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The Empty House · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Brought to you by the all new twenty fourteen Toyota Corolla.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from HowStuffWorks dot com.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Charles w Chuck Bryan. It's very spooky, It's Halloween, it's.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: This is the holiday episode, Christmas Holiday episode or my
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: favorite two of the year.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Yes, oh yeah, it's a tradition. Now I love tradition. Yeah, custom, Yeah.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: You want to explain what we do each Halloween in
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: case people aren't in the know.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: We like to read a scary story for Halloween. The
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: first few years we read public domain scary stories HP Lovecraft,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Edgrell and Poe.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah so Chuck.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: If you remember last year we held a horror fiction contest.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, and we came up with the winner. There
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: was a sweet sixteen you can actually go read them
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: on stuff youshould Know dot com. All sixteen of them
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: are awesome. And then we had like a leg wrestling
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: competition and the guy who came out on top was
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Brett s Arnold with his really awesome story signed forever
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: and Ever.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you, strong Leg. Josh.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I didn't like wrestle I just watched Oh that was
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: me and Tracy. Yeah you don't remember. This is awkward,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: it's crazy, like Tracy was really fast. Yeah, and she
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: was strangely agitated too, like she really had something against you. Anyway,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Brette s Arnold one signed Forever and Ever. If you
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: haven't heard that, go back and listen to. It's very creepy.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Jerry did some excellent sound design. And then but this
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: year we are not holding another contest that way.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: No, No, even though it was great, that was a
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: lot of reading.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: That's right. And then this year we're back at it
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: reading a very scary short story from the early twentieth
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: century written by a writer named Algernon Blackwood who was fantastic.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You get a name like Algernon Blackwood and you
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: were born to write short story horror.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: Exactly, or you're gonna found some like a church of
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Satan or something like that.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he probably tried both. He's a good writer, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: More positive than you'd think.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is a good one. Just to set
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: it up, it's about a haunted house and a couple
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of people venturing through this haunted house. Yeah, and it's
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  Speaker 1: creepy as age.
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  Speaker 3: It is so we're gonna get to it. Jerry's gonna
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: lay down the sound design and we're going to scare
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: the socks off of you. Happy Halloween to you guys.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Turn the lights down, and here we go with the
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Empty House by Algernon Blackwood.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: once their character for evil. In the case of the latter,
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: no particular feature need betray them. They may boast an
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: open countenance and an ingenuous smile, and yet a little
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: something radically amiss with their being, that they are evil
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Willie Nil. They seem to communicate an atmosphere of secret
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: and wicked thoughts, which makes those in their immediate neighborhood
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: shrink from them, as from a thing diseased. And perhaps
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: with houses, the same principle as operative. And it is
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: the aroma of evil deeds committed under a particular roof,
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  Speaker 3: long after the evil doers have passed away, that makes
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: the goose flesh come and the hair rise. Something of
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the original passion of the evil doer, and of the
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  Speaker 3: horror felt by his victim enters the heart of the
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: innocent watcher, and he becomes suddenly conscious of tingling nerves,
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  Speaker 3: creeping skin, and a chilling of the blood. He is
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: terror stricken without apparent cause.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: There was manifestly nothing in the external appearance of this
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  Speaker 1: particular house to bear out the tales of the horror
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: that was said to reign within. It was neither lonely
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: nor enkempt. It stood crowded into a corner of the
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  Speaker 1: square and looked exactly like the houses on either side
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  Speaker 1: of it. The same number of windows as its neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: the same balcony overlooking the gardens, the same white steps
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  Speaker 1: leading up to the heavy black front door, and in
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  Speaker 1: the rear there was the same narrow strip of green
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  Speaker 1: with neat box borders running up to the wall that
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  Speaker 1: divided it from the backs of the adjoining houses. Apparently too,
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  Speaker 1: the number of the chimney pots on the roof was
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  Speaker 1: the same, the breadth and angle of the eaves, and
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  Speaker 1: even the height of the dirty area railings. And yet
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  Speaker 1: this house in the square that seemed precisely similar to
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: its fifty ugly neighbors, was a matter of fact, entirely different,
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  Speaker 1: horribly different. Wherein lay this marked invisible difference is impossible
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  Speaker 1: to say. It cannot be ascribed wholly to the imagination,
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  Speaker 1: because persons who had spent some time in the house,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: knowing nothing of the facts, had declared positively that certain
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  Speaker 1: rooms were so disagreeable they would rather die than enter
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  Speaker 1: them again, and that the atmosphere of the whole house
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: produced in them symptoms of a genuine terror. While the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: series of innocent tenants who had tried to live in
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: it had been forced to DeCamp at the shortest possible notice,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: was indeed little less than a scandal of the town.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: When Shorthouse arrived to pay a week end visit to
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: his aunt Julia and her house on the seafront at
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the other end of the town, he found her charged
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  Speaker 3: to the brim with mystery and excitement. He had only
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: received her telegram that morning, and he had come anticipating boredom.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: But the moment he touched her hand and kissed her
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: apple skin wrinkled cheek, he caught the first wave of
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  Speaker 3: her electrical condition. The impression deepened when he learned that
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: there were to be no other visitors, and that he
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: had been telegraphed for with a very special object. Something
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: was in the wind, and the something would doubtless bear fruit.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: For this elderly spinster, Aunt with a mania for psychical research,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: had brains as well as willpower, and by hook er
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: by crook she usually managed to accomplish her ends. The
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: revelation was made soon after tea, when she sidled close
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  Speaker 3: up to him as they paced slowly along the sea
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: front in the dusk. I've got the keys, she announced,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: in a delighted yet half awesome voice, got them till Monday.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: The keys of the bathing machine, or.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: He asked, innocently, looking from the sea to the town.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Nothing brought her so quickly to the point as feigning
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  Speaker 3: stupidity Neither. She whispered, I've got the keys of the
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  Speaker 3: haunted house in the square, and I'm going there to night.
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  Speaker 3: Shorthouse was conscious of the slightest possible tremor down his back.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: He dropped his teasing tone. Something in her voice and
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  Speaker 3: manner thrilled him. She was in earnest.
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  Speaker 1: But you can't go alone.
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  Speaker 3: He began, That's why I wired for you, she said,
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  Speaker 3: with decision.
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  Speaker 1: He turned to look at her. The ugly line enigmatical
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  Speaker 1: face was alive with excitement. There was the glow of
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: genuine enthusiasm round it like a halo. The eye shone.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: He caught another wave of her excitement, and a second trimmer,
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  Speaker 1: more marked than the first, accompanied it. Thanks Aunt, Julia,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: he said politely.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks awfully, I should not dare to go quite alone.
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  Speaker 1: She went on, raising her voice.
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  Speaker 3: But with you, I should enjoy it immensely. You're afraid
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: of nothing, I know.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, he said again. Here is anything likely
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: to happen.
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  Speaker 3: A great deal has happened, she whispered, though it's been
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: most cleverly hushed up. Three tenants have come and gone
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: in the last few months, and the house is said
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: to be empty for good now.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: In spite of himself, Shorthouse became interested. His aunt was
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  Speaker 1: so very much in earnest.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: The house is very old, indeed, she went on. And
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: the story, an unpleasant one, dates a long way back.
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  Speaker 3: It has to do with a murder committed by a
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: jealous stableman who had some affair with the servant in
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  Speaker 3: the house. One night, he managed to secrete himself in
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  Speaker 3: the cellar, and when everyone was asleep, he crept upstairs
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  Speaker 3: to the servants quarters, chased the girl down to the
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  Speaker 3: next landing, and before anyone could come to the rescue.
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  Speaker 3: Threw her bodily over the banisters into.
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  Speaker 1: The hall below, and the stableman was.
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  Speaker 3: Caught, I believe, and hanged for murder. But it all
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  Speaker 3: happened this century ago, and I've not been able to
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  Speaker 3: get more details of this story. Shorthouse now felt his
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  Speaker 3: interest thoroughly aroused, but though he was not particularly nervous
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  Speaker 3: for himself, he hesitated a little on his aunt's account.
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  Speaker 3: On one condition, he said, at length, nothing will prevent
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  Speaker 3: my going. She said firmly, But I may as well
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  Speaker 3: hear your condition.
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  Speaker 1: That you guarantee your power of self control if anything
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  Speaker 1: really horrible happens. I mean that you are sure you
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  Speaker 1: won't get too.
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  Speaker 3: Frightened, Jim, she said scornfully. I'm not young, I know,
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  Speaker 3: nor are my nerves. But with you I should be
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  Speaker 3: afraid of nothing in the world. This, of course settled it.
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  Speaker 3: For Shorthouse had no pretensions to being other than a
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  Speaker 3: very ordinary young man, and an appeal to his vanity
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  Speaker 3: was irresistible. He agreed to go instinctively. By a sort
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: of subconscious preparation. He kept himself and his forces well
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  Speaker 3: in hand the whole evening, compelling an accumulative reserve of
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  Speaker 3: control by that nameless inward process of gradually putting all
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  Speaker 3: the emotions away and turning the key upon them, a
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  Speaker 3: process difficult to describe, but wonderfully effective, as all men
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  Speaker 3: who have lived through severe trials of the inner man
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  Speaker 3: well understand. Later it stood him in good stead. But
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  Speaker 3: it was not until half past ten, when they stood
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  Speaker 3: in the hall well, in the glare of friendly lamps,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: and still surrounded by comforting human influences, that he had
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  Speaker 3: to make the first call upon this store of collected strength.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: For once the door was closed and he saw the deserted,
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  Speaker 3: silent streets stretching away white in the moonlight before them,
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: it came to him clearly that the real test that
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: night would be in dealing with two fears instead of one.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: He would have to carry his aunt's fear as well
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  Speaker 3: as his own, And as he glanced down at her
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  Speaker 3: sphinklike countenance and realized that it might assume no pleasant
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: aspect in a rush of real terror, he felt satisfied
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  Speaker 3: with only one thing in the whole adventure, that he
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: had confidence in his own will and power to stand
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: against any shock that might be.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Okay. Little recap here got a dude and his aunt
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: checking out this haunted house that she has the keys to. Yep,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: apparently a guy killed a lady.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: There years before, a century ago.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: And it sounds like this Shorthouse guy is handsome and brave. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm the aunt, you're the aunt. Okay, all right,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: here we go. Slowly they walked through the empty streets
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: of the town. A bright autumn moon silvered the roofs,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: casting deep shadows. There was no breath of wind, and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: the trees in the formal gardens by the seafront watched
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: them silently as they passed along. To his aunt's occasional remarks,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Shorthouse made no reply, realizing that she was simply surrounding
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: herself with the mental buffers, saying ordinary things to prevent
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: herself thinking of extraordinary things. Few windows showed lights, and
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: from scarcely a single chimney came smoke or sparks. Shorthouse
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: had already begun to notice everything, even the smallest details. Presently,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: they stopped at the street corner and looked up at
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the name on the side of the house full in
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: the moonlight, and with one accord, but without remark, turned
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: into the square, and crossed over to the side of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: it that lay in the shadow.
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  Speaker 3: The number of the house is thirteen.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Whispered a voice at aside, and neither of them made
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: the obvious reference, but passed across the broad sheet of
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: moonlight and began to march up the pavement in silence.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: It was about halfway up the square that Shorthouse felt
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: an arm slipped quietly but significantly into his own, and
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  Speaker 1: knew then that their adventure had begun in earnest, and
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: that his companion was already yielding imperceptibly to the influences
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: against them. She needed support. And a few people are
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: picturing Josh and I arm in arm, and Josh wearing
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a dress. Then you're right on the money.
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  Speaker 3: Like a gray wig with a bun.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is Anthony Perkins and mom. A few minutes
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: later they stopped before a tall, narrow house that rose
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: before them into the night, ugly in shape and painted
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: a dingy white. Shutterless windows without blinds stared down upon them,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: shining here and there in the moonlight. There were weather
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: streaks in the wall and cracks in the paint, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the balcony bulged out from the first floor. A little unnaturally.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: But beyond this generally forlorn appearance of an unoccupied house,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: there was nothing at first sight to single out this
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: particular mansion, for the evil character had most certainly acquired.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Taking a look over their shoulders to make sure they
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: had not been followed, they went boldly up the steps
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: and stood against the huge black door that fronted them forbiddingly.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: But the first wave of nervous snows now upon them,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: and Shorthouse fumbled a long time with the key before
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: he could fit it into the lock at all. For
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: a moment, if truth were told, they both hoped it
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: would not open, for they were a prey to various
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: unpleasant emotions. As they stood there on the threshold of
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: their ghostly adventure, Shorthouse, shuffling with the key and hampered
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: by the steady weight on his arm, certainly felt the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: solemnity of the moment. It was as if the whole world,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: for all experience, seemed at that instant, concentrated in his
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: own consciousness, were listening to the grating noise of that key.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: A stray puff of wind wandering down the empty street
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: woke a momentary rustling in the trees behind them, but otherwise,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: this rattling of the key was the only sound audible,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: And at last it turned in the lock, and the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: heavy door swung open and revealed a yawning gulf of
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: darkness beyond.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: With a last glance at the moonlit square, they passed
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: quickly in, and the door slam behind them with a
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: roar that echoed prodigiously through empty halls and passages. But
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: instantly with the echoes, another sound made itself heard, and
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Aunt Julia leaned suddenly, so heavily upon him that he
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: had to take a step backwards to save himself from falling.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: A man had coughed close beside them, so close that
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: it seemed they must have been actually by his side
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: in the darkness. With the possibility of practical jokes in
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: his mind, Shorthouse at once swung his heavy stick in
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: the direction of the sound, but it meant nothing more
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: than solid air. He heard his aunt give a little
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: gas beside him. There's someone here, she whispered. I heard
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: him be quiet, he said sternly.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: It was nothing but the noise of the front door.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Oh get a light quick, she added, as her nephew,
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: fumbling with a box of matches, opened it. Upside down
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: and let them fall with a rattle, on to the
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: stone floor. The sound, however, was not repeated, and there
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: was no evidence of retreating footsteps. In another minute they
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: had a candle burning, using an empty end of a
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: cigar case as a holder, And when the first flare
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: had died down, he held the impromptu lamp aloft and
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: surveyed the scene. And it was dreary enough in all conscience,
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: For there is nothing more desolate in all the abodes
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: of men than an unfurnished house, dimly lit, silent and forsaken,
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: and yet tenanted by rumor with the memories of evil
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: and violent histories. They were standing in a wide hallway.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: On their left was the open door of a spacious
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: dining room, and in front of the hall ran ever
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: narrowing into a long, dark passage that led apparently to
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: the top of the kitchen stairs. The broad, uncarpeted staircase
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: rose in a suite before them, everywhere draped in shadows,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: except for a single spot about half way up, where
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: the moonlight came in through the window and fell in
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: a bright patch on the boards. This shaft of light
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: shed a faint radiance above and below it, lending to
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: the objects within its reach, a misty outline that was
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: infinitely more suggestive and ghostly than complete darkness. Filtered moonlight
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: always seems to paint faces on the surrounding gloom, and
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: his short house peered up into the well of darkness
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: and thought of the countless empty rooms and passages in
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: the upper part of the house. He caught himself longing
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: again for the safety of the moonlit square or the cozy,
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: bright drawing room they had left an hour before. Then,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: realizing that these thoughts were dangerous, he thrust them away
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: again and summoned all his energy for concentration on the
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: present aunt Julia.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: He said aloud severely, we must now go through the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: house from top to bottom to make a thorough search.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: The echoes of his voice died away slowly all over
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: the building, and in the intense silence that followed, he
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: turned to look at her in the candlelight. He saw
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: that her face was already ghastly pale. But she dropped
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: his arm for a moment and said, in a whisper,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: stepping close in front of him.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: I agree. We must be sure there's no one hiding.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: That's the first thing.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: She spoke with evident effort, and he looked at her
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: with admiration. You feel quite sure of yourself. It's not
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: too late, I think so, she whispered, her eyes shifting
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: nervously towards shadows behind.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: Quite sure. Only one thing, What's that? You must never
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: leave me alone for an instant.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: As long as you understand that any sound or appearance
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: that must be investigated at once, for to hesitate means
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: to admit fear. That is fatal. Agreed, she said, a
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: little shakily. After a moment's hesitation, I'll try arm in
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: arm shorthouse, holding the dripping candle and the stick, while
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: his aunt carried the cloak over her shoulders. Figures of
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: utter comedy to all but themselves. They began a systematic search, stealthily,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: walking on tiptoe and shading the candle lest it should
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: betray their presence. Through the shutterless windows. They went first
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: into the big dining room. There was not a stick
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: of furniture to be seen. Bare walls, ugly mantlepieces, and
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: empty grates stared at them. Everything they felt resented their intrusion,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: watching them as it were, with veiled eyes. Whispers followed
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: them shadows flitted noiselessly to the right and left. Something
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: seemed ever at their back, watching, waiting an opportunity to
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: do them injury. There was the inevitable sense that operations
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: which went on when the room was empty had been
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: temporarily suspended till they were well out of way again.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: The whole dark interior of the old building seemed to
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: become a malignant presence that rose up, warning them to
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: desist and mind their own business. Every moment the strains
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: on the nerves increased.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: So you hear, what's going on now? I mean, like,
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: they're in this house, yeah, empty, it's dark, and yet
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: they both have this impression that they are not alone,
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: that this house is watching them and resents their intrusion.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the ant is clearly a burden.
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but she's like, you know, really trying to hang
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: in there.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Let's give her credit.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: Out of the gloomy dining room, they passed through large
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: folding doors into a sort of library or smoking room,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: wrapped equally in silence, darkness, and dust, And from this
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: they regained the hall near the top of the back stairs.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Here a pitch black tunnel opened before them into the
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: lower regions and it must be confessed. They hesitated, but
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: only for a minute. With the worst of the night
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: still to come, it was essential to turn from nothing.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: Aunt Julius stumbled at the top of the dark descent,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: ill lit by the flickering candle, and even Shorthouse felt
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: at least half the decision. Go out of his legs.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Come on, he said, peremptorily, and his voice ran on
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: and lost itself in the dark empty spaces below. I'm coming,
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: she faltered, catching his arm with unnecessary violence. They went
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: a little unsteadily down the stone steps, a cold, damp
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: air meeting them in the face, close and malodorous. The
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: kitchen into which the stairs led along a narrow passage,
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: was large, with the lofty ceiling. Several doors opened out
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: of it, some into cupboards with empty jars still standing
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: on the shelves, and others into horrible, little, ghostly back offices,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: each colder and less inviting than the last. Black beetles
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: scurried over the floor, and once, when they knocked against
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: the deal table standing in the corner, something about the
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: size of a cat jumped down with a rush and fled,
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: scampering across the stone floor into the darkness everywhere. There
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: was a sense of recent occupation, an impression of sadness
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: and glued. Leaving the main kitchen, they went toward the scullery.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: The door was standing ajar, and as they pushed it
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: open to its full extent, Aunt Juliet uttered a piercing scream,
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: which she instantly tried to stifle by placing her hand
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: over her mouth. For a second. Shorthouse stood stock still,
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: catching his breath. He felt as if his spine had
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: suddenly become hollow, and someone had filled it with particles
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: of ice. Facing them directly in their way, between the
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: doorposts stood the figure of a woman. She had disheveled
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: hair and wildly staring eyes, and her face was terrified
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: and white as death. She stood there motionless for the
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: space of a single second. Then the candle flickered and
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: she was gone, gone utterly, and the door framed nothing
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: but empty darkness.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Only the beastly jumping candlelight.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: He said quickly, in a voice that sounded like someone else's.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: It was only half under control.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Come on, Aunt, there's nothing there. He dragged her forward,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: with a clattering of feet and a great appearance of boldness.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: They went on but over his body the skin mood
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: as if crawling ants covered it, and he knew by
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the weight on his arm that he was supplying the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: force of locomotion. For two, the scullery was cold, bare
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and empty, more like a large prison cell than anything else.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: They went round it, tried the door into the yard
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: and the windows, but found them all fastened securely. His
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: aunt moved beside him like a person in a dream.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Her eyes were tightly shut, and she seemed merely to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: follow the pressure of his arm. Her courage filled him
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: with amazement. At the same time, she noticed that a
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: certain odd change had come over her face, a change
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: which somehow evaded his powers of analysis. There's nothing here, Auntie,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: he replied aloud. Quickly, Let's go upstairs and see the
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: rest of the house. Then we'll choose a room to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: wait up in. She followed him obediently, keeping close to
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: his side, and they locked the kitchen door behind them.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: It was a relief to get up again, and the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: hall there was more light than before, for the moon
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: had traveled a little further down the stairs. Cautiously, they
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: began to go up into the dark vault of the
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: upper house. The boards creaking under their weight. On the
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: first floor, they found the large double drawing rooms, a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: search of which revealed nothing. Here also was no sign
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: of furniture or recent occupancy, nothing but dust and neglect
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and shadows. They opened the big folding doors between front
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: and back drawing rooms, and then came out again to
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the landing and went upstairs. They had not gone up
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: more than a dozen steps when they both simultaneously stopped
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: to listen, looking into each other's eyes with a new apprehension.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Across the flickering candleplane from the room they had left
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: hardly ten seconds before, came the sound of doors quietly closing.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: It was beyond all question. They heard the booming noise
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: that accompanies the shutting of heavy doors, followed by the
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: sharp catching of the latch. We must go back and see,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: said Shorthouse briefly, in a low tone, and turning to
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: go downstairs again. Somehow she managed to drag after him,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: her feet catching in her dress, her face livid.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: When they entered the front drawing room, it was plain
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: that the folding doors had been closed half a minute before.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: Without hesitation, short House opened them. He almost expected to
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: see someone facing him in the back room, but only
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: darkness and cold air met him. They went through both rooms,
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: finding nothing unusual. They tried in every way to make
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: the doors close of themselves, but there was not wind
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: enough even to set the candle flame flickering. The doors
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: would not move without strong pressure. All was silent as
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: the grave. Undeniably, the rooms were utterly empty, and the
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: house utterly still its beginning, whispered a voice at his elbow,
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: which he hardly recognized as his aunts. He nodded acquiescence,
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: taking out his watch to note the time. It was
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: fifteen minutes before midnight. He made the entry of exactly
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: what had occurred in his note book, setting the candle
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: in its case upon the floor. In order to do so,
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: it took a moment or two to balance it safely
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: against the wall. Aunt Julia always declared that at this
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: moment she was not actually watching him, but had turned
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: her head toward the inner room, where she fancied she
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: had heard something moving. But at any rate, both positively
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: agreed that there came a sound of rushing feet, heavy
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: and very swift, and the next instant the candle was out.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: But to Shorthouse himself had come more than this and
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: he had always thanked his fortunate stars that it came
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: to him alone, and not to his aunt too. For
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: as he rose from the stooping position of balancing the candle,
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: and before it was actually extinguished, a face thrust itself forward,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: so close to his own that he could almost have
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: touched it with his lips. It was a face working
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: with passion, a man's face, dark with thick features and angry,
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: savage eyes. It belonged to a common man, and it
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: was evil in its ordinary normal expression, no doubt. But
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: as he saw it alive with intense, aggressive emotion, it
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: was malignant in a terrible human countenance. There was no
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: movement of the air, nothing but the sound of rushing
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: feet stocking their muffled feet, the apparition of the face,
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: and the almost simultaneous extinguishing of the candle.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: All right, so the s is hitting the fan. The
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: poopoo was hitting the fan at this point.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he could have kissed this ghost.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've seen what possibly as a stable man,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: an angry man, and maybe even the woman he murdered.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: And there's cats. It's always scary.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: You hope it's a cat. It was something the size
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: of a cat.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Yet they're still in here. Here we go. In spite
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: of himself, Shorthouse uttered a little cry, nearly losing his balance,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: as his aunt clung to him with her whole weight.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: In one moment of real, uncontrollable terror. She made no sound,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: but simply seized him bodily. Fortunately, however, she had seen nothing,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: but had only heard the rushing feet for her control
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: returned almost at once, and he was able to disentangle
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: himself and strike a match. The shadows ran away on
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: all sides before the glare, and his aunt stooped down
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and groped for the cigar case with a precious candle.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: Then they discovered that the candle had not been blown
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: out at all. It had been crushed out. The wick
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: was pressed down into the wax, which was flattened, as
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: if by some smooth, heavy instrument. How his companion so
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: quickly overcame her terror, Shorthouse never properly understood, but his
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: admiration for her self control increased tenfold, and at that
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: same time served to feed his own dying flame, for
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: which he was undeniably grateful. Equally inexplicable to him was
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the evidence of physical force they had just witnessed. He
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: at once suppressed the memories of stories he had heard
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: of physical mediums in their dangerous phenomena. For if these
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: were true, and either his aunt or himself was unwittingly
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a physical medium, it meant that they were simply aiding
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: to focus the forces of a haunted house already charged
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: to the brim. It was like walking with unprotected lamps
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: among uncovered stores of gunpowder. So, with his little reflection
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: as possible, he simply ReLit the candle and went up
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to the next floor. The arm in his trembled, it
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: is true, and his own tread was often uncertain. But
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: they went on with thoroughness, and after a search revealing nothing,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: they climbed the last flight of stairs to the top floor.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Of all. Here they found a perfect nest of small
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: servants rooms with broken pieces of furniture, dirty cane bottom chairs,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: chest of drawers, cracked mirrors, and decrepit bedsteads. The room
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: had low sloping ceilings already hung here and there with cobwebs,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: small windows, and badly plastered walls. A depressing and dismal
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: region which they were glad to leave behind. Man, are
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: they gonna make it out?
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I don't know, Chuck, all right, let's find out. It
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: was on the stroke of midnight when they entered a
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: small room on the third floor, close to the top
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: of the stairs, and arranged to make themselves comfortable for
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: the remainder of their adventures. It was absolutely bare, and
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: was said to be the room then used as a
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: clothes closet into which the infuriated groom had chased his
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: victim and finally caught her outside Across the narrow landing
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: began the stairs leading up to the floor above and
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: the servants quarters where they had just searched. In spite
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: of the chilliness of the night. There was something in
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: the air of this room that cried out for an
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: open window. But there was more than this. Shorthouse could
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: only describe it by saying that he felt less master
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: of himself here than in any other part of the house.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: There was something that acted directly on his nerves, tiring
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: the resolution, enfeebling the will. He was conscious of this
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: result before he had been in the room five minutes,
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: and it was just in the short time that they
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: stayed there that he suffered the wholesale depletion of his
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: vital forces, which was for himself the chief horror of
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: the whole experience. They put the candle on the floor
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: of the cupboard, leaving the door a few inches ajar,
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: so that there was no glare to confuse the eyes,
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: and no shadow to shift about on walls and ceiling.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: Then they spread the cloak on the floor and sat
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: down to wait with their backs against the wall. Shorthouse
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: was within two feet of the door on to the landing.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: His position commanded a good view of the main staircase
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: leading down into the darkness, and also of the beginning
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: of the servants stairs going to the floor above. The
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: heavy stick lay beside him within easy reach. The moon
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: was now high above the house. Through the open window,
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: they could see the comforting stars, like friendly eyes watching
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: in the sky. One by one, the clocks of the
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: town struck midnight, and when the sounds died away, the
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: deep silence of a windless night fell again over everything.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: Only the boom of the sea, far away and lugubrious,
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: filled the air with hollow murmurs, lugubrious near big trouble,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: undeclarated in Saint Deletrious.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Inside the house, the silence became awful, awful, he thought,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: because any minute now it might be broken by sounds
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: of portending terror. The strain of waiting told more and
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: more severely on the nerves. They talked in whispers when
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: they talked at all, For their voices aloud sounded queer
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: and unnatural. A chilliness, not altogether due to the night
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: air invaded the room and made them cold. The influences
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: against them, whatever these might be, were slowly robbing them
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: of self confidence and the power of decisive action. Their
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: forces were on the wane, and the possibility of real
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: fear took on a new and terrible meaning. He began
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: to tremble for the elderly woman by his side, whose
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: pluck could hardly save her. Beyond a certain extent. He
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: heard the blood singing in his veins. It sometimes seemed
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: so loud that he fancied it prevented his hearing properly
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: certain other sounds that were beginning very faintly to make
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: themselves audible in the depths of the house. Every time
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: he fastened his attention on the sounds, they instantly ceased.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: They certainly came no nearer. Yet he could not rid
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: himself of the idea that movement was going on somewhere
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: in the lower regions of the house. The drawing room floor,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: where the doors had been so strangely closed, seemed too near.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: The sounds were further off than that. He thought of
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: the great kitchen with the scurrying black beetles, and of
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the dismal little scullery, But somehow or other it did
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: not seem to come from there either. Surely they were
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: not outside the house. Then suddenly the truth flashed into
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: his mind, and for the space of a minute he
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: felt as if his blood had stopped flowing and turned
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: to ice. The sounds were not downstairs at all. They
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: were upstairs, upstairs, somewhere among those horrid, gloomy little servants
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: rooms with their bits of broken furniture, low ceilings and
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: cramped windows, upstairs where the victim had first been disturbed
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and stalked her to death. And the moment he discovered
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: where the sounds were, he began to hear them more clearly.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: It was the sound of feet moving stealthily along the
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: passage over head, in and out among the rooms and
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: pasted the furniture.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: He turned quickly to steal a glance at the motionless
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: figure seated beside him to note whether she had shared
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: his discovery. The faint candlelight coming through the crack in
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: the cupboard door, through her strongly marked face into a
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: vivid relief against the white of the wall. But it
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: was something else that made him catch his breath and
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: stare again. An extraordinary something had come into her face
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: and seemed to spread over her features like a mask.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: It smoothed out the deep lines and drew the skin
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: everywhere a little tighter, so that the wrinkles disappeared. It
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: brought into the face, with the sole exception of the
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: old eyes, an appearance of youth and almost of childhood.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: He stared in speechless amazement, amazement that was dangerously near
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: to horror. It was his aunt's face, indeed, but it
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: was her face of forty years ago, the vacant, innocent
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: face of a girl. He had heard stories of that
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: strange effect of terror, which could wipe a human countenance
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: clean of other emotions, obliterating all previous expressions, but he
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: had never realized that it could be literally true, or
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: could mean anything so simply horrible as what he now saw.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: For the dreadful signature of overmastering fear was written plainly
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: in that utter vacancy of the girlish face beside him,
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: And when feeling his intense gaze, she turned to look
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: at him. He instinctively closed his eyes tightly to shut
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: out the sight. Yet when he turned a minute later,
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: his feelings well in hand, he saw, to his intense
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: relief another expression. His aunt was smiling, and though the
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: face was deathly white, the awful veil had lifted and
• 33:34
  Speaker 3: the normal look was returning.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Anything wrong was all he could think of to say
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: at the moment, and the answer was eloquent, coming from
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: such an old woman.
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: I feel cold and a little frightened.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: She whispered. He offered to close the window, but she
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: seized hold of him and begged him not to leave
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: her side, even for an instant. It's upstairs, I know,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: she whispered, with an odd half laugh.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: But I can't possibly go up.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: But short, how else thought otherwise, Knowing that in action
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: lay their best hope of self control, he took the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: brandy flask and poured out a glass of neat spirit,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: stiff enough to help anybody over anything. It's a good move.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: She swallowed it with a little shiver. His only idea
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: now was to get out of the house before her
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: collapse became inevitable. But this could not safely be done
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: by turning tail and running from the enemy, an action
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: was no longer possible. Every minute he was growing less
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: master of himself, and desperate. Aggressive measures were imperative without
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: further delay. Moreover, the action must be taken towards the enemy,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: not away from it. The climax, if necessary and unavoidable,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: would have to be faced boldly. He could do it now,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: but in ten minutes he might not have the force
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: left to act for himself, much less for both. Upstairs,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the sounds were meanwhile becoming louder and closer, accompanied by
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: the occasional creaking of the boards. Someone was moving stille
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: healthily about, stumbling now and then awkwardly against the furniture,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Waiting a few moments to allow the tremendous dose of
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: spirits to produce its effect, and knowing this would last
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: but a short time under the circumstances, Shorthouse then quietly
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: got on his feet, saying in a determined voice, Now,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Aunt Julia, we'll go upstairs and find out what all
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: this noise is about. You must come too. It's what
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: we agreed. See he's gotten a little whiskey in his belly.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a little drunk, and he's like.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Get your butt up here, right, You drug me into.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: This, yeah, Brandy says the day again, He picked up
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: his stick and went to the cupboard for the candle.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: A limp form rose shakily beside him, breathing hard, and
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: he heard a voice say, very faintly something about being
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: ready to come. The woman's courage amazed him. It was
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: so much greater than his own. And as they advanced,
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: holding aloft the dripping candle, some subtle force exhaled from
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: this trembling, white faced old woman at his side. That
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: was the true source of his inspiration. It held something
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: really great that shamed him and gave him the support
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: without which he would have proved far less. Equal to
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: the occasion, they crossed the dark landing, avoiding with their
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: eyes the deep black space over the banisters. Then they
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: began to mount the narrow staircase to meet the sounds,
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: which minute by minute grew louder and nearer. About halfway
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: up the stairs, Aunt Julius stumbled, and Shorthouse turned to
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: catch her by the arm, and just at that moment
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: there came a terrific crash in the servant's corridor overhead.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: It was instantly followed by a shrill, agonized scream that
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: was a cry of terror and a cry for help
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: melted into one. Before they could move aside or go
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: down a single step, someone came rushing along the passage overhead,
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: blundering horribly, racing madly at full speed, three steps at
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: a time down the very staircase where they stood. The
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: steps were light and uncertain, but behind them sounded the
• 37:01
  Speaker 3: heavier tread of another person, and the staircase seemed to shake.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: Shorthouse and his companion just had time to flatten themselves
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: against the wall when the jumble of flying steps was
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: upon them, and two persons with the slightest possible interval
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: between them, dashed past at full speed. It was a
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: perfect whirlwind of sound, breaking in upon the midnight silence
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: of the empty building. The two runners, pursuer and pursued,
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: had passed clean through them where they stood, and already
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: worth a thud. The boards below had received the first one,
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: then the other. Yet they had seen absolutely nothing, not
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: a hand or an arm, or a face, or even
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: a shred of flying clothing. Then came a second's pause,
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: then the first one, the lighter of the two, obviously
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: the pursued one, ran with uncertain footsteps into the little
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: room which Shorthouse and his aunt had just left, the
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: heavier one following There was a sound of scuffly gasping
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: and smothered screaming, and then out on the landing came
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: the step of a single person treading.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: A dead silence followed for the space of half a minute,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: and then was heard a rushing sound through the air.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: It was followed by a dull, crashing thud in the
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: depths of the house below. On the stone floor of
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: the hall, utter silence reigned. After nothing moved. The flame
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: of the candle was steady, it had been steady the
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: whole time, and the air had been undisturbed by any
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: movement whatsoever. Palsied with terror, Aunt Julia, without waiting for
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: her companion, began fumbling her way downstairs. She was crying
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: gently to herself, and when Shorthouse put his arm round
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: her and half carried her, he felt that she was
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: trembling like a leaf. He went into the little room
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: and picked up the cloak from the floor and arm
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: in arm, walking very slowly, without speaking a word or
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: looking once behind them, they marched down the three flights
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: into the hall. In the hall, they saw nothing but
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: the whole way down the stairs, they were conscious that
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: someone followed them step by step. When they went back,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: it was left behind, and when they went more slowly,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: it caught them up. But never once did they look
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: behind to see. And at each turning of the staircase
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: they lowered their eyes for fear of the following horror
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: they might see upon the stairs above. With trembling hands,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Shorthouse opened the front door, and they walked out into
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the moonlight and drew a deep breath of the cool
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: night air blowing in from the sea.
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: Wow. They made it out.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and sounds like the stable man threw the girl
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: over the banister once again.
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: I have a feeling he does that every night, you
• 39:39
  Speaker 3: think so, or at the very least on the anniversary
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: of the night of the murder.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: And the how ghosts work?
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, creepy stuff, good stuff, good one.
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: Congratulations, Congratulations to you too, sir, Jerry.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Fine Shorthouse, Jerry can't wait too. And you're a fine
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: aunt leaf shaky lady. Yeah, sure, Jerry can't wait to
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: hear the sound design always a treat for us.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and everyone out there. If you like this, Algernon
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: Blackwood has a lot of other good stuff. Yeah, check
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: it out and have a really happy Halloween.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, be safe out there.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: HowStuffWorks dot com. Brought to you by the all new
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen Toyota Corolla