Eerie News with M.P. Pellicer | STORIES: The Devil You Know and more! - Eerie News

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everybody. This is Marlene with Eerie News and today
we've got a lot of interesting stuff to get into.
Leave me and let's start off by something from another
part of the world. Right, this is out of Stranger

(00:22):
than Fiction stories and you know what, and you're gonna think, well,
you know what, sometimes we're so modern and caught up
with with phones and with you know, technology and everything.
Who who believes in certain things? But you'd be surprised.
Superstitions sometimes it's very strong, even in our country, even

(00:44):
in America, but especially in other places especially and I
want to say, sometimes the more remote or the more
dangerous the location or the or whatever it is that
you're doing. You know, this is like beyond the people
that wear lucky socks to the ballgame kind of deal.
But anyway, this is titled the Devil. You know. His

(01:04):
face is chalky, with eyes as dark as his mustache.
The mouth is open below nostrils blackened from cigarette smoke,
and his name is Uncle. For the native population in
the Andes, this tradition has produced hundreds of these devils,
which are found throughout mines in South America, the whole
adiplanal region extending to neighboring countries believe in this king

(01:27):
of the underground. The typical statue is a horned devil
or figure in the shape of a goat representing the devil.
It's covered with varied doorments, sitting on a throne with
hands extended to receive his due. The feet are shot
in rubber mining boots. Hard to miss is his erect penis,
to remind those who come before him of his virility.
This devil's kingdom is Bolivio's tin minds, even though no

(01:49):
miner will refer to him as Supei, which is the
Quechua word for devil, instead the more familiar familial deal
or Spanish for uncle is used. Deal protects miners from
accidents as they work into deep black holes, but he
can also bring harm. Part of his allure is that

(02:10):
he can bring prosperity in the quest for veins of
tin and silver. In order to placate theo to both
avert disaster or for his generosity, homage is paid him
through pachamama. What he has given depends on the day
of the week. Coca leaves hand rolled cigarettes on Tuesday
and Friday, accompanied by white rum to quench his thirst.

(02:31):
A deal is believed to reward those who pay him
tribute and to punish those who violate a taboo, such
as eating in the mine, eating salty food before entering,
or bringing a woman to the mine. Anyone wearing a skirt,
whether it's a woman or a clergyman, is despised by
a deo. Sometimes this devil collapses a mind for no

(02:52):
reason other than to restock his energy. The miners perform
challa each Carnival Tuesday, pouring the earth around his image
with chica, which is rome or beer. He is surrounded
by food and confetti. Garlands are draped around his neck.
This ritual is performed by atadi or indigenous witch doctors
once a year in February or March, on the eve

(03:14):
of the street parade of the Orudo Carnival. It is
one of Bolivia's biggest festivals and is listed by UNESCO
as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. Another blood sacrifice, known as Wilancha,
is performed differently. The miners take a live lama and
place it in a mining cart with offerings impregnated with
alcohol and kerosene, lighting it as it enters the depths

(03:37):
of the mines. The animals incinerated alive and afterwards consumed
by the participants. What is left is buried as part
of the payment to Dio and his mine. The offerings
are supposedly meant to repay the earth for the minerals
taken by the miners. Carnival time is when Ethio leaves
the mine disguised as Lucifer, where he dances with other demons.

(04:00):
Women are strictly forbidden from juring minds or participating in ceremonies,
as there is a fear the veins of minerals will disappear.
Even women who have lost their husbands in mining accidents
and known as palladi Balidis, must work outside the mines,
where they scavenge to piles of debris. One day before
August first comes the toast of Karaku Karaku, where Allama

(04:25):
is sacrificed. The animal's blood is poured on the threshold
of the mine and the rest is splattered on the walls.
Some miners smear their faces with the blood as well,
taken from the still beating heart of the animal. This
is considered good luck. The llama's heart, once removed, is
placed at the statue's feet. After this, everyone must leave
the mines or a deo can enjoy his meals, since

(04:46):
the blood and hearts of the animal are his favorite meal.
The Dio devil is found throughout the mining districts of
the Central Andes. The mukui, similar to that theo, is
found in Peru's Tiglio, Morococha, Pasco and other minds. The
muki must also be appeased in order to receive his protection.

(05:06):
Despite the offerings made to the devil Uncle and other
similar demons in the Serro Rico Mountain in Potosi, eight
million men have since pre Columbian times. The belief is
that if Elthio is not fed, he will feed on
human flesh, so it appears he is a hungry devil
all right. Um Statues of Ethio are found throughout the

(05:32):
minds where miners go and sit with the idols to
keep him company since he doesn't like to be left alone.
Despite the miners identifying as Catholic, most of them believe
that God cannot be found in the depths of the mines.
Only Elthio can protect them as they scramble down narrow
passages into the bowels of the earth. The sacrifices made

(05:56):
to Elthio recall the earlier religion ceremonies from the Inca
Empire prior to the arrival of Europeans, known as Gapacocha.
In the nineteen nineties, remains of sacrificed children victims were
found on the Ampato and Pichu Pichu volcanoes in southern Peru.
Three bodies were found that Ambato at nineteen thousand feet,

(06:18):
the Pichu Pichu Gapacocha or on a constructed platform at
eighteen thousand feet. Gapacochas were done to blood shrines in
response to catastrophes and to celebrate major construction activities, especially
if it involved irrigation. The rituals were also performed annually

(06:41):
at the Temple of the Sun in couschool. The victims
were young, virginal women or children who had no imperfections. However,
there has been evidence that children's sacrifice suffered from serious diseases.
In a dig that lasted from nineteen ninety five to
nineteen ninety nine, a total of twenty persons were found,

(07:03):
ranging an age from three to fifteen years of age.
The children were killed by a blow to the head,
buried while alive, and others were strangled or had their
heart removed. One of the remains found that Bichu Pichu
displayed crano modification in an oblique manner done since infancy,
which caused elongation. Bichu Picchu is a deity that shepherds

(07:23):
make offerings to an order to gain his protection for
themselves and their herds. Children were sacrificed at the summits
at Ambato and the volcano Pichu Picchu, since these mountains
are believed to be deities. Remains of sacrificed children that have
been found throughout the years. These are some of them.
First one is the girl Tanta garuis Karhoi, which is

(07:45):
she was found in Cusco, Peru. According to the chroniclers,
Danta kar Hua was a ten year old natural child
of Okuros who was offered by his father in exchange
for being named Kasike I think a Kasika was like
a chieftain. After being taken to Cusco, where she participated
in the celebrations of worship of the Sun and the Inca,
the girl returned to her native town in the company

(08:06):
of notable representatives of her people, dressed like a princess,
ascended to the top of the mountain. She was numbed
with a special drink and placed in a hole about
three meters deep, which was then sealed. Among those who
witness the event was the girl's father, who was converted
into a kasike by the reigning Inca as retribution for
having given his daughter the lady of the Ampato or Arik.

(08:31):
She's from Ariquipa, Peru. It is known that approximately in
the year fifteen forty, the volcano saban Kaya erupted, and
the locals, to placate the wrath of the volcano, offered
three live girls as a sacrifice. These had to be
worshiped by the people of the place for some years,
but with the passage of time they fell into oblivion,

(08:51):
perhaps because it was very difficult to ascend to the
mountain of more than ninety thousand feet. In nineteen ninety
the volcano turned to activity, which left exposed inca remains
several feet deep. A surprising discovery was unearthed during an excavation.
It was a funeral beer in which the body of
a frozen girl who was later baptized as the Juanidamami,

(09:14):
was found in the fetal positions and covered by a blanket.
Near here were two other girls and it is possible
probable that they were also part of the sacrifice. The
next one is the Children of Salta. They were found
in Sata, Argentina in nineteen ninety nine at the summit
of you Uyako volcano Yuliako Volcano. The American archaeologist Johann

(09:41):
Reinhardt found the intact bodies of two girls and one child,
whose organs were intact so much so they still had
blood in their hearts and lungs. They also had food
in their digestive system. The gentle expression of their faces
suggests they did not suffer at the time of his
death of their death. Possibly they were drugged before being sacrificed.

(10:03):
The child of Cerro Eblomo. This is in Santiago to Chile.
More than fifty years ago, Chilean mulletteers discovered the frozen
body of a child on one of the highest peaks
of the Andes Mountains, and from the city of Santiago,
the news traveled the world at that time. The mummy
Velcerro Elblomo was the archaeological discovery was realized at a

(10:26):
height of over seventeen thousand feet the body of the
child was in a perfect state of preservation due to
the fact that remained buried permanently in the frozen soil,
thus preventing its decomposition. In twenty eleven, at a site
known as Juanchaquito La Siamas, forty two children and sixty
seven lamas were initially found. Seven years later, the site

(10:47):
has revealed the remains of one hundred and forty children
and two hundred lamas. The victims were both boys and
girls between the ages of five and fourteen. Examination of
the remains found the children's hearts were ripped from their bodies.
The victims were brought from various regions within the Chimu Empire.
At juan Chako, the remains of two hundred and twenty
seven children were unearthed, making it the largest known child

(11:10):
sacrifice site in the world. This latter was done during
the time of the Chimu Empire, when the Chimu Empire
was in power. The reason for sacrificing so many children
from around the Chimu Empire has remained unknown, but could
have been attributed to form of population control or psychological intimidation.
Other studies point out that some of the ritual massacres

(11:32):
and the andes ranged back to pre Inca times, but
their numbers and sophistication increased with the expansion of the
empire from its capital Cusco. These studies indicate that Kapakocha,
the sacrifice of children, was used as a means of
social control. According to these the tombs acted as warnings
designed to still fear in the conquered peoples. Animals were

(11:53):
sacrificed from ancient times into the presence, such as those
given over to a deal. They are adorned with colored strings, earrings,
and necklaces. In twenty eighteen, four lama mummies were discovered
under the floor of a building. They were ritually sacrificed
at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The site is
known as Dambo Viejo. Three white lamas were killed to
appease the Sun god and one brown Lama to the

(12:15):
Creator God. Several dozen guinea pigs were killed as well.
For the Incas, lamas were only second to human beings
in their value as sacrificial offerings. Radiocarbon dating of the
four animals date the remains between fourteen thirty two to
fourteen fifty nine. They were not cut or stabs of
researchers believed they were buried alive, as was done to

(12:37):
humans who were sacrificed intact. Discoveries like this one confirm
accounts of early Spaniards in South America which described that
the Inca sacrificed animals by the hundreds. Juan Diez de
Betanzos was a Spanish chronicler who provided a description of
the Inca civilization. He bases information on the testimony of

(12:59):
his wife Quisi quiks remee Ocolo or Dona Angelina, who
once married Atahualpa and Inca king. He also interviewed Inca
who took part in the Battle of Cahamaica. He wrote
that a large number of children were buried alive after

(13:19):
remodeling of the Temple of the Sun was completed. Beitonsils
described that when an Inca died, a thousand children were
buried with him, most of them females between the ages
of four and five. But Dolomee Alvarez was a Spanish
priest and chronicler who served as a doctrine dog dinero
or missionary priest in the region of Chacas within the

(13:41):
Vice Royalty of Peru during the late sixteenth century. He
arrived in the region of Chakas, which is modern day
Bolivia in the fifteen seventies, initially working in Potosi until
fifteen eighty one, then in Sabaya. His writings provide valuable
insight into the religious and social dynamics of the colonn
neil Andes during the late fifteen hundreds. He wrote, were

(14:03):
some very young women destined to Capacoca accepted their destination
with pleasure, but those who did not wish to die
were drugged or intoxicated and then sacrificed per Nabe. Govo
he died in sixteen fifty seven was a Jesuit missionary,
scholar and writer, and spent most of his life in
Peru and Mexico. His best known for his work Estodia

(14:25):
de Nuevo Mundo, which translates to History of the New World.
His descriptions are known for their accuracy. His work was
mostly overlooked until the nineteenth century. He is credited with
bringing Chinchona mark, a source of quinine, to Europe during
a visit in sixteen thirty two. In sixteen thirty nine,
Gobo wrote quote they were killed by strangulation on a

(14:46):
rope sometimes they were drunk before being killed end quote.
Pedro San Mientto the Gamboa was a Spanish adventurer, historian, mathematician,
and astronomer. At one point he was accused by the
inquisition of b using two magic rings and some magic
inc and following the precepts of Moses. He arrived in
Peru in fifteen fifty seven. He joined the expedition led

(15:09):
by Avaro de Mendana, who searched the southern Pacific Ocean
and came across the Solomon Islands in fifteen sixty eight.
Gamboa gave the leader indications on how to find Terra
Australis incognita, but the Mendania discounted them and the expedition
never reached New Zealand and Australia. Instead of further exploration,

(15:31):
the Mendana decided to return to homeport in Peru. However,
he wanted to take credit for the discoveries for himself.
He threw Gamboa's writings overboard and abandoned him in Mexico. Eventually,
a trial was held where the right man was given
credit for the discovery. In fifteen seventy to Gamboa wrote
I affirmed that Amba Gappacocha party children were immolated before

(15:54):
the idol A Juanacaure. He served as a governor of
the Strait of Magellan, which is by southern Chile, by
the authority of King Philip the Second in fifteen eighty.
In fifteen eighty four, Sadmiinta the Gambo was captured by
the English as he headed to Europe. He was presented
to Queen Elizabeth the First and they spoke in Latin,
the only language they could converse in. Felippe Guaman Poma

(16:19):
de Ayala was also known as Juaman Poma o Waman Poma.
He was a Quechua nobleman and a direct descendant of
the Inco royal family through his mother. He learned to speak,
read and write Spanish from his half brother Martin Dayala
Amestiso priest. He gained access to the library belonging to
the Mercedarian Friar Martin de Murrois, thereby furthering his education.

(16:43):
He served as an administrator inscribed within the colonial government
of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Ayala wrote that Takapacocha
was a celebration held twice a year in which children
were sacrificed. For many years, the descriptions made by Spanish priests, scholars,
and go quistadors of human sacrifice throughout meso America without

(17:04):
to be prejudiced and exaggerated. However, archaeological excavations have found
that they were accurate not only the fact that sacrifices
took place, but in the amount of persons killed, especially children.
This is a place called Latrinnada, Peru, known also as

(17:24):
El Infierno de la Salturas, which translates to Hell and
the Heights. This mining town is located near a gold
mine which is over sixteen seven hundred feet above sea level.
The population at one time was estimated to be about
thirty thousand. It is known as the lawless city of Peru.
It is located in the inca Iyanka region, on the

(17:45):
side of Mount Ananea and at the foot of the
Aochita Glacier. The average annual temperatures thirty four degrees fahrenheit.
The economy is driven by gold mining run by illegal
mining companies who operate by what is known as cacoreo,
where the miners work for a month without pay and
they are allowed to work one day for themselves, where

(18:08):
they can take as much ore as they can carry
on their shoulders. Women are banned from working in the mines. However,
blakeras work outside, sifting through what is discarded. The town
is plagued by murder and crime. Women and miners are

(18:28):
trafficked and most of the victims of sexual exploitation. The
average life expectancy is thirty five years. Hypoxia, extreme weather conditions,
and violence account for short lifespans. In twenty nineteen, seven
dead miners were found in a tunnel beneath the mountain.
They had all been shot in the head. About one
hundred to three hundred bars that also operate as brothels

(18:50):
exist in the town, and around forty five hundred women
from Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia work there as prostitutes. The
majority are miners who have been kidnapped brought their under
false pretenses. In April twenty twenty four, three security guards
were shot by a group of hooded men. In November
twenty twenty four, a hotel worker found the bodies of

(19:12):
Ludis mamani Olatte, who was killed by persons unknown. These
are only a few of several homicides that take place
and are never investigated, or salt. The town has Peru's
highest murder rate. There is no plumbing or sewer system,
and pollution has contaminated food and water sources. The populace

(19:34):
lived in metal shocks surrounded by mountains of garbage. There
is also significant contamination by mercury of the drinking water
and nearby glacier due to the mining practices. It's affected
the soil and animals that live in the area, especially
if they are down the mountainside like other mountain Like

(19:54):
other miners, those at Lavinnada try to placate the lord
of the underworld, but they have they have their own version.
They are effigies known as those of Wuheilos or their grandparents.
They are similar to a deal, however, they are four
dolls with elderly faces and each is decorated in mining garb.
Each mouth has a cigarette or cigar, and the story

(20:15):
is that the figure smokes their own cigars. The grandfather
has women's underwords on his legs. It's believed human sacrifice
have been given to these entities since it's the greatest
chaia and it ensures the gold keeps coming. Women who
get drunk are taken to the mines and sacrifice there.
If the woman is a virgin, it is the most
powerful offering. Since there are no senses or registration of

(20:38):
any type, there is no record of who lives or
dies in Le Rinkada. There are also thieves in the
mountains known as primos, which translates to cousins who kill
the miners and take their equipment. There are no tourists
due to the extreme danger of coming to this place,
especially after dark. The Grandparents they are called. They are
four demonic dolls that are outside the Gonada mine and

(21:02):
Buno and Peru. For many years, Minus have provided different offerings,
including cigarettes, fruits, and alcoholic beverages, but the most striking
offerings are women's breaches. And I think by breaches I
mean underwear. According to their own customs, the underwell of
revirgin women is better received by grandparents when return give
them more goals. Yes, from what I understand. Forget the tourists.

(21:23):
It's extremely dangerous to go there, even if you're a
native Peruvian, because you know, there's like talk about a
thousand different ways to die there. Yes, yes, so they really,
you know, they believe that this is how you know.

(21:45):
They they take the superstition very very seriously, unfortunately for
the for the victims. As you can see, though, there's
a history of that and these people, whether the Getchua
or whatever. In these different countries are Peru, Bolivia, Chilicolia.
There's a history there where if you wanted to placate
whatever God it was, you know, you human sacrifice, you know,

(22:10):
modern times, I think that it happens more often in
places like Latrine, Granada, which there's nobody there to say
what are you doing? Or hey, where'd that new young
girl that was you know, kidnapped from somewhere in Columbia,
Chili or Peru? Where did she go on she was
sacrificed to los on Whalos or something like that. I mean,
there's nobody there. From what if you read about this place,

(22:36):
there is no law. When they say lawless, they absolutely
mean lawless. Okay. Next story is also out of Stranger
in fiction story that it's called the Disappearance of Donna.
All Right, and let's see. You might think that anyone
can go missing in any place for any reason, but
in a rural town that in nineteen sixty eight had

(22:58):
a population of less than one hundred there. It's hard
to understand how a woman could vanish so completely. Talk
about disappearances, right. It was a brisk fall night in
November nineteen sixty eight when Donna Jean Michaalenko was seen
at Earl's Bar, a solitary wandering home in the town

(23:21):
of Kif, North Dakota. She left with her date around midnight,
and no one has laid eyes on her again. Kif
was a farming community seld by immigrants from Ukraine, Russia,
and Germany at the turn of the century. It started
off as a depot station for the Sioux Line railroad
and incorporated in nineteen oh eight. It achieved the peak
population of three hundred and seven in nineteen twenty. Donna

(23:44):
Jean Hate married Bert told aka Bert Michalenko in nineteen
forty six. Both of their families were from the area.
They had three children and divorced in nineteen sixty four.
The children live with their father, however, she still visited
them there. Donna lived separately in her own place and
but Or Butte Bert remarried in nineteen seventy four. He

(24:07):
was a successful farmer and businessman, and the Butte and
Keith area. He was a former mayor of Butte and
also served on the city council. Professor Eric Garbowski, a
private citizen, took an interest in this case and has
researched extensively through interviews with family and open source materials
more information about the circumstances surrounding Donna's disappearance. According to him,

(24:30):
Donna was romantically involved with a man he refers to
as b L. There is also a history of violence
between them, including the last time they were seen at
Earl's bar, which was on November ninth, nineteen sixty eight.
It wasn't until December twenty seventh, six weeks after she disappeared,
that Donna was reported missing by her twenty one year
old daughter. Since Donna was known to travel throughout the

(24:53):
state to visit family or to sightsee, it took that
long before the family realized that something was wrong. When
b L, which was still eleven twenty seventeen, who owned
a farm nearby, was questioned about Donna's whereabouts, he said
he dropped her off at her ex husband's house and Butte,
where her children lived. According to those at the house,
she never arrived. It seems strange he would not take

(25:16):
her to where she lived. He was considered a suspect
that Donna's disappearance. However, as time passed the investigation stalled out.
Professor Grabowski did find out that Donna owned a dog
named Trixy that disappeared at the same time. The animals
later found shot to death inside of a Lutheran church.
He also mentions a tie in to Mary Terry's book
The Ultimate Evil, where it describes direct links to secret

(25:39):
cults or Satanists practicing in the area of Minou, North
Dakota in those years. Strangely enough, there is also parallel
to the sacrifice of dogs in several hidden locations where
covens would meet in New York City, including the desecration
of houses of worship. These individuals were known to travel
between Mino, North Dakota and boroughs in New York City.

(26:02):
In nineteen seventy four, Arles Perry nineteen was murdered inside
Stanford Memorial Church two weeks before Halloween. Her body was
posed and mutilated in what appeared to be some type
of ritual murder. She had grown up in Bismarck, North Dakota,
and had moved to California, only six weeks before, after
she married her high school sweetheart who was studying for
his medical degree. Arles was interred on October eighteenth at

(26:26):
Sunset Memorial Gardens in Bismarck. Most of those who attended
the wedding were present for the funeral. Rites Two weeks later,
on Halloween, something strange happened. The temporary marker placed on
her grave site was stolen. No other marker in a
cemetery was taken. The police found that a couple of
trophies were taken from the murder scene. Could the marker

(26:46):
have been another one? Was there an unknown cult operating
in the sparse landscape of North Dakota that committed murders
but weren't pursued because their victims were not found and,
like Donna, were just deemed missing persons. Donna Jean Hated
was born in September fifteenth, nineteen twenty nine, to parents
Martin Hate and Emma Engel, who married on January twenty eighth,

(27:08):
nineteen twenty nine. She had twin siblings born in January
nineteen thirty four. Lester died soon after birth, and Marylyn
died a few months later. Her father Martin committed suicide
in nineteen fifty six by shooting himself in the head.
There was nothing known in her background to provide a
clue as to what happened to her. A two thousand
and nine news article wrote of her as someone who

(27:31):
decorated wedding cakes and whose children described as an artist,
volunteered in her community and would do anything to help
a neighbor in need. Remains have never been recovered that
have been linked to her, so there is no dn
I material to match to any of her relatives. None
of her belongings were ever taken or any of her
money used after she disappeared. Present day Keif is considered

(27:53):
a ghost down with less than ten inhabitants. All the
businesses are shut down and the people have moved away.
Place of wide open spaces, a body could be thrown
in a field or buried and remained unfound for years.
Was this the fate of Donna Jean Micheleenko Now, this
is another story from that area. It's called the Lost Boy.

(28:14):
Close to where Donna disappeared. Another strange story unfolded decades before.
It involved a teenage boy who lived in Dogden In
eighteen ninety, a post office was named after nearby Dogden Butte.
The town was founded in nineteen oh four as Pearl
and then changed to Dogden in nineteen oh six. The
populace was so scarce that in nineteen o four the

(28:35):
post office closed, but there were still farmers working the land.
On June twenty ninth, nineteen oh nine, the Grand Forks
Herald published a story about a lost boy. His name
was if he may or Ifimenko Potarenko, fourteen, who worked
for Peter Michealenko, Bert's father. His family lived about nine

(28:55):
miles south of Dogden. The teenager was sent into the
pastors to get some horses. Almost two hours passed, and
Micheleenko sent out one of his young sons to find
out what happened to him. The child returned saying he
couldn't find him. That Michealenko's son in law was sent out.
He found young Potarenko lying still in the field as

(29:17):
if he were dead. He tried to revive him, but
Potarenko did not respond. The son in law brought a
horse team and took him back to the house. He
was breathing and stirred a bit. A message was sent
to Kief to call doctor Evan C. Stone at Balfour.
The doctor, upon examining the young man, found he was
unconscious and bleeding from his mouth, nose, and ears. The

(29:39):
doctor was not optimistic of his recovery, but the next
day the bleeding had stopped and everyone continued to hope.
Nothing else was ever published about what happened to Ifimee Potarenko.
Allowing even for misspelling of his first and last name,
there is no explanation from doctor Stone as to how
a teenage boy ended up unconscious and was he attacked

(30:02):
or was there another cause? Right? And that's you know,
it's the okay because you mostly think of somebody that's
bleeding from their mouth, their ears and their nose, that
they were I don't know, hitting the head, you know,

(30:24):
because I even thought, well, you know, maybe in a
horse or a mule or something kicked them. But from
according to what they were saying, that he had no
visible injuries that would account for what happened to him.
One of those things. And this again, this is this
is the middle of nowhere, of nothing, and that's what happens.

(30:47):
You could like probably throw somebody away and they could
be lying there like not that far away anyway still
strange in fiction stories, this you know, since let's keep
going to like the weird stuff. This is called the
dry Bones. In May eighteen seventy five, in the city

(31:09):
of Montgomery, Alabama, on the corner of Market in Laren Street,
stood a derect building. It was ascribed as a poor
perturbed spirit made its presence known to any who came
close to it. The year is eighteen seventy five, and
this building stood opposite to the Montgomery Hall and was
one of the oldest buildings in the city. The upper

(31:29):
floors were once occupied by the State Journal printing Office,
but as the years passed it fell into disrepair and
became dilapidated. The space was taken over as a flophouse,
and the lower floor was a large hall known as
Freely Hall, used also as a carriage and a wagon
repository and a bar room. Persons passing by the structure

(31:50):
said they felt a peculiar sensation, as if they were
by themselves in a graveyard. One night, about eight o'clock,
those living upstairs heard estrange noise in the hall below.
Some of them put their heads through the holes in
the floor of their room, where panels were missing. They
thought that they were being wronged. They called out, who's that?
Several voices shrieked out, who is you? I say? Then

(32:12):
the clanking of chains echoed through the hall. Then it
was followed by low rumbling sounds, groans, shrieks, and a
steady tramp tramp tramp, as though a thousand soldiers were
marching to their eternal beuvac ghosts. One of the occupants
shouted and they left the building. Their eyes dilated to
the size and brightness of a weathersfield onion. The alarm

(32:34):
spread over the neighborhood. Men with guns, women's with pokers,
and children all gathered to see and catch the ghost.
There he told ghost story. They retold stories about ghosts,
but none dared to go near the house. Some brave
souls eventually went into the hall and returned with stories
that the ghosts blew his breath on their cigar, and
another said he got close to him and it made
a grab at him and his arm went through just

(32:56):
like he was missed. Another said that as he was
sneaking in the window, the ghost, who was standing in
the far end of the hall, jerked his own head
off and threw it at him, knocking him about ten
feet back out of the window. The ridiculous stories demoralized
the crowd, who now numbered about two hundred, and it
was finally resolved that it was up to the mayor
and the city council to run out the ghosts. Finally,

(33:18):
one man said he was an afraid of ghosts. If
forty men would follow him, he would go in the
house and find who was there, dead or alive. As
he finished his speech, a big, fat woman standing in
the crowd raised her hands above her head and screamed, lordy,
look yonder, he's coming out of the window. In a
few seconds, not a mother's son or daughter were to

(33:39):
be seen in four squares of the place. It was
observed that every occupied room in a square of that
house had a light burning throughout the entire night. A
few nights later, the rumor was that the ghost had
reappeared at the same place. A large number of people
congregated at the corner of the haunted house to watch
what would happen. Against strange sound and groans were plainly heard.

(34:02):
This time. The ghost replied to questions from the crowd.
He stated that his name was Rogers, and that he
was murdered in that building forty two years before, and
that his family were now in indigent circumstances. He added
that he was accompanied by the spirit of a woman
who was murdered at Mount Meig's before the war. He
stopped talking, except to say he would return the following

(34:22):
night and reveal the whole mystery. Since the appearance of
the ghosts, many stories were told of former mysterious appearances
in the hall. Someone had kept a skating rink there
several years ago, who said he closed it because he
saw it several different times, two strange figures passing the
hall at night after he closed the doors. The next day,

(34:43):
about two thousand people gathered to witness the third appearance
of the ghost. There was no ghost, and Metium said
the spirits informed them they would appear that the crowd
was smaller and less boisterous. However, the ghosts didn't keep
their word and the story faded from the newspapers. Eighteen
fifty seven, close to the railroad, there was a strong
suspicion that a woman had been killed in Knoxville, Alabama.

(35:06):
A body was discovered with a hideous amount of cotton
with pieces of whalebone scattered promiscuously around it. Some believed
the woman had been murdered. The remains were taken to
the corner. The matter was kept quiet with hopes of
finding clues to the guilty parties. Her identity was never established,
much less who did this to her. The description was

(35:27):
found by the railroad was just as elusive. What else
besides cotton and whalebone was left, apparently enough to take
to the corner. If there was ever a reason to
haunt a death like this would be it. There was
a train station at Mount Meigs. Was this the unfortunate
woman that haunted the old building in Montgomery which was

(35:48):
only fourteen miles away? And that's one of the things
that you find out about, you know, those times where
you know the trains were like the main form of transportation.
Is that how can I say there was? You know,

(36:09):
sometimes he has people, especially people that worked, they were
killed by trains. They fell, they got runned over. There
was another set that decided to commit suicide by getting
run over, like throwing themselves in front of the train.
But there was also another set, which sometimes it was
and this is what made it difficult that these people
have been murdered. But what they would do is they

(36:32):
would throw the bodies or place the bodies on the
railroad tracks and let the train run it over because
they knew that by the time the body was recovered
the corner or anybody doing it, it would be very difficult
to find that the person was murdered or that, in
other words, that the person was dead because the body

(36:55):
was so mangled that the corner said, I can't figure
out if this person was to begin with it, they
were killed. So yeah, you find that a lot of
you know, they would do that just to make it
believe as in that this person in some cases either
tripped fell because believe it or not, or committed suicide

(37:16):
and really in reality what it was was a murder. Now,
this other story is out of Mysterious Universe and it's
titled Cursed and Evil Places of Australia. One thing that
I have often touched on in various articles is the
question of whether an actual place can be evil. Are

(37:40):
there sometimes malevolent forces that permeate a place to the
point that it can be considered evil and cursed. Many
places in the world harbor such places, And here we
are going to look at a selection of such ominous
places in Australia. One of the most well known cursed
or evil places in Australia is a location called Black
Mountain from the wilderness of Queensland, Australia. It is in

(38:03):
an eerie site that stands in dark contrast to the
brush and eucalyptus trees around. It is a colossal, black
and jumble of enormous boulders that looks less like a
natural formation than something that was intentionally dumped here by
giant hands. Long heavily associated with bizarre, unexplained phenomena and
intertwined with dark folklore, the Black Mountain is a strange place,

(38:25):
long shunned and feared by the indigenous people, and the
region is made no less ominous by sightings of strange occurrences,
unexplained lights, and the numerous people who have come here
never to return. Black Mountain is located in the Black
Mountain National Park in Queensland, Australia, which is located about
sixteen miles south of Cooktown. The nature of the bizarre

(38:48):
mound certainly makes it its appearance conducive to scary stories
and myths. From a distance, Black Mountain looks like a
solid monolith of black looming over the primeval forest round it,
but on closer inspection one can see it as composed
of gigantic granite boulders, many of which measure up to
twenty feet long and soars up nine hundred feet over

(39:09):
the surrounding landscape. These boulders were formed from solidifying magma
around two hundred and fifty million years ago, lack any
trace of surface soil and have a distinct black coloration
caused by a thin coating of iron and manganese oxides,
as well as a film of blue green algae covering
the exposed surfaces. The black coloration gives the boulders a sinister,

(39:32):
forbidding appearance, as if they have been scorched by the
fires of Hell itself. The rocks are jumbled upon one another,
forming labyrinths of mazes and passages, penetrating within the mountains,
which belch forward gusts of hot air accumulated from the
daytime heat. This heat lends the rocks other odd properties.
The boulders become hot in the sun, and when cold

(39:54):
rain falls on them, they slowly fracture and disintegrate over time,
occasionally in a violent explosive mass, only adding to the
ominous intimidating atmosphere pervading the place. In addition, the hot
air moving through the underground passages and abysses creates eerie
sounds that have variously been described as sounding like moaning, screaming, crying, wailing,

(40:17):
and deep hissing. A rotten stench also reportedly seeps from
somewhere far below the surface from time to time. With
such a creepy appearance and demeanor, perhaps it is no
surprise that Black Mountain has a long history of dark
legends and myths. The Cuckoo New Young Call people of
the region have long shunned the mountain, calling it called Kajaka,

(40:41):
meaning the place of the Spear, and sometimes translated simply
as the Mountain of Death. Ourboriginal tales tell of the
mountain as a haunted place, home to various evil spirits
and demons lurking within, which are said to hunger for
human souls, one of which is the spirit a wicked
medicine man called the Flesh. Stories tell of any unfortunate

(41:03):
who approaches the mountain being dragged to their deaths within
its bowels by spectral hands and shadowy ghosts are often
allegedly seen there. Adding to this atmosphere of dread. It
is the brutal massacre of Aboriginal people at the hands
of early European settlers that supposedly took place in a
nearby ravine, the ghosts of which are said to still
dwell there, screaming for revenge. Although several other rocks and

(41:27):
caves in the vicinity hold religious significance and are considered
to be sacred by the Aborigines to this day, they
refuse to go near Kalkajaka. Indeed, while into modern times,
Black Mountain has been ground zero for a wide variety
of high strangeness, it is said that animals are spooked
by the mountain and that it exudes some evil force

(41:50):
that has been reported to disrupt the navigational equipment of
airplanes flying nearby. Plains mostly avoid flying near the mountain
due to these unexplained anomalies as well as the strange
air turbulence that is experienced within the vicinity. A nineteen
ninety one aerial survey conducted by the Bureau of Mineral
Resources to test from magnetic disturbances and radiation levels on

(42:13):
the mountain turned up nothing unusual, yet the reports of
these phenomena from pilots persist. It may not be so
surprising that Black Mountain is also home to a good
amount of UFO activity and reports of strange lights. Black
Mountain is also said to have cavernous underground chambers that
are purported to hold everything from alien bases to lost civilizations,

(42:35):
ancient tombs, and priceless lost treasures. Some of the treasures
are said to reside within the depths of the many
caves and are lost stockpiles of gold, historic artifacts, and
ancient texts. One of the stranger things said to be
lined of the mountain is a secret alien base from
which you have foes emerge, and which is inhabited by
race of reptilian alien humanoids that keep human slaves. Those

(42:59):
who buy this far out idea of further explain that
the arrangement of the boulders is obviously artificial, and that
the entire mountain was built by the aliens themselves. Others
speculate that the boulders were laid down by some ancient
lost civilization millennia ago, and that this society thrived deep
under the mountain and an enormous hollowed out domain, some

(43:21):
thing such a civilization is still there. Other bizarre tales
revolve around the strange beasts said to inhabit the mountain.
Although the areas indeed home to many unique and endemic species,
there are tales of creatures lurking here that are far
weirder than one might imagine. Within the craggy maze of
intertwined boulders are said to lurk enormous pythons that are

(43:44):
not shy about attacking human beings. There is also an
enigmatic large cat like predator known as the Queensland tiger
that is thought to prove The area has been blamed
for cattle mauling and mutilations that have occurred in the
surrounding area. Occasional reports of large reptilian humanoids emerging from
the underground tunnels and crevices have also surfaced from the mountain. Additionally,

(44:09):
there are numerous stories of fleeting, shadowy shapes that stalk
the mountain, but is unclear whether these represent some type
of real animal, a more supernatural phenomena, or merely a
trick of shadow and light upon the black boulders. Perhaps
the most well known and indeed scariest phenomena related to
Black Mountain is the multitude of mysterious disappearances that have

(44:30):
taken place here. There are numerous stories of horses and
even whole herds of cattle vanishing here, as if swallowed
by the mountain itself, but even more menacing of the
stories of the many people who have allegedly come here
and disappeared without a trace. While Aborigines have stories of
their people vanishing at the mountains since long before Europeans arrived,

(44:51):
the first modern account of an unexplained disappearance here dates
to eighteen seventy seven, when Occurier by the name of Grainer,
when out on horseback, looking first, only for the man,
the horse, and the calf to never returned. Widespread searches
of the mountain turned up no trace of the animals
or the courier, and it was assumed that they had
fallen into one of the many jagged chasms between the boulders.

(45:15):
A few years after this, a notorious criminal known as
Sugarfoot Jack and a couple of his accomplices fled to
Black Mountain following a shootout. They were never heard seen again,
and despite the exhaustive police search that followed there was
no evidence at all to hint at where they had gone.
They had simply vanished. The disappearances only increased in number

(45:35):
and weirdness over the years. One of the more well
known tales allegedly occurred thirteen years after the disappearance of
Sugarfoot Jack. A Constable Ryan, who was stationed in nearby Cooktown,
tracked a fugitive to Black Mountain along with other trackers,
only for the trail to abruptly end at the mouth
of one of the caves, as if the criminal had
just stepped off the face of the earth. Ryan intered

(45:58):
decayed to see if the fugitive might be high inside,
but according to those present, he never came back out,
and no one else was willing to risk going in
after him. Neither the criminal nor Constable Ryan was ever
seen again. In another case, a local man by the
name of Harry Owens was out looking for stray cattle,
and when he did not return, his partner, George Hawkins,

(46:18):
informed the police and went out looking for him. When
Hawkins did not return either, the police launched the search
of the mountain for the two missing men. According to
the account, two police officers ventured into one of the caves,
and only one of them emerged. When the loan officer
came out from the darkness, he was reportedly completely unhinged

(46:39):
and so terrified of whatever he had seen that he
could not give a coherent report of what had happened
in what had happened. In the nineteen twenties, two professional
cave explorers who journeyed to the mountain to try and
solve the enigma of these disappearances went missing themselves, as
well as some trackers went looking for them. More recently,

(46:59):
in nineteen thirty two, blackpacker named Harry Page went missing
while hiking on Black Mountain and was later found dead
from unknown causes. The list goes on. In all cases,
except for the body of Page, no evidence was ever
found to hint at what had happened to any of
these people. An extensive police investigations have never been able

(47:21):
to come to any conclusion on the causes of their disappearances.
It is as if the mountain itself swallowed them, which
is not far from the official theory concerning the Vanishings.
It is mostly believed that these people most likely fell
into the numerous caves, crevices, and chasms of the mountain,
or became hopelessly also when trying to venture into the

(47:42):
impenetrably dark passages. Whether this is what happened remains unknown.
There have also been very few people to brave the
mountain caves and return to tell the tale. One experienced
bushmen who penetrated the mountain armed with a pistol and flashlight,
gave a herrowin account of his experience within. I stepped

(48:03):
into the opening. Like other black mountain caves, it dipped
steeply downward, narrowing as it went. Suddenly I found myself
facing a solid wall of rock. But to the right
there was a passageway just large enough for me to
enter in a stooping position. I moved along the carefully
for several yards. The floor was fairly leveled, the walls

(48:23):
a very smooth granite. The passage twisted and turned this
way and that, always sloping deeper into the earth. Presently,
I began to feel uneasy. A huge bat beat its
wings against me as it passed. However, I forced myself
on to push further. Soon myinoscerils were filled with a
sickly musty stench. Then my torch went out. I was

(48:44):
in total darkness from somewhere that seemed the bowels of
the earth. I could hear faint moaning, which was then
followed by the flapping of wings of thousands of bats.
I began to panic as I groped and floundered back
the way I thought I had come. My arms un
legs were bleeding from bumps with unseen rocks. My outstretched
hands clawed at space. I expected solid walls and floors,

(49:08):
but could not find it. At one stage, where I
had wandered into a side passage, I came to the
brink of what was undoubtedly a precipice, judging by the echoes.
The air was fell and I felt increasing dizziness. Terrifying
thoughts were racing through my mind about giant rock pythons
I've seen around this mountain. As I crawled along, getting

(49:29):
weaker and losing hope of ever coming out alive, A
saw tiny streak of light. It gave me super strength
to worm my way towards a small cave mouth half
a mile from the one I had entered. Reaching the
open air, I gulped in lungfuls of it and fell down, exhausted.
I later found out that I had been underground for
five hours, most of the time on my hands and knees.

(49:53):
A king's ransom would not induce me to injure those
caves again. It is end quote other frightening glimpse of
what can happen to those who dare to venture into
the odoriferous, hissing caves of Black Mountain, and perhaps a
hint at the last things those who vanished here, ever saw.
It is certainly enough to dissuade most from trying to

(50:14):
find out that those unfortunate souls merely get lost and
die alone in the dark depths of the mountain caves,
or was there something more sinister at work? Perilous crevices, demons,
vengeful ghosts, giant snakes, UFOs, aliens, reptilians, slaves, masters, undiscovered
predatory cats. The list of supposed culprits is vast. Fear

(50:35):
willing to investigate further, and many of those who have
tried have described feeling hopelessly confused, lost, and beset by
stifling feeling of intangible dread and panic when exploring here.
The caves have been described as being complex and highly unpredictable,
full of treacherous and drops yawning chasms, shifting, dropping or

(50:57):
even exploding rocks and boulders, steady footing and jagged sharp walls.
The brutal heat pervading the confined to the passages, as
well as an interminent foul stench. The wailing and moaning
emanating from the darkness, and the hundreds of fluttering bats
everywhere only further enhanced the sense of danger and disorientation

(51:18):
inherent to this place. Many cave explorers have described exploring
the caves a Black Mountain as being a singularly unpleasant
experience that none wish to ever try again. Most tourists
visit Black Mountain National Park are content to view the
foreboding mountains from a safe distance away. Whether one believes

(51:40):
any of the folklore or spooky story surrounding Black Mountain,
it is certain a harsh, unfriendly place that instills a
certain sense of unease and dread in those who see it.
There's a sense that this menacing mound of bowlers in
the middle of the Australian wilderness is a place shunn
by the rest of the natural world, and the enigmatic
place of natural wonder, mystery and intangible fear. The Black

(52:05):
Mountain of Queensland continues to stand tall over the terrain,
perhaps just a pile of boulders, or perhaps watching and
maybe even inviting more souls to join its many unfathomable mysteries.
Another supposedly curse place in Australia's an unassuming river meandering
four hundred and forty miles through the northern table lands

(52:25):
and Northwest slopes districts of New South Wales, Australia, is
the Dambois River, which passes the towns of Gunda, Bogabri, Narrabri,
Weewah and Walgut along its course. Although most of the
river's route is marked by picturesque scenery, the scenic facade

(52:45):
hides a variety of little known cases of strangeness with
a definite malevolent flavor to them. It was here, along
the now Moy River, near the town of Weewah, that
in nineteen oh eight, two friends by the names of
Harry Johnson and Stanley Williams set up camp for the
night at a scenic spot which was known as one
of the prettiest locations along the river and was quite

(53:07):
popular among campers at the time. It was a camping
excursion from which only one of the men would return alive,
Stanley Williams. After a massive search for the missing man
was launched, Harry Johnson's decomposed body was pulled from the
bottom of the river, where had been anchored intentionally by
a heavy iron bar typically used as a brake block

(53:29):
bar for a wagon, strapped to its back. William was
quickly apprehended on the suspicion of murdering his friend out
there at the secluded spot, and the subsequent trial would
bring to light just how gruesome the killing had been,
with the murdered man's skull apparently having been brutally bashed
in with a hammer. One piece of testimony in the
case by doctor Willis, published in the Sydney Morning Herald

(53:52):
of January eleventh, nineteen oh nine, said the body was
exposed to the air for probably four or five days.
The body I saw may have been dead only about
a fortnight. Senior Sergeant Sheridan placed the hammer in my
hands this morning. I fitted it to the hole in
the skull of the murdered man and found that it
fitted exactly into the hole punched there in the fracture

(54:13):
behind the ear. Williams staunchly denied any wrongdoing, even in
the face of these damning accusations and the fact that
he had been the last person to be seen with
Johnson right there where the murdered man had been found. However,
the proceedings were never able to concretely link Williams to
premeditated murder. No clear motive could be as certain for

(54:36):
why would want to kill his good friend, and the
best that authorities could do was a charge of manslaughter,
which the perpetrator was sentenced to ten years of penal servitude.
With William's convicted and punished, it would seem that this
might be the end of the whole tragic affair. But
this was where the weirdness would begin, and it would
become apparently apparent that whatever horrible thing had happened there,

(55:00):
the river had perhaps left some sort of evil stain
behind it hadn't been there, if that hadn't been there
all along. During the investigation, one news correspondent for the
Border Morning Mail and Riverin at Times spent a good
deal of time following up on potential leads to the
mysterious case, and in his travels met the acquaintance of

(55:21):
a Thomas Underwood, who lived not far from the scene
of the brutal killing. Mister Underwood would go on to
tell various strange, menacing occurrences that had started to occur
in the area in the aftermath of the murder. One
of the odd accounts related by Underwood was the story
of a man by the name of Arthur Perrott, who
had gone to camp in the area totally unaware of

(55:42):
the vicious killing that had transpired there. When Parrott had arrived,
these two wagonette horses had reportedly become extremely agitated, and
this state of panic would get words until I finally
boiled over. The horses, foaming at the mouth in total fear,
broke free and fled into the night. A cursory examination
of the area turned up no reason whatsoever fore could

(56:05):
have spooked the animals so badly. The next day, the
replexed Permit Parrot would find his two shaken horses a
few miles away from the scene, wandering around aimlessly in
the wilderness. Despite this unsettling, experienced Parrot would pass through
the area again the following week and found that his
horses refused to go anywhere near the place where they

(56:26):
had camped the week before. It was then that Parrot
had approached Underwood and requested permission to use his paddock
to keep the horses for him while he was away.
Parrot would further relate to Underwood how the area had
filled him with a sense of dread as well, and
Underwood would later say he, as in Parrot, did not
relish the idea of again experiencing the uneasiness of mind

(56:49):
which had attended him when last he camped there. Parrot's
two sons had experienced some amount of strangeness when camping
in the area as well, when their horses also suddenly
passed and broke from their tethers to desperately flee, including
one old horse that had never been known to be
prone to such things. Again, in these cases, the two

(57:09):
sons had also been unaware of the gruesome murder that
had taken place there. At the time. Numerous cases of
horses going insane with fear and fleeing the area were
turned up, and this seemed to be a rather regular
currents near the murder. The correspondent, his curiosity peaked at
such spooky tales, requested that underwould take him to the

(57:30):
area where Johnson had been murdered. When the two arrived,
the correspondent noticed that the area was very quaint and picturesque,
stating that it wasn't an ideal camping ground, beautifully situated
and well grasped, yet sinister reminders of the horrible crime remained.
The tree under which Johnson and Williams ten had been
situated still bore bloodstains battered over its trunk, and the

(57:53):
strange observation was made that although the grass grew in
plentitude all around the site, the groundhere Johnson his body
had lain was completely bare. The correspondent also experienced for
himself a sense of deep unease that descended over him
even as he stood there examining the sight, likening it
to a feeling of impending death, and he very much

(58:16):
felt that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
This sense of foreboding and doom that was said to
permeate the sight like a black cloud, was experienced by
others as well, and one account a couple came to
the area on horseback to camp for the night. It
is probably not surprising by now that the horses promptly
high tailed it out of there, in this case suddenly

(58:40):
bolting while into the wilderness. To never be seen again.
That evening, the woman suddenly became extremely upset and began
having potent panic attacks and hallucinations for no discernible reason,
during which he began to madly rent that she was
struggling in a sea of human blood. The woman became
steadily more hinged, writhing about on the ground and shouting

(59:01):
like a lunatic, until the distraught husband went to get help.
He finally found himself at the house of a local
name Missus Mackenzie, who listened to the whole series of
bizarre events before informing the man of the murder and
other weirdness that had been going on at that same
spot of which the man had been unaware. Terrified with
the story, he went back, collected his wife, and the

(59:23):
tu hast lee left the area. Allegedly, the woman immediately
started to calm down as they retreated from the vicinity,
and by the following evening she was back to her
old self, having no real recollection of what had happened
to her. Other reports from campers in the same area
described a variety of strange phenomena as well. Often reported

(59:47):
were panic attacks or paraxyms of terror. Sheets pulled off
of bunks, tents disassembled by unseen forces, extreme powerful hallucinations
both visual and auditory, and of course, the profound fear
the place invoked in animals. One such camper, who experienced
some of these bizarre phenomena, stated, I would refuse all

(01:00:08):
the gold of the Empire rather than go through a
similar experience. Again, interestingly, in every case, the witnesses had
been unaware of the murder that had happened there, and
were not told of it until after they had their
brush with the unknown. The correspondent who had investigated the
area in the wake of the murder would go on
to chronicle many of these reports and a peace in

(01:00:30):
the Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times on June twenty fifth,
nineteen ten, entitled the Namois River Tragedy Weird Facts that
are Terrifying. All of this is strange enough, but the
Namoy River had been the sight of its share of
weirdness since even before this sensational murder and its ensuing

(01:00:52):
seemingly ghostly phenomena. It had long been an alleged favorite
haunt for terrifying unknown creature called the bun yip. Excuse me, madam,
Let's find out what the bunyip is, which is usually
said to be some sort of monstrous, amphibious creature prone
to great aggression. One notable account of the bunyip at

(01:01:15):
the Namoy River comes from the eighteen thirties, when an
outlaw turned bush man named George Clark came here to
live as a fugitive in the remote wilderness among the
local Gamilo Rye tribe. What a police posse came through
looking for Clark in nineteen thirty two, a tribal elder
explained to policeman Captain John Forbes that the rear was

(01:01:38):
inhabited by a dangerous creature known to them as the
wa Wi. This aquatic creature was ascribed as being enormous,
having fin feet, formidable teeth, and a tusk, and was
said to let loose with a horrific wailing noise on occasion.
Forbes would write in his diary later of the wa Oui, saying,

(01:02:00):
all the naves express fear of it and say that
it will devour them if it can catch them in
the water. There would be other mysteries and unexplained phenomena
reported from the Namamoy in the following years as well.
In nineteen thirty four, The river would be the location
of a baffling unsolved disappearance. An article on Friday the

(01:02:24):
twenty third, nineteen thirty four in the issue of the
Sydney Morning Herald explains the disappearance of a stock and
station agent by the name of Georgia, not from the
village of Peliga, New South Wales. The man had gone
out for a drive along the Namoy River and simply vanished,
being last seen at ten a m. After a week
of being missing, Knat's car was discovered at the bottom

(01:02:46):
of the river. The body was nowhere to be found,
and bizarre clues left behind baffled police. In the rear
compartment of the car were found bullet shells, which were
all twenty two caliber bullets of the short type, yet
no real significance was attached to them because Naught had
been a keen hunter and sportsman who was known to

(01:03:06):
foregoing our frequent shooting expeditions. A hole was found in
the hood of the car that it first seemed to
be from a large caliber bullet and was seen as
an important clue, But the size of the exactly corresponded
to that of a stud on the hood, and so
as letter determined that on the hood of the car
had been folded back by the river current had banged
against the stud and formed the hole. The exterior of

(01:03:29):
the car showed no other signs of damage. The interior
of the vehicle did little to shed any light on
the case either. Inside the car, there were no signs
of a struggle, except for some broken fittings in the
front of the compartment, but this was not seen as
definitive evidence of foul play. There were also no signs
of blood in the car, and while the river could

(01:03:50):
have possibly washed it away, the article stated quote wet
blood might have been washed away when the car was
driven into the river, but blood dries quickly and even
after a short time, would have left an indelible stain.
The only other clue left behind was that there was
a missing set of tools. Police set up a camp
along the Namoy River and systematically dragged the bottom for

(01:04:14):
a mile, but the body could not be located. Interviews
of dozens of locals living in homesteads in the area
turned up nothing, as no one reported hearing or seeing
anything suspicious or strange. The mysterious vanishings of George Knott
has never been solved and his body has never been found.

(01:04:34):
Besides stories of Bunyip's mysterious murders, goes the activity, the
cloud of dread hanging over the murder site, and unexplained vanishings.
The Namoy River has other bizarre tales attached to it
as well. An article from the Sydney Morning Herald dated
March twenty third, nineteen seventy three talks about the mysterious
sudden appearance of large amounts of dead fish in the

(01:04:54):
river near the cotton farming community of Wiwah. In this case,
the dead fe steadily appeared for over a week, and
any birds that fed on them were reported as dying
as well. Although health authorities looked into the matter, no
discernible cause of death could be found, nor any reason
why birds should die from eating the fish. It's finally

(01:05:15):
speculated that the phenomena was perhaps linked to overuse of
insecticides in the wake of a caterpillar plague that was
ravaging the area's cotton crops or around the same time,
but this was not conclusive. It is not clear this
sudden mass fish die off has anything to do with
all the other strange phenomena of the river, but it
certainly is odd. Are any of these strange occurrences related

(01:05:39):
or is it just a series of dispersed cases of
strangeness that just happened to have happened along the same river.
Is a ghost of phenomena reported from here related to
the murder of Harry Johnson and his ghost? Or is
it indicative of some malevolent force imbued into the very
land itself, making it a curse or evil place that
is causing these tragic events. It's hard to say. Moving

(01:06:03):
along out along the Bruce Highway, sixty kilometers south of
Cairns and Northern Queensland, Australia, three streams rushed down from
a top Mount bartle Frere, meander through untouched rain forest
wilderness and converge among some large boulders near a nondescript
town called Babinda. What has come to be known as
the Babinda Boulders is well known for the inviting crystal

(01:06:25):
clear waters, other streams, and the idyllic, picturesque natural beauty
to be found all around, which have served to attract
droves of tourists to the spot every year. However, what
many of the photographers, campers and hikers at this peaceful spot,
as well as swimmers wading through the common portions of
the pool might not be aware of, is that the

(01:06:46):
site goes by another far more ominous nickname of the
Devil's Pool, and has been feared by the Aborigines of
the areas for centuries, perhaps with good reason, as is
a place long steeped with death, foreboding and a dark
reputation the native people the area of long Shune the
deceptively quiet pool, and one Aboriginal legend is particularly tragic.

(01:07:08):
According to the dark tale, there was once a young,
beautiful woman from the Yidingi tribe named Ulana, and this
maiden married a respected tribal elder name Warrunu Warrunu Or
when she met a handsome younger man from another tribe,
she set forth into a torrid affair, running off away
into the wilderness with her newfound lover. Unfortunately for her,

(01:07:32):
Oolana's husband was a powerful man within her tribe, and
he sent out search parties to hunt the pair down
to put an end to their adulterous tryst. When they
were finally surrounded and separated at the Bobinda boulders, Oolanas
then said to have thrown herself into the water and
drowned rather than faced oblique life without her true love.
According to the Aboriginal tales, she has never really left

(01:07:54):
and still prowls these waters looking to lear young men
to a watery grave. This legend has become notable because
over the years a large number of young men have
mysteriously met their debts here, and since nineteen fifty nine,
at least seventeen people and more still in old newspaper clippings,
have drowned here under decidedly strained circumstances. In many cases,

(01:08:17):
the victims are said to be forcefully pulled and held down,
as if by unseen hands. The site is said to
be particularly aggressive towards men and those who disrespect the
pool in any way, and one story young man visiting
the area took a kick at one of the signs,
there after which he slipped, fell into a deep pool
and round. Other mysterious deaths here are not as clear,

(01:08:38):
such as that of twenty four year old Peter McGann,
when nineteen seventy nine, was climbing up a boulder, jumped
a small gap and slipped to go tumbling into the
water below, after which he simply vanished without a trace.
It would take teams of divers over five weeks to
finally find his body lodged down in the murk at
the bottom of the pool. One rescue worker who helped

(01:09:00):
in the search, police diver Peter Tibbs, explained the sign
thus quote, I've been called on four times to try
and find bodies down there, but one of the most
interesting of the cases was a young fellow called Patrick McGann.
We thought we knew he was in there, but we
couldn't get to the body because the water is so cold,
it's so deep, and it flows so fast, and so

(01:09:20):
eight or ten times we went down and we eventually
cut the logs out of the place underwater, and on
the last day, after we'd almost given up, we cut
the last log that was in the chute and the
body floated freely. And that was five weeks and five
days from the time he'd gone missing. So it wasn't
a pretty sight, but it was a great relief to
get the body out and satisfy the family end quote.

(01:09:45):
There was also the case of a young couple that
was swept away by a freak flash flood at the
site as they were taking in the view with a
woman surviving, but the man never heard from again. Perhaps
the most recent and dramatic account of a mysterious death
at the Devil's Pool is that of twenty three year
old Tasmanian naval seaman James Bennett, who had been out
for ady exploring the area with some friends in twenty ten.

(01:10:09):
The group had jumped over a safety railing to sit
in a natural tub of churning water known locally as
the washing Machine. According to one of James's friends, he
had been swimming in a calm area nearby when he
was suddenly and violently yanked backwards, as by an invisible
hand which seemed to be dragging him back towards a
section of churning white water at the back of the pool.

(01:10:30):
James and allegedly reached up to grab a branch, which snapped,
after which his head went underwater and he just struggled there,
suspended helplessly in the water for no apparent reason, with
just the tips of his fingers protruding from the surface
as he struggled to come up for air. He would
remain like this while his friends tried to reach out

(01:10:51):
to him and offer their extended legs before sinking into
the depths to his fate. It would not be until
three days later that the body of James Bennett would
be found flow voting about it in a calmer section
of the stream, and a plaque would be erected in
the aftermath early reading he came for a visit and
state forever most of the area is now closed off,
although the inviting locale constantly draws visitors in such tragic

(01:11:15):
incidents are so plentiful that the area has had numerous
railings and warning signs set up over the years to
denote the place that are safe for swimming. Why so
many have suddenly drowned in the mostly compoles here depends
largely on who you ask. Officials will tell you that
it is all due to fast running water, freak flash floods,

(01:11:37):
or untamed currents stirred up by the natural lay of
the stream and the boulders dotting it. This could in
turn pull people under and pin them against the rocks,
or wedge them under sunken logs, drowning them in a
fashion that could quite possibly be witnessed as some sort
of mysterious unseen force. The high oxygenation of the water.
Here also the swimmers no favors, and all this is

(01:11:59):
said to make the can conditions in the off limits
areas difficult for even the most experienced swimmers to navigate. Indeed,
even the divers who have entered the pool to look
for bodies have been met with harrowing water conditions at times,
despite typically being solidly tethered to the land by rope.
One local officials said of the dangers of the pool, quote,

(01:12:20):
they call it the washing machine where he went in
because it goes round and round. It's all bubbles, so
there is no buoyancy. Its dangerous water. It sucks you under.
You always see people swimming in the dangerous holes. You
don't know when a flood could come down from up
top end quote. However, others point to the fact that
not all of these deaths were the result of actual swimming,

(01:12:42):
with some suddenly slipping and falling into the water for
no reason, and almost all of them were male, sixteen
or seventeen of the official count to be exact. This
is to be telling evidence that perhaps the Aboriginal legends
about the pool are true, at least to something, and
only adding to this mystique are the varied reports of

(01:13:04):
a disembodied woman's voice calling out into the night, and
even pictures that claimed to be of a ghostly eyes, faces,
and other unexplained images lurking under the water. Here a
picture taken of the side by the father one of
the victims was described us quote when the father came down,
the police took him out and showed him where he
went down, and he took the photo of that, And

(01:13:26):
he came back and they showed him where they had
found them tied up there. And when he went over
to in is veil the next morning to get them developed,
that's what they found the photo. He's even got the
cigarette in his mouth. End quote. Here we have an
old myth intertwined with modern ghost stories and strange death,
making it hard to really pick apart what could be

(01:13:48):
real and what is all pure lore. Whether one believes
the straight legends of a dead village woman or not,
it is hard not to wonder whether this might just
be one of those places that seems to be infused
with some negative, malicious energy. Is this all the result
of natural phenomena, a ghost, or something else. It remains unknown,

(01:14:09):
but something to think about if you're ever looking to
take up a dip at this mysterious place. Is there
anything to the cases we have looked at here? Or
are all of these accounts the result of exaggeration and
imagination on the part of the witnesses and the news
reports of the day. It is interesting to think about
the idea that a place can perhaps be pervaded by

(01:14:31):
forces beyond our understanding, or that tragic events might somehow
implant themselves into a location like a voice onto an
audio tape. Whether this happens or not, places like this
are certainly strange and make one wonder if an area
or place can be possessed by mysterious forces, and indeed
whether it can be evil. So there you go. Yes, so, yeah,

(01:14:59):
Australia has you know, they have that out back. But yeah,
there's a lot of weird places out there, which is
what this is all about. Weird places, weird people, weird experiences.
Eerie eerie, eerie to the nth degree. So I will
be back with you guys soon. Till next time. Take care,

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