Morbid - Episode 11: Don’t Go In The Woods, Man

Episode Date: August 2, 2018

The forest is a mysterious place, and some dark secrets are most certainly best left hidden among the trees. In today's episode, we will feature a handful of some of the scariest, most grim forests on this spinning planet. From the tragic stillness of Japan's Aokigahara to the ferocious symphony of England's Screaming Woods, this episode is sure to make you think twice about taking that hike. Oh yeah, and we recorded at night next to the woods for authenticity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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free for 30 days. That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wonderie pod or or text WonderingPod to 500-500 to try Audible for free for 30 days. Hey, weirdos. I'm Olena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid in the great outdoors.

Warn it. Warn it. That's what I hear right now. That's my best impression of the outdoors. Was that a frog or a cricket? Whatever noise I just heard briefly before. Could have been anything. I'm not um, like up to par with what the outdoors sounds like. Yeah.

I try to avoid it at all costs. So basically right now we decided to listen to you guys. Yeah, we're gonna go with the forest stories. We are going with creepy ass forest stories today and we're actually going to do another episode of creepy forest stories too later down the line because there's so many. And I had a hard time narrowing it down. So we're gonna give you a few today and then we'll give you a few and a few episodes It's from now kind of like sprinkle it in yeah, and because we're doing creepy forest stories We thought it would be kind of fun To go outside It is to a creepy as forest which is pitch black right now I really don't know if I would call that a forest though because I can see the next building through the trees

This blackness over there. I mean it is fucking creepy. I'm not gonna lie about that There's animals and that. Yeah let's talk about your Fisher cat experience. Like should we be outside? So and that's another thing if our audio sounds a little off today it's because we're fucking outside. So deal with it. We're trying to be authentic. Okay. God. I'm just kidding if it doesn't sound good or scary. Yeah, it doesn't sound good or really sorry. We'll probably next week record. So, yeah. So, a couple of weeks ago, I think it was when we were talking about the ax man of New

Orleans. I mentioned that I thought that a bunny might have been killed outside of our window because I heard screaming. I think I was wrong though, because I think it might have been, it's like less tragic, so that's good. Yeah. I think it might be that funky-ass creature called a Fishercat. They have these long-ass claws in the back.

They're scary looking. They're scary looking. They're bigger than I have scat. They're like the size of a coyote, aren't they? No, they're not that big. So they like, can you imagine that? I thought they were. Don't they climb up in trees and shit? I do. I think they're this like kind of like

I'm like the size of like a little bigger than Bailey of my dog. Oh. A medium sized dog. They're that small. Well they're not small. Maybe I'm just a kid. No, I think they're I think they're like pretty big. Write in. Tell us what Fishercats are. There in your backyard, wait for a Fishercat, measure it, and give me the exact proportions. I want solid research. Oh my God, no, I don't want to be responsible for that. Don't fucking do that. Oh, which brings me to my next point. Well, I just had a next point because I just swore in my grandpa told me to stop swearing. Oh, yeah, my grandpa your dad. Yeah, so Sorry, Papa. I'm gonna try to keep that to a minimum. Yeah Dad listens to the podcast now, which things dad and his one critique too much curse words

He was like, you might want to just cut back on the curse People don't like that. You know people don't love hearing curse words every so I'm like well you taught them to me in traffic So no not really I love you. No, and you know what we will What we will take it down a notch we'll probably not make a super honest effort to stop But we will we will give it some kind of shot. For sure. Because we love our dad. In like 20 minutes, I'm gonna be like, mother bleeper. I think I'm pretty sure the next sentence

is gonna include a swear. But, sorry. Sorry. But you know, I think it's awesome not to listen. Exactly. Supportive. Supportive, wonderful. And deppers.

That's all that matters. Oh, I love you dad. I feel like whenever I listen to like other true crime podcasts and they're like, oh my parents listen and they told me to stop swearing so much. Oh yeah, I feel like that's a thing. It really is. Yeah, oh yeah, you're right it is. Literally no it is. Yeah, it's just a parents thing.

Yeah. You just don't want it. Because I feel like even though I swear like a sailor, like I don't want to hear my kids swear. No, because they're supposed to be like pure innocent flowers. Well, it makes me feel like it's better than you. Yeah. Like my kids need to be better than me. I'm not better than Ma or Papa. The whole point of parenting is to make your kids better.

Well, at least for me, I want them to be all that they can be. Yeah. So I don't want them swearing. Yeah. Because I'm like, don't do that. I do that. Don't do that. That's my job.

That's me. So another little thing I just wanted to bring up was that everybody needs to go watch the show on Netflix. Yeah, the Sun's fucked up. I think it's right up all of our alleys. Weirdos. That it's called Dark Tourist tourist I haven't seen it yet and there's this just adorable New Zealand New Zealand you're a New Zealander adorable New Zealand man I forget

his name is the host and he's super awkward and like just is basically going to all these dark tourism sites around the world like in America but also beyond. He's doing stuff like you know the catacombs in Paris and serial killer tours. That's cool. You know nuclear reactive sites in Japan and all this craziness. Like people they have dark tourism basically. He's just trying to figure out why people like these things and experience it for himself and one of the things he did How was that? Yeah, the outdoors. That's what that was. I might have been a coyote guys. What?

Bitch what was it a car or a coyote? It was a cop was it a coyote cop? I know about the outdoors. I'm like, oh, it was a coyote Was it a coyote cop? I don't know much I know about the outdoors. I'm like, oh, it was a coyote. I don't think coyotes come out this early. Like, blah, blah, no, they do. Don't worry, we're fine. Actually, it's looking happy with eyes.

Oh. Bulging out of her head. I like the beach during the day, and that's about as outdoors as I get. This is pretty outdoorsy. But anyway. So, one of the things in the United States that he visits is one of those crazy Extreme haunted houses fuck that not like just really scary haunted house

It's the one that you bait. You're signing up to be tortured. No like no and not like tortured in like like I'm gonna poke you Yeah, a lot to be annoyed literally gonna like waterboard you and try to put a bag over your head put a bag on your head and like hate you and you're gonna come out bleeding that kind of sign like 40,000 waivers and it's you have to watch the episode because you watch it and it like gives you anxiety just to watch like I could I'm gonna be real love scary movies. I love haunted houses. Retweet, retweet. But I just can't, I can't do that. What did you say earlier? You like when you do the haunted house when the haunted house doesn't do you?

Exactly. Like I like that I'm coming to the haunted house and the haunted house is not like coming to me. It's not coming at you bro. Yeah, like I'm the one in control at the house. Yeah, sort of. I walk through, I decide, you know, how quickly I walk through it. Right, right, right. I just, I don't want to your fate and someone else's hands. Yeah, I don't want to experience, you know, like legit torture. That's just not, but if somebody wants to do that, man, like balls to the walls, like I'm impressed if you want to do that. I just can't. And watching it on a watching this this episode, like gave me legit anxiety. Like I was nervous. Yeah, I couldn't do it. And I was watching it and I'm like, oh my god, I'm already stressed out. I have no desire to do that.

There was a point where this haunted house didn't allow safe words. So when you were in there, you were in there. No. Yeah. No. And luckily that's changed, I guess, now that you have to go up with the safe word now. They have to go up with the safe word now. They have to go up with the safe word now. And because what if somebody was actually getting, like, hurt beyond the point of-

I guess somebody had a heart attack in this haunted house. Yeah, I mean- I think that's probably why they call it. I think maybe they've changed the safe word out. Cause of heart attack, scary ass haunted house, where I signed waivers, where they could give me a heart attack. Like I like, I can watch really fucked up movies and scary movies. Yeah. I like experience it though. Like I like experiencing it from like my couch. Yeah. Where I know everything. Where I

can turn the lights on when I'm done. Yeah, and where I can breathe freely. I just couldn't do it. The second you put a bag over my head, that'll be the end of it. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. That just gave me anxiety at this very moment. Like, there was one point where they put like this cube on this girl's head and filled it with water. And then like they were dunking this person under water and they were like, I hope you can hold your breath for 30 seconds and then they dumped their head under water. And I was like, no, I would die. But how do they not kill them is what I'm confused about.

Because now they have a safe word so as soon as they say that it stops. So if it's too much somebody just says, I mean I just like also I couldn't work there. No. And this guy is like super crazy. The guy that works there. Apparently yeah. At the one where they go too. He is the main guy who does it? He like is super friendly, super like, like,

like, jaunty and just like, you know, like a fun, like a happy, go lucky man. And like, he seems friendly and as soon as it starts, like as soon as you sign all those papers. He's like, juggling hide. You have to sign like, 40 pages of waivers for like, five hours. Like, no.

Yeah. And, oh, you also need a note from your doctor and a note from your a psychologist saying that you can do this. Like I'm not a doctor, but if I was a doctor, I wouldn't feel comfortable signing that because- But you couldn't not. But what if something happened? But if you have a clean bill of health going in, you can't tell someone they can't do this. If they're a grown-ass adult. Oh my god. But can you imagine as something ever happening? There's something happening that sign that now. I wouldn't feel bad at all because this is someone else's choice. I just said they are healthy enough to go in. I would feel bad. I just feel like I couldn't be a doctor. Literally nothing. I kept saying as a doctor.

I don't know why I was saying that. As a doctor. Like I don't like where did I just come from? I just got so involved in that scenario. I need to move on to creepy forest. Do you know that over when we start going to haunted houses and telling you about them? We will not be going to do this. No. What's that you told me about a red-like green light thing?

And I'm not even doing that. No, I go find something else. I'm creepy, but not that creepy. Yeah, it's like a way less. Yeah, but I don't, I don't like when they touch you, like I don't want to be touched. See, I'm fine with like light touching. Nope.

Because I can get, it's fine. When I was little, like one of the first haunted houses I ever went to, I think I was maybe like 11 or 12, like sixth, seventh grade. And I was, like I was not into that crap when I was younger. It's like you that like slowly like brought me into it. And I was so terrified. I was closing my eyes the whole time we were in the haunted house

and I went to hug one of my friends when we were walking and I accidentally hugged scream and he was like, you can't do that. He didn't say ghost face, you said scream. Oh yeah, I still say that. Wow, I love it. I love it. I literally hug said scream. Oh yeah I still say that wow but I literally out scream and he literally was like you can't do that and I was like okay well I wasn't actually trying to hug you. I was not trying to hug you man. Don't flatter yourself I'm 12. Don't flatter yourself.

And your ghost face. Don't flatter yourself scream. He was like I'm actually ghost face. I'm so excited for haunted houses man. Oh, I can't wait for October. It's been a month and I think about that. It's almost pre-October. It's almost pre-October. Like one month. One month.

One month of crappy summer to get through. August Zip Spy. It does. It does. And it's gone. It's gone after that. Yeah. It's just like, and you're like, oh, it's pre-October.

Well. I'm ready for that. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Why don't we just jump into this creepy forest business, shall we? I'm just scared for this one since we're outside. So, will light just turn on over there?

Did it? Yeah. Maybe it's a ghost face. I don't know. One of these crazy creatures that look at me. Luckily there's three of us, so like my odds of getting murdered are one out of three. That's nice. And I could spring right up inside that door. Just to start out, Xylophobia means fear of forest. Not Xylophones? No, and I thought that too. I was like, what? Why isn't it like forestophobia? Yeah, but then a leaf of phobia. Leaf of phobia. Triophobia.

Potician to change. Yeah, because I love phobia. Well, I, uh, uh, what's Zyla? Uh, I guess, forest. I don't know. Cool. I didn't look that far. I research a lot.

I did not research that. Okay. I forget me. So the first forest, and again, I say we're going to do another one of these or we're going to cover some more forests. So if you didn't hear your favorite creepy ass forest tonight, we'll do it another one. So the first one we're going to do is Okigahara Forest in Japan. Scariest one, I'm scared.

So this is known as the Sea of Trees. It is located at the base of Mount Fuji, which is like gorgeous. The sea of Trees. It's so pretty. And it literally, if you look out into it from Mount Fuji, it is like gorgeous. It's so pretty. And it literally, if you look out into it from Mount Fuji, it literally looks like a sea of trees, which is why, obviously it's called that. It's 13.5 square miles and 7,400 acres of densely-figured forest.

Holy cow. It's beautiful, but dangerous because it is so dense that you can easily get lost in here. Yeah. So, it's other name is not as chill, a sea of trees. It is known worldwide as the suicide for us. It's just so sad. This name comes from the fact that this place is actually

the second most popular destination in the world to complete suicide. Oh, it's got chills. Second only for only two first being the Golden Gate Bridge. Wow. So as many as a hundred people or more year are found to have successfully completed suicide in this place and it like, it kept rising. That makes me really sad. The most popular method is hanging but many have also been known to intentionally overdose in there. Oh wow. There was actually a book that popularized and kind of like romanticized this place that is actually found among a lot of

the bodies and various visitors to the forest itself. Like they bring this book with them. Oh my god. And the book is the complete suicide manual written by Wataru Surumi and in the book he dubs Okigahara Forest as quote the perfect place to die. Now he he sights it as that because it's so beautiful and it's so still and peaceful and normal find you and normal stop you all that good stuff but officials have come out and said yeah that's all well and find that it's beautiful in there but like this is not a beautiful death because also there's about a million kinds of animals in there that part afterwards so like it's not a beautiful death so don't think it's some

wonderful thing I feel like I'm gonna cry already. Yeah, this is a this is kind of a dark one. It's intense, but we'll get through it. Because some of the other forests are super creepy but like kind of hilarious creepy. So because of all this, Japan's government has actually started posting security cameras at the entrance of the forest and increasing patrols in the forest itself. I would in the forest itself. I would not want to patrol. To the side counselors, and police have also posted signs on various paths and at the

entrance of the forest. They have messages like, think carefully about your children and your family. Don't keep it to yourself. Talk about your troubles. And another one says, your life is a precious gift from your troubles. And another one says your life is a precious gift from your parents. Another one says meditate on your parents' siblings and your children once more do not be troubled alone.

So that's nice. So they're trying to be like, hey, like maybe think twice. Unfortunately, it doesn't. It does always work. It's always work. Volunteers do consistently go to this place like not to rescue people to cover bodies. And this is like a thing like they get together, they volunteers do come in here just for this purpose. I could not do that. They do this. I mean, it's to avoid how to keep them.

And to, you know, they basically go through to bring them back so they can have a proper burial too. In recent years, the Japanese government has declined to release the number of corpses recovered in these searches. Basically, they're not saying how many because they don't want to encourage people to keep coming. But in the early 2000s, 70 to 100 were uncovered, uncovered each year. Oh my gosh. Sometimes it's easy to find bodies by following various strands of tape, ropers string you see around the forest. This is because it is popular practice for those contemplating or planning to end their life in here to bring tape or ropers string in with them. So they can be found. So they can be found.

So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found.

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So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. So they can be found. this place, show you a lot of heartbreaking things and a lot of pictures of the tape everywhere, you know, like, because they leave all that stuff out. They only take the bodies. They leave all the other stuff. So there's a lot of creepy photos. I mean, if you want to go look at it, go look at it.

But the forest on its own is just super creepy because it's so dense that wind can't get into it. super creepy because it's so dense that wind can't get into it. So it is eerily silent. Like there's no wind that can break through those trees, so it's literally just dead air in there. And one visitor described it as quote, a chasm of emptiness. And said, I cannot emphasize enough the absence of sound. My breath sounded like a roar. That's terrifying. Yeah. Among the trees, it's pretty easy to find items from people who have ended their lives there.

There's clothing, shoes, nooses hanging from trees, and even, you know, grim notes painted on trees. It kind of makes it difficult to forget what happens there. Yeah. Because people do go in here too to see the site. It's a beautiful place and it's Mount Fuji is beautiful. So people do hike into there, just hike. But I think it kind of makes you not forget

what is really happening here. What's weird and what's also creepy about this to make you not forget what is really happening here. What's weird and what's also creepy about this is the soil in the forest is actually rich with magnetic iron. Is that because of all the decompositions? Because there's volcanic soil underneath and this really messes with cell phone service, GPS systems and even compasses.

Oh. So getting lost is super easy and it it will like to fuck with you. Oh. Camping is actually allowed in this area, but visitors who bring a tent with them are not really seen as like lighthearted campers that are just coming in here to camp. Bringing a tent makes officials immediately think that the person bringing it in may be undecided on what they're going to do. Oh.

Because people have been known to camp for days debating what they're going to do with it. Abandoned tents are found a lot. So obviously if you're coming out, you're taking your tent with you. Right. So if you find an abandoned tent, you know what happened. People at that month, people on prevention control, like the, the officers that go in there in the volunteers, if they find someone camping, they will go over to them and gently speak with them and kind of just see if they're okay and kind of tell them like, you know, like, maybe you should leave. Right. Maybe you should get out of here, like, get out of the floor. Well, because I would think too that the whole mood in there

would almost lead you more to completion. Exactly, right? It's like it just has, and that's one of the things actually that like people say it just has like this way of making it feel sad. Yeah, I would think so. It's like if you're already emotionally feeling a little bit horrible place

That's really gonna push you into it right over. Yeah, that's essentially So this forest actually has a even more tragic lore side from being a place of suicide I don't know if I'm gonna say this right. You're gonna try New basoute Sounds correct. It is a form of euthanasia that translates roughly to quote, abandoning the old woman.

Oh. So this is an uncommon practice and only happened in desperate times when there was like famine. And like everyone was like crazy poor. And you know, this is like famine and like everyone was like crazy poor and you know this this is like kind of like legend. So a family that was in really dire straits in Japan would kind of lessen the amount of malice that they had to feed. Oh my god. Yes. By leading an

elderly relative to a mountain or similarly remote area to die. That's the most fun literally to leave them. I've ever heard. So the person would die of dehydration, starvation, exfoliations. The elements. Yeah. The sea of trees was allegedly a very popular site for such abandonment because once inside, you're not going gonna find your way out, especially if you're old. Oh my god That is horrible. So that's of course awful and of course this kind of thing. What do you people look at it? I don't know if it was your shadow or a different shadow. It's on the Oh, yeah, it's you. Okay. Sorry. Scan the shit out of me. Sorry. I see in her eyes flick over behind me. I'm just staying alert. Up in here. So this kind of thing, of course, leads to tales of it being haunted.

Right. Not really tough to believe. The spirits in there are called Yuri. Yeah, it's Yuri. I remember the movie we saw. It's called Yuri's by the locals. And there's said to be just like tragic spirits of those abandoned in the woods, of those who have completed suicide in those woods.

And they're sad, but they're also, just like tragic spirits of those abandoned in the woods of those who have completed suicide in those woods. And they're sad, but they're also vengeful and angry. Don't they like mess with you if you go in there supposedly? They spend their time screaming throughout the night. Oh. So people will hear screams coming from that forest. No, they'll make forment visitors

and they try to lure those contemplating suicide or those who are just emotionally possibly in a weakened state to do it. To do it. Off the path to do it and join them. Oh my god. So like what you're saying like that movie we saw. Like the vibe in there. Oh, just kidding.

No, just that like the vibe in there like might make you feel more. Yeah, especially if that's going on. I really think also if there's you know, these crazy scary spirits. A Japan timeswriter actually said he heard blood-curdling screams from all around him while he walked through the forest. No, thank you, at all. And other visitors have reported this. During a vice documentary, so this is legit. That took a tour of the forest. There was actually, they found a Jack Skellington, but it was like a Jack Skellington-

But it was like a Jack Skellington- Like doll with his face cut off and he was nailed upside down to a tree. What is inverted crucifixion? What is inverted crucifixion? Oh. According to the Documentaries Guide, Azusa Hayanu, she said, quote, they nailed this character upside down as a symbol of contempt for society. No, it's more like a curse. The curse is nailed in. So apparently, somebody who completed suicide in there had so much contempt

for the world that they left a curse behind And they said that people do this sometimes like they'll leave a curse behind So this place is just like real dark completely like messed up. Yeah, so maybe don't hike in there Yeah, like I'm I mean it would be fascinating to see just this area watch a documentary But like it's a lot. Yeah, and I'm not going to Japan. That's a long Plain. Yeah, not trying to be jet lagged. I'm not trying to fly that far. Wow. What a great start. We're off to. Yeah, and um, just so just as like a little You know, a little thing at the end. In 2015, there was a film called Sea of Trees where Matthew McConaughey travels from America to complete suicide in the suicide force. Oh wasn't there also a movie with Jennifer Lawrence?

2016 not Jennifer Lawrence called the forest Natalie Dormer. Why the fuck did I think those Jennifer Lawrence? Don't know because they are not superstars. Who's Mike Pence? I think that's Mike Pence over there. Oh don't say that. He's in the forest. Fuck you. He's lurking in our forest. Spook Spook. I got to go actually on that note. So in the 2016 film The Forest, Natalie Dormer played in American who travels to the Akigahora Forest. I don't know if I said that right. Together twin sister. It's a friend or twin sister who may be contemplating or have complete suicide in the forest. That movie's so freaky. That was a trippy movie.

It was kinda stupid at the end, but it was good, I thought. Watch it until like the last 20 minutes. And then just shut it right off so you don't know what happens. Yeah, cause I gotta get stupid. Stupid. So yeah, that is Aki Gahara Forest in Japan. Alright, one down. How many to go?

A couple more. Alright, one more. We'll see how many we can get through in this one. I'm Hello Spooked. So the next one, which is... A couple of people listening, maybe, to here because we got a couple of people who recommended this one and we were already super psyched to do it. This is the one I was driving by. This is in our home state. This is the one I was driving by when I saw that woman. I was thinking of you. Free town state forest in Fall River, Massachusetts. Oh God. So this is not that far from us guys.

So that's cool. This one's pretty long. So let's get right into it. So this is located at Free Town in Fall River with the biggest town of part of the forest spreading into the center of free town. The forest covers a huge 5,441 acres. And over 50 miles of it is unpaved roads and hiking trails that are actually actively used by like cyclists, hikers and all that. This is all great but the history of it, not so great. As with most American haunted forests, this haunting and like nastiness in this forest kind of harkens back to the somewhat contentious relationship between settlers and the Native American.

Yeah, we were so great to them, huh? Yeah. Sorry. The land was originally owned by the Pocacet Wampanoag tribe. If you are in Massachusetts, you know that youocacet Wampanoag tribe. If you are in Massachusetts, you know that you've heard the Wampanoag tribe. Like you've learned all about the school. Since you were out of the school.

Yeah, you know all about them. So it was owned by this tribe originally. But this started to change in 19, or 19, 1650 dines, purchase of free town, which was then incorporated into an actual town in 1683. So during the King Philip War, which was fucked up, and it was, that was in 1675 to 1676, the Pochastate Wanoag tribe, fought on the side of the English and was rewarded with 190 acres of land and fall river Massachusetts. However, we took it right on back. 1907.

1607. Fall river. No, this was 1907. Oh, actually 1907? Yeah. Because we would have gone back in time if it was 1607. I'm listening. So we didn't go back in time if it was 16 or so. I'm listening. So we didn't go back

in time yet. We fast-forwarded it. 1907, Fall River, commandeered a hundred acres of this land through eminent domain in order to secure the city's drinking water supply. So they gave them a hundred and ninety acres then they took a hundred back. Wow, how thoughtful. Yeah, so 1939 was when the state of Massachusetts returned some of that land that had been taken, and the tribe was left with the current Wampanoag Reservation, which covers 227 acres. So we kind of, we like fucked with them too much. Far too much.

That's not cool. That's just like a small portion of us fucking the whole thing. Yeah, that's just a little bit of it. So this forest, the free town state forest, sits comfortably within the infamous bridge water triangle, which we will do an entire episode about at some point, because there's just too much. Yes, it's us. It's basically, I'll give a little overview of it.

It's a 200 square mile area within southeastern Massachusetts that has a plethora of inexplicable bizarre experiences. What is that noise? Legit sounds like a chainsaw. I'm actually not kidding. I'm just saying I heard it. What the f- I didn't hear a chainsaw. Did you hear a chainsaw? Is it you and you move? No, it's not you. I don't know. change is it you and you move? No it's not you. I don't know. No it was off in the distance. I just don't like being outside. Buy. Freak me out, man. Okay. Good idea. There's all kinds of bizarre phenomena reported since fucking colonial times. Oh yeah. In this bridge right a triangle. Strange creatures, strange creatures bigfoot UFOs ghost specters orbs of light strange disappearances giant snakes pulter guy's activity and cattle mutilations Oh that's not funny this is bummer yeah it's a bummer remember when we went

to the um I keep going to say Bermuda um remember oh Jesus fuck John just scared the fuck out of me I I'm sorry. I'm on edge I know he walked by the door so swiftly like he lives here or something Wow, I don't what was I even saying oh remember when we went to the bridge monitor triangle with Tina my friend Yes, who is like a paranormal investigator. That was so much fun. Yeah, we did some ghost hunt. Oh my god my heart is pound So back to this We're really in this guys. We're in this we submerged. Oh, I mean we're in the bridge water triangle right now. I know Yeah, like we're part of it. So shit's going down

So the exact boundaries of the bridge water triangle are are like somewhat, you know, nebulous. But cryptozoologist Lauren Coleman actually laid out a pretty good boundary in his book, Mysterious America, the ultimate guide to the nation's weirdest wonders, strangest spots and creepiest creatures. He defined the Bridgewater Triangle as being comprised of the towns of Abington, Rojoveth, and Freetown at the points of the Triangle. So those are the points of the Triangle.

Brockton, Whitman, West Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Bridgewater, Middleboro, Dytin, Berkeley, Reynum, Norton, Easton, Lakeville, Seaconc, and Tonne, the Triangle. What? What? I was waiting for you to say Tonne. We are not in Tonne right now, just so you know. Norton, Eastern, Lakeville, Seaconc, and Tannin are inside the triangle. I was waiting for you to say Tannin. We are not in Tannin right now, just so you know.

Okay, that's where I'm originally from. I'm just saying we're not there. I'm not going to tell you where we are. Yeah, you don't know where we are, but we're not in Tannin. But we're in the bridge water triangle somewhere, so that's cool. You can host the best backyard barbecue. When you find a professional on Angie to make your backyard the best around. Connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Inside to outside, repairs to renovations.

Get started on the Angie app or visit Angie.com today. You can do this when you Angie that. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal,

a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern, Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged,

it made national headlines. The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children, and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. So within this whole thing, free-town state force is said to be the most active.

Oh, hell yeah. So among some of the fucked up creatures in the free-town state forest, are humanoid creatures known as puckwadjis. But such a cute ass name. Is it adorable? I don't think they're super awesome though. Why not? They were named by the Wampanoag tribe. They are trolleyeke beasts. Great.

Around two to three feet in height. They have smooth hairy gray skin that is said to glow sometimes. Oh. That's fun. Pukwajis have kind of a Reputation for being a little mischievous. They're like hey, like and mayhem a little bit They intentionally scare people through rocks or sand in people's faces

or show them kidnap them which that major yikes like that escalated very quick I'm'm just gonna throw a rocket you and then fucking could not you or Hurl them from cliffs. Oh You know as one does so Yeah, so they're just like a little mischievous They'll also wrestle with them or even attack them with knives and spears Ready the puck. Why'd you get a knife and spear? They're, they're fucking rude. Is what they are.

That was funny. They're rude. You're an ally, you're just being rude. You're rude. This means you see the little crazy and people are like, that's fun. But like numerous of them have been reported by numerous people. Shit. And they are legitimately blamed as the cause of an unusual number of people who have supposedly

quote fallen from cliffs to their death in the area. Oh my god. So they're actually blamed for these things. So that's a little scary. There's actually one I didn't write it down because we'll go over it when we actually cover the bridge route of triangle, but there's one story from one guy about a party. I know exactly what you're talking about. And it's fucked up beyond belief.

I'm not going to say it now because, because you gotta stay tuned for the episode that we do it on. Uh, yeah. In the future. That's a good one. But just wait for it. So, that's what I was thinking about the whole time.

You were saying it. Yeah. It's a really crazy story, but you don't know what it is. Stay tuned. So, a couple of the craziest things in this forest, there's an 80-foot deep rock quarry known as the Asanit Ledge, or simply as quote the Ledge. No thanks.

This area was once owned by the Fall River Granite Company, and weirdly enough the quarry has like a weird amount of abandoned cars in it. Yeah, so that's creepy all in itself. It's also the location for a lot of suicides. Again, that's really sad. This might be partially attributed to the fact that visitors to this place have reported that they feel like they're becoming overcome with an urgent feeling, like an unshakable sense of dread, and like anxiety. And when they go near the quarry, people say they suddenly feel like they just want to have to go.

They have to go. Or they feel like they're being pushed. Oh my God. Yeah. That's like, no, I'm not kidding. You driving by there, I get like a weird feeling. Like I don't like driving by there. It's not like a lot of shit. It's just, it's nice.

Got a pad vibe, man. No, it literally does. Yeah, like it just gives people anxiety. And not like an anxiety, like I feel weird because this is a spooky place. It's like you get a literal, like a legit feeling. Or a wilding feeling.

We know this, we're from here. Yeah. Believe us. I don't like that area. So there's also numerous reports of people seeing ghosts jumping from the ledge. Only to disappear before they hit the bottom. Oh, that's a horror.

Or they see ghosts just standing ominously at the top of the ledge. Oh, that's right. This is the spookiest episode yet. This is spooky. We're really hitting the spookier. Yeah, I love it. So a lot of this has to do with the Haka Mox Wamp, which again if you're from Massachusetts, your whole life was revolving around the Haka Mox Wamp.

Even our like sports teams are part of the Haka Mox League. So we're really into this stuff. The Hockamax swamp is a huge wetland that covers much of the northern part of southeastern Massachusetts. It is 16,950 acres in area. It's pretty small. And it's the largest freshwater swamp in the state. Holy cow. It gets its name from the Wampanoag people. And it means, quote quote place where the spirits dwell

So it's really super chill. Yeah super chill. I'm sure it's fine. Not Early settlers called it quote the devil swamp phenomenal again probably safest but heard that So the Haka Maksact swamp was the sight of much of the fighting during the, you know, super brutal conflict between early settlers and the Native American people, which is the cause of all our issues here.

It was so messed up that you still like scalp people. Oh yeah. And like, I'm not talking the Native American scalp does. I'm talking like settlers. King Philip was like, you'll go scalp them. Yeah, like that's fucked up. No good. Yeah. I'm talking like Settle-Oose. King Philip was like, yoga sculpt them. Yeah, like that's no good. Fucked up. No good.

Yeah. That's why all that bad shit is happening. Legitimately. Um, another part of the Free Towns Day Forest, that is super spooky, is that it happens to be a place where cultists and Satanists like together. You know.

Yeah. The late 1970s and 1980s, police found various shards of evidence, including an actual underground bunker that was apparently used to carry out cult rituals, and possibly even human sacrifices. Wow. Yeah. That's fucked up.

You know, 80s. Literally so 80s. He's certainly so 80s. Um, one very real thing though, is that various cattle mutilations were reported from the forest, including the butchering of a cow in the woods, and a group of calves found horrifically mutilated in a clearing. How do you do that to a sea baby cow? These were both in 1998. I was two. And they were connected with Jesus Christ. You're like, I was 45. Just kidding.

I was like 13. So this was in 1998. Both of those things were connected to the work. They were connected to Paul's performing rituals. Yeah. Like, stop killing a cat. Yeah, it's not cool. It's rude.

There are a couple of significant murder cases that happened in the free town. Papa, are you listening? Because here's the one that you talk about. Wanted us to cover this one case. And honestly, I looked further into it. It is an interesting case. Fascinating case.

And it's a horrific case. Yeah. So who knows? We might go into this. I was going to say we could do an actual episode on this. I'm just going to give you an overview of it, right? so This was the murder of Mary Lou Aruda in 1978

So on September 8th 1978 Mary Lou Aruda was riding her bicycle near her home in Raina, Massachusetts, which is not too far. It was around 4 p.m. Not too late. At 4.30 p.m. her bike was found abandoned on the side of the road, and there was a skid mark from a car and a cigarette right beside it. A lot of witnesses saw a green car with a black racing stripe speeding away from the scene around that time. You know? So police were able to ask these people if they saw anything, they were able to put together

a sketch of the suspect. And they put up wanted posters, you know, plastered it everywhere. After an intensive search, they found her decomposing body on November 11, 1978. She was tied to a tree within the three-town state forest. And it was determined that she had been alive when her beaten and battered body had been tried to the tree in the standing position. Oh my God.

When she had lost consciousness, the weight of her body had caused stress on her neck and she is fixated. Oh my God. Yeah. Like that's really... So somebody took her out there, beat her in saintly badly. Oh.

Left her tied to a tree and she is fixated when she passed out. That is the most fucked up thing I've heard. It was determined that she had died the same day that she had gone missing. Oh my God. Yeah. So they did catch someone, a donut maker, named James Cater, who owned a car matching the exact, which a green car with a black racing shirt.

With a black racing shirt, was he a smokester? He also smoked cigarettes. Oh shit. And the exact brand that had been found at the crime scene. Oh, okay, so he did it. He had also been in trouble with the law before. Did he admit to it? He was, well, no, actually, he maintains that he didn't do it.

But he was actually found guilty for a separate 1968 incident where he was convicted of assault with intent to rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and kidnapping of a young woman from andover, Massachusetts. Oh, wow. And he was sentenced to life in prison. Good. Another mysterious crime that involves this place

and metadata is also involving a place within the free town, say, forest called the ice shack. The ice shack is a small building that was constructed originally for the purposes of logging during the 1940s. Not to hold ice. Now, now it's kind of changed. It's not really a place where logging activities take place. Cult activities and drug dealing tend to be carried out in the structure. A series of murders connected to the ice shack is one of the craziest you're gonna hear. Basically they involve a Pimp and an alleged satanic cult. This Pimp's name was Karl Drew and he basically led a group of sex workers that he kind of

indoctrinated into his satanic cult as well. Oh, damn, so he was a Pimp cult leader. And he was a cult leader. So he kind of, he had a double whammy. Like, yeah, he controlled them with two very heavy forces. Yeah, he would basically threaten them with human sacrifice if they stepped out of one. So on October 13, 1979, the brutally mutilated corpse

of sex worker, Donna Levesque was found in the forest. There were two alleged witnesses, sex workers Karen Marsden, who's 20, and Robin Murphy, who was 18. Oh my god, can you imagine me? That's yeah. They explained that it, her murder, um, Donna Levesque's murder had been a ritual killing, carried out by Drew near the eye shack. Oh my God. In the free of town, say, forth. Marsden had allegedly been at this murder, and she was absolutely horrified by it,

and she wanted to break free from the cult, so she came forward. But how do you like leave after that? Yeah, exactly. So on February 8th, 1980, Marston would be tortured and killed as well. Oh, shit. Marston, now that her shit is terrible,

she had allegedly had her hair and fingernails ripped out while she was still alive. Oh, my God, no, thank you. Oh, my God. She had been savagely beaten over the head with stones until Drew had then snapped her neck. Jesus. Her head was then cut off,

and it was kicked around by other cult members for a while. What? Yeah. Her fingers had been removed to steal her rings, and a large X had been carved across her chest. Oh my god, that's horrific. This was because she was horrified by the murder of Donald Levesque and wanted to get out of the coat.

So, Robin Murphy would eventually testify in court to her part in both those murders, as well as to Drew's brutality and so she said she was there. Oh my god. And she, but she also said Drew was there. Oh my god, and she but she also said she took part in it. Yeah, Robin Robin Murphy received a life sentence. Wow Drew was found guilty of the murder of Marston as well on March 13th 1981. Wow So those are the two like biggest murder cases and that one will probably we're probably gonna cover on We should like just buy it. So that's why I didn't want to give you all the details.

I just want to give you a brief overview, but yeah, that's a fucked up one. That is. Another story, you know, like big stories of like weird shit happening in there. Two men were found mysteriously shot to death and abandoned in the forest in 2001. Damn. This might have something to do with the numerous Native American burial grounds that are scattered throughout. I would say so. And we know this is always bad news. For real. And it actually made me think of a Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode.

Oh, that's so lighthearted, to tell. I thought I would have missed this one for a story on a lighthearted note. There's one episode because guys, you can watch the bring to the t-age which on Amazon Prime. Oh, free. Like watch it, submit. My Amazon Prime got suspended. What? Because I canceled it like a really long time ago to the prime because it's a hundred dollars a month and like I just don't have that money.

It's not a hundred dollars a month. Is it a hundred dollars a year? Well, I still don't have that money either. Okay, well. But then it was like, you forgot to pay and I was like, no. That's all that happened. That was a good story. Either way, go watch the video to the end of the video.

Because it's one time or so. But pay for your prime once a year. It's one time or so. Where Aunt Hilda gets mad at the neighbors and says, I'm just going to put it in a, or a Native American burial ground at her house and she goes to do it Oh, it does and on Zelda says and she says I believe I quote back don't do that that kind of thing affects the whole neighborhood That's awesome. So that's kind of funny. You know Sabrina. Yeah, I Like to that. Thank you. Now back to the dark shit. Oh

Deep breath Yeah, I like that. Thank you. Now back to the dark shit. Oh deep breath. So the next forest we're going to cover is the black forest in Germany. I bet this one's going to be great. This one's super lighthearted. The name, the black forest, it's just like so chill. So lighthearted. This one's located in southwestern Germany next to the Rhine River. It is very lush with various pines and furs, Norway spruce and white pines. Gorgeous. Yeah, just gorgeous. But also. What's really fun is that the brothers' grim fairy tales are set here.

Are they really? Oh shit. And they all took inspiration from it like Hansel and Gretel, which is one of the most fucked up stories in the whole entire world. When the Romans originally arrived in these woods way back when they were super spooked by its impenetrable darkness and named it Silva Niagara, which is Black Forest. Black Forest, okay. The legend holds that it's haunted by witches, werewolves, and even the devil. Sick. So the big guys there.

Yikes, yikes, maid, or yikes. There's also a very, you know, one of my turn to think of popular tale. That is of Der Grossman, which is translated to roughly the tall man. The tale is basically that a tall super-disfigured dude with bulging eyes and many arms prays on children in there. Oh! Between this shit,

Hansel and Gretel and Krampus, Germany has like zero fucking chill when it comes to good. They're just like, LOL. It looks like zero chill. Sorry, you're a kid. You might like zero, too. Sorry, your kid. You might get eaten and stay out of the forest by. It's so metal. Like, Germany is so metal.

Nine chill. Nine chill. Well done. Thank you. So, if dare Grossman sounded like slightly familiar- It did a little. It did a little. Like, you were like, I've heard that before.

It's probably because it's cited as the origin for Slend Man. Oh, and that's what I thought in my head and I fucking hate that story. It gives me the creepy creepy willies. Yeah, and as the story grows, Der Grossman is described as a fairy, but I don't know if I would doubt it. He lives in the Black Forest and parents would warn their children not to go in the woods late at night or even to stay up too late at all for that matter. They said that if the children would do, you know, not listen to them, then DeGrosthen would come and take them where he would take them or how, who the hell knows. Don't want to know. So for children who had gone into the forest and not listen

to their parents, DeGroceman would chase them. Oh my God. So that's fine. And he would finally catch the children, and he would steal them and take them away somewhere that we don't know about. Nope, nope, no thank you. Either that or the chase would stop

and the child would return home, confess to their parents what they'd done, and you know, that's it. So you either get chased and caught and you get taken somewhere or you just see gifts's up in his like, go tell your parents. What?

Yeah. If my fucking kid ever comes home and says that they did that, like the adoption is final. Yeah, I believe you can give it away. What's the best? I'd be like, I don't need my house on a list. Your birth is not okay. Yeah.

I'd like to return. So other stories tell that he lures children in by haunting them in whispering voices in their head for them to come to him. No. Thank you. Children who go to him are said to walk into his like billion arms and be taken away somewhere that we don't know about again. I'm so spooked by this.

A few stories also say that Der Grossman will come tapping at the window of a child who stays up too late and he will take them away somewhere we don't know about once again. Oh my god I just got chills. Like go to bed. He is super tall. He's super tall. Because he can tie his name on the window. Yeah, he's very thin. He has multiple upper limbs. As in arms. A very, yes, a very disfigured face. Oh. And he said to be so tall because then he can blend in

with the trees. Like he looks like a tree. Oh my. Yeah. There's also something to make it in the noise out there. Yeah. It sounds like someone yelling, which is just truly fitting.

No, it's a terrible thing. It sounds like a capping like, maaah! If that's a fucking Fisher cat I'm going inside. It's a loud fucking cat. Is that a baby? Is that a baby? Is that a baby?

I don't know. I don't have a baby. I'm really an animal. We'll get through this. Oh, I'm so spooked. So he's tall and thin so he can camouflage amongst the trees, which is terrifying. His upper limbs or his arms are handless and sometimes compared to tentacles. This is all like slender man. This is where he came from. So he uses these to ensnare children so he can take them away.

His facial features are also kind of varied. Some say that he doesn't have any. Like it's just no face at all. Some say that he has weird eyes and nothing else. And others say that he has nothing but a gruesome smile. Oh God. So he sounds great. I'm spooked. I'm so. Now this may sound cookie and crazy, but there's actually a picture or like a photocopy of a woodcut, like an old woodcut, that's regarding Der Grossman, and it was supposedly found within the demonology and fairy section of the New York library. It was taken by someone named E. Silva, and

according to that person's notes in the caption that they put with the picture I'm not gonna do it in the German, but it translates to never enter into its forest. Okay. I won't It dates back to the 16th or 17th century Germany. I wanted it's legit. Also the German Netflix show the dark takes place in the black forest Oh, yeah, that's because we were wicked good. Yeah, so I'm just gonna cite this episode for when my friends asked me to go hiking. Yeah, for sure. Can't be so sorry, but. Like, listen to Karen and Georgia on my favorite murder. Stay out of the forest.

So the next one we're gonna cover is I'm gonna butcher this name. I apologize. Uh, Hoyabakku? Reset from. It's um, in the part of Romania that was previously translated I'm gonna butcher this name. I apologize. Hoia Baku. Where's it from? It's in the part of Romania that was previously transylvania.

Oh. So I apologize. Like hotel transylvania? Exactly, like hotel transylvania. Oh good, it'll be like hot man. This is exactly like that. Good. Adam Sandler is there.

I wish. Selena Gomez. Gomez is there. Yeah, that's her name. Youth. I wish. Selena Gomez. Gomez is there. A chocolate jam. Youth. I'm not even youth. So this forest, the BBC calls this forest the most haunted forest in the world.

Good. And it's also referred to as the Bermuda Triangle of the country. So fun call back to last week. Yeah, yeah. Fun call back. It's not super big at all. You can literally walk around this place in an afternoon.

It's like under 700 acres. Like it's super small. The trees in this place are what it's really known for because they're bent into weird scooped zigzag or spiral shapes. That's weird. That's how they grow. I wonder why.

If you look it up online, guys, this fucking Romanian, Hoi, I'll post it on Instagram. Yeah, we'll post the word. But like, we're getting crazy. So botanists that have come to the area have yet to be able to, they can't explain why they grow like that. They can't understand it.

Because scaryness. And all the ones that are spirals, spiral in a clockwise explain why they grow like that. They can't understand it. Because scaring us. And all the ones that are spirals, spiral in a clockwise direction. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, that's just weird. So there's also unexplained burns or like charring on these trees as well. Yeah.

There's one spot in this forest that is a perfect circle and nothing grows there. Okay, I don't like that. Massive circle. Like how big you're talking. Nothing grows. Look it out. It's fucking crazy.

I'm not gonna. It's crazy. Samples have been taken in this part of the whole place of the soil and everything comes back normal. So there's no like freaking thing there. Um, photos taken in this spot can sometimes be known to show outlines of human forms. No, thank you.

So this place was named for a shepherd actually, who mysteriously vanished in the area, along with 200 of his sheep. What? Yeah. Just bye. Oh. Yeah.

So already with where the name came from, we're off to a great start totally locals don't go in there Because of course the locals know what's up. Yeah, there's there's numerous stories of people never coming out So they're like nah, so who are let's not do people come here? Taurus and they go in let's go and People who do come out of the woods report lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, migraines, anxiety, and burns and scratches that appear on their skin. So they also report that gaps of time go missing,

which is weird because they're in the clockwise trees. It's time. Cause time. No time. There's a crazy story of a five yearold girl who entered the forest and got lost. There was a massive search for her. And she came out and she was 45. They couldn't find her.

She emerged five years later, the exact same way she went in, and with no memory of what that she was missing. She came back a five-year-old? Yeah. And in the same clothes, nothing touched, nothing. That's spooky. People have also went in and then months or years later, they're found dead with no markings on them whatsoever.

Oh. Yeah. Grows and screams can be heard coming from the forest in the middle of the night. So don't go in. The police have actually been called because they're so loud sometimes. Oh my God. People call and are like, I don't know what's going on. But when the police show up, they hear whispers and see weird shadows and they just fucking leave.

Yeah, I wouldn't even like. Oftentimes after leaving, they've had severe headaches, nausea, and burns on them. Oh. People also get hit and physically push down while they're walking through this forest. It's got bit. There's demons reported in there, voices of females

like that you can't see, giggling, green eyes, and faces will show up in photographs. No. And if you look online you can see that that does happen. So devices have been set up to track like anomalies because of the weird shit and radioactive emissions have been found in electromagnetic spikes. Oh, that's weird. Electronic devices malfunction in this forest and kind of like... Don't they all. Yeah, right? This forest just fuck with electronic devices. One particular story is from a group of friends who went in there and took photos of themselves while they were walking around. When they developed the photos... Like when they used to develop photos.

TBT. When they didn't post them directly against the ground. Everybody in the photos had blurred faces and three heads. What? Yeah. Imagine being the person that developed those photos. Right. You'd be like, yeah.

You could have these and I don't want to ask where you were. Please, we'd never come back. A black fog is said to cover it every once in a while. Just rolls on in. Make sense. Yeah. People who leave after experiencing all this crazy shit in there also say that they,

while they're driving away, rocks are thrown at their windshield. You watch. Some shatter their windshield. Oh my God. One of the ghostly apparitions who are said to wander around in there, Vlad the Impaler. What?

This is an infamous Romanian king who liked to tickle people. Oh, fuck that. I just got so freaked out. No, he didn't like to tickle people. He liked to impale people. Oh, oh my God. No, the thought of like someone tickling you

in a forest that you can't feel. Why did I believe that? Vlad the appellers like a famous Romanian king. And he was like known to impale people. How fucking scary is that though? I mean, yeah tickling is pretty scary. Oh fuck that. I hate it so much. Yeah. We're gonna probably do a we might do an episode on Vlad. He's a pretty interesting dude So he he was like a bad dude obviously. Yeah. He was the inspiration for Dracula. Oh really? Yeah.

So he's cool. So I knew he was there somewhere in Pennsylvania. And he was actually, he was eventually beheaded. And because remember he was a remaining king. So it was a big deal. And he said to have been done in the forest. Oh wow. So that's pretty insane. There's also a story in there that Legend says a bride was walking through the forest one day with her fiance.

When she just, and he reported that she just stopped in the middle of her tracks and walked away. And he couldn't find her. So they never found her again. What? Family put up a memorial cross for her in there. Like it's legit. And now people say they see a woman wearing a wedding dress, and she looks like she's searching for something. Oh my God. She will only engage with women and children.

If there's a man in there, she avoids the man. Wow. Which leads a lot of people to believe that the fiance murdered her in the card of her disappearance.. Yeah so that's an interesting story. So yeah that's the I'm gonna try one more time. Hoi Baku in Romania. Let's see is this the last one? I think we have two more we'll get through these. So the next one is the Daringwoods in England which are called the screaming woods. Why are they also loud?

Yeah, they're all screaming. Everybody screaming. It's like if you hear screaming woods, avoid them, don't go in there. Yeah, it's right. So the screaming woods are outside of plycly village in Kent, which is the UK's most haunted village. And it was named that by the Guinness Book of World Records

in 1989. It's like, oh, and it was named that by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989. It's like, oh, here's your record. It's only home to like a little over a thousand people. The screaming woods are located between the villages of Plycly and Smarten. There's said to be the most haunted woods in Britain. The name comes from the outrageous number of reports of terrifying blood-curdling screaming coming from coming from deep in the forest night and day. In the daytime too. So there have been several consistently reported apparitions shadow figures

that follow people missing persons and even deaths attributed to this fucking dark-ass place. Yikes! Now, there have been more than 40 consistent ghosts that are reported in and around the woods. Are we about to cover all for it? No, we're not going to cover 40. Like, shit. So that's like more than the average place, I'd say. Five more.

So some of the stories, I'll just go through a few of these. There are a lot of stories of shadow figures that follow people through the woods. There are a lot of instances of people going into the woods and never coming back out. Ugh. Again, dress full. One big crazy thing that happened was on the morning

of November 1st, 1948. 20 people from the Maltman's area, which is a neighboring town, were found dead in these woods, 11 of which were children. Oh, the bodies were forming like a massive pile. Oh god. And they didn't have any wounds. What?

But many reported seeing strange lights coming from the forest on the night of Halloween the night before. Oh shit. When the massacre probably took place. They did autopsies? No cause of death could be determined. Okay, that freaks me the fuck up. And after aopsies, no cause of death could be determined. Okay, that freaks me the fuck out.

And after a few weeks the local authorities just ended the investigation and said that they all died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Doubt it. Right? So in 1964 a private investigator named Robert Collins tried to uncover the truth about this because this is fucked up. Did he die? Well, first he was led to believe that there had been a cult operating at the time of the massacre,

and that it was probably a ritual performed on Halloween. Yeah. Unfortunately, his research was just getting good when he was killed in a tragic car accident. Oh, shit. Which is spooky. That is spooky. Again, on Halloween, 1998, the same night, 50 years later, four college students

hiked into the forest and went missing. Oh damn. People of Puckley reported seeing light figures similar to spider webs in the sky. So the same kind of thing that they saw the night, 50 years before. Yeah. The bodies were never found. And after three weeks, the investigation stopped. Wow. Yeah, so besides the deaths that have literally happened here, there's a lot of ghosts that are seen around these areas. I know crazy. They have a headless horsemen. Oh, that's kind of sick. That's kind of fun. Because I'm not nearly headless like me. He's like nearly headless. No, he's like a legit headless horseman. Which I feel like every spooky force should have a headless horseman. True. There's also a ghost called the White Lady who calls the police on any black people walking

through the area. Seems real fucking racist. Oh, why did you trick me? Can you really think that there was a ghost that called the police of black? I'm tired. Oh shit. So you're so pretty. Thank you.

There's also the red lady. She's bloody. She's believed to be lady Daring, who the woods, she belongs to the Daring family, who the woods were named after, obviously. She's said to be searching for her child who died at birth. Okay, that hurts my heart. It's very sad. There were also a lot of suicides in the town and the woods.

Oh. It could, who knows if it's something environmentally Cosmolous or attributing to it or having anything to do with it, like the other ones, but still crazy. There's another ghost called the hanging kernel, Oh. Which in the 18th century, this kernel are a completed suicide by hanging colonel. Oh. Which in the 18th century this colonel are completed suicide by hanging himself from a tree. People have seen this guy

hanging from a tree. Oh god. Which must be the scariest thing in your whole life. Or they see him just randomly walking up behind them. Oh no. No, no, no. He said to not be aggressive. He said to be like sad. Oh yeah. And sometimes he's even reached out to visitors in the forest almost like he's asking for help. Which is really that hurts me. Yeah. So the next ghost that people see a lot is the ghostly highway man. Which I didn't know what a highway man was. I've heard that term a lot but I've never really knew. Apparently he's just like an old timey asshole who robs people mostly at gunpoint. Oh, so yeah. Not what I was expecting. So there was apparently back in the day, there was this highway man that was known to jump out in the

neighboring town. It scared the shit out of people and then robbed them at gunpoint. People got pissed. And eventually the town's people caught him, and either dragged him or chased him into the screaming forest. The angry villagers then nailed him to a tree. What? Yes. Nailed him to a tree and cut off his head. I'd be fucking pissed if I was that guy.

His screams are said to be one of the reasons it's called the screaming woods. Would think so. But actually, he doesn't just scream. He's also known to jump out from behind trees and terrify hikers. The next ghost that is known around there is the Miller. So in the village of Plycly, there was an old wooden windmill that dated back to the 19th century. I see the Sunday bell.

In 1939, lightning struck. It burned and eventually crumbled. Oh, okay. So the old miller who was called Richard Dickie Bus saw himself after loss of his business. Hate that. Hate that. People have seen his spirit standing,

just staring at the spot where the old mill once stood. Oh, no. Some even say that during a lightning storm, he is seen hanging. Oh, I don't like that. Just terrifying. The next one that people see a lot is called the Screaming Man. Ah!

In the 19th century, a man died after falling, I'm not laughing at this, but it's just really intense. After falling into a clay pit at the old brickwork. Jesus. He has heard screaming throughout the night. Oh, stop screaming at this. Everybody. I would scream if that happened to me though.

So a recent story was a group of friends decided to go into the woods for fun. Like, stop. Just for fun. So much fun. As they were driving up to the woods, they heard a bunch of nature and singing birds. And they were like, this is beautiful.

As soon as they came into the woods with their car, it felt dead silent. Oh my God. They said the wind stopped, the sound stopped, and everything was still. And then they hit the reverse. And the girls were like, we are saying in the car, like we're not getting out of this car.

I would drive out of that. And the guys were like, we get out of the car, we're gonna explore. Of course, I'd be so fucking pissed at my girlfriend. 20, not 20 minutes later, the girls said they saw the guys sprinting out of the woods Oh my god with a black mist following close behind them. Oh, no They literally it chased them until they got in the car and drove out of the woods

That's so fucked up Also lots of ghost hunters and paranormal investigators have gone to these woods and You know they take a EVPs investigators have gone to these woods and you know they take a EVPs, some of them are super terrifying like YouTube these if you want to hear them YouTube the screen you never want to sleep again they're like great the town unfortunately that board is these woods have has had deal with a lot of crap because of people interested in the woods they actually canceled Halloween in 2000. Oh my god, fuck that. Because of all the tension. I mean, I understand. They have asked police to chase off ghost hunters on Halloween, so they're out there. There's also a video game based on these woods called the screaming woods.

Oh, so do that. Don't go to the woods, just play the video game. Now, the last one we are going to cover is called Epping Forest in England. Oh, another England? Yeah, another England. This is a, this is a 6,000 acres of ancient woodland. 6,000 acres. Yeah, well, in it's northeast of London. It's been the so-and-done. A lot of murders. Oh, yeah. Parts of this forest are so dark and thick with trees that it would be so easy to conceal. Like, bad shit that you're doing, basically. So not only do people murder people in the woods, but they all, it's also become kind of a popular dumping

ground for bodies. Love people murdered in like London and the surrounding areas. So a few of the murders, only a few. Now this is just a handful of the murders that have taken place in these woods. 1966, Mary and Hartley, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, was killed by 20-year-old Joseph Kylie. Kylie dragged Hartley into the forest late at night

after she had been to a school dance. He sexually assaulted her and strangled her. 1970, the bodies of Susan Blatchford, who was 11 years old. Oh, no. And Gary Hanlin, who was 12 years old, were discovered on Lipett's Hill after they went missing from their homes

in the end of Field, North London. In March 1970, the case was known as, quote, babes in the wood murders. Oh, no, no, no, no. 30 years later, Ronald Jebson, already serving a life sentence for another murder in 1974 of an eight-year-old, confessed to those murders too.

Jesus. Um, 1989, the decomposed body of a six-foot tall European man, aged 30 to 40 years old, was found in the undergrowth of the forest. He had a money belt containing like American, English, and Spanish money. And he wore a pretty expensive watch. It didn't take too many of the watch. The body remains unidentified to this day. 1989 Terrence got her ham. An accountant and his girlfriend, Maxine Arnold,

were both shot with a double barrel shotgun. Oh my God. Oh my God. In 2000, this is a really terrible story. I was reading up on this one. This is a rough one. A woman named Wendy Woodhouse, 31 years old, was, she was part of a bad drug deal. And she was taken to the forest and ex-SX stripped, tortured, and beaten to death with a snooker

cue. What's the? A snooker cue I had to look it up. It's kind of a more rigid pull cue. Oh my God. She was, this was done by two men who had thought she cheated them out in a drug deal. But she did. It was a mistake. Yeah. It's a terrible story. Their names, the people who did this were Courtney Peters, 28, and Ewing Thomas, who was 25. Oh my god.

They were jailed for life. In 2004, the remains of David Iver Willis were found on when Stead Flats in the forest. He had been missing for 18 months and his body was found by children. Oh God. In 2004, the body of a person aged 40 years or more was found in the forest. They couldn't identify a lot more about the body because they believed it had been there for 20 years. Oh my God! It's still unidentified. 2005, Shah Afruj Ali, whose 40-years-old was lured to the forest and stabs, then his body was burnt by his younger lover Joy Gunn Nessa, 27-years-old, and her brother as Horkhan, who was 18. Whoa.

That was in 2005. Same year, a man named Rafal Zapsik, I might be saying that wrong, I'm sorry. Was found after passerby's heard gunshots. He had gunshot once to the head. He died. He was actually found alive, but died in the hospital. He was unidentified for a while until his family in Poland recognized his pictures. Oh my god.

The killers haven't been found for that one, I don't think. Damn. So that's just a handful of the murders. Just a handful. So now it also happens to hold within it. It's an old ancient eye. This fucking image buffing. I've told you.

Straight up attack. Yeah, me too, and I was way more chill about it. No, this thing just flew right by yours. Is it the one that farted on me? I'll speak. It probably is. Now I have crazy bug fart juice on me. I really don't doubt that.

Gross. Fucking bugs, bro. All right. It has an old ancient iron age camp, which is thought to have been used by tribal queen Bodika during her battles against their invading Romans. So there was like some brutal bloody battles there. So people say that they have reported to see ancient looking soldiers just kind of like Pissed in for. Wait, in for? So that's fucked.

There's another site in the forest called Hangman's Hill. I wonder what that's all about. So it's probably super, super chill again. Everything is just real chill. Everything is very, like as it sounds. So people claim that if you park your car at the bottom of the hill and then turn off the engine, it will slowly roll uphill. I'm not ever doing that.

Don't do that. So basically it defies the laws of gravity and physics. Yeah. Locals, they call it magic. You can imagine, right? That the car is being pulled towards the tree, you know, by the hangman's doose. By. And that tree is believed to be the sight of the hanging of an innocent man in this,

he's tortured soul that comes to him. The last kind of crazy location in this forest in particular is called the Wake Arms Roundabout. This is the sight of a lot of ghost sightings. There's said to be the ghost of a young girl who drowned nearby and she said to run into the road before disappearing. To act in right in front of cars so she scares the shit out of drivers passing in the middle of the night. Other sightings have seen a headless biker.

What? Which can you imagine seeing a headless bike like bike cyclist like bike cyclist bike cyclist bike a list bike a list of bike I have less bike-less. Bike's a clisk. I don't know the fuck outta yet. That was awesome. Maybe the hawk amongst walk is doing something. It's a warning. And there's also evil looking spirits that just chill around and stare menacingly into the eyes of passers before they just disappear.

No thanks. Yeah. You've successfully made me so spooked this week. Another, now another forest, which I'm not going to cover right now, but I wanted to mention because it is going to be a nice little segue. Another forest that's really fucked up and has a ton of murders in it is the belanglo. Get out of your aunt. State forest in Australia. We're going to cover some Australian fucked upness

because that's what I said we would do. It's scary. So yeah, that's a bunch of scary spooky-ass forests. We're gonna put some shit on the bobbing. I'm gonna put some pictures up on the Instagram of some of these places that we've mentioned. We're gonna cover some more forests again in a future episode.

I don't know if we'll do that. We're gonna do it inside. But this was fun. So yeah, that's that's that's for us. Hope you guys liked it. Have a good time sleeping tonight because I won't be. And next week we're gonna cover some Australian serial killers. Australia, like Ivan Malat.

Yeah, that guy. Yeah, brah. Like the backpacker murders. So get ready for that. Yes. Keep sending us your feedback and your awesome messages that make us happy and make us dance and shit. Recommend us to a friend.

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So. That's it, guys. Thanks again for listening. We hope you keep listening. and we hope you keep it weird Bye bye Something's walking around in the forest right now and we're getting the fuck out of here. What? Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and

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