Lot 100: The Lake

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 3 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 4 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 5 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 7 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 2 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 8 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 7 Not available in all states.

Speaker 9 The clown. This prequel series draws inspiration from the book's interludes, which dig deep into Dairy's haunted past.
It Welcome to Dairy is streaming now on HBO Max. But that's not all.

Speaker 9 Jen, tell us about the It Welcome to Dairy official podcast.

Speaker 10 Join hosts Mark Bernardin and Princess Weeks as they unpack each episode after it airs on HBO Max.

Speaker 10 On each episode, you'll hear from show creators like Andy and Barbara Muscietti, plus members of the cast and crew as they talk about the making of the show.

Speaker 10 New podcast episodes drop every week after the episode airs on HBO Max.

Speaker 9 Stream new episodes of HBO's It Welcome to Dairy Sundays on HBO Max, and listen to the It Welcome to Dairy official podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 11 Don't miss a special offer on November 19th from Botox Cosmetic, Anabotulinum Toxin A, the one and only product of its kind FDA approved for over 20 years. Buy one $50 gift card and get one free.

Speaker 11 While supplies last, terms and conditions apply. For prescribing information and boxed warning, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300.

Speaker 11 R equals A.

Speaker 12 Ah, welcome. Mind your step.
We've had a bit of a landslide of new acquisitions this morning. Mountains tend to do that, don't they? Shift when you aren't looking.

Speaker 12 Speaking of which, do come closer.

Speaker 12 You've arrived just in time.

Speaker 12 Because today's piece,

Speaker 12 well,

Speaker 12 it concerns a place where looking is something of a problem.

Speaker 12 Lot number 100. A milestone, yes.

Speaker 12 But more importantly, a map.

Speaker 12 A simple, folded, sun-faded tour guide. Or so it first appeared when it came into my hands.

Speaker 12 Yet you see here, the paper has swollen on this side, warped by moisture that...

Speaker 12 should not exist.

Speaker 12 And here, this blank shape?

Speaker 12 That, I'm told, is where the lake should be. The lake no one will admit is there.

Speaker 12 The previous owner insisted I take it off his property immediately. Said the blank space kept getting bigger when he wasn't watching.

Speaker 12 Yes.

Speaker 12 That does seem like the sort of thing you should know before I tell you its story.

Speaker 12 This one's called

Speaker 12 the Lake.

Speaker 12 Before we begin, I want to point out some of the customers whose names have been etched in brass on this beautiful plaque I had made above the front desk.

Speaker 12 These are some of the members of the inner circle of the antiquarium. We go by the Obsidian Covenant.
Recent initiates include Katie Wilmot,

Speaker 12 Emily,

Speaker 12 Velvet Ember,

Speaker 12 Gloomy Sunday 79,

Speaker 12 Live Fat Diam,

Speaker 12 Mrs. Trigg,

Speaker 12 Kit Ross,

Speaker 12 and

Speaker 12 Raws.

Speaker 12 We are ever appreciative of your devotion to the Order. Go to theObsidiancovenant.com to receive the sacrament.

Speaker 12 Now,

Speaker 12 where were we?

Speaker 12 Oh, yes,

Speaker 12 welcome to the antiquarium of sinister happenings

Speaker 12 and odd goings-on.

Speaker 12 My town was built around a lake.

Speaker 12 Nobody will admit the lake exists.

Speaker 12 Never acknowledge the lake.

Speaker 12 Never look at it.

Speaker 12 Never talk about it.

Speaker 12 Never so much as think about it.

Speaker 12 None of these rules were ever actually spoken out loud during my childhood. That would be acknowledging the lake, after all.

Speaker 12 But they were as clear as look both ways before crossing or no candy from men with beards and tattoos.

Speaker 12 The The city where I grew up is built along the shoreline of this massive, crystal clear lake, nestled in the mountains. Frankly, it's a great place to grow up.

Speaker 12 There's nationally renowned elementary schools, drug-free-ish high schools, and nature trails in every direction. The population sits at around 50,000, decent-sized.

Speaker 12 Which makes it all the more incomprehensible that no one,

Speaker 12 not even those who just moved here,

Speaker 12 will admit the lake exists.

Speaker 12 One of my earliest memories is walking with my mom on one of the trails near her house, one that skirted the lake itself.

Speaker 12 I had to be young, three or four at most.

Speaker 12 I was yanking on her arm in that relentless way little kids do, begging her to let me go swim in that lake.

Speaker 12 There's nothing there.

Speaker 12 Nothing.

Speaker 12 That's what she said.

Speaker 12 At the time, I I couldn't understand her reaction. My parents never lied to me.

Speaker 12 That was always their policy.

Speaker 12 Why wouldn't she look the direction I was pointing?

Speaker 12 Now though, looking back and filling in the blanks, I remember her jaw clenched tight, a sheen of sweat on her forehead, and determined eyes staring resolutely forward, refusing to see the water just along the trail.

Speaker 12 Terrified.

Speaker 12 I realize now that's what you look like.

Speaker 12 When I was in second grade, I had a best friend, Simon.

Speaker 12 We would spend each afternoon escaping our daily chores by riding our bikes, playing catch, or other equally irresponsible forms of reckless loitering, to quote my crabby widowed neighbor.

Speaker 12 There was this one particular hill on Sickle Street we loved to take our bikes down.

Speaker 12 It really was massive.

Speaker 12 We had to make sure no adults were watching us when we committed speeding violations down it, or they would just flip out and screech at us to wear helmets.

Speaker 12 Each time we made the daring ride,

Speaker 12 we would do it just a bit faster than the last.

Speaker 12 Well, one day, we did our fastest yet. We flew down the hill at a speed that would have killed us if we'd fallen.
Then hopped off our bikes at the bottom.

Speaker 12 Simon and I collapsed in the grass to cackle at at our sheer stupid audacity.

Speaker 12 We broke the sound barrier. Let's do it again.
My wheel almost fell off.

Speaker 12 We laughed some more, then finally calmed until we were just sitting there, still giddy like we'd accomplished something monumental.

Speaker 12 It was such a good feeling of victory and unstoppability.

Speaker 12 Maybe that was why I said it.

Speaker 13 Do you think there's any fish in there?

Speaker 12 Huh? Sickle Street twisted to the right after the hill. But if you kept walking straight, you'd hit the lake.

Speaker 12 That was the view we'd had as we'd madly flown down the hill.

Speaker 12 The lake.

Speaker 12 Surely Simon had seen it. All these times,

Speaker 12 he had to have noticed it.

Speaker 8 The lake?

Speaker 13 Do you think there's any fish in it?

Speaker 12 He stared at me.

Speaker 12 Any hint of accomplishment was gone from his expression. I'd never brought the lake up with him before.
Let's do the hill again.

Speaker 11 There has to be.

Speaker 13 It's fresh water. It's huge.
I've never seen anybody fishing in it, but um

Speaker 12 I'm going home. There it was.

Speaker 12 The terror.

Speaker 13 Just look at it, though. You see it, don't you?

Speaker 12 I don't see anything.

Speaker 4 But it's right there.

Speaker 12 It's Simon snapped. His face morphed into a mask of hideous anger.
He shoved me backwards and my elbow gashed against my handlebars when I fell. I thought that was it.

Speaker 12 That he'd released his anger and now we could ride down the hill again, but instead,

Speaker 12 Simon kicked me. He rammed his foot into my side.
There's nothing there!

Speaker 12 He kicked me again. And again.

Speaker 12 And again.

Speaker 12 I suspect that Rib or two broke. Not sure, sure though.
I never told my parents when it happened, and ribs eventually heal on their own.

Speaker 12 The next day in class, Simon wouldn't respond to me. When I would bike to his house to hang out, he never came to the door.

Speaker 12 He never attacked me again, but he never looked at me again either.

Speaker 12 I became like the lake to him,

Speaker 12 non-existent.

Speaker 12 Years passed.

Speaker 12 I mostly stopped bringing up the lake.

Speaker 12 But it was always there.

Speaker 12 Always this dark blue smudge at the bottom of my vision when I looked at the mountains. I never did stop looking at it.
But nobody else would.

Speaker 12 On walks, they would face the other way.

Speaker 12 They would comment about how pretty the mountains were, but never anything else.

Speaker 12 In school, when we learned about the water cycle, the class was dead silent with discomfort.

Speaker 12 Similar to how it felt on our fourth-grade sex ed day,

Speaker 12 just talking about water made people think of it.

Speaker 12 Thinking about it made people tense.

Speaker 12 Why?

Speaker 12 I would theorize as I laid in bed at night. Why couldn't it exist?

Speaker 12 Some people even lived on it. A few of my friends had houses right right on the shoreline with the water lapping at their backyards.

Speaker 12 But when we played, we would never get close. Their parents didn't build fences to block it off.

Speaker 12 To do so might admit there was something that needed blocking. We simply ignored it.
They simply ignored it. I should clarify.

Speaker 12 For years, I wondered if I was crazy.

Speaker 12 That would make the most sense.

Speaker 12 Even if I didn't have other hallucinations, maybe...

Speaker 12 Maybe somehow for this one odd thing I unexplainably did.

Speaker 12 Except how would that explain people's constant nervousness?

Speaker 12 The catch in their throat when they turned too quickly and forgot to close their eyes.

Speaker 12 How would hallucinations explain how Simon reacted years ago?

Speaker 12 Eventually, I just stopped thinking about it so much. It wasn't hard, and I never stooped to ignoring the lake like everybody else, but it barely affected my life.

Speaker 12 Our city was a cozy place to grow up.

Speaker 12 It was easy to forget about this one dark ink plot, no matter how massive it might be.

Speaker 12 Every once in a while, though, my curiosity would bubble up.

Speaker 12 Once, as a freshman, a new girl moved into our class halfway through the year. I cornered her after class before she could make it to the cafeteria.

Speaker 12 So, um,

Speaker 12 have you seen it? Um, hey, sorry, seen what

Speaker 12 the lake. The girl stiffened, her eyes went wide,

Speaker 12 and her hands started trembling.

Speaker 12 I don't know you, she said

Speaker 12 and scurried away.

Speaker 12 She just moved here.

Speaker 12 How could she already know to pretend it didn't exist?

Speaker 12 Excuse me just a moment. Someone's rapping on the back shutter again.
That side of the building faces a brick wall, so it really shouldn't be anyone at all. But

Speaker 12 best I check. Help yourself to the radiator by the door if you're cold.

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 3 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 2 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 5 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 7 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 1 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 8 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 7 Not available in all states.

Speaker 14 This holiday season, the last place you want to be is the naughty list. Rowan Campbell plays a bloodthirsty Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Director Mike P.

Speaker 14 Nelson's grisly update to the most controversial horror film ever made is only in theaters December 12th. Go to sndnmovie.com for updates.
This Christmas, Santa's gonna slay.

Speaker 12 why hello there you've reached the antiquarium if you wish to leave a message please do so with the town and have a great day

Speaker 12 oh my god you've gotta help me i bought a keychain there like a day ago and i put it on my keys and now my car won't stop like i'm driving right now and i'm going way over the speed limit I can't get it to go into neutral.

Speaker 12 I tried pulling the parking brake, and it won't stop.

Speaker 12 I even tried turning it off, and it won't stop.

Speaker 12 I mean, it's making its own time.

Speaker 12 I don't know what I'm saying, but he's gonna leave that.

Speaker 12 End of messages.

Speaker 12 Terribly sorry about that.

Speaker 12 When a wall with no door wishes to be knocked upon, one listens. Even if one finds nothing waiting on the other side.
Now, where were we?

Speaker 12 Ah, yes. The lake that no one sees.

Speaker 12 Except the ones who must.

Speaker 12 Shall we?

Speaker 12 Another time, just after I got my license, I stopped at a gas station to buy some lottery tickets.

Speaker 12 I know, I know, you have to be 18 to buy those, yada, yada, but I was friends with the cashier, and anyways, it's not like I was doing drugs, so let's all move past this, yeah?

Speaker 12 Maybe we'll get a a winner this time.

Speaker 12 Listen, I'm impulsive, not stupid. Nobody ever wins with these things.
Somebody does. You know, I wish they did tell us who.

Speaker 12 Other states force a lot of companies to announce it, I've heard.

Speaker 12 Might make me feel a little bit better about wasting my fucking paychecks on these. Some things you never get to know.

Speaker 12 Some things you have to live your whole life without the answer.

Speaker 7 Nice one, Gerald. Somebody should put that on one of those those motivational posters with like a little kitten on it.

Speaker 12 After that, I stopped in the bathroom.

Speaker 12 When I came out, an unfamiliar woman was talking to Gerald at the counter.

Speaker 13 Just passing through. Never been here before, but the mountains are stunning.

Speaker 13 I followed her outside.

Speaker 12 The woman, holding her daughter's small hand, turned to me. You dropped this.
I held out the woman's lost receipt, even though nobody in the history of anywhere has ever cared about a lost receipt.

Speaker 15 Thank you.

Speaker 12 She said, Anyway, you're just passing through, huh? Sorry. I have a tendency to overhear other people's conversations.

Speaker 15 No worries. I have a tendency to speak too loudly.
And yes, I am.

Speaker 12 This is gonna sound really weird.

Speaker 12 But do you think you could do me a favor? It's not a big deal. The woman smiled amicably.

Speaker 12 Could you just tell me

Speaker 12 what that

Speaker 12 is?

Speaker 12 I pointed. The mountains? Her eyes trailed towards it.

Speaker 12 No, um...

Speaker 12 Beneath it.

Speaker 12 Her face snapped back to me, like Simon's had.

Speaker 12 It transformed to something twisted and furious.

Speaker 12 And she clamped her hands over her daughter's eyes.

Speaker 10 How dare you?

Speaker 12 She marched back to her car.

Speaker 12 The woman had never been here before. She'd barely even talked to anybody in our city, but she knew.

Speaker 12 Somehow she knew. This grand, terrible secret that I didn't.

Speaker 12 Another year passed. It was my senior year, and my friends and I went to prom in a group of eight.
Me with my six-month girlfriend.

Speaker 12 At the time, I knew it was ridiculous to think that Sherry, my girlfriend, and I, would end up working out.

Speaker 12 She had college plans and and I didn't. Now though, looking back,

Speaker 12 I think we might have had a shot.

Speaker 12 I really do.

Speaker 12 The night was amazing. We danced until midnight.
We snuck shots somebody had smuggled in behind the bleachers.

Speaker 12 By the time the teacher chaperones were shooing us out, we were giggly, buzzed.

Speaker 12 and not quite ready for it all to end.

Speaker 12 You'll be happy to hear we at least have the good sense not to drive in our current state. We live close anyway, so the eight of us walk through the darkened suburban.

Speaker 12 No,

Speaker 15 don't go in.

Speaker 11 Let's do something.

Speaker 12 Like what?

Speaker 12 We were all silent. None of our parents would be especially thrilled about hosting a group of intoxicated underage teenagers.

Speaker 12 The nearest Denny's was miles away, and everywhere else was already closed. You know what?

Speaker 12 I know we could do something dangerous. That word seemed to perk everybody up.
Dangerous.

Speaker 12 In high school, it was equivalent with fun.

Speaker 12 They followed me without questions down the street and through a grove of trees.

Speaker 12 We stood on the lake shore.

Speaker 12 Nobody spoke.

Speaker 12 Oh, come on, guys. Why shouldn't we?

Speaker 12 Wordlessly, without deliberating, deliberating, the eight of us stripped down to our underwear and waded in.

Speaker 12 We didn't laugh.

Speaker 12 Our joking and giggling from before was over.

Speaker 12 Our senses sharpened, and our brains seemed to clear.

Speaker 12 Nobody said the word lake.

Speaker 12 It was like

Speaker 12 even in doing this,

Speaker 12 We still couldn't bring ourselves to admit it existed.

Speaker 12 We averted our gazes upwards and thought about other things.

Speaker 12 We were doing this,

Speaker 12 but we weren't.

Speaker 12 The lake existed,

Speaker 12 but it didn't.

Speaker 12 A little more.

Speaker 12 I asked Sherry.

Speaker 12 We were nearly chest deep.

Speaker 12 She nodded, and we waded further, past the others, until only our heads were dry.

Speaker 13 I never thought I'd be doing this.

Speaker 12 She gripped my hand. Why?

Speaker 9 You know why.

Speaker 12 But I don't, Sherry. I don't know.
Everybody seems to know what the fuck's going on except me. And I don't know how to ask or make them tell me why.

Speaker 12 Why can't we talk?

Speaker 12 I felt it.

Speaker 12 Sherry's gasp in front of me told me she did too.

Speaker 12 Indescribable.

Speaker 12 Out of nowhere.

Speaker 12 Incorporeal.

Speaker 12 There was an immediate sense of wrongness.

Speaker 12 Something had shifted in the universe. But I didn't know what.

Speaker 12 Only that something had.

Speaker 12 And that we were not supposed to be here.

Speaker 12 We weren't supposed to be doing this.

Speaker 12 We had to leave. Now.

Speaker 12 Now.

Speaker 12 The others were already rushing back to the shore. Sherry and I followed, half swimming, half running through the dark water.
I almost expected something to grab me and drag me under, but nothing did.

Speaker 12 When we sprinted from the water, we were gasping and shuddering. Half of us were sobbing.

Speaker 12 We put back on our clothes and walked back to our houses in silence.

Speaker 12 Nobody would acknowledge what just happened or the presence we'd all felt.

Speaker 12 We all waved goodbye.

Speaker 12 In the morning,

Speaker 12 my friends were gone.

Speaker 12 I didn't know it until Monday when none of them were at school.

Speaker 12 Occasionally, my teachers would glance at their empty desks and quickly away. as if they'd slipped up by looking.

Speaker 12 I tried texting each friend in turn, but each time the only message I received from any of them was,

Speaker 12 invalid number.

Speaker 12 After school, I rushed to Sherry's house and pounded on the door. Her mother answered.

Speaker 12 Her mother's eyes were vacant and red.

Speaker 12 I don't know, Sherry.

Speaker 12 What are you talking about?

Speaker 12 Your daughter. My girlfriend.

Speaker 12 Sherry.

Speaker 12 Her jaw trembled as if she was on the verge of bursting into tears.

Speaker 12 I don't have a daughter. She shut the door.

Speaker 12 A decade has gone by.

Speaker 12 I never did end up leaving my hometown.

Speaker 12 That might sound crazy, but this city really is a good place to grow up.

Speaker 12 The people are nice. The mountains are beautiful.
And the elementary schools are safe.

Speaker 12 That's all I want for my daughter. Her safety.

Speaker 12 This is the best place to raise her.

Speaker 12 I just hope she isn't like me, though.

Speaker 12 Some part of me already knows she will be.

Speaker 12 She will question.

Speaker 12 Be curious.

Speaker 12 Want to know why.

Speaker 12 I'll pretend the lake doesn't exist. I'll look away.

Speaker 12 Maybe if I ignore it enough, she will too.

Speaker 12 But if she doesn't,

Speaker 12 I've already resolved what to do.

Speaker 12 Once,

Speaker 12 just once,

Speaker 12 when she's old enough, I'll sit my daughter down.

Speaker 12 I will point at the lake and say,

Speaker 12 yes,

Speaker 12 it exists.

Speaker 12 No,

Speaker 12 you're not crazy.

Speaker 12 And then when she asks, why,

Speaker 12 I will tell her the horrible truth.

Speaker 12 That things you never get to know,

Speaker 12 some things you have to live your whole life

Speaker 12 without the answer.

Speaker 12 G-R-K-D-I-Y-E-B-O-P-E-C-O-D-Y-C-O-O-C-D-S-V-V-G-K-D-M-R-O-C.

Speaker 12 Thank you for your patronage. Hope you enjoyed your new relic as much as I've enjoyed passing along its sordid history.

Speaker 12 It does come with our usual warning, however.

Speaker 12 Absolutely no refunds, no exchanges, and we won't be held liable for anything that may or may not occur while the object is in your possession.

Speaker 12 If you've got an artifact with mysterious properties, perhaps it's accompanied by a history of bizarre and disturbing circumstances.

Speaker 12 Maybe you'd be interested in dropping it and its story by the shop to share with other customers. Please reach out to antiquariumshop at gmail.com.
A member of our team will be in touch.

Speaker 12 Till next time, we'll be waiting for you whenever you close your eyes.

Speaker 12 in the space between sleep and dream.

Speaker 12 During regular business hours, of course, or by appointment. Only for you,

Speaker 12 our

Speaker 12 best customer.

Speaker 12 You have a good night now.

Speaker 12 The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings. Lot 100.

Speaker 12 The Lake. Consigned by Lucas Gandola.
Starring Trevor Shand, Jade Shand, Everett Shand, April Consolo, Conan Freeman, Romy Evans, and Reagan Seitzma, featuring Stephen Knowles as the antique dealer.

Speaker 12 Engineering production and sound design by Trevor Shand. Theme music by the Newton Brothers.
Additional music by Coag, Vivek Abishek, Clement Panchout, Nicholas Redding, and Conan Freeman.

Speaker 12 The Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is created and curated by Trevor and Lauren Shand. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Antiquarium Pod.
Call the Antiquarium at 646-481-7197.

Speaker 1 This visit to the Antiquarium of Sinister Happenings is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

Speaker 3 Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out?

Speaker 2 Well, with the Name Your Price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too.

Speaker 5 You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget.

Speaker 7 Try it today at Progressive.com.

Speaker 2 Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Speaker 8 Price and coverage match limited by state law.

Speaker 7 Not available in all states.

Speaker 14 This holiday season, the last place you want to be is the Naughty List. Rowan Campbell plays a bloodthirsty Santa in Silent Night, Deadly Night.
Director Mike P.

Speaker 14 Nelson's grisly update to the most controversial horror film ever made is only in theaters December 12th. Go to sndnmovie.com for updates.
This Christmas, Santa's gonna slay.