Twisted Tuesdays: Gumbyman’s Youtube Descent into Madness
by Tracy Vanity
The following is a 1:40:12 second video of a man, who calls himself “TheNewStoryteller,” sitting in a room reading Thomas the Tank Engine and Tug books, while dressed in a Gumby costume. The best part of this video is the audio.
It’s impossible to understand a word he’s saying because he’s speaking in this weird, indiscernible, deep, Buffalo Bill voice the entire duration of the video. It’s one of the most horrifyingly hypnotic youtube videos I’ve ever seen in my life.
The sounds he makes of the trains chugging…I burst into hysterical laughter every time he does that. Although I haven’t sat and watched the entire video, I find myself going back to it from time to time and just allowing Gumby’s voice to play in the background. I’m listening to Gumby read as I type this post…
But the story doesn’t end there. If you look at TheNewStoryteller’s youtube page, you will know the true meaning of madness. Not only does he currently have 2,068 videos dedicated to Thomas the Tank Engine, but most of the videos are over an hour long. Some are even over 4 hours long!
In his earlier videos, TheNewStoryTeller spoke in a relatively normal voice and seemed to just be a Thomas the Tank Engine enthusiast but the videos started getting longer and uploaded more frequently and his voice morphed into that unsettling muffling sound.
As if Thomas wasn’t creepy enough on his own, I will never view him the same ever again. And I teach kindergarten so I have to see that smug, creepy train face every day since he has embedded his fascist totalitarian agenda into the minds of my students.
If you have a lot of time to creep yourself out, browse through TheNewStoryteller’s youtube page. I am now a subscriber/cult member.
Bonus material: Ok, I’m spending way too much time googling Thomas the Tank Engine, but I came across this unsettling little post from a parent whose kid started screaming when he saw an episode of the show, the real one not the Gumby version:
“We bought him the DVD thinking he would love it. We read the Thomas books and he never has a problem with them. The second he sees them in motion though, it’s like all the secrets of hell have been revealed to him. He starts shaking his head in disbelief shouting “No! No! No!” He slowly backs up and startles at their every move on screen, then he runs out of the room in a panic.”
Well, you hooked me on it. However at first it’s disturbing and then kinda sad. There are some videos without a mask too and he’s much younger than I thought he would be. Not really a serial killer look too.
January 8, 2013 at 9:22 pm
Yeah, someone mentioned that he shows himself sans Gumby costume in some videos but I didn’t find any, there are way too many videos to look through. I think he’s totally harmless, it’s just the combination of Thomas fetish, Gumby costume, muffled voice, 2,000+ uploaded videos, and hours of footage that really made this guy stand out in the land of “wtf” youtube videos.
Why do you think it’s kind of sad? He seems content with his hobby. A friend suggested that his videos be played in the background of every party. I agree.
January 9, 2013 at 2:39 am
It may be a fun spoiler but I’ll give you the link so you can see yourself. To me when he’s in the mask or at least out of the video, it feels like a David Lynch / Rob Zombie movie about Thomas the Tank Engine. In real life! However when he’s speaking directly to the camera, when you see a real human behind it, you just see a troubled, disabled person and it’s hardly funny (well, unless laughing at the disabled people is your thing). There’s a lesson here somewhere. Nonetheless I subscribed to his channel as well.
Get to 0:25, you will see him in two settings.
January 9, 2013 at 7:27 am
Aww the footage of him reading in bed was very endearing. You have humanized Gumbyman. This is just like when I read the memoirs of my favorite porn stars…I can no longer fap to their films but I end up liking them so much more. I’m glad you’ve subscribed to his channel.
January 10, 2013 at 7:18 am
Wow, and I always thought Thomas the Tank engine was boring…
January 21, 2013 at 3:09 am