“Welcome, Weirdos!” And with that beginning to each episode, voice actor Darren Marlar brings true stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained — seven days a week! Weird Darkness listeners have described the show as a cross between “Coast to Coast” with Art Bell, “The Twilight Zone” with Rod Serling, “Unsolved Mysteries” with Robert Stack, and “In Search Of” with Leonard Nimoy. AWARDS & ACCOLADES: * Named one of the “20 Best Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal * Consistently ranked in the top ten of paranormal podcasts by PlayerFM and Feedspot * Top 10 Finalist for “Storyteller/Drama” category for the “People’s Choice Podcast Awards” in 2019, 2021 and 2022 * Top 10 Finalist for “True Crime” category for the “People’s Choice Podcast Awards” in 2021 and 2022 * Ranked #2 in Podcast Magazine‘s “Best True Crime and Horror” podcasts * Darren Marlar’s narration of “The Tell-Tale Heart” won Bronze at HEAR NOW Podcast Palooza HISTORY OF WEIRD DARKNESS… It was in late September 2015 that the pilot episode “Mothman: The Enigma of Point Pleasant” was posted… not as a podcast, but as a video on YouTube. The next month it was decided to move forward with a regular series at two videos per week, focusing on subject matter such as ghosts, unsolved mysteries, true crime, conspiracies, and anything else that is strange, dark, or bizarre. While Weird Darkness did find fans on YouTube, the growth was slow. A year later in October 2016 it was decided to also offer the episodes in podcast form by simply re-posting the audio from the YouTube videos. It was then that the show truly began to find its base and began growing… fast. Another year later, and in October 2017 the difficult decision was made to stop making videos entirely and focus solely on the podcast. Doing this not only increased the quality of each episode, but allowed Darren Marlar to post more often – eventually creating new episodes every weekday, and archive episodes on the weekends. The show’s popularity exploded. In doing so, Weird Darkness generated over one-million downloads in the first six months immediately following the October 2017 change – and continues to grow even more quickly today with no hint of slowing down. As of October 2021, Weird Darkness was garnering over 1-million downloads per month – making it one of the most listened to podcasts nationwide. Weird Darkness has also been recognized in the press by Business Insider, Podcast Magazine, Paranormality Magazine, Beyond the Bleak Magazine, and more! ABOUT THE HOST… Weird Darkness is hosted by voice artist, Darren Marlar, who is also the creator of the podcast. Darren Marlar lived in the Kansas City area for the majority of his childhood and teen years, and calls Olathe, Kansas his hometown. From elementary school onward he found himself entertaining people in some way or another. Acting on stage, singing in a variety of choral groups, being the front-man for rock bands, or as a soloist for competition and in churches, getting involved in community theater, and eventually discovering radio in 1990, in which he has worked full-time up to today. In 1995, Darren married his bride, Robin, and they are still very happily married. In 2004 Darren moved to the Rockford, Illinois area (northwest suburb of Chicago) and along with radio and acting in television and film, he also stepped into stand-up comedy (which he has since retired from). Along with radio and acting, Darren Marlar is well-known as a professional full-time voice over artist. He has been providing quality audio recordings to clients around the world. If his voice sounds familiar, it is due to having voiced thousands of radio commercials, TV spots, movie trailers, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, corporate presentations, phone prompts, audio theater projects, video games, and more! Along with the awards he has won above through the Weird Darkness podcast, Darren Marlar was also awarded the “Excellence in Broadcasting Award” in 2014 by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters for his commercial voiceover work, and is still in high demand. Of course, today Darren Marlar is most recognizable as the host of Weird Darkness. EQUIPMENT... If you want to find out what equipment Darren Marlar uses for his podcast both in the studio and on the road, click here: https://weirddarkness.com/startapodcast
