"We're All Worried About NANA JENN" | CLANCYPASTA

[00:00:00] When I was a child, I grew up in a small and relatively impoverished town in the English countryside.

[00:00:07] The place was ravaged decades ago, and the last of the mines had been finally closed.

[00:00:12] Not being a particularly beautiful place, unlike its many neighboring coastal towns, the town would slowly and silently decay.

[00:00:21] When the mines closed in the late 70s, a man named Thomas Rowe would decide to start a shop from his front room using his handful of savings.

[00:00:31] His ever-dedicated wife, a woman by the name of Jen, quit her job as a seamstress to work the shop for him and do all the bookkeeping.

[00:00:39] The two understood it would be a difficult journey ahead of them, but they knew it was the kind of challenge that they wanted and were willing to work hard together.

[00:00:49] Over the next few hard-fought years, the two would build a successful store, fully converting the bottom floor of their home into the shop floor.

[00:00:57] Due to their willingness to lend a hand to anyone who needed it, the community around them looked after them in kind.

[00:01:05] Tom and Jen General became a bastion of the community in a seemingly permanent fixture in the town.

[00:01:11] My mom would tell me that even she and her friends called Jen, Nana Jen, a name I'd known her as myself for as long as I can remember.

[00:01:21] She had a warmth about her, a soft, welcoming smile that wrapped you in an all-encompassing warmth followed by a genuine interest in your day, and maybe even a free suite if we don't tell Tom.

[00:01:33] Thomas Rowe was lovely, but he was just Tom. Only Jen was Nana Jen, and everyone loved her for that.

[00:01:43] Even after his death, the sign Tom put up all those years still hung.

[00:01:49] I must have been nine or ten when he passed.

[00:01:51] It was nice to see everyone come together to mourn with and take care of Nana Jen, a community that over the years had become distant and fractured, joining forces to help this woman who had taken care of them for so long.

[00:02:06] After the shop was returned to its original state as a residential home, you would often see Nana Jen wandering around town.

[00:02:14] Whether she was off to the dry cleaners or on her way to an appointment, she would always have time to stop, chat, and make sure you were okay.

[00:02:23] I swear to God, even after that woman started losing her keys and jewelry, she always seemed to remember everyone by name.

[00:02:30] At least, until the events of our story.

[00:02:35] I was a young brown-haired idiot when I turned fourteen.

[00:02:39] That's okay, because my best friend Jason was just the same, only his hair was shorter compared to my shoulder-length locks.

[00:02:47] We weren't a pair of miscreants or anything, but when you're a bored teen in the countryside there is a certain level of mischief that is entailed.

[00:02:56] The odd prank here or there, scrumping for apples and the odd bit of mild arson in some random field.

[00:03:02] One time, when playing a game where you knock on the door and run away before they catch you, Jason was able to sneak right up behind me, and right as I knocked on the door, he kicked me on my backside, fully flat on the floor, prone on my back.

[00:03:18] With a deep sigh, I accepted my fate when I heard a soft melody coming from the doorway.

[00:03:26] Oh, Matthew, what's happened?

[00:03:29] Looking up, I see the slightly concerned face of Nana Jen looking down at me quizzically.

[00:03:35] So sorry, I fell over when I, uh, on the step, I blurted out, scrambling to my feet to meet her at eye level.

[00:03:43] You know, that little doorstep gets me too, she chuckled.

[00:03:48] So what are you doing here, dear?

[00:03:51] Oh, I was just, uh, coming to check in on you, I replied, unsure of how convincing my response was.

[00:03:58] Just making sure you're doing okay, or if you need help with anything?

[00:04:03] Well, sweetheart, it's funny you should mention because just today I lost my special necklace that Tom got me.

[00:04:11] Well, where do you last remember having it? Came the approaching voice of Jason, who would clearly come back after I didn't come running behind him.

[00:04:20] Hello, Jason.

[00:04:21] Well, I had it at the butcher's, but then I didn't have it by the time I got home and I didn't stop anywhere between the two.

[00:04:29] I had a little look, but my eyes aren't what they used to be.

[00:04:33] We're not doing anything, so we could look. It's the summer holiday, so we have the time, I explained, smiling at the ever more frail-seeming Nana Jen.

[00:04:43] You know the necklace I'm talking about, right? She asked.

[00:04:48] Yeah, of course we do, I replied.

[00:04:50] And honestly, we did. The necklace she was referring to was as permanent a fixture as she was.

[00:04:57] A stunning tin necklace whose tarnish didn't distract from the intricate beauty of the etching of a Celtic cross behind a large cat.

[00:05:05] I often worried about her spine due to the size of the necklace.

[00:05:09] However, she always seemed to be so used to it that it was more natural to compensate for the weight of the charm than not.

[00:05:18] With that, Jason and I had become the initial search team for Nana Jen's necklace.

[00:05:23] It wasn't long until we were able to rope others into it as we asked everyone we saw along our search path.

[00:05:29] In no time, what felt like half the town was now either actively or passively on the hunt for her pendant.

[00:05:38] Maybe it was guilt for not finding it, but Jason and I became regulars at Nana Jen's home.

[00:05:45] She always seemed happy to see us and honestly we both kinda enjoyed spending the time with her.

[00:05:51] We'd often do little chores for her, help her carry things around and always be willing to taste test her wonderful pastries.

[00:06:01] Nana Jen, one afternoon, told us the story of her necklace.

[00:06:05] It was given to her by Tom when he received a large raise at work.

[00:06:09] All the wives of the miners here had been given one.

[00:06:12] She had loved it so much and taken care of it for so long.

[00:06:16] Jen was the last person alive who had received one, but after this many years, that was to be expected.

[00:06:24] Slowly, but all of a sudden, Nana Jen started to go downhill.

[00:06:29] Little things were forgotten here or there.

[00:06:32] Less energy to do what she loved and even her eyes had become slowly more sunken into her skull.

[00:06:38] She was aging before our very eyes, decaying and before long it would be my family who would offer to take care of her.

[00:06:46] With all the time I'd spent with her, my mom and dad had bonded with her as much as I had.

[00:06:52] So when they noticed how bad she had gotten, our home became the obvious choice to take care of her, considering her lack of remaining family.

[00:07:02] So my bed is here?

[00:07:05] Breathe day slightly confused, but ever considerate, Nana Jen.

[00:07:10] Yes, Jen, we have put a new bed with a new mattress especially for you.

[00:07:14] We've even got a load of your stuff from your room to make it feel like home.

[00:07:18] My mom had always been a kind woman, heavily influenced by Nana Jen and her own mother.

[00:07:25] Steph, you've been too good to me.

[00:07:29] A tear appeared in Jen's eyes as she hugged my mom, her ginger hair getting tangled in Jen's face.

[00:07:36] Ugh, you've looked after me and this family for so long, we're just happy that we have the opportunity to pay it back.

[00:07:43] Reasoned Steph, who herself was now fighting back the tears.

[00:07:48] Nana Jen settles in quickly.

[00:07:50] However, it would not be long until we noticed something strange.

[00:07:55] Both my dad and I had separately heard a soft rhythmic whispering coming from her room late at night.

[00:08:04] These small, creepy, yet unexplainable instances got overshadowed by the chaotic trial of the festive season.

[00:08:14] For just the month of December, we had hired a nurse to take care of her simple needs so we didn't have to worry.

[00:08:20] My parents could take me and my sister out for festive activities without having to worry about Jen.

[00:08:26] The nurse would be a good choice too, as we found out that this would probably be the last Christmas for our great aunt Sophie.

[00:08:34] So from Christmas to New Year, we would be staying with her immediate family up country.

[00:08:40] The day we were due back, the nurse had stopped taking our calls.

[00:08:45] At best, when we would call the house, all we got was a confused Nana Jen who by this point was beginning to degrade to such a point that she had no idea where the nurse was or even if she had seen the nurse at all recently.

[00:08:59] Hurrying home, all we could find upon returning was the nurse's handbag with her phone, wallet, and keys all missing.

[00:09:09] Nana Jen was sitting there on her bed, silently drinking tea and staring at TV static, her warm smile plastered blankly across her face.

[00:09:22] Mom and Dad would take turns looking after her while I took care of a lot of the household chores.

[00:09:29] Seeing how hard they had it with her, I didn't mind taking the lion's share of the chores.

[00:09:34] I didn't even mind the continued whispering all that much.

[00:09:37] You'd be surprised how quickly the creepy can become banal.

[00:09:41] I was just part of the background noise of an ever more complex life.

[00:09:47] Lying in bed one night, I heard the door creaking open right as I was right at the precipice of sleep, forcing me awake with a jolt.

[00:09:56] I looked around to confirm my dream-fed paranoia that something beyond a nightmare had made its way in.

[00:10:05] There was nothing, even when I turned my lamp on.

[00:10:09] Nothing at all was in my room and I could go back to sleep.

[00:10:13] I turned the lamp off and resumed my former position, comfortable once again under the sheets.

[00:10:21] An undetermined amount of time later, it happened again.

[00:10:25] A loud creak echoed into my bedroom.

[00:10:28] Turning my head to look at the doorway to my bedroom, I saw it was in the same position as it was before.

[00:10:34] Had I imagined it?

[00:10:36] A loud snoring came rumbling through the house.

[00:10:40] A comforting reminder that my parents were just feet away.

[00:10:45] Eyes open, face to the door and meditating on the muddled roar emanating from the hall,

[00:10:51] I suddenly hear a new sound.

[00:10:54] A fast rhythmic white noise.

[00:10:58] Breathing.

[00:11:00] Breathing coming from somewhere nearby.

[00:11:03] Then I heard it.

[00:11:05] Eyes focused on the static door, I heard a creak.

[00:11:09] There was only one other place that could have been.

[00:11:14] Turning on my lamp, I returned to my original orientation facing the wardrobe.

[00:11:21] It was Jen.

[00:11:23] It was Jen.

[00:11:23] Inside the wardrobe, her flower embossed nightgown covering much of the gap in the wardrobe door.

[00:11:30] At the top of her face, one eye poking through the crack and a familiar soft smile across her face.

[00:11:37] The most disturbing part was her fast and almost rhythmic breathing like she was excited.

[00:11:46] Afraid to break eye contact, I called out to my parents unmoving and afraid to move, afraid to even blink.

[00:11:54] My father came in like a shot and quickly goaded a very confused woman back to her bed.

[00:12:01] It was strange, however.

[00:12:03] The moment my father entered the room, she stopped smiling and began to breathe at a regular pace.

[00:12:10] I didn't sleep well that night.

[00:12:13] I didn't have a good night's sleep for a long time.

[00:12:18] The image of her dull, sunken eyes excitedly making direct eye contact with me would singe itself into my mind any time the lights would go out.

[00:12:29] Shortly after that night, my sister would begin complaining of an awful smell.

[00:12:35] Her room being the one directly above Man and Jen, it was suspected that the smell from Jen's room rising up through the floor was the cause.

[00:12:43] It didn't matter what we did, however.

[00:12:46] No amount of potpourri or air fresheners would cover that awful smell.

[00:12:51] Even after aggressive attacks from gallons of Febreze and enough dented powers to solve any infestation.

[00:12:57] A week later, the smell returned just as rancid as before.

[00:13:03] Maybe we should have been more thorough in our investigation of the smell, but my sister was leaving very soon for university so it wasn't the highest priority after a while.

[00:13:16] Nana Jen just got worse from there.

[00:13:19] She kept staring at the ceiling in her room, just sitting there and smiling at nothing.

[00:13:25] We'd occasionally find her in places like the attic or a storage cupboard, just looking at us as she smiled a blank artifice of her former caring expression.

[00:13:36] She grew ever gaunt and frail-looking.

[00:13:39] However, the way she moved so confidently was so disjointed from her skeletal frame.

[00:13:46] Her skin had sunk so low it was almost separate from any sort of bone structure underneath.

[00:13:51] When my great aunt died, it caused a lot more drama in the immediate family than expected.

[00:13:58] So, mom and dad had to go pretty much immediately.

[00:14:02] They managed to find a nurse to look after Nana Jen again after vetting this one with much more scrutiny.

[00:14:09] She even agreed to keep an eye out on me and make sure I don't burn anything down in the house while cooking or anything.

[00:14:17] Maza was nice.

[00:14:19] I know that's not a very creative description, but it fits who she was.

[00:14:22] I couldn't tell you where she was from, but she was just the right mix of both professional and understanding of the fact that I was a young teenage boy left to his own devices.

[00:14:33] She cooked kawitka a few times to make sure I had a few vegetables.

[00:14:37] I know it had potato in it and tasted great, but again, I couldn't tell you the origins of the dish.

[00:14:45] Little Kochani, what is wrong with her exactly?

[00:14:48] Maza asked while I was sitting on the sofa watching TV one evening.

[00:14:52] We're not sure. Honestly, the doctors aren't sure either.

[00:14:56] It's kinda like a degenerative brain thing, they were saying, but it's not exactly like Dmitra.

[00:15:01] I explained to the best of my capability.

[00:15:04] Hmm, that is pretty much what your mother told me.

[00:15:08] She retorted, looking off into the distance a little.

[00:15:11] How come? Like what brought this on? I asked.

[00:15:15] She's just…

[00:15:17] Maza pauses to take a deep breath.

[00:15:20] Your grandmother is saying things like…

[00:15:22] Wrong things.

[00:15:25] Wrong things? I parroted.

[00:15:28] Things like… about a man who lives in the room with her.

[00:15:32] A man who is angry with her.

[00:15:34] I could see the deep concern on her face.

[00:15:38] Yeah, I've heard stuff like that from her, but I guess she's just getting worse lately.

[00:15:44] I reassured her.

[00:15:46] She never does anything but stare and smile though.

[00:15:49] I wouldn't worry. I know it's creepy, though.

[00:15:53] Maza smiled at me, attempting to show she was reassured, and messed my hair up before then returning to Nana Jen's room.

[00:16:01] It was a few days later when I heard her frantically knocking at my bedroom door.

[00:16:07] Still paranoid and vigilant at night, I woke up quickly and cautiously, announced the visitor in.

[00:16:14] Maza burst into the room, panic clear in her face, barely able to get a word out.

[00:16:19] I quickly noticed her hands were covered in blood.

[00:16:26] I have to go. I saw him here.

[00:16:29] This was all I could get out of her before a figure blocked out the incoming light from the hallway.

[00:16:37] Taking both of our attention immediately, we saw Nana Jen standing just beyond the threshold of the doorway.

[00:16:45] Maza screamed a blood-curdling scream before suddenly and without any warning jumping out of my bedroom window.

[00:16:53] I sat there in shock, staring at the broken window as Jen shuffled away, restoring light to the room.

[00:17:01] A police investigation had, from what I could gather through eavesdropping, discovered that she had a history of bipolar disorder and had divorced her husband about six months before her suicide.

[00:17:16] Just confirming the narrative they already assumed.

[00:17:20] I became obsessed.

[00:17:23] Jason had noticed the level of obsession that had taken me.

[00:17:27] He even asked about everything one day and I broke.

[00:17:30] I cried even.

[00:17:31] I split everything.

[00:17:33] What had happened, what I was feeling, and most importantly, my theories about what was happening.

[00:17:39] On those theories, nothing was a solid hypothesis, but rather I knew something was happening.

[00:17:46] That it was Nana Jen at the root of it all.

[00:17:50] Jason and I made plans to have him stay over that weekend.

[00:17:54] Something that had become rare since Nana Jen had moved in, but with my parents spending one night away for their anniversary, it was the perfect time.

[00:18:03] We were going to stay up late and sneak down and see what was happening in Jen's room at night.

[00:18:09] And what was going on with the whispering.

[00:18:13] Dude, if you scare me on purpose I will kick you so hard in the nuts!

[00:18:18] Jason warned me in a whisper as he descended the stairs late that Saturday night.

[00:18:23] I promise you, if anything is going to scare you, it's going to be her.

[00:18:28] I replied, eyes fixed on the bottom of the stairs.

[00:18:32] Well, okay.

[00:18:33] I still don't like that I'm going first.

[00:18:36] It's your creepy ass house!

[00:18:38] With that, a resigned Jason tentatively made his way down the stairs, reacting to every creak and groan from the floorboards.

[00:18:46] As we turned the corner, we immediately heard the whispering.

[00:18:51] A soft, raspy chant emanating from the place we knew Nana Jen resided.

[00:18:57] Jason took a deep breath before quietly knocking on her door.

[00:19:02] I shot Jason a quizzically angry look, to which he just shrugged, before unconfidently gripping the handle.

[00:19:09] With a nod to me, Jason opened the door.

[00:19:14] What hit us first was the stench.

[00:19:17] An expression mirroring my disgust was plastered across Jason's face as soon as the door opened.

[00:19:24] Then we saw her.

[00:19:26] Nana Jen stood in the center of the room, her clothing on the floor,

[00:19:31] and the nude skin that was so usually covered in her gown was a mass of decaying and rotting flesh.

[00:19:41] She panted as she smiled towards the ceiling once again.

[00:19:46] A dissociative freefall took hold, almost like my brain was trying to protect me by making everything feel like a dream, like it couldn't be real.

[00:19:56] I didn't even notice that Jason was screaming.

[00:19:59] I just saw her.

[00:20:01] By the time I had regained control over my senses, I noticed two screams in unison.

[00:20:08] One was Jason screaming in an all-encompassing terror,

[00:20:12] and the second was Jem, who was now on top of Jason,

[00:20:17] her thumbs buried deep into his eye sockets as she screamed into his face.

[00:20:24] Blustering all my strength, I kicked the thing that was Jen off of Jason, injuring my ankle as I did so with a dissatisfying crunch.

[00:20:34] Even through my pain, I still saw her thumbs leave Jason's eyes with a sickening squelch as she tumbled a meter or so away.

[00:20:44] I wrenched a whimpering Jason up and began practically dragging him out of that room and out of the front door.

[00:20:52] Closing the door behind me, I continued to drag Jason away to somewhere to the family next door.

[00:20:58] They owned guns, and I knew we'd be safe.

[00:21:02] In tears, I pulled Jason the 400 meters or so to the next door and began banking on the door as hard as I could.

[00:21:13] Jason is alive.

[00:21:16] Blind and sour about it, but alive.

[00:21:19] As for Jen, she went missing immediately after.

[00:21:23] It would be another year of sleepless nights before she was found dead and naked in the local forest by an old Celtic shrine.

[00:21:34] The worst part was what we found when she left.

[00:21:39] After investigating the ever-present smell and pulling up the floorboards in my sister's old bedroom, we found her.

[00:21:49] Jen had killed the first nurse, ripped her eyes out, pulled out her throat, then hidden her in the floors.

[00:22:00] There was plenty of shock and sorrow in the community at the news of their former matriarch, but those feelings were all temporary and soon faded with time.

[00:22:12] Now all the town is left with is the eerie tale of an old woman with no skin who haunts an old pile of stones out on the moors.

[00:22:23] The early days of the town was drukized in her room.

[00:22:24] She killed the first time.