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Escape - "Ancient Sorceries - National" (Old Time Radio, 1948) · The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: William N.
• 0:00
  Speaker 2: Robson, directed and produced, escapes February 15th, 1948, CBS broadcast,
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: adapted by Les Crutchfield from Algernon Blackwood's Supernatural Story. It
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: is episode 28, Ancient Sorceries, with Paul Freese, Ramsey Hill,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Ann Morrison, Kay Brinker, William Conrad, and Jeff Corey in
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the cast. A traveler pauses overnight in an isolated Welsh
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: town where people appear to know him, although he is
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: certain he has never been there. At the inn and
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: along the quiet streets, the town's watchful inhabitants and the
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: traveler's growing uncertainty carry the story forward. This is the
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: National or East Coast presentation of Escape, heard on CBS
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: as a sustaining program. Now settle in for a visit
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: to that Welsh town. Here is the original broadcast.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Fed up with the shoveling snow? Can't shake that cold
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: of yours? Wonder what the world's coming to?
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: We offer you escape.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: Escape.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: You are alone in a remote village on the Welsh border,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: surrounded by silent townspeople who are watching and waiting for
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: you to decide to lose your soul.
• 1:40
  Speaker 5: Escape, produced and directed by William N.
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: Robeson.
• 1:44
  Speaker 5: And carefully contrived to free you from the four walls
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: of today for a half hour of high adventure.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Tonight we escape to a remote section of Wales and
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a strange village between two worlds. As Algernon Blackwood described
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: it in his eerie story, Ancient Sorceries.
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: I had spent a week's vacation in Wales and was
• 2:26
  Speaker 4: returning to London by train when it all began. It
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: was late afternoon. We'd left the Welsh mountains and crossed
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: the border into western England, passing through a countryside which
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: appeared singularly empty, deserted of life. Over the soft hills
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: and the valleys between hung a faintly perceptible haze, given
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: to the whole landscape a feeling of enchantment and unreality.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: The train at length slowed down to a stop at
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: a tiny wayside station. As it did so, a sudden
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: thought occurred to me. Why not leave the crowded train
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: with its irritating noises and spend the night in this
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: peaceful spot, then take a slower and emptier train in
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: the morning? On the impulse, I rose from my seat
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: and the man sitting opposite to me said.
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  Speaker 6: Why, say, sir, we only stopped here for a minute
• 3:16
  Speaker 6: or two. If you're thinking of walking.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: About a bit. No, as a matter of fact, I'm
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: getting off here.
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: I thought you were going to London.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: I'll go on in the morning. I'm going to stay
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: here for the night.
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: I strongly advise you not to.
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: I beg your pardon?
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: This is the village of Malton.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: Malton? I've never heard of it. Few people have outside.
• 3:37
  Speaker 6: But if you place any value on your soul, you'll
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: not spend the night.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: Here My dear sir, what are you talking about? Why not?
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: Because of the sleep. And because of the cats. That's
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: all I can tell you.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: You're insane. I'll take my bag, if you don't mind.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: You're making a terrible mistake. You may not even have
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: the chance to regret it. Don't leave this train. I
• 4:00
  Speaker 6: know what I'm talking about.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: Oh, what utter nonsense. Don't. Don't, I tell you.
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: Goodbye.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: Goodbye. I stood there on the embankment as the train
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: pulled away. What in the world was the matter with
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: the man anyway? Cat, sleep. His words made no sense.
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: I picked up my bag and started walking up the
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: long hill toward the village. And suddenly, for no reason
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: at all, I shivered.
• 4:28
  Speaker 7: Hello?
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: Hello, is anybody here? Oh. Oh, I didn't see you
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: at first.
• 4:43
  Speaker 8: Is there something I can do for you, sir?
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: Why, yes. I saw your sign outside the Inn of
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: the Golden Bough. I should like to get a room, please.
• 4:51
  Speaker 8: You're planning to stay here?
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Why, yes.
• 4:57
  Speaker 9: Very well.
• 4:59
  Speaker 8: You may sign the register.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: Here. Thank you. I'm going to catch another train and
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  Speaker 4: go on in the morning.
• 5:08
  Speaker 9: Oh, yes, of course.
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: There, madam.
• 5:12
  Speaker 8: Arthur Llewellyn.
• 5:15
  Speaker 9: Llewellyn?
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, from London.
• 5:18
  Speaker 8: Arthur Llewellyn. You've been a long time coming back.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: What?
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  Speaker 8: But now that you're here, you'll find there are some
• 5:29
  Speaker 8: things that never change.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Madam, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: You rang, madam?
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Yes. Where did you come from?
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  Speaker 8: Don't worry. The gentleman would like a room for the night.
• 5:43
  Speaker 8: His name is Arthur Llewellyn.
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  Speaker 4: Aye, so it is. Welcome back to Malton, sir. Huh? Why,
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: I knew I'd never been here before. What was it
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: all about? First the man on the train and now
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: these people. Were they crazy or.
• 6:07
  Speaker 10: Was I?
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: I left the inn and walked along narrow cobbled streets,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: beneath quaint gables leaning out from the silent shuttered houses,
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: through dappled pools of light and shadow. It gradually dawned
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  Speaker 4: upon me that the village of Malton was centuries old,
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: older than any town in England ought to be. And
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: the people, the people I passed now and then, were
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: dressed in the fashion of another day. They paid no
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: attention to me. went silently about their own business. Yes,
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: that was it. That's what I'd been noticing. Silently. They
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: came and went with only soft padding sounds to mark
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  Speaker 4: their passing, as though they walked in shoes with soles
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: of velvet. When I stopped, there was no sound. The
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: silence was unbroken. I hurried on through the streets and
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: came at last to the far side of the village,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: to a place where the hill broke away sharply from
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  Speaker 4: a low, flat wall of stone, perhaps a rampart once.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: I sat down upon it, and the dreamy, lazy somnolence
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: of the place stole over me. Presently, I don't know
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: how much later, I became aware of the sound of
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: weird music rising out of the veil below me. I
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: looked down from the rampart. The sunken plain at the
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: bottom melted away into a sea of gathering shadow, blurred
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: in a swirl of thickening mist. I thought of dead
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: trees swept by the night wind, of animals with half-human
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: voices singing to a white moon, of the wailings of
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: cats on the roof tiles at night. of unearthly creatures
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: far off in the sky calling to one another in chorus.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: I felt my heart beat faster and faster, felt the
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: vague stirrings of some urge inside of me, trying to
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: answer the awful call of that music. I fought against
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: the feeling, fought against myself. And even as I did,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: I found I was staring down into that valley, peering
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: desperately into the dark mist, trying to see... I don't
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: know what. And then suddenly... The music ended. I stood
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: on the rampart alone, dusk fallen around me, and the
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: early night wind moaned with a chill breath. Quick terror
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: rose up in me. I turned and ran through the
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: darkened streets, ran with my heart pounding, dodging its shadows,
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: through one dim alley after another, and arrived at last
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: panting and almost breathless at the door of the golden bar.
• 9:02
  Speaker 8: You've been a long time returning, Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Llewellyn.
• 9:06
  Speaker 8: It's past seven.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, yes, yes.
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  Speaker 4: I guess I walked farther than I meant to. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: didn't realize it was so late.
• 9:13
  Speaker 8: You heard the music, didn't you?
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: Yes. Strangest music I've ever heard. How did you know?
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  Speaker 4: Who plays it, anyway?
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  Speaker 8: Then you didn't remember it?
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: No.
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: Why should I? The thing was becoming irritating, this quiet
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: insistence that I was someone else. I went in to
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: my lonely dinner and ate as quickly as possible. Then,
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: taking the candle Dundreary gave me, I crossed the lobby,
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: climbed the stairs behind the desk, and walked past silent
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: doors down the long, empty hall that led to my
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  Speaker 4: room at the end. I was halfway to my door
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  Speaker 4: when suddenly... the flame of my candle went out. I
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: stood stuck still in the pitch blackness, fumbling for a match.
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  Speaker 4: At that moment I knew that someone or something was
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: was there with me in the darkness, held my breath
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  Speaker 4: and listened. There was no sound, no movement. I reached
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: out and felt the wall and moved along it, feeling
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  Speaker 4: my way in the inky blackness. It was then I
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: touched it. Near my face, another, soft, warm, yielding, and alive.
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  Speaker 8: Who?
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  Speaker 4: What is it?
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  Speaker 9: It is I, Ilsa.
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  Speaker 8: Who?
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  Speaker 3: Ilsa.
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  Speaker 9: Don't you remember me, Arthur?
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  Speaker 4: No. No.
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  Speaker 9: But wouldn't you like to remember me? Don't you want
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  Speaker 9: to see me again? To look at me? No? I.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know.
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  Speaker 9: But not tonight, Arthur. Perhaps tomorrow. Tomorrow.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: I stumbled blindly through the door of my room and
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  Speaker 4: shut it behind me. I lit the candle and flung
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  Speaker 4: myself across the bed. The room was small with one
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  Speaker 4: shuttered window and the light of the flame flickered on
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: the walls and ceiling. I stared at the hand that
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: had touched her out there in the dark hall. I
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: lifted it up to my face and smelled of the
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: barbaric scent that still clung to my fingers. It was evil, maddening.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: The candle sputtered and burned and the melted minutes dripped away.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: Who was I? Who were these people? Who was Ilsa?
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: I fell asleep finally and dreamed of soft-moving creatures. and
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: the silence of life in a dim, muffled world devoid
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: of all feeling but ecstasy. And I dreamed, too, of cats.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: You slept quite late this morning, Mr. Llewellyn.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Huh? Oh, morning done, really. I felt as if I'd
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: been drugged.
• 12:37
  Speaker 10: The night air here in Malton is very conducive to sleep.
• 12:42
  Speaker 10: I'd meant to catch the morning train for London. Now
• 12:46
  Speaker 10: it's too late.
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  Speaker 4: What a terrible shame. Oh, by the way, Dundreary. Yes, Mr.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Lewin?
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Do you, I mean, well, I was wondering if you'd
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: know anyone by the name of... Ilsa.
• 13:04
  Speaker 8: Ilsa happens to be my daughter, Mr. Llewellyn.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: Oh, I didn't hear you come in.
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: I hope you were able to sleep well, without any
• 13:15
  Speaker 8: unpleasant dreams.
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: I guess so.
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  Speaker 8: I'm so happy to hear it. Perhaps then you may
• 13:23
  Speaker 8: decide to stay with us for a long time.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: That's very kind of you.
• 13:29
  Speaker 8: No, it isn't kindness, Mr. Llewellyn. But all of us
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: are hoping that you may decide... soon.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: Decide? Decide what? It was no use. None of them
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: would answer my questions. They seemed to think I should
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: know already. I left the inn as soon as I'd eaten...
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: and walked around the streets of the village... And I
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: began to notice that I was never completely alone. If
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: I turned down an empty street, someone always stepped from
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: a doorway or entered from the opposite end. Wherever I went,
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: within five minutes, a dozen people were strolling near me.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: And I realized these people were watching me, tensely, as
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: a cat watches a mouse or another cat.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: It's quite fortunate you came back early, Mr. Llewellyn.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: Your dinner this evening is a rather special one. Special?
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: What do you mean by that?
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: You are to have a guest.
• 14:46
  Speaker 10: Huh?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Who?
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: Heh. An old friend.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: She's coming now.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: The girl who came toward us across the room was
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: lithe and slim, and she moved with the sinuous grace
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: of a young panther.
• 15:02
  Speaker 10: She was lovely, exotic, and terrifyingly beautiful. May I present Mr.
• 15:09
  Speaker 10: Arthur Llewellyn, Miss Hilsa. He's been with us for two days.
• 15:14
  Speaker 9: Yes, I know. My mother told me. May I sit down, Mr.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Llewellyn? Oh. Oh, yes, please do. Here, permit me.
• 15:27
  Speaker 9: Thank you. Yes, sir.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. Silver.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Then you're Ilsa.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: Don't you remember me, Arthur?
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: From last night. It was you, wasn't it?
• 15:44
  Speaker 9: Yes. And other nights... Can't you remember all the other nights?
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: No. No.
• 15:55
  Speaker 9: Then we shall have to try that much harder. It's
• 15:59
  Speaker 9: been such a very long time.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: Please, Ilse, what is it all of you talk about?
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: I don't understand any of it.
• 16:09
  Speaker 9: You will, Arthur, unless you leave, of course. Weren't you
• 16:14
  Speaker 9: planning to take a train to London in the morning?
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Yes. No. No, I've changed my mind.
• 16:26
  Speaker 9: I'm glad you did. We'll try to make you happy here,
• 16:31
  Speaker 9: my mother and I. And then perhaps you'll stay a long,
• 16:36
  Speaker 9: long time.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: No. I must leave for sure in a day or two.
• 16:41
  Speaker 9: Suppose we wait and see. And meanwhile, if there's anything
• 16:47
  Speaker 9: you want, all you have to do is ask me.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: All right. Why don't you tell me about....
• 16:59
  Speaker 9: Yes, Arthur. About what?
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: No.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: No, I don't want to know. I don't want you
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: to tell me. Suddenly I realized I was afraid to know. Afraid.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: I should leave now, but I couldn't leave. It was Ilsa.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: She attracted, repelled, fascinated and horrified me, all in single
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: flashes of blasting emotion. I felt the presence of a
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: great gray curtain ready to roll back at any moment
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: and Leave me on the brink of an awful adventure.
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: I knew the village held its breath, watched and waited.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: And then on the evening of the fifth day, the
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: whole ghastly secret exploded into hideous life. After dinner, Ilsa
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: had asked me to walk with her. It was the
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: first time I'd been outside the inn after dark. We
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: walked through the village in the moonlight, saying little, and
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: came finally to the stone rampart above the sunken plains.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: We were quite alone.
• 18:13
  Speaker 9: Look, Arthur. It's a full moon tonight. Do you know
• 18:17
  Speaker 9: what that means?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: It means I can see more clearly how beautiful you are.
• 18:22
  Speaker 9: Do you really believe that? Do you think I'm beautiful?
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: Like a soft, sleek leopard in a warm jungle of shadows.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: But wait, I'll see you even better in a moment.
• 18:35
  Speaker 9: Arthur, what are you doing?
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: These dry leaves by the wall will make an excellent bonfire. There. There,
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: you see?
• 18:41
  Speaker 9: No.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: No. What's wrong?
• 18:44
  Speaker 9: The fire.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: No, Arthur, put it out. All right, Ilse. Don't worry.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: It's all right. I'd have had a chance to get started. There. There,
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: you see?
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: It's all out.
• 18:56
  Speaker 9: Yes, I see.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: Ilse, why did it bother you so much?
• 19:01
  Speaker 9: Don't you remember? Don't you remember the fire?
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: No. What fire? Oh, Lord. No.
• 19:11
  Speaker 9: Don't talk of it. Look at me instead. Look at me, Arthur.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, Ilsa.
• 19:17
  Speaker 9: Arthur, do you love me?
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: Yes. Yes, Ilsa, I love you. I love you and
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: I want you.
• 19:28
  Speaker 9: I'm glad. That means you'll come back to us then?
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: I don't know what you mean, Ilsa.
• 19:35
  Speaker 9: You can know everything.
• 19:38
  Speaker 8: Tonight.
• 19:39
  Speaker 9: If you want to.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Yes, I do, I do.
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: You must know a part of it already. Down inside.
• 19:46
  Speaker 9: You must remember some of it, don't you?
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: It's like something... buried for centuries inside of me, and
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: now it's beginning to come alive.
• 19:54
  Speaker 9: Let it come alive. Don't fight against it. You belonged
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: to us once long ago, and you still belong.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Oh, that.
• 20:03
  Speaker 9: That's why you came back. You heard them calling. You
• 20:06
  Speaker 9: heard me calling. And you came seeking the old life again. Yes.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: But Ilsa... Ilsa, I'm afraid.
• 20:14
  Speaker 9: Are you afraid of me? Look at me.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Ilsa.
• 20:19
  Speaker 9: Kiss me. Ilsa... Will you live the old life again
• 20:29
  Speaker 9: with me tonight?
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes.
• 20:31
  Speaker 9: I've known that you would because I own you, Arthur.
• 20:33
  Speaker 9: You belong to me and I want you and I
• 20:36
  Speaker 9: shall never let you escape from me again.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes.
• 20:39
  Speaker 9: Go back to the inn then. Wait for me, Arthur.
• 20:43
  Speaker 9: I shall come for you. Tonight.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: Back at the inn, I paced the floor of my room.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: A tense, uncontrollable excitement driving me along in a nervous frenzy.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: The dry crypt of memory broke open and all the
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: things I'd hidden away for centuries poured into my consciousness.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: I knew now why I'd come here. I knew what
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: I was going to do. And I knew that I
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: was lost. I sensed the rising stir of movement throughout
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: the inn and outside in the courtyard below my window.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: I knew what to expect when I threw open the shutter.
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: From every window of the inn and from those of
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: the houses about the court were leaping great monstrous beasts
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: with soft dark fur and eyes that gleamed with eerie phosphorescence. Cats,
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: cats of human size. This then was the secret of molten, lycanthropy,
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: the witchcraft of centuries long dead and buried. The half-human
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: cries floated up to me, and the moon cast their
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: dark shadows on the ground as they padded across the
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: courtyard and vanished through the narrow streets of the village,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: heading for a hideous rendezvous. This is what I'd been.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: This is what I wanted to be now. I scarcely
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: heard the door of my room open behind me.
• 22:07
  Speaker 9: Are you ready, my love? Shall we join them?
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Yes, sir.
• 22:11
  Speaker 9: Here, Arthur, the sacred balm, made of a vein and
• 22:16
  Speaker 9: mistletoe and blind things out of the sea. Remember?
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Yes. Yes, I remember. Take it.
• 22:28
  Speaker 9: Use it. We'll change now, transform, leap from the window
• 22:32
  Speaker 9: and join them. Lead us again, Arthur.
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: Yes, but not here, Ilsa, not yet. Wait until we
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: get there. Then we'll change. If you wish.
• 22:42
  Speaker 9: Come then, Arthur, to the stone wall above the grove.
• 22:44
  Speaker 9: That's where we'll change on the stone rampart.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: In the grove on the sunken plain beneath the wall,
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: insane shadows writhed in the moonlight and postured in the
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: luminous mist. A thousand of the devil's own were dancing
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: in the unearthly music born from the harmony of the
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: black sacrifice, crying out in delirious abandon, calling to the
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: thing that now lived inside of me, and struggled, screaming
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: in my skull, trying to answer them back. I fought
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: against them. Fought against Ilsa, pleading and clinging with her
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: soft arms about my neck. Now.
• 23:27
  Speaker 9: Now, Arthur. Come with me now, if you love me.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: I love you, but I can't do it. I can't
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: do it.
• 23:32
  Speaker 9: Not again. Yes, my love. Only an instant of change,
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: and then we'll live forever.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Is it living without a soul, Ilsa?
• 23:37
  Speaker 9: Does it matter when I'm here?
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: No. Once before I escaped, but I can never escape again.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: This time there'd be no turning back.
• 23:44
  Speaker 9: Am I not worth it? Look at me. Look at me,
• 23:46
  Speaker 9: my love.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: I clung to the very edge of my sanity, fought
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: that I would not be lost and damned forever, and
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: at this moment, at this moment, I knew, knew what
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: I could do.
• 23:55
  Speaker 9: Arthur, wait. What are you doing?
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: I found a match in my pocket, struck it, dropped
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: it into the dry leaves that lay banked across the
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: whole length of the stone wall.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: No.
• 24:02
  Speaker 9: No, Arthur, don't.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: I can't come to you through the fire.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: You're driving me away.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: Go, go, Elsa, go into the valley. Goodbye, Elsa! Goodbye!
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: You fall!
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: You fall!
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: I turned from the wall of flame that for a
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: few minutes would shut me off from the valley, ran
• 24:33
  Speaker 4: through the moonlight streets, not back toward the inn of
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: the Golden Bower, but down the long road that led
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: away from that cursed village of Molten. Well, Mr.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: Llewellyn, I find this one of the most interesting cases
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: of hallucination I've encountered since I began the practice of psychiatry.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: I tell you, it really happened, Doctor.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: And having investigated your story a bit during the past week,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I'm in a position now to answer most of the
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: questions that have been worrying you since you came back
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: to London.
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: What do you mean, investigated? I went up to Hereford and.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Looked over some of the old records there.
• 25:15
  Speaker 4: Then I motored over to Malton for a couple of hours. Well...
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: Then you know it's all true. You saw it. You
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: know I was there.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Oh, there's no question but what you were there, Mr.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: Llewellyn.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: The lady who runs the inn showed me your name
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: in the register. Said you left suddenly without taking your
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: luggage or paying your bill.
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: She was really quite put out. I.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: I see.
• 25:39
  Speaker 8: Well.
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: Well, what of the records, Doctor? The ones you spoke of?
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: I think they really explain the whole thing, Mr.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Llewellyn.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: It seems that during the 14th century, the village of
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Malton became a kind of headquarters in that part of
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: the country for.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: The practice of witchcraft. Yes. Yes, go on. Numerous trials were.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: Held there in the late 1300s, and a great many
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: men and women were convicted of sorcery and burned to death.
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: In the records of a trial in 1372, I found
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: the name of an Arthur Llewellyn, and of Ilsa and
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: her mother.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: That proves it, then. It proves a clear case of hallucination.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: You knew that story before you went there, not consciously,
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: but somewhere deep in your latent memory.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: I knew nothing about it before.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: That man was an ancestor of yours. The story must
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: be known in your family. When you arrived in Malton accidentally,
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: the association of the name just pulled the trigger, and
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: your imagination did the rest.
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: Yes, but Doctor, my parents died when I was four.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: I've never been around any of my family ever.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: No matter. You see, a childhood memory is amazingly persistent
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: at times. Yes.
• 27:05
  Speaker 4: Yes, I suppose it is. I knew then what I
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: had to do. The only thing I could do. There'd
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: be no use in talking further with the doctor. He'd
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: find some phrase of science to cover everything. He'd even
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: try to explain away the mark I still carried across
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: my shoulder where Ilse had thrown her arm about me
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: in those last mad minutes on the rampart. A mark
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: that was covered with soft grey fur like the fur
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: of a cat. I knew now what had to be
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: done and what must be done while I still retain
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: my sanity. One last act, final and irrevocable. An act
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: that begins by walking into the railway station and cheering cross.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: Good evening, sir.
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: May I help you?
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, yes. I'd like a ticket to Malton, please. Malton?
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: I don't believe I... It's a little village on the
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: Swansea line, yes. The border of Wales. Oh, yes, yes.
• 28:17
  Speaker 8: Here it is.
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: I don't believe I've ever sold a ticket to Malton before.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: I don't doubt it. Let's see.
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: Four and six, single fare, first class. Did you wish
• 28:30
  Speaker 6: a return trip, sir, or one way?
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: What did you say? Oh, I'm sorry.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Make it.
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: One way.
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson.
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: And tonight, brought to you Ancient Sorceries by Algernon Blackwood,
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield, with Paul Freese as
• 29:15
  Speaker 5: Arthur Llewellyn, Kay Brinker as Ilsa, Anne Morrison as Madam,
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: and William Conrad as the Doctor. Music is conceived and
• 29:23
  Speaker 5: conducted by Cy Fuhrer.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Next week....
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: After you've had a hard day at the office or
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: bending over a hot stove... Next week at this time
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: when your problems seem too much for you.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: We offer you.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: Escape.
• 29:56
  Speaker 5: Next week, we bring you another exciting story of high adventure.
• 30:00
  Speaker 5: Good night then until the same time next week when
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: once again we offer you Escape. This is CBS, the
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: Columbia Broadcasting System.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: You have been hearing escape and ancient sorceries. Follow the
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: 50 greatest old-time radio shows for more classic broadcasts.