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cover of episode DANCING WITH THE DEAD: And More True Crime Cases That Defy All Logic

DANCING WITH THE DEAD: And More True Crime Cases That Defy All Logic

2025/6/15
logo of podcast Weird Darkness: Stories of the Paranormal, Supernatural, Legends, Lore, Mysterious, Macabre, Unsolved

Weird Darkness: Stories of the Paranormal, Supernatural, Legends, Lore, Mysterious, Macabre, Unsolved

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They've been here for thousands of years, making their presence known in the shadows.

They might be seen by a lonely motorist on a deserted road late at night, or by a frightened and confused husband in the bedroom he's sharing with his wife. Perhaps the most disconcerting part of this phenomenon boils down to this question: has the government been aware of their presence all along and is covertly working with them towards some secret end?

In the audiobook, Runs of Disclosure, what once was fringe is now reality. While listening, you'll meet regular people just like you who have encountered something beyond their ability to explain. You'll also hear from people of great faith and deep religious belief who continue to have these strange and deeply unsettling encounters. Author L.A. Marzulli explores these ongoing incidents to discover the answers to these questions.

Who are they? What do they want? And why are they here? Can you handle the truth? Listen to this audiobook if you dare. Rungs of Disclosure Following the Trail of Extraterrestrials and the End Times by L.A. Marzulli Narrated by Darren Marlar Hear a free sample on the audiobook's page at WeirdDarkness.com From bizarre murders to inexplicable family disappearances,

The world of true crime is filled with cases that defy easy explanation. Imagine stumbling upon a man blindfolded and bound on a snowy highway, or a pizza delivery driver forced to rob a bank with a bomb strapped to his neck. Picture a teenage boy secretly living in the walls of a family's home, or a respected doctor staging his wife's murder as a suicide.

These aren't plot points from Hollywood thrillers. They are real cases that have baffled investigators and captivated the public for years. But the strangeness doesn't stop there. What about the news anchor attacked by time travelers or the man who kept his dead lover's corpse for seven years?

How about the family that suddenly fled their home, convinced their lives were in danger only to be found scattered across the country days later with no explanation? These true crime cases push the boundaries of the believable towards the edge of the absurd, proving the old adage, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction, and sometimes more terrifying.

I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos! I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode,

The world of astral projection is filled with eerie encounters and odd entities, and the haunting possibility of never returning to your body. In 1982, Chicago was rocked by a series of mysterious deaths linked to Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide, and we still don't know who committed the crime.

From ancient Mesopotamian wind demons to the fallen angel Lucifer himself, we'll touch on the dark and fascinating world of demonology and demonic lore across various cultures and religions. In 1929, the Evangelista family was brutally murdered in their own home. And it's possible Benny Evangelista's dabbling in the occult was the catalyst.

But first, we'll look at the unsettling and bizarre side of true crime. From Carl Tanzler's macabre obsession to the chilling disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, each case is both captivating and confounding, and sometimes downright weird. We begin there. Now, bolt your doors. Lock your windows.

Turn off your lights and come with me into the Weird Darkness. No matter how you consume detective stories, the more absurd true crime cases are usually the ones that stick with you the longest. Some cases are just plain weird, possibly hauntingly eerie. A prime example: Carl Tanzler kept his dead sweetheart's body at home for seven years, occasionally buying her new dresses.

Then there is Danny LaPlante, who at the age of 17 lured a girl to his home, murdered her and her family, and lived secretly in their house for days. As you're about to find out, our fascination with true crime runs deep. At around 3 a.m. on December 22, 1939, a blindfolded man stumbled out onto a snow-covered highway in Mishawaka, Indiana, and was struck by a melon truck.

The man was identified as 44-year-old factory worker Stephen Melke. Footprints leading to where he lay dead showed that Melke had his hands tied behind him, and his eyes and mouth were sealed with strips of surgical tape. Inside Melke's mouth was a handkerchief covered in red lipstick. Melke had been led approximately 140 feet from where he was actually hit by the car

At first, his legs had been bound, but he managed to get them loose and walked blindfolded through the snow across the highway. More baffling was a set of parallel footprints through the snow, suggesting that the person who tied him up had also disturbed his walk. Some suspect Melky was pushed onto the road,

Three suspects were taken into custody, local tavern waitress Betty DeVos and her fiancé Alan Polemsky, as well as a former school chum of Melke's. Although all three were questioned, none of the automobile tire marks were conclusively matched. The case of Stephen Melke remains unsolved.

Walking into a Pennsylvania bank on August 28, 2003, a man passed a note to the teller, threatening to blow up the place if he didn't get $250,000. He left the bank with just $8,000. Surrounded by police, the man identified himself as Brian Wells, a pizza deliverer forced by others into robbing the bank.

He claimed the device around his neck was a bomb, which eventually exploded in front of live television cameras, killing him. Police found detailed instructions in Wells' car outlining tasks he needed to complete to get rid of the bomb, including the holdup. However, Wells could not have finished all the tasks before the device's timer ran out.

Later, police attributed the plot to three people: Marjorie Deal Armstrong, Kenneth Barnes and William Rothstein. After Wells' death, Rothstein turned on Deal Armstrong, leading police to the body of her ex-boyfriend, James Roden, hidden in his freezer. Investigators believe Deal Armstrong killed Roden after he threatened to inform police about the bank heist. Debate remains as to whether Brian Wells was involved in the robbery.

D. Alarmstrong was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 and she died in prison in 2017. The case received renewed attention in 2018 with the release of a Netflix docuseries, Evil Genius. On December 8, 1986, everything changed for the Bowen family. Initially, they thought a ghost was performing tricks, but Father Frank was sure their imagination had run away with them.

The family's eldest daughter, Tina Bowen, managed to escape through a window and call the police. But by the time they arrived, the boy was gone. Two days later, Frank Bowen returned to the house to pick up some belongings and saw the boy staring out a second-floor window. They found 16-year-old Daniel LaPlante hiding in a hollow space within the bathroom wall. LaPlante had been living secretly in the Bowens' house for days, harassing the family bit by bit.

LaPlante was arrested and sent to Juvenile Hall but received a relatively light sentence. A year later, in 1987, LaPlante murdered a woman named Priscilla Gustafson and her two young children. He was sentenced to three life terms and practiced Wicca in prison.

Donna Dahl, a 21-year-old senior majoring in Russian at Northern Illinois University, left her job at the school library on October 2, 1970, and was never seen alive again. Three days later, her body was found in a cornfield near the school. The coroner determined suffocation with a bag or pillow was the cause of death, but several details didn't add up. First, no fibers were found in Dahl's mouth.

Second, there were unidentified substances in her system. Most bizarrely, it emerged that Dahl had consumed five to six pounds of potatoes shortly before her death. Despite countless leads, Donna Dahl's killer has never been found, and the case remains unresolved. In July 2019, Vatican City authorities received a new lead in a 35-year-old cold case.

In 1983, 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi, the daughter of a Vatican employee, disappeared in Vatican City on her way home from a music lesson. She was never seen again. An anonymous tip led investigators to the tombs of two 19th-century German princesses in the Pontifical Teutonic College. Two ossuaries holding thousands of bones were found on site, but Emanuela Orlandi's body was not among them.

It was eventually determined that these bones were at least 100 years old, and multiple individuals were involved in the burial. On the evening of October 4th, 1986, after dinner, NBC news anchor Dan Rather walked home from a restaurant. He quickly realized he was being followed by two men. As the men closed in, they asked Rather, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" After Rather said they had the wrong guy, the men punched him and turned on him together

Rather fled into a nearby apartment house where someone called the police. The attack on Rather made headlines and became part of pop culture. In 1994, William Tager shot and killed a stagehand on the Today Show. Tager claimed that NBC had been sending him messages through his television set.

A decade later, Tager confessed to being one of the men who attacked Rather, claiming he was a time traveler and Rather looked like a vice president named Kenneth Burroughs from his timeline. Although Tager's confession solved the mystery for some, others remain convinced there were more people involved.

In 1931, Carl Tanzler, a radiology technician, fell in love with 22-year-old Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, a patient being treated for tuberculosis at Key West Hospital. Tanzler, who could not treat tuberculosis, claimed he could cure Hoyos. In October 1931, she succumbed to her illness and died.

Grief-stricken, Tanzler paid for a mausoleum to house her remains and visited her corpse every night for two years. Then, in 1933, Tanzler removed Hoyle's body from the mausoleum and took it home, unbeknownst to her immediate relatives. He kept the body from decomposing by stuffing it with rags and wire hangers and covering its surface in plaster of Paris.

The body was eventually removed from his home in 1940 after a neighborhood boy saw Tanzler dancing with what he thought was a giant doll. Tanzler was charged with grave robbery, but the statute of limitations had run out and he walked free. The incident was often portrayed by the media as a touching love story, with Tanzler frequently quoted as believing he could one day bring Hoyos back to life.

In 1991, the bodies of Leslie Howell and Trevor Buchanan were discovered in a car filled with exhaust gas. Authorities initially concluded that both had killed themselves due to an existential crisis caused by their spouses, Colin Howell and Hazel Buchanan. Nine years later, Colin Howell, a respected oral surgeon, confessed to killing his wife and Buchanan's husband, staging their murders to look like a double suicide.

Howell also confessed to sexually molesting female patients while they were under anesthesia. Both Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart were found guilty of the murders, with Howell receiving a 21-year minimum sentence and Stewart an 18-year one. David Hampson, 45, from Swansea in Wales, was found guilty in 2015 of breaching a criminal behaviour order and being mute of malice.

Starting in 2014, he developed a habit of standing in front of cars to prevent traffic from moving. When the police spoke to him, he didn't utter a word, though he was capable of speaking. Hampson was repeatedly arrested for stopping traffic, even climbing onto the hood of a mail van at one point. The jury in Hampson's trial found him guilty after just five minutes of deliberation.

On August 29, 2016, Mark and Jacoba Trump, along with their three kids, walked away from their home outside Melbourne, Australia, believing their lives were in danger. They made their three adult children, Rihanna, Ella, and Mitchell, leave their phones and other identifying items behind.

As the trip went on, the children began to separate. Mitchell left after his father made him throw his phone out the window. Rihanna and Ella stole a car and later separated, with Rihanna found catatonic in the backseat of a stranger's car. Jacoba was found agitated in Yass, Australia and received psychiatric treatment along with Rihanna. Mark was the last to be found, six days after they set out, near Wangaratta Airport.

Police did not believe the family was in danger or that anyone was out to get them. Some guessed the Tromps were affected by chemicals on their farm, while others thought they were suffering from a collective delusion called folie a due. The family themselves seemed at a loss, with Ella Tromp stating, "It is very confusing. I still feel confused. There's no one reason for it. It's just bizarre."

Brooklyn politician and multimillionaire Marty Markowitz claimed his psychiatrist, Isaac Ike Hershkopf, took over his life for 30 years starting in 1981. Hershkopf allegedly had Markowitz establish a foundation funded by Markowitz but controlled by Hershkopf. Hershkopf used Markowitz's Hamptons home for parties where Markowitz was forced to serve guests.

Hershkoff also talked Markowitz into disinheriting his sister and leaving all his possessions to the Foundation. Markowitz eventually cut off all contact with Hershkoff in 2010, leading to Hershkoff giving up his medical practice after authorities heard testimony from Markowitz and two other former patients. The story was made into a television series called "The Shrink Next Door" starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell. When Weird Darkness Returns

Mrs. Z began experiencing spontaneous out-of-body episodes. She had no idea it would lead her to witness a murder through the eyes of the victim. As she and other astral travelers delve deeper into the mysteries of the astral plane, they uncover a world filled with cosmic knowledge, eerie entities, and the haunting possibility of never returning to their bodies.

Plus, in 1982, Chicago was rocked by a series of mysterious deaths linked to Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide. As panic spread and "copycat" incidents emerged across the nation, Johnson & Johnson faced a crisis that would redefine product safety standards. It is a chilling whodunit of murder, corporate response and unsolved crime even now, decades later. We don't know who committed the Tylenol murders.

These stories and more, coming up. I'm not big on trends, never really have been, so I can't be trusted when it comes to clothes shopping for others. I'm married to someone who does understand what looks good.

Quince.com asked me to endorse them on Weird Darkness, and at first I thought, eh, that's a bad idea, for reasons I've already laid out. But I let my bride check out their website, and, well, she immediately started shopping for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Just Because Day, apparently that's a real thing, and now she keeps going back to Quince.com. Their lightweight layers and high-quality staples have become a go-to place for everyday essentials now.

Quince has all the things you actually want to wear this summer, like organic cotton silk polos, European linen beach shorts, and comfortable pants that work for everything from backyard hangs to nice dinners. And the best part? Everything with Quince is half the cost of similar brands.

They work directly with top artisans, so they cut out the middlemen. And Quince gives you luxury pieces without the markups. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I honestly didn't think I needed Quince.com, but Robin says, yeah, I do. Desperately. I think that means she'll be buying some clothes there for me, too.

She's tired of seeing 98% of my closet being weird darkness t-shirts. Go figure. She's also making me out to be the hero in front of my nieces. We got a cute little toddler-sized poplin-smocked flutter-sleeve dress for my youngest great-niece, complete with pink puppies for the pattern. It's adorable, I'll admit that. We got a pair of cotton-stretched skinny jeans coming from my newly-teenaged great-niece, along with a set of organic cotton long-sleeve and pants pajamas.

My oldest niece, the mom in the family, is getting a pair of ultra-soft high-rise pocket leggings. Emphasis on pocket. That's a pet peeve of my bride. She refuses to buy pants without pockets. And we're also sending a pair of ultra-form high-rise leggings. I would look horrible in all of this stuff, but the ladies in the family are going to look awesome. Of course, we'll be going back to quince.com in the next few days to begin shopping for the nephews.

I'm not allowed to pick out those clothes either. Robin just does not trust me. Good call. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from Quince. Go to quince.com slash weirddarkness for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash weirddarkness to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash weirddarkness

Okay, yeah, I gotta admit, this t-shirt is kind of fading. My guess is that you've heard a lot of people talking about Factor, the two-minute meals packed with nutrition. Up until recently, though, I didn't really care much about nutrition. I was into convenience. Burgers, pizza, you get the drift. But, well, the older you get, the more you realize nutrition is kind of important.

At the same time, convenience is still crucial for me. I am busier now than I've ever been in my life, so eating food fast without eating fast food is a bit of a challenge. Was a bit of a challenge. With Factor, I get to check both of those off my list. I just heat it up, and two minutes later, I'm sticking a fork in it.

Factor is more than convenient though. I don't even have to jump into my car to go through a drive-thru or pay a bunch of extra money so I can wait 30 minutes to an hour for a delivery app to come through for me. Factor meals arrive directly at my door, fresh and ready to eat. And with my new weight loss goals, the menu options are a real bonus. They have gourmet meals if I want to be calorie smart or pack on the protein, go keto and more. They have 45 weekly menu options.

How many weeks are there in a year? 52? Yeah, that's pretty dang close to a different menu for each week. I can use Factor for breakfast, quick lunches, premium dinners, even guilt-free snacks and desserts. Imagine that. Snacking without guilt. I didn't think that was possible. If you'd like to join me on this journey, you can visit factormeals.com slash darkness50off, then use the code darkness50off to get 50% off and free shipping in your first box.

That's factormeals.com slash darkness50off. Then use the code darkness50off to get 50% off and free shipping.

Do you like my horror-able humor episodes called Mind of Marler? If so, and you'd like more, it now has its very own podcast. Comedic creeps, sarcastic scares, frivolous frights, macabre madness. Every week I dive into strange history, twisted true crime, and paranormal weirdness. All the stuff you'd expect from me on Weird Darkness, but delivered with dark comedy, satire, and just the right amount of absurdity.

The idea of "leaving their body" is alien fantasy to some, but the phenomenon is far from unique. It has been documented for centuries across various cultures and among countless people.

Scholars have taken the matter quite seriously since, well, way back in time. We've talked before about CIA studies and remote viewing, where they used able test subjects with the ability to astral project, utilizing this skill at their convenience. The extent to which these experiments were carried out, and whether they still occur today, is disputable for some.

For some, this is accompanied by ecstatic emotions, understanding the universe and even life itself. For others, it is a horrific experience, witnessing inhuman horrors from the victim's perspective and fighting to return to their own physical body before other energies take total control.

In 1968, one of the most spine-tingling astral projection reports fell into the public domain when Ms. Z, whose experience had been studied by parapsychologists at Duke University, North Carolina and published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, decided to share her encounter. The study claims that Ms. Z had a history of spontaneous experiences, an odd occurrence to which she had been accustomed since childhood.

Most of the time, she would just float above her bed and then return to her body. But one of her more recent episodes found her ascending higher than the ceiling above her bedroom. Moreover, she experienced this from someone else's perspective, as if traveling through someone else's mind.

The first of these episodes occurred after a night spent asleep at home, when Miss Z woke in the middle of an unfamiliar deserted road, empty except for a man following her. Terror wracked her as she quickened her pace. Her mind wandered to an old checkered skirt that wasn't hers. The man following her suddenly picked up his speed, causing her heart to race faster. She felt him grasp her. She woke up in her bed, frightened but unhurt.

Ms. Z started to believe this was a myth until she read about the rape and murder of a young woman in her local newspaper. An important fact stood out. The location where the body was found and the skirt the victim was forced to wear were identical to what she had experienced. This confirmation led Ms. Z to surmise that the woman she saw was the victim.

Ms. Z was teaching Erin Pavline to astral project intentionally rather than by mistake, as just described with Ms. Z's encounters. Although Erin didn't succeed the first time, she continued to try. It took her 25 years to do it again. However, she quickly found out that the ability to astral project on demand had its dangerous possibilities.

"Astral projection," Pavline says, "involves having a dual consciousness and existing with her body as well as being separate from it. Even though these were two separate energies, she just knew and sensed both. She also noticed others around her astral form, triggering fear of the darkest realms. When these others were present, she sensed herself being pulled out of her body, as if they wanted to keep her and possess her body."

Robert Bruce had been researching this for decades and confirmed that many of his subjects felt the same. Ms. E. reported that when she left her body, everything else was known to her at once, although she often had no idea where she traveled. Worse, she had no control over when she entered and left her body. Bruce had another patient, Ms. P., who described waking up in her bed after allegedly projecting against her will during sleep.

She often tried hard to get back into her body but couldn't, feeling a pressure weighing down until it lifted when she woke up. Many psychics say their ability to astral travel has always been with them, and even some true adepts go unappreciated until they learn how to do this consciously. One of these is Edgar Cayce, perhaps the most celebrated mystic ever.

Cayce claimed he could astral project and access the Akashic Record, a repository of worldly knowledge and history that exists only on the astral plane, like a library of cosmic energy. Adherents to the Akashic Record believe that in this astral space, a record of every deed is kept. Those who can access this plane have full authority. Nearly all ancient cultures and many present-day Native American tribes hold similar beliefs.

Cayce chronicled many of his astral travels in his writings and journals, and used the Akashic Record to make predictions and psychic readings. He described becoming a "little dot" as he flew through this cosmic dimension, anchored by a strange silver umbilical cord connected to his body.

Author and researcher John Keel posited an interesting theory: if reports of astral projections were true, could it be possible that many UFO sightings involving dot-like objects represent the energy form of people on their astral travels? Even more intriguing are the accounts of strange beings that Cayce says tried to interrupt his journeys.

As with the claims of others attempting possession, Casey contended he had to avoid such entities or struggle to return to his body. Mary Kellerman, a 12-year-old from Elk Grove Village in the outskirts of Chicago, took some extra-strength Tylenol and died on September 29, 1982. Soon after, Adam Janus of Arlington Heights, Illinois, also died suddenly after taking extra-strength Tylenol.

These were only the opening salvos in a spree of killings that would come to be known as the Tylenol murders. Between Friday and Sunday, seven lives were lost in the Chicagoland area. The pills, when tested, were laced with potassium cyanide, the same substance used in the Jonestown massacre. Reporters and investigators had their theories of who poisoned the over-the-counter pain medication and how it was done, but no one has ever been charged with the killings.

Mary Kellerman had told her parents she was suffering from a sore throat and runny nose on the early morning of September 29, 1982. They gave her an extra-strength Tylenol, but by 7 a.m. that morning, she had passed away. The same evening, Adam Janus had what seemed like a heart attack, but it was cyanide poisoning. Following the deaths of Mary Kellerman and Adam Janus, other Chicago households began experiencing sudden deaths from cyanide poisoning.

Two of Janus' family members, his brother Stan Lee and sister-in-law Teresa, died hours after grieving the loss of Janus. They had taken pills from the same bottle of extra-strength Tylenol. On the afternoon of September 29, Mary McFarland from Elmhurst, Illinois, took extra-strength Tylenol. She had delivered a baby several days earlier and, being a mother of four, said she was sore. She collapsed minutes later.

Flight attendant Paula Prince of Chicago, Illinois, purchased extra-strength Tylenol after arriving at O'Hare International Airport that evening. She was declared dead at 3:15 a.m. on September 30. Mary Reiner of Winfield, Illinois, was declared dead shortly before 9:00 a.m. Later, it was determined that all seven victims had taken extra-strength Tylenol hours before their deaths.

When the Janus family finally arrived at the hospital, a nurse named Helen Jensen was summoned. The next day, speaking with Adam Janus' wife, Teresa, about his actions the previous day, Teresa recounted how Adam had bought a bottle of Tylenol after feeling ill at work. His brother Stanley and Teresa, who also took pills from the same toxic bottle later that day, had also perished similarly. This gave Jensen the idea that something had to be wrong with the Tylenol.

With that thought in mind, Jensen defied protocol and headed to the Janus' residence. He saw a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol there and counted the pills. Jensen told Patch, "I counted the pills and there were six capsules gone, with three dead people. I said, 'That's the Tylenol.' The police determined that cyanide had been added to the Tylenol pills. The containers emitted an almond-like aroma, a sign of cyanide's presence."

The New York Times published on October 8, 1982, that Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Tylenol, had already received a signed, handwritten letter. The note said it was simple to lace the capsules with cyanide and would not cost much, while mentioning more killings would occur unless they were paid $1 million. Johnson & Johnson quickly brought this fact to the attention of authorities, and they soon uncovered where the letter originated.

James Lewis was convicted of extortion in October 1983, nearly a year after the murders, and sentenced to 20 years. Lewis, who died on July 9, 2023, at the age of 76, was still considered a suspect in the killings, but was never charged due to insufficient evidence. James Lewis from Kansas City, Missouri, was the main suspect in delivering the Johnson & Johnson extortion note.

He denied any involvement in the poisoning, and police could not gather enough evidence to arrest him. He remained a person of interest in the case, and his home was searched, along with another residence, when the investigation reopened in 2009.

The Chicago Reader published the most intense profile of Lewis in the year 2000. He declared that he was a political prisoner, a scapegoat, and an all-purpose monster, claiming that the Tylenol investigation was a bureaucratic blunder by Tyrone Fainer, then Illinois Attorney General, and Daniel K. Webb, then United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Lewis, who passed away on July 9, 2023, in his home in Cambridge, was never charged with the murders. Even the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was later investigated and considered a suspect. Kaczynski had a history of random killings, lived near his parents' property when the first poisonings occurred, and resembled suspect photos.

Their sleuthing produced a timeline indicating that Kaczynski was present at the time. Kaczynski also wrote that in theory he might have planned to poison the Tylenol, claiming, "...imagine a society which subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy, then gives them drugs," which likely fed speculation of his involvement in the crime. Kaczynski has not been ruled out as a suspect.

The FBI asked in 2011 for his DNA sample to be tested against "hint" fragments remaining on the tainted bottles. Nine days after Mary Kellerman's death from extra-strength Tylenol in 1982, warnings about the dangerous pills being taken off store shelves were broadcast throughout America. Officers knocked on doors all over to gather bottles of the lethal painkiller, canvassing streets and warning residents via loudspeaker.

While this approach helped at home, it unintentionally served as an inspiration for countless other criminals. Within a month of the initial poisonings, the FDA and FBI were investigating nearly 270 separate incidents of product tampering. More than a decade later, copycat crimes occurred. Susan Snow and Bruce Nickel died in 1986 from cyanide-laced excedrin.

They found containers of cyanide scattered around the site, leading to another probe. It turned out that Nichols' wife, Stella, had tainted the bottles to collect life insurance money, and she was found guilty of murder. Johnson & Johnson reacted swiftly, informing the media and recalling millions of bottles. More than 31 million bottles were removed from store shelves.

More contaminated pills showed up in the Chicago region, but fortunately they were found before any more people ingested them. McNeil Consumer Products, the subsidiary that produced Tylenol, volunteered to provide replacement capsules for consumers who had already bought pills. Johnson & Johnson launched a $100,000 reward for the criminal's capture.

Johnson & Johnson's response to these tragedies is still taught in communication strategy courses as an example of good crisis management. The initial probe discovered that the pills were being altered at the retail level, either poisoned in-store or bought, laced and then returned to the shelves. To manage the case, a 140-person investigative task force was established. They were overwhelmed with thousands of tips, nearly all resulting in dead ends.

The investigation gathered 15,000 documents and conducted over 400 interviews. To this day, the identity of the poisoner remains unknown. For Johnson & Johnson, protecting consumer safety was crucial. They introduced tamper-proof packaging for both containers and pills to create security for their products. These moves restored Johnson & Johnson's reputation, making Tylenol the best-selling over-the-counter painkiller.

Before 1983, tampering with a product was not illegal. In 1983, Congress passed the Tylenol Bill, which prohibited tampering with consumer products. However, it was not until 1989 that the FDA created federal guidelines to prevent such incidents. Up next on Weird Darkness...

From ancient Mesopotamian wind demons to the fallen angel Lucifer himself, we'll touch on the dark and fascinating world of demonology and demonic lore across various cultures and religions. We'll discover the origins, powers, and evils behind infamous entities like Pazuzu, Mammon, Lilith, and many others.

Whether you're a folklore enthusiast, simply curious about the supernatural, or thinking of stepping into the study of demonology, it's something you'll want to keep listening for. My guess is that you've heard a lot of people talking about Factor, the two-minute meals packed with nutrition. Up until recently, though, I didn't really care much about nutrition. I was into convenience. Burgers, pizza, you get the drift. But the older you get, the more you realize...

Nutrition is kind of important. At the same time, convenience is still crucial for me. I am busier now than I've ever been in my life, so eating food fast without eating fast food is a bit of a challenge. Was a bit of a challenge. With Factor, I get to check both of those off my list. I just heat it up, and two minutes later, I'm sticking a fork in it.

Factor is more than convenient though. I don't even have to jump into my car to go through a drive-thru or pay a bunch of extra money so I can wait 30 minutes to an hour for a delivery app to come through for me. Factor meals arrive directly at my door, fresh and ready to eat. And with my new weight loss goals, the menu options are a real bonus. They have gourmet meals if I want to be calorie smart or pack on the protein, go keto and more. They have 45 weekly menu options.

How many weeks are there in a year? 52? Yeah, that's pretty dang close to a different menu for each week. I can use Factor for breakfast, quick lunches, premium dinners, even guilt-free snacks and desserts. Imagine that. Snacking without guilt. I didn't think that was possible. If you'd like to join me on this journey, you can visit factormeals.com slash darkness50off and use the code darkness50off to get 50% off and free shipping in your first box.

That's factormeals.com slash darkness50off, then use the code darkness50off to get 50% off and free shipping. I'm not big on trends, never really have been, so I can't be trusted when it comes to clothes shopping for others. I'm married to someone who does understand what looks good.

Quince.com asked me to endorse them on Weird Darkness, and at first I thought, eh, that's a bad idea, for reasons I've already laid out. But I let my bride check out their website, and, well, she immediately started shopping for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Just Because Day, apparently that's a real thing, and now she keeps going back to Quince.com. Their lightweight layers and high-quality staples have become a go-to place for everyday essentials now.

Quince has all the things you actually want to wear this summer, like organic cotton silk polos, European linen beach shorts, and comfortable pants that work for everything from backyard hangs to nice dinners. And the best part? Everything with Quince is half the cost of similar brands.

They work directly with top artisans, so they cut out the middlemen. And Quince gives you luxury pieces without the markups. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I honestly didn't think I needed Quince.com, but Robin says, yeah, I do. Desperately. I think that means she'll be buying some clothes there for me, too.

She's tired of seeing 98% of my closet being weird darkness t-shirts. Go figure. She's also making me out to be the hero in front of my nieces. We got a cute little toddler-sized poplin-smocked flutter-sleeve dress for my youngest great-niece, complete with pink puppies for the pattern. It's adorable, I'll admit that. We got a pair of cotton-stretched skinny jeans coming from my newly-teenaged great-niece, along with a set of organic cotton long-sleeve and pants pajamas.

My oldest niece, the mom in the family, is getting a pair of ultra-soft high-rise pocket leggings. Emphasis on pocket. That's a pet peeve of my bride. She refuses to buy pants without pockets. And we're also sending a pair of ultra-form high-rise leggings. I would look horrible in all of this stuff, but the ladies in the family are going to look awesome. Of course, we'll be going back to quince.com in the next few days to begin shopping for the nephews.

I'm not allowed to pick out those clothes either. Robin just does not trust me. Good call. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from Quince. Go to quince.com slash weirddarkness for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash weirddarkness to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash weirddarkness

Okay, yeah, I gotta admit, this t-shirt is kinda fading. Hold the kaleidoscope to your eye. Peer inside. One twist changes everything. A woman awakens in a grotesque, human-sized arcade game. A mysterious cigar box purchased at a farmer's market releases an ancient djinn who demands a replacement prisoner.

An elderly woman possesses the terrifying power to inflict pain through handmade dolls. An exclusive restaurant's sinister secret menu includes murder-for-hire and harvested organs. With each turn through these 20 tales, Reddit NoSleep favorite AP Royal reshapes reality, creating dazzling patterns of horror that entrance as they terrify.

The word "demon" has been used throughout history to mean many different things,

Being a general term for all sorts of baddies also makes its own case that demons are kind of devils and that they fill "no need filling," as it were, the nomenclature. So like the gods of ancient Mesopotamia, there were demons for a thousand uses, functions, and attributes. Some, such as the demon Lamashtu, tormented pregnant mothers and ate unborn or newborn babies.

In any case, though, they were evil through and through. There was nobody to stop them except other demons. But the Age of Reason did see or at least raise up modern devils, with James VI of Scotland and his demonology, Johann Weyer, a Dutch physician and demonologist, and the unknown authors of grimoires like Clavis Inferni, the Lesser Key of Solomon.

Demonology is the study of demons. In religious as well as occult lore, one frequently finds references to this subject: the sorts and divisions of demons, their powers and of course their limitations, the clumsy wickedness of their ways, the many names they have and where they rank in the council.

One of the earliest works on demons from around that time was Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, or The False Monarchy of Demons, written in 1577. Weyer's work gives us lists of all 69 demons, which would become 72 in the book of the anonymous Clavis Infernae.

With the publication of his most influential work, "De prestigius daemonum et incantationibus ac fenificis" , in 1563, Johann Weyer became a prominent figure. This exposition of witchcraft was authoritative and comprehensive for its time and is still referenced in liturgical inquiries today. But who was Johann Weyer and what prompted him to study demonology?

In 1993, the University of Iowa Press published a book describing Weier as "a Dutch physician whose thought has exercised an immense influence over modern psychiatry." Weier's work laid out a compassionate approach to dealing with those accused of witchcraft, advocating for care and understanding rather than confinement.

In 1597, King James VI of Scotland published "Daemonology", which would forever immortalize his views on the subject. "Daemonology", published several years before the King James Bible, contained three books discussing ghosts, magic and witches. It also detailed King James' experiences with the 1590 North Berwick witch trials.

King James' daemonology opened with the terrible condition of these innumerable slaves of Satan and witches. It provided a magnum opus of sorts to reassure those of little hope or injudicious disposition that Satan's molestations truly take place, and that the instruments involved merit the most severe punishment.

Daemonology's publication in England had profound effects on those under King James' sway, including his newly annexed lands across the sea in Ireland. James ended up feeling anxious that some of his materials were maybe not genuine things, and had them carefully checked.

Demonology was not meant to categorize different forms of demons or instruct every citizen about the true essence of magic. Rather, it was an attempt by King James and others in Europe in the 1590s to address the subject. Despite these efforts, challenges to the theory of demonology arose in the early modern period.

Many famous people wrote books warning against witchcraft, and most of these accusations were shown to be untrue. Yet, demonology continued on. Legions of horrible demons await you still. In modern times, Ed and Lorraine Warren are among the most influential demonologists. They became involved in a variety of highly publicized hauntings, many of which have become famous. However, the Warrens have also faced their share of controversies, including allegations of abuse and fraud.

There have been other individuals who have claimed the title in our modern age, but the Warrens remain well-remembered. Despite this, demonology faces an uncertain future. Though it may have had little to do with our ancestors' day-to-day lives, its impact on popular culture will endure.

The novel "The Conjuring", based on the Warrens' experiences, earned Arthur $2 million in 2007 alone, with sequels bringing in significant returns from book contracts and film rights over the years. Now that you know a bit about demonology and what it's about, let's look at some of the antagonists you might come across in practicing it - some, but by no means all, of the demons themselves.

The demon featured in the 1973 horror film "The Exorcist" is associated with Pazuzu, originating from Mesopotamian folklore. In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was a wind demon, considered king among demons of the wind, bringing destruction. However, he was also thought to protect people by keeping more evil demons at bay.

Ordog, a shape-shifting demon of pre-Christian Hungarian faith, ruled the darkness and evil in this world. Legend has it that the spirit Istan asked Ordog to help create the world in a story from Hungarian mythology. Mammon, commonly known as the demon of greed and riches, is one of the three imperial princes of Hell, alongside Lucifer and Leviathan,

In much of Christian religious writing, Mammon is depicted as a fallen angel, much like Lucifer, after challenging and losing to God. In Christian demonology, Ammon, not to be confused with Mammon, is a grand marquis of hell, overseeing 40 infernal legions and associated with life and reproduction.

Abaddon is mentioned in the book of Revelation in the New Testament, referring to a prince among locusts. The Bible uses Abaddon not only as an angel of destruction but also as a place associated with death.

The name Abraxas has appeared on many amulets and artifacts over the ages. Believed by some to hold mystical power, though called the "god above all gods" by some Gnostics, Abraxas remains a somewhat mysterious figure, drawing interest from notable figures like Carl Jung and Hermann Hesse.

Baphomet, the goat-headed demon with wings, was allegedly venerated by medieval Knights Templar. Though originally tied to Gnosticism, Baphomet later became associated with Satan and the mystic beliefs of Aleister Crowley. Beelzebub, another name for Satan, translates to "the lord of the flies."

Beelzebub was initially a god of the Philistines and later one of three Satanic rulers in Abrahamic religions, often working alongside Mammon as one of the seven princes of Hell, representing gluttony in demonology. Asmodeus is a demon king in Judeo-Islamic lore and the primary antagonist in the Book of Tobit, representing lust.

Astaroth, part of the evil trinity along with Beelzebub and Lucifer, was first mentioned in the grimoire Book of Abraemalin and has appeared in later occult works as a duke of hell. In several grimoires, Baal is described in various forms. The Lesser Key of Solomon adds, "Baal maketh men go invisible; he ruleth over sixty-six legions of inferior spirits; he appeareth in divers shapes, sometimes like a cat, a toad, etc., or all these forms at once."

The Pseudomonarchia Daemonum of Johann Weyer describes him similarly to the Ars Goetia, but with more detail regarding Baal's features. The Lesser Key of Solomon and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum mentions Bifrans as one of the demons, described as an earl who initially appears as a monster but becomes more human over time. Bifrans is known for his art of moving the dead from one sepulcher to another and teaching astronomy and geometry.

He commands his own legion of demons, with accounts suggesting between six and sixty. The Chort is a demon from Slavic folktales, allegedly the son of the god Chernobog and the goddess Mara. In full Christianity, Chorts were seen as a step up from lesser Satanic minions, often portrayed as tricksters who tempt people into selling their souls for wealth or power.

Diva Sepid, or White Demon, is a character in Persian folklore, particularly in the story Shahnama. A demon who unleashes natural disasters on King Kekavas's army, he is ultimately defeated by Rostam, who uses the demon's blood to cure the king and warriors of blindness.

Aisheth, compared to the Christian Whore of Babylon, is a demon in Jewish legend known as Aisheth Zenonim, the Woman of Whoredom who devours the souls of sinners. She symbolizes sin. Leviathan is a large, malevolent sea serpent appearing in many books of the Hebrew Bible, representing chaos and later viewed by Christian theologians as the embodiment of the deadly sin of envy.

Furcus, a powerful knight of hell, commands 20 legions of demons. First mentioned by Johannes Weyer in 1583, Furcus is depicted as an old man with a long beard riding a pale horse, knowledgeable in various forms of magic and science. Gop, disgusting grimoires like the Lesser Key of Solomon, commands 25 legions of spirits.

He is shown in human form, inspiring love and assisting men in finding relationships, though sometimes rendering women sterile. Malthus, mentioned in both Pseudomonarchia Daemonum and the Lesser Kia Solomon, is Hell's president, commanding 40 legions of spirits. He is the second most powerful demon in Hell after Satan, with a particular fondness for ravens.

Marcosius, a Marquis of Hell, is represented as a wolf with griffin wings and a serpent tail. According to the Lesser Key, Marcosius was once an angelic being of the Dominions before his fall. In medieval European folklore, an incubus is a male demon that seeks sexual intercourse with sleeping women, while its female counterpart, the succubus, seeks men. Children born of such unions were often believed to be destined for evil.

Oribos, a prince of hell commanding 20 legions, is said to tell the future and answer any question about the past. He is the patron of horses. Oni, creatures from Japanese myths, are large horned beings with fangs and superhuman strength. They are often depicted as ogre-like creatures, committing acts of mass murder and cannibalism, though some can be reformed into Buddhists.

Renov, a Marquis and great Earl of Hell, commands 20 legions. Described as a monster, he carries a staff and is known as a harvester of souls, arriving to collect the souls of humans and animals at death. Lilith, from Jewish mythology, was allegedly the first wife of Adam before Eve. She left Heaven and refused to submit to Adam, later becoming a controversial figure with a cult following up to the 17th century AD.

Mephistopheles, a demon from German folklore, is best known for his role in the story of Faust, where he serves as the emissary between Faust and the Devil in exchange for knowledge and power. The Devil, or Lucifer, also known as Satan, is considered in Christianity as one of the highest angels who fell from grace.

He became the supreme ruler of Hell, commanding many legions. Over time, his image grew more malevolent, especially as beliefs in demonic possession and witchcraft surged. While no religious text describes his appearance in detail, the image of a horned, cloven-hoofed figure is familiar in many pagan traditions. When Weird Darkness Returns In 1929 Detroit, a gruesome discovery shook the city to its core.

The Evangelista family, brutally murdered in their own home. At the center of this chilling tale is Benny Evangelista, a self-proclaimed divine prophet whose dabbling in the occult may have led to his family's demise. This unsolved crime blends real estate, mysticism and murder in one of America's strangest cold cases.

I'm not big on trends, never really have been, so I can't be trusted when it comes to clothes shopping for others. I'm married to someone who does understand what looks good.

Quince.com asked me to endorse them on Weird Darkness, and at first I thought, eh, that's a bad idea, for reasons I've already laid out. But I let my bride check out their website, and, well, she immediately started shopping for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Just Because Day, apparently that's a real thing, and now she keeps going back to Quince.com. Their lightweight layers and high-quality staples have become a go-to place for everyday essentials now.

Quince has all the things you actually want to wear this summer, like organic cotton silk polos, European linen beach shorts, and comfortable pants that work for everything from backyard hangs to nice dinners. And the best part? Everything with Quince is half the cost of similar brands.

They work directly with top artisans, so they cut out the middlemen, and Quince gives you luxury pieces without the markups. And Quince only works with factories that use safe, ethical, and responsible manufacturing practices and premium fabrics and finishes. I honestly didn't think I needed Quince.com, but Robin says, yeah, I do. Desperately. I think that means she'll be buying some clothes there for me, too.

She's tired of seeing 98% of my closet being weird darkness t-shirts. Go figure. She's also making me out to be the hero in front of my nieces. We got a cute little toddler-sized poplin-smocked flutter-sleeve dress for my youngest great-niece, complete with pink puppies for the pattern. It's adorable, I'll admit that. We got a pair of cotton-stretched skinny jeans coming from my newly-teenaged great-niece, along with a set of organic cotton long-sleeve and pants pajamas.

My oldest niece, the mom in the family, is getting a pair of ultra-soft high-rise pocket leggings. Emphasis on pocket. That's a pet peeve of my bride. She refuses to buy pants without pockets. And we're also sending a pair of ultra-form high-rise leggings. I would look horrible in all of this stuff, but the ladies in the family are going to look awesome. Of course, we'll be going back to quince.com in the next few days to begin shopping for the nephews.

I'm not allowed to pick out those clothes either. Robin just does not trust me. Good call. Stick to the staples that last with elevated essentials from Quince. Go to quince.com slash weirddarkness for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince, Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash weirddarkness to get free shipping and 365 day returns. quince.com slash weirddarkness

Okay, yeah, I gotta admit, this t-shirt is kind of fading. My guess is that you've heard a lot of people talking about Factor, the two-minute meals packed with nutrition. Up until recently, though, I didn't really care much about nutrition. I was into convenience. Burgers, pizza, you get the drift. But, well, the older you get, the more you realize nutrition is kind of important.

At the same time, convenience is still crucial for me. I am busier now than I've ever been in my life, so eating food fast without eating fast food is a bit of a challenge. Was a bit of a challenge. With Factor, I get to check both of those off my list. I just heat it up, and two minutes later, I'm sticking a fork in it.

Factor is more than convenient though. I don't even have to jump into my car to go through a drive-thru or pay a bunch of extra money so I can wait 30 minutes to an hour for a delivery app to come through for me. Factor meals arrive directly at my door, fresh and ready to eat. And with my new weight loss goals, the menu options are a real bonus. They have gourmet meals if I want to be calorie smart or pack on the protein, go keto and more. They have 45 weekly menu options.

How many weeks are there in a year? 52? Yeah, that's pretty dang close to a different menu for each week. I can use Factor for breakfast, quick lunches, premium dinners, even guilt-free snacks and desserts. Imagine that. Snacking without guilt. I didn't think that was possible. If you'd like to join me on this journey, you can visit factormeals.com slash darkness50off, then use the code darkness50off to get 50% off and free shipping in your first box.

That's FactorMeals.com/Darkness50Off, then use the code "Darkness50Off" to get 50% off and free shipping! On July 3, 1929, police officers walked into the house located at 3587 St. Aubyn Street in Detroit. Inside, they found a man named Benny Evangelista seated behind his desk. His hands were neatly folded in his lap as though in prayer.

His head was at his feet, lying on the floor. Upstairs, they found Mrs. Santina Evangelista and their children, Mario, 18 months, Angelina, 7, Margaret, 5, and Jean, 4. Santina was in the bed with baby Mario. Her head had been severed, and Mario's skull was crushed. Across the hall, the other children had been slaughtered in their beds. The story of the Detroit Occult Murders is one of the strangest in American crime.

It's a story of black magic, murder, and a clever and enterprising man who came to Detroit with a strange dream and who made use of the opportunities he found in a city that was bursting at the seams in those days. Immigrants from around the world had flocked to Detroit, hoping to capture their piece of the American Dream in the factories that had brought the city to life. Sadly, many of them found overcrowded wooden tenements, brutal working conditions, and death.

Born in Naples, Italy in 1885, Benjamino Evangelista was best known as Benny Evangelista, a self-proclaimed divine prophet. Benny came to America in 1904 and invested his savings in real estate, soon emerging as a prosperous realtor and landlord.

On the side, he supplemented his income by the sale of herbs, hexes, and "spiritual remedies," performing chants, dances, and animal sacrifices for paying customers for the purpose of either cures or curses. But he hadn't started out in America as a Detroit hex man. He had originally settled in Philadelphia with his brother Antonio,

But the two had a falling out. Antonio, by his own accounts, disowned Benjamino when he began having mystic visions of a very non-Catholic nature and sent him on to York, Pennsylvania, and a job on a railroad construction crew. Benny's best friend in York, another immigrant from Naples, was a man named Aurelius Angelino. The two of them began to dabble in the occult.

Something snapped in Angelino and in 1919 he attacked his family with an axe and killed two of his children. He was sent to a prison for the criminally insane and Benny, unsettled by what had occurred, moved to Detroit. Benny went to work as a carpenter, began to dabble in real estate and got married. Settled comfortably in his new life, he returned to his interest in the occult.

Benny began performing psychic healings on those who paid his fees, which went as high as $10, the equivalent of two days' pay on the assembly line. He did quite well for himself and moved his wife and children into a house at the corner of St. Aubyn and Mack Avenues. It was a large and comfortable home, painted green with a wide front porch. It was said that if a passerby crocked his head just right, he could see inside a basement window and view Benny's Great Celestial Planet exhibition.

Using papier-mâché, wires and wood, he had built nine planets and a sun with an electric eye that sat in the center. But what passers-by could not see was the basement chamber where Benny practiced his infernal rituals. In that place, where he mixed up spells, hexes and potions and carried out his magical sacrifices, he kept a crude altar along with knives, bottles and jars.

Copies of his self-published book, The Oldest History of the World Discovered by Occult Science in Detroit, Michigan, were stacked around the room. Benny claimed to have produced the book through a series of nightly trances beginning in 1906. He said it was the first in a series of four books that would reveal previously unknown information relayed to him from God. Unfortunately for Benny and his family, fate had another plan in store.

On the sunny morning of July 4th, the Detroit Free Press broke the horrific story of the Evangelista murders. A man named Vincent Elias had come to Benny's home on July 3rd at about 10.30 a.m. to discuss a real estate deal. He'd been the one who discovered the bodies and alerted the police. Nearly the entire Detroit Homicide Division was dispatched immediately to the crime scene. When the police arrived, they searched the house and made notes of some of the odd things they found.

One of the strangest discoveries was that someone had surrounded Benny's severed head with three large framed photographs of a child in a coffin. He was later determined to be a post-mortem photograph of Benny's son, who had died several years before. There was no explanation as to what message the photographs were intended to convey. The newspaper noted some other odd discoveries.

Several pieces of women's undergarments, each tagged with the name of its owner, police point out, reveal that the so-called mystic indulged in practices of voodooism or devil worship. Such garments, voodooism has it, can lead to the finding of a missing person when they are properly handled by one versed in the mystic arts of that belief. No one had any clue as to what this meant either, but it wasn't long before rumors spread that Benny's occult dealings had caused his death.

The police failed to keep newspaper reporters and the dozens of gawkers who gathered around the house from contaminating the crime scene and from destroying any potential clues, except for one: a bloody fingerprint on the front doorknob. To make matters even more difficult, most of Benny's neighbors and clients were recent Sicilian and Italian immigrants who were reticent to provide information to law enforcement.

Detectives were unable to compel even one of them into making an official statement that could have provided at least some starting point from which to launch their investigation. Benny's own records and the collection of personal trinkets found in the home proved that hundreds of people had come to him for services, but scarcely a handful of those questioned admitted to even having known him. The police used what few clues they had to pursue three very different theories.

One of them revolved around several notes found in the home that suggested Benny had once been threatened by the Black Hand, a criminal group that preyed on wealthy Italian immigrants. The most recent letter was six months old and warned, "This is your last chance." The problem with the Black Hand theory was that, by 1929, it was an outdated, defunct enterprise that had long since evolved into the traditional mafia structure of organized crime.

Crude extortion schemes were a thing of the past, dating back to the years before Prohibition became the law of the land. It seems unlikely that Benny took the notes very seriously. Whoever was trying to extort money from him was almost certainly an amateur looking for an easy mark, not someone who could have carried out the grisly murders of an entire family. The second theory was significantly more plausible.

A 42-year-old local man named Umberto Tecchio had visited the Evangelista home on the night before the bodies were found. He was making the final payment on a house Benny had sold him. Tecchio, along with a friend named Angelo De Poli, who had accompanied him to the house on the night before the murders, were brought in for questioning the next day when an axe, a keen-edged banana knife and a pair of suspiciously clean work boots were found in the barn behind the boarding house where they lived.

Tecchio and DiPoli claimed to know nothing about the murders. They both stated that nothing unusual had happened during the visit and that they had gone out drinking after dropping off the last payment on Tecchio's home to Evangelista. But the newspapers, largely thanks to prejudice against Italian immigrants, cast suspicion on Tecchio. Accounts mentioned that just three months prior to the massacre, Tecchio had knifed his brother-in-law to death in an argument.

How he escaped prosecution for that is unclear, but it certainly gave investigators a reason to make him a prime suspect. However, with no physical evidence and no confession, Teccio was let go. He died a few years later, in 1934. The police also briefly suspected one of Evangelista's tenants, posthumously accused of the murders by a vengeful ex-wife, but the dead man's thumbprint didn't match the bloody fingerprint on the doorknob. Which brings us to the third theory.

In 1929, Benny's old friend Aurelius Angelino, who murdered two of his children with an axe, escaped from the Pennsylvania prison for the criminally insane where he was incarcerated and was never seen again. Had Angelino somehow made his way to Detroit, where his old friend had set up his eerie basement room? It is certainly possible, but was there any proof of this?

The Detroit police seemed to have invested more of their time in the pursuit of Humberto Tecchio, but looking back after more than 80 years, the nature of the crime itself seems the most damning evidence against Aurelius Angelino.

The murders seem to most closely match the crime Angelino committed back in York, and it's not hard to imagine him slowly making his way west to Detroit and finally tracked down his old partner in voodooism, the code word for occult activities that the police and the newspapers used in those days. Upon arriving at the door of the now prosperous Evangelista, isn't it possible that Angelino thought back over the horrors of the previous nine years and felt rage boil up inside of him?

It isn't hard to imagine the escaped madman and convicted axe murderer slithering in an open window while Benny sat at his desk during the early morning hours of July 3rd. And, once inside the house, how difficult would it have been for him to murder the family of the man who had left him behind in York to rot in the insane asylum while he practiced his magic and grew fat off selling spells and potions? It's not hard to imagine at all.

And yet, after Angelino's escape from the state of Pennsylvania's custody in 1923, no record of his existence, whether in Detroit or anywhere else, can be found. Could a family of six be slaughtered so easily and the killer simply disappear? It's certainly possible, as history has proven time and time again.

This murder will never be solved, but for the purposes of bringing an end to the tale, we'll simply say that an evil spirit of some sort exacted retribution upon Evangelista and his unwitting family. When he was finished, he disappeared into the humid July night, leaving his bloody fingerprint on the doorknob when he let himself out of a house filled with death.

Several years ago, the Evangelista's home on St. Aubyn Street was demolished. All that remains now is an empty lot that has never been used again. There are those that say the site is haunted. There are disembodied screams heard on occasion, they say, and a headless man who walks the lot and vanishes. Are such stories true? No one can say. But is it any wonder that these tales are told? History has left its mark here, and it was written in blood.

Thanks for listening! If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. All stories used in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find links to the authors, stories, and sources I used in the episode description as well as on the website at WeirdDarkness.com. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light...

John 14, verse 27, "...peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid." And a final thought, knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right. Theodore Roosevelt, I'm Darren Marlar, thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.