The Sandman | CreepCast

[Music] Welcome back to Dreamcast! Today we're going to be reading a classic. Sandman. I say I know that you've read this one before. Yes, so this one is all the way back from 2013 and is upload to creepypasta.com. And the author is Tam Lynn and then they have no other stories posted and no information that I could find. Yeah, at least so this is like one of the OG like anonymous author uploads something scary and this got covered by a little like creepypasta reading channels and stuff like that. So this is one of the classics. I mean, we're looking at the rating here 9.04 out of 10 on creepypasta wiki or creepypasta.com. Which can go either way, remember because sometimes. Well, I'm sure this instantly recognizable classic from June 17th, 2013 will be flawless in its execution. I will say, I hope. I know you've read it, so don't spoil this for me. But I do hope that somehow, some way there is. There's nothing more scary. Well, that's not true. There's a lot of scary things. I think what's something that's scary is. Do you have like somebody watching while you sleep? There's nothing scary than a person watching while you sleep. But I mean, there's a lot of. I mean, there's far more things that are more frightening than that. But the concept of someone watching you while you sleep fucks me up. I don't know, like out of a lot of things that are like scary tropes. That's one that really bugs me. And I'm hoping that this one goes to like, yeah, just like a 60-year-old like Polish guy just standing in a corner being like, "Get to sleep." Gold. Is that your idea of like the ultimate form of fear of an old Polish man? Yeah, some Eastern European guy eating a raw potato in a corner. And telling him to go to sleep, go to sleep. I watched "Nose for R2" last night. And now my head is just all under the kind of voice. "Go to sleep." "Go to sleep." Let's cut Chinese. "Go to sleep." I didn't cut that. "Chinese." No, I don't cut that. "Chinese." "Nose for R2." There it is. I was trying to prime it. She would get to that. No, no, no. But yeah. I don't know. I hope it goes there. Dreamed, you know, I don't know how much of a fan. We've covered some stories right where it's like, "Oh, have we ever really covered a story that's like, "Oh, I'm dreaming." And what's. Like, kind of like a nuts. I mean, it's been an element in some stories. I feel like it was an element to the death girl in my yard. It's the best friend I've ever had. We tried to read that story bedtime. That's one of the classics. And you got so mad. Also one. Yeah. Bedtime. Dear viewers, you have to realize bedtime was a tough episode. It was not. It was not. We did not make it through bedtime. And I will say, I think it was like number one on creepypasta.com. So it's one of the tops of all times. It's one of the top. I think it's actually. You just spy. People ask us to cover it all the time. I'm like. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe it was a bad day. We revisit it. I don't know. Um. Mommy shit. Should we start going then? Yeah. I was trying to look up. I was trying to look up an author to see how many stories we've covered from them. And thank God the creepycast wiki has all the information that I've ever forgotten about myself. So. Yeah. I don't remember two days ago. I let alone. So when people were like, "Remember this episode?" I'm. No. I don't. I don't remember anything. Right. It's just my brain is. It's mush. It's not good. It's a bad brain. No sleep. Horrible diet. That'll do it to you. It makes your brain. My brain is smooth. Like a bowling ball. How am I even able to talk? I don't know. I do want to say, because I saw a post about it. Um. The author. Whose name I should remember right now. The author. The thing in my basement takes a step closer. After we covered it on creepcast, you guys threw that to. How are you? The Amazon bestseller list. Yeah. How pretty is that? Yeah. Yeah. You guys are awesome for that. That's very. Yeah. I have all of everyone. Yeah. The fucking incredible, man. Uh. Fucking. Marcus Cleaver. Marcus Cleaver. That's his name. Marcus Cleaver. Yeah. Uh. It's on the USA today's bestselling book list. That's what it was. Yeah. Pretty awesome. Have you guys haven't checked it out yet? Please check out some of the books that we suggested. It's like, I used to live here, right? And then it was. Are we used to live here? Yeah. And the caretaker. The caretaker, and we used to live here, uh. Are both of his books. I mean, you know, the proof is in the pudding when the man took a. Takes a step in my basement. Great fucking episode. Love that people also responded to it so well as much as we did. Um. So very, very cool. And also just, you know, most fucking supportive community on the internet. Yeah. Swear to God, it's insane. So very, very cool. Appreciate that. Um. Also, check us out on Spotify, you know? Maybe you're watching our ugly faces and you say, God, how do I. How do I listen to this podcast without having to see this grotesque pale, curly-headed fuck that's in front of me? Well, Spotify. Well, to be fair, there's video there, too, but you can just listen to it without the video. So there you go. Uh. Pretty good sell. We also have. I know this has been pretty. I know. I know this has been dynamic as fuck so far. And you're probably wondering, God, how do I get extra of this? Well, we have a page beyond where we have extra episodes. We just uploaded the Pastel Man. Uh, there are yesterday, I believe, and it's been fun seeing people react to that. Vincent VKva, one of the, uh, one of the OG goats who I read all the time when I was younger, one of his favorite childhood authors there. He's, uh, and the Pastel Man was one I really enjoyed, so he just uploaded that to Patreon. Yeah, that was one of our last, uh, batch of, like, in-person recordings, too. So if that interests you, feel free to check out that episode on patreon.com/creencast. Otherwise, Isaiah, let's get into it. Let's read the Sandman. Let's read the Sandman and see if this is actually any good at all. Yeah, dude. You want to sit concert Metallica 1991 Moscow, when they played for like a million people, and there's like fucking combat helicopters flying over and they open the show with that song. Look it up. It's sick. Okay. We ready? I guess, um, the story opens with a quote, so it's all you. Okay. It's Edgar out in push. I make them like done. Galk. Sure. Those who dream by day or cogs of many things escape those who dream only at night. And grill and poe. As he famously said, and sounded like, yeah, I'm dead as fucking the streets right now, dude. Yeah, he's fucking. I mean, it was a hero. Yeah, this fucking opium is fucking me up big time dog. Don't talk about him like that. Yeah. That's the Raven author. Yeah. That's the right. I'm excited. I wrote the Raven. He wrote the telltale heart. Show some respect. Yeah. Never more. Yeah. Never more of my life for our flag. Never more of my mind opium from a Chinaman and a fucking back alley bar. Never more. Now I want to now I want to hear the entire Ravenpone with that voice off the Raven. I'm fucked. I mean, that's kind of the sort of the synopsis of the story. I would say. I'm pretty much. Yo, my binge fucking died and I'm bummed. Why the fuck's there a bird in my library? That's pretty much the right. Never more. Yeah. Yeah. Never more. Yeah. What the fuck you could talk? Yeah. This is how to say. You want to fight? I think you want to fight me right now? I just love him. I think I did have him with like a pen and quill. He's like writing. Yeah. This shit's fucking spooky. Yo. I'm fucking scared myself right now, man. Yeah. I'm fucking scared. Hope I don't have no nightmare tonight. Come on. That's like Bam. Or cheer. Yeah. Hey, Phil. Hey. Yeah. We're gonna. We're gonna. We're gonna fuck with a before she has to get up to work for work. We released an all-knowing Raven into her room. Yeah. We put it. Yeah. We put a demonic raven in Abe's room. Phil has to get up in two hours for work. Come on. Bam. Come on. Come on. Bam. Never more. Bam. Get the bird at the room. He comes in. Hair line off. Fuck. Get her gone. Yo, Dan. I'm an author. Yo, Dan. I like to write stories now. Look at me write this book. I like to write creepy stories in Baltimore. I'm going to die outside of it. That's so crazy. That's how it started. Also, we've made one quote. Let's keep going. It's another quote. God damn it. "Go to bed and wait for the same man." Even as it came out of James' mouth, it seemed to him a strange thing to say. He was not sure why he had. But for some reason, it worked. Daniel went to bed. Next morning, though, he asked, "What does the same man look like?" James was making breakfast. Daniel sat at the table, short legs, swinging under his chair. Nothing really. It's just an expression. What does it mean? Just some people say. But a plate of eggs in front of Daniel and kissed him on the top of his head. He thought that'd be the end of it. Until he saw the same man for himself. Wait a second. Wait a second. Can I just say that? Did a child just say. Did a child just say, "It's just an expression?" No, James is the dad. Okay, so James said, "Joke." It's just an expression. James just told his son, "Go to bed and wait for the same man." And then his son's like, "What's that? What's he look like? What's it mean?" His dad's like, "It's just an expression." For a second, I thought the child was like, "I don't know, dad. It's an idea. It's more of an ideology." He's like, "It's more of a concept. It's a paradox. It's like light. It is, but it isn't. It's a wave." It is a string across the wall backwards. There are also the little backwards like a land grab. Son, son! Yeah. No, no! Yeah, get the fuck down from there. Yeah, this is fucking annoying. The pay interest is that girl in Pholos. Yeah, ban on that day, ban on that day, ban on that day, ban on that day. Yeah, this is like that Raven thing I wrote about. Yeah, dad, I'm gonna go do a black bird's dead. I'm seeing him black birds. That help. That help. That I was laughing at that line until he saw the Sanman for himself. That's very classic like scary story set up, but it also reads like the creature that he'd be fine. That's before he got hit by the creature. Yeah. Yeah, he was eating his scramby eggs, but then he saw the creature. Yeah, he was crossing the street, but it turns out the creature was driving a tractor trailer with no brakes. Yeah, the creature had just purchased a 1995 Chevy Astro with a bad transmission. I thought it would be safe to cross the street. That's when I realized the creature had gotten his CDL. You know, get the fuck out the way. That's what the creature sounds like. You know, BB, I'm driving here. I like, I like someone trucking towards a group of kids crossing the street and they say out loud. Beep, beep. I'm driving. Get out the way. All the time in the world to stop doesn't. If you had the much time to, I mean, and I don't want to put the blame on the children, but could they have not a ran out of the way? Yeah, what kind of dumb kid doesn't know how traffic laws work? Well, I just, I mean, how far away is he? Is he pretty far? No, you're right. It should be victims. It should be victims, I think. I just want victim blaming the children who should have, who should have dive rolled tucked and rolled out of the way. Yeah, it's exactly. Yeah, it has to be like a random thing. Any survival instinct, exactly. He was getting ready for bed and stopped by Daniel's dream to check on him while he slept as he often did. It was such a routine precaution that when he saw a pale naked man sitting on the edge of Daniel's bed. We're rocking back and forth. Oh, my God. It took a moment for him to process what he was saying. You're saying these are good stories. They did not have time to goof around. Oh, my God. Look, we're here. The monsters here. Let's get into it. Oh, my God. I mean, it was one scramby egg breakfast. I'm being like, what does the same man look like? I don't know. Well, he looks like a 53 year old naked man, dude. This is pretty close to your Polish to your old Polish guy. If he busts on a potato, I'm dying. There's a potato eaten in this episode. The show is done. I want you to know that right now. That's just real. I also love it. It took me a moment for him to process what he was seeing. So I like that. He goes up to the doorway. He looks in. There's like a kid basically sleeping with a full-fledged naked adult on it. Yeah, what the hell? Hold on. Yeah, this is, okay, this is odd. Wait, hold on, this is a naked guy. It took him that long to realize that his child's in danger. I control search the word potato. And there was a user named potato who called it. So do we have to end the show now? No, no, no, no. I'm saying if the same man was like he should have bought the same man. Took out like a rust potato from his crack or something. And then just like start eating it. He'd be like, wait, stop, at least done. That's too big of a bear trap. We're done. Yeah. He reacted the way any father would, of course. He ran into the room screaming. For a moment, he thought about attacking the intruder. But then the man on the bed turned. And that's when James saw that it wasn't really a man. It was a pale slithery thing. Hairedless of war. It's lots of joints turned the wrong way. He's probably out of shape. Okay, all right, I need a lock in. Here's it. I have to justify myself a bit. Finish this paragraph real quick, though, because this is, it's good. It's joints turned the wrong way. And it's body out of shape with itself. When it moved, it was like an insane Marion that dancing on a stage. That's a lot of emotions going on once seen. There's a lot happening in one paragraph. Yeah, he, he, I look at that. He reacts and he does. That's actually almost a sentence. That entire paragraph is nearly one sentence. What I love about it, though, is that like he's like, he reacted to you way, dad. When he's like, "Ah!" And then his screams of anger probably turn to screams of terror. When they fucking like, I don't know, vegan alien body man turned around. You have to talk about the vegan body, where it's like, they're really skinny, but they have like a pot belly. Like they got like, it's like kind of like an alien body. I like to think he turned around that was a slithery face. And then the dad was like, "Ah!" He was freaking out. And then the kid is still sleeping through all this. It's insane. It's so good. It's also like with these old stories, the context it was being approached in was so different. Because this was such a niche corner of the internet. And everyone would take it super seriously all the time. I love it. So like a sentence in there would have read more like, like you'd have creepy music playing. And the reader would be like, "It was a pale, slithery thing, hairless and warped. Its joints turned the wrong way." It'd be like that. Rather than, "We'll do the read it all at once." If you have that context though, Isaiah read the story like that. And that's the way we should be reading it. 100%. I'll give this next paragraph a chance. I'll give it a chance. James froze. The skittering thing watched him. He felt spreading warmth. And he realized he pissed his pants. (laughter) Reading it slower. Reading it slower was too much of a good competing beat. He realized. He pissed his pants. Aw, fuck. Oh, darn it. He looked up at the creature and said, "I can't believe you just pissed my pants." (laughter) I pissed my pants. But then I found out it was the creature's pants. It was the creature's pants. Yeah, there it is. Only when he remembered that Daniel was still there in bed, staring at the broken shaped things sitting a foot away, did he regain the courage to move? He grabbed Daniel and ran. In the hall he turned to see if the thing would follow them. But it didn't. For a moment it watched and then moving like a stop motion nightmare. It crawled to the window and jumped out, leaving only the billowing curtains to market's passing. Okay. First off, the reading is way more effective that way, I think. So I think you should keep doing that move before. So first, I thought that this was going to be, because I would say typically the Sandman archetype is usually like an old old man. Like an old typically. Like what? Typically, yeah. Yeah, like an old bearded man, whatever, like usually resembling like, I don't know time or something like that. So to me, I thought that this was like a, not like a magic man. I thought it was like a manifestation or something, right? So when I heard just right now that, the creature just jumped out the window, I was a little surprised because I think to myself, where are you going? Where are you going? Where is this marionette vegan-bodied man going to run off to? Is what I want to know. He gets on the Chevy Astro and drives off. Yeah, eating meat is murder! He jumps out the window. It's just really like a huge peanut protester. Fucking, yeah. He's in there to kill their dog because it's like immoral to have pets or something. You know, the classic beat of protest. Yeah. The classic beat of protest. Well, we have to show how vicious it is. We have to do that because he'd want to be dead. Trust me. Yeah. He trust me. Look at him. He's so sad. He's like, looking up at him smiling. He's like, he's okay. Don't scream at me. I'll kill you soon. Doesn't know how bad he has. Yeah. Stupid little bastard doesn't realize he's being tortured. You hear that? You fucking idiot. You're sad! Sin, man. Peter, the title card. 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Their link will be in the description and we are now back to the episode. James had trouble talking to the police. He reported a break in, but when asked to describe the intruder, he didn't know what to say. How could he make the order? He didn't know who to say pissed his pants. How could he make the ordinary man in the blue uniform, setting out his kitchen table while two of his colleagues searched the house, understand the thing like he'd seen? Couldn't even understand it himself. I really hate that line, I really really hate the line, I mean, how could he make the ordinary man in the blue uniform just say the police officer? I mean, I mean, just say the police officer or did he work a jiffy loop? I'm not sure. He's trying to abstract the concept of police officer police officer. How can I convince the police when I just saw, like just say, just say that, dude, ordinary man. And how could I say that before to the man with skin and hair and a two pay and blue shirt? How could I convince him what I see and you're like, who are you talking to? Yeah. Polkadot knows. I thought he was talking to police. Yeah, that's pretty much what he's talking to. Okay. Why didn't you say that? Well, I have to go. Actually, I have a call. So one man, please, did you forget you're reading the same man? By the way, you pissed yourself. I did? No, I peed on you the same man I'm pissing every I'm pissing all over the police. Oh my god. Check your pants. Huh? Check again. Yeah. I have a drink, water in four days, it's all that spirit, guess, because I was mentioned I am in pita. Yeah, all I do is drink that's quick and red bull, say man, like that dude, every time say it man says, there's like a trumpet blayer and like a title card, say it man, or a harp, like a sleepy harp, say man. To make it worse, Daniel's memory did not correspond to James. He described an ordinary looking burglar, but man in a mask, James thought about it and had been a mask. What? No, it would have to have been a full costume in an elaborate one. Something like they would use for a movie and that would not explain the way it moved. But in the end, he simply echoed his son's testimony. A man in a mask, a burglar, fly unsettled him almost as much as what had happened. The doctor said Daniel wasn't hurt and showed no sense. I forgot where the doctor didn't hurt. Hey, here's the snap back to 2013. I gotta, I gotta reset it in the voice, I gotta reset it in the voice. The doctor said Daniel wasn't hurt, showed no signs of molestation. James was relieved. Oh my god, man, I, what a snap back. There was no signs of molestation. James was relieved. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They stayed at a motel for a couple of nights until they felt ready to come home, but then James had a new security system installed along with bars on the windows. They didn't like the side of them in Daniel's room, but it seemed like the only thing to do. James was frightened that first night back in the house, Daniel, strangely, is not. When asked if he felt okay sleeping alone, he just said, yes. In the end, it was James who found himself wishing he were not sleeping alone. It was up all night listening for the sound of anything moving in the house, although he had convinced himself that his memory was faulty and that it had been a normal, albeit probably deeply disturbed, man in the sun's room. When he closed his eyes, even for a moment, he pictured bloodless skin and a twisted in human face. He found himself wondering, why my house? Why my family? He knew, of course, that there didn't have to be a reason, but still you wondered. I mean, we could spend three hours just waiting on every weird sentence, structure and choice of words like you wondered why my family. And then the silence of, of course, he knew there didn't have to be, but I even say that I love, I really, really love, uh, uh, he convinced himself that his memory was faulty and that it had been a normal, it's like a normal naked man. I'll be a problem. I'll, I'll be a probably deeply disturbed. I can't confirm and I don't want to speculate on his mental state, but the naked man is bad. He probably was disturbed. I breeze by it earlier, but when it's like, it couldn't have been a mask. It would have had to be a whole costume. And then it says, it would have been a full costume on the elaborate one, something like they would use for a movie. It's like, yeah, I know what a costume is. Yeah, I get it. Yeah. It's a, it's a good costume. I got it. It's a believable costume. We're like, and it's it's like the lion settled him almost as much as what happened. It's like, are you sure? Probably something Harry Potter. There a fantasy film of some sort. He would look kind of like a whorecrox with a decent production value. This is that time. Spending morning. This is throwing me back to that investigator and the thing in the basement. Like it's better than we can people. Monster hunter. Huh? Yeah. Yeah. That's where we're at. Two weeks later, Daniel stopped talking. James did a notice at first. What do you mean? What do you mean? Just like that. Every sentence is about two weeks later, your son goes mute and you're like, I didn't really catch it at first. But the next, the next, the end of that sentence is kids went through quiet phases sometimes. Do they? What do you? What do you mean? I mean, I listen, listen, listen, listen, the way the rest of this reads. But eventually he tried to get Daniel to talk and he wouldn't. Eventually, it became clear that he couldn't. Like what? Like you go to your kid and you're like, hey, you want it, you want spaghetti for dinner? And he's like, and you're like, all right, meatballs. It is. Well, my little boy's growing up. This is his quiet phase. Yeah, the dad just talks in that voice normally for like normal interactions. Yeah. Do you want lasagna or pop dogs for dinner? It's like the sun's like right on a paper. He says pop dogs from dinner, question mark. All right. That's just hurdles it is. That's not what I said. I can't hear you. Yeah. I'm making pop cartels on. Yeah. I remember. I remember when I went through my blind death mute phase when I was a child, clasped into the best of us, having some. It's a puberty. What a concept. What a concept. Is that? Did you just make a max reference? Is that what that was? What is it? That nevermind. Back to the doctor, they went. Nothing wrong with him that we can see was the diagnosis. So it's not diagnosed. Okay. Was it the trauma? James asked could be they said sometimes these things are lately pretty, pretty good doctors. Is it a trauma? Really good. I don't know. Maybe. Could be. Could be. I don't know. Give him rid of it. Tell him to go to sleep. Thank you, doctor. Say, Matt, say. Children can be a miss miss. Gosh. Children can be a mystery, even to those who know the best. They recommended a child psychologist from James couldn't afford. He could not for that matter. Even a fourth bill. They were giving them now. Fuck off. It's always, it's always something extra. It's like we, we get it. You're not, he's not well off, you know? But I, if anything, it's actually kind of charming that every time you say something like, you say something like, it's like, I couldn't drink the glass of milk. And I couldn't even eat the slice of pizza because I was lactose intolerant. It's like, just fuck just rap. And then there would be another sentence after that that's like, in fact, I don't think I've could drink milk at all. Even before this. It's like, yeah, that's what lactose intolerant means. Yeah. Yeah. Nothing seemed to help. Daniel would write out answers to questions sometimes. But never more than a yes or no. James would ask me what was wrong. Or if he said, why would it never be more than the answer now? Like I said, we get this could be a 10 hour story. What do you want for dinner? Yes. Okay, starts punching him. He starts wailing on him. James would ask him what was wrong. Or if he'd seen or heard anything that frightened him, Daniel would only stare. He seemed furtive and bemused. James found himself missing the sound of his son's voice. Sometimes he wanted to hear it so bad that he ached. But it seems that Daniel would not talk again until he was ready. I missed the way. He missed the way that Daniel sang mumbo number five. I'm getting ahead. Like reading this story. I feel like I'm losing my mind. You're doing great, though. I mean, this is a completely new approach to how you're how you've been doing this. And I'm happy. I'm getting. James had other things to worry about too. He was convinced beyond reason that the intruder was not really gone. Though the alarm never went off and the locks and bars remain undisturbed, he was sure that he heard movement at the night. Not normal movement. It was a sound like a huge snake slithering through the house. When he heard it, he imagined horrible things. Nothing was ever there when he went to investigate. Though he often thought he glimps something just out of the corner of his eye. A pale foot for a misshapen shadow that would slink away as soon as he turned. He rarely slept. And when he did, he had haunted dreams. Soon he realized he had not left the house in weeks except to go to the bank and buy groceries. He felt him dead. I like the little mention that's like, well, he also had to go to the bank because he needed money for the groceries. Thank you for that. How was I to buy for? How was I to buy the groceries without money from the bank? So I talked to the teller who exchanged me money from my account. And I put it in my wallet. But then I realized that I had overdrafted the account. So I had talked to the teller about the account. They said there wasn't anything they could do. But the teller was actually someone I knew from high school. So she was able to buy past the system a little bit, which I really appreciate from her. And with that, I got the money to get groceries. But otherwise, I hadn't left the house in weeks. I tried to get money out. I tried to get money out for groceries. But it turns on my account. I've been overdrafted $7,000. I guess the Indian phone scam was real after all. Hey, so not to be unprofessional. But while I was reading Justin, I started to feel faint. I think it's because we want to have a need today. And also, I was doing such a breathy voice and I was getting like exacerbated. Can you read? Kayla brought me a burrito. She got me. Can you read like a paragraph? If you would have passed out reading Sam, man, that would have been the greatest moment. I was reading and I'm like, my head hurts a lot. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll start from the top here. So this episode sponsored by Cash App. Cash App is here to make earning money fun. Other debit cards are boring. But with Cash App's personalization feature, I could turn a picture of Jeff the killer or a smile dog into my everyday card. Cash App is here to work for you to earn you money so that you can spend money on the things you love. If you weren't up to speed already, Cash App is way more than just a safe way to send to receive money. With the Cash App card, you could unlock a ton of perks without all the hidden fees. Enjoy benefits like exclusive early access to nationwide concert pre-sales for artists like Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Creepershire plus discounts on everyday purchases and popular brands you're probably already spending money on. Add your card, your digital wall to make your money move easier. 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Visit cash.appl/legal/pog. Guess we'll put this on here. Thanks, cash app, for sponsoring this episode. [MUSIC PLAYING] Soon he realized he had not left the house in weeks, except to go to the bank and buy groceries. He felt him, then, him, then, him, then, he wanted him. He felt him, then-- What is-- What is he saying, him, then? He's put so much hand on the door, he can't get through. It's too high stock. He's the only thing Daniel ate with Daniel acting mute. He hadn't had an actual conversation with anyone in weeks, so he called his mother. Their connection was bad, and her voice sounded faint on the verge of being not there at all. I guess I'm OK, ma. [LAUGHS] Wait, wait, is that Daniel? That's him faint. No, that's him, like, on the verge of being not there at all. Oh, OK, sorry. [LAUGHS] I told you, I told you, it's OK. All right, sorry. Hold on. No, that-- yeah, that is Daniel. That is Daniel speaking. Yeah, yeah. I guess I'm OK, ma. He said, pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms, then make sure he could hear Daniel playing in the next room. The things have been a lot of rough. We had a break in. Oh, how awful. Ma'am said that they'd take anything? Nah, just ran off. It was weird, though. I haven't really felt comfortable since then. Are you still working at the hospital? No, ma. I left last year. You know that. Oh, well, have you been getting-- Have you been getting-- Why, why, why? So is this James speaking now? I don't know. I don't know who the fuck-- There's no way Daniel works at the hospital. Yeah. Oh, say, I don't know. But Daniel-- Well, Daniel had an actual conversation with anyone. So he had called-- so he had called his mother. The kitchen was-- yeah, he called his mom. So this is how old is Daniel? [LAUGHS] No, no, look. Look, read that. I guess I'm OK, Ma. And then he says, he said, pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear Daniel playing in the next room. So the story completely forgot to mention that James is the one on the phone. So this is James calling his mother. But it says that-- So he had read-- Read this sentence after. So he calls him out there. The connection was bad. And her voice set of faint on the verge of blah, blah. I guess I'm OK, Ma. He said, pausing to-- I guess I'm OK, Ma. Pausing to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear Daniel playing in the next room. Yeah, there's that-- So is it supposed to-- It's James. It's James. Daniel's like seven. He's not working at the hospital. So James is talking to his mom. Yes, OK. Wait, James works at a hospital and he can't afford a doctor's visit for his son. Well, he doesn't get like coverage with that. Well, I would assume he had pretty good health insurance, but-- so I'm just going to read this as J-- so-- Oh, well, have you been getting out? What about that nice woman you were saying last year? One who played the piano. James Scald. What? James Scald. Yeah. And also, she played the piano. James Scald. She was always asking that kind of thing. Didn't she know how hard it was being a single father? That he didn't have the time? He was about to say so when something made him pause. Ma, is there anyone else on the line? I don't think so. James was sure he heard it, though. The short, gasping sound of someone trying to hold their breath and failing. A cold, feeling cryptic-- crept across the back of his neck. You're sure nobody's listening on your other phone? Here, there's no other phone. I'm on the cell. That's what the service is so bad. And what is-- James stopped. The sound wasn't coming from her end then. He dropped the phone. I think I can clock back in now. Thank you very much. Right. I got some calories in me. Hopefully, I don't pass out. But if I start, too, we'll just keep going to-- I was just saying, let at least let it happen. I mean, like, you know, yeah, I'll let it happen. I'll let it happen. Get the same, man. The respect it deserves by at least fainting while reading. He dropped the phone and raced to the hall. The extension hung on its hook, undisturbed. Heart pounding, he hurtled into the garage. Spare a phone, set on the work bench. No one was inside. Could they have been? Could someone have been here all along, listening to his phone call, and then slithered away? Why'd they be here even now? And next day, he took out the extra phone extensions, even filled in the jacks with rubber cement. Okay. Listen. Daniel, watch him. What? He even filled the jacks with rubber cement. Why? Why? Why did you do that? You know, we all have that laying around. Some rubber, rubber cement. I got all the gorilla glutes. All the gorilla glues and extra Lego pieces I had. And jammed him in the outlets so no one could stick anything in. Daniel watched him work. I was curious. James offered no explanation. He began giving Daniel a light physical exam every week. His CNA, I like how he immediately jumps into him being like a trained healthcare professional. Well, see that. That's no mention of it with the doctors earlier. Well, that's why they had on the phone call. That's why the mom had to be like, are you still working at the hospital? No, mom. I know that. I know that. He's been to two hospital visits before and has never mentioned. He was a former. Well, like I said, that's because they probably wrote this part and so on, like, he knows how to do this. There we go. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Literally. What you would think on a second draft, which bolts a simple story has one, but you would think on a second draft, you would be like, hey, maybe don't have him visit the hospital so much at the beginning of the story. The same man draft. The opium chronicles. This time, everyone pissed each other's pants. Yeah. The piss chronicles. His C&A training was a little rusty after a year on disability, but you never really forget. It was something. Why did he take him to the doctor for an exam and then forget whatever. Also the, we haven't established why he's on disability, right? No. Because I want a year ago, but we don't know why. I'm wondering if that's okay. So there's, I feel like they're sitting somewhere there. Okay. Just make sure. Did that's a bold assumption? It's bold to assume that this is a setup and not just something that's happening. I believe in the same man. The same man. They're kind of. Draft II. It was an absurd thing to do, of course. Even if there was a physical cause for Daniel's behavior, it would be nothing. He could discover this way. And he was aware on some level that it was compulsive behavior. Nevertheless, it made him feel better. One morning, James set the diaphragm of the stethoscope against Daniel's chest, but he could not locate a heartbeat. He moved his hand and search of the right spot to know a veil, then, to test it, he listened to his own heartbeat, he came through steady and clear. But when you check Daniel again, he didn't hear anything. I thought came unbidden to him of the Tin Man and the Wizard of Oz, whose chest was empty as a kettle. That's a crazy, a crazy line to draw. That is a, that's an insane first thought. I couldn't hear my son talking. I can't feel my son's heartbeat like the Tin Man, who sort of was? Never seen Wizard of Oz Daniel. Daniel just looks at it. Oh, that's right. Not speaking. Right. Right. He speaks purple and blue. Eyes on cat racks. Have seen you ever seen Wizard of Oz Daniel. He's like, still giving the scientific treatment, I see me think, at the end of me thinks your heart's like that of the Tin Man or even the Grinch. At the end of this, it's going to be like Daniel's been dead and he's just dragging his body around. I think that we are, I think we are getting to that spawn, actually. I don't know. I don't know. We're very old like me. Also, do you remember what, do you, do you remember like this story yet, are you, is it coming back? No. No. I, I remember the beginning with the guy in the edge of the bed, but I don't remember anything about. Oh, okay. So this, so nice. It's almost like revisiting it for the first time. Okay. Yeah. Sick feeling rolled his stomach through the stethoscope down and grabbed Daniel by the the shoulders looking into his feet. face. Daniel stared back with bright eyes. He even smiled a little at the corners of his mouth. James felt the tingle of tears. He swept his son up in his arms and hugged him. The Daniel hugged back. The James put his shirt back on him and sent him to play. Stethoscope he decided was broke. He threw it in the trash. That's how Stethoscope's work. This one's defective. It heard my heart be fine, but not my son. Also, I'm going to send my zombie child. All right, here, put your car shirt back on and go outside and play zombie child. You see, you see him just dead spread at another kid and the same thing is like, my my like, the son's completely dead and just puts a t-shirt on him and hugs him out the back door. Yeah, like like airport luggage. Just fucking, yeah. Go play Superman. Excelsior. Go play Superman. Is it a bird? He comes out like two hours later. He's still in the same crumpled body. He's like, you have fun? Yeah. There he is. Yeah. Mr. cryptid night himself. Come on, Daniel. Make a lasagna. I just want to be pointed out that the creepypasta.com says that the story has a 14 minute read time. We are almost an hour. There's been a lot of tangents, but I feel like we've been reading it in a healthy pace. We are not that far down on the web page. We'll put that out there. Well, the website lies. There'll be like two-hour stories that's like, yeah, it's like 30 minutes. Okay, okay, okay. Things got worse. James's tears were no longer relegated to the long hours of the night. Now it seemed that something creeping, some skittering and scuttling, some unknowable noise in some dark corner of another filled every second of his day. The thought of how big the house really was, starched away on him. There were so many rooms, he wasn't in at any given time. So many places, someone or something else could be. He imagined strange figures occupying the rest of his home when he wasn't around. Melting into the walls or merging with the shadows whenever he turned on a light or opened a door. How would he know if they were there? How could he ever know? Soon, he didn't even have to be outside of a room to imagine it. When he walked up the stairs, he pictured pale figures lurking beneath him. When he went down the hall, he pictured a crawling thing slithering behind the walls, shadowing his every step. If he sat too long in the same chair, he imagined that it was right behind him. And he was never comforted when he turned around and found nothing there, as he could only guess that men had moved swiftly and silently behind him once again. Wherever he was not looking right now, that was where he imagined it to be. God, the entire paragraph is at last. So if I was looking north, the creature would be south. Instead of creature, he keeps saying thing. It keeps like there's a thing in this room. Do you think that's because of the creed like two sentence or thing? Do you think it was like cliche around this time or now? Oh, this was before two sentence or pop. Oh, okay, okay. Do you remember, do you, do you think it's the thing of bleach from Jeff the killer? Oh, maybe. Do you remember that? Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no. At Jeff the killer, it says a thing of bleach fell on Jeff. That's the phrasing. Not a bottle, not a thing of bleach. I wonder if that was like if thing was more innocuous or like, I wonder if it was more like you're giving all this way too much credit. No, no, no, but what I mean is like I wonder if like at the time and since people saying creature everyone just said the thing, this thing, like I wonder if that was like a 2013 thing, you know, to whatever kid wrote this. Yes. Yeah, or you know, every story was doing it. So their person's just like, yeah, I read that. So then this story also, just because they read it, that's all the, that's the only thing like media or literate like that's the only thing they've read. So then they just referred to everything the same way. You know what I mean? Yeah, maybe, but at the same time, I feel like this author is just like, yeah, it's a thing. That's a thing of bleach. A thing of bleach is still so insane to me. Like there's so much about Jeff the killer, but just a thing of bleach. I just, you know, just round about, run about way of describing whatever jug of bleach you want to talk about. It's like, yeah, I have the vague idea of what you're talking about. Sure. I guess that's enough. That's fine. As long as it's vague, it's fine. It was losing his mind, you know, the only thing that helped him clean to sanity was that Daniel seemed undisturbed. Isn't Daniel not speaking? Daniel has been disturbed before. I mean, I, he's pretty disturbed. I would assume, listen, hold on, hold on. The next sentence, other than his mute, his behavior was perfectly normal. Okay. Other days, other than his trauma induces muteness, he was a pretty cool kid. And whenever he seemed to sense that his father was troubled, he would hug him, rescues his hand or even smile. Sometimes when he left the room, James cried. One night he found himself creeping around the house with no lights on at two o'clock in the morning. If the intrusion things had taken, yeah, James, okay. If the intruding thing had taken to violating his daytime activities, then he would get revenge by confronting him on its own terms the night. And really, night was no more frightening to him now than day. They were almost interchangeable. You can just get rid of that last sentence. You padded barefoot down the halls of the stairs in and out of disused rooms. How big is this? What, that, that, that, I was like, what fucking mansion do they live in, dude? It's like the fucking one is the one gesture house or something. I keep trying, because I was going to say this too earlier. And this is a good time to say it now is when these stories don't tell, like the amount of stories we've read that I have pictured it being in the same house, because I've like articulated in my mind what a house looks like. I wonder if viewers have, have you do that at all? Oh, yeah. There's like a middle house I'm using for reference. Yeah, like a house that is like baked into my memory somewhere that's not my own, you know, like maybe a friend's house, but Midwest houses have like a very particular layout. And I keep picturing this certain layout for this thing like where the hallway is at, like a little staircase, the living room kind of area. So whenever I hear that he's like, look, I'm like, I'm like, he's walking like maybe 20 feet back and forth. You know, I think how, how big is this fucking house that he's in? He's like Bruce Wayne. And like, yeah. Yeah, my family loves me this giant manner. Sandman. Did I mention I'm in the overlook hotel? Yeah, I'm going to tell you, I'm in the overlook hotel. Sometimes he stopped to listen, hoping to locate it by sound. It was a stealthy, creeping thing thing he knew, but it was awkward at times. And it couldn't always keep it strangely shaped limbs from making their distinct irregular footsteps. The smallest noise would give it away. There was a run room he suspected. It's been most of its time in the spare bedroom, not a bedroom at all, really more like a closet. Scratching the last thing I just said. He's in the spare bedroom, but not really a bedroom. It's not like, no, when we got the house, we thought I could use it as a sort of office. But then after that, it make more sense for the office to be in the veranda. So because of that, it sort of became a utility space like that. We're like a closet just large enough to accommodate a bed if one were so inclined. One were so inclined. My god, it's reading like a bed. Okay, go ahead. Go, sorry. It was unpainted and uncarpeted and drafty. He'd always meant to fix it up. He didn't come in here very often because he disliked the bare unused look of it. Made him think of a partially dissected corpse. So James Zonner's the same cycle bath, right? I was like, no, yeah, of course. He's dragging his body. The sun has got to be dead, right? I don't want to go into an empty room because it makes me think of a dissected corpse. What the fuck are you talking about, James? Throw up a poster in my backpack. I had a funny poster of dogs playing poker, but I was too scared to put it up. His son comes up and is like dad can you just like do drugs or something? Yeah, you're not supposed to talk Kama now though if the thing thing made it snest anyone police in the house this would be it Of course there was nothing there now that didn't mean there was nothing there Just at me at some point man, it's like Of course there was nothing there now, but that didn't mean there was nothing there. What the fuck do you how how else am I supposed to decipher that? Oh god He cursed running a hand through his sweat damper What was he missing? How did it hide from him? What was its secret? Peered into the room's empty corners one by one Get in his face a few inches from the plaster and floorboards so that he could be certain Certain that there was no space for him to conceal itself Well, he just looks so stupid like going to all the corners just like leaning a lot bulb flickered you froze my god, he thought it's on the ceiling He pictured a crawl in a button like a huge pale lizard That's how it gets around he thought that's how it escapes anytime. I should have it cornered It just scuttles up the wall and hides right over my head You imagined it dangling down behind him like a spider If I turn around he thought it'll be there hanging with its face right next to mine He held his breath He did not want to turn around, but he had no choice. It was between him and the door With a quiet sob he rounded on his heels Of course he was alone There was no man on the ceiling. He checked twice Maybe a crawled out and was waiting for him in the hall But when he checked there the coast was once again clear It should have been a relief, but it was not After all it had been in here somewhere If the ceiling was not its trick that just met it with something else Something even more strange even more clever So the the visual motif of like someone standing in a room and they're looking for something on the ground and the light flickers And they think it's because something passed in front of the light that in isolation is good Yeah, I like that idea, but it's so bogged down by everything else He went to Daniel's room. He had had not stopped checking on him at night Like he always had had had This time though rather than open the door. He listened at first Pressing his ear against the grain of the cheap wood holding his breath Terrified that he was your skittering sound on the other side of the barrier What he heard instead shocked him more Daniel was talking to someone James requiled for a second and then when he caught his breath y'all but kicked the door in Daniel was already awake Indeed setting up in bed, but he was not saying anything now The light flashed on and James stalked halfway into the room before stopping suddenly torn What did he want more to confirm that his son could speak again or find whomever he was speaking to The creek of the door hinge settled the matter for him He ran to the closet and threw it open There was nothing inside or at least nothing that shouldn't be there He swapped his side clothes on their hinders, but nothing was hiding between them Then he tracked toy box out and emptied it onto the floor nothing combed along the bear walls and floor and yes The ceiling pushing aside every last bit of rubbish and straining nickname so that he could be sure absolutely sure Nothing was hiding All the while Daniel watched him After a few minutes James was panting and covered in sweat and the closet was bare and there were neither intruders nor answers inside It struck him as funny somehow and he started to laugh Very quietly His son's toys out of the way as he went to sit down on the bed Dazed He became aware all at once of several things First being that he had not slept in days. It was nowhere near his right mind The second was how close he'd come to really losing it for good Tomorrow he decided they would both sleep until the afternoon and when they did wake up He and Daniel would get out of this creaky old house No more staying cooped up like prisoners and no more checkups No more dreams about monsters He would even take the bars off the windows It was time to get back to living like real people again It was time to James saw when he brushed a hand through Daniel's hair He pulled Daniel a little too roughly closer The son act we asked to the examination without fidgeting or complaint as James pod the side of his head Hoping that he was seen would somehow stop being a parent He stared and stared until the eight from not blinking but there was no denying what was right in front of his eyes Daniel was missing an ear What all right well what To us no heart no ear okay Yeah, it's no heart no ear you know it happens sometimes I guess No, man. Keep saying man No, he realized with both mountain nausea both ears Wait, so no injury no decision no mark where they should have been Simply smooth Blink flesh it's like the coneheads with their with their paint like they're They're their asses. There's no ass crack. It's just like flat. So the he yeah, there's no So what he's just like they just removed it mr. Potato head whatever fucking like There's no hole Is always saying just okay blank flush. Yeah, it's just gone nothing. Yeah as blank as Daniel's quiet unperturbed demeanor James swept him up in his arms and ran into the hole He was not sure where he was going or what he meant to do when he got there You just knew that there was now nothing more important than getting his son out of that house But their path was cut off A naked man said in the hallway with us back to them No, not a man James recognized it stretch limbs and stoop shoulders the pale things squatted on its haunches rocking back and forth like it was palsied And almost seemed to be in pain James hugged his son closer and backed away then he heard Daniel's voice James turned to Daniel and he heard the voice again Daniel's lips hadn't moved James looked back the hunched figure it's head jerk when it talked like a tick Daddy James's mouth went dry. It took several tries before he could speak Don't call me that It is his voice is named for you Away Leave my family alone My time you're family The longer it talked the more the voice became distorted and blurred And I see feeling nestled in James's stomach Who are you? Someone who came to visit Why here? You invite me James's heart thudded against the inside of his chest Why? I had something you wanted James looked his dry lips You're lying You don't have anything I want I want you to leave Leave and never come back Who is Daniel's mother? James blinked What? Who is Daniel's mother? What the hell kind of question is that? How old is Daniel? James blinked again Things voice caused a pinching pain in the center of his forehead Stop asking me these things When is Daniel's first day? I don't know What is his middle name? Shut up What was his first word? I said shut up James wanted to tear the thing apart with his bare hands Only the heaviness of Daniel and his arms kept him where he was You were alone You wanted a sigh one. So I made one for you. That's actually, that's a better direction than I thought the story was going. Not bad. I'm just, let's see it. Not as declining. I also have to mention that this is like your worst nightmare. A monster shown up years later for child support payments. Exactly. Time to pay up, James. What is Hunter? What is his mother's name? Shut up. I don't know. I don't know. When is his birthday? Get out of my head. I couldn't tell you. James' hands began to shake. It doesn't make sense. I made out of what? James' stomach turned over. But now I need those parts. Daniel picked James a shoulder to get his attention. Something was strange about Daniel's face. Danny, open your eyes. Daniel scratched his eyes shut tighter. Oh, open your eyes. Danny! Danny! Open your eyes! Daniel shook his head, trying to refuse, but he couldn't hold it forever. Eventually his eyelids flicked up and James saw the truth. Daniel's eyes were gone. James almost dropped him. For a second, he wanted to throw his son down so that he could stop looking into those empty holes in his face. Daniel opened his mouth as if to speak, but, of course, he had no voice. He is coming back to be part of me. Again? No. No, no, no, no. Give him back. Give him back. I cannot. It has been too long. I want you this. What happened? You're lying. You're lying. You're a fucking liar. Give him back. Give him back. I do not lie. I want you. He could not exist forever, but you do not remember. You cannot remember what I want you to. You forget all the times we have talked. Daniel felt like a doll. We're an empty bag. His hair was falling out, disappearing before it touched the ground. His hands vanished into his sleeves and his feet rolled up inside his pants' cuffs. James cradled the tiny, shapeless thing. Deer streamed down his face, soon he held the pile of empty clothes, and then those two were gone. He looked around the house. Toys disappeared, photos vanished from their dreams. Daniel's little shoes were no longer by the door. James turned towards Daniel's room and confronted a wall where the door should be. He cropped the blank surface, fingertips scrambling. He hit his head against the wall. The pain didn't feel real. Why did you do this? It was, but you wanted. And I learned so much. This is impossible. People will ask. People will wonder the police, the hospitals, the people in the neighborhood. They have already forgotten him. They only remembered what I wanted them to, like you. James pressed his hands to his aching skull. Will I at least remember him after this? You can try, but your mind will fail you. Now that everything he was is part of me again. James set on the floor looking at the blank wall. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the thing creep toward him, even felt it's white hand on his shoulder. He did not look at it. If I won't remember any of this, then why tell me? Because a father should know. And then James was alone. That went way too hard for how stupid the story is. Yeah. I mean, like if it was another story, I would be critical of like the monster kind of explaining everything, but I did not expect that direction at all. Yeah, I'm in the little dimer. It's an ex-positioned up. I mean, like we're still, they're still a little bit to go, but still like the, I'm almost picturing like a fucking alien. That's why I keep, I mean, I keep thinking it's like some otherworldly thing. Anyway, it's good. And to me, it kind of looks like the rake, like the gray body with the long arms, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I have a girl worried about James sometimes. And they met a year ago. He said that he'd never been married and he never had kids. But there was a certain pain and expression he assumed when he said the last part. Abigail knew that look. She met her parents who lost children before. You learned to recognize it. And there were other things about him that worried her too. Sometimes she would find him staring at a particular spot on the wall, or how furrowed in concentration. It did not seem to realize he was doing it. Of course, there was the insomnia and the sleepwalking to consider too. Yes, there was lots to worry about, but she loved him all the same. James still said he'd never had kids, and neither would she. She'd long wanted one, but it was impossible. And she worried that James wouldn't stay with a woman who couldn't be a mother, though he constantly assured her that it was not so. There were times, and more and more often of late, where the nights when James took to sleep walking, and even Abigail imagined that she had heard strange, scuttling noises in the house, and saw impossible shapes in dark corners. When she thought she would do anything, absolutely anything, to met having a little daughter, or she and James to raise. Then at those moments, she became truly afraid, but she never knew why. I feel like the end of the story. I feel like there's a creativity here of almost like a fear of parental hood or something. I feel like there's an inkling of an idea draped in with probably the times of writing this thing. I feel like if you read a lot of stories around 2013, they would, the beginning half, if not the first thirds of this story, would probably feel very similar to a lot of them. I would assume. Yes, absolutely. Like a tone and description and stuff. Just the way that things are presented, because even I started to get it, because we've read some stuff too, where it's like, it's a lot of vignettes of like spooky things, where it's like, you don't really know, you know, what, it's just kind of like, and then this spooky thing happened. And the next day, this also spooky thing happened. But I do think that the author had like an overarching, overarching idea that wasn't just like, isn't this creepy? I feel like there was probably something a little more inspired there. Reading some of the like, reading some of the comments out of the way for 2014 are very funny. I just want to say that. What did they say? Yeah. Or yeah, from WWE rock S88, December 21, 2014 at 12 into 2 a.m. All right. He said, the first thought that popped into my head was reading the first thought that popped into my head while reading the first two paragraphs was Metallica. They have a song, they have a song name Sandman, plus lead singer, his name is James. Anyway, great story, very creepy. There's what that was funny. It's one of the, one of the probably one of those popular songs ever. If you didn't realize, there's just kind of, I just love it. You may have not known this, but there's a song named after that guy. Do they name it after the creepypasta? So obviously, it's tackling a loss of a kid, right? Or something. I mean, there's got to be. Well, I feel like I kind of agree with you that it feels like it's about a fear of losing a child more so than losing one, but the child was only created because he wanted it. I will say I agree with you in contrast to where the story started. This went in a lot better direction than I was expecting. Yeah. I will say the beginning, the, well, first of all, I mean, just to follow up on that last point is, as we've gotten older, I mean, you have a kid now, all those things hit, feel like they're hitting a lot closer to home in terms of, like, as you get older, those kinds of, you know, those stories. So I appreciate if that is the angle of it. It's kind of a fun, um, unique. We haven't really, um, I think there's a couple stories that deal with like passing down bad things to your kids or like, you know, you like the moth episode of like where it's like the men in the family have to like basically have sex with this like moth creature. To me, that kind of plays into this weird like passing down of like bad traits or whatever, just somebody. But I do think it's fun. Now that being said, the first half of this was the funnest I've had reading a story in a long time, just for how ridiculous it was. I really, I really, I'm glad you got something out of it. I'm glad me almost passing out doing a breathy, dramatic, creepy pause before I didn't, I didn't want to, uh, I didn't want to say it. But listening to you, like deep inhale. You're like, James still had it. I said he'd never have kids. And neither had she long. Yeah, it was so God. God. What I want to give for you left for making money back in the day. That would have got your go. I mean, it's so funny. If I just head slammed into the desk, if you would have actually blacked out, and then we heard like Kayla scream like, I tell her something that would have been so funny. I mean, so good. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that that was the formula for making money back in the day. Just do a breathy voice and read horror stories online. It's all took man. Yeah. Well, I think in I think that it's always interesting. We've said this before, but it's always interesting when you go back and you look at a story that's from this time, you know, I feel like for some it's going to be nostalgic and whenever people are because we also have some pretty like younger fans who were probably too young, whenever this, you know, camera maybe like they were like preteen or something like that whenever this was out. And I think like I'm always curious to see is there a charm still to this or did you have to kind of be there in the moment because looking at this story, too, I love this feeling that you said where it's like a gate, not gatekeeping, but I guess maybe a little bit, but you take it so seriously. And you love it so much that people are like willing to give anything a chance just because they want that fix, you know, it's like being in some kind of like, I don't know, like new wave movement of like music or something where you're just like you're super fixated becomes your entire personality because I have a feeling back then too, those people, it was their entire personality like what they posted online, everything, what they were talking about in schools, all that stuff. And it feels like I just such a little, a little relic of that time. I really, I really wish that I would have known about it when I was younger. Hey, man. Let's do it back in the day. You read this. You get, you wait till it's late at night. It's raining outside. You play this. Someone's dramatically reading it with scary music. This is the scariest thing you've ever heard. Man, there's such a, there's like such an innocence in such a, just a level of mystique that I feel like is lost now that you know, I mean, because there's so much crazy well-produced stuff now too. And audiences are so much smarter and all that stuff that I do feel like there's like a level of mysticism that is lost now because of that. Like I love the, I love the idea that somebody could just pop on and be like, fuck it. I'm just going to like write something. I'm an amateur writer. And it's going to affect this minority of people in such a positive way. Very, very cool. Well, you know what? I mean, honestly, it makes me, maybe we should read, we should redo, maybe we should get back into a bedtime some time. It's still the number two episode on what's number one? 1999. Oh, yeah. I mean, that, 1999 is one of the classics that does hold up in my opinion. Yeah. Well, we read, that was an early one to read, right? Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Bear. Yeah. That's right. Mr. Bear. Yeah. The whole thing, the father dropping off his son. And I mean, I would, I'd, yeah, I'm still appalled by that. But yeah, man, that's a crazy though. Man, good Lord. November 14, 2009 is one 1999. How crazy is that? Say with candlecove, the Holy shit. Yeah. Very cool. It seems like was there Marie Lane? Because there's a lot like gateway of the mind. There's 2009. And then we started getting into the 2013 era, which is where I'm pretty sure we got like the hot fanfic. I'm turned on slightly. There's Eilish Jack. I think that's like what Jeff DeKiller probably came out. And then we have stories like this. Was there just like a slight research and it's like maybe four years later or five? Like, did it? Yes. Well, the 2012, 2013 was the hot zone. Okay. It's more so like the 2009 stuff was the prelude where like people start to read it. If I had to guess which I could be wrong, I want to say around 2013's when YouTubers started covering it and like Reddit, I had the board and stuff. So it just got a whole new audience. So then more and more people started writing. That's where you had like Jeff DeKiller and a lot of the meme ones come from. But I mean, people have been writing horror stories since the internet's been around. Oh, of course. But yeah, 2013's where it kicked up. You're probably you're probably right because I remember even like 2013 during that first 2012, 2013 that first era of like big Minecraft YouTube people. I remember people were people were doing like, isn't that also when the fucking they made a crew pasta about that guy here, Brian? Here, Brian. Is that not around 2013? I think. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Or it's like it says 2010 here on the website. Wow. Here, Brian. Yeah, that's what it says. That might not be great. I don't know. But the yeah, August 22 was when the screenshot happened on 4chan. So then maybe, yeah, then if that's the case, then too, that definitely around 2013, 2012, all that stuff like, that's I mean, people were 100% making YouTube videos around then about like crew pasta. Oh, yeah. You know, I mean, so who were who were the big crew pasta readers back in the day? Like the it was the dark Seminium. And then is it just Mr. Creamy pasta? Is that who it was? I mean, there were a ton. There were there were them. There was, um, there was like a few hold on. Let me just type in creepypasta reading because some of these channels have got to be, I mean, way older. They've been around a minute. Yeah. Oh, that's cute. When you're talking creepypasta reading, we come up first. That's cute. Um, she's just kind of cool. Are there channels gone? I mean, maybe I don't know. It's a dark Seminium. I know a lot of a lot of theirs. There's I read creepypastas. There was. I hate how much of it's just us now. I feel like I feel like stolen valor. Uh, well, I mean, I'm just looking at some of them. It says like 15 years ago. A lot of these people started. Yeah. It's just kind of cool. I don't know regardless. It's it's, it's, it's, it's fun. I don't know. I always like wonder if we read one of these stories. It has some, like humor, we laugh, but then you always get a little surprised because you know for a fact that these are even if they are well established authors now, I bet you anything they were at like their most amateur here. You know, of course, and you can see the little bit of, uh, to where I be, people cut their teeth here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To where this is the part where I'm like, I wonder if people back then or I wonder if people now would, if, if this author of the same man, if, if, uh, this person was still writing, you know, I would love to read something now, just be like, like, what was, what was that progression been like? Has there been a progression? You know, they were consistent with it. Obviously there has been, but it'd be, it'd be kind of cool to see regardless. But you know what guys? Yeah. That is our episode today. Like I said, on Patreon, we do have an exclusive episode for the pastel man. If you want to read, that's another classic, also one of Isaiah's favorite childhood authors. So please feel free to go support there. If you want, if you want some extra stuff, if not, no biggie, uh, also thank you to all the people listening on Spotify and all the audio platforms right now. It does help us out. We appreciate you. Uh, until the next time guys, stay creeped and read some old creepypastas, man. This is a fun one. Stay creeped. Um, and make sure, uh, to send someone to get Hunter's child support payments. I don't know. I'm going to go eat so I don't pass out. *Sigh*