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

Transcript

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

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