Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. It seems that when talking about haunted places, there are certain locales that by their very nature seem destined for the paranormal.  Certainly one such place lies in the country of England and is a former witch's prison with a sinister story that has turned it into one of the most notoriously haunted places in the world. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome, Weirdos. 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... Is it possible that the monster your child sees under the bed or in the closet isn't imaginary after all? We look at some true stories of people coming face to face with monsters in their own home. People have said they feel drained after seeing black-eyed kids or exhausted when speaking with whom they later discovered was a self-proclaimed vampire. Is it possible that otherworldly ghostly entities, interdimensional creatures, and even occultist human beings are in some way literally feeding on us? Even for those immersed in ufology, for many a certain controversial subject is so troubling and disturbing they choose to outright ignore it and seldom speak of it. It's the question, are UFOs stealing humans' souls? But first, stories of prisons housing the spirits of the dead is already dreary, but in England there is a prison called The Cage and the haunting spirits there are real life witches. If you're new here, welcome to the show. While you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise to visit sponsors you hear about during the show, sign up for my newsletter, enter contests, connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.  The time was the sixteenth century in Essex, England and for the people of the era it was a frightening time when witches roamed the night casting their dark spells and carrying out their arcane rituals.  Throughout the region, efforts were made to track down and capture witches to eliminate this evil and the small village of St. Osseth was no different, with a total of fourteen witches rounded up here on accusations for everything from placing curses on people to bringing blight and sickness to unleashing their familiars to wreak havoc. By far the most well-known of the witches of St. Osseth as well as the first to be arrested was a woman by the name of Ursula Kemp. She had been fairly popular among her neighbors in the past and was known for mixing all sorts of herbal concoctions and salves to heat various ailments. At the time she was known as a healer and she was ironically often called upon for her purported ability to actually reverse spells and curses cast by witches for a price. However, with a lonely woman mixing her potions and performing such magic as well as keeping herself surrounded by several cats, it was only a matter of time in this era of rampant superstition and fear of magic before she was accused of being a witch herself, with numerous people coming forward to claim that she had been causing the very sicknesses she had claimed to heal. She was also accused of casting curses herself, including one that causes a baby to fall and break her neck and another that allegedly caused a woman to go lame. Kemp's trial would be held in 1582 and the number of people testifying against her was overwhelming. There were those who claimed that she had set her familiars upon them, others who said she had bewitched people who angered her by muttering curses and that she used black magic to cause deaths. Some charges were quite bizarre, such as that she had used her witchcraft to prevent beer from brewing. The most damning evidence of all was presented by Kemp's very own eight-year-old son, who told the court that she had four familiars, two cats, a black toad and a white lamb, which he had seen suckling blood from her, and that these familiars were two male spirits that killed people and two female spirits that brought sickness to people and destroyed cattle. During the trial, 13 others would be implicated in witchcraft as well, including a woman named Elizabeth Bennet and all of them would be found guilty. They were then moved to the witch's prison known as The Cage, where they awaited punishment, which was execution by hanging for the most part. Indeed, Kemp and six others would be hanged at the prison for their crimes and their bodies unceremoniously dumped in unmarked graves on unhallowed ground. In later years, the prison became a quarantine for plague victims, with many dying here before becoming a prison again. I know what you're probably thinking right about now, and oh yes, it is ever haunted. In fact, it is routinely referred to as one of the most haunted places in Britain. The Cage itself remained an operation all the way up to 1908, after which it was finally shut down and sold to a string of owners who have more often than not had very intense paranormal experiences there. The first buyer sold it a mere two weeks after buying it, and another buyer allegedly went mad and hung himself there. One of the most notorious cases of a haunting at The Cage was experienced by an owner who lived there for 11 years by the name of Vanessa Mitchell and who was left traumatized by a string of bizarre, often violent, ghostly encounters on the property. Vanessa claims that when she bought the property and moved in in 2004, she wasn't told anything about the sinister history of the place or the deaths that had occurred there, but she would soon find out. According to her, she was constantly plagued by poltergeist activity from the very beginning, which seemed to be never ending and would manifest at all hours of the day and night. She would say of this paranormal activity, the daylight hours in The Cage were no less active than the night hours. Ornaments would fly off the mantelpiece. The old chain from the original prison building would swing back and forward, as if to remind me of a horrific history of my home. And the hall stairs door would crash open in a forceful, almost violent way. Blood splatters appeared in the hall in broad daylight in front of witnesses apart from myself. The TV sound would go up and down with no one near the controls to adjust them, and you'd hear someone pacing back and forth in the upstairs hall. It didn't stop. It was all the time, and there was nothing I could do. Even more ominous than these unexplained phenomena were decidedly more violent and menacing incidents. She says that she would see dark shadowy figures lurking about and that she was often subjected to being pushed and slapped by unseen hands. The most frightening such occurrence is allegedly happened when she was pregnant and an unseen force roughly pushed her to the ground, of which she would say it was absolutely terrifying. I just remember feeling the force like someone had pushed me and falling on my side. When I was on the floor, I just lay there in shock. She also claims that she once walked in on a shadowy figure looming over her son as he slept, and even that there was even CCTV footage taken of a satanic goat wandering about. She finally decided to sell the house, and has said of her ordeal, I'm selling the house now because the house is getting worse. We're catching evidence all the time of the tortured spirits inside. I've had every medium, psychic and investigator in there to try and get rid of what's in there. I honestly believe the house is cursed. I've lived there for years, but for me seeing a tall, dark figure standing between me and my son's cot was the final straw for me. There's something evil in there, something demonic, whatever it is that's keeping the other spirits trapped inside. It's so haunted I don't know what more I can do and it's time for someone to own it who can do more with it than me. It is unclear just why she would live there for 11 years if she was so constantly under siege by such terrifying ghostly phenomena, but she no longer lives there and moved out in 2012, refusing to even go near the place alone. The story of Vanessa's experiences at the cage was a media sensation at the time of curiosity seekers, paranormal investigators and ghost hunters to the property. Many of these visitors have had paranormal experiences themselves, such as the paranormal investigator and author Mickey Rawlings, who bravely decided to try living in the cage for research and did not have to wait long before being harassed by some sort of malevolent ghostly force. He has said of the experience there, I've seen books flying off shells in the upstairs hallway, I've watched doors open on their own and I've even seen a shadow person with my own eyes. I'm not a religious man and yet I go to bed every night clutching a crucifix for my own safety. After a few days I got to learn the natural noises of the house, now the non-natural noises keep me awake at night. I had argued that the place is dangerous, I'm convinced it could end up killing someone one day. Other phenomena Rawlings witnessed included the sound of growling, the pattering of footsteps running around, and most bizarrely of all the disembodied tunes of what sounds like a tiny piano playing. Another paranormal investigator who had a rather harrowing experience at the cage was Brad Mack, who went ahead with the plan to spend a night at the location along with some colleagues on December 2, 2017. They would find waiting for them a smorgasbord of weird occurrences, of which Mack would say, We had five volunteers, one investigator who had experience in the cage and myself. Vanessa refused point blank to stay after dark. Through the course of the night I investigated in a few rooms myself, joined the volunteers as they tried to provoke the dark spirits into reacting and mainly watched from CCTV to see if we capture anything in the moment. My melmeter, an EMF measurement tool, fluctuated like crazy. We constantly heard footsteps both light and quick and some heavy but quicker. I heard faint whispers behind me whilst walking around upstairs. We captured numerous lights flickering on both levels of the house. I got bitten or pinched on the leg and even caught two little stick figures cowering from my touch in the motion camera. The motion camera footage shows a stick figure covering its face and recoiling as I try to touch it. All in all it was one of the most frantic and terrifying nights of my life and this was only the beginning of the evening. At one point during the night at approximately 3am the investigators were off upstairs exploring the master bedroom, said to be the most haunted area of the house as Mack and another colleague monitored them on live feed on CCTV from downstairs. At first all was dark and quiet but then in quick succession he says we saw innumerable inexplicable lights flicker across the room. Heard a loud growl coming from the corner and three loud bangs smash off the door behind the volunteers.  Mack would explain thus, both me and Dave gasped she was unrecognizable and what I saw shook me to the core. After a moment that seemed a lifetime I knew I had to film this. I whipped out my iPhone fully charged, thank God, her nose it has changed shape completely almost like a witch's with a sharp arch in the bridge of her nose. That nose is not a prop. Making it all even spookier is that Debbie then stumbled out of the room and went downstairs where she complained that something was burning on her back. The crew then purportedly lifted up her jumper to take a look and were astonished to see what looked like four long burn marks splayed out like fingers and another going straight up her back into her neck. Mack speculates that the ghost of one of the witches, perhaps even Kemp herself, had tried to possess Debbie and had briefly succeeded. You can see a video of the stick figures and photos of the transformation yourself. I have placed a link to those in the show notes. Needless to say, the team ended up not going through with their plan, with some of the frightened volunteers even fearing for their very lives if they stayed. Other visitors to the cage and even people passing by have also reported all manner of strangeness from this place and photographic evidence includes countless images of mysterious lights of orbs, shadow figures, and even a photo of what appears to be a witch on a stretcher taken by a local policeman. Interestingly enough, the cage isn t even the only supposedly haunted place in the village of St. Osath as there s a former insane asylum practically right across the street that is also said to be haunted, as well as a tavern right down the road also said to have ghosts that cause cars to careen off the road. Is this all the doing of ghosts and spirits or is there perhaps something else going on? Could it be that perhaps the reason this place is so infused with such strangeness is because of all of the suffering, death, and negative energy that permeate its dark history like a disease? Could this residual energy be merely a symptom of this sickness emanating out to cause these phenomena? Of course, we are nowhere near knowing the answer to this, but it does seem that such macabre locals seem to hold in them a striking intensity of paranormal phenomena and the cage must certainly rank high up there among them. Up next on Weird Darkness, is it possible that the monster your child sees under the bed or in the closet isn t imaginary after all? We look at some true stories of people coming face to face with monsters in their own home. Hey, Weirdos! Well, here we are, October 18th, we re little past halfway in the month and we are just a little past the halfway point in our Overcoming the Darkness campaign when it comes to our goal. We re trying to raise $5,000, we re at $2,700 right now, thanks to the 53 people who ve already made a donation. Thank you so much to everybody. I do have a few people that I ll want to thank here in just a moment, but before I do that, I wanted to let you know why I ve been kind of absent the last couple of weeks. You ve been getting a lot of archive episodes and ironically, it s because of my depression. I ran out of some of my depression meds for about a month and it really wreaked havoc on my brain and I just could not get myself motivated to do anything. But I m finally back on the meds and now after a few days, they re finally starting to kick back in and I m starting to feel a little bit better. But we also had that family emergency that I had told you about a couple of months back and that is still going on unfortunately. I can t get into details and so that s just been taking up a lot of time and more than anything, a lot of emotional and mental energy from me. But in a way, it s kind of appropriate for it happening in October during our Overcoming the Darkness campaign because it s times like this that I m currently going through that these organizations help people get through. The Suiciding Crisis Lifeline, the Crisis Text Line, SAVE.org and the International Foundation for Research and Education of Depression, they all help people who struggle with depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide and self-harm and so I m actually feeling it a little bit more this year than previous years when I ve been doing this Overcoming the Darkness campaign. Let me thank some people though real quick before I forget, a huge thanks to Howard who gave $25, Kathleen gave $10, Kelly gave $10, Laura not only gave $20, she also left a quick message saying I 100% believe in this cause. Thank you for running this fundraiser, I m glad I can finally donate this year. Wannalee gave $20, Deja gave $20. Actually, she gave twice. She gave $20 twice. I hope that wasn t an accident, Deja. If it was, let me know and I ll refund you that $20. Kristin gave $25. Michelle gave $100 a few days ago. I m just now seeing this. Thank you, Michelle. I appreciate that. She also left a message saying mental health is one of the most important aspects to maintaining our overall well-being. Thank you for your continued effort to increase awareness of mental health struggles and the importance of seeking treatment. Providing information for available resources to assist in some of the darkest times a person can experience is a valuable service in and of itself.  Thank you, Michelle. You said that better than I did just a few seconds ago, so thank you for that. Daniel gave $11. Nicole gave $15. $36 coming in from Jody. Tracy Ann gave $20. Tracy, I know who you are, my VO, sis. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Derek gave $20 and an anonymous gift just a few hours ago of $70. Thank you to all of you for getting involved with our Overcoming the Darkness campaign. It ends October 31st, so you have a little bit of time to give, but please, it is going to end when October is over. So, if you ve been thinking about donating, please do so. Just go to weirddarkness.com slash hope and click on the donate button and that s also where you can go to find all of these resources that we ll be supporting along with many other resources to help you through a variety of different issues that you might deal with or somebody you know might be dealing with. It s weirddarkness.com slash hope. A recurring fear throughout childhood is that of the monster in the closet and the thing under the bed. What kid hasn t ever had a boogie man lurking there in the confines of their bedroom closet, peering out at them to scare and torment? While this may seem to lie firmly in the realm of overactive imaginations and dark child fantasies, what if there is something more to it? What if the closet monsters are real? Some scattered accounts seem to suggest that there may just be more to this than just childhood fears and imagination and show that maybe something is in there after all. Stories of strange things in the closet come from all over and take many forms. One account from 1952 seems to involve some sort of imp or gnome which would come out of the closet at night to terrorize a young boy named Dan Bortko of Wyandotte County, Kansas in the United States. The family had moved to a two-story home on a rural farm property in Liberty, Missouri, complete with a barn, and from a very young age Bortko claims he frequently saw a small humanoid about three feet tall and fully decked out in German leaderhosen and with a smoking pipe lurking about their house, often appearing in his room at night and frequently stepping out of the closet. The creature would often stand there, looking at him before smiling or winking and disappearing through the closet. Bortko also said that he'd often look outside his window at night to see little people congregating out around the barn. He once drew a picture of the one he had seen up close and it was so frightening to his little brother that he would cry whenever he saw it.  I'll call him a troll because that's what he reminded me of. It was an old man with a long beard, large nose about three feet tall standing at the foot of my bed and I was astounded. It's unclear whether this thing was merely hiding in the closet or using it as some sort of doorway into this world or even whether this was all just a figment of a young boy's overactive imagination but it is quite creepy nevertheless. If it was real then what was it? Could it have been some interdimensional anomaly, some being from another reality? It's hard to say but there are other reports of strange entities that seem to defy categorization that have been reported lurking in closets as well. One account comes from True Ghost Tales and concerns a creature that really defies easy classification. The witness claims that when she was just a girl she'd been watching TV in the living room with her mother when they heard her father start frantically screaming for help from elsewhere in the house. They tracked the source of the screaming to the witness's own bedroom and found that the door was locked tight which was odd considering it was just a plain doorknob with no lock to begin with. They stood there struggling with the mysteriously jammed doorknob while the father shrieked and shouted from within.  However, when they finally forced the door open they were defined it was something altogether more bizarre. The witness says of what they saw in that room thus. My mom struggled for a few minutes trying to open the door. Finally she managed to open the door and we saw my father up in the air like he was hanging from something and then a few seconds later fell feet down. He was so scared that he sounded sober. He told us to get away from there and he ran as far away from my room. When we saw my dad he seemed almost pale looking. He had scratches on his chest as if he got into a fight or something. My mom asked him what happened to you are you okay? The only thing that came out of my father's mouth was the devil. The devil was trying to take me with him. At first I thought my dad was only saying that to scare me but he was serious about it. He said the devil wanted him and was trying to bite his neck. I thought to myself it sounds more like a vampire than the devil to me. Why would the devil want to bite his neck anyway? The scared family retreated to the living room where they eventually fell asleep and the next day the father explained that when he had been in the girl's room he had seen the closet door open by itself and heard a man's voice issue forth from the darkness beyond before the incident after which something dark had emerged and he blacked out. He took them to the room so that they could take a look at the closet and this is where things get even stranger still. The witness says, We all went to my room then my dad opened my closet door and he saw this figure of a man standing inside my closet as if it was asleep. Its arms were on his chest and he was all black with long fingernails and he had wings. The weird thing about all this is that a few days later I saw it in my room. I was watching TV in the living room. We had the whole light on so that way it could reflect light into my room but that night the light only reflected half way. I saw a dark shadow standing in the middle of my room.  I was so scared that I couldn't move at all. I was screaming for my parents but they couldn't hear me. How could this be when they were 10 feet away from me? Anyway, when I turned my head back to see him he was already next to me. All he did to me was he had lifted me up and he kissed my forehead and my neck. Then he left, just like that. We never say it again but sometimes when I am in the dark I feel like someone is there with me. What could this thing have possibly been? Was it a vampire, a demon, a ghost, something else? It is interesting that the whole family seems to have witnessed it so it seems beyond just a hallucination or overactive imagination. On the site Phantoms and Monsters there is another account from 2009 of some sort of menacing beast in the closet. The witness claims that he woke up one night suddenly at around 3 a.m. and found that he was covered in sweat and overcome with an explicable cold fear that was overwhelming in its intensity although his brother was still sleeping soundly. There also seemed to be a heavy sense of someone there looming near the bedroom's rather large walk-in closet and the witness would say of what happened next. I looked around in my room hoping to see my mom watching over us from the doorway of the closet. I don't know why I thought it would be her but I did. Since our night light was on I could see things pretty clearly. I looked to my left to see a tall figure in our closet. It had an oval-like head with small eyes and appendages hanging from its face almost like a scruffy beard but it made more sense that it would be some type of structure. It looked over the both of us up and down. At first I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me since I could be very imaginative but what snapped me out of this is when it pushed some of the clothes hangers out of the way and the fact that the window was open. Its skin looked rough and pasty almost like it was in a sauna for two years. It caught a whiff of me being awake and almost immediately I lost consciousness and control over my body. All accounts that were had from that night had not been fully remembered the following morning, beside the fact that my sheets were in my closet instead of on my bed. Again, we are left here with a case that seems to be so bonkers that it is beyond an easy explanation. Just what was this thing and why would it be in that closet? Outdoing even these outlandish encounters is another one reported on phantoms and monsters this time by a witness who was just about the strangest thing you could imagine come out of his closet when he was a boy in around the year 1980. The witness who claims he is now a paranormal researcher says that when he was very young he had been trying to get to sleep in the room that he shared with his brother and again this was a room with a big walk-in closet. As he was lying there the closet door began to open by itself and the witness claims one night as I was trying to get to sleep my brother was already asleep the door opened and I know this sounds crazy but out came Big Bird of the children's show Sesame Street. I remember being frightened at first but others came out too and they were very friendly and led me into the closet with them. All I remember at this point is that Big Bird gave me a flavored chapstick most likely to ease my fear because I loved chapstick and they brought me back to my bed. I went to sleep very happy over the whole experience and was not afraid anymore. I put the chapstick under my pillow after taking a tiny nibble leaving my teeth marks just to see if it was still there in the morning. The next morning I checked and lo and behold the chapstick was there just like I remembered and at that moment I knew for a fact it was not a dream. If it were not for that chapstick the experience probably would not have stayed with me all these years. I tried to tell my brother but he laughed it off as anyone would it sounds totally crazy. Now after reading the other accounts of similar experiences I'm wondering if it was an abduction disguised as a friendly interaction. Put in the world Big Bird? The witness gives an interesting observation in that he believes it might have been an alien abduction with the entities taking a form that would seem non-threatening to a child. This is a feature of some abduction cases with the beings allegedly able to either shape shift or manipulate perceptions in order to take the form of whatever will best serve their purposes in the eyes of the abductee. Is that what was going on here? How else could we explain an actual character from a children's show emerging from a darkened closet? It could have been just the imagination of a child but the fact that the witness remembers it so vividly all of these years later and has the chapstick show for it is notable. Other reports seem to follow a pattern more akin to a traditional haunting, although focused on closets. From your ghost stories comes a report of just such an experience from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The witness claims that as soon as she moved out of her grandmother's house where she had lived for some time she began having extremely vivid dreams of a spirit or demon in the closet to the room in which she had stayed. She says that she had never had these menacing dreams while she had lived there and that they'd only started after she left as well as growing steadily in intensity. She claims the house had always been haunted and says of what happened next. We just recently moved back in October. Now, I've always known this house was haunted. Everyone has. I've had so many different experiences. Everything seemed fine and normal. The house is old. It creaks all night long. You hear someone calling your name. For me, it's Bell. Nothing unusual. I walked past the room I used to sleep in, now my uncle's room the other day, and I instantly felt watched. Shills ran down my spine. I felt in so much danger. I quickly scurried down the stairs and forgot about it not too long after. I would walk by all the time. It's a route to my room. Every time I walk by, the door creaks open. Even if it's shut the whole way, it takes force to open that door. I was carrying my cat from my room to the living room one morning last week. As we walked past my uncle's room, a deep, low, frightening growl came from my cat, and then she hissed the meanest hiss as she kept her eyes locked on the room. The door was wide open. Nobody was inside. Recently, my mom has been feeling it too. The door opens slowly when she walks by and she feels cold eyes watching her. Another report from the same site is similar in nature and just spooky. This report comes from the state of Virginia from a witness who believes an actual demon inhabited the closet of their master bedroom. The witness claims that odd activity near the closet, including loud bangs and murmuring voices at night, was so intense that he actually put a crucifix up by the closet to try and keep whatever it was at bay and contained. There was even an incident where he says the entity pushed over his young daughter and it would later lash out at his wife. The witness says of his experiences with the terrifying demonic force in the closet, it did not take long to figure out that the presence was in a large closet area which adjoined the bathroom and faced directly towards the bed in the master bedroom. The closet area never got natural sunlight and was extremely dark at night. I could feel that something was watching. The crucifix seemed to keep it out of the room but it still stared from the closet. So I did the usual get out this is my house, I command you to leave. I felt that this thing was not going anywhere, that it was not scared at all, it was not moving. Not long after that we found a picture of our children on the floor and did it been smashed in the middle of the frame like something was thrown at it. One night while watching TV my wife left for work and I saw a rather large shadow fly out of the bedroom and out towards the car as she was leaving almost as if it was chasing her. Not long after that she suffered a stroke and a major car accident both of which left no lasting injuries. Was this a demon or just a very powerful spirit? It seems like an interesting detail that the crucifix seems to have had some influence on it but other than that it is hard to know what to make of this account. In another account from Queenie's Paranormal Playhouse is a report from 2005 from a frightened single mother who had just moved into a duplex in the United States with her young son and niece. Almost immediately on the very first night they began experiencing paranormal phenomena such as the bedroom door opening on its own and the children complaining that something had touched their legs as they slept. The witness explains, the second night of our stay my son and I were lying down shooting the breeze in my room. The bedroom door that was cracked halfway open had closed then reopened. This happened a couple times until we finally worked up the nerve to get up and turn on the light. The next night my son blacked out after having what seemed to be a nervous breakdown about the ghost living in his room and closet.  After 20 minutes he went back to his normal self and cannot remember the incident.  I screamed but my son never woke up. Relatives have said that this place gives them bad vibes and that sometimes they can hear people talking. Now it is day 28 and last night my young nephew and I were sleeping when suddenly he woke up screaming. He jumped off the bed and the bedroom closet swung open in front of him. But this morning he can only remember standing in front of an open closet, hearing the high pitched scream of a female. I talked to the people who lived in the duplex before me and they also lived with this ghost. Even after saying prayers and using holy water the ghost will not leave. I am a single mother and it took my savings to move into this place. Unfortunately it seems we are stuck here for a long time but this ghost is going to drive us insane. The United States is not the only place where such encounters have allegedly occurred and a scary report on phantoms and monsters comes to us from Newfoundland where the witness claims he lived in the late 1960s at an apartment along a place called Black Marsh Road. He says that he was 9 or 10 years old at the time and that he had been living there with his mother, grandparents and three sisters at the time and that the road had been rather well known in the area as a place pervaded by a ghostly phenomenon. He says that although he never actually saw anything ghostly, he sure did hear it and it seemed to originate from a coat closet in the living room. He says, sometimes due to limited space I slept on the sofa in the living room. In the living room was a small stove and coat closet. I remember the chimney ran next to the closet. I remember so vividly being woken up between 3 and 4am every morning to the sounds of a group of people conversing in the closet. To the best of my knowledge there were six or seven people. I could not pick out what they were saying though at the moment I could hear them very clearly. This went on until we moved. I told my mother about this at the same time it was happening but of course it was dismissed as a child's imagination until many years later. He says that after he had moved away and grown up he heard that his grandmother had also had weird experiences with the voices from the closet and that she had finally managed to banish them by reciting the Lord's prayer aloud. This is an intriguing detail as like the crucifix and the other account it seems to suggest that religious belief has some effect whether that is from some higher power or because it helps to focus a person's will against these forces that is if these forces even exist at all and this is not all tall tales. And this is a question you are left with. Are these just tall tales or something more? What are we to make of real reports of our childhood nightmares of boogie men in the closet? Are these just delusions or the effects of sleep paralysis? Are they aliens, ghosts, demons or something else? It is hard to say but it perhaps gives you something to think about next time you are in a darkened room alone and the closet is open just to crack. When Weird Darkness returns, is it possible that the supernatural is feeding on us? Are UFOs stealing our souls? We will look at both of these questions up next. You can hear the snarls right behind you, the faster you run, the closer the creatures seem to get. How can the undead run this fast, you think to yourself. Now you are drenched in sweat but your mouth is dry, you need to find somewhere to stop and think about how to survive the next few minutes of your life. Then you see it and run towards the water station. The zombie fun run will have to wait until you quench your thirst, but bottled water is expensive and you don't even want to know what might be in tap water or much less fresh water. Fortunately, the horde of horror fanatics at this water station planned in advance and brought Patriot pure outdoor filtration water cooler system. It gives you clean cold water wherever you go. Its five gallon tank keeps water cold, keeps ice for days on end, reduces the levels of over 200 contaminants with a two-step filtration technology which you can use with tap water, well water, river water or any water source you find. It's UV resistant so it works just as well at any time of day and you're avoiding the cost of bottled water while also avoiding the unnecessary use of plastic, all in one system. It might be the only non-terrifying thing at your halloween or fall themed activity. Get the Patriot pure outdoor filtration water cooler system at 4patriots.com. That's the number 4 Patriots.com and use the promo code WEIRD to get 10% off everything you order. That's 4patriots.com, promo code WEIRD. Uh oh, zombies are back. In the show notes, I've placed a link to the book Paranormal Parasites by Nick Redfern. The book focuses on a disturbing claim that certain supernatural entities use us as a form of food. Dan of Barstow, California had a very disturbing encounter with two shadow people in early 2011. The shadow people being silhouetted figures that terrify and taunt people in the dead of night. A no-nonsense tough biker, Dan is hardly the kind of person who is easily intimidated or scarce. But the shadow things that intruded on his sleep as he slept in a tent on the slopes of Mount Rainier, Washington state in the summer of 2011 had Dan in a state of near hysteria. An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Dan spent four days hiking around the huge 14,000 foot plus high mountain. He would live to regret doing that. It was around 3am when Dan woke with a start and with an unsettling and intense feeling of being watched very closely. He lay still, holding his breath and clenching his fists. Something was definitely a foot of that much he was sure. That's an understatement. In seconds, Dan was rushed by two spindly shadowy monsters that were humanoid in appearance. Dan suddenly found himself unable to move as the two figures hovered over him and he felt incredibly weak, short of breath and dizzy. A cold sweat enveloped him. All the time, the shadow people had their index fingers on his stomach. Dan came to believe that the shadow people were quite literally draining him of his energy. Imagine waking up in the early hours of the morning and being confronted by one of the most terrifying looking creatures that you could possibly ever imagine.  It stares at you in malevolent style as it leans in close.  A sudden weakness and helplessness overwhelms you as you seek to fight off the terrible thing that has suddenly invaded your space.  Whether you realize it or not, what you have just encountered is an ancient supernatural entity known as a hungry ghost. In some cases, a hungry ghost will resort to one of the most sinister ways of feeding. It will target a person with a particular vulnerable character. Weakness and security or a lack of self-esteem are all angles that the hungry ghosts will seek out and exploit. They will then possess the victim. The reasoning behind this is, for the hungry ghost, quite understandable. If the starving spirit is itself unable to eat, it will invade and take control of both the mind and the body of the person in its sights. In that sense, we are talking about something very similar to full-blown demonic possession, in which the mind of the victim is paranormal elbowed out of the picture and becomes the tool of the supernatural monster. The monster will quickly feed, greedily so, on just about anything and everything it can get its claws into, when in the body of its human host. Then, when the creature exits the soul and mind of the person it briefly inhabited, it takes with it the energy derived from the food that was ingested by the previously possessed host. The hungry ghost is, then, one of the most manipulative of all the many and varied paranormal parasites that haunt our world. The term vampire was not used in the English language until the 1700s, when it appeared in the pages of Travels of Three English Gentlemen in 1746. Nevertheless, tales of marauding, deadly blood-drainers and human form can be traced back to the dawning of history and civilization.  The people of ancient India believed in the dreaded batalla. Although they were spirit-based in nature, they also had the ability to drain the living of blood. They were also known for bleeding dry, fresh corpses. They would lurk in the shadows of old cemeteries and graveyards, patiently waiting for darkness to blanket the landscape, at which point they would dig deep and fast into the ground, seeking out that most precious commodity of all, blood. In his best-selling 1987 book Communion, Study of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon, Whitley Stryber made it very clear that his own encounters with the visitors, as he termed the creatures he encountered, revealed a startling connection between alien abductions and the human soul, even a paradigm-shifting connection. In his book, Stryber talked about how abductees experienced their souls being dragged from their bodies during abductions. Stryber himself was told by his abductors that they recycled human souls. That sounds like a more sinister telling of reincarnation. But was Stryber being told the entire truth by his captors, or was this an attempt on their part to push things down a different, more appealing path? Certainly, Stryber admitted something notable that suggests he recognized that not everything was good and positive. Stryber said that the more and more he dug into the matter of his encounters, and as he tried to get a handle on what was afoot, he was unable to banish from his mind the theories of Charles Fort. For those who may not know, he was an acclaimed writer on all manner of paranormal phenomena. His books include low and wild talents. Fort had darkly suggested that in Stryber's own words, in his 1988 book, Transformation, we the human race are animals here for the slaughter, and incapable of seeing the greater and more tangible meanings that surround us. We'll look more into the soul-stealing aspect of UFOs in just a moment. As for more on Charles Fort's opinions, they can be read in his classic title of 1919, The Book of the Damned. Fort wrote, I think we're property. I should say we belong to something, that once upon a time this earth was no man's land, that other worlds explored and colonized here, and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it's owned by something, that something owns this earth, all others warned off. Joseph McKay, Bay Franciscan monk who passed away in 1955, knew a great deal about all of this. He spent years pouring over ancient texts and doing his utmost to understand the nature of the creatures that so terrified those who lived in Mesopotamia, and particularly so the Sumerians. McKay had a particular interest and a pair of highly dangerous demons called Lilu and Lilitu who dwelled in the region. He was clearly aware of how illness was a side effect of the supernatural encounter. He said in The Story of Religious Controversy, did a maid show the symptoms of anemia? Obviously Lilu and Lilitu had been busy at night with her body. McKay went on to list literally dozens of cases he had on file of people who had nighttime encounters with supernatural entities, and who shortly thereafter began to exhibit signs of anemia, sometimes acute anemia, but in incredibly quick time. This all strongly suggests that certain paranormal things were depleting the people McKay referred to in significantly dangerous fashion. A perfect example of someone falling ill very quickly after a paranormal event is that of Albert Bender, the guy who pretty much kicked off the whole Men in Black mystery in the early 1950s. After getting too close to the truth behind the UFO phenomenon, Bender was visited by three strange and menacing MIB. They were not of the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones type though, rather they were far more like today's so-called shadow people. They were phantom-like things with shining eyes and bad attitudes that walked through the walls of Bender's attic-based abode in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Bender was terrified by the warnings of the MIB who told him to quit ufology or else. As it turned out, it took several threats and creepy encounters before Bender finally heeded the words of the terrible trio. When all of this was going down, Bender went down too, with head-splitting migraines, severe stomach pains, faintness and issues with his short-term memory, and he lost significant weight, suggesting that he too was being fed on. Was all of this due to the fear and stress that had been instilled in Bender? Or had he somehow been supernaturally attacked? Who knows, but things didn't end there. Bender, quite out of the blue, developed a fear that he had cancer. Fortunately, he didn't have cancer at all. After quitting ufology and getting married, the symptoms went away and Bender lived to the ripe old age of 94, passing away in 2016. As so often happens when you write a book, people contact the author to share their experiences. One of those people who contacted Nick Redfern was Jim Harper, who said that he had an encounter with a pair of what have become known as Black-eyed Children in March of 2008 in Florida. At the time, Jim and his wife were living in a rented duplex in a small town outside of Orlando. Jim's encounter was a typical BEC one. There was a knock on the door late at night and Jim, having peered through the spyhole on the front door, saw two kids in black hoodies, both staring at the ground. He tentatively opened the door and was confronted by a pair of pale-faced Black-eyed monsters who were now staring right at him. Jim slammed the door and never saw them again. Two days later though, he experienced a severe case of dizziness, followed by a couple of pretty bad nosebleeds. Then, three weeks later, after feeling repeatedly sick, nauseous and shaky, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Jim's blood sugar levels were extremely low. Having read up on the BEC phenomenon, Jim wonders if his diabetes was somehow provoked by BEC, so adversely affecting him at the time of his encounter. Then there is the account of Michelle, a resident of Nova Scotia, Canada. In January 2017, and just two days after having a graphic dream about Slenderman, Michelle was hospitalized with severe ulcerative colitis, which she had never had before, and that led her to drop five pounds in just a few days. She finally made a good recovery, but was shaken by the timing of the onset of the condition, which she believed and still believes was connected to the skinny monster of her nightmare. As all of this demonstrates, dangerous, paranormal parasites can be found just about here, there, and everywhere. So beware. Another form of food for the paranormal? Our souls. The one dining on them? E.T. At least that is the theory of some. Many UFO researchers are reluctant to address the aliens are stealing our souls theory. It is, after all, one of the most controversial aspects of the UFO subject. The fact is though that there are far more than a few such reports on record. The problem is, however, that for so many in ufology, the subject is so troubling and disturbing they choose to outright ignore it. One of the earliest and most intriguing cases on record came from a man named Paul Inglesby. His real name was actually Eric Inglesby, and his 1978 book UFOs and the Christian, which I have placed a link to in the show notes, was published under Eric Inglesby. But two years later he changed his name to Paul Inglesby and from then on answered to Paul, and as father Paul, in 1980 he converted to Greek Orthodox. Just one year before the Second World War broke out in 1939, Inglesby, who died in 2010, went down with a very serious case of malaria. So serious was it that for a while Inglesby perilously hovered in that mysterious domain between life and death? It was while in this limbo-like state that Inglesby had a frightening dream. Years later he recalled how it all went down. It was an undetermined time in the Earth's future and the UFO-like craft were soaring across the fire and smoke filled skies of our ruined, radioactive planet and launching nuclear missiles at our major cities, killing billions and causing planet-wide destruction.  For Inglesby it was quite literally a wake-up call. The malaria cleared up, Inglesby came out of his unconscious state and he spent the rest of his life pursuing a career in the church and warning people to avoid the UFO issue, fearing that it would lead people to become ensnared by malevolent demonic monsters, all of which Inglesby described in his aforementioned 1978 book, UFOs and the Christian. Inglesby's story dates back to the 1930s and it was in the 1950s onward that he began talking about his nightmarish dream after he realized that what he had seen back in 1938 were images of nuclear explosions and mushroom clouds of the type that were all too familiar by the 1950s. It is important to note though that the issue of a connection between UFOs, aliens and the human soul didn't really surface to any kind of meaningful degree until the latter part of the 1980s, which takes us to the issue of Whitley Stryber's bestseller 1987 Communion, which I will link to in the show notes. When word of Stryber's planned book first got out, ufologists assumed that the book in terms of its contents and its theories would be fairly akin to John Fuller's The Interrupted Journey of 1966 and to Bud Hopkins' 1981 book Missing Time. Both books adhered to the now familiar theory that aliens are stealing our DNA to save their waning species. Stryber's revelations were in many respects far removed from the writings of Hopkins and Fuller, which is why the book created such a firestorm in those locales where ufologists hang out. In Communion, Stryber made it very clear that his own encounters with the visitors and those of others he had spoken to revealed a startling connection between alien abductions and the human soul, even a paradigm shifting connection. In his book, Stryber talked about how abductees experienced their souls dragged from their bodies during abductions. Stryber said that the more and more he digs into the matter of his encounters and as he tried to get a handle on what was afoot, he was unable to banish from his mind the theories of Charles Fort. Fort had darkly suggested that in Stryber's own words in his 1988 book Transformation, part of the Communion series which I'll link to in the show notes, we the human race are animals here for the slaughter and incapable of seeing the greater and more terrible meanings that surround us. As for more on Charles Fort's opinions, you can read his classic title of 1919, The Book of the Damned. It's only 99 cents on Amazon, I've got a link to it in the show notes. I do want to repeat something I said earlier, because it truly is a disturbing thing to think of. In the book, Fort wrote, I think we are property. I should say we belong to something that once upon a time this earth was no man's land, that other worlds explored and colonized here and fought among themselves for possession, but that now it's owned by something, that something owns this earth, all others warned off. 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. You can email me anytime with your questions or comments at darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Darren is D-A-R-R-E-N. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find information on any of the sponsors you heard about during the show. Find all of my social media, listen to audio books I've narrated, sign up for the email newsletter, find other podcasts that I host, including Church of the Undead, visit the store for Weird Darkness merchandise and more. WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. Also on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. All stories on Weird Darkness are reported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find links to the stories or the authors in the show notes. The prison haunted by witches and, when the monster in the closet is real, were written by Brent Sponsor for Mysterious Universe. And when the supernatural feeds on us and soul-stealing extraterrestrials were written by Nick Redfern. 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. Psalm 147, Verse 3. He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. And a final thought. When someone helps you and they are struggling to, that's not help, that's love. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. They say you are what you eat. And if that's true, I'm soon going to be looking like pumpkin head from that horror movie because I just received my limited release box of pumpkin cookie chunk from Built Bar. This is a seasonal flavor, so I have to stock up on it when it comes out. Built bars are not candy bars, they're protein bars. The pumpkin cookie chunk bar has 19 grams of protein, plus it's low sugar, low carbs and low calories, but you'd never know it's a protein bar if you just taste it. Built bars have become my go-to guilt-free solution for dessert, late afternoon, or even late-night snacks, and often I just grab a built bar as a full meal because they're pretty filling. You know how everything pumpkin is going to disappear soon though, so grab your pumpkin cookie chunk built bar while you can before they sell out. Visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Built and look in the limited release section for Pumpkin Cookie Chunk. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built and use the promo code WeirdDarkness all one word to get 10% off your entire purchase. Hey Weirdos, be sure to click the like button and subscribe to this channel and click the notification bell so you don't miss future videos. I post videos 7 days a week, and while you're at it, spread the darkness by sharing this video with someone you know who loves all things strange and macabre. If you want to listen to the podcast, you can find it at WeirdDarkness.com slash Listen.


How are you with your own long journey? Do you like to play any games when you're on a commute? Anything like Candy Crush on your phone? I haven't commuted for a long time. Strangely enough, this train journey that's in their film, it actually goes past the house I live in, upstate New York. So I've been on it maybe 80 times over the past 23, 24 years. So I know the train very well, but I haven't been a commuter. I've taken it a number of times, you know? So how strange?  I know the train very well. I do, you know what? I don't play it because my wife plays it constantly. So every time I'm like, what? Forget it, I don't want to see it. I am more of a, words with friends, but that certainly needs the internet. So what do I play by myself on the phone? I don't really play a ton of games.  Obviously in LA, you're driving, which is a bit of a pain. But anytime that I'm on an airplane or whatever, I'm very afraid of airplanes. That's why I did not stop.


Hi everyone, Joe for jazby's case breaks.com coming at you with 2020 tops tier one baseball 12 box Pick your team number four from jazby's case breaks.com a very big. Thank you to all of these folks for getting into the action on Tuesday, it's Thursday using my mind here There you go Thursday It's not even Thursday It's been a long week folks. You got one more night tomorrow here Friday Thanks, Will Brian. It's Friday the 5th 12 box pick your team four Big thanks to all of these folks for getting into the action We really appreciate it Leo with the Cardinals last spot mojo Where's my knife? I know sorry riff. I scared you thought you had to go to work tomorrow I don't know the day seemed to blur together because there's there's no sports to To tell me what day of the week it is You know because sports usually tells me it'll be like oh this Sunday Lakers clippers on ESPN on ABC and I'll be like, yeah, okay Sunday, you know if I go late Lakers clippers on ABC that must be Sunday And so then that makes sense. You know what I mean? All right. Here's the do I have enough toplers for this I do All right. Good luck folks 12 box pick your team for 2020 tops tier one baseball brand new release Just dropped today and Pretty good stuff. All right, we got grandson. Yes, Mike your stremsky 241 out of 395 Actually plays some decent ball Mike you're stremsky on my rival Giants. That will be for Aaron Aaron P with that And your autographs are gonna be Don Manningly Donnie baseball 58 out of 65 That'll be for the Yankees that's gonna go to John Stallone and back here is Mitch Keller 127 out of 299 Mitch Keller pirates that's gonna be for Joe Crowell There you go, Joe Next box Coming up after this is another case. This is pick your team for we're gonna do pick your team five Directly after this nice. Thanks, Mac. I think we can add that to the schedule Two out of 25 miles meklis. We'll be able to do that maybe in a couple hours or so and that's for Leo last spot mojo Good mustache on miles All right next is Rod Peru 29 out of 80 Twins that'll be for Aaron and the twins Prime performers autograph Patrick Corbin 61 out of 299 JC with the Nets JC had a had a nice hit earlier today. Did everyone see the More break. All right next box Anders Munoz to 395 That'll be for Dino and the Padres your autographs You've got Ozzy Smith the wizard 004 out of 100 Man I the precision of Ozzy Smith's autograph, it's basically It's pretty much like this every time The precision of that autograph is great Leo with the Cardinals last spot mojo, and we've got Tim Anderson nice 157 out 299 an old-school guy More recent school guy Joe Crowell and the White Sox Next box looks like there is a extra hit Every once in a while you'll get a few boxes with an extra relic inside the one or two per case We got John means business to 395 Orioles Leo Jacob Leonard Jacob with the O's All right, Ronald Acuna Jr. 395 Ronald Acuna Jr Braves BJ Jordan Wilson Contreras 120 out of 120 Tier one talent autograph for The cubbies that'll be for John Stallone Yeah, I liked him Anderson a lot to will a Christian Carter Keeboom 299 JC for the Nats. All right next one So Leo no no Ripken yet Can't imagine he would be too common in in these cases, but we're only halfway through break for So we still have a lot of time to go There's Chris Paddock to 395 I've got Jersey and auto Brendan Rogers 16 out of 60 That is for Eric Leal and the rocks and we've got Golding auto Austin Meadows 7 out of 25 that that raise pirates trade Not looking not looking very good Those patch orders are about one per case will say Yeah, real bad for the pirates and you hear Chris Archer Getting surgery. I forget for what I think something kind of serious But but getting surgery or treatment or something like that There's Ozzie Albee so he's gonna be out for a good chunk of next season If not all of this season and next season, I think So that that trade is not not working out And then turns out that Tyler Glasnow is a decent pitcher turns out Austin Meadows Started to rake a little bit last year There's Barry Larkin nice. He's got a nice autograph 31 out of 65 reds Robert Grease with the Reds And then we got Mike Yostramski again seven out of ten this time is autograph silver ink autograph for my rivals Aaron without Aaron P Oppo Joe Mojo. All right. You got six boxes to go Having Archer not our Chris Archer Yeah, will Christian saying Chris Archer not playing might actually help the pirates Especially against some divisional rivals like the red Chris Archer was like I feel like he was on the cusp of like Really breaking out You know, he looked good for a little bit with the raise Was on the cusp of breaking out was on such a team-friendly contract to I don't know just didn't work. I like Chris Archer a lot, but it's gonna work out There's neon Dion Sanders 75 out of 199 Think Dion Sanders Think anyone like Dion Sanders happens again football and baseball Jason Hayward to 395 Jay Hay going to John Stallone and the Cubs We got more reds Nick Senzel 138 to 299 Greg McKinnon's here Tebow. I mean, yeah, I mean, but at the same time though At the same time Reds Robert Grease and Robel Garcia to 299 for the Cubs rookie auto for the Cubs going to John Stallone I feel like there's so much money in the league Greg and everybody else where I feel like there's so much money being paid to baseball and football players That I don't think I don't think they'll let a player do both they'll put in their contract don't do it But it would or it would have to be like a team It would have to be kind of the Dion Sanders situation, although he did it with other teams, too but maybe a team would consider it if You know, maybe if the teams in the same city and they have a good relationship with each other You know like the Braves and the and the Falcons, I guess somewhat. I think there's a little bit of controversy there That one 30 for 30 Dion Sanders that to sports in 24 hours something like that was pretty good one But maybe after that, they'll never do it again Brewers David Nadler with Christian Yelch the Christian Yelch relic And we've got an ender NTR T To 395 That's true. Yeah, if If the lasting impact of the of COVID-19 continues to shorten seasons Maybe there'll be players that explore both Tim Reigns 8 out of 10 on that Tim Reigns show pro and there's Kevin Biggio Craig's kid 192 out of 299 for the Blue Jays Dino with the blue birds Four boxes to go ladies and gentlemen. We had a one-of-one Brandon Woodruff three color triple relic For the brew crew David Nadler with the Brewers Is this our first train whistle out of tier one? It's kind of a still a small sample size. We've only done four, but There you go, David out of fives and under get the train whistle all aboard the Big Head Express Nice color there pops your autographs. We've got Andre Dawson the Hawk He's got a nice auto 24 out of 25 Cubs John Stallone at a bird alzalei 98 out of 99 That's another cub for John Stallone Cubs box personal box Supposed to be a be a big prospect I remember when his Bowman draft cards are out and a redemption any guesses on the redemption they put teams on the redemption now Thanks tops. What a great idea Jeff McNeil to 395 Jeff McNeil Armando with the Mets. We got Corey Dickerson to 299 Cory Dickerson's got a nice autograph that goes to the Phillies Tom. I with the fight and fills Think the Hawk and the Wiz might have went to the same school of penmanship. I think they did see me gay I think they did Think they may have to be guest speakers at the Jasper's autograph camp. I Riffer's guessing Vlad Jr. TJ's guessing Henry Owens Leo with Bo Bo Jackson and Rebel with Tateast, Jr Big rake sailing no Nolan Aronato All right. Well, let's find out Bragging rights you are due to receive a tier one autograph of The team might give it away. Oh, not too many teeth Tampa Bay Toronto Dino with the Blue Jays Oh Leo is guessing Boba shed and it looks like it is gonna be Boba shed nice I don't have to write on the By force of habit. I almost want to write on that but No, I think I don't have to do that anymore. There you go. Nice clean redemption free top loader Two to go and then we got one more coming up after this Matt Carpenter. Relic to 195 for Leo Jacob we've got Bernie Williams Gold ink autograph to 25 going to the Yankees John Stallone The Bronx bombers and we've got Trent Grisham 218 at 299 that is still a Milwaukee edition of Trent Grisham. So that'll go to David Nadler There you go, Dave. All right. Last three hits. Good luck everybody another tier one coming up in just a mow We've got Aaron Ola Jersey 311 out of 395 John Samuelson's favorite band 311 Aaron Ola going to Tom. I and the Phillies We've got Shane beaver 236 out of 299 the Indians Brett Foy and the last autograph In pick your team number four the brand new 2020 top tier one baseball is gonna be Blake Trinan A's edition 105 out of 299s with the Dodgers now Chris Walker and the A's Chris on the board late So at least a little something going your way. All right. Thanks everybody for watching. Thanks for breaking with us I'm Joe and I'll see you next time on jazzy's case breaks


Hi there, my name is Sandy Allnock. I'm an artist and paper crafter here on YouTube And I want to share with you today some storybook style coloring light fresh child like and it uses some my favorite things Stamps and products. I'm gonna color it with my Prismacolor pencils And I could have done the sky with them But I opted to do some Copic airbrush because that was a lot of sky to cover So I've stamped everything on a 4x4 piece of Nina with my my favorite things hybrid natural colored ink So it'll keep it really soft and I've masked everything out using some post-it tape. This is removable labeling tape It's two inches wide you can stamp on it and then trim the images out bloom down super easy I'm masking off the areas. I don't want the air brushing to go on and I've got this all ready to go I've got my Copic marker ready. This is a BG05 and I'll put it into the air grip from Copic This is attached to underneath my desk my air compressor You could also use a can of air and at the end of this video There's gonna be a video linking you to my getting started guide So if you want to get into Copic airbrush, it'll tell you all about the equipment you might need to get I'm holding my air grip high up and That's because I want a really soft coat the closer your air gun gets to the paper You're gonna get a really strong little blop of color like on my little test piece down there at the bottom So you want it nice and high up so you can go over it a couple times and try to get some even color It does take some practice so I would suggest taking some practice paper and Trying to see what it takes to get some even coverage But this worked out really well for the look that I wanted so I want to just a nice plain blue sky something really simple and bright Now you can see my masking wasn't perfect whether it was my trimming that didn't cut out quite right or If some of the air got underneath of the edges if I didn't have them pressed down perfectly But I can go in with my pencil and the Prismacolor number 905 that seemed to match it pretty perfectly So I was able to disguise that and go around each of my areas that didn't quite work perfectly And I think it was my trimming by what I was looking at here that my trimming wasn't right on But it was easy easy easy to fix and fill in all those areas now. Let me talk about my sharpener before we get on There's another video that I'll link you to Which is really important and it also gets it really sharp lots of people wonder how I get them really sharp And there's a link to the video at the end as well as in the description down below if you need to get that sharpener Because it's amazing and now it's time to do the color pencil coloring I'm going to start with a yellow balloon because lots of my artwork has yellow in it It's my favorite color and I'm using a yellow and two orangey yellow types of colors If I were trying to make this balloon look really realistic I might have gone for a violet or a blue violet type of color because that's the Complementary color to yellow but since I wanted it to be really fresh and bright and childlike I just stayed with colors that are very similar because it's going to give me that really soft bright child like look You can see that my pencil is very sharp and I'm going back and forth Over each of the areas to try to fill in those white spots There's little tiny white dots because of the texture of the Nina cardstock that I'm using and depending on what paper you are Using you will have more or less of those little white areas Some papers will have a grain in them So you'll have little stripy type of areas and at least the Nina It's not a real regular pattern that you get so It's really a good paper. I find to work on this and Bristol's are some of my favorites So I'm going back and forth with the different colors and I'm trying not to get waxy I want it really light layers because the light layers allow you to keep adding more layers to it and filling in those little spots if you picture Like looking really Microscopically had a piece of paper and it has all those raised areas It's got a real texture to it and the raised areas is where the pencil goes across when you just move it across the paper If you have it really sharp You can get that pencil down into the little nooks and crannies That are in that paper texture And it helps it to look a little smoother if you get very waxy with it too soon Then you'll end up with your pencil not being able to get down into it Because it's got a wax build up and it won't allow your pencil down into those cracks So I colored the faces and the little little claws little hands little feets With some pink and then I'm adding some brown to it for shading Now I could have used just a pink for shading But I wanted to start making those lines that I had stamped disappear a little bit just ever so slightly so I'm I picked a color that matches that ink pretty well When I color with it really light because it allows me to make the eyeballs darker Because if I color heavy with it then the brown gets darker So whatever color you're stamping in you can find a pencil that has that variability So if you color with it lightly it will make the the little lines disappear Now here's a place where I added a little more pink on the face because I wanted To bring back more of that pink color because it got too brown But since I'm doing light layers it's possible to recover those kinds of things To disguise those stamp lines all the way around the edges I'm just going to go and add very very light brown all the way around the entire sheet And it's going to make him look all poofy as well as give him a little bit of depth I'm going to have some of the brown around all sides of the image because he's white And I want to disguise all of those lines But I can have it a little heavier on one side or another to make it look like there's a little shading But really my shading is all From the top center. I'm not really worrying about left source Left light source right light source none of that in this one because it's just a simple simple Sheep image and trying to just go for cute not for realistic here Because what's the realism of two sheep exchanging balloons and hearts, right? That's not not in the realm of realistic But you can see how the The development of this goes and and I just keep getting softer and softer as I get toward the inside of the sheep Heavier lines to the outside so that I get a little bit of depth and not a whole lot, but keep it really soft Now the ground I could have messed out again and done some air brushing in that I was like, I don't feel like messing with that. So I had it super light green just a tiny hair of green to the hillside And adding a strong green would make the sheep pop out more But I wasn't really too worried about that because I was just going to add some shading underneath of them To increase the fact that they are standing If you look at shadows outside in the world around you You'll start to see that if you look at an object from the side like we're looking at these sheep from the side The shadows under them. They're not sheep shaped. They're generally just like a flat oval That almost comes to a point on either side So that's a really easy way to make a simple shadow under something So I was messing around with how much green I wanted to add or not add or what directions And I wasn't really pleased with some of that. So I got out my prismacolor kneaded eraser I've had this thing for 20 years All I have to do is stretch it and it cleans it. It's kind of self cleaning, I guess And you can also make a little point out of it So I almost make a pencil point out of my eraser so I can go in And either very lightly buff over some areas that I want to lighten If your sheep doesn't come out like with a really smooth blend You can lighten some of that really easily with that pencil So then I wanted to add my sentiment and I wanted the will you be mine With just the word you ewe to be on to the balloon So I put it in my misty And I'm masking out either side of the sentiment So I just get the ewe And then I have to slide it over a little bit now my my stamp has ink on it I don't want to make a mess on it and get it all over my paper So I've just put the plastic from the stamp set On to the image and then I can slide it over very exactly where I want it Close the misty up And then open it back up and it picks up the stamp And then I can remove my plastic and I can move my Little post-it notes to block off the area that I don't want to have stamped So get it lined up just perfect And then I can stamp the wool on the left And press it down and bada boom bada bing And then I'll just do the same thing on the opposite side And get the will you be mine sentiment ready? So I've got it on the plastic again so that I can see through what I'm doing Remove the plastic and add my little mask And one of the great things too about using the airbrush and the colored pencil together Only the word you is going over top of colored pencil It's hard to stamp sometimes on pencil But it's really easy to stamp on the Copic airbrush background So I was only fighting a little bit with trying to get the you to make sure it It worked perfectly I've die cut this with a really fun die Which is also linked in the description down below and on my blog from my favorite things And popped it onto a yellow card base because I wanted to emphasize that yellow on the balloon I've got a few more videos for you here with colored pencil if you're interested There's a video on the right hand side that you can click on to get more on the pencil sharpener that I talked about And my pencil storage doing some quick tip videos over on my second channel With little quick questions that people have You can subscribe for more videos You can find me all over the web as sandy all knock on instagram and periscope and whatnot and I will see you guys Next time. Have a great day


California adopted the final regulations for cap and trade in 2011. The program actually launches January 1, 2012, but the first auctioning of allowances won't take place until mid-year. So we're taking the first part of the year to put in place the tracking and monitoring systems and get an oversight committee in place and all that sort of stuff so that when the market actually begins in the second half of the year we feel that we can be very confident that we're prepared for any possible kind of abuse or cheating or failure or other thing that could go wrong. You know, we've anticipated every possibility and we feel pretty good about the fact that this program is going to work, that is it's actually going to reduce emissions and it's going to do it in a way that is affordable and hopefully basically not noticeable by the average person. That's kind of the idea. It's invisible. At the moment, because we're trying to be sure of every element of the program, we're not allowing any offsets that aren't developed in California under protocols that we've already approved in advance. So it's a very very rigidly controlled program, but because the whole purpose of this effort is to reduce global warming and it is a global problem, we also recognize a need to engage with other countries that are interested in similar things and we particularly appreciate the fact that everything we could do to reduce our emissions through changing fuels, changing vehicles, cleaning industry and so forth won't do the job unless we also are taking action to stop deforestation which is going on in other parts of the world. So we've been active participants from the very beginning in an effort called the Governor's Climate Action Task Force whose purpose is to develop a group of states that are all interested in coming up with ways to really improve forest management, to generate funds to do it, but to do it in a way that is absolutely rigorous and supports other values that these states have not just to be able to generate funds to help protect their forests, but also to help develop the economies of the communities in those regions in ways that are sustainable. So this is a very interesting and important effort. We're only one player in it, but because California has a reputation as being a leader on environmental policy and because we do have the possibility that in the future the offsets that are developed could be one way of generating some of the funds that are needed, people have been very interested in having California be part of this process. I think eventually it will be, but I think it'll be beyond California. I think California, even though we're a big state and we have a large economy, we would not be enough to sustain the kinds of forestry programs that we're talking about with our colleagues from Africa, from Brazil, Peru, Indonesia, it's going to take a much larger program to do that. And frankly, I don't think offsets alone are going to do it. I think we're going to need to have other reasons why people are interested in investing in these kinds of programs. And what's exciting is that people I think today at the forestry day at the conference of parties, everybody's been talking about the fact that these programs need to have multiple benefits. They have to have multiple purposes. If you're going to get local communities, states, national governments involved and interested, if the private sector is really going to step in with the kinds of hundreds of millions of dollars or even billions of dollars that are going to be needed, it's going to take more than just the motivation of creating offsets for a cap and trade program to do that. It's going to take some sort of a commitment to international development that's clean development. So that's that's where the opportunities are. And it's exciting to hear that so many people from various parts of the world have come to the same conclusion, which is that money from red programs is useful. It may be important, but it's never going to be enough in and of itself to motivate people to do the right thing to protect the forest.


Patriot Prime Reviews is a channel for adult collectors and may not be suitable for children under 13 years of age viewer discretion is advised Hey, what's going on guys? Patriot Prime here once again with another Transformers review, but before I get started I need you guys to do me a favor if you're watching this video right here and are not a subscriber of Patriot Prime Reviews Please hit that subscribe button right now. It won't cost you a thing Will help me and my channel out tremendously. Also, make sure and visit my sponsor toyhacks.com Toyhacks provides reproduction and upgrade decal sets for transformer toys from generation one to the latest modern figures Make sure and stop by the toyhacks armory where they can equip your figures with new weaponry in multiple colors and toy stages provides backdrops for figure displays and photography Each purchase with toyhacks earns you RoboSense that can be used for future purchases. You can check your balance anytime in your cart Toyhacks is a company run by collectors for collectors So check out toyhacks.com and make your collection stand out from the rest and tell them Patriot Prime sent you now on to the review The featured button this video is the brand new Transformers generation selects bug bite now normally I don't go over generation selects boxes They're usually just a plain brown cardboard box with a spray painted looking Autobot logo on the front Now bug bites is a little different It is a plain brown cardboard box with a spray painted mercenary logo there on the front So it's a little different now once you get the box open you've got bug bite here in all of his glory and Bug bite here is just a repaint of Earthrise cliff jumpers body with Bumblebee's head. I believe that's the head sculpt for the new Netflix Bumblebee That's coming out in a couple months and as you can see bug bite has seen some shit that has turned him white That one's for you Bert So now without further ado, let's get bug bite out of the packaging and check him out and welcome to Patriot Prime reviews Now once you get bug bite all opened and out of the packaging you'll see he does come with a sheet of Instructions and just like all the modern instructions. These are very well illustrated and very easy to follow He also comes with his Multi-part blaster that can be broken into a bunch of different sections and you have Bug bite himself now bug bite here is the third re-use of the cliff jumper mold you had of course Earthrise cliff jumper and you had generation selects Hubcap and just like hubcap the only difference in the mold is the head sculpt So now let's go ahead and take a closer look at bug bite himself This guy actually looks really really good. I love the evil looking Bumblebee that is just that is so cool to me I mean bumblebee's always been that wholesome character up until the Netflix series of so if late But it's really cool to see an evil version of bumblebee Great paint applications. I love the red eyes and Speaking of paint it's worth noting that bug bite here The only white plastic on the figure is the head sculpt and the forearms The rest of the white is painted so you won't be aware of that to avoid any chipping. He also has a nice mercenary symbol right there on the chest. I got some black lines down here on the feet and They're on the back and that's pretty much it for the paint applications Once again, love the head sculpt the head sculpt looks phenomenal Now articulation is exactly the same as cliff jumper and hubcap arms Up and down all the way around there is a elbow bend and an elbow Swivel the head is also on a ball joint can look up down and all around and another note is Bug bite here has an extra joint on the head that can pop it up for some reason It has no use whatsoever in transformation and I checked neither cliff jumper or hubcap have this feature So I don't know why that's in there, but It is if you're interested He also has a rotation at the waist and the legs can go up down all around There is a knee bend and some great ankle tilts a great looking figure in my opinion I just I dig the evil bumblebee vibe and of course, he's got his Big cannon that can been that can be broke apart in some different ways And I like the purple and black scheme very evil very decepticon But of course, he's a mercenary not a decepticon So that looks really really good and the weapon has all the same gimmicks and features as Cliff jumper and hubcap now if you want to see those features Please check out my cliff jumper review in the link above. Now. Let's take a quick look at I keep wanting to call him bumblebee. Let's take a look at bug bite in vehicle mode In vehicle mode bug bite looks exactly the same as earth rise cliff jumper and Generation selects hubcap Except of course in a different color and that's not a bad thing because I absolutely love this vehicle mode I think it looks really good, especially with the white collar scheme He's got the black stripe there along the front with the headlights and the silver grille The mercenary logo there on the roof on the back of the vehicle He's got the black bumper and you can see the exhausts now the windows the front windshield and side is Translucent plastic you can see a little bit of robot bits through there You can't really see through the vehicle like you could with hubcap here. So I think this is a darker plastic the back window of course is painted black and Just like the others bug bite rolls really really good and he's got a weapon port there on top So there you go guys. There is generation selects bug bite in vehicle mode And now for some quick size comparisons here is transformers generation selects bug bite with earth rise cliff jumper Generation selects hubcap and fellow mercenaries generation selects exhaust Transformers earth rise double dealer and generation selects knock and scar Transformers generation selects bug bite is a really cool figure and a welcome addition to my collection As I said earlier, I really dig the evil bumblebee vibe now bug bite back in the day was originally a super go-bot from 1984 he made his first appearance as a transformer in a 2004 e-hobby exclusive where he was a repaint of The reissue of generation one bumblebee with the cartoon accurate face He then made another appearance at botcon as a recolor of the classics bumblebee.  You know when this figure was first announced I skipped out on him I didn't pre-order this guy until like a month or two later It wasn't until I got double dealer and then exhaust and I decided you know I want this guy to round out the trio and I really like him. I love the sculpted details I love this whole cliff jumper mold and the paint scheme is really really cool I just I dig the evil bumblebee vibe So yeah, you see this guy on the shelf or actually you see this guy online pick him up You're not going to be disappointed. Now guys if you enjoyed the video, don't forget to like don't forget to subscribe And don't forget to click that bell icon to get notified when I upload new reviews. Once again, this is Patriot Prime signing out


Was I supposed to do laundry today? Is my boss mad at me? Why can't I remember what a hypotenuse is? Just as you're about to nod off, you realize it's past two in the morning. Insomnia is a common condition, affecting a third of the adult population. And if you've had it for over a month, you may have acute insomnia. If it's been more than six months, it may be chronic. Lack of sleep can make everything in your day just a little harder, and can come from a variety of factors, including environment, chemicals, illness, and age. Fortunately, according to the American Academy of Sleep, there are eight drug-free tricks to getting a good night's sleep. 1. Stimulus Control Therapy This involves retraining yourself to associate your bedroom with sleeping only, by going straight to bed when you're tired. Perform other activities like reading and watching TV elsewhere, so as to not make other associations that might keep you up. 2. Relaxation Training By slowly tensing and releasing your major muscles, you can make yourself feel much more comfortable, plus occupy your mind while you're lying in bed. 3. Sleep Restriction If you're not sleepy, get up, keeping the lights and TV off, and go to another part of the house until you're tired enough to go back to bed. 4. Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT The behavioral portion is these last few, and the cognitive portion is learning more about your condition from sources such as the National Sleep Foundation to figure out how best to use them. 5. Paradoxical Intention Have you ever tried to stay up late only to be unable to stop nodding off? If you try and make yourself stay awake, you can beat insomnia with irony. 6. Biofeedback We're imaging pinpoints your muscle tensions, so you understand fully how to make yourself comfortable when you're falling asleep. 7. Regular Exercise As long as it's done at least three hours before, exercise can help you sleep both better and longer. 8. Just waking up at a regular time If you can keep your body clock wound and clean, it'll keep you sleeping deep and regular. Have you ever had insomnia? Are you up late now watching this? If so, feel free to give these methods a try. Also, we'd like to thank our sponsor BetterHelp, an affordable online counseling platform. If you're interested, use our link in the description below. We get a cut too, so that means more funding for Psych2Go if you use the service. Hey everybody, I just want to give a personal thank you video for you guys for always supporting Psych2Go and making this all possible for us. Our vision is to make psychology as accessible as possible so that it promotes self-awareness and helps you guys grow. However, we want to make more content for you guys, and would love your support in buying one of these bracelets from our partner, Introvert Palace. Check out the bracelet, it's pretty cool, and it even includes Pluto. The link to purchase will all be in the description below, and I hope you guys have an amazing day. Bye!


Three people, including a four-year-old girl, were shot in New York City's Times Square. Police Commissioner Demoche said they were innocent bystanders who were hit by stray bullets from the gun firefight. She said that the victims included a four-year-old and a 23-year-old who were shot in the leg, and a 43-year-old who were shot in the foot. Crown raids have jumped in New York and other American cities in the past year. Very preliminary, we have a dispute from numerous witnesses that a dispute occurred on the street involving at least two to four people. It is during this dispute that at least one person pulls out a gun. This is early and that could change, and it is during that pulling out the gun and the gunfire that three individuals that were not involved in the initial dispute were struck. How many kids have to be shot before we take this seriously? We just had a one-year-old homicide cleared this week. How many more kids do we need to be shot before we realize that bad policies have consequences and we need action and we need policies regarding laws to have consequences for the arrests? Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.


Let me switch gears here and talk a little, you know, propose a topic about a lot of times the questions asked can design have a seat at the business table. But from talking to many of you, it seems that you have a different perspective, which is more proactive, that you're making your own tables and you're inviting the business to engage. I know Phil, you have a strong point of view on that. And Dane, you've been doing some really interesting things with your group as well. One of the greatest things that we found was when we would audit all the designers, they were 110% allocated on what we're currently building. No one was articulating the future. So we learned from Hollywood and we actually created a pre-vis group to allow the business to pre-visualize the future. What was helpful in that is it allowed business leaders to talk on experiential terms. We realized that when they would come together and make decisions on spreadsheets alone or on other tangibles, what was lost was the empathetic future of the customer. And so by putting things into even narrative terms, they were more equipped to make better decisions. So for us, it's been more of a proactive stance to say, what do you think about this? What do you think about this? And just by creating an affordance of time for the designer to do that made a huge difference. So by running this group like an agency inside the company where we were the only client, it gave a lot of exposure inside to allow those conversations to happen. So in a sense, creating the table. My comment was just going to be like, there shouldn't be a table involved. Nothing really interesting happens around a conference table. There's conversations about other people doing interesting things. But my team always laughs because we tend to move around in the campus a lot. And whenever our conference room gets moved, the first thing I do is I ask facilities to remove the conference table. Because it just is an inhibitor to collaboration and interesting conversation. I'll double down on that. I don't know for whatever reason. For the past 20 years, I've sensed this fixation in the industry to get the seat at the business table. We've kind of pined for that for, I think, a long time. And I think there's great value in that. I mean, I don't think it's either or. Or you can or you shouldn't proposition. I do think, actually, you should understand why you want the seat at the table. And then also, frankly, when you're at the table, what should your behavior be? I coach a lot of teams around once you're at the business table, you're not there just as a designer. Your unique point of view is about bringing the design conversation to the heart of the business. But you should understand the business. And you shouldn't wait for the design conversation to then start to suddenly lean in. Unfortunately, I've seen too many designers miss the opportunity to influence a total or bigger business proposition because they've kind of waited. And so, unfortunately, their seat becomes one where then the business leaders walk away from the table and say, well, why did I have the designer at the table? So I encourage people and teams to understand why they want to go sit there. And when they're there, what, frankly, looks like really contributing behaviors and discussions to the business president or whatever that might be. But I also encourage the design teams to say, to go build your own table and attract the business to you. So to not constantly be thinking that the table that I want is over there somewhere, but that you actually can create the environment and construct by which to bring the team to you. One of the smartest things that we did at P&G when we were really trying to drive design into the heart of our businesses was we created design studios out in the individual businesses rather than having a centralized force. And you can do that once you get critical mass and you've got 300 or so people and you can kind of divide them up and put them out in the individual business locations. But the first reaction when we built these really cool studios for our designers were maybe everyone else was, frankly, kind of pissed. They're like, why do they get these really cool spaces? And I have to go over here and work in this dull, drab environment, which was perfect, right? Because you do, you set your high table up and everyone will want to come in and work with the design team. And so suddenly you're not just having design conversations in the design studio, you're having business and brand discussions. And so I often love coaching teams on making sure that they understand why they want to go sit at the business table to not lose their discussion or their kind of unique point of view as a designer, but that is not the end all be all goal for you that also creating your own place where people can come and frankly, utilize design thinking and different things that you mentioned to kind of solve the larger business thing is also a very admirable, if not necessary task. So that's great. I almost wonder if maybe a possible end game is the greatest trick that designers could ever do is convince the world that they don't exist. In other words, could we sit at the business table and approach designing from a problem solving perspective such that those tools that we use, empathy, understanding people, really sort of drawing out needs and coming up with solutions, could those tools then be shared and ultimately absorbed by the business people at the table such that they become the designers and it's almost like we give up design techniques or we just give up designs to people who are not designers anymore, right? Wouldn't that be an interesting place for business to go and that the designers are there just like anyone else to help solve a particular business problem which is true, that's what we're there for but I think that would be an interesting sort of perspective is to get people to think about design in a way that is sort of very natural and just the way they work.