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Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

THEY ALL CLAIMED GOD SPOKE TO THEM: When England Went Mad With False Prophets and Miracle Seekers

Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories

Darren Marlar

History, True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.64.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 120 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#WDRadio Week of Sept 21, 2025: When desperate believers sold everything they owned to follow self-proclaimed prophets promising salvation, they discovered a horrifying truth: the line between divine vision and madness was written in poison, prison bars, and the hangman's noose. From miracle eggs inscribed with holy messages to a 65-year-old virgin claiming to carry the Messiah, this is the disturbing pattern of religious mania that swept through the 19th century, leaving thousands betrayed and broken in its wake.
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HOUR ONE: 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)
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HOUR TWO: “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)
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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)
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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: https://tinyurl.com/y43ug999
“The Lunatic James Dougherty” by Robert Wilhelm for MurderByGaslight.com: https://tinyurl.com/yxkxo8b6
“The Military and the Mysterious” by Brent Swancer for MysteriousUniverse.org: https://tinyurl.com/y46jdmks
“The Murder of Maggie Walker” posted on the website Murders In History: https://tinyurl.com/y2qw2rup
==========(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 show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
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"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46
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WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is sponsored by Awful Movie Reviews on YouTube.

0:03.6

I've been a fan of awful movie reviews for a couple of years now, and I never miss an episode.

0:08.8

Every Friday, you get a new comedic video covering a gosh, awful, horrible, terrible, wretched,

0:13.9

or just plain boring movie in the horror or sci-fi genre.

0:17.6

B-monster movies, films directed by notorious names like Ed Wood or Roger Corman,

0:22.4

flicks made on budgets lower than your monthly grocery bill, special effects you'd swear

0:26.6

were created by someone who's colorblind, cinematography so shaky, you'd swear a three-year-old

0:31.0

was trying to hold the camera, audio recording in the film that, well, you see where I'm going

0:35.6

here. They even take requests for awful movies you'd like to see them review in the future. You'll probably learn about flicks you've never even heard of while laughing along with the host. You can find awful movie reviews on YouTube by simply searching for awful movie reviews. I've also placed a link to them on my sponsors page so you can find them easily. And if you're like me, at the end of each

0:54.5

awful movie review, you'll be saying it aloud with the host, what an awful movie!

0:59.0

Hey, weirdos, just wanted to let you know that on the Weird Darkness YouTube channel recently,

1:04.8

we've been having fun doing a live chat each weeknight at 10.30 p.m. Central Time. I set up

1:10.2

the YouTube channel to premiere a video at that time,

1:12.8

usually the podcast episode for the day, and then during the premiere, we all hang out in the

1:17.3

YouTube live chat. Even if you've already heard that day's episode here in the podcast, you're

1:21.9

still welcome to join us for the YouTube chat. It's every weeknight at 10.30 p.m. Central time,

1:27.2

and sometimes I do it over the weekends, too,

1:29.6

because I have no social life whatsoever. You can find my channel at weirddarkness.com slash YouTube.

1:35.5

That's weirddarkness.com slash YouTube. Hey, weirdos, as we get closer to Halloween and our 10-year

1:41.8

anniversary of this podcast, I'd love to get your

1:44.2

opinions on how I'm doing, what you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see more

1:48.9

of, what you'd change if you were in charge, well, you get the idea. I have a new weird

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