"Old Florida Boat Trip"

Illustration by Lukasz Godlewski

**"Old Florida Boat Trip"** is the first tale in the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a student and his father on a boat trip spend the night at a strange village. Written by R.L. Erisman, it has a runtime of 24:30 and was performed by Mike DelGaudio, Erika Sanderson, and David Cummings. It is the 696th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A student, Ryan, returns home to Florida for summer vacation. His father, who works as a boat seller, has recently sold a schooner to a client in Europe. Unfortunately, the shipper the father usually works with is booked. He proposes to Ryan that they drive the boat themselves from Fort Lauderdale through the inlets and waterways to its delivery point in Jacksonville, where they will drop it off with the buyer and rent a car to drive home. He agrees.

The two set out and begin piloting through the inlets. Halfway through the day, a bad weather report makes the father decide they will take a longer route through the backwoods rather than the main waterway. The other route is known for being deep in the wilderness with settlements few and far between. They travel through, occasionally seeing sparse trailer parks and rundown houses.

That afternoon, a rainstorm forces them to stop the boat outside a settlement. Something gets lodged in the prop and Ryan retrieves it to see a rope tied to a branch underwater. The two dock and draw the attention of a local, who asks them what they are doing there. They explain the situation and the locals take them to a rundown house they claim to be a bed and breakfast. They eat dinner at the place and the father heads to bed. Ryan asks the girl at the front desk if she wants to drink beer with him, but she says the town is too busy celebrating something and smiles evilly.

Disturbed, Ryan decides to explore the area after dark. He notes the lack of electric poles and roads leading out of the settlement, which makes him think something is not right. Despite the girl's earlier statement, all the houses and trailers are dark. He investigates a houseboat and sees a meth lab inside before finding a fire in front of a deserted house where someone has been cooking a severed manatee head. Across the water from the settlement, he sees a small island with all the town's boats surrounding it. A large bonfire sits back in the trees. He runs back to the bed and breakfast and hides in the room until dawn.

Ryan and his father are escorted to their boat by a local who warns them to never return. Despite the apparent danger, Ryan is curious about the island and convinces his father to stop the boat so he can investigate. He walks to the center and finds a local sitting outside a large structure made of aluminum and plywood. The local berates him for his curiosity and opens the door.

Inside the structure is a hole with a ladder in it and something under a sheet. Lifting the sheet, Ryan sees a large, black rectangular object covered in strange writing. The object suddenly begins pulsing, sending waves of terror and pain into his head. He feels himself being pulled towards the object and fears it is consuming him. Blood begins pouring out of his ears and nose. With his last ounce of strength, he stabs himself in leg with his pocketknife and snaps out of it.

Ryan rushes back to the boat and his father pilots away in the direction of Jacksonville. When they get home, he calls the local FBI office to warn them of the town, adding details about terrorism to make the story more believable. Four days later on the news, he sees a story that reports the town and everyone in it was destroyed in a large "meth lab" explosion whose cloud rose over a hundred feet in the air.

## Cast

Mike DelGaudio as Ryan

Erika Sanderson as the girl at the front desk

David Cummings as the local