The NoSleep Podcast – Season 23, Episode 19

Date: November 16, 2025
Host: David Cummings

Overview

This episode of The NoSleep Podcast weaves together a suite of original horror stories centered on storms, isolation, supernatural pacts, and the monstrous forces lurking inside and outside the mind. The show navigates unrelenting rain, a nightmarish food delivery during a blizzard, a grotesque encounter in a park toilet, and an escalating standoff with a supernatural being at Goat Valley Campgrounds. The episode immerses listeners in dread, paranoia, and the harrowing loss of certainty, highlighted by atmospheric sound design and haunting performances.

Episode Structure & Key Segments

1. Opening & Listener Engagement (00:00–05:23)

   • Host David Cummings welcomes listeners to a stormy night, teases regional cryptid folklore, and segues into horror recommendations.

2. Story 1: "It Is Always Raining" by Caleb Greenfield (07:06–13:09)

   • A psychological horror where relentless rain fractures reality for a solitary man.

3. Story 2: "Takeout in the Storm" by Barry Pirro (16:40–33:22)

   • A blizzard, a takeout order, shifting identities, and something sinister at the door.

4. Story 3: "Shithouse Exorcist" by Anthony D. Herrera (36:25–66:07)

   • Heat, weight loss, a cursed chemical toilet, and an escalation into grotesque urban legend.

5. Story 4: Goat Valley Campgrounds, Season 2, Chapter 9 by Bonnie Quinn (66:39–94:27)

   • Supernatural politics, family debts, and a bloody showdown with the Man With No Shadow.

6. Closing Credits & Outro (94:27–end)

Main Themes

• Nature as Malice: Every story revolves around overwhelming weather or untamable natural forces.
• Isolation & Madness: Protagonists face isolation that warps reality, leading to terror or transformation.
• Supernatural Contracts: Recurring plots involve deals with dark entities whose terms always twist to horror.
• The Price of Survival: Each survivor pays—physically, psychologically, or spiritually—for their ordeal.
• Small Town Secrets: The episode bookends with local legends and power struggles in insular communities.

Detailed Segment Breakdown

1. Opening & Podcast Recommendations (00:00–05:23)

• Weather-Tinged Banter: David Cummings frames the episode around stormy weather, linking it to the episode's horror themes.
• Local Lore: Mentions "Rat Man" sightings in storm drains, enhancing the eerie, place-based atmosphere.
• Podcast Plugs: Recommends Conversations with Ghosts and Burned by a Paper Sun, both horror anthologies.
  • Notable quote:
    "For centuries, humans have populated the darkness with creatures of legend whose existence remains unproven, yet whose presence is undeniable in the whispered tales of those who dare venture too deep into the wild." — David Cummings (04:04)

2. Story 1: "It Is Always Raining" (07:06–13:09)

• Protagonist: A man trapped inside during ceaseless rainfall; isolation blurs his sense of time and reality.
• Psychological Decomposition: The rain becomes an all-consuming presence, leading to hallucinations and a nightmare escape attempt.
• Supernatural Encounter: While trying to leave, he’s confronted in a surreal meadow by shifting, shadowy figures.
  • Memorable moment:
    "...its voice the hiss of rain through a drainpipe: 'Don't try it again.'" — Man with no Shadow (13:02)
• Ambiguous Ending: He awakens from the ordeal—or does he? The rain continues, reality uncertain.

3. Story 2: "Takeout in the Storm" (16:40–33:22)

• Setting: Jason is snowed in, orders food, experiences increasingly bizarre encounters.
• Creeping Horror: The delivery person arrives implausibly early, without food, and potentially accompanied by doppelgängers or nameless intruders.
• Shifting Identities: Girlfriend Lauren, her grandmother, and the deliveryman all seem to become “hungry” outsiders demanding entrance.
• Descent into Paranoia: Jason calls 911, only to have the dispatcher echo surreal menu options.
  • Chilling exchange:
    "There's this girl in the lobby trying to get in, too. She looks like my girlfriend, but she isn't. I mean, it's not really her. I think they're in on this together. You have to send someone over right away, please." — Jason (28:30)
• Climax: Otherworldly repetition at doors and windows:
  "Jason, open the window. It's Myrna. Myrna Lloyd. Lauren's grandma. It's awfully cold out here. Let me in..." — Kate as Grandma Myrna (29:58)
• Implied Fate: The episode closes as Jason is overwhelmed by the entities—all “hungry”—outside.

4. Story 3: "Shithouse Exorcist" (36:25–66:07)

• Set-up: Overweight protagonist tries to get his life together by exercising at McCarran Park.
• The Cursed Toilet: Weird omens (an imperishable fish), an old woman's silent vigilance, and graffiti forewarn a dark presence.
• The Whispering:
  "Give me your pain. Give me your pain..." — Man with no Shadow (45:12, repeated)
• Local Legend Unmasked: Elder reveals the spirit of Grenas, a vagrant who died by suicide in the chemical toilet, now haunts it.
  • Notable exposition:
    "That is his house. That is his pain." — Old Woman (53:56)
• Confrontation: The protagonist battles Grenas—described as a plastic-skinned, waste-filled horror—inside the toilet.
  • Gruesome description:
    "His skin wasn't blue... but transparent like plastic... Inside the liquid floated large gobs of human effluents, toilet paper, used tampons, cigarette butts..." — Narrator (59:17)
• Victory and Infamy: He survives, destroys the toilet (becoming a viral meme), but is left scarred and changed forever.

5. Story 4: Goat Valley Campgrounds, Season 2, Chapter 9 (66:39–94:27)

• Setting: Kate manages a supernatural-infested campground and navigates faustian bargains with the Man with No Shadow.
• Negotiation and Power: Kate resists demands to sign over the campground, maneuvering against the entity through strategic anger and misdirection.
• Family Legacy: The Thin line between obligation and personal survival is explored, especially in strained conversations with her brother and the new sheriff.
• Supernatural Leverage: The Man with No Shadow manipulates through threats to friends, family, and the town’s psyche.
  • Key exchange:
    "I don't honor my mother's bargain... I'm human. I'm not bound to these agreements the way you are. I get to choose." — Kate (72:10)
• Climactic Showdown: Amid a staged town hall meeting, an assassination attempt, and mind-controlled townsfolk, Kate uses ritual and violence to wound the Man with No Shadow—forcing him to retreat but not destroying him.
  • Chilling highlight:
    "The man with no Shadow slowly picked himself up. The assembled townsfolk went still and quiet." — Narrator (90:21)
• Final Move: Kate collects the enemy’s blood to fulfill a ritual, establishing both a tactical victory and lingering danger.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Relentless Isolation:
  “The deep, mind-numbingly repetitive tap, tap, tap of the rain against every surface has drilled its way into my skull. It will never, ever leave me.”
  — Jason Lang, “It Is Always Raining” (07:23)

• On the Sinister Ordinary:
  “Come on, open the door. I have a bunch of other deliveries to get to before the snow starts.”
  — Impostor Pizza Delivery Person (24:10)

• On Urban Legends Made Flesh:
  “He could hear the angels cry and the demons sing. He screamed. He screamed. He screamed. His hair a jungle not covered in bogs. He had no name. We christened him Grenyas…”
  — Old Woman, “Shithouse Exorcist” (52:32)

• On the Tyranny of Family Legacy:
  “You know that's not how this works. I don't honor my mother's bargain... I'm human. I'm not bound to these agreements the way you are. I get to choose.”
  — Kate, “Goat Valley Campgrounds” (72:10)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening & Weather Banter: 00:00–05:23
• "It Is Always Raining": 07:06–13:09
• "Takeout in the Storm": 16:40–33:22
• "Shithouse Exorcist": 36:25–66:07
• Goat Valley Campgrounds S2E9: 66:39–94:27

Summary & Takeaway

This episode delivers a classic NoSleep blend of original horror fiction: immersive soundscapes, interwoven dread, and stories that pick at both primal and modern anxieties. Unrelenting storms, the malice of the mundane, and blurring lines between the supernatural and the psychological are recurring obsessions. Each story showcases the personal, messy struggle for survival against entities and circumstances that cannot be explained, let alone bested by simple courage.

If you’re drawn to horror rooted in place, family, and the self-destroying bargains we strike with darkness—this is an episode not to be missed.