This episode is dedicated to the men and women of our Armed Forces and First Responders. Whether you are currently serving or have served in the past, you are appreciated. It is because of your courage and sacrifice that we enjoy the freedoms and liberties we hold dear. And I for one, appreciate every single one of you for protecting what many of us take for granted. So thank you. Most of us think of ghosts as frightening entities, but I'm really not sure why. I mean the majority of ghostly entities and spirits are like willow wisps. They may drift out of the cobwebs of your attic or damp cellar corner, but for the most part they don't really do anything dramatic or harmful. Except perhaps throw a chair in the air or shake a bed until it rocks, or step heavily on the floorboards in your house alerting you to their presence. Now I have seen doors open and closed by themselves. Lights go on and off and dishes drop to the floor without breaking. But after watching hours upon hours of your favorite ghost hunters TV shows, I really can't get as excited as I was at maybe the age of four when I saw a full body apparition in my room surrounded by a brilliant aura. TV and movies portray ghosts and the esoteric in general in a more aggressive light.  Nothing like a good nail-biting horror story like Pet Cemetery to prompt us to hide under the covers and leave on the night light next to the bed. And who can't pass up a great episode of Supernatural? It doesn't matter in these instances if we are 5 or 50. A good scare is a good scare. But what about fearsome ghosts away from the fictionalized world of horror movies and television?  And tonight we are not looking at your average mundane ghost story. What we are concerned with are incidents which can be categorized as the most diabolical of poltergeist experiences as well as skirmishes with the most gruesome and alarming phantoms you are ever likely to deal with. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and 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. If you are new here welcome to the show and if you are already a member of this weirdo family please take a moment and invite someone else to listen in with you. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. While you are listening be sure to follow Weird Darkness on Facebook and Twitter and visit WeirdDarkness.com where you can find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, watch streaming B horror movies and horror hosts 24-7 for free, listen to free audiobooks that I've narrated, send me your own true story of something paranormal that's happened to you or someone you know and more. You can find it all at WeirdDarkness.com. Coming up this hour. Murderous phantoms and homicidal ghosts are only found in television and movies, right? It's rare but they do decide to make their presence known in the real world on occasion. A dead chicken was found beside the granary next to a large print on the ground of an animal no one could identify. That was almost a year before sightings of a strange creature began on the Resteno family's property. And the paranormal investigator stumbles upon an abandoned property that he's never seen before and even this seasoned ghost hunter was scared out of his wits by what happened there.  And is it true as some believe that hell is below us in the center of the earth? All of this in the next hour and in the sudden death overtime content of Weird Darkness.  You can usually count on psychic and counselor Maria de Andrea to provide upbeat positive insight on a variety of occult matters. But even Maria has had her life touched by an evil ghostly presence or two. As the following story from her contribution to knife-wielding demons and murderous ghosts demonstrates, what starts as an etheric sword fight between ghostly combatants crosses over into physical reality with terrifying results. This is how Maria tells the story. One cold and dreary night I was doing some spiritual blessings at a cemetery at the request of a client to help his recently passed away relative through the transition from one reality to the next. As I walked through the grounds looking for the gravestone I thought I heard a strange sound. As I tried to listen more I realized it sounded like arguing but in a language I didn't know. I ignored it thinking it had nothing to do with me and kept walking in search of the gravestone. I found the spot I was looking for, did the blessing, and started back to my car. Soon it sounded like the arguing was closer, then it sounded far away, then again closer, like they were moving around everywhere in the cemetery. I was still thinking it didn't concern me but I became curious as to what was going on so I started to walk toward the sounds. Yes, I knew it was not my smartest move. As I headed in the direction of the sounds, I heard what sounded like metal hitting metal. I rounded a bend and there were two etheric soldiers fighting. There were swords clashing and making a terrible clanking sound. One was a Confederate soldier and the other a Union soldier. Apparently they didn't know the war between the states was over. They seemed out of control, vengeful as though they were in a whirlwind and couldn't stop. I heard a few words although not the entire sentence and I wasn't paying attention to their meaning. They said the following words, ambush, conscript, and a few more but those are the ones I remember. After all I was more focused on the deadly fight. They were both covered in blood. Some blood looked dark with an eerie glow while some looked like the blood was dripping off various body parts. It looked gruesome. As I stood there, transfixed at a distance, all of a sudden they both turned their heads and looked at me. At first I thought they were looking at something else. Why would they notice and see me? They both started running toward me, waving their swords. Initially I thought that since they were spirit and non-physical that they wouldn't harm me. I was wrong. As they ran toward me, one of them threw his sword toward me and I heard it as it splintered part of the tree near me so it could harm me physically. It didn't occur to me previously that anyone would throw a sword. I turned and ran toward my car. I knew when to retreat. I kept thinking as I headed toward the parking lot I hoped they don't realize their spirit because they would be able to gain quicker ground not being limited by physical laws.  I heard the second sword hit a stone near me but by then I was at my car. It seemed they were attached to the cemetery because they didn't follow when I got to the parking lot. Some days it doesn't pay to be curious. Hopefully nobody else will see them because if you don't see them, they might not be aware of you either. More true stories of homicidal ghosts when Weird Darkness returns. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar and if you like Weird Darkness and you like even more of this kind of content, you can check out the free audiobooks that I've narrated at WeirdDarkness.com. I've got free audiobooks there from Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, Charles Dickens, Robert Heinlein and more. You can listen to all of the free audiobooks I've narrated on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. We now continue with more true stories of murderous ghosts on Weird Darkness. Another contributor comes from researcher and author Adele Casales Rosa whose book, Portal, A Lifetime of Paranormal Experiences, details numerous encounters with the unknown, her own as well as those of others. In a chapter called The Horror of Bawio, Rosa recounts a story of a young Filipino husband and father named Ernest who is crippled with depression because of a monstrous presence not everyone around him could perceive. The creature's continued presence almost every twilight, Rosa writes, consumed Ernest's waking hours. Zapprehensions of being taken by the creature, body and soul, started to show in his poetry. His poems, which were an outlet for his internal turmoil, turned even darker, drearier and more foreboding. His siblings, who read his opus, became concerned and from concern became alarmed when he wrote one poem which began as, The bird that flies is false. Themes of death became prominent. The creature tormenting the young poet was described like this. Embracing the window with a wingspan of more than six feet from tip to tip was a bat taller than a man. Its leathery wings ended in a talon-like grasp at the edges of the window. Its yellow eyes were like a cow's. The semblance of horns protruded from its black head and it had a goatee at the end of its pointed chin. The face of a goat with the eyes of a cow and a leathery body framed by the wings of a bat. It is an eerie thing to contemplate that such a creature would repeatedly appear and yet never leave any physical traces behind, such as animal tracks or bat droppings. In spite of its physical nature, its effect on the young recipient was decidedly psychological and emotional, as was its impact on his family. To learn the story's tragic end, you can read Knife-Wielding Demons and Murderous Ghosts and prepare yourself for a tale as sorrowful as it is strange. Scott Corellis, a most prolific writer and translator of Hispanic UFO and Paranormal Articles and Books, has become a frequent contributor to global communications books. For this particular volume, Scott provides a survey of cult-related murders and satanic secret societies. The following is an excerpt from his chapter in Knife-Wielding Demons and Murderous Ghosts. It came as a surprise to readers of Chile's La Tercera newspaper that the nation's Chamber of Deputies, similar to the U.S. House of Representatives, has held hearings in relation to the existence of 80 active satanic groups in their country, 40 of them classified as dangerous clandestine groups. The cults are allegedly involved in such ghastly acts as consuming human flesh, necrophilia and self-mutilation. According to sociologist and cult researcher Umberto Lagos, satanic groups were proliferating throughout Chile since the year 2000. The groups are never large, size not being a consideration, rather the amount of damage they can cause being the major factor, and are formed by young males 30 and younger who cut off one of their fingers as a sign of belonging to the cult. Lagos, the government's main consultant on the matter, added that lonely elevated areas such as La Piramide are frequented by these cultists for their weekly rituals. A cross-section of the cult members would reveal disaffected youth who blame society for their ills and, in a Catholic country, rebel against one of the most visible societal symbols. Police officers report that these places are often marked by a hexagon with the number 666 and fenced with inverted crosses.  However, the Viticura Sheriff's Department, which is in charge of the La Piramide sector, has not recorded any reports from local residents regarding strange rituals or situations in the area. It is believed that 300 such groups exist throughout Chile, acting in small cells, much like terrorist outfits. Many of them are not satanic, but rather practitioners of Santería or other Afro-Caribbean religions, which have gained considerable followings in South America. The Chamber of Deputies' Committee on Cults was impaneled as a result of charges of white slavery leveled against the Center for Tibetan Studies in the city of Viña del Mar. The new anti-cult legislation would follow the European model, which makes manipulation of conscience and any form of mental manipulation or obfuscation a crime.  The cult celebrated its rituals at night in the vicinity of the sports club of the town of Sausalito. The Chilean newspaper does not go on to state if there was any link between the cultists and the members of the upper-class athletic club. While such a connection may at first seem startling, it has been seen elsewhere, as in the case involving a group of Mexican Satanists who carried out their rituals in Chipotlepec Park, not far from the elite restaurante del lago eatery. Another case involving upper-middle-class practitioners of ritual magic appeared in Spain's El Pais newspaper on March 23, 1999, when it was reported that members of the Fraternidad Blanca Universal or Universal White Fraternity had performed a ritual designed to enhance both pleasure and longevity in the coastal resort town of La Alfa del Pais, which resulted in the death of Natalie Castleford, 38, a Belgian national. According to the press, the cultists placed a blanket over Castleford's body and several people proceeded to sit on her in order to interrupt her breathing process, a method which, according to the cult's beliefs, causes intense pleasure, extends natural lifespan and purifies the body. At this point it must be added that police officials in these countries, while at first baffled by the nature of the crime, tend to react swiftly and usually get their man after diligent detective work, often resorting to infiltrating the cults. In October 2002, Spain's El Mundo newspaper carried a story on how Italian law enforcement had successfully broken up the Angels of Sodom, a satanic cult in the city of Pescara in eastern Italy, led by a 32-year-old reverend known as Jan Ash. This cult leader had allegedly belonged to a number of U.S. cults but decided to establish his own because of his interest in vampiric practices, according to the newspaper. The police apprehended reverend Ash and three associates during the Pescara raid and confirmed 14 cases of abuse to minors, adding that the total list may number in the hundreds since the cult had been operating clandestinely for seven years and reputedly had a considerable number of customers. Keep listening, I have one more homicidal ghost story for you to share after the break, plus the ghost of a serial killer. Up next. I'm Darren Marlar, welcome back to Weird Darkness. If you'd like to check out the Weird Darkness merchandise like t-shirts, hoodies, even baby clothes, you can find them in the Weird Darkness store. You can search through all the merchandise by clicking on Store at WeirdDarkness.com. Global Communications great scholar of Greek mythology, writer and podcast personality Hercules and Victus adds some material of historical interest on the nature of the gods and spirits we encounter in the land of dreams, a realm that is a reality unto itself and occupied by dark powers we cannot begin to comprehend. Hercules also tells the story of a Grecian entity called the Moor, who could possibly be a daemon or a vengeful ghost. In any case, the Moor is a fearsome creature to encounter and a fascinating example of how the mythic and paranormal are handed down through the centuries with their fear-inducing qualities still intact. So-called poltergeists come in all shapes and sizes and inspire varying degrees of horror. What might be surprising is that poltergeists are not necessarily the spirits of the dead nor the overworked disordered personalities of the living often thought to have become possessed by demonic forces. That which we call a poltergeist could just as easily include a wide range of other unearthly phenomena, such as random denizens of the dark moving through time and space and other dimensions, as well as manifestations of cryptids, known collectively as shapeshifters and bedroom invaders, and possibly even representatives of numerous alien races. No one has ever completely explained why we enjoy being terrified. What is that perverse thrill we seek and never get enough of? Why does the case of the chills make us feel satisfied and well served by scary forms of entertainment, whether entirely fictional or factual stories, said to have literally taken place in our real and physical world? Travelling on my way to another haunted location, my spidey senses went off as I passed a rundown farmhouse. When I reversed and stopped in front of the property, I could almost hear screams and growls in my head. Strangely enough, there were no signs blocking the entrance to the property, so I grabbed my equipment and went in. I found it odd that the majority of the trees and plants surrounding the old house were either dead or dying. The house itself also looked like it was decaying from the inside out, along with the surrounding buildings and sheds. As I crept up to the front porch, I saw that it was crumbling around the concrete steps that led up to the front door. Stepping slowly and lightly, I noticed the cracks in the concrete and then the old boards nailed across the door. I switched one of my EVP recorders on, then I pulled on the boards, finding them flimsy and easy to rip down. The door opened on its own, creepy enough, but I had to remember that the dangers were more than structural. I walked slowly, testing the floorboards as I went, but the familiar pricking up of my hairs and the chills hit me fast. Surprisingly, the center of the house was sturdy, so I walked freely into the kitchen and then froze in my tracks.  I was able to see through her and I realized I was in the middle of a residual haunting, but then she looked up. The pain in her face was horrible, but she managed to raise her hand and point upwards. Then she screamed. I looked around, but no one was there, so I turned back as I trembled in fear to see the woman standing up. Still screaming, she pointed up again.  I knew I had to investigate, even though I was nearly peeing in my pants, so I went out and ran up the stairs. When I got to the top, I heard the boards behind me creaking with slow footsteps. I spun around. Nobody was there. I felt like I was being stalked, but I had to push on, going to the bedroom at the front of the crumbling house. Again, the door opened on its own, making my flesh crawl. Then I saw a small boy lying in a pool of his own blood. I couldn't help the tears falling down my face, but I was distracted by a nasty growl close to my right ear. Angry now, I turned around and yelled, Who are you? But I didn't get a response, so I looked back at the little boy. He lifted his head and pointed to the back of the house. My head was spinning as I didn't know what to do. Then the boy sat up and yelled in his tiny voice, Help us! While he continued to point emphatically and cry. I ran over to the room on the other side, feeling like someone was controlling me while a chill ran through my body. When I got to the room, that door opened violently this time, smashing against the wall while the handle rattled. A teenage girl was flung across the old bed with slashes all over her body. A river of blood ran under the bed. Then I heard menacing laughter in the distance which fueled my anger. The girl slowly sat up and pointed to the left. I was weeping angry tears for this ghostly family who had obviously been viciously attacked by a sadistic killer. I could still hear the screams from the mother and the little boy, along with the gurgling from the girl on the bed. It was clear she had her throat slashed but she was trying to speak as she pointed to the back of the house. Feeling that I might find the killer there, it took some time for me to build up the nerve to keep moving. I was annoyed with myself for stepping into this nightmare without backup as I had never faced anything like this before. Then I remembered my video camera, so I activated it and pointed it all over the place while I continued on my way. The gurgling, crying and screaming went on as I crept down the landing to the room at the back, shivering in fear. Before I even got to the room I heard the slow creaking of the door which made me shudder and move slower. My body shook as I made it to the door where I expected to face the killer responsible for the death of this family. Instead, I saw a grown man in a chair with an axe deep in his head. There was a pool of blood under the chair. Somehow I knew that this was the father and that he couldn't speak but he slowly lifted his hand and he began to point. The chill swept through my soul as I realized his finger was pointing directly at me. Was I the killer? As I thought that, the father pointed more emphatically at me and the screams and noises from his family increased. While I stood there dumbstruck wondering what he meant, I felt a blast of evil hit my back freezing my body. Then a putrid stench wafted over me and the father continued to point anxiously to the space behind me. Finally, I was able to turn around as an unholy growling began to filter through the screams of the whole family.  Keep in mind that until that day I had only ever captured voices on my EVP recorder. I had never seen a ghost. Now, I was only centimeters away from a murderous monster who had slaughtered an innocent family in cold blood. At first I had no idea what I had to do and it was obvious the sinister specter found this fact amusing.  Then I remembered that I had a mini Bible on my keychain which my mother had given me before she had passed away. I whipped my keys out and with trembling fingers I flipped the Bible open and shoved it in his ghostly face. It was all I could think of but it worked.  He screamed like a demon splashed with holy water. As I raged along with the family's screams, he disappeared. I turned around and the father was gone. When I raced through the house I saw the entire family was now gone. The house was empty, free from evil. When I got back in my car I finally broke down and cried happy tears. I wasn't even mad when I got back home and discovered that my equipment had malfunctioned with no evidence. Coming up next on Weird Darkness, a paranormal investigator stumbles upon an abandoned property that he's never seen before, and even this seasoned ghost hunter was scared out of his wits by what happened there. By the way, if you have a true paranormal story that's happened to you or someone you know, you can share it and I can use it on the show. You can share it by clicking on Tell Your Story at WeirdDarkness.com or better yet, you can call the dark line toll-free at 1-877-277-5944. That's 1-877-277-5944 and I might use your story in a future show. The following is written in first person from the point of view of the article's author. Once we had reached the site 260 km distant along Route 14, we entered Colonia Elia through a dirt road in search of the witnesses. As always, we employed an old but surefire strategy to get information. We stopped a man who was riding along on horseback and he quickly indicated the location of the Rustano family home. This was the family that had witnessed the events involving the unusual creature. The witnesses warmly welcomed us, they showed us evidence of the mutilations which was among the reasons for our trip and quickly told us the details of the occurrences. Manifestations of this entity began a year ago, around September 15th, when they found a dead chicken beside the granary displaying strange sparks and a large print on the ground. The family's boys, Matthias and Gabriel, fully knowledgeable about the animals that wander the fields, could not recognize the types of marks left on the chicken's breast and much less identify the footprint found near the dead animal. In an effort to glean further evidence, they found terror marks made as if by claws in the back of the hen house. The following night, early in the morning, they heard noises that prompted them to go outside to see what was happening. Matthias, 16 years old, was startled when he saw a bizarre figure scurry away among the vegetation at the back of the house. He described the figure as large, standing at least 1.7 meters and swift in its getaway. Upon inspecting the hen house, they found a dead chicken with a large rip in its chest. From that moment on, the family's boys would not have a normal life again as each night turned into an episode of chase and attempted capture of this creature which turned the family's life into a strange adventure. According to a family member, the critter, as they have dubbed it, seems more frightened than them. Whenever the possibility of an encounter exists, the reaction is always the same. Flight. All manner of snares have been laid out to trap this creature. Otter traps, cages lent by a neighbor who cares for endangered animals, and they even prepared a trap using old bedding elastic. The creature was captured in each of these, but managed to free itself. The otter trap, however, inflicted serious injury, given that blood traces remained on the trap and on a nearby stone. These samples were taken for analytical purposes. Manifestations have been constant. The witnesses see fleeting shadows and the entity's claw prints, such as the ones left on a tree, as though it had used the wood to sharpen the claws, or its footsteps which are easily seen because the boys, in their urge to secure evidence, began spreading ashes and rice powder around the hen houses. The best was yet to come, and it would happen inside the house at 3 o'clock in the morning. Matthias heard a noise behind the kitchen but within his home. This experience allowed Matthias to clearly see the entity that had been engaged in the chicken mutilations. We managed to obtain an oral picture of the creature. We showed him a series of figures from our files, and he identified one of them as very similar, and based on that, he outlined the description of what confronted him that night. He seized his carbine 22 caliber and quickly headed to the front of the house. When he drew the curtain of the room that houses his mother's pantry and the cheese-making churns, he found the critter on top of the freezer, clearly intending to grab the churn. Matthias' immediate reaction was to fire, which he did four times without wounding it. The animal jumped through a window, spilling chicken entrails throughout the room. Amanda Eller felt drawn to the Makawa Forest Reserve on the Hawaiian Island of Maui to connect with nature and get grounded. She had rarely been to that park and hadn't been in months, but that day she was called to go. The 35-year-old physical therapist who had a whole day to herself figured she'd go for a three-mile hike and spend a couple of hours in the woods. I don't really know what happened, she said Tuesday morning, speaking to reporters while in a wheelchair. All I can say is that I have strong sense of internal guidance, whatever you want to call that, a voice, spirit, everybody has a different name for it. My heart was telling me walk down this path, go left, great, go right, it was so strong. She said it turned out to be not nearly as strong when after meditating on a log, she wanted to go back to her car. She tried one path and it didn't get her back to the car, she tried another, no luck, and another. She came to the realization she wasn't on a human path, she was on a bore path. At that point I had no choice because everything looked the same. I said the only thing I have is my gut, I don't have a compass, I don't have a cell phone. She said so, spirits, or whatever you want to pray to, I said I need your help right now. She said she listened to her sense of guidance, which instead of taking her back to her car, took her on a five mile journey, once she called a spiritual boot camp. Ella ended up spending 17 days in the woods trying to get back to her car and then just trying to stay alive and catch the attention of searchers and helicopters. She spent two days in a Maui hospital being treated for a severe sunburn, a twisted knee and ankle problems before she went home Monday night. She hopes to be back at work in a couple of weeks. Ella thinks the days she spent alone in the woods surviving on berries and stream water is part of something bigger, something that's been changing her life since she moved to Maui four years ago. It taught the physical therapist who often treats people in great pain what it's like to be on the patient's side.  This is not your punishment, this is your destiny, this is your journey, this is a part of your path, she said. She said she eventually accepted that this would be a gauntlet of painful endeavors and she had to choose life. Ella said she'd find things that she could use to spell out SOS and she'd hang pieces of clothing where it could be seen from the air. But as helicopters passed over she estimated that there were at least 20 times they were nearby they couldn't see her. Until Friday morning when a helicopter surveying areas to put search crews into the forest spotted her. She'd been sitting out on a rock frying in the sun and here came another helicopter but she saw someone pointing at her. I just fell to the ground and just started bawling, she said. In hindsight, Ella says that even though she hates cell phones she should have taken hers with her into the forest. She also will take a water bottle next time. That next time though in this park won't be any time soon. And maybe next time she won't listen to a voice that intentionally got her lost. Thanks for listening. If you missed any part of tonight's show or if you'd like to hear it again you can subscribe to the podcast where you'll hear not only tonight's radio show but also the extra sudden death overtime content that I prepared that I didn't have time to fit in. And while the radio show is one night per week I upload episodes for the podcast 7 nights per week and if you're one of my patrons you get a commercial free copy of tonight's show immediately after it's over including the overtime content. You can become a patron and or subscribe to the podcast at WeirdDarkness.com or you can search for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts. You can follow the show on Facebook and Twitter at Weird Darkness and please tell others about the show who love the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters or unsolved mysteries like you do. Doing that helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And if you'd like to be a part of the show you can call in to the dark line, toll free and tell your own true paranormal story or a story that happened to someone you know. That number is 1-877-277-5944. Again the toll free number is 1-877-277-5944. You can also email me anytime on the contact page at WeirdDarkness.com. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Hey Weirdos, keep listening. Hour 2 of the Weird Darkness radio show is coming up. Welcome Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and 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 this hour of the radio show, we'll visit a small farm near the town of Chittenden, Vermont where a strange mystery took place involving the Eddy brothers.  We're looking to the disappearance of three Missouri teenagers in 1992. The vanishing of the Springfield 3 remains unsolved to this day. We'll hear from a Weird Darkness listener who called the dark line to tell us about some strange things taking place around his home with a ghostly girl, a phantom dog, and some poltergeist activity. And if we have time, we'll cover the death of Eugene Red McLaughlin, a Chicago mobster who took his last swim during what local papers dubbed slaughter week. If we do run out of time this hour, we'll put the story into today's sudden death overtime, which podcast subscribers can hear immediately after tonight's show. And also in today's overtime, I'm going to share the story of Jack Leggs Diamond, known as the Clay Pigeon of the Underworld, because he was shot so many times and kept coming back for more. If you're new here, welcome to the show. And if you're already a member of this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to follow Weird Darkness on Facebook and Twitter, and visit WeirdDarkness.com to find the daily Weird Darkness podcast, watch streaming B horror movies and horror hosts 24-7 for free, listen to free audiobooks that I've narrated, send me your own true story of something paranormal that's happened to you or someone you know and more. You can find it all at WeirdDarkness.com.  According to newspaper and spiritualist accounts of 1874, some very strange things were happening on a small Vermont farm near the town of Chittenden.  The Eddies lived in an unkempt two-story building that was reported to be infested with troops of supernatural beings in such numbers that had never been reported before or since. The events at the farm were said to be so powerful and so strange that people came from all over the world to witness them. Spiritualists began calling Chittenden the spirit capital of the universe. Needless to say, not everyone was convinced of the legitimacy of the reported events on the Eddy farm. One such man was a successful attorney named Henry Steele Olcott. Prior to hearing of the Eddy brothers, Olcott had no interest whatsoever in the burgeoning spiritualist movement. However, one day, as he returned to his office from lunch, he picked up a copy of the Spiritualist newspaper, Banner of Light. In the paper, he read a graphic account of the strange happenings that were being reported in Chittenden, Vermont. It is unlikely at that time that Olcott had any idea how a simple newspaper article was going to change his life. It is important that we establish the fact that Henry Olcott was not connected in any way to the Spiritualist movement, nor was he a proponent of the paranormal. What might have prompted him to pick up a copy of Banner of Light that day is unknown. Olcott was born in New Jersey in 1832 and attended college in New York City studying agricultural science. While still in his early 20s, he received international recognition for his work on a model farm and for founding a school for agricultural students. During this same time, he published three scientific works. He went on to become the farm editor for Horace Greeley's New York Tribune. When the Civil War broke out, Olcott enlisted in the Union Army. He was appointed as a special investigator to root out corruption and fraud in military arsenals and shipyards. He was soon promoted to the rank of Colonel, and after the war he was part of a three-person panel that investigated the assassination of President Lincoln. Olcott went on to study law and became a wealthy and successful attorney. So how would an agriculturist and military investigator go on to become one of the first American psychic researchers? After buying a copy of the Spiritualist newspaper, Olcott read with interest the reports about the eddy farm. Although skeptical, he knew that if the stories were true, this was the most important fact in modern physical science, he later wrote. A short time after reading the story, Colonel Olcott traveled to Vermont, accompanied by a newspaper artist named Alfred Capps. Together, they planned to investigate the strange events at the eddy farm, and if the stories were a hoax, they would expose the eddy brothers in the daily graphic newspaper as nothing but charlatans. If the eddies were true mediums, though, Olcott would announce the validity of spiritualism to the world. In either event, Olcott was determined to be fair and open-minded in his judgments. Olcott and Capps traveled to the secluded town of Chittenden in the Green Mountains. The trip out to the farm was uneventful, but the first meeting with the eddy brothers was anything but ordinary. The two distant and unfriendly farmers were rough-hewn characters with dark hair and eyes, and knew England accents so thick that the New York attorney and writer could scarcely understand them. Olcott would later learn that the brothers were descended from a long line of psychics. Mary Bradley, a distant relative, had been convicted of witchcraft at Salem in 1692. She had escaped the village with the help of friends, their own grandmother had been blessed with the gift of second sight and often went into trances, speaking to entities that no one else could see. Their mother Julia had been known for frightening her neighbors with predictions and visions, although her husband, Zephaniah, condemned her powers as the work of the devil. Julia quickly learned to hide her gifts from the cruel and abusive husband. However, the supernatural could not be hidden once the couple began having children. Strange poundings began shaking the house, disembodied voices were heard in empty rooms, and occasionally the children even vanished from their cribs. They were likely to be discovered elsewhere in the house or even outside. As William and Horatio got older, their strange powers strengthened.  When these visiting children vanished, he would take his boys to the barn and beat them with a raw hide whip as punishment. The strange children returned, again and again, though, earning the young Eddie boys countless beatings. Eventually, they would grow to both fear and hate their own father. The boys soon learned they were unable to attend school. The initial attempts were marked by inexplicable happenings and disturbances as invisible hands threw books, levitated desks, and caused objects like rulers, inkwells, and slates to fly about the room. Zephaniah tried everything he could to stop the disturbances, although this mostly consisted of him beating and abusing the youngsters. The strange events continued, though. When he realized that he couldn't stop the weird antics, he grew furious. Each time the boys fell into a trance, he would berate and verbally abuse them. He would try to rouse them by pinching and slapping them until they were black and blue. Once, on the advice of a sympathetic church-going friend, he doused the boys with boiling water. When this didn't work, he allowed his friend to drop a red-hot coal into William's hand, hoping to exercise his devils. The boy never awakened from his trance, but he did bear a scar on his palm for the rest of his life. On occasion, the spirits would attempt to defend the boys, appearing in front of Zephaniah and driving him from the house. Needless to say, these eerie and frustrating happenings were more than the man could stand. So, tiring of the boys but realizing their money-making potential, he sold the Etty Brothers to a traveling showman, who for the next 14 years took them all over America, Canada, and Europe. The long series of performances can only be described as sadism run rampant. As part of the performance, their manager would bind and gag the boys and then would challenge audience members to try and awaken them from their trances. The cruelty inflicted by these audiences made their fathers' abuse look tame. The Etties were locked into small wooden boxes to see if they could escape, and hot wax was poured into their mouths to see if they could produce spirit voices when they were unable to talk. The skeptics poked, prodded, pinched, and punched the sleeping brothers, leaving them scarred and damaged for the rest of their lives. On several occasions, they were even stoned and shot at by angry mobs. William Etty bore a number of bullet scars on his body. Infuriated mobs attacked them and their promoters for every reason except for the justifiable one of stopping further child abuse. Some of the protesters were religious fanatics, convinced the Etties were in league with the devil, while others were skeptics who felt that they had been cheated out of their money and had watched a performance of trickery. They barely escaped from Danvers, Massachusetts with their lives. In Cleveland, an angry mob seized William Etty and only a last-minute rescue saved him from the pain of hot tar and feathers. In some of the larger cities like New York and Philadelphia, they were safer from mobs but were still subjected to threats and indignities. In spite of all of this, the Etties gave performances so sensational and so profitable that only the death of their father ended their tours and their suffering. They were finally allowed to return home. But that is nowhere near the end of their story. We'll continue with the strange mystery of the Etty Brothers when Weird Darkness returns. In 2025, neutron bombs wipe out much of the world's drinkable water. For the next several years, survivors exist in deplorable conditions and their rations are dwindling. One woman arises from the camp determined to improve conditions. Charlotte is ready to do whatever it takes to ensure clean water for her fellow survivors. Water is almighty. Whoever controls the water rules the world. Can Charlotte prevent the power from falling into the wrong hands? Weird Darkness Publishing presents Working for H2O by Sarah Faith. Now available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions on Amazon and at WeirdDarkness.com. Welcome back to Weird Darkness, I'm Darren Marlar. We'll continue with the mystery of the Etty Brothers in just a moment. But first, let's check in and see who recently called the dark line. I'm Steve from Alabama. My story begins probably 2005. Anyway, I moved in with what was to be my wife, my girlfriend at the time, and we'd always see shadows in and out the house. Now her grandmother lived with her, passed away in what used to be her bedroom. She told me about it and I never really thought much about it. You know, I just keep seeing them out the corner of my eye. As time went on, they kind of decreased, but other activity increased. We'd hear running up and down the halls, you know, the middle of the night. One night our bed and door opened up and closed. You know, my wife and I were laying in bed and I said, well, is this going to be the first show? So I get up and I go check on them. They both sound asleep. So I go back to bed and tell my wife, you know, we don't think nothing of it. And we keep hearing footsteps. One night, I go outside, I left some tools outside. That's about 10 o'clock, Claire and I. I go out to get them and I hear someone say, Daddy, my daughter, Peyton, does that sound like her? You know, seven, eight years old. So Peyton, what are you doing outside? Never got an answer. I looked back there and then saw nothing. I came inside.  So I went to my wife and asked her, hey, did you happen to say anything? Well, she's in the bedroom who's adjacent to, well, she said no. So I couldn't figure it out. Oh, maybe I'm hearing things, maybe it's sound outside. So I go to bed, everything. And one night, my wife sees an apparition, I guess you say, of a girl, curly hair or light blue dress, roughly late 1800s, early 1900s. I didn't see her. Later on, I ended up seeing her.  We used to be too bored, and my kids weren't there. We used to been wicked when we're now Christian. But we, we practiced everything we need to, grounding, centering. You know, we were protected. It turned out it was a girl who was lost looking for her family who used to live here. And it wasn't but a few days later, I was over in the woods and I found some doll tags related to her family. I had a young daughter. She's still taking a bottle of leverdring. And I went to go get her a bottle. And I felt like a rush of wind rush fast. And I didn't think a whole lot about it. You know, maybe it's cool outside. You know, all well, I get to the kitchen and I see what looks like a little child leaning over in the mantle. I like get the bottle and I go back in the bedroom and to tell my wife about it. And she thought she saw a shadow rush fast. Later on that night, we're laying in bed, we're talking and I'm laying on the side of the bed close to the door. I look out the door and I see what looks like an Australian shepherd with almost a star imprint on it for one eye.  Why is it saying the thing? Because you know, maybe I'm seeing things, maybe I'm tired. Anyway, she goes to the bathroom and she feels like something's in there growling. And she tells me about it. And I said, well, you know, the only response I had was, well, I saw it, but you know, I didn't know what I was seeing. And there's no point in both of us getting bit by a ghost dog, you know, just laughing at all. She didn't find it funny. But, you know, time went on, things just kept happening. I had a necklace out of where every day and I tossed it up on the CD player. And I literally watched it come off the CD player into this champagne glass I used to keep. And I always put the necklace in there. And I know it sounds like garbage. If I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe it either. But I know what I saw because I was there when I saw it. Thanks for the story, Steve. Sounds like you might have a poltergeist. You know, you know, what with the moving objects, strange sounds and voices. But the more I think about it, poltergeists, they don't normally manifest into something that you would see, you know, like a specter. So you might have a second or even a third entity with that ghostly girl and the phantom dog. I would most definitely get an expert to come in and see what's going on around you. Thanks for listening, Steve. And hey, you know what, if more stuff happens, feel free to call in with some updates. If you have a true paranormal or creepy story to share of your own, you can do what Steve did and call the dark line toll-free at 1-877-277-5944. That's 1-877-277-5944. Coming up, we will continue with the strange mystery of the Eddie Brothers on Weird Darkness. I'm Darren Marlar. Welcome back to Weird Darkness. We continue now with the mystery of the Eddie Brothers. When we last left the story, they had just finished being performance monkeys, for lack of better words, being abused by crowds and their own father. We'll see what happens next as we continue. They moved on to their family farm with their sister Mary and opened the house as a modest inn called the Green Tavern. Unfortunately, by then the brothers were warped men, hostile and suspicious, trusting no one but each other. Colonel Alcott later described them as two men who could easily make newcomers feel ill at ease and unwelcome. As unsociable as they were, the Eddies rarely had a vacancy in their inn. They took in spiritualist boarders who flocked from all over America and Europe to take part in the seances that were held on every night but Sunday. The Eddies charged $10 per week for a room and board at the inn, which was high for the time but not exorbitant. Overflow visitors found other lodging in Chittenden and neighboring homes, for though the Eddie House was large, it was unable to serve the huge number of visitors who gathered for the nightly seances. Colonel Alcott obtained a second floor room and, like all of the visitors, was given the run of the house. Apparently, all but the most gullible guests used this freedom to search the premises, hoping or fearing to find theatrical props and assorted items that might aid in hoaxing those who came to see the seances. Where did the Eddies hide the mirrors, wires and sheets? Where were the costumes they used in the hoax? Alcott prowled the house from cellar to attic but was unsuccessful in finding anything to show the events were a fraud. On Alcott's first day at the farm, he was witness to an outdoor seance. In the bright moonlight of a warm summer evening, a group of 10 participants traveled down a path and into a deep ravine.  Alcott later learned that it was called Honto's Cave in honor of the Native American spirit who often appeared there. Alcott suspiciously investigated the cave but no exit could be found at the back of the rocks. He determined there was no way that anyone could slip in or out of the cave without being seen. Horatio Eddie acted as the medium for the seance. He sat on a camp stool under the arch and then was draped in a makeshift spirit cabinet formed by shulls and branches that had been cut from small saplings. As Horatio rested there, a gigantic man dressed as a Native American emerged from the darkness of the cave. While the medium addressed this spirit, someone cried out and pointed up toward the top of the cave. Standing there, silhouetted against the moon was another gigantic Indian. To the right, a spectral female had materialized on a ledge. In all, ten such figures appeared during the seance. The last, the spirit of William White, the late editor of a spiritualist newspaper, emerged from within Horatio's cabinet. He was dressed in a black suit and white shirt and was supposedly recognizable to some who had read the newspaper and recognized him from his picture. He vanished at the same time the others did. Moments later, Horatio appeared from the cabinet and signaled that the seance was at an end. After the bizarre display was over, Alcott and Caps carefully searched the cave and the surrounding area for footprints in the soft earth. They found no trace that anyone had been there. Alcott found the seance to be convincing, but was sure that he'd be able to more easily detect fraud within the controlled setting of the eddy house. He and Caps thoroughly examined the large circle room which was located on the second floor of the farmhouse. He drew maps, charts and diagrams and took numerous measurements, sure that he would find false panels, secret doors or hidden passages. However, he found nothing out of the ordinary. He was determined not to give up though, and he convinced the newspaper to hire men to come to Chittenden and examine the place. Using carpenters and engineers as consultants, another thorough search was conducted. The experts also found nothing out of the ordinary. After this, Alcott and Caps were finally convinced that the walls and floors were as solid as they seemed. Because of this, what Alcott witnessed during the nights that followed became even stranger. Each seance was basically the same. Six nights a week, visitors would assemble on rough wooden benches in the seance room. A platform was lit only by a kerosene lamp, recessed in a barrel. Williamette, who acted as the primary medium, mounted the platform and entered a small cabinet. A few moments later, soft voices began to whisper in the distance. Often there would be singing, accompanied by spectral music. Musical instruments came to life and soared above the heads of the audience members, disembodied hands appeared, waving and touching the spectators, and odd lights and unexplained noises appeared and filled the air. Then the first spirit form emerged from the cabinet. They came one at a time, or in groups, numbering as many as twenty or thirty in an evening. Some were completely visible and seemed solid. Others were transparent and ethereal. Regardless, they awed the frightened spectators. The spirits ranged in size from over six feet to small. It is worth noting here that Williamette was only five feet nine inches tall. Most of the ghostly apparitions were elderly Yankees or Native Americans, but many other races and nationalities also appeared in costume, like Africans, Russians, Asians, and more. Where had they come from, Alcott wondered. He'd examined the spirit cabinet and platform and had found no trap doors, nor hidden passages. In fact, there was no room in the cabinet for anyone other than the medium himself. Alcott had studied the workings of stage magicians and fraudulent mediums, but could find none of their tricks present at the eddy house. The apparitions not only appeared, but they also performed, sang, and chatted with the sitters. They produced spirit articles like musical instruments, clothing, and scarves. In all, nearly every type of supernatural phenomena was reported at the eddy farmhouse. These included wrappings, moving physical objects, spirit paintings, automatic writing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, healings, unseen voices, levitation, remote visions, teleportation, and more. And of course, the full-bodied manifestations of which Alcott observed more than 400 during the weeks he visited the house. He concluded that a show like that, which he had seen, would have required an entire company of actors and several trunks of costumes. Yet, Alcott's inspection of the premises revealed no place to hide either actors or props. The idea of stage actors was further dispelled by the convincing manner of the spirits. One woman spoke in Russian to the alleged spirit of her deceased husband. A number of other dialects were also heard. How was this possible when the eddies could barely read and write and were scarcely capable of speaking coherent English? In addition, such an elaborate show would have cost a fortune to produce each night. They would have had to pay the actors, invest in costumes, and hire someone to create the marvels of the spirits. This would have been impossible given that the brothers were almost penniless. Most of the visitors who came to the farm did not pay and the rooms only gained them $10 per week for room and board. No admission was ever charged for the seances. In Alcott's mind, fraud would have been physically and financially impossible. The investigator's 10-week stay on the eddy farm was surely a test of endurance. He left disliking the house, the food, the weather, and the eddy brothers themselves. However, he was convinced of the fact that the two men could make contact with the dead. The farm attracted many international visitors, but none of them was as flamboyant as Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, who arrived during the time of Colonel Alcott's investigation. Madame Blavatsky had not reached the height of her fame at this point, but she already commanded great respect in occult circles. She was a theatrical woman with a powerful personality and a flair for the dramatic, and she made an impression at the rural farm by smoking cigars and appearing in a variety of veils and flowing dresses. Many of the visitors in 1874 were already aware of Madame Blavatsky. She had been born in Russia in 1831 to German parents with excellent social credentials. She married young but later abandoned her husband to explore both the physical and spiritual worlds. She visited an odd assortment of places, such as Canada, Mexico, Texas, and India, and made a first attempt to enter the forbidden country of Tibet. A short time later, she vanished. For a decade between 1848 and 1858, Madame Blavatsky was not heard from, and she would often refer to this time as her veiled years. Her cloudy allusions to this time period were always vague and always intriguing. She may not have spent seven years on a mountain retreat in Tibet, but she truly did learn much of the Indian mysticism and acquired more than a dabbler's knowledge of the Jewish Kabbalah. From this learning, she would later piece together the novel religion of theosophy, a curious mixture of many faiths and philosophies. Madame Blavatsky returned home to Russia in 1858 and began offering performances of spiritualism, mixed with overtones of the mystical east. She came to America and soon established herself as one of the best known practicing mediums and occult teachers in the country. This is the reason why she made such a dramatic appearance when she came to Chittenden in 1874. She not only attended seances at the farm, but also volunteered to play appropriate music on the pedal organ that the brothers had recently acquired for the seance room. The eddies were quick to latch on to her services. Everyone expected something marvelous to happen, and they were not disappointed. The group gathered that night in the seance room as Madame Blavatsky played the organ. William sat entranced in his cabinet, as suddenly the curtains swept aside and a curious figure walked out. He was a tall, swarthy man who was costumed in velvet, decorated with gold braid, bedecked with tassels and wearing high leather boots. The man bowed, made gracious gestures of welcome, and then walked toward the observers with his hand pressed to his heart in greeting. Then, apparently from nowhere, a lance appeared at his empty hand. It was nearly 10 feet long and decorated with what were said to be ostrich plumes. The man stomped across the platform, returned to its center, gave a military salute, and then began to melt in some sort of mist. The mist or smoke apparently emanated from the man's body and he gradually blended into the cloud and then disappeared. The crowd roared with both bewilderment and approval, but Madame Blavatsky regarded it all with equanimity. She was, after all, accustomed to oddities and was somewhat of a puzzle herself. Madame Blavatsky did not remain in Chittenden for long. In three years she was to publish her acclaimed Isis Unveiled, the classic textbook of Theosophy that would attract more than 100,000 followers around the world. Always drawn to India, she went to Madras in 1879 where she established the world headquarters of the Theosophical Society. She performed so many alleged miracles in India that an investigation was warranted by the Society for Psychical Research in 1884. The miracles collapsed under scrutiny, but her disciples rationalized that a few outward, even though questionable wonders, are necessary to draw the masses to the true inner faith. We'll wrap up our story about the Etty Brothers when Weird Darkness returns. Welcome back to Weird Darkness, I'm Darren Marlar. This is obviously taking a long time with the mystery of the Etty Brothers, so the other story is about Sarah Cotun shooting her boss dead, the disappearance of the three Missouri teenagers, and all of the mob stories that I was thinking about placing in this hour.  You can just look for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts. Let's finish up our story, though, about the strange mystery of the Etty Brothers. The Etty's most famous guest left, and Colonel Alcott departed as well. Not only did he chronicle his visit in the newspaper, he also wrote a massive book called People from Other Worlds. The book, more than 500 pages long, is full of precise drawings of the apparitions, the grounds, the house, and even detailed plans of its construction, proving that no hidden passages existed. He also recorded over 400 different supernatural beings and collected hundreds of affidavits and scores of eyewitness testimony to the amazing events. He reproduced dozens of statements from respected tradesmen and carpenters who had examined the house for trickery. A modern reader would have to look really hard to discover anything that Alcott did not investigate. His extensive documentation, along with his investigative skills, suggests that the events were not part of a hoax. Alcott remained skeptical and analytical throughout his 10-week stay at the farm, and yet he came away convinced that the Etty's had the power to contact and communicate with the dead. In short, Colonel Alcott came away from Chittenden, a believer. He was so convinced that not only did he write his book, but he also helped Madame Blavatsky found the Theosophical Society. He once skeptical military investigator was convinced that the dead could and did communicate with the living. Eventually, the Etty brothers and their sister Mary went their separate ways. Bickering and feuding had driven them apart. They began turning away the spiritualist borders and, except for a rare seance, lived off the farm and their savings. The Glen at Honto's Cave became overgrown, and the unhappy Etties were more or less ignored by their neighbors. Horatio moved out and took a house across the road, where he took up light gardening, occasional seances and doing magic tricks for local children. Mary moved to the nearby village of East Pittsburgh where she became a full-time professional medium. William dropped out of public life altogether and became a bitter recluse at the family farm. The first of the Etties to die was Horatio on September 8, 1922. William lived for another 10 years. He never married and refused to ever participate in spiritualism again. He died on October 25, 1932 at the age of 99. If either of the men had any secrets about the weird events at their home, they took them to their grave. So what really happened on the Etty farm? In 1969, writer John Mason reported that almost no one living in the area of Chittenden was familiar with the Etty Brothers' strange story. A few local residents recalled stories told by their parents that led them to believe the whole thing had been a hoax, a fraud, and perhaps they were right, for just about everything about the story of the Etty Brothers seems to be worthy of serious questions. Too many of the events and details are reminiscent of well-known deceptions and the work of tricksters, who, unlike the Etty Brothers, were unmasked as frauds. But if the Etty Brothers were fakes, how did they do what they did? There were no uses of clever light projection or mirrors, smoke machines, or easily detectable wires. No matter which way we turn, we are confronted with the choice between the impossible and the preposterous. Whatever you choose to believe, it can't be denied that something amazing and mysterious occurred on the farm of the Etty Brothers. Although what this may have been, we may never know for sure. And while the radio show is one night per week, I upload episodes of the podcast 7 days per week, and if you're one of my patrons, you get a commercial free copy of tonight's show immediately after it's over. You can become a patron and or subscribe to the podcast at WeirdDarkness.com, or just search for Weird Darkness wherever you listen to podcasts. You can follow the show on Facebook and Twitter at Weird Darkness, and also tell others about the show who love the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters, or unsolved mysteries like you do. Doing that helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And if you'd like to be a part of the show, you can call into the dark line, toll free, and tell your own true paranormal story, or a story that has happened to you or someone you know. That number is 1-877-277-5944. Again, the toll free number is 1-877-277-5944. You can also email me anytime at darren at WeirdDarkness.com. Weird Darkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright, Weird Darkness. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Psalm 34, verses 12 and 13.  And a final thought from Steve Jobs, your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.  On June 8, 1908, an unmarried immigrant nurse named Sarah Cotun finally had enough. After she lured the doctor that she worked for to an abandoned house, she shot and killed him. Never once did she believe that her actions were wrong. In the investigation that followed, it was discovered that her boss, Dr. Martin Nospitz, had raped her at work and she had become pregnant. When the police and courts refused to help her, she took matters into her own hands and carried out a sentence of death. Sarah's story became a national sensation.  But Sarah saw things differently. She was an Avenger who killed her attacker before he could hurt other women. When I thought of my broken life and the lives he might break, well, I felt it was my duty to kill him, she told a reporter. But Sarah was soon on trial for her life. What would the courts decide? In 1907, Sarah Cotun was working at a sanatorium in New York City. Like many staff members of the day, she also lived at the hospital. She was training to be a nurse under Dr. Martin Nospitz. He was bullying, aggressive and threatening to her, but Sarah was determined to stick it out. Dr. Nospitz promised her that she would become a trained nurse if she stayed in his employ. I was frightened and did not want to stay, she later explained, but the doctor wanted me to stay. One morning, Nospitz broke into Sarah's room. He chloroformed her and while she was unconscious, he raped her. The rape resulted in a pregnancy. When he found out that Sarah was pregnant, the doctor pressured her to have an abortion. Sarah refused and quit her job but struggled to find new work. She had immigrated from Russia in 1902 and now she was an unmarried, pregnant woman with no means to support herself. In 1908, she took Auspitz to court.  Auspitz denied the accusation and used his brother and brother-in-law to attack Sarah's reputation. They claimed she had a poor character, implying that she had seduced Auspitz and initiated a sexual relationship with him. The judge ruled in favor of the doctor and dismissed the case. Sarah then went to the police for help, but they turned her away. She then visited the district attorney who told her that there was no legal recourse that could be taken against Sarah's rapist. That's when Sarah decided to quote, be my own judge. On June 8th, she lured her rapist to the home of a pretend patient. When Auspitz arrived, she shot him through the heart. She didn't protest when the police took her away. Never did she proclaim her innocence. She simply stated that her actions had been justified. She had done it to protect other women. She was correct, at least as far as that went. Sarah had not been Auspitz's only victim. It was later discovered that Auspitz had a history of wronging women. Before Sarah killed him, at least two other women brought complaints against the doctor. One woman, Agnes Defa, tried to attack Auspitz in court when he claimed that she had initiated a sexual relationship with him. The other woman, Anna Jensen, had been a patient at Auspitz's sanitarium. After Auspitz raped her, she burst into his office with a gun. She tried to shoot him, but the cartridge in her revolver failed to fire.  The police had been aware of the incident, and yet still did nothing to help Sarah when she launched her complaint against the doctor. As Sarah waited in prison for her trial, her case became a media sensation. At first, the stories were negative.  The stories painted a picture of hysteria and criminality, an immigrant who was naturally a vicious killer. But all that changed after she gave birth to her son Abraham in prison. The newspaper now told a new story of a woman who must be innocent. Abraham was the proof of her story. The evil doctor had tried to pressure her to abort the baby, and Sarah's refusal made her popular with the public. She was a model mother, they said, who was only defending her honor. Reports compared her case to the unwritten law that applied to gentlemen in the 19th century. If a woman's honor was at stake, gentlemen were allowed to retaliate, even if it violated the law. By the turn of the 20th century, that same law began to apply to women themselves. Women had little power to stop men's aggression and violence, the unwritten law argued, so it was acceptable for women to protect themselves in any way they could, even with a gun. At the end of Sarah's trial, Judge James A. Blanchard accepted her plea of insanity. He gave her a suspended sentence, sending her to the care of the Council of Jewish Women. Sarah's defense inspired other women. In early 1909, a woman named Elizabeth coerced Charles Schmidt into marrying her, saying if he didn't, she would, quote, blow out his brains like Sarah Koten did, unquote.   These women claimed they were inspired to violence because of Sarah Koten. As for Sarah herself, she walked out of prison after her trial and vanished from history. The Council for Jewish Women helped her to find a suitable home where she might change her name and rear her child in ignorance of the crime its mother had committed. The Council concluded its statement on Sarah's case with this. While no one can consistently condone murder or any other offense against the law, it is gratifying to know that this suffering woman is not to be cast into prison for a crime that she primarily was not to blame for. On December 18, 1931, gangster and bootlegger Jack Leggs Diamond was shot to death in a rooming house in Albany, New York. Diamond had already survived five attempts on his life between 1916 and 1931, causing him to be known as the Clay Pigeon of the Underworld.  This time, Diamond didn't bounce back. Diamond, whose real name was John Moran, was born in Philadelphia on July 10, 1897. His parents, John and Sarah, were Irish immigrants. In 1889, a younger brother, Eddie, was born. The two boys struggled through grade school while their mother suffered from health problems. She died December 24, 1913 and their father moved them to Brooklyn soon after. Jack almost immediately fell in with some of the young street gangs of the era, notably the Boiler Gang. His first arrest for burglary occurred when he broke into a jewelry store on February 4, 1914. More than a dozen arrests would eventually follow. After a brief stint at a juvenile reformatory, he was drafted into the military during World War I. Not surprisingly, he deserted after less than a year and was sent to Leavenworth. When he got out of prison in 1921, he returned to New York where he began associating with Charles Lucky Luciano, who was then a young but up-and-coming gangster. Diamond did odd jobs for Luciano, who introduced him to gambler Arnold Rothstein, who was the most powerful mobster in the city at that time. He eventually became Rothstein's personal bodyguard and was cut in on the new heroin racket, which was making a lot of money. Diamond, who had taken in his younger brother Eddie, was now making a lot of cash, and the brothers decided to start their own bootlegging business. It was a common practice at the time to hijack liquor shipments from other gangsters and then sell it, hurting the competition and making a huge profit. Unfortunately, the brothers decided to hijack truckloads that belonged to Owen the Killer Madden and Big Build Wire, two of the most ruthless Irish mobsters in the city. They were also connected to a larger syndicate that was run by Dutch Shultz, Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and others. Once word got around that the hijackings had been carried out by the diamonds, the brothers lost any protection they might have had and became targets for everyone. On October 24, 1924, Diamond was driving his Dodge sedan along Fifth Avenue and stopped at the intersection at 110th Street. A large black limousine pulled up next to him. A shotgun appeared from the back window and, according to witnesses, opened fire on Diamond. He ducked down and hit the gas. He drove an entire block without looking over the dashboard. When he did, he saw that the black car was gone. He drove himself to nearby Mount Sinai Hospital, where doctors removed shotgun pellets from his head and face. When the police questioned him, he shrugged the whole thing off. They must have thought he was someone else, he told them. It was obvious to Diamond that he needed protection, so he turned to Jacob Little Augie Organ, a Jewish gangster who had ran several rackets in Lower Manhattan. The main thing that he had going for him, as far as Diamond was concerned, was that he was one of the few people who didn't want to kill him. Organ wanted to increase his own power base so that he could compete with Luciano Lansky and the rest. Diamond would provide some of the muscle that he needed. Jack and Eddie became Organ's bodyguards, and in turn, Organ cut them in on his liquor and narcotics rackets. Then, on October 15, 1925, Organ and Diamond were finishing their daily meetings and collection rounds and were approaching the corner of the Lansky and Norfolk streets in Lower Manhattan. Three men approached them and started shooting. Organ was fatally wounded in the head and Diamond was hit twice on the right side. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for emergency surgery and eventually recovered. He refused to tell the police anything, and they tried to charge him with murder but couldn't make anything stick. Organ's murder was never solved, although it was believed to have been arranged by Louis Lepke Buchalter and his partner Jacob Gura Shapiro. They wanted to take over Organ's rackets and it's believed that Diamond may have been in on the plot. After he was released from the hospital, he took over Organ's liquor operation while Buchalter and Shapiro took over the dead man's narcotics and other rackets. With Cash now pouring in, Diamond became a regular on the nightclub circuit and his picture started showing up in the newspapers. He was never portrayed as a gangster though, only as a wealthy man about town. The public loved him and so did the ladies. Although married, he was a womanizer and his best known mistress was showgirl and dancer Marion Kiki Roberts. His lamboyant lifestyle kept him out at the clubs at night and this may have been how he obtained the nickname Legs. He was a great dancer and was part owner of the Hotsy Totsy Club, a dance spot on Broadway. So the nickname could have come from this, or as others have suggested, from his uncanny ability to escape death. On July 14, 1929, violence came to the Hotsy Totsy Club. Two brothers, Pete and William Red Cassidy, along with a friend named Simon Walker, started a fight at the club after bartenders and staff refused to serve the already drunk men. When a waiter told them to quiet down, Red turned on the waiter and began arguing with him. Walker grabbed club manager Jaime Cohen by the arm, demanded service and threatened to destroy the club if they didn't get service. He then shoved Cohen to the floor. Diamond and one of his cronies, Charles and Tritada, saw the exchange and stepped in. He told Walker, I'm Jack Diamond and I run this place.  Walker turned to Diamond and snarled, you can't push me around. Those turned out to be his final words. Diamond and Tritada both pulled their guns and shot Walker and the Cassidy brothers. Red was hit three times in the head, once in the stomach, once in the groin. Walker was hit six times in the stomach. Both men were dead when they hit the floor. When the police arrived, Pete Cassidy was lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs with three gunshot wounds. Guns were found on all three of the men who had extensive arrest records. There were more than 50 people in the club when the incident took place, but no one saw a thing. Their backs were turned, they told detectives, or they were in the bathroom. Within six weeks of the shooting, Cohen, the waiter, two bartenders and the club's hat check girl all disappeared. The waiter's bullet-ridden body was later found in New Jersey. No trace was ever located of the others. No witnesses ever came forward, so Diamond and and Tritada were never charged. With the heat on him though, Diamond closed down the club and moved to Green County in upstate New York with his long-suffering wife, Alice. But he was only in Greece County for a short time before he sent word to New York that he was planning to return soon and reclaim what was his. When he'd left the city, Schultz and Madden had quickly taken over his rackets. His planned return made him an immediate target and earned him the moniker of clay pigeon of the underworld. In 1930, while preparing for his move back to the city, but also while establishing a bootlegging operation in Green County, Diamond and two others kidnapped Grover Parks, a truck driver who'd been hauling liquor. They wanted to know where he was picking up his alcohol shipments, but Parks refused to tell them. Oddly, they set him loose. A few months later, Diamond tried the same thing with another driver, James Parks, and this time he was arrested and charged with kidnapping. He was later acquitted at trial. In late August 1930, Diamond traveled to Europe. He told reporters that he was on his way to France where he would take a mineral water cure for his health. The real reason for the trip, though, was to establish a German liquor source. He was planning to smuggle alcohol from Europe to re-establish his New York operation. But nothing went according to plan. When the ship docked in Belgium, he was taken into custody by the police. After several hours of questioning, he was put on a train to Germany. When he arrived there, he was arrested by the German Secret Service who put him on a freighter that was bound for Philadelphia. It arrived on September 23 and he was immediately arrested by the Philadelphia police. At a court hearing on the same day, Diamond was told that he would be released if he left for New York within the hour. The weary gangster readily agreed. In New York, he moved into the Hotel Monticello in Manhattan and began trying to take back his rackets in the city. Hardly anyone was happy to have him back. On the morning of October 10, 1930, Diamond was wounded by three men who forced their way into his hotel suite and shot him five times. Still in his pajamas, he staggered out into the hall where he collapsed. He was rushed to Polyclinic Hospital where he slowly recovered enough to be discharged on December 30. When asked how he managed to make it to the hallway with five bullets in him, Diamond said he'd already had two shots of whiskey for breakfast. On April 21, 1931, Diamond was arrested again, this time on assault charges that dated back to the parks beating in 1930. Two days later, he posted bond and was released. A week later, however, he was shot and wounded again. He was at a roadhouse called the Eratoga Inn near Cairo, New York, which was owned by Jimmy Wynn. Wynn had numerous underworld connections and the nightclub was a popular hangout for gangsters. Diamond had just finished eating with three companions and was waiting on a telephone call from his attorney. As he walked to the front door to get some fresh air, three gunmen who were dressed as duck hunters opened fire on him. Diamond was hit several times. A local man drove him to a hospital in Albany where he was treated for his injuries. His troubles continued. On May 1, while he was still in the hospital, New York state troopers seized beer and liquor worth more than $5,000 from one of Diamond's hideouts in Cairo. He was charged with bootlegging and sentenced to four years in state prison. He appealed the conviction and remained free on bail while he awaited the outcome of the appeal. Meanwhile, Diamond still had to face the music in the parks case and later that year he went to trial. He was again acquitted on the assault and kidnapping charges. He left court a free man December 17, 1931. In the mood for a celebration, he and his family, along with a few friends, celebrated at the Rainbow Room of the Kenmore Hotel, the best hotel in Albany. At about 1 a.m. on December 18, he left the party and went to see his mistress, Kiki Roberts, who was staying at another hotel. Roberts had attended the celebration party but he had left before midnight. Diamond stayed in her room until about 4.30 a.m. and then was driven to 67 Dove Street, a private rooming house where he had been staying during his trial. He entered the locked front door with his key, went upstairs to his room, and fell asleep on the bed. Witness reports say that a large black car, which had been parked down the street for some time, pulled up to the rooming house soon after Diamond arrived. Two men got out and entered the front door, using a key and quickly went upstairs. When they got to Diamond's room, they either used a key or, as some believe, Diamond drunkenly left his own key in the lock and entered the room. Diamond was asleep on the bed. While one man held him down, the other shot Diamond three times in the head. They ran out of the room but when they were halfway down the stairs, one of the gunmen ran back up, went back into Diamond's room and shot him a few more times, apparently just for good measure. The landlady, Laura Woods, awakened by the shots, overheard the second gunman call out, oh hell, that's enough, come on. The man left the house and drove away in the black car. A few minutes later, at 5 a.m., Mrs. Woods telephoned Alice Diamond, the contact that Jack had given her in case there was any trouble. Within minutes, Alice, one of Diamond's men and Diamond's eight-year-old nephew, Eddie, arrived at the house. Alice entered the room and began to scream. She frantically wiped blood from his face with a towel when the police and ambulance were called. Like most gangland slayings, the murder was never solved. In this case, there were just too many suspects since almost everyone seemed to want Diamond dead, from Dutch Schultz to the New York Syndicate, relatives of the Cassidy brothers who'd been shot at the Hotsy Totsy Club, and even local politicians who wanted Diamond out of the Albany area. It didn't seem to matter to most who had killed him. There weren't many who were going to miss him. Diamond was buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Queens on December 23. There was no church service or graveside ceremony. The burial was attended by Alice, her sister, and brother-in-law, three nieces, a cousin, about a dozen reporters, and more than 200 curiosity seekers. There were no known gangsters in attendance, and, against the custom of the day, none of them sent flowers either. Diamond may have gotten what he deserved, but there was one sad footnote to the story. On July 1, 1933, Alice Diamond was found shot to death in her Brooklyn apartment. It was speculated that she was killed by her husband's enemies to keep her quiet, but no one knows for sure. Her murder, like the murder of Jack Legge's Diamond, has never been solved. On June 6, 1992, two Missouri teenagers and one teen's mother vanished without a trace after a graduation ceremony and have never been seen again. It was a shocking and tragic end to what should have been the event of a lifetime, and it remains a haunting, unsolved mystery to this day. Best friends Suzanne Susie Streeter, 19, and Stacey McCall, 18, had just graduated from Kickapoo High School. They were spending the evening celebrating with friends. They visited several different graduation parties and then decided to go to Susie's house, which she shared with her mother, Cheryl Levitt, a 47-year-old cosmetologist for the rest of the night. Cheryl was probably happy to see them. Her night had been quiet. She had been on the phone with a friend talking about painting furniture until about 11.15 p.m. What happened after that remains a chilling puzzle. Since all of Susie's and Stacey's belongings were later found at Cheryl's house, purses, clothing, makeup, etc., it was assumed that they did make it there. Their cars were also in the driveway. But when friends arrived at the Levitt house the next morning, Susie, Stacey, and Cheryl were missing. A group of graduating friends all planned to go to the Whitewater Water Park the next day, so friends Janelle and Kirby came to the Levitt house at 8 a.m. on June 7. They knocked, but there was no answer. They went home and then returned at noon, thinking that perhaps the two girls had left for the water park without them. As they approached the house, they saw that the porch light was broken. They swept up the glass, trying to be helpful, but unknowingly contaminated a crime scene. Janelle and Kirby checked the door. It was unlocked. That was their first inkling that something might be wrong. When they entered the house, though, everything seemed intact. There were no signs of a struggle. The house was just empty, as if they had simply walked away. But to where? The cars were all parked in the driveway, but Susie, Stacey, and Cheryl were nowhere to be found. Just before the two teenagers left, the telephone rang. Janelle answered. The caller didn't identify himself, but began making lewd comments, so Janelle hung up, assuming it was a prank call. She and Kirby left the house. A little while later, Stacey's mother Janice McCall arrived at the house. She had tried to call, but there was no answer, so she had driven over. She hadn't heard from her daughter since early the previous evening. There was no answer when she knocked, so she went inside. She looked around and found Stacey's belongings. Her daughter's underwear and t-shirt were missing, but the rest of her clothes were neatly folded on a chair. It looked like both girls had removed their makeup in the bathroom the night before. Janice also found all three of the missing women's purses lined up on the floor outside of Susie's room, which seemed odd. The television was on, and Janice saw that there was a message flashing on the answering machine. When she tried to listen to it, she accidentally deleted it. She was convinced that something was wrong. It had been 16 hours since the three women had been seen. Janice and her husband decided to contact the police. When the authorities arrived, they tried to nail down just how many people had been inside of the house, possibly contaminating the crime scene, and tried to figure out what had happened. It was a baffling situation, but suspects soon emerged. The first suspect was Cheryl's son, Bart Streeter, who had recently argued with his mother and sister about his drinking problem. But Bart had a solid alibi and was soon ruled out. Authorities also questioned Susie's ex-boyfriend, Dustin Reckla. He'd been in trouble before. A short time back, he and a friend were arrested for vandalizing cemeteries. Susie had given a statement to the police that stated the boys had been digging up graves and stealing gold teeth from the corpses. Threats had been made against Susie and her mother. When questioned though, the boys were cooperative and also ruled out as suspects. The investigation then focused on Robert Craig Cox, an army veteran who had been arrested and convicted of a woman's murder in Florida. The Florida case was overturned due to a lack of evidence. In 1985, Cox was convicted of two different abduction attempts and sentenced to nine years in prison. His case was appealed and overturned in 1992 when a judge ruled that the evidence only gave the suspicion of guilt rather than proof of it. He was released in 1992 and sent to live with his parents in Springfield, Missouri, which put him in the right place at the right time to have been potentially involved in the disappearance of the three women. Cox was working as an electrician, which the police speculated could have given him an excuse to enter the home. They also found that Cox had previously worked with Stacey's father at his car lot. Cox's girlfriend gave him an alibi at the time, but years later she admitted that she lied about it. Cox had convinced her to make up the story if the police asked where he was during that weekend in June. Her story seemed solid, so the police had no choice but to let him go. But Cox found it impossible to stay out of trouble. A short time later, he was arrested again for an unrelated crime. Detectives still believed that he had something to do with the missing women and took the opportunity to question him again. Cox laughed at them. He said that he knew the women were dead and he claimed he knew where their bodies were buried, but was he telling the truth? The police didn't know. Cox loved attention and this was the perfect way to get it. He was their most promising suspect, but he wouldn't talk and they had no hard evidence against him. Eventually, the case went cold. The case of the Springfield 3 officially remains open. Tips and stories have led to nothing but dead ends over the years. Theories abound.  One tip, claiming that the women were buried in the foundation of a parking garage at a local hospital, was so convincing that the authorities tore up the concrete to look for them and they found nothing. What happened that night in 1992? There was no sign of a struggle. The three women were simply gone. They were declared legally dead in 1997, but the questions that linger still weigh heavy on surviving family members and on detectives who refuse to close the case. Where are the Springfield 3? After all these years, no one knows. On June 5, 1930, the body of Chicago mobster Eugene Red McLaughlin was found floating in the Chicago River, despite the bailing wire that was wrapped around his body and 75 pounds of metal that had been used to try and sink him to the bottom. The murder was actually one in a number of mob-related killings during what the Chicago papers called Slaughter Week. Like most mob hits of the prohibition era, it was never officially solved. It had already been a rough year prior to the events of late May and early June. In January, a gun battle occurred in which Frank McLaughlin, the mobster responsible for introducing the Tummy Gun to Chicago, received partial payback for the murders of at least nine victims of gangland slayings that he was reportedly responsible for. Coroners had often listed him as a cause of death in autopsy reports. He'd been indicted for two murders a short time before, but charges were dismissed. McLaughlin had been recently restless. He had fought over shares with his partner Joe Saltis and had transferred his allegiance to the South Side O'Donnells. During the ambush on January 28, he was struck in the right leg by a bullet. While recovering at the German Deaconess Hospital, he had two unexpected visitors who walked into his room and opened fire. McLaughlin, imprisoned by splints, did the best he could. He reached under his pillow and pulled out a 38-caliber revolver, which he fired five times. The intruders ran, leaving McLaughlin still alive. Two full chambers had been fired at him, but McLaughlin was only hit three times, and none of the wounds were fatal. He was interviewed by the police but, of course, did not name his attackers. He did, however, hint angrily that this would not be the end of the matter. One of the gunmen had been John Dingbat Oberta, a ferocious little man who was the chief gunman for McLaughlin's old partner, Saltis. On March 5, Oberta and his driver, Sam Malega, were taken for a ride in Dingbat's own Lincoln sedan. He was shotgunned to death. Oberta's funeral was a two-day wake, attended by 15,000 admirers from the back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, where Oberta had earned a name for himself as an influential young politician. Dingbat's widow had previously been the wife of Big Tim Murphy, the racketeer-controller of the Street Sweepers Union, who'd been machine gunned in front of his Rogers Park home in June 1928. She and Oberta had met at Murphy's funeral. She had her second husband buried next to her first husband in Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. She told reporters they were both good men. Then, in the last week of May 1930, the guns roared again, kicking off what some news scribblers dubbed Slaughter Week. On Saturday, Peter Nolfo, who had once worked for the defunct gunna operation and switched his allegiance to Joe Aiello, was shotgunned by the Druggan Lake Gang, allegedly on orders from Al Capone. Within hours, the Aiello's struck back and three died in the reprisal. A party of five was sitting on the terrace of a small resort hotel in Piscotty Lake during the early hours of Sunday morning. They were Joseph Berksha, who since being released from the Atlanta Penitentiary had been working for the Druggan Lake mob. Michael Quirk, a labor racketeer and beer runner. George Druggan, Terry Druggan's brother. Sam Heller, an election strong arm man from the 20th Ward, and Mrs. Vivian McGuinness, the wife of a Chicago lawyer. A full drum of machine gun bullets shattered the glass and slaughtered the group at the table. Peller, Quirk, and Berksha died on the spot. Druggan and Mrs. McGuinness were both injured. The assailants vanished into the darkness. No arrest was made, and newspapers explained the attack as a quarrel that had developed because some of the Druggan Lake boys were muscling in on the Fox Lake area, which was then supplied by Aiello and Moran breweries. The reprisals continued, and on Tuesday, Thomas Somnario, an Aiello man, was found dead in an alley at the rear of 831 West Harrison Street in Chicago. He had been garreted, and his wrists were tied with wire. He appeared to have been tortured for information. Four days later, a tugboat passing along the drainage canal at Summit on the southwest side bumped into the body of Eugene Red McLaughlin, a Druggan Lake gunman who had been named four times as a murderer and twice as a diamond thief and yet had never seen the inside of a prison. He had been shot twice in the head and dumped in the river. His wrists had been tied behind his back with bailing wire, and 75 pounds of iron had been stuffed in his pockets. It hadn't been enough to keep him from floating up from the bottom of the canal, though. Two weeks later, his body was identified by his brother, Bob McLaughlin, who was president of the Chicago Checker Cab Company. He'd taken over the office from Joe Warcrawl, who had run into a nasty accident while running for reelection. He'd been shot in the head. Before he died, he named Red McLaughlin as his attacker, a lead that was ignored by the police. A mournful Bob McLaughlin spoke to reporters after the grim task of identifying his brother's corpse. He said, A better kid never lived. He was friendly with all the boys, the West Side outfit, the North Siders, and the bunch on the South Side. Capone too. I don't know. I don't know. Red McLaughlin was just another casualty of the wars over territory in Chicago in the waning days of prohibition. The identity of his killer remains unknown.