(Bonus Episode) “AMATEUR IN CHANCERY” by George O. Smith (Short Sci-Fi Story) #WeirdDarkness
5 November 2024 - 31 minsIN THIS EPISODE: If someone’s life depended on it, could you explain the concept of right and left to someone who had tentacles and had never heard of either? (Originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, October 1961.)
SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE…
“Amateur in Chancery” by George O. Smith, from Galaxy Science Fiction magazine, October 1961:https://amzn.to/3C6W8Jd
= = = = =
(Over time links seen above may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these s...
THE SILVER LINE: The Only Lights For Sixty Miles | #MidnightInTheMacabre
Lost in a Colorado snowstorm, a man who's fallen behind on his child support pulls into a roadside diner called The Silver Line just as it's closing, and the huge, cheerful man inside lets him in and locks the door behind him. SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Hospitality” by Erik Peabody: https://www.creepypasta.com/hospitality-2/ WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Midnight In The Macabre (MITM), originally aired: October 28, 2026 More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.
40 mins
28 October Finished
THE MISSING DAY: A Twenty-Minute Drive Home That Took Twenty-Four Hours | #RetroRadio
A man who runs a plant that builds nuclear reactors calls his wife to say he'll be home in twenty minutes for their anniversary dinner, walks in a full day later with wilted flowers in his hand and sure it's still Tuesday, and the next morning a truckload of uranium whose schedule only he knew is found hijacked beside the highway. CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “The Missing Day” (February 14, 1979) ***WD 00:46:41.949 = The Saint, “Case of Lonesome Slab” (January 22, 1950) ***WD 01:15:27.653 = 2000 Plus, “Giant Walks” (November 08, 1050) ***WD 01:45:11.323 = The Unexpected, “Revenge” (1948) ***WD 02:00:52.339 = Unsolved Mysteries, “Indian Fakir” (February 17, 1944) ***WD 02:15:32.547 = Dark Venture, “Elizabeth Is Frightened” (July 22, 1947) 02:46:27.292 = Weird Circle, “Knightsbridge Mystery” (October 17, 1943) 03:14:55.705 = The Whistler, “Deadly Innocent” (July 02, 1945) 03:46:26.717 = Strange Wills, “Dance Director” (November 16, 1946) 04:17:24.458 = Witch’s Tale, “Graveyard Mansion” (March 06, 1933) ***WD 04:48:29.881 = Incredible But True, “Footprints In The Sand” (1950-1951) 04:52:03.249 = Strange Adventure, “The Peace Maker” (1945) 04:55:21.485 = Tales of the Frightened, “The Vampire Sleeps” (1963) 05:00:09.335 = Show Close (ADU) = Air Date Unknown (LQ) = Low Quality ***WD = Remastered, edited, or cleaned up by Weird Darkness to make the episode more listenable. Audio may not be pristine, but it will be better than the original file which may have been unusable or more difficult to hear without editing. More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.
5 hours 1 min
28 October Finished
SECRETS OF SEANCE CHARLATANS: How Victorian Mediums Fooled the World With Ghost Tricks
Grieving families in the Victorian era paid good money for a few minutes with their dead, and the mediums who took that money had help, from props hidden up their sleeves to assistants who gathered details about each sitter before the séance began. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/victorian-seance-tricks READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bdd96bh3 FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Victorian era séances – where mediums claimed to bridge the living and the dead with mysterious rituals and eerie phenomena. But they had some elaborate tricks and illusions up their sleeves, all with the intention of misleading millions with the promise of communicating beyond the grave – and lining their own pockets, of course. (Secrets of the Seance Charlatans) *** Underneath the Nevada desert a 13-year-old Marc Brooks was exploring – and encountered the unknown. A secret chamber, a mysterious artifact, and a chilling humanoid creature defies explanation. What lies underground in the desert? (Reptile Men And Underground Bases) *** From charitable beginnings to centuries of cruelty, Bedlam – England's first mental hospital – has a shocking history. It’s dark past of inhumane treatments and public spectacles are such well-known atrocities that we’ve eventually come to use the word “bedlam” to describe uproar and confusion. We’ll take a look at the chilling stories of the hospital that started it all. (Nightmare at Bedlam) *** The 1976 Chowchilla school bus kidnapping saw 26 California children abducted, buried alive, and held for ransom — then they miraculously escaped. (The Chowchilla Kidnapping) *** Spells, magic and curses have captivated the human imagination from the beginning of time. From ancient Egyptian tombs to modern-day superstitions, beliefs in the supernatural have shaped history, influenced cultures, and continue to fascinate us today. Why does magical misfortune still hold such an interest for us? (Magic, Curses and Supernatural Spells) *** A man almost crashed an entire country's economy by tricking a bank into printing real money for him? It was one of the most audacious schemes in financial history, flooding Portugal with millions in genuine but unauthorized banknotes. It was great while it lasted – but the crash was brutal! (The Man Who Almost Broke a Country) *** Urraca Mesa is a mysterious table mountain in New Mexico where compasses spin wildly, and ghostly blue lights dance in the night. It’s full of stories of vanished ancient tribes and terrifying supernatural encounters with evil spirits. It’s a hotspot for unexplained phenomena and those who seek it. We’ll learn some of the eerie secrets of the Urraca Mesa. (The Urraca Mesa Portal) *** AND MORE! CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding 00:03:21.893 = Show Open 00:06:46.207 = Secrets of the Seance Charlatans 00:17:16.895 = Nightmare At Bedlam *** 00:25:39.431 = Reptile Men and Underground Bases 00:32:21.868 = The Chowchilla Kidnapping *** 00:36:12.454 = Magic, Curses and Supernatural Spells 00:44:50.503 = The Man Who Almost Broke a Country’s Economy *** 00:51:48.689 = The Urraca Mesa Portal 00:58:06.908 = Bizarre Name Changes *** 01:05:31.975 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Reptile Men And Underground Bases” source: Marc Lowth at UFOInsight.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/64vrrh66 “The Chowchilla Kidnapping”...
1 hour 7 mins
28 October Finished
#BotchedExecutions | The Gas, The Rifle, and Tennessee
In 2025, Louisiana’s corrections secretary said Jessie Hoffman’s nitrogen execution “went flawless”, and a journalist counted more than 225 heaving breaths from Anthony Boyd under Alabama’s mask. South Carolina’s firing squad fired three rifles at Mikal Mahdi, and the autopsy found only two entrance wounds. In Tennessee, Byron Black said on the gurney, “Oh, it’s hurting so bad”, and the doctor who couldn’t place a line in Tony Carruthers was on the team again the night the state tried to execute Christa Pike in October, 2026. From the book “BOTCHED EXECUTIONS: Four Centuries Of Failed Hangings, Electrocutions, Gassings, Injections And Firing Squads” by Darren Marlar at https://weirddarkness.com/botchedexecutions WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: October 27, 2026 More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.
30 mins
27 October Finished
#WeirdDarkNEWS | Roswell Bodies, A Cheyenne Whisper, Four Toasters, And More
Twelve stories, starting with a Roswell officer's sealed statement about bodies under a tarp, now sitting in the Pentagon's newest UFO files, and running through a voice on a basement recording in Cheyenne, an airliner that passed an object the pilot put at the "size of four toasters", a Hamburg murder warrant over a girl's death in Indiana, and a pest controller in France who says he mistook his wife for a rat. SOURCES, LINKS, AND PRINT VERSION: http://weirddarkness.com/roswell-bodies No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.
47 mins
27 October Finished
SCORCHED: My Father Left Me A Haunted Cabin In Montana | #MidnightInTheMacabre
Twenty years after his father walked out, Josh gets a letter saying the man's dead and has left him a cabin in the Montana woods. Inside, there's a shelf full of matches and not a single light. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/haunted-cabin-story-scorched SOURCES and RESOURCES: “Scorched” by Scott Donnelly (https://www.facebook.com/scottdonnellyauthor/), from the book “The Elements of Horror: Fire-Book Three” (https://amzn.to/3lNCmGs) WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Midnight In The Macabre (MITM), originally aired: October 27, 2026 More episodes, additional podcasts, books, original music, in-depth paranormal and true-crime articles, and much more at https://weirddarkness.com.
31 mins
27 October Finished