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Weekly Spooky
Weekly Spooky
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May 10, 2023

The Thin Place: Irish Folklore, a Dullahan & the Ohio Woods Between Worlds

The Thin Place: Irish Folklore, a Dullahan & the Ohio Woods Between Worlds

A sixteen-year-old camper crosses an abandoned bridge in rural Ohio and enters a thin place haunted by creatures from his grandmother’s Irish folklore.

Sent to live with his grandparents after his mother is jailed, Rich dismisses their old-country warnings as superstition. Gramps teaches him survival skills; Grandma tells stories of the sluagh, the headless dullahan, and the shapeshifting pooka—and packs a horseshoe and an offering of cream and cookies when Rich camps alone. He forgets the food and follows distant lights across a bridge marked “Caol áit.”

On the other side, Rich finds a group of local teenagers partying at an isolated cabin. Their night turns savage when a severed head crashes through the window and a black carriage arrives with a headless rider. Escaping means protecting Rachael and Melanie, finding the bridge home, and remembering which pieces of folklore can wound the beings hunting them. Iron, fire, and a grandmother’s odd precautions suddenly matter more than disbelief.

David O’Hanlon’s “The Thin Place” combines Ohio wilderness horror with Irish and Celtic folklore, including the dullahan, the pooka, fairy fire, and the dangerous boundary between worlds. The richer notes keep the story’s irreverent voice while making its specific legendary creatures and caol áit setting discoverable. Story by David O’Hanlon.

This episode is sponsored by HenFlix.com.

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WEBVTT

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Have you ever been told a story
as a child that you didn't believe but

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it still moved you in your soul? It gave you so much fear.

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I know I did. But what
if those stories weren't just stories? What

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if they were a preparation to live
in a real place, a thin place?

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What's that You want to be scared? Come with me. You will

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experience tales over opera, ghosts,
and death. It is not recommended for

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00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:53.640
the weak at heart listeners in the
dark. It's more fun that way way.

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This is Weekly Speaking. Hello,
my spookies, It's Wednesday, and

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you know what that means. It's
time for a little spooky in your weekly.

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I'm your host and narrator, Enrique
Uto, and I cannot wait to

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bring you this pure piece of terror. I love folklore, but as an

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American who lives in Ohio, which
is the setting of tonight's story, I'm

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not familiar with the rest of the
world's legends and folklore, not as much

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as i'd like. But this week
we have a great tale of Irish folklore

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from the perspective of a young man
begrudgingly in Ohio. But before we get

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to that, I want to thank
you so much for listening to the show

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and enjoying the spooky all year round. We're here every single week over one

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involved in the Weekly Spooky community where
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For as little as one dollar a
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bonus content, including an extra spooky
every month. But now, my friends,

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it's about time we head to the
story, so get ready after these

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quick words The Thin Place by David
O'Hanlon. For every action, there's a

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reaction. My family's Irish, so
it's usually an overreaction. That's how this

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story really starts. Dad ran away
with another woman, and Mom set his

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car on fire, broke the new
girl's nose and knocked Dad's front teeth out.

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They were too big for his mouth
anyway. She got six months in

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county lockup for that. While she
was gone, I was sent to stay

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with her parents. I loved my
grandparents, but six months in Ohio?

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What was I going to do?
A sixteen year old boy has no business

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in Ohio. At the time,
I thought it was going to be the

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death of me. It almost was, and in retrospect was much worse.

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My grandparents were from the Old Country, which probably explains a lot. Gramps

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was a soldier, just not in
a formal army. At the time,

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I didn't know exactly what that meant. During the summer months, he would

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take me shooting and horseback riding while
singing Tiuki Garla. We camped and practiced

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building fires and shelters. He showed
me how to make snares and to fish

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with bare essentials. He was kind
of crazy in hindsight. Grandma was a

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pavey. That's a kind of gypsy, if you want to be a dick

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about it. At night, she
would scare the hell out of me with

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stories of the Slaw and the Dulahan. Then we'd set out cream and cookies

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for the puka, who she swore
groomed the dog and kept the rabbits out

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of her garden. Every morning I
woke up and found the plate clean and

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the saucer empty. Sixteen was far
too old to believe in such things,

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but the decapitated bunny in the garden
certainly made me wonder. Eating the cookies

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was understandable, but Grandma might have
been trying a bit too hard to sell

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her fairy tales when she got to
animal mutilation. At the time, I

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knew they were both a little nuts, But when you're sixteen, you know

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everything until someone comes along to show
you just how wrong you really are.

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It's that kind of story. It
was fall nineteen ninety two and my mom

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was getting out soon, with only
a couple more weeks in the purgatory of

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Ohio. I wanted to do something
fun, but it was Ohio and that

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was impossible. I decided to go
camping in the woods adjacent to their property

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for the night instead. Grandma protest
did, but luckily Gramps had my back.

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He insisted it helped me become a
man and made sure I packed accordingly.

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Then Grandma stuffed another twenty pounds of
junk I didn't need into my backpack.

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She even put in three changes of
clothes and a horseshoe. Yeah,

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yeah, a horseshoe. It was
one night, but she acted like it

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was an epic quest to Mordor.
She also gave me cookies for the puca,

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so he would keep me out of
trouble, like any camper should be.

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I was aware of my basic needs. I set up my tent first,

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and then built a fire pit so
the flames wouldn't spread to refuse on

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the forest floor. I needed food
and I wanted to catch something the way

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my gramps had taught me. I
set a couple of snares for birds and

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squirrels in the low branches of a
nearby tree, and one simple figure four

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trap on the ground. I baited
them all with cookie crumbs, which were

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all that remained of Puca's cookies.
Fairy creatures be damned, Grandma's peanut butter

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cookies were not getting wasted on my
watch. At least, the night had

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turned cooler than I had anticipated.
I should have checked the weather channel,

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but preoccupied myself with making sure my
collection of hustler and jugs were properly hidden.

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So I laid there on my camping
pad, freezing my balls off and

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wishing I had another cookie. My
traps hadn't turned up anything. That was

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probably because the woods were abandoned by
all intelligent life. Sadly, teenagers and

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intelligent life are mutually exclusive things.
It was nearing midnight when I heard the

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snap of the rocks crashing together.
Something had tripped my figure four, and

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I rushed to find out what it
was. The stones were pressed flat against

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one another, and I expected to
find a paper thin ground squirrel flattened between

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them. I might have chosen a
topstone that was too heavy, but I

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wanted to make sure I killed it
cleanly. That was Gramp's number one rule.

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You never caused undue suffering to anything, especially not something that would feed

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and keep you alive. I hefted
the stone and tossed it to the side

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to reveal not one single solitary damn
thing. Whatever set it off must have

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been extremely agile, since the stone
only needed to fall five inches. I

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looked around for tracks, but couldn't
make sense of the ones I found.

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They were deep and long, something
short and chubby, with bare feet and

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five bizarre clawed toes. I should
have packed up my gear and gone home,

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but that wouldn't be a very good
story. I marked the heel of

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the footprint with a twig, and
then repeated the process like Gramps taught me.

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After marking a few I knew the
creatures stride and was able to track

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it with relative ease. My flashlight
was a grungy plastic one from Gramps's tool

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shed, and I hadn't bothered checking
the back batteries. The dim yellow cones

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stretched out in front of me no
more than ten feet, but it was

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enough to get by on. I
followed the trail for the better part of

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thirty minutes before coming to an old
train bridge. Between the iron beams were

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rotten ties and loose gravel. Moss
and wild grasses poked up through the little

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rocks. The flashlight gave me a
drab vision of the bridge, adorned with

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graffiti and tangled ivy. It stretched
over a narrow but seemingly bottomless chasm.

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There were words written in stylistic letters
in colorful explosions across the iron joists.

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Faded on one of the uprights.
In the simplest letters were two words I

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remember from a fairy tale but couldn't
quite place. Coolate lights danced in the

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woods and stole my attention. My
grandma's crazy superstitions flashed forward from my memory.

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Fairy fire. Then I heard the
giggles of girls in a celebratory cheer

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from one of them. Might be
an angry fairy leading me to my doom,

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but it might be horny schoolgirls.
I decided to take my chances and

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sprinted towards the lights, completely forgetting
about the animal I was tracking. I

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could have sworn I heard a tisking
behind me, but there were potential boobs

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in those deep dark woods. I
continued running until the damned flashlight began flickering.

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I slid to a stop and looked
for the lights, finding them a

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few yards to the left and about
a hundred in front of me. I

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closed an eye to get it adjusted
to the dark before the light went out,

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which was sure to happen, and
it did. I continued following the

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girls. When their lights cut off, one after the other. I tried

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to keep my bearings and headed towards
the point where they went dark. It

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didn't take long before I noticed a
new light source, a pale glow grinning

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through the claw like limbs of the
shadowy trees. I kept my pace steady,

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but slow enough that I wouldn't slip
down a hill or get impaled on

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a branch. The woods slowly parted, and there I saw a simple cabin.

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Something vaguely resembling music pulsed from inside, but I was too far away

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for it to be more than just
thumping bass. The rhythm seemed nice,

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though. I stumbled over a dead
branch and crept up the stairs. I

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stood in front of the door with
my fist raised to knock. I could

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hear the music clearer now. It
was some new pop tune that I remembered

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from the car ride from Tennessee.
I couldn't recall the name, and it

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didn't really matter. A couple of
the girls were carrying on, and then

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I heard a deeper laugh. I
lowered my hand and decided to try my

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luck in the woods. Then I
remembered the words on the bridge and the

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strange footprints I had followed to it. I raised my fist to knock one

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more time when the steps behind me
creaked, and then my face hit the

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hardwood of the door. Who the
hell are you? The tone was gruff,

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but the voice had the slight squeak
of someone who hit puberty late Richard

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Richard Spangler. The door was rough, and the splinters pricked my cheek When

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I spoke, The vicelike grip on
the back of my neck loosened and I

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was spun around. A stocky brute
with a face fit for an oxema commercial

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greeted me. He pointed an accusatory
finger at me. Weird kid. I

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pointed back and smiled, asshole from
the gas station. He straightened his greasy

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so high a shirt over his man
boobs. It's Goren, Yeah, I

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00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:54.960
can read it right there on your
shirt. That's the kind of convenience I

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expect from Standard Oil. What do
you want? Goren was a linebacker with

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00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.879
a future and mall security, but
I wasn't particularly interested in walking through the

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dark woods with a permanent wedgie,
so I decided to be nice. I

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was camping and my flashlight died.
I saw the lights heading this way and

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decided to see if you guys could
spare some batteries. Doubt there's any here,

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but you can come in, I
guess. He moved me aside and

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opened the door with a gesture for
me to enter. He gave me a

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hard shove as I did, so
that I stumbled through the threshold. Thankscorn,

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00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.960
I don't think I could have made
it on my own. Hey,

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00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:41.639
guys, dick Spanker is here,
I sighed. Of all the wrongs my

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00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:46.639
father had committed against me, none
was more grievous than the name he gave

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00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:50.279
me. I hope he choked on
the teeth my mom knocked out. You

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00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:54.679
know I've heard that name since fifth
grade. You know you're going to hear

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it for the rest of your life. Fair point, go nad. Goren's

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00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.840
smile fell a little. He looked
like he might hit me when a female

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00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:09.480
voice shrieked and made us both jump. Rich Goren be nice. Rich is

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00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.799
the only reason I'm not turning eighteen. In the tenth grade, Haley Burke

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00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.799
ran over and gave me a hug. That probably counted as the best sex

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00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:22.200
I would have for another decade.
I scuffed my toe against the door and

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00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:28.879
tried to divert my eyes from her
tits. Hi, Haley, nice place.

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00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.360
Is this your cabin? Oh god, no, we found it.

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00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:37.720
This place is toat's growdy, and
there's dead animals everywhere. I hadn't noticed

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00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.000
them before, but sure as shit. The entire place was decorated with mounted

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00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:46.000
heads, stuffed varmints, and a
few ducks hung on plaques. A dusty

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00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:52.519
black bear sprawled out in front of
a cold fireplace found. Isn't that called

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00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:58.919
breaking and entering? Of course,
not spanker. The door was unlocked,

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00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:03.519
Goren informed me as he headed to
an adjacent room. His stupidity made my

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00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:09.799
eyes roll on their own. That
makes it much less illegal. So anyway,

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00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:13.279
I was camping in my flashlight.
Wow, you guys must really be

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00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:18.799
desperate to set mel up if you
brought Spanker along, A new voice said,

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00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.480
I smiled at Haley. And where
there's an asshole, there's usually a

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00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:26.480
dick. Just two inches away.
I turned to see the star of the

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00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:31.759
football team leaning against a door jam
with Gore and right over his shoulder.

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00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:37.320
Yep, I was right, how
are you, Todd? Melanie Hackney shoved

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00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.639
past them and flashed what might have
been a smile in my direction. She

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00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:46.519
wasn't the future centerfold that Haley was, but she was definitely cute, and

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00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:54.240
the tight Cleveland Brown's T shirt indicated
she was also freezing and brawless. She

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00:15:54.360 --> 00:15:56.519
made her way to the fireplace and
picked up one of the logs next to

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00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:02.080
it, but it fell apart in
her hands. Goren, I thought you

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00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.399
were going to get wood. She
kept her eyes to the floor when she

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00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:08.720
spoke, which seemed odd since she
hung out with the two most popular girls

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in the school. I did as
soon as you bent over, he snorted.

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I heard that, retard, his
girlfriend said from the other room.

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Rachel, the deep throat sloat was
gorgeous in a maybe it's Mabeline sort of

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way. Rumor had it that her
maternal line had serviced just about every man

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and many of the women in the
county for four generations. For some reason,

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I never got my turn, though
once her grandma did invite me over

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for lemonade and pie. In retrospect, I don't think she meant pecan.

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That's off subject. However, Todd, why don't you take Goren outside and

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make sure he does it right this
time? Mel's right, it's getting cold

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in here. Hayley waved her hands
for them to leave, like she was

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shoeing flies from her parfay. As
soon as they were gone, Rachel sauntered

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in and kicked the door shut behind
them. She flopped onto the couch in

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a cloud of dust and bent over
hacking. I got a quick peek down

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her blouse, so the walk wasn't
for nothing, Haley tapped my shoulder,

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So rich, what are you doing
out here? Oh right, I was

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camping near by. I went for
a walk and my flashlight ran out of

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batteries. I don't suppose you have
any. I think they're double a's.

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We can look around here, but
everything so old, I doubt it.

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Todd had to bring up gas for
the generator because the stuff in there was

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gross and wouldn't work. This place
is positively ancient. Rachel huffed, I

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might have some batteries. Mel hand
me my purse, would you. Melanie

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looked around and spotted it on the
mantel above the fireplace. She tossed it

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to Rachel, who dug through it
and pulled out a purple vibrator. Everyone

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stared at her for a moment.
What it's not like Gorin's going to do

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00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:04.359
me any good. She unscrewed the
bottom and dropped the two batteries into her

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palm. With all the shit the
coach has him taking, his dick looks

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like a shriveled thumb and he's getting
tits will to be enough. I tried

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00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.480
to remember what words were as the
thought about the pocket rockets. Many adventures

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00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:23.720
ran through my head. I'm not
sure. I took the top off the

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00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:27.720
light and found two dead batteries.
Looks like that's just what I need,

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00:18:27.720 --> 00:18:33.799
but I couldn't. I mean,
you need them for you know, little

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Dickson All I'm gonna stop talking.
Rachel giggled. It was high and milodius,

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definitely the one I heard in the
woods. I can just get hands

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on tonight, I guess. She
nibbled her bottom lip and laughed again as

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I squirmed in place. You did
help me past geometry, so it's the

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least I can do. And history. I reached out for the batteries.

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She let her nails drag against my
wrist. She set them in my hand.

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That's a good point. Maybe we
should lock Goren out. She winked,

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and I made an inarticulate sound that
might have been an agreement. If

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you're through giving Richard blueballs? Would
anyone care to tell me what that noise

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is? Melanie asked as she pulled
back a tattered curtain. We all listened,

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and sure enough, there was a
noise. Haley turned off the boombox

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to make it easier for us.
The staccato thumps seemed to be getting closer

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and then further away, faster and
faster, like something circling the cabin.

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An animal called out in the darkness. Was that a horse? Melanie pressed

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her hands against the glass to shield
against the light and stared into the woods.

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That definitely sounded like a horse to
me. I always wanted my own

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horse, Haley clapped excitedly. If
it's wild, I can keep it right.

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And how are you going to catch
a wild horse? Haley? Rachel

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00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:06.759
made a good point. I don't
know, deep throat. Maybe you can

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00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.759
show it your tits. That usually
works. It did on your brother.

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She sucked a finger slowly and made
a pop. Then she pulled past her

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00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.640
bright red lips. He's married you
whore. I know she was there,

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00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:25.240
you uppity bitch. As much as
I really wanted to hear more, I

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00:20:25.319 --> 00:20:30.279
called for them to quiet down.
Something was extremely wrong with the situation,

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and I needed blood getting back to
my brain if I was going to figure

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00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:37.559
it out. We're in a cabin
that none of us own, we don't

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00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.880
know who the owner is, and
someone is circling us on a horse.

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None of this sounds like a good
thing, ladies. I put the batteries

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in the flashlight and tested it out. It worked, but was dimmer than

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before. Apparently Rachel used her battery
operated boyfriend more than her real one.

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The hoofbeats stopped, and we stood
in silence for a long moment. Melanie

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leaned against the window harder. Guys, I think we should leave. Something

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00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:12.799
is happening out there in the trees. I'm not sure. I can't see.

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00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:19.200
Hayley smiled inside because there's nothing to
see. It was just animals doing

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well animal stuff. Probably. Just
then the window exploded inward weakly. Spooky

255
00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:40.039
will be right back after these quick
messages. Melanie's scream equalled the sound of

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the shattering window. She stumbled back
and fell to the floor. I hurtled

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00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:48.000
the object that crashed through and knelt
beside her. Small cuts, adorned and

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otherwise perfect complexion. I tried to
check them for glass. When the other

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00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.359
girls started screaming. I turned and
noticed the object on the floor, a

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00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:04.799
mop of blonde hair with bloody tips
hung over the angular cheekbones. Everything that

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00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:11.720
was supposed to be below those cheekbones, specifically Todd's entire body, were missing.

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Haley's scream continued unbroken. Rachel sprang
over the couch and ran for the

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door. It flew open, laying
her out flat as it connected with her

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face. Gore and slammed the door
shut and leaned his bulk against it.

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Sweat rolled like wild rivers between the
pimples. He took deep, heaving breaths

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and looked around the cabin for something, though he didn't bother telling us what

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it was. Gore and turned and
searched the door for a lock, but

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there wasn't one, just two empty
brackets where a board was supposed to go.

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Goren couldn't figure that out and ran
over to me. He grabbed my

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shirt and shook me around. We
have to get the fuck out of here,

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spanker, I slapped him like the
hysterical chick in a generic disaster movie.

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00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.160
Todd was just outside and that did
not work out well for him.

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I pointed at the disembodied head.
His eyes followed my finger, and then

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00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:14.079
he puked across the dusty floorboards.
The orange brown spew spattered my gray all

275
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stars, and I slapped him again. Pull yourself together. We can't just

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00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.480
run outside. We need a plan. I have one. Whoever's out there

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will be too busy killing the rest
of you to get me. Goren snatched

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00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:30.200
the flashlight out of my hand and
ran for the door. You don't want

279
00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:34.519
to do that, Goren that flashlight. He ran outside and left the door

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wide open again. Never mind,
have fun, asshole. I slammed the

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door the board to lock. It
was lying on the floor, and it

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00:23:42.839 --> 00:23:47.519
took me less than a second to
decide what to do. I dropped the

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board into place and checked on Rachel, who, aside from a small dent

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in her forehead, seemed okay.
Melanie helped me get her to the couch.

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Two of the girls were bleeding,
one of them unconscious, and Haley

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00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:04.200
was hyperventilating from all the screaming.
I checked Melanie's cuts and wiped away the

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00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:08.920
blood. We really need to get
something over these. I picked up Rachel's

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00:24:08.920 --> 00:24:12.839
purse and found a package of tissue. I handed them to Mel, who

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00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.279
went to the bathroom to clean up
better. Haley, I need you to

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00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:22.079
come over here and sit with deep
throat. I mean, Rachel, I

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00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:26.400
can't. She pointed in the general
direction of the head without looking right.

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Okay, I got this. I
rolled the bear skin rug up around the

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head and dumped the whole thing out
of the broken window. I saw my

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00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:41.799
flashlight beam bouncing through the wilderness.
It flickered, went out, and came

295
00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:47.799
on briefly again, but then died. Serves you right, go nad.

296
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.599
I went into the other room,
which barely counted as a kitchen, and

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00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:56.240
found the girl's flashlights next to a
cooler of schlitz. I stuck the lights

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00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:00.160
into the waist of my jeans and
grabbed three cans. I handed one to

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00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:03.400
Haley, hoping it would calm her
down some. Her hands shook so much

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00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:07.680
that the malt liquor sprayed against the
ceiling. When she finally got it open,

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00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:12.240
she didn't seem to mind as she
slugged it down. Mel came out

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00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:15.759
of the bathroom with pieces of tissue
stuck to her face, like she had

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00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:21.240
just shaved for the first time.
I snickered at the sight. She scowled,

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00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:23.960
and then a little laugh escaped.
You have no room to laugh,

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00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:27.920
dick, spanker. She sat on
the arm of the couch and used a

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00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:33.240
fistful of tissue to wipe the blood
from Rachel's forehead. He got her pretty

307
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.599
good. Who's out there you think? She took one of the cans from

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00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:41.839
my hand, cracked it open,
and enjoyed a long pull before pressing the

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00:25:41.839 --> 00:25:45.720
cold can against Rachel's rising goose egg. Probably the owner of the house.

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00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:51.440
It was the best I could come
up with. Decapitating people seems like an

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00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:56.599
overreaction to trespassing. Where is the
She dagged slightly and waved a hand at

312
00:25:56.599 --> 00:26:03.000
the dust free spot the rug had
occupied. I tossed it and over reaction

313
00:26:03.119 --> 00:26:07.599
or not, this situation is happening. We can go back to my camp

314
00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:11.880
and then on to my grandparents house. We have lights now, I gestured

315
00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:15.680
to the ones in my jeans.
You actually want to go out there.

316
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:19.119
Gramps taught me a lot about moving
in the woods even at night. We

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00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:23.359
can get back to my camp in
fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. I remember

318
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:26.799
the way. It's only a half
hour's walk to the house from there.

319
00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:32.359
Goren was heading the opposite direction,
and I'm sure whoever was out there is

320
00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:36.400
chasing him. It was kind of
his plan. I'm sure he won't mind

321
00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.920
us using it. We just need
to wake her up first. I guess

322
00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:45.319
it's better than sitting here. Mel
stroked Rachel's hair and whispered for her to

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00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:48.839
wake up. Haley slapped the sleeping
girl across the face hard enough that I

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00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:52.440
jumped. She jerked her friend up
by the collar and screamed for her to

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00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:56.799
wake up. It seemed to be
working. Rachel's eyes slowly opened and rolled

326
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:02.759
around until they were both forward and
semi focused. There, she's awake.

327
00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:06.519
Let's go, Haley. Let go
of Rachel, and the girl flopped back

328
00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:11.240
down. Fuck, we can come
back for her. Let's go, rich.

329
00:27:11.799 --> 00:27:15.640
Haley came over and pulled one of
the lights from my jeans. Now.

330
00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:19.160
Mel was helping Rachel sit up and
shook her head. She can't run

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00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:25.519
like this walking Maybe then she can
catch up. Haley threw open the door

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00:27:25.559 --> 00:27:29.240
and walked off the porch. Before
stopping. She stomped a foot and growled

333
00:27:29.240 --> 00:27:33.759
in frustration. Which way am I
supposed to go? I pointed, and

334
00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:37.960
then went to help Melanie lift Rachel. She staggered between us, but found

335
00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:41.720
her balance and walked as best she
could manage. We got outside without incident.

336
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:47.119
Haley was ahead of us, making
slow progress since she didn't have a

337
00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:51.960
clue where to go. We stumbled
along for fifteen minutes or so before Rachel

338
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.039
came around enough to walk on her
own. By that time, Haley had

339
00:27:56.039 --> 00:28:00.480
slowed down so she didn't have to
walk alone. I could smell the burning

340
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.680
pine from my campfire and figured we
were getting close to the rail bridge.

341
00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:10.599
Something was moving just ahead of us. I whispered for everyone to turn off

342
00:28:10.640 --> 00:28:17.039
their lights and stalked forward on my
own. A sleek mountain of muscles stood

343
00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:21.880
next to the tracks. Its hellish
breath steamed in the cool air. The

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00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:27.079
riderless stallion paced back and forth,
occasionally snorting at the rails, and obsidian

345
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:33.799
saddle sat on its back over an
onyx blanket, layers of darkness melting and

346
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.240
swirling together to create a living shadow
in the magnesium beams of the moon.

347
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:44.000
Things were starting to make sense,
but not in a sane sort of way.

348
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.400
I crept back to the girls.
We need to run really fast and

349
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:55.440
get over the railroad tracks. I
think will be okay after that. There's

350
00:28:55.480 --> 00:29:00.640
a really really big horse up there, though, and no, you don't

351
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:03.680
want to keep it Hailey. She
opened her mouth to speak, but the

352
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:07.920
only thing that came out was the
metal spike that punched through the back of

353
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:12.000
her head in a spray of blood. She collapsed as the weapon jerked free,

354
00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:17.480
grating against her even white teeth.
The spiked and dripped her life on

355
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.240
the leaf litter, while the axe
head on the other side gleamed brightly.

356
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:26.920
The owner oozed out of the shadows
and wiped the spike on his leather sleeve.

357
00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:30.640
My eyes focused on the weapon,
crawled up his black sleeve to his

358
00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:37.559
shoulder, and then to his empty
space. I wasn't sure how to feel

359
00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:41.359
about being right. I shouldn't have
been right, because it shouldn't have been

360
00:29:41.400 --> 00:29:45.279
possible, But the stories my grandma
told me echoed in the back of my

361
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.880
mind as soon as I saw the
horse. Unfortunately, none of those stories

362
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:56.359
told me what to do about a
doulaean, so I improvised run. I

363
00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:00.759
screamed before kicking him in the balls. Apparently his head was the only thing

364
00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:04.000
he was missing, because he doubled
over silently from the blow and collapsed to

365
00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:08.359
his knees. I sprinted to catch
up with Mel and Rachel. Melanie made

366
00:30:08.359 --> 00:30:12.039
it over the tracks, but the
stallion bit down on Rachel's hair and slung

367
00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:15.599
her to the ground. I stopped
next to Mel and we watched as the

368
00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:21.720
duelahan came closer. I held on
to Mel's arm and shook my head when

369
00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:26.440
she tried to run again. I
had to see what happened. The creature

370
00:30:26.519 --> 00:30:30.720
got to the tracks and stopped.
I was right again. He couldn't cross

371
00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:36.039
the iron. He stretched out his
axe, and golden sparks crackled as it

372
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:38.920
hit the air above the rail.
He turned and scooped Rachel up on his

373
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shoulder before pushing her over the horse's
haunches. As he slid into the saddle,

374
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:48.720
I saw the head hanging from his
belt. His head it was molted,

375
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:52.880
and the stump of his neck was
gangrenous, but the eyes were bright

376
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:57.960
as they stared at me. A
wicked smile stretched across his face as he

377
00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:03.680
rode away with his prize. Melanie
and I made it back to the tent

378
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:07.799
in silence. We sat next to
the fire with a death grip on each

379
00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:12.720
other. She cried quietly. I
tapped my toe nervously. Far away,

380
00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:21.720
we heard the boastful neighing of that
damn horse. Then I remembered something.

381
00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:25.359
I sprang up from the ground and
dived into the tent for my backpack.

382
00:31:25.920 --> 00:31:30.119
Gramp's hadn't sent me a gun,
which would have been nice, but Grandma's

383
00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:33.839
horse shoe was a close second.
That's the only damned time that sentence will

384
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.119
ever make sense. I told Melanie
to wait in the tent, and I

385
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:42.359
ran into the abyss to rescue the
town tramp. That seems like better motivation

386
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:47.119
than a princess, so I'm not
sure why more fairy tales didn't go that

387
00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:49.720
way. It definitely worked for me. I found my way back to the

388
00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:53.880
cabin quickly. The horse was waiting
for me, only it was hooked to

389
00:31:53.960 --> 00:31:59.319
a carriage. Now the wheel spokes
were made of bones, and the candles

390
00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:05.240
blazed the mouths of skulls mounted around
the top of the enclosure. The devil

391
00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:08.720
horse gnawed on a chubby arm with
the ragged remains of a Sohio shirt.

392
00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:14.319
Sleeve draped over it. Of course, the horse is a goddamn carnivore.

393
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:17.440
Why wouldn't it be makes all the
sense in the world. At least it'll

394
00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.480
be full after eating Goren. Probably
no room left for me. I don't

395
00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:28.440
know why, but I found that
comforting at the time. Being brutally murdered

396
00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:32.279
by the headless horseman I could deal
with, But being unceremoniously discarded as road

397
00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:37.799
apples seemed a bit too much.
Rachel called for me from the window,

398
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:43.680
Help me, dick, fuck my
life. The Dulahan walked around the carriage

399
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:46.640
with axe clutched in his fist.
I stared at him and tightened the grip

400
00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:51.839
of my horse shoe, realizing I
was about to die a virgin, but

401
00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:55.200
damn it, I was going to
die Trying to change that. I charged

402
00:32:55.279 --> 00:33:00.640
forward, and the demon unfurled a
whip from his belt. It the air

403
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:04.599
in front of me. As it
flashed by, I realized it was made

404
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:08.400
from some poor bastard spine. I
dropped onto my ass as it cracked again.

405
00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:13.160
The bone weapon slashed the ground beside
me, and I rolled to my

406
00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:16.359
feet. I held the horse shoe
up in an attempt to drive him away.

407
00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:22.119
It didn't work. He swung the
whip. I ducked, and then

408
00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:25.680
the axe whizzed by my face.
It stuck into the carriage door, spewing

409
00:33:25.720 --> 00:33:30.160
black splinters all over me. I
ran around him while he struggled to get

410
00:33:30.200 --> 00:33:35.920
free. The bodiless head snarled at
me. I threw the horse shoe as

411
00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:39.559
hard as I could. The rotting
face sank in as the iron shoe shattered,

412
00:33:39.559 --> 00:33:44.759
The bones, puss, and brain
matter sprayed out in a steaming splatter

413
00:33:44.839 --> 00:33:51.160
against my shoes. That's a ringer. The Dulahan flailed about a thick oily

414
00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:55.119
smoke oozed from his clothes. The
sulfurous fog stung my eyes, and I

415
00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:59.960
missed most of the action from then
on out, but I could still hear

416
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:04.960
it. For a creature with no
vocal cords, he sure could scream.

417
00:34:05.880 --> 00:34:08.000
By the time I cleared my eyes, all that was left was a heap

418
00:34:08.039 --> 00:34:14.880
of cracked leather clothing lying in a
gooey puddle. Rachel and I staggered back

419
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:19.880
to my campsite. The horse,
now masterless, didn't bother to pursue us.

420
00:34:20.559 --> 00:34:23.639
We looked for it, but it
never showed. It didn't even seem

421
00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:29.800
to care that its owner melted.
Maybe it was just cursed dragging along for

422
00:34:29.880 --> 00:34:34.039
the ride, because a headless horseman
kind of needs a horse. We got

423
00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:37.719
back to my camp and Rachel curled
up next to the fire while I went

424
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:43.760
into the tent to check on mel. I opened the tent and stared wide

425
00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:49.159
eyed. The fat little thing pulled
its bloody head out of her open abdomen.

426
00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:53.119
The bulbous nose wiggled above a pointed
smile. It waved at me with

427
00:34:53.199 --> 00:34:59.599
twisted, broken fingers like they were
smashed under a rock. I zipped the

428
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:05.119
tent back up, grabbed Rachel's arm, and ran straight to my room above

429
00:35:05.159 --> 00:35:12.840
Gramp's garage. We dated for the
remaining two weeks I was in Ohio.

430
00:35:13.519 --> 00:35:16.559
We knew not to tell anyone about
what happened at the cabin. As far

431
00:35:16.599 --> 00:35:22.199
as I know, none of the
bodies were ever found. Things eventually leveled

432
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:25.960
out for Rachel and me. She
ended up writing books about horny monsters,

433
00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:30.840
some of which were made into a
horrible series of movies about glittery warlocks.

434
00:35:31.559 --> 00:35:36.239
I changed my name and became a
porn star. Okay, okay, I

435
00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:40.800
sell insurance, but I did change
that stupid fucking name. Sometimes I wake

436
00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:50.360
up at night and swear I hear
a carriage coming down the road. Maybe

437
00:35:50.400 --> 00:35:53.880
I do. I had been to
the Kolate. That's what the bridge had

438
00:35:53.920 --> 00:36:01.159
said. It's the thin place between
our world and there. I tell my

439
00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:07.199
kids the stories my grandmother told me. Only I remember to include the parts

440
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:12.519
about how to kill the monsters.
After all, I know they're real.

441
00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:17.840
It was a hell of a night
and it changed me forever. But out

442
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:23.559
of everything I saw and learned that
night, one lesson will never escape me.

443
00:36:25.159 --> 00:36:38.079
Never ever forget to feed the Puka. Now, that is quite the

444
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:43.320
Duelahan story, and believe it or
not, it's actually the second Dulahan story

445
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:45.960
we've ever had on the show.
Morgan Moore had a phenomenal telling of the

446
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:51.440
Dulahan that she did last year,
which I highly recommend you check out by

447
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:53.960
looking in our back catalog. It's
a good one. I know you'll enjoy

448
00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:58.920
it. It's episode one hundred and
fifty seven. But big thank you to

449
00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:02.719
David O'Hanlon, the very talented writer
of this story and also the writer of

450
00:37:02.760 --> 00:37:07.000
The Babysitter Massacre books, which you
can find on Amazon dot com and hey,

451
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:10.719
they're published by me, and the
audiobooks are even narrated by me.

452
00:37:12.199 --> 00:37:15.920
Go figure. I hope everybody's having
a really good week. I got a

453
00:37:15.960 --> 00:37:20.760
new washing machine and it was very
frustrating, but all in all, can't

454
00:37:20.800 --> 00:37:23.960
complain about life. I hope you're
all doing just phenomenally and I hope you're

455
00:37:23.960 --> 00:37:29.920
ready for a whole lot of Spooky
because now we're over the hump, halfway

456
00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:34.840
to Halloween baby, and oh boy, is it going to be sweet.

457
00:37:35.480 --> 00:37:37.840
So now I think I need to
get out of here because I'm prepping our

458
00:37:37.920 --> 00:37:42.519
big two hundredth episode and believe me, it's going to be awesome. But

459
00:37:42.599 --> 00:37:45.400
first I want to say a big
thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters,

460
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:49.639
folks who pay just a little bit
more to hear their names read on the

461
00:37:49.679 --> 00:37:52.880
show, and they are Bobbletopia dot
Com, Megan Hua, Julia Kirsch,

462
00:37:53.079 --> 00:37:58.320
Brent McCullough, Gino Lyon, Steve
King, Karen, We met Jack Kerr

463
00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:00.639
and Craig Cohen. And remember,
if you go to bobbletopia dot com and

464
00:38:00.760 --> 00:38:05.800
use code weekly Spooky at checkout,
you get ten percent off your purchase and

465
00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:08.880
we get a ten percent kickback.
So it's a nice way to support the

466
00:38:08.880 --> 00:38:12.679
show, and if you want to
hear your name on the end of every

467
00:38:12.679 --> 00:38:16.639
episode, just go to Weekly Spooky
dot com, click on Patreon and select

468
00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:21.960
any tier at fifteen dollars or hire. It really does help us keep the

469
00:38:22.000 --> 00:38:24.840
show going and going and going.
But now, my friends, I'm going

470
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:28.519
to get out of here and get
back to working on the big two hundredth

471
00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:31.199
episode. So for our executive producer
Rob Fields, our composer Ray Maddis,

472
00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:37.800
and my producing partner Dan Wilder,
we will talk at you very very soon

473
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:40.920
and make sure you keep your horseshoe
ready. Thank you for this name.

474
00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:47.880
Make sure to find your way back
next week. But for now you are

475
00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:51.360
safe, trust me.