On this episode of teenVoice, Taste Editor & Business Manager Vaughn Granlund and Staff Writer Carly Schulz discuss a very chilling topic: scary stories. After hearing a few stories picked and told by Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) students Dejah Churchill (12), Justin Cajamarca (12), Mareli Gutierrez (12) and Staff Writer Schulz, Granlund and Schulz rate the scariest story. Give it a listen and decide which story you think is the scariest.
Transcript:
(0:32) Hello, and welcome to the Scary Stories Podcast, the official podcast for the Columbia Heights (0:38) High School student newspaper, the Heights Herald. (0:41) I’m your host and Taste Editor, Vaughn, and today’s topic is quite a fun one. (0:47) Scary Stories.
(0:48) Today, we are planning on listening to a few scary stories provided by a couple of students (0:53) and ranking just how scary they are. (0:55) Staff writer Carly and I are looking forward to hearing these stories and talking about (0:59) what makes them great. (1:01) Can you tell us what one of your favorite scary stories is? (1:04) One of my favorite scary stories is Who’s in My Bed.
(1:07) Why is that one of your favorites? (1:10) Well, this one isn’t like gruesome or scary, but it’s psychological. (1:14) It makes you think that the most basic scenario can turn into something creepy. (1:19) That’s cool.
(1:20) So Danny, could you share with us this story you have chosen? (1:26) Yes, I can. (1:28) A father went to say goodnight to his seven-year-old son, very well knowing that if he didn’t, (1:34) his son would have trouble sleeping. (1:37) It was a nightly retreat between them.
(1:39) He entered the dimly lit room where his son waited under his blanket. (1:44) With the first glance, the father could tell there was something unusual about his son tonight, (1:49) but he couldn’t put his finger on it. (1:51) He looked the same, but had a grin that drew from ear to ear.
(1:56) You okay, buddy? (1:56) The father asked. (1:58) The son nodded, still with a grin before saying, “Daddy, check for monsters under my bed.” (2:04) The father chuckled a bit, getting on his knees to check only to satisfy his son.
(2:11) There under the bed, pale and afraid, was his son. (2:14) His real son. (2:15) He whispered, “Daddy, there’s someone on my bed.”
(2:20) Scary. (2:22) That one makes me feel chilled. (2:24) I like how that one goes into the room, like the one safe space you have at night.
(2:32) That’s your own bed, and usually you think of that as like, that’s where I’m the most (2:38) safe, and that attacks that, like it’s after. (2:41) Also the fact that the little boy was smiling on top, it wasn’t just like a, “can you please (2:48) check under my bed?” (2:49)
It was a smile, “can you please check under my bed?” (2:53) Terrifying. (2:53) I hate it, I don’t like it.
(2:56) Can you tell us what like, stood out to you when choosing that story? (3:03) Okay, so this might be weird, but I like psychological horror more than gruesome horror, because (3:10) it makes you have to think. (3:12) Like you have to think like, this could really happen, versus in a movie where a slasher (3:17) just comes at random, that’s not really going to happen. (3:20) But I like the idea of thinking like, could that boy in the story be a demon? (3:25) Could he be a clone? (3:26) Or could he just be a creepy little doppelganger? (3:31) Or you know, the crazy twin.
(3:33) The crazy twin, that was locked up in a basement, never to be seen again. (3:37) You know a lot about twins, huh? (3:40) Scary twins? (3:41) Yes. (3:42) Which one of you do you think is the scary one? (3:45) I think I’m the more scary one, because I like to look more into the murders and stuff (3:49) while Dez absolutely hates it.
(3:52) Yeah, you got that like underlying, like mysterious vibe almost, I feel like. (3:59) You don’t speak up as much, I feel like, and that’s like, I don’t know, feels a bit spookier. (4:08) Although it’s a more spooky twin.
(4:11) Okay, so my co-host and I have found another scary story to share. (4:20) Would you like to do the honors and tell the story? (4:23) Yes, I would. (4:25) It’s the story of the Slit-Mouthed Woman.
(4:29) It’s a Japanese urban legend where a woman was, she was the most beautiful woman in the (4:37) entire, in the entire village, and a samurai was like, “I really love her, so I’m gonna (4:45) get married to her.” (4:46) So they got married, but then he had to go off to war, and while he was at war, she started (4:52) cheating on him with another man in the village. (4:57) And when the samurai got back, he was like, “oh, you’re doing this here?” (5:05) Okay.
(5:07) And so what he did was he slit her mouth from ear to ear and said, now nobody will think (5:13) that you’re pretty anymore. (5:15) And so now she wanders the streets of Japan, and if she comes up to you, she’ll be wearing (5:23) a surgical mask, and she’ll say, “am I pretty?” (5:26) And if you say “no,” she’ll kill you. (5:29) If you say “yes,” she’ll take off her surgical mask, and then will say, “am I beautiful now?” (5:36) And if you say “no,” she’ll kill you.
(5:39) If you say “yes,” then she will slit your mouth the same way that hers was. (5:44) But if you can like throw her off if you want to, don’t really know if it actually works, (5:50) but you can like throw candy at her. (5:52) You could say that she is average.
(5:54) And so I will just like throw her off. (5:57) But yeah. (5:59) Yeah.
(5:59) If you throw her off, do you have like, what, a better chance of? (6:03) You have a better chance to run. (6:05) That’s all you get is you’re able to run. (6:08) Wonderful.
(6:11) So what made you choose this story? (6:15) I chose this story because when you came to me about this podcast, I was trying to think (6:21) of different stories that I have heard over the while that I have been reading scary stories. (6:28) And the Slit Mouth Woman was one of the first scary stories that I had ever read, because (6:35) I saw it in a YouTube video, and then I was like, ooh, I kind of want to read that one. (6:39) And so it was the thing that kind of just got me into reading scary stories and short (6:45) stories like that.
(6:46) Wow. (6:46) That’s the one that got you into scary stories. (6:50) That’s crazy.
(6:51) It’s very crazy. (6:52) It’s very cool. (6:54) Urban legend.
(6:55) Wow. (6:57) What is the scariest story that you have found? (7:02) For me, it was the babysitter and the man upstairs. (7:06) Can you read it for us? (7:07) Yeah.
(7:08) A teenage girl was watching television at night while babysitting after the children (7:13) had been put to bed upstairs. (7:14) In the middle of watching television, she is interrupted by the phone ringing. (7:19) The unknown caller breathes into the call in a low growl and hangs up the call.
(7:25) A minute later, the unknown caller rings again, but this time, as she picks up the caller, (7:31) tells her to check the children. (7:33) The girl dismisses the call, but the anonymous caller dials back several times, and the girl (7:38) becomes increasingly frightened. (7:42) Eventually, the babysitter calls the police, who inform her they will trace the next call.
(7:47) After the stranger calls again, the police return her call, advising her to leave immediately. (7:54) She evacuates the home, and the police meet her to explain that the calls were coming (7:58) from inside the house, and that the unidentified prowler was calling her after watching the (8:03) children upstairs. (8:06) What do you think makes that story so scary? (8:11) I think it’s scariest because it’s like something that we can kind of put ourselves into their (8:17) shoes.
(8:18) Like, we can all kind of like, we can all relate to being like a babysitter and like (8:26) being afraid that somebody was inside the house while you were also inside, someone (8:31) unknown. (8:32) I think that was the scariest bit. (8:33) That is pretty scary.
(8:35) Yeah, sometimes like in the darkness when I’m babysitting, I’ll like get unnerved and (8:42) I’ll feel uneasy because like unfamiliar place, I don’t know what’s going on, where anyone (8:49) could be. (8:50) I wouldn’t know that. (8:52) I’ve only babysat my siblings.
(8:55) Wow. (8:56) What is your favorite scary story? (9:00) My favorite story? (9:02) Scary… (9:03) How I sleep. (9:04) That’s my favorite story.
(9:06) Can you share that one with us? (9:09) Okay. (9:09) Well, it goes like, I rarely sleep alone. (9:13) Not that I have a choice in the matter.
(9:15) The night always starts, and for the matter, always ends the same. (9:19) Knock, knock. (9:20) A few sleeping pills take off my socks and let myself get drowsy.
(9:24) Couldn’t tell you why I even take them still. (9:28) The pills that it is. (9:30) I’m a creature of habit, you could say.
(9:32) Then again, so is she. (9:34) I guess you could also say that we’re inseparable. (9:37) Not that I planned it that way.
(9:40) That’s how it is now. (9:42) Every night I wait and every night her face appears. (9:46) No matter how badly I clung myself prescription pills, I can feel her arrival.
(9:51) Sometimes she’s just a face. (9:55) Sometimes she’s just jaddling, rare-ish torso. (10:00) I couldn’t tell what’s worse.
(10:02) Her wide eyes, comfort look of hatred, (10:06) or that delirious look of joy spattered across its twisted face. (10:13) It’s peace, too. (10:14) Or it glides like it’s a conveyer belt back and forth.
(10:18) Her eyes never leaving mine, eyes wild with rage, (10:22) the nights when the body of the thing lays itself beside me (10:26) to find your face to face with her lips agape. (10:29) As if it was mimicking my horrified reaction, it’s beyond description. (10:34) My whole body becomes tense with fear.
(10:37) I bolt upright to escape but never make it past my bedroom door. (10:41) My legs fail me and I’m suddenly hit by a dresser drawer. (10:45) That’s when she kneels, purrs her fat purple lips, (10:50) uttering the only words I’ve ever heard her say since that night.
(10:53) “You shouldn’t have killed me.” (10:56) Oh my god. (10:57) That is terrifying.
(11:00) Oh my gosh. (11:02) How does this story make you feel? (11:06) Besides, like, obviously scared. (11:10) It makes me feel anxious and full of anxiety sometimes (11:15) because when I first read it, I didn’t know that actually (11:21) the person sleeping on the bed killed the monster.
(11:25) Well, the girl. (11:26) So it was a plot twist throughout the story. (11:29) Yeah.
(11:30) Oh man, I felt unsettled the entire time you were talking about it (11:36) and the, like, whole description and everything. (11:39) Oh, that just really, ugh, sent a chill. (11:43) The writer definitely is really good at building suspense (11:47) because I could feel it as it kept going.
(11:52) What do you think was the scariest one that we heard today? (11:58) I feel like the last one was the scariest one. (12:01)
That one made me very uneasy. (12:03) Really? (12:04) I think, I don’t know, for me, it was the second one.
(12:11) That one, I don’t know. (12:13) What was the second one again? (12:15) The second one was the babysitter one. (12:21) Oh, yeah.
(12:22) Yeah, I don’t know. (12:23) It just, the other two invade your, like, bedroom, (12:31) like, your safe space, but I just feel, I don’t know, (12:36) you don’t know, you know that someone is in the house (12:40) and you just don’t know where, and I, I don’t know, (12:45) that unsettles me way more than knowing where they are, (12:51) like, which room they’re in. (12:54) That’s very reasonable.
(12:55) I just feel like when I listen to horror stories, (12:58) I’m more looking for, like, the, like, spooky paranormal side of it, (13:04) so I think that might be why I got more scared of the last one. (13:10) But the first two are definitely, or, like, the ones that you picked (13:13) are definitely more, like, invading your sense of safety. (13:20) Yeah.
(13:20) Yeah. (13:22) Oh. (13:26) Yeah, I don’t know.
(13:27) It’s just, oh, terrifying. (13:31) In the end, scary stories are made to scare us, (13:35) and they are very fun to read, especially around the spooky holidays, like now. (13:42) Make sure to be kind and thank our wonderful guests (13:49) Danny, Justin, and Mareli, and my wonderful co-host, Carly.
(13:56) Oh, shucks. (13:58) Make sure to see other episodes and podcasts on heightsherald.org, (14:04) and have a great rest of your day. (14:07) Thank you.
