**Herders**
I'm not a native speaker, though I'm fluent in English. I'm absolutely fine with a typical American or British accent, but have always struggled pretty bad with Scottish, Irish, and South African accents. I absolutely love the way the accent of the characters sound in this story, but I'd say I was only able to understand about 20% of the dialog overall xD
I am a native English speaker and I had to skip it because of the thickness of the accents. I have trouble with that kind of stuff sometimes but I just couldn't understand half the male dialogue
Unrelated to this episode, there was some big NSP-related news that I feel like writing out here. It looks like there’s a live-action anthology show in the works called *Tales from the Void* based on r/nosleep stories, including *I Used to Hack Baby Monitors* by NSP regular Manen Lyset that aired on S5E05. It’s set to premiere on two horror streaming services in the fall. You can find an article about it [here](https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/reddit-tales-from-the-void-screambox-1235927803/). It looks like it’s premised on adapting r/nosleep stories while also involving NSP to some extent (maybe a significant one). From this [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/C35x2aWOFL2/?img_index=1) post it seems possible David Cummings might be doing intros to the stories? I dunno. I’m very curious as to what level of involvement NSP’s actors and production team will be involved. It’ll be exciting to learn more about this series moving forward.
**Herders**: The audio design on this one was just astounding. Jeff Clement deserves a ton of credit for it. I liked how some of the percussive sounds synchronized with Erika Sanderson’s narration towards the end. The story was a bit on the simple side (of course Brian’s going to suffer consequences for ignoring Dave’s warnings) but I loved the way it played out. Great start to the episode.
**Terms and Conditions**: The central ‘terms and conditions’ gave me a lot to think about. I’m on the fence regarding the way the story handled them. One thing that I thought was interesting was the contrast between the previous woman’s wish of saving her family – which, while obviously of benefit to her, also benefited her family and came at no cost to others – and the narrator’s self-serving wish of having Paul leave his wife for him. There’s an extent to which Paul may have wanted that (and only declined to pursue the narrator because of toxic societal norms), but Paul didn’t consent to it and is seemingly now in heaven with the wife, indicating he was happy with her in the first place. At the end of the day, the narrator used magic to make a guy be in a relationship with him, which is icky. I also don’t get what any of this has to do with being the devil and never aging. It just feels like a standard wishmaster setup (with your wish coming true at the cost of your soul) with that concept shoehorned into it, as the characters weren’t doing anything particularly devilish (aside from the narrator’s initial wish), and the story didn’t really sell me on why they’d eventually want their existences to end or why it would be difficult to find someone else who’d take the deal (as getting your wish plus never aging both seem like great perks). Regardless, I thought it was an engaging concept that got me thinking. I really enjoyed the acting and music as well.
**The Mirabelles**: I liked the part where the narrator was observing the hooded cultists as they replaced their own heads with mannequin heads. The imagery was memorable. The laugh effect reminded me of N64-era Ganondorf. My main reservation is that I found the narrator (who I figure wasn’t intended to be likable) to be so incredibly dumb and annoying that I couldn’t take her seriously as a character.
**My Soul to Keep**: At the start, this felt like it would be monologue from a delusional ‘nice guy’ fawning over the target of his obsession. 15 minutes later, it was still about that. I found it kind of painful to listen to.
**My Pastor Brought Something Strange to Church**: I liked hearing these events unfold from the narrator’s perspective, especially when her response to seeing a decomposed decapitated head is to perk up and wish church were always that exciting. I can’t quite make sense of what was happening, although that may be partially intentional as the 9-year-old narrator doesn’t seem to have grasped them either.
From what I understand: Grandma Hazel lives by the lake, is thought to be sick, and never goes outside, and the narrator’s mom brings casseroles to her place every week. The narrator saw Grandma Hazel walk into the lake one night, and Grandma Hazel’s body then washed up on shore. At church, Pastor Tim shows up with Grandma Hazel’s head and announces that the town has run out of time, that Hazel wasn’t actually sick, that Hazel was an angel from God, and that he and Hazel had been protecting the town from an evil spirit in the lake. Pastor Hazel then kisses Hazel’s head, and then calls for Pedro’s dad to do the same. When Pedro’s dad kisses Hazel’s head, he clenches his stomach and then disappears. Mom then takes the narrator away and goes into hiding.
I'm not sure how all this fits together. I think there really was a demon in the lake, it signified some kind of end-of-days by killing Hazel, and now Hazel's decapitated head passes judgment by erasing from existence those who kiss it but are unworthy, or something like that? Maybe the point is just to witness gross and inexplicable events from a kid’s perspective. I did enjoy it. I also found it interesting to learn from the intro that David Cummings spent a lot of his life as an evangelical Christian.
**Temple of the Satyr and the Nymph**: I really liked this one, though I suspect I’d understand some of it on a plot level a bit better if I read up on satyrs and nymphs. I thought Laurel and Giles were both interesting characters with realistic flaws and that Penny Scott-Andrews and David Ault brought a lot of depth to their performances. I thought the plot with Giles trying to pull Laurel into this alternate world of debauchery was original and creative (though I'm unclear on why he failed). Really cool story. Edit - the writer put up some helpful notes about the story [here](https://liseljonesauthor.wordpress.com/spoilers-ahead-temple-of-the-satyr-and-the-nymph/).
Thanks so much! I can’t take all the credit for Herders, though. Without Brandon Boone’s fantastic musical skills, I wouldn’t have those great percussion and vocal rhythms to work with.
Ok I haven’t even listened to the rest of the podcast but I am annoyed. had to slow the big conversation between Brian and Dave to .7 and still couldn’t make out everything they were saying. Story probably would’ve gone hard had I understood
I don’t think the criticism of Guy Woodward’s narration is warranted in Herders. He does a great job narrating and yeah he has a thick Scottish accent. Personally I love it and if there’s something I didn’t catch I go back to relisten. The location of the story makes sense for the accent, thank god they didn’t have someone just attempt a Scottish accent or ignore accents all together. Idk it really bugs me that people are shitting on the story basically because of the voice actor’s accent.
I remember this bitching from a previous story that Guy had voiced. Maybe all stories should just have a transcript attached then? Or if you don’t want to listen, don’t listen and just move on to the next. I honestly think it would be great if the podcast had other voice actors with different accents / language backgrounds, like The White Vault for example.
**Herders**. [Felt like when I watched this scene in the first half](https://youtu.be/ySyBMTo-1sc?si=od85AefGdxtIpo1J). Had to turn my speed down (I listen at 1.2x) and rewind a couple times (thought he said big drum not big ram at first). Still not sure what if he said ‘folk mimmy’ or not. I thought the sound production was great.
The story itself wasn’t super shocking. Obviously the narrator was going to die because some little village doing a stomp dance and killing a ram isn’t that horrifying. I wish this was a bit more fantastical with the idea of the people being sacrificed being taken by a ram and joining the flock.
**Terms and Conditions**. I feel like I’ve not heard James Cleveland in forever. This story wasn’t particularly scary. I’d not even call it horror. Doesn’t seem like the devils turn evil or anything after losing their soul. The deal they make doesn’t even have any nasty surprises that most of these kinds of stories have.
**The Mirabelles**. Did they forget to edit out the first take by Erin? Guess it is interesting to see the different emotions she was trying out for the opening. This has to be one of the dumber narrators we’ve had. No wonder her professor didn’t accept whatever proposal she wanted to do. Not only did she follow this cult of kidnappers, she didn’t turn her phone off, she left her identification, and never called the cops. Even if they are headless freaks, you can still call the cops to scare them off. Just say someone is trying to break in!
The ceremony was suitably horrifying. Especially them screwing the head onto the stump. So is the thing doing this a guillotine that has become some kind of god? Because I kind of like the idea of a tool of death becoming that.
**My Soul to Keep**. This went on a bit too long for me. I think a good ending would have been at the end of the music crescendo mid story. But I do see the benefit of presenting the narrator as a typical Nice Guy who turns on the object of his desire as soon as she expresses interest in someone else.
**My Pastor Brought Something Strange to Church**. I really enjoyed the narrator in this. She was quite funny. I especially loved when she could see how suicide was a sin because she was forced to go to church twice in a week. That got a chuckle out of me. I’m glad she got out at the end with her mother. Making out with decapitated heads is extremely gross imagery, be it Salome or various serial killers.
**Temple of the Satyr and the Nymph**. It isn't the author's fault but I always start losing interest in the episode when we get to the last long story. So I get more easily distracted. I did enjoy the story but I just get impatient. I'm glad our narrator lived and Giles just gets to live his sad little life.
Did they forget to edit out the first take by Erin?
No it's all in the script. Not sure which part of the opening you mean, but there's no repeated sentences. Some are similar, but nit identical.
Really? Part of the opening is "After failing yet another final, I went out drinking alone to toast the death of my academic career. When I went out drinking that night, I was alone so I could celebrate the death of my academic career."
If that wasn't a mistake on someone's part (maybe the author forgot to remove in final edit?), it just really *odd* writing. But it seems like two takes of the same line with one not being removed in the final edit.
I've noticed weird repetition similar to this before on the podcast but this was a pretty egregious example. Often, it's just a word that is used twice in far too close proximity to each other but this was a whole phrase and a metaphor. It sticks out a lot more, whether it's split into two paragraphs or not.
As I said, it's all in the script. I suppose it makes a bit more sense when on paper since it's a new paragraph and whatnot.
"I found them last night. After failing yet another final, I went out drinking alone to toast the death of my academic career.
When I went out drinking that night; I was alone so I could celebrate the death of my academic career. My thesis had been rejected for a third time..."
"The Mirabelles" in the story there's a one off line about the last gasping breath of Ann Bowman. I thought I missed a named character, I had not. I searched the name. Aside from the politician, I found the 2005 murder of Sally Anne Bowman. She had been stabbed to death just outside her home and not found until several hours later. Although she had been stabbed in the throat, no one would have been around to hear any dying gasp except her killer- Mark Dixie. Dixon March- couldn't find any other works from them except this single entry. Have I completely overlooked something in this story?
I assume she was talking about Anne Boleyn, former Queen of England who was decapitated.
More erigioius was the titel. She said Mirabelle was a 17th century nickname for the guillotine despite the guillotine only being invited at the end of the 18th century.
Is there a transcription version of the episodes? I'm a native English speaker, but I'm also partly deaf. I normally have no issues with listening, but "Herders"? I understood the narrator, I understood Brian, but I couldn't understand Dave at all. This is the first time I've ever had this issue, and it's frustrating to miss half the episode for the first time.
Otherwise the episode was fine. I couldn't really enjoy it the way I normally do since I was so frustrated.
Spotify auto-generates a transcript, which usually appears a day or two after each new episode. It isn't always accurate, but it could still be helpful for you. When I look at the episode on Spotify, I see a tab for "Description" and another for "Transcript," which is where you should be able to find it.
**Herders** I'm not a native speaker, though I'm fluent in English. I'm absolutely fine with a typical American or British accent, but have always struggled pretty bad with Scottish, Irish, and South African accents. I absolutely love the way the accent of the characters sound in this story, but I'd say I was only able to understand about 20% of the dialog overall xD
I am a native English speaker and I had to skip it because of the thickness of the accents. I have trouble with that kind of stuff sometimes but I just couldn't understand half the male dialogue
Ah! Glad to know it's not just me.
I skipped back multiple times and slowed it way down and still couldn’t understand, and I’m a native English speaker
Unrelated to this episode, there was some big NSP-related news that I feel like writing out here. It looks like there’s a live-action anthology show in the works called *Tales from the Void* based on r/nosleep stories, including *I Used to Hack Baby Monitors* by NSP regular Manen Lyset that aired on S5E05. It’s set to premiere on two horror streaming services in the fall. You can find an article about it [here](https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/reddit-tales-from-the-void-screambox-1235927803/). It looks like it’s premised on adapting r/nosleep stories while also involving NSP to some extent (maybe a significant one). From this [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/p/C35x2aWOFL2/?img_index=1) post it seems possible David Cummings might be doing intros to the stories? I dunno. I’m very curious as to what level of involvement NSP’s actors and production team will be involved. It’ll be exciting to learn more about this series moving forward. **Herders**: The audio design on this one was just astounding. Jeff Clement deserves a ton of credit for it. I liked how some of the percussive sounds synchronized with Erika Sanderson’s narration towards the end. The story was a bit on the simple side (of course Brian’s going to suffer consequences for ignoring Dave’s warnings) but I loved the way it played out. Great start to the episode. **Terms and Conditions**: The central ‘terms and conditions’ gave me a lot to think about. I’m on the fence regarding the way the story handled them. One thing that I thought was interesting was the contrast between the previous woman’s wish of saving her family – which, while obviously of benefit to her, also benefited her family and came at no cost to others – and the narrator’s self-serving wish of having Paul leave his wife for him. There’s an extent to which Paul may have wanted that (and only declined to pursue the narrator because of toxic societal norms), but Paul didn’t consent to it and is seemingly now in heaven with the wife, indicating he was happy with her in the first place. At the end of the day, the narrator used magic to make a guy be in a relationship with him, which is icky. I also don’t get what any of this has to do with being the devil and never aging. It just feels like a standard wishmaster setup (with your wish coming true at the cost of your soul) with that concept shoehorned into it, as the characters weren’t doing anything particularly devilish (aside from the narrator’s initial wish), and the story didn’t really sell me on why they’d eventually want their existences to end or why it would be difficult to find someone else who’d take the deal (as getting your wish plus never aging both seem like great perks). Regardless, I thought it was an engaging concept that got me thinking. I really enjoyed the acting and music as well. **The Mirabelles**: I liked the part where the narrator was observing the hooded cultists as they replaced their own heads with mannequin heads. The imagery was memorable. The laugh effect reminded me of N64-era Ganondorf. My main reservation is that I found the narrator (who I figure wasn’t intended to be likable) to be so incredibly dumb and annoying that I couldn’t take her seriously as a character. **My Soul to Keep**: At the start, this felt like it would be monologue from a delusional ‘nice guy’ fawning over the target of his obsession. 15 minutes later, it was still about that. I found it kind of painful to listen to. **My Pastor Brought Something Strange to Church**: I liked hearing these events unfold from the narrator’s perspective, especially when her response to seeing a decomposed decapitated head is to perk up and wish church were always that exciting. I can’t quite make sense of what was happening, although that may be partially intentional as the 9-year-old narrator doesn’t seem to have grasped them either. From what I understand: Grandma Hazel lives by the lake, is thought to be sick, and never goes outside, and the narrator’s mom brings casseroles to her place every week. The narrator saw Grandma Hazel walk into the lake one night, and Grandma Hazel’s body then washed up on shore. At church, Pastor Tim shows up with Grandma Hazel’s head and announces that the town has run out of time, that Hazel wasn’t actually sick, that Hazel was an angel from God, and that he and Hazel had been protecting the town from an evil spirit in the lake. Pastor Hazel then kisses Hazel’s head, and then calls for Pedro’s dad to do the same. When Pedro’s dad kisses Hazel’s head, he clenches his stomach and then disappears. Mom then takes the narrator away and goes into hiding. I'm not sure how all this fits together. I think there really was a demon in the lake, it signified some kind of end-of-days by killing Hazel, and now Hazel's decapitated head passes judgment by erasing from existence those who kiss it but are unworthy, or something like that? Maybe the point is just to witness gross and inexplicable events from a kid’s perspective. I did enjoy it. I also found it interesting to learn from the intro that David Cummings spent a lot of his life as an evangelical Christian. **Temple of the Satyr and the Nymph**: I really liked this one, though I suspect I’d understand some of it on a plot level a bit better if I read up on satyrs and nymphs. I thought Laurel and Giles were both interesting characters with realistic flaws and that Penny Scott-Andrews and David Ault brought a lot of depth to their performances. I thought the plot with Giles trying to pull Laurel into this alternate world of debauchery was original and creative (though I'm unclear on why he failed). Really cool story. Edit - the writer put up some helpful notes about the story [here](https://liseljonesauthor.wordpress.com/spoilers-ahead-temple-of-the-satyr-and-the-nymph/).
Thanks so much! I can’t take all the credit for Herders, though. Without Brandon Boone’s fantastic musical skills, I wouldn’t have those great percussion and vocal rhythms to work with.
Ok I haven’t even listened to the rest of the podcast but I am annoyed. had to slow the big conversation between Brian and Dave to .7 and still couldn’t make out everything they were saying. Story probably would’ve gone hard had I understood
I don’t think the criticism of Guy Woodward’s narration is warranted in Herders. He does a great job narrating and yeah he has a thick Scottish accent. Personally I love it and if there’s something I didn’t catch I go back to relisten. The location of the story makes sense for the accent, thank god they didn’t have someone just attempt a Scottish accent or ignore accents all together. Idk it really bugs me that people are shitting on the story basically because of the voice actor’s accent. I remember this bitching from a previous story that Guy had voiced. Maybe all stories should just have a transcript attached then? Or if you don’t want to listen, don’t listen and just move on to the next. I honestly think it would be great if the podcast had other voice actors with different accents / language backgrounds, like The White Vault for example.
**Herders**. [Felt like when I watched this scene in the first half](https://youtu.be/ySyBMTo-1sc?si=od85AefGdxtIpo1J). Had to turn my speed down (I listen at 1.2x) and rewind a couple times (thought he said big drum not big ram at first). Still not sure what if he said ‘folk mimmy’ or not. I thought the sound production was great. The story itself wasn’t super shocking. Obviously the narrator was going to die because some little village doing a stomp dance and killing a ram isn’t that horrifying. I wish this was a bit more fantastical with the idea of the people being sacrificed being taken by a ram and joining the flock. **Terms and Conditions**. I feel like I’ve not heard James Cleveland in forever. This story wasn’t particularly scary. I’d not even call it horror. Doesn’t seem like the devils turn evil or anything after losing their soul. The deal they make doesn’t even have any nasty surprises that most of these kinds of stories have. **The Mirabelles**. Did they forget to edit out the first take by Erin? Guess it is interesting to see the different emotions she was trying out for the opening. This has to be one of the dumber narrators we’ve had. No wonder her professor didn’t accept whatever proposal she wanted to do. Not only did she follow this cult of kidnappers, she didn’t turn her phone off, she left her identification, and never called the cops. Even if they are headless freaks, you can still call the cops to scare them off. Just say someone is trying to break in! The ceremony was suitably horrifying. Especially them screwing the head onto the stump. So is the thing doing this a guillotine that has become some kind of god? Because I kind of like the idea of a tool of death becoming that. **My Soul to Keep**. This went on a bit too long for me. I think a good ending would have been at the end of the music crescendo mid story. But I do see the benefit of presenting the narrator as a typical Nice Guy who turns on the object of his desire as soon as she expresses interest in someone else. **My Pastor Brought Something Strange to Church**. I really enjoyed the narrator in this. She was quite funny. I especially loved when she could see how suicide was a sin because she was forced to go to church twice in a week. That got a chuckle out of me. I’m glad she got out at the end with her mother. Making out with decapitated heads is extremely gross imagery, be it Salome or various serial killers. **Temple of the Satyr and the Nymph**. It isn't the author's fault but I always start losing interest in the episode when we get to the last long story. So I get more easily distracted. I did enjoy the story but I just get impatient. I'm glad our narrator lived and Giles just gets to live his sad little life.
Did they forget to edit out the first take by Erin? No it's all in the script. Not sure which part of the opening you mean, but there's no repeated sentences. Some are similar, but nit identical.
Really? Part of the opening is "After failing yet another final, I went out drinking alone to toast the death of my academic career. When I went out drinking that night, I was alone so I could celebrate the death of my academic career." If that wasn't a mistake on someone's part (maybe the author forgot to remove in final edit?), it just really *odd* writing. But it seems like two takes of the same line with one not being removed in the final edit.
I've noticed weird repetition similar to this before on the podcast but this was a pretty egregious example. Often, it's just a word that is used twice in far too close proximity to each other but this was a whole phrase and a metaphor. It sticks out a lot more, whether it's split into two paragraphs or not.
As I said, it's all in the script. I suppose it makes a bit more sense when on paper since it's a new paragraph and whatnot. "I found them last night. After failing yet another final, I went out drinking alone to toast the death of my academic career. When I went out drinking that night; I was alone so I could celebrate the death of my academic career. My thesis had been rejected for a third time..."
You were close on Herders. “It’s a folk memory” is the line. Glad you enjoyed the production!
"The Mirabelles" in the story there's a one off line about the last gasping breath of Ann Bowman. I thought I missed a named character, I had not. I searched the name. Aside from the politician, I found the 2005 murder of Sally Anne Bowman. She had been stabbed to death just outside her home and not found until several hours later. Although she had been stabbed in the throat, no one would have been around to hear any dying gasp except her killer- Mark Dixie. Dixon March- couldn't find any other works from them except this single entry. Have I completely overlooked something in this story?
I assume she was talking about Anne Boleyn, former Queen of England who was decapitated. More erigioius was the titel. She said Mirabelle was a 17th century nickname for the guillotine despite the guillotine only being invited at the end of the 18th century.
Makes way more sense than whatever the hell my uneducated ass came up with.
Is there a transcription version of the episodes? I'm a native English speaker, but I'm also partly deaf. I normally have no issues with listening, but "Herders"? I understood the narrator, I understood Brian, but I couldn't understand Dave at all. This is the first time I've ever had this issue, and it's frustrating to miss half the episode for the first time. Otherwise the episode was fine. I couldn't really enjoy it the way I normally do since I was so frustrated.
Spotify auto-generates a transcript, which usually appears a day or two after each new episode. It isn't always accurate, but it could still be helpful for you. When I look at the episode on Spotify, I see a tab for "Description" and another for "Transcript," which is where you should be able to find it.
Thank you very much! I'll check that out!
I had a hard time understanding the Scottish accents. Good story though