All language subtitles for Tales.From.The.Void.S01E06.Whistle.in.the.Woods.1080p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H264-BTN_3_text.eng

[creepy music]

♪

♪

♪

[birds chirping]

♪

[chuckles] You made it!

SAWYER: Surprise!

-[laughs]
-[chuckles] Let's go!

[both giggle]

[toy car wheels squeaking]

HOLDEN: Wow.

How'd you do that?

SAWYER:
Usually, they have test ones

like this at the store.

This one handles
way better, though.

It isn't beat up yet.

[thud]

[Holden gasps]

Whoops. I'll fix it. [chuckles]

[birds chirping]

[mysterious music]

♪

Wow.

Check this out!

[footsteps approaching]

Nola, are...
are you seeing this?

MRS. TOLES: Girls!

Here you go, baby.

-Thank you.
-You're welcome.

Girls?

-Here you go, sweetheart.
-Thanks.

[Sawyer pants]

Hi, Mrs. Toles.
It's so nice to meet you.

It's really nice
to meet you too, Sawyer.

After everything
Nola's told me about you,

I guess, I imagined
you'd be 12 feet tall. [laughs]

-[Nola laughs]
-[laughs]

Well, I am normal size.

[all laugh]

-Did you bike here?
-Mm-hmm.

Don't you live down at the base?

Yeah.

Do your parents know
you're here?

[chuckles softly]
Dad and Jill? Yeah.

They said they were busy,

so I got up extra early
to bike over.

Wouldn't want
to let my friend down.

-[chuckles]
-[chuckles]

Aww. Well, come on in.

-[Nola pants]
-[footsteps thudding]

You have your own room?

No. [scoffs]
It's me and Holden.

-Where's his name?
-Well, I make the rules.

-[giggles]
-[Sawyer giggles]

[door creaking]

Whoa.

Holy!

[gasps, chuckles]
You have a TV in your room?

-Whoa! What...
-[Nola giggles]

Where did you get all of this?

My mom. We watch a lot
of movies at night.

-Can I show you something?
-SAWYER: Yeah.

Come on.

♪

Whoa.

♪

-[both chuckle softly]
-[tin can clatters]

-Don't tell Holden.
-[shushes]

[tin can scraping]

[eerie music]

[trees rustling]

[cutlery clinking]

MRS. TOLES:
Did you guys wash up?

HOLDEN: Yeah.

MRS. TOLES: Are you sure?

-HOLDEN: S... Sawyer didn't.
-NOLA: Mind your own business!

HOLDEN: I'm just saying!

That's not where we keep
the dishes, dear.

Oh, um, you're right.
I'm sorry, Mrs. Toles.

Why don't you wash up?
Dinner's ready.

[eerie music]

♪

-[crickets chirping]
-[insects chittering]

NOLA: So, Robyn,
she was following me,

and she kept yelling,
"Nerd alert, nerd alert."

And it was so annoying!

And I told her to stop,
but she wouldn't listen.

So then, Sawyer, she's like...

"You better stop, or else..."

-[giggles]
-[Sawyer giggles]

-And... and then Robyn's like,
"Or else what?"

"Are you gonna tattletale
on me?"

[chuckles] And, so Sawyer,
she leans in super-close,

and she whispers something
to her,

and then Robyn,
she turns around,

she apologizes to me,

and then she walks away.
[laughs]

Wait, what did you say to her?

Um... I just asked her nicely
to apologize to my friend.

[both chuckle softly]

And how are you
enjoying middle school, Sawyer?

Um, I like it a lot.

It's way better
than my last school.

How so?

Everything's just,
like, really clean and new.

Hmm.
Do you like your teachers?

Yeah. They're just...
[chuckles]

...like, really into teaching.

Okay... [chuckles]
...this one time...

I forgot to do
my math homework, right?

And Mr. Munroe,
actually called my house!

[chuckles] It was so funny,
and he was furious.

And he was on the phone
with my dad for like an hour.

What a loser!
I'm like, get a life!

Uh, Mrs. Toles,
could we be ex...

could we be excused? Um...

Yeah.

Thank you.
The food was amazing.

-Thank you so much.
-MRS. TOLES: You're welcome.

[ominous music]

♪

[dramatic music over TV]

♪

[bowl clatters]

What?
You're gonna miss the movie.

[scoffs] Only for a minute.

You don't have any scary movies?

Um, well, we don't
really like scary movies.

That's just because
you haven't watched

the right ones.

Okay. [chuckles]
So, we're gonna start with this,

um, and then,

-maybe if we have time...
-[door knocking]

How we doing?

ALL: Good.

Good. All right, well,
unfortunately, it is bedtime.

Time to clean up.

What... [chuckles]
...wait? Bedtime already?

Bedtime's nine o'clock.
No exceptions.

It's getting late.
You need to get home.

Uh... uh, Mrs. Toles.

Do you allow sleepovers?

You can come back
some other time,

and you can watch as many movies
with Nola as you'd like.

Right now it's getting late.
You need to get home.

You don't want
your parents to worry.

[scoffs] My parents,
they don't worry.

-Let's get you packed up.
-[Sawyer sighs]

[ominous music]

♪

[exhales]

[wind rustling the trees]

[fire crackling]

[thudding]

[Holden gasps]

-[Holden gasps]
-[Nola gasps]

-Did you hear that?
-We... we should get Mom.

SAWYER: [muffled] Guys...
It's Sawyer!

Come on! I'm out back.

[owl hooting]

[crickets chirping]

[owl hooting]

NOLA: Sawyer!

Hey! [laughs]

Guess we're having
a sleepover after all.

Shh...

♪

[door creaks open]

Why does your mom
have all these crazy locks

around the house?

To keep us safe at night.

Uh, that's insane!

This is the safest neighborhood
I've ever seen.

You shouldn't have
come back here.

You say that now,

but wait till you see
what I brought.

A black square
from another dimension!

A creepy haunted doll!

A serial killer chopping up
the neighborhood kids!

Oh, never mind, this one sucks.

Hey? Everything okay?

Don't be scared.

Uh, maybe we can watch
one of my movies,

then we can watch one of yours.

Okay.

It's a sleepover.
This is what best friends do.

-Okay?
-Yeah, okay.

-Which one do we watch first?
-That one.

-This?
-I'll show you how to put it in.

-Okay.
-[Nola] Come on.

[woman screaming in movie]

SAWYER: Okay, watch,
watch, watch.

She's gonna stab the knife
into his throat.

It's gonna be so cool.

Just give it a second,
just give it a second...

[Sawyer gasps]

-HOLDEN: Ew!
-Isn't that so cool? [laughs]

Come on.

♪

[woman screaming in movie]

Could we, maybe,
watch a different movie now?

Shh.
It's getting to the good part.

Why are we watching this?

Shh!

Did you like it?

No.

Was it too scary?

No, it was just... gross.

You think you can do better?

All right, Nola,
give us your best scary story!

I don't think I have one.

Come on,
everyone has at least one.

Well, there was this one kid...

his name was Tucker.

He and his family moved
to a new neighborhood.

It was kind of like this one.

The people and the houses,
you know?

But, this neighborhood
had a dark secret.

When Tucker and his family
first moved in,

folks from around
the neighborhood warned

his dad and mom about a whistle
that came from the woods.

Tucker couldn't really hear much
of what they were saying,

but he could tell
it was serious.

And one night,
his dad told him

that if he ever heard anything,

anything coming
from the woods at 3:00 a.m.,

to stay in bed
and go back to sleep.

The problem was,

Tucker didn't listen
to his parents.

And he'd sneak out
of bed sometimes

to hear the whistle.

And he could hear it real well
if he was in the right spot.

[whistling]

The thing is, if you hear
the whistle every night,

it lures you in.

It wants to be found.

And one night, Tucker just
couldn't take it anymore.

He needed to know
what was going on,

and so,
he drew up his blinds and...

No one ever saw him again.

Whoa.
That was a nice story.

For being about a scary whistle.

Where did you hear that one?

We hear it every night.

Wait, so you're saying
that's this neighborhood?

Nuh-uh, nice try.
You almost got me there, though.

We should go to bed.

Wait, guys, I thought we were
gonna watch another movie.

Nola, Holden, come on.

We have to be quiet, okay?
My mom might hear.

Ugh.

[ominous music]

♪

[eerie whistling from beyond]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

No way.

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

SAWYER: Who's there?

[whistling gets louder]

Is this a trick?

Did Nola put you up to this?

[shuffling sound]

[unlocks door]

[scream-like sound]

♪

NOLA: Sawyer?

[ominous music]

♪

Sawyer?

♪

[suspenseful music]

[screams in terror]

♪

Hey! What did you see?

[whistling continues]

[banging on door]

It's here.

[banging and rattling]

Upstairs, now!

[whistling continues]

MALE VOICE:
Hey, is that Sawyer?

It's me, Mr. Toles.

Come on outside.
I'd love to meet you.

EVIL VOICE: Come to me!

[dramatic music]

[banging and rattling]

-[roaring]
-[glass shatters]

[roaring]

[beast-like snarling]

♪

[beast-like snarling]

♪

I'm gonna have to ask you
to step outside.

Wait, what?

I can't let it
hurt my family again.

It wants you.

Please... please don't
make me go outside.

[sobbing] Please.

Please, I don't want to die.

I know I broke the rules,
I know I shouldn't have.

Please, please, please!

I'm not gonna ask you again.

NOLA: Mom?

Go to your room!

♪

NOLA: I'm sorry, Sawyer.

♪

♪

[door creaks shut]

[whistling]

[whistling continues]

[Sawyer breathing frantically]

[whistling continues]

[monster breathing]

[dramatic music]

♪

Aah!

[dramatic music]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[whistling continues]

[monster growls outside]

[knock at door]

FEMALE VOICE: Hey, Nola.
It's Sawyer.

Do you want to keep playing?

Please listen Nola.

I have so many things
I want to show you.

[eerie giggle]

DAVID:
Welcome back from The Void.

Thanks for watching.

I'm David Cummings, the creator
and host of the NoSleep podcast.

Today, we're joined
by author Travis Brown,

writer of the NoSleep story

"Something Walks Whistling Past
My House Every Night at 3:03,"

which we've adapted
into the episode titled,

"Whistle in the Woods."

Welcome, Travis.
Thanks for being with us today.

David, thank you so much
for having me.

You have contributed
many stories

to the NoSleep subreddits,

and you've been doing that
for a number of years now.

I'm curious
how you discovered NoSleep,

and what drew you
to the stories,

reading them
and then writing them.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, I've always been a big fan
of horror my entire life,

particularly, you know,
consuming horror literature,

short stories. I've got
a million paperback anthologies

from Amazon, from back
when that first started being,

you know,
a big thing with books.

But, I found Reddit NoSleep
through my internet search,

diving through
different creepypastas

throughout the years.

And as soon as I found NoSleep,
I was hooked.

Obviously, the entire vibe
around it

is built around reader buy-in,
and immersion of the stories,

and it's just such a
unique horror community online.

And what was it about
the community that drew you

to wanting to write
and post stories there?

Was there something about

the community
that really felt...

made you feel comfortable
to do so?

Absolutely.

Part of it, is just it being
such a supportive community,

everyone from the moderators
of the subreddit

to the fantastic readers,
to all the other writers there.

It is one of those places
where it feels like

a rising tide lifts all ships.

Everyone wants
to see you succeed,

everyone wants
to read your story,

everyone wants to talk about
what you're writing,

and what they're writing.

It's just
an amazing place to be,

and such a wonderful, like,
jolt of energy as a writer,

is getting to interact
with these folks,

particularly the readers
who will, maybe,

find stuff in your story that
you didn't even think about,

then you get
to claim credit for it, like,

"Yeah, I put that there
on purpose, the entire time."

I'm very curious to know,
what inspired this story?

How did that form in your mind?

I think a lot of the stories
that I posted on NoSleep,

and just write overall
are fairytales at their heart.

That was one of the things
that I loved as a kid.

You know, those were two
of my favorite genres,

is horror, and then actually,
really just classic fairytales

and mythology.
Loved all of that.

So blurring them
and blending them together

is something that I enjoy
and try to do

as much as possible.

So I started with the idea of,
you know, this invisible noise

that is just terrible and awful,
and it fits into

that fairy tale mold
of a villain

that's more of, almost,
a concept than a creature.

And then I paired that
with all these memories

and nostalgia I had about
my neighborhood growing up.

'Cause we lived in
a very close neighborhood.

I had friends over
for sleepovers all the time,

and we used to take turns

just scaring
the absolute heck out

of each other
with whatever dares

we could come up with.

Getting someone
to look out the window

while one of our other friends
was out there making noise.

And so all those things,
kind of percolated in my mind,

and I thought about, "Well,
what if one of those sleepovers

that we had where we're trying
to scare each other,

there actually
was something out there?"

And from there
it just kind of jumped out,

and I remember posting it,

and it was only my fourth
or fifth story

I'd put on NoSleep.
And I had one do really well,

and then
a bunch completely flop,

and then I looked at this one
after I got off work,

and it had gone through the roof
in terms of notifications,

and I think that's the point
where I really got hooked

and just wanted to post
on NoSleep all the time.

You mentioned
how popular the story was

when you first posted it,
and it's gone on

to be adapted
in many different audio formats,

and now, of course,
coming to the screen.

What do you think
it is about this story

that people find so compelling?

So, there's a few things
that I hope that it is

and there's a few things
that I also think

probably play a role.

And for the things I hope
that it is,

I think that, maybe,
that fairy tale vibe.

that I was going for,

people kind of connect
with that.

I think a lot of us just,

you know, feel fairy tales
at a fundamental level,

'cause it's such a stark,

but beautiful way
to tell stories,

where everything
is larger than life,

and there's
this mixture of reality,

but the surreal coming together.

I also think, maybe,
there's a nostalgia factor.

A lot of us,
especially '90s kids,

you know, I'm 35 now,

so I grew up very prominently
in the '90s.

Sleepovers
and playing Nintendo 64,

and telling ghost stories,

and all these things
that we had to do

before we had the internet
for fun, just clicks.

But there's still,
always the idea of

dread hiding behind nostalgia,

is what if those monsters
that were so scary

when we were kids
were actually out there?

Maybe we got lucky,
and we dodged them,

and we're adults now,
but looking back,

you know,
you kind of question it.

And then NoSleep helps
with that,

because of the immersion,

and the everything being
in character.

You know, it really becomes easy
to play along with this,

because it's such
a shared life experience

for so many folks.

And then, that's all the stuff
I hope is why it's popular,

and some of the reasons I think
that it might be popular too,

is that,
on NoSleep titles are very big,

and I think that I just hit
a really good title.

I like to think
the story is good too.

I'm very proud of it,

but something about the title,
that particular day,

that particular hour, you know,
maybe there were some trends

I didn't even know about
with invisible monsters, maybe,

you know, there's the start
of noise-based horror

coming on after that,

but I think
a lot of stars aligned,

and it was a catchy title,

and once it started
getting momentum on NoSleep,

it just shot to the top.

And once it was towards
the top of NoSleep,

it continued to get momentum
from YouTubers,

and podcasts, and...

it just grows.
So, NoSleep is great.

Any time
a story doesn't do well, though,

there, I would not tell a writer
to worry about it.

There is just so much

other randomness
involved in it.

The title, the time you post,
who's online.

It's an interesting
and wonderful place,

but definitely more
of a training ground,

rather than a,
"I need to be concerned,

'cause my stories
aren't getting read."

What draws you to symbols
like the time?

3:03 in the morning.

So, the 3:03 is fun.

That one is just based
on a really common trope

about kind of evil numbers,

and I think it's even
the mocking of the Holy Trinity.

It comes up in The Conjuring.
So, that's something

that's been in horror
for a while.

And it was just something
that also flowed naturally

into the story. Like, well,
if there's this creepy thing

that's happening at night,

what's the creepiest possible
time at night it could happen?

Like, midnight?
Nah, that's not quite there.

3:00 a.m. is almost it.

So, 3:03
just kinda clicked with me.

One of the things
that I love personally

about the story
is the fact that you have

this menacing creature,
if you will,

That is only heard,
you never see it.

And I think back
to famous movies like Jaws,

where the mechanical shark
always broke down,

and so people say
the movie was more effective

because you didn't
see the shark that much,

and you're letting
the audience imagine

what's really out there.

And so, was that your intention?

To keep this creature
just on the fringes?

A heard, never-seen,

and kind of leaving
it up to the audience

to imagine who this
whistling person or thing is?

Yeah, absolutely.

And that's wonderful
that you mentioned Jaws.

That was actually
the inspiration,

along with
the first Alien movie, which,

both of them...
and as a horror movie buff,

I knew this years ago,

and it always kind of stuck
with me...

both of those productions
encountered budget issues

with their monsters
that resulted in

a lot of the footage
not being used,

or them being filmed
in very dark locations,

and you barely seeing them,

because if you got too good
of a look at them...

you know, like you said, Jaws,

the shark looked pretty silly
up close in bright daylight,

same thing with the Alien suit,
or Predator.

But if you just show
a hint of it,

and let
the audience's imagination

fill in the blanks, as long
as you're showing them enough

to get them started,
usually they will go somewhere

much scarier than you could
ever possibly communicate.

There's a fantastic quote,
I think it's from Spielberg,

who said,
"Never show them the zippers."

And he was referring to, with,
like, classic movie monsters,

Swamp Thing,

Monster from the Black Lagoon,

they would have
these terrible rubber suits,

and they would be filmed

pretty starkly
in the '50s and '60s,

and you could literally see
the zippers sometimes.

And it makes the monster
more comedic than anything else,

which is why
so many of those are now

unintentional amazing movies
to watch just for the silliness.

But, yeah, so much of it
is just the trope built around,

"Nothing is scarier."

You need to find
the exact amount

to give an audience
to get them started

and filling in the rest,

and then they will do
the work for you,

and they will go way beyond.

Well, Travis,
thank you for joining us,

and for sharing
your experiences,

your writing approach,

and of course,
your great story with us.

And all the best
with future endeavors.

David, thank you so much
for having me.

I really appreciate it.

Thanks for joining us
for this exclusive interview

with our NoSleep writers.

We look forward
to you joining us next time.

♪

♪

♪