Loading summary
Payne Lindsay
You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.
Tig Notaro
Ready to level up. Chumba Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary. Enjoy hundreds of online social games like blackjack, slots and Solitaire anytime, anywhere with fresh releases every week. Whether you're at home or on the go. Let Chumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus, get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus check. Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary. VGW Group VOIP board prohibited by law 21/TNCs apply.
Rainn Wilson
Attention radio rental listeners. We've gotten all your emails and DMs over the last five and a half years and we're happy to let you know that Radio Rental merch is finally here and some of the designs are already selling out. So go check out Shop Tenderfoot tv. You might be excited to see that our most popular T shirt style titled Open Late now comes in a hoodie too. Stay tuned for exclusive drops and limited edition designs because we've got big plans. So shop small and support your local video rental store today. Go to shop Tenderfoot TV for RadioRental merch and tag us on Instagram RadioRental so we can see your selections.
Payne Lindsay
Hate waiting a week for the next episode of Radio Rental. Subscribe to Tenderfoot plus to get early access to episodes, ad free listening and bonus scary stories. Visit tenderfootplus.com for details.
Rainn Wilson
The following podcast includes scary stories with content that could be triggering to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.
Payne Lindsay
Take a break from the same old boring blockbusters and experience a new kind of movie night with Radio Rental. At Radio Rental, our videos come to life in your living room, defy all logic and reasoning, and make you question your own reality. This is not your ordinary video rental store. At Radio Rental, we carry one of a kind videos. So frightening, so mind bending. You won't be able to sleep at night. You've gone Radio Rental.
Malachi
Oh hi. Welcome to Radio Rental, a video rental shop with a collection of the scariest stories you've ever heard, all told by real people. Come on in. Don't be shy. Actually, this is great timing for me because I have an itch on my back and I can't really get it on the corner of the front desk. Could you get that for me? Low back? Actually under the chin would be nice too while you're at it. Okay, you don't have to scratch me if you're gonna be all weird about Seems like you don't realize what's happening here. I'm Malachi. I'm Terry's cat. We've met, like a lot of times. I get it. I'm not naive. You're a little surprised I can talk right now. Is that it? Kind of hypocritical, I might say. You come here feening for paranormal stories and weird unexplained events and stuff, and then when one actually happens to you, you're put off. Classic humans. They always want to put you in a box. Except when you actually want to get in a box. Then that's when they take it out for recycling. Anyway, I don't know what to tell you. A witch visited me in the middle of the night. Yeah, that's what I said. I was sleeping over there on a perfect rectangle of newspaper and I opened my eyes and there was a witch in front of me and she waved her hands in my face and then said I would be able to talk for two weeks. I don't know. I'm just telling you what happened. And yeah, I didn't think this is what my human voice would sound like either. I'm as surprised as you are. Anyway, Terry left the store all of a sudden and now I'm in charge. No quote unquote. Babysitters showed up this week to help me. I mean, better than the last guy who kept trying to high five me. Do I look like a goldendoodle? God, I. I hate, hate goldendoodles. The dog equivalent of an inbred popular girl. Beautiful and so dumb. Okay, well, anyway, scary tape time. I'll nudge the right tape with my nose, but you're going to have to physically put it into the vcr. Though. I may have a voice, but the witch didn't grace me with opposable thumbs.
Guest Storyteller
Great.
Malachi
Thank you.
Guest Storyteller
You never really know what's lurking nearby if your feet are on the floor right now, what's beneath the floor, if you reach out and touch your wall, what's behind the wall, Things can surprise you. There are all sorts of places where things can hide. Every year I would go to summer camp. Camp every summer happened in August. Something that we would do regularly as an activity is we would go swimming. The whole camp was situated around a big man made lake. And there was a section for boating and then another section that was sectioned off for swimming. One day, my group and the group of corresponding age boys went for a swimming session. There were probably about a dozen of us. We would run down this long wooden dock, jump into the water, swim out to a floating dock that was like maybe 10 yards ahead of us. Climb off the dock, mess around, jump off, just goof around, have a good time. There was another floating dock, very similar to the one that we would always swim to, but it was way further down the lake, probably about three times as far distance as the one that we would normally go to. The years that I had been to this camp, I had never seen anybody go over to this other dock. One day I had the bright idea that, like, hey, instead of doing what we normally do, why don't we go check out that other dock? It's pretty much the same thing. But, you know, it's a little bit of a challenge to have a longer swim. It's just like, you know, something a little bit different. So we swim down to this other dock. I'm not the best swimmer, you know, I don't swim that often. So, you know, by the time I got there, it was like a little bit worn out. Everybody's climbing up on the dock. I'm treading water, and as everybody's climbing up in front of me, I see on the ladder to go up to the dock, this strange looking spider that I'd never seen before. It was pretty big. It was probably about 2 inches long, end to end. And most of that was legs, very leggy, a long, skinny body. And something that was very strange to me about it was it had these really large mandibles that kind of protruded out. And so I was just like kind of there in the water, looking at it, waiting for my turn to go up. And so I walk up the ladder past the spider. I made sure to, like, leave as much distance as I could between the spider and myself. We climb up on the dock. We were all a little bit tired from the long swim. We lie down in the sun. We're just kind of resting for a little bit. Just like a beautiful childhood memory, you know, everybody just, perfect day. We got up and started playing our normal games, Jumping off the side of the dock, normal horseplay, joking, laughing. One thing that we would normally do is we would sink the dock. Everybody would get together, sink, stand kind of near one of the corners and move further and further into the corner, Putting all of the weight on the corner of the dock so that it would sink down into the water. And then everybody would just like kind of jump off and the dock would pop up and everybody would laugh and, you know, get back on and, you know, whatever. From there, the dock filled with water. And as it filled with water, hundreds of the type of spider that I'd seen on the ladder came pouring out from in between the boards, all between our feet, all in the water with us. In the part of the dock that was already submerged, full grown adult spiders, they started running over the feet of the children who were standing on the dry part of the dock. The dock exploded with spiders in every direction, Their long legs going everywhere, climbing over each other. There were several different sizes of spiders amongst the horde of them. There was a large number of spiders who had just been very disturbed. We all panicked. We jumped off the dock into the water. We jumped in all helter skelter, all different directions, every which way to try to get away from them. The spiders were all around us. They were faring better in the water than we were. The surface tension was holding them up and they were kind of almost walking on the surface of the water. Everybody started to scream. Everybody was splashing and panicking. As I looked around and realized how many spiders were around us in the water and how hard it was to get away from them, it occurred to me that my long hair was not tied back. Oh my gosh, are there spiders in my hair right now? I reached my hands back and I could feel, you know, strands of my hair kind of floating on the surface of the water. And sure enough, I could feel those long legs of those spiders. I could feel their little bodies mixed in with my hair. And immediately I just panicked. I dove under the water as fast as I could, just shaking my head, trying to get them off of me and away from me. It was hard to move away from the spiders because all of the movement going on in the water was so unpredictable. I didn't know which way to go. Every way seemed like the wrong way. There were spiders everywhere. We were trying to get away from them, but we really couldn't. It was difficult to get away from them. We swam back to shore, swam back to another dock that was connected to the shore, got out of the water. We were all done with swimming for the day. Everybody was quiet. We didn't say much to each other. We were just all very shaken up and we just wanted to go back to our tents. I don't know that much about spider habits or if these spiders, like live in a community or whatever. The whole dock was full of full grown spiders living there in some sort of a colony. I wasn't very afraid of spiders before this incident occurred, but I was arachnophobic for many years after this. That whole time they were inches from us, right below the boards that we were laying on. You never really know what's lurking where.
Malachi
Oh man, I love that story. Is that scary to humans? I would be having a field day batting around all those little spider bodies. Oh man, I love when I find a bug in the corner. Best day ever. All right, let's take a break for ads. I think I saw a moth over there, so obviously I'm going to go investigate that.
Guest Storyteller
Thanks for selling your car to Carvana. Here's your check.
Payne Lindsay
Whoa. When did I get here?
Guest Storyteller
What do you mean?
Payne Lindsay
I swear it was just moments ago that I accepted a great offer from Carvana online. I must have time traveled to the future.
Guest Storyteller
It was just moments ago. We do same day pickup. Here's your check for that great offer.
Payne Lindsay
It is the future.
Guest Storyteller
It's. It's the present. And just the convenience of Carvana. Sorry to blow your mind.
Payne Lindsay
It's all good. Happens all the time.
Guest Storyteller
Sell your car the convenient way to Carvana.
Tig Notaro
Pickup times may vary and fees may apply.
Advertiser
Summer is here and I hope you're enjoying it so far. I myself have been enjoying it a little too much based on this sunburn I've been sporting. But hey, I can't complain. It sure beats getting burned by your wireless bill. Here's a tip if you want to avoid that, try Mint Mobile. It's crazy to think that I was spending nearly double on my previous wireless plan. Thankfully, Mint Mobile rescued me from that. They cut my bill in half and I've been saving money ever since. But that's not all. They also improved my service. I'm getting faster speeds and better connectivity than ever before, along with unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. This year. Skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your three month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mint mobile.com tenderfoot that's mintmobile.com tenderfoot upfront payment of $45 required, equivalent to $15 a month limited time. New customer offer for first three months only. Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on a limited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.
Payne Lindsay
When you haven't found love, it can feel like everyone else has. It's in every movie, every song, and all the PDA Looking for love sucks. Thankfully, California Psychics can give you the guidance you need to find the one we guarantee if your reading isn't life changing, it's free and new customers receive 20 minutes for just $20. Visit californiapsychics.com and experience the Joy of Certainty. California psychics.
Malachi
Okay. Hope you enjoyed your ads. I really enjoyed eating that moth. All right, let's listen to another story, shall we? Here's your next tape. Are you gonna put it in? Yeah. Cause, you know, still no thumb growth in the last five minutes.
Payne Lindsay
This was about 24 years ago. My child was about a year old, barely walking. During that summer. We liked to visit a local lake. It was a small lake. It was actually more of a pond. The bottom was clay and seaweed, the bottom of that lake. Other people brought their little kids there and we'd picnic and swim. On this particular day, it was about six o' clock in the evening. There was quite a few families there, 20, 25 people at the lake, in the swimming area. I was holding my daughter. My wife was swimming. And I was talking to my daughter while we were watching the water. And I heard my wife shout my name. I looked over at her and she was standing there uncomfortably, kind of grossed out look on her face, kind of a little bit scared. And she's saying, I think I just stepped on somebody's face. I thought she was joking. I just thought she felt something weird under the water. Then she repeated it. I really think I just stepped on somebody's face. It wasn't deep water. Where she was standing was up to her waist. But I remember her shifting her weight back and forth, trying to kind of get out of there. And she got out of the water pretty quick. And she said, I felt a nose and an eye socket. It's what she felt. It's the feel of it, the softness. When she said she felt that eye socket, she felt that nose. That's what made her sure. There was a lot of people at that lake and they could hear what she said. She was talking to me. But obviously everybody in the area could hear what she had to say. Nobody really cared because it's a lake. You find strange things in the lake. They heard and saw what I saw and nobody really reacted. Nobody came and talked to us and said, where was it? You know, there wasn't a circle around us saying, should we call the police? It's just people continued doing what they were doing and they just assumed that it was. That it was nothing. That's when I considered going in the water and investigating myself. It was kind of a more of a morbid curiosity, you know, what would happen. What if it really is a body? If it wasn't a body, great. If it was a body. I didn't like that scenario. I didn't think that would Play out very nicely at the lake. I would have reached down, grabbed what I thought might have been a body, pulled it up. How terrible would that have been? It would have ended up with me throwing up in the water, dry heaving. Maybe other people would have seen what I pulled up. Traumatizing everybody there, traumatizing ourselves. So we decided, let's just. Let's just go. I left it and we left. By the time we got home, we had convinced ourselves that this wasn't a face, this wasn't a body, this wasn't. This was just seaweed, this was rocks, this was mud, this was clay. If there was a body right there, don't you think we'd know about it? And we convince ourselves that this was nothing. This was just. This was just nothing. Weird things under the water. That's what it amounted to. Two days later I came home from work and we had to do some shopping. So we loaded up our child into the car. My wife got in the into the car and as we left she said in the newspaper today, it says that there was a body found in that lake. Body of a little boy. That's when it comes back like my good. This was real. This was real. There's a very good chance that that was a real body that my wife stepped on. Fear of the water is a very real thing. And when I'm telling this story to some people, they're just. It terrifies them because the story seems to confirm their fears, their fears of the water. How many places have we gone swimming where there's things under the water that we didn't know about? The fear of the unknown terrifies people. And maybe it should.
Malachi
Jesus. I don't know why humans feel the need to go in water. I just. That that really doesn't resonate with me. I mean, I hate water. It's a 0 out of 10 experience. Honestly, I barely like even drinking out of my own bowl. I'd go weeks if I could. Alright, now I need to run around the room as fast as I can for no apparent reason. So let's take another break for ads, shall we?
Tig Notaro
Ready to level up. Champa Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary. Enjoy hundreds of online social games like blackjack, slots and solitaire anytime anywhere. With fresh releases every week. Whether you're at home or on the go. Let Shumba Casino bring the excitement to you. Plus get free daily login bonuses and a free welcome bonus. Join now for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Play Chumba Casino today. No purchase necessary. VGW group Void where prohibited by law. 21 TNCs apply this summer. Staying healthy actually tastes amazing. Grunds has launched a limited edition Raspberry Lemonade flavor and it's only here through August. These aren't your average vitamins. Each daily pack has eight snackable gummies packed with 20 vitamins and minerals, 60 whole food ingredients and zero junk. They're vegan and each variety is either.
Payne Lindsay
Low sugar or sugar free.
Tig Notaro
Perfect for your beach bag or carry on. Wellness has never been this convenient or this delicious. Grab yours now and save up to 52% off with code Heart Just got.
Guest Storyteller
A new puppy or kitten. Congrats. But also yikes. Between crates, beds, toys, treats and those first few vet visits, you've probably already.
Tig Notaro
Dropped a small fortune.
Guest Storyteller
Which is where Lemonade Pet Insurance comes in. It helps cover vet costs so you can focus on what's best you for for your new pet.
Tig Notaro
The coverage is customizable, sign up is.
Guest Storyteller
Quick and easy, and your claims are handled in as little as three seconds. Lemonade offers a package specifically for puppies and kittens. Get a'llemonade.com pet your future self will thank you. Your pet won't. They don't know what insurance is.
Malachi
Hey, thanks for stopping by Radiorental again today. Even though you didn't recognize me and you didn't scritch scratch my chin, I still had an overall non offensive time with you today. Your company was adequate and that's a pretty high rating in my book. So I guess we'll see you next week at Radio Rental. Hey, real quick. Last thing. If you could toss that fabric mouse over there as hard as you can, I'm gonna run around the room again while I look at it and put pretend it's stalking me. Thanks.
Rainn Wilson
Radio Rental is created by Payne Lindsay and brought to you by Tenderfoot. TV showrunner is Meredith Stedman. Lead producer is Eric Quintana. Executive producers are Payne Lindsay and Donald Albright. Our main host is Rainn Wilson. Guest host is Tig Notaro. Written by Meredith Stedman. Additional writing by Mark Laughlin Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set with additional score by Jay Ragsdale. Editing by Eric Quintana, Stephen Perez, Meredith Stedman, Tristan Bankston and Sean Nurney. Sound design, mix and master by Steven Perez and Cooper Skinner. Additional editing by April Ruha and Dayton Cole. Our production manager is Jordan Foxworthy. Our social media manager is Caroline Orajema. Video editing by Dylan Harrington Cover artwork by Trevor Iler and Rob Sheridan Radio Rental merchandise by Byron McCoy to shop radio rental merch, visit Shop Tenderfoot TV. Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at UTA, as well as the Nord Group and the team at Odyssey. If you have a radio rental story that you'd like to share, please email us at yourscarystorymail.com or contact us via the form on our website radiorentalusa.com follow us on Instagram at radiorental. On behalf of the RadioRental store, we'd love it if you'd subscribe, rate and review. As always, thanks for listening.
Guest Storyteller
Foreign.
Tig Notaro
Business can be intimidating. Suddenly you're wearing all the hats. Designer marketer, Customer support, Shipping expert. It's a lot. That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is the global commerce platform powering millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US Shopify has your back. With hundreds of ready to use templates, you can launch a beautiful professional online store that looks and feels like you need content. Shopify's AI tools can help you write product descriptions, headlines, even enhance your product photos. Want to grow your reach easily? Create email and social media campaigns to meet your audience wherever they're scrolling. And with Shopify's world class support, you'll have expert help for everything. Turn your big business idea into With Shopify on your side, sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today@shopify.com Odyssey podcast. Go to shopify.com Odyssey podcast shopify.com Odysseypodcast.
Radio Rental - Episode 81 Summary
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Host: Rainn Wilson
Guest Host: Tig Notaro
Production: Tenderfoot TV & Audacy
In Episode 81 of Radio Rental, hosted by Rainn Wilson and featuring guest storyteller Tig Notaro, listeners are immersed in chilling real-life horror tales set within the enigmatic confines of the fictional 1980s video rental store, Radio Rental. This episode delves into unsettling encounters with the unknown, blending eerie narratives with moments of dark humor.
Narrator: Guest Storyteller
The episode opens with a harrowing account of a childhood summer camp experience. The storyteller recalls frequent swimming sessions at a man-made lake, where one fateful day, an ordinary swim transforms into a nightmare.
Discovery of the Spider Colony: As children relax on a dock after a long swim, the tranquility is shattered when the dock begins to fill with water. Suddenly, hundreds of spider-like creatures emerge from between the boards, overwhelming the swimmers.
"As I looked around and realized how many spiders were around us in the water and how hard it was to get away from them..." [07:45]
Panic and Fear: The swarm of spiders induces sheer panic. The storyteller describes the terror of feeling spiders in their hair and the desperate attempts to escape the relentless crawl of the creatures.
"...long legs going everywhere, climbing over each other. There were several different sizes of spiders amongst the horde..." [09:30]
Aftermath and Lasting Fear: The incident leaves a lasting impact, transforming the storyteller from someone unafraid of spiders to enduring arachnophobia.
"I wasn't very afraid of spiders before this incident occurred, but I was arachnophobic for many years after this." [12:50]
Discussion:
Malachi, the anthropomorphic cat and co-host, responds with a blend of humor and dark amusement, highlighting the stark contrast between human and feline perceptions of such horror.
"I would be having a field day batting around all those little spider bodies. Oh man, I love when I find a bug in the corner." [13:10]
Narrator: Payne Lindsay
Shifting from the unsettling swarm of spiders, Payne Lindsay shares a disturbing personal experience involving a possible supernatural encounter at a local lake.
The Mysterious Touch: While picnicking by the lake, Payne's wife feels something solid beneath the water's surface, revealing what appears to be a human face.
"When she said she felt that eye socket, she felt that nose. That's what made her sure." [18:30]
Dismissal and Denial: Despite the alarming discovery, the surrounding crowd remains indifferent, leading Payne and his family to rationalize the experience as a trick of the light or natural debris.
"We convince ourselves that this was nothing. This was just. This was just nothing." [21:00]
Confirmation of Horror: Days later, the realization strikes when a newspaper report confirms a body was found in the lake—a body matching what his wife had felt.
"That's when it comes back like my good. This was real. This was real." [22:00]
Discussion:
Malachi expresses comedic relief juxtaposed with the gravity of Payne's story, emphasizing the perpetual disconnect between human fears and feline simplicity.
"I don't know why humans feel the need to go in water. I just. That that really doesn't resonate with me." [22:05]
Episode 81 of Radio Rental masterfully intertwines spine-tingling narratives with moments of levity, maintaining an engaging balance that keeps listeners on edge while providing brief respites of humor. The stories explored delve deep into the fears of the unknown and the psychological impact of unexplained phenomena, all within the nostalgic and eerie setting of an 80s video rental store.
Spiders at the Lake:
Unseen Presence in the Lake:
Malachi's Reactions:
Stay tuned for more chilling tales and eerie encounters on the next episode of Radio Rental. For exclusive merchandise and updates, visit Shop Tenderfoot TV.