I encountered Mr. Tale. I have seen people have other horrifying experiences on nosleep, so I thought I would share mine here. I deeply regret not doing anything for them, I truly do. But I was just so, so afraid…
8/26/2022
It happened just yesterday night, I was in my son’s room as he asked me for the first time to read him a bedtime story. I was honestly shocked as he never asked me this and keep in mind he is seven years old.
I walked over to his desk and pulled out the chair carefully and brought it over to the left side of his bed. I sat down and sighed.
“So sport” I said
“How about that story? Do you have anything in mind?”
My son was excited as he reached under the blanket and took out a big book with both hands.
“This one dad!” He yelled excitedly.
I reached forward and grabbed the book. It was a typical glossy hard cover book, nothing special at first glance. I opened it up and flipped through a couple pages to see how long it was as I was getting tired myself.
It felt new and weird, I never had seen this before. I looked at Jacob, my son, and said.
“Jacob, I don’t recall me or your mother getting this for you. Where did you get this?”
Jacob giggled and pointed at the book.
“Mr. Tale gave it to me! Yesterday night, we are such good friends now.”
My heart dropped in my chest. The thought that someone interacted with my son, in my house, without me knowing gave me fucking chills I’m not going to lie.
“Jacob, it’s not good to talk to strangers, especially someone who broke in.” I said
Jacob looked at me and pouted
“He isn’t a stranger dad! He is my friend! He said mommy let him in and I trust him!”
“She what?” I stammered.
“Anyway that’s irrelevant, we are definitely going to have a long talk tomorrow. But for now, lets get started on this story shall we.” I said softly.
I took another glance at the book’s cover. It was childish with a large house, a cloud at the bottom which acted as a text bubble with gray shading on each cloud lump or so to speak. The sun shone brightly in the sky. The title read
The Adventures Of Mr. Tale
I was less than enthusiastic at this point as I opened the book and cleared my throat.
**Once upon a time a large family lived in a large house.**
**There was a man and his wife, followed by his only son and a dog. This family also lived with their three friends.**
**Last night Jacob made a friend. Mr. Tale gave Jacob a bedtime story as a token of their friendship.**
**Tonight Jacob asked his father William to read him the bedtime story that he got from Mr. Tale.**
I paused for a second and falsely cleared my throat to distract my son as I thought for a second. This was going beyond just simple coincidences. I held my chest as my heart beats a little faster. I flipped to the next page.
**Mr. Tale wished to see Jacob again so they could play together. However he wanted to play with the rest of his family first so he could save his best friend for last.**
I saw a man through a window holding a book while sitting down. Mr. Tale was outside on the right of the window clinging to the house.
Mr. Tale looks like a black spiky fog with piercing red eyes. It’s actual body hidden within that darkness, so I didn’t understand what it was supposed to be. I stood up and walked to the window slowly. I rested my head against the wall and looked outside.
I saw nothing. But what I heard is something fall downwards and hit the ground with a thud as the grass rustles in response.
I walked back to the seat and sat down as my son said.
“What’s wrong dad?” He muttered softly
“Nothing… It was just a wild animal, it spooked me.”
I opened the book back up and turned to the next page once more.
**William’s wife looked into the fridge and was shocked to see they were out of food. She got her bag and keys then went upstairs to let her husband William know she will be going to the grocery store.**
I heard a knock on the door and I jumped. My wife opened the door while still holding the knob and peered in.
“I’m gonna go to the grocery store, we are out of food. Make sure Jacob gets to bed alright honey.” She said
“Yeah for sure, be careful out there.” I gulped.
I walked up to my wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek before going back to my seat and sitting down to continue the bedtime story.
**After kissing his wife goodbye she went downstairs and outside to her car and left.**
My chest felt tight and cold. My heart beats faster as I frantically looked around the room. I felt the back of my head and I was sweating like crazy. I flipped to the next page.
**Mr. Tale entered the house. He then saw his opportunity to make a new friend!**
**A dog lay on its bed just a few feet away from him. Mr. Tale approached the dog before it woke up and started barking loudly, and growling at him.**
**Mr. Tale was sad as the dog wasn’t friendly with him, but Mr. Tale had an idea on how to cheer her up.**
**Mr. Tale reached into his bag and pulled out handfuls of candy, insistently offering it to the dog. After some yelps of happiness the dog’s belly extended greatly into a round bulge and was nice and full.**
After finishing this sentence I heard my dog yelp, which then sounded muffled until I couldn’t hear her anymore. I looked back at the book to see what happened next as I shivered.
**With the dog being eternally satisfied, Mr. Tale rubbed her belly and moved on to find more friends.**
**Mr. Tale looked around the house until he saw a glass door which led to the backyard, with a pretty swimming pool.**
**Mr. Tale noticed John delightedly enjoying the water on such a nice night. Mr. Tale loved swimming, so he had to go play right away.**
**Mr. Tale jumped into the pool and challenged John to see who could hold their breath underwater the longest.**
I heard screaming, followed by splashing. I was frozen with fear. My first thought was to go to my room. I did so and came back with my double gauge shotgun. I loaded it with my back turned to Jacob and cocked it, for now I left the safety mode on so it couldn’t fire.
I then read the next horrifying page.
**John couldn’t hold his breath longer than Mr. Tale. Not one bit.**
I shed tears trying to hold it is as I clenched my chest. I turned the next page.
**Mr. Tale got out of the water and shook himself off, the clacking of his feet breaking the tile of the pool.**
**Mr. Tale heard screams as he was about to enter inside. He saw two happy people, a man kneeling by his dog friend, and a woman from a far. Mr. Tale wanted to say hello…**
**When Mr. Tale entered the room they both turned into meanies. Michael threw objects at Mr. Tale, and Jennifer ran outside.**
**Mr. Tale calmed Michael down and showed him how to play one of his favorite childhood games, twister.**
I almost gagged as I heard snapping and twisting of bones coupled with the gut wrenching screams of Michael in agony. I cupped my mouth and my heart went into full throttle. I panicked walking around the room not knowing what to do. I felt trapped up here. I clenched my shotgun tight to my chest. My son was afraid, he hid under the covers crying.
“Daddy please… What is going on?” He whimpered
I looked at him while full of dread and worry, then back to the book. I flipped another page slowly while looking at the door. Not knowing what to expect.
**Mr. Tale and Michael had so much fun playing Twister, that he screamed with joy.**
**Mr. Tale wanted to see Jessica now, but when she was running outside, she was hugged by an oncoming car. Mr. Tale didn’t want to bother her as she was now sleeping eternally.**
I heard a car swerve and crash into something. It rolled and plopped onto the ground with a thud. I heard car doors open and close with some muffled talking. I flipped another page. I didn’t even know why I bothered. But if I had to choose a reason, I felt morbidly comforted with what would happen next being shown to me instead of dealing with the unknown.
**Mr. Tale had no other friends to paly with. Now it was time to see Jacob…**
The house shook as I heard thundering footsteps coming towards the stairs. My son and I both jolted up. I got out of my seat and he hopped out of bed. I kept flipping pages, as they stopped being cartoonish and sweet.
The cloud text boxes were gone. Ever page was now a single big panel. A point of view of Mr. Tale approaching the stairs. He grabbed the railing and it burned red and hot. The clicking and clacking of his footsteps getting louder and louder.
I move around quickly patting myself and looking around for anything that could help me. I reached into my pockets and there was a lighter, my car keys, and some mint flavored bubble gum. I pulled out the car keys and hit the alarm which made the footsteps stop into silence.
I slowly walked towards the bedroom door with my shotgun held close. I slowly open it and enter the dark hallway. I peered around the stairwell with my right eye to see. The houses front door was wide open. Nothing was there. I crept downstairs cautiously and shut the door.
I froze in shock and with one realization. There was knocks on a window upstairs. In Jacob’s room. I turned off the safety as I ran upstairs shouting Jacob’s name multiple times. Once I got into the room I shot at the window. As I saw in a split second there was a monstrous arm outstretched gently with an open palm, as if asking Jacob to take it’s hand. After it got hit, Mr. Tale roared in anger.
I scooped up my son who had the bedtime story in his hands still and went for the front door. Jacob screamed and cried as the bedroom wall caved in as Mr. Tale, whatever the fuck that creature was came barreling towards us with such hatred and ferocity. The whole house shone with red light and dimmed in darkness as I went down the stairs as fast as I could.
Mr. Tale’s footsteps got more monstrous as if he getting closer and closer with each passing second. I kept moving towards the front door and saw red and blue lights flashing. I felt a tinge of relief in my heart. Suddenly the path to the door seemed to get longer and longer until the once open area looked like a narrow hallway. Bookshelves from our home fell down in my path, and chairs slid in front of me.
My heart shot adrenaline through my body like a goddamn bullet train. I got to the door and quickly turned the knob to go outside, running as far as I could without looking back. I only looked back once the footsteps faded into quiet whispers of wind.
It was all quiet. Mr. Tale was gone.
I lay on the grass catching my breath, drenched in sweat. Two police officers ran over to me and asked what happened. I explained my story and my son reaffirmed it. The two police officers said they would look into it, we would just have to stay out of the house for now as they are currently dealing with what happened to Jessica.
My son was shaken and horrified. He didn’t move or say a word. Just silently rocked back and forth wide eyed. I saw the book far from him on the road. It was opened and covered in dirt as if it were thrown.
I walked over to the book and picked it up. I pulled out my lighter and walked away from the police. I lit the book on fire victoriously. I felt somewhat happy that it was all over. A windy breeze hit me and something warm flew into my face.
I took it off and realized it was a charred page. I flipped it over and it said something that chilled my spine.
**To be continued**