recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
"The Midnight Man"

"The Midnight Man" is the second tale in the first episode of the first season of The Nosleep Podcast. It concerns a man disbelieving in the existence of a supernatural creature. Written by V. Rusanovsky, it has a running time of 7:12 and was originally performed by Alex Beal. It is 2nd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man has been reading about a mysterious being known as "The Midnight Man". The man doubts the being's existence fervently. One night soon afterwards, he goes to take his dog out for a walk when he sees a strange figure standing near his neighbor's mailbox. Frightened, he carries his dog inside and shuts the blinds, but the dog will not stop barking at the covered window. The man notices with horror that his dog is following a scratching sound around the outside of his house, even when it reaches the edge of the hill the house stands on and would therefore have to be extremely tall.

The man grabs his dog and runs into his bedroom, turning on all the lights and putting a chair in front of the door. The scratching continues all around until it stops right over his bed, where it intensifies. This is followed shortly by all the lightbulbs bursting in the house, leaving it in complete darkness. The chair slides away from the door on its own and a tall, shadowy figure enters. It stares at the man, says, "Tomorrow night, then." and departs, leaving the man terrified of what will happen the next night.
"Kenneth"

**"Kenneth"** is the first tale in the sixth episode of the first season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a former worker at a developing store shares a strange customer. Written by Huxley Adams, it has a runtime of 4:39 and was performed by Christopher Maust. It is the 20th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man works as a developer at a photo-processing store. It is his job to place the film rolls inside a machine that will devlop them and then place them in folders to be given to customers. A certain customer, Kenneth, begins coming in on a weekly basis to get the same kind of photo developed every time.

In it, two people stand at a window of a house, taken from outside. The person closer to the glass always looks confused, and the person behind them is always obscured and hard to make out. The man wonders if Kenneth is some kind of voyeur, but concludes this can't be true because of the composition of the shots. Though the closest person to the window and the house always changes, the person standing obscured behind the subject never does.

One day, three years after Kenneth started to come to the store, the man develops the weekly photo only to notice the obscured person isn't in the shot, it's just a single person standing at the window. He asks Kenneth about it to strike up conversation. Kenneth becomes agitated at the missing person and claims that he only comes when he wants him to. The man tries to ask more, but Kenneth rushes out of the store and never returns. A year or so later, the shop shuts down and the man finds work elsewhere.

Sixteen years pass. One night, the man is working on his computer when he hears a car horn honking from outside his house. When he goes to the window to check, someone standing on the sidewalk below snaps his picture and speeds away. The next morning, there is a film cannister sitting on his doorstep. When the man gets it developed, he sees a picture of himself standing at his window, looking out. Standing behind him to the left is Kenneth.
"Molly Malone and her Keyhole Tattoo"

Illustration by Charlie Cody

**"Molly Malone and her Keyhole Tattoo"** is the first tale in the fourteenth episode of the seventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by Rona Vaselaar, is has a runtime of 14:25 and was read by David Ault and Erika Sanderson. It is the 835th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man meets and falls in love with the girl of his dreams, Molly. They have a blissful, love-filled marriage. However, he notices a strange tattoo she has on the back of her neck: a small keyhole. Over the course of their relationship, he asks her about it several times, but every time she says she'll tell him one day, just not then.

Five years pass. The man wakes up early one morning and realizes, with confusion, that the "tattoo" isn't one at all: Molly has an actual keyhole on the back of her neck. He doesn't say anything but resolves to find out her secret without her knowledge. He notes that she always wakes up and gets ready before he does and that she always sleeps exactly fourteen hours each night.

Restless, the man goes through her things early one morning, finding a locked drawer in her bedside table. Inside, he finds a variety of keys, all in different colors. He plucks a blue key from the pile and inserts it into the hole, turning it three times. Hearing her wake up, he hurriedly stuffs it back and drawer and jumps into bed, pretending to be asleep.

That day, Molly is disoriented and depressed. She continuously rubs the back of her neck. She goes to bed six hours early. The next day, the man tries a yellow key, turning it six times. Molly is bright and happy the next day, sleeping exactly fourteen hours, but she seems inwardly confused.

Over the next few weeks, the man rotates the keys. He notices Molly's disposition towards him growing cold and distant. Despite his guilt, he doesn't stop. One night, he finds a black key in a secret compartment in the drawer. Wracked with curiosity, he winds the key and places it in his pocket. In the morning, Molly seems unchanged. When he returns from work that night, he finds her hanging from the kitchen ceiling.

He expresses his regret of not simply waiting for Molly to tell him her secrets and the fact that he'll never truly know the full story of her life.

## Cast

David Ault as the man

Erika Sanderson as Molly
"Stairs of Dark Oak"

**"Stairs of Dark Oak"** is the second tale in the twenty-third episode of the second season of The Nolseep Podcast. In it, a couple moves into an old house with a set of sinister stairs. Written by Anton Scheller, it has a runtime of 11:45 and was performed by Ray Sizemore. It is the 175th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man asks his girlfriend, Samantha, to marry him, and she accepts. On the way back to his apartment, Samantha tells him to stop the car and look at an old Victorian house that is for sale. The couple falls in love with it at first sight, and sign the papers to buy it a week later.

Everything in the house is made from dark paneled wood, from the walls to the floors to the furniture. However, the place in the house that becomes the object of the couple's attention is the staircase in the front hall that leads to the second floor. The man swears it appears to be made of darker wood than the rest of the house and the steps bended uncomfortably in the middle when they walk up them. At one point, Samantha trips on the last few steps and injures her ankle. After this, the stairs become an even bigger source of fear for them.

Throughout the years they live in the house, the man and Samantha come up with a way to combat their fear of the stairs: they run up and down them to spend as little time on them as possible. Samantha even removes their furniture from the front hall so they can have more room to work up speed. They discuss repainting the stairs or even tearing them out altogether and replacing them, but monetary troubles prevent them from doing this. The man has nightmares of hands coming up from the dark wood and pulling him into the space below the stairs.

One night, the man stays downstairs reading after Samantha goes to bed. When he begins to run up the stairs, his foot punches through the wood of the second step and he feels something wrap around his ankle. When he pulls his foot out of the hole, a skeletal hand and arm bone is gripping him.

Samantha calls the police and they find twenty-one corpses under the stairs, dead for years. The man is unable to explain how the hand of one of the bodies managed to grab his ankle. The coupe tears out the stairs, builds new ones, and moves. The man says he still runs up all sets of stairs.
"Love Notes"

**"Love Notes"** is the third tale in the second episode of the third season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman is harassed by her ex-boyfriend. Written by Kendra Bledsoe, it has a runtime of 9:25 and was performed by Corinne Sanders. It is the 194th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Elle decides to rent a small apartment with her boyfriend of only a year, Eric. The place has two bedrooms and lies in a seedy section of the city. Though the pair's living situation starts amicably, it takes a nosedive after Eric's bad habits become known, such as leaving trash lying around, forgetting to lock or close the front door after leaving for work, and not cleaning up his weed. When Elle learns that he's been dealing drugs on the side, she decides to end their relationship.

Not wanting to pay the large fee it takes to break the lease early, the two agree to keep living in the apartment until it's expired. Elle moves into the empty bedroom. They both have wildly different schedules, so they rarely see each other. For the first month or so, Eric appears to be taking an initiative to clean up his bad habits. However, setbacks begin soon after.

Elle will wake up some mornings to find notes pinned to her dresser or mirror saying things like "look pretty when you sleep" and "wish you were in my room instead". Annoyed, she goes to Eric's door and pounds on it, but receives no answer. She tries the door, but finds it locked. Exasperated, she writes a note that says "stop it" and sticks it to the knob.

There are no notes for the next few days. Elle invites a date, Paul, over to watch a movie. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom and returns shaken. He says he saw her roommate standing in the dark in the hallway, staring into her empty room. Though he tries to keep watching the movie, eventually he says he's uncomfortable and leaves.

Angry and creeped out, Elle goes to Eric's door and pounds on it, telling him to leave her alone. That night, she hears him pacing around the hallway. She wakes up at one point to see a shadowy figure sitting on the edge of her bed. Closing her eyes, she waits for it to leave before going to sleep again.

In the morning, Elle calls Eric's mother to tell her to talk to her son. After explaining all the strange events, the line goes quiet. Eric's mother says he has been staying at her house for the past month, an eight-hour drive away.
"Perfect"

**"Perfect"** is the fourth tale in the eighteenth episode of the eleventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. It concerns a plastic surgeon preparing an anniversary dinner for his wife. Written by Lucia France, it has a runtime of 21:15 and was read by David Ault and Erika Sanderson. It is the 1380th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A plastic surgeon is enjoying a glass of wine with his wife. He reveals it is their eighth wedding anniversary and goes off into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

He explains the circumstances that lead up to their meeting. They met at a doctor's convention and fell deeply in love. However, the appearance-obsessed surgeon thought his wife's appearance needed a little work and gave her a nose job, among other alterations.

One day, the surgeon's practice outlawed a few certain high-paying operations. Realizing he would loose income, he set up a secret, illegal operating room in the basement where clients can get the work done. Not used to operating in the environment, his wife agreed to be his first subject. However, when making the first incision, his hand slipped and he accidentally slit his wife's throat, killing her.

This occurred three years previously. Back in the present, the surgeon finishes dinner and takes it to his dead wife, propped up in a chair in the living room. He reveals that everyone thinks his wife ran away and left him. After he finishes eating, he undress the dead body and puts it back in the basement freezer, excited for next year's anniversary.

## Cast

David Ault as the surgeon

Erika Sanderson as the wife
"Critter"

**"Critter"** is the fourth tale in the eighth episode of the eleventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by Annemarie Harnett, it has a runtime of 24:16 and was performed by Mike DelGaudio, Erika Sanderson, Alexis Bristowe, and Nichole Goodnight. It is the 1331st tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

In 1998, A college student decides to take the summer off after graduating and travel around the country. He stays at numerous motels and spends most of the time thinking what he's going to do with his life.

Somewhere in the southern U.S, he decides to take a walk in the mountains. While on the trail, he passes by a young woman walking a bulldog. He is infatuated with her immediately, but decides to head back to the car and not disturb her.

When he's halfway back, the bulldog comes running out of the trees, distressed and covered in blood. The student realizes the blood isn't his and discovers the dog's name is Critter. He heads back to find the woman.

He finds her sprawled on the path, missing half of her leg, but still alive. When he attempts to carry her out, a humanoid creature jumps out of the bushes with fangs, claws, scraggly hair, and wings. It pounces on the man, causing him to drop the woman.

The creature spears him with its claws and drops him from the air several times. She then drags him through the woods back to her cave. Halfway down, the student hears Critter barking near the entrance. The creature drops the student and flies back up to kill the dog, but is fought off when he bites off two of her fingers. She retreats back down the hole and the student crawls back up. Grabbing Critter, he runs back to the woman, but finds out that she has died.

At the hospital, the student is unable to give a clear description of what the creature looked like to the police. He hears two nurses discussing the various disappearances that have happened in the mountains over the past few years.

In 2018, the student reveals that he adopted Critter after the attack and that both of them bear scars from the creature's claws. The story ends with Critter's death, and the student's hopes that he gave him a good life.

## Cast

Mike DelGaudio as the student

Erika Sanderson as the creature

Alexis Bristowe and Nichole Goodnight as the nurses
"The Copycat Neighbors"

**"The Copycat Neighbors"** is the third tale in the fifth episode of the fourth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a couple is terrorized by their new neighbors. Written by J.A. Martz, it has a runtime of 12:40 and was performed by David Cummings and Tisha Boone. It is the 368th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A husband and wife are friends with their neighbor, Richard. However, Richard has to move after getting a new job offer. A week or so after he leaves, a new couple move in next door. The husband and wife are creeped out by the new neighbors as they never stop smiling and seem extremely pale.

The pair go over to introduce themselves. Though they attempt to talk for a while, their questions are never reciprocated and the neighbors just sit on the couch, smiling. The husband and wife leave uncomfortably, the couple not following them to the door.

Over the next few weeks, the neighbors begin acting even more strange. They paint their house to look identical to the couple's. The other husband mows his lawn exactly when the husband does. They buy the exact same make and model of car as the couple's.

Now thoroughly creeped out, the husband and wife go over to confront them. The neighbors smile and claim that they like them very much. The wife becomes agitated at something and they leave. Back at home, the wife tells the husband that the neighbors' bedroom looked identical to theirs, even though they had never been inside their house.

They set up a camera in the corner of their room that night before falling asleep. When they watch the tape in the morning, they see grainy footage of the neighbors standing at the foot of their bed in the dark with murderous looks on their faces.

The husband grabs a baseball bat and beats down the neighbor's door. Their possessions are boxed in the living room and the car is in the driveway, but they aren't there. The husband and wife give the tape to the police, but they are unable to track down the neighbors. The information they gave to buy the house and the car were stolen from a couple that lives a few states away.

The husband and wife move across the country and try to put the incident behind them. One night years later, the wife gets a call from Richard saying that his new neighbors have painted their house to look exactly like his. They decide to tell their son the story.

## Cast

David Cummings as the husband/the son

Tisha Boone as the wife
"I Still Don't Know What to Think"

"I Still Don't Know What to Think" is the third tale in the second episode of the first season of The Nosleep Podcast. It concerns a strange encounter a girl has with her grandfather late a night. Written by Jason Baird, it has a running time of 2:50 and was originally performed by Allison Stein and David Cummings. It is the 5th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A young girl explains a strange affliction her disabled grandfather has: he lives in a wheelchair in the basement of their home, and has sores and lesions all over his body.

Very early one morning, the girl is on her computer when she hears a loud buzzing noise. She goes downstairs to check and is shocked to see her grandfather standing at the top of the basement steps, his head thrown back, emitting a loud buzzing noise from his throat. He throws his head towards her and growls, "We were never meant for this place...and neither were you.", then throws himself back down the stairs.

Afterwards, the girl mentions that the fall broke her grandfather's neck, and that he died.

## Cast

Allison Stein as the girl

David Cummingsas the grandfather
"Angel"

**"Angel"** is the second tale in the twelfth episode of the first season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man rents a house that is haunted by the ghost of a girl. Written by Chris Coffman, it has a runtime of 9:39 and was performed by Jacob Comeau. It is the 48th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man works at a department store warehouse, lifting heavy boxes and moving them. The only way he can relax after a shift is a hot bath. One cold winter night, he returns to his low-income apartment to find that he accidentally left his living-room window open. Shaken at the thought of an intruder entering his home, he closes it. When he goes to light his heater, he finds that his lighter is missing, He briefly worries than someone stole it but concludes this is impossible. After his bath, he feels completely relaxed.

The man wraps up in layers and gets in bed. While he sleeps, he has a vivid nightmare. In it, he sees through the eyes of a scarred heavy drug user overdosing in a rotting, abandoned apartment. A searing pain erupts in his chest and he falls off the desk the user is sitting at, only to see a malnourished, dirty little girl coming towards him holding a dead cat in her arms.

He suddenly wakes up in his bed, the heater blazing. A silhouette appears in the doorway of the bathroom and he sees it's the girl from his dream, with black pits for eyes and an unnaturally wide mouth. She comes towards his bed, silently screaming, before all the lights and sound shut off the room. After a few minutes, his eyes adjust to the moonlight and he sees that the room is empty. He hears an animal mewling and looks over the side to see a small kitten sitting on the floor. Picking it up, it starts licking his hand. When he turns on the television, he sees a couple with their daughter staring at him. The daughter is the girl from his dream. Slowly, the parents fade and twist while the girl begins to look dirty and malnourished. The man shuts off the television and cries.

The next morning, he calls his parents and makes up with them before enrolling in college classes for the next autumn session. The kitten, which he names Angel, disappears nine months after the incident. The girl sometimes appears in his dreams at night, showing him ghastly and beautiful things.
Armen Taylor

**Armen Taylor** is a retired narrator on The Nosleep Podcast. He made his debut in S10E22's "Driftwood". His final appearance was in S14E24's "Amateur Night". Main character narrations are bolded.

## Appearances

* **Season 10**
	+ **Episode 22**
		- **"Driftwood"**
	+ **Episode 25**
		- "Return to a Seaside British Pub"
	+ **Bonus Episode #5: Suddenly Shocking, Vol. 8**
		- **"Father of Mercies"**
* **Season 11**
	+ **Episode 1**
		- "Ten Miles Outside Vaughn"
	+ **Episode 2**
		- "Black Sand"
	+ **Bonus Episode #2: 7th Anniversary**
		- "I Don't Know Where the Cat Was Going But it Sure as Shit Wasn't Narnia"
	+ **Episode 3**
		- "A Eulogy for My Uncle"
	+ **Episode 4**
		- "Mr. Clacky-Teeth"
	+ **Episode 5**
		- "Containing Secrets"
	+ **Episode 6**
		- "Blind Contract"
	+ **Episode 8**
		- **"In a Land of Weeping Corpses"**
	+ **Episode 10**
		- "It's a Match"
	+ **Episode 11**
		- **"B is for Ballora"**
	+ **Episode 15**
		- "The Executrix"
	+ **Episode 16**
		- **"The Taking Tree"**
	+ **Episode 19**
		- "Zero Consequences"
		- "My Worst Pizza Delivery"
		- "Fear of Flying"
	+ **Episode 21**
		- "The Tappan Zee Bridge"
	+ **Episode 22: Halloween 2018**
		- "The Spirit of Halloween"
	+ **Bonus Episode #3: Halloween 2018**
		- **"The Last Trick R Treater"**
	+ **Episode 23**
		- "The Summer Solstice"
	+ **Episode 24**
		- "Just Like Me"
		- "The Attic Angel"
		- "Till Childhood's End"
	+ **Bonus Episode #5: Suddenly Shocking, Vol. 9**
		- "What the Dead Feel"
* **Season 12**
	+ **Episode 7**
		- "I Saw Something Terrifying in My Town's Sewers"
		- "The Hole in the Wall"
	+ **Episode 14**
		- "End Zone"
	+ **Episode 21**
		- "Rocking A Ranch"
* **Season 13**
	+ **Bonus Episode #6: Suddenly Shocking, Vol. 11**
		- "Ignore the Drowning Man"
		- "Impossible Night"
* **Season 14**
	+ **Episode 8**
		- "Morgan's Girl"
	+ **Episode 24**
		- "Amateur Night"
"Prank Call"

**"Prank Call"** is the first tale in the tenth episode of the first season of The Nolseep Podcast. In it, a delivery driver has a scary encounter. Written by Arann Murray, it has a runtime of 4:30 and was performed by Brett Seay. It is the 38th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A delivery driver receives a order to an isolated address a few miles outside of town. Arriving there, he finds the house to be a small, moss-covered cottage. It appears to be deserted besides a single light on in the kitchen. Looking in the window, he sees two dark figures seated at the table, not moving or speaking. When he enters the gate, the perk up like they hear him.

The driver knocks a few times, but no one answers the door. The light in the kitchen goes out. He goes back to the car and calls the house's number, but is told that it is a nonworking number. Turning back to the house, he sees the front door wide open and the two figures standing at the end of the hallway, watching him.

He flees to the car and drives back to the restaurant, explaining that it was a prank call to his boss. Going home to bed, he wakes up early in the morning to see the figures standing in his garden, staring at him through the window. He runs upstairs and waits until they leave.

The driver explains that he now sees the figures whenever he drives the car and that he can hear them on the gravel walk outside his house every night. He expresses his longing for them to leave him alone.
"The Sound"

**"The Sound"** is the second tale in the fourteenth episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a man home alone hears a strange noise. Written by April Edgreen, it has a runtime of 4:28 and was performed by Gil Duarte. It is the 56th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man decides to spend the evening alone in his apartment on his computer. He has lived in the building for over a year and never had anything strange happen. He turns a loud fan on because it is hot inside. After surfing the web for a few hours, he begins to notice a strange noise that repeats every few minutes. Figuring it to be the fan's motor, he shuts it off only for the noise to continue. To his horror, he identifies it as a low, raspy growl.

He looks down the hallway towards his room and hears a little girl's giggle. The man grabs his cell phone to call a friend only for all the lights to shut off in the apartment. Terrified, he makes his way towards the front door using his phone as a light.

A woman's face suddenly appears in the beam, with black eyes and a wide smile. He turns and runs toward the door, hearing the raspy growl again. Just as he reaches the knob, he feels a hand wrap around his ankle. He kicks off the hand and runs out to his car. Looking back, he sees the woman staring at him from his window. The man never returns to the apartment and moves in with a friend, who collects all his belongings during the daytime.
"Passit, Florida"

**"Passit, Florida"** is the first tale in the sixteenth episode of the eighth season of the Nolseep podcast. In it, a woman tries to solve her sister's disappearance. Written by S.H. Cooper, it has a runtime of 12:30 and was performed by Addison Peacock, Alexis Bristowe, Nikolle Doolin, and Atticus Jackson. It is the 976th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A woman, Sasha, gets the news that her sister, Nina, is moving away from their hometown to the small backwater city of Passit, Florida. Nina, who is a veterinarian, explains that she's going there because there's more money in working with farm animals rather than pets. Sasha helps her research the town and pack. They tearfully say goodbye on the day she leaves and they promise to keep in touch.

For the first few weeks, Nina sends Sasha pictures and texts gushing about how much she loves her new job and town. Though happy for her, Sasha gets a little jealous as she was recently laid off from her own job. She begins texting Nina less and the messages she sends are a mean-spirited.

Sasha decides to stop being jealous of her sister and sends her a text asking if she can visit, only to receive no response for days. She calls their mother, who says she hasn't heard from Nina for a few days either. She tries to call her, only for the phone to go straight to voicemail. Sasha tries to rationalize the situation by saying that Nina must be busy with her new job or maybe even got in an accident of some kind.

She searches for Passit on the internet only to find barely any information on it, a fact she finds surprising because when her and Nina researched it, there was an official website for the town and even a virtual tour. However, they are now mssing.

She stumbles upon a series of news articles detailing the supposed "disappearance" of the town in the late 70s. A boy, naked and bloody, was discovered walking down the highway near the town. When asked where his parents were, all he could say was "they came for us". When the police investigated, they found all the homes in town filled with blood and occult paraphernalia, but no sign of any people. The whole area was condemned and the story was forgotten.

Sasha calls a local precinct to report Nina missing. When she tells the officer her story, he seems uninterested and claims that it's impossible for her to have moved to Passit. She offers to send Nina's pictures and asks him to send a car out, be refuses both and says he knows she's not there because "they would have come for her by now". He abruptly hangs up.

Sasha tries to call back but receives no response. Confused and scared as to what happened to her sister, she tries to call her but it goes straight to voicemail. For the rest of the night, she keeps redialing, crying harder each time Nina fails to pick up. In the morning, she collapses on the couch and wonders what happened in Passit, Florida.

## Cast

Addison Peacock as Sasha

Alexis Bristowe as Nina

Nikolle Doolin as Sasha and Nina's mother

Atticus Jackson as the police officer
"Outgrowing the Nightlight"

**"Outgrowing the Nightlight"** is the second tale in the first episode of the second season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by Powell Brumm, it has a running time of 3:50 and was originally read by Travis Newton. It is the 73rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A young boy relies on a nightlight along with a mantra he frequently repeats ("The dark can't hurt me, and never will") in order to keep his fears of the dark at bay. One night when he is seven, however, his nightlight burns out and he resolves to not be afraid anymore and sleep without it.

Things go well for the next eight years. Late one night, he awakens to see what he thinks might be a cloaked figure near his window, but it just turns out to be his billowing curtains. He closes the window and goes to sleep.

He awakens the next morning and realizes his window is open again. As he's closing it, he steps on something sharp. His mother pulls it out and it is revealed to be a long, burnt shard of glass. His foot is bandaged and he goes to school.

The boy is ordered by his teacher to go visit the attendance officer. She is not in her office and the teacher tells him to go down to the basement copy room to find her. He enters, and sees a nightlight burning on an outlet, missing a long, thin shard of it's casing.

All lights then go out in the room and a raspy voice whispers in his ear, "The dark can hurt me, and now it will."
"She's a Keeper"

**"She's a Keeper"** is the third tale in the sixteenth episode of the second season of the Nosleep Podcast. In it, a man describes the parts of a girl he likes. Written by Brian Emsley, it has a runtime of 1:55 and was performed by Evan Howard. It is the 143rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A man describes a woman he knows as perfect in every way imaginable. He says he loves her with all his heart. He describes her hair as black silk, her eyes like sapphires, and her nose like marble. Her skin is warm against his. He then says her bones glisten in the moonlight and the gurgling noises coming from her throat sound like a mountain brook. He wonders which parts of her he should keep.

## Notes

* This tale holds the record for the shortest runtime in the entire series, excluding "Suddenly Shocking" entries.
"Doll in the Hall"

**"Doll in the Hall"** is the fifth tale in the sixteenth episode of the twelfth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman's attempts to scare her family go terribly wrong. Written by M.M. Kelley, it has a runtime of 12:50 and was performed by Erika Sanderson and David Ault. It is the 1507th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A woman, Jen, decides to play a prank on her husband, Kurt, and her daughters. She buys an old, dirty-looking doll at a thrift store and plans to scare them by acting like it's moving on its own. Kurt comes home from work and is scared, telling her to throw it out. Their daughters arrive soon after and she tells them it was a gift from their grandmother.

Jen throws the doll on the floor in the night and asked who moved it in the morning. Kurt and the girls deny this. She later sets it up in the hallway with the same results. The other family members begin getting uneasy. Jen sets the doll on Kurt's nightstand, causing him to wake up and scream upon seeing it. He throws it out later that day. She sneaks the doll back inside and hides it in the ottoman.

When Jen comes down for breakfast the next morning, she finds the doll sitting on the kitchen table. Kurt comes running and tells her to stop pranking everyone before throwing it away again. The next morning, while she leaves for work, Jen throws it back in the garage.

When she returns home from work, Kurt asks her why she stole the doll from the dumpster behind his work. She is genuinely confused by what he means. As they speak, she sees it get up and walk across the kitchen table by itself. It falls off the table and their daughter Rebecca pops out, saying she pranked them.

Jen picks up the doll, which suddenly begins breathing on its own. She unzips the back and finds it full of organs and meat. It croaks her name and she throws it in the fireplace. Flames rapidly go up the flue and into the living room. Jen beats the doll's head with a poker until it shatters. She dices the organs with it and flames go out.

Firefighters are called and the family spends the night in a hotel. Jen wakes up the next morning to find the doll's eyes sitting on the windowsill.

## Cast

Erika Sanderson as Jen/Rebecca

David Ault as Kurt
"Cold Room"

**"Cold Room"** is the second tale in the twenty-second episode of the third season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a girl discovers a secret room in her parent's closet. Written by Eric Cleveland, it has a runtime of 19:00 and was performed by Jessica McEvoy. It is the 315th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A girl lives in her family's ancient Victorian house they've owned for four generations. Her parents fight constantly and she looks for ways to escape their bickering. One day, while in the master bedroom closet, she pushes aside some coats and sees a plank of rotting wood against the wall. Putting this aside, she finds a hole in the woodwork about a foot long and a foot and a half wide. A frigid breeze is wafting through it.

Curious, the girl puts on a heavy coat before climbing through the hole into the space behind it. Inside is a room with a large bed, a rocking chair wrapped in white string, and a desk. The walls are paneled in dark wood and covered in a thick layer of dust.

Inspecting the bed, the girl finds a blood-red pillow and a large quilt with a strange geomatical design. The desk is full of splinters. Heading to the rocking chair, the girl notices the string is tied in a such a way as to make it look like someone is tied to it. She tries to undo the string but is unable to. After feeling a sharp pain her toe, the girl realizes the floor around the chair is covered in needles. Scratched on the seat is the phrase "when my friends fall apart, I sew them back together".

The girl looks in the corner and sees a closet she didn't notice previously. When she opens it, a horrible smell wafts out and she sees four nooses made of white string hanging from the ceiling. Coughing, she runs across the room and thinks she sees a figure in the dust, but escapes back out the hole before looking any further. She replaces the plank and leaves.

The girl gets the house plans from her father, but the room doesn't appear on them. One night several weeks later when her parents are fighting again, she heads back into the cold room and falls asleep on the bed. When she awakens hours later, she sees a figure standing at the foot and turns on her flashlight. Illuminated in the beam is a humanoid with no features whatsoever.

The girl screams and crawls out of the room, where she is caught by her parents. Returning to the closet hours later, she realizes she forgot to replace the plank. The father looks inside the hole but can't access the room because the opening is too small. He isn't sure about the room's origins and asks his older relatives about it, but is unable to get an answer.

The parents divorce soon afterwards and sell the house. The girl grows up and is haunted by her experiences. One morning years later she wakes up to find a string noose has been threaded around her neck.
"The Handler"

**"The Handler"** is the sixth tale in the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of The NoSleep Podcast. In it, a psychologist interviews a psychopath. Written by T. Weaver, it has a runtime of 18:10 and was performed by Dan Zappulla, David Cummings, and Matthew Bradford. It is the 986th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

Thomas is a psychologist whose job is to see if criminals are mentally well enough to stand trial. His client in one case is Victor Sanford, also known as the Handler. Both discuss his crimes and motivations.

Victor explains he had a completely normal childhood. One day, he stopped feeling all emotions and empathy. In a search for meaning, he came to love having dogs, especially the sense of ownership he lorded over them. He soon decided he wanted something like that, but with humans.

Eventually, Victor came up with an idea. He would go to bars, pick up attractive women, and lure them back to his house. There he would chain them in the basement to cut out their tongues and amputate their arms and legs below the joints, forcing them to crawl around on all fours. Though the women fought at first, they gradually lost their independence and began acting like dogs, crawling around the house becoming loyal to him.

After six years and three victims, the police showed up to arrest him, acting on a tip. The women were taken to the hospital, but it is suspected that they will never fully recover mentally from their ordeal. Thomas is disturbed throughout the whole interview. Victor says he feels no remorse and will freely admit to all his crimes.

Thomas' son remembers this portion of his father's career growing up, how he would come home from work every night troubled. Though he moved on from the interview, he never quite escaped it.

## Cast

Dan Zappulla as Thomas

David Cummings as Victor Sanford

Matthew Bradford as Thomas' son
"The Murder in My Backyard"

Illustration by Charlie Cody

**"The Murder in My Backyard"** is the second tale in the tenth episode of the eighth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a woman befriends a group of crows. Written by S.H. Cooper, it has a runtime of 16:45 and was performed by Addison Peacock and David Cummings. It is the 945th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A recently-divorced woman, Beth, moves into a small house near the forest to save money. One morning, while having breakfast, she notices a large crow sitting on the railing of the back porch. She tries to feed it a piece of bread, but it flies away. The next morning, however, it returns and eats the bread after she throws it on the ground.

Beth names the crow Poe and begins making feeding him a part of her daily routine. Poe soon starts to bring along other birds from his flock to be fed. She doesn't bother setting an alarm anymore because the cawing wakes her up every morning. Poe also starts brining her small gifts, such as a button, a red bead, and a small square with the letter K written on it.

One day, while working from her home office, Beth is visited by her neighbor across the street, Stan. Stan drops off some cookies and says he's happy that someone is living in the house again after the previous owners' daughter, Kaitlyn, went missing from the backyard.

Beth searches on the internet and discovers the case is still open, with a website set up asking for tips. She learns that Kaitlyn was a quiet, intelligent child that wanted to be a veterinarian. Accompanying the information is a picture of her smiling on the back porch of the house, with several crows sitting on the railing behind her.

The crows continue to bring gifts while Beth questions where they came from, especially the K square. One morning, Poe brings her a small white bone. Alarmed, she puts on a robe and follows the flock as they fly into the woods behind the house.

After about ten minutes, the crows settle on and around a large tree with a hollow at the bottom. Beth enters and discovers Kaitlyn's skeletal remains. She calls the police and an investigation is launched. DNA samples from under the girl's fingernails indicate Stan is her killer. However, he commits suicide before he can be arrested.

The crows stop coming around the house, although they all show up one final time when Stan's body is wheeled out of his house in a black bag. They all screech loud and long before flying away over the trees.

## Cast

Addison Peacock as Beth

David Cummings as Stan
"Have You Seen This Girl?"

**"Have You Seen This Girl?"** is the fourth tale in the first episode of the seventh season of The Nosleep Podcast. Written by Alex Green, it has a running time of 15:20 and was originally read by Jessica McEvoy and Erika Sanderson. It is the 767th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A college student, while waiting for class one day, notices a picture of a beautiful girl tacked to a nearby bulletin board. Written under the drawing are the words 'Have you seen this girl?'. The student passes it off as some kind of statement and ignores it.

The next day, there are three drawing of different girls tacked to the board, all bearing the same statement. One fellow student loudly voices her disdain of the drawings, much to the student's annoyance, as she finds the drawings enthralling.

Over the next few weeks, the drawings get more numerous as well as more disturbing. The girls in the pictures begin looking more hollow-eyed and dead as they appear in more places around the campus. The student, now thoroughly creeped out, chooses to ignore the drawings.

The student then explains the sudden disappearance of the rabbit population around the college, which was high before. Many attribute it to predators, until the rabbits turn up, bloody and dismembered, in odd places around the campus. Students panic and the police investigate, but find nothing. The attacks stop soon after.

The student, weeks later, finds another drawing under a poster on the same bulletin board and is horrified to find an incredibly lifelike drawing of a corpse with the same words written underneath. The student goes to the police and is horrified to learn that the girl whose face appeared in the first drawing went missing and has yet to be found.

The student stays in her dorm room all the next weekend. As she is preparing to go out, her roommate walks in, horrified, holding a paper she says was pinned to the door of their dorm. On it is a drawing of the student, with the same phrase written underneath.

## Cast

Jessica McEvoyas the student

Erika Sandersonas the loud student
"What Halloween Left Behind"

**"What Halloween Left Behind"** is the fourth tale in the nineteenth episode of the thirteenth season of The Nosleep Podcast. In it, a woman working late is harassed by phone calls. Written by S.H. Cooper, it has a runtime of 18:02 and was performed by Mary Murphy, Erika Sanderson, and Atticus Jackson. It is the 1653rd tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A woman receives a job at a high-rise in the heart of the city. The building had been previously abandoned for a decade after a housing-market crash caused construction on the project to cease. Only recently was someone able to buy the building and continue the renovations.

On Halloween night, the woman is forced to work late alone in the office to finish a report on time. She hears someone buzz on the intercom to be let into the building. She answers and young boy's voice asks to be let in. She tells him that the office is not open to trick-or-treaters and hangs up.

A few minutes later, the boy buzzes again, this time to say he's inside the building. The woman tells him to go away again and goes back to work. Her phone rings and the boy's voice comes from the receiver, saying he's on the tenth floor. The office is on the thirteenth.

Terrified, the woman abandons her work and heads for the elevator, but decides to take the stairs instead after it fails to arrive for several minutes. In the stairwell she hears the boy's voice from below saying he's a couple floors below her. She flees back into the office and enters the elevator as it arrives, jamming the lobby button. The car instead rises to the sixteenth floor, which is still unfished.

The woman uses her phone as a light and attempts to make her way to the stairwell. A ladder suddenly falls down in front of her and she looks up to see a piece of celing tile removed. The boy's voice comes from above, saying he's inside.

The woman flees down all sixteen flights of stairs and calls the police. A few cops and an ambulance arrive, coming out later wheeling a sheeted body. An officer explains that they found the mummified remains of a young boy in the ceiling on the sixteenth floor.

She eventually finds out the real story. Ten years previously, a boy named Alec attended a Halloween party on the bottom floor of the high-rise with his mother. Alec went missing during the party and was never seen again despite an extensive search. The police theorize he must have wandered off and eventually ended up on the elevator to the under-construction sixteenth floor. He climbed the ladder into the ceiling only for it to fall, trapping him. The building was foreclosed the next day, so no one could come to his recue and he died of thirst.

## Cast

Mary Murphy as the woman

Erika Sanderson as Alec

Atticus Jackson as the police officer
"The Art of Transubstantiation"

**"The Art of Transubstantiation"** is the second tale in the eleventh episode of the tenth season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a man is invited to a strange art performance. Written by Henry Galley, it has a runtime of 22:30 and was performed by Dan Zappulla, Peter Lewis, Kyle Akers, and Erika Sanderson. It is the 1214th tale overall on the podcast.

## Summary

A renowned artist, Antithɘsis, has been taking the art world by storm with his controversial and often horrifying live performances. An act from him can include anything from self-mutilation to violence against animals to drugging the audience and having unstimulated sex with them.

A journalist has been following Antithɘsis' work for nearly twenty years He's always wanted to attend a performance, but has never received a formal invitation. Only a dozen or so people are invited to every unique showing, hand-picked by the artist himself. Little is known of exactly what happens in all the pieces because of the nondisclosure agreement the audience must sign. While speaking with one of his art friends, Abramović, she tells him that little can be found of the artist on the internet because he wants to remain special.

One day, the journalist finally gets a personalized invitation from Antithɘsis to a performance called "Transubstantiation". He arrives at an abandoned warehouse in the city. A large room has been set up with a long buffet table full of meat and wine. A white sheet hangs on the opposite wall. Giovanni, Antithɘsis' personal assistant, physician, and bodyguard, lets the attendees know that the performance will start in two hours.

After spending the time eating the food and speculating what will happen in the performance, the audience sits down to wait. Giovanni wheels out an old-school film projector and turns it on, showing a personalized message from the artist.

Antithɘsis says that he has performed every violent, fantastical act he can think of and decides it's time to move his talents to the other realm. He explains that the meal the audience has just eaten was made from his flesh and the wine was spiked with his blood. A part of him will live on collectively in all of them for as long as they live.

Giovanni wheels out a platter and removes the cover, revealing Antithɘsis' severed head fixed in a permanent smile. The audience erupts into thunderous applause, praising the artist's genius. The journalist concludes his account by saying he feels honored to be apart of the final performance.

## Cast

Dan Zappulla as the journalist

Peter Lewis as Antithɘsis

Kyle Akers as Giovanni

Erika Sanderson as Abramović
Aiko van Windergen

**Aiko van Windergen** was a narrator on The Nosleep Podcast. He made his debut in S5E20's "My Girlfriend's Loving Limbs". His final appearance was in S7E17's "Why I Refuse to Work the Night Shift". Main character narrations are bolded.

## Appearances

* **Season 5**
	+ **Episode 20**
		- **"My Girlfriend's Loving Limbs"**
* **Season 6**
	+ **Episode 9**
		- **"In the Backyard"**
	+ **Episode 19**
		- "The Monsters are Already Here"
* **Season 7**
	+ **Episode 17**
		- "Why I Refuse to Work the Night Shift"