Creepy - The Leer

Episode Date: December 21, 2020

How long can you go without blinking?***Content warning: animal death***Written by C.T. Flaska***To learn more about the The Trevor Project visit TheTrevorProject.org***Check out our reward tiers at patreon.com/creepypod***You can also subscribe to us on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/creepypod***Produced by Steve Blizin***Title music by Alex Aldea***Intro/Outro Narration by Joe Stofko Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is the bloody disgusting podcast network. This podcast has made possible thanks to our patrons. So we've joined me in welcoming and thanking new patrons. Mr. Jost, Zoe. Happy third anniversary, Krista? Javowaka, Three Cats from Crazy, Hunter Sheldgren, Christina, and Shay Jordan. Our patrons mean everything to us, and we do all weekend to give back for their generosity. Rewards start with shoutouts and early commercial free access to all episodes and go up from there to include

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have all chosen the same charity. Here's Alicia and Cole to talk about it. Hey, everyone. This is Alicia Atkins. Today, I'd like to take a moment to talk about the Trevor Project. The Trevor Project helped me immensely as an isolated lesbian in a small southern town. It connected me with other LGBTQ plus teens and young adults to relate to, to talk about issues, and made me feel like one day everything would be okay.

The Trevor Project not only connects you with others, they also focus on suicide prevention. Along with that, they also provide resources to parents and teachers in order to make a safe place for LGBTQ plus kids. The Trevor Project has also been a strong advocate for laws pertaining to LGBTQ plus rights. Being a kid is scary and hard enough, so please, consider donating to a cause that has helped so many already. Thank you. Stay safe and stay creepy.

Hey, everyone. Cole Burkart here, and for my donation, I decided to do the Trevor Project. Being a queer person in life hasn't really been easy, but the Trevor Project has, well, really been there for me. The Trevor Project is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to helping young LBGTQ people through a 24-hour suicide hotline. It absolutely helped me when I was going through a rough patch, when I had first come out to some less than accepting family and friends. The Trevor Project was there for me,

and so I'd like to be able to give back in any way I can. I know the Trevor Project has helped out a lot of my queer friends and family, and everyone involved with that organization has just been amazing. If you or anyone you know is anyone you know is anyone on the LBGTQ alphabet rainbow and are having a hard time, especially during the holidays, I encourage you to reach out. I encourage you, please, please ask for help. Check out their website and the amazing resources they have there.

Thanks, Alicia and Cole. As three members of our team all chose the same charity, creepy has donated $300 to the Trevor Project. If you'd like to find out more, please visit thetrevorproject.org. No. This is creepy. A podcast dedicated to sharing the most famous chilling and disturbing creepy pastors

and urban legends in the world. Whether these stories truly happened or are simply fabrications is for you to decide. These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language. Listener discretion is advised. Creepy Presents The Lear

Written by C.D. Flasker and produced by Steve Blizzin. Falling asleep's always been a problem for me. Ever since I was young, I thought what had happened was a dream. An ongoing childhood nightmare. Years of therapy and self-help remedies

pushed me to strive for a happier life. With help, I wrote those memories off as just bad dreams from a vivid imagination. Only just recently. I was reminded that it was all true. I remember being ten. I'd often lay awake in bed thinking about the day I just had or the challenges the next day might bring. I spent nights watching the light stands on my bedroom walls when a car would pass by

or glancing her in my room to the few toys I had. I'd get lost and thought imagining what kinds of adventures they would get into if they'd come to life, like in that one movie. The house I grew up and was located on the corner of a less traveled intersection. One car, maybe two all night, but often none. A single streetlight lit the four-way. The towering pole was old but bright, shining through my window soothingly, giving my room an orange fade like a dim melody.

The streetlight would flicker every once in a while, causing the collection of bugs around its bulb to disperse, only to return once their oddity of light came back into existence. One night, after calling out of bed from pure boredom, I sat on the edge of my bed's footboard and stared out on my window. I would fixate on the illuminating streetlight. Every so often a bat would swoop in and nap one of the fluttering bugs around the light. I liked the night.

I guess at that age I was a bit of an insomniac. The night prior, a skunk emerged from some bushes and patrolled the neighborhood's trash cans. It had just reached Mrs. Kane's garbage before Dirt Nap. The neighborhood stray Cad jumped at the skunk. Poor fella. He took off into the night and Dirt Nap paraded around his territory. Something about the mystery of the night intrigued me. So much was happening and so little of it was visible to the human eye.

I tucked my knees to my chest and exhausted a heavy sigh. I was content. I also knew. I was going to be tired tomorrow. The nighttime setting was memorable and comforting. Until it appeared. A few hours passed and no car in sight. No sign of the skunk anywhere and dirt nap must have vanished too.

It was just quiet. I noticed there was no sound whatsoever, as if the eerie stillness of the night reached through my window and wrapped itself around me. My eyes averted to the street. light as it flickered on and off, and when the bulb gained power, it stood directly underneath the light. A thin, dark figure was frozen in place.

Not in a natural or what seemed comfortable position. Oblong limbs on a cracked and deformed body. The figure was so dark and void of light that it was hard to be sure what I was looking at was a person or a shadow. I shook off the feeling of fright and some of the courage to climb over the under the to my bed. I creeped over to my window, never removing my gaze from the being. I couldn't tell, but I think it knew I was watching.

Once I reached my bedroom window, I knew something didn't feel right. The dark figure under the street light had moved. My eyes narrowed and I focused on the abnormal being. I studied it. I noticed it was breathing. Not slowly, but fast and erratically, almost like it was out of breath or as if it had just exhausted its stamina sprinting a long distance. Its arms moved slightly up and down with every sporadic breath. The movements were so minimal that I wouldn't have noticed unless I stared long enough to see the slight motions.

Like it was in fast forward. The being was so dark under the light it was hard to focus on what was its torso, a limb. I continued to stare at it, my eyes just above the window frame. I was so concentrated on the strange figure in the street that I jumped when I heard a noise in my house. Quickly I turned around and faced my bedroom door. I could see a light from underneath the closed door.

One of my parents, or perhaps a brother, had just gotten up to use the restroom down the hall. After realizing what made the sound, I turned my head back to the newfound thing in the road, and I noticed it had moved again. It was now staring at me. I knew this because I could see its eyes. Every muscle in my body tightened. Its eyes were small, but a bright piercing white like sparkles,

so tiny that they almost seemed to get lost in the black void of its own body. body, but bright enough I could see them from my window. I knew for some reason that it wasn't just looking in my direction, but at me. I was overcome with a strange feeling, a feeling of threat. It was staring directly at me. After a few moments of staring, I decided I needed to leave. I had to run to show someone what the fuck was in the road. I slowly began to stand.

very carefully moving out of view of the window. But I didn't take my eyes off the figure. Then something dawned on me. Before I made my way out of the window frame, I had blinked, so I blinked again. Upon opening my eyes from a single blink, I noticed that it shifted. I blinked again.

It fucking moved, was moving any moment it wasn't in my sight. How could I tell? I mean, it couldn't know, so it's just in my head. But now it had taken a full step in my direction. The dark figure looked excited. See that I'm about to leave from the window? Its frantic breathing grew more intense.

This is crazy. This isn't real, right? This is just a nightmare. My heart began to race, and my breathing quickened. I wasn't convinced. So I held my breath as I stood in my bedroom and shut my eyes. I thought, I'll count to five. This must be a dream.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four missus per to crunch like a twig snapping. I opened my eyes. It was no longer under the street light. In fact, it wasn't anywhere to be seen. Overwhelmed with adrenaline and panic, I bolted from my bed and dove under the blankets. I was so scared I forgot what I had just proven. Got to get back to the window and look at it. As I shuffled the cover as I heard quickly approaching footsteps.

They sounded unreal. Steps were quickly going louder and they were hating so hard, I swear I could hear dirt and sticks being thrown. behind it. My head rose above my blankets, and I aimed my sight of darkness outside my window. Sure enough, the footsteps stopped. I stared at the window. The only thing visible was the intersection lit by the illumination pouring down from the streetlight above.

Although I couldn't actually see the figure, it must have been in my sight, somewhere in the dark. There was no sound of footsteps or snapping twigs. I sat in my bed staring at the window. I didn't move. I blink occasionally, and when I did, I could always hear just a little bit of movement. I knew the longer I blinked the more distance between a secretarial cover. My eyes teared from the strain. My urge to blink was all I thought about.

I gritted my teeth and tried so hard not to cry. Over time, my eyes adjusted at the dark. I could make out the figure and where it was in my yard. But since its body was so dark, I couldn't see any more details about what it was. I fixated my sight on the creature and slowly turned my head from left to right, never removing the thing from my sights. As I would turn my head the sides of my eyes were relieved from the still air for just a moment. disappearing behind my eyelids.

I continued this motion until I could feel some of the tension and lift from my exhausted eyes. I'd look up, down, left, and right. Never stopped looking at the direction of the crackling figure impatiently waiting in my yard, waiting for me to give in to my urged blink. I wouldn't. I thought about testing my theory again, but... Whatever I was doing was keeping it a bay. I thought about yelling for my parents, but I was too scared that something horrible would happen.

What if it expected my mother to stare also? And how was she going to believe me in time not to remove her eyes? I felt so alone and vulnerable. I was shaking slightly, not sure from the cold or my adrenaline, but I did my best not to let it distract me. Wait, what's that? I thought to myself as a bush rustled beside the creature. Another one?

What am I supposed to do if there's more than one? I shifted my weight so I could lunge from my door. I didn't know what else to do. I can't manage to stare at two of them at once. Fear took me over and I rose out of bed. I was trembling so much the cold sweat from my body trickled. my bedroom floor. The first thought I had was to run out of my room and slam the door behind me. If there was about to be two of them, I was at least going to try and save my life when suddenly

the crackling figure bent its body and faced the bush. The sparkling of its eyes vanished, and so I gave in. Figures stayed focused on the bush. Speed, it reached into the branches, yanked something out, and crackled its body. body back in my direction. The sparkling eyes were back on me. I dared not blink again. I made the right choice by not running. In the amount of time it took to nab whatever was in the bush,

I wouldn't have even made it to my door before it would have reached me. As I stood, motionless in my room yet again, eyes fixated on the sparkles. I wondered for only a moment as the one. what the creature had grabbed. Very quickly, I had my answer. I could see my peripheral vision, wrangling in the creature's claw-like hand, trying so hard to escape. Was Dirtnap?

With an unexpected contortion of its arm, the creature swiftly and suddenly clasped his fingers around Dirtnap's body. Like how a junkyard has those giant machines to compress cars into tiny salvageable, materials metallic blocks. The creature compacted Dirtnab's body so immensely in its grasp. The only sound I heard was the life spilling out of my dear nighttime friend. Never took its eyes off me. I never took mine off it.

I gasped for air. The power behind this monster would never stand a chance. I cannot let this thing get in. near me, the nightmare lasted for hours. Every time I was tempted to yawn, I'd fight the reflex with what felt like every muscle in my body. After what seemed like an eternity, the sun began to rise. A soft light began to wash over my neighborhood. I decided to move to the window and finally inspect this nightmare from the road.

I slowly approached the window and was given a much broader view of my yard leading to up to the intersection. No cars all night. And no neighbors to see the thing outside my window. Armed cracked body looked like a dead tree in the morning dusk. There it was in the growing light, in greater detail. The blood left my face as I took in the entirety of just how terrifying it truly was. Thing was in a paused motion.

Perched on one leg as if frozen and mid-strived. It must have been seven feet tall, but you wouldn't have known because of its slumped posture. Its right arm deformed and contorted was open-palmed on a tree had been passing by, as if using it to push off and increase its speed. The other arm held it remained of dirt nap. And below was a puddle of everything from inside, my dear friend. The creature almost blended in with the tree. It was now 20 feet from my window, whereas in the road, it was about 45 feet. The creature's skin was black, wrinkly, and had a texture of dried leather, flaky almost like bark off a tree.

Other areas of its body were made up of random patches of black mingled fur. Tall, gangly, and unbelievably skinny. The creature looked as if was malnourished. starving, desperate. And its sight set right on me. If it was food the creature wanted, why didn't it just eat what it already killed? Every time I moved, even slightly, I noticed its breathing would intensify. It would get excited, as if at any moment I would turn and lose eye contact and it could continue

the rampage toward me. I remembered its piercing eyes. I decided to look at them in the small glimpse of daylight I now had. As I lifted my gaze towards its hat, the streetlight suddenly flickered. The sunrise was causing the light sensor to diminish the power to the bulb, and it was shutting off. I was tired. I was not thinking when I flashed my eyes to the light which I noticed had just gone out.

My eyes hit the streetlight. The light went out. I then heard a low growling coming from the direction of the creature. The noise it emitted was low and scratchy and it sent shivers down my spine. I quickly relocated my eyes back toward the creature and it was gone. All that was left with the remains of the neighborhood stray, I didn't move for quite some time. The creature had vanished, and the last time that happened it had covered nearly 25 feet in a matter of seconds. So my guard was up.

I scanned the yard intensely. I stood shaking. I could feel the cool morning breeze hit my cold sweat-covered body. Minutes had passed and still no change to the absence of the being. A car suddenly passed with the intersection. A fucking course. The one-night car seemed to be non-existent. I continued scanning the neighborhood.

but I still couldn't find it. I felt unassured that the thing had vanished at all. I jumped and shot my head around behind me to evaluate this at a sudden noise in my bedroom. It was my alarm going off. I swirled my head back toward the window. Still no sign of it. Had the monster finally disappeared? Was it unable to be in the daylight?

It vanished as the streetlight went out. It must be gone. Maybe it can only... My bedroom door shook and I let out a gasp. Turn off your alarm. It's so annoying. Come on, dude. It was my brother. I sighed a breath or a leaf and mouth and almost silent.

Yeah. Sorry. Knowing that someone else was within reach, I felt like I could take my eyes off the yard and turn to silence my alarm. I felt uneasy, secluded, horrified. I sat in bed and covered myself, attempting to regain composure. The day went by normally, but many questions clouded my head. Was I going to see it again?

Could anyone else see it? I told my brother what happened, and he just chuckled. Why would he believe me anyway? But my parents' reaction wasn't. much better. Their conclusion was that I had a vivid imagination and saw no more scary movies. They assumed they saw a coyote attack dirt nap and exaggerated at being a monster. How could this be mine to handle on my own? It was under the streetlight a few more times after that night. Some nights it didn't show. But that didn't mean I was just going to

bad like nothing happened. There was no instruction manual to this fucking thing. All I knew was I had to stare at it, blink sparingly, and under no circumstances not off. I made that mistake once, and it nearly cost me my life. After a couple nights of it visiting, I had a good system going. I blink about 20 times per hour, so by sunrise it would have only made it a few steps onto the lawn. The system worked so well that I became relaxed. The boredom led to drowsiness in one night, while repeating this tactic. I shut my eyes without thinking.

I didn't even remember closing them. I only recall jumping awake to the sound of the screen bursting off my window. My eyes meant the creature as it was now frozen in place. One foot on the bottom of my window and two claws at either side of it, as if it were preparing to launch itself off the window. frame and towards me. Its breath changed from fast and frantic to slow inhales and exhales, like it was sure it would finally reach me, which gnarled teeth and unblinking white eyes expressed anger and yearning. I stared for the remaining hours, and once the sunrise hit, it vanished once

once again. I stayed curled on the floor crying until my dad found me. The nightmare lasted about a month. It didn't show every night, maybe ten times in total, and then it just stopped appearing. I kept watch at the foot of my bed for almost a year after that. It was too horrible to be easily forgotten, blanketed over by the recess of my mind, at least not right away. My parents never did believe me. However, they did see that my unusual sleep schedule was taking a toll on my body and mental health. They must have been monitoring what I was watching on TV because they eventually realized I wasn't watching anything too scary for a child. Believe it or not, my story that a creature would approach my window every night would only stop if I stared at it, didn't fly.

Don't get me wrong. I loved my parents But what happened to me isn't exactly normal I might find it hard to believe myself Instead they helped me by getting me some therapy I knew the therapist didn't believe my story either But she did humor me enough to have me get it out of my system Talking helped

And eventually she prescribed a mild sedative to help me sleep I continued seeing a therapist for many years I fear the creature was being replaced with normal concerns for someone my age, dating, work, school, and so on. Eventually the memories of the nightmare I suffered were finally a thing of the past. Five years went by. Then ten. And so on. I'm 32 years old now, sitting at my desk writing this experience at about 5.30 in the morning with a cold cup of tea at my side.

I'm submitting this experience everywhere I can in an attempt to reach out to someone who may have seen this thing before. I need to know if others are seeing what I've seen, and if they have any answers for me. I ask because it's back. Last night it managed to climb up to four stories to my apartment's balcony. I accidentally spotted it on the way to bed after making a hot cup of tea. All the memories immediately flooded back. back to me. This wasn't just someone trying to break into my home, those piercing wide eyes.

They sparkled so bright. My old tactics came back immediately, and I knew exactly what to do. I froze in place, made eye contact, and adjusted my breathing. It was only just getting its other leg over the railing outside the slider door. fucking look on its face. It almost had me. I just stood there in my living room for hours until the sun came over the horizon.

Please, someone contact me if they know what to do. The Lear. It's back. And I can't. Can't do this again. For more information, including pictures and videos of the stories told on this podcast, please visit creepypod.com.

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