Copyright BuzzFeed
Disney ghosts, vanishing kids, and cosmic whispers — just another week in the "That Got Dark" universe. Hi, friends! I'm Crystal, and I write the That Got Dark newsletter, BuzzFeed's weekly roundup of all things creepy, macabre, and horrible AF. And if you looooove this kind of content, you should subscribe to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox! Here’s what the newsletter is covering this week: 1. Have you ever heard that rumor about fans secretly scattering loved ones’ ashes at Disneyland and Disney World? Well…it’s real — and apparently not rare. Cast members say it happens as often as once a month, especially inside the Haunted Mansion. And when it does, Disney quietly triggers a “HEPA cleanup,” vacuuming up the remains before reopening the ride like nothing happened. The practice is, of course, strictly forbidden — but clearly, that doesn’t stop people (and probably never will). 2. In 2005, a 28-year-old South Korean man named Lee walked into an internet café, sat down to play StarCraft…and died nearly 50 hours later. He barely ate, barely slept, pausing only for quick bathroom breaks. Lee had reportedly even lost his job after skipping work to keep gaming — and tragically, he never logged off again. He eventually collapsed from heart failure that was brought on by exhaustion. Lee's death sent shockwaves through South Korea and sparked a national reckoning over gaming addiction. The government soon introduced its infamous “Shutdown Law,” which banned minors from gaming between midnight and 6 a.m. But in 2021, that law was scrapped. 3. The tragic and haunting story of 9-year-old Erica Baker who disappeared while walking her dog near a park in Kettering, Ohio in 1999. The dog was later found safe, but Erica was never seen again. For years, the case haunted the community until 2004, when a man named Christian Gabriel confessed to accidentally hitting her with his van and hiding her body with help from a friend. But Gabriel’s story changed repeatedly, and despite extensive searches, no trace of Erica was ever found. He ended up serving six years for abuse of a corpse and then moved away after his release in 2011. In 2024, police located Gabriel living in Oregon after years of uncertainty about his whereabouts. Officials called the discovery a potential “big break” — not because of new evidence, but because finding him again meant another chance to question the only man who’s ever confessed to being involved. In 2024 and 2025, new searches were conducted near Kettering using cadaver dogs and advanced scanning technology. Despite these renewed efforts, no human remains or conclusive evidence have been found, and Erica’s disappearance remains unsolved. 4. This Wikipedia page about something called the "Wow! signal," which is one of the creepiest mysteries from space. Basically, it was a 72-second burst of radio energy detected in 1977 that seemed too precise to be random, yet too fleeting to be explained. It came from deep in the constellation Sagittarius, then vanished forever, leaving only a strange printout marked with astronomer Jerry Ehman’s stunned handwritten note: “Wow!” Decades later, scientists still can’t pin down where it came from — a glitch, a cosmic anomaly, or something out there whispering just once, then never again. 5. This extremely disturbing image from 2018 of a note a man in Portland, Oregon, found on his car, at his HOME, after his tires were slashed. According to KOIN News, the night before the incident, car owner Mark Holzmann had been driving into a parking garage when he may have accidentally cut off a bicyclist. Holzmann later said the cyclist seemed to come “out of nowhere” and quickly became enraged, shouting and pounding on the car. He believes the man might have tracked him down afterward using his personalized license plate — turning an ordinary road-rage moment into something straight out of a stalker movie. 6. Finally, the story of James Waybern Hall, an American serial killer from Arkansas who terrorized the South and Midwest in the 1940s. Originally arrested for murdering his 19-year-old wife, Fayrene Clemmons, in 1944, Hall later confessed to killing at least three men he encountered while hitchhiking and claimed responsibility for as many as 20 more murders across several states. His crimes were marked by random violence and cold precision, targeting strangers who offered him rides. Hall was eventually convicted of his wife’s murder, sentenced to death, and executed by electrocution in 1946 at the age of 24. His last meal: Steak, pork chops, and strawberry ice cream. Love this kind of content? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get a weekly post just like this delivered directly to your inbox. It's a scary good time you won't want to miss.
