BORRASCA | Darker Than You Could Ever Imagine

Borrasca is often considered one of the darkest, best internet stories to come from the no sleep subreddit. Today I will be breaking down and explaining the full story of parts 1-4 and discussing why, while it is certainly one of the darkest, it may not be one of the best stories of the internet era.

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[Takeninthelight]

One thing I don't think you touched on, but Sam's dad gets him a lot of nice presents shortly before Whitney was sold off. And that connection is very... gut wrenching.

[UnstableStrafe]

I think one reason Borrasca works so well is when you view it in the context of it being posted to a creepypasta and internet horror board. Those two types of media are almost all based on the supernatural, or things that exist beyond reason and sensibility. Borrasca plays on this expectation of there being a supernatural force at work, leading the reader down the path of wondering what kind of monsters the Skinned Men and the Shiny Gentleman are. The reveal at the end of it being nothing more than super fucked up people doing super fucked up, but very real things is made more potent because the story subverts our expectations of what a NoSleep post usually is.

[AkiraCatte]

My absolute favorite No Sleep is "Has Anyone Ever Heard of the Left/Right Game?" It's a long one, but it's absolutely stellar, and I think of it all the time. Creepy, sometimes beautiful, always haunting. They made a radio play of it but IMO it's not worth the listen, and reading it is a much better experience. I definitely suggest it!

[vanillaextract]

This story definitely has some elements that don’t make a whole lot of sense under scrutiny (why does the women’s fertility seem to be the only thing consistently affected by the contaminated water supply? Why can’t/don’t law enforcement outside of town get involved? EVERYONE in town is fully aware of this? Really? Everyone? They’re not being told that the Sheriff is getting these babies for them through some kind of adoption agency?) I think the reveal still works really well for the simple reason that yeah, that IS one of the worst possible things I could imagine happening to me as a woman. Especially with the added angle of Whitney’s own father, who seemed at the beginning of the story to be a genuinely loving parent, being so complicit in her horrible fate.

[laraprisma]

I think the most disturbing part is the implication that Sam's father is not only involved in what happens at the end of the story, but actually participates in it, specifically with his own daughter. Specifically because they include the detail that the children born from what happens at the end are given names with the first letter of the name of their guardians, and in the end the new child has the first letter of Sam's father's name. Personally, this is the most disturbing part. This and him saying "I love your sister more than you can imagine" makes you hate what he does even more...

[SpecialInterestShow]

Ewwww thinking about it now, Kimber's dad being so pissed at Kyle for being in love with Kimber makes a scary amount of sense... Because he knew full well they were siblings.

[annasewalson]

“Our weird neighbor is back!!” We all chant in unison 🗣️🗣️

[emilyagain]

I personally like that borrasca reveals everything at the end, sometimes i like reading a story where everything falls into place. I do agree that it goes a little off the rails though.

The thing borrasca gets right is the birth of urban legends among kids. I love when supernatural stories have a more “realistic” backing and only become ghost stories through a long game of telephone on the playground.

I think my biggest question is why the girls in town are being taken away. It makes sense for outsiders like Whitney to be targeted but would the girls who are born and raised in this town not also be affected by infertility? Are they just taken there when they know too much? Are they taken there for the sadistic pleasure of the prescotts?

[SpecialInterestShow]

I love how Borrasca hides some of its biggest hints in children's urban legends. It feels so natural how they've developed, especially over multiple generations of children.

My guess is that it started out with something like, parents warning their kids not to go near the noise. Even parents who didn't know yet likely suspected it was some wood chipper or other work that kids shouldn't be near.
So, the kids quickly internalized that wherever the loud noise comes from, it's dangerous.

Then after a bit, kids start hearing their parents secretly mention something called "Borrasca". They don't know much about it, mainly just the name, but since the adults seemed to talk in such hushed tones about it, the kids would quickly connect it to the loud noises that they aren't supposed to go near.

Then one kid sees or hears about the skinned men sign and tells their friends, or a teen notices and makes up a scary story about it to scare their younger siblings. Either way, it's easy to see how the Borrasca urban legend could be built up among the children over the generations.

I really appreciate that about it! The author has a great understanding of how children's myths and urban legends develop, which really helped lend realism to the story....

Additionally, when I first listened to Borrasca not knowing what to expect, I expected the urban legends to have actual truths in them. As in, a layer of fantasy, something creepy like monsters or whatever that no one believes the kids about. Then I expected the kids to maybe find proof of said things as teenagers.


The twist of Borrasca being that no, there's no fantasy, no mythical monsters up in that mountain, floored me when I first heard it. I was wide eyed, staring at my screen in disbelief as whatever narrator I had first listened to it through dropped the ending reveals.

There sure were monsters up in that mountain. But they were all too real... All too human.

At some point I do want to watch/read/hear about Part 5 just cause I've not seen anyone else seem to cover it other than straightforward narrators. Whereas I feel like I'd kinda like a sort of video like this describing it to me so that I know if it's actually worth checking out part 5 or not.

[theundertaker]

May I suggest I am a Search and Rescue Officer for the us Forest Service, it is a more supernatural creepypasta series, but it handles the scares really well.

[Cryptic_Draws]

Fun fact that Borrasca was turned into a audio drama podcast with Cole Sprouse narrating it as the main character. This was my first exposure to Borrasca and my goodness it was a intense listen throughout the whole story

[Robjec]

Borrasca had a very interesting first half, but the ending just came across as super edgy to me. I understand why some people say it reads as fetish-y, although I don't think that was the goal, but to me its just edge and plotholes.

[herminy]

Part 4 is so cartoonishly evil it breaks all suspension and tension, while it’s better than the average “we did it reddit” story it’s still feels like a reddit story in the end.

[Kitsunade]

My explanation for why the story's ending feels like it lacks impact is because it doesn't really end, it just kinda stops. And it doesn't necessarily feel like that was the point, like in some stories where a powerful lack of closure is 100% intentional. There's definitely something to the idea of horrible men doing horrible things in a system that keeps them from getting caught and nothing being able to be done about it, but the story feels almost disinterested in nailing down that theme compared to how much more interested the story felt in setting up the mystery. That's my takeaway at least. I personally consider it a problem with the story, but it still works for some people and doesn't work for others.

[Emamnsneb]

I feel like even if not intentional every time there's media with forced impregnation it always ends up a little bit fetishy no matter if its written by women or not

[BatteringRamChan]

I remember seeing a theory that the tree was important because that’s where the first forced baby was produced, aka the stained mattress. And only after it became a much larger operation did they move up into the mining facility with the tree as a sales point.

That would be a much better angle in my opinion, because then it would show a contrast of how small it started compared to how insane it ended up.

[florapawz]

i really hope you cover part 5 :’) i know part 4 is like the real ending but this whole story is so disturbing and depressing that i can’t handle it without the happier part 5 lmao

[name]

Two things
1. I think this story is overhyped for being "disturbing." That probably says more about where my head is at vs the story itself.
2. I listened to Mr Creepypasta narrate this story. the next day, I was driving and thinking about the sound of the grinder and (hand to God) i heard it. I heard what sounded like a metal grinding noise. Turns out it was a twig in my tire rotor (counrty back roads). It's was a weird coincidence and very very odd timing.

[ardentambivalance]

20:36 I'd like to note that Kimber said Jimmy's been staring at her since she was in 5th grade, not since she was 5 years old. It's still very gross, but it implied to me that Jimmy must have first seen her at that historical society assembly from part 1.

[Mathilde_Bruhn]

I don't hate Borrasca, and I do see that, with the author being a woman, it's meant to be like, the most horrible thing that can happen to a girl, but that being said, it rubs me the wrong way how the female characters are treated, and especially how this story of the worst thing that can happen to a girl, is told from the POV of a boy. Maybe I would find it more palatable if the main character was a girl; hell, then you could even have the added horror of the main character realizing that their dad is gonna do the same thing to them that he did to Whitney