The NoSleep Podcast: Season 23 Episode 18

Release Date: November 9, 2025
Podcast by: Creative Reason Media Inc.
Episode Theme:
This episode explores the theme of “help” in horror—how the need for assistance, refuge, or sympathy can quickly turn sinister within the world of sleepless tales. Each story examines a different facet of seeking or providing help—and the terrifying costs that follow.

Episode Overview

Host David Cummings introduces four tales, each centered on the concept of needing or offering help in situations where such aid leads characters deeper into horror. From diabolical writers and lethal B&B hosts, to haunted grandmothers and beleaguered camp managers, the episode laces everyday interactions with dread and the abnormal.

Key Themes

• Help and assistance twisted into avenues of horror
• Family dynamics under supernatural and real-world strain
• The unknown dangers that lurk in seemingly ordinary people and places

Segment Breakdown & Highlights

[00:00 – 02:48] Opening Monologue (WNSP: Cryptid Valley Radio)

• Host DZ returns to the air after a hiatus, hints at local legends and curses, sets an entertainingly eerie mood, then hands off to The NoSleep Podcast.

[02:52 – 05:58] Episode Introduction by David Cummings

• Expresses gratitude to listeners and supporters.
• Sets up the central theme: people who “need help from others,” noting that in horror, help can become “anything but wholesome.”

"Help yourself to some horror as you tune in, turn on and brace yourself for our sleepless tales." —David Cummings (04:23)

[05:58 – 24:10] Story 1: “The Dedication”

Written by: Richard Dean
Performers: Jesse Cornett, Sarah Thomas, Mike Delgadio, Kristen Demacurio

Plot Summary

• Marcus, a horror writer, fixates on research for his novel within a creative writing group, blurring the line between fiction and deadly reality.
• The discussions of death and body disposal unsettle the group, who gradually become targets.
• Marcus manipulates perceptions, frames the group's leader Dave for murder, and survives a self-inflicted gunshot to secure fame as the sole survivor (and new true crime focus).

Key Moments/Quotes

• Morbid Logic:

  "Killing someone does not make you a bad person. Think about it. What about a soldier killing a member of an opposing army?" —Marcus (05:58)

• Meta-Narrative:

  "Never start with a body. That’s the advice Dave gave us on the course...it’s a rule I have to break in telling my own story, since that's exactly how it started." —Marcus (09:20)

• Twist:
  Marcus survives, achieves literary stardom, and his novel is “dedicated” to those who fell victim to him, with chilling insincerity.

  "I tell them my novel... will naturally be dedicated to them." —Marcus (23:50)

Timestamps

• [05:58] Initial group discussion—disturbing ideas
• [12:00] Marcus’s inner thoughts escalate
• [19:00] Violence erupts; Marcus manipulates scene
• [23:00] Aftermath and dark literary success

[28:22 – 46:03] Story 2: “Mustard Pickles and Potato Pies”

Written by: Christy Hartman
Performers: Nicole Doolin, Sarah Thomas, Dan Zapula, Aaron Lillis

Plot Summary

• Genevieve and Marcel, a bickering couple, become lost in a snowstorm and are taken in by the peculiar Dorothea at the “Rise and Brine B&B.”
• Dorothea’s excessive cheer belies a macabre secret: her husband Jack is pickled in her basement, along with past guests.
• When Marcel falls into Dorothea’s trap, Genevieve is forced to help with the “pickling,” but is ultimately killed herself, joining the ranks of preserved victims.

Key Moments/Quotes

• Warmth Turns to Horror:

  "You little potato pies must be frozen right down to your piglets." —Dorothea (29:14)

• Dark Domesticity:

  "Predictability is the sign of a world weak character." —Dorothea, upon slitting Marcel’s throat (39:27)

• Grim Humor:

  "Pickle, pickle, pumpernickel. I’ll give this guy a little tickle. One for having a little class. One for acting like an ass..." —Dorothea’s sing-song murder rhyme (43:10)

Timestamps

• [28:22] Arrival at B&B, cozy hospitality
• [34:50] The guestbook, hints of past disappearances
• [39:01] The basement “reveal” and murders
• [44:40] Dorothea's chilling pickling recipe and finale

[49:53 – 75:37] Story 3: “Straight Through the Backyard Gate”

Written by: Brandon Greer
Performers: Ellie Hirschman, Mary Murphy, Kristen D. Mercurio, Mike Delgadio

Plot Summary

• The ghost of young Kenny lingers with his loving grandmother, who is the only person able to see him.
• Trouble comes in the form of cousin Sandy, whose presence brings theft, addiction, and family trauma to the surface.
• Through both horror and heartbreak, themes of loss, denial, dependency, and haunting are explored, culminating in tragic familial consequences.

Key Moments/Quotes

• Child’s Perspective:

  "Grandma had forgotten that I'd died, though I couldn't remember it clearly either..." —Kenny (49:53)

• On Forgiveness & Pain:

  "Can you try to feel bad for her enough to love her, even when she's being hurtful?" —Grandma (63:21)

• Chilling Ghostly Realization:

  "I hadn't touched anything. I had never moved anything. I had only ever lurked around the rooms and pretended to be alive. But Grandma had been the only person playing pretend." —Kenny (74:57)

Timestamps

• [49:53] Kenny’s afterlife routine
• [55:27] Sandy’s arrival and suspicion
• [65:45] Intervention confrontation
• [72:13–75:37] Tragedy at the lake and heartbreaking aftermath

[76:25 – 99:56] Serial Chapter: “Goat Valley Campgrounds – Season 2, Chapter 8”

Written by: Bonnie Quinn
Starring: Lindsay Russo (Kate), Jesse Cornett (Russell), others

Plot Summary

• Kate, the beleaguered camp manager, faces escalating threats from townsfolk under the sway of the monstrous “man with no shadow.”
• After an attempted forced takeover and near-fatal car accident, Kate discovers troubling family secrets while under “brain rest” for a concussion.
• The man with no shadow’s aims are revealed to be personal: usurping Kate’s control of the campground via a hidden familial connection.
• Kate, battered but resolute, vows to fight back and embrace her own dark power to save the town.

Notable Quotes/Moments

• On Small Town Secrets:

  "Very rarely a secret really is just that, something that no one knows. They're the most dangerous kind, because monsters have a tendency to know things they shouldn't." —Kate (77:35)

• Blunt Horror:

  "His head and shoulders vanished into the shadow, which had taken on the color and consistency of spilled ink..." (87:41)

• Determined Stand:

  "I'm the campground manager, and it's time to remind the town that maybe they've made a deal with the devil. But the devil is the only thing capable of saving them from the monsters." —Kate (99:40)

Timestamps

• [76:25] Kate receives warning, begins courthouse infiltration
• [82:44] Basement confrontation, violence erupts
• [91:12] Aftermath: car crash, hospitalization
• [94:25] Final resolve and family revelations

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Humor Amid Horror:

  "A rooster one day, a feather duster the next. Now where’d I put that vinegar jug?" —Dorothea (44:42)

• On Hidden Darkness:

  "Maybe they have. I think I’ll start breaking your bones. We’ll see how many I can get through before you sign..." —Town Leader possessed by the man with no shadow (86:38)

• Family and Grief:

  "He couldn't have known he would hurt you this much." —Grandma, alone at the lake (75:37)

Conclusion

Season 23 Episode 18 deftly braids together stories where the impulse to help—be it for companionship, refuge, support, or justice—draws people into darkness. Whether through murder, manipulation, madness, or monstrous influence, each tale warns that the urge to reach out or accept assistance can be fatally double-edged in the sleepless universe.

For fans and first-time listeners alike, this episode is a chilling, clever, and immersive journey into the hidden terrors lurking behind every offer of help.

For extended, ad-free episodes and more, visit: sleepless.thenosleeppodcast.com