May 19, 1780: The Day America Thought the World Was Ending

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
The nineteenth of May seventeen eighty was a remarkably dark day.
Candles were lighted in many houses, the birds were silent
and disappeared, and the fowls retired to roost. A very
general opinion prevailed that the day of judgment was at hand,
the end was coming, and God had lowered his hand

(00:38):
over the people of New England for their wickedness, or
at least that's what a lot of religious zealots believed.
In the spring of seventeen eighty, the American colonies were
embroiled in a war with England. Murder was rampant, and
rebellion was in the air. It seemed that the people
of America were doomed. But what really happened that day

(01:03):
we don't know for sure, even well over two centuries later.
One thing we do know, it was not the end
of the world when the sky went completely black. I'm
Deren Marler and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos. I'm

(01:29):
Darren Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every
week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore,
the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre unsolved and
unexplained coming up this hour. No one likes uninvited guests,

(01:52):
and it appears neither do those in the afterlife. Ask
Pedro Rodriguez Filo, he'll tell you he's a nice guy.
After all. He may be a serial killer, but he
only kills bad guys. But first, what caused the sky
to go dark in the middle of the day back
in seventeen eighty We begin with that story. If you're

(02:16):
new here, welcome to the show. And if you're already
a member of this weird O 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. 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,

(02:39):
which comes out seven days per week, along with my
other podcasts like Retro Radio, Old Time Radio, in the Dark,
Church of the un Dead, in a classic nineteen fifties
sci fi style podcast called Auditory Anthology, you can enter
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

(03:02):
find it all at Weird Darkness dot com. Now bult
your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and
come with me into the Weird Darkness. In the days

(03:25):
leading up to May nineteenth, seventeen eighty, residents in New
England were feeling relieved that winter was finally over. Spring
had brought mild temperatures, which were wonderful after a particularly
hard cold winter, the most hard, difficult winter that was
ever known by any living person. There was deep snow

(03:47):
and severe cold, with widespread suffering from all points north
to Maine, southeast to Georgia, west to Detroit, and south
to New Orleans. The harbors in Boston and New York
had frozen over, solid travel ceased, social interaction was non existent,
and shipping was halted. When the land began to finally

(04:09):
thaw in early March, many bridges were damaged by the
ice flows, but people were so happy to have warmer
weather that they hardly cared. And then in May came
New England's Dark Day. In the days leading up to it,
Residents in many parts of New England had noticed that

(04:29):
the sky was cloudy and murky at dawn. The sun
had a pinkish hue to it at midday and offered
up spectacular copper sunsets. In Weston, Massachusetts, Samuel Phillips Savage
remarked that there was a remarkable thick air, and that
the sunrises and sets were very red. The evening's moon

(04:52):
also gave off a pink reflection. Just a little past
nine on the morning of May nineteenth, Reverend Tom Savage
noted that there came on an appearance over the whole
visible heavens, a light, brassy hue, nearly the color of
pale cider. By ten am, the sky had turned dark.

(05:15):
Crickets began chirping, and cows returned to their stalls. A
preternatural night had fallen all over New England. Every farmer, schoolboy, fisherman,
young woman, blacksmith, clergyman, and laborer gazed upward for the
missing sun and gasped at the remarkable and sudden elimination

(05:37):
of all light. A deep shadow had fallen, and everything
bore the appearance and gloom of night. Noonday meals were
served by candlelight. The newspaper known as the Massachusetts Spy
reported that one could scarcely see to read common print.
And it was the judgment of many that at about

(05:58):
twelve o'clock the daylight was not greater, if so great,
as that of bright moonlight, and no object was discernible,
but by the help of some artificial light. Samuel Savage
of Weston could not even read his watch even as
he stood by his window. His neighbor was forced to
quit spreading manure in his field, as he was no

(06:20):
longer able to discern the difference between the ground and
the dung. At Sudbury, Massachusetts, experience, Richardson remarked that it
was so terribly dark that we could not see our
hand before us. In Connecticut, the legislature adjourned after looking
out the chamber windows, and then hurried home to their families.

(06:42):
The members of the Council of Safety lobpied Senator Abraham
Davenport to do the same, as the day of judgment
may very well be at hand, But he reportedly and
very wittingly said, the day of judgment is either approaching
or it is not. If it is not, there is
no cause of an adjourning. If it is I choose
to be found doing my duty, I wish therefore that

(07:05):
candles may be brought. Lawyer William Pinchon of Salem, Massachusetts
recorded that most people scurried about with melancholy and fear.
Everyone that is, except for the sailors, who went hallooing
and frolicking throughout the streets and shouted lewd remarks that women,
as they drunkenly tried to entice them to remove their clothing.

(07:29):
Religious zealots clutched their bibles, sure that doom was coming.
A number of Biblical passages referred to sudden darkness and
attributed it to divine retribution and the Lord's day of judgment.
Most then thought that the Second Coming was at hand,
and that surely the end was nigh. Needless to say,

(07:50):
they rushed to the churches to repent. Many clergymen noticed
that their pews were full, and one reverend even retorted
to a question posed to him about the glooms origin,
that he was in the dark about the matter, just
as you are. Some writers claimed that there was a
sulfurous odor in the air. Many other accounts pouring in

(08:13):
from all over New England indicated a whiff of burnt
leaves and smoke. Many birds were found dead on the ground,
having blindly flown into structures or possibly asphyxiated by a
thick smoke pall By the next morning, things got back
to normal, and the sun returned as its effervescent self,

(08:34):
and it occupied its right place in the sky. New
England's Dark Day was finally over. It came, it went,
But what caused it? We'll talk about that when Weird
Darkness returns. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marler.

(09:21):
If you're a weirdo and proud of it. You can
find Weird Darkness t shirts, buttons, hoodies, office supplies, clothes
for your kids, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs and more in
the Weird Darkness Store, with dozens of designs to choose
from and a variety of colors to match your style.
You can grab some weirdo merchandise for yourself or maybe
as a gift for the weirdo in your life by

(09:42):
clicking on store at Weird Darkness dot com. Well, it
wasn't the Second Coming, although many thought it was, but
the dark Day in New England that came out of
nowhere what caused it After all this time, it remains
a mystery, but we know that it was not a

(10:03):
lunar or solar eclipse. For one, a lunar eclipse during
the day does not bring darkness to Earth. There was
an annual solar eclipse on May fourth, seventeen eighty, but
the only place that it made things go completely dark
was southwest of Africa, in the extreme southern Atlantic Ocean,
a long way from New England, and it only lasts

(10:26):
for about a minute and a half. Besides that, American
colonists were familiar with solar eclipses. They'd seen them on
August fifth, seventeen seventy six, January ninth, seventeen seventy seven,
and June twenty fourth, seventeen seventy eight, and no one
thought the world was coming to an end. The last
one had even been predicted by Benjamin Franklin in Poor

(10:50):
Richard's Almanac. It should also be noted that a few
months after the Dark Day, on October twenty seventh, seventeen eighty,
a scientific expedition of four professors and six students funded
by Harvard College, foundered in the woods of Maine near
pennebascad Bay, as they had hoped to glimpse a total

(11:11):
solar eclipse. Unfortunately, they missed it. Reverend Professor Williams had
miscalculated the path of the eclipse and led the group
to the wrong area. This was subsequently dubbed as the
Lost Eclipse of seventeen eighty. The point is that the colonists,
in addition to the scientists of the day, were aware

(11:32):
of and could easily identify a solar eclipse. Could it
have been caused by a dust storm? That is unlikely.
In those days, there were no dust storms of a
magnitude to cause the day to turn completely dark. In
the past century, the worst of all American dust storms
was a series of destructive storms that took place during

(11:55):
the infamous dust Bowl that scoured the Great Plains in
the nineteen thirties. Drought and the accompanying erosion compounded the
Great Depression with famine, as farms that lost their topsoil
stopped producing crops and forced a migration westward by families
who had lost their homes and wandered into California looking

(12:15):
for work. More major dust storms struck North Dakota and
rained dirt on Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, New York, and Washington,
d C. The winter of nineteen thirty four and nineteen
thirty five even yielded a red snow in New England.
The king of dust storms during the Dust Bowl was

(12:36):
definitely Black Sunday, taking place on April fourteenth, nineteen thirty five.
It was one of a few dozen black blizzards that
took place in the American Heartland during the nineteen thirties.
Residents east of the blow could not see more than
five feet ahead of themselves, but no such storms occurred

(12:56):
in seventeen eighty. There is no record of them from trappers, explorers,
or Native Americans west of New England at the time.
Others have suggested a volcanic eruption, but this is also unlikely.
One of the most destructive volcanic eruptions in terms of
voluminous ash emitted over a very short time period, happened

(13:20):
oddly only three years after this Dark Day and lasted
for a period of eight months. On June eighth in
seventeen eighty three, in Iceland, a volcano began spewing ash
mixed with noxious sulfur dioxide. The resulting devastation that killed
plant life and livestock, was compounded by dark, low lying clouds.

(13:43):
This haze caused many deaths across Western Europe and altered
the Earth's climate. Over the next few years. Great Britain
suffered through the sand summer of seventeen eighty three after
the poisonous cloud drifted across Scandinavia, Prussia, and France. This
volcanic dry fog kept ships at port as they were

(14:05):
unable to navigate, choked many residents to death, severely inhibited
crop growth, and inferred a blood red sun and sky.
During the years immediately following the eruption, the weather fluctuated wildly.
Extreme weather birthed incredible hailstorms, severe winters, and ironically sweltering heat,

(14:28):
as was the case during the Dark Day. This deadly
haze and bizarre meteorology was attributed to divine retribution upon
a sinful population and sparked cries of the end is nigh.
The only American volcanic eruptions that took place near the
year seventeen eighty were in the late eighteenth century at

(14:50):
Mount Saint Helen's and at the Lava Dome of Mount Hood. Again,
Native Americans and pioneers have not come forward with any
records or accounts that would indicate a blanketing ash plume
that blew eastward from the Cascades or the Rockies toward
New England. The most convincing cause for the dark Day

(15:11):
is a forest fire. In Sydney Purley's Historic Storms of
New England, he notes that early in May of seventeen
eighty there were major forest fires along the shores of
Lake Champlain, most likely triggered intentionally, only to rage out
of control by accident. New settlements were being made in
northern New Hampshire, and deforestation was usually carried out by axe,

(15:34):
blade and fire. During this period, New England was predominantly
covered with forests. Fields for farming were the creations of
the settlers, and for all intents and purposes, not native
to the New England landscape. The land clearing method was basic.
These trees were deliberately cut half way through at breast

(15:56):
high in late autumn, and during the winter, brisk winds
would toss many of the half cut trees. To take
down the remaining trees, woodsmen would cut a tree down
on the perimeter of the lot and allow it to
topple against another to create a domino effect, with the
momentum of one falling timber continuing on to the next

(16:16):
falling tree, until a whole lot would be piled high
in sub cases over twenty feet deep. When the snow
melted and the lumber dried, it was then torched in
late April or early May. The remaining ash was used
as a fertilizer for crops in the spring of seventeen eighty.
It is believed some of these fires burned out of control.

(16:41):
Where were the fires that blanketed New England in smoke
and darkness coming from in Weir, New Hampshire? A six
inch deep soot was reported on the ground, indicating that
it was close to the source. In Boston on the
afternoon of May eighteenth, the day prior to the dark day,
a breeze sprang up and blew a gathering smoke to

(17:04):
the south. The following day, the wind changed direction several
times before blowing from the east in an onshore breeze
that caused a heavy fog. That fog then collided with
the front composed of the timber smog and rain clouds
swept up from the southwest. Could this have been a

(17:25):
rare occlusion of a major warm front that was woven
with thick smoke moving from the southwest and then saturated
and stalled by cooler, moist salt air moving from the
east couldn't have caused a thick cloud layer to stall
over New England for several hours and consequently blot out
the sun on the dark Day, Considerable rain fell in

(17:49):
Maine as thunderstorms with vivid lightning moved across southern New Hampshire.
Only a little rain fell on Massachusetts. This would explain
why this meteor logical anomaly occurred in New England and
only on a single day. As the storm came together,
the thick smoke front stalled it out, causing darkness storms

(18:13):
in one location and hardly any rain in another. There
was no guarantee that this was the reason for the
dark Day, but one thing we do know is that
in all of American history it never happened again. When

(18:35):
weird darkness returns, nobody likes uninvited guests, and it appears
neither do those in the afterlife. Also ask Pedro Rodriguez Filo.
He'll tell you he's a nice guy. I mean, after all,
he might be a serial killer, but well, he only
kills bad guys. Those stories are coming up on Weird Darkness.

(18:57):
If you, or somebody you know struggling with depression, dark thoughts,
or addiction, please visit the Hope in the Darkness page
at Weird Darkness dot com. There, I've gathered numerous resources
to find hope and solutions for those suffering from thoughts
of suicide or self harm. There's the Suicide and Crisis
Lifeline as well as the Crisis text Line. Both have

(19:18):
trained counselors at all hours to help those in need,
and the page even includes text numbers for the United States, Canada,
United Kingdom and Ireland. Those struggling with depression can get
helped through the Seven Cups website and app, and there's
information for anybody to read more about what depression truly is,
how to identify it through our friends at ifred dot org.
And there are resources for those who battle addictions, be

(19:40):
it drugs, alcohol, or self destructive behavior, along with help
for those related to addicts. The page has links to
help you find a therapist or a counselor you can
find help for those who have a family member with
Alzheimer's or dementia. Help for those in a crisis, pregnancy,
and more. These resources are always there when you or
somebody you love needs them. On the Hope in the
Darkness page at Weird Darkness dot com That's Weird Darkness

(20:04):
dot com slash Hope. After a couple of months of searching,

(20:46):
we finally found a new place to live within the
city of Vladivostok. We wanted to be near to both
of our jobs and be in proximity to at least
a few stores. Neither of us owned a car, so
when we found it a apartment flat near the city's
trolley network, it seemed like the best of both worlds.
The building was brand new, one of the high rise

(21:08):
apartment blocks under construction all over the city. As we
were touring with the building manager, he took us through
several flat layout options, including one bedroom, two bedroom, et cetera.
There was no paint on the walls yet, just sheet
rock with the random spatter of plaster covering screw holes
here and there. We found a corner unit on the

(21:29):
tenth floor with a view of a nearby park, and
we completed all the necessary paperwork. Now we just had
to work out the move in schedule. And wait for
the apartment to be finished. I ended up staying in
the city midweek at the same tiny hotel where we
had been staying following our last move out. Ludya spent

(21:50):
most of her time at Babushka's dhaka in the country,
taking the forty five minute train ride back and forth
to her job. On the weekends, we'd meet up there
and spend time together. It wasn't ideal, but it was
temporary and we were making it work. The short fall
season had come to a close and winter was already
settling harshly across the coastline. Daytime temperatures dropped from a

(22:14):
comfortable fifteen degrees celsius during the day to about five degrees,
and it froze every night. We started to make plans
for the long, complicated winter holidays, which are so uniquely Russian,
the first of these being the Feast of Saint Nicholas
in early December. If I had to relate it to

(22:34):
any American holiday, I'd say it's probably like Thanksgiving, mostly
revolving around a large family meal. As the snows began
to blanket the Primorski territory, Lagya and I spent more
and more time exploring the area around Babushka's village. The
forest was absolutely breathtaking, covered in snow like something from

(22:56):
a fairy tale. Massive groves of pine, deep green mixed
with sharp white snow, picturesque icy ponds, with random deer
or red foxes wandering about as they've done since life
evolved in that ancient place. One of the places both
Ludya and I wanted to visit was the Dead Village,

(23:17):
which several villagers had told us about. No one could
remember the official name of the town, and it had
been abandoned since about nineteen thirty. One villager told it
was vacated due to a massive influenza outbreak. Another told
us it was abandoned due to the risk of sinkholes
which threatened to swallow the entire village at any moment.

(23:39):
Babushka didn't say much about it. When we'd ask it's dead,
she would say, would it make it less dead if
you knew why? It was easy enough to locate the
two villages had once been sister towns. There was still
the rough outline of a country road which connected both locations.

(24:00):
To access was actually by horseback, which was itself a
new experience for me. Ludia drove while I sat behind her.
The journey was a bit slow going in the light,
fluffy snow, and we had to stop several times. Finally,
around noon, we came to the remains of a checkpoint.

(24:20):
These cookie cutter checkpoints were classic to the early Soviet Union.
They provided a sort of guard post and emergency stopping
location in case travelers needed help along the road. They
were painted bright blue and could hold a couple of
Soviet police troops. Several of the old posts were still
visible around other villages in the area, though they had

(24:41):
been long abandoned. This one was a little more than
an outline, as the ceiling had obviously collapsed decades ago,
allowing the wooden skeleton to rot and fail. The village
itself was a ghost. You could make out where roads
had been once by the tree lines. There were a
few twisted frames of what looked like horse drawn wagons

(25:04):
or farm equipment. After ninety years, there wasn't much left
that hadn't been claimed by the trees or been blasted
to dust by the harsh winters. The entire area was
completely still, The only sound coming from the feet of
our horse as we made our way through the frozen
remains of the town. Around the corner from a massive

(25:26):
live oak, we found a stone house. Unlike the other
wooden structures, which had all but been reclaimed by the forest,
this building stood mostly intact. The front facing windows were
lined in stained glass, which Ladya said meant it was
most likely the country home of some aristocrat, probably repurposed

(25:47):
after its former owner was arrested or shot in the revolution.
We stopped, dismounted, and explored the exterior of the ruins.
One of the outer walls had collapsed and gave us
full access to the first floor. Looking upward, a flood
of light filtered down through the rotted floorboards, nothing blocking

(26:09):
it out. As the roof was completely gone. Over the
first room, the narrow rays of light played tricks in
the shadows, making it look like the walls were moving
dancing as we passed by. As we walked through the
main entry hall, Ludya took several steps up what remained
of the stairwell and stopped. I was distracted looking at

(26:33):
what appeared to be bullet holes in the plaster near
the front door. Ludia called my name a few times
before I finally heard her and passed back around to
where she was standing. She was frozen in place, her
foot actually hanging where it had stopped as she had
prepared to step up. Her eyes were locked on a

(26:54):
dark area just through a crooked doorway at the top
of the stairs. Do you see it, she asked me
in a whisper. See what, I asked her back. I
stared up at the open doorway, streaming my eyes to
make out anything, but there was only blackness. There's some
one standing there looking at us. She motioned with her

(27:19):
hand as she said it, Moving closer to Ludya. I
took a position directly next to her, standing on the
same step. Nothing. I took another step up. The wood
of the stairs was spongy and giving way more than
I liked. At about the fifth step, I stopped. I
could see something, perhaps what she was talking about. It

(27:43):
had shape, and it was roughly the size and outline
of a man. The edges weren't clear, so it was
hard to make out an exact size or the dimensions.
The form was a dark, smoky gray against the black
of the hallway behind it. It definitely appeared to be
watching us, standing or floating or whatever. You'd call it.

(28:05):
Just at the top of the steps. I stood there, dumbfounded.
I had never seen anything like that before. My mind
churned over the possibilities, but I was aware of a
nagging fear as well. Something told me I should leave,
but I couldn't turn my attention away. Ludya called out
to the figure from behind me, asking who or what

(28:27):
it was. The sound of her voice is what it
took to snap me back from my transfixed stare. Backing
down the stairs, I took her hand and directed her
a few steps back toward our entry point. We should go,
I said to her, and she agreed. Before we moved on, however,
she raised her camera from its place around her neck

(28:49):
and snapped a photo. The intense light from the flash
shocked my eyes and it took several seconds for them
to recover. When they had, I returned my gaze to
the stairwell, the figure was gone. We made our way
back out of the ruins and to the horse, but
the ride back we couldn't stop talking about it. To

(29:10):
this day, when I close my eyes and think back
to it, I can picture things so clearly. Ubushka, as usual,
was not impressed when we told her what we saw
as van yegosti, she said to us, which meant even
ghosts hate uninvited guests. Pedro Rodriguez Filo is one serious

(29:51):
serial killer. He's responsible for at least seventy murders, ten
of which he committed before reaching the age of eighteen.
When it comes to Pedro Rodriguez Filo, though being a
good guy can actually pay off. Filo targeted victims who,
for the most part, weren't just average, everyday people. Described

(30:13):
by one analyst as the perfect psychopath, Filo went after
other criminals and those who had wronged him. Filo's life
started out rough from the moment he came into the world.
He was born in nineteen fifty four in minister Raise, Brazil,
with an injured skull as a result of a beating
his mother took from his father while she was pregnant.

(30:36):
Filo committed his first kill when he was only fourteen
years old. The victim was his town's vice mayor. The
man had recently fired Filo's father, who was working as
a school guard, for allegedly stealing food from the school,
so Filo shot him in front of city hall with
a shotgun. His second murder wasn't long after Filo went

(30:59):
on to murder another guard, who was the supposed real
food thief. He fled to the area of Mogi dos
Crusis in sal Paolo, Brazil. Once there, Filo killed a
drug dealer and participated in some burglaries as well. He
also fell in love. Her name was Maria Olympia, and

(31:21):
the two lived together until she was killed by gang members.
Olympia's death spurred Filo's next crime spree. He tracked down
several people related to her murder, torturing and killing them
in his mission to find the gang member who took
Olympia's life. The next notorious murder, Pedro Rariguez Filo committed,

(31:42):
was also one of vengeance. This time the target was
his own father, the Singe man. He committed his first
murder on behalf of Filo's father had used a machete
to kill Filo's mother and was doing time at a
local prison. Pedro Rodriguez visited his father in Ja, where
he killed him by stabbing him twenty two times. Then

(32:05):
taking things to a whole other level, Filo proceeded to
cut out his father's heart before chewing on it. Filo
was finally arrested on May twenty fourth, nineteen seventy three.
He was placed in a police car with two other criminals,
including a rapist. When the police opened the car door,
they discovered that Filo had killed the rapist. It was

(32:29):
the start of a whole new chapter, being thrown in
prison where he was surrounded by convicts. Well, that was
Filo's bread and butter. Filo killed at least forty seven
of his fellow inmates, which made up a majority of
his murders. It's reported that the convicts Philo killed while
incarcerated were ones who he felt deserved retribution. He was

(32:51):
interviewed saying that he got a thrill and joy out
of killing other criminals. He also said that his favorite
method of murder was by stabbing or hacking with blades.
The Felo was initially sentenced to one hundred and twenty
eight years in prison the crimes he committed while he
was in jail up to sentence to four hundred years,

(33:13):
but by Brazilian law, the maximum prison sentence is only
thirty years. He served an additional four for the murders
he carried out in prison, so in two thousand and seven,
unbelievably he was released. Pedro Rodriguez Filo is notorious in Brazil,
not just for the many people he killed, but for

(33:35):
promising the murder of other criminals. I have another story
for you coming up in just a moment. Also, I
want to let you know that in tonight's Sudden Death
overtime content which you can hear only in the podcast,
a forest in beautiful West Sussex, UK is only beautiful
from the outside, for within, witnesses have seen mysterious things,

(34:00):
including UFOs, mysterious deaths, and unexplained vanishings. That story is
in the podcast version of tonight's show, which I'll be
uploading very early on Monday, and you could subscribe to
the podcast absolutely free at weird Darkness dot com, slash listen,
That's Weird Darkness dot com, slash listen tell us. Conspiracy

(34:48):
theories have emerged over the years concerning the planning, execution,
and cover up of the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.
President Kennedy's death is, without a doubt, one of the
most controversial and hotly debated events in history, even before
one takes into account any elements of the paranormal any

(35:08):
subject that combines UFO research with the Kennedy assassination is
a literal gold mine for conspiracy theorists and truth seekers alike.
One such theory has remained constant and involves just that
convoluted tales of UFO cleanup crews intersecting with shadowy, shady,

(35:28):
puppet mastered governments. Leelasab from Paranormality Magazine introduces us to
Majestic twelve, more affectionately known as MJ twelve if you're
not familiar, MJ twelve is a supposed secret society that's
often mentioned in discussions regarding you Guessed It, UFOs and

(35:49):
the Kennedy assassination. The existence of MJ twelve has never
been officially confirmed, but many documents that unofficially describe its
clandestine activities have been circulated over the years. MJ twelve
was allegedly begun in nineteen forty seven under the direction
of US President Harry S. Truman, and was comprised of

(36:09):
a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and various government officials.
Their central mission was facilitating the research and recovery of
UFO events. One of the most famous incidents involving extraterrestrial
phenomena is, of course, the Roswell UFO incident, which occurred
in nineteen forty seven when an unidentified object crash landed

(36:31):
on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Some conspiracy theorists
claim that MJ twelve was formed specifically to investigate the
Roswell crash and to cover up any evidence of extraterrestrial life.
It's worth mentioning that President Truman is believed by some
to have played a role in the Kennedy assassination, either
as part of a cover up or as a co conspirator.

(36:55):
According to some, Truman was completely aware of MJ twelve's activities,
and he may have even ordered the assassination of Kennedy
in order to prevent him from revealing the truth about
UFOs and extraterrestrial life to the American people. Richard Doty
is another name that gets mentioned in discussions about MJ
twelve and various UFO related activities. Doty is a former

(37:19):
special agent to the US Air Force Office of Special
Investigations and is widely believed to have been involved with
several alleged disinformation campaigns. For the most part, Doty is
known as a shady counter intell agent whose job is
basically to mix the truth with lies and to pretend
to be friends with people in order to extract information

(37:40):
from them. Doty is admitted to being involved in the
spreading of false information about UFOs in the past, but
denies any involvement in the Kennedy assassination. However, some believe
this writer included that Doty is not completely innocent and
that he was a part of a wider reaching conspiracy
involving the CIA, military intelligence, and organized crime to eliminate Kennedy.

(38:05):
Knowledge of MJ twelve's so called existence stemmed from a
series of supposedly leaked secret government documents. As these reports
started to make their rounds in the early nineteen eighties,
the FBI affirmed that the documents were, in no uncertain terms,
completely bogus. Many euthologists support the FBI's analysis, and they
also believe that these government documents are little more than

(38:29):
an elaborate hoax. Doctor William A. Lester alludes to one
such document in his book, A Celebration of Freedom, JFK
and the New Frontier. Lester reports that while researching material
for his book, he discovered an alleged top secret memo
written by Kennedy on November twelfth, nineteen sixty three, but
according to doctor Lester, something seemed off about the document,

(38:53):
causing him to question its validity. In the memo, the
President instructed the director of the CIA to organize all
their UFO files and to debrief him on anything that
was considered to be unknown no later than February of
the next year. Sadly, we all know how the rest
of that story plays out, and ten days later, Kennedy

(39:15):
was assassinated. Let's take a step back for a second, though,
and talk about that memo. Was this document authentic? Was
Kennedy about to uncover forbidden information on UFOs and had
to be eliminated? Or is this memo a phony piece
of controlled opposition whose intended purpose is to continue to

(39:36):
sow doubt and confusion among the masses. Whatever the explanation is,
one thing is certain about the powers that be. The
United States federal government routinely declassifies documents after a certain
amount of time passes. A certain amount of time usually
means that everyone involved is either passed on or they

(39:56):
are too old to care. After a document is declassified,
private citizens can submit requests to access them. The memo
in question would have been declassified sometime around the year
two thousand and six or two thousand and seven, but
as far as I've been able to tell, the only
other place this top secret memo has been seen is

(40:17):
in Lester's book. At the time of the writing of
this article, the JFK Library in Boston, which holds copies
of all of Kennedy's letters, was also unable to find
a carbon copy of said memo in the presidential archive.
Despite the fact that JFK kept carbon copies of all
his letters, even the classified ones, no evidence of anything

(40:38):
like the memo was found. All of the President's offices
files were searched, including CIA, NASA, and National Security files,
and they found more of the same. There was no
further evidence of the November twelfth, nineteen sixty three memo
to the Director of the CIA. Additionally, it's alleged that
the memo in question does not resimble other top secret

(41:01):
memos written by Kennedy during his presidency. While the idea
of a vast conspiracy involving government officials, extraterrestrials, and secret
organizations like Majestic twelve may seem appealing or even plausible
to some. It is important to approach such claims with
a healthy dose of skepticism and critical thinking, but to

(41:22):
also keep asking the real questions. In this instance, I'm
reminded of another former President, Bill Clinton. It is said
that shortly after being elected president in nineteen ninety three,
Clinton asked a close friend of his, who he would
later appoint to his cabinet in the Department of Justice,
to find out two very important details for him. Who
killed Kennedy? And are there UFOs? Thanks for listening. If

(41:54):
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 by searching for Weird Darkness.
Not only we hear a copy of tonight's show, you'll
also receive daily episodes of the Weird Darkness podcast. You
can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, even YouTube. You
can follow the show on social media by visiting the
contactsocial page at Weirddarkness dot com, and please tell others

(42:18):
about the show who love the paranormal or strange stories,
true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like 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 Weird Darkness dot com.
While there, you can also find my other podcasts like

(42:38):
Retro Radio, Old Time Radio, in the Dark, Church of
the Undead, in a classic nineteen fifties sci fi style
podcast called Auditory Anthology. All stories in Weird Darkness are
purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can
find links to the stories or the authors in the
show notes, which I've already posted to the Weird Darkness website.
New England's Dark Day written by Troy Taylor. Dead Village

(43:02):
is by Drake from your ghost Stories dot com. The
Real Life Dexter is by Kara Goldfarb for All That's Interesting,
and MJ twelve JFK and UFOs is from Paranormality Magazine.
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 Mark twelve, Verse thirty. Love

(43:24):
the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind and with all
your strength and a final thought, You're not the average
of your environment and the people around you. The truth
is that you are an average of the choices you make.
Nobody is going to push you to do what you
are not supposed to do. It is you who chooses

(43:44):
to do it. I'm Daryn Marler. Thanks for joining me
in the Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darren Marler, and

(44:20):
this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week you'll find
stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lower the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre,
unsolved and unexplained coming up this hour. When you think
of a con artist, you think of slick players like

(44:43):
Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorf from The Sting Masters of Disguise,
and id like Frank Abagnail from Catch Me if you Can,
or even the mysterious Kaiser SoSE from The Usual Suspects.
But I'm guessing what you never picture in your head
is a Victorian woman, Madame Rachel. She never got her
own movie, but she was the real deal. But first

(45:08):
in September eighteen seventy one, strange and mysterious sights and
sounds disturbed and annoyed the teacher and pupils of the
male Primary School in Charles Street, newberry Port. And then,
thanks God Creepy, we begin with that story. If you're
new here, welcome to the show. And if you're already
a member of this weirdo family, please take a moment

(45:29):
and invite someone else to listen. 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 could find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, which comes
out seven days per week, along with my other podcasts

(45:51):
like Retro Radio, Old Time Radio, in the Dark, Church
of the Undead, in a classic nineteen fifties sci fi
style podcast called Auditory Anthology. You can enter 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

(46:11):
all at weird Darkness dot com. Now vult your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with
me into the weird darkness. Some places are unavoidably creepy,

(46:40):
like the windowless black room in your neighbor's basement, or
Chuck E Cheese, or when your humble little town serves
as a template for an HP Lovecraft story. Newberry Plantation,
about thirty miles northeast of Boston, was settled and incorporated
in sixteen thirty five by a group of about one
hundred colonists from Wiltshire, England. In seventeen sixty four, the

(47:05):
General Court of Massachusetts declared the part of Newbury bordering
the Atlantic Ocean to be a new town named newbury Port,
consisting of six hundred forty seven acres and three hundred
fifty seven homes, the smallest town in Massachusetts at the time.
The logic was that the residents of newbury were largely farmers,
while those in Newberry Port were typically engaged in activities

(47:28):
related to shipping, merchants, shipwrights, etc. Leading to discord in
public affairs, and they decided to be quite literal rather
than fast and loose with the naming conventions. Newbury Port
prospered from the Atlantic slave trade privateering during the American
Revolution and War of eighteen twelve, molasses importing from the

(47:48):
West Indies and associated distilling operations, shipyards, whaling, and a
substantial fishing fleet that trawled the Georgia's banks, but by
the opening of the twentieth century, very little remains of
its former maritime importance. Thus, when HP. Lovecraft needed a
prototype for a decrepit New England fishing village for his
nineteen thirty one novella The Shadow over Innsmuth, he found

(48:12):
fertile ground in a visit to newberry Port. Later admitting
Innsmyth is a considerably twisted version of newberry Port. One
thinks that perhaps he was trying to be generous to
the residence of newberry Port. The abbreviated version at the
plot of The Shadow over Innsmuth is that following excessive
sailor deaths in the War of eighteen twelve, the town's

(48:35):
south sea trade faltered. A cult called the Esoteric Order
of Dragon was founded to foster amicable relations with the
fishy looking cuthulhu Mythos deep Ones, briefly reviving the fishing
trade through regular sacrificial rituals until depopulation through a mysterious plague,
followed by cross breeding with the deep Ones, resulting in

(48:56):
a whole lot of genetic weirdness, after which the entire
population of Vincemuth is rounded up by the US Treasury Department,
shipped off to a concentration camp, and subsequently disappear from
the ahistorical record. While none of this actually happened to
the people in newbury Port, thank goodness, the town does
have the distinction of hosting a well documented case of

(49:17):
a haunted schoolhouse, not quite as impressive as intercourse with
the deep Ones, but hinting at the town's enduring creep factor.
It was a dark and stormy school day in September
eighteen seventy one strange and mysterious sights and sounds disturbed
and annoyed the teacher and pupils of the male Primary

(49:38):
school in Charles Street, newbury Port, but no report was
made to the school committee until late in the month
of October eighteen seventy two, when the annoyance became more
serious and the police were asked to investigate and ascertain,
if possible, the cause of these disturbances. Ghosts had to
work a little harder in the nineteenth century renew England

(50:01):
to get your attention, rattling a few chains, opening a
few doors, changing the room temperature, while curious, appear to
have been regarded as spectrally amateur, certainly not rising to
the level requiring the involvement of government officials and hints
at haunting. Started mildly enough at the Charles Street School.

(50:21):
It said the disturbances started as early as eighteen seventy,
but such goings on were kept on the down low
by the school committee, although it was positively and seriously
reported that one or two teachers gave up their charge
rather than suffer from the constant intrusion of an invisible
agency with which there was no possible chance of a

(50:42):
fair and square contest. There was inexplicable rapid knocking and
pounding that often drowned out the voices of the teacher
and students. Invisible visitors rapping on the entryway, door pupils,
outer garments refused to stay on the hooks, and the vestibule,
pans and brushes were thrown to the floor. Levitation of

(51:03):
stove covers. A small stove in front of the students
provided heat for the classroom. Violent ringing of bells upon
the teacher's desk by an unseen force, and a number
of other minor nuisances initiated by an unidentified phantom interloper
designated a low grade in the classes of spiritual manifestations,
and perhaps in themselves, would attract little more than local attention.

(51:27):
The escalation of spectral activities can be loosely grouped into
the light, the wind, the hand, and the ghost, and
we'll take a look at these when Weird Darkness returns.

(52:09):
Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marler, and you
can get more Weird Darkness seven days a week through
the Weird Darkness podcast, which you can find wherever you
listen to podcasts on YouTube, or visit Weird Darkness dot
com slash listen and you can find a list of
all the apps where you can listen to the show
that's Weirddarkness dot com slash listen. Earlier, we were talking

(52:31):
about an event that took place in September eighteen seventy one,
well a series of events, strange and mysterious sights and
sounds which disturbed and annoyed a teacher and the pupils
of a male primary school in Charles Street in newbery Port,
but no report was made to the school committee until
late in the month of October eighteen seventy two, when

(52:54):
the annoyances became even more serious and the police were
asked to investigate and ascertain, if possible, the cause of
these disturbances. The escalation of spectral activities can be loosely
grouped into the light, the wind, the hand, and the ghost,

(53:20):
But before we delve into these, we should consider one
the earlier history of strangeness in the newbury area, two
the history of the schoolhouse itself, and three the school
mistress one Lucy A. Perkins. While the schoolhouse itself didn't
have a particularly noxious history, the greater Newbury region was

(53:41):
no stranger to all manner of the bizarre. By the
eighteen seventies, newbury Port had settled into its role as
a relatively prosperous coastal town. But two hundred years earlier,
the founding Pilgrim Fathers landed in a wilderness lightly populated
by the Pawtucket tribe of Native Americans, reduced by an
enemy tribe referred to as the Terantines. In seventeen oh one,

(54:05):
about ten thousand acres of what would become Newberry was
purchased from the grandson of the Pawtucket chief who first
encountered the colonists, for the ludicrous sum of ten British pounds.
The Pilgrims had already been there for about sixty six years,
so this seems like a mere formality. Around sixteen seventy six,
the Morse family of Newbery was harassed by demoniac annoyances

(54:29):
consisting of thunderous noises on the roof of their home
and periodic pelting of the house with sticks and stones,
which I have on good authority, may break your bones,
the movement of various objects by an invisible force, and
untying cattle in their barn. For these predations, a supposed wizard,
Caleb Powell, was charged but acquitted. In sixteen eighty, Elizabeth Morris,

(54:51):
of the same family, harassed by the phantom, was arrested
for witchcraft, but allowed to return home to die quietly
in her bed. A number of other witchcraft accusations floated
around Newbery for years, not to mention the discovery of
a two headed snake that came to the attention of
Puritan minister and Salem witch trial celebrity Cotton Mather. This

(55:12):
was all pretty much standard cull fair for colonial New England,
so apart from the superficial similarities of the Morse family
demoniac annoyances to later events, we have no strong reason
to suspect a blood soaked legacy that one assumes can
only lead to angry ghosts. Sketches of the exterior and
interior of the Charles Street Schoolhouse at the time of

(55:35):
the events are available, but don't feel any pressing need
to look them up. Think little House on the Prairie
for those unfamiliar, a schoolhouse where all the students are
crammed into a single room. An eighteen seventy three pamphlet
called the Haunted Schoolhouse at newbury Port had detailed sketches
of these schools layouts. In case you want to channel

(55:55):
your inner architect, suffice it to say it was an old,
tiny American school house. The school building was originally built
elsewhere and moved to a bare patch of ground on
Charles Street. Investigators in the eighteen seventies felt it was
important to report that the final plot of land it
came to rest on had no history of tragedy or
horrors connected with it. The only previous association of the

(56:19):
school with anything nefarious were rumors that around eighteen fifty eight,
a brutal school master so savagely beat a thirteen year
old pupil that the poor boy later died, but neither
contemporary or later investigations could authenticate that claim, despite the
fact that it provided some awesome backstory for some of
the ghostly visitations. I mean, nobody likes some random ghost

(56:43):
to simply gets off on saying boom. We need to
put a lasso around our liminal phenomena. Ghosts without a
solid narrative are really just being lazy and have abjectly
failed to consider future royalties from ghost hunting shows. Let's
talk about these schools. Mistress Lucy A. Perkins. In eighteen
seventy three, Miss Perkins was described as twenty three years

(57:07):
of age, strongly framed and full of vigor and strength.
She's of medium height and has pleasant features. Her hair
is black, her skin brown, her mouth small and somewhat sensitive,
and her eyes dark and liquid. She impresses one as
being a decided materialist and not a person to be
impressed with conceits and imaginings. Her evidence in all these

(57:30):
matters is singularly lucid and consistent. She declares that she
is not a spiritualist and that she's not a medium.
She professes an entire ignorance of the methods and literature
of this class of believers. She properly considers herself a historian,
and not a cause or an expositor of the scenes
which she witnesses. Perhaps a close observer might detect a

(57:53):
certain weariness and lassitude in her manner, but her staying
power must really be wrong to enable her to encounter
day after day the distressing peculiarities of her position. She's
taught in this building for two years, and it's hard
to fancy how a woman could pass through such an
ordeal and still preserve so much of her elasticity and strength.

(58:16):
Miss Perkins is not yielded to the conviction that she
was surrounded by mysterious powers without a hard struggle. She's
tried all means to convince herself, as well as her pupils,
that some ingenious human trickery underlies all this agitation, but
it's hardly necessary to say that she signally failed. Of course,
once the haunting seemed to be getting out of hand,

(58:39):
Miss Perkins decided it was time to alert the community,
and out of hand things got. From a lot of
unexplained noises and minor movements of objects, the schoolhouse haunting
started to get really weird. In the midst of storms,
and on heavily overcast days, the entire school room would
suddenly be illumine by a strong yellow glow with no

(59:02):
apparent light source, and with equal radiance no matter where
you were in the room. Not especially threatening and saves candles,
but nonetheless a mystery. On a more disruptive note, there
seemed to be a periodic tempest that, even on days
when there was no wind outside, the schoolhouse, rattled and
shook the building, and then entered the classroom, whirling air

(59:25):
currents above the heads of the students, without any apparent
motive force, but rapid enough and loud enough to halt instruction.
Then came the disembodied hand. According to the Haunted Schoolhouse
at Newbury eighteen seventy three, pages thirteen and fourteen, on
one afternoon at about three o'clock, a boy named Leedstone,

(59:45):
a lad of thirteen years of age, suddenly saw pressed
flat against a pane of the second row in the
partition window a child's hand. It was yellowish white in color,
entirely bloodless, and its fingers were spread wide apart. Below
the hand was to be seen a portion of the
wrist receding into the background, as though its possessor had

(01:00:06):
leaned forward. Before Lightston had time to make an outcry,
two or three of his companions had seen it, and
all together they called to Miss Perkins. She at once
hastened in to the entry, an act that consumed but
two or three seconds, and found no one there. The
doors were all closed, and the outer one was locked securely.

(01:00:26):
No one had been in the entry, and no one
had gone out of it. After the first appearance, others
of same ilk followed rapidly. The hand reappeared, and it
was again seen. It took the same position nearly always.
It became familiar to the pupil's eyes, but it by
no means became familiar to their hearts. They always shrank

(01:00:46):
when they saw it. Finally, perhaps tiring of subtle theatrics,
a full bodied apparition got around manifesting I mean the
disembodied hand. That's a nice touch, but nothing suggests a
full blown haunting like the appearance and disappearance of a
pale young boy, at first showing up where previously only

(01:01:07):
the disembodied hand had popped up. There was also no
cessation of the interminable knockings and unexplained movements of objects.
During a lesson on geography, the ghost made his presence
clearly known from the same article. The recitation began, and
it it proceeded five minutes when the boy, who was
at the head of the class, and who was standing

(01:01:28):
beside the southern door which led into the entry and
which was open, suddenly cried out with a startled voice,
there's a boy out there. Miss Perkins left her place instantly,
hurried across the room to the open door, passed through it,
and emerged upon the corridor at the further end of it.
She indeed beheld an intruder. She addressed some hasty and

(01:01:50):
impatient expression to it, and hastened towards it, with the
intent of ejecting it from the building. She received no reply.
It retreated to the corner opposite the foot of the
garret stairs, and there it stood quietly. Miss Perkins approached.
It stood facing her with its arms loosely held together,
and the left hand partially extended. Miss Perkins approached within

(01:02:13):
four feet of the apparition, when a realization of its
true character rushed upon her, she stopped, overwhelmed with fear,
and gazed into its face. The figure was that of
a boy of thirteen. The visage was remarkably pale, the
eyes were blue, the mouth sad, and the whole effect
was that of extreme melancholy. The general picture was that

(01:02:37):
of a child prepared for burial, and prepared moreover in
a poor and makeshift way. The clothing was brown and
somewhat faded and rubbed. The trousers were black, and they
seemed to have belonged to a taller person, for they
were much wrinkled and creased, and they rested about the
feet in such a way that Miss Perkins was almost
unable to see the extremities. About his neck was a

(01:03:00):
wide stock like band, such as is used to keep
the lower jaw of deceased persons in their places. His
hair was of a yellowish tint, and it was thrown
back in some disorder over the head, and it was
clipped behind in such a way that the neck was
left bare. The figure was very slight, and it was
easily and even beautifully posed. There was no excitement or

(01:03:22):
perturbation visible in its behavior. It seemed entirely calm and tranquil.
Miss Perkins was able to look through this figure and
to perceive the wainscoating and the sash on the other side.
It was transparent, yet it was entirely visible. Its outline
was perfect, its surfaces retained all their integrity. Yet the

(01:03:43):
film was so scant that it seemed that a breath
could disperse it. Miss Perkins, transfixed with horror and about
to faint, grasped at the wall to support herself. At
this instant, the figure moved. It passed before the teacher,
and with its eyes still fixed upon her, gh to
the garret door, which opened apparently of its own accord,

(01:04:03):
and then began to ascend the stairs, and as ghosts
are wont to do, the boy vanished. The rest of
the story is coming up. I'm Darren Marler. Welcome back

(01:04:44):
to Weird Darkness. You can stay up to date on
everything Weird Darkness. Read original paranormal articles by me, register
for contests and more. By signing up for the email newsletter,
you can sign up for the Weird Darkness newsletter for
free at Weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter That's Weirddarkness
dot com slash newsletter. We finished now our story about

(01:05:06):
the ghost at the school in newbury Port. It passed
before the teacher, with its eyes still fixed upon her,
gliding to the garret door, which opened apparently of its
own accord, and it then began to ascend the stairs,
and as ghosts are wont to do, the boy vanished.

(01:05:27):
On subsequent days, the apparition put in a few more appearances,
repeating the same motions and moving along the same pathway
up the stairs. Then a new phenomenon presented itself, the
sounds of three distinct voices, one deep, another thin and shrill,
and yet another small and querulous, arguing in the garret

(01:05:47):
at the top of the stairs. To make matters worse,
a long, low and disagreeable laugh was periodically heard to
emanate from Miss Perkins's desk. As of eighteen seventy three,
when the d details of the haunting were first put
into print, all these spectral agitations continued to occur. After
two years, a Charles Street School subcommittee consisting of Episcopal

(01:06:11):
clergyman George D. Johnson Congregationalist pastor Samuel J. Spaulding and
the local postmaster half heartedly decided to investigate. They spent
a grand total of two hours interviewing Miss Perkins and
her students and searching the premises. They concluded that unspecified
mischievous boys who probably need an animalistic category of their own.

(01:06:32):
Considering how often they shouldered the blame for strangeness afoot
in the universe, they were the cause of all the disturbances.
So confident in their findings were these three respectable men
that they published a report in the Newberry City paper.
The postmaster refused to sign it, since the twenty four
hour news cycle had yet to be invented. Newspapers in

(01:06:53):
Boston picked up on the story, leading to the widespread
notoriety of Newbery's Haunted Schoolhouse. Based on the instigation of
the school committee, it was recommended that Schoolmistress Perkins be
granted a few weeks vacation. Between eighteen seventy two and
eighteen seventy three, a number of seances were held at
the schoolhouse, conducted by Boston spiritualists, but apparently these were

(01:07:16):
rather secretive affairs and nothing was reported regarding their results.
In eighteen seventy three, the Boston Heralds reported that one
of their clergymen, who formed the school's original investigatory committee himself,
was witnessed to the schoolhouse ghost. From Facts eighteen eighty four,
page one nineteen, the Newberry Ghost is so far from

(01:07:37):
being beaten that he has rallied his forces and carried
the war into Africa, he having appeared the other day
in a rehearsal of his most profane tricks, right under
the pious nose of a clerical member of the two
thirds committee, who reported against his existence. The minister and
his wife, who is said to possess mediumistic powers, called
at the schoolhouse at the close of the session, and

(01:07:58):
were perfectly astounded at the racket that burst on them
from every part of the house. The gentleman confessed to
a member of his church that he was as good
as frightened, but, on being asked why he didn't come
out and own up publicly, that he was satisfied there
was something in it, replied that as he had been
denouncing spiritualism from the pulpit and otherwise for years, he

(01:08:20):
could not afford to go back on himself. Also in
eighteen seventy three, a pamphlet was published entitled Expose of
newbury Port Eccentricities, Witches and Witchcraft, the Murdered Boy and
Apparition of the Charles Street Schoolhouse. It purported to have
discovered the source of the Charles Street disturbances in the

(01:08:40):
vicinity of the school. An anti social gentleman named Edward Delancey,
and the authors point out he was half French and
half Irish, possessing the peculiarities of both nationalities, and but
little sympathy with his local associates, was singularly credited with
the phenomena. It was written that in eighteen seventy Delancey
had received a spectral glass from European relatives with which

(01:09:04):
he could project images into the schoolhouse, and, having heard
of the previous disturbances, settled on the apparition of a
young boy. The author furthermore concluded that the noises, levitating objects,
and other strange phenomena are perfectly natural, and celebrated that
science is given to the world another proof of its
power over the superstitions of the day. The little schoolhouse

(01:09:27):
on Charles Street was discussed and visited by a number
of notables of the day, including spiritualist and social reformer
Robert Dale Owen popular novelist Emma Southworth. In order to
try and quell the burgeoning interest in the schoolhouse, the
newbury Port Town select Men arrested three young students and
said that they were mischievous authors of all the incidents,

(01:09:50):
which they vehemently denied and for which they could not
be held accountable since there was absolutely no proof. Famed
American jurist Oliver Way Mendel Holmes is said to have
offered one of the suspected boys a dollar if he
would confess to causing the uproar, but was coolly received.
After all, it would take a very remarkable schoolboy to

(01:10:11):
be able to make a cool breeze blow through a hot,
closed school room, or to diffuse a yellow light over
the faces of everyone in the room, including himself. Did
a schoolboy cause the walls of a building to shake
as if there were an earthquake? Could he produce nausea
in himself and his companions and account for the sound
of disagreeable laughter in the garret while he was sitting

(01:10:33):
at his desk in the school room. But the boy
Holmes talked to would own up to none of it,
not even for a dollar, and the select men, in despair,
released the three they had suspected after a morning of
fruitless questioning. Journalists often like ghosts for their entertainment value,
but they typically regard them with a kind of mild

(01:10:55):
dismissive amusement. They often love to report the strange and macabre,
but take equal relish in anything suggesting a hoax, fraud,
or other malfeasance. And if they can have it both ways,
all the better. Schoolmistress Perkins noted that in the reports
across numerous New England newspapers on the Haunted Schoolhouse, by

(01:11:15):
a large the writers captured the broad brustrokes of the haunting,
but accused many of them of embellishing their stories unnecessarily.
In the eighteen eighties, Newburyport's haunted Schoolhouse was sold by
the city, repaired, remodeled, and turned into a private residence.
One wonders what brave soul it took to make that

(01:11:37):
real estate deal, newbury Port, having taken its place in
the Gutillu mythos canon. A mere school room poltergeist seems
almost quaint, but it does make a person suspicious about
what HP. Lovecraft saw on his visit that fixed the
town as an archetypal site for intercourse with the elder gods.
As Lovecraft himself said, there may be those who say

(01:11:58):
that things in places have souls, and there'd be those
who say they have not. I dare not set in myself.
Oh and watch out for mischievous boys. There's clearly something
otherworldly going on with them. A one billion euro project

(01:12:24):
delay one of the world's largest submarine power cables linking
Scotland and England has led to a historic wartime find
that could help solve one of the strangest naval mysteries
of World War One. Marine engineers working on Western Link,
a joint venture between Scottish Power and National Grid that
will deliver renewable energy from Scotland to homes and businesses

(01:12:47):
in England and Wales, discovered the wreckage of a German
submarine while surveying the seabed off the coast of Wigdenshire.
Soon our images showed the one hundred year old vessel
virtually intact, and to identify the wreckage led experts to
conclude that it might be the UB eighty five, a
submarine that was attacked by a sea monster that prowled

(01:13:08):
off the coast of Scotland at the end of World
War One. Official accounts at the time tell us that
UB eighty five was caught on the surface on the
afternoon of April thirtieth, nineteen eighteen, and after her crew
surrendered without a fight, sunk by the British patrol ship
HMS Coreopus, which was built on the Clyde near Glasgow
by the famous shipbuilders Barclay Curlin Cove of Eldersly Dockyard.

(01:13:32):
The crew of the German submarine surrendered without resistance to
the surprise of their British counterparts. Why didn't the submarine
submerge and why did it surrender without a fight? Submarine
captain Kretch, when asked why he was floating on the surface,
said that the sub was charging its batteries at night
when a strange beast rose from the sea. He described

(01:13:54):
a monster with big eyes set in a horny skull.
Its head was small, but it had teeth that gleamed
in the moonlight. The animal was so large that the
captain claimed to cause the U boat to lurch heavily
to starboard. Every watchman began firing a pistol at the beast,
Kretch said, and the struggle continued until the animal fell

(01:14:15):
back into the sea. During the struggle, however, the front
deck coating was damaged and the sub was no longer
able to submerge. That's why you were able to catch
us on the surface, said Captain Innis Macartney. A historian
and maritime archaeologist who worked with the Western Link team
and trying to identify the wreck, concludes that the mystery
of UB eighty five may be one step closer to

(01:14:38):
being solved. He said. There are at least twelve known
British and German submarine wrecks in the waters of the
Irish Sea, and possibly others whose actual locations remain a mystery.
The characteristics of this particular wreck, which is mostly intact,
confirmed that it is a UB three class submarine, of
which we know of two that were lost in the area,

(01:15:00):
known UB eighty five and its sister boat UB eighty two.
Although I can conclude that this wreck is probably one
or the other, it is almost impossible to distinguish them
from each other except for the numbers affixed to them
during service, which have now apparently long since disappeared until
a diver finds the shipyard branding. We can't say definitely,
but yes, we are definitely closer to solving the so

(01:15:23):
called mystery of the UB eighty five and the cause
of her sinking, whether it was a common mechanical failure
or something less easily explainable. Gary Campbell, custodian of the
official Luckness Monster Sighting Register, said it's quite possible that
some large sea creature took out the submarine. An account
by the captain of the British ship HMS Hillary of

(01:15:45):
World War One a year earlier clearly shows that naval
travelers at the time were well aware of large sea
monsters that could harm their vessels. History shows that reports
of large monsters came not only in lakes such as Luckness,
but also in open worlds. For years, the giant squid
has been known as the dreaded kraken, and given the

(01:16:05):
size of the oceans, it would not be surprising if
many large species are stutle to be discovered in the
area of the sea where the attack occurred. Sea monsters
are found everywhere from the north coast of Wales to
Liverpool Bay. What the German captain said, may well be true.
It's nice to see that Nessi's sea kin was clearly

(01:16:25):
involved in the war effort. It even managed to do
damage without killing anyone. It doesn't look like I'll have
time for the story about the conwoman Madame Rachel, that
I had mentioned at the beginning of this hour, so
I will place her story in the Sudden Death overtime content,

(01:16:47):
which you can hear in the free podcast, which I
will upload very early Monday morning. You can subscribe to
the podcast at weird Darkness dot com slash listen. That's
Weird Darkness dot com listen. I do have one more
story to share with you, though, before we end the hour.

(01:17:29):
Let's face it, schools are creepy places. Elementary schools, junior
high schools, secondary schools, universities. It doesn't matter. As soon
as the buildings are empty, the place is eerie. Why
is this? While there are definitely deaths that happen at schools,
you wouldn't think that spirits would stay or return to

(01:17:50):
their alma mater as an eternal haunt. Off the top
of my head, the only other type of building that
seems to hold this constant feeling of creepiness is a
theater once the audience is left and the theater is empty.
Each theater I've ever been in holds a certain residual energy,
almost like the building itself is watching you. While it's

(01:18:13):
nearly impossible for every school and every theater to have
active hauntings, possibly because these buildings are centers of so
much energy, both physical and psychic, they retain a certain
residual haunting. However, that certainly doesn't erase active hauntings completely,
as the culprit for some of the eeriness lurking in

(01:18:35):
the halls of empty schools or theaters. And what if
the building has previously served as both a school and theater.
Would that increase the likelihood that the spirits of previous
students or audience members would stay, Would they interact with
each other? No matter what, it's pretty much a guarantee

(01:18:56):
that a building which has served as both a school
and to theatre would hold strong energies that would leave
strong and lasting impressions on modern visitors. Preanormality magazine contributor
Billy White tells us about the Mirror theaterre the haunting
there with spirits of school children and performers, The building

(01:19:19):
that sits on the waterfront at fifty one Daniels Avenue
in Vallejo, California, was originally constructed in the early nineteen
hundreds as the Bay Terrace School. At the time, Ballejo
was a Navy town and most of life centered around
the Navy base located just across a small bridge on
Mare Island. When it opened its doors in nineteen eighteen,

(01:19:41):
the Bay Terrace School hosted one hundred eighty students in
grades one through six. As the base expanded, so did
the city of Vallejo and the number of students who
needed to attend schools. By nineteen fifty seven, Bay Terrace
was too small to justify it being kept open, and
it was closed. It just so happened that at the

(01:20:02):
same time, the Mayor Island Recreation Association, or MYRA, was
looking for a new theater. The Myra Theater Guild was
originally established as a performing group in nineteen forty three.
The concept behind the group was to allow service members
on Mare Island a chance to meet off base and
perform like the rest of the LEO. The Myira Theater

(01:20:24):
Guild expanded quickly, and by the late nineteen fifties it
had outgrown traveling from stage to stage and was looking
for a theater to call its own. The Mayra dropped
the connection to Mare Island and became more of a
community organization in the mid nineteen eighties, but remained the
Myra Theater Guild, now in honor of the major star

(01:20:44):
in the Cetis Constellation. After signing the lease to the
Bay Terrorist Theater, the Myra Theater Group continued to thrive
under the direction of Dolly Nunn for years. Dolly had
very clear ideas on the performing arts that she wanted
to see at the Myra building. In fact, it's believed
that Dolly's spirit continues to monitor the operations in the building. Clearly,

(01:21:07):
the building and the group has needed to adapt and
adjust to the changing times. What brings in audiences now
was not what drew crowds in the nineteen sixties or
even the nineteen eighties. Just a few years ago, the
Amira Group was investigating the idea of hosting more movie festivals,
something extremely popular throughout the Bay Area. With members of

(01:21:30):
the board present, Following a discussion about hosting more movies
and films, an entire case of glassware shattered. While the
board members were not afraid, they quickly assumed that Dolly
was still around and letting the building know that she
absolutely did not approve of moving away from live theater.
It's absolutely no coincidence that the room where the glassware

(01:21:53):
exploded is the Dolly Nun room. Dolly is definitely not
the only ghost to still resides in the Myra Building. Also,
according to visitors and current staff, the ghosts who are
around are not only from the building's theater days. There
are clearly some students who have stayed behind. Speaking to

(01:22:14):
staff and previous guests, there are multiple reports of children
running down the halls and in many of the former
classrooms which now serve as dressing and meeting rooms. On
Halloween twenty twenty two, I have the opportunity to investigate
the Myra Building with my team. First, it has to
be said that it is an absolutely stunning building. It's

(01:22:36):
an old school turned theater that manages to feel both
comfortable as it embraces its antique roots, while also feeling
exciting with new artwork by local artists. The main thing
that stands out for the Myra Building is this is
a location that stands out to me as having the
most clearly interactive EVP using a spirit box. There have

(01:22:57):
been many stories about what is now the gentlemen resom.
When the building was a school, the room still was
the boy's restroom. While asking questions with our spirit box,
one of the questions that we asked was what day
is today? We immediately got a response Halloween. Also, when

(01:23:17):
we asked if the spirit could tell us their name,
we got the response Paul. Granted it is possible that
our box was picking up radio signals, but two intelligent
responses was extremely exciting. The greatest thing about our investigation,
at least for us, was that we had a huge

(01:23:38):
learning experience about polaroids and light with shadows. I love
to use polaroid cameras on investigations because you can't fake
a polaroid. I also love their simplicity and just the
use of them. We took two photos that gave us
pause at the Myra building. Each of the photos that
we took were in shadowy rooms with the polaroid flat

(01:24:00):
and a mirror behind one of the investigators. In each
of the photos, we found a shadow in the mirror
that was facing away from the person being reflected. There
was no way that the shadow matched the person living,
who was clearly in the photograph, or so we thought.
After some more investigation, we discovered that there is natural

(01:24:21):
phenomenon with polaroids, light flashes, shadows and mirrors that play
tricks on our brain. When you put all of these
ingredients together, it's very likely that you will get some
creepy looking photos with shadows that do not match the
objects in the photo. While this was disappointing, we were
hoping for some amazing proof of the supernatural, it was

(01:24:42):
also a fascinating rabbit hole and new fact about polaroid
cameras and film. For us, it was a relatively quiet investigation.
This definitely does not mean that there's not plenty of
activity in this beautiful building. I think the Mira Building
is a perfect example of possible paranormal activity that exists

(01:25:03):
for its own purposes and not to entertain guests or visitors.
We had the opportunity to interview a man who has
worked with Meira for many years. He'd witnessed the glass
breaking and possible Dolly Nun reaction to the introduction of
film to her theater. He told us that they've had
paranormal investigators come through the building throughout the years. There

(01:25:24):
is definitely a presence there. He has felt and heard
many things throughout the entire theater. Like many other theaters,
things go missing, lights turn off and on, Noises are
heard throughout the entire theater. While the building doesn't have
any single story of a death or tragedy, it is
a beautiful old building. I could see why a spirit

(01:25:47):
of a former student, teacher, actor, or theater patron might
want to return and make this their eternal residence. Thanks
for listening. If you missed any part of tonight's show,
or if you'd like to hear it again, you can
subscribe to the podcast in your favorite podcast app by

(01:26:10):
searching for Weird Darkness. Not only will you hear a
copy of Tonight's show, you'll also receive daily episodes of
the Weird Darkness podcast. Plus you'll hear tonight's Sudden Death
overtime content, including the story of a conwoman named Madame
Rachel and the true story of the canon Barbie Killers.
You can subscribe to Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts,
even YouTube. You can follow the show on social media

(01:26:32):
by visiting the contactsocial page at Weirddarkness dot com, and
please tell others about the show. Who love the paranormal
or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like
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

(01:26:53):
Weirddarkness dot com. While there, you can also find my
other podcasts like Retro Radio, Old Time Radio, in the Dark,
Church of the Undead, in a classic nineteen fifties sci
fi style podcast called Auditory Anthology. All stories in Weird
Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and
you can find links to the stories or the authors
in the show notes, which I've already posted to the

(01:27:14):
Weird Darkness website. The Shadow over a Newbery Port was
posted at esoterics dot com. The Mirra Theater Haunting is
by Billy White for a Paranormality magazine, and the submarine
Sunk by a Sea Monster is from Earth Chronicles. Weird
Darkness is a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And now
that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you

(01:27:35):
with a little light. First, John three, verse eleven. This
is the message you heard from the beginning, we should
love one another. And a final thought, next time you're stressed,
take a step back in hail and laugh. Remember who
you are and why you're here. You're never given anything
in this world that you can't handle. Be strong, be flexible,

(01:27:58):
love yourself and love of others. Always remember, just keep
moving forward. I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me in
the weird darkness dods. Sarah Rachel Russell was born into

(01:28:37):
a Jewish theatrical family around eighteen fourteen and became known
as Madame Rachel, an infamous criminal and con artist who
operated in Victorian London. She was purportedly a cousin to
musician Henry Russell, an English pianist, baritone, singer and composer.
She was poor and illiterate and grew up in London's

(01:28:57):
East End, using her street smarts to serve, which also
landed her in jail because she was not always on
the up and up in her dealings. In fact, in
eighteen fifty four, according to Peter Haad, Sentinel and General
advertiser for Buchanan District Quote, she appeared as a witness
to prove an alibi for a well known character named Belasco,
a fighting man who was charged with manslaughter, and she

(01:29:20):
was committed to Newgate by Lord Chief Baron Pollock, before
whom the case was tried for perjury, the evidence given
by her in support of the defense of the alibi
being palpably false. There were, however, difficulties in establishing that charge,
and after she had been a Newgate about three weeks,
she was set at liberty. Besides the occasional police trouble,

(01:29:42):
Sarah's personal life involved several men. She first married a
Manchester assistant chemist and then webbed Jacob Moses in eighteen
forty four. Exactly why her first marriage ended as unclear,
but her second husband deserted her. She then pursued another relationship,
and that one appeared lucky because her third relationship was
with Philip Levinson, also known as Levy or Leverson. She

(01:30:06):
lived with him, used his surname, and bore him six children.
Around the time she met Levinson, she was running a
stall and selling fried fish and hot baked potatoes in
the Slam area of Clement Saint Danes. She also supplemented
her income by dealing in secondhand clothes and may have
even worked as a cocurus for a brothel owner named

(01:30:28):
David Belasco. Nonetheless, at some point she fell ill and
her gorgeous black hair began to fall out. She was
desperate to save her beautiful locks and saw several doctors
hoping to find a tonic that would restore her hair
to its once previous thickness and luster. Eventually, onetonic worked,
and so she decided to go into business selling hair restoratives. Unfortunately,

(01:30:52):
she had no reputation in the field, and as there
was nothing special about her, she decided the best way
to establish herself, acquired a good reputation and obtained clients
was to link herself to someone who was already famous.
That someone was the French actress Elizabeth Felix, who was
better known as Mademoiselle Rachel. She had been mistressed to

(01:31:13):
several well known men, including Alexandra Colonawluski, the illegitimate son
of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet it was not Mademoiselle Rachel's questionable
relationships that brought her fame. Rather, she became famous once
she appeared on stage in La Vendina in January eighteen
thirty seven at the Theodredujemnas. From there, her reputation as

(01:31:34):
a tragedy in increased and became more solidified after she
achieved great stage success in London in eighteen forty one. Unfortunately,
her health was not good, and after suffering for a time,
she died on January fourth, eighteen fifty eight, at the
age of thirty six from tuberculosis. With Mademoiselle Rachel dead,
Sarah thought it'd be a good thing to link herself

(01:31:55):
to the actress and muddied the waters by calling herself
Madame Rachel. She then opened a women's headquarters that involved
selling beauty preparations that she created. However, Sarah's cosmetic business
also depended on quackery, blackmail and bullying, and according to
author Charles Kingston, she also relied principally on her knowledge

(01:32:16):
of the weaknesses of her sex, and those would be
clients whose financial position obviously precluded them from adding to
her profits. She skillfully used to advertise her merits. Sarah,
or rather Madame Rachel's remarkable marketing skills involved such things
as her giving her products exotic sounding names and describing

(01:32:36):
them as exclusive or rare. She also began consistently advertising
them in newspapers, women's magazines, court journals, and theatrical publications.
For instance, one advertisement that ran on March third, eighteen
fifty nine and appeared in the Morning Post did so
under the title Beautiful Women. It stated Madame Rachel's Blanchanetta

(01:32:58):
and Arab bloom can only be obtained at Madame Rachel's residence,
four eighty New Oxford Street, opposite in Muddy's Library. All preparations,
notwithstanding there may bear Madame Rachel's name and labels, if
obtained elsewhere than at the above address, are spurious and
decidedly injurious. Mayor two months later, it appeared as if

(01:33:19):
Madame Rachel had achieved overnight success, because by May she
was claiming that she was supplying her cosmetics to some
of Europe's most elite personages. She also suggested that there
was some sort of familial link to herself and Mademoiselle Rachel.
An example of this appeared in an advertisement she ran
in May eighteen fifty nine, quote, Madame Rachel had the

(01:33:41):
honor of supplying and furnishing the elegant cabinet toilet to
her Majesty, The Santana by whom her costly Arabian preparations
have been so fully appreciated that another order has been
received by Madame r whose success in restoring and beautifying
the complexion, imparting a bewitching brilliancy to the eyes, removing
all day effects from the skin and teeth, and adding

(01:34:02):
fresh grace and luxuriance to the hair, has been acknowledged
by most of the crowded heads of Europe and the
aristocracy of this country. Madame Rachel, as being a near
kinswoman of the late lamented tragedian of that name, manufactured
all the costly preparations for and used by that distinguished actress.
Madame Rachel's cosmetics and toilet requisites supposedly relied on exclusive

(01:34:25):
Moroccan items like desert water or liquid dew. She also
claimed to have purchased this ingredient at great expense and
had exclusive rights to use it. Moreover, she began to
allege that she was selling her unique cosmetic preparations to
women like Queen Victoria, who of course would have never
used them. Besides claiming that her preparations were free from

(01:34:49):
deadly leads and other injurious matters, she also made other
remarkable claims about her products. She maintained that the items
she sold were the purest, rarest and most fragrant productions.
She also guaranteed her clients that they would see miraculous
transformations in their skin and receive everlasting youth if they

(01:35:09):
used them. Yet, despite all her outlandish claims, her creations
later proved to be worthless, having been created from nothing
more than ordinary water and bran. Among the many cosmetic
creations that Madame Rachel sold at her salon were various washes,
an Armenian liquid and a magnetic rock dew water that

(01:35:30):
purportedly removed wrinkles, liquid flowers and herbs for the bath,
and a soothing balm. She also produced complexion preparations that
included disinfecting powders and a Circassian powder for the hands
and nails, as well as makeup that included Indian coal
for the eyes and Chinese leaves for the lips and cheeks.

(01:35:51):
Mouthwashes and dentifices were also sold, promising bright, sparkling teeth
and fresh breath. Hair preparations, creams for the face, and
numerous soaps and perfumes could also be purchased at her salon.
Madame Rachel went further and maintained that her exclusive products
were applied by enameling the face. This was a process

(01:36:13):
where clients were painted up to have perfect porcelain looking
skin that involved Madame Rachel cleaning their skin, removing any
hair or fuzz, and applying a cream, all of which
was achieved partly through the use of the Arabian baths
composed of pure extracts of the liquid of flowers, choice
and rare herbs, and other preparations equally harmless and efficacious.

(01:36:37):
At the time when Madame Rachel began hawking these beauty preparations,
the use of cosmetics was frowned upon by Victorian women.
In fact, they could not openly use them without facing
public scorn. However, that did not stop women from privately
seeking a solution, as many were desperate to maintain or
enhance their beauty, and it was at about this time

(01:36:58):
that Madame Rachel's advertisment began appearing. Her advertisements made outlandish
claims promising women that they could achieve everlasting beauty. Because
Victorian women feared they would be discovered using cosmetics, they
needed someone willing to keep their secrets, as Madame Rachel
was constantly advertising her beauty preparations. She appeared to be

(01:37:19):
just the woman they needed to help them, and because
she ran a salon, they could visit her in secret
without their friends knowing. Thus, before long, heavily veiled women
were appearing in her salon for clandestine consultations and private
beauty appointments. Madame Rachel soon learned that she did not
have to sell fake beauty preparations to obtain her client's money.

(01:37:41):
She could easily blackmail them. That was because the women
that visited her wanted to preserve their anonymity, and keeping
quiet for a fee was what she could offer them.
Yet that was not her only way to scam customers,
because she also decided that she could easily builk wealthy
customers out of their property and money. She was sure
that her clients would not sue her because they would

(01:38:04):
have to face public exposure. One customer that Madame Rachel
therefore targeted was one of her regular clients, Mary Tucker Borredale,
the tittering widow of Colonel Borredale, whom she had first
met in May or June eighteen sixty four. When Borredale
called Madame Rachel's salon and purchased some cosmetics. Borredale faithfully

(01:38:24):
continued her beauty visits. Eventually, at one appointment, Madame Rachel
gave her a twenty four page book that she'd written,
titled Beautiful Forever. The book explained her beauty philosophy and
offered tips on how women could achieve eternal beauty. Madame
Rachel also then suggested that Borredale be made beautiful forever. Unfortunately,

(01:38:45):
to do so was expensive. It would caused Borredale one
thousand pounds to have everlasting beauty, and so she hesitated
to encourage Borredale to shell out the one thousand pounds.
Madame Rachel told her that a nobleman, Lord Randala, was
interested in her and wanted to marry her. Madame Rachel
then organized a brief meeting between the two. Of course,

(01:39:07):
Lord Randella knew nothing of the fraud and later maintained
that he did not know Borredale never had any intentions
of marrying her, never requested any money from her, and
never wrote her any letters. After Boradale discovered the scam
and realized that she'd been built out of her life savings,
she decided the public scorn was worth exposing Madame Rachel

(01:39:28):
for the fraud that she'd committed against her. Borredale therefore
took action to retrieve her lost property, amounting to between
four thousand and five thousand pounds. Madame Rachel was thus
arrested and faced trial in August eighteen sixty eight. Madame
Rachel was charged with using false and fraudulent pretenses to
obtain a large amount of money and property from Borredale.

(01:39:50):
Her three day trial garnered enormous public interest, while also
generating great fear by some of her patrons that they
might be exposed. However, there was also an entertainment factor, because,
according to the Cardiff Times, each day the court had
been crowded with listeners expecting to catch a glimpse of
aristocratic depravity or middle class folly. The aristocratic depravity or

(01:40:12):
the middle class folly was aptly demonstrated when Borredale testified.
I think the book mentioned something about the sum of
one thousand guineas being required before a lady could be
made beautiful forever laughter. I understand from her that it
was necessary I should be made beautiful forever before I
was married to the rich and good man she had

(01:40:32):
introduced me to, and who, of course I understood was
Lord Randala. I did not know how the process of
enanoling or beautifying was to continue. Another laugh from the crowd.
I did take more than a hundred baths by her direction.
She always said that I must do as she told me.
Lord Renala also testified at trial. He maintained that he

(01:40:55):
had indeed been to Madame Rachel's, but he maintained that
he knew nothing of Borredale and had only given her
his card when Madame Rachel introduced them. He stated under oath,
my name is Thomas Herron Jones. I've been frequently at
Madame Rachel's shop. I never authorized her to use my
name in any way as representing a desire or intention
on my part to marry missus Bredale. I never authorized

(01:41:18):
Madame Rachel or any person to request the loan of
ten lire from her. I made no representation on the
subject of jewels or desired that it should be made.
Nothing of the kind. I never desired that I should
be considered to pass by the name of William or Edward.
I'm very anxious to see the letter stated to bear
my cipher. I had no paper with my arms upon it.

(01:41:38):
If I have any paper, it is with the direction
of the street in my monogram. I have a monogram
with two r's reversed and the coronet. And if I'd
been in the habit of writing to missus Borredale or
Madame Rachel, they would have known the correct one. Having
heard the evidence, the jury debated for more than four hours.
When they returned, they were deadlocked and unable to reach

(01:42:01):
a verdict. A second trial ensued, with the case being
retried on September twenty first, eighteen sixty eight. This time
Madame Rachel was found guilty after a mere fifteen minutes.
She was then sentenced to five years of penal servitude.
She served nine months at the Millbank Prison where she
picked Oakum, and was then transferred to Brixton, where she

(01:42:22):
served the remainder of her sentence before being released in
eighteen seventy two. Once free, Madame Rachel showed that she
had learned nothing from her imprisonment. Soon after her release,
she resumed committing fraud, and in eighteen seventy eight she
was once again arrested and tried, this time for unlawfully
obtaining from Cecilia Maria Pierce two necklaces and other articles

(01:42:44):
by false pretenses. Once again, she was sentenced to five
years imprisonment, but this time she served out her sentence
at Woking Prison. It had been reported that at trial
Madame Rachel was weak and ill, and when she entered
the Woking Prison on July fifteenth, eighteen seventy eight, the
medical staff there noted that she was indifferent in health.

(01:43:05):
Four days later, she was taken to the hospital and
diagnosed with katar. She then began to suffer from other
health issues that included rheumatism, heart disease supervened and dropsy
before she died. On October twelfth, eighteen eighty. Of her death,
the Illustrated Police News reported Madame Rachel died at five
point thirty on Tuesday morning. She did not complain. On

(01:43:26):
the contrary, she expressed herself grateful for the attention she
had received. Eliza Thomas, one of the prison matrons, said
that the deceased died in her presence on the twelfth
after a serious illness of several weeks duration. The coroner
summoned up the evidence and the jury returned a verdict
that the deceased died by the visitation of God from dropsy.

(01:43:47):
She was buried in the Williston Jewish Cemetery without fanfare
and with a headstone. Interestingly, this is the same cemetery
where Sir George Lewis, first Baronet, was buried. It was
instrument in prosecuting the case against Madame Rachel for fraud
in eighteen sixty eight. It's no secret that some places

(01:44:48):
are dangerous to visit. Those who have no knowledge about
one particular forest may think it is just a beautiful
place in Clapham outside of Worthington, West Sussex, u k. However,
those who have had the misfortune of visiting the woods
will tell you otherwise. Witnesses have seen mysterious things there.

(01:45:10):
Mysterious deaths, unexplained vanishings and unusual sightings reveal this is
by no means an ordinary place. This place has a
very long, dark and frightening history. An invisible and unknown
force seems to have a terrifying effect on all living

(01:45:31):
beings who visit the woods. Some horrifying sightings have made
people insane. It has been suggested the place serves as
a passage between our reality and the world beyond. Another
possibility is much more frightening. It seems that something evil
and sinister is lurking in the woods. What could it be?

(01:45:55):
The small village of Clapham is located a few miles
north of the town of West Sussex, UK. Clapham is
a typical English village that has existed since Saxon times.
Under normal circumstances, there is no reason why the rest
of the world should even be aware of Clapham. It's
just one of many ordinary villages in the United Kingdom. However,

(01:46:20):
numerous UFO sidings, mysterious deaths, and unexplained vanishings around Clapham
have made this place famous. As soon as you approach
the village and glance at an old oak standing alongside
the road, you can feel the mysterious atmosphere that surrounds
the village of Clapham Wood. Many people say curious events

(01:46:43):
started to take place in this region about sixty years ago,
but according to locals, there has always been something wrong
with Clapham Wood. What it is, however, no one knows.
If you dare to enter the woods, you can come
across ruins of old, long deserted houses. Some of the

(01:47:04):
houses belonged to women who were executed as witches. There's
also a certain area of soil where nothing grows. Some
believe the reason why there is no vegetation there is
because a World War One bomb destroyed the ground. Others
suggest that the circular depression was caused by a meteorite.

(01:47:26):
It's difficult to determine what exactly happened here a long
time ago, but one thing is certain. The dark soil
where no bushes, trees, green grass, or flowers ever grow,
does look somewhat creepy. During the nineteen sixties, the area
around Clapham became a hotspot for UFO activity, attracting many

(01:47:49):
ufologists and researchers. Still, what appears to be one of
the first UFO sidings in the region occurred several hundred
years ago. One day, an old woman who lived in
the woods told the other villagers that she had seen
a shining round disc that resembled the full moon. The

(01:48:09):
object was hovering over the woods. Later, it disappeared somewhere
among the trees. A short while later, the area was
filled with bad smelling smoke. What happened to the shining
flying disc? Did it crash in the woods? There was
no additional information about that case. The old woman died

(01:48:31):
shortly after she told her story. Locals avoided her. Some
people thought she was crazy, while others considered her to
be a witch. In more recent times, many people reported
sightings of strange bright lights over Clapham Wood. Some claimed
that alien craft of even landed in the area. Unfortunately,

(01:48:52):
people said that most sightings occurred at night and the
UFOs were only visible for a brief moment. The circum
stances make it extremely difficult to investigate witnesses reports. Still,
this does not prevent us from discussing some interesting UFO
sightings that took place in Clapham a late evening in

(01:49:13):
October nineteen seventy two. An engineer had just finished his
night shift and was on his way home. He was
alone in his car when he reached Fondon Road, he
suddenly spotted a large saucer shaped object over the trees.
The unknown object was hovering for some minutes before it
started to fly in circles, then within seconds it vanished

(01:49:37):
out of sight. Interestingly, several UFOs were observed in the
skies over Clapham that same month. A married couple reported
that they were walking along long furlong when they saw
a bright object in the skies to the west. At
first they thought it must have been Jupiter or Venus,
but the object began to move at a great speed,

(01:50:00):
flying straight toward them. When the UFO was over clapham Wood,
it sent a vertical beam of light straight down, aiming
at something on the ground. The beam was visible for
about ten seconds, then in a blink of an eye,
the object vanished and left the area. Perhaps one of

(01:50:21):
the most significant UFO observations was made by Paul Glover
of the British Phenomenon Research Group during the summer of
nineteen sixty seven. Paul was taking a stroll together with
a good friend. It was a calm, cloudless evening. As
they walked, they admired stars which were visible this particular evening.

(01:50:41):
Around ten pm, when both men were approaching clap of Wood,
they suddenly noticed an enormous dark mass in the night sky,
not far above their heads. The mass was so large
that Paul and his friend could no longer see the stars.
The giant dark mass was moving fast. When the object

(01:51:02):
came closer, they could see it was boomerang shaped. It
made absolutely no noise but when it passed them, the
wind was so strong that Paul and his friend had
to take cover in the bushes. Both men were convinced
it could not have been a cloud. It was a solid, large,
fast flying object. When the dark mass was gone, the

(01:51:25):
two somewhat shaken men continued their walk. Shortly later, they
suddenly noticed two bright objects high in the sky. They
were able to observe the two UFOs for several minutes.
To their surprise, a small object emerged from one of
the UFOs. It flew to the second bright shining craft.

(01:51:47):
The smaller craft appeared to enter the other UFO. It
was inside for a brief moment, then it came out again.
It took off with remarkable speed and vanished completely out
of sight. When Paul and his friend came to Clapham
Wood one hour later, they witnessed yet another spectacular sight.

(01:52:08):
Two yellow lights were visible above the wood. Some seconds later,
two more lights appeared out of nowhere, followed by three more.
There was a massive concentration of lights over the woods.
This time Paul and his friend were not observing any
solid objects, but lights. The lights seemed to come from

(01:52:29):
an unknown source inside the woods. Somewhere among the trees.
The lights kept appearing in pairs. They were very fast,
and all vanished in the night sky. The men looked
around but could not detect any type of flying craft
in the vicinity. Then the light show was over. The

(01:52:49):
sky was dark and filled with stars again. What was
the connection between the mysterious yellow lights and the huge, dark,
boomerang shaped man mass observed by Paul and his friend
just one hour earlier. Some have suggested there is an
alien underground base deep inside Clapham Wood, and this is

(01:53:11):
why UFOs are frequently sighted in the area, but no
one knows the truth. Perhaps it is true. Those who
believe in UFOs say its very likely unknown craft are
visiting Clapham Wood frequently. Some have suggested there could be
other reasons luminous lights are attracted to this place, though,
according to mister Bennett, a local priest, people in the

(01:53:34):
village have always said the wood is extremely strange. Undoubtedly
there is something wrong with this place, but few can
propose any other explanation as to what's happening around here.
Due to the large number of credible witnesses, it's difficult
to dismiss the bizarre sightings that have troubled the region
for so many years. Even more puzzling or rather horrifying,

(01:53:59):
are the mysterious vanishings and deaths reported in this area.
People and animals feel sick and behave strange when they
find themselves near the woods. Many say an unusual mist
is causing hallucinations and illusions. What kind of danger is
lurking in the woods? Are we dealing with a supernatural

(01:54:20):
phenomenon or is there a more down to earth explanation
that could account for all the scary incidents that are
happening there. Several animals have gone missing around clapham Wood,
and many pet owners say that their animals often behave
strangely when they visit there. Well trained dogs disobey orders

(01:54:40):
and seem disoriented. Whatever is lurking in the woods is
affecting different types of animals, not only dogs, but also cats, horses,
and rabbits. People who visit Clapham Wood report that they've
experienced feelings of nausea and discomfort while walking in the woods.

(01:55:00):
Some people claimed that they were suddenly being pushed around
by an unseen force. Sometimes, those who visited Clapham Wood
encountered a strange gray mist that caused hallucinations and produced illusions.
People say that the mist resolved itself into the shape
of a bear, or in some cases, into a fox

(01:55:22):
like animal. Pain is often associated with the unseen force
that is present in the woods. Two men who were
walking in Clapham Wood reported that they both experienced severe
pain at exactly the same time. One of the men
suffered an incredible headache. In his statement, he said that
he felt as if his head was going to explode.

(01:55:45):
His friend, on the other hand, could barely walk because
the pain in his stomach was so strong he was
unable to stand on his feet. The pain they felt
was indescribable. They helped each other to get away from
this terrible place. Both men were desperate and they did
all they could to escape the evil invisible force. They

(01:56:07):
were crawling on the ground, moving slowly forward. About forty
five meters further away. Both men suddenly noticed that the
pain was gone. What kind of mysterious force can be
affecting animals and people causing nausea, pain, discomfort, and hallucinations.

(01:56:28):
Researchers who have read independent reports and investigated many scary
incidents that occurred in Clapham Wood are convinced that there
is some form of energy force, radiation, or unknown power
in the area. When this energy force or power is released,
it ultimately affects all living beings who happen to be

(01:56:48):
in its vicinity. Unfortunately, so far, despite many speculations, scientists
have not succeeded in identifying this force. Strange vanish and
deaths are a part of Clapham Wood's dark history. Over
a ten year period, four mysterious deaths have occurred close
to the woods. Due to the advanced state of decomposition

(01:57:12):
of the bodies, it was very difficult to determine the
cause of death. In June nineteen seventy two, Peter Goldsmith,
a forty six year old police officer and Royal Marine officer,
disappeared in Clapham Wood. He was an experienced rambler who
was in excellent physical condition. He was last seen entering

(01:57:34):
the wood carrying a large sportbag. Police and volunteers searched
the woods, but it took six months before mister Goldsmith's
body was finally found. It was hidden in a patch
of thick bramble. Three years later, in August nineteen seventy five,
a couple was out in the woods looking for a

(01:57:55):
lost horse. Accidentally, they discovered the body of Leon Foster,
whose wife had reported him missing three weeks earlier. On
All Hallows Eve. In nineteen seventy eight, Reverend Harry Neil Snelling,
the retired vicar of Clapham Parish, disappeared while returning home
after a dental appointment. His body was found three years

(01:58:17):
later by a Canadian tourist. In September nineteen eighty one,
Miss Gillian Matthews, a thirty seven year old homeless woman,
went missing. Her body was found six weeks later. She
had been raped and strangled. People in the small village
were scared. Everyone wondered who was responsible for all the

(01:58:38):
murders in Clapham Wood. In nineteen eighty seven, Toyna Newton,
Charles Walker and Alan Brown published a book called The
Demonic Connection. The authors maintained that Clapham Wood was being
used for rituals by a Satanic cult that called itself
the Friends of Hecate. Heckate was a triple headed goddess

(01:59:00):
of the Greek underworld. Charles Walker, a council worker from
Worthington who has been investigating Clapham for more than twenty years.
Is convinced that Devil Worshippers are responsible for the abduction
of animals and deaths of missing people. There are people
who oppose mister Walker's investigation, and he has been threatened

(01:59:20):
on several occasions. Once a man pulled a pistol on him.
On another occasion, he was involved in a hit and
run incident he was knocked off his bicycle by a
speeding car. Naturally, all of this made mister Walker somewhat frightened.
He decided not to pursue the cult's activities in clapham
Wood any longer, at least not for a while. Some

(01:59:44):
years later, he met Tyda Newton, a researcher who had
been investigating clapham Wood for some time. Mister Walker and
mister Newton collaborated, compared their research, and finally published a
book together. In October nineteen eighty seven, great storms swept
across South England and most of the countryside's landscape was devastated.

(02:00:06):
Clapham Wood suffered extensive damage, and many think this was
the reason why the Devil Worshippers finally left the area.
According to Charles Walker, Clapham Wood was a normal and
peaceful place in the late nineteen eighties, but when mister
Walker returned to the area ten years later, he found
once again evidence of altars and strange fires. Obviously, the

(02:00:31):
friends of Hecate had resumed their activities, and some think
these evil people are most likely still present there today.
The presence of a dark cult could shed light on
some events happening in the woods, but it's still unknown
why there have been so many UFO sidings in the area.
What is the origin of the mysterious lights seen at night.

(02:00:54):
Why do people feel sick in certain parts of the woods.
What is the huge dark mass that so many people
have seen moving across the skies of Clapham These are
questions we still cannot answer, and these incidents require more investigation.
Clapham Wood remains an unsolved mystery. Barbie and Ken, or

(02:01:47):
Paul Bernardo and his wife Carla Homolka, are an unlikely
pair of Canadian killers. But Paul Bernardo, with the help
of his wife Carla, stalked a Canadian suburb with a
number of terrible rapes that were in the beginning of
his life of cruelty. It's believed Bernardo was responsible for
at least four murders and thirteen rapes over the years.

(02:02:10):
By all accounts, Bernardo was a salesman, and a good
one at that. He learned the skills of persuasion from
his day job and used them to lure women into
his thrall. He apparently studied Brett Easton Ellis's horror novel
American Psycho Like a Bible. After he met and married
Karla Hamocha, his sadistic streak increased. Pomoca encouraged his behavior

(02:02:32):
through their BDSM sexual lifestyle and later bloodthirsty stocking and
abuse of their victims. But where and how was Paul
Bernardo's evil born. On the surface, the Bernardos were a
perfect financially well off family. In nineteen seventy five, when
Paul was only nine years old, his father, Kenneth Bernardo,

(02:02:52):
was charged with child molestation. Horrifying rumors circulated that he'd
molested his daughter, Paul's sister. Paul Bernardo seemed to be
unperturbed by his father's crimes, though he did struggle At
age sixteen, however, when his mother revealed to him he
was actually the child of a man that she'd had
an affair with teenage, Paul's outward behavior began to change noticeably.

(02:03:15):
He verbally abused his mother, and while studying at the
University of Toronto, started picking women up at bars, after
which he would beat and humiliate them. Paul Bernardo was
handsome and charming, attributes he used to lure and manipulate women.
In nineteen eighty seven, Scarborough, Ontario, was haunted by a
series of depraved crimes. On May fourth, a woman was

(02:03:38):
snatched and brutally raped, followed by two similar assaults the
same week. The women all fit the same profile, aged
fifteen to twenty one. All the rapes included beatings, verbal abuse,
and bloodthirsty threats. After authorities concluded one man was responsible,
local newspapers quickly coined the name Scarborough Rape to describe him.

(02:04:02):
In the five years that followed, Paul Bernardo raped and
attempted to rape nineteen young women. Many were grabbed near
bus stops, but at least one woman was attacked in
her own home. Several of the victims were able to
fight the perpetrator off. Despite investigations, Sadly, police never named
Bernardo as an official suspect. Paul Bernardo and Carla Homolka

(02:04:24):
met in nineteen eighty seven, when he was twenty three
and she was seventeen. The two were strongly attracted to
each other, which intensified when Bernardo discovered that Homoka also
had an interest in SMM. Bernardo and Homoka entered into
a sado mesochistic relationship, with Bernardo acting as master and
Homoka as his slave. It said Homoka knew her boyfriend

(02:04:47):
was the Scarborough rapist and approved of his crimes, for
which he felt no guilt. When Bernardo and Homoka got engaged,
Bernardo was apparently getting bored of Homoka and wanted to
pursue Homocha's fifteen years old sister Tammy for a sexual relationship.
Amoka told him that she would love to present him
her younger sister's virginity as a gift for Christmas. On

(02:05:10):
December twenty third, nineteen ninety, at a party at home,
Amoka spiked her sister Tammy's drink with an animal anesthetic
that she had stolen from her place of work. While
the rest of her family slumbered, Hamocha pulled a cloth
soaked in halathane over her sister's mouth and took turns
and raping her with Bernardo, all the while videotaping their
twisted crime. Tammy soon started to vomit, and the couple

(02:05:34):
frantically tried to hide the evidence before they called for help.
Tammy was taken away in an ambulance but never woke up.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital. The coroner noticed
a strange chemical burn on her face, but her death
was ruled an accident caused by alcohol poisoning. On Jane
twenty ninth, nineteen ninety one, Bernardo and Hamocha were married.

(02:05:55):
On the very same day, a traumatized couple canoeing in
Lake Gibson found concrete blocks containing human body parts. These
remains belonged to fourteen year old Leslie Mahaffei, who disappeared
on June fifteenth. The girl had been abducted by Bernardo
and Hamoka, used and abused over several days, and then
horrifically discarded. On April sixteenth, nineteen ninety two, Ken and

(02:06:19):
Barbie kidnapped, abused, and killed fifteen year old Christian French.
When police realized the murders were connected, they released a
composite sketch at the murderer. A colleague from his work
tipped off authorities that the man was Paul Bernardo, regaling
the police with tales of Bernardo's disturbing love for violence.
In January nineteen ninety three, Amocha left Bernardo. Two months later,

(02:06:42):
a DNA sample taken from Bernardo proved that he was
the Scarborough rapist. He was surveiled and finally arrested in
February nineteen ninety three. Hamoka lowyered up and was granted
a plea bargain to testify against her husband. She claimed
her husband had admitted to raping more than thirty women
and painted herself as a victim. However, videotapes soon emerged

(02:07:04):
which showed Hamocha to be a co conspirator in several
of his most heinous attacks, and she went to prison
Themocha was released in two thousand and five and has
started a new family with a new husband. Paul Bernardo
was sentenced to life in prison for the rape, murder
and kidnap of two teenage girls. It's believed he murdered
and raped many more victims than the cases proven in court.

(02:07:28):
In twenty eighteen, after twenty five years in prison, Bernardo's
parole was denied. The lawyer, speaking on behalf of his
victims' families, noted that there has never been an apology
by Paul Bernardo. There's been never any indication whatsoever of remorse.
The horrifying story of the Ken and Barbie Killers has
been committed to TV and film a number of times.

(02:07:51):
A Murder Made Me Famous episode featured the couple, and
a feature documentary, The Ken and Barbie Killers explores their crimes.

(02:08:14):
Welcome to Marshport, Maine, a quaint little coastal town preparing
for their annual Winter Wonderland Festival. But beneath the lights
and holiday cheer, something evil is stirring and it's not
a mouse. When a mysterious package arrives on the doorstep
of veteran police officer Matthew Kline and his family's home,

(02:08:35):
it seems at first like a harmless holiday gift. However,
there's no tag and no sender. Inside lies an antique
wooden advent calendar with strange engravings and twenty four doors
that each shelter something dark and unspeakable. The line between
reality and nightmare quickly becomes blurred as Matthew races to

(02:08:59):
figure out the caller's origin and who sent it. But
as each door is opened and Marshport is thrust into
a sinister nightmare, Matthew realizes the terrifying truth and is
forced to relive the horrors from his past that refuse
to stay buried. The countdown has begun, and once that

(02:09:19):
first door is opened, there is no turning back. We're
Darkness resents Advent of Evil, a twenty four episode audio
saga beginning December first. Listen each day for a new
chapter through Christmas Eve, and if you'd like to follow
the story in print. The full novel is now available
in paperback and hardcover editions, as well as on kindle.

(02:09:43):
Grab the novel now for yourself or for someone else
and be ready to follow along. December first, and for
a limited time only, you can also grab an Advent
of Evil gift back, including a signed copy of the
novel by the author Scott Donnelly, wrapped up with an
Advent of Evil bookmark, pen, highlighter, hot chocolate, Chai tea chocolates,

(02:10:03):
a candy cane, and some horror stickers. The gift pack
is in limited supply, so act fast if you want
to take advantage of it. You can find links to
purchase the book or the gift pack at weird Darkness
dot com slash Advent of Evil. That's Weird Darkness dot
com slash Advent of Evil, and then be ready as

(02:10:23):
the first episode comes your way December first,

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Crime Junkie

.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;}May 19, 1780: The Day America Thought the World Was Ending

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;}Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Crime Junkie

All Episodes

May 19, 1780: The Day America Thought the World Was Ending

Stuff You Should Know