CLANCYPASTA | "The Legend of the Grinning Man" by spooky_spaghettti

[00:00:00] The Grinning Man, Written by SpookySpaghetti, Narrated by ClancyPasta

[00:00:19] Have you ever heard the legend of The Grinning Man?

[00:00:23] I have.

[00:00:25] When I lived in the south as a kid, everyone at school would tell the tale of The Grinning Man.

[00:00:31] Back then, scaring the wits out of each other was all the rage.

[00:00:35] They'd tell you how he would stand outside your bedroom window at night and watch you as you slept.

[00:00:42] His mouth stretched into a wide unsettling smile.

[00:00:47] Of course, I never believed them.

[00:00:50] I never understood how anyone could stand outside a second floor window.

[00:00:55] It was way too high for even the tallest person to see through.

[00:00:59] Besides, there was nothing to be afraid of.

[00:01:04] All the stories said that he was seen in the north of the country.

[00:01:08] Why would he ever come here?

[00:01:12] That all changed a few years later when my parents relocated us to Seattle.

[00:01:18] On the last day I spent with my school friends, we reminisced about our younger years together

[00:01:24] and they all took great pleasure in reminding me to watch out for The Grinning Man.

[00:01:30] Still, I laughed it off.

[00:01:33] I don't believe in the supernatural.

[00:01:37] Or at least, I didn't.

[00:01:40] The first week living in Seattle, I slept horribly.

[00:01:47] The rain pounded on the windows all through the night, keeping me awake.

[00:01:52] Having come from New Mexico, I had no idea that it could rain so much in such a short time.

[00:01:59] My family had moved us into a ground floor condo

[00:02:02] and the shadows from behind my thin drapes were causing me to feel a sense of unease.

[00:02:09] I didn't want to admit that I was nervous of the things my friends had told me,

[00:02:14] but rather that anyone could be peeking into my bedroom window during the night.

[00:02:21] Nothing happened for the first couple of weeks as I settled into my new home.

[00:02:26] I managed to get used to the sound of the rain and came to find it was actually a rather soothing

[00:02:32] sound. The flickering shadows still freaked me out, but I learned to ignore them.

[00:02:39] It wasn't until a few weeks in that strange things began to happen.

[00:02:47] The first night I saw him was in the middle of February.

[00:02:51] A light drizzle was quietly tapping against the window, not out of character for Seattle weather.

[00:02:59] That's when I heard the taps.

[00:03:03] At first, I dismissed it as being a few larger raindrops among the drizzle,

[00:03:08] but as the tapping persisted, it became harder and harder to deny that there was a distinct

[00:03:15] pattern to it, unlike the random falling of raindrops against the glass.

[00:03:23] I didn't want to look behind the curtain to find the source of the tapping,

[00:03:29] but an overwhelming sense of curiosity came over me and I found myself walking toward the window.

[00:03:36] Perhaps I subconsciously wanted to prove to myself that nothing was there.

[00:03:43] It took everything in me to throw open the curtains to reveal whatever was outside.

[00:03:52] I froze. I wanted to scream, but my body was suddenly incapable of producing a single sound.

[00:04:04] Outside my window stood a man. A man with no defining facial features,

[00:04:13] other than bulging eyes that glowed with the faintest of white light and a sickening grin

[00:04:20] that stretched from one side of his face to the other. His face was pale and smooth,

[00:04:27] shining from the raindrops that made it glisten in the moonlight.

[00:04:31] Two black pupils were hyper-focused on me as he looked into my eyes and I looked into his.

[00:04:41] I managed to get my legs to work and stumbled backwards onto the floor.

[00:04:47] My whole body shuddered in terror at the realization that his eyes had followed my

[00:04:54] movement, and his deep black pupils were now facing downwards onto the floor where I was

[00:05:00] sprawled. Without taking my eyes off him, I lifted myself up onto my bed and pulled the duvet over me.

[00:05:13] For what felt like hours, I watched him and he watched me.

[00:05:21] I wanted to close the drapes so I wouldn't have to see him, but my whole body was paralyzed with

[00:05:27] fear. I don't know how, but eventually I managed to slip away into a restless sleep.

[00:05:40] In the morning, the man was gone. Outside of my window were two inhuman looking footprints

[00:05:49] left deep in the mud, no tracks leading to the window and no tracks leading away.

[00:05:57] The prince looked as if there were only two toes and had no curves like a human foot.

[00:06:05] I never told my parents. They just tell me it was all my imagination. Blame it on the stress

[00:06:11] and dumpset of moving away from all my friends to a new city on the opposite side of the country.

[00:06:20] Heck, they'd probably even try to put me in therapy.

[00:06:26] I didn't even tell my friends as I knew they would think I was making it up,

[00:06:31] so I kept my nighttime watcher to myself.

[00:06:37] The next night I went to bed at dusk while there was still the faintest glow of sunlight outside.

[00:06:43] I set up a camera on my desk, hidden among some things and faced it toward the window.

[00:06:51] I left the drapes open and went to sleep as fast as I could, ignoring the dread I felt

[00:06:58] knowing that he might return to watch me as I slept.

[00:07:05] In the morning, I reviewed the footage captured by my camera and, sure enough,

[00:07:13] there he was again. My camera recorded nine hours of him staring at me through my window

[00:07:22] as I mindlessly sped through the recording. I noticed something. The man's eyes

[00:07:30] had moved. Somewhere around the six-hour mark, he had shifted his gaze onto the camera instead

[00:07:40] of me. How the hell did he know it was there? A shiver ran down my spine and I sped through

[00:07:51] the remaining footage as quickly as possible. The next few nights were the same. He'd stand

[00:08:02] there in my window watching me, noticing the camera earlier and earlier each night.

[00:08:10] Those glowing eyes pierced the darkness of my room and I began to wonder if he was ever

[00:08:17] going to leave me alone. However, last night was different. The man never showed up.

[00:08:27] I scoured ten hours of footage of me sleeping and there was nothing. I can't say I wasn't relieved

[00:08:37] to find a glimmer of hope that I could once again sleep in peace. And so, this brings me to

[00:08:46] tonight. Tonight was different again. Before going to bed, I set up the camera one more time to make

[00:08:58] sure he was gone for good. I slept for a couple of hours before I was awoken by a shuffling sound

[00:09:05] near the end of my bed. I was half asleep so I thought I had imagined it at first.

[00:09:11] Trying to go back to sleep, I heard it again. But this time, it was much closer.

[00:09:22] Grogly, I turned over slightly.

[00:09:25] Two white glowing eyes met my gaze. Just like the first time I saw him, I froze.

[00:09:42] There at the end of my bed, the man was towering over me, staring down with his piercing eyes.

[00:09:51] I could have sworn he wasn't this tall when he was at the window. The man was well over six feet

[00:09:57] in height and he had bony limbs that seemed ready to grab me. Somehow, his grin seemed even wider

[00:10:09] than usual. In a panic, I yanked my duvet up over my head as if it would protect me,

[00:10:18] just like a small child hiding from the monsters under their bed or in the closet.

[00:10:27] I'm still under the duvet, and I can see his eyes through my sheet as I write this.

[00:10:36] All I can do is pray that the police find my camera if I'm missing in the morning.

[00:10:48] I hope you enjoyed tonight's episode of Clancy Pasta. Subscribe or follow for more. Give the video a

[00:11:10] like and let me know what you thought in the comments down below. Huge congrats and thanks to the

[00:11:16] author for writing such a creepy tale. And thank you to all of the Patreon, YouTube member and

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[00:11:33] episodes completely ad free. So thank you all for listening once again and have a great night.

[00:11:43] Cheers.