"I Found a VHS Tape in My Neighbors Yard" | CLANCYPASTA ORIGINAL

[00:00:00] Check the mailbox, will you Johnny?

[00:00:11] At the time this was a question I heard every day.

[00:00:15] We'd been having some problems, apparently.

[00:00:20] Our mail had stopped showing up about a week prior and after about five days of this,

[00:00:25] my dad went down to the post office to see what was up.

[00:00:29] They told him that they weren't sure why he wasn't receiving his mail, because he was

[00:00:32] still on the route and were pretty sure it was all being put in the mailbox.

[00:00:39] My dad was furious as he was expecting a check in the mail that was apparently pretty important

[00:00:45] if we wanted to keep the lights on after another couple of weeks.

[00:00:49] So every day when I got up he'd ask me to run out there and check the mail.

[00:00:57] Being a 12-year-old kid at the time, I guess I didn't really appreciate how serious

[00:01:02] this situation could be because I remember being really annoyed with him.

[00:01:07] I couldn't understand why he couldn't check the mail himself.

[00:01:13] But it was on this morning.

[00:01:15] I found myself quite happy I decided to make the trek.

[00:01:21] I ran outside, quickly looked in the mailbox and was ready to sprint on back to the house

[00:01:26] to tell my dad the still disappointing news when I just so happened to turn my head

[00:01:32] to the right.

[00:01:35] On the ground, on a pile of dead grass just over the property line into our neighbor's yard

[00:01:42] was a VHS tape.

[00:01:47] Curious?

[00:01:49] I walked over and picked it up.

[00:01:52] I didn't have any markings on it, no stickers or anything that would help me to guess what

[00:01:58] was on it.

[00:01:59] Just some run of the mil black blank VHS tape.

[00:02:06] Huh.

[00:02:09] After my mind turned to the question of what was on the tape, I made the decision to pick

[00:02:15] it up and take it on inside.

[00:02:20] My dad was pretty upset about the mail, but I was quite happy I had made the trip.

[00:02:26] I went into my room and shoved the tape into the player.

[00:02:30] As I pressed the play button on the remote, my thoughts were on dinner that night.

[00:02:36] As I knew my mom picked up a frozen pizza the day before that I really hoped she'd make

[00:02:41] soon.

[00:02:42] You know, usual kid concerns.

[00:02:47] Well, as the VHS tape booted up, it went to a few seconds of static and then a shot

[00:02:55] of the inside of a factory.

[00:02:59] It was just a static shot almost looking like B-roll footage of the conveyor belt as

[00:03:05] what looked like balls of dough sped by at what seemed in the blurry footage to be

[00:03:11] the speed of sound.

[00:03:14] Then the camera cut to another part of the machinery where it was being flattened and

[00:03:20] covered with thick red liquid.

[00:03:23] I continued watching as it became more and more obvious that I was watching the construction

[00:03:31] of a pizza.

[00:03:34] I laughed at myself at what a coincidence that was and became even more impressed as

[00:03:39] I saw the raw pie get slid into a plastic wrap and shoved into a paper box for shipment.

[00:03:49] Looking at the logo on the box, I actually felt butterflies in my stomach at the realization

[00:03:56] that not only was it a frozen pizza, it was the exact frozen pizza, brand and everything

[00:04:04] that my mom had bought the night before and that I was just thinking about.

[00:04:11] Now this may seem rather trivial, but I thought this was the most interesting coincidence

[00:04:17] in the world and ran to the living room to grab my mom and show her.

[00:04:25] But when we got back into my room and I pressed play, my excitement quickly shifted

[00:04:33] to confusion.

[00:04:36] I told her how I had just been thinking about that pizza and as I got the tape started

[00:04:42] I couldn't wait to see the look on her face.

[00:04:46] I figured she'd be pretty impressed with me, but as it began, the screen displayed pure

[00:04:54] static.

[00:04:56] I let it play a while longer and still the same.

[00:05:02] I made sure I rewound the tape properly and I did.

[00:05:07] I fast forwarded a bit and still just the exact same thing.

[00:05:15] Pure white and black static.

[00:05:22] My mom was just like, oh that's nice dear.

[00:05:26] Or you know something like that and went back to the living room while I tinkered with

[00:05:32] the remote.

[00:05:33] What's wrong with this thing?

[00:05:36] I wondered aloud and then hit play for the 20th time in 3 minutes and that's when

[00:05:43] the static disappeared.

[00:05:48] In its place, I found myself staring at a chalkboard like the kind you'd find in a classroom.

[00:05:58] It was a static shot, the board taking up the entirety of the frame.

[00:06:04] Nothing was happening and then an arm extended from the right side of the screen with a piece

[00:06:10] of white chalk in their hand.

[00:06:12] Andrew very slowly, a large question mark against the deep green chalkboard.

[00:06:22] The arm then retreated and the camera stayed steady.

[00:06:29] I let it roll in the shot state on the chalkboard that now displayed a large white question mark.

[00:06:36] For about 15 minutes before I got tired of this and decided to fast forward.

[00:06:43] I hit the button and the film began to speed forward but in mind as well have been a photograph

[00:06:51] because nothing changed.

[00:06:54] I let it roll until the end of the tape.

[00:06:58] That was it.

[00:07:03] I was quite confused to say the least but to tell you the truth.

[00:07:10] I was actually a little more bored than confused.

[00:07:14] So I decided to just switch the tape for my copy of Toy Story 2 and call it day on that

[00:07:20] endeavor.

[00:07:22] The rest of the night was filled with buzz light year, woody and then a good hour of

[00:07:27] video games before my mom told me it was time to eat.

[00:07:32] And wouldn't you know it?

[00:07:34] As I sat down at the table my mom was just pulling a freshly baked frozen pepperoni pizza

[00:07:41] straight from the oven.

[00:07:44] I ate and enjoyed.

[00:07:50] Now fast forward to the next morning.

[00:07:55] I hear that same question again as soon as I leave my room not even giving me enough

[00:07:59] time to use the restroom.

[00:08:01] Hey, check the mail real quick will you?

[00:08:06] So that's what I did.

[00:08:11] I walked out, nothing was in there once again and walked straight back in.

[00:08:18] At this point it was becoming a regular routine.

[00:08:23] I was finally able to use the John and went back to my room.

[00:08:29] For some reason the mail not showing up was sticking in my mind today.

[00:08:36] It was pretty weird if the post office was telling the truth and I don't know why they

[00:08:43] wouldn't then I really couldn't imagine where the mail was going.

[00:08:49] How would our mail keep going missing like that?

[00:08:53] It really didn't make any sense.

[00:08:57] The thoughts swirled around in my mind is I decided to check out that blank tape once

[00:09:03] again just to see what would show up this time.

[00:09:07] I figured it'd probably be static or one of the two things I'd seen yesterday.

[00:09:15] But as the tape began to roll a swarming horde of butterflies attacked my gut.

[00:09:26] Not even a moment of static before the footage cut to a shot of a neighborhood wide enough

[00:09:35] to capture two houses and their front yard.

[00:09:40] It took less than five seconds of staring at the screen to realize what it was I was looking at.

[00:09:50] It was our house and the neighbors to our left or right if you're looking from the street.

[00:10:00] It was a static shot again just like the chalkboard scene but I could tell it wasn't just

[00:10:06] an image by the way the trees swayed in the background.

[00:10:12] What was this?

[00:10:16] I struggled not to hold my breath as I continued watching.

[00:10:22] It was like this camera was set up on the street or something.

[00:10:28] Then after about a minute maybe this, the postal service van rolled on up and though

[00:10:35] it blocked most of my view I could tell it was putting something into our mailbox.

[00:10:42] And after another moment the van rolled forward a little and did the same to our neighbors.

[00:10:51] Then it drove off out of frame.

[00:10:58] This is where things got really bizarre as I continued watching and I know this is going

[00:11:09] to be really hard to visualize so I'll do my best to describe it but something really

[00:11:16] wrong happened.

[00:11:19] So there was a tree near the property line between our house and the neighbors, a really

[00:11:25] skinny one probably only a decade or less old.

[00:11:31] Well this man peeked out from behind it.

[00:11:37] Like you know in one of those old cartoons or something where bugs bunny leans out from

[00:11:42] behind a tiny little pole like he could somehow fit behind it to begin with.

[00:11:48] It was like that.

[00:11:50] This fairly large human figure leaning out looking directly towards the camera, the rest

[00:11:57] of his body, impossibly still hidden behind the tree.

[00:12:05] However to be fair I only assume he was looking at the camera because I couldn't see his

[00:12:14] eyes.

[00:12:16] In fact I couldn't really make out any features whatsoever.

[00:12:22] Despite being in the bright morning sun this figure was like a black hole like he was composed

[00:12:29] of antimatter or something as he appeared just like a large black shadow of a human figure.

[00:12:41] After a few moments of him halfway leaning out from behind the tree, he emerged fully

[00:12:49] and began floating towards our mailbox.

[00:12:54] Now, I say floating not because he was off the ground but because he wasn't bobbing up

[00:13:02] and down or swaying slightly like if he was walking.

[00:13:07] He just slowly and smoothly glided over to our mailbox.

[00:13:16] He didn't move a muscle but the mailbox hatch popped open seemingly of its own accord

[00:13:23] and the letters inside seemed to levitate out and be absorbed into where the man's chest

[00:13:31] should be.

[00:13:36] Then the black creature floated back on over to the tree and seemed to disappear behind

[00:13:44] the skinny branch of an organism.

[00:13:51] A few more moments passed before the tape turned to static.

[00:13:59] I was absolutely flabbergasted at what I had just seen and I felt scared out of my wits.

[00:14:09] But in the world had I just witnessed and how was this possible?

[00:14:16] For the first time, the full weight of the oddity of this tape fell down around me.

[00:14:24] I should have known something was weird about that tape but then my mind swerved to the

[00:14:31] content of the tape.

[00:14:34] The content it had just chosen to show me.

[00:14:38] That was probably a little more important right now.

[00:14:46] Now I knew I couldn't just come out and tell my dad what I just seen and I didn't know

[00:14:53] how to ensure he'd be able to see what I just saw.

[00:14:58] From the pizza footage fiasco last night.

[00:15:03] So I decided to try to convince him that someone was stealing our man and I decided to do this

[00:15:13] with a little white lie.

[00:15:16] It's a white lie because it really is true.

[00:15:20] Well sort of, here's what I did.

[00:15:25] I told him that morning I looked out of my bedroom window before coming out and saw

[00:15:31] some guy coming up to our mailbox in a black hoodie and steal our mail.

[00:15:39] My dad was like, what?

[00:15:43] And asked me why I didn't say anything.

[00:15:47] I made up some bad excuse about how I thought it was a dream at first because I was so tired

[00:15:53] and had just woken up when I saw it but now I'm sure it actually happened.

[00:16:01] In hindsight, I kinda can't believe he bought it.

[00:16:05] But after a minute, he did.

[00:16:09] So we went back down to the post office and he told them about it and told them to start

[00:16:15] holding his mail in that he just come by every other day to pick it up.

[00:16:22] They obliged.

[00:16:28] All of this happened probably about 15 years ago now.

[00:16:33] I hadn't thought about it in a few years but my dad just recently brought it up again,

[00:16:39] asking me if I remembered that crazy psycho who was stealing our mail years ago.

[00:16:45] Oh yeah, I told him.

[00:16:49] I remember that psycho.

[00:16:52] I wish I didn't, but I certainly remember.

[00:17:01] After the morning my dad told the post office to hold all of our mail, I never had the guts

[00:17:08] to pop that VHS in again.

[00:17:12] I was way too scared.

[00:17:15] I was probably thinking about it a bit too much and growing up in an evangelical household.

[00:17:22] I came to the conclusion that the tape was probably demon possessed or something.

[00:17:28] And I became convinced the only safe thing to do would be to destroy it.

[00:17:37] That weekend when my parents went out of the house, I started a bonfire in the backyard.

[00:17:45] I filled it with cardboard and boxes and wood scrap.

[00:17:51] After it got going, I threw the tape into the flames.

[00:17:56] It let off one of the oddest sounds I'd ever heard in my life.

[00:18:02] It wasn't a scream, but it was similar.

[00:18:08] A high pitched and unilating, grating tone.

[00:18:16] It went on for minutes before suddenly coming to a silent.

[00:18:22] The flames raged on for another hour or two before it put itself out.

[00:18:32] For these days I kind of wish I kept the thing.

[00:18:37] Just to experiment with more and see if I could get a better understanding of what exactly

[00:18:43] was going on there.

[00:18:47] But as is always the case in these situations, you just gotta say, oh well, the past is

[00:18:56] the past.

[00:18:59] And in this circumstance, it might be better the past stays in the past anyway.

[00:19:26] Thank you all for listening to tonight's episode of Clancy Pasta.

[00:19:31] I really hope you enjoyed.

[00:19:33] If you did, I'd appreciate it if you would give the video a like, subscribe or follow

[00:19:37] for more and comment down below, tell me what you thought of it.

[00:19:41] Huge thanks to all of my patrons over at patreon.com slash ClancyPasta and my YouTube members.

[00:19:48] Man, I'm pretty tired so I'm gonna head off.

[00:19:53] I hope you all have a great night and I'll see you all very soon.

[00:20:00] Cheers.