Ding Dong Darkness Time

In 1979, Francis Ford Coppola released Apocalypse Now, his stunning, surreal Vietnam war-fueled adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 1899 book, The Heart of Darkness. But even more harrowing than the events onscreen were the ones happening behind the camera as over a year of filming began to take its toll on everyone involved. Drugs, nervous breakdowns, monsoons, a near deadly heart attack... and that's only the beginning. Step aboard the boat, Ding Dongs. This journey is taking us a place where only madness dwells.

Joining Allison for the discussion, and bringing his keen insights, is the always amazing Josh Bermont from the Press Play and Scream podcast.

Additional Info:

The Press Play and Scream Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/press-play-and-scream/id1589942694

About Apocalypse Now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_of_Darkness:_A_Filmmaker%27s_Apocalypse
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

We're wrapping up our global tour of the Top 10 Ding Dong Countries by bringing you a mystery from the final five. What are they? Well... we'll leave you to listen and find out, but they do all have one thing in common: GERMANY IS EVERYWHERE.

This episode is bringing you Van Gogh (murder or suicide?), a possible cryptic code to a mysterious homicide (YOGTZE), a pair of wicked coin heists, the possible identification of the Somerton Man, and a mysterious woman's skeleton in a nightmarish tree.

Pack your bags, Ding Dongs. This is gonna be one helluva sojourn.

Additional Info:

Bella in the Wych Elm:
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/revealed-after-75-years-face-14329271
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_put_Bella_in_the_Wych_Elm%3F

YOGTZE: The Baffling Case of Gunther Stoll
https://www.historicmysteries.com/gunther-stoll/

Vincent Van Gogh: Murder or Suicide?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Vincent_van_Gogh
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2014/12/vincent-van-gogh-murder-mystery

The Toonie Truck Heist of 1996
https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/canadas-greatest-unsolved-mysteries/
https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-day-thieves-drove-off-with-1-5-million-brand-new-toonies-1.5647971 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/a-brief-incomplete-history-of-strange-canadian-industrial-thefts-1.4297601?cache=yes%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue  

The saga of Canada's stolen million-dollar coin

https://macleans.ca/economy/money-economy/the-saga-of-canadas-stolen-million-dollar-coin/ 
Somerton Man: Australia's most enduring mystery... solved?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerton_Man
Astonishing Legends podcast: https://www.astonishinglegends.com/ 

• Original four part series (Ep. 33-36) from 2017
• Follow up episode (Ep. 239) from August, 2022

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

As promised when we celebrated the Top 10 American listener cities by bringing you an interesting mystery from each one, Allison and Chris are back to deliver 10 mysteries from the show's top listener countries!

No passport needed for this epic journey. But you may want to bring a coat. It's a little chilly in some of these locales...

Additional Info:

The Trude Espås Case: The Unsolved Geiranger Murder Mystery
https://www.lifeinnorway.net/trude-espas-geiranger-mystery/
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/i8gpjz/the_20yearold_was_found_raped_strangled_and/
https://www.world-today-news.com/the-police-found-rotten-clothes-in-the-trude-espas-case/
SKRIM - a Scandinavian true crime podcast, Episode 043: Trude Espås

Bog bodies: A 2,000 year old unsolved mystery
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20161014-a-2000-year-old-unsolved-mystery
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/europe-bog-bodies-reveal-secrets-180962770/

Steytlerville monster: The Manbatpig mystery
https://weekinweird.com/2011/05/11/shape-shifting-monster-terrorizes-town/
https://roadtravel1.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/shape-shifter-in-the-karoo/ https://www.skeptophilia.com/2011/04/manbatpig.html 

The Sanby Borg Massacre
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/can-archaeologists-solve-swedens-1500-year-old-murder-mystery
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/dna-study-ancient-massacre-victims-raises-more-questions-answers

Peter Bergmann: The Man Who Didn't Exist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Bergmann_case

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

This week, Allison and Chris descend into a discussion of one of their favorite horror films of all time, the 2005 subterranean masterpiece, The Descent. 

But is it really a movie about a caving adventure gone horribly awry... or is it a home invasion story? 

Also, which ending is your favorite? 

So much good discussion and more, so gear up, grab your axes and ropes and glow sticks, and let's explore this thing!

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Allison and Chris round out the shout-out to the show's most popular listener cities by bringing you some pretty heavy hitting mysteries from the Top 5!

In Dallas, we bring the story of a possibly haunted landmark, the Goatman Bridge, with some chilling lore that feels true, even if it might not be.

Next we travel to the Rocky Mountains of Denver, for a tale of gold prospecting and cannibalism. Did Alfred Packer merely eat his fellow campers to survive the elements during a harrowing journey to strike it rich, or were there more sinister actions afoot? The mystery endures to this day, but what do you think?

While pondering that, follow us up to Seattle, where not far outside the city spawned the original modern day sighting of UFOs in 1947, by one Kenneth Arnold. Was it aliens he spied that day zooming above Mount Rainier? We can't be for certain. What we do know is if you want to know the birth place of UFOs as we know them, you need to start a little further north than Roswell, New Mexico.

After that, Allison brings it back home (literally) to Dayton, Ohio, where she discusses the serial killer that once lurked in her backyard in the early 20th century: The Dayton Strangler.

Finally, we end our journey at the infamous Windy City, Chicago, with a case that pits the innocence movement against the criminal justice system. The case of Anthony Porter and Alstory Simon was told in the stunning documentary, "A Murder in the Park" back in 2014, but here Allison breaks down the basics of the case that led to the state of Illinois banning the death penalty, while also bringing a lot of questions to the methods used by all who claim to fight for justice.

Additional Info:

The Goatman Bridge
https://wedentondoit.com/blog/2013/10/18/back-in-the-day-goatmans-bridge

Alfred Packer Cannibalism
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/colorado/denver/unsolved-mystery-denver/
https://archives.colorado.gov/collections/history/alfred-packer

Kenneth Arnold UFO Sighting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Arnold_UFO_sighting

The Dayton Strangler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Strangler

Murder in the Park/Alstory Simon/Anthony Porter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Porter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Murder_in_the_Park

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

At the end of 2022, Allison and Chris decided to craft something of a love letter to the Top 10 cities that regularly tune in to Ding Dong Darkness Time every week. So we started scouring for a mystery to highlight in what might very well be your neck of the woods!

We start at a bleeding house in Atlanta before traveling to the odd little enclave of Sun City Center (or rather, Tampa) Florida for a cold missing person case involving a young mother named Lucinda Huels. From there we head up to Baltimore to talk about the strange death of one of the world's most famous authors, before venturing all the way out to the Pacific Northwest to discuss a kind of hilarious hole in Portland, Oregon.

Then we wrap it up with a fascinating historical murder crime case out of Minneapolis/St. Paul that goes all the way back before the establishment of the state of Minnesota, and how the suspected killer ended up becoming famous enough to have his name put on buildings.

Come back next week for our Top 5 cities!

Additional Info:

Atlanta's Bleeding House
https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-bleeding-walls-in-atlanta-c92a0bc53833
https://theghostinmymachine.com/2021/08/02/unresolved-what-caused-the-atlanta-blood-houses-mysterious-mess/

The Disappearance of Lucinda Huels
https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/tinze-lucinda-huels/http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/11dffl.html
https://rcccmcc.com/2019/09/12/tinze-lucinda-huels/?amp=1
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ye4utl/lucinda_huels_was_17years_old_when_she/

The Strange Death of Edgar Allan Poe
https://brightestyoungthings.com/articles/im-a-creep-im-a-weirdo-baltimore-and-d-c-s-most-mysterious-mysteries
https://www.britannica.com/story/the-mysterious-death-of-edgar-allan-poe
https://cvm.missouri.edu/quoth-the-raven-it-was-actually-rabies/

The Woodstock Mystery Hole
https://www.barronmind.com/wmh.htm
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/woodstock-mystery-hole-skb
https://bridgeliner.com/%F0%9F%95%B3%EF%B8%8F-dig-into-the-history-of-the-woodstock-mystery-hole/

Edward Phelan and The Oldest Murder Mystery in Minnesota
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/07/17/books-thread-minnesotas-oldest-murder-mystery 

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Allison, Chris, and Beverly are back this week to wrap up their discussion on controversial cult... or spiritual influencer Teal Swan, and forewarning, it gets a little dark as we discuss topics of abuse, assault, and suicide, and all the ways Teal has been instrumental in promoting these things among her inner circle.

If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide and self-harm, there is help no matter where you are in the world. Dial 988 in the United States, or check here for your particular country's suicide prevention hotline:
https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/

Chris's 80s High Podcast
https://the80shigh.podbean.com/

Beverly Bambury Publicity
https://www.beverlybambury.com/

Watch The Deep End on Hulu:
https://www.hulu.com/series/the-deep-end-e052aae5-14fb-4043-bb11-94f5880421b3

Teal Swan Exposed
https://tealswanblog.wordpress.com/

The Gateway Podcast and Article:
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/08/205915/the-gateway-teal-swan-youtube-cult-jennings-brown

The Truth About Cameron
http://thetruthaboutcameron.blogspot.com/

Growing Up With Teal Swan (Mormon Stories Podcast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY04M9tNEq0

A former inner-circle member of Teal's speaks out:
https://www.celestialhealing.com/2017/07/teal-swan.html

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

We're continuing our cults series by diving into what we've termed Cults 2.0, the online self-help gurus who've made it their mission to deliver spiritual wisdom and healing to the global masses via YouTube, Instagram, and other online platforms. And one particularly polarizing figure in this world is self-identified "social catalyst" Teal Swan.
Welcoming friends Chris and Beverly into a lively discussion, Allison attempts to shed some light on Teal's childhood and eventual ascent to controversial modern-day guru. We also break down many of the problems of guru culture, and why it often tends to turn toxic, and why Swan in particular is dangerous to people vulnerable to serious mental illness and suicidal tendencies.
But first we must ask ourselves why people are drawn to Teal's highly unorthodox techniques, and also more importantly... is this even a cult?
Additional Info:
Watch The Deep End on Hulu:
https://www.hulu.com/series/the-deep-end-e052aae5-14fb-4043-bb11-94f5880421b3
Teal Swan Exposed
https://tealswanblog.wordpress.com/
The Gateway Podcast and Article:
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/08/205915/the-gateway-teal-swan-youtube-cult-jennings-brown
The Truth About Cameron
http://thetruthaboutcameron.blogspot.com/
Growing Up With Teal Swan (Mormon Stories Podcast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY04M9tNEq0
A former inner-circle member of Teal's speaks out:
https://www.celestialhealing.com/2017/07/teal-swan.html

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

Yes that's right, Ding Dongs. Allison is back after a longer than intended hiatus. In this short episode, she talks a little bit about the circumstances behind her absence, and she can't do that without talking about the scourge of chronic pain and all the damage it can do.  Not only physically, but emotionally and cognitively.

Additional Info:

Long-Term Effects of Chronic Pain
https://www.pathways.health/chronic-pain-long-term-effects-on-the-brain-and-body-explained/

Social Security Uses Outdated Job Tables to Deny Disability Benefits
https://wapo.st/3xuuvUS

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]

For the final episode of 2022, we decided to close out the year on a reflection of why so many of us love the genre of true crime. Though it's important to get something out of the way real quick: this obsession is nothing new for humans. In fact, it goes back centuries. We've only become better at making and distributing it since the days of the gory moralist pamphlets it started as. 

Allison also went digging for other points of view on what draws us to stories of murder and mayhem, so tune in and let us know what interests you! 

Ding Dong Darkness Time will be back in January, so happy holidays to all of you, and thank you for making this an amazing year.

Show Credits:
Graphics -- Nathaniel Dickson: http://ndickson.com
Music -- Spencer Morelock, Ken Dickson

Ding Dong Darkness Time Media:
Twitter: @dddarknesstime
Instagram: dddarknesstime
Gmail: [email protected]