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X Minus One - "The Haunted Corpse" (1957) · Old Time Sci-Fi Radio | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: July 25th, 1957 brought NBC Radio's X-1 to its 104th broadcast,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: The Haunted Corpse. Adapted for radio by Ernest Kenoy from
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Frederick Pohl's galaxy science fiction story, it begins when Richard
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Van Pelt carries information about Dr. Eric Horn's secluded laboratory
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to the Pentagon. Lieutenant Colonel Windermere is sent to establish
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: an army cordon around the laboratory where Horn's guarded research,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: known as the Horn Effect, concerns the transfer of identity
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: between bodies. Leon Janney, Jim Bowles, Joseph Bell, and Reese
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Taylor are heard in the cast under Daniel Sutter's direction.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: We now take you back to the original broadcast.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: This is Walter O'Keefe inviting you to listen in on
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: the Nightline. Tonight, live the incredible life of ages yet
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: to come in a time that might be a million
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: years from now on X-1. Now, an incredible story of
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the world beyond.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: minus 1, fire.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: new dimensions in time and space.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: These are stories of the future.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: Adventures in which you'll live in a million could be
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National Broadcasting Company,
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine, presents.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Tonight, The Haunted Corpse by Frederick Pohl. But first, hear this.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Whenever you want things to be just right, be it
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: here or there or day.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: Or night, you make it Pabst, because Pabst makes it perfect.
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: Yes, Pabst makes it perfect. Just as we always have,
• 2:50
  Speaker 7: ever since 1844. So next time, you make it Pabst,
• 2:53
  Speaker 7: because Pabst makes it perfect. America's Blue Ribbon Beer from
• 2:56
  Speaker 7: the Pabst Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Yes, Pabst makes it perfect.
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Now, X-1 and the story of The Haunted Corpse.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: We moved in at 0800. That's pretty good time, considering
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: that Van Pelt turned up at the Pentagon on Thursday,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: and it took him till Monday morning to go in
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and see the General. By Tuesday, I had a task
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: force of 135 men bivouacked around the old man's place.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Corporal McCabe, my orderly, reported mission accomplished.
• 3:34
  Speaker 8: Well, Colonel, there's a.
• 3:35
  Speaker 9: Whole company dug in down the road right chunder, and
• 3:37
  Speaker 9: Williams is all set up right here like you done ordered.
• 3:40
  Speaker 9: We got a cubby of them recon cars from the
• 3:42
  Speaker 9: Calvary roaming like a patch of June bug squirting the handkerchief.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: McCabe isn't very bright, but he's loyal. Well, about nine
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: in the morning, the old man woke up. I suppose
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: the firing at the auxiliary pistol range I set up
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: got him out of bed.
• 4:02
  Speaker 8: Get out of here!
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Go on, you! Get those trucks off my lawn! Get out!
• 4:07
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Horne!
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, what is this?
• 4:09
  Speaker 8: The Boy Scout Jamboree? Are you the Scoutmaster?
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Dr. Horne, I am Lieutenant Colonel Windermere, sir. My orders
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: are to establish a security cordon about your laboratory. A what?
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: Here you are, sir. My copy of your orders.
• 4:22
  Speaker 8: What the devil is this nonsense?
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: You will see they are signed by General Follansbee himself.
• 4:26
  Speaker 8: I know, I know.
• 4:27
  Speaker 6: That sniveling rat Van Pelt. He went to the army,
• 4:30
  Speaker 6: is that it? That mountainous, ungrateful tub of rancid lard
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: went crawling into Washington and ratted to some tin soldier.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Sir General Follansbee is not a tin soldier.
• 4:41
  Speaker 8: Is that it?
• 4:42
  Speaker 6: Did Dick Van Pelt come to you with some cock
• 4:44
  Speaker 6: and bull story?
• 4:45
  Speaker 8: The chicken-livered, worm-eaten.
• 4:47
  Speaker 6: Misbegotten offspring of a... Dr.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: Horn, the general asked me to give you his personal
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: assurance that we will not interfere in your work here.
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: But I'm sure you understand the importance of security.
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: Now you listen to me.
• 4:58
  Speaker 6: The Horn effect is my personal property... Not the government's
• 5:02
  Speaker 6: or the army's. What is this, creeping socialism?
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: Sir, security. My orderly isn't cleared.
• 5:08
  Speaker 8: Oh, that don't make no never mind, Colonel. I don't
• 5:11
  Speaker 8: rightly grasp what he's saying, though.
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: McCabe, report to my tent.
• 5:14
  Speaker 8: Oh, just when it's getting interesting.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Now, Dr.
• 5:18
  Speaker 10: Horne.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I want you to know that I'm here to help you.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: If there's anything you want, just ask me. If you
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: want to go into town, that can be arranged. Of course,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: you'd better give us 24-hour notice so we can clear
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: the streets and check out... Young man? Yes, sir.
• 5:29
  Speaker 8: You may go to the devil.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Of course, he went in to call the Pentagon and protest.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: He had a lot of spirit for an old civilian
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: of about 75. Hello? Hello?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Hello?
• 5:46
  Speaker 10: This is Dr. Eric Horn. I want to protest an
• 5:49
  Speaker 10: invasion of my privacy.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Of course, Dr. Horn, I understand.
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: There's an officious young cub scout out at my place
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: making a pest of himself.
• 5:56
  Speaker 10: A lieutenant something.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Lieutenant Colonel Windermere.
• 6:00
  Speaker 8: But I called Washington.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir, but our intercept monitor put the call through
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: to me. We'll take care of any outside calls you
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: wish to make.
• 6:08
  Speaker 10: Of all the insufferable.
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: At about 0600 the next morning, I ran a surprise
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: full-scale inspection and simulated infiltration.
• 6:21
  Speaker 10: Hey, look out! You trick-or-happy, is it?
• 6:26
  Speaker 8: It's me, McCabe! I've just simulated!
• 6:29
  Speaker 11: You hear?
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Fortunately, he was only grazed. The wire-stringing detail worked all night,
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: and we had surrounded the old Victorian house with triple-strand
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: electrified barbed wire with guard towers every 50 feet. At 1400,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: I paid a call on Dr.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Horn.
• 6:51
  Speaker 8: What are you doing here?
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Dr.
• 6:54
  Speaker 8: Horn.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: I came in for your report.
• 6:55
  Speaker 8: My what?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Your daily progress report. It's in my orders. Paragraph 8.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Just carry on, sir. Corporal McCabe will take your words down. Oh,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: his clearance came through last night. You have a method
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: for electronically killing a man without touching him. Killing?
• 7:07
  Speaker 8: Lieutenant?
• 7:08
  Speaker 6: Will you tell me what in the sweet name of
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: heaven did I say that gave you that particularly stupid notion?
• 7:14
  Speaker 8: But I understand. You think this is a weapon.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Of course, sir.
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: Of course. My machine renders humans into corpses.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: A chipped flint will also do that. Look, you simple...
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: Don't you realize what my machine can do? It can
• 7:28
  Speaker 6: separate that something which added to a body produces a man.
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: A subtracted leaves a corpse. I can separate the two
• 7:35
  Speaker 6: things without destroying them. You understand that I can take
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: the ghost of life out of a body and keep
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: it unharmed. Try to understand that, you pig-headed, mule-eared, rabbit-faced.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: You're listening to The Haunted Corpse, tonight's attraction on X-1.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: You know, the property value of your home depends on
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: the well-being of your community and your neighborhood, on things
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: like good lighting for your streets, accessible parks and playgrounds,
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: and cleaning up slums.
• 8:16
  Speaker 8: And what others are doing, you can do.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: In Michigan, a city group launched Operation Bootstrap to rehabilitate houses,
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: clean up slums, and interest everyone in better living standards.
• 8:28
  Speaker 8: In Pennsylvania, a.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: Local real estate board surveyed every property in town, got
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: 500 improved and 50 hopeless slums torn down. So help
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: clean up slums and keep up your own home as well.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: To help keep your community sound, get into actions. Action
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: is a national organization designed to help you protect the
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: well-being of your community. For free information on your particular problem,
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: write to Action, Box 20, Radio City Station, New York 20,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: New York.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Now back.
• 9:01
  Speaker 10: To X-1 and The Haunted Corpse.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: I terminated the interview and went back to headquarters to
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: prepare my situation analysis. Van Pelt, all 300 pounds of him,
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: was waiting for me. He was eating a can of
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: sea ration with a knife.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: He's perfectly sane, Colonel, but he's dangerous. Very dangerous.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: You've got to protect me, absolutely. Van Pelt, I want
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: the straight dope on horn. Now, what is this ghost business? Oh, that, that.
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: That's just his way of putting it. You see, uh, who, uh,
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: care to join me in a can of beans?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: No, thank you.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Well, there's a difference between a living man and a
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: dead man, and that difference is what Dr.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Horn whimsically calls a ghost.
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: Call it life, plus intelligence, plus soul, if there is
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: such a word in your lexicon.
• 10:00
  Speaker 8: Colonel.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: You mean his machine conjures up ghosts? No, no, no, Colonel. Dr.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: Horn is an impossible old vulture, but he's not a faker.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: Horn can drain the essence of life from a body
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: and store it, or if he wishes, he can replace
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: them in another body.
• 10:16
  Speaker 8: Uh, Would you mind.
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: Handing me the can opener?
• 10:21
  Speaker 8: This looks interesting. Macaroni and beef.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Supper ration. Well, so he had a machine that could
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: take a mind out of one body and put it
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: in another body. Well, why didn't he say so straightforwardly
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: instead of beating around the bush like a civilian? Of course,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: he was a civilian, which might explain it. Next morning,
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: I went to the laboratory with Corporal McCabe and insisted
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: on a demonstration.
• 10:51
  Speaker 8: All right, this way, gentlemen.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Please, Corporal McCabe is an enlisted man.
• 10:57
  Speaker 8: At this pole, we have a cocker spaniel.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: And over here, a Rhode Island red.
• 11:03
  Speaker 8: That's the right perky-looking chicken, Doc.
• 11:05
  Speaker 6: If you will kindly stay clear of the terminal areas,
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: I will activate the field.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: What's happening?
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: Field is vibrating at the cycloid rate set on the crystals.
• 11:18
  Speaker 8: All right, it's ready for discharge.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Now....
• 11:25
  Speaker 8: Well, watch.
• 11:27
  Speaker 10: Here, Rover.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Here, boy. Here, boy.
• 11:29
  Speaker 8: Hey, that ain't no hound. That's the chicken.
• 11:32
  Speaker 10: I know.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Here, Rover.
• 11:35
  Speaker 8: Well, I'll be pickle for an eel. That little old
• 11:38
  Speaker 8: chicken is trying to wag his tail.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: And over here.
• 11:41
  Speaker 8: Here, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Here, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick.
• 11:46
  Speaker 8: It was all gone. I never did see the like
• 11:48
  Speaker 8: of that. A flop-eared, honest-to-pete dog trying to peck corn.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: I had a private conference with the old man later.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: Under Section K of my security regulations, I moved on
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: my own initiative.
• 12:05
  Speaker 8: Well, Lieutenant?
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Lieutenant Colonel, there is a... Slight difference.
• 12:11
  Speaker 10: Well.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Now, can you do this with people?
• 12:13
  Speaker 8: Indeed I can. But the silly law is covering these things.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: They won't let me.
• 12:18
  Speaker 8: I've tried.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: Imagine a simple exchange. A man dying of terminal cancer
• 12:23
  Speaker 6: and a feeble-minded youth. Put the sound mind into the
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: sound body and let the decayed parts rot together.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: But will they let me? No.
• 12:32
  Speaker 10: No.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: You've never tried the machine on people?
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: No.
• 12:35
  Speaker 8: But you're here. A military man.
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: Very brave.
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: All I need is a volunteer. That coward Van Pelt refused.
• 12:44
  Speaker 6: That's why he sneaked off to you. But a brave
• 12:47
  Speaker 6: soldier like you.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Negative, sir.
• 12:49
  Speaker 9: Negative.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: What lieutenant? Negative, sir. And besides, I am not a lieutenant.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I'm a field-grade officer. I don't believe you appreciate the
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: investment the service has made in my training. However, if
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: you need volunteers, the Army has a way of obtaining volunteers, sir.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: We'll see what we can do. Actually, it was easy. First,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: there was a boy from Maine awaiting court-martial on an
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: AWOL charge. Second, he volunteered when I pointed out he
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: could get up to a year at hard labor. And
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: then McCabe.
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: Oh, no, Colonel, sir, I ain't a volunteer in time.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Well, McCabe, I have been asked to recommend a non-com
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: for infantry assignment in the Aleutian Islands.
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: Infantry?
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Yes. Advanced Rifle Platoon Scout.
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: The Aleutians?
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: In the winter.
• 13:50
  Speaker 8: Colonel, sir, I beg to report you have found a volunteer,
• 13:54
  Speaker 8: namely I. Dr.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Horn had arranged the terminus of the machine poles to
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: be tapped into metal helmets which were adjusted on the
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: heads of the two men.
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: This here reminds me of playing left tackle.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: Ready, Lieutenant? I.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Ready.
• 14:16
  Speaker 9: But, Colonel, sir, maybe I better not try this. Well,
• 14:20
  Speaker 9: I mean, I cancel my G.I.
• 14:22
  Speaker 8: Insurance. The illusions? Yes, sir, Colonel, sir. Well, goodbye.
• 14:28
  Speaker 11: Goodbye.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: The test was an anti-climax.
• 14:42
  Speaker 10: It worked.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: McCabe, that is, McCabe's body, reported himself as Private Ethan
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: Coffin in a broad down-east dialect. I had Horn switch
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: them back, and then I went back to my tent
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: and put through a call. Crash priority.
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: General Fallins be on the scrambler circuit, Colonel, sir.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: All right. Now leave, McCabe. McCabe. It's his top secret.
• 15:03
  Speaker 8: They don't never tell me nothing. I swear it's worse
• 15:05
  Speaker 8: than grade school.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Now, General... Colonel! Colonel! Van Pelt, what's the idea of
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: barging in? I'm making a top secret call.
• 15:11
  Speaker 8: You didn't let Horn make his test.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: You didn't... Now, out, Van Pelt, out!
• 15:14
  Speaker 8: But that's all he's.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Been waiting for. You've got to listen to me.
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: McCabe!
• 15:17
  Speaker 10: Colonel!
• 15:18
  Speaker 8: Escort Mr.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Van Pelt out. I was floating on a cloud of
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: pure joy... I could see my egos within my grasp.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Maybe even a full star. I told the general my plan.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Are you still there, sir? Oh, well, you see, we
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: use the device for intelligence. Suppose someone way up top
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: in their government should visit the United States. We switch him,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: put our own man in his body, you see. Or
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: in wartime, take a few prisoners and put our men
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: inside their bodies.
• 15:55
  Speaker 10: Yes, sir.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: Yes, sir. I can be available for a staff meeting
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: at 0900. Yes, sir. General Windermere. Lieutenant General Windermere.
• 16:09
  Speaker 8: Oh, why not?
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: General of the Army. Colonel, sir. Oh, what is it, McCabe?
• 16:16
  Speaker 8: That Mr. Van Pelt.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Listen, McCabe, next time I'm on the top secret scrambler
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: to the Pentagon, don't you dare let anybody into the
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: command tent.
• 16:23
  Speaker 9: No, sir, Colonel, sir.
• 16:24
  Speaker 8: But this here Van Pelt.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: I don't want to hear about him. I'll let him
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: cool his heels a while. Well, he ain't.
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: That is, he left.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 16:31
  Speaker 9: But he carried on something frightful. He kept saying Mr.
• 16:34
  Speaker 9: Horn wanted to live forever.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: What?
• 16:38
  Speaker 8: Screw, he ain't.
• 16:39
  Speaker 9: That's what he said. He said all Horn was waiting
• 16:42
  Speaker 9: on was to make a test on human beings. He
• 16:45
  Speaker 9: said that he's going to grab the first man he
• 16:47
  Speaker 9: runs into and steal his body.
• 16:49
  Speaker 8: I think he is drunk or something.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: McCabe, call a condition red alert.
• 16:54
  Speaker 8: What for?
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Don't argue.
• 16:55
  Speaker 8: Oh, never mind.
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: You go up to the laboratory and take Dr. Horn
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: into custody. I'll give the alert. Now move. I could
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: see it all immediately. I grabbed my sidearm and buckled
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: it on. And I threw the switch that signaled a
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: red alert throughout the unit. Just what you'd expect from
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: a selfish civilian like Horn. He'd take an invention like
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: this and use it to steal other people's bodies to
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: prolong his own nearly senile existence in a younger body.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: And if that happened, there goes my General Starr. Because
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: he'd surely smash the machine and we'd never be able
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: to trace him or switch him back and we wouldn't
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: know which body he stole. I was held up at
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: the inner perimeter for five precious minutes while some idiot
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: insisted on a password. I just happened to forget it,
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: although I had issued it in the morning. Luckily, while
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: I was slurring at him, I accidentally hit the right
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: combination and let me through. Van Pelt had gone into
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: the laboratory. I knew that. Probably to try to stop
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: the old man, but the effect would be to supply
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: him with a body. He'd have to swap immediately. He
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: couldn't take the chance of a heart attack. I ran
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: into the laboratory, my sidearm drawn. Horn?
• 18:05
  Speaker 11: Dr. Horn? Hey!
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: Tripped over a human body. Still warm.
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Horn, his cast-off cocoon, abandoned. And then in front of me,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: I saw him.
• 18:18
  Speaker 8: Van Pelt!
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: Too late!
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: Too late!
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Now wait, listen. McCabe, what happened to you? He slugged you,
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: did he? Too late! Now wait, don't smash the machine.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: Van Pelt, I know it's really you, Dr. Horn, in
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: Van Pelt's body. Now put down that gun.
• 18:33
  Speaker 8: I'll smash it! Smash it!
• 18:35
  Speaker 10: Stop.
• 18:35
  Speaker 8: Don't wreck the machine.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Listen, Dr. Horn, I'll help you. I'll see you get
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: a good, healthy body as long as you want it.
• 18:41
  Speaker 6: Dr.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: Horn, think of the safety of our country. Think of security. No, no, no,
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: I'm not doctor. Who shot that? McCabe, put that pistol away,
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: you fool. Oh, Horn, Dr. Horn, speak to me. Now,
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: I know it's you in Van Pelt's body. Now, speak
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: to me, Dr.
• 18:59
  Speaker 8: Horn.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: Oh, he's dead. McCabe, you simple-minded... Why did you kill him? Oh,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: everything is gone, my General Starr, everything. All right, McCabe,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: report to your quarters. You'll get a court-martial that'll make
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: your hair curl. I sat there in the wrecked laboratory
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: and I almost cried. Everything gone, the machine, the brilliant
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: mind that knew its secret. I looked at the corpse
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: of Van Pelt that held the mind of Dr. Horn
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: before that idiot McCabe had put a bullet through the
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: brain and killed both. I could almost feel cheerful as
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: I thought of the court-martial to come. It was at
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: that moment that Sergeant O'Hare came in to tell me
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: that McCabe wanted me on the telephone. I picked it
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: up and waited to hear the miserable rat crawl and
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: plead for mercy.
• 20:01
  Speaker 10: Colonel, sir, this here is Corporal McCabe.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: McCabe, there is no use pleading for mercy. I trust
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: you have managed to find your quarters. You're under arrest.
• 20:10
  Speaker 10: That's what I thought. I don't think I'll stay for
• 20:13
  Speaker 10: the court, Marshal Lieutenant. They bore me.
• 20:15
  Speaker 8: McCabe, but the voice.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 20:19
  Speaker 8: Horn.
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: Precisely, Lieutenant. Precisely. Goodbye now.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: If a body meet a body coming through the.
• 20:30
  Speaker 10: Goodbye, Lieutenant. Thanks for the body.
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: Fred Collins again. I'll have another word about X-1 in
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: a moment.
• 20:50
  Speaker 11: Have you ever asked yourself what this country's most important
• 20:53
  Speaker 11: natural resource is? I'm Dorothy Olson, NBC bandstand singing schoolteacher.
• 20:59
  Speaker 11: Our most important resource? Well, you might consider it our
• 21:03
  Speaker 11: mineral deposits, or our tremendous sources of water power, or
• 21:07
  Speaker 11: maybe just our great forests. Well, these are all very
• 21:10
  Speaker 11: important natural resources, but there's one resource that's more important
• 21:13
  Speaker 11: than all these combined.
• 21:15
  Speaker 8: Our children's.
• 21:16
  Speaker 11: Don't neglect them or their educational facilities. Poor schools breed
• 21:21
  Speaker 11: inadequate citizens for tomorrow. And another thing, keep your youngsters
• 21:25
  Speaker 11: in tip-top shape so that they won't miss important school days.
• 21:29
  Speaker 11: Draft them against the weather so they won't catch needless
• 21:31
  Speaker 11: winter colds. Check their wardrobe as they go back to
• 21:34
  Speaker 11: school this fall to be sure that they have plenty
• 21:36
  Speaker 11: of the right kind of clothing. Remember, our children are
• 21:40
  Speaker 11: this nation's most important natural resource. It's your job to
• 21:44
  Speaker 11: protect their future as they go back to school this fall.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: You have just heard X-1, presented by the National Broadcasting
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: Company in cooperation with Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine.
• 21:55
  Speaker 8: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: X-1 was an NBC Radio Network production.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: There's excitement in the air at night, and Nightline brings
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: it to you. Hear Nightline with Walter O'Keefe, next on
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: most of these NBC stations. X-1 has concluded with episode 104,
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: The Haunted Corpse. Good night, and thank you for spending
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: this time with Classic Radio. Follow Old Time Sci-Fi Radio
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: for more classic science fiction broadcasts.