Episode Description
Carl Higdon went into the Medicine Bow National Forest for elk in October 1974, and what he described afterward has been picked apart by physicians, hypnotists and skeptics ever since without anybody arriving at an explanation.
EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/CarlHigdonAbduction
READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3hppszdy
FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: In October 1974, Carl Higdon ventured into Wyoming's wilderness for a routine elk hunt, only to encounter something beyond belief: a humanoid figure and an otherworldly craft. His shocking encounter, complete with mysterious pills, a transparent cube, and a journey to an alien planet, defies explanation and continues to baffle experts to this day. (Ausso One, The Non-Human Humanoid) *** In a remote Mexican village, a young boy stumbles upon a gruesome ritual led by a self-proclaimed goddess, Magdalena Solis. As the cult's depravity spirals out of control, the authorities descend upon the village, uncovering a tale of human sacrifice, orgies, and drug-fueled madness. (High Priestess of Blood) *** In the early morning hours of August 26, 1986, the lifeless body of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was discovered in Central Park, sparking a media frenzy that would dub her murderer, the "Preppy Killer." (Robert Chambers: The Preppy Killer) *** Small mistakes can have big consequences, especially when they happen at critical moments in history. From an unlocked gate that led to the fall of Constantinople to a forgotten login that halted background checks for gun permits, we’ll look at a few “brain farts” that changed the course of history in ways no one could have predicted (Small Mistakes, Big Consequences)
CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding
00:01:00.175 = Show Open
00:03:24.124 = Ausso One: The Non-Human Humanoid
00:21:27.334 = Robert Chambers: The Preppy Killer ***
00:34:15.508 = The Elusive Holy Grail ***
00:41:38.338 = The High Priestess of Blood
00:53:11.397 = Small Mistakes, Big Consequences ***
00:59:31.589 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break
LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS:
Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps
*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*
SOURCES and RESOURCES:
“The High Priestess of Blood” by Troy Taylor (used with permission): https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2w4b35w5
“Small Mistakes, Big Consequences” source: Jordan Breeding, Weird History: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p99tmau
“Ausso One, The Non-Human Humanoid” source: Marcus Lowth, UFOInsight.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4acyve4n
“The Elusive Holy Grail” source: Austin Harvey, All That’s Interesting: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckj9sj5
“Robert Chambers; The Preppy Killer’ source: Cat McAuliffe, Unspeakable Crimes: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8pp9kj(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.)
WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: June 03, 2024
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE HEARING? WEIRD DARKNESS posts episodes 7 DAYS A WEEK! Listen FREE wherever you get podcasts or visit https://weirddarkness.com/listen. • Paranormal • True Crime • Ghosts • UFOs • Cryptids • Unexplained • Want even more? Become an OFFICIAL WEIRDO for commercial-free episodes, bonus episodes, weeknight live chats, audiobooks & more at https://WeirdDarkness.com/OFFICIAL
Weird Darkness covers a 1974 Wyoming abduction account, the 1986 Central Park killing of Jennifer Levin, the long search for the Holy Grail, a blood cult in the Sierra Madre, and a run of small mistakes that redirected history.
It opens with Carl Higdon, who took the afternoon of October 25th, 1974 off work and drove into the Medicine Bow National Forest in Carbon County, Wyoming, to hunt elk. He came back describing a six-foot humanoid who called himself Ausso One, a drill fused where his right hand should have been, and a transparent cube holding five paralyzed elk. Doctors who examined him afterward found the tuberculosis scarring gone from his lungs, Leo Sprinkle put him under hypnotic regression that November, and a polygraph in 1978 came back clean.
From there the episode turns to the morning of August 26th, 1986, when a cyclist found 18-year-old Jennifer Levin dead near a tree in Central Park, hours after she left Dorrian's Red Hand on the Upper East Side with Robert Chambers. He told investigators her death was rough sex gone wrong, the medical examiner determined she had been strangled, and the press named him the Preppy Killer. Chambers pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and served 15 years, drew a longer sentence in 2008 for selling cocaine and heroin out of his Manhattan apartment, and was paroled in 2023.
Next comes the Holy Grail, which the Bible never actually describes. Chrétien de Troyes made it a divine object in his unfinished Conte del Graal around 1180, Robert de Boron tied it to the Last Supper and the crucifixion in Joseph d'Arimathie two decades later, and Arthurian legend sent Perceval and Sir Galahad after it. The chalice has since been claimed by the Basilica of San Isidoro in León, the Valencia Cathedral, and roughly 200 other places across Europe.
The fourth segment moves to Yerba Buena, a communal farm of about 20 families in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Madre, where Santos and Cayetano Hernández passed themselves off as prophets of the Incan gods in 1962 and later brought Magdalena Solis back from Monterrey to play a goddess for them. On peyote and cannabis she came to believe she was Coatlicue, the Aztec mother goddess, and ordered human sacrifices in which hearts were cut from victims who were still alive. A 14-year-old named Sebastian Guerrero stumbled into one of those rituals in a cave in late May 1963, and he and Inspector Luis Martinez were both found with their hearts removed.
The episode closes on small errors that changed everything downstream: an unlocked gate that let the Turks into Constantinople in 1453, a time-zone miscalculation that put Bay of Pigs bombers over Cuba an hour ahead of their air cover, a 1631 printing of the King James Bible that dropped the word not from the commandment against adultery, and a Florida employee who forgot a login and left concealed-weapons applications running without background checks from February 2016 to March 2017.
EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/CarlHigdonAbduction
READ or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3hppszdy
FEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: In October 1974, Carl Higdon ventured into Wyoming's wilderness for a routine elk hunt, only to encounter something beyond belief: a humanoid figure and an otherworldly craft. His shocking encounter, complete with mysterious pills, a transparent cube, and a journey to an alien planet, defies explanation and continues to baffle experts to this day. (Ausso One, The Non-Human Humanoid) *** In a remote Mexican village, a young boy stumbles upon a gruesome ritual led by a self-proclaimed goddess, Magdalena Solis. As the cult's depravity spirals out of control, the authorities descend upon the village, uncovering a tale of human sacrifice, orgies, and drug-fueled madness. (High Priestess of Blood) *** In the early morning hours of August 26, 1986, the lifeless body of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was discovered in Central Park, sparking a media frenzy that would dub her murderer, the "Preppy Killer." (Robert Chambers: The Preppy Killer) *** Small mistakes can have big consequences, especially when they happen at critical moments in history. From an unlocked gate that led to the fall of Constantinople to a forgotten login that halted background checks for gun permits, we’ll look at a few “brain farts” that changed the course of history in ways no one could have predicted (Small Mistakes, Big Consequences)
CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…
00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding
00:01:00.175 = Show Open
00:03:24.124 = Ausso One: The Non-Human Humanoid
00:21:27.334 = Robert Chambers: The Preppy Killer ***
00:34:15.508 = The Elusive Holy Grail ***
00:41:38.338 = The High Priestess of Blood
00:53:11.397 = Small Mistakes, Big Consequences ***
00:59:31.589 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad break
LISTEN ON PODCAST APPS:
Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps
*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*
SOURCES and RESOURCES:
“The High Priestess of Blood” by Troy Taylor (used with permission): https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2w4b35w5
“Small Mistakes, Big Consequences” source: Jordan Breeding, Weird History: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p99tmau
“Ausso One, The Non-Human Humanoid” source: Marcus Lowth, UFOInsight.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4acyve4n
“The Elusive Holy Grail” source: Austin Harvey, All That’s Interesting: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yckj9sj5
“Robert Chambers; The Preppy Killer’ source: Cat McAuliffe, Unspeakable Crimes: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8pp9kj(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.)
WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: June 03, 2024
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE HEARING? WEIRD DARKNESS posts episodes 7 DAYS A WEEK! Listen FREE wherever you get podcasts or visit https://weirddarkness.com/listen. • Paranormal • True Crime • Ghosts • UFOs • Cryptids • Unexplained • Want even more? Become an OFFICIAL WEIRDO for commercial-free episodes, bonus episodes, weeknight live chats, audiobooks & more at https://WeirdDarkness.com/OFFICIAL
Weird Darkness covers a 1974 Wyoming abduction account, the 1986 Central Park killing of Jennifer Levin, the long search for the Holy Grail, a blood cult in the Sierra Madre, and a run of small mistakes that redirected history.
It opens with Carl Higdon, who took the afternoon of October 25th, 1974 off work and drove into the Medicine Bow National Forest in Carbon County, Wyoming, to hunt elk. He came back describing a six-foot humanoid who called himself Ausso One, a drill fused where his right hand should have been, and a transparent cube holding five paralyzed elk. Doctors who examined him afterward found the tuberculosis scarring gone from his lungs, Leo Sprinkle put him under hypnotic regression that November, and a polygraph in 1978 came back clean.
From there the episode turns to the morning of August 26th, 1986, when a cyclist found 18-year-old Jennifer Levin dead near a tree in Central Park, hours after she left Dorrian's Red Hand on the Upper East Side with Robert Chambers. He told investigators her death was rough sex gone wrong, the medical examiner determined she had been strangled, and the press named him the Preppy Killer. Chambers pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and served 15 years, drew a longer sentence in 2008 for selling cocaine and heroin out of his Manhattan apartment, and was paroled in 2023.
Next comes the Holy Grail, which the Bible never actually describes. Chrétien de Troyes made it a divine object in his unfinished Conte del Graal around 1180, Robert de Boron tied it to the Last Supper and the crucifixion in Joseph d'Arimathie two decades later, and Arthurian legend sent Perceval and Sir Galahad after it. The chalice has since been claimed by the Basilica of San Isidoro in León, the Valencia Cathedral, and roughly 200 other places across Europe.
The fourth segment moves to Yerba Buena, a communal farm of about 20 families in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Madre, where Santos and Cayetano Hernández passed themselves off as prophets of the Incan gods in 1962 and later brought Magdalena Solis back from Monterrey to play a goddess for them. On peyote and cannabis she came to believe she was Coatlicue, the Aztec mother goddess, and ordered human sacrifices in which hearts were cut from victims who were still alive. A 14-year-old named Sebastian Guerrero stumbled into one of those rituals in a cave in late May 1963, and he and Inspector Luis Martinez were both found with their hearts removed.
The episode closes on small errors that changed everything downstream: an unlocked gate that let the Turks into Constantinople in 1453, a time-zone miscalculation that put Bay of Pigs bombers over Cuba an hour ahead of their air cover, a 1631 printing of the King James Bible that dropped the word not from the commandment against adultery, and a Florida employee who forgot a login and left concealed-weapons applications running without background checks from February 2016 to March 2017.