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Suspense - The Whole Town's Sleeping · Suspense

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Suspense. And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the master of mystery and adventure, William N. Robeson.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: A small Midwestern town lying asleep in the moonlight of midnight.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Could anything be more familiar, more peaceful, more safe? Certainly not.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Unless Ray Bradbury is writing about it. For his is
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: a typewriter of terror. And once again, it has pounded
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: out a tale not only calculated to keep you in suspense,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: but likely to cost.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: You a night or two of sleep. Listen.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Listen then as Miss Agnes Moorhead stars in The Whole
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Town Sleeping, which begins in.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Just a moment.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: How does our nation honor heroism? One way is to
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: award the Soldier's Medal, a bronze octagon on which is
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: displayed an eagle standing between.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Two groups of stars. The medal is suspended from a
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: blue ribbon with.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: 13 narrow stripes in the center, seven white, and a ravine.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: In the town, the sidewalks were still scorched. The stores
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: were closing and the streets were turning dark. Screen doors
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: whined their springs and banged. And there was the sound
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: of Grandma Hanlon's hammock creaking across the street. On her
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: solitary porch, Lavinia Ned, age 37, very straight and slim,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: sat waiting.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: Here I am, Lavinia.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Lavinia turned. There was Francine at the bottom porch step,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: all in snow white.
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: I won't be a minute, Francine.
• 1:40
  Speaker 6: I just have to lock the door. All right.
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: I do like your dress, dear.
• 1:45
  Speaker 6: Why, thank you, Francis.
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: You look so.
• 1:47
  Speaker 6: Well in that color. I'm afraid I can never wear it.
• 1:50
  Speaker 6: It makes me look sallow.
• 1:52
  Speaker 7: Oh, no, it doesn't.
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: I'm sure it doesn't. Of course, I've always loved you
• 1:57
  Speaker 6: in white.
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: Good evening, ladies. Good evening, Mrs. Hanlon.
• 2:03
  Speaker 8: Good evening. Well, where are you.
• 2:05
  Speaker 6: Ladies going all dressed up so pretty?
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: To the movies, Mrs. Hanlon.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: It's William Holden tonight.
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: You won't catch me out on a night like this.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: Not with the lonely one.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: Strangling women.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: Lock myself in with my gun.
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: That's what I'm going to do. I wouldn't worry, Mrs.
• 2:25
  Speaker 5: Allen.
• 2:25
  Speaker 8: Oh, you wouldn't, wouldn't you?
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: What about Eliza Ramsel?
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: You think she's not worrying?
• 2:32
  Speaker 9: I'll lock myself in with a gun.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: That's what you ladies should do.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, she's so silly.
• 2:40
  Speaker 7: Silly old woman.
• 2:42
  Speaker 6: Hasn't got anything better to do than scare herself with.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: Rumors and gossip?
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: No, just the same.
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: Hattie McDullis was killed a month ago. And Roberta Ferry
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: the month before.
• 2:52
  Speaker 7: And now Eliza Ramsel's disappeared.
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: Eliza Ramsel walked off with a traveling salesman, if you
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: ask me.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: But the others... Oh, thank old Francine.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: They reached the edge of the ravine that cut the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: town in two. Stood there. Behind them were the lighted houses. Ahead, deepness, moistness,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: fireflies and dark. The ravine had to be crossed to
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: reach the movies. Steep and black as it cut through
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the hill. And a creaking bridge to cross over the stream.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: And then 113 steps of the steep and bramble back
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to the other side. The ladies stood there looking down.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: I just hate to think of you coming back alone tonight, Lavinia.
• 3:39
  Speaker 8: Oh, Bosh.
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: I do wish you didn't live on this side of town.
• 3:43
  Speaker 6: Don't you get lonely living by yourself in that house?
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: All maids love.
• 3:46
  Speaker 6: To live alone. Come on, we'll take the shortcut.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid even in the dusk.
• 3:51
  Speaker 8: Lavinia scared me.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: Oh, come on.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: Don't be so silly.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: I'll hold your hand.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Lavinia, cool as mint ice cream, took her friend's arm
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and led her down the dark winding path into the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: cricket warmth and frog sound and mosquito-delicate silence.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: Let's run. Lavinia, please. No, no.
• 4:15
  Speaker 6: Why should we?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: If Lavinia hadn't turned her head just then, she wouldn't
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: have seen it. But she did turn her head and
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: it was theirs. Back among a clump of bushes, half
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: hidden but laid out, she'd put herself there to enjoy
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the soft stars. Lay Eliza Ramsel. Her face moon-treckled. Her
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: eyes like white marble. Then Francine saw it too. And
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: the women stood on the path for a frozen second,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: not believing what they saw.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Ah!
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: And then the police came and dotted the flashlights around
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the shadows of the ravine. And Lavinia held on tightly
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to the shuddering front scene. And the night grew toward 8.30.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: You didn't move her, lady?
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: No, no, of course not. Who knew?
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: We didn't touch her.
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: How could we?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: And you didn't hear anything unusual?
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: No, no nothing.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: It's... It's the lonely one, isn't it?
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: The lonely one did it, didn't he?
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: I couldn't say, ma'am.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: We knew it, I know. He was a friend of ours.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. That's too bad. I'll have one of my
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: men walk you across the ravine.
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: Oh, that won't be necessary. Thank you very much. We'll
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: be all right.
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: Come along, dear.
• 5:36
  Speaker 8: I've never seen a dead person before.
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: Come on.
• 5:40
  Speaker 7: Come on.
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: It's only a little after 8.30. We'll pick up Helen
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: and get on to the show.
• 5:44
  Speaker 7: The show? Miss Denny, you know me.
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: Of course I do.
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: We've got to forget about this.
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: There's no good brooding about it.
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: Now, if we hurry, we won't miss too much of.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: The first week.
• 6:03
  Speaker 6: Well, I thought you'd never come.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: You're an hour late. Well, Helen, you see.
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: Someone found Eliza Rangel dead in the ravine.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Oh, no.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Who found her? We don't know. How awful.
• 6:18
  Speaker 8: Oh, I.
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: I don't think we'd better go to the show tonight.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Oh, of course we will.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: It's the last showing today, and I wouldn't miss William
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: all over the world. Besides, the lonely one cab killed
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: three ladies all at once and... Anyway, it's too soon.
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: The murders come a month separated.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Come along, Helen.
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: Well, all right.
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: I'll get a sweater. Wait for me. Why didn't you
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: tell her about us finding Eliza?
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: Why upset her? Coming up tomorrow.
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: Tonight we're going to the show, so let's not talk
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: about it anymore.
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: Enough's enough.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: The ladies walked downtown and stopped at the drugstore, which
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: was a few doors from the theater. Lavinia bought a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: quarter's worth of green mint shoes, and the druggist dropped
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the mints onto a sack with a silver shovel.
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: You looked mighty cool this noon, Miss Lavinia, when you
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: was in. So cool and nice, somebody asked after you.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 7:20
  Speaker 7: Man sitting at the counter. He watched him walk out
• 7:23
  Speaker 7: and he says to me, hey, who's that? Just like that,
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: he says it. Why, that's Lavinia Neb's prettiest maiden lady
• 7:31
  Speaker 7: in town, I says. Beautiful, so beautiful, he says.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Well, she lived.
• 7:39
  Speaker 5: You didn't give her her address.
• 7:41
  Speaker 7: Well, now, I didn't give him the exact address. I
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: said over on Park Street near the ravine.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Hope you didn't mind.
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: Well, that settles it.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: We're going straight home. That man asking for you, Lavinia.
• 7:55
  Speaker 8: You're next.
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: You want to be dead in that ravine?
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: Oh, nonsense.
• 7:59
  Speaker 9: I'm not going to miss the movie.
• 8:01
  Speaker 8: You two can do what you want.
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: I'm going.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: In the end, they all went to the show. Lavinia
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was like that. Cool, self-possessed, and persuasive. Came out of
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: the show, the streets were midnight clean and empty as
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: they walked Francine home.
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: Lavinia, Helen, stay here with me tonight. It's late.
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: Mrs.
• 8:36
  Speaker 6: Murdoch has an extra room. No, thanks. I don't sleep
• 8:39
  Speaker 6: well away from my own bed.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Please, Lavinia, please.
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: I promise I'll call you the very minute I get home.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Will you?
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: Will you really?
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: Yes, I promise.
• 8:48
  Speaker 9: Helen, you make a promise to call you too.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: I will.
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: Good night. Good night.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: I'm praying to be.
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: Now, I'll walk you home, Helen.
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: Well, I don't suppose it's any use asking you to
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: stay with me, Lavinia.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: There's no reason for me to. You've certainly acted strangely
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: all evening. I'm just not afraid, that's all. And anyway,
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: the lonely one wouldn't be around. Not now with the
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: police discovering Eliza's body and all.
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: Oh, I feel so guilty.
• 9:30
  Speaker 6: I'll be drinking a cup of coffee just about the
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: time you get to the ravine. Oh, that awful bridge
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: in the dark.
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: You will call us the minute you get home, won't you?
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: I won't sleep a wink if you don't.
• 9:44
  Speaker 6: I promise you I'll call. Now, good night.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Good night. Lavinia Neff walked down the midnight street, down
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the late summer silence. She saw the houses with their
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: dark windows, and far away she heard a dog barking.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: She thought to herself, In five minutes, I'll.
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: Be safe home.
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: In five minutes, I'll be phoning Francine and Helen.
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: That's so silly. Michael Haynes. Old. I'm older than neither
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: of them are.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: She heard the voice singing away among the trees and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: she walked a little faster. And then coming down the
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: street toward her in the dimming moonlight was a man.
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: Well, look who's here. What a time of night for
• 10:40
  Speaker 7: you to be out, Miss Ned.
• 10:42
  Speaker 5: Officer Kennedy. Oh.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: I'm so glad it's you.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Anything wrong, Miss Nibs?
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: No, no, nothing at all.
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: I'm just glad it's you.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: You know you shouldn't be out so late.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: Yes, I know.
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: I've been to movies. The Late Show.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I'd better see you across the ravine.
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: No, no, thank you.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: I can make it fine.
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: The moon's going to be behind the trees.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: It'll be pretty dark.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm not afraid of the dark, Mr.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Kennedy.
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: Are you sure you'll be all right?
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: Yes, yes, quite sure.
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: Thank you.
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: Well, I'll tell you what.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'll wait here till you're across.
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: If you need help, just give a yell and I'll
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: come running.
• 11:17
  Speaker 8: Thank you.
• 11:18
  Speaker 5: Good night.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Good night, Miss Nebs. As Lavinia walked on, she thought.
• 11:25
  Speaker 9: I won't walk in the ravine with him.
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: How do I know who the Lavinia is?
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: Could be anyone.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Then the ravine. She stood at the top of the
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: 113 steps that led down the steep, brambled bank and
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: across the creaking bridge. Then a hundred yards and up
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: through the black shadows to Park Street. And home.
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: Three minutes from now, I'll be putting my key in
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: the house door. Nothing can happen.
• 11:54
  Speaker 8: Nothing.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: And she started down the dark black steps into the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: deep ravine night, counting as she went.
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: One, two, three, four, five, six.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Five.
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: Ten. Eleven.
• 12:17
  Speaker 8: Twelve.
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: Thirteen.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Counting as she went. The ravine was deep. The world
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: was grand. The safe world.
• 12:29
  Speaker 8: Of people and men. The locked doors.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: The power. The drugstore.
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: Theater.
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: Life.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Everything was gone. Only the ravines existed and lived. Twenty-nine.
• 12:41
  Speaker 8: 33... 34... Nothing's happened.
• 12:53
  Speaker 6: How is it?
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: No.
• 12:57
  Speaker 8: Isn't there? 40... 41... 42... 43... 44... 44... Remember? Remember
• 13:04
  Speaker 8: that old.
• 13:05
  Speaker 9: Old story you told each other when you were children?
• 13:08
  Speaker 9: About the dark man coming into your house and the
• 13:11
  Speaker 9: upstairs area? And now he's at the first step coming
• 13:15
  Speaker 9: up to your room.
• 13:17
  Speaker 9: Now he's at the second step. Now he's at the
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: third or fourth and the fifth step.
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: How he laughs when he's screaming to that door.
• 13:29
  Speaker 9: And now the horrid man is at the twelfth step,
• 13:33
  Speaker 9: opening your door.
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: And now he's standing by your bed.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: No!
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: What? What? Maybe at the bottom of this.
• 13:48
  Speaker 7: tablet?
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: Summer?
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: No.
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: No, not... I'm gone.
• 13:58
  Speaker 6: It was waiting there.
• 14:02
  Speaker 8: No.
• 14:03
  Speaker 9: No, there's nothing.
• 14:06
  Speaker 8: There's nothing. Nothing.
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: There's something on the bridge.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: You fool.
• 14:16
  Speaker 8: That story I told myself.
• 14:18
  Speaker 7: How silly.
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: Shall I call Mr.
• 14:22
  Speaker 6: Kennedy?
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: Did he hear me scream? Or did I scream?
• 14:26
  Speaker 9: Maybe I only thought I did.
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: And he didn't hear me at all.
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: I'll go back up.
• 14:35
  Speaker 9: I'll go to Helen's and sit there tonight.
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: Oh, it's really hot now.
• 14:42
  Speaker 8: Don't be silly.
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: Wait.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Wait.
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: Someone's following me.
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: Someone's on the steps behind.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Me.
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: I don't dare turn around. Every time I.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Officer.
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: Officer Cassidy?
• 15:19
  Speaker 6: Is that you?
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: Is it?
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: The crickets were suddenly still. The crickets were listening. The
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: night was listening to her. Then there was a sound.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Only a woodchuck surely beating a hollow log... No, no,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: it was Lavinia Nebbs. It was most surely the heart
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of Lavinia Nebbs. And she went down the steps, faster, faster,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: running now down the steps, plunging faster and faster, down,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: down under the pit of the ravine.
• 15:56
  Speaker 9: Go away.
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: Go away. Go away. You can see him.
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: You'll not be able to move. He just runs.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Up the path between the hills, the top of the path,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the street, and even with the light, the fear swirled
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: about her, closing and pressing.
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: Please.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Please.
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: Give me time to get inside of.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I'm out the door.
• 16:19
  Speaker 9: Hello, please.
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: Take....
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Oh, I'm... I'm faded home. I'm going to do.
• 16:36
  Speaker 8: That again.
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's so good. It's so safe inside.
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: I'm locked and safe inside. I.
• 16:45
  Speaker 6: Wait, the window.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: There's no one there at all.
• 16:55
  Speaker 5: There's nobody.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Nobody.
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: There was no one following me at all.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: Nobody running after me.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: How silly.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: If a man had been following me, he'd have caught me.
• 17:09
  Speaker 6: I can't run as fast as a man.
• 17:12
  Speaker 9: I wasn't running from.
• 17:13
  Speaker 7: Anything except me.
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: The ravine was safer than safe. Oh, it's nice to
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: be home, you know. Home's a really good, warm, safe place.
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: The only.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: She had just put her hand out to the light
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: switch when she heard it behind her in the blackness.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Just a movement.
• 17:43
  Speaker 8: Who is it?
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: Who is it?
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Suspense. In which Agnes Moorhead starred in William N. Robeson's
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: production of The Whole Town Sleeping, written by Ray Bradbury
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: and adapted for suspense by Anthony Ellis. Listen. Listen again
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: next week when we return with another tale well calculated
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: to keep you in suspense. This is the CBS Radio Network.