Our new topic is Orofacial and neck infections. This lecture is intended to introduce you to the facial layers of the neck which is also called as cervical fascia. First you should understand what the term fascia means. Fascia is a band or sheet of connective tissue primarily of collagen and it is found beneath the skin. And what are its functions? The fascia attaches, stabilizes, encloses and separates the muscles and other internal organs. There is one more term that you need to be familiar with that is facial space. These are potential spaces that exist between the fascia and underlying organs and other tissues. And they are separated from each other by barriers which may be a muscle, a bone or fascia. A neurontogenic infection can reach these facial spaces resulting in space infection. Generally the spread of infection is determined based on whether the anatomical barrier. It can be a muscle, bone or fascia. So it depends on the anatomical barrier whether it is breached or not. What is the significance of these facial spaces or space infection? Space infections are relatively common sequelae of odontogenic infection and rapidly progressing which results in prolonged morbidity. There are long term complications associated with space infections which are potentially life threatening. The treatment of space infections are also considerable difficult due to various factors like the complexity of the anatomy of neck, the deeper location of the spaces, limited access, proximity to vital structures and communication of spaces with each other. So that said let's have a look at the cervical fascia in detail. Cervical fascia is divided into superficial cervical fascia and deep cervical fascia. Superficial cervical fascia is a thin layer of subcutaneous connective tissue that lies between the dermis of the skin and the first layer of deep cervical fascia which is the investing layer. It contains the following.  Superficial cervical fascia is thinner on the anterior aspect of the neck and it has usually got very thin amount of fat which is its distinguishing characteristic. At the anterior neck the superficial fascia blends with the platysma. Platysma is a broad superficial muscle which originates from the fascia over the pectoralis major and deltoid. The fibers of platysma then causes the clavicle and meat in the midline fusing with the muscles of the face. It is beneath the superficial cervical fascia that you can find the external jugular vein. Beneath the superficial cervical fascia you find the deep cervical fascia. The deep cervical fascia as its name suggests lies deep to the superficial cervical fascia and the platysma muscle. This fascia is organized into several layers and each of these layers have role in supporting the neck structures. We shall now have a look at each of these layers in detail. From here onwards you will see the same diagram in every following slide throughout this presentation because this is the best way to visualize and compare the facial layers at a glance. Before looking into the diagram let us understand that any object or human body can be visualized in three different planes the sagittal, coronal and transverse planes. The sagittal plane divides the human body into equal right and left halves through the midline. The sagittal plane is shown in right color here. The coronal plane divides the human body into anterior and posterior halves or anterior and posterior parts. Transverse plane also called the axial plane or cross sectional plane divides the body into inferior and superior portion. So this is applicable to human body as well as any object. So keep this image in mind while discussing the topic proper images. This figure shows the cross sectional image of neck at the level of seventh cervical vertebra of the C7. You have sectioned the neck at the level of C7 and you are viewing it from above. This is a superior view. So let's see what all structures you can identify here. Because this is sectioned at C7 level here is the seventh vertebra and through the center runs the spinal cord this is the spinal cord this is the C7 vertebra. So to identify the structures let's move from anterior to posterior this is the anterior aspect this is the posterior aspect. So anteriorly you can visualize the superficial cervical fascia with the platysma. This muscle is the platysma the thin muscle over here is the platysma and around it you have the superficial cervical fascia. You know from the previous slide that platysma is the limit of superficial cervical fascia. With the platysma you can identify the external jugular vein. The deep cervical fascia begins at the investing layer which is shown in green color. So investing layer surrounds the entire neck as you can see very clearly here the investing layer which is green in color surrounds the entire cross section of the neck. You can see the sternocleidomastoid muscle on either side and also the smaller infrahiroid muscles. These are the infrahiroid muscles the ones smaller in size. As you move further deeper the structure in pink here is the thyroid. This overlies the crachia which is blue in color this is thyroid this is crachia and the structure behind the crachia in red color is the esophages. So the thyroid the crachia and esophages are enclosed within the second layer of deep cervical fascia which is the pre tracheal layer that is illustrated in blue color here. As you still go posteriorly there is carotid sheath which is red in color on either side and the carotid sheath encloses the common carotid artery the internal jugular vein and the vagus nerve. Orange colored layer here is the pre vertebral fascia. There are different groups of muscles around the cervical vertebra which is enclosed by the pre vertebral fascia and most posteriorly you can see that the investing layer of deep cervical fascia has split itself to enclose the trapezius muscle. So this is the description of deep cervical fascia in a nutshell. Moving on to the investing layer of deep cervical fascia which is depicted in blue color here. It is the most superficial aspect of the deep cervical fascia and is clearly seen in the diagram here that it surrounds all the structures in the neck like a collar. Here again is a cross sectional view of the neck at C7 level. This is the anterior part here is the posterior part and where the investing fascia meets the trapezius muscle and the sternocleidomastoid muscle it splits into two and it completely surrounds both the muscles. So imagine the investing fascia as a tube with superior, inferior, anterior and posterior attachments. In the cross sectional image you cannot see the superior and inferior limits therefore here is the sagittal view. The green color here is the investing fascia. Similarly it is attached to the external occipital protuberance, the superior nuclei of the skull, the mastoid process and the base of the mandible that is the superior limit and anteriorly the limit is the hyoid bone and the symphysis mentee. It is attached along the nuke line of the vertebral column and the spine of C7, it is attached to the ligamentum nuke and the spine of seventh cervical vertebra. Inferiorly the limit is the manupremia sternum. So these are the attachments of investing layer of deep cervical fascia. It is like the investing fascia splits to enclose two muscles that is the sternocleidomastoid muscle and the trapezius muscle. Similarly the fascia also splits to enclose two glands, those are the submandibular and submental glands and two spaces the suprasternal and supraclavicular spaces. So these are the structures or the regions surrounded by or enclosed by the investing layer of deep cervical fascia. The second layer or the pre-tracheal layer of deep cervical fascia. In the sagittal view here the pre-tracheal layer is depicted in blue color. This is situated in the anterior neck and it extends between the hyoid bone and the oblique line of thyroid cartilage superiorly and trax inferiorly where it blends with the pedicardium of the arch of the iota. In the cross sectional image the pre-tracheal layer fuses with the cadouted sheath deep to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. So here is the cadouted sheath to which the pre-tracheal layer is blended on either side. So here in this diagram you can see that the pre-tracheal layer has enclosed few muscles over here. These are the infrahioid muscles. It has also enclosed the thyroid gland, the trachea and the esophages. So anatomically pre-tracheal fascia can be divided into two parts. The muscular part and the visceral part. The muscular part encloses the infrahioid muscles and the visceral part encloses the thyroid trachea and the esophagus. There are few other features of the pre-tracheal layer. On either side of the thyroid gland it forms a suspensory ligament for the gland which is known as the ligament of berry. This ligament is attached to the cricoid cartilage and also to the thyroid cartilage. So its function is to support the thyroid gland and the thyroid doesn't sink into the medial stenum. This fascia also provides a slippery surface for the free movement of the trachea during swallowing. Moving on to the pre-vertibule layer. As the name suggests it lies in front of the pre-vertibule muscles and forms the flow of the posterior triangle of the neck. As you can see here the purple coloured is the pre-vertibule fascia and the pre-vertibule muscles lie between the fascia and the vertebra which is coloured in pink. There are three sets of muscles associated with this fascia. The first group of muscles is located anterior to the vertebrae and it includes the longest capitals and longest scaly muscles. The second group of muscles is the scalenes muscles which include the anterior, middle and posterior scalenes as well as the levator scapulae which is located lacquely to the vertebra. And posteriorly the deep muscles or influencing muscles of the back are located. The sagittal section shows the pre-vertibule fascia in brown colour. Superiorly it is attached to the skull base and inferiorly it extends to the superficial mediasenium where it is attached to the body of the fourth thoracic vertebra. And anteriorly the pre-vertibule fascia is separated from the pharynx and buccopharyngeal fascia by the retropharyngeal space containing loose areola tissues. This is the sagittal view and here is the cross-sectional view of the same region. The pre-vertibule fascia is illustrated in blue colour and the orange colour shows the retropharyngeal space. Anterior to the retropharyngeal space is the buccopharyngeal fascia. So this space differentiates or separates the buccopharyngeal fascia from the pre-vertibule fascia. This region is of utmost importance in dealing with or while dealing with space infections. The importance of this region will be dealt in detail in the subsequent lectures. The next layer of deep cervical fascia is the carotid sheet. It is paired and present on either side of the neck. The carotid sheet encloses the internal jugular vein, the common carotid artery and the vagus nerve. In addition, it has relations to ansa cervicalis anteriorly and the cervical sympathetic chain posteriorly. The carotid sheet is formed by the fusion of pre-tracheal, investing layer and the pre-vertibule layers of deep cervical fascia. It is within this carotid sheet that the common carotid artery bifurcates into the internal and external carotid artery. It is only the internal carotid artery that is present within the sheet. The same diagram is depicted here. This is the internal jugular vein, the common carotid artery, the ansa cervicalis and the sympathetic trunk. As you can see here, the carotid sheet is organised into a column. So the superior limit of the sheet is the base of the skull and the inferior limit is the thoracic mediasthenum. And this particular organisation is of clinical significance as a pathway for the spread of infection. Bacopharyngeal fascia wraps around the lateral and posterior sides of the pharynx and it lies on the superficial side of the pharyngeal constrictor muscle. It was told earlier that the pre-vertibule fascia is separated from the bacopharyngeal fascia by the retropharyngeal space. Again there is aller fascia which is red in colour which is present between the retropharyngeal space and the pre-vertibule fascia. As you can see here, the red coloured structure is the aller fascia which lies just posterior to the retropharyngeal space. So these structures will prevent the meeting or communication between the two fascias that is the pre-vertibule fascia and the bacopharyngeal fascia. But there is one point where the aller fascia fuses with the retropharyngeal space. As you can see here at this particular point the aller fascia and the retropharyngeal space or it is retropharyngeal fascia as you can call it either way. So at this point both the fascias meet and here ends the retropharyngeal space. So it is probably at this level that the pre-vertibule fascia communicates with the bacopharyngeal fascia as you can see in this diagram. Here is the midline fusion between the pre-vertibule fascia and the bacopharyngeal fascia which is at a variable level between the sixth cervical vertebrae that is C6 and the fourth thoracic vertebrae T4. So this meeting point of the pre-vertibule fascia and the bacopharyngeal fascia is somewhere between C6 and T4. Faryngeal basilar fascia is a thickened part of the deep cervical fascia between the upper border of the superior constrictor muscle and the base of the skull. This lies deep to the pharyngeal muscles. This figure again depicts the relationship between the pre-vertibule fascia, the bacopharyngeal fascia and the pharyngeal basilar fascia. The dark blue color is the pre-vertibule fascia, the light blue is the bacopharyngeal fascia which will eventually meet somewhere between C6 and T4. Between the pharyngeal basilar and the bacopharyngeal fascia lies the constrictor muscles of the pharynx. So this is how all the three fascia, the bacopharyngeal pharyngeal basilar and pre-vertibule fascia are related. So that's all about the facial layers of neck in brief. In subsequent lectures we shall discuss in detail the clinical significance of important facial spaces and how autotogenic infection spreads to each of them. Thank you.


Mae'r dddwyddiol yn y cwestiynau gyda'u knoeddol iawn – mae'n gweithio arweinydd. Mae'n gweithio ar y byd, ac mae'n gweithio'r golywnerau lleol. Ac mae'n gweithio ar y byd yn y cwestiynau. Mae'n gweithio'r cydydd fel hynny, ac mae'n gofyníllu bod tunaf o goboi cyflosion iswyd. Arweinydd pob gwlygu wil gweithio. Mae'n gweithio ar minellfa yno, dwi'n gwneud eich gweld. Rwy'n gael ganddo eich bod ni'n gweithio'n gweithio'r archfweliadu, rwy'n gweithio'n rhywbeth anhylch ar yr hynny saen. Ond while we continue to build a foundation of fundamental strength, we don't get to play at a higher level. If you can do a muscleup and want to do a front lever, there's going to be a certain amount of work you have to do just to get basic strength up to be able to go and play at that level.  A'r prynsaf o wasb���fyn, mae'n oed o hoffi rydych chi'n gweithio'r siar The other sides and that are about how we bring those things together. Ff we're going to pick one up, your first pull-up, just four straight left or ten pull-ups so we just need to get more force out of our pull-up or more velocity, the same sort of principles are going to apply. We're going to focus the vertical push and pull patterns. Horizontal is a little bit easier so we can do body weight rows and push ups but we would be examples of our horizontal push and pull. Rhywbeth yn wahanolio'r busch yn cystafell i ddechrau'r porfysgo, dypa ac yn cyfrannu'r byd. Nwn, rhaen, mae hyn yn gwneud yn cerddur yn ddechrau, neu mae n technol yn cael rhaen i rhan o'r ddechrau. Ysgol yma'r prynsbwell hynny'n i ddechrau, ac rhaen i'n meddwl i wneud o'rなffon mewn mynd i ddweïm sy'n gael wahanol yn rhoi ddweud o'r cyfrannu'u ddweudio. So, I'm going to go through these then we're going to give you some practical stuff to go out. So, the first one comes from creating a stable base. In all of these positions at the pull-up, we talked about the dead hang before. When we did a dip position for the muscle up, we talked about a front support. And for the pike push-up again it's about being able to create this stable shape which we can move from, control the spine. If we don't have a stable base we can't produce force. There might come a point though where you can start to get the certain amount of winds with your pulling strength for example but to go from three to four or five to ten, if it's this system which is falling down then that's going to be where we need to go and spend some time. We could just go and do more band assistive pull-ups but then it's not actually, if you're finding that band assistive pull-ups aren't translating into actual body weight pull-ups this might be one of the reasons that we just don't have that chassis isn't strong enough. So that could be do we go and do more active hang work and if I'm getting good at a 30 second active hang and I'm putting more weight around my waist to an active hang that needs to overload that stability. My opportunity is to try and get my scaps positioned and holding in a stable shape for longer so that they can produce force for longer. Predominantly the muscle types around our stabilisation system is a type 1 muscle fibre. Those guys are smaller muscles, they work for long periods of time and they are like endurance. The type 2 muscle fibres that are predominantly made up of lats, anterior delts, pecs those muscles produce a lot of force but they tire quite quickly. If the stable base isn't there, if the stabilisation system fails because it's underactive the big prime mover is just trying to take over and then now they're going to try and stabilise the joints and then create that stable base. It doesn't work as well as if we actually let each muscle group do what it's designed to do. So we need to create some overload in here. We won't do too much of that today because it's more of the same. It's actually just active hangs, it's some more front support. We get a lot of this from our pushing patterns through our handstand work. Your isometric work that you've been doing in your fogstand is great for the pushing foundations. It's often this pool where people get stuck. When we do the human flag we'll do a single arm active hang. We're big fans of some of the hanging stuff in here. If you've got a rig in your gym just doing more hanging work so you're constantly overloading in different patterns more single arm hang transfer work that all serves to build these stable foundations. And there's also our YTW more isolated progressions of just creating more stability, reverse flies. That sort of stuff is going to be in the workout that we do to finish the weekend tomorrow so you will visit some of this stuff. Hopefully it's going to give you some context around that. So we might need to do some upgrades to chassis. The second part of this is that we've got these, let's take pull-up as an example. We've got these three specific sort of tools that we might want to use. So an assisted pull-up is a useful thing to do with a band. But we're not going to get 10 body weight pull-ups just from doing assisted work. The band and the argument against using assisted only is that at the bottom of the pull-up you've got a band on full stretch. So it's actually helping you the most from the position of movement just to get going. So the band is helping pull you up due to the stretch. It's providing less support as you come up through the movement. But the hardest bit in a pull-up is getting going from that bottom position. And that again comes partly back down to the stable base. So what we can do, we can use band-up because it's good to get people through the range of movement. These work really well to get reps in the bank. You might do 10 band-up pull-ups wicked. You put in some capacity and you build some endurance. That's our capacity strength to a certain degree. The eccentric and the isometrics are going to form part of our more specific strength. So it might be that we're jumping up to the top of the bar and we're going to lower down 5 seconds. And we're just going to work that eccentric phase. It creates a lot of tension in the muscle. The strength adaptation off the back of that is good. So we can start to build eccentric strength, which will ultimately then turn into pulling strength. So by lowering the force we can lower more force than we can pull. So by lowering we're building more strength in the muscle. And then down the line when I try and pull that muscle has a greater capacity to produce force and therefore it transfers over. So by only training the eccentric we get better at pulling by default to a certain degree. And those two things are going to work well together. Some assisted work to train the concentric phase, but also just hammering this eccentric work to build and stress that muscle to be able to produce more force. Isometrics are different points. These are good for sticking points. So the isometric hold in the dead hang is the bottom portion of our pull-up. It might be that we're struggling to get out of that real bottom hold. So we're just going to come just into the bottom position and I'm going to do an isometric hold there. I might do 10 seconds and then just let go. I might do 10 seconds in the middle point, 10 seconds at the top. You can range those through. In isometrics we'll gain strength 15 degrees either side of the point that we're training at. So if you can't get out of the bottom bit or you've got a sticking point in the movement, just training wherever you're at will give you a little bit of a strength adaptation either side of that. If you can't quite get your chin above the bar and we're doing an isometric with the bar in line with the eyes, we're going to start to be able to inch that up just by training in the isometric shape. You can work all of these and that's where the programming comes in. And then the final one is just around capacity. Startings just put more reps in the bank. There's a value in doing easier stuff. So more horizontal pulling, just building the capacity that you've got to pull force, will translate into a pull-up if we're starting to do some of this other stuff as well. So easier stuff, less costly, less stressful on the system, but it's just volume. We just need to get reps and basic raw strength in the bag to help these more specific positions. And that's where some of the variations come in that we'll look at again tomorrow. You can do different forms of pull-ups. Different kind of progressions that you can do within calisthenics that don't always have to be a strict up and down pull-up pattern. For those of you that need to take that to a next level and you want to go, so that's pull-up number one. If we want to go from five to ten or we want to start to go and do something like a more specific movement at a higher level, we can just start to make these same principles more advanced. So rather than using assisted, I might be using weighted. So if I can do ten pull-ups, I'm going to stick a weight vest on and I'm going to drop back down to five. So I'm training in sort of a more maximal strength adaptation phase. It's just, again, just a different way of building strength in the muscle. E-centrics, I was doing some work on my front lever earlier on this year, and I'm just doing E-centrics with a 20 kilo vest on. It's just flipping. It's the same principle. It's just overloading that system. Isometrics, the same thing. And we're just constantly looking for that progressive overload. How do we find ways in body weight training to consistently stress the system so that we get a continuum of adaptation? Any questions on any of that? That makes sense. The art is what we've put together in the virtual classroom where we've kind of programmed those things. So we've got programs for pull-ups and we've got a new section of that coming out in December, which is called Body Weight Basics, where all of this stuff is going to be built in, specific pull-up programs. But if you look at it, I don't know how to stretch that together, how many eccentric should I do, how many isometrics. The reps and sets aren't complicated, but if you sometimes just want something prescriptive to follow, you've kind of mapped it all out, because you could argue, I'm just going to do assisted one day, and then isometrics one day, or eccentric, is how you kind of blend all that together, which is in a bit of the skill of the programming. I'm happy with that. So what we're going to try and do is just play with some of this a little bit, and we'll take the pike push-up progression and the pull-up so you guys can feel some of it. That will then take us into a vertical push-and-pull pattern, which is our human flag, which is basically pushing with the bottom arm, and if we understand how to kind of, if we get our pretzels warmed up and prepped again with these two overhead pushing and pull patterns, it will feed in. Those of you that want to do some human flag, we can go through some progressions. Some of you guys might want to spend a bit more time understanding this as a takeaway, and then we can do that as well. If you want to do both, we can do that. We'll make a plan. No questions on either. I thought it was boring, or I did a really good job. OK, let's get some space. Let's have a look at our pike push-up progression. So, if I'm going to start to build this strength in my vertical pushing plane for my handstand, but also for a human flag, I'm going to have to get better at producing force in this direction, and we're just going to load these patterns more progressively. So, my first one for my pike push-up shape, if I start in press-up position, I'm just going to walk through, create this V position we looked at in the Pluto sniff, elbows behind the body, same principle, but I'm just going to drop in and back out, and Jaco can take over. So, he's going back to the same shape he started in. As he drives back up the hip, and then he can space, stack to the bottom. This morning. The position his hands, shoulders and head are making as he's going through. He's getting into the shape that's very similar to his frog stand position in terms of the head is forward of the hands and the shoulders are getting stacked on top. Yeah? Rather than elbows flying out to the side and head coming down between the hands, that's sort of the common mistake people make when we get into that shape. Push the shoulder in a poor position. It's not good for strength in terms of producing force. It's also not good for impingement. The big mistake people make is they come down, they flatten the back up and they push it. See, now he's getting towards more of a horizontal push rather than driving back to the same position. It's a difficult one because it's easy to say, well, don't do that, but the brain understands the path of least resistance. For you to push horizontally, like a push-up, then it is push vertically. And things like if your hamstrings are tight, it's harder to get back into that shape as well.  After that we're basically looking at how do we then overload this. So when we were talking about making a frog stand slightly harder, without adding a weight vest on or anything, all we did was say can we put our hips a little higher by putting our knees higher on our elbows and all of a sudden that felt harder on the shoulders that were supporting us. We do the same thing here. If we take our feet up, so if we walk down your box up, cool. His position on the floor hip in relation to the shoulder is high, but it's not like on top of the shoulders. So if we go feet onto the box raise them up, walk the hands further back now his hips are virtually on top of the shoulders, still comes down and makes a triangle with the hands of the shoulder staying in a nice position. It's still relevant to our frog stand goals and our hand stand push-up goals that we may have but there is a lot more load going through the shoulders and it's a lot more vertical rather sort of diagonal. So progressively sticking him up if we then raise the hands up we're making the progression harder not through load through range so rather than stopping where your head touches the floor which is not really that deep in terms of a shoulder press if someone was doing a barbell or dumbbell press and stopped here, like half reps, half reps bro we've got to come all the way down to the bottom before driving up so having the hands higher means we do get this bottom position where the hand is by the shoulder but you're going to find that it's hard getting out of that deep position and Tim changed the box as he raised the hands up to make sure that his hips stay in the same high position of his hands up and feet up at the same time to make sure that relatively it's the same then it gets juicy Do you want to have a play with the last one I just wanted to show you just if you find it any of these difficult and you haven't got you're trying to string into bridge the progression we're just going to use the band just like before just for a bit of support so it's going to take a bit of weight out of the movement but it just again means that on that sticking point here I can work that push pattern you can do eccentric on this stuff if you want if you're trying to build some more strength and you want to kind of work through some more range you can't push out of the bottom position eccentric pattern is going to be slow, lower down I might hold the bottom I'm not strong enough to get out so I'm going to push eccentric 5 4, 3, 2, 1 set down reset 5, 4 3, 2 1 and hold push eccentric on and reset your shoulders know about it when you start put some high tension intensity stuff about it sound good? so just feel that backwards push drop it in and just drive out the way that you came push, push back, back, back, back good you've got to drive backwards so your instinct there the brain just goes it's way easier if we just push this way so you've got to go back I always think just go like you're on rails so you've got to go in and out on the same line and it does really definitely feel like you're going backwards away from the power of bars to create that vertical line let's try one more I use boxes all the time I actually like it for the handstand push up push backwards and up push back, back, back, back, back good so just what you were doing before elbows pointing here go down to the shape elbows and then they were just coming in there, coming in there whereas we want to screw so my elbow crease point my elbow crease forward and back that creates external rotation of the shoulder it's going to put your shoulder in a better position and the elbow in a better position it's going to load up your triceps a little bit and then your head look is going to make a triangle make a triangle with the hands go and drive back up so I'm here I'm screwing there, it's that action that little twist so just show me that before you do anything just stay in that pipe position show me that little twist I'm not turning the hand watch, hand doesn't move it's coming from the shoulder that's it so you're just talking that up imagine you've got a piece of paper newspaper on the floor and you're going to try and rip it open but you're not turning the hand to create that action and then head comes forward and makes that triangle good ok and then the other thing I want you to do I want you to walk forward so I want the forearm to be vertical so look, if I'm here rather than being back there where I've got that angle I'm going to try and stack vertically and come down and drive back up to that shape trying to keep a vertical position with the forearm so I need you to stick your bum higher and load yourself further forward that just helps you load up onto the air so that nice and tall this stays vertical you come forward and down better it might feel a little harder but we're going more vertical nice, that's better but better I'm going to use the wall and maybe just use the wall with one leg find the bottom and then come up without the wall maybe come to it if you need it and then I've got one of the ones to try for you at the moment you're good at these, these aren't too bad I'm trying to find the thing that's going to be like ah that's really hard find the one that's the weakest and the other one might be you still did it try that because then the other one is just the wall facing one so come down take your feet off but yeah it's just working in balance have a little rest and the other one have you done any wall facing ones and how do you find them harder or easier or similar because they yeah yeah yeah I'm glad when you kick up to the wall your body is in a position of feet going towards which is fine but if you think of the body angle of your if I'm at my frog stand if this is my head and this is my hips my frog stand and I'm like this and then I'm going to try and go on there so that I'm up like an angle that is a little bit more similar to a wall facing and so if your hands are like here and your head's going to here and you're going to go against the wall that way you see how that's going to be loaded a little bit more on an angle it's an angle like a handstand pusher which is basically the same angle that your trunk is at in a frog to handstand you want to try to walk up and then right and then once I stay there point it to it and then I want midsection strong I want to stay in a good shape I don't need to arch your back nice rest rest rest and I just want you to try one last thing is to come at like where your head is making a triangle with the hands your triangle is very shallow I want to try and like come a little bit further forward because like do a frog stand show him from the side because you can watch it later so just do a frog stand right look where your shoulders are here and your head and your eyes are there so I want you to take when you make your hand stand against the wall your head's going to come that far forward at the moment your head is coming that far forward so the strain in the shoulders is a little bit less so if I was so almost like that I'm going to try and come down to that position there because that distance is more like the distance of my frog stand that will be slightly harder that might be the one that might be the one so you're going to try and come to that line ok there we go we found it we found it that's the one you do that it makes sense that you were training in a range that was a little bit close and actually the frog stand you're a bit further away we literally was going through and he was struggling with the frog to hand stand to get out and everything I was like giving him until the last one he was like doing it and I'm going like well if you can do those things then we found it but then he needs to then go away and he knows now I got that


Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. Coming up in this episode, it's Thriller Thursday, and I'm reaching back to stories I used in May of 2016, June of 2016 and June of 2018, and I'd say half of these are fiction, but not all of them. Still, I hope you like the selections tonight. If you're new here, welcome to the show, and while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com for merchandise, by newsletter, to enter contests, to connect with me on social media. Plus, you can visit the Hope in the Darkness page if you're struggling with depression or dark thoughts. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. And this month, we're celebrating Weird Darkness' birthday. This month makes 7 years of Weird Darkness as a podcast, and to recognize our birthday, every October we ask you to make a donation to our Overcoming the Darkness fundraiser. Every dollar we raise through donations and the Weirdling Woods painting auction will go to the organizations that help people who struggle with depression. You can learn more about the fundraiser and what we're doing with it on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com.  So you want to travel back in time and see the past and meet your ancestors. Are you really sure about that?  Many people are fascinated with time travel and more and more scientists seriously consider the idea that traveling to the past or future could be possible under certain circumstances. However, there are some problems to be solved before we can travel backwards in time to meet our ancestors. A new controversial theory put forward by physicist Professor Robert Nemeroff suggests that time travel can result in killing your doppelganger. The act of time traveling would create several versions of you, some living in the present while others move to the past.  It may sound like science fiction, but one theoretical physicist has worked out mathematical equations to show how this might work using our current understanding of science. I had heard many times that faster than light motion results in backwards time travel. Robert Nemeroff, a physicist at Michigan Technological University, told DailyMail.com. Even though I am a professional astrophysicist, I didn't understand the details of how this might work, so a student and I tried to work out for ourselves a very simple example. The example involved a spaceship that would start on a launching pad on Earth, travel at five times the speed of light to a planet about ten light years away. It is well known and not controversial that you can time travel to the future by just traveling quickly in a spaceship and coming back, said Professor Nemeroff. The closer one goes to the speed of light and the longer the trip, the further into the future you can go. But what about the past? Can you get to the past simply by just traveling in a spaceship? The only way this could happen was to assume that the spaceship could travel faster than the speed of light and return. Although in retrospect the equations were simple, it took us quite some effort to figure out how this might work, said Professor Nemeroff. Even so, the only solutions we could find involved these strange pairs of travelers popping into and out of existence. We speculated that one member of this pair must have a strange type of negative mass while the other has normal positive mass. Using Professor Nemeroff's equations, it turned out that a pair of ghost ships, one with a negative mass and one with positive mass, would appear out of thin air. Because the light from the spaceship travels slower than the spaceship after it returns, Earthlings would see images of the spaceship on its way out and another on its way back. Eight years later, an image of the spaceship sitting on the launch pad will still be visible, as would two of the spaceships on its outbound and return flights. After about ten years, the phantom spaceship pairs would destroy each other and there would only be one spaceship sitting on the landing pad. The same thing would happen with any object traveling back in time. For example, if in Doctor Who, two doctors were standing right next to each other, we found that a third doctor must exist of negative mass hurtling away faster than light, explained Professor Nemeroff. This third doctor is destined to meet up with one of the original doctors and together disappear. This superluminal doctor would also appear to be moving time backwards. The thought experiment creates more questions than it answers. For instance, what would the doppelgangers be made of? And which would be the real one? The physicist says he doesn't have the answers, but in any case, he doesn't think this would ever be a reality. Unfortunately, it has not seen possible for physical things to travel faster than light, and that is a crucial step, he said. We can make shadows and light spots from laser pointers appear to move that fast, but no one has ever been able to make something physical with mass move that fast. So time travel to the past seems impossible, at least presently. There are no such things as monsters. That is what my mommy used to say. She would tuck me into bed, make sure that my favorite doll, Casey, was in my arms and tell me there is nothing to be scared of. There are no monsters, no real monsters. She would whisper these words to me, mostly at night because that's when the monsters like to come out. At night when the walls would vibrate from machinery humming in the service tunnels and sub-basements below. I needed to hear those words when the wind would scream and howl from the unstable air currents and unpredictable weather patterns that came with an atmosphere being changed by a terraforming station. The turbines from dozens of filtration exchange towers took in the cold alien atmosphere and expelled hot oxygen and nitrogen-rich air. Just like the rhyme my daddy would sing with me, bad air goes in, good air comes out. I would need reminding one more time when the giant atmospheric processing station brought the rain by releasing electrical discharges into the clouds. That was when the monsters scared me the most. The lightning and thunder was the sound they made when they tried to get inside. The wind was the monster's voice and the rain was its nails, clicking and tapping at the windows of my living quarters. My mommy would come and make it all better and say there are no such thing as monsters.  Monsters are real. They were real and they were here. The grown-ups promised they would keep us safe. They told us everything would be all right and help was on the way. They lied. Our little settlement was so far away it would take up to two weeks for the nearest outposts to reach us. The monsters were clever and patient. When there was only a few of them they quietly picked off the families living in the habitat modules on the outskirts of the colony. The ones whose disappearance wouldn't be noticed right away. As their numbers increased the monsters began to hunt in packs. It wasn't long before there was enough of them and they didn't need to hide anymore. The monsters were coming. They were coming for each and every last one of us. The Central Air Processing Station was just outside the colony's perimeter. It was the primary terraformer and control center for the other automated terraforming substations that were spread across the small planet's surface. The majority of the grown-ups spent most of their waking hours here including my mommy. They were all doing their part to make this tiny world breathable. Building better worlds like all the signs and videos say. The monsters crashed through the ceiling and tore through the floor grating catching everyone by surprise. Only a week ago there was 158 of us. After the attack on the processing station we had lost 84 people. Those of us left gathered together for safety. We had to move quickly. We knew what the monsters did to you if they took you. We knew that for every one of us taken their numbers would grow. We knew we didn't have much time. The monsters grew so fast. We learned that from my daddy. He was the first. They thought I couldn't hear. They thought I wouldn't know. But I saw it all. When my daddy started screaming in pain, they took him to see the doctor. I followed them. The grown-ups may have ruled the corridors and hallways, but the kids owned the vents and shafts. That was our playground. That was where we would play games like Monster Maze and I was the best. The other kids were jealous because I could fit into places the others couldn't. They also couldn't memorize the turns and corners like me. I could go anywhere in the complex and never be seen, not once. Finding my way to where they had taken my daddy was a breeze. I didn't have to rely on my memory of the winding and turning tunnels of the ventilation system to find the correct room. The screams echoed loud and clear. I followed the sounds to the grilled screen that would allow me to peer into the medical compartment. I made myself look, but in the end I closed my eyes to the horror. The screams hurt my ears. He was in pain. A deep snap of bone startled everyone in the room and my daddy grew quiet and still. Suddenly I could hear his body thrash and convulse violently. The medical personnel tried to hold him down, but the convulsions were too strong. People gasped and screamed at the sound of a loud crunch and snaps followed by what sounded like a bucket of water spilling to the ground and spraying the walls. My daddy's screams were no more than wet gurgles by now. And then I heard it. A loud and piercing screech came from something in the room, something that was angry, evil and alien. It hissed loudly and scurried violently in the opposite direction, knocking over tools and equipment as it made its escape. The last of us gathered in the safest place left, the Primary Operations Center. My daddy once told me it was the very first building in the colony. The original settlers had lived in here back when they couldn't breathe the air and the Operations Center's thick walls and many pressurized doors protected them from the freezing temperatures and poisonous atmosphere. The adults put the kids in the center of the complex on the top level. They said the medical section was the safest place for us.  All access points were barricaded and all the main entry gates were sealed shut. When all was said and done, there was nothing left to do but wait in the silence and fear the approach of night time because everyone knows that the monsters mostly come at night. Mostly. The planetoid rotates once every 57 hours. That makes for a very long night. Here when the darkness falls it feels like it will never end. The monsters didn't come the first night or the second night, but they were there. Their large bodies pressed and slid against the outer bulkheads. Powerful talons scraped against steel and drooling jaws extended and clenched. A piercing shriek would call out and echo in the distance now and then. The monsters' cries would startle us, causing screams of fright and tears from most of the children. We continued to wait. It started on the third day with a metallic thunk. Thunk. Thunk from the north gate. It echoed throughout the corridors. Anything not bolted down rattled and shook. I could see relief wash over some of the adults' faces. The waiting was finally over. The beating at the massive door three levels down grew louder in intensity. The children were gathered together and hurriedly rushed into one of the unused isolation medical bays only used for storage. I didn't like this room. Even though it housed many rows of containers and equipment, there were no vents or shafts in here. There was no way to escape. We watched from the monitoring station that had been set up within the medical bay. The adults began readying themselves. Most had small handguns and charges used for geological excavation. There were even a few crude flamethrowers. The strikes to the massive door became relentless. The pounding grew louder from massive blows now coming from the west gate. The monsters were slamming into the steel door so hard and so fast I could swear I felt the floor vibrate. They screamed with such anger from behind the barriers that blocked their way. The sounds of pounds and bangs became deafening. Claws and talons were now beating at the east gate. The echoes of metal being hit with massive inhuman force now come at us from all directions when impacts fell against the main south gate. The bending and tearing of metal were heard throughout the complex and shrieks of victory roared out from alien lungs. We watched the blurry dark shapes fill the monitor screens. Screams and hisses echoed from the lower levels as they tore down every barrier or obstacle. They filled the hallways scurrying on the ceiling, walls and floors. They were coming for us.  The grown-ups opened fire, tossed their explosives and sprayed fire from flamethrowers. Smoke filled the room making it hard to see. Powerful arms shot out from the ceiling and long fingers grabbed at anyone within their reach. The monsters poured into the cramped space slamming into the people. Screams of terror and breaking of bone could be heard over the speakers. Images of blood and flesh filled our eyes from the small video monitors. Despite the wounds and injuries being inflicted, it was painfully obvious that none of the adults had been killed. Every last one of them was alive when they were dragged away into the darkness. It was over quickly. Soon every last grown-up in operations was gone. Dangling legs lifted into the air vents disappeared. The monsters gathered around those who struggled or were capable of fending them off. They were cornered and maimed by teeth and claws. Hands or feet were torn and severed from their body. Obviously it was easier to manage and carry off their prey if it was crippled. Screams for help and pleas for death slowly faded into the distance. The remaining grown-ups sealed the hatch way to the main access door for our section and stood between us and the approaching nightmares. They peeled away the hatch as if it were tin foil and were at the view ports and observation windows that lined the medical bay, hitting and scratching at the dura glass. They shattered it in no time and began swarming into the medical bay. Gunshots rung loud and screams from adults and children came from all directions. Monsters were leaping through the air, pouncing on any victim within their sight. They crawled on the walls and ceiling, plucking, running children off their feet by their hair or even by their entire head from large six-fingered claws. I cowered under an overturned medical bed when I locked eyes with a boy who couldn't have been more than seven. His arms were locked in a death grip around a support beam. Two monsters pounced on him and began pulling and jerking him violently. Somehow he maintained his grip around the metal beam and would not let go. I screamed in horror when they broke his arms and pried him off of that beam. His face had no expression or emotion. His limp arms trailed loosely behind him when they carried him away. He never screamed, not once. A woman flew across the room, smashing into a large, fume hood to the right and rear of the large room. Her broken body lay over the destroyed workstation. The impact had toppled over the instrument and dislodged its upper panel, revealing a narrow ventilation duct within the wall. In a flash, I remembered the school day trip last month to see the scientists. It was the same type of instrument, the one used for dangerous chemicals. It was a duraglass enclosure with two access openings for the hands. They would stick their hands through the access points and pour their chemicals from the inside without breathing the fumes. The scientists said the fumes were then removed from the complex by the exhaust fans. I got to my feet and dove for the tiny opening. Three monsters, hunched on all fours, charged from the destroyed viewport. I entered the duct only to discover it immediately went from ground level to a vent that went straight up the wall. I pressed my body as far as I could to avoid the claws that were reaching in for me. It pushed itself relentlessly into the small opening, wedging itself further into the duct. The slick coat of slime glistened on the claws that were inching closer. The tips of its nails were nicking my clothes. I could feel the pull of the fabric grow firmer each time before the threads would break. I had one chance. I stood and placed one hand on each side of the vent, hopped off the ground and pressed my feet against the walls to hold me up. I shimmied up the shaft bit by bit. Carefully but as quick as I could manage, I had made it more than half way of the duct's distance when the scraping and beating of claws filled my ears from below. When I lifted myself into the junction, I twisted myself into the opening and briefly my eyes fell on the monster beneath me. I had never seen one this close. Its arm was extended and wedged under its massive head. The elongated head was cocked at an abnormal angle to face me. Transparent lips were quivering and curled over long and shiny fangs. Thick, clear drool poured out of its open mouth. It didn't even struggle anymore. It just looked at me. It had no eyes, but it still looked at me. A low and deep hiss began to build from within its chest until it was a piercing shriek. It was speaking to me. It was trying to tell me something. It was screaming. It hated me. I turned from the shrieks of rage and quickly made my way into the ventilation system. It wasn't long before I knew exactly where I was. I disappeared into the network of ducts, shafts, and pipes, the maze I knew so well. I have been all by myself for two weeks now. This tiny subcompartment cradled in an entanglement of pipe and support strut beams of the environmental control system has become my home. The ventilation fan spins above me. The monsters keep their distance from its blades. The metal beams and large pipes keep me far out of reach from any monster's claws. I only leave my haven to scavenge for food. I avoid the main conduits in the ventilation system and stick to these smaller secondary shafts where the monster cannot fit. The monsters rule the corridors and hallways, but I own the vents and shafts. That is my playground. That was where I used to play games like Monster Maze and I was the best. The monsters are angry because I can fit into places they can't. I have every turn and corner memorized. I can go anywhere in this complex and never be seen, not once. The monsters can't see me. Monsters. My mommy used to tell me there were no monsters. No real monsters. But there are. Weird Darkness Returns in just a moment. This year, Overcoming the Darkness has a special treat, an original acrylic painting by the incredibly talented Steph Meyer. The painting is titled Night Angel and it's based on the Weirdling Woods episode, Guardian. What makes this painting even stranger and more unique than the story it's based upon is that there's almost a paranormal aspect to how it was created. Artist Steph Meyer had a head injury a few years ago and now experiences synesthesia, meaning when she hears a sound, she also sees a color or pattern, or both. Steph literally sees sounds and incorporates those colors and patterns into her artwork. Using her synesthesia, Steph Meyer listened to Chapter 3, Guardian from Weirdling Woods, literally seeing the colors and shapes of the music, the sound effects, and even my voice doing the narration. And she created a masterpiece. The painting, entitled Night Angel, is truly weird and dark and beautiful. It's a large, one-of-a-kind, original acrylic, measuring approximately 36 inches high and 24 inches wide. It's about 6 square feet of wall space. It's the only one in existence and the only one that ever will be in existence. You can see Night Angel right now and take part in the painting's auction at WeirdDarkness.com slash auction. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash auction. A young man in the front row frowned and raised a hand. Can you truly define peace as the absence of conflict? He asked. If people are not allowed to disagree, they are not at peace. They live in constant fear.  And so you disagree with me then? The young man nodded automatically. Yes, he said. And then his eyes widened. I mean, no, I… The veins in his throat seemed to bulge and twist as his hands grasped at his neck. He sputtered for a few moments and then fell on his desk. The teacher smiled gratefully at the class monitor as he removed the body from the chair. Version 5 is ten times faster than version 4, leaving no time for argument which is truly key, she continued. There was a meaty thump outside the door. But no one paid it any heed. The janitors would have everything cleaned up before the bell rang. And thus peace reigned over the classroom. Keep listening, there's more WeirdDarkness to come. People often ask me how I get everything done with as busy as I am. Two podcasts, working full-time for a radio station, running my voice over business, narrating YouTube channels other than my own, being a Chicago actor. I do love being busy, but none of this would be possible if not for a couple of things. One, getting a good night's sleep. And two, having energy and focus during my waking hours. The latter one I accomplished with something I discovered a few months ago called Dawn to Dusk which you can find at brickhouseweird.com. I take two Dawn to Dusk capsules right after lunch and suddenly I have energy and focus for the rest of the day. And with Dawn to Dusk, I don't get that afternoon crash I used to get with coffee and energy drinks. I'm not exaggerating when I say it has made a life-changing difference for me. I was so impressed with the product, I actually pursued them to be sponsors of my podcast. You can try Dawn to Dusk for yourself by visiting brickhouseweird.com. That's brickhouseweird.com. If you use the promo code Weird, you can also get 10% off anything you buy on their website. Give it a try, Dawn to Dusk at brickhouseweird.com. I went to a small fair in Steubenville, Ohio. The main street into town has an underpass that goes underneath train tracks. There are a number of stores located in the underpass. The fair was located directly beside the underpass. We had walked about a half mile to the fair and were returning to our cars. It was about 11 p.m. When we reached the underpass, heading away from town, my friend John asked me and his girlfriend to wait for him while he went up the hill to the tracks to relieve himself. The other people in our party had kept on walking and were almost out of sight. As John's girlfriend and I waited on the sidewalk for him, we heard him actually scream. He came running down the hill, still screaming and ran past the both of us. We were wondering what was wrong with him. I saw his girlfriend look down at the sidewalk. She then ran to catch up with him. I was standing there by myself wondering what the hell was going on when I saw it. It looked like a person's shadow, a silhouette of a head and shoulders, but stopped at what would be the chest. It wasn't my shadow because it was totally detached from me and its head was near my feet. At first, I thought it was another person's shadow and I looked down the sidewalk. There wasn't anybody there. By this time, I was well into the tunnel of the underpass. The shadow remained as strong as ever. Also, two cars came down the street and their headlights passed across it, but it still remained. Even though it was summer, the closer the shadow came, the colder it got. The shadow traveled across the ground and came toward me. As soon as it reached my feet, it disappeared. I then ran to catch up with John and his girlfriend. I asked him what it was we just saw. He said he didn't know, but when he was up next to the tracks, he heard a rock overturn and this thing came out from under it and chased him down the hill. I talked about this to a friend of mine. She said it was probably the spirit of someone who had been hit by a train and that's why the shadow was cut across the chest. Both my friend John and his girlfriend are in denial about what he saw, but I believe I came in contact with a shadow person. It started in 1986 when we moved to Texas. Rather than flying, my husband thought it would be nice to drive since I had never seen that part of the country. My husband had made this trip several times to see family in Gainesville. He always went the same route when he visited, but this time he decided to try something new. It was apparently a more scenic way to get to our destination. We were just on the Texan border when my husband realized that we were running low on gas and we had not seen a gas station for some time. The road we were traveling was deserted with not even a house in sight. I remember that there was a deep curve in the road and that both sides of the road were surrounded by trees that formed a canopy over the road. I remember that it offered a slight reprieve from the heat. As we got into the full curve, the road suddenly straightened out and the canopy of trees was gone. At the end of the curve was a very small and old-fashioned gas station with two of the oldest-looking gas pumps I had ever seen. I remember seeing bear hides hanging on a wooden fence. As my husband stepped out of the car, a young kid who looked as though he was about 11 appeared from nowhere. He was dirty, barefooted, and wearing overalls with one clip missing and hanging down in front. As my husband talked to the boy, I decided to go into the store and get something cold to drink, but what I found there I will never forget. There were two cases of Coca-Cola sitting on the floor in front of the counter. Nothing unusual about that except the bottles were very old, covered with at least a half inch of dust and cobwebs. The counter had a very old cash register, the kind that you pulled a handle to run it or add totals. It too was covered with dust. The more interesting thing was a really big cookie jar that sat on the counter with cookies inside. The jar was like the rest, covered with dust and cobwebs and no evidence of any disturbance. The store was extremely dark and musty smelling, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed that hundreds of what appeared to be animal hides were hanging everywhere. That's when I decided it was time to get out of that place. When I got back outside, my husband had finished pumping gas and was engaged in conversation with the boy. It was at this time that I noticed something else about the boy. All of his teeth that I could see were filed to sharp points like a carnivores. The short time that I stood there, I noticed that the boy kept looking at my husband's stomach and smiling. He was trying to convince my husband to go fishing with him. My husband asked him where he lived and he pointed to a cliff, but he saw no houses. I told my husband we needed to go, and the boy kept begging my husband to go fishing. I got in the car and waited about two seconds before yelling at my husband. He finally told the boy he'd better go before he got in trouble with me. As we drove away, neither of us spoke for several minutes. Then we turned and looked at each other and let out a sigh of relief as if we had just escaped with our lives. We drove about 20 minutes down the road and stopped at a cafe. As we sat down at the table, we noticed that the placemat was one of those paper mats that show a little map of the area. We tried to find the gas station on the map, but failed. We decided to ask the waitress about the little gas station. We were totally shocked at her reply. She said there wasn't a gas station in that direction for at least two hours, and she had lived in the area all of her life. Even the name did not sound familiar to her. She told us the heat had probably gotten to us, and we should remember to drink plenty of water. Many years ago, I was hitchhiking with my best friend at the time through northern France and Belgium. We were traveling light with just a small tent and sleeping bags and some stuff and backpacks. As often happens when hitchhiking, sometimes lifts were plentiful and other times non-existent, meaning that you had to trudge along the road until late into the night to reach your planned destination. Sometimes you simply didn't make it at all and had to find a place to camp in a field by the side of the road. One evening, that was entirely the case. Despite it having been a nice, sunny day, we had no luck obtaining a ride, and by about 7pm it was becoming obvious that we wouldn't make it to the campsite as we had planned. To add to our problems, the sunny day had given way to cloud, fog, and drizzle that dampened our spirits and made for a gloomy atmosphere. As a foggy darkness closed in, it got to the point that we could barely see a few feet in any direction. Around 10pm, we simply gave up and pushed through the bushes that lined the side of the road into what we believed to be a farmer's field on the other side. We quickly put up the tent and, tired, we soon fell asleep after a couple of beers and a snack. My friend awoke first the next morning. He peeked out of the zippered tent door and hastily pulled his head back in. He looked at me in this may. What's wrong? I asked a bit concerned. His face was pale and he couldn't or didn't want to say anything. Instead, he motioned for me to take a look.  Row upon row upon row of small white tombstones for as far as the eye could see. We had camped in a World War I cemetery. It's just a good thing we hadn't known that. About 15 years ago, when my grandson was 3 years old, he, my daughter, and I were looking from my father's grave marker in the cemetery. The grave was just a marker without a headstone. My grandson ran over to one side of the graveyard and said, This is it! As he was brushing grass and dirt away from the marker. It was not my father's marker, but that of a person who had died in the late 1800s. As my grandson was pointing at the area, he said, Those people died, got their head broke. Later, I received a letter telling me that a close friend had died.  Grammy, she died. I said yes, but did not think he knew what that meant. Then he said, She died in her car. Even though he was very small and had never met her. Indeed, she passed before he was born in a car wreck. So is it possible for children to have visions of the past? Or is this a second sight? More strange stories of both fiction and non-fiction when Weird Darkness returns. Hey Weirdos, our October Weirdo watch party is hosted by Mr. Molto, another horror host we've not yet had the privilege of having a party for. We're all gathering together online Friday, October 28th, as we together watch Mr. Molto presenting Halloween Inferno, The Boogie Man Cut, from Coleman Brothers Films, which follows our favorite immortal serial killer Michael Myers after the events of 2018's Halloween film. The Weirdo Watch Party is always free, so grab your popcorn, candy and soda and jump into the live chat too as we watch the movie along with our undead horror host. The Weirdo Watch Party is Friday, October 28th. The fun begins at 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern, 9pm in Hawaii and 1am for our friends in Greenwich Meantime. And until then, you can watch horror movies and horror hosts for free anytime, day or night on the Weirdo Watch Party page at WeirdDarkness.com. Hey Weirdos, this next story is a special one for me. It's been one of my favorite stories since before I was a teenager, I think. It was shared with me by my dad because, well, he's the one who wrote it. It was something he wrote in college and his professor told him that the story was a bit too morbid for her tastes, so it's obviously perfect for Weird Darkness. I shared this for the first time in Weird Darkness a few years ago when we were staying at my dad's house because we had been called in for an emergency. We really thought that we were going to lose him those couple of weeks, and the doctors wouldn't allow us to go in and talk to him because even in his medically induced coma, the voices of those he knew could possibly still trigger spikes in his brain waves and heartbeat, and that was too risky. Fortunately, he made it through okay, and he's just as much of a smart aleck as ever. But at the time, the only way I felt that I could be close to my dad was to take this story and share it with all of you. And now I do so again. It's called The Last Step by Richard A. Marlar.  There ain't no lost city around here.   Think you know everything. As I looked at the storekeeper, I tried desperately to hold back my anger. Look, fella, I've come a long way, and I'm not turning back just because you say so. I've reason to believe that there is some merit to what these natives say, and by God I'm going to find out whether you like it or not. Okay, young fella, but you can't say that I didn't warn you. Will you there be anything else for you? Have you got enough food? Yes, I'm sure that's all, except for maybe a small stainless steel mirror. I like to be clean shaven, even when I'm out on expedition. All right, with the mirror, it comes to $37.12. I threw four $10 bills to the old man, picked up my merchandise, and walked out. The old boy had really started to get to me. He must have thought I was new at this sort of business. He would think that when a man reaches $35, people would respect him. It took some of the afternoon to get back to camp, and when I did get there I was ready for bed. Tomorrow would be a very trying day, but I hoped for it to also be a profitable one. I hardly slept all night. The excitement of the coming day kept creeping into my thoughts. This was the day I had so long waited for. The day that the whole world would be saying the name Allen Richards. At 4.30, I was up, had my breakfast eaten, and was almost through shaving. It was a wonderful feeling just to know that I was alive and healthy. If only Allen and Danny were here with me.  I couldn't have been someone else's wife and son. Allen, the lonely nights I have spent waiting for you to come to my side, wanting you, but knowing that you could never come to me. I may never see you again, but tomorrow our dream will come true. I'll find the city of Tyra. It was almost five when I walked out and got into my old jeep. It would still be over an hour before my search could start, for the road was narrow and very curvy. When the jungle finally stopped me from driving any farther, I slipped a pack with three days rations over my shoulder and started walking. The ground was very wet and slimy. It felt like a sponge under my weight. I had only walked a few miles when I noticed that the sky was getting darker. The foliage was becoming so dense that it was blocking out the light. It seemed like hours that I walked and cut my way through the thick and entangled undergrowth. My hopes were fading until I heard Allen's voice say, just a little further, my love, just a little further. I knew it was only my imagination, yet I pressed on. It was only a few minutes until I saw the first small building of Tyra. It looked very awesome with vines growing from its small windows and trees bending over its small roof. My heart began to pound with joy. I found it. I found it. I started running madly toward the building, not knowing of what might lie before me. I was only a few feet away when the world seemed to explode around me. For a second there was a crashing sound. Then I was falling deeper and deeper. Then I saw a flash of red. I don't know how long I was out, but when I came to, the world was black. I couldn't see anything and my body was engulfed with pain. I started to crawl about, hoping to find out just where I was, but found nothing except a pile of sticks and rocks. Giving up, since I couldn't see, I laid my head on one of the large rocks and went to sleep. Maybe in the light I'd do better. I woke to find the sun shining directly in my eyes and my head splitting. Looking down with horror, I saw that the sticks I found the night before were bones and the rocks were human skulls. My eyes began searching for an escape from this hell, but I found nothing, for I had fallen into some sort of pit which had steep, sheer vertical walls. Running over to the wall, I found that there were small steps carved into it. I began scrambling towards the top, but after climbing only 15 feet, I realized that the steps ended and that I was still 10 feet short of my goal. With all my might, I jumped, but crashed to the floor of the pit, convulsing with pain. I ran to the wall and attempted it again, but again crashed to its bottom. Aking from head to toe, I dragged myself back to the corner. I now knew how the steps had been carved. The men whose bones were now scattered around me had attempted their escapes by carving small hand holes in the wall. I could see the remnants of what they'd used as tools to do so. Knives, hatches, even nail files had been used, but none had achieved his goal of freedom. Now it was my turn to try for survival. I looked around but couldn't find my pack, so reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my knife and then started back up the wall. Screaming and scratching with my knife, I began carving more steps. First one, then two, and finally number three. It was almost dark then, so my work would have to wait until morning. The next morning I began to carve as soon as it was light. The steps went higher and higher, but as the day began to come to its close, my hopes closed with it. The blades on my knife were worn down until only a part of one blade remained. I sat on the floor in complete despair. My knife was only long enough to carve one more step, but it would take at least four, maybe five steps to get out. I began thinking of the men before me who had fallen into the pit. Each of them must have sat here just as I, knowing that death was coming, but also knowing there was nothing he could do to prevent it. Oh Ellen, help me God, please help me. I can't get out. Please help me. My knife is almost gone. I can only carve one more. Please help me. I only sat there for a few more minutes before I realized what I must do. I walked slowly back to the wall, and then started climbing up so that I could carve the last step. Maybe, just maybe, the next guy would make it. I can still remember that evening when I first heard about the old witch named Kato. The year was 1937. My father came into the living room and switched off the radio. We children grumbled at first, but then he said he would tell us a tale of the supernatural. It was a story his father had told him. I sat still at full attention along with my younger brother and sister, I being the oldest at 12 years old. I always liked stories of mystery and horror, usually listening to the shadow or some other radio program. My dad was quite the storyteller, having inherited the skill from his father. My mother had gone to help her younger sister, who lived in the next town 25 miles away and had just given birth to her first child. Dad put another log on the fire to battle the cool icy winds whipping around the house. The sun was just setting on this chilly mid-October evening. Dad struck a match to light his pipe and, taking a puff from it, he gently exhaled. The sweet aroma drifted throughout the living room, mingling with smell of the burning oak logs in the fireplace. With just the light of the roaring fire, the mood was set. Clearing his throat, my dad started his tale. The legend of Kato, the witch's curse. There was once an old crone who lived outside of the small town of Carmi, Illinois. She was deeply wrinkled with a prominent nose and deep-set green eyes. She always cast forth an evil stare. She had once been beautiful with flaming red hair, now turned white, that still hung down near her waist. It was said she could cure diseases and speak to the wild animals. She lived out along the Indian mounds near the river in the woods. It was common knowledge that she could conjure up the Indian spirits from the ground. Many locals said you could hear weird chanting and wailing mixed with blood-curdling screams and howls. It was the spirits of the dead Indians coming back, doing one last war dance. These events always occurred between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m. Now the old witch had raised a large family of boys. These boys were wild, having grown up in the woods. They were as wicked as the devil in many ways. Everyone in town steered clear of them if they could. The boys had left the old witch by herself these last few years, though. Dad paused briefly to relight his pipe. He continued, now the old crone, being near 83 years old, was feeling that her disillusion was drawing very near. She informed a neighbor that she was without her magic powers and being all alone with death near, she wanted to make her last wishes known. Now her final wishes were certainly odd indeed. She stated that she was to be buried in a lonely spot which she had marked. The spot for her grave was near her home, close to a desolate roadway. Her other strange requests were to have the lid of her coffin to not be screwed down and that her grave not be more than three feet from the surface. I intend to appear before my children and tell them of their evil wicked ways, she said with the utmost authority. She passed away within the hour. Word spread quickly throughout the small community. Her children frightened at this prospect soon fled the surrounding area. Her small cabin sat deserted as rumors of weird sounds and unearthly apparitions were said to appear and disappear to any belated travelers who happened to wander by the now decrepit cabin. It was stated that where her grave was located there grew vast amounts of catnip, wormwood, whorehound, and tansy, plus many more herbs she had used in her performance of magical cures and spells while she was alive. According to legend, if you are near the site where the old cabin once stood and are brave enough to be there between the hours of midnight to 3am, you might just hear the strange bewitching sounds echoing along the Indian mounds and river valley. Maybe you'll even see the old witch dancing with the Indian warriors if you dare. Weird Darkness continues in just a moment. Weird Darkness is celebrating our seventh birthday this month and our way of celebrating is to raise money for organizations that help people who struggle with depression. It's called overcoming the darkness and you can make a donation right now on the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com. A gift of any amount will bring us that much closer to our goal and your donation helps that many more people who are affected by depression, so no gift is too small. Our goal is to raise at least $5,000 and a huge thanks to everybody who's given just within the last 24 hours. Randy Lee Beasley gave $20 and he left a message saying, Darron, so proud of you, brother, not just as a friend but as a fan. Your work is awesome, love the campaign, it means a lot, much love and respect. Thank you, Randy. Appreciate that. John Taylor also gave $20. He said, because nobody is ever really alone, even if they feel like it. Jessica donated $10. She says, keep fighting the good fight, Darron. As a longtime sufferer of mental health issues, I truly understand the need for support during dark times and I think it's wonderful what you're doing at Weird Darkness to help such an important cause. Sharon gave $150. She says, Darron, I just listened to the October 4th Chamber of Comments and I heard you say, in order for this campaign to be successful, you need roughly $150 donated every day. I want to take care of one of those days. Thanks for what you're doing. Sharon, thank you. What a huge blessing that is. From all of you, I really, really appreciate everybody's generosity. That brings us up to a grand total right now of $1,660 and again, we're trying to get it up to at least $5,000 by the end of the month. If you've not donated yet or if you want to give again, or if you want to check out the Weirdling Woods painting that we're auctioning off as part of this fundraiser, which, by the way, it only has a bit of $1 on it right now, so it's pretty easy to outbid that. Just go to the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com or click the link in the show notes. And thank you in advance for everything that you can do to help us help those who are stuck in depression. The first time my uncle Bud felt anything was the week that he moved in. He says he was taking a shower and all of a sudden he felt as if he was being watched. So he jumped out, got dressed and went downstairs to see if someone had come into the house while he was showering. He saw nothing. A few weeks later he was spending time with his girlfriend when they heard footsteps on the stairs. They described them as heavy footsteps and even went so far as to turn their music down to hear them. My uncle thought it must be the house settling but he admitted that he had never heard anything like it in his life. The steps went on for about two hours off and on. A few days after that my uncle was having a morning coffee with my parents. My parents had stayed over at the house to help him with some gardening he needed doing. They were drinking their coffee, the radio was on and they were just talking. All of a sudden the radio's volume started to increase. My uncle tried to turn it off but it kept on blaring out. He stood with the plug in his hand trying to turn the radio off. Then all of a sudden they could hear running on the stairs and a door banging upstairs. My parents were absolutely terrified and couldn't wait to leave my uncle. Later that day my father was looking around the house. He walked into one of the bedrooms and started knocking on the wall. He thought there must be an explanation and wanted to see how soundly the house was built. He knocked on the wall a few times and someone or something knocked back. He stood there knocking and waiting for reply knocks. The reply knocks came every single time he knocked. Still later that day my mother and father tried banging the doors to recreate the sound of the door bang they had heard earlier. They banged every single upstairs door but none made the same sound. My uncle decided to get a priest in and he did. The priest did a service and everything seemed to settle down. Until one morning my uncle woke up to see an old man staring down at him from the side of his bed. The face was old and he didn't look happy. My uncle decided at that point to move out. My parents had taken some photos while they were visiting with my uncle. When they printed them out they could see fog on every single photo. It was like someone had been smoking but nobody had. The pictures were absolute proof to my parents that something was going on in that house. Whoever that old fellow was he didn't want anyone else living in his house. We heard that a few months after my uncle moved out the house burnt down. In 1997 we had just moved to a new neighborhood and I was about nine years old at that time. The new house was a big four bedroom house with two bathrooms and a pool but more importantly the rent was so cheap that my mother couldn't believe it when my dad told us. My brother and I liked to play cricket and there was more than enough space for that. It happened the first night while unpacking the boxes. I heard a baby crying in one of the rooms. At first I thought it was my brother trying to prank me but when I entered the room it was cold and damp and there was nothing there except for boxes of stuff to unpack and a rolled up carpet. I went to ask my mother what to unpack next and there it was again a baby crying from that same room. My mother asked me if I could hear the same noise of a baby crying and I said yes but that it was my brother playing a prank on us. She told me that my brother wasn't in the house and he had gone out with dad to fetch boxes from the other house. We went to check that room again and found nothing. We went back to the hallway and waited for the sound and there it was again. No windows were open either. That night while we were sleeping the babies crying became louder and the next day we moved out again.  Last year we visited an area of Prague called Vizsad. According to Wikipedia Vizsad, Czech for Upper Castle is a historical fort located in the city of Prague, Czech Republic. It was built probably in the 10th century on a hill over the Vltava River. Situated within the castle is the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul as well as the Vizsad's Cemetery containing the remains of many famous people from Czech history. Among them Antonin Dvorak, Bedriks Matana, Katočopek and Alfons Musia. It also contains Prague's oldest surviving building, the Rotunda of St. Martin from the 11th century. Local legend holds that Vizsad was the location of the first settlement which later became Prague though thus far this claim remains unsubstantiated. I found it a beautiful place but the cemetery truly freaked me out. Although the cemetery is probably the place many famous Czechs desire to be laid to rest, it took me several days to shake off the total gloom and despair that I felt after visiting it. The whole time I was there I kept seeing shadows in the shadows and when I turned around I could swear I was being watched. The presence was truly evil and left me with a feeling of being lost in a nightmare. I never actually saw a ghost so to speak but I am convinced something unpleasant resides there and it's not a place I would want to be in after dark. Maybe it's the Art Nouveau tombstones, the stark black marble tombs or perhaps it really is just haunted but I shudder recalling being there. In 2001 a startling discovery was made in Bernau during a survey of catacombs under the center of the city. Although disturbed by underground water and mud, the remains of 50,000 people were found stuffed in a small room. The room was floored to ceiling with the skeletal remains of the city's former inhabitants. After restoration work the Bernau Aguary was opened to the public in 2012 and is the second largest estuary in Europe after the Paris catacombs. So how did they get there? In the 16th and 17th century due to cholera, the plague, war and so on, people tended to die in large numbers periodically. They were buried in the churchyard near the Church of St. James inside the city walls. However, to cater for such numbers in a limited space, they were dug up again several years later and their remains stored in the crypt of the church. Their graves were then occupied or perhaps we should say rented by the newly dead who would also be moved 12 years or so later. Eventually, due to health reasons, the churchyard was closed and all the bodies moved to the crypt as well. During this time the crypt had to be expanded and made larger to hold all of the remains of what is estimated to be 50,000 souls. You can visit the Bernau Aguary and see the remains for yourself if you dare. I can tell you this, it is creepy and the thought of constantly digging up bodies and placing them in the crypt is pretty freaky too. Here in Bernau is one of the creepiest places I have ever visited. It is known as the Capuchin Crypt.  The Capuchin monks who used the church for many years were in order who vowed poverty. As a part of this austerity program, they reused just a single coffin over and over again, laying the body of their dead colleague on the ground, rosary in hand in the crypt. Due to the nature of the soil and the air occurrence down there, the bodies became mummified. Each body was laid on the floor with its head on a pile of bricks that served as a pillow. The practice was later stopped by the introduction of new hygiene laws in the 19th century. The results, however, is that there remained 24 partly mummified monk bodies laying out carefully in the crypt. It is not just monks, however, in the creepy crypt, but also benefactors of the order, including Baron Trenk and Baron Franz Josef Katulinskić with his wife Eleanor. These and other notables lie in glass-topped coffins, adding to the gloom and eeriness of the place. A small entrance fee is all that it takes to visit the site where you will also be greeted with the sobering painted statement on the crypt itself. As you are now, we once were. As we are now, you shall be. A friend of mine at college moved into a new flat at the beginning of term. It was a nice, big, well-equipped flat and the rent was almost too good to be true. After a month, he moved out again. Here is why. Over a beer or two, he told me that the place simply seemed too good to be true. The price was too low for such a nice place so conveniently located. However, he took it and counted his lucky stars. At first, all seemed fine and dandy. Periodically, however, especially around pub throwing out time, the doorbell would ring. He would go to the door and find no one there. Given the time of night it usually occurred, he put it down to drunken and playful neighbors. Over the next two weeks, his neighbors began to play this trick at other times too. And when it started happening in the early hours of the morning, he felt it was time to keep an eye out and complain. He saw one of his neighbors in the corridor the next day and asked if perhaps it were he playing the trick, or perhaps they knew who it might be. The neighbor, an older man, simply stared at him and said nothing at all. My friend thought this quite odd behavior. When the owner arrived at the weekend as arranged, my friend was really getting quite angry. Several sleepless nights had put him in a foul and angry mood. He wanted this tomfoolery to end and end now, and he told the landlord this as they stood in the kitchen drinking coffee. The landlord went slightly pale as his new tenant explained the problem. He put down his coffee and said, come with me, will you? He led his new tenant to the front door and opened it and then said, ring the doorbell, please. My friend pushed the small round button as he imagined the practical joker in the building might have done. However, the bell did not ring. You see, the bell doesn't work. It hasn't worked in a long time because we unwired it. My friend sucked air like a fish in a bowl as he took in exactly what he had just heard, and then he understood. You mean there is no bell? He asked as if to make sure. There isn't and hasn't been a bell in a long time, said the concerned landlord. Unsurprisingly, my friend immediately moved out. DARREN's D-A-R-R-E-N WeirdDarkness.com is also where you can find all of my social media, listen to audiobooks that I've narrated, shop the Weird Darkness store, sign up for monthly contests, find other podcasts that I host, and find the Hope in the Darkness page if you or someone you know is struggling with depression or dark thoughts. And please, consider giving towards our Overcoming the Darkness fundraiser, where every dollar you give will be donated to organizations that help people who struggle with depression. The fundraiser ends Halloween night after our annual Halloween live-screen event, so please, give today. Visit the Hope in the Darkness page at WeirdDarkness.com for more information. Also, on the website, if you have a true paranormal or creepy tale to tell, you can click on Tell Your Story. You can find all of that and more at WeirdDarkness.com. You can find links to the stories from this episode in the show notes. WeirdDarkness is a production and trademark of Marlar House Productions. Copyright WeirdDarkness 2022. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Proverbs 12 verse 25. Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word shears it up. And a final thought. When you're ready to stop bargaining with God, he will lead you to a place of peace and blessings. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness. In 2025, neutron bombs wipe out much of the world's drinkable water. For the next several years, survivors exist in deplorable conditions and their rations are dwindling. One woman arises from the camp, determined to improve conditions. Charlotte is ready to do whatever it takes to ensure clean water for her fellow survivors. Water is almighty. Whoever controls the water rules the world. Can Charlotte prevent the power from falling into the wrong hands? Weird Darkness Publishing presents, working for H2O by Sara Faith. Now available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions on Amazon and at WeirdDarkness.com.