CreepCast - The Sandman | CreepCast

Episode Date: August 9, 2026

Go to bed and wait for the Sandman. For full immersion, Isaiah almost faints at the desk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're going to be reading a classic Sandman. Isaiah, 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 other information that I could find. Yeah, at least so this is like one of the OG like anonymous author upload something scary. and this got covered by all the like creepy pasta reading channels and stuff like that. So this is this is one of the classics.

I mean, we're looking at the rating here, 9.04 out of 10 on creepy pasta wiki or creepypasta.com. So which can go either way. Remember, because sometimes. Well, I don't know. You know. Well,

I'm sure this, I'm sure this instantly recognizable classic from June 17, 2013 will be flawless. will be flawless in its execution. I will say, 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, I, there's nothing more scary. Well, that's not true. There's a lot of scary things. I think what's something that scary is,

the idea of like somebody watching while you sleep. There's a lot of scary things. Well, I was going to say, there's nothing scary than a person watching while you sleep, but I mean, like 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, go to sleep. 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 until I would go to sleep. Go to sleep.

I watched no spheratu last night. And now my head is just all on that kind of voice. Go to sleep. Go to. That's kind of Chinese. Go to sleep. Editor cut that. China.

No, not got that. Chinese. Nosepharto. There it is. I was, no, I was trying to prime it.

You would get to that. No, I don't know. 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 really covered a story that's like, oh, I'm dreaming and what's like kind of like a nice. I mean, it's been an element in some stories.

I feel like it was an element to the, uh, the dead girl in my yard. It's the best friend I ever had. Um, we tried to read that story bedtime. That's one of the classics. Also,

so mad. Also one. Yeah. Yeah, bedtime. For Deers, you have to realize bedtime was a tough episode. It was not, it was not,

we did not make it through bedtime. I will say, I think it was like number one on creepypasa.com. So, it's one of the tops of all time. It's one of the top. I think it's actually over the same. You just spy.

People ask us to cover it all the time. I'm like, maybe it was a bad day. Maybe we should revisit it. I don't know. Um, Well, I mean, 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 creepcast wiki has all the information that I've ever forgotten about myself. Yeah, I don't remember two days ago, let alone. So when people were like, remember this episode, I'm, I, no, I don't. I don't remember anything. And it isn't even a spite. It's just my brain is mush. It's not good.

It's a bad brain. No sleep. Horrible diet. That'll do it to you. That makes your brain. My brain is smooth like a bowling ball. How I'm even able to talk. I don't know.

I do want to say, because I saw a post about it, the author, whose name I should remember right now, the author of the thing in my basement takes a step closer. After we covered it on Creepcast, you guys threw that to, I think, on the Amazon bestseller list. Yeah. How cool is that? Yeah. Yeah, you guys are awesome for that. That's very cool of everyone.

Yeah, fucking incredible, man. Fucking. Fucking. Marcus, that's his name. Marcus Cleaver. Yeah. It's on the USA Today's bestselling books list.

That's one of what you got to. Yeah. Pretty awesome. If 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, um,

are we used to live here? Yeah. 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 putting on the, 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. I 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. Pretty good sell. We also have, I know this is great job.

I know this has been dynamic as fuck so far. And you're probably wondering, how do I get extra of this? Well, we have a Patreon where we have extra episodes. We just uploaded the pastel man there yesterday, I believe. And it's been fun seeing people react to that. Vincent V. Kva, one of the, one of the OG goats who I read all the time when I was younger.

One of Isaiah's favorite childhood authors there. He's a, and the pastel man was one I really enjoyed. So he just uploaded that to Patreon. Yeah, that was one of our last batch of like in-person. and recordings too. So if that interests you, feel free to check out

that episode on Patreon. com slash crepecast. 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.

Day, NeNeNe. Into Night. Take my hand. We're off to never, never land. Yeah.

Dan, nene. Deneeney. Suck to Joe. of the light every touch to night in the honest no way

yeah yeah dude he wants a sick concert Metallica in 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 the story opens with a quote so it's all you okay it's Edgar out and Po should I make him

like Dungalk sure those who dream who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night. And Grell and Poe, as he famously said and sounded like. Yeah, I'm dead as fuck in the streets right now, dude. Yeah, these fucking opium is- That man 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, Quoth the Raven. That's the guy wrote the Raven. He wrote the Tell Tell-Tale Heart. Show some respect. Yeah, never more. Hey, never more.

Hey, you stand for our flag. You stand for that flag. Never more. Never more. Never more am I buying opium from a chinaman and a fucking back alley bar. Never more. Now I want to hear the entire raven pony. Yeah.

Clough the raven. I'm fucked. I mean, that's kind of the, that's sort of the synopsis of the story. I would say. Pretty much. Yo, my bitch fucking died. And I'm bummed.

why the fucks there are a bird in my library that's pretty much the raven that's never more yeah yeah never more yeah what the fuck you could talk yeah this is fucked up to say do you want to fight you want to fight me right now

I like I think of him like I think of him with like a pen and quill and he's like right he's like yeah this shit's fucking spooky yeah I'm fucking scared I'm fucking scared Hope I don't have no nightmare tonight. That sounds like Bamar chair. Yeah.

Hey, Phil. Hey, Abe. Yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna fuck with ape before she has to get up to, for work.

We released an all-knowing raven into her room. Yeah, we just, yeah, we put a demonic raven in an ape's room. Phil has to get up in two hours for work. Oh, come on, babe. Ah, bam.

Ah, bam. Come on. Come on, bam. never more bam bam get the bird out the room comes in hair lying all fucked like a car combo and stuff you know dad I'm an author

you dad I like to write stories now look at me to write this book I like to write creepy stories in Baltimore I'm going to die outside of an election booth that's so crazy that's how that started also we've made one quote let's let's keep going it's another quote

God damn it. Even as it can't... Okay, so... Go to bed and wait for the sandman. Even as it came out of James' mouth, it seemed to him a strange thing to say. And he was not sure why he had. But for some reason, it worked. Daniel went to bed.

The next morning, though, he asked, What does the sandman look like? James was making breakfast. Daniel set at the table, short legs swinging under his chair. Nothing really. It's just an expression. What does it mean? Just something 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 Sandman for himself. So wait, hold on 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, okay, nothing really. Okay, it's just an ex... Yeah, James just told his son, go to bed and wait for the Sandman. 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. Okay, all right, I see. For a second, I thought... First thing I had the child was like, I don't know, dad, it's an idea. It's more of a, 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. Yet it's a string. Crossed the wall backwards. Yet it does. Cross up the wall backwards like a land grab. Son, son. Yeah.

No, no. Yeah, get the fuck down from there. Yeah, this is fucking weird. Bam, dresses Edgar Allan Poe walks back out. Yeah. Yeah, this is like that Yeah, this is like that Raven thing I wrote about. Yeah, dad.

I'm gonna go do opium now. I'm seeing black birds dead. I'm seeing black birds. Dad help. That I was laughing at that line until he saw the sandman for himself. It's very classic like scary stories set up, but it also reads like the creature. He thought he'd be fine.

That's before he got. got hit by the creature. Yeah. Yeah, he was eating his scrammy 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 directly towards him. 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. Yo, get the fuck out the way. That's what the creature sounds like, too. You, beep, beep, I'm driving here. I like someone trucking towards a group of kids cross in the street, and they say out loud, beep, beep, I'm driving here. Beep, beep. Get out the way!

All the time in the world to stop, doesn't. If you had that much time to, I mean, and I don't want to put the blame on the children, but could they have not have 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? Is it too close? No, you're right.

Children should be victims. And children should be victims, I think. I just love victim blaming the children who should have, who should have dive rolled, tucked and rolled out of the way. Yes, exactly. It has to be like a ram-low. Any survival instinct. Exactly.

He was getting ready for bed and stopped by Daniel's room 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. Wait, hold up. We're already in it. Rocking back and forth.

It took a moment for him to process what he was seen. You're saying a fucking... These old stories, they did not have time to goof around. Oh, my God. It was like, look, we're here, the monster's here, let's get into it. Oh, my God! It was one scramby egg breakfast

at 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. All he needs is a potato. If he busted a potato, I'm dying. If there is a potato

eaten in this episode, the show is done. I want you to know that right now. Dangerous ground. I also love it took me a moment. It took him 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 peacefully sleeping with a full-fledged naked adult on it. And he's like, yeah, what the hell? Hold on. Yeah, this is, okay, this is odd. Wait, hold on. This is a naked guy. Like, it took him that long to realize, like, his child's in danger. I, uh, I control search the word potato. And there was a username potato who commented on it. So do we have to end the show now? No, no, no, no. Okay. I'm saying if the same man was like, the same man took out like a rust potato from his crack or something, then I'm just like

started eating it. Then I'd be, I'd be like, stuff. 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, hairless of warped. It's awesome. So joints turned the wrong way. Okay. All right. I need a lock in.

Here's the difference. Okay. All right. Hold on. I have to justify myself a little bit. When you're, Finish, finish this paragraph real quick, though, because this is, it's good. Its joints turned the wrong way and its body out of shape with itself.

When it moved, it was like an insane marionette dancing on a stage. That's a lot of emotions going on one scene. There's a lot happening in one paragraph. Yeah, he, I look at that. He reacts and he dad. That's actually almost a sentence. That entire paragraph is nearly one sentence. One giant run on sentence.

What I love about it, though, is not like that he's like he reacted to any way, dad would he's like, ah, he like runs and screaming. And then his screams of anger probably turned to screams of terror when they fucking like, I don't know, vegan alien body man turned around. You know what I'm talking 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 with this slithic face.

And then the dad was like, oh, ha, ha, freaking out. And 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

and 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 that. 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 warm. which joints turn the wrong way. It'd be like that.

Rather than what you'd read it all at once, it's a lot more abrasive. If you have that context, though, Isaiah, read the story like that. And that's the way we should be reading it 100%. All right, right. I'll give this next paragraph a chance. I'll give it a chance.

Yeah, let's try it. James froze. The skittering thing watched him. He felt spreading warmth, and he realized he pissed his pants Reading it slower Rating it slower was too much

of a good comedic beat He realized He pissed his pants Oh fuck Oh darn it He looked up at the creature And said I can't believe you just pissed my pants

I pissed my pants I pissed my pants But then I found out It was the creature's pissed It was the creature. Yeah, yeah, there it is. Only when he remembered that Daniel was still there in bed, staring at the broken-shaped thing 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, and crawled to the window and jumped out, leaving only the billowing curtains to mark its passing. Okay. I mean, first off, first off, the reading is way more effective that way, I think.

So I think you should keep doing that movie for it. But also, at first I thought that this was going to be, because I would say typically, the Sandman archetype is usually like an old, old man. It's like an old, like, typically. the what? Typically, yeah. Yeah, like an old bearded man, whatever, like usually resembling like,

I don't know, time or some shit like that. So to me, I thought that this was like a, not like a magic man. Like I thought it was like a manifestation or something, right? So to. So when I heard just right now that the creature just jumped out of the window, I was a little surprised because I think to myself, well, where are you going?

Where are you going? Where are you going? Where is this marionette vegan-bodied man gonna run off to is what I want to know. He gets in the Chevy Astro and drives off. Yeah. Eating meat is murder. He jumps out the window. It's just really like a huge pita protester.

He's a pita protest. Fucking. Yeah. He's in there to kill their dog because it's like, immoral to have pets or something. You know, the classic peanut protest. Yeah, the classic peanut protest. We have to do that to show how vicious it is.

We have to do that because he'd want to be dead. Trust me. Yeah, he trusts me. Look at him. He's so sad. The dog's like, looking up at him, I'm smiling. He's like, it's okay. Don't scream at me. I'll kill you soon. Doesn't know how bad he hasn't. Yeah, yeah. Stupid little bastard doesn't realize he's being tortured.

You hear that? You fucking idiot. You're sad. Sandman. Peta man. Title card. Peta man. Yeah, the Pita.

It's time to talk about something scary. Your health. I know I don't go in the doctor as much as I should. If I'm feeling sick, I'll just lie in bed and sleep it away. But that's only because I don't want to have to deal with the appointments, insurance and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's why I have Zoc Doc. Zoc Doc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high-quality in-network doctors.

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So stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com slash creepcast to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-C dot com slash creepcast. Zoc-D-C-C-C-T-Cast. Thank you, Zoc-Doc for sponsoring the episode. Back to our spooky story. I want to take a moment to thank today's sponsor, Ridge Wallet. At this point, you all know Ridge for many of their fantastic and rugged products,

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let them know that we sent you, it would really mean a lot. Thank you to Ridge for sponsoring the show. Their link will be in the description. And we are now. Now, back to the episode. James had trouble talking to the police. He reported a break in, but when asked to describe the intruder, you didn't know what to say. How could he make the... You didn't know who to say pissed his pants. How could he make the ordinary man in the blue uniform, setting at his kitchen table, while

two of his colleagues searched the house understand a thing like he'd seen. Couldn't even understand it himself. I really hate that line. I really, really hate that 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. Like what are we trying to say it?

Was he a police officer or did he work at Jiffy Loob? I'm not sure. He's trying to abstract the concept of a police officer. A police officer. Just say, how can I convince the police what I just saw? I just say that, dude. The ordinary man and how could I say to the man with skin and hair and a tope and blue shirt? How could I convince him what I see?

And you're like, who are you talking to? Polka dot nose. I thought he was talking to the police. Yeah, that's pretty much what he's talking to. Okay, why didn't you say that? I guess that's pretty much it. I have to go. Actually, I have a call.

One moment, please. Did you forget your reading The Sandman By the way Huh You pissed yourself I did No I peed on you

The same man I'm pissing every I'm pissing all over the place Check your pants Huh Check again Yeah It reeks

I haven't drank water in four days It's all the asparagus guess because as mentioned, I am in Pita. Yeah, all I do is drink Nesquake and Red Bull. Sandman. Like that idea that every time Sandman says, there's like a trumpet blare and like a title card, San Man,

or a harp, like a sleepy harp. Saman. To make it worse, Daniel's memory did not correspond to James. You described, an ordinary looking burglar. A man in the mask.

James thought about it. Had it been a mask? 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.

The lie unsettled him almost as much as what had happened. The doctor said Daniel wasn't heard and showed no. I forgot we're in 2013. Hey, here's the snap back to 2013. I got to get through it in the voice. Yeah, resale it. The doctor said Daniel wasn't hurt. Showed no signs of molestation.

James was relieved. My God. Man, what a snapback. There was no signs. of molestation. James was relieved. No. Come on.

Cut that. You got it. You got to cut that one. Yeah, just blur that. Just bleep that one a little bit. Oh. The sandman. The sandman made me sound. I dreamt it. You pushed your pants. God damn. Did you pee on me? Yeah.

They stayed at a motel for a couple nights until they felt ready to come home. Then James had a new security system installed along with bars on the windows. It didn't like the side of them in Daniel's room, but it seemed like the only thing to do. James was frightened, the first night back in the house, but 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. He 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 his son's room. When he closed his eyes, even for a moment, he pictured bloodless skin and a twisted inhuman 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 he wondered I mean like we could we we could spend three hours just waiting on every weird sentence structure and choice of words like the uh I just he wondered why my family and then the sentence of of course he knew there didn't have to be a reason it's like okay

then why even say that then I love I really really love uh uh he could some stuff that his memory was faulty and that it had been a normal. It's like a normal naked man. I'll be it probably, albeit probably deeply disturbed. I can't confirm and I don't want to speculate on his mental state. But the naked man sitting on his bed, he probably was disturbed.

I breezed 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, an 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 good costume. I got it. It's a believable costume. Or like the sentence, it's like, the lie unsettled him almost as much as what happened. It's like, are you sure?

Probably something. Are you? Harry Potter or a fantasy film of some sorts. He would look kind of like a horror crux. With a decent production value. Something that people definitely spend time. I'm spending money on. This is throwing me back to that investigator

in the thing in the basement. Like, it's better at mimicking people. Monster hunter, huh? Yeah, yeah. That's where we're at. Two weeks later, Daniel stopped talking. James didn't notice it first.

What do you mean? What do you mean you did? See, just like that. Every sentence is a rovold. What are you talking 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, hold on, hold on. 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, how, what? Like you go to your kid. And you're like, hey, you want it, you want spaghetti for dinner?

he's like, Mm-hmm. He ate us. 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 tarts for dinner? It's like, the son's like right on a paper.

He says pop tarts for dinner, question mark. All right. Those are struddles. it is. That's not what I said. I can't hear you. Yeah.

I'm making Pop-Tart lasagna. I remember I remember when I went through my blind, deaf mute phase when I was a child. Classic. Happened to the best of us. Happens to the best of us. Puberty.

What a concept. Sand man. Say man. What a concept. Is that, did you just make a max reference? Is that what that was? What is it?

Never mind. Back to the doctor, they went. Nothing wrong with him that we can see was the diagnosis. It's not a diagnosis. Okay. Was it the trauma? James asked. Could be, they said.

Sometimes these things come on late. Pretty good doctors. Is it a trauma? It's a really good. I don't know. Maybe. Could be. Could be.

Could be. I don't know. Give him riddlin. Tell them to go to sleep. Thank you, doctor. Say, man. Say, man. Children can be a...

Gosh. Children can be a mystery, even to those who know them best. They recommended a child psychologist whom James couldn't afford. He could not, for that matter, even afford the bill they were giving him now. Fuck off.

It's always it's always something extra. It's like we get it. 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 wrap. And then there's,

another sentence after that that's like in fact, I don't think I could drink milk at all even before this. It's like, yeah, that's what lactose intolerant means. Yeah. Nothing seemed to help. Daniel would write out answers to questions

sometimes, but never more than a yes or no. James would ask him what was wrong. Or if it's... I would have never. be more than yes or no. Like I said,

this could be a 10-hour story. What do you want for dinner? Yes. Okay. Starts punching him. Yeah. The dad starts a wailing on him. Just speak.

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 that Daniel sang Mumbo number five.

I'm getting a headache. 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 he's been doing this. And I'm having it. I'm giddy. 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 in 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 glimpsed something just out of the corner of his eye, a pale foot or 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 hemmed in 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 in my wallet. But then I realized that I had overdrafted the account. So I had to talk 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 bypass 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 had to, I had to, I tried to get money out. I tried to get money out for groceries. But it turns out my account of an overdrafted $7,000.

I guess the Indian phone scam was real after all. Hey, so not to be unprofessional, but while I was reading just then, I started to feel faint. And I think it's because, for one, I haven't eaten today. And also, I was doing such a breathy voice. and I was getting like exacerbated. Can you read, Caleb brought me a burrito. She got me.

Can you read like a paragraph? Yeah, yeah, I will, I will. If you would have passed out reading Sam, man,

that would have been the greatest moment on Crepeat's history. I was reading and I'm like, who, my head hurts a lot all of a sudden. With Dan, yes,

yeah, yeah, okay, I'll, I'll start for the top here, so. This episode is sponsored by Cash

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Visit cash.app slash legal, slash podcast for full disclosures. Thanks, Cashab for sponsoring this episode. Soon he realized he had not left the house in weeks except to go to the bank and buy groceries. He felt hamden. Hamden. Hamden. he wanted ham he felt him what he's

he's hand he's put so much hand on the door he can't get through it's why he's the only thing Daniel he'll eat with Daniel acting mute he hadn't an actual he hadn't had an actual

conversation with anyone in weeks so he called his mother the connection was bad and her voice sounded faint on the verge of being not there at all I guess I'm okay ma wait is that dangerous

Daniel? That's him vain. No, that's him like on the verge of being not there at all. Oh, okay. Sorry. I thought I was. I totally. I totally miss. Okay. All right. Sorry. I guess. Hold on. No. That has. Yeah, that is Daniel. That is Daniel. Yeah. Yeah. But he's like. I guess I'm okay, ma. He said. Pawsing to wipe the sweat from his palms and 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. Mom said. 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. Wait, why, wait. So is this James speaking now? I don't know.

I don't know who the fuck mom is. There's no way Daniel works at the hospital. Yeah. Well, let's say, with Daniel, he had an actual conference interview to anyone. So he had called, so he had called his mother. The picture was, yeah, he called his mom.

So this is how old is Daniel? No, no, look, look, look, read down. I guess I'm okay, 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 the sentence after.

So he calls mother. was bad and her voice set of faint on the verge of blah blah. I guess I'm okay, ma, he said, pausing to, I guess I'm okay, ma, paused to wipe the sweat from his palms and then make sure he could hear Daniel playing the next room. Yeah, there's that, but so is it supposed to. It's James. It's James. It's like seven.

He's not working at the hospital. So James is talking to his mom. Yes. Okay. 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 Jay. So, oh, well, what about that nice woman you were saying last year?

The one who played the piano. James Scowl. What? James Scowl. Yeah. Her amazing tribute, she played the piano. James scowled. 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.

Is there anyone else on the line? 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 crept across the back of his neck. You're sure nobody's listening on your other phone? Dear, there's no other phone. I'm on the cell.

That's what the service is so bad. Didn't... What is... James stopped. The sound wasn't coming. coming from her in then. He dropped the phone. I think I can clock back in now.

Thank you very much. All right. I got some calories in me. Hopefully I don't pass out, but if I start to, we'll just keep going. I was just saying, let at least let it happen.

I mean, like, you know. Yeah, yeah, I'll let it happen. I'll let it happen. Get the Sandman the respect it deserves by at least fainting while reading. He dropped the phone and race to the hall. The extension hung on its hook, undisturbed,

heart pounding, he hurtled into the garage. Spare phone set on the workbench. 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 they be here even now? The next day, he took out the extra phone extensions, even filled in the jacks with rubber cement. Okay. Listen. Daniel watched him work. He even filled the Jagger rubber cement. Why? Why did you do that?

We all have that laying around. Some rubber rubber cement. I got all the gorilla all the gorilla glue and extra Lego pieces I had and jammed him in the outlet so no one could stick anything in. Daniel watched him work.

Eyes curious. James offered no explanation. He began, giving Daniel a light physical exam every week. His CNA trial. I like how it immediately jumps into him being like a trained healthcare professional. You know, there'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 to that hospital? No, mom. I know that. I know that,

but he's been to two hospital visits before. It's never mentioned he was a former health care workers. Like I said, that's because they probably wrote this part and someone's like, he knows how to do this. There we go. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah, literally. which you would think on a second draft, which bold to assume the story has one, but you would think on the second draft, you would be like, hey, maybe don't have him visit the hospitals so much in the beginning of the story.

The Sandman, draft two. The Opium Chronicles. This time everyone pissed each other's pants. Yeah. The Piss Chronicles. His CNA training was, little rusty after you're on disability, but you never really forget.

It was a... Then why did he take him to the doctor for an exam and whatever? Also, we haven't established why he's on disability, right? No. Because I'm wondering, I'm wondering if that's... Okay, so I feel like they're sitting some of there. Okay, just making sure. That's a bold assumption.

It's bold to assume that this is a setup and not just a thing that's happening. I believe in the Sandman. The same man. Okay. Draft two. 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 cannot locate a heartbeat. He moved his hand in search of the right spot to no avail. Then, detested, he listened to his own heartbeat. It came through steady and clear. But when you checked Daniel again, he didn't hear anything. A thought came unbidden to him of the tin man in the wizard's paws 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's heartbeat I can't feel my son's heartbeat like the tin man Wizard of Oz you ever seen Wizard of Oz

Daniel just looks at him oh that's right not speaking right right he speaks purple and blue eyes have cataracts he ever seen a wizard of Oz Daniel he's like I was still giving the

science treatment I see. Methink. At the end of, he thinks your hearts 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 spot actually. I don't know. We're very well.

It might be. Also, do you remember what that you, do you remember like this story yet? Are you, is it coming back? No. No. I remember the beginning with the guy at the edge of the bed, but I didn't. don't remember anything but pass up. Oh, okay. So this is nice. It's almost like revisiting it for the first time. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. A sick feeling rolled his stomach. Through the stethoscope down

and grabbed Daniel by the shoulders looking into his 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. And Daniel hugged back. and James put his shirt back on him and sent him to play. Stathoscope, he decided, was broken. He threw it in the trash. Because that's how stethoscope's work.

You can you just break them? This one's defective. It hurt 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 there's like,

the sound. See, my mind, like the son's completely dead and he just puts a t-shirt on him and hucks him out the back door in the yard. Yeah, like, like airport luggage.

Just fucking, yeah. Go play Superman. Yeah. It throws a back. Excelsior. What the fucking is? Go play Superman.

Is it a bird? He comes out like two hours later. Daniel's dead corpse. He comes out like two hours later. He's still in the same crumpled pile. He's like, you have fun? Yeah. There he is.

Yeah, Mr. Crypton Knight himself. Come on, Daniel, make a lasagna. I just want to be pointed out that the creepyposter.com says that this story has a 14-minute ring time. We are on almost an hour.

Yeah. I think, I mean, listen, there's been a lot of tangents, but I feel like we've been reading it at a healthy pace. So we are not that far down on the webbub. page.

I'll put that out there. Well, the website lies. There will be like two air of stories that it's like, ah, 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 and some dark corner of another filled every second of his day. The thought of how big the house really was started to weigh 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. He was never comforted when he turned around and found nothing there, as he could only guess that minute had moved swiftly and silently behind him once again. Wherever he was not looking right now, that was where he imagined it to be.

The entire paragraph is that last sentence. Got it. Got it. Yeah. Yes. So if I was looking north, the creature would be south. instead of creature it keeps saying thing

it keeps like there's a thing in this room do you think that's because of the like two sentence war thing do you think it was like cliche around this time or no oh this was before two sentence war popped oh okay okay yeah yeah do you remember you think it's the thing of bleach from Jeff the killer

oh maybe you remember that yeah no no no at Jeff the killer it says a thing of bleach fell on Jeff the killer it says a thing of bleach fell on that's the phrase 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 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 if 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 is just like, yeah, I read that. So then this story also just because they read it, that's the only thing like media or literate. Like that's the only thing they've read. So then they just refer to everything the same way. You know what I mean? Yeah. Maybe.

But at the same time, I feel like this author's just like, yeah, it's a thing. That's the 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, roundabout, roundabout 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. He was losing his mind. He knew. The only thing that helped him clean to sanity was that Daniel seemed undisturbed.

Doesn't Daniel not speaking? Daniel has been disturbed for, I mean, he's pretty disturbed. I would assume months now. Hold on, hold on. The next sentence.

other than his muteness, his behavior was perfectly normal. Okay. Other than his trauma-induced muteness, he was a pretty cool kid. And whenever he seemed to sense that his father was troubled, he would hug him or squeeze his hand or even smile. Sometimes when he left the room, James cried. One night he fell.

found himself creeping around the house with no lights on at two o'clock in the morning. Who? James? James? James? Okay. If the intruding thing had taken to violating his daytime activities, then he would get revenge by confronting 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. He padded barefoot down the halls, up the stairs, in and out of disused rooms. How big is this house? Well, that's the same. Like, what fucking mansion do they live in, dude? It's like the fucking, what is it? The Winchester house or something.

I keep trying, because that's like, I was going to say this too earlier. 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 you do that at all oh yeah there's like a mid was a real 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 looking I'm like I'm like he's walking like maybe 20 feet back and forth. You know, like how big is this fucking house that he's in? He's like Bruce Wayne and like the giant mansion. Yeah, my family left me this giant manor. Sandman. Did I mention I'm in the

Overlook Hotel? Yeah. I forgot 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 things. thing, he knew, but it was awkward at times. And it couldn't always keep its strangely shaped limbs from making their distinct irregular footsteps. The smallest noise would give it away.

There was one room he suspected had spent most of its time in a spare bedroom. Not a bedroom at all, really. More like a closet. Scratch it last thing I just said. He's in the spare room. bedroom, but not really a bedroom. It's more like, like, when we got the house, we thought I could use it as a sort of

office, but then after that it makes more sense for the office to be in the veranda. So because of that, it sort of became a utility space like that. Or like a closet, just large enough to accommodate a bed if one were so inclined. If one

were so inclined. My God. It's reading like a joke. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. It was unpainted and uncarpeted and drafty. It always meant to fix it up. It didn't come in here very often because he disliked the bear. Unused look of it made him think of a partially dissected corpse.

So James is a hundred percent. A psychopath, right? I just want to know. Oh, yeah, of course. I just want to put that out. He's dragging his box. The son 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. I never thought that in my life, actually. I had a funny poster of a, of dogs playing poker, but I was too scared to put it up. His son comes up to him.

He was like, Dad, can you just like do drugs or something? Yeah, you're not supposed to talk. He came in now, though. If the thing, thing, made its nest any one place in the house this would be it of course there was nothing there now

that didn't mean there was nothing there what are you mean just at me at some point man it's like whatever you want story what are you talking about of course there was nothing there now but that didn't mean there was nothing there what the fuck do you

how else am I supposed to decipher that Oh, God. He cursed, running a hand through his sweat, damp hair. Shit! What was he missing? How did it hide from him? What was it secret? Peered into the room's empty corners one by one,

getting his face a few inches from the plaster and floorboard so that he could be certain. Certain that there was no space for him to conceal itself. He just looks so stupid, like going to all the corners, just like leaning it all the floor. The light bulb flickered. You froze. My God, he thought, it's on the ceiling. You pictured it crawling above him like a huge pale lizard. That's how it gets around, he thought.

That's how it escapes any time I should have it cornered. It just scuttles up the wall and hides right over my head. He imagined it dangling down behind him like a spider. If I turn around, he thought it will 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 it 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 meant it with something else.

Something even more strange, even more clever. So the visual motif of 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. Oh.

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 and holding him. his breath, terrified that he would hear a skittering sound on the other side of the barrier. What he heard instead shocked him more. Daniel was talking to someone. James recoiled for a second, and then, when he caught his breath, he 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 a door hinge settled the matter for him. He ran into the closet and threw it open. There was nothing inside, or at least nothing that shouldn't be there.

He swept his side clothes on their hangers, but nothing was hiding between them. Then he dragged the toy box out and emptied it onto the floor. nothing. Comed along the bare walls and floor, and yes, the ceiling, pushing aside every last bit of rubbish and stray knick-knack, so that he could be sure, absolutely sure, that 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 There were neither intruders nor answers inside. It struck him as funny somehow, and he started to laugh very quietly.

He kicked 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 and was nowhere near his right mind. The second was how close he'd come to really losing it, for good. 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 it when he breasted. a hand through Daniel's hair. He pulled Daniel a little too roughly closer. His son acquiesced the examination without fidgeting or complaint as James pawed the side of his head, hoping that he was seen would somehow stop being apparent.

He stared and stared until he ate from not blinking, but there was no denying what was right in front of his eyes. Daniel was missing an ear. What? right. Well, what? So he has no heart, no ear, okay? He has no heart, no ear, you know, it happens sometimes, I guess. No.

Sandman. Sandman. No, you realized with both mounting nausea, both ears. There was no injury, no incision, no mark where they should have been, simply smooth, blink flesh. It's like the cone heads with their, with their, with their. pay, like their, their, uh, their asses. There's no ass crack. It's just like flat. So the, there's no.

So what he's just like? They just removed it. Mr. Potato Head, whatever fucking, like, there's, there's no hole. Is that what he's saying? Just, okay, blank flush. Yeah. It's just gone. Nothing. Yeah. As blank is Daniel's quiet, unperturbed demeanor. James swept him up in his arms and ran into the hall.

He was not sure where he was going or what he meant to do when he got there. He 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 sat in the hallway with us back to them. No, not a man. James recognized its stretched limbs and stooped shoulders. The pale thing squatted on its haunches, rocking back and forth like it was palsied. It almost seemed to be in pain.

James hugged his son closer and backed away, then he heard Daniel's voice. Daddy. James turned to Daniel and he heard the voice again. Daddy. Daniel's lips hadn't moved. James looked back at the hunched figure. Its head jerked when it talked, like a tick. Hello, Daddy.

James is smart. mouth went dry. It took several tries before he could speak. Don't call me that. It is. This voice is named for you. Away. Leave my family alone. But I am. Your family. The longer it talked, the more the voice became distorted and blurred. Nicely feeling nestled in James' stomach.

Who are you? Someone who came to the same. visit. Why here? You invited me. James's heart thudded against the inside of his chest. Why? I had something you wanted.

James licked 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. What?

Who is Daniel's mother? What the hell kind of question is that? How old is Daniel? James blinked again. Thing's voice caused a pinching pain in the center of his forehead. Stop asking me these things. When is Daniel's birthday? I don't know.

What is he? 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 in his arms kept him where he was. You were alone.

You wanted a son. So I made one for you. That's actually, that's a better direction. than I thought this story was going. Not bad. Let's see it. Got to stick the landing. I also have to mention

that this is like your worst nightmare, a monster showing up years later for child support payments. Exactly. Time to pay up, James. What is Hunter? What is his mother's name? Shut off.

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. That doesn't make sense. Made out of what?

Out of myself. James' stomach turned over. But now, I need those parts back. Daniel picked James' shoulder to get his attention. Something was strange about Daniel's face. Danny, open your eyes. Daniel scrunched his eyes shut tighter. 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 warned you this would happen. You're lying. You're lying. You're a fucking liar. Give him back. My game! My game! Give him out my son! Give him back! I do not lie. I warned you he could not exist forever, but you do not remember.

You can only remember what I want you to. You forget all the times we have talked. Daniel felt like a doll, or 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. Tears streamed down his face. Soon, he held a pile of empty clothes, and then those two were gone.

He looked around the house. Toys disappeared, photos vanished from their frames. Daniel's little shoes were no longer by the door. James turned towards Daniel's room and confronted a wall where the door's shoes. should be. Groped 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 what you wanted. And I learned so much. This is impossible. People will ask me. 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 sat on the floor, looking at at the blank wall. Under the corner of his eye, he saw the thing creeped toward him, and even felt its wet 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 mean, it's an expositioned up

but I still, we have, I mean, like we're still, there's still a little bit to go, but still like the, uh, I'm almost picturing like a fucking alien. That's why I keep, I mean, I, I keep thinking it's like some otherworldly being. 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. Abigail 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 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, brow furrowed in concentration. He did not seem to realize he was doing it. And 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 never had kids, and neither had 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, they were the nights when James took to sleepwalking, And even Abigail imagined that she had heard strange, scuttly noises in the house and saw impossible shapes and dark corners when she thought she would do anything, absolutely anything. It meant having a little daughter for she and James to raise. And at those moments, she became truly afraid, but she never knew why. I feel like the creative, that's the end of the story.

I feel like there's a creativity here of like, uh, uh, creativity here of like, uh, almost like a fear of parentalhood or something. Like I feel like there's, 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,

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. You know what I mean? Like in tone and description and stuff.

Just the way the things are, are presented because even it started to get in 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 i 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

reading some of the comments by the way from 2014 are very funny. I just want to say that. What are they saying? Yeah. Or yeah. From W.W.E. Rock S. 88, December 21st, 2014 at 12.52 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 Samman. Plus lead singer's name is James. Anyway, great story. very, very creepy. There's what that was funny. It's a one of the, one of the probably one of the most popular songs ever. If you didn't realize there's this, it's just kind of, I just love. You may have not known this, but there's a song named after that guy.

Did they name it after the creepy pasta? I, um, so obviously it's tackling like a loss of like a of a kid, right, or something. I mean, like there's got to be like, uh, well, I feel like, I kind of agree with you that it feels like it's about like, um, a fear of losing a child more so than losing one, you know, but the child was only created because he wanted it, you know, and 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, um, the I, well, first of all, I mean, just to follow up on that last point is I, you know, as we've gotten older, I mean, you have a kid now, all that stuff. All of 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 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 like the moth episode of like where it's like the men and the family have to like basically have sex with this like a moth creature to me that kind of plays into this weird like passing down of like bad traits or whatever just. to 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. I'm glad you got something out of it. I'm glad me almost passing out doing a breathy, dramatic, creepy poster voice. I didn't, I didn't want to, uh, I didn't want to say it, but listening to you like deep inhale between the lines. So good. You're like, James still had it. I said he'd never have kids. And neither had she. Dude. Yeah,

it was so good. God, what I would have gift for making money back in the day. That would have got your goat. Oh my God. 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 said or something.

That would have been so funny. Oh. It would have been so good. Yeah. Yeah. I think that was the formula for making money back in the day. Just do a breathy voice. read horror stories online.

It's all it took, man. Yeah. Well, I think, and I think that, uh, it's always, I mean, 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, came on, maybe like they were, or like preteen or, you know, something like that, whenever this was out. And I think like, I'm always curious to see is, 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 gatekeeping, 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 and it becomes your entire personality. Because I have a feeling back then too, with 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 just such a little relic of that time.

I really wish that I would have known about it when I was younger. Hey, man. Back in the day, you read this, you get your wasteholds 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, uh, just a level of mystique that I feel like is lost now that you know what I mean? Because there's, there's so much crazy well produced stuff now too. And audiences are so much smarter and all that stuff that I, 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, oh, 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 re, maybe we should redo, uh, maybe we should get back into a bedtime sometime, dude. It's still the number two episode on what's number one, 1999. Oh, yeah. I mean, that, that 999 is one of the classics that does hold up in my opinion. Yeah, well, we, we read that was an early one to read, right? Yeah, yeah. Mr. Bear. Yeah, that's right.

Mr. Bear. Yeah, the whole thing of him, the father dropping off his son. and I'm still appalled by that but yeah man that's crazy though man good lord November 14th 2009 is when 1999 came out how crazy is that yeah say with Candle Cove though holy shit yeah very cool it seems like was there memory 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 Eilis Jack I think that's like when Jeff the killer probably came out. And then we have stories like this. Was there just like a slight resurgence, like maybe four years later or five? Like did it?

Yeah. So, well, the 2012, 2013 was the hot zone. Okay. It's more so like the 2009 stuff was the prelude. Where like people started to read it. If I had to guess, which I could be wrong,

I want to say around 2013 is when YouTubers started covering it. And like Reddit had the board and stuff. So it just got a whole new audience. So then more and more people started writing. where you had like Jeff the Killer and a lot of the mean, the meme ones come from. But I mean, people have been writing horror stories since the internet's been around. Oh, of course, of course. But yeah, 2013's where it kicked up.

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 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 then? 2013, I think. Yeah.

I'm pretty sure. Yeah. It's like it says 2010 here on the website. Wow. Harold Brown? Yeah, that's what it says. That might not be great. I don't know.

But the... Yeah, August 2010 was when the screenshot happened on 4chan. So then maybe, yeah, then if that's the case, then too, definitely around 2013, 2012, all that stuff. Like, that's... I mean, people were 100% making YouTube videos around then about like creepypastel shit. You know? I mean, so who were the big creepyposter readers back in the day?

Like, the, it was the dark seminium and then, um, Um, is it just Mr. Creepy 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 creepy pasta 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 typing creepy pasta reading, we come up first. That's cute. Um, it's just kind of cool to see. Are there, are there channels gone? Is everyone?

I mean, maybe I don't know. Darcinium, I know a lot of, a lot of theirs. There's I read creepypastas. There was, I hate how much if it's just us now. I feel like,

I feel like stolen valor. Well, I mean, I'm just looking at some of them. It says like 15 years ago a long of these people started. Yeah. It's just kind of cool.

I don't know. Regardless, it's, it's fun. I don't know. I always like whenever we read one of these stories. It has some like humor. We like,

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. Oh, of course. And you can see the little bit of a, to where I'd be curious. A lot of 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 this author of the Sandman, if this person was still writing. you know, I would love to read something now just be like, like, what was that progression been like? Has there been a progression? You know, if they were consistent with it, obviously there has been. But 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. 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. Until the next time, guys, stay creeped and read some old creepypastas, man.

This was a fun one. Stay creeped. And make sure 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.