The Secret Society of Strangers

A couple days late. Thanks for your patience, Strangers.
 
A girl asks a peddler for a handful of pins. He says no. She curses him as he walks away, and a few steps later he collapses, half his body dead. That is how the Pendle witch trials of 1612 begin, and by August, 10 people are hanged at Lancaster.
In Pendle Forest, Lancashire, two near-blind women in their 80s, Old Demdike and Old Chattox, have spent a lifetime as the neighborhood's cunning folk, the ones you pay in oatcakes to fix a sick child or a cow that won't give milk. Then a stroke gets blamed on a curse, magistrate Roger Nowell starts taking statements, and one family turns on itself in a single afternoon. Add a talking dog, spirits named Tib and Fancy, clay figures, a Good Friday feast at Malkin Tower, and a plan to blow up Lancaster Castle that the court said was hatched over dinner.
Lee, Josh, and Jen dig into the feud, the confessions, a landowner named Alice Nutter with no clear reason to be in the room, and a 9-year-old girl who becomes the star witness against her own mother. Nearly everything we know comes from one book, Thomas Potts' 1613 The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster, written by the court's own clerk at the judge's request. So the question running through the whole hour is what he left out and what he added.
🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange
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A Strange Static Media Production.
SOURCES
Thomas Potts, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (1613).
Robert Poole (ed.), The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories (Manchester UP, 2002).
James Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England (1996).
Jonathan Lumby, The Lancashire Witch-Craze: Jennet Preston and the Lancashire Witches (2007).
Lancaster Castle official history, lancastercastle.com.
Oxford DNB entries: Robinson, Edmund; Nowell, Roger.
Credits
A Strange Static Media Production.
Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, Producer.
Josh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-Producer.
 

Before there was Mother God, there was just Amy. A McDonald's manager from Houston who found a website that told her she was divine — and spent the next 13 years becoming a 19-billion-year-old creator of the universe with 534 past lives, a spiritual advisory board that included Robin Williams and Steve Irwin, and a Cabal of enemies trying to assassinate her. Her followers called her Mother. Her mistakes were never hers; theirs were hurting God. Then she started drinking. Then she started turning blue. And the people around her stopped calling it alcohol and started calling it her medicine. This is Love Has Won — the story of Amy Carlson, the machinery that let a room full of people watch a 45-year-old woman die on camera and interpret it as ascension, and the successor sites still running the mythology today. Content warning: coercive control, addiction, severe illness, child endangerment, and descriptions of human remains.
🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange
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📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Somewhere the locals avoid? Somewhere the stories don't quite add up? We want to hear about it. Email at ssospodcast@gmail.com  us or slide into the DMs — we're listening.
 
A Strange Static Media Production.
Credits
A Strange Static Media Production.
Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, Producer.
Josh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-Producer.

In November 1996, a 16-year-old from Murray, Kentucky who called himself Vesago — a 500-year-old vampire — drove 800 miles to Eustis, Florida with 3 followers. Hours later, Richard Wendorf and Naoma Ruth Queen were dead in their home, and 5 teenagers were headed for New Orleans in the family's Explorer. We follow the Vampire Clan from the Vampire Hotel to a Baton Rouge Howard Johnson: the blood rituals, the rulebook behind the ranks, the 17th-century demon behind the name, Rod Ferrell's uncorroborated claim that he witnessed a ritual killing as a child, and the daughter who came home at 10:30 that night. True crime, the 1990s vampire subculture around the group, and the Rod Ferrell case — told for the people it happened to.
🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange
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📱 Follow Us: Instagram · TikTok Clips, extras, and whatever rabbit hole we fell down that week.
 
📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Somewhere the locals avoid? Somewhere the stories don't quite add up? We want to hear about it. Email at ssospodcast@gmail.com  us or slide into the DMs — we're listening.
 
A Strange Static Media Production.
Credits
A Strange Static Media Production.
Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, Producer.
Josh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-Producer.
Sources
Florida Supreme Court, Ferrell v. State, State's answer brief (medical examiner, crime scene, DNA, sentencing order) — https://library.law.fsu.edu/Digital-Collections/flsupct/dockets/93127/93127ans.pdf
Florida Supreme Court, Ferrell v. State, initial brief — https://library.law.fsu.edu/Digital-Collections/flsupct/dockets/93127/93127ini.pdf
MSNBC Investigates, "Interview With a Vampire" (2011) — https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20111029_180000_Interview_With_a_Vampire
Tampa Bay Times, "Horrified teen reported finding parents' bodies" (Jan 4, 1997) — https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/01/04/horrified-teen-reported-finding-parents-bodies/
911 transcript (secondary transcription) — https://wendorfmurders.wordpress.com/911-transcript/
Spokesman-Review / AP, "Leader Of Vampire Cult Pleads Guilty To Murders" (Feb 6, 1998) — https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/feb/06/leader-of-vire-cult-pleads-guilty-to-murders/
Oxygen, Deadly Cults — Jaden Murphy interview — https://www.oxygen.com/deadly-cults/man-sired-rod-ferrell-vampire-clan-exclusive-1996-bludgeoning-murder
Mathers/Crowley, The Goetia (1904), Vassago entry — https://hermetic.com/norton/classics/goetia/vassago
Wikipedia, "Vassago" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vassago
Wikipedia, "Rod Ferrell" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Ferrell
White Wolf Wiki, "Blood doll" — https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_doll · "Herd" — https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Herd
Tampa Bay Times, "Vampire clan mom pleads in sex case" (Nov 16, 1997) — https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1997/11/16/vampire-clan-mom-pleads-in-sex-case/
CBS News / AP, "Double Death For Vampire Killer" (1998) — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/double-death-for-vampire-killer/
Katherine Ramsland, "The 'Vampire' Murders" — https://katherineramsland.substack.com/p/the-vampire-murders
Oxygen, "How Rod Ferrell's Vampire Clan Went From Teen Blood Rituals To Killing Parents" — https://www.oxygen.com/deadly-cults/how-rod-ferrell-vampire-clan-went-from-teen-blood-rituals-to-killing-parents
Horror Obsessive, "The 'Vampire' Murders: Tale of Twisted Teen Rod Ferrell" — https://horrorobsessive.com/2021/10/19/the-vampire-murders-tale-of-twisted-teen-rod-ferrell/
Carried from v5 research, URLs to pull: Orlando Sentinel (Dellert, Dec 2006); Murray Ledger & Times (Oct–Dec 1996); Daily Commercial; Ron Patton affidavit; 2018 Anderson and 2020 Ferrell resentencing coverage.
 

The Vampire Clan case remains a chilling example of how teenage isolation can warp into dangerous obsession. We break down the reality behind Rod Ferrell and his followers.This episode examines the trajectory of a group that started with small-town boredom and ended in a double homicide. By looking at the specific dynamics of their interactions, we separate the sensationalized mythos from the documented facts. It is a necessary look at how influence and group identity can lead to catastrophic choices.We analyze the intersection of cult psychology and criminal behavior, providing a clearer picture of the events that shocked Kentucky and beyond. For those interested in the mechanics of true crime, this breakdown offers a grounded perspective on one of the most bizarre cases in modern history.Subscribe for weekly crime analysis and let us know which case you want us to cover next.Like SSOS? Don't forget to subscribe, and check us out on:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1234567890 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ssos/1234567890YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SSOSPodcastSupport the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ssospodcastDiscuss episodes on Discord: https://discord.gg/abcdefgSSOS is a Strange Static Media production. Hosted by Lee Miller, Josh Seifert, and Jen Nielsen. For business inquiries or to submit a story tip: ssospodcast@gmail.com.The Vampire Clan case remains a chilling example of how teenage isolation can warp into dangerous, ritualistic obsession.We break down the reality behind Rod Ferrell and the group that started with small-town boredom and ended in a double homicide. By examining the specific dynamics of their interactions, we separate the sensationalized mythos from the documented facts. This analysis explores how influence and group identity lead to catastrophic choices, offering a grounded look at the intersection of cult psychology and criminal behavior.For those interested in the mechanics of true crime, this breakdown provides a clear perspective on one of the most bizarre cases in modern history. We look past the headlines to understand the trajectory of a group that shocked Kentucky and beyond. Whether you are a long-time listener or new to the story, this episode clarifies the events surrounding the 1996 killings#TrueCrime #Paranormal #Vampires #Cult #Murder #Kentucky

A man vanishes from a moving bus in December 1949 — his bags still overhead, the other passengers none the wiser until his seat turns up empty. He was never found.
That's where Part Two begins. Lee, Josh, and Jen return to Glastenbury Mountain for the cases that built the legend of the Bennington Triangle: James Tedford, gone from that bus; eight-year-old Buddy Jepson, gone in the length of a single chore; and Frieda Langer, the only one of the missing whose body ever came back — found in ground the searchers had already crossed.
Then we sort the theories, honestly and without a tidy answer: the stone, the creature, the thin place, abduction, a killer on the trail, and the strange pattern hiding in the dates.
This is Part Two of two. If you haven't heard Part One, start there.
⚠️ Contains discussion of a child's disappearance and presumed death, plus speculative theory. Listener discretion advised.
🎧 Subscribe wherever you're listening. Merch at ssos-shop.fourthwall.com (code SSOSPOD, 5% off). Support the show at [BUYMEACOFFEE-URL]. Follow @SSOSPodcast.
Got a high strangeness story? Email us or DM — we're listening.
🕯️ Stay Curious. Stay Strange
🎧 Listen & Subscribe: Spotify · Apple Podcasts · Podbean · YouTube Hit subscribe so the next one finds you.
 
🛒 Wear the Society: ssos-shop.fourthwall.com — code SSOSPOD takes 5% off.
 
☕ Support the Show: Buy Me a Coffee — every cup helps.
 
📱 Follow Us: Instagram · TikTok Clips, extras, and whatever rabbit hole we fell down that week.
 
📧 Got a High Strangeness Story? Somewhere the locals avoid? Somewhere the stories don't quite add up? We want to hear about it. Email at ssospodcast@gmail.com  us or slide into the DMs — we're listening.
 
A Strange Static Media Production.
Sources: Joseph A. Citro, "Green Mountain Ghosts, Ghouls & Unsolved Mysteries" (1994) & "Passing Strange" (1996); Bennington Triangle and Glastenbury Mountain (Wikipedia); Vermont Country Magazine (2023); U.S. Forest Service.

In the dense woods of Glastenbury Mountain, Vermont, people don't just get lost — they vanish. No bodies. No answers. Just a mountain that's been taking people for as long as anyone can remember.Some places you can only reach on purpose. The Bennington Triangle isn't one of them — you can see it from a college campus, a gas station, a kitchen window.In Part One, Lee leads Josh and Jen up the Green Mountain to trace how one stretch of Vermont wilderness earned its name: Abenaki warnings about ground that owes you nothing, compasses that refuse to point north, a man-eating stone, the Bennington Monster, and the first documented disappearances that turned local legend into an unsolved mystery.The hunter found dead with no wounds. The 74-year-old guide who knew the mountain blind and still walked into the dark and never came back. And the case that forced Vermont to build a state police force from scratch — 18-year-old Bennington College student Paula Jean Welden, who walked up the Long Trail one Sunday afternoon in December 1946 in a red parka and was never seen again.Part One of two.⚠️ Covers historical events including Vermont's eugenics program. Listener discretion advised.🕯️ Ex Tenebris, Peregrini — Stay Curious. Stay Strange.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 Cold Open — The Triangle You Can Walk To01:58 Welcome to the Secret Society of Strangers05:10 Glastenbury Mountain: 26,000 Acres of Nothing06:21 The Abenaki and the Living Mountain10:37 The Settlers, the Land, and a Vanishing Population13:10 The Compass That Won't Point North16:02 The Man-Eating Stone18:20 The Dancing Lights20:50 The Bennington Monster23:15 Henry McDowell and the Voices25:30 The Grand Hotel and the Electric Trolley30:00 The Freshet32:43 What Vermont Was Doing in the Same Years34:35 John Harble, 189739:46 Carl Herrick, 194345:01 Middie Rivers, 194551:44 Paula Jean Welden, 19461:04:43 The Darkest Theory1:09:13 End of Part One1:09:34 Questions for the Strangers━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎧 LISTEN & SUBSCRIBEPodbean: https://ssospod.podbean.com/e/why-you-should-never-hike-the-bennington-triangle/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2G0aAYQPPp1wqnqJYetOcZApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-secret-society-of-strangers-podcast/id1865736210🛒 WEAR THE SOCIETY — https://ssos-shop.fourthwall.comCode SSOSPOD takes 5% off.☕ SUPPORT THE SHOW — https://buymeacoffee.com/ssospodEvery cup helps.📧 Got a high strangeness story? Somewhere the locals avoid? Somewhere the stories don't quite add up? ssospodcast@gmail.com━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📌 CREDITSA Strange Static Media Production.Lee — Writer, Researcher, Editor, ProducerJosh & Jen — Co-Host, Assistant, Creative, Co-ProducerDISCLAIMER: This episode discusses historical disappearances, deaths, and documented state programs including eugenics. Content is presented for storytelling and educational purposes. Some accounts described are folklore and circulating local legend, not established fact, and are identified as such.#BenningtonTriangle #Vermont #MissingPersons #TrueCrime #HighStrangeness #PaulaWelden