Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hey, and welcome to the Spooktacular spook Cast. I'm Josh,
Speaker 2: and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and we are
Speaker 2: all wrapped in bandages because we're mummies, scary mummies, mummies
Speaker 2: that have been dead for thousands of years but now
Speaker 2: want to pull your brains out with the hooks we
Speaker 2: were buried with.
Speaker 1: That's good.
Speaker 2: Thanks. I've been writing it and workshopping it for months.
Speaker 1: I think it paid off, my friend. So, if you
Speaker 1: are new to the show, or new enough that you
Speaker 1: don't know what we do on Halloween, what we do
Speaker 1: is we each pick a spooky story that's in the
Speaker 1: public domain so we don't get sued, and we read
Speaker 1: it together, sometimes with fun accents, sometimes without. This is
Speaker 1: an ad free episode, and we have it. We've mentioned
Speaker 1: this before, but we had it written into our work
Speaker 1: contract that Halloween and Christmas are I guess barricaded off
Speaker 1: from ads, so you can enjoy the spectacular without having
Speaker 1: ads right in the middle of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it was a good move. Good move.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Josh, we're gonna read yours first. Do you
Speaker 1: want to set this one up.
Speaker 2: Yes, this is a story by Aldrin in Blackwood. He's
Speaker 2: a recurring friend of the Spectacular episodes because he's squarely
Speaker 2: in the public domain. But he was also a good
Speaker 2: writer of ghost stories. For sure, this one it's not
Speaker 2: his best work. But we and you in particular, but
Speaker 2: I think we both did looked for a story written
Speaker 2: by a woman. And it's harder to do than you
Speaker 2: would think because the stuff that it's in the public domain.
Speaker 2: I think we're up to nineteen twenty eight or twenty nine.
Speaker 2: There weren't a lot of women published at the time,
Speaker 2: at least it was very disproportionate compared to men. So
Speaker 2: what we did this time was we found a story
Speaker 2: written by a man but told from the point of
Speaker 2: view of a woman. That's as good as we could
Speaker 2: get this year, everybody.
Speaker 1: That's right. The other thing, too, is, especially back in
Speaker 1: those days, women didn't write a bunch of horror, short horror,
Speaker 1: and I did find some good ones in the Weird
Speaker 1: Tales magazines, but those that don't think you're in the
Speaker 1: public domain yet some of it that's where you can. Oh,
Speaker 1: some are these from like the nineteen forties.
Speaker 2: Okay, I found some from like like nineteen twenty eight,
Speaker 2: twenty nine, and they're pretty good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's also hard to find like a clean copy
Speaker 1: of those like the one I found. I had to
Speaker 1: blow up a PDF of the magazine itself that it
Speaker 1: was kind of cool wow, but ended up ended up
Speaker 1: being too long. But maybe I don't know, maybe we
Speaker 1: can knock that one out one year.
Speaker 2: That's funny. We both found a new source of rich
Speaker 2: source of horror stories to use in the future at
Speaker 2: the same time.
Speaker 1: Well, mine was weird tales. What was yours?
Speaker 2: Amazing stories, astounting story stuffing with that? I don't remember,
Speaker 2: but the first one I sent you that was from
Speaker 2: one of those pulp magazines.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, cool. Well, maybe you know, if we live
Speaker 1: long enough, we'll be able to read some of those.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I was thinking, if we keep this up for
Speaker 2: another like fifty seventy years, we're really going to get
Speaker 2: into some good stuff and I.
Speaker 1: Won't have to do a creepy accent.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna start okay.
Speaker 1: All right, so I'm playing the woman a Monty Python style,
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 2: Right, m I'm going to be the man.
Speaker 1: Okay, And by the way, this story for a quote
Speaker 1: unquote horror story gets a little sexy.
Speaker 2: It does, for sure. You know, I just realized something.
Speaker 2: The entire story is told by the woman from her
Speaker 2: point of view, so you're going to be doing a
Speaker 2: lot of reading unless we split up the stuff where
Speaker 2: she's relating the story.
Speaker 1: Well, no, no, no, I think that's what you should do. Okay,
Speaker 1: and then I'll just read her part and once once
Speaker 1: the man comes in, you know, he gets his do
Speaker 1: I think?
Speaker 2: Okay, but we can also switch it can be the lady. No, no,
Speaker 2: it's okay. I was just saying, it occurred to me
Speaker 2: that we should hash this out right here live on
Speaker 2: the on the episode.
Speaker 1: That's what we usually do. Okay, you ready, all right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it. What's it called?
Speaker 2: This is the Woman's Ghost Story by Aldronan Blackwood.
Speaker 1: Geez, sorry, one more quick question. Are they British?
Speaker 2: And they can be? It doesn't matter, Okay, Okay, I'll
Speaker 2: probably do British.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm so good at it.
Speaker 2: I think Algren in Blackwood was I think one hundred
Speaker 2: percent British, So.
Speaker 1: So we'll go britt on this one at least I will.
Speaker 2: Oh and then one more thing, big hat tip and
Speaker 2: a big thank you to a guest producer, Ben, who's
Speaker 2: handling the sound effects this episode. So thanks a lot, Ben.
Speaker 1: That's right. Cherry decided she didn't like fun in her
Speaker 1: life more.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here we go with the Woman's Ghost Story
Speaker 2: by Aldrin in Blackwood. Uh yeah, sorry, good?
Speaker 1: Take two? All right, back to one, everybody, So I
Speaker 1: start then you're gonna read the other stuff? Right?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Sorry, okay, all right? Ready here we go.
Speaker 2: Yes, she said from her seat in the dark corner.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you an experience if you care to listen.
Speaker 1: And what's more, I'll tell it briefly without trimmings. I mean,
Speaker 1: without unessentials. That's the thing storytellers never do, you know,
Speaker 1: she laughed, They dragging all the unessentials and leave your
Speaker 1: listeners to disentangle. But I'll give you just the essentials
Speaker 1: and you can make of it what you please. But
Speaker 1: on one condition that at the end you ask no
Speaker 1: questions because I can't explain and have no wish to.
Speaker 2: We agreed we were all serious. After listening to a
Speaker 2: dozen Prolix stories from people who merely wished to talk
Speaker 2: but had nothing to tell. We wanted essentials. In those days,
Speaker 2: she began feeling from the quality of our silence that
Speaker 2: we were with her.
Speaker 1: In those days. I was interested in psychic things and
Speaker 1: had arranged to sit up alone in a haunted house
Speaker 1: in the middle of London. She's not really British, is she?
Speaker 1: Middle English?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 1: All right? It was a cheap and dingy lodging house
Speaker 1: in a mean street, unfurnished. I had already made a
Speaker 1: preliminary examination in daylight that afternoon, and the keys from
Speaker 1: the caretaker who lived next door were in my pocket.
Speaker 1: That doesn't seem essential to me. Honestly, the story was
Speaker 1: a good one. Satisfied me at any rate that it
Speaker 1: was worth investigating. And I won't weary you with details
Speaker 1: as to the woman's murder and all the tiresome elaboration
Speaker 1: as to why the place was alive enough that it was,
Speaker 1: I was a good deal bored therefore, to see a
Speaker 1: man whom I took to be the talkative caretaker waiting
Speaker 1: for me on the steps when I went in at
Speaker 1: eleven pm. Where I had sufficiently explained that I wished
Speaker 1: to be there alone.
Speaker 2: For the night, it was distributed to the room, he mumbled,
Speaker 2: And of course I couldn't exactly refuse, having tipped him
Speaker 2: for the temporary loan of a chair and table. Come
Speaker 2: in then, and let's be quick, I said.
Speaker 1: We went in, he shuffling after me through the unlighted
Speaker 1: hall up to the first floor where the murder had
Speaker 1: taken place, and I prepared myself to hear his inevitable
Speaker 1: account before turning him out with the half crown his
Speaker 1: persistence had earned. After lighting the gas, I sat down
Speaker 1: in the armchair he had provided, a faded, brown plush armchair,
Speaker 1: don't be dumb, and turned for the first time to
Speaker 1: face him and get through with the performance as quickly
Speaker 1: as possible. And it was in that instant I got
Speaker 1: my first shock. The man was not the caretaker. It
Speaker 1: was not the old fool carry I had interviewed earlier
Speaker 1: in the day and made my plans with my heart
Speaker 1: gave a horrid jump. Now, who are you? Pray, I said,
Speaker 1: you're not Cary, the man I arranged with this afternoon.
Speaker 1: Who are you? I felt uncomfortable, as you might imagine.
Speaker 1: I was a psychical researcher and a young woman of
Speaker 1: new tendencies, and proud of my liberty. But I did
Speaker 1: not care to find myself in an empty house with
Speaker 1: a stranger. Something of my confidence left me. Confidence with women,
Speaker 1: you know, is all humbug after a certain point written
Speaker 1: by a man. Or perhaps you don't know, for most
Speaker 1: of you are men. But anyhow, my pluck ebbed in
Speaker 1: a quick rush, and I felt afraid. Who are you?
Speaker 2: I repeated, quickly and nervously. The fellow was well dressed,
Speaker 2: youngish and good looking, but with a face of great sadness.
Speaker 2: I myself was barely thirty. I'm giving you essentials, or
Speaker 2: I would not mention it. Out of quite ordinary things
Speaker 2: comes to the story. I think that's why it has value.
Speaker 1: Boy, she's really talking a lot about hell.
Speaker 2: How great her story? This story?
Speaker 1: Yeah, because she fills it with mundane details. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go.
Speaker 2: The keys were in her pocket. Everybody, that's right? And
Speaker 2: now you no, he said, I am the man who
Speaker 2: was frightened to death.
Speaker 1: His voice and his words ran through me like a knife,
Speaker 1: and I felt ready to drop. In my pocket was
Speaker 1: the book I had bought to make notes in. I
Speaker 1: felt the pencil sticking in the socket. I felt too,
Speaker 1: the extra warm things I had put on to sit
Speaker 1: up in, as no bed or sofa was available. A
Speaker 1: hundred things dashed through my mind, foolishly and without sequence
Speaker 1: or meaning, as the way is when one is really frightened. Unessentials.
Speaker 1: Unessentials leaped up and puzzled me. And I thought of
Speaker 1: what the papers might say if it came out, and
Speaker 1: what my smart brother in law would think, and whether
Speaker 1: it be told I had cigarettes in my pocket and
Speaker 1: was a freethinker.
Speaker 2: Ooh, the man was frightened to death, I repeated, Aghast,
Speaker 2: that's me, he said, stupidly.
Speaker 1: Well, your name is Gomer. I stared at him, just
Speaker 1: as you would have done any one of you men
Speaker 1: now listening to me, and felt my life ebbing and
Speaker 1: flowing like a sort of hot fluid. You needn't laugh.
Speaker 1: That's how I felt. Small things, you know, touched the
Speaker 1: mind with great earnestness. When terror is there, real terror.
Speaker 1: But I might have been at a middle class tea party,
Speaker 1: for all the ideas I had. They were so ordinary.
Speaker 1: But I thought you were the caretaker I tipped this
Speaker 1: afternoon to let me sleep here. I gasped, Did Carrie
Speaker 1: send you to meet me?
Speaker 2: No, he replied, in a voice that touched my boots. Somehow,
Speaker 2: I am the man who was frightened to death. And
Speaker 2: what is more, I am frightened now, so am I?
Speaker 2: I managed to utter, speaking instinctively.
Speaker 1: I'm simply terrified, yes.
Speaker 2: He replied, in that same odd voice that seemed to
Speaker 2: sound within me. But you are still in the flesh,
Speaker 2: and I am not.
Speaker 1: I felt the need for vigorous self assertion. I stood
Speaker 1: up in that empty, unfurnished room, digging the nails into
Speaker 1: my palms and clenching my teeth. I was determined to
Speaker 1: assert my individuality and my courage as a new woman
Speaker 1: and a free soul. You mean to say you are
Speaker 1: not in the flesh, I gasped, What in the world
Speaker 1: are you talking about? The Silence of the night swallowed
Speaker 1: up my voice. For the first time, I realized that
Speaker 1: darkness was over the city, that dust lay upon the stairs,
Speaker 1: that the floor above was untenanted, and the floor blow empty.
Speaker 1: I was alone in an unoccupied and haunted house, unprotected
Speaker 1: and a woman. I chilled. I heard the wind round
Speaker 1: the house and knew the stars were hidden. My thoughts
Speaker 1: rushed to policemen and omnibuses and everything that was useful
Speaker 1: and comforting. I suddenly realized what a fool I was
Speaker 1: to come to such a house alone. I was icily afraid.
Speaker 1: I thought the end of my life had come. I
Speaker 1: was an utter ooh to go in for physical I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: psychical research. When I had not the necessary nerve, Good God,
Speaker 1: I gasped, If you're not carry the man, I arranged
Speaker 1: with who are you?
Speaker 2: She's kind of dense, I know, man.
Speaker 1: I was really stiff with terror. The man moved slowly
Speaker 1: towards me across the empty room. I held up my
Speaker 1: arm to stop him, getting up out of my chair
Speaker 1: at the same moment, and he came to halt just
Speaker 1: opposite to me, a smile on his worn, sad face.
Speaker 2: I told you who I am, he repeated quietly, with
Speaker 2: a sigh, looking at me with the saddest eyes I've
Speaker 2: ever seen. And I am frightened still.
Speaker 1: By this time, I was convinced that I was entertaining
Speaker 1: either a rogue or a madman, and I cursed my
Speaker 1: stupidity and bringing the man in without having seen his face.
Speaker 1: My mind was quickly made up, and I knew what
Speaker 1: to do. Ghosts and psychic phenomena flew to the winds.
Speaker 1: If I angered the creature, my life might pay the price.
Speaker 1: I must humor him till I got to the door
Speaker 1: and then race for the street. I stood bolt upright
Speaker 1: and faced him. We were about to be height, and
Speaker 1: I was a strong athletic woman who played hockey in
Speaker 1: winter and climbed outs in the summer. My hand hitched
Speaker 1: for a stick, but I had none. Now, of course,
Speaker 1: I remember.
Speaker 2: I said, with a sort of stiff smile that was
Speaker 2: very hard to force.
Speaker 1: Now I remember your case and the wonderful way you behaved.
Speaker 1: The man stared at me, stupidly, turning his head to
Speaker 1: watch me. I backed more and more quickly to the door,
Speaker 1: but when his face broke into a smile, I could
Speaker 1: control myself no longer. I reached the door in a
Speaker 1: run and shot out on the landing. Like a fool.
Speaker 1: I turned the wrong way and stumble over the stairs
Speaker 1: leading to the next story, but it was too late
Speaker 1: to change. The man was after me, I was sure,
Speaker 1: though No sounds of footsteps came, and I dashed up
Speaker 1: the next flight, tearing my skirt and banging my ribs
Speaker 1: in the darkness, and brushed headlong into the first room
Speaker 1: I came to. Luckily, the door stood ajar, and still
Speaker 1: more fortunate, there was a key in the lock. In
Speaker 1: a second, I had slammed the door, flung my whole
Speaker 1: weight against it, and turned the key. I was safe,
Speaker 1: but my heart was beating like a drum. A second
Speaker 1: later it seemed to stop altogether, for I saw that
Speaker 1: there was someone else in the room besides myself. A
Speaker 1: man's figure stood between me and the windows, where the
Speaker 1: street lamps gaped just enough light to outline his shape
Speaker 1: against the glass. I'm a plucky woman, you know, for
Speaker 1: even then I didn't give up hope. But I may
Speaker 1: tell you that I have never felt so dly frightened
Speaker 1: in all my born days. I had locked myself in
Speaker 1: with him. The man leaned against the window, watching me
Speaker 1: where I lay in a cleft heap upon the floor.
Speaker 1: So there were two men in the house with me,
Speaker 1: I reflected, perhaps other rooms were occupied too, What could
Speaker 1: it all mean? But as I stared, something changed in
Speaker 1: the room or in me, hard to say which, and
Speaker 1: I re my mistake, so that my fear, which had
Speaker 1: so far been physical, at once altered its character and
Speaker 1: became a psychical I became afraid in my soul instead
Speaker 1: of in my heart. And I knew immediately who this
Speaker 1: man was, How in the world did you get up here?
Speaker 2: I stammered to him across the empty room, amazement, momentarily
Speaker 2: stemming my fear. Now let me tell you, he began,
Speaker 2: in that odd, faraway voice of his that went down
Speaker 2: my spine like a knife. I'm in different space for
Speaker 2: one thing, and you'd find me in any room you
Speaker 2: went into, For according to your way of measuring, I'm
Speaker 2: all over the house. Space is a bodily condition, but
Speaker 2: I am out of the body and am not affected
Speaker 2: by space. It's my condition that keeps me here. I
Speaker 2: want something to change my condition for me, for then
Speaker 2: I could get away. What I want is sympathy, or
Speaker 2: really more than sympathy, I want affection. I want love.
Speaker 1: That accent are you from. While he was speaking, I
Speaker 1: gathered myself slowly upon my feet. I wanted to scream
Speaker 1: and cry and laugh all at once, but I only
Speaker 1: succeeded in sighing, for my emotion was exhausted and a
Speaker 1: numbness was coming over me. I felt for the matches
Speaker 1: in my pocket and made a movement toward the gas jet.
Speaker 2: So this lady's already bored of talking to.
Speaker 1: A ghost, right, Yeah? That wand's love.
Speaker 2: You're right, I should be much happier if you didn't
Speaker 2: light the gas, he said at once, For the vibrations
Speaker 2: of your light hurt me a good deal. You need
Speaker 2: not be afraid that I shall injure you. I can't
Speaker 2: touch your body to begin with, for there's a great
Speaker 2: gulf fixed, you know, and really this half light suits
Speaker 2: me best. Now let me continue what I was trying
Speaker 2: to say before. Hm, hmmm. Oh, you know so many
Speaker 2: people have come to this house to see me, and
Speaker 2: most of them have seen me and one and all
Speaker 2: have been terrified. If only, oh, if only someone would
Speaker 2: not be terrified but kind and loving to me, then
Speaker 2: you see, I might be able to change my condition
Speaker 2: and get away.
Speaker 1: Hmm. His voice was so sad that I felt tear
Speaker 1: start somewhere at the back of my eyes, but fear
Speaker 1: kept all else in check, and I stood shaking as
Speaker 1: cold as I listened to him. Well, who are you? Then?
Speaker 1: Of course Carrie didn't send you, I know now.
Speaker 2: I managed to utter. My thoughts scattered dreadfully, and I
Speaker 2: could think of nothing to say. I was afraid of
Speaker 2: a stroke, an elf stroke. I know nothing about Cherry
Speaker 2: or who he is, continued the man quietly. Oh sorry,
Speaker 2: I know nothing about Carrie or who he is, continued
Speaker 2: the man quietly. And the name my body had I
Speaker 2: have forgotten, thank God. But I am the man who
Speaker 2: was frightened to death in this house ten years ago,
Speaker 2: and I've been frightened ever since, and am frightened still
Speaker 2: for the succession of cruel and curious people who come
Speaker 2: to this house to see the ghost and thus keep alive.
Speaker 2: It's at me. Fear of terror only helps to render
Speaker 2: my condition worse. If only someone would be kind to me, laugh,
Speaker 2: speak gently and rationally with me, cry if they like pity, comfort,
Speaker 2: soothe me anything, But come in here in curiosity and
Speaker 2: tremble as you are now doing in the corner. Now, madam,
Speaker 2: won't you take pity on me? His voice rose to
Speaker 2: a dreadful cry. Won't you step into the middle of
Speaker 2: the room and try to love me a little?
Speaker 1: A horrible little laughter came gurgling up in my throat
Speaker 1: as I heard him, But the sense of pity was
Speaker 1: stronger than the laughter, and I found myself actually leaving
Speaker 1: the support of the wall and approaching the center of
Speaker 1: the floor.
Speaker 2: By God, he cried at one, straightening up against the window.
Speaker 2: You have done a kind act. That's the first attempt
Speaker 2: at sympathy that has been shown to me since I died,
Speaker 2: and I feel better already in life. You know, I
Speaker 2: was a misintobe. Everything went wrong with me. I can
Speaker 2: understand this, and I came to hate my fellow men
Speaker 2: so much that I couldn't bear to see them even
Speaker 2: of course, like begets like, and this hate was returned finally.
Speaker 2: I suffered from horrible delusions, and my room became haunted
Speaker 2: with demons that laughed and grimaced, and laughed and grimaced
Speaker 2: and laughed and grimaced. And one night I ran into
Speaker 2: a whole cluster of them near the bed, and the
Speaker 2: fright stopped my heart and killed me. It's hate and
Speaker 2: remorse as much as terror that clogs me so quickly
Speaker 2: and treats me here. If only someone could feel pity
Speaker 2: and sympathy and perhaps a little love for me, I
Speaker 2: could get away and be happy. When you came this
Speaker 2: afternoon to see over the house, I watched you, and
Speaker 2: a little hope came to me. For the first time.
Speaker 2: I saw you had courage, originality, resource love. If only
Speaker 2: I could touch your heart without frightening you, I knew
Speaker 2: I could perhaps tap that love you have stored up
Speaker 2: in your being there and thus borrow the wings from
Speaker 2: my escape.
Speaker 1: It sounds like he's asking for consent.
Speaker 2: It does sound a lot like it is.
Speaker 1: Very forward thinking at the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's Algren in Blackwood for you.
Speaker 1: That's right. Uh, all right, where worry? He was about
Speaker 1: to tap something, right, Okay, now I must confess. My
Speaker 1: heart began to ache a little as fear left me
Speaker 1: and the man's words sank their sad meaning into me. Still,
Speaker 1: the whole affair was so incredible, and so touched with
Speaker 1: unholy quality, and the story of a woman's murder I
Speaker 1: had come to investigate, and so obviously nothing to do
Speaker 1: with this thing, that I felt myself in a kind
Speaker 1: of wild dream that seemed likely to stop at any moment,
Speaker 1: to lead me somewhere in bed after a nightmare. Moreover,
Speaker 1: his words possessed me to such an extent that I
Speaker 1: found it impossible to reflect upon anything else at all,
Speaker 1: or to consider adequately any ways or means of action
Speaker 1: or escape. I moved a little nearer to him in
Speaker 1: the gloom, horribly frightened, of course. But but the beginnings
Speaker 1: of this strange determination in my heart.
Speaker 2: You women, he continued his voice, plainly thrilling at my approach,
Speaker 2: you wonderful women to whom life often brings no opportunity
Speaker 2: of spending your great love. Oh, if only you could
Speaker 2: know how many of us simply yearned for it. It
Speaker 2: would save our souls if but you knew, if you
Speaker 2: might find the chance that you now have. But if
Speaker 2: you only spent your love freely, without definite object, just
Speaker 2: letting it flow openly all over the place for all
Speaker 2: who need, you would reach hundreds and thousands of souls
Speaker 2: like me and release us. Oh, madam, I ask you
Speaker 2: again to feel with me, to be kind and gentle.
Speaker 2: And if you can't love me a.
Speaker 1: Little, am I being love bombed?
Speaker 2: It seems like it, for sure.
Speaker 1: He's a little desperate, even for a ghost. My heart
Speaker 1: did leap within me, and this time the tears did come,
Speaker 1: for I could not restrain them. I love too for
Speaker 1: the way he called me madam sounded so odd here
Speaker 1: in this empty room at midnight to the London street.
Speaker 1: But my laughter stopped dead and merged in a flood
Speaker 1: of weeping. When I saw how my change of feeling
Speaker 1: evicted him. He had left his place by the window,
Speaker 1: and was kneeling on the floor at my feet, his
Speaker 1: hand stretched out toward me, and the first signs of
Speaker 1: a kind of glory about his head.
Speaker 2: He was doing downward.
Speaker 1: Doc I think, so.
Speaker 2: Put your arms around me. Kiss me, for the love
Speaker 2: of God, he cried, kiss me, Oh, kiss me, and
Speaker 2: I she'll be freed. You have done so much already.
Speaker 1: Now do this.
Speaker 2: I know it's getting hot and steamy, it really is.
Speaker 1: I stuck there, hesitating, shaking my determination on the verge
Speaker 1: of action, yet not quite april to compass it. But
Speaker 1: the terror had almost gone.
Speaker 2: Forget that I'm a man and you're a woman, he continued,
Speaker 2: in the most beseeching voice I ever heard. Forget that
Speaker 2: I'm a ghost, and come out boldly and press me
Speaker 2: to you with a great hiss, and let your love
Speaker 2: flow into me. Forget yourself for just one minute, and
Speaker 2: do a brave thing. Oh love me, love me, love me,
Speaker 2: and I shall be free.
Speaker 1: Wow. This Halloween episode has taken a toin n The
Speaker 1: words or the deep force they somehow released in the
Speaker 1: center of my being stood me profoundly, and an emotion
Speaker 1: infinitely greater than fear surged up over me and carried
Speaker 1: me with it across the edge of action. Without hesitation.
Speaker 1: I took two steps towards him where he knelt, and
Speaker 1: held out my arms. Pity and lover in my heart
Speaker 1: at that moment, genuine pity, I swear, and genuine love.
Speaker 1: I forgot myself and my little trimly and a great
Speaker 1: desire to help another soul. I love you, poor, aching,
Speaker 1: unhappy thing.
Speaker 2: I love you, I cried through hot tears.
Speaker 1: And I am not the least bit afraid in the world.
Speaker 1: The man uttered a curious sound like laughter, yet not laughter.
Speaker 2: Oh I was waiting for it.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, okay, yet not laughter, and turned his face
Speaker 1: up to me. The light from the street below fell
Speaker 1: on it, but there was another light too, shining all
Speaker 1: round it that seemed to come from the eyes and skin.
Speaker 1: He rose to his feet and met me, and in
Speaker 1: that second I folded him to my breast and kissed
Speaker 1: him full on the lips, again and again.
Speaker 2: All our pipes had gone out, and not even a
Speaker 2: skirt rustled in that dark studio, as the storyteller paused
Speaker 2: a moment to steady her voice and put a hand
Speaker 2: softly up to her eyes before going on again.
Speaker 1: Now what can I say? And how can I describe
Speaker 1: to you, all, all you skeptical men sitting there with
Speaker 1: pipes in your mouths, the amazing sensation I experienced of
Speaker 1: holding an intangible, impalpable thing so closely to my heart
Speaker 1: that it touched my body with equal pressure all the
Speaker 1: way down and then melted away somewhere into my very being.
Speaker 1: At this moment, the pipes fell from their mouths, for
Speaker 1: it was like seizing a rush of cool wind and
Speaker 1: feeling a touch of burning fire. The moment it had
Speaker 1: struck its sweet blow and passed on, a series of
Speaker 1: shocks ran all over and all through me. A momentary
Speaker 1: ecstasy of flaming sweetness and wonder thrilled down into me.
Speaker 1: My heart gave another great leap, and I was alone.
Speaker 2: I wonder if this story is just one big euphemism.
Speaker 1: Maybe I just realized in doing Harvey Corman from Blazing.
Speaker 2: Saddles Nice, that's technically the second Harvey appearance, because she
Speaker 2: mentioned mean streets earlier and Harvey Kaitel was in there.
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, is this me? Okay? Here we go.
Speaker 1: The room was empty. I turned on the gas and
Speaker 1: struck a match to prove it all fear had left me,
Speaker 1: and something was singing round me in the air and
Speaker 1: in my heart, like a joy of a spring morning
Speaker 1: in youth. Not all the devils or shadows or hauntings
Speaker 1: in the world could have caused me a single trimmer.
Speaker 1: I unlocked the door and went all over the dark house,
Speaker 1: even into kitchen and cellar, and up among the ghostly addicts.
Speaker 1: But the house was empty. Something had left it. I
Speaker 1: lingered a short hour, analyzing, thinking, wandering. You can guess
Speaker 1: what and how, perhaps, but I won't detail, or I
Speaker 1: promised only essentials remember, and then went out to sleep
Speaker 1: the remainder of the night in my own flat, locking
Speaker 1: the door behind me upon a house no longer haunted.
Speaker 1: But my uncle, Sir Henry, the owner of the house,
Speaker 1: required an account of my adventure. Of course, I was
Speaker 1: in duty bound to give him some kind of a
Speaker 1: true story. Before I could begin, however, he held up
Speaker 1: his hand to stop me.
Speaker 2: Eh. First, he said, I wish to tell you a
Speaker 2: little deception I ventured to practice on you. So many
Speaker 2: people have been to that house and seen the ghost
Speaker 2: that I came to think the story acted on their imaginations,
Speaker 2: and I wished to make a better test. So I
Speaker 2: invented for their benefit another story, with the idea that
Speaker 2: if you did see anything, I could be sure it
Speaker 2: was not dear merely to an excited imagination. He's a horse,
Speaker 2: by the way, I'm doing a horse for her uncle.
Speaker 1: I thought that was really good. He went for the accent.
Speaker 1: Then what you told me about a woman having been
Speaker 1: murdered and all that was not a true story of
Speaker 1: the hunting.
Speaker 2: No where was not the true story is none of
Speaker 2: a consin of mine went mad in that house and
Speaker 2: killed himself in a fit of morbid terror, following upon
Speaker 2: years of miserable hypochondriasis. It is his figure that investigators see.
Speaker 1: That explains.
Speaker 2: Then, I guessed, no, explain what I thought of that poor.
Speaker 1: Struggling soul, longing all these years for escape and determined
Speaker 1: to keep my story for the present to myself explains
Speaker 1: I mean, why I did not see the ghost of
Speaker 1: the murdered woman?
Speaker 2: I concluded, we precisely, said, sir Henry. And why if
Speaker 2: you had seen anything, it would have had value it
Speaker 2: as much as it could not have been caused by
Speaker 2: the imagination working upon a story you already knew, and
Speaker 2: and scene.
Speaker 1: Wow, that one got pretty sexy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I figure that most of our Halloween episodes are
Speaker 2: not quite steamy enough, so I'm wanting to steam this
Speaker 2: one up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it all makes sense now with Algren on
Speaker 1: Blackwood writing the story from one's point a few facebook yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: Every couple of paracrassies stopped and made that sound right.
Speaker 2: You did great, by the way. I mean, you really
Speaker 2: carried that story shucked. I mean, I appreciate it had
Speaker 2: the accent, the hallway story. It was just a delight
Speaker 2: to listen to you.
Speaker 1: I feel like she's a part of me now, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: she is forever and thus I a part of you.
Speaker 2: I don't know about that.
Speaker 1: I mean I held you to my bosom and we kids. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's she made out a lot my Toledo and ghost.
Speaker 2: I like the horse guy too, Yeah he was great.
Speaker 2: Can you just see like his huge mutton chops?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, totally.
Speaker 2: So now we're onto your story, right, it's time for
Speaker 2: your story, the story you chose.
Speaker 1: That's right. This is from Ambrose Beers. It's called the
Speaker 1: middle toe of the right foot, not on, but of
Speaker 1: the right foot. And here we go, just to give
Speaker 1: you a little preamble. This is a story about some
Speaker 1: men who go to a haunted house and some stuff happens.
Speaker 2: I should probably do some of this reading. Huh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you should do a lot of this reading. And
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to tell who's who at first, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because it goes for a chapter and then it jumps
Speaker 1: back and tells the pre story in chapter two, and
Speaker 1: then back to the present.
Speaker 2: So we'll figure it out. Yeah, all right, take it away, Okay.
Speaker 2: The Middle Toe of the Right Foot by Ambrose Bierce,
Speaker 2: The Wickedest Man Alive. It is well known that the
Speaker 2: old Manton House is haunted in all the rural district
Speaker 2: near about, and even in the town of Marshall a
Speaker 2: mile away. Not one person of unbiased mind entertains a
Speaker 2: doubt of it. Incredulity is confined to those opinionated person
Speaker 2: who will be called cranks as soon as the useful
Speaker 2: word shall have penetrated the intellectual dements of the Marshal advance.
Speaker 2: I think this is worth explaining. So he was basically
Speaker 2: taking a shot at the local paper saying that they're
Speaker 2: intellectually They weren't even smart enough to use the word
Speaker 2: cranked yet. Yeah, I had to read that like five times,
Speaker 2: so I thought it might be worth pointing out.
Speaker 1: No, totally, I didn't get it, So now I do.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you, thank you for thanking me.
Speaker 1: You're welcome.
Speaker 2: The evidence that the house is haunted is of two kinds,
Speaker 2: the testimony of disinterested witnesses who have had ocular proof
Speaker 2: ocular meaning eye witnesses, and that of the house itself.
Speaker 2: The former may be disregarded and ruled out on any
Speaker 2: of the various grounds of objection which may be urged
Speaker 2: against it by the ingenious, but facts within the observation
Speaker 2: of all our material and controlling I'm not going to
Speaker 2: explain that last bit, because even I still don't understand it. Okay.
Speaker 2: In the first place, the Manton House has been unoccupied
Speaker 2: by mortals for more than ten years, and with its
Speaker 2: outbul buildings, is slowly falling into decay, a circumstance which
Speaker 2: in itself the judicious will hardly venture to ignore. It
Speaker 2: stands a little way off the loneliest reach of the
Speaker 2: Marshall and Harriston Road, in an opening which was once
Speaker 2: a farm and is still disfigured with strips of rotting
Speaker 2: fence and half covered with brambles. Overrunning a stony and
Speaker 2: sterile soil, long unacquainted with the plow. The house itself
Speaker 2: is intolerably good condition, though badly weather stained, and in
Speaker 2: dire need of attention from the glacier. The smaller male
Speaker 2: population of the region having attested in the manner of
Speaker 2: its kind, its disapprovals of dwelling without dwellers. That means
Speaker 2: that the kids throw stones through the windows and have
Speaker 2: broken them all.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this place is not in great shape.
Speaker 2: No, and Ambrose Beerce composes such thick plumage it's hard
Speaker 2: to see the meat sometimes.
Speaker 1: That's right, he's not all about the essentials.
Speaker 2: No, he hasn't even mentioned the keys in his pocket yet,
Speaker 2: that's right. Or that he climbs the alps. It is.
Speaker 2: This is the house. It is two stories in height,
Speaker 2: nearly square, its fronts pierced by a single doorway, flanked
Speaker 2: on each side by a window boarded up to the
Speaker 2: very top. Corresponding windows above, not protected, serve to admit
Speaker 2: light and rain to the rooms of the upper floor.
Speaker 2: Grass and weeds grow pretty rankly all about, and a
Speaker 2: few shade trees somewhat the worse for wind and all
Speaker 2: leaning in one direction, seem to be making a concerted
Speaker 2: effort to run away. In short, as the Marshalltown humorists
Speaker 2: explained in the columns of the Advance, the proposition that
Speaker 2: the Manton House is badly haunted is the only logical
Speaker 2: conclusion from the premises. The fact that in this dwelling
Speaker 2: mister Manton thought it expedient one night, some ten years
Speaker 2: ago to rise and cut the throats of his wife
Speaker 2: and two small children weremoving at once to another part
Speaker 2: of the country, has no doubt done its share in
Speaker 2: directing public attention to the fitness of the place for
Speaker 2: super natural phenomena.
Speaker 1: All right, so there's our first little reveal here, is
Speaker 1: that the former Manton gentleman murdered his wife and child
Speaker 1: and left and fled.
Speaker 2: That's right, all right. He was a real puttz. He was, Oh,
Speaker 2: you want to keep going? Sure to this house. One
Speaker 2: summer evening came four men in a wagon. Three of
Speaker 2: them promptly alighted, and the one who had been driving
Speaker 2: hitched the team to the only remaining post of what
Speaker 2: had been a fence. The fourth remained seated in the wagon. Come,
Speaker 2: said one of his companions, approaching him, while the others
Speaker 2: moved away in the direction of the dwelling. This is
Speaker 2: the place, the man addressed. Do you want to be
Speaker 2: the man addressed?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: Sure that the man addressed. The man addressed did not move,
Speaker 2: By God, He said harshly, this is a.
Speaker 1: Trick, and it looks to me as if you were
Speaker 1: in it.
Speaker 2: Perhaps I am, the other said, looking him straight in
Speaker 2: the face and speaking in a which had something of
Speaker 2: contempt in it. You will remember, however, that the choice
Speaker 2: of place was with your own ascent left to the
Speaker 2: other side. Of course, if you are afraid.
Speaker 1: Of spooks, I'm afraid of nothing.
Speaker 2: The man interrupted with another oath, darn it, and sprang
Speaker 2: to the ground. The two then joined the others at
Speaker 2: the door, which one of them had already opened. With
Speaker 2: some difficulty caused by rust of lock and hinge, all
Speaker 2: entered inside. It was dark, but the man who had
Speaker 2: unlocked the door produced a candle and matches and made
Speaker 2: a light. He then unlocked a door on their right
Speaker 2: as they stood in the passage. This gave them entrance
Speaker 2: to a large, square room that the candle but dimly lighted.
Speaker 2: The floor had a thick carpeting of dust, which partly
Speaker 2: muffled their footfalls. Cobwebs were in the angles of the
Speaker 2: walls and depended from the ceiling like strips of rotting lace,
Speaker 2: making undulatory movements in the disturbed air. The room had
Speaker 2: two windows in adjoining sides, but from neither could anything
Speaker 2: be seen except the rough inner surface of boards a
Speaker 2: few inches from the glass. There was no fireplace, no furniture,
Speaker 2: There was nothing besides the cobwebs and the dust. The
Speaker 2: four men were the only objects there which were not
Speaker 2: a part of the structure.
Speaker 1: All right, So four men are now visiting this old
Speaker 1: haunted Manton house where a supposed murder has taken place,
Speaker 1: and one of them doesn't seem to like really know
Speaker 1: the other guys, and seems like he's saying, hey, you
Speaker 1: played a trick on me by bringing me here, And
Speaker 1: they were like, you agreed.
Speaker 2: To it, buddy, Yeah, shut your mouth, Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1: Shut that by hole. You want me to pick up?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you pick up all right.
Speaker 1: Strange enough, they looked in the yellow light of the candle.
Speaker 1: The one who had so reluctantly alighted was especially spectacular.
Speaker 1: He might have been called sensational. He was of middle age,
Speaker 1: heavily built, deep chested, and broad shouldered. Ah, I know
Speaker 1: I'm playing him. Looking at his figure, one would have
Speaker 1: said that he had a giant strength. Maybe not at
Speaker 1: his features that he would use it like a giant.
Speaker 1: He was clean shaven, his hair rather closely cropped in gray.
Speaker 1: His low forehead was seamed with wrinkles. Above the eyes
Speaker 1: and over the nose, these became vertical.
Speaker 2: Those are called elevens. You can get them taken care
Speaker 2: of with piller.
Speaker 1: Is that in between those little worry lines are called elevens?
Speaker 2: Yeah, in between your brows. Never heard of that, because
Speaker 2: there are a pair of vertical lines, So now I
Speaker 2: get it's like an eleven.
Speaker 1: The heavy black brows followed the same law of the
Speaker 1: eleven saved from meeting only by an upper turn at
Speaker 1: what would otherwise have been the point of contact. Deeply
Speaker 1: sunken beneath, these glowed in the obscure light a pair
Speaker 1: of eyes of uncertain color, but obviously enough, too small.
Speaker 1: There was something forbidding in their expression, which was not
Speaker 1: bettered by the cruel mouth and wide jaw. The nose
Speaker 1: was well enough as noses go, One does not expect
Speaker 1: much of noses. All that was sinister in the man's
Speaker 1: face seemed accentuated by an unnatural pallor. He appeared altogether bloodless.
Speaker 1: So this guy that they brought with them, the three
Speaker 1: guys brought, is like creepy looking and weird looking.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and seems pretty grumpy stand offish.
Speaker 1: Yes, I agree.
Speaker 2: You want me to pick up? Are you going and
Speaker 2: keep going?
Speaker 1: Uh? Well, let me do this part and then we'll
Speaker 1: get to the play parts. The appearance of the other
Speaker 1: men was sufficiently commonplace. They were such persons as one
Speaker 1: meets and forgets that he met. All were younger than
Speaker 1: the man described. Between whom and the eldest of the others,
Speaker 1: who stood apart, there was apparently no kindly feeling. They
Speaker 1: avoided looking at each other.
Speaker 2: So the other three are younger than the grumpy man
Speaker 2: and they don't really like him, or vice versa.
Speaker 1: Looks like right, and I think the grumpy man is
Speaker 1: gross smith right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, uh no, I don't remember what they call him.
Speaker 2: Gross smith is yeah, no, because the yeah, well we'll
Speaker 2: get there one day. Yeah. What we should tell everybody
Speaker 2: if you haven't noticed already. One of the reasons it's
Speaker 2: so difficult to keep up with who's who is Zambro
Speaker 2: Bierst didn't go to the trouble of naming most of
Speaker 2: them until part way through, and it's just confusing.
Speaker 1: I definitely know Grossmith is the big creepy guy that
Speaker 1: they brought there.
Speaker 2: Oh is that right? Okay, I think that's Rosser. No,
Speaker 2: that's Rosser, is it? Yeah? Because listen?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, you're right.
Speaker 2: Go ahead, gentlemen, said the man holding the candle and keys.
Speaker 2: I believe everything is right. Are you ready? Mister Rosser?
Speaker 2: The man standing apart from the group bowed and smiled,
Speaker 2: which is what you would do if your name was Rosser.
Speaker 1: You're right and not a part of the group.
Speaker 2: And you, mister Grossmith, the heavy man bowed and scowled.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, see this is so confusing. So you're right,
Speaker 2: Grossmith is the grumpy old I think. So why do
Speaker 2: I even argue with you? You know?
Speaker 1: Well, everyone, I promise we read these several times on
Speaker 1: our own. It's just a little confusing.
Speaker 2: This was not just put in front of us by Jerry.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: The heavy man bowed and scowled. That's mister Grossmith, the
Speaker 2: grumpy guy. You will be pleased to remove your outer clothing.
Speaker 2: So it's getting steamy in this one too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Their hats, coats, waistcoats, and neckwear were soon removed and
Speaker 2: thrown outside the door in the passage. The man with
Speaker 2: the candle now nodded, and the fourth man, who had
Speaker 2: urged Grossmith to leave the wagon, produced from the pocket
Speaker 2: of his overcoat, two long, murderous looking bowie knives, which
Speaker 2: he drew now from their leather scabbards. They are exactly alike,
Speaker 2: he said, presenting one to each of the two principles,
Speaker 2: for by this time the dullest observer would have understood
Speaker 2: the nature of this, meaning it was to be a
Speaker 2: duel to the death.
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, they see what's happening here.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize it until he said it was a duel,
Speaker 2: or really until they produced the knives, that that's what
Speaker 2: was going on.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a little confusing. Uh you want me
Speaker 1: to take it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, all right.
Speaker 1: Each combatant took a knife, examined it critically near the candle,
Speaker 1: and tested the strength of the blade and handle across
Speaker 1: his lifted knee. Their persons were then searched in turned
Speaker 1: each by the second of the other. The second is
Speaker 1: in the second of the duel is that right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like the present dueler. Yeah, your back up, your
Speaker 2: wingman for the duel, all right, go ahead, Oh, if
Speaker 2: it is agreeable to you, mister.
Speaker 1: Grossmith, said the man holding the light.
Speaker 2: You will place yourself in that corner.
Speaker 1: He indicated the angle of the room farthest from the door,
Speaker 1: whither Grossmith retired his second, parting from him with a
Speaker 1: grasp of the hand which had nothing of cordiality. Okay,
Speaker 1: so a second sounds like he was forced into this.
Speaker 2: Maybe it sounds like it.
Speaker 1: In the angle nearest the door, mister Rosser stationed himself,
Speaker 1: and after a whispered consultation, his second left joined him,
Speaker 1: joining the other near the door. At that moment, the
Speaker 1: candle was suddenly extinguished, leaving all in profound darkness. This
Speaker 1: may have been done by a draft from the open door.
Speaker 1: Whatever the cause, the effect was startlight, gentlemen, said a
Speaker 1: voice which sounded strangely unfamiliar in the altered condition, affecting
Speaker 1: the relations of the senses.
Speaker 2: Gentlemen, you will not move until you hear the closing
Speaker 2: of the outer door.
Speaker 1: A sound of trampling ensued, then the closing of the
Speaker 1: inner door, and finally the outer one closed with a
Speaker 1: concussion that shook the entire building. So these guys have
Speaker 1: been locked in a dark room with knives to fight
Speaker 1: to the death. That's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: A few minutes afterward, a belated farmer's boy met a
Speaker 1: light wagon which was being drawn furiously toward the town
Speaker 1: of Marshall. He declared that behind the two figures on
Speaker 1: the front seat stood a third with its hands upon
Speaker 1: the bowed shoulders of the others, who appeared to struggle
Speaker 1: vainly to freed themselves from its grasp. This figure, unlike
Speaker 1: the others, was clad in white and had undoubtedly boarded
Speaker 1: the wagon as it passed the haunted house. That the
Speaker 1: lad could boast a considerable former experience with the supernatural thereabouts.
Speaker 1: His word had the weight justly due to the testimony
Speaker 1: of an expert. So this guy I had seen this
Speaker 1: kind of thing before.
Speaker 2: Basically yeah, and also Ambrose Bierce was meant to be
Speaker 2: read silently right.
Speaker 1: The story and connection with the next day's events eventually
Speaker 1: appeared in The Advance, which is the newspaper with some
Speaker 1: slight literary embellishments. In a concluding imitation that the gentleman
Speaker 1: referred to would be allowed the use of the paper's
Speaker 1: columns for their verse of the night's adventure, but the
Speaker 1: privilege remained without a claimant.
Speaker 2: Okay, some weird stuff happened. Four men go in, Three
Speaker 2: men fly past a superstitious farm boy who mentions it
Speaker 2: to the paper, and the paper says, this is crazy.
Speaker 2: Anybody who wants to come forward and say this was
Speaker 2: us and tell us the story go ahead, And no
Speaker 2: one did.
Speaker 1: Right's right. And now chapter two we jump back in time.
Speaker 2: The events that led to this duel in the dark
Speaker 2: were simple enough. One evening, three young men of the
Speaker 2: town of Marshall were sitting in a quiet corner of
Speaker 2: the porch of the village hotel, smoking and discussing such
Speaker 2: matters as three educated young men of a southern village
Speaker 2: would naturally find interesting hoggs. Their names were King, Sancher
Speaker 2: and Rosser. At a little distance within easy hearing, but
Speaker 2: taking no part in the conversation, set a fourth. He
Speaker 2: was a stranger to the others. They merely knew that.
Speaker 2: On his arrival by the stage coach that afternoon he
Speaker 2: had written in the hotel register the name of Robert Grossmith.
Speaker 2: He had not been observed to speak to anyone except
Speaker 2: the hotel clerk. He seemed indeed singularly fond of his
Speaker 2: own company, or, as the personnel of the advance expressed it,
Speaker 2: grossly addicted to evil associations. But then it should be said,
Speaker 2: in justice to the stranger that the personnel was himself
Speaker 2: of too convivial disposition fairly to judge one differently gifted,
Speaker 2: and had, moreover, experienced a slight rebuff in an effort
Speaker 2: at an interview. You want to be king?
Speaker 1: Sure, I hate any kind of deformity in a woman,
Speaker 1: said King, whether natural or acquired. I have a theory
Speaker 1: that any physical defect has its correlative mental and moral defect.
Speaker 2: Okay, I am fur Then, said Rosser gravely, that a
Speaker 2: lady lacking the moral advantage of a nose would find
Speaker 2: the struggle to become missus King an ouduous enterprise. I'm doing.
Speaker 2: Leonardo DiCaprio and Django unchained.
Speaker 1: Okay, where's my beautiful sister that was so creepy? Uh
Speaker 1: so is this me? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think so.
Speaker 1: Of course you may put it that way, was the reply.
Speaker 1: But seriously, I once threw over a most charming girl
Speaker 1: on learning quite accidentally that she had suffered amputation of
Speaker 1: a toe. My conduct was brutal, if you like. But
Speaker 1: if I had married that girl, I should have been
Speaker 1: miserable for life and should have made her.
Speaker 2: So I just want to point out you morphed just
Speaker 2: briefly into Zach Galifanakis in the middle of that. Okay,
Speaker 2: who's Sancho? Am I Sancho?
Speaker 1: You know I like it. You could be Sanchure.
Speaker 2: Let's see, whereas said Sancho with light laugh, By marrying
Speaker 2: a gentleman of more liberal for you, she escaped with
Speaker 2: the parted throat.
Speaker 1: Ah, you know to whom I refer. Yes, she married Manton,
Speaker 1: but I don't know about his liberality. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: But he cut her throat because he discovered that she
Speaker 1: lacked that excellent thing in a woman, the middle toe
Speaker 1: of the right foot. Am I right?
Speaker 2: Guys, look at that, Chap, said Rosser in a low voice,
Speaker 2: his eyes fixed upon the stranger. That Chap was obviously
Speaker 2: listening intently to the conversation.
Speaker 1: Damn, his impudence, muttered, king, What ought we to do?
Speaker 2: That's an easy one. My gud's turned into forest gump,
Speaker 2: Rosser replied, rising sir. He continued addressing the stranger. I
Speaker 2: think it would be better if you would remove your
Speaker 2: chair to the other end of the verandah. The presence
Speaker 2: of gentlemen is ever unfamiliar situation to yo.
Speaker 1: So so these guys are talking about what happened to
Speaker 1: that the guy who supposedly killed his wife because she
Speaker 1: had no toe, and he's this guy's overhearing this conversation,
Speaker 1: and they're not too thrilled with that, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And one of them apparently dated her for a
Speaker 2: while but found out that she didn't have a toe
Speaker 2: and was like, no way, no, how, right.
Speaker 1: All right, I'll pick up you ready. The man sprang
Speaker 1: to his feet and strode toward with clenched hands, his
Speaker 1: face white with rage. All were now standing. Santra stepped
Speaker 1: between the belligerents. You are hasty and unjust, he said
Speaker 1: to Rosser.
Speaker 2: This gentleman has done nothing to deserve such language.
Speaker 1: But Rosser would not withdraw a word. By the custom
Speaker 1: of the country and the time, there could be but
Speaker 1: one outcome to the quarrel.
Speaker 2: You're the stranger. I think, right, that's.
Speaker 1: Right, and I forget how I was doing him. I
Speaker 1: demand the satisfaction due to a gentleman.
Speaker 2: And said this stranger.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, this year, said the stranger, who had become
Speaker 1: more calm. I have not an acquaintance in this region.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you, sir, bowing to Sancher, will be kind enough
Speaker 1: to represent me in this matter. Santra accepted the trust
Speaker 1: somewhat reluctantly. It must be confessed, for the man's appearance
Speaker 1: and manner were not at all to his liking. King,
Speaker 1: who during the colloquis had hardly removed his eyes from
Speaker 1: the stranger's face and had not spoken a word, consented
Speaker 1: with a nod to act for Rosser sid. They're figuring
Speaker 1: out who the seconds are.
Speaker 2: Right, mm hmmm yeah.
Speaker 1: And the upshot, Oh there you go, tas I noticed,
Speaker 1: And the upshot of it was the principles. Having retired,
Speaker 1: a meeting was arranged for the next evening. The nature
Speaker 1: of the arrangements has been already disclosed. The duel with
Speaker 1: knives in a dark room was once a commoner feature
Speaker 1: of Southwestern life than it is likely to be again.
Speaker 1: How thin a veneering of chivalry covered the essential brutality
Speaker 1: of the code under which such encounters were possible. We
Speaker 1: shall see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so just and by Southwestern, he's basically talking about
Speaker 2: Louisiana or Mississippi.
Speaker 1: Probably at that point. Yeah, I guess so.
Speaker 2: And also what he's talking about is like, so one
Speaker 2: man was insulted by another man, and now they've agreed
Speaker 2: to a duel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because he was eavesdropping. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And in the South, especially at these times, you
Speaker 2: basically had to kill somebody else who insulted you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you mind your own business.
Speaker 2: You want me to pick up a chapter three?
Speaker 1: Please?
Speaker 2: Chapter three? In the blaze of a midsummer noonday, the
Speaker 2: old Manton House was hardly true to its traditions. It
Speaker 2: was of the earth, earthy. The sunshine caressed it warmly
Speaker 2: and affectionately, with evident disregard of its bad reputation. The
Speaker 2: grass greening all the expanse in its front seemed to grow,
Speaker 2: not rankly, but with a natural and joyous exuberance, and
Speaker 2: the weeds blossomed quite like plants, full of charming life
Speaker 2: and shadows and populace with pleasant voiced birds. The neglected
Speaker 2: shade trees no longer struggled to run away, but bent
Speaker 2: reverently beneath their burdens of sun and song. Even in
Speaker 2: the glassless upper windows, was an expression of peace and
Speaker 2: contentment due to the light within over the stony fields,
Speaker 2: the visible heat danced with a lively tremor incompatible with
Speaker 2: the gravity, which is an attribute of the supernatural. Such
Speaker 2: was the aspect under which the place presented itself to
Speaker 2: Sheriff Adams and two other men who had come out
Speaker 2: from Marshall to look at it. One of these men
Speaker 2: was mister King, the Sheriff's deputy Ah. The other, whose
Speaker 2: name was Brewer, was a brother of the late Missus
Speaker 2: manton Ah. Under a beneficent law of the state relating
Speaker 2: to property, and if you put all those three together
Speaker 2: you have a proper sentence which has been for a
Speaker 2: certain period abandoned by an owner whose residence cannot be ascertained.
Speaker 2: The sheriff was legal custodian of the Mantin farm and
Speaker 2: apportuendancies thereunto belonging.
Speaker 1: So in other words, the sheriff, it's an abandoned house.
Speaker 1: The sheriff is sort of taken care of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he owns all the apportenances, right.
Speaker 1: And so this sheriff, the sheriff and his deputy he
Speaker 1: was one of the four guys, and Brewer, the brother
Speaker 1: of the killed woman, are now after this duel, going
Speaker 1: to the house to check things out, right, Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: His present visit was in a mere perfunctory compliance with
Speaker 2: some order of a court in which mister Brewer had
Speaker 2: an action to get possession of the property as heir
Speaker 2: to his deceased sister. By a mere coincidence, the visit
Speaker 2: was made on the day after the night that Deputy
Speaker 2: King had unlocked the house for another in very different purpose.
Speaker 2: His presence now was not of his own choosing. He
Speaker 2: had been ordered to accompany his superior and at the
Speaker 2: moment could think of nothing more prudent than simulated alacrity
Speaker 2: and obedience to the command going, did me keep going?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Maybe I should me read now.
Speaker 2: It me.
Speaker 1: Carelessly opening the front door, which, to his surprise, was
Speaker 1: not locked. The sheriff was amazed to see lying on
Speaker 1: the floor of the passage into which it opened a
Speaker 1: confused heap of men's apparel. Examinations showed it to consist
Speaker 1: of two hats and the same number of coats, waistcoats,
Speaker 1: and scarves, all in a remarkably good state of preservation,
Speaker 1: albeit somewhat defiled by the dust in which they lay.
Speaker 1: So this is the stuff they took off the night before.
Speaker 1: I guess yeah, mister Brewer was equally astonished. But mister
Speaker 1: King's emotion is not of record. He knows why this
Speaker 1: closure there, with a new and lively interest in his
Speaker 1: own actions. The sheriff now unlatched and pushed open a
Speaker 1: door on the right, and the three entered. The room
Speaker 1: was apparently vacant. No, as their eyes became accustomed to
Speaker 1: the dimmer light, something was visible in the far of
Speaker 1: this angle of the wall was a human figure, that
Speaker 1: of a man crouching close in the corner. Something in
Speaker 1: the attitude made the intruder's halt. When they had barely
Speaker 1: passed the threshold, the figure more and more clearly defined itself.
Speaker 1: The man was upon one knee, his back and the
Speaker 1: angle of the wall. His shoulders elevated to the level
Speaker 1: of his ears. His hands before his face palms outward,
Speaker 1: the fingers spread and crooked like claws. The white face
Speaker 1: turned upward on the retracted neck, had an expression of
Speaker 1: unutterable fright, the mouth half open, the eyes incredibly expanded.
Speaker 1: He was stone dead, yet with the exception of a
Speaker 1: bowie knife, which had evidently fallen from his own hand,
Speaker 1: not another object was in the room. All right, I'll
Speaker 1: do this paragraph and you can take it home.
Speaker 2: Ready, yep.
Speaker 1: In thick dust that covered the floor were some can
Speaker 1: fused footprints near the door and along the wall through
Speaker 1: which it opened. Along one of the adjoining walls, too,
Speaker 1: past the boarded up windows, was the trail made by
Speaker 1: the man himself in reaching his corner. Instinctively, in approaching
Speaker 1: the body, the three men followed that trail. The sheriff
Speaker 1: grasped one of the outthrown arms. It was as rigid
Speaker 1: as iron, and the application of a gentle force rocked
Speaker 1: the entire body without alerting the relation of its parts. Brewer,
Speaker 1: pale with excitement, gazed intently into the distorted face, God
Speaker 1: of mercy. He suddenly cried, it.
Speaker 2: Is Manton, Mike King, You're King.
Speaker 1: You are right, said King, with an evident attempt at calmness.
Speaker 2: I knew Manton. He then wore a full beard and
Speaker 2: his hair long. But this is he, he might have added,
Speaker 2: I recognized him when he challenged Rosser. I told Rosser
Speaker 2: and Sancher who he was before we played him this
Speaker 2: horrible trick. When Rosser left this dark room at our
Speaker 2: heels forgetting his outer clothing in the excitement and driving
Speaker 2: away with us in his shirt sleeves. All through the
Speaker 2: discreditable proceedings, we knew with whom we were dealing murderer
Speaker 2: and cowered that he was.
Speaker 1: So the original murderer in the Manton house is now
Speaker 1: come back? Is that what we're to believe?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And he went by Grossmith, but these three recognized
Speaker 2: him immediately, and so they I don't know if they
Speaker 2: set up a duel or whatever. I don't know if
Speaker 2: they set the whole thing up, But once a duel
Speaker 2: was going on, they knew exactly where they were going
Speaker 2: to take him, which was the very house that he
Speaker 2: murdered his wife and children in. Can you imagine being
Speaker 2: in that position? No, no, you can't.
Speaker 1: No, But they didn't kill him. No you ready, Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do it. Take it home, brother.
Speaker 2: But nothing of this did mister King's say with his
Speaker 2: better light. He was trying to penetrate the mystery of
Speaker 2: the man's death. That he had not once moved from
Speaker 2: the corner where he had been stationed, that his posture
Speaker 2: was that of neither attack nor defense, that he had
Speaker 2: dropped his weapon, that he had obviously perished of sheer
Speaker 2: horror of something that he saw. These were circumstances which
Speaker 2: mister King's disturbed intelligence could not rightly comprehend. Groping an
Speaker 2: intellectual darkness for a clue to his maze of doubt,
Speaker 2: his gaze, directed mechanically downward, in the way of one
Speaker 2: who ponders momentous matters, fell upon something which, there, in
Speaker 2: the light of day and in the presence of living companions,
Speaker 2: affected him with terror. In the dust of years, that
Speaker 2: lay thick upon the floor, leading from the door by
Speaker 2: which they had entered, straight across the room to within
Speaker 2: a yard of Manton's crouching courts, were three parallel lines
Speaker 2: of footprints, light but definite impressions of bare feet, the
Speaker 2: outer ones those of small children, the inner. From the
Speaker 2: point at which they ended, they did not return. They
Speaker 2: pointed all one way. Brewer, who had observed them at
Speaker 2: the same moment, was leaning forward in an attitude of
Speaker 2: rapt attention. Horribly pale he be. Brewer look at that,
Speaker 2: he cried, pointing with both hands at the nearest print
Speaker 2: of the woman's right foot, where she had apparently stopped
Speaker 2: and stood.
Speaker 1: The middle toe is missing.
Speaker 2: It was Gertrude. Gertrude was the late missus Manton, sister
Speaker 2: to mister Brewer.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, so she came back for some revenge.
Speaker 2: And the kids too, that's right. The kids were chanting
Speaker 2: and clapping kill kill, kill kill, and the mom was like,
Speaker 2: you got it?
Speaker 1: You think you think? Elk, we're without this middle toe?
Speaker 2: Check out?
Speaker 1: How'd you like it up your butte?
Speaker 2: That was probably how Ambrose Beers would have written it.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: So that was great, Chuck, you did great, I did great,
Speaker 2: We did great, Jerry did great, Ben Ben's gonna do great.
Speaker 2: And you guys all did great listening to us and
Speaker 2: thrilling to the adventures that we wove for you.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: I guess we want to say happy Halloween. Everybody, have
Speaker 2: a safe and happy and fun and candy filled Halloween.
Speaker 1: That's right. And this one falls on Halloween for a change,
Speaker 1: so that's pretty it's pretty much about us for us.
Speaker 2: Yes, So happy Halloween to the Max. Yeah. And since
Speaker 2: I said happy Halloween to the Max, we're not gonna
Speaker 2: do a listener mail, right, We're just gonna end this
Speaker 2: and say audios.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: So if you want to get in touch with us.
Speaker 2: You can send us an email to stuff podcast at
Speaker 2: iHeartRadio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a production
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio.
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