At the end of summer 1944, the residents of small town Mattoon, Illinois, started reporting strange chemical smells in their homes that led to intense symptoms of sickness. Many also reported seeing a figure outside their home that would flee the scene. This figure became known as the Mad Gasser of Mattoon and for weeks, a terrorized town and police force scratched their heads, unable to figure out who was behind these weird attacks that left some Mattoon resident literally paralyzed. 

Sources: The Case of the Mad Gasser of Mattoon by Cindy Ackerman Klickna, Wikipedia, University of Illinois Library, American Hauntings The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

Tyler Davis was spending the weekend away with his wife to celebrate her birthday. In the early morning hours of February 24, 2019, Tyler walked away from his hotel in the busy Easton Town Center shopping mall outside of Columbus, Ohio. No one has seen Tyler since. 

Ellen Greenberg was found in her Philadelphia apartment in the middle of a 2011 snow storm with 20 stab wounds to her body, including 10 to the back of her neck. It seemed to many to be an obvious homicide. The Medical Examiner's eventual "revised" ruling in the manner of Ellen's death would shock many and send her parents on a quest for justice for their daughter. Fourteen years later, recent developments mean the public might find out what actually happened to Ellen Greenberg. 

Sources: CNN, News Nation, Lamb McErlane PC, Crime Timeline

I'll be back in February!

Half demon, half goat. The anti-Santa. Punisher of bad children. Krampus has had many roles through the years and has developed quite the reputation. Who is this Christmastime figure whose folk tradition thrives today throughout the world? 

She wasn't as famous as the Titanic, but the RMS Empress of Ireland was an important part of life for so many traveling from Canada to Europe and the crew that worked on her. But on her first journey of the season in May 1914, tragedy struck The Empress of Ireland, sending her sinking from under her passengers before many would even know what was happening. 

Happy Halloween from The Darker Side of Life! Light those Jack O' Lanterns and follow me into Hoia Baciu, Romania's most haunted forest. You never know what you might see when you step into the trees. 

Sources: https://hoiabaciuforest.com/en/, https://www.jhmoncrieff.com/haunted-travel-romanias-hoia-baciu-forest/, https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/romania/hoia-baciu-haunted-forest-travel-guide-b2256555.html, https://romaniatourstore.com/blog/hoia-baciu-forest-mysterious-legends/, The Tape Library - Horrifying Legends of Hoia Baciu, The World’s Most Haunted Forest

Engineers are held to a code of ethics that will "hold paramount" the safety and health of the public. But what happens when that code is forgotten? Or worse, flat out ignored? 

Sources: YouTube AdventureMe "What Remains of the Battersea Funfair?", MyLondon.com. BBC.com, Wikipedia, NASA.gov, KMBC.com., NPR.org, InterestingEngineering.com, onlineethics.org

On April 1, 2014, Dutch friends Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers set out to hike a popular trail in Boquete, Panama. The two friends were vacationing together in the small tourist town, finding adventures around Boquete until they would start their volunteering jobs at a local school. When the women didn't return from their hike on the El Pianista trail, a frantic search would uncover more mysteries than answers about what happened to the girls.

Hello there, listeners! You might have thought we dropped off the face of the earth over the last year. But The Darker Side of Life is back with an announcement and some changes going forward.