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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/AceHiro on 2026-08-13 14:18:01+00:00.

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A couple of weeks ago I bought an old car from this shady dealer right off the Interstate. I always dreamt of driving around in a vintage Cadillac or a Mustang.

So you would understand why I freaked out when I spotted a perfect looking 1954 Ford Crestline sitting pretty in that parking lot.

“How much for that old lady?” I asked.

“Buddy for you I’ll only ask for 2k, take her off my hands and you’d be doing me a favor, trust me.”

“What? Really?” I couldn’t believe what I had just heard.

“What’s the catch?” I asked.

“No catch, I just can’t sell it, everyone wants a Jeep in Montana bud.”

He had a point, in rural Montana you see nothing but tall Jeeps and Range Rovers. I thought about an ancient Roman saying at that moment.

“Mors tua, vita mea”

Your loss, my gain. The Romans were a bit more dark with their sayings but that’s the gist of it.

I took that puppy home after making sure everything was in order. He really did a great job at maintaining it, just some minor issues to fix but it runs like it’s just off the factory line.

My dream had become a reality, I spent the next few weeks driving around my neighborhood at night, larping as some rich Madison Avenue businessman. I still needed the Toyota to get to work, I didn’t yet trust the 54 to not breakdown on me.

It was on one of those nights that something weird happened.

I was cruising around the block as I was getting used to, when I thought about checking if the radio worked. Naturally I don’t really care about it, I usually just put Spotify on when I’m commuting, but I still thought it was a matter of seeing whether it needed fixing or not.

I turned it on and was naturally greeted by the usual white noise.

Good sign. At the very least some of it worked.

After tinkering with the tuners I heard a radio show in the distance becoming clearer.

“Fucking amazing” I thought.

As the show slowly fades into clarity on the original tube radio and I start to listen, I realize something.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN DID YOU…bzzbzzbzz…THAT OVER 50% OF THE DOCTORS THAT SWITCH…bzzzbzzbzz…TO CAMELS ARE NOW BACK TO DRIVING CARS?...bzzzbzzz…”

As the laughter enveloped the cockpit it hit me.

“Is that…a 50s radio broadcast?”

Fucking eerie.

After that it went right back to static white noise but, how is that possible?

Before any of you say something, I checked if there was a cassette playing or something, definitely none of that.

I called it a night after that, went back home and tried sleeping it off. I could swear the air had turned cold and the silence had become louder.

The morning after, I got up as usual and went to work. I had almost forgotten about it but once I got to the music store I work at, my friend Thomas…

“Sup Steve, how’s the 54 working out for you?”

“Dude, the weirdest shit happened with it yesterday.”

“What, dead body in the trunk?”

“No seriously, I turned on the radio and a fucking 50s radio broadcast came through.”

Thomas paused for a second.

“Are you sure it was from the 50s?”

“Yeah man, it had that classic radioman voice and the laughtrack and the jingle and everything.”

“I think you were just sleepy bro, maybe it was some modern day parody.”

“Dude it went right back to white noise, it was unstable and the quality was pretty bad, I’m sure of it.”

“Jeez Steve, where are we the Twilight Zone?”

“I know right? It freaked me out…”

“Hey at least the radio works.”

“A bit too well if you ask me.”

“You know, I read about this sometime back, as much as it is unlikely that it was a 50s show, it’s not impossible.”

“Enlighten me, any explanation will do.”

“So, the radio waves we send out obviously die after a few reflections right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, however, some of them, especially the ones from the past which were a lot more powerful than the ones we use today, they have a chance to break through the ionosphere and out into space.”

“…like, space space?”

“Yes, space space.”

“And then what? They just travel forever?”

“Well not exactly, if they breakthrough they’ll travel for a while but eventually die out.”

“Ok so how the hell did I get one back?”

“I don’t know dude, ask NASA…but, if I had to guess…”

“…go on…”

“Maybe, and I’m saying maybe…some of them bounced off of something and came back.”

“Are you saying the fucking aliens sent me a 50s radio broadcast?”

“No you idiot, I’m saying that the possibilities are endless it’s just a theory, it happened other times, ever heard of the Wow signal?”

“No clue what that is.”

“Well then get on the books, ignorant.”

“I didn’t know you were so smart Thomas.”

“How do you think I got this job?”

What Thomas said was largely correct. After work I went home and got searching. I didn’t realize how lucky I got, even if it didn’t feel like it. For that to happen the chances were near impossible, keyword being near.

I brushed it off as a cool weird moment, like seeing a meteor you know? Something otherworldly and rare but not inherently unique.

For the next few night rides everything was fine. I turned the radio on a handful of times, just to see if lighting could strike twice, but it didn’t.

Until the other night.

I was cruising around, a gentle summer breeze was washing over the cockpit in the still calm of the night, interrupted only by the engine chugging along.

I was in my thoughts as always, these rides are a great source of inspiration and reflection for me.

The cockpit lights up.

The golden shiny light of the radio illuminating me.

“…BzzBzzz…HELL-O…bzzbzz…GENTLE-MAN…bzzbzz…”

“What the fuck?” I jumped.

The 54 swerving and almost hitting a fire hydrant.

Something was coming through over the radio which, had apparently, turned on, on its own.

“MY NAME IS…bzzbzz…GABRI-ELLE…bzzbzzz”

The laughing track then filled the lit up cockpit once again.

“What? What the fuck is going on?”

Panic filled my heart, I tried turning it off but nothing happened.

I tried again and again, but the laughing track was still in my ears.

“HELP…bzzbzz…ME STE…bzzbzz…VEN…”

I shut down the car immediately after hearing what I could only describe as someone talking to me through the radio.

I had trouble sleeping that night, I thought I was going fucking crazy. The radio just said my name. It wasn’t another space transmission from the past, it was someone talking to me.

I went down another rabbit hole on radio transmissions. I thought that maybe someone was playing a prank on me, like Thomas or some random kid that had nothing better to do.

Turns out it is possible to transmit a radio FM frequency to a specific vehicle but it is complex and requires to be nearby and let me tell you. Not even the birds were around at that time.

“Dude I got another one.” I greeted Thomas.

“What?”

“I got another fucking broadcast the other night and this was even weirder.”

“Bro there’s no way, do you know the chan—“

“They said my name, Thomas.”

“Alright bro, I think you should really stop smoking pot because it’s really not goo—“

“Come with me tonight.”

“Where?”

“To a night drive, you’ll see it for yourself.”

Now I obviously didn’t know if the radio was gonna act up again, but it was worth a shot. Besides I didn’t want to be alone anymore, it was freaking me the fuck out and if I had someone with me I thought it would be better for my anxiety.

It was around 2 am. We had been driving for around 2 and a half hours with the radio turned on and the white noise filling our ears.

Nothing.

Not a peep.

I was adamant, I knew what I heard and I could feel it was bound to happen again.

Thomas had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. I was also losing hope, perhaps it just wasn’t the right time, when all of a sudden…

“Bzzz…Bzzz…GOOD – EVENING…bzzz…bzzz…GENTLE-MEN…bzz…bzzz…”

I jumped up on my seat. Here we go again.

“Thomas wake up, wake the fuck up dude they’re here.” I violently shook him.

“What? Who is?” He replied still not knowing who he was.

“Bzzz….YOU HAVE TO…Bzzz…HELP-ME…bzzz”

“What the fuck?” whispered Thomas.

“Bzzz…AVENGE…bzzz…ME…bzzz”

“What is going on du—“

“SHH.” I shut him up.

“bzzz….SET ME…bzzz….FREE…bzzz”

I came prepared that night, I had a notepad with me and I was writing down everything I was hearing, so as to not forget or misremember.

Thomas would also be a witness.

“bzzz…RO…bzzz”

“What was that?” whispered Thomas.

“I don’t know.” I replied.

“bzzz…BRIGGS…bzzz”

“Briggs? The old man?”

I wrote it down.

“Bzzz…HE KILLED ME…Bzzz”

As I looked at Thomas with eyes wide open, in pure disbelief, the white noise grew more and more.

It became unbearably loud, drilling into our skull, overwhelming us until our ears were bleeding.

Pain radiated from my mind until I couldn’t take it anymore and passed out.

We woke up the next morning. Confused, dazed and disoriented.

“Did we fall asleep while waiting for the space signal?” Asked a sleepy Thomas.

“I-I don’t remember…what happened last night?”

“I don’t know dude, I-I remember driving around for so long waiting for it and then just falling asleep.”

“I guess I must have followed you soon enough…fuck what time is it?”

As I looked around for my phone, I grabbed the notepad that fell on the floor of the car.

“Is that my phone?” asked Thomas.

“What’s on it?” insisted Thomas.

“Steve? What is it?”

I turned the notepad to face Thomas.

We ...

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