ADR - Episode 525: Pranks

[00:00:00] Oh hello and welcome to Al Dente Rigamortis, I'm Review Cultist. I'm Mik.E, stands for Evil. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And we're here to discuss those internet stories, most creepy and most pasta, and be critically silly doing it. Tonight we have... Pranks.

[00:00:35] So this story, Pranks, is the... Hang on... The fourth installment of the Won't Think Straight Saga on Reddit No Sleep. It is kind of hard to keep track of where it is because even at the bottom they're listed.

[00:00:50] But it doesn't list the one that you're currently reading in that list. So number four keeps moving, you know? Yeah, because the one you're on isn't on the list. Yes. Yeah, so this is the fourth installment of the... I suppose the anthology of weirdness surrounding Won't Think Straight.

[00:01:16] But yeah, I suppose before we get too far ahead we should do our initial recommendations. As always, these stories can be checked out on Reddit No Sleep. And they are of course by Won't Think Straight. But yeah, for initial recommendations, I'm going to recommend this one. Alright.

[00:01:36] I'm going to flourish here and say, Pranks, I hate it. Wow. So is that a non-recommendation then? Yeah, that's a non-recommendation. Oh, okay. That took me for a loop there. I'll recommend this one. I'm curious though. Why? There's still negative on it.

[00:02:05] I have a theory but I'm going to wait until I find out from the horse's mouth. Or the demon's mouth as it were. But yeah, so I guess we should move on to the rest of the show and see why we gave those recommendations.

[00:02:26] Starting with the rundown featuring, I guess, Nair or Won't Think Straight, WTS. So this is a new story from Nair's friend who had the ant with the whole doppelganger business from the last story. This time around... When you said ant, I've been playing EDF a lot.

[00:02:49] I'm like, there was no giant ants in this. I'm sorry, I have to do the correct English pronunciation. Sorry, from the friend who had an aunt with the whole doppelganger business. This time some friends were real pranksters back in the day when they were younger.

[00:03:12] And it only escalated when they got out of high school and got bored and started just kind of doing more and more extreme kind of pranks. Eventually they decided to go out to a local bridge at night and see if they could hear ghosts.

[00:03:28] The bridge in question was an old railway bridge that had been converted into a walking bridge for hikers. Apparently, if you went to the middle of the bridge on a moonless night, it would feel like it was an endless bridge.

[00:03:44] You couldn't see either side because it was so dark. There's also a lot of suicides and supposed hauntings surrounding the bridge. So the gang, Brad, Jason, and Mark, all drove out there.

[00:03:59] Though as they're driving out that way, they and swapping ghost stories to kind of hype themselves up, they came across a hitchhiker limping along the road, which they quickly bypassed and moved on to the bridge. When you're already creeped in. Yeah, exactly.

[00:04:20] There they don't hear anything at first on the bridge, but then Jason hears someone calling his name. And then it calls out to Brad's name as well.

[00:04:31] Mark doesn't like any of this and wants the leave, but gets overruled and the gang goes to the other side of the bridge to investigate. They don't find the person calling out, but then Mark vanishes suddenly.

[00:04:45] Like one minute he's there and then they turn around and they cut her back and he's gone. They can't find him anywhere and decide to wait at their car till morning before heading into town for proper help.

[00:04:58] On the way back, they find that hitchhiker on the ground next to the road. And when they stopped to check on him, it is revealed that he is Mark.

[00:05:09] Later at the hospital, Mark comes to from his exhaustion and exclaims that he got suddenly lost and alone in the woods. And this is when they when they crossed the bridge and was stuck with Phantom footsteps surrounding him for about three days

[00:05:32] before he eventually got back to the road and started walking, trying to find his way. And then he saw a car driving by and then it passed him and he realized it was Jason and Brad in the car. He then passed out from exhaustion and hunger.

[00:05:51] And then that's where the guys found him again the next morning. The gang split up after that with either side blaming the other for pranking them from that night. And just going too far with it.

[00:06:03] Like neither one believed that like the other one wasn't pranking them about what the situation. The story then suggests that perhaps Mark got stuck in a time loop and time itself, it seems, decided to play a prank. Finn. So that was the rundown for this story pranks.

[00:06:25] And I suppose we'll move on to everyone tolerates around acquisitions at this point. I've got a couple. I'll start with this one here. After the story of Aunt Mary, it reminded another of the following experience he had.

[00:06:45] So I think it should be it reminded him of another experience my friend had. Or maybe it reminded my friend of another experience he had for proper clarity as to like who's being reminded of another experience. Yeah, I had to reread that like four times.

[00:07:06] Like, wait, what's going on? Wait. Yeah. And then I have another one here. A radical contrast to the wild brash teenager. He was a many summer many summers ago. I feel like you should probably remove the second a there.

[00:07:23] So like a radical contrast to the wild brash teenager he was many summers ago, maybe even had a comma after was just for like. Exploration, maybe technically. Yeah, but it's not needed.

[00:07:38] But it's like it's like and honestly, I just I mentioned that as I as I reread it here because like, you know, it feels like it would use a comma. I'd probably put a comma there if I was if I was writing this.

[00:07:48] Oh, I'm talking about the like a many summers ago. I don't know. Sounds like a more like sing songy way of saying it, but it's not technically wrong. Then it should actually be he was like the brash teenager. He was many a summer ago.

[00:08:00] Yeah, that's how you hear that. Yes. Yeah, you're right. Mm hmm. Also, maybe Brad was the or maybe Brad has been replaced by a doppelganger like his aunt was or his aunt's husband was. Because I kind of figured that Brad was the the friend in this story.

[00:08:20] But maybe, yeah, yeah. And it says which I have a little bit of a bit about that in my actual thoughts. I just I brought this up here because like the first thing that took precedence was the grammar acquisition. But I also want to repeat it.

[00:08:33] Yeah, and I didn't want to repeat the quote. But I'll move on to the next thing I have. They just had one simple one rule. Too many ones throw one away. Yeah, it's like they just had one simple rule. You don't need that secondary one.

[00:08:55] The next one I have their first few minutes pass with the sound of water lapping at the base of the bridge. Welcome to my tense talk. I feel should be their first few minutes passed with the sound of water lapping at the base of the bridge. Yeah.

[00:09:16] My my my tense talk will continue shortly in a few in a few quotes. I've got a couple more things about that. But continue with the next thing I have in chronological order. Besides, I have the car keys. Sorry, I almost feel like Boston.

[00:09:35] I have the car keys. I got the car keys. Yeah. We're going to Nevada. Those bastards. Those bastards. Anyway, sorry. Moving on. Besides, I have the car keys. So you're not getting anywhere. Let's go. I know. I know it's dialogue.

[00:10:05] But shouldn't it be going not getting like you're not going anywhere instead of you're not getting anywhere. Yeah. Tomato. Yeah, I mean, maybe it is like a dialect. Maybe that's how they like like how like maybe that's a phrase.

[00:10:23] That's how the phrase goes wherever like this person's from. But he's basically saying like, I want to go. He says, I have the car keys. You're not getting anywhere because I have the car keys. Yeah, I guess I guess this is more of a nitpick then.

[00:10:37] But I mean going would make more sense. But I think it works either way. So yes, it is speaking of nitpicks. Let's move on to my next one. So we got this. So there's this sentence here.

[00:10:50] Continuing their journey along the trail, the flashlight casted looming shadows across the trees. And then a few sentences later. All right. Guess it's my turn to be outvoted. Jason replied as he turned around with his torch. Hey, where's Mark?

[00:11:06] So yeah, this this feels like it might be a nitpick for me. But flashlight or torch North American or UK pick one for your story. I didn't even notice.

[00:11:17] I just I feel like only one version of the word for flashlight or electric torch should be used in a story rather than like using both. But I'm not willing to die on this hill, but I'm definitely I'm definitely like a lounge on the couch.

[00:11:36] Maybe the kids are like maybe this town is like on the border between North America and Europe. That's that's unfortunately the only islands in the in the middle of the Atlantic as far as I can as far as I know are the Azores and they're owned by Portugal.

[00:11:57] So we have our location. All right. So this takes place in Portugal in the Azores. No, no, it takes place between the US and UK because clearly that's where the bridge is. Huge bridge. You can't see your side because of how fucking huge it is. Yeah, that's why.

[00:12:22] Yeah, exactly. Man. God damn change your recommendation right now, Mikey. It all makes. Clearly. But I'll move on to the next thing I have without no luck in find Mark and fast running out of options. Jason and Brad decided to head back into town to get help.

[00:12:48] OK, I had to fix this entire fucking sentence. With no luck finding Mark and running out of options fast. Jason and Brad decided to head back into town to get help.

[00:13:00] Sounds like I read it was like, wow, that is not I'm not shaming the author because I mean typos are pro are a very easy problem that everyone gets caught up on. Yeah, especially if they're typing fast and they're in like a hurry.

[00:13:18] Especially if they're typing fast and they're in like they're in a moment. But God damn that sentence. But I'll move on to the next thing I have. On the drive back they spot a figure lying on the ground besides the road, besides road, the hitchhiker. Wow.

[00:13:40] So the hitchhiker was named or the road was named the hitchhiker. But no, I think on the drive back they spotted a figure lying on the ground beside the road. And then my next one here. Daylight gives everyone more courage.

[00:14:01] OK, so this one is technically not wrong the way it's done because in the context of the sentence, it's it's saying like daylight gives everyone more courage like kind of as a blanket statement for like why they decided to stop in the middle of the in the middle of the day.

[00:14:14] To check on that homeless guy rather than like where they bypassed him at night because it's middle of the night. It's dark and stuff. But a tense talk is back. Hello, I'm back on the stage. Yeah.

[00:14:28] So this story sort of just kind of starts lapsing from past tense to present tense about the halfway point for me. Though most of it isn't too bad or it's kind of like nebulous when it does it.

[00:14:41] So I kind of was giving it a pass for them for those were but there are a few glaring issues a few glaring times where I was just like that should be a different word.

[00:14:49] Like, like what I said earlier, we're like they spot the figure lying on the ground like that should be spotted for like past tense rather than present tense. So I'm not going to like continue.

[00:15:00] I was basically getting tired of like picking them off as like I'm just gonna make a blanket statement and just like this needs to be like look through and fixed. This last one though, as you said, it kind of works the way it is. Yeah, you're right.

[00:15:14] But yeah, you're absolutely right. I that's like originally I was going to use this quote for this bit.

[00:15:20] And then I was like, well actually it works because like after I read it, I was like, well within the context, this works because it's like there it's the author saying like it's like when like you're willing to do something during the day because the light rather than do something at night because the dark like he's not specifically saying they.

[00:15:39] Are more willing to do it because it is now daytime. Yeah, they're they're giving it like it's sort of again another like a blanket statement about like what we're willing to do as a as people. Yep.

[00:15:50] So I was going to give this one also a pass but there's a couple of times in the story where like it does go into the present tense where it should be past tense because the story is being told to us in the future of these events. So,

[00:16:03] and then my last one here. If not for a fateful decision to stop the car, Mark might also became another victim. It should be Mark might have also might Mark might also have become another victim. But yeah, that's my grammar inquisition. Mikey the stands for evil.

[00:16:26] I have one and then a connection junction. All right. Mark and Jason were his two best friends. He raised hell with back then. So I feel like this would be better with that. So yeah, Jason, where his two best friends that he raised hell with back then.

[00:16:51] Yeah, like I definitely reread that to like that that sentence twice and I gave it a pass but like yeah I think you've you got it right like it should also it also could easily just like have like that for better clarity of what's not worse with that.

[00:17:07] Yeah, exactly. Oh, I guess from my connection junction. Yeah, yeah. You're going to continue. And next stop conjunction junction to to. So they spent it challenging each other to dares. But Jason had one more dare in mind.

[00:17:32] So, when they spotted a lone figure ahead in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. Their nervous laughter turned to sudden dread. It was a cool night, but their chills were more from the fear in their minds than the air around them.

[00:17:53] It sounded like someone was calling their names from the opposite side of the bridge they entered from it vaguely sounded like marks. But that soon turned to anger and frustration as he watched it accelerate straight past him without a hint of acknowledgement.

[00:18:17] It was a prank he will not forgive them for. Wow. So they're out there, they hear a voice and then they see the voice accelerate past them somehow. I mean, I could actually buy that because like the Doppler effect kind of thing.

[00:18:37] It's like it's like talking and getting louder and louder and louder as if it's getting it's like coming right at them. So yes. Yeah. Yeah. Very different story when you read it just like that.

[00:18:51] Yes. And that is what happens when you list all the sentences that start with words that they probably shouldn't like it's ends or buts because there's always better words to use. Indeed. Gamer, do we have a grammar in yellow?

[00:19:07] Yeah, we got a little bit left probably. Let's see. My first one is in regards to the line break at the top where it switches from the intro to the actual story.

[00:19:23] Yeah, I'll just read a little bit of it. I'm starting to think I have spooky friends after the story of Aunt Mary. It reminded another of the reminded another friend of the following experience he had.

[00:19:36] I don't know if those two stories are related, but they are certainly connected by the strangeness. The names have been changed to provide some privacy and there's a line break each and every day we make a thousand myriad decisions, picking our lives, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[00:19:49] And it goes on with that. So I when I read that, I don't really know how I feel about the starting of that because like it's laid out like Nair is telling us about a story that a friend of his told.

[00:20:03] Yeah, but there's a line break transition from the intro to the actual story he's telling. Yes, but the start of that start of that actual story is so dramatic and flowery.

[00:20:16] It makes it like it makes a story being told feel like someone is telling a campfire story compared to someone actually trying to convince people that weird shit is actually happening. Yeah, that being said, the dramatic part I'm talking about.

[00:20:33] I do like and it's good, but I feel like it should be in the intro, not at the start of the story. Yes, I would personally rather the line break start at I've known Brad for a couple of years.

[00:20:44] Also, yes, it is Brad because it says that he is the one that brought it here. Here's the thing because I had the same the same like kind of thoughts about this. It's actually my first actual thought.

[00:20:56] Is this story about Nair's friend Brad or is this story being told to was a story told to Nair by his friend and this group of friends is the guys Brad's friends or not Brad's friend like is is Brad, Jason and Mark, the friend of the friend group of the friend who told Nair this story.

[00:21:20] No, it was like okay. It says I've known Brad for a couple years now and in the intro it says it reminded another of my friends the following experience that he had.

[00:21:31] So Brad had this experience, aka Brad was there so Nair is getting this from the Brad's mouth. Well here's the thing also like is this another friend like and not the same friend that had the story about Aunt Mary. Did we get a name of that friend?

[00:21:49] We did not. We were just given, actually I don't remember. Even if it was the names were changed and he may have changed them to different names to hide them even more.

[00:22:02] But what I'm meaning is like because you're saying like it reminded me of another friend with the following experience he had.

[00:22:10] Like you keep saying that like and it's like to me that it sounds like you're implying that this story is by another friend not the person who had Aunt Mary and told that story to him. Yeah, but that is my whole point on this note.

[00:22:24] I'm just saying like you're confusing me because like yeah because I assumed this story that we've heard was told by the same friend who also had the Aunt Mary story. Not a new friend with a new story from another like that wasn't connected to Aunt Mary.

[00:22:42] But how did you assume that when it says it's not? It's not what? I'm like legitimately confused. Sorry. What are you confused about?

[00:22:51] So OK, what so you think the story that was that Nair is relaying is by another friend not the friend who had this who told Nair the story of Aunt Mary. I mean it basically says that yes.

[00:23:06] After the story of Aunt Mary it reminded another of the oh God. Yeah, bracket friend like it should say friend there.

[00:23:16] I see I miss if you're right and I'm wrong that I misread that is like that this it reminded his friend like his previous the reminded the friend who told about the Aunt Mary story about another of the following.

[00:23:32] OK yours makes way more sense now like God damn it. The problem is the noun isn't put in that sentence so it's hard to see who he's actually talking about and that's where you're confusing came from.

[00:23:43] That's why I had to read that sentence four times trying to get a feel for it. That makes sense yes OK so yeah that's definitely this is still a grammar thing because like that sentence has caused a couple of problems for clarity. Yes. OK.

[00:23:56] All right I understand now I was probably in the wrong or misunderstanding who's telling the story. Yes.

[00:24:04] But regardless my whole point on this is the line break should in my opinion go down to when he mentions Brad because having flowery stuff in the intro is fine but I don't personally like it at the start of the actual telling the story.

[00:24:18] Yeah because those first two paragraphs he's not actually telling the story. Yeah yeah and also the the flowery parts of the like after that cut almost sound like it's the same person bringing up the intro so they kind of almost doesn't fit the rest of the story.

[00:24:35] Pretty much. But I shall move on and repeat a part of the quote I've already said but that's fine each and every day we make a thousand myriad decisions affecting our lives. So my problem here is myriad myriad however you want to pronounce that potato potato.

[00:24:52] It means an unnumberable amount of things so this says that every day we make a thousand unnumberable decisions. Is it numberable or not. It sounds weird. I think it's it's being used here is like it like we make like a ridiculous amount of like number.

[00:25:11] Yeah it's not being literal. It's basically he's saying it doesn't need the thousand. No it could just say thousand or just say myriad. Yeah both is kind of redundant. Yeah. In my opinion. Yeah no I understand yeah that one I understand. Good let's cut and dry.

[00:25:33] If you're confused on this this next one here I'm going to be shocked as well. This is my last one here. Okay that can't be a coincidence is the quote. Apparently there's no dash in coincidence but there's a dash.

[00:25:49] You see a dash is what some people use to like connect things or separate things a little bit and there's a dash in this word. But when I Google that there's no dash. Okay yeah yeah it's how the character talks as dialogue. How do you talk a dash?

[00:26:08] It can't be a coincidence. Yeah it's hyphenation it's like coincident. He is enunciating. Is he really? Honestly I think that I think it is supposed to be like I don't think there is actually a dash in there.

[00:26:27] Yeah well as a word it's not supposed to have a dash but it is dialogue so he could like I say be enunciate. Yeah yeah we do get something I think we got something later where like Mark is like kind of stuttering I think as well so yeah.

[00:26:45] Or like what like um. Yeah because he was scared. Yeah well there's also another one I just actually I'm just seeing right now on my screen. Well we did your lame dash ass dare Jason.

[00:26:57] That is how you would describe because you're using lame ass as a descriptor for the dare. Oh shit lame ass does have a dash in the middle. Also actually there's a line in the middle of a lame ass just like a normal ass.

[00:27:16] Here's the thing though here's the thing guys here's the thing the first thing that comes up like in the dictionary is lame dash ass but now I'm also seeing like a bunch of other things especially in like urban dictionary and wiktionary like for like playing and plural.

[00:27:30] They just refer to it as lame ass like like contracted like a contract and work like a compound word. Where's that. So, are you also going to come to about he that the Phantom voice says. Because there is no such word as he.

[00:27:56] Hey, just going a little far with us. I think we're hitting critical mass of silliness here. I just wanted the dash out of coincidence that's all I want. You guys just get taken. The simplest freaking grammar thing I have. Like yep. Oh okay cool. I didn't know that.

[00:28:19] What's funny is we both I think agree with you. We're just being really difficult because you said it's like I'd be surprised if you had a problem with this. Yeah, I did myself up for failure there I suppose. Yeah, no you're right you're right. Fine, I'm done. Okay.

[00:28:42] He just gamer just leaves the drops drops the mic walks away. He just he just power drops Mikey. But, um, all right I guess we'll move on to actual thoughts now. I'm going to start with this one here. Doing the cinnamon challenge while rip roaring drunk.

[00:29:04] Okay, so up upon looking this wiki this wiki article up it's not as bad as the neurological disorder from the previous story that we did. I didn't know what the cinnamon challenge was.

[00:29:18] I knew what it was but I went on the link anyway I actually, I honestly actually didn't know until like an hour to connective tissues time after reading this story about like two hours after reading the story.

[00:29:30] I then proceeded to watch a game grumps, like short on like tick tock. That was Aaron doing the cinnamon challenge. That's creepy.

[00:29:41] Yeah, but yeah so I read the article about like I read like the first paragraph of the art of this wiki article that's linked from cinnamon challenge in the story. And yeah well it's not as bad as the neurological disorder like as creepy as the neurological disorder.

[00:29:56] Um, just like reading the first are the first paragraph in the article I'm just like why do people do this shit.

[00:30:04] Obviously the answer is because internet trends fame and stupidity, but still like some of the, some of the things that it causes like by doing this like you can, you can literally develop pneumonia from from doing this fucking challenge.

[00:30:18] Yeah, or a collapsed lung. Yeah, exactly. That's where that's where I ended the article is like alright I'm done. I don't want to read anymore. But the internet views man. I yeah that that's the problem is, well it's the same thing with like the Tide pod thing.

[00:30:34] Yeah, the type of challenge from like a few years back and like the same that same shit where like kids were were eating Tide pods for for views. I'm sure that's safe. No, it wasn't. Oh really. Yeah, a shocker.

[00:30:50] But yeah, so just like this article that was linked wasn't as bad as the previous story article that was linked.

[00:30:57] But it was like still just like each each day we shy far and we, we, we slip closer and closer to Nair Lutatep's sweet embrace of chaos and death. Certainly death. A lot of people. There's a lot of dumb ways to die. Yeah.

[00:31:15] Yeah, Mikey do you have anything more to add to this or? Um, well, the yes. Really? So, Yeah, well it goes into the next paragraph and whatnot afterward where they basically pranked the cops and construction workers. Right.

[00:31:41] And go to jail and then we get this quote, that moment should have been their wake up call to consider what they were doing with their lives. And I was like, yeah. My response is no. Doing the cinnamon challenge while drunk should have been. No, I mean.

[00:32:02] The consequence because I mean you're one they're already drunk. If something bad were to have happened, nobody can drive them anywhere because they're drunk. Like it's just a bad situation.

[00:32:17] It wouldn't be a wake up call unless something bad happened during that cinnamon challenge thing, which clearly there wasn't anything bad. Yeah, that's the thing. Like clearly nothing happened. Yeah, this is the first time that there was consequences to their actions. Yeah.

[00:32:33] I mean like yes, like when it says like this should have been the wake up call. I was like, yes, this should have been their wake up call like Jesus Christ.

[00:32:41] Yeah, that's why I was expecting the story to kind of go into like a prank goes too far and somebody dies. That's how I was expecting the story to go. Or they try to prank somebody on that.

[00:32:55] Like maybe not even be like one of them dies, but like maybe somebody on the bridge who's like thinking about suicide, they end up like accidentally like pranking. It's like doing like the oh save your life, but like not grabbing them in time. Yeah.

[00:33:09] Kind of thing. Yeah, like I was expecting that kind of like creepy or like dark shit to happen on the bridge for the story. But we didn't quite get that. We got a different kind of thing, which I kind of also like, but I'll get into that later.

[00:33:24] Yeah, sorry, Mikey. I took your that. That's fine. It's all right. You can continue. Okay. So I'll continue with the next thing I have here. Just outside of town was a forested area where hikers would occasionally pass through spanning across a wide river.

[00:33:43] There was a former railway bridge that was converted for walking, lacking any lighting. If you stood in the middle and if you stood in the middle on a moonless night, both ends would be shrouded in darkness that the bridge would seem to stretch to eternity.

[00:34:00] So I'm getting some real like vibes of like Shane Madej's bridge. I mean, the Goat Man's bridge from like actual like real life like spooky paranormal shit.

[00:34:13] Just like also just like spooky old railway bridge in the woods is just like classic creepy setup for a horror story to go happen. So I approve of that.

[00:34:26] And the story even later on has is even later on topped off with a hitchhiker encounter as well, and a creepier one than you expect than that. So, yeah, I was really liking the setup for their encounter that night in the story.

[00:34:48] But move on to the next thing I have. So this is when they start hearing the voices. It called my name, said Jason. No one knows we're here. We should check it out.

[00:35:02] And at that point I was just like, oh hell nah! That is some Appalachian forest creep right there. Even if this bridge isn't in those mountains, you do not fuck with, fuck around with that kind of business. Just nope all the way down. Yeah.

[00:35:22] Like if I hear if I start hearing somebody calling my voice like in the woods when I'm hiking in the dark or at night or even like late day, I'm just like I'm turning the other way and going back to the trailhead.

[00:35:41] Just so you know, there is actually scientific evidence that basically when you hear background noise like in the quiet of night, your mind can make you hear your own voice or your own name. Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:36:01] So it is known that you could hear your voice, your name being called in a forest with nobody around. Yeah. So I'm no supernatural here at all. It's very mundane. Yeah, thank you. Thanks. I hate it. But also like that's kind of creepy to me.

[00:36:19] Like I'm still going to like not be not be like in a good state of mind if I keep hearing that. I refute your mundanity. It's still creepy. Just because it's mundane doesn't mean it's creepy.

[00:36:36] Exactly. Like I've said many times on the show, the forest be spooky yo. Like I love the forest, but I'm fucking terrified of them. But I'll move on. Actually, this is something kind of related to the previous thing I was quoting and such.

[00:36:58] You know, there are some ghosts that lure you into dammered Mark. Just shut up for a moment, Mark. You're neat. You're not helping. Jason interrupted. Fuck you. He ain't helping. Jason, Mark seems to be the only voice of fucking reason here.

[00:37:17] Yeah, just like we need a target to be taken. And it's always the one that's smart and actually wants to get away from the situation. There's always that guy. Speaking of, he's right beside you or he's sorry. There's no one beside me though.

[00:37:41] He's right beside me. Brad spun around. Mark was not there. He was there a moment ago. I swear. Mark, Jason yelled. Are you pissing behind a tree? And at that point I was just like, oh, Mark just got stuck in some liminal space or a temporal thing.

[00:38:00] And he was the voice from earlier. You immediately got that? As soon as Mark disappeared and they started calling his name, it was like, Mark's the voice. I immediately went with there's some fucking monster on this bridge that just snapped him up in the back.

[00:38:18] I swear to God. That was my first instinct. As soon as I read Mark disappearing and then looking for Mark, I was just like, oh, Mark is the voice. He got time displaced or something.

[00:38:36] I imagine it was one of those covered bridges or something and there's just some weird spider-like creature hanging to the ceiling that they didn't notice. Or if it was an old railway train bridge like the Goatman bridge, it had those metal girder suspension things above it.

[00:38:59] So that's where the spider thing is just looming over them as it picked them up. Or there's the other option. Troll! Sorry, you're not doing it. There's a little more girth. Troll! For anybody who hasn't seen it, go watch Trollhunter, a Norwegian found footage mockumentary kind of movie.

[00:39:28] It is amazeballs. It really is. Are you Christian? I'm Muslim. Does that matter? I honestly don't know. I suppose we'll find out. I think it says does that count? Yeah, yeah, does that count? It's like I honestly don't know. I guess we'll find out. He just walks away.

[00:39:48] And if you're confused as to what I just said, you'll get it in the movie. So yeah, I figured Mark was like time displaced and he was the voice. Mark was phone. Technically in this situation, yeah. Yeah, we know who was phone. It was Mark all along. Yeah.

[00:40:09] But yeah, now I'll move on to the next thing I have. Approaching the body, to their surprise, it was Mark. With his clothes torn and filthy and his face stubbled as if he hadn't shaved in days. He was unconscious and almost unrecognizable.

[00:40:29] Okay, so I'll admit I caught the voice thing almost immediately about Mark from earlier. I did not even clue in that the hitchhiker could have been Mark as well. Yeah. That took me by surprise. But it also confirms my time displacement idea from like Radar Echo.

[00:40:47] Which I think the reason why it caught on to me is because I've seen so many instances of like time anomalies and like people having lost time in the woods in movies and creepypastas.

[00:41:00] I've seen two or three found footage films that involve time displacement when the characters go into the woods to investigate a paranormal thing or something. Yeah, I saw the hitchhiker was the supernatural entity that basically tagged them as its target for the night.

[00:41:22] Yeah, which again like that's why I went into this thinking it was gonna be like a ghost story or like they fucked with some kind of supernatural creature like the Goat Man himself. Like this is his bridge.

[00:41:32] Like I would not be surprised for me just personally I would not be surprised if the story was inspired loosely off the Goat Man bridge for the setup of it. Because it's just so kind of iconic in like paranormal circles. But. Which are honestly. What?

[00:41:50] Like if you're doing like a ritual it has to be in like a circle right? It always is a circle. Tell me I'm wrong. Listen time is a flat circle and right now I want a fucking beer after that. That was another circle. Circles are everywhere guys.

[00:42:06] Circles upon circles. A circle jerk. And there it goes. Oh yeah, yeah. I'm the problem gamer. Alright so I'll move on to the last thing I have here. In the end, maybe time itself is the prankster that's playing tricks on us all.

[00:42:27] And as a result, we as the reader won't think straight. Yeah for some reason I read like the last part of this story. Like in the same vibe as like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits kind of like ending.

[00:42:45] It's like it seems our characters find themselves at a crossroads. And given the fact that like won't think straight has kind of made this like kind of anthology of weirdness. Of like weird things that he's now starting to like see and stuff like that.

[00:43:00] It kind of has that kind of Twilight Zone-y like Outer Limits vibe where like each story is another weird story that they're realizing exists in the world. And then they start like kind of waxing philosophical like either on the be at the beginning or the end.

[00:43:14] Yeah it'd be cool if the last one signs off with that. Like as like he dropped doing his name drop as actually part of the story like he did. Yeah. That was pretty cute. But yeah and so you know I griped like I think the last story.

[00:43:31] Yeah I'm pretty sure the last story I griped about it being not like centered around won't think straight himself or them like Nair. And be having like the friend like being a story of a friend of a friend of mine kind of thing.

[00:43:43] But I don't know if it's just like because like there's been like two weeks or so of like distance between like that story and this one. And I've just come to accept that this is the new way the story the series of stories are going to be probably.

[00:43:53] But I liked it in this one more. So like it didn't bug me as much in this one as it did when I was first introduced to the idea that it was wasn't going to just be weird shit around Nair himself.

[00:44:06] So probably because originally you wanted it to be that and then once it's dropped that it's not just going to be him now you're accepting. Yeah that's what I'm figuring anyway.

[00:44:15] Now that I've like now I've gotten that mindset it's like okay this is actually this is actually really cool.

[00:44:19] I like this and also I just liked I did like the twist at the end here where it was like it wasn't actually a ghost story like we were expecting or it wasn't gonna be like something like truly macabre.

[00:44:28] It's just it's actually a sci fi kind of twist at the end with like a time displacement or like some kind of an anomaly. But the character looped it through. So but yeah that's my my my my actual thoughts. Mikey these stands for evil.

[00:44:48] To do so my next actual thought here is continuing their journey along the trail the flashlight casted looming shadows across the trees. Flashlights don't cast shadows. Okay look when you're shining a light at an object it creates shadow the object gets shadow but yes.

[00:45:16] But the flashlights didn't cast the shadow on the tree. It's the trees casting shadows on the other trees. Yes. We are both technically right and I technically hate you. Alright so my next actual thought here is.

[00:45:44] Spanning across a wide river there was a former railway bridge that was converted for walking. So my comment here is they don't convert bridges for walking if it's in the middle of nowhere. I have to stop you right now. That is literally the Goatman bridge.

[00:46:08] It's in the middle of a fucking like wild like like like conservation area or like a forested park. Well but this part. Which is kind of what I figured this is it's just a forest. It's like it's a forest with hiking trails. It's a park.

[00:46:25] It's probably a national park that is not saying it is. Well I'd like some clarification there. Okay well you should have been more clarifying on your clarification needs.

[00:46:38] Rather than just like full just like just blankly saying it's like alright they don't make they don't convert a rail bridge. Into walking trails in the middle of nowhere. It's like well it's not in the middle of nowhere.

[00:46:51] But it says later that it is the middle of nowhere. I mean. They comment that anyway. So I mean it is the middle of nowhere in that it's in the middle of like there's no like like the town's like like a couple of miles away.

[00:47:08] That's still that could still be a national park or like or like a woodland like hiking area. And and then you just brought up my next point. A town is a couple miles away. Mark can walk that. Like why did he stay around the same area?

[00:47:30] Like clearly there's a trail that likely goes to either a roadway or to civilization. Well maybe the time anomaly is just like having him loop. So it seems like the woods are like endless until he finds like the right route to get back onto the road.

[00:47:50] And then by then he's caught back up to the present day or to the or he's caught back up. He's been like deposited back into the current timeline. And now he's that guy that home that that vagrant that's walking up the side of the road that hitchhiker.

[00:48:06] Yeah I've literally seen this this movie before. This is happening. I've seen like two movies in the last like in the last year that does this exact same premise. Yeah. All right. Mikey's done with my shit.

[00:48:28] And then my next actual thought here is that I was enjoying the mystery. And coming up with the time travel which we all came up with until the end where there's a public service announcement about time playing pranks on us all.

[00:48:50] Well that yeah that's that's kind of yeah like it's the classic show don't tell and they're showing and telling.

[00:48:59] Yeah yeah I can I can see like I saw it kind of like like the the narrator from the Twilight Zone like saying like their last piece like well kind of giving last piece. It does also kind of come off as like well I would.

[00:49:11] It's straight up as Brad said this. It might as well be a quote of this. Yeah true. Yeah. If it was and I'm sorry I'm like finish if there was another line break and after line break this was said then it's near saying it. Yeah, yeah.

[00:49:30] As out of as an out of story thing. Yeah, then it would be the Twilight Zone scenario. Yes.

[00:49:38] But as we have there is no line break. So, but there probably should have been actually if anything like yeah like that might be a nice like fixer add on to the story is if there was a line break at the like at the very end we're like we get like suddenly our narrator back in for the like an outro.

[00:49:57] Well only if they don't want Brad to say this and think this. I guess yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's the end of my actual thoughts. Okay. Game. That means it's my turn. So my personal is just regarding the three kids as the three musketeers. I really like how much.

[00:50:22] Yeah, there's more character in these three characters already just from mentioning their antics, then some stories have for the characters in the entire run. Oh yeah. There are some stories we've done where like we've literally envisioned them as just cardboard cutouts.

[00:50:37] Yes. That being said visually, we got nothing on any of these guys. No, my notes for them are this Jason, the leader Mark, the warrior Brad, he was there too. And Brad, he was there too. Yes.

[00:50:54] Yeah, like I just kind of like added in like, I mean, I don't know about you guys but like I definitely just like theater of the mind.

[00:51:01] Just like a couple like randomly generated like 80s kids or like 90s kids I guess because this is kind of sitting like the early 2000s or like late 90s, I think. Yeah, a little bit would be nice but not super necessary honestly. Yeah.

[00:51:19] Because also not describing them kind of makes sense in this because he says upfront I'm changing the names to give them privacy. Yeah, changing the names and then describing them perfectly. Yeah, so like Brad has a cigar on his right cheek.

[00:51:36] Yeah, might as well just be saying Mark's social security number is ****. Yeah. So all in all I don't really care about that.

[00:51:47] And my next note here is they made their way back across the bridge to the car park. Mark wasn't there either. So they waited in the car until sunrise.

[00:51:59] So they waited there for several hours because they showed up at midnight. Unless sunrise is around one or two a.m. there, they waited there way too long. Yeah, they waited six hours at least. Granted they spent okay they went out to the bridge, **** around.

[00:52:14] Found out. Yeah, it found out for sure but that probably took like maybe half an hour. I don't know how long they were waiting there.

[00:52:20] Mark's gone and then they said that they spent time looking for him which might have been 30 minutes to an hour and then they went back and waited more.

[00:52:27] But still, if you can't find him out there and you're waiting in the car and he's not there, I'd be calling the cops. Yeah. He's missing and I care about this guy. But they can't call the cops because they're pranksters and they called Wolf too many times.

[00:52:47] Oh god. That would be a really interesting thing to bring up though. They tried to call the cops and they don't believe them anymore. It's just like the Goonies bit where Chunk calls the cops about the Fratelli brothers and the cop is like, hang on Charles,

[00:53:07] is this like that other time that you called where it was about the little green monsters that you can't feed them after midnight? Basically just like name dropping, just like describing gremlins or other things that he's called in on because he's sort of a compulsive liar.

[00:53:24] Yeah. That would be good if it did that sort of thing though because it builds more character to the world around them too. Yeah. And that would really, that wouldn't even take much to even do that.

[00:53:38] After waiting for 10 minutes around the car, we realized we should really call the cops and then they call them. They don't believe them and flock. I guess we'll just wait longer until sunrise. I also think legally there is like a grace period when someone goes missing.

[00:53:56] Would you actually legally sit there and wait? No, no, no. But I mean that's something that the cops could also throw with the cops arguing. Well technically, are you sure he's gone missing? Or maybe I'm confusing with how long it is before they give up on a search.

[00:54:12] They usually can't find somebody within the first 24 hours or 48 hours. Then it starts kind of like not looking good. Yeah, that's why I say the first 12 hours are the most crucial or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's why you phone it in right away. Right.

[00:54:35] And even though there is the old thing that someone isn't missing until 24 hours have passed, well yes and no. Yeah, I feel like that's more for like...

[00:54:50] It's more if they missed a check-in type thing like, oh, they're not communicating anymore and I was supposed to be meeting with them. Yeah, I think that's what I'm confusing it with is like that. If somebody is lost in the woods, that's more of an immediate thing.

[00:55:08] Especially because in this day and age that I'm assuming this takes place, there's no smartphones and such. Because they wouldn't bother bringing a flashlight if all of them had smartphones and they would all have their smartphone lights on.

[00:55:23] Well, it's kind of established because I think they graduated high school, it says in 1992. True. And this is like at least a few years after that. Was it 1992? It's in the 90s. So bare minimum, this is like the early 2000s when this is happening. Yes. Yeah.

[00:55:45] And then we'll move on to the next one.

[00:55:48] Where it says Jason also thinks it's a prank, but by Mark in return for being out voted on the bridge, Mark must have spent that morning walking back to the road and apparently growing facial hair super fast is what I said. Yeah.

[00:56:04] While Jason and Brad were worried sick looking for him on the bridge and all that. So when I heard this, Mark's view of this being a prank is way more believable.

[00:56:16] Because Jason is like, how could he just grow facial hair super fast like that out in the wilderness?

[00:56:24] Yes, but technically if both of them looked at it, even beyond the surface level, they'd come to the realization that neither of this was a prank because first off, yay, yes. So like there's no way he could have grown that facial hair that fast from Jason's end.

[00:56:42] But on Mark's end, to him, he was gone for three days. So he probably saw the day and night shifted for three days. Yeah, he did.

[00:56:51] And then at the hospital and even after, he would have checked the calendar or something like that and they could have confirmed it was not three days. So it was like, it was a day. It was like a couple of hours. He was gone.

[00:57:09] Yeah, there's no bit of him realizing that he just lost days. Yeah. Yeah, unless their minds are just shirking away from proof. Because they don't want to be yelling at each other. Yeah, too busy yelling. You know what's happened?

[00:57:25] They passed their SAN checks or they failed their SAN checks and they decided to instead of taking the SAN hit, they instead had their bond with each other take the hit. Yeah. Just harming their bond with each other.

[00:57:42] To quote the rules for Delta Green where you have bonds that you can use as mental shields against sanity blasting effects. Okay. Yeah, in Delta Green you have like a set of familial bonds like a wife or a kid. They specifically say no dogs or no pets. Yeah.

[00:58:01] And it's definitely no, unless you want to go play hard mode, don't have a bond with your fellow employee or with your fellow agents. Because if something bad happens to them, then you're getting a bond hit.

[00:58:17] But yeah, like that's basically like it's basically like a bit of like buffer for your sanity in the game against like horror and Cthulhu monsters and stuff. Mm hmm. Yeah.

[00:58:33] And then my last note is just I like the twist reveal of the person on the road being one of them and the voices being echoes of future events that were about to happen. Yeah, like it's kind of cool.

[00:58:46] And I maybe wonder like was the the phantom footsteps he kept hearing were those like just Jason and Brad or were those also like just other hikers over the course of those days? But he was like basically who's yeah sorry.

[00:59:03] I think it was them because the whole thing about this spooky event is them hearing their own voices and their own names being called. So I'm assuming those footsteps are also theirs as well. Footsteps that have yet to be taken.

[00:59:20] Or yeah, or because this is kind of like a weird like time. There's also like probably some time dilation going on here too, to the point where he's like he's stepping back in time and such.

[00:59:32] Yeah, he was basically like he's moving at a different frequency or like a different like temporal frequency than they are. So yeah, those phantom footsteps are them searching for him in the woods that are just like reverberating across time. Mm hmm. Pretty much. Yeah.

[00:59:47] And that's the end of that. Okay. Well then on to final thoughts. Yeah, so I'm still going to recommend this. I think that there are some tense issues and some minor grammar hiccups that can be fixed.

[01:00:02] But otherwise, this was a very fun creepy little story that made me think it was going to be one way with like a ghost story kind of thing or like the whole like haunted bridge.

[01:00:14] And it took the haunted bridge concept and gave it like a cool and creepy sci-fi twist. Like it used some very familial spooky ghost story kind of tropes and ideas and went slightly different with it. And I appreciate that. So, so yeah, I'm going to recommend this one.

[01:00:37] Mikey, the East Ends for Evil. All right. Well, I would have liked more detail on the Cinnamon Challenge on how they survived it. Let's see. I would have liked more detail on this being a park or something where the bridge is located.

[01:01:08] And then I liked the time twist because I could see it coming. But I hated how it just, well, yeah, here's the time for this theory that you just everyone comes up with. So the end result is annoying to me.

[01:01:37] Because of the fact that it gets, well, revealed way too soon. It's the fact that it gets revealed at all. It's like the story took your thunder. Yeah. Or it was the same thing of like we all got it.

[01:01:56] Like we didn't need to say, nobody said anything, but we all got it. And then like the story was just like, you get it? Time. It was a time displacement. Time's a prankster. Walked away. Yeah, I can see your point to that.

[01:02:11] Like, yeah, I can see how it could have bugged you. Yeah. So to reiterate my beginning statement, pranks. I hate it. Because like I like it, but I also hate the ending. So much that I still don't recommend it. Well, that's fair. Gamer?

[01:02:38] Oh, for me, I still liked it. It was pretty smooth read. For me, I didn't notice many grammar issues, even though I really should have.

[01:02:46] I saw some at the start and then I just, I guess I kind of just got into it and I read over most of them, unfortunately. Well, I guess fortunately, but yeah, I like the twist that happened, as I mentioned before.

[01:02:58] Even though the story isn't exactly long and we don't get a ton of time with these characters, I did find myself liking the characters and wanting them to get out of there. Like I've read longer stories where I've cared much less about the characters.

[01:03:12] Characters that have way more screen time and background info too. So yeah, I care more about these ones. So in that regard, well done. Sorry. The idea that suicide spots aren't just for quote unquote mundane suicides is also really haunting too. I like that concept.

[01:03:33] Yeah, I think as long as it's particularly said, the suicides aren't just because of this. No. Because then that's being really kind of disrespectful. But I do like when it's given the possibility that some of these deaths are not, I hate to say mundane suicides.

[01:03:59] They're also these weird time displacement things or this weird other situation. Yeah. It's pretty stiff. And while I do agree with you, Mikey, about how the end is like, do you get it? Do you get it?

[01:04:16] I'm with you there, but I still like this story enough that I'll personally still recommend it. Although I see. Yeah, yeah, we see you. We just don't agree with you. Yes. But that's the point of the show. Okay, so that's it then? Yep.

[01:04:39] Okay, then I guess yeah, that'll be two recommendations and one non recommendation for pranks. So if you like what you heard or if you didn't leave us a comment in the comment section below where this gets posted. We're all on Twitter. Mikey's at the East Ends for Evil.

[01:04:54] The gamer in yellow is at the gamer in yellow, but without that W at the end because name is very long. Yeah. And I'm at Review Cultist. I'm also on Blue Sky at Review Cultist so you can send messages there.

[01:05:05] You can also send us emails at al dente rigamortis at gmail.com. That's A-L-D-E-N-T-E-R-I-G-A-M-R-T-I-S at gmail.com. We're going to leave the suggestions for other creepbastas, SCPs, spooky things. You creep it, we'll peep it. Yeah. And if you'd like to help support our show financially, go to Patreon.

[01:05:23] Select the back of tier you'd like to help support us at. We have $2.05 tiers with special episodes, early access, extra content. To all our patrons helping support the show, thank you immensely. You're helping keep those hosting bills at bay. And as always, we very much appreciate that.

[01:05:39] And to our listeners and the authors of these stories, thank you immensely because without your listenership, it'd be like screaming into the void, the darkness of the eternal bridge of a time loop.

[01:05:51] And if you didn't write these stories and post them on Reddit No Sleep or Creepbast.wiki or any other site online for people to enjoy and get spooked by, we really wouldn't have much of a show because we have nothing to talk about. So thank you.

[01:06:04] Until next time, I have been your host ReviewCultist. I'm Mikey, E.S.T.A.N.'s Fable. And I'm the Gamer in Yellow. And this has been Aldente Rigamortis. Sleep well. Thank you.