"The Gargoyle Song"

### Narrator(s)

Elie Hirschman, Matthew Bradford, David Cummings, Nikolle Doolin, Jeff Clement, Dan Zappulla, and Erika Sanderson

### Next

"I Listen to the Ground Scream"

**"The Gargoyle Song"** is the second tale in the twelfth episode of the ninth season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a teenager searches for his missing friend. Written by S.H. Cooper, it has a runtime of 16:00 and was performed by Elie Hirschman, Matthew Bradford, David Cummings, Erika Sanderson, Dan Zappulla, Nikolle Doolin, and Jeff Clement. It is the 1084th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A teenager, Anthony, is called into his principal, Mrs. Gerald's, office to be questioned by a police officer. Anthony's best friend, Mike, has been missing for two days. The officer asks him if he noticed anything unusual about Mike's behavior in the time leading up to his disappearance, to which he replies that him and his father, Jim, had been fighting a lot. He also mentions he seemed depressed and distant, although he was always like that.

Anthony walks over to the bleachers by the football field, where he saw Mike for the last time. They both discussed a fight he'd had with his father about where he should go to college and what he can study. Mike wanted to be an art teacher, but his father thought that was a "faggy" career choice and wanted him to be an engineer. Anthony regrets not really paying attention during the conversation.

After returning home from school, he sees a news report about hollow bellowing sounds erupting from an abandoned church deep in the woods near town, St. Anthony's. Due to the structure's large, crumbling statues of gargoyles standing outside, locals dub the noise the "gargoyle song". No one is able to enter the church and investigate, however, because the building has been condemned.

That night, Anthony receives a call from Jim, who disinterestedly questions him if he knows where Mike is. He doesn't seem worried that his son is missing, which disheartens Anthony. During the phone call, Jim mentions that on the night he disappeared, Mike mentioned that he was going to "Anthony's", although he never showed up at his house.

Anthony dreams that night of Mike telling him where he went. When he awakens, he hears the gargoyle song coming from outside. An announcer on his radio alarm is doing a segment on the phenomena and mentions that if anyone goes down to St. Anthony's to get a recording, they might hear it played on the radio. Anthony realizes Mike didn't mean his house, but rather the abandoned church.

He drives from his house through the woods, the gargoyle song getting louder as he approaches, mixed with a steady hum and high-pitched screeches. Anthony enters the church, being hit with a smell of mildew and excrement. A dark shape flies by his face, accompanied by several more. Looking up, he sees the entire ceiling covered with bats, the flapping of their wings and the stone walls distorting their cries being what made the gargoyle song.

Anthony makes his way to the abandoned pulpit and finds Mike's body behind it. Beside the bottle of sleeping pills he swallowed is a suicide note, explaining that he couldn't be who anyone wanted him to be. Anthony tries to rationalize the situation by thinking that Mike's presence in the church must have riled the bats into making noise before he breaks down crying, telling Mike's corpse that he's sorry for not being the person he needed him to be. Hours later, a cop sees the car parked outside and calls from backup as Anthony sits in the church with the corpse, the bats flying overhead and screeching out the gargoyle song.

## Cast

Elie Hirschman as Anthony

Matthew Bradford as Mike

David Cummings as Jim

Nikolle Doolin as the news anchor

Jeff Clement as the radio announcer

Dan Zappulla as the cop

Erika Sanderson as Mrs. Gerald