(Bonus Episode) “THE SNOWBALL EFFECT” by Katherine MacLean (Short Sci-Fi Story) #WeirdDarkness

A private eye called out to a quiet farm on a still September afternoon finds two sisters poisoned and shot, a brother in the wind, and a barn even the animals won't go near. THE TRUE CRIME CASE THIS STORY IS BASED ON: On September 5, 1893, on a farm outside Winnebago, Illinois, widow Bridget Hart returned from a brief errand in her potato field to find her twenty-six-year-old daughter Mary lying face-down on the porch steps, bleeding from her mouth and nose, and her twenty-three-year-old daughter Nellie staggering in the barn with a green stain of arsenic-laced Paris green pesticide running down her dress. Before she died the following afternoon, Nellie identified her own brother — thirty-five-year-old John Hart, the family's black sheep, recently returned home after years of drifting and feuding with his siblings over his share of their late father's $50,000 estate — as her attacker. He had forced both sisters to drink the poison and shot each of them at close range, Mary four times. John fled on horseback but was captured that same night in a Rockford barber shop, where he calmly drank a small dose of laudanum as police closed in. He was tried in January 1894, convicted in under an hour despite a defense that blamed his brothers, claimed malaria and mental illness, and accused the dead girls themselves of conspiring to poison him, and was hanged in the Winnebago County jail yard on March 16, 1894 — bringing to a close a case made stranger still by the fact that his father had taken his own life two years earlier with the very same poison. ORIGINAL CASE SOURCES… https://www.hauntedrockford.com/the-hart-family-murders/ WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: April 27, 2026 EPISODE PAGE at WeirdDarkness.com (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/noir-parisgreen

The quietest place on Earth isn't peaceful — it's a room so silent that within 45 minutes, your own mind turns against you. And that’s just a sample of what complete sensory deprivation will do to you. | #WDRadio APRIL 26, 2026 ========== HOUR ONE: According to the song, silence is golden. And it really can be; there are plenty of times when we just want to shut everything out and relax in peace and quiet. But silence isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, either, and too much silence can drive you mad. It all starts with being able to hear your own organs working, and after about 45 minutes, you’ll start to hallucinate. Silence—and other types of sensory deprivation—can do some weird things to the body and mind… and to the planet. (The Disturbing Effects of Sensory Deprivation) *** A U.S. Air-Force chaplain is called to duty not against a human enemy – but a spiritual one. (Air Force Exorcist) ========== HOUR TWO: Allegedly, in the fall of 1943 a U.S. Navy destroyer was made invisible and teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Norfolk, Virginia, in an incident known as the Philadelphia Experiment. Records in the Archives Branch of the Naval History and Heritage Command have been repeatedly searched, but no documents have been located which confirm the event, or any interest by the Navy in attempting such an achievement. But then, those who came to this conclusion probably didn’t interview Duncan Cameron and Al Bielek. They were onboard the ship when it happened. The two sides of the Philadelphia Experiment. (Time Traveling Brothers) *** While it may look picturesque during the day, worthy of a post card, the town of Pluckley in Kent, UK is known as a place where you will often hear something go bump in the night. (Paranormal Pluckley) *** A man has a frightening experience after checking into a hotel. But then, what would you expect if the rumor is that the place is haunted? (Haunted Malaysian Hotel Room) ========== SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT’S SHOW: “The Philadelphia Experiment Hoax?” by Shannon Corbeil for Military.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3ztxcv9s “Time Traveling Brothers” by Ian Matthews: (link no longer valid) “Extraterrestrials In Chile” posted at Infinity Explorers: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3wuc5tm2 “Paranormal Pluckley” by Sean Doherty, Lauren MacDougall, and Will Rider for Kent Live: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/n62r3mvb, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/ntze8vx, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/kekb9rek “The Haunted Malaysian Hotel Room” from Paranormality Magazine “Zuni Witchcraft” by Kathy Weiser for Legends of America: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/33khzyfm “The Disturbing Effects of Sensory Deprivation” by Knowledge Nuts, Debra Kelly for List Verse and Allison P. Davis for The Cut: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5hkbkujc, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yhzp72rf,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/d532kr33 “Flying Saucers In The Clouds” by A. Sutherland for Message to Eagle:

June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters bound by silence and an eerie connection, lived a haunting life filled with creativity and madness. FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Al Adamson, the beloved cult-horror director of such schlocky films as PSYCHO A-GO-GO and DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN – was murdered in what can only be called a scene from one of his movies brought to life. (Murder Of The Horror Movie Maker) *** It’s said that the devout Saint Joseph of Cupertino could fly, he could read people’s thoughts, and could create rain during a drought. So why would the church do everything in its power to hide him from the masses of Christian believers? (The Flying Saint With Telepathic Abilities) *** A man sees two ghostly figures in a window’s reflection – and one of them is holding a strange object. (Shades of White) *** Some suspect a serial killer while others point a finger at the paranormal, but nobody has been able to fully explain the mysterious disappearances from Vermont's Bennington Triangle. (Inside The Unsolved Disappearances Of The Bennington Triangle) *** Chingle Hall is one of Britain's oldest and most haunted buildings. Ghosts and poltergeist activity have been reported for many centuries with visions of monks being the most commonly reported phenomena. (Haunted Chingle Hall) *** June and Jennifer Gibbons displayed unsettling behavior early on, even for twins. They refused to speak despite their ability to do so, and they insisted on never being apart. But that is not the strangest thing that happened between these disturbed twins. (Disturbing Twins) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding 00:01:14.091 = Show Open 00:03:30.786 = Disturbing Twins 00:08:32.706 = Murder of The Horror Movie Maker *** 00:12:57.068 = Shades of White 00:15:35.395 = The Flying Saint With Telepathic Abilities 00:24:29.551 = Inside The Unsolved Disappearances of the Bennington Triangle *** 0:33:44.902 = Haunted Chingle Hall 00:39:37.131 = 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 *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Murder of the Horror Movie Maker” by Troy Taylor: http://bit.ly/2lIuQlh “The Flying Saint With Telepathic Abilities” by Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages: http://bit.ly/2m9CWnl “Shades of White” by Herman for YourGhostStories.com: http://bit.ly/2lMKFHu “Inside The Unsolved Disappearances Of The Bennington Triangle” by Ted Kammerer for All That’s Interesting: http://bit.ly/2k6nlnK “Haunted Chingle Hall” posted at Ghost-Story.co.uk: http://bit.ly/2m3XFsw “Disturbing Twins” by Jim Harper for Paranorms.com: http://bit.ly/2m8z1al (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.)

The hunter never raised his rifle, never raised his voice, and somehow still got called the villain. 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 for Weird Darkness: https://pod.link/1078714736. For Church of the Undead episodes specifically, you can find a list of apps here: https://pod.link/1651062114. *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: April 26, 2026 SOURCES & TRANSCRIPT: https://weirddarkness.com/cotu-hownottoarguewithacryptid

A scholar returns from the Indian jungle carrying a bronze idol, a borrowed god, and a body count that will follow him across an ocean. | #RetroRadio EP0641 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 CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “The Way To a Duty Death” (September 13, 1977) ***WD 00:45:52.224 = Mr. Keen, “Young Husband Who Thought His Wife Failed Him” (April 17,1941) 01:00:40.882 = Murder at Midnight, “Death’s Worshipper” (March 10, 1947) 01:27:00.036 = The Black Museum, “The Raincoat” (1952) ***WD 01:55:52.412 = Mysterious Traveler, “Hide Out” (December 11, 1951) ***WD 02:26:11.998 = Mystery House, “Murder In Paradise” (November 18, 1945) ***WD 02:52:38.153 = Night Beat, “Search For Fred” (June 08, 1951) 03:20:14.930 = CBC Nightfall, “Private Collection” (March 18, 1983) 03:49:10.159 = Obsession, “A Question of Personality” (December 11, 1950) 04:12:05.964 = Origin of Superstition, “Sing Before Breakfast” (1935) ***WD 04:26:26.474 = Pat Novak For Hire, “Johnny Brown Gambling Ring” (August 03, 1947) ***WD 04:55:45.899 = 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/WDRR0641