[Content notice/trigger warning: murder]

This has always been my favorite thing, and I might repost it to my How to Write Things book because it's just such a good example of storytelling. Plus the animation is amazing. So I wanted to share it with anyone who hadn't seen it yet.

[Transcript below]

There's a man in the woods... what a spectacle. 

Before the stories started, this school was still respectable.

My students used to skip down the hill to the honeysuckle,

Pluck a couple, and collect their nectar 'til they picked their fill.

Except one obnoxious kid...

Sid.

Who just watched them eat the flowers

While he seethed and scowled

'Cause he couldn't bear to share his sweet treats

Throughout our recess hour

I remember Sid saying,

"There's a man in the woods!"

That's how the rumors began

Of course, Sid had spotted him first

The poor kids, he got them immersed

In his spiel about a serial killer whose gun barrel glint

Hints at peril

A visit to the nurse

Or worse

A hearse

Waiting just behind the dale

The children saw him everywhere

"Look over there!"

"That man had... Batman ears, we-we swear!"

"And crazy yellow eyes!"

"We saw something rusty,

His shotgun? It must be!"

"I saw a lady's severed thigh!"

Trust me

Every word

I heard

Was absurd

Yet each day, Sid went straight down

Way past the playground

Who else was brave enough

To save us

From the killer's next plot?

The rest of the lot

Would stop back at the blacktop

Sure that any closer, they were bound

To be found

Deep in the woods,

Left to rot.

I pleaded for the kids to think, and learn,

To be mature,

But after a few more rumors doomed my attempts to prove the school was secure

Their fear was undettered.

And when the buses drove them all home...

... the parents finally heard.

Everything just blew up.

I received a wall of emails and calls

Full of shrieks, wails, and all

From terrified families who'd heard word

Of the murderer

And didn't like my lack of action at all.

What was I supposed to do?!

Comb the whole forest?!

Yeah, right, would you?!

That means I didn't care?!

That's not fair!

The stories that worry you

Weren't true!

Of course I would feel regret,

Had there been a real threat

And I ignored it

And some poor kid got kidnapped

While the kids were napping

But you couldn't admit

That your good little kid

Would formulate a fib

So you ignored what I said

Your little angels could never cook up such an incredible creation

An overactive imagination, maybe

But my kid could never lie

How dare I?!

Accuse a child of being dishonest?!

Just monstrous.

The parents were displeased

And when the PTA took action,

They dismissed me from the classroom

Like they knew what was best for their kids

Do you know how difficult it is

To get a job

When a bitter mob

Slanders your rep

With child neglect

From the outset?!

Now who's in control of your classes?

"Single file lines!"

Single file lines.

Little vials, white

A killer by the pint

Really?

Are you blind?

Will you find your spine?!

Sid.

A child 

Decides

To fill our minds with lies

And the next thing you see

Is people treating me

Like I've committed crimes

I was in my prime!

Those kids were lucky to have me

Do you see

What you did?!

But I can play along

I can be good

Do you hear that, Sid?

There's a man in the woods.