Autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, is a fancy name for when you unwittingly get those pleasurable tingling sensations that run along your head, down your back and across your arms. Maybe you even feel it in your toes.

You can’t explain what causes them—maybe it’s the sound of someone’s voice, or the crescendo in your favorite song. Researchers can’t explain the phenomenon either, mostly because ASMR is so damn hard to create on purpose. Since whispering is the most commonly reported stimuli, a burgeoning fetish on YouTube has been an incredibly addictive series of whisperreading videos. Check out our friend Brian White’s story in his first piece for DUM DUM, an auditory spell for an ASMR experiment called “Blood Drives.”

Written by Brian White, and read by Vivien Hunter

Formally a painter, Brian lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY. He aspires to someday live in a hollowed out conversation in Vermont.