Chapter 1: What themes of horror are explored in 'The Stream'?
Water. It gives us life. We are drawn to it. Yet it holds immense power over us. It can bring unspeakable horror to the most familiar places. Your morning shower, a tranquil riverbank, or the endless ocean. it's time to dive deep into the abyss. From the dark waters of the Cape Fear River, immerse yourself in horror as you brace yourself for the No Sleep Podcast.
Welcome to the No Sleep Podcast. I'm your host, for now, Jessica McAvoy. Now, if you're newer to the show, you may not recognize my voice, but once upon a time, voice acting was my main gig. I found out you could buy a microphone, plug it into your computer, and just do it.
The second thing I ever recorded was actually my audition, more of a let's make sure you don't sound like you're recording in a tin can confirmation, for No Sleep. And they were the first to ever pay me for my acting. i started way back in season three back in 2014 oh boy so uh over a decade ago okay that hurts i was a fetus
Since then, I've faded into the background, working more on the editorial side of things. I promise, I am trying to get back in front of the mic. But there are just so many stories to read. Which, you know, can't really complain about getting to read scary stories all day for a living. In fact, send me more. My absolute favorite submissions usually come from listeners of the show.
I think it's really cool to be in a position where we can have people who enjoy and love what we do contribute and be part of it. So if you've written a story you'd like to share with us, send it on over to submissions at thenosleeppodcast.com.
If you'd like to know the specific details of what we're looking for, head over to thenosleeppodcast.com slash submissions for a full list of our guidelines. It will take us some time to get to you, I'm sorry. We just have a lot of submissions. But we're doing our best to reduce our wait times.
Now, because I read so many scary stories for no sleep, I don't actually consume that much horror media once I clock out of work. You spend all day reading about the worst things that can happen to a human being. You kind of just want to unwind after all that.
I do make the sacrifice for the Hear It in Horror podcast, which I do with some friends, a couple of which you might recognize from the No Sleep Sphere, where we listen to and discuss other horror audio dramas and try to get more ears on these indie creators.
So, if you've enjoyed the dulcet tones of me yapping, or you're looking for new horror audio to indulge in, you can find Hear It in Horror wherever you choose to listen to your podcasts. But yeah, outside of that, I keep my media pretty cozy.
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Chapter 2: How does 'Channel 14' challenge perceptions of reality?
Excluding the death metal, but that's wholesome in its own way. Unlike the folks in our next couple of stories.
Hey folks, just wanted to take a second to let you know this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. And it's May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month. A reminder that whatever you're going through, you don't have to go through it alone. Personally, I've been struggling a lot lately. More downs than ups. But I keep reminding myself that life is a journey.
Some days feel good and others feel overwhelming. Whatever's keeping you up at night, besides our scary stories, it's easy to feel like you have to figure it all out on your own. But the truth is, no one has all the answers and no journey should be alone. Having someone with you to listen, to understand, and to support you can make all the difference.
Therapy has helped me and I know it can help you. BetterHelp has fully licensed therapists who get millions of five-star reviews. Their sign-up process is quick and easy and they will make sure you get matched with a therapist suited to your needs. Use this month as an opportunity to check in with yourself and understand where you are right now. You don't have to be on this journey alone.
Find support and have someone with you in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash nosleep. That's betterhelp.com slash nosleep. Okay, back to you, Jessica.
In our first tale, oh, that is fun, we're introduced to a group of friends on the hunt for what is supposedly the world's most extreme horror movie. All they have to do is watch 13 unspecified scary movies in a row, in the right order. and then the mystery movie will appear. Easy, right?
Matthew Jackson brings us this story of friendship and fear, reminding us that it's probably not the best idea to try out rituals you find in the dark corners of the internet. We've got Dan, always brings baked goods to the live show, Zappula. Also check out his music on Spotify. Atticus, your ASMR boyfriend, Jackson.
And Jeff, I'm so sorry for always casting you as weirdos, Clement, performing this one. As we all plop on the couch to ride the stream.
It was supposed to be a way to kill half a summer, and now I'm groggy from bleach fumes after cleaning up all the blood. My English teacher says it's important to sketch out your ideas as much as possible, outline things so you can understand what you really mean. Maybe if I write it all down like this, I'll understand what happened. Maybe how to stop it from happening to me.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of 'The Bleeding Tree' in the context of horror?
We didn't have clear instructions on what to start with, but we settled on It Follows with that sweet opening kill to launch the thing. You watch that movie all the way to the end and wait for the little what to watch next bar of recommendations at the bottom of the screen. That's where it gets tricky because you have to go down to that bar and pick your next movie.
But Logan said no one really knew the exact order you were supposed to watch stuff in. Because the streamer keeps adding and removing movies, right? So maybe you pick the third movie from the left and keep going, then pick the second movie from the left next, and then the first, then the fourth. And eventually, if you do everything right, you unlock this secret horror movie.
The most fucked up thing you've ever seen. So fucked up that the streamer can't even advertise it, and the people who have seen it... can barely describe it. But here's the thing. If you get the combination wrong, you can't just, like, go back and watch from the fifth movie you picked and try again. You have to start over from the very beginning.
And according to Logan, you can't take breaks in between. It has to be one continuous stream of movies all building to this secret thing. One long stream you ride until the very end. Riding the stream. That's what Logan said the internet called it. And no one knows how long the ride actually lasts. But once you do get to the end, you'll never forget it.
It'll be the most brutal horror experience of your life. Corey and I thought it was kind of dumb, but we were probably just going to watch horror movies all summer anyway, and we had Logan's dad's lake house. Not really a lake house so much as a shitty lake cabin, but it was ours until July 4th at least, with a fridge full of beer and a solid Wi-Fi connection, so why not? Let the marathon begin.
And that was two weeks ago. At least, I think it was two weeks ago. Eventually, you lose your relationship with time, and it's just screams and chainsaws lighting up your brain all day and all night.
Man, it's bullshit, I'm telling you. It's a rumor they're using to juice the algorithm. Get viewer numbers up.
Corey had hit his limit on day three of this odyssey. Logan, however, wasn't willing to give up just yet.
If that's true, how come they're not building the rumor around one of their new shows or something?
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Chapter 4: What elements make 'The Keystone Witch' a compelling story?
On the TV, Sidney Prescott ran from Ghostface, just like she had every day since 1996.
Fuck if I know. Can we at least watch a movie with nudity next time? Dude, calm down.
Have another beer. I've had five beers. Then take a nap. I don't care. That was the one silver lining. According to Logan, the movies had to be playing endlessly, but you didn't have to watch them endlessly. So we napped in shifts, sometimes for four or five hours at a time, while someone else manned the controls so we didn't leave too long of a pause between movies.
Corey slumped back on the couch while Logan stared at his phone, thumbing through a website I'd never seen, studying it like it had all the SAT answers. When I asked him what it was, he stuck his phone in his pocket and went back to the movie.
I think I got it.
He'd said that before, more than a few times, but there was an extra layer of energy to Logan's voice this time. Or maybe Corey and I were just imagining that, hoping for a breakthrough.
We'd gotten to the point with the horror movies where it was less of a pastime and more of a thing we had to conquer so we could leave the lake house, do something else, maybe even just go outside and sit in the sun. We didn't want to see this fabled secret movie so much as we wanted to be able to say that we hadn't wasted our time. Sunk cost fallacy, my dad calls it.
It's 13 movies and we have to end on Friday the 13th.
Logan shoved his phone back into his pocket again so he couldn't see what he had been reading. That makes total sense.
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Chapter 5: What insights does the host share about their journey in horror storytelling?
No.
Give it a minute. Was the Wi-Fi like... I said give it a minute.
Logan's eyes never left the screen. Credits scrolling up the lenses of his glasses like a secret code all their own. The credits ended. The screen went black. Across the room I heard Logan make a noise that was somewhere between an I told you so scoff and a fuck this groan.
I remember sitting forward on the couch, puzzled, palms slick with sudden sweat, wondering if maybe we'd just reached the end of what the app would let us watch. Maybe it was cutting us off for our own good, like a bartender. Then the buffering wheel came up, a thick, translucent snake eating its own tail, loading something. No, summoning something.
A few seconds later, ominous music played over the black screen. A few seconds after that, an image faded in.
This is it! Holy shit, we did it!
We all sat straight up, silent and wide-eyed, and watched the secret movie. Fuck! Corey bent all the way forward in his chair until his head was between his knees.
I mean, fuck! Yeah, worth it. Totally worth it.
While Corey folded himself in half across the room, Logan stood up from his spot next to me on the couch and started pacing, more animated than I'd seen him since that first day. His eyes darting around like he was searching for something hidden in the dark corners of the cabin.
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Chapter 6: How does the podcast address mental health during its sponsorship segment?
What was the most fucked up part? I think it was when the tide of intestines came out of the building. Huh? You know, when the door opened and it was like... Come on, you watched it.
I didn't see that. I was gonna say, when the eyeball gets sliced up into little rounds, I didn't even know eyeballs could do that.
The fuck are you talking about? No one sliced any eyeballs.
Eyeballs exploded, but... I watched the same fucking movie you did, and that happened, dude. Robbie, the eyeball thing, right?
My eyes were glued to the beer bottles littering the coffee table until Logan said my name. I looked up and found Logan and Corey looking down at me, something building behind their eyes that might have been excitement and might have been panic. Tingling heat surged across the back of my neck and up around my scalp as I realized that I hadn't seen either of the things they'd talked about.
What I'd seen was something maybe less gruesome, but much darker, much more intense. See, here's when we get into the problem, because even now, while I'm writing all of this out, I can barely remember what I saw. I can only remember this darkness, this sense of something massive approaching from somewhere humans can't reach.
Something with teeth the size of skyscrapers and an endless appetite that would swallow the world. I shook my head, looking from Logan to Corey and then back again.
Fucking... Come on, guys. We all watched it. Pulverizer, right? The people can just rip you to shreds with their minds. Like in Scanners, but way more fucked up.
Logan turned to look at Corey, frustration showing on his face, eyes still wide. No.
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Chapter 7: What reactions do characters have to the horror they experience in 'The Stream'?
I will never forget the sound Corey made right before he went away. I'd never heard a human make a sound like that before. Somewhere between the mewling wail of an animal desperate for rescue and the cry a baby makes when it's in between sobs and so exhausted it can barely find the strength to scream anymore. He made that sound and then his body broke. Broke is the only word for it.
He didn't exactly pop like a balloon, and he didn't crumble and crunch the way you might think a body full of bones would. He broke. His skin split, his bones seemed to vanish beneath the weight of whatever unseen pressure was coming down on him, and a second later... He was nothing but gore.
In my periphery, I could see Logan looking up from his phone, watching as our friend became a shallow river of red bits laced with ropey entrails spreading across the hall. Pulverizer... Something else probably should have happened other than what we actually did, which was pack those intestines into a garbage bag, then mop up the blood with what must have been a whole bottle of bleach.
We should have called someone, should have maybe taken a minute to try and understand what we'd just seen so we could explain ourselves. But really, how do you ever tell anyone that your best friend died via spontaneous disintegration that maybe happened because he watched a movie? So, we didn't say anything. Plus, I couldn't pull Logan away from the couch after that.
He came around just enough to help me load up the little bits of Corey into a bag and take them out back where the heat was no doubt already stinking them up really good. And then, he was back at the TV, starting the combination over, trying to get back to the place where we could see if there was more to this thing. We made it through two movies before the first cut opened on Logan's body.
Logan winced, held up his right hand, and we both watched as a thin vertical line of red appeared in the space between the knuckles of his first and second fingers. It wasn't split skin either, the kind you get when it's the dead of winter and you've washed your hands too much. This was a clean, deep cut. Like watching my mom butterfly open a chicken breast so she could stuff it.
Blood bloomed in the little canyon of flesh the cut left behind. But Logan did nothing beyond wincing, not until I reached out with an old takeout napkin and shoved it over the wound. God of razors.
Wow, it's interactive too. How'd they do that?
He looked at me like he expected me to have some kind of symptom too, that we couldn't imagine what, since I'd never told him what my movie was about. I could barely remember myself. I just remembered a blackness, and those teeth, and something shuffling out from the cosmos to devour.
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Chapter 8: What is the overarching message of the episode regarding fear and technology?
Yeah, yeah, alright, I laugh at dumb shit. Don't look at me like that. You're a notebook. Judgmental for an inanimate object, aren't you? It's good to laugh, though. I did find this super weird channel called Channel 14, though. I think it's a Middle Eastern newsroom, maybe Afghani?
I have to admit, I'm too uneducated to know for sure, but the thing about it is that the anchors have English names, despite looking very Middle Eastern, and the whole thing being in their native tongue. Seth and Oscar, I think. Some comments touched on that, but it was overshadowed by the subject matter.
They would be talking about pretty normal news stuff and all of a sudden say strange things like he will chop again and other references to him. Now, I know that was just the subtitles and anyone could have edited that way, but I'll have to keep checking it out to see if anyone speaking the native tongue confirms or denies it. 12.02.2020, 106 p.m. Talked to my sister today. It was nice.
Been a year or so since we've chatted. Nothing too deep, but it was good to catch up. I miss you, Marcy. Glad you're making mad money lately. Guess I haven't been doing too bad on that front either. Not nearly as good as her, but I truly never thought I'd make enough to afford an apartment out here by myself. Blue-collar work is rough, but damn, does it line your pockets.
Oh, something super cool, that Channel 14 I found on YouTube is putting stuff out every two weeks. Same old news shows, same old weird comments. Someone did confirm that it was Egyptian, which I think is rad. Don't know enough about Egypt, I dare say. Can't wait to see more. 12-17-2020, 12-14 a.m. This show is a fucking trip, dude. It's grown on me in a way I couldn't have expected.
My day pretty much consists of working for seven or eight hours, then making my way to the computer. And every two weeks, I'm greeted with a new installment of Channel 14. This time, Seth began accusing Oscar of sleeping with his wife in the middle of telling local stories. was weirdly seamless.
Both Oscar's retorts, as well as Seth's accusations, seemed to be mixed within the actual news delivered. Seth would say, "'Four dead from car explosion? Just like how you exploded my marriage, Oscar?' And Oscar would reply, what a tragedy, similar to that sham you call a marriage. It was fucking bizarre. Like, this has to be a spoof show.
I can't really tell what's going on, but a chunk of the YouTube community and I are getting a kick out of it. I enjoy small communities like that, where we can ramble together about the little niche thing we've got going on for us. It's been a nice distraction. Work is fine, too, but not exactly enjoyable. My body hurts, and I barely have the energy to go out after I'm done.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm getting some sort of workout, but I don't know, I'm just word vomiting at this point. 12-22-2020, 3-11 p.m. It's three days until Christmas. First one in two years I'll be spending alone. I thought about wishing Valerie a Merry Christmas, since she even initiated the idea that we start talking again.
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