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Within Every Wall


When I was a child, my babysitter told me a scary story about a man that lived in the walls. This man did not just live in the walls of my particular home, but somehow lived in all walls in all buildings simultaneously. He could see us through the walls, and even reach out from them, but what he could not do was take a step onto the floor, which required you to be in arm’s reach for him to do anything.

What was this man’s modus operandi? Simply put, he would wait for children to fall asleep, and then he would drag them into the wall to be tortured mercilessly for the rest of their days. They never elaborated on his motivations, but really, you don’t have to. This was his motivation. This is what he did. Why he did it was immaterial—anybody being told this story just didn’t want to get dragged inside of any walls and tortured in any way.

Even seven year old me thought it was BS. Just some made-up story the cool teenagers told to scare the kids. It was fine. I went to sleep that night they told me this like it was nothing. But even my visceral self was wary as my intellect told me it was just a silly story. Then the noises came. I could hear scratching, banging, from inside the walls. It was my babysitter and maybe one of his friends. I just knew it. I told them to cut it out, but they didn’t answer. I kept leaving my room and finding my babysitter pretending to be idling, playing some video game or something while I slept. I knew he was just faster than my ability to leave my room. I knew it. Right?

Then, well after my babysitter left, I swear someone grabbed me nearmost the wall. When I looked at the wall, nothing was there. I’m not sure if it was a tactile hallucination experience in a dream that just carried over in that twilight period where you’re awake but the delusions of the dream are so fresh and seem so real that you still believe them. That’s probably what it was.

All I know is, to this day, I make a point to place my bed in the center of my bedroom and I refuse to sleep on anything within arm’s reach of a wall. Just in case he decides to make a second attempt.

Reddit User: [TheStranjer]

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