Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

A classic tale by M.R. James adapted for radio theater. On a stormy night by the fire, a grandmother forbids her grandchildren to pick a single blackberry in the little lane past Collins's cottage, and when they beg for the reason, she tells them about the hill at the top of it.

CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = Show Open
00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “It Has To Be True” (December 20, 1978) ***WD
00:46:09.566 = The Black Mass, “An Evening’s Entertainment” (October 31, 1964)
01:17:10.741 = Michael Shayne, “Museum Theft” (July 30, 1945)
01:48:19.048 = Beyond Midnight, “Hobart” (May 09, 1969) ***WD
02:15:32.318 = MindWebs, “When We Went To See The End Of The World” (November 12, 1976)
02:38:15.669 = Hollywood Theater, “Sitting Duck” (December 17, 1952) ***WD
03:07:11.952 = Mystery In The Air, “Horla” (August 21, 1947) ***WD
03:38:06.693 = Molle Mystery Theater, “Kenny Angles And The Queen of Diamonds” (April 18, 1947)
04:06:58.224 = Mr. Keen, “The Man Who Invented Death” (October 06, 1949) ***WD
04:36:14.018 = Murder at Midnight, “Red Wheels’ (September 13, 1946)
05:03:21.642 = Show Close

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

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

Elliot leaves his phone charging on the kitchen counter and takes the stairs down from his fifth-floor Chicago apartment to pick up a package in the lobby, and there's no door at the bottom.

EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/TheStairway

SOURCES and RESOURCES: “The Stairway” by Keith Conrad (originally published at http://www.auditoryanthology.com)

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

Midnight In The Macabre (MITM), originally aired: October 15, 2026

More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.

In 1894, Will Purvis dropped through the trapdoor at Columbia, Mississippi, and the noose let go, leaving him alive on the ground. The crowd voted to postpone the hanging, and in 1917 a dying farmer confessed to his part in the murder and said Purvis had nothing to do with it.”

From the book “BOTCHED EXECUTIONS: Four Centuries Of Failed Hangings, Electrocutions, Gassings, Injections And Firing Squads” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/botchedexecutions

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

Originally aired: October 14, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HM3LZM9M/

On February 22nd, 1964, Boston hypnosis specialist Benjamin Simon regressed Barney Hill to the night of the drive while Betty sat out in the waiting room, and over ten taped regression sessions, five apiece, each of them described being taken aboard a craft and examined. Betty also drew a map of stars she said she'd been shown, and in 1968 an Ohio schoolteacher named Marjorie Fish began five years of building models out of beads and thread, looking for the point in space that would reproduce Betty's drawing.

From the book “TWO LOST HOURS ON ROUTE 3: The Betty And Barney Hill UFO Abduction, 65 Years Later” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/TwoLostHours

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

Originally aired: October 14, 2026

https://www.amazon.com/Two-Lost-Hours-Route-Abduction-ebook/dp/B0HJY8N8CT

From hearing your own blood and battling endless earworms to noseless societies, double-faced men, and the deadly myths of virgin cures, tonight we dive deep into the eerie, bizarre, and tragic extremes of the human body.

EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/AnatomicalAnomalies

READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckmjxrb

FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: A woman in Scotland has never heard silence. Not because of the noise around her – but because of the noise in her! (Never a Moment of Silence) *** We’ve all had a song stuck in our heads – but one woman has had the same song playing on a loop in her brain for the past four years, non-stop. (The Ear Worm) *** From too much noise – to none at all. We’ll meet Ezekiel Eads, a man who had no ears and learned to hear the outside world through his mouth! (The Man With No Ears) *** Syphilis is a nasty disease, especially when it eats your nose. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a social life, as many noseless have learned from personal experience. (The No Noses Club) *** Is it possible that it’s better to have no nose at all than to have an extremely long one? We’ll look at a real-life Pinocchio named Thomas Wedders with a giant proboscis! (A Short Story About a Long Nose) *** Imagine living through life with two and a half faces. No, not like a politician – that’s simply two-faced. I mean living with two noses and three eyes. You’re either an extraterrestrial, or you are William Durks. (Two-And-A-Half Faces) *** What exactly is so alluring about those who cherish virginity? Is it about virtue or is it about something else? (Virginity Tests and Cures)

CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding
00:02:27.670 = Never a Moment of Silence
00:07:01.991 = The Ear Worm
00:11:51.821 = The Man Without Ears
00:14:08.540 = The No Nose Club
00:18:05.818 = A Short Story About a Long Nose
00:22:08.493 = Two And a Half Faces ***
00:27:17.987 = Virginity Tests and Cures
00:41:39.048 = Show Close
00:43:07.302 = Bloopers
*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break

LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: 
Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps

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

SOURCES and RESOURCES:
BOOK: “American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers” by Marc Harzman: https://amzn.to/3QGMCC5
BOOK: “The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine” by Lindsey Fitzharris: https://amzn.to/441Devz
“Never a Moment of Silence” by Marco Margaritoff for All That’s Interesting: https://tinyurl.com/y4khaqea
“The Ear Worm” by Facts Verse: http://www.factsverse.com
“The Man With No Ears” by Marc Hartzman for Weird Historian: https://tinyurl.com/ssoc693
“The No Noses Club” by Marc Hartzman for Weird Historian: https://tinyurl.com/u24bd5d
“A Short Story About a Long Nose” by Marc Hartzman for Weird Historian: https://tinyurl.com/wkqnc3q
“Two and a Half Faces” by Marc Hartzman for Weird Historian: https://tinyurl.com/sflhcqn,https://tinyurl.com/umb3fo5
“Virginity Tests and Cures” by B.B. Wagner for Ancient Origins: https://tinyurl.com/y6rwcy6h(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.
Originally aired: August 2020
More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.