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The SYSK Annual Halloween Freaky Spooktacular 2026! · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Chuck and Jerry's here too. And this is stuff you
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: should know.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: That's right. One of our, I'm speaking for me, but
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I think I can speak for us. One of our
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: favorite traditions is our annual Halloween spooky story reading.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Speak.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Our ad-free spooky story reading.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's in our contract.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: And we got a couple of good ones this year.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: One's a little longer, one's a little shorter. I'm ambivalent
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: about which we do first.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: I think, I.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Feel like, I don't know, man. I've been leaning toward
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: yours second.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's do it then.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Because you picked a stone cold classic, buddy, with the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: monkey's paw.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: By W.W. Jacobs.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Can't believe we haven't done this. And by my... Like,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you know, we like to just play this fast and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: loose everyone with the casting. There's mom, dad, son, military guy.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: And then there's one other minor character at the end, right?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I hadn't considered him. Yeah, we'll figure that out.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: But yeah, it's pretty, pretty Spartan.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So I figure since the military guy, maybe whoever
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: plays the military guy should play the person at the end.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: And then we have mom, dad, and son.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I was thinking you should definitely be the military guy. Who, me?
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: I already have a mild conception of what you're going
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: to do, and it's better than anything I could do
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: with it.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: All right, so I'll be him and the person at
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the end. I can't remember the character, but I read it.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And then do you want to be mom, dad, son?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I'll be dad and son. Oh, you want to be dad?
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: That's fine.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: No, I wanted you to be mom.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: All right. I'll try to be mom.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: You do the ladies so well.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: I disagree. I think you do it better. But okay,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I'll be mom and son, and then your dad, the
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: military man, and the guy at the end.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Okay. All right. Sounds good.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: And it's confusing at first, but Herbert is the name
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of the son.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: So when you hear Herbert, they're talking about the son.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Who's a grown man, by the way.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he never moved out. He's a planetismal.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Is that what that's called?
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: Remember I coined it from the asteroid article, the ones
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: that never really become a full planet?
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. I was like, where did I
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: hear that? It was two weeks ago or whatever.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So who's going to read first?
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Right, because we also do the reading. Well, I think, well,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I'll start it out and then you
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: just chime in there with Mrs. White whenever possible. She
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: comes around.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And the sun.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: And the sun. And I'm Mr. White.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I think I got it.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: All right. I got to do my doggy clap hand thing. Oh,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I'm nervous.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: And these are British people too, right?
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: Again.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, unfortunately.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: No, that makes it even better, I think.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Nothing against the Brits. It's just hard for me to
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: do the British.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I just know that people... are in pins and needles
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: waiting for what Josh Clark has in mind for everyone.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And it makes me nervous. I'm never going to top
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: the guy from a couple of years ago.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Well, maybe so. Cause that was sort of an all-time
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: great character.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: All right. Well, I'm just going to do what I can. Everybody.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Schmeagle, right?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Schmeagle.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks for that. Okay. So you start.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: All right, here we go, everybody. And a big thanks
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to Ben ahead of time. Cause Ben is, Ben is
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: doing our sound design, our spooky sound design.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Jerry's doing our recording. Thanks. Cheers.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: That's right. So here we go, everybody, with The Monkey's
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Paw by W.W. Jacobs. Without, the night was cold and wet.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: But in the small parlor of Laburnum Villa, the blinds
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: were at chess. the former who possessed ideas about the
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: game involving radical changes putting his king into such sharp
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire. Hark at
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the wind, said Mr. White, who having seen a fatal
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: preventing his son from seeing it.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: I'm listening.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Wait, I'm listening, said the latter, grimly surveying the board
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: as he stretched out his hand. checked i should hardly
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: think that he'd come tonight said his father with his
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: hand poised over the board mate replied his son that's
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the worst of living so far out bawled mr white
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: with sudden and unlooked for violence of all the beastly
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: slushy out-of-the-way places to live in this is the worst
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: pathways a bog and the roads a torrent i don't
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: know what people are thinking about i suppose because only
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: two houses in the road are let they think it
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Never mind, dear.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Said his wife soothingly.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: Perhaps you'll win the next one.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: That's great, by the way. Mr. White looked up sharply
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: just in time to intercept a knowing glance between mother
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and son. The words died away on his lips and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: he hid a guilty grin in his thin gray beard.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: There he is, said Herbert White as the gate banged
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: too loudly and heavy footsteps came toward the door. The
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: old man rose with hospitable haste and, opening the door,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: was heard condoling with the new arrival. The new arrival
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: also condoled with himself.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Yikes.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So that Mrs. White said, Tut, tut. And coughed gently
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: as her husband entered the room. Followed by a tall
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: burly man, beady of eye, and Rubicon de visage. Sergeant
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Major Morris, he said, introducing him. The sergeant major shook hands,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: and taking the proffered seat by the fire, watched contentedly
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: while his host got out whiskey and tumblers and stood
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: a small copper kettle on the fire. At the third glass,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: his eyes got brighter, and he began to talk, the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: little family circle regarding with eager interest this visitor from
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: distant parts, as he squared his broad shoulders in the
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: chair and spoke of wild scenes and doughty deeds, of
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: war and plagues and strange peoples.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: Twenty-one years of it.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Said Mr. White, nodding at his wife and son. When
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: he went away, he was a slip of a youth
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: in the warehouse. Now look at him.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: He don't look to have taken much.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Harm, said Mrs. White politely. I'd like to go to
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: India myself, said the old man, just to look around
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: a bit, you know. Better where you are, said the
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: sergeant major, shaking his head. He put down the empty
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: glass and sighing softly, shook it again. I should like
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to see those old temples and fakirs and jugglers, said
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the old man. What was that you started telling me
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris? Nothing,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: said the soldier hastily.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: Leastways nothing worth hearing.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Monkey's paw, said Mrs. White curiously, very curiously.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: Well, it's just a bit of what you might call.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Magic, perhaps, said the sergeant major offhandedly. His three listeners... Listeners? Yeah.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: We have three listeners, too.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: That's good. His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: absentmindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: set it down again. His host filled it for him.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: That's class four, I want to point out.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. To look at, said the sergeant major,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: fumbling in his pocket.
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: It's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: White drew back with a grimace, but her son, taking it,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: examined it curiously. And what is there special about it?
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: inquired Mr. White as he took it from his son,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: and having examined it, placed it upon the table.
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: It had a spell put on it by an old fakir,
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: said the sergeant major, a very holy man. He wanted
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: put a spell on it, so... that three separate men
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: could each have three wishes from it.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: His manner was so impressive that his hearers were conscious
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: that their light laughter jarred somewhat.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Well, why don't you have three, sir?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Said Herbert White cleverly. The soldier regarded him in a
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: way that middle ages want to regard presumptuous youth. I have,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: he said quietly.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: I have.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: He said quietly, and his blotchy face whitened.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: And did you really have the three wishes granted?
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: Asked Mrs.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: White.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I did, said the sergeant major, and his glass tapped
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: against his strong teeth.
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And has anybody else wished?
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Persisted the old lady. The first man had three wishes, yes,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: was the reply. I don't know what the first two were,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: but the third was for death. That's how I got
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the paw. His tones were so grave that a hush
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: fell upon the group. Shh, shh, shh.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: Everybody shut up.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: If you had three wishes, it's no good to you
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: now then, Morris, said the old man at last. Why
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: do you keep it for? The soldier shook his head. Fancy,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I suppose, he said slowly. I did have some idea
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: of selling it, but I don't think I will. It
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: has caused enough mischief already.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Besides, people won't buy it.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: They think it's a fairy tale, some of them, and
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: those who do think anything of it want to try
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it first and pay me afterward. If you could have
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: another three wishes, said the old man, eyeing him keenly,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: would you have them? I don't know, said the other.
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You want to switch over?
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was good, Chuck.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Very nice. And you did the Sergeant Major just exactly
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: as I was hoping you would.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: A little Colonel Mustard to him.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Okay, continuing on. You ready?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Let's do it.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: He took the paw, and dangling it between his forefinger
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: a slight cry, stooped down and snatched it off.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Better let it.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Burn, said the soldier solemnly.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: If you don't want it, Morris, said the other, give
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it to me.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: I won't. Said his friend doggedly.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: I threw it on the fire. If you keep it,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: don't blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: fire again like a sensible man.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: The other shook his head and examined his new possession closely.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: How do you do it?
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: He inquired.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: I think my voice is changing. I'm going to stick
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: with this one.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Said the sergeant major.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: But I warn you of the consequences.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Sounds like the Arabian Nights, said Mrs. White as she
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: rose and began to set the supper. Don't you think
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Oh, what a sassy lady.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Her husband drew the talisman from pocket, and then
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: all three burst into laughter as the sergeant major, with
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: a look of alarm on his face, caught him by
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the arms.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: If you must wish, he said gruffly, wish for something sensible.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Mr. White dropped it back in his pocket, placing chairs,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: motioned his friend to the table. In the business of supper,
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: the talisman was partly forgotten, and afterward the three sat
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: listening in an enthralled fashion to a second installment of
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the soldier's adventures in India... If the tale about the
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: monkey's paw is not more truthful than those he's been
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: telling us, said Herbert, as the door closed behind their guest,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: just in time for him to catch the last train,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: we shan't make much out of it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Did you give him anything for father?
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband-slash-father closely.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they call each other mother and father. I think
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: that used to be a thing, right?
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: It's that kind of situation. And it's funny, this is 1902,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I think. So Mr. and Mrs. White, these very old,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: old people are probably like in their late 50s.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: Totally.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: He's my age.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I think this is me.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: A trifle, said he, coloring slightly.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: He didn't want it, but I made him take it
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: and he pressed me again to throw it away.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Likely, said Herbert with pretended horror. Why, we're going to
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: be rich. I've lost Herbert.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I don't think so.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Well, let me get back in there. Why, we're going
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: to be rich and famous and happy. Got him back.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Wish to be an emperor, father, to begin with. Then
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: you can't be hen-pect. He darted round the table, pursued
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: by the maligned Mrs. White, armed with an anti-macassar.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: What is that? I'm sure you looked that up.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: I did. Thank you for knowing me. It is one
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: of those pieces of cloth with a doily or something
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: on it that you put over the headrest of a chair.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: To keep people's nasty, greasy hair from messing up your chair.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: You don't want that soul glow on the back of
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: your recliner.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Right. That was, I thought of that too, man. That
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: was such a great little Easter egg in there.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: So I guess she's chasing, his mom is chasing him
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: with this anti-McCasser, like she's going to snap his butt
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: like it's a dish towel.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: That's how I took it. Or else she's going to
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: strangle him with it, one of the two. But she's
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: mad because he just said that. Essentially, she hempecks his father.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I gotcha. She is sassy, we've established, so I'm sure
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: it's a butt pop.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: She's hilarious. Yeah. Okay, you ready?
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: it dubiously.
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: He said slowly.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: It seems to me I've got all I want.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy,
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: wouldn't you? Said Herbert with his hand on his shoulder. Well,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: wish for 200 pounds then. That'll just do it.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Okay. If I cleared the house, he means pay off
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: the mortgage, right?
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. And this is 1902. So 200 pounds. Man. Equals
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: about 22,000 pounds today or about 29,000 US dollars.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: Oh, wow.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Is that for real?
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: You did that?
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Above and beyond.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Special thanks to the Bank of England.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: That's right. For everything.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: And, yeah, and I can't remember where I converted pounds
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: into USD for today, but, you know, whatever.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Should I still keep going? You want me to finish
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: this off to part two?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, through part two. Let's do it.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Okay. His father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credulity, held
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: somewhat marred by a wink at his mother, ding, sat
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: down at the piano and struck a few impressive chords. Ding.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: I wish for two hundred pounds.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: The old man said distinctly. A fine crash from the
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: piano greeted the words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: the old man.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: Oh!
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Right, his wife and son ran toward him. It moved,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: he cried with a glance of disgust at the object
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: as it lay on the floor.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't see the money, said his son as
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: he picked it up and placed it on the table,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: and I bet I never shall.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: It must have been your fancy father.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Said wife, regarding him anxiously. He shook his head.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Never mind, though, there's no harm done, but it gave
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: me a shock all the same.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: They sat down by the fire again while the two
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: men finished their pipes. Outside, the wind was higher than ever.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: and the old man started nervously at the sound of
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: a door banging upstairs. A silence, unusual and depressing, settled
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: upon all three, which lasted until the old couple rose
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to retire for the night. I expect you'll find the
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: cash tied up in a big bag in the middle
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: of your bed, said Herbert as he bade them goodnight.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: watching you as you pocket your ill-gotten gains.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I wonder if the old man is wondering how he
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: ended up with a Cockney family.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It's the only British accent I can
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: do reliably. That's good. And I'm even hanging it on
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: by my fingernails right now with that.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Perfect. I love it.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: He sat alone. This would be Herbert. He sat alone
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire and seeing
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: faces in it. The last face was so horrible and
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: so simian that he gazed at it in amazement. It
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: got so vivid that with a little uneasy laugh, he
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: felt on the table for a glass containing a little
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: water to throw over it. He grasped the monkey's paw.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: With a little shiver, he wiped his hand on his
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: coat and he went up to bed.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: All right. That's part one. So they have made this
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: wish for the 200 pounds, even though a dire warning
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: from Colonel Mustard.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: That something bad would come of that.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I guess we should take an ad break, huh?
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: No, buddy. Not on this one.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Okay. I was just setting you up for that.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: Perfect. I'll pick it up here. Monkey's Paw, part two.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: In the brightness of the wintry sun next morning as
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: it streamed over the breakfast table, he laughed at his fears.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: There was an air of prosaic wholesomeness about the room
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: which it had lacked on the previous night, and the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: dirty shriveled little paw was pitched on the sideboard with
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: a carelessness which betokened no great belief in its virtues.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: I suppose all old soldiers are the.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Same, said Mrs.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: White.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: The idea of all listening to such nonsense, how could
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: wishes be granted these days?
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, father?
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Mike dropped on his head from the sky.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Said a frivolous Herbert. Morris said the things happened so naturally,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: said his father, that you might, if you so wished,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: attribute it to coincidence.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Well, don't break into the money before I come.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Back, said Herbert as he rose from the table.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I'm afraid it'll turn you into a mean, avaricious man
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: and we shall have to disown you.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: His mother laughed. And following him to the door, watched
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: him down the road and returning to the breakfast table.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: was very happy at the expense of her husband's credulity.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: All of which did not prevent her from scurrying to
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: the door at the postman's knock, nor prevent her from
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: referring somewhat shortly to retired sergeant majors of bibulous habits
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: when she found that the post brought a tailor's bill.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Hmm.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Herbert will have some more of his funny remarks, I expect,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: when he comes.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Home, she said as they sat at dinner. I dare say,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: said Mr. White, pouring himself out some beer. But for
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: all that, the thing moved in my hand. That I'll
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: swear to. You thought it did, said the old lady soothingly.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: I say it did, replied the other. There was no
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: thought about it.
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: I had just.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: What's the matter? His wife made no reply. She was
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: watching the mysterious movements of a man outside who, peering
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: in an undecided fashion at the house, appeared to be
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: trying to make up his mind to enter. In mental
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: connection with the 200 pounds, she noticed that the stranger
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was well-dressed and wore a silk hat of glossy newness.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Three times he paused at the gate and then walked
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: on again. The fourth time he stood with his hand
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: upon it and then, with sudden resolution, flung it open
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: and walked up the path. Mrs. White at the same
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: moment placed her hands behind her and hurriedly unfastening the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: strings of her apron put that useful article of apparel
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: beneath the cushion of her chair.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Kind of weird.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: She hid that apron.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: She brought the stranger, who seemed ill at ease, into
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the room. He gazed at her furtively and listened in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: a preoccupied fashion as the old lady apologized for the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: appearance of the room and her husband's coat, a garment
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: which he usually reserved for the garden. Then she waited
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as patiently as her sex would permit Sorry. for him
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to broach his business, but he was at first strangely
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: silent All right, this guy's me, right?
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're you.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Let me see. Who is this guy? Who is this guy?
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: He's a foppish, dandy gentleman.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I was asked to call, he said at last, and
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: stooped and picked a piece of cotton from his trousers.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: I come from Ma and Megan's. The old lady started.
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: Is anything the matter?
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: She asked breathlessly.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Has anything happened to Herbert? What is it? What is it?
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Her husband interposed. There, there, mother, he said hastily. Sit
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: down and don't jump to conclusions. You've not brought bad news,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: I'm sure, sir. And he eyed the other wistfully. I'm sorry,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: began the visitor.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: Is he hurt?
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Demanded the mother wildly. The visitor bowed in assent. Badly hurt,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: he said quietly. But he is not in any pain.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, thank God!
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Said the old woman, clasping her hands.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Thank God for that! Thank.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: She broke off suddenly as the sinister meaning of the
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: assurance dawned upon her, and she the awful confirmation of
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: her fears in the other's averted face. She caught her breath,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and turning to her slower-witted husband, laid her trembling old
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: hand upon his. There was a long silence. He was
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: caught in the machinery. said the visitor at length in
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: a low voice.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: Caught in the machinery?
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Repeated Mr. White in a dazed fashion.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: He sat, staring blankly out at the window and taking
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: his wife's hand between his own, pressed it as he
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: had want to do in their old courting days nearly
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: forty years before. He was the only one left to us,
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: he said, turning gently to the visitor. It is hard.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: The other coughed. And rising, walked slowly to the window.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: The firm wished me to convey their sincere sympathy with
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: you and your great loss, he said without looking around.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I beg that you will understand I am only their
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: servant and merely obeying orders. It's like, don't shoot the messenger.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: There was no reply. The old woman's face was white,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: her eyes staring and her breaths inaudible. On the husband's
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: face was a look such as his friend, the sergeant,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: might have carried into his first action. I was to
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: say that Ma and Megan's disclaim all responsibility, continued the other.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: They admit no liability at all, but in consideration of
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: your son's services, they wish to present you with a
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: certain sum as compensation.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: White dropped his wife's hand and, rising to his feet,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: gazed with a look of horror at his visitor. His
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: dry lips shaped the words, How much? Two hundred pounds,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: was the answer. Unconscious of his wife's shriek, Oh, heck!
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: The old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a sightless man, and dropped a senseless heap to the floor.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: Wow. All right. Yeah.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: There it is.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I had to catch my own breath because I've been
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: trying to breathe inaudibly this whole time.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: You okay?
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm good now. Now that I'm free of that.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: You need an O2 canister?
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I need a CPAP.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, okay.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: All right, you ready?
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is, you know, what the fate has been revealed.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Sun is mangled to the tune of 200 pounds in compensation.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, caught in the machinery definitely equals mangled, right? Yeah,
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: I think so. So this is the third and final
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: act of The Monkey's Paw, starting right now. The Monkey's
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Paw In the huge new cemetery, some two miles distant,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: the old people buried their dead and came back to
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: a house steeped in shadow and silence. It was all
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: over so quickly that at first they could hardly realize
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: it and remained in a state of expectation, as though
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: of something else to happen, something else which was to
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: lighten this load, too heavy for old hearts to bear.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: But the days passed, and expectation gave place to resignation,
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy. Sometimes
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: they hardly exchanged a word, for now they had nothing
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: to talk about, and their days were long to weariness.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: It was about a week after that that the old man,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: waking suddenly in the night, stretched out his hand and
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: found himself alone. The room was in darkness, and the
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: sound of subdued weeping came from the window. He raised
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: himself in bed and listened. Come back, he said tenderly.
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: You will be cold.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: It is colder for my son, said the old woman
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: and wept afresh. The sound of her sobs died away
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: on his ears. The bed was warm and his eyes
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: heavy with sleep. He dozed fitfully and then slept until
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: a sudden wild cry from his wife awoke him with
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: a start.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: The paw!
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: She cried wildly.
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: The monkey's paw!
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: He started up in alarm.
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: Where?
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: Where is it? What's the matter?
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: She came stumbling across the room toward him. I want it,
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: she said quietly. Oh, I want it, she said quietly.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: You've not destroyed it. It's in the parlor on the bracket,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: he replied marveling.
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Why?
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: She cried and laughed together and bending over kissed his cheek.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: I only just thought of it, she said hysterically.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: Why didn't I think of it before? Why didn't you
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: think of it?
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Think of what?
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: He questioned. The other two wishes, she replied rapidly.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: We've only had one.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Was not that enough, he demanded fiercely. No, she cried triumphantly.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: We'll have one more. Go down and get it quickly,
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: then wish our boy alive again.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: The man sat up in bed and flung the bedclothes
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: from his quaking limbs. Good God, you're mad, he cried aghast.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Get it, she panted.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: Get it quickly and wish. Oh, my boy, my boy.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: Her husband struck a match and lit the candle. Get
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: back to bed, he said unsteadily.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: You don't know what you're saying.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: We had the first.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Wish granted, said the old woman feverishly.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Why not the second?
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: A coincidence, stammered the old man. Go and get it
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: and wish, cried his wife, quivering with excitement.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: No!
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: The old man turned and regarded her, and his voice shook.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: He has been dead ten days, and besides, he, I
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: could not tell you else, but I could only recognize
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: you to see.
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: Then, how now, brown cow?
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Bring him back, cried the old woman, and dragged him
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: toward the door.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Do you think I fear the child I have nursed?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: He went down in the darkness, and he felt his
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: way to the parlor, and then to the mantelpiece. The
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: talisman was in its place, and a horrible fear that
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: the unspoken wish might bring his mutilated son before him,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: ere he could escape the room, seized upon him, and
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: he caught his breath as he found that he had
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: lost the direction of the door. His brow cold with sweat,
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: he felt his way around the table, and groped along
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: the wall until he found himself in the small passage
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: with the unwholesome thing in his hand. Even his wife's
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: face seemed changed as he entered the room. It was
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: white and expectant, and to his fears seemed to have
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: an unnatural look upon him. He was afraid of her.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: Wish!
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: she cried in a strong voice.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: It is foolish and wicked!
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: He faltered. Wish, repeated his wife. He raised his hand.
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: I wish my son alive again.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: The talisman fell to the floor and he regarded it fearfully.
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: Then he sank. Trembling into a chair as the old
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: woman with burning eyes walked to the window and raised
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: the blind. He sat until he was chilled with the cold. Wait,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: maybe you should take over here because I think this
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: is a good spot for you to take us home.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: What do you think?
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, sure. And I got to say, they didn't think
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: this through because he even said out loud like he
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: would be mutilated when he comes back. And all he
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: had to do was say, I wish my son alive again. And.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: The manner he was before caught in the machinery.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought that too.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Well, there wouldn't be a story here.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: Right, true.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: All right. All right, taking us home. He sat until
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: he was chilled with the cold, glancing occasionally at the
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: figure of the old woman peering through the window. The
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: candle end, which had burned below the rim of the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: china candlestick, was throwing pulsating shadows on the ceiling and
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: walls until, with a flicker larger than the rest, it expired.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: The old man with an unspeakable sense of relief at
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: the failure of the talisman crept back to his bed
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and a minute or two afterward the old woman came
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: silently and apathetically beside him. Neither spoke but lay silently
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: listening to the ticking of the clock. A stare creaked
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: and a squeaky mouse scurried noisily through the wall. The
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: darkness was oppressive and after lying for some time screwing
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: up his courage he took the box of matches and
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: striking one went downstairs for a candle. At the foot
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: of the stairs the match went out and he paused
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: to strike another and At that same moment, a knock,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: so quiet and stealthy as to be scarcely audible, sounded
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: at the front door. The matches fell from his hand
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: and spilled in the passage. He stood motionless, his breath
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: suspended until the knock was repeated. Then he turned and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: fled swiftly back to his room and closed the door
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: behind him. A third knock sounded through the house.
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: What's that?
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Cried the old woman, starting up. A rat, said the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: old man in shaking tones.
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: A rat?
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: It passed me on the stairs.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: His wife sat up in bed listening. A loud knock
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: resounded through the house.
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: It's Herbert!
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: She screamed.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: It's Herbert!
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: She ran to the door, but her husband was before
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: her and, catching her by the arm, held her tightly.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: What are you going to do?
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: He whispered hoarsely.
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: It's my boy! It's Herbert!
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: She cried, struggling mechanically.
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: I forgot it was two miles away! What are you
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: holding me for? Let go! I must open the door!
• 32:23
  Speaker 4: For God's sake, don't let it in!
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Cried the old man, trembling.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: You're afraid of your own son?
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: She cried, struggling.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: Let me go! I'm coming, Herbert! I'm coming!
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: There was another knock and another. The old woman, with
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: a sudden wrench, broke free and ran from the room.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Her husband followed to the landing and called after her
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: appealingly as she hurried downstairs.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: Old lady!
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: He heard the chain rattle back and the bottom bolt
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: drawn slowly and stiffly from the socket. Then the old
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: woman's voice, strained and panting.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: The bolt!
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: She cried loudly.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: Come down! I can't reach it!
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: But her husband was on his hands and knees, groping
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: wildly on the floor in search of the paw. He
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: could only find it before the thing outside got in.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: A perfect fusillade of knocks reverberated through the house, and
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: put it down in the passage against the door. He
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: And at that same moment, he found the monkey's paw
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and frantically breathed his third and last wish. The knocking
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the house. He heard the chair drawn back and the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: door open. The cold wind rushed up the staircase and
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: a long, loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife.
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: Son of a.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: gave him courage to run down to her side and
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: then to the gate beyond, the streetlamp flickering opposite, shown
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: on a quiet and deserted road. So he wished for
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: the streetlamp to flicker?
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Yep, he got his last wish.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Man, what a stone-cold classic.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I know, man. W.W. Jacobs did a great job with that,
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: the pacing at the end where it just suddenly became
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: frantic and frenetic and scary.
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: I like it. And I love it good. It sort
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: of reminds me of the, what's the Christmas one?
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Christmas Story? No. Christmas Carol.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: The fated, you bought combs and sold the hair.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: Oh, the gift of the Magi.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of a gift of the Magi vibe, but
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: in a spooky way.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: It was written around the same time, too. I wonder
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: if it was influenced at all by O. Henry.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Oh, interesting. I wonder who was first to press.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Who's zooming who?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: You know, the thing that stands out about the monkey
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: pod of me today is the whole idea of AI
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: friendliness and alignment. Like being careful what you wish for,
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: how you train an AI to do things. Or else
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: it'll just turn on you in a horrible ironic twist
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: and wipe out your entire species.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: I.e.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Humanity.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: And I love it. Still relevant.
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Still relevant today. Okay. I think we should take our
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: ad break, huh? No. Oh, I almost got you again.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: That's right. We turn now to story number two, a
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: bit shorter, which is kind of perfect. I think it
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: pairs well with that one. And it's called August Heat
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: by another British writer, W.F. Harvey. And there's only two
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: characters in this, right?
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I think the guy's wife is in it,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: but she has no lines.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this was the turn of the century.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a good one, too. This August heat
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: apparently changed the way that fiction, like horror fiction was,
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: because before it was all Victorian and stuffy, and there
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: was somebody in a club in an overstuffed chair counting
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: a ghost story, and then it comes back to the club.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: This just changed all that, like almost single-handedly. It started
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: weird fiction in a lot of ways.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think the ending to this, as you'll see,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: it's sort of that, the thing that you would see
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: in movies later on, like the vagaries of what possibly
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: would happen is kind of a nice thing. All right,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: so you want to roll with it? August Heat by W.F.
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: Harvey?
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Do you want me to start, you're saying?
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why don't you start it out?
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: Wait, who's going to play who?
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: Do you want to play the artist or the.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: The other guy.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: I don't, I want to play the artist cause I
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: think you can play him a little straighter. I can. So, uh,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: I'm going to leave the other guy to you.
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: You ready?
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: Yep.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: August heat by William Fryer, WF Harvey. I have had
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: what I believe to be the most remarkable day in
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: my life. And while the events are still fresh in
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: my mind, I wish to put them down on paper
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: as clearly as possible. Let me say at the outset
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: that my name is James Clarence Withencroft. I'm 40 years old,
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: in perfect health, never having known a day's illness. By profession,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: I am an artist. Not a very successful one, but
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: I earn enough money from my black and white work
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: to satisfy my necessary wants. And my only near relative,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: a sister, died five years ago, so that I am independent.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: I breakfasted this morning at nine, and after glancing through
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: the morning paper, I lighted my pipe. and proceeded to
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: let my mind wander in the hope that I might
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: chance upon some subject for my pencil. The room, though
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: door and windows were open, was oppressively hot, and I
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: had just made up my mind that the coolest and
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: most comfortable place in the neighborhood would be the deep
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: end of the public swimming bath when the idea came.
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: I began to draw. So intent was I on my
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: work that I left my lunch untouched, only stopping work
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: when the clock of St. Jude struck four. The final
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: result for a hurried sketch was, I felt sure, the
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: best thing I had done. It showed a criminal in
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: the dock immediately after the judge had pronounced sentence. The
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: man was fat, enormously fat. The flesh hung in rolls
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: about his chin. It creased his huge, stumpy neck. He
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: was clean-shaven, perhaps I should say a few days before
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: he must have been clean-shaven, and almost bald. He stood
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: in the dock, his short, clumsy fingers clasping the rail,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: looking straight in front of him. The feeling that his
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: expression conveyed was not so much one of horror as
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: of utter, absolute collapse. There seemed nothing in the man
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: strong enough to sustain that mountain of flesh. So he's
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: drawn a picture, essentially, of where we're at right now.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's kind of fat shaming this guy.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: Pretty much, yeah. Continuing on?
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Do you want to? No, go ahead. Okay. I rolled
• 38:57
  Speaker 2: up the sketch and, without quite knowing why, placed it
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: in my pocket. I almost just did a Herbert impression accident.
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: He's peeking in there at me.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: He's in my mouth, like Tony. Then, with the rare
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: sense of happiness, which the knowledge of a good thing
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: well done gives, I left the house. I believe that
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: I set out with the idea of calling upon Trenton,
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: which I think is a town or neighborhood he's saying. Yeah.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: for I remember walking along Leighton Street and turning to
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: the right along Gilchrist Road at the bottom of the
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: hill where the men were at work at the time.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: the new tram lines. From there onwards, I have only
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: the vaguest recollection of where I went. The one thing
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: of which I was fully conscious was the awful heat
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: that came up from the dusty asphalt pavement as an
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: almost palpable wave. I longed for the thunder promised by
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: the great banks of copper-colored cloud. that hung low over
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: the western sky. I must have walked five or six
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: miles when a small boy roused me from my reverie
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: by asking the time.
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: What time is it?
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: It was twenty minutes to seven. Very nice, Chuck.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, threw that in there.
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's your turn.
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: This is a good transition spot.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: When he left me, I began to take stock of
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: my bearings. I found myself standing before a gate that
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: earth for there were flowers, purple stock, and scarlet geranium.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Above the entrance was a board with the inscription. From
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: the yard itself came a cheery whistle, the noise of
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: hammer blows, and the cold sound of steel melting stone.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: A sudden impulse made me enter. A man was sitting
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: with his back towards me, busy at work on a
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: slab of curiously veined marble. He turned around as he
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: heard my steps, and I stopped short. It was the
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: man I had been drawing, whose portrait lay in my pocket.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: He sat there huge and elephant teen, the sweat pouring
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: from his scalp, which he wiped with a red silk handkerchief.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: But though the face was the same, the expression was
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: absolutely different. He greeted me smiling as if we were
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: old friends and shook my hand. I apologize for my intrusion.
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: Everything is hot and glary outside.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: No British.
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: Uh, are these Brits? Do they have to be?
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: They don't have to.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Oh no, they are Brits. You're right. Uh, Everything is
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: hot and glary outside, I said. There seems to be
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: an oasis in the wilderness.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: I don't know about the oasis, he replied, but it
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: certainly is hot as hell.
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Take a seat, sir. He pointed to the end of
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: the gravestone on which he was at work, and I
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: sat down.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: That's a beautiful piece of stone you got hold.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Of, I said. He shook his head. In a way
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: it is, he answered.
• 41:45
  Speaker 4: The surface here is as fine as anything you could wish,
• 41:48
  Speaker 4: but There's a big flaw at the back, though I
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: don't expect you to ever notice it. I could never
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: make really a good job of a bit of marble
• 41:56
  Speaker 4: like that. It would be all right in the summer
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: like this. Wouldn't mind the blasted heat, but wait till
• 42:02
  Speaker 4: winter comes. There's nothing quite like frost to find out
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: the weak points in stone.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: That's a great Donald Pleasance, I feel like.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that is one to reach for, for sure. Nice work.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: You are the Duke, aid number one.
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: What's that from? Escape from New York. Is it? Okay.
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: He was the president in.
• 42:22
  Speaker 3: That, right?
• 42:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Which is weird that he was the British president. I
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: never really put that together.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Then what's it for?
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: I asked. The man burst out laughing.
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: You'd hardly believe me if I was to tell you
• 42:38
  Speaker 4: it's for an exhibition, but it's the truth. Artists have exhibitions.
• 42:42
  Speaker 4: So do grocers and butchers. We have them too. All
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: the latest little things in headstones.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: He went on to talk of marbles, which sort best
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: withstood wind and rain and which were easiest to work with.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Then of his garden and a new sort of carnation
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: he had bought. At the end of every other minute,
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: he would drop his tools, wiping his shining head and
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: curse the heat. You want to take it over?
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: Sure. I said little, for I felt uneasy.
• 43:11
  Speaker 4: Little.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: There was something unnatural, uncanny. in meeting this man. I
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: tried at first to persuade myself that I had seen
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: him before, that his face, unknown to me, had found
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: a place in some out-of-the-way corner of my memory. But
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: I knew that I was practicing little more than a
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: plausible piece of self-deception. Mr. Atkinson, his name, finished his work,
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: spat on the ground, and got up with a sigh
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: of relief.
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: There, what do you think of that?
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: He said with an air of evident pride. The inscription
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: which I read for the first time was this. Sacred
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: to the memory of James Clarence Withencroft. Born January 18th, 1860.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: He passed away very suddenly on August 20th, 1909. In
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: the midst of life, we are in death. For some
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: time I sat in silence and a cold shudder ran
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: down my spine. I asked him where he'd seen the
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: name I didn't see it anywhere, replied Mr. Atkinson.
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: I wanted just some name. I put down the first
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: that came into my head. Why do you want to know?
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: It's a strange coincidence, but it happens to be mine.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: He gave a long, low whistle, Chuck.
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: And the dates?
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: I can only answer for one of them, and that's correct.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: It's a rum go, he said, but he knew less
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: than I did. I told him of my morning's work.
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: I took the sketch from my pocket and showed it
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: to him. As he looked, the expression of his face
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: altered until it became more and more like that of
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: the man I had drawn.
• 44:56
  Speaker 4: And it was only the day before yesterday, he said,
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: that I told Maria there were no such things as ghosts.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: Neither of us had seen a ghost, but I knew
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: what he meant. You probably heard my name, I said.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: And you must have seen me somewhere and have forgotten it.
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: Were you at Clacton-on-Sea last July?
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: I had never been to Clacton in my life. We
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: were silent for some time. We were both looking at
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: the same thing, the two dates on the gravestone, and
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: one was right.
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: Come inside and have some supper.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Said Mr. Atkinson. I feel like this is you taking
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: us home? Uh, okay.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: Okay. Does everyone get what's going on? So he has
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: drawn a random picture. It turns out to be this guy.
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: Sure.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: That's carving headstones. And this guy has carved this dude's
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: name and birth date and today's date as the death date.
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: And they don't know each other. They've never heard of
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: each other. They've never seen each other. It's just the
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: most astounding coincidence you can imagine.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: Here we go with the end of August Heat. His
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: wife was a cheerful little woman with the flaky red
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: cheeks of the country bread. Her husband introduced me as
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: a friend of his who was an artist. The result
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: was unfortunate for after the sardines and watercress had been removed,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: she brought out a Dwar Bible, which I actually looked
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: that up. That's like a woodcut, hand-carved, illustrated Bible.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: I've seen a few of them before.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: And I had to sit and express my admiration for
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: nearly half an hour. This guy's not easily impressed. I
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: guess his mind is somewhere else.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I went outside and found Atkinson sitting on the gravestone, smoking.
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: We resumed the conversation at the point we had left off.
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: Uh, you must excuse my asking.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: I said.
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: But do you know of anything you've done for which
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: you could be put on trial?
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: He shook his head.
• 46:59
  Speaker 4: I'm not bankrupt. The business is prosperous enough. Three years ago,
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: I gave turkeys to some of the guardians at Christmas.
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: But that's all I can think of. There were small ones, too.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: He added as an afterthought. He got up, fetched a
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: can from the porch, and began to water the flowers.
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: Twice a day regular in the hot weather, he said,
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: and then the heat sometimes gets the better of the
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: delicate ones. And ferns, good lord, they could never stand it.
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: Where do you live?
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: I told him my address. We take an hour's quick
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: walk to get back home. It's like this, he said. Well,
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: look at the matter straight. If you go back home tonight,
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: you take your chance of accidents. cart may run over
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: you and there's always banana skins and orange peel to
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: say nothing of fallen ladders he spoke of the improbable
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: with an intense seriousness that would have been laughable six
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: hours before but i did not laugh the best we
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: can do he continued is for you.
• 47:57
  Speaker 4: To stay here till 12 o'clock we'll go upstairs and
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: smoke it may be cooler inside to my surprise i
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: agreed we are sitting now in a long low room
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: beneath the eaves atkinson has sent his wife to bed
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: He himself is busy sharpening tools.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: At a little oilstone, smoking one of my cigars the while.
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: The air seems charged with thunder. I am writing this
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: at a shaky table before the open window. The leg
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: is cracked, and Atkinson, who seems a handy man with
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: his tools, is going to mend it as soon as
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: he has finished putting an edge on his chisel. It
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: is after eleven now. I shall be gone in less
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: than an hour. But the heat is stifling. It is
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: enough to send a man mad.
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: There's a low whistle too.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Man i love the ambiguity like uh i'll be gone
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: in less than an hour this guy's putting an edge
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: on this chisel like the idea here's this guy like
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: kills him right.
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: I i guess that's one way to interpret it it's
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: also possible that the whole thing just turns out to
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: be a total coincidence that the guy survives till midnight
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: in which case that the the death date on the
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: gravestone would be wrong which would undermine everything you.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Know yeah i like it i like it a lot
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: i wonder how much ambiguity had been used before in
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: stuff like this.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: None, essentially. Oh, really? Yeah, I don't know that this
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: guy was the ground zero for this stuff, but he
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: was certainly one of the pioneers. And he was even
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: a doctor, too. He wasn't even like a professional horror
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: fiction writer.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. Like a medical doctor? Yeah.
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: He's got this and the Beast with Five Fingers is
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: probably his most famous story.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I had that one picked out, but this one, shorter,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: I think paired better.
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: Totally.
• 49:49
  Speaker 2: No, I agree. This is a great pairing. This is
• 49:51
  Speaker 2: like Chardonnay and peanut butter. This is great, Chuck.
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I like this story. These are both winners, I think.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: You knocked it out of the park like a Cleveland Guardian.
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: A Milwaukee Brewer.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: You did great, too, man.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: Thanks, buddy.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: I always love hearing the Josh takes. So fun.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: I think, what is today? Is today Halloween?
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I think it is Halloween today.
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: Is it really? That's amazing.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: I think we got lucky that Halloween, oh, no, no, no.
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: Halloween's on a Saturday, so this is the 29th in
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: podcast time.
• 50:28
  Speaker 2: All of you yelling at your speakers or earbuds or whatever,
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: can just calm down, everybody. Just wait a couple more
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: days for your big pillowcase of candy, all right?
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but hopefully people save these for Halloween. That's what
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: I would do.
• 50:41
  Speaker 4: Sure. Sure. Sure.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: You could have a whole party and just play this.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: And I guarantee you'd have at least a third of
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: the people you started out with by the end of this.
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: People who are game and drunk.
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Who are on their fourth glass of whiskey.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess that's it for our annual Halloween Spooktacular, everybody.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: We hope you loved it, and we hope you have
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: a safe and happy Halloween, a.k.a. Samhain. And if you
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: want to email us something about this, we would love
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: to hear from you. You can send it off to
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: stuffpodcasts at iheartradio.com. Thank you.
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
• 51:43
  Speaker 4: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.