The Paperboy - Classic

Speaker 1 What if your very first boss never shows up?

Speaker 1 Listening to Spook.

Speaker 1 Stay.

Speaker 3 You'll get more than you expect with McValue at McDonald's. So when you've spent too much on a night out, get deals on the afterpart.

Speaker 3 When you've got date night, get deals on favorites that'll make you their favorite. And when you've got family for the weekend, we've got breakfast.

Speaker 5 Buy one, add one for a dollar. Now with sausage McGriddles and other breakfast favorites.
Price and participation may vary, cannot be combined with combo meal, valid for item of equal or lesser value.

Speaker 5 But up

Speaker 6 get ready to shop Lowe's Black Friday Doorbuster deals to save $150 in a 30-inch blackstone griddle. Now $299.

Speaker 6 Plus, choose a Whirlpool top-load washer or Mydea top freezer refrigerator for just $398.

Speaker 6 These limited-time doorbuster deals go fast. So get holiday ready today at Lowe's.
We help, you save. About 1128 through 12.1.
Selection varies by location. While supplies last.

Speaker 6 See Lowe's.com for more details.

Speaker 7 Let me tell you.

Speaker 8 about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

Speaker 13 From sleepless nights to stress-filled days, mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 18 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code spooked for me.

Speaker 14 The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 20 What makes these different is how they've paired THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens.

Speaker 21 You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 11 No pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the US.

Speaker 18 Best of all, not only does Mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code SPOOOOOOT.

Speaker 23 So head to mood.com.

Speaker 24 Browse your amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 18 And remember to use promo code SPOOOOOOT at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 1 Things have changed since I was a kid in so many ways.

Speaker 1 And I'm not even old yet, but things have changed. See, I grew up on a farm.

Speaker 15 We had goats and chickens and cows, horses.

Speaker 1 We grew corn, beans, blueberries.

Speaker 1 And yes, farms are run by farmers. This is true.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 when a calf is sick in the middle of the night

Speaker 1 and needs to be next to a warmer, when possums have gotten to the chicken feed, when the vet needs help trying to burt the foal, it always happens.

Speaker 1 It always, always happens at two o'clock in the morning.

Speaker 1 And who goes out to the barn at two in the morning? Probably not the farmer.

Speaker 1 The farmer's got to get up at 6.

Speaker 1 The farmer's got stuff to do.

Speaker 1 So no, it's not the farmer walking out to that dark slate gray barn through the 2 o'clock in the morning gloom.

Speaker 1 No, it is not the farmer hoping desperately to get that generator running so at least, at least there'll be a little bit of light. Nah.

Speaker 1 Nah, it's not the farmer trying to calm the wild out of the mama horse's eyes to beat back that fear she has to let her know that it's gonna be alright But her foal is gonna be just fine

Speaker 1 But everything's gonna be just fine when you don't even know if everything is gonna be

Speaker 1 just fine

Speaker 1 Because the night does what the night will

Speaker 1 Healthy animals fall sick sounds come from places sounds should not be the barn itself has moods

Speaker 1 Some good,

Speaker 1 some very, very bad.

Speaker 1 No, it's not the farmer facing the deep growls, the angry clicks, the silence in the middle of the night. It's not the farmer.

Speaker 1 It's the farm boy.

Speaker 1 My very first job was to do anything. and everything that needed to be done to fight back the night time

Speaker 1 so that when my father did get out of bed in the morning,

Speaker 1 that all was well,

Speaker 1 all

Speaker 1 was well.

Speaker 1 And I think now

Speaker 1 with these little kids I've got, who sometimes wake up in the middle of the night screaming, screaming,

Speaker 1 I think that my very first job,

Speaker 1 beating back the night,

Speaker 1 is the same job I have today.

Speaker 1 My name is Climb Washington. The first lessons are the hardest lessons.

Speaker 1 Spook starts

Speaker 1 now.

Speaker 1 We begin with a dear friend of mine, Dr. Ray Christian.
You see, when Ray was a kid, he had one of the most coveted jobs of all.

Speaker 1 Ray was a paper boy.

Speaker 1 But there was one customer in particular who was different from the rest, and Ray didn't quite know why.

Speaker 1 I hated being a paperboy.

Speaker 1 I hated it.

Speaker 26 It was difficult for me to understand how some boys were even successful at it.

Speaker 26 Paperboys ended up being places they wouldn't normally be.

Speaker 29 I would say, in this part of the neighborhood, probably more than a third of the houses were abandoned, either burned out by fires or they're just dilapidated from disrepair.

Speaker 29 The street lights had been out.

Speaker 30 There'd be no porch lights, stray people just wandering, criminals, pool halls, guys up to no good.

Speaker 36 My mama had but

Speaker 38 one rule in terms of being a paperboy, and that was to be safe at all times.

Speaker 33 She was worried that I would walk up into somebody's house trying to collect some money and get beaten up or robbed or shot.

Speaker 40 Because these were the kind of crimes that were common in my neighborhood anyway.

Speaker 37 But being a paperboy made me more of a target.

Speaker 43 So my mama would say, be careful, deliver those papers and get yourself back home as soon as you can.

Speaker 2 But the paper manager had another rule, and that was to deliver those papers and collect that money whenever you can.

Speaker 40 So this is one house in particular.

Speaker 40 The previous paper boy who had been delivering to this house, he didn't want to deliver there anymore and he refused to collect on it.

Speaker 38 So the manager of the paper boys told me I would take over.

Speaker 40 It was on North 25th Street.

Speaker 38 It was already big and creepy, and it had this reputation with just about everybody in the neighborhood because it was so big and so dark.

Speaker 47 And nobody knew anything about the guy who lived there.

Speaker 28 Some people said he had a lot of money,

Speaker 38 that he was strange.

Speaker 40 Some people say he was a murderer.

Speaker 34 You could imagine a lot of things because it was so dark and you never saw anybody.

Speaker 29 And that made it creepier.

Speaker 28 You know somebody's there, but you've never seen them.

Speaker 48 It was the first day of my route,

Speaker 49 and I went to the creepy house.

Speaker 45 I saw a few papers that were sitting on the porch, and and that's never a good sign.

Speaker 28 I knocked on the door.

Speaker 33 There was no answer.

Speaker 28 So I did again.

Speaker 28 And nobody came to the door.

Speaker 40 So I started walking around the porch until I got to a point in the blinds.

Speaker 27 It was partially

Speaker 40 bent open, and I looked into there

Speaker 44 and I met another eye looking back at me.

Speaker 28 And I jumped back

Speaker 45 and somebody said, hey,

Speaker 40 come around to the back

Speaker 44 and bring the paper.

Speaker 42 So I went around to the back.

Speaker 48 But that was difficult because this yard hadn't been cut probably in years. It had small little trees growing up, really, really high weeds, and all in the weeds was garbage and trash, broken bottles,

Speaker 48 dilapidated old junked car in the backyard.

Speaker 50 So I'm trying not to step on a rusty nail or get cut by a piece of metal.

Speaker 27 And I was just trying to be extra, extra careful as I walked through it.

Speaker 29 Got on the back porch.

Speaker 28 Some of the steps were missing.

Speaker 50 It was wobbly and creaky and rusty.

Speaker 40 And I knocked on the back door.

Speaker 28 And nobody came.

Speaker 51 I said, it's me.

Speaker 37 It's me, paper boy.

Speaker 41 I'm coming in.

Speaker 27 I beat on the door and I started pushing on it, but

Speaker 31 it wouldn't move.

Speaker 53 So I kept pushing on it, kept pushing on it, and the door slowly started opening up, but only enough for me to just squeeze myself in sideways.

Speaker 29 The entire kitchen

Speaker 35 It was stacked with newspapers all the way to the the ceiling, but they were neat, tightly packed.

Speaker 43 Every possible inch except one small

Speaker 26 path leading into another room, which was also matted down with newspapers.

Speaker 28 You couldn't see any sunlight.

Speaker 36 There was no natural light to penetrate the house, just the unmistakable smell of paper and ink.

Speaker 1 I went all the the way to the back

Speaker 1 through the path,

Speaker 32 wondering where this was supposed to go.

Speaker 2 Into the front room, which was also loaded with newspapers, all the way to the ceiling.

Speaker 42 There was another room loaded, bathroom loaded.

Speaker 40 And then you had this one little

Speaker 41 corner of filth.

Speaker 26 And I saw the guy.

Speaker 5 Love the night? Reach for Zin After Dark, a limited cocktail-inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down.

Speaker 5 Try Zinn's mojito, spiced cider, and espresso martini nicotine pouches. Find them at select retailers.
Available while supplies last. Zin after dark.
Bring on the night.

Speaker 5 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 6 Bring home a Winter Wonderland. Shop Lowe's limited time doorbuster deals during Black Friday to save big on holiday staples.

Speaker 6 Show your cheer with select two core poinsettias for $6 and shine and shimmer with 100-count holiday-living incandescent string lights now for $10.

Speaker 6 Then get a a fresh cut christmas tree now 25 off your holiday list lives at lows we help you save offers valid through 12 one poinsettes and fresh cut trees in store only selection varies by location while supplies last excludes alaska and hawaii let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges from sleepless nights to stress-filled days mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 18 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code spooked for me.

Speaker 14 The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 16 What makes these different is how they've paired THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens.

Speaker 21 You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 11 No pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the U.S.

Speaker 23 Best of all.

Speaker 18 Not only does Mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code SPOOT.

Speaker 24 So head to mood.com, browse their amazing selection of functional gummies, and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 18 And remember to use promo code SPOOKT at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 26 And I saw the guy.

Speaker 38 He was wearing one of those wife beaters.

Speaker 29 He was scraggly, had a beard, skinny.

Speaker 40 He's sitting on a

Speaker 2 single bed.

Speaker 38 It has no sheet on it, and the mattress is filthy and stained.

Speaker 39 The t-shirt he's wearing looks the same as the mattress does in terms of its color, stained brownish yellow.

Speaker 1 He had a

Speaker 46 sickening,

Speaker 32 sweet body odor.

Speaker 29 The bathroom

Speaker 30 is also filled with newspapers all the way to the ceiling.

Speaker 45 Everything in that room is full papers.

Speaker 34 And clearly, he had been using this bucket as a toilet.

Speaker 40 I walked right up to him and I said, I'm here to collect money from the past, due.

Speaker 38 And he said,

Speaker 1 okay.

Speaker 28 And he started counting out change.

Speaker 27 First, I was surprised that he said, okay.

Speaker 27 And I was even more surprised that he started counting out change in that way.

Speaker 26 He's taking out one penny at a time, you know, to count out a dollar.

Speaker 26 And ladies are going like one cents two cents five cents and that's fifteen cents twenty cents twenty one cents twenty five cents oh wait a minute

Speaker 43 so we we're going through this until we get a dollar fifteen dollar fifty dollar sixteen

Speaker 41 dollar twenty five dollar thirty thirty one oh man

Speaker 31 I'm already creeped out.

Speaker 41 I want to get out of there.

Speaker 30 But he's being slow.

Speaker 41 and this is all taking too long.

Speaker 52 40, 45, 50, 50, 60, 62, 67 here, $1.67. That's what I owe you.

Speaker 30 Yes, sir.

Speaker 30 Yes, sir.

Speaker 43 But that's a lot of change.

Speaker 26 And I kept spilling it and dropping it on the floor, a few pennies here and there, and that's when he decided to

Speaker 45 me he would fold it up for me and give it to me.

Speaker 2 He tells me to put it all on the bunk, on his bed.

Speaker 40 I put it on the bed.

Speaker 28 I didn't want to touch that.

Speaker 32 And he reached under and he pulled out a scarf.

Speaker 40 I'm certain he had been blowing his nose with it because it looked that way.

Speaker 44 And he unfolded that, and I'm looking at it and going, What

Speaker 45 I don't want to even put that in my pocket.

Speaker 37 But he unfolded it,

Speaker 43 rubbed it out as neat as he could.

Speaker 34 He placed all the change inside,

Speaker 37 grabbed it by the corner, left and right, one tie, the other two corners, second tie, twist, a knot at the top, and he gave it to me.

Speaker 45 Here's your money.

Speaker 49 And he said, in the future,

Speaker 44 from now on, the money that you need is going to be in there on the table.

Speaker 28 Just throw the paper up in here and don't bring your ass up in here no more because I'll shoot you.

Speaker 49 And I said, Yes, sir.

Speaker 33 And I went outside and I left.

Speaker 29 And I continued to deliver newspapers to this house for

Speaker 41 months.

Speaker 29 But after that, we didn't have any more personal contact.

Speaker 38 And it always followed the same path.

Speaker 52 I would just walk into the kitchen, toss the newspaper back through the passageway that he had made of papers so he could get it.

Speaker 29 The handkerchief was always in that spot, always would be on the kitchen table, right where it was supposed to be.

Speaker 40 And it was supposed to contain $1.50

Speaker 35 each week.

Speaker 40 And every week it contained $1.50,

Speaker 42 always in change.

Speaker 1 I collect it,

Speaker 26 and I would leave the house.

Speaker 40 But each time that I would come back, I always announced to myself,

Speaker 51 sir, it's me, paper boy.

Speaker 43 I'm here to collect.

Speaker 47 I have your paper.

Speaker 40 Sir, I'm getting the change. Sir, I'm collecting the money.
I got the money.

Speaker 1 I'm going. Bye.

Speaker 26 But he never said anything.

Speaker 50 I often wondered what he was doing.

Speaker 38 Was he reading his paper?

Speaker 31 What he ate?

Speaker 31 Did he have any kids?

Speaker 33 Why didn't he come outside?

Speaker 49 I hated going to this house because it was nasty and scary and it smelled.

Speaker 2 But the one good thing about it is this guy always paid on time.

Speaker 34 Then I'd start throwing in extra things.

Speaker 30 A little later, I would go, it's me, paper boy.

Speaker 26 It's raining outside.

Speaker 37 It smells in this house.

Speaker 35 Did you eat today?

Speaker 27 You hear about the news? What was in the news? What'd you read yesterday?

Speaker 1 Hello, sir.

Speaker 36 I'm dancing.

Speaker 40 It's me.

Speaker 1 Woohoo.

Speaker 1 Goodbye.

Speaker 28 I never heard any, no reaction, because I never saw him.

Speaker 47 But I would...

Speaker 44 Hear sounds or things that made me think that

Speaker 26 he acknowledged my presence.

Speaker 50 I would see see a shifting of the light or shadow stand up and flash across the room or him stepping, but I would hear that and I would take that as quick acknowledgement.

Speaker 2 This is about early February of the year. It's still cold and slushy snow is still on the ground.

Speaker 46 But it's still below freezing at nights, most of the days.

Speaker 26 But it starts thawing out in March.

Speaker 51 The house was really starting to reek, and I was starting to hear this

Speaker 36 buzzy sound

Speaker 53 coming from the back.

Speaker 40 And probably in late April is when the flies

Speaker 26 started showing up.

Speaker 5 Love the night? Reach for Zinn After Dark, a limited cocktail-inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down.

Speaker 5 Try Zinn's mojito, spiced cider, and espresso martini nicotine pouches. Find them at select retailers, available while supplies last.
Zinn After Dark. Bring on the night.

Speaker 1 Warning.

Speaker 5 This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 6 Bring home a winter wonderland. Shop Lowe's limited-time doorbuster deals during Black Friday to save big on holiday staples.

Speaker 6 Show your cheer with select two core poinsettias for $6 and shine and shimmer with 100-count holiday-living incandescent string lights, now four for $10.

Speaker 6 Then get a fresh-cut Christmas tree, now 25% off. Your holiday list lives at Lowe's.
We help, you save. Offers valid through 12-1, poinsettias, and fresh-cut trees in-store only.

Speaker 6 Selection varies by location. While supplies last.
Excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

Speaker 8 Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges.

Speaker 13 From sleepless nights to stress-filled days, Mood.com has created an entire line of functional gummies that target specific concerns with 100% federally legal THC blends delivered discreetly right to your doorstep.

Speaker 18 You can get 20% off your first order at mood.com with promo code spooked for me.

Speaker 14 The epic euphoria gummies are perfect for those days when you want to chill and hit the reset button.

Speaker 16 What makes these different is how they pair THC and other cannabinoids with herbs and adaptogens.

Speaker 21 You're just not going to find gummies like this anywhere else.

Speaker 11 No pesticides, no BS, and they can ship to most states in the U.S.

Speaker 23 Best of all.

Speaker 18 Not only does mood stand behind everything with the industry-leading 100-day satisfaction guarantee, but as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code SPOOT.

Speaker 23 So head to mood.com.

Speaker 24 Browse their amazing selection of functional gummies and find the perfect gummy for whatever you're dealing with.

Speaker 18 And remember to use promo code SPOOT at checkout to save 20% on your first order.

Speaker 37 I assumed that that was related to that bucket that he had in the room.

Speaker 33 I yelled a couple of times about how bad the house smelled.

Speaker 1 Sir, whoo, it smells in here.

Speaker 6 How do you stand it?

Speaker 1 Hello?

Speaker 1 This house stinks?

Speaker 7 Sir?

Speaker 1 Hello?

Speaker 1 Stinky house? Bye.

Speaker 36 No sounds, no response.

Speaker 50 Initially, there were only but a few flies, and then it was twice as many the next day.

Speaker 48 In about four or five days, There were hundreds of flies in the house.

Speaker 50 I hated it.

Speaker 50 That was gross.

Speaker 27 It had reached a point where the smell was just outrageous.

Speaker 43 It takes about two months.

Speaker 26 As we started moving toward the summer, the smell dies off almost completely.

Speaker 35 I continued to deliver the papers.

Speaker 34 I toss the papers in.

Speaker 43 I still yell,

Speaker 39 but nothing.

Speaker 51 The one good thing about it is this guy always made sure I had my money.

Speaker 40 And we get about into the beginning of the fall,

Speaker 49 and I went to the creepy house.

Speaker 40 And this time, as I'm walking up, there are maybe 20, 25 people outside.

Speaker 44 And the police, and an ambulance.

Speaker 32 And the strangest thing of all is the front door of the house is open.

Speaker 2 And I never saw that door open.

Speaker 40 There must be a hundred bundles of paper that they had moved and put on the front porch.

Speaker 26 And I saw them wheeling out a stretcher.

Speaker 32 And there's a body wrapped in a white sheet.

Speaker 2 And everybody in the crowd is going, oh, that's that guy.

Speaker 28 I knew it was somebody in that house. I knew it was somebody in there.

Speaker 34 How long do you think he's been dead?

Speaker 38 He's probably been dead for years and years and years.

Speaker 1 Who called him?

Speaker 28 And as they're thinking through it, every word they're saying is making me feel guilty.

Speaker 30 I felt guilty.

Speaker 34 That I didn't use that time to actually talk to him.

Speaker 40 I never thought that I had any responsibility to this guy.

Speaker 28 I never even thought about it.

Speaker 44 And I'm also starting to wonder, I've been delivering this papers to this guy's house for almost a year.

Speaker 1 Who was I talking to?

Speaker 29 Hearing people say that he had to be dead a long time scared me.

Speaker 36 I kept going back and forth in my mind while I stood there

Speaker 41 the time that didn't I hear him?

Speaker 42 I thought I heard him.

Speaker 31 I'm sure I heard him.

Speaker 28 My money is there.

Speaker 36 Didn't he laugh one time when I said the house smelled?

Speaker 50 Didn't I see his shadow across the room when I told him I was leaving?

Speaker 27 But it was, it was difficult to digest as a kid.

Speaker 28 I heard somebody in the crowd say, but somebody had to know about it.

Speaker 43 Who knew this guy?

Speaker 46 And I'm thinking, oh yeah,

Speaker 44 I didn't know.

Speaker 26 You know, and then what starts to bother me is in the crowd they're starting to talk about all the newspapers that they're they're bringing out and putting out on the porch.

Speaker 49 And somebody says,

Speaker 33 Well, somebody was delivering those newspapers to that house.

Speaker 43 Somebody said the paperboy had to be delivering it.

Speaker 28 He'd probably know something.

Speaker 44 He was delivering them papers, and no, he ain't doing it for free.

Speaker 1 Yeah,

Speaker 37 who the paperboy is.

Speaker 45 Hearing that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Speaker 26 I almost felt like I wanted to say something.

Speaker 47 Everybody's starting to talk and wonder and speculate about who that kid was.

Speaker 39 But wonder who he is.

Speaker 34 And I decided to just keep my mouth shut.

Speaker 1 Ray Christian, everyone. Dr.
Ray Christian. You can find more of Ray's stories on our sister podcast, Stamp Judgment.
And Ray's got his own podcast. It's called What's Ray Saying?

Speaker 1 It's available wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 1 The original score for that piece was by Leon Morimoto. It was produced by Liz Mack.

Speaker 1 Understand, there is a secret war afoot, dear listeners, and we hope you pick the right side. But

Speaker 1 be afraid. And if you dig amazing storytelling under the light of day, check out our sister podcast, Snap Judgment.
Storytelling with the beat, movies of the mind, the amazing Snap Judgment podcast.

Speaker 1 Spooked is brought to you but every single sound you fail to investigate in the middle of the night and by mark riskich and assussman our chief spookster eliza smith chris hambrick and in yuen jacob winnick and lauren newson the spook theme song is by pat massini miller my name's from washington now you might see fireflies You might smell incense.

Speaker 1 You might see breadcrumbs in the forest. Do not follow.
It's all a trick.

Speaker 1 instead

Speaker 1 stay inside lock the doors friends and most importantly never

Speaker 1 ever

Speaker 1 never never ever never ever never never

Speaker 1 turn out the lights