Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

Wildwood Shooting: Man Drags Girlfriend Inside, Hides in Pool

A Florida man allegedly shot his girlfriend in the neck, dragged her bleeding back up the street to the house, told her mother her daughter was fine, and then tried to hide from police in the backyard pool. PRINT VERSION OF THIS STORY: https://weirddarkness.com/wildwood-pool Look for this podcast on YouTube Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and numerous other podcast apps. Get the full list of options 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

APRIL 30 IS WALPURGISNACHT: When Witches Dance, Bonfires Blaze and a Dead Nun is Revered

Many celebrate April 30 as “Halfway to Halloween,” but Walpurgis Night is more than just spooky fun — it’s a night when witches rise, saints blur into goddesses, and ancient fires still burn. IN THIS EPISODE: “Walpurgis Night was when, according to the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad—when the graves were opened and the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.” – Bram Stoker, from “Dracula’s Guest”. Walpurgis Night is something most English-speaking listeners won’t know about – but it’s being celebrated at this precise moment. While others are currently celebrating “Halfway to Halloween” or “Half-o-ween” for short… in Germany, they’re celebrating a second Halloween which they call Walpurgisnacht – or “Walpurgis Night.” Plus, later in the show I’ll share a story that was intended specifically to be read on Walpurgis Night – it’s called “The Black Bargain” from PJ Hodge! CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate and Only Accurate For the Commercial Version)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:37.995 = Happy Walpurgisnacht, Everyone 00:32:55.468 = The Black Bargain (a Fictional Story To Be Told on Walpurgis Night) *** 00:48:10.168 = Show Close SOURCES AND RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE… “Happy Walpurgisnacht, Everyone!” by Todd at GothicHorrorStories.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/a8svp23c [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/a8svp23c] “The Black Bargain” by PJ Hodge, posted at FreakyFolkTales.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/j49bd4 [https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/j49bd4] ===== (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. ===== Originally aired: April 30, 2021 EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/WalpurgisNight

THE PAINTED SMILE: Inspired By a True Crime Case | #MurderNoir

A clown with balloons and carnations knocks on a Florida doorstep one May morning — and what's hiding behind the painted smile may be older and hungrier than any killer the regular dicks would ever dare investigate. THE TRUE CRIME CASE THIS STORY IS BASED ON: On the morning of May 26, 1990, Marlene Warren was eating breakfast with her 21-year-old son Joe at their home in the Aero Club community of Wellington, Florida, when a clown carrying balloons and white carnations rang the doorbell. Marlene answered, remarked on how pretty the gifts were, and was shot in the head at point-blank range. The killer calmly walked back to a waiting white sedan and drove away. Marlene died two days later. She had warned both her son and her mother that if anything ever happened to her, her husband Mike Warren — who co-owned a used car business called Bargain Motors — would be responsible. Mike had an alibi the morning of the shooting, but investigators quickly learned he was having an affair with an employee named Sheila Keen. A novelty shop owner remembered selling a clown costume to a woman matching Keen's description days before the murder, supermarket workers recalled a brunette buying matching balloons and flowers that morning, and the abandoned getaway car contained brown hairs and orange wig fibers — but the forensic science of the era couldn't tie it all together. Mike Warren was arrested four months later on unrelated racketeering and odometer fraud charges and served eight years. After his release, he married Sheila Keen — now bottle-blonde and going by "Debbie" — and the two opened a burger restaurant called the Purple Cow in Tennessee, where Sheila once dressed as a clown for Halloween. The case remained cold for twenty-seven years until a 2014 cold-case grant allowed investigators to retest the evidence using modern DNA technology; a hair recovered from a balloon string matched Sheila Keen. She was arrested on September 26, 2017, and on April 25, 2023, she pleaded guilty in exchange for a 12-year sentence. She was released after serving just 18 months, in November 2024, with Mike still standing by her and insisting on her innocence. ORIGINAL CASE SOURCES… https://allthatsinteresting.com/marlene-warren [https://allthatsinteresting.com/marlene-warren] WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: April 30, 2026 https://weirddarkness.com/noir-paintedsmile

MISSING PERSONS: Unsolved Vanishing Cases That’ll Leave You Questioning Everything

From eerie vanishings and cryptic letters to chilling disappearances that defy explanation, we explore the most baffling unsolved mysteries where people seem to fade into thin air, leaving behind nothing but questions. FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Sometimes people disappear without a trace, while others leave behind evidence that is even stranger than the vanishing itself. (Strange Vanishings and Spooky Letters) *** In the summer of 1989 in the suburbs of Kansas City, three young women went missing – and they are still missing even now, decades later. Their killer refuses to say where they are buried. (The Missing Victims of Richard Grissom) *** Sometimes people disappear without a trace, while others leave behind On a fall evening in 2009, the Jamison family disappeared into the woods of Oklahoma, leaving behind a set of bewildering clues and a case that remains unsolved today. (His Said His House Was Haunted, Then His Family Disappeared) *** On March 19, 2004, 17-year-old Brianna Maitland left her shift at the Black Lantern Inn around 11:20 P.M. What happened next remains a mystery to this day. (The Chilling Disappearance of Brianna Maitland) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding 00:00:55.893 = Show Open 00:02:48.146 = The Chilling Disappearance of Brianna Maitland 00:10:31.222 = The Disappearance of Sister Aimee *** 00:19:01.355 = The Missing Victims of Richard Grissom 00:26:11.221 = He Said His House Was Haunted, Then His Family Disappeared (Jamison Family) 00:31:56.617 = Strange Vanishings and Spooky Letters *** 00:49:49.276 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on YouTube Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other apps. Get the full list of options here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps [https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps] *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Strange Vanishings and Spooky Letters” by Brent Swancer for Mysterious Universe: http://bit.ly/2kUp1Bd [http://bit.ly/2kUp1Bd] “The Missing Victims of Richard Grissom” posted at The Line Up: http://bit.ly/ [http://bit.ly/] 2m1Qq4x [http://bit.ly/2m1Qq4x] “The Disappearance of Sister Aimee” by Troy Taylor: http://bit.ly/2m0bFDG [http://bit.ly/2m0bFDG] “The Chilling Disappearance of Brianna Maitland” by Orrin Grey for The Line Up: http://bit [http://bit/] .ly/2m2cNqn [http://bit.ly/2m2cNqn] “He Said His House Was Haunted, Then His Family Disappeared” by Aimee Lamoureux for All That’s Interesting: http://bit.ly/2m5lgJg [http://bit.ly/2m5lgJg] (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: November, 2018 EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/MissingPersons [https://weirddarkness.com/MissingPersons]

Possessive Dead: A Stolen Mummified Foot, a Wedding Eve, and a 3,000-Year-Old Debt | #RetroRadio

A dollar at a dusty curio shop buys a mummified foot — and the thirty-century-old princess who comes with it. Look for this podcast on YouTube Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and numerous other podcast apps. Get the full list of options 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 Radio Mystery Theater, “The Wind And The Flame 00:46:57.579 = The Weird Circle, “Possessive Dead” (March 25, 1945) 01:14:18.931 = The Whistler, “Seascape” (January 22, 1945) 01:42:56.945 = Witch’s Tale, “Altar of Hate” (November 08, 1933) ***WD 02:08:42.316 = X Minus One, “Pictures Don’t Lie” (October 24, 1956) 02:36:06.053 = The Zero Hour, “The Violation” (May 10, 1974) ***WD 02:53:37.216 = ABC Mystery Time, “Suicide Club” (June 07, 1956) ***WD (LQ) 03:15:19.752 = Strange Adventure, “A Matter of Salvage” (1945) 03:18:35.175 = Appointment With Fear, “Speaking Clock” (April 13, 1944) 03:45:58.687 = BBC Radio 4/7 Ghost Story, “Lost Hearts” (December 28, 2007) 04:00:13.483 = Beyond The Green Door, “Dillingsworth Diamond Corp” (1966) ***WD 04:04:21.110 = The Black Book, “Vagabond Murder” (March 02, 1952) ***WD 04:18:50.973 = The Avenger, “The Subway Ghost” (March 07, 1946) 04:48:49.580 = Box 13, “Diamond In The Sky” (November 21, 1948) ***WD 05:15:38.566 = 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/WDRR0644