Welcome to the Dark Mind Detective.
My name is Mark. I'm an investigative journalist,
and for the last six years, I have been researching some of
the most unsettling, darkest cases of serial killers, missing
people. And I also researched dark
psychology, manipulation and social engineering and dangerous
predatory behavior. So I was thinking a lot the last
couple of days, trying to relieve early motivations to do
this work where you cross paths with something.
Oh, not exactly what you cross paths with, but you get the
sense of something dark. I've had, you know, a variety of
work experience in my life. When I was young, in my 20s, I
did a lot of bar work. I worked in a lot of nightclubs,
pubs, I started off as a bouncer because I was into weightlifting
and bodybuilding and boxing because I had a customer service
background. Like I, you know, in high school
I worked at a Chevron full service gas station as my part
time job and summer job. Also, you know, work different
customer service like in restaurants.
As a busboy, I was always good with the public, keeping my, my
head cool under like chaotic situations.
How to deal with bad customers and stuff as a bouncer I was the
bouncer that my first approach was not try to prove what a
tough guy I was. I'd always treat the customers
with respect if a guy if a guy had a too much to drink or a
woman. But most of the This mostly
worked in the cases of guys really drunk women sometimes can
be very hard to handle, but I'll go into that another time.
Generally speaking, the dudes that came in the bars, if I
approached them with respect and say, hey, buddy, you're, you're
not barred, but I'm worried about you.
I think you, you know, you're a little tipsy.
You're falling over the place, you're spilling drinks.
Let me buy you a Coke and let's see if we can get you a ride
home. I'll get you a cab if you're
with your people, maybe if someone can give you a ride
home. But again, you're not being
kicked out. I'm just worrying about your,
this is the the approach I would take.
And, and nine times out of 10, you know, they would be cool,
not all the time, but nine times out of 10.
And then when they would come back, they were their friend.
They would shake your hands. Hey, thanks for looking out for
me. And then if some shit did kick
off in the bar, these dudes would back you up.
They would help out. And my managers noticed this and
then I got promoted, you know, helping out the bartender.
Then I was a bartender for a bit and then I got recruited from a
company that did bar promotion, nightclub entertainment.
I got to travel throughout the province I live in, in BC.
I got to travel across country. I got to travel in Alberta,
Ontario. I spent a lot of time in Ontario
and then New Brunswick, Nova Scotia.
So basically this job allowed me to travel all the way from
Victoria, BC, all the way to Halifax, NS.
So I've been in a lot of nightclubs and I've seen a lot
of crazy nightclub behavior because again, you take people,
you pour alcohol in them. You don't always know what
you're going to get. Sometimes the most mildest
mannered, nicest type of person, you mix alcohol in them.
Instant asshole. So, you know, I've seen a lot of
shit. I've seen violence in fights,
I've seen really creepy people. And I got to say probably in my
lifetime, I would say I'd probably been to about 250 bars,
nightclubs, pubs in my lifetime across, you know, the country of
Canada. I would say by far the darkest
situations I've ever seen was in my hometown and home province.
So one of the first really unsettling things, and this is a
strange story, and this is a story I think a lot about.
It's like watching a film reel in my head because it's so
bizarre. And one day if I ever write a
movie script, I am working on a book.
But I always wanted the scene in a movie because it's so bizarre.
So I was working in a nightclub in Victoria.
We did our thing. We know it's all about, you
know, we did our shooter games, we had a stand up comedian and
gave away prizes and, and we would do little like side,
little money makers. You know, with our group we'd do
5050 draws and you know, some of the guys, you know, we're quite
good looking and wasn't really, it wasn't male stripping.
But you know, we try to look our best, right?
We'd wear nice outfits, clean cut.
I, we all worked out. So we would sell Polaroids with
the girls do group shots and stuff.
The manager came U to us after because the event would go on
for a couple hours, usually a between about let's say 7,
eightish, maybe 9 and go to about 10 and then the bar would
open then the regular people. And so these events were
sometimes they'd be stag parties and we'd do all these silly
games. Sometimes it'd be sponsored
events like sponsored by Budweiser or or Seagram's Liquor
like Captain Morgan Spice or something like that.
Whole mixed bag of events off the whole premise was go in,
entertain people, get them all drinking, have fun, and it was
festive. It was fun.
So in back to this bar in Victoria, manager was cool.
He's like, hey, you guys, you guys did good.
Everyone had fun. The women had a great time.
You got you guys here, here's a bunch of drink tickets.
He gave us a whole bunch of drink tickets and you guys, you
guys can go hang out in the VIP room if you want.
So I'm all flushed with my drink tickets.
I'm hanging out in the VIP room. Well, there's some attractive
women. I'm talking.
We're all chit chatting. It's like, you know, it's this
bliss, like, you know, again, you know, gorgeous women and
martinis as fast as I can drink them and you know, feeling
pretty good. Then walked in, this woman, I
would say she was in her early 20s.
I at this time was about 25. So she was probably like 20-3.
But I'm saying just a, you know, real knockout.
You saw her, you'd say, you know, 10 out of 10, right?
Blonde, nice figure, really nicely dressed, nice makeup.
She's knows the girl I'm sitting beside that I'm chit chatting
with. And this girl is just, you know,
it just like laser lock eye contact instantly I feel like
this chemistry, it's just like me and her are just alone and a
by ourselves. Even though it's crowded room,
even though it's noisy, it's just like it's we have I have
this, this it's like this tunnel thing going on with her, right?
She's laughing at all my jokes and I'm buying her drinks with
my drink tickets. Great moment, right?
And it's just like, wow, thinking like, yeah, I go this,
I go, this chick's a bombshell. Wow.
And she's nice and she has a, you know, you know, pleasant
personality and she finds me funny and charming and you know,
she keeps laughing and touching my arm and ha ha, right.
And I'm thinking like, wow, if I can wield her.
Wow. This, like this is like, like I
said, you know, I'm not, you know, from a dude point of view,
from a 25 year old, Like, this would would have been like the
dream girl as a teenager if I saw a poster of her.
Back when we were teenagers in the 90s, we used to put posters
of bikini girls all over our walls.
Right. Oh, she'd be up on my wall,
like, just that. Yeah.
Like, just as I said, you know, 10 out of 10 in every way,
right? Personality, smile, nice teeth,
sparkling dazzling blue eyes that look like gems and it's
just like we're just locked into each other just like wow, you
know what I mean Just just most powerful chemistry I've ever
felt, you know, with another woman at this stage of my life,
that moment, if I felt like I had a chance to date this woman,
I would have moved to Victoria BC like, and I'm thinking like
wow, this this is amazing. Like what a great night this is.
Well, everything good has to come to an end, right?
Walks in the bar is the most massive fucking dude I have ever
seen in my life. Like I, I like, I'm in the,
we're in the VIP room kind of had like these French glass
doors and you could see into the bar, right?
And the, and you could see right at the front of the, the
entrance way where people walk in the bar wasn't super busy,
but it was busy, but not like packed.
So you could see who's coming and who's leaving the premises.
So I noticed this dude right away because this guy was
massive. And again, I've been around
gyms, I've been around bodybuilders, pro bodybuilders.
I've, you know, I've known professional wrestlers.
This guy was the single biggest dude I've ever seen in my life.
So he stood out like this guy. I am guessing that this guy was
probably like 7 feet tall and he weighed 400 fucking pounds.
But he was wearing a really nice suit.
You know, the suit looked very well made and for a dude that
big, you can just imagine how much that that suit cost.
So that was a strange thing, right?
So a guy that big so nicely sharply dressed like this, it
was an Immaculate suit. It was in a fit fit him very
well. He had a nice haircut, kind of a
handsome face. He didn't look like some big
Neanderthal, right? He didn't look like Andre the
Giant, but he looked almost as big as Andre the Giant like he
was that big. He was freak show big or big
show from the WWE. And then of course I'll fuck.
I'm like thinking he's coming into the VIP room, right?
Because again, it's like, holy shit, like you, I could like I'm
just, I feel like I, I'm staring at him with my peripheral
vision. I don't want to stare at the
guy, but you know, it's just like your, your spider senses
are going off course. He comes into the VIP room and
he's fucking walking towards me and I'm like I I feel like this
high alert. I almost feel like I instantly
sobered up. It's almost like a feeling
almost like adrenaline. And now he walks right over to
me and he starts talking to the girl that that I was in this
blissful chemistry tunnel vision on for the last hour.
And it's just like everything is now just completely the opposite
feeling. Like I said, we're sitting on
these bar stools. So I'm kind of sitting up high
and he's towering over me and he's, it says to the, the woman
that I'm with and. He has like a low, deep voice
and he's like, are you coming with me now?
And I'm like, Christ, like, this sucks.
And like I said, when she was talking to me, she was very
normal. She came, her attitude kind of
was like girl next door, you know, we're talking.
We talked about a whole range of things, favorite movies,
favorite TV shows. She like working out.
She would we're talking about different like workout routines.
And all of a sudden her whole persona changes, completely
changes. And now she's like this snotty
little girl. She's almost like regressed into
something different. She has like this scowl on her
face and she just has like the little bitchiest like no, no,
and. Then he's looking, I'm looking
at him like, oh. Shit, right.
And he doesn't like, he doesn't give me a dirty look.
His face was actually pretty pleasant and he's like kind of
ignoring me, right? But he looks at her, and he
goes. Are you sure you're?
Not coming with me. And I'm just like, oh God, just
go like, because again, I just get a fucking feeling that
something's up here. And she's like, no, says it
again, like really snotty. And I'm kind of like my kind of
even my body language that kind of shift away like you like
this, this is a weird situation. This is very weird.
He asks the third time. OK, so let me understand this
correctly. And he's very polite.
The way he talks, he's very, you know, he's not even his tone.
His tone wasn't threatening at all.
He didn't. And he's like, OK, so let me
understand this. You are not coming.
And she says 1/3 time really snide now and I'm like oh like
what the hell. He walks away and I'm kind of
feel a little relieved. And now the vibe is completely
different now. Such a different vibe and she's
all quiet and and I'm in this in a weird mood too.
So I'm thinking, OK, I finished up my drink and I say, you know
what I'm going to head to my hotel.
It was really nice meeting you. I just see I got bad vibes off
this chick. I don't want nothing to do with
any more. The fantasies of moving to
Victoria, BC and entering early all that this guy that like a
steak knife stabbed right into that fantasy.
Grab my gear And I had I'm like, oh, well, you know, you win
some, you lose some. I'm grabbing all my stuff and I
start heading out, go outside. And then she runs out, right?
Hey, hey, hey, waving at me. I'm like, oh, hi, what's up?
She goes, oh, where are you going?
And I said, I'm going to my hotel room.
She's like, oh, OK, how are you getting there?
I'm taking a cab. And she was, oh, do you mind if
you, if we can share a cab together?
And I'm like, sure, sure, no problem, right.
Nightclubs versus cabs already parked up there.
I, we go walk over to a cab. I put my stuff in the, in the
trunk. She's sitting and it's quiet.
Like, I don't even know what to say.
I'm just like, you know, I, it's like, I don't even want to know
who that guy was. Like, I don't want to know.
Just that's the vibe I got. I don't want it.
And I said, where can I drop you off?
She goes, actually, can you do me a favor?
What she goes, I have to draw. I have to go by somewhere.
It'd be really fast, like really fast.
So basically she gets in the cab, She asks like, hey, do you
mind if we drop by somewhere? I promise it'll be very quick.
And then you can just drop me off home and we'll say goodnight
to each other. I'm like, OK, yeah, no problem.
So we're driving, and again, I don't know Victoria very well.
And she tells the cab driver in the dress, I don't have no idea
where it is. And we're driving for quite a
long time. So it's like, it's not like just
like a 5 minutes, right? It's work.
We're driving for a good 15, I would even say 20 minutes.
But we're in this really nice area.
Like the houses are massive. Like every house is like a
mansion. We drive to this house and it's
huge. It's, it's like 4 car garage.
It's it's a it's like a mega mansion all built with like
stone. It kind of looks castle ish
because it has all this masonry work and it has a big driveway
that's cobblestone. It looks very expensive.
Like back then, I would even say back then it was at least a 567
million dollar house. Even back then it was big and it
looked like very expensive but dark.
The stone is kind of like a a dark ready brown kind of stone
and it looks like I said it looks very expensive and the
house just gave me the fucking creeps.
It really did. So we drive up the driveway to
all dark, right and has these two big like big oak, solid oak
doors, right? Like these big heavy doors.
And we drive right up to the doorway.
Cab stops and she says she says please and she's very at that
and she actually looks scared and she has my attention because
right, for obvious reasons, she goes please don't leave, please
don't leave. I promise I'll only be like 5-10
minutes at the most and I'll pay for the cab.
And I'm like, I don't even want to be here.
Like it just like the vibe is so dark and bad and this house, it
seems so creepy and the it's like black and a it meaning like
the windows, the windows are black, but they feel like the
windows are staring at you. If that's the only way, it's
like, you know, when you look at a two way mirror and you know
there's someone behind it, it has that feeling.
And you know, again, from the size of that dude, I'm a bit
unnerved, right, because it's, it's it's pretty strange how
this night is unfolding. So I'm like, OK, and even the
cab drivers kind of looking at me.
So she goes in and course the doors open, she's boom, goes
right in. And the cab drivers like, Hey,
do you know this woman? Because he's kind of sensing
like something's up here. I go, I go and I kind of told
him the story quickly. I go, hey, you know, I'm just in
town. I was working at the at the
barge. We started talking and then this
big massive giant dude walked in and asked her to go somewhere
with him. And she got all kind of shitty
with them. And now I'm here and he's like,
oh, that's weird. And he we're just sitting in
awkward silence. I could tell even the cab
drivers unnerved. And I said to the cab driver and
I go, let's give it 10 minutes and let's get the fuck out of
here. And he seemed to be like, cool
with that agreement. And I'm literally watching the
clock like, because it's just, I don't know.
It's just like you get me and the cab driver sitting there,
We're not saying a word to each other.
And this feels like you could, you could hear a pin drop, like
there's that kind of tension in there.
And I can feel like, I swear to God, I felt like the hairs on my
back of my neck standing up like it just just something's off. 8
minute goes by, 9 minutes. I'm literally counting in my
head, OK, she has 10 minutes. And right when I'm about to say,
OK, let's, let's abort, abort mission.
Let's go and all of a sudden a knock on the window and that
makes me jump. It's her.
And she's like, let me in, let me in check.
She looks freaked out, like legitimately freaked out.
So she gets in the car and I'm just like, OK, when the cab
driver seems excited or get to getting the fuck out of there,
right? And I'm like, where to she goes,
Oh, do you mind if I just chill at your hotel room for a minute?
And I'm just like, I don't want her at my hotel room.
I actually don't, but I'm like, oh, OK, so she comes over,
right? And again, we're not talking to
each other. It's just like this awkwardness.
It's like the opposite of chemistry.
We had this amazing chemistry and now we have the opposite of
chemistry. It's like it just I want to be
away from her as fast as I can. I'm like, I am like saying like
this, something's up. So we go to a hotel room, I walk
in, put my stuff away and I said, oh, you don't mind if I
just kind of wash my face? So I didn't want to have a
shower, right? Because I kind of wanted to keep
an eye on her. And her, her whole demeanor is
completely changed. It's like a different woman now.
Like I it's almost like he, it's like someone else took over her
body. She looks tense.
She has like this scowl on her face.
She's so edgy. She's not talking.
If I ask her something, it's just one word answers, right?
I'm like, oh, this sucks, right? The other thing is I'm kind of
worried, but kind of intrigued, but kind of, I don't know.
It's, it's, it's sketchy. It's the best way to say it.
So I go my wash my face, change my shirt.
I put on some like pajama bottom pant.
I I go on the bed and I just turn on the TV.
She there's like in the hotel room, there's like this round
kind of coffee table and she's sitting over there and she's not
even talking to me. So I've been looking at me.
I'm kind of ignoring her. I'm just watching TV.
And then if my peripheral vision, she goes in her purse
and she pulls out a big bag of White Party favors and she
starts, you know, chopping it up and starts, you know, doing some
nose candy one line after another.
I'm like, oh, great. I'm thinking I'll never get rid
of her now. And I'm thinking at any moment
my door is going to get blasted off the hinges and this giant
that was in the bar is going to become running through, right.
And part of me wants to ask like, what's what's up with that
house? But then the other part of my
brain like, I don't want to know.
I don't even want to know what's, what's, what's up with
that big creepy mansion? This goes on for about half an
hour. And I'm telling you, she's doing
her her party favors non-stop, right?
And I'm not too impressed by that because it's the nights
already getting so weird. And then out of nowhere, she
stands up and, and now she she's almost like, it's like the only
way to describe it is that she almost looks possessed.
And obviously she's under the influence of, you know, the
stuff she's been doing for the last how far?
But she just looks like, I don't know, robotic.
Her eyes are just like, weird. She's not blinking when she's
talking. And she seems very stiff.
And she stands up. She goes, OK, it was nice
meeting you. I'm going to go now.
I hope you have a good night. And then she walks out.
And the second she walks the door, it's just like the hugest
sense of relief. And then I'm thinking like, what
the hell was that? And, and I've said I've
travelled across the country, I've travelled throughout the
States. I've, you know, I've worked in
bars, even when I was in New York, when I lived there, I have
never ran across something like that.
This is the single weirdest experience I've ever had.
It was like, what the hell? So I'm guessing, I'm guessing
she must have been like some high-priced escort.
And maybe that guy was like the, the driver, you know, because
the security guy that takes him around and maybe she had a, a
call that she had to do and, and I don't know, it was really
sketchy. It really freaked me out Like,
and then every time I went to Victoria, it was almost like, I
don't know, the city of, I've been to a lot of Canadian cities
and I don't know, that city has kind of a creepy underbelly
compared to other cities I've been in.
It's like a city, I feel it there.
You know what I mean? It's like your spider senses go
off. Yeah, the Vancouver Island is a
strange place, but that was one of the strangest stories of my
travels. About two, I lived in a building
downtown and there were these women that were in Canada from
Australia and they were attractive, nice girls.
But one of them got really heavy into drugs and I personally
think that she was groomed in traffic because these girls were
so worried about her. She started dating this guy and
at first it started off with drinking every night, then it
started off with something else, you know harder stuff.
And next thing I know she was doing like opiates and and she
was obviously addicted. And then she disappeared.
And I remember the girls came down to our to my apartment.
They lived right above me. O we filed a missing person's
report. We told the motor boyfriend and
it was like I felt this guy, he was he it was like a plan from
the day one get first get the girl partying with you and then
from the partying, get her hooked on something.
And then they both disappeared. Her family even came from
Australia to look for her. And apparently, of course, the
missing filing, a missing persons report and, and the
investigation was almost nil. And then it was to the point
where, well, maybe she doesn't want to be found.
She's an adult. So there was a frustration of
that because I, you know, here, I'm talking to these girls and
they're so upset. And this is like, this was like
also in the early, this was early 2000s, like 2005 ish.
See this quick like transition 1st it's fun and games.
First it's shooters, then it's do this party, then you're going
to house parties and you're offered stuff and then it's
like, hey, do you want to travel?
Do you want to come to my other town?
And then you never hear from these people again and you
always wonder what happened to them, right?
It's like, and This is why drugs scare me because I've done
drugs. I don't do drugs anymore.
Did drugs. I was a very different person.
My thought process was different.
My priorities were different and I wasn't like an everyday user.
I was more like a weekend warrior type, but he would have
like a, a residual lingering effect if if that makes sense.
I found I was more suggestible to things, especially with
shitty people, because when you're doing like, you know,
you're partying, you're drinking you, you think you're having a
great time. But in hindsight, I really
wasn't. I was trying to, I was masking
stuff. I was, I was looking for
escapism. And some of the shittiest
friends I ever had was when I was in these circles.
And, and a lot of the times in hindsight, these shitty people
are the ones that push stuff on you.
They oh, try this and try that. And of course, you can say no
and this just a stain. But for some people who've been
through trauma are running away from something, It's easy to get
peer pressured into things. And now if you're an attractive
woman in this kind of creepy, predatorial world, an attractive
woman is a is highly prized in a in a commodity.
So think about this. I get a woman like the woman I
met in Vic, she's very attractive and yes for the most
part seems to conclude the conversation.
But if I get her under my thumbs and get her addicted to
something that's control and and sorry from a predatorial point
of view, I'm her supplier. Plus I'm supply her money that
she makes. I introduce her to rich people
that, you know, pay her for her services.
I facilitate her lifestyle. She gets to wear nice clothing.
She gets a nice purse. She wears expensive shoes.
She gets to, you know, hang around really fancy places and
restaurants and, and all those things on on the surface it's
sounds great. And then she needs these drugs
to mask for what she's doing. I've seen this formula because
when you worked in when I worked in bars, I've been around a lot
of sex workers. Some of them know exactly what
they're doing and they're in control.
But there's lots that I see that are obviously under the control
of somebody. These aren't strong people.
They've had a lifetime of trauma.
Some imposing figure could easily have control over them
and say, and then the The thing is, what I've seen too across
the board is that there's a whole spectrum of taste, desires
and wants. There's a lot of people out
there that are super creepy, right?
They're not satisfied of this. Having a girlfriend experience
with an attractive girl. No, no, no, they want to tie her
up. They want to do terrible things
to her, they want to scare her, they want to be creepy, right?
There's a whole spectrum of behavior out there.
And what I'm what I'm saying through my experience, a lot of
it's not possible without the person being traumatized and
being addicted to something. The, the, the addiction is the
string that keeps them under the thumb, keeps them under control.
That that beautiful girl I met, gorgeous girl I met and
Victoria, BC obviously her addiction, her drug use was at
the heart of this creepy lifestyle that she got into.
Wonder what's her back story? I always thought about her like
what happened to her? Where did she end up?
Did she become another missing person?
Did she ever get out of the clutches of this whatever, you
know, thing that she was involved in?
Because it again, I've worked in a lot of bars I've seen and I've
been friends with a lot of different sex workers because
they come to your nightclubs. Some of them are normal, nice
women, right? They choose a lifestyle, but
they, they, they're in control, right?
They don't have a pimp. Also seeing the opposite, you
know, a drugged out zombie, you know, under the thumb of a
really dangerous, scary dude. You know, I'm from a place where
a lot of people go missing. I wanted to share that story
because again, it's not like I saw anything really.
I saw a big giant dude. Always been very adopt at
reading people. It was one of the most
psychologically unsettling things I've ever seen in my
life. And I can't quite put a finger
on it. And like I said, even the cab
driver was freaked because that that was like witnessing
something. It was like it was something
like out of a David Lynch movie. That's the best way to describe
it. Anyways, thanks for listening.