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X Minus One - "Dr Grimshaw's Sanitarium" (Old Time Radio, 1955) · X Minus One | Old Time Radio

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Private Detective John Dougherty is called into a cemetery accident
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: involving a coffin whose expected occupant is missing. His inquiry
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: takes him undercover to Dr. Grimshaw's private sanitarium outside Gawanda,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: New York, where the patients are uneasy and the staff
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: offers few answers. From NBC's X-1, this is Episode 9, Dr.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Grimshaw's Sanitarium, first heard July 14, 1955. The drama adapts
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: a Fletcher Pratt story first published in Amazing Stories in 1934,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: with Fred Wyhe directing a cast that includes Arthur Maitland,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Bill Lipton, Peter Capel, Rosemary Prince, Leon Janney, and Frank Milano.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: And now, the original broadcast.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Countdown for blastoff.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: X minus 5, 4, 3... Two.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: X minus one. Fire.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: of the future, adventures in which you'll live in a
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: million could-be years on a thousand maybe worlds. The National
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Broadcasting Company, in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: astounding science fiction, presents.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: X minus 1.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Tonight's story, Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitarium.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: What you will hear in the next half hour represents
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: either a magnificent hoax or the true explanation of the
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: famous Grimshaw Sanitarium scandal which made the headlines back in 1947.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: The manuscript upon which this account is based was removed
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: by the New York State Police from a fountain pen
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: cover found in the doorway to Dr. Grimshaw's study. We
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: offer this manuscript as evidence only. Whether it is authentic
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: or not, you must judge for yourselves.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: My name is John Dougherty.
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: I'm a graduate of Hamilton College, class of 34, a
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: member of Theta Alpha. I'm one of those fools who
• 2:55
  Speaker 6: wanted some excitement in life, so instead of going into
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: my father's shoe business, I became a private detective.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: These are facts. You can check them if you like.
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: The rest of what I write here is so fantastic
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: that I don't expect it to be believed. If anyone
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: should find this manuscript and read it, all I ask
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: is that you notify Miss Millicent Armbruster of 299 Wallace Avenue, Buffalo,
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: that Johnny Dougherty is dead. On the evening of July 1st,
• 3:25
  Speaker 6: Miss Armbruster and I were driving to a wedding.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Not our own, although I wish it had been. It
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: was Sunday.
• 3:32
  Speaker 6: And in order to avoid traffic, I took the Old
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: Mill Road, a single-lane dirt affair that runs past the
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: Gawanda Cemetery.
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Johnny, aren't you going too fast?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Not for this road. There's nothing around except some tombstones and.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: Johnny, the gate to the cemetery.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: What about it? That hearse, look out! Look out!
• 3:51
  Speaker 6: We skidded for about 20 feet and slammed into the
• 3:52
  Speaker 6: back of the hearse. The two rear doors buckled.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: And snapped open. It was a freak.
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: A huge oak coffin with brass handles tipped up and
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: began slowly to slide back toward us.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, how horrible. You stay right here, baby. You okay, Mac?
• 4:09
  Speaker 8: You don't pay much attention to speed limits, do you, Jack?
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: Now, look, let's not get hung up on who was
• 4:14
  Speaker 6: right and who was wrong. I was going too fast
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: and you were traveling without lights after dark.
• 4:18
  Speaker 8: Let's see your driver's license.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Right here.
• 4:20
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Private Eye, eh? If you don't mind, who does this
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: joy wagon belong to?
• 4:28
  Speaker 8: Go on to funeral service. It's being rented to Grimshaw.
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: Who?
• 4:33
  Speaker 8: Grimshaw from the private sanitarium.
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: Mind if I ask what you were doing after dark
• 4:37
  Speaker 6: coming out of a cemetery with a wooden kimono?
• 4:39
  Speaker 8: We're moving one of Grimshaw's patients to a new grave.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: They always travel like this?
• 4:43
  Speaker 8: Look, Hawkshaw, how about skipping the third degree and giving
• 4:46
  Speaker 8: me a hand getting this box back in the wagon?
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: A pleasure.
• 4:50
  Speaker 6: Better screw on that cover again. It's going to slide off.
• 4:52
  Speaker 8: Let's get it in the hearse first.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Okay, Junior. You get on that end. Okay.
• 4:57
  Speaker 8: You ready? Yeah, lift.
• 5:00
  Speaker 10: Just slide it.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, brother, who's in there, King Kong? Look out for
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the cover. I told you that would ha.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: It's a guy's name, Junior.
• 5:10
  Speaker 8: Oh, why don't you ask him, Sherlock Holmes?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: A real wise guy, huh? I've got half a mind
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: to report this accident. Well, go ahead.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: See where it gets you.
• 5:21
  Speaker 8: Now, if you'll pardon me, I'll deliver the body.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Everything all right, Johnny?
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: I thought so until a few seconds ago. Listen, Malik,
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: can you sit here in the car for another five minutes?
• 5:35
  Speaker 10: Where are you going?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: For a stroll through the cemetery.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: Johnny, stop making jokes.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: When we lifted that coffin back on the meat wagon,
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: I got a good look inside it. Yeah, exactly how
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: I felt. I figured we'd knock the stuffing out of
• 5:45
  Speaker 6: the corpse, only I didn't expect the stuffing to be sand.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: What?
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: That wasn't a body. That was a dummy stuffed with sand.
• 5:51
  Speaker 6: A dummy with a wax face.
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: Johnny!
• 5:53
  Speaker 6: Which brings up an interesting question. Who's supposed to be
• 5:56
  Speaker 6: in that box and, uh... Just where is the dead
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: man spending his time? Sometimes in my business, when things
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: drop off, you have to go out and, uh, well,
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: dig up new clients. My next case was a gentleman
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: named Harlan Ward Sr., a wealthy automobile manufacturer. I'd gotten
• 6:19
  Speaker 6: his name off his son's tombstone.
• 6:21
  Speaker 11: Are you trying to tell me, Doherty, that my son
• 6:24
  Speaker 11: Harlan was never buried at Gowana Cemetery?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Exactly, Mr.
• 6:28
  Speaker 8: Wood.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: But why?
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: Maybe if you'll tell me the circumstances surrounding your son's death,
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: I can help answer that.
• 6:33
  Speaker 11: My son was a rather impetuous young man. Tall, good-looking.
• 6:38
  Speaker 11: After his graduation from Princeton, he began drinking quite heavily.
• 6:42
  Speaker 11: After he got into a couple of scrapes, we sent
• 6:44
  Speaker 11: him to Dr. Grimshaw's sanitarium in the hopes that he
• 6:48
  Speaker 11: could be cured. While my wife and I were in Europe,
• 6:51
  Speaker 11: we received word that he'd died. Buried at Gwana in
• 6:54
  Speaker 11: our absence. Last week, my wife and I decided to
• 6:58
  Speaker 11: have his body removed to the family vault here at
• 7:00
  Speaker 11: Short Hills.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: How'd your son die? Suicide. You never saw the body?
• 7:06
  Speaker 11: No. We couldn't get back from Europe in time. Now
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: you tell me that his coffin contains a dummy. How
• 7:15
  Speaker 11: do I know this whole thing isn't a plan to
• 7:17
  Speaker 11: fleece me?
• 7:17
  Speaker 8: You don't.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: But you're a rich man, Mr.
• 7:20
  Speaker 6: Ward, and you're perfectly willing to take a chance that
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: I'm on the level and that your son may still
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: be alive.
• 7:25
  Speaker 11: You sound very sure of yourself, Mr. Dundee.
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: My fee is a $ 2, 000 retainer plus expenses.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: What sort of expenses?
• 7:32
  Speaker 6: However much it costs to take the cure at Dr.
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: Grimshaw's Sanitarium. Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitarium was just outside Gawanda. Most
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: of the cases were nervous breakdowns and alcoholics. I committed
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: myself as a dipso, and just to make it convincing,
• 7:51
  Speaker 6: I stopped at five or six bars on the way over.
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: I was interviewed by Grimshaw himself, a small man with
• 7:57
  Speaker 6: a fringe of white hair.
• 7:58
  Speaker 10: You understand, Mr.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Doherty. That's not my real name, of course. Social reason.
• 8:02
  Speaker 10: We understand. Our paid clientele is very select, and our
• 8:04
  Speaker 10: rates are very high.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You'll be paid in cash and in advance, Dr. Grimshaw.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: How long does a cure usually take?
• 8:11
  Speaker 10: That, of course, depends on the degree of alcoholism. assistant, Dr. Voyner.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: How do you do? How do you do?
• 8:19
  Speaker 10: We are accepting Mr. Dorothy as a patient, but to
• 8:21
  Speaker 10: place him in the ward with Mr. Kay and Mr. Cakey.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 8:25
  Speaker 10: Kay is a long-term patient, Mr. Dorothy, a highly intelligent man,
• 8:29
  Speaker 10: formerly a professor of plant pathology.
• 8:31
  Speaker 5: Mr.
• 8:31
  Speaker 10: Cakey suffers mild delusions. I think you'll find him rather amusing.
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: After about three days, my roommates Arthur Kay and Crakey
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: got used to me. And we even began to play
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: three-handed bridge. Kay was a chronic dope addict, an intelligent,
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: sensitive man. Crakey was nothing but a clown. He kept
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: a big black cat named the Professor, which he talked
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: to as if it were human.
• 9:00
  Speaker 7: And so I said to her, my dear Countess, if
• 9:03
  Speaker 7: you don't like the company of my cat, then you
• 9:06
  Speaker 7: don't like me.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: She looked at me as if I were insane. But
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: of course the joke was on her because I was. Eh, Professor?
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: The Professor is very sociable. Excellent company.
• 9:18
  Speaker 12: Except when he kills birds and deposits them in your bed.
• 9:22
  Speaker 12: He's nothing but a feline murderer as far as I'm concerned.
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Ah, see? You have insulted him, Mr. K.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Come here, Professor. Let's make friends. How about giving me
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: your paw?
• 9:34
  Speaker 9: Uh-oh!
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Scratch me, you black devil.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: You insulted him. You hurt his feelings.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: Well, just keep him away from me.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: It will be a pleasure.
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: I would advise you not to insult him again. Good
• 9:49
  Speaker 7: afternoon and evening.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Is he always as nuts as that?
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: Ever since I've been here.
• 9:58
  Speaker 12: What's his problem? Manic, depressive, and a little paranoid, too.
• 10:04
  Speaker 12: How long have you been here, Arthur?
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Two years.
• 10:09
  Speaker 12: I left for a while, but I couldn't stay away
• 10:11
  Speaker 12: from the junk, so I committed myself again.
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: Did you happen to know a patient here named Harlan
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: Ward and Why do you ask that?
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Did you know him? I met him socially a few times.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I understand he died here. So the newspapers said.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't know.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Suicide, wasn't it?
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Was it?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: You're being pretty careful, aren't you?
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 10:37
  Speaker 12: Doherty, what would you say if I were to tell
• 10:39
  Speaker 12: you that I don't believe Holland Ward is dead? What
• 10:44
  Speaker 12: makes you so certain? He used to share this room
• 10:46
  Speaker 12: with us. He slept in the same bed you now use.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I see. He was an alcoholic, doing quite well, too.
• 10:53
  Speaker 12: From what I could observe, we all expected him to
• 10:56
  Speaker 12: go home soon. Then one evening he had a violent
• 10:59
  Speaker 12: fight with Craigie. Craigie accused him of snooping or something.
• 11:03
  Speaker 12: Later that night, Grimshaw and Voyner took him out.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: Where?
• 11:10
  Speaker 12: They take all the special treatment cases to the charity clinic.
• 11:15
  Speaker 12: It's that small building on the other side of the
• 11:16
  Speaker 12: stone wall. A few days later, we read about his death. Suicide,
• 11:24
  Speaker 12: they said. That's what makes you think he's still alive, Arthur.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: This?
• 11:32
  Speaker 12: About a month ago, I was in the garden next
• 11:34
  Speaker 12: to the wall that separates us from the charity clinic. Suddenly,
• 11:37
  Speaker 12: I thought I heard a sound, like a child whimpering.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: It stopped.
• 11:42
  Speaker 10: And a moment later, this note.
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Came over the wall, wrapped around a stone.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: What's it say?
• 11:47
  Speaker 12: Help me, for God's sake, Harlan Ward. Arthur, how would
• 11:53
  Speaker 12: you like to have some fun?
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Like what? Like sneaking out tonight and going over the
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: wall to the charity ward. What do you say? It
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: would break the monotony a little. I suppose there's no
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: real harm in it. Of course not. I'd go alone,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: but I'll need help scaling the wall. Will you do it?
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 5: I'll go with you. All clear.
• 12:23
  Speaker 10: Give me your hand and I'll lift you.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Be careful when you drop. Ready?
• 12:30
  Speaker 10: Go ahead.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: There's a charity building over there.
• 12:38
  Speaker 10: The one with the lights in the basement window.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Come on. Let's crawl over. Maybe we can see something.
• 12:45
  Speaker 13: Shh.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Listen. Can you make out what he's saying? No, I
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: can barely hear.
• 12:54
  Speaker 10: Good Lord.
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: What was that?
• 12:55
  Speaker 10: Probably some patient having the DTs.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Let's have a look.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Easy it wouldn't do to get caught now. See anything?
• 13:06
  Speaker 10: Some sort of laboratory. I can see Grimshaw and Voyn
• 13:09
  Speaker 10: and something else.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: What? There's a child with its back toward me.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Now take it quietly.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: It will be easy.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: Please don't.
• 13:16
  Speaker 10: It will all be over soon. You won't remember anything.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: No, I don't want to go.
• 13:21
  Speaker 5: Boina, give it to him.
• 13:22
  Speaker 9: No, no.
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: Cut him up, Boina.
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Good Lord.
• 13:27
  Speaker 10: What was it?
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: What did they do to that child?
• 13:30
  Speaker 10: Arthur, that wasn't a child. It was a midget. The
• 13:35
  Speaker 10: smallest midget I've ever seen.
• 13:36
  Speaker 5: What were they doing?
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Trying to give it some sort of injection. When it resisted,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Boina knocked it out.
• 13:40
  Speaker 10: What do you suppose they were doing to it?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Arthur. All I know is that when
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: it fell, it had the face of Harlan Ward.
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: All the way back to our room, my brain was
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: working like some frantic pinball machine, only the score somehow
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: wouldn't add up.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: The pieces were there all right.
• 14:04
  Speaker 6: A crazy old doctor, a brutal assistant, a private sanitarium,
• 14:07
  Speaker 6: and a midget with a dead man's face.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: I thought that when I got back to our room,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I'd have some.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: Time to think about it. I'd forgotten about our friend,
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: the happiness boy, Count Crakey.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Oh, I've caught you. Fine, you've caught us.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: Now how about crawling back into the woodwork like a
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: good little count?
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Where were you?
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Mink hunting. Arthur and I like to go mink hunting
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: at night.
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: You make fun of Count Craigay? I shall report you
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: to Dr.
• 14:35
  Speaker 8: Voyner.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: You'd better not if you know what's good for you.
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: Oh, you threaten me.
• 14:39
  Speaker 10: Me, Count Craigay.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: I shall scream for help.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: Help! Help!
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Did you hurt him? Just knocked him out.
• 14:47
  Speaker 12: What do we do now?
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: Put him to bed. Hope that when he wakes up
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: in the morning, he's forgotten the whole thing.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: And if he hasn't?
• 14:51
  Speaker 6: He's too crazy for them to take seriously anyway. Come on,
• 14:54
  Speaker 6: let's get him back into bed. I went to sleep
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: in my own room. And the next thing I felt
• 15:07
  Speaker 6: was the sharp jab of the hypodermic needle in my
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: left arm.
• 15:10
  Speaker 10: Hold it. It'll be useless to struggle, Mr.
• 15:13
  Speaker 11: Dorothy.
• 15:13
  Speaker 10: In a moment, your motor nerves will be completely paralyzed.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Hurts us about, Grimshaw.
• 15:17
  Speaker 10: I might ask the same of you. My good friend
• 15:19
  Speaker 10: Count Craigie informs me you and Mr. K decided to
• 15:22
  Speaker 10: do some snooping earlier tonight. He followed you and saw
• 15:25
  Speaker 10: you climb the wall.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Craigie's insane.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Mr. Dougherty, that is a matter of opinion.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Craigie, what is this?
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Perhaps my assistant, Dr. Grimshaw, would be good enough to explain.
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: Assistant?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: You see, I am the actual head of the Grimshaw sanatorium.
• 15:44
  Speaker 10: Count Craigie pains many delusions, Mr.
• 15:46
  Speaker 5: Dougherty.
• 15:47
  Speaker 10: But in this case, he is telling the truth. Count Craig,
• 15:49
  Speaker 10: he is actually Professor Ernst Hassler. Professor Hassler and I
• 15:53
  Speaker 10: worked together in the Berlin Neurological Institute before and during
• 15:57
  Speaker 10: the last war.
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: Unfortunately, my political affiliations with the Third Reich were under
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: investigation by the War Crimes Commission.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: However, Dr.
• 16:05
  Speaker 7: Grimshaw managed to smuggle me into this country where I
• 16:08
  Speaker 7: masqueraded as a mental patient in order that we might
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: continue certain experiments which were interrupted by the American army.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I can imagine the sort of experiments you conducted.
• 16:18
  Speaker 10: You and your friend, Mr. K, will discover their exact
• 16:21
  Speaker 10: nature very shortly, Mr.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: Doherty.
• 16:23
  Speaker 10: It is a magnificent opportunity to serve science.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: I passed out.
• 16:37
  Speaker 6: And the next thing I knew, I was coming to
• 16:38
  Speaker 6: in a different room. And hearing the voices of Voyner, Grimshaw,
• 16:42
  Speaker 6: and Crakey as if from a great distance.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Pituitary.
• 16:46
  Speaker 10: Pituitary.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: Four cc's.
• 16:49
  Speaker 10: Four cc's.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: How are the measurements?
• 16:51
  Speaker 10: Reducing rapidly.
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: We'll operate at once.
• 16:54
  Speaker 7: Have Voyner start the anesthesia.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Very well, doctor.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: Come in.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: When I came to again, I had a blinding headache.
• 17:14
  Speaker 6: I began to wonder if Craigie and Grimshaw weren't doing
• 17:17
  Speaker 6: something to drive me insane.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Because I lost all sense of perspective. The room seemed
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: to grow in size. I don't know how much time passed, but.
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: One day, Craigie came into the room with a bundle
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: in his arms about the size of a newborn baby.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: The bundle was my friend, Arthur Kay. And worse yet....
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: I was exactly the same size that he was.
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: Let me out of here. Let me out. Allow me
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: to congratulate you, gentlemen... How are you feeling?
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: You dirty monster.
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: I'm disappointed, gentlemen.
• 17:49
  Speaker 7: Do you not feel privileged to be a part of
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: an experiment that will place me at the very top
• 17:53
  Speaker 7: rank of the world's endocrinologists?
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: What are you doing to us, you madman?
• 17:58
  Speaker 7: It has long been established, gentlemen, that dwarfism and giantism
• 18:02
  Speaker 7: result from injury to or malfunction of the pituitary and
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: thyroid glands. The interlock between these glands was thought to
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: be a hormone. I have discovered that this was incorrect.
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: It was an enzyme.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: An enzyme I isolated some years ago.
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: I was well on the way to synthesis in Germany
• 18:23
  Speaker 7: when the surrender interrupted me. The interruption also limited the
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: number and type of subjects on whom I could experiment.
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: I was forced to find others.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Such as Harlan Ward?
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: Mr.
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Ward was only a control experiment.
• 18:38
  Speaker 10: I suppose you planned the same for us.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: No, gentlemen.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: For you, I have reserved a special privilege.
• 18:45
  Speaker 7: You gentlemen will be the first to test the full
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: effects of the enzyme.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: In short, I intend that you, Mr. K., and you, Mr.
• 18:53
  Speaker 7: Doherty, when the experiment is completed, will emerge as perfectly healthy,
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: normal individuals.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: Except, of course, that you will be only five inches tall.
• 19:05
  Speaker 9: The End.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: The days and nights that followed were a living nightmare.
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: A nightmare from which Arthur and I awoke for brief
• 19:17
  Speaker 6: periods to find ourselves in a strange new world. A huge,
• 19:20
  Speaker 6: frightening world where everything seemed enlarged a hundred times. When
• 19:25
  Speaker 6: we finally emerged, we found ourselves imprisoned in a tiny
• 19:27
  Speaker 6: mouse cage. Judging by the relative size of things, we
• 19:31
  Speaker 6: could not have been more than five inches tall. Now
• 19:35
  Speaker 6: we realized the experiment was at an end. That from
• 19:38
  Speaker 6: now on, it was either escape Or be destroyed.
• 19:45
  Speaker 10: How's it coming, Arthur?
• 19:46
  Speaker 13: Another moment. I think I'll have this lock worked loose.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: And.
• 19:50
  Speaker 13: if we escape, then what? We'll worry about that after
• 19:53
  Speaker 13: we get out of this mouse cage. Suppose we don't
• 19:55
  Speaker 13: make it. At least you've written the story on that
• 19:57
  Speaker 13: scrap of paper. Someone may find it and read it.
• 20:00
  Speaker 13: Nobody will believe it. Then why did you bother to
• 20:02
  Speaker 13: write it?
• 20:03
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 20:04
  Speaker 13: I suppose I want the world to know what happened
• 20:07
  Speaker 13: to me. Help me push the door open.
• 20:13
  Speaker 10: Now what?
• 20:14
  Speaker 13: The first job is getting down to the floor. I
• 20:17
  Speaker 13: think we can make it by sliding down the telephone cord.
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: Are you game? Go ahead.
• 20:21
  Speaker 13: I'm right behind you. Easy now.
• 20:23
  Speaker 10: Look out! That does it.
• 20:28
  Speaker 13: Now, if we can figure out a way to get
• 20:30
  Speaker 13: out of the room... That should be.
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: Uh-oh.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: Listen.
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: Somebody's coming.
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: It must be Craigie.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: We've got to hide. Here.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: The crate in the fireplace.
• 20:37
  Speaker 13: He'll kill us if he finds us.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Well, my friends, time for feeding. I trust that you.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: So, you have managed to break out. It won't do,
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: you know.
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: There is no way you could have gotten out of
• 20:58
  Speaker 7: the room with the door and window locked.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: I know you are in here.
• 21:04
  Speaker 7: I would advise you to save yourselves trouble.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: And give up.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Very well, my tiny friends.
• 21:13
  Speaker 7: If you prefer to play the game of cat and mouse,
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: then I shall be happy to furnish the cat.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: There is no way you.
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: Can get out.
• 21:27
  Speaker 13: Now, he's gone for the cat. If that monster ever
• 21:29
  Speaker 13: gets in here, we're goners. There must be.
• 21:32
  Speaker 10: Wait a minute.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: What?
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: You see that thin strand of wire.
• 21:34
  Speaker 13: Running along the molding?
• 21:35
  Speaker 10: What about it?
• 21:36
  Speaker 13: It's the automatic fire alarm. When the alarm is tripped
• 21:38
  Speaker 13: by a fire or short circuit, all the locks are
• 21:40
  Speaker 13: sprung so that the patients can escape from their rooms.
• 21:42
  Speaker 13: If I can short that wire before Craigie lets the
• 21:44
  Speaker 13: cat into the building, let's go. There's a tiny sliver
• 21:47
  Speaker 13: of steel from the cage on the floor.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: I'll work with that.
• 21:49
  Speaker 13: You keep an ear to the door.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Go ahead.
• 21:52
  Speaker 13: This insulation is tucked as well. Hurry up, Arthur, for
• 21:55
  Speaker 13: God's sake.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: There it is.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Stand away.
• 21:57
  Speaker 13: I'm going to short it.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Ready? Okay. We made it.
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: There goes the door.
• 22:02
  Speaker 13: Let's make a run for it down the hall. If
• 22:04
  Speaker 13: we can get to the garden, we've got a chance.
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: I smell smoke.
• 22:06
  Speaker 13: The short may have actually started a fire.
• 22:07
  Speaker 8: Come on.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Wait a minute.
• 22:08
  Speaker 10: I have to go back. The manuscript.
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: Don't be a fool.
• 22:09
  Speaker 8: There's no time.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Come on.
• 22:10
  Speaker 8: You go ahead.
• 22:11
  Speaker 11: I'll catch up.
• 22:11
  Speaker 13: Hurry up.
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: I'll wait in the hall.
• 22:12
  Speaker 13: Only a second.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: I've got it.
• 22:16
  Speaker 12: Come on.
• 22:16
  Speaker 13: There's nothing to stop us now.
• 22:18
  Speaker 12: Arthur?
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Where are you?
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: That's funny.
• 22:20
  Speaker 6: Arthur?
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Arthur?
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: Arthur?
• 22:24
  Speaker 13: Arthur, what's.
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: Happened to you?
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: This is the record found in a fountain pen cover
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: in the burned-out hallway of Dr.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Grimshaw's sanitarium. There's nothing to add. Except that the fire.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Which destroyed the sanitarium and killed so many of its occupants,
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: including Dr. Grimshaw and Dr. Voyner, was definitely of incendiary nature.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: It is believed by the fire chief that some small creature,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: possibly a mouse, chewed the insulation off the wire and
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: short-circuited the system. The two patients, John Doherty and Arthur Kay,
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: vanished completely after the fire, and their remains were never found.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: Whether the manuscript which you have just heard is authentic,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: or whether it was the work of one of the
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: more demented inmates of the sanitarium, we leave to your judgment.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: You have just heard X-1, presented by the National Broadcasting Company,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: in cooperation with Street & Smith, publishers of astounding science fiction.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: Your announcer, Fred Collins.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: X minus one was directed by Fred Way and is
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: an NBC Radio Network production.
• 23:53
  Speaker 9: X minus one.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: This has been X-1's Dr. Grimshaw's Sanitarium. Originally heard in 1955,
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: follow X-1 for more classic broadcasts.