recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
"The Conqueror Worm"

Illustration by Jörn Heidrath

**"The Conqueror Worm"** is the first tale in the fifteenth episode of the tenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a poem of life and death is presented. Written by Edgar Allan Poe, it has a runtime of 4:00 and was performed by Peter Lewis. It is the 1236th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

An audience of weeping angels watches a play performed by "mimes, in the form of God on high", and controlled by vast formless shapes looming behind the scenes. The mimes chase a "Phantom" which they can never capture, running around in circles. Finally, a monstrous "crawling shape" emerges, and eats the mimes. The final curtain comes down, "a funeral pall", signaling an end to the "tragedy, 'Man'", whose only hero is "The Conqueror Worm".
"The Ringing in My Ear"

Illustration by Charlie Cody

**"The Ringing in My Ear"** is the fourth tale in the twenty-second episode of the eighth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a man begins hearing a strange ringing noise in his ear. Written by S.H. Cooper, it has a runtime of 14:10 and was performed by David Ault, Erika Sanderson, James Cleveland, and David Cummings. It is the 1011th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A anesthesiologist, Barrister, is awoken in the middle of the night by a police officer, who informs him that his daughter Emily was beaten, raped, and left for dead in an alley on her college campus. As him and his wife drive to the hospital, he begins hearing a series of beeping noises in his ear.

Emily is in a coma for three days. As Barrister sits by her bedside, the beeping noises continue. She wakes up a few days later and is expected to make a full recovery over the course of the next few months. Though she is initially depressed and catatonic, after intense training, she is able to return mostly to her normal, happy self. She even goes back to school. However, she tells the police that she can't remember anything about her attacker.

The beeping noise continues in Barrister's ear, even after he gets it looked at by his hospital's head doctor, Dr. Gladson. Emily visits him for lunch one day before suddenly seeing someone and quickly leaving. He looks behind and sees Dr. Gladson's grandson Victor eating at a nearby table.

That night, he confronts his daughter, who tells him her and Victor were friends that began sexting each other. However, she thought the relationship was going too fast and asked to break up. Victor later found her at a club and dragged her into an alley, where he attacked her. He said that if she ever told anyone, he would get his grandfather to fire her father from his job. Though Barrister says they need to call the police, Emily refuses, saying no one will believe her because he has all the pictures and texts in his possession.

The next day, Dr. Gladson tells Barrister that Victor is coming in for a small operation , and that he wants him to be his anesthesiologist. A plan forms in his mind and he agrees. As he slips the rubber mask over Victor's mouth and nose, he tells him that he knows what he did to his daughter. The beeping noise comes again, and he realizes it is synchronized with the lines on the heart monitor.

Twenty minutes into the operation, Victor overdoses on anesthesia and dies. Barrister puts on a show to try and save him. He smiles as the sheet is pulled over the body. The beeping noise stops as the plug is pulled on the heart monitor.

## Cast

David Ault as Barrister

Erika Sanderson as Emily/police officer

James Cleveland as Victor

David Cummings as Dr. Gladson
"Drains in the Floor"

**"Drains in the Floor"** is the third tale in the seventh episode of the fourth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman asks a ghost hunter about his scariest moment. Written by M.J. Pack, it has a runtime of 18:20 and was performed by David Cummings and Rima Chadda Mycynek. It is the 379th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A college student with a passing interest in the paranormal is excited to go to a speaking arrangement held by a famous ghost hunter. At the event, he goes over the specifics of his job and shares some of his cases. He opens the floor to questions, receiving fairly common inquiries. The student asks him what his scariest case ever was. The hunter's face falls for a moment before he brightens up and shares one that is not particularly frightening.

After the seminar, the student is leaving the auditorium when she is stopped by the hunter, who reveals that he lied about his scariest case. She sits down next to him as he begins his story.

Back in the 70s, he was called to a remodeled Victorian mansion to investigate a case of the family's teenage son being demonically possessed. However, the hunter quickly realized the boy was just suffering from depression and psychosis. He did a scan of the house and finds no evidence of paranormal activity, although he did note the odd appearance of four large drains in the corners of the basement.

On his last night in the house, the family went to take the son to a psychiatric hospital and he stayed behind to finish his notes in the kitchen. He heard a noise coming from the staircase in the corner and looked up to see a featureless apparition coming down towards him. The hunter was paralyzed with fear as the figure, despite not having a mouth, told him "You know what he did to us". He fled the house without his notes and never returned.

The hunter did research later to find out that at the turn of the century, the house used to be a funeral home. The drains in the floor were used to get rid of blood, embalming fluid, and other liquids. The owner of the home was arrested after years of practice when it was discovered he was violating the corpses of the dead he was brought. The hunter goes on to explain that the family moved out of the house and it was probably leveled a few years later. He claims that hearing the sadness in the apparition's voice and thinking about all the things the old owner did made it his scariest case.

Years pass and the student's interest in the paranormal fades. She marries her fiancée and buys an old house. While going down the basement on the day they move in, she finds drains in the corners.

## Cast

David Cummings as the ghost hunter

Rima Chadda Mycynek as the student
"Cologne"

**"Cologne"** is the first tale in the seventh episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a paranoid woman checks her home for strangers. Written by Allie Brosh, it has a runtime of 4:46 and was performed by Faith Sayers. It is the 25th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Ever since a nightmare she had about a man being in her room as a child, a woman has to check all the possible hiding places in her house before she can go to sleep. Arriving home late one night, she discovers an unfamiliar scent of cologne hanging around her entryway. She checks her house top to bottom, finding nothing amiss except for her back door lock being broken, her CD player being missing, and her computer turned on. Realizing she has been robbed, she checks the rest of the house before falling asleep.

At two in the morning, she is awoken by static coming from the corner of her room. Someone has placed her CD player in a vent. The scent of the cologne is overpowering. An unfamiliar voice begins speaking, saying how excited it is for what is about to happen and that it's been stalking her for months.

The woman assumes one of her friends pranked her. Just as she feels the bed shift underneath her, the voice reminds her that she forgot to check inside mattress.
"Far and Wee"

**"Far and Wee"** is the first tale in the tenth episode of the twelfth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman struggles to sleep. Written by M.J. Pack, it has a runtime of 14:45 and was performed by Sarah Ruth Thomas and Atticus Jackson. It is the 1472nd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Madeline sees her husband, Lance, off on a business trip before spending the rest of the evening relaxing. She sometimes has trouble sleeping, especially when Lance is away, so she downloads a sleep app that plays ambient sounds to try and help. After deliberating for a while, she settles on "forest rain" and turns over in bed. She imagines a moonlit, rainy forest with muddy ground and water dripping off the leaves.

After a few minutes of listening, she hears a sudden whistle. At first she thinks it's a bird call added to make the sounds more realistic, but when it comes again she realizes it's too deliberate. She is suddenly reminded of e.e. cummings' poem "[in Just-]", especially the line "the goat-footed balloon man". In the poem, the balloon man whistles "far and wee". She imagines the forest again, only this time with hoof-shaped prints in the mud.

The whistle comes again, and Madeline finds herself wondering where Lance actually is. She becomes paranoid that he's sleeping with his assistant, Zoe, despite the fact that there is no evidence of such. She imagines them at the moment having sex in the hotel room while she sleeps alone hundreds of miles away. Now angry, she imagines poisoning her husband's food and watching him vomit out his guts in the muddy forest onto the hoofprints while the whistles echo in the background.

Madeline suddenly receives a call from Lance. He's calling just to check on her and explain that his flight got delayed, so he just landed. Ashamed at the thoughts of infidelity and murder, she tells him that she loves him and hangs up.

Creeped out, she shuts off the sleep app. Another whistle comes from the vent in the corner. Though she feels the anger boiling inside her again, she jumps up and runs through the house, starting down the basement steps just as she hears one of the windows thump closed. There, she finds muddy hoofprints leading from the air vent that leads up to her room to the basement window.

## Cast

Sarah Ruth Thomas as Madeline

Atticus Jackson as Lance
"In the Backyard"

**"In the Backyard"** is the third tale in the ninth episode of the sixth season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a boy and his sister encounter a strange creature. Written by Manen Lyset, it has a runtime of 10:40 and was performed by Aiko van Wingerden. It is the 671st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A boy and his sister set up a tent in their backyard every summer that they use as a clubhouse. They are allowed to leave toys, books, comics, and the like out there as long as they want.

One morning, the siblings hear their father setting up the tent in their backyard and wheeling a portable television onto the back porch. He explains that they get to have a backyard movie night because of their good report cards. The siblings have a wonderful night, drinking hot chocolate and watching movies, before retiring to the tent.

Around midnight, the boy wakes up to use the bathroom when he sees the motion-activated porch lights blink on and off. He calls out and receives an inhuman shriek in response. A distorted humanoid shape begins stalking around the tent. The boy tries to shake his sister awake, but she's wrapped up and fast asleep.

The creature outside begins pulling on the cord to the television. The boy quickly unplugs it and smashes it onto the creature's fingers when it tries to open the zipper. It shrieks in pain and runs into the woods behind the house. The boy tries to remain awake the rest of the night but falls asleep.

The next morning, he notices his sister is still asleep in her sleeping bag. He runs inside to get his father, only to see his sister sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal. Looking out the back door, he sees a smaller creature leave tent and run into the woods. She explains that she woke up in the night and went inside because she got cold.
"American White Hair"

**"American White Hair"** is the fifth tale in the seventh episode of the fourth season of The Nolseep Podcast. In it, a college student plots revenge on a classmate he despises. Written by Marcus Damanda, it has a runtime of 39:00 and was performed by David Cummings and Jessica McEvoy. It is the 381st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A college student, Cameron, becomes sick of a stuck-up acquaintance of his, Gertie. Gertie attends the college with the help of her father's money, drives a sports car around, and spends most of her time high or drunk. She belittles Cameron constantly and makes some kind of unspecified insult to which he decides to respond with revenge. Taking inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado", he deices to entomb her alive.

Cameron works night security at a library on campus, at which construction is being done in the basement. He knows that an old, small room where an ancient boiler once sat is going to be bricked up and prepares his supplies there. That night, he runs into Gertie at a tailgate for a football game, taking a break from her friends. He claims to have bought a few ounces of a rare type of marijuana, American White Hair, and asks for Gertie's help in identifying it and finding out if he was scammed. Drunk and curious, she accepts.

The pair walk to Cameron's car and they drive to the library, where he claims he stashed the pot. On the way, he continues to keep Gertie drunk and mellow. Once they arrive, he drags her down to the basement and handcuffs her. He drives a climbing spike into the concrete wall of the room and throws the handcuff chain around it before putting her feet into a bucket and filling it with concrete.

Gertie sobers up at this point and begins screaming. Cameron ignores her and begins bricking up the room. As he finishes, he can hear her hoping that this is all a joke. He claims that it is not before throwing a small amount of gasoline into the room and dropping a cigarette, creating a fire. He finishes bricking up the room and cleans up his supplies before leaving. Cameron wonders if the lack of oxgen, thirst, or burns will kill her first, but realizes that he doesn't much care.

Cameron drives Gertie's car to the airport, parks his own car at his house, destroys the library surveillance tapes of the night of the murder, and waits. Gertie is declared a missing person and her body is never found. Cameron claims pride in the fact that he got away with the crime and hopes that she is sleeping well.

## Cast

David Cummings as Cameron

Jessica McEvoy as Gertie
"Emily's Alone"

Illustration by Jen Tracy

**"Emily's Alone"** is the third tale in the fifteenth episode of the eleventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by David Hubbard, it ahs a runtime of 25:20 and was read by Atticus Jackson, Nikolle Doolin, Mike DelGaudio, and David Cummings. It is the 1364th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man, apparently a worker at a gas station, sits behind the counter, drinking beer. He is talking on the phone with a woman, although their conversation is ambiguous. At several points, she tells him to go outside and check on someone named Emily. He flips a coin in his hand several times.

The area outside the station is deserted. There is a car wrapped around a tree, although the man doesn't seem bothered by it. While he grabs another beer, the woman calls again and begs him check on Emily. He notices his watch is broken, and the clock on the wall doesn't seem to be moving.

Rock music begins playing loudly over the radio. Though the man attempts to turn it off several times, he is unable to do so. The DJ comes on with a report of an escaped convict who is wanted for a number of murders, before speaking directly to the man, imploring him to check on Emily.

The man becomes disoriented, stumbling around the store and breaking things. He notices the coin he has been flipping is a "100 Days Sober" token from Alcoholics Anonymous. The woman calls again and yells at him to check on Emily. He hears police sirens and becomes panicked. Looking in the station's windows, he realizes he bears a resemblance to the escaped convict.

He steps outside the station and notices his head is bleeding. The woman continues to talk to him as he walks back into the store. There is a different man behind the counter who sells him a bottle of vodka. He finally goes out to the wrecked car, and it is revealed the story's past events have all been a hallucination of the man's, who was involved in a car accident after drunk driving, causing him to wrap his car around the tree. His pregnant wife, Emily, is inside and dying of her injuries.

The woman's identity is now revealed as a 911 call operator, who has been trying to pull him out of his hallucinations. She pleads with him to check on Emily and take care of her wounds. Right when he's finally lucid enough to listen to her instructions, his phone dies.

## Cast

Atticus Jackson as the man

Nikolle Doolin as the 911 operator

Mike DelGaudio as the DJ

David Cummings as the cashier
"Charlie"

**"Charlie"** is the third tale in the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a girl's younger brother exhibits strange abilities. Written by Ashlee Osborn, it has a runtime of 11:15 and was performed by Jessica McEvoy. It is the 407th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A teenager, Joanna, explains that her younger brother Charlie has a strange ability where he experiences the emotions of others. She relates examples, such as the time their dog was ran over and Charlie seemed to be in pain and the time he cried for hours after their mother's childhood friend whom they'd never met died.

Charlie struggles with his ability, as he has no way to turn it off. He fears large crowds as there are a large number of emotions to experience. Joanna tries to keep him in check and watch out for him. After their neighbor's four-year-old daughter is struck and killed by a car, Charlie falls into an extended period of grief as prolonged and intense as the girls parents'.

Joanna and Charlie's parents take him to a doctor, who gives him pills. The pills make Charlie mellow and unresponsive. Joanna secretly flushes them and he returns to normal. Charlie starts school and is barely able to make it through the day with all the emotions going on all around him. Joanna teaches him a way to hold all the emptions in until the end of the school day, when she will come get him and take him to a clearing in the forest where he can experience them all at once. One afternoon, Charlie is driven past a car accident and begins screaming and crying. He later tells Joanna he felt the driver of the car dying.

Years pass and Joanna grows distant from Charlie. She hangs out with her friends on the beach, coming home every to find him waiting to tell her what she experienced that day. One night, one of Joanna's friends comes running up and tells her that two bullies killed a boy in town and that the murder was witnessed by Charlie.

Running to the clearing where they always went after school, she finds Charlie curled up in a ball, having slit his wrists. In his dying breaths, he tells Joanna that all he felt was real evil. She suddenly experiences all the emotions of the murder, from the anger of the killers to the fear of the victim.

Charlie dies soon after. Joanna mourns him and his ability, calling him a special individual who was willing to bear the emotional burdens of others.
"Low Hanging Clouds"

**"Low Hanging Clouds"** is the second tale in the eighth episode of the second season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a cloudburst suddenly comes upon a parched region. Written by T.E. Garu, it has a runtime of 10:19 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 102nd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Sometime in the future, water has become scarce for most of the world. In a major city, water has to be pumped from three states away and can only be used sparingly. Many of the old timers reminisce and pine for the days in the past when water was plentiful. It is always hot and dry. One day, the sky is suddenly filled with a large blanket of heavy, gray thunderheads, signaling a torrential downpour.

A man, Nick, regrets having to leave his wife behind in bed to go to work. As he drives from their house in the hills to the heart of the city, he is wary of the sudden clouds. Looking out the window, he sees the city's residents setting out buckets and other such items to catch the rain when it falls.

The clouds begin to descend on the city, eventually covering the tops of the buildings. Nick watches as things begin falling from the clouds' edges, such as glass, concrete, and people. He realizes that whatever the clouds touch is instantly destroyed and they are bearing down fast.

Nick tries to call his wife but gets no phone service. Speeding back to their neighborhood as the clouds descend, he hopes to get there in time to rescue her. As he arrives at the gates that lead into their community, he sees that the entire hillside is obscured by clouds.
"How Did I Ever Get Into This Mess?"

**"How Did I Ever Get Into This Mess?"**  is the first tale in the eighth episode of the seventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by Malcolm Teller, it has a runtime of 20:20 and was read by Alexis Bristowe and Dan Zappulla. It is the 801st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A student, Megan, has trouble socializing all through her school career. She attends college and tries to go to parties and join a sorority, among other things, but can't seem to make friends. She focuses on her studies completely.

On the first day of one of her classes, she meets and falls in love with a fellow classmate, Stephen. They become non-romantic friends, hanging out and confiding in one another. Stephen fails to recognize the feelings Megan has for him, which saddens her, but she's happy they have similar interests.

She explains she drew pictures of him and wrote poems about him late during the night. She gets so stir-crazy about not being with him that she finds herself following him when they aren't hanging out and secretly taking pictures of him. Collecting everything she has about him, she unwittingly sets up a small display in her closet.

One night, Megan invites him over to her house to watch a movie. He gets up to use the bathroom but fails to come back for several minutes. Investigating, she finds him in her closet, staring at the display she has of him.

Megan tires to explain herself, but Stephen is disgusted and yells at her, calling her obsession wrong and dangerous. Terrified of losing her only friendship, she tells him she loves him and begs him not to go, but he brushes her off and shoves her. She jumps on him, accidentally pushing him over. He fatally cracks his head open on the closet floor.

Megan tearfully explains that she never meant Stephen harm and that the police will only see her as a freak and not the lonely, pitiful individual she thinks she is.

## Cast

Alexis Bristowe as Megan

Dan Zappulla as Stephen
"Daddy, Are You Awake?"

**"Daddy, Are You Awake?"** is the fourth tale in the sixth episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a father is woken by his daughter. Written by Scott Weaver, it has a runtime of 1:58 and was performed by Chris Holland. It is the 23rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A father has two children: a son and a daughter. Though his son sleeps soundly, his daughter is usually wracked with nightmares. On the worst nights, she will enter her parents' room and stand in the dark, staring at her father until he wakes up and allows her to climb into bed with them.

One night, the father wakes up to see a dark silhouette standing next to the bed. He suddenly realizes both his children are spending that night at their grandparents'. He turns on the light but sees no one there. However, down the hall, he spies the silhouette standing and staring into his daughter's room. He speculates it's waiting for her to come home.
"We Don't Live There Anymore"

**"We Don't Live There Anymore"** is the second tale in the thirteenth episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a couple is haunted by a ghost in their new home. Written by Grant Rennet, it has a runtime of 7:59 and was performed by Max Glaspey. It is the 52nd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man and his wife buy a house after the previous owners died mysteriously on the property. During their first few nights, strange events happen, like footsteps from downstairs that only sound when someone is upstairs and the front door being left ajar, despite the man remembering that he shut and locked it.

After a week has gone by, the man hears a hissing noise coming from the upstairs hallway. When he investigates, he thinks he sees the walls moving in the dark and has a sudden urge to go downstairs. After he does so, the hissing stops and everything returns to normal.

A few more weeks pass and the strange events continue. The power goes out one night and the man goes down to the basement to check the fuse box. Before he opens the door, he hears the hissing noise coming from behind it. Putting his ear down to the crack at the bottom, he hears a raspy voice whisper "Get out".

The man goes upstairs and gets his wife, and they enter the basement together. He moves some boxes to get to the fuse box, but his flashlight malfunctions. The hissing noise suddenly comes from above their heads and moves to the top of the stairs. The door shuts, plunging them into darkness. The flashlight comes back on and the man sees the rotten corpse of a woman illuminated in the beam, with greenish skin and sunken eyes. The couple runs back upstairs, but attempts to write off the whole incident as a nightmare.

The next day, the man asks a neighbor about the previous owners of the house. The neighbor says that a family lived there, only for them all to die from asphyxiation in the middle of the night due to a gas leak. However, the mother went missing and was never found. The man convinces his wife to spend the night in a hotel that evening.

When the couple returns the next day, they find firetrucks parked outside and black smoke billowing out of the windows. A fireman informs them that there was a problem with the furnace and that they could have died of smoke inhalation had they been inside the previous night. The police find the skeletal remains of the missing mother crouched behind the furnace. The couple sells the house and moves.
"Silly Boy"

**"Silly Boy"** is the fifth tale in the seventh episode of the first season of The Nolseep Podcast. In it, an aunt is disturbed by her nephew's imaginary friend. Written by Nicole Garrison, it has a runtime of 2:50 and was performed by Jinny Sanders. It is the 29th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A woman buys a house on a hill that burned down years previously and builds on top of it. She lives there with her brother Jerry and her parents. Her other brother lives down the street with his family, and she often babysits his children.

One day, the woman is relaxing in the living room when she hears one of her nephews laughing in the upstairs hallway. Going up to check, she finds him sitting in front of Jerry's locked bedroom door (as he is not home), rolling a marble under the crack. The woman is about to unlock the door to get the marble when it suddenly rolls back from underneath the door. This happens a few more times, the nephew laughing with delight.

The next morning, she asks him what he had been doing. He explains that he was playing with his friend, "Silly Boy", who lives in the hill. She then asks him why he calls him Silly Boy, and the nephew explains it's because he has no face.
"Family Familiar"

## About

**"Family Familiar"** is the first tale in the nineteenth episode of the thirteenth season of The Nolseep Podcast. In it, a young boy is visited by a Halloween spirit. Written by A.B. Cooper, it has a runtime of 15:18 and was performed by David Cummings, Elie Hirschman, and Erika Sanderson. It is the 1650th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

This story is told in third person. David Cummings serves as the narrator.

A boy, Nate, severely dislikes his father Steve's new wife, Suze, and her daughter, Mae. Since his mother died when he was very young, he's had a hard time liking any of Steve's girlfriends.

One Halloween, Nate is carving a jack-o-lantern in the kitchen while Steve and Suze get Mae ready to go trick-or-treating in her tooth fairy costume. He is hostile to Suze and continually insults Mae's outfit, calling her a baby and a fool for still believing in the tooth fairy. Though the couple try to stop him, he reveals to Mae that Santa Claus isn't real, which causes her to burst into tears. Steve sends Nate up to his room and tells him he can come down if he decides to start treating people with more respect.

Sad and alone, Nate hears Steve and Suze comforting Mae, making him jealous that they are ignoring him. He hears more people arrive and looks out the window to see the trio leaving. He falls asleep soon after.

Hours later, Nate wakes up to a mixture of blood and saliva on his pillow. Feeling inside his mouth, he finds all his teeth gone. He screams and Suze comes running in, wrapping her arms around him and saying they'll take him to the hospital. In the shadows of the corner, a dark, winged creature asks him if the tooth fairy is real enough now.

## Cast

David Cummings as the narrator

Elie Hirschman as Nate/Steve

Erika Sanderson as Suze/Mae/tooth fairy
"The Dead Girl's Valentine"

**"The Dead Girl's Valentine"** is the second tale in the fifteenth episode of the third season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man reminisces about a former love on Christmas. Written by Meghan O'Hara Murray, it has a runtime of 20:15 and was performed by David Cummings and Wendy Corrigan. It is the 270th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man, Jack, reveals a Christmas Eve tradition in his family: after dinner, everyone goes outside to sit by the fire and tell ghost stories. Jack’s cousin Ben, a teacher, tells a tale of the school at which he works. The school is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a teacher, “Miss K”, who passed away five years previously. Every Valentine's Day, the students are instructed to make boxes with their names on them so they can give each other valentines. The year after Miss K's death, a box was found with the name JACK written on it full of cards from students claiming that Miss K loved Jack forever. A box with similar contents has been discovered every year afterward.

Jack is disturbed when he learns that “Miss K” was Mia Karasievich, a woman from his past. Jack describes Mia as "heartless", "psycho", and "a tramp", giving the reader the impression that Mia was a former girlfriend who’d cheated on him.

Meanwhile, Ben has bragged to his co-workers that he’s found the real life “Jack”, and badgers a reluctant Jack into coming to the school with him to look through the valentines.

As they travel, Jack's bitter thoughts about his past with Mia reveal to the reader that his hatred of her is unfair and his opinion of her is inaccurate. They were best friends who had never dated or even kissed; Mia was in love with Jack, did not know he was in love with her, and had no idea why he shut her out of his life after she went out with another man.

Arriving at the school late in the evening, Ben gives Jack the valentine box and leaves him in Mia's old classroom while he goes to his own to grade papers. Inside is a whiteboard where a teacher has written "SEE YOU NEXT YEAR", and one of the children has left a “MERRY CHRISTMAS, MISS K” message. Jack begins reading the Valentines, only to get the feeling that he is being watched. He hears a squeaking noise behind him and finds the child’s message has been changed to read "MERRY CHRISTMAS, JACK".

The lights in the room suddenly go out. Jack thinks he smells Mia's perfume, sees a feminine silhouette, and hears someone whisper his name adoringly, but frantically rationalizes these sensations away. In the dark, he feels soft fingers caress his cheek as he wrestles with his anger towards Mia and how much he still loves her. He begins to tear up and lean into the caress before Ben suddenly enters the room, claiming that a breaker must have flipped and that he's going to check the electrical box.

A few minutes later, the lights come back on again in the room. Jack sees that the phrase "SEE YOU NEXT YEAR" on the whiteboard has been underlined several times.

## Cast

David Cummings as Jack/Ben

Wendy Corrigan as Mia
"The Splash"

Illustration by Lukasz Godlewski

**"The Splash"** is the second tale in the sixth episode of the fifth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a father and son encounter something on a lake. Written by M.N. Malone, it has a runtime of 13:30 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 517th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A father and son head up to their cabin so they can have one last fishing trip before the latter goes off to college. Unfortunately, it pours every day except for the last morning of their stay. Determined to go out, the pair pack things up and head out onto the vast lake at dawn in their small motorboat.

It's still raining slightly, causing a thick mist to spring up over the water. After a short time, the father hears a loud splash coming from somewhere nearby. Assuming he knocked something off the boat, he searches but finds nothing.

The son catches his attention and points. A naked woman is floating faceup in the water about six feet away. She has no noticeable bruises or marks and appears to be unconscious The pair attempts to get her to grab an oar or life preserver, but she doesn't respond. As she begins to float away, the son considers jumping off to save her. The body disappears into the mist.

A few minutes later, a coast guard patroller comes by. The pair get their attention and are taken onto the boat, telling the officer their story. They are questioned by the police and the water is searched, but no trace of the woman is found. The coast guard cannot, however, check the bottom of the lake because it is so dark and deep.

The son heads off to college and the father is bothered by the whole experience. He wonders if the woman was actually being used as bait for them by some monstrous, hungry thing that lives in the lake.
"Heart of Plastic"

**"Heart of Plastic"** is the second tale in the eighteenth episode of the third season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a man worries about his daughter losing weight. Written by Otis Mari, it has a runtime of 5:35 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 287th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man is trapped in a loveless marriage with his wife, who is obsessed with her appearance. She has many plastic surgeries and Botox implants, even flying to Brazil at one point for a facelift. To make matters worse, she constantly hounds their teenage daughter to lose weight by replacing her meals with diet shakes, belittling her for failing to keep the pounds off, and lowering herself-esteem. Despite all these attempts, their daughter still gains weight and has a very distended belly.

The man thinks this is an eating disorder waiting to happen. At dinner one night with friends, his wife loudly accuses her of being pregnant. Terrified that this could spell an end to her social life, the man takes his daughter to a doctor.

After an examination, the doctor reveals she has been infected with a very large tapeworm that is over a hundred feet in length. When the man asks how she could have contracted it, the doctor says he isn't sure because the worm is typically only found in Brazil, and is often used by delusional diet fanatics in an attempt to lose weight quickly.
"Proof"

**"Proof"** is the second tale in the fourth episode of the second season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman has a strange nightmare. Written by Jeremy Jojola, it has a runtime of 2:00 and was performed by Jessica Prokuski and Ian Mendez. It is the 88th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A woman has a lucid dream where she is trapped in a dark room with a shadowy figure. The figure says that it is real. The woman, realizing she is dreaming, says he isn't. He smiles at her and insists. She asks him to prove it.

The woman is woken by the sound of the phone ringing from the kitchen. She gets up and answers it. A raspy voice says "I told you so." and hangs up.

## Cast

Jessica Prokuski as the woman

Ian Mendez as the figure
"You Never Smile"

**"You Never Smile"** is the first tale in the sixteenth episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, an ROTC officer has a strange encounter. Written by Thomas Burr, it has a runtime of 6:05 and was performed by Max Glaspey. It is the 61st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

An ROTC officer takes a job at a military academy. He is alone on the top floor of the barracks. One night, he hears footsteps from outside his room and checks, only to see the door across from his is open. He looks inside and finds nothing. Heading back to his room, he stops in the doorway when he hears more footsteps behind him. Turning around, he finds a featureless man smiling at him with a wide mouth and large teeth. He runs into his room and barricades the door. He goes to call the Colonel, but all the lights suddenly go out in the room and the smiling man appears in the corner. The officer asks him who he is, but the man simply asks him why he never smiles and says he's here with a friend before disappearing. The officer falls asleep.

The next morning, he discovers a cadet, Grech, hasn't come down for breakfast. He unlocks Grech's door and comes in, finding him hanging from the bedpost with his throat cut so wide it looks like a smile. The smiling man's voice fills his ear, saying he doesn't smile enough and that it can be changed.
"Radio"

Illustration by Charlie Cody

**"Radio"** is the first tale in the eighth episode of the eighth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man sees a strange figure climbing a radio tower near his home. Written by Kerry H, it has a runtime of 7:00 and was performed by David Cummings. It is the 933rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man has trouble getting a good night's rest. After reading a scientific article, he discovers that lying in bed in the dark pretending to sleep can be beneficial, so he does so. Some nights, when he can't sleep, he looks at a mirror placed across the room that allows him to look out the window right above his bed at the night sky.

A radio tower lies directly down the road from his house, which he can see perfectly from the window. One night during a thunderstorm, he sees a figure climbing the tower and standing on the maintenance platform at the top. In the flashes of lightning, it begins moving its arms in strange, jerking moments as if in a pattern. The man calls the police but the figure disappears at some point and no one is there when they arrive.

The figure doesn't appear again for a month. This time, the man is ready with binoculars and uses them to look closer. The figure is revealed to be an average-looking older man with a white piece of cloth. He moves his arms in the strange pattern again with the cloth and keeps his mouth open the whole time. Though the man watches him the whole time, he doesn't see him leave.

The man becomes obsessed with finding out who the old man is and what he's doing on the tower. After extensive research, the man learns he is an average office worker that left behind a wife and four children when he disappeared while walking to work a few years previously.

Two years pass until the old man appears again, this time waving an orange flag. In the flashes of lightning, the man realizes he is communicating with semaphore. Translating the message, he finds it reads "THEY'RE COMING BACK AGAIN".

## Notes

* This tale is presented in a meta fashion, as if Cummings actually experienced it himself during a bout of insomnia.
* Some readers interpreted this story as an extended metaphor for the fact that there was going to be more installments of Kerry H's popular "Search and Rescue" series.
"The Taking Tree"

**"The Taking Tree"** is the second tale in the sixteenth episode of the eleventh season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a boy's grandmother believes a tree is god. Written by Tobias Wade, it has a runtime of 16:40 and was performed by Armen Taylor, Nikolle Doolin, and Erin Lillis. It is the 1368th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A boy sometimes goes to his grandmother Elias' house on Sundays before going to church. During one visit, Elias points to a large apple tree in her backyard and says that God lives inside it, much to the boy's mother's chagrin. The boy asks if he can visit it, to which she says no.

A few years pass and the mother has to go to the hospital to get a cyst removed, leaving the boy to stay with Elias. He wakes up in the mornings to see his grandmother digging in the dirt beneath the apple tree, burying Tupperware containers full of food. When he questions her about it, she says they're gifts to God. She invites him to touch the tree, and he does. It feels warm, almost hot the touch.

The mother looks like she is going to be released from the hospital, but has to go back. Thinking his grandmother crazy, the boy goes out to the backyard and digs up around the tree, only to find empty Tupperware containers and the body of her pet dog. He touches the tree again and suddenly feels thousands of experiences of thousands of people all over the world.

More years pass and the boy goes to college. He gets word that Elias is ill and will be leaving her house to move into hospice. Determined to make an offering to God in exchange for her well-being, he sneaks to the tree in the middle of the night and digs a large hole with the intention of knocking someone out and burying them alive.

He jumps in the hole to test its depth, only for some of the tree's roots to wrap around him and force him to the ground. The dirt beside the hole rains down, burying him alive. He suddenly feels all the worldly experiences again, from being born to dying to celebrating to millions of other things. With some strength, he manages to create enough leverage to dig his way out of the hole and climb up.

Elias is waiting beside the tree. She explains that she killed her dog with the hopes of the sacrifice making the boy's mother better, but she realized that doesn't work. The boy asks if she is going to die soon, and she says yes, that the true gift of the tree is making people not afraid of dying.

## Cast

Armen Taylor as the boy

Nikolle Doolin as Elias

Erin Lillis as the boy's mother
"My Friend"

**"My Friend"** is the third tale in the fifteenth episode of the second season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man receives a strange visitor at his apartment. Written by Kenneth F. Field, it has a runtime of 3:08 and was performed by Kyle Akers. It is the 138th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man lives in an apartment complex deep in the city. One day as he is entering the elevator, someone brushes past him and runs out the front doors. Annoyed, the man goes up to his apartment and notices that there's blood on his jacket on the same spot the person bumped into him.

The next night, the man is preparing to leave for a date before he is interrupted by a knock at the door. Looking through the peephole, he sees a someone dressed as a police officer, who asks to interview him about a murder that occurred in the building the night before. He asks if the man saw anything. Not wanting to get involved or be late for the date, the man says he did not. The officer thanks him and departs.

A few days later, he sees a news report on TV that the murderer was caught. When they show his picture, the man sees that he looks exactly like the officer. The man realizes that the murderer had dressed as a cop and was going door to door, looking for witnesses to kill.
"The Porch Scarecrow"

### Narrator(s)

Peter Lewis, Erin Lillis, Matthew Bradford, Elie Hirschman, and Sarah Ruth Thomas

### Previous

"A-S-M-feaR: The Internet's Scariest Halloween ASMR Channel"

### Next

"Don't Ask"

**"The Porch Scarecrow"** is the first tale in the tenth episode of the fifteenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a man seemingly dresses up as a scarecrow every Halloween. Written by Anders Rhys, it has a runtime of 20:05 and was performed by Peter Lewis, Erin Lillis, Matthew Bradford, Elie Hirschman, and Sarah Ruth Thomas. It is the 1904th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A scarecrow sits on the front porch of a house on, owned by Charlie. For the past few years he has been sitting on the porch with a bowl of candy in his lap, with a sign that says "take one" next to him. He lies so still many trick-or-treaters think he is a decoration, but he moves and scares them when they go to take candy.

The son of the next-door-neighbors Kathryn and Beth, Jonathon, goes up to take some treats but is scared by the scarecrow. He flees screaming into Kathryn's arms, who laughs and compliments the scarecrow on his costume. He thanks her and the two depart. Later, a group of teenagers arrive and attempt to steal all the candy, mistaking him for an imamate decoration. He scares the group's leader, dressed as the grim reaper, causing everyone to scatter.

Hours later, Kathryn exits her house and invites the scarecrow over for a party. Though he has social anxiety, he reluctantly agrees. At the party, he remains in character the whole time and good-naturedly scares the attending children whenever they come up. Beth and Kathryn compliment him on his outfit. When the clock strikes midnight, he thanks his hostesses for the party and leaves, heading back to the house across the street.

Instead of going back in the house, the scarecrow walks into the woods behind the property and takes off his costume, showing his form to made of thousands of writhing beetles. As he dissipates, he reveals he is not Charlie but rather some kind of presence that must feed every few years. He bemoans the fact he must do this and wishes he had more Halloweens with the friends he has made, as this is the only night of the year he is given a physical form.

## Cast

Peter Lewis as the scarecrow

Erin Lillis as Kathryn

Matthew Bradford as the teen boy

Elie Hirschman as Jonathon

Sarah Ruth Thomas as Beth
"Plastic"

**"Plastic"** is the second tale in the sixteenth episode of the fourteenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman lives in her father's haunted house. Written by Austin Gragg, it has a runtime of 16:00 and was performed by Addison Peacock. It is the 1787th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

This story is told in the third person. Addison Peacock serves as narrator.

Lily and her cheating husband divorce after years of being unhappy. This coincides with her elderly father falling down the stairs in his home. She is left the house in his will, where she will live and take care of her mother. She doesn't have fond memories of her father. He was an abusive drunk who regularly beat her and his wife. After finalizing the paperwork, she moves in but grows to dislike the house due to the bad memories it holds.

One night, Lily is in the kitchen when she sees a plastic bag floating out of the woods and into the yard. The sight disturbs her and she heads to the stairway, where she sees another plastic bag tied around the door of her father's room. Looking inside, she sees a tarp lying on top of his bed.

She runs to her mother's room to check on her, but finds nothing amiss. Returning to the hallway, Lily sees her father's ghost floating at the top of the stairs, covered in a tarp and holding a hammer. It is then revealed that she murdered him for his years of abuse months previously, beating him with the hammer and throwing him down the stairs to make it look like an accident.

Lily, realizing he can't harm her because he is dead, calmly steps through him to go downstairs to clean up the tarp.