This is a story from a long time ago, back when I still had a full head of hair and I could bend over to tie my shoes without being in agony. I lived way deep in the South, in the middle of nowhere. There weren’t a lot of interesting jobs out there for somebody like me, just your standard retail bullshit that I wasn’t interested in. But, I eventually did find a job, working at a VHS rental place.
You see, back in the day, you had to actually go to a place to rent a movie if you wanted to see it, and then you couldn’t even keep the damn thing, you had to give it back. Is that crazy or what? Anyway the VHS place had all types of shit, action movies, horror movies, kids shit, you name it. We even had a little porno section in the way back of the store, which is what got the most activity, if you could believe it. Seeing as I was about the only employee who worked there, regularly, I got to know the viewing habits of every guy in town, if you catch my drift.
Mr and Mrs Monroe came and rented their tape together, the Preacher who would rant and rave with a fire in his eye about how horrible and wicked the sinners out there were made it a habit to come in dressed like he was wanted by the FBI, big puffy jacket, sunglasses and a hat in that blistering Southern heat, just to rent some tapes with some particularly handsome men on the cover. But I ain’t keen on judging folk, and Jesus wasn’t either, so I acted like I had zero earthly idea who he was, every time.
Things went on like that, no major incidents besides me constantly having to chase teenagers out of the porno section when they tried to slip back there, until one day. I was sitting in my chair behind the counter when some guy comes rushing in the store, all in a fuss, his face red and sweaty. “You think it’s funny to sell this shit to people!?” he said, slamming an unmarked tape on my counter. I wasn’t particularly sure what this asshole was going on about so I told him that if he didn’t like what was on the tape, he shouldn’t have rented it, and that I was gonna charge him for losing the cover. He threatened me saying that he should call the Cops, and I told him not to let the door hit him on the way out. He stormed out and I flipped him the bird behind his back.
I put the tape under the counter and the rest of the day went on as normal. But I had this feeling, a nagging kind of feeling that wouldn’t leave my head, wondering what kind of content was on that tape that upset that fella so much. After the last customer left, I shut down the store and decided to take a look for myself. I rewound it to the very beginning (thanks for not doing that, jackass) and hit play.
The movie started, with a shot of a city skyline with the title “Strangle-Nation” written in a pinkish red font. I was immediately interested, I’ve never heard of a movie by that name before. The skyline view continued for a few moments before cutting to the inside of a nasty looking room. This place just looked like it smelled. There was a brown leather couch in the middle of the room, and it was lit only by a couple of dim lights. The carpet was stained with who knows what and if you looked closely you could see flies buzzing around in the background. A woman was sitting on the Couch. She looked sad, forlorn in appearance, like she was at the dead end of her life and had no hope left. A voice from behind the camera spoke, startling me with the roughness of it.
“So, why are you doing this”?
“Because,” the Woman started, “I have nothing to live for. I might as well do this and get it over with. And something tells me if I tried to say no now, you wouldn’t let me.”
“Good answer, good answer” the voiced hissed at her. “We’re glad you have such a good attitude about this, makes it much easier”
At this point, I was wondering what the hell I was watching, but I couldn’t look away. The scene cut again, and what I saw was enough to make me nearly leap out of my chair. The girl was hanging from a noose, she was still flailing and kicking so it must have cut to just after she’d kicked the (now toppled) dining room chair she was presumably standing on over. As she kicked and swayed in the wind another grotesque sight filled my eyes. There was a man, a large one, not so much in height but in weight, grabbing the girl around her legs and pulling downward, trying to sever her spinal cord. This went on for a few minutes, she obviously hadn’t broken her neck on impact like she’d hoped. This was a drawn out process.
The scene cut again, with a title card reading (Days later….) flashing onscreen. The woman’s rotten body was still hanging by the noose. It had turned a bluish green, and her arms and legs were pale. But the worst part, was her neck. All that time and weight on neck forced downwards had extended it, to the point where it looked like her spine had extended beyond its limits, like a grotesque human giraffe.
“Get her down and move her! yelled another voice, a different one from the one previously. You know where to move her, come on, into the room with the others! The camera began to shift like someone was picking it up to move it, and the cameraman watched carefully as the corpulent bastard from before gingerly cut her neck free from the noose, cradling her deteriorated corpse like a newborn baby. The cameraman followed him, as they moved into a larger part of the house where it looked like at least ten or twenty dead bodies were hanging from the rafters. The larger man sat the woman down before he began running inbetween the hanging bodies and hiding behind some of them, like a little kid surrounded by balloons.
Thanks for watching, the other voice said. “We hope to see you in another installment very soon.
The tape ended there, it might have been 5 minutes, or thirty, or even an hour before I had moved to take the tape out of the player. I was in total shock. What the fuck was that? A horror movie? No, couldn’t be. That was just…. A snuff film! Was it real? I know it sounds stupid now, but I was a dumb kid back then, I acted out of instinct. If I would’ve been smarter, I wouldn’t have done it. But I took one last look at the tape, holding it in my trembling hands, before smashing it on the floor as hard as I could. I stomped the hell out of it, and before long, it was in pieces on the floor. I took all the pieces and dumped it in the dumpster outside the building.
I was in Church the next week when I heard the news, the Pastor announced that there had been a death in the community, and I looked around, anxious to see who it was. A picture of the poor soul was placed on stage, and I gasped. It was the guy who’d returned the tape, Jerry, his name was. The Pastor went on talking about how Jerry had died, and that God can help us through all our struggles and hardships. I was wondering why he was bringing that up before I heard the Monroes talking about how shocked they were that he’d hung himself. A chill ran down my spine as they said that they had never thought Jerry would be the type to do such a thing, how he’d always been a happy, vibrant soul.
This happened decades ago, but the image of that girl’s rotting corpse and the circumstances behind Jerry’s death still haunt me. I tried to forget it, really I did, but something happened to me the other day which is why I’m sharing this story with you. I got an email, it had wound up in my spam but for whatever reason that day I decided to check it. It read “Thanks for joining the Nation! Sorry we’re so late in getting back to you, we’ve been very busy!”
Inside were several photos. I still recognized that face, even though it was badly beaten and deformed from rot. Jerry. He was hanging from a noose, alongside all the others on the rafters. There were photos taken from all angles, showing him swinging in the air like a pinata. In the last photo, two fat fingers were pushing into the sides of Jerry’s mouth, making him look like he was smiling.
There was more text at the bottom of the Email. “We’ll be visiting soon, thanks for watching all those years ago. We love the fans who were there for the original stuff, it’s people like you who make what we do possible!”
I called the Police and they said they’re having someone look into it. Reddit, I don’t know if you all can help me, but if you have advice I need it desperately right now. I want it to be made clear, if I die in the next few days, I didn’t do so willingly. Pray for me.