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Josh N Chuck's Hallowe'en Spooky Scarefest · Stuff You Should Know

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to you stuff you should know from house stuff
0:04
Speaker 1: works dot com. Welcome to the Halloween Podcast. I'm Josh
0:17
Speaker 1: the Ghoul Clark. That's right, there's Chuck the Phantom Bryant
0:23
Speaker 1: and Jerry the ghoulish Phantom. Great. I think, uh, Darry
0:31
Speaker 1: didn't like being called a wraith. No. I think that's
0:35
Speaker 1: she didn't know what it means. No, you know, I
0:38
Speaker 1: think this tradition is so great and fun. Now. I
0:40
Speaker 1: think so too, that we are beginning to live alongside
0:44
Speaker 1: the Simpsons Street House of Horror. Oh, it's that venerated Huh.
0:49
Speaker 1: I think so? I think. I think. I think you're
0:51
Speaker 1: I think listeners really look forward to this, well, not
0:54
Speaker 1: on that level of like fame, but I think fans
0:58
Speaker 1: of the Simpsons look forward to that each You're just
1:00
Speaker 1: as our fans look forward to That's what I'm saying. Um,
1:06
Speaker 1: it's one of my favorites obviously both of us. Christmas
1:10
Speaker 1: and Halloween are probably two phaves of the year. Am
1:13
Speaker 1: I speaking for you? Yeah? But you're speaking correctly, all right.
1:17
Speaker 1: I can live with that, you know. I mean, like,
1:19
Speaker 1: those are the two that we know we're going to
1:21
Speaker 1: be good. All the rest of it's like hit or miss. Yeah,
1:24
Speaker 1: for the unknown, unadorned, unadorned, uninitiated, unindoctrinated, unindoctrinated, unexposed, unexposed.
1:32
Speaker 1: What we do is we we read a scary story
1:37
Speaker 1: for Halloween, and last with and Jerry Gussie's at all
1:40
Speaker 1: up with special effects. It's like this, that was amazing?
1:45
Speaker 1: How about that? That's creepy, Like I'm scared right now. Um.
1:49
Speaker 1: And last year we started a tradition where we are
1:52
Speaker 1: reading two shorter stories and that's what we're doing again
1:56
Speaker 1: this year because I think what happened is, well, remember
2:00
Speaker 1: we had a Halloween horror fiction contest. Well, yeah, that
2:03
Speaker 1: was great, that's pretty cool. Yeah. Uh and then but
2:07
Speaker 1: we started the whole thing out with was it the
2:09
Speaker 1: Tomb I think was the first one, and then we
2:12
Speaker 1: did bear nice yeah, then the horror fiction contest I think,
2:17
Speaker 1: and then I don't know how many of this is.
2:20
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we'll have to figure it out, yeah, because
2:22
Speaker 1: we'll have to title it whatever annual Halloween Spectacular. Yes,
2:28
Speaker 1: which is a different thing that we did once on
2:31
Speaker 1: our very short lived web web video series what was
2:37
Speaker 1: that called webcast? Webcast? It's so ancient already that we
2:40
Speaker 1: can't even remote a live webcast. So you picked out
2:45
Speaker 1: this first one, um, and I picked out the second one. Well, first, first,
2:49
Speaker 1: hold on, I want to I want to give a
2:51
Speaker 1: plug to our buddy, to Grabster, because he hooked us
2:53
Speaker 1: up all right. So I don't know if you know
2:56
Speaker 1: this or not, but the Grabster knows what he's talking
2:58
Speaker 1: about when it comes to horror movies, and um I
3:02
Speaker 1: we tweeted to him and said, hey, man, can you
3:05
Speaker 1: give us a list of your favorite horror movies of
3:07
Speaker 1: all time? And the Grabster said, oh, are you gonna
3:11
Speaker 1: read them? But he said yes, let me give me
3:16
Speaker 1: a night and I will put it together. And by
3:20
Speaker 1: goodness if he didn't put it on his um personal
3:22
Speaker 1: site robot viking dot com. The post is some of
3:26
Speaker 1: my favorite horror movies and he just went to town.
3:29
Speaker 1: What's his number one? It's not listed to Spiria no,
3:34
Speaker 1: like he doesn't have them in order, but raw had
3:37
Speaker 1: Rex is on their Pontypool Triangle Return of Living Dead
3:41
Speaker 1: three and he justifies these. You know, I need to
3:46
Speaker 1: see ponty Pool because our buddy Joe Garden is long
3:49
Speaker 1: raved about the merits of the people. I've never seen it.
3:52
Speaker 1: Either and it's one of those ones. It's like, I
3:55
Speaker 1: think it's up on Netflix too. All right, so you
3:58
Speaker 1: picked this first one? You want to just set it up? Yes?
4:01
Speaker 1: So this is the moon Bog. It's hyphenated two words
4:05
Speaker 1: by our friend Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who is still one
4:10
Speaker 1: of my favorite writers of all time. Um. Yeah, even
4:14
Speaker 1: though you can just go on and on about him
4:17
Speaker 1: personally or his writing style or some of the devices
4:21
Speaker 1: he used, like other than describing something to saying it
4:23
Speaker 1: was indescribable or unnamable, I still love the guy for
4:27
Speaker 1: some reason. Uh. And this one is one of his
4:30
Speaker 1: um more interesting imaginative ones. Has nothing to do with
4:36
Speaker 1: the Cathulu mythos or anything like that. It's just pretty cool.
4:40
Speaker 1: It's a neat, little weirdo ancient haunting story about an
4:46
Speaker 1: Irish American who who uh doesn't follow the advice of
4:51
Speaker 1: the local townspeople. Let's just say that, not right. Are
4:55
Speaker 1: you ready? Do you want me to start? Yeah? Without
4:58
Speaker 1: further ado, The Moon Bug by H. P. Lovecraft Somewhere
5:12
Speaker 1: to what remote and fearsome region I know not. Dennis
5:15
Speaker 1: Barry has gone. I was with him the last night
5:18
Speaker 1: he lived among men and heard his screams when the
5:21
Speaker 1: thing came to him. But all the peasants and police
5:24
Speaker 1: and County Meath could never find him or the others,
5:27
Speaker 1: though they searched long and far. And now I shudder
5:30
Speaker 1: when I hear the frogs piping and swamps, or see
5:33
Speaker 1: the moon in lonely places. I had known Dennis Berry
5:37
Speaker 1: well in America, where he had grown rich, and had
5:39
Speaker 1: congratulated him when he bought back the old castle by
5:42
Speaker 1: the bog at Sleepy Kildairy. It was from Kilderie that
5:46
Speaker 1: his father had come, and it was there that he
5:49
Speaker 1: wished to enjoy his wealth among ancestral scenes. Men of
5:53
Speaker 1: his blood had once ruled over Kilderie and built and
5:56
Speaker 1: dwelt in the castle. But those days were very remote,
5:59
Speaker 1: so that for generations the castle had been empty and decaying.
6:03
Speaker 1: After he went to Ireland, Barry wrote me often and
6:06
Speaker 1: told me how under his care the Gray Castle was
6:09
Speaker 1: rising tower by tower to its ancient splendor, how the
6:12
Speaker 1: ivy was climbing slowly over the restored walls as it
6:15
Speaker 1: had climbed so many centuries ago, and how the peasants
6:18
Speaker 1: blessed him for bringing back the old days with his
6:20
Speaker 1: gold from over the sea. But in time there came troubles,
6:24
Speaker 1: and the peasants ceased to bless him and fled away instead,
6:28
Speaker 1: as from a doom. And then he sent a letter
6:31
Speaker 1: and asked me to visit him, for he was lonely
6:33
Speaker 1: in the castle, with no one to speak to, save
6:35
Speaker 1: the new servants and labors he had brought from the north.
6:40
Speaker 1: The bog was the cause of all these troubles, as
6:42
Speaker 1: Barry told me the night I came to the castle.
6:45
Speaker 1: I had reached Kildery in the summer sunset, as the
6:48
Speaker 1: gold of the sky lighted the green of the hills
6:50
Speaker 1: and groves and the blue of the bog, where on
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Speaker 1: a far islet a strange olden ruin glistened spectral lee.
6:57
Speaker 1: That sunset was very beautiful, but peasants at Ballylow had
7:01
Speaker 1: warned me against it and said that Kilderi had become accursed,
7:05
Speaker 1: so that I almost shuddered to see the high turrets
7:07
Speaker 1: of the castle gilded with fire. Barry's motor had met
7:11
Speaker 1: me at the Ballylow station, for Kildery is off the railway.
7:14
Speaker 1: The villagers had shunned the car and the driver from
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Speaker 1: the north, but had whispered to me with pale faces
7:19
Speaker 1: when they saw I was going to Kildeery. And that night,
7:22
Speaker 1: after our reunion, Barry told me why the peasants had
7:25
Speaker 1: gone from Kildrey, because Dennis Barry was to drain the
7:28
Speaker 1: great Bog. For all his love of Ireland America had
7:31
Speaker 1: not left him untouched, and he hated the beautiful wasted
7:35
Speaker 1: space where pete might be cut and the land opened up.
7:39
Speaker 1: The legends and superstitions of Kildee did not move him,
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Speaker 1: and he laughed when the peasants first refused to help,
7:45
Speaker 1: and then cursed him and went away to Ballylow with
7:47
Speaker 1: their few belongings as they saw his determination in their place.
7:51
Speaker 1: He sent for laborers from the North, and when the
7:53
Speaker 1: servants left, he replaced them likewise. But it was lonely
7:57
Speaker 1: among strangers, so Barry had asked me to come, all right,
8:02
Speaker 1: So we got this guy Dennis, who uh got his
8:05
Speaker 1: old fixer up our family castle. You made some some
8:08
Speaker 1: moolah back in the States, went over to Ireland to
8:11
Speaker 1: fix it up, brought in some I guess people from
8:14
Speaker 1: Scotland to help. Friends from the North. Maybe, oh yeah, sure,
8:18
Speaker 1: I took it to be Greenland for some reason. Interesting uh,
8:23
Speaker 1: and everyone in the village. He wants to get rid
8:26
Speaker 1: of that bog and drain it. And I put in
8:27
Speaker 1: a tennis court and he's like, we could put build
8:29
Speaker 1: train tracks there something. And everyone in the village is
8:32
Speaker 1: going a big mistake. I'm out of here, so as
8:34
Speaker 1: buddy comes to visit him, uh, and that's where we are.
8:40
Speaker 1: When I heard the fears which had driven the people
8:42
Speaker 1: from Kildary, I laughed as loudly as my friend had laughed.
8:46
Speaker 1: But these fears were the vegas wildest and most absurd character.
8:50
Speaker 1: They had to do with some preposterous legend of the
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Speaker 1: bog and of a grim guardian spirit that dwelt in
8:55
Speaker 1: the strange, old and ruin on the far islet I
8:58
Speaker 1: had seen in the sunset. There were tales of dancing
9:01
Speaker 1: lights and the dark of the moon, and of chill
9:04
Speaker 1: winds when the night was warm, of wraiths in white
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Speaker 1: hovering over the waters. But foremost among the weird fancies,
9:10
Speaker 1: and alone in its absolute unanimity, was that of the
9:14
Speaker 1: curse awaiting him who should dare to touch or drain
9:18
Speaker 1: the vast reddish morass. Don't drain the bog. There were secrets,
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Speaker 1: said the peasants which must not be uncovered, secrets that
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Speaker 1: had lain hidden since the plague came to the children
9:31
Speaker 1: of Partholon. In the fabulous years beyond history. In the
9:35
Speaker 1: Book of Invaders, it is told that the sons of
9:38
Speaker 1: the Greeks were all buried at Talach, but old men
9:42
Speaker 1: and kilder. He said, one city was overlooked save by
9:46
Speaker 1: its patron, Moon Goddess said that only the wooded hills
9:49
Speaker 1: buried it. When the men of Nimed swept down from
9:52
Speaker 1: Sathia and their thirty ships. Such were the idle tales
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Speaker 1: which had made the villagers leave killdeery, And when I
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Speaker 1: heard them, I did not wonder what Dennis Barry had
10:02
Speaker 1: refused to listen. He had, however, a great interest in antiquities,
10:06
Speaker 1: and proposed to explore the bog thoroughly when it was drained.
10:10
Speaker 1: The white ruins on the islet he had often visited,
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Speaker 1: But though their age was plainly great, and their contour
10:15
Speaker 1: very little like that of most ruins in Ireland, there
10:19
Speaker 1: were too dilapidated to tell the days of their glory.
10:22
Speaker 1: Now the work of drainage was ready to begin, and
10:25
Speaker 1: the laborers from the north were soon to strip the
10:28
Speaker 1: forbidden bog of its green moss and red heather and kill,
10:32
Speaker 1: the tiny shelf paved streamlets, and quiet blue pools fringed
10:35
Speaker 1: with brushes. After Barry had told me these things, I
10:39
Speaker 1: was very drowsy, for the travels of the day had
10:41
Speaker 1: been wearying, and my host had talked. Late into the night,
10:45
Speaker 1: a man servant shoot me into my room, which was
10:48
Speaker 1: in a remote tower, overlooking the village and the plain
10:51
Speaker 1: at the edge of the bog and the bog itself,
10:54
Speaker 1: so that I could see from my windows in the
10:55
Speaker 1: moonlight the silent roofs from which the peasants had fled
11:00
Speaker 1: now sheltered the laborers from the north, and to the
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Speaker 1: parish church with his antique spire, and far out across
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Speaker 1: the brooding bog, the remote olden ruin on the islet
11:09
Speaker 1: gleaming whitened spectral. Just as I dropped asleep, I fancied
11:14
Speaker 1: I heard faint sounds from the distance, sounds that were
11:17
Speaker 1: wild and half musical, and stirred me with a weird
11:20
Speaker 1: excitement which colored my dreams. But when I awaked next morning,
11:24
Speaker 1: I felt it had all been a dream, for the
11:26
Speaker 1: visions I had seen were more wonderful than any sound
11:29
Speaker 1: of wild pipes in the night. Influenced by the legends
11:31
Speaker 1: that Barry had related, my mind had, in slumber hovered
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Speaker 1: around a stately city in a green valley, where marble
11:38
Speaker 1: streets and statues, villas and temples, carvings and inscriptions all
11:42
Speaker 1: spoke in certain tones the glory that was Greece. When
11:46
Speaker 1: I told this dream to Barry, we both laughed, but
11:49
Speaker 1: I laughed the louder because he was perplexed about his
11:52
Speaker 1: laborers from the North. For the sixth time. They had
11:55
Speaker 1: all overslept, waking very slowly and dazedly, and at thing
12:00
Speaker 1: as if they had not rested, although they were known
12:02
Speaker 1: to have gone early to bed the night before. So
12:07
Speaker 1: the Scottish labors are getting drunk, they're they're oversleeping, they're
12:12
Speaker 1: slacking off, and this guy's having visions huh. Yeah. And
12:15
Speaker 1: the whole thing is this, there's this legend that under
12:19
Speaker 1: the bog there's a stone city that was covered over
12:23
Speaker 1: uh with this bog ancient Greece, and that yeah, that
12:27
Speaker 1: was an ancient Greek city in Ireland. And that um,
12:31
Speaker 1: if you dig up the bog, it's gonna be big
12:34
Speaker 1: tool because the city is supernatural, say the least man.
12:37
Speaker 1: That's getting good. You're ready again? Yes? Are you ready, listener? Yes, okay.
12:46
Speaker 1: That morning and afternoon I wandered alone through the sun
12:49
Speaker 1: gilded village and talked now and then with idle laborers,
12:52
Speaker 1: for Barry was busy with the final plans for beginning
12:55
Speaker 1: his work of drainage. The laborers were not as happy
12:58
Speaker 1: as they might have been, from most of them seemed
13:01
Speaker 1: uneasy over some dream which they had had yet, which
13:03
Speaker 1: they tried in vain to remember. I told them of
13:06
Speaker 1: my dream, but they were not interested till I spoke
13:08
Speaker 1: of the weird sounds I thought I had heard. Then
13:11
Speaker 1: they looked oddly at me and said that they seemed
13:14
Speaker 1: to remember weird sounds too. In the evening, Barry dined
13:18
Speaker 1: with me and announced that he would begin the drainage
13:20
Speaker 1: in two days. I was glad, for although I disliked
13:24
Speaker 1: to see the moss and the heather, and the little
13:26
Speaker 1: streams and lakes depart, I had a growing wish to
13:29
Speaker 1: discern the ancient secrets the deep matted pete might hide.
13:33
Speaker 1: And that night my dreams of piping flutes and marble
13:35
Speaker 1: parastyles came to a sudden and disquieting end. For upon
13:39
Speaker 1: the city in the valley I saw a pestilence descend,
13:42
Speaker 1: and then a frightful avalanche of wooded slopes that covered
13:45
Speaker 1: the dead bodies in the streets, and left unburied only
13:48
Speaker 1: the temple of Artemness on the high peak, where the
13:51
Speaker 1: aged moon Priestess Cliss lay cold and silent, with a
13:54
Speaker 1: crown of ivory on her silver head. I have said
13:58
Speaker 1: that I awake suddenly and in a arm. For some
14:01
Speaker 1: time I could not tell whether I was waking or sleeping,
14:04
Speaker 1: for the sounds of flutes still rang shrilly in my ears.
14:07
Speaker 1: But when I saw on the floor the icy moonbeams
14:10
Speaker 1: and the outlines of the lattice Gothic window, I decided
14:13
Speaker 1: I must be awake, and in the castle at Kildary.
14:16
Speaker 1: Then I heard a clock from some remote landing below
14:18
Speaker 1: strike the hour of two, and I knew I was awake.
14:21
Speaker 1: It's still There came that monotonous piping from afar wild
14:25
Speaker 1: weird airs that made me think of some dance of
14:27
Speaker 1: fawns on distant manless. It would not let me sleep,
14:31
Speaker 1: and in in patience I sprang up and paced the floor.
14:34
Speaker 1: Only by chance did I go to the north window
14:36
Speaker 1: and look out upon the silent village and the plane
14:39
Speaker 1: at the edge of the ball. I had no wish
14:41
Speaker 1: to gaze abroad, for I wanted to sleep, But the
14:43
Speaker 1: flutes tormented me, and I had to see or do something.
14:48
Speaker 1: How could I have suspected the thing I was to
14:50
Speaker 1: behold there in the moonlight that flooded the spacious plane
14:54
Speaker 1: was a spectacle which no mortal, having seen it, could
14:57
Speaker 1: ever forget. To the sound of reedy pipes that echoed
15:00
Speaker 1: over the bog. They're glided silently and eerily, a mixed
15:03
Speaker 1: throng of swaying figures, reeling through such a revel as
15:07
Speaker 1: the Sicilians may have danced to Demeter in the old
15:10
Speaker 1: days under the harvest mood. Besides cy, in the wide plane,
15:14
Speaker 1: the golden moonlight, the shadowy moving forms, and above all
15:18
Speaker 1: the shrill, monotonous piping produced an effect which almost paralyzed me.
15:23
Speaker 1: Yet I noted, amidst my fear, that half of these tireless,
15:26
Speaker 1: mechanical dancers were the laborers whom I had thought asleep,
15:29
Speaker 1: whilst the other half were strange airy beings in white,
15:33
Speaker 1: half in determinate in nature, but suggesting pale, wistful naiads
15:37
Speaker 1: from the haunted fountains of the Bog. I do not
15:39
Speaker 1: know how long I gazed at the site from the
15:41
Speaker 1: lonely turret window before I dropped suddenly in a dreamless swoon,
15:46
Speaker 1: out of which the high sun of morning aroused me.
15:50
Speaker 1: Things are getting real, Phil, So he's like seeing these
15:54
Speaker 1: like weird, ghostly zombie like laborers and white creatures. And
16:00
Speaker 1: to lay off the opium. Do they have opium in Ireland? Sure?
16:03
Speaker 1: Are you? Kidne me? He needs to lay off? All right?
16:06
Speaker 1: Here we go. My first impulse on awakening was to
16:10
Speaker 1: communicate all my fears and observations to Dennis Barry. But
16:14
Speaker 1: as I saw the sunlight glowing through the latticed east window,
16:17
Speaker 1: I became sure that there was no reality in what
16:19
Speaker 1: I thought I had seen. I am given to strange phantasms,
16:23
Speaker 1: yet am never weak enough to believe in them. So
16:25
Speaker 1: on this occasion contented myself with questioning the laborers, who
16:30
Speaker 1: slept very late and recalled nothing of the previous night
16:34
Speaker 1: save misty dreams of shrill sounds. This matter of the
16:37
Speaker 1: spectral piping harassed me greatly, and I wondered if the
16:40
Speaker 1: crickets of autumn had come before their time to vex
16:42
Speaker 1: the night and haunt the visions of men. Later in
16:46
Speaker 1: the day, I watched Barry in the window, pouring over
16:48
Speaker 1: his plans for the great work which was to begin
16:51
Speaker 1: on the morrow, and for the first time felt a
16:54
Speaker 1: touch of the same kind of fear that had driven
16:56
Speaker 1: the peasants away. For some unknown reason, I dreaded the
17:00
Speaker 1: thought of disturbing the ancient bog and its sunless secrets,
17:03
Speaker 1: and pictured terrible sights lying black under the unmeasured depth
17:07
Speaker 1: of age. Old Pete. That these secrets should be brought
17:10
Speaker 1: to light seems injudicious, and I began to wish for
17:13
Speaker 1: an excuse to leave the castle in the village. I
17:16
Speaker 1: went so far as to talk casually to Bury on
17:18
Speaker 1: the subject, but did not dare continue after he gave
17:21
Speaker 1: his resounding laugh. So I was silent when the sun
17:24
Speaker 1: set fulgently over the far hills, and killed reblazed alread
17:28
Speaker 1: and gold in a flame. That seemed a portent. So
17:31
Speaker 1: he brought it up to his buddy, and he kind
17:33
Speaker 1: of got made fun of. I think right whether the
17:38
Speaker 1: events of that night were of reality or illusion, I
17:41
Speaker 1: shall never ascertain. Certainly they transcend anything we dream of
17:44
Speaker 1: in nature and the universe. Yet in no formal fashion
17:48
Speaker 1: can I explain those disappearances which were known to all men.
17:51
Speaker 1: After it was over, I retired, erie and full of dread,
17:54
Speaker 1: and for a long time could not sleep, and the
17:56
Speaker 1: uncanny silence of the tower. It was very dark, for
18:00
Speaker 1: although the sky was clear, the moon was now well
18:03
Speaker 1: in the wane, would not rise till the small hours.
18:06
Speaker 1: I thought as I lay there, of Dennis Berry, and
18:09
Speaker 1: of what would befall that bog when the day came,
18:12
Speaker 1: and found myself almost frantic with an impulse to rush
18:15
Speaker 1: out into the night, take Berry Scar and drive madly
18:19
Speaker 1: to Ballyloch, out of the menaced lands. But before my
18:23
Speaker 1: fears could crystallize in action, I'd fallen asleep and gazed
18:27
Speaker 1: in dreams upon the city in the valley, cold and dead,
18:30
Speaker 1: under a shroud of hideous shadow. Probably it was the
18:34
Speaker 1: shrill piping that awaked me. Yet that piping was not
18:37
Speaker 1: what I noticed first. When I opened my eyes. I
18:40
Speaker 1: was lying with my back to the east window, overlooking
18:43
Speaker 1: the bog where the waning moon would rise, and therefore
18:46
Speaker 1: expected to see light cast on the opposite wall before me,
18:49
Speaker 1: but I had not looked for such a sight as
18:51
Speaker 1: now appeared. Light indeed glowed on the panels ahead, but
18:55
Speaker 1: it was not any light that the moon gives. Terrible
18:58
Speaker 1: and piercing was the shad a to ruddy refulgence that
19:01
Speaker 1: streamed through the gothic window, and the whole chamber was
19:05
Speaker 1: brilliant with a splendor, intense and unearthly. My immediate actions
19:09
Speaker 1: were peculiar for such a situation, but it is only
19:12
Speaker 1: entails that a man does the dramatic and foreseen thing.
19:16
Speaker 1: Instead of looking out across the bog towards the source
19:18
Speaker 1: of the new light, I kept my eyes from the
19:20
Speaker 1: window and panic fear, and clumsily drew on my clothing
19:23
Speaker 1: with some dazed idea of escape. I remember seizing my
19:27
Speaker 1: revolver and hat, but before it was over, I had
19:29
Speaker 1: lost them both, without firing the one or donning the other.
19:33
Speaker 1: After a time, the fascination of the red radiance overcame
19:36
Speaker 1: my fright, and I crept to the east window and
19:38
Speaker 1: looked out, whilst the maddening, incessant piping wine and reverberated
19:42
Speaker 1: through the castle and over all of the village. Over
19:46
Speaker 1: the bog was a day lousee of flaring light, scarlet
19:49
Speaker 1: and sinister, and pouring from the strange olden ruin on
19:52
Speaker 1: the far islet. The aspect of that ruin I cannot describe.
19:57
Speaker 1: I must have been mad, for it seemed to rise majestic,
20:00
Speaker 1: an undecayed, splendid and column cintured, the flame, reflecting marble
20:04
Speaker 1: of its intabulature, piercing the sky like the apex of
20:07
Speaker 1: a temple on a mountaintop. Flute shrieked, and drums began
20:11
Speaker 1: to beat, and as I watched, an awe and terror,
20:13
Speaker 1: I thought I saw a dark, salted form silhouetted grotesquely
20:17
Speaker 1: against the vision of marble and the Pilgians. The effect
20:20
Speaker 1: was titanic, altogether unthinkable, and I might have stared indefinitely
20:24
Speaker 1: had not the sound of the piping seemed to grow
20:26
Speaker 1: stronger at my left. Trembling with the care oddly mixed
20:30
Speaker 1: with ecstasy, I crossed the circular room to the north window,
20:33
Speaker 1: from which I could see the village and the plane
20:36
Speaker 1: at the edge of the bog. There my eyes dilated
20:39
Speaker 1: again with a wild wonder as great as if I
20:41
Speaker 1: had not just turned from a scene beyond the pale
20:43
Speaker 1: of nature, For on the ghastly red litten plane was
20:47
Speaker 1: moving a procession of beans in such manner as none
20:50
Speaker 1: ever saw before, save in nightmares. That is not a
20:56
Speaker 1: parade of fun happening outside this window, is it. It's
20:59
Speaker 1: not alrighty, This is scary. This is getting pretty bad.
21:05
Speaker 1: Half gliding, half floating in the air, the white clad
21:08
Speaker 1: bog Graiths were slowly retreating towards the still waters and
21:12
Speaker 1: the island, ruin and fantastic formations suggesting some ancient and
21:16
Speaker 1: solemn ceremonial dance. Their waving translucent arms, guided by the
21:21
Speaker 1: detestable piping of those unseen flutes, beckoned in uncanny rhythm
21:26
Speaker 1: to a throng of lurching laborers, who followed doglike with blind, brainless,
21:32
Speaker 1: floundering steps, as if dragged by a clumsy but resistless
21:36
Speaker 1: demon will. As the Naiads neared the bog without altering
21:39
Speaker 1: their course, a new line of stumbling stragglers zig zagged
21:43
Speaker 1: drunkenly out of the castle from some door far below
21:47
Speaker 1: my window, groped sightlessly across the courtyard and through the
21:50
Speaker 1: intervening bit of village, and joined the floundering column of
21:53
Speaker 1: laborers on the plane. Despite their distance below me, I
21:57
Speaker 1: at once knew they were the servants brought from the north,
22:00
Speaker 1: where I recognized the ugly and unwieldy form of the cook,
22:04
Speaker 1: whose very absurdness had now become unutterably tragic. The flutes
22:09
Speaker 1: piped horribly, and again I heard the beating of the
22:11
Speaker 1: drums from the direction of the island ruin. Then silently
22:15
Speaker 1: and gracefully, the Naiads reached the water and melted one
22:19
Speaker 1: by one into the ancient bog, while the line of followers,
22:22
Speaker 1: never checking their speed, splashed awkwardly after them and vanished,
22:27
Speaker 1: mixed a tiny vortex of unwholesome bubbles which I could
22:30
Speaker 1: barely see in the scarlet light, And as the last
22:33
Speaker 1: pathetic straggler, the fat cook sank heavily out of sight
22:37
Speaker 1: in that sullen pool, the flutes and the drums grew silent,
22:42
Speaker 1: the blinding red rays from the ruins snapped instantaneously out,
22:46
Speaker 1: leaving the village of Doom lone and desolate, and the
22:49
Speaker 1: wan beams of a new risen moon. So basically, this
22:55
Speaker 1: guy is looking outside and everybody is following some wraiths
23:00
Speaker 1: into the bog. That's right, And there's some mad piping
23:04
Speaker 1: and drumming going on, and this guy's basically losing it. Yeah,
23:07
Speaker 1: I get the sense that is getting louder and more intense.
23:10
Speaker 1: A you're gonna take us home and taking us home,
23:12
Speaker 1: you're ready, let's do it. My condition was now one
23:17
Speaker 1: of indescribable chaos, not knowing whether I was mad or saying,
23:22
Speaker 1: sleeping or waking. I was saved only by a merciful numbness.
23:26
Speaker 1: I believe I did ridiculous things, such as offering prayers
23:28
Speaker 1: to Artemis, Latona, Demeter, Persephone, and Pluton. All that I
23:33
Speaker 1: recalled of a classic youth came to my lips. As
23:36
Speaker 1: the horrors of the situation roused my deepest superstitions. I
23:41
Speaker 1: felt that I had witnessed the death of a whole village,
23:44
Speaker 1: and knew I was alone in the castle with Dennis Barry,
23:46
Speaker 1: whose boldness had brought down a doom. As I thought
23:50
Speaker 1: of him, new terrorists convulsed me, and I fell to
23:52
Speaker 1: the floor, not fainting, but physically helpless. Then I felt
23:56
Speaker 1: the icy blast from the east window, where the moon
23:58
Speaker 1: had risen, and beg in to hear the shrieks in
24:00
Speaker 1: the castle far below me. Soon those shrieks had attained
24:04
Speaker 1: a magnitude and quality which cannot be written it, and
24:07
Speaker 1: which makes me faint as I think of them. All
24:09
Speaker 1: I can say is that they came from something I
24:11
Speaker 1: had known as a friend at some time during the
24:14
Speaker 1: shocking period. The cold wind and the screaming must have
24:17
Speaker 1: roused me, for my next impression is of racing madly
24:20
Speaker 1: through inky rooms and corridors, and out across the courtyard
24:23
Speaker 1: into the hideous night. They found me at dawn, wandering
24:26
Speaker 1: mindless near bally Low. But what unhinged me was utterly
24:30
Speaker 1: not of any of the horrors I had seen or
24:32
Speaker 1: heard before. What I muttered about as I came slowly
24:36
Speaker 1: out of the shadows was a pair of fantastic incidents
24:39
Speaker 1: which occurred in my flight, incidents of no significance, yet
24:43
Speaker 1: which haunt me unceasingly when I am alone in certain
24:45
Speaker 1: marshy places are in the moonlight. As I fled from
24:49
Speaker 1: that cursed castle along the bog's edge, I heard a
24:52
Speaker 1: new sound, common, yet unlike any I had heard before.
24:55
Speaker 1: It killed the stagnant waters, lately quite devoid of animal life,
24:59
Speaker 1: now teemed with horde of slimy, enormous frogs which piped
25:03
Speaker 1: shrilly and incessantly, and turned strangely out of keeping with
25:06
Speaker 1: their size. They glistened bloated in green and the moonbeams,
25:10
Speaker 1: and seemed to gaze up at the font of light.
25:13
Speaker 1: I followed the gaze of one very fat and ugly frog,
25:16
Speaker 1: and saw the second of the things which drove my
25:18
Speaker 1: senses away. Stretching directly from the strange olden ruin on
25:22
Speaker 1: the far islet to the waning moon. My eyes seemed
25:25
Speaker 1: to trace a beam of faint, quivering radiance, having no
25:29
Speaker 1: reflection in the waters of the ball, and upward along
25:32
Speaker 1: that pallid path, my fevered fancy pictured a thin shadow,
25:36
Speaker 1: slowly writhing, a vague, contorted shadow, struggling as if drawn
25:41
Speaker 1: by unseen demons. Crazed as I was, I saw in
25:44
Speaker 1: that awful shadow a monstrous resemblance, a nauseous, unbelievable caricature,
25:50
Speaker 1: of blasphemous effigy of him who had been Dennis Berry,
25:58
Speaker 1: whoa the end man. He can he can paint a picture, Kenny,
26:03
Speaker 1: he knows what he's doing. Boy, that is good stuff.
26:07
Speaker 1: He used the word eldredge in this once, and he's
26:09
Speaker 1: still knocked it out of the park. Yeah, and he
26:12
Speaker 1: did a good job of describing things instead of just
26:14
Speaker 1: saying it cannot be described very creepy. Well done, sir,
26:19
Speaker 1: Well done, sir. So part one is over, so let's
26:23
Speaker 1: take a break and come back and read story number
26:26
Speaker 1: two for Halloween Spectacular. Chuck, I just want to point out,
26:54
Speaker 1: did you notice the awesome Halloween jingle made for us,
26:58
Speaker 1: specifically by our composer friends on begin Pretty awesome? Agreed,
27:03
Speaker 1: really helps set the mood. Yeah, thanks a lot, John,
27:06
Speaker 1: and Jerry didn't have to do it. She's delighted about.
27:10
Speaker 1: Way to go, Jerry. All right. The second story is
27:14
Speaker 1: actually contemporary, which is unusual for us, But um, I
27:18
Speaker 1: email the author because you can just do that these days,
27:22
Speaker 1: and he said, yeah, read it. That's great. That's pretty
27:24
Speaker 1: nice of them. So his name is Peter the Peter D. Niverville.
27:30
Speaker 1: It's a great name, and the story is called The
27:33
Speaker 1: Petting Zoo, and I liked it because it tied in
27:35
Speaker 1: with our Spiders episode and it is quite creepy. It's
27:40
Speaker 1: creep and we're gonna actually have a character voice because
27:44
Speaker 1: we have to do voices in this one. I was
27:45
Speaker 1: wondering if you're gonna want to do that. Yeah, man,
27:48
Speaker 1: you're gonna play Johnson, I'll play the old man. Yes,
27:52
Speaker 1: I got that. And uh, we're gonna have um our
27:57
Speaker 1: video Ninja for stuff. Mom never told you Annie he
28:01
Speaker 1: was an actor to do the old lady to do
28:05
Speaker 1: old man. I can't remember his name, the old man's wife.
28:09
Speaker 1: So yes, yeah, so we need to thank Annie for that.
28:13
Speaker 1: Um here we go with the petting Zoo. At first,
28:24
Speaker 1: Johnson thought it was a joke. Speeding down the country road,
28:27
Speaker 1: the crude sign was only a blur, but it was
28:30
Speaker 1: that one word, slowing down. He swung the car onto
28:34
Speaker 1: the paved shoulder. In the rear view mirror, he could
28:37
Speaker 1: see it clearly. The sign was tacked to a stick
28:40
Speaker 1: that was stuck in the ground just beyond the paved shoulder.
28:42
Speaker 1: Shifting the car into reverse, Johnson jim the accelerator down.
28:46
Speaker 1: The tires squealed, and loose gravel flew As he tore
28:49
Speaker 1: back up the road screeched into a halt. Johnson stared
28:52
Speaker 1: at the faded handwriting Ellsworth's famous spider petting Zoo five
28:57
Speaker 1: miles next right. It's spiders fascinated Johnson. One summer when
29:02
Speaker 1: he was eight, a large golden black spider had taken
29:05
Speaker 1: up residence underneath the shingles by the back door. Every morning,
29:09
Speaker 1: Johnson would gather up ants in a jar from a
29:11
Speaker 1: nest and the scrubby woods behind his house. One by one,
29:14
Speaker 1: he would drop the wriggling insects into the web with
29:18
Speaker 1: lightning speed. The spider would spring from her hiding place
29:21
Speaker 1: and race towards the victim, sinking her fangs into the ant.
29:24
Speaker 1: She would retreat, waiting for the poison to take effect.
29:27
Speaker 1: When the aunt slowly stopped struggling, she would climb back
29:30
Speaker 1: down and delicately wrap her prey in a white shroud.
29:34
Speaker 1: This continued until one day his mother caught him. What
29:37
Speaker 1: a cruel little boy you are, she scolded between clenched
29:40
Speaker 1: teeth as she pummeled his backside. He could still feel
29:43
Speaker 1: the shame of being spanked. Years later, In a rare
29:45
Speaker 1: moment of remorse, Johnson wondered what it was like for
29:48
Speaker 1: the ant, trapped helpless waiting for the spider to return.
29:53
Speaker 1: Did they know fear or horror? Or was that something
29:56
Speaker 1: only humans experienced. The insect brain was too small, he
30:00
Speaker 1: told himself, or so he hoped. Five miles, thought Johnson.
30:05
Speaker 1: This side trip might only add another half hour or
30:08
Speaker 1: so to his journey. He would still have time once
30:11
Speaker 1: he got to his motel to have a shower. The
30:13
Speaker 1: dinner meeting with a buyer from the supermarket Jane wasn't
30:16
Speaker 1: until six o'clock, and it was only four now. Coasting forward,
30:21
Speaker 1: Johnson scanned the road looking for the turn off. About
30:24
Speaker 1: one hundred yards ahead, he saw a lane that intersected
30:26
Speaker 1: with the highway. Flicking on his turn signally, shot a
30:29
Speaker 1: quick glance at his watch. If I don't find it
30:32
Speaker 1: in fifteen minutes, he promised himself, I'll turn back. Accelerating smoothly,
30:37
Speaker 1: he turned onto a well paved secondary road with deep
30:40
Speaker 1: ditches on either side. Punching the buttons on the CD player,
30:43
Speaker 1: he stretched his arms, settling back into the soft leather
30:47
Speaker 1: seat As a throbbing beat of the music filled his car.
30:50
Speaker 1: Is mood lightened an unexpected adventure in an otherwise boring day.
30:55
Speaker 1: Johnson hated his job, endless meetings with bad food and
30:59
Speaker 1: balding byres, too many drinks, and too many hangovers. He
31:02
Speaker 1: was packing on the pounds too. I have to get
31:05
Speaker 1: back to the gym, he reminded himself. The only redeeming
31:09
Speaker 1: feature of his job was that he was good at it.
31:11
Speaker 1: Top sails ripped for the last three years. I should
31:14
Speaker 1: have been an actor, he told himself. Instead, I'm selling
31:16
Speaker 1: toilet paper and tampons to these turkeys. As the needle
31:20
Speaker 1: on the spitometer crept higher and higher than neatly kept
31:23
Speaker 1: fields and freshly painted houses became a blur. Mile after
31:26
Speaker 1: miles slipped by, Johnson felt that he and the car
31:29
Speaker 1: had become one, soaring like a hawk on a summer breeze.
31:33
Speaker 1: But his mood soon soured. The condition of the road deteriorated.
31:37
Speaker 1: Asphalt gave way to chip seal, which gave way to
31:40
Speaker 1: gravel and finally ended up his dirt. Johnson jumped on
31:43
Speaker 1: the brakes when a huge pothole emerged in the center
31:45
Speaker 1: of the road, cursing the delay, checked his watch again.
31:48
Speaker 1: It was almost five. The long drive down the country
31:52
Speaker 1: road had doled his sense of time. I'd better turn around,
31:54
Speaker 1: he cautioned himself, as he studied the road ahead, looking
31:58
Speaker 1: for a safe place to make a U turn, And
32:00
Speaker 1: he saw it, an old farmhouse stepped back from the road.
32:04
Speaker 1: If it hadn't been for the pothole, he would have
32:06
Speaker 1: missed it completely. By the mailbox, a freshly painted sign
32:09
Speaker 1: read Ellsworth's famous spider petting Zoo open year round, all
32:14
Speaker 1: visitors welcomed. This must be the place, he concluded. Carefully
32:19
Speaker 1: turning up the heavily redded lane, Johnson wondered what he
32:22
Speaker 1: would find. Perhaps one of the locals playing a joke
32:24
Speaker 1: on the tourists, he mused. Tall grass slapped at the
32:28
Speaker 1: bottom of the car, and rusted barbed wire clung to
32:31
Speaker 1: rotted posts that ran alongside the lane. In the untilled fields,
32:35
Speaker 1: scrubby bushes had sprung up like mushrooms. Johnson tried to
32:38
Speaker 1: imagine what the farm looked like in better days, but
32:41
Speaker 1: it was impossible. When he reached the top of the hill,
32:44
Speaker 1: the farmhouse looked even more Decrepit blistered paint hung from
32:48
Speaker 1: the wooden shingles, and there was a disturbing sag in
32:51
Speaker 1: the middle of the roof. But once it had been
32:53
Speaker 1: the side garden was now occupied by tall thistles and
32:56
Speaker 1: a massive tangled timbers, indicating the former site of the barn.
33:01
Speaker 1: Except for the glass still being intact in the windows,
33:04
Speaker 1: the house looked abandoned. Where is everybody? Thought Johnson in
33:08
Speaker 1: response to his question, an old woman dressed in a
33:11
Speaker 1: black skirt and a woolen sweater stepped out the side door.
33:15
Speaker 1: It's never a good sign by the way she was
33:18
Speaker 1: gnarled and withered, like the lone apple tree that stood
33:20
Speaker 1: in the yard. Johnson guests, she must have been at
33:23
Speaker 1: least seventy, maybe even eighty years old. She spat, turning
33:28
Speaker 1: off the radio and rolling down the car window. He replied,
33:31
Speaker 1: is this the petting zoo? That's what the sign says,
33:34
Speaker 1: don't it. Ignoring her rudeness, Johnson continued, are you open,
33:39
Speaker 1: I'll get Jake Key out back chopping wood. He watched
33:43
Speaker 1: as she shuffled down a dirt path and disappeared around
33:45
Speaker 1: the corner of the house. Charming, thought Johnson. Opening the
33:49
Speaker 1: car door, he stepped out. Despite the poverty, the farm
33:52
Speaker 1: had a certain rustic appeal, which reminded him of the
33:55
Speaker 1: house that he grew up in in the country. But
33:57
Speaker 1: there was something odd, something missing. Where are the flies?
34:01
Speaker 1: Thought Johnson. On most farms, the low buzz of the
34:04
Speaker 1: black swarms was constant, but here there was none. Except
34:07
Speaker 1: for the moaning of the wind. It was quiet. Perhaps
34:11
Speaker 1: it was the lack of animals, he thought, or maybe
34:13
Speaker 1: it was the stiff breeze at the top of the
34:15
Speaker 1: hill that kept them at bay. Glancing at his watch,
34:18
Speaker 1: he frowned. It was after five o'clock. If he did
34:21
Speaker 1: not get back on the road soon, he would be
34:23
Speaker 1: late for his appointment. Either that or skip his shower
34:26
Speaker 1: after driving all day, Johnson did not want to skip
34:28
Speaker 1: the soothing ritual. Taking one last look around, he reached
34:32
Speaker 1: for the handle of the car door. Just then the
34:34
Speaker 1: old woman reappeared, and behind her and even more wizened
34:37
Speaker 1: up old man wearing faded blue overalls and a nicotine
34:40
Speaker 1: stained undershirt. Stopping at the corner of the house, the
34:43
Speaker 1: old man spat out a long jet of chewing tobacco
34:46
Speaker 1: onto the ground. Wiping his mouth with the back of
34:49
Speaker 1: his hand. He paused momentarily to study Johnson. Speaking to
34:53
Speaker 1: the old woman, he said in a low tone, thought,
34:56
Speaker 1: I heard a car come up. Wants to see your spatters,
35:00
Speaker 1: she said, before she turned away and went back to
35:02
Speaker 1: the farmhouse, letting the screen door slam behind her. You
35:06
Speaker 1: want to see my spiders, young fellow. Sure, if you're
35:08
Speaker 1: open how much? Looking over Johnson's luxury car, he scratched
35:13
Speaker 1: his ruddy face and said fifty, that's ridiculous. Strugging his shoulders,
35:20
Speaker 1: the old man said, take it or leave it. I
35:22
Speaker 1: got work to do, and then he spat out another
35:24
Speaker 1: long jet of chewing tobacco and turned to go So
35:31
Speaker 1: this guy, he's a sales chimp. Yeah, he's the part
35:35
Speaker 1: I was born to play. Apparently I'm nailing it. He's
35:37
Speaker 1: he's traveling in his luxury car. He's a spider dude
35:41
Speaker 1: because he's to torture ants in a spider webs. Not
35:45
Speaker 1: that he has super powers bestowed to him by a
35:47
Speaker 1: radioactive spider, No, but it's he's made the big mistake
35:51
Speaker 1: of going to see this redneck spider farm. Yeah, spinning,
35:56
Speaker 1: chewing tobacco. Are you talking to a stranger indicates the
35:59
Speaker 1: presence of a redneck? Yeah, so did the overalls. Yeah alright,
36:03
Speaker 1: so back to the petting zoo. I can't leave now
36:10
Speaker 1: after coming all this way, thought Johnson. Taking another quick
36:13
Speaker 1: glance at his watch, he said, irritably, alright, alright, but
36:17
Speaker 1: this better be good. See that sounds just like me,
36:21
Speaker 1: it does. The old man smirked and licked his lips
36:24
Speaker 1: as Johnson whipped out a crisp fifty dollar bill from
36:27
Speaker 1: his wallet. Johnson did not like the old man's greedy
36:30
Speaker 1: look and hastily shoved his wallet back in his pants pocket. Thanks,
36:34
Speaker 1: said the old man, sarcastically, snatching the bill from Johnson's hand,
36:38
Speaker 1: looking it over carefully, he folded it up neatly, stuck
36:41
Speaker 1: it in his pocket, and said, follow me. The old
36:45
Speaker 1: man led Johnson down an overgrown path to a shed
36:47
Speaker 1: at the back of the farmhouse. Inside, the dim glow
36:50
Speaker 1: of fluorescent tubes highlighted the dozen plywood shelves that ran
36:53
Speaker 1: along the walls. In contrast to the rest of the farm,
36:56
Speaker 1: the shed was neat, almost antiseptic in appearance. Sitting on
37:00
Speaker 1: each shelf was a glass terrarium filled with twigs and rocks.
37:04
Speaker 1: In the case closest to Johnson, a small garden spider
37:07
Speaker 1: was spinning a web in the corner. That's an orb spider,
37:11
Speaker 1: said the old man, said Johnson, annoyed by the interruption.
37:16
Speaker 1: You know spiders a bit, replied Johnson. I used to
37:19
Speaker 1: study them when I was a kid. I bet you're
37:22
Speaker 1: the type that like defeat him. Yeah, catch bugs, drop
37:26
Speaker 1: him in. See what happens? Fun, ain't it? Suddenly Johnson
37:31
Speaker 1: was uncomfortable. How did he guess my secret, he wondered.
37:35
Speaker 1: Johnson felt the warm rush of blood to his neck
37:38
Speaker 1: and ears as he started to blush. No need to
37:41
Speaker 1: be a shame, young fellow. All kids do it. It's natural.
37:46
Speaker 1: Trying to change the topic, Johnson asked, you you've been
37:49
Speaker 1: at this long keeping spiders. Yeah, I've been at it
37:53
Speaker 1: a while. Most folks scared of spiders. Not me. Me
37:58
Speaker 1: and spider Gilon feel good. Johnson turned back to watch
38:02
Speaker 1: a large black spider in another case sucking up the
38:05
Speaker 1: half digested slurry of its latest victim. Trying to be polite,
38:09
Speaker 1: Johnson asked, but you don't give many visitors here, being
38:13
Speaker 1: so far from the highway. Donate him, said the old man.
38:17
Speaker 1: This is just a sideline. Pausing for effect, he added,
38:20
Speaker 1: I breed him. Johnson looked puzzled for the college, explained
38:25
Speaker 1: the old man. They use him for research. Does it
38:29
Speaker 1: pay well? Good enough? Uh? They don't know squat about spiders,
38:33
Speaker 1: said the old man, spinning on the floor. Johnson looked
38:36
Speaker 1: down and saw that a streak of the sticky black
38:39
Speaker 1: tobacco had splashed on his shoes. I've been doing research
38:42
Speaker 1: on my own, said the old man proudly. Spatters are
38:46
Speaker 1: just like any other creator. Cows, horses, dogs, They're all
38:51
Speaker 1: the same breed. The best with the best, and you
38:54
Speaker 1: get the best or the The old man's voice trailed
38:58
Speaker 1: off as he started to laugh. There was something about
39:03
Speaker 1: his tone that made Johnson uneasy. You want to see
39:06
Speaker 1: him a prize winner. Johnson looked around. Oh, she ain't here.
39:10
Speaker 1: I keep her in the barn. She kind of makes
39:13
Speaker 1: he's created nervous. I can't say he's blames him. He
39:17
Speaker 1: won't see her. The way the old man said it,
39:19
Speaker 1: the question sounded more like a challenge. Johnson hesitated. He
39:23
Speaker 1: wanted to say no, but he could not let the
39:26
Speaker 1: old man see that he was afraid. Sure, answered Johnson,
39:30
Speaker 1: What could it be, he asked himself, A tarantula. With
39:33
Speaker 1: the old man in front, they went down a lesser
39:35
Speaker 1: used path to a small barn behind a stand of
39:38
Speaker 1: trees that made it invisible from the farmhouse. A shiny
39:41
Speaker 1: new lock on a rusted hask yielded to the old
39:44
Speaker 1: man's key. I don't like kids messing with the stuff.
39:48
Speaker 1: The ancient wooden door swung open. Inside it was pitch black.
39:51
Speaker 1: Johnson hesitated, what was it that made him apprehensive? His
39:56
Speaker 1: mouth felt dry and he tried to swallow. Going in
40:00
Speaker 1: to him the old man as he shoved Johnson through
40:02
Speaker 1: the door, Stumbling on a raised sill, Johnson fell to
40:06
Speaker 1: one knee, ripping his pants. Damn it, he cursed. He's
40:09
Speaker 1: a light switch ahead, are you, the old man reassured him. Jase,
40:13
Speaker 1: pull the string. The stench of moldy hay made Johnson gag.
40:19
Speaker 1: Where is it the spider, he called out. He's in
40:23
Speaker 1: the back. He can't miss her. Where is the light?
40:27
Speaker 1: Right and funny? Can't you see it? Mocked the old man.
40:31
Speaker 1: Johnson stretched out his hand. At first he could not
40:33
Speaker 1: feel anything. Then, slowly groping the air in, he caught
40:36
Speaker 1: hold of it. Johnson's heart leapt in relief. But there
40:40
Speaker 1: was something strange. The line didn't feel like a string.
40:44
Speaker 1: It was sticky. Like pulling the line, Johnson knew he
40:49
Speaker 1: had made a mistake. Something rustled in the rafters above him,
40:51
Speaker 1: and bits of straw floated down. Johnson bolted for the opening.
40:55
Speaker 1: Enjoy yourself, cackled the old man as he slammed the door.
40:59
Speaker 1: Unlocked it. Let me out, Let me out, shouted Johnson.
41:03
Speaker 1: Pounding on the door. Let me out you a buzzard,
41:06
Speaker 1: But it was no use. The dried out wooden door
41:08
Speaker 1: was like iron. Pausing to catch his breath, his fist throbbing,
41:11
Speaker 1: Johnson looked around slowly, his eyes grew accustomed to the dark,
41:15
Speaker 1: but appeared to be a black chasm, was, in fact
41:18
Speaker 1: the side entrance to the barn. There must be another
41:20
Speaker 1: way out, he thought, But where in the gloom He
41:24
Speaker 1: could see that beyond the entryway there was a large
41:27
Speaker 1: open space, and beyond that a boarded up window through
41:29
Speaker 1: which thin shafts of sunlight streamed. Great, all I have
41:33
Speaker 1: to do is cross the barn, pull off one or
41:35
Speaker 1: two of those boards, and climb out, thought Johnson. Then
41:37
Speaker 1: I'll show that old man fifty bucks. He'll wish i'd
41:40
Speaker 1: never stopped. Then he heard another rustle overhead, and straw
41:45
Speaker 1: floated down. Who is it? Who's there? He called out.
41:48
Speaker 1: I'll bet it's that old man, thought Johnson. He thinks
41:51
Speaker 1: he's gonna scare me. Sure you just keep that up,
41:54
Speaker 1: old man, Johnson called out again. Let's see how much
41:57
Speaker 1: laughing you do when I bashed your face in Again,
42:00
Speaker 1: that's just totally me. But first, I've got to get
42:03
Speaker 1: to that window. Be careful, he cautioned himself. This barn
42:07
Speaker 1: must be full of junk. I don't want to fall
42:09
Speaker 1: down and get hurt. Despite the heat and the bar
42:12
Speaker 1: and he shivered, licking the sweat off his upper lips.
42:15
Speaker 1: Johnson slowly picked his way across the wide wooden plank
42:18
Speaker 1: barn floor, being careful not to trip. Shadows of old
42:21
Speaker 1: machinery and tools loomed around him. A leather harness that
42:25
Speaker 1: hung from the wall looked like a hangman's noose. There
42:28
Speaker 1: was a peculiar smell too. It reminded him of a
42:31
Speaker 1: package of chicken that he once left in the trunk
42:33
Speaker 1: of his car in a hot summer day. It was
42:36
Speaker 1: the sickly sweet scent of rotten meat. Oh gross, muttered Johnson.
42:40
Speaker 1: There's a dead animal in here. In less than a minute,
42:44
Speaker 1: he had crossed the barn and was standing in front
42:46
Speaker 1: of the boarded up window blocking his exit, where three
42:49
Speaker 1: boards nailed haphazardly into the frame. Either the old man
42:52
Speaker 1: was too weak or too lazy to drive them all
42:55
Speaker 1: the way in, concluded Johnson. I can probably pull them
42:58
Speaker 1: off with my bare hands. He smiled triumphantly. All right,
43:03
Speaker 1: So Johnson has been locked in the barn. It smells
43:05
Speaker 1: like chicken. It smells like rotting chicken. Uh, there's a
43:09
Speaker 1: leather harness hanging from the wall. So I think I'd
43:11
Speaker 1: be glad at this point that the old man left.
43:13
Speaker 1: At least I would think there would be some sort
43:15
Speaker 1: of deliverance like thing going on here. Yeah, I mean
43:18
Speaker 1: he shoved him. The guys ripped his jeans. Sure there
43:22
Speaker 1: was like that was hostile. It was very hostile. All right,
43:26
Speaker 1: here we go. The first board was half rotted and
43:30
Speaker 1: fell apart in his hands. Light streamed in as it
43:32
Speaker 1: came away from the frame. Then he shifted his attention
43:35
Speaker 1: to the second one, the board in the middle. If
43:37
Speaker 1: he could get this one off, he could easily climb out.
43:40
Speaker 1: But this board wouldn't be so easy. It was like
43:43
Speaker 1: the old door of the barn, dried out and tough
43:45
Speaker 1: as steel. Gripping the board with both hands, he began
43:47
Speaker 1: pulling the nails, squealed in protest, and the board started
43:51
Speaker 1: to move, only a little bit. Grunted Johnson, the thought
43:57
Speaker 1: of throttling old man excited him just a bit further.
44:00
Speaker 1: Another halp, and he could almost feel his fingers closing
44:04
Speaker 1: around the old Man's scrawn the neck, the eyes bulging,
44:07
Speaker 1: the tongue sticking out another half inch. Then it stopped. Desperately,
44:14
Speaker 1: Johnson yanked at the board, but it was no use.
44:16
Speaker 1: It would not yield. I need more leverage, he said
44:20
Speaker 1: to himself and out loud. Balancing on one foot, he
44:23
Speaker 1: braced his other against the window frame and started pulling again.
44:27
Speaker 1: The muscles in his forearms and back bulged. Was restrained
44:29
Speaker 1: against the board. Sweat rolled down his forehead and into
44:32
Speaker 1: his eyes. Come on, he pleaded with the wood, Come on.
44:36
Speaker 1: In this frustration, Johnson did not hear the soft tap
44:40
Speaker 1: tap tap on the floor behind him, tap tap tap,
44:44
Speaker 1: like a blind man with his cane, tap tap tap.
44:48
Speaker 1: Then it was too late. It struck the force of
44:51
Speaker 1: the attack. Ramdom faced first against the wall, knocking the
44:54
Speaker 1: wind out of him. Warm blood trickled from his nose
44:57
Speaker 1: and ran down his cheek. What was that ring around?
45:00
Speaker 1: Slowly he could see in the light from the window
45:02
Speaker 1: his attacker was crouched inside an empty stall along the
45:06
Speaker 1: opposite wall, the legs tints ready to spring. It was
45:09
Speaker 1: a spider, no doubt, one of the old Man's experiments
45:13
Speaker 1: that this was no ordinary spider. It was huge, about
45:17
Speaker 1: the size of a pit bowl, with legs that extended
45:20
Speaker 1: out three or four feet on either side. Its eyes
45:23
Speaker 1: stared coldly at him. Johnson did a quick tally of
45:27
Speaker 1: his injuries. Except for his bloody knows, he was unharmed.
45:31
Speaker 1: Perhaps the large size of the creature made it difficult
45:33
Speaker 1: for its a mountain attack, he conjectured. Possibly it did
45:36
Speaker 1: not even recognize him as prey. I'm sure that's it.
45:39
Speaker 1: Spiders normally eat moths and insects, he reminded himself, not
45:42
Speaker 1: human beings. When he was a kid, Johnson liked to
45:46
Speaker 1: throw twigs into a web just to see the spider's reaction. Invariably,
45:50
Speaker 1: after pouncing on the object, the spider would pluck it
45:52
Speaker 1: out of the web, turn it over, and drop it
45:54
Speaker 1: on the ground. Johnson hopped, the spider would show the
45:57
Speaker 1: same lack of interest from its vantage point at the
46:00
Speaker 1: other end of the bar, and the creature seemed puzzled,
46:02
Speaker 1: unsure of itself. Spiders are cautious, he told himself. It's
46:06
Speaker 1: waiting for me to make the next move. Although every
46:09
Speaker 1: fiber in his body screamed to run, his brain told
46:12
Speaker 1: him to stay still. The spider was too big and
46:14
Speaker 1: too fast the outrun. You need a weapon, he told himself.
46:19
Speaker 1: Quickly looking about, he saw the rotten board from the
46:21
Speaker 1: window lying at his feet. It was about two ft long,
46:24
Speaker 1: with a jagged point at one end. It'll have to
46:26
Speaker 1: do slowly. He bent down to pick it up. The
46:30
Speaker 1: spider crouched low like a sprinter, ready to strike again.
46:33
Speaker 1: Johnson froze his fingers only inches from the board. Easy girl,
46:37
Speaker 1: he whispered, softly. Easy. The spider relaxed, but not completely deliberately.
46:43
Speaker 1: It began to move forward, cat tat, tat. Johnson was
46:47
Speaker 1: amazed by the creature's grace, like a ballerina tiptoeing in
46:50
Speaker 1: from the darkened wings of a theater. It was a
46:53
Speaker 1: marvel of beauty and design. The body, covered by fine
46:56
Speaker 1: gray hair, had the look of velvet, while the eight
46:59
Speaker 1: legs extended from the thorax provided speed and balance. As
47:03
Speaker 1: it approached Johnson, the spider carefully extended one four leg
47:06
Speaker 1: toward him. Johnson quickly knocked it away with his hand.
47:10
Speaker 1: The creature stopped and cocked its plate sized head to
47:12
Speaker 1: one side. The eight eyes looked like black fists. Then
47:16
Speaker 1: the leg came forward again. At the tip, Johnson could
47:19
Speaker 1: see the spikelike claw for catching prey. It touched his
47:22
Speaker 1: left shoulder through his jacket. He could feel the sharp
47:25
Speaker 1: point digging into his skin. Johnson winced and stepped backwards
47:29
Speaker 1: to the wall, but there was no place to go. Slowly,
47:32
Speaker 1: the other four leg came forward. Johnson recoil, trying to
47:35
Speaker 1: ward off the attack with his free arm, but their
47:37
Speaker 1: creature was too strong. It brushed his arm aside as
47:40
Speaker 1: if there were a piece of lint, and planted a
47:42
Speaker 1: second claw into his other shirts. Johnson cried out, help, help,
47:46
Speaker 1: Then the spider reared up on its hind legs, forcing
47:48
Speaker 1: Johnson to his knee. For a brief moment, he and
47:51
Speaker 1: the creature looked into each other's eyes. It was almost
47:54
Speaker 1: like love. Then he saw the six inch fangs that
47:56
Speaker 1: extended from the head drops A venom gleamed in the
47:59
Speaker 1: half light. He watched in fascination as the cruel daggers
48:03
Speaker 1: arched high over him. Then he screamed as they plunged
48:06
Speaker 1: deeply into his chest. Instantly, white hot pain ripped through
48:10
Speaker 1: his body. Then it was gone. The spider had retreated
48:13
Speaker 1: back to the skull. Johnson knew that he had only
48:16
Speaker 1: a minute or two before the poison paralyzed him. This
48:19
Speaker 1: is it, he said to himself, my only chance. Ignoring
48:22
Speaker 1: his wounds, Johnson turned back to the window. Grabbing at
48:25
Speaker 1: the board, he yanked and pulled to no avail. Already
48:28
Speaker 1: the venom was having its effect. His hands were numb
48:31
Speaker 1: and his arms felt like lead. Gasping for air, he
48:34
Speaker 1: threw himself at the boards again and again, but it
48:36
Speaker 1: was no use. He was beaten. Great sob shook his
48:40
Speaker 1: body as he slumped to the floor. This can't be
48:42
Speaker 1: happening to me, he protested. It's ridiculous. It is ridiculous. Right,
48:48
Speaker 1: he's attacked by a spire the size of a pit pull.
48:50
Speaker 1: I would find that hard to believe. Well, that's why
48:53
Speaker 1: you're playing, Johnson thanks. Looking back at the spider, he
48:56
Speaker 1: could see that had still not moved. What is she
48:59
Speaker 1: waiting for, he wondered, Why did she finish me off?
49:02
Speaker 1: He soon had his answer. Shimmering like a great overcoat,
49:06
Speaker 1: there was something on the spider's back. It moved and undulated,
49:10
Speaker 1: like a small wave, flowing back and forth. Then a
49:14
Speaker 1: piece of the wave pulled away and dropped to the floor.
49:17
Speaker 1: It was another spider, only a lot smaller, about the
49:20
Speaker 1: size of a rat. Johnson recalled that some spiders carry
49:24
Speaker 1: their young in their backs. Horrified, he realized that he
49:27
Speaker 1: had stumbled into their nursery and it was feeding down.
49:31
Speaker 1: Another one dropped to the floor, and then another. Soon
49:34
Speaker 1: there was a long line of spiders slowly crawling towards him.
49:38
Speaker 1: Through fading eyesight, he saw the first one reached his
49:41
Speaker 1: foot pinitively, its four leg probe the air until it
49:44
Speaker 1: found his leg and added it. It was light and delicate,
49:48
Speaker 1: like the touch of a child. Johnson opened his mouth
49:51
Speaker 1: to screen it. My sound came. The last thing Johnson
49:55
Speaker 1: saw before he lost consciousness was a spider tearing a
49:58
Speaker 1: piece of flesh from the back of his hands. And
50:01
Speaker 1: it's curtains for Johnson. Yeah, no more lines for me.
50:05
Speaker 1: Baby spiders. That's the size of rats. That's really alpful.
50:10
Speaker 1: Back at the farmhouse, the old man picked up the
50:12
Speaker 1: whiskey bottle from the kitchen table, poured himself another drink,
50:15
Speaker 1: and plopped down on the ancient recliner. How long it take,
50:18
Speaker 1: Jake asked the old woman. Not long, he grunted. They
50:22
Speaker 1: ain't it since Sunday, get sign I chrat mo folks
50:27
Speaker 1: now the signs okay? Anyway, we don't need a crowd,
50:31
Speaker 1: said the old man, taking a long, hard swallow. What
50:34
Speaker 1: you're going to do with his car, she asked, standing
50:36
Speaker 1: at the window admiring the now ownerless vehicle. I hear
50:40
Speaker 1: young Dougal needs one for running moon Sean. Willing to
50:44
Speaker 1: pay good price too, said the old man. Won't he asked? Questions,
50:48
Speaker 1: wondered the old woman, pouring a drink and easing herself
50:50
Speaker 1: down onto a dusty couch. Nah, he don't care, snickered
50:54
Speaker 1: the old man. I talked to him tomorrow. Meanwhile, pass
50:59
Speaker 1: me that remote. Let's see what's on the TV. Boom
51:09
Speaker 1: comes down. The whole thing was an indictment and American's
51:14
Speaker 1: addiction to television. I think you're right, and America's propensity
51:20
Speaker 1: to to shun farm people and a grow giant spiders.
51:26
Speaker 1: That's right, man, Everything was represented. It's basically like mom
51:31
Speaker 1: apple Pie in baseball team. That's right, all right, that's
51:35
Speaker 1: a good one. Good job Johnson, Good job, Peter. I
51:39
Speaker 1: don't know what is an old man's name? Is no
51:41
Speaker 1: Peter the author, the guy who actually wrote absolutely Yeah,
51:45
Speaker 1: great job. And thanks to Annie for providing the counterpart
51:48
Speaker 1: to clead us a slight John joke. Thanks to you
51:51
Speaker 1: for your redneck man, my spirited redneck. Yeah, all right,
51:56
Speaker 1: you got anything else? I think that's pretty great. I
51:58
Speaker 1: do have one thing else, all right. Happy Halloween, everybody,
52:01
Speaker 1: Happy Halloween. We'll see you next year. For more on
52:08
Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works
52:10
Speaker 1: dot com.