Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental? Subscribe to Tenderfoot Plus to get early access to episodes, add free listening and bonus scary stories. Visit TenderfootPlus.com for details. Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental. At Radio Rental, our videos come to life in your living room. Defy all logic and reasoning and make you question your own reality. This is not your ordinary video rental store. At Radio Rental, we carry one of our kind videos, so frightening, so mind-bending, you won't be able to sleep at night. You've gone. Radio Rental. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hey, hey, hey, you, whoever you are, over here, in here, in here. Let me out. You've got to open the door, please. Is that you, my dear customer? Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to see you. Well, of course, I don't really see you yet, because I'm stuck in this God forsaken hallway behind this door. I can't see anything except beans and monsters. I'll get to that later. If you aren't one of my regular patrons and you're new here, well, then what I have to say to you is welcome to Radio Rental, a video shop with a collection of exclusive tapes with horror stories all told by real people, I'm Terry Carnation, your host and shopkeeper, and I'm usually a lot more hospitable, but as you can see, I'm currently trapped in a hallway. I said, I'm trapped in a hallway. Thank you very much. Freak. So, yeah, I'm stuck. I guess you can just rob me blind. Please don't, though. Please don't do that. Please don't rob me blind. Please, and there's nothing in the register. You know, better yet, can you just jiggle the door handle if you're there? If you don't mind. Huh. Locked from both sides. You should have known. As you may remember, last we saw each other, I had found a door in my shop that I had never seen before, and the door led to a seemingly endless hallway, and I was so drawn to the sirens call of this hallway that I foolishly stepped inside and, well, let's just say, I'm not alone in here. I'm not talking about you, Malachi. Yes, my fair-weather feline friend Malachi is here with me as well, but I'm talking about the other thing that's in here as well. You see, Malachi and I have been held prisoner in here with this monster. I can really only describe it as some sort of abstract manifestation of my deepest fears and longings, that somehow lives at the end of this liminal hallway. You know, normal regular everyday stuff. At Radio Rental, we call it Tuesday. But anyway, I need out. You won't believe how long I've been in here. I have been in here for Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday. According to the marks on the wall, I've been here for exactly 119 days, and all we've had to eat is garbanzo beans, and not even a blender so we can make some convenient hummus, just the beans, no tahini, no lemon, no parsley, no pine nuts, nothing. Just some reason, giant stack of camp garbanzo beans in here. Goya, if you're listening, love your beans, man. Keep it up. Great work. Love the beans. And fortunately, there was a can opener. I'm filled with gratitude. We're so lucky to have these beans, this can opener. I wish I had a spoon, but you know, beggars can't be choosers. Good Lord. Get me the hell out of here, please. I mean, time flies when you're having fun. Hey, hey, you have to get me out of here. I'm being out of hostage, but we can't make it seem like anything's out of the ordinary. Love the hallway and the beans. It's so fun. I feel like I'm in a carnival funhouse. Just play alone. It's like a carnival funhouse. It's like a hall of mirrors without the mirrors. It's just the hall. Yeah. So here's what you do. Pop in one of those horror tapes from my special collection and let's kick things off with a ban. The monster seems to enjoy the stories. So go ahead and pick up any tape you'd like. Not that one. One to the left. A little more to the left. Yep. There you go. There you go. I can tell by the sound which tape you are going to best enjoy. Nice. Good choice. Pop it in the VCR and let us launch this episode. When I was a teenager, my family moved from Australia to New Zealand. We moved to a really beautiful part of the south of Sydney. We were near a lot of beaches. Our home specifically was near an inlet, which is kind of where the ocean meets a river system and it creates this really beautiful and unique ecosystem. A lot of mangroves, a lot of really tall trees are right up to the water's edge, rocks along the shoreline. The water kind of comes away this beautiful, emerald color. My dad and I went out every weekend during the summer holidays, wakeboarding. But I always most look forward to our Saturday morning session and normally meant we could spend a little bit more time out on the water. It took me to our usual place, which was the best wakeboarding but unfortunately, summer holidays it was just full of people. I remember our boat turning the corner and it was like a NASCAR racetrack. There were just jet skis looping this piece of water. There were people out on inflatable, people swimming all over the place, having the best time. But if you want to rip around on a wakeboard, it's probably not safe. We made our way sort of back home, poking our nose into like different inlets and areas, trying to find a space that would be good for just like a quick session before we had home. We found one close to home and it was just on the inlet behind a little cliff face. Much quieter, we weren't meant to be there, but because there were no properties, no signage either, there was only a buoy which indicates that you're not meant to have an engine at a particular speed within that area. But because there was no one around, you know, it wasn't hurting anyone for us to be there, we weren't going to be bothering anyone. I grabbed my board, I just checked that it's all good. And just before I slipped off the back of the boat, I grabbed the tow rope. My dad took me around for a quick loop. I was so set on landing a particular trick, like a 360 with a little grab. That was all that was on my mind, was landing this particular trick. The water was so still that day, so it was a great day to be trying something new and just messing around. I just kind of lost focus for a little bit. I came off the little bit of wake to get a bit of air. And when I landed, I absolutely ate it. The edge of my board caught and I just slapped the surface with what felt like my face. I just went straight down quite deep into the water. My board came off when the edge caught. It was a mess. I poked my head out of the water, looked to the right. My board was floating away, upright, about four meters away. I kind of was like checking my head, just feeling wiped out. My dad was 30 meters ahead of me, turning around so that he could reverse the boat back up to me to pick me up. So just as I'm kind of floating there waiting for my dad to bring the boat around, I was thinking about going to get my board. That's when I looked ahead of myself and saw the. The water ripple in a really strange way. Fish touched the surface all the time. In this particular area we were at, there were flying fish that would sometimes leave the surface and make really interesting splashes and sounds and things. But this was different. The water surged powerfully. And it went in two different directions. That struck me because I'd never seen that before. And it also created what I imagined water would move like for a creature with a large tail. As that happened, I saw a mud plume starting to come up from beneath the surface. This mud plume was about two meters by two meters and it just mushroomed to make this giant cloud underneath the surface. Which made me think, okay. This could be a shock. I look to the boat. It's still maybe 30 meters away at this point. But I can see my dad's face. And I was horrified to see that he was frozen. His eyes were so full of fear. His lip was quivering. I could tell that he was absolutely terrified. My fear was completely confirmed by the look that I saw on his face. I took off. I started swimming as fast as I could toward the boat. 20 or 30 meters is starting to feel like miles at this point. I needed to see my feet. I needed to see where my legs were. I flipped up onto my back. So I'm kind of in a sitting position in the water. As I've done that, I'm now looking behind the boat. I can't see the boat anymore. Two meters now in front of me is just a big splash of water as if something's changed direction. And I think in that point, I knew that I was being circled. And that's when I just started thrashing. I'm freaking out, I'm fighting in every direction. But still trying to kind of almost survival stroke my way towards the boat. This thing has now dived beneath the surface and is probably going to come up beneath me and take a chunk out of me. That's it, this is all over. I'm maxed out on fear. In my head, this thing's already here. It's already nearby. The splash was close enough that I already feel like it's right behind me. I felt the boat hit me. I didn't even notice how close the boat had gotten a piece of the propeller hit my upper right shoulder. There's a little ladder and I grabbed that ladder and I'm pulling myself up. I'm kicking as hard as I can to go upwards. My dad just yanked me, ripped me out of the water, threw me into the boat. When I was sat, he was holding my shoulder and his hand was just shaking. He was terrified. He's not looking at me, he's just looking down, he looks like he's about to be sick. I got up and walked to the back of the boat and started pulling in the tow rope as if I was going to jump in and go again or go get my board. My dad's eyes are locked on me at this point because all he wants to do is make sure I'm safe and I'm fairly sure with the amount of adrenaline running through his body, he's at a place now where he's just in complete protector mode. I'm just pulling in this rope and then I make a motion to him with my head as if I'm going to jump in the water and get my board. He shot up as quickly as he could, he grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back into the boat. I sort of stumbled into a nearby seat and he looked me straight in the face and said no. We were both so terrified that we left without getting my wakeboard. On the boat ride home, we both had a moment where I could see we were visibly really upset. We were both pretty misty-eyed. There was a bit of a wave of emotion of sadness and I guess fear. And I think that was the emotions kicking in after the adrenaline and realizing how close something truly horrible was to happening. A couple of weeks later, I was talking to our neighbor. I told her what had happened. She had lived there her entire life, I think she was almost 70 and her entire face just went white as a ghost. She looked me straight in the eyes and normally had the demeanor of this very sweet old lady and she just said never swim there again. That area of water that we had found was where the saltwater meets the freshwater, so it's known to be a breeding ground and a feeding ground of tiger sharks. The way a tiger shark is known to attack is that it circles, it rips, it malls, it takes parts of you in chunks and it's a slower, much more horrific attack. They are known to be incredibly aggressive. That area of water was rumored to have been a place where people had lost their dogs. She told me a family took their dog along the pontoon, the dog jumped off the pontoon and was known for diving under the surface and coming back up and it just never resurfaced. The worst thing she taught me was that only a couple of years before my dad and I had gone out there for a wakeboard. A girl swimming with her father actually passed away when a tiger shark took her leg while she was swimming. I was completely freaked out just to know that we were swimming in such a dangerous area. Still sends a chill down my spine whenever I think about it. Years later, since there have been a few attacks, that area has now been marked with a sign that says not safe for swimming and a big hazard sign showing a shark. So it has been recognised not just by neighbours and local knowledge, but even years later it's been recognised by the Council of Government as an area that is not safe for swimming due to shark activity. My dad, he does not like talking about it, he hates it when it comes up. I don't think he likes imagining what could have happened or what he thought could have eventuated. I can see my dad gets visibly uncomfortable anytime I mention that I've been surfing in the morning. He doesn't like thinking about me in ocean water at all. I told him recently I was going surfing and he invited me for a game of golf instead, and he keeps trying to invite me to games of golf any time I tell him I'm going surfing. I don't like golf, he knows that, I think he just doesn't want me in the water. Well you know what, I don't like golf either, but it sure as hell beats a missing limb. Actually, you know what I don't know about that, I'd probably give up a few fingers and toes, maybe even half a hand before you'd catch me out on my links, a lot disgusting. I mean, what kind of respectable sport requires you to be followed around by a man carrying your bag? And you have to wear a polo, the little logo on the nipple, I'm personally offended by coloured shirts. You already know, it's turtlenecks for me folks. Slims the neck, but I digress who that story was terrifying, was it not? As the legendary Roy Shider said, you're going to need a bigger boat or something like that. And you know the film I'm referring to, at least I hope you do. *singing* *singing* Ow, ow, fuck, Melchite, god. What the hell? Ah! Melchite, you bit me. What the hell, Jerk, I was just playing around, I don't actually want to roleplay jaws. You need to start asking for consent. You touched me inappropriately. Now, it's time for us to play you the listener some ads, whether you consent to it or not. Oh, did you enjoy those ads? Hmm, fun, huh? Fun to listen to must be nice. It must be real nice out there on the outside listening to those ads. I wish I could buy all kinds of vitamins for my wellness and products, various products.
Okay, listen, here's a plan, I've got a plan. You're going to pop in another tape, because like I said, the thing down the hallway seems to enjoy listening to these creepy horror stories, and when it's distracted, I'm going to slip you a bobby pin, and I'm going to ask you to pick the lock. Do you know how to pick a lock? No, don't answer. Just I need you to pick the lock. So what, Malachi, so what if I wear a bobby pin or two, huh? Have you seen this luxurious hair? Sometimes it gets in my eyes when I'm doing my New York Times minis, and I need to pin it back. What of it? You don't hear me complaining about your mangy fur. Okay, fine, I do bring up your mangy fur quite a bit, but two wrongs don't make a right, is what I'm saying. No, customer, whoever you are, nameless customer, pop in the next tape, and we're going to shawl shank our way out of here. Well, it's close enough, we're going to great escape our way out of here, insert whichever prison movie you want. Anyway, next tape! I had been working in a job that required me to travel a lot. I was doing international travel, a lot of domestic travel, going all over the world, multiple trips a year. And I had always wanted to take my family to small children and my wife on a vacation. We had finally saved up enough to go on a trip to Europe. We were super excited to get going on the trip. The day of the trip came, we went to the airport. Our flight left at about 10.30 pm, which is pretty late for two small children. We figured they would sleep on the plane two year up and we would be able to get going in the next morning and just have a great time for the two weeks over Christmas. After the flight took off, everything seemed normal. About an hour into the flight though, I noticed a commotion six or seven rows ahead of me in the airplane. Someone up there had fainted, which I thought was strange, but I didn't want to make a big deal of it because I was sitting next to my five-year-old daughter and I didn't want her to freak out, because it was her first trip on an airplane. I didn't say anything, I just kind of was watching. They called for a doctor, the doctor came. Things kind of settled down, went back to normal. They served the meal. I put on a movie for me and my daughter. My wife and my younger daughter were sitting behind us. About halfway through the movie, I suddenly started not feeling well. I felt nauseous. I got up and I went to go to the bathroom. All the bathrooms were currently occupied. As I was waiting, the feeling of nausea changed to more of a feeling of I was starting to get tunnel vision. At that moment, I turned back towards the cabin. I got down on my knees and put my head between my knees to just keep myself from fainting. But then I was afraid that I would make a scene on the airplane. I decided I needed to get back to my seat. I stood up and instant lights out. That's what I fainted. Next thing I know, I'm lying on the floor. I didn't know where I was. Life was just so blurry and out of focus at that point. Everything seemed so dim and dark. I had a tendency where I gathered around me, trying to help me wake up, sticking ice cubes down my back. I really didn't understand what was happening. I was so confused and I was in pain. In my leg, in my ankle, in my face. I asked what had happened and one of the flight attendants told me that I had fainted. And my face had smashed the flight attendant's phone off the wall. At that point, I was wanting to get back to my seat. My leg hurt so bad I couldn't get up. And I realized there was something terribly wrong with my leg. My ankle really hurt. As well as just below my knee. The flight attendants all thought it was hilarious. They were laughing. They were like, oh, you're just not used to flying. I told them I fly all the time for work. This is what I do. I didn't believe that there were being like that about an hour in my wife had been watching a movie and she realized that I hadn't come back. She went back to find me and she found me on the floor. Realized I was in shock and asked for them to get me a blanket. During that time while I was lying on the floor, another gentleman came back there, complaining that he wasn't feeling well and he actually fainted next to me in the galley. They were able to catch him before he hit the floor. They were giving him water, giving him sugar, trying to keep his blood sugar higher. I was there for probably three hours of the seven hour flight on the floor in front of the bathroom. They decided that they wanted to do the meal service before landing. So they asked me to go back and have me walk back to my seat. When I got to my seat, I ended up going into shock again and I fainted again. I ended up vomiting all over myself. My wife who was behind me, she actually had grabbed my forehead so that I didn't asphyxiate. At that point, they decided to call the doctor for me. The doctor came and he checked me out, trying to figure out what was wrong, checked my blood sugar, checked my heart rate, everything was normal. As the flight went on, I was slipping in and out of consciousness and I remember hearing sounds of people vomiting, sounds of people screaming, children crying, grown adults crying, flight attendance, calling for doctors, frantically running up and down the aisles, caring for different people, the number of sick bags that were being used at that moment, it was shocking. As we were coming in for a landing, there was a bad storm hitting the airport where we were landing and there was a lot of turbulence at that moment, bouncing around, dropping and rising. Every bump of the plane, people were screaming, people were vomiting. I was fully in my mind convinced that the end was coming. I was going to die. Finally, the plane landed. They offloaded most of the passengers and I couldn't get up. I was lying on the seat until the paramedics came on the plane and began taking my vital signs, asking me questions, trying to gauge what was going on. They then carried me off the plane straight into an ambulance and took me to the hospital. They were doing all sorts of tests on me. They had to do X-rays on my legs. When I had fainted, I had actually fallen and broken my tibia.
as well as a Class III tear in my ankle and mild swelling in my face from breaking the phone off. They began to put the plaster cast on me and in this time I had nothing but time to do some research. I had my phone with me, started by searching the model of the plane that we were on and then the keywords fainting and nausea. And when I did that the search results immediately were all news reports about this particular model of plane having circulation issues with the air conditioning system where the air goes through the engines and burnt oil was getting vaporized and put into the air system and then pumped into the cabin of the airplane. And there were multiple articles talking about how this had caused people to get sick, people to have nausea. Plains had been diverted because the pilots had fainted. This had been an ongoing problem and the airline and the airplane manufacturer were sweeping it under the rug. I read the news articles talking about how planes had been diverted because the pilots had fainted. Plains had been diverted because the whole crew had been sick, had it not just been me and the passengers around me they got sick but if the pilots had been sick, if the flight attendants had gotten sick. What if both of the pilots had fainted? It really made me realize just how close I was to death. Snakes on a plane, more like this morning's frosted flakes on a plane, a good one classic. Fascinating. I'm never eating on a plane again. In fact, I'm never flying on a plane again. You have my commitment about that. I never fly actually. I go greyhound and leave the driving to a man named Mort with a prison record. Well, let's cut to some ads while I cancel all of my upcoming travel plans. Shall we? Okay, okay. Picky-picky. Picky-picky. Good, good, good. There we go. There we go. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Yes. That's it. One more twist to the right. You've almost got it. Come on. Oh my god, freedom, sweet freedom. Oh, Malachi, come on, quickly, quickly before. Come on, run. Malachi, run. Quick, quick, quick, quick. It's coming on us. Gas through the portal. Come on. Oh, you. Oh my god. Another close encounter for Terry. Oh, whoa. Never a dull day. And you can expect plenty more of these supernatural shenanigans around here at Radio Rental. Let me tell you. Oh, thank you so much, my dear friend, for helping me escape. I really do owe you one here. Take some jelly ballies. No, no, I insist. No, you're going to stay in there. Whatever you are, you're going to think about what you've done. No more luring for you. You're not luring me or anyone else. That's right. See how it feels? Come on Malachi, let's get something to eat. I'm craving the hummus platter. How odd. How is that even possible? You know, scientists have recently taken calling the gut the second brain. Do you know that Malachi? Of course you did. Meow, meow. Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. Lead producer is Eric Kintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright, hosted by Rain Wilson as his character, Terry Carnation, written and produced by Meredith Stedman, additional writing by Mark Locklin. Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan. Associate producer is Joja Muhammad, editing by Eric Kintana, Mike Rooney, Stephen Perez, and Meredith Stedman. Sound design by Cooper Skinner, with additional sound design by Stephen Perez and April Ruha. Mixed in master by Cooper Skinner, with additional mixing by Stephen Perez and Devin Johnson. Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set, with additional score by J. Ragsdale. Video editing by Dylan Harrington, cover artwork by Trevor Eiler and Rob Sheridan. Special thanks to Orrin Rosenbaum and the team at UTI, the Nord Group, station 16, back media and marketing, and the team at Odyssey. If you have a radio rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at
[email protected] or contact us via the form on our website, radiorentalusa.com. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at radio rental. You can also follow the illustrious Terry Carnation on social media, just search at Terry Carnation. On behalf of the radio rental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate, and review. Thanks for listening.
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