In this episode of The Unnatural Selection, a couple wakes to find a silent, grinning creature standing at the foot of their bed. The science segment discusses medical conditions that can become deadly once symptoms appear. The episode examines brain aneurysms and rabies, explaining how these conditions can exist silently and why outcomes can be catastrophic once they manifest.

Trigger warnings: this episode contains gore and psychological horror

My website: https://mnclarke-shortstories.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheUnnaturalSelectionPodcast

"It's Here" was also featured in-

ScareYouToSleep-Episode 351: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LtJJLK5GIRvsvhvH5VYeh?si=JA4bgSF6SzqzE06dncLdvw

NoSleep Podcast-S20E20: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4RrQvmUPf6BUNrFf5PKTt8?si=RXVoG1CaTiCqSz8uQhFBEA

Citations:

Raaymakers TW, Rinkel GJ, Limburg M, Algra A. Mortality and morbidity of surgery for unruptured intracranial aneurysms: a meta-analysis. Stroke. 1998 Aug;29(8):1531-8. doi: 10.1161/01.str.29.8.1531. PMID: 9707188.

https://www.barrowneuro.org/condition/brain-aneurysm/#:~:text=The%20survival%20rate%20of%20a,over%20the%20last%2020%20years.

Rupprecht CE. Rhabdoviruses: Rabies Virus. In: Baron S, editor. Medical Microbiology. 4th edition. Galveston (TX): University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; 1996. Chapter 61.Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8618/

From the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR), Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology Society of Europe (CIRSE), Canadian Interventional Radiology Association (CIRA), Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT), European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR), European Stroke Organization (ESO), Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery (SNIS), and World Stroke Organization (WSO); Sacks D, Baxter B, Campbell BCV, Carpenter JS, Cognard C, Dippel D, Eesa M, Fischer U, Hausegger K, Hirsch JA, Shazam Hussain M, Jansen O, Jayaraman MV, Khalessi AA, Kluck BW, Lavine S, Meyers PM, Ramee S, Rüfenacht DA, Schirmer CM, Vorwerk D. Multisociety Consensus Quality Improvement Revised Consensus Statement for Endovascular Therapy of Acute Ischemic Stroke. Int J Stroke. 2018 Aug;13(6):612-632. doi: 10.1177/1747493018778713. Epub 2018 May 22. PMID: 29786478.

Licenses:

Sound effects from ⁠Pixabay.com⁠

Theme "Horror" by The_Mountain ⁠https://pixabay.com/music/horror-scene-horror-375975/⁠

All music and effects within Creative Commons license 0

A retired cop takes a security job at a classified desert research facility — and discovers something buried far older than humanity was ever meant to find. When a massive stone “wall” is excavated and brought inside, it begins to grow… and assimilate.

After the story, we explore the real science behind biological assimilation — from deep-sea anglerfish that permanently fuse with their mates, to documented cases of human chimerism where two individuals become one body.

What doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger.

It assimilates.

Trigger warning: body horror

(FYI: The name of the anglerfish’s lure is an “esca”.)

My website: https://mnclarke-shortstories.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheUnnaturalSelectionPodcast

Citations:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bizarre-sex-helped-anglerfish-diversify-and-dominate-the-deep-sea-study-suggests-180984449/

Brownstein CD, Zapfe KL, Lott S, Harrington R, Ghezelayagh A, Dornburg A, Near TJ. Synergistic innovations enabled the radiation of anglerfishes in the deep open ocean. Curr Biol. 2024 Jun 3;34(11):2541-2550.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.066. Epub 2024 May 23. PMID: 38788708.

Pietsch, T. Dimorphism, parasitism, and sex revisited: modes of reproduction among deep-sea ceratioid anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes). Ichthyol Res 52, 207–236 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-005-0286-2

Yu N, Kruskall MS, Yunis JJ, Knoll JH, Uhl L, Alosco S, Ohashi M, Clavijo O, Husain Z, Yunis EJ, Yunis JJ, Yunis EJ. Disputed maternity leading to identification of tetragametic chimerism. N Engl J Med. 2002 May 16;346(20):1545-52. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa013452. PMID: 12015394.

License:

Sound effects from ⁠Pixabay.com⁠

Theme "Horror" by The_Mountain ⁠https://pixabay.com/music/horror-scene-horror-375975/⁠

All music and effects within Creative Commons license 0

This week, I narrate the opening one and a half chapters of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, setting the stage for Stevenson’s slow-burn descent into duality and dread—no science segment this episode, just the story.

My website: https://mnclarke-shortstories.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheUnnaturalSelectionPodcast

License:

Sound effects from ⁠⁠Pixabay.com⁠⁠

Theme "Horror" by The_Mountain ⁠⁠https://pixabay.com/music/horror-scene-horror-375975/⁠⁠

All music and effects within Creative Commons license 0