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The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe · Audiobooks & Scary Stories

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Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy this reading, which comes from a
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Speaker 1: work in the public domain, The Mask of the Red Death,
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Speaker 1: Edgar Allan Poe. The Red Death had long devastated the country.
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Speaker 1: No pestilence had ever been so fatal or so hideous.
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Speaker 1: Blood was its avatar and its seal, the redness and
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Speaker 1: the horror of blood. There were sharp pains and sudden dizziness,
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Speaker 1: and then profuse bleeding at the pores with dissolution. The
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Speaker 1: scarlet stains upon the body, and especially upon the face
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Speaker 1: of the victim, were the pest band which shut him
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Speaker 1: out from the aid and from the sympathy of his
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Speaker 1: fellow men. And the whole seizure, progress, and termination of
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Speaker 1: the disease were the incidents of half an hour. But
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Speaker 1: the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When
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Speaker 1: his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence
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Speaker 1: a thousand hale and light hearted friends from among the
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Speaker 1: knights and dames of his court, and with these retired
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Speaker 1: to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated As
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Speaker 1: this was an extensive and magnificent structure. The creation of
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Speaker 1: the Prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and
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Speaker 1: lofty wall girdled it. In. This wall had gates of iron.
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Speaker 1: The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers, and
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Speaker 1: welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of
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Speaker 1: ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or
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Speaker 1: of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With
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Speaker 1: such precautions, the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The
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Speaker 1: external world could take care of itself. In the meantime.
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Speaker 1: It was folly to grieve or to think the Prince
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Speaker 1: had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons,
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Speaker 1: there were improvisatory there were ballet dancers, there were musicians.
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Speaker 1: There was beauty, there was wine. All these and security
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Speaker 1: were within. Without was the red death. It was toward
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Speaker 1: the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion,
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Speaker 1: and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the
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Speaker 1: Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball
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Speaker 1: of the most unusual magnificence. It was a voluptuous scene
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Speaker 1: that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms
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Speaker 1: in which it was held, there were seven an imperial suite.
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Speaker 1: In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and
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Speaker 1: straight vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to
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Speaker 1: the walls on either hand, so that the view of
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Speaker 1: the whole extent is scarcely impeded. Here the case was
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Speaker 1: very different, as might have been expected from the Duke's
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Speaker 1: love of the bazaar. The apartments were so irregularly disposed
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Speaker 1: that the vision embraced but little more than one at
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Speaker 1: a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty
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Speaker 1: or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect
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Speaker 1: to the right and left. In the middle of each wall,
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Speaker 1: a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a
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Speaker 1: closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These
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Speaker 1: windows were of stained glass, whose color varied in accordance
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Speaker 1: with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber
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Speaker 1: into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung,
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Speaker 1: for example, in blue, and vividly blue were its windows.
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Speaker 1: The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries,
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Speaker 1: and here the panes were purple. The third was green, throughout,
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Speaker 1: and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and
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Speaker 1: lighted with orange, the fifth with white, the sixth with violet.
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Speaker 1: The seventh apartment was closely shrouded in black velvet tapestries
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Speaker 1: that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls,
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Speaker 1: falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same
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Speaker 1: material and hue. But in this chamber only the color
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Speaker 1: of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The
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Speaker 1: panes here were scarlet, a deep blood color. Now, in
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Speaker 1: no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp
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Speaker 1: or candle apron amid the profusion of golden ornaments that
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Speaker 1: lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof.
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Speaker 1: There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp
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Speaker 1: or candle within the sweet of chambers. But in the
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Speaker 1: corridors that followed the suite there stood opposite to each
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Speaker 1: window a heavy tripod bearing a brazier of fire that
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Speaker 1: projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly
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Speaker 1: illumined the room, and thus were produced a multitude of
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Speaker 1: gaudy and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber,
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Speaker 1: the effect of the fire light that streamed upon the
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Speaker 1: dark hangings through the blood tinted panes, was ghastly in
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Speaker 1: the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the
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Speaker 1: countenances of those who entered, that there were few of
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Speaker 1: the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts
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Speaker 1: at all. It was in this apartment also that there
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Speaker 1: stood against the western wall a gigantic clock of ebony.
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Speaker 1: Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy,
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Speaker 1: monotonous clang. And when the minute hand made the circuit
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Speaker 1: of the face and the hour was to be stricken,
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Speaker 1: there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a
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Speaker 1: sound which was clear and loud and deep, and exceedingly musical,
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Speaker 1: but of so peculiar a note, an emphasis, that at
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Speaker 1: each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra
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Speaker 1: were constrained to pause momentarily in their performance to hearken
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Speaker 1: to the sound. And thus the waltzers perform ceased their evolutions,
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Speaker 1: and there was a brief disconcert of the whole gay company.
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Speaker 1: And while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it
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Speaker 1: was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more
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Speaker 1: aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows, as
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Speaker 1: if in confused reverie or meditation. But when the echoes
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Speaker 1: had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly.
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Speaker 1: The musicians looked at each other and smiled, as if
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Speaker 1: at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows
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Speaker 1: each to the other that the next chiming of the
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Speaker 1: clock should produce in them no similar emotion. And then,
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Speaker 1: after the lapse of sixty minutes, which embraced three thousand
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Speaker 1: and six hundred seconds of the time that flies, there
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Speaker 1: came yet another chiming of the clock, And then with
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Speaker 1: the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before. But
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Speaker 1: in spite of these things it was a gay and
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Speaker 1: magnificent revel The tastes of the Duke were peculiar. He
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Speaker 1: had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded
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Speaker 1: the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery,
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Speaker 1: and his conceptions glowed with barbaric luster. There are some
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Speaker 1: who would have thought him mad. His followers felt that
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Speaker 1: he was not. It was necessary to hear and see
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Speaker 1: and touch him to be sure that he was not.
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Speaker 1: He had directed in great part the movable embellishments of
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Speaker 1: the Seven Chambers upon occasion of this great fate. And
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Speaker 1: it was his own guiding taste which had given character
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Speaker 1: to the masqueraders. Be sure, they were grotesque. There were
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Speaker 1: much glare and glitter, and piquancy and phanfasm, much of
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Speaker 1: what has been since seen in Hernani. There were Arabesque
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Speaker 1: figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious fancies,
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Speaker 1: such as the Madman fashions. There was much of the beautiful,
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Speaker 1: much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of
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Speaker 1: the terrible, and not a little of that which might
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Speaker 1: have excited disgust to and fro In the Seven Chambers
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Speaker 1: there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. And these
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Speaker 1: the dreams writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms,
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Speaker 1: and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem
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Speaker 1: as the echo of their steps and anon. There strikes
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Speaker 1: the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the Velvet,
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Speaker 1: And then for a moment all is still, and all
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Speaker 1: is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams
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Speaker 1: are stiff frozen as they stand, but the echoes of
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Speaker 1: the chime die away. They have endured. But an instant
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Speaker 1: and a light, half subdued laughter, floats after them as
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Speaker 1: they depart. And now again the music swells, and the
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Speaker 1: dreams live and writhe to and fro more merrily than ever,
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Speaker 1: taking hue from the many tinted windows through which stream
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Speaker 1: the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber, which
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Speaker 1: lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none
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Speaker 1: of the maskers who venture, for the night is waning away,
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Speaker 1: and there flows a ruddier light through the blood colored panes,
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Speaker 1: and the blackness of the sable drapery appalls, And to
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Speaker 1: him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes
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Speaker 1: from the near clock of Ebony a muffled peal, more
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Speaker 1: solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears, who indulge
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Speaker 1: in the more remote gayeties of the other apartments. But
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Speaker 1: these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat
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Speaker 1: feverishly the heart of life, and the revel went whirlingly on,
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Speaker 1: until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon
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Speaker 1: the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told,
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Speaker 1: and the evolutions of the waltzers were quieted, and there
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Speaker 1: was an uneasy cessation of all things as before, But
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Speaker 1: now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the
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Speaker 1: bell of the clock. And thus it happened, perhaps that
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Speaker 1: more of thought crept, with more of time, into the
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Speaker 1: meditations of the thoughtful among those who reveled. And thus
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Speaker 1: too it happened, perhaps that before the last echoes of
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Speaker 1: the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were
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Speaker 1: many individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to
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Speaker 1: become aware of the presence of a masked figure which
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Speaker 1: had arrested the attention of no single individual before. And
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Speaker 1: the rumor of this new presence, having spread itself whisperingly around,
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Speaker 1: there arose at length from the whole company a buzz
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Speaker 1: or murmur, expressive of disapprobation and surprise, then finally of terror,
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Speaker 1: of horror, and of disgust. In an assembly of phantasms
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Speaker 1: such as I have painted, it may well be supposed
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Speaker 1: that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth,
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Speaker 1: the masquerade license of the night was nearly unlimited, but
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Speaker 1: the figure in question had out herod herod, and gone
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Speaker 1: beyond the bounds of even the Prince's indefinite decorum. There
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Speaker 1: are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which
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Speaker 1: cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the utterly lost,
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Speaker 1: to whom life and death are equally jests, there are
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Speaker 1: matters of which no jest can be made. The whole
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Speaker 1: company indeed seemed now deeply to feel that an the
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Speaker 1: costume and bearing of the stranger, neither wit nor propriety existed.
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Speaker 1: The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head
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Speaker 1: to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask
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Speaker 1: which concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble
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Speaker 1: the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny
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Speaker 1: must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet
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Speaker 1: all this might have been endured, if not approved by
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Speaker 1: the mad revelers around. But the mummer had gone so
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Speaker 1: far as to assume the type of the red death.
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Speaker 1: His vesture was dabbled in blood, and his broad brow,
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Speaker 1: with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with
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Speaker 1: the scarlet horror. When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell
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Speaker 1: upon this spectral image, which with a slow and solemn movement,
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Speaker 1: as if more fully to sustain its role. Stalked to
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Speaker 1: and fro among the waltzers. He was seen to be
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Speaker 1: convulsed in the first moment with a strong shudder, either
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Speaker 1: of terror or distaste, But in the next his brow
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Speaker 1: reddened with rage. Who dares, he demanded hoarsely of the
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Speaker 1: courtiers who stood near him, who dares insult us with
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Speaker 1: this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him, that we
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Speaker 1: may know whom we have to hang at sunrise from
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Speaker 1: the battlements. It was in the Eastern or Blue chamber,
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Speaker 1: in which stood the Prince Prospero. As he uttered these words,
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Speaker 1: they rang throughout the seven rooms loudly and clearly, for
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Speaker 1: the Prince was a bold and robust man, and the
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Speaker 1: music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.
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Speaker 1: It was in the Blue room where stood the Prince
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Speaker 1: with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first,
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Speaker 1: as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of
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Speaker 1: this group in the direction of the intruder, who at
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Speaker 1: the moment was also near at hand, and now, with
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Speaker 1: deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker.
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Speaker 1: But from a certain nameless all with which the mad
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Speaker 1: assumptions of the Mummer had inspired the whole party. There
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Speaker 1: were found none who put forth hand to seize him,
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Speaker 1: so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the
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Speaker 1: Prince's person, and while the vast assembly, as if with
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Speaker 1: one impulse, shrank from the centers of the rooms to
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Speaker 1: the walls. He made his way uninterruptedly, but with the
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Speaker 1: same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from
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Speaker 1: the first, through the blue chamber to the Purple, through
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Speaker 1: the Purple to the Green, through the Green to the Orange,
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Speaker 1: through this again to the white, and even thence to
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Speaker 1: the violet ere a decided movement had been made to
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Speaker 1: arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero,
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Speaker 1: maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice,
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Speaker 1: rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him
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Speaker 1: on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all.
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Speaker 1: He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached in
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Speaker 1: rapid impetuosity to within three or four feet of the
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Speaker 1: retreating figure. When the latter, having attained the extremity of
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Speaker 1: the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There
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Speaker 1: was a sharp cry, and the dagger dropped, gleaming upon
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Speaker 1: the sable carpet, upon which instantly afterwards fell prostrate in death.
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Speaker 1: The Prince Prosperharo, then, summoning the wild courage of despair,
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Speaker 1: a throng of the revelers at once threw themselves into
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Speaker 1: the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure
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Speaker 1: stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the Ebony Clock,
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Speaker 1: gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave sermons and
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Speaker 1: corpse like mask, which they handled with so violent a
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Speaker 1: rudeness untenanted by any tangible form, and now was acknowledged
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Speaker 1: the presence of the Red Death. He had come like
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Speaker 1: a thief in the night, and one by one dropped
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Speaker 1: the revelers in the blood bedewed halls of their revel
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Speaker 1: and died, each in the despairing posture of his fall.
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Speaker 1: And the life of the Ebony Clock went out with
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Speaker 1: that of the last of the gay, and the flames
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Speaker 1: of the tripods expired, and darkness and decay, and the
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Speaker 1: Red Death held a limitable dominion over all