(Bonus Episode) “AMATEUR IN CHANCERY” by George O. Smith (Short Sci-Fi Story) #WeirdDarkness

In Nazi-occupied France, German officers repeatedly try to execute a young French woman by hanging — but each time, she returns alive. The woman becomes less a normal person than an allegorical embodiment of France/liberty/resistance: the Nazis can murder bodies, but they cannot kill the spirit they are fighting. Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTR CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “The Death Slot” (December 14, 1977) ***WD 00:47:44.298 = The Key, “Dear John Letter” (1956) ***WD 01:12:44.958 = Lights Out, “Execution” (April 27, 1943) 01:42:40.945 = Lux Radio Theater, “Sorry Wrong Number” (January 09, 1950) ***WD 02:42:19.825 = Macabre, “Final Resting Place” (November 13, 1961) ***WD 03:09:51.480 = Philip Marlowe, “Long Arm” (February 07, 1950) 03:39:16.182 = Theater Royal, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (September 13, 1954) ***WD 03:59:23.539 = Black Mass, “All Hallows” (September 06, 1963) 04:38:13.336 = Michael Shayne, “Pirates in San Francisco Bay” (April 30, 1945) 05:07:46.083 = 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. CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRR0677

A stressed-out new office worker's encounters with increasingly massive spiders takes a deeply disturbing turn when the creatures start following him home. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/SpidersUnderYourSkin FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: If creatures with eight legs wig you out, the hairs of your body are going to stand straight up when I tell the story from Jonathan Byrd called “The Spiders Under Your Skin. But first, I’ll start with a short one. It’s written by Melody Grace, and it’s called “There’s Something Off About The Lights Next Door”. CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:01:10.579 = There’s Something About The Lights Next Door (Fictional Story) 00:07:12.147 = Spiders Under Your Skin (Fictional Story) *** 00:32:36.771 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “There’s Something Off About The Lights Next Door” by Melody Grace for Thought Catalog: (site no longer exists) “The Spiders Under Your Skin” by Jonathan Byrd for Thought Catalog: (site no longer exists) (Over time links 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 show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.) WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: May 14, 2020

The bones Spanish conquistadors pulled from the Ecuadorian earth were far too large to belong to any man they had ever seen, and the strange trail those giants leave behind runs straight back to the fallen Watchers of Genesis and the towering Nephilim they fathered. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/AncientGiants READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mpmkprwy FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Ancient giants in Ecuador were supposedly killed by fire from the sky. Tales of giants in North America. The stories of giants living in the days of Noah. How much of these stories about giants can be believed – and how much should be considered tall-tales? CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Fictional giant story “Jack O’ Legs” 00:04:09.349 = Show Open 00:05:14.221 = Ancient Giants, Part 1 00:17:20.430 = Ancient Giants, Part 2 *** 00:36:02.900 = Ancient Giants, Part 3 *** 00:46:36.422 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Jack O’ Legs” by Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/emv9rr46 “Giants of Yore” by GotQuestions.org: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/fu4dx579, and Ellen Lloyd for Ancient Pages:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5enmwfzb, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5c2w4xbb,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/tk4nr88n, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4bu4e4mh,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/76wab36r, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/8j5zympd, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/tfdf8jfn (Over time links 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 show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.) WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness. Originally aired: March, 2022

May 31, 2026: They say the fires at Caledonia Mills started on their own, but anyone who spent a night there knew something far more sinister was at work. ========== HOUR ONE: “The Witching Hour of 3AM” *** You don’t have to go to a cemetery or haunted house to experience the supernatural. You don’t need to drive a cursed road to encounter a ghost. Sometimes the paranormal takes place on military bases. (The Military And The Mysterious) *** The corpse of a murderer winds up doing advertising for a drug store. (The Murder of Maggie Walker) *** In 1922, an otherwise unremarkable farmhouse in Novia Scotia was the site of alleged poltergeist activity which made headlines all over Canada and the United States. A poltergeist that liked to set fires. (The Fire Spook of Caledonia Mills) ========== HOUR TWO: Claiming to audibly hear from God either makes you crazy, or a prophet – and only time can tell which is true. If you claim things are going to happen because God says they will – and then they don’t happen – that means you’re cray cray, and a false prophet. That also makes your followers a bunch of dupes. Sadly, the 19th and 20th centuries were full of crazy false prophets with mindless sheep worshipping them. (Creating False Prophets) *** Headline: “Exciting Wake!” When you see the words “exciting” and “wake” in the same headline, you can make a guess that someone is not resting in peace! (Exciting Wake) ========== SUDDEN DEATH OVERTIME: A smitten fan falls in love with a talented actress, and convinces himself she loves him in return. This sounds very much like a story out of today’s entertainment magazines – but this tale of unrequited love took place in the 1880’s. (The Lunatic James Dougherty) *** The terrifying Aswang is the most feared creature of Philippine folklore—and with good reason. I’ll tell you why. (The Deadly Aswang) ** Reports have been coming in from people claiming to see full-sized African lions not in the Savannah or in the wilderness – but in North America. But is there any truth to the their claims? (Phantom Lions of North America) ========== SOURCES AND REFERENCES FROM TONIGHT’S SHOW: BOOK: “Mysterious America” by Loren Coleman: https://amzn.to/3lZIviB BOOK: “Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology”: https://amzn.to/3m2Re3k DOCUMENTARY: “The Aswang Phenomenon”: https://amzn.to/3jQrNjC “Creating False Prophets” by Dr. Romeo Vitelli for Providentia: https://tinyurl.com/y5bqt97p,https://tinyurl.com/y26vpmga, https://tinyurl.com/y6tgpcl3, https://tinyurl.com/y2jy3eqf “Phantom Lions of North America” by Brent Swancer for MysteriousUniverse.com: https://tinyurl.com/yygdg3eh “Exciting Wake” from the Huntington, IN “Daily Democrat”, reposted on the Strange Company website: https://tinyurl.com/y5cy4ksa “The Deadly Aswang” by Professor Geller for Mythology.net: https://tinyurl.com/yxhcrcxc “The Witching Hour of 3AM” from Paranormality Magazine “The Fire Spook of Caledonia Mills” by Hammerson Peters for MysteriesOfCanada.com:

In 1956, Italy's most opulent ocean liner went down off Nantucket after a head-on collision in the fog, taking 46 lives and earning a place among the worst maritime disasters in history. But the dying didn't stop there — in the seven decades since, the wreck dubbed the "Mt. Everest of Wreck Diving" has claimed roughly 18 more souls, swallowing the divers drawn to its depths and feeding whispers that something down there is cursed. EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/andreadoria FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Movies like Shaun of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, World War Z, and TV shows like The Walking Dead, have made the subject of zombies a fairly popular topic over recent years. And while we all know these undead creatures are purely make-believe, the idea of the zombie has been around for thousands of years… and in the Voodoo culture, they’ve found a way to make zombies a real, horrifying thing. (The Disturbing Truth Behind Voodoo Zombies) *** In July of 1956, the SS Andrea Doria collided with another ship and quickly sank to the bottom of the ocean. Today it is a tourist destination for brave divers who not only want to see something hauntingly beautiful, but who also dare to investigate a wreck that has been deemed by many to be cursed – and for good reason. (The Cursed Remains of the SS Andrea Doria) *** Paranormal author and researcher G. Michael Vasey tells of a personal incident that took place recently where he saw what could be described as a “peripheral person”. (Peripheral People) *** Sir Clive Sinclair might have been a man ahead of his time. The late inventor created all manner of strange and wonderful gadgets – most of which you’ve likely never heard of. But that doesn’t mean you can say they were failures. (The Inventor of Weird Contraptions) *** If the legends are to believed, you’ll want to avoid driving down Nan Tucks Lane in East Sussex - unless you don’t mind coming into contact with a vengeful ghost. (The Witch of Nan Tucks Lane) *** Where in the bible do we see the story of fallen angels sleeping with women to produce a breed of giants? Most would point to the book of Genesis – but in the unincluded book of Enoch, it tells a more-detailed account, worthy of a horror movie. (The Story of Giants and Fallen Angels) *** Some people collect baseball cards, others coins, and others Pokemon. There’s no telling what someone might find enough of an interest in to begin collecting. And collecting books is one of the most common – but when your collecting becomes a compulsion and you can’t stop yourself, it can get out of hand. Just ask Thomas Phillipps… the man who was addicted to books… to an extreme level. (The Man Who Was Addicted To Books) CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)… 00:00:00.000 = Show Open 00:03:02.691 = The Man Who Was Addicted To Books 00:16:01.182 = The Cursed Remains of the SS Andrea Doria *** 00:24:02.882 = The Disturbing Truth Behind Voodoo Zombies 00:36:21.496 = Peripheral People *** 00:38:29.738 = The Inventor of Weird Contraptions 00:45:10.163 = The Story of Giants and Fallen Angels *** 00:57:10.346 = The Witch of Nan Tucks Lane 01:00:03.285 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps *No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast* SOURCES and RESOURCES: “The Story of Giants and Fallen Angels” from Anomalien: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/akvusfjf “The Man Who Was...