Episode Details

TranscriptGood evening, this is Spooky Boo Rhodes coming to you from the lighthouse in Sandcastle, California. Today I have for you scary stories about nature. Nature, in general, can be scary because of the natural disasters we face on a daily basis. Deadly animals can also be frightening and so can animals of the preternatural kind or even cryptids and unknown creatures. These unknowns include forces of nature. Sometimes our preferences for nature can kill as you see in these stories.There is a rumor around Sandcastle that many of the plant species are poisonous but no one is willing to figure it out. We have some plants of unknown origin here, mostly down at the beach among the colorful ice plants, poppies, and bullrushes, and then into the forest where the redwoods and the ferns grow. The locals don't dare touch them and the police, well, they know all too well what happens when nature in Sandcastle defends itself.The other day, as I watched from the lighthouse, I noticed some stranger picking at the weird pod flowers that grow amongst the bullrushes. No one really has a name for them for they just started appearing at the beach. Some of these plants that grow in our realm are unknown to mankind but when they're sent out for testing, the samples die when they are no longer protected by the fog or whatever is in the air around us. The only species of the living that can leave are humans, basic animals, and preternatural creatures. Everything else just dies with no indication of why.The man picking the flowers must have been new to the town for people know not to pick these plants with their bare hands if even at all. Sometimes when touching them with your bare skin weird rashes will appear upon your skin leaving a mark for creatures to seek you out while other times, some people just drop dead on the spot. This man wasn't that lucky. As his fingertips pinched the stalk of the flower pods and began to snap off the unusual creature, something which must have been its mother, grew from behind the patch. Rising from the grass came forth a huge mouth of long fangs and a tongue so long even a boa constrictor might have been scared.The tongue wrapped around the man many times and dragged him into its mouth as he screamed and violently struggled. When its mouth snapped shut, I could see impressions of his body trying to escape through the thick layer of skin cuticle, or perhaps maybe it was chewing him up for, a few minutes later, the mother fed her young. As the smashed remains of his bones and visceral dripped down upon the plant infants, they looked up at their mother and opened their jaws like large Venus flytraps. Unlike the popular meat-eating desk plants, they cooed at their parent as the red and gray slop dripped into their mouths.They weren't too greedy for as each one had its share, it coiled up into the plant that it was before and the mother finished her last gulp then nestled behind her young waiting for the next creature to come along within their grasp.It's just another night in Sandcastle.Tonight's stories are brought to you by my Patreon members including madjoe, P.A. Nightmares, Ivy Iverson, John Newby, Patrick, and 933TheVolt.com. I'd like to thank the listeners and the Patreon members for their continued support. Also, if you're looking for a great iPhone deal, check out iPhoneCrazy.com. I love my iPhone and I know you'll love yours.Now let's begin...The Almond TreeWritten by CornconicBurt had finished for the night. It was a cloudy Wednesday evening and he was more than ready to head home and clear his head of the tiresome antics of the day. He leaned over the counter drearily, setting down a mug he had poured for himself. The bar’s neon lights buzzed like static in the back of his mind, the old TV m