Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

Legend says a mermaid driven out of a village cursed the shores of Nevada's Pyramid Lake, where locals say someone vanishes at least once a year during fishing season; on Italy's Poveglia Island, everyone who has bought land to build a home has packed up and left.

READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3a88b2an

FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: From haunted houses and cursed lakes to mysterious roads where ghostly figures appear out of thin air, our planet is home to some truly chilling locations. (Lurid Locations, Spooky Spots, and Paranormal Places) *** How could a person seemingly burst into flames without any external ignition source? We’ll look at the chilling story of Mary Reeser and others like her, that continue to baffle and intrigue both scientists and the public, leaving us to ponder the true nature of what has been termed “spontaneous human combustion.” (The Bizarre Phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion) *** The remains of nearly a dozen sex workers were carelessly discarded in the New Mexico desert between the years of 2001 and 2005. And today it is still not known who is responsible. (Unsolved: The West Mesa Bone Collector) *** Have you seen the mischievous spirits of Tinker Swiss Cottage or met Galena’s Lady in Black? Perhaps you’ve had a run-in at DeKalb’s Egyptian Theatre? These are all areas within a short distance of each other, northwest of Chicago, that can give the Windy City spooks a run for their money. (Rock River’s Residual Revenants)

CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = Dedication To Paul Spangler
00:00:46.440 = The Foreboding
00:02:24.858 = Show Open
00:04:22.537 = Lurid Locations, Spooky Spots, and Paranormal Places ***
00:30:44.528 = The West Mesa Bone Collector ***
00:37:11.308 = Spontaneous Human Combustion
00:48:01.545 = Rock River’s Residual Revenants ***
01:07:44.813 = Show Close
*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break

SOURCES and RESOURCES:
***If you have an information regarding the West Mesa murders, Albuquerque CrimeStoppers is still offering a $100,000 reward. Call (505)768-2450 or Crime Stopper at (505)843-STOP.***
“The West Mesa Bone Collector” by Kelsey Christine McConnell for The-Line-Up.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckux8v6
“Lurid Locations, Spooky Spots, and Paranormal Places” by Marcus Lowth for UFOInsight.com,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mty2p4eb
“The Bizarre Phenomenon of Spontaneous Human Combustion” by Rachel Elizabeth for The-Line-Up.com:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3a4vdzue
“Rock River’s Residual Revenants” by Jim Taylor for the Northwest Quarterly: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mr6k3hwm

(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.

*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*

EPISODE SYNOPSIS:
This episode of Weird Darkness runs from a cursed lake in Nevada to an unsolved string of murders in the New Mexico desert, a woman reduced to ash in a Florida apartment, and three haunted landmarks in Illinois.
It opens at Nevada's Pyramid Lake, where legend says a mermaid banished from a village cursed the shoreline, then moves on to the albino creatures said to stalk Hicks Road in San Jose, the burned asylum ruins and hooded cult of Turnbull Canyon, the curse on Los Angeles's Griffith Park, the blue Firewater Ghost of Mississippi's Deer Island, Russia's Molyobka Triangle, and Italy's Poveglia Island.
From there, the episode turns to the West Mesa of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a woman walking her dog in February 2009 found the first bones of 11 women and girls buried there between 2001 and 2005. The killer known as the West Mesa Bone Collector has never been identified, and Albuquerque Crime Stoppers still offers a $100,000 reward.
Next comes spontaneous human combustion and the case of Mary Reeser, found on July 2nd, 1951, as a smoldering pile of ash with part of one leg and a black slipper in her St. Petersburg, Florida, apartment. Her death is set beside those of Matilda Rooney in Seneca, Illinois, Margaret Hogan in Dublin, and Michael Faherty in Galway, the first death in Ireland a coroner ruled spontaneous human combustion, and weighed against the forensic explanation called the wick effect.
The episode closes in the Rock River Valley northwest of Chicago, where staff say former mayor Robert Hall Tinker still moves the silverware around at Rockford's Tinker Swiss Cottage and tour guides place the Lady in Black in the basement of Galena's DeSoto House Hotel. At DeKalb's Egyptian Theatre, staff report shadow figures in Aisle One, where Irv Kummerfeldt, a co-founder of the group behind the theater's restoration, died of a heart attack while cleaning up after a show.

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

In the Algonquian stories of the Great Lakes winter woods, a man who eats human flesh to survive comes back as the Wendigo, a giant of skin and bone that grows hungrier with every meal. Darren holds the legend up against Paul, Solomon, and Isaiah, and finds the same appetite in the man who works himself away from his kids, the gossip who feeds on a congregation, and the kid who starts small and ends up stealing from his mother's purse.

From the book “CHURCH OF THE UNDEAD – BOOK ONE: Wendigo, Zombies, Werewolves, And Other Subjects You’d Never Hear From Your Pastor’s Pulpit” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/COTU01

Originally aired: November 09, 2026
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HJ475SM8

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

In the year 2200, the man who tried to conquer the solar system is dropped onto the frozen surface of Pluto and left there to die, and as he stands alone on the ice cursing Earth, he starts hearing voices inside his helmet asking him who he is.

SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Escape From Pluto” By William Oberfield (Planet Stories Fall 1947)

WeirdDarkness® | Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness | Midnight In The Macabre™

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

Michigan's Old Presque Isle Lighthouse had been out of service for more than a century when the Coast Guard pulled out its wiring in 1979 to stop an amber light that kept glowing in the empty tower, and Coast Guard crews and National Guard pilots later reported seeing it lit again. It's one of sixteen lighthouses, from Maine to Oregon, where keepers, captains, and their families are said to have never left.
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HOUR ONE: 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.
SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: People have said they feel drained after seeing Black-Eyed Kids, or exhausted when speaking with whom they later discovered was a self-proclaimed vampire. Is it possible that otherworldly, ghostly entities, interdimensional creatures, and even occultist human beings are, in some way, literally feeding on us? (When The Supernatural Feeds On Us)
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HOUR TWO: 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. (When The Monster in the Closet is Real) *** 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 humans’ souls? (Soul-Stealing Extraterrestrials) *** 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. (The Prison Haunted by Witches)
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SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT’S SHOW:
“St. Augustine’s Haunted Lighthouse” by Jessica Ferri: http://bit.ly/2ZF0e6N
“The Confederate Dead of Point Lookout Lighthouse” by Adam Karlin: http://bit.ly/2zpkmeb
“Haunted Lighthouses” posted at AngelsGhosts.com: http://bit.ly/2ZsBJFD
Video and photos by Brad Marc mentioned in “The Prison Haunted By Witches”: https://tinyurl.com/y42x4mju
“Paranormal Parasites” by Nick Redfern: https://amzn.to/3AWtVV9
“UFOs and the Christian” by Paul (Eric) Inglesby: https://amzn.to/3cQwKpi
“Communion” by Whitley Shrieber: https://amzn.to/47o58p0
“Transformation” (part of the “Communion” series) by Whitley Shrieber: https://amzn.to/2W0iH9O
“Book of the Damned” by Charles Fort: https://amzn.to/2KEnxEp
“The Prison Haunted by Witches” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/y7vrvv8m
“When The Monster in the Closet is Real” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/y9wsj78m
“When The Supernatural Feeds On Us” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/y7237jrs
“Soul-Stealing Extraterrestrials” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/ydera3z8
==========(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for material I use whenever possible. If I have overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it immediately. Some links may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46
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WeirdDarkness®, WeirdDarkness© 2026
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More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

In September 1967, Harry King found his sister's Appaloosa, Lady, on her side near Alamosa, Colorado, with the flesh stripped from her head and neck, no blood on the ground, and her tracks ending about a hundred feet from her body. By the end of the 1970s, researchers estimated cattle mutilations had passed ten thousand, and the principal federally funded investigation, run by a retired FBI agent, blamed the vast majority on predators and scavengers.

From the book “CONNECTIVE TISSUE: How Cattle Mutilations Link Bigfoot, Alien Abductions, Mind Control, And The Men In Black” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/ConnectiveTissue

WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.