Has Anyone Heard of The Left Right Game? | Episode 1

March 23, 2020·43 min·4 clips

A woman outside a mirror shop screams at the convoy, warning them the road will close in on them and shred them down to their sins before begging them not to take her away.

The episode opens with a man in a hospital bed, recovering from being hit by a car. He explains he woke up two weeks after the accident to find emails from his missing friend Alice Sharman. The emails were blank, with no text or sender address, containing only audio files labeled left, right, one, two, and three. He introduces Alice as a brilliant and single-minded journalist from his university days at Edinburgh, someone who went on to take a junior correspondent role at American Stories in Chicago. After that move, Alice dropped out of contact entirely. The narrator believes the audio files document her disappearance and releases them, making an open call for information. The episode then transitions into Alice's recordings themselves. She interviews Rob Jake Guthard, a 65-year-old man from Alabama with a remarkable life history: farmer, mover, boat engineer, Vietnam veteran, private detective, and courier. After a brief but formative experience in Japan's Aokigahara suicide forest, where he believes he saw a ghost, Rob dedicated himself seriously to paranormal investigation. He investigated the Jersey Devil, Amityville, and numerous urban legends, but only one ever met his personal standards of proof: the Left Right Game. Rob explains the rules: take alternating left and right turns indefinitely until you arrive somewhere entirely new. He moved to Phoenix specifically because its grid system allows the game to continue without hitting dead ends. Alice joins Rob's convoy, which includes a group of paranormal enthusiasts who all know each other from an online forum Rob created. Apollo is outgoing and pop-culture obsessed. Lilith and Eve run a YouTube channel. Bluejay rarely speaks. Bonnie and Clyde are sibling librarians. A late arrival in a convertible irritates Rob. Before leaving, Rob gives Alice the call sign Bristol after she corrects him that she is from Bristol, not London. On the road at thirty-two turns in, Rob explains the game's point of no return: a tunnel ahead is Alice's last chance to exit. Once through, she needs to retrace the full route by car to get home. Shortly before the tunnel, a woman outside a mirror shop approaches and delivers a terrifying warning about the road closing in on them and shredding them to their sins. Rob calmly tells Alice this woman always appears at this turn in every city, thirty-four turns in, and considers it a sign the game is working. Alice goes through the tunnel.

As heard by us

A slow burn that turns memory gaps and quiet dread into steady unease.

The Left Right Game starts in a hospital room with a patient waking, a red light still on, and everyone trying to sort out what can be remembered. That plain opening works because the story keeps pressing ordinary details into something uneasy.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Your next headphones listen if you want a ride that tilts hard into dread and unease, slowly.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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