Redwood Bureau – "URBAN SANGUIVORES" (Redwood Bureau Phenomenon #0155)

Host: Josh Tomar as Agent Conroy
Podcast: Redwood Bureau / Eeriecast Network
Date: January 17, 2026

Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Redwood Bureau explores the Bureau's investigations into "urban sanguivores"—supernatural, vampiric entities hiding in modern cities' shadows. Through first-person narrative, incident reports, and chilling field accounts, Agent Conroy exposes the terrifying reality behind urban legends of vampirism: outbreaks of infection that transform ordinary people into predatory creatures. The episode blends horror, procedural drama, and philosophical reflection on the cost of secrecy and containment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reframing Vampires for the Modern World

• Agent Conroy narrates the shift from old-world vampire myths to their adaptation for the 21st century.
  • Quote: "If you wanted something that feeds on people and hates the sun to survive in the 21st century, you wouldn't put it in a castle. You'd put it under a city." (03:58)
• Urban legends about subway attacks, “junkies” or “homeless” biting people are framed as dismissals of real supernatural threats.
• The Bureau’s containment: These incidents are sanitized in official reports, downplayed as everyday violence.

2. Incident Report: Kayla and Eli’s Ordeal

A detailed first-person account from Eli, whose sister Kayla is bitten by a creature in a subway station, leading to devastating consequences.

• Setting: Run-down city apartment; two siblings struggling to get by (06:17).
• Attack: Kayla is bitten by a pale, naked man in the subway; insists on going to the hospital, not calling the police due to cost and bureaucracy (07:42–09:10).
• Decline: Kayla’s symptoms escalate—fever, headaches, photophobia, hair loss, extreme sensitivity to smell. She becomes increasingly unwell, refusing to return to the hospital (16:46–21:38).
• Transformation: Eli returns home to find chaos; Kayla has massacred a neighbor and is inhumanly altered—pale skin, wrong joints, predatory behavior. Eli is viciously attacked and bitten (27:56–33:48).
• 911 Call: Eli barricades himself and calls for help as his transformation begins (34:44).

Memorable Moment:
Eli’s realization about his sister’s transformation:

"Her jaw jutted forward, the muscles branched along the cheeks like cables. Her mouth—I don't know how to describe it. The teeth were flattened and chipped, gums pulled back. There was blood on everything." (28:41)

3. Bureau Intervention & Quarantine

• Immediate, brutal containment by the Redwood Bureau:
  • The building is locked down, floors purged, survivors sedated and memory-fogged.
  • "Full vector saturation" is their euphemism for wiping out all infected and potentially infected individuals (62:29–63:30).

Notable Statement:
"Any stage of infection in a closed box is just a future nest. The only solution available is termination and disposal." (62:44)

4. Field Operation: Clearing the Nest

Agent Conroy joins a Bureau team into a subway tunnel to root out an infestation.

• Team Setup: Military tactics; extreme caution—exposure is deadly (36:06–40:25).
• Descent: The team discovers a nest filled with scavenged belongings, bones, and dormant creatures—described in chilling, monstrous detail (42:02–44:04).
• Attack: The creatures are fast, spiderlike, and relentless; bullets are only somewhat effective (44:09–46:43).
• Escalation: Surrounded and outnumbered, the team deploys a "torch" device—burns the nest with targeted radiation/chemical fire, eradicating most of the creatures (55:38–57:19).

Memorable Action Sequence:
"No order was given. We didn't need words to understand what this situation had developed into. The room exploded into flashes of fire and deafening thunder... The infestation was like a hydra. Every time one dropped, two more took its place." (50:41–55:38)

5. Aftermath & The Bureau’s Cost

• Survivors undergo harsh decontamination: seven days in isolation, severe illness, mental manipulation, and ongoing coercion.
• Agent Conroy details the emotional and moral toll—he participates, but the price is the safety of his family, held hostage by the Bureau.
• Reflections: The Bureau doesn’t secure or cure the threat; it barely maintains control, acting out of self-interest.
• Warning: Infection is terrifyingly close. The myth is real, and “urban sanguivores” are an ever-present danger below the surface.

Notable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• “If you wanted something that feeds on people and hates the sun to survive in the 21st century, you wouldn't put it in a castle. You'd put it under a city.” (03:58) — Agent Conroy's opening monologue reframing urban vampirism.
• Eli on the broken hospital system:
  • “We can't afford the ambulance bill.” (08:29) — socioeconomic struggles are part of the vulnerability.
• Transformation details:
  • “Her pupils were huge, almost eating the brown. The whites weren't white anymore. Veins shot red. Your hair is falling out, I said.” (20:22)
• Confrontation in the neighbor's apartment:
  • “Her jaw jutted forward, the muscles branched along the cheeks like cables. Her mouth... I don't know how to describe it.” (28:41)
• Bureau policy on outbreaks:
  • “Any stage of infection in a closed box is just a future nest. The only solution available is termination and disposal.” (62:44)
• On the psychological cost:
  • “They promised me my family was safe if I kept doing this. New names, new town, clean id. All handled... The threat is clear enough.” (60:26)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:04–03:08 – Introduction: What are “urban sanguivores” and Bureau secrecy
• 06:17–21:38 – Incident report: Kayla’s attack and illness, Eli’s growing fear
• 27:56–33:48 – Kayla’s transformation, violence, and Eli’s infection
• 36:06–41:22 – Bureau team gears up for tunnel operation
• 42:02–44:04 – Discovery of the nest: detailed description of creatures
• 44:09–57:19 – Battle with the nest; use of torches; survival
• 61:58–66:02 – Bureau clean-up, memory manipulation; Conroy’s final thoughts and warnings

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a bleak, urgent, and unsparing tone. Dialogue is raw and honest, reflecting working-class anxieties, bureaucratic indifference, and existential terror. The horror is both physical and emotional—infectious violence mirrored by institutional ruthlessness. Agent Conroy’s narration is forthright, laced with cynicism and compassion, committed to exposing truth regardless of the cost.

Conclusion

"URBAN SANGUIVORES" masterfully intertwines urban horror, class commentary, and bureaucratic critique, warning listeners that real monsters hide not in remote castles, but beneath the cities we inhabit—and that suppression, not solution, is the Bureau’s guiding principle. The take-home: If you hear footsteps behind you in the subway, or a loved one comes home with a suspicious bite, take heed. The legends are real, and “urban sanguivores” are far closer than comfort allows.