We Thought Mars Was Lifeless... We Were Horribly Wrong
Weird Darkness: Paranormal & True Crime Stories
Darren Marlar
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 November 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
IN THIS EPISODE: “Hang Head, Vandal!” by Mark Clifton (Amazing Stories, April 1962)
FULLY PRODUCED VERSION:
https://www.auditoryanthology.com/2025/04/03/hang-head-vandal-by-mark-clifton/
MORE Stories Like This: https://www.auditoryanthology.com
=====Originally aired: November 09, 2025
EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/hangheadvandal
ABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all thing strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold case murders, conspiracy theories, and more. On Thursdays, this scary stories podcast features horror fiction along with the occasional creepypasta. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “Best 20 Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy.DISCLAIMER: Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. *** Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.
#WeirdDarkness #Mars #SciFi #SpaceExploration #AlienCivilization #NuclearTesting #FirstContact #ClassicSciFi #SpaceHorror #CautionaryTale #ScientificHubris
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When police officer Matt Klein returns to the quiet coastal town of Marshport, he hopes |
| 0:08.7 | for a fresh start with his family. |
| 0:11.4 | But a series of brutal, inexplicable deaths begins to unravel the town. |
| 0:16.7 | At the center of it all is an ancient evil bound to a seemingly harmless gift of an antique |
| 0:22.3 | advent calendar, a relic, counting down to the night when the light of Christmas goes out. |
| 0:28.6 | As the days slip by, strange voices whisper through the walls, people go mad, and reality |
| 0:35.3 | itself starts to crack. The deeper Matt digs, the closer he comes |
| 0:40.3 | to facing an evil that has been waiting for him for years. Now with his wife and sons in |
| 0:46.4 | peril and the final door of the calendar looming, Matt must confront the truth. Some traditions |
| 0:53.0 | were never meant to be completed. 24 days, 24 |
| 0:59.5 | doors, all leading to one unholy Christmas Eve. Advent of Evil, a 24-episode |
| 1:09.9 | horror event on Weird Darkness beginning December 1st, |
| 1:13.7 | or get the entire novel at Weirddarkness.com slash advent of evil. |
| 1:20.6 | The following is the story I narrated for the Auditori Anthology podcast a few months ago. |
| 1:25.5 | If you'd like to hear the fully produced version with music |
| 1:28.1 | and sound effects, I've placed a link to the full version in the episode description. And if you're a fan |
| 1:33.2 | of classic sci-fi stories from the 50s and 60s or quirky, short, creepy stories, you'll want |
| 1:38.8 | to subscribe to Auditori anthology, which you can do at Auditory Anthology.com. |
| 1:56.6 | Hanghead Vandal by Mark Clifton, originally published in Amazing Stories, April 1962. |
| 1:59.7 | On our abandoned Martian landing field, there hangs a man's discarded spacesuit, suspended |
| 2:06.1 | from the desensitized prongs of a cum-to-me tower. It stuffed with straw-filched, no doubt, |
| 2:12.6 | from packing cases which brought out so many more delicate, sensitive, precision instruments than |
... |
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