ITALY'S MOST BIZARRE SERIAL KILLER: The Soap Maker of Corregio #WDRadio WEEK OF SEP 07, 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
This episode is dedicated to the men and women of
our armed forces and first responders. Whether you are currently
serving or have served in the past, you are appreciated.
It is because of your courage and sacrifice that we
enjoy the freedoms and liberties we hold dear, and I,
for one appreciate every single one of you for protecting

(00:30):
what many of us take for granted. So thank you.
Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio,
where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,

(00:54):
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.
Coming up this hour. It was a terrible sight. I
have seen horrible sights, but never anything like this. Those
were the words of the local undertaker after seeing the

(01:15):
results of a triple murder laying before him in nineteen
thirty two. Pennsylvania, Ireland's Loftus Hall is considered by many
to be the most haunted location on all the Emerald Isle,
But the most infamous story of Loftis Hall begins not
with terror, but with romance, with a beautiful young girl

(01:37):
falling madly in love with the devil, but first up.
A gypsy once told Leonarda that all of her children
would die before her. A different fortune teller told her
that she faced either a future in prison or in
a criminal asylum. And the reason she gave for becoming

(01:57):
a serial killer is something here out of a bad
direct video horror film. And that's a tiny sample of
this woman's insanely dark life, which began even before her birth.
We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome
to the show. If you're already a member of this

(02:18):
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 Weird Darkness
dot com and click on contact Social so you can
follow Weird Darkness on social media and also on the website,
you can find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, which comes

(02:39):
out seven days per week. You can utter monthly contests,
find Weird Darkness merchandise, and more. You can even send
in your own true story of something paranormal that has
happened to you or someone you know. You can find
it all at Weird Darkness dot com. Now bult your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with

(03:03):
me into the Weird Darkness. Rome's Museo Criminologico Criminological Museum
may not be to everybody's taste, but it's definitely worth seeing.

(03:27):
The museum's collection features photographs and memorabilia from some of
the most gruesome forensic cases in the long history of Italy,
and this story is about to get gruesome. From Renaissance
murders to the mafia, this museum has it all. It
was there that I first learned about Leonarda Cianchuli, also

(03:50):
known as the soap Maker of Correggio, and her bizarre
criminal career. While almost unknown outside of Italy, Leonarda's career
as a serial killer is still unparalleled in many ways,
both for her unique method of concealing bodies and her
rather odd motive for killing. Born in eighteen ninety four,

(04:15):
she was raised in one of the most poverty stricken
regions of Italy. Her mother, Amelia Danulfi, had become pregnant
due to rape and was later forced to marry her
rapist Mariotto si and Schuli. When she realized she was pregnant.
By most accounts, Amelia's daughter, Leonarda's early childhood was a

(04:37):
grim one. Her father died when Leonarda was young, but
her mother's later remarriage did little to ease the situation
at home. Due to emotional abuse by her mother, she
would make two suicide attempts. Leonarda compounded her woes by
marrying a man of whom her parents disapproved. They had

(04:57):
a more prosperous suitor in mind. She would later claim
that her mother had placed a curse on her as
a result of her nineteen fourteen marriage of Raphael Pensarti
and the tragedy she later endured. Seems to bear that out,
along with being imprisoned for fraud and later seeing her
house destroyed by an earthquake. She also lost three of

(05:21):
her children in childbirth and another ten as children. Of
her seventeen pregnancies, only four survived to adulthood, and she
was especially protective of all of them as a result.
Despite these troubles, she and her husband eventually settled in
the town of Correggio near Naples, and Leonarda apparently settled

(05:45):
into a normal life as a shopkeeper and part time
fortune teller. A long time believer in the supernatural, she
had once consulted a gipsy fortune teller, who, among other things,
predicted that all of her children would die before her.
A different fortune teller told her that she faced either

(06:05):
a future in prison or in a criminal asylum, though
Leonarda seemed not to take that warning seriously. Her neighbors
would later describe her as a gentle soul with a
fondness for poetry. Nobody suspected what would be coming next
for Leonarda. Everything changed in nineteen thirty nine, when Benito

(06:27):
Mussolini began drafting young men to prepare for Italy's entry
into World War II. Alduce's popularity had slipped during the
nineteen thirties, and the prospect of Italy entering the war
on the side of Nazi Germany alarmed most Italians. Leonarda
became mentally unbalanced at the thought of her favorite son

(06:47):
Useppe being drafted and possibly dying in combat. The prospect
of losing Useppe apparently led to her decision to carry
out human sacrifices to preserve her son from death. As
she would later state during her testimony, killing others would
keep her own children safe by providing God with other

(07:09):
deaths in place of her own children. Since she had
four remaining children, she would need to sacrifice for others
to keep them safe. Her first victim was a fifty
year old spinster named Faustina Setti. Recruiting Leonarda as a
fortune teller and matchmaker, Faustina paid her thirty thousand liar

(07:32):
to find a suitable husband, telling her that she knew
of a good marriage prospect in a nearby village. Leonarda
persuaded Faustina to write letters and postcards to relatives that
she would later post from out of town to reassure
them she was fine. She also instructed Faustina not to
tell anyone about her marriage plans. On the day Faustina

(07:55):
was to leave Caregio, she visited Leonarda's home for one
last time. There, Leonardo gave her drugged wine and then
chopped her body into nine pieces with a hatchet, according
to the official statement she gave to police. Afterward, I
threw the pieces into a pot, added seven kilos of

(08:16):
caustic soda, which I had bought to make soap, and
stirred the whole mixture until the pieces dissolved in a thick,
dark mush that I poured into several buckets and emptied
in a nearby septic tank. As for the blood in
the basin, I waited until it had coagulated, dried it
in the oven, ground it and mixed it with flour, sugar, chocolate, milk,

(08:39):
and eggs, as well as a bit of margarine. Kneading
all the ingredients together, I made lots of crunchy tea
cakes and served them to the ladies who came to visit,
though Useppe and I also ate them. After pocketing the
money Faustina had brought with her, Leonardo select did fellow

(09:00):
villager Francesca Suavi for her next victim. We'll have that
portion of the story when Weird Darkness returns. I'm Darren Marler.

(09:36):
Welcome back to Weird Darkness. If you are someone you
know struggles with depression or dark thoughts, I'd like to
recommend the Hope in the Darkness page at Weird Darkness
dot Com. There, I have gathered numerous free resources to
help you fight depression, including the Seven Cups app, the
suicide and crisis hotline ifred dot org, and many more,
and the resources are absolutely free. They're there when you

(09:58):
need them on the Hope in the d Darkness page
at weird Darkness dot com. A couple of minutes ago,
we talked about how Leonarda killed Faustina and ended up
making cakes with the body and then served them to
ladies who came to visit, though Guseppe and she also
ate them. But she was not done with her murder spree.

(10:21):
After pocketing the money Faustina had brought with her, Leonarda
selected fellow villager Francesca Salve as her next victim. After
telling Francesca that she found her a job at a
school in Piacenza, Leonardo persuaded her to keep the job
off her secret. She also persuaded Francesca to write a
series of letters and postcards that would be mailed at

(10:43):
a later date, copying the murder of Faustina Setti almost exactly.
Leonardo drugged Francesca and dismembered the corpse with an axe
on September fifth, nineteen forty. She also pocketed her life savings,
only three thousand life. This time, once again no suspicion

(11:03):
attached to her, so Leonarda was free to find another victim.
It was this last victim who would prove to be
her undoing. Virginia Cassiopo was a former soprano who had
sung opera professionally at La Scala in Milan. She was
also wealthier than Leonarda's other victims, with more than fifty

(11:24):
thousand lire in cash and jewelry. After Leonarda lured Virginia
to her house with the promise of finding her a
job with a mysterious impresario, she was killed like the
other victims. In a last ghoulish touch, Leonarda added cologne
to the soap she made from Virginia's remains to make

(11:44):
it more appealing to friends and neighbors. Virginia Cassiopa's sister
in law became suspicious and began investigating her disappearance. When
she learned that Virginia had last been seen entering Leonarda's shop,
she went to the police superintendent. Following an investigation, Leonarda
Ci and Juli was arrested for murder. She was unusually

(12:08):
open with the police and described her crimes and how
she disposed of the bodies in ghoulish detail. Since World
War II was still under way, putting her on trial
for the murders was hardly a priority, though it was
not until nineteen forty six and Italy's defeat that the
trial of the Correggio soap maker finally began, and it

(12:31):
was quite a trial. Though her son, Yuseppe, had been
arrested as a possible accomplice, he was later freed. Leonarda's
detailed confession of the murders, complete with descriptions of what
she did with the bodies afterward, generated international publicity. During
her testimony, she was quick to correct the prosecutor on

(12:52):
any details which she regarded she considered inaccurate. At one point,
she proudly pointed out that she she quote gave the
copper ladle which I used to skim the fat off
the kettles, to my country, which was so badly in
need of metal during the last days of the war.
She also described her reason for the murders, including her

(13:14):
desire to help her son with human sacrifice, whether she
truly believed what she had said in court, or was
hoping to avoid prison through an insanity plea. The graphic
details of her crimes attracted a fair amount of public
attention in a country still recovering from war. Found guilty
by the court, Leonardosi and Schuley was sentenced to thirty

(13:38):
years in prison and three years in a criminal asylum.
While in prison, she wrote her memoirs, which translated Read's
Confessions of a Bitter Soul. Unrepentant to the last. Leonarda
died of a stroke on October fifteenth, nineteen seventy. As
she would later insist, I did not kill for greed,

(14:01):
which I'm sure we can all agree, flies into the
face of common sense after killing three people and stealing
their life's savings. The quiet borough of Lichens in Upper

(14:31):
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania was thrust into the spotlight in nineteen
thirty two when Barney Godleski, an out of work minor,
slaughtered three of his four children in a drunken rage
in the basement of his home on the six hundred
block of East Main Street. On the morning of July fourteenth,
nineteen thirty two, ten year old Helen god Lesky awoke

(14:54):
with visions of a nightmare inside her head. The night before,
she had thought that she had heard the screams of
her sister Lilian, who slept in the same bed and
her father's reassuring voice. Lilian bumped her head and hurt herself,
but she'll be all right. Helen wasn't sure if that
had actually happened or if she'd only dreamt that it

(15:15):
had happened. But in the morning, daylight revealed that her
sister Lilian's pillow was splotched with blood, and Lilian was
nowhere to be seen. Helen followed the bloody trail down
the stairs. In the kitchen, she found her father holding
a rag to his throat. It would have been obvious
to anyone except maybe a ten year old child, that

(15:36):
Barney Godleski had attempted to slit his own throat. Desperate
to keep his daughter from asking questions, he ordered her
to go to the store for matches. Hurry, I want
to smoke, he said. When Helen returned, her father had
another request. He wanted Helen to find James Helt, the undertaker,

(15:58):
and bring him to the Godless Bark House. Helen obeyed,
and when the undertaker arrived, god Lesky told the undertaker
that he had murdered three of his children with an axe.
Helt appeared skeptical until god Lesky said go into the
cellar and see for yourself. Helt had no desire to

(16:18):
go down to the cellar, and he immediately summoned Justice
of the Peace James Golden and Chief of Police C. J. Whitmer,
who arrived at the home and found Barney god Leski
sitting calmly at the kitchen table holding the axe and
butcher knife he had used to commit the ghastly crime.
He admitted to killing his children, but refused to provide

(16:40):
any explanation. Chief Whitmer, accompanied by undertaker Helt, James Golden,
Deputy Coroner George Wren, and former Justice at the Piece J. A. Barrett,
discovered one of the bodies on the floor near a drain,
and the other two bodies stuffed into the wood bin.
These were the bodies of Paul god Leskie, age eight, Lilian,

(17:02):
aged six, and Alberta, age four. Paul's body was the
most mangled. His head had been almost completely cut off.
It was a terrible sight, said Helt the following day.
I have seen horrible sights, but never anything like this.
When the little girl came to my office about nine

(17:22):
o'clock yesterday morning and told me that her father wanted
to see me, I didn't have the least idea what
he wanted. I hadn't heard of any deaths in the family,
so I was a little surprised to have him call me.
One can only imagine what the undertaker must have thought
after Helen came to him. The god Leskis were known

(17:43):
to be a happy family, and Barney a model citizen
who never drank liquor or got into trouble. It was
widely gossiped, however, that Barney's wife, Lucille, had once spent
time in a sanitarium battling drug addiction, and it was
generally known around Lichens that little Lilian Godleski had undergone
a surgical procedure at the hospital in Ashland just a

(18:05):
few weeks earlier. Otherwise, as far as anyone knew, the
god Leskis were a healthy, happy clan. God Lesky handed
over the weapons to Chief Whitmer and was taken into custody.
Later that morning, he was given a preliminary hearing at
the Office of Justice at the Peace Golden and transported

(18:26):
to the Dauphin County jail. Helen, the sole surviving child,
was placed into the care of a neighbor. Meanwhile, Lucille
Godlesky was in Mount Carmel, unaware that anything was amiss.
She had left Lichens to begin work as a waitress
in a restaurant lodging at the Marble Hotel under the
name of Lucy Sinkavage. Sinkavage was the maiden name of

(18:49):
Barney's mother. While in jail, god Lesky was questioned for
three hours by County Detective John H. Yans. He freely
admitted as guilt, but steadfastly refused to provide a motive.
He said he wanted to make a statement to District
Attorney Carl B. Shelley, and once inside the District Attorney's office,

(19:10):
he began to talk freely about what he had done.
According to god Leski, on the night of the murders,
he had gone to a bar in Williamstown for a
drink and had gotten into a quarrel that left him
in a bitter mood. He returned home around midnight. The
four children were sleeping in their beds. He sat at
the kitchen table, brooding over domestic troubles. He'd been out

(19:32):
of work for months, and his wife of twelve years
had left him on Tuesday to find work in Mount Carmel,
where she'd grown up. God Lesky said that the trouble
had begun four years earlier when his wife discovered that
he was having an affair. Since that time, she has
been extremely jealous, he said. During every argument since then,

(19:53):
his wife made constant reference to his indiscretion. There's still
much more to come regarding the axe murders of Lichens,
and we'll continue with our story when Weird Darkness returns.

(20:33):
Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marler. Barney Godileski
had killed all of his children but one, and he
says that everything started to go downhill when his wife
found out he was having an affair. He and his
wife had taken their daughter Lillian to the Fountain Springs
Hospital on June eighteenth for an operation, and on June thirtieth,

(20:56):
Lucille began looking for work to help out with the
medical expenses. She had told her husband that she would
take the children while she was able to find a job.
God Leski stated that on Tuesday afternoon, July twelfth, a
man who lived across the street, John Lubold, took him
to Williamstown to see a former neighbor by the name
of Robel, who he found at a local tavern. The

(21:18):
men drank and talked, and although god Lesky refused to
reveal what he had been told by Robel, by the
time he returned home he had made up his mind
to kill his children and then take his own life.
He began with Paul, taking him out of the bed
and killing him in the basement with the butcher knife.
Then he came back for Alberta. After killing two of

(21:41):
his children, god Lesky fell asleep for two hours. When
he woke up at daybreak, he murdered Lilian and attempted
to dispose of the bodies by hacking them to pieces
with an axe. However, after lopping off his son's head,
he lost his nerve. He added that he had no
intention of killing Helen. Finally, he attempted to take his

(22:03):
own life with a butcher knife. I decided to take
the coward's way out. Then I changed my mind, god
Lesky told the district attorney, I'll take my medicine. So
why was Helen's life spared? Daddy didn't kill me because
he liked me, bragged ten year old Helen to police officers.

(22:23):
I kept house for daddy since mother left us, and
Daddy often said that I was a good little mother
and Daddy was proud of me. Helen told authorities that
on Tuesday afternoon, her father said that he had to
go out of town on business and instructed her not
to wait up for him. He told me to put Alberta, Lillian,
and Paul to bed and go to bed myself. Lillian

(22:46):
and I sleep together in Daddy's room, and Paul and
Alberta sleep in another room. The young girl explained, sometime
during the night, I believe I was dreaming about someone crying.
I woke up and found Lillian was mumbling about something
and Daddy was standing beside her. I couldn't understand what
she was saying. It sounded like she was gargling. I
asked Daddy what had happened. He said Lilian bumped her

(23:07):
head on the bedpost. I didn't think anything was wrong,
and I went back to sleep. Helen said that after
arriving at the undertaker's shop, mister Helts told her to
wait there until he came back. When Helt returned, he
told Helen that her father had killed her siblings and
that he had been taken into police custody. I love

(23:28):
my daddy, and I hope that nothing happens to him,
said Helen to the police officers, who then instructed them
to feed him well. She even gave them a list
of the foods that he liked to eat. I've been
expecting it for more than a year, said Lucille god
Leski after learning of the tragic news. She'd be located
eating a lunch at a restaurant in Mount Carmel by

(23:49):
a messenger who managed to lure her back to Lichens
under the pretense that one of her daughters had fallen ill.
Only after checking into a hotel in Likens was she
told about what had happened to children. I feared that
Barney was insane for several years. That's why I left.
The trouble started several years ago when I was sent
to a hospital in Toledo, Ohio as a drug addict.

(24:12):
I was there for seven months until I was cured,
and when I returned home, I found another woman in
the house. Lucille claimed that she'd been trying to find
a home for her children for more than a year
and had tried to get her parents, Mister and Missus
Frank Sienkowitz, to adopt them. I knew sometime he would
harm them, she said. My father objected, so they stayed

(24:33):
at home. Now I have only one I hope they
hanged Barney for killing my children. He has it coming
to him. He treated me cruelly for several years, he
chased me from my home and children, and now he
has killed them. While public sentiment was firmly on Lucille's side,
there are many parts of her story that don't seem

(24:55):
to add up. For instance, if she was so certain
that Barney was in sane, and if he had been
as abusive and cruel as she had claimed, then how
could she in good conscience abandon all four of her children.
Those who knew god Lesky best vouched for his character.
His former employer called him a model employee, and friends

(25:16):
labeled him a devoted father and an ideal husband who
never touched alcohol. So who knew the real Barney and
who knew the real Lucille? If Walls could speak, the
god Leski home might be able to answer those questions.
Barney and Lucille were just teenagers when they met. He
was from Shamokin, she was from Mount Carmel When he

(25:40):
accepted a position in the coal mines of Williamstown. Their
future seemed bright. The young couple bought a home and lichens,
made many friends, and were soon blessed with four bright,
beautiful children. By all accounts, the Ballad of Barney and
Lucille god Leski should have been a Coal Regions success story,
but somewhere along the way things went horribly wrong. Twelve

(26:04):
years later, Barney Godleski, now thirty one years of age,
had traded his spacious home on East Main Street for
a cramped cell on F tier of the Dauphin County Prison.
He would die inside this very cell. Shortly after five
o'clock on the morning of July twenty second, nineteen thirty two.

(26:25):
The body of Barney Godleski was found hanging in his
cell after a prison guard was alerted to a noise
that sounded like a death struggle on the uppermost tier
Tier F. The guard raced to the cell, lit a
match and discovered the body dangling from the steel bars
with a noose made from the sleeves of a blue shirt.
The warden and the prison's night watchman cut down the body,

(26:48):
and the coroner, Howard Milliken, was notified we've been expecting it,
said one of the inmates who was interviewed by a
Harrisburg newspaper. He didn't want to live only a weaker.
God Leski had attempted to hang himself with a belt,
but his attempt failed after the belt broke the corner.
After examining god Leski's body, said that his head was

(27:09):
heavily bruised, and speculated that god Lesky had attempted to
kill himself during the night by ramming his head into
the steel bars of a cell. When that failed, he
used his shirt to hang himself. Barney had taken off
his shirt, said Edward Albright, the guard who discovered the body.
One sleeve he tied around his neck, the other around

(27:30):
the bars at the rear of a cell. According to
prison staff and inmates, god Leski had been exhibiting bizarre
behavior ever since his arrival. He refused to speak to
anyone unless his back was turned, and he refused to
sleep on his cot, preferring the cold cement floor. He
told us he was afraid he'd fall off and hurt himself,

(27:52):
explained one of the prison officials. Ironically, it was Lucille
Godleski who made the funeral arrangements. Her anger had given
way to pity. I thought this would happen, was the
only thing she said when asked about the suicide. If
the man she had wanted to see hang only a
week earlier, she ordered the body taken to the home

(28:12):
of her father, Frank Cienkowitz, who was now living in Dornshei.
The funeral was held the following morning at Saint Anthony's
Church in brady Cole Township, and his Bonnie was laid
to rest at Saint Patrick's Catholic Cemetery in Treverton, alongside
the graves of the very children he had murdered. It's
fair to say that the deaths of the Godleski children

(28:34):
put tremendous strain on the families involved. Just one month
after the funerals of her husband and three of her children,
Lucille Godleski was arrested for disorderly conduct, thrown in jail,
and fined five dollars after causing a scene in Harrisburg.
According to Paul Mowory, who was a bookkeeper for the
Keystone Broadcasting Company, Lucille had shown up at the radio

(28:57):
station offices at the Governor Hotel insisted saying that she'd
been offered a contract to appear on the station and
talk about the murders. When Mallory told her that she
was not aware of such a contract, she became indignant
and boisterous, and when police arrived, she began shouting profanities
and claimed that prison officials had cheated her out of

(29:18):
her right to kill Barney Godleski. In February of the
following year, Lucille's father suffered a stroke while a patient
at a hospital in Philadelphia, where he had gone to
receive treatment from a lingering illness. Frank Cienkowitz, who worked
for many years as a miner in Shamokin, was only
fifty six at the time of his death. Lucille's mother,

(29:41):
Stenislawa Stella Cienkawick's, passed away in March of nineteen thirty
four at the age of fifty three. They are also
buried at Saint Patrick's Cemetery in Treverton. Four months after
Stella's death, a son named Henry was fatally injured in
an explosion at the Alaska Collier near Mount Carmel. Unfortunately,

(30:03):
there are no records describing whatever became of Lucille and Helen.
An obituary for Stella Siankowitz stated that she had a daughter,
Lucy Glideski, who lived in New York at the time
of her death in nineteen thirty four. Did she marry
a man named Gladeski or was this simply a newspaper
misspelling god Leski. If she did go to New York,

(30:25):
did she take her loan surviving daughter Helen with her.
If anyone out there knows the answer to those questions,
I'd love to find out how their story ends. Coming
up next, Ireland's Loftis Hall is considered by many to
be the most haunted location on all the Emerald Isle.

(30:46):
But the most infamous story of Loftis Hall begins not
with terror, but with romance, with a beautiful young girl
falling madly in love with the devil. There are plenty

(31:32):
of haunted places in Ireland, but none quite so haunted
as Loftus Hall. The Loftis Hall haunting legend tells of
a poor girl's imprisonment as well as a visit from
the devil himself, and ends with hauntings so vivid that,
according to lore, spirits appear vividly in photographs because the

(31:55):
hall has cycled through numerous owners over its vast history,
Determining who may still roam its ancient corridors poses a
particularly eerie challenge. Loftis Hall, though it may be one
of Ireland's many houses marked by the Devil, is still
a lovely piece of architecture. Despite its dark history, the

(32:16):
hall elicits visitors from around the globe with its unique
design and furnishings. Of course, ghost hunters have ventured there
as well, many of whom have met with a seemingly
paranormal welcome. While the story behind Ireland's most haunted house
may span hundreds of years and may be touched by
elements of crime, danger and tragedy, the tale continues to

(32:40):
be engrossing for those who love a few shivers up
their spines. The most infamous ghost story of Loftis Hall
begins not with a tragic demise, but with the visit
from the Devil himself. The legend claims that during the
Tottenham family's residence in the seventeen hundreds, a tearable storm
struck the coast, a ship washed up on the peninsula,

(33:03):
and one young man who survived the ordeal found his
way to the hull, where he begged for shelter. The
Tottenhams invited him in and he remained as their guest
for several weeks. During that time, he became quite close
with the family's youngest daughter, Anne. While playing cards one
night with the young visitor and several other guests, and

(33:24):
dropped some of her cards. Upon leaning down to pick
them up, she saw that the stranger had cloven hoofs
in place of feet. When she screamed in fright, the
stranger revealed that he was actually the Devil in disguise.
As if to prove his identity, he transformed into a
ball of fire and blasted through the roof, leaving a

(33:46):
hole in his wake. From that moment on, the house
supposedly experienced many strange phenomena. Some suggest the hall's eerie
occurrences are due to a continued satanic presence. Loftus, Hall's
most infamous legend goes on to claim that following the
Devil's departure, Anne was both traumatized and heartbroken, and her

(34:09):
mental state soon collapsed. Her family, embarrassed by her erratic behavior,
confined her to her chambers, where she remained until her
passing around seventeen seventy five. Sadly, Anne was confined even
after her ultimate end. Following her interment in a Wexford cemetery,
locals were concerned she would somehow escape, and her tomb

(34:33):
was soon sealed with cement to prevent this gruesome possibility.
While these locals may have sought to prevent the devil
or grave robbers from reaching her remains, they perhaps fretted
Anne would somehow arise from the grave. Mysteriously, the hole
in Loftus Hall's roof through which the devil allegedly made

(34:53):
his fiery escape, does not stay repaired. The Tottenhams attempted
to patch the rift directly following the devil's exit, but
it simply fell through again. The family conducted an extracism
meant to drive the devil away, but as the whole persisted,
his presence seemed to linger. Eventually, the family acquiesced the

(35:16):
hole's presence, leading many modern day visitors to photograph the gap.
One owner of the hall fully accepted the rift, claiming
the devil could come and go as he pleased. Visitors
to the hull can still observe the anomalous section of
the ceiling. One portion appears offset from the rest as
if it still strains to fall through again. One alternative

(35:40):
to the infamous Loftus Hall legend claims the shipwrecked visitor
who fell in love with Anne intended to marry her. However,
when he asked her father's permission, Tottenham turned the man
away due to his low status, and allegedly never recovered
from the heartbreak of the stranger's dismissal, leading her parents
to lock her away and fabricate a devilish tale to

(36:03):
save face. Another theory proposes Anne became pregnant with the
stranger's child. To hide the illegitimate pregnancy, the Tottenhams shut
Anne away until she could deliver. According to this theory,
Anne tragically passed during either pregnancy or childbirth. The tale

(36:23):
of the Devil's Visit was then invented to explain away
the ordeal. Loftus Hall stood abandoned for many years. Even then,
the grounds still attracted much morbid attention. In the early
twentieth century, the Loftist family responsible for the estate's title
disseminated and went bankrupt, leaving the hall to the Benedictine family.

(36:48):
The hall would change hands frequently, even acting as a
school and a convent for periods of time. Many were
afraid to attend mass there, however, due to the hall's
evilish reputation. In nineteen eighty three, the estate was purchased
to serve as a hotel, but the new owner perished

(37:08):
in the hall once again, leaving it vacant. Soon after,
Satanists allegedly began to gather there to hold meetings and rituals.
These sessions continued for around a decade, and locals knew
to avoid the area. In twenty eleven, the hall was
purchased and its new owners began plans to refurbish it

(37:29):
to its former glory. The new owners were well aware
of the hall's paranormal history and attraction, leading them to
admit curious ghost hunting parties for investigations. During the hall's
renovation in the eighteen seventies, the owners reportedly made a
startling and gruesome discovery the skeletal remains of an infant

(37:50):
hidden inside the walls. The child's identity and parentage remain unknown,
though some believe the discovery supports the theory of Ann's pregnancy.
The remains were even discovered in the tapestry room, where
Anne was locked away for many years, the circumstances surrounding

(38:10):
the child's fate are still unclear, whether they passed from
natural causes during birth or, according to some theorists, from
a nefarious deed at the hands of the Tottenhams. Perhaps
due to this infamy, many claim the Tapestry Room is
the most haunted room in Loftis Hall. The first building

(38:33):
to stand on what is now Loftis Hall's estate was
constructed around the year twelve hundred. This house, built by
Raymond Lagrosse, was originally called the Hall at houseland however,
this building did not last. In thirteen fifty, the Black
Plague was at its height, and the Lagrosse family elected

(38:54):
to tear down the old hall to replace it with
a new one further down their peninsula, away from the
consuming reach of the plague. This new building was called
Redmond Hall or simply the Hall. After centuries, the structure
eventually transformed into the infamous Loftus Hall. Even at its inception,

(39:14):
the estate was surrounded by disease and tragedy. Because of
its rich history, imbued with tales of other worldly phenomena,
Loftus Hall has attracted much attention from paranormal groups. In
twenty fifteen, the team behind the popular show Ghost Adventures
visited the hall and included their experiences in the Halloween

(39:36):
episode of the show's ninth season. A twenty sixteen TV
special called Irish Ghost Hunters toured the house and claimed
to experience many strange phenomena. Novice ghost hunters have also
made the pilgrimage to the area to film and write
about their adventures. The house has also attracted attention from

(39:56):
professional filmmakers. One project began filming in twenty twelve and
another was announced back in two thousand and six. Small
independent films have also been made about the hall due
to its infamous reputation. The twenty seventeen film The Lodgers
was even filmed on the estate. Ireland sports many haunted houses,

(40:20):
but Loftis Hall is one of the most infamous and
has frequently been called the most haunted house on the island.
Over the years, reports of several resident ghosts have surfaced,
one of whom may even be the Devil himself. Visitors
often report an uneasy feeling or strange sounds both outside

(40:43):
and inside the hall. While many houses could claim similar phenomena,
the truly unique aspects of Loftis Hall is its extended history.
Teals of its spirits have persisted for centuries. In the
late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds, the hall's residents
reported many strange and seemingly unexplainable incidents which they attributed

(41:08):
to a ghostly or demonic presence. They even hired a priest,
father Thomas Broughers, to investigate the predicament. Broaders performed an
exorcism on the house, which supposedly proved successful. Even the
priest's own headstone mentions the event. Given the purported hauntings
that have persisted since that time, however, many believe the

(41:31):
likelihood of his success is slim. Thanks for listening. There's
actually more to the story of Loftus Hall and the
Girl who fell in Love with the Devil, and I'll
go more into detail in the Sudden Death overtime content
of the podcast version of Tonight's show, which you can

(41:54):
find at Weird Darkness dot com. Also in the podcast
of Tonight's show, I have the urban legend of Carmen Winstead,
a poor girl who was bullied and pushed down into
a sewer to her death. 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 at Weirddarkness dot com, slash listen. Not only will

(42:16):
you hear a copy of tonight's show, you'll also receive
daily episodes of the Weird Darkness podcast. That's Weirddarkness dot com,
slash listen, or just search for Weird Darkness wherever you
listen to podcasts. You can follow Weird Darkness on social
media by visiting the contact social page on the website,
and please tell others about Weird Darkness who love the
paranormal or strained stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries

(42:41):
like you do. Doing that helps make it possible for
me to keep doing the show. And if you'd like
to be a part of the show, you can send
in your own paranormal experiences by clicking on Tell your
Story at Weirddarkness dot com. You can also email me
anytime at Darren at weird Darkness dot com. Darren is
dr r e N. All stories in Weird Darkness are

(43:02):
purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can
find links to the stories or the authors in the
show notes, which I upload to the Weird Darkness website
immediately after tonight's show has ended. The Axe Murders of
Lichens is from Pennsylvania Oddities. The Woman Who Made Soap
was written by Romeo Viatelli for Providentia, and The Girl
Who Fell in Love with the Devil was written by

(43:23):
Laura Allen for Ranker. 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 Tlajan's
one verse thirteen, for he has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of
the sun he loves. And a final thought, only those

(43:47):
who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. Robert F. Kennedy.
I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.

(44:19):
This episode is dedicated to the men and women of
our armed forces and first responders. Whether you are currently
serving or have served in the past, you are appreciated.
It is because of your courage and sacrifice that we
enjoy the freedoms and liberties we hold dear, and I,
for one, appreciate every single one of you for protecting

(44:40):
what many of us take for granted. So thank you.
Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio,
where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,

(45:03):
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained.
Coming up this hour. Seven year old Maria went missing
in nineteen fifty seven, and while her body was later found,
her murder was never solved and the case went cold

(45:26):
until fifty years later when the case was finally solved
and closed. But it turns out everybody was wrong. If
you take State Route three seventy five through Nevada, you'll
pass by the infamous area fifty one, but of course
they are not going to let you in, even if

(45:47):
you ask nicely. But State Route three seventy five isn't
called the Extraterrestrial Highway just because of one area that
you can't visit. There is a lot more to it
than that. First up, in nineteen ten, two witnesses see
a pair of lights that transform into radiant beings with

(46:08):
human form. You might dismiss the report as misidentification of
ball lightning or some other natural explanation. But in nineteen
fifty two, those radiant humanoid beings of light were seen again.
We begin with that story. If you're new here, welcome
to the show. And if you're already a member of

(46:30):
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 dot com and click on contact Social to follow
Weird Darkness on social media and also on the website,
you can find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, which comes

(46:52):
out seven days per week. You can enter monthly contests,
find Weird Darkness merchandise and more. You can even send
in your own true story of something paranormal that has
happened to you or someone you know. You can find
it all at weird Darkness dot com. Now, bult your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with

(47:16):
me into the Weird Darkness. Wy Evans Wentz was born
in Trenton, New Jersey in eighteen seventy eight and developed

(47:37):
a deep interest in the world of the paranormal at
a young age. It was an interest that he never lost, indeed,
it stayed with him until his death in nineteen sixty five.
As well as being a respected anthropologist, Evans Wentz was
someone who was also fascinated by Buddhist teachings and beliefs.

(47:57):
Evans Wentz was a prestigious writer publisher, having published in
nineteen twenty seven an English version of a widely acclaimed
and still extensively read The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
As for his own books, they were as notable as
they were varied, one of the most revered being The
Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. It's a book which is

(48:20):
packed with fascinating accounts of old supernatural encounters between the
people of Ireland, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Brittany,
and magical entities that have been variously referred to as elementals, fairies, goblins,
sprites and the we folk. I'll place a link to

(48:41):
the book in the show notes. One story collected by
Evans Wentz stands out. The story was personally shared with
Evans Wentz by a colleague at England's Jesus College at
Oxford University, the university which Evans Wentz studied at as
a young man. The story told to Evans Wentz was

(49:01):
as bizarre as it was undeniably sensational. The men in
question was Irish and a former resident of County Kerry,
one who had chose an Oxford University as his place
of education. According to the curious story told to Evans Wentz,
it was in the first week of December nineteen ten

(49:21):
that the man and a friend were heading home from
a night out in the Irish city of Limerick. Given
that it was a fair distance away and darkness was
already on the land when they went out, never mind,
during their return, they chose to travel on horseback, something
which would make the journey to Limerick and home again
an easy one. It turned out, however, that fate had

(49:43):
other things in store for the two twenty three year olds,
very strange and unforgettable things. It was as they approached Listowl,
a fourteenth century market town in County Carey, that the
pair couldn't fail to see powerful, brilliant light at a
distance of around half a mile from them. Suddenly, the

(50:06):
light was joined by another one that was practically identical
in appearance and also in size, which was somewhere in
the order of around six feet in height. As the
two men sat on their horses and stared in amazement
at these curious displays of light, they saw something incredible happen.
Within the flames that were contained within the two lights,

(50:28):
they could see a pair of what were described as
radiant beings with human form. The flames having transformed into
the entities. The lights then moved toward each other and
unified as one the figures within. Evans Wentz was told
then strode out of the lights and toward the two men. Incredibly,

(50:51):
they seemed to be glowing. In other words, the brilliance
they gave off was not a reflection from the balls
of light that surrounded them. No, they were radiating the
glowing eeriness themselves. Such was the brightness, the two friends
were unable to make out if their visitors of the
night were male or female, or one of each, but

(51:14):
they were clearly humanoid and had noticeable helos around their heads.
Not surprisingly, they quickly headed home. They're galloping horses getting
them there in a timely fashion. Now we get to
the next part of the story. Note that the two
witnesses saw a pair of lights that transformed into radiant

(51:34):
beings with human form. This issue is very similar, if
not practically identical, to a story told by contact E
or Feo Anglucci in the nineteen fifties. It was the
night of May twenty third, nineteen fifty two, and as
he drove home from work not long after midnight, something

(51:56):
very strange happened. As he drove down Victory Boulevard, Angelucci
was shocked and amazed to see slightly above his line
of vision a red, glowing, oval shaped object that was
about five times as large as the red portion of
a traffic light. It seemed to carefully maintain its distance
from Angelucci's car, as if beckoning him to follow, which

(52:20):
he did. He drove across a bridge spanning the Los
Angeles River and looked on, mesmerized, as the object came
to a halt, hovering over the intersection at a lonely
deserted stretch of road called Forest Lawn Drive. Without warning,
the red colored ball suddenly shot away at high speed,

(52:42):
but not before two smaller fluorescent green objects about three
feet in diameter flew out of it and headed directly
for Angeloucci. They hung magically only a few feet above
his car for a few minutes, after which something dramatic
allegedly occurred. Emanating apparently from between the two green balls

(53:05):
of light, said Angelouci, was the sound of a masculine
voice in strong, well modulated tones and speaking perfect English,
stressing that he should not be afraid. The disembodied voice
explained to a shocked Angeluci that he was in direct
communication with friends from another world. Angelucci was also told

(53:28):
man believes himself civilized, but often his thoughts are barbaric
and his emotions lethal. We do not say this as criticism,
but state it only as fact. Thus it is best
to approach all planetary visitors with friendly, welcoming thoughts. Angeluci
went on to have other encounters of the contact to

(53:48):
variety and became a well known figure in nineteen fifties
era ufology. There's no doubt that there are notable parallels
between both stories. Some might say that the two events
forty two years apart, were caused by the very same phenomenon,
but there is another connection that just might get to

(54:08):
the heart of the matter. Just like wy Evans Wentz
Orfeo Angelucci was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in light
of this, I have to wonder if Angeloucci may have
taken a deep interest in the writings of someone who
just happened to be a local author, namely wy Evans

(54:30):
Wentz and subconsciously weaved parts of evans wentz saga into
his own. At the very least, it's a theory to
ponder on up next. Seven year old Maria went missing
in nineteen fifty seven, and while her body was later found,

(54:50):
her murder was never solved and the case went cold
until fifty years later when the case was finally solved.
But it turns out everybody was wrong. It was December third,

(55:35):
nineteen fifty seven, when seven year old Maria Ridolph went
missing on a street corner in Sycamore, Illinois, and five
months later, Maria's remains were found one hundred miles from
Sycamore in Woodbine, Illinois. It wouldn't be until more than
fifty years later that the case had what was initially
thought of as closure. This turned out to be false closure.

(56:01):
The case was seemingly solved in September twenty twelve, when
the police would convict a murderer for the abduction and
murder of Maria. This would then be overturned in March
twenty sixteen, and Maria's neighbor, Jack McCullough would be declared
an innocent man in April twenty seventeen. To date, the
murder remains unsolved, and the mystery of Maria Ridolph continues

(56:25):
to baffle the Chicago area. It will more than likely
forever be a cold case. Seven year old Maria Riddolph
was playing with best friend Kathy on the first snowfall
of the year when a mysterious man offered Maria a
piggyback ride. Maria's friend Kathy was the last to see
Maria Ridolf alive, and the last she saw Maria was

(56:48):
with a strange man hoisting her on his back and
trotting off down the street. Kathy had gone inside to
get some gloves to fight against the harsh cold in
When she came back outside on the street, both the
man and Maria were gone. Kathy afterwards went to the
Ridolph house to tell them that Maria was missing. Initially,

(57:10):
the family thought that Maria was hiding and sent Maria's
older brother, Charles out to search for her. It was
an hour later that the Riddolph family realized that something
was up, and the police were notified, beginning a police
search and the FBI being called in. Soon, it seemed
like the whole of Illinois was searching for the missing

(57:31):
seven year old. And while Kathy was elated some fifty
four years later at the news that the man was
finally apprehended, she must now continue with the inner torment
that she watched someone in plain sight quote take away
my best friend quote. At the time of the abduction,

(57:52):
the sun was setting and it was near dark as
the two girls were playing duck the cars. Investigator's pinned
his time down as around six thirty pm. The man
was called Johnny, or so he told the little girls.
According to Kathy, Johnny was twenty four and not married.

(58:13):
Kathy stated that Johnny had blonde hair, bad teeth, and
a high pitched voice. Going back to a time before
amber alerts and faces on the back of milk cartons,
The search for Maria had even caught the attention of
FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover, USA President Eisenhower and garnered
national media attention, somewhat unprecedented in those days for a

(58:38):
missing child, at least in comparison to today. There were
various public appeals for the Ridolph family and widespread investigations
across Illinois, which included all known sex offenders, Transience, and
another man that had previously offered piggyback rides to children.
Maria was later found by mushroom picking tourists almost half

(59:01):
a year after the fateful piggyback ride. Maria was found
wearing a shirt, undershirt, and socks. At this point, Maria
was decomposed and skeletal. Maria had to be identified by
her parents because of her familiar brown socks. It was
not until fifty years later that an autopsy could determine

(59:21):
the cause of death as being that of Maria being
stabbed in the throat several times. John Tessier was at
the top of the suspect list from the very beginning
of Maria's disappearance. A neighbor of the Riddle family and
one of seven children, John was considered an outsider and
had been described as creepy by the community. In nineteen

(59:44):
fifty seven, Tessier passed a light detector test and the
file was closed, with the report noting no further investigation
as being conducted regarding the above suspect. At the time,
the police did not have a schoolbook photograph, and therefore
Cathy was not asked to identify John Tessier. John was

(01:00:05):
born in Northern Ireland in nineteen thirty nine to a
British sergeant. John moved to the USA at the age
of seven and grew up in Illinois. Between the Maria case,
John lived a fairly quiet life, serving in the military
for thirteen years, where he rose to the rank of captain.
He was also a police officer and worked in security.

(01:00:26):
It was in nineteen eighty two where John first fell
a foul of the law when he was charged with
statutory rape, which was later downgraded to a misdemeanor. In
nineteen ninety four, John Tesser changed his name to Jack McCullough,
apparently a tribute to his deceased mother. The case was
actually reopened as a result of John's own mother, who

(01:00:48):
believed John to be guilty. Eileen Tessier said in nineteen
ninety four, while on her deathbed, that John had killed
a number of little girls and asked John's half sister
Janet to tell someone. Another of John's sisters, Mary, confirmed
that she had heard her mother say he did it.

(01:01:08):
John however, had a fragmented and broken relationship with his mother,
which includes incidents of threatening and violent behavior from the mother,
and John had chosen not to attend her funeral when
she died. There is every possibility that the confession was
made by John's mother out of either spite or in
a drug induced delirium. Janet, in the meantime, had made

(01:01:32):
multiple attempts to get law enforcement to investigate her own
half brother, constantly contacting state police to look into John.
It wasn't until two thousand and eight, when Janet sent
a lengthy email to the Illinois State Police did they
decide to reopen the cold case. State police reviewed the
evidence and found testimony from neighbors of John's seemingly erratic

(01:01:56):
and strange behavior around young girls, which included giving an
other young girl a piggyback and refusing to put the
girl back down, which probably did not sit well next
to the previous conviction and rape charges. John is just
one of the many outsiders targeted by law enforcement as
a perfect suspect. That being said, there were definite factors

(01:02:19):
that could have had John fingered. Everything seemed to go
against John. Upon the reopening of the case, when Kathy
personally picked out John from a picture lineup and stated
that's the man. Despite all of this, John had a
strong alibi. John Tessier was alisting in the United States
Air Force in Rockford, Illinois, on the day in question.

(01:02:41):
It was confirmed by recruitment officers that they'd spoken with
John at the time. A collect call was traced in Rockford, Illinois,
which was forty miles from the abduction site, and an
unused train ticket to Rockford was found in John's possession.
The timeline recommended by state investigators was on where tesseer
kidnapped Maria and then drove the unused ticket to Rockford

(01:03:05):
in time to make the call at six fifty seven
pm and meet with the same recruiting officers at seven
point fifteen pm. Under this timeline, it was determined that
Maria was kidnapped. At six twenty pm, John was called
in for questioning with the police. The interview is videotaped
and can be seen on the CBS News website. I'll

(01:03:26):
place a link to it in the show notes. It
highlights some of the discrepancies in John's now jack initial
story and his seemingly hostile manner Maria's body was then exhumed,
but there was no DNA evidence that could be found
on Maria's remains and nothing to link John using forensics.
With different inmates testifying that John had discussed killing Maria

(01:03:49):
to them, with two different accounts of the cause of death,
neither similar to Maria's actual death, and with details of
John's alibi withheld during trial, it seemed that John Tessier
was doomed at trial. Up next, John gets convicted for

(01:04:12):
Maria's murder, but later it turns out everybody was wrong
about the conclusion. I'm Darren Marler. Welcome back to Weird Darkness.

(01:04:45):
You can stay up to date on everything Weird Darkness
and also maybe win some cool prizes at the same
time by signing up for the email newsletter. It's free
and often I'll draw a name at random to win
a cool creepy prize. Sign up for the Weird Darkness
newsletter for free at weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter.
That's Weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter. While with different

(01:05:09):
inmates testifying that John had discussed killing Maria to them
with two different accounts of the cause of death neither similar,
to Maria's actual death, and with the details of John's
alibi withheld during trial, it seemed that John Tessier was doomed.
John was convicted by a jury for the abduction and

(01:05:30):
murder of Maria and given a life sentence. He was
sentenced at seventy three years old, so was set to
die in prison as a guilty man. Acting as a
lawyer for himself, John filed a petition against his murder conviction.
This was dismissed as frivolous. It wasn't until the new
state's attorney, Richard Schmack, reviewed the evidence extensively that he

(01:05:55):
discovered that for Tessier to kill Maria was impossible. This
included review doing the collect call and the distance from
Rockford to Sycamore. In April twenty sixteen, the murder charge
was dismissed without prejudice, and on the twelfth of April
twenty seventeen, John Tessier was officially declared an innocent man
and released from prison. The Maria Ridolph murder had gone

(01:06:19):
from unsolved to cold, to solved, and back to unsolved,
and now we remain back at unsolved. And while there
was a feeling of tremendous relief for the likes of Cathy,
the last witness to see Maria alive, and the remaining
Riddolph family. At the conviction of John, there was a

(01:06:40):
large sense of injustice that John Tessier was convicted when
all evidence seemed to point away from him. Maria Ridolph's
murder had been the oldest solved cold case in the
USA and is now just that unsolved. Johnny is now
living in a retired community center where he once worked,

(01:07:01):
and is currently in the process of suing law enforcement
for the unfair conviction. William Henry Redmond was a carneye
with an ability to make young girls vanish in his presence.
There was numerous stories of girls seemingly going missing whenever
Redmond was around, which included a ten year old in
Ohio and an eight year old in Pennsylvania, and yet

(01:07:23):
no convictions. A likely sounding suspect, Redmond is now dead
and the evidence appears entirely circumstantial, with very little to
go on against Redmond except that he looked like Cathy's
description of Johnny and has a suspicious history around children.
The case is one of the most famous unsolved murders

(01:07:45):
in American history and has been subject to many depictions
in culture, which include a CNN web series called Taken
and a true crime book released in twenty fourteen by
Charles Lackman called Footsteps in the Snow. A link to
the book in the show notes. Otherwise known as State

(01:08:11):
Route three seventy five, the Extraterrestrial Highway is about ninety
eight miles long and runs from Tonapau to Alamo in
the Hart of Nevada, and is chalk full of UFO
and alien history. If you're wanting to avoid traffic, this
is actually a great weekend vacation trip. Few people make

(01:08:32):
their way across the et Highway each day, only about
two hundred people in total, we are told, so this
makes for minimal traffic and plenty of opportunities to stop
alongside the road and take it all in without dealing
with any crowds. The most famous attraction alongside this route is,

(01:08:52):
of course, Area fifty one. It is the most inaccessible
to the public and is completely off limits to tourists,
but that doesn't mean that there aren't things to see
on the Extraterrestrial Highway. Instead of moping that you can't
see the dead aliens and crashed flying saucers. Inside Area
fifty one, you can check out other out of this

(01:09:13):
world stops from the Little Aaly Inn, the only business
in Rachel, the closest town to Area fifty one to
the Alien Research Center. So strap on your seat belts
because we're about to take a trip down Route three
seventy five, which Nevada officially designated the Extraterrestrial Highway in
nineteen ninety six. There are four main things to keep

(01:09:37):
an eye out on as you start your journey. An
et Highway road sign, Et Fresh Jerky, the Alien Research Center,
and the Little Aily Inn. Over the years, many UFO
sidings have been reported in the area, especially around what
we know as Area fifty one. The road stops along

(01:09:58):
this highway give visitors a lit look at this otherworldly history.
From east to west. You will start at the cleanest
place to drop your toxic waste in Area fifty one,
also known as Et Fresh Jerky. That's just their polite
way of saying it's the last real restroom before you
hit the rest of the route, so it might be

(01:10:20):
worth the quick stop. Of course, it's more than just
a bathroom. Visitors are sure to leave their mark by
signing the counter, which is filled with thousands of visitors' names.
As is the case with many of these stops, you
can pull out your wallet and buy some alien gear.
In addition to T shirts and other souvenirs, visitors are

(01:10:41):
offered a variety of free samples of ET jerky, along
with other snacks, including Martian poop flavored soda. Talk about
a thirst quencher. You might be on the lookout for
the Extraterrestrial Highway sign. When you find it, you'll notice
it is covered in stickers left behind by previous visitors,

(01:11:03):
so why not add your own? Even the Nevada Tourism
Office suggests this, it's a right of passage. Next stop
the Alien Research Center, The giant silver building with a
larger than life alien plopped out front, is rarely open
but still worth the photo op. When it is open,

(01:11:23):
you can find more alien t shirts and knickknacks. This
part of the Nevada Desert is scattered with Joshua trees,
which is something unique from this planet to take a
peek at. This is not an official road stop, but
something to keep your eyes on as you cruise down
the highway. In addition to the ET Highway sign Look

(01:11:44):
for the open range signs indicating that cattle are roaming
free nearby. If you're lucky, you'll get a glimpse of
one of these animals, as it's not uncommon for them
to hang out in the middle of the road. At
this point, you've made it to Rachel, aka the UFO
capital of the world, as well as the closest town

(01:12:05):
to Area fifty one. The tiny town which can be
considered the unofficial headquarters of the et Highway, was named
after the first baby born within city limits. Just fifty
four people call Rachel home. There is only one open business,
said Rachel, The Little Ailey Inn. The restaurant and bar

(01:12:26):
has an actual flying saucer dangling from a truck out front.
You can't miss it. Aside from serving up food and drinks,
Little Ali Inn is covered with images of UFO sidings
from around the world, along with more UFO and alien memorabilia.
Its restaurant is almost a museum in and of itself.

(01:12:46):
The ceiling at the Little Aley Inn is covered with
currencies from all over the world, which goes to show
how many people have traveled far and wide to see
what this UFO business is all about the bar, so
we've heard, is often filled with characters from bikers to
nearby military personnel and people from various corners of the world.

(01:13:08):
And what would a bar be in the Little Alien
without a themed drink like Alien Amber. At this point
you'll reach the prized destination for all who travel the route,
Area fifty one, But like I said, it is not
a tourist attraction and is heavily guarded and fenced in.

(01:13:28):
Area fifty one has remained top secret for decades, and
it was not even formally acknowledged by the government until
twenty thirteen. Even the airspace above Area fifty one is
restricted unless you have specific permission, So stop the car
on the shoulder, take a look from there, then get
back in your car and keep going. Heck, even doing

(01:13:50):
that might get you on a government watch list. You
never know nowadays. Finally, the end of the et Highway
is a small mining town called Tonipa, which was a
historic mining park for visitors to check out. Though it's
not full of aliens and glowing saucers, it's still a
worthwhile stop to wrap up your trip. A majority of

(01:14:11):
respondents to a twenty nineteen Gallup poll said they've not
seen a UFO, but sixteen percent said they had, and
sixty eight percent said they think the US government knows
more about UFOs than it reveals. So look up. Maybe
you'll catch a glimpse of some of that extraterrestrial magic,
especially if you're cruising the ninety eight mile stretch of

(01:14:33):
road in Nevada known as the Extraterrestrial Highway. Hikers sometimes
get lost in the woods, as to children, of course,
but those on bikes almost never disappear. There's one tragic

(01:14:54):
case of a fat tire rider who couldn't be found.

(01:15:21):
I'm taraon Marler. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. Remember staying
up late on a Friday or a Saturday night, either
at home or at a friend's house, and watching your
local TV station's horror host presenting a terrible B movie
with aliens, monsters, ghosts, alien monster ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and
all other kinds of crazy, creepy characters. Those are pretty

(01:15:45):
fun nights, weren't they. Well, let's put the Weirdo watch
party page at weird Darkness dot Com has to offer
to you all day, every day, three sixty five. Thanks
to our friends at the Monster channel. You can visit
Weirddarkness dot com slash watch part right after listening to
this episode, and you'll immediately be entertained by a horror
host and a horrible movie or should I say a

(01:16:07):
horror reble movie. And not only can you watch the
b movies and hosts streaming there twenty four to seven,
but once a month we all gather together to watch
a movie and talk about it in the chat room
at the same time. Get your frights and your funnies
on the Weirdo Watch party page at Weird Darkness dot com.
Hikers go missing with frequency stands to reason there are

(01:16:31):
many of them out there, runners too, barry pickers, and
mushroom hunters. David Politis, founder of the North America Bigfoot Search,
is obsessed with disappeared game hunters. Children, of course, get
lost in the woods. Skiers occasionally go missing but are
usually found when the snow melts, but cyclists not so much.

(01:16:55):
Mountain bikers and touring riders vanish bound as frequently as golfers.
Long term mysterious vanishings of touring cyclists with as few
clues as Jacob Grays are so rare that Robert Coaster
aka Professor Rescue before most academic on search and rescue

(01:17:16):
SAAR statistics lists only lost mountain biker in his seminal
two thousand and eight book Lost Person Behavior. Coaster is
certified as a Type one SAAR Incident Commander and holds
a PhD in Search theory from the University of Portsmouth
in England. All cases of mountain bikes were resolved out

(01:17:36):
of one hundred and eighty nine incidents. He told me,
But mountain bikers did do go missing, as opposed to
missing touring cyclists who don't even get a category. But
of course it happens. Our Amelia Earhart is a cyclist
named Frank Lenz who in eighteen ninety two, at the

(01:17:57):
age of twenty four, lit out from Pittsburgh to circumnavigate
the globe on his Victory safety bicycle. He wouldn't be
the first to do it, but Outing magazine sponsored his
trip so he could chronicle the adventure while demonstrating the
high tech wonders of the new fangled safety bicycle. Two
years into the trip, lens fell off the edge of

(01:18:19):
the earth somewhere in the Ottoman Empire. You can imagine
how slowly no news traveled. Then, when his family expressed concern,
out a magazine sent another famous cyclist, William Sachlebin, to
Turkey to find him. He didn't, but came back with
the information that his probable fate was lens ticked off

(01:18:39):
a Kurdish chief and the warlord had him killed. At
the time, sache Leben's rescue attempt was considered on par
with the famous hunt for David Livingstone. Coaster's statistics missed
a twenty fourteen Canadian vanish that is as confounding as
any I've ever heard of. It's easy to miss the
Canadian The country is huge and quiet. They like to

(01:19:03):
take care of their own and not broadcast their troubles.
I only learned about the case because his identical twin brother, Marcel,
contacted me after he read the article I'd written for
Outside magazine that focused on a missing runner. Joe Keller
Marty Ledger from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was thirty years old
when he went for a routine ride at a popular

(01:19:24):
trail network at Spider Lake. There isn't anything extremely remote
about the area. The trailhead is even in a residential area,
but it's the Canadian Maritimes, so wildlands are never not close.
May twenty nine, Marty was writing a new black Santa
Cruz Heckler. He planned to ride a single track for

(01:19:45):
a couple of hours and return home around four in
the afternoon. He didn't. First, his family went looking for him.
Then the Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP mounted a search
that included nearly five hundred people, volunteers, dogs, and helicopters.
Searched a search zone that was thirty square miles. The

(01:20:06):
search for Marty Ledger was one of the largest in
Canadian history. Not a granola bar wrapper was found, let
alone a fat tire bicycle. With a bike, you can
cover more ground, so you can likely get yourself out,
Marcel says. Also, you tend to have to stick to
the trails when biking. Marty almost certainly went off trail,

(01:20:29):
perhaps in an attempt to take a shortcut. I'm not
surprised they didn't find his bike, because if they would
have found it, they would have found him. I cannot
imagine him leaving his new bike. It was maybe his
third ride on it, said Marcel. All cyclists will understand
that what's harder to understand is not finding a Mountain biker.

(01:20:50):
A body ended up being discovered roughly a year after
he went missing. Marcel says it was someone else who
had gone missing before Marty. He was found within the
search area, so clearly it would have been very possible
for them to simply not see Marty or his bike.
They had a lot of people searching, but it only
takes one person to miss him and then cross off

(01:21:10):
that area. Everyone who searched for him tried so hard
day after day, but they had a radius they needed
to look at based on age, wait time of day, weather,
and how long since he's been reported missing. And there's
a good chance Marty was out of that radius when
the search started. What's your theory about what happened? I

(01:21:31):
asked him. My best guess is that he got off
trail and got lost. Marcel says. Once he realized he
was lost, he found the nearest dirt road and tried
to follow that until he hit a highway or a neighborhood.
He likely when as far as he could and tried
to sleep the night off and go back at it
in the morning. This happens a surprising amount in Canada,

(01:21:51):
where logging roads and ATV trails web and spiral and
sometimes go for hundreds of miles. My guess is that
he tried hard to get out and covered a lot
of ground, but unfortunately that likely put him out of
the radius they were searching. It was cold that night
and he was wearing shorts and a T shirt, so
I'm thinking he went to bed and hypothermia set in

(01:22:11):
and he simply didn't wake up. Trying to apply logic
to a case like this one is painful. According to Marcel,
it's possible the trail got too technical for Marty and
he fell hard and succumbed to injuries. That's certainly possible.
But if he'd fallen so hard that he was badly injured,
it doesn't make sense he'd have stumbled or crawled far

(01:22:33):
from the trail. At least the bike would have been located.
I have a hard time believing he got hurt badly.
He rode very conservatively, never did jumps or crazy lines
he could not handle. Marcel says Marty had only ridden
the area at one time previously, and it's not believed
he intended to ride very far. He brought a map,

(01:22:53):
but it was found in the car, so perhaps he
was comfortable enough with his intended route without it, The
e is boarded on one side with a highway, but
all other directions are dense wooded areas. The army was
eventually called in, and Marcel told me even the soldiers
had a hard time bushwhacking through some of it. I
keep telling myself it'd be easier if it was a

(01:23:15):
heart attack or car accident. At least we could be
angry at something, he says. Not knowing if or how
much he suffered at the end, it's what haunts me.
It might have been a quick ending, but the thought
of him being really hurt and yelling for help will
stay with me for a while. I try not to
focus too much on the fact that he disappeared, and

(01:23:35):
more so just think of him as gone. The family
likely will never know what happened. They're still getting past
it or moving on. Marcel says, no, being okay with
it or getting over it. Closure isn't an option. Unfortunately,
this is a case of double negative indemnity. The fact
that we're identical twins makes it a bit more complicated.

(01:23:58):
Not only do I see him every time I look
in the mirror, but I'm also a constant reminder to
my friends and family that he's gone. Whenever they see me,
they most likely see both of us. In twenty eighteen,
their father took his own life. He just could not
make sense of Marty simply disappearing. Marcel says, he really

(01:24:18):
need a closure. My dad was not a depressed man
before this. What people don't think of are the social
pressures for the family after a loved one disappears. For
the first few years, we all lived in fear of
leaving the house, Marcel says. We all knew we would
at some point run into someone we know and they
would ask, how's it going, any news? Did they find anything?

(01:24:42):
How did he get lost on a bike ride? It
occurs to me that I asked Marcel those same questions.
There's also small things people would likely not think about
that much, He says. I have a hard time answering
the phone. I never liked the phone much before, But
when you get two phone calls Marty and my dad,
and on the other end is panic and news that'll

(01:25:03):
crush you and change your life forever, it's not easy
to answered the phone comfortably anymore. Also, being in the
woods alone is almost impossible now unless I'm very familiar
with the trails or with other people. I also overpack
now to be sure I'm okay if anything happens. Thanks

(01:25:34):
for listening. If you missed any part of tonight's show,
or if you want to hear it again, you can
subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app at
Weirddarkness dot com slash listen. Not only will you hear
a copy of Tonight's show, you'll also receive daily episodes
of the Weird Darkness podcast that come out seven days
per week, and you'll also receive tonight's Sudden Death overtime

(01:25:54):
content with the story of the girls who turned green.
Clerorosis was a freak diagnosed disease during the nineteenth century
that gave the skin of the afflicted a greenish tinge,
and as a cure, doctors told young women to get
married and reproduce. As you can probably surmise, the cure
was not in the least bit effective. That's in tonight's

(01:26:16):
Sudden Death overtime content found only in the podcast, which
you can get for free at Weird Darkness dot com
slash listen. You can follow Weird Darkness on social media
by visiting the contact social page on the website, and
please tell others about Weird Darkness who love the paranormal
or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like

(01:26:37):
you do. Doing that helps make it possible for me
to keep doing the show. If you'd like to be
a part of the show, you can send in your
own paranormal experiences by clicking on Tell your Story at
Weirddarkness dot com, and you can also email me anytime
at Darren at Weird Darkness dot com. Darren is DA
R R E N. All stories in Weird Darkness are

(01:26:57):
purported to be true unless stated other and you can
find links to the stories or the authors in the
show notes, which I will upload to the Weird Darkness
website immediately after tonight's show has ended. Close Encounters of
the Fairy Kind was written by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe.
A cold Case Finally Solved then Unsolved is from Mystery Confidential.

(01:27:19):
The ninety eight Mile Extraterrestrial Highway is by Alexandra Schanfeld
for Newsweek, and The Vanished Mountain Biker is by John Billman,
which is an excerpt from his book The Cold Vanish,
which I linked to in the show notes Weird Darkness
is a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And now that
we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with

(01:27:39):
a little light Philippians two verses fourteen and fifteen. Do
everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become
blameless and pure children of God without fault, in a
crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars
in the universe. And a final thought, instead of complaining

(01:27:59):
about you circumstances, get busy and create some new ones.
I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me in the weird Darkness.

(01:28:33):
Even before the recorded history of Loftus Hall itself, its
land may have been a site for paranormal and spiritual activity.
Legend claims that long before the construction of any large hall,
the land was a spiritually significant location for the Druids
of the area Wexford, the county in which the hall resides,

(01:28:54):
was filled with tombs and standing stones for thousands of
years before the Loftis family had ever seen its soil. Druids,
a high ranking class in ancient Celtic cultures, were very
in tune with nature and revered the land as sacred.
Reports of ghostly phenomena have persisted ever since Anne Tottenham's passing.

(01:29:18):
Many claimed to hear horses inside and around the house,
even when none are present. People have claimed to hear voices,
witness poltergeist activity, and even suffer panic attacks on the grounds.
Even alleged photographic evidence seems to corroborate the existence of
at least two spirits. In twenty fifteen, a young Englishman

(01:29:40):
named Thomas Beavis took a photo of the hall. When
he later viewed the picture, he noticed the ghostly shape
of a young girl with an older woman standing next
to her. He initially attributed the site to a window reflection,
but disregarded this explanation upon closer inspection. The photo quickly
went viral on online and as yet to be debunked

(01:30:02):
or proved as a hoax. When asked about the photo,
Beav said, the girl could be the spirit of Anne
Tottenham still walking around Loftis Hall. It could have been
some strange occurrence because of a supernatural power. But I
don't know. Normally, I'm a guy that believes in what
he sees, but with this, I still don't understand what's
going on in that photo. Loftis Hall's centuries long history

(01:30:27):
is thick with darkness and tragedy. The state's land was
the sight of many conflicts in the late twelfth century,
and many lives were lost on the spot where the
hall now stands. In the mid sixteen hundreds, the Irish
Confederate conflicts brought repeated brawls on the hull. Even then,
a handful of people staved off onslaughts from nearly one

(01:30:49):
hundred soldiers. Not until sixteen sixty six did Henry Loftus
gain ownership of the hall and grant its current title,
and Trottenham's mother and Loftus also passed in the house.
Even before the Trotenham's ordeal, the house had already seen
its share of sickness, conflict and tragedy. In recent years,

(01:31:13):
Loftus Hall has been refurbished and opened for visitors for
a fee. Guests can take a forty five minute tour
to learn about the estate's history as well as its
infamous hauntings. Perhaps you'll catch a glimpse of and Tottenham
or one of the hall's numerous other alleged spirits. The
hall also offers Halloween tours and, if you are truly brave,

(01:31:37):
paranormal lockdowns on certain occasions. This happened years ago. My
best friend and I were driving around the small town

(01:31:59):
we lived in, me in the passenger seat and him driving.
We'd do this all the time when we were bored
or just didn't want to be at home. We would
cruise around and tell jokes, parody songs we loved, and
tell each other ghost stories. That night was jokes and laughing.
We had already been driving around for an hour or

(01:32:19):
so that night, and it was near midnight. We turned
down Main Street heading west, just after leaving the old
convenience store in town. My best friend was Jimmy crazy
and side splittingly funny ninety nine percent of the time.
No different that night. We got a block down Maine
and he yells right, turn and swing the wheel hard

(01:32:40):
down a street that had an old feed store on
the right and an old video store with an alleyway
behind it on the left. At the entrance of the
alley was a simple street light. We got onto the
street and he stopped laughing instantly. With eyes wide, I
saw the creature a split second after he did. He
was on the right hand side near the feed's door.

(01:33:01):
We thought it was a dog, but it was built strange,
long front legs and rather short back legs, which seemed
even stranger when it took two quick jumps and ended
up under the street line. Here's why that's strange. That
creature took two jumps right, two jumps, and cleared over
fifty five feet from where it was standing to where

(01:33:23):
it stopped and turned to look at us. It looked
similar to a dog, a dog like head and body,
except for heavily muscled front legs and very short back legs,
so short that there didn't seem any way that it
could jump like that. We both piped up, what the
hell is that? Just as we said that, it ran

(01:33:45):
jumped into the alley with us right behind it. There
was no way possible for this thing to get out
of the alley, no exit at the other end. We
were literally a split second behind it, but it was gone,
just gone. He raced down the alley, thinking it actually
made it to the end, but nothing. We looked everywhere

(01:34:06):
in the general vicinity and still nothing. We then drove
to the supermarket parking lot to discuss what we had
just seen and trying to rationalize it and identify. Now,
this was before the internet, and Google. The only description
I can give you is this, remember the demon dogs

(01:34:26):
from Ghostbusters, the Gatekeeper and key Master. It was built
like that, only a little slimmer. We sat and talked
for a time, and the local town cop, who was
a friend, pulled up to chat and killed time. We
were hesitant to tell him, but excited at the same time.
As Jimmy described it, the CoP's eyes widened and he

(01:34:48):
got fidgety and nervous. He didn't say much as to
what it was or what he thought it was. You
saw it, didn't you. Jimmy almost yelled it at our
police officer. Friend proceeded to tell us where he saw
it and when, the opposite end of the alley, and
about twenty minutes before we did, and it was the

(01:35:11):
same situation. He saw it, chased it, lost it a
split second after I jumped into the alley. I haven't
seen anything like that again, and never had a decent
explanation about what we saw. Cool and creepy as hell.

(01:36:00):
In the eighteen nineties, sixteen percent of those admitted to
the Saint Bartholomew's Hospital in London received the diagnose of chlorosis.
The disease entailed a host of symptoms, including anemia, a menorrhea,
lack of appetite, pica, the urge to eat things one
wouldn't normally eat, like wax, and fatigue. But the most unusual,

(01:36:26):
and the one that gave the disease its name, was
the greenish tinge that the skin of the afflicted acquired. Nowadays,
if you google chlorosis, all you get are links to
plant diseases. The plants have an iron deficiency, although the
disease manifests as a loss of green, not an excess

(01:36:46):
of it. Scattered human cases remain, but what was once
an epidemic has largely disappeared. In the nineteen eighties, hemantologist
William Crosby published a paper titled Whatever Became of Chlorosis?
For centuries, chlorosis was a constant, though the diagnosises behind
it shifted with the societal and medical norms at the time.

(01:37:09):
First described in fifteen fifty four, it was known until
the mid seventeen hundreds as the disease of virgins, and
the best cure was thought to be intercourse blood letting
was also a popular treatment. Clorosis was absolutely seen as
a woman's disease, which meant as it still often means

(01:37:30):
today that it got little attention and was easily dismissed
with absurd cures, says Anna Scanlon, director of the Writing
Center at Illinois Wesleyan University and an avid researcher of chlorosis.
Other treatments included telling women to conceive exercise or abandon education.
While there were physicians who believed that men could also

(01:37:53):
contract clorosis, such cases were thought to be extremely rare,
and those men diagnosed with it were usually described as effeminate.
The disease was predominantly associated with the upper classes until
the mid nineteenth century, when the medical establishment realized that
poor women could also lack adequate nutrition and exposure to sunlight.

(01:38:16):
Boarding schools catering to the daughters of wealthy families were
thought to be breeding grounds for clerosis, much as they
have been thought to be hotbeds of anorexia in modern times.
The two diseases, it turns out, have much in common.
Both have been strongly associated with femininity and thought to
be diseases of the body and of the soul, born

(01:38:38):
at least in part from the turbulence of adolescence and
the restrictiveness of women's societal roles. Treatments for clerosis largely
reinforced ideas of the time about what women should be married, reproducing,
and not focused on education. Women were prescribed marriage as
a cure because they were considered unmarriageable if an educated

(01:39:00):
Scanlon says, so it was essentially a way to kill
two birds with one stone, stop her from receiving an
education and restore her to her proper place in society,
while also stopping the progression of the disease. So what
did happen to clerosis? The answer is likely threefold. The
symptoms were shunted to a different diagnosis, hypochromic anemia. Treatments

(01:39:25):
became more effective by focusing on diet rather than on virginity,
and doctors with young female patients no longer expected to
find chlorosis everywhere they looked. Much about the disease remains mysterious.
It's unknown, for example, whether the afflicted always turned green.
A nineteen eighty paper on the disease in the British

(01:39:46):
Medical Journal suggested that possibly many saw greenness because they
believed they ought to, and that the Moniker green sickness
might have been due to the women involved being metaphorically green.
I e. In experienced another reason closis may have disappeared
there were bigger, flashier diseases to worry about. Public health

(01:40:09):
lost interest in clarosis as larger concerns arrived on the forefront,
says Scanlon, such as shell shock associated with the First
World War, influenza, and the pandemic of nineteen eighteen adolescent
girls not getting their periods, even if it did turn
them green, took a back seat and then faded away.

(01:40:43):
There is an urban legend about a seventeen year old
student in Indiana by the name of Carmen Winsted, who
was killed when she was pushed into an open sewer
by five girls at her school whom she thought were
her friends. At the time, the school was having a
fired drill. Carmen was new to the area. Her father
had recently lost his job and had to move to

(01:41:05):
another state in order to find new employment, and the
relocation mid term had been hard on Carmen, who had
to leave her friends behind and attend a new school
in Indiana. Carmen had a hard time making new friends
at the school as no one was particularly interested in
befriending the new girl, and initially she would spend the

(01:41:25):
majority of her time alone walking from class to class
and spending her breaks alone speaking to no one. Eventually, however,
she started hanging around with a group of five other
girls whom she considered to be her friends. However, she
soon discovered that they had been talking about her behind
her back and spreading vile rumors about her around the school.

(01:41:48):
When she confronted them about it, they took to bullying
her every day, making her life a complete hell. One day,
after the bullying had become too much for her, she
had decided to stay able after school and tell the
head teacher what had been going on, but she was
killed before being able to do so. After lunchtime, the

(01:42:09):
school announced they would be having a fire drill, and
when the alarm bell went off, all of the students
made their way out into the yard where roll call
would be taken. The five girls saw Carmen standing near
an open sewer and decided to embarrass her in front
of the other students. They crowded around her, called her names,
and pushed her around until she finally tripped and fell

(01:42:29):
down into the sewer. The five girls thought this highly
amusing and were giggling when the teacher called out Carmen's
name and one of them replied that she was down
in the sewer. The teachers looked down the manhole and
could see Carmon's body lying at the bottom among all
the sludge, and they called the police. Before long, her

(01:42:50):
body was recovered. Her neck had broken when her head
hit the ladder, and her face was badly damaged when
she finally hit the concrete at the bottom. The students
were all questioned, but as no one except for the
girls who pushed her had seen anything, all guilty parties
managed to lie their way out of it. They all
told the same story that she had lost her balance

(01:43:12):
and had fallen in and the death was eventually ruled
an accident. Several months later, many students at the school
started receiving emails and messages on their MySpace accounts titled

(01:43:34):
they Pushed Her, which told the truth of what had
really happened that day. Carmen had not accidentally fallen into
the sewer, but had been pushed. The emails did not
disclose the identities of the guilty parties involved, but rather
threatened that there would be horrible consequences should they not confess.

(01:43:54):
Many thought this was a horrible prank to be played
on those with the memory of the tragedy still fresh
in people's minds. But the five girls involved in Carmen's
school were by now extremely worried that someone knew what
had happened and was threatening them. A few days later,
one of the girls involved in Carmen's death was at

(01:44:15):
home taking a shower, which she began hearing a strange
cackling sound that appeared to be coming from the drain,
and quickly exited the bathroom in fear. That night, when
her mother went to her room to say good night,
she found her daughter's room empty, and after calling all
of her friends and their parents, eventually called the police.

(01:44:36):
They scoured the area and eventually found her dead and
disfigured and left to be found in the sewer. Then
another girl was found one of the five friends in fact,
and another and another, until all five girls had somehow
met the same fate, dead and disfigured at the bottom

(01:44:59):
of sewers, with their necks broken and their faces torn
off from the fall. While you would think that would
be the end of it, Carmen is apparently still not satisfied.
According to the urban legend, over the years, she has
become a twisted entity whose sole purpose is to have
the truth of her death known, not content only with

(01:45:22):
the deaths of the guilty parties. Today, she will visit
anyone who does not believe the story and tell it
to others. So you know now why I'm telling it
to you, and why you should share this episode just
in case, because whether it be by a drain, toilet
or shower, Carmen will come and get you in the

(01:45:45):
night as you sleep, and you will wake up in
the sewer hearing her cackling before you meet the fate
of the others. She is killed down there, unless, of course,
you believe her story and share it with others. Shut

(01:46:08):
in that over time your darkness h

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}ITALY'S MOST BIZARRE SERIAL KILLER: The Soap Maker of Corregio #WDRadio WEEK OF SEP 07, 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

ITALY'S MOST BIZARRE SERIAL KILLER: The Soap Maker of Corregio #WDRadio WEEK OF SEP 07, 2025

On Purpose with Jay Shetty