00:00.970
ANNOUNCER
For information on upcoming episodes, merch, and other ways to support the podcast, follow us on Instagram @JacobsStanleypodcast or on Twitter @InappropriateF and check out our website, jakobstanley.com to submit your own story to the podcast.
00:22.050
BARKBOX
Got a doggo and wanna support the poddo? Use the affiliate link in our show notes BarkBox.com/jakobstanley, that’s Jakob with a “K” and sign up for BarkBox! Each month BarkBox brings your dog more than $40 worth of toys, treats and chews tailored especially for your pup, curated from each month's unique themed collection. Is your puppers is into Stranger things? Would they dig some Beggo Waffles, or a Demo bat? Maybe they prefer the Wizarding World of Harry Potter? And want a sorting hat or Hedwig of their very own. So, click on the link in our show notes barkbox.com/jakobstanley that’s Jakob with a “K” or go to our website jakobstanley.com and use the link provided to help support our pod and bring monthly dog joy right to your door. OH! And by using our link you get an additional month FREE! That's barkbox.com/jakobstanley.
01:09.190
NARRATOR
In October of 2011, 4 college students disappeared in the woods near Porter Township Pennsylvania while researching a documentary on children’s author Jakob Stanley. They remain missing to this day. Last month their recordings appeared online. In an effort to aid in the investigation, the families of those missing have agreed to release the following sound files. If anyone has information on those missing or the identity of the person or persons who uploaded these files, please use the contact information provided. Anything submitted may be used in future episodes. Certain materials referenced in this podcast, including the published works of Jakob Stanley, are currently protected under U.S. copyright law and may be redacted. For legal reasons, some names have been withheld and voices altered. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcasters and participants, and do not represent the official policy or position of the Iphigenia County Police Department of Porter Township Pennsylvania or its associates. This podcast contains adult themes and language. Listener discretion is advised.
02:17.330
PROFESSOR WHITAKER
Folder labeled: “013 Rough Cut, Episode 13 - Tell Me a Story: The True Life of Jakob Stanley.”
02:32.434
[PODCAST INTRO SEQUENCE]
NEWS ANNOUNCER
WN [BEEP REDACTED] TV New York.
MUSIC: [80’s NEWS INTRO THEME]
NEWS ANCHOR ‘83
If your child has been to a school book fair recently, chances are they came home with one of this author’s scary books-
MUSIC: [80’s SUNDAY TALK SHOW THEME]
SUNDAY MORNING TALK SHOW HOST ‘81
Our guest’s first anthology leapt to the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list -
MUSIC: [LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW INTRO APPLAUSE]
LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST ‘86
- Thank you. Thank you! Over the past few years, he has become a household name -
MUSIC: [PODCAST THEME]
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- Bridging the gap between Alvin Schwartz and Stephen King -
TV PREACHER
- The devil is among us, friends.
CONGREGATION
AMEN!
TV PREACHER
He’s among us, in the form of a writer. -
SUNDAY MORNING TALK SHOW HOST ‘81
- The book might have struggled during it initial release in 1977, but now “Tell Me A Story: Under the Bed That’s Over My Head”, has skyrocketed -
ALSC COMMITTEE REP
- So many parent organizations complained that his work was too sophisticated for children-
TV PREACHER
- He has infiltrated your homes, and your children’s minds-
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- His second macabre anthology “Tell Me A Story: Moonless Sky and Other Friends” sold out from bookstores in mere minutes. Becoming a controversial -
NEWS ANCHOR ‘83
- Stanley's books ranked on the American Library Association’s “100 Most Frequently Challenged Books” from 1981-1993 -
TV PREACHER
- Stanley’s books promote disobedience, violence and the occult! Lord have mercy -
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- The 3rd volume in his “Tell Me A Story” collection “The Floor That Creaks, the Closet That Speaks and the Tip Toes That You Walk On” was released in 1986 to mass acclaim -
ALSC COMMITTEE REP
- All that fussing, just made his work more popular -
TV PREACHER
- Check your children’s rooms, check their bookshelves, check their back-packs! -
YOUTUBER
- I do think his final book, released in ‘99, “TMAS: The nightmare, The Dream and the Places Between,” was by far his best work.-
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- His work has been described as “subversive” and “dark,” I simply describe it as genius.
SUNDAY MORNING TALK SHOW HOST ‘81
- It is my pleasure to introduce -
LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST ‘86
- Please welcome -
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- Ladies and gentleman, please welcome -
SUNDAY MORNING TALK SHOW HOST ‘81
- Jakob Stanley.-
LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST ‘86
- Mister Jakob Stanley.
PUBLIC RADIO HOST ‘92
- Author, Jakob Stanley.
[Applause.]
MUSIC: [POD THEME SYNTH]
04:11.650
AVERY/NARRATOR
Little to nothing is known about the life of this elusive author. And since 1999 Jakob Stanley seems to have completely dropped off the face of the earth. Until a short two-line obituary appeared in a small town paper, over a year ago.
TOLEN/NARRATOR
From BOO Labs and Red Cup Media, I'm Tolen Reid -
AVERY/NARRATOR
And I'm Avery Fischer, this is TELL ME A STORY: THE TRUE LIFE OF JAKOB STANLEY.
SFX: The mic pops on, it cuts in and out a few times.
TOLEN
Check, check, check. ...
SFX: Tolen continues to adjust levels.
TOLEN (CONT’D)
Check, check... Uh, I just woke up in our room. It is 2:55 in the afternoon. ... Uh, what day is it?
AVERY
You ask that again and I swear to God.
TOLEN
Sorry, I didn’t know you were awake.
05:18.582
AVERY
I’m not.
RJ
Why are you talking?
CHUCK
Did you say it was 2:55?
AVERY
How is it so late?
CHUCK
We should-
SFX: Chuck scrambles to get up and immediately lays back down.
CHUCK (CONT’D)
Oh, I got up... too fast, I'm going to... stay here now.
RJ
Am I hungover?
AVERY
My tongue’s fuzzy-
CHUCK
Did we drink last night?
TOLEN
Honestly, I can’t remember.
AVERY
-My whole mouth actually.
RJ
Wait... Oh... yeah, I’m gonna throw up.
SFX: RJ runs to the bathroom and slams the door.
AVERY
BAH! ... Loud sound.
TOLEN
Do we all feel like shit?
AVERY & CHUCK
Yes.
05:53.750
TOLEN
Weird.
AVERY
Is it? I mean we have been running on empty for the last 3 days...or 4 days... or week?
TOLEN
Can lack of sleep cause this?
CHUCK
Oh God.
SFX: Chuck bounds to the bathroom door and knocks.
AVERY
OH BAH! Loud sound.
SFX: The toilet flushes.
CHUCK
RJ! I need to get in there. ... RJ!
SFX: RJ opens the door.
RJ
Fuck, here.
SFX: Chuck dives into the bathroom and slams the door.
AVERY
No the sound.
RJ
Only dry heaves anyway.
TOLEN
This has gotta be from lack of sleep, right?
06:24.044
RJ
Maybe... Can’t even remember when we last slept?
TOLEN
I barely remember last night.
RJ
Huh, me neither?
AVERY
Yeah, it’s foggy.
TOLEN
Were we at the police station or did I just have a really fucked up dream?
RJ
No, yes, I remember that, sort of.
AVERY
Me too... sort of?
TOLEN
Okay, so not a dream.
SFX: The toilet flushes.
RJ
Yeah, and we... Oh, no...
SFX: RJ bolts to the bathroom door and knocks.
RJ
Not a drill this time.
SFX: Chuck exits and RJ zooms past her and slams the door.
AVERY
Again with the sounds.
SFX: Chuck slowly crosses to a chair and sits.
CHUCK
Seriously, go throw up. It will make all the difference.
TOLEN
Do we have food poisoning?
07:06.214
CHUCK
Did we even eat yesterday?
TOLEN
I think we did?
AVERY
We did! Uh, yeah... Wallace!
TOLEN
That’s right! He brought us dinner.
AVERY
We were supposed to interview him last night? Did we?
SFX: Toilet flushes.
TOLEN
I think we did?
AVERY
Uh, I can’t take the spinnies... think I’m gonna try the-
CHUCK
Trust me. Worth it.
SFX: Avery bolts to the bathroom, as RJ opens the door.
RJ
Good luck.
SFX: The door slams. RJ crosses to the bed and lays down.
07:30.350
TOLEN
Should we call Wallace?
CHUCK
RJ, do you remember last night?
RJ
I only vaguely remember the police station?
CHUCK
The police station?
SFX: The toilet flushes.
TOLEN
We remembered that Wallace came over for the interview and brought us dinner.
RJ
Oh, no. Did he give us food poisoning?
TOLEN
That’s what I was thinking.
CHUCK
If we interviewed him, we should have those sound files right?
RJ
Uh, yes let me look.
SFX: Toilet flushes as RJ opens her laptop and begins typing.
TOLEN
Or we could just call him?
SFX: Avery exits the bathroom.
07:58.290
AVERY
Not the worst oral discharge experience I’ve ever had, but close.
RJ
What was the worst?
SFX: Avery lays down on the bed next to RJ.
AVERY
Cottage cheese and orange soda, courtesy of raw sugar cookie dough.
CHUCK
Mine is cherry pie and eggnog, courtesy of eggnog.
RJ
Shellfish courtesy of shellfish. Tolen?
TOLEN
I don’t throw up. - Chuck, do you not want to call Wallace for some reason?
CHUCK
What? No. ... Wait, you don’t throw up?
SFX: RJ stops typing and closes her computer.
AVERY
Yeah, odd right?
RJ
Not even like... as a kid?
TOLEN
No, I do not throw up.
AVERY
He can’t burp either.
08:25.680
RJ
Interesting.
TOLEN
Can we come back to Wallace?
CHUCK
Jesus.
TOLEN
What’s your issue?
CHUCK
I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t think you should keep pestering the man.
TOLEN
I don’t pester.
RJ
Wait, didn’t you ask him to hide evidence?
AVERY
Oh right. I remember that now.
TOLEN
I didn’t ask him to hide evidence. There was no evidence of anything, because we didn’t do anything. He offered to help and I accepted. - Shit! Where’s the puzzle box?
CHUCK
Tolen, chill, your “precious” is over there on the dresser.
TOLEN
Oh, thank God.
08:55.836
AVERY
Right! We have the manuscript.
RJ
Shit, yeah. How do we have the manuscript?
CHUCK
Not... sure.
TOLEN
Uh, RJ?
RJ
Yeah?
TOLEN
Any luck with the sound files?
RJ
Right, sorry. On it.
SFX: RJ goes back to the computer and types.
AVERY
Why is my computer wearing your jacket?
CHUCK
What?
RJ
Do we have any other memory cards out?
AVERY
My laptop... it’s propped up on the chair with your jacket on it.
SFX: Avery crosses, tosses Chuck's jacket at her.
CHUCK
Hey!
AVERY
Sorry, I have no depth perception right now.
SFX: Avery grabs her laptop and sits back down on the bed.
TOLEN
Where’s the case thing?
RJ
It’s over here, got it.
CHUCK
Oh, we must have shot the interview with it.
09:24.264
AVERY
Yeah, I think we didn’t wanna spend the time to set up a camera camera.
SFX: Avery starts typing on her laptop.
AVERY (CONT’D)
It’s dead, is the charger-
CHUCK
Here.
SFX: Chuck passes her a charger.
AVERY
Thank you.
SFX: Avery plugs in her computer and turns it on.
RJ
Huh... Maybe we offloaded everything already?
TOLEN
Here check the drive.
SFX: Tolen passes RJ the drive.
AVERY
We can just watch down the video file?
TOLEN
Yeah, but-
AVERY
-Tolen. We will find the cards. Let’s just figure out last night first, okay?
TOLEN
Fine.
RJ
You find it?
AVERY
I think it ...
CHUCK
Seriously man, you don’t throw up?
AVERY
Yup. Ok, here we go.
SFX: Everyone gathers on the bed to review the video file from Avery’s computer.
AVERY (CONT’D)
Let me... okay.
SFX: Avery raises the volume all the way up and scrubs through the video to get to the beginning.
09:55.270
RJ
That file is forever long.
TOLEN
Almost 5 hours?
AVERY
Huh.
CHUCK
I am not watching 5 hours.
AVERY
We’ll skim.
SFX: Avery hits play at a random point in the video from the previous night. We barely hear a second of it before Tolen says:
TOLEN
Don’t start there, go back to the... the top.
CHUCK
We just said we weren’t gonna to watch the whole thing.
TOLEN
Well, you said that.
AVERY
Yeah, but I have to agree.
RJ
Skim!
TOLEN
Wait, wait, wait. Look.
RJ
What?
TOLEN
Look, right there.
AVERY
What?
TOLEN
In the background, the reflection from the window...
CHUCK
I can’t tell what that is?
TOLEN
You’re editing, those are your editing headphones.
10:22.750
AVERY
Oh, yeah.
CHUCK
How did you even see that?
AVERY
Huh. I must have put a rough cut of yesterday together on RJ’s computer.
RJ
I didn’t see it on there.
AVERY
I reorganized the drive, each day has a folder - I’ll look.
TOLEN
So, you were the last one with the memory cards.
AVERY
I guess?
TOLEN
Where did they end up?
AVERY
Fuck, Tolen, I don’t remember, but if I’m editing, that means it’s all been loaded to the drive, so don’t worry about it.
10:45.370
TOLEN
Fine.
SFX: Avery scrubs back and hits play. The quality of the recording is low.
SFX: Wallace has just started putting out trays of food before them.
WALLACE
... No problem-o. And again I am sorry, I thought I had all your Stanley stuff in the car with me tonight. I think I was trying to juggle too much with the dinner and all.
TOLEN
Huh, what? Oh, yeah, don’t worry about it.
CHUCK
I don’t know how you can even read right now?
TOLEN
Huh?
CHUCK
You haven’t taken your eyes off that manuscript all night?
TOLEN
Oh yeah, no, I’m too tired to take in the actual words... but I’m really... the illustrations.
WALLACE
That good, huh?
TOLEN
It’s brilliant.
SFX: Wallace starts setting out food.
AVERY
I’m still afraid to look at it? ... Like I’m scared it would turn to salt before my eyes.
RJ
Is it as fucked up as they say?
SFX: RJ approaches and Tolen pulls the manuscript away, protecting it.
TOLEN
Bu-bu-bah. Not with food hands.
RJ
Sorry, dad.
SFX: RJ walks away and plops down to eat.
11:28.930
WALLACE
Ah, tomorrow I can bring Stanley’s stuff back here or you can pick it up on your way out of town. Whatever’s best.
CHUCK
We’ll come by first thing in the morning, we really need to get out of here ASAP.
WALLACE
Y’all have been up for days. Might need a little more sleep than you think.
CHUCK
I’m sure we’ll be fine.
WALLACE
I’m not kidding around, you gotta take care of yourself. If you guys push to rush outta here and anything were to happen to y’all on the road? I’d never forgive myself. So, sleep for as long as you need, ya hear?
TOLEN
Yeah, we hear.
SFX: Avery scrubs to another section.
TOLEN
Wait, wait, wait. There.
SFX: Avery hits play, the team listens.
12:02.690
RJ
Oh, my God!
TOLEN
Try the biscuits.
CHUCK
Oh, you gotta try the biscuits. And the mashed potatoes. They are straight up heroin.
AVERY
This is... the best thing ... I have ever tasted.
RJ
What’s this?
WALLACE
Homemade apple cider.
RJ
You make this yourself?
WALLACE
Nothing to it really. Just mash up some apples, add some yeast, then wait a few weeks for everything to ferment. Set it and forget it. Bingo-bango, homemade apple cider.
SFX: Avery pauses the video.
RJ
So, I guess we did drink last night.
AVERY
Huh.
CHUCK
That explains a lot.
12:36.264
TOLEN
Go there, that looks kinda like an interview?
SFX: Avery scrubs to the next section.
RJ