TRANSYLVANIA'S SHROUDED UFO HISTORY: 600 Years of Sightings We’ve Not Been Told About

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darn Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio,
where every week you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends,
more the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved
and unexplained coming up this hour. Sightings of unidentified flying

(00:30):
objects might seem like a recent phenomena, with most reports
occurring in the twentieth and twenty first centuries, but UFO
sightings go a lot further back in human history. In
our ancient ancestors, we're just as shocked, confused, and sometimes
terrified as we are today. But first, when you hear

(00:51):
the name Transylvania, the immediate image in your mind is
probably that of Dracula. But this Romanian town has more
creepiness than just the Count's castle. It's also a hotspot
for UFO activity and mysterious unexplained happenings. Some even think
it could be the location of a portal to another dimension.

(01:13):
We begin there. If you're new here, welcome to the show.
And if you're already a member of this weirdo family,
please take a moment and invite someone else to listen
in with you. Recommending weird Darkness to others helps make
it possible for me to keep doing the show. And
while you're listening, be sure to visit Weirddarkness dot com
and click on contact Social to follow Weird Darkness on

(01:33):
social media and also on the website. You can find
the daily Weird Darkness podcast, which comes out seven days
per week. You can enter monthly contests, find Weird Darkness merchandise,
and more. You can even send in your own true
story of something paranormal that has happened to you or
someone you know. You can find it all at Weird
Darkness dot com. Now, bult your doors, lock your windows,

(01:58):
turn off your lights, and come with me into the
Weird Darkness. Apparently, extraterrestrials have always carefully observed humans and

(02:21):
their actions, no matter the time or place they observe us.
They found us a very long time ago, but do
not want to make contact with us. Ask yourself why,
perhaps because we're not enough civilized. Transylvania, one of the
most mysterious landscapes of Europe, is such a place. This
particular region of Romania has been a UFO hotspot for centuries.

(02:46):
Most of us perceive Transylvania as a mountainous, mist shrouded place,
surrounded by mystic and closely related to Dracula, the most
infamous vampire in the world. But Transylvania is much more
than only Draculas Never Never Land, hidden deep in the
Carpathian Mountains, a region located in present day central Romania.

(03:06):
Who knows what's lurking in inaccessible ravines shadowed by high
mountain peaks of the Southeastern Carpathians. The Land of Transylvania
still remains a mysterious place where unexplained powers, superstitions, and
UFOs ruled. For a long time, people used to say
that time had stopped in Transylvania, but a century's old

(03:29):
tradition of paranormal activities continues, and unidentified flying objects have
been spotted in this region for centuries. One can say
with considerable certainty that a first account describing a UFO
phenomenon observed in the Romanian airspace was documented in the
Chronicles of the Land of Moldavia, covering the period from
thirteen fifty nine to fifteen ninety four. According to other

(03:53):
Romanian records, on October eighteenth, fifteen ninety five, the city
of Targovist ruled by Michael the Bray, the Prince of Transylvania,
who fought and won a great and crucial battle against
the Ottoman Empire. On the day of October fifteenth, a
large comet appeared over the battlefield. It stayed stationary for
about an hour. Many ancient people, including the Hindu, Babylonians, Chinese,

(04:18):
and Egyptians, kept elaborate written records of astronomical events. One
of such extraordinary events was the comet observation. In this
particular case, there is no mention in ancient records of
this comet appearance, except for an ancient engraving from sixteen
sixty five. Considering the duration of the observation about an hour,

(04:39):
the event was not any other natural phenomenon, but rather
an unidentified flying object. If we follow some other ancient records,
we learned that in the afternoon December sixth, seventeen thirty seven,
a large symbol made an appearance in the western sky
over Bucharest, located between Transylvania's Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea.

(05:00):
The remarkable red as blood and very broad occurrence remained
stationary in the sky for two hours and then split
up into two parts. Later. These two parts reunited once
again in the western sky on November twenty seventh. In
seventeen ninety three, another strange incident was reported to happen
in Floresti, a commune in Kluges County, Transylvania, when the

(05:24):
moon carried out a miracle she made a journey along
the sky for half an hour. On August seventeenth, nineteen
sixty eight, the crew of the commercial airline Terrem had
an encounter with an unidentified flying object, and it was
the beginning of the nineteen sixty eight UFO Flap over Romania,
with several encounters in the next period of time until

(05:46):
the end of September nineteen sixty eight. During routine night
weather observations. In August nineteen eighty six, an unidentified flying
object was spotted by the team of meteorologists of the
National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology in Bucharest, Romania. On
the radar screen. Appeared very well defined a horizontal line

(06:07):
about one centimeter in length. The object was stationary at
a distance of two hundred and seventy five to two
hundred eighty kilometers southwest of the station, around the city
of Sofia in Bulgaria at a height of thirty thousand meters.
A few minutes later, it made a swing like movement
and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Based on
the team's experience and aircraft observations on the radar, the

(06:30):
object did not behave in a typical manner as any
conventional aircraft do. Probably the same object of an unknown
origin was systematically observed every day for three to four
weeks in the same place above the city of Phustpoka, Transylvania,
located approximately three hundred kilometers northwest of the capital of Romania, Bucharest.

(06:52):
What do the aliens know about the strange Hooyabaichu Forest
of Transylvania? Why are there so many ufo sightings in
this particular region of the country. Do they know something
we don't uabout? You? Forest is a bizarre place that's
been the scene of unexplained happenings for centuries. Is this
Romanian place Europe's Bennington Triangle, also known as a haunted hotspot.

(07:16):
Many people have visited the strange forest. At first, they
were unable to see anything unusual except for UFOs frequently
spotted in this area. Later their videotapes and photographs revealed
objects having strange forms, from round plasma to animal like shapes.
These strange incapable of being explained. Appearances were otherwise unseen

(07:39):
by the naked eye. People saw ghostlike shaped figures, which
many believe are protectors of the old forest. The trees
have odd shapes and strange whispering, difficult to define noises
are heard. The forest is more dark than green. Many
stories circulate around the weird Bitu forest and its own

(07:59):
spirit has been known for centuries. Those who entered the
forest never left it. They disappeared. No rescue teams or
local police forces could find them. Others who visited the
forest told about their experiences. They had numerous sightings of
weird things. One woman who walked through the forest told

(08:21):
that she had the feeling that time had stopped for
a while. She could not say what happened to her,
but she later discovered an ancient coin from the fifteenth
century in one of her pockets. It seems that supernatural
powers rule this place. Is it a gateway to another world?
To another dimension? The forest's area known as the round field,

(08:42):
with a number of symmetrical circles on a radiated dark
soil is considered as the landing zone for the UFOs.
The place, however, is very difficult to find and probably
only a handful of people know its location. Many UFOs
have been seen in the Bitu Forest of Transylvania. A
spectacular sighting of a silvery daylight disc occurred at one

(09:04):
twenty three p m. On August eighteenth, nineteen sixty eight,
in the Hiya Baichu forest near Kluztapoka, Transylvania. Along with
three other witnesses. Mulbarnia, a forty five year old technician,
cited a large metallic appearance unidentified flying craft in the
sky reflecting the sunlight. The noiseless vehicle slowly flew above

(09:26):
the woods. He managed to take a first photograph of
the UFO when it suddenly began to accelerate. M Albarnia
had just the time to take two more photographs before
the object quickly assented out of sight. On Friday, June sixth,
two thousand eight, the Romanian Defense Ministry officially confirmed that
a mid twenty one Lancer fighter plane engaged in a

(09:48):
check flight on October thirty first, two thousand seven, and
was hit by four unidentified flying objects. According to an
official statement issued recently, a fighter jet was involved in
a collision with several UFOs. The incident occurred during a
routine flight near Gerla, a city of Clues County, Transylvania,
while flying at sixty five hundred meters from the ground.

(10:11):
Baffold Defense chiefs passed the UFO incident on to the
Security Committee of European Air Forces for investigation. On August fifteenth,
nineteen ninety one, newspapers, radio and television informed that a
crew of nine aboard a plane from Bucharest to Timisura, Romania,
crashed in the Transylvanian Alps. There were no survivors. Place

(10:31):
of the accident the Retizat Mountains, one of the highest
massifs in Romania and part of the so called Transylvanian
Alps the Southern Carpathians. In an official statement of the
Ministry of Transport, it was said that the tragic incident
was caused by a powerful storm. The problem is that
according to weather forecast maps issued for the region, there

(10:52):
was no storm that unfortunate night. Also, debris found that
the disaster site was not helpful enough to establish the
cause of the crash of one of the best and
long lasting airplanes of that time. After nearly a year
of hearings and thorough research, by a strange coincidence, it's
been discovered a notice entitled Mysterious Phenomenon in one of

(11:13):
the newspapers. As the article informed, a group of tourists
went on a small climbing adventure in the red Azat
Mountains of Transylvania. While climbing one of the higher peaks,
about six hundred meters from Gentiana Refuge near Sowaya Bukurie,
some persons noticed a strange light behind them. They still
continued to climb while the light was moving quite quickly.

(11:34):
At first, the light was moving with approximately constant velocity
along a linear trajectory, then began to move in zigzag,
increasing its speed and changing its color from red to
white and then to blue. And at last the light,
apparently an object, showed a wide variety of colors and
formed an ovoid shape which turned into a cylinder like

(11:56):
well contoured in very bright appearance. Suddenly, the object began
to ascend higher and higher and disappeared. Many similar unidentified
flying objects have been observed traveling or hovering over just
below the mountain range of the red Azat mountains of
the Transylvanian Alps. Could the object be responsible for the

(12:17):
crash of the plane ILL eighteen flying over the sky
reaching peaks of the Transylvanian Alps on August thirteenth, nineteen
ninety one. Transylvania has its secrets. The UFO phenomenon is
not a modern invention, according to sources, originating in ancient

(12:40):
long gone cultures, legendary masters of antiquity were able to
traverse the skies. There are countless examples of mysterious unidentified
flying objects reported in ancient times, and not just in Transylvania.
We'll look at just a few when Weird Darkness returns.

(13:11):
October is birthday month for Weird Darkness. This year makes
ten years of doing the show. But while it's our birthday,
we want the gifts to go to those who help
people who suffer from depression, anxiety, or thoughts of suicide
or self harm. That's what our annual Overcoming the Darkness
campaign is all about. It's the only fundraiser I have
all year long. You can bring hope to those who

(13:32):
are lost in the darkness of depression. You can make
a donation right now at weird Darkness dot com slash hope.
I'll close out the fundraiser at the end of October
and announce how much we raised. The more we raise,
the more people we can help to donate. Get more
information about the fundraiser and the organizations we're supporting, or
find hope for yourself or someone you know who are

(13:52):
fighting depression. Visit Weirddarkness dot com slash hope. Please donate
now while you're thinking about it Weird Darkness slash hope.

(14:23):
Almost four hundred years ago, no flying vehicles as we
know them were present in the sky, and yet some
kind of an unidentified flying object suddenly appeared and hovered
over Robazero Lake in sixteen sixty three for one hour
and a half. It is the most famous sighting of
an unidentified object in the history of ancient Russia. This

(14:46):
flying object should not be observed over the area of
Robazero Lake, approximately eighty miles southwest of belozersk or White
Lake Town. Officially, no flying vehicles were present in the
sky almost four centuries ago. They did not even exist. Still,
this amazing event, witnessed by many people, took place and

(15:07):
it cannot be explained as a missile, ball lightning, or
an airplane. An official document describing the incident originates from
the files of the Archaeological Research Center and was first
published in Historical Files compiled and issued by the Archaeological Commission,
Part four, Saint Petersburg, eighteen forty two. The document's authenticity

(15:28):
is unquestionable. Today, many newspapers worldwide would feature large headlines
on their front pages like enormous ball of fire creates panic,
or ball lightning or something else over the lake. Three
centuries ago, there were no newspapers. What did exactly people
observe that day? On this Saturday, between ten and twelve

(15:51):
o'clock local time, inhabitants of the district of Bela Zero,
White Laketown went to their local parish church in the
village of Robozero. While they were there, an object emitting
fire and a loud noise appeared in a clear sky.
It had a diameter of around forty meters or one
hundred and thirty one feet, which is the approximate height
of a modern twelve story building. The object, traveling from

(16:15):
south to west, suddenly stopped over the Robe Zero Lake,
which surfaces about two kilometers by one. It gave out
blue smoke and had two beams of fire about twenty
sizens wan sasen means seven feet coming from the object's front.
When a great crash sounded, many people left the church

(16:35):
to see what was happening outside. According to the report,
the object appeared from the direction from which we get
winter and moved across from the church to the lake.
Then the observed object suddenly vanished out of sight some
distance above the lake in order to reappear over the lake.
Less than an hour later, the people again came out

(16:56):
to the square, and the same fire suddenly reappeared over
the same lake from the same place where it first disappeared.
It darted from the south to the west and must
have been fifteen hundred feet away when it disappeared. But
it appeared in a short while back again from another place,
moving this time to the west. The third time, the

(17:17):
same fireball appeared more terrific in width and disappeared, having
moved to the west. And it had been remaining over
robozero over water for an hour and a half. And
the length of the lake is about seven thousand feet
and the width is thirty five hundred feet. The incident
was observed by multiple witnesses now experiencing yet another reappearance

(17:39):
of the mysterious flying vehicle. It went from the south
to the west and was about five hundred meters away
when it vanished again. The last time the object returned,
it was traveling westwards and then stopped. Its size appeared
to be much larger than before. It stayed over the
lake for an hour and a half. A group of

(18:00):
fishermen in their boat located on the lake approximately a
mile away, were seriously affected, suffering severe burns because of
the scorching heat. The lake water, according to the witnesses,
also looked strange. It was illuminated to their greatest depth
of thirty feet, and the fish swam away to the
shore or fleeing to all directions. They all saw that

(18:21):
and where the fireball came, the water seemed to be
covered with rust under the reddish light. It was then
scattered by the wind and the water became clean again.
In his book Astronomical Phenomena in Russian Chronicles nineteen fifteen,
the Russian astronomer de Sfaantsky wrote that the eye witnesses
saw only pieces of a meteorite that flew apart after

(18:43):
an explosion. The explosion of the meteor on the fifteenth
of August sixteen sixty three probably occurred in a southwesterly
direction during the morning before twelve o'clock and in clear skies.
Fayatsky wrote, two fragments were projected in a southerly direction
over the lake, whilst a third and four came down
in the west. According to the official explanation given by Spayantsky, however,

(19:06):
this does not account for the sighting of the people
in the boat approaching a hovering body. P stone Hill,
the Russian UFO researcher, says, and at the same time
for all who proposed another interpretation of the phenomenon. Stone
Hill explains that the life span of lightning is short. Also,
its diameter is no more than three feet, certainly not

(19:26):
one hundred and thirty feet. Moreover, ball lightning appears under
stormy weather conditions, and the weather was beautiful on August fifteenth,
sixteen sixty three. It was a sunny and warm day,
and the sky was perfectly clear. Here we're dealing with
a large flying object which approached suddenly and from nowhere.

(19:47):
The behavior of the reported flying object was definitely unlike
that of a meteor. The object was seen by many
witnesses in at least two locations, three times at different
time intervals. Fragments of me es are rejected simultaneously. As
a rule, the duration of the sighting is unclear, but
we can hardly expect more details from the witness's report,

(20:08):
which is today almost four centuries old. Is it possible
that the hour and a half refer to the whole
sighting or its part only. As for meteorites, it's generally
known that they penetrate space with a velocity of thirty
to forty kilometers per second, which corresponds to the speed
of our globe in its journey around the Sun. The

(20:30):
meteorite's fate depends upon its mass. The larger it is,
the greater the velocity. At the Earth's surface. Small meteorites
weighing ten to one hundred grams develop a speed of
several tens of meters per second. The larger ones weighing
a couple hundred kilograms show a velocity of about five
hundred meters per second. More unidentified flying objects from our

(20:55):
ancient past and weird darkness returns if you've ever wanted
to learn more about stories I share in the podcast,
you'll want to sign up for the free Weird Darkness newsletter.

(21:17):
Several times per week, you'll get an email that not
only includes the audio player with a recent episode, but
a deep dive article of that same subject, going more
in depth than what you heard in the podcast. I
also post numerous articles that never make it into the podcast,
and I share those in the newsletter too. Sign up
for the free Weird Darkness newsletter at weird Darkness dot
com slash newsletter. That's Weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter.

(21:58):
If it was a media write that showed up over
the lake three hundred and fifty years ago, it must
have been a large one, weighing from thirty thousand to
two hundred fifty thousand tons. The speed of such a
monster must have been enormous. No one, not a single witness,
would survive its approach, but in fact all witnesses did.

(22:20):
If the object, despite its large size, traveled with the
speed of less than five kilometers per second, it was
not then a falling meteor. The fishermen, who also observed
the object from their location in the boat, said that
they were unable to come closer to the object because
of the great heat coming from it, not because of
its large speed. Apparently, they could approach the object and

(22:43):
even pursue it, because its velocity was most probably similar
to that of the fisherman's boat itself. In other words,
the velocity of both the boat and the unidentified flying
object was very low. Whatever its speed, a meteorite must
finally fall somewhere, and the meteorite plunging to the ground
could hardly pass unnoticed. Still, nothing like this was documented

(23:08):
because no fall was reported. The UFO that came from
nowhere made three visitations in the area and disappeared into
the unknown. Three months later, on November thirtieth, a similar
incident took place over the same location. Was it the
same unidentified flying object back on yet another mission, No

(23:30):
one knows. To this day, no known scientific theory has
explained the phenomenon. A UFO siding occurred during the night
of September twenty fourth, twelve thirty five, in Japan. While
General George Sumi and his army were encamped, they spotted
mysterious lights in the sky. The lights were seen in

(23:51):
the southwest for many hours, winging circling and moving in loops.
In thirteen sixty one, another flying object, to drived as
being shaped like a drum, about twenty feet in diameter,
ascended from the inland sea of western Japan, and a
dark object which made a sound like a wheel, flew
from Mount Kasuga toward the west at midnight. Another very

(24:14):
interesting sighting took place in the first hour of the
night of November fourth, thirteen twenty two, a d there
was seen in the sky over Uxbridge, England. A pillar
of fire the size of a small boat, pallid and
livid in color. It rose from the south, crossed the
sky with a slow and grave motion, and went north.
Out of the front of the pile, a fervent red

(24:36):
flame burst forth with great beams of light. Its speed increased,
and it flew through the air. In eighty five BC,
the Roman historian Pliny mentioned how a burning shield, scattering sparks,
ran across the sky, and in three ninety eight AD,
in the Byzantine Empire, people observed a thing like a

(24:57):
burning globe presenting a sword shone really in the sky
over the city. It seemed almost to touch the earth.
From the zenith. On November first, fourteen sixty one AD,
a fiery thing like an iron rod, of good length
and as large as one half of the moon was
seen in the sky over Eris, France for less than

(25:17):
a quarter of an hour. This object was also described
as being shaped like a ship, from which fire was
seen flowing. Jacques Valier wrote in his UFOs in Space
anatomy of a phenomenon, and so did Harold T. Wilkins
and his Flying Saucers on the Attack. A strange sighting
of an unidentified flying object took place on Thursday December sixteenth,

(25:38):
seventeen forty two, at about eight forty pm. A witness,
a fellow of the Royal Society in London, was returning
home from a meeting when he suddenly spotted a mysterious
light arising from behind the trees and houses. His experience
took place in the vicinity of the middle of the
parade in Saint James Park. The witness signed himself as

(26:01):
and his real name remains unknown, most probably because he
wanted to avoid ridicule by the members of the Royal Society.
Almost three centuries ago, euthology and sightings of unidentified flying
objects were not subjects for public discussions. However, the question
still remains who and what could traverse the sky. In

(26:23):
seventeen forty two the Mysterious Object. The witness described this
unknown flying object as celestial, was very large, bright and
moved slowly. Some kind of flame was coming out of
its back, and it had a frame on one end
like bands of iron, as described by the witness, As

(26:44):
I was returning home from the Royal Society to Westminster
on Tuesday December sixteenth, seventeen forty two, the hour of
eight forty pm, being about the middle of the parade
in Saint James Park, I saw a light arise from
behind the trees and houses in the south by west point,
which I took at first for a large skyrocket, But
when it had risen to the height of about twenty degrees,

(27:05):
it took a motion nearly parallel to the horizon, but
waved in this manner and went on to the north
by east point over the houses. It seemed to be
very near that I thought it passed over Queen's Square,
the island in the park, across the canal, and I
lost sight of it over the Haymarket. Its motion was
so very slow that I had it above half a

(27:27):
minute in view, and therefore had time enough to contemplate
its appearance fully, which was what is seen in the
annexed figure. It seemed to be a light flame turning
backwards from the resistance the air made to it BB,
a bright fire, like burning charcoal, enclosed as it were
in an open case, of which the frame CCC was

(27:47):
quite opaque, like bands of iron at D issued for
the train or tail or light flame, more bright at
D and glowing gradually fainter at E so as to
be transparent more than half its length. The head seemed
about half a degree in diameter, the tail near three
degrees in length, and above one eighth of a degree

(28:08):
in thickness. Here's one a bit more recent, but still
ancient if you consider nineteen oh six a long time ago.
The observed saucer shaped object fell into the sea approximately
a mile away from the Phoenix Line steamship Saint Andrew.
Had it struck the ship, all hands would have been

(28:28):
killed in a few seconds. Was it a rare oceanic
super bellied or something else with an unusual flight trajectory?
The New York Times wrote on November fifth, nineteen oh six,
that the day before the steamship Saint Andrew just derived
in New York from Antwerp. Captain Fitzgerald reported a strange
event that he and his crew experienced on October thirtieth,

(28:51):
nineteen oh six, about six hundred miles northeast of Cape Race.
What happened at four thirty o'clock on that day? It
was Tuesday afternoon, and the ship Saint Andrew was sailing
in the region of the North Atlantic, approximately six hundred
miles northeast of Newfoundland, Canada. The weather was clear and bright,

(29:11):
although there was a little sunshine. Chief Officer V. E.
Spencer told later he was on the bridge and witnessed
the sighting. I saw three meteors fall into the water
dead ahead of the ship, one after another, at a
distance about five miles. Although it was daylight. They left
a red streak in the air from zenith to the horizon. Simultaneously,

(29:32):
the third engineer shouted to me, I then saw a
huge meteor on the port beam, falling in a zigzag
manner less than a mile away to the southward. We
could clearly hear the hissing of water as it touched.
It fell with a rocking motion, leaving a broad red
streak in its wake. The meteor must have weighed several
times and seemed to be ten to fifteen feet in diameter.

(29:56):
It was saucer shaped, which probably accounted for the peculiar
rocking motion. When the massive metal struck the water, the
spray and steam rose to a height of at least
forty feet, and for a few moments looked like the
mouth of a crater. If it had been night, the
meteor would have illuminated the sea for fifty or sixty miles.

(30:17):
The witness described the hissing sound as very similar to
that of escaping steam when it struck the water. The
noise was so loud that the chief engineer turned out
of his berth and came on deck, thinking the sound
came from the engine room. I've seen meteors all over
the world, but never such a large one as this,
the witness commented. When asked what would have happened if

(30:40):
the flying object fell on the ship, mister V. E.
Spencer answered the following. The ship would have been burnt
out immediately and every soul on board destroyed. I have
no doubt that many of the vessels which have been
lost at sea in apparently fine weather have been destroyed
by falling meteors. There were also others who became witnesses
to this extraordinary celestial event. On October thirtieth, nineteen oh six,

(31:04):
Captain Russ and his crew of the Hamburg American steamer
Brazilia were also in the area where the event occurred.
They reported seeing a large meteor at seven pm on Tuesday,
October thirtieth, in latitude forty seven degrees north and longitude
forty eight degrees west. Their sighting could have been a
part of that which was observed by the crew of

(31:25):
the Saint Andrew ship. However, Brazilia's crew did not see
the mysterious object around the same time. They witnessed the
incident much later. A falling missile or satellite fragment fits
much better the above description of the event, but in
nineteen oh six such technology did not exist, or did it,

(31:47):
so the question remains was the crashing saucer shaped object
with rocking motion really a super belied, a very rare
impacting body brighter than magnitude negative seventeen, of which PSI
nature is unknown. The above described observation can be considered
well documented and definitely controversial. Shouldn't a shock wave occur

(32:10):
earlier already during the object's falling. The impact of the
object on the water surface was also not powerful considering
the size of the falling body. Even if the witness
said the spray and steam rose to a height of
at least forty feet. If it really was a meteorite
that appeared to be ten to fifteen feet in diameter,

(32:30):
and the impact occurred in the ocean, then a large
steam cloud would be produced by the sudden evaporation of
the sea water. The water vapor and CO two would
remain in the atmosphere long after the dust settles. The
belide impact heats the ocean so much that a massive
hurricane forms. In this case, no hurricane was reported. Did

(32:53):
the crew of Saint Andrew's see a superblide or something
they wanted to see as a blide? Interestingly, on November twelfth,
eighteen eighty seven, Charles Fort reported that a huge object
was seen to rise out of the sea off Cape Race.
According to the report, an object describes a large ball

(33:14):
of fire was seen to rise from the sea near
Cape Race, where told that it rose to a height
of fifty feet and then advanced close to the ship
then moving away, remaining visible about five minutes. Details in
the American Meteorological Journal recount that the British steamer the
S S. Siberian, Captain Moore in command, had observed this

(33:34):
phenomenon and that the object had moved against the wind.
Captain Moore also stated that about the same place I
have seen such appearances before. I have another story about

(33:54):
a UFO siding that took place in nineteen fifty two
that you can hear in the Sudden Death overtime content
of tonight's show, which you can find in the podcast
which will be posted early Monday morning. You can find
Weird Darkness everywhere podcasts are found, or visit Weirddarkness dot com.
Slash listen coming up. You know you have a very

(34:16):
haunted county when an author can write a series of
articles about just the hotels that are haunted where you live.
We'll look at the Gadsden Hotel in Cochise County, Arizona
up next. Quite often I come across stories that I

(34:43):
can't fit into Weird Darkness or just don't feel quite
right for the show, and I still find them interesting.
Or I write an article based on a recent Weird
Darkness story. When that happens, I put it in the
Weird Darkness Blog. Sometimes it's a news story, other times
it's a video. I sometimes get inspired to write a
movie review. Just about everything I want to share that

(35:05):
doesn't end up in the podcast ends up in my blog.
I posted the blog several times a week too, so
there's always something to come back for. Just click on
blog at Weird Darkness dot com. When most people think

(35:30):
of road tripping through Arizona, they think of some of
the larger and more well known tourist attractions, hiking through
the Grand Canyon, possibly skiing up north of Flagstaff, shopping
in Scottsdale. One thing that each of these locations has
in common is that they are all located in the

(35:51):
northern half of the state, and it is a big state.
In fact, probably the most well known haunted hotel in
Arizona is the Jerome Grand Hotel, located in the mining
town of Jerome, Arizona, north of Phoenix and a little
southwest Flagstaff. What many visitors to the Grand Canyon State
miss is a small southeastern county that is full of

(36:16):
haunted mysteries. Cocheese County sits right in the southeast corner
of the state of Arizona. Its southern border runs along
the American Mexican border, and its eastern edge connects with
New Mexico. When you talk about Arizona with people who
aren't familiar with the state, many do not realize that

(36:36):
there is a whole portion of the state that lies
below Tucson. Cocheese County is one of these areas rich
in history. Cocheese County receives its name from Cochise, a
leader in a group of Chirakawa Apache who resided in
this area before European colonization. In fact, there is a
beautiful campground in the area, Cochise Stronghold, where Cochiese's remainanes

(37:00):
are rumored to be hidden. When settlers were expanding to
the west, the area that became Cochees County boomed with
miners and mining interests. Two towns that experienced a mining
boom were Bisbee and Tombstone. There was a third town, Douglas,
that benefited indirectly from the mining interests, as it was

(37:21):
the local smelter for any of the minerals found in
the area. Unfortunately, mines dry up and boomtown's shrivel. Each
of these towns have had struggles to find a foothold
in modern society post mining. Bisbee and Tombstone do so
by embracing the tourist industry. On the other hand, Douglas
straddles the Arizona Mexico border with its sister city, Agua Prieta,

(37:45):
and in twenty twenty three, is still trying to find
its rebirth in the modern economy. Out of these three towns,
Douglas is the largest, but still its population is just
around fifteen thousands, and Tombstone each have populations between three
thousand and five thousand, much smaller than their prime during

(38:06):
the copper and silver boom. The Douglas of today does
not have a lot of frills, amenities, or entertainment. The
supercenter Walmart is the main shopping resource, while there is
an old downtown area. Douglas has not had the resource
of the tourism industry to support revitalization. Its sister city

(38:27):
across the border, Agua Prieta, is much larger and contains
more of the modern conveniences and entertainment. Douglas does have
one shining star that remains from its frontier, Golden age.
The Gadsden Hotel. The Gadsden, named after the Gadsden Purchase,
originally opened its doors in nineteen oh seven. However, the

(38:48):
first hotel was destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in
nineteen twenty nine. Besides ghosts, the Gadsden has hosted Thornton Wilder,
who ended up extending his stay to two months, and
Eleanor Roosevelt. There's a chip in the large marble staircase
that extends out through the lobby. Local urban legend attributes

(39:09):
the chip to a story that Pancho Villa once rode
his horse into the lobby of the hotel and up
that staircase. While Via did stay in the hotel, the
horse in the lobby story does seem a little outlandish.
It doesn't take a lot of digging or talking to
locals and hotel faculty to hear ghost stories associated with

(39:29):
the Gadsden Hotel. Because they received so many claims of
paranormal activity, employees of the hotel began keeping records of
the paranormal reports that were brought to them by guests.
If you ask the front desk to see the paranormal records,
they will allow you to sit and enjoy the primary
accounts of encounters with the Gadsden's ghosts at your own pace.

(39:51):
It shouldn't be surprising that the beautiful marble staircase that
of Pancho Villa's legend is at the center of many
of the guest's ghosts stories in the Gadsden. The most
common and mild stories involved seeing ghostly figures ascending or
descending the beautiful staircase. I have to admit it is
such a gorgeous staircase. I can see why someone would

(40:13):
want to continue visiting it in the afterlife. Following the staircase,
the room with the most activity seems to be Room
three thirty three. Former guests who have stayed in Room
three thirty three say that they have heard disembodied knocks
throughout the room, the TV turns itself on and off,
and they have heard conversations that appear to be coming

(40:34):
from invisible visitors right inside their room. However, I spoke
with a former employee who had a darker story about
Room three thirty three. He stated that when the room
is empty, there are many times where hotel staff will
hear a deep growling that comes from inside of the
room as they walk past the door. He said that

(40:56):
they've also heard what sounds like scratching coming from inside
the room when it's unoccupied. There is truly no single
ghost story that a companies room three thirty three. Many
hotels will have a particular ghost who as a tragic story,
like one that we will look into with the Bisbee
Grand Hotel. Is whatever remains in room three thirty three

(41:19):
an entity left behind after the Gadsden's tragic fire? Is
it something darker? The ghosts of the Gadsden do not
stay in one room or on the staircase. Former managers
and former employees have encountered spirits throughout the hotel. The
former employee who spoke about their encounter in room three

(41:40):
thirty three told a story about an arcade game that
had been placed in the lobby to entertain guests who
visit the lobby's bar, restaurant, and coffee shop. However, employees
who worked the night shift started hearing the game being
played throughout odd hours. After all of the businesses had
closed down and the lobby was empty. They eventually decided

(42:02):
to unplug the machine for some peace and quiet. Unfortunately,
even unplugging the machine did not quiet these spirits that
wanted to play games late into the night. The staff
continued to hear the game after it had been unplugged. Finally,
the game was removed from the lobby. The lobby ghosts
also enjoyed calling to the employees of the hotel. Those

(42:25):
working the night staff would occasionally hear their names being
called from somewhere in the lobby. Well after the hotel
had gotten quiet for the night. When they went to
look for the source of the disturbance, there was nothing
and no one in the lobby. This is one of
those occurrences at the Gadsden that the staff is acknowledged
just comes with working at the historic hotel. Arizona is

(42:49):
a state with lots of history, and with history comes
ghosts and paranormal activity. Coochi's County is a small rural
area built mainly by and mining, farming, and ranching around
the turn of the century. Coachees County embodies much of
the legends of the wild West associated with American legend,

(43:09):
and it holds many fascinating ghost stories. Some of these
ghosts have chosen to continue to inhabit beautiful hotels in
the region. The Gadsden in Douglas is just one hotel
with both a rich history and exciting spirits. Even if
you don't encounter something paranormal, the beauty of the hotel

(43:30):
is worth a visit. Thanks for listening. If you missed
any part of tonight's show, or if you want to
hear it again, you can subscribe to the podcast in
your favorite podcast app at weird Darkness dot com slash listen.
Not only will you hear a copy of Tonight's show,

(43:52):
you'll also hear tonight's sudden death overtime content that I
did not have time to share, such as a famous
UFO incident from nineteen fifty two and the ghosts of
Hunger Valley that's only in the podcast version of Tonight's show,
which will be uploaded early Monday morning. You can find
the Weird Darkness podcast at weird darkness dot com, slash listen,

(44:13):
or search for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can follow Weird Darkness on social media by visiting
the contact social page on the website, and please tell
others about Weird Darkness who love the paranormal or strange stories,
true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries. Like you do. Doing
that helps make it possible for me to keep doing

(44:34):
the show. If you'd like to be a part of
the show, you can send in your own paranormal experiences
by clicking on tell your Story at Weirddarkness dot com.
You can also email me anytime at Darren at Weird
Darkness dot com. 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,

(44:55):
which I will upload to the Weird Darkness website immediately
after tonight's show has ended. Is there a Dimensional Portal
in Transylvania? And ancient UFO sidings were both by A
Sutherland for a message to Eagle And the haunted Gadsden
County Hotel is from Paranormality magazine. Weird Darkness is a
registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming

(45:19):
out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little
light Psalm one eighteen, verse six. The Lord is with me,
I will not be afraid what can mere mortals do
to me? And a final thought, sometimes you've just got
to look back at your past and smile at how
far you've gotten. I'm Darren Marler. Thanks for joining me

(45:42):
in the Weird Darkness. We all know someone who struggles

(46:09):
with depression, whether we're aware of it or not. It's
something those who suffer tend to deal with in silence,
in the shadows. But the organizations we are supporting with
our annual Overcoming the Darkness Fundraiser this month are working
to make it easier for those in the darkness to
come into the light, to find help, and to learn
they're not alone, that there are ways to overcome the
darkness of depression and live normal lives. I do this

(46:32):
fundraiser only one month out of the year, as October
is the anniversary month for Weird Darkness, we launched in
October twenty fifteen. It's National Depression Awareness Month, and this
month is spooky and dark, kind of like depression. If
you'd like to make a donation, or learn more about
the fundraiser, or find hope for yourself or someone you
know who struggles with depression, visit Weirddarkness dot com slash hope.

(46:54):
The fundraiser ends Halloween night at midnight. Please give what
you can. Weird Darkness slash Hope Welcome Weirdos. I'm Darron
Marler and this is Weird Darkness Radio, where every week

(47:17):
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. In the nineteen sixties, Brian Leithley
Andrew investigated and reported on numerous cases of strange objects

(47:41):
in the sky, trying to get to the truth of
what people were seeing. But when sinister events began happening
to him, he knew he had to walk away from
his career in uthology or the government might make him
go away. Seeing the disappearance of David Glenn Lewis is bizarre,
doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. What started out

(48:03):
as a strange missing person's case would eventually be resolved,
but the answer that would come would pose even more questions,
proving the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. But first,
the idea of a person changing into a wolf, or
shape shifting into some type of animal or cryptid is

(48:23):
mostly confined to the authors of fictional horror, but not
all societies and cultures are so quick to label shape
shifting as make believe we begin there. If you're 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

(48:44):
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, which comes
out seven days per week. You can enter monthly contests,
find Weird Darkness merchandise and more. You can even send

(49:06):
in your own true story of something paranormal that has
happened to you or someone you know. You can find
it all at weird Darkness dot com. Now, bult your doors,
lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with
me into the weird Darkness. For countless years, humans have

(49:40):
sat around campfires and regaled one another with tales of
mythical shape shifting beasts. These become creations, horrify and thrill
in equal measure. They chase us through our nightmares. They
play tricks on the mind during those dark winter nights,
we seem equally fascinated by the idea of humans transforming

(50:01):
into animals or they hropy. The transformation scene from an
American werewolf in London remains an iconic depiction of this
otherworldly change. Such horror reminds us of our own animalistic roots.
In modern times, most cultures see shape shifting and theyanthropy
as the work of active imaginations or the remnants of

(50:23):
a superstitious past. But as some of the entries in
this list will show shape shifting demons and which theianthropes
are not quite in the rear view mirrors of all cultures.
For example, the Tanuki. Go to Japan and you will
find the landscape peppered with statues of creatures bearing inordinately

(50:44):
large testicles. These serabic sculptures are depictions of the tanuki,
small raccoon like animals that are common to Japanese folklore. Actually,
Japanese raccoon dogs are also referred to as tanuki. Japanese
legend speaks of a tilemaker who was made wealthy from
a dancing tea kettle. The kettle was said to be

(51:05):
a shape shifting creature called the tanuki. These mythical beings
were raccoon dogs that use their shape shifting abilities to
reward the kindly acts of strangers. The teal begins with
a Shinto priest repairing an old kettle. He places the kettle,
now spick and span, on a hot stove. The priest
is horrified when all of a sudden, the object sprouts

(51:28):
arms and legs. Ouch cries the tanuki. Thinking the kettle
is cursed, the priest gives it away to a local tilemaker.
Now in the possession of a new master, the shape
shifter strikes a deal. It promises to serve as the
man's dancing kettle in exchange for his kindness and respect.
Some tanuki are said to have a much darker side

(51:50):
to them. In the Tail of the Farmer and the Badger,
a tanuki shapeshifter destroys a Japanese farmer's rice field. The
farmer ensnares the mischievous animal and vows to turn it
into tanuki soup, but the farmer's wife takes pity on
the tanuki and lets it escape. In an act of vengeance,
the tanuki murders the woman and turns her into soup.

(52:12):
The tanuki then transforms into the farmer's wife and tries
to make the farmer eat a bowl of his beloved's
delicious remains. The story gets stranger, yet an enraged rabbit,
one of the farmer's friends, takes exception to the horror show.
The rabbit punishes the tanuki by playing a series of
tricks on it. The rabbit hurls a bee's nest on

(52:33):
the tanuki, sets him on fire, and thwarts him in
a boat race. Then there are change links. It was
once believed that fairies, elves or witches would have duct
human infants and replace them with their own sinister offspring.
The original babies were either raised by the mythological creatures
or handed over to the devil as a sacrificial gift.

(52:55):
While the changeling takes on the guise of a small child,
there are obvious side that a swap has taken place.
Changelings were said to speak with greater wisdom than that
expected of a normal child. They also liked to dance, drink,
and eat. However, despite their insatiable appetite, the creatures often
displayed stunted growth. Change links are common to European folklore

(53:19):
and may even have pre Christian roots. The first documented
case of a change link was described by the Bishop
of Paris, William of Vulvagne in thirteenth century France. They
say they are skinny and always wailing in such milk
drinkers that fourg nurse maids do not supply sufficient milk
to feed one. These appear to have remained with the
nurses for many years, and afterward to have flown away,

(53:41):
or rather vanished. The brewery of eggshells test was commonly
used to confirm the presence of a change link. The
child was placed in front of a roaring fire, a
series of eggshells were filled with water and seat of blaze.
The display was enough to impress the changeling, prompting it
to exclaim, I've seen the acorn before the oak, I

(54:02):
have seen the egg before the white chicken. I have
never seen the equal of this. Parents, who felt that
they were the victims of changelingk swaps, took extreme measures.
It was thought the fairies would return the original baby
if the changeling was harmed. This meant the counterfeit children
were often burned, beaten, or starved. In reality, the changeling

(54:25):
was probably just a sickly child. The parents were likely
confusing simple childhood disorders like autism or birth defects like
spin napifida with superstitious manifestations. More shape shifters and fairy
nthropes coming up when Weird Darkness returns. If you've ever

(54:57):
wanted to learn more about stories I share in the podcast,
you'll want to sign up for the free Weird Darkness newsletter.
Several times per week, you'll get an email that not
only includes the audio player with a recent episode, but
a deep dive article of that same subject, going more
in depth than what you heard in the podcast. I
also post numerous articles that never make it into the podcast,

(55:17):
and I share those in the newsletter too. Sign up
for the free Weird Darkness newsletter at Weirddarkness dot com
slash newsletter. That's Weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter. We

(55:41):
continue looking now at various shapeshifters and they anthropes. The
pookah a mythical theory of Celtic folklore. The pooka is
a darkfurred creature that assumes a variety of forms. The
name stems from the Old Irish word for goblin. Pooka.
Has it that the pukah have used their shape shifting

(56:02):
powers to change into cats, rabbits, horses, ravens, goats, goblins,
and even humans. One of the most famous stories of
a puka is a film starring James Stewart and his
best friend, an invisible giant rabbit named Harvey. The title
of the film and stage play was based upon as well.
When asked by others what Harvey is, Jimmy Stewart's character

(56:25):
says that Harvey is a pukah. Inny. Pukah's motives are
usually unclear, demonstrating both belevolent and benevolent intentions. According to
most folklorists, the pukah usually comes out to wreak havoc
at night. These sly ranksters leave their mountaintop homes to
roam the countryside, smashing fences and spoiling crops. Its most

(56:48):
common form is reported to be that of a black
horse with golden eyes. The horse gallops around remote areas
looking for a suitable rider. Those who fail to answer
the creature's calls have no alternative but to watch as
the horse destroys their earthly possessions. It is said that
Ireland's King Brian Borux once teamed the fabled beast. He

(57:10):
leashed the polka with a bridle made from its own tale.
The king rode the puka until it was utterly exhausted.
He made the creature promise to leave both Christians and
Irishmen in peace. The puca was given a slight concession,
though it was still permitted to play its devilish tricks
on unsuspecting drunkards and evildoers. Puca can on occasion show

(57:31):
a more caring side. Some of the more superstitious parts
of Ireland believe the puka reveals prophecies and warns people
about evil fairies. They also reward acts of kindness by
helping out with manual labor skinwalkers. Skinwalkers were once normal
members of the Navaja and Oote tribes, but after embracing

(57:54):
dark magic and witchcraft, these former tribesmen ended up traveling
a very different half. The skinwalker cloaks itself in the
skin of whatever animal it wishes to become. These theyanthropes
can then become bears, wolves, owls, coyotes, and crows. According
to nava Ho mystics, the skinwalker takes on the properties

(58:15):
of that animal. For example, a tribal shaman could change
into a wolf to gain speed and agility. To become
a skinwalker, a medicine man must commit an act of
great evil, like killing a close family member or friend.
These disgraced shamans are permanently exiled from Navajo life. They
have become in Navajo tongue Ye no old ushi with it,

(58:38):
he goes on all fours. Skinwalkers are often cast out
because of necrophilia, murder, or grave robbery. They also play
sadistical practical jokes on others. They plant dismembered fingers in
homes to lure apparitions and chase frighten motorists in the
dead of night. But the skinwalker's secret weapon appears to
be corpse powder. The powder induces convulsions and causes the

(59:02):
recipient's tongue to drop out. Because they possess such formidable
knowledge of spiritual medicine, the Navajo people blame skinwalkers for death, disease,
and famine. The kumiho popularized in Korean folklore. The kumiho
or a gamiho is a nine tailed fox, but a
pensant for young men. The kumiho is actually a demon

(59:25):
who tries to lure men to their deaths by shape
shifting into a seductive woman. The demon Fox uses a
magical stone to extract the soul of its besauded victim.
In some versions of the story, the fox rips out
the liver or heart. This can take place while the
demon is engaging in sexual acts. In the story of
the Jewel of the Fox's Tongue, a shape shifting kumiho

(59:48):
slays ninety nine schoolboys, siphoning off their human energy. In
accordance with similar tales of the Kumiho, the Fox needs
to claim just one more soul to reach heaven, but
she is bested by her final victim. The Fox tries
to take the boy's energy by rolling an enchanted jewel
over his mouth. He sees through the fox's ploy and

(01:00:10):
swallows the jewel. This grants him great wisdom. He sees
no other option but to rally his fellow villagers and
hunt down the deceitful Kumiho. While calling a woman a
fox in Western culture typically refers to her beauty and desirability,
the Korean word for fox, yahwu, has negative connotations. It's

(01:00:30):
often used to describe women who are cunning and manipulative.
Tales of Kumiho aim to promote Confucian principles, warning Korean
women against engaging in sexual deviancy. The Nagwal The Aztecs
believed that animal spirits were linked to each person's life energy.
The nature of this spirit was determined through the meso

(01:00:51):
American calendar. Sorcerers who had the power to transform into
animals and were born on certain dates were known as
nagwals Omes, and the Maya thought Nagwalls were stealthily knightstalkers
who drank the blood of innocent mortals. Other reports suggest
that they could control the weather and cast bizarre illusions.

(01:01:11):
The historian Antonio di Herrera penned what are the earliest
accounts of these mysterious figures. He argued that the devil
would assume the form of a lion, tiger, coyote, lizard, snake, bird,
or other animal to Khan the Maya tribespeople of Kirkwin, Honduras.
Herrera spoke of a tribesman who, in a desperate bid
to achieve the wealth of his ancestors, embraced nogualism after

(01:01:34):
performing a sacrificial ritual in which he laid waste to
a dog or foul. The band slept, talking spirit animals
filled his dream and delivered the following prophecy. On such
a day, go hunting, and the first animal or bird
you see will be my form, and I shall remain
your companion and Nagual for all time. It's likely this

(01:01:55):
prophecy was the work of an intoxicating plant called peyote.
Its hallucinogenic proper parties were often mistaken for supernatural definations
in many parts of rural Mexico. The legend of the
Nagual lives on. Recent sightings suggest the beast has now
taken on a more feral appearance, looking like a large
dog or wolf. The Naguas have been blamed for missing persons,

(01:02:17):
stolen goods, damaged property, and dead livestock. Madame Poulay and
the Hog Child. Madame Play is an ancient deity who
played a major role in shaping the Hawaiian Islands. It's
no wonder, then, that Play plays such a pivotal role
in Hawaiian culture. Stores feature her memorabilia. The Hawaiian Volcanoes

(01:02:39):
National Park is a large painting of the goddess. There
is even a volcanic rock formation called Palay's chair. The
shape shifting goddess is also known by the name Telehannomea,
or she who shapes the sacred land. Locals said that
they have seen their goddess in the form of a
white dog or a beautiful woman. Legend has it that

(01:02:59):
Madam was born in Tahiti. She was forced to flee, however,
after seducing her sister's husband, a wise decision considering that
her sister was the goddess of the sea. The voyage
took her to the island of Hawaii, where she used
a divining rod to create a series of fire pits.
These pits represent the region's many volcanoes. Madame Poulay eventually

(01:03:21):
settled down in Hawaii and created the most active of
the island's volcanoes, Kilauea. Today's volcanic activity is said to
be more pronounced when play is anchored. Therefore not unusual
for local islanders to leave offerings to ease her mood.
In twenty eighteen, many locals celebrated the eruption of Kilauea.
The event triggered a number of earthquakes and destroyed many homes.

(01:03:44):
My house was an offering for pelas explained retired school
teacher Monica Devlin. It's an awe inspiring process of destruction
and creation, and I was lucky to glimpse it. The
goddess was romantically pursued by another shape shifter, the demi
god kip Puaa, or the hog Child. Kamapuaa could transform

(01:04:05):
into fish, plants, and a powerful human hog hybrid. Madam
Play was repulsed by the hog Child's advances, attacking him
with a torrent of fire. In the ensuing battle, Kamapuaa
wielded an unstoppable army of hogs to defeat Palay and
her relatives. The Ilimux Horrifying accounts of a predator demon

(01:04:26):
have spread through parts of Africa. One of the Bantu
tribes of Kenya, the Kakuya, named this evil hunter the Ilimieux.
Some tribe members say the ilmu takes on the form
of a healthy man. Others claim he looks like a
deformed village elder, with one of his feet jutting from
the back of his neck. According to Kenyan folklore, the

(01:04:47):
Ilimux is a flesh eating terror that can shape shift
into a replica of another human. To do this, the
Ilimu must steal the target's hair, nail clippings, or blood.
The demon can also possess a range of animals, most
often lions. Some African tribes attribute lion attacks to illimux activity,
consulting medicine men for solutions. In eighteen ninety eight, the

(01:05:10):
British Empire coordinated the construction of a railway bridge over
the Tsavo River. A large camp was established near the
site to accommodate thousands of Indian workers, and this served
as an ideal hunting ground for a pair of highly
intelligent lions, Thesavo man Eaters, also known as the Ghosts
and the Darkness, which they made into a film. The

(01:05:31):
duo worked together to outmaneuver their prey During a series
of nightly skirmishes. The lions negotiated their way around the
camp's man made traps and fortifications. They would then target
the slumbering workmen one by one, spiriting them away into
the undergrowth. These attacks went on for months, prompting hundreds
of workers to flee. News of demon tigers had spread

(01:05:53):
like wildfire through the camps. The bridge project's overseer, Lieutenant
Colonel John Henry Patterson, spent weeks hunting the mp animals,
but they were too clever to fall victim to Patterson's
many and varied traps. Eventually, after several direct encounters, Patterson
shot and killed the man eaters. Incredibly, one of the
lions took nine bullets before succumbing to its injuries. The

(01:06:16):
Layak On the Indonesian island of Bali, the wich widow
Rangda reigns supreme. She uses a formidable cult of child
eating witches to terrorize the island's superstitious population. Together, they
are known as the Lyac. During the day, the liac
blend in with the crowds. It's only after sunset that

(01:06:37):
the Lyak reveals its true form. They might spend their
nights desecrating grave sites looking for body parts to steal.
These organs are used to craft a magical concoction that
grants the Lyak its shape shifting power. Lyak can transform
into monkeys, goats, lions, or other animals. If that's not
bizarre enough, a liac can deliberately rip off its own head.

(01:07:01):
The head then flies around entrails, dangling in the wind
in search of sustenance, while the creature will happily feast
on almost any animal. It favors the blood of mothers
and their newborn babies. According to Balinese legend, Rangda's witch
army once waged a war against the King of Good Spirits.
A lion like beast called Barung ranged to cast a

(01:07:23):
spell on Barong's warriors, forcing them to fall on their
own swords, but the Great Guardian prevented this massacre by
turning his people invisible. Barrong used his mighty powers to
overcome the witch widow, restoring balance to the Hindu island.
The events of this battle are proudly depicted in Balinese
ceremonial dances. Quite often I come across stories that I

(01:07:56):
can't fit into Weird Darkness or just don't feel quite
right for the show, but I still find them interesting.
Or I write an article based on a recent Weird
Darkness story. When that happens, I put it in the
Weird Darkness blog. Sometimes it's a news story, other times
it's a video. I sometimes get inspired to write a
movie review. Just about everything I want to share that

(01:08:18):
doesn't end up in the podcast ends up in my blog.
I posted the blog several times a week, too, so
there's always something to come back for just click on
blog at Weird Darkness dot com. Brian Leithley Andrew Chronicle

(01:08:58):
reports of a plethora of strange craft in the late
nineteen sixties. Press cuttings at the time suggest that in
the swinging sixties the truth was definitely out there and
lurking in the skies over the West Midlands, but this
work made shadowy figures in the halls of power twitchy.
Brian believes they were concerned. He reckons that he'd tripped

(01:09:20):
upon dark technology being developed in secret locations. This former
electrical engineer said, society is being watched by the Department
of them. Say hello to system X quite clearly. I
had problems with phone tapping. Bloody crude phone tapping. You
could hear the click. There were too many people looking
in hindsight. It's been more than fifty years since Brian

(01:09:44):
turned his back on the UFO Bureau, and his interest
in close encounters has diminished. These days. I'm retired, he admits,
I struggle to find time to tie my shoelaces, but
he's convinced of the validity of some of the sightings,
even if work was sometimes down by hoaxers. He's also
adamant that Big Brother was indeed watching and listening in

(01:10:07):
his personal security, even safety, he says, were compromised. There
were a lot of mickey takers, he admits. One man
sent me pictures of a UFO. It was the lid
of exactly the same hand cream. My wife used the
jar there on the table in front of me. Half
a century on, the work of Brian's bureau lives on

(01:10:28):
through the yellowed archives of the Coventry Telegraph. On December third,
nineteen sixty eight, Brian publicly admitted he was a scared man.
Under the banner headline Worried UFO man gives up, he
announces the organization's closure. In the bombshell article, Brian alleged
that he'd been watched by a man with a glowing
orange face. His phone cut off whenever he attempted to

(01:10:50):
talk about UFOs, he had a phone message from a
caller speaking unusual English. I've given this thing up and
destroyed all the papers, he told the tell there have
been happenings which have worried me and frightened my wife.
For Brian, the alarm bells rang while repairing his mother's car.
Suddenly I noticed a man standing by the next door garage.

(01:11:13):
He told the paper nobody had been there before. His
face was glowing orange. As I watched, the face changed
to that of an old man before my eyes. Then
he turned and walked away. He could not describe the
first face in normal terms. It had eyes, nose, and
mouth in the proper places, but not of the shape
that we associate with the human figure. Soon afterwards, a

(01:11:36):
visit to a fellow UFO watcher in Stoke was strangely scuppered.
All the lights in the house suddenly dimmed, as though
a huge electrical load had been put in the circuit.
He said, this will happen once in a while normally,
but it kept on happening. This is most unusual. All
this started two days after I opened my bureau. I
want to publicly warn all teenage hobbyists that this is

(01:11:59):
nothing to dabble in. Lightly. Judging by the flood of reports,
Brian was in the right place to experience extraterrestrial activity
at the time. The Coventry Telegraph carried page after page
of sightings, and he was not alone in being gripped
by et fever. He believes the flood of sightings coincided
with experimental research by the government. The Rolls Royce factory

(01:12:22):
was nearby. He pointed out, Coventry folk, even city policemen
were experiencing close encounters on a daily basis. The dramatic
reports can best be described as of their time. Frankly,
some of the Coventry Telegraph reporters seemed to have approached
the topic with tongue firmly in cheek. For example, headline

(01:12:42):
UFO became a mum September twenty eighth, nineteen sixty eight.
A flying saucer which gave birth over Willenhall has been
reported to the Unidentified Flying Object Information Center of mister
Brian Leithley Andrew. Eyewitness phoned mister Leithly Andrew to report
that the mother UFO was a giant's spear like object
seen in nineteen fifty three. Sparks came from the underside

(01:13:04):
of the UFO, which gave birth to a small sphere.
The incident was seen by people in a bus queue
near Willenhall Traffic Island. And there's more. Headline flying saucers
not a load of tripe September twenty fourth, nineteen sixty eight.
Flying saucers with the greatest mystery of our time and
should not be dismissed as a load of tripe, Mister

(01:13:24):
Wilf Greanaw told not eaten rotary Club. Mister Granaw is
managing editor of the Austin Motor Carriage Company, which has
works at Solihull and Uneaton. Mankind, he said, has been
seeing strange things in the sky since the beginning of
recorded history. Mister Granow spoke of making two sightings himself
over Coventry through binoculars. He said, as a result, I

(01:13:45):
believe in UFOs. All I can repeat is UFOs must
be piloted by beings from other worlds or else they
are a natural phenomena in our atmosphere. And yet more
headline saucer over city, say women March thirty five, nineteen
sixty nine. Two Coventry women believe there may have been
a flying saucer over the city during the weekend, after

(01:14:07):
they were awoken by an unearthly high pitched whining accompanied
by a glowing light. I've been all over the possibilities
and that's the only explanation I can think of, said
twenty eight year old Patricia Hughes. Do not be too
skeptical about UFOs Back in the nineteen sixties and early
nineteen seventies, members of the constabulary were less than shy

(01:14:29):
about admitting that they had seen UFOs. After all, the
whole nation were closet believers. On February twenty fourth, nineteen
seventy one, four bobbies gave their story to the Coventry Telegraph.
It reported PC Brian Hewitt of b Subdivision said, we
were attending a job at Lethel's Lane at six fifteen
am when we all saw a strange object in the sky.

(01:14:51):
It was not a meteorite or anything like that. There
were three single white lights in the sky over the
nun Eaten area and moving at a great speed in
a westerly direction toward Birmingham. They then turned northwards. They
were at the height of about two miles and the
lights did not belong to the same object. Because they
were so far apart, they appeared to be in formation.

(01:15:12):
They were also traveling at a tremendous speed, because at
aircraft flying at say six hundred miles per hour at
that height would appear to be going very slowly. I
don't know what they could have been. I don't believe
in flying saucers or anything like that, and I have
tried to look at it in a recent way. I've
checked with air traffic control at Birmingham Airport and the
first aircraft to land there was later than the time

(01:15:34):
we saw those lights. I cannot explain it. Such was
the space fever that the police actually appealed for UFO sidings.
On January fourth, nineteen seventy two, Warwickshire Police Sergeant Mike
Davies told the Telegraph, don't be too skeptical about UFOs.
I asked people to whom sightings are reported to listen

(01:15:55):
to what is said. Then they can deduce what the
object was not and speculating what it was. I believe
there is something beyond our comprehension and our technology. The
tendency is to take a few statements and then to
make a sweeping statement about what an object was. People
are too prepared to dismiss the subject. The officer added,

(01:16:15):
I have yet to be convinced that some information about
UFOs is not withheld by the authorities. But supposing there
was a statement that we were being invaded by people
from another planet, what do you think the reaction of
the public would be? Coming up. Seeing the disappearance of

(01:16:41):
David Glenn Lewis's bizarre doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.
What started out is a strange missing person's case would
eventually be resolved, but the answer that would come would
pose even more questions, proving the adage that truth is
stranger than fiction. Weird Darkness is celebrating our birthday this month.

(01:17:14):
We use this annual celebration to help those who struggle
with depression. Every October, we raise money for organizations that
help people overcome depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide and
self harm. It's called overcoming the Darkness, and you can
make a donation right now at Weirddarkness dot com slash hope.
That's Weird Darkness dot com slash hope. A gift of

(01:17:35):
any amount helps, with every dollar bringing hope to someone
affected by depression. To donate, to get more information about
overcoming the darkness, or to find hope to battle back
the darkness of depression in yourself or someone you love,
visit Weird Darkness dot com slash hope. The fundraiser ends
on Halloween night at midnight, so please give right now
while you're thinking about it. That's Weird, Darkness dot com

(01:17:58):
slash hope. Although the case of David Glenn Lewis is

(01:18:20):
so bizarre, there really isn't much out there about it.
Information that's available comes from a few scant newspaper articles,
online entries, and several detailed posts from a family friend
on a message board. David Glenn Lewis was born on
December eleventh, nineteen fifty three, in Borger, Texas. He graduated
in nineteen seventy nine from Texas Tech University School of

(01:18:43):
Law with a Doctor of Jurisprudence. After practicing law for
several years, he was eventually elected as a Court of
law judge in nearby Moore County, Texas, from nineteen eighty
six to nineteen ninety After recently losing his bid for reelection,
he once again was practicing law in Amarillo Tech. He
lived in nearby Dumas with his wife, Karen and their
nine year old daughter, Lauren. He was very active in

(01:19:06):
his church as well as several charitable organizations. He was
also a night instructor at nearby Amarillo College. The last
weekend in January in nineteen ninety three was Super Bowl weekend.
It was Super Bowl twenty seven that featured the Dallas
Cowboys versus the Buffalo Bills. David Glenn Lewis was looking
forward to watching the game, as he was said to

(01:19:27):
be a big Cowboys fan. His wife and daughter had
decided to spend that weekend flying to Dallas and doing
some shopping. David would be able to have a nice,
relaxing weekend at home rooting his team on. That was
the initial plan anyway. David Lewis's wife and daughter would
arrive home from their trip late at night on Sunday,
January thirty first, nineteen ninety three. They did note that

(01:19:50):
the light and the TV had been left on, and
the VCR had recorded the Super Bowl. David's wedding ring
and watch were on the kitchen counter, the dryer was on,
and what appeared to be two freshly made turkey sandwiches
were in the refrigerator. There was only one thing missing
from the house, David. At first, David's wife wasn't concerned

(01:20:10):
that he wasn't home. She thought perhaps he'd gone in
to work to get some things done, or even decided
to watch the Super Bowl somewhere else. The next morning,
her husband still wasn't home. Karen started to become concerned,
and when she learned that he had missed two appointments
that day, she called the Amarillo Police Department and reported
her husband as missing. The police did begin an investigation

(01:20:33):
into the disappearance of David Glenn Lewis after interviewing friends
and colleagues. Here's what appears to be the actions of
David in the days before he vanished. On January twenty eighth,
David's wife and daughter depart on their weekend trip to Dallas.
David leave's work at the Buckner, Laura and Swindell law
firm early that day, telling coworkers he wasn't feeling well
and was going to go home that afternoon. His credit

(01:20:55):
card was used to purchase gas. He was also said
to have taught his government class that night night at
Amarillo College. The class ended around ten pm. On January
twenty ninth, a friend from his church reports seeing David
hurrying through the Southwest Airlines terminal at the Amarillo Airport.
They said he wasn't carrying any luggage. On January thirtieth,

(01:21:16):
it's said to be the last day that David was
verified to have been seen, but it's unclear who did
see him. Someone did deposit five thousand dollars in the
couple's joint bank account that day. Napers also seeing his
Red Explorer parked at his house on January thirty first,
the day he went missing. There weren't any confirmed sightings

(01:21:36):
of David Lewis at all. It was thought that whoever
taped the Super Bowl, presumably Lewis, would have had to
have been there that night to start the recording. The
VCR either did not have a timer function or it
wasn't set up, because the recording appears to have been
started manually. By estimation, the recording was started around five
point fifteen pm that night. On February first, after missing

(01:21:59):
two appointments, David's wife reports him missing to Amarilla Police Department.
An investigation is started. On February second, police found David
Lewis's Red Explorer in the front of the Potter County
Courts building in downtown Amarillo. His house and car keys
were found underneath the floor met His checkbook, credit cards,
and driver's license were all found in his car as well,

(01:22:20):
which was customary of David. Reports said during their investigation
of David Lewis's disappearance, police discovered that two plane tickets
were purchased under the name David Lewis around the time
he went missing. The first ticket was purchased on January
thirty first, and was from Dallas to Amarillo. The second
ticket was purchased on the next day, February first, and

(01:22:42):
was from LA to Dallas with a stopover in Amarillo.
Back in nineteen ninety three, however, you didn't need to
show ID to buy a ticket or show ID to fly,
so it's unsure if it was actually David who purchased
the tickets, or if they were even used. David's family
was convinced he wouldn't never leave voluntarily. They said he

(01:23:02):
was too devoted to his family to even consider that.
According to his wife, David had gotten death threats during
his time as a judge from nineteen eighty six to
nineteen ninety and had recently told her his life was
in danger, but wouldn't give her any details. David was
also said to fly to Dallas the next week for
a deposition in a three million dollar conflict of interest
lawsuit brought against his former law firm ham Irwin, Graham

(01:23:25):
and Cox by a wealthy client. However, David's lawyers didn't
think the deposition would be anything that would cause any
harm to come to his client. A lad David's wife
said that after he went missing, his files concerning the
deposition apparently were missing too. After investigating David's case for
eleven months with no developments, the Amarillo Special Crimes Unit

(01:23:47):
canceled their probe into David Lewis's disappearance. They could find
no evidence of foul play and believed that David purchased
the two tickets willingly. They declared David Lewis was missing voluntarily.
I do want to mention a few other possible sightings
of David Lewis around the time he went missing, though
these are not confirmed, but if they are him certainly

(01:24:08):
add to the odd circumstances around the time he went missing.
On February first, a sharef's deputy saw a man resembling
David Lewis outside the Potter County Court's building taking photos
of a red explorer. Remember that is what David drove,
and his vehicle would be discovered there unattended the next day.
Later that same day, a cab driver said he drove

(01:24:29):
someone resembling Lewis from a hotel to the Dallas Fort
Worth Airport. He said the man seemed very nervous and
paid in cash and said he had a wat of
one hundred dollars bills. Eleven years would go by and
there would be no leads or information about the whereabouts
of David Glenn Lewis. Then across the country, a most
unlikely break in the case would come to light that

(01:24:51):
would shock everyone. In two thousand and three, the Seattle
Post Intelligencer printed an investigative series titled Without a Trace.
It documented serious shortcomings in the way police handled adult
missing persons cases in and outside the state, and also
talked about the problem with law enforcement missing persons data bank,

(01:25:11):
namely the NCIC National Crime Information Center. It stated that
many of these cases sadly slipped through the cracks. Washington
State Police Detective Patrick Dutter read the article with interest.
His thoughts were, if it can be wrong there, it
can be wrong here. Detective Dutter then had an idea
he would do an extensive search on Google of some

(01:25:33):
John and Jane does that they'd never identified in the
area and see if he could come up with any leads.
He painstakingly put details in like height wait, et cetera,
and it took him to various missing persons websites. Within
a week, Dutter had accomplished what expensive law enforcement databases
were unable to do. A list of possible victims. One

(01:25:55):
of the John Does from Washington looked very much like
a missing person out of Texas. His name was David
Glenn Lewis. The only thing that gave detective Dutter pause
with the photo of the John Doe is he wasn't
wearing glasses, whereas David Glenn Lewis wore distinctive glasses. Dutter
did a little more digging and located the evidence list

(01:26:16):
of the John Doe in question and discovered that John
Doe did hay glasses in his pocket when his body
was recovered. They looked very similar to David Glenn Lewis's glasses.
After contacting the Amarillo Police Department and sending a tissue
sample of the victim that had been preserved since nineteen
ninety three, as well as the victim's shoes, a DNA
sample was then compared with the missing person's mother in Amarillo.

(01:26:40):
It was a match. David Glenn Lewis had finally been found.
The circumstances of David glen Lewis's death are even more
bizarre than his disappearance. He was killed in a hid
and run on a lonely two lane highway close to Moxie, Washington,
about ten miles from the Yakima Airport. He was killed
at ten twenty four peter on February first, the day

(01:27:02):
after he went missing. So David glen Lewis had traveled
about sixteen hundred miles and was killed only about twenty
nine hours after he was thought to be at his
home recording the Super Bowl. The circumstances of David's last moments,
according to witnesses, absolutely defy logic. It was reported that
David was walking down the center line of the road

(01:27:24):
in the pitch dark. One concerned driver turned their vehicle
around to warn other motorists that there was a man
in the road, but it was too late. They returned
to find David's crumpled body on the pavement, deceased. It's
reported that a Chevy Camaro was seen leaving the scene,
but the identity of the car who hit David Lewis
has never been discovered. There were no drugs or alcohol

(01:27:45):
in his system, Another completely bizarre revelation was what clothes
David Lewis had on that night. He was found wearing
worn military fatigues and work boots, clothing that his wife
was adamant David did not own when the unknown person
was hit that night. It's also reported that he was
not wearing glasses, yet glasses were found in his clothing.

(01:28:07):
David Glenn Lewis is said to knee glasses badly in
order to see David Glenn Lewis's family was completely baffled
by the circumstances leading to his death. They said he
had no known ties to the Yakima area. The trip
would have taken about twenty three hours by car or
several hours by plane. There were no direct flights to Yakima,

(01:28:27):
so it's unknown how he even got to the area,
especially in the short amount of time that he did.
The family had concerns that their loved one may have
even been kidnapped, and that perhaps David Lewis's thoughts of
his life being in danger could be true. Although I
don't think the two mysterious disappearances are related, there is
another person who went missing not too long after David

(01:28:49):
Lewis vanished and not too far away that I want
to mention. Johnny Lee Baker, forty seven, also from Borger, Texas,
vanished on June twenty first, nineteen ninety four, from his home.
He was reported to have grown up with David Glenn
Lewis in the same small town. Baker called his son
nine thirty pm the night of his disappearance, and after
speaking with him, vanished. None of his belongings, wallet, or

(01:29:11):
vehicle had been taken, and the only thing missing was
his garage door opener. Johnny Lee Baker was a pharmacist
and said to be a prominent figure in the community.
He has never been found. Back to David Glenn Lewis.
This is definitely one of those cases where one theory
doesn't make perfect sense and will answer all the unknowns.
I'll break it down into three possible scenarios that could

(01:29:34):
have happened, But first I'll say what I don't think happened.
I don't think David Glenn Lewis was kidnapped or murdered.
It wouldn't make sense to take him so far away
so quickly. There were no signs of a struggle at
his house or in his car. There were never any
sightings of him with anyone. He was always alone. Also,
he wasn't murdered. Things just don't add up that there

(01:29:56):
were others involved. The first theory, what if they vig
Glenn Lewis's life really was in danger. If he had
actually been threatened, his first concern would probably be protecting
his family. Perhaps he left the area so they wouldn't
be in danger. He did all these things that didn't
make any sense in an effort to throw the people
after him off track. The fact that he was killed

(01:30:17):
wasn't something he anticipated, just a very unfortunate accident. The
second scenario is that David Glenn Lewis was battling some
inner demons. He did tell his wife his life was
in danger. What we don't know is if that was
actually true, or in David's mind it was true. I
can envision a possible scenario where David wanted to flee

(01:30:38):
and in his mind protect his family from the perceived
danger that they were in. He leaves everything behind, including id,
ranging watch, even clothing, so he can't be identified. If
the plane tickets were not used, they could have just
been a red herring to throw people off the track.
As he didn't want to be discovered. I also can't
understand why, if David needed his glasses so badly, why

(01:31:00):
he wouldn't have been wearing them late at night on
a dark road. So many of the things David did
in the last few days of his life didn't make
sense and showed that David was not thinking clearly. The
third scenario I'm going to bring up I first read
about when a clinical psychologist commented on an online post
about David Lewis's case. He said his actions sounded like

(01:31:22):
a dissociative fugue state. After doing some research here on
some of the symptoms sudden and unplanned travel away from home,
in ability to recall past events or important information from
the person's life, confusion or loss of memory about their identity.
It's also said that in dissociative fugue people lose some
or all memories of their past, and they usually disappear

(01:31:44):
from their environments, leaving their family and job. I think
this could be another scenario for why David Glenn Lewis
disappeared abruptly that night, and why his actions in his
final days made no sense. By all accounts, David Glenn
Lewis was a very kind and loving man who enjoyed
helping others. There was nothing but words of praise about him,
and all of my research. The tragic and unexplained way

(01:32:07):
he disappeared and later died shouldn't take away from that
or the upstanding life that he lived. When David was
finally discovered, his remains were brought home to Texas for
a proper burial. Here is what part of the obituary read.
Your love and devotion have been missed so very much.
He touched so many lives while you were here. How

(01:32:28):
sad that many of your dreams were left unfulfilled. We
know that God is using you for his almighty work.
David Glenn Lewis had so much of his life left
to live. It's tragic how and why his life was
cut short. This is one of those cases where we
won't get the answers we seek. Only David Glenn Lewis

(01:32:49):
knows what was going through his mind in those final
days and while he traveled on a cross country conundrum.
If you've ever wanted to learn more about stories I

(01:33:11):
share in the podcast, you'll want to sign up for
the free Weird Darkness newsletter several times per week, you'll
get an email that not only includes the audio player
with a recent episode, but a deep dive article of
that same subject, going more in depth than what you
heard in the podcast. I also post numerous articles that
never make it into the podcast, and I share those
in the newsletter too. Sign up for the free Weird

(01:33:32):
Darkness newsletter at Weirddarkness dot com slash newsletter. That's Weird
Darkness dot com slash Newsletters. A UFO incidence, which we

(01:34:13):
have covered before but it's worth looking at again, is
an incident in nineteen fifty two. This was one of
the first admitted entity sightings and probably also one of
the earliest close encounters of the third kind investigated officially
at the time it took place. The incident occurred just
northeast of Frontenac and about seven miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Kansas.

(01:34:34):
On August twenty fifth, nineteen fifty two, at five point
thirty am, William Squires, a KOAM radio entertainer in Pittsburgh,
was driving through farmland along Highway sixty. He was on
his way into town to work early this morning. As
he drove through a heavily wooded area, suddenly something shiny
and odd caught his attention in a pasture field usually

(01:34:56):
occupied by a large herd of cattle. Fires drew closer
and saw an oval shaped object hovering with a rocking
motion just above the ground. He saw the waving grass
and vegetation affected by the down blast of the UFO's
hovering system. The object was silver gray in color, approximately
twenty one meters or seventy feet across and three point

(01:35:18):
seven meters or twelve feet high. Based on the witnesses
more detailed description, the UFO was rather like two soup
bowls placed rim to rim and then flattened. Someone William Squires,
drove up until his car was alongside the field and
only about ninety meters or three hundred feet from the UFO.
He then stopped the car and began to study the

(01:35:40):
object more closely. The witness could clearly distinguish the underside
of the object and its faint, bluish glow. The unidentified
flying object parked in the field approximately one hundred yards
off the road. The object's rim, that could also be
a walkway, was especially interesting. From this rose a number
of vertical poles, each topped by what seemed to be

(01:36:03):
a series of six to seven inch spinning propellers revolving
at high speed. At one end of the UFO, there
were slightly opaque window like openings through which Squires could
observe indistinct objects moving all the time. According to Squires,
the activity behind these windows was rather obscured, like a
window shade pulled down. I could see figures behind it.

(01:36:26):
At the other end, the unknown vehicle was equipped with
another a rectangular window through which a man, perhaps a pilot,
could be seen inside. The stranger, whose head and shoulders
were clearly visible, was working with controls or some kind
of other instruments on board the vehicle. I definitely saw
a human being through the window, the witness said. Squires

(01:36:48):
thought that the man observed by him looked entirely human.
Fascinated by what he saw, he got out of his
car and began to approach the hovering vehicle to take
a better look. He approached the US to within one
hundred feet or so, and almost instantly, the UFO began
to rise vertically into the air. The pulsating, dull noise

(01:37:08):
that all the time accompanied the hovering UFO began to
increase in volume. It was like a covey of one
hundred quail taking off. The witness said the object continued
to rise slowly for some seconds, then suddenly accelerated and
flew off at high speed. Squires reported the incident to
the US Air Force. A few days later, an Air

(01:37:30):
Force officer contacted him and asked to be taken to
the side to the incident. It's been found that in
the center of the field the long grass had been
flattened in a large circle about eighteen meters or sixty
feet in diameter. Also, the grass stems had been bent over,
but not broken. The effected grass in the field was
like the backwash of where the thing took off and

(01:37:52):
formed a swirling spiral pattern. Samples of grass and soil
were collected and sent for analysis. However, experts found nothing
particularly unusual in them. Officially, the encounter with the UFO
was classified as a close encounter of the second kind.
The sighting of a pilot of the flying object was
considered as nothing more than the witness's hallucination. However, the

(01:38:16):
flattened grass found in the area was definitely not any hallucination.
It is confirmed the presence of the UFO, which landed
in the field for an undefined period of time. A
later investigation, however, confirmed the reliability of the witness, William Squire's,
and was termed good in the Special Report Number fourteen
completed March seventeenth, nineteen fifty four, where the case was

(01:38:40):
mentioned among many other UFO incidents considered as reliable. The
UFO incident described by William Squires coincides with another UFO
siding that occurred at about the same time in August
nineteen fifty two and was experienced by Missus Suzanne E. Knight,
a resident of Maryland, USA. Certain features regarding these two

(01:39:02):
UFO encounters reported by William Squire's and Missus Knight, Seat Pleasant, Maryland,
are indeed strikingly similar to each other. In August nineteen
fifty two, at around nine thirty p m. Missus Suzanne E.
Knight was in her kitchen when she suddenly heard a strange,
buzzy noise similar to that of a large insect. The

(01:39:22):
woman approached the window of her kitchen and looked out.
A flying object that bore a striking similarity to a
fuselage of a plane was descending rapidly at about a
forty five degree angle. Smoke was coming from the rear
of the craft, and her first thought was that an
airplane was just going to crash, but nothing like that happened.
Instead of an impact, the object of a dull silver

(01:39:44):
color came to a hovering position approximately three hundred feet
above ground level and at a right angle to missus
Knight looking out of her kitchen window. It was equipped
with a row of large square windows, and in one
of them, missus Knight noticed a helmeted manlike figure looking
straight ahead. No instruments or controls were visible. On the

(01:40:05):
underside of the UFO was an undercarriage with a row
of smaller square windows, lit up by a brilliant yellow light.
Through these windows, missus Knight was able to recognize the
backs of little seats. Another interesting detail was a small
mast or perhaps an antenna, placed at the front of
the UFO. This small vertical construction seemed to be very

(01:40:27):
similar to vertical polls observed by William Squires in his
sighting on August twenty fifth, nineteen fifty two. The UFO
incident lasted approximately three minutes, and at least for two
minutes the witness was continuously observing the object, having it
in a clear view. Missus Knight left the window only
once when trying to call local media. When he returned

(01:40:50):
to the window, the UFO's lights suddenly went out. The
object began to glow red, and the witness watched its
back and forth rocking motion. The helmeted man like figure
was no longer visible, and surprisingly, the undercarriage with small
windows also disappeared. I thought maybe it had moved up
into the fuselage, because not even an outline of the
car was visible. But it should have been because the

(01:41:12):
street light would have shown it, she said. Soon after
the UFO left the area, Missus Suzanne E. Knight witnessed
a UFO at a close range, but reported her sighting
for the first time fifteen years later in nineteen sixty seven.
Who was the stranger missus Knight saw that summer evening
in nineteen fifty two. According to NCAP dot org, at present,

(01:41:36):
there is not sufficient information concerning occupant reports to make
any final judgments on their authenticity, although there is good
evidence in a few cases to suggest that at least
some of the witnesses could be telling the truth about
such encounters. The more credible UFO sightings often come in
clusters and one of the most famous clusters of sightings

(01:41:58):
took place in nineteen seventy one, with one specific sighting
being nothing less than incredible. This is the most credible
UFO incident of the nineteen seventy three wave, considered as
one of the most intense siding waves in UFO history.
The event took place in the midst of a great
UFO wave that hit the United States that month. On

(01:42:19):
the night of October eighteenth, nineteen seventy three, an alarming
UFO close encounter occurred near Mansfield, Ohio, United States. An
Army Reserve UH one Huey helicopter with pilot Captain Lawrence J.
Coin in command, was en route to Cleveland from Columbus, Ohio.
The other three airmen present on board were crew chief
Robert Gyanisek, co Pilot Aragoges, and staff Sergeant John Healey.

(01:42:45):
Just before eleven o'clock, as the helicopter cruised at twelve
hundred feet over the hills and woods of north central Ohio,
about twenty five hundred feet above sea level, Heel, seated
at the left rear, spotted a steady southbound red light.
The light looked like the port wing light on an aircraft,
but it was brighter. Additionally, the other lights normally required

(01:43:06):
by FAA regulations were missing. Suddenly, the red light disappeared
from sight behind the helicopter. Only some minutes later, yanisec
and the right rear seat spotted the red light on
the eastern horizon, about ninety degrees to the flight path
of their UH one Huey helicopter. About thirty seconds later,

(01:43:26):
crewman Yanisek informed that the object was converging on the
helicopter at a higher rate of speed of more than
six hundred miles an hour. Coinn took over the controls
of the aircraft and initiated a powered descent from twenty
five hundred feet to seventeen hundred feet. When the helicopter
and its crew reached approximately six hundred feet over the
tree tops, the large object was filling their entire windshield.

(01:43:50):
A radio call was initiated to Mansfield Tower, who acknowledged
the helicopter. Mansfield, this is Army helicopter WON five triple four.
Do you have any high performance aircraft in your area,
he asked. Mansfield responded, this is Mansfield approach, go ahead
one five triple four. Coin did, and then waited for
the response. There was no response from the tower. The

(01:44:13):
red light was now approaching the helicopter, traveling at a
dangerous rate of speed. Normally under ten thousand feet aircraft
are not allowed to fly at more than two hundred
fifty knots or two hundred eighty five miles per hour.
The object the pilots observed apparently did not know such limitations.
It was moving at about six hundred knots or six
hundred eighty four miles per hour. Now the crew of

(01:44:35):
the helicopter expected only impact from the object. It seemed
the collision was imminent. Nothing like this ever came. In
the meantime, the crew of the helicopter could see the UFO.
It was a metallic cigar shaped object with a red
light at its nose and a white light at its end.
Under the end, the green beam swept in a ninety

(01:44:55):
degree arc and shined upon the entire inside of the helicopter.
The object had no wings, no tail structure, and no
recognizable markings on its body. Captain Coin pushed the collective
pitch down to the altitude of seventeen hundred feet above
the ground, and it was now descending at two thousand
feet per minute at six hundred fifty feet above the

(01:45:15):
tree tops below. The crew suddenly saw the object was
covering the entire front windshield. Then it covered the entire aircraft.
We looked up and saw it stopped right over us.
Coin said. It had a big, gray, metallic looking hull
about sixty feet long. It was shaped like an air
foil or a streamlined fat cigar. There was a red

(01:45:36):
light on the front. The leading edge glowed red. A
short distance back from the nose. There was a central
dome a green light at the rear reflected on the hull.
All four were just staring at the UFO while their
helicopter began to climb without the pilot's guidance. I made
no attempt to pull up, he said. All controls were
set for a twenty degree dive. Yet we had climbed

(01:45:58):
from seventeen hundred to thirty five hundred feet with no
power in a couple of seconds, with no g forces
or other noticeable strains. Coin said, Now the UFO briefly
hesitated over the helicopter, hovering for approximately ten to twelve
seconds above it and then in front of it. It
seemed like it was there for so damn long. It
was just stopped for maybe ten to twelve seconds, and

(01:46:20):
I mean stopped. It was coming at us, and then
it was there, just like that. Yanisek later said. The
UFO hovered silently there in front of and above the
helicopter and its crew, before accelerating and heading off to
the northwest. Now only the object's white rear light was
still visible. Suddenly, executing a sharp forty five degree turned

(01:46:43):
to the right, the light vanished. The helicopter returned to
twenty five hundred feet and flew back to Cleveland, Ohio.
The flight plan was closed and the FAA Flight Service
Station informed about the incident. The radio communication was completely
gone on both VHF and uhd frequencies just after Mansfield
Control Tower acknowledged the helicopter. Then it returned to normal

(01:47:07):
ten minutes after the incident. There were also witnesses on
the ground who observed an object looking like a blimp
and as big as a school bus and hovering above
the helicopter. The green light at the rear of the
unknown craft was like rays coming down, according to one
of the witnesses, Philip Class, a famous UFO debunker, made

(01:47:27):
some attempts to explain the UFO sighting as a meteor
or fireball from the Orionids meteor shower. Meteors do not
last more than a few seconds at most and bear
no resemblance to the structured object all the observers reported.
Class also argued that the crew had been descending at
four thousand, not two thousand feet per minute. Feeling a
collision with the ground, Coin or Jeszy had instinctively pulled

(01:47:50):
back on the cyclic pitch control to avoid crashing into
the ground. Thus there was nothing mysterious about the ascent,
Class said. However, many researchers, along with doctor j. Allen Heinek,
an American astronomer, professor and eufologist, disagreed. Captain Coin's response was,
if we'd been diving at four thousand fpm, I would

(01:48:11):
never have been able to recover in time to stop
a crash. At no time, he and the other crew
members insisted, had they worried about such a crash. East

(01:48:32):
of San Francisco, California, is a narrow valley opening to
the Bay of San Pablo. In spite of its pleasant
situation and fruitful possibilities, it had no inhabitants until eighteen twenty,
when Miguel Zamacona and his wife Amelia strayed into it
while on a journey, and, being delighted with its scenery,
determined to make it their home. In playful mockery of

(01:48:55):
its abundance, they gave it the name of El Humbre
Hunger Valley. After some weeks of such hardship as comes
to a Mexican from work, Miguel had built an adobe
cabin and got a garden started. While he caught a
fish or shot a deer now and then, and they
got on pretty well. At last it became necessary that
he should go to Yuba Buena, as San Francisco was

(01:49:16):
then called for goods. His burrows were fat and strong,
and there should be no danger. Amelia cried at being
left behind, but the garden had to be tended and
he was to be back in exactly three weeks. She
waited for twenty two days, then, her anxiety becoming unendurable,
she packed an outfit on a burrow and started on

(01:49:36):
the trail. From time to time she called his name,
and Miguel echoed sweetly from hills and groves, but there
was no other answer save when an owl would hoot.
Wrapped in a blanket, she slept on loop and bowels,
but was off at peep of day again, calling, calling
high and clear among the solitudes. During the second day,

(01:49:58):
her burrow gave a rasping bray and a hee haw
answer from the bush. It was Miguel's burrow. He had
come at last. Leaping to her feet in her impatience,
she ran to meet him and found him lying on
the earth, staring silently at the sky. All that day
she sat beside him, caressing his hand, talking, crying, bathing

(01:50:20):
his face with water from the marsh, the poison marsh,
and it was not until sunset that she could bring
herself to admit that he was dead, and had been
dead for at least two days. She put the blanket
over him, weighed it with stones, and heaped reeds upon it.
Then she started for home. A wandering trader heard her story,

(01:50:40):
but years elapsed before any other settler entered Hunger Valley.
They found her skeleton then in the weedy garden. The
adobe stands tentless in the new village of Martinez, and
the people have so often heard the ghost of the
Zamaconins haunt the place that they've begun to disbelieve it.

(01:51:12):
On August twenty fifth, nineteen seventy four, the unknown flying
object registered on radar was traveling at twenty five hundred
miles per hour. It was on a collision course with
a small civilian aircraft that lifted off from Elpaso, Texas,
heading toward Mexico City. The small aircraft was in apparent
danger and the catastrophe was inevitable, and this deadly collision

(01:51:33):
was about to happen just outside of Koyame, Chihuahua, Mexico.
It was a calm summer evening and people were slowly
turning in for the night. Then something unexpected happened in
the meantime. At ten oh seven pm, five hundred miles away,
the United States Air Defense System suddenly registered an unknown
object flying over the Gulf of Mexico towards Corpus Christi, Texas.

(01:51:57):
The object was traveling at twenty two hundred knots one thousand,
five hundred thirty miles per hour on a bearing of
three hundred twenty five degrees at an altitude of seventy
five thousand feet. In the beginning, it was assumed that
the object tracked by two different military radar installations was
a meteor. However, radar operators quickly realized that the object

(01:52:17):
they observed on the screen could not be a meteor.
It was traveling and descending through steps, unlike that of
a meteor that travels at higher speeds and descends in
a smooth arc, not in level steps. American air defense
systems were alerted, but there was no time for the
military to scramble fighter jets to intercept the UFO. Suddenly,

(01:52:39):
the unknown flying object turned left, decelerated to about seventeen
hundred knots or nine hundred and fifty five miles per hour,
and turned to a heading of two hundred ninety degrees.
It began a slow descent while entering Mexican airspace approximately
forty miles south of Brownsville, Texas. Radar tracked the uf

(01:53:00):
approximately five hundred miles to a point near a small
desert town of Koyame in the state of Chihuahua, not
far from the US border, but then the object suddenly
disappeared from the radar screens. It was believed that both
the civilian plane and the spacecraft had collided, which was
confirmed about an hour later, when a civilian radio station

(01:53:21):
announced that an aircraft had crashed in the vicinity of Kuyame.
Early next morning, a Mexican recovery team started a rescue
mission searching for the craft that disappeared over the desert.
At approximately ten thirty five am, Mexican recovery teams spotted
the wreckage from the air At the same time, Mexican
authorities announced another crash site just a few miles away.

(01:53:45):
Radio silence on the search was officially issued. All activity
and radio contact between the Mexican recovery team and its
headquarters had ceased. US authorities offered assistance to help clean
up and recover. The offer was declined, according to researchers
Reuben Oriarte and Noah Torres, who authored the book Mexico's Roswell.

(01:54:06):
Despite the refusal, Fort Bliss on the American side of
the border, near El Paso, was forming a recovery team
and continued to monitor Mexican recover efforts via air surveillance.
On the other side of the border, US intelligence followed
the events. The Americans managed to intercept a Mexican military
report and learned that the wreckage from the missing plane

(01:54:27):
had been spotted from the air just outside Queyame. Shortly thereafter,
the US received another report of a second plane on
the ground a few miles from the first, but it
was not a conventional aircraft of any known type. It
was a silver disc shaped object about sixteen feet five
inches in diameter. The thickness was slightly less than five feet.

(01:54:51):
Its surface had the appearance of polished steel. The craft
had no windows, doors markings, and there were no bodies
inside the craft. The spacecraft was damaged in two spots.
The damage was most likely caused by the collision with
the civilian aircraft. However, as Reuben Uriarte, co author of
the Mexico's Roswell, said, what I found fascinating was that

(01:55:13):
the crash may have been caused by both craft colliding
at a lower altitude due to their vision being blocked
by a high peak, hills or mountain. In other words,
both craft met at an intersection of the mountain. If
the plane was flying south and the craft was flying west,
the pilot couldn't have seen anything on his left until
he cleared the mountain, colliding with the craft in front

(01:55:34):
of him. In addition to this, the darkness of night
was another key factor. The American recovery team included four helicopters,
three small Uhi Hueys, and a large sea stallion. When
the Mexicans placed the UFO on a truck, US surveillance
monitored the entire event. The Mexican convoy with the damaged

(01:55:54):
saucer was now slowly moving away from the crash site.
What really happened at this point is unknown. The Americans
studied satellite photographs, which revealed something must have gone wrong
during the recovery. The photographs, taken during high altitude overflights
showed that the Mexican convoy had stopped and the US
military could see a number of dead bodies. All convoy

(01:56:18):
personnel was dead, most within the trucks dressed in protection suits.
American soldiers approached the silent convoy. The UFO was still
on the truck. The recovery team reconfigured the straps holding
the object on the truck and attached them to a
cargo cable from the sea Stallion that transported the spacecraft
over the borders to US territory. What happened next is unsettling.

(01:56:43):
The American Elite Force gathered the debris, the bodies from
the Mexican recovery team the civilian craft, and then they
destroyed everything with high explosives. There was no longer any
visible evidence of what had taken place at this site.
On August twenty, fifth night eighteen seventy four, were confronted
with many open questions. What killed the Mexican recovery team,

(01:57:08):
Where was the crew of the UFO? Where was the
crashed UFO transported. Many euthologists who have studied this case,
which became known as the Chihuahua UFO crash, tend to
believe that the Mexicans were killed by an extraterrestrial biological
agent of some sort. If the Mexican personnel was not
wearing proper protection suits, they were in danger of being

(01:57:30):
exposed to a lethal, unknown agent of some kind. There
were no bodies discovered inside the crashed saucer. This indicates
that the spacecraft was most likely an unmanned probe. Perhaps
it was an alien probe on a reconnaissance mission examining
and collecting data of our planet. What happened to the
crashed saucer is unknown. Some suggest that the debris was

(01:57:53):
taken either to write Patterson Air Force Base or Fort Bliss.
These are only two possible locations. The true whereabouts of
the disc that crashed on August twenty fifth, nineteen seventy four,
outside of Coyame, Chihuahua, Mexico, are unknown. People who lived
near Coyame claim the UFO crash is a real event.

(01:58:14):
The case remains unsolved, but there is a small newspaper
story from the Elhiraldo de Chihuahua dated October twenty seventh,
nineteen seventy four, that mentions a group of Mexican soldiers
who died during transport

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Joe Rogan Experience

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

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TRANSYLVANIA'S SHROUDED UFO HISTORY: 600 Years of Sightings We’ve Not Been Told About

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

Dateline NBC

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

TRANSYLVANIA'S SHROUDED UFO HISTORY: 600 Years of Sightings We’ve Not Been Told About

Stuff You Should Know