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The 13th Annual Halloween Spooktacular! · Stuff You Should Know

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I
0:04
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the spook Cast. I'm Josh,
0:21
Speaker 1: and there's Chuck and there's Jerry Booberry, Roland Booberry. That
0:27
Speaker 1: was the best one. I like it. And this is
0:29
Speaker 1: Stuff you should Know, the Spooktacular, Spooky Halloween Edition. That's right,
0:35
Speaker 1: this is our spook Tacular. That's awesome. And I went
0:39
Speaker 1: back and looked and uh, we started out kind of
0:42
Speaker 1: timid mm hmm with the early days, and then we
0:47
Speaker 1: kind of got I think it was a few years
0:49
Speaker 1: in when we finally started in with like the two
0:52
Speaker 1: stories and really got our wheels. Are Halloween wheels going?
0:58
Speaker 1: I can feel them just burning up the tree act
1:00
Speaker 1: right now. That's right. And also this is as we
1:04
Speaker 1: always like to mention, one of our two episodes of
1:07
Speaker 1: the year, that we have fought tooth and nail to
1:09
Speaker 1: keep ad free. That's right, because nothing will ruin a
1:12
Speaker 1: spooky Halloween story more than stopping to sell stamps, That's right.
1:20
Speaker 1: You just want the scares and the thrills and the
1:22
Speaker 1: chills to be perfectly uninterrupted, right. Yeah. And both of
1:25
Speaker 1: these stories of parents have never heard these, uh, they
1:28
Speaker 1: are both fine for kids to listen to a little creepy,
1:31
Speaker 1: but largely because we have to use uh what's it
1:35
Speaker 1: called when you can read it public domain stories, and
1:40
Speaker 1: usually those aren't you know, they're older, so they're not
1:42
Speaker 1: as gross as the stories you would get today. Yeah,
1:46
Speaker 1: I mean the language they use. Adults barely know what's
1:48
Speaker 1: going on. Kids definitely don't. So those are the stories
1:52
Speaker 1: we like to pick two good ones. So I'm looking
1:54
Speaker 1: forward to these two, two quality stories. Let's start with yours.
1:58
Speaker 1: The Boarded Window by Ambrose Beer. Right, yeah, Ambrose Beer
2:01
Speaker 1: is one of the great journalists and spooky story writers
2:06
Speaker 1: in history. I believe we already have done one Beers piece, definitely.
2:10
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of it, but it was good. Yeah,
2:13
Speaker 1: it was good. I think he was also called like
2:15
Speaker 1: the wickedest man alive at some point in time. No,
2:18
Speaker 1: that was what's his face? You know what I'm saying.
2:21
Speaker 1: I think more than one person has been called that. Okay,
2:24
Speaker 1: I've been called that before. Come on, no, that's not true.
2:27
Speaker 1: All right, So you want to start this one, Yeah,
2:29
Speaker 1: I'll give this one a whirl, all right, And Jerry,
2:31
Speaker 1: if you don't mind bringing on the amazing sound effects.
2:35
Speaker 1: A hand for Jerry. Everybody, she does it up. Every year,
2:39
Speaker 1: she does it up. So here we go. Everybody darken
2:42
Speaker 1: the lights, pore up a spooky cider or something, and
2:46
Speaker 1: here we go with the boarded window by Ambrose Beers.
2:55
Speaker 1: In eighteen thirty, only a few miles away from what
2:58
Speaker 1: is now the great city of Cincinnata lay an immense
3:02
Speaker 1: and almost unbroken forest. The whole region was sparsely settled
3:06
Speaker 1: by people of the frontier, restless souls who no sooner
3:09
Speaker 1: had hewn fairly habitable homes out of the wilderness and
3:13
Speaker 1: attained to that degree of prosperity which today we should
3:16
Speaker 1: call indigence, than impelled by some mysterious impulse of their nature,
3:21
Speaker 1: they abandoned all and pushed farther westward to encounter new
3:25
Speaker 1: perils and privations, and the effort to regain the meager
3:29
Speaker 1: comforts which they had voluntarily renounced. It's quite a sentence,
3:35
Speaker 1: it is. It's clever, though I know, I love how
3:38
Speaker 1: they pushed further westward into Cincinnati. That's right, many of
3:44
Speaker 1: them had already forsaken that region for the remoter settlements.
3:48
Speaker 1: But among those remaining was one who had been of
3:51
Speaker 1: those first arriving. He lived alone in a house of logs,
3:56
Speaker 1: surrounded on all sides by the great forest, of whose
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Speaker 1: gloom in silence he seemed to part, for no one
4:02
Speaker 1: had ever known him to smile nor speak a needless word.
4:07
Speaker 1: His simple wants were supplied by the sale or barter
4:09
Speaker 1: of skins of wild animals in the river town. For
4:13
Speaker 1: not a thing did he grow upon the land, which,
4:15
Speaker 1: if needful, he might have claimed by right of undisturbed possession.
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Speaker 1: So this guy's like the king of his domain e
4:24
Speaker 1: there basically definitely, But he doesn't really do anything. He
4:27
Speaker 1: just kind of lays around and skins animals, I guess,
4:31
Speaker 1: as we will see, there were evidences of quote improvement
4:37
Speaker 1: end quote, which is kind of harsh, I think, to say,
4:41
Speaker 1: A few acres of ground immediately about the house had
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Speaker 1: once been cleared of its trees, the decayed stumps of
4:46
Speaker 1: which were half concealed by the new growth that had
4:49
Speaker 1: been suffered to repair the ravage wrought by the acts.
4:52
Speaker 1: Apparently the man zeal for agriculture had burned with a
4:55
Speaker 1: failing flame expiring in penitential ashes. The a log house
5:00
Speaker 1: with his chimney of sticks, its roof of warping clapboards
5:04
Speaker 1: weighted with traversing polls, and it's quote chinking quote of
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Speaker 1: clay had a single door and directly opposite a window.
5:12
Speaker 1: The ladder, however, was boarded up. Nobody could remember a
5:15
Speaker 1: time when it was not, and no one knew why
5:18
Speaker 1: it was so closed, certainly not because of the occupant's
5:21
Speaker 1: dislike of light and air. For on one of those
5:23
Speaker 1: rare occasions when a hunter had passed that lonely spot,
5:26
Speaker 1: the recluse had commonly been seen sunning himself on his doorstep.
5:30
Speaker 1: If Heaven hath provided sunshine for his need, I fancy
5:35
Speaker 1: there are a few persons living today who ever knew
5:37
Speaker 1: the secret of that window. But I am one, as
5:40
Speaker 1: you shall see right. So, yeah, you're dis guys living
5:48
Speaker 1: out there in the woods. Seems a little bit lazy,
5:51
Speaker 1: and he's got a boarded up window, and he likes
5:54
Speaker 1: the sun himself, And just because of his living situation
5:57
Speaker 1: and where he lives, there's just no way he's wearing
6:00
Speaker 1: clothes while he's sunning himself outside of his house, very
6:02
Speaker 1: much naked out there. I bet um, okay, my turn. Yes.
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Speaker 1: The man's name was said to be Merlock. He was
6:13
Speaker 1: apparently seventy years old, actually about fifty something. Besides years
6:18
Speaker 1: had had a hand in his aging. His hair and
6:21
Speaker 1: long full beard were white, his gray, lusterless eyes sunk
6:25
Speaker 1: in his face singularly seamed with wrinkles, which appeared to
6:29
Speaker 1: belong to two intersecting systems in figure. He was tall
6:33
Speaker 1: and spare, with a stoop of the shoulders, a burden bearer.
6:37
Speaker 1: I never saw him. These particulars I learned from my grandfather,
6:40
Speaker 1: from whom I also got the man's story. When I
6:42
Speaker 1: was a lad. He had known him when living nearby.
6:45
Speaker 1: In that early day. One day Merlock was found in
6:49
Speaker 1: his cabin dead. It was not a time and place
6:52
Speaker 1: for coroners and newspapers, And I suppose it was agreed
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Speaker 1: that he had died from natural causes, or I should
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Speaker 1: have been told and should remember her. I know only that,
7:02
Speaker 1: with what was probably a sense of the fitness of things,
7:05
Speaker 1: the body was buried near the cabin, alongside the grave
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Speaker 1: of his wife, who had preceded him by so many
7:10
Speaker 1: years that local tradition had retained hardly a hint of
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Speaker 1: her existence. That closes the final chapter of this true story.
7:18
Speaker 1: Excepting indeed, the circumstance. Many years afterward, in company with
7:23
Speaker 1: an equally intrepid spirit, I penetrated to the place, and
7:26
Speaker 1: ventured near enough to the ruined cabin to throw a
7:29
Speaker 1: stone against it, and ran away to avoid the ghost,
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Speaker 1: which every well informed boy thereabout knew haunted the spot.
7:36
Speaker 1: But there was an earlier chapter that supplied by my grandfather,
7:41
Speaker 1: when Merlock built his cabin and began laying sturdily about
7:44
Speaker 1: with his axe to hue out of farm. The rifle
7:47
Speaker 1: meanwhile his means of support. He was young, strong, and
7:50
Speaker 1: full of hope in that eastern country. Whence he came,
7:53
Speaker 1: he had married, as was the fashion, a young woman
7:56
Speaker 1: and always worthy of his honest devotion, who shared the
8:00
Speaker 1: dangers and privations of his lot with a willing spirit
8:03
Speaker 1: and light heart. There is no known record of her name,
8:07
Speaker 1: of her charms of mind and person. Tradition is silent,
8:10
Speaker 1: and the doubter is at liberty to entertain his doubt.
8:13
Speaker 1: But God forbid that I should share it. Of their
8:16
Speaker 1: affection and happiness, there is abundant assurance in every added
8:19
Speaker 1: day of the man's widowed life. For what but the
8:22
Speaker 1: magnetism of a blessed memory could have changed that venturesome
8:26
Speaker 1: spirit to a lot like that. All right, So he
8:33
Speaker 1: had a wife, she died. He was later found dead. Yeah,
8:39
Speaker 1: do you know what happened? Well, no, but he's saying
8:42
Speaker 1: like he loved her very much because he didn't move
8:45
Speaker 1: from that place where she died. That's right. One day
8:49
Speaker 1: Merlock returned from gunning in a distant part of the
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Speaker 1: forest to find his wife prostrate with fever and delirious.
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Speaker 1: There was no physician within miles, no neighbor, nor was
9:01
Speaker 1: she in a condition to be left to someone help,
9:04
Speaker 1: so he said about the task of nursing her back
9:06
Speaker 1: to health. But at the end of the third day,
9:08
Speaker 1: she fell into unconsciousness and so passed away, apparently with
9:13
Speaker 1: never a gleam of returning reason. For what we know
9:16
Speaker 1: of a nature like his, we may venture to sketch
9:19
Speaker 1: in some of the details of the outline picture drawn
9:22
Speaker 1: by my grandfather. When convinced that she was dead, Murlock
9:26
Speaker 1: had sense enough to remember that the dead must be
9:29
Speaker 1: prepared for burial and performance of that sacred duty. He
9:32
Speaker 1: blundered now and again, did certain things incorrectly, and others
9:37
Speaker 1: which he did correctly were done over and over. So
9:42
Speaker 1: this guy's kind of stumbling through this. He's like, oh
9:45
Speaker 1: my gosh, yeah, jeez, he's not doing I broke her arm. Now.
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Speaker 1: His occasional failures to accomplish some simple and ordinary act
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Speaker 1: filled him with astonishment, like that of a drunken man
10:01
Speaker 1: who wonders at the suspension of familiar natural laws. He
10:05
Speaker 1: was surprised, too, that he did not weep, surprised and
10:09
Speaker 1: a little ashamed. Surely it is unkind not to weep
10:12
Speaker 1: for the dead. Tomorrow, he said aloud, I shall have
10:16
Speaker 1: to make the coffin and dig the grave, and then
10:20
Speaker 1: I shall miss her when she is no longer in sight.
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Speaker 1: But now she is dead, of course, But it is
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Speaker 1: all right. It must be all right. Somehow things cannot
10:28
Speaker 1: be so bad as they seem. Sad. Yeah, he's in
10:32
Speaker 1: the denial stage of grief, I think, right. Yeah, for sure.
10:40
Speaker 1: He stood over the body in the fading light, adjusting
10:42
Speaker 1: the hair and putting the finishing touches to the simple toilet.
10:46
Speaker 1: Now what does that mean? I I think he was
10:50
Speaker 1: like cleaning her up, not but not like not like
10:53
Speaker 1: she was peeing or pooping. Like the toilet is like
10:56
Speaker 1: what they called me, the little overnight kit that you
10:59
Speaker 1: take with you, that toothpaste and all that stuff. That's
11:03
Speaker 1: the only thing I can think of that he was
11:05
Speaker 1: like combing her hair and maybe like cleaning whatever off
11:09
Speaker 1: of her mouth, or you know, get that part. But
11:12
Speaker 1: just the simple toilet. I thought they meant her, but
11:15
Speaker 1: I don't think could be. Was the wickedest man alive,
11:19
Speaker 1: all right, So let me just uh do that since again,
11:27
Speaker 1: putting the finishing touches to the simple toilet, doing all
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Speaker 1: mechanically with soullless care, and still through his consciousness ran
11:34
Speaker 1: an under sense of conviction that all was all right,
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Speaker 1: that he should have her again as before, and everything explained.
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Speaker 1: He had no experience in grief. His capacity had not
11:44
Speaker 1: been enlarged by use. His heart could not contain at all,
11:48
Speaker 1: nor his imagination rightly conceive it. He did not know.
11:51
Speaker 1: He was so hard struck that knowledge would come later
11:54
Speaker 1: and never go grief. As an artist of powers as
11:57
Speaker 1: various as the instruments upon which he plays his urges
12:00
Speaker 1: for the dead, evoking some of the sharpest, shrillest notes
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Speaker 1: from others. The low grave chords that throb recurrent like
12:08
Speaker 1: the slow beating of a distant drum. Some natures it
12:11
Speaker 1: startles some, it stupefies to when it comes like the
12:15
Speaker 1: stroke of an arrow, stinging all the sensibilities to a
12:18
Speaker 1: keener life. To another is the blow of a bludgeon, which,
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Speaker 1: in crushing benumbs we may conceive Murlock to have been
12:25
Speaker 1: that way affected. For and this is parenthetical, by the way,
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Speaker 1: and here we are upon surer ground than that of conjecture.
12:33
Speaker 1: No sooner had he finished his pious work than sinking
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Speaker 1: into his chair by the side of the table upon
12:40
Speaker 1: which the body lay, and noting how white the profile
12:43
Speaker 1: showed in the deepening gloom, he laid his arms upon
12:46
Speaker 1: the table's edge and dropped his face into them, tearless
12:51
Speaker 1: yet and unutterably weary. At that moment came in through
12:54
Speaker 1: the open window a long wailing sound, like the cry
12:58
Speaker 1: of a lost child in the far deeps of the
13:01
Speaker 1: darkening woods. But the man did not move again, and
13:05
Speaker 1: nearer than before sounded that unearthly cry upon his failing.
13:09
Speaker 1: Since perhaps it was a wild beast, perhaps it was
13:12
Speaker 1: a dream. For Merlock was asleep very nice, so he
13:20
Speaker 1: fixed his wife's toilet, was so just overwrought and and
13:26
Speaker 1: um worn out by the experience that he fell asleep
13:30
Speaker 1: with his face and arms on the table where her
13:32
Speaker 1: body was. Right. Yeah, I like that long bit about
13:35
Speaker 1: how grief can act as well. It stuff very good too,
13:40
Speaker 1: okay me yes. Some hours later, as it afterward appeared,
13:48
Speaker 1: this unfaithful watcher awoke, and, lifting his head from his arms,
13:52
Speaker 1: intently listened. He knew not why, there in the black
13:57
Speaker 1: darkness by the side of the dead, recalling all without
14:00
Speaker 1: a shock, He strained his eyes to see. He knew
14:04
Speaker 1: not what. His senses were all alert, His breath was suspended,
14:09
Speaker 1: his blood had stilled its tides, as if to assist
14:12
Speaker 1: the silence. Who what had waked him? And where was it?
14:18
Speaker 1: Suddenly the table shook beneath his arms, and at the
14:21
Speaker 1: same moment he heard, or fancied that he heard a light,
14:24
Speaker 1: soft step, another sounds of bare feet upon the floor.
14:28
Speaker 1: He was terrified, beyond the power to cry out or
14:31
Speaker 1: move perforce. He waited, waited there in the darkness, through
14:35
Speaker 1: seeming centuries of such dread as one may know yet
14:39
Speaker 1: lived to tell. He tried vainly to speak the dead
14:42
Speaker 1: woman's name, vainly to stretch forth his hand across the
14:45
Speaker 1: table to learn if she were there. His throat was powerless,
14:49
Speaker 1: his arms and hands were like lead. Then occurred something
14:53
Speaker 1: most frightful. Some heavy body seemed hurled against the table
14:58
Speaker 1: with an impetus that pushed it against his breast so
15:01
Speaker 1: sharply as nearly to overthrow him. And at the same
15:04
Speaker 1: instant he heard and felt the fall of something upon
15:07
Speaker 1: the floor was so violent a thump that the whole
15:09
Speaker 1: house was shaken by the impact, a scuffling, en suit,
15:13
Speaker 1: and a confusion of sounds impossible to describe. Murlock had
15:16
Speaker 1: risen to his feet, fear had by excess forfeited control
15:20
Speaker 1: of his faculties. He flung his hands upon the table.
15:23
Speaker 1: Nothing was there. Get pretty creepy for sure, because I mean,
15:30
Speaker 1: it's just him and his wife in this cabin in Cincinnati,
15:35
Speaker 1: and um, you know, nothing's supposed to be going on,
15:40
Speaker 1: that's right, And this is he fell asleep for goodness sake.
15:46
Speaker 1: There is a point at which terror may turn to madness,
15:50
Speaker 1: and madness incites to action with no definite intent, from
15:55
Speaker 1: no motive, but the wayward impulse of a madman. Merlock
15:58
Speaker 1: sprang to the wall with a little groping, ceased his
16:01
Speaker 1: loaded rifle, and without aim, discharged by the flash, which
16:06
Speaker 1: lit up the room with a vivid illumination. He saw
16:08
Speaker 1: an enormous panther dragging the dead woman toward the window,
16:13
Speaker 1: its teeth fixed in her throat. Then there was darkness,
16:17
Speaker 1: blacker than before, in silence, and when he returned to consciousness,
16:21
Speaker 1: the sun was hot and the wood vocal with songs
16:24
Speaker 1: of birds. All right, I didn't see that coming. I
16:31
Speaker 1: didn't even know there are panthers in Ohio, and I
16:33
Speaker 1: grew up in Ohio. I guess there, we're back then. Yeah,
16:38
Speaker 1: I guess it was a long time ago. But you know,
16:40
Speaker 1: this guy fires off his rifle just out of instinct,
16:44
Speaker 1: like it could have been his wife. You don't know
16:45
Speaker 1: what's going on. Yeah, I imagine him being like Barney Fife,
16:49
Speaker 1: trying to take a shot while he's really worked up.
16:52
Speaker 1: All right, let's finish this thing up. Okay. The body
16:58
Speaker 1: lay near the window where the beasts had left it
17:00
Speaker 1: when frightened away by the flash and report of the rifle.
17:04
Speaker 1: The clothing was deranged, the long hair and disorder the
17:08
Speaker 1: limbs lay anyhow, from the throat dreadfully lacerated. He had
17:14
Speaker 1: issued a pool of blood, not yet entirely coagulated. The
17:19
Speaker 1: ribbon with which he had bound the wrists was broken,
17:22
Speaker 1: The hands were tightly clenched between the teeth was a
17:26
Speaker 1: fragment the animals here, all right. I read a little
17:36
Speaker 1: bit of what do you call it when people interpret
17:40
Speaker 1: things I don't know? Is yeah? Sure? And you know
17:48
Speaker 1: they seemed to be an agreement that the wife was
17:51
Speaker 1: not dead and that he tied her up, and then
17:56
Speaker 1: she struggled to try and free herself and like, fight
17:58
Speaker 1: this panther. I like to think that she was dead
18:03
Speaker 1: this being Halloween, and came back to life for one
18:07
Speaker 1: last struggle with the panther. She was like not my man, panther,
18:11
Speaker 1: and and saved his life. Okay, I like it. Good story.
18:17
Speaker 1: It was a good story. Good choice, Chuck, and good
18:19
Speaker 1: job Ambrose Bears. If you can hear us wherever you
18:22
Speaker 1: are now, aka Josh, he's selling Santa Claus. Okay, so
18:29
Speaker 1: you want to start mine because we don't have to
18:31
Speaker 1: take an ad break, remember that's right. Uh yeah, sure,
18:34
Speaker 1: we've got our parts worked out, right, we do. I
18:37
Speaker 1: think you should take the the other guy, the landlord. Yeah,
18:42
Speaker 1: you take the landlord because he's talking to my guy.
18:45
Speaker 1: So that makes sense. Okay, cool, and then I'll start
18:49
Speaker 1: this one out and we'll just kind of switch off,
18:51
Speaker 1: right yeah. Yeah, So we're gonna read The toll House.
18:55
Speaker 1: And it's a short story by W. W. Jacobs written
18:59
Speaker 1: in nineteen o seven in or at least published for
19:01
Speaker 1: the first time in ninetuen and seven. And W. W.
19:03
Speaker 1: Jacobs was much more famous for having written The Monkeys Paw.
19:07
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I knew, I knew that name. Yeah, he
19:10
Speaker 1: should have entitled this the toll House parentheses. Those ain't cookies. Yeah, yeah,
19:17
Speaker 1: I can't think of anything but that. It'll make sense
19:20
Speaker 1: in a minute, right, Okay, remember when we did that
19:23
Speaker 1: Cookies episode, we found out some people actually call chocolate
19:25
Speaker 1: chip cookies toll houses. Yeah, it's weird. That is really weird.
19:30
Speaker 1: Don't be weird people just calling chocolate chip cookies exactly.
19:33
Speaker 1: So where are these guys from. I haven't worked on
19:35
Speaker 1: any accents or affectations yet. Well, I think that's great.
19:39
Speaker 1: We can just leave it up to our imaginations. But
19:42
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess, um, somewhere in the Middle East. Oh no, alright,
19:48
Speaker 1: Middle East of America. Let's say. Yeah, okay, no, no,
19:53
Speaker 1: I was kidding. I meant Middle East. No, I think
19:55
Speaker 1: that's they're meant to be British. I think this is
19:57
Speaker 1: set in in England. Oh out fun, this is gonna
20:01
Speaker 1: get weird. Then I love it. Yeah that if you,
20:06
Speaker 1: if you could stop and edit like our initial accents,
20:09
Speaker 1: with the ones we end up on finally that they're
20:12
Speaker 1: like night and day. All right, here we go. It's
20:25
Speaker 1: all nonsense, said Jack Barnes. Of course people have died
20:29
Speaker 1: in the house. People die in every house. As for
20:32
Speaker 1: the noises wind in the chimney and rats and the
20:35
Speaker 1: wainscott are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me
20:39
Speaker 1: another cup of Team Megel. Lester and White are first,
20:44
Speaker 1: said Meagel, who was presiding at the tea table. Of
20:47
Speaker 1: the three feathers in you've had two. Lester and White
20:51
Speaker 1: finish their cup with irritating slowness, pausing between SIPs to
20:55
Speaker 1: sniff the aroma and to discover the sex and dates
20:58
Speaker 1: of arrival of the strangers, which floated in some numbers
21:01
Speaker 1: in the beverage. Now what is that? I have no idea.
21:05
Speaker 1: I really wondered about that. It doesn't make any sense.
21:09
Speaker 1: The only way I can make heaser tails of it.
21:11
Speaker 1: Is if the beverage is like that a bar another
21:14
Speaker 1: word for the bar, and there there there's people coming
21:17
Speaker 1: in and out of this public bar that they're in.
21:21
Speaker 1: That's all I can do. Yeah, that makes a little
21:23
Speaker 1: bit of sense at least. Mr Meagle served them to
21:28
Speaker 1: the brim, and then turning to the grimly expectant Mr
21:31
Speaker 1: Barnes blandly requested him to ring for hot water. We'll
21:35
Speaker 1: try and keep your nerves in a healthy present condition,
21:38
Speaker 1: he remarked. For my part, I have a sort of
21:41
Speaker 1: half and half belief in the supernatural. All sensible people have,
21:46
Speaker 1: said Leicester. An auntie of mine saw a ghost once.
21:50
Speaker 1: White nodded. I had an uncle that saw one, he said.
21:54
Speaker 1: It always is somebody else that sees them. Well, there's
21:58
Speaker 1: a house, said Meagle, a lot to house at an
22:00
Speaker 1: absurdly low rate, and nobody will take it. It has
22:04
Speaker 1: taken toll of at least one life of every family
22:07
Speaker 1: that's lived there, however short at the time, and since
22:10
Speaker 1: it has stood empty, caretaker after caretaker has died there.
22:14
Speaker 1: The last caretaker died there fifteen years ago. Wow, I
22:21
Speaker 1: love Meagle. It's really evolved. He's changed all of a
22:25
Speaker 1: sudden that tea is doing something. Yeah, now, I just
22:28
Speaker 1: have to remember the next time he speaks. Well, I've
22:31
Speaker 1: tried to separate my two guys by by class. You don't,
22:35
Speaker 1: oh nice? Okay, all right exactly, said Barnes, long enough
22:40
Speaker 1: for legends to accumulate. Okay, I'll bet you a sovereign
22:45
Speaker 1: you won't spend the night there alone for all your talk,
22:48
Speaker 1: said White suddenly. And I no, said Barnes slowly. I
22:55
Speaker 1: don't believe in ghost snore, in any supernatural things whatever,
22:59
Speaker 1: all the aim, I admit that I should not care
23:01
Speaker 1: to pass a night there alone. But why not? Inquired White?
23:06
Speaker 1: Wind in the chimney, said Meagle with the green I
23:09
Speaker 1: don't remember what Meagle founded like rats and the Wainscott
23:13
Speaker 1: chimed in lester as you like, said Barnes, coloring. Suppose
23:18
Speaker 1: we all go, said Meagle, start after supper and get
23:22
Speaker 1: there about eleven. We've been walking for ten days now
23:25
Speaker 1: without an adventure except for bonness discovery that ditch water
23:29
Speaker 1: smells longest. There will be a novelty at any rate.
23:33
Speaker 1: And if we break the spell by all surviving, the
23:35
Speaker 1: grateful owner ought to come down handsome. Let's see what
23:39
Speaker 1: the landlord has to say about it. First, said Leicester,
23:42
Speaker 1: there is no fun in passing a night in an
23:44
Speaker 1: ordinary empty house. Let us make sure that it is haunted.
23:49
Speaker 1: He rang the bell, and, sending for the landlord, appealed
23:52
Speaker 1: to him, in the name of our common humanity not
23:54
Speaker 1: to let them waste a night watching in a house
23:57
Speaker 1: in which specters and hobgoblins had no part. The reply
24:01
Speaker 1: was more than reassuring, and the landlord, after describing with
24:04
Speaker 1: considerable art the exact appearance of a head which had
24:08
Speaker 1: been seen hanging out of a window in the moonlight,
24:11
Speaker 1: wound up with a polite but urgent request that they
24:14
Speaker 1: would settle his bill before they went. It's all very
24:18
Speaker 1: well for you young gentlemen to have your fun, he said, indulgently.
24:22
Speaker 1: But supposing, as how, you are all found dead in
24:25
Speaker 1: the morning, what about me. It ain't called the toll
24:29
Speaker 1: house for nothing. You know you die there, last, inquired Barnes,
24:35
Speaker 1: with an air of polite derision. A tramp was the reply.
24:40
Speaker 1: He went there for the sake of half a crown,
24:43
Speaker 1: and they found him next morning hanging from the ballusters. Dead. Suicide,
24:49
Speaker 1: said Barnes, unsound mind. The landlord nodded. That's what the
24:54
Speaker 1: jury brought in, he said slowly, but his mind was
24:58
Speaker 1: sound enough when he went in there. I'd known him
25:01
Speaker 1: off and on for years. I'm a pool man, but
25:04
Speaker 1: I wouldn't spend the night in that house for a
25:07
Speaker 1: hundred pounds. And also, by the way, Chuck, I went
25:12
Speaker 1: ahead and did the inflation calculator and then translated it
25:15
Speaker 1: into USD. So he's saying, the landlord saying here that
25:19
Speaker 1: he wouldn't spend the night in that house for nine thousand,
25:22
Speaker 1: two hundred and seventy two pounds in today's money or
25:26
Speaker 1: ten thousand, four hundred and eighty eight dollars and fifty
25:29
Speaker 1: three cents in America. Very nice. He repeated this remark
25:37
Speaker 1: as they started on their expedition. A few hours later,
25:40
Speaker 1: they left as the inn was closing for the night.
25:42
Speaker 1: Bolts shot noisily behind them, and as the regular customers
25:45
Speaker 1: trudged slowly homewards, they set off at a brisk pace
25:49
Speaker 1: in the direction of the house. Most of the cottages
25:52
Speaker 1: were already in darkness, and lights and others went out
25:54
Speaker 1: as they passed. All right, So I mean, here we
26:00
Speaker 1: have four gentlemen, we have a haunted house and a
26:04
Speaker 1: bit of a dare to each other, right to go
26:06
Speaker 1: spend the night in that thing? Exactly? And I think
26:09
Speaker 1: it was um, I think it was Barnes who just
26:11
Speaker 1: apropos of nothing, started talking about how he doesn't believe
26:15
Speaker 1: in ghosts, right, but he's like, I don't want to
26:18
Speaker 1: go there, but it's not because of ghosts, right exactly.
26:20
Speaker 1: So they're like, Okay, we're gonna get you out. We're
26:23
Speaker 1: all loaded up on English tea right now, so let's
26:26
Speaker 1: go see this haunted house. That's right. So I think
26:29
Speaker 1: you should take over. Okay, alright, but we'll keep the
26:32
Speaker 1: same voices, right, or should we just get really weird? Well, well,
26:36
Speaker 1: I think it doesn't matter whether we try or not.
26:39
Speaker 1: That's what's going to happen. Hey, I've got my guys,
26:41
Speaker 1: so I'm talking about me then, alright, So that's uh,
26:45
Speaker 1: that's you starting out as White. It seems rather hard
26:49
Speaker 1: that we have got to lose Night's Rest in order
26:51
Speaker 1: to convince Barnes of the existence of ghosts. Wit is
26:55
Speaker 1: White from Maryland. All of a sudden, said White. It's
27:01
Speaker 1: in a good cause, said megel a most worthy object.
27:06
Speaker 1: And something seems to tell me that we shall succeed.
27:09
Speaker 1: You didn't forget the candles, lester, Oh man, I love Meagle.
27:15
Speaker 1: I gotta hang out with this guy. What's he gonna say?
27:21
Speaker 1: I brought two, was the reply all the old man
27:24
Speaker 1: could spare. There was but little moon, and the night
27:28
Speaker 1: was cloudy. The road between high hedges was dark, and
27:31
Speaker 1: in one place where it ran through a wood so
27:33
Speaker 1: black that they twice stumbled, and the uneven ground at
27:36
Speaker 1: the side of it. Fancy leaving our comfortable beds for this,
27:41
Speaker 1: said White again. Let me see this desirable residential suppulcher
27:46
Speaker 1: lies to the right, doesn't it further on? Said Megel.
27:52
Speaker 1: They walked on for some time in silence, broken only
27:55
Speaker 1: by White's tribute to the softness, the cleanliness, and the
27:59
Speaker 1: comfort of the head, which was receding farther and farther
28:02
Speaker 1: into the distance. Under Meagel's guidance, they turned off at
28:06
Speaker 1: last to the right, and after a walk of a
28:09
Speaker 1: quarter of a mile, saw the gates of the house
28:11
Speaker 1: before them. The lodge was almost hidden by overgrown shrubs,
28:15
Speaker 1: and the dry was choked with rank growths. M Meagle leading,
28:21
Speaker 1: they pushed through it until the dark pile of the
28:23
Speaker 1: house loomed above them. There's a window at the back
28:27
Speaker 1: where we can get in, so the landlord, says, said Lester,
28:31
Speaker 1: as they stood before the hall floor window, said Megel, nonsense,
28:36
Speaker 1: let's do the thing properly. Where's the knocker? He Oh,
28:45
Speaker 1: that's my new ringtowne for you. Where's the knocker? I'm
28:52
Speaker 1: not getting in there. Jerry isolated that and send it
28:54
Speaker 1: to me please. He fell for it in the darkness
28:57
Speaker 1: and gave a thundering rattat at the door. Don't a fool,
29:01
Speaker 1: said Barnes crossly. Ghostly servants are all asleep, said Meagle gravely.
29:08
Speaker 1: But I'll wake them up before I'm done with them.
29:11
Speaker 1: It's scandalous keeping us out here in the dark. He
29:15
Speaker 1: plied the knocker again, and the noise volleyed in the
29:17
Speaker 1: emptiness beyond. Then, with a sudden exclamation, he put out
29:21
Speaker 1: his hands and stumbled forward. Why it was open all
29:26
Speaker 1: the time, he said, with an odd catch in his voice.
29:30
Speaker 1: You're not getting there and really put that in there.
29:33
Speaker 1: Come on, I don't believe it was open, said Lester,
29:38
Speaker 1: hanging back. Somebody is playing us a trick. Nonsense, said Meagle, sharply,
29:44
Speaker 1: give me a candle thanks, who's got a match? You'll
29:49
Speaker 1: butt in my face? Oh wait, sorry, Barnes produced a
29:56
Speaker 1: box and struck one, and Megal, shielding the candle with
29:58
Speaker 1: his hand, led the way forward to the foot of
30:01
Speaker 1: the stairs. Shut the door, somebody, he said, there's too
30:06
Speaker 1: much draft. It is shut, said White, glancing behind him.
30:12
Speaker 1: Megel fingered his chin. Who shut it, he inquired, looking
30:17
Speaker 1: from one to the other, Who came in last? I did,
30:21
Speaker 1: said Lester, But I don't remember shutting it. Perhaps I did,
30:24
Speaker 1: though Meagle, about to speak, thought better of it, and,
30:28
Speaker 1: still carefully guarding the flame, began to explore the house
30:32
Speaker 1: with the others close behind. Shadows danced on the walls
30:35
Speaker 1: and lurked in the corners as they proceeded. At the
30:38
Speaker 1: end of the passage, they found a second staircase, and,
30:40
Speaker 1: descending it slowly gained the first floor. Careful, said Meagle.
30:45
Speaker 1: As they gained the landing, he held the candle forward
30:49
Speaker 1: and showed where the balusters had broken away. Then he
30:51
Speaker 1: peered curiously into the void beneath. This is where the
30:55
Speaker 1: trump hanged himself. I suppose, he said, thoughtfully, you have
31:00
Speaker 1: an unwholesome mind, said White, As they walked on this
31:05
Speaker 1: place is quite creepy enough without you remembering that. Now,
31:08
Speaker 1: let's find a comfortable room and have a little nip
31:10
Speaker 1: of whiskey, a piece and a pipe. How will this too?
31:15
Speaker 1: He Now we're talking. There's a White at every party.
31:19
Speaker 1: I like it. He opened a door at the end
31:22
Speaker 1: of the passage and revealed a small, square room. Meagel
31:25
Speaker 1: led the way with a candle, and, first melting a
31:27
Speaker 1: drop or two of tallow, stuck it on the mantelpiece.
31:31
Speaker 1: The others seated themselves on the floor and watched pleasantly
31:34
Speaker 1: as White drew from his pocket a small bottle of
31:37
Speaker 1: whiskey and a tin cup. Hmmm, I've forgotten the water,
31:42
Speaker 1: he exclaimed. I'll soon get some, said Megel. He tucked
31:47
Speaker 1: violently at the bell handle, and the rusty jangling of
31:49
Speaker 1: a bell sounded from a distant kitchen. He rang again.
31:53
Speaker 1: Don't play a fool, said Barnes roughly. Megel laughed. I
32:00
Speaker 1: only wanted to convince you, he said kindly, there ought
32:07
Speaker 1: to be at any rate one ghost in the servants hall.
32:11
Speaker 1: Barnes held up his hand for silence. Yess, said Meagle,
32:15
Speaker 1: with a grin at the other two. Is anybody coming.
32:20
Speaker 1: All right, this seems like a good switch point. So
32:23
Speaker 1: it seems like a Meagle is like making a big,
32:26
Speaker 1: you know, spectacle of this whole thing. He's he's a
32:29
Speaker 1: bit of a he's a bit of a jackass. I'm
32:31
Speaker 1: just gonna say it. Yeah, you're not taking this very seriously, No,
32:35
Speaker 1: for sure not. And he's a little he's being a
32:37
Speaker 1: little mean to Barnes, who's clearly on edge. Yeah. Barnes,
32:40
Speaker 1: for all his spawning over not being afraid of ghosts,
32:43
Speaker 1: is clearly afraid, right, and Megal is heating it up
32:46
Speaker 1: like a puppy on a straw steak. All right, here
32:52
Speaker 1: we go with Barnes, and then you're taking over. Good yep,
32:59
Speaker 1: Suppose we draw this game and go back, said Barnes. Suddenly.
33:03
Speaker 1: I don't believe in spirits, but nerves are outside anybody's command.
33:07
Speaker 1: You may laugh as you like, but it really seems
33:09
Speaker 1: to me that I heard a door open below and
33:12
Speaker 1: steps on the stairs. His voice was drowned in a
33:15
Speaker 1: roar of laughter. He's coming around, said Megel with a smirk.
33:21
Speaker 1: By the time I've done with him, he will be
33:23
Speaker 1: a confirmed believer. Well, who will go and get some water?
33:28
Speaker 1: Will you barns now, was the reply. If there is
33:33
Speaker 1: any it might not be safe to drink after all
33:35
Speaker 1: these years, said Blister, we must do without it. Meagle nodded, and,
33:40
Speaker 1: taking a seat on the floor, held out his hand
33:42
Speaker 1: for the cup. Pipes were lit and the clean, wholesome
33:46
Speaker 1: smell of tobacco filled the room. White produced a pack
33:50
Speaker 1: of cards. Talk and laughter rang through the room and
33:53
Speaker 1: died away reluctantly. In distant corners, cypercill played on the
33:57
Speaker 1: high fi Uh Marlon Wayne showed up empty rooms. Always
34:08
Speaker 1: delude me into the belief that I possess a deep voice,
34:12
Speaker 1: said Megel. Tomorrow. He started with a smothered exclamation eck
34:19
Speaker 1: as the light went out suddenly and something struck him
34:21
Speaker 1: on the head. The others sprang to their feet. Then
34:24
Speaker 1: Migel laughed. It's the candle, he exclaimed. I didn't stick
34:29
Speaker 1: it enough. Barnes struck a match and, relighting the candle,
34:33
Speaker 1: stuck it on the mantelpiece, and sitting down, took up
34:36
Speaker 1: his cards again. What was I going to say? Said Megel? Oh,
34:40
Speaker 1: I know tomorrow, I listen, said White, laying his hand
34:45
Speaker 1: on the other sleep upon my word. I really thought
34:49
Speaker 1: I heard a laugh. Look here, said Barnes. What do
34:53
Speaker 1: you say to go him back? I've had enough of this.
34:56
Speaker 1: I keep fancying that I hear things too, sounds of
34:59
Speaker 1: something moving about in the passage outside. I know it's
35:03
Speaker 1: only fancy, but it's uncomfortable. Oh you go if you
35:06
Speaker 1: want to, said Meagle, and we will play dummy. Or
35:10
Speaker 1: you might ask the tramp to take your hand as
35:13
Speaker 1: you go downstairs. Barnes shivered and exclaimed angrily. He got up, and,
35:19
Speaker 1: walking to the half closed door, listened. Go outside, said Megel,
35:24
Speaker 1: winking at the other two. I'll dare you to go
35:27
Speaker 1: down to the hall door and back by yourself. Co
35:31
Speaker 1: co co co cock. Barnes came back. Oh sorry, Barnes
35:36
Speaker 1: came back, and, bending forward, lit his pipe at the candle.
35:41
Speaker 1: I am nervous, but rational, he said, blowing out a
35:44
Speaker 1: thin cloud of smoke. Me nerves tell me that there
35:47
Speaker 1: is something prowling up and down the long passage outside.
35:52
Speaker 1: My reason tells me that it is all nonsense. Where
35:55
Speaker 1: are my cards? He sat down again, and taking up
35:59
Speaker 1: his hand through it carefully and led your play, white,
36:03
Speaker 1: he said. After a pause. White made no sign. Why
36:07
Speaker 1: he is asleep, said Meagle, wake up, old man, wake
36:11
Speaker 1: up and play. Lester, who was sitting next to him,
36:15
Speaker 1: took the sleeping man by the arm and shook him
36:18
Speaker 1: gently at first, and then with some roughness. But White,
36:22
Speaker 1: with his back against the wall and his head bowed,
36:25
Speaker 1: made no sign. Meagle bawled in his ear and then
36:28
Speaker 1: turned a puzzled face to the others. He sleeps like
36:32
Speaker 1: the dead, he said, grimacing. Well there are still three
36:35
Speaker 1: of us to keep each other company. Yes, said Lester, nodding, unless,
36:41
Speaker 1: good Lord, suppose he broke off and eyed them trembling.
36:47
Speaker 1: Suppose what inquired Megel. Nothing, stammered Lester. Let's wake him,
36:52
Speaker 1: try him again, White, White, it's no good, said Meagle. Seriously,
36:59
Speaker 1: there's something wrong about that sleep, That's what I meant,
37:03
Speaker 1: said Lester. And if he goes to sleep like that, well,
37:07
Speaker 1: why shouldn't Meagles sprang to his feet. Nonsense, he said roughly.
37:11
Speaker 1: He's tired out, that's all. Still. Let's take him up
37:15
Speaker 1: and clear out. You take his legs, and bonds will
37:18
Speaker 1: lead the way with the candle. Yes, who's that? He
37:22
Speaker 1: looked up quickly towards the door. I thought I heard
37:25
Speaker 1: somebody tap, he said, with a shame faced. Laugh now
37:28
Speaker 1: Lester up with him. One, two, Lester, Lester. He sprang
37:36
Speaker 1: forward too late. Lester, with his face buried in his arms,
37:40
Speaker 1: had rolled over under the floor, fast asleep, and his
37:43
Speaker 1: utmost efforts failed to awaken him. He is asleep, he stammered, asleep. Barnes,
37:52
Speaker 1: who had taken the candle from the mantelpiece, stood peering
37:56
Speaker 1: at the sleepers in silence and dropping tallow over the floor.
38:00
Speaker 1: We must get out of this, said Megal. Quick Barnes hesitated.
38:06
Speaker 1: We can't leave him here, he began. We must, said Meagles,
38:10
Speaker 1: in strident tones. If you go to sleep, I shall
38:13
Speaker 1: go quick come. He seized the other by the arm
38:17
Speaker 1: and strove to drag him to the door. Barnes shook
38:20
Speaker 1: him off, and, putting the candle back on the mantelpiece,
38:23
Speaker 1: tried again to arouse the sleepers. It's no good, he
38:27
Speaker 1: said at last, and turning from them, watched Megal. Don't
38:30
Speaker 1: you go to sleep? He said anxiously. Meagle shook his head,
38:35
Speaker 1: and they stood for some time in uneasy silence. May
38:38
Speaker 1: as well shut the door, said Barnes at last, I
38:45
Speaker 1: think this is a good good time to transition over
38:47
Speaker 1: to you. All right, I gotta say, uh, Megal, this
38:52
Speaker 1: chap has a flair for the dramatic. He's very easily excitable.
38:56
Speaker 1: It turns out very much. I really like this guy. Yeah.
39:00
Speaker 1: It so, just to just to recap, Lester and White
39:02
Speaker 1: have inexplicably fallen asleep and cannot be roused. Yeah, they're
39:06
Speaker 1: not dead, because it seems like they're definitely asleep and
39:09
Speaker 1: breathing right, And so Megel and Barnes are freaked out,
39:12
Speaker 1: and it's sufficiently freaky that even Meagles like, yeah, let's
39:15
Speaker 1: let's get out of here. But Barnes, there was credit,
39:17
Speaker 1: is like, no, we're not leaving these guys. We gotta
39:19
Speaker 1: wake him up. Yeah, but I also get the feeling
39:21
Speaker 1: Barnes is like, now I'm stuck with with Megel. Everybody,
39:25
Speaker 1: No one likes that. All right, here we go. He
39:32
Speaker 1: crossed over and closed it gently. Then, at a scuffling
39:35
Speaker 1: noise behind him, he turned and saw Megel in a
39:38
Speaker 1: heap on the hearthstone. With a sharp catch in his breath,
39:41
Speaker 1: he stood motionless inside the room. The candle fluttering in
39:44
Speaker 1: the draft show dimly the grotesque attitudes of the sleepers.
39:49
Speaker 1: That's a great line. Beyond the door there seemed to
39:52
Speaker 1: be his overwrought imagination, a strange and stealthy unrest. He
39:57
Speaker 1: tried to whistle, but his lips were parched, And then
40:01
Speaker 1: a mechanical fashion, he stooped and began to pick up
40:04
Speaker 1: the cards which littered the floor. He stopped once or
40:07
Speaker 1: twice and stood with bent head listening. The unrest outside
40:11
Speaker 1: seemed to increase a loud creaking sound from the stairs.
40:15
Speaker 1: Who's there, he cried loudly. The creaking ceased. He crossed
40:20
Speaker 1: to the door, and, flinging it open, strode out into
40:23
Speaker 1: the corridor. As he walked, his fears left him. Suddenly,
40:27
Speaker 1: come on, he cried, with a low laugh. All of you,
40:31
Speaker 1: all of you, show your faces, your infernal, ugly faces.
40:35
Speaker 1: Don't skulk. He laughed again, and walked on, and the
40:39
Speaker 1: heap in the fireplace put out his head toward us
40:42
Speaker 1: fashion and listened in horror to the retreating footsteps. That's creepy.
40:48
Speaker 1: Not until they had become inaudible in the distance did
40:50
Speaker 1: the listeners features relax. Good Lord Lester, we've driven him bad,
40:56
Speaker 1: he said, in a frightened whisper. We must go after him.
41:00
Speaker 1: There was no reply. Migel sprung to his feet. Do
41:04
Speaker 1: you hear? He cried, Stop your fooling, Now, this is serious.
41:09
Speaker 1: What Lester, do you hear? He bent and surveyed them
41:14
Speaker 1: in angry bewilderment. All right, he said, in a trembling voice.
41:20
Speaker 1: You won't front me, you know. His croutch wet with
41:24
Speaker 1: urine w w Jacobs set up his grave and applauded.
41:32
Speaker 1: He turned away and walked with exaggerated carelessness into the
41:35
Speaker 1: direction of the door. He even went outside and peeped
41:38
Speaker 1: through the crack, but the sleepers did not stir. He
41:42
Speaker 1: glanced into the blackness behind, and then came hastily into
41:45
Speaker 1: the room again. So he's all alone at this point, right, yeah,
41:48
Speaker 1: and freaked out. He stood for a few seconds regarding them.
41:52
Speaker 1: The stillness in the house was horrible. He could not
41:54
Speaker 1: even hear them breathe. With a sudden resolution, he snatched
41:57
Speaker 1: the candle from the mantelpiece and held the flame him
42:00
Speaker 1: to White's finger. Then, as he reeled back, stupefied, the
42:03
Speaker 1: footsteps again became audible. He stood with a candle in
42:06
Speaker 1: his shaking hand, listening. He heard them ascending the farther staircase,
42:11
Speaker 1: but they stopped suddenly as he went to the door.
42:14
Speaker 1: He walked a little way along the passage, and they
42:16
Speaker 1: went scurrying down the stairs, and then at a jog
42:19
Speaker 1: trot along the corridor below. He went back to the
42:23
Speaker 1: main staircase and they ceased again. All right, so this
42:32
Speaker 1: is getting really creepy at this point. Yeah, so you
42:34
Speaker 1: can't see anything. All of his buddies are all in
42:38
Speaker 1: some weird mystical sleep, and now there's phantom footsteps chasing
42:41
Speaker 1: him around the house. All right, I think you should
42:43
Speaker 1: take it over for a time. He hung over the ballusters,
42:52
Speaker 1: listening and trying to pierce the blackness belowe. Then, slowly,
42:57
Speaker 1: step by step, he made his downstairs, and, holding the
43:02
Speaker 1: candle above his head, peered about him barns, he called out,
43:07
Speaker 1: where are you? Shaking with fright, he made his way
43:12
Speaker 1: along the passage, and, summoning up all his courage, pushed
43:15
Speaker 1: open doors and gazed fearfully into empty rooms. Then quite
43:20
Speaker 1: suddenly he heard the footsteps in front of him. He
43:24
Speaker 1: followed slowly for fear of extinguishing the candle, until they
43:27
Speaker 1: led him at last into a vast, bare kitchen with
43:30
Speaker 1: damp walls and a broken floor. In front of him,
43:33
Speaker 1: A door leading into an inside room had just closed.
43:37
Speaker 1: He ran toward it and flung it open, and a
43:40
Speaker 1: cold air blew out the candle. He stood aghast barns.
43:44
Speaker 1: He cried again, don't be afraid, it is I me
43:48
Speaker 1: go to save the day right. There was no answer.
43:54
Speaker 1: He stood gazing into the darkness, and all the time
43:57
Speaker 1: the idea of something close at hand watching was upon him.
44:01
Speaker 1: Then suddenly the steps broke out overhead again. He drew
44:05
Speaker 1: back hastily, and, passing through the kitchen, groped his way
44:08
Speaker 1: along the narrow passages. He could now see better in
44:11
Speaker 1: the darkness, and, finding himself at last at the foot
44:14
Speaker 1: of the staircase, began to ascend it noiselessly. He reached
44:18
Speaker 1: the landing just in time to see a figure disappear
44:21
Speaker 1: around the angle of the wall. Still careful to make
44:24
Speaker 1: no noise, he followed the sound of the steps until
44:27
Speaker 1: they led him to the top floor, and he cornered
44:31
Speaker 1: the chase. At the end of a short passage palns,
44:35
Speaker 1: He whispered, but something stirred in the darkness. A small
44:42
Speaker 1: circular window at the end of the passage just softened
44:45
Speaker 1: the blackness and revealed the dim outlines of a motionless figure. Nagel,
44:51
Speaker 1: in place of advancing, stood almost as still as a
44:54
Speaker 1: sudden horrible doubt took possession of him. With his eyes
44:58
Speaker 1: fixed on the shape in front, he all back slowly,
45:01
Speaker 1: and as it advanced upon him, burst into a terrible
45:04
Speaker 1: crod barns for god, sick is it you? I think
45:12
Speaker 1: you take over now, okay, and then you can take
45:16
Speaker 1: it home? How about that? Yeah? Also, I just want
45:18
Speaker 1: to w W. Jacobs doesn't really play this up as much.
45:21
Speaker 1: He kind of touched on it with like the creepy
45:23
Speaker 1: vast bear kitchen with damp walls and broken floor, but
45:26
Speaker 1: he hasn't really included the this empty, abandoned, scary, haunted
45:31
Speaker 1: house as much of a character. So you just have
45:34
Speaker 1: to remind yourself like, this is going on in an
45:37
Speaker 1: empty house where this man is alone in the dark
45:40
Speaker 1: and scared sless, scared less. The echoes of his voice
45:48
Speaker 1: left the air quivering, but the figure before him paid
45:50
Speaker 1: no heed. For a moment, he tried to brace his
45:53
Speaker 1: courage up to endure its approach. Then with a smothered cry,
45:57
Speaker 1: he turned and fled. The passages wound like a maze
46:02
Speaker 1: and he threaded them blindly in a vain search for
46:04
Speaker 1: the stairs if he could get down and open the
46:07
Speaker 1: hall door. He caught his breath in a sob. The
46:11
Speaker 1: steps had begun again, at a lumbering trot. They clattered
46:15
Speaker 1: up and down the bare passages, in and out, up
46:18
Speaker 1: and down, as though in search of him. He stood appalled,
46:23
Speaker 1: and as they drew near, entered a small room and
46:25
Speaker 1: stood behind the door. As they rushed by. He came
46:28
Speaker 1: out and ran swiftly and noiselessly in the other direction,
46:31
Speaker 1: and in a moment the steps were after him. He
46:34
Speaker 1: found the long corridor and raced along it at top speed.
46:38
Speaker 1: The stair he knew where at the end, and with
46:40
Speaker 1: the steps close behind, he descended them in a blind haste.
46:44
Speaker 1: The steps gained on him, and he shrank to the
46:47
Speaker 1: side to let them pass, still continuing his headlong flight.
46:50
Speaker 1: Then suddenly he seemed to slip off of the Earth
46:53
Speaker 1: into space. Why don't you take it home? Okay? WHOA
47:05
Speaker 1: lester awoke in the morning to find the sunshine streaming
47:08
Speaker 1: into the room and white, sitting up and regarding with
47:12
Speaker 1: some perplexity a badly blistered finger. Where are the others?
47:17
Speaker 1: Inquired Lester. Gone, I suppose, said White. We must have
47:22
Speaker 1: been asleep. Lester arose, and White could have used a
47:26
Speaker 1: better a little more development, but I'm gonna just stick
47:28
Speaker 1: with it, since that was the last quote of his.
47:31
Speaker 1: That's right, he's he's the least interesting guy here, I think.
47:34
Speaker 1: Lester arose, and, stretching his stiffened limbs, dusted his clothes
47:38
Speaker 1: with his hands, and went out into the corridor. White followed.
47:42
Speaker 1: At the noise of their approach, a figure which had
47:44
Speaker 1: been lying asleep at the other end, sat up and
47:47
Speaker 1: revealed the face of Barnes. Why I've been asleep, he said,
47:53
Speaker 1: in surprise. I don't remember coming here. How did I
47:57
Speaker 1: get here? Nice place to come? Were a nap, said
48:01
Speaker 1: Lester severely, as he pointed to the gap and the balusters.
48:05
Speaker 1: Look there another yard, and where would you have been?
48:09
Speaker 1: He walked carelessly to the edge and looked over. In
48:12
Speaker 1: response to his startled cry, the others drew near, and
48:16
Speaker 1: all three to gazing at the dead man. Bill and
48:38
Speaker 1: W W. Jacobs doesn't say it, but the dead man
48:41
Speaker 1: was Megal Megal and looks you know, I think, Lester
48:46
Speaker 1: there was exclaiming, how like that could have been you.
48:49
Speaker 1: It could have been any of us, yeah, for sure,
48:52
Speaker 1: but thank god it was a Megal. It was Megal,
48:54
Speaker 1: the Central European cousin. Good stuff. That's a really good story.
49:00
Speaker 1: That was a good story. We should do the Monkey's
49:02
Speaker 1: Pause sometime too. Yeah. For some reason, I've been avoiding
49:05
Speaker 1: that because it's so well known. But yeah, we should
49:07
Speaker 1: totally do that. I honestly I've never read it, but yeah,
49:10
Speaker 1: I just know about it from like the Simpsons Treehouse
49:12
Speaker 1: of Horror. It's good, good story. Well that's it, everybody, right, Chuck.
49:17
Speaker 1: I mean it's time to say Happy Halloween and all that. Right,
49:20
Speaker 1: That's right. Do you guys be safe out there, have
49:23
Speaker 1: fun trick or treating or going to your parties, or
49:25
Speaker 1: if you choose to not participate, then that's fine too.
49:28
Speaker 1: But Halloween's the best. So get out there and don't
49:31
Speaker 1: forget to take every piece of your candy to your
49:34
Speaker 1: local e R and weight around while they X ray
49:36
Speaker 1: it for you. That's right, Happy Halloween, everybody from us
49:40
Speaker 1: and Jerry h. Stuff you should Know is a production
50:16
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio,
50:20
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever
50:23
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. H