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2021 Halloween Spooktacular! · Stuff You Should Know

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I
0:04
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the Spooktacular, the Spooky
0:19
Speaker 1: spoek Tacular of the Spooktaculars of All Time Tacular. This
0:24
Speaker 1: is stuff you should know, the Spooktacular the as tradition dictates,
0:30
Speaker 1: add free spook Tacular m It's in our contract, it is.
0:34
Speaker 1: We fight for it. Everyone, do not put ads and
0:37
Speaker 1: ruin our bad readings of Halloween stories, which we try
0:41
Speaker 1: very hard to select from the increasingly small pantheon of
0:47
Speaker 1: public domain horror short fiction. I found a few this year,
0:50
Speaker 1: so I got a couple in my hip pocket. Oh good,
0:52
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I'm glad. I gotta say, uh, nice work.
0:55
Speaker 1: I think both of these that we dug up are
0:58
Speaker 1: really really good stories, agreed, m R James and hl
1:01
Speaker 1: Mankin right. I thought it was Mr James. That's what
1:06
Speaker 1: he likes, call me Mr James. He but you're a doctor,
1:10
Speaker 1: so what. Yeah. The one I picked this year is
1:14
Speaker 1: Lost Hearts by m R James. And I'm pretty psyched
1:17
Speaker 1: about this one because it is good. Agreed. It's a corker,
1:20
Speaker 1: you can figure it out, but it's still it's it's entertaining.
1:23
Speaker 1: How about that it's entertaining, it's fun. Uh. There are
1:27
Speaker 1: a couple of spooky uh dates in this did you
1:32
Speaker 1: notice that we'll talk about that? I didn't know. I
1:35
Speaker 1: can't wait to hear it. And um, you know, I
1:39
Speaker 1: don't think we need a content warning. It's it's spooky. Um.
1:45
Speaker 1: But you know with kids, and there's always a chance
1:47
Speaker 1: if you have kids, they may not want to listen.
1:49
Speaker 1: It's not over the top because it was written in
1:51
Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century, right, yeah, and being written in
1:55
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century that we should probably point out there's
1:57
Speaker 1: a couple of um, yes, touchy, semi racist, uh, just
2:03
Speaker 1: terms that will explain. Yeah, I mean, should we go
2:07
Speaker 1: ahead and say now, oh sure, go ahead? Yeah? I
2:10
Speaker 1: mean we did a podcast on the Roma people, and
2:13
Speaker 1: UH made took great pains to tell people that using
2:16
Speaker 1: the word gypsy is no longer something you should do.
2:18
Speaker 1: We're saying jipped off, which is something that I learned
2:21
Speaker 1: while doing that podcast. And they use the word gypsy
2:24
Speaker 1: in here a couple of times. They also use chinaman
2:26
Speaker 1: in here, but they're actually talking about something specific, so
2:29
Speaker 1: we'll explain later, okay, Right, And there's a general with
2:32
Speaker 1: this one lady um sort of xenophobic bent thank people
2:38
Speaker 1: from other countries. She's a yeah exactly, She's an archetypal
2:43
Speaker 1: rural died in the wool salt of the earth woman.
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Speaker 1: So all that is to say, the opinions expressed there
2:51
Speaker 1: and do not represent those of the hostess. Very nice,
2:54
Speaker 1: here with forthwith guarantee void in Tennessee. Alright, Uh, everyone,
3:00
Speaker 1: turned the lights down. I've got my lights dimmed. Yeah,
3:05
Speaker 1: let's do that. I'm going the first time we're not
3:06
Speaker 1: in the same room holding hands. I know, I'm a
3:09
Speaker 1: little scared. A little scared too. I can't see the
3:12
Speaker 1: paper as well with that light off, So I'm gonna
3:14
Speaker 1: turn it back on. Okay, Uh, turn the lights down
3:17
Speaker 1: to get to pour yourself a spooky drink and gather kids.
3:22
Speaker 1: And here we go for the spook tacular. And this
3:27
Speaker 1: is Lost Hearts by Mr Mr James. I'll start, Okay,
3:33
Speaker 1: sure it was, as far as I can ascertain, in
3:46
Speaker 1: September of the year eighteen eleven. Is that a spooky date?
3:49
Speaker 1: Chuck Bill, Well, it's coming, Okay, that a post chaise.
3:53
Speaker 1: I think that's a kind of coach drew up before
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Speaker 1: the door of Aswarby Hall in the heart of Lincolnshire.
4:00
Speaker 1: The little boy who jumped out as soon as it
4:01
Speaker 1: had stopped, looked about him with the keenest curiosity. During
4:05
Speaker 1: the short interval that elapsed between the ringing of the
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Speaker 1: bell and the opening of the hall door, he saw
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Speaker 1: a tall, square, red brick house built in the rain
4:14
Speaker 1: of an A stone pillared porch had been added in
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Speaker 1: the purest classical style of seventeen ninety. The windows of
4:20
Speaker 1: the house were many, tall and narrow, with small panes
4:23
Speaker 1: and thick white woodwork. A pediment pierced with round window
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Speaker 1: crowned the front. There were wings to the left and
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Speaker 1: the right, connected by curious glazed galleries supported by colonnades
4:35
Speaker 1: with the central block. These wings plainly contained the stables
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Speaker 1: and offices of the house. Each was surmounted by an
4:41
Speaker 1: ornamental cupola with a gilded vein cupola. You know, I
4:46
Speaker 1: always said coupola, and then every single person on the
4:49
Speaker 1: Inspiration four crew called that thing on the dragon capsule
4:52
Speaker 1: of the cupola, So I'm just going with that now.
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Speaker 1: An evening light shone on the building, making the window
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Speaker 1: panes glow like so many fires, so many away from
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Speaker 1: the hall in front stretched a flat park studded with
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Speaker 1: oaks and fringed with furs, which stood out against the sky.
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Speaker 1: The clock in the church tower buried in trees on
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Speaker 1: the edge of the park, only its golden weathercock catching
5:16
Speaker 1: the light was striking six, and the sound came gently
5:19
Speaker 1: beating down the wind. It was an altogether pleasant impression,
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Speaker 1: though tinged with the sort of melancholy appropriate to an
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Speaker 1: evening in early autumn, that was conveyed to the mind
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Speaker 1: of the boy who was standing in the porch waiting
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Speaker 1: for the door to open to him. The post chaise
5:34
Speaker 1: had brought him from Warwickshire, where six months before he
5:37
Speaker 1: had been left in orphan. Now, owing to the generous
5:41
Speaker 1: offer of his elderly cousin, Mr Abney, he had come
5:44
Speaker 1: to live at as Worthy. The offer was unexpected, because
5:48
Speaker 1: all who knew anything of Mr Abney looked upon him
5:51
Speaker 1: as a somewhat austere recluse into whose steady going household
5:55
Speaker 1: the advent of a small boy would import a new
5:58
Speaker 1: and it seemed incongruous lament. The truth is that very
6:02
Speaker 1: little was known of Mr Abney's pursuits or temper. The
6:05
Speaker 1: professor of Greek at Cambridge had been heard to say
6:07
Speaker 1: that no one knew more of the religious beliefs of
6:10
Speaker 1: the later Pagans than did the owner of Aswarby. Certainly
6:13
Speaker 1: his library contained all the then available books bearing on
6:17
Speaker 1: the mysteries, the orphic poems, the worship of Mithras, and
6:21
Speaker 1: the neo Platonists. In the marble paved hall stood a
6:24
Speaker 1: fine figure of Mythrust slaying a bull, which had been
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Speaker 1: imported from the Levant at great expense by the owner.
6:30
Speaker 1: He had contributed a description of it to the Gentleman's Magazine.
6:34
Speaker 1: I think not that kind Gentleman's magazine, and he had
6:38
Speaker 1: written a remarkable series of articles in the Critical Museum
6:41
Speaker 1: on the superstitions of the Romans of the Lower Empire.
6:44
Speaker 1: It was published in Hustler House. Let me tell you
6:47
Speaker 1: about my Mythress laying a bull statue. He was looked
6:52
Speaker 1: upon in fine as a man wrapped up in his books.
6:55
Speaker 1: And it was a matter of great surprise among his
6:56
Speaker 1: neighbors that he should even have heard of his cousin
6:59
Speaker 1: Stephen Elliott, much more that he should have volunteered to
7:02
Speaker 1: make him an inmate of Aswarbie Hall. All right, so
7:10
Speaker 1: this orphan boy showed up at this house to live
7:13
Speaker 1: with his relative, who seems like a decent guy. It's
7:16
Speaker 1: a little dark, yeah, but it was a surprise because
7:19
Speaker 1: he was, like, you know, wrapped up in his books,
7:21
Speaker 1: a bachelor, not really interested in having a kid around.
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Speaker 1: All right, shall I whatever may have been expected by
7:31
Speaker 1: his neighbors, It is certain that Mr Abney, that's all
7:34
Speaker 1: the thin. The austere seemed inclined to give his young
7:37
Speaker 1: cousin a kindly reception. The moment the front door was opened,
7:41
Speaker 1: he darted out of his study, rubbing his hands with delight.
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Speaker 1: How are you, my boy? How are you? How old
7:48
Speaker 1: are you? Said he? That is, you are not too
7:52
Speaker 1: much tired? I hope by your journey to eat your supper? Now,
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Speaker 1: thank you, sir, said Mr Elliott. I'm pretty well. Oh
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Speaker 1: that's a good that, that's a good lad, said Mr Abney.
8:05
Speaker 1: And how old are you, my boy? It seemed a
8:08
Speaker 1: little odd that he should have asked the question twice
8:12
Speaker 1: in the first two minutes of their acquaintance. I'm twelve
8:15
Speaker 1: years old. Dick's birthday, sir, said Stephen. And when is
8:20
Speaker 1: your birthday, my dear boy? Eleventh of September a spooky
8:25
Speaker 1: date I think he predicted the whole thing. I got you, okay,
8:29
Speaker 1: Mr James did eleventh of September. A. That's well, that's
8:33
Speaker 1: very well, nearly a year. Hence, isn't it. I like,
8:37
Speaker 1: ha ha, I like to get these things down in
8:40
Speaker 1: my book. Sure it's twelve certain, Yes quite, yer, sir, well,
8:46
Speaker 1: well take him to Mrs Bunch's room, Parks and let
8:50
Speaker 1: him have his tea, supper whatever it is. Yes, sir,
8:54
Speaker 1: answered the state Mr Parks, and conducted Stephen to the
8:57
Speaker 1: lower regions. Mrs Bunch was the most comfortable and human
9:01
Speaker 1: person whom Stephen had as yet met in as Warby.
9:05
Speaker 1: She made him completely at home. They were great friends
9:08
Speaker 1: in a quarter of an hour, and great friends they remained.
9:12
Speaker 1: Mrs Bunch had been born in the neighborhood some fifty
9:15
Speaker 1: five years before the date of Stephen's arrival, and her
9:18
Speaker 1: residence at the hall was of twenty years standing. Consequently,
9:22
Speaker 1: if anyone knew the ins and outs of the house
9:24
Speaker 1: and the district, Mrs Bunch knew them, and she was
9:27
Speaker 1: by no means disinclined to communicate her information. So we
9:34
Speaker 1: got a nice lady that lives there, who knows everything
9:36
Speaker 1: that's going on. Very nice person, seemingly nice. Aside from
9:40
Speaker 1: the xenophobia, as we will see, certainly, there were plenty
9:45
Speaker 1: of things about the hall and the hall gardens which Stephen,
9:49
Speaker 1: who was of an adventurous and inquiring turn, was anxious
9:53
Speaker 1: to have explained to him. Who built the temple at
9:55
Speaker 1: the end of the Laura Walk, Who was the old
9:57
Speaker 1: man whose picture hung on the staircase sitting at a
10:00
Speaker 1: table with a skull under his hand. These and many
10:03
Speaker 1: similar points were cleared up by the resources of Mrs
10:06
Speaker 1: Bunch's powerful intellect. There were others, however, of which the
10:10
Speaker 1: explanations furnished were less satisfactory. One November evening, Stephen was
10:15
Speaker 1: sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, reflecting on
10:18
Speaker 1: the surroundings. It's best having a good man, and will
10:22
Speaker 1: you go to heaven? He suddenly asked, with a peculiar
10:25
Speaker 1: confidence with which children possess in the ability of their
10:28
Speaker 1: elders to settle these questions, the decision of which is
10:32
Speaker 1: believed to be reserved for other tribunals. Can't wait to
10:37
Speaker 1: hear this one. I don't really haven't even worked out
10:41
Speaker 1: how I'm gonna do it. Let's try this. Good bless
10:47
Speaker 1: the child, said Mrs Bunch. Masters as kind a soul
10:51
Speaker 1: as I ever see, didn't I she's like my age,
10:56
Speaker 1: she's fifty. Yeah, but old timey nineteenth century way different,
11:02
Speaker 1: did didn't? I never tell you the little boy as
11:05
Speaker 1: he took in out of the street, as you may
11:08
Speaker 1: say this seven years back, and the little girl two
11:11
Speaker 1: years after I first come here. Now, do tell me
11:14
Speaker 1: all about them, Mrs Bunch, Now this minute easy. Sorry,
11:21
Speaker 1: I added that, so this guy took in a couple
11:24
Speaker 1: of other kids. Huh, all right, well, said missus much.
11:28
Speaker 1: The little girl I don't seem to recollect so much
11:30
Speaker 1: about I know. Master brought her back with him from
11:33
Speaker 1: his walk one day and give orders to Mrs Ellis,
11:36
Speaker 1: as was housekeeper then as she should be, took every
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Speaker 1: care with and the poor child had no one belonging
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Speaker 1: to her. She told me so her own self. And
11:46
Speaker 1: here she lived with us a matter of three weeks,
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Speaker 1: it might be, and then whether she were somethink of
11:53
Speaker 1: a gypsy at her blood or whatnot, But one morning
11:58
Speaker 1: she out of her bed, for any of us had
12:00
Speaker 1: open an eye, and neither trek nor yet trace of
12:04
Speaker 1: her have I set eyes on sense. Master was wonderful
12:07
Speaker 1: put about and had all the ponds dragged. But it's
12:11
Speaker 1: my belief she was had away by them gypsies, for
12:15
Speaker 1: there was singing round the house for as much as
12:17
Speaker 1: an hour the night she went. And Parkes, he declares
12:21
Speaker 1: he heard them a colin in the woods all that afternoon. Dear, Dear,
12:25
Speaker 1: a odd child, said odd. I think she's saying odd
12:29
Speaker 1: in the old timing way with an okay, an odd child.
12:33
Speaker 1: She was so silent it always and all, but I
12:36
Speaker 1: was wonderful taken up with her, so domesticated, she was surprising.
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Speaker 1: And what about the little boy, said Stephen, Oh, that
12:47
Speaker 1: poor boy, sighed Mrs Bunch. He was a foreigner, jeviny,
12:53
Speaker 1: he called himself. And he come a tweaking his hurdy
12:56
Speaker 1: gurdie round about. He was tweaking, speaking his hurdie gurdie.
13:02
Speaker 1: He wasn't working at least, uh tweaking his hurdy gurdie
13:07
Speaker 1: rounded about the drive. When went to day and Master
13:10
Speaker 1: Adam in that minute and asked all about where he
13:13
Speaker 1: came from, how old he was, how he made his way,
13:17
Speaker 1: and where was his relatives, and all his kind heart
13:21
Speaker 1: could wish but it with the same way with him.
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Speaker 1: They're an unruly lot, them foreign nations, I do suppose.
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Speaker 1: And he was off one fine morning, just the same
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Speaker 1: as the girl. Why he went and what he done
13:33
Speaker 1: was our question for as much as a year after.
13:36
Speaker 1: But he never took his urdie gurdie And there it
13:39
Speaker 1: lays on the shelf. What is urdie gurdie, Hurdy gurdie.
13:45
Speaker 1: It's like a kind of like a musical instrument. I think, um,
13:49
Speaker 1: like a squeeze box. Maybe. So a little boy named
13:52
Speaker 1: Jovanni showed up squeezing his squeezebox on their driveway and
13:56
Speaker 1: and Mr Mr Abney it is Abney, right, I think so.
14:02
Speaker 1: Mr Abney brought him in the house and was asking
14:04
Speaker 1: him a bunch of questions and then took him under
14:06
Speaker 1: his wing. Yeah, like every kid he finds. He's like,
14:09
Speaker 1: how old are you? Win your birthday? Come inside your mind?
14:13
Speaker 1: So I think you guys can all see what we
14:15
Speaker 1: were talking about with Mrs Bunched, right, Yeah, I think so.
14:18
Speaker 1: I think so. The remainder of the evening was spent
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Speaker 1: by Stephen and miscellaneous cross examination of Mrs bunch and
14:27
Speaker 1: in efforts to extract a tune from the hurdy gurdy.
14:30
Speaker 1: That night he had a curious stream. At the end
14:33
Speaker 1: of the passage. At the top of the house in
14:35
Speaker 1: which his bedroom was situated, there was an old, disused bathroom.
14:39
Speaker 1: It was kept locked, but the upper half of the
14:41
Speaker 1: door was glazed, and since the Muslim curtains which used
14:44
Speaker 1: to hang there had long been gone, you could look
14:47
Speaker 1: in and see the lead line bath affixed to the
14:50
Speaker 1: wall on the right hand, with its head towards the window.
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Speaker 1: On the night of which I am speaking, Steven Elliott
14:56
Speaker 1: found himself, as he thought, looking through the glazed door.
15:00
Speaker 1: That means there was a window in it. The moon
15:02
Speaker 1: was shining through the window see, and he was gazing
15:05
Speaker 1: at a figure which lay in the bath. His description
15:09
Speaker 1: of what he saw reminds me of what I once
15:11
Speaker 1: beheld myself in the famous vaults of Saint McCann's Church
15:14
Speaker 1: in Dublin, which possesses the horrid property of preserving corpses
15:19
Speaker 1: from decay for centuries. A figure inexpressibly thin and pathetic,
15:24
Speaker 1: of a dusty leaden color, enveloped in a shroud like garment,
15:27
Speaker 1: the thin lips crooked into a faint and dreadful smile.
15:31
Speaker 1: The hands pressed tightly over the region of the heart.
15:34
Speaker 1: As he looked upon it, a distant, almost inaudible moan
15:38
Speaker 1: seemed to issue from its lips, and the arms began
15:41
Speaker 1: to stir. The terror of the site forced Stephen backwards,
15:45
Speaker 1: and he awoke to the fact that he was indeed
15:48
Speaker 1: standing on the cold boarded floor of the passage in
15:51
Speaker 1: the full light of the moon, with a courage which
15:54
Speaker 1: I do not think can be common among boys of
15:56
Speaker 1: his age. He went to the door of the bathroom
15:58
Speaker 1: to ascertain if the figure year of his dream were
16:01
Speaker 1: really there. It was not, and he went back to band,
16:08
Speaker 1: keep going, yeah, look, this is getting creepy. I know,
16:11
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. It's a good one. He saw
16:13
Speaker 1: a straight up scary, decaying ghost in the bathtub. M
16:22
Speaker 1: Mrs Bunch was much impressed next morning by his story,
16:25
Speaker 1: and went so far as to replace the muslin curtain
16:27
Speaker 1: over the glazed door of the bathroom ak the window.
16:30
Speaker 1: Mr Abney moreover, to whom he confided his experiences at breakfast,
16:35
Speaker 1: was greatly interested and made notes of the matter and
16:37
Speaker 1: what he called his book. The Spring Equinox was approaching,
16:42
Speaker 1: as Mr Abney frequently reminded his cousin, adding that this
16:45
Speaker 1: had been always considered by the agents to be a
16:48
Speaker 1: critical time for the young, that Stephen would do well
16:51
Speaker 1: to take care of himself and shut his bedroom window
16:53
Speaker 1: at night, and that the sense or innus had some
16:57
Speaker 1: valuable remarks on the subject. Two inside that occurred about
17:00
Speaker 1: this time made an impression upon Stephen's mind. Chuck will
17:05
Speaker 1: share those two incidents with us now. The first was
17:09
Speaker 1: after an unusually uneasy and oppressed night that he had passed,
17:14
Speaker 1: though he could not recall any particular dream that he
17:17
Speaker 1: had had. The following evening, Mrs Bunch was occupying herself
17:21
Speaker 1: and mending his nightgown. Grace is me, master Stephen, She
17:25
Speaker 1: broke forth, rather irritably. How do you manage to tear
17:28
Speaker 1: your night dress all to flinders this way? Look here, sir,
17:32
Speaker 1: what trouble you do give to poor servants that have
17:35
Speaker 1: to darn and mend after you. It was indeed a
17:39
Speaker 1: most destructive and apparently wanton series of slits or scorings
17:43
Speaker 1: in the garment, which would undoubtedly require a skillful needle
17:46
Speaker 1: to make good. They were confined to the left side
17:49
Speaker 1: of his chest, long parallel slits about six inches in length,
17:53
Speaker 1: some of them not quite piercing the texture of the linen.
17:57
Speaker 1: Stephen could only express his entire ignorance of their origin.
18:01
Speaker 1: He was sure that they were not there the night before,
18:04
Speaker 1: but he said, Mrs Bunch stays just the same as
18:08
Speaker 1: the scratches on the outside of my bedroom door, and
18:12
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'd never had anything to do with making them.
18:16
Speaker 1: I think it gets it across. They think I've nailed
18:18
Speaker 1: young Stephen. I think you're nailing it. He's moving closer
18:23
Speaker 1: and closer to cockney as we go. That's the one
18:26
Speaker 1: I can do. That's the one anybody who can only
18:29
Speaker 1: do one can do. Mrs Bunch gazed at him open mouth,
18:34
Speaker 1: then snatched up a candle, departed hastily from the room,
18:37
Speaker 1: and was heard making her way upstairs. In a few
18:40
Speaker 1: minutes she came down. Well, she said, Master Stephen. It's
18:45
Speaker 1: a funny thing to me how them marks and scratches
18:48
Speaker 1: can have come. They're too high up for any cat
18:50
Speaker 1: or dog to have made him much less a rat
18:53
Speaker 1: for all the world, like a chinaman's fingernails. As my
18:56
Speaker 1: uncle and the tea trade used to tell us of
18:58
Speaker 1: when we was girls together, I wouldn't say nothing to master,
19:02
Speaker 1: not if I was you, Master Stephen, my dear, and
19:05
Speaker 1: just turned the key of your door when you go
19:07
Speaker 1: to your bed, so I should probably say like she,
19:14
Speaker 1: I was like, what is this daft, old middle agist
19:18
Speaker 1: woman talking about? And it turns out she's referring to
19:22
Speaker 1: apparently there was a trend among the nobility and the
19:25
Speaker 1: courtisans of China at this time in the early nineteenth
19:29
Speaker 1: century I think before, of wearing their fingernails very long
19:32
Speaker 1: and pointy. She's saying, these scratches look kind of like
19:36
Speaker 1: claw marks, and she kind of likened it to something
19:38
Speaker 1: that had long and pointing fingernails like that. So okay,
19:42
Speaker 1: not that that excuses everything, but you know, I got you.
19:46
Speaker 1: There's a little background to it. I think we all
19:48
Speaker 1: learned something here. Mrs Bunch is not totally out of
19:50
Speaker 1: her mind, all right, So she yells at Stephen to
19:53
Speaker 1: go to bed, and he says, I always stay, Mrs
19:58
Speaker 1: Bunch as soon as I've said, my prey, oh that's
20:01
Speaker 1: a good child. Always say your prayers and then no
20:04
Speaker 1: one can't hurt you. Here with Mrs Bunch addressed herself
20:09
Speaker 1: to mending the injured nightgown with intervals of meditation until bedtime.
20:14
Speaker 1: Interesting this was on a Friday night in March eighteen twelve.
20:19
Speaker 1: On the following evening, the usual duet of Stephen and
20:22
Speaker 1: Mrs Bunch was augmented by the sudden arrival of Mr Parkes,
20:26
Speaker 1: the butler, who as a rule kept himself rather to
20:29
Speaker 1: himself in the pantry. He did not see that Stephen
20:32
Speaker 1: was there. He was moreover flustered and less slow a
20:35
Speaker 1: speech than was his. Wont master may get up his
20:39
Speaker 1: own wine if he likes of an evening was his
20:41
Speaker 1: first remark. Either I do it in the daytime or
20:44
Speaker 1: not at all. Mrs Bunch, I don't know what it
20:46
Speaker 1: may be, very like it's the rats or the wind
20:49
Speaker 1: got into the cellars. But I'm not as young as
20:51
Speaker 1: I was, and I can't go through with it as
20:54
Speaker 1: I have done. Well. Mr Parks you know it is
20:56
Speaker 1: a surprising place for the rats, is the hall. I'm
20:59
Speaker 1: not the nying that to Mrs Bunchen. To be sure,
21:02
Speaker 1: many a time I've heard the tale from the men
21:04
Speaker 1: in the shipyards about the rats that could speak. I
21:06
Speaker 1: never laid no confidence in that before, but tonight, if
21:09
Speaker 1: I demeaned myself today my ear to the door of
21:12
Speaker 1: the further bin. I could pretty much have heard what
21:15
Speaker 1: they was saying. Oh man, you're crushing it. Oh damn,
21:20
Speaker 1: Mr Parks, I had no patience with your fancies rats
21:23
Speaker 1: talking in the wide cellar aded well, Mrs Munch, I've
21:26
Speaker 1: no wish saw ague with you. All I can say is,
21:29
Speaker 1: if you choose to go to the far bin and
21:31
Speaker 1: lead your ear to the door, you may prove my
21:34
Speaker 1: words this minute. What nonsense you do talk? Mr Parkes
21:39
Speaker 1: not fit for children to listen to. Why you'll be
21:42
Speaker 1: frightening Master Stephen. They're out of his wits. What Master
21:45
Speaker 1: Stephen said, Parks awakening to the consciousness of the boy's presence.
21:50
Speaker 1: Master Stephen knows well enough that I'm playing a joke
21:53
Speaker 1: with you, Mrs Bunch. In fact, Stephen knew too well
21:57
Speaker 1: to suppose that Mr Park's head, in the first instance
22:00
Speaker 1: intended a joke. He was interested, not altogether pleasantly in
22:05
Speaker 1: the situation, but all his questions were unsuccessful in inducing
22:09
Speaker 1: the butler to give any more detailed account of his
22:11
Speaker 1: experiences in the wine cellar. And we have now arrived
22:17
Speaker 1: at March eighteen twelve. Spooky nope, okay. It was a
22:24
Speaker 1: day of curious experiences for Stephen, a windy, noisy day
22:28
Speaker 1: which filled the house in the gardens with a restless impression.
22:31
Speaker 1: As Stephen stood by the fence of the grounds and
22:34
Speaker 1: looked out into the park, he felt as if an
22:36
Speaker 1: endless procession of unseen people were sweeping past him on
22:40
Speaker 1: the wind, borne on restlessly and aimlessly, vainly striving to
22:44
Speaker 1: stop themselves, to catch at something that might arrest their
22:47
Speaker 1: flight and bring them once again into contact with the
22:50
Speaker 1: living world of which they had formed a part. After
22:54
Speaker 1: luncheon that day, Mr Abney said, you're Mr Abney. I'm Emney.
23:00
Speaker 1: Yeah you are. Remember you asked him what his age was,
23:03
Speaker 1: and that's right, that's right. We should probably leave that
23:06
Speaker 1: in there. Stephen, my boy, do you think you could
23:10
Speaker 1: manage to come to me tonight? I don't know if
23:12
Speaker 1: this is the same accent. It sounds like Mrs Mrs
23:15
Speaker 1: a Bunch is transforming into Mr Abney. Do you think
23:19
Speaker 1: you could manage to come to me tonight? As late
23:21
Speaker 1: as eleven o'clock in my study, She'll be busy until
23:24
Speaker 1: that time, and I wish to show you something connected
23:27
Speaker 1: with your future life, which it is most important that
23:30
Speaker 1: you should know. You are not to mention this matter
23:33
Speaker 1: to Mrs Bunch, nor to anyone else in the house,
23:36
Speaker 1: and you had better go to your room at the
23:37
Speaker 1: usual time. Here was a new excitement added to life.
23:41
Speaker 1: Stephen eagerly grasped at the opportunity of sitting up till
23:45
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock. He looked in at the library door on
23:48
Speaker 1: his way upstairs night evening, and he saw a brazier
23:51
Speaker 1: right which he had often noticed in the corner of
23:55
Speaker 1: the room. It's like a little girl, I think, so
23:58
Speaker 1: moved out before the fire. An old silver gilt cup
24:02
Speaker 1: stood on the table filled with red wine, and some
24:04
Speaker 1: written sheets of paper lay near it. Mr Abney was
24:07
Speaker 1: sprinkling some incense on the brazier. I'm pretty sure that's
24:11
Speaker 1: it from a round silver boxes. Stephen passed, but did
24:14
Speaker 1: not seem to notice his step. All right, So what's
24:19
Speaker 1: going on here is he's he's doing some some right,
24:23
Speaker 1: some ritual looks like he told Stephen like this is
24:26
Speaker 1: important for him to be a part of right. Yes,
24:29
Speaker 1: and so now it's the night that he's told Stephen
24:31
Speaker 1: to come down to his study at eleven, all right,
24:34
Speaker 1: go ahead. The wind had fallen, and there was a
24:41
Speaker 1: still night in a full moon. At about ten o'clock,
24:44
Speaker 1: Stephen was standing at the open window of his bedroom,
24:47
Speaker 1: looking out over the country. Still as the night was,
24:50
Speaker 1: the mysterious population of the distant moonlit woods was not
24:53
Speaker 1: yet lulled to rest. From time to time, strange cries
24:57
Speaker 1: as of lost and despairing wander sounded from across the mirror.
25:02
Speaker 1: I think that's a weird way to say meadow. They
25:05
Speaker 1: might be the notes of owls or water birds. Yet
25:08
Speaker 1: they did not quite resemble either sound. Were they not
25:11
Speaker 1: coming nearer? Now? They sounded from the nearer side of
25:14
Speaker 1: the water, and in a few moments they seemed to
25:17
Speaker 1: be floating about among the shrubberies. Then they ceased. But
25:21
Speaker 1: just as Stephen was thinking of shutting the window and
25:23
Speaker 1: resuming his reading of Robinson crusoe Great Book, he caught
25:27
Speaker 1: sight of two figures standing on the gravel terrace that
25:31
Speaker 1: ran along the garden side of the hall, the figures
25:33
Speaker 1: of a boy and a girl. As it seemed, they
25:36
Speaker 1: stood side by side, looking up at the windows. Something
25:39
Speaker 1: in the form of the girl recalled irresistibly his dream
25:43
Speaker 1: of the figure in the bath, the boy inspired him
25:46
Speaker 1: with more acute Whilst the girl stood still, half smiling,
25:50
Speaker 1: with her hands clasped over her heart, The boy, a
25:53
Speaker 1: thin shape with black hair and ragged clothing, raised his
25:57
Speaker 1: arms in the air with an appearance of menace and
26:00
Speaker 1: of unappeasable hunger. Longing. The moon shone upon his almost
26:05
Speaker 1: transparent hands, and Stephen saw that the nails were fearfully long,
26:10
Speaker 1: and that the light shone through them. As he stood
26:13
Speaker 1: with his arms thus raised, he disclosed a terrifying spectacle.
26:18
Speaker 1: On the left side of his chest. There opened up
26:20
Speaker 1: black and gaping rent, and there fell upon Stephen's brain,
26:24
Speaker 1: rather than upon his ear, the impression of one of
26:27
Speaker 1: those hungry and desolate cries that he had heard resounding
26:30
Speaker 1: over the woods at Aswarby all that evening. In another moment,
26:35
Speaker 1: this dreadful pair had moved swiftly and noiselessly over the
26:38
Speaker 1: dry grass, and he saw them no more. Wow, I
26:45
Speaker 1: know this, poor Stephen. He's like, what the h is
26:48
Speaker 1: going on around here? So this ghost skin he has
26:51
Speaker 1: like no heart? Right, he's turned into John Travolta. Oh boy,
26:57
Speaker 1: all right, this is getting good. You want me to
26:58
Speaker 1: pick it up? Just please all right. Inexpressibly frightened as
27:05
Speaker 1: he was, he determined to take his candle and go
27:07
Speaker 1: down to mister Abney's study, for the hour appointed for
27:10
Speaker 1: their meeting was near in hand. The study or library
27:14
Speaker 1: opened out of the front hall on one side, and Stephen,
27:17
Speaker 1: urged on by his terrors, did not take long in
27:20
Speaker 1: getting there. To effect an entrance was not so easy.
27:24
Speaker 1: The door was not locked, he felt sure, for the
27:26
Speaker 1: key was on the outside of it. As usual, his
27:28
Speaker 1: repeated knox produced no answer. Mister Abney was engaged. He
27:32
Speaker 1: was speaking what Why did he try to cry out?
27:37
Speaker 1: And why was the cry choked in his throat? Had
27:40
Speaker 1: he too seen the mysterious children? But now everything was quiet,
27:44
Speaker 1: and the door yielded to Stephen's terrified and frantic pushing
27:48
Speaker 1: on the table. In mister Abney's study, certain papers were
27:51
Speaker 1: found which explained the situation to Stephen Elliott when he
27:54
Speaker 1: was of an age to understand them. The most important
27:58
Speaker 1: sentences were as follows. It was a belief very strongly
28:02
Speaker 1: and generally held by the ancients, of whose wisdom in
28:05
Speaker 1: these matters I've had such experiences as induces me to
28:10
Speaker 1: place confidence in their assertations. The wordy that by enacting
28:15
Speaker 1: certain processes which to us moderns have something of a
28:19
Speaker 1: barbaric complexion, a very remarkable enlightenment of the spiritual faculties
28:25
Speaker 1: in man may be attained. That, for example, by absorbing
28:28
Speaker 1: the personalities of a certain number of his fellow creatures,
28:32
Speaker 1: an individual may gain a complete ascendency over those orders
28:37
Speaker 1: of spiritual beings which control the elemental forces of our universe. Wow,
28:46
Speaker 1: what is like possessing these people? Something like that? Keep reading,
28:50
Speaker 1: Keep reading. It is recorded of Simon Magus that he
28:59
Speaker 1: was able to fly on the air, to become invisible,
29:01
Speaker 1: or to assume any form he pleased, by the agency
29:04
Speaker 1: of the soul of a boy whom, to use the
29:07
Speaker 1: libelous phrase employed by the author of the Clementine recognitions,
29:11
Speaker 1: he had murdered. I find it set down moreover with
29:15
Speaker 1: considerable detail in the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, that similar
29:21
Speaker 1: happy results may be produced by the absorption of the
29:24
Speaker 1: hearts of not less than three human beings below the
29:28
Speaker 1: age of twenty one years. Ah, that's why he's got
29:32
Speaker 1: another ages. Huh. To the testing of the truth of
29:36
Speaker 1: this receipt, I have devoted the greater part of the
29:38
Speaker 1: last twenty years, selecting as the corpora vilia of my
29:43
Speaker 1: experiment such persons as could conveniently be removed without occasioning
29:48
Speaker 1: a sensible gap in society. The first step I affected
29:52
Speaker 1: by the removal of one Phoebe Stanley, a girl of
29:56
Speaker 1: gypsy extraction, on March fo not creepy. The second by
30:03
Speaker 1: the removal of a wandering Italian lad named Giovanni Paoli
30:08
Speaker 1: on the night of March twenty three five, not spooky.
30:13
Speaker 1: The final victim to employ a word repugnant in the
30:17
Speaker 1: highest degree to my feelings must be my cousin Steven Elliott.
30:22
Speaker 1: His day must be this March twenty four, eighteen twelve.
30:26
Speaker 1: It's a creepy date. Any of those dates in they're creepy.
30:29
Speaker 1: I don't think creepy. The best means of affecting the
30:32
Speaker 1: required absorption is to remove the heart from the living subject,
30:35
Speaker 1: to reduce it to ashes, and to mingle them with
30:39
Speaker 1: about a pint of red wine, preferably port. That's a
30:42
Speaker 1: lot of port, A lot of port. The remains of
30:45
Speaker 1: the first two subjects, at least will be well to
30:48
Speaker 1: conceal a disused bathroom or wine cellar will be found
30:53
Speaker 1: convenient for such a purpose. Some annoyance may be experienced
30:56
Speaker 1: from the psychic portion of the subjects, which popular language
31:00
Speaker 1: which dignifies with the name of ghosts. But the man
31:04
Speaker 1: of philosophic temperament, to whom alone the experiment is appropriate,
31:08
Speaker 1: will be little prone to attach importance to the feeble
31:10
Speaker 1: efforts of these beings to wreak their vengeance on him.
31:14
Speaker 1: I contemplate with the liveliest satisfaction, the enlarged and emancipated
31:19
Speaker 1: existence which the experiment, if successful, will confer on me,
31:24
Speaker 1: not only placing me beyond the reach of human justice
31:27
Speaker 1: so called, but eliminating to a great extent the prospect
31:31
Speaker 1: of death itself. Wow. So he's basically saying like, I
31:42
Speaker 1: can't even be haunted, and this may make me live forever. Yeah, Like,
31:46
Speaker 1: I'm going to rip the hearts out of two, now
31:49
Speaker 1: three little children and it'll be worth it because I'm
31:51
Speaker 1: going to be immortal and an amazing dude. Wow, Alright,
31:55
Speaker 1: we're gonna be I'm gonna be like Bradley Cooper and limitless.
31:59
Speaker 1: That's his goal on what failing at the box office.
32:02
Speaker 1: So this last paragraph is pretty important. Everybody hanging there
32:04
Speaker 1: with us. And remember Stephen heard a cry in the
32:07
Speaker 1: office and then later found these papers that Chuck just
32:10
Speaker 1: read right right. Mr Abney was found in his chair,
32:16
Speaker 1: his head thrown back, his face stamped with an expression
32:19
Speaker 1: of rage, fright, immortal pain. In his left side was
32:24
Speaker 1: a terrible lacerated wound, exposing the heart. There was no
32:29
Speaker 1: blood on his hands, and a long knife that lay
32:31
Speaker 1: on the table was perfectly clean. A savage wildcat might
32:35
Speaker 1: have inflicted the injuries. The window of the study was open,
32:38
Speaker 1: and it was the opinion of the coroner that Mr
32:40
Speaker 1: Abney had met his death by the agency of some
32:43
Speaker 1: wild creature. But Stephen Elliott study of the papers Chuck
32:46
Speaker 1: just quoted, led him to a very different conclusion. Wow,
32:58
Speaker 1: so little Stephen Abney Cockney boy at large owes his
33:02
Speaker 1: took us to the little boy and girl who saved
33:06
Speaker 1: his life. Yeah, they killed him. Murderous ghosts killed a
33:11
Speaker 1: very bad man. I love it. Good stuff, good voice work.
33:14
Speaker 1: That was great, Chuck. I guess now we should put
33:17
Speaker 1: some ads in here, right. Oh wait, there's no need
33:20
Speaker 1: for us, because this is our ad free Halloween version.
33:24
Speaker 1: This spooky story brought to you by stamps dot com. Wow,
33:30
Speaker 1: that was great, So it's time for yours, right, that's right?
33:34
Speaker 1: Oh boy, who wrote this? Arthur Mock And I believe
33:38
Speaker 1: that's right m A. C. H. E. N who was
33:41
Speaker 1: a Welsh writer. And I think the deal with the
33:44
Speaker 1: Great God Pan, which is what we're going to read,
33:47
Speaker 1: is that it was a I think this is the
33:51
Speaker 1: first chapter that originally stood on its own as a
33:54
Speaker 1: short story published in a a literary journal or something,
33:58
Speaker 1: or a magazine, the Gentleman's magazine. That's right. And then
34:04
Speaker 1: he later I guess what's like he and this is
34:06
Speaker 1: not too bad and expanded it into a novella linked thing.
34:09
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, we're gonna stick to the first chapter.
34:12
Speaker 1: It's one of those ones that, like, if you ask
34:14
Speaker 1: any horror writer with the greatest horror story of all
34:16
Speaker 1: time is probably the majority of them will say the
34:20
Speaker 1: Great God Pan. Oh really interesting? All right? So nice, fine,
34:25
Speaker 1: I guess is what I'm trying to say. Here we go. Then,
34:33
Speaker 1: I'm glad you came, Clark, very glad. Indeed, I was
34:37
Speaker 1: not sure you could spare the time. Wait a minute,
34:41
Speaker 1: that's Abney and the Old Lady. Yeah, that was that
34:44
Speaker 1: was a lot all right, this is gonna I'm gonna
34:47
Speaker 1: have to workshop this as we go. Folks, Okay, I
34:49
Speaker 1: know you're locked in the punch. That's it, all right,
34:51
Speaker 1: So he's glad, Clark came, Yeah, Clark with any Yes,
34:56
Speaker 1: I was able to make arrangements for a few days.
34:58
Speaker 1: Things are not very live just now, but you have
35:01
Speaker 1: no misgivings, Raymond, Is it absolutely safe? The two men
35:06
Speaker 1: were slowly pacing the terrace in front of Dr Raymond's house.
35:09
Speaker 1: The sun still hung above the western mountain line, but
35:12
Speaker 1: it shone with a dull red glow that cast no shadows,
35:15
Speaker 1: and all the air was quiet. A sweet breath came
35:19
Speaker 1: from the great wood on the hillside above, and with it,
35:21
Speaker 1: at intervals, the soft murmuring call of the wild doves
35:25
Speaker 1: below in the long, lovely valley, The river wound in
35:28
Speaker 1: and out between the lonely hills, and as the sun
35:30
Speaker 1: hovered and vanished into the west, a faint mist, pure
35:33
Speaker 1: white began to rise from the hills. Doctor Raymond turned
35:36
Speaker 1: sharply to his friend. Safe. Of course it is in itself.
35:43
Speaker 1: The operation is a perfectly simple one. Any surgeon could
35:46
Speaker 1: do it, and there's no danger at any other things. None,
35:51
Speaker 1: absolutely no physical damage whatsoever. I give you my word.
35:54
Speaker 1: You are always timid, Clark, always with an E. But
35:58
Speaker 1: you know my history. I have devoted myself to transcendental medicine.
36:03
Speaker 1: For the last twenty years. I have heard myself called
36:06
Speaker 1: quack and charlatan, an impostor. But all the while I
36:09
Speaker 1: knew I was on the right path. Five years ago
36:12
Speaker 1: I reached the goal, and since then every day has
36:15
Speaker 1: been a preparation for what we shall do tonight. I
36:19
Speaker 1: should like to believe it at all true. Clark knit
36:23
Speaker 1: his brows and looked doubtfully at Dr Raymond. Are you
36:26
Speaker 1: perfectly sure, Raymond, that your theory is not a fantasmagoria,
36:30
Speaker 1: A splendid vision, certainly, but a mirror vision? After all,
36:34
Speaker 1: speak up? This is as much as I could speak.
36:39
Speaker 1: It's the Eco are weak of chest and breath and
36:42
Speaker 1: very timid. All right, we made all that up here
36:46
Speaker 1: we go. Maybe we should just riff on this whole thing. Uh.
36:50
Speaker 1: Dr Raymond stopped in his walk and turned sharply. He
36:53
Speaker 1: was a middle aged man, gaunt and thin, of a
36:55
Speaker 1: pale yellow complexion. But as he answered Clark and faced him,
36:59
Speaker 1: that was a flush on his cheek mhm. Look about you, Clark,
37:04
Speaker 1: do you see? Look about you, Clark. You see the
37:10
Speaker 1: mountain and hill following after hill, as wave on wave.
37:14
Speaker 1: You see the woods and orchard, the fields of ripe corn,
37:17
Speaker 1: and the meadows reaching to the reed beds by the river.
37:20
Speaker 1: You see me standing here beside you, and hear my
37:23
Speaker 1: voice as pleasant as it is. But I tell you
37:26
Speaker 1: that all these things, yes, from that star that has
37:30
Speaker 1: just shown out of the sky, to the solid ground
37:32
Speaker 1: beneath our feet. I say that all these are but
37:36
Speaker 1: dreams and shadows, the shadows that hide the real world
37:39
Speaker 1: from our eyes. This is a real world, but it
37:42
Speaker 1: is beyond the glamour and this vision, beyond these chases
37:46
Speaker 1: and aras dreams in a career, beyond the mall, is
37:49
Speaker 1: beyond a veil. Do you even know what I'm talking about?
37:53
Speaker 1: I just realized who you're doing, and it's Truman Campody,
37:57
Speaker 1: Truman cap I do not know whether any human being
38:02
Speaker 1: has ever lifted that veil, but I do know, Clark,
38:04
Speaker 1: that you and I shall see it lifted this very
38:07
Speaker 1: night from before another's eyes. You may think this all
38:09
Speaker 1: strange nonsense. It may be strange, but it is true
38:13
Speaker 1: and The ancients knew what lifting the veil means. They
38:17
Speaker 1: called it seeing the god pan nice Clark shivered. The
38:28
Speaker 1: white mist gathering over the river was chilly. It is wonderful. Indeed,
38:32
Speaker 1: he said, we are standing on the brink of a
38:35
Speaker 1: strange world. Raymond, if what you say is true, I
38:38
Speaker 1: suppose the knife is absolutely necessary. Yes, a slight lesion
38:43
Speaker 1: in the gray matter, that is all, A trifling rearrangement
38:46
Speaker 1: of certain cells, a microscopical alteration that would escape the
38:50
Speaker 1: attention of brain specialists out of a hundred. I don't
38:54
Speaker 1: want to bother you with shop Clark. I guess he
38:57
Speaker 1: means shop talk. Ye. I'm give you a mass of
39:01
Speaker 1: technical detail which would sound very imposing and would leave
39:04
Speaker 1: you as enlightened as you are now. But I suppose
39:06
Speaker 1: you have read, casually and out of the way corners
39:09
Speaker 1: of your paper that immense strides have been made recently
39:12
Speaker 1: in the physiology of the brain. I saw a paragraph
39:15
Speaker 1: the other day about Digby's theory and brown Fabers discoveries,
39:20
Speaker 1: theories and discoveries. Where they are standing now? I stood
39:23
Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, and I need not tell you that
39:26
Speaker 1: I have not been standing still for the last fifteen years.
39:29
Speaker 1: It would be enough if I say that five years
39:30
Speaker 1: ago I made the discovery that I alluded to when
39:33
Speaker 1: I said that ten years ago I reached the goal.
39:36
Speaker 1: It's very confusing. I feel like I'm driving people literally
39:40
Speaker 1: away from this. No, I think, I think you. It's
39:43
Speaker 1: very luring in a weird way. Okay. After years of labor,
39:47
Speaker 1: After years of toiling and groping in the dark, after
39:50
Speaker 1: days and nights of disappointments and sometimes of despair in
39:54
Speaker 1: which I used now and then to tremble and grow
39:56
Speaker 1: cold with the thought that perhaps there were others seeking
39:59
Speaker 1: for it, I saw it at last, after so long.
40:02
Speaker 1: A pang of sudden joy thrilled my soul, and I
40:04
Speaker 1: knew the long journey was at an end by what
40:07
Speaker 1: seemed then and still seems a chance. The suggestions of
40:10
Speaker 1: a moment's idle thought followed up upon familiar lines and
40:14
Speaker 1: paths that I attract a hundred times already, the great
40:17
Speaker 1: truth burst upon me, and I saw, mapped out in
40:20
Speaker 1: lines of sight, a whole world, a sphere unknown continents
40:25
Speaker 1: and islands and great oceans in which no ship has sailed,
40:28
Speaker 1: to my belief, since a man first lifted up his eyes,
40:31
Speaker 1: and beheld the sun and the stars of heaven, and
40:34
Speaker 1: the quiet earth beneath yep keep going, Oh, good Lord,
40:39
Speaker 1: you will think this all high flown language, Clark, But
40:42
Speaker 1: it is hard to be literal. And yet I do
40:45
Speaker 1: not know whether what I am hinting at cannot be
40:47
Speaker 1: set forth in plain and lonely terms. For instance, this
40:50
Speaker 1: world of ours is pretty well girded now with telegraph
40:54
Speaker 1: wires and cables fought with something less than the speed
40:57
Speaker 1: of thought, flashes from sunrise sunset, from north to south,
41:01
Speaker 1: across the floods and the desert places. Suppose that an
41:05
Speaker 1: electrician of today were suddenly to perceive that he and
41:09
Speaker 1: his friends have merely been playing with pebbles and mistaking
41:12
Speaker 1: them for the foundations of the world. Suppose that's such
41:15
Speaker 1: a man saw uttermost space lie open before the current,
41:18
Speaker 1: and words of men flashed forth to the sun and
41:21
Speaker 1: beyond the sun, into the systems beyond, and the voice
41:24
Speaker 1: of articulate speaking men echo, and the waiste void that
41:28
Speaker 1: bounds our thought. What do you think about that analogy, sir?
41:33
Speaker 1: As analogies go, that is a pretty good analogy of
41:36
Speaker 1: what I've done. You can understand now a little of
41:39
Speaker 1: what I felt as I stood here one evening. It
41:42
Speaker 1: was a summer evening, and the valley looked much as
41:44
Speaker 1: it does now. I stood here and saw before me
41:47
Speaker 1: the inutterable, the unthinkable gulf that yawns profound between two worlds,
41:52
Speaker 1: the world of matter and the world of spirit. I
41:55
Speaker 1: saw the great, empty, deep stretch dim before me, and
41:58
Speaker 1: in that instant of ridge of light leapt from the
42:01
Speaker 1: earth to the unknown shore, and the abyss was spanned.
42:04
Speaker 1: You may look in brown Favor's book if you like,
42:07
Speaker 1: and you will find that to the present day men
42:10
Speaker 1: of science are unable to account for the presence or
42:12
Speaker 1: to specify the functions of certain group of nerve cells
42:15
Speaker 1: in the brain. Last one. I'm sorry, everybody. That group is,
42:20
Speaker 1: as it were, land to yet a mere waste place
42:23
Speaker 1: for fanciful theories. I am not in the position of
42:26
Speaker 1: brown Favor and the specialist. I am perfectly instructed as
42:30
Speaker 1: to the possible functions of those nerve centers in the
42:33
Speaker 1: scheme of things. With a touch, I can bring them
42:35
Speaker 1: into play. With a touch, I say, I can set
42:38
Speaker 1: free the current. With a touch, I can complete the
42:41
Speaker 1: communication between this world of sense, and we shall be
42:44
Speaker 1: able to finish the sentence later on. Yes, the knife
42:48
Speaker 1: is necessary, but think what that knife will affect. It
42:51
Speaker 1: will level utterly the solid wall of sense, and probably
42:55
Speaker 1: for the first time since man was made, a spirit
42:59
Speaker 1: will gaze on a spirit world. Clark, Mary, we'll see
43:04
Speaker 1: the God pan. Very nice, Chuck, Wow, I feel like
43:12
Speaker 1: we need to recap that. So he's doing these brain
43:15
Speaker 1: experiments basically where he says he can connect I mean
43:19
Speaker 1: he really just needed that last paragraph where he can
43:23
Speaker 1: connect people to the spirit world, right, Yeah, that basically
43:26
Speaker 1: with the with the scrambling of a few neurons that
43:29
Speaker 1: only he knows the true purpose of, he can basically
43:33
Speaker 1: he can take you to a new different dimensions. You
43:36
Speaker 1: can see God. Yeah, God pan at ly sure. Uh So,
43:41
Speaker 1: now we're picking up with Clark with an e speaking again.
43:44
Speaker 1: You're ready, I'm ready. But you remember what you wrote
43:49
Speaker 1: to me. I thought it would be requisite that she
43:52
Speaker 1: he whispered the rest of the doctor's ear. You don't
43:55
Speaker 1: be a virgin, not at all. That at all, That
43:58
Speaker 1: is nonsense, I assure you. Indeed, it is better as
44:01
Speaker 1: it is. I'm quite certain of that. Consider the matter well, Raymond,
44:05
Speaker 1: it is a great responsibility. Something might go wrong, you
44:08
Speaker 1: would be a miserable man for the rest of your days. No,
44:11
Speaker 1: I think that even if the worst happened, As you know,
44:14
Speaker 1: I rescued Mary from the gutter and from almost certain
44:18
Speaker 1: starvation when she was a child, I think her life
44:20
Speaker 1: is mine to use as I see fit. Come, it's
44:24
Speaker 1: getting late. We had better go in. No being canceled
44:30
Speaker 1: as we speak. So he's saying, like, you know, he
44:34
Speaker 1: found this, this poor homeless girl, and now that he
44:37
Speaker 1: raised her and gave her a life, he can do
44:39
Speaker 1: whatever he wants with her life. So now poor Mary
44:42
Speaker 1: is going to be the first test subject for seeing
44:46
Speaker 1: the Great God Pan And I'll take up take up
44:49
Speaker 1: some slack from you, please do. Dr Raymond led the
44:56
Speaker 1: way into the house, through the hall and down a
44:58
Speaker 1: long dark passage. He took a key from his pocket
45:01
Speaker 1: and opened a heavy door and motioned Clark with any
45:04
Speaker 1: into his flab recording. It had once been a billiard
45:08
Speaker 1: room and was lighted by a glass dome in the
45:10
Speaker 1: center of the ceiling. Whence there still shown a sad
45:12
Speaker 1: gray light on the figure of the doctor as he
45:15
Speaker 1: lit a lamp with a heavy shade and placed it
45:17
Speaker 1: on a table in the middle of the room. Clark
45:20
Speaker 1: looked about him. Scarcely a foot of wall remained bare.
45:23
Speaker 1: There were shelves all around, laden with bottles and files
45:26
Speaker 1: of all shapes and colors. And at one end stood
45:29
Speaker 1: a little Chippendale bookcase with its shirt off and oiled
45:32
Speaker 1: and baby oil. Raymond pointed to this. You see that
45:36
Speaker 1: parchment Oswald Crolius. He was one of the first to
45:40
Speaker 1: show me the way, though I don't think he ever
45:42
Speaker 1: found it himself. That is a strange saying of his.
45:46
Speaker 1: In every grain of wheat, there lies hidden the soul
45:49
Speaker 1: of a star. I guess it makes sense in a
45:53
Speaker 1: weird way. Sure. There was not much furniture in the laboratory.
45:57
Speaker 1: The table in the center, a stone slab with a
46:00
Speaker 1: rain in one corner, the two arm chairs on which
46:02
Speaker 1: Raymond and Clark were sitting. That was all except an
46:05
Speaker 1: odd looking chair at the furtherest end of the room.
46:09
Speaker 1: Clark looked at it and raised his eyebrows. Yes, that
46:11
Speaker 1: is the chair, said Raymond. We may as well place
46:14
Speaker 1: it in position. He got up and wheeled the chair
46:17
Speaker 1: to the light, and began raising and lowering and letting
46:19
Speaker 1: down the seat, setting the back at various angles and
46:22
Speaker 1: adjusting the foot rest. It looked comfortable enough, and Clark
46:26
Speaker 1: passed his hand over the soft green velvet as the
46:29
Speaker 1: doctor manipulated the levers. Now, Clark could make yourself quite comfortable.
46:34
Speaker 1: I had a couple of hours worked before me. I
46:37
Speaker 1: was obliged to leave certain matters to the last. Raymond
46:41
Speaker 1: went to the stone slab, and Clark watched him drearily
46:43
Speaker 1: as he bent over a row of files and lit
46:46
Speaker 1: the flame under the crucible. The doctor had a small
46:49
Speaker 1: hand lamp shaded as the larger one on a ledge
46:52
Speaker 1: above his apparatus, and Clark, who sat in the shadows,
46:55
Speaker 1: looked down at the great shadowy room, wondering at the
46:58
Speaker 1: bizarre effects of brilliant light and undefined darkness contrasting with
47:02
Speaker 1: one another. Soon he became conscious of an odd odor,
47:07
Speaker 1: at first the merest suggestion of an odor in the room,
47:11
Speaker 1: and as it grew more he decided he felt surprised
47:14
Speaker 1: that he was not reminded of the chemist's shop or
47:16
Speaker 1: the surgery. Laver smelted doubt it. Clark found himself ugly,
47:22
Speaker 1: endeavoring to analyze the sensation, and half conscious, he began
47:26
Speaker 1: to think of a day fifteen years ago that he
47:29
Speaker 1: had spent roaming through the woods and meadows near his
47:31
Speaker 1: own home. It was a burning day at the beginning
47:34
Speaker 1: of August. The heat had dimmed the outlines of all
47:37
Speaker 1: things and all distances with a faint mist, and people
47:40
Speaker 1: who observed the thermometer spoke of an abnormal register of
47:44
Speaker 1: a temperature that was almost tropical. Strangely, that wonderful hot
47:48
Speaker 1: day of the fifties rose up again in Clark's imagination,
47:52
Speaker 1: the sense of dazzling all pervading sunlight, seeming to blot
47:55
Speaker 1: out the shadows and the lights of the laboratory, and
47:57
Speaker 1: he felt again the heated air beating gusts about his face,
48:01
Speaker 1: saw the shimmer rising from the turf, and heard the
48:04
Speaker 1: myriad murmur of the summer. I hope the smell doesn't
48:07
Speaker 1: annoy you, Clark. There's nothing unwholesome about it. It may
48:11
Speaker 1: make you a bit sleepy, that's all. Clark her the
48:16
Speaker 1: words quite distinctly, and knew that Raymond was speaking to him.
48:20
Speaker 1: But for the life of him, he could not rouse
48:22
Speaker 1: himself from his lethargy. He could only think of the
48:25
Speaker 1: lonely walk he had taken fifteen years ago. It was
48:28
Speaker 1: his last look at the fields and woods he had
48:30
Speaker 1: known since he was a child, and now it all
48:33
Speaker 1: stood out in brilliant light as a picture before him.
48:36
Speaker 1: Above all, there came to his nostrils the scent of summer,
48:39
Speaker 1: the smell of flowers mingled, and the odor of the woods,
48:43
Speaker 1: of cool shaded places deep in the green depths drawn
48:46
Speaker 1: forth by the sun's heat, And the scent of the
48:49
Speaker 1: good earth lying as it were, with arms stretched forth
48:52
Speaker 1: and smiling lips overpowered all his fancies made him wander
48:56
Speaker 1: as he had wandered long ago, from the fields into
48:59
Speaker 1: the wood, tracking a little path between the shining undergrowth
49:02
Speaker 1: of beech trees and the trickle of water dropping from
49:05
Speaker 1: the limestone rock. Sounded as clear as a melody in
49:08
Speaker 1: the dream. All right, so he's experiencing, dude, his trip
49:14
Speaker 1: and sleep induced drug induced feel goods. Yeah, I mean
49:18
Speaker 1: it sounds like a pretty great picture. I'll have what
49:23
Speaker 1: he's having. You want me? Keep going? Yeah, keep going.
49:26
Speaker 1: Now it gets a little weird. Thoughts began to go
49:31
Speaker 1: astray and to mingle with other thoughts. The beach alley
49:35
Speaker 1: was transformed to a path between elix trees, and here
49:38
Speaker 1: and there a vine climbed from bow to bow and
49:41
Speaker 1: sent up waving tendrils, and drooped with purple grapes, and
49:45
Speaker 1: the sparse, gray green leaves of a wild olive tree
49:48
Speaker 1: stood out against the dark shadows of the eyelex Clark,
49:51
Speaker 1: in the deep folds of the dream, was conscious that
49:54
Speaker 1: the path from his father's house had led him into
49:57
Speaker 1: an undiscovered country, and he was wondering at the strangeness
50:00
Speaker 1: of it all, when suddenly, in place of the harm
50:03
Speaker 1: and murmur of the summer, an infinite silence seemed to
50:07
Speaker 1: fall on all things, and the wood was hushed, and
50:12
Speaker 1: for a moment in time he stood face to face
50:14
Speaker 1: there with a presence that was neither man nor beast,
50:18
Speaker 1: neither the living nor the dead, but all things mingled,
50:22
Speaker 1: the form of all things, but devoid of all form.
50:26
Speaker 1: And in that moment the sacrament of body and soul
50:29
Speaker 1: was dissolved, and a voice seemed to cry, let us go. Hence,
50:33
Speaker 1: and then the darkness of darkness beyond the stars, the
50:36
Speaker 1: darkness of everlasting. Whoa, He went deep, he really did,
50:46
Speaker 1: he went. Hence is how you'd put how the kids
50:49
Speaker 1: would put it? Uh? Should I pick up? Yeah? Okay,
50:54
Speaker 1: is your throat? Okay, it's fine. When Clark woke up
51:02
Speaker 1: with a start, he saw Raymond pouring a few drops
51:04
Speaker 1: of some oily fluid into a green file, which he
51:07
Speaker 1: stopped her tightly. You've been dozing. The journey must have
51:12
Speaker 1: tired you out. It is done. Now I'm going to
51:15
Speaker 1: fetch Mary. I'll be back in ten minutes. Clark lay
51:19
Speaker 1: back in his chair and wondered. It seemed as if
51:21
Speaker 1: he had but passed from one dream into another. He
51:24
Speaker 1: half expected to see the walls of the laboratory melt
51:27
Speaker 1: and disappear, and to awaken London, shuddering at his own
51:31
Speaker 1: sleeping fancies. But at last the door opened and the
51:33
Speaker 1: doctor returned, and behind him came a girl about seventeen,
51:38
Speaker 1: dressed all in white. She was so beautiful that Clark
51:41
Speaker 1: did not wonder at what the doctor had written to him.
51:45
Speaker 1: She was blushing now over face and neck and arms.
51:48
Speaker 1: But Raymond seemed unmoved. Mary, the time has come. You
51:54
Speaker 1: are quite free. Are you willing to trust me entirely? Yes? Dear,
52:00
Speaker 1: do you hear that? Clark? You are my witness. Here
52:04
Speaker 1: is the chair, Mary, It is quite easy. Just sit
52:07
Speaker 1: in it and lean back Are you ready, Yes, dear,
52:10
Speaker 1: quite ready. Give me a kiss before you begin. The
52:15
Speaker 1: doctor stooped and kissed her mouth kindly enough. Now shut
52:21
Speaker 1: your eyes, he said. The girl closed her eyelids as
52:25
Speaker 1: if she were tired and longed for sleep, and Raymond
52:29
Speaker 1: placed the green file to her nostrils. Her face grew white,
52:33
Speaker 1: whiter than her dress. She struggled faintly, and then, with
52:37
Speaker 1: a feeling of submission strong within her, crossed her arms
52:40
Speaker 1: upon her breast as a little child about to say
52:42
Speaker 1: her prayers. The bright light of the lamp fell full
52:45
Speaker 1: upon her, and Clark watched changes fleeting over her face
52:49
Speaker 1: as the changes of the hills when the summer clouds
52:51
Speaker 1: flowed across the sun. And then she lay all white
52:55
Speaker 1: and still, and the doctor turned up one of her eyelids.
53:00
Speaker 1: She was quite unconscious. Raymond pressed hard in one of
53:03
Speaker 1: the levers in the chair instantly sank back. Clark saw
53:06
Speaker 1: him cutting away a circle like a tauns sheer from
53:08
Speaker 1: her hair, and the lamp was moved nearer. Raymond took
53:12
Speaker 1: a small glittering instrument from a little case, and Clark
53:16
Speaker 1: turned away shudderingly. When he looked again, the doctor was
53:19
Speaker 1: binding up the wound he had made. Clark is so
53:22
Speaker 1: timid she will awaken. Five minutes, Raymond was still perfectly cool.
53:27
Speaker 1: There is nothing more to be done. We can only wait.
53:31
Speaker 1: The minutes passed slowly. They could hear a slow, heavy ticking.
53:37
Speaker 1: There's an old clock in the passage. Clark felt sick
53:40
Speaker 1: and faint. His knees shook beneath him. He could hardly stand.
53:48
Speaker 1: And suddenly, as they watched, they heard a long, drawn sigh,
53:53
Speaker 1: And suddenly did the color that had vanished returned to
53:56
Speaker 1: the girl's cheeks, and suddenly her eyes opened. Clark quailed
54:01
Speaker 1: before them. They shone with an awful light, looking far away,
54:05
Speaker 1: and a great wonder fell upon her face, and her
54:08
Speaker 1: hands stretched out as if to touch what was invisible.
54:11
Speaker 1: But in an instant the wonder faded and gave place
54:14
Speaker 1: to the most awful terror. The muscles of her face
54:17
Speaker 1: were hideously convulsed. She shook from head to foot. The
54:21
Speaker 1: soul seemed struggling and shuddering within the house of flesh.
54:25
Speaker 1: It was a horrible sight, and Clark rushed forward, and
54:28
Speaker 1: she fell, shrieking to the floor. Three days later, Raymond
54:45
Speaker 1: took Clark to Mary's bedside, she was lying wide awake,
54:49
Speaker 1: rolling her head from side to side and grinning vacantly. Yes,
54:54
Speaker 1: the doctor said, still quite cool. It is a great pity.
54:58
Speaker 1: She is a hopeless it it however, it could not
55:03
Speaker 1: be helped, and after all she has seen the Great
55:07
Speaker 1: God Pan very nice. Wow wow we wow wow. Definitely
55:22
Speaker 1: not a doctor feel good. No, a doctor I feel bad,
55:28
Speaker 1: I guess is the best way to put in. I think,
55:30
Speaker 1: so doctor make bad. That was really great, Chuck. This
55:33
Speaker 1: is truly the most spooky spook caacular spook time. Yes,
55:37
Speaker 1: and we appreciate everyone who listens to these every Halloween.
55:42
Speaker 1: It's one of our favorites to do because we get
55:44
Speaker 1: to just have a little bit of fun and beat goofy.
55:47
Speaker 1: What do you mean? Like? That was a straight read?
55:54
Speaker 1: But everyone, you know, Halloween looks like it's probably on
55:57
Speaker 1: for the most part this year, So be careful out
56:01
Speaker 1: there still and stay safe and enjoy yourselves. Yes, follow
56:05
Speaker 1: c d C guidelines for trick or treating or FELCI
56:11
Speaker 1: will get you and you will sleep happy Halloween. Everybody.
56:25
Speaker 1: Stuff You Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio.
56:28
Speaker 1: For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart
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56:33
Speaker 1: favorite shows.