Thank you very much. Greetings to Secretary Weinberger and General Abranson. I hope you haven't said everything I'm going to say. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to speak with you and to thank you for all you're doing to keep America in the forefront of scientific and technological change. Our country's security today relies as much on the genius and creativity of scientists as it does on the courage and dedication of those in the military services. It also relies on those with the wisdom to recognize innovation when they see it and to shepherd change over the obstacles and through the maze. It takes a special person endowed with vision and tenacity to overcome political and bureaucratic inertia. And many of you here today are just this kind of special people. And I want you to know that your President and your country are grateful. And if I'm not being too presumptuous, I think history will remember you too. There are three stages of reaction to any new idea as Arthur C. Clark, a brilliant writer with a fine scientific mind, once noted. First, it's crazy. Don't waste my time. Second, it's possible, but it's not worth doing. And finally, I always said it was a good idea. When I notice how much support tax simplification seems to have attracted as of late, I can't help but think of Clark's observation. Well, one sometimes has to live with opposition to proposals such as changing the tax code. But when the same kind of skepticism stands in the way of the national security of our country, it can be perilous. Clearly, intelligent and well-meaning individuals can be trapped by a mindset, a way of thinking that prevents them from seeing beyond what has already been done and makes them uncomfortable with what is unfamiliar. And this mindset is perhaps our greatest obstacle in regard to SDI. We're at a critical point now on national security issues, and we need your help. Many of our citizens are still unaware that today we are absolutely defenseless against the fastest, most destructive weapons man has ever created ballistic missiles. Yet there are still those who want to cut off or severely cut back our ability to investigate the feasibility of such defenses. Congressional action on the Defense Authorization Bill is coinciding with increasing diplomatic activity with the Soviet Union. Yet at the same time, we're in the midst of a budget fight which could take away the very leverage we need to deal with the Soviets successfully. Back in 1983, I challenged America's scientific community to develop an alternative to our total reliance on the threat of nuclear retaliation, an alternative based on protecting innocent people rather than avenging them, an alternative that would be judged effective by how many lives it could save rather than how many lives it could destroy. All of you know that during the past three decades, deterrence has been based on our ability to use offensive weapons to retaliate against any attack. Once an American president even had to make the excruciating decision to use such weapons in our defense. Isn't it time that we took steps that will permit us to do something about nuclear weapons rather than simply continue to live with them in fear? And this is what our SDI research is all about. And there can be no better time than today, the 41st anniversary of Hiroshima, to rededicate ourselves to finding a safer way to keep the peace. Many people believe the answer lies not in SDI, but only in reaching arms control agreements. Trust and understanding alone it is said will lead to arms control. But let's not kid ourselves. It's realism, not just trust, that is going to make it possible for adversaries like the Soviet Union and the United States to reach effective arms reduction agreements. Our SDI program has provided an historic opportunity, one that enhances the prospects for reducing the number of nuclear weapons. Technology can make it possible for both sides realistically without compromising their own security to reduce their arsenals. And the fear that one side might cheat might have a number of missiles above the agreed upon limit could be offset by effective defenses. Clearly by making offensive nuclear missiles less reliable, we make agreements to reduce their number more attainable. Particularly is that true where one side now is an economic basket case because of the massive arms buildup that it's been conducting over the last few decades, the Soviet Union. There has been progress. There's a serious prospect today for arms reductions, not just arms control. And that by itself is a great change, and it can be traced to our strategic defense initiative. SDI can take the profit out of the Soviet buildup of offensive weapons, and in time open new opportunities by building on today's and tomorrow's technologies. I say this fully aware of the Soviet campaign to convince the world that terminating our SDI program is a prerequisite to any arms agreement. This clamoring is nothing new. It also has preceded steps we've taken to modernize our strategic forces. It was especially loud, for example, as we moved to offset the unprovoked and unacceptable Soviet buildup of intermediate range missiles aimed at our allies by deploying our Pershing twos and cruise missiles. When I made it clear that we would no longer base our strategic force decisions on the flawed salt treaties, and let me add that that action was taken when there was ample evidence that the Soviet Union was already in clear violation of key salt provisions. The cry went up that it was the death knell of arms control and the beginning of a new, even more destructive, nuclear arms race. Well, let me just point out, in case no one noticed, the naysayers' predictions have been about as accurate as the time my old boss, Harry Warner of Warner Brothers Film Company, said when sound films first came in, the hell wants to hear an actor talk. Well, today we continue to negotiate with the Soviets, and they're negotiating with us. In fact, their recent proposals, in stark contrast to those gloomy predictions, are somewhat more forthcoming than those of the past. We're giving serious consideration to what the Soviets have recently laid upon the table in response to our own concrete reduction proposals. Also, we're looking toward the next summit between General Secretary Gorbachev and me as we agreed upon last November, where nuclear arms reduction will be one of several significant issues to be discussed. Forecasting is not useful, but let me just say again, I am optimistic. It's demonstrably in the interest of both our countries to reduce the resources that we commit to weapons. If the Soviet Union wants arms reduction, strategic, chemical, or conventional, the United States stands ready to commit itself to a fair and verifiable agreement. As for SDI, let me again affirm we are willing to explore how to share its benefits with the Soviet Union, which itself has long been involved in strategic defense programs. This will help to demonstrate what I've been emphasizing all along, that we seek no unilateral advantage through the SDI. There's been some speculation that in my recent letter to General Secretary Gorbachev, I decided to seek some sort of grand compromise to trade away SDI in exchange for getting the Soviets to join with us in the offensive reductions. Now to those who've been publicizing what is supposed to be in that letter, aren't offended to find out that they don't know what's in that letter because no one's really told them. I know. Let me reassure you right here and now that our response to demands that we cut off or delay research and testing in closed shop is no way. SDI is no bargaining chip. It is the path to a safer and more secure future, and the research is not and never has been negotiable. As I've said before, it's the number of offensive missiles that needs to be reduced, not efforts to find a way to defend mankind against these deadly weapons. Many of the vocal opponents of SDI, some of them with impressive scientific credentials, claim our goal is impossible. It can't be done, they say. Well, I think it's becoming increasingly apparent to everyone that those claiming it can't be done have clouded vision.   If this project is as big a waste of time and money as some have claimed, why have the Soviets been involved in strategic defense themselves for so long? And why are they so anxious that we stop? I understand that General Abramson has already briefed you on the progress we've made. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the general and his team. They're all first string and doing a terrific job. Jack Swigert, an astronaut, an American hero of the first order, well, I think I'm getting ahead of myself there. I should continue with what I was saying and say that I'm more than happy with the strides made in our ability to track and intercept missiles before they reach their targets. The goal we seek is a system that can intercept deadly ballistic missiles in all phases of their flight, including and in particular, the boost phase, right, where they're coming out of the silos. Our research is aimed at finding a way of protecting people, not missiles. And that's my highest priority and will remain so. And to accomplish this, we're proceeding as fast as we can toward developing a full range of promising technologies. I know there are those who are getting a bit antsy, but to deploy systems of limited effectiveness now would deter limited funds and or divert them and delay our main research. It could well erode support for the program before it's permitted to reach its potential. Now I'll talk about Jack Swigert, an astronaut, an American hero of the first order who once said, I was privileged to be one of the few who viewed our earth from the moon. And that vision taught me that technology and commitment can overcome any challenge. Jack tragically died of cancer and was cut short from the great contributions he would have made to his country and to mankind. He was the kind of individual who made this the great land of freedom and enterprise that it is. His can-do spirit is alive and well in America today. We and the other free people of the world are on the edge of a giant leap into the next century. That turning point in 13 and a half years will not only mark the end of a century, but the beginning of a new millennium. And the free people of the world are ready for it. Our research on effective defenses helps to point the way to a safer future. The best minds from some allied countries are already working with us in this noble endeavor. And we believe that others will join this effort before too long. In SDI, as elsewhere, we've put technology that almost boggles the mind to work, increasing our productivity and expanding the limits of human potential. The relationship between freedom and human progress has never been more apparent. But our freedom and security, as we are solely aware, depend on more than technology. Both diplomacy and our internal debate are at a critical juncture. And your active support is imperative. Together, we must make it plain that this is the worst time to undermine vital defense programs and take away America's needed negotiating leverage. If we cut back on our own forces unilaterally, we will leave our adversaries no incentive to reduce their own weapons. And we'll leave the next generations not a safer, more stable world, but a far more dangerous one. The future is, literally, in our hands. And it is SDI that is helping us to regain control over our own destiny. Just one last little incident, if you aren't aware of it already, that might be helpful to you and some people that you might be discussing this subject with. Back when Fulton was inventing the steamboat and came into reality, there was an effort made to sell it to Napoleon in France. And that great general, with all his wisdom, said, are you trying to tell me that you can have a boat that will sail against the tide and the currents and the winds without any sails? He said, don't bother me with such foolishness. Well, we know where the foolishness lay. And let's not make the same mistakes. I want to thank you all again for all you're doing to keep our country out in front and to keep her secure and free. And don't let up. God bless you. With this thought, once again, when the time has come and the research is complete, yes, we're going to deploy. Yes. Here, here, here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Here.


Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Reports of a crashed alien craft in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico left many of the general public feeling that the long-awaited proof of extraterrestrial intelligence had come. But hopes were soon dashed as an earlier statement about a crashed saucer was changed to nothing more than a crashed weather balloon. This proved unbelievable to the public, leaving many suspicious of a government cover-up as there were too many witnesses who claimed to have seen the crashed UFO and alien bodies. Years later, 1954, it is rumored by some that President Dwight D. Eisenhower met with alien beings in person, being whisked away in a hastily arranged trip to see an alien craft and its wreckage. The location for this alleged clandestine meeting was Edwards Air Force Base. Of course, no actual proof exists of this meeting. And then, just a year later, the aliens invaded again, this time on a small farm in Kentucky, where a family was traumatized by their arrival and went to battle against them in order to survive. 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, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved, and unexplained. If you're new here, welcome to the podcast, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. If you're already a Weirdo, please share the podcast with others. Doing so helps make it possible for me to keep creating episodes as often as I do. Coming up in this episode. A vampire stalks a New England family in the 1800s, and now science has identified the name of this monster. A room covered in gold, jewels, and other precious items was created as a gift for Czar Peter the Great. But what is also great is the mystery about what happened to the room. Weirdo family member Rita Gomez sees a ghostly child in her home.  What could this terror be? Montgomery Gibbs was a wealthy attorney and real estate man, and his murder baffled police even after they had someone confess to shooting him. But first, in 1955, the family of Billy Ray Taylor fought for their lives against alien invaders from another world. We begin with that story. While listening, be sure to check out the Weird Darkness website. At WeirdDarkness.com, you can sign up for the newsletter to win monthly prizes, find paranormal and horror audiobooks I've narrated, watch old horror movies for free. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com.  Only a year after the bizarre case of a UFO disappearing into thin air, another case that stretches the imagination would occur in the rural setting of Kelly Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The events in Kentucky would begin on the night of August 21st, 1955, and are still being discussed and debated today. A family would have a battle with a group of small alien creatures. Billy Ray Taylor and his wife were visiting the Sutton farm on this particular night. Billy exited the house to go fetch some water from the Sutton family well. While drawing water, he witnessed an immense, shining object landing about a quarter of a mile from the house. Excited and frightened, he ran back to the house with the news, but no one took him very seriously. Soon, strange things began to occur. The family dogs began to bark outside. The man of the house, Lucky along with Billy Ray, went outside to see what the problem was. They were both stunned when they saw a three to four foot tall creature making its way toward them with its hands up. The two men described the creature as like nothing they had ever seen before. It had large eyes, long, thin mouth, thin short legs, large ears, and its hand ended with claws. Billy Ray fired his .22 caliber rifle and Lucky fired his shotgun. The barrage of bullets had no effect on the being. Lucky and Billy both knew that they had hit their target at that close a range, but the small creature did a backflip and then scurried into the woods. The two men went back into the house, but soon another creature was seen looking at them through a window. The two men again blasted away and ran outside to see if they had killed it, but found nothing. A large hole was later seen through the screen where the shots had been fired. This cat and mouse game continued into the night as the creatures would appear and disappear. Realizing that they were up against something out of the ordinary, the family decided to run from the house and ask for assistance from the police station in the little city of Hopkinsville. It took two vehicles to hold everyone, but off they went. After hearing their bizarre story, Sheriff Russell Greenwell thought they were joking. Finally, the family convinced him that they were not making up their story, and Greenwell decided to go to the Sutton farmhouse. When the police arrived at the farmhouse and searched the area around the house, no evidence of any creatures was found. However, they did find numerous bullet holes through the windows and walls of the house. Over 20 policemen were involved in the search. The police admitted that the Sutton's were not drunk and genuinely frightened by something or someone. Nearby neighbors did confirm strange lights in the sky and hearing of bullets being fired. The police left at 2.15 am. After the police were gone, the aliens returned and the earlier battle was repeated. The gunfire had no effect on the creatures. All together, 11 people were present at the Sutton family farmhouse. Not all of the 11 witnessed the strange events of the night. June Taylor was too frightened to look, and Lonnie Langford and his brother and sister were hidden during the encounter, which still left seven witnesses to the encounter. The police department requested the Air Force to investigate the happenings at the Sutton house. They also did a search of the house and the surrounding area, but without any solid evidence being found. The morning of the Air Force search, Lucky and Billy Ray had gone to Evansville, Indiana on family business. The five remaining witnesses to the events of the night before were interviewed by Air Force personnel, giving their full account of the night of terror. The story of the small aliens spread quickly and the Kentucky New Era newspaper published a story of the family's encounter on August 22, 1955. In the beginning, most of the public believed the Sutton's were perpetrating a hoax, but if this was the case, what would be their reason? They made no money from the story, only accruing debt by damaging their house. Could all of their troubles have been to get their name in a local newspaper? All of the witnesses to the strange events of the night of August 21st, 1955 made sketches of what the creatures looked like. The drawings were practically identical. Almost a year later, the case was investigated by Isabel Davis. She believed that the Sutton's were telling the truth. Famed UFO investigator Dr. J. Allen Heineck also believed the account of the Kelly aliens and discussed the case with Davis. The case is still being investigated even today, and there have been many books and television specials made relating to the Kentucky events of 1955. Up next, a vampire stalks a New England family in the 1800s, and now science has identified the name of this monster. Plus, a room covered in gold, jewels and other precious items was created as a gift for Tsar Peter the Great, but what is also great is the mystery about what happened to that room. These stories and more when Weird Darkness returns. Warm, while waiting for me to arrive. And a warm toddy is not the best thing to drink if you plan on staying alert and flying around the world. Plus, the Mrs. seems to think I might have a lactose problem. Due to the severe boberigmas I came home with last year, that would be the painful and loud rumbling in the belly. That flatulence that hasn't flatulated yet? Well, so this year I'm asking that you instead leave me a plate of cookies and a nice hot thermos or mug of weird dark roast coffee. I just discovered weird dark roast coffee when Darren Marlar sent me a sample. It actually tastes like Christmas. It has a hint of cocoa and caramel, and I've been drinking a lot of it recently to wake me up early in the morning to work on toys and take care of the reindeer. And it comes in handy when having to stay up late at night working on my satellite maps to work out the best routes to take this year so I can get to your house quickly and safely. So, this year instead of milk, leave Santa a mug or thermos of weird dark roast coffee. Tell your parents they can find it right now at WeirdDarkness.com coffee. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash coffee. And be sure to tune in to Weird Darkness every night from December 14th through December 24th, Christmas Eve, because Spooky Santa, that's me, will be here telling some spooky Christmas stories for you and your parents. That begins December 14th. Don't miss it. You can learn more at SpookySanta.com and then get your Weird Dark Roast Coffee at WeirdDarkness.com slash coffee. I can't wait for Christmas. He'd been in his grave so long that when his family dug him up to burn his heart, the organ had decomposed and was not there. Desperate to stop him from stalking them, they took his head and limbs and rearranged them on top of his ribs in the design of a skull and crossbones. He was a vampire after all. And in rural New England in the early 1800s, this was how you dealt with them. When they were finished, they reburied him in his stone-lined grave and replaced the wooden coffin lid on which someone had used brass tacks to form the inscription J.B.55 for his initials and his age. Now, 200 years or so after the death of what's now the country's best-studied vampire, DNA sleuths have tracked down his probable name, John Barber. He was probably a hard-working farmer. Missing his top-front teeth, he was no neckbiter. He had a broken collarbone that hadn't healed right, an arthritic knee that probably made him limp, and he had died an awful death, probably from tuberculosis, which was so bad it had scarred his ribs. The latest findings in a case that started in 1990 when his coffin was discovered in a gravel quarry in Griswold, Connecticut are contained in a new report by, among others, experts at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner Systems DNA Laboratory in Dover, Delaware. The report was summarized in a presentation on July 23 at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, which aided the study and where the remains are held. The case is unusual because Barber may be the country's only supposed vampire whose bones have been studied by scientists. This case has been a mystery since the 1990s, Sharla Marshall said in an email. Marshall is a forensic scientist with SNA International in Alexandria, Virginia, who worked on the project. Now that we have expanded technological capabilities, we wanted to revisit JB55 to see whether we could solve the mystery of who he was. It is the latest chapter in a project that has cast light on the eerie vampire scare in New England, Connecticut and Rhode Island especially, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, and its connection to the spread of tuberculosis, or consumption, as it was called at the time. The highly contagious disease was so wasting and terrifying that those who died of it were believed to leave their graves, infecting relatives and draining away blood and life, scholars have said. These attacks were more mysterious and less graphic than those of the blood-sucking vampires of Gothic fiction. This was not bats flying through the night, said Nicholas F. Bellantoni, the retired Connecticut state archaeologist who worked on the case from the start and is one of the report's authors. This is not Bella Legosi, he said. But the terror they brought was real. Consumption often caused a bloody cough and left victims pale and gaunt with blood in the corners of their mouths, author and folklorist Michael E. Bell wrote. The emaciated figure strikes one with terror, recounted an 18th-century doctor quoted by Bell in a 2013 essay in the journal Criticos. The forehead covered with drops of sweat, the cheeks a livid crimson, the eyes sunk, the breath offensive, quick and laborious. The vampire's true menace seemed to come after death, and he had to be killed again during what Bell called therapeutic exhumation. Often the suspected vampire was a family member who had died of the disease and was thought to be infecting sons, daughters or a spouse. Family members were frequently the ones conducting the exhumation. Bell had documented 80 such cases, mostly in remote areas of New England. This was being done out of fear and out of love, Bellatoni said. People were dying in their families and they had no way of stopping it, and just maybe this was what could stop the deaths. They didn't want to do this but they wanted to protect those that were still living. People were desperate, he said. The best method of killing the suspected vampire was to check the exhumed corpse to see if any liquid blood remained in the heart. If so, the deceased was probably a vampire, according to belief. The heart was then removed and burned with family members sometimes inhaling the smoke to prevent further disease. Similar incidents have long turned up in Europe where there are many accounts of corpses being dug up, burned, rearranged, decapitated, or having stakes driven through them. In Barber's case, there was probably no heart to burn Bellatoni and Paul S. Sledzik wrote in 1994. So the bones of the chest were disrupted and the skull and thigh bones were placed in a skull and crossbones position, they wrote. After Barber's grave was discovered, his remains were sent to the museum for study and a sample from a thigh bone was sent to the DNA lab for analysis. But the technology a 30 years ago yielded scant results. The paper's authors wrote identification was impossible. But when modern tools were used, Y-chromosomal DNA profiling and surname prediction via genealogy data available on the internet, the experts said they came up with a match for the last name, Barber. They then checked old cemetery and newspaper records to see whether any people with the last name of Barber ever lived in Griswold. They discovered a newspaper notice mentioning the death there in 1826 of a 12-year-old boy named Nathan Barber, whose father was John Barber. Researchers had found a grave near JB's containing a coffin with the notation NB13, similarly tacked on the lid. The project began in November 1990 when an abandoned cemetery was encountered during mining at a sand and gravel facility in Griswold, according to a study by Sledzik, Bellatoni and colleague David A. Poyer. Human skeletons and crumbling coffin parts emerged from the earth, and two human skulls tumbled down an embankment when three boys playing there dislodged them. Investigators eventually removed the remains of 27 people, five men, eight women and 14 children from 28 graves in what scholars discovered was an old burying ground called the Walton Family Cemetery. One grave contained evidence of a coffin but no human remains. But it was grave number four that drew the most attention. Everyone was in good anatomical position except this one individual, JB55. Under his coffin lid, Bellatoni and his colleagues found the strange skull and crossbones arrangement. His thigh bones were uprooted from the anatomical position and crossed over the chest, he said. The chest had been broken into and the skull was decapitated and moved away, he said. I was totally befuddled. I had no clue what I was looking at. Research soon suggested a link to the New England vampire folk belief, he said. So JB turned out to have tuberculosis. Evident because of the lesions on his ribs, he said. We do believe that he was rearranged in the grave because he was believed to be an undead. Bellatoni said JB had probably been deceased four or five years when he was exhumed, which, based on his recovered coffin hardware, probably happened in the early 1800s. Here in New England we had large farming families, he said. Because they didn't understand the transmission of the disease, you had family members who were suffering from tuberculosis sitting at the dinner table with the whole family coughing and you had tuberculosis victims sleeping in one room with five or six brothers and sisters coughing. It was epidemic, he said. So what now of poor John Barber, the alleged vampire? Listen, Bellatoni said, he was a hardworking farmer, probably lower middle class, you could see it in his bones, you could see it in his arthritic condition of his vertebra. Hard, hardworking. Good Christian man, I'm sure. A stunning work of art made of panels of glowing amber, jewels and gold, the amber room was initially built as a chamber for Queen Sophie Charlotte at her palace in Berlin, Prussia. A meandering history of the amber room took it from Berlin to Russia and then its ultimate fate became a mystery that has never been solved. What makes this treasure so unique and valuable is its primary component, amber, which is the ancient fossilized resin from plants. Samples can range in age from about 15 to 300 million years old. When light shines on amber, the resin has a brilliant translucency that makes it highly valued by artists and collectors. Thus, amber commands a stunning price tag. Perhaps its best known and inspired use was the creation of the amber room. The history of the amber room goes back to Liedzenberg in Prussia. Liedzenberg was initially the personal summer palace of Sophie Charlotte, who became Queen in Prussia in 1701. That same year, she requested that construction should begin on her chamber in her palace. The designer of the room was Andreas Schluter and the builder was Gottfried Wolfram, an amber craftsman. After Sophie died just four years later in 1705, her husband, King Frederick, who loved Sophie very much, named her summer palace Charlottenburg Palace in her honor. Even after her death, the king carried out Sophie's vision to build her special chamber. It took more than 10 years to complete, but once King Frederick displayed it, everyone thought it to be a stunning masterpiece. The Wikipedia article Amber Room describes the magnificent construction, saying, The amber room is a priceless piece of art with extraordinary architectural features such as gilding, carvings, 450 kg or 990 lb amber panels, gold leaf, gemstones and mirrors, all highlighted with candlelight. Additional architectural and design features include statues of angels and children. However, the room built for Queen Sophie was not destined to remain in Prussia. Her son had political ambitions that outweighed his sentimentality for the amber chamber. During a visit to Prussia in 1712, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia confided in King Frederick William I, Queen Sophie's son, on how much he adored this stunning room. In order to cement an alliance with Russia against Sweden, King William I presented the amber masterpiece as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great. William shipped the gift over water to St. Petersburg, Russia in 18 large boxes in 1716. Once in St. Petersburg, Tsar began renovations and added on to the room even more. It measured 55 meters with over 6 tons of amber in its final form in 1763. It was so majestic that people thought of it as the 8th wonder of the world. The room sat in the Catherine Palace of St. Petersburg, but it was not put on display as it had been at Charlottenburg Palace, and viewing was reserved for very few people. The amber chamber remained in St. Petersburg until 1941. In that year, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbosa. The Nazi acquisition of all art and treasure was a high priority, and they plundered everything they could get their hands on. Naturally, the amber chamber was a paramount target, and the Nazis aimed to take it back to German soil. When Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg until 1914, was about to fall to the German forces during the invasion, the Russians tried to move the chamber to a safe location. However, because the dried and fragile amber crumbled, they instead designed to disguise it by placing wallpaper over the panels to make it look like an ordinary room. The Germans, however, were not fooled. They knew exactly where the room was, and they were prepared to transport it.  Then they transported it to Konitzburg Castle in Eastern Prussia. Subsequently, they reassembled it and placed it on exhibition in March 1942. The war did not stay in Germany's favor for long. In August of 1944, Royal Air Force bombers heavily damaged Konitzburg and much of the castle. On April 9, 1945, the Germans surrendered to the Soviets who took siege of Konitzburg and forced the Germans out. They renamed the city Kaliningrad, and today it still belongs to Russia. Although there are numerous theories about the history of the amber room, these are a few of the most popular. Nazis disassembled the room again and placed it on crates at a railway station. Then they put it aboard the Wilhelm Gustav German military ship, which left port on January 30, 1945. The Wilhelm Gustav sunk, shortly thereafter, by a Soviet submarine, taking the amber room with it. Nazis hid it in a basement bunker in Konitzburg. They then sealed it off, and it has been inaccessible ever since. Soldiers buried the room in the oar mountains. The fire at the Konitzburg Castle destroyed the room during the bombing, and Stalin hid the original room and built a replica that the bamboozled Germans stole. According to a Smithsonian article, a brief history of the amber room, the director of the Konitzburg Castle Museum, Alfred Rode, had studied the room while it was there. In late 1943, with the end of the war in sight, Rode was advised to dismantle the amber room and crated away. Where the Nazis hid it after that is the great mystery. Possibly a witness at the time, Leonid Arnstein, a lieutenant in the Red Army that took siege of Konitzburg in 1945, said that he went to Konitzburg Castle and saw pieces of amber relics. When he asked the museum custodian about them, Arnstein was told that the rest of the panels were boxed up in the basement. Because Arnstein did not understand the significance of the items at the time, he didn't pursue it. Days later, when he attempted to get back to the castle, it had already been engulfed in flames, as reported by NBC News and the article Mystery of the Amber Room Resurfaces. In that same NBC article, Avonir Avzionov, an official on the search and protection of missing art with Kaliningrad's regional government, stated that some portions of the room did burn in the Konitzburg Castle. However, he felt that it is likely the Nazis took away most of it before the Soviets had time to secure the city. Today, he and his team are still searching underneath the ruins of the war for clues to the whereabouts of the amber panels. Pieces of the original room have been found since 1945. The most recent finding was in 1997, when one of the four stone mosaics that went into the decoration of the room was recovered in West Germany. It was in the possession of the son of one of the soldiers who packed it up, but the son claimed that he did not know where it had come from. Recently in June of 2016, The New York Times published an article regarding possible clues to the location of the amber panels. According to the article, some Polish villagers who were alive in 1945 told the director of the Polish Mammerke Museum, Barlamiecz Plebenchik, that they saw Germans unload large crates from a convoy of vehicles. They said the Germans put the crates into a secret chamber in a stark, moss-covered Nazi bunker near the Russian border in early 1945. Plebenchik and his team used ground-penetrating radar to scan underneath the bunker, and they found what appeared to be a chamber. The team planned to dig under the bunker, however they have not yet published any findings. The Soviet Union commenced on the reconstruction of the room, using mostly black-and-white photographs in 1979. In 2003, the replica was nearly in completion. On the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerard Schroeder unveiled their new amber chamber. Today, the public is able to tour Catherine Palace and view the replica. Queen Sophie Charlotte's vision of her amber chamber manifested into one of the most splendid and coveted treasures of all time. Its mystery is still ablaze with the burning desires of governments, scholars and treasure hunters to find it. If the room still exists, the fragility of the amber may have turned it into something that scarcely resembles its original opulence that once was the crown jewel of Charlottenburg Palace. Judith Reipma has produced two collections of poems about the amber treasure. This excerpt from Twists and Turns sums it up perfectly. Finding Atlantis has proved much easier, inspired fewer theories, though not as many debates about who should receive the spoils of war. When Weird Darkness returns, weirdo family member Rita Gomez sees a ghostly child in her home.  What could this terror be? Plus, Montgomery Gibbs was a wealthy attorney and real estate man, and his murder baffled police even after they had someone confess to shooting him. These stories are up next. We've come back around to the time of year where you have to go looking for a new calendar for 2021. What'll it be this time? Cute cats? Again? A word of the day? How cliche. How about a 2021 cryptid calendar? 12 months of creepy yet beautifully painted scenes from master artist and fellow weirdo Timothy Wayne Williams. Once you've soaked in the gorgeous imagery, you can take it to the next level because every scene also contains a hidden hominid. And you know Bigfoot is the hide-and-seek champion. I've seen many of the original paintings used in this calendar and I've only found Bigfoot about half the time, but he is there somewhere. And with the 2021 cryptid calendar, you'll have a whole month at a time to look for him. And if you give up looking, you can even email the artist personally and he'll point out our hairy friend for you. Get it now before orders get overwhelming. The 2021 cryptid calendar, you'll find a link to it at WeirdDarkness.com. Want to receive the commercial free version of Weird Darkness every day? For just $5 per month, you can become a patron at WeirdDarkness.com. As a patron, you get commercial free episodes of Weird Darkness every day, bonus audio, you get a free membership at Roasters Marketplace, the home of Weird Dark Roast Coffee, and you also receive chapters of audiobooks as I narrate them, even before the authors and publishers do. But more than that, as a patron, you're also helping to reach people who are desperately hurting with depression and anxiety. You get the benefits of being a patron and you also benefit others who are hurting at the same time. Become a patron at WeirdDarkness.com. It started when I was home alone one day. I was sitting in the TV room exercising to a cable show when I saw a small child peeking from around a bedroom door. Even though I knew no one was home, I got up and looked into the room. This bedroom had two doors, so I went to one door then the other. But no one was there. It kind of bothered me for a while, so the following week, I visited my mother and I told her about the incident.  My mom said she believed it was her playing peek-a-boo with me. So the following week, I actually had a dream of her. The family cemetery where she is buried was different in my dream, but I was there to visit her. There were other family members there, but I was a child.  I was so concerned, so I called my sister and told her that she had to visit my niece Julie at her grave because she thought that she was being forgotten. I visited the graveyard and cleaned up her area and never experienced anything else from her again. Now I visit the cemetery more often because now my mom and dad are buried there. The Shershaw Flee Market in Pakistan, which is touted by some as the biggest market for scrapped goods in South Asia, has now become a haunted site for some. The sighting of a mysterious out-of-the-world creature at the market has sparked fear in many traders working there. The traders, as a result, have started closing their shops earlier than before. It all started more than a week ago when a watchman, Gulzar, was performing his duties outside a warehouse. He heard dogs barking nearby and got up from his chair to see what was going on. Gulzar said that he felt a strange sensation as he was walking towards the area where the noise was coming from. He then spotted a strange creature and ran away. The creature was black and its eyes were as bright as a torchlight, he said. Gulzar has been working as a watchman for the last 25 years. He said, I've never seen anything like that before. Gulzar shared his encounter with other watchmen, but no one believed him. The next day, another watchman, Abdul Qayyam, was taking a round of the area when he spotted the same creature. The two watchmen claimed that the creature had even killed 11 goats at the warehouse. Soon, rumors started making the rounds, leading to fear and panic. Some have claimed that the mysterious figure is five feet tall, others claim it can jump up to 20 feet. Not everyone believes the story, though. A person who works at the E. Flea Market said that he thinks somebody is probably pulling a prank and there is no truth to the sightings. Some traders even approached the Jehanabad police asking for them to investigate the matter. A policeman, Muzammul Shah, said they received many reports about sightings of such a figure, adding that they are still investigating the matter. Peace was disturbed in a fashionable Buffalo, New York neighborhood on April 18, 1894 by three gunshots fired at 10 p.m. on Delaware Avenue near Bryant Street. Neighbors hurried outside and found a man lying in a carriage driveway between two houses, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the temple and another to the shoulder. He was rushed to General Hospital, where he died three minutes after being admitted. The dead man was later identified as 33-year-old Montgomery Gibbs, a successful attorney and real estate developer. He lived with his brother Clinton on Main Street within walking distance of the murder scene, but no one could explain what he was doing there. Montgomery Gibbs had many acquaintances and belonged to several fraternal organizations, but no one could say that they knew him well. He was a private man, even his brother Clinton knew nothing of his romantic life or the details of his business dealings. Suicide was ruled out. The wounds, positioned as they were, could not have been self-inflicted and no pistol was found at the scene. Robbery was considered. Burglars and footpads had been operating in the area, but they were not known to commit murder and nothing had been stolen. It appeared that Gibbs had been intentionally killed. With no visible clues, the police kept the details of their investigation secret and the newspapers began investigating on their own. The Buffalo Evening News believed that Gibbs was lured into a trap. They put together a timeline of his movements that night and he was seen by several people walking leisurely up Delaware as if to keep a 10 o'clock appointment. The news concluded that Gibbs was killed by a woman. The angle of the wound to his temple indicated that it was fired by someone shorter than he was and a woman's footprint was found in the hedges near the body. The police also believed that the killer was a woman but would not elaborate. What was not revealed to the public was that shortly after the murder, the Buffalo Evening News received an anonymous letter purporting to be from the killer. The writer said she was a 17-year-old girl who Gibbs had seduced eight months previous under the promise of marriage. He refused to keep his promise. Pregnant and desperate, she lured him to the spot on Delaware Avenue and shot him. She expressed no remorse and was glad that he would never ruin another innocent girl. The police and the paper were unable to track down the anonymous writer. At the coroner's inquest, the police were forced to admit they had no clue as to who killed Montgomery Gibbs. The jury ruled that he was shot by a person or persons unknown. That was how matter stood until the following October when a young woman in Cleveland, Ohio confessed to killing Gibbs. The Cleveland police had received a tip that Clarence Robinson, currently in their custody for burglary, had murdered Montgomery Gibbs in Buffalo the previous April and that his wife, Sadie, was also involved. 19-year-old Sadie Robinson told the police that Clarence was innocent of the killing and that she fired the shots that killed Gibbs. The Buffalo police quickly charged Sarah Sadie Robinson as a fugitive from justice and brought her to Buffalo. Once in custody in Buffalo, Sadie said that her confession in Cleveland had been a lie and refused to say anything more. Meanwhile in Cleveland, Clarence Robinson confessed to trying to rob Gibbs at gunpoint on April 28. He said that he fired two shots but the shot that killed Gibbs was fired by his wife, Sadie. He seemed relieved to finally confess the crime. In Buffalo, both Robinsons were indicted for a first-degree murder and Clarence Robinson was extradited from Cleveland to Buffalo. They now separately confessed, telling virtually identical stories except that Clarence said that Sadie fired the murder shot. Sadie said Clarence fired all the shots.  After his last prison term, he married Sadie and purchased a minstrel troupe. They traveled with the show, losing money at every stop until they found themselves penniless in Buffalo. Clarence decided to return to robbery and Sadie joined him, dressed as a man wearing his trousers and a slouch hat. On Delaware Avenue, they planned to stop a wealthy-looking man and rob him at gunpoint. Clarence thought Montgomery Gibbs was a prime candidate but Sadie thought he was too big. When Clarence drew his revolver, Gibbs, who was tall and athletically built, grabbed his arm. In the struggle that followed, Clarence's revolver went off twice. Then, according to Clarence, Sadie, who was also armed, fired the third shot. According to Sadie, she stood frozen with fear and watched as Clarence fired the shot that killed Gibbs. Clarence also confessed to writing the anonymous letter to the Buffalo Evening News to try to lead the investigation in the wrong direction. Clarence and Sadie Robinson were tried together in March 1895. They both pled not guilty, recanting their confessions, claiming that they were made under duress with false representations made by the police. The prosecution relied on expert witnesses who asserted the cartridges found at the scene were from a revolver owned by Clarence Robinson and that the handwriting of the anonymous letter matched that of a letter Clarence had sent to Sadie. The defense called Sadie Robinson as a rebuttal witness after chief of detectives Cusack testified to the circumstances of her confession. She claimed the police had induced her to implicate Clarence, implying that she could get the reward offered. Aside from Sadie's testimony, the defense offered no evidence, asserting that the prosecution had not proven their case or even proven that the Robinsons had been in Buffalo that night. It was assumed that the jury would find the Robinsons either guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder. But they surprised everyone, including the defense attorney, when they found Clarence Robinson guilty of second-degree murder and Sadie Robinson guilty of manslaughter. They had saved the Robinsons from the electric chair, but Clarence was sentenced to life in prison and Sadie to 20 years. Tell Someone Else About The Podcast Recommend Weird Darkness to your friends, family and co-workers who love the paranormal, horror stories or true crime like you do. Every time you share the podcast with someone new, it helps spread the word about the show and a growing audience makes it possible for me to keep creating episodes as often as I do. Plus, telling others about Weird Darkness also helps get the word out about resources that are available for those who suffer from depression, so please, share the podcast with someone today. Weird Darkness made it to the number 5 spot this month on Podcast Magazine's Hot 50 and thank you to everybody who has been voting.  Let's see if we can make Weird Darkness reach number 1 next month. To vote, visit WeirdDarkness.com slash vote or click the link in the show notes. Do you have a dark tale to tell of your own? Fact or fiction, click on Tell Your Story on the website and I might use it in a future episode. All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes. The disappearance of the Amber Room was written by Jim H. for Historic Mysteries. Aliens Invade Kelly, Kentucky is by Billy Booth for Live About. A Vampire's DNA Test is by Michael E. Ruane for Science Alert. The Child in My Bedroom Doorway is by Weirdo family member Rita Gomez. Creature with Globing Eyes terrorizes shoppers is by Auma Raymond for SMAW TV. And The Delaware Avenue Slaying is from Robert Wilhelm for Murder by Gaslight. Weird Darkness Theme by Alibi Music. Weird Darkness is a registered trademark. Copyright Weird Darkness 2020. If you like a transcript of this episode, you can find a link in the show notes. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. John 1126a.  And a final thought, happiness is found when you stop comparing yourself to other people. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. Whether you live paycheck to paycheck or live the life of royalty, whether you work as a cog in a machine or you're a celebrity, we all have one thing in common. We are all of us human. And I have yet to meet a single person who hasn't had times in their lives when they were struggling to keep it together, be it financially or because of a shattered relationship or due to mental illness or any number of things. The important thing is that you never give up hope. That's why Weird Darkness has the Hope in the Darkness page. There you can find help if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety or even extreme loneliness. There's free help through my friends at 7 cups. If you're having thoughts of suicide or know someone who is, you can call or chat with someone right now, again, for free through the suicide prevention lifeline. And my friends at IFRED are still doing what they can to research the causes of depression and to educate people on what they can do to reverse those dark thoughts, even creating a free curriculum anyone can download to teach kids how to bring hope to themselves and those around them. Find these resources and others on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com


s could I just make one other comment? So just a little history on that site is that Um, the reason why o'brien brothers is dedicating that space or did dedicate that space to the city Was that we ran out of lot coverage. We wanted to do something We wanted to create a park or something there. So it wasn't that we just discarded of it We just ran out a lot coverage. Um, and then to orient you the egress From leo lane Which is that drive that's on the upper right going on to old farm road basically directly across from that on the uh, northeast side of that is where the barn is So that just gives you a little point of reference so Do you have a problem with the staff suggestion? Yes Yeah, I mean, I think you know matty and josh were here to sort of kind of go over what the the Purpose of the battery building is it sounds like if you guys want to skip that weekend, um, I think if you go to the items I submitted today Um, there were just a couple things that I wanted to sort of clarify and if you go you know These slides are worth stopping on quickly so just any of those so What we've done in this neighborhood this is one of the affordable homes Being sold at hills at hillside east. This is 291 old farm road. It has a her score of five Which is 91 below the required score For the rvs stretch certificate It has solar panels on it. It has battery backups in the house for people it is Way above and beyond what's required and the way that we've achieved that is in partnership with green mountain power Putting in place this infrastructure Of which this battery building is part and So just as a preface to the conversation and we spent months maybe a year Trying to figure out where we could put this that wasn't on lot 18 because none of us wanted to come in here and Have this conversation that this was where it needed to go But it is where it sort of needs to go and so I think if you To keep ticking through the slides we can just get to Sort of the layouts that were proposed and some of the facts Yeah, great. So that was the previously approved landscaping plan And if you scroll down again, I think this is probably the least important one You'll note the size. So this is the current plan and the shape has changed a little bit It's not a rectangle. It has like a little elliptic thing on the bottom I don't know what that's called But the size of that is I think it says 21,800 and something square feet Of play field and if you go up to the previously proposed one, it's 21,500 and so There is A virtual discrepancy and the staff notes that this was reduced by 20 percent. It was not we Changed the shape of it But we kept the footage the same so there's been no reduction in the flat space What we did do was we leveled it out So the right side In the previously proposed plan if you look at The grading as noted. I'll see you're just a couple slides back First one You can see that there's a grade of seven percent on the left and two and a half percent on the right You can see there's a 12 percent grade where there's rock and ledge sticking out of the ground Whereas completely unusable where we're proposing the battery building If you go to the next slide, which is the currently proposed plan This is basically an as built because we went out there and we thought it made more sense to increase the area and to flatten the field So we made the field two and a half percent slope across the field We made it larger by 300 square feet And we transitioned the grading with a very smooth Sort of even downhill toward the existing hillside neighborhood the battery building Like it doesn't touch the Play field area like it it so if you go to the next sheet You can see the previously submitted open space plan in orange The current plan in pink and the battery building isn't touching any of it So the battery is located in an area where there's a 12 slope. There's existing rock ledge sticking out of the ground There's buckthorn scrub brush and other garbage trees that are in there And we thought that it made sense to propose it. So that's a photo the next slide of the field as constructed So you can sort of see the area And if you go back up two slides above We just did a little study. Ella was nice enough to put it together the next slide down Which shows you the area of this park and how much can fit in it so Two basketball courts of ollie ball court and a pickle ball court in addition to the battery building Which is tucked into a hillside adjacent to an existing road and screened Within an inch of its life so that you'll never know it's there What are you saying mark? Assuming I given the the difficulty given the problem with the city council. Well, you you acknowledge you got a city count You got a city council I think we're pretty confident that the city council would allow this use of this land. All right So what do you what do you say in the light of that explanation? My biggest concern is the change in the grading honestly more than I mean the As Andrew said the front where the battery storage is proposed um, there's an area that was Going to be pretty steep. Um, obviously You know, we know that this is the hill farm or the hillside area, right? So a lot of the develop a lot of the parks in this development except for this one are hilly um, this was the only relatively level area And so to try take away from This and to put a little hill in the back is I think the concern that was brought up by the director of the recreation parks director Um, and then he also mentioned that he's concerned about the change in the total area so One thing to bring up though too is that And I I understand that they were permitted as two different projects But the hillside phase one which has to be looked at you know from a from an occupant of this neighborhood They will live as though it is one neighborhood and there's a one acre level park That's just down the hill from this. So it's not the only level area And I would also say, you know to to the second point that the director parks and rec had um The area actually increased slightly. I mean, it's basically the same size. So And I think that that Bella did a really nice job of demonstrating I think she was channeling you frank as to you know, what can you actually fit on this site in terms of recreation where she Located those four fields To demonstrate that it is actually very usable Um, but I also want to remind everybody that it was an undefined Recreation space. It's not like this was a you know, regulation soccer field as a that that's what this was planned for the city had no Defined plan for it. It was a rectangle on a plan that was 21,567 square feet And I think that's where the the difference between what we're seeing is a 20 reduction comes from because that rectangle didn't use the whole space That was you know, relatively gentle slope I think that just just so you understand where that 20% calculation came from is that number assumed More more than just the area that was shown by your rectangle. It was the areas that weren't That weren't the 12% or higher slope. It's where you have 7% all the way out to the to the tree line kind of thing can Try to understand can can you scroll marty? You got the The the where we show the the pink and what is the orange? The original and proposed So i'm just trying to understand the What that's north so the the western side are up on the drawing The line came down considerably now Was that going to be graded level in the original plan? was it I think that You know, I can take a little bit of blame on this or maybe we all you know should but The original plan had a rectangle On a drawing. Mm-hmm, and I think that was about how much thought went into What was going to be there? and this was a massive PUD and There were you know in our hundreds of plan sheets, and I think We looked at it. We said this is an open space our engineer or you know drew a rectangle and it was like that's about right and That was what happened and so I think so there was a slope there that wasn't shown on the original drawings It was not level It was not I mean it wasn't level even as it was the rectangle was drawn Right, like if you go back to the proposal to the original proposal I mean you're looking at seven percent grade on the left-hand side and two and a half on the right Right, so that's a far cry from what we're seeing in the drawings now We're showing a much steeper drop off on the top of the lines It I believe what happened And I you know I'm not an expert, but we went in here and there was Ledge in the ground there are chunks of you know rock sticking up and we put fill in to cover up and level out over the top of the you know boulders and stuff they'll and leveled it and then I think that maybe in the hillside neighborhood some of the grading wasn't quite Built exactly, you know, so maybe there's a couple feet over there in the old project And then the way that the two came together you ended up with a bit more Hill than we had anticipated We graded it very modestly You know there's certainly room to move that pink line Further west to increase the slope. I mean, I don't know what it is now, but it's not It's certainly not two to one. I mean there's a photo of it. It's probably five or six to one You know our take on it was that that's Really nice usable space.  I mean it's not You know so like if you look at that picture, I mean obviously we could move that over by filling in and making that bank steeper And you know if that's something that Like we can do that our take on it was that this was nice It was roughly equal to the size of what we originally proposed And like there's no nothing unusable about that hill whereas if you do push it over It'll become sort of more dangerous, right? Like you get a kid rolling down in it or Somebody, you know playing frisbee and breaks their ankle because the thing drops off at a three to one two to one slope Or public works won't be able to mow it on a lawn mower Which definitely was something I talked about to say I don't need the city telling me to regrade this later because they can't mow it because it's too steep so That was a field decision To make it like that and you know, we're certainly open to suggestions there, but Because it sounds like this request is two things then it's the building and Dealing with this slope Right, I mean that's why the the original line isn't where you're proposing now You moved it because you have a slope issue We moved it to be accurate because when I looked at this plan it was not Reflecting accurately what we built and it wasn't reflecting accurately what like I didn't want to submit the plan again without but I think it's clear if you look at the drawing this field and that Battery building are completely disconnected Like the connection here is that we submitted an updated plan and we weren't going to put grading on it that wasn't accurate, right? But the building had nothing to do with that So this problem exists Absent the battery. I guess absolutely But the the request to redefine the the recreation areas to solve two issues I think the request to redefine the recreation area is It's just us saying this is what we built I don't know that we would say that we were obligated to build something in particular in that rectangle I don't know if you look at that previously proposed drawing like I don't know the answer to that But I do know that when we built it this made sense We thought it was nicer That's how it got built and so We reflected it the way that it's built in the drawings I think I think our take on the grading of that site is We're open to suggestions if the parks and rec director says, you know, this is better used as a larger flat area But as a result you're going to have a steeper grade on the corners of it I think we're open to doing that. But I you know, I think the three examples that were provided If it's me running around with a frisbee or kicking a ball I'm definitely going to break my leg if I go over that that edge. And so the question is, you know, what's what's better suited for an undefined Use of that space anyway So the site's already graded because that looks like it's already graded in that photo, right? And you've identified this location Need something to go right or something could go there And why did you select this location for the battery storage? Good Hi, I'm Maddie Marie Kloss and I'm a project manager on green mountain powers energy innovation team. Thanks for having us We worked with O'Brien and our engineering team to select the southeast corner on lot 18 for a few different reasons the centralized battery storage facility is Pretty much limited to being located on lot 18 due to proximity to the distribution mainline system equipment so the distribution lines on old farm road, essentially in addition adequate site access for maintenance with utility trucks and vehicles off of old farm road Is best suited for off of lot 18 As well as the site loveliness compared to some other sites across The development and then in addition to allow for adequate aesthetic screening And just to clarify it will not be a battery building But it's a battery enclosure with a sound mitigation fence. So it's not a fully enclosed structure. So these are the external tesla battery stations with a chain link fence and the What do you call it the green matting that's in the fence that box the view of it so it The proposed equipment currently is it's called tesla mega pack. So it's essentially like a large power wall Then power walls are Located in all of the homes in the development. And it is not a chain link fence with green matting. It's Specifically it's called a sona guard It's developed specifically for different types of utility equipment battery storage for sound mitigation site protection and privacy so I think Rendering had provided renderings of what the enclosure actually looks like And they might not be in the original submission. Yeah And they're 10 feet high Yeah, I struggled with that because I couldn't find Like these plans were labeled that they were the renderings, but then I didn't see anything on the sheet that marty Has pulled up. Well, so that's goes to show you how much screening we put in But the battery enclosure is right there over the top of that blue dot So you're looking out over the play field at the battery enclosure Uh, if you go to the the next photo down there, uh, yep right there The battery enclosure in that picture. Oh, it looks like it got cropped There you go, so you can see it there on the left hand side of old farm road, so that's old farm road I'm sorry. Where's the battery? If you zoom in. Yeah behind those three. Oh, it's big Well, it's a 10 foot tall privacy fence around it It's it's 1700 square feet. So it's roughly the size of a single family home Can we stipulate that from a functional standpoint? It's a desirable thing Yeah Yes I was trying to get at the the reason it's located there is because of a transit mission issue, right? You don't want to put it potentially on lot 33 because then it's not connected to perhaps the Localized grid on the front side of the hill um what I I guess I have if this has it has been It and I'm deliberately putting Quote marks around it has been dedicated to the city. What's the it? The land That's what i'm getting at. It sounds like the the the describe how was the land described Is there a deed that is there a deed of dedication? Yes And how does it how does it describe the land? You've changed you've changed the configuration of the land. So how how could it possibly be accurate at this point? I think it describes the meets and bounds not the topography It describes the meeting if it describes meets and bounds and they can't be the same thing as what we're looking at now Right, it would not be the council would have to give it up. All right. So there would have to be A a an amended deed that have to be an amendment to the deed and the council would have to go along All right, based on everything we've heard Uh, oh, I have one more question because it wasn't clear to me What was the usable open area? For passive recreation or what have you before you made the change and what is it now? Previously the area where the battery enclosures proposed was shown as a 12 percent I'm not asking you that turn it around What was the usable area? We calculated 40 000 square feet of usable area Previously and that included that included the seven and a half percent slope but excluded the area where the battery storage is So it went all the way to that um shrub buffer in the back And then as proposed Excluding the area of the slope and beyond the slope We calculated 23 500 So you're losing on the other hand So they're making the argument that our calculations is inaccurate, but i'm just explaining how we made that so we had expanded that orange line all the way to the back And then the pink line was smaller But the area where the uh when you're talking about usable area if you got a 12 percent 12 percent is pretty steep gray Right the 12 percent we had excluded we so if the orange line if you extend Take the back orange line and move it all the way to the back. That's how we came up with the 40 000 I think we um included maybe like a little kick in the front too Because of my limited visual understanding You can see that you've given up 17 000 square feet of usable area Well, the the lot the lot is Currently the lot was 1.15 acres and the lot That was needed to the city and it's proposed to be reduced to 0.98 acres So in in fact that is it's precisely 0.17 acres that were removed for the benefit of the battery building I would point out that there are some 34 acres of publicly accessible space in the project and that that's a You know 0.05 I get your butt. All right. I'm just trying to get the basic facts right now Do you can see that there are 17 000 square feet of Because what I understood you to say before is we've taken away some but we've compensated with grading We've actually functionally added more. So if that's your position, I'd like that teased out a little bit There is 17 000 square feet of usable actual usable area for us to you dispute that I I don't think that I agree with that. No, I mean I the the land is what it is We went out there and we proceeded to construct the largest flattest area we could reasonably On the property and so the area that is flat Is the largest that it can be Other than the potential opportunity to shift the pink line a little bit closer to the orange and increase the slope of the hillside so That would be the way that you could increase the size of the level area somewhat I don't think that the sloped area is unusable So what's the use? Like what are what's the use because there's a tennis court a basketball court of volleyball court a pickleball court And then there's a really nice gradual hill where you can sit and have a picnic or play fetch with your dog So it's it's unclear to me what the reduction means When I say usable, I mean functionally Really useful material materially materially usable A seven percent grade doesn't strike me. It's pretty steep grade I don't think that we graded the I don't know what the backside grading is From a percentage perspective, there's a picture of it and I can tell you with certainty that you could have a picnic on that You could play fetch with your dog on that you could You know Play frisbee on that you could set up a beach chair on that and sit in the sun and enjoy the western sun on your face And read a book. Let me get out of there. Let me ask the staff Do you think that the residents Are losing losing a material portion of an amenity that the board thought would be there in practical terms I would like the opinion of the recreation director on how this space can be most usable if he thinks that a 12 and a half percent slope or whatever that is on the back is better than an additional 30 feet of flat and then a steep slope Then I defer to that Yeah, I was I had the similar thought that because you said what you're waiting against would you weigh it against the benefit of the Of of the of the battery stores. I think that's The authority of the board I'm sorry. I think that's where the board's Important neutrality comes in right that's that's your decision Well, is it our decision right so eventually They're going to go to the city council and if the city council wants to give them the land I mean that's Right and then we get it and we get to just have a discussion on what the land is used for right? I mean, they're opposing a battery storage, but we can't We can't Say no, you can't have the subdivided right or or sold back as a piece of land because that's up to the city council it is um council does tend to defer to The board and the planning commission on matters that are usually within their authority The only reason this isn't within the board's authority is because it's an amendment not be Instead of a new project I guess It's fine So I will sorry. I'm just putting in a plug. We started a little late tonight But um, we are a little bit past what we typically do so if we could put give guidance forward and Cool quick things is is this subdividable as it is Does it run into any problems having to chop that off if it was a parcel that the city owned And now it's going to be separate. Can it be severed? And meet the requirements that are necessary Or could the city accept it with Or and give him an easement or something or you could just you could solve that with an easement I mean that to me makes a lot more sense than talking about subdividing And would that be okay with gfb if it just had an easement I mean, it's the use that you care about Yes, typically that would be fine All over the state. Okay. I don't think I think that saw you Yeah, I'm just asking there's a practical that's something to be solved. Um, no, I agree with what marla said I mean, I I think it's something that's necessary and if it needs to go there It seems to be a good place to put it. I think the real question is what else can be done with a lot? I mean the The underlying thing seems to be we were under the impression that we were getting a pretty flat level 1.5 acre 1.15 acre parcel of parkland and it turns out that that's not what it is So but it also wasn't flat, right? Is that your point? It wasn't flat. It was gently sloped, right? Yeah It is unchanged from what it is But that's not what was on the drawings So Short of the board going out there and surveying it ourselves. It's it's new information to us at this point So your your point is taken, but it's still something that needs to be digested So I would I would be in favor of recommending the the change and finding out what the director of Recreation would like to do if they're amenable to potentially regrading You know grade it flat and put a fence in the back or you know, leave the slope as it is whatever They think is the best solution one more dumb question. What is the battery? What what are the batteries sir? so the Community scaler centralized battery storage system will provide several different benefits to the neighborhood but also to the larger distribution system The batteries will be part of microgrid that will be comprised of the homes in the hillside east neighborhood All of the homes in the neighborhood are fully electric And they have to andrew and evan's comments earlier solar and battery storage on them So the centralized battery system on what's currently lot 18 will provide additional layers of resiliency and backup power to the homes in the event of a broader grid outage but another really important aspect of the plans for the battery system is that with a fully electric neighborhood questions that green mountain power and Utilities across the country often receive is can the grid handle increased electrification from heating transportation the additional of new electric developments So this neighborhood is a really incredible opportunity to demonstrate that Fully electric developments can actually be a grid asset And that comes through pairing renewable energy generation with battery storage. So that green mountain power along with the residents in the neighborhood are able to Um, balance the grid in this area through the microgrid will be able to take it offline From the rest of the grid and in really high usage times benefits like that Paying the fee for locating the grid there For locating the battery storage system Yeah, so this project would go through section 248 permitting with the public utility commission And that would be done through green mountain power and a battery storage developer That wasn't the question is the Is green mountain paying for the use of the land? Oh for um No No, green mountain power is not paying us for the lot or for the land In this subdivision. There's no rental or or easement fee or anything like that No, the intention would be for the facility to go there and for green mountain power to I mean, we made it a lot because it was a lot easier To have a lot than to negotiate an easement with the city But you don't you don't need you don't need the lot you can create an easement And describe you can describe you you can what you're calling a lot line just call an easement area And keep the keep the acres exactly the same. You don't have to segregate the lot Yeah, I think we're comfortable as long as gmp is comfortable with that arrangement But I think the thing to keep in mind because I think it's easier for the city I think it would depend on the terms of the easement. Yeah But I think the thing to keep in mind is that this micro grid battery Storage facility is part and parcel and integral to the entire micro grid community That allows it to be 100 carbon free 100 electrified and backed up in climate resilient So we we can't do what we're doing Without having this there and this was the most logical place to put it If it was possible to to say, you know easement or you know Create the lot. I don't know but I do think there's some benefits to it being on its own lot from the city's perspective In the sense of you have a it wouldn't it be a Insurance or a liability issue to have This on city property you would dress that through your insurance if it's a if it's a real issue Or you require a green mountain power to compensate you for the You know for the insurance for the additional insurance, but by the way, who who winds up that's an interesting question Who winds up owning a lot who who has Who owns the underlying fee for lot 18? In other words, is this common land for the homeowners or does it develop well the city has an irrevocable offer of dedication for lot 18 So the intention here would be to take the city's lot 18 Let them keep the remainder of it and pull that little piece off To your point if it's an easement, it doesn't really matter if green mountain power is open to it All right, and you got two institutions. You got you got two important institutions here You've got the power company and you got the city they can the city can give the power company an easement And your problem is I I see it as pretty easy As long as the city You know, you got to make your pitch to the city. It sounds reasonably persuasive The countervailing issue is what the recreation director thinks Yes, so yeah, I think um The board is on board with the location And you've heard frank's recommendation as far as exploring the easement option might be more appealable to the city But as far as at sketch right now moving forward, we'd recommend getting review and input from the recreation director as far as the final grade How that lock is usable what what best makes sense as as an open space there understanding that it's in its current condition based on Your you know in the field decision making to to try to make it a useful recreation space Actually, and I'm sorry to do this quick, but now that I think about it See I'm confused about what it is you gave the city Did you give the city accurately everything within the outside line? Yes So the only you don't really have to amend the deed what we're really talking about is You're going to the city for green mountain tower to request an easement for this purpose So the city hasn't accepted it. Yeah Oh, it hasn't yet. Okay, so so all right So if it hasn't it hasn't accepted it you could modify it slightly and convey your subject to an easement in favorite green Can we let them figure that out at the next stage of review given that this is sketch and it's 1040 Yep all right I think that summarizes our feedback on this point for any other last So is the feedback is that the you guys are comfortable with the location And that we should explore with the city the ability to do an easement there and whether or not that gets us out of Even needing to amend the plans that overstate that because I want to respect more less concern Feedback is we got to hear something from the development director The recreation director as well. So there's three. I think this I'm sorry, but I think the sequence should be You work that out first And then you're definitely going to have to go to the city Now the city is not going to override us. I don't think on whatever recommendation we make I don't think But you should try to work out the recommendation in advance By working with marlin of development and excuse me. I keep saying development. I mean recreation director Does that sound coherent to you? Okay, that's understood That's good. Okay In with that, uh, we will conclude sketch Oh public comment Yes, I did receive a written public comment today the um from the neighbor to the Immediately next to the battery storage so that um if you pull out that plan, I think that they this is um Marla and bill weiner Who live just off the page to the left? I'm paraphrasing. I'll put it on the website for the board tomorrow like I always do But they Indicated that they are opposed to the facility being in this location If it's unavoidable, they don't want any closer to their home Then it's currently being proposed and they want an assurance that there'd be no sound impact from the facility The battery storage storage Is there a sound impact There is some ambient noise from fans an air circulation cooling system As well as inverters and transformers The estimated decibel level at the batteries within the 60 and 65 dba The sound mitigation fence helps with that And we don't anticipate for the ambient noise level at the next nearest properties to be increased because of the battery storage Uh, that's the Say the ambient decibel level. Does there any reason With usage that the decibel level varies goes up Does it move? It does slightly But I I don't think it would exceed again the maximum ambient sound that's experienced in the neighborhood currently All right, well Additionally, a sound analysis would be part of the section 248 permitting with the public utility commission Um, so that would be part of the standard permitting process for the as a zoning matter that we have But I think that under the puc guidelines that the Standards don't apply because it's governed by the puc So like energy projects aren't um subject to local regulation because it's governed by the state By the puc Yeah, I think it's it's under 44 13 anyway. Yeah So like with the exception of Uh, driveways It it is one of the reasons why we located it where it is other than for convenes, but it could have been south of there But it would have gotten closer to the weaners home There's an existing wooded tree line there and so we were trying to respect the distance and obviously The potential for ambient noise But there is a fair bit of ambient noise in this neighborhood anyway Because you've got the interstate on the south end and you've got the airport on the north end You've got kennedy to the west we our sound report The ambient noise is like between 60 and 75 decibels in this area Currently, well, I think and maddy saying the equipment 60 to 65 at the source. So I I think we could conclusively Say at our preliminary plat that it would not increase ambient noise levels if that would be helpful Respecting what stefanie says I think a double check is worthwhile But for what it's worth. I think the performance standard for nighttime Decibel level in a residential neighborhood is 45 decibels. Do you recall either of you? There was a performance standard on You're right. There is a different nighttime standard And I hope I'm remembering that right The project I mean the project is that this became a hot issue in west queen city, you know the It is 45. It is what 45 45 is correct. All right. So you're 20 20 decibels Would this be with that ambient decibel level 45 at the property like nighttime Is there any reason it would go up down and be different at night or demonstrably could you demonstrate? It's less than yes property less than that at night Um at the source I so at the batteries themselves. I don't believe that the decibel level past the property line Oh past the property line. No, I do not believe that it would exceed 45 at the next closest property line at the next closest property line is you know right there Or to the neighboring residences I should say pardon to the neighboring residences. I'm talking No, I'm talking about the limit of the property on your right at the property line So the sound would likely not be below 45 decibels at the nearest property line right in front of the facility. No, we talk it across purposes your property line The property line that houses the the source of the noise That's what the the the performance standard applies to it would it be more than 45 decibels Past that property your property line On the other side somebody's standing on the property So we yeah, we would do a study to determine that through the permitting process All right, so the only issue then is that Stephanie right and if she's right then it's a non-issue and you'll you tell you tell the neighbor Sorry can't help you So again not to cut your interest of time comment about noise Yeah, we can address noise at the next level depending on which direction the easement or plan goes Excellent And with that, I think We close conclude conclude I thought I got it went too late Um conclude this um, and we will see you at the next phase of review Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. She had it guys. Thanks for sticking it out So do you want to do minutes or um, we can table them for the next meeting since it's so late Okay, your mic's off Your mic's off Is anyone opposed to tabling the minutes for this evening? Okay, thank you All right, um, I don't have any other business Oh, yeah other business. Sorry Okay. All right. Well done. Thank you


Item Number SCP-3305 Object Class Euclid Special Containment Procedures Mobile Task Force Gamma 84, codename Holy Toasters, are to be permanently stationed at SCP-3305. All personnel attempting to gain access to SCP-3305 without prior approval are to be detained, administered class amnestics, and released. Should SCP-3305-1 manifest, it is to be detained by Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 and transferred to Site-19, where it will be stored in a standard humanoid containment chamber. Protocol Judas is to be executed in the event of a containment breach meeting the required criteria. Protocol Judas Protocol Judas was a method of containment proposed by Dr. Teller to successfully detain and terminate SCP-3305-1 while causing minimal physical and psychological damage to those under its effects. This is only to be considered in the event of a containment breach where SCP-3305-1 is summoned and has made contact with a civilian population. Phase 1 Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 will bring a D-class person with an ailment, from now on referred to as the patient, to a building near SCP-3305-1. All smoke detectors inside the building will be disabled, and the patient must be kept in a room which is not visible to the outside. Airplanes equipped with the suitable amounts of gaseous class B amnestic shall be positioned near the civilian population. Phase 2 Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 will request the assistance of SCP-3305-1 in healing the patient. It is imperative that no civilian personnel be allowed inside the building with SCP-3305-1. Given the nature of SCP-3305-1, if the request is made in earnest, it will comply. Phase 3 Once the patient has been cured by SCP-3305-1 and cleared the premises, Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 shall incinerate SCP-3305-1. Phase 4 The airplane shall dispense the class B amnestics over the civilian population. Phase 5 Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 is to perform a survey of the civilian population to identify individuals who retain memories of SCP-3305-1 and administer class B amnestics as needed. Description SCP-3305 is a collection of five trees in the b***** forest with slices of bread stapled to them. All attempts to remove the bread from the trees have failed. If a particular ritual is performed at SCP-3305, see Document SCP-3305-R, then a humanoid composed of bread will appear. SCP-3305-1 SCP-3305-1 will offer parts of itself to eat and puncture itself to produce wine to drink. This bread and wine have restorative properties as individuals who have consumed them report being cured of all physical and mental illnesses. All individuals who consume part of SCP-3305-1 worship it, as well as bread in general. The form of this worship varies highly between individuals. While amnestics can successfully erase memories of interaction with SCP-3305-1, subjects under SCP-3305-1's effects still believe in the existence of SCP-3305-1 and will continue to worship bread. Only after SCP-3305-1 has been terminated do amnestics become effective at erasing all memories regarding SCP-3305-1. Additional documents SCP-3305-R Materials needed 50 loaves of white bread 3.79 liters of red wine A virgin 18.14 kilograms of homemade dough 14.4 cubic centimeters of flour 3.79 liters of gasoline Matches And a Bible Lay the loaves between the stapled pieces of bread to form a pentagram. This will require all 50 loaves, assuming each loaf is approximately a 30.48 centimeters long. Pour wine over all of the loaves of bread. Move the virgin into the center of the center of the pentagram. Cover the virgin with the dough so none of the virgin's skin can be seen. Sprinkle the flour over the virgin and all loaves of bread. Douse the virgin in 3.03 liters of gasoline and each piece of bread in .19 liters. Ignite all five pieces of bread. Ignite the virgin. From the Bible, read aloud verse Mark 14-22-24. After the dough rises, it takes the form of SCP-3305-1. It is unknown what happens to the virgin as all testing indicates SCP-3305-1 is made entirely of bread and wine. Event SCP-3305-A The following is the foundation's current understanding of what occurred during event SCP-3305-A. All information was gathered from SCP-3305-1, local authorities before being amnestized, and foundation personnel present. Day 1 An unknown group performs the ritual described in document SCP-3305-R. SCP-3305-1 manifests and is led to an abandoned church near the small town. He is hidden for the rest of the day. Day 2 During the morning mass, wine and bread from SCP-3305-1 are served to attendees. 80% of . . . was present and consumed part of SCP-3305-1. At the end of the sermon, SCP-3305-1 introduced itself. All civilians in attendance acknowledge SCP-3305-1 as the personification of a deity. A banquet was held using bread and wine from SCP-3305-1. Day 3 SCP-3305-1 visits the rest of . . . Those who appear to be afraid of SCP-3305-1 are reprimanded against the anomaly's will. SCP-3305-1 feeds one civilian afflicted with Alzheimer's disease a portion of itself. The civilian claims a miracle has occurred and can now remember his past clearly. Days 4-7 Those who refuse to consume part of SCP-3305-1 are discriminated against by approximately 40% of those under the effects of SCP-3305-1. These individuals are often refused service and are called gluten-free. SCP-3305-1 is unaware of the abusive treatment. Each night, SCP-3305-1 offers pieces of himself for consumption. It is estimated that 90% of the town have consumed a portion of SCP-3305-1 by day 7. Day 8 Joseph Westing, the inventor of the gluten-free slur, announces the creation of the Westing Church of Wonder Bread. Its tenants are similar to those advocated by SCP-3305-1. However, they believe that white bread is a superior bread. 40% of... joins the Westing Church of Wonder Bread. Day 9-11 Members of the Westing Church of Wonder Bread become increasingly hostile toward gluten-free civilians. On day 11, the Patrickson family is forced out of... The accounts of the Patrickson family are the first reports the Foundation has received regarding SCP-3305. Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 is sent to investigate. Day 12 Members of the Westing Church of Wonder Bread attack a bakery. Two civilians are stabbed to death with sharpened stale baguettes, and four are beaten with the same weapons. SCP-3305-1 publicly denounces the Westing Church of Wonder Bread. Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 arrives at... Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 detains SCP-3305-1 and requests transport for SCP-3305-1 to Site-19. Day 13 While attempting to administer amnestics to the residents of... The Westing Church of Wonder Bread riot. Four Foundation employees and 20 civilians are injured. After the altercation, Class B amnestics are successfully administered to the rest of the population. SCP-3305-1 is interviewed by Site-19 personnel. See SCP-3305 interview log for the full transcript. Day 14 Residents of... Return to worshipping bread, referencing SCP-3305-1. The individuals responsible for the Westing Church of Wonder Bread create another organization called the King's Hawaiian Congregation. When asked about this, SCP-3305-1 replied, They can still feel my presence, so they still know. Although, what more is faith than a feeling? Dr. Teller requests the termination of SCP-3305-1. Day 15 Site Director Rogers approves Dr. Teller's termination request. SCP-3305-1 does not resist personnel during the process. SCP-3305-1 is terminated via incineration. Day 16 The Aviation Division of Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 administers a gaseous amnestic to the residents of... Via an airdrop. The rest of Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 surveys the town and administers amnestics to those who did not encounter the gaseous amnestic. All memories of SCP-3305-1 are erased, and all evidence that SCP-3305 exists is confiscated. Mobile Task Force Gamma 84 is assigned to monitor SCP-3305. SCP-3305 Interview Log Begin log. Hello.  I have. There is nothing for me to hide. Well, it's good to know you don't feel uncomfortable. Can you tell me where you come from? I come from the Great Bakery. I've returned to once again enlighten men and women in the ways of the baker, and to let them feast upon my body. Returned? When were you here last? I know not the passage of time between my last appearance and now. I can say for certain that massive bounds in culture and technology have taken place. I am quite impressed. Fair enough. What happened to you during your last appearance? I attempted to do the same as I did these past weeks. I brought bread and urged people to break it with one another. The only difference was that back then, bread and wine were scarce, so I was considered a blessing and a miracle. Do you not consider yourself those things? No, no. I'm just a humble butter knife, spreading the words of the baker.  I do, but I have grown used to it. I have suffered for the masses in other terrible ways, giving away my blood and flesh to feed the hungry as but a prick in comparison. Speaking of which, I believe I have not offered you any. SCP-3305-1 removes a small piece of bread from its arm and offers it to Dr. Teller. Thank you, but I ate earlier, so I'm not hungry. Very well. Are you aware of the actions of a group called the Westing Church of Wonder Bread? They were responsible for an attack on a bakery in town for selling, and I quote, whole grain, the heathens bread. I have? Have you spoken to this group at all? Not directly, but I should have. I do not condone their message. Wonder Bread is terribly bland. I much prefer Pepperidge Farm. And log.


Tammy says, what if he's married and getting a divorce? So he says, if he's married and getting divorce, you should probably, I'm actually doing a couple videos in the next two weeks about this where I'm gonna be posting them. They're not gonna be live streams. But you wanna think about it. If I were you, I wouldn't get involved with a guy who's married at all. That's it. I wouldn't get involved with a guy who's married at all because he might be lying to you, he might be telling you things, he might be more involved, right? He might still be emotionally kind of connected to his ex. And so what ends up happening sometimes is guys who are still kind of involved in that.  And two, what could end up happening is he might end up kind of pulling away from her and being around with you, but he's got this deep emotional connection with lots of range and lots of time in with this other woman and that space might make him rethink what's going on with her and he might end up going back to her which happens all the time. And so you wanna be very, very careful with a guy who's married.