Spooky Vibes: The Lifeguard

In this Spooky Vibes episode of Barker Vibes, Delaney brings a single story neither of us had heard before.. and it quickly gets under your skin.

The Lifeguard starts off simple enough, but the details don’t sit right for long. As the story unfolds, we react in real time to the tension, the unease, and the moments that made us pause and question what was really happening.

No prep. No spoilers. Just one unsettling story and our candid reactions as it plays out.

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Good vibes. Spooky vibes. Real reactions.

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Transcript

Spooky Friday Kicks Off

Jake 0:00

Hey everybody. This is Jake.

Delaney 0:03

I'm Delaney.

Jake 0:04

And this is Barker Vibes. But this one is the spooky vibes. The scary shit.

Delaney 0:11

Sky, spooky, scary story Friday. Woo! Here we'll go.

Jake 0:17

Yeah, Delaney's got a got a good one for us. She's really excited to tell us about this one. So my one. Oh, okay. Well, I was gonna say have your diapers on. Make sure your water's close. Feel free to take a knee. Let's get into it. Alright.

Delaney 0:33

Now again, I just picked these based off the title. So I had literally no.

Jake 0:39

Right. About to say.

Delaney 0:40

Let's not hype this up too much. Okay. Good point. Alright,

The Lifeguard Story Setup

Delaney 0:44

alright. Alright, so this store is called The Lifeguard. And it has a rating, we'll say 7.4.

Jake 0:52

Okay.

Delaney 0:53

Because it's technically 7.39, but we're gonna round up.

Jake 0:57

Yeah. Gotcha. Wound up. Wound up. Wound up.

Delaney 1:00

Alright, so here we go.

Jake 1:04

Here we go. No. But I got my coffee in hand. I'm ready to roll now.

Delaney 1:08

Here we go. Alright. Chlorine stained the concrete like blood in the glow of the pool lights.

Jake 1:16

What the fuck?

Delaney 1:17

Tree limbs offered dying leaves as fall slipped away into winter. Are there cameras? She asked, searching the far corners of the pool yard hidden by shadows. If so, they don't work, he said. This area got overlooked a long time ago. The rotting wood in the fence line, rusted out grill, and stray cats confirmed his argument. Still unsettled by the forgotten environment, Gabrielle pulled her shirt over her head and

Haunted Pool Rules And Foreshadowing

Delaney 1:45

freed herself from torn denim. She laughed. That's clever, she said, indicating the sign listing pool rules. What once had read no lifeguard on duty had now been sprayed over in red to read no life on duty.

Jake 2:02

Oh. Oh, okay.

Delaney 2:05

Right. Oh. Got it.

unknown 2:08

Right.

Delaney 2:09

But here's the thing: like, it sounds like they want to go swimming in this pool, but if it's been abandoned, is there really still water in this pool?

Jake 2:17

Right. And like, you know, every abandoned pool has like that green, nasty, murky water at the bottom. Yeah. Algae. We'll call it algae for the sake of this.

Delaney 2:28

That's fine.

Jake 2:28

That's fine. We'll call it algae. Never heard of that. But yeah. That's yeah, you're not gonna go fuck you're not gonna go swimming in there.

Delaney 2:36

Yeah. There's also probably a reason it's

Doubts About The Abandoned Pool

Delaney 2:39

abandoned.

Jake 2:40

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah.

Delaney 2:44

Okay. The slapping of soft ripples hitting the pool side echoed as the girl joined her date in the water. How is there water in this abandoned pool?

Jake 2:54

Why is it slapping against the side? What is this?

Delaney 2:57

Because I think the dude was in the water and he was push, he was walking through the water, so it was causing the water to ripple against the side. But again, there's not that much water that you would think, but it sounds like it sounds like there is this. This is this is perfect scenario, I guess.

Jake 3:14

This is Hollywood.

Delaney 3:15

This is like fictional land.

Jake 3:17

It's beautiful. Thank you. I loved your little hand.

unknown 3:20

Thank you.

Delaney 3:23

Joined her date in the water, who made no effort to hide the desire in his stare. Ugh. Watch Apple. Break the rules and die, he said. What? Yeah, so it's this. Break the rules and die, he said. It's a warning. A boy drowned years ago. His parents let him go swimming alone too soon after dinner, and he cramped up. Found his body at the bottom of the pool the next morning. People say he shows up from time to time to make sure pool rules are respected. Of course you would take me somewhere haunted. The lifeguard that turns CPR into DNR, he said, swimming up behind her. Romantic, right? Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that.

Jake 4:11

Alright. Mom, can you come pick me up?

The Watcher In The Lifeguard Chair

Jake 4:15

Right. I'm scared.

Delaney 4:16

Swimming after pool hours? Check. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Let's see what other rules we can break. The night was filled with their disturbance of the water. Cars inched along through the complex and shadows moved. They weren't alone. Tyler shoved Gabrielle away. What the hell? I saw he brushed his hair out of his face looking around the empty pool yard. For a moment he had seen it. A white tower, covered with an umbrella and occupied by something unnatural. Skin like loose flesh with skeleton leanness and dark sunglasses sitting upon rigid bone lines. There was somebody there.

Jake 5:00

Yikes, bro.

Delaney 5:03

Probably just some pervert. Let him watch.

Jake 5:06

I like it.

Delaney 5:07

She moved in closer. Yeah, that's what love the confidence, but nah, dude.

Jake 5:14

That's yeah.

Delaney 5:15

You can also get arrested for that. That's called public indecency or

Blood In The Water And The Whistle

Delaney 5:20

having sex in a public place.

Jake 5:22

Well, and isn't this supposed to be abandoned?

Delaney 5:25

I guess not, because I guess this abandoned pool is in a complex? Because it said it talks about a call. Yeah, through the complex. So I don't understand how a pool's abandoned in a complex.

Jake 5:40

I guess nobody, it's just that nobody's there, I guess, at this point.

Delaney 5:44

See, that would make more sense.

Jake 5:45

See? You gotta, yeah. But the way it's described is that it's been like See, that's why we're here, is to figure this stuff out so that everybody listens, like, oh, that makes sense. Thanks for not making us use that brain power. No problem. That's what we're here for.

Delaney 5:59

Try to.

unknown 6:00

Right.

Delaney 6:01

Tyler tried to relax, but the next time he opened his eyes, the water was murky with blood. Screw this, shouted Tyler, hurrying for hurrying for the wall to pull himself out of the water. What's wrong with you? demanded Gabrielle, clearly annoyed. If you didn't want me here, just tell me. No, it's not that. I just he watched the water fading from red to purple by the glow of the underwater pool light. Oh, I get it, said Gabrielle. The ghost, right? Tyler continued to look at the water, now shining a bright white. I'll play along. She swam to the edge and grabbed the wine bottle. After a long sip, she said, glass in the pool. Another broken rule. She took another pull.

Gabrielle’s Fate Seals The Haunting

Delaney 6:46

A whistle shatter shattered the air from another world. At the high-pitched sound, Gabrielle dropped the bottle, breaking it into pieces on the ledge. Son of a b damn it! Now there's glass.

Jake 6:59

Yes.

Delaney 7:01

Get out of the pool, said Tyler. It's fine. Throw me a towel. Get out of the pool! Now it was too late. He watched as the figure in sunglasses appeared behind Gabrielle, wielding a shard of the broken bottle and a broken rule. She didn't have time to realize that some ghost stories were true before the nightmare took her breath away. While the pool drank her blood, death turned its gaze on Tyler, giving him the will to flee. Only when he reached the wooden gate, the lock was contorted so much that it wouldn't release. A whistle screamed again and he covered his ears. Taking a chance, he turned around and was met with pale flesh and decaying jaw blowing. Wait, whoa, pale flesh and a decaying jaw blowing with fury. With no other option, Tyler took off at a sprint, breaking the golden rule. No running.

Jake 7:49

Oh yeah. I mean, fuck at this point, bro. Yeah.

Delaney 7:52

His mistake cost him as his foot slipped and he knocked himself unconscious on the handrail and into the still water.

Tyler Runs And The Final Rule

Jake 8:00

Ah, damn.

Delaney 8:01

As Tyler joined Gabrielle at the bottom of the pool, the night went silent again. The water, now having consumed two more reckless souls, faded from red to blue.

Jake 8:14

Damn. That's it, they're dead. That's it. They're dead. Damn. Ah. Okay, so moral of the story is follow the fucking rules. Dude, you know that sound too when they hit the Ah been around some kids.

Delaney 8:31

It's at the Yeah, that metal pie thing. Yeah.

Jake 8:38

Oh. Oh, wow. Damn. Yeah, that was a quick one.

Delaney 8:44

Yes. It says 18 minutes, but I feel we even had it.

Jake 8:49

We haven't had we had to talk and try to figure stuff out. That's crazy. I liked it though. That was I'm pretty sure my mouth was on the floor the whole time. What the hell? Wow. That was cool.

Delaney 9:00

That was cool. Also, if you hear that a pool is haunted, maybe you shouldn't go and test it.

Jake 9:05

Yeah, what? That is a bad idea. God.

Aftermath, Reactions, And Takeaway

Delaney 9:10

I guess to each their own.

Jake 9:13

Wow.

Delaney 9:13

By all means, if you don't believe it and you want to go test it, like I guess you deserve what you got coming.

Jake 9:19

Yeah. That's some of that uh play stupid games, win stupid prizes type shit. Yeah. Man. Nice. That was a good one. Cool. Well, hopefully it's helped uh add a little bit of spookiness to your your Friday or your Saturday or Sunday or Monday or two. You get the point. Whenever you're listening to it. But cool. Well, y'all have a great weekend, a great rest of your day, evening, Monday, Tuesday. I'm just messing with you. Alright. Y'all have a good time. We'll see you later on the next one.

Delaney 9:52

Toodles.

Jake 9:54

Bye.