Autumn's Oddities

I've been out with a nasty eye infection after traveling for a week, but I'm back and maybe weirder than ever. In my search for holiday topics, I came across an article claiming that the inspiration for the 1974 cult classic Black Christmas was actually based on a serial killer from Montreal. Wayne Boden, also known as the Vampire Rapist, assaulted and murdered at least five women between 1969 and...

Patrick Lee Mullins went missing after taking his boat out on Florida’s Braden River in 2013. His body was found over a week later in Tampa Bay, tied to a 25-pound anchor in four feet of water. His cause of death was a shotgun wound to the head, but no one could tell if he had inflicted the wound himself or if someone else had. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a...

These rock stars definitely made the naughty list with their exploits that lead to arrests and became the stuff of legend. What else would we expect from them, though? SOURCES https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/redlands-drug-bust-the-rolling-stones/ https://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/San-Antonio-Ozzy-Osbourne-pee-Alamo-Cenotaph-16920580.php https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/david-...

From the depths of Scandanavia comes the crimes of the black metal community. While many members of black metal bands are simply musicians with corpse-like stage personas and a taste for darker ambiance, some took the imagery and sometimes violent lyrical content of their songs too seriously and made them a reality. SOURCES https://www.burzum.org/eng/library/a_burzum_story02.shtml https://www.nme....

Hey hey everyone, the flu is currently ravaging my household, so please enjoy an episode from the Patreon vault that was not previously released to the public. If you live in the US, enjoy your holiday with your family or your chosen family! This is a tale of unrequited love in life that bled into a one-sided romantic relationship with a corpse after her death. Beware, this episode contains depict...

One hundred and fourteen years ago, hundreds of reindeer and a few dozen humans witnessed a massive explosion in Siberia, near the Stony Tunguska River. At the epicenter, there was little evidence of the blast's origin except for flattening 500,000 acres of uninhabited forest, scorching the land, and creating “glowing clouds” and shock waves that were detected around the world. SOURCES https://sci...

A passenger plane goes missing on a routine flight over the Atlantic. There’s no warning, no apparent cause, and no evidence. The mysterious disappearance points to a frightening possibility: could the very system designed to make flying safer be responsible? Investigators attempting to piece together what happened were shocked at what they found. SOURCES https://tailstrike.com/database/01-june-20...

Laurie Bembenek was convicted of murdering her new husband's ex-wife, Christine Schultz, by shooting her in her own home. The evidence seemed to point to Laurie, but she was adamant that she had been framed. As it turned out, Laurie was a former police officer who had made enemies in the department for which her husband Fred currently worked and the only witnesses to the crime said that Laurie did...

Marvin Pancoast walked into the North Hollywood Police Station at 3:20 am on July 7, 1983, and admitted to beating his friend, Vicki Morgan, to death with a baseball bat. Marvin had no reason to kill Vicki. Was his confession true? As it turned out, Vicki had been writing a tell-all book involving very powerful men that went all the way to the top of the US government. Vicki had made some powerful...

Hospice nurse Donna Scott cared for wealthy land-owner Hamilton Somerville's wife and mother during their final days by managing their pain with prescription drugs. Hamilton and Donna married less than a year after his wife's death, but the word around town was that Donna wasn't faithful. In 2001, Donna frantically called 911, claiming that her husband had choked to death, but the autopsy told a v...

In a matter of days, healthy chiropractor Mary Yoder fell violently ill and died. Her death looked suspicious, but investigators couldn't have guessed just how twisted the plot against Mary was. SOURCES https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/crime/2022/09/06/kaitlyn-conley-seeks-to-overturn-conviction-in-mary-yoder-killing/65469691007/ We Thought We Knew You- by M. William Phelps Become a supporter of...

Halloween is a holiday celebrated annually on October 31, in which costumes are worn and children trick-or-treat. The now commercialized tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. This episode will look into the origins and history of Halloween and how they came to be. SOURCES Trick or Treat: A History of...

It's a bonus Halloween episode, y'all! Some Darkcast Network members have put together a compilation of spooky stories for your listening pleasure. Some are lore, and others you might wish weren't true. Either way, you're in for a scare! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/autumn-s-oddities--5307439/support .

It's one of the most haunted places in the United States. Louisville's Waverly Hills Sanatorium has been called the most haunted building in America, the most haunted hospital in America, and so on, with an infamous history that draws paranormal investigators and dark tourists from around the world. Originally a schoolhouse, the building transitioned into a tuberculosis hospital where many thousan...

In October 1992, Yoshihiro Hattori made an innocent mistake and knocked on the wrong door. The two boys were decked out in their Halloween costumes and thought they’d found the right house. Unfortunately, they had made an innocent mistake that cost Yoshi his life. A media frenzy followed, and later a massive campaign to change America's gun laws. SOURCES https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/10/1...

How did vampires ingratiate themselves into the pop culture lexicon? Where did vampire legends originate and how much of them are just based on simple misunderstandings of science and medicine? How do you identify them and how can they be killed? I’m getting into all of that and more in this blood-sucking fiend of an episode. Sources cited within episode Become a supporter of this podcast: https:/...

Trick or treat had been over for hours in Sun Valley, California, just outside Los Angeles. All the ghosts and goblins had gone home, gorged themselves on candy, and been tucked into bed by the time the doorbell rang sometime after 11 pm at the home of Betty and Peter Fabiano. But it wasn’t trick-or-treaters at the door, it was a gunman, or was it a gunwoman? SOURCES https://calisphere.org/item/68...

We've probably all heard of the Salem witch trials, but prior to the afflicted hurling accusations at local townsfolk, there was a much larger witch hunt. The “Great Hunt” was a larger, more prolonged European phenomenon between 1560 and 1630 that led to 80,000 accusations and 40,000 deaths. Reasons for accusing a person of witchcraft varied, but more likely than not, few actual witches were tried...

It may come as a surprise to you that the horror classic Poltergeist was actually based on true events. In February 1958, strange things were happening at the Herrmann House on Long Island. The family was besieged by flying objects, popping lids, and all manner of paranormal phenomena. Was the family really being plagued by the paranormal, or was there a more pedestrian explanation? SOURCES Popper...

On Halloween night 2004, three women went to sleep in their home on Dorset Street in Napa, California. After they turned out the lights, a man climbed in after prying a window open and brutally murdered Adriane Insogna and Leslie Mazzara before fleeing. One roommate escaped and when police arrived, they found blood everywhere and cigarette butts in the yard. While Lauren Meanza hadn't seen the kil...

For the month of October, you'll be getting nothing but spooky, scary, weird content from me, starting with cursed horror films. This list has some of the most revered horror classics and their supposed curses, including The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, The Crow, and The Exorcist. You decide if these films were just marred by a series of unfortunate events, or if the productions were cursed! SOURCES “Cu...

Sometimes referred to as body snatchers, resurrection men stole corpses from their graves and then sold them to physicians, universities, and scientists in an effort to advance medicine in the 19th century, but mostly for financial gain. SOURCES The Diary of a Resurrectionist, by James Blake Bailey https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Anatomy+Act+1832 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort...

It started with a letter taped onto the front door of the American Atheist Headquarters in Austin, TX on August 28, 1995. The letter claimed that the organization’s founding family, Madalyn Murray-O’Hair, her son Jon Murray, and granddaughter Robin had been called away for an emergency and not to worry. At first, nothing seemed strange other than their swift departure, but after about a week, memb...

Less than three months after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, sightings of enemy submarines and aircraft off the coast of California culminated in an air raid and blackout being ordered for the city of Los Angeles. The Battle of Los Angeles, also known as the Great Los Angeles Air Raid, ensued and 1,400 rounds of anti-aircraft artillery were launched at "enemy airplanes". When the smoke cleared, it ap...

Gulfort, Florida teacher Candy Williams beat cancer and was ready to start a new chapter of her life. It was then that she had a chance encounter with divorcee Joe Collier on the beach. Joe seemed too good to be true and their romance quickly blossomed. Soon, though, secrets from Joe's past came to light that were darker than anything a Lifetime movie could come up with. This is one woman's story...