0:17

Hello everybody , welcome back to another

0:19

episode of the Lunatics Radio

0:21

Hour podcast . I am Abby

0:23

Branker sitting here with Alan Kudin .

0:25

Hello .

0:26

Today we are going to present to you three

0:29

amusement park themed horror

0:31

stories .

0:32

That's fun .

0:32

Very fun . I'm so excited

0:34

about this and , if you missed last week's

0:37

episode , we talked all about the history

0:39

of amusement parks sort of broadly

0:41

, but also the intersection with

0:43

horror , with urban legends , with

0:45

very strange history , so that

0:47

was a super fun episode for me .

0:49

I was a little disappointed

0:52

in that . Most of the history just has to do

0:54

with accidents that have happened . Things

0:56

get shut down and then it's just kind of creepy

0:59

because it's shut down Not that

1:01

there's like a monster that lives

1:03

in a theme park .

1:04

But there are some urban legends and

1:06

ghost stories that we talked about , like the Japanese

1:08

amusement park where they believe

1:10

the woman birthed a snake . That whole

1:13

thing was pretty rock and roll .

1:14

The snake thing was kind of cool . I'll give you that one . I

1:16

just wish there was more of it , sure . That's fair

1:18

, but I guess that's why we're here .

1:20

We can't rewrite history .

1:21

Sure , we absolutely can . White

1:24

people have been doing it for generations .

1:26

We have some , not to say old

1:29

friends , but old friends of the podcast

1:31

returning to us today , which

1:33

is very special . It's been a long

1:35

time since some of these folks have been , since I think

1:37

all of these folks have been featured , both writers

1:40

and narrators .

1:41

I have no idea who's on the docket for today

1:43

, so that's exciting .

1:44

As usual . Yes , I also want

1:46

to mention two additional amusement

1:48

park films that we had recommended

1:51

to us by a very , very

1:53

trusted source , our film

1:56

encyclopedia friend , sean Redlitz

1:58

, who sat us down and said listen

2:00

, you two not all amusement park horror

2:03

films are terrible . One

2:06

of them actually , he said , isn't great but it has an amazing

2:08

name , which is the incredibly strange

2:10

creatures who stopped living and became

2:12

mixed up zombies . That one , he said

2:14

, wasn't groundbreaking , but it has

2:17

a great name and a great poster . The other

2:19

one is a film simply called

2:21

the Amusement Park , I believe . Thank

2:23

you , sean . We trust Sean's judgment

2:25

quite implicitly and we're happy to

2:28

share those recommendations on .

2:30

I would be very excited to see

2:32

some high quality

2:34

amusement park horror .

2:36

Indeed , it seems overdue

2:38

for the most part .

2:39

I really feel like it's an untapped market

2:42

. Sorry , it's more

2:44

like this vast field and

2:47

everyone's just taking little shovelfuls out . No

2:49

one's done any kind of deep expedition to

2:53

really get what's in there . It's

2:55

so rife for horror .

2:58

I think the best one that I can think of besides

3:00

Carnival of Souls , which again really isn't for

3:02

the most part , amusement park horror , is

3:04

Hellfest , that one from

3:06

2018 , we watched it , I think , during the pandemic

3:09

. It feels scary throughout the whole

3:11

thing and it's set squarely

3:13

in an amusement park like horror night

3:15

situation the whole time . It's

3:17

not exactly my horror film

3:19

, but it is probably the best example that

3:21

I can really think of beyond

3:24

what we focused on last episode .

3:26

Yeah , that one specifically

3:28

feels more like haunted house

3:30

vibes . We talked about this in

3:32

the episode , Even though

3:34

and it all takes place in is it a horror-themed

3:36

park ? I think so .

3:38

I think it's supposed to be a regular park

3:40

. That's having a horror night .

3:42

Right right .

3:43

A fright night , yeah .

3:45

What I really want to see is almost like a Five Nights

3:47

at Freddy's type thing , where it

3:50

is off-brand Disney World and

3:53

then it

3:56

becomes horrific . It's

3:58

a perfectly normal amusement

4:01

park , but at night the fucking

4:04

Mickey goes in murders , which

4:06

I'm sure we're actually going to see a few of

4:08

these in the very near future , now that

4:10

Mickey Mouse is in the public domain .

4:12

Absolutely . I think they're already announcing all

4:14

kinds of films .

4:15

There's already two horror

4:17

comedies out . I say horror comedies

4:19

. I haven't seen these . I don't

4:21

know if they're actually funny or scary . They immediately

4:24

likened them to the

4:26

Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey .

4:28

Oh terrible , I really dislike that .

4:30

I love the idea of it , though I haven't seen

4:32

it . You saw it .

4:33

Blood and Honey .

4:34

Yeah , you're very brave .

4:35

I've watched it . It was laughably

4:37

bad in my opinion .

4:39

But the idea of a big-budget mascot-murdery

4:42

movie sounds cool . Again

4:45

, it really is just Five Nights at Freddy's , where

4:49

there's an abandoned amusement park . Some

4:51

guy has to just watch it

4:53

at night and the fucking animatronics

4:56

or the mascots , the suits come

4:58

to life . That's spooky .

5:00

That is spooky .

5:01

I'd watch that .

5:02

It's interesting . You just reminded me by mentioning

5:05

Five Nights at Freddy's , that which this

5:07

is our second year doing it , but in the end

5:09

of 2023 , we had People

5:11

Vote and Nominate on the best horror

5:13

films that came out in 2023 . It

5:16

was really interesting to me that Five Nights

5:18

at Freddy's got thrown around a little bit , in that the

5:21

votes are final and they're up on our website if you guys

5:23

want to check out what the general public

5:26

has said is the best horror of 2023

5:29

. Good for Five Nights at Freddy's

5:31

because I think when we watched it it felt like , okay

5:33

, this is a horror film for kids , but

5:35

it doesn't mean it's not worth looking

5:37

at its attributes .

5:40

I appreciated that they dialed things back

5:42

. They kept it far more accessible

5:44

.

5:45

I guess the reason why that's surprising

5:48

is just that the game is so scary and

5:50

the movie didn't feel that scary . The

5:52

whole point of the game is that it's scary .

5:55

That's an excellent point . The

5:58

game is famous for its jump scares . There's

6:00

absolutely nothing graphic in the first game at

6:03

all . It's just things pop out

6:05

and give you a spook it's terrifying

6:07

.

6:07

It's actually very , very scary and it's gritty and it's all these

6:09

things .

6:10

It's unsettling .

6:12

Yes , it's unsettling .

6:13

But it's incredible . They just build

6:15

this air of

6:17

tension and anxiety . That's

6:19

amazing . It is , but it's

6:21

a gimmicky game To translate it to

6:24

a movie . You could go in a few different directions

6:26

. One thing that they chose and what they went

6:28

for is character building , which

6:31

I don't give a shit about in terms

6:33

of Five Nights at Freddy's Lore , but

6:35

so many people out there do . The

6:38

lore is very , very deep . There's

6:40

full novels . There's actual novels

6:43

in the Five Nights at Freddy's universe Before

6:45

the later games and the novels and everything that

6:47

really just went and ironed out

6:50

what the lore was . There was so much

6:52

open-ended speculation and that's what made

6:54

shit fun . But the movie sort

6:57

of did that in terms of fleshing things

6:59

out , but they didn't lean hard

7:01

at all into actually scaring people

7:03

, which I felt . so I was so disappointed

7:06

by I want to see a scary Five

7:08

Nights at Freddy's , and apparently

7:11

there's the Nick

7:13

Cage one .

7:14

Oh , oh , oh , I know you're talking about Willy's Wonderland

7:16

.

7:16

Yes , which I have not seen , but every time

7:18

I have expressed my

7:20

grievances with Five Nights at Freddy's , it's

7:23

You've been pointed in that direction ?

7:24

I've been pointed in that direction . Yeah , I haven't either , but

7:26

I have some friends who texted me when they saw it

7:28

and they were like you need to watch this immediately

7:30

.

7:30

So I'm excited . I love Nick Cage

7:32

.

7:32

He's amazing .

7:33

Of course . Oh

7:35

, I never finished that crazy movie , prisoners

7:38

of the Ghostland .

7:39

Okay .

7:40

I can't . I only watched about

7:43

the first 30 minutes of the film before

7:45

I just got busy , but it was frickin'

7:47

wild . I really gotta circle back this movie . I'm

7:50

not 100% sure what it's about . I know Nick Cage

7:52

is hired to rescue somebody

7:54

. I think there's like a post-apocalyptic

7:56

wasteland or something , or maybe it's hell , but

7:59

they implant bombs in his testicles

8:01

and his neck and

8:03

other things in case he has impure thoughts

8:05

.

8:06

Oh , my God .

8:07

Very strange . And there's like people that get

8:09

imprisoned inside mannequins voluntarily .

8:11

Wow , like they're souls .

8:13

Unclear .

8:14

Okay , what's it called ?

8:16

Prisoners of the Ghostland .

8:17

Okay , so yeah , it sounds like we'll have to

8:19

watch that .

8:20

Fairly recent film too . What ?

8:22

year 2021 . All

8:24

right , very recent indeed , okay .

8:26

Okay , here we go . Nicholas

8:29

Cage plays a bank robber who is freed from jail

8:31

by a wealthy warlord in order to locate

8:33

the latter's missing granddaughter .

8:35

That's the tagline .

8:37

Yes , the catch . Cage's character

8:39

is forced to wear a leather suit , covers and explosives

8:41

to keep him in line , including two

8:43

next to his testicles that will explode when

8:45

he becomes aroused .

8:47

Yikes .

8:48

It's crazy .

8:49

Okay , sounds crazy . Well , without

8:52

further ado , let us

8:54

start the stories

8:56

, if you will .

8:56

Oh right , we're here for that .

8:58

That's what we're here for , yes , not

9:00

just to talk about Nick Cage and his impure

9:02

thoughts . So the first story comes

9:05

to us . This is this writer's debut

9:07

on Lunatics Radio Hour John

9:09

K Peck . This story was first

9:11

published in Dark Horses Magazine and

9:14

I want to tell you guys a little bit about John , because , again

9:16

, he's a first time Lunatics writer

9:19

. He's a Berlin based writer

9:21

. He's also a musician and a letterpress

9:23

printer , which is incredibly cool . His

9:26

stories have appeared in Interzone , pyre

9:28

, cold Signal , dark Horses and Void

9:30

Space . He's also a frequent

9:32

contributor to McSweeney's Internet Tendency

9:35

. It has appeared in two McSweeney's

9:37

anthologies and I'm going to link

9:39

everything you need to find John below

9:41

, but his Twitter is John K

9:43

Peck and JohnKpeckcom

9:45

is how you can find him . This

9:48

story is read for us by one of my absolute

9:50

favorite narrators . So , without

9:52

further ado , let's play the story and then

9:54

we'll come back and we'll talk about it .

9:56

Nick

9:58

Robles Red high John K Peck . Red high John Seacook .

10:11

He remains in the space between waking

10:14

and sleep for as long as he can , feeling

10:16

the unremembered dream fall away

10:18

as the contours of the world solidify

10:21

around him . As the yellow-orange

10:23

glow of daylight swells gently

10:25

beyond his closed eyelids , various

10:28

sounds emerge birds

10:30

, cars , sirens . A

10:32

word takes shape in his brain Tuesday

10:35

, then canine

10:38

footsteps , claws ticking

10:40

against the hardwood floor . He

10:43

steals himself to open his eyes . The

10:46

job is simple enough and it gives him

10:48

plenty of time alone . The

10:50

compound he's hired to guard consists

10:52

mostly of a former theme park , as well

10:55

as some additional outbuildings , all

10:57

abandoned several years before and

10:59

awaiting reconstruction or demolition

11:01

. The years have given the buildings

11:03

and roads a gentle , rounded look

11:06

, windows hazy , with dust

11:08

plants sprouting between bricks

11:10

, painted signs paled by

11:12

age and sun . He

11:14

has a standard route that takes about ninety

11:16

minutes , meaning he can walk it four

11:18

times per shift , with time left over for

11:21

other tasks . As he walks

11:23

, he breathes in the strange dust

11:25

and mildew smell of the abandoned buildings

11:27

, feeling the early fall sunlight

11:29

on his face , watching as the shadows

11:32

lengthen over the course of the afternoon and

11:34

evening . This time of

11:36

year his shifts end right at sundown

11:38

and as he chains the park gates

11:40

shut , he can watch the sun set over

11:42

the distant downtown skyline , he

11:46

holds himself inside the half-dream

11:49

, feeling its strange coolness

11:51

still within him . A word

11:53

takes shape in his brain Thursday

11:55

. Another word . October

12:00

Sounds distant but persistent . A

12:02

strange skittering across stone , a

12:04

small whimper , then

12:07

the familiar yellow-orange light

12:09

behind his lids , the tick of canine

12:11

feet on the floor , and he lets the

12:13

world take shape as he is pulled into waking

12:16

. Fall turns

12:18

to winter . The paths and roads

12:20

of the park take on new tones during

12:22

the late-shift darkness Blacks

12:25

, greys , dark crimson's , cut through

12:27

with the occasional pale white beam from

12:29

the spotlights set up on the rooftops . He

12:32

varies his route , taking the narrow alleys

12:34

between buildings , peering through dust-covered

12:37

windows to make out the dark-scattered

12:39

interiors , his flashlight beam

12:41

revealing drop-cloths draped over heaps

12:43

of debris , detached stoves

12:45

pulled away from walls , toppled chairs

12:47

and tables , shattered glass that glints

12:50

back at him like stars in a nighttime

12:52

sky . One

12:54

afternoon , the sun already low in the

12:56

sky , he turns down a narrow alley

12:58

off one of the larger roads . He's

13:00

never taken the route before , and after a few

13:03

turns the alley opens into a wider

13:05

space between several buildings . The

13:07

walls that border the space appear much

13:09

older , with peeling paint and wood

13:11

and metal eaves that look ready to fall in

13:13

any moment . The late-afternoon

13:16

light grows dimmer and he clicks his flashlight

13:19

on , passing it over the aged

13:21

walls and iron-barred windows . The

13:24

far wall looks especially old . Its

13:26

wooden boards are warped and have large

13:28

gaps between them , and much of its white

13:30

paint is flaked off . Drawing

13:33

the flashlight beam upward , he sees what appear

13:35

to be words painted in a vintage carnival

13:38

style . Despite their dilapidated

13:40

condition , they remain legible . Beyond

13:44

these walls , the city of the dead

13:46

. Enter if you dare hold

13:49

on to your soul . Below

13:52

the words is a large skull floating over

13:54

a desert-like silhouetted landscape of hills

13:56

, maces and rock pillars . To

13:59

the left of the small mural is what appears

14:01

to have once been a door but is now covered

14:03

by boards . To the right

14:05

is a small barred window . He

14:07

approaches it and points his flashlight inside

14:10

. The window is filthy and

14:12

all he can make out within is vague debris

14:14

on a dusty concrete floor . Somewhere

14:18

at the periphery of his hearing he picks up a faint

14:20

sound , at first like a bird or

14:22

the squeak of a window shutter . Moved by the wind

14:24

, it grows louder and begins to take

14:26

on a different tone , like the wheeze

14:28

of labored breathing . He

14:30

shivers despite his down jacket and steps

14:33

back from the window Seeing

14:35

how dark the sky has become . He

14:37

quickly turns and leaves via

14:39

the alleyway . He

14:42

holds himself inside the half-dream , feeling

14:45

its strange coolness . A word

14:47

takes shape Friday , another

14:50

December , a

14:53

third , which he can't make out but sounds

14:55

something like cropless as

14:59

distant but persistent , a strange

15:01

skittering across stone , labored

15:04

breathing through many thin nostrils

15:06

. The light behind

15:08

his lids is faint but present after

15:11

a few moments , the padding of canine feet

15:14

on the floor . Slow , cautious

15:16

, he will not be pulled

15:18

into waking in such a dark season . He

15:20

knows he must place himself

15:23

into the world , choose to partake

15:25

in the incarnation of another day . The

15:28

day is dim , beset by a strange

15:30

haze that only allows the faintest sunlight

15:33

to filter through . He walks

15:35

his rounds automatically , sticking to the main

15:37

roads and paths . He's been

15:39

sleeping worse lately , which is unusual

15:41

for him , particularly during the darker

15:44

winter months . Though his job

15:46

is simple enough and doesn't require much

15:48

attention , he nonetheless finds

15:50

that the more exhausted and underslept he

15:52

is , the longer the days drag

15:54

on . Finally

15:56

, long after the sun has set , his shift

15:58

ends . As he locks and chains

16:01

the main gate , he looks up at the night sky

16:03

to the west . At first he can see

16:05

a few dim stars , but they soon

16:08

flicker into darkness . The

16:10

train home is empty , which he doesn't mind

16:12

, and the streets are deserted . On his walk

16:14

home from the station , he lets

16:16

himself into his apartment , walks and

16:18

feeds the dog and then eats and turns

16:21

on the TV , but can't keep his

16:23

eyes open . He makes

16:25

his way into bed and as soon as he lies

16:27

down he feels himself being dragged

16:29

into sleep , forcefully , actively

16:31

pulled from waking to dream . Darkness

16:35

, cool , unmoving air , dust

16:37

and mildew . The dream

16:39

is all around him . He just

16:42

needs to wake his dream self to it

16:44

. Someone , his

16:46

mother perhaps , holds him in her arms

16:48

saying Wake up , you're

16:50

back in Necropolis . It was just

16:52

a nightmare . Shuffling

16:55

and dragging of something toward him in the darkness

16:57

across cold , dust-covered stone

17:00

, whimpering through countless nostrils

17:02

, on a beak-like snout , pulled

17:05

and dragged by many legs , evoking

17:07

meaningless words from a fading , useless

17:10

, soon-to-be-forgotten dream . Dog

17:13

, canine , pet

17:15

. His mother's voice again

17:18

. We were calling out , asking

17:20

where everyone had gone . We're

17:23

all here , we're all

17:25

here . He feels

17:27

the cold vastness of the world taking

17:29

shape around him , sees only

17:31

blackness beyond his eyelids , hearing

17:34

distant cries like sirens

17:36

or wails , muffled as if heard

17:38

through countless fathoms of salt-water

17:40

. Closer , his mother's

17:42

voice , again , telling him it's

17:45

all right , you're safe at home , you're

17:48

back with your people . She

17:50

continues stroking his face reassuringly

17:53

with what some might call hands , telling

17:56

him what day and year it is in an unending

17:58

word , a deep , modulating

18:01

groan forced through countless

18:03

trachea and glottal passages

18:05

. He breathes deeply

18:07

, feeling hot acid tears

18:09

on his face and steals himself

18:11

to open his eyes .

18:17

Abby , I'm gonna be honest with you .

18:18

Tell me .

18:19

I had to pause

18:21

.

18:21

Yeah .

18:22

And reread it three more times .

18:24

Okay .

18:25

This story goes well beyond my

18:27

fifth grade reading level .

18:29

Yes , well , you don't have a fifth grade reading level

18:31

, but I would call it more of a

18:33

third grade reading level .

18:35

Okay , well , you can fuck off . Having

18:37

done a deep academic

18:39

dive into this piece , I

18:43

think I get it . Okay

18:45

, it took a minute , but I

18:47

think I get it Tell us . So

18:49

our guy our hero our guy

18:51

, yeah , yeah , he's dead . Yeah , and

18:54

he was dreaming of

18:56

not being dead , I think

18:58

.

18:59

Okay .

18:59

I think he's in the Necropolis .

19:02

Yeah , with his family , which anyone who doesn't

19:04

know , of course , in Necropolis is a city of the dead

19:06

, a very , very , very large graveyard .

19:08

And he's having this ethereal

19:11

dream of being a

19:13

guard Maybe that's what

19:15

he did when he was alive

19:17

, yeah , and just like benign things like

19:20

his time feeding his dog

19:22

and watching TV , but keeps

19:24

coming back to this like hell-like

19:27

purgatory . That is

19:29

his current state of being .

19:30

Well , I appreciate a story that doesn't

19:32

just hand you everything , that

19:35

A , gives the reader and listener

19:37

a chance to bring their own interpretation

19:40

to it , but also B , you

19:42

know , is a little bit more elevated

19:44

perhaps and a little more poetic than

19:46

other types of stories . So I really

19:48

was drawn to this story in a lot of ways

19:50

and I actually have a few different

19:52

interpretations that I feel like could be what's

19:55

happening here , and I only can imagine

19:57

that it's purposely sort of , you know , written

19:59

in this way . Well , yes , I do think , kind of , at the end

20:01

you have you hear like the sirens and the distant

20:04

and the tears and there's some

20:06

sort of event that has happened and

20:08

you keep returning throughout the story to this dream-like

20:11

state of him kind of going

20:13

through his route in life at this place

20:15

and , right , there's a lot of different ways you can , lots

20:18

of different meaning and things that you can infuse into

20:20

that across as you're reading . But I

20:23

think it's super cool and what

20:25

it really brings to mind for me is Carnival

20:28

of Souls in a way , again , a movie that I

20:30

really like that you're not as much of a fan of

20:32

.

20:32

No .

20:33

But kind of like the theme park has

20:35

this liminal place right Even with

20:37

the writing , the carnival style writing

20:39

on the wall of beyond these

20:41

walls , the city of the dead enter

20:44

if you dare hold on to your soul . It

20:46

creates sort of like this liminal place and

20:49

I think that amusement parks can totally be a liminal

20:51

place . So I loved

20:53

that about it . And again I have a few

20:55

different versions of

20:58

what could happen and I kind of like not

21:00

knowing exactly what

21:02

the intention is . You know .

21:03

You know , it's kind of a cool thing to think about . You know , like when

21:05

people see ghosts , like think about

21:08

a haunted hotel .

21:10

Yeah .

21:10

And you see a ghost , they always say

21:12

like oh yeah , if you come

21:14

during nights , you can see

21:16

the woman walking down carrying

21:18

her bullshit . Right , okay

21:20

, you know . And it's like a repetitive behavior

21:23

that can be observed . Sure

21:25

what if , when

21:28

people see ghosts , it's because the dead

21:30

are dreaming ?

21:31

Yeah , that's , interesting , and like they're not

21:33

really .

21:34

They're not awake , so they're like think of

21:36

how foggy dreams are them in . The world

21:38

of the living is just

21:40

like their dream world , so it's very

21:42

ethereal . They're not interacting with people and when they

21:44

do , it's like really fucked up , like you do in dreams .

21:46

I never thought of the dead as being

21:49

beings that sleep before , but

21:51

it's interesting , I do think it's

21:53

cool , yeah , and that's why I like this kind of thing , because it

21:55

sparks new ideas , and I think John

21:57

did . John K Peck , first time

21:59

writer for Lunatics , did an amazing

22:02

job and I'm very grateful that he shared

22:04

it Because , again , I do think a lot of the

22:06

references that we have for amusement

22:08

park horror are either , as

22:11

we talked about earlier today , like very , very , very

22:13

straightforward .

22:14

Low brow .

22:15

Low brow , exactly , thank you , but

22:19

there's so much room to explore it

22:21

in a more , you know , experimental

22:23

, I suppose , way and a less verbatim

22:26

, way , less of like a killer

22:28

Mickey on the loose right , something that's a little more

22:30

thought provoking , and I think that this story does

22:32

that well .

22:33

And , as always , John Seacook

22:36

what a guy .

22:37

Oh my god , such an incredible voice

22:40

for narration and did

22:42

such an excellent job with this story . I don't know

22:44

why , but when I first read John

22:46

K Peck's story I

22:48

thought of John Cook , which is interesting

22:50

because John Cook usually for us I feel

22:52

like I've put him , I've character

22:54

typecast him a little bit in a box

22:57

of old timey literature and this story

22:59

obviously is not that at all .

23:00

But quite contemporary .

23:02

Quite contemporary . And I thought

23:05

John is going to be great for this and I

23:07

think , again , both Johns did an amazing

23:09

job . So so again

23:12

, thought provoking to your point , like Alan and

23:14

I have kind of between recording , then debating

23:17

different theories , and I think that's a fun thing

23:19

to walk away from a story with .

23:21

It was a beautiful pairing .

23:22

A beautiful pairing , a match made

23:24

in Disneyland , if you will .

23:26

Like smoked Gouda and spicy pickles .

23:28

Shall we move on to the next story of the day .

23:30

Who's up next ?

23:31

Next up we have our friend . Well , you know

23:33

what ? Before I talk about her

23:35

, let's roll the tape and then we'll

23:38

come back .

23:38

Deal . Splashdown

23:45

. Written and read

23:47

by Cyril Luke

23:49

.

23:53

I got a plan . There's some stuff to

23:55

figure out and put in place , but still

23:57

I got a plan . My sister

23:59

too . We got a plan . I

24:01

guess you could say me and Tara always been close

24:03

. From the second mom and daddy brought her home

24:06

from the hospital . We just clicked . I'm

24:08

three years older but I think she's the one

24:10

who guides me . Mama used to say

24:12

she brought us balance . I'm a hothead

24:14

, like mama , I'm the hard one

24:16

, and Tara is a softness

24:18

. She's special . Everything

24:21

I do I do to protect

24:23

that softness . We both work

24:25

at our town's water park . Splashdown Water

24:28

park is a pretty loose term for it . It's

24:30

really just an old water slide , a wave pool

24:32

and a lazy river that kids love to piss

24:34

in . It's kind of a dump . I've

24:36

been here since I was 13 and Tara

24:39

just started picking up shifts last summer . One

24:41

of us working just wasn't enough . Heck . Even

24:43

with the two of us it's hard to keep up . She

24:46

was becoming something of a sports star at school

24:48

. Before she had to start helping me out , she

24:50

insisted on dropping volleyball . I

24:53

begged her not to do it . It's too much

24:55

to ask of a kid . She's not

24:57

your typical kid , though , in classic

24:59

Tara fashion . After she told me

25:01

she quit , she just smiled , hugged

25:04

me and said it's gonna be okay , hannah

25:06

, it wasn't always this way

25:08

. Now I know it ain't my place to

25:10

question God , but I'm still trying

25:12

to figure out what his fucking plan was with all

25:14

this . Every year my grandparents

25:16

would take mama and daddy and daddy's brother

25:18

, uncle Lee , on a trip to the big casino a

25:20

state over . They'd make a whole weekend

25:23

out of it , while us kids stayed at home . Grandma

25:26

and grandpa were always so proud to be able to put

25:28

everybody up at a decent place . It

25:30

was the one time of the year when they would really treat themselves

25:32

. Mama and daddy love those

25:34

casino trips . They couldn't wait

25:36

until I was old enough to start going . On

25:39

their last trip , about three years ago , their

25:42

charter bus driver decided to join in on

25:44

some of the festivities before heading home . As

25:47

he was driving , he passed out and

25:49

hit a semi-head on . The cops

25:51

said they thought his blood alcohol level was three

25:53

times over the legal limit when the bus flipped

25:55

and rolled off the highway . No one

25:57

made it out Well , no

26:00

one , except my Uncle Lee . Uncle

26:02

Lee has been rotten from the start . There

26:05

ain't no better way to put it . Even his

26:07

own parents couldn't stand him . There

26:09

was just always something off with him . Him

26:12

and daddy never really got along , I

26:14

guess on account of daddy always being something of

26:16

the golden child . He was awful

26:18

to everyone . I could never understand

26:20

why they kept letting him come around . I

26:23

think when I got older I realized that

26:25

it was because deep down they really feared him

26:27

. My daddy never trusted him

26:30

. He used to tell me about

26:32

how , when they were kids , uncle Lee would

26:34

let his friends beat him up His own brother

26:36

Daddy said Uncle Lee would just

26:38

watch and laugh and laugh . He

26:41

also told me another story Years

26:43

ago . One night when my daddy and Uncle Lee were drinking

26:46

, they got into it , cussing and arguing

26:48

back and forth . My uncle Lee

26:50

got so worked up he told daddy he'd kill him , just

26:53

like you done the last fool that crossed him . At first

26:56

daddy thought he was just bullshitting , but

26:58

the details he told him felt too real . Uncle

27:01

Lee had won big in some card game a few years

27:03

prior . A few of the other players

27:05

tried to call him out for cheating and he didn't take too kindly

27:08

to it . He stormed out and as he

27:10

was heading to his car in the alley one

27:12

of the guys decided he wasn't quite ready to let it

27:14

go . Uncle Lee said he whipped out his

27:16

pocket knife and stabbed the man right

27:18

in his throat . He even said he

27:20

smoked a cigarette and watched while he bled

27:22

out . It chilled daddy right to the

27:24

bone . The next day he

27:26

tried to ask him about it again , but

27:28

Uncle Lee acted like he didn't have any idea what

27:31

he was talking about . He laughed

27:33

it off and blamed it on the booze . But

27:35

daddy knew and he told me as a warning

27:37

. There was more he wanted to tell me too

27:40

, but he never got the chance . Some

27:43

of it . He said I had to wait until I

27:45

was older . Sometimes I

27:47

think this is all one big joke that God's playing

27:49

, leaving us here alone in this shitty

27:51

city and having Uncle Lee be the one to survive

27:54

. We even got to deal with him at the

27:56

water park . He warmed his way into

27:58

a job there after he started dating the owner's daughter

28:00

. A few years back , when our parents

28:02

died , the court wanted us to move

28:04

in with Uncle Lee . I refused

28:07

and told them we were gonna stay right where we were

28:09

. I was close enough to being

28:11

legal that he never really pushed it . Mom

28:14

and daddy took effort our whole lives to never leave

28:16

us alone for too long with my uncle . They'd

28:19

turn in their graves if they knew how close we were

28:21

to living in the same house . I

28:23

could never let that happen . After

28:26

the accident there was a big lawsuit filed by

28:28

the survivors families and Uncle Lee . Now

28:31

my mama taught me it's not polite to talk about

28:33

money , so I'll just say we did

28:35

pretty well for ourselves . Turns

28:37

out , the bus driver had some previous incidents involving

28:40

alcohol that had been largely ignored , so

28:42

we got the bus company to pay up , and the casino

28:44

as well , for serving them that much alcohol in the first

28:46

place . Seeing as how we got a share

28:49

for each family member loss , we rewarded enough

28:51

money to set ourselves up for well

28:53

pretty much for good , if we played our cards right . The

28:56

only problem is that because we were minors , the

28:58

court decided to appoint our sole living family

29:00

member as our conservator , our

29:02

Uncle Lee . I was supposed

29:04

to get our money when I turned legal , but

29:06

Uncle Lee made sure that didn't happen . A

29:09

couple of months before my 18th birthday I got

29:11

busted for underage drinking in a parked car

29:13

with some of my buddies . My friends

29:15

had no clue how the cops had known and looked for us

29:17

. But I did . It

29:19

was him . He was always watching

29:21

. After that they decided

29:23

not to let me get control of the money until I was 21

29:26

. Us drinking in a car made

29:28

things a lot more harsh . They

29:30

said I couldn't be trusted to care for myself and

29:32

for my little sister with my troubling lifestyle

29:35

. The judge actually gave a decent

29:37

performance as he expressed great concern for

29:39

Tara and me even through , and

29:41

how disappointed my grandparents would be . I

29:44

guess Judge Bennett didn't know how many times I'd seen

29:46

him leave an Uncle Lee's office all those late nights

29:48

when I was helping close up With

29:50

all our money , lee had most

29:52

of the town officials in his pockets . No

29:55

one was concerned about helping us . They

29:57

gambled with him , drank with him and

30:00

did God knows what else with them . He's

30:02

already been a mean son of a bitch his whole life

30:04

. Now that he has enough money to feed

30:06

all his demons whatever they want , he's

30:09

taken full advantage . His drug

30:11

habit gets worse by the day . Being

30:13

around him is its own special hell , but

30:16

I'm afraid to leave and lose everything . I'm

30:19

19 now and Tara's 15 . The

30:21

idea of waiting two more years for what's already

30:24

been owed to us for the last three is

30:26

unbearable . It's all a sick

30:28

game to him . The money , the

30:31

way he holds it over us , pulling it away right

30:33

when we get within reach . Uncle

30:35

Lee is one of those types that doesn't really trust banks

30:38

. He keeps everything , mostly in cash

30:40

, in this obnoxiously large safe in his office

30:42

that's splashdown . He gives us a

30:44

monthly allowance from it and it's never

30:47

enough . That fucking

30:49

safe . It taunts me

30:51

every day . My future's

30:53

sitting feet away from me , locked away in that

30:55

big cold ass box . I've

30:58

mostly stopped now , but early on after

31:00

the accident I begged Uncle

31:02

Lee countless times to let us control our

31:04

share or to at least give us a big chunk of it at

31:06

once . But he refuses . He

31:09

loves it and deep down I

31:12

know when I hit 21 , he'll

31:14

think of another excuse to keep it from us . And

31:17

it's getting worse . Uncle

31:20

Lee cut both of our pay at splashdown last

31:22

year . He says with our allowance

31:24

it all evens out . He tells

31:26

us he's keeping us humble , only

31:28

looking out for our safety . He

31:30

says two young girls like us with money like

31:33

that need guidance . One

31:35

sick game . Every

31:37

allowance day I struggle not to rip

31:39

the bills out of his hands as he

31:41

slowly counts my share , always

31:44

making sure to put a few of the bills back in the safe

31:46

before handing me the small stack . Together

31:49

with their jobs , mama and Daddy and my

31:51

grandparents made it work , but keeping

31:53

up with the rent for this house between Tara and me

31:55

is proven to be near impossible

31:57

. I do my best to keep us

31:59

here in this house , our family's

32:01

house , because it's the last part

32:03

of them we have left , aside from

32:05

the money . I try not to let Tara see

32:07

me worry , but Tara knows me better

32:10

than I know myself . She sees

32:12

it all . I miss my family

32:14

deeply . I miss being loved

32:16

and protected . I feel like me

32:18

and Tara are so untethered now , so

32:21

unconnected to anything good . Life

32:24

is nothing but mediocre now . It

32:27

all seems to become more and more meaningless

32:29

as the seconds slip by in this trap

32:31

of a town . Sometimes I

32:33

forget if I really even liked it when my family

32:35

was here or if they just distracted

32:37

me . I feel myself changing

32:39

, fading , even these

32:42

days . I mostly do office work at Splashdown

32:45

. I do some of the bookkeeping

32:47

and answering emails and whatnot , but

32:49

mostly I watch Uncle

32:52

Lee , and that's safe . He

32:54

usually fills his days with either talking shit

32:56

to someone on the phone , creeping on the park

32:58

guests or playing in that goddamn

33:01

safe . He counts the bills over

33:03

and over again as if they're going to disappear . Some

33:06

days he takes out big stacks , some

33:09

days he places them in . He's

33:11

obsessed . But then

33:13

again I'm the one watching him in the safe every

33:16

day . Now Maybe I'm obsessed

33:18

too . Uncle Lee has really

33:20

let the place go to hell . Splashdown

33:23

was actually a decent place when we were kids . Most

33:27

days it feels like it's just Tara and me left here

33:29

now . Before he took over

33:31

, it was actually Runwell too . He's

33:33

a terrible manager . He messes

33:35

with people's hours and pay until they either

33:38

quit or just disappear . The

33:40

drugs have him slipping big time . He

33:43

blanks and forgets meetings , doesn't

33:45

give a shit about having things repaired the

33:48

owner is ancient and sick now and lets

33:50

him do whatever he wants with it . Most

33:53

of my simple joys are gone . I'm

33:55

starting to feel something in me growing Anger

33:58

towards Uncle Lee and our shit circumstances

34:01

in this dull town , a

34:03

different and quieter rage than I've known

34:05

before . I start to notice

34:08

Tara acting funny , a

34:10

little more quiet and serious . Kind

34:13

of seemed out of nowhere . I

34:15

thought she was just having a bad day or something , but

34:17

then it turned into a bad week . Finally

34:20

, one night she came up to me with a sad look in

34:22

her eyes and asked if we could talk . I

34:25

instantly had a blast of guilt hit my gut

34:27

. She'd traded a few shifts

34:29

with me that month so she could get more comfortable doing

34:31

office work . The shifts

34:33

were longer and if we could both do them then

34:36

we'd be able to pull in more money for the bills . But

34:39

that also meant she might have to be

34:41

around Uncle Lee more . She

34:44

started to tell me how one night she was doing something

34:46

on the computer and needed some more paper for the printer

34:48

. She couldn't find anybody

34:50

by the front desk . So she went into Uncle

34:53

Lee's office . He hadn't been in

34:55

all day and she honestly didn't think he'd care . As

34:58

she was searching around the room , he

35:00

came in , assumed she was snooping and

35:02

immediately flipped out . He

35:05

started screaming at her and as soon as she tried to

35:07

explain herself , he shoved her hard . She

35:09

fell back and tripped over a chair . She

35:12

lifted her shirt to show me a deep purple bruise

35:15

on her back . My world

35:17

stopped . She hadn't told me

35:19

because she was scared . Scared

35:21

what I would do , scared what Uncle Lee

35:23

would do , she said . After that , instead

35:25

of apologizing . He started treating

35:27

her even worse , staring

35:30

at her any time she made a move , making

35:33

her do unnecessary work like cleaning the

35:35

toilets , cutting the lunch break

35:37

, even yelling at her if she didn't

35:39

move fast enough . He was too

35:41

chicken shit to treat her like that in front of me . My

35:44

blood boiled and my heart ached

35:46

over the idea of my baby sister being

35:48

beat down like that . The

35:51

idea of her walking on eggshells and being afraid

35:53

to talk to me about it made me so sad

35:55

she had been alone and

35:57

I had failed her . How much

35:59

more could she take ? Do

36:01

whatever you want to me , but

36:03

fuck with my sister , and there's hell

36:06

to pay . I held her face in

36:08

my hands and wiped her tears and

36:10

then , like she'd done to me so many times , I

36:13

told her it was going to be okay . From

36:16

that moment on it was like a seed was planted

36:18

. I didn't sleep that night

36:20

. Instead , I

36:22

stayed up , splitting my time between crying

36:24

power , smoking joints and shooting whiskey

36:26

. Then I realized what I really

36:28

wanted to do . I'd have done

36:31

it right then , and there too , if I had a gun , but

36:33

really I'm glad I didn't

36:35

, because the more I thought about

36:37

it , the more I realized there

36:40

was a way to get everything we wanted . So

36:43

, like I said , my sister

36:45

and me we got a plan

36:47

. Now back to that

36:49

safe . The cash

36:51

stash in there is huge , more

36:53

than enough for us to get set up somewhere . There's

36:57

something else in there too Pills

36:59

. Uncle Lee keeps

37:01

bags and bags of those things with the money

37:03

for his own personal use and to sell . He

37:07

loves the idea of himself as some kind of drug

37:09

lord . I think

37:11

his arrogance is the reason he leaves the safe open

37:13

so often . His office

37:15

door too . He wants

37:17

to taunt me . He knows

37:20

how torturous it is for me to have to see

37:22

it and he thinks I'm too weak to try

37:24

anything . He could never

37:26

imagine the horrors I harbor in my

37:29

mind for him . Those drugs

37:31

and that safe had been in my mind . We

37:33

could easily pawn him off on one of my old high school

37:35

friends there , pretty hot

37:38

ticket around here , and that money

37:40

on top of the cash we'd take would be on set

37:42

us up . But then I decided we

37:44

don't really need it . It's

37:46

the one place where I draw the line . I

37:49

think about what mama and daddy and grandma

37:51

and grandpa would think . I guess

37:53

it's kinda funny how I feel

37:55

like they'd forgive murder before that They'd

37:58

seen what the drugs had done to the town , what

38:01

they'd done to Uncle Lee . Mama

38:03

was very vocal about it . I

38:06

figure us leaving those drugs behind is

38:08

one little less bit of ugliness for us to spread

38:10

into the world . I never

38:12

even talked to Tara about it . I

38:15

have a friend who can get us a gun for cheap , so

38:18

he does . We practice

38:20

shooting in a field right by Splashdown . After

38:22

my night shifts we wait a little

38:24

bit to make sure Uncle Lee has already hit the road home

38:26

. We drink a few beers

38:28

, which I don't feel one bit bad about letting Tara

38:30

partake in With what

38:32

we've both seen . We deserve to be treated like adults anyway

38:34

. We also listen to the

38:36

radio and sing old songs our mama used

38:39

to love . Landslide is our

38:41

favorite . Always makes Tara

38:43

tear up . No one gives a second

38:45

thought to the sound of a gun going off out here

38:47

At this hour . People

38:49

in these parts know how to mind their business

38:52

. I teach Tara how to hold the

38:54

gun steady and hit her target , just like daddy

38:56

did for me . I don't know if

38:58

he'd exactly approve of all this , but

39:00

either way I know he's watching

39:02

over us . There's a reason we've

39:05

waited a little bit . We want the

39:07

plan solid . Tara

39:09

has me go over at countless times so that she

39:11

can be sure we start getting

39:13

our alibi set up , so no one questions it . When

39:15

we're gone Weeks

39:17

prior , we both start telling people we're taking a

39:19

trip to spread our family's ashes around . That time

39:21

I tell myself

39:23

we really will find the perfect place when this is

39:25

all done . More importantly

39:28

, we wait because we want as

39:30

much cash as possible in the safe when

39:32

we hit it . I've noticed that

39:34

Uncle Lee does something of a restock at the start

39:36

of every quarter . He puts a

39:38

chunk of me and Tara's money and some of his gambling

39:40

wins in the safe every few months as a way

39:43

to limit his bank visits . If

39:45

we time it right , we can make it

39:47

happen right after the refill . I

39:50

lose sleep waiting and worrying , but we gotta

39:52

see it through . I decide I'm gonna get

39:54

Uncle Lee to open the safe by telling him I need

39:56

extra cash for Tara's school clothes and supplies

39:58

as soon as he's in

40:00

. I'll do it . I've

40:03

practiced the moment so many times and I'm ready

40:05

At this point . I

40:07

find myself almost excited for it . After

40:10

I shoot him , we'll pack up the money and spread

40:12

some of the drugs around the office a little make

40:15

it look like a deal gone bad . It's

40:17

a story everyone in town will buy . That's

40:20

the beauty of it . We'll be at least

40:22

a state over by the time anyone finds him , and

40:25

the sick thing is , I doubt anyone

40:27

will really care when they do . I

40:30

wait and watch . While

40:32

I sit in the lifeguard stand , uncle Lee smugly

40:35

makes his rounds . He leers

40:37

at the teenage girls in their bathing suits and

40:39

makes passes at their mothers , giving

40:41

them handshakes that linger too long . The

40:44

sound of his vulgar laugh irks my

40:46

soul . Vulgar , that's

40:49

the word . Everything about the

40:51

man is vulgar . I grow

40:53

to hate it . Here working at this water park , all

40:56

around me the patrons reek of boredom

40:58

and gluttony . They

41:00

shovel the shitty park food in their mouths and

41:02

indiscreetly take swigs of the alcohol

41:04

that they sneak in . I see Uncle

41:06

Lee exchange pills to several of them for

41:09

wadded up cash . Everyone's

41:11

too stoned to care about hiding anything . Not

41:14

that anyone would give a fuck . I'd

41:16

be lying if I said that killing Uncle Lee is just

41:18

about tearing the money . I

41:21

hate him . I've always hated

41:23

him . Most of all , I

41:25

resent him being here instead of them . To

41:28

this day they still aren't sure how he even made it

41:30

out of that bus . I fantasize

41:33

about finishing the job . My

41:35

anger is starting to consume me

41:37

. To ease it , I try

41:39

to think about life after we leave . Maybe

41:42

we'll actually get a chance to properly mourn what

41:44

we've lost . I imagine

41:46

getting a nice peaceful place near some water

41:49

. I'd love to swim somewhere

41:51

far away from Splashdown . None

41:54

of this is sitting right with Tara . I

41:56

guess I thought she'd be more fired up at this point

41:58

, like me , but then again , that's

42:00

the thing , tara ain't like me

42:02

. She finally tells me what's been

42:04

on her mind . She doesn't want me to do

42:06

it , she begs me not to do

42:09

it . I don't know what to say . Tara

42:11

just wants peace . She

42:13

wants us to be totally free of this place and

42:15

that man . When we go , she

42:18

tells me she's afraid of what killing Uncle Lee

42:20

will do to me . To tell you the truth

42:22

, I'm a little afraid too . I

42:25

struggle to find words . I'm

42:27

ashamed of how much I've started to want it , to

42:29

need it really . But when I

42:31

look in Tara's eyes I know who

42:33

I am and what's important . She

42:36

needs me . I can't be the

42:38

thing that ruins Tara . So

42:40

we adjust . We decide we

42:43

can still take the money without getting rid of Uncle Lee

42:45

. After all , I still have

42:47

the gun and we still

42:49

have a plan . I think I pictured

42:51

both of us being nervous the day of , but instead

42:53

we're laser focused and everything's going

42:55

well . That should worry me , but I

42:58

keep moving . I wait until the

43:00

day of to ask him for the money so he doesn't have

43:02

time to make up some excuse and blow me off . I

43:04

tell him how Tara's starting her junior year soon and

43:07

we need to go shopping at the outlets just outside

43:09

town . He huffs and puffs at first

43:11

, but I stay firm and he finally relents

43:13

. I

43:16

also tell him I'll take less next time . He gives us

43:19

our allowance . He loves that part

43:21

. He tells me he'll give it to me . Before

43:23

we leave for the night , I made sure that

43:25

Tara was working with me , made some bullshit

43:27

excuse about teaching her the accounting software

43:30

. When our shift finally ends , we silently

43:32

wait for Uncle Lee to finish up . The

43:34

air is tense as our nerves finally

43:36

start to hit us . Uncle

43:39

Lee yells my name . Tara , gives

43:41

me a weak smile and I slowly make

43:43

my way into his office as

43:45

he chastises me for holding up his plans

43:47

. He does his usual show of counting

43:49

the bills before stopping . As he

43:51

looks up to me , he sneers and starts to run

43:53

his big fat mouth . Don't you go

43:55

making a habit of this kind of shit , you

43:57

hear ? I nodded him when I would

44:00

normally throw some smart reply back . I'm

44:02

waiting for the perfect moment . He

44:05

asked me what my problem is . I

44:07

tell him nothing , but he doesn't believe

44:09

me . Just as I see his mind start

44:11

to race , I know I have to act . I

44:14

pull the gun out on him as Tara rushes behind

44:16

me and over to the safe . Uncle

44:18

Lee doesn't even have time to process what's hit him . He

44:21

starts to stand up and I move in , keeping

44:23

the gun pointed right between his eyes

44:25

. I can see he's shaking

44:27

and for a second I almost laugh

44:29

. Tara moves quickly and quietly

44:32

. She's going to fill her duffel

44:34

bag to the brim with cash and she's not going to waste

44:36

a single second . We sit

44:38

in silent for a moment while he sees with rage

44:40

. Y'all think y'all pretty clever

44:42

, don't you ? Especially you Hannah

44:45

. Tara's weak like her daddy

44:47

, but you Just

44:50

like your bitch mother . I

44:52

spit on him and he spits back

44:54

. I urge Tara to hurry because

44:56

honestly , I don't know how much longer

44:58

I can last before I rip him apart with my

45:00

bare hands . Fuck off Lee

45:02

Lee . He

45:04

growled . That's Uncle Lee to you

45:07

, you disrespectful bitch . We

45:09

ain't family , no more . I

45:11

say to him coolly I

45:13

wonder what's taken Tara so long as I pushed

45:16

the gun to Uncle Lee's temple . The

45:18

power I feel right now is incredible . I

45:21

regret promising Tara I wouldn't do it . There's

45:24

no telling what Uncle Lee would do if he knew this thing

45:26

wasn't loaded . Tara finally

45:29

finishes and joins me . She

45:31

avoids eye contact even

45:33

now , afraid of that poor excuse of a man

45:35

. He stares at her anyway

45:37

as I push her towards the door , I

45:39

snap at him you sit your ass

45:41

right here until after you hear us pull off

45:43

or I'll shoot you dead . You

45:46

fucking hear me . He gives

45:48

a weak nod and we share a final glare

45:50

. As Tara and I jog out of the

45:52

building , there's a rush of relief as

45:54

the summer air hits our faces For

45:57

the first time in weeks . Tara laughs

45:59

and seems light . She tells

46:01

me it went smoother than she thought it would . I

46:03

start to respond and the wind is suddenly

46:06

knocked out of me as Uncle Lee bursts out

46:08

of the building , tackling me down the steps . I

46:11

slowly regain my composure , but

46:13

then start to feel sick . When I realize

46:16

that he now has the gun , I

46:18

stand up and lock eyes with Tara . The

46:20

bag of money sits at our feet , in between

46:22

us . We know in just a

46:24

second the plan is going to fall to shit Right

46:27

. Then Uncle Lee raises the gun towards Tara

46:30

and pulls the trigger . I

46:32

went to let out a groan , even though I know it's

46:34

empty . Uncle Lee stands

46:36

confused as the gun clicks and nothing else

46:38

happens . Then it all hits

46:41

him and for that moment it's

46:43

worth it to see him realize he's been duped

46:45

. He starts laughing hysterically

46:48

at our stupidity . I

46:50

myself can admit it was a mistake . Now , damn

46:53

, we almost had it . Then

46:56

it gets furious and before

46:58

I get a chance to think , he slammed the gun

47:00

into the side of my head . I

47:03

see white for a few seconds before coming back

47:05

to reality and look up to

47:07

see Uncle Lee dragging Tara off in a headlock

47:09

. How could things be going this wrong

47:12

this quickly ? I catch up

47:14

to him and start to swing blindly on Uncle Lee

47:16

. Nothing stops him and he starts

47:18

to strangle Tara . I go

47:20

into a full panic and the only thing

47:22

I can think to do is throw myself at his feet

47:24

in an attempt to trip him . Somehow

47:26

it works and he falls , freeing

47:28

Tara in the process . He smacks

47:31

his head hard on the concrete ground

47:33

and crawls around groaning in pain

47:35

, before lying on his back right by the lazy

47:37

river . I inch closer

47:39

and closer towards him and before

47:42

he even sees it coming , I jump on him , almost

47:44

knocking him in Half of his body

47:46

hangs hovering right above the slowly moving water

47:48

while he tries to pull himself up . I

47:51

try my all to avoid it and yet here it

47:53

is , right in front of me , a chance

47:55

to finish the job . I

47:57

force his head back under the water

47:59

. Tara can't bear to watch

48:01

. She sobs quietly

48:03

and turns away . I keep

48:05

my eyes right on his the whole time

48:08

as he struggles . Initially

48:10

I see red , but soon a

48:13

deep peace passes over me as

48:15

the life slips away from him . After

48:18

helping Tara to her feet , we both stare

48:20

at each other , unsure of what move to

48:22

make next . We sob and

48:25

collapse into each other's arms . The

48:28

rest is easy and goes according to the original

48:30

plan . I spread some of the pills

48:32

around and flushed the rest , happy

48:34

to be rid of them . Tara asks if

48:36

we'll ever come back . I say maybe

48:38

a little bit down the road for the rest of our money

48:40

. But who can really tell ? It's

48:43

silent between us for a while on the road . Eventually

48:46

, tara says she wants to show me something . She

48:49

smiles as she opens her duffel and holds up

48:51

two bags of pills . My

48:53

heart sinks as she explains . When

48:56

I was getting the money I saw the pills and it hit me

48:58

we can flip them and use the

49:00

money for a new car . I can't

49:02

even answer her . She's proud

49:05

, thinking she's done something to help . I

49:07

look up at her in the rear view mirror feeling utterly

49:10

defeated . For some reason

49:12

, after everything that's happened to us and

49:14

I mean everything this

49:17

is the most painful

49:19

. I don't want to upset

49:21

Tara , so I flip on the radio and try to change

49:23

the mood . The familiar tune

49:25

starts up and Tara takes the first verse . As

49:27

usual . We belt out the

49:29

chorus of landslide as the scenery whips

49:32

past her windows . She

49:34

squeezes my hand tight and

49:36

I think of mama and daddy .

49:41

What a beautiful haunting

49:44

, deep , complex story

49:46

.

49:47

Can I be honest with you ?

49:47

Yeah .

49:48

I don't really like Uncle Lee .

49:50

No , Uncle Lee's a villain .

49:52

They need family counseling

49:55

. Real bad . I mean no , they don't . That

49:58

guy got his just desserts . There you go

50:00

. I mean I do enjoy

50:02

a good tale of a von Kiel side

50:04

.

50:05

That's right .

50:05

Am I saying that right ?

50:06

A von Kiel side .

50:07

A von Kiel side .

50:08

Uncle side .

50:09

Yeah , uncle side , I could see this story playing

50:12

out as a feature film .

50:13

Yeah , absolutely , and it's just like such a

50:15

deep , rich world that

50:17

Sarah has created , and

50:20

loved hearing her character

50:22

voices . Loved hearing her narration

50:24

voice the whole time too , because she

50:27

is so talented . Not only did she write it , she

50:29

also voiced it for us . And , yeah

50:31

, I saved this one to

50:33

experience for the first time now as we were

50:35

recording , and I just thought it was

50:37

so beautiful . I'm really proud

50:39

of her . I really love it .

50:41

I think the use of a water park

50:43

was a great choice . Yeah

50:45

yeah , originally I was a little curious of like

50:47

how is this going to tie into like haunted

50:49

amusement parks , but instead the

50:52

backdrop of a

50:54

place where children are supposed to experience

50:56

joy being the setting

50:58

for this like just

51:02

terrible life that these two girls

51:04

have been thrust into ? It was

51:06

a really cool juxtaposition .

51:07

And then sort of as the crime scene right

51:09

, like at the end , where everything went

51:11

down , murdered in the Lazy River . Murdered

51:14

in the Lazy River and I mean we've

51:16

talked about this in the last episode too Kind

51:19

of like the . In your hometown there's

51:21

an abandoned water park and

51:23

I think we all are pretty familiar with like water

51:26

parks on their way out , you know , and

51:28

what it means to be a crummy

51:31

sort of water park in a small town , and

51:33

so that imagery was really cool and the way she

51:35

used it here to kind of tell us everything we needed to

51:37

know about the town and

51:39

the people and all that because

51:41

they think it's sort of anchoring in

51:44

a way , Because again , a lot

51:46

of us have a sense of what

51:48

that is and what in what state

51:50

a town is in right when it has

51:52

kind of like this , this dried up

51:54

mom and pop water park .

51:57

It is kind of a trope , isn't it ?

51:59

How like these the gentle trope

52:01

.

52:01

Well , these decayed amusement

52:04

parks or water parks or whatever it is Also

52:07

just being associated with these , like garbage

52:09

humans that run them .

52:11

Yeah Well , I think people become

52:13

garbage humans when , instead

52:15

of shutting something down that isn't getting the right

52:17

maintenance , they're allowing children

52:20

to experience

52:22

rides or waterslides or whatever that aren't safe

52:24

, like , obviously there's a

52:26

lot of complexity to that sort of statement , because people

52:28

need money to live and blah , blah , blah . But

52:31

when you're kind of in the position where you are

52:33

making the choice to

52:35

prioritize profit over safety

52:38

, then it becomes easy to

52:40

kind of paint a picture of the owner .

52:42

Profit over nieces . That's what Uncle

52:44

Lee says .

52:44

That's what he says yeah , yeah

52:46

Again . Beautiful , beautiful . What

52:49

an emotionally deep story for

52:51

our amusement park episode .

52:53

I think this is my favorite Sarah Luke

52:55

story .

52:56

I agree . I mean , I

52:59

really again am in love with

53:01

the story and I she's such a great writer

53:03

. I hope she she does more stories

53:05

or novels , because wow .

53:07

Looking forward to it .

53:08

Yeah , looking forward to it . Two for two

53:10

so far , some two great stories , and

53:13

we have one final story to

53:15

round out our episode , which is a bit

53:18

of a hybrid story , highly

53:20

inspired by true events .

53:22

Okay , okay , let's do it .

53:24

Here we go .

53:29

Adventure landing . Written

53:31

by a couple of shrieves

53:34

. Written

53:36

by Abby Brinker .

53:39

Growing up my grandma's main way to entertain

53:42

me and my cousins was to take

53:44

us to Adventure Central up here

53:46

in Maine . It's never been exactly the

53:48

safest amusement park , but it

53:50

was only 20 minutes away and it was a blast

53:52

. I remember my favorite part used

53:55

to be running around the water park and crawling

53:57

through the pirate ship covered in water and

53:59

then drying off in a windy submarine

54:02

ride in the kiddos section . My grandma

54:04

still talks about the creepy old Elvis shows

54:06

she used to love to take us to . I don't

54:08

think they do those shows anymore . She

54:10

stopped taking us when I was in the fifth grade . Now

54:13

I say it wasn't the safest because there

54:15

were way too many incidents when

54:18

I was very young and amusement park employee

54:20

didn't strap a man into a roller coaster

54:22

called the zombie screen machine correctly

54:25

. When the ride went sideways he fell

54:27

out and drowned in the lake in the middle of the

54:29

roller coaster . I suspect

54:31

that's why my parents never took me there In

54:33

fifth grade . My whole grade took a field trip

54:35

to Adventure Central . One

54:37

of the first rides I went on was something called

54:39

the Star Blaster and it lifted

54:42

you up and down at top speeds and

54:44

I was an underweight , tiny kid . So when

54:46

the ride blasted off I immediately slammed

54:48

my nose into the hard metal railing . Later

54:51

that day I went on the zombie screen

54:53

machine the same ride the man fell out of

54:55

. I didn't fall out , but I'm

54:58

assuming I was not up to the requirements for the

55:00

ride , because I did bruise a rib pretty

55:02

badly and had to go to the emergency

55:04

room the next day . Luckily I didn't

55:06

go on any other rides because the power

55:09

had gone out and all the rides were down . Some

55:11

of my friends were stuck in rides for over an hour

55:13

. In high school my friend who worked

55:15

at Adventure Landing was put in charge

55:18

of being a lifeguard at the kiddie pool , despite

55:20

not having any training , so it was

55:23

never the safest park . My second year

55:25

of college my boyfriend and I decided

55:27

to take his older brother to Adventure Landing

55:29

for Fright Fest . His brother is absolutely

55:31

obsessed with anything to do with amusement parks

55:34

or Disney , so he was pretty excited to go

55:36

. The park was done up for Halloween but

55:38

it didn't live up to my childhood memories . When

55:41

I was a kid they used to fill the big

55:43

fountain in the middle of the park with red food coloring

55:45

so it looked like blood . They hadn't done

55:47

that this time . My favorite part of

55:49

the Halloween decorations was the bumper cars

55:51

. They installed flashing lights

55:53

and the place was filled with fog . It

55:56

looked and sounded like a gay club , so I loved it Really

55:59

. The only creepy part of the whole place was

56:01

the actor they had following people around . He

56:04

was vaguely blue and drenched in water

56:06

. He dripped as he walked , his

56:08

clothes were torn like a zombies and

56:11

he was dragging his foot the whole time as he

56:13

followed us . It really only got super

56:15

creepy when we all stopped for food . There

56:17

was a shitty pizza place at Adventure Landing

56:19

, right where the Ferris wheel used to be before it got

56:21

torn down for being a hazard . He

56:24

even followed us there . He stood

56:26

in the kitty corn maze , which was only maybe

56:28

a foot of corn , and stared at me . My

56:31

boyfriend was occupied talking to a

56:33

family dressed up as characters from Pirates of the Caribbean

56:35

and his brother was looking up

56:37

facts about Adventure Landing , so I don't think

56:39

they noticed the guy . As we left

56:41

the park , the guy followed us out until

56:44

he was standing in the wooded area with a couple

56:46

other drowned zombie actors just

56:48

staring . When we got out to

56:50

our car , we found a whole pizza with my

56:53

boyfriend's last name on the receipt , right

56:55

on the hood of his car . We didn't order

56:57

a pizza , but it was really good .

57:01

Abby , I love this so much , everything

57:04

about this like I'm getting serious

57:06

goosebumps vibes from here Building

57:08

up to be maybe something big

57:10

and you get a little spook I

57:12

fucking love it .

57:13

And I did talk to Cooper about this because I was wondering

57:16

if this was a real story or a

57:18

fiction story . And Cooper

57:20

told me that parts of it were inspired

57:23

by True Events but that the park itself

57:25

was totally a fictionalized version of the park . So

57:27

I thought that was kind of cool .

57:28

And you're getting this big build where they're being

57:31

tailed by who's

57:34

seemingly the zombie

57:36

version of the guy that died on the ride

57:38

and then drowned and then

57:40

just nope , he's just one of

57:42

the actors and they bring in pizza .

57:45

Yeah , yeah , I love it . That's great . It

57:47

feels also like a very atmospheric way

57:50

to end our amusement park

57:52

. This is the

57:54

true American amusement park story .

57:56

Yeah or , like it

57:59

could , even could have been the zombie

58:01

version of the guy . It's actually

58:03

never explicitly stated one

58:05

way or the other , but it is undeniable

58:08

that they provided pizza , which

58:11

is just charming .

58:12

It's charming , very charming . Now I want

58:14

pizza . I'm quite hungry .

58:15

Thank you , Cooper , More of these please .

58:17

Thank you , cooper , yes , and thank you to everybody

58:19

who wrote stories and narrated

58:22

stories for us today . Cooper is now

58:24

the researcher and historian

58:26

for New Era Paranormal , which

58:28

is a group based out of Western New York and the Buffalo

58:30

area , and I'm going to leave , of course , all

58:33

of the links for all of our

58:35

contributors today in the description of this podcast . So

58:37

please follow them on social media and

58:39

support them , because we are very

58:41

grateful to have their work featured on today's

58:43

episode .

58:44

And we can't glance over

58:46

that beautiful narration , Abby

58:48

.

58:49

Oh well , I was hoping that we would .

58:51

You really brought it to life . Thank you , and

58:53

I got to say I think

58:56

you are one of , if

58:58

not the biggest , contributor to

59:00

this podcast .

59:01

Thank you , you're welcome

59:03

. Thank you guys , so much for

59:05

listening . This concludes our

59:07

amusement park journey

59:09

, the intersection of horror

59:11

and amusement parks , and , if you haven't already checked

59:14

it out , there's a ton of supplemental

59:16

articles , I would say on our website

59:18

, lunaticsprojectcom . If you click on

59:21

articles , we have deep

59:23

dives into abandoned amusement parks

59:25

with photos , some of our favorite amusement park

59:28

films , historic

59:30

photos from Coney Island from the 18

59:32

and 1900s . So lots of

59:35

extra sort of visual content

59:37

on both on social media , of course , and

59:39

also on our website . So lunaticsprojectcom

59:42

, that's a great way for you guys to see everything

59:44

we have going on in one place .

59:46

If you want to follow more Abby

59:49

Branker , you can check out films about

59:51

lunatics at gmailcom . No

59:54

.

59:54

No , if you want more from us

59:56

, you can follow us at the Lunatics

59:59

Project or Lunatics Project anywhere

1:00:01

on social media . Nice try , though I don't

1:00:03

.

1:00:03

But no as the narrator .

1:00:05

As the narrator . You can check out the Lunatics

1:00:08

Project on Instagram . You'll hear my voice

1:00:10

on all kinds of cringey reels .

1:00:13

So that's it for amusement parks .

1:00:14

That's it . What a bang , what a way

1:00:17

to start off the year and very

1:00:19

excited about some of the upcoming

1:00:21

topics . One thing I do want to say if you

1:00:23

are a writer , if we have writers listening

1:00:25

, please reach out if you'd like to be added

1:00:27

to our writers mailing list . I send kind

1:00:29

of the list of upcoming topics so

1:00:31

that you can submit either stories you've

1:00:33

already written or new stories If you want to write

1:00:35

some . I try to give you guys as much time as possible

1:00:38

to write some short stories for

1:00:40

the upcoming episodes . So please let

1:00:42

me know , reach out to us at filminsportlunaticscom

1:00:45

or DM us on any platform and I will get you

1:00:47

added to that mailing list . Anything else , alan , any

1:00:50

closing remarks on theme parks , anything

1:00:53

poignant to leave us on here ?

1:00:55

Having gone through a few of these stories

1:00:57

, I feel that , like deep

1:00:59

, deep horror in amusement parks hasn't

1:01:03

been explored

1:01:05

heavily for a reason . Yeah , it's

1:01:07

easiest fit is

1:01:09

using it as a backdrop for

1:01:12

either something

1:01:15

spooky or

1:01:17

just some

1:01:19

heavy life shit .

1:01:20

Yeah .

1:01:21

And that's where it really thrives . Not

1:01:24

to say that you can't do some heavy

1:01:26

conventional horror . I just haven't

1:01:28

seen it yet .

1:01:29

Yeah , so an untapped market out there

1:01:32

, and let us know . Let

1:01:34

us know if we're missing any major films . That will

1:01:36

scratch Alan's itch , but otherwise the hunt continues

1:01:38

.

1:01:39

Okay , well , I'm sad

1:01:41

to see this one go , but I know what

1:01:43

we got coming up and it's cool .

1:01:45

It's very cool . Yeah , I'm super excited . We have a very

1:01:47

. We have a wide range

1:01:49

of topics . I'll say some for Alan , some

1:01:51

for me and , yes

1:01:54

, very excited for the next few months here

1:01:56

.

1:01:56

Well , it's the next one , specifically , that I'm most excited

1:01:58

for .

1:01:58

Really .

1:01:59

But I can't say it , that's right .

1:02:01

Well , we'll see you guys in a few weeks and all will be

1:02:03

revealed , but until then , stay

1:02:05

safe , stay spooky , and we'll talk to you soon . Bye

1:02:07

, bye .