The Version That Stayed
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What is the opening introduction and patron thank‑you?
I'm John Grylls from Creepy, and I listen to the Be Afraid Podcast Network. No.
This is Creepy. Creepy. A podcast dedicated to sharing the most famous, chilling, and disturbing creepypastas and urban legends in the world. Whether these stories truly happened or are simply fabrications is for you to decide. These stories may contain graphic depictions of violence and explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.
Hey, everyone. Please join me in welcoming and thanking new patrons. Genevieve Azoulay, Mike Keen, Edward Miller, Dro, and Kevin Phillips. All patrons get early commercial-free access to all episodes, including the 31 Days of Horror, which we'll start posting on Patreon in a couple of days. And even during October, we continue with our Patreon bonus episodes of up to four per week, depending on your donation tier. To see how you can support the show and get rewarded for it, please check out the donation tiers at patreon.com slash creepypod. Here we go. Like I said, the 31 days of horror is days away. I know I messed up how many years we've been doing the show earlier this year, but I'm fairly certain this is the 10th time that we've done the 31 days of horror.
What a ride. Some of you may know that the first 31 Days of Horror we did back in 2017 was meant to be the end of Creepy. I was burnt out. The show was just something I wanted to do to narrate the creepypastas I loved so much. Then, long-time listeners will remember the bad days. Oddly enough, it was the bad days that made the show what it's become. You never know when you're in the middle of something that feels terrible, that something amazing can come from it. You just keep moving forward. Then one day you look up and this life, it isn't a life you ever expected or even thought you deserved. I'm so grateful for the time I've been able to spend on this show. The people I've met, the listeners who have reached out.
It feels fitting that
All right, make sure to delete this.
How does the narrator discover the mysterious VHS tapes in his parents' house?
I don't have enough to worry about. Okay, just delete all this stuff after the Patreon read and jump to the story intros.
First up, a man digitizing old family VHS tapes discovers a mysterious boy who looks exactly like him. And as the boy begins invading his recordings, memories, photographs, and family life, he realizes something is slowly replacing him. From writer J.Q. Leonard and narrated by Jimmy Ferrer, Creepy presents The Version That
Stayed.
Creepy Presents, the version that stayed. Written by J.Q. Leonard and narrated by Jimmy Ferrer. I work for an IT company that prints labels. Not the interesting kind, mind you. If labels even come in an interesting kind. I'm talking about the peel and stick sort of that end up on shampoo bottles. Quarts of mortar oil and little glass jars of oregano that nobody finishes. Three days a week I do the job from our spare bedroom. Down those days I can go from the first coffee to the last ticket of the afternoon without speaking a complete sentence to anyone over the age of six. I'm good at it though, believe me. It's not a brag. Being good at something you don't care about is a quick way to burn through the years.
I reset passwords, I walk the same people through the same problems they had last month, tell them to turn it off and turn it back on. Most of the time that's the entire fix. Most of the time they thank me, we hang up, and I could not tell you five minutes later who I had talked to. Lisa, my wife. Says I've been somewhere else lately. She doesn't say it like she's looking to start a fight. She says it casually across the kitchen on a Tuesday evening with the dishwasher running. In the same voice she'd used to tell me we were low on milk. I'd tell her I'm tired. And the trouble is I'm not lying. I am tired. It's not just exactly physical kind of tired. Our kids are four and six. Nora and Sam. In the evenings, I read to them and do voices.
And when an appropriate amount of time has passed, I turn off the lights. There are nights where I get to the bottom of the stairs and I can't remember a single page. My mouth did the reading.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the opening introduction and patron thank‑you?
0:00–2:51
2
How does the narrator discover the mysterious VHS tapes in his parents' house?
2:51–10:14
3
What is the significance of the boy named Derek appearing in the footage?
10:14–18:42
4
How do family memories and the name Derek start influencing the narrator’s real life?
18:42–35:06
5
Why does the narrator decide to burn and bury the haunted tapes and drive?
35:06–57:03
6
What is the sensory‑deprivation pod experience and its effects on the narrator?
57:03–1:20:31
7
How does the pod journey lead to encounters with ancient creatures and a terrifying monster?
1:20:31–1:28:30