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Episode 594 - Child's Play (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-06 18:49:05
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

We're giving the treatment to Child's Play by Villy Sorensen, the first selection from Fine Frights: Stories that Scared Me, edited by Ramsey Campbell.

WARNING: This story involves violence to children by children.

Special thanks to our reader, Chad Fess! Chad is an actor, playwright, poet, theatre artist and educator. You can catch him this summer at Okoboji Theatre performing as the  inspector in An Inspector Calls - July 12th-17th and as Daddy Cane in the Steve Martin Musical Bright Star July 26th - 31st.

Next up: Lost Memory by Peter Phillips

Comments

GG2025

Certainly all boys who grew up before handheld screens had many death-defying adventures. Two of mine: I ran along the top of a sandbank 4 inches wide, fell off and slide down 25+ yards towards the rocks below with my fingers cartoonishly digging in the sand… And just to see what would happen, I smashed a big rock on to a railroad track torpedo… and was blind and deaf for the next few minutes. And I was a quiet, bookish kid who got up to nothing compared to most other boys!!

Rasmus Juul

Yay Villy Sørensen! I'm glad you covered the story and liked his writing. I have thought about suggesting it, but didn't know if it was translated to English.

ChiveOnOCM

A tale of the early years of the Mendez Brothers!

MonsterTalk

This one sounds too good to not read. Off to ebay...

Thunk

When we were kids we once tried competing to throw the biggest rock in the air. As in directly up. No casualties fortunately.

Karl Haikara

Man this story is disturbing, i think these kids are really messed up i would never done something like this as a kid these kids are more concerned with getting in trouble than the fact they murdered another kid. Definitely the older brother is a psycho

Ben Moule

Chris, with you and Rachel as parents I think you have no need to worry about how your kids will turn out

Illegal_Structures

Very disturbing and chilling story, but I appreciate that you guys pushed through your discomfort and gave it a proper treatment. One of the true terrors in life is looking back, as an adult, on all the childhood moments when then things could have gone horribly wrong due to inexperience or poor judgement. Most of us would not go as far as the boys in this story, of course; but I would bet that many of us have had youthful brushes with disaster, where we’ve narrowly escaped a lifetime of regret and guilt only by a stroke of luck, or the grace of God. On a lighter note, is this the first story covered on the pod that involves actual pants peeing??

Sofia Lindström

The "brothers because they share parents" description at the start of the story gave me the impression that the author was implying they were brothers only in the biological sense, incapable of forming the emotional attachment expected of brothers. Not sure if that was the author's actual intention, but I took it as foreshadowing of how emotionally detached the brothers were during what they did and how they reacted when things turned out bad for them. A very chilling tale that I really need to read for myself! Sadly can't find an English version online, but my local library apparently has a copy of the collection that includes it, in Danish, so I'm definitely borrowing that - also, the original title (Blot en drengestreg) being roughly "Just a boyish prank" is wonderfully on point and horrific.

Ben A

You all should get an award for deciding to cover this one. I agree, next to The Loved Dead, this is one of the most disturbing tales you two have covered, though Notebook Found in a Deserted House is also unsettling. To my knowledge, Ramsey Campbell is the only person to ever anthologize this story in English. I wonder how much influence authors like Sorensen had on the likes of Stephen King or Chuck Palahniuk (though the latter writes more transgressive and explicit fiction, some of his tales share DNA with stories like Child’s Play). There is no horror like child horror. It’s clear Sorensen disturbed and influenced Campbell. I have a few anthologies assembled by or introduced by Ramsey Campbell, and I have always had the impression he KNOWS weird fiction in ways only folks like Lovecraft did (maybe rivaled contemporaneously only by Ken Hite and Joshi). Speaking of Campbell, I am excited that you two have had a chance to interview him. His Severn Valley stories are much like the English version of Lovecraft’s Miskatonic Valley or Pugmire’s Sesqua Valley (clearly Pugmire and Campbell were heavily influenced by ol’ H.P.). For a bit of fun, he knew Derleth and wrote the intro to the collection that included your too many Poes tale, The Dark Brotherhood. Might be fun to hear what he thought of August and his writing. And I’d recommend reading Campbell’s later works if you get a chance; they are eerie and fit well within both weird and strange fiction. His early works, like The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, is entertaining as a pastiche of Lovecraft but not exceptional in my opinion.

Grackles

This is the only episode of yours that I have ever stopped listening to half way through. Normally its animal abuse that sends me over the edge, and you gents have taken me safely through lots of that successfully, starting from forever ago, as Lovecraft is not super dependable where animals are concerned. Made it through all of that and everything after with you folks holding my mental hand. This, I could not bear. Frankly, I'd like to shoot the author into the sun encased in nothing but tattered plastic wrap and shredded newspaper.

Alan Ricks

This is the most disturbing story you have ever done. I had to stop listening then come back later. As a new father, this story really got me.

Stefan Anundi

This story reminded me of the movie The Good Son (1993) with Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood.

Chris Murray

Glad it wasn't just me - I also had to stop and come back later. Gut-churningly real horror.

Forrest Rush

I read that opening differently. Two brothers because of the same parents etc really seemed Dahlesque as in dark dark humour set in a "children's" story. I think there is additional evidence of that throughout the story especially the ending and the "Were you run over in here" "Yes mother" which is accepted followed by the washing of them as white as angels. It all just seemed to me as dark as anything in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory or the Witches. I could be misreading that, maybe it's a translation thing, but from the opening I just assumed we were in for a very twisted tale where the word funny is implied with all it's multiple meanings.

Beccameriel

Wow! That was a horrible little story. It immediately reminded me of the Jamie Bulger case. The two boys who killed him were 10 years old and were tried for murder as adults. The aftermath is equally as horrible. It’s irredeemably grim.

KateSherrod

I was waiting for this to be some kind of weird Doppelganger story (there's a theme for a month, sometime!), with two brothers with the same parents, but wow wow wow that story almost made me FAINT. Bravo on courageously choosing that but I think I need a visit with my therapist now.

Alan Ricks

Goodnight Mommy (2014) is an Austrian horror film about young twin boys who believe they are helping their mother by torturing an adult. It would be a good pairing with this story.

Jeppe Mulich

Oof, this story. I read it (in Danish) when I was a kid, maybe 12 years old or so, and this episode certainly brought back memories. As others have said, surely one of the most disturbing tales you've covered. But also a well written and evocative piece of work, Sørensen is an excellent writer.

The Eldritch Dark

So excited about Ramsay Cambell. He is a legend and someone I would love to meet. His story ‘Again’ is very disturbing yet completely grounded. A masterpiece

Moonflight Dancer

Chad's story about shooting the arrow reminds me of the time I just got angry and threw a stick at my brother. I ended up sending him to the emergency ward, because I cracked open his skull. Also, The Smile Machine is going to haunt my nightmares now...

carlita_tv

Oh god so unsettling but so so good at the same time! It definitely reminded me of someone that I haven't though of in many years. My mom always worked as a cleaning lady for a living and had some scary encounters with kids. There was one in particular, around 7-8 years old, that was extremely sheltered and had IQ above average or something like that and kept cornering my mom saying he wanted to open her up to see "how she worked inside". My mom brushed it off at first, but after a particular encounter where he was eyeing knives in a suspicious way while sitting at the kitchen she was cleaning she decided to have a talk with his mom. It didn't end well because the mom took offense to what she said and fired her. A few months later she heard from one of her cleaning pals that started working at that house that she had to quit because the kid was now cornering people while holding a kitchen knife and was even hiding knives under his bed and pillow. I don't think he ever hurt anyone, and as far as I remember the lady had to give in and put him in therapy, but this story definitely unlocked some crazy memories. Thank you so much for another great episode. P.S. I hope Wisconsin is treating you well Chad!

Michael Cunliffe

A deeply disturbing tale indeed! The mother’s question ‘were you run over in here?’ Felt so true to responding to your child’s bad excuses or lack of foresight: “Why is there peanut butter all over the kitchen?” “We were making some sandwiches” “Did you make them with a chainsaw?” I wondered as well if the mother knew exactly what had happened and the odd questions were a kind of disbelief, hoping the children would somehow explain away what she can see has happened. Washing them and putting them to bed becomes the act of saying goodbye before they were taken away in the morning - after all, they were in the paper the next day.

YoAdrienne

Listened to this episode in the grocery store. I pulled my sensitive skin detergent off the shelf and pretended nothing was the matter 🙃🙃. Oof!

YoAdrienne

I thought the “brothers because they shared the same father” as well as the ‘kid-safe’ explanation of their uncle’s injury played on that childhood obsession with the literal, this time taken fiendishly too far. Amelia Bedelia in hell.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

I had the impression that the story was more like an urban legend than something to be taken at face value. Instructive. Cautionary.

Jim Cannon

Ok, over dinner my wife, who teaches junior high, was telling tales of her students and their apalling behavior, and this story no longer seems quite as far-fetched as I want it to be.

Drix

I'm super excited to listen in to Ramsey Cambell coming on the show, I bought Cold Print a few years back now and it's remained great. I just recently reread "The Voice of the Beach" from that collection, and the way that he made my brain..hurt? What an experience. Looking forward to tuning in

Jim Bassett

I was able to get a copy of Fine Frights in order to read this story, and figured I'd go ahead and read the others as well. Nice to hear the next few stories you'll do will also be from this anthology as well. I'm not too familiar with Ramsey Campbell, but have a couple of his books and anthologies in my "To Read" stack. Looking forward to when you have him on the show.

Warwick Davey

Such a great tale. Reminds me of when I was 6 and my brother and neighbour convinced me to stick my head into an esky after the dry ice had evaporated and sniff. I instantly passed out and I woke up to them spraying me with the hose. I blame that for my poor academic performance 😉

Peter Larsen

Honestly, I wasn't sure the kids were necessarily mentally disturbed; when I think back on some of the things my brothers and I got up to, momentary fixation, lack of experience, and poor impulse control led to an awful lot of injuries -- none fatal, but a few close calls with broken bones and bad cuts... this is *heightened* but not necessarily *mentally disturbed* territory. Of course, the psycho narrative fits as well, so.... What really stood out for me was that Chad's story of nearly killing a playmate didn't end with him saying that he stopped shooting arrows at people, since his takeaway was, apparently, that the problem was a childish lack of marksmanship ability. For all we know, Chat shoots a lot of arrows at people, just much more skillfully. He may, even now, be prowling Madison, looking for criminals, or even just ordinary people.

Doc Singles

For me the horror lies in how believable the story is and how awful boys can be! Every adult male has a pocketful of stories about near-death experiences from their childhood, and only by the grace of gods was disaster thwarted. The fact that any human boy lives to become an adult disproves natural selection and reveals evolution to be a damned lie. Like Chad, I also shot an arrow at a friend; he convinced me to fire it into the air so he could catch it before it hit the ground. Well, he almost caught in on his head. The sun was in his eyes so he couldn't see what I saw, which was the arrow hurtling downward straight for him. I screamed at him to move but he froze, and the arrow planted right between his feet. Then there was the time we lit propane tanks, and then some of my friends had BB-gun wars but with .22 rifles, etc. Also, boys commit acts of cruelty like frog baseball. Raising boys is a horror story in the making! That is why abortion should be legal until the fetus graduates med school.

Eric S. Vallone, M.D.

I’m pretty sure I saw this on an episode of the old “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” from the 1950’s or 1960’s. It was sponsored by Ivory Snow detergent, and ol’ Alf hawked it by saying, if the Mom had used it, the boys never would have been in the papers. Just kidding about all that, but what I am not kidding about is that this story, for some reason, reminded me of another story of amoral child violence-on-children, this time (spoilers) with ONE child doing away two (plus an adult) in a much less overtly gory way. The story is Matthew Gant's "The Uses of Intelligence" from the collection “Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Month of Mystery.” Worth a read and despite the higher body count, not nearly as nightmarish. There certainly are a lot of these type of stories/books/movies?

Doc Singles

Oh, and I forgot to mention what a phenomenal reader Chad Fess is! To my ears he's in Andrew Leeman's league; I hope he reads more for us in the future.

The King in Jell-O

Being a father, I went into this one expecting to be disturbed, but I totally underestimated just how much of an effect this one would have on me. For me, it was the moment the boys decide to keep going even after the younger child is clearly afraid and in serious harm. Like many others though, I think what made it so scary is how this one imitates real life, albeit in an exaggerated way. I know I engaged my fair share of dangerous/violent games as a young boy, and thinking back on it now scares the absolute crap out of me. Wild stuff, this one.

Donovan Drowse

"Washed them white as angels" and in the paper the next day? For murder or did mom settle things herself? I found that quite ominous. I also found the mother's dailogue to be somewhat detached itself. I love this show, listened for years, this is the first one that really had me feel some kind of way. Great reading!

Haylen Brenagh

My sense is that you edited out any commentary that you engaged in, concerning the murder of James Bulger, and I thank you for that, because it would have made the show darker. Even now, thirty years after that murder, I cringe at the horror that little boy must have endured. There is no "up side" to reminiscing about it.

Trond Helstrup Poulsen

I listened to this on Mother’s Day and as chance wills it, this was the very tale she used to impress upon my young self that there was more to scary reading than King or Koontz. Being a native Dane it was readily available and I remember it chilled me to my bones, reading it in one, quick sitting while she just chuckled and waited for my face to scrunch up in horror. She recently passed so this was a great little moment of reconnection. Thanks, as always, for what you guys do.

James Duffy

I just listened to this and by sheer coincidence I was yesterday clearing out some old board game boxes. My 6 year old son loves them and eagerly took them for his projects. He excitedly informed me that he would make a robot from them and that it would be a friendly robot that would go around giving people sweets. Made me chuckle when Chris mentioned his own similar ideas as a child. Also, this story reminded me of one I read when young. I cannot remember the name and some of the details are a bit vague, but it was very short and found in a regular anthology called Pan's Books of Horror. It involved a mother who had some kind of seizure, or fall and head impact, and collapsed to the floor in a paralysed state. Her very young child at first thought this was a game, then became distressed, and then did what many parents may be familiar with. The child started trying to elicit responses: pushing and pulling at limbs; prodding and pinching including painful facial areas; shaking her; all becoming more severe as the child's distress grew. Eventually, with no response, the child finds a knife nearby from whatever work their mother was doing, and begins using that to try to get a response. With still no response, and having cried themselves out, the child grew bored of this and instead became interested in their mother's body. They began to use the knife to explore it to discover what it was and how it worked, all the while their mother was awake but unable to move or speak. I believe this included peeling back layers of skin and what happens to eyes. I am 38 now and read that maybe 30 or so years ago when in infant or junior school. It has haunted me to this day. With 3 kids myself now, I do not think my older 6 or 8 year old would do as the children did in this story, but a far younger one at toddler age I could see possibly exploring their world in ways like the story I read. And if allowed, that could lead to continuing behaviour later. Do children encouraged or allowed to mutilate animals for fun see any difference between that and another human? I knew some who did that to animals when I was a child and they grew into vile bullies as we went through school, always seemed to derive pleasure at delivering physical pain to others around them in a variety of ways. I work long night shifts and am a heavy sleeper. Just have to hope I wake up when my 2 year old expects me to!

Jeff Wrench

Has anyone found an ebook or PDF of "Fine Frights"? It doesn't seem to be readily available in paper form.