The Puppet In The Tree | Creep Cast

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:15]Hey, welcome back to Creepcast. Another week of scary stories. Today we're going to be reading a story called The Puppet in the Tree, which is uh Yeah. Or Hold on. Where the is my mouse?

[00:00:30]Yeah. The Puppet in the Tree by Dopab Bean, who did the uh is it The Dead Girl in My Yard, right? Uh Dopaban's done a few stories we've covered. So, they did The Dead Girl in My Yard was the best friend I ever had. Uh all time creep cast banger in my opinion. Uh they told me I was nothing but a dog, which is about uh the one where the girl was in the house. Imagine Lake the dog. And I clean hoarder houses for a living. Um so, >> yeah. Dopamine.

[00:00:55]>> Lot of bangers.

[00:00:56]>> Yeah.

[00:00:57]>> Yeah.

[00:00:57]>> Yeah. Dopamine. uh is the name that they write with online. Their actual uh pin name is RC Bowman. Uh and RC Bowman has a bunch of different stories you can check out as well as multiple books on that you can get on Amazon uh either paperback or for Kindle such as the Monsters We Forgot series or what monsters do for love. Uh and every I can't think of anything we've read from them I haven't liked. Yeah, I was going to say the uh the hoarder one. I always forget what a weird like fantasy like it dips into all these different weird things. And then I I still think that the best thing that we've read from them so far, at least I should say, is the dead girl in my yard.

[00:01:39]>> The dead girl in the yard. Yeah.

[00:01:41]>> Yeah, that one was just so good. It was like um it was like a um Macau Bridge to Terabithia kind of.

[00:01:48]>> Yeah. No, it it does feel like that.

[00:01:50]Yeah, like a a demented bridge to Terabithia, which bridge to Terabithia is already kind of demented.

[00:01:55]>> Still can't believe the little girl in that dies, >> falls in drowns.

[00:01:59]>> Just straight up drowns.

[00:02:00]>> She does. I mean, >> and you never see it. It's so traumatic.

[00:02:04]You never see it. It's just like she's going for the best forever.

[00:02:07]>> That's probably for the best in a uh in a in a children's movie. If they saw a full like 8 minute scene, >> I'm not I'm not saying you show her dead body. Okay. I'm I'm saying like he's not with her when it happens. There's no like, oh, it's a big tragic event. It's just he comes home one day, it's like your friend's dead.

[00:02:24]>> He's dead. You're like, what?

[00:02:26]>> Yeah.

[00:02:27]>> Yeah. Well, Virgin Terabithia trul the most horrifying thing we've discussed on uh on this podcast.

[00:02:33]>> The scariest thing we've ever covered.

[00:02:35]>> Yeah, it really is.

[00:02:36]>> But uh check out check out RC Bowman's stuff. We'll have it linked in the description. They're always a banger.

[00:02:40]And I should also mention that their account Dopabine got banned off Reddit.

[00:02:44]I know we talked about this the last time we covered them. It got banned because of some stupid rule or something rather. Uh but you can still see stories that get posted by them um to their subreddit, the North American Pantheon, because they have that huge series. It's like a collective lore of supernatural things in the United States. And they also have like a Twitter, a Facebook, and um Instagram, stuff like that. We'll have linked in the description. So, be sure to show them some love. They certainly deserve it. Well, without further ado, as well, uh, be sure to check us out on audio platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcast and give us a nice rating there. It really does help us. And also just want to give a quick shout out to our patrons who are listening and getting some extra content on the side. Isaiah, are you ready? I'm ready. I do want to mention while I'm continuing to shout out the author, um, most of their stories are now posted to their Substack. I forgot about that.

[00:03:35]Yes, we'll have the Substack linked in the description as well. Correct. Okay.

[00:03:39]Anyway, I'm ready to get into it.

[00:03:43]The puppet in the tree. Let us begin.

[00:03:45]Every elementary school has a ridiculous urban legend. My school had Muppet Man, and I hated him. Muppet Man was deformed. Ill-fated plastic surgery left him with the ghastly proportions of a marionette puppet. So, he stole a rainbow animal costume from the school theater and wore it everywhere. He lived in an ancient oak tree in the recess yard. Some kids claimed he lived in the branches watching us play from camouflaged hideouts of leaves and twigs. Well, immediate. Okay, off the jump. Uh, I want to say uh I I have no idea the age. I'm guessing it's a child, but I will say the it it seems like full of I thought it was a teacher at first.

[00:04:26]I was like, my god.

[00:04:27]>> Oh, it No, it is an adult. It has to be because it says, you know, ill- fated plastic surgery.

[00:04:32]>> No. Well, yeah, but I you you never know. I I >> It's not Muppet Boy. It's the Muppet Man.

[00:04:37]>> You ain't You ain't kidding either. It ain't no Muppet boy. It's a Muppet man.

[00:04:43]Yeah. So there's just jump also jumping into the deep end. No introduction. Oh, my name is It's just like Yeah. There's a guy dressed as a rainbow animal. Uh and he like watches the kids play from the trees, >> which also don't like that by the way.

[00:05:02]grown a man with a rainbow with like a rainbow cape or whatever and then he's just watching people play from the trees. I'm trying to think if there was anything in my middle school where there was or elementary school that was um like not in that vein but like you know like a super like a folklore like a legend or something and I can't I I can't think of any. The only thing I I the only thing I remember was that there was people that would uh they said like I don't know like this well there was like an old well near our school and they said that that was haunted. But I don't nothing ever you nothing ever nothing ever struck me as a kid to be like oh my god you know so I don't know.

[00:05:35]>> Yeah. Yeah. We uh I remember one time in middle school, which I'm trying to think elementary school, we used to I remember running through the empty classrooms and saying like, "Oh, there's ghosts or whatever." But I don't think there was any specific story. It was just kids being goofy. But I remember in middle school one day, um some guy apparently walked into the onto the school parking lot with a shotgun.

[00:06:01]>> Uh god.

[00:06:03]>> And all the all the teachers are like, "There's a guy in the parking lot with a gun.

[00:06:07]Um, so it was like a big lockdown.

[00:06:09]Everyone freaked out. But then it turns out he like just lived next to the school and he's like, "Oh, hey, I'm carrying this from my truck or whatever." Just like kept going. Um, so it wasn't really a ghost story, but we used to joke that he would come back and kill us when it's not really a story.

[00:06:28]>> You know, kids are kids are pretty cruel though, huh? Kids are pretty >> Well, I mean, yeah, kids will say stuff like that and it means nothing to them.

[00:06:34]It's like, huh, what if someone showed up with a shotgun and killed all of us?

[00:06:37]How >> dying? This teacher we had this teacher we had in second grade or he was a teacher at my school in second grade. I didn't have him, but his leg had to get amputated. He was in like this horrible car crash, which to a second grader means I mean absolutely nothing. So, everyone kept calling him like Blackbeard and stuff and people kept like drawing him parrots and and like all kinds of like stuff that was like all pirate related. And he was like, "I'M NOT A PIRATE." HURT and he would like he would lock him in his prosthetic leg and he was off and people were so rude about him.

[00:07:14]Jesus kids are so mean I remember my friend was like he was like he doesn't even drive a car he drives a pirate ship to school every day. This a second grader. This a second just finding new ways to be evil that no one would think of.

[00:07:32]>> God, I mean just unnecessarily rude. It really does make me think at times where I'm like if a teacher just like decked a kid in the face. I'd be like, well, you know what? You get one. I think I think you get one a year as a teacher. You get one.

[00:07:46]>> You get one.

[00:07:47]>> Yeah. Well, a semester semester. Yeah.

[00:07:51]I uh I remember there's a guy who was uh a year older than me in middle school who like his mom would just buy him all kinds of like crazy like he had a bunch of guns. I remember >> what is up with this with you guys and guns is did they not just get Legos? Good god.

[00:08:12]>> Just Tennessee thing I do remember which is this is bad. You shouldn't have done this, but I remember he brought the guns to school one time because we wanted to go shoot after school and he was like, "Yeah, check this out." Just at lunch opens his backpack. It's just like a bunch of guns.

[00:08:26]>> Oh my god.

[00:08:27]>> And ammo and and but here's the thing. I remember all of us going, "Cool."

[00:08:32]Well, yeah, you're a child.

[00:08:33]>> Yeah, it's awesome.

[00:08:34]>> Yeah. And then we went and shot him after school and it it was fine. You know, there's nothing on toward. But just thinking about that now, it's like Yeah. Any reasonable adult would freak out. Um, >> the only thing that >> But I remember his brother like blowing up frogs with firecrackers and stuff.

[00:08:51]>> Yeah, I don't like that. That was >> And I remember I remember at the time even then like everyone else is like, "Isn't this cool?" Like, you know, it's like they explode and stuff and I'm like, "Uh, I I don't know. I I I like the GUNS TO SCHOOL IS FINE. I don't know about the the blowing up live animals thing." Like >> I uh >> should we tell someone about this?

[00:09:15]>> Hey. Uh >> well, are you a big baby? Are you be a baby about it? We got We got to pat out this run time. We can't We can't be cutting stuff. What are you talking about?

[00:09:27]Anyway, the morbid kid said he lived in the trunk eating caterpillar larvae and torturing the ghost of Jason Hughes.

[00:09:35]Jason Hughes wasn't an urban legend, unfortunately. He was just a tragedy. A doomed, anxious wreck cursed with ridiculously outsized glasses and an obsession with drawing. I remember feeling angry one rainy afternoon because I wanted to color with the teacher's new markers. Jason already used all the paper in the classroom.

[00:09:54]Nobody liked him much, including me. But I don't know why. He was a sweet kid.

[00:10:01]Fretful, anxious, and a little too smart for his own good, but sweet. That that that's more realistic. Maybe not the crypted thing, but I do feel like there's always one kid in the class who does who gets dogged on way too much who doesn't deserve it. That that now that is true.

[00:10:16]>> That was me. That was me, by the way.

[00:10:17]>> You got You got dogged on. I bet you deserved it.

[00:10:20]>> We There's a whole one of the most famous bits of this podcast is me talking about being shoved into a trash can.

[00:10:26]>> Yeah. Well, I'm Listen, I'm not saying you didn't get bullied. I'm saying that you deserved it. I'm saying a kid that doesn't deserve it.

[00:10:31]>> Okay.

[00:10:31]>> I'm saying a child deserve it.

[00:10:35]>> I don't know. I just feel like as a kid you'd piss me off.

[00:10:39]>> We unironically we would not have been friends.

[00:10:43]>> No rhyme or reason. No rhyme or reason.

[00:10:45]I just think about you as a child. I'm like this kid pisses me off. Get the get him the away from me is what I would say.

[00:10:51]>> Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me and you would not have been friends cuz like with the with the I guess lateral nature of adulthood, it's kind of like you know whatever. But when you're a kid and you're just like really on to one like I was super on to like you know parents teaching stuff like that I would you would have been one of the bad kids. You would have been one of the kids I'm I'm a I'm a fine child. I was a fine child. There's this kid in my school named Fort that was a menace though. That was like no that that was like one of the kids where you're like this >> I like how you use a full name for >> I will I will dox I will dox him if you're still out there. He's got to be like in his 40s now. That child. That was That was a bad egg. That was a bad egg. There's a lot of censoring we're gonna have to do so far in this episode.

[00:11:34]We should just keep going.

[00:11:36]>> No, we're good. We're good. Well, what'd he do?

[00:11:39]>> He It was like one of those kids where he would like freak I mean, it was obviously like We should add N. I mean, like, we should cut this cuz it's It was like obviously a kid who had like problems at home, you know?

[00:11:51]>> He would like He wouldn't bathe. He like he had like ear wax running down his his face like his the side of his face and stuff and he'd like get really he had like a really bad emotional swings and he would like get up and like >> throw death at our teacher like take the take the desk and throw it at the teacher and scream and stuff and as a kid you're like this guy's a monster. Hey, sit the down freak.

[00:12:14]You know you like that kind of thing.

[00:12:15]But obviously it's like >> probably lashing out. probably has some kind of mental like mental things going like there's so much more to it. But as of course as a kid you're like yeah he's he freaked out and he hit my milk Like that's all that's all you care about is like he hit my milk on chicken patty day. That fat is what you say. You're not like looking cuz you're cuz you're young. I mean you're in second grade. You you can't read all the signs. So I don't know.

[00:12:43]>> That was a that was a remarkable amount of uh maturity out of you. I'm proud.

[00:12:46]No, thank you.

[00:12:47]>> That was big. Jason disappeared on a November evening in second grade. A few days later, a teacher found his clothes piled at the base of the schoolyard oak tree. The Oh, the principal called a school assembly to make the announcement. He made it sound like the clothes had been laundered and neatly folded. My dad, a cop at the time, a cop with the bad habit of telling his kids things nobody should have to know, told me Jason's clothes were filthy. Worse than filthy. In fact, matted with urine, feces, and blood.

[00:13:20]>> God damn, dude. Old boy gets plucked out of nowhere, pisses, shits himself, and then gets murdered as Also too, I I I would seriously be like, "DAD, WOULD YOU STOP TELLING us about what happened today?"

[00:13:33]Yeah. I saw this crack with broken shards of glass in her face. She was dead for hours. Had maggots like, "Eat up. Don't forget your peas." You're like, "God, Dad. Dad, COULD YOU JUST PLEASE? I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT ANYMORE. PLEASE, DAD.

[00:13:47]As a as the kid whose dad took him to look for a dead body, I uh I relate to their situation.

[00:13:54]>> I was going to say you must feel a strong kinship to this character so far.

[00:13:58]>> I I do a little bit. I remember one time being out with my dad fishing and while we were fishing, the little boat we were in kind of floated underneath a cliff face.

[00:14:10]Uh, and just unprompted, my dad goes, "I remember one time when I was about seven, I was walking home from school with a buddy of mine and we turned a corner at a cliff kind of like this and there was a guy that lived at the top of it who jumped off. He was going through a divorce with his wife, couldn't take anymore, and he just jumped off. Then I turned this corner and his body looked like a snake. Way the bones snapped and the way pieces of him lay, it looked like he was curled in on himself. I didn't even realize it was a person at first until I got closer and saw his face.

[00:14:43]>> It's a great day to sail.

[00:14:44]>> Yeah, if you use that top water bait, that should get the large mouth over there in the re.

[00:14:48]>> Great day to sail, Dad.

[00:14:51]>> It's a love lovely ocean breeze out today. Thank you.

[00:14:55]>> Just just stuff like that constantly.

[00:14:58]>> Yeah.

[00:15:00]>> Oh, Harold's here. Thank you, Harry.

[00:15:03]>> Hi, Harry.

[00:15:05]Uh, you know, I um Yeah. No, I I luckily I didn't have that with my father. I if I I'd like to imagine though that that cop that I just told tells him horrible things that no child should hear.

[00:15:19]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:21]>> Homeless people. What? Homeless people.

[00:15:26]Okay. I'm just trying to get my chicken parm. They smoke cigarettes with their butthole.

[00:15:32]Dad, please stop.

[00:15:34]Dad, I'm pretty sure they don't. I'm I'm pretty sure I'm not positive, but I don't think they do that.

[00:15:40]>> They do. And it's They set up almost like Chinese Opium Dins, but they call them hookah lounges and they smoke cigarettes with the buttholes and they smoke it out of the buttholes.

[00:15:48]>> Dad, I I know all those words mean separate from each other.

[00:15:53]>> I don't think when you put them together like that, it suddenly becomes this.

[00:15:57]>> Are you telling me this because I wanted to watch Aladdin after dinner?

[00:16:05]Eat up champ. Prince Ali of is he.

[00:16:20]Yeah. Yeah. That's the stuff. That's that good.

[00:16:24]>> I will say so far this is very well. We should stop sidetracking. This is this is actually >> Yeah. Yeah. We've read three paragraphs, but I like it. It's a good three paragraphs. So, >> we have been interrupting so much. I know people are going to be upset. I was just going to say that so far he's talking about some I mean I some middle-aged man is in a tree at this at a school and that >> Well, that's the legend.

[00:16:46]>> That's the the legend is that there's a man in the tree >> that Michael A or sorry, William Afton from Five Nights at Freddy's is in the Golden Bonnie suit in the >> pop out and do the the Freddy Fazbear scream. No, the uh but it it is cool that Jason Hughes is like an urban legend. He's a real kid and that they found his uh clothes all folded up and it was covered in piss and blood.

[00:17:08]Uh pretty brutal. Pretty brutal. He told me I couldn't repeat it to anybody. I never did. It was too horrifying to even think about, let alone share. That's why I hated Muppet Man. Nobody could say his name without some snot-nosed little ship from behind the track saying Jason's. A horrifying schoolyard litany. That was another problem. The kids at the school knew Jason was my neighbor and they knew my dad was a cop. After weeks of hysterical interest, I was abruptly ostracized.

[00:17:38]It suited me fine. Over the past couple years, my dad had arrested the parents of at least two kids in my class, and they gave me hell for it. It was all right. I preferred books to people anyway and spent every recess reading under the oak tree. Sometimes I pretended to read to Jason's ghost pennants, I guess, for treating him so poorly. Man, that's heartbreaking.

[00:18:01]>> That is sad.

[00:18:02]>> One day in February, I got to school 2 or 3 hours late. I don't remember why. I only remember getting to school and plotting across the empty recess yard.

[00:18:11]February is a bad month in that particular corner of the world. Sky goes from polished steel in the morning to icy steel in the evening and at night dims to a flat watery darkness that makes my heart ache. The plants are all dead. The tree skeletal except for flourishing colonies of mistletoe. It looks like despair. The empty recess yard was no exception. Everything was gray and pale and somehow brittle like it would crack and shatter if you touched it. The almost pternatural stillness turned that pale winter fragility into something sinister.

[00:18:46]Paranoia scirled through me suddenly.

[00:18:49]What if, just what if, it was true? What if the universe was broken? What if the scene before me was a fragile husk just waiting for a misplaced step to break it into pieces? I swallowed a surge of panic and took extra care with each step, setting my foot down with excruciating gentleness. Sand crunched under my souls. Everything felt solid, but the sense of glassy fragility persisted.

[00:19:15]I found the urge to close my eyes and walked as quickly as I dared. My path took me right past the oak tree. Black blown glass bark glimmered faintly.

[00:19:26]Branches threw spiderweb patterns against the grim sky. They were bare except for Ness and mistletoe.

[00:19:33]The tree was infested with it. Suddenly, with a disconcerting, painfully adult burst of clarity, it occurred to me the tree was dying. I slowed to a halt, staring at it with the kind of hushed reverence you're supposed to feel in church. The tree was scary, but beautiful at the same time.

[00:19:55]More than that, it was a pillar of my memory. It was visible from my backyard, towering over the school in my childhood like a reassuring and eternal century.

[00:20:06]Except it wasn't eternal. It'd be gone someday. Maybe before I left grade school, maybe sooner. My throat felt hot and tight. I took in the side of the bare branches and tried to mentally edit out the mistletoe clusters. It was difficult. They burst from the tree thicker than summertime leaves, and they kept moving, jostled, no doubt, by the cold winter wind. Except another brutal, bleak epiphany.

[00:20:34]There was no wind. The dark mistletoe rustled and writhed like a trapped serpent. Oh god. Cold air stung my eyes as they widened. Bright burst of color flickered inexplicably among the branches, slithering through the mistletoe like a multicolored feathered boa. Glittering in that senious rope of color eyes.

[00:20:57]Glassy round eyes the color of limes.

[00:21:00]The rope of color broke into tendrils and grew, not unlike the fungus in which it nested, overtaking the darkness with eye wateringly brilliant neon hues. Then they twined back together, warming behind branches and mistletoe before resolving into a fluffy, ridiculously proportioned caricature of an animal, a cartoon incarnate.

[00:21:22]A muppet.

[00:21:23]>> "Hello," >> it said. Its voice made me jump full and hearty and unpleasantly friendly. A cartoon voice. My lip trembled. Tears pricricked my eyes, scorching and frigid at once. You're not real.

[00:21:40]>> Yes, I am.

[00:21:41]>> It fixed me with a sharp reptilian stare that made me want to scream.

[00:21:45]>> I might even be realer than you.

[00:21:48]>> The world looked glassier than ever, faded and brittle, except for the obscenely bright monstrosity above me. I stamped my foot and held my breath, praying that the world would shatter, taking the technicolor monster with it.

[00:22:01]If I broke a broken world, would I break anything at all? But the pavement remained solid. The frozen chill bypassed the soles of my shoes, and I leeched into my feet. The creature stretched and stretched and stretched, slowly snaking its way down the trunk of the tree, simultaneously slothlike and reptilian, bursting with that ridiculous Crayola fur. Should have been funny. Why wasn't it funny? Why was I scared? Why wasn't I running away? It slid down the bark until its eyes were level with my own. Only really real things can hide themselves in plain sight. Real things like me and Jason Hughes. Your friends call me Muppet Man, and you can too.

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[00:24:26]And we are now back to the episode.

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[00:25:34]>> I don't like that.

[00:25:35]>> I got to say the writing so far has been phenomenal. That description of like I recognize something with an adult clarity. The tree was dying. And for a moment it was about like the realizing that your childhood isn't forever. You know, there's a mortality. there's a time limit to things uh that must exist, which is a cool a very like humbling thing for a child to think on only then to realize that the monster from Imagination that supposedly took Jason is real.

[00:26:01]>> The uh I keep picturing it too like um >> almost like the centipede in the end of the first season of Avatar, the guy that steals your face.

[00:26:10]>> I keep picturing something like that, but I keep like picturing that mashed with like a Pennywise kind of vibe. You know what I mean?

[00:26:16]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he's in like a giant uh it's like a very cartoony costume, but it almost looks like not to just reference something you ma made, but what's your dog character's name from the puppet show?

[00:26:29]>> Oh, Tugboat.

[00:26:31]>> Boat. Oh, yeah. Tugboat. That's right.

[00:26:33]Uh it's like when Tugboat switches from a puppet to just the guy in the suit.

[00:26:37]>> Yeah.

[00:26:37]>> It's like I imagine the guy in the suit, but like the arms keep extending too long and the legs keep going too long and stuff like that. The way that they keep describing it too. I know people said it was like a rainbow cape or whatever, but it just sounds like he has like multiple colored fur like whatever creature.

[00:26:51]>> He didn't say rainbow cape. It said uh uh rainbow animal costume.

[00:26:58]>> Oh, I see. I see.

[00:27:01]>> So, it's just I imagine like a giant like unicorn like bright pinks and blues.

[00:27:05]>> Like almost like a Lisa Frank drawing or something.

[00:27:08]>> Yeah. Yeah. It extended a hand, long and absurdly thin, almost like distorted frog feet, except for the rainbow fur. I turned and ran into the school, screaming all the way. The poor nurse tried to extract the story from me. I don't even remember what I said. I just remember hiding under a desk and sobbing. When I finally blubbered the words Muppet Man and Jason, the school went on lockdown. The cops came. My father wasn't with them. I watched through the window, gagging and crying and trying to forget Muppet Man's bright green eyes. But how could I? When everything else, the oak tree and the police, the nurse and the sky and my own shaking hands looked so brittle and faded. Muppet man was the only vibrant thing, the only bright thing, the only whole thing, the only real thing.

[00:28:03]Sometime later, maybe a minute, maybe 10 hours for all I knew, the cop came into the nurse's office. He grabbed my elbow over the protest stations of the nurse and marched me outside. The world rushed past me in a gray, dead, glittering blur. The tree loomed ahead, dark and blank and terribly close. I flailed, but dragged me to the oak tree and shoved me forward. I stopped inches from the bark, dark and dead and cracked, except for absurd toughs of technicolor fur. "Did you do that?" the cop demanded. "Do do what? Do what? DID YOU PUT THAT?"

[00:28:42]>> He pointed to a particularly obscene knot of neon pink fur ON THIS TREE.

[00:28:47]>> I told him no. I told him it was Muppet Man. That I'd seen Muppet Man. That Muppet Man knew Jason and now he knew me. The nerf sent me home shortly thereafter and my parents packed me off to my grandparents house in San Diego that very night. I stayed for 3 weeks.

[00:29:03]Stayed until I stopped having nightmares of Muppet Man eating Jason's bloody stain closed while I watched trapped by his bright eyes like a deer in headlights. I got home on a Wednesday evening. I know it was Wednesday because I remember looking at my mom's calendar.

[00:29:19]Big and glossy and full of big old puppies. It always made me smile. My parents fed me Burger King and ice cream cake, then sent me to bed. When I pulled my covers back, I froze.

[00:29:32]Everything around me blanched, turning pale and classy. Everything except the dirty toughs of neon bright fur on my pillow.

[00:29:43]Bro, no.

[00:29:48]My parents assumed I did it and yelled at me for almost an hour, but they let me sleep in their bed anyway.

[00:29:54]>> It's almost like spoiling infection or something, right?

[00:29:58]>> What?

[00:29:58]>> Just like the f it seems like whatever he's like coming in contact with is like now it seems like the it seems like the muppet man is either after him or it's like he's like infected and now things that he's like touching or interacting with, right? Or what?

[00:30:09]>> I think the Muppet Man's just like stalking him. Oh, >> okay. So, you're saying that he took the form of like his pillow or whatever.

[00:30:15]>> Yeah.

[00:30:15]>> Oh, okay. I see. I see.

[00:30:18]or like well maybe not the pillow. It's just a tough defer. So it's like Muppet Man's been in his room.

[00:30:23]>> Oh, okay. So you're saying it's just like it's been where he's slept and Okay.

[00:30:27]>> Yeah.

[00:30:27]>> And the tough defer there is like he left the tree before the other people got there.

[00:30:32]>> Yeah, I see.

[00:30:33]>> School was a nightmare. I spent the entire morning treading recess. When the bell rang, I thought about throwing a tantrum just to stay in the classroom, but I'd get in trouble. My parents would be angry. I'd go to the principal's office.

[00:30:47]Besides, there'd be other kids on the playground. Vibrant, living, colorful, noisy kids. All that noise and brightness might be too much for Muppet Man. I told myself these things, but still ran to the bathroom when the bell rang. I threw up and sat in the stall until a teacher, summoned, no doubt by a tattletail, came and told me I had to go outside. I dithered in the corner by the tether ball court as far from the oak tree as I could get. Even from a distance, I thought I caught glimpses of bright fur slithering through the branches. I decided I was seeing things.

[00:31:21]When the days finally got warmer, still skies softening to rich blue in the daytime and Easter egg colors at night.

[00:31:28]Bare branches sprouting buds, flowers growing in the planter boxes all around the school. I resume my recess ritual of reading under the tree. I I understand thinking that you're seeing things, but uh I'm not going back under the tree, you know. Yeah, >> maybe another tree, but not that tree. I was cautious at first, but determined.

[00:31:49]Every adult in my life had me convinced that I was hallucinating. Every kid in the school knew I had a breakdown about Muppet Man. The taunts alone were enough to steal my resolve. Before I knew it, I was reading under the tree like always.

[00:32:01]The glassy winter barely more than a memory. One afternoon in April, something pulled me out of my book. I didn't know what it was at first. Maybe the kids screaming on the jungle gym.

[00:32:13]Maybe the fifth grade girls gossiping a few yards away. Maybe the warm breeze wrestling the leaves.

[00:32:19]I looked down and gasped. Larva crawled along my arms. Yellow white caterpillar worms that lived in the bark. The kind all the kids said Muppet Man loved to eat. Maybe maybe with the larvae you are right. Maybe it is like >> I just I don't know why I just feel like it keeps reading as like an infection or something or like I don't I I I just don't know why. It just keeps feeling like it's >> there's pieces of this too that almost feel like it's rep like Muppet Man's representative of an actual tragedy.

[00:32:50]>> Yeah.

[00:32:50]>> Kind of like how you were talking about >> like you talking about the kid you knew you know choking when you were in the eighth grade >> and it's like yeah but the eighth graders think about like oh Lego tires like that's the part that sticks out to you. It's like this kid had the legend of Muppet Man and there was a tragedy. A kid was abducted or killed. Um, and it's almost like they're rational, especially the part where they said that they were mean to them, so now they read almost as a penance.

[00:33:17]>> Um, >> I mean, it does feel like almost like a folklore kind of legend. It almost feels like an anti-bullying kind of like tale.

[00:33:23]You know what I mean?

[00:33:25]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's almost like this person is rationalizing the bad thing that happened because it was Muppet Man that did it.

[00:33:31]>> Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. actually putting like a monster like manifesting a monster for bad actions.

[00:33:37]>> Yeah. Yeah. The not to not to draw a connection between Muffet Man and Anton Shagur, but it's almost like the No Country for Old Men thing where it's like it's easier to create a monster rather than to be like, "Yeah, this just happens sometimes. The world just works that way."

[00:33:53]>> Mhm.

[00:33:55]Almost try to like find a rationale for how like horrible things can randomly happen.

[00:34:00]>> Yeah. Kids don't just go missing and terrible things happen to them. The Muppet Man did it. You know, the monster in the tree. Yeah. I ran to the tether ball court and lingered until the bell rang. When I got home that afternoon, I found clusters of neon fur all over my bedroom. I ran to my mother. She lost her temper, marched me into the backyard, and told me to stay until she was done cleaning up after me. When I finished crying, I settled myself under the apricot tree and got lost in my book. As the afternoon light deepened, rich daylight giving way to copper, something snapped me out of my revery. I looked down, saw white worms, soft and tiny, somehow wet, inching over my arms.

[00:34:43]"Hello," whispered an unpleasantly friendly voice.

[00:34:47]>> "Sorry it's been so long. I guess I've been a bad friend."

[00:34:54]I'm crazy, >> I whispered, snapped my book shut, and closed my eyes.

[00:34:59]>> Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.

[00:35:02]>> Scratchy polyester fur crumbled against my skin.

[00:35:06]>> Not crazy.

[00:35:08]>> Up at me and said, >> "Just really like me and Jason Hughes.

[00:35:14]What are you reading?"

[00:35:16]>> He reached out, blinding multicolor fur blazing in the dappled sunlight, and flipped the book over.

[00:35:23]Black Beauty. Is it good? It's great.

[00:35:29]I wanted to leap to my feet. Wanted to run, screaming into the house, but my bones felt watery and frozen at once. I wouldn't be able to stand up, let alone run. A man brushed the worms off my arm and settled down beside me. His fur made me feel itchy. I didn't look up. I already knew what I would see. that slothy dinosaur face dominated by glassy eyes that would blaze in the dying sun.

[00:35:56]I didn't want to see it. I was afraid of what would happen if I did.

[00:36:01]>> My mom will see you. You should read to me.

[00:36:04]>> Tears flooded my eyes.

[00:36:06]>> No.

[00:36:08]>> Strong fuzzy fingers wrapped my wrist.

[00:36:11]>> I want you to read to me. No. If you read me, I'll take you to Jason Hughes.

[00:36:19]>> I almost scoffed. Jason Hughes with the giant glasses in the keening voice.

[00:36:25]Anxious Jason Hughes who stole all the art paper in the classroom just to draw stupid fish and stupid beetles. Jason Hughes had been reduced to bloody stained clothes at the base of the schoolyard tree. Why?

[00:36:38]Because we're lonely, glanced at the house, praying my mother would look out and see us. If he's lonely, he should go home.

[00:36:48]>> He can't. His mom doesn't like him.

[00:36:52]>> I pondered this briefly. I thought of my dad. My poor dad who worked himself to death with overtime. A poor dad who couldn't catch a break at work. But what if I could help him? What if I could find Jason Hughes? Give my dad all the credit. When would I see Jason? It depends on how well you read.

[00:37:14]Oh gosh.

[00:37:17]I mean, the the the pedophilia undertones are very present, right?

[00:37:21]Like, I'm not imagining that.

[00:37:23]>> Yeah. I mean, it's it's seems uh very predatory in that way or just very uh >> Yeah. But I but I you know, anything involving a child in like a grown hole, it's going to read that way in my opinion.

[00:37:35]>> Yeah.

[00:37:35]>> That being said, that being said, >> original Pennywise, >> what was that? like like the original Pennywise like the Tim Curry one.

[00:37:44]>> Yeah.

[00:37:44]>> There's much more like child predator like I'm your friend aren't I kind of thing.

[00:37:48]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think um I don't know the whole thing that you were saying where it feels like it's a manifestation of like kids like the way that even it reinforces a bit when he's just like you know stupid Jason Hughes who drew his stupid birds or you know did that kind of stuff. It just feels like it's um >> that manifestation thing feels more and more akin to what's happening here.

[00:38:10]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think so. It's like an imaginary friend almost, an imaginary foe.

[00:38:19]>> Uh an evil thing responsibility for the bad stuff.

[00:38:21]>> An evil thing born from Yeah. Like shitty things that people did.

[00:38:24]>> Yeah.

[00:38:27]Well, especially the part dying.

[00:38:31]Especially the part about like, oh well, maybe I can help my dad. You know, maybe if I go with Muppet Man, it'll help out dad. You could equate to a kid feeling like maybe because they were mean to Jason, it's part of the reason he disappeared and now your dad's suffering for it. So maybe if I can help Jason, I can help my dad and undo the wrong.

[00:38:49]>> Yeah. Multiple >> It's like It's like a child manifesting guilt.

[00:38:54]>> I was going to say multiple guilt factors.

[00:38:56]>> Yeah. Yeah. I opened my book to the very first page and began to read aloud. The scrape of the sliding glass door broke my concentration shortly after. I looked up and saw my mom. My heart leapt to my throat. I spun around hopefully, but Muppet Man was gone. The next morning, found clumps of neon fur in my dresser drawers, clung to my pants and shirts like lint. At the end of May, I found a note on my window sill. Neatly folded construction paper printed with brightly colored marker.

[00:39:27]>> Come to the school tree tonight at 11:00. Your friend, Muppet Man.

[00:39:32]>> Coarse strands of yellow, pink, and blue hair sprinkled the note. I brushed them off and tucked the paper in my pocket. I wasn't stupid. I knew I couldn't go alone. I was terrified of Muppet Man and almost as terrified of what my parents would do to me if they caught me sneaking out. So, I went to my father. I showed him the note and begged till I wept. He accused me of making it all up for a while, but in the end, he agreed to take me to the school at the appointed time.

[00:39:59]>> What? I mean, it's got to be hopefully for an investigation otherwise. What the are you talking about? All right, F.

[00:40:06]>> Well, it's talking about like she he he thinks that his daughter is making all this up because of the trauma of losing a kid in her grade, right? So, then the daughter's like, "No, he left this in my room. It's like very clear to the father that his daughter made all this up, right?

[00:40:23]But she's so desperate to go that the father's like, "If this helps her get over this, if this helps her, you know, get past it, maybe to realize it's not really there, the Muppet Man's not real, I'll go with her so that she can, you know, >> get past of trauma."

[00:40:40]>> If that's the intention, I think that should be clarified more cuz at the moment it just sounds like, "All right, fine. Whatever. God, just stop." her dad.

[00:40:46]>> Her dad clearly doesn't believe in the Muppet Man.

[00:40:49]>> Well, no, I I don't think that it's it's not necessarily about whether they believe it, but it does if to me that reads more like him just being like, "Oh my god, stop complaining. Fine."

[00:40:58]>> No, I I don't think he's like, "Fine, go be with the pedophile rainbow color uniform man." I think instead it's just like if this is the only thing that's going to keep my daughter, you know, that may help her get past this, then I'm going to go with her so she can realize this isn't real. If in her psychosis she's written a letter to herself from the Muppet Man, then maybe I should uh be with her. She knows >> I never raised or I never I guess I never came to that conclusion that the dad was like that cuz so far all they've done is yell at them being like, "Why would you put this everywhere?" That's all they've done. So I Yeah, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have guessed the dad being that earnest or that I guess like that character.

[00:41:40]>> Well, the mom's been described that way.

[00:41:42]The dad's been kind of earnest, right, with the investigation.

[00:41:45]>> All he did was tell him about all he did was just tell her that the clothes were covered in blood, and piss. That's all he's done is giving her like details.

[00:41:54]>> Maybe to me that's what love is.

[00:41:56]>> Daddy.

[00:41:57]>> Okay, Dad.

[00:41:59]>> Don't forget the hookah lounge.

[00:42:00]>> Yeah. Homeless man's butthole. I got it.

[00:42:02]Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I got it.

[00:42:04]Aladdin's a dirty hippie. Understood.

[00:42:06]>> Yeah. Prince Ali obvious. Yeah, I got it.

[00:42:09]>> Yeah, he's homeless but also a people.

[00:42:11]What's the deal with that? Yeah, I get it. I want to take a moment to thank today's sponsor, Harry's Razors. Life is too short to let dull razors rule your life. And if your razors give up midway through a shave, you end up irritating your neck more than you're trimming it.

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[00:43:44]Thank you to Harry's for sponsoring the show. Their link will be in the description. And we are now back to the episode. We lived only a few blocks away, so we walked. The evening was unseasonably cold, almost as cold as the day I first met Muppet Man. I fought back tears the entire way, clutching my father's hand with both of my own. The school gates were locked, of course, but there was a small gate hidden in a passage behind the cafeteria. It had nothing but a simple latch. Kids all knew about it, but the adults never did anything. I led my father around the perimeter of the playground, keeping close to the buildings in order to hide in the shadows. "Wait here," he obliged, looking tired, even in the darkness. I looked at the tree. It didn't look sick anymore. Leaves the mistletoe infestation.

[00:44:31]Looked full and healthy. The eternal sentry once more. I stood by the trunk and whispered, "Hello."

[00:44:40]Something rustled among the leaves overhead. "Hello?"

[00:44:44]came Muppet Man's warm, full voice.

[00:44:47]"Where's Jason?" The branches rattled and a dark, furry shape slithered down the tree. Glassy eyes caught the light of the moon and blazed. "He's inside me."

[00:44:59]>> Muppet man twisted and stretched down the tree until his eyes were level with mine. No longer was he vibrant or bright. His fur was filthy, caked with mud and sand and bare. Dirty canvas replaced large swaths of the once lush neon coat. Of course, he was missing fur. We've been leaving clumps of it all over my room for months. It was a wonder he had any hair left. What do you mean?

[00:45:24]My voice issued into thin wheezy whine of a man crept closer, holding me captive with his glassy eyes. His long, thin fingers touched his chin, pushed, sliding into his face and pulling it up like a child removing a Halloween mask.

[00:45:42]My heart thudded, heavy and horrid as a war drum. Enormous glasses glinted at the moonlight, tragically outsized for the decayed little face underneath.

[00:45:53]Jason Hugh's rotted head was gray and so very fragile, gleaming like clouded glass under the moon. If I touched him, he would shatter. The absurd costume fell to the ground with a whisper. Dolan faded. Even the eyes were dead now.

[00:46:11]Costume was dead. It had never been alive. Jason's empty sockets bulged, then broke and split apart with a series of soft, papery pops. Something royiled inside, thick and dark and gleaming with a thousand dim lights and colors I couldn't name. The world flipped and the cold playground sand dug into my face.

[00:46:33]My dad's scream shattered the glassy silence. Perhaps it shattered Jason's poor dead face, too. I curled up and lay still as my dad screamed and sirens wailed in the distance.

[00:46:44]The ruined costume went into an evidence locker. Jason himself was laid to rest several weeks later. They held on to the body as long as they did in order to find out what happened to him. I asked my father about it, but he refused to tell me. I was disappointed yet relieved, and I never tried to find out on my own. I did my best to forget everything and actually came close. I might have managed had my father kept his mouth shut. He has a habit of telling me things I shouldn't know, things nobody should know. I guess it's a personal exorcism, freeing demons that haunt you.

[00:47:21]It's just that the problem with freeing demons is that demons usually go on to haunt someone else. My dad retired a few years ago, but he still has friends on the force. They get together and talk every once in a while. They had one of their visits last night, and one of his friends brought up Jason Hughes. Did they find the guy who did it? My dad asked. No, but the costume, that weird puppet costume, it's not an evidence anymore. It's gone. Did someone take it?

[00:47:52]Did they accidentally toss it or? We don't know. That alone was enough to haunt me forever. But it didn't stop it enough. Demons never stop it enough. If they ever stop at all. I know this because when I got up this morning, found dirty toughs of neon fur scattered all across my bedroom floor. H. That's a fun way to end it. You know, I think that like uh that's the end of this one.

[00:48:16]We have we'll do uh That was really short. We can do another one. Um, >> I think that like, you know, this is one of those this is one of those stories where it's like I like the kind of I like ambiguity in stories, but I do wish that there was a bit more of like why do you think Let me ask you this then. Why do you think that the monster chose our protagonist?

[00:48:38]Especially because >> do you think that it it just feeds on guilt?

[00:48:42]I think uh our protagonist was the only one who had anything for Jason Hughes other than like a mocking tone because everyone else would make jokes about him or like the Muppet Man would be brought up and they'd be like, "Oh yeah, Jason's he has Jason's ghost."

[00:48:56]>> Um I like that.

[00:48:58]>> But our protagonist would sit under the tree and read to Jason.

[00:49:01]>> Yeah. I mean, I like that idea of a monster that like feeds on guilt or is drawn in or almost seduced by guilt. And like playing into that idea that literally by showing compassion for Jason and like reading to him was a literal calling card for this thing to come and like target the main protagonist.

[00:49:19]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:20]>> So, I thought that was pretty interesting.

[00:49:23]>> I um >> What do you think of the creature as a whole?

[00:49:29]I think the Muppet Man's interesting. Uh I do to me it works best as kind of the metaphor thing, >> especially at the end where it's like >> he goes to or our protagonist goes to meet the Muppet Man and then the Muppet Man shows him the body of Jason that crumbles. So all everyone else sees is just the suit with the body in it.

[00:49:50]Right.

[00:49:51]>> Yeah. Um, it's almost like if you wanted to make it literal, you could imagine like maybe Jason is the one who stole the costume and ran into the woods and then both these legends >> came off each other and then they just found the body one day. You know, maybe Jason took off his clothes in there or you know, whatever. I was kind of wondering if the tree's life had anything to indicate that like >> at first I thought it was when Jason So at first I was reading it that like oh Jason got got uh abducted, right? Mhm.

[00:50:20]>> And that the like the feeding off of Jason gave the tree like a life force.

[00:50:25]Like it was that it gave that much life.

[00:50:28]And then that way the tree was dying because it had like digested him. It had like used whatever he wanted from Jason.

[00:50:33]So it was looking for another host or like another kind of um meal to satiate it for the time being.

[00:50:39]>> But I do think this idea of uh it just being this I mean it's just a way of like passing on guilt in these different ways. I mean it's it's it's really interesting. um thinking of like a creature that that feeds on that because I think that like a one that's kind of overplayed is like you know something that feeds on fear or something but guilt is really interesting because I feel like >> children feel guilty a lot. I feel like that over like very small things or they don't know like I feel like you know there's so many things where I think guilt hits children in an interesting way.

[00:51:08]>> Yeah. Yeah. I think guilt's fun especially with childhood fear. It's also an interesting like it's like a punishment almost like not not in the sense that like a punishment for feeling bad but it's punishing. It's like oh this one child already feels bad well watch how they feel now and like it it prays upon that to make everything worse when they were already bad off. Um, >> leaving these >> to me, Muppet Man I I think because Muppet Man is bright and vibrant when the tree is dying, but when the tree is alive, he's how he probably would look out in the woods for days and days on end. Decrepit, old, dirty. Um, so to me that's kind of like with the inference I made earlier that the tree is kind of like referencing the mortality of childhood like oh the great century the tree I love so much isn't going to be around forever. And when you have that dread, that's when the Muppet Man shows up in full force. But when the tree is alive and when there may be answers to questions you have like, what happened to Jason? And when there may be closure for the family and stuff like that, that's when Muppet Man is real. And what Muppet Man actually is is a decayed husk with another decaying husk inside of him. Um, so to me, it's almost like the two were inverse because they represent opposite things. The tree is the protection of childhood while the dead tree and Muppet Man is the eraser of it, the death of it. Um, so I don't know. It feels like again I think it works best as a metaphor for grief or guilt. the um the element of uh just in terms of like guilt of h like harbaging guilt or shame or something having something I thought one thing that was kind of interesting too is the uh >> having bright rainbow colored fur everywhere is just like a giant sign for something you're trying to hide or something that feels like it's like it it's obvious. You know what I mean? Like it's it's so abundantly clear that like it's so noticeable. I guess it feels like when you're holding on to guilt, shame, or like a secret or something that it feels like everyone knows that they can like read like they can easily see it past you and they can see it.

[00:53:19]>> Mhm.

[00:53:19]>> And having these uh bundles of fur or something and like having to explain that to other people and you know these things these remnants left over that are kind of being left and you're being blamed for it as well is I just thought that that was kind of cool. Like that's an interesting visual. Um, >> yeah, it's simil I mean we made the British Terabithia reference earlier, but whereas Terabithia was kind of reminiscent of his childhood wonderlust and then when the girl dies, he starts to see like monsters over there and scary things because now the world's soured. Um, I feel like this is kind of similar to that, right? the tree was the safe place, you know, the the century of the playground. But then when James Hughes goes missing, well, now or Jason Hughes goes missing, well, now it's scary. Now it holds the mystery of the monster, the Muppet Man in the Suit.

[00:54:10]>> Um, but then you grow up a little bit, some time goes by and then it's just a skeleton and it's just a tree, you know.

[00:54:16]>> Do you think that the Do you think that the adults know about Do you think the adults know about this creature?

[00:54:23]>> You think it's a known suit? Well, they know about the suit. No. No. Well, I mean, if you want to view the story literally, like it is a monster in a tree and then it goes into police lock up and the suit's kind of alive. Like the suit itself is a creature.

[00:54:37]>> Yeah.

[00:54:37]>> Then yeah. Uh I would say some adults probably know about it or there's some legend behind it. Um but for the sake of the metaphor that I'm into, I think that a lot of this is just kind of within the mind of a child, right?

[00:54:52]Like a lot of it's the way you view things. Like you remember did you um that 4chan post I sent you the other night about the the dog Yeah. eating cereal.

[00:55:02]Did you So that kind of thing always freaks me out which we'll we may cover in an episode eventually. But that kind of thing always freaks me out. like the way dogs perceive or dogs the way children perceive things that they shouldn't be able to grasp yet.

[00:55:22]>> Yeah.

[00:55:22]>> You know, >> trauma like trauma traumatic things >> like trauma. Yeah. Like a kid your age dying. It's like that's a lot for a lot of concepts, a lot of grief, a lot of heavy stuff for a kid to put up with. Um so it's like the way their brains make sense of it is odd. Um, and I think there's some really good stories that prey on that. And I think this is part of it. Like it's easier to think the Muppet Man did it, right?

[00:55:47]>> Yeah.

[00:55:48]Yeah. I mean, I think that children will find I think a lot of people will find any way to rationalize or be able to articulate it so they can process it through their brain, which is either through sometimes it's through joking about it. Sometimes it's like literally manifesting something that like might be similar to something that like you're like a show or something, right? Like if you watch horror films or something, you might manifest this idea that it's like, oh, it's a creature or so. I I think that you just however your brain is able to articulate these things that are so uh uncommon I think is uh >> yeah but >> there was uh this is this is super graphic so like uh you know trigger warning whatever uh it's a scary story podcast um there was a story I read about one time I can't remember I'm pretty sure it was it was posted as if it was real if it's real or not I don't know but I remember reading about a mother who was at home when someone broke into the house and she shot he came into the bedroom and she shot him in the head with a shotgun. You know, pretty brutal, right? Um and then she had like a five or sixyear-old son who walked into the room as she was calling the police and uh looked at the guy that was shot and then looked at her uh his mom and said, "Are you going to finish that?"

[00:57:07]>> The mom didn't know what he was talking about or what's going on. Well, later the police are talking to the boy and they're like, "What did you see happen?"

[00:57:14]Uh, and the boy's like, "I heard an a loud noise and I walked into mom's room and she was with a guy who threw spaghetti at the wall."

[00:57:24]>> Oh man. Wow.

[00:57:25]>> Like the kid cannot the kid has no process, no concept of what's happened.

[00:57:30]>> But he can use the pieces of what he does know. You know, that looks like spaghetti as gross as it is. So it's like here that's a lot to talk about a kid being abducted, you know, someone your age being abducted by the kind of person who would keep them for days and they would soil themsself over and over and then all their clothes are found.

[00:57:49]It's easier if the Muppet man who lives in the tree is the one that did it.

[00:57:53]Yeah. You know.

[00:57:54]>> No, I think that makes sense.

[00:57:56]>> I uh very quick story, too. That was like definitely like a rip of the band-aid kind of story. Like damn, kind of in and out. M I mean like start off with such a crazy starting your story off with being like, "Yeah, there's a middle-aged man in the tree is quite the is is quite the bold move." And I think it uh >> yeah, it definitely hooked us pretty good. I think we got time for another one, like another short one.

[00:58:18]There's another short one.

[00:58:19]>> I think we do.

[00:58:20]>> There's another short one we got recommended called If You Meet Me, Please Kill Me. I thought that was an interesting title.

[00:58:26]>> Yeah. And it's also by uh someone who I think has made some bangers that we've covered on the show before. Uh but we only covered them in one multi- episode and we haven't given them a look again.

[00:58:37]So I'd like to give them a look again.

[00:58:38]Uh the author uh her name's Gabby, but she goes by E A P A TB P and I think I remember what that stands for. It's like EAD. Anyway, um they wrote the stories about Hold on. I got the list pulled up.

[00:58:56]They wrote the sugar daddy story. Uh my sugar daddy asked me for weird favors.

[00:59:00]Uh the one about every month there's a parade in our town. Uh which is a part of their point pine uh story series. And uh the man who follows me around and narrates my life. Um which all three of those I thought were great. Do you remember those Hunter?

[00:59:15]>> Yeah. No. Well, also too the the sugar daddy one. I'm pretty sure that's the most upvoted story ever on r/nosleep, right?

[00:59:21]>> Yes. Yeah. At least when we covered it.

[00:59:24]When we covered it, it was. Yeah, it was the number one voted story of all time.

[00:59:27]I'm pretty sure >> it still is. Yeah.

[00:59:31]>> Yep. And then Oh, yeah. I remember we went through this list. And then the second most upvoted one is My Wife's Been Peeking at Me from Around Corners.

[00:59:37]Yeah.

[00:59:38]>> A banger as well.

[00:59:40]>> Um but so EA has written three great stories that we've read and a ton of people recommend them all the time. It feels like we get recommendations constantly to be like, "Oh, they wrote this cover. They wrote this cover. They wrote it." Uh, and we enjoyed it the first time and then EA actually came to the subreddit a few months ago, uh, when people were discussing the Sugar Daddy story and, uh, she seemed super cool with it and was glad that it was covered. So, you know, why not check her out again? Harry recommended this story to read with the previous one. So, >> yeah, I'm curious. This one is so uh, this is another short one, but I'm wondering how it fits in as well with these kind of with this other a digestible story, too. So, let's jump in.

[01:00:23]>> Yeah, >> let's jump into it. And again, of course, uh as with Dopabine, EA's uh information, their subreddit, uh links to some of their other socials, I'll ask what all they want us to include, but that'll be in the description as well.

[01:00:38]Be sure to show them some love. She's a fantastic author. So, that out of the way. If you This was uploaded about a year ago. If you meet me, please kill me. My friends won't believe me. My family thinks I'm crazy. And if I keep trying to convince them, they're probably just going to lock me up. But I need help. And I think that strangers online are my last hope. So I'm begging.

[01:01:02]If you meet me, if you see me walking down the street and I say hello, if you meet me in a bar and feel inclined to buy me a drink, or if you match with me on a dating app and make plans, kill me.

[01:01:14]End it. I don't care how it's done. I prefer it to be as painful as possible, but I know that's probably a lot to ask.

[01:01:22]It's already a lot to ask someone who doesn't know me to commit murder on my behalf. And I'm sorry to put such a burden on you, but I truly can't do this any longer. Let me provide you with some context.

[01:01:34]I might have gotten ahead of myself, but I came on too strong. Don't leave yet.

[01:01:38]Please, please let me explain to you what's been going on.

[01:01:43]Maybe hopefully once you hear this, you'll be on my side. Maybe you'll believe me. Hell, maybe you've experienced this, too. I can't be the only one who's experienced this. It started 2 months ago at Mitches. Mitches is a small bar that my friends and I used to go to every Friday night. They had a karaoke night and everyone got free nachos with the purchase of a drink. It was a routine we had been sticking to for almost a year now, ever since Melly moved into the apartment complex down the street and found the place. Anyway, it was a Friday night, probably around 10 p.m. because I remember that Jonas had just arrived and he got off his shift at the hospital at 9 on those days. Melly and I had just performed a tipsy version of Fleetwood Max Rian and we were giggling and stumbling back to our booth when he intercepted our path. He said his name was Tony, short for Antonio. He said he was new in the city and had just moved here from Idaho or Iowa. I don't really remember. He wanted to talk to me. He said I had a nice voice and he enjoyed my performance and he would like to get to know me a bit better. I agreed because he was my type. Dark hair, green eyes, stubble on his jawline. He smelled like tied laundry detergent and something else that reminded me of my childhood friend Idris's house.

[01:03:05]felt familiar to me. And so I followed him to a booth near my friends. We talked for the entire night. Have you ever like smelled someone or something and you're immediately like, "Oh yes, summer, seventh grade, so and so's house."

[01:03:18]>> Yeah. Sometimes it's uncanny. It brings in a very like a deja vu. Or sometimes I almost think that like I'm it almost makes me think that I'm like I feel like we've met before, you know, like this very uncanny connection.

[01:03:30]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[01:03:32]the the green eyes thing though in combination with that. I feel like this is going to be like a shape shifter or something that pretends to be them or whatever.

[01:03:39]>> Yeah, >> that's my bear trap laying it out now.

[01:03:42]Our first date was dinner in a movie.

[01:03:44]Classic first date. We watched Hard Eyes, which he loved, but I said wasn't my style. We went to this expensive French restaurant after a small place that was almost an hour away and we had wine and ate our dinner while a woman sat in the corner of the room and saying Laia and Rose. It was romantic. It was romantic. It was a great date. What uh what was your first date, Hunter?

[01:04:09]>> My first date >> with Allison.

[01:04:12]>> Oh, with Allison? I took her to a hockey game.

[01:04:16]>> Oh, that's cool. That's a good date.

[01:04:17]>> Yeah. Not true.

[01:04:18]>> We went we went to a habachi place and Kayla and I me and Allison went to a habachi place. Uh >> dude, what?

[01:04:26]>> Kayla and I went there and then Yeah.

[01:04:28]Sorry bud. Sorry bud. The nerd gets the girl. Uh and then we saw what? Uh Bohemian Rapsidity, which was kind of a whatever movie.

[01:04:39]>> What a painful first date movie.

[01:04:42]>> Yeah. Well, I mean it was like oh Queen.

[01:04:44]I like Queen. It's like, you know, it's I mean, at the time I liked it because I like Remy Malik and stuff, but in hindsight, it's just kind of like, yeah, that is the band.

[01:04:55]>> It's a pretty song. I know.

[01:04:58]>> Yeah. It's kind of like it felt the more I thought about it, the more it felt like a Marvel movie where it's like, huh, Do you get that reference? It's that song. You know, you know the song Queen.

[01:05:08]>> All the music biops have been pretty as of late. Like I I didn't I don't know. Yeah, it doesn't matter. I heard I heard that um the weird owl one was funny because it was a spoof.

[01:05:17]>> Yeah. Yeah. The weird the weird one was really funny.

[01:05:20]>> Yeah. The first bad sign didn't feel like a bad sign when it happened. You know what they say about hindsight. It started with him going by his full name instead of Tony. He said he had always gone by Tony because he preferred it. He thought Antonio was a mouthful. That Tony made him sound like a fun, easygoing guy while Antonio made him sound like the opposite. And then that day he changed his mind.

[01:05:45]>> You've never gone by Ella or Stell?

[01:05:48]>> He asked me one evening as we were walking through a small street fair that the city put on every year.

[01:05:54]>> Nope, just Stella. I've always been completely Stella, >> I replied as I took a sip of my soda.

[01:06:00]>> Really? You've never gone by a nickname?

[01:06:02]Not even as a child.

[01:06:04]>> Shook my head. No. Again. I remember this conversation vividly now. I'd forgotten about it soon after it happened because it seemed irrelevant at the time. But as soon as I realized what was going on, popped back into my mind like someone had dug into my subconscious and pulled it out, projecting it onto a big screen right in my face. After that, he decided he wanted to be Antonio. He wanted to be completely Antonio. After that step was done, the rest came quicker and quicker.

[01:06:33]Like an avalanche hit a downhill until it spiraled out of control. He changed his hair, dyed it a lighter brown like mine. His eyes, which I swear to all of the gods were green when I met him, were now dark brown like mine. He got slimmer, losing his broad shoulders almost overnight. His face got rounder, softer, and less angular. He shrank 3 in. Jesus.

[01:06:59]>> Then he took my jokes, stole my bits, started saying things that only I would say. Even my friends would comment on it, albeit in an innocent way. Oh my god, that's such a Stella thing to say.

[01:07:11]Oh, that's so cute. You guys are becoming like a You guys are like becoming like the same person. I love when people start to adapt each other's mannerisms. Okay, first off, if anyone ever said that to me, I'm like, they shrunk 3 in and they're becoming a woman. What the are you talking about?

[01:07:24]>> They're shorter now.

[01:07:25]>> Hello. What are you talking about?

[01:07:27]>> This is so This is clearly a demon that's around me. What is happening?

[01:07:32]Not not only that, but like they're now your hair color, your hair length.

[01:07:38]You're like, "What?"

[01:07:39]>> Exactly. It's like, "What are you talking? He's becoming me."

[01:07:42]>> Yeah. You're so cute when you have each other's mannerisms.

[01:07:46]>> Hello. We're the same person now. I'm you and you're me.

[01:07:52]Oh, isn't that adorable? Look at you two kids.

[01:07:56]Yeah, exactly. Oh, look. He even got he even got eye surgery to change his eye colors. That's so romantic. So we've been dating for three weeks. This is a three week.

[01:08:06]>> You two are the same cup size now. Bra besties, >> dude. Me and Alison same cup size rules.

[01:08:13]Love wearing your love wearing your bras.

[01:08:17]I feel so comfy. I feel so >> You know, once we were This is an This is a embarrassing story to say. Well, that's not really cuz it was a joke, but Kayla and I were walking through Knoxville one night and um what? Oh, I had left my gun at the house and Kayla was like, "Here, just carry mine." So, I put her gun in my pocket and I had also I was we were driving her car and I couldn't find a t-shirt or I accidentally grabbed her t-shirt. So, we get out of the car and we go she's like, "Look at us. You're carrying my gun driving my car."

[01:08:53]uh wearing my shirt and then I go, "Yeah, wearing your underwear." And right as I said that, an old Chinese man who was on a phone and stepped out right by us. And all that he caught was me going, "Yeah, I'm wearing your underwear and he puts the phone down and just makes eye contact with me and watches me the whole way around the corner."

[01:09:17]>> Well, Isaiah, were you wearing your underwear?

[01:09:20]>> No. No, it was it was a joke that >> Would you ever would you ever wear your watch not get >> No, no, no. I don't I'm going to I'm definitively on the record. No, that would not happen. That was a joke. That was It was a funny like haha. And what if I'll tell you this thing?

[01:09:37]>> I'll tell you this much.

[01:09:38]>> I'll tell you this much >> that that guy and you were taking it too seriously. What >> if I I tell you this much. If my wife came to me and she said, "Hunter, I want you to wear one of my thongs." I would do it in a heartbeat. No.

[01:09:48]>> In a heartbeat.

[01:09:49]It's too weird.

[01:09:50]>> In an absolute heartbeat, I would I would >> It's also weird because it feels like you're trying to get me on board right now.

[01:09:57]>> No, no, no. I don't give a what you do. I'm saying that if I was approached, I would glad I'm putting it on record.

[01:10:04]I'm I'm setting the record straight. I If someone said, "Here, wear my wear my thong." I would say absolutely.

[01:10:10]>> Someone, not even your wife, just anyone.

[01:10:12]>> You know what? it. Anyone like Moses, I would split the ropes.

[01:10:16]>> I would never wear underwear. Pop one of the boys out on each side and I' have it curl up like a little like a little like a little garden.

[01:10:22]>> Okay. Okay. Start flossing. Okay. No, no, no. We don't need Look, I could all that all that description you gave. I I I figured that's what where that would be going. We don't need it. Um >> maybe I want to be one of the Victoria Secret dudes. Man, >> I didn't even tell the story. I should have known that passing this off was too close. Maybe I'm jealous that girls get to go to Victoria's Secret and they get to dig through all those drawers full of different colored panties and all they have is something for you and Allison and maybe a pastor therapist to discuss. This is not for meale business partner. This is this is a joint business endeavor. We do not need to be in this.

[01:11:04]>> I'm doing it.

[01:11:05]>> All right. Well, >> next time you see I'm not even joking and I I want you to keep this on record because we're meeting again soon. When you literally see me, I'm going to be wearing a thong and I'm going to show you.

[01:11:14]>> Okay. I'm going to mentally block that and I'm not going to think >> I don't know how you're going to mentally block it. It's going to be I mean it's going to be a flashbang. You are going to see it.

[01:11:21]>> All right. You don't you give our audience too much to work with. They say the most obscene things about this podcast anyway. You don't need to make it easier for him.

[01:11:31]Anyway, what the important thing I need to make note of is Bear Trap. By the way, I was right. I said he's gonna like he's going to start chameleoning her and lizard man mimic or whatever. So I was correct. So those would support it.

[01:11:45]Except we weren't doing that. He was stealing all of my jokes. He was taking all of my catchphrases. He would use my references that he didn't even know previously. He stole my style, swapping out his Vans, jeans, and button-up shirts for thrifted boots and bandes. He got glasses even though he didn't need them. and he went vegetarian.

[01:12:07]The worst part about this, the part that pissed me off the most as this was taking place was the fact that everyone everyone acted like I was insane. They acted like he had always been like that.

[01:12:21]He never went by Tony. Stella, what are you talking about? Oh, his eyes were never green. I think you're misremembering. Maybe it was the lighting in the bar that night. Oh, he's always been the exact same height as you. It's impossible for someone to just shrink. It was such It's making me mad all over again to think about it now. Nobody believed me. I tried showing them photos where you could clearly see the differences and it was like they didn't notice them. Like I was the only one who could see the photo as is. I need to calm down. I'm not finished telling you my story and I worry about you getting bored. I need you to believe me. So, would you believe me when I tell you that about 2 weeks ago he became me? I mean, he literally became me. He morphed into a clone of me. He goes by my name. He wears my face and hangs out with my friends. Almost had a heart attack when I saw it the first time. It was like I was looking in a mirror, a screwed up mirror who had taken over my life. My friends acted like nothing was wrong, like he had always looked like that. They didn't think we looked alike at all. That they didn't think it was weird that we had the same name. Everything was just a big fat stupid coincidence to them. It's so infuriating. It almost makes me laugh.

[01:13:38]So that's where we are now. He or I don't know it. It can't be human, can it? What? Whatever it is has become me and it's ruining my life. He picks up my medications, takes my esthetician appointments, takes my Pilates classes, hangs out with my family, everything.

[01:13:58]I need you to kill him. It me. Something needs to die, please. His name is Stella Kobe. I'm 5' 5 in. Short brown hair, curly collar bone length, brown eyes, big glasses with thick red frames. I've got a tattoo of a skull on the inside of my right wrist, and a 4-in long scar that runs down the back of my right arm, down my elbow. It's from when I fell off horse as a child. I'm 156 lbs and I'm a big fan of rock music, specifically Blondie. I love action movies and I'm allergic to cinnamon. You might meet me out in public in the produce section of your local supermarket. Maybe on Bumble or Hinge or Grinder. I'm in thrift stores a lot. Maybe watch out for me there. You'll know it's not the real me because I haven't left my apartment in over a week and I have no plans of doing so. I want that thing gone. I want it gone from this world before I ever step foot outside again. I don't know how it picks its victims, but it's quite charming. Just be careful. You can try to avoid it if you want, but your best bets to just kill it. Put an end to this thing. So, please, if you meet me, if you meet it as me, please kill it. And that's the end. I will say that I don't know why, but I I don't know why, but at the end it started and this is up because I feel like I'm doing what she's complaining about. Why Why does it feel I I don't It feels like almost like a schizophrenic person being like someone is there's someone that's pretending to be me out there walking around.

[01:15:32]>> Yeah, babe. You're just crazy. No, no, you're making it up. It's not you.

[01:15:36]>> I don't know why. It's because there was this Croninberg short film that was on YouTube a long time ago. I I don't know if it's there, but it was called The Nest or something. But it was about a woman who goes to a doctor's appointment and she says that there's like insects in her breast and she wants them removed. She wants her she wants the doctor to remove uh her breast and it's like you never see any of the breasts.

[01:15:56]She just says they're there and it's like you just can't really tell if she's telling the truth or not. Is it real?

[01:16:01]Like I it's it's very interesting and I don't know why but this for some reason >> is posted so casually and it's so informal that it almost feels like a post of like somebody who has like almost mentally deteriorated. That being said, the fact that like the people have met Antonio before and stuff makes it seem like it probably is a monster. But I do like this idea of someone being like I went on a date and now the person's trying to be me. You're like re what really? I don't know. I to me it feels kind of to tie it into like the first episode's theme of like manifesting something. This almost feels like a literalized version of when people talk about in relationships that like they break up with someone and the person just keeps all their traits, you know?

[01:16:45]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:16:45]>> Where it's like, yeah, they, you know, they got the shows they watch for me and the music they listen to for me and blah blah blah.

[01:16:50]>> Yeah. The person is only who they are because of me.

[01:16:53]>> Yeah. Yeah. It almost feels like that but drawn out to a very literal position where it's like he's literally skinwalking me and uh I'm I'm left over here almost again like a breakup. I'm over here a shamble hide in my apartment and they're still out there doing things that I taught them, learning things that I showed them and stuff like that.

[01:17:15]>> Which is a fun that's a fun feel.

[01:17:18]>> Yeah, that's a like a mimic. That that's a fun uh horror story concept of like a breakup that leads to being like the person that they are has been transformed because of me. Like I I I do actually like that. And then people s like and it is funny of people being like siding against her and being like what are you talking about? He's always been that way. You're like what the are you talking about cuz it's like because you have the actual intimate relationship with that person and the other people can't see >> you know what's on the inside.

[01:17:45]>> So I I do like that as like a fun comparison. I think that's a good read that you had.

[01:17:50]>> Yeah. Yeah, cuz it feels like there's so many uh times like that where after a breakup someone's like, "Oh, well, no. Well, I mean, they got some stuff from you, but it's like they always did that. They were like, it's like people gaslight you as if you weren't the one in the relationship."

[01:18:07]>> Friend groups have a phenomenal way of doing that.

[01:18:11]>> Yeah. Yeah. It's like, "Oh, it's not that bad. Oh, you're being you're being dramatic or whatever." Yeah. It feels like that, but literal.

[01:18:17]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[01:18:17]>> Especially whenever your friends become their friends, too. The worst.

[01:18:20]>> Mhm.

[01:18:21]>> The worst.

[01:18:22]>> Yeah. Then it's like, okay, well, now we're now we have a civil war of sorts.

[01:18:25]>> Yeah. There's going to be a great divide. I'm telling you. Well, guys. Those are both our stories today.

[01:18:30]I thought they were both a lot of fun. I I like that. I like whenever we get these options whenever there's a couple quick ones. It's always just kind of fun to see these both these ideas just felt like a fun like uh just like a It's like dipping your toe into a premise that could be fun to dive deeper into, which is I think always a fun read. really easy, relax. I hope that it was a good listen as well.

[01:18:50]>> I really uh I really enjoyed both of these and I do think I see Harry's vision well I don't even know if Harry thought this, but the connection I made was that both of these are kind of like metaphors for manifestations that really happens. Yeah. Yeah. Manifestations.

[01:19:03]Yeah.

[01:19:04]>> Thank you so much to anyone who's listening on Apple Podcast or Spotify, anywhere you can listen to an a podcast, we appreciate you and thank you for giving us a nice rating if you have. And also be sure to check out the Patreon if you want some extra content. We have some more extra bonus episodes there where we talk about movies and read stories and stuff like that. So, be sure to check it out. And until next time, guys, stay creeped. Stay creep. Be sure to check out the authors in the description. And um if Hunter and Allison ever break up, I'm going to gaslight everyone into believing Allison actually started the channel. I think that's the the metaphor for this one.