Original subtitles

Morning.

Please give it to me. Please.

Hey, man.

Gimme or else...

I'll fuckin' kill you.

All right, just chill.

Just know I'll be back,

and I won't be so nice next time.

I see you're makin' friends.

Hmph! I'm drownin' in 'em.

Hmm.

In fact, a few of 'em may wanna drown me.

Oh-ho!

You learnin'?

I'd better be-- given the price tag.

Hey, it'll be worth it.

You know if I'd go back in time, I'd be doin' the same thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Goodnight, old man!

- Oh, fuck that "old man" shit! - Be safe!

You know me.

I'll be good!

Hmph!

Yo, Anton!

Hey. I was just about to call you, man.

You seein' this shit?

Yeah.

What is it?

I dunno.

But it's been here all night.

Creepy.

It doesn't reflect the light!

Hey, hey, hey.

I think you oughta head in for now.

Hey, hey, hey! Go on. Go on!

I'll let you know if it does anything interesting.

Promise.

Stand back. Call the police.

Do you think it's a camera or something?

Like it's watching us?

No, this is some extraterrestrial shit.

Yeah, this thing's probably runnin' experiments

you don't even wanna know about.

Anything happen last night?

Is there a reason we're all crowded around this thing?

You know what this is, Tim?

Not really.

Then why the hell you standing so damn close to it?

Honey, you don't get near this thing, you hear?

Why don't you head for the car? It's time for school.

Y'all just can't wait to be late for work today, huh?

There ain't nothin' to see here. Let's go, let's go!

Have a nice day.

Fuck me...

You really think it's dangerous?

I mean, it could be anything.

Yeah.

It could be anything.

And that includes a lotta options.

Not all of 'em great.

Hey, what's going on down there?

[in distance] Come on!

Shut the fuck up!

Bill, is that you?

[in distance] Be quiet!

Are you okay?

Fuck!

Hey, Ethan, right?

Mind if I get a picture?

No can do.

Boss said no nonsense and...

that looks like some nonsense.

Who's the boss?

- Bill. - Right.

Of course.

But this isn't nonsense...

it's science.

Trying to learn about it, you know?

So, can we make an exception?

Experiments have consequences, man.

Anton, who the fuck deputized this guy?

Hey, hey.

Big man,

now, we ain't lookin' for trouble.

Right?

Alright. Look, man.

Everyone's got their own comfort level with this shit, right?

Well, this? This is my comfort level.

So if you don't want the guards walkin' around with guns, fine.

You're free to guard this thing yourself.

What do you think is inside, man?

I hear things... around.

From who? I mean,

this is crazy. - Hey...

Listen.

I don't know for a fact that this thing is dangerous, okay?

But you don't know for a fact that it ain't dangerous,

and you're standing real fuckin' close to it

with no goddamn protection.

So...

who's the crazy one?

Fine.

Whatever.

But if you think it's that scary,

why don't you call the damn police or somethin'?

[phone] 9-1-1?

Yeah, hi, my name is Bi-- uh, Kevin.

Uh, I live down at the Greenwood Complex,

corner of 8th and Marley.

And what's the nature of your emergency?

There-- there's, uh, somethin' unnatural

here in the neighborhood. It's weird.

I've never seen anything like it.

An unnatural object, sir?

Yeah, yeah. It's hard to explain.

It's, um, black and-- and murky and shit

and shaped like a perfect square.

Uh, it's just kinda...

floating there, maybe a few inches off the ground.

Uh, I'm sorry, sir,

are you saying that there is a floating black box

that appeared in your neighborhood?

Am I correct?

Uh, look, I know it sounds crazy,

but I'm watchin' it last night and it, like,

activates out of nowhere.

It makes this crazy fuckin' sound and goes blank

and just... shit, I'm-- I'm not explaining it right.

But just when you send a unit down,

they will get it, okay?

So, uh, I'm up all night, uh, thinkin' about it.

I-I can't sleep and...

I think this is a government thing.

Like, I was reading about military tests and we have 100%

tested shit on civilians before.

I'm sorry, sir. Are you okay?

Just let me finish!

Let me finish!

Of course, sir.

Please continue.

I think this is a weapon,

and I'm asking you for help because we're scared.

There's good people here, families.

I have a daughter.

Last night, I think I saw that fuckin' thing activate.

Where are you located again, sir?

Greenwood Complex.

8th and Marley. Please!

Right. I've filed a report here.

Floating black box at Greenwood Complex.

Is that correct?

Yeah.

- Yeah, that's right. - Right.

Uh, we'll have someone out there eventually to check out the box.

Maybe check in on your as well.

Just please hurry. We don't have time to fuck

around with this thing, okay?

It is a very large city, sir.

Have a nice day.

Gah!

What's up, little man?

How did you know it was me?

My business,

gotta have eyes in the back of your head.

That's why they put my ass on night watch.

You're not scared?

Lots of people would love to see me dead.

They scare me a bit.

This?

I'm kinda beginning to enjoy the view.

Yeah, about that...

Check out this view.

Surveillance.

Bill's gonna love this.

I don't know why it isn't showing up,

but I've got some theories.

I need to test 'em.

Be careful about them tests.

I don't need anyone's permission.

Boy, shut up and listen for once in your damn life!

People 'round here...

they get a little crazy.

You wanna run experiments, you run them at night--

when I'm out here with you!

Pullin' stunts during the day, these folks gonna get scared.

They don't need that.

And what test is so damn important?

I think this is something that we can just perceive.

So it ain't real?

Kind of.

I need to see if something from our world,

something tangible, can engage with it.

So what test gonna prove that?

Oh, shit.

Kid, kid, what'd we talk about?

Damn!

Please move.

Son, let's just get you inside. This ain't necessary.

Why?

Last time I checked, you don't own Greenwood.

I'm asking you nicely.

What are you gonna do, shoot me?

Whoa, whoa. No, no one's gettin' shot.

These guns ain't for you, they're for the government.

The what? What does this have to do

with the government? - The weapons test, man.

It's imminent.

We're just keepin' people safe.

Must be why everyone feels so secure!

This is fucking stupid.

What did you do?

- Well, I-- - What the fuck did you do?!

Thank you for your attention.

That's enough.

You need to go inside, lock your door,

and pray nothin' else happens.

I don't wanna see you out here again.

Is that clear?

Huh?

Mm-hm.

Good.

Now, you have yourself a night, son.

Let's go.

It wasn't my fault, man! I swear!

Shit, Anton?

Anton!

Anton, I'm here. See, I'm here, I'm here.

Anton, I'm here!

No!

The fuck happened?

Shit!

Bill! Ethan!

He went up there!

There's nowhere to hide, Harris!

Break it the fuck down!

Harris?

We just wanna talk.

We need to know what you saw.

We need to know what that weapon can do.

[muffled] Augh!

You mother--

You couldn't have just left it alone, could you?

You wanna study it so badly, huh?

Tell us what you find.

Where am I?! Hello?!

Help!

Hello?

Anybody?

Please...

Help me...

Bill! It's me, Harris!

Help!

He'll come out.

He'll come out!

Y'all don't all have to be out here, you know?

You don't like it, go inside.

Go!

Daddy, when's dinner?

Yeah.

Somebody... help me!

Welcome back from the void.

Thanks for watching. I'm David Cummings,

the host and creator of the NoSleep Podcast.

Today, we're joined by author Matt Dymerski,

writer of the NoSleep story "The Black Square,"

which we adapted into the episode titled

"Into the Unknown."

Welcome, Matt. Thanks for being with us today.

Yeah, great to be here.

Now, Matt, you are a legendary NoSleep author.

You've been around since the very early days,

and I think we all want to know what

initially drew you to NoSleep.

How did you find it and how did you decide,

"I want to write and post on this Subreddit"?

Oh, that's a very great question

because it delves back to the history

that probably most people don't even know these days,

all the fans of NoSleep.

So before NoSleep, there was creepypastas,

and they weren't just a thing, they were an actual website,

Creepypasta.com.

And somehow I found my way onto these forums,

where just for the forum community people were posting

these short-form stories

that came to be known as creepypastas later,

and got involved in that, and just posting.

Like, no one told us we couldn't,

and we just started doin' it.

And then one day, Creepypasta.com shut down

and scattered to the wind

and formed all sorts of different places,

and I didn't even know NoSleep existed until someone was like,

"Hey, man, we're all posting on NoSleep.

"Let's go check it out." And I did, and I'm like,

"This is the next evolution of Creepypasta.com."

I'm like, "I gotta get on here. I gotta be on here.

"These are my people," you know?

And you've written a lot of great stories,

and the one that we're here today to talk about

is "The Black Square," and it's an incredible blend.

It's sort of sci-fi, it's horror,

and I'm really curious how that formulated in your mind.

Where did that come from?

Used... It used to be,

in all horror stories and movies and stuff,

you know, the '70s, '80s, all that stuff which, you know,

I feel like is ancient history, but I'm sure

some people were alive back then,

uh, you'd call the cops...

You'd call the cops, and that's it.

Like, you survive.

The cops show up, they're the good guys,

they blast the bad guy.

But now, the authorities are, at best,

useless and almost now the enemy.

So you think, "Oh, how do we solve this monster?

"How do we beat this villain?"

In these, especially in modern movies,

it's not about calling the cops anymore.

It's not about getting back to the rest of society.

Like if you could just get out of this basement,

you might live, but no, actually,

no one's gonna help you. And in fact,

when the authorities you used to rely on to save you

are now your enemies, you are more than alone.

You're in a hostile world that is not gonna make things better.

They're gonna make it worse.

And that's the core of the feeling of "The Black Square,"

is you've got this unknown problem in your neighborhood.

It's a very local, communal problem,

and so no one else cares.

And if you try to get other people involved,

they're not-- they actively don't want to help,

and if you force them to see your situation,

they might actually dislike you for it.

Which is, I feel like, a very relevant feeling these days.

And so, you've created this neighborhood,

this community, that is very, very real, very grounded.

And yet within that, you throw this mysterious, unknown,

obviously a black square.

And so, I'm curious, what challenges you faced

to try to create a story where everything is,

really, perfectly normal, except for this massive abnormality

that they have to deal with.

Number one challenge for this is threading the line,

making sure the reader doesn't feel

as if this is about any one thing, or political.

Like, this isn't about politics.

This isn't about any one specific thing.

I was worried, "Okay, number one thing,

"people are gonna think this is climate change."

And yes, it's partly that, but I think the biggest theme

is that we are facing monsters in our real lives

that are of cosmic scale.

They are bigger than any one person.

There's literally nothing an individual person can do

against this or even understand its full scope,

and I want the reader to understand

this is bigger than any one specific thing,

because I don't want them to tune out.

I don't want them to just be like,

"Oh, I know what this is about," and, you know, dismiss it.

And in a story like this, you have this menacing object,

and yet I feel that the story draws so much horror on

the interaction between the people, the neighbors.

Was that sort of an intentional theme you went with?

Oh, absolutely, 'cause at the end of the day,

these monsters don't exist, but other people do.

And we feel this feeling every single day when we're out there,

and we're thinking,

"Oh, it's obvious what we should do.

"Like, we should, I don't know, stop emitting carbon.

"Why don't we just do that?"

And when then you actually have to go

and try to convince other people to,

for example, stop emitting carbon,

you run into all these surprise problems

and different perspectives.

You know, like, "How could you possibly think that?"

And they think the same about you

because everyone is just trying

to make their own way in a colossal system

that has become its own cosmic entity

that we can't do anything to stop.

And it's interesting, if you're old like me,

you'll remember "The Twilight Zone,"

and back in the old black and white days,

and there's a great episode called

"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,"

and there's very similar themes that are going on there.

Oh, absolutely.

I grew up on "The Twilight Zone."

I absolutely loved it.

I have almost all the episodes memorized.

And every couple years, I'll see one more episode

I haven't seen before and be like,

"How did I miss this? I've seen all the marathons."

And it's absolutely inspired

by "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

because in "The Black Square,"

the black square doesn't even really do anything.

It's all people tearing each other apart

because of the fear of the unknown.

Like, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

had a great plot, a great thesis,

that fear in the unknown can tear us apart,

and the aliens kind of, I think, judge us for it, where,

"Oh, all we had to do was set them against each other and--"

But I don't think that's the case.

I think we will overcome that.

It's not that we're greedy or selfish or paranoid,

it's that we just have to come to understand each other,

and that will help us get back to, like,

a real sense of community in society.

Matt, great to talk to you.

Thank you for years of great stories and for sharing

"The Black Square" with us,

and thanks for being with us tonight.

Yeah, always great working with you.

Thanks for joining us for this exclusive interview

with our NoSleep writers.

We look forward to you joining us next time.