Latest / Short Ghost and Horror Stories Collection / The Tell-tale Heart

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The Tell-tale Heart · Short Ghost and Horror Stories Collection

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  Speaker 1: The Tale Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe. True nervous,
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  Speaker 1: very very dreadfully nervous. I had been and am, But
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  Speaker 1: why will you say that I am mad? The disease
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  Speaker 1: had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above
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  Speaker 1: all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all
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  Speaker 1: things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard
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  Speaker 1: many things in hell. How then am I mad? Hearken
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  Speaker 1: and observe, how healthily, how calmly, I can tell you
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  Speaker 1: the whole story. It is impossible to say how the
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  Speaker 1: first idea entered my brain, But once conceived, it haunted
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  Speaker 1: me day and night. Object there was none passion, There
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  Speaker 1: was none. I loved the old man. He had never
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  Speaker 1: wronged me, he had never given me insult for his gold.
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  Speaker 1: I had no desire. I think it was his eye.
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  Speaker 1: Yes it was this. One of his eyes resembled that
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  Speaker 1: of a vulture, a pale blue eye with a film
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  Speaker 1: over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold,
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  Speaker 1: and so by degrees, very gradually I made up my
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  Speaker 1: mind to take the life of the old man, and
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  Speaker 1: thus rid myself of the eye forever. Now this is
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  Speaker 1: the point you fancy me mad? Madmen know nothing. But
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  Speaker 1: you should have seen me. You should have seen how
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  Speaker 1: wisely I proceeded. With what caution, with what foresight, with
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  Speaker 1: what dissimulation I went to work. I was never kinder
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  Speaker 1: to the old man than during the whole week before
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  Speaker 1: I killed him. And every night, about midnight I turned
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  Speaker 1: the latch of his door and opened it oh so gently.
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  Speaker 1: And then when I had made an opening sufficient for
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  Speaker 1: my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed,
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  Speaker 1: closed so that no light shone out. And then I
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  Speaker 1: thrust in my head. Oh you would have laughed to
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  Speaker 1: see how cunningly I thrust it in. I moved it slowly,
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  Speaker 1: very very slowly, so that I might not disturb the
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  Speaker 1: old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place
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  Speaker 1: my whole head within the opening, so far that I
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  Speaker 1: could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha
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  Speaker 1: would a madman have been so wise as this? And
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  Speaker 1: then when my head was well in the room, I
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  Speaker 1: undid the lantern cautiously, Oh so cautiously, cautiously, for the
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  Speaker 1: hinges creaked. I ended it just so much that a
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  Speaker 1: single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And I
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  Speaker 1: did this for seven long nights. Every night just at midnight.
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  Speaker 1: But I found the eye was always closed, and so
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  Speaker 1: it was impossible to do the work. For it was
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  Speaker 1: not the old man who vexed me, but his evil eye.
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  Speaker 1: And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly
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  Speaker 1: into the chamber and spoke courageously to him, calling him
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  Speaker 1: by name and a hearty tone, and inquiring how he'd
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  Speaker 1: passed the night. So you see, he would have been
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  Speaker 1: a very profound old man. Indeed, to suspect that every night,
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  Speaker 1: just at twelve I looked in upon him while he slept.
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  Speaker 1: Upon the eighth night, I was more than usually cautious
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  Speaker 1: in opening the door. A watch's ment at hand moves
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  Speaker 1: more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had
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  Speaker 1: I felt the extent of my own powers, of my sagacity.
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  Speaker 1: I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph to think
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  Speaker 1: that there I was opening the door little by little,
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  Speaker 1: and he not even to dream of my secret deeds
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  Speaker 1: or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea, and perhaps
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  Speaker 1: he heard me, for he moved on the bed suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back,
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  Speaker 1: but no, his room was as black as pitch, with
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  Speaker 1: the thick darkness, for the shutters were close fastened through
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  Speaker 1: fear of robbers, and so I knew that he could
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  Speaker 1: not see the opening of the door, and I kept
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  Speaker 1: pushing it on, steadily, steadily. I had my head in
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  Speaker 1: and was about to open the lantern when my thumb
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  Speaker 1: slipped on the tin fastening, and the old man sprang
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  Speaker 1: up in bed, crying out, Who's there. I kept quiet
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  Speaker 1: still and said nothing. For a whole hour, I did
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  Speaker 1: not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did
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  Speaker 1: not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up
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  Speaker 1: in the bed, listening, just as I have done night
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  Speaker 1: after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.
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  Speaker 1: Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it
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  Speaker 1: was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a
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  Speaker 1: groan of pain or grief, Oh no, it was the low,
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  Speaker 1: stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul
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  Speaker 1: when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well many
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  Speaker 1: a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept,
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  Speaker 1: has welled up from my own bosom, deepening with its
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  Speaker 1: dreadful echo the terrors that distracted me. I say, I
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  Speaker 1: knew it well, I knew what the old man felt,
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  Speaker 1: and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew
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  Speaker 1: that he had been lying awake ever since the first
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  Speaker 1: slight noise when he had turned in the bed. His
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  Speaker 1: fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had
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  Speaker 1: been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He
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  Speaker 1: had been saying to himself, it is nothing but the
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  Speaker 1: wind and the chimney. It is only a mouse crossing
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  Speaker 1: the floor, or it is merely a cricket which has
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  Speaker 1: made a single chirp. Yes, he had been trying to
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  Speaker 1: comfort himself with all these suppositions, but he had found
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  Speaker 1: it all in vain, all in vain, because death, in
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  Speaker 1: approaching him, had stalked with his black shadow before him
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  Speaker 1: and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence
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  Speaker 1: of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel although
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  Speaker 1: he neither saw nor heard to feel the presence of
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  Speaker 1: my head within the room. When I had waited a
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  Speaker 1: long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I
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  Speaker 1: resolved to open a little, a very very little crevice
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  Speaker 1: in the lantern. So I opened it. You cannot imagine
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  Speaker 1: how stealthily stealthily, until at length a single dim ray,
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  Speaker 1: like the thread of a spider, shot from out the
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  Speaker 1: crevice and was full upon the vulture eye. It was open, wide,
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  Speaker 1: wide open, and I grew furious as I gazed upon it.
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  Speaker 1: I saw it with perfect distinctness, all a dull blue,
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  Speaker 1: with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very
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  Speaker 1: marrow in my bones. But I could see nothing else
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  Speaker 1: of the old man's face or person where I had
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  Speaker 1: directed that ray, as if by instinct, precisely upon the
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  Speaker 1: damned spot. And now have I not told you that
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  Speaker 1: what you mistake for madness is but over acuteness of
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  Speaker 1: the sense. Now I say, there came to my ears
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  Speaker 1: a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch banks
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  Speaker 1: when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well too.
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  Speaker 1: It was the beating of the old man's heart. It
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  Speaker 1: increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates
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  Speaker 1: the soldier into courage. But even yet I refrained and
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  Speaker 1: kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless.
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  Speaker 1: I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon
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  Speaker 1: the eye. Meantime, the hellas tattoo of the heart increased.
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  Speaker 1: It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant.
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  Speaker 1: The old man's terror must have been extreme. It grew louder,
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  Speaker 1: I say, louder every moment. Do you mark me well?
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  Speaker 1: I've told you that I am nervous, So I am.
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  Speaker 1: And now, at the dead hour of night, amid the
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  Speaker 1: dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise
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  Speaker 1: as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet for some
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  Speaker 1: minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating
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  Speaker 1: grew louder louder. I thought the heart must burst. And
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  Speaker 1: now a new anxiety seized me. The sound would be
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  Speaker 1: heard by a neighbor. The old man's hour had come.
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  Speaker 1: With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and
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  Speaker 1: leaped into the room. He shrieked once, only once, in
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  Speaker 1: an instant. I dragged him to the floor and pulled
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  Speaker 1: the heavy bed over him. Then I smiled gaily to
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  Speaker 1: find the deed so far done. But for many many
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  Speaker 1: minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however,
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  Speaker 1: did not vex me. It would not be heard through
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  Speaker 1: the wall. At length, it ceased the old man was dead.
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  Speaker 1: I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he
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  Speaker 1: was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the
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  Speaker 1: heart and held there many minutes. There was no pulsation.
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  Speaker 1: He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
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  Speaker 1: If you still think me mad, you will think so
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  Speaker 1: no longer. When I described the wise precautions I took
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  Speaker 1: for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and
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  Speaker 1: I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all, I
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  Speaker 1: dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head, and the
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  Speaker 1: arms and the legs. I then took up three planks
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  Speaker 1: from the flooring of the chamber and deposited all between
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  Speaker 1: the scantlings. I then replaced the board so cleverly, so cunningly,
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  Speaker 1: that no human eye, not even his, could have detected
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  Speaker 1: anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out, no stain
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  Speaker 1: of any kind, no bloo, blood spot whatever. I had
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  Speaker 1: been too wary for that. A tub had caught it all. Ha ha.
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  Speaker 1: When I made an end of these labors, it was
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  Speaker 1: four o'clock, still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded
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  Speaker 1: the hour, there came a knocking at the street door.
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  Speaker 1: I went down to open it with a light heart,
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  Speaker 1: for what had I now to fear? There entered three
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  Speaker 1: men who introduced themselves with perfect suavity as officers of
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  Speaker 1: the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbor
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  Speaker 1: during the night, suspicion of foul play had been aroused,
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  Speaker 1: information had been lodged at the police office, and they
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  Speaker 1: the officers, had been deputed to search the premises. I smiled,
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  Speaker 1: for what had I to fear? I bade the gentleman come.
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  Speaker 1: The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream.
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  Speaker 1: The old man I mentioned, was absent in the country.
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  Speaker 1: I took my visitors all over the house. I bade
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  Speaker 1: them search, search well. I led them at length to
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  Speaker 1: his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure and disturbed.
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  Speaker 1: In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into
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  Speaker 1: the room and desired them to rest from their fatigues,
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  Speaker 1: while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph,
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  Speaker 1: placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which
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  Speaker 1: reposed the corpse of the victim. The officers were satisfied
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  Speaker 1: my manner had convinced them I was singularly at ease.
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  Speaker 1: They sat, and while I answered cheerily. They chatted familiar things,
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  Speaker 1: but ere long I felt myself getting pale and wished
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  Speaker 1: them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing
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  Speaker 1: in my ears, But still they sat and still chatted.
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  Speaker 1: The ringing became more distinct. It continued and became more distinct.
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  Speaker 1: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling,
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  Speaker 1: but it continued and gained definitiveness, until at length I
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  Speaker 1: found that the noise was not within my ears, no doubt.
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  Speaker 1: I grew very pale, but I talked more fluently and
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  Speaker 1: with heightened voice. Yet the sound was increased. And what
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  Speaker 1: could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound,
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  Speaker 1: much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped
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  Speaker 1: in cotton. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers
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  Speaker 1: heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently, but
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  Speaker 1: the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles
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  Speaker 1: in a high key, with violent gesticulations, but the noise
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  Speaker 1: steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced
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  Speaker 1: the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if
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  Speaker 1: excited to fury by the observation of the men. But
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  Speaker 1: the noise steadily increased.
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  Speaker 2: Oh God, what could I do? I foamed, I raved,
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  Speaker 2: I swore. I swung the chair upon which I had
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  Speaker 2: been seen, and grated it upon the doors. But the
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  Speaker 2: noise arose over all and continually increased.
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  Speaker 1: It grew louder and louder. And still the men chatted
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  Speaker 1: pleasantly and smiled. Was it possible they had not heard,
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  Speaker 1: Almighty God, No, no, they heard. They suspected, they knew.
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  Speaker 1: They were making a mockery of my horror. This I thought,
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  Speaker 1: and this I think. But anything was better than this agony,
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  Speaker 1: Anything was more tolerable than this derision. I could bear
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  Speaker 1: those hypocritical smiles. No longer I felt that I must
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  Speaker 1: scream or die. And now again hark louder, louder, louder villains.
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  Speaker 1: I shrieked, Dissemble no more, I admit the deed. Tear
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  Speaker 1: up the planks. Here, here it is the beating of
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  Speaker 1: this hideous heart, end of the tell tale heart.