About[]
"Never Talk to Strangers" is the second tale in the seventh episode of the first season of the Nolseep Podcast. In it, a student has an encounter with an old man in the park. Written by Isaac Faraday, it has a runtime of 2:45 and was performed by James Lewis. It is the 26th tale overall on the podcast.
Summary[]
A college student has several routes he takes from his apartment to campus, but his favorite is a paved path through a heavily wooded park that runs along a river. Every few hundred feet along the path is a bench that faces the water.
The student begins to notice an old man sitting at a specific bench staring at the water every time he passes through the park. He feels sorry for the man and wonders if he's sitting there because he's lonely. One morning, the student decides to stop for a minute and talk with him.
He says hello to the man, who responds in kind. He says he's watching some boys play in the river, even though there are none there. The student wonders if the man has Alzheimer's. The man suddenly gets a serious look on his face and says that he threw the boys in there and needs to make sure they can't get back out. The student leaves and never uses the river path again.