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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: December 12, 1957 brought NBC Radio's X-1 to episode 121,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The Haunted Corpse. Frederick Pohl's story, first published in Galaxy
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Science Fiction earlier that year, was adapted for radio by
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: William Welch and directed by George Voutsis.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: At Dr.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Horn's home laboratory, a guarded scientist has developed a process
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: for separating living intelligence from the body and placing it elsewhere.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: When the army establishes a security cordon around the laboratory,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Colonel Windermere moves in to learn what Horn has discovered,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: while Horn's associate, Van Pelt, grows increasingly uneasy. The cast
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: includes Al Jasbo Collins, Bob Hastings, Edgar Staley, and Lydia Bruce.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Countdown for blastoff. X minus 5, 4, 3, 2, X minus.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: 1, fire.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come tales of
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: the future. Adventures in which you'll live in a million
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: could be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company presents.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: X minus 1. The Haunted Corpse by Frederick Pohl.
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: It was 2200 hours when my task force of 135
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: picked men and a wax stenographer, all fully equipped for
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: any emergency, surrounded the big house. Just as I stepped
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: out of my jeep, the old boy himself came storming
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: out of the house with fire in his eye... While
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: he was still ranting and raving, I gave him a
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: soft salute and waited for him to finish.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Go on, get the whole bunch of you. This is
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: private property and you're trespassing. I won't have it, you hear?
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: Now go on, get out.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: I'm Colonel Windermere, sir.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: My orders are to establish a security cordon around your laboratories.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Here you are, Dr.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: Horn.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Your copy of the orders.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: You can take those orders. Say, say, who put you
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: up to this? I know, Van Pelt. Why, that rotten, overstuffed,
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: backstabbing monster of a... Dr.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Horn.
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: Oh, I know Van Pelt. I ought to. He worked
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: as my associate for years.
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: But that doesn't give him the right to turn traitor
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: and go running off to the Pentagon with a story
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: about the Horn affair.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Excuse me, Dr.
• 3:14
  Speaker 5: Horn.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: The General asked me to give you his personal assurance
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: that my men will not in any way interfere with
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: your work here. It's just a matter of security.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: Security? Now, listen here, Lieutenant, I won't. Excuse me, sir.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: It's Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Windermere.
• 3:30
  Speaker 6: Colonel, General, Lieutenant, what do I care what fool title
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: you stick on your name? The Horn Effect is my
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: personal property. Not yours, not Van Pelt's, not the Pentagon's.
• 3:39
  Speaker 6: Not anybody's but mine. You and your whole army can
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: go plumb to the devil.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: Good day. Good day.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: I watched the old man, he must have been all
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: of 85, go.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Stalking back into the house.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: During the night, a wire stringing detail surrounded the whole
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: place with three-strand electrified barbed wire with guard towers every
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: 50 yards. I inspected the whole establishment before breakfast the
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: next morning. And then, satisfied that everything was in order,
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: I ate breakfast in my tent. I was interrupted by
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: the appearance of Van Pelt, the fat and chubby scientist
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: who had sent the original report to Washington.
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: What did he say? How did he take it, Colonel?
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: I mean, is he sore?
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Sore as a boil, Doctor.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: Well, you're here, so I guess he won't try anything.
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: By the way.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: I didn't get a chance to have breakfast in.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Town, and I wondered... Oh, of course. Have some bacon
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: and eggs. Thank you very much.
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: It looks delicious.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: I watched him gobble up the rest of my breakfast.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I was beginning to understand why Van Pelt and Horn
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: didn't get along very well. Why Van Pelt finally went
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: running to the Pentagon with his report. Of course, it
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: was my job to keep an open mind, but I
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: couldn't help thinking how I'd feel if my exec, Captain Lefferts,
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: went over my head.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: In that way.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: No, I couldn't blame Dr. Horn for being angry. At 1400,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: I went to see the doctor again. I brought along
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: Corporal McCabe, my wax stenographer.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: Well, what do you two want?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Dr.
• 5:30
  Speaker 5: Horn.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I'm here to get your daily progress report.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: Daily?
• 5:34
  Speaker 5: You want to report every day?
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Refer to paragraph eight of my orders.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: Corporal McCabe here is an expert stenographer.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: She'll take down your dictation.
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: Dictation? No, no, I won't do it. I absolutely will
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: not do it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: You'll have to do it, sir.
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: Why, why, you and your stinking little two-bit army.
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: I ought to.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: Progress report, you say?
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: You're going to stick to what you say?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: I must, sir.
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: Well, I suppose I must reconcile myself to the situation. Now,
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: exactly what is it that you want, Lieutenant?
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: The report, sir, and it's Colonel, not Lieutenant.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: Just so, just so. The report, all about my work,
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: is that it?
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: You may speak freely, Doctor. Corporal McCabe has full security clearance.
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: Well, that must make her very happy. Ah, yes, the report.
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: Just so, just so.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: You're listening to The Haunted Corpse on X-1. Have you
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: ever read the want ads? Well, say one.
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: Morning you pick up your hometown paper and spot an
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: ad which reads, Wanted. For important position with fast-growing concern.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Native-born American citizen, male or female, at least 35 years
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: of age. Must be able to give proof of 14-year
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: residence in the United States. Position of four-year duration with
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: possible renewal. Room and board furnished. Yearly salary, $ 100, 000, with
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: an additional $ 40, 000 for travel and official entertainment, plus $ 50, 000
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: for operating expenses. Summer residence furnished with paid vacation. Qualifications
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: of applicant carefully checked before position assigned. Now, that sounds
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: mighty attractive, doesn't it? But the job it describes isn't
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: a soft one by any means. As a matter of fact,
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: it's probably the toughest job in America. that of being
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: President of the United States. And the first job of
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: each President is to take an oath that he will
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: faithfully execute the office to which he's been named and will,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: the Constitution of the United States. Yes, the job of
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: being President is a mighty important one, but preserving and
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: protecting the Constitution is even more important because the Constitution
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: is the supreme law of the land. The president may
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: veto a bill, but if Congress, by a two-thirds majority,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: passes the bill over his veto, it becomes a law
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: under the Constitution, unless set aside by judicial judgment. Thus,
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: the best interests of the people are protected. That's how
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: your American Constitution works.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: The American Constitution.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: Now, back to X-1 and the haunted corpse. I wasn't
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: deceived by Dr. Horn's sudden willingness to cooperate. He was
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: probably trying to win my confidence so they could find
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: a way to phone his congressman and make trouble for
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: the whole operation. But I merely nodded to Corporal McCabe,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: who opened her notebook and got ready to take the dictation.
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: Very well. This machine you see here is my polychloid quasitron. Now,
• 9:12
  Speaker 5: to understand its operation, let me explain... Oh, sir, excuse me.
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: That term.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, yes.
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: Dr.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: Horn, would you kindly spell poly... those two words for
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: the corporal?
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: Just so, just so.
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: P-O-L-Y-C-L-O-I-D... Q-U-A-S-I-T-R-O-N.
• 9:32
  Speaker 5: Thank you, sir. Just so. Well, now, the various... It was.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Rough going for about an hour.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: The doctor had to pause every 50 seconds to spell
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: a word for McCabe, who was looking more and more
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: ill at ease. But there was one virtue to this
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: slow pace. I was able to follow it all fairly well.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: And when the doctor finally stopped, I was ready to
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: sum it.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Up for him.
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: I hope, Lieutenant, that I've made myself clear. Yes, sir.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: In other words, you've perfected it.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: A method of electronically killing a man without touching him.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: What? Electronically killing a man without touching him? Yes, sir.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: Just so, Lieutenant, just so. Will you tell me one thing?
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: What in the sweet name of heaven did I say
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: that gave you that particularly stupid notion?
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Well, sir, that's what you said.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: It is also what my briefing from General Follensbee at
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: the Pentagon gave me to understand.
• 10:24
  Speaker 5: Oh, rubbish.
• 10:26
  Speaker 6: Oh, I see what you mean. Just so, just so.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: I confess I wondered why you're here in the first place.
• 10:34
  Speaker 6: The government feels that this is a weapon.
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: Of course, sir.
• 10:38
  Speaker 6: Oh, well, now we understand each other. My machine renders
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: humans into corpses. So does a chip flint, for that matter.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but never mind. That is the aspect which interests you. Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Very good.
• 10:52
  Speaker 5: But mark this, Lieutenant.
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: My Quasitron does something no chip flint can do. It
• 10:57
  Speaker 6: removes from the human body that thing which possesses only
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: a negative definition.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: The.
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: Quantity that we will term X, which added to the
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: body produces a man, subtracted leaves a corpse.
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: Oh, but you don't care about all that, do you?
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Sir, I don't follow you.
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: No, you don't. Right, you don't.
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: We're all corpses, don't you see? Corpses inhabited by ghosts.
• 11:23
  Speaker 6: And there's only one man in the world who can
• 11:26
  Speaker 6: separate the two without destroying them.
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: And that is me.
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: And there's only one way to do it, and that's
• 11:33
  Speaker 6: with the Quasitron.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: Good day, Lieutenant.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: Corporal McCabe and I left hurriedly. I was ready now
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: to make my situation analysis according to orders.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: But I decided to check one fact. I summoned Van
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Pelt to my tent that night.
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: No, no, Colonel Windermere. He's perfectly sane. Perfectly. But he
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: is also dangerous. Particularly dangerous to me.
• 12:04
  Speaker 8: I mean, of course, if I haven't the Army's promise
• 12:08
  Speaker 8: of complete protection.
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: Colonel, that bowl of fruit looks tempting. I wonder if I.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, help yourself, Dr.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Pelton.
• 12:20
  Speaker 5: Thank you. Tasty. Very tasty. Dr.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Van Pelt, I must have the straight dope on horn.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: What's this ghost business? My goodness, Colonel, that's just the
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: old man's way of putting it. Forget the term ghost
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: if it really distresses you.
• 12:38
  Speaker 8: Whatever you want to call this thing in the body, life,
• 12:41
  Speaker 8: intelligence or whatnot, this is what his machine works on.
• 12:45
  Speaker 8: If he wishes, he can replace this quantity or remove
• 12:49
  Speaker 8: it from body to body. You might call the operation
• 12:52
  Speaker 8: a transference.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: A transference of personality. Yes, that will describe it.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: Well, I got rid of Van Pelt fast after that.
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Now I had something really exciting to look into. This
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: old man had a machine that could take a person
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: out of his body and put him into another one
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: if he liked. Next morning, I demanded a demonstration, and Dr.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: Horn showed me how he could change a hen and
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: a cocker spaniel with the Quasitron.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: It was weird, but impressive and convincing.
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: Well, Lieutenant, do you believe in my machine now?
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Remarkable. But can it work with people?
• 13:37
  Speaker 6: Indeed it can, but these ridiculous laws governing the conduct
• 13:40
  Speaker 6: of institutions... Heaven knows I've tried to get permission for
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: an experiment. A man dying of cancer, for instance. To
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: exchange with a feeble-minded youth.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: Why not? Put the sound mind in the sound body
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: and let the other die. But no, no, they won't
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: have it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: I see.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: Then it actually has never been done.
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: No, but.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: Now, you're here, Lieutenant. A military man, very brave. Just so,
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: just so. All I've ever needed was a volunteer. Now,
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: Van Pelt refused, the coward. So has everyone else, but
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: now you.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Negative, sir, negative.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: I am not a lieutenant, Doctor. I am a field-grade officer.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: But if there is a need for volunteers, I can.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Find them for you, sir.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: You can? Yes. You really can?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. I can think of several likely prospects. Give
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: me until tomorrow.
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: Just so. Just so, Lieutenant.
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: Major, I mean... No, Captain, then. Tomorrow will do splendidly.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: My immediate job was to get the volunteers.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I would require two. The first was easy. A private
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: enable company. I sent for him and he appeared looking apprehensive.
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: Sir, the colonel sent for me.
• 14:57
  Speaker 7: I did?
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: You're the latrine orderly of Able Company?
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, I am, sir.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: There's a report on you. A-W-O-L. That means a court-martial.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: You're aware of the possible consequences?
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, I am, sir.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: There is a possibility that these charges might be dropped.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: It depends upon our finding a volunteer for a special job.
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: Is that all, sir? Oh, I volunteer, colonel. When do
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: I start, sir?
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Was one.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: The second was a bit more of a problem. I
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: thought at once of my executive officer, Captain Lefferts, a
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: fine officer typical of the best leadership type. He had
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: just been married and he had no desire to be
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: transferred to Saudi Arabia.
• 15:46
  Speaker 9: Let me get this straight, Colonel. Are you saying that
• 15:50
  Speaker 9: if I volunteer for this assignment, there's a possibility my
• 15:54
  Speaker 9: orders might be changed?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: Captain, I hold your transfer orders in my hands. If
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: you decide to volunteer, I will destroy them. Sir, I volunteer.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: So it was done. The next morning, both men were
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: strapped into Horn's infernal machine. There was a great crackling
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: and sparking.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Yeah. It's done.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: May I speak to my men?
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: Go right ahead, Lieutenant.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: The orderly first. You, name, rank, and serial number.
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: Sir? Lefferts, Robert T., Captain A.U.S. Serial number 03339615. Oh, sir,
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: about that transfer to Saudi Arabia.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: No, that'll do. I.
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: Good heavens.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: And now you.
• 16:57
  Speaker 9: Colonel, sir, I changed my mind. If I can't go
• 17:01
  Speaker 9: back to Latrina orderly, I'll take the guardhouse, sir.
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: It worked.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: At ease, men.
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: You really did it, Dr. Horn. Just so, Lieutenant, just so.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: I really did.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: Horn switched the two men back again while I rushed
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: for the telephone. Crash Priority, the Pentagon, General Follensbee, Priority
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: and Classified. Ask the General to stand by for Scrambler.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: A weapon? This was far more than a weapon. We
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: had the world by the tail.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: I got through to the general, and I was excited
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: as I pointed out the implications of the device. Suppose
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: a hostile representative visited this country, I told him. One
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: of our men could switch places with him, and no
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: one would ever guess. In time, we could have our
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: men in the top positions of every government in the world.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: Our men reporting to us. It was the greatest opportunity
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: any government ever had. The general was impressed in spite
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: of himself. We arranged an appointment in the Pentagon for
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: the next morning. As I hung up, I fingered the
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: silver leaf on my shoulder. It would soon be a star.
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: Colonel! Colonel!
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: What is it, O'Hare?
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: Sir, I don't know how to put this. I'm afraid Dr.
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: Van Pelt has gone psycho, sir.
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: Why, Sergeant?
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: What's he done?
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: He's raving, sir.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: He says Dr.
• 18:32
  Speaker 7: Horn wants to live forever. He says all Horn was
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: waiting for was to make a test on a human being.
• 18:38
  Speaker 7: He says now you've given Horn his test, Horn is
• 18:40
  Speaker 7: going to grab the first human being he can find and,
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: excuse me, sir, this is what he said, and steal
• 18:46
  Speaker 7: his body.
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: Great Scott, where is Van Pelt now? In the laboratory, sir,
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: with Dr. Horn.
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: Gee, is everybody around here nuts?
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: I saw it all in a flash. Dr.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Horn had a brilliant mind but a worn-out body. He
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: was going to make a switch before his own aging
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: machinery broke down.
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: I had to stop him.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: Van Pelt was there literally asking for it. I stumbled
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: over Horn's body, dead. He'd already done it. Next to
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: his body sprawled my whack. Corporal McCabe, stunned by a
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: blow on the head as she tried to prevent the tragedy.
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: And there at the machine was Van Pelt, or what
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: used to be Van Pelt, striking the complicated.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Machinery with one blow after another. Too late, Colonel!
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: Colonel, too late!
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: Don't!
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: Don't destroy the machine! Stop! It's too late, I tell you!
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Too late!
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: Not that I know who you are, you're nothing!
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: Pelt your horn! Get away from that machine!
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: No!
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: Not until it's destroyed! Destroyed! Destroyed! McCabe, you killed him!
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: You fool!
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: You unutterable ass.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Wing him, yes. Stop him from smashing the machine, yes.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: But why did you have to shoot to kill?
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: It seemed the best way.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: You've ruined everything now. Horn's dead and so is van pelt.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: The machine is wrecked beyond repair. Sorry, Corporal, but I'm
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: putting you under arrest. Give me that gun.
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: I'm afraid not.
• 20:15
  Speaker 6: You're fundamentally a nice guy, so I'm just going to
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: lock you in here long enough to get away, Lieutenant.
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: Lieutenant?
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Horn!
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: You're Dr. Horn! Just so, Lieutenant. Just so. Goodbye.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: X-1 has brought you The Haunted Corpse, a story written
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: by Frederick Pohl and adapted for radio by William Welch.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Featured in our cast were Edgar Staley as Dr. Horn,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Walter Black as the Colonel, and Dean Lyman Omquist as
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Van Pelt.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Others in our cast.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Were Lydia Bruce, Alan Collins, Bob Hastings, and Ralph Camargo.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: This is Fred Collins speaking. X-1 was directed by George
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Gutzas and is an NBC Radio Network production. We pause
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: now for station identification.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: This concludes X-1 and the Haunted Corpse. Follow X-1 for
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: more classic broadcasts.