June 7, 2025

INTRODUCING: Fear Daily!

INTRODUCING: Fear Daily!

🎧 This Week: Feed Drop – Fear Daily! We’re doing something a little different tonight—and you’re going to love it. We’re featuring a feed drop from the brand-new retro horror podcast Fear Daily! Fear Daily digs into the creepiest stories of the...

🎧 This Week: Feed Drop – Fear Daily!

We’re doing something a little different tonight—and you’re going to love it. We’re featuring a feed drop from the brand-new retro horror podcast Fear Daily!

Fear Daily digs into the creepiest stories of the 1990s and beyond—monsters, hauntings, cults, and unsolved terrors—pulled from a mysterious online bulletin board lost in the shadows of the Pennsylvania Rust Belt.

🕯️ Written by Brennan Storr (The Ghost Story Guys)
👻 Narrated by Brandon Schexnayder (Southern Gothic)

🕰️ Short, spooky stories—perfect for a quick scare

If you’re a fan of Magnus Archives, Archive 81, or The Black Tapes, this bite-sized horror show is right up your haunted alley.


Subscribe to Fear Daily wherever you listen to podcasts, and let them know Weekly Spooky sent you!

🎧 LISTEN NOW and subscribe for spine-tingling horror stories every week!

🎉 Unlock exclusive bonus episodes and support the show on Patreon!
👉 WeeklySpooky.com/Join

📬 Contact Us / Submit Your Horror Story!

🎵 Music by Ray Mattis 👉 Check out Ray’s incredible work here !
👨‍💼 Executive Producers: Rob Fields, Bobbletopia.com
🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
🌐 Explore more terrifying tales at: WeeklySpooky.com
WEBVTT

1
00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:07.160
Well, hello, my spookies, I've got a creepy little treat

2
00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:13.160
just for you tonight. We're introducing you to our good

3
00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:19.280
friends at Fear Daily, because who better to compliment weekly

4
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:24.160
spooky than Fear Daily. So I'm going to play for

5
00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:28.120
you a full episode of their program that I know

6
00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:34.119
you'll really enjoy. It's retro horror at its finest. Short

7
00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:39.439
spooky stories pulled from a mysterious nineteen nineties message board

8
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:47.640
somewhere deep in the Pennsylvania rust Belt, featuring tales of monsters, ghosts, cults,

9
00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:52.439
and so much more. It's written by Brendan Store from

10
00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:56.399
the Ghost Story Guys and narrated by Brandon Check's native

11
00:00:56.679 --> 00:01:01.039
of Southern Gothic. Two masters of the maca who know

12
00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:06.439
how to deliver that spooky feeling we all love so much.

13
00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:11.879
So settle in as I press play and enjoy your

14
00:01:11.959 --> 00:01:16.959
first dose of Fear Daily if you dare, and if

15
00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:20.640
you enjoy it, make sure you subscribe to Fear Daily

16
00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:23.599
on your favorite podcasting app.

17
00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:39.760
When the Internet began, bulletin boards services or bbs became

18
00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:44.079
the first online communities of the so called Information super Highway.

19
00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.280
Using their phone lines, people logged in from all over

20
00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:52.879
America to talk about sports, games, movies, and on one

21
00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:58.519
BBS in particular, they're sure their ghost stories. Over time,

22
00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:02.879
those communities all all went dark, except for one lone

23
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:07.120
server that continues to operate somewhere in an unknown part

24
00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:11.639
of Pennsylvania's Rust Belts. A relic of the nineteen nineties

25
00:02:11.879 --> 00:02:12.879
veiled in Mystery.

26
00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:14.280
It is a digital.

27
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:18.599
Archive of humanity's strangest encounters with the unknown, as told

28
00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:26.479
by the people who experienced them. My name is Brandon Shechsneider,

29
00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:29.120
and you were listening to Fear.

30
00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:47.159
Daily subject together user alt Melody, posted August ninth, nineteen

31
00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:53.520
ninety eight.

32
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.240
From the ages of eleven to fourteen, I used to

33
00:02:58.280 --> 00:03:01.400
have to spend summers at my own house and great Neck.

34
00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.080
It wasn't by choice, not that kids that age get

35
00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.800
a whole lot of choice and how their affairs are managed.

36
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.319
My mom looked after me for the rest of the

37
00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.680
year while working full time, so I guess she figured

38
00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:15.800
it was a way for her to get a little

39
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.639
time off without having to take me out of school.

40
00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.319
She probably also worried about the kind of things I'd

41
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:25.080
get up to if I was left alone in the city.

42
00:03:25.960 --> 00:03:28.039
It makes sense to me now that I've got a

43
00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:31.879
little distance from it. Back then, I hated it, and

44
00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:34.599
they're run up to the holiday. My friends would talk

45
00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:36.919
about the things they were going to do together, seeing

46
00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.919
Madonna and bon Jovi at the garden or having sleepovers,

47
00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:44.800
and what did I have to look forward to? Piano

48
00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:50.680
lessons and walks along Manhasset Bay with thought Amy. It

49
00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.520
wasn't that it was torture or anything. It just wasn't Madonna.

50
00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:58.439
I never minded going there with Mom for Christmas because

51
00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:01.599
not as much was happening at home when my friends

52
00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:04.639
would disappear into the cocoon of their family lives for

53
00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:08.520
a couple of weeks. Besides, Aunt Amy had lived alone

54
00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:12.080
since Uncle David died in nineteen seventy five, and even

55
00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.840
a selfish teenager knew you didn't leave family alone on

56
00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:21.920
the holidays. They had a beautiful house across from Plum

57
00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:25.639
Point with big windows that looked out over the water.

58
00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:29.800
Sometimes at night, the three of us would all just

59
00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:33.360
sit there in the living room with lights off, aunt

60
00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:38.639
Amy playing David's favorite songs on the piano while outside

61
00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:45.240
snowflakes blanketed the bay. This past Christmas, we got a

62
00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:47.839
call from the Great Neck Police to let us know

63
00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:52.560
that Aunt Amy had passed. The piano had been a

64
00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:55.800
focal point of her life, so I suppose it's only

65
00:04:55.839 --> 00:05:00.800
fitting she died sitting there, her hands ra on the

66
00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:05.879
polished ivory keys. Being in Amy's house without her there

67
00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:10.199
wasn't as strange as SCI had expected. At least once

68
00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:13.279
during every visit should run out to what had been

69
00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:17.199
David's favorite deli on Middleneck Road and bring back dinner.

70
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:21.480
Standing in the living room with Mom as the afternoon

71
00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:25.120
light faded, I half expected her to walk in, shaking

72
00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:28.959
the snow from her hair. Of course, she was never

73
00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:33.600
going to walk back in there again. The kitchen was empty,

74
00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:40.000
countertops wiped clean before her heart had given out. Mom

75
00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:43.480
and I couldn't bring ourselves to touch Amy's belongings that

76
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:47.600
first day. Instead, we decided to have a meal in

77
00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:54.360
her honor. The deli is still there, so we ordered

78
00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.360
the same thing she always used to a pound of turkey,

79
00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:04.360
a pound of roast beef, dozen slices of seated rye gravy.

80
00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:07.240
The elderly man behind the counter looked up from where

81
00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:09.920
he was writing our bill. He knew exactly who we

82
00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:14.480
were and offered his condolences. When our order was bagged

83
00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.720
and ready, he held his finger like he had forgotten something.

84
00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:22.079
He kneeled down out of sight, knees popping audibly, and

85
00:06:22.120 --> 00:06:24.199
when he came back up there was a can of

86
00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:29.040
baked beans in his hand. Sometimes, he said, David used

87
00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:34.040
to like beans. No charge. Back at the house, Mom

88
00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:37.959
and I ate silently in the high ceilinged kitchen. We'd

89
00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:40.560
made it back just ahead of the blizzard. The radio

90
00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.480
had been threatening all day, and now wind howled at

91
00:06:44.519 --> 00:06:48.879
the double paned windows. Once dinner had been finished and

92
00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:53.000
the leftovers backed up, we turned off the potlights above

93
00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:58.480
the kitchen island, plunging the house into total darkness. Together

94
00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:01.279
we went into the living room sat on the bay

95
00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:05.279
windows long bench seat to watch the storm. I leaned

96
00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:09.120
my head back against Mom's chest, listening to the tick

97
00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:14.120
of the clock. I miss her. Mom wrapped her arm

98
00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:18.959
around me, Me too, baby. We cried ourselves to sleep.

99
00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:22.800
I had a dream in it. I was laying on

100
00:07:22.839 --> 00:07:25.560
the bench seat in Aunt Amy's living room as wind

101
00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:29.519
whipped thick snowflakes back and forth across the bay next

102
00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.759
to me. I could feel the rhythmic rise and fall

103
00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:37.560
of Mom's chest as she slept behind us. Aunt Amy

104
00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:41.839
was playing Leo Ornstein's Morning in the Woods. My chest

105
00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:47.680
clenched with emotion and the tears came again, wiping them away,

106
00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:53.240
feeling the hot liquid against my fingertips, I realized it

107
00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:57.959
wasn't a dream. I was wide awake, but the music

108
00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.040
continued to play, so desperately wanted to look behind me,

109
00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.920
to know if aunt Amy was there, sitting at her

110
00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:08.199
piano the way she always had. Something told me not

111
00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.800
to turn that to see would be to bring this

112
00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:17.319
moment to an end, and I knew I didn't want that. Instead,

113
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.360
I lay back on Mom, who shifted against me, getting

114
00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:26.480
comfortable again. Could she hear the music too, I wondered,

115
00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:31.759
Would she remember it all as a dream? I'd never ask.

116
00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.559
I breathe deeply, letting the music fill the sile, and says.

117
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.559
The three of us watched the snowfall one last time.

118
00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:16.480
Subject gum drops user quiet Witness, posted October third, nineteen

119
00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:17.240
ninety six.

120
00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:27.759
The parking lot was full of media vans this morning,

121
00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.919
A pack of blow dried hairdoos trying to get as

122
00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:34.519
close to the apartment building as the police cordon would allow.

123
00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:39.600
Word had spread quick the gum drop killer strikes again.

124
00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:45.120
This time he left behind more than his usual lockdoor mystery.

125
00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:51.159
He left behind a living victim. Cops hated the whole

126
00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:54.720
gum drop killer names, so the fact it was their

127
00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:58.519
own fault is kind of funny. After details of the

128
00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:02.200
first couple killings broke in the news, residents of high

129
00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.679
rise apartment towers found dead in their beds, poisoned by

130
00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:09.799
an unknown toxin, their eyeballs missing. A reporter from the

131
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:12.799
Times had managed to catch one of the lead detectives

132
00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:16.440
when he was half in the bag. The reporter asked

133
00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.320
if the police had any idea with the killer wanted

134
00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.759
with the victim's eyes, to which the annoyed cop responded,

135
00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:26.200
maybe he eats some like fucking gum drops. I don't know.

136
00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:33.000
The rest was history. Who am I? I'm nobody unless

137
00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:35.200
you're a fan of comic books, in which case you

138
00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.360
might recognize my name as the anchor on one of

139
00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:42.799
your semi favorite series if you're not familiar with my business.

140
00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:47.279
An anchor is someone who interprets the original artists graphite work,

141
00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:51.039
and you guessed it inc There's more to it, but

142
00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:54.559
I'm not here to give lessons on the finer points

143
00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:57.799
of the comic book industry. You've got Kevin Smith for that.

144
00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.799
I'm here because I'm one of only two people alive

145
00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:07.480
who's seen the Gum Drop Killer. No, this isn't a confession.

146
00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:10.440
I'm not a killer of anything. It's hard for me

147
00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:13.480
to swat flies, since I've always figured they've got as

148
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:16.960
much right to be around as I do. Lord knows,

149
00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:19.720
Lord knows, I wouldn't have made it out of short

150
00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:22.519
pants if the rules allowed for beating me to death.

151
00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.639
As soon as I got annoyed, the detective who interviewed

152
00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.720
me till sun up asked me not to speak to

153
00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:33.440
the media, and I won't. The last thing I need

154
00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:37.799
is that kind of attention. The only reason I'm posting

155
00:11:37.799 --> 00:11:40.960
this here is because if anything happens to me, I

156
00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.120
like the idea of my story not getting buried in

157
00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:48.679
some cardboard box at an LAPD lockup. Why would anything

158
00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.799
happen to me because the Gum Drop Killer saw me too,

159
00:11:52.960 --> 00:11:56.600
and I'm not convinced that cops can do much against

160
00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:04.080
something like that. At the beginning. I moved into this

161
00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:07.440
a year ago after one of my dates pointed out

162
00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:10.799
that an invitation back to the house a grown man

163
00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:14.600
shared with his mother. Was always going to get an automatic. No,

164
00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.759
it's a two bed, two bath and a twenty story

165
00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:22.000
new build, So I'm the first person to live in

166
00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.679
my apartment, same as my neighbors and theirs. The Comstocks,

167
00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:30.840
the couple visited by gum Drop last night, had only

168
00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:36.039
bought their place last month. I hadn't met them before

169
00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.080
last night, when I watched him die as something barely

170
00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:47.720
human plucked out his eyes. The thing about living in

171
00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:51.360
a modern building like this is that everything looks the same.

172
00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.720
Same carpet on every flour, same and gray paint on

173
00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.440
the walls. Even the same apartment numbers, just with a

174
00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.480
two digit should prefix beforehand to denote the floor number.

175
00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.840
Now I'm ten twenty, my neighbor is ten twenty two,

176
00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:12.240
and so on. The Comstocks have, or at least had,

177
00:13:12.440 --> 00:13:17.600
apartment eleven twenty two, one floor above me. That's why

178
00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.519
when I stumbled out of a cab into the lobby

179
00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.000
of our building last night and hit the button for

180
00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:26.679
eleven instead of ten, I didn't notice for a while.

181
00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.559
You know that feeling when you've really got a load on,

182
00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.440
like your field of vision narrows to a point, and

183
00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.120
all you can do is move toward that point. It

184
00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:39.879
doesn't matter if you're on a crowded street with cars

185
00:13:39.879 --> 00:13:43.240
whizzing past. The only thing you see is what's at

186
00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:47.879
the end of that tunnel, burrito carta bathrooms, some poor

187
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.000
woman who hopefully spots you before you can bother her

188
00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:55.919
with your idiot drunkenness. That's where I was last night,

189
00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:01.080
completely boofed on Singapore slings and desperate to get into

190
00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.440
my place so I could take a leak. I weaved

191
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:09.000
my way down the featureless hallway, saw twenty and went

192
00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:14.360
for the door knob. The competing interests of gin and

193
00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:17.639
the need to urinate completely bypassed any thought of a key,

194
00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:21.519
and walking into a darkened apartment laid out exactly like

195
00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:25.039
my own meant I didn't see anything to suggest I

196
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:30.639
was anywhere but home. Inside the bathroom, I flicked on

197
00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:34.960
the light, and halfway through a deeply gratifying piss, it

198
00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:38.840
occurred to me that someone had redecorated in a few

199
00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:42.919
hours i'd been gone. There was potpourrie on the toilet

200
00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.320
tank instead of stacked up issues of Wizard and the

201
00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.399
bar of soap next to the taps was a bright

202
00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.960
pink instead of the hairy white bar of dove that

203
00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:57.759
did double duty between my shower and sink. Nothing will

204
00:14:57.799 --> 00:15:02.279
cut through a gin fog like, and that's exactly what

205
00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:07.320
I felt in that moment. This wasn't my apartment. I

206
00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:12.399
had just broke and entered. Well, I didn't break anything,

207
00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.279
but I doubt the cops would be that discerning when

208
00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:20.919
they laid charges. My stream finally reduced to a trickle.

209
00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.519
I wondered about the etiquette flushing while committing burglaries, and

210
00:15:24.840 --> 00:15:29.399
that's when I heard sounds coming from next door the bedroom.

211
00:15:29.799 --> 00:15:34.039
Going by the layout of my own home, first I

212
00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:37.519
thought it was people fucking, so I listened a little more.

213
00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.200
It's been a while since I've had feminine company, but

214
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:45.360
even drunk me knew that the process didn't sound like

215
00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:49.919
what I was hearing. It sounded like struggling, whimpering, and

216
00:15:50.519 --> 00:15:57.240
something else, something wet. Carefully, I stepped out of the bathroom,

217
00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:00.600
wincing at how long a shadow I was casting thanks

218
00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:05.720
to the bathroom. Why the noises continued like I hadn't

219
00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:08.960
been seen, and I debated just sneaking back out of

220
00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:12.159
the door and believing whoever lived there, to wonder if

221
00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:15.759
they were being haunted by a ghost with an enormous bladder.

222
00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:21.000
My curiosity went out, however, and I creeped toward the

223
00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:26.600
open bedroom door. My footsteps were almost inaudible on the

224
00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:31.799
linoleum floors. I inched closer to the black doorway, hearing

225
00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:38.440
the struggling more clearly, something was wrong, really wrong. Dread

226
00:16:38.600 --> 00:16:42.960
blossomed in my chest. Spike of adrenaline burned away the

227
00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:46.480
rest of my drunk. Placing my hands on the doorframe,

228
00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:50.039
I leaned into the room just enough for my eyes

229
00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:54.720
to start adjusting to the dim The patio door was open,

230
00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:59.080
curtains across it, fluttering in a slight breeze. On the

231
00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:02.600
bed were two people, no. Three, Two in the bed

232
00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:08.839
and one. A third figure was barely a person. Enormous

233
00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:13.680
muscled arms pinned the couple under the blankets like butterflies

234
00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:17.119
in a display case. The body was thick too, seeming

235
00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:19.920
rigid like the body of a beetle. Its legs were

236
00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:22.960
long and thin, folded up under it, like it was

237
00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:27.720
doing some kind of isometric hole One of the figures.

238
00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:33.359
I'd later learn it was the husband. Johnny wasn't movie

239
00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:37.880
the other is wife. Ann was shaking side to side,

240
00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.079
losing power with every moment. As the third figure's head

241
00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:46.839
got closer to her face, the more the curtains blew,

242
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.200
the more the light of the city filtered in, outlining

243
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:55.920
the tableau in front of me. Something emerged from the

244
00:17:55.960 --> 00:17:59.920
third figure's mouth, long and slick like a mosquito's probiscus.

245
00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.799
My stomach turned, threatening to announce my presence with a

246
00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:08.680
fire host spray of slightly fermented Singapore sling. The rest

247
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:14.240
of me was frozen. Turns out that's the third aft

248
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:19.279
to fight or flight freeze. All I could do was

249
00:18:19.720 --> 00:18:25.079
watch as the long rubbery tube split into two, one

250
00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:30.519
settling on each of the struggling woman's eye sockets. There

251
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:33.799
was that wet sound I had first heard in the bathroom.

252
00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:39.160
I knew what it was now, sucking the probiscus withdrew,

253
00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.640
tugging until the eyes popped right out, trailing long, thick

254
00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.359
cords of their own that could only be the optic nerves.

255
00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:51.599
The figure withdrew the probiscus, quickly snapping the stalks and

256
00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.839
sucking the stolen treats into its own mouth. I heard

257
00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:01.279
them popping wetly as a shoe. Oh, I thought, dumbly,

258
00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:06.920
that's the gum drop killer. Hey, that cop was right

259
00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.480
after all. Having that conscious thought brought me back to

260
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:15.200
my body, and the first thing I did was scream.

261
00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:18.960
Gum Drop's head snapped in my direction, his eyes a

262
00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.759
bright silver in the dark. I reacted by turning to

263
00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:25.440
run at the same time as I vomited what must

264
00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:29.200
have been a bright red fountain of pineapple juice, gin

265
00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:32.440
and benedictine across the wall in front of me. Out

266
00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.240
of the corner of my eye, I saw a gum

267
00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:40.279
drop throw himself on the floor, landing on his powerful arms.

268
00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.920
He moved toward me at an impossible speed, thumping forward

269
00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:50.559
like a combination of gorilla an insect. I couldn't outrun him.

270
00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:53.599
There was no way, but I was going to try.

271
00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:58.279
I passed the bathroom with gum drops close behind. I

272
00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.640
was only feet away from the door. He was faster.

273
00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:06.799
I knew it in my heart. This was it. Instead

274
00:20:06.839 --> 00:20:10.480
of feeling gum drops landing on my back, I heard

275
00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.599
a grotesque, wounded cry, and I turned in time to

276
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:20.000
seem scuttling back into the bedroom. Why wasn't he coming closer?

277
00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.279
It only took me a moment to figure it out.

278
00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:27.160
The shaft of light cast from the bathroom cut the

279
00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:31.720
hallway in half, his half and mine. Did he not

280
00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.680
like the light? He was still there, hiding in the dark.

281
00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:41.279
I could hear him breathing. To test my theory, I

282
00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:45.119
reached behind me, fumbling for the handle as I kept

283
00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:49.119
my eyes on the bedroom doorway. When I found the

284
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:54.000
door latch, I pressed down and pulled it open. Brightness

285
00:20:54.039 --> 00:20:58.400
pouring in from the over lit hallway, pushing the darkness

286
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:04.640
further back. For an instant, I saw Gumdrop's face, and

287
00:21:04.680 --> 00:21:08.480
it's gonna haunt me until my dying day. If his

288
00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:12.000
figure had barely been that of a person, his face

289
00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:16.440
was barely that of a man, Pale, blotchy, shot through

290
00:21:16.519 --> 00:21:20.559
with blue veins, his silver eyes full of a deep

291
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:26.240
hate I'd never known before. Another roar, followed by more

292
00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:29.799
frantic thumping and what sounded like one of the curtains

293
00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:33.039
being ripped down. People were coming out of their apartments,

294
00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:37.599
now drawn by the war cries next door. The cops

295
00:21:38.039 --> 00:21:41.640
were not far behind, and I was held on suspicion

296
00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:46.640
for a couple of hours. Then a witness who lived

297
00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:49.640
in one of the apartments across the street came forward

298
00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:53.000
to say that seeing a man with huge arms and

299
00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:58.119
tiny legs climbing down the balconies on our building shortly

300
00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:03.559
after the screaming started. After giving my statement, I was

301
00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:08.200
released from custody with the aforementioned stern warning about not

302
00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:13.079
spreading my story to the press. All the cops would

303
00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:16.920
tell me about Anne Comstock is that she survived the

304
00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:21.400
attack and had a crazy story about a monster kissing

305
00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:27.279
her husband before sucking out his eyes. My guess is

306
00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.920
it wasn't a kiss. I bet next month's paycheck on

307
00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:35.759
the creature using that probiscus to inject something like a

308
00:22:35.799 --> 00:22:39.960
paralytic agent into his victims so he can take their

309
00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:43.440
eyes and whatever else it is he does to them.

310
00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:46.880
Something he didn't get a chance to finish with Anne

311
00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:52.319
because I'd wandered into the wrong apartment. Now the big

312
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:57.680
question is does gumdrops know which apartment is the right one?

313
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:01.039
And is he gonna come back before where I can move.

314
00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:18.880
Fear Daily is an independent podcast hosted by Brandon Shecksneider

315
00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:22.640
and written by Brennan Store, with Joanna Smith serving as

316
00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:26.839
the consulting editor. Audio production by Rachel Boyd, and sound

317
00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:31.759
design by Southern Gothic Media. This podcast is a work

318
00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:36.920
of fiction where names, characters, places, and incidents are either

319
00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:41.759
products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any

320
00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:45.839
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to real

321
00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:51.599
events or locations is entirely coincidental. Add Free versions of

322
00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:55.359
Fear Daily are available now on your favorite podcast apps.

323
00:23:55.960 --> 00:24:01.240
For more information, visit feardaily dot com, but move fast

324
00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:07.319
before the server goes off line.