The Balloon-Headed Man

**The Balloon-Headed Man**, also known as **The Bag-Headed Man** or **The Sewer Creature**, is the main antagonist of the fifth chapter of *The Sounds of Nightmares*.

## Appearance

The Balloon-Headed Man wears a gunk-covered plastic suit while exploring the Sewer. Under his suit, his body is boney and his spine is horribly bent. The back of his head is sack-like and hangs over his shoulder, swollen and throbbing. Details of his full face remain unknown, only a small white eye. He carries a gadget that he uses to detect objects foreign to the sewer, anything he finds that is small enough, he will carry in the pockets of his suit.

Noone believes the man was not originally so disfigured, his warped appearance the result of his time in the sewer, as if becoming one with it.

## Personality

The Balloon-Headed Man spends his time exploring the sewer to collect items dropped from the world above. He stores his findings in a maintenance room in large piles, organizing everything to ensure there is a unique pile for anything that can be collected. When the room shakes and destroys his piles, the man gets startled into an odd anger. Despite Noone's attempts to loose him in the tunnels, the man continues his pursuit and search, determined to find her. The man is terrified of the giant wave that runs through the tunnels, so much that he is willing to give up on capturing Noone in order to find safety in his maintenance room.

## *The Sounds of Nightmares*

### *A Deluge of the Inevitable*

Noone first witnessed the Balloon-Headed Man at a junction that she had arrived at. Although she had not yet seen him, the sound of his gadget lead her to the left path of the junction, where she caught a glimpse of him. She saw he used a gadget, buzzing and beeping as it detected things in the waters for him. Before he quickly crossed out of view, she noted a strange sack he carried over his shoulder with something squirming inside.

Shortly after, Noone arrived to the maintenance room with aid from a Nome, where she saw laid about the room endless piles of various junks and treasures, including gold jewelry, mismatched mittens and keys, all things she realized were dropped down into the sewers over the years, from the world above. Of the various piles of collections, she additionally discovered a single propeller cap. Noone eventually heard the man approaching, prompting her to hide in the pile of mittens, where she peered out and observed the Balloon-Headed Man entering the room. Upon his arrival, the man began dumping out coins, rings and trinkets from his pockets. Noone noticed his grotesque appearance, believing that the sewer was what caused his warped appearance. As an intense rumbling eventually took place, the room shook enough to destroy his piles, startling him into an odd anger. As Noone grabbed the Nome and ran out of the room, the man pursued her with his machine. After briefly losing her, he was eventually alerted to their location by the chanting of the Naughty Kids. Although he caught up to her at a dead end, he struggled to capture her as she was able to slip through a hole she made by removing bricks from the wall. Suddenly, the walls began to rumble, causing the Balloon-Headed Man to stagger back in horror.

Before her dream ended, she passed by the maintenance room one last time, noting the Balloon-Headed Man cowering inside as he had no reason to celebrate the wave and instead cherished what was dropped by accident from the world above. Noone understood the man wanted what the naughty kids had, but was unable to obtain for himself.

## Trivia

* Noone deduced that the Balloon-Headed Man and the Naughty Kids both wanted what the other had, but they would never have themselves.
* The Balloon-Headed Man's character is based on Toshers from Victorian England.
* While the Balloon-Headed Man keeps the majority of his collection out in the open within his maintenance room, he has chosen to leave a single child's propeller cap on a single chair, tucked away as if forgotten.
* Although Noone was able to outrun the Balloon-Headed Man, she could still hear the gadget's buzzing wherever she went, indicating that the gadget is not only capable of finding inanimate objects, but living things as well.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ddw8Cn0vQ&t=1106s
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ddw8Cn0vQ&t=1598s
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 I WROTE AN EPISODE FOR THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES! LITTLE NIGHTMARES PODCAST

Noone • The Counsellor • The Candleman • The Workers • The Prisoners • The Tall Woman • The Child with Gooey Hair • Cici • The Bathers • Jester • The Merchants • The Shopping Mall • The Counsellor's Professor • The Performing Children (Rusty) • The Man in the Purple Suit • The Carnival People • The Dummy • Nomes • The Naughty Kids • **The Balloon-Headed Man** • The Puppet
Animals • Children • Unidentified Characters