Darkly Speaking

On June 11th, 2005, 22-year-old Todd Geib left a summer bonfire in Casnovia, Michigan, and started the short walk home. Somewhere along the way, he vanished. Twenty-one days later, his body was found in a nearby lake, roughly 60 feet from shore and suspended almost completely upright beneath the surface. But the strange position of his body was only the beginning. Todd had alcohol and other substances in his system, there was reportedly no water in his lungs, and independent forensic experts later questioned whether he could have been in the lake for the entire three weeks he was missing. Authorities ultimately concluded that Todd had drowned, but the evidence surrounding his death has continued to cast doubt on that explanation. If he didn’t die the night he disappeared, then where was he for those missing weeks? How did he end up in the lake? And what happened between his final phone call and the moment his body was finally found? Years later, those unanswered questions would connect Todd’s case to the controversial Smiley Face Killer theory—and reopen the question of whether his death was ever an accident at all. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts Patreon⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

In the summer of 1817, John Bell sees something strange at the edge of his Tennessee farm—something he cannot quite explain. By nightfall, the noises begin: knocking, scratching, even growling around the Bell home. What starts as a series of unexplained disturbances soon grows into something far more frightening. Over the next four years, the family will claim they are tormented by an unseen presence capable of speaking to them, attacking members of the household, and seeming to know things it should have no way of knowing. As the haunting grows more violent, the Bells begin to fear that whatever has taken hold of their home is capable of far more than just frightening them. By 1820, they will come to believe it has killed one of their own. Whatever happened on the Bell farm, the legend endured—through books, investigations, generations of visitors, and a small Tennessee community still deeply connected to the haunting that made it famous. Tonight, we’re heading to northwestern Tennessee for one of the most infamous hauntings in American history: the legend of the Bell Witch. So grab a flashlight, watch where you step, and try not to think too hard about what just brushed against your arm—or what you could swear breathed against the back of your neck. Because our story begins underground. Inside the Bell Witch Cave. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts Patreon⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

Hidden in the darkened woods of the old Bailey Fisher farm lies a legend of something said to have arrived from far beyond West Virginia—inside a strange, glowing craft that descended over the hills one September night. Those unlucky enough to find themselves near the hill after dark tell of a towering figure moving between the trees, its presence accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread. Some believe that if it ever returns to Flatwoods, its reappearance would mean more than disaster for one small West Virginia town. It could mark the end of humanity itself. On September 12, 1952, several children watched a fiery object cross the sky and descend behind a nearby hill. What began as an innocent search for a fallen meteor led them into the woods—and face-to-face with something they believed was neither human nor animal. But theirs may not have been the first encounter reported in the area. And it may not have been the last. Tonight... We’re traveling into the hills of Braxton County, West Virginia, to retrace the encounters and possible explanations behind one of the most enduring and unsettling legends in American UFO history: The Flatwoods Monster. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

Today, we’re heading back down the Reddit rabbit hole for some of the internet’s creepiest stories—terrifying encounters involving stalkers, intruders, unexplained visitors, sleep paralysis, and situations that go from unsettling to absolutely horrifying.  From strangers who seem to be watching from a distance, intruders inside someone’s home, and sleep paralysis experiences that feel far too real, to genuinely strange paranormal encounters that are difficult to explain. And then there’s one extremely unsettling night at a rural hotel where every possible red flag seems to go up at once. Some of these have explanations. Some of them don’t. And honestly? The ones with answers are scarier. Some of these stories have completely rational explanations. Some of them… not so much. But they all have one thing in common: that horrible moment when you realize something about the situation you’re in is very, very wrong. That split-second where your body kicks into fight, flight, or freeze… it’s the tingle up your spine and the goosebumps rising on your arms. Because instinctively, your body knows before your mind does that you’re in danger. So get comfortable, maybe double-check that your doors are locked, and let’s get into some terrifying encounters from Reddit. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

It’s just an urban legend… right? One year ago, Darkly Speaking began with the mysterious death of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel. For the podcast’s first anniversary, we’re returning to the case that started it all—and the unsettling urban legend forever tied to Elisa’s final known moments. The Elevator Game is said to transport players to another world using nothing more than a building with at least ten floors and a precise sequence of elevator buttons. But years before Elisa’s disappearance, another woman, Liu Huijun, and her four-year-old daughter, Xueying, entered an eleven-story building in Taiwan, rode to the highest floor, left their coats and shoes behind, and vanished. She is often known  as the woman who “played the Elevator Game for real.” Two women. Two unsettling cases. One urban legend about a doorway to another world—one you’re never meant to return from. Welcome to the Elevator Game. TW: This episode discusses mental illness and mental health crises, suicide, death and drowning, domestic abuse, and the unexplained disappearance of a young child. Listener discretion is advised. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

In August 1986, fourteen-year-old Jeremy Bright returned to his hometown of Myrtle Point, Oregon, to spend the week at the Coos County Fair with friends and family. On Thursday, August 14th, Jeremy was supposed to meet his younger sister at the Ferris wheel—but he never arrived. Nearly forty years later, Jeremy has never been found. His disappearance has become one of Oregon's most haunting unsolved mysteries, filled with conflicting witness statements, rumors of an accidental shooting, allegations of sexual assault, a convicted murderer whose name repeatedly surfaced during the investigation, and the belief that someone in the small town of Myrtle Point may have known the truth all along. If you have any information regarding Jeremy Bright's disappearance, please contact the Coos County Sheriff's Office at (541) 396-7830, or submit a tip through the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children or Unsolved Mysteries. TW: Missing child, alleged sexual assault/abuse, violence, murder, and discussions of child death. Listener discretion is advised. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

Welcome to Part 2 of our Isle of Wight series. Last week, we explored one of the most haunted islands in the world — its castles, ruined estates, old hospitals, ghost stories, legends, and folklore. But tonight, we’re heading into an even creepier corner of the island. A story that feels like it was pulled straight out of a Stephen King novel… except this isn’t IT, and we’re not talking about Pennywise — though it’s every bit as unsettling. In 1973, two children playing near Lake Common in Sandown heard a strange, siren-like sound coming from the marshland. Curious, they followed it — and what they claimed to find there became one of Britain’s strangest unexplained encounters: a nearly seven-foot-tall figure with a white face and triangular eyes, wearing blue three-fingered gloves, moving in an unnatural way, and leading them toward a strange metallic hut. A figure who said he was not a man. Not really a ghost. And introduced himself as All Colours Sam. As the story unfolds, the case expands beyond the marshland into UFO sightings, strange lights in the sky, yellow eyes beneath the sea, and one question that has followed this encounter for more than fifty years: Was Sam the Sandown Clown a ghost, an alien, a hoax, a hallucination, a man in a costume — or something else entirely? So I hope you didn’t unpack your bags just yet, because we’re going back to the Isle of Wight to meet Sam the Sandown Clown himself. Have a strange encounter, ghost story, local legend, or case request of your own? Submit it at [email protected] or visit darklyspeakingpodcast.com. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

Tonight, I want to take you with me across one of the most haunted islands in the world. We’re going to visit a haunted castle where apparitions of lost souls walk the grounds, a vanished manor that allegedly returns at night glowing with candlelight, an old asylum where nurses and patients are still wandering empty corridors, and a manor where a young girl is said to call for her mother centuries after her death. Along the way, we’ll move through ruined estates, coastal paths where something is said to follow people through the dark, former hospital grounds, and a haunted lighthouse built because of lives lost at sea. But as strange as these hauntings may be, the Isle of Wight is also home to another story — one that doesn’t sound like a traditional ghost story at all. A story from Sandown in 1973. But we’ll come back to that at the end, because that strange little corner of the island is where Part 2 begins. For now, we’re boarding the ferry to a place some call Ghost Island, and others know as the Isle of Fright. This is Part 1 of the very haunted Isle of Wight. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

In 2002, The Boston Globe published an investigation that permanently changed the way many people viewed the Catholic Church. What began as reporting on a single priest accused of abusing children quickly unraveled into something much larger — a disturbing pattern of accused clergy being quietly reassigned, victims silenced, complaints buried, and church officials seemingly more focused on avoiding scandal than stopping the abuse itself. And as the investigation continued, more victims began coming forward. Not just in Boston. Everywhere. More than 40 years before those revelations came to light, 25-year-old Irene Garza walked into Sacred Heart Catholic Church in McAllen, Texas for confession — and never came home. Five days later, her body was discovered floating in a muddy irrigation canal. She had been brutally beaten, sexually assaulted, and suffocated. Almost immediately, suspicion began circling around a priest — a man connected to another violent attack, whose belongings were later found near the canal where Irene’s body had been dumped, and who multiple people would later claim admitted to killing her. And still… nothing happened. No arrest. No justice. Not for decades. Over time, Irene’s story would become part of something much larger — a reckoning that exposed long-buried truths about power, protection, and accountability. In this episode, we unravel the horrifying murder of Irene Garza, the investigation that went cold, the alleged institutional protection surrounding the case, and the decades-long fight to finally bring the truth into the light. TW: This episode contains discussion of murder, sexual assault, clergy abuse, institutional cover-up allegations, violence against women, and graphic details surrounding the discovery of a victim’s body. Listener discretion is advised. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.

Parts of the Appalachian mountains have been here longer than almost anything we know — hundreds of millions of years. Long before people… before the forests that cover them now… and they’ve seen a lot since. People have passed through, settled, disappeared… but the stories remain... Tonight, I’m going to walk you through a series of real-life horror stories straight from Appalachia — someone waking up to something circling their tent in the middle of the night… a voice in the woods that turns into something much worse… a haunted boarding school in Kentucky with a tragic past… and something caught on camera that no one can explain. So get comfortable… settle in… we’re stepping back into Appalachia. Hosted by 🎙️: Alex Kern ⸻ 🖤 ABOUT DARKLY SPEAKING 🖤 Welcome to Darkly Speaking — where true crime, the paranormal and the crazy strange and unexplained converge. Every Monday, host Alex Kern unpacks stories that challenge our understanding of what’s real — from unsolved disappearances and psychological unravellings to encounters with the unexplained. Think: true crime, the paranormal, and everything in between. If you’re drawn to the strange, the hidden, or the stories that won’t sit quietly — you’re in the right place. Expect immersive storytelling, a dose of dark curiosity, and the occasional rabbit hole you didn’t plan to fall into. Because in the darkest corners of our reality… truth gets weird. ⸻ 🎧 LISTEN ON: Available wherever you get your podcasts! YouTube ⁠Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠ ⸻ 📲 CONNECT WITH US: ⁠YouTube ⁠ ⁠Instagram ⁠ ⁠TikTok ⁠ ⁠Website ⁠(Sources, Show Notes & More!) Email us your stories! → [email protected] ⸻ ⚠️ DISCLAIMER This podcast explores real cases and sensitive subject matter. Listener discretion is advised. All research is grounded in publicly available sources and cited to the best of our ability. Opinions are those of the host unless otherwise stated. Copyright Disclaimer: Some audio/visual materials used may be protected under copyright law and are included under “fair use” for commentary, criticism, and educational purposes.