“WHEN THE MONSTER IN YOUR CLOSET IS REAL” #WeirdDarknessRadio WEEK OF DECEMBER 15-21, 2024
01:40:55 Share

With so many options, why choose Arizona State University? For me, the only online option was ASU because of the quality. Their faculty was really involved with their students and care about your personal journey. The dedication to my personal development from my professors, that's been extremely valuable to me. Earn your degree from the nation's most innovative university.

Online. That's a degree better. Explore more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs at asuonline.asu.edu.

♪♪♪

It seems that when talking about haunted places, there are certain locales that by their very nature seem destined for the paranormal. Those locations with a history indelibly stained with suffering or dark, bloody or violent events are almost inevitably pervaded by the supernatural, as if this ominous history has managed to draw these forces, absorb them, and make them a part of the very place itself.

Certainly, one such place lies in the country of England, and is a former witch's prison with a sinister story that has turned it into one of the most notoriously haunted places in the world. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

Welcome, Weirdos! I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained! Coming up this hour... Is it possible that the monster your child sees under the bed or in the closet isn't imaginary after all?

We look at some true stories of people coming face to face with monsters in their own home. Even for those immersed in ufology, for many a certain controversial subject is so troubling and disturbing they choose to outright ignore it and seldom speak of it. It's the question: Are UFOs stealing human souls?

But first... Stories of prisons housing the spirits of the dead is already dreary. But in England, there is a prison called "The Cage" and the haunting spirits there are real-life witches. We begin with that story...

If you're new here, welcome to the show! And if you're already a member of this weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to visit WeirdDarkness.com where you can follow me on social media, listen to free audiobooks that I've narrated, and more – that's WeirdDarkness.com! Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,

The time was the 16th century in Essex, England, and for the people of the era it was a frightening time when witches roamed the night, casting their dark spells and carrying out their arcane rituals.

For these people, witches were very real, and black magic was a threat that hung over the land like a black cloud. Throughout the region, efforts were made to track down and capture witches to eliminate this evil. And the small village of St. Osseth was no different, with a total of 14 witches, rounded up here on accusations for everything from placing curses on people to bringing blight and sickness to unleashing their familiars to wreak havoc.

By far the most well-known of the witches of St. Osseth, as well as the first to be arrested, was a woman by the name of Ursula Kemp. She had been fairly popular among her neighbors in the past, and was known for mixing all sorts of herbal concoctions and salves to heat various ailments. At the time, she was known as a healer, and she was ironically often called upon for her purported ability to actually reverse spells and curses cast by witches for a price.

However, with a lonely woman mixing her potions and performing such magic, as well as keeping herself surrounded by several cats, it was only a matter of time in this era of rampant superstition and fear of magic before she was accused of being a witch herself, with numerous people coming forward to claim that she had been causing the very sicknesses she had claimed to heal.

She was also accused of casting curses herself, including one that causes a baby to fall and break her neck, and another that allegedly caused a woman to go lame. Kemp's trial would be held in 1582, and the number of people testifying against her was overwhelming. There were those who claimed that she had set her familiars upon them, others who said she had bewitched people who angered her by muttering curses, and that she used black magic to cause deaths.

Some charges were quite bizarre, such as that she had used her witchcraft to prevent beer from brewing. The most damning evidence of all was presented by Kemp's very own eight-year-old son, who told the court that she had four familiars — two cats, a black toad, and a white lamb — which he had seen suckling blood from her, and that these familiars were "two male spirits that killed people and two female spirits that brought sickness to people and destroyed cattle."

During a trial, 13 others would be implicated in witchcraft as well, including a woman named Elizabeth Bennett, and all of them would be found guilty. They were then moved to the witches' prison known as "The Cage," where they awaited punishment, which was execution by hanging for the most part. Indeed, Kemp and six others would be hanged at the prison for their crimes, and their bodies unceremoniously dumped in unmarked graves on unhallowed ground.

In later years, the prison became a quarantine for plague victims, with many dying here, before becoming a prison again. I know what you're probably thinking right about now, and oh yes, it is ever haunted. In fact, it is routinely referred to as one of the most haunted places in Britain. The cage itself remained in operation all the way up to 1908, after which it was finally shut down and sold to a string of owners who have more often than not had very intense paranormal experiences there.

The first buyer sold it a mere two weeks after buying it, and another buyer allegedly went mad and hung himself there. One of the most notorious cases of a haunting at the cage was experienced by an owner who lived there for 11 years by the name of Vanessa Mitchell and who was left traumatized by a string of bizarre, often violent ghostly encounters on the property.

Vanessa claims that when she bought the property and moved in in 2004, she wasn't told anything about the sinister history of the place or the deaths that had occurred there, but she would soon find out. According to her, she was constantly plagued by poltergeist activity from the very beginning, which seemed to be never-ending and would manifest at all hours of the day and night. She would say of this paranormal activity,

The daylight hours in the cage were no less active than the night hours. Ornaments would fly off the mantelpiece. The old chain from the original prison building would swing back and forward, as if to remind me of a horrific history of my home. And the hall stairs door would crash open in a forceful, almost violent way. Blood splatters appeared in the hall in broad daylight in front of witnesses apart from myself.

The TV sound would go up and down with no one near the controls to adjust them, and you'd hear someone pacing back and forth in the upstairs hall. It didn't stop. It was all the time, and there was nothing I could do." Even more ominous than these unexplained phenomena were decidedly more violent and menacing incidents. She says that she would see dark, shadowy figures lurking about, and that she was often subjected to being pushed and slapped by unseen hands.

The most frightening such occurrences allegedly happened when she was pregnant and an unseen force roughly pushed her to the ground, of which she would say it was absolutely terrifying. "I just remember feeling the force like someone had pushed me and falling on my side. When I was on the floor, I just lay there in shock." She also claims that she once walked in on a shadowy figure looming over her son as he slept, and even that there was even CCTV footage taken of a satanic goat wandering about.

She finally decided to sell the house, and has said of her ordeal, "I'm selling the house now because the house is getting worse. We're catching evidence all the time of the tortured spirits inside. I've had every medium, psychic and investigator in there to try and get rid of what's in there. I honestly believe the house is cursed. I've lived there for years, but for me seeing a tall, dark figure standing between me and my son's cot was the final straw for me. There's something evil in there, something demonic,

whatever it is that's keeping the other spirits trapped inside. It's so haunted I don't know what more I can do, and it's time for someone to own it who can do more with it than me." It is unclear just why she would live there for 11 years if she was so constantly under siege by such terrifying ghostly phenomena, but she no longer lives there and moved out in 2012, refusing to even go near the place alone. The story of Vanessa's experiences at the cage was a media sensation at the time,

of curiosity seekers, paranormal investigators, and ghost hunters to the property. Many of these visitors have had paranormal experiences themselves, such as the paranormal investigator and author Mickey Rawlings, who bravely decided to try living in the cage for research and did not have to wait long before being harassed by some sort of malevolent ghostly force.

He has said of the experience there: "I've seen books flying off shells in the upstairs hallway. I've watched doors open on their own. And I've even seen a shadow person with my own eyes. I'm not a religious man, and yet I go to bed every night clutching a crucifix for my own safety. After a few days I got to learn the natural noises of the house. Now the non-natural noises keep me awake at night. I'd argue that the place is dangerous. I'm convinced it could end up killing someone one day."

Other phenomena Rawlings witnessed included the sound of growling, the pattering of footsteps running around, and most bizarrely of all, the disembodied tunes of what sounds like a tiny piano playing. Another paranormal investigator who had a rather harrowing experience at the cage was Brad Mack, who went ahead with a plan to spend a night at the location along with some colleagues on December 2, 2017. They would find waiting for them a smorgasbord of weird occurrences.

of which Mack would say, "We had five volunteers, one investigator who had experience in the cage and myself. Vanessa refused point-blank to stay after dark. Through the course of the night I investigated in a few rooms myself, joined the volunteers as they tried to provoke the dark spirits into reacting, and mainly watched from CCTV to see if we capture anything in the moment."

My Mel-meter fluctuated like crazy. We constantly heard footsteps both light and quick, and some heavy but quicker. I heard faint whispers behind me whilst walking around upstairs. We captured numerous lights flickering on both levels of the house. I got bitten or pinched on the leg and even caught two little stick figures cowering from my touch in the motion camera. The motion camera footage shows a stick figure covering its face and recoiling as I try to touch it.

"All in all, it was one of the most frantic and terrifying nights of my life, and this was only the beginning of the evening. At one point during the night at approximately 3 a.m., the investigators were off upstairs exploring the master bedroom, said to be the most haunted area of the house, as Mac and another colleague monitored them on live feed on CCTV from downstairs. At first, all was dark and quiet.

But then, in quick succession, he says, we saw innumerable inexplicable lights flicker across the room, heard a loud growl coming from the corner, and three loud bangs smash off the door behind the volunteers. Then one of Mac's colleagues, known only as Debbie, was witnessed to undergo a rather unsettling transformation, as they were all gathered there with her nose becoming hooked.

her eyes becoming fierce and dark, and her face cracking an evil smile that he describes as "Joker-like." Mack would explain thus: "Both me and Dave gasped. She was unrecognizable and what I saw shook me to the core. After a moment that seemed a lifetime, I knew I had to film this.

I whipped out my iPhone, fully charged, thank God. Her nose. It has changed shape completely, almost like a witch's, with a sharp arch in the bridge of her nose. That nose is not a prop. Making it all even spookier is that Debbie then stumbled out of the room and went downstairs, where she complained that something was burning on her back.

The crew then purportedly lifted up her jumper to take a look and were astonished to see what looked like four long burn marks, splayed out like fingers, and another going straight up her back into her neck. Mack speculates that the ghost of one of the witches, perhaps even Kemp herself, had tried to possess Debbie and had briefly succeeded. You can see a video of the stick figures and photos of the transformation yourself. I've placed a link to those in the show notes.

Needless to say, the team ended up not going through with their plan, with some of the frightened volunteers even fearing for their very lives if they stayed. Other visitors to the cage and even people passing by have also reported all manner of strangeness from this place, and photographic evidence includes countless images of mysterious lights, of orbs, shadow figures, and even a photo of what appears to be a witch on a stretcher taken by a local policeman.

Interestingly enough, the cage isn't even the only supposedly haunted place in the village of St. Osseth, as there's a former insane asylum practically right across the street that is also said to be haunted, as well as a tavern right down the road, also said to have ghosts that cause cars to careen off the road. Is this all the doing of ghosts and spirits, or is there perhaps something else going on?

Could it be that perhaps the reason this place is so infused with such strangeness is because of all of the suffering, death, and negative energy that permeate its dark history like a disease? Could this residual energy be merely a symptom of this sickness emanating out to cause these phenomena? Of course, we are nowhere near knowing the answer to this, but it does seem that such macabre locales seem to hold in them a striking intensity of paranormal phenomena.

and the cage must certainly rank high up there among them. Up next on Weird Darkness, is it possible that the monster your child sees under the bed or in the closet isn't imaginary after all? We look at some true stories of people coming face-to-face with monsters in their own home.

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, 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 5 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Mountain, 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern. 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.

Whatever the adventure, there's a BMW engineered to take it on. The X3 delivers a striking design with agile performance. The 100% electric i4 packed with pure electric energy. Or the plug-in hybrid X5, an impressive versatile SUV granting full control on every journey. Choose what powers your next adventure during the BMW Road Home Sales Event. BMW, the ultimate driving machine.

Visit the Valley BMW Center today for attractive lease and finance offers.

At Arizona State University, we're bringing world-class education from our globally acclaimed faculty to you. Ranked number one in innovation for 10 consecutive years and number two among public universities for employability, ASU isn't just ahead of the curve, it's creating new paths to success. Earn your degree from the nation's most innovative university. Online, that's a degree better. Explore more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs at asuonline.asu.edu.

Heads up, folks. Interest rates are falling. But as of September 23rd, 2024, you can still lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. That's a pretty big deal because when rates drop, so can the interest you earn on your cash. A bond account allows you to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds.

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments. But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com.

Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info.

I'm Darren Marlar, welcome back to Weird Darkness. You can stay up to date on everything Weird Darkness, read my regular oddities column, Mind of Marlar, get notified of upcoming weirdo watch parties that I'm holding online and other events that I'm a part of, get the info on contests I'm holding and more, all through the Weird Darkness email newsletter. You can sign up for free at WeirdDarkness.com slash newsletter. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash newsletter.

A recurring fear throughout childhood is that of the monster in the closet and the thing under the bed. What kid hasn't ever had a boogeyman lurking there in the confines of their bedroom closet, peering out at them to scare and torment? While this may seem to lie firmly in the realm of overactive imaginations and dark child fantasies, what if there is something more to it? What if the closet monsters are real?

Some scattered accounts seem to suggest that there may just be more to this than just childhood fears and imagination, and show that maybe something is in there after all. Stories of strange things in the closet come from all over and take many forms. One account from 1952 seems to involve some sort of imp or gnome which would come out of the closet at night to terrorize a young boy named Dan Bortko of Wyandotte County, Kansas, in the United States.

The family had moved to a two-story home on a rural farm property in Liberty, Missouri, complete with a barn, and from a very young age, Wartko claims he frequently saw a small humanoid, about three feet tall, and fully decked out in German lederhosen and with a smoking pipe, lurking about their house, often appearing in his room at night and frequently stepping out of the closet. The creature would often stand there, looking at him before smiling or winking and disappearing through the closet.

Bortko also said that he'd often look outside his window at night to see little people congregating out around the barn. He once drew a picture of the one he had seen up close, and it was so frightening to his little brother that he would cry whenever he saw it. Bortko would say of his first encounter with the creature, "...I had just awakened from a nap and was rubbing my eyes and saw what you'd call a troll. I'll call him a troll because that's what he reminded me of."

It was an old man with a long beard, large nose, about three feet tall standing at the foot of my bed, and I was astounded. It's unclear whether this thing was merely hiding in the closet or using it as some sort of doorway into this world, or even whether this was all just the figment of a young boy's overactive imagination, but it is quite creepy nevertheless. If it was real, then what was it? Could it have been some interdimensional anomaly? Some being from another reality?

It's hard to say, but there are other reports of strange entities that seem to defy categorization that have been reported lurking in closets as well. ***Coming up next: Monster that completely defies logic. It's pretty hard to explain, and even harder to classify.

♪♪♪

Listen up, folks. Time could be running out to lock in a historic yield at public.com. As of September 23rd, 2024, you can lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account. But here's the thing. The Federal Reserve just announced a big rate cut, and the plan is for more rate cuts this year and in 2025 as well. That's good news if you're looking to buy a home, but it might not be so good for the interest you earn on your cash.

So if you want to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high yield and investment grade bonds, you might want to act fast. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. And once you lock in your yield, you can earn regular interest payments

even as rates decline. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. But hurry, your yield is not locked in until you invest. Brought to you by Public Investing member FinRent SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info.

Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV Hydration and Wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections. Need a weight loss boost? Our peptide treatments help shed pounds and feel great. For the ultimate wellness, try NAD Plus infusions to fight aging, boost brain health, and support addiction recovery. Feel better, live better with Prime IV Hydration and Wellness at 4910 East Ray Road in Ahwatukee.

I'm Darren Marlar, welcome back to Weird Darkness. Do you have a true paranormal story that has happened to you or someone you know? You can share it by clicking on "Tell Your Story" at WeirdDarkness.com and I might use it in a future episode. We've been talking about real monsters, and there are some strange entities out there that seem to defy categorization that have been reported lurking in closets.

One account comes from True Ghost Tales and concerns a creature that really defies easy classification. The witness claims that when she was just a girl, she'd been watching TV in the living room with her mother when they heard her father start frantically screaming for help from elsewhere in the house. They tracked the source of the screaming to the witness's own bedroom and found that the door was locked tight, which was odd considering it was just a plain doorknob with no lock to begin with.

They stood there struggling with the mysteriously jammed doorknob while the father shrieked and shouted from within. At the time, they thought he was having some sort of breakdown, as he was an alcoholic and had been drinking heavily that night. However, when they finally forced the door open, they were to find it was something altogether more bizarre. The witness says of what they saw in that room thus:

My mom struggled for a few minutes trying to open the door. Finally she managed to open the door and we saw my father up in the air like he was hanging from something and then a few seconds later fell feet down. He was so scared that he sounded sober. He told us to get away from there and he ran as far away from my room. When we saw my dad he seemed almost pale looking. He had scratches on his chest as if he got into a fight or something. My mom asked him, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"

"The only thing that came out of my father's mouth was 'the devil.' The devil was trying to take me with him. At first I thought my dad was only saying that to scare me, but he was serious about it. He said the devil wanted him and was trying to bite his neck. I thought to myself, 'It sounds more like a vampire than the devil to me. Why would the devil want to bite his neck anyway?'" The scared family retreated to the living room where they eventually fell asleep.

And the next day, the father explained that when he had been in the girl's room, he had seen the closet door open by itself and heard a man's voice issue forth from the darkness beyond before the incident, after which something dark had emerged and he blacked out. He took them to the room so that they could take a look at the closet, and this is where things get even stranger still.

The witness says, "We all went to my room, then my dad opened my closet door, and he saw this figure of a man standing inside my closet as if it was asleep. Its arms were on his chest and he was all black, with long fingernails, and he had wings. The weird thing about all this is that a few days later I saw it in my room.

I was watching TV in the living room. We had the hall light on so that way it could reflect light into my room. But that night, the light only reflected halfway. I saw a dark shadow standing in the middle of my room. Then he took his hand out and started moving his index finger, asking me to come to him with his reddish-yellow eyes. I was so scared that I couldn't move at all. I was screaming for my parents, but they couldn't hear me. How could this be when they were 10 feet away from me?

Anyway, when I turned my head back to see him, he was already next to me. All he did to me was he had lifted me up and he kissed my forehead and my neck. Then he left. Just like that. We never say "it" again, but sometimes when I'm in the dark I feel like someone is there with me. What could this thing have possibly been? Was it a vampire? A demon? A ghost? Something else? It's interesting that the whole family seems to have witnessed it, so it seems beyond just a hallucination or overactive imagination.

On the site "Phantoms and Monsters," there is another account from 2009 of some sort of menacing beast in the closet. The witness claims that he woke up one night suddenly at around 3 a.m. and found that he was covered in sweat and overcome with an inexplicable cold fear that was overwhelming in its intensity, although his brother was still sleeping soundly. There also seemed to be a heavy sense of someone there looming near the bedroom's rather large walk-in closet, and the witness would say of what happened next:

I looked around in my room, hoping to see my mom watching over us from the doorway of the closet. I don't know why I thought it would be her, but I did. Since our nightlight was on, I could see things pretty clearly. I looked to my left to see a tall figure in our closet. It had an oval-like head with small eyes and appendages hanging from its face, almost like a scruffy beard, but it made more sense that it'd be some type of structure.

It looked over the both of us up and down. At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me since I could be very imaginative, but what snapped me out of this is when it pushed some of the clothes hangers out of the way and the fact that the window was open. Its skin looked rough and pasty, almost like it was in a sauna for two years. It caught a whiff of me being awake and almost immediately I lost consciousness and control over my body. All accounts that were had from that night had not been fully remembered the following morning.

beside the fact that my sheets were in my closet instead of on my bed. Again, we're left here with a case that seems to be so bonkers that it's beyond an easy explanation. Just what was this thing and why would it be in that closet? Outdoing even these outlandish encounters is another one reported on phantoms and monsters, this time by a witness who would just about the strangest thing you could imagine come out of his closet when he was a boy in around the year 1980.

The witness, who claims he is now a paranormal researcher, says that when he was very young he had been trying to get to sleep in the room that he shared with his brother. And again, this was a room with a big walk-in closet. As he was lying there, the closet door began to open by itself. And the witness claims, "One night, as I was trying to get to sleep , the door opened, and I know this sounds crazy but out came Big Bird of the children's show Sesame Street

I remember being frightened at first, but others came out too, and they were very friendly and led me into the closet with them. All I remember at this point is that Big Bird gave me a flavored chapstick, most likely to ease my fear because I loved chapstick, and they brought me back to my bed. I went to sleep, very happy over the whole experience and was not afraid anymore. I put the chapstick under my pillow after taking a tiny nibble, leaving my teeth marks just to see if it was still there in the morning.

The next morning I checked and, lo and behold, the chapstick was there, just like I remembered. And at that moment I knew for a fact it was not a dream. If it were not for that chapstick, the experience probably would not have stayed with me all these years. I tried to tell my brother, but he laughed it off as anyone would. It sounds totally crazy. Now, after reading the other accounts of similar experiences, I'm wondering if it was an abduction disguised as a friendly interaction. What in the world? Big Bird?

The witness gives an interesting observation in that he believes it might have been an alien abduction, with the entities taking a form that would seem non-threatening to a child. This is a feature of some abduction cases, with the beings allegedly able to either shapeshift or manipulate perceptions in order to take the form of whatever will best serve their purposes in the eyes of the abductee. Is that what was going on here? How else could we explain an actual character from a children's show emerging from a darkened closet?

It could have been just the imagination of a child, but the fact that the witness remembers it so vividly all of these years later and has the chapstick to show for it is notable. Other reports seem to follow a pattern more akin to a traditional haunting, although focused on closets. From Your Ghost Stories comes a report of just such an experience from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

The witness claims that as soon as she moved out of her grandmother's house, where she had lived for some time, she began having extremely vivid dreams of a spirit or demon in the closet of the room in which she had stayed. She says that she had never had these menacing dreams while she had lived there and that they'd only started after she left, as well as growing steadily in intensity. She claims the house had always been haunted and says of what happened next.

We just recently moved back in October. Now, I've always known this house was haunted. Everyone has. I've had so many different experiences. Everything seemed fine and normal. The house is old, it creaks all night long. You hear someone calling your name. For me, it's "Belle." Nothing unusual. I walked past the room I used to sleep in, now my uncle's room, the other day, and I instantly felt watched. Chills ran down my spine. I felt in so much danger.

I quickly scurried down the stairs and forgot about it not too long after. I would walk by all the time, its en route to my room. Every time I walk by, the door creaks open. Even if it's shut the whole way, it takes force to open that door. I was carrying my cat from my room to the living room one morning last week.

As we walked past my uncle's room, a deep, low, frightening growl came from my cat, and then she hissed the meanest hiss as she kept her eyes locked on the room. The door was wide open. Nobody was inside. Recently, my mom has been feeling it too. The door opens slowly when she walks by, and she feels cold eyes watching her. Another report from the same site is similar in nature and just spooky.

This report comes from the state of Virginia, from a witness who believes an actual demon inhabited the closet of their master bedroom. The witness claims that odd activity near the closet, including loud bangs and murmuring voices at night, was so intense that he actually put a crucifix up by the closet to try and keep whatever it was at bay and contained. There was even an incident where he says the entity pushed over his young daughter, and it would later lash out at his wife.

The witness says of his experiences with the terrifying demonic force in the closet: "It did not take long to figure out that the presence was in a large closet area, which adjoined the bathroom and faced directly towards the bed in the master bedroom. The closet area never got natural sunlight and was extremely dark at night. I could feel that something was watching. The crucifix seemed to keep it out of the room, but it still stared from the closet. So I did the usual 'get out, this is my house, I command you to leave'

I felt that this thing was not going anywhere, that it was not scared at all. It was not moving. Not long after that we found a picture of our children on the floor and it had been smashed in the middle of the frame, like something was thrown at it. One night while watching TV my wife left for work and I saw a rather large shadow fly out of the bedroom and out towards the car as she was leaving, almost as if it was chasing her. Not long after that she suffered a stroke and a major car accident, both of which left no lasting injuries.

Was this a demon? Or just a very powerful spirit? It seems like an interesting detail that the crucifix seems to have had some influence on it, but other than that, it's hard to know what to make of this account. In another account from Queenie's Paranormal Playhouse is a report from 2005 from a frightened single mother who had just moved into a duplex in the United States with her young son and niece.

Almost immediately, on the very first night, they began experiencing paranormal phenomena such as the bedroom door opening on its own and the children complaining that something had touched their legs as they slept. The witness explains, "The second night of our stay, my son and I were lying down shooting the breeze in my room. The bedroom door that was cracked halfway open had closed, then reopened. This happened a couple of times, until we finally worked up the nerve to get up and turn on the light.

The next night, my son blacked out after having what seemed to be a nervous breakdown about the ghost living in his room and closet. Now, the thing about it is my son is a big 15 years old, and he does not scare easily. After 20 minutes, he went back to his normal self and cannot remember the incident. That same night, he went to sleep with me, and I woke up to something pulling back and forth on the doorknob of my closet. I screamed, but my son never woke up.

Relatives have said that this place gives them bad vibes and that sometimes they can hear people talking. Now it's day 28 and last night my young nephew and I were sleeping when suddenly he woke up screaming. He jumped off the bed and the bedroom closet swung open in front of him. But this morning he can only remember standing in front of an open closet, hearing the high-pitched scream of a female. I talked to the people who lived in the duplex before me and they also lived with this ghost.

Even after saying prayers and using holy water, the ghost will not leave. I'm a single mother, and it took my savings to move into this place. Unfortunately, it seems we're stuck here for a long time, but this ghost is going to drive us insane. The United States is not the only place where such encounters have allegedly occurred, and a scary report on phantoms and monsters comes to us from Newfoundland, where the witness claims he lived in the late 1960s at an apartment along a place called Black Marsh Road,

He says that he was nine or ten years old at the time and that he'd been living there with his mother, grandparents, and three sisters at the time, and that the road had been rather well-known in the area as a place pervaded by ghostly phenomena. He says that, although he never actually saw anything ghostly, he sure did hear it, and it seemed to originate from a coat closet in the living room. He says, "Sometimes, due to limited space, I slept on the sofa in the living room. In the living room was a small stove and coat closet.

I remember the chimney ran next to the closet. I remember so vividly being woken up between 3 and 4 a.m. every morning to the sounds of a group of people conversing in the closet. To the best of my knowledge, there were six or seven people. I could not pick out what they were saying, though at the moment I could hear them very clearly. This went on until we moved. I told my mother about this at the same time it was happening, but of course it was dismissed as a child's imagination until many years later.

He says that after he'd moved away and grown up, he heard that his grandmother had also had weird experiences with the voices from the closet, and that she'd finally managed to banish them by reciting the Lord's Prayer aloud.

This is an intriguing detail, as like the crucifix in the other account, it seems to suggest that religious belief has some effect, whether that's from some higher power or because it helps to focus a person's will against these forces, that is, if these forces even exist at all and this is not all tall tales. And this is a question you're left with. Are these just tall tales? Or something more? What are we to make of real reports of our childhood nightmares of boogeymen in the closet?

Are these just delusions or the effects of sleep paralysis? Are they aliens, ghosts, demons, or something else? It's hard to say, but it perhaps gives you something to think about next time you're in a darkened room alone and the closet is open just to crack. When Weird Darkness returns, are UFOs stealing our souls? Up next…

♪♪♪

Listen up, folks. Time could be running out to lock in a historic yield at public.com. As of September 23rd, 2024, you can lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account. But here's the thing. The Federal Reserve just announced a big rate cut, and the plan is for more rate cuts this year and in 2025 as well. That's good news if you're looking to buy a home, but it might not be so good for the interest you earn on your cash.

So if you want to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high yield and investment grade bonds, you might want to act fast. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. And once you lock in your yield, you can earn regular interest payments even as rates decline.

Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. But hurry, your yield is not locked in until you invest. Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info. Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV hydration and wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections.

Need a weight loss boost? Our peptide treatments help shed pounds and feel great. For the ultimate wellness, try NAD Plus infusions to fight aging, boost brain health, and support addiction recovery. Feel better, live better with Prime IV hydration and wellness at 4910 East Ray Road in Ahwatukee. Another form of food for the paranormal, our souls. The one dining on them? E.T. At least that's the theory of some.

Many UFO researchers are reluctant to address the "aliens are stealing our souls" theory. It is, after all, one of the most controversial aspects of the UFO subject. The fact is, though, that there are far more than a few such reports on record. The problem is, however, that for so many in ufology, the subject is so troubling and disturbing they choose to outright ignore it. One of the earliest and most intriguing cases on record came from a man named Paul Inglesby.

His real name was actually Eric Inglesby, and his 1978 book, UFOs and the Christian, which I have placed a link to in the show notes, was published under Eric Inglesby. But two years later, he changed his name to Paul Inglesby, and from then on answered to Paul, and as Father Paul in 1980, he converted to Greek Orthodox. Just one year before the Second World War broke out in 1939, Inglesby, who died in 2010, went down with a very serious case of malaria.

So serious was it that for a while Inglesby perilously hovered in that mysterious domain between life and death. It was while in this limbo-like state that Inglesby had a frightening dream. Years later, he recalled how it all went down. It was an undetermined time in the Earth's future, and the UFO-like craft were soaring across the fire-and-smoke-filled skies of our ruined, radioactive planet and launching nuclear missiles at our major cities, killing billions and causing planet-wide destruction.

The UFOs were not piloted by extraterrestrials, though, but by demonic entities, whose goal was to suck out the souls of those killed in the fiery inferno, which was rapidly overwhelming the Earth and just about everything on it. For Inglesby, it was quite literally a wake-up call.

The malaria cleared up, Inglesby came out of his unconscious state, and he spent the rest of his life pursuing a career in the church and warning people to avoid the UFO issue, fearing that it would lead people to become ensnared by malevolent, demonic monsters, all of which Inglesby described in his aforementioned 1978 book, UFOs and the Christian.

Engleby's story dates back to the 1930s, and it was in the 1950s onward that he began talking about his nightmarish dream, after he realized that what he'd seen back in 1938 were images of nuclear explosions and mushroom clouds of the type that were all too familiar by the 1950s.

It's important to note, though, that the issue of a connection between UFOs, aliens, and the human soul didn't really surface to any kind of meaningful degree until the latter part of the 1980s. Which takes us to the issue of Whitley Stryber's bestseller, "1987 Communion," which I will link to in the show notes.

When Wordistriber's planned book first got out, ufologists assumed that the book, in terms of its contents and its theories, would be fairly akin to John Fuller's The Interrupted Journey of 1966 and to Bud Hopkins' 1981 book Missing Time. Both books adhered to the now-familiar theory that aliens are stealing our DNA to save their waning species.

Stryber's revelations were, in many respects, far removed from the writings of Hopkins and Fuller, which is why the book created such a firestorm in those locales where ufologists hang out. In Communion, Stryber made it very clear that his own encounters with the visitors and those of others he had spoken to revealed a startling connection between alien abductions and the human soul, even a paradigm-shifting connection.

In his book, Stryber talked about how abductees experienced their souls dragged from their bodies during abductions. Stryber said that the more and more he digs into the matter of his encounters, and as he tried to get a handle on what was afoot, he was unable to banish from his mind the theories of Charles Fort.

Fort had darkly suggested that in Stryber's own words in his 1988 book Transformation, part of the Communion series, which I'll link to in the show notes, we the human race are animals, here for the slaughter, and incapable of seeing the greater and more terrible meanings that surround us. As for more on Charles Fort's opinions, you can read his classic title of 1919, The Book of the Damned. It's only 99 cents on Amazon, I've got a link to it in the show notes.

I do want to repeat something I said earlier, because it truly is a disturbing thing to think of. In the book, Fort wrote, "...I think we are property. I should say we belong to something, that once upon a time this earth was no man's land, that other worlds explored and colonized here, and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it's owned by something, that something owns this earth, all others warned off."

Thanks for listening! If you like the show, please tell somebody about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. And tell them where they can listen to the show so they can tune in next weekend.

If you missed any part of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that, you'll get a copy of tonight's show. You'll also get tonight's Sudden Death Overtime content, where I ask the question, does the supernatural feed on us? That's in tonight's podcast version of the show. Again, you can subscribe to the podcast at WeirdDarkness.com.

Also there you can follow me on social media, drop me an email, maybe send me your own true paranormal story, listen to other podcasts that I host, and more. All stories used tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes, which I've already posted at WeirdDarkness.com.

"The Prison Haunted by Witches" and "When the Monster in the Closet is Real" were written by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe, and "The Soul-Stealing Extraterrestrials" was written by Nick Redfern. 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. Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

And a final thought. When someone helps you and they are struggling too, that's not help. That's love. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Music

So

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments. But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com.

Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info. Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV hydration and wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections.

Need a weight loss boost? Our peptide treatments help shed pounds and feel great. For the ultimate wellness, try NAD Plus infusions to fight aging, boost brain health, and support addiction recovery. Feel better, live better with Prime IV hydration and wellness at 4910 East Ray Road in Ahwatukee. Accounts of haunted lighthouses have existed for hundreds of years. To many, they are considered to be isolated and romantic.

Some lighthouses are possibly haunted due to tragedies from shipwrecks or other horrors that have spawned all sorts of lighthouse lore. Some who have spent the night at a haunted lighthouse come away with stories to share such as seeing a former lighthouse keeper or resident of the keeper's home. Could they still be present in some form after their death? Could keepers possibly remain behind to make sure no further tragedies occur at sea?

Perhaps the worst fear of a lighthouse keeper, a ship wrecked upon the rocks, is why some lighthouses continue to be haunted by their former captains. Lights turning on, movement of objects, disembodied voices, and see-through specters – they're all often reported within or around older lighthouses. Are the ghosts of these souls still on duty?

Modern-day tragedies at sea still occur, and so do the ghosts that eventually haunt our world. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness.

Welcome, Weirdos! I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.

Coming up this hour, if their walls could talk, lighthouses could share many stories from the past. Unfortunately, these objects don't have the ability to tell their tales, but the phantoms that haunt them just might!

If you're new here, welcome to the show! And if you're already a member of this weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to visit WeirdDarkness.com where you can follow me on social media, listen to free audiobooks that I've narrated, and more! That's WeirdDarkness.com! Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights,

Owl's Head Lighthouse sits on top of a hill that is just south of Rockland, Maine. It's located at the southern tip of the Rockland Harbor. It sits 100 feet above the sea and is a mere 30 feet tall. Though the lighthouse and the Keeper's House are property of the United States Coast Guard, the grounds are open to the public.

The name "Owl's Head" comes from the two indentations in the headlands that look like owl's eyes. In the 1800s, the lime trade in Rockland had grown so much that it was necessary to put in a lighthouse for ships coming into the Rockland harbor at night. In 1825, President John Quincy Adams authorized the Owl's Head Lighthouse. There was an argument between John Quincy Adams and Fifth Auditor Stephen Pleasanton as to who would become the first keeper of the lighthouse.

Eventually, the president's candidate, Isaac Stearns, won. In December of 1850, five ships went aground at Penobscot Bay. One of the ships, a small schooner, broke free the cables that it was tied to. At the time, there were three people on board: Roger Elliot, first mate Richard B. Ingraham, and his fiancée, Lydia Dyeran. They could do nothing as the ship crashed into some rocks. Elliot was able to escape the ship, make it to shore, and eventually found Owl's Head Lighthouse.

By the time the keeper found him, he was already half-frozen. Elliot eventually worked up the strength to tell the keeper of the two other people who were aboard the ship. The keeper rounded up 12 other men to look for the two. When they found the couple, they were enclosed in a block of ice and appeared to be dead.

But the men did not want to take any chances. They brought the couple back to the lighthouse. They put them in a tub of water and began to chip away at the ice. Then they began to slowly raise the temperature of the water, and they exercised the frozen people's muscles. Finally, they began to show signs of life, and after several months, they made a full recovery and had four children. Roger Elliott was not so fortunate to make a full recovery.

In the 1930s, the keeper of the lighthouse was Augustus B. Hamer, who had a Springer Spaniel named Spot. As time went on, Spot learned to pull the rope that rang the fog bell when it became very foggy until it was his full-time job. One stormy night, the Matinicus mail boat almost ran aground at Owl's Head. The rope for the fog bell was too frozen for Spot to pull, so he began to bark.

The captain of the vessel heard Spot barking and safely maneuvered away from the shore. After Spot had died, he was buried next to the fog bell. The ghost that is often spotted at Haunted Owl's Head Lighthouse resembles that of an old sea captain. He is often recognized by unexplained footprints in the snow, polished brass, and feelings of coldness.

one three-year-old daughter of a keeper befriended the ghost. He helped her alert her parents one night when the fog was rolling in and that it was time to sound the foghorn. The Tybee Lighthouse was first built in 1736. However, several violent storms and shore erosion caused this Georgia lighthouse to become structurally unsound. As a result, the lighthouse was meticulously rebuilt.

Over the years, inclement weather and erosion did away with the light a couple more times, and the lighthouse that stands today is actually the fourth one on Tybee Island. Many people who visit this scary lighthouse have reported hearing disembodied sounds, such as phantom whistling and the sound of unseen feet. A few people have even reported seeing the apparition of a five-year-old while climbing the stairwell,

The ghost girl, who wears historic clothing, warns visitors not to go any further up the staircase. Some paranormal enthusiasts have theorized that the girl may have perished when one of the previous Tybee lighthouses crumbled to the ground in a storm. More of the world's most haunted lighthouses coming up when Weird Darkness returns!

♪♪♪

Listen up, folks. Time could be running out to lock in a historic yield at public.com. As of September 23rd, 2024, you can lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account. But here's the thing. The Federal Reserve just announced a big rate cut, and the plan is for more rate cuts this year and in 2025 as well. That's good news if you're looking to buy a home, but it might not be so good for the interest you earn on your cash.

So if you want to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high yield and investment grade bonds, you might want to act fast. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. And once you lock in your yield, you can earn regular interest payments even as rates decline.

Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. But hurry, your yield is not locked in until you invest. Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info. Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV hydration and wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections.

Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar as we continue with True Tales of Haunted Lighthouses.

Made operational in 1875, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse first illuminated the northern shores of the Outer Banks in Corolla, North Carolina. Left unpainted with exposed brick, the powerful light immediately began saving lives as it guided ships safely around shallow waters with its unique light pattern.

The two-story quaint Victorian home found on the grounds was first erected in 1876 as the Keeper's House and was used until 1939 when the light was automated. Originally, three keepers and their families lived on the grounds, sharing this residence. Eventually, the building would fall into disrepair until it was restored anew beginning in 1980. It is within this house that people claim the hauntings still occur.

Is it the ghost of a former keeper or family member who once lived here? The north bedroom seems to be the epicenter of ghost activity. Some people believe the ghost to possibly be young Sadie Johnson, a child of the first lightkeeper who tragically drowned while playing too near the water by herself. It was, of course, her bedroom on the north side. But perhaps she is not the spirit in question, but a victim of whatever haunts this room.

The north bedroom was also the place where a friend of the family came to stay, possibly permanently it would seem. She took ill and passed away in this very room. Might she haunt the lighthouse property? And if that were not enough reason to believe in ghosts at the Currituck Light, the final family that resided in the Keeper's house before it was closed in the 1930s, well before its restoration 50 years later, is said to also have had misfortune occur while living there.

The wife of the last keeper died of tuberculosis in the North Bedroom, so it is said. There is legend that workers who renovated the old building were afraid to step into the North Bedroom for some unknown reason. It's believed that the knowledge of its former tragedies was hidden from them, so what made them afraid? Could the untimely deaths woven into the history of the lighthouse in Corolla be just coincidence? Maybe, but this is the lore that haunts the Currituck Light.

And tales about such ghosts have possibly spooked those who've had the opportunity to visit the North Room in recent times. It's not currently open for tours, as it is used today as the groundskeeper and lightkeeper residence. When visiting the site in 2014, one group were told that the workers were not permitted to talk about the ghosts that may haunt the lighthouse, and the tourism was brisk. Who would want to risk frightening visitors away, after all?

They did get one gentleman who worked there to confirm the haunting of the home, but he was of the opinion that the lighthouse was also haunted by the ghosts of those who once kept the light lit for ships at night. The Presque Isle Lighthouse was built in 1840 on Lake Huron, Michigan. It was quickly taken out of service by 1870 due to a newer, taller lighthouse being built. Thus, the former was abandoned.

Of historical importance, a family known as the Stebbins lovingly restored the lighthouse and Keeper's Dwelling as use for a summer home in the early 1900s. The Stebbins eventually opened the old Presque Isle Lighthouse to visitors and later on left it to tourism. Eventually, George and Lorraine Paris moved into the Keeper's Dwelling to take care of it and show tourists the old lighthouse and grounds. George loved children and truly enjoyed showing the Presque Isle Light to their visitors,

But he noticed some strange happenings at this place. The amber light would sometimes be seen lit in the lighthouse tower, yet there would never be anyone there. In fact, the U.S. Coast Guard removed the wiring in 1979 to prevent this from happening further. And it did cease. But only for a while. George eventually passed away, but his wife Lorraine knew he was still residing there.

because every day George used to make them breakfast before he passed, and she would awaken often to the smell of bacon and eggs after his death. The amber light began to be seen as well in the tower of the haunted lighthouse after his passing, and it was observed not only by Lorraine, but by the Coast Guard while on the water and by the National Guard when in the air.

What further cemented the idea of the ghost being George who haunted the lighthouse was when a young girl climbed up the tower and returned giggling with glee. She informed her parents that an older man had spoken to her and entertained her while she was up in the tower. Later, she was able to identify him as George Paris after seeing his portrait. The haunted Sol Cichois Point Lighthouse was built in 1892.

but the tower had to be rebuilt, so the lighthouse was officially completed in 1895. Sol Sichua means "only choice" and marks a small harbor on Lake Michigan. French fur traders gave the name used for the lighthouse as the area was the only choice for safety if boats were headed to the Straits of Mackinac. Today, only the haunted lighthouse is active in the area that was once a bustling fishing community.

All of the original buildings stand today, including explosive storehouses, a fog signal building, and the two-family red-brick keeper's house attached to the lighthouse tower. Still operational today, the haunted Solstice Point Lighthouse was automated by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 1970s, and the site now houses a museum which is open from Memorial Day to mid-October, seven days a week.

Visitors to the lighthouse have experienced some haunted happenings, such as items being moved and the sound of footsteps climbing the tower stairs, as if a lighthouse keeper is still on duty. But more than a lighthouse keeper is thought to haunt the Sol Sichua Point Lighthouse. A former lighthouse keeper's brother used to visit and was captain of a ship

Captain James Townsend fell ill suddenly during one of his visits with his brother Joseph and eventually died at the Keeper's house. His body was embalmed in the house basement and put on display for quite some time until family and friends could make their journey to the isolated Sol Sichua Point and pay their final respects. Since that time, many a visitor has experienced the smell of what is presumably the captain's cigars, as well as his humor.

Tour guides say he likes to turn the hat backwards on the mannequin dressed as a lighthouse keeper and hides cigars in the pockets of the jacket from time to time. Does the good Captain Townsend spend his days and nights at the lighthouse at Sol Sichua Point? Could his brother be the keeper who is still on duty at the haunted lighthouse? The New London Ledge Light haunted lighthouse was built in 1909 in New London Harbour, Connecticut.

Being one of the last lighthouses built in New England, the New London Ledge Light is a unique three-story red brick building which stands alone at the eastern end of the Long Island Sound. It was built to be elegant by standing in the water in front of some very large homes on the nearby shoreline. Sitting quietly atop a concrete pier, this lighthouse simply looks the part of being haunted, being strangely mysterious.

The New London Ledge light does have a tragic story and a haunted history. Reportedly, the ghost of a former lightkeeper named Ernie jumped off the roof of the lighthouse after his wife ran off with the Block Island Ferry captain. It's believed that Ernie still haunts the lighthouse, and stories from former U.S. Coast Guardsmen who formerly resided there might be the proof. Many have reported having the sheets ripped off of their bed

doors opening and closing on their own, televisions turning off, the foghorn being turned off and on, as well as boats being untied and left adrift. Some claim to have seen Ernie washing the lighthouse decks. The New London Ledge light was investigated in 2005 by TV's Scariest Places on Earth and in 2006 by Syfy Channel's Ghost Hunters

The light is now automated and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard, but restoration is underway of the building itself, as of this podcast. Also, plans are in the works to create a museum/bed and breakfast that can be opened to the public. The Point Lookout Lighthouse Phil was in the Navy, but we'd know each other since high school.

He'd been the sort of angry kid who never met a fight he wouldn't back down from. Which was why it was so shocking to see those eyes alive with fear after he told me, over a beer, about the time he had to do some maintenance work in the Point Lookout lighthouse. But fear was there, along with a certainty I only questioned once. "You're sure you saw something? Like, something supernatural?" I asked him.

He raised an eyebrow and without speaking reminded me he was a guy who wasn't prone to superstition. He had seen, or more accurately felt, something. But then he had been working in what's been called the country's most haunted lighthouse, which sits by the mass grave of thousands of souls. I shouldn't have been that surprised.

The Point Lookout Lighthouse is situated in Point Lookout State Park, a spit of land that sits at the tip of St. Mary's County, itself a rural peninsula that claws at the crossroads of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Although the county, as locals call St. Mary's, is rapidly becoming an exurb of Washington, D.C., 80 miles to the north, for centuries it has been a rural backwater, draped in oak and pine woods in her interior, fringed by estuarine marsh at her edges. During the American Civil War, Maryland posed a dilemma for the Union. The state surrounded Washington, D.C., but many of her citizens owned slaves and sympathized with the Confederacy.

St. Mary's County, at the state's extreme southern tip, was a particularly troublesome enclave of Confederate support. St. Mary's was also isolated, sparsely populated, and easily defensible, which presented the federal government with an elegant solution. To intimidate local Southern sympathizers and house an increased number of Confederate POWs, a prison-of-war camp was created at Point Lookout in July 1863.

In coming months, thousands of prisoners would flow into the campgrounds. Historical accounts describe squalid conditions, prisoners contracting illness from the swamps, wells becoming contaminated, and protection against the elements – freezing, damp Chesapeake wind in winter, thick, mosquito-laden humidity in summer – was minimal. Lacking barracks, the prisoners slept in flimsy tents.

By late February 1864, many of the guards charged with watching the Confederates were Black Union soldiers. Historical records suggested both prisoners and wardens understood the ramifications of a newly reversed racial power dynamic. I still have a few more of the world's most haunted lighthouses to tell you about when Weird Darkness returns!

♪♪♪

Heads up, folks. Interest rates are falling. But as of September 23rd, 2024, you can still lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. That's a pretty big deal because when rates drop, so can the interest you earn on your cash. A bond account allows you to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds.

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments. But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com.

Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info. Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV hydration and wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections.

Need a weight loss boost? Our peptide treatments help shed pounds and feel great. For the ultimate wellness, try NAD Plus infusions to fight aging, boost brain health, and support addiction recovery. Feel better, live better with Prime IV hydration and wellness at 4910 East Ray Road in Ahwatukee.

I'm Darren Marlar, welcome back to Weird Darkness. We're looking at lighthouses around the world that are haunted, and we were touching on the Point Lookout lighthouse when we left just a moment ago. We'll continue with that lighthouse. By the time the war ended, over 50,000 Confederates had been housed at the Point, and 4,000 of them were left buried in the Maryland marshes – the victims of starvation, typhoid fever, and exposure to the elements.

In time, other disasters added to the tiny area's death toll, most notably an 1878 fire that wiped out a local hotel, and in the same year, the sinking of the steamship Express with the loss of 22 lives. Today, spirits are regularly seen and heard in the land and water now designated Point Lookout State Park.

Typical sightings describe a slender man, although not THE slender man, loping across the road or into salt-kissed groves of loblolly pine. One former ranger recalls a regular apparition of a man running at full stride away from the camp's historic smallpox hospital, a regular escape route for prisoners. Other rangers tell of frequent low-lying damp fogs that suddenly become impenetrable and chilled with eddies of otherworldly energies that set their dogs into a panic.

Recording devices left in the pine bottomlands and by local peers often take up disjointed snippets of conversation at all hours of the night. A woman saying, "Let us take no objection to what they are doing," a man snapping, "Fire if they get too close to you," and a child asking to play in the water. But it is Point Lookout's lighthouse, now owned by the state, that inspires the most consistent paranormal exposure.

Former park ranger Gerald Sword said that his Belgian shepherd would regularly lunge at unseen figures and that once he had seen a young man in soldier's attire walk to the lighthouse, then run away into thin air. Voices and piano music would drift through the lighthouse halls, and fishermen would regularly tell him about hearing phantom cries for help on the water.

My friend Phil told me that after a few minutes alone in the basement of the lighthouse, he had felt his skin prickle with a foreboding that grew so alarmingly fast it left him in a cold sweat. As he left with three coworkers, none of them spoke to each other for a few minutes. When they did, the first comment was, "Did you feel that?" All four of them nodded and said nothing else. The Hasita Head Lighthouse is located in Florence, Oregon, and overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Built in 1894, it took five years to build due to its steep location, standing 205 feet above the water. This haunted lighthouse is known to be haunted by a friendly elderly lady who appears as a smoky gray apparition. Her name is Rue, and this gray lady has a habit of moving objects when work is being done, especially at the keeper's house.

The grave of a baby has been found on the haunted Hasidah Head Lighthouse grounds, and it's believed to possibly be Rue's child. Rue has not only been known to move items but to also set off fire alarms while workers paint, open and close cupboard doors, and she has been heard walking upstairs. A worker who once encountered the Grey Lady refused to return to the attic again.

After he accidentally broke an attic window while doing work on the outside of the house, he elected to repair it from the outside. That night, workers could hear the glass that he left lying on the attic floor, scraping upon the wooden boards. Upon checking the attic the next morning, they found the glass was neatly swept up into a pile for them. Many have seen Rue peering down at them from an attic window, which only substantiates the claims of the Grey Lady still living within the haunted Hesedah Head Lighthouse.

Today, the lighthouse keeper's house is a bed and breakfast. Imagine that Rue is very pleased to have her home now so well kept. The Seguin Island Lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington in 1795, and it is located off the southern coast of Georgetown, Maine. Seguin Island is just two miles off the mouth of the Kennebec River. The haunted lighthouse was rebuilt in 1819, replacing its original wooden tower with stone

and in 1857 it again was reconstructed with cut stone and the addition of a brick lightkeeper's quarters. The rocky and ledged area has long been hazardous to ships, and the stories of maritime mishaps abound, including the sighting of a 135-foot sea serpent in 1875. Among the long list of lighthouse keepers at Seguin Island is the tragic story of a mid-1800s man and wife,

Being isolated and lonely, the wife of the keeper received the gift of a piano, which he had shipped to the home. As she was only able to play but one song over and over, it's believed it eventually drove him mad into rage, in which he took an axe to the piano, then the wife, and himself. Piano music is said to be heard over the waters today, but haunting melodies are not the only ghostly sounds that have been heard at the Haunted Light.

Apparently, a young girl died on the island and is buried not far from the lighthouse grounds. Keepers have reported seeing the ghost of the girl running up and down the stairs, laughing and waving at them. The Tower Foghorn building and Keeper's Quarters seem to have the most haunted activity. And the U.S. Coast Guard who stayed there has had plenty of stories to tell.

Various ghostly sounds, sights as well as furniture being moved, jackets falling off of hooks and missing items have all been reported. Probably the most prolific of haunted Seguin Island lighthouse tales is when the Coast Guard was decommissioning the lighthouse and packing up items in 1985. The warrant officer was awakened that very night after packing, to the apparition of a man dressed in oilskins shaking his bed.

It seems the ghost had a message when he purportedly said, "Don't take the furniture. Please leave my home alone." The next day, the boat that was carrying the furniture to the mainland sunk when an accident happened while lowering the loaded boat into the water. Was this ghost a former light keeper? The list of lighthouse keepers is long here, and due to its rich, long history and tragic stories, it's no wonder the lighthouse is haunted.

The Fairport Harbor Lighthouse is located on the shore of Lake Erie in Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Being built at the mouth of the Grand River, it was originally known as the Grand River Light and was one of many lighthouses used to guide ships in and out of the Great Lakes. Constructed in 1825, the tower and house soon fell into disrepair and had to be rebuilt in 1871.

The Fairport Lighthouse and Keeper's House are still standing today, and it was used until 1925, but then was abandoned for a new lighthouse that had been erected nearby. The haunted Fairport Harbor Lighthouse is 70 feet high, built of sandstone, and no longer operational. The Keeper's House is now home to the Fairport Marine Museum and was the first U.S. lighthouse grounds to be restored into a museum in 1945.

The museum houses many nautical and historical exhibits important to the local region. There are two prominent lighthouse keepers in the history of the Fairport Harbour Lighthouse. The first keeper of the lighthouse must be noted, Samuel Butler, as he was also an active abolitionist and made the haunted Fairport Harbour Lighthouse a northern terminal of the Underground Railroad, effectively guiding runaway slaves to the safety of Canada. This history of the site alone makes it a possible site to be haunted

But the second lighthouse keeper seems a fixture and remained very attached to the lighthouse of Fairport Harbor, which he loved. Captain Joseph Babcock was the first keeper of the reconstructed lighthouse and keeper's dwelling, who also raised a family on the grounds. In fact, two of his children were born in the home, with one of them dying young at age five from smallpox. The tragedy of losing Robbie at so young an age certainly weighed heavy on the family,

But Mrs. Babcock also had fallen ill and remained bedridden inside the house. For entertainment, she reportedly kept many cats. Many years later, some claim to have seen a ghost cat whisking about upstairs, describing it as a gray puff of smoke. Interestingly, a mummified cat was found by a worker years later, and it's now displayed in a glass cabinet at the Fairport Harbor Museum to this day.

The AngelsGhosts.com team were fortunate enough to be able to investigate the haunted Fairport Harbor lighthouse and see what they could uncover. Working with different members of the ghost-hunting group SITE, they were able to make some ghost box recordings in the tower and lighthouse keeper's house. Is the Fairport Harbor lighthouse haunted? If they were to compare reports from guests and volunteers with the recordings of ghostly messages that they received, they believe it is indeed haunted and a jewel of a lighthouse worth visiting.

The haunted lighthouse on the White Lake Channel of Lake Michigan is known as the White River Light Station. Built in 1875, the first lightkeeper, Captain William Robinson, took his post in 1876 and raised 11 children with the help of his wife Sarah at the White River Light Station. In fact, they loved the lighthouse and duty so much that they stayed there for 47 years, and upon retirement they saw their son become their successor.

Yet the captain refused to leave the lighthouse, and he worked at the White River Light Station into his 80s. At age 87, he eventually died the very night before he was supposed to leave the premises for good. Today, the haunted lighthouse is believed to be watched over still by the captain and his wife Sarah. His ever-distinctive cane and gate can sometimes be heard walking around the light station, while Sarah makes her presence known by tidying things up from time to time.

The haunted White River Light Station was officially decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1960, but it is still open today as a museum. The Big Bay Point Light sits overlooking Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, being built in 1896. The Big Bay Point Light is made of red brick with a square lighthouse tower that's attached to the keeper's house.

It was fully automated in 1941, later decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard from 1961 to 1990, and is now operating again as an active aid to navigation. After it was shut down in 1961, the property was purchased by Dr. Pick via a sealed bid, who lovingly restored it over the next 17 years. Eventually, he sold the property to the partners who still own it today.

when it became a bed and breakfast. Apparently, the resident ghost felt it necessary to help innkeeper Linda Gamble with things. But after she was woken up in the middle of the night by slamming cupboard doors in her kitchen, she angrily told the ghost to stop. Reportedly, today the ghostly activity has settled, and she believes there to be five resident ghosts, though we're not sure just who all of them are.

There was a soldier stationed there in 1952 who committed murder at the nearby Lumberjack Tavern, an incident that was the inspiration for the book and movie Anatomy of a Murder. But he only murdered someone there, he didn't die there himself. So why would he have stayed to haunt the Big Bay Point Light? There is another story that might answer at least who one of the ghosts at the haunting Big Bay Point Light might be.

Linda believes the ghost banging the cupboard doors was the first lighthouse keeper, William Pryor. Mr. Pryor began his light-keeping duties in 1896 and stayed only five short years. He was looking for an assistant and found the perfect helper in 1899, his son George. Unfortunately, in 1901, George had an accident and was injured by falling down some steps and eventually died in a hospital.

A month later, William Pryor walked away from his lighthouse duties and into the nearby woods with his gun and some strychnine, being presumably grief-stricken for his son. His body was eventually found by a hunter 17 months later in 1902, a skeleton hanging from a tree in the woods not too far away from the haunted Big Bay Point Light. His tragic suicide and grief could be why his ghost still remains at the lighthouse to this day.

and his bright red hair is seen in the mirrors of the property. Plymouth Lighthouse was originally built in 1769 at the mouth of Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. The original structure had two towers, lit with oil lamps, being built on the property of its eventual lighthouse keepers, John and Hannah Thomas. Hannah became a very capable lighthouse keeper herself as John went off to the Revolutionary War and was killed in battle.

In fact, she became the first woman lighthouse keeper in all of America. Some believe Hannah still resides at the location even today, even though the original Plymouth Lighthouse was lost to fire and rebuilt in 1803 with a new building and even taller twin towers. 1843 saw both towers reconstructed, and by 1924 the northeast tower was removed as it was no longer needed.

The haunted Plymouth Lighthouse South Tower has continued to operate since that time, but today it is automated. However, in 1998, the lighthouse had to be moved again due to fear of losing the structure because of erosion. A professional lighthouse photographer and his wife decided to spend the night at the supposedly haunted location, choosing to sleep in a house adjacent to the lighthouse.

He awakened in the middle of the night to find the upper half of a woman floating above his sleeping wife and staring at her. The apparition was in a period dress and had long, dark, flowing hair. Could this woman have been the original owner and keeper, Hannah Thomas? Many people believe so. The Battery Point Lighthouse was formerly known as the Crescent City Light Station, and it is a unique lighthouse because it's situated on Battery Point Island.

It only sits on an island during high tide, though. Otherwise, it can be accessed from the mainland at Crescent City, California, as a peninsula. Being built in 1856, this Northern California lighthouse decorates the Pacific Ocean as a two-story white granite stone house with a white brick lighthouse tower atop.

Today, it can be visited as it is a museum and also remains operational as an aiding light for navigation, though it was decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard in 1965. Being fully automated, the haunted Battery Point Lighthouse has had its share of stories. A year before it was to be deactivated, the lighthouse keepers witnessed an unfortunate tragedy. A tsunami occurred in 1964, creating huge tidal waves that destroyed seven city blocks of Crescent City.

The keepers were eyewitnesses to the destruction, being threatened themselves by the largest of waves from the ocean. The lighthouse is haunted at Battery Point, but no one seems to know exactly by whom or why. There is believed to be at least one resident ghost which is playful. A paranormal research group that investigated the Battery Point lighthouse believes it's haunted not by one playful ghost but by three – a child and two adult specters.

Some of the haunting activity being reported occurs when visitors are given a tour. Some guests have experienced being touched on their shoulders and sensing a presence. Caretakers report having their slippers moved at night while they're asleep, a rocking chair moving back and forth on its own, and sea boots trudging up the haunted lighthouse stairway as if still on duty, especially during times of storms.

Even cats at this lighthouse have acted strangely during times of ghostly activity. There's still more weird darkness to come with more of the world's most haunted lighthouses, up next!

♪♪♪

Heads up, folks. Interest rates are falling. But as of September 23rd, 2024, you can still lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account at public.com. That's a pretty big deal because when rates drop, so can the interest you earn on your cash. A bond account allows you to lock in a 6% or higher yield with a diversified portfolio of high-yield and investment-grade corporate bonds.

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments. But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com.

Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info. Stay ahead this fall and winter with Prime IV hydration and wellness. Our immunity armor drip helps you prevent and shorten colds, flu, and viral infections.

Need a weight loss boost? Our peptide treatments help shed pounds and feel great. For the ultimate wellness, try NAD Plus infusions to fight aging, boost brain health, and support addiction recovery. Feel better, live better with Prime IV hydration and wellness at 4910 East Ray Road in Ahwatukee.

In 1810, at Cooper's Point on St. Simons Island, Georgia, James Gould finished the construction of the first 85-foot St. Simons Island lighthouse that began in 1804. In May of 1810, President Madison appointed James Gould as the first keeper of the lighthouse until he retired in 1837. During the Civil War, federal soldiers invaded Georgia, forcing the Confederates to evacuate St. Simons Island,

Before they left in 1862, the Confederates destroyed the lighthouse on St. Simons Island so that the Union could not use it as a navigational aid. In 1874, the U.S. government had Charles Kluski build a second St. Simons Island lighthouse that was to be built on top of the ruins of the destroyed one. The new one is 104 feet tall and has 129 spiraling stairs.

In 1880, head keeper Frederick Osborne and assistant John Stevens got into a serious argument about Osborne's wife that ended in Osborne's death by gunshot. Stevens was never charged and became head keeper of the lighthouse. Years later, Stevens and many other people would hear haunting footsteps going up and down the staircase in the tower, possibly the footsteps of Frederick Osborne. Port Boca Grande Lighthouse is located on Gasparilla Island, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico.

Built in 1890, beach erosion eventually threatened the lighthouse, but it was saved by the building of a 265-foot granite jetty to form a basin. The Port Boca Grande Lighthouse marks the entryway into Charlotte Harbor. Still a working lighthouse today, it is part of the Gasparilla Island State Park and houses a museum as well.

In 1986, the lighthouse was fully restored as a working lighthouse. After being decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1966 due to disrepair and the structure becoming unsound, lighthouse keepers and their families stayed in the keeper's house from 1890 until 1951. The light was automated in 1956, but what makes the landmark haunted?

The Port Boca Grande lighthouse also served as the keeper's house. One of the lighthouse keeper's daughters passed away in the home due to sickness. It was either diphtheria or whooping cough that claimed her life. Legend has it that at midnight she can still be heard playing upstairs in one of the rooms, according to a former park ranger tour guide. The story of the young girl is not the only lore surrounding the Port Boca Grande lighthouse being haunted, though. There is another legend of sorts about this site.

Some have claimed to see the headless apparition of a lady, believed to be a former Spanish princess by the name of Josefía. The pirate who gave the island its name, José Gaspar, was said to be madly in love with Josefía, whom he had kidnapped and brought to the island where he had buried his treasure. After professing his devotion to her, she is said to have rejected him. In a fit of rage, Gaspar took her head off with his blade and then buried her body on the beach, where the lighthouse would later be built.

Her head, however, is believed to have left Gasparilla Island with the pirate. Does she still search the beach for her head? Some claim so, and it does make for a great story. Thanks for listening! If you like the show, please tell somebody about it who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. And tell them where they can listen to the show so they can tune in next weekend

If you missed any part of tonight's show, or if you'd like to hear it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app by searching for Weird Darkness. By doing that, you'll get a copy of tonight's show, plus daily podcast episodes that come out seven days per week. Visit WeirdDarkness.com and you can follow me on social media, drop me an email, send me your own true paranormal story, listen to other podcasts that I host, and more!

All stories used tonight are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes, which I have already posted to 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. Psalm 16:8, "I keep my eyes always on the Lord; with Him at my right hand I will not be shaken." And a final thought:

Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others. Roy T. Bennett. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

So while other people are watching their returns shrink, you can sit back with regular interest payments.

But you might want to act fast because your yield is not locked in until you invest. The good news, it only takes a couple of minutes to sign up at public.com. Lock in a 6% or higher yield with a bond account only at public.com. Brought to you by Public Investing, member FINRA and SIPC. Yield to worst is not guaranteed. Not an investment recommendation. All investing involves risk. Visit public.com slash disclosures for more info.

Experience holiday cheer at Tanger Outlets with savings up to 70% off your favorite brands. From fragrances to accessories and the latest styles.

Discover the best gifts for everyone on your list. Save big at Nike Factory Store, Michael Kors, Under Armour, Coach, Paula Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade New York, and so many more. Unwrap the best at Tanger Outlets. Hundreds of brands, endless gifting options. Plan your trip at Tanger.com. ♪ Sudden overtime, sudden overtime ♪ ♪ I hear darkness ♪

In the show notes, I've placed a link to the book Paranormal Parasites by Nick Redfern. The book focuses on a disturbing claim that certain supernatural entities use us as a form of food. Dan of Barstow, California, had a very disturbing encounter with two shadow people in early 2011, the shadow people being silhouetted figures that terrify and taunt people in the dead of night.

A no-nonsense, tough biker, Dan is hardly the kind of person who is easily intimidated or scares. But the shadow things that intruded on his sleep as he slept in a tent on the slopes of Mount Rainier, Washington State in the summer of 2011 had Dan in a state of near hysteria. An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Dan spent four days hiking around the huge 14,000-foot-plus high mountain. He would live to regret doing that.

It was around 3:00 a.m. when Dan woke with a start and with an unsettling and intense feeling of being watched very closely. He lay still, holding his breath and clenching his fists. Something was definitely afoot. Of that much he was sure. That's an understatement. In seconds, Dan was rushed by two spindly, shadowy monsters that were humanoid in appearance.

Dan suddenly found himself unable to move as the two figures hovered over him, and he felt incredibly weak, short of breath, and dizzy. A cold sweat enveloped him. All the time, the shadow people had their index fingers on his stomach. Dan came to believe that the shadow people were quite literally draining him of his energy. Imagine waking up in the early hours of the morning and being confronted by one of the most terrifying-looking creatures that you could possibly ever imagine.

A pale-skinned, humanoid monster with withered arms and legs, a huge stomach, an oversized neck and a mouth smaller than a dime. It stares at you in malevolent style as it leans in close. You suddenly develop a terrible feeling that the monster is seeking out your life force, your vital energies, and your very essence. A sudden weakness and helplessness overwhelms you as you seek to fight off the terrible thing that has suddenly invaded your space.

In seconds, it is gone, though, sated and satisfied by the fact that it had just fed on you. Whether you realize it or not, what you've just encountered is an ancient supernatural entity known as a hungry ghost. In some cases, a hungry ghost will resort to one of the most sinister ways of feeding. It'll target a person with a particular, vulnerable character. Weakness, insecurity, or a lack of self-esteem are all angles that the hungry ghosts will seek out and exploit.

they will then possess the victim. The reasoning behind this is, for the hungry ghost, quite understandable. If the starving spirit is itself unable to eat, it will invade and take control of both the mind and the body of the person in its sights. In that sense, we're talking about something very similar to full-blown demonic possession, in which the mind of the victim is paranormally elbowed out of the picture and becomes the tool of the supernatural monster.

The monster will quickly feed, greedily so, on just about anything and everything it can get its claws into, within the body of its human host. Then, when the creature exits the soul and mind of the person it briefly inhabited, it takes with it the energy derived from the food that was ingested by the previously possessed host. The hungry ghost is, then, one of the most manipulative of all the many and varied paranormal parasites that haunt our world.

The term "vampire" was not used in the English language until the 1700s, when it appeared in the pages of "Travels of Three English Gentlemen" in 1746. Nevertheless, tales of marauding, deadly blood-drainers in human form can be traced back to the dawning of history and civilization. Lilith, quite possibly the most dangerous bedroom invader of all, was said to not just have sex with men as a means to "steal" their sperm, but also to take their blood.

The people of ancient India believed in the dreaded Vittala. Although they were spirit-based in nature, they also had the ability to drain the living of blood. They were also known for bleeding dry, fresh corpses. They would lurk in the shadows of old cemeteries and graveyards, patiently waiting for darkness to blanket the landscape, at which point they would dig deep and fast into the ground, seeking out that most precious commodity of all: blood.

In his best-selling 1987 book "Communion: A Study of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon," Whitley Stryber made it very clear that his own encounters with "the visitors" as he termed the creatures he encountered revealed a startling connection between alien abductions and the human soul, even a paradigm-shifting connection. In his book, Stryber talked about how abductees experienced their souls being "dragged" from their bodies during abductions.

Stryber himself was told by his abductors that they "recycled" human souls. That sounds like a more sinister telling of reincarnation. But was Stryber being told the entire truth by his captors? Or was this an attempt on their part to push things down a different, more appealing path? Certainly, Stryber admitted something notable that suggests he recognized that not everything was good and positive.

Stryber said that the more and more he dug into the matter of his encounters, and as he tried to get a handle on what was afoot, he was unable to banish from his mind the theories of Charles Fort. For those who may not know, he was an acclaimed writer on all manner of paranormal phenomena. His books include "Low" and "Wild Talents."

Ford had darkly suggested that in Stryber's own words in his 1988 book, Transformation, we the human race are animals here for the slaughter and incapable of seeing the greater and more tangible meanings that surround us. We'll look more into the soul-stealing aspect of UFOs in just a moment. As for more on Charles Ford's opinions, they can be read in his classic title of 1919, The Book of the Damned.

"I think we're property. I should say we belong to something. That once upon a time this earth was no man's land, that other worlds explored and colonized here and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it's owned by something. That something owns this earth all others warned off." Joseph McCabe, a Franciscan monk who passed away in 1955, knew a great deal about all of this.

He spent years poring over ancient texts and doing his utmost to understand the nature of the creatures that so terrified those who lived in Mesopotamia, and particularly so the Sumerians. McCabe had a particular interest in a pair of highly dangerous demons called Lilu and Lilitu who dwelled in the region. He was clearly aware of how illness was a side effect of the supernatural encounter. He said in "The Story of Religious Controversy": "Did a maid show the symptoms of anemia?

Obviously, Lilu and Lilitu had been busy at night with her body. McCabe went on to list literally dozens of cases he had on file of people who had nighttime encounters with supernatural entities, and who shortly thereafter began to exhibit signs of anemia, sometimes acute anemia, but in incredibly quick time. This all strongly suggests that certain paranormal things were depleting the people McCabe referred to in significantly dangerous fashion.

A perfect example of someone falling ill very quickly after a paranormal event is that of Albert Bender, the guy who pretty much kicked off the whole Men in Black mystery in the early 1950s. After getting too close to the truth behind the UFO phenomenon, Bender was visited by three strange and menacing MIB. They were not of the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones type, though. Rather, they were far more like today's so-called "shadow people."

They were phantom-like things with shining eyes and bad attitudes that walked through the walls of Bender's attic-based abode in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bender was terrified by the warnings of the MIB who told him to quit ufology or else. As it turned out, it took several threats and creepy encounters before Bender finally heeded the words of the terrible trio.

When all of this was going down, Bender went down too, with head-splitting migraines, severe stomach pains, faintness and issues with his short-term memory, and he lost significant weight, suggesting that he too was being fed on. Was all of this due to the fear and stress that had been instilled in Bender? Or had he somehow been supernaturally attacked? Who knows? But things didn't end there. Bender, quite out of the blue, developed a fear that he had cancer,

Fortunately, he didn't have cancer at all. After quitting ufology and getting married, the symptoms went away, and Bender lived to the ripe old age of 94, passing away in 2016. As so often happens when you write a book, people contact the author to share their experiences. One of those people who contacted Nick Redfern was Jim Harper, who said that he had an encounter with a pair of what have become known as "black-eyed children" in March 2008 in Florida.

At the time, Jim and his wife were living in a rented duplex in a small town outside of Orlando. Jim's encounter was a typical BEC one. There was a knock on the door late at night, and Jim, having peered through the spy hole on the front door, saw two kids in black hoodies, both staring at the ground. He tentatively opened the door and was confronted by a pair of pale-faced, black-eyed monsters who were now staring right at him. Jim slammed the door and never saw them again.

Two days later, though, he experienced a severe case of dizziness, followed by a couple of pretty bad nosebleeds. Then, three weeks later, after feeling repeatedly sick, nauseous, and shaky, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Jim's blood sugar levels were extremely low. Having read up on the BEC phenomenon, Jim wonders if his diabetes was somehow provoked by BEC, so adversely affecting him at the time of his encounter.

Then there's the account of Michelle, a resident of Nova Scotia, Canada. In January 2017, and just two days after having a graphic dream about Slender Man, Michelle was hospitalized with severe ulcerative colitis, which she had never had before and that led her to drop five pounds in just a few days. She finally made a good recovery, but was shaken by the timing of the onset of the condition, which she believed and still believes was connected to the skinny monster of her nightmare.

As all of this demonstrates, dangerous, paranormal parasites can be found just about here, there, and everywhere. So beware. Sudden death over time. Weird darkness.

♪♪♪

Experience holiday cheer at Tanger Outlets with savings up to 70% off your favorite brands. From fragrances to accessories and the latest styles.

Discover the best gifts for everyone on your list. Save big at Nike Factory Store, Michael Kors, Under Armour, Coach, Paula Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade New York, and so many more. Unwrap the best at Tanger Outlets. Hundreds of brands, endless gifting options. Plan your trip at Tanger.com.