Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

A foot and a hand poking from the bushes of an English lane sent police into a thirty-one-hour murder investigation, complete with forensic teams and a sealed-off road — until the pathologist confirmed the body was not what it appeared to be, and it’s a mistake law enforcement keeps making.

SOURCES, LINKS, AND PRINT VERSION: https://weirddarkness.com/six-doll-corpse-mixups

Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://pod.link/1078714736

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

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

A fight over folding chairs at a Toledo kindergarten graduation sent one mother to the hospital and another parent to jail, and not a single five-year-old got to walk across the stage.

SOURCES, LINKS, AND PRINT VERSION: https://weirddarkness.com/KindergartenBrawl

Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://pod.link/1078714736

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

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

When a dry-goods robbery in a river town leaves one clerk shot dead and two thieves drowned, a down-at-heel Ravenmill private eye is called in to put a name to the lone survivor — a soft-spoken scholar who keeps walking out of cages no man should be able to open.

EPISODE PAGE (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/noir-mancagescouldnthold

THE REAL CASE BEHIND THIS STORY: This episode is inspired by the case of Edward H. Rulloff (1819–1871), a Canadian-born polymath who lived as both a respected scholar and a career criminal. A doctor, lawyer, schoolmaster, photographer, inventor, and self-taught philologist, Rulloff devoted his life to a language manuscript he believed would revolutionize the field — work he financed through theft and largely wrote in prison cells. In 1844 his wife, Harriet Schutt, and their infant daughter, Priscilla, vanished from Lansing, New York. No bodies were ever found despite repeated dragging of Cayuga Lake, and Rulloff was convicted of abduction rather than murder, serving ten years in Auburn Prison. A later murder conviction was overturned on appeal, and he was ultimately freed. He moved to New York City, where he and his associates Albert Jarvis and Billy Dexter robbed stores, specializing in hard-to-trace sewing silk. On August 17, 1870, the three men broke into Halbert's dry goods store in Binghamton, New York. A clerk and night watchman, Fred Merrick, was shot dead during the struggle. Jarvis and Dexter drowned in the Chenango River while fleeing; Rulloff was captured after giving false names and hiding in a farm outhouse. He was recognized as the long-suspected Lansing killer, tried for Merrick's murder, and convicted of first-degree murder. His case drew national debate — Horace Greeley argued his intellect was too valuable to waste, while Mark Twain mocked the sentiment in a satirical letter to the Tribune. Rulloff was hanged on May 18, 1871. Before his execution he confessed to killing his wife with a medicine pestle but never admitted to harming his daughter, who some believed survived and was raised by his brother. His body was displayed, a death mask was made, and his head was kept for study; his brain remains part of the Wilder Brain Collection at Cornell University to this day.

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

Originally aired: May 28, 2026

Thirteen drops of blood spilled on three-hundred-year-old bones, and a footstep in the dark with only one foot to make it — the kind of Friday the thirteenth that earns the date its bad name.

Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTR

CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = Show Open
00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “A Grain of Salt” (November 18, 1977)
00:46:07.148 = Witch’s Tale, “Devil’s Number” (December 12, 1935) ***WD (LQ)
01:11:46.898 = X Minus One, “Chain of Command” (November 21, 1956)
01:40:10.474 = Zero Hour, “The Villainous Verdict” (May 16, 1974) ***WD
01:56:50.784 = ABC Mystery Time, “Death By Proxy” (June 07, 1956) ***WD
02:20:51.751 = Strange Adventure, “Murder Takes Note” (1945) ***WD
02:24:06.540 = Appointment With Fear, “Morning Glory” (July 18, 1943) ***WD (LQ)
02:50:43.270 = BBC Radio 4/Radio 7 Ghost Story, “The Haunted Doll’s House” (January 1988)
03:05:10.194 = Beyond The Green Door, “Diver Fights For Life” (1966)
03:09:20.309 = The Black Book, “Different Readings, Parts 1 and 2” (November 21, 1951) ***WD
03:34:31.794 = Boston Blackie, “The Ghost of Flo Newton” (May 28, 1947)
03:59:38.473 = Box 13, “The Haunted Artist” (December 12, 1948)
04:26:28.295 = CBC Mystery Theater, “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (December 1966) ***WD
04:55:16.589 = Show Close

(ADU) = Air Date Unknown
(LQ) = Low Quality
***WD = Remastered, edited, or cleaned up by Weird Darkness to make the episode more listenable. Audio may not be pristine, but it will be better than the original file which may have been unusable or more difficult to hear without editing.
CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRR0673

For two months in the summer of 1972, a club-wielding, hair-covered creature stalked the railroad tracks of Defiance, Ohio — and the local police took it seriously enough to open an official file.

EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/WerewolfCentral

AUDIOBOOK: “The Black Eyed Kids” by G. Michael Vasey: https://amzn.to/4fIg2vW

FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: It’s one of the most gruesome ways movie and television villains dispose of their victims… the acid bath. The body being tossed in a tub, barrel, or bin, slowly dissolving into soup – leaving no evidence behind. But the truth of acid baths is far more gruesome – even more so those who choose to use the method to get rid of a body. (Acid Bath Horrors) *** Defiance, Ohio was the location for one of the best true werewolf stories most people never talk about. (Welcome to Werewolf Central) *** If you’re looking for some creepy places to visit this Halloween season, you can’t get much creepier than cemeteries and graveyards. I’ll share some of the most haunted ones that you might want to check out if you have ice in your veins. (The World’s Most Haunted Graveyards) *** The scenery may be beautiful when driving this road, but locals have nicknamed it la carretera de la muerte (the highway of death). We’ll look at Mexico’s La Rumorosa Highway. (The La Rumorosa Hauntings) *** Many considered Edward Rulloff to be a genius – a man ahead of his time. Others had quite the opposite opinion of him, thinking him a fraud or a conman. But nobody expected they would also be adding the word “killer” to his description. (Genius, Conman, Killer)

CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = Show Open
00:02:11.573 = Welcome to Werewolf Central
00:08:48.888 = The World’s Most Haunted Graveyards ***
00:15:39.282 = Acid Bath Horrors
00:28:47.923 = La Rumorosa Highway ****
00:35:23.927 = Genius, Conman, and Killer
00:46:26.735 = Show Close & Bloopers
*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break

LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS:
Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps
*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*

SOURCES and RESOURCES:
“Welcome to Werewolf Central” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2c3p59aa
“The World’s Most Haunted Graveyards” from RealParanornalExperiences.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/39z4fyaf
“Acid Bath Horrors” by Abraham Rinquist for ListVerse: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/znvcuzps
“The La Rumorosa Hauntings” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5xj9sewk
“Genius, Conman, and Killer” by Robert Willhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/dy9fmky5
(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)

WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.
Originally aired: March 14, 2023