On the afternoon of August 6, 1848, the HMS Daedalus was cutting through the gray waters of the south Atlantic when something surfaced alongside the ship — something enormous, something alive, and something that no man aboard had ever seen before. The officers who witnessed it were not excitable young sailors prone to ghost stories. They were Royal Navy men, educated and disciplined, with careers and reputations built on precision and credibility. Yet every one of them would go on record to describe the same thing: a massive serpentine creature moving through the open ocean as though it owned it. What followed their report would shake the British Admiralty, ignite a media firestorm across Victorian England, and launch a debate that has never been fully resolved.
FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: On August 6th, 1848 the crew of the HMS Daedalus spotted something monstrous from the deep – and it has become the most well-documented sea serpent sighting in history. (The HMS Daedalus Sea Monster) *** A notorious criminal is brought to justice, and later found to have just as notorious of a brain. (Hanging of a Notorious Brain) *** A burst of UFO activity took place on New Year’s Eve outside of New York in 1982… so many sightings and reports it was impossible to ignore, even by skeptics. (The Hudson Valley Flap) *** A social experiment initiated by Stalin’s Soviet Union ends with hundreds dead on the first day – but that was only the beginning of the horrors of what would later be known as “Cannibal Island”. (Joseph Stalin’s Cannibal Island) *** A woman is involved in an accident, and once out of the hospital everyone appears to be afraid upon looking at her face… even her. But it’s not the scars that are causing terror. (The Reflection That Drove To Death) *** One day in 1863 Doctor Joseph Rogers found himself dealing with a very distressing case. A young pregnant woman had been sent to a workhouse because her circumstances were so dire. Her name was Sarah Ann Eldridge, and her husband, Alfred Eldridge, was in prison waiting to be executed. (The Murderer’s Wife)
CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding
00:00:33.861 = Show Open
00:02:42.625 = The HMS Daedalus Sea Monster
00:12:50.838 = The Murderer’s Wife ***
00:33:28.625 = The Hudson Valley Flap ***
00:39:09.082 = Hanging of a Notorious Brain
00:43:36.092 = The Reflection That Drove to Death
00:47:38.268 = Joseph Stalin’s Cannibal Island ***
00:52:09.154 = Show Close
*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break
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EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/HMSDaedalus
SOURCES and RESOURCES:
“Hanging Of a Notorious Brain” by Traci Taylor for 981TheHawk.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/y7t456fm
“Joseph Stalin’s Cannibal Island” by Garret S. Griffin for MSN.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4pfxptws
BOOK: “Cannibal Island: Death In a Siberian Gulag” by Nicolas Werth: https://amzn.to/3Waxw6J)
“The Reflection That Drove To Death” by Julia Njord on Medium.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3h8bwy3b
“The Hudson Valley Flap” by Jazz Shaw for The Debrief: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/mr3md848
“The HMS Daedalus Sea Monster” by Michael Kilianski for Creative History Stories: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckzhht2
“The Murderer’s Wife” posted at London Overlooked: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2rhr8rrn,https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5xpzksp4
(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)
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Originally aired: January 16, 2023