Alone on the Job: True Stories of What Lurks After Hours

Katy Mother Vanished Six Weeks, Sent Uber Eats to Her Daughters | #WeirdDarkNEWS

Rayshawna Dowdell allegedly left her 11- and 6-year-old daughters alone in a cluttered Katy home for six weeks while ordering them meals from out of state. PRINT VERSION OF THIS STORY: https://weirddarkness.com/uber-eats-mom-katy [https://weirddarkness.com/uber-eats-mom-katy] Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://pod.link/1078714736 [https://pod.link/1078714736] *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. #WeirdDarkness, #WeirdDarkNEWS

The Devil Made Me Do It: Murderers Who Blamed Their Crimes on Demons

An English butcher murdered his wife the day his exorcism ended, the Son of Sam blamed his neighbor's dog, and a forked-tongued occultist who called himself Pazuzu buried bodies in his backyard — and every one of them swore it was the demon who did it. | #WDRadio May 10, 2026 ========== HOUR ONE: “The devil made me do it.” It’s an excuse that has been used so often by so many that it has lost its meaning, and its effectiveness. So only a fool or a madman would commit a horrible act and then try to blame it on the devil or a demon… unless, of course, that person truly believes that is exactly what happened to them. (A Demon Made Me Do It) *** The little Norwegian village of Bærum Verk still stands as an old foundry settlement, and is an active place, both as a place to work, and as a place to live – and as a place to keep living even after you’re dead. (The Most Haunted Village in Norway) *** There are more than a few stories from upright citizens around the world who claim to have seen tiny humans. I’m not talking about the diminutive human beings we used to classify as dwarves or midgets until we became more enlightened. I’m talking about short, maybe two-foot tall, perfectly proportioned people. (Big Stories About Little People) ========== HOUR TWO: Like many desolate places, the Arctic has its share of ghost stories [https://www.ranker.com/list/ghost-stories-from-antarctica/erin-mccann] and haunted legends floating around the frigid, wild areas of its domain. It might be the frights rather than the cold that gives you goosebumps. (Ghostly Shivers of the Arctic Circle) *** You never know what might be lurking just out of sight – in the shadows, behind a door. I’ll share a few true stories that might make you double-check the locks at night and check the closet before going to bed. (Never Trust The Dark) *** When you think of the Salem Witch Trials, you typically think of women being burned at the stake, innocently accused of witchcraft. There are two incorrect assumption about that mental picture. First, most of the accused were hung, and none have been truly verified to be burned alive. And second, sorcery and Satan worship were not seen to be bound by gender, and so either a man, woman, boy, or girl could be a witch. And one of those unfortunate men was Giles Corey – but his punishment went beyond the norm, and into the gruesome. (The Most Dreadful Execution of The Salem Witch Trials) ========== SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: When John and Eva were married they told their relatives that they planned to honeymoon on the Atlantic coast, but John had another plan, and it would not be his last deception. But it would be the first act in what ended up being a mystery that has still gone unsolved to this day. (The Lawrenceburg Shanty-Boat Mystery) *** Weirdo family member James Pierce brings a true story that he calls, “It Came Through the Screen Door”. *** A 5-year-old boy having the time of his life at a carnival suddenly goes missing – and when found later there is no evidence whatsoever as to how he got where he was, who took him there, or what happened to him before he was found. (The Disturbing Case of Little Stephen McKerron) *** Weirdo family member Joy Cruz remembers something her mother told her as a child… and it quite possibly saved her soul. (I’ve Seen The Devil) ========== SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT’S SHOW: “The Genesis of Geraldine” by David Jeremiah for Light Source: https://tinyurl.com/y7t7nuwx [https://tinyurl.com/y7t7nuwx] “A Demon Made Me Do It” by Jacob Shelton for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/y2qedyjq [https://tinyurl.com/y2qedyjq], and Orrin Grey for The Line Up: https://tinyurl.com/yb8e6z25 [https://tinyurl.com/yb8e6z25] “The Most Haunted Village in Norway” from Moon Mausoleum: https://tinyurl.com/ya8nuxur [https://tinyurl.com/ya8nuxur] “The Lawrenceburg Shanty-Boat Mystery” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight: https://tinyurl.com/yyod3q3j [https://tinyurl.com/yyod3q3j] “Big Stories About Little People” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/ycql47wq [https://tinyurl.com/ycql47wq] “It Came Through the Screen Door” by Weirdo family member James Pierce “Ghostly Shivers of the Arctic Circle” by Jodi Smith for Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/yc9ymjyx [https://tinyurl.com/yc9ymjyx] “The Most Dreadful Execution of The Salem Witch Trials” from Sometimes Interesting: https://tinyurl.com/y979qn8e [https://tinyurl.com/y979qn8e], and Evan Corey for History: https://tinyurl.com/y7qt45kx [https://tinyurl.com/y7qt45kx] “I’ve Seen The Devil” by Joy Cruz for Weird Darkness: https://WeirdDarkness.com/submit [https://weirddarkness.com/submit] “The Disturbing Case of Little Stephen McKerron” from Strange Company: https://tinyurl.com/ydf4w6ce [https://tinyurl.com/ydf4w6ce] “Never Trust the Dark” from The Line Up: https://tinyurl.com/y7bgdq5z [https://tinyurl.com/y7bgdq5z] ========== Join the Weird Darkness Syndicate: https://weirddarkness.com//syndicate [https://weirddarkness.com//syndicate] Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music Library. Background music provided by Alibi Music Library, EpidemicSound and/or StoryBlocks with paid license. Music from Shadows Symphony (https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t [https://tinyurl.com/yyrv987t]), Midnight Syndicate (http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ [http://amzn.to/2BYCoXZ]) Kevin MacLeod (https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu [https://tinyurl.com/y2v7fgbu]), Tony Longworth (https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7 [https://tinyurl.com/y2nhnbt7]), and Nicolas Gasparini (https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8 [https://tinyurl.com/lnqpfs8]) is used with permission of the artists. ========== PODCASTS I HOST: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/listen [https://weirddarkness.com/listen] Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag] Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors] Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio] Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead] ========== (Over time links seen above 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.) ========== "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46 ========== WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.

A Lip-Reading Wife and the Alien at the Corner Table: The People of Sissora | #RetroRadio

An archaeology professor fixates on a stranger across the restaurant, his wife admits to a skill she's kept hidden for the twenty years they've been married, and what the two of them overhear at the man's table suggests he isn't from this planet.  Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTR [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTR] CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:30.028 = CBS Mystery Theater, “The People of Sissora” (October 14, 1977) 00:45:53.743 = Murder By Experts, “It’s Luck That Counts” (August 29, 1949) 01:15:23.858 = Exploring Tomorrow, “Speak No More” (May 07, 1958) 01:34:57.034 = Faces In The Window, “Pit And The Pendulum” (January 24, 1953) ***WD 02:05:56.415 = Dark Fantasy, “Convoy For Atlantis” (March 27, 1942) 02:28:30.890 = BBC Fear on 4, “Survival” (March 19, 1989) 02:57:27.374 = Future Tense, “Tunnel Under The World” (May 22, 1974) ***WD 03:24:06.381 = BBC Ghosts From The Past, “Mortmain” (April 22, 1992) 04:08:08.795 = Ave Maria Hour, “St. Benedict of Nursia VS Poison And Witchcraft” (1939) 04:31:51.450 = Hall of Fantasy, “Death In The Bayous” (March 06, 1947) 05:01:47.886 = Show Close (ADU) = Air Date Unknown (LQ) = Low Quality ***WD = Remastered, edited, or cleaned up by Weird Darkness to make the episode more listenable. Audio may not be pristine, but it will be better than the original file which may have been unusable or more difficult to hear without editing. CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRR0655

Alone on the Job: True Stories of What Lurks After Hours

From morgue freezer alarms tripping with nobody inside to a Scream-masked figure waving at the security camera, twenty-one workers describe the moments they realized empty buildings are rarely as empty as they look. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/AloneOnTheJob [https://weirddarkness.com/AloneOnTheJob] FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Complete isolation sounds horrifying, but for people who work alone, it just becomes part of the process. *** Fog and mist are a staple of creating a perfect horror atmosphere. In some cases, such as movies like “The Fog” or “The Mist”, it is the creeping haze that is the danger itself. But then there is the true story from the Florida woods of a supernatural fog bank that appeared to eat people alive. *** How did The Devil's footprint get in a rock in North Carolina? *** One of our Weirdo family members didn’t used to believe in the supernatural – but that changed when he insisted that the ghost prove it exists. *** Mysterious fires and moving objects have terrified the residents of a house in central Morocco. CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding 00:01:03.467 = Show Open 00:02:51.044 = Creepy Working Alone Stories 00:27:01.430 = A Strange Carnivorous Mist *** 00:35:48.414 = Devil’s Rock 00:39:48.078 = Demanding Proof *** 00:41:53.899 = Poltergeist in Morocco 00:48:58.487 = Show Close *** = 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 [https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps] *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Creepy Working Alone Stories” by Stefanie Hammond fore Ranker: https://tinyurl.com/tuxe6zd [https://tinyurl.com/tuxe6zd] “A Strange Carnivorous Mist” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: https://tinyurl.com/vyveg7a [https://tinyurl.com/vyveg7a] “Devil’s Rock” posted at North Carolina Ghosts: https://tinyurl.com/trcpobe [https://tinyurl.com/trcpobe] “Demanding Proof” by Weirdo family member Christopher Gray, submitted directly to WeirdDarkness “Poltergeist in Morocco” originally posted in Hespress of Morocco, translated by The Fortean:https://tinyurl.com/y8s7glte [https://tinyurl.com/y8s7glte] (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.

Down the Rabbit Hole: A Note About This Week's #COTU Episode

This week's Church of the Undead (#COTU) pulled me down a rabbit hole. The further I worked on it, the more it asked of me — more material, more questions of my own that needed answers... honestly, if I kept going it could easily become a book, and maybe someday it will. But for now I'm working toward the podcast version, and even that may not be ready for the usual Sunday release. I'll keep at it, but this may be a mid-week episode! Thanks in advance for your understanding! In the meantime, you can hear previous messages from the Church of the Undead series at https://weirddarkness.com/church [https://weirddarkness.com/church].