THE EXORCISM OF GOTTLIEBIN DITTUS: The True Story of A Girl Possessed By Over 1,000 Demons
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I wipe the perspiration from my brow as I gaze down at the writhing figure on the bed. Gotlivan Didus lies before me, her face contorted into an expression I barely recognize as human. For eighteen months now, I have been fighting this impossible battle, and tonight feels different, darker, more desperate than ever before. "Fourteen," I whisper to myself.

Recalling the number of demons I had initially counted. Now, according to the cackling voices that speak through the young woman's lips, there are over a thousand entities inhabiting her frail body. The candlelight flickers as another violent convulsion seizes Gottlieben. Her back arches impossibly, lifting her torso completely off the mattress while foam pours from her mouth.

The wooden chair beside her suddenly lurches across the room, though no earthly hand has touched it. Past her comes the voice of Dr. Spate from behind me. Perhaps we should... No, my voice is firm, though my hands tremble as I clutch my worn Bible. We cannot abandon her now. Through Gottlieb's lips comes a voice that is not her own. Deep, guttural, filled with ancient malice.

Still here, little priest? Still think your prayers can save her? I step closer to the bed, my heart pounding. In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to...

A horrific laugh erupts from the young woman, cutting me off mid-sentence. "'You're Jesus,' the demon mocks. "'Where is he now? Look at her priest. Look what we've done to his faithful servant.' My eyes moved to Gottlieb's arms, where fresh wounds have appeared overnight."

needle marks and strange burns that the doctor can't explain. Just yesterday, she had vomited up 12 iron nails, each one somehow having materialized inside her body. The impossibility of it haunts me. "We were stronger," another voice hisses through her contorted features. "Soon, there will be nothing left of her for you to save."

But the first time since this nightmare began, doubt creeps into my mind like ice water in my veins. I have studied theology, have prepared for a life of service, but nothing, absolutely nothing has prepared me for this.

The rational part of my mind whispers that perhaps I'm losing my sanity, that these manifestations are somehow the product of mass hysteria or my own fevered imagination. But then Gottlieb's body begins to levitate slightly off the bed, defying every law of nature I understand. The temperature in the room plummets and to my breath comes out invisible puffs.

Books fly from their shelves, and the crucifix on the wall turns itself upside down with an audible crack. "Doubt, priest?" The demon's voice is triumphant now. "Good. Doubt is the beginning of our victory." My legs feel weak. I've been so certain of my calling, so confident in my faith, but after months of this relentless battle with no clear victory in sight…

Exhaustion threatens to overwhelm me. The congregation looks to me for answers I don't have. My superiors question my methods. Even my own wife has begun to fear for my sanity. The young woman on the bed begins to convulse more violently than ever before. Dark blood seeps from her eyes, and she speaks in a language I don't recognize. Something ancient and terrible that makes my soul recoil.

"She's dying," Dr. Spaeth whispers to me urgently. "Her body can't take much more of this." I watch helplessly as Gottliebens breathing becomes labored and irregular. What if I am wrong? What if my attempts at exorcism are actually making things worse? What if I am the cause of her suffering rather than her salvation? The demons seem to sense my wavering faith.

Multiple voices now speak through her simultaneously, creating a cacophony of evil that fills the small room. "You're failing her, priest. She'll die because of your weakness. Your god has abandoned you both." I stumble backward, my faith shaking like a house built on sand. Everything I believe, everything I've dedicated my life to,

Is it all meaningless in the face of such overwhelming darkness? I fall to my knees beside the bed, my hands clasped together so tightly my knuckles are white. The demons' laughter grows louder, more victorious as they sense my approaching despair. Dear Jesus, I whisper, my voice barely audible over the supernatural chaos surrounding me.

If you truly are there, if this battle is real and not the product of my own madness, please, I beg you, give me the strength to continue. Show me that your light can still penetrate this darkness, because I don't know if I can face another night like this. I don't know if she can survive another night like this. The demon's voices reach a fever pitch of mockery.

But I close my eyes and continue my desperate prayer. "Help me, Lord! Help us both! Because without you, we are truly lost," as my whispered plea hangs in the air. Gottliebens convulsions suddenly intensify to a degree that defies human endurance. And from somewhere, deep within the supernatural maelstrom, comes a new voice.

one that makes even the demons fall silent with what sounds almost like fear. 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: When Soviet troops fired a missile at a mysterious flying saucer hovering over their Siberian training base, the alien survivors unleashed a weapon so devastating it turned 23 soldiers into limestone statues in seconds. Is there evidence to back up that story?

On the tiny Caribbean island of Antigua, more than 100 people have vanished without a trace in what locals are calling an epidemic of disappearances that has left families desperate for answers and authorities scrambling to explain how so many can simply vanish from a place just 108 square miles in size.

A brilliant Russian linguist who spoke 13 languages and taught at university level was secretly living with the mummified corpses of 29 children that he had dug up from cemeteries and turned into dolls. And his own parents never suspected a thing. But first...

In 1840, a devout young German woman named Gottlieb Dittus became the battleground for over 1,000 demons in what may be the most gruesome and well-documented case of demonic possession ever recorded. We begin there. Now, bolt your doors, lock your windows, turn off your lights, and come with me into the Weird Darkness.

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Matthew 12, verses 43 through 45. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest, but finding none. Then it says, I will return to the person I came from. So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order.

Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation." The small German village of Muttlingen seemed peaceful enough in 1840. Nestled in the countryside of southwestern Germany, it was home to fewer than 900 souls who lived quiet, simple lives.

But when the Ditous family moved into a ramshackle apartment on the edge of town, they brought with them a darkness that would terrorize the entire community for years to come. The Ditous family consisted of five orphaned siblings. Their parents had died young, leaving the eldest brother, Andreas, to care for his family.

It was Johann Jorg, known as Hans, who was half-blind. Then came three sisters, Katharina, Anna Maria, and the youngest, Gottlieben. Born on October 13, 1815, Gottlieben was known as a devout Christian who wrote beautiful songs and poetry. She had worked as a maid in various households and was respected for her strong faith and hard work.

but Gottlieben had suffered from strange illnesses her entire life. She experienced unexplained abdominal problems and had difficulty walking because one leg was shorter than the other. Between 1836 and 1838, she had battled a serious kidney disease that left her even more devoted to her faith.

When the family moved to their new ground floor apartment in February 1840, Gottlieben saw it as a fresh start with God's blessing. That hope was shattered on their very first night. As the family sat down for their evening meal, the eldest brother Andreas began to say grace. "Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest," he prayed.

The moment those words left his lips, Gottlieb suddenly stiffened at the table. Her eyes rolled back, her hands clasped together, and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious. When her siblings rushed to help her, they were horrified by what they saw. Her face had twisted into a grotesque expression. Her eyes were open but unfocused, staring at nothing. Then the knocking began.

It started as a faint tapping in the walls, but quickly grew louder and more insistent. The sound moved from the walls to the ceiling, then to the floor where Gottlieb lay writhing. It was as if something underneath the floorboards was hammering to get out. The knocking spread to the furniture, and soon the entire room echoed with supernatural banging.

As the family sat frozen in terror, the candles in the room began to flicker wildly. But it wasn't wind causing the flames to dance. The shadows cast by the candles seemed to move independently, as if invisible figures were walking around the room. The floor began to tremble, causing the plates on the dinner table to shake and rattle. Then each family member felt something pressing against their bodies, like an invisible weight pushing into them.

Suddenly, Gottlieb sat up, gasped for air, and spoke words that chilled everyone to the bone. "Something is here. It does not want us to pray." From that night forward, Gottlieb's condition grew worse. She would have fevers followed by chills, sometimes lying motionless for hours at a

Her family would watch in horror, wondering if she had died, seeing only the faintest evidence of shallow, uneven breathing. The poltergeist activity continued throughout the house. Whenever the family tried to pray, the temperature would plummet and they would hear an eerie rustling sound as if something was sliding against the walls. The knocking grew so loud that it seemed to shake the entire house. During these episodes, Gottlieben would let out deep, unnatural groans,

Her body would tense horribly, her limbs would shake, and thick foam would pour from her mouth. At night, she found her hands being forcibly crossed over her chest by an unseen presence. Her behavior became increasingly disturbing and repulsive to those around her. There was something unnaturally repelling about her that made people want to stay away. For over a year, the family tried to keep their sister's condition private.

But in the autumn of 1841, when her nightly torments became unbearable, Gottlieben finally sought help from Johann Christoph Blumhart, the Lutheran pastor who had arrived in Mötlingen in 1838. Pastor Blumhart was a dedicated theologian, 36 years old and eager to help his parishioners. When Gottlieben came to his parsonage, she spoke in general terms about nightly temptations that had reached an extreme level.

but she wouldn't provide details, leaving Blumhart unable to offer much help. In December 1841, Gottlieben developed a severe facial infection called erysipelas. This dangerous bacterial infection could be deadly in those days before antibiotics. Blumhart visited her during her illness, but he found her behavior deeply troubling. Whenever he entered the room, she would turn her head away and refuse to greet him.

When he suggested prayer, she would put her hands together, but as soon as he began praying, she would pull them apart in defiance. The family told Blumhart that she acted normally before and after his visits, but during his presence, she seemed almost unconscious. Frustrated by what he saw as stubborn and spiritually arrogant behavior, Blumhart began to avoid visiting her. Fortunately, she recovered from the infection by spring 1842.

It was in April 1842 that Blumhart learned the full scope of what was happening. Two of Gottlieben's siblings came to him, desperately seeking advice. The knocking sounds in their home had become so loud that the entire neighborhood could hear them. But there was something even more terrifying. Gottlieben claimed she was seeing the ghost of a woman who had died two years earlier.

This spectral figure would always appear in the same spot beside her bed, holding a dead child in her arms. The ghost would just stand there, watching Gottlieben. But sometimes she would slowly move closer to the bed and speak. "I just want some peace," the ghost would say. "Give me a piece of paper and I will not return."

Blumhart was shocked when the siblings asked if Gottlieb should try to communicate with this spirit. He firmly told them that under no circumstances should she engage with the apparition. He believed that talking to spirits could lead to madness. Instead, he advised prayer, hoping the matter would resolve itself. But the supernatural activity only intensified.

A friend staying with Godleben discovered a piece of paper under her bed, covered in soot and impossible to read. Next to it were several coins, also wrapped in soot-covered paper. Later, mysterious lights in the house led them to more buried objects. Salt, chalk, bones, and more coins wrapped in sooty paper. Believing these items might be remnants of black magic rituals, Blumhart burned them all.

This act seemed to unleash even more powerful forces. The knocking and banging became unbearable, continuing day and night. Locals walking past the house would stop in shock at the racket coming from inside, even when no one was home. On one occasion, multiple witnesses watched a table shake violently, rise into the air, and slam back down.

Chairs would leap from the floor, windows would rattle without being touched, and sand would pour from the ceiling. Concerned about public hysteria, Blumhart organized a secret investigation of the house on the night of June 3, 1842. He brought six to eight respected townsmen, including the mayor of Motlingen.

As soon as Blumhart entered the house, they all heard two massive pounding sounds from the bedroom, followed by rapid hammering that seemed to express fury or excitement at the Reverend's arrival. The witnesses scattered throughout the house, including upstairs and outside, all confirmed hearing the sounds. The report emphasized how loud these noises were, comparing them to a New Year's gun salute that could be heard by distant villagers.

For three hours, the terrified witnesses observed shocking paranormal activity. They watched chairs leap into the air as if kicked from underneath. Windows rattled without anyone touching them. Sand poured from the ceiling. At 1 a.m. Gottliebens said she could see the ghostly figure again.

When they investigated further, digging where the sounds seemed strongest, they found more mysterious objects buried in the floor: small packages of powder, coins, and a strange pot containing earth mixed with small bones. A local gravedigger examined the bones and initially declared them to be from a child, causing panic among the villagers who feared they had discovered evidence of a murder.

However, when the items were taken to Dr. Kaiser, the district physician, he determined that the bones were actually from a bird, not a human child. While this was somewhat reassuring, the ritualistic nature of the buried objects led them to conclude that black magic had been practiced in the house, possibly attracting restless spirits.

Hoping to end the supernatural activity, Blumhart arranged for Gottlieben to stay with relatives away from the haunted apartment. The building was placed under police watch and visitors were turned away, including three Catholic priests who had traveled from neighboring Baden hoping to spend hours in the haunted room. But the plan failed. By summer 1842, the paranormal activity had followed Gottlieben to her new location.

The knocking sounds returned, and now she began experiencing violent convulsions that could last for hours. Every muscle in her head and arms would burn and tremble while the rest of her body remained rigid. Foam would flow from her mouth as she twisted her arms and bent her head at impossible angles, all while unconscious. The local physician who witnessed these episodes admitted he had never seen anything like them.

It was during one of these violent convulsions that Blumhart decided to take direct action. Unable to bear watching the young woman suffer any longer, he rushed to her bedside, grabbed her stiff hands and forced them together. "Gottlieben, put your hands together and pray! Lord Jesus, help me!" he shouted. "We have seen enough of what the devil can do. Now let us see what Jesus can do!"

Within seconds, Gottlieb awakened, repeated his prayer word for word, and the convulsions stopped. Everyone in the room was stunned by this apparent victory over the supernatural forces. For a while, this method seemed to work. Whenever Gottlieb suffered an attack, Blumhart would rush to her side and command her to pray in Jesus' name, and the episodes would end. But the relief was temporary.

The possessing force returned with renewed strength and rage, as if emboldened by the attempts to banish it. One day, Blumhart arrived to find Gottlieb in a terrible state. Her entire body was in violent motion. Her face contorted with rage and hatred. She tried desperately to reach for the pastor, attempting to claw at his eyes and gouge them out with her bare hands. When she couldn't reach him, she would slam her fists on the bed in fury.

It was then that the demons began to speak. As Blumhart prayed and spoke the name of Jesus, Gottliebens eyes rolled back and she began to speak in a voice that was clearly not her own. The tone, expression and character were completely different from anything she had ever displayed. "I cannot bear to hear that name," the voice said, causing everyone in the room to shudder in terror. Blumhart courageously decided to engage the sentient in conversation.

Through these supernatural dialogues, he learned that multiple demons were possessing Gottlieben's body. Initially, he counted 14 separate entities, but the number would eventually grow to a staggering 1,067 demons. The demons were led by the spirit of the dead woman Gottlieben had been seeing, the ghost with the dead child. This entity identified herself as a murderer who had killed two children and buried them in a field.

As punishment for her crimes, she was condemned to a restless afterlife, forever bound to serve the Devil. "I cannot pray," the spirit told Blumhart. "That is the reward for my deeds." During these possession episodes, Godleben's face would change completely each time a new voice took control. Assuming threatening expressions and speaking menacing words,

The entities made it clear they wanted to harm Blumhart, but were somehow prevented from doing so. Instead, they took their rage out on others in the room, with the mayor receiving several blows and on Gottlieb herself. She would tear at her own hair, throw her head against the wall, and try to injure herself in various ways. Blumhart found he could command the demons to leave through prayer, but they would always return stronger than before.

His friends begged him to abandon the case, fearing for his sanity and safety. But the pastor felt trapped. He worried about what would happen to Gottlieben if he withdrew his help, and he feared the community would blame him if things went wrong. The physical manifestations of the possession became increasingly horrific. Gottlieben claimed that dark, shadowy figures would press around her bed at night. On one occasion, she felt herself suddenly seized by a burning hand around her neck.

When her caretaker rushed in with a light, she found large blisters filled with liquid had formed around Gottlieb's neck. A doctor confirmed the injuries, which took several weeks to heal. Blumhart's detailed reports describe finding Gottlieb with new wounds and injuries on a regular basis. Her chest would be beaten, her hair torn out, her nose bleeding.

Her body would sometimes swell extraordinarily and she would vomit entire buckets of water. Multiple times she was discovered on her bed, swimming in blood after being assaulted by unseen forces for hours. One of the most harrowing episodes occurred on the evening of July 24, 1842. Blumhart battled the demons from 8:00 that evening until 4:00 the next morning, without success.

In the following days, Gottlieben became increasingly emaciated as the nighttime attacks escalated to new levels of violence. The supernatural torment reached a monstrous peak in August 1842. During a thunderstorm, as Blumhart prayed over Gottlieben for hours, one of the possessing voices claimed to be just one of 1,067 entities inhabiting her body.

That night, multiple voices spoke through her, some in foreign accents and languages that Blumhart couldn't identify as any European tongue. "Everything is lost," the demons wailed. "Everything is betrayed. You are completely ruining us with your endless praying. There are 1,067 of us, and of those who are still alive, there are many more. They have signed their names in blood with the devil."

Blumhart described the scene as "impossible to convey in words," with the howling of demons mixing with lightning flashes, rolling thunder, torrential rain, and his own desperate prayers to create a moment of pure supernatural terror. But the horror was far from over. In February 1843, an entirely new phase of the Possession began.

Objects began to materialize inside Gottliebens body, which she would then vomit up in excruciating episodes. It started with small pieces of glass, then progressed to iron nails, shoe buckles, pins, wire pieces and knitting needles. Blumhart personally witnessed Gottlieben retching up 12 separate nails in a single episode.

Sometimes the objects were so large that she would stop breathing entirely as they slowly made their way up her throat. On one terrifying occasion, she lay as if dead for several minutes when an especially large piece of iron became stuck. The pastor described having to remove needles from her eyes after seeing them moving underneath her eyelids. So many needles emerged from her upper and lower jaw that it caused excruciating tooth pain,

He and his wife once spent nearly an hour removing two long wires that had somehow woven into the skin of her tongue, causing Gottlieb to lose consciousness during the painful extraction. Despite the countless wounds these objects should have caused, witnesses noted that little to no blood was produced. Even when needles were pulled from her skin, only slight marks remained.

Other witnesses claimed to see living creatures emerging from Gottliebens' body, though Blumhart never personally observed this phenomenon. Reports included four enormous locusts that were very much alive when expelled, as well as larger animals like toads and bats. Perhaps most disturbing was Gottliebens' claim that a serpent-like viper had slithered up through her throat, across her lips and out into the room,

While Blumhart didn't see the creature, he reported seeing a fast-moving streak of light coming from her mouth. After this incident, they found a mysterious wound on her neck. The bloodiest episode occurred in December 1843. Gottlieb began experiencing nosebleeds that wouldn't stop, filling entire bowls with dark, almost black blood that had a horrible smell. The amount of blood loss should have killed her, yet she somehow survived.

One afternoon, she complained of something lodged in her head that would kill her if it didn't come out. Dr. Spaeth examined her and found hard spots developing on her scalp. At 4 a.m., Blumhart was summoned urgently to the house. The smell of blood was so overwhelming he nearly staggered away from the building. Inside, he found Gottliebens sitting in the middle of the room with a bucket half-filled with blood and water.

A long, wide trail of blood stretched across the floor behind her. She was drenched in blood gushing from her ears, nose, eyes and spurting from the top of her scalp. People were hanging out of windows in the street, watching in horror as witnesses staggered from the house in fear. When Blumhart gathered his strength to pray, the bleeding stopped.

Upon examination, they found a bent iron nail pushing its way out of her forehead just above her eyebrows and a wooden nail emerging from the back of her head. Gottlieben believed she was being bewitched through cursed food. She claimed that after feeding a suspicious chicken meal to a bird outside, the bird went into a frenzy and died. When she cut open the bird's head and throat, she said it was crammed with small nails.

She also reported that the ghostly figures gathering around her bed would sometimes place objects into her mouth or touch other parts of her body. She was particularly convinced that a man dressed as a clergyman, whom she believed to be a demonic entity, not a living person, had approached her on the street one night and thrust nails into her head. The case grew even more complex when Gottlieb's siblings began showing signs of possession.

During the final battle in December 1843, both her half-blind brother Hans and sister Katarina fell under the same demonic influence. For the first time in the two-year ordeal, Katarina became violently aggressive, threatening to tear Pastor Blumhart into a thousand pieces. She was so violent that she had to be physically restrained

A demon speaking through her declared itself to be not the spirit of a deceased person, but a prominent angel of Satan. The climactic exorcism took place at midnight on December 28, 1843. As the clock approached 2:00 a.m., Katerina's rage intensified. She was seized with such violent shaking that it seemed she might tear her limbs from her body. Then, at exactly 2:00 in the morning, something extraordinary happened.

The supposed angel of Satan roared through Katerina as she bent her head and upper body back over her chair in an impossible position. From her throat came a voice that seemed beyond human capability, crying out, "Jesus is victor! Jesus is victor!" With those words, the demon's power appeared to break. The supernatural presence became quieter and calmer with each passing moment.

finally disappearing like a dying flame being extinguished. The process continued until 8 o'clock in the morning, at which point Katerina, along with Godleben and Hans, was completely free. After two years of horrific supernatural torment, the possession was finally over. Pastor Blumhart documented these incredible events in a detailed report completed on August 11, 1844,

sent to his church superiors, the document aimed to provide an honest and complete account of what he called his battle and conflict with Satan. He knew the risks of sharing such extraordinary claims, especially as a Lutheran pastor dealing with phenomena more commonly associated with the Catholic exorcism. Blumhart took great care to ensure his credibility by having multiple witnesses present during all supernatural encounters.

He emphasized that fraud was impossible given the level of suffering Gottlieben endured and the number of respected community members who confirmed the events, including doctors, the mayor, and other church officials. In a postscript added in July 1850, Blumhart revealed that Gottlieben had made a complete recovery.

Six years after her ordeal ended, she was well and had been living in the pastor's home for four years, helping his wife with housekeeping and child education. He described her as faithful, understanding, and a much-loved member of the family. Perhaps most remarkable, all of Gottlieb's previous medical problems - her shortened leg, spinal issues, and chronic stomach disorders - had completely vanished after the exorcism.

The woman who had once wanted nothing more than to gouge out Blumhart's eyes was now trusted implicitly with his home and children. The case of Gottlieb and Dittus remains one of the most extensively documented accounts of alleged demonic possession in history. Whether viewed as genuine supernatural warfare or misunderstood medical and psychological conditions,

The events in Motlinjin left an entire community forever changed by their encounter with forces beyond human understanding. Up next... When Russian police raided the apartment of respected university professor Anatoly Moskvin in 2011, they discovered 29 life-sized dolls sitting around his home, each one containing the mummified remains of young girls he had exhumed from local cemeteries.

Plus, in the past two years alone, at least nine people have mysteriously disappeared without leaving behind a single clue on the small Caribbean island of Antigua, where dense jungle and endless ocean provide the perfect hiding places for whatever dark forces are making residents vanish into thin air. On November 2, 2011, Russian police knocked on Anatoly Moskvin's door.

They suspected him of vandalizing Muslim graves in local cemeteries. When they searched his home, they expected to find spray paint cans or stolen cemetery decorations. Instead, they discovered something that would shock even experienced investigators. The apartment was filled with life-size dolls sitting on chairs and shelves throughout the rooms. The dolls wore colorful dresses, knee-high boots and makeup.

Some had buttons sewn into their faces for eyes. Others wore faces cut from children's toys. When officers moved the dolls, music began playing from inside their bodies. Most of them had stuffed music boxes into the dolls' chests. It took the police several minutes to realize these weren't dolls at all. They were the mummified remains of 29 girls and young women aged 3 to 25.

Some had been in Moskvin's possession for nearly nine years. Anatoly Moskvin seemed like an ordinary man from the outside. He was a respected university professor who spoke 13 languages and had written several books. He taught Celtic history at a university in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's fifth-largest city. His colleagues called him brilliant, though a bit strange.

What they didn't know was that Moskvin was living with 29 mummified corpses of young girls in his apartment, and his own parents had no idea either. Moskvin's fascination with death began in childhood. Born on September 1, 1966, in what was then called Gorky, he was an extremely intelligent but socially awkward child. When he was eight years old, he was sexually assaulted by a stranger while walking home from school.

he never told anyone about the attack. At age 13, another traumatic event would shape his entire life. While collecting recyclables for a school project, Moskvin wandered into what appeared to be a funeral ceremony. About 20 to 30 men in black robes stood in a circle around an open coffin containing 11-year-old Natasha Petrova, who had died from accidental electrocution.

The men grabbed Moskvin and forced him to kiss the dead girl's forehead three times. Natasha's mother then placed wedding rings on both Moskvin's finger and her daughter's finger, declaring them married in a bizarre ritual. Moskvin was given a basket of apples and told not to speak of the ceremony for 40 days.

After this incident, Moskvin began having vivid dreams about Natasha visiting him. He claimed she haunted his sleep for months, demanding he learn about magic and the occult. His parents took him to a doctor who dismissed the nightmares as normal teenage emotions and prescribed sedatives. The medicine didn't help.

In his dreams, Natasha told Moskvin the only way to stop her visits was to transfer her spirit to another child by performing a ritual involving a classmate's tooth. Somehow, Moskvin obtained the tooth and performed the ceremony. The dreams stopped, but his obsession with death had only begun.

Despite his traumatic childhood, Moskvin excelled academically. He graduated from Moscow State University with degrees in philology and Celtic studies. He became fascinated with ancient Celtic burial rituals and folklore about communicating with the dead. Moskvin discovered that ancient Celtic druids would sleep on graves to speak with spirits of the deceased. He also learned that some Siberian tribes practiced similar rituals.

This knowledge would later influence his criminal behavior. As an adult, Moskvin lived a secluded life with his parents. He never married or dated, taking a vow of celibacy. He abstained from alcohol and smoking. Colleagues described him as eccentric, but harmless. A brilliant loner with strange interests. From 2005 to 2007, Moskvin was hired to document the dead in over 700 cemeteries across the Nizhny Novgorod region.

He walked up to 30 kilometers per day, sometimes sleeping in haystacks or abandoned farms. On at least one occasion, he spent the night in a coffin that was prepared for a funeral the next day. During these travels, Moskvin claimed he began sleeping on the graves of children who "spoke" to him. He said he could determine whether the spirits were genuine or demons in disguise by asking them questions about their lives.

In 2003, Moskvin entered a non-sexual relationship with a woman named Julia. Both wanted to adopt a daughter, but their application was denied due to Moskvin's low income as a freelance writer. The relationship ended, leaving Moskvin devastated. His parents were also against the adoption, which made Moskvin angry. He told his mother he would use black magic to have spirits haunt her for the rest of her life. She dismissed this as another of her son's eccentricities.

Shortly after this failed adoption attempt, Moskvin decided to get a daughter another way. In May 2003, he dug up his first body, a young girl from a local cemetery. He mummified the corpse using salt and baking soda, then brought it home and turned it into a doll.

Moskvin believed he was rescuing children who had been abandoned in cold graves. He thought that someday, either through science or magic, he could bring them back to life. He saw himself as giving them better homes until that day came. For nearly eight years, Moskvin continued collecting bodies. He would read obituaries looking for recently deceased children.

If one spoke to him, he would visit their grave, sleep on it, and ask the spirit if they wanted to be rescued. Moskvin's process was methodical. After digging up a body, he would begin mummification immediately. Sometimes in the cemetery itself, he dried the corpses using salt and baking soda, then transported them home when his parents were away on their annual six-month vacations.

At home, Moskvin transformed the mummified remains into dolls. He wrapped their limbs in cloth to maintain their shape and stuffed their bodies with rags and personal items found in their graves. He created wax faces for some, while others received faces cut from children's toys. Many had buttons or doll eyes inserted into their eye sockets so they could watch cartoons with him.

Some of the dolls contained music boxes that played lullabies when squeezed. One had a voice box that said, "Teddy Bear loves honey very much." Moskvin also placed personal items inside the bodies, including hospital tags with causes of death, pieces of gravestones with names, and in one case, a dried human heart. Moskvin's parents regularly returned home to find their son's doll collection growing larger. They assumed it was a harmless hobby,

His mother would sometimes scold him for talking to the dolls, calling him childish. Neighbors noticed a foul smell coming from the apartment but assumed it was a drainage problem. Mosk then treated the dolls as his children. He knew their names, birthdays, and how they had died. He celebrated holidays with them, held birthday parties, and even sat them around the dinner table during meals.

He would sing to them, play cartoons for them, and have conversations with them. His favorites lived in his bedroom, while those he liked less were kept in the garage. Beginning in 2009, families in Nizhny Novgorod began reporting disturbed graves. Police initially suspected extremist organizations but couldn't find solid leads. The investigation stalled for two years.

In 2011, following a terrorist attack in Moscow, authorities received reports of Muslim graves being vandalized. Police set up surveillance and caught Moskvin painting over photographs on Muslim headstones. When they searched his apartment for evidence of extremism, they made the gruesome discovery. Moskvin fully cooperated with investigators.

He admitted to digging up approximately 150 graves, though he only kept 29 bodies. Some he reburied after deciding he didn't like them. Others he may have thrown away in his garbage. The victims ranged from toddlers to young adults. One was identified as 10-year-old Olga Shardimova, who had been murdered by a drug addict in 2002. Her body had been missing from her grave for nine years,

During that time, Moskvin had left notes and gifts at her gravestone, signing them "Kind Angel" and tormenting her family with reminders of what would have been her school milestones. Police found detailed notes about Moskvin's mummification process, maps of cemeteries with marked graves, photographs of exhumed bodies, and doll-making manuals throughout the apartment.

They also discovered that many dolls wore the same clothes the victims had been buried in. Psychiatric evaluation diagnosed Moskvin with paranoid schizophrenia. In May 2012, a court deemed him unfit to stand trial and sentenced him to indefinite psychiatric treatment instead of prison. During court proceedings, Moskvin showed no remorse.

When asked if he would apologize to the victims' families, he said, "You abandoned your girls in the cold and I brought them home and warmed them up. So, no, I would not apologize." He also warned families not to rebury their children too deeply, claiming he would dig them up again when released.

Moskvin was moved to a psychiatric hospital where his treatment has been repeatedly extended. In 2018, doctors briefly recommended outpatient care, but a subsequent evaluation found his condition had not improved enough for release. The victim's families oppose any possibility of Moskvin's release. Natalia Shardimova, mother of victim Olga, stated that Moskvin had her for 10 years and believes he should remain confined for life.

Moskvin's arrests destroyed his parents' lives. His father suffered a heart attack upon learning the truth, and his mother was hospitalized for shock. Both became outcasts in their community. His mother reportedly suggested they commit suicide together, but his father refused. All 29 bodies were returned to their families for proper burial. Moskvin was ordered to pay $75,000 to each victim's family, though it's unclear if these payments were ever made.

The case remains unprecedented in Russian legal history. Vladimir Stravinskas, head of the Regional Investigative Committee, called it "exceptional" and "unparalleled" in modern forensics. Today, Musclin remains confined in a psychiatric facility. He has reportedly been beaten by other patients and heavily medicated. Despite some human rights advocacy for his release, he continues to be held indefinitely.

The families of his victims can only hope that the man who stole their children twice, first from life, then from their graves, will never again walk free among the living. On the small Caribbean island of Antigua, families live with a haunting question that has no answer. Where did their loved ones go? In just the past two years, at least nine people have disappeared without leaving behind a single clue.

Some locals call it an epidemic. Others say it's a crisis that grows worse each day. Patricia Joseph knows this pain better than most. Six years ago, her 74-year-old mother, Hyacinth Gage, walked into a hospital for routine medical tests. She never walked out. Patricia still finds herself scanning crowds and streets, hoping to spot the distinctive orange-lined raincoat her mother wore that day.

the sight of it might finally provide the answers that have escaped her family for so long. The day Hyacinth vanished started like any other in May 2019. The elderly woman was described as lively and independent. She had simply gone to the public hospital for a regular checkup. When she failed to return home, her family began a desperate search that would consume their lives. Patricia and her sister transformed themselves into amateur detectives,

They returned to the hospital, asking questions and following every possible lead. Their investigation revealed troubling details. Hyacinth had completed her scheduled blood tests, but she never showed up for her heart examination. Security cameras and witness accounts showed she had briefly handed her purse to another patient, asking them to watch it while she stepped away. She never came back. Hospital security found the abandoned purse the next day.

The family managed to track down a driver who remembered giving Hyacinth a ride to a location not far from the hospital. But from that point, the trail went completely cold. When the family pressed police for more information and continued their own investigation, officers became frustrated. Patricia later recalled that police told them to stop investigating and grew annoyed with their constant questions. Eventually, the family had no choice but to step back and simply pray.

The emotional toll weighs heavily on those left behind. Patricia describes the experience as mental torture, filled with gut-wrenching moments when she imagines what her mother's final hours might have been like. Anniversaries bring special pain. March 6 would have marked Hyacinth's 80th birthday, a milestone the family had planned to celebrate with a large party.

Instead, Patricia took the day off work to spend in quiet reflection about the mother who simply vanished. Hyacinth's case represents just one piece of a much larger puzzle that has authorities and residents deeply concerned.

The island of Antigua spans only 108 square miles and has fewer than 100,000 residents. Yet the number of unexplained disappearances appears unusually high compared to neighboring islands of similar or even larger size.

Statistics from nearby St. Kitts paint a stark contrast. That island has a population of 48,000 people. Of the 54 people reported missing there in 2023 and 2024, police were able to account for all but two. Those two remaining cases involve Haitian migrants who are believed to have simply left the country. The unexplained nature of Antigua's missing persons cases has sparked widespread speculation among residents.

Theories range from practical explanations to disturbing possibilities. Some point to an under-resourced police force that lacks the funding and staffing needed for thorough investigations. Officers must send DNA samples overseas for analysis, because the island has no forensic laboratory of its own. This creates lengthy delays that can prove crucial in missing persons cases. Other theories take a much darker turn.

Patricia admits her mind wanders to possibilities she wishes she didn't have to consider. Some residents suspect organ trafficking might be involved. Others wonder if gang activity could be behind the disappearances, perhaps as part of criminal initiation rituals. The fact that other Caribbean islands eventually recover bodies in their missing persons cases makes Antigua's situation even more puzzling.

the island's geography may contribute to the problem. Dense bushlands cover a large portion of Antigua, while ocean surrounds the small landmass. These features make it relatively easy to conceal evidence and extremely difficult to conduct comprehensive searches. When families organize their own search parties, the vast areas of difficult terrain often prove overwhelming. A recent case has intensified public concern and fear.

In March 2025, nine-year-old Chantelle Crump disappeared near her home. The entire nation mobilized to search for the child, but her body was discovered just two days later. The case sparked widespread protests and outrage. Police arrested and charged a 20-year-old woman with the girl's murder. While this case reached a resolution of sorts, it sent rumors and speculation into overdrive throughout the community.

Acting Police Commissioner Everton Jeffers acknowledges that his department needs improvement in its public relations approach. However, he rejects accusations that officers don't care about missing persons cases. Jeffers admits he keeps an open mind about possible explanations for the higher number of disappearances, including the theory about organ trafficking operations. He states that while no evidence supports these claims, police consider it important not to dismiss any possibilities.

The cases continue to mount. In late January 2025, 39-year-old Ordon David failed to return home after spending an evening at a local casino. Police later recovered his burnt-out car, but found no other traces of what might have happened to him. David was well-known on the island as a key figure in a landmark 2022 legal case that overturned laws criminalizing same-sex relationships.

David's close friend, Helene Henry, described him as her best friend of 23 years. The uncertainty surrounding his fate creates daily torment for those who care about him. Henry wonders if David might be held against his will somewhere, possibly being abused or tortured. She believes David's involvement in the high-profile legal case might have made him a target for violence.

Another recent disappearance involves 38-year-old Keon Richards, who works for the National School Meals Program. Richards was last seen leaving his job at Sandals Resort on February 26. Since that day, no one has reported any sign of him. His mother says she tries to stay positive while admitting that hearing about missing persons in the news takes on new meaning when it affects your own family.

One island resident who uses the name Aaron to protect his identity has compiled a disturbing list of nearly 60 people who have gone missing in Antigua. He believes the actual number may be even higher. Aaron's research shows that men account for roughly two-thirds of all disappearances, with ages ranging from teenagers to people in their 70s. More than one-third of these cases have occurred in just the past decade.

Aaron speaks from personal experience with this tragedy. One of his own family members disappeared, while another was murdered. He has received threats for speaking publicly about the missing persons crisis, which forces him to remain anonymous. Aaron suspects that while some disappearances might result from criminal activity, the sheer number suggests something more organized could be happening behind the scenes. The pattern extends back many years.

In 2022, 26-year-old Kevorn Bailey received a phone call from an unknown person. He left his home to meet this mysterious caller and never returned. His father, Gregory Bailey, has spent years trying to get answers from police about who made that call. The telecommunications company claims they provided the caller's identity to police long ago, but officers still cannot tell Gregory who contacted his son.

Gregory describes the experience as emotionally devastating. He says pursuing information from police proves frustrating because they provide no updates unless he calls them directly, and even then he receives what he calls "sweet nothings" instead of real information. The pain of not knowing his son's fate led Gregory to put up missing persons posters throughout the island. However, he could not bear to post any near his own home.

The cases stretch back even further. In 2019, 24-year-old Noah Hurst stepped outside after receiving a phone call and was never seen again. That same year, Hyacinth Gage vanished from the hospital. In 2018, 19-year-old Trey Griffith failed to show up for a family gathering and disappeared completely.

The year 2017 saw multiple disappearances, including Canadian tourist Roman Muscovove, who vanished shortly after being dropped off at a yacht club. Another 2017 case involved Vincia James, who was last seen leaving her workplace. Police arrested and charged her ex-boyfriend with murder, but the case was dismissed due to the absence of her body. The inability to recover remains has become a recurring theme in many of Antigua's missing persons cases.

Local residents express deep mistrust of police capabilities and integrity. Gregory Bailey believes the high number of disappearances results from criminal organizations operating with impunity. Aaron has also compiled a list of more than 100 unsolved killings on the island. Both men claim that corruption within law enforcement prevents proper investigations, and that families of victims sometimes face retaliation when they try to seek justice.

Police Commissioner Jeffers defends his force while acknowledging its limitations. He claims that 90% of the officers perform their duties properly and that no police force in the world operates without flaws. Jeffers admits that limited financial resources severely hamper investigations. He points out that no Caribbean police force has sufficient resources to handle every aspect of their required duties. The lack of proper forensic facilities creates additional obstacles.

Director of Forensic Services Michael Morell explains that a new laboratory capable of analyzing trace evidence like hair, blood and other biological samples should become operational within months. However, DNA analysis capabilities remain years away due to insufficient funding. Families of the missing have begun connecting with each other for mutual support. Patricia Joseph now plans to establish a formal action group that will seek international assistance in solving these cases.

She argues that the disappearances have moved beyond random incidents to represent a serious crisis requiring outside intervention. The government of Antigua and Barbuda has responded to mounting pressure by announcing several new initiatives. These include the establishment of a specialized missing persons task force and plans to acquire dogs trained to detect human remains.

Officials have also announced the creation of a cold case unit to review older unsolved disappearances and murders. Some community organizations have proposed additional measures. The Concerned Citizens Group has developed plans for an alert system modeled after the Amber Alert system used in the United States. Their proposed Chantel Alert would immediately notify the community when a child goes missing through television and radio announcements, phone notifications, and electronic billboards.

The crisis has attracted attention from news organizations throughout the Caribbean and beyond. Local media outlets have created social media pages dedicated to tracking missing persons and unsolved crimes in Antigua. These pages list dozens of names and faces, representing lives that have simply vanished without explanation. Recent cases continue to add to the growing list.

Thomas Vasquez, a visitor from Trinidad and Tobago, disappeared in April 2025 while working on what was believed to be a legal marijuana farm. Police took two people into custody and searched the farm, but Vasquez remains missing. Adding to the mystery, another employee of the same farm had been found shot to death just one month before Vasquez's disappearance. The impact on families extends beyond immediate emotional trauma.

Some parents have died while still searching for their missing children. Others live in a state of perpetual hope mixed with despair, never knowing whether their loved ones still might be alive somewhere or if they should begin the process of grieving their deaths. The geographic isolation of Antigua presents unique challenges for both criminals and investigators. As a small island nation, there are limited ways for people to leave undetected.

This suggests that those who disappear either remain on the island in hidden locations or have been transported away by sea. The surrounding ocean provides countless possibilities for concealing evidence permanently. Community fear has grown alongside the number of disappearances. Residents wonder who might be next and whether their own families could be affected. The small size of Antigua's population means that most missing persons cases involve people known throughout the community.

This creates a climate where everyone feels potentially vulnerable to whatever forces are behind these disappearances. Local businesses and tourism officials worry about the impact of Antigua's reputation as a safe Caribbean destination. The island depends heavily on tourism revenue, and widespread reports of unexplained disappearances could discourage visitors from choosing Antigua for their vacations.

International attention has begun to focus on Antigua's unusual pattern of missing persons cases. Some observers compare the situation to other locations around the world where unexplained disappearances have occurred in clusters. However, the small size of Antigua and the lack of recovered remains make this case particularly puzzling to outside experts. The missing include people from all walks of life and various age groups.

Some were local residents with deep community ties, while others were visitors or recent arrivals to the island. This diversity makes it difficult to identify common factors that might explain why these particular individuals became targets. As the list of missing persons continues to grow, families like Patricia Joseph's maintain hope while preparing for the worst possible outcomes.

They organize search parties, share information through social media, and pressure authorities for more aggressive investigations. Their efforts represent the primary force pushing for answers in cases that might otherwise be forgotten. The mystery of Antigua's missing persons remains unsolved.

With more than 100 people potentially unaccounted for on an island smaller than many cities, the situation represents one of the most concentrated missing persons crises in the Caribbean region. Each new disappearance adds another family to the growing community of those who live without answers, waiting for news that may never come.

When we return, a declassified CIA document describes the terrifying moment when Soviet soldiers shot down a UFO in Siberia, only to watch in horror as alien survivors merged into a ball of light and instantly transformed 23 of their comrades into stone pillars. 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 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 A.P. Royal, narrated by Darren Marlar. Hear a free sample on the audiobook's page at WeirdDarkness.com. A declassified CIA document has captured worldwide attention after claims surfaced that Soviet soldiers were transformed into stone during a deadly encounter with extraterrestrial beings in the final years of the USSR.

The shocking report describes an incident that allegedly occurred between 1989 and 1990 in the remote wilderness of Siberia, where a routine military training exercise turned into something far more sinister. According to the document, which appeared on the CIA's official website, a group of 25 Soviet troops was conducting standard training maneuvers when they spotted an unusual object in the sky above their position.

The craft was described as a low-flying, saucer-shaped spaceship that hovered ominously over the military unit. For reasons that remain unclear, one of the soldiers made the fateful decision to fire a surface-to-air missile at the mysterious vessel. The missile found its target, sending the craft crashing to the ground not far from where the soldiers stood watching. What emerged from the wreckage would haunt the two survivors for the rest of their lives.

Five short humanoid beings crawled out of the debris, each possessing unnaturally large heads and piercing black eyes that seemed to bore into the souls of anyone who looked upon them. The surviving soldiers provided testimony about what happened next, describing events that defied all understanding of the natural world. The five alien creatures slowly approached each other, their movements deliberate and purposeful.

Before the horrified eyes of the watching troops, the beings began to merge together, their individual forms dissolving and reforming into a single spherical object that pulsed with an otherworldly energy. The newly formed sphere began to emit disturbing sounds, a sharp buzzing and hissing that seemed to come from somewhere beyond human comprehension.

The object grew brighter and brighter until it became a brilliant white light that hurt to look at directly. Within seconds, the sphere expanded rapidly in size, building toward what would become a catastrophic explosion. When the intense flash of light erupted across the Siberian landscape, it lasted only an instant, but its effects were permanent and terrifying.

23 of the soldiers who had been watching the phenomenon were instantly transformed into stone poles, their living flesh converted into a limestone-like substance in the blink of an eye. Only two men survived the alien retaliation, and only because they had been standing in a shaded area that provided partial protection from the deadly luminous explosion.

The KGB, according to the report, quickly moved to secure both the crash site and the remains of the petrified soldiers. The stone figures that had once been living, breathing men were carefully transported to a secret research facility located somewhere near Moscow, where Soviet scientists began the grim task of studying what had happened to their comrades. The researchers made a disturbing discovery during their examination of the victims.

The soldiers had not simply been killed, their very molecular structure had been fundamentally altered by an unknown energy source. Every cell in their bodies had been transformed into a substance that was virtually identical to limestone, as if they had undergone millions of years of fossilization in mere seconds. The scientific team assigned to investigate the incident could find no earthly explanation for the transformation.

They concluded that some form of energy completely foreign to human understanding had been responsible for instantly changing the structure of the soldiers' living organisms. The technology required to achieve such a feat was beyond anything in the Soviet Union's considerable arsenal of weapons and scientific knowledge.

The CIA document includes a statement attributed to an unnamed agency representative who reviewed the KGB file after it allegedly made its way to American intelligence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The official expressed grave concern about the implications of the report, noting that if the events described were real, humanity faced a threat unlike anything previously encountered.

The representative emphasized that the alien beings possessed weapons and technology that surpassed all human assumptions about what was possible. The message was clear and chilling. These extraterrestrial visitors could defend themselves with devastating effectiveness if they perceived themselves to be under attack.

The original KGB file was said to contain 250 pages of detailed documentation, including photographs of the crash site and extensive witness testimony from the two surviving soldiers. The comprehensive nature of the Soviet investigation suggested that their intelligence services took the incident extremely seriously, treating it as a matter of the highest national security importance.

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan brought renewed attention to the story when he discussed the CIA document during an episode of his show, reading portions of the report aloud to his massive audience. The tale quickly spread across social media platforms and captured the imagination of UFO enthusiasts around the world, who saw it as potential proof of hostile alien intentions toward humanity.

The document appeared to originate from the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a division responsible for monitoring and translating foreign media reports that might be of intelligence value. The paper was marked as unclassified and was officially released to the public in May 2000, though it remained largely unknown until recent years. However, closer examination of the document reveals important details about its true origins.

The CIA file is actually a translation of an article that appeared in the Ukrainian newspaper Holos Ukraini on March 27, 1993. That article in turn was a reprint of a story titled "Cosmic Revenge" from another Ukrainian publication called Chernobyl Vrchiny. Most significantly, the Ukrainian articles cited their source as the authoritative magazine Canadian Weekly World News.

Weekly World News was an American tabloid newspaper known throughout the 1980s and 1990s for publishing entirely fictional stories presented as news. The publication was famous for outlandish headlines about celebrities, supernatural creatures, and alleged government conspiracies, none of which were based in reality.

The original story about the Soviet soldiers being turned to stone first appeared in the September 8, 1992 issue of Weekly World News, complete with fabricated photographs and invented quotes from supposed CIA sources. The tabloid's version included dramatic imagery of the alleged crash site and sketches of the alien beings that were presented as authentic KGB documentation.

Investigation by fact-checking organizations has confirmed that the CIA document is not an official intelligence report, but rather a routine translation of foreign media coverage that referenced the fictional Weekly World News story. The document was never classified and therefore was never actually declassified, as many online sources have claimed.

It exists in CIA files simply as an example of how American tabloid stories were being reported in foreign media during the post-Soviet period. I'm not sure if this debunking makes the story disappointing or if we should breathe a sigh of relief. 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. 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. Micah 6 verse 8, "...he has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

And a final thought. If our faith is not relevant to our daily life in the world and in the parish, then it is no use. And if we cannot be Christians in our work, in the neighborhood, in our political decisions, then we had better stop being Christians. A piety reserved for Sundays is no message for this age. Douglas Rimes. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.

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.