. I spent the next morning trying to make sense of the night before, while behaving as close to perfect as I knew how for the next three days. News would soon come that my mom's dad had died. Life as a single mother was unfair and difficult. Dad couldn't even be relied on to pay child support. But nothing ever stopped mom until the day her dad died.
My mom fell into an immediate, deep depression. And by morning, December 10, 1992, my mom would be joining her father in death. She passed away in her sleep. She couldn't live without her dad. I left her apartment for the last time with Eppie, who was now my cat. Though I would never again hear from my grandma, my mom would, soon after passing, make herself known to at least three people, myself included.
After her passing, my mom has made one phone call the day after she died, a call to her best friend Michael to say goodbye. Her face has been repeatedly seen as a partial and once as a full-form apparition in the home of another friend Elaine. For me, she never appeared in a physical form. As a kid watching TV, I would hear her talking to me, telling me to turn off the TV and go do my homework
As I got older and times got tough, I tried talking to my mother. Feeling foolish, I asked if she could hear me. Would she make herself known by turning off a specific lamp? I talked aloud in an empty room, and when I finished, that lamp flickered. This lamp would flicker again in the future, but only after talking to my mom. I was never able to replicate the lamp's flicker.
I'm now 37 years old, one year older than my mom was when she died. I don't think she's here anymore, or at least she's gone quiet for a while. One February day in 2004, Mara Murray climbed into her car and drove away from her dorm room at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She headed north, her destination unknown.
As night descended, a local in New Hampshire caught one last glimpse of Mara and her wrecked vehicle along a desolate stretch of Route 112. By the time police responded to the crash, Mara was gone, seemingly vanished into thin air. Mara Murray's disappearance shocked her family and friends. Fourteen years later, the cold case continues to baffle authorities, armchair detectives, and internet sleuths around the world.
It has inspired everything from books and podcasts to an increasingly bizarre web of conspiracy theories and true crime message board threads. Yet the mystery remains: What do we truly know about the disappearance of 21-year-old Maura Murray? On the surface, Maura Murray's life seemed ideal. She was a promising student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in pursuit of a nursing career. She came from a loving family,
and shared a strong relationship with her boyfriend of a few years. Yet all was not as it seemed. In November 2003, around three months before her disappearance, Mara was caught fraudulently using a credit card number that was not her own. The young woman had to have been desperate. She used the card only to order pizza, charging less than $80.
Then, on February 7, 2004, two days before her disappearance, Maura's father, Fred, arrived in Amherst, Massachusetts for a visit. Maura borrowed her father's car to go to a party. Around 3:30 a.m., while driving back to Fred's room at Equality Inn, Maura hit a guardrail on Route 9. The police responded to the scene, but they didn't perform a sobriety test.
Maura may have believed that these encounters with the law would tarnish her professional record, thus threatening her dreams of becoming a nurse. Some sleuths point to this as a motive for Maura to disappear of her own volition. The theory seems extreme, though. Fred Murray doesn't buy it. Since there was no ticket cited at the scene of the crash, there would be no reason for Maura to believe this was the end of the line. Nevertheless, something changed in Maura after the crash that night.
In the early hours of February 9, Mora researched and printed out MapQuest directions to two different locations, one set that led to the Berkshires, the other to Burlington, Vermont. Throughout the day, she also phoned vacation rentals in the Northeast, inquiring about availabilities. Nothing was booked. Then Mora's messages took a dark turn.
She wrote to her professors and work supervisors stating that she would be away from campus for a week. The reason? There was an unexpected death in the Murray family. No such death, however, had occurred. At approximately 3:30 p.m., Mara Murray got in her car and left the UMass Amherst campus. Inside her vehicle were clothes, toiletries, some textbooks, and her birth control pills.
Soon after her departure, Maura was recorded withdrawing $280 from a nearby ATM. She then entered a liquor store, where she purchased wine, coffee liqueur, and vodka. Security cameras captured Maura at the ATM, providing some of the last confirmed sightings of her before the disappearance. In the footage, she was alone. Whether Maura meant to temporarily escape the pressures of her life or disappear for good may never be clear.
Upon leaving the liquor store, Amora drove north and then left Massachusetts. Some time after 7 p.m., 145 miles north of Amherst in Haverville, New Hampshire, a resident heard a heavy thump outside her home. She peered out her window to see a car crashed against a snowbank on Route 112. The witness phoned the police. Meanwhile, an area bus driver who lived down the road came upon the scene of the accident.
He noticed a young woman, whom he later identified as Mara Murray. The bus driver offered to help. The young woman convinced him not to call police, claiming she'd already spoken to AAA. The man agreed to the woman's request and left. Yet he found her claim about a phone call odd. He knew the area lacked cell phone service. Upon arriving home, he decided to phone the police. At 7.46 p.m., police arrived at the scene.
The car was locked, windshield cracked, and the airbags deployed. The police later reported that they found an empty soda bottle that smelled as though it had once been filled with alcohol, but Maura Murray was nowhere to be found. The bus driver who stopped and spoke with Maura didn't think she seemed intoxicated. Nevertheless, many theorists believe that Maura had been drinking that night.
A shaken and inebriated Maura may have left the scene of her own accord. She may have stumbled into the dark woods and lost her way. Or, as Maura's father maintains, she may have encountered a dangerous individual who wished to do her harm. The following day, at 12:21 p.m., police issued a BOLO for the young woman. 24 hours after the discovery of the abandoned car, police officially declared Maura Murray missing.
Morris' family, especially Fred, view the police's investigation as substandard. They point to their slow response and failure to thoroughly investigate every lead as the reason why Morris' fate remains a mystery. The police, meanwhile, have criticized Fred's involvement in the investigation.
A 2014 article in Boston Magazine cites Jeff Strelzin, chief of the homicide unit at the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and the lead prosecutor in the Murray investigation, who said Fred Murray had been a difficult person to deal with from the beginning. Strelzin went on to describe Fred's anger at the police as understandable but misplaced.
As relations between Maura's family and the police soured, rumors of infidelity and secret lives surfaced among armchair detectives and internet sleuths intent on cracking the case. James Renner, author of "True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray," claimed to have evidence that Maura and her boyfriend were cheating on one another.
Others believe that Maura may have been pregnant, bulimic or both, and fled to escape judgment from her loved ones. Theories then split over whether she simply got lost and perished somewhere in the woods, purposefully disappeared to begin a new life, or if someone snatched her along Route 112. Despite legions of obsessives searching for the truth, there have been no definitive breaks in the case.
I've been a personal support worker for 14 years and have witnessed several strange occurrences, including a few that really stick out. This happened during a graveyard shift a few years after I started. The night started like any other. There were no call bells in that facility as we visually checked everyone every hour. During our first round, as I walked to the end of the hall, I saw a white flash out of the corner of my eye in the doorway of room 312.
I quickly turned to look, but nothing was there. I continued on with my task, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me. It happened again during the second round, but this time the flash of white was in the doorway of room 313. I ignored the flash, thinking I was still seeing things. On our third round, we checked on the women in room 312, and one of the ladies had a very frightened look on her face. Her eyes were fixed on the corner of the ceiling above her bed, and she looked terrified.
This patient had advanced dementia and was non-verbal. She was a very pleasant lady who often shuffled around the halls, confused about who or where she was. The charge nurse sat with the woman, giving her as much comfort as possible. The patient passed away suddenly a few minutes later. We completed her final care and continued with our night. A few hours later, as I folded laundry across from the nurse station, I started to hear shuffling sounds coming down the hall.
Confused, I asked the nurse if she was shuffling her feet under the desk. She said no, but I hear it too. The shuffling continued slowly down the hall toward the dining room. To this day, I wonder if it was the frightened patient taking one last walk down the hall.
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 that I've narrated, shop the Weird Darkness store, sign up for the email newsletter to win monthly prizes, find other podcasts that I host,
And find the "Hope in the Darkness" page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Plus, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on "Tell Your Story." 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. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. 2 Timothy 1:7:
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. And a final thought from Charles Sullivan: "One must not focus on the risk of saying yes. The greater risk is missing opportunities by saying no." I'm Darren Marlar, thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.
It is Ryan Seacrest here. Everybody needs some variety in life. That's what I love about Chumba Casino. They know how to keep things fresh and exciting. All their games are free to play. Like spin slots, bingo, and solitaire. You can claim free daily login bonuses too. And they release new games every week. So spice things up with ChumbaCasino.com now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes.
Sponsored by Chumpa Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. Alright, we're all set for the party. I've trimmed the tree, hung the mistletoe, and paired all those weird shaped knives and forks with the appropriate cheeses. And I plugged in the partition. Partition? It's a home cocktail maker that makes over 60 premium cocktails. Plus a whole lot of seasonal favorites too. I just got it for
So how about a Closmopolitan or a mistletoe margarita? I'm thirsty. Watch. I just pop in a capsule, choose my strength, and... Wow. It's beginning to feel more seasonal in here already. If your holiday party doesn't have a bartender, then you become the bartender. Unless you've got a Bartesian. Because Bartesian crafts every cocktail perfectly in as little as 30 seconds. And I just got it for $50 off. Tis the season to be jollier.
Add some holiday flavor to every celebration with the sleek, sophisticated home cocktail maker, Bartesian. Get $50 off any cocktail maker at bartesian.com slash cocktail. That's B-A-R-T-E-S-I-A-N dot com slash cocktail.