What would your final meal be?

It's one of those questions people joke about... until you realize there are real people who have actually had to answer it.

This week we're diving into the strange, unsettling, and surprisingly emotional world of death row's last meals and final statements. We talk about where the tradition came from, the bizarre requests that actually made it onto the tray, the requests that were denied, and the final words that have haunted people long after the execution was over.

Some inmates joked. Some prayed. Some apologized. Others showed absolutely no remorse. And a few left behind statements that still spark debates decades later.

We'll also get into the psychology behind the ritual, why some states stopped honoring extravagant last meal requests, and the weird little facts that most people never hear about when it comes to executions.

So grab your gummies, get comfy, and let's get weird

https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/death_row/dr_executed_offenders.html 

https://corrections.az.gov/death-row/last-meals-request 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15040658 

https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/gregory-babcock/the-craziest-last-meal-requests 

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/death-row-inmates-last-meals-what-to-know-about-the-history-behind-our-strange-fascination-of-these-requests 

https://www.texastribune.org/2011/09/22/whitmire-tdcj-end-last-meal-feast-executions/ 

https://www.corrections1.com/capital-punishment/articles/the-last-meal-part-of-death-row-lore-Vr5jjUV89TBjzJ7Z/ 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-penalty-us-oklahomas-last-100420345.html 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-inmate-executed-killing-2-jailers-has-last-meal-bacon-cheeseburgers-fries-chocolate-shake 

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2012/oct/15/texas-abolishes-last-meals-for-death-row-prisoners-reduces-weekend-meals/ 

https://www.executedtoday.com/2008/01/17/1977-gary-gilmore/ 

https://www.corrections1.com/capital-punishment/articles/the-last-meal-part-of-death-row-lore-Vr5jjUV89TBjzJ7Z/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayEKEWoBg8w 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BT9X6qAPjI 

https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/aba-connects-death-row-inmate-to-pro-bono-attorneys-who-help-free-him 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bite-marks-jimmie-chris-duncan-death-row-louisiana-video-free-rcna588710 

https://innocenceproject.org/news/jimmie-chris-duncan-is-released-after-27-years-on-louisianas-death-row/ 

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/louisiana-supreme-court-affirms-lower-courts-vacatur-and-factual-innocence-finding-for-former-death-sentenced-man-jimmie-duncan 

https://nypost.com/2026/07/02/us-news/inside-idahos-new-1-2m-execution-chamber-where-8-inmates-await-death-by-firing-squad/ 

CNN — Florida executions: State plans to put 2 men to death in one day

CBS News — Florida carries out first double execution in 60 years

Washington Times — Florida ramps up executions of longest-serving death-row prisoners

USA Today — Women on death row: Christa Pike, Tennessee

U.S. News — Is there such a thing as being too old to execute?

URP Behavioral Health — Is attraction to crime a mental disorder?  

Innocence Project — Cameron Todd Willingham

EJI — Texas Executed Innocent Man (Willingham)

Marshall Project — Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man?

Guardian — The Wrong Carlos (DeLuna)

Columbia Law — DeLuna investigation

CBS News — Claude Jones DNA doubt

DPIC — Claude Jones DNA tests

Innocence Project — Troy Davis executed

NYT — Troy Davis executed

AP via Britannica — First nitrogen execution (Kenneth Smith, 2024)

NCR — Supreme Court stops Jeffery Lee nitrogen execution (2026)

Alabama Political Reporter — State seeks lethal injection for Lee

NitrogenExecutions.org — full record

Guardian — Romell Broom dies

DPIC — Romell Broom dies of COVID-19

Prison Legal News — Alabama botched lethal injections

NPR — A Prisoner Sentenced to Two Deaths (Willie Francis)

Justia — Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947)

Executed Today — Wenseslao Moguel, "El Fusilado," survives the firing squad

SCOTUSblog — Hamm v. Smith

DPIC — Tony Carruthers review

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/26/us/condemned-man-s-mask-bursts-into-flame-during-exec

ution.html 

TDCJ — Executed Offenders + Last Statements

Britannica — How Did Aileen Wuornos Die

https://www.aetv.com/articles/rickey-ray-rector-killer-who-lobotomized-himself 

A&E — Timothy McVeigh's Final Days

UPI — Bundy refused final breakfast (1989)

LADbible — Victor Feguer single olive

Grunge — Why Victor Feguer requested a single olive

NYT — Texas Death Row Kitchen Cooks Its Last 'Last Meal'

Sky News — Death Row: Texas Scraps Last Meal Requests

NPR — Texas Turns Down Cook's Offer Of Free 'Last Meals'

This week, we’re covering the 1990 murder of Marilynn DePue, the manhunt for Dennis DePue, and the eerie real-life case often linked to the opening of Jeepers Creepers.

From Coldwater, Michigan to an abandoned schoolhouse, a bloody sheet, an Unsolved Mysteries broadcast, a fake identity in Texas, and a final police chase in Mississippi, this case is one of those stories where the truth is already disturbing enough without needing the movie version.

Content warning: domestic violence, murder, gun violence, suicide, and children present during a violent incident.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2023/10/16/did-1990-michigan-murder-inspire-jeepers-creepers-film/ 

https://www.truecrimeedition.com/post/dennis-depue#google_vignette 

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1991/03/22/man-wanted-for-murder-dies-in-police-shootout/ 

https://www.10minutemurder.com/blog/from-unsolved-mysteries-to-hollywood-the-jeepers-creepers-murder-case/ 

https://www.cbr.com/jeepers-creepers-true-story/ 

https://ihorror.com/the-real-life-killer-that-inspired-jeepers-creepers/ 

https://wickedhorror.com/features/dennis-depue-the-real-life-killer-that-inspired-jeepers-creepers/ 

https://newspaperarchive.com/kalispell-daily-inter-lake-mar-21-1991-p-7https://www.newspapers.com/image/207001852/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/366386852/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/207017891/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/207063440/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/206446741/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/204120605/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/204930243/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/204935404/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/182054936/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/100223190/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/635576740/ 

https://www.newspapers.com/image/642557316/ 

https://newspaperarchive.com/mount-carmel-daily-republican-register-mar-22-1991-p-6/ 

https://newspaperarchive.com/grapevine-sun-mar-24-1991-p-1/ 

/

https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5TAY8_unsolved-mysteriesdennis-depue-jeepers-creepers 

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1115481/ 

https://99wfmk.com/jeepers-creepers-revisited/ 

https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dennis_DePue 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/119870618/marilynn-lee-depue 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117374567/dennis_henry-depue 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Depue-97 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUhEVrevy0o 

https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/yz1z4v/dennis_depue_the_real_jeepers_creepers/ 

https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlyterrifying/comments/yz1z4v/dennis_depue_the_real_jeepers_creepers/ 

https://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/4p9bfj/jeepers_creepers_inspired_by_a_true_story/ 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1924047/ 

https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/unsolved-mysteries-with-dennis-farina/6220811651348767112/seasons/2/episodes/episode-3-episode-3/1b3082fb-9e28-3ae4-97a1-9896d4a7cd2e 

Late-night Marketplace scrolling was a mistake.

This week on Ghost Stories & Gummies, I’m diving into some of the creepiest, weirdest, and most uncomfortable real encounters tied to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

From terrifying meetups and bizarre sellers to “absolutely the fuck not” situations that sound like the beginning of a horror movie…

So grab your gummies, lock your doors, and maybe stop responding to listings that say “pickup behind abandoned warehouse.”

Have a paranormal experience, glitch story, creepy encounter, stalker situation, mimic story, haunted object experience, or complete WTF moment?

Send it to Dear Darkness:

Your story could be featured in a future episode.

Available on:

This week on Ghost Stories and Gummies, we’re getting into one of the wildest cult stories I’ve covered yet: the so‑called Doomsday Cat Cult. We’ll talk about pastor Sheryl Ruthven, her cat rescue Eva’s Eden, and how, according to former members and reporting, a small Washington church turned into a high‑control doomsday group where cats were believed to be divine beings carrying 144,000 souls through the apocalypse.  From blood‑tinged rituals and “Divine Magdalene” claims to a cross‑country “Exodus,” family estrangements, and the Investigation Discovery episode that blew the story up, this one is part true crime, part “what the hell did I just hear.”  Content warning: cult dynamics, spiritual and psychological abuse, possible animal neglect, and mentions of violence

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/coverstory/apocalypse-meow-how-a-cult-that-believes-cats-are-divine-beings-ended-up-in-tennessee/article_78fc2367-5596-5a7a-ad8e-edae8c83a594.html 

https://www.cultnews101.com/2016/09/apocalypse-meow-how-cult-that-believes.html 

https://www.realclearreligion.org/2016/09/09/apocalypse_meow_a_cat_cult_in_tennessee_273944.html 

https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/9/8/why-bob-smietanas-apocalypse-meow-story-on-an-end-times-cat-cult-really-is-the-cats-meow 

https://catsofcapetown.com/2025/03/04/the-curious-case-of-the-doomsday-cat-cult-a-shocking-saga-of-family-faith-and-felines/ 

https://whatcom-news.com/evas-eden-cat-rescue-makes-news-in-tennessee_50126/ 

https://www.facebook.com/IsThereACultInColumbiaTN/ 

https://www.sportskeeda.com/us/shows/who-sheryl-ruthven-do-details-the-curious-case-of-subject-explored 

Some hauntings don’t react to you.

They don’t acknowledge you, they don’t change, and they don’t seem aware that you’re even there.

They just… keep happening.

Same place. Same movement. Same sequence over and over again.

In this episode, we’re breaking down the Stone Tape Theory the idea that environments themselves can somehow “record” emotional or traumatic events and replay them later as what people describe as residual hauntings.

We get into where this theory comes from, why materials like quartz are always brought into the conversation, and the scientific reasons it doesn’t actually hold up. But even with that, people are still reporting the same kinds of experiences in the same types of places.

So if it’s not a ghost… what are people actually experiencing?

Because some places don’t feel neutral and that’s the part that sticks.

Have you experienced something like this?

 Send it in: 

[email protected]

We’re back with Dear Darkness Society Part 2.

After going down a Reddit rabbit hole during Episode 30, I found way more stories than I was expecting… and there was no way I was leaving some of these out.

So this episode is a continuation, more real experiences, more “that’s not right” moments, and more stories from people who were kind enough to share what they’ve gone through and let me bring it here.

Some of these are unsettling.

Some are just straight-up weird.

And some will have you sitting there like… that's a no for me dawg.

A huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and trusted me with them, I really do appreciate it.

If you’ve ever experienced something you can’t explain, something that didn’t sit right, or something you still think about… you’re not alone.

The diary is always open. 🖤

There’s a specific kind of unsettling that happens when your TV does something it’s not supposed to do.

Not buffering. Not lagging.

Just… wrong.

In this episode, I'm getting into real cases where broadcasts were interrupted, hijacked, or taken over sometimes for seconds, sometimes longer and left people genuinely confused about what they were seeing.

From the 1987 Max Headroom incident, to the Southern Television interruption in the UK, to real emergency alert hacks that exposed how vulnerable these systems actually are… this one gets weird fast.

We’re talking:

Some of these are strange.

Some are unsettling.

Some are just… no. I don’t like that.

Because it’s not just what people saw it’s the fact that something was able to interrupt a system that’s supposed to be controlled… and no one could stop it.

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/public-and-broadcasting

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast_signal_intrusion

https://rewindtv.com/2021/11/22/wgn-max-headroom-signal-intrusion/ 

https://www.pbs.org/video/max-headroom-attack-yffnrt/ 

https://www.pbs.org/video/30-years-later-max-headroom-incident-remains-mystery-ugz9gm/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIop2MsmMTQ&t=7s 

https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/vrillon-the-broadcast-that-hijacked-britains-imagination/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXsvyOpPJk 

https://transdiffusion.org/2023/08/21/southern-interference/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Television_broadcast_interruption 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/vrillon-hacking-alien-voice-seventies-extra-terrestrial-hoax-unexplained-mysteries-a8069926.html 

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/katv-broadcast-interruption-of-1959 

https://www.tarrdaniel.com/documents/Ufology/intergalactic_message.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight_broadcast_signal_intrusion 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/entertainment/tv/when-captain-midnight-hacked-hbo 

https://freakylogo.fandom.com/wiki/HBO_Captain_Midnight 

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/captain-midnight-hbo/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtdwD0qqApQ 

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/29/arts/hbo-piracy-incident-stuns-other-satellite-users.html 

https://www.networkworld.com/article/950900/man-who-hijacked-hbo-s-satellite-signal-30-years-ago-would-face-far-different-fate-today.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEkWNCK6Hu4 

https://www.keranews.org/2013-02-12/zombie-alert-also-aired-in-michigan-hacking-traced-to-overseas-source 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/feb/12/zombie-apocalypse-newsflash-tv-video 

https://www.govtech.com/security/hackers-broadcast-zombie-emergency-alert-on-tv.html 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-15/zombie-apocalypse-hoax-exposes-flaws-in-system/4520554 

https://current.org/2013/02/zombie-emergency-broadcast-hoax-on-pubtv-station-blamed-on-overseas-hacker 

https://www.ksl.com/article/24061333/hackers-send-zombie-emergency-alert-through-ksl-station-others 

https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription/film/watch-ghostwatch-behind-the-curtains-2012-online 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-41740176

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/oct/26/how-we-made-bbc-mockumentary-ghostwatch 

https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/why-i-love-ghostwatch 

https://www.curiousarchive.com/ghostwatch-bbc-controversial-broadcast/ 

https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20dreams%20are%20monsters/2022/10/28/ghostwatch/

https://npg.si.edu/blog/orson-welles-and-70th-anniversary-war-worlds 

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/welles-broadcasts-war-worlds 

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2016/10/lcm-page-from-the-past-war-of-the-worlds/ 

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/october-30/welles-scares-nation 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/ 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/misguided/202506/why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-savvy-psychologist/202007/why-we-believe-in-conspiracy-theories 

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/how-to-apply 

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF13130 

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachand ments/DA-99-1099A2.pdf 

https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/public_and_broadcasting_0.pdf 

In this Dear Darkness Society episode, I made the mistake of going on Reddit to see if anyone has experienced the same kind of creepy, unexplainable moments we talk about on here... and yeah, some of you are going THROUGH it.

I'm sharing real stories from people who were kind enough (and brave enough) to let me bring their experiences here. Some are unsettling, so are straight up weird and sine will have you sitting there like... that a no for me dawg.

Huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and trusted me with them, I genuinely appreciate it.

If you've ever had a moment that didn't make sense, didn't sit right or still sticks with you... you're in the right place.

The diary is always open 

What happens when the internet starts reinterpreting childhood cartoons through a much darker lens?

In this episode I explore some of the most infamous cartoon conspiracy theories from the Rugrats imagination theory to the mysterious Squidward creepypasta and look at the psychology behind why people create them in the first place.

https://abc7.com/spongebob-kwarantined-crab-inappropriate-episodes-removed/10462487/

https://www.wired.com/1997/10/in-his-way-john-k-will-challenge-the-world/

https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945-present/crossroads.htm

https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/photographs/testing/us/crossroads.html 

https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/operation-crossroads/ 

https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/35/

https://nyupress.org/9780814742815/convergence-culture/

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/spongebob-squarepants-mid-life-crustacean-episode-removed-from-paramount/1100-6489459/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC80580/ 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05360-0

https://www.history.com/articles/nuclear-bomb-tests-bikini-atoll-facts 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Crossroads

https://time.com/4446927/rugrats-chuckie-mom-nickelodeon/ 

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/rugrats-never-happened-theory 

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/creepypasta 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns/ 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050308101309.htm 

What if thousands of people remember something that never happened?

This weeks episode I dive into the Mandela Effect, the strange phenomenon where large groups of people share the same incorrect memory. From The Berenstain Bears to famous movie quotes we all swear are real, I explore why our brains might be rewriting reality.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-mandela-effect-4589394 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/mandela-effect 

https://www.snopes.com/tag/mandela-effect/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXoWiIuB25o&t=19s 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/entertainment/g28438966/mandela-effect-examples/ 

https://www.britannica.com/science/Mandela-effect 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/18/world/mandela-effect-collective-false-memory-scn 

https://aeon.co/ideas/on-shared-false-memories-what-lies-behind-the-mandela-effect 

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sinbad-movie-shazaam/ 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1416187 

https://search.catalog.loc.gov/search?option=keyword&pageNumber=1&query=Berenstein%20Bears&recordsPerPage=25 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40063737 

https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2004/10/01/false_memories 

https://collaborate.princeton.edu/en/publications/false-memories-and-aging 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31088337/ 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/totaling-recall 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327019eb0901_4 

https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html 

https://www.simplypsychology.org/flashbulb-memory.html 

https://research.edgehill.ac.uk/en/publications/schemas-and-memory-consolidation/ 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627318308560

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/cognitive-map 

https://www.filmsite.org/empi3.html

https://www.simplypsychology.org/what-is-a-schema.html

 https://mechanism.ucsd.edu/bill/teaching/philpsych.w03/memory4class.pdf 

https://www.mheducation.ca/blog/series-classic-learning-science-reconstructive-memory-schema-theory/