INTERDIMENSIONAL INTRUDERS AT STARDUST RANCH: Arizona’s Redacted War Against Extraterrestrials
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Learn more at MyComputerCareer.edu/CWP. Skillbridge and other VA benefits are available to those who qualify. Deep within Arizona's Rainbow Valley resides Stardust Ranch, a property veiled in enigma and engulfed in contention. In 2009, John and Joyce Edmonds believed they had unearthed their ideal dwelling upon acquiring this 10-acre ranch.

Little did they know, they were stepping into a realm of enigmatic occurrences that would test their grasp on reality and thrust them into the limelight of both UFO believers and skeptics. From eerie nocturnal lights to encounters with unearthly entities, the Edmonds' account unfolds like a tale from the realms of science fiction.

However, it is their tales of interdimensional voyagers, extraterrestrial abductions, and intense clashes with alien entities that truly distinguish Stardust Ranch. As John Edmonds recounts facing off against invading aliens with a samurai sword and watching their bodies vanish before him, one is left pondering: are these the ramblings of a troubled mind

an intricate hoax, or perhaps harboring a morsel of truth within these extraordinary assertions? If their claims are to be believed, Stardust Ranch is where the boundary between reality and imagination fades, and where the universe's mysteries may lay unconcealed before our eyes. 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...

In the abandoned halls of Gartlock Hospital, a century-old psychiatric facility on the outskirts of Glasgow, two nurses recount chilling encounters with spectral figures from the past. From mysterious footsteps echoing in empty corridors to a ghostly matron disappearing through locked doors, their stories paint a picture of a hospital where the line between the living and the dead blurs.

Do the spirits of Gartlock's past still roam its wards? In 1954, a wave of panic swept through Washington state as thousands of motorists reported mysterious damage to their car windshields. What began as a local curiosity in Bellingham soon exploded into a statewide phenomenon, sparking wild theories ranging from cosmic rays to hatching sand fleas.

But was this truly an epidemic of vandalism, an unexplained phenomena, or a textbook case of mass delusion fueled by Cold War anxieties? In the depths of Switzerland's Lake Breenes, a drowned man's body was found astonishingly intact, despite having been dead for over 300 years.

Preserved by the rare and eerie process of saponification, his remains were encased in a waxy substance formed from body fat under the right conditions. This eerie phenomenon transforms bodies into waxy time capsules, defying the natural process of decay. We'll look at the creepy but somehow natural reality of corpse wax.

For centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have speculated about hidden messages encoded within ancient texts, with recent claims suggesting that the Bible itself conceals secret prophecies waiting to be uncovered. From predicting historical events like World War II and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin to foretelling the Oklahoma City bombing, proponents of the "Bible Code" believe these codes reveal divine insights.

Are these hidden messages genuine revelations, or merely the result of overactive imaginations and random patterns? But first... In the remote desert of Rainbow Valley, Arizona, Stardust Ranch hides secrets that defy belief. Glowing lights in the sky, strange beings lurking in the shadows, and unexplained phenomena that push the boundaries of reality.

Are John and Joyce Edmonds the unwitting guardians of a portal to another dimension? Is their story a descent into madness? Or are we all fascinated by what's just an elaborate hoax? We begin with that story. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights and come with me into the Weird Darkness!

John Edmonds and his wife Joyce have had encounters that rank among the most peculiar, fascinating and contentious in recent memory. Referred to as the Alien Ranch, Stardust Ranch in Rainbow Valley near Phoenix, Arizona allegedly hosts some of the most outlandish paranormal phenomena of our time.

The activities reported bear striking resemblance to those documented at the more famous Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, encompassing unexplained noises, peculiar lights, unidentified objects, and sightings of mysterious beings trying to infiltrate the property. As we will delve into later, the geographical positioning of Stardust Ranch, akin to its counterpart Skinwalker Ranch, may hold the key to unraveling the truly bizarre occurrences unfolding there.

Arizona, based a rich history not only of UFO sightings, but also of cryptic folklore dating back centuries. Furthermore, accounts of encounters between these supposed extraterrestrials and humans resulting in the alien being's demise are more prevalent than commonly believed. While we should approach such assertions with caution, they remain captivating nonetheless.

Should any of these reports prove to be accurate, the conundrum of UFOs and alien life only deepens. Before delving into some of these encounters, though, let's redirect our attention to the Edmonds and the numerous experiences they underwent at their ranch in Rainbow Valley. It's worth noting that these incidents occurred quite recently, only within the past 15 years.

This indicates that the discernible presence of extraterrestrial beings on Earth remains as potent today as ever. John and Joyce Edmonds initially settled into their expansive 10-acre property in 2009. However, what was meant to be their ideal home swiftly entangled the couple in a realm of peculiar and unsettling occurrences.

Initially, John and Joyce heard peculiar noises emanating from the vicinity of their property at night, attributing them to the sounds typical of the desert at night. Subsequently, they began observing peculiar mobile lights in the night sky. As they started noticing eerie figures seemingly loitering near the periphery of their land, they came to realize that something significantly out of the ordinary was unfolding.

Gradually, they found their garden furniture displaced and, on one occasion, flung into their swimming pool. One evening, while outdoors on their property, they discerned movement a short distance away within their boundaries, identifying it as an enigmatic figure. Upon close inspection, they noted that the figure bore non-human characteristics, particularly the disproportionately large head in relation to its slender frame, along with large dark eyes.

Although it swiftly vanished into the darkness, this sighting marked the initial of numerous encounters with these mysterious entities. The unfolding events were about to take a turn for the worse. Not long after initially observing these peculiar creatures seemingly watching them, the Edmonds started discovering their horses deceased, exhibiting the same injuries and precise incisions typical of cattle mutilation cases.

Even some of the couple's dogs met similar, merciless fates. It was at this point that the Edmonds came to realize that something truly monstrous was transpiring around them. While the occurrences had appeared to be confined to the exterior of their property thus far, the couple soon began hearing unusual sounds and movements directly outside their residence.

One evening, as the pair were seated inside their ranch house, one of the creatures briefly appeared at the window, seemingly peering in at them. However, it was when the couple began uncovering strange bruises and what seemed to be needle punctures on their bodies that they suspected these seemingly extraterrestrial entities were infiltrating their home while they slept.

On a particular occasion, John Edmonds personally witnessed this phenomenon when he woke to witness his wife levitating out of their bed, through the front door and into the yard where a hovering craft awaited. John's last memory was seeing his wife seemingly being drawn up into the awaiting vehicle. The next morning when he saw his wife, she bore the same bruises noted upon their arrival at the ranch, along with peculiar markings on her skin.

John was now convinced that his wife, and perhaps even himself, had become subjects of recurring alien abductions. The more encounters he had with these inquisitive entities, the more details John observed about them. One of the most captivating aspects was his conviction that these beings are traversing into our realm from an alternate dimension. Indeed, John Edmonds firmly believes that these entities are interdimensional beings,

He would observe that the emergence of these beings was frequently accompanied by a high-frequency hum, positing that this noise was likely a consequence of their partial interdimensional travel in phase or out of phase.

He would elaborate that these entities would manifest in such a manner when potential danger loomed, only materializing physically to the extent of barely crossing the dimensional threshold, noting that the "humming" takes place on a quantum level due to their simultaneous presence in two dimensions.

In contrast, during periods perceived as safe, they would transition smoothly from one dimension to another, providing the ideal opportunity to physically apprehend one as they swiftly retreated to their own dimension upon sensing any form of threat. Over time, these alleged abduction incidents were heralded by the sudden appearance of additional bruises and scratches, and the entity's presence on the premises persisted.

To such an extent that John concluded that he needed to protect the property, himself and his wife. Upon their reappearance, he grasped the samurai's sword positioned above the fireplace and wielded it against the creature. Having embedded the blade into the being's flank, he sought to remove it to sever the head. Yet to his astonishment, the lifeless body vanished before his very eyes.

He postulated that since the being was still, albeit just barely, alive upon his removal of the sword, it might have utilized its cognitive faculties to revert back to its own dimension. John further proposed that the creature's ability to navigate between dimensions was contingent on its head, suggesting that separating the head might anchor the body in our world post-mortem.

This not only promised concrete evidence of the existence of such entities, but also posed significant value for scholarly research, regardless of ethical considerations. Despite the disappearance of the creature's corporeal form, John retained blood and tissue samples on the sword for analysis. He contended that the results revealed samples that eluded scientific classification, displaying no resemblance to human or known animal physiology.

Nevertheless, skeptics would point out the dubious circumstances surrounding the analysis conducted by an individual named W.C. Levengood, who vanished shortly thereafter along with the samples. In his accounts, John asserted to have eliminated nearly 20 of these extraterrestrial entities during his residency at the ranch, claiming to have sustained injuries in some of these encounters.

The frequency of these assaults prompted John to share his experiences on social media, including images portraying his purported injuries and even a depiction of one of the creatures. It was during this period that John Edmonds purportedly encountered enigmatic individuals he likened to the "Men in Black." After the Edmonds publicly shared their encounters, they became the subject of multiple newspaper articles and television programs.

This drew skepticism from some individuals, casting doubt on the credibility of their accounts. While many speculated that the couple sought attention or were mentally unstable, others harbored darker suspicions. In the podcast "Unbelievable," hosts Brian Frang and Phoebe Tyers delved into the stories surrounding Stardust Ranch. They highlighted that Joyce often mentioned alleged sexual assault in her descriptions of the reported alien interactions.

During the podcast, Branch raised the question of whether John Edmonds was mistreating his wife while she slept and then attributing that to aliens, suggesting the alien stories might serve as a cover for domestic abuse. Branch pondered that Edmonds might genuinely believe in the alien abductions as a psychological defense mechanism to perceive himself positively.

Branch expressed a belief that Edmonds was not deliberately lying, but might be convinced of a version of reality that differs from the actual truth. It should be emphasized that John Edmonds adamantly denied any involvement in his wife's injuries or the creation of a cover story to conceal alleged wrongdoing. In recent years, the couples listed the ranch for sale, leading to accusations of leveraging their televised claims to inflate the property's value,

It could be argued that such actions do not align with a desire to swiftly depart from the location and in fact suggest the opposite. The validity of these allegations remains a subject of debate. Considering the current asking price hovering around $5 million, a significant increase from the original $1.7 million, it's not surprising that suspicion has arisen.

One might speculate that the Edmonds would have preferred to leave the ranch much earlier, given the reported frequent encounters that occurred there over the years. It's worth mentioning that John Edmonds maintained a consistent narrative until his passing on February 27th, 2022. Prior to his death, Edmonds expressed his belief in the existence of a portal on the ranch, providing access to gray alien entities.

There have been speculations that a UFO may have crashed on the property centuries ago, potentially serving as the gateway. Edmonds also suggested that the ranch harbors numerous enigmatic secrets and opportunities to delve into universal forces.

There is certainly a wealth of material to scrutinize in Edmund's assertions if, assuming his claims are valid, Stardust Ranch exhibits the same level of activity as the renowned Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, to which we will return shortly, and then an examination of it would undoubtedly enhance our comprehension of the supernatural and our shared reality.

Investigating this seemingly analogous ranch might reveal connections or patterns that could assist researchers in better understanding the inexplicable and often unsettling occurrences at both sites. As mentioned earlier, however, Edmund's claims are not devoid of controversy, especially within UFO circles. Perhaps the most contentious claim, particularly concerning credibility, is that these peculiar entities vanish upon being killed or wounded.

Naturally, such assertions are fodder for skeptics, regardless of their veracity. Nevertheless, the concept itself is not entirely implausible, given the numerous reports of close encounters describing alien beings who can abruptly disappear from one location to the next.

Moreover, the purported tissue and blood samples that allegedly went missing or were stolen when Levengood mysteriously vanished represent another exceedingly suspicious element of the claim, particularly when considered alongside the accounts of the vanishing alien entities. Did these samples truly exist at all? And was Levengood and his supposed analysis merely a fabrication?

Alternatively, assuming he was a real individual, what transpired with Levengood and did his disappearance result from his own actions or those of another party? Arizona alone can claim a significant number of UFO and alien encounters, but when combined with three other states - Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado - it forms one of the most enigmatic regions in the United States.

This area, known as the Four Corners, has captured the interest of NASA due to unusually high and unexplained methane emissions. Reports of paranormal phenomena are abundant in this area, with each state boasting its share of strange incidents involving UFOs and aliens. Some have even raised questions about NASA's true intentions in investigating this region.

New Mexico is renowned for various claims of crashed UFOs, notably the infamous Roswell incident. Colorado has been associated with numerous reports of a possible extraterrestrial presence, possibly even a type of strategic base, adding to the intrigue surrounding this location. Finally, Utah is home to the enigmatic Skinwalker Ranch, considered one of the most unusual sights on Earth.

The land surrounding Skinwalker Ranch, like much of the territory in the other four corner states, holds deep Native American roots, with legends speaking of visitors from the stars and entities possessing supernatural powers. The 37th parallel is known for numerous paranormal phenomena, including UFO sightings and alien abductions.

Some researchers suggest that these mysterious occurrences are related to the powerful energy believed to be present in that area, possibly used by extraterrestrial crafts as a power source or to access other dimensions. Considering the intense activities reported by individuals like John Edmunds, it may not be surprising that such events take place in the Four Corners states.

One might also question if the speculations about extraterrestrial bases or points of entry in these states hold more truth than commonly thought. Phil Schneider's accounts of encounters with grey aliens, including claims of engaging in lethal confrontations with them, add to the collection of similar stories over the years, varying from credible to astonishing. In the mid-1990s, a peculiar and highly contentious incident occurred involving Dr. Jonathan Reed,

As recounted by Reed, while walking in the woods with his dog Susie on October 15th, 1996, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, he encountered something truly unusual. Despite the usual routine of their morning walk, Reed was taken aback when he noticed that Susie had disappeared.

Frantically calling out for his canine companion and searching the vicinity, his attention was suddenly captivated by a peculiar spike-shaped object hovering in a nearby clearing. Moments later, to his astonishment and dismay, he witnessed his dog in a distressing situation, being attacked by a peculiar being described as a vibrating part-reptilian, part-grey alien,

The scene unfolded tragically as the alien creature seized the dog, leading to its abrupt and inexplicable transformation into a fine white dust. Fueled by outrage at the treatment of his beloved pet, Reed swiftly grabbed a sizable branch lying nearby and launched an aggressive assault on the alien assailant. With relentless determination, he struck the creature repeatedly until he was certain it no longer posed a threat.

Then, a series of increasingly unusual events unfolded. Reed reported recording footage of a deceased alien and capturing video footage of a peculiar hovering craft. Subsequently, he collected the lifeless alien body with the intention of dissecting it. Reed recounted that his attempts to incise the body were thwarted by the seamless tightening of a black spandex-like garment it was clothed in,

He alleged that he preserved the body in an outdoor freezer, only to discover its absence upon returning the next day. Reid candidly discussed the encounter, alleging that he had attracted the attention of mysterious and threatening individuals who had been surveilling him post-incident. This revelation sparked interest among online communities, with a particular internet user named Tommy Grand offering intriguing insights.

Grand claimed that following the encounter, Reed had been constantly evading pursuit. Furthermore, Grand asserted that Reed had allegedly encountered physical altercations with unidentified agents on three occasions, resulting in the tragic demise of two of his close associates. Also, according to Grand, Reed underwent severe losses including his job, girlfriend and even sustained a gunshot wound to his shoulder,

Grand claimed that Reed co-authored a book titled "The Link" in which Reed described acquiring a wrist device from the deceased alien, purportedly a hieroglyphic link bracelet. I'll link to that book in the show notes.

Grand claimed that the mysterious agents were in pursuit of this technological artifact. In 2010, Reid made an appearance on an episode of the television series "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files." Following the show's investigation, it was determined that the video purportedly filmed by Reid was highly likely to be a hoax.

UFO Watchdog discredited Reed's claims by revealing that Dr. Jonathan Reed was actually John Bradley Rudder, a longtime resident of Seattle. It was further alleged that despite Reed's assertions of being on the run, he was residing in his Seattle home all along, contrary to his narrative. Additionally, it was stated that he did not hold any doctoral credentials or possess any college degrees.

In contrast to the assertions made by John Edmunds, there is scant uncertainty that Reed staged the incidents he claimed occurred on that October morning in 1996, or at the very least significantly exaggerated a far less remarkable account.

On the other hand, researcher John L. Guerra presented the less extravagant but nonetheless controversial claims of retired Air Force Major George Feiler III in his book, Strange Craft, The True Story of an Air Force Intelligence Officer's Life with UFOs. I'll link to that in the show notes as well.

Guerra reports Feiler's assertion of his involvement in a confrontation where he purportedly shot and killed an extraterrestrial during the early hours of January 18, 1978. On the specified morning, as Feiler arrived for his intelligence briefing with the superiors, he perceived a heightened tension in the facility, which was under complete lockdown. Perplexed by the unusual circumstances, his interactions with senior officers took an unexpected and peculiar turn.

In a formal and matter-of-fact manner, he was informed directly that an extraterrestrial being was shot at Fort Dix and discovered at the end of the McGuire Air Force runway.

When Feiler inquired if by "alien" he meant an unauthorized foreign national, his superior clarified, "No, it was indeed an outer space being, an extraterrestrial," mentioning that UFOs had been seen hovering and flying over the base in the days leading up to the incident.

Further details provided by Feiler disclosed that on the evening in question, with a UFO flying low over the base, a military police officer opted to pursue the unidentified object. The officer described the craft as oval-shaped, emitting a green and blue glow, which swiftly descended towards his vehicle.

Subsequently, within moments, a diminutive creature with a large head, grey-brown skin, standing roughly four feet tall, emerged and approached the officer's car. Promptly, the officer reached for his firearm and aimed at the being, instructing it to halt. With the creature failing to comply, the officer discharged his weapon at the entity, firing five shots, all of which struck their mark. The unusual being fell to the ground and, upon examination, was confirmed deceased.

The witness also noted experiencing a strong smell of ammonia following the creature's demise, a phenomenon observed in other instances of close encounters and purported alien abductions. Feiler stated that a recovery team was promptly dispatched to the location, and the body of the alien was transported to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Additionally, as per Feiler, the Asbury Park Press reached out to the base for comments regarding the incident, yet no official statement was provided. Feiler is confident that the encounter unfolded exactly as described by his superiors, despite not personally witnessing the alien's body. However, he did observe the "clean-up" operation and conversed with soldiers involved, all of whom confirmed the events as relayed to him.

Although Filer's request to access the file was denied, he asserted that everyone involved, including the policemen who discharged the fatal shots, were silenced in the interest of national security. Debates persist regarding the validity of the account, although this particular one seems more coherent than other claims scrutinized. The incident has been circulated in the UFO community since the early 1980s, hinting at an extraordinary occurrence.

As previously mentioned, all the accounts examined should be approached with caution. While some may appear more credible than others, these narratives, despite their fantastical nature, do contain elements present in many other UFO cases. Should extraterrestrial UFOs visit Earth, it stands to reason that, eventually, conflicts with humans may arise, particularly in instances of abduction where resistance is a common response.

Additionally, one might consider whether the more sensational cases serve as elaborate misinformation schemes perpetrated by clandestine government entities to cast doubt on all UFO and alien reports. Even those with greater credibility, these factors warrant careful consideration when exploring the multifaceted and intricate realm of UFO and alien phenomena.

In the abandoned halls of Gartlock Hospital, a century-old psychiatric facility on the outskirts of Glasgow, two nurses recount chilling encounters with spectral figures from the past. From mysterious footsteps echoing in empty corridors to a ghostly matron disappearing through locked doors, their stories paint a picture of a hospital where the line between the living and the dead blurs. Do the spirits of Gartlock's past still roam its wards?

Plus, in 1954, a wave of panic swept through Washington state as thousands of motorists reported mysterious damage to their car windshields.

What began as a local curiosity in Bellingham soon exploded into a statewide phenomenon, sparking wild theories ranging from cosmic rays to hatching sand fleas. But was this truly an epidemic of vandalism and unexplained phenomena, or a textbook case of mass delusion fueled by Cold War anxieties? These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns.

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 audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com

Now there's a new way to share weird darkness with the weirdos in your life. It's a skill on your Amazon Echo device. Just say, play Weird Darkness, and you'll immediately start hearing the newest episode. With your Amazon Echo or smart device, you can let me keep you company all day and all night. And it's easy to tell your friends how to tune in, too. Just tell your Amazon device, play Weird Darkness, to start listening.

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.

With the transition towards providing mental health care within the community, many of the United Kingdom's former psychiatric hospitals have been closed down.

Gartlock Hospital, located on the eastern outskirts of Glasgow, admitted its first patients in 1896 and ceased operations in 1996. While primarily functioning as a psychiatric facility, the hospital also housed a tuberculosis sanatorium on its premises for a period of time. During World War II, Gartlock Hospital was repurposed as an emergency medical facility, utilizing temporary hut accommodations.

Currently, some of the existing structures have been repurposed into residential apartments, while others remain in a state of disrepair. Approximately 21 years ago, two individuals whom I will refer to as Susan and Carol recounted eerie encounters that they'd experienced while working at Gartlock Hospital. Let us delve into Susan's story first.

Employed as a nurse, Susan recounted instances during her night shifts on Ward 1 at the hospital where she would hear the distinct sound of a lock turning followed by footsteps ascending the staircase. The footsteps would cease upon reaching the top of the stairs, where a carpet was located. Susan maintained that other individuals had also reported hearing these footsteps, emphasizing that upon reaching the top of the stairs during these occurrences, a sudden chill would envelop the surroundings.

Around 1984, at approximately 5 or 6 o'clock one sunny morning, possibly in June, Susan alongside another nurse on duty on the ward awaited a potential visit from a charge nurse.

Susan discerned the sound of a lock being turned and footsteps. She proceeded to the top of the stairs to greet the individual. Ascending footsteps echoed on the stairs, revealing a woman of average height clothed in a gray tweed jacket, a long gray tweed skirt, and a high-neck white blouse, her hair fastened back.

This woman, seemingly in her late 50s or early 60s, approached. Believing her to be a real person, Susan addressed her, yet received no response. Instead, the woman scrutinized Susan with a puzzled smile, passed by her and oddly turned towards her back.

Upon turning to investigate, Susan noticed the woman had halted, assessed her once more, and then, at an incline, lifted off the ground, vanishing through the closed door of a nearby side room. The fellow nurse on duty with Susan displayed no surprise upon hearing of her encounter, having been previously acquainted with such stories.

Conversely, Susan had not encountered such phenomena before. She conveyed that word of her experience had circulated, causing apprehension among those working on the ward. Incorrectly, rumors spread that she had been unwell during the incident. Several years later, while working at a different hospital, Susan was informed that a student nurse on Ward 1 had also witnessed the same apparition she had seen and was distressed by the experience.

It's worth noting that the ward was believed to have closed in 1988, leading to the conclusion that if Susan's encounter took place around 1984, the student nurse's experience must have occurred within approximately four years of Susan's. The apparition was said to have vanished through a door into a side room. Patients placed in that room often felt unsettled and claimed someone else was present, though this was usually attributed to their mental condition.

Inside the side room, there was a locked door which supposedly led to a passage connecting to another part of the building. Susan later saw a photograph of a matron who had previously used the side room, bearing a striking resemblance to the apparition she had witnessed.

One wintertime night, about a year after encountering the apparition on Ward 1, Susan was traversing a corridor in a different section of the hospital en route to Ward 26 when she encountered two women. The women appeared to be around 30 to 40 years old, clad in outdated navy blue nursing attire with long white hats. One of them seemed to be holding documents, and Susan could distinctly hear their conversation.

When Susan eventually shared her encounter with me, she struggled to remember the details. "It was as though they were chatting about everyday things," she said, "and kind of laughing as well." Although the figures she saw were unclear, they did not resemble the apparitions she had previously witnessed on Ward 1. Disregarding Susan's presence, the figures behaved as if she was not there, prompting Susan to hastily retreat and choose an alternate path to Ward 26.

During her stay at the nurse's residence in the hospital two decades prior to recounting her experiences, Susan would often hear children singing outside late at night between 10 and 11 o'clock. The emanating sounds appeared to originate from the nearby woods, possibly during wintertime. In more recent times, she learned of an individual who used to feel unsettled upon hearing children singing "Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses" behind the nurse's residence.

Transitioning to Carol's story, she was in her 40s when she shared her account, approximately 21 years ago. Carol had served for a period as a nursing assistant on Ward 1 at Gartlock Hospital. Patients' primary sleeping quarters were situated on the upper floor, with a lounge and kitchen on one side downstairs and a duty room and a side room on the other.

The adjacent room contained a bed and was utilized for patients requiring special attention. It was equipped with a lock in case the occupant posed a threat, and featured a transparent panel for observation. An aisle extended from the lounge area, passing a secured door on the right, leading to the primary entrance of the ward also on the right. Across from the entrance, a staircase ascended to the upper floor of the ward.

During the specific incident, likely occurring in 1988, a staff nurse, a registered nurse, and Carol were present for the overnight shift, 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. Carol and the registered nurse alternated staying downstairs throughout the night to monitor a patient in the adjacent room.

At one point, Carol detected footsteps in the corridor two or three times. Upon investigating, she found no one present. When she inquired with her colleagues, they all denied being downstairs. Carol commenced her final period downstairs around 6 a.m. Approximately 30 minutes later, a nursing sister entered the ward. The sister and Carol prepared tea and toast for themselves and their night shift companions.

Carol later asked the sister if she had been in the ward earlier during the shift, to which the sister replied in the negative. The patient in the side room was asleep, and Carol was advised by the sister to have her tea with the staff upstairs, disregarding the prescribed protocol that required a staff member to remain downstairs if a patient was present. Defying this rule, Carol and the sister proceeded along the corridor with the tea and toast.

Approaching the locked door on the right-hand side, Carol noticed the apparition of a woman, appearing as a woman around 70 years old, clad in a long, grey, old-fashioned nurse's dress and adorned with a frilly hat. The spectral figure momentarily emerged from the closed door, gestured disapprovingly at Carol, and then vanished through the door. The apparition appeared distinctly to Carol, but went unnoticed by the sister.

Overwhelmed by fear, Carol hurried upstairs, broke down in tears, and struggled to sleep soundly for the following four days. It remains uncertain whether Carol and Susan both encountered the same apparitional woman on Ward 1. Despite differences in their estimations of her age, both described her attire as a long, gray dress or skirt and witnessed the apparition vanish through a door, albeit different ones.

Prior to her encounter, Carol had been informed that Susan had sighted an apparition upstairs on Ward 1. She mistakenly believed that Susan had witnessed the figure multiple times, with corroborating accounts from the on-duty staff. The possibility arises that the figure observed by Carol could have been a subjective hallucination, possibly stemming from a subconscious feeling of guilt regarding leaving a patient unattended.

Susan reported that she had not observed any other apparitions, suggesting no propensity for visual hallucinations. Additionally, the footsteps heard earlier during her shift could not be explained by a guilty conscience. If Susan and Carol accurately recounted their experiences, it seems that paranormal events took place on Ward 1 and potentially elsewhere at Gartlock Hospital.

Susan mentioned knowing individuals who'd witnessed phenomena at the hospital but did not provide any contact information for them to discuss their experiences. Conversely, another former nurse from Ward 1 mentioned having no ghostly encounters and being unaware of others who had, aside from rumors about apparitions of past patients, nurses or matrons.

This implies that any haunting at Gartlock Hospital may have been sporadic and mild in nature, potentially falling into the category of sensory hauntings. Interestingly, Susan hinted at experiencing similar phenomena elsewhere that were ongoing and shared by others, but declined to elaborate further. In the spring of 1954, residents of Washington State began to notice a strange phenomenon

Pits and dings started appearing in the windshields of their cars at an alarming rate. Explanations ranged from the mundane to the fanciful, but very little concrete evidence was found. All that could be confirmed was that over the period of one month, people claimed that someone or something was leaving holes in their windshields.

In late March 1954, people from the town of Bellingham, Washington began spotting dings in their car windshields. Residents reported the damage to the police, who theorized it to be the work of vandals and their BB guns. Had the incident remained confined to Bellingham, perhaps that would have been the end of it. But it did not.

Reports of windshield pitting soon spread to nearby towns. By mid-April, news reached even Seattle. As more newspapers covered the so-called pitting epidemic, more reports of windshield damage came flooding in. The concern reached such levels that motorists stopped police cars in the middle of the streets to submit reports, and soon escalated to assistance being requested from Washington Governor Arthur Langley and President Dwight Eisenhower.

While the initial hypothesis of hoodlums vandalizing cars with their BB guns was perhaps the most logical of the theories to come, many people refused to accept it. The damage was so widespread. It couldn't all be the result of vandalism, surely. However, alternative theories, while more appealing to locals, weren't any more believable. One such theory revolved around a new radio transmitter at a nearby naval radio station.

People believed it produced sound waves capable of causing physical oscillation in glass. Others thought the dings were caused by cosmic rays or fallout from H-bomb tests. The ideas sounded interesting in theory, but when pressed to explain how either could have caused the damage, nothing materialized. And perhaps most astonishing of all, some people thought the pits were the results of hatching sand flea eggs.

Never mind that this was highly unlikely that any insect or its eggs could survive the windshield manufacturing process. Given the widespread reports, law enforcement officials launched an investigation. They looked at 15,000 cars in the impacted areas and found that more than 3,000 cars had sustained damage. But as their investigation continued, they reached the conclusion that the damage was neither the result of vandalism nor nuclear fallout.

Instead, officials believed the pits and dings had always been there. People had only just noticed them. Sergeant Max Allison, a representative from the Seattle PD's Crime Laboratory, famously stated that the windshield pitting reports were "5% hoodlumism and 95% public hysteria."

In other words, car windshields sustain dings and pocking through natural usage. Perhaps a small fraction of the 1954 incident can be explained away by rowdy youths and poorly aimed BB guns, but the majority are the result of natural causes. Through routine usage of a car, drivers would not necessarily notice the damage. After all, you look through a windshield under normal circumstances, not at it.

People noticed the pits and dings only after newspapers called attention to it. And with that, just as quickly as reports of nefarious windshield damage began, they abruptly ceased by the end of the following month. Today, most people consider the Seattle windshield pitting incident a textbook example of mass delusion.

For example, while 3,000 damaged cars sounds like a large number, it's still only a fraction of the 15,000 cars examined, which in turn barely make a dent in the millions of cars in Washington state. In other words, the number of windshields may seem like a lot, but only because we're focusing on it. Take a step back and look at it in the context of all the cars in the state, and the picture tells a different story.

But why were Washington residents susceptible to believing the popular conspiracies explaining the windshield damage? First, we need to look at the circumstances that give rise to mass delusions. They depend on a few factors: rumors and false yet plausible beliefs, media influence, reinforcement to false beliefs by authority figures, and recent geopolitical events. All these things were present during the spring of 1954,

Local newspapers covered the windshield-pitting incidents. The damage began after that new radio transmitter was built. Was it just a coincidence? The mayor believed the threat was credible enough to contact the state governor and American president. But perhaps it's this last factor that influenced people the most. Anxiety over nuclear testing and nuclear fallout pervaded the minds of many Americans.

"Paranoia and heightened sensitivity created an environment where seemingly minor things could only be the result of a hostile external threat." Mass delusions have occurred all throughout history. The Seattle windshield-pitting epidemic was just one. The Salem witch trials were another. But before we dismiss collective delusions as an artifact of the past, let's remember that history tends to repeat itself.

During the summer of 2020, residents across the United States began receiving mysterious packages in the mail. True crime aficionados might assume these packages contained threatening letters or body parts. They didn't. They contained seeds from China. As reports of these mysterious seeds flooded the internet, warnings quickly followed: "Don't plant the seeds because they might wreck your local ecosystem." "Throw the seeds away because they might be a biological weapon."

Rumors and speculation proliferated across Facebook and Twitter. Government agencies eventually intervened and deemed the seeds to be part of an illicit e-commerce strategy known as a "brushing scam," in which companies boost their search rankings by creating fake transactions in order to post highly positive reviews. But a year after the mystery seed mailings, The Atlantic offered up another explanation.

They're the result of forgotten orders the recipients had placed via Amazon months before. Just as circumstances had primed Washington state residents in 1954, the American public was susceptible to a mystery seed conspiracy because of global events in 2020.

The pandemic that originated in China upended normal life. Political conditions worsened. All these things contributed to a collective anxiety that paved the way for a conspiracy about some seeds that arrived in the mail. Times may change, but human nature does not.

WHEN WEIRD DARKNESS RETURNS For centuries, scholars and enthusiasts have speculated about hidden messages encoded within ancient texts, with recent claims suggesting that the Bible itself conceals secret prophecies waiting to be uncovered. From predicting historical events like World War II and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin to foretelling the Oklahoma City bombing, proponents of the Bible Code believe these codes reveal divine insights.

Are these hidden messages genuine revelations, or merely the result of overactive imaginations and random patterns? But first... In the depths of Switzerland's Lake Brienz, a drowned man's body was found astonishingly intact, despite having been dead for over 300 years. Preserved by the rare and eerie process of saponification, his remains were encased in a waxy substance formed from body fat under the right conditions.

This eerie phenomenon transforms bodies into waxy time capsules, defying the natural process of decay. We'll look at the creepy but somehow natural reality of corpse wax. 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 Kaleidoscope, 20 Terrifying Tales of Horror and the Supernatural by AP Royal, narrated by Darren Marlar. Hear a free sample on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com.

In 1996, in Switzerland's Lake Breenes, the corpse of a drowned man was found floating in the water. What is peculiar about this particular discovery is that the man was estimated to have died more than 300 years prior. So why didn't his body decay, losing the mystery of his death to time? His remains have been preserved in a natural phenomenon called "corpse wax", known more scientifically as adipocera.

Corpse wax is a waxy, organic substance that's formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat in tissue. When this process takes effect, a dead body is firmly set in a permanent cast of fat tissue, rather than breaking down in death's fifth stage, putrefaction. Depending on what kind of fat tissue the wax is forming from, white or brown, the resulting corpse wax can either be a gray, white, or tan color.

But why do some corpses generate wax while others deteriorate? The process of forming corpse wax occurs most often in environments high in moisture and low in oxygen. This means a body is more likely to undergo this fascinating change if it's located in wet ground - the mud at the bottom of a lake or a sealed and damp casket.

Any body exposed to air or infected with insects has a very low chance of developing these wax deposits. Corpse wax occurs in both embalmed and untreated bodies, though it's more likely to be found in those who are women, infants, or overweight. They store more body fat. Corpses begin to form wax within a month of their death, and this process can last for centuries so long as the body is denied exposure to oxygen.

Once a body preserved in corpse wax is examined, the saponification process isn't a very useful tool for determining when a person's died. Temperature is a major factor in how quickly a corpse produces wax. Warmth speeds up the wax formation, but an extreme on either end of the thermometer results in significant impediment of deposits.

The exhumation of a body and the resulting exposure to air, handling, dissection and enzymatic activity of microbiota began the process of breaking down the corpse wax. Corpse wax was given the formal name adipocera in the late 18th century. In 1786, Paris' Cemetery of Innocence began the year-long process of digging up graves to move the skeletal remains to the mines which are now known as the infamous Paris Catacombs.

The scientists supervising the exhumation, Antoine-Francois de Forcroy and Michel-Augustin Thorey, studied the waxy substance and drew from the Latin words adepts for fat and sera for wax. Some find that corpse wax has a soapy texture and appearance, resulting in some preserved corpses being called "soap mummies."

As such, one famous case of this phenomenon is the Soap Lady. Her body was discovered in Philadelphia in 1875 when city improvements were underway. It was originally believed that she died in her late 20s around 1792 during the Yellow Fever epidemic, though an X-ray in 1986 revealed buttons not manufactured until the 1830s.

When water seeped into her coffin, the saponification process began. Her mummified body now resides in Philadelphia's Mütter Museum. The Higgins brothers are perhaps the most well-known examples of corpse wax. In Scotland in 1911, the brothers were murdered by their own father. However, as their bodies were left to float in a flooded quarry, their preserved remains were recovered in 1913, with more than enough evidence for police to charge the proper killer.

A portion of the brothers' remains were secretly tucked away for research in Edinburgh University, but roughly a century later, a relative requested the return of the remains for an appropriate Christian burial. As you can imagine, such preservation of the dead is an incredible and enlightening discovery for scientists and archaeologists. However, corpse wax can be bad news for graveyards.

Some cemeteries recycle grave plots every few decades, moving the bodies out after they have completely decayed. But as was the case for some German graveyards back in 2008, there was so much corpse wax built up that some bodies had not experienced any decomposition. This meant the cemeteries either had to work around the tissue with burial chambers or undergo an expensive process of soil reconditioning.

Corpse wax inspires many different reactions in people, from the baffling to the eerie to the downright inconvenient, but this natural phenomenon is always a fascinating and informative sight to behold. The concept of certain literary works being distinguished by numerical codes that convey significant messages to those with the ability to decipher them has ancient origins.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in this subject, often accompanied by sensationalism. An example from antiquity is the construction of a wall at ancient Khorsabad based on the numerical value of King Sargon's name.

The mystical application of numbers is often attributed to the Greek mathematician Pythagoras, who lived from 569 to 500 BC. He established what some might call a cult, centering around the belief that numbers are fundamental to nature and can explain various phenomena.

This ideology may have been reflected in the Jewish apocryphal text "The Wisdom of Solomon," authored by an unidentified Alexandrian Jew during the late 2nd century BC or later, which references God's ordering of all things through measure, number, and weight. Throughout history, ancient Jewish and post-Athastolic Christian writers engaged in mystical interpretations using numerical symbolism.

While some church fathers were captivated by these practices, others viewed them as misguided manipulations of sacred scripture. In the medieval era, theologians began attributing symbolic significance to numbers, although the mystical interpretations often lacked a solid basis. In recent times, there has been an increase in widely publicized assertions about enigmatic numerical codes concealed within biblical texts, fueling greater curiosity surrounding the subject.

In the early 1990s, Israel mathematicians claimed to have unearthed specific letter codes within the Pentateuch, the initial five books of the Old Testament. Utilizing this assertion, Michael Droznan, a well-known journalist formerly associated with the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, authored a book entitled "The Bible Code," published by Simon & Schuster in 1997, which promptly ascended the bestseller charts. I'll link to the book in the show notes.

The publisher proudly declared, "For 3,000 years a hidden code within the Bible has been concealed. Now, through the use of computers, it has been deciphered, potentially unveiling our future."

Subsequently, Grant Jeffery, a prominent figure in the millennial mania community dubbed a "prophet of hysteria" who possesses an honorary doctorate from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary, released a publication entitled "The Mysterious Bible Codes" in 1998 through Word Publishing, making equally extravagant assertions.

Notably, however, Jeffrey discredited Drozden's work as not representing authentic Bible code research, despite his own methodology being as peculiar as his competitors', with both employing some of the same dubious examples as evidence. I'll link to his book in the show notes as well.

As previously mentioned, Drosden's work purports that concealed messages from the Old Testament, undisclosed for centuries, are now decoded through computer advancements. This "discovery" was promoted as a potentially world-altering phenomenon. Allegedly, these covert messages were prophetic, foreseeing significant events such as World War II, the Holocaust, the bombing of Hiroshima, and the lunar exploration.

Reportedly decoded messages also attributed the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, the Watergate scandal, the Oklahoma City bombing, the exact commencement date of the Gulf War, and the assassination of Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

It is of note that Michael Drozdan asserts that upon his discovery of a coded message foreshadowing Prime Minister Rabin's upcoming demise, September 1, 1994, he promptly traveled to Israel to alert the esteemed official. Tragically, on November 4, 1995, Rabin was tragically assassinated. One intriguing inquiry arises: did Drozdan believe he could somehow avert this prophetic message, which allegedly originated 3,000 years earlier?

Interestingly, to uncover these encrypted communications, one must navigate through the texts of the Torah engaging in a "skip search," which involves piecing together the hidden words. The method of skip search involves identifying terms by examining successive occurrences of letters, such as "every tenth letter," "twentieth letter," "three thousandth letter," and so forth, until a discernible pattern emerges.

The sequence can progress in various directions within the computer-generated text until the sought-after "match" is found. For instance, reports suggesting that the message alluding to the significant economic collapse of 1929 is to be found within the records of both Exodus and Deuteronomy, while terms like Holocaust, Japan, and 1945 must be deciphered from the texts of Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Building upon Drozdan's endeavors, Jeffrey's work delves into uncovering encrypted messages present in both the Old and New Testaments, encompassing a wider array of prophetic names and events. Allegedly, in relation to the Gulf War, encoded messages in Genesis and Numbers purportedly include references to names like George Bush, Norman Schwarzkopf, and even Peter Arnett, the CNN journalist.

Additional intricate prophecies are said to involve events such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the passing of Princess Diana.

Consider, as a demonstration, Jeffrey's assertion regarding the Oklahoma City bombing. According to him, by arranging specific letters within the text spanning Genesis 34:18 to Genesis 44:4, one can identify encoded words such as "Oklahoma" and "Terror" at "Murrah" and the word "building." Additionally, the words "slaughtered" and "death" appear

Timothy and McVey are referenced back in chapter 34 verse 21. Furthermore, day 19 is situated at chapter 32 verse 13. And then there's "ninth hour" and then notably the phrase "in the morning" emerging two chapters later. The absence of Timothy McVey's social security number or phone number within this prophetic interpretation is the sole surprise element.

Jeffrey contends that these revelations signify the divine origin of the Bible. However, in contrast to Drozden, he maintains that these "prophecies" cannot be utilized for future foresight. They can only be deciphered retrospectively.

This stance starkly contrasts with the Biblical standpoint. For instance, the prophet Isaiah challenged the non-believers of his era, saying, "Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods" . Such extravagant assertions are more likely to breed skepticism than faith.

The scriptures do not require such mystical apologetics for validation. Responses to these remarkable claims have been both prompt and severe. For instance, a number of the world's leading mathematicians have raised objections to Drosten's proposal, along with Jeffries by extension.

A statement endorsed by 55 scholars, all holding a PhD, asserts: "There exists a prevailing misconception amongst the public suggesting that many mathematicians, statisticians and other scientists find the assertions of Drozdan and the Israeli scholars he referenced to be plausible. This assumption is unfounded. Quite the contrary, the overwhelming consensus among those within the scientific sphere who have examined the matter is that the theory lacks substantive basis."

Critics of the theories behind the Bible Code highlight that in the case of a sufficiently lengthy text and a significant number of computer searches, one can theoretically uncover any desired outcome by navigating in any direction within the text.

Professor Don Foster from Vassar College, a specialist in computer-based analysis of ancient texts, suggests that individuals utilizing similar techniques as code searchers could yield identical outcomes using entities such as a telephone directory. In 1997, as a defense of this methodology, Drozdan extended this challenge, quote, "...I will believe my critics when they uncover an encrypted message about the assassination of a prime minister within Moby Dick."

Professor Brendan McKay, affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at Australian National University, willingly accepted Drosnin's challenge. Employing methods akin to those used by Drosnin, he combed through the text of Moby Dick,

Through the application of the Drozden-Jefry approach, he was able to devise prophetic messages foreseeing the passings of Abraham Lincoln, Indira Gandhi, René Moward, Leon Trotsky, Martin Luther King, Sirhan Sirhan, John F. Kennedy, and Princess Diana. Does this now compel us to conclude that Moby Dick was divinely inspired by God through the writing of Herman Melville?

McKay even discovered a "prophetic" prediction of the future grotesque murder of Michael Drozden himself. Thus ends Drozden's hubristic challenge and Grant Jeffries' claim that this coding phenomenon reflects the "signature of God."

It is worth noting that Jeffrey's book, originally priced at $21.99, is now being sold for $4.99 by Christian book distributors. For a thorough yet incisive critique of Jeffrey's work, refer to the book "Who Wrote the Bible Code" by Dr. Randall Ingermanson, Ph.D., which I have included a link to in the show notes.

Dr. Randall criticized Jeffrey's "scholarship" as being extremely sloppy, conducting his own code analyses on three Greek texts of the New Testament – the Textus Receptus, the Byzantine Text Form, and Nestle's 26th edition – yet finding no substantiation of a Bible code in the New Testament. Thus, unconventional code hypotheses are unrelated to the concrete evidence present in authentic Biblical prophecy.

When God desired to reveal the individual who would decree Israel's release from Babylonian captivity, He called Cyrus by name, three centuries before the monarch's birth . Such communication did not require encoding. Thanks for listening! If you like the show, please share it with someone you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do.

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. Psalm 56, verses 3 and 4...

"When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" And a final thought: If you have nothing to reach for, you'll have no reason to climb. I'm Darren Marlar, thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.