The Paranormal Digest for Dec 6, 2025

Murder houses, lake monsters, and more

The scariest thing to discuss this weekend might well be the fact that I will be turning 58 in the next couple of days. In order to keep my mind off that, I am going to bury myself in the paranormal and share some more cool stuff with you guys. With that in mind, let’s get to this week’s dose of creepiness.

Haunted Location - The Villisca Axe Murder House

From the outside, the white farmhouse in Villisca, Iowa looks quaint and charming. Where it not for the sign outside labeling it as an axe murder house, you could easily imagine some old lady inside baking bread in the kitchen. Back in 1912, the Moore family and some visitors were hacked to death by someone wielding an axe. The murderer apparently took time to fix some food and chill out before moving on. The case remains unsolved to this day, which is perhaps why the slain former homeowners are still heard screaming inside.

Urban Legend - The Smiling Man

This is another legend that is fairly recent, with the first account of the Smiling Man landing on Reddit back in 2012. It then became a Creepypasta, as more people reported seeing this creepy individual. In the stories, he is described as a tall, lanky man who follows people with an unnatural grin on his face. When I say follow, I mean he dances around in a way that is truly unsettling. There are a few different versions of the story that have branched out in different directions, including the man being of alien origin.

Creepy Cryptid - The Lake Champlain Monster

When you think of lake monsters, Nessie is the one that most people will mention first. Scotland is not the only place that has a water monster, though, as Lake Champlain, which sits on the New York-Vermont-Quebec border, has one, too. This one is described as a plesiosaur type creature and is now affectionately known as Champ. Sightings date back all the way to the 1800s, and while it seems unlikely that such a creature would still be around, don’t tell that to the folks that love Champ.

Video of the Week - Slapped Ham

I am all about great collections of spooky stuff in a single video, and very few do that better than Slapped Ham. This channel posts regularly and always seems to have videos that you don’t see anywhere else. Yes, some of the clips are obviously fake, but they are still spooky and fun if you go in knowing that you are going to see some shenanigans in among the real head scratchers.

Slapped Ham

Horror Book of the Week - Dark and Lonely Water by Graeme Reynolds

We dove into the waters of Lake Champlain to find a monster there, so let’s stay in the murky depths with a really good book that I read earlier this year. A spate of mysterious drownings leads to an investigation where an ancient evil is found to be lurking. This is a fast-paced read that is a ton of fun.

Random Weirdness - Mariana’s Web

If you look at graphics talking about the internet iceberg, you will very often see Mariana’s web sitting at the bottom. Whether it was put there as a joke or as a reference to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, the belief is that it is a hoax. This part of the deep wen is allegedly only accessible using quantum computers, but once in, you would gain access to Vatican documents, government files, and all manner of alien stuff. Not real, but still, something fun to explore.

That is all I have for this week. I shall return next week with more creepiness, so I hope to see you all then.