Aug. 2, 2023

Ep.202 – The Stop-Sign Man - This Legend is DEADLY

Ep.202 – The Stop-Sign Man - This Legend is DEADLY

A young man decides to tempt fate by testing a local legend on his 17th birthday but quickly it becomes apparent more is happening than first appeared...

The Stop-Sign Man by Bryce Gibson https://www.countylinehorror.com

Contact Us/Submit a Story...

Apple Podcasts podcast player badge
Spotify podcast player badge
Spreaker podcast player badge
Audible podcast player badge
Castro podcast player badge
RSS Feed podcast player badge
Apple Podcasts podcast player iconSpotify podcast player iconSpreaker podcast player iconAudible podcast player iconCastro podcast player iconRSS Feed podcast player icon

A young man decides to tempt fate by testing a local legend on his 17th birthday but quickly it becomes apparent more is happening than first appeared...

The Stop-Sign Man by Bryce Gibson https://www.countylinehorror.com

Contact Us/Submit a Story
twitter.com/WeeklySpooky
facebook.com/WeeklySpooky
WeeklySpooky@gmail.com

Music by Ray Mattis http://raymattispresents.bandcamp.com

Executive Producer Rob Fields

Produced by Daniel Wilder

This episode sponsored by
HenFlix.com

For everything else visit
WeeklySpooky.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:04.240
Growing up is challenging. There's no
right or wrong way to do it,

2
00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:09.560
and everyone has their own version of
a right of passage. But in this

3
00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:14.679
small town in South Carolina, the
right of passage is a bit more devious,

4
00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:20.160
a bit more dangerous, and maybe
for one young man, a bit

5
00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:36.759
deadly. What's that you want to
be scared? Come with me. You

6
00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:44.719
will experience tales over opera, ghosts
and death. It is not recommended at

7
00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:52.759
the foot the weak at heart listeners
in the dark. It's more fun that

8
00:00:52.960 --> 00:01:07.799
way way. This Weekly speaking,
Hello, my spookies, It's Wednesday,

9
00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:12.319
and you know what that means.
It's time for a little spooky in your

10
00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:17.519
Weekly. I'm your host and narrator, Enrique Kuto, and we have a

11
00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:22.879
really excellent story tonight from a brand
new author, at least brand new to

12
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:26.599
us. But before we get to
that, I want to remind you that

13
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:30.239
at Weekly Spooky dot com, not
only do we have access to our Patreon,

14
00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:34.239
not only do we have access to
all of our over two hundred episodes,

15
00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:42.239
but we have merchandise, including a
brand new T shirt that says proudly

16
00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:47.719
I'm a Spooky in the style of
I'm a Pepper from Doctor Pepper. But

17
00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:53.719
this one is all about loving being
scared and so much more so. If

18
00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:56.719
you love Weekly Spooky, you love
what we're doing here, and you want

19
00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:00.879
to advertise the fact that you two
are a spooky go to Weekly Spooky dot

20
00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:06.560
com and click on store and get
your very own I'm a Spooky T shirt

21
00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.439
and know that it goes directly to
supporting the show. And if you want

22
00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:13.759
to support the show but don't have
any money to spend right now, no

23
00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:19.240
big deal. Just go to your
favorite podcasting app like Spotify or Apple Podcasts

24
00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.039
and leave us a five star rating. It helps the show, it costs

25
00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:25.800
you nothing, and while you're there, you can make sure you're subscribed so

26
00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:31.280
that you never miss any of your
favorite Spooky on the Weekly. And speaking

27
00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:35.800
of Spooky on the Weekly, this
Friday will have a brand new episode of

28
00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:39.840
Cutting Deep into Horror where I sit
down with Rachel Rodolphi and we dissect the

29
00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:46.520
terrifying and almost two real horror film
funny games. So make sure to check

30
00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:52.599
that out this Friday. But now, my dear listeners, oooh, I

31
00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:58.280
think it's getting chilly. Out Fall
is approaching, and now it's time we

32
00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:05.599
head south to find out about a
local urban legend that's slowly but surely getting

33
00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:10.479
real. And we'll hear all about
that after these quick words from our sponsors.

34
00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:28.719
The Stop Sign Man by Bryce Gibson
one for guys that grow up around

35
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.439
this part of South Carolina. Stealing
stop signs is a rite of passage,

36
00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:38.360
all for the sake of an old
urban legend. It is something some of

37
00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:42.879
us do on our seventeenth birthday.
If you choose to do it, there

38
00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:50.759
are three rules to follow. One
do it alone. Two, don't tell

39
00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.120
a soul about what you see.
And three, the most important rule of

40
00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:01.080
them all, never get caught.
If you do, the stop sign Man

41
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:10.280
will make your life a living hell. I Stratton Duke failed at number three,

42
00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:18.120
and the folklore is right, My
life sucks. Two. Most everybody

43
00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:23.839
around here has heard the legend at
some time or another. If you haven't,

44
00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.040
you're either too young or you've been
living under a rock. It goes

45
00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:34.439
something like this. On the night
of your seventeenth birthday, steal a county

46
00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:40.199
stop sign, take it out to
the old Williamson Barn, and you will

47
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:45.800
see him for yourself. The first
time I ever heard the story, I

48
00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:48.560
was seven years old. I was
sitting with Dad at the barber shop on

49
00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:53.279
Main Street. It was mid afternoon
and I had just gotten out of school

50
00:04:53.319 --> 00:04:57.879
for the day. Halloween was right
around the corner. Mister Perry, the

51
00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:01.639
barber, had the shop decorated with
paper jack o' lanterns, green faced witches,

52
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:08.000
and spooky black cats. After telling
Dad that he'd heard a stop sign

53
00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:12.000
had been stolen the night before,
the two of them discussed the fact that

54
00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:15.600
it had been so and so's birthday. None of it made sense to me

55
00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:21.040
at the time. Then mister Perry
looked at me and asked, do you

56
00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:28.360
know about the stop sign? Man? I told him I had no idea.

57
00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:34.240
Well, the barber continued, he
has eyes shaped like octagons. They

58
00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:41.079
glow red and twirl around and around. After we got home and I was

59
00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:45.120
lying in bed with the blanket pulled
up to my chin, I asked Dad

60
00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.079
if mister Perry was just saying those
things to scare me with it being Halloween.

61
00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.680
I figured it was possible. It's
just an urban legend, Dad said,

62
00:05:56.199 --> 00:06:00.120
a ghost story. It's something that
gets passed down and told again and

63
00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:04.680
again. After that day, the
legend was ingrained deep in my mind,

64
00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:11.000
even though I didn't know many details. I thought about it often, and

65
00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:15.040
it wasn't just me who fell under
the spell. Soon I realized the other

66
00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.800
kids at school knew about it too. Sometimes at recess we'd play a game

67
00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:26.199
we called stop the Stop Sign Man. One of us would be him and

68
00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:30.480
the others would be his adversaries.
We played the game on the wobbly roundabout,

69
00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:35.160
from which we tried to fling the
stop sign man off of Octagons play

70
00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:40.879
a big part in the weird mythology, from the signs themselves to the strange

71
00:06:40.920 --> 00:06:46.720
locale. Over the years, I'd
seen the Williamson Barn many times in passing.

72
00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:51.120
I always knew something was a little
off kilter about the construction, but

73
00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:58.399
I couldn't pinpoint what the building stands
on a stretch of overgrown land next to

74
00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:03.079
a cow pasture and hence woods.
Not long after learning about the stop Signman,

75
00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:11.720
I realized the truth. The barn
has eight sides of equal length an

76
00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:15.839
octagon. Needless to say, with
the knowledge of the story, I was

77
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:24.040
terrified to go anywhere near that place. Three boy, how things change.

78
00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:28.720
Between the ages of seven and sixteen, I became a completely different person.

79
00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:32.920
My body grew in ways I never
imagined. Over those years, I shot

80
00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:38.639
up like a weed. Now I'm
nearly six feet tall. I don't fit

81
00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.879
in with any particular group at school. That's not to say I don't have

82
00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:46.959
friends. I do, but for
the most part I linger on the outside

83
00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:51.199
looking in. Ten years ago,
nobody would have been able to drag my

84
00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:58.399
skinny ass anywhere near the Williamson Barn. And now I'm sitting here offering myself

85
00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:03.279
up like it's the great sacrifice that
will save all of humanity. And really

86
00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:09.319
it's about a girl. Her name
is Alison Weaving, new to our part

87
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.480
of Crow County at the beginning of
senior year. From the moment I saw

88
00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:18.360
her, with her long blonde hair
and perfect body, she was everything I

89
00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:24.240
wanted to put it simply, I
would have done almost anything to have a

90
00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:28.720
chance with her. Unfortunately, what
Alison wanted was far removed from the likes

91
00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:33.240
of me. Right off the bat, she became besties with Becca Mansfield.

92
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:39.759
Becca, a literal beauty queen,
liked to hang out with a slightly rougher

93
00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:45.159
crowd than the atmosphere me and my
friend Greg Collins could provide. The group

94
00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:50.200
was led by Mark Taylor. Every
day after school, Mark and his gang

95
00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.600
liked to congregate behind the Big Courthouse
on the town square. There they smoked

96
00:08:54.639 --> 00:09:01.200
stolen cigarettes, drew half assed graffiti
on trash cans, and dared each other

97
00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:05.879
to do stupid shit like flipping mid
air from a picnic table. One Friday

98
00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:11.399
night in early fall, I dragged
Greg to a party at Mark's house because

99
00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:15.639
I knew Alison would be there.
Mark's parents were out of town and the

100
00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.279
place was slammed. Greg and I
pushed our way through the crowd. We

101
00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.320
found Alison and Becca sitting on the
countertop in the kitchen. They were watching

102
00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:30.000
Mark and his friends do the latest
viral challenge, placing a penny on the

103
00:09:30.039 --> 00:09:35.200
prongs of a halfway plugged in phone
charger. As sparks flew, I couldn't

104
00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.919
help but to notice how both Alison
and Becca laughed at what they were witnessing.

105
00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:46.440
At that moment, one thing became
glaringly clear to me. For Alison

106
00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:54.080
Weaving to notice me, I needed
more of an edge. Four. I'm

107
00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:58.559
gonna do it, I say,
Thursday night, It's on my seventeenth birthday,

108
00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.600
is only three days away. According
to the legend, you only get

109
00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:07.840
one shot if I don't do it. I might regret it later, I

110
00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:11.759
add. Greg and I are sitting
in one of the study rooms at the

111
00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:16.440
library, which is located in a
flat brick building on the square. He's

112
00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:20.320
on one side of the wide wooden
table and me on the other. Greg

113
00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:24.080
throws a pencil and it hits me
upside the head. You could have put

114
00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:28.639
my eye out, I yell out
and retrieve the yellow number two from the

115
00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:33.679
floor, promptly flinging it back in
his direction. Greg ducks out of the

116
00:10:33.720 --> 00:10:37.200
way. The pencil bounces off the
cinder block wall behind him and rolls underneath

117
00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:43.519
the radiator heater. Greg sits up
straight and stares at me. The stop

118
00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:48.039
signman is just a lame ghost story. You know that, He says.

119
00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:52.120
You need to grow up. Man. We pack up our belongings and walk

120
00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:56.679
outside. Greg reaches into the front
pocket of his book bag and pulls out

121
00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:01.879
a pack of cigarettes he'd lifted from
his older other. Without asking, he

122
00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.519
hands one to me. I just
don't want you to get in trouble,

123
00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:09.600
he says. Chip Wagner is the
most recent guy we know of to perform

124
00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:16.200
the ritual, and that was ten
years ago. Chip was caught and charged

125
00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:20.320
with theft. With the common knowledge
of the legend, it didn't take a

126
00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.799
rocket scientist to figure out who to
bring in for questioning. After all,

127
00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:30.200
it was Chip's birthday. I placed
the cigarette between my lips, light the

128
00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:33.440
tip with Greg's lighter, and inhale. The smoke makes me cough, and

129
00:11:33.559 --> 00:11:39.320
Greg laughs at my lack of experience. Besides, if you're that desperate for

130
00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:45.120
some action, I'm sure Roxy is
ready and willing. Just take your ass

131
00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:48.240
over to the filling station. By
the time we were young teenagers, we'd

132
00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:54.519
already heard the rest of the stop
signman folklore. After entering the barn with

133
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:58.759
a sign as an offering, a
woman appears. People say, she takes

134
00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:05.360
your innocence, she makes you a
man. They say, no, one

135
00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:09.320
really knows what that means. Though
obviously, with what Greg is suggesting to

136
00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:15.840
me now, his takeaway leans more
towards something of a sexual nature. The

137
00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:20.320
girl he's talking about, Roxy is
someone who grew up in the boggy land

138
00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.480
on the other side of the railroad
tracks, swamp rats we call them.

139
00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:28.759
I glance across the square. The
filling station is visible from here, and

140
00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:33.720
I see her. She's sitting on
an old wooden church pew that's pushed up

141
00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:39.919
against the side of the store,
I groan in disgust. I'm sure she

142
00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:45.399
is, but I don't want to
catch some kind of disease. Later that

143
00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:48.480
night, after having birthday dinner with
my dad, I drive all the way

144
00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:54.919
out to Layman Road to where an
intersection sits deep in a long stretch of

145
00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:58.759
pines. Over the past few days, I've been scoping things out and making

146
00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:03.840
a plan. Anybody who does this
has to choose his own sign, and

147
00:13:03.960 --> 00:13:09.799
the one I've picked has a spray
painted X on the back. With a

148
00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:13.639
wrench from the toolbox on the back
of my truck, I remove the sign

149
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.840
from the metal post. After I
have the sign taken down, I place

150
00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:22.000
it flat on the bottom of my
truck bed. I drive out to the

151
00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:26.879
Williamson Land and pull off the road, parking in a secluded, unused red

152
00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:31.799
dirt driveway located on the far side
of the barn. Admittedly, the exterior

153
00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:35.799
of the barn is creepy as all
get out, even at seventeen years old.

154
00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:41.440
Briefly, I'm taken back to several
years earlier, when I thought the

155
00:13:41.480 --> 00:13:46.919
stop signman might be real. Just
as quick as those stories begin to resurface

156
00:13:46.919 --> 00:13:50.480
in the back of my mind.
I push all the nonsense away and focus

157
00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:56.600
on the present. Here's the kicker
about all of this. Tonight, I'm

158
00:13:56.639 --> 00:14:00.919
going to one up Mark Taylor.
My visit to the stop signman is going

159
00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:05.200
to be recorded. If the girl's
got a kick out of Mark's penny trick,

160
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:09.360
Allison is going to flip the f
out when she sees this. With

161
00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:13.879
the stop sign held under one arm
and my phone in the other hand,

162
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:18.639
I walked toward my destination. For
dramatic effect, I hold the phone at

163
00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:24.960
a low angle, recording the tall
weeds that slap and brush against my jeans.

164
00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:28.879
Once there, I lift the wooden
latch and pushed the door open with

165
00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:35.679
the toe of my boot. The
rusty hinges creak in the still dark night.

166
00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:41.960
The door makes a soft slap against
the interior wall. Finally I step

167
00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:48.440
inside. Narrow slants of moonlight come
through the gaps between the boards of the

168
00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:54.240
wall. The smell of old straw
hangs heavy in the air. Not knowing

169
00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:58.799
what else to do, what step
I'm supposed to take next? I tossed

170
00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:07.679
the sign onto a loose scattering of
hay and nothing happens. I'm about to

171
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:11.039
leave when the wall on the far
side of the barn begins to shake,

172
00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:15.799
like a set of shutters in a
thunderstorm. As the boards clatter, a

173
00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:20.679
shower of thick dust falls from the
rafters, making me cough and sneeze.

174
00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:24.960
Finally, the wall literally folds in
on itself, and I'm able to see

175
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:31.480
what is on the other side,
a wet, boggy swamp. This can't

176
00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:37.120
be real. I think this has
to be a prank. Greg, I

177
00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:41.000
call out, I don't know how
you're doing this, but you need to

178
00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:46.759
cut it out. I imagine him
around the corner or high above in the

179
00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:52.679
hayloft, looking down on me,
watching and laughing. Movement within the wetland

180
00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:58.879
catches my attention and I look.
A girl is standing on the end of

181
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.720
a moss covered wooden dock. She's
wearing a white tank top that's way too

182
00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:11.480
small and a pair of jean shorts
that fit tight over her thighs. Roxy

183
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:15.120
A moment later, I'm standing on
the dock in front of her. I

184
00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:19.159
have no idea how I got here. I look down and see the bottom

185
00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:25.519
half of my jeans are covered in
thick, dark colored muck. Obviously,

186
00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.759
I walked through the water, but
I don't remember any of it. I

187
00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:36.679
wonder if I'm hallucinating Greg. I
call out again, enough is enough jokes

188
00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:44.559
over. Roxy speaks. There's nobody
here but us. Her voice is soft

189
00:16:44.600 --> 00:16:49.120
and strangely seductive. At first,
I think she's talking about me and her,

190
00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:55.159
but then I notice her eyes.
Look over my shoulder. I turned

191
00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:00.200
to look. A shadowy figure is
standing in the barn. I can't make

192
00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.400
out any particular features, but I
can tell it's a guy with a body

193
00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:08.839
built like an athlete. The tips
of Roxy's fingers brush against my neck.

194
00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:15.240
The length of her nails causes my
skin to crawl for some reason. When

195
00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:22.000
I turn back around, I'm looking
at her exposed midriff, a cubic zarconi,

196
00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:26.680
a belly button piercing catches, a
sparkle of light. Logically, I

197
00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:33.200
know I should run far away,
but there's something else deep inside of myself,

198
00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:40.240
a pull that makes me stay.
It draws my body closer to hers.

199
00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:47.960
She slides her fingertips against my lips. It is done, she says,

200
00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:55.319
you are a man. Five.
I wake up the next morning,

201
00:17:55.400 --> 00:18:00.079
still wearing the clothes I had on
the night before. The inside of my

202
00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:04.079
mouth feels like I've been chewing on
a sheet of coarse sandpaper. My head

203
00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:08.000
pounds, and when I sit up, I feel dizzy. Sitting on the

204
00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:11.000
edge of the bed, it takes
me a moment to gain my composure.

205
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.559
I stumble into the bathroom to take
a leak and brush my nasty ass teeth.

206
00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:22.960
That's when I notice the crumbly,
crusty mud smeared across my shirt and

207
00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:29.519
jeans. Dry leaves are stuck in
my messy hair. I look like crap.

208
00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:34.960
My eyes are bloodshot, below them
dark bags. My skin has a

209
00:18:36.039 --> 00:18:40.480
washed out, sallow look. To
someone else, I might look like I've

210
00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:45.000
been on an all night bender.
After looking for my phone, which is

211
00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:48.039
nowhere to be found, I change
clothes and then go into the kitchen for

212
00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:53.799
a glass of water. Dad's sister, Rita is here. Aunt Rita lives

213
00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:59.160
next door and comes and goes as
she pleases. Currently, she's sitting at

214
00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:03.480
the kitchen table talking on her phone. She acknowledges me with a brief smile.

215
00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:10.000
I pull a glass from the cabinet
and fill it with tapwater. This

216
00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:15.039
is just like nineteen ninety six all
over again. Aunt Rita says to whomever

217
00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:18.440
it is she's talking to. I'm
clueless to the reference, but I can

218
00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:22.720
tell by the sound of her voice
that she's upset. Did you hear about

219
00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:27.599
that girl, aunt Rita asks.
Now, her voice has a different tone

220
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:33.359
the one in your class. It
takes me a second to realize she's talking

221
00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:38.720
to me. I pinched my eyes
in confusion and shake my head. Alison

222
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:45.400
Weaving. She explains she had a
crash last night. She died. My

223
00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:49.880
heart slams against my rib cage.
The glass of water nearly slips from my

224
00:19:49.960 --> 00:19:55.640
grip, but instead I slam it
onto the countertop. What do you mean

225
00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:02.039
another car te boned hers, They
say she i'd on impact. I feel

226
00:20:02.039 --> 00:20:06.119
so terrible for that girl's parents.
The loss they must be going through is

227
00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:11.960
impossible to fathom. This can't be
happening. I think the room is twirling

228
00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:18.400
around me. I need to sit
down, aunt Rita continues. They say

229
00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:22.759
the stop sign was gone. The
driver of the other car didn't even know

230
00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:27.200
they should stop. What I'm hearing
can't be true. It all makes me

231
00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:32.319
feel like I could puke. Finally, I fall into the seat of the

232
00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:37.359
chair opposite aunt Rita, where Where
did it happen? What road was it

233
00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:45.440
on? Her answer solidifies the thoughts
churning through my head way out on Layman.

234
00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:51.200
Later that day, English class is
interrupted by the secretary from the Principal's

235
00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:56.000
office. After tapping on the door, Missus Brown leans her head in and

236
00:20:56.200 --> 00:21:00.640
calls my name. I stand from
my desk and feel the entire room watching

237
00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:07.000
me. Missus Brown escorts me down
the hall. It's the middle of fourth

238
00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:11.920
period. All the other students are
in class. It's just me and her.

239
00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:17.200
The heels of her shoes clomp on
the tiles. The sound is loud

240
00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:22.640
and echoes in the long, narrow
space. Missus Brown opens the door to

241
00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:27.480
the office and I notice right away
that two uniform police officers are standing next

242
00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:33.720
to the principal's desk. And Dad
is here too. I can tell he's

243
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:38.759
pissed. Stratton Duke. One of
the officers steps forward. There's something we'd

244
00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:45.599
like to talk to you about.
You turned seventeen last night, right more

245
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:59.279
scares to come after these quick messages. Six. I'm sitting in the back

246
00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:03.519
seat of the officer's car. The
old Williamson Barn looks even creepier than it

247
00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:10.200
did the night before. Now the
mystical ambiance of the setting is long gone.

248
00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:15.559
It seems real. It is real, I remind myself, and the

249
00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:21.279
reality of all this terrifies me.
The repercussions of my actions are gut wrenching.

250
00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.000
It wasn't supposed to be like this. I say, it's just a

251
00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:30.640
silly urban legend. We get out
of the car and I lead the officers

252
00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:37.279
inside. Dad follows us, but
he remains quiet the whole time. He

253
00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:41.799
stands with his arms crossed, watching. And you say, you dropped the

254
00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:45.920
sign, and that wall there.
The officer nods across the space. You

255
00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.839
say it opened up. I can
tell by the look on his face that

256
00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:55.720
he doesn't believe a word I've said. Look, I know it sounds crazy,

257
00:22:55.799 --> 00:23:00.759
but yeah, that's exactly what happened. And this girl, roxy you

258
00:23:00.839 --> 00:23:06.240
call her, she took your innocence. I noticed a smirk on the second

259
00:23:06.279 --> 00:23:11.519
officer's face. Yes, I say, it's not anything raunchy, well,

260
00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:15.680
not like sex, or I don't
think so. Anyway. Look, I'm

261
00:23:15.720 --> 00:23:21.640
not sure what happened, but I'm
telling the truth. The second officer walks

262
00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:26.079
across and pulls open a wide door, revealing a second room, this one

263
00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.759
is full of stop signs. From
floor to ceiling is a menagerie of red

264
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:36.480
octagons. Some of them are lying
on the floor, while others are nailed

265
00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:41.319
to the walls and the support beams. With both doors open, wind barrels

266
00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.960
through the space. The hanging signs
swing and clatter against each other. Look,

267
00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.200
kid, what you're telling us.
All that mess about the stop signman

268
00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:55.480
is nothing new. I've heard it
all before. Don't forget. I grew

269
00:23:55.559 --> 00:23:59.319
up in these parts. I've heard
the stories. Hell, when I was

270
00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.119
your age, I was tempted to
do it myself. But the thing is

271
00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:08.599
I didn't. What we're dealing with
now is something else altogether. The other

272
00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:14.880
man speaks up. A girl is
dead because of what you did. I

273
00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.279
ride home in the back of the
cop car after being issued a citation for

274
00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:22.839
theft. I stand on the porch
and watch the cruiser pull out of the

275
00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:27.720
driveway. The horrifying truth of the
matter hangs over my head. I could

276
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:33.279
be charged with involuntary manslaughter. After
telling me I'm grounded for the rest of

277
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:37.480
my life, Dad heads back to
his job. He's working a double and

278
00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:41.400
can't get out of it. While
he's gone, I decide to sneak out

279
00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:45.680
and make a quick visit to Greg's
house. I pull into Greg's yard and

280
00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:51.039
spot him sitting on the porch swing
drinking one of his dad's cheap beers.

281
00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.880
I've been worried sick about you,
he says, what's going on. I'm

282
00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:02.240
sure the gossip of me leaving with
the police spread like wildfire through the school,

283
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.000
and I can only imagine the assumptions
people have already made. Greg offers

284
00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:10.759
me a beer, but I decline. I take a seat on the steps

285
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:17.240
and tell him everything. Seven they
say, if you get caught, the

286
00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:22.440
stop signman will come after you.
You can't sleep because he invades your dreams,

287
00:25:22.759 --> 00:25:26.839
and staying awake doesn't help either.
He constantly stalks every corner of your

288
00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:33.039
mind, turning every peaceful thought into
a nightmare. Even when I was talking

289
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:37.160
to Greg, my attention was broken
by the shape of the porch tiles octagons.

290
00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:42.279
Greg didn't believe my story. In
fact, he suggested I seek mental

291
00:25:42.359 --> 00:25:48.480
health. The knowledge that my best
friend no longer has my back hurts me

292
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:55.720
deep inside. After leaving Greg's house, I have an idea. My phone

293
00:25:56.359 --> 00:26:00.480
I recorded everything the night before.
I wasn't able to find the phone in

294
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.079
my room this morning, and I
hadn't seen it in the barn this afternoon.

295
00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:08.839
There's one person I can think of
who might have an answer. Finding

296
00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:14.279
the phone won't change what I did, but it will give proof that I'm

297
00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:18.160
not crazy. Instead of going home, I make a stop at the filling

298
00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:23.480
station where I spot Roxy today.
She's leaning against the wall by the bathrooms.

299
00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:27.440
I get out of my truck and
charge across the parking lot, not

300
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:33.160
stopping until I'm standing directly in front
of her. Her hair is damp from

301
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.160
a recent shower. I can smell
the flowery scent of shampoo other than the

302
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:42.039
wet hair. She looks exactly like
she did last night. Where's my phone?

303
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:47.839
I cut right to the chase.
Roxy laughs and stands up straight.

304
00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:52.400
I don't have your phone, Stratton, My name on Her voice is like

305
00:26:52.599 --> 00:26:56.000
fingernails on a chalkboard. Oh yeah, well, where is it? Then?

306
00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:00.039
I just happen to lose it?
Huh? I throw up my hands.

307
00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:06.880
That would be really convenient, wouldn't
it. Roxy reaches out and grabs

308
00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:11.680
my forearm. The sleeve of her
shirt rides up and I notice a sketchy

309
00:27:11.720 --> 00:27:15.839
red tattoo spread across the underside of
her wrist. The artwork is badly done.

310
00:27:17.240 --> 00:27:21.039
It's like something someone would get in
prison, but the symbol is clear

311
00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:26.480
enough. A stop sign, let
go of me. I jerked my arm

312
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:30.799
away. What you did take someone
of a certain character, she says,

313
00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:37.759
Why did you do it anyway?
Was it to prove a point or to

314
00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:42.279
show that you're It was because of
a girl. My voice cracks. Roxy

315
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:47.960
laughs again. This time it sounds
like a cackle coming from an old witch.

316
00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.440
You came to the barn with one
goal in mind, and you got

317
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.480
it. That girl was standing in
your way. She would have held you

318
00:27:56.519 --> 00:28:03.680
back. I realized now that Allison's
death wasn't just an accident caused by what

319
00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:10.400
I'd done. She was payment.
I'm not sure what for, but I

320
00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:15.079
know it's something I don't want.
That's messed up. I say. If

321
00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:19.079
I would have known there was a
price, I would have never You're part

322
00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:23.000
of it now, Honey. From
here on, it's between you and him.

323
00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:30.440
You have to finish what you started
by him. I know she means

324
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:36.200
the stop sign. Man, If
facing him is what I have to do,

325
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:41.960
so be it fine. My breath
is coming and going out of my

326
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:48.519
lungs. In deep rhythmic puffs.
I'll do it eight. The first rule

327
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.240
in the legend of the stop sign
Man is that you have to go alone.

328
00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:56.119
I look at it like this.
If I got myself into this mess,

329
00:28:56.599 --> 00:29:00.640
I'm the only one who can get
myself out. I'm still not sure

330
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:07.200
how or why, but the octagon
shape is significant. I think I can

331
00:29:07.279 --> 00:29:11.160
use that bit of folklore against him. When I get home, I go

332
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:14.400
into my closet and find an old
work book from when I was a kid.

333
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.160
One of the multiple choice questions was
to select an octagon from a group

334
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:23.599
of shapes. I'd picked one,
but it was wrong next to a red

335
00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:30.960
X. The teacher wrote, an
octagon must have eight equal sides. Then

336
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.680
I go into the garage, where
I find the hatchet Dad uses to chop

337
00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:38.640
firewood. Later, I park in
front of the Williamson barn. I go

338
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:44.640
inside. Not long after entering,
I hear movement in the hayloft above me.

339
00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.200
I turned to face the wooden steps
that lead upward, and I wait

340
00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:56.640
for the stop Signman to appear.
Finally he does. The steps creak under

341
00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:00.960
his weight. His thin legs are
bare, the s on his feet is

342
00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:06.559
thick, calloused, and cracked.
The toes are gnarled and bent, like

343
00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:11.440
the knots on an ancient tree stump. He's wearing a pair of white boxers.

344
00:30:11.319 --> 00:30:18.200
It's obvious he's built from pieces of
different men. His torso is defined

345
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:23.920
with muscle, despite the fifties era
greaser haircut. His face is wrinkled and

346
00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:30.279
spotted with age. The story mister
Perry told me ten years ago is true.

347
00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:37.920
His eyes are spinning red octagons.
Who what are you? I ask?

348
00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:44.640
When he speaks, his voice has
an eerie timber of a teenager and

349
00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:48.720
a ninety year old speaking at the
same time. We're an organization that stretches

350
00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:56.079
all across the southeast, from Virginia
to Texas and everywhere in between. Right

351
00:30:56.119 --> 00:31:03.079
here in South Carolina just happens to
be the epicenter a secret society. Some

352
00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:10.160
might call it, or a cult
or in a flash, he's standing in

353
00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:15.720
front of me. I can feel
his breath against my face. So are

354
00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:21.640
you the president of the whole thing? I ask? He scoffs at my

355
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:27.279
question of this particular chapter. Yes. The idea that there are others like

356
00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:34.839
him makes my head spin. Everywhere
all over there are boys, young men

357
00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:42.799
looking for ways to achieve their wildest
dreams. But this is not about them.

358
00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:51.039
This is about us. Let me
show you. He grabs hold of

359
00:31:51.079 --> 00:31:55.599
my arm. His grip is strong, the palm of his hand feels like

360
00:31:55.720 --> 00:32:04.640
hot asphalt against my flesh. Look
deep into my eyes, really really deep.

361
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:08.680
I don't want to, but I'm
transfixed. I stare into his face

362
00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:14.880
and her eyes lock. His octagon
shaped eyes light up in a traffic like

363
00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:22.039
glow of green, and I fall
into them. Go, he says,

364
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:30.359
go, go go, and I
do. I let myself go. It's

365
00:32:30.359 --> 00:32:35.960
as if the interior of the barn
melts away from us. In my mind,

366
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.599
I'm speeding through space and time,
through the years of my life that

367
00:32:38.680 --> 00:32:45.160
haven't happened yet. I see myself
with what seems like everything a man could

368
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:51.559
want. It's different for everybody,
he says. What you imagine won't be

369
00:32:51.640 --> 00:32:54.720
the same for the next. In
the vision, it all goes on and

370
00:32:54.880 --> 00:33:01.519
on. There's no stopping us.
He said, you see the potential,

371
00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:09.519
You see what you can be,
the things you can do. An octagon

372
00:33:09.799 --> 00:33:17.519
symbolizes a rite of passage. Eight
is a number of transcendence. I recognize

373
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:22.440
the truth all of what he's showing
me only looks good on the surface.

374
00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:29.440
None of it is worth the price
he tricked me into paying. Somehow,

375
00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:35.400
my thoughts break the spell. You
weren't tricked, he snaps. You wanted

376
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:39.640
to steal that sign. It was
your idea. You wanted to prove you

377
00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:45.440
were a man. I shake my
head. No, not like this,

378
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:50.039
I didn't. I think about the
page from my grade school workbook and all

379
00:33:50.039 --> 00:33:53.319
the various shapes that were drawn on
it. Do you know what the opposite

380
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:59.799
of an octagon is? A surprised
look spreads across his face. His eyes

381
00:34:00.039 --> 00:34:04.880
fade to yellow, and then the
red they were before. Stop, he

382
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:10.679
demands. I answer my own question. It's a concave polygon. I pull

383
00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:15.800
the hatchet from the waistband at the
back of my jeans. It means one

384
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:19.519
of the sides is angled inward.
At the sight of the weapon, the

385
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:24.280
man's mouth drops open and possibly wide. I notice his teeth for the first

386
00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:30.920
time. They're the yellow of corn. I swing the axe against the wall.

387
00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:35.039
The first blow only cracks the wood, but it's enough to cause the

388
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:39.280
stop signman to pause. He cries
out in pain, clutching his side with

389
00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:44.719
both hands. His body bends I
swing the axe again, harder. This

390
00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:50.639
time the wood splinters the stop signman
hollers. This time his voice is so

391
00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:55.599
loud it cuts deep into my essence. Dark blood gushes through the gaps between

392
00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:01.000
his fingers. Stop, he yells, jerk, king his disproportioned body back

393
00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:06.400
and forth, moving toward me.
With the hand not holding his side.

394
00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:09.840
He reaches toward me. Put the
axe down, you little shit, I

395
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:15.360
don't. I swing a third time, harder. Now the sharp end of

396
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:20.480
the blade crashes through and I jerk
it free. The broken slats are jagged

397
00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:24.639
and sharp. My nemesis body folds
over on itself, like the snap of

398
00:35:24.679 --> 00:35:30.639
a mouse trap, and as his
bones crack, it sounds like that too.

399
00:35:30.679 --> 00:35:35.760
The vocals of his agony pour from
his throat in a torrent of pain.

400
00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:42.000
Still he reaches for me. He's
not giving up. I'm on the

401
00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:45.159
other side of the space, And
just as he returns to his unsteady feet,

402
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:51.039
I swing the axe through this section
of lumber. His body slams over.

403
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:55.119
This time a deep fissure cuts into
his abdomen, pulling his upper half

404
00:35:55.159 --> 00:36:00.360
horizontal to the floor. Now I'm
sure what I have to do to finish

405
00:36:00.360 --> 00:36:06.239
this once and for all. Each
of the next five walls are met with

406
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:09.760
the blade, and each time my
ears are assaulted with the agony of the

407
00:36:09.800 --> 00:36:15.920
stop signman being reduced to a broken
and splintered pile of nothing. On the

408
00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:21.880
eighth wall, I chopped the blade
through the boards and then twist the handle

409
00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:27.400
so the axe head catches on the
other side. Then I pull with all

410
00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:32.519
my might. The wall splinters inward, and the screams are finally silenced as

411
00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:39.480
the stop Signman's head splits in two. I stand for a moment, catching

412
00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:44.360
my breath, when the entirety of
the barn begins to rattle around me.

413
00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:53.159
Nine on my eighteenth birthday, I
go out to the intersection on Layman Road.

414
00:36:53.960 --> 00:37:00.639
Now a wooden cross stands by the
road, marking the spot where Allison

415
00:37:00.760 --> 00:37:06.480
died on that night the year before. After I brought down the barn and

416
00:37:06.559 --> 00:37:10.480
destroyed the stop signman, I drove
out here and reattached the sign to the

417
00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:17.159
post. I was taken into custody
for destruction of property. Thankfully Dad bailed

418
00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:22.039
me out. He told me it
was the one and only time he'd ever

419
00:37:22.119 --> 00:37:28.199
do it. My actions didn't bring
Alison back, and my phone was never

420
00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:32.119
found, but the evidence from a
nearby game camera and the analysis of the

421
00:37:32.119 --> 00:37:37.960
skid marks at the intersection revealed the
truth. The fatal wreck wasn't because of

422
00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:44.400
the missing sign. The car that
hit Allison was coming from the opposite direction.

423
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:50.320
It's been one year since all of
that happened. One plus eight is

424
00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:55.639
nine. Recently I learned that one
of the meanings behind the number is wisdom.

425
00:37:57.960 --> 00:38:02.280
After dropping a single flower X to
the wooden cross, I drive away

426
00:38:04.159 --> 00:38:10.920
the end. That story definitely ticked
all the boxes for some good old fashioned

427
00:38:12.280 --> 00:38:15.920
Southern fried fear. I hope you
enjoyed it as much as I did.

428
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:20.920
And a huge thank you to Charles
Campbell for bringing Bryce Gibson to the show.

429
00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:22.880
And if you want to check out
more of Bryce's work, check out

430
00:38:22.920 --> 00:38:30.000
his many books at County Line Horror
dot com. That's County Line Horror dot

431
00:38:30.039 --> 00:38:34.440
com. Show him some love for
helping us bring the spooky on the weekly

432
00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:37.559
And speaking of, we have a
lot going on here at Weekly Spooky,

433
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:44.559
including what will be an unbelievable October. I don't want to tease it too

434
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:50.239
much just yet, but this October
you can expect more content than ever before

435
00:38:50.480 --> 00:38:57.599
and not just episodes, but novella's
and maybe even a couple of full audio

436
00:38:57.679 --> 00:39:04.519
books to tantalize your terror loving self. So make sure you're subscribed on your

437
00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:07.440
favorite podcasting app. And if you
want to help support us and guarantee that

438
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:12.679
the Spooky comes every single week,
you can support us on Patreon for as

439
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.679
little as one dollar a month if
you get exclusive episodes, other exclusive podcasts,

440
00:39:16.679 --> 00:39:20.039
and so much more. All you
have to do is go to Weekly

441
00:39:20.039 --> 00:39:22.920
Spooky dot com and click on Patreon. And speaking of I want to thank

442
00:39:22.960 --> 00:39:27.960
our Patreon podcast boosters. These are
folks who pay just a little bit more

443
00:39:28.239 --> 00:39:31.639
to hear their names on the show. And they are Johnny Nicks, Bobletopia

444
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:37.639
dot Com, Megan Hua, Julia
Kersh, Brent McCullough, Karen Weemet,

445
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:39.679
Jack Kerr, and Craig Coo.
And thank you all so much. And

446
00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:44.519
if you want to join them,
just head to Weekly Spooky dot com and

447
00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:49.599
click on Patreon. But now,
my spookies, I've got to get out

448
00:39:49.599 --> 00:39:51.760
of here. I have a whole
lot of work to do to make sure

449
00:39:51.800 --> 00:39:55.239
that I bring the fear to you
multiple times a week. So take care

450
00:39:55.519 --> 00:40:00.480
and be well, and for myself, for our producer Dan Wilder, executive

451
00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:05.320
producer Rob Fields, and our composer
Ray maadis Oh my dear, I will

452
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:14.840
talk at you later. Great googly
movely bye. Thank you for listening to

453
00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:20.800
me. Make sure to find your
way back next week, but for now

454
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:23.159
you are safe. Trust me,