WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:16.679 Nine Story Studios, King Story a Voice, Believe nothing you hear, and 2 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:23.280 only one half that you see. Edgar Allan Poe. This is Jessica macavoy 3 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:38.960 and you're listening to The Wicked Library. Warning. The Wicked Library is a 4 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:45.280 horror fiction podcast created for a mature audience. Our stories contain graphic descriptions of 5 00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:52.359 pain, murder, violence, blood, betrayal, and inhumanity. Monsters win, 6 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.920 people die, and hope is often shattered. There is also beauty, 7 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:03.760 heart, catharsis, and raw emotion. Fear may be deeply personal, but 8 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:07.439 we all share it. If at any time a story takes you to a 9 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:12.359 place too dark, turn on the lights, press pause, or press stop, 10 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:19.640 and always remember that, unlike in the real world, these nightmares and 11 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:37.640 your participation in them, are under your control. Welcome back to The Wicked 12 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:41.920 Library. I'm Daniel Foytek, and I thank you for listening. A sincere 13 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.200 thank you to those of you who are supporting the show. Without you, 14 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:48.799 this show would not be possible. When you support the show, you can 15 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:53.359 choose between ad free episodes, early access to the stories, and at higher 16 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:57.959 levels of support you'll get premiere access to end Field Detective Agency currently in production. 17 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:00.840 That's right, Frank is back in to your ears soon. You can 18 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:06.920 support the show at Patreon dot com forward slash Wicked Library. Today we present 19 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:12.159 the first of three special episodes for Halloween, featuring stories by Mike Pilgrim, 20 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:17.240 Victoria C. Blackthorne, and Caitlin Marceau. There's something special about spooky tales 21 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:22.879 told around to campfire, So bundle up, gather around, and grab a 22 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:28.520 cup of hot apple cider or something a little stronger for Volume one of Wicked 23 00:02:28.599 --> 00:03:22.280 Campfire Tales, and check back tomorrow for volume two. Sh The Devil and 24 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:30.159 Jack by Mike Pilgrim. Jack was a bastard, a real bastard, as 25 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:34.560 the story goes, an irishman of the old Country. He liked nothing better 26 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:38.599 than trickery, drinking, gambling, and all the things that follow trickery, 27 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:44.400 drinking and gambling, if you catch my meaning. On the day of Jack's 28 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:47.759 appointed death, the Devil came to the bar to collect the soul rightly owed 29 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:53.520 him. Thinking quickly, Jack asked if he could at least finish his drink 30 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:59.360 before being dragged off to hell for all eternity. Scratch, being a fellow 31 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.080 of good humor, obliged him for as we all know, forever is a 32 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:11.120 very very long time. Indeed, they spoke while they drank, until at 33 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:16.600 last the Irishman began to question the validity of the Devil's power. Jack dared 34 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:25.279 the devil goaded him to prove his might by transforming into a silver coin Satan, 35 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:29.720 being a creature of considerable pride and never one to be belittled by a 36 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:35.160 mortal, instantly shifted form, Jack watched the shining devil coin as it spun 37 00:04:35.240 --> 00:04:40.519 on the counter. Then, before it even had a chance to fall flat, 38 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.560 he snatched it up in a scarred hand. He smirked at the cross 39 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:51.079 shaped scar which held the angel locked within his grasp, and then he ordered 40 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:59.759 another drink as he mocked the devil's stupidity, then another and another. After 41 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:04.319 a time, Lucifer agreed to give Jack another year of life in exchange for 42 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:12.079 his freedom, He would return to collect Jack's soul the following Halloween. Jack 43 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:16.160 squandered his year, swearing he would repent his evils only on his deathbed and 44 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:23.240 outwit the devil one final time. When Lucifer returned, Jack challenged him to 45 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.839 a game of dice. The devil, who has never passed up the opportunity 46 00:05:27.879 --> 00:05:32.639 to play dice very quickly took the game, even though the dice were of 47 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:38.959 Jack's own design, But a scratch loomed. To collect his winnings, Jack 48 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:44.240 threw the dice again. They yielded two threes and landed in such a way 49 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:47.879 as to make a tea cross on the table. The Christ sign crippled the 50 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:54.399 angel for a second time, forcing him to grant the conniving Irishman yet another 51 00:05:54.519 --> 00:06:00.240 year of life. Cursing and bitter in his defeat, Satan vanished in a 52 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:05.040 cloud of sulfurous smoke. Jack was never the kind of man to waste an 53 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:12.439 opportunity. He lived hard that year, and gambled harder. He indulged himself 54 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:15.399 in any vice that would have him, and forced himself on those that would 55 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:23.600 not. Despite all his trickery, Jack dropped dead without warning in the seeping 56 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:29.480 blackness of the nether world. The devil was nowhere to be seen. Jack 57 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:34.680 was alone in the dark after a seeming eternity. Navigating his way through the 58 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:40.519 creeping dark of the Spirit Realm, Jack saw a light and followed it to 59 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:45.759 the gates of Paradise. No sooner had he arrived than the angel and attendant 60 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.160 showed him away that chased him back into the dark, poking at the dead 61 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:56.079 irishman with a flaming sword, Jack screamed in pain as he fled back into 62 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.360 the shadows. Every step in the swirling pitch unsettling and yet more blackness. 63 00:07:01.480 --> 00:07:09.439 The creatures that dwelled within the shades followed him, hungry and silent. Jack 64 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:15.600 heard the weeping and wailing long before he saw the infernal gates. Lucifer smiled, 65 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:19.759 a smile such as Jack had never seen, as he too, refused 66 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:27.000 him entry. Jack cried, but he had no tears. He shrieked, 67 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.959 and he begged, although it did nothing to slow the heavy darkness, which 68 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:36.000 was fast closing in around him. Hungrily, what will I do? How 69 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:40.959 can I see? Please, my Lord morning Stock, please help me, 70 00:07:41.279 --> 00:07:46.439 please, please please. Bored with all the begging, the dark angel threw 71 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:50.800 a burning coal at him. Taken by surprise, Jack caught it in both 72 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:57.560 hands. The ember hissed. It seared away the flesh of his fingers and 73 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:03.680 burnt through bone before it crashed onto the ground. Lucifer laughed as Jack writhed 74 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:07.920 and cursed him. Things circling in the dark also issued coughing chuckles, which 75 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:16.120 echoed like snapping bone. Eventually, Satan tired of the spectacle and withdrew back 76 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:20.680 to his charge of the circles beyond the gates. The things in the dark 77 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:28.920 again drew silent. Jack's eyes could not see them scuttling all around him, 78 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:35.960 but he felt their gaze. Unable to cry, Jack scrambled blindly through the 79 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:41.639 thick shadows for the longest time. His aching fingers eventually found something round growing 80 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:48.600 in the dirts. He knew it by smell. Shattering a fingertip, he 81 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.679 used the freshly sheared bone to hallow the turnipout. Jack carved the holes of 82 00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:01.159 a face into its flesh so he would not feel so alone that he tipped 83 00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:07.679 the damned coal inside. Jack has wandered the dark space between ever since, 84 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:13.200 with a throat that cannot drink, a belly that cannot eat, and lips 85 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:39.440 that cannot kiss, although it has never stopped him from trying for love of 86 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:46.080 the dark ones. By Victorious Blackthorn. On a cold fall night, deep 87 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:50.759 in the woods of the ancient Appellachians, as the mountains swallowed the sun and 88 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:56.039 blackness bled through the trees, an old man with tattered clothes and time worn 89 00:09:56.120 --> 00:10:01.200 eyes, stumbled into a camp of hunters. He told them he was not 90 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.919 from these parts and had become disoriented by how early the sun sets in those 91 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:11.080 mountains, losing his way back to his camp. The hunters nodded, understanding, 92 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.360 and invited the stranger to join them by their campfire, and poured him 93 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:22.159 some coffee and whisky to help ward off the cold. As he sat sipping 94 00:10:22.279 --> 00:10:26.919 his drink, warming his hands, he thanked them and offered to tell them 95 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:33.360 a story that would send shivers down their spines in exchange for their hospitality. 96 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:37.879 So the old man, once warmed by the fire the rich coffee and good 97 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:43.679 whisky, began to weave his eerie tail, his voice a raspy whisper that 98 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:50.600 seemed to echo through the woods. Eons ago, he began these woods, 99 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:58.879 this very land. It was a different place, my friends. Dark force 100 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:07.639 is ancient and malevolent, lurked just beyond the veil of reality, waiting for 101 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:15.320 an opportunity to cross over. In those days, this place sat at the 102 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:24.440 threshold between one reality and another. That other, darker reality was sown from 103 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:30.840 the fabric of the original dark Cosmos. Before what you see around you had 104 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:39.559 been fashioned into existence. That older original reality, being a place of endless 105 00:11:39.559 --> 00:11:46.399 shadows and darkness, can only bleed through the veil into this world when the 106 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:54.159 sun is hidden beyond the ridge of those ancient mountains. The hunters exchanged anxious 107 00:11:54.200 --> 00:12:00.480 looks and leaned in closer with anticipation, as the old man's voice cantinued to 108 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:07.840 carry the tail you see back then, I was not the man you see 109 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:16.320 before you. I was something else, something quite beyond your comprehension. I 110 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:24.960 practiced at fashioning things from the dark threads of the universe. Like any new 111 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.159 craftsman, I faltered and failed more times than I succeeded. The things I 112 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:39.200 wove and wrought from the ether had a great hunger. They were malevolent and 113 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:46.279 thrilled at creating terror and chaos. Undeterred, I worked on new patterns. 114 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:56.279 I created many things, marvelous and terrible, but they all hungered, and 115 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:05.120 nothing I forged from darkness could sate their terrible desires. Many, many trials 116 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:11.919 later, I found a way to crush the darkness to a point so dense 117 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:20.320 that it created something new. Light. The old Man's eyes glistened in the 118 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:30.679 firelight as he continued. Reflected flames danced unnaturally across their surface. But I 119 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:37.759 did not create the universe out of benevolence. It was a twisted design, 120 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:46.759 the cosmic experiment, designed to feed the insatiable hunger of entities that I had 121 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:52.679 created Before the birth of this universe. My creatures thrived on devouring light, 122 00:13:54.440 --> 00:14:01.200 the essence of life, and I had crafted a cruel and endless buffet for 123 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:07.600 them. As he spoke, the woods around them seemed to transform, the 124 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:13.240 moonlight dimming and the air growing heavy with an unnatural chill that the fire couldn't 125 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:20.679 vanish. Shadows deepened, and the atmosphere became suffused with a palpable sense of 126 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:26.840 dread. It was as if a dark portal had opened to a world beyond, 127 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:33.240 and the very fabric of reality began to unravel. The old man's voice 128 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:43.679 carried on an unsettling mixture of regrets and malevolence. My creation was a perfect 129 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:50.200 prison. You see, life in all its forms was the offering to these 130 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:56.360 ancient beings, a never ending feast, and they have feasted on the essence 131 00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:03.559 of life since time immemorial. The campfire's glowed dimmed further, and a sinister 132 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:09.600 presence seemed to loom just beyond the firelight. The old Man's gaze bore into 133 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:18.240 the hunters as he revealed the most chilling truth of all tonight, in these 134 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:26.919 very woods, you are the offering. With a horrific hiss, the dark 135 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:33.080 entities emerged from the shadows, their grotesque forms twisting the very fabric of our 136 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:41.039 reality as it strained to contain them within our three dimensions. Bony fingers stretched 137 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:45.919 out, and they descended upon the hunters. The air was filled with the 138 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:52.799 hunter's anguished cries as their life forces were extinguished, their souls devoured by the 139 00:15:52.919 --> 00:15:58.840 very forces that the old Man had created. The old Man rose from his 140 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:03.200 seat and fear finish the last of his whisky, a sinister, malevolent grin 141 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:10.320 on his face. His mission was complete, and for a while at least, 142 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:17.720 this sacrificial offering to his first children had sated their appetite. As the 143 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.840 old Man walked into the luminal space between our reality and the vast darkness, 144 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:27.360 the creatures followed, retreating to the other side of the portal, leaving no 145 00:16:27.480 --> 00:16:33.240 trace of the hunters behind. The woods return to their normal state, as 146 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:41.039 if nothing had ever happened. But sometime soon, around another campfire, an 147 00:16:41.080 --> 00:16:48.080 old man will come forth, seeking warm coffee, good whisky, and bringing 148 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:53.039 with him a tale of dark things that wait closer to that exceedingly thin veil 149 00:16:53.559 --> 00:17:15.359 than you think. It has a way of messing with you too. By 150 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:22.359 Caitlin Marceau. I remember the end of August in ninety seven like it happened 151 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:26.559 just yesterday, even though it's been more than twenty years since it came and 152 00:17:26.599 --> 00:17:32.640 went. The sun was hot, but the wind was cool, the final 153 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:37.880 days of summer bleeding into the first days of fall. I could feel her 154 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.200 eyes on the back of my head as I dragged my pocket knife across the 155 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:47.559 top rail of the back porch, severing one of the spider's spindly legs from 156 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:51.400 its inky black body. As I waited for my dad to get home from 157 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:56.160 the factory. You should leave it alone, she told me sternly. When 158 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:00.279 you mess with nature, it has a way of messing with you two. 159 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.720 I waved her off with a hand and dragged the pen knife back across the 160 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:11.079 spider's path, slicing off another one of its legs in the process. I 161 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.000 watched its struggle to get away, its progress slow and unsteady before stabbing the 162 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.640 metal tip of my small weapon through its body, pinning it to the wooden 163 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:26.759 banister like a butterfly to a corkboard. I didn't know it at the time, 164 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:32.480 but I had anchored myself to that moment too. The rest of the 165 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:37.000 night passed uneventfully. My dad came home from work, We ate dinner as 166 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:41.039 a family, and I watched reruns of sitcoms in my pajamas. Once my 167 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:45.839 eyes started closing on their own volition, my parents sent me to bed, 168 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:51.759 and I was eager to obey. As I stared up, my eyelids getting 169 00:18:51.799 --> 00:18:56.920 heavy, I saw it scuttle across my ceiling, a spider. I jumped 170 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:00.200 out of bed and called for my dad to get it, worried that it 171 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:03.880 was going to decide to jump in my hair or crawl in my mouth. 172 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:10.200 He grumbled all the way upstairs and complained even louder when, after he turned 173 00:19:10.200 --> 00:19:15.039 the lights on, neither of us could find the bug. Eventually, he 174 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:17.960 made his way back down to the living room, and I tried to fall 175 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:22.039 asleep, convinced that it had been my imagination. As soon as my head 176 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:29.000 hit the pillow, the spider was back, only this time the eract and 177 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:33.759 was hanging several inches above my face. I realized with a start that it 178 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:40.480 was missing several of its legs. I bellowed for my dad, terrified the 179 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.400 force of my breath would be enough to knock it off its web and onto 180 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:47.599 me, but it clung to the thin strip of white as it watched me. 181 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:52.039 My dad barged in and threw the lights on, not hiding his annoyance 182 00:19:52.039 --> 00:19:57.440 at missing the opening monolog from his favorite late night TV host. He loomed 183 00:19:57.440 --> 00:20:03.319 over me, frowning as I white knuckled the bed frame. Get it, 184 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.839 I begged, Get what he asked. I gestured to the spider hanging in 185 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:12.240 front of my face, but he just shook his head. There's nothing there, 186 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:15.799 kiddo. Now go to bed. But Dad, it's right if you 187 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.640 see it again, take care of it yourself. He headed back to my 188 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:25.599 mother in the living room, turning off the lights as he left. The 189 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:32.079 second he was gone, the spider continued its descent. I swatted at the 190 00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:37.559 bug, but my hands just passed through it as it journeyed towards me. 191 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:42.720 I could feel its ice cold legs on my flushed skin, but I couldn't 192 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:48.960 touch it. As I screamed and cried, I noticed them, a hundred 193 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:55.440 black dots crawling across my ceiling. I threw the covers off and slammed on 194 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:00.119 the light, not understanding how the rays of the fluorescent bulb passed through the 195 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:07.000 translucent bodies of a million tiny spiders that weren't really there. I stayed awake 196 00:21:07.559 --> 00:21:12.160 all through the night, waiting for the swarm to go away. But they 197 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:18.279 never did, not that night, or the one after, or the one 198 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:25.680 after that. Even now, I can see them the campfire, casting shadows 199 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:32.480 on their bodies on the trees around me. I can feel them, their 200 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:37.799 wispy legs against my skin as they writhe and wiggle under the collar of my 201 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:44.200 shirt, their bodies crunching underfoot when I walk, and getting caught between my 202 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:52.359 teeth when I eat. Not that anyone ever notices them but me. I 203 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:56.319 wish i'd listened to my mom. I wish I'd known that when you mess 204 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:19.440 with nature, it has a way of messing with you too. Thank you 205 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:23.839 for listening to episode number twelve oh five. Today's authors were Mike Pilgrim, 206 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:29.920 Victoria C. Blackthorne, and Caitlin Marceau. Today's stories We're told by Daniel 207 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:33.799 Fluytec. That's me and it's been my pleasure to be your host today. 208 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:37.720 Our resident composer and executive producer is Niko Vitees at the Inky Pop Print. 209 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:42.480 Artwork for today's episode was created by Greg Schaeffer. Our producers are Meg Williams 210 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:47.680 and Daniel Floytech. To find out more about The Wicked Library and other Ninth 211 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:52.440 Story Studio shows, visit the Wickedlibrary dot com and ninth Story dot com. 212 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:56.720 If you'd like to hear your own story on The Wicked Library, submissions are 213 00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.559 open. Check out our website for more details on recar requirements. To help 214 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:04.519 keep this collection of dark tales coming, please support The Wicked Library on Patreon 215 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:10.160 at Patreon dot com forward slash Wicked Library. You can also help by leaving 216 00:23:10.200 --> 00:23:14.440 a five star rating and short review in Apple Podcasts. The Wicked Library is 217 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:18.400 created by Ninth Story Studios LLC. All rights reserved.