"The WontThinkStraight Trilogy"

### Original Post Date

January 21, 2012 ("A Curious Mind is a Terrible Curse")January 23, 2012 ("Gurgles and Bugman")

January 26, 2012 ("Reality is Creepier than Fiction")

### Runtime

27:31 (total)10:13 ("A Curious Mind is a Terrible Curse")

8:05 ("Gurgles and Bugman")

8:21 ("Reality is Creepier than Fiction")

### Next

"The Secret Ingredient"

**"The WontThinkStraight Trilogy"** is a trio of tales that serves collectively as the fifth tale in the third episode of the second season of The Nosleep Podcast. The story is divided into three parts: **"A Curious Mind is a Terrible Curse", "Gurgles and Bugman",** and **"Reality is Creepier than Fiction"**. All written by Eric Ponslee and performed by David Cummings, the collective has a total runtime of 27:31. The first story runs 10:13, the second 8:05, and the last 8:21. It is the 85th tale overall on the podcast.

## "A Curious Mind is a Terrible Curse"

A man reveals that he has always been fascinated by the supernatural. He relates several instances during his childhood where he thought he had evidence of ghostly activity, only to discover that there were simple explanations. Disappointed by his lack of findings, he continued on with his life.

One year, he decides to take a solo backpacking trip through Vietnam. Along the way he stops at a campground to stay at for a few days. Awaking one night, he heads across the field to the bathrooms on the other end.

In the center of the bathroom area is a large lamp, casting a bright light. Standing under the lamp with his back to him is an old man. The man thinks nothing and heads into the stall before realizing that the old man cast no shadow, despite standing under the light. Seconds later, he sees the old man's feet under the crack in the door, waiting for him to come out. Terrified, the man barges out of the stall and runs back to the camp, looking back to see the old man standing in the stall.

The next morning, the man tells his tour guide about the incident. The guide tells him that he saw a ghost, and that they commonly appear to travelers in Vietnam. He also mentions that if one happens to see the ghost's face, then they are doomed to a grisly end in the immediate future. The man is unable to recall if he saw the ghost's face or not.

## "Gurgles and Bugman"

A man recalls his poor upbringing and the fact that his parents weren't able to give him many toys. He does, however, remember owning an old TV set from long ago that would only ever play one show, called "Gurgles and Bugman"

The show dealt with the titular characters performing pranks on an unsuspecting victim. Gurgles was a clown dressed in all black with wide pupils, and Bugman was an insectoid-like man with large fly eyes and a horizontal mouth. In the show, the pair would pick a victim and stalk them throughout the day, pranking them and hiding in plain sight where the victim couldn't see them. Accompanying the show was the sounds of a studio audience that reacted with uproarious approval at whatever they did. Gurgles and Bugman would wait for the victim to fall asleep, after which Bugman would open his mouth to reveal a long, syringe-like appendage that he would then stick in the victim's neck and drain their blood until they died. Gurgles would then put his face right up to the camera and the show would end.

The man remembers being terrified of the show and worried what would happen if he didn't watch it. One day, the television disappeared. Years later, the man confronted his parents and they revealed they had taken the TV after a chilling incident. A young boy in the man's class when he was child was found dead of a stab wound to the neck in his bed with no evidence of a break in. The man claimed to have seen the boy on the Gurgles and Bugman show. It was at this point they got rid of the TV.

The man's parents tell him the TV had no electricity and shouldn't have been working at all. He wonders if Gurgles and Bugman are still out there doing their show.

## "Reality is Creepier than Fiction"

A woman, Mary, has the reputation of being the "cool aunt" in her family. Despite this, she has never been able to find a partner and remains sad about it. However, one day she makes the unexpected announcement that she has found a man to marry, named Stanley. Deeply in love, they go on their honeymoon and return a few weeks later.

However, Mary starts showing signs that she's drifting away from Stanley. She insists they sleep in separate rooms and tries to avoid him at all costs. She also claims to hear someone calling her name in the night and scratching and banging throughout the house.

Mary's family takes her to a doctor and he diagnoses her with Capgras Delusion, a rare condition that makes one think a loved one has been replaced with an identical imposter. She is given pills to take and despite her feelings towards him, Stanley insists on staying with and taking care of her.

Months pass before Mary's family gets terrible news. A jogger spots Mary driving her car the edge of a cliff, unloading Stanley's body, stabbing it multiple times, throwing it off the cliff, and then jumping off herself. The police recover Mary's body on the rocks below but are unable to recover Stanley's corpse.

Investigating the house, they find that Mary hadn't been taking her pills and that she murdered her husband at the house before driving to the cliff. Under a rug, the police find a secret cellar with an emaciated corpse inside. DNA testing matches it as positive to Stanley, having been trapped there and died of starvation months ago. The sounds Mary heard through the house were him banging on the walls, trying to get help.

The family wonders who the man was that was taking care of Mary and if she wasn't as crazy as they though she was.