‘TWAS THE MYSTERY BEFORE CHRISTMAS: Unsolved True Crime Cases From Christmases Past #WeirdDarkness #HolidayHorrors
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In the dark hours of winter at Christmas time, when children dream of sugar plums and wrapped presents, something else stirs in the shadows of history.

From unexplained phenomena that shook an entire English town to the disturbing discoveries left behind in a blood-stained van, many chilling holiday mysteries remain unsolved, their secrets locked away in the icy depths of Christmases long ago. What force transformed a woman into ashes while leaving her farmhouse untouched? Why did two people choose death over revealing the fate of a missing child?

What sinister truth lies behind the disappearances of young lives cut short during what should have been joyous celebrations? Even one of our most cherished Christmas traditions, the poem that gave us our modern image of Santa Claus, harbors a centuries-old mystery about its true creator. And it may not have been Clement Clarke Moore.

From the strange case of "The Thing" that terrorized Warminster on Christmas morning, 1964, to the baffling murder of a young nurse in Texas that left two others vanishing without a trace, the stories I'll share with you tonight pull us deeper into the winter chill of unanswered questions.

A mother's desperate search for her daughter spans decades, while a hit-and-run driver's identity remains hidden behind a wall of small-town secrets and suspicious silence. These aren't the kind of Christmas stories you tell around the fire, unless you're prepared to question everything you thought you knew about what is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.

In this episode, I'll unwrap haunting tales of disappearances, unexplained deaths, and phenomena that defy rational explanation. In the end, you might find yourself wondering what else lurks beneath the cheerful glow of Christmas lights and the sound of silver bells. December's longest nights hold more than just holiday magic. They harbor secrets that continue to baffle investigators and haunt communities long after the decorations have been packed away.

Tonight, rather than the ghost of Christmases yet to come, we'll be fed frights from the ghost of Christmases past. 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 small Texas town, what started as a festive Christmas celebration in 1994 ended in murder when a nurse was found dead in her bed and her boyfriend and his 9-year-old son vanished, leaving behind only a truck full of blood-stained presents.

A little girl vanishes on a winter road trip to Las Vegas, and 20 Christmases later, a detective's search for answers leads to a desperate couple's final confession. But not to the truth about what really happened to two-year-old Nicole Bederson.

Behind one of the most beloved Christmas poems ever written lies a centuries-old mystery: Was "Twas the Night Before Christmas" penned by a scholarly professor for his children? Or did someone else create the story that shaped how we see Santa Claus?

When Patti Vaughn left her home on Christmas Day, 1996, she left behind three children and a trail of mysterious clues, including an abandoned van, suspicious bloodstains, and a red work uniform that would puzzle investigators for decades to come.

When farmhand John Larson awoke to find soot on his pillow on Christmas morning, 1885, he never imagined he'd discover his employer, Patrick Rooney, dead from smoke inhalation and his wife Matilda mysteriously burned to ash in a perfectly circular hole in their kitchen floor, with no other fire damage to the house.

In the quiet town of New London, Connecticut, what began as a simple flat tire on Christmas Eve 1973 turned into one of the community's darkest mysteries when 20-year-old Kevin Showalter was struck and killed by a driver who vanished into the night, leaving behind a grieving mother, whispers of a cover-up, and questions that would haunt the town for decades.

A teenage girl's first office Christmas party should have been a celebration of new beginnings, but for Rhonda Hinson, it became her last night alive and the start of a mystery that would puzzle investigators for over 40 years.

A mother's quick errand turns into a decades-old mystery when Tracy Mertens vanishes from her Birmingham flat days before Christmas, leaving investigators with a yellow Ford Escort, two mysterious men, and questions that remain unanswered to this day.

But first... On Christmas morning, 1964, the quiet town of Warminster, England woke up to strange sounds that would mark the beginning of one of history's most puzzling mysteries: a series of unexplained events that would become known worldwide as "The Thing." 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. Everything started early on Christmas morning 1964 in the quiet village of Warminster, England. Some 15 miles from the famous Stonehenge Monument, this small town of 10,000 was about to become known all over the world for something a little stranger.

At 1:25 a.m., a woman named Mildred Head was startled awake by a strange noise. At first, she thought twigs were scratching the top of her roof. Then the noise intensified with the sound of giant hailstones beating down. It was clear and calm outside her window that night, but she heard a strange humming sound growing louder and then fading to a whisper.

Mrs. Head wasn't the only one hearing strange things that Christmas morning. Hours later, soldiers sleeping at a camp nearby were jolted awake as if a gigantic chimney had been ripped from the roof and scattered across the camp. At 6:30 a.m., Roger Rump and his wife heard what sounded like all 5,000 tiles on their roof being lifted up and banging back down again.

At the same time, a woman named Marjorie By was walking to church when she was floored by what she said were savage sound waves. More than 30 people in total described hearing the mysterious sounds that Christmas morning. Because no one could see whatever was making the sounds, the townspeople dubbed it "The Thing." The surreal occurrences extended into the new year.

Come February 1965, a flock of pigeons began dying off, dying off in droves. By June, people started noticing strange things in the sky. These objects were described differently by different witnesses. Some described seeing something iridescent and cigar-shaped with blinking lights. Others described spotting what appeared to be twin red-hot pokers hanging in the sky.

Juan even described witnessing something resembling a train car with round windows that burned like flames. Words of these strange doings spread rapidly. By August 1965, some 8,000 inquisitive visitors had arrived in Warminster hoping to catch a glimpse of "The Thing" themselves.

When a local man named Gordon Faulkner snapped a picture of what he claimed was a flying saucer in September, the story made the newspapers throughout England and even crossed over to America. A local newspaper reporter, Arthur Shuttlewood, planted himself firmly in the corner of the events. Initially, he was skeptical about the stories, but came to believe that visitors from other worlds were coming to Warminster and seeing something strange in the sky himself.

He wrote multiple books about "The Thing" and helped put the town on the map as a place for UFO sightings. The town has since embraced its newfound fame. Shops started selling UFO-themed souvenirs, and people gathered on nearby hills to watch the night sky. The BBC even made a documentary about Warminster, called "Pie in the Sky" in 1966. By the early 1970s, reports of bizarre sounds and images began to fade.

Some speculated that the strange happenings could have been due to classified military experiments. Given that a large military training area was just down the road, others felt something plainly beyond explanation had occurred in Warminster. Today, no one really knows what caused the odd events of Warminster.

And a small town mural painted in 2015, depicting several UFOs flying over the local landscape, still connects the community with its mysterious visitor. People still sometimes gather on hillsides around town, hoping to see mysterious lights in the sky, hoping for a peek at "The Thing" that once put their sleepy town on the world map. And the Warminster Thing itself

It remains mysterious, with its truth known only to the thing itself, but it should teach us that sometimes the most intriguing mystique can spring forth from a Christmas morning in an ordinary town. Coming up... Just two days before Christmas, 1994, Tracy Mertens made a quick trip to her old apartment to get some belongings. But what happened next would become one of England's most haunting holiday mysteries.

Plus, a mysterious fire on Christmas Eve, 1885, reduced Matilda Rooney to ashes in her own kitchen, leaving behind only her burned feet in shoes, and a puzzle that has baffled investigators for over a century. How could a blaze hot enough to incinerate a human body leave the rest of the farmhouse virtually untouched?

And, on a cold December night in 1981, 19-year-old Rhonda Hinson left her first office Christmas party with dreams of the future ahead, but she never made it home. Forty years later, the mystery of who killed the bright young tennis star just half a mile from her parents' house remains unsolved. These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns.

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.

Letting your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors and others know about the podcast is incredibly valuable to me, my bride Robin and our cat, Ms. Mocha Monster. That's it. Tell someone about the show. Drop a link to Weird Darkness in your social media. Maybe send a text to a few folks to wish them a very scary Christmas with a link to the show in that text. It doesn't matter how you do it, but it does make a huge impact when you do.

From all of us here at Marlar Manor, thank you, and Merry Christmas.

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Ready to launch your healthcare career? Don't get held back by long waiting lists that can delay your future for months or even years. Pima Medical Institute offers a variety of programs that start each month. Take your career off hold. Visit pmi.edu today. It was December 1994 and Tracy Mertens was starting over.

It was just a few months into 2021, and the 31-year-old mother of two had recently returned to Rochdale, England with her longtime boyfriend, Joey Cavanaugh, and their children. They had been based in Birmingham, but Tracy wanted a fresh start. It turned out a trip back to Birmingham would spark a case that remains one of the most mysterious in the region's history. Two days before Christmas, on December 23rd, Tracy returned to their former Birmingham flat,

She had come to retrieve a few belongings and important papers they had left behind. Tracy had been in the flat for all of ten minutes when someone knocked on the door. When she opened it, two men pushed their way inside, asking where Joey was. The men made off in a distinctive yellow Ford Escort, featuring silver-paneled sides and a stuffed toy in the rear window, with Tracy.

They drove 70 miles to a location in a town called Eaton in Cheshire, where they dumped Tracy, badly injured, at the steps of a church. She was discovered by a passerby who summoned help. Shortly before she died, early Christmas Eve morning, Tracy was able to describe to the police what the men looked like.

They were both black men in their early 30s who were heavy set, she said. They wore brown leather baseball caps and black leather coats. She heard them speaking a language she could not understand, which police believe may have been Patois. The police were determined to track down her killer, interviewing members of Tracy's family on Christmas Day to try to piece together what had happened.

They interviewed more than 2,000 people and obtained 1,800 statements. They found out that Joey, Tracy's boyfriend, had been using drugs and owed some people money, but he always insisted he had nothing to do with what happened to Tracy. Tracy's sister Sharon recalled that Tracy had been behaving erratically some months before she died,

In the summer of 1994, Tracey had come to spend a few weeks with her sister Linda. She looked and acted frightened of something and was taking inexplicable measures to secure herself, taping shut the letterbox, taping the windows. But after a couple of weeks, she returned home to Birmingham. Sharon thinks Tracey wouldn't tell the men where Joey was because she thought her children were with him. She was trying to keep them safe. Tracey was described as a doting mom who lived for her children.

She worked as a lunch lady at a school and was known as a fun, chatty person who was beloved by her family. A £30,000 reward was offered by police for information leading to a breakthrough in the case. They arrested someone in Birmingham in 1995 who they believed could be responsible, but they felt they did not have enough evidence to confirm. Only today, decades later, the police are searching for the people who injured Tracy. Crispus has never been the same for Tracy's family.

Her sister Sharon says the holiday always reminds her of Tracy and the awful thing that happened to her. But the police have not lost hope. Detective Superintendent Guy Hindle says Tracy's case remains an active investigation and new leads are being pursued. Although the case remains unsolved, police still hope someone will step forward with information that can help them discover who hurt Tracy Mertens and why.

On December 24, 1885, very strange things happened at a farmhouse in Seneca, Illinois. What began as an ordinary holiday night would become one of history's most baffling puzzlements. Patrick and Matilda Rooney were celebrating Christmas Eve with their farmhand, John Larson. After some drinks together, Larson went up to bed. That night, he woke up coughing with difficulty breathing, but eventually fell back asleep.

But the next morning, Larson saw something unusual - black soot on his pillow. When he went downstairs to check on his employers, he found something disturbing. Patrick Rooney was dead in the bedroom, but his wife Matilda was missing. Then Larson looked into the kitchen and saw something horrible - a huge, blackened hole in the floor. In that hole were ashes and what appeared to be a burned human foot,

This was all that remained of Matilda Rooney. When Dr. Floyd Clendenin showed up to investigate, he found more clues. There was an odd odor in the house and greasy soot on the walls. There was a candle in the kitchen that was partially burned on the table. He found some bones in the charred hole in the floor, including a skull and two burned feet which remained in Matilda's shoes.

What was peculiar was that while Mrs. Rooney had weighed roughly 160 pounds when alive, all of her that remained was 12 pounds of ash and bone. The mystery grew when investigators noticed something odd. Aside from the hole where Matilda's body had lain, nothing else in the house burned. How could a fire reach temperatures hot enough to burn a person into ashes around 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit and not burn the entire house down?

"It may have been murder," some people theorized, and both John Larson and the Rooney's son John emerged as suspects. But Larson's story did not hold up. There was an outline of his body in the bed where he had been sleeping, indicating he had not budged all night. Larson died two weeks later of inhaling the same smoke that had killed Patrick Rooney. Scientists and doctors formulated various theories to explain what had happened.

Some thought it was spontaneous human combustion, the notion that someone might burst into flames for no reason at all. Others theorized that Mrs. Rooney had accidentally been set on fire by the candle on the table, perhaps when she was lighting a cigarette. It was just as likely that she and her husband, who were drinking, had not reacted quickly enough to extinguish the fire.

One theory proposed that after Mrs. Rooney's clothes ignited, her body fat may have served as a candle wick, which would keep the fire burning but limited to her body alone. This phenomenon is known as the "wick effect," and some scientists believe it can explain other puzzling cases similar to this one. Mrs. Rooney's was not the only case of its kind.

200 similar incidents around the world have been reported of individuals found turned to ash, while their surroundings remained largely intact. Scientists nowadays don't think it's possible for people to spontaneously combust, but they're still not entirely sure how the fires that consume them can burn so hot while remaining so contained. The truth of what actually happened to Matilda Rooney on that Christmas Eve is a mystery.

Modern scientists will tell you there had to be something that sparks the flame. Humans don't just spontaneously combust, but they still cannot fully explain why such an intense fire apparently burned only one person while leaving everything else almost untouched. More than a century later, the peculiar story of Mrs. Rooney's fire remains a mystery, and probably will for many Christmases to come.

19-year-old Rhonda Hinson was looking forward to a Christmas office party in December 1981. She had recently graduated from high school in Valdez, North Carolina and was working as a clerical employee at a steel company. Rhonda had been a lively young woman and an excellent tennis player in high school with many friends. That night, December 22nd, Rhonda went to the company party with some friends.

She exited the festivities with two girlfriends at midnight. After dropping them off, she started the 10-mile drive to her parents' home where she lived. But something terrible was coming. Judy Hinson woke up suddenly at 1:00 a.m. in fear. She experienced a weird sense that something was wrong with her daughter. She soon found her hunch was correct. Rhonda's car was discovered just half a mile from home, and Rhonda was lying next to it on the ground.

She'd been killed. Police later learned that someone had shot Rhonda with a high-powered rifle. The bullet had been powerful enough to pass through the trunk of the car, through her car seat, and into her heart. Initially, Rodriguez and Evans wondered if Rhonda had just been the victim of a random attack, but after digging a little deeper, they started finding signs that suggested someone who knew her might have done her harm.

In the weeks leading up to her death, Rhonda had been acting out of sorts. She began asking her father Bobby to accompany her when she drove into town, though she generally preferred driving alone. Once, she looked as though she wished to tell her father something significant, but she didn't. She had also asked her mother if it was acceptable to date a married man, which was so not like her.

There were now witnesses who had observed some suspicious cars on the night that Rhonda died. Between 12:15 and 12:30 a.m., a witness spotted a blue Chevrolet parked by the side of the road that Rhonda would travel by on the way home. Inside the car sat two men. Later, another witness passed the area where Rhonda lay. A similar blue car sped away in both instances.

Rhonda's car was parked with someone standing next to it. The witness thought the individuals might have been intoxicated and drove away. To enhance her memory, the police had this witness hypnotized. The witness recalled under hypnosis that the blue auto was a Chevelle from around 1970 with some grey primer paint on it. They also recalled spotting another car, a black or dark blue Trans Am parked nearby.

The witness described the man that they had seen as approximately six feet tall with dark brown hair. It's been many years since that terrible Christmas party, but Rhonda's family still grieves her dearly. Her mother has preserved Rhonda's room just as it was in her life, with her old baby doll and tennis trophies still displayed. A phrase echoing on Rhonda's grave marker is, "...always a ray of sunshine," something her parents believe did their daughter justice.

The question of who killed Rhonda Henson has never been solved. The police continue to offer a $20,000 reward for information that leads to solving the case. But hope all but fades with each passing year, and with it, the hope that somebody, somewhere, will come forward with the information needed to explain what happened to the bright young woman who never made it home after her first office Christmas party. When Weird Darkness Returns,

On Christmas Eve, 1973, 20-year-old Kevin Showalter was killed by a hit-and-run driver while changing a flat tire in New London, Connecticut, sparking a decades-long mystery that would implicate a former mayor, prompt a false confession, and leave a mother searching tirelessly for justice that never came.

And when Detective Rosgen gets a 20-year-old missing person case just before Christmas, he uncovers a web of secrets that leads to a chilling final letter and a mystery that may never be solved.

But first, a happy Christmas celebration in small-town Texas ends in murder when a woman is found dead and her boyfriend and his young son mysteriously vanish, leaving behind only a truck full of bloodied presents and a desperate phone call begging for help. That story is up next.

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-screen for chilling tales of what some people must endure in an attempt to get some sleep. Find the details on the live-screen page at WeirdDarkness.com.

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What should have been a joyful Christmas celebration turned into a tragic mystery for the small town of Lockhart, Texas. In December 1994, Latricia White, a 38-year-old nurse, was celebrating the holiday with her boyfriend Lee "Dub" Wackerhagen and his 9-year-old son Chance. The three were last spotted enjoying themselves at a local restaurant just days after Christmas.

But everything fell apart in a way that went very wrong. When Latricia failed to come to work or call in, her father, Jack White, began to worry. On December 27th, he checked on her and horrifyingly discovered his daughter in her bedroom, shot six times with a .22 caliber gun. And even stranger, Dub and Chance had gone missing. Initially, the police believed Dub may have murdered Latricia in a rage,

Those who knew him said he had a bad temper and was often jealous. A few days before Christmas, he and Latricia had had a big fight over Chance and Dub threatened to leave. But the pair appeared to have patched things up, as they were spotted sharing a restaurant meal happily together soon after. Three days after Latricia's body was discovered, police found Dub's pickup truck parked out in a field about 30 miles away. What they discovered inside only deepened the mystery of the case.

There were Dub's wallet, checkbook, and hunting rifle, which had never been fired. In the rear were Christmas presents, some still wrapped, stained with blood. Tests revealed the blood was not Latricia's, indicating someone else had been injured. The case took another bizarre twist four months later, when Chance's grandfather answered a call from a young boy who said, "Help me," before the line went dead.

The grandfather thought it was Chance, but loyal friends thought it more likely a cruel prank. Dub's family believes he and Chance were murdered by someone they knew. Latricia's family and the police, however, believe that Latricia was killed by Dub, who is on the run with his son. Years later, investigators uncovered evidence that Dub and Chance were in fact victims themselves, but the case remains unsolved to this day.

The mystery of what really happened that Christmas in Lockhart lives on. A nurse, her boyfriend and his young son were spending the holidays together. Then one was dead, two others vanished for good, leaving only blood-soaked Christmas gifts and a lot of unanswered questions. Kevin Showalter was a young man driving home to New London, Connecticut on Christmas Eve in 1973 after visiting his relatives.

It was an uneventful night, and no one could have predicted a tragic end. Kevin pulled over to the side of the road to fix the flat tire on his car. This simple action would be his last. Kevin was busy changing the tire, and soon a car approached him from behind. The driver hit Kevin and left the scene, leaving the 20-year-old severely injured on the pavement. By the time help got there, Kevin had died.

hit by someone who had never stopped to help or even call for help. The police began investigating immediately, but they had few leads. There was little physical evidence at the scene, and no witnesses stepped forward to say what they had seen. As the townsfolk speculated, some began to wonder if someone was trying to hide the truth. Kevin's mother, Lorraine Showalter, refused to allow her son's death to be lost to memory.

She urged the police to treat the case seriously and continued looking for answers about who had murdered her son. She didn't back down, even when the investigation appeared to lead nowhere. Two years after Kevin's death, police received an interesting tip. An anonymous tipster told them, of all people, that Charles C. O'Neill, the former mayor of New London, could have been the driver who hit Kevin.

This was big news because O'Neal was a big figure around town. The police looked into O'Neal's whereabouts on the night Kevin died but did not find enough evidence to charge him with the crime. When it seemed like the case might never be solved, something unexpected occurred. One man stepped forward and said that he was the one who had hit Kevin. But when police investigated his account, they learned he was not truthful. His admission only further complicated the case.

The case went unsolved for almost a decade. Lorraine Showalter began to suspect that influential people in town were keeping the truth from coming out. Then came a glimmer of hope in 1984. Police announced they would revisit the investigation. They re-examined all the evidence and interviewed witnesses one more time. They also re-examined whether the former Mayor O'Neill had been involved. But despite this new investigation, the mystery remained unsolved.

But eventually, people in New London began to lose interest in the case. Kevin's family always remembered. They kept asking the questions: Was Kevin's death a true accident? Or did someone strike him on purpose? Was someone covering up what really happened? Police speculated that the driver could have been under the influence of drink or drugs that night. Others speculated whether someone had motive to harm Kevin.

But, after so many years, no one could say for certain what had unfolded. Today, his case is still unsolved. We still don't know who was behind the wheel of the car that struck him that Christmas Eve. Even with a dozen investigators and leads over the years, Kevin's family has never given up searching for answers. Detective Jeff Rosekin wasn't ready for another missing person case.

There were already enough in Las Vegas, where people arrived and departed like desert winds. But there was something different about this one. It was of a little girl named Nicole, who had gone missing 20 years earlier. The story began in 1977. Nicole, aged two, lived in Michigan with her father, Jarrett Bederson. Jarrett, who had been driving, had killed her mother, Susan Klingel, in a car accident.

Shortly thereafter, Jarrett met a woman named Barbara and together they planted a stake out in the western part of the country. They assured Nicole's grandparents, the Klingels, that they would care for her well. "I'm going to be a good mother to Nicole," Barbara had promised as they bid farewell. Through tears, the Klingels watched as their granddaughter slipped from their lives. They had already lost their daughter Susan and were now losing their only grandchild.

Photos were all they had left of a smiling little girl with curly black hair, dressed in a red and white dress with a ribbon. Twenty years passed. The elderly Klingels had wanted to locate their granddaughter, who would be an adult by now. They engaged a private investigator who tracked down Jarrett and Barbara, living in a tiny apartment in Las Vegas. But Nicole was nowhere to be found.

It was as if she had vanished into thin air soon after departing Michigan in 1978. Detective Rosgen turned to a trick to try and get a confession. He visited the Bedersons and pretended that he knew what happened to Nicole. "I know what happened to your daughter," he said to Jarrett. "It'll go a lot easier on you if you tell us the whole story." The plan seemed to work. Jarrett, who is now in a wheelchair, was frightened. He said he would explain it all in a few weeks.

But before he could tell the truth, he and Barbara made an awful decision. They wrote one last letter to Jarrett's mother, enclosing money for her cremation. "We should be dead by the time you get this," Barbara wrote. "I'm sorry about so much, though. It's been a sad and difficult life." When police discovered them in their apartment, Barbara was clutching a Bible and a red rose. They had preferred to take their secret to their graves rather than answer questions about what had happened to Nicole.

The mystery of what happened to the little girl has never been solved. Did she make it to Las Vegas? Did she end up with another family somewhere along the line? Or was an even worse fate suffered along that long trip west? The police may never know. The only thing left now is a mystery that has haunted two families for more than 20 years. Amid hundreds of others at the Las Vegas Police Department is Detective Rosgen's file on Nicole.

Inside are outdated accident reports, police photos and investigation notes. But the thing we really need is absent: an explanation of what exactly happened to a smiling two-year-old girl who vanished on a winter's day in 1977.

Coming up on Weird Darkness: A mother of three vanishes on Christmas Day, leaving behind a recently cleaned van, traces of blood, and a question that would haunt her Texas town for more than 25 years: What really happened to Patty Vaughn? And then: Behind one of the most beloved Christmas poems of all time lies a centuries-old mystery: Was Twas the Night Before Christmas written by a serious Bible professor for his children,

Or did someone else create the story that would forever shape how we imagine Santa Claus? Who truly was the author of Twas the Night Before Christmas?

Hey Weirdos, our next Weirdo Watch Party is Saturday, January 18th and sci-fi film host and all-around nice guy Jukesua is back with another terrible B-movie – this one from the infamously inept Roger Corman. From 1958 it's "War of the Satellites" "And yet you propose to follow this tenth failure with another attempt?"

Using more of your volunteers? An unknown force declares war against planet Earth when the United Nations disobeys warnings to cease and desist in its attempts at assembling the first satellite in the atmosphere. We are obviously in the grip of a force stronger than we can oppose. It's a movie eight weeks in the making, and it shows on every frame of film. See the last few seconds with a wire holding up a planet.

See the satellites spinning in different directions every time you see them. There it is, the barrier. All those men in that satellite will die. See shadows somehow being cast onto the backdrop that is supposed to be outer space. Sigma barrier dead ahead. Crash emergency. All hands secure for blast. You'll even see actors wearing the same clothes day after day after day because...

Who knows? War of the Satellites! Join us online as we all watch the film together on January 18th at 7pm Pacific, 8pm Mountain, 9pm Central, 10pm Eastern on the Monster Channel 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 even join in the chat during the film for more fun. We're always cracking jokes during the movie, usually at the actor's or director's expense, but hey, it's all worthy of criticism. It's Jukesua presenting Roger Corman's War of the Satellites from 1958.

You can see a trailer for the film now and watch horror hosts and B-movies for free anytime on the Monster Channel page at WeirdDarkness.com. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash TV. And we'll see you Saturday, January 18th for our Weirdo Watch Party.

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Something terrible happened on Christmas Day in 1996 in a small town in La Verna, Texas. 32 years old and mother to three kids, Patty Vaughn left her house and never came home.

No one knew at the time that it would soon become one of Texas' most enigmatic mysteries. Patty was struggling with some tough changes in her life. She and her husband, J.R. Vaughn, had separated two months before she vanished. Patty was seeing a new guy. She was trying to have a new beginning. But on December 25th, after she drove away from her house in her blue Dodge Caravan, Patty appeared to disappear.

Patty's van was discovered the following day, abandoned on the shoulder of a highway approximately 15 miles from her home. Something didn't look right. One of the van's front tires was deflated, and someone had recently vacuumed the inside carpet of the van. The blood, a red work uniform with the letters JM on it, and a heap of clothes were discovered by police. Oddly, Patty's keys and purse were missing.

Investigators made even more disturbing discoveries when they searched Patty's house. They discovered blood in several locations: on the walls and the floor of her bedroom, inside her closet and in the bathroom. Someone had attempted to clean up the blood before the police arrived. Tests conducted later indicated that the blood was Patty's. In 2012, years later, scientists tested more things from Patty's van and found DNA from another woman.

The police believe they do know the identity of this woman, but they require more evidence before they can look into her further. Speculation started to circle around Patty's husband, J.R., as being the focus on the case. The same day cops discovered Patty's van, J.R. filed for divorce. He returned to their house soon after Patty went missing, but then left Texas and moved to Colorado.

He maintained that he had nothing to do with Patty's disappearance and that he believed she had left on her own accord. Patty Wallace, Patty's mother, became so convinced of J.R.'s involvement that she got herself into serious trouble. In February 1997, she was arrested for trespassing into J.R.'s home and attacking him with a baseball bat. She was distraught over her daughter's disappearance, and the charges against her were later dropped. The inquiry dragged on for years.

That was when police cleared an intriguing location: the concrete foundation of a school in Natalia, Texas where J.R. had worked at the time Patty vanished. They searched behind the school gymnasium where they thought Patty's remains might be buried in the concrete, but didn't find anything. No one knows what happened to Patty Vaughn on that Christmas day more than 25 years ago. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office continues to search for answers.

They're offering a $3,000 reward for someone who can give information that helps them solve the case. Almost everyone knows the popular Christmas poem, "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads."

And Mama in her kerchief and I in my cap Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow Gave a luster of midday to objects below, When what to my wondering eyes did appear

But a miniature sleigh, an eight tiny reindeer, with a little driver so lively and quick I knew in a moment he must be Saint Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name: "Now Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Donder and Blitzen! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now dash away, dash away, dash away all!"

as leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle mount to the sky. So up to the housetop the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too. And then, in a twinkling I heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof."

As I drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. His eyes, how they twinkled, his dimples, how merry! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry.

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself. A wink of his eye and a twist of his head soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk, and laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

a poem beloved by children and parents alike for more than 200 years. But this poem, a visit from St. Nick, known popularly as "Twas the Night Before Christmas," has a mystery attached to it. A mystery about who actually wrote it. The poem was originally published anonymously in a New York newspaper, the Troy Sentinel, on December 23rd, 1823,

Nobody knew the name of their author, the person who wrote the beloved lines about Santa Claus and his eight tiny reindeer. Then 21 years later, in 1844, a professor named Clement Clarke Moore did claim authorship. Moore said that he wrote the poem, which was written under the title "A Visit from St. Nicholas" for his children. He said he had modeled his description of Santa Claus on a "poorly Rubicon Dutchman" who lived in his neighborhood.

But some say another wrote the beloved Christmas poem. Henry Livingston Jr., who died in 1828, was the real author, his family claims. According to them, Livingston would read the poem to his children around Christmas of 1808, several years before it was ever published. Clue one of this mystery is the names of Santa's last two reindeer.

In the original newspaper version, he had called them "Donder and Blixem" which is Dutch for thunder and lightning. Those were revised to "Donder and Blitzen" - German words with the same meaning. Others argue that because Livingston knew Dutch and Moore did not, this demonstrates that Livingston authored the poem. The mystery has been examined by scholars over decades who pored through documents from the era and evaluated writing styles.

Some say Moore, a serious Bible scholar, would never have written so playful a children's poem. But others note that Moore wrote other poems for his children and grandchildren that demonstrated he was capable of fun. In 2000, a professor named Donald Wayne Foster wrote a book about the case and found evidence that Livingston was most likely the real author. But his findings are in heavy dispute among historians.

All the physical evidence, including handwritten versions of the poem, as well as statements from Moore's friends and acquaintances, points to him as the true author, the officials said. Today, over 200 years after it was first published, we still can't say for certain who wrote Twas the Night Before Christmas. But one thing is certain, whoever wrote it did so to give us one of the most beloved Christmas stories of all time.

shaping the way we picture Santa Claus and his magical Christmas Eve journey. And sometimes a Christmas mystery is worth keeping. 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 1:14 "So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." And a final thought: God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If He gives us the gift of Christmas, it's because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. — Pope Francis And a final, final thought:

The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They just couldn't find three wise men. Jay Leno. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.

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