The Sandman is Scarier Than You Think

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You've probably heard of the Sandman, but not many people have heard the original fairytale. The one where the Sandman comes and steals children's eyes from their bloody sockets to feed to his strange moon-babies; where a man falls in love with a very convincing machine.

It is a strange and shockingly dark tale. Buckle up. This isn't the Sandman you know.

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[TheTaleFoundry]

Sign up for a free 30-day trial of audible and get any audiobook of YOUR CHOICE for FREE! Including THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI, which we talked about in this video! It's a great way to support the show for free!

[chrs-wltrs]

Humans: _finds dead skin crusted around their eyelids_

"...I bet the bird-people from the moon were trying to steal my fucking eyeballs."

[ChaosChatter]

I love how the original German fairytales are sometimes really screwed up. I grew up with many original tales, all the gruesome details of snow white, the little mermaid and basically everything the Struwwelpeter and Max and Moritz had to offer.
Yet, I've never heard the original sandman. The story is great and very dark, so this video was super interesting to watch! I love your videos so much, keep it up!

[brettbeyer]

Nathaniel also found that he didn't WANT to love a real person. He wanted someone who would agree with him regardless of any faults in his thoughts. That road contains real monsters.

[kamille]

Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but its interesting how the one who tried to offer Nathaniel clarity is named "Clara"

[strega]

I don't know if the plucking of the eyes has any kind connection or reference to The Corinthian in Neil Gaiman's Sandman but nevertheless this is the first time I've heard of this fairytale and it's quite terrifying. It's another look on the Sandman character in folklore.

[april]

in all honesty this is just an incredible look at what real mental illness feels like. someone or something triggering it making you spiral, all the working parts of it your relationships and the way the world goes on without your distorted perceptive

[Joe_Potts]

I always thought the Sandman thing was he's some kind of faerie that sprinkles sand into your eyes to help you sleep, resulting in the natural eye crusties that you wipe away after waking up. That and... "Sandman, bring me a dream. Make her the cutest that I've ever seen." That song just reinforced it for me.

[mightworth]

Objection! Clara did not call Nathaniel's poem stupid and such. He wrote a very artistic but dark poem which even scared himself the first time he read it out for himself before he deemed it beautiful because of the artistic values. Clara, the science lover, never got that second feeling. She told him to burn it quickly because it was so horrible and terrifying. That made Nathaniel lash out since she hasn't ever shown much interest for his artistic side and the suggestion to burn that awesome poem was just too much

[ThestuffthatSaralikes]

As soon as you said “German fairytale” I knew shit was about to get dark!! Those Germans were dark as hell back in the day- kind of a constant “waiting for the other shoe the drop” but in the scariest, worst, most macabre way possible- which I guess back then- when a cold or tiny cut could kill you…
Most of “The Mouse & Co” fairytales we’ve all grown up with started out back in the day as horribly dark cautionary tales to basically help keep kids alive and girls “pure”.

[fynnmethner]

I'm from Germany and read this book when I was in school. I love the madness he goes into and the attempted combination of machines, humans and magic. The eyes metaphor are the best though. Because they ask the real question: Was Nathanael really crazy, or Clara just blind? i love this story. It's a pity that the true genius of the language only becomes clear in German, as in Poe or Shakespeare only in English. I'm a big fan of this YouTube channel. You guys are great

[Nyctonaut]

I did an episode on disturbing Fairytales a few months back and during my research I was absolutely astounded by how dark and disturbing they were. It's like every Grimm Fairytale ends with "And then everyone died." 😆

One of the tales actually ends with "The mother died after the baby died and then the father came home and died from grief." 🤣 crazy stuff!

Anyways thanks for this episode i haven't read this story so I'm very excited to hear it!-SLD

[GhostbustersHQ]

* clears throat *

Say your prayers, little one
Don't forget, my son
To include everyone
I tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
'Til the Sandman, he comes
Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight
Exit light, what is it?
(Enter night)
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land
Yeah, yeah
Something's wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
And they aren't of Snow White
Dreams of war, dreams of liars
Dreams of dragon's fire
And of things that will bite, yeah
Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight
Exit light, come on
(Enter night)
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land
Oh yeah
Put your hands together
Now I lay me down to sleep (now I lay me down to sleep)
Pray the Lord my soul to keep (pray the Lord my soul to keep)
If I die before I wake (if I die before I wake)
Pray the Lord my soul to take
Hush little baby, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beasts under your bed
In your closet, in your head
Exit light, come on
(Enter night)
Grain of sand
Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to never-never land
Yeah, yeah, yeah
We're off to never-never land
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land
Take my hand
We're off to never-never land

[darthchalupa]

As sad as this story is I think it is weirdly comforting that a side effect of this tragedy was that the women in the town got a lot more autonomy. Being able to speak their mind and share opinions instead of siting and being quiet. Wasn't expecting that at all

[LeePendragon]

Your channel has reignited the flame of wonder in the literature I consume. Your voice is incredibly soothing as well and I feel very calm listening to you.

[charliejones]

I just read in the description, the part about The Sandman taking the eyes from children, reminds me of a children’s t.v show I used to watch called Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids and it had an episode where a petulant child wouldn’t sleep so The Sandman of that story took the child’s eyelids so he would never sleep again.

[chia]

I'm really surprised to see this story here! I've worked with it during highschool and we interpreted nearly every chapter and spoke about it together in class. We concentrated on the used symbols (eyes, fire ring, the glass for example), narrative techniques and worked on it for several months, it was quite intense. The analysis of the story in class was pretty interesting to me, so it made me smile to see it here. We were reading the book in German though (we were a German class) and I didn't expect to see it anywhere outside of Germany or Europe at all.
I like the way you interpreted the story and it's similar to the conclusion we came to.
Just wanted to share my two cents on why this story means something to me and my experiences, thanks for reading and I wish everyone who's still here a great day!

[ironrose]

Thank you! You just validated a very hazy memory of mine! I can't remember the context, but I remember seeing a clip of a clay person entering the room of a child through the window, sprinkling something on their eyes, and flying to the moon with their eyes clasped in its beak and feeding them to several of its young in a nest.

[azathothsscarecrow]

Obsession. Imagination. Perfection. Complete despair and dark illusion. Fatalism. Eventual hope in the distance. Only to be consumed by ones own madness. And everyone else moving on. What a hell we live in, eh Nathaniel?

[sukunasgaylover]

I always thought the idea of a perfectly constructed partner, masquerading as a human, super interesting. The Plain Doll from Bloodborne was my introduction to that concept. Such a good way to explore the horrors of obsession, infatuation, and the place of people in society, primarily women.