r/nosleep
I remember a horrifying VHS tape from my childhood and I'm hoping to find it again by reddit user ExitiumElements
I don't like horror movies. In fact, I don't like anything horror. The sensation of being scared doesn't appeal to me. If I had to elaborate on why, and I typically did as a teenager when friends wanted to watch scary movies, I would say I saw enough as a kid and now they bore me.
Except that wasn't entirely true. The truth was there was a VHS that contained a strange mixture of cartoon and live action scenes that I watched at my grandma's house as a kid – and they horrified me. If I had to guess on the release date of the footage, I would have to say sometime from the 1920s-1930s. I would sometimes ask friends if they knew what I was talking about and I would receive a glimmer of recognition and understanding in response. Who hasn't seen a creepy old black and white cartoon after all?
But when I continued to explain what I remembered from that old VHS tape, the recognition would slowly disappear from their face. Even while I described it, I knew it didn't make much sense: A egg-shaped man walking down the road with his arms waving all around the sky. A swan who's neck sways back and forth to the music in the background. Then, intermittent flashes of terrifying live action footage. The audio consisted of mostly music with heavy static except for that one moment with the screaming man.
It was nonsensical and similar to describing a dream that has all the importance to you but little meaning to anyone else. People would shrug their shoulders and say they don't recall anything strange like that...oh was it Roger Rabbit? No, this was not Roger Rabbit.
Regardless, I loved visiting my grandma when I was a kid. My mom would drop me off Saturday and come back for me Sunday, giving me and grandma all weekend to do fun things together.
She had a garden in the backyard where she grew a lot of different fruits and vegetables; so a fair amount of our Saturday morning was spent there. If my mom tried to get me to eat a tomato at home, I would balk, but my grandma's tomatoes were delicious when fresh off the vine. Even a six year old boy could know quality when he tasted it.
Then there were the mall trips which were too exciting for a sugar loving kid like myself. We'd go to one of those colorful candy shops where she'd buy me a small bag of gummy worms. Then it was to the clothes store which always made me groan and try to convince her that I never again needed a new wearable piece of fabric. But I had to go through the motions of trying on a pair of shorts here and a set of pajamas there.
As the sun set we would be back in her house. My grandma always had to go to bed early and to keep me entertained, she would direct me to her comfy floral couch and turn on the tube TV that was on top of a tall stand. She'd go to the bookcase where she kept her VHS tapes and choose the tape that was specifically for me. This was the one with the strange footage that she always showed me.
As a child, you tend to go with the flow. I shake my head looking back at how accepting I was when she would put the TV on and stick the VHS in the VCR. She'd pat me on the head and say she's going to bed. I nodded and braced myself while also hoping that magically, this time, something else would be on that TV. She'd press play and then would leave for her bedroom.
The TV flickered in its usual way and the title card appeared, but I couldn't read the words at that age. That old sounding music kicks in and the egg-shaped man comes strolling down the white road, waving his spaghetti arms around. His mouth is in an O-shape and his arms reach so high up it goes past the top of the screen. In front of him walks the swan with the neck that looks uncomfortable when it bobs and bends to the music – which sounds almost like pure static with some trumpet.
